Chapter 13

Liz leaned in as the tall, dark haired stranger lit her cigarette for her.
"Thanks," she said smiling weakly as she returned to her position, leaning
against the railings that led to the staircase.

She'd been at the party for a little over an hour and already her dress had
garnered the desired effect from just about every male in the room,
especially the one that stood in front of her now. Rick...or
Richard...something to that effect. Between the two beers already flowing
through her system, and the lack of air in the overcrowded living
room...Elizabeth couldn't be sure. She'd recognized his face from her history
course immediately, but beyond that she knew nothing about him. All she knew
for certain, was that her head was pounding and him screaming over the music
to talk to her, was not helping.

"What did you say?" Elizabeth hollared, moving closer to him.

"I said, you're really, really beautiful," he yelled back, bending down and
wrapping his drinkless arm around her waist.

Liz's blood alchohol level allowed her to ignore the warning bells that
sounded in her head as she inched closer to him. "Thank you," she said, right
into his ear.

He grinned at her. The kind of grin that only a year prior would have made
her skin crawl, and Liz took two large gulps out of her third beer. She
smiled back then, the voice in her head wispering, 'Have a good time...it's
the start of your brand new life...just go with it...this is what you wanted.'

"Hey do you wanna dance?" He yelled, rubbing a hand up and down her side.

She shuttered slightly and nodded her head, once again taking a long swig of
the now warm liquid gripped inside of her sweaty palm. She than sat the
plastic cup on the bannister.

He took her hand and let her out into the middle of the room, where many
other couples were bumping and grinding to the pulsating beat coming from the
DJ's speakers. He pulled her close against him, chest to chest and wrapped
his arms tightly around her waist as he began to move to the rhythym.

She grasped his shoulders and closed her eyes. She didn't do this to sear the
memory into her conciousness, but to somehow block it out. She wanted to
leave. She wanted to turn around, walk out the door and run to....run to
what? Who? There was no one. All she had left to run to was an empty room.  A
room full of inescapeable memories. At least here there were distractions,
and distractions were exactly what she needed to move on.

Liz felt herself being pulled even closer, as his hands ventured to the small
of her back, gripping her tightly through her dress. She squeezed her eyes
shut even harder, and swallowed. As the song faded and turned into a new one,
she felt him pull away slightly. His lips met her ear, and she winced as she
felt his hot breath on the side of her face. "You wanna go upstairs?"

Liz's bottom lip immediately tucked itself under her teeth as her eyes
widened in apprehension and fear. She looked around the room, not sure of
what she hoped to find. Her eyes caught his again and she nodded slowly.

"Yeah...just let me get another beer first, ok?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About an hour after Nikolas had hung up with Liz, he'd gotton a bad feeling.
It was the feeling you got when you knew a salesman had just taken you for a
ride. This time the salesman was Liz and Nikolas had just been sold a lemon.

He drove to her house wondering what he would say when he got here. 'I didn't
believe you when you said you were ok, so I came over to check on you?'
Nikolas should have been used to it. Liz was constantly making up things to
get out of a situation that she didn't want to be in. He knew she didn't do
it to be malicious, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Why couldn't she
see that he only wanted to help? Why couldn't she see that he loved her?

Audrey answered the door in her PJ's, obviously ready to turn in for the
night. "Nikolas...I didn't expect you and Liz back so soon. I expected you to
stay out all night, to celebrate the new year...where is Liz? Is she still in
your car?" she asked, craining her neck to see over Nikolas' shoulder and get
a good look at the Jag that sat in the driveway.

Nikolas' mouth dropped open slightly. "Mrs. Hardy what do you mean? Liz isn't
with you?"

Why of course not Nikolas...she told me that you and she would be attending a
ball of some sort..."

Nikolas cut her off. "What ball?! Mrs. Hardy there is no...ball..."

"Oh dear," Audrey sighed, placing a hand on her chest. "It looks like I've
been snowed again...Nikolas would you please find her for me...heavens, that
girl..."

Nikolas nodded his head vigorously. "Don't worry Mrs. Hardy...I'll find her."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky walked slowly and silently through the halls as he took in the bright
colored walls and all the outlandish pictures and knick knacks that adorned
them. He brushed his fingers over everything, feeling textures and materials
that he hadn't been exposed to in months. He'd even found it hard to focus on
the neon sign that hung outside, as he entered the club.

Luke sat down behind his desk as Lucky, gingerly sat in the high backed chair
in front. Luke grinned at his son's musings. "Put your feet up cowboy."

