Chapter 13:
Anja hands the results to Lieutenant Baker, he opens the envelope and reads through the results carefully. As they wait Liam wraps his arm around Hope. Finn, still holding Kelly, wraps his free arm around Steffy who is still holding Phoebe. Ridge moves to the other side of his daughter, while Thomas stands behind his sister.
Lieutenant Baker reads carefully then looks up at the paper and makes direct eye contact with Steffy. The minute she looks into his eyes she can tell this will not be a happy ending for her. She begins to sob and hug Phoebe.
"Phoebe Forrester is Elizabeth Spencer, I'm so sorry Steffy." He turns to Hope and Liam, "But I am happy for you two. She is your daughter without a doubt."
Hope begins to cry tears of joy, she is absolutely devastated for Steffy, but she still can't help but feel the pure joy that her little girl did not die. She looks over at Steffy who is broken, she walks over to her and hugs both Steffy and Beth. Hope and Steffy begin crying together.
"Yes! I knew it!" Brooke screams out in pure joy. Hope whips her head around and stares daggers into her mother. Brooke callously walks over to try to grab Beth from Steffy's arms before Hope, Ridge, Finn, and Thomas stop her. "Hope, you should be holding your daughter."
"And I will, but right now she is fine where she is."
Thomas steps in, "This is a very overwhelming situation, I think this is something that Steffy, Hope, and Liam need to be figuring out. We should give them their privacy." He turns to face his sister, "If you need me I'll be five minutes away."
Steffy nods, Thomas tries to usher everyone out. As Finn follows Steffy grabs his arm, "Please stay."
He looks at her and nods, "Do you want Kelly to stay?" He asks.
"I don't know, I don't know how to handle this." Steffy says as her world crumbles around her.
"I think she should stay," Liam chimes in, "Beth could use her sister right now."
Hope thinks this is finally something helpful Liam is contributing, much better then the idea of calling her mother over. Speaking of Brooke, she begins protesting leaving immediately, "I'm not leaving my daughter, she needs me right now."
"Mom, I need you to leave. I promise I will call you and set up some time with Beth."
Brooke gasps at being put in her place as Ridge places a hand on her back and leads her out.
Once everyone is gone Hope looks back at Steffy, "Steffy I was serious about not just ripping her out of this home. It's the only home she's ever known and I don't want to cause her, Kelly, or you more stress than you all are going through."
Steffy takes a deep breath and nods, "We all need to sit and come up with a time table for Phoe-," Steffy stops herself, "Beth, to transition to your house." Finn holds onto Steffy even tighter. Steffy looks back up at Hope and Liam, "I think it would be best for both of you to stay here so Beth gets used to you two being around every day."
Hope and Liam both nod. Finn speaks up, "And if you want to spend a couple of nights here with her just the two of you, then Steffy and Kelly can stay at my place a couple nights. Just so Beth can get used to just you two in a familiar surrounding at first, you know before transitioning her to your house."
Liam nods, "Thank you Finn. And thank you for making this easier on Steffy and Kelly."
Finn nods, the four of them spends a long exhausting, emotional night going over a detailed schedule that will help Beth transition into Hope and Liam's care.
