AN:
I was so touched by the comments, favorites, and follows. Wilhelm Wig worthy & Bryke13 thanks for the comments. It always good to have new readers. I hope you like what I have planned. Pwrmom2 I'd be shocked and upset if you didn't. ;)
LiRic was my second fic pairing ever and it feels good to come back to it. This chapter has dialogue from 3/25 and 3/26. There are some differences however. Some of them are very important in the upcoming chapters.
~Kelly~
Chapter Two
They had managed to pry Cam away from the sweets without incident. Elizabeth's son was too happy about Emma Drake to be upset they were leaving early. Apparently leaving the party unnoticed was too much to ask for. They were putting on their coats and laughing at one of Cam's jokes when the doors suddenly opened. "Leaving without saying I told you so?" the prince snapped the moment he saw them.
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asked pulling Cam close. This wasn't the reaction she expected her friend to have.
"Seriously, I'm surprised you didn't waltz in here with a mariachi band."
She looked around the foyer before glaring at him clearly Nikolas had lost his mind. "Are you being serious right now?"
"Come on. Don't deny it. You've been gunning for Britt ever since you found out we were together."
"I couldn't stand your fiancée well before that," she reminded Nikolas angrily. The fact that he was attacking her in front of everyone stung.
"Oh, my God. The hypocrisy right now is... is... what is it? Well, it's... frankly, its mind blowing," Nikolas snapped running a through his dark hair. "Saint Elizabeth up on her pedestal looking down at us immoral beasts. How... how are you any better than... than the rest of us?"
Lulu tugged on her brother's arm shocked by his attack. Whatever Elizabeth's motives she had done the right thing. Something she would've thought was obvious. "Nikolas..."
"No! How many lies have you told? How many lives have you upended, because you were a coward? Yet you stand here and judge the rest of us with a smile on your face."
"You think I'm enjoying this?"
"Could have fooled me."
"What was I supposed to do?" Elizabeth demanded to know. She wasn't going to let Nikolas make her feel guilty about telling the truth. Well not anymore than she already did. "This is your sister we're talking about. Are we all supposed to just ignore the fact that somebody else is raising her baby?"
"No Liz."
"Continue to let her suffer?" she pressed sick of her friend's attacks. Elizabeth was especially how this was affecting Cam. The little boy was hiding between her and Ric.
"No."
"Then you tell me how this was supposed to go down."
"Not like this," Nikolas muttered waving his hands in anger. "You couldn't have done it any other way? You had to orchestrate a public scene like this? My God!"
"I was just trying to do the right thing."
"So, what? You... you want my gratitude? Is that what you want, Liz? You want me to tell you that you were right all along and I should have listened to you and that I should thank you for coming to my senses?"
She blinked back the sudden urge to cry. She had never known Nikolas to be so cruel. At least not with her. To mock how she felt for him broke her heart. "I don't want anything from you."
"Get the hell out of my house." Nikolas yelled causing her to flinch.
Elizabeth could feel Ric's hand tugging gently on her arm. It was clear they needed to leave immediately. Unfortunately, the crowd had gained two additional guests. One who was too much like her mother to keep quiet
"Stop yelling at my Auntie Elizabeth." Emma Drake yelled stepping between the two adults. Everyone, but Britt, got silent and stared at the young girl.
"I... I didn't..."
"You know Emma its okay." Elizabeth said kneeling in front of the kids.
"But he's..."
"Sometimes when grown up get upset we yell." she explained despite knowing Emma wouldn't believe her. "How about I take you home with us and save you Daddy a trip? Okay?"
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Ric wonder around Elizabeth's living room while she put Cam to bed. After Nikolas's scene, dinner had been out of the question. Especially considering they now had to drop Emma Drake off. To his surprise, the other man hadn't asked a single question. Apparently, Dr. Drake trusted Elizabeth to make those sorts of decisions for his child.
"Cameron is out like a light." Elizabeth said coming down the stairs. She'd been half-tempted to crawl into bed herself. She was sure Ric would've figured things out eventually. "He was asleep before his head hit the pillow."
"Yeah, well, he had a tumultuous evening, you know? So did you."
"Well, thanks for seeing me through it." she said wring her hands together. Despite being tired, she was still upset. If she could get Ric to leave then this horrible night would finally be over. "You don't have to hang around. I'll be okay."
"Will you? Mm. Nikolas said some pretty hurtful things," he pointed out gently. Ric thought knew Elizabeth pretty well. He knew she believed every terrible thing Nikolas had said about her. Things that simply weren't true in his mind.
"Yeah well," she shrugged sadly. "His world just got turned upside down."
"You're right. The person that he loved was taken away from him."
Elizabeth collapsed on the couch and muttered, "By me."
