Lucky and Liz left the party and were now sitting in his room over the
bikeshop. The only thing left in the barren room was his bed. Liz had decided
that she couldn't go home to Gram's just yet. She was in no mood to hear her
go on and on about how "delightful" Sarah had been at the party. Audrey was
unaware of the stunt Sarah pulled, as were most people. The only people that
they told were Emily and Nikolas.

Liz had been silent the entire way home. Lucky knew she was mad at her parents
for once again flaking out on her, and she was furious with Sarah. He couldn't
help but think that maybe she was a little mad at him as well. Even though he
had done nothing to bring on Sarah's advances, he wasn't sure that Liz knew
that completely. All he knew for sure was that she was trying desperately to
be strong and not show how much pain she was in.

Lucky came out of the bathroom to see Liz sitting on the side of the bed with
her head in her hands, crying. He quickly sat down beside her and took her in
his arms.

"Baby, I'm sorry," he said as she layed her head on his shoulder. He bent down
and kissed her forehead.

Liz quickly picked her head up.

"What in the world are you sorry for?" she asked. "You didn't do anything
wrong. I saw everything that happened Lucky. I don't blame you. I blame
myself."

"For what? Lucky asked, unable to fathom what blame she could possibly take in
the situation.

"For expecting anything less than this from my family. I mean, I don't even
know why I'm crying. What did I expect? That my parents would come to my
wedding with open arms? That my father would want to give his little girl
away? That they would come to my graduation and tell me how proud they were of
me?"

That was the first time that Lucky had heard Liz mention her parents not
coming to the graduation. He knew that her resentment would have to surface
sooner or later.

Lucky shook his head in sadness for Liz. He had no idea what to say to her to
make it better for her. He couldn't stand seeing her in this kind of pain.
He'd never met her parents, but at that moment he would have loved to, simply
to give them a piece of his mind.

"And Sarah...," she continued, as she got up from the bed and began pacing the
floor. "What did I expect from her? That she'd actually be happy to see her
baby sister get married? HA HA! Jokes on me!" said Liz as she laughed bitterly
to herself.

"Elizabeth don't do this to yourself. How were you supposed to know that Sarah
was such a  -  a..." Lucky's voice trailed off, still not wanting to show any
disrespect for her sister.

"A tramp?" Liz finished. "You can say it."

A small grin surfaced on Lucky's face, but quickly faded when he saw the
expression on Liz's face. He got up from the bed and led her back to it with
both hands. She layed her head back down upon his shoulder. Liz began crying
softly again. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"Tell me why they don't love me Lucky?"

Lucky winced in pain at the mere question and sighed.

"What did I do that was so bad?" she asked between sobs. "I know I was a brat
when I was a kid, but....but aren't parents supposed to get over stuff like
that? Aren't they supposed to love their kids anyways? You know, the only
reason I was such a brat when I was a kid was because it was the only way I
could get their attnetion...get anybodys attention. I tried being like Sarah.
I really did, but it didn't work. So, I went a different route, and became the
brat that always acted out. It worked, so why not?"

Lucky took her face in his hands and looked deep into her eyes.

"When I look at you," he began. "I see this awesome woman. And I cannot
imagine how your parents could not want to be with you every second of
everyday!"

Liz smiled weakly. She took Lucky's hands in hers.

"You know....I remember being in the 1st grade and painting for the first
time," her grin got bigger at the memory. "And I remember all the other kids
painting stick people, while I was trying to paint 'real people'. Of course
now when I think about it, it was really horrible - BUT, if I do say so
myself, for my age it was pretty advanced."

Lucky laughed as Liz went on.

"My teacher just gushed over it and I was so proud of myself. So I took it
home to show my parents, and wonders of wonders...they actually liked it. They
told me how good it was and they even put it up on the refridgerator...."Liz
smile slowly faded. "But, 2 days later Sarah came home with straight A's -
down came the picture and up went the report card."

Lucky sighed and he suddenly came to a realization. "That explains a lot," he
said.

Liz raised an eyebrow as if to ask what. Lucky went on to explain himself.

"It explains why you never think you're good enough. Why I always have to
convince you that you're great. Why I had to talk you into applying to the art
academy."

