Behind Steffy's house, on the beach, Hope goes over to Liam and Steffy (where they were just kissing) and yells at Liam for kissing Steffy after he just proposed to her. Thomas watches from nearby, behind a chain link fence, hunkered down. Steffy tells Hope that she kissed Liam, not the other way around, but Hope doesn't buy it. She and Liam argue again about Thomas and Douglas. She also thinks he still wants Steffy. They argue more until Hope says she can't take it any more and storms off. Ridge and Brooke kiss. They still can't get past their impasse about their relationship and Thomas. They keep arguing the same way they have been for weeks.
Steffy: I don't know where you stand with hope... but I hope you know what you mean to me. Can I give you a hug? Liam: [ Chuckles ] Yeah. Yes. Yeah. [ Phone rings ] [ Ring ] Steffy? Hey. Uh, it's your phone, right? Steffy: Ignore it. [ Ring ] Liam: Okay. [ Ring ] Liam: Hope. Uh-- Hope: Liam, what the hell are you doing? You proposed to me last night, and now you're kissing steffy. Ridge: See, this makes sense to me. We should be doing more of this and less talking about our kids. Brooke: I agree. I don't want to fight about our children anymore. Ridge: It's inevitable, isn't it? Brooke: We care about each other too much. We have to figure out a way to make this work. Ridge: I know, but how? Brooke: You will always love your son, and I will always protect my daughter, but the love for our children shouldn't be what's tearing us apart. Ridge: It shouldn't be, no. Brooke: I want you to come home, ridge. I want you to work this out with me somehow. Ridge: How can I do that? You hate my son. You can't even be around him, and now hope is cutting all ties with my grandson. You really think she's gonna do that? Brooke: Knowing how liam and hope feel about each other, I think that liam is putting a ring on her finger as we speak. Ridge: I want to make sure I get this right. So hope is rethinking the one thing that she wanted more than anything else-- to be douglas' parent. She doesn't want to do that anymore. Brooke: No. Ridge: So what, this is your idea? Whose idea is it? Brooke: Thomas is the only reason that you and I are apart, ridge. He's the reason why liam is so afraid for his family. Ridge: Okay. That is quite a thing to put on somebody, your new bride. You're asking her to not talk to certain people and you're telling her who not to parent? Brooke: She was surprised about the proposal and about the terms, but she wants to have a life with liam, and she wants to be a mother to douglas as well. Ridge: Okay, but liam didn't want to have any of that. Brooke: He walked out. Ridge: There's a shocker. Brooke: And he went over to steffy'S. So hope rushed over there to tell liam that she wanted to be in his life. She wanted to accept the proposal. So hope and liam are going to move on with their lives without thomas lurking in the background. Hope: You asked me to marry you, our daughter sleeping in the next room, and now this? Steffy: Hope, it's not what you think. I was hugging him, and I--I kissed him. Hope: I don't care. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear any excuses. There is no excuse. Liam: Hope, listen, you know how I feel about you. I literally got down on one knee last night. Hope: And I wanted to accept your proposal. I want to put that ring back on my finger more than anything. I want to marry you, liam, but the conditions that you set-- Liam: Yes. Yes. There were conditions because thomas can't be a part of our life anymore. He just can'T. Hope: I understand how you feel about thomas. But there is a little boy involved, liam, and he matters, too. I know it's a complicated situation, but I did not expect you to go running back to steffy. Ridge: My son keeps proving himself. For some reason, you don't want to see that. There's a whole side to him that you just want to ignore. Brooke: What do we talk about every time we're together? Who do we talk about? What is the common thread to all of our problems? It's thomas. Brooke: Ohh. Brooke: Still he's creating chaos, and he's creating friction. Ridge: No, you know what the common thread is? We talk about what happened six months ago. We don't talk about now at all. Brooke: Yeah. Well, we do talk about what happened months ago and the fear of what's gonna happen next and what's happening right now. Ridge: What's happening? We had a nice holiday, thomas has a new girlfriend, and things are on the upswing. Brooke: Mm-hmm. Well, that's what he says, and that's what he wants to make it look like. But I have a hard time believing it. Ridge: No, I know because you--you believe that he's gonna do something, right? Brooke: Oh, yes, I do, 100%. And I'm not the only one who feels that way. Ridge: [ Laughs ] Oh, that's fantastic. So now you and liam, you agree on things? Brooke: I just want thomas out of hope's life. I don't like how he's been insinuating himself in every area of her life. I just-- I worry about her, ridge. Ridge: You don't have to worry about her. He's not gonna hurt her. He's not gonna hurt anybody. Brooke: Do you think I like this? I don't want to think about what catastrophe's gonna happen next. I hate the fact that you're not here in your home. And I don't want to worry about hope anymore. I don't want to watch her suffer. And that's all because of thomas, because he continues to destroy people's lives. Ridge: Well, he hasn't destroyed mine. And I believe in my son. Brooke: I know. Maybe some day, when you see thomas the way I do, maybe that's the day that you'll come back to me. Hope: How did we even get here? One moment you want to marry me, and now... Liam: I still want to marry you, hope. Nothing's changed. Hope: After everything we fought through-- losing our daughter, finding out she was alive-- to just have it fall apart like this? Liam: This is my point. Thomas is the one who keeps coming between us. Hope: You know, I barely slept last night after you left. I just kept going over and over what you said to me, and, after talking to my mom this morning, I came over here ready to talk about the ultimatum. I was so sure that we would find a solution. Liam: We can find a solution. We can work all of this out. Hope: And then you went and did something like this. A year ago, we lost our daughter. But we made our way through that unspeakable tragedy. But our family was reunited because of douglas. And I'm not going to walk away from him. That boy needs me. Liam: I hear you. But you're not hearing me every time I tell you how concerned I am about thomas, and if our life together-- if our relationship is gonna work, that needs to come