"Well... that's how Nikolas sees it." Ric agreed slowly. He didn't want to hurt Elizabeth anymore than she already was. Still he wasn't totally above pointing out his rival's flaws. "And he's... he's not gonna let it go anytime soon, if ever. Isn't it time for you to let go of him, too, Elizabeth?" he asked sitting on the arm of the sofa and loosening his tie. He had to admit watching her laying there made his heart race. "You deserve to be happy. Aren't you ready to give up on Nikolas once and for all? When you have history with someone, that familiarity is... it's an opportunity. It can draw you closer, but it can also give you ammunition. Nikolas used what he knew about you tonight, Elizabeth, to hurt you, and I'm sorry, but that bothers me."
"He was upset." she defended sitting up with a long sigh. Truth was she was used to the public humiliation. A fact she probably shouldn't mention to Ric.
"Oh, come on. And... and he... and he... and he turned on you, right? He took it out on you. Britt is the one who lied to him, Elizabeth... I mean, to the whole town, apparently... and who did he yell at? Who did he humiliate in front of an entire roomful of people? Who did he throw out of his house? You. And all you did was tell him the truth."
Elizabeth let out a soft humorless chuckle, "When you warned me not to."
"Yeah, well, I kind of knew how Nikolas was gonna react," he said standing to pace the room. Ric had to work off some of his nervous energy before he did something stupid. Like go back to Wyndemere and deck Nikolas Cassadine. "He is a bit of a tyrant."
"No, he's not." she defended firmly. Nikolas was a lot of things but he was still her friend. Tonight's outburst was just a result of his wounded pride.
"No?! I'm sorry. What... what do you call what happened tonight?"
"It was... it was a difficult situation." she excused immediately causing them both to frown. "That's what it was."
"Yes," Ric agreed even though he didn't believe her excuses. His ex wife was far too loyal to turn on an old friend. "And it is in those moments, Elizabeth... those very tough, very challenging moments... that we reveal who we really are. You didn't deserve to be treated that way."
The last statement shocked Elizabeth. Mostly because Ric was probably the only one who thought so. Lucky and AJ certainly hadn't. "I haven't exactly been...fair to Nikolas, either." she told him standing up and move to the other side of the room. She needed some space before she broke down completely.
"He acted like a spoiled child. You deserve better."
"Well, don't we all?" she snapped back surprising them both.
"Elizabeth, I want you to think about what happened tonight." Ric pleaded softly. He crossed the stop just short of touching Elizabeth. If he started would never want to stop. "You should be with somebody who treats you better than Nikolas. You should be with me."
"I don't want to have this conversation right now," she begged toying with her necklace. It had become a habit that was driving Ric crazy with longing. "Tonight was already difficult enough."
"So Nikolas took it out on you."
"I don't want to hurt you... I really don't... but you're in no position to criticize Nikolas. Yes, he has flaws. We all do. But he was deeply hurt tonight and lashed out. But that doesn't even come close to the type of mistakes you have made."
"Mista…" Ric paused trying to ignore the flash of anger coursing through him. Unlike most of Port Charles, he deeply regretted his mistakes. "Those mistakes are years in the past."
"That's kind of my point. You've been gone for five years!" she pointed out slightly raising her voice. "You haven't been back for five minutes, and you're telling me that Nikolas doesn't deserve me, and I should be with you?"
"I was only trying to be honest with my feelings. I don't wanna play games with you."
"Well, that's a lot to process."
Ric let her walk past him. It was easy to see Elizabeth was upset. Keeping his back to her he said, "Look, I realize you only agreed to go to the party with me, because you didn't want to go alone. Maybe you thought that by having me show up with you, you could light a fire underneath Nikolas."
"I wasn't trying to use you." she defended causing him to turn around.
"But I offered to be your date because I am more than happy to spend as much time as I can with you, Elizabeth," he declared following her across the room. "And because I welcome the opportunity... to try to win you over. That's how much I care about you." The admission caused Elizabeth to blush and look away. "Don't you think you can care about me that way in return? Remember our first kiss? It was after that open-mike night. We went down to the basement at Kelly's, and Carly was trying to convert the whole thing into a speakeasy."
"I invited you to a very exclusive club opening." Elizabeth smiled at the memory.
"Yeah. I tell you I had a lot more fun at that party than I did at the one tonight."
"Ric, that was a very long time ago."
"We turned on the radio. Remember?" He continued as if Elizabeth hadn't spoken.
"You're a pretty good dancer."