Liz could not deny that she definitley lacked in the self esteem department
every now and then. She slowly nodded her head as it dawned on her as well. "I
never thought about it, but maybe you're right. I mean it's not like it
stopped there. Stuff like that happened all the time when Sarah and I were
kids. You know what I resent more than anything Lucky? The fact that my
parents have created this unhealthy competition between Sarah and I. All
siblings are competitive - I know. But ours....ours is different you know?
It's more....spiteful." Liz said, trying to find an appropriate word to
describe her relationship with her sister.

Lucky hugged her tightly and tenderly kissed her on the lips.

"Do you feel a little better now? I mean now that you've gotton some of this
off your chest?" he asked.

"Yeah, actually I do," she said as she leaned over and hugged Lucky around the
waist. "All I know is that when we have kids, I'm gonna tell them how
wonderful they are all the time. And I'm not going to let a day go by without
telling them that I love them."

Lucky kissed her again.

"You're going to be the best mom in the world."

"I know, " she laughed. "Because you're going to be the best dad in the
world."

Chapter 6

"Elizabeth you look exquisite," said Bobbie, backing away from Liz, taking in
the full view. "And If I do say so myself, I did a fantastic job on your
hair."

Liz laughed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, but the laughter
soon turned to tears. They began to pool in her eyes, blurring her vision.

"Don't you dare!" Emily yelled, standing behind Liz. "You'll ruin your
makeup."

"I can't help it," said Liz trying desperately to hold back her tears. "I'm
just so happy."

The day had finally arrived. Her wedding day. In a matter of hours she would
be Mrs. Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Jr.  She had dreamed about it so often. People
in stores, or restaurants, or even people at school - saying 'have a nice day
Mrs. Spencer', 'come again Mrs. Spencer.' She could not believe the day had
finally come.

"Ok,"said Bobbie waking Liz from her reverie. "I'm going to go downstairs now
and see if anything else needs to be done...Emily you get her in that dress
and make sure she doesn't cry!" Bobbie excused herself from the room, and both
girls began cracking up.

"Ok Liz," said Emily walking over to her. "It's time to put this dress on."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You nervous?" asked Nikolas as he straightened Lucky's bow tie.

"No."

"Then why do you look like you're going ot throw up?" Nikolas asked laughing
uncontrolably.

"I do not," answered Lucky as he turned towards the mirror.

He suddenly noticed that he did indeed look a little green, but it was only
because this was the most important day of his life. Everything he'd ever done
came down to this one moment. He was about to embark on a new journey, and
even though he was ecstatic about marrying Elizabeth, it was undeniably a bit
nervewracking. He had no idea what he had done to deserve her, but he knew
that he wanted to spend the rest of his life trying to figure that out.

"Hey cowboy!" said Luke, barging in the room. "Well look at you...don't you
look spiffy!"

Lucky grinned.

Nikolas quickly excused himself from the room, saying that he still had a few
last minute 'best man duties' to take care of. Although Nikolas and Luke were
civil to each other, there was definitely no love lost between them. He didn't
want to risk causing a scene on his brother's wedding day.

"So, you nervous?" asked Luke placing a hand on Lucky's shoulder.

"No. Why does everybody keep asking me that? I'm fine." Lucky stated
adamantly.

"Good. Well, you should be. I know your mother and I didn't exactly support
this thing from the beginning, but .....well, Lizzie's a good girl. She loves
you and...and.." Luke was at a loss for words.

"I get your point dad," Lucky said smiling. He wanted to rescue his dad before
he wound up sticking his foot in his mouth.

Things were still tense between Lucky and his parents, but over the last year
their relationship had improved a bit. They could at least talk without
fighting all the time. Suddenly, Luke was overwhelmed by emotion and took his
son into and embrace. As he slapped his son on the back he wispered, " I want
you to know how proud I am of you."

Luke slowly backed away from Lucky and looked into his eyes. They were welling
up with tears.

"I've done a lot of awful things in my life Lucky, and I know that you already
know that. But there is one thing that I know for sure...I must have done
something right to be blessed with a son like you. I don't know if it was the
time I helped that old lady across the street, or the time I gave the bum on
Main St. twenty bucks...but it was something. You're my hope Lucky. My hope
for this crazy world we live in. The hope I have for myself.

