Can't Get You Out Of My Head
By Lauren Diane
Rated: R---NC-17
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. I'm just using them for my own
enjoyment!
Summary: Ric sets out to win Elizabeth back.
Feedback: Yes, Please! Lizandricfan@yahoo.com
Author's Note: This takes place right after the second time Ric sleeps with
Faith. I had to include it because this is the only way my mind would
except it! LOL! Now I'm trying to use as little drabness as possible!
~*~
Chapter 1
"I love you! I tried to fight it, but I just can't. I want to be with you."
He couldn't believe his ears. She still loved him. He ran to her and enveloped her in his arms.
"God, I've waited so long to hear you say those words to me." He kissed her cheeks, eyelids, forehead, mouth. "I love you so much, baby. I promise, everything will be different this time." He reveled in the feeling of her lips on his, her hands in his hair, her body molding with his. It was perfect, just the way it was supposed to be. It was like a dream.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
At the sound of the high-pitched feminine voice squeaking in his ear, he was pulled from the comfort of his love's arms, and propelled back to reality. In this reality, his wife, his love, wanted nothing to do with him. In this reality, he kidnapped his brother's pregnant wife. In this reality, he was face down on a strange bed with a woman he detested at his side, and one monster of a hangover. Ric Lansing, this is your life!
Ric lifted his eyelids, exposing his orbs to the bright morning sun, and quickly shut them when his head began to throb. Note for the future: No more alcohol. He slowly reopened his eyes and glanced to his right to see Faith lying beside him, licking his back. Another note: If you plan on waking up with her in the future, alcohol is a must!
"Oh, Jesus." He pushed away from the bed, sat on the side, and pulled on his jeans that were thrown recklessly on the floor.
"Is that any way to treat your lover, Mr. Lansing? Did the little waitress let you get away with that?" Faith rose to her knees so she could hang herself over Ric's shoulders. He pushed her off.
"Don't.just don't mention her right now." He couldn't help but feel guilty about his night with Faith. He was married to Elizabeth. He loved Elizabeth. She was the only woman he wanted to be with. And he cheated on her.
But he shouldn't feel guilty. She turned on him. She said she couldn't be with him. And then she went off and slept with her ex, Lucky Spencer. Okay, maybe that was a big jump, but Ric wasn't born yesterday. He saw the way they were wrapped in each other's arms just before he arrived at the hospital. He saw the look in Lucky's eyes when Ric interrupted them. He heard Elizabeth's declaration that she wanted nothing to do with her husband. And then he watched them walk away together, hand in hand. No doubt to go make wild, passionate love somewhere.
Eck. The image churned his stomach. Almost as much as the image of himself in bed with Faith Roscoe, again.
"I thought you were done with her." Faith stood, not bothering to cover her naked body. "I mean, I'd hate to have to kill you for breaking my heart again."
"You have a heart?" Ric laughed, walked to the bar for a glass of vodka. "And you're right. I'm done having my heart trampled on as well. I'm done with Elizabeth."
The alcohol scorched its way down his throat and landed in a smoldering heap at the pit of his stomach. He appreciated the burn. It let him know he was still alive, not just a ghost still going through the motions of life because there were no Elysian Fields waiting for him.
"That's good to hear, Ric. Because after last night, I'm not sure that I could kill you." She stood in front of him, kissed him, and he let her. There was no point fighting it anymore. This is what he deserved.
He didn't deserve his beautiful Elizabeth's love. He didn't deserve a family and a life with her. He deserved meaningless sex with a woman he could barely look at without wanting to kill. Because he was exactly like her.
A knock at the door saved Ric, for the present, from having to follow through with what the kiss would normally precede.
"Put something on. I'll get that." Ric finished off his drink, headed to the door of the two-room cabin---bedroom and bathroom---that Faith used to get away from Port Charles.
"Wait a minute." Faith picked up her dress from the floor and slipped it over her head. "Who in the hell else knows where this place is? It is supposed to be a safe house. As in, no one knows about it, making it safe for me to hide out in. I mean, first Scott, then Sonny shows up? Where are my guards? Do they want to be fired?"
