Chapter 49

Liz untied her apron and threw it down on the couch. She then crept quietly
into thier bedroom, not wanting to wake him if he was asleep.

It was almost completely dark in the room, aside from the day's ending light
filtering through the blinds. She leaned against the door frame watching him
sleep, then quietly took off her shoes and walked over to the bed. She curled
up beside him, careful not to disturb him. Although she knew things were not
the best between them right now, they'd spent the night of her birthday apart
and she just wanted to be close to him. She lightly brushed his hair away
from his forehead.

Suddenly he began to stir, he turned over and slowly opened his eyes. She
smiled at him and he reached out and stroked her cheek, marvelling at how
incredibly soft her skin was. Suddenly, as if pricking his finger on a thorn,
he pulled his hand away as the morning's events dawned on him again. He
couldn't touch her, he no longer felt he had the right.

Liz reached out stroking his cheek now, allowing her hand to linger. "Sorry I
woke you," she wispered. "How was your nap?"

"Good," Lucky said flattly.

"Are you feeling better?" Liz asked, her mind wandering. She felt like making
up for the night before. She inched her body closer to his, placing butterfly
kisses along his neck. She then traveled up behind his ear.

Lucky swallowed hard and closed his eyes, as her hands found their way under
his shirt. "Yeah," he sighed. He had to control himself. There was no way he
could do this now. He promised himself that he'd tell her as soon as they
were alone.

Her lips, took his in a tortously sweet kiss. He ran his fingers through her
hair as she kissed him the way that only she could, the way that drove him
crazy. He knew that if he had any hope of resisting her, he had to do it now.
But he was only human. He wanted her so badly it hurt.

Suddenly his body took over, leaving his mind and concience in the dust. He
grabbed her shoulders, pushing her down on her back. His kisses now fast and
furious.

Liz was taken aback by his sudden burst of energy but, yielded to it
willingly. His hands were all over her, seemingly everywhere at once. They
quickly made their way to the buttons of her blouse, unfastening them as if
life depended on it.

She leaned her head back on the pillow, trying to enjoy the feeling of his
cool lips on her new exposed, heated flesh but, unnerved by his
aggressiveness at the same time.

"Lucky?" she wispered through his kisses. "Lucky?" she said again, trying to
get his attention. "Lucky?!"

He looked up as if someone had just awoken him from a dream. Liz sat up and
took his face in her hands. "Baby, we've got all night...there's no need to
rush."

"I'm sorry," Lucky answered, quickly capturing her mouth with his once again.
"I just...I just missed you so much," he said, his kisses resuming at the
same fevered pace.

His hands were on her waistband now, pulling her jeans down around her ankles
and then off. After relieving himself of his own pants, he pulled her towards
him, grasping her hips a bit too roughly.

"Ow!" Liz cried, backing away slightly.

Lucky immediately responded, jerking his hands away from her and looking into
her eyes. "Oh my God!" he said, touching her face. "Did I hurt you? I'm
sorry."

Liz shook her head. "No, it's ok Lucky...really. I think maybe you're just
gettin' a little too excited there," she said giggling.

'What am I doing!' Lucky thought to himself. 'You don't deserve this. You
don't even deserve her! Get the Hell off of her and tell her the truth.'

Lucky slowly rolled away from Elizabeth and stared up at the ceiling, running
his hands through his hair. Once again he searched for the words. After a few
moments the deafening silence was broken, but not by Lucky. The sound was
unmistakeable, it was Elizabeth cryting softly to herself. He turned to face
her.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong? he said, frantically, smoothing her hair back from
her forehead. "Baby, please tell me what's wrong?" he asked, almost begging.

Liz turned to him slowly. "Are you still mad at me?" she asked through her
sniffles.

Lucky closed his eyes and sighed. "Baby no. No. I promise. I'm not mad."

"Then what is it Lucky? You're acting...I don't know. I mean, one minute
you're all over me and the next..."

Lucky swallowed. "I just...I just." Once again there were no words to tell
her that he betrayed her.

He stopped talking and cupped her face in his hands, kissing her. Softly this
time. Gently. There was no rushing. There was no roughness.

Lucky took his time that night, reveling in the way her skin felt against
his, and relishing every inch of her, every minute of the last time.
Wispering that he loved her every 10 seconds,  her answering back every 12. 
When they finished, he lay on top of her, his head on her chest. He was
listening to her heartbeat. The heart that he would soon have to break.

