"You’re gonna make somebody an excellent wife someday, my friend."

Lucky rolled his eyes. "You want some more of that or what? There’s gonna be leftovers for days."

Wallace only nodded around a mouthful of food as Lucky heaped another helping of Tortellini onto his plate. "Sure thing Mr. Crocker.……So um – where’s the real Mrs.? Out bringing home the bacon?"

"Something like that," Lucky grumbled. Deciding to pile even more of the pasta on to Wallace’s plate, before sitting down to some of his own. Ordinarily, Wallace referring to Elizabeth as ‘the Mrs.’ would have made Lucky smile, but today the mere thought of it seemed to tug at his heart a little. "She’s out doing the usual, you know?…Rehearsal stuff."

"Ah," Wallace nodded. "I guess the closer they get to show time the more she’s gonna be gone huh?"

"Yeah…so do you think we’re ready for this committee approval?" Lucky asked. Completely changing the subject. He didn’t want to talk about Elizabeth being gone. He didn’t want to talk about rehearsal. He didn’t want to talk about anything involving the two of them together.

With a slap on his thigh, he beckoned Foster towards the table. Holding out one round pasta shell in hand. The dog quickly lapped it up and sniffed around for more.

Wallace ignored the change in subject. Steering it right back around. The guy had been being coy about things all day long. "So we’re feelin’ a little jealous of the theetah are we?" He asked, in British accent.

"Of course not," Lucky shrugged while shoveling in another forkful of his dinner. The dinner he had made specifically with Elizabeth in mind. It was her favorite.

A dinner she’d called just a little ago and said she wouldn’t be able to make it too after all. There seemed to be some kind of ‘dinner thing,’ with some people from the show tonight.

And that was fine with Lucky…really it was. He wanted her to make friends. Wanted her to go out and socialize. She needed that.

Wallace narrowed his eyes at the swiftly rambled ‘of course not.’ Although the food was damn good, and Lucky was a great host – there was no doubt that the food had been prepared for someone else.

"Well," Wallace mumbled suggestively. "Since she’s not gonna be coming home for dinner, I could just take this home and finish it off for you. I mean if you aren’t –

"Jeez man she IS coming home at SOME point, you know? Don’t you have food at your own house? People need to eat here!"

‘Well, well, well,’ Wallace thought. Things were obviously worse than previously suspected. Usually, Lucky was like a mother when it came to food. Always sending him out the door with more grub than he wanted or needed. Wallace made sure to cover his grin when he looked down at his plate. "Sorry man, I mean I just figured…when you said she was gonna have a late night, that –

"You figured WRONG ok?" Lucky said, glaring. "She’s coming home…she’s just not here NOW – and she’s gonna want some."

"Duly noted," Wallace said holding up his hands. Quickly deciding that the current joke about her wanting ‘some of what,’ when she got home, was probably not appropriate considering Lucky’s foul mood.

What he couldn’t quite figure out was what was going on. Just a few nights ago Lucky had been so happy about the way things were going with Elizabeth. They’d had some kind of magical evening in Central Park, and now…now he was flying off at the handle. He’d been distracted earlier at work, but Wallace figured that had simply been due to the stress of getting the game ready to be scrutinized once again.

"So," Wallace began. Breaking through the haze that seemed to surround Lucky’s thoughts. He wondered how he could get the guy to crack a smile. "How does the foster child here get along with the new mom?"

He reached out for Foster’s head and the dog backed away, growling under his breath.

"He loves her," Lucky smiled, in spite of himself. "However, he still seems to detest you."

Wallace stuck his tongue out, and Foster whimpered. "Foster I’ve got seniority over Elizabeth…Are you really gonna let some girl come between our friendship?…Huh," Wallace sniffled. "I see where your priorities are."

Lucky grinned. "Dude, you and that dog have NEVER been friends."

Wallace sighed and took a long drink from his beer bottle. Shaking his head as he placed it back on the table. "You’re right…it was never meant to be for Foster and I."

"That’s ok," Lucky shrugged a second later. "I’ve actually been on his shit-list for a few weeks now too. I think maybe I’m taking too much of Elizabeth’s time…If she’s in here scratching his head and I walk into the room…Man, you should see it – he gives me this glare...

"He’s probably gonna attack me in my sleep one of these days," Lucky mumbled. Returning to his food.

Wallace shook his head and shouted over towards Foster, who was settling down for a nap. "Is that right Kujo?…Foster man, you gotta get over it…SHE’S HUMAN!"

Lucky chugged a bit from his own long-necked beer bottle and let it dangle by his lips for a moment. "Hell, at this point I’m beginning to think maybe Foster’s got a better shot. I mean look at him…he sleeps and he eats – that’s it. He doesn’t expect anything from anybody. Doesn’t ASK for anything. He’s quiet and minds his own business…he’s simple."

Wallace leaned forward...it didn’t take Freud to figure this one out. "And um," he began. "Why exactly would your DOG be better for Elizabeth?"

Lucky shook his head and rose from the table. Taking his unfinished plate towards the garbage can. With one eye pealed, Foster raised his head and grimaced as Lucky forked the leftovers into the trash…sigh.

"Nuthin,’" Lucky chuckled awkwardly "You know, I’m just talkin…Don’t pay any attention to me."

"Ok. I won –

"Let me ask you something," Lucky interrupted. Turning around to face Wallace from his position in the kitchen. This was ridiculous. He shouldn’t be feeling this way right?

Sure he Elizabeth had their issues, what couple didn’t…but there was nothing REALLY wrong. Nothing they couldn’t fix.

"Is there something wrong me?" Lucky asked. "I mean seriously...you can tell me if I’m crazy…I won’t get mad. I mean I KNOW I can be intense and impetuous and sometimes I can move a little fast...but is there really anything wrong with that if you know what you want? And you’ve got a pretty good idea of what the other person wants too? Or at least you THINK you know?" He finished, raking a hand through his hair.