She beat Ric to the door; he was too busy covering his ears during her rant, protecting his sore head, to make his way there. "Well, look what we have here? I think it's a Girl Scout, Ric."
And then he felt it. That familiar warmth that flowed through his body whenever she was around. He palms went a bit damp, his knees a bit weak. Was it normal for a grown man to feel like this?
He turned around slowly, as not to fall over. When he saw her, his breath hitched in his throat. She was literally breathtaking.
She had on her favorite jeans, huge flares at the bottoms that covered her shoes. Of course her shoes always matched her top, regardless of their invisibility. Her shirt, if you could really call it that, since it was really just a couple of straps that covered the necessary areas, was dark blue, his favorite color. It must be new, because he didn't recognize it. And he pretty much had her entire wardrobe memorized. She had on her usual make-up---light coat of lip-gloss, and eye shadow to match her shirt. Her skin was too perfect---her cheeks a natural blush---for anything else. And her hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail, exposing her long, smooth neck. She knew it was his favorite style.
Was she trying to drive him crazy? Was this a sick joke she was playing to hurt him again? Or maybe that wasn't it at all. Maybe, just maybe she was there to take him back. But then he looked into her eyes---dark, hurt, confused---and realized she wasn't there for a happy reunion.
"We don't want any." Faith broke the silence, smiled sweetly, sugary, toward her contender. Elizabeth Webber had another thing coming if she thought Faith was giving Ric up without a fight, or a dead body.
"Heh, funny." Elizabeth pushed through Faith to enter the---quite obvious--- love nest. She couldn't help but feel the pang of hurt, jealousy at the thought of Ric and Faith sleeping in that torn up bed. But it was obvious they had.
When she saw Ric, heard the voice in the back of her head that told her to run into his arms, kiss him, love him, she realized she'd made a big mistake coming to see him. However, backing down from Faith, letting her think she had control over Elizabeth, that was a bigger mistake. So she stood her ground. "But I don't think you speak for Ric."
"Do you hear him speaking?"
"No, because you don't seem to be letting him. But right now, I need a word alone with."---she paused, smiled---".my husband. So if you don't mind."---her eyes darted to the door and back.
"Oh, no. I don't."
"Go, Faith." Ric interrupted.
"Excuse me?" She snapped after catching Elizabeth's amused smile. "In case you're forgetting, this is my cabin."
"And I'll make it up to you later." He glanced at Elizabeth to gage her reaction, and hoped she'd gotten better at hiding her emotions. Because he didn't see pain in her eyes, face, body language. All he saw now was a statue.
Faith smiled, walked to Ric, devoured him. Elizabeth wanted to throw up. It's not, she told herself, that she was jealous. It was just Faith. It had nothing to do with the fact that another woman had her tongue down her husband's throat.
"Make sure that you do." Faith practically skipped to the door, blew Ric one final kiss before leaving.
"Well, that was a.disgusting display." Elizabeth fought back tears.
"Jealous?"
"Hardly. I just came here to."
"To what? No, first of all, how did you find this place?" Ric went to the bar to pour himself another drink. Faith had no TV, no radio, no books, no anything, but she had a bar. "You want?"
"No, I.a vodka." She needed all the help she could manage to get through this.
Ric smiled his devilishly handsome smile, before pouring her drink. "Since when did you start drinking vodka?"
She noticed he was making the same for himself. "About the same time as you, I suppose."
He laughed a little. "Yeah. I like it. Burns more going down."
"Thanks." She downed the glass, placed it on the table. "The reason I'm here."
"No, first. How did you know where here is?" He noticed she was uncomfortable. He filled her glass, gave it back to her. His deceptive mind started to contemplate ways to get her out of the country if she passed out from too much vodka, but his plan was botched when she started to sip this time.
"I followed you the other day, after you left my studio."
"After you called the police on me?"
"Yeah," Elizabeth thought of the lie she'd told Ric, decided it was best to let him believe it. "I went to the hospital to see my grandmother, saw you with Faith. I decided to follow you." Her laugh was laced with bitterness. "I should have known you'd go to her."