Lucky stood wiping the tears from his face as he once agian embraced his dad
and then watched him walk out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know what this reminds me of don't you?" asked Emily, lacing up the back
of Liz's gown.

"Yup," answered Liz." The ball gown I wore at the studio that day. Yeah I
think subconsciously I designed it that way."

Emily giggled as she finished lacing the back. "Well I hope Lucky doesn't have
as much trouble getting this off of you, as I did getting it on."

As soon as the comment escaped her lips, Emily regretted it. "Oh my God, Liz
I'm so sorry. I'm so stupid. I just assumed..."

"Em, it's ok," Liz said smileing wide.

Liz had been ready to give herself to Lucky completely for quite some time.
However, the time never seemed right. Sure they had had opportunities, but she
wanted their first time to be perfect. Besides, by the time she had finally
decided that she was ready to make love, Lucky had already proposed. She
decided then and there that since she had waited this long, she could wait
until their wedding night. Fortuneatley the tortureous waiting would soon come
to an end.

Emily nodded knowingly at her friend.

"So tonight's the night huh?"

Liz nodded her head, mischeviously grinning.

"Well, before all that," said Emily, opening her purse. "I have something for
you...something borrowed."

"Oh, Em you are so sweet," said Liz taking the tiny gold chain with the tiny
diamond pendent from Emily. "Would you help me put it on?"

Emily moved behind Liz and fastended the clasp of the chain around her neck.
The diamond layed softly where her collarbones met. "Brenda bought this for me
before she died, " explained Emily. "It means a lot to me, so I wanted you to
wear it on your wedding day."

"Thank you so much Emily. You are..."

Liz was interuppted by a knock on the door. She grinned suspiciously.

"Anbody who's name ISN'T Lucky can come in."

Laura poked her head through the cracked door. "Just me Liz," she said
laughing.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Spencer," said Liz smiling back at her.

"Liz, honey," began Laura. "How many time do I have to tell you to call me
Laura?...You look beautiful Elizabeth, just beautiful."

Emily could sense that Liz and Laura needed a moment alone so she excused
herself.

"So, " said Laura after watching Emily leave. "Has my son been trying to get
in here to see you?"

"No, but I have a feeling he will be any minute now."

"Well, before he get's here...I want to tell you something. I am thrilled that
you are about to become a member of my family. My son could not ask for a
better wife, and I could not ask for a better daughter in law. I love you,"
she said as she kissed Liz on her forehead.

"Thank you Mrs. - Laura," Liz said catching herself before she made the same
mistake. "You have no idea what that means to me. You and Mr. Spencer have
become like parents to me," Liz said choking up once again. " I love you too."

Laura walked over to Liz and took her into her arms. When she pulled away a
smile appeared on her face as if she remembered something. "Oh Liz, I brought
you something...something old," Laura said pulling what looked like a silver
ID bracelet from her purse, the kind a child would wear.

Liz looked confused. "An ID bracelet?"

Laura giggled at Liz's confusion. She walked her over to the couch and they
both sat down. Laura took Liz's hands in her own and began to explain.

"When Lucky was six years old we were living in Oregon. One day he and I went
out shopping...I turned my back for a minute and he was gone...just like
that." Laura paused for a moment, the memory coming back. "Of course the first
thought  I had was that Frank Smith grabbed him. I panicked and started
running all over the store....screaming his name." A grin crept across Laura's
lips as she remembered the rest. "10 minutes later - after the 10 most
agonizing minutes of my life - I found him...sitting in the toy department,
'shrzooming' a little car all over the linoleum."

Liz erupted with laughter.

"Well, needless to say. I took him out the next morning and had this made for
him," Laura said holding up the ID bracelet.  She looked Liz straight in the
eye. " I didn't want him to EVER get lost Elizabeth...and I know he'll never
get lost with you by his side."

Both women were crying by this point. Laura wiped at Liz's tears. "No, you
don't," she began. "You'll ruin your makeup."

Liz laughed. That was the second time that day that someone had said that to
her. "Thank you," she said soberly.

Laura got up from the couch. "You're welcome sweetie," she said walking
towards the door.

"Wait Laura, could yo do me favor and find Mr. Spencer? I need to talk to
him."