AN: I am SOOO sorry that this is so late. Like I've said before Sundays are super hard for me and so this just did not come together to make it to 11:59pm. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and PLEASE REVIEW!

Ricky shut his laptop and swept a hand through his hair. His eyes had yet to focus, still seeing numbers and figures in perfect excel boxes. Taking in a deep breath he rolled his head from side to side and groaned at the sound of his neck cracking.

"Working hard?"

He turned to see Nora poking her head into the office and waved, stifling a yawn as he let out an exhausted laugh. "I guess, if you call sitting in front of a computer all day 'working'."

Nora chuckled, "Trust me, in this business, it is." and stepped in, crossing her arms as she came to stand beside him at his desk. She patted his shoulder and cocked her head to the side, her expression softening before she spoke, "So, did you get a hold of her?"

Ricky cringed, turning away, "No," he coughed gruffly, standing and putting his jacket back on. "And I really don't feel like talking about it."

He could feel Nora's eyes following him as he gathered his things and internally kicked himself for mentioning anything about Amy to Nora. But he hadn't been able to hide his agitation over their lack of communication from Nora and she was more astute to his behavior than he would care to admit.

"I'm sure she will call you soon, I mean, why wouldn't she? Look at you—"

"Mom!" He said, fixing her with a hard glare and knowing that using the matronly term would make her realize he was being serious. "I said, I didn't want to talk about it," he sighed, watching her nod before he turned back to his stuff.

"Right," Nora said, swinging her arms in front of her and snapping her fingers absent-mindedly as she searched for another subject to broach, "Well, are you going out with the other interns tonight? Marc is treating them to-"

"Dinner," Ricky finished with a nod, "I know, he told me." Settling his bag over his shoulder he turned toward her and sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I'm not sure, I think I was just going to head home. I still have some numbers to crunch and-"

"No. Ricky, come on. You're young and you have the rest of your life at the company to crunch numbers," she sighed, stepping toward him to rest her hands on his shoulders with a small smile. Ricky wanted to shy away from the sympathy shining in her eyes, but she kept a tight grip on him as she pressed him further, "Your uncle says you've been doing a lot of good work these last two weeks, but you need to go out, have some fun!"

Ricky rolled his eyes, "I did that already and look where that got me."

Nora mirrored Ricky and shook her head, "You went out with one girl in a city of millions. Just because it hasn't panned out doesn't mean it's all going to be like that."

"I know," he reasoned, "but-"

"No, buts," Nora said, slipping her hand to the other shoulder so that she took him under her arm, "This is your summer vacation! And as much as I love you working here I think you need to be reminded of what it is to be a kid again. Please," she begged, squeezing his shoulder, "I know you like this girl and, again, I know she'll call, but just for tonight, have some fun with Marc and the others. You need to blow off some steam."

Ricky sighed, staring down his birth mother with as much resistance as he could muster, but she held her ground until he eventually deflated. "Alright," he said with a roll of his eyes, "I'll stop by…"

Nora laughed and nodded, "Good enough." She patted him once more for good measure and then pulled away, opening the door for him to follow her out. They walked together through the office, falling into step with each other as well as a less tense conversation.

"So, what about you?" Ricky asked, nodding to a few employees he knew as they reached the elevator. "Are you coming tonight?"

Nora shook her head as she pressed the down button and sighed, "Wish I could, but your Uncle Ben has requested I fly out to the LA office tomorrow morning. I've got to go home and pack."

The elevator let out a loud ding as the doors slipped open and Ricky gestured for her to go ahead of him. He pressed "G" before turning back to his mother, "Wait, so you're going home? For how long?"

"Only two days," she answered as the doors closed in front of them, "I'll be back by Friday."

"What are you going to be doing over there?" Ricky asked, trying to sound flippant, but slightly jealous that his Uncle hadn't asked him to go.

"Just some PR stuff. I know for sure that your father wants to have a barbeque benefit there just like we had here, so I'll get the ball rolling, but ultimately leave it in the hands of Camille."

Ricky nodded, leaning against the back wall of the elevator and crossing one leg over the other. Nora mirrored his movement and crossed her arms, "I'm sorry," she said, nudging his shoulder, "I wish I could take you with me."

"No," Ricky said, shaking his head, "I get it. It's work related and I've got responsibilities here." Before Nora could say anything else the elevator doors slid open and they both shuffled out, passed a group of German businessmen talking gruffly to one another.

"So, where did Molino say they were meeting?" He asked, changing the subject once again as they passed through the lobby. The two stopped just short of the main entryway at the fork between the staff parking structure and the main street.

"It's a Tapas Bar over on 59th," a voice came from behind, pulling both Nora and Ricky's attention. Ricky bit back a groan as Karlee came sauntering over, her smile less provocative than it had been in the copy room, though the way her eyes flitted toward him, half-lidded and hungry, told another story. "Are you planning on going? Maybe we could share a cab?"

His first instinct was to deny it all, but before he could Nora placed a hand on his shoulder and answered for him, "He is and that would be a good idea, save some money."

"Well I-"

"Great, I'll meet you outside." The pair of them watched her leave, Ricky well aware of the extra swivel in her hips as she went and he rolled his eyes.

"She's cute," Nora teased, which only earned a deep sigh from Ricky as he rolled his shoulders.

"Right."

"Thank you," Amy waved, adjusting her scarf as she left the Vietnamese restaurant, careful to balance the takeout in her hand. She let the door swing to a close behind her and ventured off toward her apartment, deciding against hailing a cab and simply enjoying the early evening in New York. She was only a few blocks from the subway and figured the more time alone she spent the more time she had to think. Ricky's voicemail echoed in her head as she walked, her mind floating to the way he had said to call when she was ready, how utterly confused he sounded and her stomach clenched. She hated that it had come to this.