"Well, what I do is no longer your business, now that you're shaking up with your ex."
"Excuse me?"
Ric slammed his glass down on the bar. "I'm not stupid, Elizabeth. I saw you with Lucky at the hospital. Tell me, have you been sleeping with him this whole time?"
She would have laughed if Ric's assumption didn't seem like the perfect way to get him to back off. "I never cheated on you, Ric. Because, stupidly, I loved you with everything that I had. But now, what Lucky and I do is none of YOUR business."
"You're really going to be with him after he slept with your sister?"
"Okay, Ric. I don't think you really want to get into the track records of my previous lovers right about now."
"What I did, I did because I loved you. I know it was insane, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do." Ric poured another glass of vodka, drank it, so he could blame his watery eyes on the alcohol. "I would have never cheated on you because you were---god, you still are the most precious thing to me. You're all I want."
She had to get this done and get out of there. She felt herself began to cave.
She pulled a packet out of her purse, handed it to Ric. "Here, I need you to sign these."
"What?"
"Divorce papers. I need you to sign them."
He scanned the document in front of him. "Divorce papers." He said it under his breath. Just when he thought he couldn't hurt more, she went for another jab in the gut.
"Come on, Ric. You had to know this was coming. You didn't think we'd stay married forever, did you?"
"That was the plan."
"Well, the plan changed. Probably sometime around when you kidnapped Carly. Or when you paid a doctor to tell me one of the most devastating things possible. Oh, you did try to smother me to death. And we can't forget the birth."
"You know what, Elizabeth?" Ric screamed. "I know my mistakes. I don't need you listing them for me!"
"Well, if you know them, you know you owe me this divorce."
He owed her? He supposed she was right. However, something---the alcohol, how beautiful she looked, the finality the divorce papers represented--- something told him to keep fighting.
"Okay," He stepped toward her, placed her drink on the table. "I'll sign these on one condition." He moved closer. "You make love to me one last time."
She almost laughed until she saw his eyes go dark; considered the possibility he wasn't joking. "Ric, there is no way."
"Did think so. I guess I'll just have to settle for this."
Before she could react, he had her pulled against him, crushed his lips to hers. Desire, demand, need. His mouth took hers selfishly, violently. He wanted to take all he could from her: the passion, the love. Then he found himself giving his passion, his love.
She put her arms on his shoulders to push him away, but found herself pulling him closer instead. She dug her nails into the hot, bare flesh of his back.
And then she began to give. She matched his intensity with her own. Hunger to hunger. Heart to heart. Love to love.
It was there. Love. She felt it. Felt it crashing over her in waves. She couldn't fight it off. She didn't want to. She hadn't felt this alive in weeks. She wanted it back. She wanted him back.
He pulled away, kept his arms around her when she stumbled. He smiled down at her, drugged. "You felt that. I know you did."
"What?"
He took a hand from around her waist to run along her cheek. "I could taste how much you love me, Elizabeth. You need to be with me just as much as I need to be with you."
Elizabeth's mind cleared and she pushed away from him. She was appalled at herself for acting like such a fool, letting too much show. "I don't know what you're talking about. It was a kiss. Kisses are seductive, powerful. I was just caught off guard."
"There you go, trying to talk yourself out of it again. You love me, Elizabeth. I know that for certain now."
"God, Ric. Yes, I still love you. Is that what you want to hear?" She threw her purse on the ground and sat in the chair next to the bed she refused to look at. "After everything you've done, Ric, I still love you. What kind of person does that make me?" She rested her head in her lap.
He bent to his knees in front of her chair. "It makes you kind, good hearted, understanding, loving, Elizabeth. It makes you the woman I fell in love with. The woman who can forgive, who thinks of others first, who just wants to do the right thing. Just give me a chance, Elizabeth. I'll prove to you that I can change."
She looked into his eyes. He could see her deciding, measuring, weighing. He tried to think of something to do, something to say that would convince her he was telling the truth, but it was too late. Her eyes told him she'd made up her mind.
