The Bold and The Beautiful Transcript Friday 2/24/06

Provided By Boo
Proofread by Becky

[Missing the first few seconds of today’s show.]

Nick: Yes.

Jackie: What a nightmare for you, Nicky. I mean, first Nicole, and now -- no. No, the first tragedy was losing R.J. and Hope.

Nick: Mother, there's really no point in discussing this, is there?

Jackie: You and Bridget -- you told Felicia that you were going to bring up the boy. Has that changed?

Nick: Everything's changed. Why would he want me to raise that boy? The truth is, Mother, I really don't know if it makes sense to really want to.

*****************************************

Bridget: Whatever you think of Nick, he loves me.

Dante: The way a husband loves a wife? If a loving friendship is enough to start a family, why not you, me and Dominick?

Bridget: Dante, you're a father now. I'm going to be so disappointed if all this child means to you is leverage with me. Just forget about you and me. Forget about me and Nick. This is about Dominick.

Dante: How? You say that Nick wants to adopt. How do I know that the two of you are still going to be together in a year from now?

Bridget: Well, think about everything we've already been through.

Dante: I do. More than you know.

Bridget: Well, then you realize that it's only made us stronger.

Dante: I can see that you're not the scared person I met in Rome. I think loving Nick has made you stronger. Maybe strong enough to walk away.

Bridget: I came here tonight to discuss Dominick's future with you, and all you can tell me is that you think I should break up my marriage?

Dante: You know, I could never imagine myself telling you this, but I think you should leave. I don't want to say things that are going to hurt you. And I don't know how to avoid it.

Bridget: I'm just trying to think of the alternatives here. Fine, you bought some furniture. But do you think that that's going to be it?

Dante: I don't have all the answers.

Bridget: Well, how could you? I am not trying to be cruel, but fatherhood wasn't even something that you thought about until a couple of days ago.

Dante: Fatherhood on my own, no. And I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm making room for my son in my heart, in my life and in my home.

Bridget: What kind of home is that going to be? You're trying to juggle two careers here. One as an artist and a new designer. Is a nanny's face going to be the most familiar one to him?

Dante: Why don't you go door to door? You and Nick have money, connections. I'm sure you can convince another family you can raise their child better than they can.

Bridget: Now I've offended you. This just -- it's not just anyone's child, this is my sister's. Felicia's. She asked Nick and me to step in, and I don't want to exclude you, but Dante, honestly, come on. The only connection you have to Dominick is the night he was conceived.

Dante: That's pretty much the essential one, isn't it ? It meant a family wasn't part of the deal. That's all I'm saying.

Dante: Even if I started adoption proceedings tomorrow, how do I know that nick wants to adopt my son? Have you asked him that?

Bridget: He loves that boy.

Dante: He just wants a son named after him.

Bridget: This is getting us nowhere.

Dante: Yeah, you're right about that.

Bridget: I didn't expect you to have an answer for me tonight.

Dante: Do I seem undecided to you?

Bridget: Look, we both want what's best for Dominick. And so does Nick. Could we please just agree to concentrate on figuring that out?

Dante: Sure.

Bridget: Thanks. I'm going to call you later, all right?

*****************************************************

Ridge: Felicia and Dante?

Stephanie: Safe to say, that one wasn't expected.

Brooke: The point is, whatever happened between Felicia and Dante, it obviously wasn't a committed relationship. So Felicia has say so about how she wants her son raised, and she wants him with Nick and Bridget.

Stephanie: The point is, Dante is not going away.

Ridge: What does any of this have to do with Brooke and me? I warned you, Mother. I'm not going to suffer through anymore of your interference anymore.

Stephanie: Oh, you'd rather suffer through a marriage with her, like your father just had?

Brooke: If you're not going to support Brooke and I wanting to raise our son together, I don't want to hear anymore about it, okay?

Stephanie: If that's your objective, then why hasn't it happened? You've been running a full-court press since you walked out on Taylor, and where has it gotten you?

