Dangerous Liaisons
~*~Chapter 9~*~
"Your skin is starting to heal." Elizabeth stated while running her hands over Ric's bruised and cut arms.
He looked down at their intertwined bodies and couldn't help but smile. This moment was perfect. He was in the right place at the right time with the right person. All of the crap from their past seemed to melt into the background as they laid together, just being.
"You said you had something to tell me?"
Ric could feel Elizabeth's lips curve into a smile against his chest. "Yeah, but it can wait. Let's just lay here for awhile."
"That sounds perfect."
Ric matched his breathing with Elizabeth's, inhaling when she inhaled, exhaling when she exhaled. He watched as she fought sleep for about an hour before giving in to its seductive call. He wanted to keep his eyes on her all night---for fear that this wasn't real and when he woke up, she'd be gone---but the slumberland that had taken over Elizabeth set it's sights on him, and he eventually surrendered to its charm, as well.
Ric felt the sun lightly scorch his skin as it peered in through the window. He opened his eyes slowly taking in his location.
This wasn't right. When he closed his eyes he was in his apartment. He was sleeping next to Elizabeth. Now he was lying in his bed at his family's place on Martha's Vineyard. What was going on?
Before he could come up with an answer, he heard something, singing from the next room.
"...déjame tocarte, quiero acariciarte...una vez más, mira que al final...lo que importa es que te quiero...Si pudiera ser tu héroe...Si pudiera ser tu Dios...que salvarte a ti mil veces...puede ser mi salvación..."
That was Elizabeth. Elizabeth was the voice singing to him. She didn't leave him. He wasn't alone. She was just in the other room.
He slowly rose from his bed and followed the beautiful sounds. When he finally opened the door separating them, he saw her. She looked so gorgeous in her ratty old paint clothes, headphones to her ears, her hair clipped on top of her head, standing in front of her easel.
As he watched her, a smile enveloped his face. She reminded him so much of his mother---or at least what he'd heard about her from his father. Dark radiant hair, picture perfect smile, good heart, strong will, beautiful voice.
She must have caught him move slightly out of the corner of her eye because her head jerked up to face him. She smiled warmly at him while taking down her headphones and letting them rest around her neck.
"Hey, how long have you been there?"
"Not long enough." He started toward her. "I like watching you when you think no one's around."
A noise escaped her lips that made his heart sing. Even her laugh was perfect to him.
"Why? So you can catch me doing stupid stuff?"
"Among other things." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his embrace. "I love you." He whispered before covering her lips with his.
When he broke the kiss and let her feet hit the floor again, she smiled up at him. "I love you, too."
But the happy moment they'd created for themselves didn't last long. A voice from the doorway interrupted them. "Ah ah ah, Ric. Now I know you're not doing what I think you're doing."
"Father?" Ric spun around to see Trevor Lansing enter the room.
"That's right son. I'm here to stop you from doing something foolish."
"Foolish? Father, I'm finally doing everything right." He glanced down at Elizabeth. "I fell in love with Elizabeth."
Where Ric expected a 'congratulations' he got a loud, mocking laugh. "And you think its real? Ric, what did I teach you about giving away your heart to any old girl?"
"Father, Elizabeth isn't just 'any old girl.' She's extraordinary, beautiful, one of a kind." Ric ran his hands through Elizabeth's hair, causing it to slide out of its clip and fall to her shoulders. "Look at her. She's perfect."
"Oh, and you think Adella wasn't all of those things and more, Ric? And what did she do to me...to us?"
"She left, Father, but..."
"That's right, Ric. She left us." Trevor walked out of the doorway and into the room. "She chose a no good mobster over us." Trevor glanced at the door, forcing Ric to do the same. That's when Sonny walked into the room.
"That's right, Ric. Our mother chose me. And now you come to town wanting to ruin me."
"I didn't come to town to ruin you, Sonny. I just wanted you to notice me. I wanted to impress you. I'm your brother." Ric pleaded.
Sonny just laughed. "My brother?" He walked to the far corner of the room, where Carly, Courtney, Jason, and Michael stood. "I don't need you, Ric. I have a family." He put his arm around Jason. "I have a brother."