"Still am." Ric said causing her to blush slightly. Maybe this was the way to make progress with Elizabeth. Moving to stand in front her Ric ran his fingertips down her arm. "A lot has changed, Elizabeth, but one thing's the same. You're still the only person that I want to impress." Lowering his head Ric hesitated for several seconds. He wanted to give Elizabeth plenty of opportunity to pull away. Instead she tilted her lips up to meet his. The kiss was brief and almost chaste. Nothing like the first kiss, they shared. However, it affected him just as intensely. Pulling Elizabeth close he broke the kiss. "Mm. I swear I forgot what it was to feel like that. Feels like the first time all over again."
"But that doesn't mean that this is okay." she said hiding her face in his chest.
"No, it means everything, Elizabeth. That's why I'm here," he reminded her pressing a kiss to her temple. "Look, I know you feel it too, okay? It's like I said earlier today, you know? We were good together once. We can be good again. I care so much about you, Elizabeth. Please, just... let me show you how much, okay? Let me be with you." he said tilting her face back to his.
"You want to sleep with me after just one date, one kiss?"
"I didn't mean it like that. Come on, Elizabeth." Ric huffed as she pulled away from him. It was almost as if she was trying to pick a fight. "We're not kids, right? We're not strangers. We were married. We have history. You know I'm not looking for a night or two. I want to have a relationship with you. Yes. Yes, I want to sleep with you. I've been attracted to you from the moment we met. But I want far more than that."
A pained looked crossed Elizabeth's face, "I can't."
"I-I don't understand. Oh. Oh. Nikolas. You're still not ready to let go of him, even after everything that he said to you tonight.
"Everyone's allowed to have a bad night." she defended almost immediately. Elizabeth was shocked by how confused she was. How could one kiss turn her entire world upside down? Of course, it was a really good kiss.
"Nobody is allowed to treat you like that... not in my book."
Elizabeth shook her head. Knowing Ric, felt that way was so touching. She couldn't remember the last time someone defended her like that. The trouble was Nikolas was one of her oldest friends. It wasn't as if she was going to cut him out of her life over this. "Please don't try to save me from Nikolas. We've known each other since we were teenagers. We've been through hell and back... lived through terrible losses, gone through hideous mistakes. We've been right, we've been wrong, and we have always found a way to forgive each other. I don't think tonight is gonna be any different." she finished collapsing back on to the sofa with a sigh.
"And I hope you and Nikolas are friends forever." Ric said taking the seat beside her. His right hand slowly traveled up her leg as he spoke, "Look. I know you, Elizabeth, okay? I know there's a part of you that wants to be with me. Just let me in."
"We... I'm so confused right now. Please don't." she asked frowning at how complicated the situation was.
"I know..." he chuckled reaching down to take off her shoes pulling her legs across his in the process. "I know I'm pushing too hard. Do you remember the first time we made love?" Ric asked leaning closer to brush his lips against hers. "Hmm? I tried to push you away."
"You called me a complication." Elizabeth pouted at the memory a soft smile on her face.
"A beautiful complication." he corrected with a laugh. Ric could still remember her indignation when he called her that. Elizabeth has this way of making him less eloquent. "You weren't part of my plan. My head and heart for the first time they couldn't agree. So I tried to push you away. And now..." he paused for several moments letting his lips caress her face. "My head its saying slow down before she throw you out of her life again. But my heart... Elizabeth my heart... I... just don't want to lose this chance we have."
"I'm so mixed up so confused right now I couldn't find up with a map. Please tell me you understand that Ric." she pleaded soft her eyes staring into his. The last few months had been a roller coaster ride. She just needed a few moments to breath before making another decision.
"The last thing I want to do is cause you more pain," he promised easily. The fact Elizabeth wasn't throwing him out gave him hope. The fact she was half-asleep could have something to do with it. "You look ready to fall asleep."
She nodded allowing her eyes to close. There was something about Ric's fingers against her skin. "I'm so drained I could drift off here."
"Then that is my cue to leave. Just know I'm not going to give up on us." Ric grabbed his coat and opened the door to find Nikolas standing there about to knock. "I think you have company Elizabeth."
"Who is it?" she asked sitting up. When she saw Nikolas, she immediately frowned. She hadn't expected him to show up until morning. "What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk." Nick answered while glaring at the other man. He couldn't believe that Ric Lancing was still here. What was Elizabeth thinking? Certainly, he hadn't hurt her that bad. "I know it's late but if you could hear me out..."
"Nikolas I don't wanna fight with you anymore." she interrupted wrapping her arms around her body. At the moment, all she wanted to do was sleep for at least a week.
"That's not why I'm here."
Elizabeth shook her head only half believing her old friend. She was still angry with Nikolas. And she doubted he calmed down much since they last spoke. Still she might as well get this over with. "Alright. Fine." she conceded moving to sit on the arm of the sofa.
Ric watched the short scene with interest. He wasn't sure why Nikolas showed up demanding to speak with Elizabeth but he didn't like it. "Would you like me stay?"