Wallace sat his fork down and dabbed at his mouth with a napkin before regarding Lucky. His friend making that weird sound that he sometimes did when he was mulling something over. That laugh that was sorta-kinda a sigh.

"Ok…where’s this coming from?" Wallace asked. "The last thing I heard – things between you and Elizabeth were ‘sublime’."

"What?" Lucky asked. His eyebrows shooting upwards. "Sublime?"

‘Oh…shit,’ Wallace thought quickly. Realizing that he probably hadn’t been supposed to mention that little secret that Lucinda had told him. Things that girls said to each other while out shopping were like…sacred or something. "I just meant that I thought things were great. Things were perfect…that’s all I meant."

Lucky sighed deeply and shook his head. Folding his arms across his chest. "You know…they are – I mean they’re great. I’m probably just overreacting to things because I’m stressed out, right? Yeah you’re right," he added. Before Wallace could respond. "I’m blowing things completely out of proportion."

Wallace turned in his seat and took a sip of his beer. Deciding to humor him.

"Ok…good…I mean with everything you told me about your night in the park and all…I mean she had to have loved that. Even I woulda given it up for ya if you’da played the piano for me under the stars…that’s a no-brainer."

When silence ensued, Wallace stared at his friend. His eyes widening slowly as realization dawned. He HAD to be kidding…

"Wait, wait, wait…you two still aren’t…I mean…STILL?"

Lucky licked his lips and turned back around to the sink to start washing dishes. Turning the faucet on at full blast. He had enough to think about without having to deal with THIS today.

"Would you bring me your dish and shut up…I didn’t ask you for your commentary."

"I beg to differ! You did indeed! And shit man, you need it!" Wallace said. Standing up and walking over to Lucky with purpose in his every stride. "I mean man…Come on! No wonder you’re all stressed out about everything!…Do me a favor and just take the PLUNGE already! Do the DEED! Go for the GUSTO! Get HORIZONTAL! HIT THE SKINS - JUST DO IT already Lucky – like Nike – for my sake!"

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" Lucky asked. Glancing over his shoulder in disbelief. "Why is everything about YOU and why are you so fucking crass?"

"Oh I’M crass, Mr. Potty Mouth?"

Lucky sighed. Turning back towards the suds and water. He had a dishwasher, but what was the point of going the short route when you had all the time in the world. Not like he and Elizabeth had any PLANS tonight!

He had nothing but time on his hands tonight…

"Look, I’m not gonna ‘just do it.’ Elizabeth deserves better than that," he said finally. "WE deserve better than that."

"Back up a minute," Wallace instructed. "See here’s the thing…it’s not really about ‘we’ at all is it? It’s about her."

"It’s about the both of us," Lucky countered.

"Oh, Lucky come on! I’m a guy - I understand. You and I both know you’re suffering from the most horrible of all STD’s – simply touching yourself disease."

A plate dropped from Lucky’s hand and water splashed atop the counter. "WE’RE WAITING ok?…It’s that simple………and I really don’t see how it concerns you anyhow.

"She’s got enough pressure from me wanting her to say things she’s not ready to say…let alone adding sex into the mix," Lucky finished.

"Fine, that’s just dandy Lucky," Wallace sighed. "It’s noble and it’s wonderful and it’s all that good stuff. I wouldn’t expect anything less from ya…BUT, it’s not JUST about the ‘waiting,’ is it? I mean doesn’t it strike you as a little odd that Elizabeth has complete control of this relationship?"

"That is NOT true," Lucky sighed. Shaking his head as he turned to grab his beer from behind him. Taking a long gulp. This wasn’t a conversation he could be sober for.

"Oh no?" Wallace questioned. Following him as Lucky began to walk towards the couch. "When was the last time you allowed yourself to tell her how you REALLY feel about her? When was the last time she told you anything really significant about her past?"

"Listen, you don’t get it," Lucky said. Thinking back to the moment they’d had at the grocery store a few nights before. A few tidbits had slipped then. But that was just it – they were always tidbits. "Elizabeth sort of – she sort of NEEDS that sense of control. If she doesn’t have…well, things just get bad when she doesn’t have it."

Lucky paused. Trying to make sense of things for him self as he explained them to Wallace. "That’s what all this is about I think…the not telling me things, the way she’s been staying out more than she used to…the cigarettes…she feels like she’s losing control, and she’s doing anything and everything she can to get it back."

Wallace’s look of bewilderment prompted Lucky forward.

"Yeah, all of a sudden she smokes…She says she quit a couple of years ago and she’s not ‘really,’ smoking again…but…Anyway, yesterday there was a pack of Lucky Strikes rolled up in her jacket when I threw it into the laundry."

"Well," Wallace quipped with one raised eyebrow. "At least you know she’s reminded of you every time she sparks up." When Lucky didn’t laugh he continued. "Does the smoking bother you?"

"No! I mean yes…No, I mean it’s not about that either. What bothers me is the fact that she felt she had to hide them! That she feels she has to hide anything from me at all...it just makes me a little crazy…I wish she’d just TALK to me for God’s sake."

"And do you tell her that Lucky? I mean do you call her on this stuff?"

Lucky sighed. "Yes, I mean I try…but I hate feeling like a cop or her father ...." his voice trailed away. Was that it? Was this some sort of rebellion? Like she thought of him as her…

He looked down and shook his head. He’d considered every possible reason. Every avenue. He’d thought of calling Jillian and questioning her about things. Doing a little digging that he knew would take him no more than 24 hours if he talked to the right people.

But he wouldn’t do that. It would have been a total invasion of everything he’d ever held sacred. He didn’t want to be just another violator in Elizabeth’s life. And he had to trust that sooner or later Elizabeth would learn to trust him, and come around.

The question was – did he even have a right to know every detail of her life? Lucky shook his head again. "She mentioned something about stress," he finally explained. "When I asked her about the cigarettes."

"Well there you go," Wallace announced with a smile. He patted Lucky on the back. "She’s obviously wigged out over the show and stuff...just cut her some slack until opening night. I bet things go back to normal once the show opens."

