Previously...

Brett and Stormy told Lauren they wanted to produce a record with her.  Jordan proposed to Alex.  When Will found out, he proposed to her as well.  Following the news that Angel Assassin wouldn't be released in time to repay investors, James went to Jack Fallmont for an extension on his loan but Jack turned him down.  Brooke agreed to go home with James but when they arrived Philip Whitacre was waiting for them.

 Episode 9

"Uncharted Territory"

"Tell him, Brooke," Philip said.  "Tell him that I’m your husband."

Brooke felt the room spinning.  She was standing in the parlor at the Blackthorne mansion and everything was a blur.  Philip and James both stared at her, their eyes demanding an explanation.  But all she could do was stand and quietly wish she were dead.

“What is he talking about?” James exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration.  “Brooke, I’m your husband!  Tell him!”

“Apparently you’re not, because Brooke never got our divorce finalized,” Philip Whitacre said smugly.  “We’re still married, aren’t we Brooke?”

She tried to snap out of it, realizing that she had to do some fast explaining or she was going to be in a world of trouble.  How could this be happening?  No sooner had she and James reconciled than a mistake from her past showed up at her door.

“I did get the divorce,” she finally said.  “Or at least I thought I did.”

“You thought you did?” Philip asked with a chuckle.  “You surprise me, Brooke.  I always thought you were a stickler for details.”

“James, please-“ Brooke began, trying to ignore Philip, wishing she could snap her fingers and make everything go away.

“Tell me what’s going on, right now!” James insisted.

“Your wife is a bigamist,” Philip remarked.

“You shut up!” James yelled.  “I ought to throw you out of my house!”

“Why?” Philip asked boldly.  He wasn’t intimidated by the legendary James Blackthorne.  “It seems that I’m the only one here who knows what’s going on.”

“Please, stop it,” Brooke said, shaking her head in despair.

“Stop acting like you’re so shocked by all of this,” Philip continued, walking across the room and stopping inches from her.  “How could you have gone all these years knowing we were still married?   Hell, do we have any kids that I don’t know about?”

“No!” Brooke lamented.

“Are you sure?  Or do you just think so?”

“Knock it off!” James yelled, grabbing Philip by the collar and shoving him back.  He turned to Brooke, his eyes flaring angrily.  “Brooke, were you or were you not married to this man?”

“No,” Brooke replied, then shook her head in confusion.  She felt like the walls were closing in on her and she couldn’t think straight.  “I mean yes.  Yes, I was married to him.  But it was for just a short time.  And it was so long ago.”

“Why am I just finding out about this now?” James asked.  “Don’t you think this is something you should have told me before we got married?”

“I didn’t think it was important,” Brooke insisted, her eyes pleading.  “It was six years ago, James.  I was twenty-one and I didn’t know what I was doing.   It lasted less than a year.”

“Yeah but that was one hot year, wasn’t it?” Philip asked with a sly grin.

“I told you to shut up!” James shouted.  He turned back to Brooke.  “Is what he’s saying the truth?  Are you still married to him?”

She wiped a tear from her eyes. “I don’t know!  I signed the divorce papers but I…”

“You what?”

Brooke took a deep breath, trying to remember.  It was a long time ago and her memory of that time in her life was fuzzy at best.  “I don’t know if I mailed them back to the lawyer.”

“Oh Jesus!” James hollered, turning around and kicking the cocktail table so hard that it collapsed onto the floor.  “How could you be so stupid?”

“I don’t know!” she replied in a fit of tears.  “I was young and I didn’t know what I was doing!  I thought that if I signed the papers it was enough!”

“You thought the court system would magically sense that you signed the papers?  My God, how hard would it have been to put a stamp on it and mail it?” James asked bitterly.  He couldn’t believe how negligent she had been. 

“I’m sorry!” Brooke shouted back in tears.  “I messed up, okay?”

“You’re right,” James replied.  “You did.”

His cold words hurt Brooke deeply and she buried her face in her hands.  When she looked up James was storming out of the parlor, leaving her alone in the room with Philip.

Philip didn’t waste a second.   “Well Brooke, it’s been a long time,” he began, starting back toward her.  “You’re looking boss as ever.”

She looked up at him in disgust.  “Shut up,” she whispered.  “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged.  “I wasn’t going to come at all, but after that nice lady came to tell me the news about us still being married, what else would I do but fly up here?"

Brooke frowned.  “What lady?”

“That movie star.  Alex Reynolds.”

Brooke immediately saw red.  “Alex Reynolds came to see you?” she asked in disbelief.  “When?”

“Yesterday.  She’s every bit as sexy in real life.  I was pleasantly surprised.”

Realization finally dawning, Brooke began pacing the room.  Alex had always been out to get her.  She must have done enough digging until she found out about Philip, then told him to come to L.A. to ruin her and James’s marriage.  It was a typical Alex Reynolds stunt.  Maybe if James knew the truth…

“I have to go,” she said, rushing to the door.  “You’d better leave now.”

