Samsonlove- Sam is not going to be defined as good or evil, rather, indentured. Her part in the story will be quite small on the whole, but she has a reason for being around, although what side she will take, if any, will be left for a later time. Yes, John is an evil man. Bad, bad man.

Lansing Home, Morning-

Once more the beautiful woman shifted around in her bed, hoping to reach out and feel the warmth of her husband beside her. She remembered how good it felt the first time that they were together, and how much she missed it when they had broken up. It was necessary at that time in her life, because she knew that Ric had a darkness that she could not hope to turn into light, at least not by herself. She just didn't know who she could have asked, but, for whatever reason, she got the help that she needed in the form of an unknown family member who was willing to push passed all the hate that had been brewed up in the past. Someone who tried to accept Ric for who he was. A person who understood that the man had flaws, but that only made him more human, not the monster that his family wanted to believe he was. Elizabeth wanted to have someone like that, even if she didn't know it, and her prayers had been answered.

The first time that they were able to stay together, as man and wife yet again, she noticed how everything felt like it was right, how nothing was going to be wrong ever again. The first time she touched her husband in bed after they were remarried she knew that all the fears that she had about their chances would eventually melt away. Ric would not take a chance at destroying everything that they had, not again. Elizabeth didn't need to tell herself that over and over anymore, now she knew it, knew it in her heart and in her soul. But, that didn't mean that her problems were solved so simply, far from it, now she had to see what was going on, why her husband wasn't in the bed with her.

Slowly, her gorgeous blue eyes opened up to the world around her. At first it was little more than a blur, her eyes adjusting to what was going on around her, trying to take in the small amount of light that was piecing through the drapes, which seemed to be a lot more open than they normally would be, partially concealed by a shadowed figure. When her eyes adjusted just a little more, she saw what, or rather who, she was looking at. "Ric?"

Ric turned around from looking out at Port Charles from his viewpoint at their home. It wasn't Sonny's penthouse, but it wasn't that bad, either. "Good morning, sweetheart."

"What are you doing out of bed so early?" Elizabeth looked over at the clock. Sunrise had happened, but it had only barely happened, which meant that it was a lot earlier than normal. "Why don't you come back over here and get some more rest. You know that you can't think as clearly as you can when you're nice and rested up."

"I can't sleep, Elizabeth."

She finally propped herself up, sitting on the bed, hugging her knees to her breasts. She had seen him like this many times before, unable to sleep, consumed by his demons. She thought that he had gotten over it. What if Elizabeth was wrong? What if all the progress that she thought Ric had made in the prior months was just some sort of mirage? What if he really hadn't changed and she had fallen for the same tricks that she had fallen for the first time? "What's on your mind, honey? I want to help you, if I can."

"I don't know if I should tell you…"

"Ric, I'm your wife, you're supposed to tell me anything that is bothering you, because what bothers you ends up bothering me. I know how much you want to keep your pain hidden from people, but you can't do that anymore. You have to learn how to trust people. You have to learn how to trust me."

"I do trust you, Elizabeth… it's just… it's not my problem that I'm dealing with right now."

"Are you worried about what John Durant is going to do while he's here?" She knew that it was one of the most pressing ordeals on his mind. "Honey, I know how much you think he's going to take over, but you're also damned good at what you do. Nobody is going to just let you lose the position that you earned. Ever since Scott left you've really improved the quality of the district attorney's office in this town. And you make a great team with Mac and Lucky and the rest of the force. They'll try and keep you… I know they will."

"You're giving out too many popularity points for me, Elizabeth. But thank you." Ric didn't want to tell her the truth. They didn't really trust him, they respected him more than they did his older brother, but none of them, not Mac, not Lucky, not any of the other people on the force, could get passed the fact that he was Sonny's half-brother. Despite the fact that they were as different as night and day it was always going to haunt Ric wherever he went, another reminder of how much pain he had to endure just by being in Port Charles.

"I think you don't give yourself enough credit. People realize that you've changed, Ric. They might not admit it out loud, but that doesn't mean that inside they don't believe it any less. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. If I can believe in your ability to change into someone who is goodhearted and kind, so can anyone else." She smiled, trying to comfort him and hoping that her words were enough. Sometimes they were, often times, however, they weren't. "Now, no more sad faces, all right? And no more worrying about Durant. Everything is going to be all right, I promise you."

"I just wish that was what I was worried about…" Ric replied softly.

"What else could be wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not," Ric sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her. "You're the best thing I have in my life right now, Elizabeth. You're the perfect example of how someone like me can actually find a person who will accept them for who they are, despite the fact that they might not be perfect. You didn't do anything wrong. You could never do anything wrong."

"Then what's bugging you? Please… just tell me. I want to know."

Ric sighed, "If I tell you, you need to promise not to tell anyone else, not even the people involved, all right? I gave my word that I wouldn't tell, but I think I should tell someone." Besides, if Ric was remembering the promise correctly, he only promised not to tell Sonny or any of Damian's immediate family, Elizabeth surely wasn't in that equation.

"I promise."

Ric nodded, "Damian and Maxie broke up…"

Elizabeth gasped, "Why would they break up? They were so good together. I thought… I thought they would stay together forever."

"So did I, but it isn't going to be like that, not anymore. He said that he caught her in bed with another guy… he hadn't told anyone when I saw him, I don't even think that he was going to tell me, but he did. I don't know why he did, but he did. Elizabeth… I've never seen him so crushed before."

"He must be going through hell…"

"I know what he's going through," Ric stated. "At least somewhat. I know what it's like to lose the person that you love more than life itself. I lost you before, remember? I thought there was a chance that I would never get you back, and deep down I always hated that fact. I remember all the pain that I went through. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and I saw the same face that I saw on my nephew yesterday. The fact that he's going through that much pain and torment… it tears me up inside. I don't want to think that he could be going through something like that. Something so horrible. Pain like that… I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

"So what do we do to help him, Ric?" Elizabeth asked, wanting to do something for the boy, something that would help repay the debt that she thought she owed him because of everything that he had done for her and Ric. A small way to repay something so huge, but it was the only thing that she could think of at that moment. "Do we try and get them back together?"

"She cheated on him with another boy, Elizabeth," Ric again stated the fact. "As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't deserve to have a second chance with him if she's going to do something that stupid."

"But you don't know the whole story… I'm not defending her actions, but maybe she had a reason? Maybe she was drugged? Maxie's always been a little bit reckless, Ric. She overdosed once. When Damian came into her life she straightened out a lot, but what if she had some sort of relapse?"

"I… I never thought about that." Ric remembered, vaguely, hearing about such a thing. The commissioners daughter being a bad girl, it was amusing in its own twisted way at the time, when Ric wanted other people to feel the same kind of pain that he felt on a daily basis. "Even so… the only thing I intend on doing is being there for my nephew if he needs me. I just hope he knows that he can depend on me to be there for him."

"I'm sure he knows," Elizabeth placed a hand on his back, "after all, he told you before he told anyone else. That has to mean something, right?"

"Maybe not to him… but it meant a whole lot to me."

"Just do what you can for him, all right?" Elizabeth suggested. "And, make sure that you tell him that he can always come and talk to me as well. Don't mention that I know, I'll play it like I'm surprised, but just tell him that if he needs an extra shoulder, I'll always make time."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." Ric leaned his head against the pillow once more, looking up at the ceiling. For someone like that to go through such horrible emotional anguish… it just didn't seem right. How could someone so good be forced to suffer so much? Especially when… especially when people like him ended up getting a second chance at happiness. People who probably didn't deserve any more chances in life than what they got.

Port Charles Hotel-

John had gone through yet another sleepless night. The help that Samantha McCall was going to give him in his mission to destroy Sonny and Jason was not nearly as important as his personal problems. All those years, all those years that he could have had with a daughter were taken from him. One thing about the people that John had put away: in some twisted way they really did care about their children. It might not have been love in the traditional sense of the word, since John didn't believe that people that twisted could really understand love, but it was certain something that they would give their lives for. In some strange way, John even respected that, admired it. Because, unlike himself, they had something that they wanted to fight for. The future. John didn't think that he would have something like that, ever. He was already an old man, and he never had a chance at making a family. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to give them the time that they deserved, because his career was so demanding. That was one of the reasons that he didn't bother trying to start a family, because he knew that he would only end up hurting them in the end. John knew what it was like to have a neglecting father, someone who was too busy doing his own thing to actually pay attention to his children. In some way, John's job, his fame, was a way of making sure that he would get the attention that he had craved as a young child. People would know who he was, they would treat him with the admiration that he wanted.

But, while he didn't think that he could have been a good father, he didn't know that he had already been made a father, and, now that he did know, he wasn't going to allow himself to make the same mistakes that his own father had made. He was already missing out on some of the most important times of Carly's life. The time when she would have wanted to build a relationship with him. All of that was gone, and he needed to make sure that he got it back, because it was important. He wasn't too late to start building a relationship with his grandsons, and if anyone was going to help him get in their good graces, it was surely going to be the children.

John walked into the main room of the hotel and picked up the phone, looking in the phone book for a specific number. Sure, it was early in the morning, but not too early. Had he even gotten any sleep at all, he would have been up and ready anyway. If she wanted to complain about him waking up, then she could complain all she wanted. John had a few things to complain about to her as well.

The phone rang in Bobbie Spencer's home. Although she was up, she could not help but wonder who would be calling her so early in the morning. Was it Luke, waiting to get some help on yet another scheme? Or maybe it was worse, like something bad had happened to her family. She looked over at the pictures on the counter. Pictures of her family. Her children, Carly and Lucas, her grandchildren, Michael and Morgan, a picture of Luke and Laura, separate ones of Lucky and Lulu, all the people that mattered to her, well, almost all of them. The phone continued to ring. Finally, Bobbie reached over and grabbed the phone, "Hello?"

"Good morning…"

"John?" Bobbie didn't want him to be the one that was calling her, but it appeared that she had no choice in the matter. "What the hell are you doing calling me at my home? Don't you think that you've pestered me enough."

"Not nearly enough, I'm afraid."

"I should just hang up on you right now."

"But if you did that you wouldn't hear what I was going to tell you, and believe me, this is something that you want to hear…"

"I'm listening."

"I don't believe you, you know. I don't believe anything that you've told me about her. I know the truth, I know that she's mine and I'm going to tell her today. No matter what happens, by the end of the day she's going to know that I'm her father."

"John, you can't do that!" Bobbie yelled. "You can't tell her that you're her father, it's going to destroy her."

"She'll get over it. After all, once she finds out I'm going to make sure that she knows that I'm always going to be there for her. I'm her father, I'm not going to abandon her… unlike some other people that we won't mention."

"I did what I had to! You abandoned me first! I would have kept her… we could have been a family together! Why do you have to ruin this?"

"It's payback, my dear. Payback for what you put me through, what you kept from me… I just thought you should know that you had your last day with your daughter thinking that she only had one parent. Now she'll know that she has two. Have a nice day." John snickered and hung up the phone.

On the other end, Bobbie heard the line go dead. Her hand was shaking, trembling under the weight of the situation. She didn't want Carly to know. But what was she going to do about it?