**
Oh my life is changing everyday
every possible way
though my dreams, it's never quite as it seems
never quite as it seems


I know I felt like this before
but now I'm feeling it even more
because it came from you


Then I open up and see
the person fumbling here is me
a different way to be


I want more, impossible to ignore
impossible to ignore
they'll come true, impossible not to do
impossible not to do


Now I tell you openly
you have my heart so don't hurt me
for what I couldn't find


Talk to me amazing mind
so understanding and so kind
you're everything to me


Oh my life is changing everyday
every possible way
though my dreams, it's never quite as it seems
'cause you're a dream to me
dream to me
(Cranberries from the album: Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Cant We; "Dreams")
**




Liz awoke when a ray of late afternoon sunlight shone directly on her face. She stretched and moaned when a cramp in her neck screamed in pain. She rolled over sleepily, immediately bumping into a soft form. Her eyes popped open.

She was faced with a sleeping Lucky. His face was covered with a sheen of sweat and was flushed from the heat. His mouth was slightly open, and she could acutely hear him breathing.

Liz struggled with her sleep-dulled memory. She pulled herself away from Lucky and groggily sat up. Right away, she hit her head on a red beach umbrella and knocked it completely over.

"Oh," she complained to herself, her voice cracking. She swallowed. Her mouth felt like she'd grown sandpaper over her skin in her sleep. Her throat was dry and parched.

Liz glanced at the umbrella again, and a smile found its way to her face.

She was dying of thirst.

"Lucky?" she tried once, her voice a whisper. "Lucky?" she said again, her voice only cracking slightly this time.

He stirred. Liz made up her mind not to wait for him, and stretched her neck to see over him. *There* was the cooler. Liz reached over him, lightly brushing his arm with hers. He jumped and sat up, all in one swift motion, knocking Liz backwards.

"Ow!" she fussed, now resting on her backside.

Lucky shook his head, shreds of sleep still clinging to his consciousness. He stole a glance at Liz.

"I'm sorry," he apologized freely, reaching for her. He touched her elbow. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Nah, I'm not that fragile," Liz murmured softly, her body crying for water.

"What were you doing, anyway?"

"Trying to get to the cooler," Liz rasped, a little louder.

"What is it you want?" Lucky asked, pulling the cooler onto his lap and opening the lid.

"Water," Liz answered instantly.

"Water it is."

Lucky pulled a bottle of water from the bottom and handed it to Liz. It was dripping wet, and ice cold. Liz gulped the liquid, quickly draining the bottle to the bottom. Lucky stared at her. She wiped her chin and tossed him the empty bottle.

"What?"

"Remind me not to take you on in a chugging contest."

Liz laughed, throwing her head back. Lucky watched her.

"What time is it, anyway?" Liz asked, finally finished with her mirth.

Lucky lowered his eyes to his watch, almost afraid to take them from Liz for fear he'd miss something important. "It is..." He looked up, surprise in his eyes. "Almost five o'clock."

Liz yawned. "I didn't know we'd slept that long. Thank goodness for the sunscreen."

Lucky smiled, a bit tiredly. "We'd probably better be going back to the house..."

Liz nodded. "Don't want to be caught in that storm," she commented idly. Lucky followed her eyes.

A bank of clouds was slowly but surely gathering and moving towards the island. Gray skies were the only thing beyond them. Lucky turned back to Liz, who was now staring out into the ocean, with rapt attention.

"I think that was what lulled me to sleep," she said, half to herself and half to Lucky. "The ocean," she clarified.

"Are you sure it wasn't me?" Lucky asked with practiced casualness.

Liz's gaze was upon his in a microsecond. "What?"

"Well, I mean - that is - we were..."

"Kissing, that I remember. But I don't understand the question. Did you bore me to sleep? Or is your presence enough to calm me that much?"

Lucky shrugged, his face neutrally blank. "I'd like to know the answers to both questions, actually."

Liz scratched her forehead and brushed a bit of hair from her face. "Okay. Number one: you do *not* bore me to tears. I love being with you. Secondly, your presence is relaxing to me. I know that when you're near, nothing bad will get a chance to happen to me."

Lucky relaxed and eased the breath he'd been holding. "Have I mentioned yet today that I love you?"

Liz couldn't help the smile that his question brought to her face. "Probably. But I never get tired of hearing that."

"Then I should say it over and over again."

"You really don't have to do that."

"Well, how about just once in awhile."

"How about now?"

"I love you, Elizabeth."

Liz opened her mouth, words bursting from her heart, but not quite reaching her lips. A rumble of thunder interrupted her. Its ominous warning sent Lucky scurrying to pick up the umbrella and the blanket. He shoved them inside his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around Liz's waist and pulled her toward the treeline they'd left earlier.

"What about lightning and trees?"

"I've been in worse storms before, that doesn't apply right now." Lucky didn't mean to purposely be short with Liz, but his concern was evident in his words.

Liz leaned close against him, needing his support as much as he needed someone to give it to.

"I love you," she whispered, as another clap of thunder shook the ground they walked on.

---

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