Ric spun around to face Elizabeth, but she wasn't looking at him with as much love and devotion as she had just minutes earlier. Her eyes seemed closed off, like she was deciding what to think. "But I...I just want...I just need..."
"You just need what, Ric? Someone to love you?" Ric turned to the door to see his mother enter. That was her. It was his mother. But this couldn't be her. In the pictures he'd seen, she was so warm and loving, but now she was cold. "Do you need someone to choose you?" She let out a wicked laugh. "Why would anyone choose you, Ric? You're nothing. You're a loser. You've never been good enough. Not even when you were a baby. Now you're just a pathetic excuse for a human being, clinging to my memory. Using it as a reason to destroy the only person I ever really loved." She walked to Sonny and embraced him. "I love you, Sonny."
"I love you, too, Mother."
Ric fought to keep the tears that stung his eyes from falling. He looked back at Elizabeth. "Please. You can't believe them. I can be what you need. I can change."
She looked around the room at all of the disgusted faces, then back at Ric. She smiled at him, but it wasn't her usual loving, warm smile. It was darker, mocking. "What? You think I'm going to love you after learning all of this? You're nothing, Ric. I'm better than you. You don't deserve me."
Ric felt his tears break free of their blocks and spill down his cheeks. The group gathered around him and started to chant random insults at him. "You're a loser." "You're unworthy." "You're nothing." "I don't choose you."
"No!" he screamed at them. "Elizabeth, no. I love you. I need you, Elizabeth. Please!"
Ric felt arms wrap around his chest. "Ric, honey. Come back to me. You're having a nightmare."
Ric opened his eyes to see Elizabeth looking down at him worried. She ran her hand down his cheek, drying tears that he didn't realize where there. When she spoke again, she started to cry with him. "Ric, baby. Are you okay?"
"Elizabeth?" He pulled himself into a sitting position and hugged her. "Are you really here?"
"Yeah, Ric. I'm here. You were having a nightmare."
"A nightmare?" He looked around the room he was in. It was his bedroom and Elizabeth was still with him. It must have been just a nightmare. Now he was back where he belonged. "Elizabeth? Promise you'll never leave me."
"I'm never going to leave you again, Ric. I love you. I was being stupid before."
"Elizabeth, I'm going to do everything to show you how much you mean to me. I promise. And I'm going to be the man that you need."
"Ric, I just want you." She pulled him back to look into his eyes. "You're perfect for me. Don't change a thing."
"But I need you to know something. I did something." He could see the fear in Elizabeth's eyes. He hated making her look that way. "You know Faith's guy, Fowler, that died and his body was found in the dumpster outside of Kelly's?" Elizabeth just shook her head yes, wearily. "Well, he was killed with Jason's tire iron---it had Jason's fingerprints all over it." Ric paused for a second so he could gauge Elizabeth's reaction to this news. She didn't seem to fully understand what he was telling her, so he went on. "I was holding the murder weapon here, downstairs in a secret compartment by the fireplace. I...um...I was going to use it to frame Jason."
"You were?"
"Yeah," Ric went on. "I...today I went to Sonny and gave it back to him. I asked him for a truce."
Elizabeth's lips slowly formed a smile. "So your vendetta is over? You called a truce with Sonny for me?"
"Well, I only wish my motives were that selfless." Ric smiled at her. "I did it because I'd lose you otherwise, and I can't live without you. So see, it was purely selfish of me."
She laughed. "Well, I suppose I can except that." Elizabeth leaned in and pressed her lips to his. Before she could further their kiss, Ric pulled back. "What is it?"
"Um...there's something I've been planning, and I think this is the perfect moment for it." He reached into his dresser drawer and pulled out a small box that he'd been planning to give to Elizabeth. He hid it behind his back.
"What is that?" She asked, trying to see around him.
"Ah, ah, ah," Ric held her back a ways. "Not yet." He paused for a second, before looking into the love of his life's eyes. "I...um...I've never thought that I deserved...that I was worthy of happiness. And hell, maybe I'm not. But for some reason or another, God brought you into my life. You who...you're so beautiful and so passionate, and so warm, you make my heart stop every time I see you. You barged your way into my life, Elizabeth...into my heart. And I can't make you go away. I don't want to." Ric noticed tears slide down Elizabeth's face. He felt matching ones fall down his own. "I just...I can't imagine my life without you." He looked down as he pulled the box out from behind his back. "So," he slowly opened the box, revealing a large diamond ring. Elizabeth's mouth fell open. "Elizabeth Webber, will you marry me?"
