Chapter 47

Liz turned over, trying to slap at the blaringly loud alarm clock. "Lucky,
could you get that?" she asked groggily. Usually that question would have
been followed with some incoherent mumble and a quick silencing of the
dreadful machine but, today there was no answer.

No answer. The realization of the silence suddenly sunk in. 'He's not here,'
she thought, finally halting the shriek of the clock.

She sighed, seeing it was 7am and Lucky's place in bed was frozen. It was
quite obvious that no one had slept there.

After waiting with Reese as Kyle got 15 stitches in his lip, she had decided
to go home instead of going back to Luke's. Then, when she realized that
Lucky hadn't arrived home yet, she decided that he'd probably stayed at the
club, talking to his dad all night. 'But he'll be home,' she thought.'We've
never spent a weekend apart.' She'd been so exhausted that she'd fallen
asleep the minute her head hit the pillow. She now realized that Lucky had
never come to bed.

She got out of bed and quickly surveyed the tiny apartment. No Lucky. He
wasn't on the couch. He wasn't in the bathroom. No Lucky. Liz's lip began to
tremble as her eyes welled with tears. She turned around looking at the clock
on the wall: 7:05. All she wanted to do was find Lucky, apologize for the
night before, and then curl up in bed with him, but she couldn't. Lucky was
nowhere to be found, and she had to open Kelly's in less than an hour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every muscle in his body screamed as he turned over in the unfamiliar bed.
His head felt as if someone had used it for batting practice. He fought the
severe parchness of his throat for words. He mumbled almost inaudibly,
"Elizabeth?" he called to her, reaching out. His eyelids fluttered open and
desperately tried to focus.

He reached for her again, brushing his fingertips across the cool flesh of
her back. She felt...she felt, different. "Baby?" he asked again, his vision
beginning to clear somewhat.

"Good morning sleepyhead," a voice wispered, as a hand stroked his face.

"Oh my God!" Lucky screamed, suddenly sobering up. He jumped from the bed,
not believing his own eyes. It was Sam, naked and very much in the same bed
with him.

Lucky swallowed hard, too shocked to notice just how amazingly dry his throat
was. He looked down, realizing he was stark naked as well. He grabbed the
comforter off of the bed and quickly wrapped it around his waist, turning
around just as quick, so as not to have to look at her for another second.

"Put something on, NOW!" he yelled, frantically trying to find his own
clothes.

"Jeez, Lucky you sure know how to treat a girl," she sighed, slowly rising
from the bed and slipping into the black dress that had been left on the
floor.

"Are you dressed!?" Lucky asked, shouting. He almost jumped into his own
pants, he was trying to put them on so fast.

"Yeeeees," she said almost mocking him.

Lucky turned around again, looking at the messy, unmade bed. This had to be
some sort of mistake, there was no way that he and Sam had done this. No way.

Lucky's thoughts were interrupted by her whiny voice. "Lucky, I think maybe
I'm gonna need a little help with this, " she said showing him the completely
unzipped back of her dress.

"You can do it YOURSELF!" he snarled.

She began to walk towards him from the opposite side of the bed that stood
between them. "You stay there!" Lucky said holding out a hand to stop. He was
yelling so loud, that it was hurting his own head. "What...what,what the Hell
happened here?" Lucky stammered, his breaths coming short and quick.

Sam giggled and sat down on the bed, zipping herself up. "Lucky, what do you
think happened...we made lo -"

"We most certainly did NOT!" He yelled, shaking his head, and pointing a
finger at her. He'd cut her off before she could even get the word out of her
mouth.

Sam put on her best little girl face. "You mean you don't remember?"

Lucky began pacing the room. "No, I don't remember...and that's 'cause
NOTHING happened."

Sam began to tear up. "Lucky of course something happened," she said, her
voice think with emotion. "I mean, I know you were pretty bombed last night,
but I thought you'd remember that...I mean, I thought it was pretty
memorable," she added looking down at her hands.

Lucky shook his head vigorously, running his hands through his hair.
"No...no. Uh-uh. This did not happen. This did NOT happen."

"Lucky, you were in pretty bad shape last night...so I brought you up
here...before we even got in the room you started kissing me...and by the
time we walked in here we were so caught up in each other that you just
slammed me up against that wall over and started -"

Lucky covered his ears. "No...Sam. I did not. I don't remember any of
that...I would never, never, NEVER do that! No...I'd remember - "

"Lucky!" she said cutting him off. "You know...I bet you never thought you'd
attack somebody like a raving lunatic either..but you did last night. It's
funny what jealousy can do to you."

Lucky didn't say anything. Sam saw this as a sign to continue. "Look at that
wall behind you Lucky."

He looked and spotted a framed picture that had obviously fallen to the foor,
breaking the glass. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Don't you remember that falling Lucky? When you slammed me up against that
wall...we both laughed when it fell..."

Lucky's throat was beginning to close up on him, as he suddenly realized that
this could all be true. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
He was naked, she was naked, they'd been in the same bed, the picture...he
fought for words.

