Reunited and it stinks for Hope!

Steffy and Liam reunited to be a family again. Who, besides single-celled organisms, couldn't see that coming? Brooke, of course. Should Hope finally realize there's no hope for the future and get out of L.A., or should she wait around thirty years like Brooke did for Ridge?

Liam and Steffy are going to be a family again, but what stinks so bad around here? Either it's the dirty diaper in Steffy's pocket or someone is covering for ripping cheese. Kelly's too angelic for her diapers to stink, so Steffy just needs to come clean. I know it's been tense, Steffy, but it's okay to admit you are imperfect and pooted Liam saw that gravity took over post-birth, and he said he's never leaving you again, no matter what. So, you may poot away with no regret. Well, at least until the foul wind turns a different way, and Liam goes back to Hope again.

Something stinks really bad over at Brooke's compound, too, and it's not the quinoa spoiling in the cabin fridge. The place is rank from Brooke's rotten advice for Hope to wait Steffy out of her next marriage. Also lingering in the air is the smell of the doom Thorne foretells for Ridge and Brooke if Brooke can't let go of Liam, no matter how much Hope wants to.

Brooke has never really known when to hold them, when to fold them, when to walk away, or when to run. If she doesn't figure it out soon, Hope might not be the only jilted Logan when the dealing's done.

Liam and Steffy have been broken up since the first week of January, and fans can celebrate that Liam's 5.4 scale waffling is finally over -- for now. Let's get two scoops deep into breakup and reunion week and hope like hell that Liam and Steffy spare us wedding number four this summer on The Bold and the Beautiful.

In case you missed it

Steffy Forrester is accident-prone. She can't even give birth without having an accident. When we started the week, Steffy had tripped and fallen on her stomach. She managed to get a car to the hospital, where Liam met her for a childbirth fraught with everything that could go wrong except a feet-first delivery.

First, Kelly's heart wasn't beating. Then it wasn't beating right. Next, Dr. Phillips thought the umbilical cord was choking the child, and then she worried about doing a C-section. It was too late for that, though, because Steffy was fully dilated. After some pushes, Dr. Phillips contemplated the C-section again, but Steffy was like, "To hell with that!" She already has a late start on bikini season. She doesn't need a scar to manage on top of that.

Steffy decided to keep pushing. Kelly arrived at last, but she wouldn't breathe. After a few two-finger compressions, Dr. Phillips finally got Kelly smelling the sterile air. You'd think that after all that, plus being early and arriving as the result of a fall, Kelly would have had to stay at the hospital a few days. Nope. She was good to leave the next morning.

Like the flip of a switch, Kelly's first cries instantly cleared up Liam's confusion and transformed Steffy and Liam into parents. Ridge kept telling Liam that it was going to happen, and it's funny, because I don't recall it happening for Ridge when Brooke gave birth to Bridget. In fact, Ridge stayed with Taylor, even when a DNA test said (incorrectly) he was Bridget's father.

Ridge choosing to be with Taylor even though Brooke allegedly had his baby could be the reason Brooke is so adamant that Hope and Liam should be together despite Steffy having Liam's baby. Brooke also didn't mix romance with shared DNA when it came to Hope's father. Brooke didn't want to be with Deacon and had no problem keeping him away from Hope, which could be another reason why Brooke doesn't share Ridge's feelings that children bond parents every time. Heck, if we take Jack Marone into account, we have to wonder if Brooke believes that children really bond children and parents every time.

I keep looking for reasons to explain Brooke's outlook on Hope, Liam, and Steffy, because logic says Brooke should not want her child to suffer the exact thing she did and surely not at the hands of Taylor and Stephanie's spawn. Does Brooke suffer from Stephanie-Taylor PTSD? Could it be making her believe Hope ought to wait around for Liam while he grows a family with Steffy like Ridge did with Taylor in front of Brooke's face?

