Katie Confronts Eric in a Moment of Weakness
Katie arrives at the Forrester mansion with a storm already brewing behind her eyes. She seeks out Eric privately, insisting on a one-on-one conversation away from the rest of the family. Eric, still reeling from his explosive confrontation with Ridge earlier about being forced into retirement, is visibly drained, though he tries to hide the trembling in his hands.
Katie barely gives him a chance to breathe before she launches into her subject: Brooke and Ridge. Her voice is tight, accusing, layered with months of frustration. She paints Ridge as controlling, dismissive, and overbearing, insisting that he has no right to dictate the emotional climate of the family—or hers. She goes further, describing Brooke’s blind loyalty to Ridge as part of the problem, creating an environment where Katie always ends up being treated like an afterthought. Eric listens, but his face pinches slightly, a sign that her intensity is pushing against the cracks already forming inside him.
The Pressure Builds—And Eric Quietly Begins to Fade
Eric lifts a shaky hand, trying to create a pause in the conversation. “Katie… just give me a minute,” he murmurs, the strain in his voice painfully apparent. He takes a slow breath, then asks gently if she could get him a glass of water. It should have been a simple request, but Katie is too wound up to notice the urgency behind it. She keeps going, pacing now, recounting every slight, every moment this week where Ridge steamrolled her point of view.
With each sentence her frustration grows—and with each sentence Eric’s strength diminishes. His vision begins to tunnel, the edges of the room softening. He tries once more to steady himself against the arm of the chair. Katie doesn’t see it; her back is turned as she continues venting, her words tumbling over each other, desperate to be heard. Eric blinks hard, feeling that unsettling wave of dizziness again—the same sensation he has brushed off for weeks.
The Collapse
Katie finally turns back toward him mid-sentence, expecting a reaction, a word of comfort, anything. Instead, she sees Eric’s expression shift—confusion, pain, then a frightening blankness. Before she can process it, his knees buckle. His body sways. And then he collapses. Katie’s entire world stops. Her jaw drops open, her breath catches, and a strangled, horrified scream rips from her throat.
“ERIC!” she cries, sprinting across the room as he hits the floor with a sickening heaviness. Her eyes instantly fill with tears. She drops to her knees beside him, hands trembling violently as she reaches for his face, his shoulders, anything to ground herself. She shakes him gently at first, then harder when he doesn’t respond. “ERIC! Eric, please—oh my God—ERIC!” Her voice cracks, a mixture of terror and disbelief.
Desperation Takes Over
Katie is fully crying now—panicked, helpless tears streaking down her cheeks as she leans over Eric’s still form. She calls his name over and over, begging him to wake up, apologizing between sobs for not realizing he wasn’t feeling well, for pushing too hard, for not hearing him when he needed a moment of quiet. Her screaming echoes through the mansion, filling the empty hallways with raw fear.
She tries to lift his head, tries to steady him, her entire body shaking so badly she can barely think straight. “Somebody help! Please, someone help!” she yells toward the staircase and the front door, each second feeling like an eternity. Her voice is frantic, guttural, drenched in guilt as she clutches his hand with both of hers. All she can do is cry, scream his name, and pray desperately that he will breathe, move—anything.