Lucky looked up from his hands. "Where was my dad?" he wispered, it all
sinking in. He was beginning to shake, and the pounding in his head was
returning with a vengence. His head felt as if it were about to explode, and
that would have been a welcomed occurence.

"He must have fallen asleep in his office," Sam said, sniffling.

Lucky looked up at the ceiling, biting his lip. "Elizabeth?" he asked, barely
audibly. A hard lump forming in his throat. The last thing he remembered was
leaving her outside.

"I don't know Lucky. She must've spent all night at the hospital with that
Kyle guy."

Lucky placed a hand to his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut. His heart was
beating so fast, he knew for sure that it would hop right out of his chest.
He felt as if someone had socked him in the stomach, and he had to throw
up...now.

Sam grinned and stretched like a satisfied cat as Lucky sprinted for the
bathroom.

Chapter 48

He watched her through the window as she smiled at the old man at table 5,
pouring him a cup of coffee. 'She's so beautful,' he thought. 'How do I do
this? How do I tell her I slept with Sam? How do I break her heart? How do I
lose her?'

Lucky took a deep breath and slowly sunk into one the patio chairs outside of
the restaurant. He held his head in his hands as the dull ache turned into a
fierce pounding once again. He'd never had a hangover before. He had heard
horror stories, but he never imagined that a simple hangover could be this
bad. He silently vowed to never ever drink again. Alcohol had caused him to
sleep with Sam. Alcohol would be what caused him to lose the love of his
life. "How do I do this?!" he said aloud, pounding his fist against the
table. 'Maybe I don't have to,' he thought suddenly. 'Maybe I don't have to
tell her anything...NO, you have to tell her. You promised you'd always be
honest...you also promised you'd never hurt her you idiot. Damnit! If I don't
tell her, that bitch Sam will tell her anyways. No, that's not fair...it
takes two to tango, you slept with her out of your own free will. It's not
like she tied you down to the bed or anything. It was your own damn
stupidity. It's your fault...you did this. Now, you get in there and tell
her. You owe her that much.'

He quickly rose from the table, before losing his nerve and walked in. She
looked up from scrubbing the counter immediately, her eyes meeting his. She
smiled weakly at him. He was home and suddenly she didn't care about him
punching Kyle the night before. Seeing the remorse in his eyes...and just
seeing him period, seemed to erase everything.

His breath caught in his throat as he walked over to her. He wordlessly
grabbed her hand and lead her behind the doors and into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry." They both said in unison, suprising one another.

The tears that had been threatening to fall since she first layed eyes on him
fell freely, as she threw her arms around his neck. Lucky wrapped his arms
around her tentatively at first. He didn't know exactly how to react, but his
arms quicky wound so tightly around her that there was absolutely no space
between their bodies. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself not to cry.

Liz pulled back a bit only so that she could see his face. "I was wrong. I'm
so sorry. I should have NEVER, ever decided to take that job without
discussing it with you first. Can you forgive me?"

Lucky closed his eyes again and shook his head at the question, 'Could HE
forgive HER?..oh God.' He quicky opened his eyes and captured her face in his
hands. He stared deep into her eyes and smoothed away the tears from her
cheeks with his thumbs. "You didn't do anything wrong. It was all me," he
said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for overreacting. I'm so sorry...for, for
everything."

He kissed her then. He kissed her with an intensity that she had never felt
before in her life. It was so intense that it was both thrilling and
frightening at the same time. If he hadn't been holding her so tightly, his
arms wound around her waist, his fingertips pressing into her sides, she most
assureldy would have fallen.

Every, single, solitary bit of his soul created that kiss. He wanted to kiss
her like he meant it, one last time. He pulled away slowly, and drank her in.
Her lips were pink and swollen, her eyes a bit glazed over and her hair
slightly mussed. 'Sear it in your brain Spencer,' he thought to himself,
trying to memorize.

Liz leaned back against the counter, still trembling from his kiss. She
wondered what had brought that on. Sure, they had a huge fight, but his kiss
and the shear look of desperation on his face...it was as if he were being
sentenced to death tomorrow.

She grinned slightly and touched his face. "Are you ok baby?" she asked,
trying to get her breathing back under control.

'She's shaking. She can see it in your eyes. She knows,' he thought, looking
down at the floor. He silently searched for the words to tell her. He
couldn't do it. Not now. Not yet.

"I'm feeling a little...sick," he sighed. It wasn't a lie. He was feeling
ill. Though he'd drank 3 glasses of water before leaving the club, he was
still ridiculously thirsty. "Do you think you could watch this place for
me...just the rest of the afternoon? My mom said she would come in tonight..."

"Yes, of course baby," she said simply, raising a hand to his forehead. "You
don't feel warm...is it your stomach?"

Lucky gently, took her wrist away from his head. He didn't deserve her
concern, her sympathy. "I'm fine 'Lizbeth, I just think I need to take a
shower, and then lie down for a little while." He felt like he needed to get
Sam off of him.

"Ok," she said quietly, watching as he walked up the stairs. "I love you,"
she added almost inaudibly. 'He hasn't forgiven me yet,' she thought as she
went out to serve the afternoon crowd

.