Lucky leaned back, his head resting against the plushness of the chair and
did just that. He closed his eyes for a moment, reveling in the smell of Gin
that laced his father's desk, and the smell of wood cleaner that floated in
from the dining area. The restaurant had recently closed, and the familiar
aroma on cleaning fluids lingered. He opened his eyes and sighed at what he
saw. Luke, his father, beginning to tear up. It was only a second before he
spoke. "I saw you...in that chair," Luke said quietly.

Lucky sat up as Luke continued. "When I thought you were...I saw you...all
the time. We'd talk. You usually just appeared out of nowhere when I
needed....advice," he finished, waving his hand.

"Was it good advice?"

"The best," Luke grinned, cocking his head to the side.

"Did you take it?" Lucky asked, his father's grin infectious.

"Sometimes," Luke said his smile growing wider.

Lucky laughed. Luke leaned back in his chair. "God it's good to hear you
laugh."

Quiet settled on the small office, both men wondering if this signaled the
end of the idle chit chat. Both apprehensive of the moment when they would
finally share it all. What would come of it? Hurt? Anger? Resentment?
Forgiveness? Did any of it really need to be spoken?

Luke broke the silence. "I know you want to see Elizabeth...but I'm gonna
call your mother first...if, if that's ok."

Lucky rubbed at his temples and grimaced before he spoke. "Yeah...I'd like to
see mom. I'd like that a lot."

Luke noticed Lucky's pause as he ran a hand across his forehead. "Somethin'
wrong, son?"

"No..I just got a little headache or somethin'...I'm ok."

Luke nodded and picked up the phone. "Hello...yeah, it's me...no...Laura, I
need you to come over to the club...right now...no, no Laura don't bring
LuLu...yes, this is big sweetheart...real big."

Chapter 14

Liz walked absently around the room, touching everything and babbling about
how it was all so pretty and how it was such a nice house. She picked up a
silver frame that sat on the wooden dresser. "This is a such a beautiful
frame."

She heard the long sigh that came from behind her and knew that he...Rick was
getting tired of waiting for her to join him over on the bed. She wouldn't be
able to stall for much longer. She heard the bed squeak as he got up and
walked over to her, standing behind her and lacing his fingers around her
waist. He wispered in her ear, "Why don't you come and join me on the bed
Liz...I'm getting lonely."

Liz turned her head slowly and smiled weakly as she was met with his hot
breath. IT reaked of alcohol, as she was sure her own did. She wiggled out of
his grasp. "Are you sure um...Stacy...doesn't mind up being up here?" She
could barely remember the name of the girl whose house it was in the first
place, as she desperately tryed to keep Rick at bay.

"Stace is cool," Rick smiled as he moved in closer, taking both of Liz's
hands in his. He slowly walked backwards towards the bed, as Liz gave him an
awkward smile. The small voice in her head asking, 'Why are you doing this
again? What possessed you to come up here with this guy?'

She felt herself being lowered to the bed, as her mind wandered into a place
where it had a tendency of going when it didn't want to deal with the reality
at hand. She unconciously squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his lips press
against the side of her neck. The side she was sure her hair had covered only
moments before. She shuttered as his hands carressed her sides, and her
stomach flip flopped. She squirmed, moving away from him slightly.

"Um...I think we need to stop," she stammered.

He looked up at her, out of breath. "Lizzie come on," he said, his arms
quickly finding their way around her waist once again. He went back to work
on her neck, as he began pushing her body down against the comforter, his own
body partially covering hers. "You've been giving me the eye all night long
Lizzie, " he managed through his fevered kisses on her neck and now the place
that had once held a spagetti strap. "Just lie back and enjoy it."

Liz took a deep breath, as a familiar all consuming fear rushed through her
entire body. Her eyes began to water as the fear came to a stand still in her
chest. Her eyes darted wildly around the room as it began to swim around her,
when suddenly she saw the door open and almost simultaneously felt his body
being lifted away from hers. She lay there for a long moment, not coherent
enough to understand what was happening.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing man?!" Nikolas yelled, as he pushed
the boy who eye's shown with pure astonishment against the wall.

"Hey man..." the boy slurred. "That chick - "

He was cut off abruptly as Nikolas pushed him against the wall yet again.
"You stay the Hell away from her. Do you hear me?!"

Liz blinked her eyes a few times, the scene in front of her finally coming
into focus. She didn't rise, she just stared. She faintly heard Rick answer.
"Yeah man," and then stagger out of the room.

