The seperation is imminent!
Thomas, Steffy and Phoebe were over the moon that their parents were back together. They had almost given up any hope. All of them overdone themselves with offers to take care of Jack for one night, so their parents could go on a date. But Taylor reacted very hesitantly. She was still very reluctant to leave Jack in the hands of others. Finally they convinced their mother when they promised to watch Jack all together one night.
"We will manage it somehow!" said Steffy firmly. Taylor and Ridge agreed, secretly they were looking forward to spending a night alone, just the two of them. While Thomas and the girls played with Jack, Taylor got ready for their date. Ridge would be here any moment to pick her up. Dressed to the teeth, she appeared in the living room, all three of them whistled through their teeth appreciatively.
"Wow, you look great Mom!"
"Yeah, just stunning! Still I wonder if Dad will like it?" mocked Thomas her.
"Why? Is something wrong?" In a rush, Taylor ran to the mirror to double check her hair and makeup. "On the contrary, you look amazing, I'm sure all the men will turn their heads at you!"
"Yeah right, poor Dad!"
"Oh I think he'll deal with it." smirked Taylor.
"Deal with what?" Ridge walked in, he already changed in his office.
"Oh the kids were just wondering, you might have to protect me from some cavaliers tonight."
"They wouldn't dare come close to you!" He hugged her and gave her a kiss. "But the kids are absolutely right, you look beautiful!"
"Thanks, you look very handsome yourself!" Thomas, Steffy and Phoebe screwed up their faces as their parents shared a passionate kiss. It was one thing for their parents to be a couple again, but they didn't necessarily have to watch their affection. While Ridge helped Taylor into her coat, she gave them some final instructions.
"Alright I told you everything, Jack has to get his dinner in about half an hour, I set it all up in the kitchen, it just needs to be heaten up. But don't give him more than on the plate or he'll get sick! Before he goes to bed, he gets his milk, make sure it's not too hot! First check the temperature at your wrist and remember to cover him only to his belly, otherwise he sweats too much! Also, don't forget to turn on the snooze light and leave the door open a crack, and when he wakes up..."
"...then we call the fire department!" explained Thomas ironically and everyone except his mother laughed.
"That's not funny, Thomas!"
"Sorry Mom, but we are all adults, we already know how to handle a baby!"
"Yeah, right!" agreed Steffy to her brother. "Imagine if Phoebe or I would have a baby right now? Would you be around us 24 hours a day just to make sure we are doing everything alright?"
"Hey my two ladies, you still have a lot of time for this!" Ridge intervened. "But the kids have a point!" He hooked Taylor under his arm. "You should give them a little more credit!" She complied.
"All right, we're out of here, but none of your usual sheniageanies!" Ridge pulled her out the door, he turned around once more.
"We expect the house not to be on fire when we come back!" After the door slammed shut behind their parents, Thomas shook his head.
"Can you believe it! They don't trust us for one dollar and they call themselves our parents!" Steffy was twirling hilariously around the room with Jack.
"Hey little bro, now you're home free for the first time in your life. Let's get the party started!"
Ridge had booked a private dining room at the best restaurant in town for them. The two enjoyed the atmosphere and the good meal. Taylor tasted her scallops, she melted away.
"Mmmh, I can't even remember the last time I ate something so delicious, actually I can't even remember the last time I went to a restaurant at all!"
"Yeah, habits change with a little kid at home. But if our kids pass the crucial test tonight, we hopefully can repeat this evening pretty soon." Taylor toasted him.
"I wouldn't mind! I'm really very excited to have this night to ourselves for once."
"Yeah, I feel the same!" He reached for her hand. "You know Jack means the world to me but still I cherish every moment I get to spend alone with you!" They shared a deep kiss. They continued their dinner, Ridge watched in amusement, Taylor couldn't help peeking at her cell phone from time to time. She noticed his grin and was quite embarrassed.
"I know, I'm a terrible mother hen!"
