Best Laid Plans Chapter Eighteen: The Same Day By Alwayshuntress Eric’s Office “Oh, come on. Isn’t it obvious?” Rick squeezed his little sister’s shoulder before gesturing at his father. “They’ve been at odds for years and ever since Steffy got back, she’s been making it hard for Hope to be here. It’s understandable, really. Unprofessional, but understandable. Hope’s got the life she wanted. The line, the man, the fans… and Steffy’s, well…” He shrugged and let his voice die, opting to let silence do the work when he saw how angry he was making Ridge. “I haven’t seen any signs of Steffy making trouble for Hope. In the past, yes, maybe there was a bit of that, but not in years.” Eric looked back over at Hope, clearly waiting on her to continue. “He’s right. I went there to talk to Wyatt about Steffy. Steffy’s been irrational lately and I was worried about his relationship with her.” She saw Pam roll her eyes and bit her lip. It did sound pretty lame, especially given her history with him. “Look, I know it’s none of my business who Steffy dates, but he’s family and I didn’t want her hurting him just to stick it to Liam.” “Steffy wouldn’t do that.” Thomas shot his father a look to see if he was buying into Hope’s story. He didn’t seem to be, but like Eric, Ridge had always given her the benefit of the doubt when it came to her dramas. “I don’t think you know your sister as well as you think you do, Thomas.” Rick would have said more, but Hope reached up and squeezed the hand still on her shoulder to stop him. She needed everyone in this room on her side if she could pull it off and Rick wasn’t going to help things by pissing Steffy’s family off. “It doesn’t matter what you guys think, it’s what I thought and that’s why I went there.” “Fair enough.” The middle son decided to get the conversation back on track. This was the problem with his family. Too many egos in the room and not enough common sense to know when to set them aside. “But how did that turn into pictures of you two kissing?” “It didn’t. I would have stopped him before he could. He just leaned in as though he was going to kiss me and whispered in my ear instead.” Hope blushed, equal parts anger and shame staining her cheeks. She still couldn’t believe how easily he’d manipulated her. “He was trying to make me uncomfortable.” “It’s certainly possible.” Thomas turned his laptop around that had the picture pulled up. “While it does look like they’re embracing, you can’t see their mouths due to the angle.” “Unfortunately, saying they almost kissed won’t help us. Someone’s going to end up getting thrown under the bus for this.” Eric threw the pen that he’d been playing with down onto his desk. This wasn’t something they needed right now. Not when they were still dealing with the fall-out from Brooke and Bill. He was so sick of scandals and his company. “It can’t be Hope. Not with all of the money we’ve sunk into Hope For The Future.” “We still don’t know who took the picture, or leaked it for that matter.” Thorne rubbed his eyes. He hated how cloak and dagger his family and their associates could be. There never seemed to be a time when they weren’t embroiled in some nasty scandal or fighting to keep one from getting made public. “We may not know who took it, but leaking it to embarrass Hope is just Steffy’s style.” At Rick’s accusatory words, Pam winced and sat down and grabbed a lemon bar. If the boys wanted to fight, there was nothing she could do about it. Eric’s Home “Well, you said you wanted answers.” Brooke rubbed her hands nervously as she sat down. Eric had forgotten to close down the laptop he kept on his desk. Something had happened at the company, which meant for the first time she could remember, she’d been left completely on her own. She’d been paying attention lately when the others had been online, so navigating to the search engine was a breeze. It astonished her how little the people around her treated her like she had a brain. She was a chemist and apparently a savvy business woman according to Eric, and yet… She shook her head. This wasn’t the time to dwell, this was the time for answers. Answers that were apparently going to be easier to come by than she’d expected. Clicking on the first link, she started scanning an ‘article’ on her recent romance with a man called Bill Spencer. Forrester Creations “I’ll see you later.” Maya smiled up into Oliver’s eyes, appreciating how hard he’d been working to distract her. “So we’re still on for dinner?” He’d planned a romantic dinner out in the hopes that a real date would help get her mind off her troubles and he smiled when she lifted her mouth to his for a warm, inviting kiss that was over way too fast. “What do you think?” “I think that I don’t like to take anything for granted when it comes to you.” Oliver brushed a curl out of the model’s eyes before stepping back. It was so easy and simple between them and he’d never been happier just letting things flow. “Good.” She laughed softly as the curl fell right back. “I’ll get these promos over to Rick for you. See you after work.” Reaching out, she squeezed his arm before walking out of the room. This was going to be one of the days where her acting skills would come in handy. With a deep sigh, she plastered a smile on her face as she rounded the corner to the executive offices where she was promptly knocked on her butt. “Oh, my God. Maya. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” “Clearly.” How many times had he done this to her now? If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought he did it on purpose just to get to talk to her. “I missed some calls from Eric while I was dealing with a personal issue this morning and apparently they were important.” Kneeling down, Carter tried to help by scooping the contents of her purse back in the bag while she picked up the promos and mockups she’d been carrying. “Hm. I wonder if it has to do with why there were a few extra reporters out front than usual?” She’d noticed them, but reporters lurking and hoping for a sign of Brooke was standard fare right now and they never bothered her since she wasn’t one of the scandal mavens. “Probably.” He sat back on his heels as he reached for the last thing that was still on the floor. Gently picking up the photo, he stared down into the cherubic smiling face of the little girl before handing it carefully to Maya. “Thank you.” Maya couldn’t help the tears that sprung to her eyes even as she wiped them away quickly. “Are you okay?” Now that he was paying attention, he could tell that she really wasn’t. “I’ll be fine. It’s just… today’s her birthday. She would have been seven years old.” She smiled tremulously when Carter wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. “That was taken the morning of the accident and it’s hard to believe she’ll never get any older than in that picture.” Carter closed his eyes, struggling with his conscience before stepping back and letting Maya get composed. His brother was going to kill him. “Look, I have to handle whatever this is right now, but I really need to talk to you afterward.” “Okay?” The spokesmodel’s brows drew together as she registered for the first time that Carter wasn’t looking too good either. “Carter? Is everything all right?” “Just meet with me later. It’s important.” She stared after him in bemusement as Steffy came tearing down the hallway, agilely avoiding running into him as she headed into Eric’s office, with him close behind her. “That was strange.” Eric’s Office Eric looked at Rick, his irritation at his youngest son’s short-sightedness causing him to be sharper with him than he usually was. “Don’t be stupid. Steffy would never put this company at risk.” “Dad, has it occurred to you that you give the benefit of the doubt far too easily?” Rick loved his father, but he didn’t have a whole lot of respect for his people reading abilities. The blonde man fought hard to suppress the obvious annoyance at his father’s automatic dismissal, knowing that it wouldn’t help him with his argument. “She did it before with the sign and Steffy’s the only one who profits from doing this.” “And how do you think she’s doing that exactly?” The patriarch glanced over at his oldest son, impressed by the way Ridge was letting him take the lead when he clearly wanted to slug the younger man. Patting him on the back, Eric moved over to his desk where he sat down, waiting for the answer. “By making sure Liam doubts Hope. That’s how she operates – that’s her in.” Rick stood up and crossed his arms. He could tell by the looks around the room that he wasn’t making any inroads with his argument until Hope spoke up. “It’s true. I knew she hadn’t given up when she showed up on my wedding day. This is exactly the kind of thing she’d do to make me look bad.” Hope wiped away the tears that had fallen away and took a deep breath. “Are you suggesting she engineered pictures of you kissing your husband’s brother?” Ridge had fought the urge to knock his younger brother out, but he couldn’t keep quiet once Hope started blaming his daughter for her current predicament. “That IS pretty far fetched.” Thorne’s voice was quiet but firm as he accepted a cup of coffee from Pam. “That’s not the kind of thing Steffy would do. That’s the kind of thing Bill would.” Pam whispered her opinion to him since being silent wasn’t her forte, but she didn’t really want the hostility that was growing in the room to focus on her. “You know, that’s a good point.” Thorne