Disclaimer:
I own nothing related to or affiliated with Disney, ABC Daytime, or General Hospital. Characters are not mine; they are merely being borrowed.
AN:
I have no idea where this came from. I've been in a writing drought for months and haven't touched LiRic fic in even longer. Apparently all it take to get me writing again is Ric Lancing back in Port Charles. Who knew? Of course this mean he has to stay forever now. But I doubt anyone here will complain about that.
This fic is quickly becoming one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it as well. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Background:
This starts at the engagement ball as Elizabeth is telling Lulu. (3/25/14) I fudged the first two chapters and used dialogue from the show. There are differences mostly in chapter two though.
Still the One Chapter One
Elizabeth smiled as Lulu began to realize she was telling the truth. That Ben was truly her son. The joy on the younger girl's face made Elizabeth realize that Ric was right. Again. It was really starting to become a habit with him.
While helping Lulu and Dante was part of her reason for exposing Britt it wasn't the main reason. If she was going to be honest, her main reason was getting Britt as far away from Nick as possible. Elizabeth wanted to be the one to make him see what kind of person she really was.
"Thank you so much," Lulu said pulling her into a hug. It was easy to see how happy she was at this moment.
Elizabeth laughed despite the fact she was also crying and said, "You don't have to thank me."
"Yes I do," the younger girl countered immediately. "And I'm going to figure out how later." Lulu promised turning back towards the door. "Right now there's something I need to do."
"Wait. What are you going to do now?" Elizabeth asked worried about how upset Lulu was. After all the girl was still Luke Spencer's daughter deep down. And they had both grown up on stories of the man's adventures.
"I'm going to get my son," she said storming out of the room letter in hand.
Elizabeth shook her head before collapsing on an ottoman. "That went well," she muttered resting her head in her hands. Suddenly she felt very tired and slightly ashamed. Telling Lulu the truth might have been the right thing to do but she did it for all the wrong reasons. In that, moment she realized that she couldn't keep playing this game with Nikolas. Not if she wanted to stay sane.
A soft knock on the wooden door made Elizabeth look up. Not surprisingly, it was Ric standing there with a worried look on his face. "Did you find Lulu?"
"I did," she said standing up slowly. "I told her everything. She finally knows the truth about her son."
"This is going to be a dumb question but how did Lulu react?"
"She reacted exactly the way I would have. She ran off to find her son and take him back."
"Are you gonna be okay? Do you want sit back down?"
Elizabeth shook her head and fidgeted nervously, "No. No. I'm fine. I just can't believe this is really happening."
"Thanks to you and Cameron's formidable origami skills."
She immediately frowned at the thought. "Don't say that," Elizabeth mumbled walking away. While that was technicality true, it was also the last thing she wanted to hear. "Don't say thanks to me."
Ric frowned at the statement. "But I thought you wanted Lulu to know the truth?"
"I did. I do. But the fall out," she turned to face him. "It's gonna be really ugly Ric."
A slightly pained look crossed his face at her words. "You mean for Nikolas?" he asked taking several steps towards her.
Elizabeth blushed at the question mostly because she knew Ric was once again right. Her first concern had been for Nikolas. Looking away she asked, "Where did you say Cameron was? He in the kitchen?"
"Yeah. Gorging himself on baked goods." Ric laughed tensely. "I dropped him off there after my little run in with Alexis."
"Oh you had a little run in did you?" she teased forgetting about the chaos for a moment. Like her, Alexis had a complicated relationship with Ric. She wasn't surprised they had some kind of disagreement.
Ric shook his head, "It's not like that. She's got it in her head that I'm mixed up in some shady dealings with Julian Jerome."
"Are you?" she asked bluntly. Suddenly the conversation felt like déjà vie. In the worst possible way. If Ric was mixed up in something, she wanted to know now. Before... before anything.
"No," he denied letting out a sigh when it was obvious Elizabeth didn't believe him. "Look Elizabeth I'm not. She's the one that asked me to represent him during that whole AJ mess."
"Then why would Alexis think that?"
"I can't be 100% sure but my guess would be Sonny out her up to it."
"I got the feeling you were trying to mend fences with Sonny," Elizabeth said as Ric sat down.
"Oh I am," he muttered smoothing his tie with one hand. Of everyone in his life, Sonny and Elizabeth comprised his biggest regrets. Maybe that's why he kept trying with them both. Of course Elizabeth was usually more receptive then his brother. "Let's just say he's not exactly receptive to my overtures."
"Oh imagine that," she said slightly teasing Ric. Of everyone, she knew how much a relationship with Sonny meant to her ex. She also knew why Sonny wouldn't let his brother in.
"You know how Sonny is. He sees everything through a paranoid haze," he said waving the situation off.
"Well... Can you blame him?"
"No. I mean after all I am the spawn of Satan. Right?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her ex husband, "Oh jeeze."
"I'm the back stabbing brother who for years sowed seeds of chaos into Sonny's life."
"Alright I wouldn't go that far."
"Well he does," Ric scoffed standing to walk the length of the room. "And he continues to every chance he gets."
"So how did you leave it?"
"Well I tried to tell him if there was someone helping Julian Jerome work against him it ain't me."
"I could remind you of all the reason Sonny had not to trust you. To run down that laundry list of lies and double crosses... all of which you promised me are in the past."
"Indeed they are."
"But instead of drudging up ancient history which is no doubt painful for the both of us. I'm just gonna ask are you done with your pity party? Cause Babe really it's not your most attractive quality."
Ric smiled inwardly at the comment. It gave him hope that Elizabeth was totally lost to him. "But you are saying that I have some?"
"You're good with my boys I'll give you that."
"I'll take it. Speaking of which," he said reaching out to touch her bare shoulder. It was an impulse he'd been fighting most of the night. "Why don't we go gather up Cam and head to the main land?"
"Right now?"
"Well if I'm not mistaken Lulu is about to turn this celebration into a crime scene. Do you really wanna subject Cam to that? Not to mention Britt and Nikolas turmoil." Seeing the torn look on Elizabeth's face, he asks, "Unless that is the plan? To stay and subject yourself. You've thought about what this whole revelation is going to do to Nikolas and Britt and you wanna be right there."
"Not for entertainment." Elizabeth denied immediately in a hurt voice.
"That's not what I'm saying. When Nikolas finds out you want him to see you out in the crowd waiting for him with open arms."
"That's not true. Oh there's that look." Elizabeth muttered shaking her head. "That look I've missed so much."
"What look?"
"The one that says I know you better than you you do."
"Well maybe in this case I might just be right. Come on Elizabeth if you're not going to be honest with me at least be honest with yourself. You see this as your chance with Nikolas and you don't wanna blow it."
"I really hate it when you're right. Part me of really loves Nikolas and that part... yeah it wants me to stay. To... I don't know prove I was right all along. And that part does want a shot with him."
"But?" he pushed despite not wanting to hear about this. As far as he was concerned, Nikolas Cassadine was an idiot for letting Elizabeth go. Of course, the same could be said for him.
"He has caught Britt in lie after lie. And he chose to be with her anyways. No one forced Nikolas to propose."
"So what are you saying?"
Elizabeth let out a long sigh at the question. Truth was she was so mixed up she wasn't sure of anything right now. "That Nikolas is going to be very hurt and angry and I... wanna be there. For a lot of reasons. But Cam... we should take him home."
"Home?" Ric questioned smirking at the innocent comment.
"Ric... I'm not..."
"I know. I do." he promised giving her elbow a soft squeeze. "How about I take you and Cam to dinner? Unless he's ruined his already."
"I think I'd like that."