Ric sat at his desk, preparing for an upcoming trial, but he couldn’t concentrate. Every minute or so, he raised his eyes to the front door willing it to open and for his wife to walk through. But unfortunately the door remained closed. Yesterday morning after breakfast, he sat Liz down and told her the unvarnished truth from his night with Carly and the ramifications of it. Throughout his retelling, Liz remained silent even as the tears ruined her makeup. When he finished, she wiped her face with a napkin, said she had to go, grabbed her purse and left.

He wanted to go after her, but he stopped himself. He knew a part of her was still dealing with the loss of their child. One night when she thought he was asleep, she whispered in the dark that she had almost died when Lucky “died” in the fire and she thought nothing on earth could compare to that pain. But the hurt and pain of their baby dying was a million times worse. He had reached out and held her close and they cried for what they had loss.

Giving up the pretense of working, Ric paced the floor. He knew- -

“No more lies. No more secrets,” Liz announced, as she pulled off her coat and laid her purse on the table. “If you keep one more thing from me- - The next thing you’ll see is my signature on divorce papers. Have I made myself clear?” she asked, taking a seat.

“Yes,” he said clearly, sitting opposite of her on the sofa. “I promise no more secrets.”

Liz nodded.

“So Grams said- -“

Stiffening, Ric said, “You talked to Mrs. Hardy about- -“ His sentence trailed off as he noticed the deadly look Liz shot him.

“Sarah, Steven-Lars, and I aren’t that close. Nikolas, Emily, Sly, and Lucky hate you with a passion. Gia likes you, but that doesn’t say too much. So who else was I going to talk to? Besides Grams has been a nurse since before time began and she was married to and worked beside the smartest doctor in the world, my Gramps.”

“Sorry,” he apologized, embarrassed.

Liz nodded again. “So Grams says, it’s impossible for the in utero results to say you’re 99% that you’re the father and these new results to say there’s a 0% chance you’re the father. Just based on the fact that you’re Sonny’s half-brother, you and Virginia should have some similar DNA.”

“I never thought about that,” he said quietly, almost to himself.

“So the first thing to do is call Aunt Simone. You did see her, right?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll talk to her and see what she says and go from there.” Walking over to Ric’s desk, Liz dialed her Aunt’s number. As the phone rang, she put it on speaker.

“Dr. Simone Hardy’s office,” the voice rang out cheerfully.

“Hi, Lisa. It’s Liz. Is Aunt Simone busy?”

“Oh hi, Liz. Perfect timing, she just started her break, hold on.”

“Thanks.”

Seconds later, Simone answered. “Hey, Lizzie.”

“Hi, Auntie.”

“How are you?”

“Not so well,” Liz answered truthfully.

“What’s wrong?” Simone asked, innocently concerned and worried about her niece.

“Auntie, you’re on speakerphone with Ric and me.”

“Hello, Ric.”

“Hello, Dr. Hardy.”

“Ric and I are comparing the test result you gave him to the one he received from Mercy. And we’re confused because they are the exact opposite.”

“Really?” Simone said puzzled.

“Yes.”

“When was this other test taken, Ric?”

“When Carly was about 8½ months pregnant.”

“Hmm, an in utero test. Could you fax me a copy of those results?”

“Yes,” Ric answered.

“I’ll take a look at them and call you back.”

“Thanks, Auntie. We’ll fax them now.”

“You’re welcome,” Simone responded and hung up.

Ric quickly faxed over his results then sat down and waited in an uncomfortable, terse silence. After what seemed like an eternity, the phone rang.

Liz picked it up on the first ring. “Aunt Simone?”

“Yes, it’s me. Ric?”

“Yes, Dr.Hardy.”

“Were you present when they took the amniotic fluid from Carly?”

“Yes, I insisted.”

Simone sighed. “Then the baby I tested and the in utero baby are two completely different babies.”

“Oh my gosh,” Liz shouted.

“Are you sure Dr. Hardy?”

“Yes, Ric. I’ve double checked and I spoke to the lab tech at Mercy who performed the test. They are not the same baby. It’s biologically impossible.”