She pushed past him and picked up the divorce papers that had fallen on the floor sometime during their kiss. "Sign them, Ric."
Getting up, he took them from her, debated, then ripped them in half. "There is no way in hell I'm signing you out of my life."
"Fine." She picked up her purse. "I'll just take you to court."
She started toward the door, but his words had her stopping in place. "I'll fight you."
She turned back to him, almost laughed at how pitiful his case would be. "Ric, a judge will give me a divorce after what you did to Carly."
"The charges were dropped, not enough evidence. You can't use that."
"Well, I don't have to. There are all of the things you've done to me."
"You're word against mine."
She couldn't believe he was making this so hard. "Okay, how about the fact that I'm cheating on you with Lucky?" She hated to see the pain fill his eyes, but she had to convince him that he couldn't win.
"I love you, Elizabeth. I'd forgive you anything." He said, honestly.
After a long pause, she came up with the one thing that could wipe that smug grin off of his face. "You're now cheating on me with Faith, and I can't forgive anything. You know she'll testify."
"Even so, I'll fight you with everything I have."
"Ric, why are you doing this to me?"
"God, Elizabeth, don't you see? I'm not doing this to you. I'm doing this for you. For us. We'll never be happy if we're not together. Do you remember," He started when she didn't respond. "The day I moved into my apartment?" He moved to her, ran his hands up and down her arms. She didn't stop him. "We made love for hours, talked about decorating the place, started to make plans for our future."
"And you lied to me, again. Told me you only wanted to make Jason look back on paper, when you really wanted to get him out of the way so you could get close to Sonny. So you could destroy your own brother." She turned away from him. "Yeah, Ric, I remember that day just fine."
"Do you remember what I told you that day? When you asked if you were to walk out, would I let you go? Do you remember what I said?"
After a pause, she replied, "You said 'No.'"
"That's right." He stood in front of her now, put his knuckle under her chin to raise her eyes to meet his. "I said 'No.' And I have every intention of keeping that promise. I love you, and I will fight for you until the day that I die."
With all of the venom she could muster, she turned herself cold. "Then I'll cry at your funeral."
With that, she left him alone to contemplate his next move.
~*~
Chapter 1
"I love you! I tried to fight it, but I just can't. I want to be with you."
He couldn't believe his ears. She still loved him. He ran to her and enveloped her in his arms.
"God, I've waited so long to hear you say those words to me." He kissed her cheeks, eyelids, forehead, mouth. "I love you so much, baby. I promise, everything will be different this time." He reveled in the feeling of her lips on his, her hands in his hair, her body molding with his. It was perfect, just the way it was supposed to be. It was like a dream.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
At the sound of the high-pitched feminine voice squeaking in his ear, he was pulled from the comfort of his love's arms, and propelled back to reality. In this reality, his wife, his love, wanted nothing to do with him. In this reality, he kidnapped his brother's pregnant wife. In this reality, he was face down on a strange bed with a woman he detested at his side, and one monster of a hangover. Ric Lansing, this is your life!
Ric lifted his eyelids, exposing his orbs to the bright morning sun, and quickly shut them when his head began to throb. Note for the future: No more alcohol. He slowly reopened his eyes and glanced to his right to see Faith lying beside him, licking his back. Another note: If you plan on waking up with her in the future, alcohol is a must!
"Oh, Jesus." He pushed away from the bed, sat on the side, and pulled on his jeans that were thrown recklessly on the floor.
"Is that any way to treat your lover, Mr. Lansing? Did the little waitress let you get away with that?" Faith rose to her knees so she could hang herself over Ric's shoulders. He pushed her off.
"Don't.just don't mention her right now." He couldn't help but feel guilty about his night with Faith. He was married to Elizabeth. He loved Elizabeth. She was the only woman he wanted to be with. And he cheated on her.