“Wait a minute,” Philip replied, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.  “Don’t I even get a hug and a kiss?  It’s been six years.  I thought you might have missed me.”

“Get out,” Brooke hissed, heading back to the door.

“But what are we going to do about us still being married?”

“I’ll fix it,” she replied.  “Just go back to Phoenix and don’t ever come back here again.”

She rushed out of the parlor and up the stairs to her and James’s bedroom.  She found him sitting on the edge of the bed with a drink in his hand, a menacing scowl on his tanned face.

“James, you have to let me explain,” she began.

“Explain what?” he replied bitterly.  “That you were too ignorant to do what was necessary?  It’s a little late for that, Brooke.  Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“Wait, listen to me,” she pleaded with him.  “Alex is the one who brought Philip here.  She’s trying to drive us apart, James.  Don’t you see that?  She’s trying to get revenge for the way you an I came together.”

“Alex has nothing to do with this!” James said, his voice full of hostility.  “It’s your fault that this happened, Brooke!  Because of you, our marriage isn’t legal!" 

“We can fix it,” Brooke insisted.  “I can get the divorce from Philip and then we can get remarried.  It’ll be just like it never happened.”

James shook his head, pacing the room anxiously.  “And what about the lies?” he asked.  “What about the fact that you never told me you’d been married?  How am I ever supposed to trust you again, Brooke?  How do I know you’re not keeping anything else from me?”

“I’m not!”

“So was Philip right?” James continued.  “Do you have kids that you haven’t told anyone about?”

“Of course not!

“Are you sure?”  James took her by the shoulders and shook her forcefully.  “Or is that just another lie?”

“Stop it!” she cried.  “I told you we can fix it!”

James shoved her away and turned his back to her.  “I’m not sure that I want to fix it.  I’m not sure that this all didn’t happen for the best.”

“You don’t mean that.”

James turned and glared at her, hurt and angry that he’d been in the dark about something so important.  He felt like he didn’t even know who he’d married.

The look in his eyes sent chills down her spine and she backed up a step.  She turned and raced out of the bedroom in tears.  As she tore down the staircase, Miranda peered from around the corner, a devilish smile on her face as she watched Brooke run out of the house.

She knew Brooke was bad news all along but nobody believed her.  Maybe now they would start listening to her more often.

Ethan laid alone on his bed flipping through channels on the television when he heard a car screech into his driveway, then a door slam and then footsteps.   Sitting up, he waited a beat and then heard frantic knocking at his door.   He wondered if it was Winter.  They’d spent all day together until she had to go on duty at the hospital for an overnight shift.   Maybe she got off early and came by to surprise him. 

He got up and walked out into the front room in a pair of pajama pants.  Running his fingers through his hair, he pulled open the door and found Brooke standing on the porch, tears flowing down her cheeks.

They stood silently for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally Ethan pulled her inside and led her to the sofa.  He knew something awful had happened, and he had a feeling it had to do with James. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to go,” she said, sobbing as he held her tightly.

“Shhhh,” he soothed her, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.  He loved the way her hair smelled.           

Brooke looked up at him, drying her tears and staring into his eyes.  She felt safer with him than anyone in her life.   When she was with Ethan nothing else mattered and all of her troubles floated away.

Ethan put his hand under her chin and lifted her face to his.  Seconds later they were kissing passionately, wrapping their arms around one another in a heated embrace.  They stopped for a minute as if considering the reality of what they were doing.  But the look of desire in Brooke’s eyes made Ethan forget about morals and values.  All he wanted was to be with her, even for just one time.  He kissed her again.

Lifting her up into his arms, Ethan carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on his bed.  The warm glow of the bedside lamp reflected off of her tan, flawless skin and he yearned for her with every bone in his body.   Staring down at her for a minute or two, he soaked in every inch of her, relishing every second.

He turned off the lamp and Brooke pulled him down on top of her.  He slowly undressed her and they made love in the moonlit room.

The next morning Stormy and Brett went down to Good Times Records for their meeting with Lauren Spencer.  They checked with Eddie and asked if she’d made it in yet.

“Haven’t seen her,” Eddie replied, chomping on a stick of gum.   “Who is this chic?”

“She’s the chic who you’re going to be hearing on the radio soon,” Stormy said with confidence.  “Wait till you hear her, Eddie.  She’s friggin’ far out.”

Impressed, Eddie raised an eyebrow.  “Is she hot?”

Stormy rolled his eyes and turned to Brett.  “Didn’t we say eight o’clock?”

Brett nodded.  “Maybe she’s not a morning person.  She’ll be here, don’t worry.  She probably just overslept.”

Stormy sighed and took a seat behind his desk.  He couldn’t help but be impatient.  Ever since he heard Lauren sing at the Fern Bar the night before she was all he could think about.