Her kiss with Ricky had told her three things: one, that Ricky Underwood was one hell of a kisser. 'One hell of a kisser,' she sighed. Two, she really wanted to kiss him again, and three, kissing him made her willing to do things that she had been adamant about never doing, ever. And so that only left the truth: that she really had to stop this before it got any worse. She had ignored her instincts before and accepted the date with him, then again when she flirted with him at Johnny's house, now she couldn't afford to keep doing so. In all honesty, she was afraid of Ricky Underwood and all the feelings he had left her with, she would have to remember to explain that to him the next time she saw him. Amy did, however, feel sorry for having started it all with Ricky, leading him on, not stopping it before. She would have to apologize for that too when she saw him.

Amy, of course, had expected the next time she saw Ricky Underwood to be in the next few days, on her own terms, in her own time. Turning the corner on 59th street, one block away from the subway entrance, she had not expected to hear her name being called out. "Amy?" She had just about passed a bar she knew some of her older co-workers frequented, coming up on a popular Tapas Bar her parents had liked to go to when a cab pulled up in front of the restaurant and out stepped a leggy brunette, who walked forward toward the restaurant, and Ricky, still dressed in his work clothes and staring at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, uh…hey," She didn't know what to do, her mind went blank and she felt her body move to hug him, but her anxiety stopped her. They stood awkwardly in front of each other, both circling around the uncertainty of what to say, when Amy finally found her voice. With a cough, she folded her hand over the one holding the take out, "I, uh…long time, no see." She winced at her words and felt a blush rise to her cheeks, she wanted to die right there.

Glancing up at him she saw him smile and it made her feel worse. "Yeah," he breathed out, stepping forward, "I, uh-"

"Ricky?" Amy turned to see the leggy brunette approach them again, suddenly remembering that she had come out of the cab with Ricky, and her stomach plummeted. "You coming in?" Amy looked her up and down, noticing how her skirt came up just a tad too short for her own liking and that her top three buttons were undone. She had a small gap in her teeth, but otherwise her face was flawless, her hair down in soft waves. She was gorgeous and Amy suddenly felt extremely unattractive.

"Go ahead and go in Karlee, Just tell 'em I'll be a minute." Karlee looked at him, then at Amy, her gaze narrowing enough to make Amy shy away. Then she finally turned on her cute black pumps and retreated, Amy watching her saunter off suddenly feeling sick.

"Friend of yours?" Amy asked, the words slipping through her teeth as she turned back towards Ricky. She expected him to look bashful or maybe even dismissive, which would have made it a lot easier to be confident in her decision. But he didn't even look like he noticed Karlee, his gaze focused on her as he stepped closer. "I called you. Left a message. Did you get it?" Amy sucked in a breath and nodded.

"I did," she admitted, "I was going to call you tomorrow."

"Really?" he asked, unconvinced, "'Cause it seems to me that you were avoiding me."

Amy cocked her head and sighed, brushing her bangs back as she stuffed one hand into her coat pocket. "Maybe a little, but I told you I needed time." She didn't like the tone of his doubt in her or the way his expression faltered into one of doubt. "And I was going to call," she reasserted, shifting her weight, "I was going to call and ask you to meet me because we have some stuff we need to talk about."

"Well, I'm here now," he said, gesturing to their proximity, "let's talk."

"No," Amy said, shaking her head, "I have to get home and you," she looked toward the Tapas Bar, the red neon lights flashing against the dusk setting, "have a date to get to."

Ricky reeled back from her, "Woah, no. Date? I am not on a date."

"Really?" Amy asked in the same tone Ricky had with her, "Cause it seems like a date."

"No." Ricky said again, settling her with a steady gaze, "I'm having dinner with the other interns. Karlee is an intern at BB and we just took a cab together. It is not a date."

"Okay, fine," Amy said, holding up one hand in surrender, "It's not a date. But even if it was, you don't have to explain it to me. We were never…anything, so-"

"We were never anything yet," he insisted, taking one more step closer to her, which made her step back. "I think you and I both know what was happening."

Amy's jaw set and she bit her lip, feeling incredibly unprepared for this conversation. "Look, let's not talk about this now okay? My mom and my sister are waiting for me at home, you've got…" she cast a glance, again, at the restaurant, "friends," she sighed.

"Okay," Ricky nodded, "then when? When do you want to meet up?"

Amy turned back to him and brushed a hand through her hair, "Day after tomorrow? Lunch?"

"Okay," Ricky agreed, finally taking a step back as he nodded, "Okay." He sighed and looked back up at her, offering a smile. "Day after tomorrow. You'll text me where?"

She nodded, "Yup. See you then." Amy nodded at him one last time and moved passed him, breathing a heavy sigh in relief in getting away, but his hand found her wrist and pulled her attention back.

"I've really missed you Amy," he said, his eyes pouring into hers with the same intensity from the last time they were together, "and we're going to figure this out."

Her breath caught in her throat and she sighed, holding her breath as he let her go. "Bye," she whispered, turning away. She could feel his gaze follow her all the way to the end of the block and fought not to look back as she retreated down into the subway.

AN: Ricky's always been a persistent pain in the butt that's hard not to love. I think that, out of the two of them, he is definitely the one to never give up. But also have no fear readers the RAMY is coming. Just like in the show Ricky Underwood is not one to be resisted even by a headstrong Amy. =] Keep on reviewing! Let me know what you think.