A goodbye and an approach!

Ridge met Taylor and Jack at the park the next day. It was a beautiful sunny day and all three enjoyed the walk. At first Jack lay quite content in his stroller, busy looking around at the big wide world, but then he got bored and started to whine. Ridge took his son in his arms, rocked him and tickled him with a twig. Taylor and he talked about the previous afternoon, Ridge was still upset and embarrassed about his mother's behavior.

"I wish she would finally leave us alone with her idea of a perfect family!" he admitted. Taylor laughed derisively.

"I think we can safely bury that hope, I'm afraid Stephanie will never understand our point of view, at least not in this lifetime."

They also talked about Aly. Ridge reported the whole family had been very surprised at her changed behavior. No one had expected that just by Jack's presence, Aly would suddenly open up herself like that. Taylor admitted she had been very surprised by Aly's behavior too and she was still a little unsure how to handle it. Ridge encouraged her to take the situation step by step. While they continued their walk, Taylor suddenly froze and sighed.

"Oh no! This can't be true!"

"What's wrong?" Ridge stared at her stunned.

"Please promise me, you'll stay calm! Don't start a fight, especially not in front of Jack." She pointed with her head to the path in front of them. Ridge looked in her direction and realized the reason why Taylor was so nervous. Nick Marone came straight toward them. Though he hadn't noticed them yet.

"What's he doing here?" They kept walking and for a moment Taylor hoped they could sneak past Nick, but then he saw them. Sneering, he approached them.

"Oh who do we have here? The holy Forrester family happily united!" He glanced provocatively at Ridge, who was still holding Jack in his arms. "Father and son, you must be very proud!"

"At least, I know what responsibility for a child means! You preferred to abandon Jack. You only wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible and his mother too."

"Give me one reason why I should take care of your offspring and my lovely ex-wife made her own decision to leave me!"

"That was the best thing she could do!" Taylor, fearing a serious argument, intervened.

"Let it go Ridge! Just ignore him, let's move on."

"You're right, he's not worth it. The best thing would be, you would take your boat and would sail far far away."

"You'll laugh my dear brother, but that's exactly what I'm planning to do and the best part is hopefully I never have to see your faces again."

"What does that supposed to mean?" asked Taylor curiously.

"I will leave L.A.. I'm moving to New York!"

"Well, then get on your ship and bye bye!" Ridge started whistling the tune of 'I am Sailing'. Nick turned on his heel and walked away. Silently Ridge and Taylor continued their way. Ridge noticed Taylor had become very thoughtful.

"Are you regretting Popeye moving away?"

"What? No! He can do whatever he wants. It's none of my business anymore. It just feels strange that's all."

"Do you still have feelings for him?" This time Taylor shook her head very vigorously.

"No, absolutely not! The way he's been acting lately…that's over, once and for all.

"Well I'm glad to hear that. You know I never really understood what you ever saw in him anyway."

"The feeling is mutual. He could never understand why I was once involved with you, either." she replied, grinning mischievously at him.

They passed a playground. Ridge walked with Jack over to a large swing and gently placed him in it. Together, Taylor and Ridge swung him back and forth. Jack had enormous fun with it. He giggled all the time. When Taylor took him out because other children wanted to swing, he protested loudly. To distract him, Ridge went with him to one of the slides. He sat down at the end, with Jack on his lap, and slid down. Jack looked rather skeptical, as if he wasn't quite comfortable with the whole thing. It wasn't until Ridge had slid down with him a few times that he didn't look quite so apprehensive. Taylor watched the two of them with amusement.

"I'm just wondering who's having more fun with this, Jack or you?"

"What do you wanna say?" .

"Nothing!"

"Please, I don't want to spoil your fun, if you want, you're welcome to try it yourself."

"No thanks! I'd rather leave it to you to make a fool of yourself!"

"Hey I heard that!"

Taylor, meanwhile, held Jack in her arms.

"Look Jack, there's a small lake. She stepped closer with him. "There are ducks and swans." She named all the water birds and told Jack some random facts about them. She talked and talked until she realized Ridge next to her chuckling.

"What is so funny?"

"Nothing, it just seems Jack isn't very interested in your biology class." Taylor looked down at Jack, he lay peacefully in her arms and was fast asleep. "What did you just say about making a fool of yourself?"

Taylor packed Jack back into his stroller and together they walked back to their cars where they said goodbye.