But he shouldn't feel guilty. She turned on him. She said she couldn't be with him. And then she went off and slept with her ex, Lucky Spencer. Okay, maybe that was a big jump, but Ric wasn't born yesterday. He saw the way they were wrapped in each other's arms just before he arrived at the hospital. He saw the look in Lucky's eyes when Ric interrupted them. He heard Elizabeth's declaration that she wanted nothing to do with her husband. And then he watched them walk away together, hand in hand. No doubt to go make wild, passionate love somewhere.
Eck. The image churned his stomach. Almost as much as the image of himself in bed with Faith Roscoe, again.
"I thought you were done with her." Faith stood, not bothering to cover her naked body. "I mean, I'd hate to have to kill you for breaking my heart again."
"You have a heart?" Ric laughed, walked to the bar for a glass of vodka. "And you're right. I'm done having my heart trampled on as well. I'm done with Elizabeth."
The alcohol scorched its way down his throat and landed in a smoldering heap at the pit of his stomach. He appreciated the burn. It let him know he was still alive, not just a ghost still going through the motions of life because there were no Elysian Fields waiting for him.
"That's good to hear, Ric. Because after last night, I'm not sure that I could kill you." She stood in front of him, kissed him, and he let her. There was no point fighting it anymore. This is what he deserved.
He didn't deserve his beautiful Elizabeth's love. He didn't deserve a family and a life with her. He deserved meaningless sex with a woman he could barely look at without wanting to kill. Because he was exactly like her.
A knock at the door saved Ric, for the present, from having to follow through with what the kiss would normally precede.
"Put something on. I'll get that." Ric finished off his drink, headed to the door of the two-room cabin---bedroom and bathroom---that Faith used to get away from Port Charles.
"Wait a minute." Faith picked up her dress from the floor and slipped it over her head. "Who in the hell else knows where this place is? It is supposed to be a safe house. As in, no one knows about it, making it safe for me to hide out in. I mean, first Scott, then Sonny shows up? Where are my guards? Do they want to be fired?"
She beat Ric to the door; he was too busy covering his ears during her rant, protecting his sore head, to make his way there. "Well, look what we have here? I think it's a Girl Scout, Ric."
And then he felt it. That familiar warmth that flowed through his body whenever she was around. He palms went a bit damp, his knees a bit weak. Was it normal for a grown man to feel like this?
He turned around slowly, as not to fall over. When he saw her, his breath hitched in his throat. She was literally breathtaking.
She had on her favorite jeans, huge flares at the bottoms that covered her shoes. Of course her shoes always matched her top, regardless of their invisibility. Her shirt, if you could really call it that, since it was really just a couple of straps that covered the necessary areas, was dark blue, his favorite color. It must be new, because he didn't recognize it. And he pretty much had her entire wardrobe memorized. She had on her usual make-up---light coat of lip-gloss, and eye shadow to match her shirt. Her skin was too perfect---her cheeks a natural blush---for anything else. And her hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail, exposing her long, smooth neck. She knew it was his favorite style.
Was she trying to drive him crazy? Was this a sick joke she was playing to hurt him again? Or maybe that wasn't it at all. Maybe, just maybe she was there to take him back. But then he looked into her eyes---dark, hurt, confused---and realized she wasn't there for a happy reunion.
"We don't want any." Faith broke the silence, smiled sweetly, sugary, toward her contender. Elizabeth Webber had another thing coming if she thought Faith was giving Ric up without a fight, or a dead body.
"Heh, funny." Elizabeth pushed through Faith to enter the---quite obvious--- love nest. She couldn't help but feel the pang of hurt, jealousy at the thought of Ric and Faith sleeping in that torn up bed. But it was obvious they had.
When she saw Ric, heard the voice in the back of her head that told her to run into his arms, kiss him, love him, she realized she'd made a big mistake coming to see him. However, backing down from Faith, letting her think she had control over Elizabeth, that was a bigger mistake. So she stood her ground. "But I don't think you speak for Ric."
"Do you hear him speaking?"
"No, because you don't seem to be letting him. But right now, I need a word alone with."---she paused, smiled---".my husband. So if you don't mind."---her eyes darted to the door and back.