Lucky nodded absently. He knew that wasn’t it. Elizabeth loved dancing, and she’d even started to believe in her ability a little bit. Now that she had actual professionals telling her that she was good.

Besides…they’d never been normal.

No, HE was the source of Elizabeth’s stress.

Deciding to let it go before the thoughts that swirled rampantly in his head drove him crazy, Lucky looked up at Wallace. "So……enough about me…You didn’t tell me how things went the other night – with Lucinda…Did you ask her? What’d she say?"

Wallace inhaled deeply and shoved his hands in his pockets. Shifting his weight from one foot to another. "Um…yeah – she said yeah…but I don’t know…I think maybe she thinks it’s just you know…a thing."

"Dude you’re talking like a fortune cookie…what kind of THING does she think it is?"

"You know," Wallace sighed. "Like a THING with two friends – hanging out. Not like a date – thing."

"Oh," Lucky sighed. His face scrunched upon deeper realization. "Oooh."

"Yeah, ‘oh – oooh’…I didn’t really know how to explain to her that it was a date and not…you know – ‘hangin.’

"Well you’re just gonna have to lay it on the line for her," Lucky explained. Gesturing with his hands flat out. "You’re just gonna have to tell her it’s a date. I mean…she should know that right? Going in…no beating around the bush."

Wallace nodded with a grave expression. "You’re right," he said pointing at Lucky. "You’re completely right…I mean Jack plays enough games with her right? She needs somebody that’s straight up and knows exactly what he wants."

"Exactly."

"Alright," Wallace said with a voice full of determination. "I’m gonna take off. I said I’d call her tonight and we’d decide when to go…" he grinned then. "Gotta work around her shooting schedule ya know?"

Lucky grinned in response. The guy was on cloud nine. Even if the object of his affection was completely clueless at this point.

"Yeah, I know……It must be tough going on your first date with a supermodel…try not to forget about us little people Wallace."

"I’ll try," he sighed. "But I make no promises…Alrighty man," he said. Reaching for the doorknob. "I’ll see ya tomorrow."

"Oh here man," Lucky said suddenly. Rising to jog towards the kitchen. He grabbed the pot of pasta off the stove and quickly dumped a bunch into a Tupperware bowl. "Take some of this – mangia in good health."

Wallace grinned. He knew Lucky would give in sooner or later. "Alright – see ya later chief."

"Bright and early."

Already out the door, Wallace concurred. "Bright and early."

Lucky sighed when the door shut. He was no longer used to being home alone. What was he supposed to do now?