Alex Reynolds walked down the hallway at the Sunset Strip Motel.  She cringed at her frightening surroundings.  The run down, dilapidated motel in West Hollywood wasn’t the type of establishment she was used to being seen in. 

She came to the end of the outside hallway and knocked on room 13.  A minute later the door opened and Philip Whitacre stood inside in a pair of tennis shorts.  She smiled and looked over his firm, athletic body.

“I see you changed your mind,” she said, pushing her way past him and walking into the shabby, mildew scented room. 

Philip grinned and closed the door behind him.  “How did you know I was here?”

Alex turned to him with a shrug.  “I have my sources.”

“Are those the same sources that brought you all the way to Phoenix?”

“Precisely.”  She looked around the room.  There was a lopsided old twin bed and a chest of drawers and a nightstand.  A small refrigerator that sounded like a crippled airplane engine sat in the corner.   “Have you seen Brooke yet?”

He nodded.  “I went to see her last night.”

“And?”

“And let’s just say that her husband…or…the guy who thought he was her husband, wasn’t very happy,” Philip explained, scratching his bare chest and mentally pawing Alex with his eyes.

She smiled with glee.  “I can imagine his reaction.  He probably threw her out and told her never to come back.”

Philip shrugged.  “I waited outside and saw her speed off in her car.  She looked pretty upset.”

“I have no doubt that she was,” Alex remarked.  “Why wouldn’t she be?  One minute she thought that she had a millionaire Hollywood producer as her husband, and the next minute she was just the same piece of trash from Arizona that she’d always been.”

“Why do I get the feeling you have some kind of grudge against her?”

Alex smiled.  “I just don’t want to see James getting hurt,” she lied.  “He’s a very special person to me.”

Philip rolled his eyes and sprawled out on the bed.  “Is that right?” he asked, his tone full of sarcasm.  “You know, I picked up a few tabloids to read on the plane up here.  You never told me that you were married to that guy.  And that he threw you out so that he could marry Brooke.”

Pursing her lips, Alex looked down at him and glared.  “But you still came up here to help me, didn’t you?”

He shook his head, putting his hands behind his head.  “I didn’t come up here to help you.  I came up here to see Brooke.”

“Don’t tell me you still have a thing for that tramp.”

“She’s got a hot little figure,” Philip said, then eyed Alex again.  He couldn’t help but notice what great legs she had.  He decided he’d love to have them wrapped around him sometime.  “But then again, so do you.  For an older woman.”

The remark sent Alex into a tailspin.   She grabbed an ice bucket from the top of the refrigerator and turned it over on top of Philip, sending ice and water splashing all over his bare skin.

“Holy-“ he shouted at the top of his lungs, jumping up off the bed and shivering from the freezing water.  “Jesus, lady!  What’s with you?”

“I may be an older woman,” Alex started, walking to the door.   “But you’re all wet.”

After she left, Philip stared in a daze at the door.   He didn’t know whether to be pissed off or turned on by the beautiful Alex Reynolds.

Ethan woke up to a ray of sunlight hitting his face through the window.  He stirred slowly, stretching and coming to life with a broad smile on his face.  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so well.   Even after spending most of the night awake, staring at Brooke as she slept, he still felt rested.

After they’d made love, Brooke had confided in him about the events that led her to his doorstep.   She told him about Philip, the divorce that never was, and James flying off the handle.  It made him sick with anger at the way his uncle treated her.  He refused to give an inch.  In his eyes, if you crossed him once you were never to be trusted again.   Life wasn’t always that simple to Ethan.  Especially when you had someone as wonderful as Brooke to spend it with.

He rolled over, stretching his arm out expecting to find Brooke’s warm body lying next to him.   To his surprise, she was gone.    Frowning, he jumped up and looked in the bathroom, thinking she might have gotten up before him.    When he didn’t find her there, he searched the rest of the house, still finding no trace of her.

He rushed back to the bedroom to get dressed, realizing that she must have gotten up and left without him knowing.  But where would she have gone?  Last night she talked about going to see about finalizing the divorce from Philip first thing in the morning.  But where?

His questions were answered when he found a notepad by the phone on the bedside table.  On it was written the name of an attorney and an address.  Beneath that was flight information to Santo Domingo. 

He rubbed his face and took a minute to take everything in.  She must have been in such a hurry to end her marriage to Philip that she booked a flight to the Dominican Republic to get a quick divorce.  But why wouldn’t she have told him?  He would have gone with her and not let her go through the ordeal alone.   Not to mention the fact that that there was a revolt happening on the small island.   Tank assaults and bombings between liberals and conservatives were not uncommon in the last several months.

He went to the kitchen and got out the phone book.   Searching for an airline, he dialed the number and waited for an answer.

“I’d like to book a flight to Santo Domingo