Joy- Welcome back to the land of reviewing. I wouldn't call what happened between the two of them mending fences so much as it was putting up with each other for the sake of someone that they both care about. They're mature men. They can put aside their vast differences to help Maxie out. They've done it before. Plus, I got to use Mac, which is fun. I love the banter, it's true.

Story-

Ric Lansing's Apartment-

Ric groaned from his bedroom, running his hand down his face as he forced himself to wake up when the pounding at his door didn't stop. At first he thought it was just some massive headache that was echoing in his mind, but that proved to be the furthest from the truth. It would have been fitting, he was nursing a guilty conscience, something that people wouldn't readily attribute to him. Ric Lansing was one of those people. He didn't think that he would ever go through some sort of moral battle, at least not when it involved his family. He would often battle with himself over the love that he had for Elizabeth, a love that he knew he didn't deserve, but a love that he also knew he couldn't live without.

Although he had tried to avoid it, he couldn't. Even though they were no longer married anymore he still had fond memories of their times together. He still remembered the fun that they had, even though the good times were severely outweighed by the bad times. He remembered all the bad times, too. Lying to Elizabeth, making it so that they couldn't conceive a child of their own while he kept Carly locked away mere feet away. At his worst, Ric was a sadist, but at his best he knew that he was a man with good intentions and a strong heart.

Picking up the picture that they had taken shortly after their wedding, Ric became annoyed when he continued to hear the knocking on his door, "All right, I'm coming!" He headed toward the door, throwing it open, "What could be so important that…" his voice silenced itself when he saw that Elizabeth was the one who had been knocking so intensely at his door. He was about to tell the woman that he loved off, rip her apart with his verbal berating. Luckily, he managed to stop himself before he began to use the more colorful language at his disposal. In some ways, Ric was his father's son, as much as he would try to not admit that fact. "Elizabeth…"

"Did I come at a bad time?" Elizabeth wasn't expecting Ric to act the way he was acting, especially since she was one of the few people who he could admit to liking. Maybe she should have called first, but she didn't think that she needed to call.

"No time could ever be bad if you're around, Elizabeth," Ric held the door open for his ex-wife. "Please, come in."

"I can see that I woke you up," Elizabeth walked into the house, carrying a simple cardboard box. "Really, Ric, if you'd rather sleep I could come back later."

"How'd you know that I barely woke up?"

"Well, you usually don't walk around your house in your boxers, do you?" Elizabeth looked down at Ric, who was wearing smoke gray boxers. She'd seen what was under those boxers, she was sure he wouldn't mind her looking.

"And if I did?" Ric blushed, if only slightly. "This is my home, Elizabeth, if I choose to walk around in my boxers, or stark naked, then the choice is mine to make."

"At least tell me that you walk around naked at night, or at least have all the blinds down…"

"Well, I'm not a nudist. I'd like to think that I've maintained some bit of modesty in my varied years of life. Of course I don't walk around naked… at all, promise. And even if I did, I wouldn't do it to give people a peep show. Unless, of course, that person was you."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer sometime," Elizabeth remarked. "But now is not that time…"

"Could you excuse me for a moment?" Ric turned around, heading back toward his room, "I'd like to get some sweatpants on or something, just in case we have any other guests that decide to come around."

"No problem," Elizabeth put the box on the table and looked around. She couldn't help it. She wanted to see if there were any clues to Ric having someone else in his life. They were an item again. They would hold hands, go to dinner, kiss, but that didn't mean that they were married anymore. Maybe Ric needed someone to give him something that Elizabeth couldn't. That wasn't the reason why she went to his house, of course, but since she was given the chance to at least satisfy her curiosity, she was going to take it.

Ric had sold the house that they had bought. The dream house that they thought they would spend the rest of their lives together in, that they would raise the child that they lost together in. The little house that had so much promise but turned into the house from Hell. With no place else to go, he returned to the apartment that he had been in before they got married. She knew it well, but there were things that were different about the apartment. Things that she noticed within a few seconds. Ric had always insisted on taking her home after they went out together, and she never wondered why. Maybe now she was finding the reasons. Their pictures were still everywhere. Pictures of them together at various places. It became obvious to Elizabeth… he wasn't over her. He didn't need to be over her, but she didn't have that many pictures of him in her apartment. In fact, she barely had any.

"There," Ric came back into the living room, "I trust that the attire fits your rigid standards of fashion?" He could see that Elizabeth was distracted, and that she was looking at the pictures. Taking one of them from their place, he walked over to her, holding it out in front of her. "Do you remember when we took this picture, Elizabeth?"

"I could never forget," she gently caressed the picture with her finger. They both looked so happy, so vibrant. It was shortly after they had gotten married. They had gone to the park right when the flowers were blooming. Ric had picked some of the loveliest flowers that he could find for her.

"There was a time when I thought that every day of our lives would have a moment like that in it. I probably shouldn't have been so blind."

"You weren't blind," Elizabeth sighed. "I thought the same thing, Ric. All couples do, at least when they start out. Everything should be so perfect, and sometimes it is, but people try and keep themselves from seeing that life can't be filled with nothing but good times and happiness, if it was, well, people would probably break up sooner, or just never get involved with each other at all."

"Do you miss those times, Elizabeth?"

