From the Darkness

[Norm811]

Chapter One

Brooke looked at the elderly man standing in front of her blankly, trying to comprehend why he could possibly be here at Taylor’s dinner party of all places. When Taylor had phoned and invited Ridge and herself to dinner tonight she had thought that it was a chance to put the past troubles behind them. She had hoped that finally Taylor had realized that Brooke was no threat to her marriage to Nick, that her only concern was for the well being of Brooke’s son, oops, she meant Taylor’s son. When they had walked in and she had realized that they were the only guests, it had given her some pause. But when she had seen the amount of trouble Taylor had gone to with the decorations and the candles it had raised her hopes that they could all finally come together and put Jack’s needs first. Apparently she’d been way off.
“So what do you think?”
The sound of Taylor’s voice broke into her thoughts and she blinked several times as she turned to face the other woman. “Sorry? What do I think about what?”
“About the Celebrant, he’s the one you and Ridge had chosen isn’t he? I thought you two could be married here tonight.”
Ridge, Nick and Brooke turned to look at her incredulously, before Ridge said what they were all thinking. “Tonight? Isn’t that a little short notice?”
Taylor smiled through gritted teeth, “I thought that you wanted to get married? I thought that the only thing stopping you was the planning? Really, why don’t you just get married tonight, and then just hold a reception at a later date. I mean you two have done the big wedding at least four times now, why not just get it over with.”
“Oooh get it over with, how romantic.” Brooke sniped at Taylor, before turning and smiling apologetically at the celebrant. “I am very grateful that you made the time to come tonight, but…”
“Hold on Brooke.” Ridge interrupted before she could complete her sentence. “Why not?”
Brooke turned to him, the pale blue skirt of her cocktail dress swirling around her legs. “You think this is a good idea?”
Ridge shrugged his shoulders, “Well yes I do, Taylor has obviously gone to a lot of trouble to set this up for us and she is right, we’ve done the whole wedding fiasco before several times. Why not just get married? ”
She closed her eyes and took a calming breath, trying desperately to wipe the words ‘wedding fiasco’ from her mind before she responded. “I thought we had discussed this, for the first time I was able to have both of my sisters, my brother and possibly even my parents at our wedding. Not to mention the roles that we had planned for RJ and Hope. They would be so disappointed.”
“So we have a big party instead, the kids can get dressed up and come to that, so can your family, this way we get the best of both worlds and we’re married and it’s over and done with.”
Brooke tried to unclench her jaw enough to speak, still drawing deep calming breaths, she looked around the room until her eyes met Nick’s and she was comforted by the sympathy in his gaze, at least someone understood. “No. I’m not getting married tonight, no matter how convenient it is for you and Taylor.”
“It’s not about convenience.” Taylor responded coolly, she had not missed the look between Nick and Brooke. “I simply wanted to do something nice for the two of you, to show how much I support your relationship and that the past is behind us.”
Brooke put her champagne glass down on the coffee table and shook her head. “Taylor, me marrying Ridge will not stop me being concerned for Jack, I will always want what is best for him. No matter how much you and Ridge deny it, I have a bond with that baby and I can’t just turn it off like a tap. I won’t interfere, but I won’t stand by and watch him being put at risk.”
“Now Brooke…”
“Ridge, we have discussed this and I have made it very clear to you how I feel.” Desperate to make Taylor understand, she walked over to stand in front of her. “I am committed to Ridge, just as Nick is committed to you, I am not a threat to your marriage. I just want what is best for Jack and I want you to be able to love him, unconditionally, just like every child deserves.”
Taylor’ face twisted into a mask of hatred, the rigid control she had maintained over her emotions all night, having to endure the presence of this woman in her home snapped. “Don’t you talk about Jack! He’s mine! You can’t have him. You can’t have either of them, you witch.”
Brooke stepped back from the vehemence of Taylor’s words as Nick stepped in to calm his seething wife, putting an gentling arm around her shoulder. “Sweetheart….”
Slapping his arm away she turned her fury on him. “You two are in on this together, you did this to me deliberately. You did this so that I would carry her baby, so that you could have a part of her in our family and I’d take care of him and love him. Well it didn’t work, I hate him!” She screamed “Do you hear me, I hate him as much as I hate her. I hate the very sight of him. You’ll never make me love him, no matter what you do. I wish he was dead!”
Shocked silence followed Taylor’s outburst and the four other people in the room stared at her in horror. She ran her hands over her face and took a deep breath to collect herself and then with remarkable control, considering, she whispered “Goodnight.” And turned to regally float up the stairs as through nothing had happed.
Nick shook himself out of his shock and immediately took off after her, catching her at the top of the stairs and leading her gently away from the nursery to the master bedroom.
With a muttered goodbye, the celebrant leapt for the front door, anxious to get out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
“I thought James had been treating her, she seemed better this evening,” Ridge said softly, before continueing snidely “If I was Popeye, I’d be asking for a refund.”
Brooke stared at him in amazement. “Is that the only comment you have to make? She just said that she hated me and wished an innocent baby dead!”
“She didn’t mean it, she’s just angry.”
“Oh yes she did.” She responded firmly. “She is not…”
The sound of a baby’s cries rang out through the house and instinctively Brooke started towards the staircase, to go to her son.
“No Brooke stay here, he’s not your problem.” Ridge ordered angrily.
Not breaking stride she made her way up the stairs, not looking back once, leaving her fiancé standing at the bottom with a furious look on his face.