Liam, weak-sauce punk that he is, wasn't man enough to break it off with Hope. Instead, he let her do it for him, as usual. The upside was that it didn't take an entire episode. If you've seen a Lope breakup once, you've seen a hundred of them. Hope usually does the hard part because Liam is too sorry an excuse of a man to admit what he really wants to do at that given moment.

As usual, Liam said, "Listen, Hope..." And Hope was like, "No, let's skip the speech this time. Just don't even say anything." Being the feeble being he is, Liam was like, "Okay." He hugged her and ran off to pick up Steffy and Kelly to drive them off the happily-ever-after-cliff -- I mean drive them to the cliff house.

The downside to the breakup was Hope crying and saying the nicest things a romantic rival would never say about an encroaching ex-wife. Hope was like, "Liam was going to pick Steffy first, anyway. If I know Liam and Steffy, they'll be the best couple and parents in the world. I'll just sink into the floor like Sasha did after she dumped herself for Douglas before Thomas could do it. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm always fine."

With quickness, Ridge told Brooke, "You hear that? She's fine. Leave it alone."

Too bad for Hope, every time she tries to sink into the Swamp of Sadness like Artax, Brooke yanks her back, like Atreyu, yelling, "Stupid Horse! You can't give in to the sadness, or you'll die! I won't give up!" If you don't know who Atreyu and Artax are, either I'm too old or you're too young, but The Neverending Story is timeless.

For an entire night, Liam didn't even tell Steffy what had happened with Hope. Steffy was so afraid of spooking him, she didn't ask. Ridge, who was easily spooked himself at Liam's age, advised her not to ask where she stood and to let it be enough that she was a priority right then -- like when Taylor was a priority until Ridge forgot about her on the beach and she burned herself up.

For now, Liam is committed to using his father's betrayals as fuel to make himself a good father and husband. He claims Steffy and Kelly come before his career, but that's nothing to brag about for a man who has no career right now outside of helping Hope with HFTF. If Liam was really committed to Steffy, he'd quit, right?

Liam won't. The triangle will likely continue over campaigns and scarves as Liam insists on working with his ex-fiance and parading his new family in front of her face every chance he gets. "Oh, no. It's fine. It's fine. I can wait thirty more years," Hope will utter as she slowly dies inside.

Are you up for a fourth wedding between Liam and Steffy? I'd be totally fine with a clerk calling Liam to say the annulment papers are full of Carter's typos and need to be signed again. Let Steffy and Liam have a document-ripping ceremony and call it still married.

What do you think? Is it time, after six real-life months, to put Steffy, Hope, and Liam on the back burner for a while? If they go back there, they might get stuck there until they disappear from the script. After all, happy baby endings are not always good for couples on this show.

And baby makes boring

Come on. You know it's true. Most of the time, when couples find their happy-family ending to their storyline, the odds greatly increase that they will become back-burner boring and fade off the show's canvas. Steffy and Liam are already boring. They have two-minute conversations that baby cries interrupt at contrivingly opportune times, and the biggest mystery between them is how in the world a dirty diaper got in Steffy's pocket.

Toddlers have provided some interesting drama on the show. Steffy supposedly fell off a boat, but she had really been kidnapped by Morgan. Hope almost drowned in a hot tub, and R.J. and she almost burned down Brooke's house. Even Will had a little drama when he swallowed a coin at Bill's office.

On the other hand, there have been babies that spelled doom, whether permanently or temporarily, for their parents' longevity on the show. Below is a review of some recent ones.

Lizzy Forrester: The storyline that brought her into existence was written for maximum angst, but once the drama settled around her custody, her birth mother faded off the L.A. storyboards. Her birth father, played by Jacob Young, has recently gone off contract.

Douglas Forrester: Everyone well remembers the turmoil surrounding Douglas' paternity, and regular readers probably know that I do not believe the story is over in the long run. For the short run, it is over, and its ending sent Caroline and Thomas straight off the show.

