Remarks: Here's where things get interesting, so I hope you like it, please let me know.

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Dancing on the Axis

Part III

Disoriented Elizabeth opened her eyes, but everything remained dark. Confused she had an instant of panic over being blind and reached for her eyes, yet her hands refused to move above her waist. Confusion was quickly giving way to terror as she continued to try to move, it grew when she tried to speak and discovered she couldn't. Memories of her time in the crypt assailed her and she could feel her throat begin to close up on her stealing what little breath she was managing to find in her panicked state.

Twisting her head around trying to see through the dark, trying to find light, tears fell unchecked from her eyes and desperation took root. She was alone, in the dark, and she couldn't move. Her worse fear was coming true. Her secret fear, her unreasonable fear of being buried alive in the darkness took hold and in her frenzied state this was exactly what she thought had occurred.

Her body jerked wildly and she crashed heavily onto the floor, her eyes closed trying to stem the tears, trying to stem the panic. She wanted to keep them closed. Even though it was dark, this dark wasn't as scary as the dark when her eyes were open. It wasn't scary because it was supposed to be dark then. But if she opened her eyes and it was still dark she didn't know if she would be able to handle it.

Slowly, reluctantly, she forced her eyes open and if she had been able too, she would have screamed when her eyes registered a faint sliver of light that illuminated the dark. She focused on the light until the feeling of panic gradually receded and she felt more in control. Gradually she identified where she was. She was in a closet and the reason she couldn't move was because her hands and feet were bound independently and then loosely together. The cords around her wrists were tight on her wrists, yet somehow stretchy, they reminded her of bungee cords. She wasn't mute, either, something had been tied around her mouth allowing her to make muffled sounds only.

Ric.

His name came to her in a flash when a familiar scent of aftershave drifted from the clothes down to where she lay on the floor. Identifying who had tied her up, and put her in the darkness didn't scare her the way it should have, instead, it infuriated her. She was so tired of being wrong about men. Using the dim light coming from under the door she concentrated on the bonds around her wrists, determined to free herself and get out. Her movements stilled when the sound of voices finally penetrated her thoughts recognizing them she began to listen in earnest.

"Don't worry about the closet Carly," Ric moved quickly, intercepting her move towards the door.

"It sounds like someone is in there," Carly pointed out.

"I have an old bar that holds the clothes up, it must fall at least twice a day. I keep meaning to fix it, but I forget," he explained with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"I remember that," Carly murmured then focused on him in suspicion as a new thought came to her. "You are an attorney right?"

"You know I am."

"So why are you living in a room over a diner? Even the ambulance chasers can afford better digs then this."

Ric was surprised at the point blank question then realized he shouldn't have been, he knew Carly was nothing if not, blunt. "When I first came to town I didn't know if I would stay around or not, so I wasn't willing to sign a lease."

"I don't believe that. Since you've come to town you've had one goal as far as I can tell," keeping her accusation firm she studied his reaction. "Your goal has been to get in my husband's face every chance you got and you didn't care who you had to use to do it."

Ric smirked slightly. "There's nothing wrong with job hunting."

"There is with blackmail," she retorted angrily. She felt and had no qualms over accusing him of a behavior she had employed often in the past. This situation was different because this time it was her family that was being threatened.

"I don't recall any blackmail," he corrected smoothly. "I just told you how much I wanted to work with Sonny and how I wanted your help in paving the way."

"You did that by threatening me with a night I can't even remember," she reminded him tartly.

In the dark, in the closet Elizabeth stilled her struggles and tried to make sense of what she had just heard.

Ric shot a nervous look at his closed closet door, but other than the one noise, no sound had come from there, so Elizabeth was probably still unconscious. That meant it was safe to talk. "Carly you keep acting like you didn't want that night to happen. That makes no sense. You were the one who initiated things between us that night. I'm tired of being the bad guy here."

The words hit home and Carly couldn't help but flinch. As hard as she tried she couldn't remember that night, but the behavior he was describing sounded depressingly familiar. Because it was so familiar, her hackles were raised and she lashed out. "I was drunk, so drunk that for the first time in my life I don't remember what happened after my first drink. I don't remember anything that happened with you until I woke up to your groping in the morning and couldn't get away from you fast enough."

