Story-

Outside Kelly's-

Elizabeth tried to see if the door to the restaurant was open, but it wasn't. If Mike was there he was obviously doing something that took his full attention. Usually it involved making the fresh pies. The beaters made more than enough noise to make her light taps on the door unheard by his ears.

However, Elizabeth was not completely helpless. She had a job to do, and more importantly she had the key that would open the door. Maybe Mike needed some help. The pies were his specialty, but she could do something else. Digging into her purse, Elizabeth pulled out the key and pushed it into the lock, slowly turning it, hearing the latch free itself.

"Boo!"

Elizabeth screamed as the sudden voice appeared from behind her. Her heart racing, she turned around to see her fiancé, trying to hold back the chuckles that were still managing to spill out of his mouth. "Ric!"

"Surprised?"

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Elizabeth swatted at his arm with her glove. "Why would you do something like that?"

"To prove that I'm prone to being whimsical from time to time…"

"I knew that already," she said, trying to sound good natured. In her mind, though, she knew that there were many times when Ric's fits of whimsy were not all that great. Stealing Carly while she was pregnant with Morgan was only one of them. He'd done so many horrible things, both to her and to other people, in the misguided thinking that it was for the good of their relationship. That was why she had to end it the first time. She didn't want the same mistakes to repeat themselves. She had to tell herself that they wouldn't.

"Look," Ric picked up her hand, "you're shaking…"

"Well you almost made me jump out of my skin. What were you expecting me to do?"

"Maybe you're just cold," Ric said slyly, "perhaps I should try and warm you up." Without another word spoken, Ric wrapped his arms around Elizabeth, the warmth of their bodies together filling him with great passion and hope, things that he had not felt since they had severed their ties the first time. Ric had been through plenty of dark periods in his life before, but the first few weeks being without Elizabeth were no doubt the hardest on him. "How does that feel?"

Elizabeth let a sound of pleasure and serenity escape her lips as her grin grew. She had missed Ric's touch, too, but no matter how much she missed it, no matter how much she loved him, she wouldn't go back to the man that she had divorced. Ric had to be a changed person, and he was. If nobody else wanted to see that then it was their fault, but she knew. She knew Ric better than anyone else, probably better than he knew himself. "I wish I could just stay right here all day long…"

"Who says you can't?"

"I don't think that we can both just stand here for hours without getting tired, Ric."

"Damn the laws of physics…"

"As a lawyer, I'm sure you h ate them even more. One of the few things that you can't contest."

Ric snickered, "I'm sure a few of us have tried over the years. But, if we can't hold each other in this exact spot for the entire day… why don't we do it in other places? It's New Years Eve, Elizabeth. I want to spend it with you."

"I'm working the morning shift…"

"You're always working," Ric said, his voice carrying a somewhat whining tone. He didn't mean to sound like he was against the idea of Elizabeth working, although he was on some level. She deserved to do something that would fully encompass her talents. Unless she was using the plates left over by the customers as her canvases and the condiments as her paints, waitressing really did nothing to feed the artisticness that made her the beautiful woman that she was.

"I have bills to pay…"

"I could pay them for you." Ric would gladly pay any amount of money that was necessary to keep Elizabeth happy. He was an attorney, a damned good one, when people wanted his representation they paid a pretty penny for it. Even though being the district attorney didn't pay as much as just being a regular lawyer he still had enough money saved up to keep them happy for a very long time. "If you would just give me the chance…"

"We've been over this, Ric."

"I know," he let go of her, showing that he supported her decision. "Your life is still your life, even though we've agreed to pledge ourselves to one another again. I don't want you to work here, but I won't stop you."

"Thank you."

"But couldn't you just ask for today off?"

"I'm literally two feet away from my job, Ric… it's a little late to call in sick, don't you think? Besides… Mike might still need the help, coping with what happened to Morgan. It's not something that you can just wash over in a day or two. I know that…"

Ric lowered his head, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Losing their child was something that she had never gotten over, and neither had he. Nobody would truly ever get over knowing that something that was there was taken away so easily. "I understand… sometimes I just think that you would work every single day if you could. Even Christmas."

"We're closed on Christmas. I didn't work. I spent it with you, remember? We watched those old clay animation movies that I used to love… you even pretended to like them."

"I didn't pretend!"

"I saw you rolling your eyes when you thought I wasn't looking," Elizabeth kissed his cheek. "But it was nice of you to at least try and have some fun for me…"

"I would do it again if you asked."

"I'll make sure to remember that when Easter comes along. I haven't watched any of those Peter Cottontail movies in quite a long time…"

"Wonderful," Ric's voice had once more shifted in its tone, now it was completely defeated. He didn't much care for the old specials of their youth, it brought back too many painful memories.

"I should probably go inside…"

"Wait, Elizabeth…"

"What is it?"

Ric looked at her. She was so beautiful. Everything that he ever wanted in a woman was right in front of him. She was kind and funny, passionate about the things that she cared about. Ric wondered if his mother was like that. People said that sometimes men married those that were like their mothers. Ric would never know… and Sonny would likely never tell him anything.

"Ric?" Elizabeth was afraid of the silence. Oftentimes it meant that Ric was hiding something from her. She didn't want to believe that he was that person but that didn't mean that there weren't times when she worried that he was.

"Can you get the day after tomorrow off?"

"What? Why?"

"Because… that's when I want us to get married." He smiled again, his farce ending. "I know I said that I would let you pick everything… but last night when I was sitting in bed I realized that I didn't want to spend another day without you. I know that today and tomorrow are probably pretty hectic as far as ceremonies go… so I thought the day after New Year people would get over the hype and not do anything… that would be the best day and the closest to today. I want you to be Mrs. Richard Lansing again…"

Elizabeth blushed, "I don't know what to say…"

"I do," Ric countered. "Say, 'I'll be happy to get the day off from work, Ric. I'll be happy to marry you again!' Or something of that nature. Doesn't have to be word for word, you're not being prosecuted here."

"Is there enough time to get everything in order?"

"We didn't want a fancy wedding, remember? Or did you change your mind."

"No," she shook her head. "Of course not. I just want it to be the two of us and the people that we have to have as witnesses…"

"Well, my family is out of the question…"

"Ric…"

"No, it's okay," Ric kissed her hand. "I understand that they wouldn't want to be at my wedding. If Carly and Sonny got divorced again, which, as history has shown us, they probably will, and then they got remarried, again, going with the trend, I wouldn't want to be there. Why bother giving them a present? They already have everything…"

"You still have family who cares about you…"

"I don't think he would attend my wedding… Sonny probably wouldn't approve."

"Do you think so little of him that you believe he would deny you, his uncle, who he does care about, the joy of being at your wedding simply because of his father?" Elizabeth knew that Damian would go… if he was invited. "Really, Ric, you're not giving him enough credit."

"I don't want to get my hopes up…"

"You really want them there, don't you?"

Ric looked into the restaurant to see the cold ice blue stare of Mike Corbin directed at him. He quickly moved his eyes out of the way to make it seem like he wasn't looking. Mike wasn't a member of his family, but he still hated feeling like he was judged by the man. After all, Mike had abandoned his two children. How did that give him any sort of room for judgment? "I just want to feel accepted by the people who I'm related to… is that so horrible?"

"Of course not, honey," Elizabeth had long realized that of all Ric's demons the neglect from his maternal family was chief among them. She knew what that was like on some level. Her family wasn't idealistic either, she and her sister didn't really get along. Her brother was great. She loved Steven, but Steven was never around. "If I could wave a wand and have it magically make you and Sonny get along you know I would do it in a heartbeat."

"Thank you…"

"But nobody has that power. Nobody has the power to change Sonny's mind except for Sonny…"

"He might not even have that power," Ric's comment was not even trying to hide back the snide-subtext that dripped out of it. Once Sonny put a person on his black list they often stayed there. Carly managed to get away with more than a few things, though. The joys of putting out.

"Are you going to ask Damian or not? Because if you're not… then I will."

"Elizabeth…"

"No," she said firmly. "You want him there, I want him there, he wants to be there. He's the only person that we've told about the wedding! How would it reflect on us if we didn't tell him abou the actual date? How much of our relationship do we somewhat owe to him?"

"More than I would care to admit…"

"So?"

"All right… I'll call him sometime today or tomorrow and tell him."

"Thank you." Elizabeth turned around and saw Mike doing something, cleaning off the glasses or some such menial task. "I should get to work."

"So should I…"

"Love you," Elizabeth kissed him on the lips. "And we'll do something together tonight, promise."

"Love you, too." Ric watched Elizabeth walk in before turning around. All he wanted was the one thing that he could never get. Usually the big brother thought the little brother to be a pest, but in the end there was a deep love between the two. Such was not the case with him and Sonny. Was it wrong to just want something like that? He didn't think it was.