This is another "What if..." fic, but it's certainly not as dark as my other one ;) Since it's around the one year anniversary of the elevator day, I thought this would be appropriate.
So... what if Alexis never held the elevator? Thanks to Michal for her lovely inspiration for the title :) This is Part One of Two
Prisoner of Restraint
"Hold the elevator!" Ric Lansing shouted as he dashed for the rapidly closing doors. Alexis rolled her eyes exasperatedly as her thumb immediately found the "DOOR CLOSE" button. She punched it several times to ensure that they would shut successfully before Ric could get any part of himself between those doors.
"Damnit, Alexis, come on! Open up!"
Alexis breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator car descended smoothly away from Ric's irritating shouting. It had been such a long day – too long, in fact – what with Skye's sentencing turning out the way that it did and with Ric's unbearable gloating about her defeat. Then there was Lois – oh, god, then there was Lois. Why did Alexis have to shout so loudly about hers and Sonny's night together? Lois had to be the absolute last person Alexis would want to know about that unfortunate night. She sort of felt like Lois was mocking her. Alexis hated being mocked.
And she hated Ric. God, she hated Ric.
The man was infuriating. He was always antagonizing Alexis, inside and outside of the courtroom. It was bad enough that he seemed to keep beating her, but did he have to throw it up in her face? And, god, did he have to keep implying that she wanted him? The idea was ludicrous, but he never seemed to give it a rest. Maybe he was the one who wanted her. Figures. As much as he hated him, Ric was just like his brother. Always trying to get in someone's pants.
At least she'd escaped him this time.
Ric pressed his palm into the door frame and leaned his weight into it, grunting angrily. Jeez, he knew Alexis was neurotic, but did truly not trust herself to be alone with him to this extent? After all, it was just a simple elevator ride. What did she think would happen on such a short journey? It's not like the elevator would stop, trapping them in there or anything. It's not like anyone would see them and get the wrong idea – unless it was a team of reporters, because they always seemed to twist the truth. But the reporters weren't even in the building at this time of day. They had gotten in all their questions when the verdict was delivered on Skye's case and headed off like eager little beavers to write up their stories.
It had been a long enough day for Ric. He had gotten up three hours early to go over his closing arguments on another case with a fine-toothed comb. He was always one to strive for perfection, but recently he felt like his persistence in the Ross Duncan murder case had left him... well, lacking his usual excellent performance in his other cases. Now that his biggest case was settled, he needed to focus more sharply on his other cases. Functioning on such little sleep did nothing good for his appearance in Skye's sentencing hearing.
But even after his surprising victory, he still had to put up with Alexis's whiny complaints. If only she hadn't grumbled so loudly, he would not have been so unfortunately involved in the conversation with Lois and Sonny. At the moment, he was a little fed up with Alexis himself. If the truth about Kristina's paternity ever made it to Sonny's awareness, all of Ric's hard work would be wasted.
Well, he certainly was not going to let her get away so easily. He knew that Alexis's agenda had her scheduled to head directly home today after Skye's hearing. With a sly grin, Ric dashed for the staircase. Elevators these days were far too slow, anyway.