"Oh, no. I don't."
"Go, Faith." Ric interrupted.
"Excuse me?" She snapped after catching Elizabeth's amused smile. "In case you're forgetting, this is my cabin."
"And I'll make it up to you later." He glanced at Elizabeth to gage her reaction, and hoped she'd gotten better at hiding her emotions. Because he didn't see pain in her eyes, face, body language. All he saw now was a statue.
Faith smiled, walked to Ric, devoured him. Elizabeth wanted to throw up. It's not, she told herself, that she was jealous. It was just Faith. It had nothing to do with the fact that another woman had her tongue down her husband's throat.
"Make sure that you do." Faith practically skipped to the door, blew Ric one final kiss before leaving.
"Well, that was a.disgusting display." Elizabeth fought back tears.
"Jealous?"
"Hardly. I just came here to."
"To what? No, first of all, how did you find this place?" Ric went to the bar to pour himself another drink. Faith had no TV, no radio, no books, no anything, but she had a bar. "You want?"
"No, I.a vodka." She needed all the help she could manage to get through this.
Ric smiled his devilishly handsome smile, before pouring her drink. "Since when did you start drinking vodka?"
She noticed he was making the same for himself. "About the same time as you, I suppose."
He laughed a little. "Yeah. I like it. Burns more going down."
"Thanks." She downed the glass, placed it on the table. "The reason I'm here."
"No, first. How did you know where here is?" He noticed she was uncomfortable. He filled her glass, gave it back to her. His deceptive mind started to contemplate ways to get her out of the country if she passed out from too much vodka, but his plan was botched when she started to sip this time.
"I followed you the other day, after you left my studio."
"After you called the police on me?"
"Yeah," Elizabeth thought of the lie she'd told Ric, decided it was best to let him believe it. "I went to the hospital to see my grandmother, saw you with Faith. I decided to follow you." Her laugh was laced with bitterness. "I should have known you'd go to her."
"Well, what I do is no longer your business, now that you're shaking up with your ex."
"Excuse me?"
Ric slammed his glass down on the bar. "I'm not stupid, Elizabeth. I saw you with Lucky at the hospital. Tell me, have you been sleeping with him this whole time?"
She would have laughed if Ric's assumption didn't seem like the perfect way to get him to back off. "I never cheated on you, Ric. Because, stupidly, I loved you with everything that I had. But now, what Lucky and I do is none of YOUR business."
"You're really going to be with him after he slept with your sister?"
"Okay, Ric. I don't think you really want to get into the track records of my previous lovers right about now."
"What I did, I did because I loved you. I know it was insane, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do." Ric poured another glass of vodka, drank it, so he could blame his watery eyes on the alcohol. "I would have never cheated on you because you were---god, you still are the most precious thing to me. You're all I want."
She had to get this done and get out of there. She felt herself began to cave.
She pulled a packet out of her purse, handed it to Ric. "Here, I need you to sign these."
"What?"
"Divorce papers. I need you to sign them."
He scanned the document in front of him. "Divorce papers." He said it under his breath. Just when he thought he couldn't hurt more, she went for another jab in the gut.
"Come on, Ric. You had to know this was coming. You didn't think we'd stay married forever, did you?"
"That was the plan."
"Well, the plan changed. Probably sometime around when you kidnapped Carly. Or when you paid a doctor to tell me one of the most devastating things possible. Oh, you did try to smother me to death. And we can't forget the birth."
"You know what, Elizabeth?" Ric screamed. "I know my mistakes. I don't need you listing them for me!"
"Well, if you know them, you know you owe me this divorce."
He owed her? He supposed she was right. However, something---the alcohol, how beautiful she looked, the finality the divorce papers represented--- something told him to keep fighting.
"Okay," He stepped toward her, placed her drink on the table. "I'll sign these on one condition." He moved closer. "You make love to me one last time."
She almost laughed until she saw his eyes go dark; considered the possibility he wasn't joking. "Ric, there is no way."
"Did think so. I guess I'll just have to settle for this."