"Foster! Wake up Buddy! We’re going for a walk."

~~~~~~~

Lucky blinked harshly in the darkness. His mind, trying to catch up with the sights that he quickly took in. He was at home…in his living room…

Shit, when the Hell had he fallen asleep?! The last thing he remembered was watching some stupid sitcom on TV…he must’ve just dozed off, but he didn’t even remember having switching it off or the lights.

‘Oh,’ Lucky thought suddenly sitting up. Elizabeth must’ve come home and done it. But damn, it must’ve been some nap for him not to hear her come in. That was totally unlike him.

Rising from the couch, Lucky looked up at the display window on the VCR. It was 3:05 in the morning…he wished she had woken him up before going to bed.

But maybe she wouldn’t mind if he just tapped her on the shoulder and said goodnight. Wouldn’t mind if he climbed in with her and cuddled for awhile. He was already beginning his way down the hall when the knock on the front door stopped him in his tracks.

He stood silently for a moment. Caught between what he’d thought a moment ago and what he thought now…Was she just arriving home? He glanced at the clock again. Nope, he hadn’t been mistaken – it was three a.m. in the morning.

"Elizabeth?" He called. Walking towards the front door as the knock came again. "Hold on baby…did you forget your ke –

"If you’d have ever given me one…believe me…I would never forget it," Stephanie grinned. Smiling from ear to ear as he flung the door open.

A wrinkled white T-shirt. His pajama pants all twisted around from sleep. God, he was cute when he wanted to be…in that slovenly way of his. But what the Hell happened to those silk pajama bottoms she’d gotten him? Damn it, he was so ungrateful.

Yet, tonight she would have to disregard that flaw. Tonight wasn’t about being judgmental. It was about giving him a chance to apologize for all he’d put her through. Giving him one final chance to make it up to her.

She’d been so angry the other day when she’d told Jack to kick the plan into full effect. But now, a few days later – she’d had time to think it over. If Lucky would just come around…just take her back – or give her a good romp in the hay - all would be forgiven.

Lucky rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Maybe he was still asleep and this was some sort of asinine nightmare brought on by stress. "Stephanie…what are…what are you doing here?………

"Elizabeth?" He asked to no one in particular as he turned around, heading immediately down the hall. She was here right? She was already asleep…she had to be……

Dread thickened into a knot in the pit of his stomach. She wasn’t home yet. He knew it before he even opened the door to the bedroom.

Stephanie placed her hands on her hips and followed him down the hall. When Lucky turned around again there was panic in his eyes. Fear.

He breezed past her, and down the hall. Stopping for a moment to push open the bathroom door. "Sweetie are you…"

Nothing.

Stephanie stepped aside as he started walking again. Nearly running her down as he stalked back towards the phone in the living room. She heard him mumble worriedly under his breath, "Where is she…"

His fingers raked through the front of his hair, and she watched. Wanting so desperately to be the one who got to do that. It was all messy, like it always had been after sleeping or…fucking.

God, she wanted him.

Not bothering to be quiet as he talked to himself, Lucky flipped lights on around the room. "It’s 3 o’clock in the morning…Sweetie where are you?…This is insane…"

Stephanie bit her lip to keep from giggling at his panicked state, taking a seat on a barstool. She pulled her coat aside just enough for him to get a good gander at the long legs that he had to be missing. That girl’s legs were like two short pegs.

"Did you two have a fight or something?"

There was really no need to ask. She knew exactly where Elizabeth was. Tripping the light fantastic at some bar on 47^th.

Lucky turned around, his eyes filling with recognition for the first time. The expression on his face, that as if he were noticing Stephanie’s presence for the first time.

"No…what the….Stephanie what the Hell are you doing here? Do you realize what time it is?"

Slipping slowly from the stool, Stephanie removed her coat and lay it over the bar. Tugging at the waistline of her dress, to cast a deeper ‘v’ over her cleavage. "I know…but I was missing you…I hope you don’t mind. I was just missing some of those late night conversations we used to have…you know?"

He eyed her like she had grown an extra arm. What the fuck? They’d never had any fucking late night conversations. This was just crazy. Was he stuck in a time warp?

"Steph, it’s 3 o’clock in the damn morning, why would you come for a visit at ALL – let alone in the middle of the night?"

Disregarding the critical parts of his questioning, Stephanie smiled at the nickname. "You haven’t called me ‘Steph’ in so long…You do miss me, don’t you?"

Lucky backed away when she reached for his shoulders. "Stephanie I’m really, REALLY not up for this right now…I need to find Elizabeth and you need to go home."

She reached out for him again he evaded contact once more. "I bet I could manage to get you ‘up’ for it…We never had any problems there did we?"

‘Yes - plenty,’ he thought to himself, simply easing away from her when she did manage to wrap her fingers over his shoulders. "Listen, I don’t know what you’re really doing here…but seriously – go home. I gotta find Elizabeth," he repeated.

Stephanie rolled her eyes as he turned from her and reached into the drawer behind the couch where he kept all his phone numbers and such. "FIND, Elizabeth huh?…Where is she exactly? Does she make a habit of just leaving you all by yourself this late at night? I mean what’s she doing? I thought you two were like an ‘item’ now…

"Gosh I hope she’s not seeing someone else already…I’d really hate to see you get your heart broken Lucky."

Too worried to even pay attention to her, Lucky picked up the phone and started dialing. Silently cursing over the fact that Elizabeth hadn’t gotten a cell phone yet. What woman in New York City didn’t own a cell phone? Especially one that kept the sort of odd hours that she did?

That was next on the list of necessities.

"Shit," he cursed. His free hand turning back to the page where Kati’s cell-phone number was listed, when it accidentally flipped back to the cover. Maybe she would know where…

Stephanie’s hands eased up his back and her fingers slowly pressed into the incredibly tense muscles in his shoulders. The sensation felt so good for a moment that it took him a split-second to shrug her off.

"Stop it," he hissed. Only to feel her lips press into the pulse point of his neck a moment later.

If she remembered correctly he liked that…he REALLY liked that.

‘The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable or has traveled out of the…’

"Fuck!" Lucky snapped as he slammed down the receiver.

"We can do that too if you want," Stephanie giggled. Her tongue flicking out over his salty skin. He seemed to taste different…but then again, it’d been so long…

Lucky’s brow knit together and he turned around to hold her off. "Look, Stephanie I will physically carry you out of the building if you don’t leave on your own two feet in the next 2 seconds."

"Oh come on Lucky," Stephanie cooed. "Can’t you think of better ways to use all that pent up physical energy of yours?…I bet if we put our heads together we can come up with something," she said suggestively. Tugging at his hand as she moved towards the bedroom.