“So what are you saying, Dr. Hardy, the babies were switched?”

Simone hesitated then responded, “It’s humanly impossible for the baby tested in Carly’s womb and the baby she brought into my office to be the same baby.”

The silence was deafening.

“Thank you, Dr. Hardy.”

“Yes, thanks, Auntie.”

“You’re welcome and best of luck.”

Ric was stunned. He never expected this in his wildest dreams. “She switched the babies,” Liz chuckled, then the chuckle turned to laughter.

“You find this funny, Elizabeth?” Ric questioned angrily.

“Yes, this is classic, Carly. She once drugged AJ Quartermaine, carted him out to the alley behind their apartment building, poured alcohol all over him simply so AJ wouldn’t remember that they slept together and that he was possibly Michael’s biological father,” Liz informed him.

“She did that to a recovering alcoholic?”

“Yes.”

“Who did she want to be the father?”

“Tony Jones.”

“Tony Jones? As in Lucas Jones and Bobbie Jones?”

“Yes, her brother’s father and mother’s husband. She came to town to wreak havoc on Bobbie’s life because Bobbie had the audacity to realize that being a sixteen year old prostitute mom was no way for a baby to be reared.”

Ric couldn’t believe this. He had no idea that Carly was capable of such- - “She’s evil,” he finally said, finding the right word.

“How does Sonny put up with her?”

“How did you?” Liz shook her head. “Somehow men are able to overlook her trickery and deception. I could never understand how Jason was friends with her. I say, it’s always a bad sign when Luke Spencer would prefer the company of Helena Cassadine to his own niece.”

All her lies and he fell for every one of them, hook, line, and sinker. How she must have laughed. No wonder she was so confident in Wyndermere’s. It was time to find out all he could about his new enemy. Knowledge was the key to finding his baby. “Tell me everything you know about her.”

Liz saw the hardened look in her husband’s eye. Another victim of Carly’s. Taking Ric’s hand, she sat down next to him and told him the story of Caroline Benson Quartermaine Corinthos Corinthos.

Listening to Carly’s history since she came to PC, he couldn’t believe he had been duped by her. He couldn’t believe his brother, who had survived all these years in the mafia, took up with her. He felt like such a fool. He’d hurt the woman he loved, the mother of his child, in order to protect Carly. He was an idiot, but no more.

“And that’s all she wrote up until her saga with you,” Liz concluded, standing up and heading for the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Ric blurted out as his mind reeled with all he just learned.

“To pack,” she replied, climbing the stairs.

“You’re leaving?” he asked, with a note of worry and dismay.

She shook her head and paused. “No, we’re leaving.” Seeing the puzzled look on his face, she continued. “We’re going to Florida.” The puzzlement remained. “That’s where Carly had the baby, right?”

A light went off and everything was clear, except for one thing. The most important thing. “Yes.”

She continued up the stairs.

“Elizabeth Webber Lansing, why are you doing this?”

“Michael had AJ, Tony, Jason, AJ, and Sonny for fathers all before the age of three. Michael might be spending a lot of time on Dr. Baldwin’s or Kevin’s couches when he gets older. This little girl doesn’t deserve that sort of life. Michael doesn’t have contact with AJ because of his past? Because he made poor decisions when he was drinking? And Sonny and Carly are the paragons of virtue?” Liz huffed. “Out there is your baby and he or she deserves to know you just as much as the baby Carly is parading around town like the second coming of Christ deserves to know her parents. I’m doing this for the kids so don’t take this to mean that I’ve forgiven you for your deception,” she finished, disappearing from his view.

Running his fingers through his hair, he marveled at the amazing woman he married. He would make this up to her, but first he had to get Carly out of their lives and his baby in it. Picking up his cell phone, he dialed a well used number. “I need to know everything about Caroline Benson Quartermaine Corinthos right away and I need two round trip tickets to wherever in Florida that Carly gave birth to Virginia Corinthos leaving within the next ninety minutes,” Ric demanded, skipping over the pleasantries. “Call me when you have a preliminary report,” he said and hung up the phone.

Carly had no idea who she was messing with.