She sat up slowly as Nikolas walked over to the bed, asking if she was ok,
and taking her hand. She snatched her hand away quickly, and jumped up,
running blindly from the room and down the stairs.
~~~~~~~~~~
Laura walked into the club and scanned the room, the lights were dimmed and
Luke was nowhere to be found, even Claude was gone. She walked slowly back
towards the office and knocked upon the wooden door twice. "Luke...it's me,"
she said, lacing her hands together as she waited. She heard wispers behind
the door and felt an odd feeling of familiarity suddenly wash over her. She
suddenly flashbacked to a time when things were simple and right. A time when
two Halloween masks had nearly frightened her to death before she saw the
ultimate prankster and his son behind them. She smiled at the memory and
brushed it away just as quickly as it had arrived, as he called out to him
again. "Luke?"

The door opened swiftly, as she was met with an out of breath Luke.

Luke looked into her big, blue eyes and knew nothing would ever be the same.
"Laura...come in...sit down please."

Laura remained standing and searched his face, she couldn't read it. His
expression was like none other that she'd ever seen. "Luke...what is it?
You're scaring me."

"Laura please...just sit."

Laura complied and sat against the plush fabric of the chair, that
unbeknownst to her, her son had just rested his head against only moments
before. Luke took a deep, steadying breath. How do you tell someone their son
is back from the dead?

He began slowly. "Laura....a little over a week ago I received a message on
my computer. A message that...well, a code that only you or I or...Lucky
would have known. It was the one about the fish...do you remember that one
Laura?" he asked smileing.

Laura shook her head, and scrunched her face. What was he getting at? "Yes,
Luke..I remember. Something about the fish being dry...why buy them...yes, it
was the one we used when we faked my..."

Laura's voice trailed off. "Luke...who sent you that message? How could they
have known?" She was beginning to panic at the thought of them being in
danger once again.

Luke looked down as he grasped both of her hands in his. He looked up with
tears in his eyes.

"Baby...it was from Lucky."

A stillness devoured every sound in the room as Laura blinked a few times and
shook her head. "Luke...wh-what are you doing...this, this is not funny."

Luke glared into her eyes. "You think I would joke about something like
this?!" He asked. He then took a breath, realizing that maybe he had sounded
to harsh. This was not an easy think to digest. He got down on his knees and
took her face in his hands, speaking barely above a wisper. "Sweetheart...our
son..he's alive."

She started to cry then, soft, silent tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her
heart giving in, while the shaking of her head indicated that her mind
wouldn't. It couldn't, not yet.

Luke looked into her eyes and got up, letting go of her hand and walking to
the backdoor of his office. He opened it slowly, and Lucky walked through it
just as slowly, his eyes meeting his mothers' at the same exact moment. He
cried openly as he waited for his mother to make her way over to him.

Laura's hand covered her open mouth, as the tears came faster and she tried
to rise from her seat, despite quivering knees. She took two steps and a moan
escaped her lips. Luke caught her around the waist, knowing that she'd fall
at any moment.

Lucky walked foward and wrapped his arms around her neck. He sighed at the
contact with his mother and Laura smiled joyously through her tears. "Oh my
God," she wispered. "Oh my God...my baby," she said running her hand through
his hair as his head rested against her shoulder. Luke backed away, and stood
in the corner, wiping at his own eyes as he watched his son close his eyes
and mouth: "Thank you," to whatever higher being he had held belief in all
this time.
~~~~~~~~~
Nikolas followed Liz out into the darkness of the driveway, catching her by
the arm before she made it to her car.

She turned around violently. "Let me go!" She screamed.

Nikolas held tightly to both of her arms now as she tried to pull away.
"Elizabeth, I'm not letting you drive anywhere...you're drunk!"

"I am not!" she yelled, struggling against thim. "I don't need you Nikolas! I
was doing fine on my own! I don't want you to be my hero!"

Nikolas sighed loudly. "Elizabeth...I'm not trying to be your hero...but
forgive me for pointing out that it looked as if you needed one in there."

"Damnit!" She yelled. "You're not Lucky ok!?" Stop trying to be!"

Nikolas let go of her at that instant, stricken by her words. Liz turned
around abruptly and sprinted for her car. Taking her heels off as she ran
down the hill.

Nikolas snapped out of his astonishment and realized that Liz had taken off.
He ran after her, and cursed aloud as he saw her get into her car.
"Elizabeth!" he screamed, but he knew she could not have heard him over the
roar of the engine or the blaring stereo. He quickly ran to his own car and
started the ignition.