Elizabeth's face lit up as her tears fell more freely. "Ric, of course I'll marry you."
He let go of the breath he'd been holding as he removed the ring from its small box and placed it on Elizabeth's finger. "I love you, Elizabeth."
"I love you, too." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. "Oh, I love you so much."
"We're going to be together forever, Elizabeth. We're going to start a new life and start our own family."
He felt Elizabeth pull back. "Um...I have something to tell you about that."
"What? What is it?"
"I'm pregnant. We're having a baby."
"A baby?" Ric felt like he was floating. "I'm going to be a father? You're having my child?"
"Yeah."
"Oh my god." He pulled Elizabeth back to him. "I'm going to be the man that both of you deserve. I promise."
~*~
"Javier? I need you to do a full background check." Lorenzo informed his right hand man over the phone. He stood at the edge of the docks, looking out over the water. Something about this serene spot made him think about Elizabeth. Not that he didn't think about Elizabeth ninety-nine percent of the time, but the angelic atmosphere the slowly moving water created reminded Lorenzo of Elizabeth's own innocent nature.
"Okay, give me the name, boss." Javier never said no. He knew better. Lorenzo realized he was a difficult man to work for, but that's the only way to insure great work out of your employees.
"Elizabeth Webber."
"Elizabeth Webber? I know that...Wait. Isn't that one of Morgan's girls?"
Lorenzo felt his jaw tighten when he heard the reference to his Elizabeth shacking up with Morgan. "They used to date."
Javier must have noticed the sharp edge to Lorenzo's comment because he went right back to business. "Well, what do you need to know about her, Mr. Alcazar?"
"Everything. Where she was born. Where her parents are. Her first crush. What she likes to eat for breakfast. The color she prefers her toenails to be painted. I want to know more about Ms. Webber than she knows about herself, got that?"
"Yes, sir." Javier cleared his throat and hesitated before going on. "Is there...anything else you need?"
"Yes. Remember that project we were talking about earlier?" Lorenzo didn't wait for a reply. Javier knew better than to forget. "That needs to be moved up. I want her in town by tonight."
"Got it."
Lorenzo closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. "Let the games begin."
~*~
"Hey there, Baby. You miss me?" Brenda Barrett bent down to pet her new puppy. She threw her purse and coat down on the floor before falling to her knees to lay with her pet.
She laughed to herself. Jason always hated when she would through her stuff on the floor. Mostly because he wound up tripping over it. But that was kind of the point. Brenda laughed aloud this time.
She pushed herself to her feet and went into the kitchen. She pulled out a pan, filled it with water, and placed it on the front burner of her stove. Macaroni again. She really needed to learn how to cook more kinds of food.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught an insistent red blinking light. "I have a message!" She screamed it delight. Messages for Ms. Barrett were few and far between these days. She really hadn't made any friends in London. That could be credited to her lack of trying. She just didn't feel at home there. She wanted to be back in Port Charles. She was actually planning to go back until Jason had demanded that she come.
She hit the play button on her answering machine. "Brenda, it's me again!" Jason's voice sounded from the small box.
"I'm not coming home, Jason!" She screamed, crossing her arms.
"I know you don't want to hear me say this, again, but you really need to come home. Lorenzo Alcazar is out for revenge for Luis' death."
"Yeah, well..." Brenda whined. "He won't find."
Before she could finish, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and a hand--- with a cloth soaked with some smelly liquid---cover her mouth. She tried to scream for help, but her cries were lost in her throat. She felt her body fall out of her control.
"Lorenzo Alcazar has found you." She heard the man behind her whisper into her ear.
Oh, no. Jason was right. But what did he want with her. She didn't do anything. She wanted to kill him, but she didn't. Alexis pushed him...
"Please Brenda, I'm begging you to come home. Besides, I kind of miss you..." Jason's words were the last thing she heard before everything went black.
