Disclaimer: Don't own it…duh… If you thought I did, you're nothing short of a dimwitted fool. Don't understand that? Are you really that dense? Well, in other words, if you thought I owned the movie/plot/characters, you're NOT the sharpest tool in the box…not the shiniest button on the suit… you're stupid!

A/N~ Oooh…Kimchi…yum! Oh, sry…I was eating! Girl's gotta eat, you know? Anyhoo, glad everyone liked the last chappie! (Last as in before this one, not last…you know? Good good.) Now, this is the very last chapter, so enjoy!

And I added a short recap just cuz I did!

Chapter 5: Out in the Open

Evie bit her lip in anticipation. He looked for what seemed like 5 minutes to her…then more…then more, until she could barely stand it. She had to tell him the truth. Maybe he wouldn't get too mad…

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Rick! It's not the same ring, okay?"

"What? What do you mean it's not the name ring?" Rick's voice was a bit harsh and Evie could tell he was steaming mad.

"Oh, please, Rick. Don't be angry, but I—well, I dropped the ring down the drain. And I had Jonathan look for it, and then when he couldn't find it I called the plumber. He couldn't find it either, so I went to the jewelry shop and bought that one. It looked the same to me, so I figured you wouldn't be able to tell the difference." The whole time she had been explaining, her cheeks had been getting hotter and hotter under Rick's over-bearing gaze.

"So, you lied to me, Evie?"

She swallowed hard, and before she could answer, Rick started again.

"The whole time you were lying to me. So, when I asked you where it was and you said it was at the shop you were lying."

"Yes." She bit her lip.

"And then when I offered to pick it up and you said a friend was doing that for you, that was a lie too."

"Yes, it was. But you have to understand…I was afraid to tell you because I thought for sure that you would get angry and apparently I was right."

"Well, maybe if you'd told me about it in the first place, I wouldn't be so angry."

"Well, I'm sorry!" Evelyn was so angry and upset that she was just about ready to cry. That was when Rick turned his back on her and walked to the opposite side of the room. He stood there silently for a bit, until Evie couldn't take it.

"Rick? Say something."

He turned around slowly and looked her in the eyes. His face showed no sign of any sort of emotion other than anger. Eventually, after he was sure Evie was about ready to shrink to nothing under his gaze, Rick's face broke into a small smile.

Then the smile got bigger, until he was grinning. Evie's eyes widened.

Then, eventually, he started to laugh. First with a chuckle and then he was actually cracking up.

Yes, Evie had just told him about her having lost the ring, he had gotten highly upset about her lying, and now he was laughing hysterically.

"WHAT? What is so funny?" She asked him. Now she was even more upset than before.

"And," he told her, calming down a little bit and reaching into his pocket still smiling, "maybe if you had told me in the first place, I would have given you this."

There it was. Her silver 2 karat diamond ring along with both it's rubies was sitting in between the index finger and thumb of her husband's right hand, while in the other was the replacement which she had just an hour ago meticulously picked out.

Evelyn blinked rapidly upon seeing the ring and then looked from that one to the other again and again before settling her eyes on her "loving" husband.

She glared at him, her lips pursed, cheeks flaming red. Rick even thought he saw smoke coming out of her ears if only for just a split second. He didn't care, though. He still held the ring out with that silly grin of his on his face.

"Richard Nicholas O'Connell, I demand that you explain all of this right this moment and it had better be good!"

"All of what?" He asked innocently, the grin totally gone and replace with a complete face of confusion.

"You just—just put me through all of that! You…I had actually felt bad about lying to you this whole time and you've had the ring all along? You were yelling at me about all of what I did when you were really no better! You stupid, rude—" She found herself short on words for the first time in her speech.

Rick grinned at her again. He placed the replacement ring on a table near him and kept the other held out as he walked ever so slowly over to his wife.

"Don't you even think about coming near me, O'Connell! I don't want to be around you right now."

He ignored her completely and continued to come towards her.

"Leave me alone!" She was now unconsciously backing herself into a wall. When she hit the wall, she couldn't even think. She just stood there calling out things to Rick.

"What are you doing?"

Finally, he reached her. Her eyes were now crossed and fixated upon the ring that was now directly in front of her nose.

"You can't just give me the ring back and expect everything to be—" But before she could finish, he cut her off.

"Read it."

"What?"

"There's an engraving on the inside of it."

"What's it say?"

"Read it."

She took the ring and read what she saw inside in tiny letters out loud, "To My Darling Evie, Don't Lose This. Love, Rick."

The words were short and simple, not to mention a bit uncalled for in Evie's opinion. However, it was also at that moment, the sweetest thing she'd ever heard of.

"Oh, Rick." She looked into his deep blue-green eyes again and smiled.

He smiled back and took the ring so that he could slip it back onto its proper place.

"That was so horrible of you. And don't think that you can just get out of paying for it just because you did something so sweet as to have it engraved like that because that's not the case."

"But you lied first. I was going to give it to you until you—"

"Oh, whatever. I don't care. You're still in trouble for making me feel so bad and I—" He cut her off then, ending that conversation with one single breathless kiss.

She melted into it and Rick knew then that all thoughts of his "punishment" had been vanished—cast aside—thrown into a dark corner or whatever you want to call it for other, much more pleasant thoughts.

*~*~*~*~*

**DONE**

Yes, it's done. I'm actually sad to see this one go…it was so short! :-( Anyhoo, don't think just because this is the last chapter that you get off about reviewing, because that's NOT what it means. In fact, it means you're to review and tell me about how much you loved the story and how you're going to go read my other stories! No, just kiddin'. Review and say whatever you want! Becuz as always…

What you say is your business,

Not mine, so whatever.

Just review the damn story

Or I'll hate you forever.

Clever aren't I? Yes, I thought that up all on my own! ;-) YIPPEE! That's gonna be my phrase now, so you can't steal it. Tehehe (Not that you would want to…lol)

Goodbye now everyone! C u l8er! Luv ya all. Smooch smooch and all that good stuffs!

*~*

EvelynC.O