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:

Several months ago Miss Raye and I were talking about all missed opportunities RC had. From those conversations came this fic. It's more series of oneshots than a true multi chapter fic.

Things you need to know.. it seems as though the show is hinting at this retcon of plot lines, but Elizabeth and Ric's relationship happened AFTER his marriage to Alexis ended in divorce, making Molly the eldest of Ric's 'children'.

~Kelly~

Impossible

Open Eyes

Somehow, through her grief and disbelief, Elizabeth Webber had put together a memorial service in less than 48 hours. Dr. Obrecht had fired her and at the moment it was a godsend, she'd used every moment of free time to make the necessary arrangements to bury a man who had only just reappeared in her life. As she shook the hand of the priest and thanked him for his help as she felt Cameron press tightly against her side. She settled her free arm over his shoulder and gave him a squeeze as Molly walked up with Aiden in her arms.

Father Murray looked at small group and couldn't help but be moved by their sadness. "Please, accept my condolences for your loss."

Elizabeth sighed, her body shuddering with a sob. "I thank you for helping us to organize this so quickly."

Molly pressed a kiss to Aiden's curls. "I just couldn't think of my father lying in that cold room. Thank you, Father."

"When someone dies," he explained, "it is my calling to comfort those left behind just as much as it is to assure that the spirit of the deceased is ushered into heaven to take their rightful place beside our Lord."

"But Ric's not gone!"

Elizabeth bent down beside her eldest son. "Sweetheart, we talked about this-"

"No, Mommy!" Cam pushed her hands away. "He's not gone!"

Father Murray excused himself to attend to the final preparations for the service.

"Cameron, " Elizabeth began, fighting her owns tears as her son's lashes glittered with his own, "I know that you liked Ric, but-"

"Liked him?" He drew in a large shuddering breath. "I wanted him to be my daddy! My Daddy!" He stomped his foot, dangerously close to a complete meltdown. "They always go away… Daddy Zander died, Daddy Lucky moved away… and now Ric!"

"Sweetheart… Honey…" Elizabeth could feel her heart thundering in her chest and her breath seizing in her lungs, "please-"

"Cam?" Molly touched him on the shoulder. "Come and sit with me and give your mom a minute, okay?"

Cam took the hand she offered him and started to move away. A half a second later he turned back and pointed at the urn on the altar. "That's not him in there, Mommy… no matter what you or anyone else says… that is NOT Ric. He's just gone somewhere else… and he's going to be back. I know it!"

Once he moved away, Elizabeth moved to the door of the church to await the arrival of the other mourners. With her back firmly to the children she let the tears roll down her cheeks.

The ceremony had been short by design. With two small children and a grief stricken daughter, length was something they could not work well. After Elizabeth spoke about Ric, avoiding Cameron's angry glare, she motioned for Molly to step up to the podium.

Setting Aiden down beside his brother, Molly straightened her dress and mounted the few steps to the podium with her eyes downcast and her hand crumpling the paper she held. She smoothed it on the stand and took a deep breath. "My father," she began, "was misunderstood by most people. Even those people who thought they knew him had no clue.

"He wanted to be loved and he wanted to love in return. It just didn't work out well for him through most of his life. When I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my father, he always made sure that I knew how much he loved me and wanted me in his life. I just wish other people felt the same way about him.

"These last few months he was so happy-" she sobbed, snatching a tissue from the box near her hand and pressing it to her eyes, "so happy to be back in Port Charles with me.. and Elizabeth." She gave the woman a smile, noticeable missing her mother's concerned gaze. "We believed in him when everyone else turned their backs and believed a liar and a criminal."

"Molly!" Alexis stood from her seat beside Nikolas and gave her daughter a pointed look. "Please, not now!"

"My father," she began again, her voice cracking with emotion, "was a good man." She glared as Nikolas looked away. "If only people gave him a chance…" tears sprang into her eyes and she struggled to blot them away, "that's all he needed from you people… was a chance!"

Molly lurched away from the podium and into Elizabeth's arms. She clung to the nurse as Elizabeth led her back to the front pew.

Father Murray took pity on them all and returned to say a few words and end the service. While he was speaking Cam moved around, squeezing in between Molly and the end of the pew and Aiden climbed up into Molly's lap and wrapped his arms around her neck.

Most of the people in attendance left after the service but a few remained to speak with Elizabeth and the children.

Alexis tried and was led away by Nikolas when it became clear that her presence was only upsetting her daughter. Nikolas managed to mutter a few words of condolence but Elizabeth seemed out of their reach.

She did hear Father Murray's soft gasp of surprise before Elizabeth looked up into the dark eyes of Sonny Corinthos.

Immediately, Elizabeth was on her feet between Molly and Sonny. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to offer my condolences to my niece."

Molly mumbled into Aiden's hair. "I don't care."

"Sonny," Elizabeth touched is arm to move him away but he shrugged her off, "now really isn't the time."

The mob boss narrowed his eyes at the nurse. "Don't tell me what to do!"

