It was dark out on a Friday night in Port Charles. Almost too dark. It was one of those black nights that just seemed to suck out all light like a black hole. Inside Kelly’s, a blonde woman and a dark-haired man were facing each other in what seemed to be an intense conversation.

"Look, Ric, what you did to Carly was disgusting," Courtney shouted. "You had no right to touch her knowing that she was drunk."

"She came onto ME," Ric insisted. "I guess she left that little detail out."

"It doesn’t matter. You were her friend. You knew she does things she doesn’t normally do when she’s angry. She told me that you knew about Sonny kissing Brenda. How could you take advantage of her pain like that?" Courtney yelled at him.

"Courtney, you weren’t there. You don’t know what you’re talking about and frankly, I’m tired of hearing your voice. So if you would step aside," Ric said, brushing past the younger woman.

"Don’t you walk out that door or you’ll regret it," Courtney said.

"What are you going to do, Blondie? Whine to your goon of a boyfriend? I don’t think Carly would appreciate you airing her dirty laundry," Ric taunted.

Courtney raised an eyebrow and smiled. "No, I’ll do better. I’ll tell Sonny. How do you think he would react to knowing that you practically raped his wife?"

Ric raised his hands quickly. "Now, wait a minute. No one was talking about rape here."

"Carly doesn’t remember what you two did, but she remembers blacking out and being dead drunk. You knew she wasn’t into you, but you slept with her anyway," Courtney replied.

"That’s not rape," Ric retorted. "And you’re not going to tell Sonny, because if you do, I’ll be sure to have Carly’s baby tested for DNA and I’d hate for your brother to lose another child."

"He’d kill you before you got the chance," Courtney threatened.

Ric smirked. "You obviously don’t know your brother very well. He’s well-known for his threaten-before-you-kill tactics. He has a thing about knowing the truth, the WHOLE truth before destroying his enemies. Now do you really want to hurt your best friend and your brother like that?"

"What you did was wrong and you’re not going to get away with it," Courtney said. "Carly loves Sonny and she will do anything to protect him, even if it means telling him the truth."

"I guess that makes her a better person than you," Ric snapped back, not liking the position Courtney was putting him in.

"What’s the supposed to mean?" Courtney glared at him.

"You couldn’t walk away from Jason. You held on and begged him to come back to you and all it cost him was his job. Except for a man like Jason, it was his life. Carly is willing to lose Sonny to keep him safe. Guess your best friend didn’t teach you very well, did she?" Ric said to her with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

Courtney reached up to slap him, but he grabbed her arm before she could make contact with his face. "Let me go," Courtney ordered.

Ric shook his head. "You think you can threaten me? You have NO idea what I’m capable of, little girl. Now you just mind your own business and everything will keep going smoothly. You say a word and I will make SURE that you pay."

"Take your hands off of me or I swear I’ll---"

"You’ll what? Scream for help? There’s no one here to save you. Jason’s off on his bike somewhere and your brother and his wife are at their penthouse," Ric smiled. "Threaten me again and I’ll make sure you disappear before you can breathe a word to anyone."

Ric loosened his grip and Courtney pulled her arm away. Rubbing her wrist where he had grabbed her, she glared at him. "This isn’t over. You’re going to pay, one way or the other."

Ric laughed quietly. "You think I’m afraid of you? You know what I did to Carly. Imagine what I could do to you."

Courtney felt fear climb up her spine as Ric’s eyes focused on her with a promise of fulfilling his threats. As Ric moved closer, Courtney glanced around, hoping to find something to ward him off. Suddenly, a noise came from the back of the restaurant.

"Courtney, what are you doing here?" a voice called from the back entrance of Kelly’s.

Courtney let out a sigh of relief as Bobbie entered the room. She relaxed slightly, but the tenseness of Ric’s confident threats remained.

Ric smiled nonchalantly in Bobbie’s direction. "We were just having a nice conversation, right Courtney?"

Courtney nodded her head slowly. "Right."

"Well, I’m going to bed," Ric said to the two women. "Remember what I said, Courtney," he said, secretly warning her with his words. "Take care of yourself."

Bobbie watched as Ric walked up to his room and noticed Courtney stiffen slightly as he brushed by her. "Is everything okay?" Bobbie asked.

Snapping out of her daze, Courtney nodded quickly. "It’s fine. I have to, um, go home. I’ll see you tomorrow."

Before Bobbie could answer, Courtney was out the door and halfway home. Bobbie could tell something was off, but she didn’t know what it was.

Picking up the sponge from the counter, Bobbie walked to the back kitchen. Turning on the light, Bobbie was surprised by the other person standing in what was a moment ago just darkness. The small brunette looked frozen in place.