In the master bedroom Nick silently undressed his wife and tucked her into bed, she had not made a sound since she had wished everyone a ‘goodnight’ downstairs, she was practically catatonic. Smoothing her hair away from her face, he kissed her cheek lightly before turning to leave, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Flicking open his mobile phone, he pressed a couple of buttons and was relieved when he heard the sound of James’s voice.
“James, I need you to come to the house, I think Taylor is having some sort of meltdown.”
“She was fine this afternoon.”
“Well she’s not fine now, your fabulous idea about a face to face reconciliation failed miserably. She hates Brooke and Jack and she wishes her baby was dead. I need you here now!”
“I’ll be right there.”
Sighing with relief Nick closed the phone and started down the stairs, only to be confronted by an angry Ridge, raising his hands in surrender he walked past him and sat on the couch wearily, keeping one eye on the bedroom door upstairs. “Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it right now, I have enough on my plate.”
“Fine I’ll be quick, stop dragging my fiancé into your life.”
Nick stood up to face his brother. “Look, this is a complicated situation, but it is not helped by your insecurities. Why don’t you and Brooke just go home and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” He looked around the room curiously, “Where is Brooke anyway?’’
A woman’s scream ripped its way through the silence as if in answer to his question, followed closely by the sound of a baby’s frantic cries. Both Nick and Ridge ran for the stairs, towards the nursery, the sight that met their eyes as they got to the door shocked them into silence.

[am755]

I'm hooked....more please!

[brookennickfan]

What a great story!

[jeangrey]

What did Tayloon do???

Please continue!!!

[tammievt]

Oh this is definitely got me wanting to know who was screaming and why!

[Norm811]