Brooke: That's none of your business, either.

Stephanie: You have to be asking yourself the same question, and I think, deep down, you know the answer. Hard as it is to believe -- she doesn't want you. She's moved on to "destiny, part two." Nick.

***********************************************

Jackie: Let's go out to dinner. Let's go someplace where's there's lots of people and music -- Chuck's bar. Nick, you've got to get out of this house. You've got to away from this house, away from these thoughts.

Nick: Dominick's sleeping in the back, mother. Bridget wanted him to stay with us tonight. I should take him to Felicia's right now, that's what I should do.

Jackie: No. Why would you do that, if she gets some comfort from having him here?

Nick: Because I don't want her getting more attached to a child that we're going to lose.

Jackie: Dante has actually said that?

Nick: He doesn't have to say it, Mother. He's the father. He calls the shots. I don't want to sit around hoping for something that won't happen. I don't want to go through that disappointment again, and I certainly don't want it for my wife.

Bridget: Hi, Jackie.

Jackie: Hello, Bridget. I'm going to go.

Bridget: When was Dominick's last bottle?

Nick: About an hour ago.

Bridget: I'm just going to go check on him.

Jackie: Dominick's going to be fine, you know? Whatever happens, he's going to be fine. The question is, will Bridget? Will you?

Bridget: I've never seen Dante like this before.

Nick: He's never had anything like this at stake before. I know that life, Bridget. I've lived it.

Bridget: I really think that we can work something out.

Nick: He asked you to help raise the child with him, didn't he? Does that surprise you?

Bridget: He doesn't know how to be a father, Nick.

Nick: That's really not one of the qualifications here, is it?

Bridget: I just think the word "adoption" scared him.

Nick: Well, it scares me, too.

Bridget: Honey, look, if we just give him a while to remember why Felicia chose us, and why we took on that commitment --

Nick: No.

Bridget: No? No what?

Nick: You made a commitment to be the mother to my child -- to my son. I don't have a son. Therefore, you are released from that commitment.

Bridget: Nick, Dominick didn't vanish after that paternity test. He still needs us.

Nick: He needs a home. And he'll have one. But it's not going to be with us. I did not sign on to raise another man's child.

**********************************************

Brooke: How would you know what I want?

Stephanie: There isn't anyone in this world who knows better than I do.

Brooke: Yeah, that is your fantasy. You think that I'm so low that there's nothing that your superior intelligence can't penetrate. Well, if you think that there's nothing wrong with calmly arranging for my daughter to lose her husband on the heels of losing her child, then you're the monster, Stephanie, not me.

Stephanie: She's already lost him, and no one is trying to assign blame here. He wants to be a good husband. You want him to be a good husband. But he's staying with her out of love for you.

Brooke: You don't --

Stephanie: Not because he loves her.

Brooke: Oh, god, you don't give a damn about Nick's happiness or mine. It is so obvious to see what is on your agenda. First order of business is to cement that little boy into the Forrester family any way possible. And how do you do that? You put Bridget and Dante together. Oh, but Bridget already has a husband. So what do you do there? Second on the agenda, you push Brooke over to Nick in order to destroy all hope of Ridge and me getting together in the future.

Stephanie: You're not buying any of this version of reality, are you?

Ridge: Mother, what the hell are you doing here, anyway? Brooke's not going to take any advice from you.

Stephanie: Well, she'd better take it from somebody. Look, there's nothing more destructive than you being bad, except when you try to be good. Your daughter is stuck in a marriage with a man who at best gives her a parental interest. And that poor, dumb S.O.B., Nick, is miserable doing his duty by you. You want -- you want to join this casualty list?

Brooke: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the thought that you can't abide. This really has nothing to do with my unconsummated romance with Nick. This is about your unconsummated romance with your oldest son. You still wish he was a little baby, sitting on your lap with his diaper. Goochie, goochie, goo. You know what, Stephanie, he's an independent man for god sakes! So you have your alter ego, Taylor -- the beautiful, perfect Taylor, who isn't so perfect after all. But she listens to everything that you say. And she tells you everything. So to you, she is perfect. And the next best thing to being in bed with Ridge yourself.