Bobbie stared wide-eyed and asked, "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth walked into Kelly’s. She didn’t remember much of what had happened in the last 12 hours of her life. The last thing she could recall was Bobbie finding her in Kelly’s kitchen and shaking her and asking her to tell her what was wrong. The truth was, Elizabeth didn’t know how to answer that. Where did she begin?

She had fallen for a guy that turned out to be as sick and twisted as the man who had raped her. The difference was that Ric was shrewd, crafty and a hell of a lot more manipulative. The man who had attacked her in the park a lifetime ago had been vicious and unmerciful, but she had just been another body to him. Ric . . . he planned his attack. Did it because he wanted to win some sick game with Sonny, not just to violate Carly. Carly was just a means to an end.

Elizabeth didn’t know which was worse, a man who raped a woman for his own perverse pleasure or a man who raped a woman for the sake of the power it would bring him.

Either way, Elizabeth felt sick to her stomach. She had been walking around like a zombie ever since she found out the truth about the man she had given her body to. God, she just wanted to make it go away. Anything to rip out that moment in time when she had thrown caution to the wind and slept with a man she barely knew.

What was she thinking? For the past 12 hours she had shut off her mind from everything. She was afraid that the moment she let herself think, the images of the night she spent with him would flash back to her. Elizabeth felt herself start to choke on the air she was breathing. She had told him she wanted to relive that night over and over again. If only she knew what that meant.

"Elizabeth," a female voice broke into her thoughts.

She looked up to see Courtney glaring at her impatiently. "Yeah?" Elizabeth managed to say.

"You’re late. Bobbie’s been wondering where you’ve been all morning," Courtney snapped.

"Okay," Elizabeth replied, not really hearing Courtney.

"God, you are such a hypocrite. You and Ric are perfect for each other," Courtney hissed. "You both stand up on your high horse judging people while trying to weasle your way into the lives of the people you think are lower than you are."

That snapped Elizabeth out of her trance. "Don’t you EVER compare me to Ric," Elizabeth whispered angrily at Courtney. Elizabeth felt dirty just by Courtney’s words and that heat started to burn into the base of her throat. The bile threatened to drown her in its pursuit.

"What’s wrong? I thought things were full steam ahead after you realized you couldn’t have Jason. Isn’t Ric enough?" Courtney retorted.

"Ric’s a disgusting piece of scum. After everything you know about him, you would wish him on me? Is that how much you hate me?" Elizabeth glared, the hurt filling her eyes. "Is there something about me that makes you think I deserve him?"

Courtney looked at Elizabeth, confused, but she could plainly see the emotions welling up inside of the brunette. Something she had said had struck a nerve in Elizabeth and Courtney suddenly felt guilty. "I didn’t mean you deserved him," Courtney said.

"Yes you did," Elizabeth accused. "You think I pushed Jason away and I hurt him, so I deserved to sleep with a rapist."

Courtney’s jaw dropped. "You-you know?"

With tears in her eyes, Elizabeth nodded. "I was there. Last night when you two were arguing. I heard every word."

"You’re not going to tell anyone are you?" Courtney asked quickly.

Elizabeth stared in disbelief as the tears burned her eyes. "What? I just told you that I slept with a man who took advantage of Carly and that’s all you can say? God, don’t you care about anyone but yourself?"

"You should talk!" Courtney yelled back, any sympathy for Elizabeth gone. "If you weren’t so self-involved you would never have gotten with a piece of sleaze like Ric."

Elizabeth didn’t hear anything but the accusation in Courtney’s voice. Courtney was right. Elizabeth had brought it on herself. The fact that she was with a man like Ric was her fault. Maybe it was because she was raped before. Maybe it had done something to her that made her attracted to a man who thrived on having control over women. Oh god, when did she become so . . . twisted?

A memory, a distant voice was calling to her. A conversation she had once had with a boy who had tried to pull her out of the darkness. He had asked her once if she could imagine herself dating the man who raped her. She had immediately said no and that she couldn’t imagine being with someone who could do that to a woman. But what did this mean? Was she wrong?

Bobbie walked up to the two girls as the tension started to gain the attention of the customers. "Girls, whatever it is, you two better cool it. You’re here to do a job."

"I-I can’t," Elizabeth said, weakly. She couldn’t handle the wave of emotions inside of her. Everything was screaming at her that this was her fault. She was damaged and she had somehow been drawn to Ric because of it.

"Elizabeth?" Bobbie asked, worry filling her voice. "What’s wrong? Is this about what happened last night?"

Not really seeing or hearing anyone, Elizabeth grabbed her coat and walked towards the door.

"Hey, you can’t just walk out like that!" Courtney yelled.