Arrogance had him shaking his head and correcting her. "You were never resistant to me. In fact you were very eager."

"You were the one that was eager," Carly retorted. "Since you're dating that frigid prude Elizabeth Webber I don't blame you for wanting to be with a real woman even if she was too plastered to know your name."

In the closet Elizabeth let out a muffled mmmph and went to work on the bonds again. It seemed the inane Courtney was right, Ric had been with another woman. If possible her anger only increased upon finding out the identity of the woman.

Carly stormed past Ric and paused in front of the desk, infuriated with herself for letting herself get drawn in to debating whom was at fault she decided to get back to the reason for her visit. The decision she had made had been a hard one, it was made after weeks of thinking about it from every angle, and she wasn't about to change her mind now. "You might want to think about giving up your room."

"Why?" When she turned to face him he was uneasy at the catbird expression he saw in her eyes.

"Because I'm telling Jason everything, and believe me when I say you don't want to be in town when he finds out what you have been up too," she saw him pale and moved closer pressing her advantage. "Jason doesn't like you. He doesn't trust you, and he will have no problem dealing with you."

Ric realized that an already bad day had just turned horrific. Desperately he shook his head. "You don't want to do that."

"Want too? No," she agreed with a shake of her head and waited for his smile of relief before going on. "But I'm going too. Jason won't blame me, he doesn't do things like that. He loves me, and will protect me and my family from you." She hesitated then decided to use everything she had in her arsenal even if she hated it. "Another thing Jason won't like to hear is what you are doing with Elizabeth Webber. For some strange reason he has a soft spot for the twit, he isn't going to like the way you've been playing her."

That little fact was something he had been counting on, but hearing the confirmation of his hunch now, he didn't feel the thrill he thought he would, instead he felt decidedly nervous. "Carly," moving quickly he caught her arm when she headed for the door, and she quickly yanked her arm away. "Don't do this. Just help me get Sonny to hire me, and we'll never discuss things again."

"No. You are up to something Ric and it's not good. I won't let you hurt my family," she vowed. "I'm telling Jason everything and if he says or if I need too I will tell Sonny too, but either way you are finished in this town and finished with my family."

"If you tell, Sonny will call you a tramp and throw you out," Ric warned her.

"And he'll kill you," Carly retorted with a raise of her brow. "Sonny loves me, you'd be amazed at what he can forgive," she bluffed and at the same time desperately prayed that it was true.

"Don't do this to me," he begged.

"You did it to yourself with your agenda you brought to town." Carly moved for the door. "If I were you I'd leave town because the next time I see Jason I'm telling him everything."

Carly opened the door and was gone before he had taken more than a step after her. By the time he reached the door she was disappearing down the stairs. "Shit." He slammed the door hard enough that the pictures on the wall vibrated.

Turning over the events of the last hour in his mind he began to pace. How could things have fallen apart so quickly? Just this morning he had been right on schedule, no ahead of schedule, and now in the space of an hour, everything was close to blowing up in his face. What the hell was his boss going to say?

His eye fell on the phone, but he knew what would happen if he got a hold of the boss. He would be told to handle things himself and if he couldn't… Ric shuddered not wanting to finish that thought.

"I'll take care of things myself," his voice sounded weak to his ears so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Violence is never something I like to do but I can if the situation calls for it."

Habit had him moving to the closet and the gun he kept in a shoebox there. His hand closed on the knob and he opened the door slightly before remembering Elizabeth. Dropping his hand he stepped back. Violence with Carly was one thing, but he wasn't ready to consider the thought of hurting Elizabeth. There had to be a way for him to get out of things without hurting her.

Moving back to his desk he opened a drawer and dug inside. "I knew this would come in handy eventually," he muttered when he unearthed what he was looking for. "I may have to thank Jason for leaving this in his penthouse, but I better wait, he's about to lose a friend."

Elizabeth peered through the new crack in the doorframe and her eyes opened wide in shock when she saw the gleaming switchblade in Ric's hands.

"Carly brought this on herself," Ric reminded himself, stepping back he glanced at the closet. "I'll be back soon Elizabeth," he murmured then headed out, closing the door firmly behind him.

