Lansing Apartment

Elizabeth quietly unlocked the door and then relocked it behind her. Ric was looking out the window across the way and didn’t turn to acknowledge her presence.

“Scott Baldwin didn’t call me to testify for a reason today,” Elizabeth said softly. “I just want to know if you’re that reason.”

He turned finally and sighed. “Elizabeth, I didn’t mean that earlier. You know how much I was looking forward to our child.”

“And now that it’s gone, it’s back to business as usual?” she asked. “Destroying Sonny–finding any and all reasons to blame him?”

“It is his fault,” Ric snapped angrily. “He yelled at you, he pushed you down the stairs. You wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for him!”

“I called him there to meet with me. I put myself in that situation, not Sonny!” Elizabeth cried. “And the more I think about it, the more I think it was Faith who pushed me!”

Ric stared at her for a moment. “What makes you say that?”

“Because she was here before I called Sonny. She told me that Sonny was going to go after you!” Elizabeth closed her eyes and drug her hands through her hair. “Oh my God, she set me up.”

Ric hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Elizabeth said. She crossed to the desk. “I have to call Mac right now and tell him.”

“Wait.” Ric rushed over to her and put his hand over hers, blocking the phone. “Wait a second.”

“Why?” Elizabeth demanded. “Faith did it–it had to be her. Who else would do something like this?” She narrowed her eyes. “And if you say Sonny, so help me God…”

“Just let me handle this, okay?” Ric asked. “Let me take care of this.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No. I’m through letting people take of things for me. Sonny is sitting in a jail cell for something we know he didn’t do–”

“You don’t know that!” Ric cut in. “Just because Faith was here before you called Sonny, that doesn’t mean anything!”

“We are not having this argument again,” Elizabeth replied irritated. “I’m doing the right thing and I’m telling Mac. And if Mac can’t get the charges dropped, I’ll tell Sonny’s lawyer so she can call Faith at trial. Either way, Sonny is going to–”

“When are people going to stop defending that man?” Ric shouted. “You all think he’s some sort of god, in capable of doing any wrong! He’s a murderer! A criminal, damn it!”

“And you’re any better?” Elizabeth shot back. “You wanted to work for Sonny! And what about that engagement with Courtney? What were you blackmailing her with? You like to think Sonny is this horrible person responsible for everything that’s wrong with your life but he’s not!”

Ric looked away from her abruptly and stalked away from her, ripping his fingers through his hair. “I can’t do this right now.”

She stared at him. “This is never going to end with you is it?” Elizabeth asked softly.

He whirled around. “Elizabeth, Sonny–”

“You chose to hate him. You chose to spend your life destroying him!” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “You will never let it go.”

“You don’t understand–”

“Are you the reason that Scott didn’t call me?” Elizabeth demanded. “Did you bribe him or do whatever else it is you do to stop him from calling me?”

“Yes.” Ric exhaled slowly. “Yes, I did. And I’m not sorry for it. He ruined our dream–don’t you understand that?”

“No one ruined our dream!” Elizabeth cried. “If it was anyone, it was Faith.”

“Elizabeth–”

“I need to go.” She headed for the door and turned back to look at him. “I love you, Ric. I really do. But until you’re ready to let this go and be the man you promised me you were, I can’t be here with you.”

“No, wait, please–”

The door clicked softly shut.

PCPD

Elizabeth sighed. “So, there’s nothing you can do?”

Mac shook his head. “No. Not right now. But we have a name and Faith has a known motive. We can work with it.”

“Okay. That’s good.” She sighed again and rubbed her forehead. “I just want this all to be over.”

Mac hesitated, thought twice about asking it but went ahead with it anyway. “How is Mr. Lansing handling this?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “He’s not. He’s determined to believe it was Sonny and I–” she broke off and sighed again. “I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear any of this.”

“As much as I hate Sonny Corinthos, I hope his lawyer does a good job and the right thing happens,” Mac told Elizabeth. He walked her to the door of his office. “I don’t want us to finally nail him for something he didn’t do.”

“Me neither,” Elizabeth agreed. “I’m testifying for the defense by the way–at the trial. I thought you should know that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

Kelly’s

Elizabeth stepped inside the darkened diner, its only occupant Lucas Jones who was closing. “Hey…is Lucky Spencer in his room?”

“Yeah,” Lucas replied. “He told me if you came by again, that you could just go on up.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Oh, my mother wanted to tell you congratulations,” Lucas told her as she passed him. “On your marriage.”

Elizabeth’s smile was tight. “She might want to hold that congratulations.”

“Oh?”

“Ric and I are separated,” Elizabeth reported. She shrugged. “Losing the baby and this thing with Sonny…” she waved her hand. “It’s been too much, I guess.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

She nodded. “I’m just gonna go upstairs now. Thanks, Lucas.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Lucky’s Room

“I left him,” were the first words out of Elizabeth’s mouth when Lucky opened the door.

He frowned. “What changed?”

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth sighed as she passed him and entered his room. “I didn’t go home–I went to park and ran into Emily. We talked and she pointed out that no matter how much I love him, it doesn’t matter if I don’t trust him.”

“And then?” Lucky prompted.

“And then I went home and found Ric bribed Scott not to call me,” Elizabeth reported. “He wants to blame Sonny even though I’m sure Faith Roscoe pushed me. And I can’t be with him unless he gives up this insane vendetta.”

“I’m glad you see it and that you’ve made this decision.”

Elizabeth sank onto his bed. “I don’t understand how I can keep making these mistakes over and over again. Why can’t I just pick the right person?”

“I don’t know,” Lucky replied. He sat next to her. “And I’m sorry it had to be like this.”

“He won’t change. I want him to. I want to be with him–but I can’t…I can’t trust him and that has to matter.”

“You’re right.”