Aly had been bugging her father for days now when they would finally go visit Taylor and especially little Jack. After all, Taylor had assured her she could come and play with Jack anytime. Without further ado, Aly took matters into her own hands, grabbing the phone and pestering her father.

"Daddy call Taylor and ask her when we can come over. I want to see Jack again so badly!" She held the phone out to him, Thorne surrendered. He dialed Taylor's number and they arranged a playdate for the next weekend.

Taylor was very tense before that first meeting. She had asked Ridge to join them. She hoped his presence might relax the whole atmosphere a bit. Aly and Thorne showed up on time. They had brought a gift for Jack, which Aly proudly presented to him. It was a Punch, which could make music. Several times Aly pulled the string and let the funny melody sound. Jack seemed to like it, he made a very satisfied impression. The three adults were touched when they witnessed how patient and loving Aly was with her little cousin. After a while, Taylor checked the time and rose.

"It's time to prepare Jack's meal. He will get hungry any minute and scream like hell . Aly was curious.

"May I come with you?"

"Sure!" Aly followed Taylor into the kitchen and helped her to prepare the bottle. Later, she beamed with pride when Taylor allowed her to hold and feed Jack on her own. Taylor gave her some support and propped Jack's head, but Aly was allowed to give him the bottle. She smiled as Jack greedily sucked up the milk.

"Look, Daddy! I'm feeding a baby!"

"Great job, my big girl!"

"This is so much fun, I can't wait until I have a baby of my own!" Taylor and Ridge grinned, while Thorne made a rather startled face.

"Oh yeah you can wait, trust me, you can wait a very long time!" Ridge patted his brother on his shoulder.

"Sometimes it happens faster than you think!" They all spent a pleasant afternoon together until Thorne said it was time to leave. Aly still had some homework to do. First Aly didn't want to go but she relented when Taylor comforted her. Jack would be taking his nap now anyway. Aly gave Jack a goodbye kiss and promised to visit him again very soon.

After the first meeting many followed over the next few weeks. Aly was eager to learn everything about baby care, from feeding to bathing. She never got tired of playing with Jack or telling him stories. Jack was a patient and appreciative listener. A big highlight for Aly was when she was in the pool with Taylor and Jack one afternoon. Thomas and the twins were also there, and they all spent a great time in the water. First Thorne was still there every time, until Aly once said it wasn't necessary for him to stay the whole time. The relationship between Taylor and Aly had become more and more relaxed with every time. Aly was almost as comfortable with Taylor as she used to be. However, this was not her ulterior motive. Even if Aly enjoyed spending time with Jack and regained her trust in Taylor, she certainly didn't want her father and Taylor to spend too much time together, especially not alone. The risk was too high that they would become close again. The idea of Taylor and her father might end up getting married was still completely impossible and out of the question for Aly.

Aly wasn't the only one who was concerned about Thorne and Taylor. Ridge also had some thoughts.

He was absolutely positive about Aly spending time with Jack and Taylor. As the entire family he was relieved about the progress Aly made overcoming the trauma of her mother's death. However, the idea that Taylor and Thorne could form a family of their own with Aly and little Jack bothered him. He knew very well that Thorne still had feelings for Taylor. However, he had no idea how Taylor felt about Thorne. When he dropped Jack off at Taylor's again, he gathered his courage and confronted Taylor.

"Aly spends more and more time with you and Jack, doesn't she?"

"Yes, indeed! She's crazy with Jack and Jack is quite smitten with her, too. He beams every time he sees her."

"Mmm...and how are things between you and Thorne...I mean now that Aly is spending so much time with you. Surely you're seeing more of each other now?" Taylor realized what he was getting at.

"If you wanna know if Thorne and I are going to be a couple again, I can reassure you, that's not the case. I'm doing this whole thing for Aly and Jack's sake. It has nothing to do with Thorne. We will never get back together, if only because of Aly. There is no way she could ever accept me as her stepmother for very good reasons." Taylor had noticed that Aly had tried everything to keep Thorne and her apart from each other. One night, she had invited Aly and Thorne to stay for dinner and it had been obvious for her, the situation had been very uncomfortable for Aly. She had spoken with Thorne and they had agreed to keep their distance. "Thorne and I have clarified the situation. We are good friends. Besides, my focus right now is on Jack. A new relationship is the last thing I'm looking for." Ridge was satisfied with her answer.