TBC
Music Credits: "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias
~*~Chapter 9~*~
"Your skin is starting to heal." Elizabeth stated while running her hands over Ric's bruised and cut arms.
He looked down at their intertwined bodies and couldn't help but smile. This moment was perfect. He was in the right place at the right time with the right person. All of the crap from their past seemed to melt into the background as they laid together, just being.
"You said you had something to tell me?"
Ric could feel Elizabeth's lips curve into a smile against his chest. "Yeah, but it can wait. Let's just lay here for awhile."
"That sounds perfect."
Ric matched his breathing with Elizabeth's, inhaling when she inhaled, exhaling when she exhaled. He watched as she fought sleep for about an hour before giving in to its seductive call. He wanted to keep his eyes on her all night---for fear that this wasn't real and when he woke up, she'd be gone---but the slumberland that had taken over Elizabeth set it's sights on him, and he eventually surrendered to its charm, as well.
Ric felt the sun lightly scorch his skin as it peered in through the window. He opened his eyes slowly taking in his location.
This wasn't right. When he closed his eyes he was in his apartment. He was sleeping next to Elizabeth. Now he was lying in his bed at his family's place on Martha's Vineyard. What was going on?
Before he could come up with an answer, he heard something, singing from the next room.
"...déjame tocarte, quiero acariciarte...una vez más, mira que al final...lo que importa es que te quiero...Si pudiera ser tu héroe...Si pudiera ser tu Dios...que salvarte a ti mil veces...puede ser mi salvación..."
That was Elizabeth. Elizabeth was the voice singing to him. She didn't leave him. He wasn't alone. She was just in the other room.
He slowly rose from his bed and followed the beautiful sounds. When he finally opened the door separating them, he saw her. She looked so gorgeous in her ratty old paint clothes, headphones to her ears, her hair clipped on top of her head, standing in front of her easel.
As he watched her, a smile enveloped his face. She reminded him so much of his mother---or at least what he'd heard about her from his father. Dark radiant hair, picture perfect smile, good heart, strong will, beautiful voice.
She must have caught him move slightly out of the corner of her eye because her head jerked up to face him. She smiled warmly at him while taking down her headphones and letting them rest around her neck.
"Hey, how long have you been there?"
"Not long enough." He started toward her. "I like watching you when you think no one's around."
A noise escaped her lips that made his heart sing. Even her laugh was perfect to him.
"Why? So you can catch me doing stupid stuff?"
"Among other things." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his embrace. "I love you." He whispered before covering her lips with his.
When he broke the kiss and let her feet hit the floor again, she smiled up at him. "I love you, too."
But the happy moment they'd created for themselves didn't last long. A voice from the doorway interrupted them. "Ah ah ah, Ric. Now I know you're not doing what I think you're doing."
"Father?" Ric spun around to see Trevor Lansing enter the room.
"That's right son. I'm here to stop you from doing something foolish."
"Foolish? Father, I'm finally doing everything right." He glanced down at Elizabeth. "I fell in love with Elizabeth."
Where Ric expected a 'congratulations' he got a loud, mocking laugh. "And you think its real? Ric, what did I teach you about giving away your heart to any old girl?"
"Father, Elizabeth isn't just 'any old girl.' She's extraordinary, beautiful, one of a kind." Ric ran his hands through Elizabeth's hair, causing it to slide out of its clip and fall to her shoulders. "Look at her. She's perfect."
"Oh, and you think Adella wasn't all of those things and more, Ric? And what did she do to me...to us?"
"She left, Father, but..."
"That's right, Ric. She left us." Trevor walked out of the doorway and into the room. "She chose a no good mobster over us." Trevor glanced at the door, forcing Ric to do the same. That's when Sonny walked into the room.
"That's right, Ric. Our mother chose me. And now you come to town wanting to ruin me."
"I didn't come to town to ruin you, Sonny. I just wanted you to notice me. I wanted to impress you. I'm your brother." Ric pleaded.
Sonny just laughed. "My brother?" He walked to the far corner of the room, where Carly, Courtney, Jason, and Michael stood. "I don't need you, Ric. I have a family." He put his arm around Jason. "I have a brother."