Bobbie watched as Elizabeth left Kelly’s and turned to Courtney. "What just happened?"

"Elizabeth Webber just got a dose of her own medicine. All this time she’s been accusing me and Jason of lying to her when she’s been sleeping with the king of all liars," Courtney sneered.

"What are you talking about?" Bobbie asked.

Realizing that Bobbie wasn’t following, Courtney decided it wouldn’t hurt to let Bobbie in on the truth. Bobbie deserved to know who she was letting stay at Kelly’s. "I’m talking about Ric," Courtney snorted. "The charming Ric Lansing."

"Well, he’s ambitious," Bobbie said. "Everyone lies in business, even your brother. You can’t judge him on that. But that doesn’t explain why Elizabeth is so upset."

"Elizabeth is upset because she was played by a man she tried to throw in Jason’s face, which was a complete failure by the way," Courtney explained. "Ric doesn’t deserve to be spit on by a man like Jason."

"I still don’t understand," Bobbie said.

"It’s simple, Elizabeth is sleeping with the man who practically raped your daughter and she’s just mad that she was too selfish to realize what scum he was," Courtney gloated.

A sudden crack echoed through Kelly’s and all of the customers turned to see the cause of the sound. What they saw was a blonde waitress with her hand covering her red cheek and a redheaded woman glaring at the blonde like she was going to kill her.

"Don’t you EVER talk about Elizabeth like that again, you vindictive little witch," Bobbie yelled at her.

Courtney stared at her in shock and anger. "Don’t you dare lay a hand on me or I’ll hit you back."

"Try it," Bobbie shouted back. Then, pointing to the door, she said, "I don’t want to ever see your smug little whining face in here again. YOU don’t deserve to be spit on by a woman like ELIZABETH, so get OUT."

"You can’t fire me just like that," Courtney argued. "I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s Elizabeth who started mouthing off about things she didn’t understand. She’s been trying to push herself into my life and Jason’s since she found out about us."

Bobbie glared at the blonde with a white hot anger in her eyes. "Okay, let’s talk about things you don’t know about. Do you know what it’s like to see a 15-year-old girl look at you like she can never imagine having anyone touch her ever again? Do you know what it’s like to look into two terrified eyes staring at you, begging for some kind of explanation for why her innocence had to be taken from her?" Bobbie shouted.

Courtney looked at Bobbie with confusion. "Elizabeth?" she asked.

"Yes, ELIZABETH," Bobbie grated out. "I found her broken, scared and ashamed about something someone else did to her. The fact that you can stand here and accuse a rape victim of being the one at fault is cruel and vindictive and I won’t stand for it in my restaurant. Now leave."

"Hey, you weren’t here. You don’t know anything about what’s going on. Elizabeth is the one who accused me of running to Jason because my husband was stalking me. She is the one who told me I was faking it to get attention. The scariest experience of my life and she threw it in my face. How do you think it made me feel?" Courtney shouted back. "I was just giving her a taste of her own medicine."

A realization fell over Bobbie. "I get it," she whispered.

"What?" Courtney said, staring at the older woman.

"I get it now," Bobbie said. "I understand why Elizabeth was so hurtful at General Hospital. I get why she said those things to a man she fought tooth and nail for. It didn’t make any sense until now."

Courtney awaited Bobbie’s revelation.

Bobbie stared into her blue eye’s and answered angrily. "It was because of you."

"This is NOT my fault!" Courtney yelled, enraged. "God, are all you people blind? She blames me for being stalked and I do the same thing to her, but I’m the bad guy?"

"You are such a twit," Bobbie sneered. "She said those things because she was lashing out. Projecting her own thoughts onto you. It was never about YOU. She has been blaming herself for losing Jason and she’s been telling herself that it was because she’s damaged. She’s been thinking that she’s been too frail, made herself into a victim that he couldn’t love. Can’t you see? Every time she’s told you it was your fault, she was voicing her own fears. She still thinks it was her fault she was attacked."

"Right," Courtney said sarcastically. "Poor Elizabeth, always the one that was misunderstood. How do you misunderstand her running to Sonny and telling him lies about me and Jason? The first second she got, she railed into me about Jason choosing Sonny over me and guess what? She was wrong. She’s no victim."

"She was your friend. How can you be so bitter and cruel? With all this gloating, it’s no wonder she thinks you lied to her," Bobbie scrutinized.

"She was never my friend," Courtney said.

"Correction, you were never HER friend," Bobbie commented. "In fact, Elizabeth went out of her way to get you this job. She tried to warn you about A.J. sending a P.I. after you. You were the one who turned on her by taking away the man she loved."

"She said it was over between them," Courtney muttered.