Chapter two

Nick and Ridge sat side by side in the private waiting room of the hospital, not able to look at one another. Neither had spoken a word in the hour they had been sitting here waiting for information. Both men were hollow eyed and still in shock from the events that had unfolded earlier in the evening.
“What the hell happened?”
They looked up to see Stephanie and Eric Forrester burst through the door, followed closely by the twins, then Thomas and finally, all of Brooke’s siblings and Rick.
“What the hell happened?” Stephanie asked again, looking at them angrily. “How could you let this go so far.”
Nick stood and stared at her in shock as he realised that she was talking to him. He had no idea what she was talking about or even what she was doing there. “Shut up Stephanie, this has nothing to do with you. You have always hated Brooke and you washed your hands of Taylor when she married me.” He responded succinctly.
“Don’t you talk to my mother like that.” Ridge snarled, standing to confront him.
In a flash, the Logan siblings and Rick had pushed their way between the two men and were herding Nick towards a corner chair away from the Forrester’s.
“Sorry” He muttered, as he gazed at the supportive family surrounding him. “I am so sorry.”
Rick sat beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, “What happened man? All we were told was that Mom and Taylor and Jack were at the hospital.”
“She snapped.”
“Who?”
Nick looked at Rick bleakly, “Taylor, she was screaming that she hated Brooke and she wanted Jack dead, but then she calmed down and I put her to bed and called James.” He paused to swallow, “Then I was talking to Ridge and there was a scream and the baby was crying, and by the time we got there Taylor was curled up in a corner and neither Brooke or Jack were moving.”
Nick broke down, sobbing into his hands, allowing Rick to support him as he cried and the rest of the Logan family looked on helplessly.
“From what we can tell, Brooke was holding the baby and Taylor came in and must have snapped. As far as we can tell Taylor grabbed Jack from Brooke and then pushed her, Brooke’s head must have hit the edge of the bureau, she was unconscious and bleeding when we got there. Taylor had put the baby back into his cot and she was holding a pillow over his face …” Ridge’s voice faded into tears of his own and he was drawn back into his family’s embrace.
“Oh my god, is Mom ok? Is Jack ok?” Rick asked, almost afraid of the answer
“Brooke was still unconscious when the ambulance came, Jack started to scream as soon we came through the door away, thank God. Shortly afterwards James got there and sedated Taylor, then the ambulance came and took them all too hospital and that’s the last we heard.” Nick continued softly
“Nick Marrone?”
Nick surged to his feet and ran over to the Doctor, waiting in the doorway. “Is he ok, is my son ok? What about Brooke, any word on her condition?”
“Ms Logan is still in theatre, there was some bleeding on the brain from the fall, they are trying to relieve the pressure as we speak, it will be an hour or so before we have any more information. However your son will be fine, there does not seem to be any lasting damage, I suspect he was only deprived of oxygen for a short while, you were lucky you came in when you did, things could have been much worse.”
“Can I see him?”
“Of course, he’s just being settled into the Pediatrics ward.”
Before Nick could move, two police officers walked in behind the Doctor. “Mr Marrone?” At Nick’s nod of assent they continued. “Your wife has been placed on a 48 hour psychiatric hold, pending completion of our inquiries, we will need to talk to both you and Mr Forrester to clarify the events of this evening.”
“I understand, but right now I need to see my son.”
Ridge moved up behind him and pushed Nick aside, “What do you mean she is on a psych hold? She’s a psychiatrist, she’s not crazy! I won’t have you saying those things in front of her children. She’s just been under a lot of pressure, most of it caused by him.”
“Mr Forrester.” The doctor interrupted quickly. “Mrs Marrone’s condition is a matter between the police and her husband, so I can’t give you any details, but I can say that she is very unwell and needs treatment.”
“Her children have a right to know what is happening!” Stephanie butted in aggressively
“They will know, when we know, right now she is sedated for her own safety.” The Dr soothed, obviously adept with dealing with anxious families.
Nick pushed his way past Ridge, before turning, “Perhaps you should be more concerned about the Mother of your youngest son. You know the woman that Taylor assaulted?”
Ridge sputtered impotently and waved his hands in the air as if to respond in sign language, but Nick was no longer interested. Acknowledging the good wishes of the Logan family and their promises to advise him of Brooke condition he headed quickly towards his son without a backwards glance.

Two hours later a noise at the door of Jack’s room made Nick glance up and seeing that it was Rick and Bridget, he motioned for them to come in.
“How is he?” Rick asked quietly as Bridget looked for her own answers in the charts.
“He’s good, he woke up for a little while and seemed to recognize me, they say that he is not in any pain and that he’ll probably sleep a lot over the next couple of days.”
“Babies are very resilient.” Bridget responded with a sad smile, “I’m sure that Nicole is watching over him.”
Nick nodded with a glimmer of tears in his eyes, “I know she is, she’ll always will be with us.” He paused to stroke the side of his sleeping son’s face, before looking up at them again. “Any news on Brooke?”
Rick started to speak, but was unable to and he looked to Bridget for assistance. “She’s out of surgery, they managed to relieve the pressure on her brain but the Doctors are saying the next 24 hours are critical.”
“And what do you say?” Nick asked Bridget, knowing that she would have found out more than the surface information given to families.
“It’s touch and go Nick.” She whispered as she struggled not to cry. “She’s in a coma and her vitals are quite weak, this is going to be the toughest fight of her life.”
“How did it come to this?” Nick wondered aloud, “I should have got Taylor help sooner, I knew that she was not coping with the situation. I shouldn’t have let your Mother bond with Jack, it just upset Taylor more.”
“Taylor has been through a lot this year, with Darla’s death, the failed relationship with Thorne, your marriage and the pregnancy, she just was not strong enough to handle it all. Everyone in her family should have been more vigilant.” Bridget insisted, “We all put Taylor on this pedestal for so long that we forgot that she’s human, like the rest of us.”
“Unfortunately your Mom paid the price.” Nick said looking over at Rick and Bridget and then down to his son, “So, I’m sad to say did Jack.”
“She always does.” Rick remarked sadly. “For everything that Taylor’s been through this year, Mom has suffered too, what with the rape, losing custody of the kids. This whole situation with Jack has been hard for her too and lets face it, good old Ridge does not make it any easier.”
“Rick.” Bridget chided gently, “This is not the time for blame, it’s time for us all to pull together for Mom, Taylor and our little brother over there.”
“Easier said than done Budge. This is not going to be something that can be swept under the carpet like all of the other Forrester scandals, Taylor tried to kill Jack and Mom. Even if she is deemed mentally unstable and she is treated and released, we will all have to live with this for the rest of our lives. It will impact on all of us, both the Logan’s and the Forrester’s and especially on those of us caught between.” Rick said with a telling look at and Bridget and Nick. “This is going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Let’s just pray that Brooke recovers and let the future take care of it’s self. Your Mom is who we should be concentrating on now, she’s got to come back to us, for all our sakes.” Nick said quietly looking down at Jack and seeing the unique combination of his and Brooke’s features looking up at him. The sight gave him a sense of peace, Brooke would not leave her children, she’d fight.

