EPILOGUE

"We are gathered here today, to join this man, and this woman in holy matrimony" Lucky heard the priest say but he wasn’t listening. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Elizabeth because she was so beautiful in her white gown. Finally, the day they had been waiting for had come. 20 years before being able to finally walk her down the aisle was enough to go crazy, but was his lifeline, his sanity. She was everything to him, and he wouldn’t let her go. Not now, not ever again.

Lucky looked around and saw everyone that had been involved in the wedding. Kiara was Elizabeth’s matron of honor, his sister was Elizabeth’s maid of honor, their son was giving Elizabeth away, Lani was the flower girl, Little Luke was the ring bearer and naturally, Luke was standing by Lucky’s side, whispering witty comments in his ear and Lucky had all the trouble in the world keeping a straight face. When he was close to laughing, he looked in Elizabeth’s eyes and they smiled at each other. The urge passed until the next joke.

2 years had passed since Luke had found Elizabeth on the other side of the street where she had been held captive. She had been unconscious. People around her were looking at the collapsed building, not giving the poor fallen woman a second look, until Luke took her in his arms and yelled for someone to call 9-1-1 and that his nephew was still inside. Liz was taken to the hospital, and was treated for shock. She was panicking and needed to be physically restrained every time someone wanted to leave her alone, even if it was only for a minute. At night, she used to wake up screaming, thinking Roberta, Ralph, Natty or even Michael were standing next to her bed.

When she was finally able to go home, Lucky hadn’t told anyone. Luke and Lucky talked, and they had decided that it was in Elizabeth’s best interest for her to get used to being free before meeting with everyone again. They were scared she would freak out after being held captive for so long. They had decided to take her to the kids’ home early in the morning, when everyone would be still sleeping, so she could get used to the house again, at lease for a little bit, before the family woke up and started asking questions.

Lucky walked in first, followed by Luke and then Elizabeth, and they saw Lu Ann, Stefan, LJ, Little Luke, Kiara and Lani sitting on the floor by the Christmas tree. The babies were playing with boxes and wrapping paper that was thrown all around the living room floor. Everyone looked up at the same time, and it was as if the world froze at that very moment. Lu Ann was the first to react, and her hand went to her mouth as she tried to stop a sob from coming out.

"You kept your promise Uncle Lucky" The young girl said in a thick voice, before she slowly got up and ran into her mother’s arms. That was the exact moment Lucky realized that, unknowingly, he did keep the promise he made to his crying niece and brought her mom home Christmas morning.

"Elizabeth Imogene Webber, do you take Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Jr. to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer, or poorer, until death do you part?"

Elizabeth looked at her finally-soon-to-be husband with the most beautiful, sincere, heartbreaking, I love you smile, that melted Lucky’s heart. She had come a long way back from hell, slowly, and the love of her life was there every step of the way. Her nightmare was truly over now. Tom and his psycho sister wouldn’t be able to hurt her, and it took Elizabeth two painful and stressful years to understand that and put it behind her.

When she first came back home, she took everyone closed to her, happy to finally be with them before slowly trying to get herself out of their lives. Her ordeal made her think that she was only putting their lives in danger if they were close to her, like she did for Michael. Her being alive cost Carly her oldest son, and for that Elizabeth, for a long time, couldn’t forgive herself. She finally understood that she wasn’t responsible for anything, and made peace with her past. Slowly, carefully, she let her family back in her life again, and got to know her daughter, her little baby’s likes and dislikes, as well as her darling grandson’s.

"I do" Elizabeth answered in a soft and tears filled voice.

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, Jr. do you take Elizabeth Imogene Spencer to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer, or poorer, until death do you part?"

Finally, this was it. The moment that should’ve happened 20 long years ago, when they were both 17, ready to begin their happy life together. Lucky still saw her the same way. To him, she would always be the sneaky teenager, always excited about everything, like a masked ball on a spooky island, the sight of her teddy bear on a lonely morning, baking brownies in a store while asking him his homework, a paint fight in an abandoned boxcar, a song written for her in a hot summer day, eating corn dogs at the top of the Ferris wheel, and every other little thing that happened to them on their journey towards adulthood together. She was his best friend then, and she was still his best friend now. Always. Today, forever.

"I do" Lucky whispered back, a single tear falling from his eye and Elizabeth had a nervous laugh, before she reached forward to wipe the tear away with her thumb.

"With the power invested in me by the laws of this state, I now pronounce you husband, and wife. You may finally, if I do say so myself, kiss your bride"

Lucky slowly stepped forwards and chuckled nervously. He could hear people sniffling in the church. "I’m almost afraid to do it" He confessed to Elizabeth in a whisper and she laughed softly.

"Just get it over with Cowboy, I’m not here all day you know, I have other things to do" Lucky heard his father whisper in his ear and he laughed. It was all it took to break his nervousness and he slowly licked his lips, before he captured Elizabeth in the most tender kiss, before the church exploded under the sound of clapping hands.

"Ok, come on, settle down people, it’s time for the son of the bride and groom to give a speech" LJ said, trying to cover the sounds of conversation throughout the room. "PEOPLE" he tried again and then, when all else failed, he finally whistled and got everyone’s attention. "Thank you. Now, as I was saying, it’s time for me to make my pointless speech." He waited until the laughter died down before he cleared his throat to gather the courage to talk, helped by a squeeze of the hand by his wife.