“I have to start opening my eyes to the way Ric is. I know that he won’t change and since that I can’t live like this, our marriage is essentially over.”

“Do you think if the baby had lived–do you think it’d be different?”

Elizabeth sighed and looked away. “Maybe. Maybe he could have been happy with me and a family we’d build together. But his hate would have to go somewhere. And eventually…it would come back. And I can’t live like that.”

“You can stay here as long as you need to,” Lucky promised.

“As soon as this trial is over and I’ve filed the papers to divorce Ric…I’m gonna leave town for a while,” Elizabeth told him.

He frowned. “For how long?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…I guess I feel like I need to get out of here for a while. Maybe I just need some time.”

“I got a suggestion,” Lucky reported. “Nikolas has that estate in Greece. Not the one Stefan lives at, but another one. I think it’s actually on the island Crete. I was there once, last summer. Nikolas, Gia and I stopped there after our trip last year. I’m sure he’d let you spend some time there. Maybe Emily, me and him could join you.”

“The Four Musketeers ride again?” Elizabeth quipped lamely.

“Yeah, sure.” Lucky smiled easily. “Why not?”

Port Charles Courthouse

Robyn smiled triumphantly as she exited the courtroom Monday morning, with an exuberant Carly and quiet Sonny in front of her. She’d been able to get him out on bail with little trouble and she was even more confident she’d win at trial.

“Georgie, what appointments do I have for this afternoon?” she asked her assistant who was trailing after her. When the young girl didn’t answer her, Robyn halted, letting Sonny and Carly exit the building. “Hey, what’s with you? You’ve been spaced out since I picked up this morning.”

Georgie sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry. A million things are going through my mind. Uh, appointments. You’ve got Elizabeth Lansing at one-thirty, Max Giambetti at three. I think that’s about it for now.”

“Okay, thanks.” Robyn studied her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Georgie huffed. “Boys are idiots, nothing new there.”

Robyn smirked as she unlocked her door and hit the automatic lock to let Georgie in. “Boy trouble?”

“Boys making unnecessary trouble where none exists,” Georgie muttered as she got into the car buckled her seatbelt. “Honestly, why does a person have to take a perfectly good friendship and just twist it and confuse it?”

Robyn sighed. “Which boy is it this time? The one who got you the job? Or the one that works at Kelly’s?”

“Dillon Quartermaine,” Georgie muttered. “He told me he liked me last night.”

Robyn raised her eyebrows. “Well, that explains why he went to all that trouble of getting you this job.”

Georgie narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to hire you, you’re rather young. But then I got a personal call from Edward Quartermaine insisting that I hire you. I couldn’t resist.”

“Dillon used his family?” Georgie squeaked. “That’s…that’s…”

“Someone trying to make a good impression,” Robyn pointed out. “So, you two an item now?”

Georgie rolled her eyes. “No.”

“No?”

“No. Dillon’s…he’s a friend. And going out would ruin that friendship. And…he’s not my type.”

“And you’re being stupid,” Robyn mused, maneuvering through traffic.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re only, what? Fifteen? Going out with a friend at your age won’t ruin a friendship, believe me.”

Robyn’s Office

Elizabeth entered the office in the middle of what seemed to be an argument. Georgie Jones was muttering something under breath flipping through a stack of papers while Dillon Quartermaine was lounging on the side of the desk.

“You know, you’re not being fair,” Dillon mused. Georgie glared at him.

“I’m not being fair?” she hissed. “Who came to whose job and refuses to leave?”

“Hey, you’re avoiding me!” Dillon complained. “How else am I supposed to pin you down?”

“You know what, let’s talk about this job for a minute!” Georgie declared. “I thought I got this job on my own merits but now I find out that you arranged it!”

“I just had my grandfather call her…one short conversation!” Dillon replied. He smiled sheepishly. “I thought you’d appreciate it.”

“Oooh…” Georgie seethed. She broke off when she finally noticed Elizabeth smirking at the whole conversation. “Oh, my God, Mrs. Lansing. I’m so sorry. I’ll just tell Ms. Nichols you’re here.” She stood and jabbed Dillon in the stomach with her elbow before disappearing into the office.

Dillon grinned at Elizabeth. “She’s a little…mad at me. She’s usually much more professional.”

“Ah, okay. So, you’re Emily’s cousin?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yeah. You know Em?”

“Yeah. We’ve been friends for years. How do you like living with the Quartermaines?”

Dillon smirked. “Always something happening there. One day, it’s a gay butler, the next a fire, not to mention the family meetings that happen like hourly. It’s a full time job being a member of that family.”

Elizabeth laughed. “But it’s always interesting.”

Georgie slipped out of the office. “Ms. Nichols will see you now.” She glared at Dillon. “You go home.”

“No. Look, yeah, I pulled a few strings to get in here, but I know how much you wanted to work here. I know how much you wanted a job that would matter.”

Elizabeth paused at the door to the office and glanced back at the arguing duo.

“You should have told me,” Georgie replied uncomfortably.

“Well, you shouldn’t have run out of the movie theater last night.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have kissed me!”

Elizabeth was still shaking her head as she entered the office. Robyn looked up and smirked. “You enjoy that episode of the Young and the Stubborn?”

Elizabeth laughed then, shutting the door behind her. “Are they always like this?”

“No, actually, Mr. Quartermaine out there is a new presence, but I have this feeling he’s not going away any time soon.”

“A tad persistent huh?”

“Sounds like it.” Robyn gestured towards the chair in front of her. “Well, sit down. We’ll discuss your testimony.”

“When do you expect the trial to start?”

“Next week sometime,” Robyn replied. “I’ve got the defense pretty much ready. I just want to get this over with as I’m sure you do.”

Elizabeth nodded. “More than anything.”

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