Chapter 25

Lucky unlocked the door to Kelly's and smiled. 'Way to go Mom!' he thought as
he surveyed the room. 'She really came through this time.'

He quickly turned around and walked back outside to see Liz sitting down at
one of the tables drumming her fingers impatiently atop the cold metal.

"Ok," began Lucky, walking over to her. "I need you to pretend it's Friday."

"Huh? Lucky it's Saturday," said Liz bewildered by Lucky's request.

"Baby, I know. Just humor me ok?"

"Ok," said Liz grinning at how peculiar Lucky was acting.

"Alright. I'm going to go inside now, and I want you to come in a few seconds
after me."

Lucky saw the look of utter confusion on Liz's face. "Elizabeth. I know it
sounds dumb, but..."

"It's ok Lucky," Liz said, standing up. She quickly put two and two together
and realized what Lucky had done. She loved her unbelievable husband more at
that moment than ever before.

Lucky went inside and Liz followed about 30 seconds later. She gasped at what
she saw.

The lights in Kelly's were dimmed to almost nothing, and candlelight
flickered against the walls. In the center of it all sat Lucky, with two
domed silver dining trays in front of him accompanied by two crystal goblets
of champagne. Upon seeing Liz enter he got up, walked over to her and kissed
her with an intensity that Liz had never before felt. He knees began to give,
and if Lucky hadn't been holding her so tightly, she most assuredly would
have fallen.

Lucky finally, and breathlessly pulled back. He ran his fingers softly
through Liz's silken strands and looked deeply into her eyes. "Welcome home
Elizabeth."

Tears immediately threatened to spill forth from Liz's eyes.

"Ah-ah-ah,"said Lucky brushing her tears away with his thumbs. "There'll be
plenty of time for those later."

Liz laughed through her tears, knowing full well that he was referring to the
way she often cried when they made love. "I can't help it. You're so
wonderful," she said, kissing him.

"I don't know If I'd use the word 'wonderful'," sighed Lucky. "Afterall, I am
doing this over again because I screwed up royally the first time."

"Ssh," said Liz, kissing him again. "We're together now, and that's all that
matters."

"Cool," said Lucky, giving her that charming sideways grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz leaned back in her chair not remembering when she had tasted food that
good. It was a far cry from dorm food.  "That was great," she sighed.

"You ain't seen nuthin' yet," said Lucky getting up from his chair.

He walked over to the jukebox and selected a song. As soon as Liz heard the
first chord she knew what it was. It was the same song Lucky had played when
he proposed.

"At Last," she said, wispering the name of the song.

Lucky strode over to her. "May I have this dance?" he asked, extending his
hand to her.

"Of course," she said following him to the small dancefloor he had created by
pushing all the other tables aside.

At Last
My love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song.

Lucky's hands roamed aimlessly up and down Liz's back. She was so warm, so
soft. He never wanted to let her go.

Oh yeah, at last
The stars above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked at you.

I found a dream that I could speak to.
A dream that I can call my own.
I found a thrill to press my cheek to.
A thrill that I...have never known.

Liz leaned her head on Lucky's shoulder, breathing in his scent, and never
wanting the moment to end. She felt as if they were the only two people in
the world, and at that moment, they were.

Oh, you smiled...you smiled.
And the spell was cast.
And here we are in heaven,
For you are mine...
At Last.

As the song finished, Lucky did what he had wanted to do the night before.
Placing one hand beneath Liz's knees and one behind her back, he swept his
wife into his arms and carried her up the stairs and into their room, where
they loved each other  
-without interruption - all night long.
-----------------------------------
"At Last" is absolutely one of my FAVORITE songs...and it is also song by the
legendary blues singer "Etta James" who...I might add...Lucky has mentioned
before on GH. LOL.

Chapter 26

"So Em?" began Liz sitting down in a chair at one of the outside tables at
Kelly's. "What do you know about this Sam girl?"

Emily sensed her friends tension, and swallowed her mouthful of french fries
quickly. "Um...not much Liz. But she seems cool. She's in a few of my
classes...why?"

"No reason, I guess," said Liz shifting in her seat. "She just...she just
kinda rubbed me the wrong way when I met her on Friday."

It was now Sunday morning, and Liz hadn't seen the girl much since Saturday
morning. She seemed to have made herself scarse, but Liz still couldn't shake
her feeling of uneasiness.

"Really?" asked Emily, shocked. Sam had always seemed really sweet to her.

"Yeah."

"Well how?"

"I don't know," Liz said, biting her lip anxiously. "I just kinda gotta
vibe...you know, my spidey sense just kicked into overdrive."

Emily laughed out loud at Liz's Spider Man reference, but immediately sobered
up when she realized that her friend was serious.

"Liz, I hate to minimize your 'spidey sense', but couldn't it be that you're
just re-directing your anger here?"

"Oh no," sighed Liz "Psych. 101 rears it's ugly head," she said leaning back
in her chair. She realized that Emily was a pyshcology major but her constant
analyzing was fast becoming an annoying habit

"No, seriously Liz.  I mean you had to have noticed that Sam could be your
sister's stunt double...honestly, it was stupid of me to even suggest Kelly's
to her as a place to live. Especially after what Sarah pulled at your
engagement party."

"Em - Em. Don't worry about it. You're probably right. I'm probably
completely overreacting."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So anyways, the guy's like 'anytime Lucky,' " he said, imitating Kyle's
voice while recounting the weekend's events to Nikolas.

Nikolas leaned back against the countertop and grinned at Lucky's
impersonation, which he thought for sure had to be an exaggeration.

"Honestly man, I didn't think anything of it at the time because I was so
busy around here, but when I think back...he was totally coming on to her
RIGHT in front of me." Lucky said throwing up his hands.

"Lucky," Nikolas began, taking the dish towel and coffee mug out of his
brother's hands before he dropped them. "Are you sure your just not
overreacting? I mean, 3 days ago you were fine with the guy, but the second
you find out he doesn't have a girlfriend, you get all suspicious?"

Lucky took a deep breath and leaned back against the countertop. "Before
yesterday I would have said that maybe you were right, but...but, he called
yesterday."

"What?" Nikolas asked in astonishment. Maybe Lucky hadn't been exaggerating.
"What for?"

"He said it was about a job at his uncles' art gallery," Lucky said as if the
entire world had just come to an end.

Once agian Nikolas grinned at his little brother. "Isn't it possible, Lucky,
that it WAS about a job?"

"Nikolas if it were really about the job, he could have waited two more days
to tell her at school. No, this guys wanted me to know that he was talking to
her."

"Huh? Uh...Lucky I'm afraid you're going to have to explain that logic to me.
What would be the point of that? Why would he actually want you to know?"

"I don't know Nikolas, I'm just - I'm just getting wierd vibes here."

"Lucky. Man, I think you gotta calm down and look at this rationally. Your
wife is miles away from you, for a good part of the week. It's only natural
for you to feel...I don't know...protective? Especially after everything Liz
went through, but I think maybe you're being just a tad bit paranoid here."

"Yeah...maybe."