Stephanie: You're just going to stand there and let her talk to me this way, aren't you? The woman that the whole world watched sleep her way through my family?

Brooke: Stop it. I am so tired of that old crap. I'm sick of it. The Forrester men came at me like a stampede. Years of living with you, Stephanie, was like aversion therapy! They had to find a woman that was nothing -- nothing -- like you. And you, don't you dare think you're going to sit this one out on the fence like you normally do. You either stand up with me and with our children, or you let your mother take you home and tuck you in.

Ridge: Honor thy father, honor thy mother. Isn't that one of the ten commandments?

Stephanie: Yes, it is, and you know it is.

Ridge: Well, then they can just haul me off to hell, I don't give a damn. I've tried and I've tried, Mother, and I'm done. All you want is unquestioned control here. And you're gonna lie, you're gonna nag, you're gonna use your guilt card until you get it. Well, your opinion of Brooke, or anything else for that matter, doesn't matter to me one bit.

Stephanie: Okay, pay no attention to me. Forget everything, except the one truth that you know. She is opening the door to you because she doesn't want anybody to think she's responsible for her daughter's marriage breaking up.

Brooke: Unbelievable!

Ridge: Bridget is of no relation to you, Mother. And your usual excuse for interfering -- "for the good of the family" -- doesn't exist. You don't even have that.

Stephanie: What, I can't be concerned about your happiness?

Ridge: Well, why don't we just put that to the test, shall we? Okay, I didn't really expect to have an audience, but here we go. My mother wants to care about me, feel good about my happiness, I'm going to let her. And if it proves something to you, so much the better. I want our life back, Brooke. I want us to be a family again. So I'll ask you one more time -- will you be my wife?

***********************************************

Bridget: It's late. This has been one of the hardest days of my life, and yours. I don't think we should be talking about this right now.

Nick: We should, Bridget. We can't go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow thinking we understand each other when we don't.

Bridget: Well, you can't possibly be saying that Dominick doesn't mean anything to you now.

Nick: I am saying that I don't feel right about keeping him from his natural father.

Bridget: But Dante knows he needs help. We didn't get into specifics, but I think he would be open to an arrangement where Dominick lives with us.

Nick: For how long, though? How long do we allow ourselves to get attached to this little boy before he changes his mind? Which could happen at any time in the next 18 years.

Bridget: Well, I think that's better than just giving up.

Nick: It's not giving up. It's reality.

Bridget: I don't understand you right now.

Nick: Well, I think I understand you, and it scares me. Because I think part of you is clinging onto this boy so you don't feel the pain of the loss of Nicole and all of the hopes that we pinned on her.

Bridget: I am feeling the loss of that child that I carried in my body. Dominick is allowing me to try to get past that so I can see what a life would look like without my daughter. And now you're telling me that I can't love my son?

Nick: No. I am telling you that he is not our son. But we can have a son of our own.

Bridget: You don't even know that. But even if we could, why does that child have to replace Dominick? Why can't I love Dominick, no matter where his DNA came from? Why can't you?

Nick: I can. I can love that boy more every day. I can build dreams that every father dreams to have with their son. Right up until Dante and a judge show up and they decide that he is no longer ours, and all of these wounds that we feel right now will be opened up again. I can do that. But I'm not going to.

Bridget: Oh, I think you would if --

Nick: If what? Bridget?

Bridget: I think you would if this marriage was important enough to you.

Nick: You're saying that I'm not committed to this marriage?

Bridget: No I -- I think we're both desperately committed. Not to the marriage that we actually have, but to the marriage that we keep wanting to have. The one that Nicole stood for, and Dominick stood for. They were the glue that was holding us together, Nick. And now, there's no more glue.

Back to The TV MegaSite's B&B Site