Rosie Forrester: Amber got pregnant by somebody. It was either Marcus or Oliver, but she'd wanted everyone to think it had been Liam. And she would have gotten away with it if Rose hadn't come out a beautiful shade close to Lizzy's. Marcus won the father lottery, and within two years, Amber, Dayzee, Marcus, and Rosie had all disappeared into the background.

Logan Knight: Nick Marone fell for his and Bridget's surrogate, and Bridget sought comfort in Jackie's husband, Owen. The entanglement produced Logan and a parenting coalition between Jackie, Owen, and Bridget. The three moved off-stage to New York.

Will Kelly Spencer curse her family off the show? Time will tell. There might be more rectangle story in store for Liam, Steffy, Hope, and Bill. Maybe Hope is pregnant from that short time with Liam, forcing him to actually choose between the women instead of choosing family. Could it be possible that Bill really is Kelly's father? If so, Bill will not want Liam raising her any more than he wants Wyatt raising Will, thus causing further complications for the foursome.

For me, it's still a long shot for Bill to be the father. The shot was made even longer when Liam questioned how big Kelly is to be a preemie baby. Dr. Phillips said Kelly was not a preemie; she was just early. Dr. Phillips implied that Kelly's size might indicate that she was right on time.

If that's the case, and if Steffy knows how to count, Dr. Phillips' statements strengthen the paternity test results. If I recall correctly, Steffy and Liam hadn't had sex for a short while due to Liam's obsession with helping Sally and his vendetta against Bill. If I'm right about it, then Kelly is indeed Liam's unless the writers further clarify the time frames in which Steffy had sex last with each man.

Let me know what you think. Could parenthood make Liam and Steffy obsolete on the show? What new storylines do you see for the couple that has everything and for the people who cast Bill permanently out of their lives? Will they be relegated to the sidelines to talk about everyone else's drama, like Raya, or do Steffy and Liam still have a lot of steam left in their story?

In a look ahead

According to the B&B summer preview video, L.A. is in the mood for love, rebels, and drama. There will be plenty of it between our resident faves and newcomers. You can watch the promor and get even more sneak peeks in our spoilers section called The Scoop.

If you liked seeing Justin in the opening credits but wondered what was in store for him as a deeper character, we find out more about Justin next week when he asks Emmy to keep it a secret that Forrester's intern Emma is his niece.

Why would Justin want to keep it a secret? If Emma is his niece, then she is Marcus' cousin. Eric adopted Marcus, so Emma is technically family over at Forrester. Why would he not want her to take advantage of that? Emma is related to the Logans, too, for that matter because Donna is Marcus' mother. Could Emma somehow be part of a new plan of Bill's to win Steffy? Maybe Emma spies on Hope and Liam, looking for anything Bill can take to Steffy to make her doubt Liam.

Romantic fireworks will spark between Maya's cousin Xander and Emma who immediately butts heads with Uncle Julius. No surprise there. Julius doesn't get along with anyone at first.

Liam will confront Bill about Steffy and answer to Brooke about Hope. Always a bride and rarely a wife, Hope will face the reality of Kelly and cope with Liam proposing to Steffy again. It looks like we might not be spared yet another Steffy and Liam wedding. I wonder if Brooke's living room might be available -- but maybe that's not such a good idea. Never mind.

Sally will finally be back. Thomas has a habit of making women crazy, and Sally will dish out a little more psycho than even Wyatt is used to handling from his mother. While Wyatt is preoccupied with the redhead, Thorne moves in on Katie. Could Katie leaving Wyatt free him up to date Hope again?

On social media, Hunter Tylo hinted to an important date in June -- the 22nd, to be precise. Will this be the day that Sanchez finally arrests Taylor for shooting Bill? It would be just like Bill to keep the promise of ratting her out to the cops once he learns that Liam and Steffy are back together.

In the comments below, let us know what you want to see this summer on B&B and how you feel about the Steffy and Liam reunion. Who can deny that Steffy is an adorable mommy? Thanks to Jacqueline MacInnes Wood for making motherhood bold and beautiful, baby!

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