[MontanaLindy]

OMG ... how did I miss this treat!!!


Thank you, Norm811! Can't wait to read more! ;D

[GIOVANNA]

:)Awesome, Norm!!

[Pinky]

More, more, more, more!!!

[brookennickfan]

brookerocks said:

More, more, more, more!!!

IA with C4B... More please.

[monda]

This is fantastic. More please!

[Norm811]

Chapter Three

Nick followed the orderly through the hospital corridor, amazed that the only sign that he was in the mental health wing of the hospital was the keypads that were on each door they passed through. As they stopped in front of Taylor’s room he steeled himself for what he knew was going to be a difficult conversation.
As he walked in the door, nodding his thanks to the orderly, he saw Taylor seated by the window reading a book. The normalness of the scene struck him as odd, to look at her you would not know anything was wrong.
“Nick!” Taylor cried, rising quickly from the chair to throw herself into his arms, “Thank god you’re here, I’ve missed you so much.”
He disengaged her arms from around his neck as gently as he could, trying desperately to keep his discomfort from showing on his face. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, they have assessed me and I’ve started medication, I feel better already.”
“That’s great.”
Taylor looked at him and saw the unease that he could not hide. “You know that I didn’t mean to hurt Jack? I was not well, the Doctors say I have a form of Post Natal Depression and due to the stress of the situation, I had a slight mental break. But it won’t happen again. We can go back to the way we were before, when we were first married.”
“You mean before we had Jack.” Nick walked over to the window and lent against the sill, before turning to look at her warily. “Look, I know that you would not knowingly hurt Jack or Brooke. But you know that the situation has not changed, Brooke is still Jack’s biological Mother and you can’t seem to handle that. We have a lot to work though before we can even think of starting again.”
“I know that, but you are saying that we have a chance?”
“I don’t know, I need some more time. I can’t get the image of you standing over my son with that pillow in your hands out of my mind..”
“But I will be fine, you’ll see, with some counseling and medication I will be fine, I’ll never hurt him again.”
“So you can guarantee that you will never resent him again for being Brooke’s? That you won’t have a problem with her being in the same room with him? That if I make a comment about her you won’t lose your temper again?” Nick knew that he was pushing her by continually mentioning Brooke but he wanted to test her commitment. “Can I keep the photo’s of Brooke an Hope and RJ? What about if she wants a photo of Jack or even to see him, to spend time with him?.”
Taylor’s hands were clenched into fists behind her back, but that was the only outward sign of anxiety, she knew that Nick was testing her so she reigned in the rage that flowed through her. “I can handle it.”
“Ok.” He responded with relief, perhaps she was actually getting better. “The Doctors say that they want you to stay here under observation for the next week and then they will evaluate you again.”
Taylor unclenched her hands and smiled at him, “So will you bring Jack in to see me?”
“No, I can’t.” Nick responded firmly, “The Doctors are telling me that they don’t want you stressed this early in your treatment.”
“I told you I won’t get stressed, I am fine.”
“Taylor…”
“I suppose that she’s allowed to see him, have you been visiting her too? Have you and Ridge been taking shifts or do you stay on opposite sides of her hospital bed and take a hand each?” She snarled, her voice getting louder and more strident with every word.
“Brooke couldn’t see him if she wanted too.” Nick snapped bitterly, angry that she had fooled him again, when would he learn? “She’s still in a coma, caused by the head injury she suffered at your hands.”
“You don’t want me back, you just needed an excuse.” Taylor screamed, “I stupidly gave you one, no one will blame you now. Poor Nick, his wife went crazy and tried to kill their child, no wonder he left.”
Nick shook his head regretfully, he should have known that it was too good to be true, “Goodbye Taylor.”
As she watched him walk out the door she continued to scream at him. “I hope she dies, I hope that you end up with nothing but her precious son to remember her by. I Hate You! I Hate You!”
She was still screaming obscenities at him as two male orderlies came through the door armed with restraints and sedation.