looked over at his father, tilting his head in Pam’s direction. “This is exactly the kind of thing Bill would pull and he has an ax to grind with us right now.” “No.” Hope shook her head, refusing to believe her nemesis wasn’t the one responsible. “Steffy has spent years making my life miserable. Obviously she still wants Liam and this…” She started crying again. “This could do it.” “Excuse me?” All eyes turned to the statuesque brunette who was standing in the doorway, her expression both astonished and furious. Carter bent and whispered something in her ear from his position behind her, but she didn’t even register what it was. Steffy couldn’t believe she’d walked into a conversation where the little tramp was attempting to throw her under the bus. “Even if I still wanted that worm you married, I’d never put the company through this kind of scandal.” Had Steffy really just called Liam a worm? After everything that snake had done to keep them apart? Hope stood up and stalked past her brother to face-off against the taller woman, self-righteous anger putting color back in her cheeks. “You’d do anything to get what you want, but it’s not going to work this time. You’re going to admit what you did and you’re going to fix it.” The stock owner stared Hope down, working very hard to keep her temper under wraps. It wasn’t easy, but she’d worked hard to regain her family’s respect and as much as she wanted to swat the bratty blonde, she knew she needed to control the urge. “I’m not the one who keeps dragging this company’s name through the mud – that would be you and your family.” Eric’s Home Brooke’s hand shook as she clicked on another link. Her head was spinning as she stared at a beautiful wedding photo of her sister with the last man she herself had been romantically linked with. The accompanying article, if you could actually call it that, made her stomach churn. The often married and divorced Brooke Logan of Forrester Creations sizzling Brooke’s Bedroom line has once again proven how irresistible she (and her lingerie?) is to men. While the fashion powerhouse has racked up quite the list of conquests over the years, many of whom return like moths to the flame or addicts to the pipe for seconds and even thirds in spite of the heartbreak that always follows, she apparently really does like to keep it ‘all in the family.’ This time, her continued inability to step outside of her close knit circle of beaus meant breaking up her own sister’s happy home just months after her new paramour had a child with his wife. The break-up of the marriage led to the scorned wife leading the charge to remove Bill Spencer as the head of Spencer Publications. It was quite the coup for Katie Logan, who is now sitting pretty in the CEO seat while her errant Prince Charming spends his (now) free time in search of his not-so-innocent Cinderella, who has been hidden away since the accident. The public confirmation of the affair came by none-other-than Bill Spencer himself when he confessed their engagement at the scene of Brooke’s Aspen accident in an effort to stay close to his not-so-sweet lady love. Don’t get us wrong, as much as we loved the fairytale romance between Katie Logan and Billionaire mogul Bill Spencer Jr, this is one tawdry ‘happy ending’ that is guaranteed to keep us all glued to our seats as we wait and see what happens next. After all, the only thing Brooke Logan does better than weddings is scandals and she never fails to disappoint. “No. No. No. This isn’t me… I couldn’t do that.” Frantically clicking through link after link, she was inundated with more negative press concerning her last year since she’d mysteriously returned from her honeymoon minus her own husband Ridge Forrester. Their SEVENTH marriage and it hadn’t even been legalized apparently. Slamming the laptop closed, she stood up and frantically paced back and forth, the article playing over and over again in her head. Suddenly she screamed, picked up the lap top and threw it, watching it as it crashed through the patio doors before sinking to her knees and crying. “What kind of person am I?” GENERAL DISCLAIMER This is a work of Fan Fiction. BBUNIVERSE.NET is in no way affiliated with Bell-Phillip Television Productions, The Bold and the Beautiful, or CBS. The characters of The Bold and the Beautiful belong to Bell-Phillip Television Productions. The author of the fan fiction does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters belong to Bell-Phillip Television Productions, The Bold and the Beautiful, and CBS. bbuniverse.net/2014/03/15/best-laid-plans-chapter-eighteen-the-same-day/
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 22:27:31 +0000
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