Chapter seventeen!
The next day, Ridge gathered the entire family at the hospital for a family meeting. Everyone was wondering what Ridge wanted to talk to them about so badly. Brooke in particular was more than surprised when Ridge specifically asked her to bring Rick to this meeting as well. Rick was extremely shocked when his mother told him about Ridge's plan. He hadn't told her yet about the incident in Phoebe's hospital room and was afraid Ridge would confront him in front of the entire family. Brooke approached him about his fears and tried to calm him down.
"I know you think it's about Phoebe and the accident. But Ridge told me himself that she still doesn't remember anything."
"So what else could Ridge want from all of us?" Rick asked his mother tensely. However, she didn't know the answer to that either.
Everyone came together in a small conference room. Bridget had organized it all. She had immediately offered her help when Ridge had told her about his plans. She still felt guilty about Phoebe's breakdown. Bridget herself also attended the family meeting. Thomas and Steffy were also there, only Phoebe wasn't with them. Everyone asked the two if they knew anything more specific, but they denied it. They only suspected that it probably had something to do with Phoebe's returning memory, but they didn't know anything for sure.
Ridge and Taylor approached the conference room. Just before they entered, Taylor stopped him.
"Are you really sure you want to go through with your idea?!"
"Yes, of course! Do you have any concerns? Don't say you suddenly feel sorry for Rick?!"
"No, definitely not. But the whole thing is pretty tricky and Brooke certainly won't be happy about it!"
"I can't take that into account now. I'm still of the opinion that the entire family has a right to know what a lousy act Rick is pulling here. I'm really looking forward to his explanation! And now come on, they're waiting for us!"
Indeed, everyone looked at Ridge and Taylor with expectant eyes as the two also took their seats. Brooke eyed them both disapprovingly. She didn't like that Ridge and Taylor were teaming up again. No matter what this family meeting was about, Taylor was obviously already in on it and that really bothered Brooke. Ridge spoke up.
"I asked you all to meet us here because we need to discuss something important with you. Unfortunately, to this day, Phoebe can't remember anything concerning the accident or the last few hours before and the doctor has prepared us for the possibility that maybe Phoebe's memory might not come back at all."
"That sounds horrible!" Stephanie interfered.
Everyone else also showed very worried faces. However, Ridge and Taylor watched from the corner of their eyes, Rick and Brooke too, rather seemed relieved. Thomas and Steffy, on the other hand, stared at their parents totally confused. They didn't understand what was going on here. Steffy was about to say something when Taylor discreetly nudged her and made clear signals to her and Thomas not to say anything and just to play along.
"Nonetheless.." Ridge continued. ".. Phoebe has a lot of questions about the accident. However, the doctor says we shouldn't overwhelm her, especially now in the recovery phase. We have to be very sensitive and think carefully about what we tell her. To hear the whole truth at once, would be too much for her to cope. For this reason, we want to sit down with all of you so that we can discuss together how much we're going to tell Phoebe for now. It is extremely important that everyone is on the same page and that none of you accidentally spill the beans when you visit Phoebe."
Everyone nodded in understanding. Ridge pulled out some documents and turned to Rick with a forced smile.
"Would you please be so kind as to tell us once more how the accident happened?" Rick raised his eyebrow.
"Why should I tell you all this again?" he asked defiantly. "I've already repeated what happened more than enough!"
"Yes, of course...I don't feel comfortable asking you to do it again. But I think it's important that we all hear it one more time and then we decide together what we tell Phoebe and what we should keep quiet for now."
Everyone now looked expectantly at Rick and he realized that there was no way out for him. As Rick reluctantly told his story again, Ridge kept glancing at the papers in front of him. After Rick was finished, Ridge clarified a few points.
"So Phoebe was in a good mood when she came to your office?! She just wanted to greet you after her long absence and then in the car while you were driving she suddenly went crazy for no reason?!"
Rick was silent for a moment.
"Well...it's possible that I made a thoughtless comment. In any case, Phoebe totally freaked out. I had no chance to react." "So that means Phoebe immediately attacked you and didn't ask you to stop beforehand?!"