"Nonsense!" He gave her a sweet peck. "You are nothing more than a loving and caring mother, who loves her child very much. I adore you for your motherly behavior. I couldn't imagine any other woman being the mother of my children but you!" Taylor fought back her tears at his declaration of love.
"Well, I definitely have one talent, I did a pretty good job when I chose you to be the father of my children." She winked at him.
After dinner, they were not yet in the mood to drive home already. Since it was still early, they spontaneously decided to head to the coast. They walked along the ocean, in the moonlight. Ridge held Taylor tightly in his arm, while she was snuggled against his side.
"You're so quiet?!" wondered Ridge after a while.
"I'm just so happy right now, I don't even know what to say! This moment is just perfect." Ridge ran his hands down her cheeks.
"Yes, it is!" They looked deep into each other's eyes.
"I love you Ridge!"
"I love you too Doc!" They kissed passionately.
Finally, they made their way home.
"Now I'm really curious to see how Thomas and the girls dealt with Jack!" Ridge nodded.
"I'm sure everything is fine." But neither Ridge nor Taylor had any idea what they were about to face.
When they opened the door, they remained rooted to the spot. They didn't know how to react. There was bright lighting in the living room and loud music blasted from the stereo. Steffy and Phoebe held a broomstick and Thomas, with Jack in his arms, was about to limbo underneath.
"I guess we got back a little too early?!" blurted Ridge out. Everyone shrieked together when they saw their parents. Steffy immediately rushed to the stereo and turned the music off. None of them quite knew what to say.
"Uh...what are you guys doing here so soon?"
"Did you have a good time?" Everyone tried to play as innocent as possible. Taylor stormed up to Thomas and took Jack out of his embrace. Jack was the only one who was still quite amused.
"Can you please explain what this row is all about, at this time and with Jack?"
"Well…aehm…so..." began Steffy. She pleaded with her siblings for help. Phoebe jumped to her aid.
"Well first we did everything as you said Mom, we had dinner with Jack, then we played with him and read him a story and then we put him to bed...but then suddenly he woke up and just wouldn't go back to sleep...and then we thought...if we dance with him a little bit he might get tired."
"Yeah exactly!" Thomas also supported his sisters. "Basically, this is all Jack's fault...he terrorized us until we were ready to teach him to limbo."
"Of course! Always blaming the little ones! I don't even know what to say to you!" Taylor was still searching for the right words, but she couldn't think of any.
"Alright, I'm going to put Jack back to bed now, I guess the limbo dancing lesson has to be postponed!" She gave each of her kids an icy stare, they shrugged. Ridge looked very serious as well.
"I just told your mom she should trust you guys. I expect from you to figure out a way to fix this!" He also went upstairs. As he walked away, all three of them saw the grin on their father's face. So they just had to come up with an idea to soothe their mother. Low-key, they all made their way home. Ridge went into the bedroom and waited for Taylor to join him.
"Did our little limbo student go back to sleep?"
"Yes finally, he was pretty wound up!" Still mad, she ran around the room. Ridge comforted her, he put his arms around her.
"Come on, we had such a wonderful time and if Jack getting his first limbo dancing lesson is the only thing that happened on our kids first night shift then we can consider ourselves very lucky. It could have been much worse!" Taylor laughed.
"You're probably right!" She pressed a big kiss on his lips. Soon, their kisses grew more intimate. They stopped thinking about all the trouble.
The next day Thomas, Steffy and Phoebe showed up with a bouquet of flowers and their mother's favorite chocolates. They sincerely apologized for their behavior, it wasn't their intention to disappoint her. Taylor embraced them all, she had already forgotten all her anger.
"The story is actually quite funny, but still I'm asking you to schedule Jack's next dancing lesson at a different time. The three breathed a sigh of relief. They suspected their father had probably appeased their mother already. They were all sitting together in the living room, Steffy and Phoebe were telling them they had to think about what classes they plan to take next semester at college. Both their mother and father had a lot of suggestions for them.
"I think it's still a shame neither of you want to follow into my footsteps." Taylor mentioned wistfully. "Now I have to put all my hopes on Jack." Ridge stared at her, pretty dumbfounded.