Elizabeth squared her shoulders, ready to take on the head of the Port Charles mob. "Sonny, she is your niece and you should understand how difficult this is for her. Please, for her sake, please-"

They saw Sonny tense up, but before the situation could get any worse a voice descended on them. "Sonny, may I have a moment?"

Sonny turned and stared at Duke with open exasperation in his eyes. "What?"

Stepping forward to place himself almost between Elizabeth and Sonny, Duke bent down to speak. "I applaud your desire to console your niece, Sonny. I also recognize that this is a difficult time for both of you…" he waited until Sonny looked up into his eyes. "Perhaps after a few days there would be less… tension between the two of you." He looked around the room. "And… less of an audience."

Father Murray was watching the group with interest and there were a few reporters hovering by the door.

Straightening his back, Sonny nodded slowly and sighed. "I'm heading back to the house. I hope that Molly will join us for dinner one night and we can talk then."

Elizabeth tensed waiting for Molly to make a comment, but mercifully she was quietly hugging Aiden sobbing into the little boy's mop of curls. "Thank you for the invitation. I will talk to her about it later."

Sonny moved away and stopped short, looking over his shoulder. "You're invited too, Elizabeth."

That shocked her a little. "Oh, thank you, Sonny. That's very kind of you." She wasn't sure how she got the words out without choking on them. The last thing she wanted was to spend time with Sonny Corinthos and talk about Ric. The sheer hypocrisy of the moment would nearly kill her.

As the mob boss walked toward the exit she looked up at Duke with a grateful smile. "Thank you."

He grinned back at the younger woman, his admiration for her growing with every minute. "If I may say so, Miss Webber, you handled that well." Duke felt a bit flustered addressing her, but he couldn't quite understand why, he'd had few chances to interact with her yet he'd heard about her from AJ and seen her about town. "I admire you."

"You," she blinked at him, "admire me?"

"A smart young woman, a fine nurse, and a loving mother. You handle adversity very well… with grace and courage."

Elizabeth didn't know what to say, managing to stammer out a 'Thank you' before they were interrupted.

"Miss Webber…" Anna gently touched Elizabeth's arm, "I want to offer my condo-"

"You!" Molly was on her feet, a startled Aiden in her arms. "You can't be here!"

"I wanted to apologize again," Anna looked from Elizabeth to Molly and back again, her eyes showing her conflicting emotions, "if I could have had this turn out differently… believe me, I would."

"My father," Molly's words heaved from her chest, "is DEAD because one of your officers gunned him down in YOUR police station! There is nothing you can do but leave… this… place…" In her arms, Aiden squirmed and whimpered, his hands fisting in Molly's dress. "Now!"

Into the silence created by Molly's scream, two things happened: the rapid fire clicks of photographers and Aiden's upset cries.

"Molly," Elizabeth offered, "I can take him-"

"No, please," she cuddled Aiden, smoother her hand down his back, "I just can't talk to her… not now."

Duke cleared his throat. "I'll sit with the children."

Elizabeth gave him a grateful smile that almost had the former spy blushing before she turned back to Anna. "I'm sorry, Anna, Molly is very upset-"

"As she should be. Ric is… er… was her father and she loved him very much. I truly am sorry…"

Duke was happy to help. Elizabeth and Anna needed to talk and yet the children needed watching. He wasn't quite what someone would call a baby-sitter, but he had done a decent job watching Robin's daughter.

He didn't know Elizabeth's children beyond their names and what little he had gleaned from his talks with AJ when the ELQ executive had been dating Elizabeth.

Molly, the dear girl, was doing her best to calm the littlest boy, Aiden, but he was proving to be beyond the effect of her calming words and gentle touches. When she was nearly to the point of giving up, Cameron stepped in.

The older boy sat down beside Molly and swept Aiden's curls from his forehead in a gentle brush of his hand. The volume of the boy's cries softened but hadn't stopped. Leaning closer, his own head resting on Molly's shoulder, Cameron began to sing to his brother. "Flow gently, sweet Afton, among the green braes… flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise…"

Duke felt his heart twist painfully in his chest as memories flooded his mind. Anna, sweet Anna, singing a parting lullaby to the daughter in her arms.

"My Mary's asleep by they murmuring stream… Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream…"

Anna's tears as she struggled to resign herself to the truth… to protecting her daughter from a father who would have turned her into a monster.

"How pleasant they banks and green valleys below… where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow…"

The nameless nurse who held out her arms to take the babe to her adoptive parents, a couple of physicians from America.

"There oft, as mild evening sweeps over the lea, the sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me…"

Duke let out a pent up breath and managed to ask the young boy. "Where… where did you learn that?"

Cameron shrugged as he continued to smooth the hair on his sleeping brother's head. "My mom says she remembers her mama singing it to her when she was a baby."

The Scottish song had always been a favorite of his… and Anna… and when she had given up her daughter it was the last song she had sung to the little dark haired infant.

Turning his head to look at Elizabeth he caught his breath and clutched at his middle. The two women, quietly conferring with each other could not know what a picture their presented, yet he wondered if he was confusing himself, confounding his own eyes and the brain in his head but seeing… a seemingly impossible resemblance between the nurse and Police Commissioner… long lost daughter and mother.

Impossible…