Rick hesitated again. He swallowed. The many questions became more and more alarming for him.
"No! As I said, she started screaming and then she grabbed the steering wheel." Ridge and Taylor exchanged meaningful glances.
"How did Phoebe come to ride in your car? She arrived at your office with her own car."
"Phoebe was just telling me a story about her trip when I realized we were pretty late for the party. So I offered her a ride so she could finish her story."
"I think it's enough now, Ridge!" Brooke chimed in. "Rick has now described in every detail how the accident happened! We should concentrate on what we say to Phoebe. I advocate telling her as little as possible. Too much information would only burden her unnecessarily."
"I'll get to Phoebe in a moment!" Ridge looked at Rick intently. "And you're sure you have nothing more to add?!" Rick looked him straight in the eyes.
"I have said everything!"
"Well, whatever! The version Rick just gave us agrees with his written statement to the police. Lt. Baker was so kind to give me a copy of your report. There's only one tiny catch to the whole story. It's only partially true. You lied about some key details, Rick!"
"That's not true! Rick is telling the truth!"
"Are you sure about that Brooke?!"
Ridge glanced straight at her, Brooke avoided his gaze. Everyone else was rather perplexed. Eric now wanted to know more.
"What makes you think Rick lied to us?"
"Quite simply, I wasn't completely honest with you. Phoebe can remember the accident very well in every little detail. Mostly, Phoebe confirmed Rick's statement. She also admitted that she lost her temper and grabbed the steering wheel and put her foot on the pedals. However, her version differs from Rick's one in some important points! According to Phoebe, the argument between them didn't just start in the car, but already in Rick's office. She didn't go to him because she wanted to catch up. She wanted to confront him for everything he had done to her in the past. She wanted him to feel her desperation and frustration. She was in an exceptional emotional situation. Rick himself realized that Phoebe obviously wasn't even able to drive anymore and therefore he offered her a ride. So he saw how upset Phoebe was and he still got in that car with her and drove off! Phoebe then yelled at him he should stop and talk to her. But Rick just drove straight on at breakneck speed. Phoebe then became more and more angry and finally lost control of herself and that's why the whole accident happened!"
Everyone stared at Rick in shock.
"Is that true?" his father wanted to know. Brooke tried to placate.
"Basically Phoebe said exactly what Rick told us. She even confirmed that she caused the accident!" Ridge became furious.
"Didn't you hear what I just said, Brooke?! Your son may not have caused the accident, but he could have prevented it! He shouldn't have gotten in that car with Phoebe and driven off in the first place if he had realized how miserable she was. He should have guessed that this couldn't go well! Rick knows very well that if he had reacted more reasonably, this accident would never have happened and that's why he lied to all of us!"
Now Stephanie couldn't contain herself any longer. She jumped up and grabbed Rick.
"I knew it right away! You bastard are responsible Phoebe almost died! And it's only because of you that my two granddaughters now only have one kidney and have to be careful for the rest of their lives."
Rick was frozen. He didn't even know what to say in his defense. Thorne and Eric pulled Stephanie away from Rick. Rick finally stammered out in desperation.
"I didn't want any of this to happen and I certainly didn't want Phoebe to get seriously injured. I love her!"
"Love?!" Taylor jumped up. "Don't you dare use the name of one of my daughters and the word 'love' in the same sentence. You don't even know what love is!"
"Interesting that this comes from you, Taylor!" Brooke hissed at her. "You'd better keep your feet still on this point. And while we're talking about the truth, maybe you'd like to tell everyone what Rick and Phoebe's argument was all about. Namely, the fact that you couldn't keep your hands off my son and jumped into bed with him!"
While Taylor slumped meekly, Steffy and Thomas exchanged horrified glances. Steffy jumped up.
"What do you mean, Rick and Phoebe fought over my mom?? Rick! You told me Phoebe was angry because I told her about our kiss. You made me feel like I was the one to blame for the accident. That it never would have happened if I had kept my mouth shut about this kiss. Did you lie to me? Do you know how miserable I felt? I couldn't sleep for many nights because I had terrible remorse!"