"Every single one of you know there was nothing I wanted more, when I was young, then to have had a chance to have known my father. Unfortunately, he was taken away and a misunderstanding prevented him from coming back. When he finally came back to us, I found out that my father wasn’t the hero everyone made him out to be, but a pri-- not so nice man" He said with a grin. No one knew Kiara had just stomped on his foot when he was about to call his father a not so nice word. "But all and all, he became my best friend, and there isn’t anyone in this world happier than I am, right now, that the man I admired all of my life, and the amazing woman who raised me finally joined their destiny, as it always was meant to be. Mom, dad" LJ said before he paused, trying to prevent the tears from falling. "In all of your children’s names, Kiara, Stefan, Lu Ann, Luke, Lani and myself thank you for loving us, and we wish you all the happiness in the world. We love you"

Lucky was about to answer his son when the sound of silverware clinging against glass filled the room, soon joined by other identical sounds and Elizabeth smiled. "KISS YOUR BRIDE!" They heard Marcus say from his place and Lucky laughed, before he got up, followed by Elizabeth. Their lips joined for the first time of the evening, but far from being the last.

"Hey how come he gets to kiss the bride and we don’t?" Asked Luke with an evil smile, before going in front of Elizabeth, followed by every single man at the reception. Liz laughed as she had to kiss the entire male community of Port Charles, until she finally saw the man she looked for in the crowd all night, but couldn’t see. Finally, he was standing in front of her, leaning against his cane. He smiled at her and she threw herself in his arms. Even though she had known for a year, every time Elizabeth saw Michael, it was the whole joy of knowing he was alive happening all over again.

"I’m so glad you came" Elizabeth whispered in his ear, holding onto him for dear life.

"I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Elizabeth" the young man said softly in her ear, before he slowly released himself from her gripping embrace. His right leg was beginning to hurt him and he desperately needed to sit down.

When the police finally made their way to the corpses after digging brick by brick, they realized that one of them was still breathing, although clearly dying. Michael Morgan was taken to the emergency room where he lost his life once, before they were able to bring him back.

Luke was by his side for all of Michael’s battles against death. Luke wasn’t going to lose another son. He prayed, he pested, he even gave money to church thinking anything was good. When finally Mike was stabilized, Luke was the one who stayed there. He even slept there most days, while Lucky was taking care of bringing Elizabeth back to reality. At first, Luke and Lucky didn’t tell her that Michael was still alive, because her screams of terror at night, when she was waking up in sweats after shouting his name seemed as if Mike tortured her along with the rest of Liz’s jailers. Finally, Lucky realized she was dreaming about when the building collapsed and Michael was still inside, and the guilt Elizabeth felt at not to having been able to help him out of there alive.

Michael stayed in a coma for a year, up to a point where AJ was talking about unplugging him. The doctors kept saying that he was probably brain damaged and Michael’s father kept saying that they didn’t need another Jason in the family. AJ finally said that he wasn’t supporting him like that anymore, and he said he wasn’t paying the bills.

Carly was so mad at Aj that she started a quiet ‘save my son’ campaign, and everyone that knew and loved Michael pitched in. Tammy, Bobbie, Marcus, Sonny was a big contributor, and Luke was the biggest. He sold his part in Kelly’s to Tammy so he could take on the kid’s hospital bills, until finally, one day, the miracle they were all waiting for arrived. Michael opened his eyes again.

Luke had left the room to go get a coffee, and it was at that moment that Elizabeth decided to go see for herself that Michael wasn’t dead. She sat by his bed and let the tears fall down her face as she kissed his hand. "I wasn’t able to let go of what happened, Mike. Not because of what I went through, the emotional pain, the emotional blackmail, the starvation for days at a time, but because I lost one of my best friends in there. I could not get over the fact that if it wasn’t for me, you would’ve been alive. That you died because you thought you had to, to make amends for what they decided to do to me. I couldn’t live with myself--" Elizabeth was crying and her tears was falling on the white skin of his hand, and she continued. "I could not live with myself because you had sacrificed yourself so I could reunite with my family and I was a coward. I ran out of there and I didn’t even say thank you. But now I can, Michael. They told me that Ralph’s body protected you from the big brunt of the bricks, and there was a hole big enough to let oxygen get to you. So I guess that’s why I’m here now, Michael. To say thank you. For looking out for me while I was in their custody, because I know you could never have hurt me and I know at times you probably stopped them from torturing me, even before you knew who I was. Thank you for the tape,, thank you for just being my friend in there, thank you for risking your life to get me out." She squeezed his hand one last time, and tried to release it, before she felt him squeeze back.

"Welcome" She though she imagined it, in this really deep, croaky voice, but when her eyes slowly made their way to Michael’s, they were open, and the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

Elizabeth helped Michael sit and she took his hand, while all the other men groaned in protest at the party. "So it finally happened" Michael said with a laugh. "You really chose him over me." Michael didn’t have any neurological damage from his accident, he just had to learn how to walk again, Elizabeth was there with him every step of the way. "Why didn’t you tell the police I was one of the kidnappers? " Michael had ask her at one of their long walks in rehabilitation.

"Because I told you, you weren’t." Elizabeth answered him that day. "You are the man who came in to save my life. No one can prove otherwise.  So it’s in the past"

"You knew all along, Lucky has always been the love of my life" Elizabeth answered with a laugh and kissed him on the cheek one last time as she saw her son go near the DJ with his guitar.

"I think it’s time for the first dance with the bride and groom. I have to say that my dad picked out this song, and it fits perfectly. Good choice dad" LJ said into the microphone and Lucky went to the dance floor where he waited for his wife.

"You know" Lucky said as he took Elizabeth in his arms while LJ’s guitar started to play "I really have to thank my brother for divorcing you without any fuss when you came back"

"It was in his best interest" Elizabeth laughed and LJ’s voice filled the room

"Lying beside you

"All the happiness to you, you deserve it" LJ said into the microphone as his parents kissed their approval

THE END