Elizabeth sat frozen for a moment before she went back to working on her bonds with a desperation that was now borne of fear. Whether it took 5 minutes or more like the 5 hours that it felt like, her sweat covered wrists finally slid free of the bonds. Elizabeth quickly reached for the bonds on her feet then ripped the binding from her mouth and greedily sucked in air.

Getting to her knees she reached for the door handle and drew the door towards her. Blinking at the unexpected bright light she made her way to her feet. A wave of dizziness hit her and she staggered back into the clothes that were hanging there then back on the floor when the bar holding the clothes up broke.

Reaching up she brushed the clothes from her face and touched her forehead where the throbbing pain was coming from, when she drew her hand away her fingers were covered with blood. Ignoring the blood she reached down to push her way to her feet. Her right hand came down on something hard and cold, picking it up out of habit she got to her feet. The dizziness came again and she leaned on the doorjamb until it passed. Once it did she focused on the object in her hand and dimly registered it as a gun.

A part of her brain told her to drop the gun but instead of putting it down she tucked it in the pocket of her sweater and moved for the door. The thought of stopping Ric before he hurt Carly and possibly hurt her baby was the only thought in her mind. She moved like a robot down the stairs, the diner was deserted except for Courtney who was on the phone.

Hearing a noise on the stairs Courtney turned around, spying Elizabeth her mouth turned into a catty smile and she focused on the phone again. "Of course I'll bring home dinner," she paused, "I love you too Jason."

The sound of Jason's name made Elizabeth come to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the stairs. Latching onto his name she moved to the counter to get the phone, she had to warn him about Ric, and she had to do it now. "Give me the phone Courtney," she ordered holding out her hand for the phone.

Startled by the vehemence of the request Courtney focused on Elizabeth and belatedly noticed the blood on her forehead. The flash of concern was short-lived, however, and vanished when Elizabeth reached for the phone. Stepping back Courtney quickly hung up on the telemarketer, and smiled slightly at Elizabeth. "He doesn't want to talk to you, haven't you learned that by now?"

Elizabeth brushed past Courtney and picked up the phone. The first three numbers came to her quickly but then her mind went blank. A number she had called for years, a number she had memorized in 1999, a number that had never failed to thrill her when she saw it on her caller id, was suddenly gone from her memory. "What's his number?" Turning she demanded the information from Courtney.

Courtney couldn't believe her luck. Crossing her arms over her chest she smiled sweetly. "It's unlisted."

"This is important Courtney, give me his damn number," Elizabeth yelled surprising the blonde and making her already throbbing head, pound even harder.

"No."

With a muttered oath Elizabeth moved past her and towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Courtney trailed Elizabeth. "You're not off for another two hours." When Elizabeth kept moving she reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving.

Elizabeth didn't even think, merely reacted, spinning swiftly she caught an unprepared Courtney off-guard with a hard slap to the cheek. Courtney let go of Elizabeth and staggered back. Ignoring Courtney's stunned sputters Elizabeth exited the diner and headed for the docks.

Moving automatically Elizabeth wasn't certain where she was going. All she knew was she either had to find Jason, find Carly, or find Ric and she had to do it soon, because she had a horrible feeling that something awful was about to happen. She was nearing Bannister's Wharf and was about to move towards the rebuilt Corinthos/Morgan warehouse when something at the end of the dock caught her attention. The blonde was instantly recognizable as Carly, but what worried her was the man moving up behind the as yet unaware Carly, recognizing Ric Elizabeth changed direction and headed for the other dock.

What happened next she knew would haunt her forever. It seemed as if everything was moving in slow motion, even her breathing which sounded so loud and ragged to her ears, seemed slow somehow. She had no conscious memory of pulling the gun from her pocket but suddenly it was in her hand.

Too slow, that's all Elizabeth could think. She watched Ric reach in his pocket, she saw a glimmer of silver reflected from the sun as he stepped up behind a still unaware Carly and raised his hand. Did she scream out a warning? She didn't know, she didn't remember anything but the sound of the gunshot as it rang out over the docks.

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Any suggestions as to where I go from here????