"You can’t tell me you don’t remember how it was with us Lucky," she continued as he yanked his arm away. "Look, your little girlfriend isn’t going to be home for awhile," she hissed suddenly. Her voice rapidly leaving the sugary sweet phase.

Quickly she reigned her temper back. "And there are many wonderful ways to pass the time……Lucky." She pressed her body against his when he tried to back away. "Nobody has to know...we can be discrete."

When he grabbed her arms suddenly and turned her away from him, it came as a shock to both of them. A scary one for him, an exhilarating one for her.

Stephanie bit down on her lip and grinned. "That’s nice Lucky…you know how I like it."

He immediately let up on his grip. "Just get out," he stated under his breath. Bounding silently towards the door as he pulled her along with him.

She knew he was about to lose it, but she wanted that. She craved it. He’d always been at his best when he was a little bit upset with her…She couldn’t wait.

But she was being a little too aggressive at this point. It was time to show the softer side of Stephanie. The vulnerable side. The side Lucky Spencer would feel obligated to take care of.

Now that she understood the fact that he got some kind of perverse charge out taking care of weak women – she’d play it up. Besides…he’d made her this way right? After dumping her so horribly?

"I don’t want to go now though…not when you’re so upset, Lucky."

"I’m FINE Stephanie," he stated through grit teeth.

At the first sign of her tears, his jaw unclenched. Damn, it worked even quicker than she thought. She sniffled as she changed her voice a tad to reflect the mock lump in her throat.

"I was only trying to help you…I’m sorry. I just…I just miss you so much. Don’t you miss me Lucky?…Even just a little bit? I’m so sorry for everything I did…I can be better Lucky – really I can. I’ll change – I can be whatever you want."

Because his head was throbbing, Lucky pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose and looked down. The only thing he wanted was Elizabeth.

When had life become so damn complicated?

He took a deep breath and reached out for Stephanie. Placing his hands on her upper arms. "Listen to me…I’m FINE. And if you really care about me the way you say you do, you’ll just walk out that door and let me handle this…AND," he added. "You also won’t ‘happen to’ run into Elizabeth anymore and harass her in department stores…I love her Stephanie…and you have to just…you have to just accept that and move on with your life."

"But you’re not fine," she persisted with tears in her eyes. Completely ignoring his declaration of love. He didn’t mean that. He couldn’t. "Look at you…you’re completely distraught over this girl, Lucky. She’s hurting you…I can see it. I mean where IS SHE at 3 a.m.?…I know where I’d be. I know where I’d LIKE to be," she finished with a whisper. Easing her hands up his chest again.

She was female and beautiful, and Lucky’s biological functions wouldn’t deny that. But she wasn’t THE woman. She wasn’t the woman who made him ache. The woman who made every part of him long for her touch.

He backed up, and once again removed her hands from his chest. "I’ll call you a cab and you can wait in the lobby downstairs."

"I don’t wanna go home," she whispered. Placing her lips on his neck again. "I wanna stay here with you. Her fingers slid with feather light pressure over his crotch "You want me to stay too Lucky…I know you do – I can feel it."

Lucky’s body twitched beneath the flannel and he grabbed her hand. "Stephanie get -

"Lucky I’m –

The entire world came to a screeching halt when Elizabeth froze in the doorway. Her eyes instantly riveted to the space where Lucky and Stephanie’s bodies met. She swallowed hard and tried to make sense of the new dimension she’d entered.

"Go home," Lucky stated angrily. Staring at the floor now as he spoke through grit teeth.

"But Lucky, we –

"I said GO HOME!"

Stephanie flinched at the sound of his shouting and quickly grabbed her purse. Elizabeth moved not a muscle as she continued to stand in the doorway. When the woman eased past her she had the nerve to grin. "You weren’t home…I kept him company."

Although she’d never taken her eyes off of Lucky, Stephanie’s words would probably always ring in her ears.

Lucky’s gaze rose from the floor and swept over Elizabeth from head to foot. Checking her over quickly. No bruises, no scratches, no torn clothes.

"Where have you been?" He asked quietly. Straining to keep his voice in check.

She stepped fully inside the apartment because it seemed the only logical thing to do. Where would she go anyway?

"I…we went for drinks…after dinner," she mumbled. Hanging up her coat mechanically. Placing her purse down on the counter. She’d expected a lot of things…but somehow she’d never expected this.

Lucky nodded when her back was turned and then moved slowly towards the couch. As if walking through a thick fog. "And you couldn’t call and tell me about these new plans that you made?"

"I lost track of time," Elizabeth began, unable to bite her tongue. "But it looks like you were busy anyway…sorry to interrupt."

Before he even got a chance to sit down, he was whirling back around. "Oh Elizabeth, don’t even got there! That was just Stephanie doing her regular…WHATEVER!" He spat. Unable to even think about her right then. "You shoulda called me – plain and simple…Do you know the things that went through my mind when I realized you weren’t here –

"Oh yeah! My bad," Elizabeth countered as she sauntered into the living room. "You looked really distraught when I walked in – what, with her hand on your dick and all, I could see how that would upset you…

"Tell me something Lucky," she continued. Unable to stop the tirade that flowed through her mouth. "Is that why we’re waiting? Is she the real reason we’re waiting to have sex? Because you’re just too tuckered out by the time you’re finished with her?"

Lucky backed up slowly as if socked in the gut. Pursing his lips together in order to clamp his mouth shut. But the words wouldn’t be stopped.

"I don’t think I’m gonna respond that…on the grounds that I may say something really horrible…something I don’t mean."

Elizabeth leaned up against the bar and folded her arms. "Go ahead…I’m sure it’ll be nothing I haven’t heard before."

"Really?" Lucky snapped. "Ok…well why don’t you go ahead and TELL ME what exactly you’ve heard before…that way I don’t repeat it…

"I mean God forbid I should wanna know where my girlfriend is right?" he paused. Glancing around at the clock behind him. "It’s 3:38 in the morning…and God forbid I should want to actually go to bed at a reasonable hour when I have to be up at 6 a.m….No, that’s fine Elizabeth – really…don’t trouble yourself."

"Oh," Elizabeth sighed. Chuckling bitterly. "It’s funny…how when I’m outside of this apartment, 3:30 is unreasonable…but when I’m here with you – in your bed – making you as hard as a rock at 3:30…it’s completely fine. It’s funny how you never really complain about having to work then."

Lucky bit his lip and looked down. Moving towards the couch a moment later. He ripped the cushions off of it, and silently tore down the sheets. ‘Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed…’

He ‘d been angry and frustrated with her before, but it had never come to the point where he’d been unable to look at her. Now she’d done it. She’d crossed the line…She’d actually done it.