before everything else. Hope: Even douglas? Liam: Y-- Hope: He was the only one that told the truth about beth, that she was still alive. That little boy gave us our daughter back. He gave us our lives back. And he brought us together again. I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for him. I love you, liam, but I'm a mother to douglas now, and I am not going to abandon him. And after seeing the-- the two of you here today... together the way you were... I'm more sure of that now than ever. Ridge: I don't think I'm asking too much. I'm asking you to give credit where credit is due. Thomas is working hard. He's trying to figure it out. Look at him. He's-- he's designing with hope. Brooke: Which I'm not sure is a good idea. Ridge: Why? He's-- he's dating zoe. Brooke: Well... Ridge: Well, nothing, and he's a-- he's a good father. He's working on it. He's spending time with douglas. Brooke: He has been spending more time with douglas. I'll give him that. Ridge: Okay. Give him that. And maybe find it in here to give him a little more than that. You know why he's doing well right now? Because his family is there for him, there to support him. And you're part of that family. He's doing okay with steffy. He and hope, they're in a decent place. He's working at the company, but you, for whatever reason, you just want to sit here and wait for him to fail, wait for him to do something else. You know what that does to me? That tears me up. I'm over at my dad'S. Yeah, we're one big happy family. I'm not-- I'm not happy when I'm not with you. Brooke: Is shauna still there? Ridge: Yeah, shauna's there. She's-- she's in the guesthouse 'cause quinn and dad, they asked her to stay. We're not talking about shauna right now. We're talking about thomas. We're talking about us because if we don't figure this out, it's gonna be too late. Brooke: Too late? Ridge: You're in my heart. You know that. But so is my son. If you're gonna love me, you have to love thomas. Liam: I'm sorry you walked in on that. Steffy: It's my fault. Liam: Listen, I-- I'm sorry that you're hurting. This is not how I wanted things to go. But I meant everything I said last night. I want to be your husband. I want to be with you and beth forever. And yeah, hope, I have conditions. And, steffy, I'm sorry I keep on bringing this up in front of you, but thomas is obsessive, and that makes him dangerous. He wanted you so bad that he was willing to keep the truth about beth from both of you, and then he exploited your feelings with his kid, and then he tricked you into marrying him, and then, when his back was up against the wall, he kidnapped you. He actually kidnapped you. And despite all of this, you're still letting him pressure you into working with him? I mean, the guy has a history of insinuating himself into our lives, and he's doing it again, and I feel like I am watching a horror film where he just keeps on dragging you back in. Hope: I have not forgotten about what thomas has done. But I do believe he is trying to be a better person, that he is moving on. Liam: No, he's not. He's a psychopath. Hope: Oh. Okay. So we should just let douglas be with a psychopath. Liam: Douglas has a home, hope. He has a family that acts as a support system, and yes, we're always gonna be in his life, but you-- you c--you cannot be his mother if co-parenting him means a lifetime connection to his father because that is exactly what thomas wants. Hope: Thomas is the least of our problems right now, liam. I came over here today hoping to work things out with you, hoping to leave with a ring on my finger, that our hearts could guide us through this, but now I don't think that's ever going to happen. Because I saw with my own eyes how much you still want steffy. (Dog vo) my beneful superfood blend Brooke: I do believe in second chances, and I do want thomas to get better. [ Sighs ] I want to be able to forgive and accept. Ridge: Well, then let's do that. But don't do it for thomas. Don't do it for us. Do it for you because... carrying around that kind of resentment, that just can't be healthy. You got to know if I thought that he was dangerous in any way, I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't do it to your daughter. He just needs a little help, and if--if-- if we can do that, if we can find some forgiveness and move on, we can rip up those divorce papers and I can move back in. I--I don't want to be without you anymore. Liam: Hope, don'T. Don'T. Hope: I saw what I saw, liam. Liam: I know, but now you're talking about, like, ending things. Hope: You were kissing steffy. Liam: Yeah, and you keep bringing thomas deeper and deeper into our lives, and I can't live that way. Hope: Oh, apparently not because you spent the night here last night. Steffy: Hope-- Hope: You and--no. Steffy is obviously a beautiful woman. And you have a child together. And it's complicated with douglas and thomas, and instead of working through that, you want to take the easy way out. Liam: No. What I want is you. Hope: I don't think I'm an option anymore. That is why I went to italy all those years ago-- because of this. Liam: Whoa. You--italy now? That's-- okay. Okay. I-- I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I hurt you. And yes, you're right. I have a child with steffy. I slept on the couch with kelly last night, and you know something? It made me realize I don't see her enough anymore. Hope: Well, you'll be seeing more of her now. It just breaks my heart that you won't be there to see beth every morning when she wakes up. Liam: What--what is that? Don't say that. What are you talking about? Hope: How can we possibly fix this, liam? You were kissing her! You wanted to kiss her! And you're still in love with her, aren't you? Admit it, you love her. Ha! Liam: We have-- we have a child together, hope. Yeah, I love her. Hope: [ Chuckles ] I can't do this anymore. Steffy: Hope. Hope: Steffy, please. I don't want to play these games. And I don't want to share you with her. Last night you proposed to me, but today you broke me. You broke us. You brought back every fear, every insecurity that I have ever had about our relationship. It is all just right here, right in front of me. Liam: Okay, okay, listen. Listen, can we just... could we go home and talk? Can we take a breather here? Hope: What you put the both of us through, it's not fair. And the thing that keeps coming between us, liam, it isn't thomas. It's steffy. It always has been, and you've never gotten over her. So, as much as I will... always love you... I can't do this anymore. I--I can'T. Liam: Hope-- Hope: I won'T. Liam: Hope. Hope: [ Sobbing ]