Chapter ten!

After Thomas had left, Steffy sat on her bed and brooded. Even though Thomas had told her to stop worrying about the nonsense Rick was saying, Steffy couldn't stop thinking about the situation. She still wished she had never told Phoebe about that stupid kiss, but she couldn't take it back now. In the midst of her thoughts, there was a knock on the door and her mother stepped into the room. Steffy was torn. She was happy to see her mother, but she also felt quite uncomfortable. Steffy knew her mother would sense right away that something was wrong with her. But she couldn't possibly talk to her about what Rick had told her.

Taylor sat down on the bed with her.

"Hey sweetheart, how did you sleep? Are you okay?" Steffy tried hard to sound cheerful.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine!"

"Do you know when the checkups will be?"

"Um, I'm not sure, sometime later today!" Taylor reached for her hand.

"I can understand that you're queasy about it. But you don't have to worry, it's really not that bad!"

"I know, Mom, I can handle it! Don't worry about me!"

"I know you're our big brave girl!"

Taylor noticed Steffy was avoiding her and didn't really look at her. She viewed her daughter urgently.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with you? You seem quite anxious?! You can talk to me!"

Steffy stared at her mother in despair. She would have loved to throw herself into her arms and tell her everything. But she knew she couldn't and it wouldn't do any good. Her mother surely had the same opinion as Thomas. She would also tell her not to blame herself. Steffy hesitated with her answer.

"It's nothing, Mom...it's just...this whole situation is awful! Phoebe is still unconscious and we're not allowed to see her and it's not even sure she'll be better after the transplant! This whole disaster is eating me up and I can't even talk to Phoebe about it!"

Taylor nodded in understanding and embraced her daughter.

"True, the situation is very hard for all of us, but we have to stick together now and make the best of it! And you are not alone, Steffy! Thomas, your dad and I, we're all behind you and we're all with you, even though we can't replace Phoebe for you."

"I know Mom and I'm really glad you're all there for me. Especially that Dad is staying with us right now!"

Now Taylor was the one being evasive. Steffy continued unimpeded.

"I mean, him being with us now, shows how important we are to him and that we're his family...and who knows, maybe there's a good thing to come out of this whole tragedy!"

Taylor gave her daughter a stern look.

"Did you check with Thomas?"

"What? No, I haven't talked to Thomas about Dad at all!" Taylor didn't quite believe her.

"Anyway, I already talked to Thomas about this and I'll explain it to you as well. It's great that your dad stays with us right now and it's also comforting to me. We're all going through this together as a family. But that doesn't mean your dad and I are going to get back together! He is still engaged to Brooke."

"Come on, Mom, you can see where that leads to! I mean, just when he needs her the most, what does she do?! She kicks him out of the house! That shows she doesn't really love him and she doesn't deserve him at all! Dad just needs to realize that he could do a lot better with you!"

"Steffy, please! Okay, you do have a point, but we shouldn't get our hopes up! It's very likely that Brooke and your father will reconcile sooner or later and he'll move out again. That's the way it's always been!" Steffy nodded and snuggled up to her mother.

"But it would be so much better if he was back with us!"

Brooke sat in the living room with Rick.

"Are you going to tell me now what was going on with you earlier?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rick with an innocent expression.

"You suddenly reacted very strangely to Lt. Baker and you immediately disappeared!"

"I just wanted to be alone after the questioning! There's nothing wrong with that!"

"Of course not! I'm just worried about you! You've behaved so strangely the last few days!"

"Mom, I was in a serious car accident and Phoebe still isn't out of the woods! How do you want me to react?!"

"You're right, I'm sorry!" she relented.

The front door opened and Ridge, accompanied by RJ, walked in. Ridge had spent the day with RJ to distract him. Brooke approached them.

"Hey honey, did you have a good day?"

"Oh yes, Daddy bought me a huge sundae!"

"I see. Half of it is still stuck in your face!" said Brooke, laughing as she tried to wipe away the ice cream residue. Ridge cast a disapproving glance over at Rick and then turned to RJ.

"You'd better go to the bathroom and wash your face!" RJ hugged his father once more and then rushed upstairs.

The mood in the living room turned icy. Rick and Ridge gave each other venomous looks. Brooke tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"By the way, Ridge, Lt. Baker was here earlier and Rick gave his statement!"

"And what did you tell him?"

"Well, what do you think, the truth, of course!" Ridge stared at Rick in disbelief.

"So you told him this crazy story about Phoebe coming on to you?!" Rick jumped up angrily.

"That's not a story! Even if you don't like to hear it, that's what happened! Phoebe attacked me and grabbed the steering wheel! I had no chance to react!"

"I seriously doubt that!" Brooke intervened.

"Let it go Ridge, why would Rick make this up?"

"Why?! To cover up his own guilt! I won't believe any of this until Phoebe confirms it to me herself!" Rick glared at him with hostility.

"I couldn't care less whether you believe me or not! I'm not at your mercy!" Rick stormed off.

"Was that really necessary?" Brooke confronted Ridge. "You can see how miserable he is!"

"All I see is that he's still doing everything to provoke me and get you on his side! And that he's now trying to blame Phoebe for the accident. That's really the last straw!"