The exact fear she’d had from the moment he’d suggested this idiotic idea of living together had finally come true. She’d known it was stupid from the beginning. She’d known it wouldn’t work and she’d tried to tell him but he just wouldn’t hear her! But see…now she was breaking his heart, and now he understood what she meant.

"Do you see?" She said suddenly. Her voice a harsh whisper.

When he didn’t glance up from his task. She spoke again, a bit more loudly this time.

"Do you see?…This is exactly what I meant. I knew this wouldn’t work…Don’t you see it now?"

"DON’T DO THAT!" Lucky shouted. Looking up with fury in his eyes. "Why do you do that?! Huh?…The second we have a problem, you’re ready to throw in the towel! Saying how things don’t work, and how it’ll never work……Damn it it works FINE! It works GREAT!…At least for me it does! I know how I feel about you. I know who I think about night and day…and God help me, I think it could be the same for you if you’d just LET ME IN…just a little bit…

His voice cracked and he lowered it significantly. If he could just get her to understand. "Elizabeth, I CARE about you so much. So much that when I don’t know where the Hell you are in the middle of the night I get a worried and I start wondering about all the things that could have happened to you…And then when I see that you’re fine – that you’re as beautiful as ever, I wonder if maybe you just stayed out to get away from me."

Elizabeth’s bottom lip suddenly trembled. "No…Lucky that’s not… That’s not true."

"Isn’t it?"

She shook her head, with her mouth open. Nearing him slowly.

"You don’t tell me things Elizabeth," Lucky began again, gazing into her eyes. "I try not to ask too much of you…I try to respect your need for privacy, but Elizabeth I’m laying my heart out here…and I just – I just wanna feel like you’re doing the same.

"But I am!" She shouted. Her voice wracked with the onset of tears and guilt. "Don’t you see Lucky, I’m doing that as much as I know how to…… I know that I don’t express myself the way that you’d like and I don’t tell you things that…

"Lucky," she backtracked, interrupting herself. "You know more about me than anybody ever has…do you understand that? I know it might not seem like much to you…but it’s the WORLD to me. Lucky, I’m trying…I really am."

The honesty in her voice wrapped around his heart and tightened like a fist. When his fingertips smoothed against the skin of her cheek, he got lost in the damp blue depths of her eyes.

"Sweetie…I just don’t want you to be afraid of me…I would never hurt you Elizabeth…I promise you that I’ll never make you regret sharing your life with me."

She shook her head and glanced down at her feet. "I know that…and I’m - I’m not afraid of you. I’m not afraid of –

"Don’t say it," he interrupted. "Because you are…You SAY you’re not afraid of anything, and I think maybe a little part of you even believes that…but it’s not true Elizabeth. We’re all afraid of something…whatever it may be. Me, I’m afraid of being wrong for you – I’m afraid of you not wanting me the way that I want you…

But you - you just say that you’re not afraid of anything in order to help yourself feel better. To help get yourself through whatever it is that’s got you so shaken. And you’ve been saying it so long that it’s just second nature."

"You don’t know that," Elizabeth sneered. Backing away from him. Making sure that the back of the couch provided a barrier between them. "What gives you the right to make an assumption like that? You think you know me but you don’t. Not really. You don’t know anything about me!

"I’m so tired of men always thinking they’ve got me all figured out…you don’t know shit, Lucky."

The knife that ripped through his gut left enough of it in tact that he knew to keep pushing. To keep treading on the same thin ice if he hoped to get some answers tonight.

"Oh no?" Lucky asked. Latching on to the hope of playing devil’s advocate. "From where I stand it seems pretty cut and dry. A girl comes from a family in Colorado who unfortunately didn’t cater to her every whim and fancy, so she took off for the big city – only to be thwarted along the way when she met up with the first guy who told her she had a nice ass. Then this poor, idealistic girl got caught up in the seedy world of stripping – that low and behold, really wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. Actually she kinda liked it so –

"That’s not how it was," she said suddenly. Shaking her head so slowly that it paralyzed his heart. The lump in her throat so thick that she could barely speak around it. "Whims and fancies? Whims and fancies?" She mumbled through tears. "I didn’t have any God damned whims and fancies…all I – all I wanted to do was dance and…

Her voice trailed off, and Lucky had to force himself not to reach for her. Not to take her crumbling face in his hands. Not to push her hair out of forehead. Not to brush her tears away. Not to hold her. Not to apologize for saying what he knew were falsehoods.

"And what?" He persisted.

"I just wanted…I just wanted to be left alone," she sobbed. "That’s it…but he’d never just leave me alone…he was always there……and her – always so concerned with what other people were thinking…never about me. It was never about me. She married that…that MAN right after Daddy died, and she didn’t care…I tried to tell her…I tried and she didn’t care."

She was shaking her head back and forth. Seemingly searching for a place to lay her eyes. A place where horror didn’t lurk around every corner.

"Didn’t care about what Elizabeth? What did you try to tell her?"

"I wasn’t out doing anything," she said suddenly. "There were no boys there tonight…it was just me and the girls."

Lucky blinked a couple of times, not understanding the sharp veer that the conversation had just taken. "I know that…"

Wait, was she even talking about tonight?

"I was just out with my friends, there weren’t any boys with us."

Even the way she stood now was different. Her posture having taken on a slumped form. Her voice a bit higher.

Jesus…"I know," he whispered. "I know you weren’t doing anything wrong."

"If you tell mama I was with boys…it just makes her think bad things about me," she continued. Staring into Lucky’s eyes, but not really seeing him. "She thinks I’m a tramp, please don’t make her think that about me…please, I’m not like that."

Lucky shook his head and locked his eyes with hers. His heart silently crumbling in his chest. "I won’t…I wouldn’t do that. You’re a good girl."

"I am," she cried. "Really…it’s true."

Because he couldn’t stand the pain anymore, in her heart or in his own, he reached for her. Gasping when she jumped backwards. Avoiding his hands.

"Don’t touch me."

There were hands everywhere. Always touching. She couldn’t take it anymore.

"Elizabeth, I just –

"No. I said DON’T touch me," she stated boldly. Backing up once more.

"Ok," he nodded quickly. "Ok…I won’t. Elizabeth, I’m not gonna touch you."

"Sure you won’t," she sneered. Folding her arms across her chest as she backed her way towards the hallway. "That’s what you said the last time……I hate you… I hate you so much."

Lucky inhaled deeply through his nose. Silently acknowledging the fact that she wasn’t really speaking to him. That her words were from another time and place, and he was merely a spectator. A spectator that was slowly realizing the horror of what must have occurred.

Afraid at that moment that if he let her get all the way to the bedroom, she’d barricade herself inside again. This time so tightly that he’d never be able to get in.

Though he didn’t want to hear the confirmation of what he knew had to be coming…he knew he had to get her to say it out loud. For once in her life she had to tell somebody, or she’d never heal.