Standing behind a potted plant, Nick felt foolish as he hid and waited for Ridge to leave Brooke’s room. But he knew that if Ridge saw him there would be hell to pay and he thanked god for the Logan family, who had been letting him know when Ridge had left the hospital for the past two days, so that he could spend time with Brooke without any trouble from Forrester.
Waiting until his older half brother had entered the lifts, he walked down the corridor and entered the room. Brooke looked peaceful, the only sign of any trauma was a black and purple bruise that covered her temple and disappeared into her hairline.
“Hey Brooke, back again.” He whispered softly as he took her hand in his and sat on the chair beside her bed. “I went to see Taylor today, I’d hoped that maybe the medication would have worked, but it did not go well. I won’t bore you with the details but she is still very sick. I’m not actually sure what I wanted to happen, I can’t see us being together again, not after what has happened. But I made a commitment to her…” His voice trailed off as he struggled to vocalize the confusion that he was feeling.
Shaking his head as if to clear it he decided to change the topic and so he started again. “Anyway enough of my drama’s, I saw the kids this morning, Rick brought them over. Jack is out of hospital as of last night and the kids were very pleased to see him. Ridge told them that Aunty Taylor is sick and that she is in the hospital with you, I don’t know how he is going to explain what happened, as far as I know Ridge told them you fell over and hit your head. But I am worried that they might hear some gossip somewhere else. I think that they should be told a soft version of the truth, but I don’t think Ridge would appreciate my input, he blames me for this whole situation. Mind you I blame myself too, I’m sorry that I could not protect you from this.”
Nick fell quiet for a while, taking comfort in the silence, only broken by the steady sound of Brooke’s breath. He would not stay long, Jack needed him too, but he needed to see her, to just sit here and hold her hand. It reassured him that she was still fighting and soon she would wake up.
“What a strange situation we have found ourselves in heh? Who would have thought that your eggs would be mistakenly implanted into Taylor and that she would end up bearing our son.” Nick commented wryly. “I know Jack’s arrival and your part in his life has caused so many drama’s but I can’t be sorry, I love him more every day. It saddens me that Taylor can’t love him the way he should be loved. She can’t see past the fact that he is your son to the fact that he is innocent in all of this and he deserves all the love that he can get.”
“I Know that I made a commitment to Taylor when I married her, but how can I have her in my life when I can’t trust her with our son.”
Outside the door Stephanie dropped the flowers that she had been holding in shock at what she had just overheard. Suddenly it all made sense, Taylor’s behavior and the events of the other night, she had known that Taylor was not the sort of person to cause anyone harm. She should have known that Brooke was somehow to blame, she was forever getting herself into these situations and wanting Ridge to get her out. Well not this time, Stephanie had narrowly averted the latest family crisis by breaking up Donna and Eric, she was not allowing Brooke back into her family now. With a determined look on her face she left the flowers on the floor and strode towards the elevator.

[Su-Lyn]

Taylor showed her psycho self. Long time coming. Now I would love to read about our 'beloved' Stephanie going bonkers too. Loved your work. Poor Brooke and Nick.

Please come back with another update soon. Thanks.

[tbecker40]

Excellent writing Norm811!!! Much better than the ridiculous stuff they are cramming down our throats in the other B&B. Please continue it soon and thank you!

[tammievt]

*smile* this so rocks! Thank you!

[MontanaLindy]

Yes....we need more of your great story!!! ;D

[dempseyjinx]

More, More, More!!!! This is how the storyline should have gone on the show!!! Write more please!! Can't wait for the next installment!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aussieicon]

I don't come to the fanfic section often enough, but every time I do I am shocked again at how much more talented our posters are than the hacks that actually work on this show.

Your version would have been so much better - and not just for Brooke and Nick. Taking Taylor over into pyscho land would have given her some really meaty storyline, as she had to work hard to regain her sanity and get her life back together.

Just a pity that Bell didn't trawl our site for ideas. instead, I think he's been trawling the Brooke hater sites instead.

Hope you write more but understand if you don't.