Elizabeth looked down at him and grinned as she combed her fingers through
his hair endlessly. She noticed he was tearing up a bit. "Looks like I'm not
the only one that gets a little misty sometimes."

"I guess not," Lucky sighed, trying to fall asleep to the beat of her heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam balanced the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she added the
finishing coat of pink polish to her toes. "Well yeah it worked but...It
didn't exactly work the way I wanted it to...Yeah, I got to sleep with him,
but that's all we did - SLEEP!...I mean, the drugs knocked him out..but they
REALLY knocked him out...Well let's just say he wasn't able to RISE to the
occasion...oh, believe you me..this is not over yet...I've got him exactly
where I want him now. It's only a matter of time before it really happens."

Chapter 50

He'd been watching her sleep for about a half an hour, just thinking about
everything that had occured in the last 48 hours. Friday evening he'd been
the happiest man in the world, married to the love of his life and dancing
the night away. On Saturday morning everything changed. He had come home that
day with every intention of telling his wife that he had slept with Sam, but
everytime he looked into her ocean blue eyes, he chickened out. He had
instead succeeded in freaking her out with his odd behavior, and had ended
the day by making love to her. Lucky was rapidly beginning to hate himself.

Lucky watched as she began to stir. It was always the same process. She'd
stretch her legs out, a soft moan escaping her lips. Then she'd curl back up
into a ball and inch closer to him, all the while her eyes still closed.
Lastly came the smile. A grin that would slowly pull at the corners of her
mouth, and finally she'd open her eyes. Lucky had memorized this pattern
during their first week of marriage. "Good morning," she wispered. "How long
have you been awake?"

"Oh, a little while," Lucky said, getting lost in her eyes for just a moment
before realizing what he had to do. 'Don't start chit chatting, just spit it
out!' he thought. 'Do it just like you practiced in your head a little while
ago. It's the perfect time to tell her. You're alone. You've got a good two
hours before you have to open up Kelly's....Just Do it! You can have it out,
right here, right now...and it will all be settled before lunch. Settled
before lunch!!! What the Hell?! Where did that thought come from? If settled
means her walking out on your ass...then yeah, it will be settled alright.
Spencer get real. If she turned around right now and told you that she slept
with somebody else...what would you do...

Lucky's thoughts were cut short when he felt Liz touch his face. "Baby, I
think we need to discuss what happened on Friday."

"Huh?" Lucky asked, his breath catching in his throat. 'Oh God...'

"I mean, last night was...was wonderful Lucky. I mean, beyond wonderful, but
I think we need to discuss what happened with Kyle, so nothing like that ever
happens again."

"Oh," Lucky said, regaining his composure.

"I just never wanna fight like that again Lucky," Liz wispered, taking his
hand in her own. "It scared me."

"I know. I was stupid," Lucky stated blankly, staring up at the ceiling.

"No," Liz said, propping herself up on her shoulder. "You were just trying to
look out for me. You were trying to protect me."

"Yeah, but no matter what, I should've never attacked him like that. It was
wrong."

"Well," Liz sighed. "I should have never invited him to the party, especially
without giving you any kind of warning...I just got sidetracked...I guess
that still doesn't make up for me deciding to take the job in the first place
though, huh?

Lucky had no idea what to say. He didn't want Liz working with Kyle. That
much he knew for sure. Yet, seeing as he had just slept with someone else,
did he even have the right to voice such an opinion?

He turned towards her. "Elizabeth, if you feel like this guy is
sincere...that he's not gonna hit on you anymore...than I say go for it."

Liz's eyes immediately lit up. "Are you serious Lucky?" she asked, trying to
contain her excitement.

"Yeah. I mean, I know how much you want this Elizabeth," he said, rubbing her
cheek gently. "You are so talented and so.....so amazing...You should share
that with people. I never want to hold you back from something....I don't
wanna be selfish."

Lucky stopped talking. He knew that selfish was exactly what he was being. He
knew that the only thing that kept him from telling Elizabeth the truth was
his own fear. The fear of hurting her, the fear of her leaving. The fear of
never being able to see her look up at him in the morning. The fear of never
hearing her wisper 'I love you' to him in the stillness of the dark.

"You are the furthest thing from selfish," she said softly, placing a kiss on
his lips.