"What, another shrink in the family? Over my dead body!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Taylor glowered at him.
"Jack's going to be a great designer one day, just like me! Right, Jack?" He took his son on his lap. "You're going to be a famous designer one day just like Daddy! Come on, say Dadda!" Jack had been babbling for some time now, but mostly you couldn't really understand him yet. "Say it once: Dadda!"
"Wawa" echoed Jack.
"See! He said Dadda!" announced Ridge proudly, beaming all over his face.
"What? No way!" Taylor took Jack from him. He didn't say Dadda he said Mama ! Right Jack, you said Mama?!"
"Sasa" Jack repeated.
"Great job Sweety! Say Mama again."
"Gnana"
"Did you hear that? He said Mama!"
"You have to check your hearing! That was definitely Dadda."
Thomas, Phoebe, and Steffy could hardly contain their laughter. They just thought it was so cute how each of their parents insisted they had been Jack's first word.
"Well, I didn't hear anything out at all!" claimed Steffy finally and Phoebe added.
"Jack is diplomatic. He wants to make sure everyone feels like they're meant and the bottom line is both of you are happy! It just means he loves Mom and Dad equally! Am I right Jack?" Jack reached into his mother's hair and extended his arm to his father.
"Madaaaa!" he crowed loudly and confirmed Phoebe's point. Everyone started laughing.
It was indeed hard to tell whether Jack was daddy's boy or if he was more attached to his mother. His affection changed several times a day. When he woke up, he preferred it when his mother showed up. Probably simply because he was used to it from the beginning. Also, his father always took much longer to change him. At breakfast, he divided his attention equally. His mother was usually the one who fed him while he made jokes with his father. On certain days, Jack clinged to Ridge's leg, desperate to go to work with him. On other days he preferred to stay with his mother. If he was with his father, Taylor usually picked him up for his nap. Jack was always waiting for her impatiently. As soon as he heard her talking in the hallway, he made a beeline to the door. If he spent the day with his mother, he couldn't wait for his father to come home. Taylor grinned each time; Jack seemed to have an instinct about when his father was on his way. Then Jack dropped everything, crawled to the door and waited like a small puppy. After dinner Jack wanted the attention of both parents. The best bedtime ritual for him was lying in his mother's lap, drinking his 'night shake' while his dad read him a story.
Taylor and Ridge tickled Jack at the same time.
"We both love our little roughneck too!" They both pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"And what about us?" pouted Steffy, slightly jealous.
"Yeah right, we're still here too..." Phoebe snuggled up to her mother. "...I mean we are all able to pronounce 'Mama' and 'Dadda' perfectly, but no one seems to admire that!" Taylor took her daughter in her arms.
"Oh, my poor little girl!" She stroked her curls.
A few days later, Ridge was in an extreme hurry at breakfast. He barely took time to drink his coffee. Taylor watched him, irritated.
"What's wrong with you today? You still have plenty of time!"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Dad texted me last night, he asked all of us for an early meeting this morning."
"Oha, that sounds like a crunch talk!"
"Yeah, I'm afraid you're right!"
"Are there any urgent problems at Forrester Creation right now?"
"Not as far as I know, but after all the recent turmoil, you never know!" Ridge grabbed his cell phone.
"I really have to go!" He gave her a quick goodbye kiss, then he turned to his son and wanted to give him a kiss, too. But he hesitated. Jack was enjoying his breakfast, lately he had the habit of eating everything with his hands. His face was smeared with carrot-apple mush up to his ears and nose. Finally Ridge pressed a kiss on the top of his hair.
"Ridge, wait a minute...it's still on for us to go for a walk together this afternoon, tough?"
"Sure! Don't go without me!"
Ridge arrived at the conference room, Stephanie and Felicia were already there. Thorne followed right behind him, everyone was wondering why Eric wanted to see them so badly. Finally he appeared and everyone sat down.
"So I won't beat around the bush, it's about Forrester international. I got the report that there's a lot of trouble over there in Paris which requires us to take action immediately!"