Steffy broke down crying. Taylor took her in her arms and stroked her hair soothingly. Thomas walked up to Rick and grabbed him by the collar.
"You really are the most disgusting guy who ever set foot on this planet. First you almost killed my sister and then you blame it on my other sister and my mother and you probably would have loved to find a way to blame me or my dad too! Just because you hate us all so much!"
Eric separated his son and grandson.
"Thomas, please calm down! It won't get any better if we all go after Rick one after the other."
"But he's right, Dad! There's only one reason for this whole drama! Rick's hatred of me and my family! Isn't it so Rick?!"
Rick glowered at Ridge for a while. His eyes narrowed more and more.
"Indeed! You can't even imagine how much I hate you Ridge Forrester! I hate you because my childhood was hell thanks to you! I hate you for the fact that you've been stealing the attention and love of my mother for decades without even deserving it! I hate you because you never gave me a real chance! At first I was always just 'Little Ricky' to you who didn't need to be taken seriously and later you always only saw in me the troublemaker! A.creep who preys on your sweet little girls! You never showed any interest in me! You didn't care for one second that I was injured as well and that I could have died! You were only interested in Phoebe's well-being! You probably wouldn't have shed a single tear if I had died! And without even asking, you immediately blamed me for the accident! If I had told you what happened from the beginning, you probably would have thrown me in jail by yourself just to get your satisfaction! And you two..."
He now stared at Taylor and Steffy. "It served you right that you felt guilty! It was a pleasure to watch your suffering! Taylor, you never understood how much I loved you. I believed in a future with you and you just dumped me and why? Because of Ridge, who didn't even want you! And you Steffy didn't even give us the chance to get closer to each other. You immediately only cared about your father. That he wouldn't tolerate it! I gave you both my heart and you sided with that idiot! All my life, you all have only caused me pain and suffering and I wanted to give it back to you just once in my life! You should suffer the same way I suffered!"
After his outburst, Rick fell into his chair. The room was dead quiet. Nobody could really believe what had just burst out of Rick. Bridget stepped to her little brother and shook him.
"Is that why you came to see Phoebe? Did you want to see her suffer too?! Did it make you feel good to see her collapse?! Even if you are my brother, but that is really the most disgusting thing!"
She told the others about the drama that had unfolded in Phoebe's hospital room. How Rick had refused to leave the room even though Phoebe was almost unresponsive. Finally Eric stood up.
"I think we've all heard enough for today! It's best if we all try to calm down and take a breath! Rick, you better come with me! I think for some people here it would be unbearable to be in the same room with you any longer. We will all decide together how everything will continue when we can think more clearly again!"
Eric had spoken very calmly but decisively. Rick didn't dare argue and followed his father in silence.
After Eric left the room with Rick, everyone took a deep breath. Everyone had to process what they had just witnessed and heard. Steffy had calmed down a bit, but she still looked pretty shaken. Taylor asked Thomas to take Steffy back to her room. Thorne and Felicia accompanied the siblings; they wanted to visit Phoebe anyway. Brooke was completely horrified by the scene that had just occurred.
"Ridge! Can I talk to you for a moment, alone!"
The two went outside. Stephanie and Taylor exchanged meaningful glances. Both assumed the next fight was about to break out.
"What was this about?! Why did you have to embarrass Rick in front of the whole family?! We could have sorted everything out by ourselves!"
"I thought it was appropriate for everyone to know about Rick's foul play! He finally has to face the consequences for his behavior! Now everyone finally knows what a lousy liar Ricky Boy truly is!"
"Don't talk so disrespectfully about him! He's still my son! And I think it's absolutely disgusting the way you just treated him! Rick may have made a mistake, but he's honestly sorry! He's been suffering terribly ever since the accident!"
"Say, weren't you listening to how Rick was talking to me, Taylor and our kids. He has nothing but hatred and contempt for us and he would do anything to harm our family. He is the devil in person! " Brooke was horrified.
