Lucky decided to check by Kelly’s on his way to Elizabeth’s, just to make sure she wasn’t there. He kept the shades on and turned his collar up as he walked. He did not want to be recognized. As he approached Kelly’s he remembered how often he was there with Elizabeth. How often he stood and talked with her right outside those doors. The day he kept untying her apron. The day they looked over the menu for that new restaurant and feeling her so close was almost more than he could take. The day he gave her that goofy scarf with the moose on it. The first time he ever met her was right here. The memories just came flooding back.
He forced himself back to reality and peeked into the window at Kelly’s. He was relieved to find it intact and closed. Wait a minute…there was someone inside…Emily! But who was that with her?
Some guy Lucky’d never seen before. They were dancing. Lucky’s mind went back to the time he danced there with Elizabeth…
Again he jerked himself back to reality and headed over to Elizabeth’s house. He had to make sure she was OK, even if she had moved on and didn’t love him any more. There was a part of him that knew she still loved him, but still he had this bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Those pictures Faison showed him seemed pretty real. What if she had fallen for his brother? He couldn’t think of that now, he just had to keep her safe. As he neared the Hardy home, he tried to think of the best way make his entrance. He couldn’t very well just ring the doorbell and say hello.
He finally decided that his best bet was Elizabeth’s window. He climbed up as he had a million times before. It all seemed so familiar and yet so long ago. When he reached her window, he looked inside. Elizabeth was asleep on the bed. His heart jumped when he saw her. Relieved that she was safe, he was totally struck by her beauty. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. And she was so close. Every feeling he had ever felt for her came rushing in. Suddenly he was petrified. It’s been such a long time. What if her feelings had changed? He hesitated. But he couldn’t leave now. Her safety was too important. When Faison finds out that Lucky’s gone he will try to hurt her whether she’s in love with him or not. Quietly Lucky raised the window and climbed in.
He looked around the room. Music is softly playing. He stops. The song is “Elizabeth”. Next to her bed is their picture from the “No Name”. On the wall is her painting of Lucky she did for the Art School, plus the pencil drawing of him. On her mirror are several of the shots she made of him at Christmas before she photo session with him, Nicholas and Lulu. He also spots the photos from New York. He turns to look at Elizabeth. She is wearing his shirt and hugging Boris the bear. He breathes a sigh of relief. She does still love him. All he can do is look at her.
Elizabeth was lost in her dreams. Today had been another hard and lonely day. She missed Lucky so much. As she returned to her room, she curled up on her bed to dream of him again. She kept thinking to herself, “Don’t turn away this time. Keep your eyes on him.” She turned on her tape of Lucky songs—“God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You”, “Elizabeth”, etc. She fell asleep to the music. And again the dream began. She and Lucky are dancing. They walk over to a beautifully decorated table. She wants to look at everything, but she knows that she can’t take her eyes off of Lucky. She struggles to keep looking at him, but it is so hard. She wakes with a start. “Lucky!!” she cries.
Surprised, Lucky walked over and knelt beside the bed. Instinctively, he took her in his arms and soothed her. “It’s all right. I’m here.”
Still in a bit of a fog, Elizabeth put her arms around his neck. “Oh Lucky…” Then the cobwebs clear a bit and she jerked back. She shook her head and looked at him and screamed.
Lucky quickly sat down on the bed beside her. “Shhh, please don’t scream. It’s OK. I’m alive.” He tried to comfort her and put his arms around her.
She pulled back and looked at him wildly. “What….they said you were dead!” She can’t figure out if its really Lucky, if she’s still dreaming, or what’s going on.
“Well, they were wrong. I was kidnapped.” Lucky answered gently.
Elizabeth continued to shake her head, trying to clear it. How can this be Lucky sitting next to her? “But your parents saw your body.”
“Burned beyond recognition, right?”
“And they said they found this on your body.” Elizabeth showed him the subway token.
“I wondered what he did with that.” Lucky took the token.
“It was all black from the fire. I had the jeweler clean it up as best he could,” Elizabeth whispered. Lucky slipped the token around his neck.
Elizabeth is still trying to take everything in. “Is it really you?”
Lucky gently took her face in his hands. “It’s me, Elizabeth. Really.” Tentatively, he leaned down and kissed her. As she felt his lips on hers, she knew it was really him. Nothing else felt like Lucky’s kisses. Time seemed to melt away as she held onto him.
As Lucky pulled back to look at her again, he noticed tears running down Elizabeth’s face. She turned to him. “There was this part of me deep inside that knew you weren’t dead. That could still feel you out there somewhere. I told Taggert that. But he…everyone… said you were gone and that I had to accept that. I tried, but there was always this part of me that felt you were alive.” The tears come faster and harder. “I should have made them listen to me. I should have tried harder. Oh Lucky. I let you be held captive. I’m so sorry!”
Lucky slipped his arms around her and held her close. “It’s OK. I’m fine. I’m here now.” He looked deep into her eyes. “I love you.” He gently kissed her again and held her close for a long time. Neither of them could believe how wonderful it felt to hold each other again. Finally Liz gained some control and looked up at him. “Who did this to you?”
“Some guy named Caesar Faison. He took me to some compound outside of town. Kept me in this awful stainless steel sink of a room. I tried to escape, Elizabeth, I really did. I even stole his phone and tried to call you once. But you couldn’t hear me. He showed me live videos of you. He told me that if I escaped, he’d kill you immediately. I couldn’t take that chance. So I waited until I could escape and get to you before he did.”
“Did he hurt you?” Elizabeth studied Lucky to make sure he was OK.
“Not physically. He tried to mess with my mind, but I wouldn’t let him.”
“How? What did he do to you?”
“Oh he told me stuff to mess with me.”
“Like what?”
Lucky hesitated. “Like that you had forgotten me and were in love with Nicholas. He showed me pictures of the two of you.” Lucky looked down.
“Lucky, you didn’t believe him, did you?” Elizabeth looked stricken. “Nicholas has been a good friend, but that’s it. I could never be in love with Nicholas. I could never be in love with anyone but you.”
Lucky looked relieved. “I knew that. But it’s been so long, and I knew that you thought I was dead…I didn’t want you to get stuck in the past…” Elizabeth slipped her arms around Lucky and they held each other.