Ric spun around to face Elizabeth, but she wasn't looking at him with as much love and devotion as she had just minutes earlier. Her eyes seemed closed off, like she was deciding what to think. "But I...I just want...I just need..."
"You just need what, Ric? Someone to love you?" Ric turned to the door to see his mother enter. That was her. It was his mother. But this couldn't be her. In the pictures he'd seen, she was so warm and loving, but now she was cold. "Do you need someone to choose you?" She let out a wicked laugh. "Why would anyone choose you, Ric? You're nothing. You're a loser. You've never been good enough. Not even when you were a baby. Now you're just a pathetic excuse for a human being, clinging to my memory. Using it as a reason to destroy the only person I ever really loved." She walked to Sonny and embraced him. "I love you, Sonny."
"I love you, too, Mother."
Ric fought to keep the tears that stung his eyes from falling. He looked back at Elizabeth. "Please. You can't believe them. I can be what you need. I can change."
She looked around the room at all of the disgusted faces, then back at Ric. She smiled at him, but it wasn't her usual loving, warm smile. It was darker, mocking. "What? You think I'm going to love you after learning all of this? You're nothing, Ric. I'm better than you. You don't deserve me."
Ric felt his tears break free of their blocks and spill down his cheeks. The group gathered around him and started to chant random insults at him. "You're a loser." "You're unworthy." "You're nothing." "I don't choose you."
"No!" he screamed at them. "Elizabeth, no. I love you. I need you, Elizabeth. Please!"
Ric felt arms wrap around his chest. "Ric, honey. Come back to me. You're having a nightmare."
Ric opened his eyes to see Elizabeth looking down at him worried. She ran her hand down his cheek, drying tears that he didn't realize where there. When she spoke again, she started to cry with him. "Ric, baby. Are you okay?"
"Elizabeth?" He pulled himself into a sitting position and hugged her. "Are you really here?"
"Yeah, Ric. I'm here. You were having a nightmare."
"A nightmare?" He looked around the room he was in. It was his bedroom and Elizabeth was still with him. It must have been just a nightmare. Now he was back where he belonged. "Elizabeth? Promise you'll never leave me."
"I'm never going to leave you again, Ric. I love you. I was being stupid before."
"Elizabeth, I'm going to do everything to show you how much you mean to me. I promise. And I'm going to be the man that you need."
"Ric, I just want you." She pulled him back to look into his eyes. "You're perfect for me. Don't change a thing."
"But I need you to know something. I did something." He could see the fear in Elizabeth's eyes. He hated making her look that way. "You know Faith's guy, Fowler, that died and his body was found in the dumpster outside of Kelly's?" Elizabeth just shook her head yes, wearily. "Well, he was killed with Jason's tire iron---it had Jason's fingerprints all over it." Ric paused for a second so he could gauge Elizabeth's reaction to this news. She didn't seem to fully understand what he was telling her, so he went on. "I was holding the murder weapon here, downstairs in a secret compartment by the fireplace. I...um...I was going to use it to frame Jason."
"You were?"
"Yeah," Ric went on. "I...today I went to Sonny and gave it back to him. I asked him for a truce."
Elizabeth's lips slowly formed a smile. "So your vendetta is over? You called a truce with Sonny for me?"
"Well, I only wish my motives were that selfless." Ric smiled at her. "I did it because I'd lose you otherwise, and I can't live without you. So see, it was purely selfish of me."
She laughed. "Well, I suppose I can except that." Elizabeth leaned in and pressed her lips to his. Before she could further their kiss, Ric pulled back. "What is it?"
"Um...there's something I've been planning, and I think this is the perfect moment for it." He reached into his dresser drawer and pulled out a small box that he'd been planning to give to Elizabeth. He hid it behind his back.
"What is that?" She asked, trying to see around him.
"Ah, ah, ah," Ric held her back a ways. "Not yet." He paused for a second, before looking into the love of his life's eyes. "I...um...I've never thought that I deserved...that I was worthy of happiness. And hell, maybe I'm not. But for some reason or another, God brought you into my life. You who...you're so beautiful and so passionate, and so warm, you make my heart stop every time I see you. You barged your way into my life, Elizabeth...into my heart. And I can't make you go away. I don't want to." Ric noticed tears slide down Elizabeth's face. He felt matching ones fall down his own. "I just...I can't imagine my life without you." He looked down as he pulled the box out from behind his back. "So," he slowly opened the box, revealing a large diamond ring. Elizabeth's mouth fell open. "Elizabeth Webber, will you marry me?"