"But if that's what happened! It's possible that she was so angry that she lost control of herself!"

"Then there's still the question, why was she so furious and why did he get in that car with her in the first place?! He should never have driven off with her if she was really that angry! I'm still convinced Rick is responsible for this scenario. The accident would have never happened if he had reacted more reasonably!" Brooke was stunned.

"You know what, you just want to blame Rick for the accident because you don't want to admit to yourself that Phoebe is responsible for her own misfortune!"

"And you just don't want to admit that your son is the reason for this whole tragedy! You would do anything so he won't be held accountable! All you think about is Rick and yourself! You don't care about Phoebe, let alone how Steffy and Thomas or Taylor and I are dealing with this!"

"I know, the situation is terrible, but It's not Rick's fault! Face it, Ridge!"

*Smash*

Brooke and Ridge pulled up, startled. A vase had hit the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces.

Taylor had checked on Phoebe briefly after Steffy was picked up for her examinations and then she headed home. She was just resting a bit on the couch when the doorbell rang. Stephanie was standing in front of her.

"Hi, I wanted to see how you guys are doing and hear what's new?!" Taylor brought her up to date.

"Steffy is really a brave girl!" she commented and Taylor nodded.

"Yes, Thomas and she are indeed handling the situation very maturely. But still, I'm worried about her, considering the upcoming surgery."

"But she can help Phoebe in this way! Taylor, you need to have faith in the doctors and believe that everything will be okay!"

"Yeah, I know! That's what I've been telling myself all along!" Stephanie's expression got strained.

"And we have to thank Rick for all of this!" Taylor fell silent. This didn't go unnoticed by Stephanie.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Rick claims that Phoebe wasn't entirely innocent in the accident. Apparently, they had an argument in the car and Phoebe had gone off on him, distracting him to the point where he lost control of the car." Stephanie snorted contemptuously.

"That's just a cheap excuse to save his skin!" Taylor shrugged.

"I don't know! It could be true! Phoebe was still very disappointed in him and she may have confronted him!"

"So you think it's possible that Rick is telling the truth?" Stephanie asked her incredulously.

"Yes.. No...I don't know! I don't know what to believe! It could just as easily be that he's making it all up...whereas...why would he do something like that? I mean, he has to expect Phoebe to tell us what really happened and she would expose his lie!"

"Maybe he's just not thinking that far ahead!" opined Stepanie. "Rick is so consumed with his hatred for Ridge. He'd do anything to get back at him!" She was silent for a moment."Speaking of which, how is Ridge holding with all of this? I'm sure it's not easy for him...and for Brooke?!"

"To tell you the truth, Brooke and Ridge aren't on very good terms right now. Ridge currently stays here with us and sleeps in the guest room."

"Oh yeah?" Stephanie's expression brightened. "That's wonderful, it's certainly good for you all to be together!"

"Yes, of course!"

Taylor was afraid Stephanie would blow the same horn like Thomas and Steffy earlier, but luckily Ridge walked in just then and Stephanie was interrupted in her speech. She greeted her son briefly but then quickly said her goodbye. She wanted to give Taylor and her son a chance to be alone.

Ridge dropped onto the couch, exhausted, and rubbed his eyes. Taylor immediately saw that he was very tense and stressed out.

"Is everything okay with you?" she asked him, deeply concerned.

"Yeah, it's nothing!" Taylor didn't believe him.

"Come on, I can tell something is bothering you! Feel free to confide in your favorite shrink!"

Despite all the tragedy, Ridge had to laugh and finally gave in. Actually, he was quite happy to talk about the situation.

"It's because of RJ. The whole situation is too much for him. He sees what's going on between Brooke and me and he has also noticed that I don't live at home right now and just earlier... Rick was there and we got into a terrible fight again and then Brooke and I got into an argument as well. RJ snuck up on the stairs and overheard everything!"

"Oh my God, that must have been awful for him! How did he react?"

"You won't believe it. He picked up a vase and slammed it on the floor. He was absolutely beside himself. We could barely calm him down. I feel so destitute, I don't know how to help him! I mean, he's never reacted like this before!"

"The situation probably scared him so much that he didn't know how to help himself other than to react so drastically. When kids resort to such violent actions, it's usually a cry for help!"

"Anyway, I've never seen him act like that before, and the fight earlier wasn't that bad!"

"It's probably not about that one fight. It's about the overall situation that RJ has experienced practically his entire life! I mean, he's seen you and Brooke fight all the time till the point where you move out. Then you reconcile and eventually, it starts all over again! You had just moved back in, Brooke and you were supposed to get married and now you're fighting again and you've moved out once more. No wonder RJ is freaking out and is acting crazy!"

Ridge had to agree with her. He had never thought seriously about what RJ had already been through.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he asked her for advice.

"Just be there for him, and you should make sure he hears as little as possible about your fight!"

"That's easier said than done. Brooke and I can't seem to have a decent conversation right now. Every discussion degenerates into an argument. It's all just way too much…the situation with Phoebe, the eternal war with Rick, the fight with Brooke and now RJ! I can't take it anymore!"

Taylor held Ridge in her arms and did her best to comfort him. Thomas came home and discovered his parents in an intimate embrace. He couldn't help but smile broadly.