"What's this about?" Damian couldn't sense any real urgency in his Uncle's voice, but if Ric was in danger, if Ric was just trying to keep himself from sounding hurt and he was, of course Damian would go.

"It's… really something that you should probably be here to see instead of having me tell you over the phone," Ric was sitting on his couch. He and Elizabeth hadn't spoken since the time she gave her impromptu visit to his house and in those days he was miserable.

"Are you okay?"

"Physically? Sure. Emotionally…" Ric let his head hang low, "I'm not so sure about that one. Look, just come, please…" Ric hung up the phone before his nephew could ask any more questions. Everything would be answered if Damian came. Ric really hoped that he would come. Ric had finally convinced himself that he had a member of his family that he could count on, he didn't want to have that dream shattered. Sulking on the couch, Ric lowered his head, "Elizabeth… I hope I can make everything right between us again."

"What's wrong with Ric?" Maxie was observing the conversation, but hadn't heard anything that was said between the two. She knew that the way Damian was acting and the questions he asked were hints that something may have been amiss. She still didn't care much for Ric Lansing, but he was Damian's Uncle, and she knew how much Damian did care for the man.

"I don't know," Damian closed the phone, stunned. If there was something, anything, that he had learned from spending time with Ric Lansing it was that he never tried to sound… desperate. But that was the tone of his voice, that was what was implied by the way that he spoke. He was looking for help of some kind, and the only one who Ric felt he could turn to was Damian himself. "I don't even know if I should go…"

"You wouldn't forgive yourself if you didn't go, Damian," Maxie informed him. "A member of your family is asking for your help…"

"But what if it's something that I can't help him with, Maxie? What if… I don't know, what if he wants me to try and find a way to help him put my dad in prison? I can't do that, not even for him." Damian knew the grudge that existed between the brothers, everyone did. It was unspoken of most of the time, but whenever they were together, it was felt nonetheless. He also knew that grudges didn't die quickly, especially ones that were lifelong.

"Then you'll have to tell him that you can't help him with that. But if you don't go… what if you're wrong? What if he's hurt right now…"

"He'd call the hospital if he were hurt, Maxie. Uncle Ric's not stupid… he's probably one of the smartest people that I know." Lawyers were educated, especially the ones who got educated at the ivy league schools.

"There are many ways a person can get hurt, Damian. Physically is just one of them, it's not even the worst way. Of all people, I thought you would know that. What if his heart is screaming in anguish about something? Maybe he feels guilty about the way he's treated your family and he wants to apologize, but he knows that he can't do it to Sonny or Carly or anyone else because they won't believe him. They wouldn't even take the time to listen to him. Most people who know what he's done would make the same decision. But you… you're different."

"I don't know if I would believe him either," Damian would want to believe whatever Ric would say to him, but that didn't mean that he would believe the man. Old habits died hard.

"But you would at least listen to him, and that's something that Ric does appreciate. If he didn't value you so much as a person in his life, Damian, he would have never, ever helped get you out of the mess that Scott Baldwin tried to get you into." It was a painful time in their lives, both as individuals, but especially as a couple. It was the first time that they had a strain in their relationship, and it was still there. Maxie understood why Damian had never told her everything about what happened on that night, quite possibly at the very spot where they were, but she wished he could. She smiled at him, "Your mind was made up the second he asked for your help, the only one you're trying to fool is yourself. Go."

Damian knew she was right. Maxie tended to be right, at least when it came to him. People thought that she wasn't an intelligent person because of the way that she had done things when she was growing up, but those were choices that she made, bad ones, they didn't reflect on her smarts. "I'll go straight to the hospital after I finish doing… whatever it is that he wants me to do. I won't miss this night, your night, for anyone, Maxie, not even my family." Damian knew better than to ask her to come with him. Even if she didn't have plans that required her to be at the hospital, she didn't like Ric, and Ric probably wouldn't have spoken to either of them if he came with anyone. Well, maybe Sonny, but Damian knew better than to expect his father, of all people, to come to Ric's aid. Leaning down, he kissed her cheek before pulling away, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Maxie watched as he walked away from her. He had so many commitments, but she knew that he would always make time for her, even when his life was in uproar, his devotion to her was one of the strongest things he had.

Ric Lansing's Apartment-

He didn't know why he did it, but he stood outside of the door for a good minute before he got the courage to even knock on the door. It was like he was still trying to talk himself out of going inside, out of helping someone who he did think of as a member of his family, who he would gladly do whatever he could do to help them if they needed it. But it was Ric… and something about Ric was just so intimidating that it made even Damian cautious.

But what if Maxie was right? What if he was just looking for someone to talk to? Someone to express his grief over? If he didn't have someone that he could speak to, what would he do? What if Damian picked up the newspaper on Christmas Morning to see an article about how the District Attorney killed himself? The guilt would eat at Damian, and he wasn't going to risk that.

"Uncle Ric?" Damian called out as he knocked on the door. "It's me… are you in there?"