"That's enough, Ridge! My son is not a monster! He's just really hurt and confused. Think about what he's been through lately. Taylor ditched him very brutally, and that took a toll on him. And he never really got a chance from you. You always accused him of some kind of scheme. Be it the fake paralysis or that he is just manipulating me or now Phoebe's accident. For you, Rick is always the culprit. But Rick isn't a bad person. He felt terribly guilty about his lies. But he was afraid to tell the truth. He didn't want to go to prison!" Ridge came to a horrible realization.
"You knew?! You knew Rick wasn't telling the truth?! Since when Brooke?"
"It doesn't matter now, Ridge!"
"Since when?" Ridge didn't let go.
"Since the day Rick signed the protocol."
"You let Rick sign a false statement?!"
"Well, it was more like I told him to sign the protocol." Ridge stared at her, dumbfounded. "But please try to understand me. I was terribly afraid for him. I had to protect him. He is my son and I would do anything for him and essentially he was telling the truth!"
"I can't believe it! I can't believe you're siding with that bastard again instead of being on my side. You betrayed me, Brooke!"
"No, that is not true!"
"Oh yes, you betrayed me! You lied to me the whole time! You knew what really happened and you didn't say a word! You even accused me of targeting Rick! Don't you remember what we swore to each other when we got engaged?! That from now on we would be honest with each other and that nothing and no one would stand between us. Apparently this vow means nothing to you at all!"
"That's not true Ridge! I love you! But I also have a responsibility to Rick! I couldn't just hand him to the police. You and Taylor would have done the exact same thing for Phoebe if it had been the other way around.
"We would never have had to make Phoebe sign an untrue protocol. Phoebe would have told the truth from the start. She also told the truth now when she could remember everything again. Taylor and I have raised our kids to be honest and sincere!"
"You have to say that after the stunt Thomas and Steffy pulled off the other day!" Ridge laughed.
"You don't want to seriously compare this harmless childish prank with what Rick did! He signed a false statement, that's a crime! But that's not even the worst for me! The worst thing for me is that you betrayed me once more!"
Brooke burst into tears
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" She held his face in her hands and looked at him pleadingly. "Can't we just put this all behind us and start all over again?" Ridge pulled away.
"It's not that easy, Brooke. I need some space to process this whole story!" Ridge left Brooke and went back to the others. Brooke was stunned.
Late at night, when their parents and Thomas had already left, Steffy and Phoebe sat together on Phoebe's bed. Steffy was telling her in detail about the family meeting and Rick's outburst. Phoebe was appalled at the contempt with which Rick spoke of her family. She was incredibly angry with him when she found out from Steffy that he tried to blame both her sister and her mother. Steffy still shivered when she thought about it.
"You know, after Rick told me how the fight supposedly started, I blamed myself terribly and really thought that I alone was to blame for the accident. That you would never have gone to Rick if I hadn't told you about the kiss."
Phoebe reached for her sister's hand.
"Steffy, you have to believe me! Whatever Rick said, not a word of it is true! I would have gone to Rick in any case. I had been planning to do this for a long time. During my trip I always imagined what it would be like to throw all my anger and disappointment in his face. I wanted to confront him finally with all my pain. And I was desperate to find out whether he ever loved me at all. When I think about his behavior that night and how he behaved the last time I don't think Rick is capable of truly loving anyone!"
"I think so too!" Steffy agreed. "The guy is just completely disturbed! In fact, he's not worth it to us even giving him a second thought!" Phoebe nodded.
"Let's swear to each other that Rick will never come between us again. No matter what charm offensive he launches!" Phoebe held out her little finger to her sister.
"Pinky swear!"
"Pinky swear!" Steffy checked in. The two sisters hugged each other.
"Steffy, did you donate a kidney to me just because you felt so terribly guilty?"
"No, I would definitely have donated my kidney to you anyway! You are my sister, my twin sister! I would have done everything to make you feel better again and so would Mom, Dad and Thomas. We would never have allowed it to lose you forever . Without you our family would never have been whole again!"