"Of course I miss those times," Elizabeth took the picture and walked it back to its proper place. "And I miss you, Ric, but we can't keep dwelling on the past. We're not going to get anywhere if we're constantly reminded of the mistakes that we made before, not that either of us could ever forget them."

"Is that why you don't have many pictures of us together at your apartment?"

"Yeah, that's why," Elizabeth sat down on the couch. "It doesn't mean that I don't look upon the times that we did have and smile, but the constant reminders, I don't know if I want something like that. It's easier to just remember the good times rather than look at them, makes it less difficult to remember how it all ended."

"If I could erase…"

"But you can't," Elizabeth's eyes were filled with sorrow. "Even though I know you would erase the mistakes, and I love you for saying that you would, we can't do what was undone."

"Does it make you uncomfortable? The fact that I have all these memories of our times together?"

"A little," Elizabeth wouldn't lie to Ric, that was part of the reason why they had ruined their relationship the first time, because it seemed to be built up on nothing but lies, the only truth being that somewhere deep inside each of them there was that love for the other. "But this is your house, Ric, you can furnish it however you see fit."

"I can put them away if it makes you uncomfortable. I want you to enjoy yourself while you're in my home, Elizabeth. You deserve to enjoy yourself wherever you go and I would really like to think that you wouldn't hate being here, that would tear at me."

"Ric, don't do it if you don't want to. Like I said, this is your home, not mine."

"I guess we're different in that respect, then," Ric took a seat next to his beloved. "You don't like to be reminded of the good times through pictures because it reminds you of the bad times, but I need to look at the good times because I need to remember that, yes, there were good times. I messed everything up, but I like to know that there were times that I did things that were nice, things that made you happy."

"You made me happier than anyone else ever has before, Ric."

"I probably made you sadder than anyone else has, too."

"I still love you, though. And I never hated you. We broke up because of what you did, and while I was angry and hurt, I never thought in my heart for a second that you were someone that I hated. I might hate a part of you, but I know that the part I hate isn't the only part of you and I know that the part that I love inside of you is the part that is really you."

"Would you like some coffee?" Ric asked, realizing that he was being an improper host. Besides, he could use some.

"I'd love some, but I can make it if you're still sleepy…"

"Sit. This is my home, you're my guest, and I think I can manage to make some coffee. I know I'm not the best gourmand in the world, but they make it really simple. Put the coffee in the machine, fill the machine with water, turn the machine on. I don't need a degree in law to know how to do that." Ric kissed her softly on the cheek, not sure if he should have done it, but knowing that he wanted to do it. "Now, if you want an actual breakfast, that might be a little too complicated."

"No, just coffee," Elizabeth watched him walk into the kitchen from the living room. "Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, Elizabeth, you know that," Ric shuffled through the cabinets, looking for the coffee. He should have remembered where it was, but he was having a moment of haze.

"Why were you sleeping? You're usually up earlier than I am."

"Even district attorneys of criminal hubs need to get their beauty rest every now and then, Elizabeth. This is one of the few times when I don't need to set my alarm clock. I guess I'm still like a kid in that respect. If I can sleep in, I do. But, I guess I should have gotten up anyway. If I knew you were coming I would have made sure to look… well, better than this."

"I think you look natural," Elizabeth commented. "I like the way you look in your suits, don't get me wrong, but, seeing you like you are right now, in your pajamas, your hair a frazzled mess and the stubble on your face… it reminds me of how you would look when I would look over my shoulder while you were sleeping."

"Don't let it get out that I'm human, okay?" Ric returned to his seat by her side. "People would take that and use it against me."

"I would think that people would want to know that you're human, Ric."

"The people who need to know just what type of person I truly am already do know, Elizabeth, everyone else doesn't matter to me. I don't need to prove myself to anyone, not even Sonny. All I need is you."

"And your nephew…"

"He's just a fringe benefit," Ric retorted. "Don't get me wrong, I love having a member of my family that I can communicate with, that I can talk to, that accepts me, but even if he weren't here I'd be just fine only having you back in my life. What's in the box? Did you go and get some more art supplies?"

"No," Elizabeth didn't need any more art supplies, she had plenty.

"So then what is it?"

"Christmas decorations…"

"For your house?"

"For yours," Elizabeth smiled. "I thought it would be a nice surprise."

"Elizabeth… I appreciate the offer, truly, I do, but I don't know if I can stand to have a bunch of festive cheer around the house. I thought you knew that I didn't care for Christmas."

"We've never had a Christmas together, Ric. We were broken up before our first one."

"Oh…" Ric said softly. "Well, I hate to tell you this, Elizabeth, but Christmas is hardly my favorite time of the year."

"Have you even tried to make your Christmases a little better?" She wanted him to enjoy himself, it was the best time to do just that, to forget all the problems that were in his life, which she knew were plenty.

"Why bother? What's the point of having a few days a year where you keep yourself ignorant to the problems that are all around you?" Ric lowered his eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so harsh. Forgive me."

"No, it's fine," Elizabeth felt uncomfortable instantly. "I… umm… need to get to work. I forgot about my shift. I'm going to be late."

"But what about the coffee?"

"I'll get some when I get there. See you later." Elizabeth grabbed her purse and left, leaving the box, forgetting the box.

"Elizabeth!" Ric called out, but it was too late. She was gone. Angered at himself, he knocked the box over, hearing the contents fall out. He looked over and saw the spilled decorations before throwing his head back against the couch.