"If you thought that, you never knew either of them at all," Bobbie said. "Now get out before I call the PCPD and have you dragged out."

Courtney didn’t reply. She just took off her apron, grabbed her coat and stomped out of the restaurant indignantly.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was walking mindlessly down the steps of Bannister’s Wharf. Her eyes were glazed over and she barely noticed the man walking towards her.

"Elizabeth?" he asked.

She looked up, as if waking from a dream. "What?"

"Hey, I was looking for you," he smiled slowly, not noticing that anything was amiss.

As she realized who it was, an unexpected feeling built up inside of her. "Ric?"

"Is everything okay?" Ric asked cautiously.

She looked over his shoulder at nothing in particular. Walking towards the pier, she shook her head. "No, everything’s not okay."

"Is there anything I can do?" he inquired sincerely.

"Yes," she said. "You can tell me the truth."

"The truth about what?" he said, worry in his tone.

"About who you are. I know what happened. I know what you did to Carly," Elizabeth explained, her tone still even and emotionless.

Ric’s heart stopped beating and then began to quicken. "Who . . . who told you?"

"No one," Elizabeth said honestly. "I heard you and Courtney talking in Kelly’s last night. I heard her say that you raped Carly."

Ric muttered a curse under his breath. "It’s not what you think," he began. "What Courtney said wasn’t true."

"Then tell me what is," Elizabeth replied, her voice hauntingly detached.

"I never touched Carly, not in the way you think. I rescued her from one of Sonny’s enemies at Jake’s and then I brought her to a motel. I thought if I saved her, Sonny would trust me and hire me. When she collapsed on the bed, I thought that was my opportunity," he explained. "I undressed her and made her think she had slept with me. I told her she threw herself at me and I couldn’t resist. I did it so that she would help me get on Sonny’s good side. I told her that I wouldn’t tell her husband if she helped me. I set her up, but that’s all. Nothing happened."

"You stripped her down, made her think she cheated on her husband and blackmailed her. You call that nothing?" Elizabeth asked, the anger barely existent in her voice. It was more sadness than anything else.

"Okay, it was something, but I never raped her," Ric said defensively.

"Yes you did. Maybe not physically, but you violated her. You made her think that she had done something wrong when she didn’t. You made her believe it was her fault. It was rape, whether you slept with her or not. You took away her choice," Elizabeth said slowly.

Ric didn’t respond, afraid that he would say something wrong.

"So what was I?" Elizabeth asked after a short pause. "Some prize on the side? Or was I also a part of your grand plan?"

"No, Elizabeth," Ric said. "I care about you. What we have has nothing to do with Sonny or his world."

Elizabeth jerked to face him in a sudden change of emotion. Fury was clear in her eyes as she yelled, "Tell me the TRUTH! I asked for it, didn't I? I practically threw myself at you!"

"No, Elizabeth," he insisted. "It wasn’t like that for us."

The anger spread evenly across her face. "Fine, but I gave you your chance to tell me the truth. If Courtney won't tell Sonny what you did, I will," Elizabeth threatened.

"Why would you do that? They don’t care about you, Elizabeth," Ric pleaded. "I do."

Elizabeth shook her head. "It doesn’t matter. Carly didn't deserve it. It should have been me."

"What?!" Ric burst out. "Where did that come from? I would never do that to you, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth didn’t hear him. She just continued. "But I was no longer with Jason when you came to town, so you had to find someone else. I get it."

"No, Elizabeth. It was never my intention to do that to you. I didn’t even know you were with Jason," Ric explained.

"That’s because I wasn’t," Elizabeth said, her voice escaping into the cold place he had found her in. "Goodbye, Ric. Take my advice. Run."

Before Ric could respond, Elizabeth left the docks. He didn’t need a second warning. He knew Elizabeth was going to follow through on her threat. Unlike Courtney, Elizabeth didn’t play at being brave, she was.

Elizabeth didn’t know how she had gotten there, but a few minutes later, she was sitting on that bench, staring at a fountain that contained no water. Her eyes were distant and anyone walking by would have thought she was waiting for a friend. She was waiting, but not for a person.

He walked through the park and seeing her sitting there pulled a painful memory from the depths of his mind. The look on her face and the crouched way she was sitting was almost identical to the 15-year-old girl he had found crawling out of the bushes so many years ago.

He approached her slowly, knowing that something was wrong, but sure that he shouldn’t impose on her.

"What are you doing here, Elizabeth?" he asked carefully.

"Remembering," she whispered. She never turned, but she knew who it was.

"Remembering what?" Lucky asked, trying to be calm.

She didn’t blink, didn’t turn. She just sat, staring at that empty fountain. After a few moments, she answered. "I’m remembering who I am."