Even after Steffy had long fallen asleep at her side, Phoebe thought about these last words for a long time. As frightening as the accident was, she had experienced more love and warmness from all sides in the last few days than she had in a long time. Phoebe feels great gratitude for her family.
After Steffy and she were at peace again, another thought occupied Phoebe. There were still some issues between her and her mother. Since Phoebe came out of her coma, they had never really talked about the accident or the whole story with Rick. But Phoebe still had a lot on her mind about this. So she waited over the next few days for a good opportunity to talk with her mother. One day she saw her chance. She tried to signal Steffy through eye contact that she should steer her father out of the room. After some effort, Steffy finally understood what Phoebe wanted from her. She got out of bed.
"I suddenly have a strong craving for some cocoa. Will you please help me, Dad?"
"Of course! I could use some coffee too." Ridge helped his daughter sit up and put on her robe. Then he led her out the door.
While Phoebe was still thinking about how to broach the subject of 'Rick', Taylor turned her attention to her daughter. "So Steffy and your father are gone. What do you want to talk to me about, sweety?!" Phoebe stared at her in amazement, Taylor laughed. "Oh come on Phoebe, you're not kidding me! You blinked so hard at Steffy that it was completely obvious to me that you were up to something."
"You really can't be fooled, Mom!"
"Well, I know you guys! So what's on your mind?"
Phoebe fidgeted uncertainty. She still couldn't think of a good place to start. Taylor guessed what she wanted to talk to her about.
"Is this about Rick?" Phoebe nodded.
"Yes! I've already talked to Steffy about it because Rick also told her some horrible stories. Mom, I want you to know that neither Steffy nor you are to blame for the argument or the accident. It's true I was still mad about this thing between you and Rick, but I was mad at Rick not you!"
Taylor reached for her hand.
"It means a lot to me that you say that, Phoebe. But nonetheless, I will always feel guilty. To this day, I don't know what got into me that made me ever get involved with Rick. But most of all, I will never forgive myself for how much I hurt you. Because that was the last thing I ever wanted."
"I know, Mom, and to be honest, I was pretty disappointed for a long time. I kept telling myself that if Rick hadn't fallen in love with you, we would have had another chance to be happy. But now I know what an idiot Rick really is and that I can be happy to be rid of him for good. I also realized... he's not worth our relationship being ruined because of him. After all, I only have one mom!"
Taylor fought back her tears. She wrapped Phoebe in her arms.
"And you are my unique, wonderful, beautiful daughter. I love you so much baby! I can't tell you how much I love you!" Phoebe snuggled up to her mother.
"I love you too, Mom and I know you love me! I felt it when I woke up from the coma. The first thing I felt was your hand and your love and they gave me the strength to come back!" Taylor stroked her curls.
"You've been so incredibly brave this whole time! I'm so proud of you!"
"I guess I inherited that from you. After all, you've already escaped death twice. So I thought I had to manage it somehow as well."
They just sat there for a while, in a warm embrace. Then Taylor noticed Phoebe was fighting more and more with her tiredness. She laid her back on the pillows.
"You really need to sleep now! You still need a lot of rest!"
"Will you sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' to me?" Phoebe begged in a little girl's voice.
Taylor smiled. She used to often sing this song to the girls before they fell asleep. She sat at the headboard next to Phoebe, who snuggled up to her again. Taylor had just finished the first verse when the door opened. Steffy and Ridge came back into the room. Steffy pouted.
"I don't believe it! You're singing 'Little Star' without me??"
She was deeply offended. She rushed to the bed and shooed Phoebe to the side.
"Move it! I want to be with Mom too!"
Phoebe willingly made room for her sister and Taylor now held her two girls in her arms and started again.
Ridge sat down in the armchair and watched the scene with emotion. The image blurred in his mind's eye and he saw Steffy and Phoebe as little girls, lying in their mother's arms, just like now. Taylor, on the other hand, was the happiest person in the world. A huge stone fell from her heart. She couldn't even put her happiness into words. She was incredibly relieved that Phoebe and her had finally resolved all their differences. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to hold her two daughters in her arms.