Elizabeth's face lit up as her tears fell more freely. "Ric, of course I'll marry you."
He let go of the breath he'd been holding as he removed the ring from its small box and placed it on Elizabeth's finger. "I love you, Elizabeth."
"I love you, too." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. "Oh, I love you so much."
"We're going to be together forever, Elizabeth. We're going to start a new life and start our own family."
He felt Elizabeth pull back. "Um...I have something to tell you about that."
"What? What is it?"
"I'm pregnant. We're having a baby."
"A baby?" Ric felt like he was floating. "I'm going to be a father? You're having my child?"
"Yeah."
"Oh my god." He pulled Elizabeth back to him. "I'm going to be the man that both of you deserve. I promise."
~*~
"Javier? I need you to do a full background check." Lorenzo informed his right hand man over the phone. He stood at the edge of the docks, looking out over the water. Something about this serene spot made him think about Elizabeth. Not that he didn't think about Elizabeth ninety-nine percent of the time, but the angelic atmosphere the slowly moving water created reminded Lorenzo of Elizabeth's own innocent nature.
"Okay, give me the name, boss." Javier never said no. He knew better. Lorenzo realized he was a difficult man to work for, but that's the only way to insure great work out of your employees.
"Elizabeth Webber."
"Elizabeth Webber? I know that...Wait. Isn't that one of Morgan's girls?"
Lorenzo felt his jaw tighten when he heard the reference to his Elizabeth shacking up with Morgan. "They used to date."
Javier must have noticed the sharp edge to Lorenzo's comment because he went right back to business. "Well, what do you need to know about her, Mr. Alcazar?"
"Everything. Where she was born. Where her parents are. Her first crush. What she likes to eat for breakfast. The color she prefers her toenails to be painted. I want to know more about Ms. Webber than she knows about herself, got that?"
"Yes, sir." Javier cleared his throat and hesitated before going on. "Is there...anything else you need?"
"Yes. Remember that project we were talking about earlier?" Lorenzo didn't wait for a reply. Javier knew better than to forget. "That needs to be moved up. I want her in town by tonight."
"Got it."
Lorenzo closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. "Let the games begin."
~*~
"Hey there, Baby. You miss me?" Brenda Barrett bent down to pet her new puppy. She threw her purse and coat down on the floor before falling to her knees to lay with her pet.
She laughed to herself. Jason always hated when she would through her stuff on the floor. Mostly because he wound up tripping over it. But that was kind of the point. Brenda laughed aloud this time.
She pushed herself to her feet and went into the kitchen. She pulled out a pan, filled it with water, and placed it on the front burner of her stove. Macaroni again. She really needed to learn how to cook more kinds of food.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught an insistent red blinking light. "I have a message!" She screamed it delight. Messages for Ms. Barrett were few and far between these days. She really hadn't made any friends in London. That could be credited to her lack of trying. She just didn't feel at home there. She wanted to be back in Port Charles. She was actually planning to go back until Jason had demanded that she come.
She hit the play button on her answering machine. "Brenda, it's me again!" Jason's voice sounded from the small box.
"I'm not coming home, Jason!" She screamed, crossing her arms.
"I know you don't want to hear me say this, again, but you really need to come home. Lorenzo Alcazar is out for revenge for Luis' death."
"Yeah, well..." Brenda whined. "He won't find."
Before she could finish, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and a hand--- with a cloth soaked with some smelly liquid---cover her mouth. She tried to scream for help, but her cries were lost in her throat. She felt her body fall out of her control.
"Lorenzo Alcazar has found you." She heard the man behind her whisper into her ear.
Oh, no. Jason was right. But what did he want with her. She didn't do anything. She wanted to kill him, but she didn't. Alexis pushed him...
"Please Brenda, I'm begging you to come home. Besides, I kind of miss you..." Jason's words were the last thing she heard before everything went black.
TBC
Music Credits: "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias