Ritchie woke up the next morning wanting to die. All of her limbs ached, her stomach roiled with nausea, her head felt like it was about to split into two… It was like being hungover, except in this case she could remember everything that had happened.

That wasn't a welcome difference.

She wasn't exactly thrilled to remember that she'd returned from the club to throw herself at Izaya, get rejected and then freak out on him. Let alone the fact that he'd even called Shinra and Celty out in the middle of the night to check on her… How embarrassing.

At least she was alone – she'd opened her eyes to discover that the bed was empty besides herself. She had no doubt that Izaya would take the first opportunity he could to make fun of her.

It took her a very long time to get out of bed and ascertain that she wasn't going to throw up – though her stomach was still suggesting otherwise. She wasn't quite brave enough to risk taking a shower just yet.

The slow getting-up process had taken her over an hour and Izaya still hadn't disturbed her yet. That was unusual… Normally he couldn't wait to rub it in when she did something stupid.

Ritchie put the thought to the back of her mind. What she needed right now was some really greasy, really unhealthy food. She would have preferred the hair of the dog technique, but she knew that Izaya wouldn't have any alcohol anywhere. How had she managed to land a boyfriend who didn't even drink?

She eventually trudged downstairs. If Izaya didn't have any good food in that she could scrounge, her back-up plan was going to be the all-hour fast food joint two blocks down. They did a mean calorie-laden breakfast burger.

Izaya was sat at his computer, seemingly deep into his work. He didn't even look up when Ritchie came downstairs. That was definitely unusual. He always had some annoying comment for her first thing in the morning.

"You must be growing up. Normally you can't wait to rub it in when I'm being an ass," Ritchie commented lightly.

She started to head towards the kitchen but stopped when she realised that Izaya hadn't even replied. She glanced over at him to find that his gaze was still fixed on his computer screen.

"What, no comeback this time?" she asked.

Izaya still didn't say anything. Ritchie frowned. Was he ignoring her on purpose? That wasn't going to work for her… She loved attention. So if there was one thing she couldn't stand it was being ignored.

She strode over towards him and made sure she got all up in his personal space. "Hey, are you ignoring me?" she accused, giving his shoulder a none too gentle shove.

The scowl that was already on Izaya's face increased and he purposely leant away from her. "I would if it was possible to ignore somebody so irritating."

Ritchie scowled back. The insult rolled right off her – she'd heard a lot worse – but his grumpy attitude irritated her. "Geez, what the hell's your problem today?"

Izaya pushed his chair back abruptly and stood up so fast that Ritchie took a startled step back. "You. You're my problem." He wasn't shouting, but his usual cheerful manner had completely vanished and Ritchie could see signs of one of his mood swings setting in. He was well and truly pissed.

She stared at him, feeling her own anger bubbling to the surface. "What the fuck did I do to you?"

"Are you really going to ask me that after last night?" Izaya glared back. "Did you think turning up like a drunken idiot was just going to be acceptable?"

"Hey, I was not drunk!" Ritchie protested. "I had my drink spiked; that was hardly my…"

She stopped. Maybe it was her fault… She could distinctly remember the luminous drink she'd adopted from one of the tables near the dance floor when she'd been avoiding the bar. She hadn't even known what was in it. Shit…

Unfortunately Izaya noticed her falter. "Hardly your what?" he pressed. "Are you saying it was your fault that you had your drink spiked?"

Damn. Ritchie scowled to herself, dropping her gaze to the floor and mumbling something about how she may have drank somebody else's drink that she'd found…

Izaya grabbed her by the chin before she could even react and forced her to look at him. "Are you saying that you purposely drank a stranger's drink? Are you really that stupid? Are you really that much of an alcoholic?"

Ritchie glared at him but she didn't pull away. She didn't even have a retort to give. She hated that he was right. Of course she had a problem with alcohol – he didn't need to point it out to her.

"You're not even denying it because you know it's true." Izaya didn't even sound smug about it – his voice was too cold.

"So what?" Ritchie retorted defensively. "That's my problem, not yours."

"It is my problem when you're turning up here wrecked at some ridiculous hour," Izaya argued.

"You were the one who said I was 'free to come here whenever I liked'," Ritchie replied irritably.

"Not in that state!" Izaya countered angrily. "I don't need the hassle of looking after you at three o'clock in the morning."

"Oh, well I'm very sorry," said Ritchie sarcastically. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided you wanted me around."

"Well maybe I don't want you around anymore!" Izaya snapped, abruptly letting go of her.

Ritchie reeled back as if he'd slapped her. But she quickly regained her composure and pulled herself together. "You always said how you find me so interesting. Has that just magically changed now?" she asked haughtily.

"It might if I find a new human to play with," Izaya replied cuttingly.

Ritchie stared, faltering again. "So you're just going to replace me?"

"If you keep getting raving drunk and expecting me to deal with you I will," Izaya threatened darkly.

Ritchie clenched her fists, feeling her rage reaching boiling point. He didn't even care about her wellbeing – he just wanted to work everything so that it would suit himself. Or maybe he just wanted to piss her off… Well… Two could play at that game.

"Well maybe I'll go and play with Shizuo instead," she snapped, knowing it was a low blow.

Izaya's eyes went dark. "If you do that you'll regret it…"

Ritchie wasn't really sure what happened next – she was just aware that he'd raised his hand and, thinking he was going to hit her, she instinctively flinched and jerked away from him.

Izaya stared at her, his hand still in the air – he'd only been about to run it through his hair out of frustration. "Did you just think I was going to hit you?" he asked incredulously, the surprise dissolving his anger.

"Of course I didn't!" said Ritchie hotly. "Screw this, I'm going home."

"Ritchie, wait…" Izaya started irritably, grabbing her arm. He wasn't imagining it – he'd seen fear spark in her eyes, no matter how brief it had been.

"Just leave me alone!" shouted Ritchie, ripping her arm out of his grip. Without giving him the chance to say anything else, she turned on her heels and tore out of the apartment.

She ran all the way back to her own place without stopping. Several people made remarks as she passed, but she ignored all of them. She had to stop on the doorstep to find her front door key. Her hands were shaking from anger, making it harder to fit the key into the lock.

When she finally got inside she kicked the door shut, stormed through to her bedroom and threw herself face down onto the bed, breathing hard and willing herself to calm down…

After what felt like ages, she felt her rage beginning to subside. She reluctantly sat up, looking round at her apartment. It was dark and far too cold. She shivered. When was the last time she'd actually been here? When was the last time she'd had to sleep alone?

She gave a cry of frustration and fell back onto the bed again, burying her face in the pillow once more.

XXX

Ritchie stayed in her apartment and sulked till the following day. If only she'd been at work last night… That would have given her something to do. She knew she could have just gone out and hit the clubs like she so often did, but for once she hadn't been in the mood.

She spent most of the next morning lying in bed and watching TV, though she was hardly even paying attention to what she was watching. She felt so disconnected from everything that when her cell phone rang she almost jumped out of her skin. It didn't deter her for long though – she quickly scrambled out of bed to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ritch!" It was Sei.

Ritchie silently cursed herself for being so hopeful. Of course it wasn't going to be Izaya… They were likely over and done with after what had happened yesterday. She then purposely reminded herself that she didn't care about him anyway. "Hey Sei, what's up?"

"Well I've got next Tuesday off work so a group of us are going out the night before," Sei explained enthusiastically. "I was wondering if you wanted to join us."

"Erm…" Ritchie bit her lip, the argument from yesterday still on her mind. Not to mention the fact that she'd had her drink spiked the other night. "I think I'll pass this time."

"Are you sure?" asked Sei, her tone suddenly laced with concern.

Ritchie couldn't help a tight smile. No wonder her friend was concerned… She'd never turned down a night out before in her life. "Yeah, it just might not be the best idea right now," she said, trying to sound casual about it.

Of course Sei picked up on that too. "Okay, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

To Ritchie's horror, she felt a lump in her throat and couldn't quite reply. She could deal with shouting and insults… But people being nice to her? She still found that fairly new.

"Ritch?" Sei pressed when Ritchie didn't respond. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

Ritchie took a deep breath before she replied, trying to compose herself. "Sorry… I just feel kinda crap at the moment."

"Did somebody upset you? Is it that asshole boyfriend of yours?" Sei asked knowingly.

Ritchie managed another small smile. "Got it in one."

Sei made a sympathetic noise. Though she didn't like Izaya out of principal, she still knew all about relationship troubles. "What did he do?"

"We kinda… had a fight," said Ritchie.

"What about?"

Ritchie hesitated. She knew that Sei wouldn't understand the whole thing. Her relationship with Izaya wasn't exactly a normal one… And she definitely didn't want to recount how he'd threatened to replace her.

The funny thing was that he wouldn't even know how much that stung – he didn't know that she'd already had a guy do that to her in the past. The memory still bothered her. She always gave people a lot of attitude, but when it came down to it she still had feelings… She was only human.

"He thinks I drink too much," Ritchie told her friend. At least that part would make sense to her.

"Ah… So that's why you said no to going out, isn't it?"

"Sort of." Ritchie gave a half shrug, even though her friend wouldn't see it.

"Well that's not his problem. You shouldn't care what he thinks," Sei insisted. "If you want to go out and have fun then you should be able to without worrying about anyone else."

It was pretty much the same point that Ritchie had tried to make. "Don't you think I drink too much?"

"Honey, we all drink too much," Sei pointed out. "We're young adults – that's what we're supposed to do! Come on, you're only twenty-two. It's normal!"

That was true. But Ritchie had still always drank more than anyone else. Sei never really noticed quite how much because she was usually the first one to get drunk. Izaya had more of a clue because he was generally the one who witnessed all the after-effects... Which meant that he was right.

Ritchie sighed. She really did hate it when he was right. "I'm just hoping it'll blow over," she told Sei, hoping to try and change the subject. She didn't really feel like she deserved her friend's sympathy anymore.

"I'm sure it will," said Sei positively. "Do you want me to come round later? If I can get off work early I can even grab some takeout for us on the way over."

"No, don't worry about it. I'll be fine," Ritchie lied. She definitely wasn't fine… She had a feeling she was going to have to do some apologising and she hated apologising.

"Are you sure?" asked Sei concernedly. Ritchie insisted that she was. "Okay… But if I get to finish work early I'll still pop round and see you on my way home if you like?"

"Thanks Sei," said Ritchie gratefully. She couldn't really say no twice. "I might see you later then."

She felt both happier and more confused as she hung up. Damn Izaya… Well even if she was willing to apologise she certainly wasn't going to seek him out to do it. She had a bit too much pride for that. Plus she was sure she wouldn't have to see him for a while – he'd been really mad at her.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in her apartment still. After a while she eventually showered and got dressed, then made herself something to eat before settling back down to watch more TV.

When the doorbell rang she glanced at the time on her phone. It was almost five o'clock. Sei had clearly finished early after all… At least Ritchie felt more presentable now that she was dressed.

But when she answered the door she found that it wasn't Sei. And for once in her life she was stunned into silence.

Izaya laughed at the look on her face. "What's wrong, Ritchie-chan? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Ritchie's head was reeling. What was he doing here and why was he in such a good mood? Had she just imagined how pissed off he'd been yesterday? Or was this just another one of his weird mood swings that she could never seem to keep up with?

Okay, there was no question about it. It was definitely the latter.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ritchie, still too surprised to sound suspicious.

"Well it didn't look like you were going to come and see me, so I thought I'd come to find you," said Izaya cheerfully, as though nothing had happened.

Ritchie eventually managed to get some of her attitude back. "I didn't think I was welcome," she said pointedly.

"You're always welcome; what would make you think that?" Izaya enquired theatrically. His innocent look didn't quite reach his eyes. As always, there was something he knew that Ritchie didn't.

She sighed. "I really don't wanna play mind games right now."

"There you go again; you're always so suspicious of me… It hurts my feelings, Ritchie-chan," Izaya pouted, as he wrapped an arm around Ritchie's shoulders and steered her back inside the apartment.

Ritchie felt completely clueless. Was their fight really over? It had seemed like such a big deal and she'd actually been in the wrong – she hadn't even apologised for it. Was this his way of making up and blowing things over? But it didn't make any sense…

"Wait, wait…" protested Ritchie, stopping in her tracks. When Izaya tried to carry on down the hallway she forcefully pushed him up against the breakfast bar. "Just wait a second!"

Izaya looked amused, like he knew what was coming. "Can I help you with something?"

Ritchie hesitated, gritting her teeth. She really didn't want to say it… But she knew that if he didn't say it now then she'd chicken out and probably never would. And, annoyingly, she felt like she owed it to him.

"I'm sorry, okay?" It came out a lot more forceful than she'd intended, but at least she'd said it.

Surprise flickered briefly across Izaya's face – it wasn't what he'd expected her to say – but then he laughed at her. "You don't have to sound so angry about it, Ritchie-chan."

"Just be grateful I said it at all," Ritchie huffed, already regretting it.

"Oh I'm very grateful," Izaya smirked, leaning back against the breakfast bar.

Ritchie couldn't tell if he'd done it on purpose or not, but the way he was reclining emphasised the length of his body. She blew her hair out of her face, feeling frustrated. Well at least one aspect of their relationship would never change… Even when she was pissed off at him, Izaya still always turned her on.

He still looked amused, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. Which Ritchie realised was probably true. He knew her pretty well by now… So it wasn't like she had anything else to lose.

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself against him. He didn't pull away. She tilted her head up towards his and… heard her phone start ringing in the bedroom. Talk about timing… She sighed. It was probably Sei. She couldn't really ignore it after her friend had been so nice to her this morning.

The smirk never left Izaya's face. "Looks like I was saved by the bell," he teased.

"Excuse me, saved? You know I'd be happy to hit you, right?" Ritchie threatened, disentangling herself from him. "I'll be back; just let me see who it is."

She jogged down the hallway to try and get to her cell phone in time. Thankfully it was still ringing by the time she picked it up. "Hello?" But all she got in response was static. "Hello?" She repeated louder.

The line cut off. Ritchie frowned at her phone. Was it a bad connection? She checked her call history to see who it was but it came up as an unknown number. That was weird… She never got calls from unknown numbers.

"So who was it?" Izaya asked over her shoulder.

"Dunno. Unknown number," replied Ritchie, sitting down on the bed and tossing her phone aside. "And did I say you could follow me in here?"

"Does that mean you actually are going to hit me?" Izaya said brightly, jumping onto the bed next to her.

Ritchie snorted. "You'd just love for me to try, wouldn't you?" Everything was such a game to him. "Carry on pissing me off and I just might." Bantering with him could be so tiresome at times.

"Well let's see, where do I start…" said Izaya, pretending to look thoughtful. He glanced around the room. "How about this 50's icon you're so in love with, whose music should have died with him back when…"

Ritchie swung her fist at him, even though she knew he was goading her on purpose. He grabbed her hand like it was effortless and in one swift movement he'd flipped her back onto the bed and straddled her waist. He pinned her free hand as well so that she had no hope of escaping.

Ritchie sighed again, unsurprised by the sudden switch in control. "I should have known you'd do something like that."

Izaya grinned. "Well now that I know you're not going to be running off anywhere…"

"Where am I gonna run off to? I'm in my own apartment!" Ritchie interrupted exasperatedly.

Izaya ignored her and continued. "We're going to talk."

"Seriously? You just want to talk?" asked Ritchie disbelievingly. She could think of plenty of better things to do in a position like this.

Again, he paid no attention to what she'd said. "Let's start with how you thought I was going to hit you yesterday. Now what was that about?"

Ritchie scowled. She really didn't want to talk about that. "Why do you care?"

"I'm intrigued," said Izaya.

Ritchie frowned. "New choice."

Izaya laughed. "So I take an interest in you and that's a bad thing? That's hardly fair."

"Don't care," said Ritchie shortly, attempting to buck him off. Of course it was futile – he had her well and truly pinned down.

Her attempts to throw him off only succeeded in amusing him further. "We can do this all night, Ritchie-chan. You're not going anywhere until you start talking."

"Why do you even care?" Ritchie asked suspiciously. "I mean really."

"Surely that's obvious," replied Izaya condescendingly. "Do I need to remind you what I do for a living?"

Ritchie thought about it – it made sense. She often forgot how his mind must work as an information broker. Of course he was going to behave like a dog with a bone if he thought he was close to discovering something interesting.

"Well I sure hope you don't resort to measures like this with your other clients," she said sardonically.

Izaya chuckled. "No, I admit… You're more of a special case."

"Then I can think of a lot of other things we could be doing right now," said Ritchie pointedly.

Izaya grinned. "Oh yeah?" He leant forward, stopping when his lips were almost touching hers. "So why don't you just talk now and get it over with?"

Ritchie's breathing sped up and she could feel herself starting to ache between her legs. "You're making it more difficult to talk about like this," she said breathlessly.

She felt his grin widen against her lips, but then he sat up. "Okay then. So tell me now and then we can get down to whatever you'd like to do."

Ritchie groaned. Why could he never make things easy? "You really are the devil."

"I take that as a compliment," said Izaya, still grinning. "So what's your deal? Were you in an abusive relationship before; is that it?"

"Of course I wasn't," said Ritchie scornfully. But then she hesitated before admitting, "My friend was though… And I told myself I'd never get into a situation like that."

It was true. She'd always stood by that. She knew that Izaya was a dangerous guy and he could be more than a little rough with her at times… But he'd never actually hit her. In her screwed up mind it made a big difference.

"That's it?" said Izaya, sounding disappointed.

"Well I'm very sorry that I haven't been in an abusive relationship," said Ritchie sarcastically. "That's the truth. Are you happy now?"

Izaya was still watching her thoughtfully. "This friend of yours? Is she the one who you don't speak to anymore?" Ritchie didn't say anything. "Is it because of this that you don't speak to her now?"

"Actually she's the one who won't speak to me," Ritchie confessed before she'd even realised what she'd said.

Izaya regarded her carefully for several seconds longer, then he climbed off of her and sat on the bed next to her. "So what did you do that made her not want to speak to you again?" he asked curiously.

"I glassed her boyfriend," said Ritchie dully.

"You glassed her boyfriend?" Izaya repeated slowly. It sounded a little extreme, even by Ritchie's usual standards.

"He was an asshole!" Ritchie exclaimed, suddenly angry. She sat up abruptly. "He made Maddie's life miserable – she was terrified of him. And then he was actually stupid enough to hit her in front of me! I wish I'd gouged his eyes out!"

"I take it that's one of the occasions you were arrested before?" said Izaya calmly, not at all bothered by her sudden outburst. He was getting more information than he'd expected.

"Yeah," grumbled Ritchie. "Thankfully the police were on my side for once. They knew something dodgy was going on because of Maddie's black eye, so they arrested that jerk Ezio as well… But she wouldn't say anything against him. She even vouched for him to get out of jail but she… she didn't vouch for me." Ritchie finished a lot more quietly than she'd started.

"So let me guess… She hasn't spoken to you since?" said Izaya.

"Right," replied Ritchie miserably.

Izaya sighed. "You're no fun when you get all mopey like this."

Ritchie shot him an irritated look. "You're the one who made me talk about this." She sat hugging her knees in silence for a while before finally asking softly, "You're not really going to replace me, are you?"

Izaya smiled. "Would you be jealous if I did?"

"What do you think?" Ritchie snapped. "It wouldn't be the first time a boyfriend's done that to me… I don't know if you've ever had someone replace you before but it's really not that fun."

"Ooh, so I happened to say something you already have a complex about?" said Izaya. He seemed quite entertained by the idea.

"You could sound a little more guilty about it," Ritchie responded sulkily. She'd actually been open with him for once and she'd even apologised to him. What more did he want her to do?

"Well if it helps I didn't actually mean it," Izaya shrugged. "I have way too much fun messing with you."

Ritchie rolled her eyes theatrically, but she couldn't help but feel a little pleased. It was probably the closest to sincere he'd ever get. And at least it sounded like he did still want her around. "You're almost being nice; I'm not sure if I like it."

Izaya grinned wickedly. "Do you want me to be nasty instead?"

"Nasty, naughty, petty, spiteful, wicked, wayward, way delightful, bad guy you were born to be," Ritchie quoted lightly.

Izaya laughed. "What was that?"

"It's a song… Never mind," said Ritchie. She certainly wasn't going to mention the title of the movie that it was from – Izaya already gave her a hard time over her Stitch collection.

Izaya raised his eyebrows but he pointedly continued, "Either way I'm not the only one here who most of those things apply to." Ritchie just shrugged in response – she could hardly deny it. Izaya smirked. "No wonder you're such a hardass… With both boys and girls ditching you for other people… It clearly sucks to be you."

He said it so matter-of-factly, sounding almost patronising. No trace of sympathy whatsoever… But strangely enough, that made Ritchie feel a whole lot better about it. She didn't like to dwell on and complain about the past. She didn't really do moping – it wasn't much fun. Which was why she always tried to avoid letting anything similar happen again.

"Why do you think I like to be the one in control?" she said pointedly.

Izaya gave her a dangerous smile. "Oh really?" He suddenly lunged at her and pinned her back down to the bed again. "I hate to break it to you, Ritchie-chan… But you're not the one who's in control here."

Not if Ritchie could help it. "We'll see about that, Iza-kun," she replied jeeringly. The words tasted horrible the moment she said them – even though she'd just been mocking him – and she regretted it straightaway.

Izaya started laughing, both out of amusement and disbelief. "Did you really just call me Iza-kun?"

"Don't worry, I won't be doing it again," grumbled Ritchie.

XXX

Author's Note!

Wow, sorry for how lengthy this one ended up! I clearly got a little carried away. Too many subtle but important points I dropped in here… I really can't wait to write the next chapter! ;D Plus it was fun to write a different side to Ritchie again - she's more complicated than you'd think!

And for anyone who gets Ritchie's song quote (without Googling it) I FRIGGIN' LOVE YOU 3 I just couldn't help including it – I figured if she likes Disney she's definitely gonna be a Don Bluth fan too!

Sorry if there's any mistakes or flow issues – my beta reader hasn't had chance to go through this yet and I really wanted to get it uploaded tonight. I'll come back and change things if I need to.