"Door's open."

Damian noticed how feeble the voice sounded, like he was worn out. The situation was starting to get scary. When Damian opened the door he saw Ric on the couch. It was clear that was where he had spent most of, if not all, his time since… given the stubble on Ric's face, at least two days prior. He wasn't even dressed in one of his suits, which was shocking because Damian had never seen Ric wearing anything else.

"You came," Ric looked over. "Thank you."

"Are you all right?" Damian walked into the house from the doorway and got a closer inspection at Ric. "Did you get the flu or something?"

"No…"

"No to what? Being all right, or getting the flu?"

"Both."

"You need to tell me what's wrong with you, Uncle Ric. I can't help you unless I know what is wrong. And I want to help you. Believe me, I want to help you." Given the way that Ric looked, it was highly unlikely that getting revenge on Sonny was a priority. If anything, bathing should have been high on the list.

"Why do I ruin everything in my life?" Ric asked, although, given the question, it was probably more of a question he was asking himself rather than the young man that was next to him. "Every time I have something good happen to me I find some way to mess it all up. I must have some sort of complex about me. You're going to be a doctor… tell me what's wrong with me."

"That's not something that I can tell you," Damian shook his head. "I'm going to be a medical doctor, Uncle Ric, not a psychologist."

"So now you think I need to see a shrink?"

"No, of course not. It's just that you asked me to tell you what was wrong with you and I can't do it because it's not something that I'm trained to do, nor will I be trained to do it. But you're still not helping me find out what's wrong with you, Uncle Ric. What did you need me to help you with?"

"Decorating…"

"What?" Damian wasn't sure he understood the answer to the question. Decorating what?

"Elizabeth… she tried to put me in the Christmas spirit, but I… I don't know, I just didn't want to be festive…"

"I can relate, believe me," Damian looked around and saw the box of Christmas decorations. "Why can't you do this yourself? Don't tell me you don't know how to use a hammer…"

"I just can't," Ric admitted. "I don't know, these things mean something to Elizabeth, and I don't want to ruin them any more than I already have. I've tried to put them up. I've taken them out of the box, put them on the table… but I can't do it, because I know that something will happen. With my luck, I'll break each and every one of them, and then she'll hate me even more than she already does."

"What… what makes you think that Elizabeth hates you?" Even when she was angry at him, Damian never thought she could ever hate him.

"She hasn't even called or anything since she brought those… I really hurt her, and I didn't mean to."

"Why haven't you tried to tell her that yourself, Uncle Ric? You can call her, or find her, or do something…"

"What makes you think she'll believe me?"

"She loves you, she'll believe you," Damian could see why Ric was acting the way he was. He was dealing with a broken heart. Something that no science could cure. "Look… why don't I make you a deal?"

"I'm the district attorney, I'm the one who makes deals…"

"You don't look like much of a D.A. right now, unless it's pajama day down at city hall… wait, it's Christmas Eve, they're not even open today, are they? Now, here's the deal, you can take it, or you can just sit there for another few days, grow a beard, and quite possibly end up with the couch attached to your ass… Elizabeth is going to be at the hospital party tonight, Uncle Ric. In fact, she's probably over there right now finishing up with the preparations. Now, if you want to apologize for what you did, which we both know you do, if you want to make amends, which we both know you do, then you're going to have to get up off that couch, get in the shower, shave, and wear something that you can go out in public with."

"What if she doesn't want to see me? What if I just make the whole evening horrible for her? I've already ruined Elizabeth's life so many times in the past, Damian, you don't even know the things that I did to her. I don't want to put her through hell again. I love her too much to do that."

"It's because you love her that you're going to agree to my idea and you're going to clean yourself up. Don't make me toss you in the shower, cold water, fully clothed, myself… because I will. I hate seeing you beat yourself up, Uncle Ric, and I'm not going to stand by and let you do that. I'll even sweeten this little deal of ours. While you're getting rid of the days of buildup on your body, I'll take these things out and put them around the house."

"Why are you doing this?" Ric asked, stunned that someone was willing to do so much just for him. Such kindness was something that Ric had never seen before, at least not from people who weren't Elizabeth.

"Because I care about you, and I care about Elizabeth, and I know how you feel about each other, so if I can do something to help both of you and help your relationship, I'm obviously going to do something about it. But if this doesn't work… then I don't know what I can do, Uncle Ric, I think she loves you, but sometimes it doesn't matter how you feel about a person, it ends up being something else. Now, get off that couch and get in the shower!"

Ric finally felt some sense of being for the first time in days. He got off the couch and nodded his appreciation to his nephew, someone who he apparently owed more than he could ever repay.

Damian waited for the door to close before he looked at the box of decorations once more. He didn't know what they were, what significance they had to Elizabeth, if any at all, but he knew that he needed to do something about making the place a little more cheery. At least it didn't have a tree, and he sure as hell wasn't going back into the forest and getting one himself. Nor was he sending Dillon, if he did, the boy might never return.