Before she could react, he had her pulled against him, crushed his lips to hers. Desire, demand, need. His mouth took hers selfishly, violently. He wanted to take all he could from her: the passion, the love. Then he found himself giving his passion, his love.
She put her arms on his shoulders to push him away, but found herself pulling him closer instead. She dug her nails into the hot, bare flesh of his back.
And then she began to give. She matched his intensity with her own. Hunger to hunger. Heart to heart. Love to love.
It was there. Love. She felt it. Felt it crashing over her in waves. She couldn't fight it off. She didn't want to. She hadn't felt this alive in weeks. She wanted it back. She wanted him back.
He pulled away, kept his arms around her when she stumbled. He smiled down at her, drugged. "You felt that. I know you did."
"What?"
He took a hand from around her waist to run along her cheek. "I could taste how much you love me, Elizabeth. You need to be with me just as much as I need to be with you."
Elizabeth's mind cleared and she pushed away from him. She was appalled at herself for acting like such a fool, letting too much show. "I don't know what you're talking about. It was a kiss. Kisses are seductive, powerful. I was just caught off guard."
"There you go, trying to talk yourself out of it again. You love me, Elizabeth. I know that for certain now."
"God, Ric. Yes, I still love you. Is that what you want to hear?" She threw her purse on the ground and sat in the chair next to the bed she refused to look at. "After everything you've done, Ric, I still love you. What kind of person does that make me?" She rested her head in her lap.
He bent to his knees in front of her chair. "It makes you kind, good hearted, understanding, loving, Elizabeth. It makes you the woman I fell in love with. The woman who can forgive, who thinks of others first, who just wants to do the right thing. Just give me a chance, Elizabeth. I'll prove to you that I can change."
She looked into his eyes. He could see her deciding, measuring, weighing. He tried to think of something to do, something to say that would convince her he was telling the truth, but it was too late. Her eyes told him she'd made up her mind.
She pushed past him and picked up the divorce papers that had fallen on the floor sometime during their kiss. "Sign them, Ric."
Getting up, he took them from her, debated, then ripped them in half. "There is no way in hell I'm signing you out of my life."
"Fine." She picked up her purse. "I'll just take you to court."
She started toward the door, but his words had her stopping in place. "I'll fight you."
She turned back to him, almost laughed at how pitiful his case would be. "Ric, a judge will give me a divorce after what you did to Carly."
"The charges were dropped, not enough evidence. You can't use that."
"Well, I don't have to. There are all of the things you've done to me."
"You're word against mine."
She couldn't believe he was making this so hard. "Okay, how about the fact that I'm cheating on you with Lucky?" She hated to see the pain fill his eyes, but she had to convince him that he couldn't win.
"I love you, Elizabeth. I'd forgive you anything." He said, honestly.
After a long pause, she came up with the one thing that could wipe that smug grin off of his face. "You're now cheating on me with Faith, and I can't forgive anything. You know she'll testify."
"Even so, I'll fight you with everything I have."
"Ric, why are you doing this to me?"
"God, Elizabeth, don't you see? I'm not doing this to you. I'm doing this for you. For us. We'll never be happy if we're not together. Do you remember," He started when she didn't respond. "The day I moved into my apartment?" He moved to her, ran his hands up and down her arms. She didn't stop him. "We made love for hours, talked about decorating the place, started to make plans for our future."
"And you lied to me, again. Told me you only wanted to make Jason look back on paper, when you really wanted to get him out of the way so you could get close to Sonny. So you could destroy your own brother." She turned away from him. "Yeah, Ric, I remember that day just fine."
"Do you remember what I told you that day? When you asked if you were to walk out, would I let you go? Do you remember what I said?"
After a pause, she replied, "You said 'No.'"
"That's right." He stood in front of her now, put his knuckle under her chin to raise her eyes to meet his. "I said 'No.' And I have every intention of keeping that promise. I love you, and I will fight for you until the day that I die."
With all of the venom she could muster, she turned herself cold. "Then I'll cry at your funeral."
With that, she left him alone to contemplate his next move.