Before he had a chance to think of what to do next, Elizabeth was blinking rapidly as if she’d just walked out of a dark theatre and into the sunlight. When their eyes met once more, she seemed unnerved, as if she had no clue what she’d just been talking about.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked quickly. Her voice riddled with scorn. "Why are you looking at me like this is my fault? You’re the one that had that bitch over here…the one that looks at me like I’m trash. You did it…not me."

Struggling to switch gears again, Lucky took a breath and collected himself. Reaching up to dry his tears. "Elizabeth…nothing happened with Stephanie. I swear to you. She just showed up…I tried to get her to leave. I was just about to physically throw her out before you -

"At 3 o’clock in the morning? She just shows up? She just ‘happened’ to know you were alone? Sure Lucky…and all this talk about trust," she snickered. Beginning to stalk down the hall.

Lucky caught her by the arm. "Stop…would you just take a breath Sweetie and listen to me? NOTHING happened…something just happened HERE – right now – that we need to discuss…but absolutely nothing happened with Stephanie."

"Oh please," she said. Pulling her arm from his grasp. There was lipstick on his neck and she didn’t remember kissing him there. How long had it been since they’d kissed? Everything seemed so disjointed all of a sudden. So out of context.

Of course something had happened. "So were you ‘making looooove,’ to her Lucky?"

He pulled back at her mocking tone. "No."

"Oh, just fucking then?…Ok – gottcha……Too bad I’m not good enough for fucking. Oh well…maybe I can just go back to Vegas and have Gino give me a good screw or maybe…hey, I’m sure I could just go down to Sully’s one night and start soliciting customers right there on the corner –

"Would you please just shut –

Before he could finish his own sentence and tell her to shut up, he grabbed her and kissed her. So hard that each of them groaned. So fiercely that neither one of them could breathe after two seconds. His hands held her face firmly in place as he devoured her lips.

"Stop it," he panted. Dragging himself away from her. "Just STOP doing this, ok?" He added, his forehead pressed against hers. "I love you…DAMNIT," he sighed. "I love you…I don’t care if you don’t wanna hear it anymore – that’s the way I feel and I’m gonna say it until I’m hoarse. Until you HEAR it…I love you, I love you, I love you…I don’t know if you’ve heard that in your lifetime…but you’re gonna hear it now. Stop trying to hurt me, because all you do is hurt yourself…and I don’t wanna see you hurting anymore. Can you understand that?"

She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he held tight. Kissing different spots on her face over and over again. "Stop it," he whispered again. Becoming enraptured by her skin.

Elizabeth whimpered his name through tears. Kissing him back when his mouth met her lips again. Lucky tasted her salty tears and said the words again. "I love you……I only wanna be with YOU…nobody else…so we’re gonna get through this. We’re gonna get through everything."

"I can’t do this," she whispered around his lips. "I don’t know how to do this, Lucky."

"Yes you do," he said. Continuing to kiss her. "You know exactly what to do…somebody told you that you didn’t, but you do. You love me every single day, you just don’t say the words.

"Don’t listen to anything else but your heart. Just listen to your own heart and go with it,"

"It’s not that simple," she whispered.

"Yes it is…we’re simple," he mumbled. Pressing his lips to hers. "That’s all that needs to be simple...us and WE feel."

Her hands found the back of his head, and her fingers twined their way through the soft hair there. Causing him to shiver and pull her closer. He felt so good right next to her like this.

God he needed to be next to her, needed to feel her. Everything inside him wanted to be close to her.

Against his better judgment he steered them towards the couch bed that was already pulled out. When she sat down on the edge he knelt before her, pressing his face into her abdomen and inhaling her scent. Flowers and freshness, with a tinge of sweat from dancing.

His entire body was engulfed in a sensation unlike any he’d ever felt before. A heightened need for her. More aware of her than he’d ever been before. In a moment when he should have been trying his damndest to hold back for her sake, he found himself in over his head. Drowning in the feel of her.

Lucky’s mouth pressed warmly against the shirt that covered her stomach, and he felt her fingers re-knit themselves in his hair. Massaging him as she leaned over and kissed the top of his head over and over.

He groaned. Slipping his hands beneath her shirt. Just needing to feel her skin. Long fingers trailed lightly over the waistband of her jeans. Wanting nothing more than to take them off.

One button unsnapped. One mouth pressed hotly against her navel. She hissed from above him and leaned back on the bed. Beckoning him silently to follow.

His fingers tucked themselves into the back of her pants and he pulled himself up from the floor slowly. Kissing her slightly bared stomach, until the hemline of her shirt sat just beneath her breasts. He nudged it slowly away with his face. His mouth burning hotly against her flesh, moving this way and that.

Elizabeth’s fingers tightened in his hair and she sighed that she was sorry. Over and over, that she was sorry for not believing him. For hurting him. He only shook his head and let his mouth forgive her. His lips easing their way along the front of her ribs. His hands sliding up her sides.

She was so warm. So incredibly warm…

He let his hands journey back to the waistline of her jeans to unfasten one more button. This time, a small patch of pink satin visible above the remaining fastened buttons.

Allowing his fingers no more access, his lips pressed against that satin and his tongue easing slowly along the elastic waistband. She moaned and let her thighs drop open. The scent of her yearning body making him dizzy with need.

She felt his breath and tongue lap at her skin, and when he started to move up her body again she almost cried out. Wanting him to finish what he’d started. She could only imagine what that would be like. Having his mouth on her. Never having experienced that first hand.

But he was already moving upwards again. On to her stomach. Pushing her shirt out of the way again. When he cupped her, her breath caught in her throat. The first time he’d touched her like that. With as much longing or desire.

When his hardness grazed her, she shifted her heat beneath him. Wanting to feel him even more intimately. Elizabeth trailed her hands down the white t-shirt that he wore and beneath the elastic of his flannel pajama pants.

Flesh. Cool, firm flesh that clenched when he moved slightly against her again. She gasped and widened the expanse of her hips.

"Lucky…I want you…please…"

Lucky let his hand travel up her calf and then her thigh. The denim, frustrating him to no end, but an absolute necessity if he wanted to keep some semblance of sanity. When his fingers continued their impatient trek downward he felt her shoes.

As long as she kept the shoes on…the pants couldn’t come off. The only logic for a drowning man.

But her hands, her nails…they scraped lightly along his ass with such tenderness that his muscles moved involuntarily. His pelvis rocking against hers.