"What's going on?" asked Ridge, anxious.
"You all know, our manager left a few months ago and since the new one took control, the operation has lacked his momentum. Sales and profits are nowhere near what they used to be and apparently more and more employees choose to go. Meanwhile, the situation is so serious, if we don't react now Forrester International could be on the verge of going out of business." Everyone was shocked; no one had expected such bad news. Until now, the branch had always been doing extremely well.
"What do you suggest, Dad?" Thorne asked what everybody wanted to know. "What are we going to do?"
"Actually I see only one possibility, one of us has to go to Paris and try to turn the wheel around again!" Everyone nodded in understanding, this suggestion seemed to make a lot of sense. Eric turned to Ridge.
"My preference would be for you to go to Paris. You know Forrester International better than any of us, plus you're familiar with the staff and the customers. If anyone is able to fix the issues and prevent this downfall, it's you." Ridge didn't quite know what to say. Of course, he cared deeply about Forrester International, yet he hesitated. There were two other main factors he had to think about. Eric noticed his pondering. "I'm sure you have some ideas to get Forrester International back on track."
"Well...first I'll have to get some insight where the problems are…maybe I could come up with some solutions. But things aren't that simple Dad! I mean, the whole issue sounds like it can't be settled in a week." Stephanie had a bad feeling, she didn't like the idea of Ridge going to Paris now, of all times. She feared his relationship with Taylor might break up over it. She couldn't hold back any longer.
"Ridge is right, I mean, when you say he should go to Paris for some time, what period of time are we talking about?"
"It's hard to say, but I guess two or three months at least." Ridge took a deep breath, his mind was racing. Before he could get a word out of his mouth, Stephanie blurted again.
"It's impossible for Ridge to go away for such a long time! What about Jack and Taylor?! Have you forgotten Eric, Jack is still a little kid and he needs both of his parents and Taylor certainly won't be thrilled if Ridge would go away for several months now since they finally got back together! Do you want Ridge to put his family at risk again?"
"Of course not! But this is about the future of Forrester International!" Ridge was stressed, he had to fight the urge to jump up and run away. He knew the situation all too well. His parents both had their expectations and were demanding him to do the right thing.
"I could go!" suggested Felicia suddenly. She saw his struggle on Ridge's face and wanted to help him . All stared at her in surprise.
"You?"
"Yeah, I mean that might be the best solution!" Eric wasn't quite convinced.
"Don't get me wrong Felicia. It's not that I don't trust you but you barely know your way around Forrester International. You'd have to learn the ropes yourself first, but we need to react now." Everyone glanced over at Thorne, but he dismissed.
"Sorry, there's no way I can go. I can't leave Aly alone for three months and I also can't take her out of school for that long." Everyone nodded in understanding.
"Then there's really only one option left!"
Eric's gaze fell on his oldest son again. Ridge mused, knowing full well it was certainly most prudent for him to drive. Still, everything in him rebelled, he didn't want to leave Jack alone for so long and he was afraid of how Taylor would react. He could feel everyone was staring at him, waiting for his answer.
"Frankly I don't know what to do!" he admitted. "Your reasoning makes sense to me Dad, but I also have to think about Jack and Taylor! There's no way I can decide this on my own, I need to discuss it with Taylor first!"
"That's certainly the most sensible thing to do!" agreed Stephanie with satisfaction. She was relieved that Ridge wasn't ready to make a decision over Taylor's head like in the past. She had an idea. "Maybe they could go with you. Taylor isn't working and Jack isn't going to kindergarten or school!"
"Yeah, that might be a possibility!" considered Ridge. Eric was yet not satisfied with the outcome of this meeting. He had sympathy for Ridge's hesitation, however, he had hoped Ridge would realize this was an emergency. Eric always had the device, business comes first and sometimes sacrifices had to be made. After all, three months was not an eternity.
For the rest of the day, Ridge found it very difficult to concentrate on his work. All the time, he tried to find the best way to break this news to Taylor. Before he could even come up with a plan, there was a knock at his door.