"I want you too…I want you more than anything," he groaned. His tongue on her bare, sexy ear lobe. He removed his hands from her thighs then and traveled upwards. Yanking at her shirt, he mumbled that he wanted it ‘off.’

Elizabeth sat up for the briefest of moments and pulled her shirt over her head. Exposing the matching bra to the pink satin that Lucky had gotten only a peak at. He reached out for her without hesitation. Burying his face in the valley between the two snowy hills and finally allowing his fingers a gentle exploration over the soft fabric.

Hard, cool denim on the outside, pink, warm and satiny on the inside. The perfect metaphor for this woman who drove him to the brink of insanity and then brought him back for the sweetest peace imaginable.

He inhaled deeply. Locking her scent inside his nostrils as he pulled away and returned to her lips. Eager to taste any part of her now, even if he denied himself the pleasure of tasting something new. Tasting the treasure that lay beneath the pink clad parts.

But he had to at least feel her skin, had to feel it against his. He sat up, with his legs straddling her waist, and quickly removed his own shirt. Lying back down on top of her in an instant.

Her breasts pressed coolly against his overheated flesh and he groaned from somewhere deep in his gut. Elizabeth felt it rumble through his body and connect at the juncture of their hips. The vibration alone forced her mouth upwards towards his collarbone. Attacking the beautiful, golden god-like flesh with teeth and tongue and newfound fervor.

Lucky lifted himself a bit. His muscles straining in the temporary push-up position atop of her as she ministered to him with her talented mouth. Though it felt incredible, other parts of him longed for that mouth. Ached for it, throbbed incessantly for it.

She moved against that part and he came closer. Lowering him self a bit, for just a moment of relief. Just for a second as he moved between her hips. She panted words he couldn’t understand, against his neck. The only thing he was able to make out, "I want to touch you Lucky…will you let me touch you?"

His eyes rolled back in his head when she sat up and let her hands trail over the flat planes of his chest and stomach. Massaging him slightly when she arrived at the taut muscles of his abdomen. When her hand descended beneath the front of his pajamas this time, he couldn’t move quick enough to stop her.

Half because he was almost fully incapacitated. Half because he craved her touch so exquisitely.

He felt selfish as soon as her fingertips slid down the length of his shaft, but he couldn’t have moved if he tried. And something inside of her sounded as if she needed this. Like it had to be done.

Lucky could only look down at her head as she stared. Seemingly entranced by something that she couldn’t even see. He was still hidden by the flannel of his pants, but she gazed so intently that he had to take a deep breath and hold back from pumping himself into her hand.

But she didn’t close her fingers around him. She didn’t fist him within the confines of her own flesh to simulate where he really wanted to be. She did nothing, but caress him slowly. So gingerly, so elegantly that his breath caught every time her fingers went away. It felt like a butterfly trying it’s wings for the first time. Flapping every so tenderly, and then retreating.

It was the most sweetly erotic thing he’d ever felt.

Lucky tried to adjust himself so that he could see her face, but he couldn’t. Paralyzed by the way she touched him.

The fingers that weren’t fisted tightly within the bed sheets to hold himself steady, lifted themselves to her hair and sifted through it till it reached the ends. Repeating the process over and over as she continued to look down at him. Staring at the growth that his fully erect member and her hand created within his pants.

Each of them breathed heavily as she caressed him with an innocence he’d never expected, and it shamed him to think that it had never crossed his mind.

He honestly knew so little about this woman. But he would…he would. It was a promise he made to his himself, his heart, and her.

Elizabeth closed her eyes at the feel of his flesh against her fingertips, at the sensation of his fingers combing through her hair. Unable to take her eyes away, unable to remove the final barrier to her sight.

He didn’t feel the way she remembered a man feeling before. It wasn’t scary. It was magical. He felt beautiful. It felt like steel covered with the finest of silks.

His lips pressed into the top of her head as she continued to explore his body.

And though she was afraid to look, she knew that when she did, he would no longer just FEEL beautiful, but appear beautiful as well. She tentatively wrapped her fingers around him and tightened as if conducting an experiment. When she saw his chest expand, and felt the shift of his hips, she bit down on her lip and gazed up into his eyes.

At the first pump of her small fist, Lucky pulled back. "Eliz…Elizabeth…you don’t have to do this…Baby, stop…stop," he whispered quickly. Removing her hand from his body.

"It’s ok," she whispered. Looking up with tears in her eyes. Tears that he could only venture were expressions of joy. They were different from the ones he’d seen moments before. "I want to."

"I want you to…too," he panted. Trying to collect him self. He slowly gathered her inside the circle of his arms. Laying her down on the bed next to him and curling his legs upward. Aching something fierce now. He shut his eyes when he felt her nestle closer to him. "There’s nothing I want more at this minute…than to make love to you….but Sweetie I want it to be special. I want it to be…I want it to be everything it should be for you…Not because we had a fight or for any other reason than because I love you…and because…well…just because," he added.

Not wanting to say ‘because you love me too.’ It would have hurt too much for the both of them.

She lay her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. Closing her eyes to the feel of his fingertips trailing up and down her spine. "I’m sorry," she said again. "I’m so sorry for being such a psycho…You don’t deserve this…and I know nothing happened with you and Stephanie. I know you wouldn’t do that to me…It’s me that makes all the mistakes…I’m so sorry for not coming home."

Lucky kissed her forehead and then trained his eyes on the ceiling. "I’ve made my share of mistakes too ok?…Like pushing too fast………We’re both gonna try and get better at this, together ok?"

He felt her nod within the confines between his neck and shoulder. "Just don’t ever hate me ok? Please…"

His mouth pressed against the top of her head. "I could never hate you…not ever."

Elizabeth bit down on her bottom lip to keep it from trembling against his neck. "It will be different Lucky…You were right…it’s not the same as sex – I know that…I know it from the way you feel. You feel different…gentle."

Lucky closed his eyes. Too many thoughts running through his mind at once, to actually comprehend.

What had happened to this girl to make her so afraid of love, of making love, of being loved? He knew the answers already, but he needed to hear them from her, and she needed to say them out loud.

But more than that – at this moment - she needed reassurance. She needed assurance that what she’d discovered tonight was true.

He kissed her tenderly, and gazed at her as he pulled away. "It’ll be gentle and beautiful…It’ll be the most beautiful thing either one of us has ever experienced in our lives…I promise you that Elizabeth. I promise you."