For a moment, Elizabeth was rendered speechless. She stared at Lucky, who was still on his knee and holding the open ring box. Slowly she reached out to take the ring. Tears filled her eyes and slipped down her cheeks as she handed it to Lucky and held out her left hand. His eyes never leaving hers, and communicating the love he felt for her, he slipped off the ring that was already there and put the engagement ring in its place.
"Does that mean yes?" he asked with a crooked smile, wiping a tear off her face even as his own eyes filled..
"Yes. It means yes," she answered, laughing and crying at the same time as lucky jumped up off the floor and pulled her up into his arms and swung her around and around until they ended up in a laughing heap on the floor. Lucky's face was inches from hers, and they both sobered at the same time before he kissed her. After a moment he stopped and looked at her again. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too, Lucky," she answered. "Thank you for coming back to me."
His head lowered to hers again and he kissed her deeply, passionately.
After a little while, Lucky pulled away reluctantly. He knew that things could easily progress if they let them, but he wasn't ready. Well, he was and he wasn't. He and Elizabeth were still on the floor, and he stood up and helped her up. They went back over to the couch and sat down. Lucky leaned over and kissed her again, quickly. When his hand touched the back of her neck he felt the chain she was wearing under his fingers, and pulled it out from under her shirt.
"Oh!" said Elizabeth. "How could I have forgotten this?" She unclasped the chain and gave it to Lucky. "This is yours. I never thought I would be able to give it back to you."
Lucky rubbed his finger across the blackened subway token, a lump forming in his throat at the thought of what Elizabeth must have felt when they had given it to her. "The symbol of our future," he said softly. "You've been wearing it all this time?"
"Yes." her eyes took on a far-away look when she remembered that horrible night. "Taggert brought it out and asked me if I recognized it. Up until then I was sure you weren't there, and that there was some mistake. Then when I saw this, it all hit home. I'd lost you..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered sinking slowly to the ground, and Sonny holding on to her while her world crumbled.
Lucky put his arm around her and pulled her head down to his chest, stoking her hair. He didn't say anything right then, knowing that she needed to get all of this out and put it behind her.
Elizabeth continued her story. "I spoke at your funeral. I told them all how you had pulled me up out of the snow and saved my life. At that moment, I really wasn't sure if I could go on. I sat in the church afterwards, alone, and tried to come to grips with the whole thing, but I couldn't. I couldn't understand how you could be gone, and I didn't feel it inside. I felt like, since you were part of me, that I would feel that part ripped out of my soul, and I would only be a half a person. But I didn't feel that." She looked up at him and smiled through her tears. "And now I know why. That was the first thought I had when I saw you. You were alive, and that was why I didn't feel your death in my heart. I only felt this incredible lonliness." She took a deep breath. "The first few months I was walking around with a fake smile pasted on my face, trying to make everyone believe that I was fine, because I didn't want their pity. Then one night I snapped." She took his hand and sat up to face him. "Emily and her boyfriend were at Kelly's and they were dancing to our song. It hurt...so bad. It wasn't their fault, they didn't know, but I couldn't stand it for another second, so I left. I went home and put on my old clothes, you remember those?"
Lucky nodded. "I remember." His mind flashed back to when he had first met her and how he'd noticed that she dressed kind of...well, not leaving much to the imagination.
Well, I went to Jakes, looking for trouble, and I found it. There was a guy there who started messing with me--"
Lucky sat up "Elizabeth! That was crazy! You could have been hurt!"
"I wasn't," she soothed. That was when Jason came in. He sent the guy on his way. Not that I was very appreciative. I was really rude to him. Then we started talking, and I realized I could tell him things, and not have to pretend I was okay. I could be completely honest, and he didn't judge me. We became friends." Elizabeth noticed that Lucky was looking down, and she reached out and lifted up his chin to look at her. "Friends, Lucky." She told him about the motorcycle rides, and when she got to the part about when Jason was shot, she hesitated. She hadn't discussed it with anyone besides Bobbie and Sonny, but she instinctively knew that it was okay to tell Lucky. She wouldn't ever keep anything from him again. She told him about the bomb, then after he calmed down again she got to the part to when Jason left town. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I know it had to do something with Carly. She was jealous, and she thought we were sleeping together." Elizabeth looked down and traced a pattern on the couch with her finger. "Everyone did, even Nikolas and Gram. That hurt, because I thought they knew me better than that. So, I let them think it. I couldn't tell the truth, so I just let them think the worst."
"Like me," said Lucky, angry at himself again. "I'm sorry--"
"Shhhh." She laid her fingers over his lips. "Enough apologies." She removed her fingers and gave him a quick kiss, then snuggled back down on his shoulder.
Above her head, Lucky was looking at the ceiling, trying to get up the nerve to say what was on his mind. Now it was his turn to tell her some of the things he had gone through. He took a deep breath. "He showed me live video of you, Elizabeth. He showed you in the church, putting a rose by my picture. When I saw you in our church, dressed in black, and crying, I wanted to kill him. I mean, if I'd had a gun or something in my hand, I would have done it, too. But I couldn't. I was completely defenseless against him. He was always making little digs at me, and usually I was able to pretend that they weren't affecting me. But he knew that the chink in my armor was you, and he never passed up an opportunity to take advantage of it." Lucky closed his eyes and rested his cheek against her hair, remembering.
Elizabeth knew that this was hard for him and she squeezed his hand. "Go on," she said softly.
"Once, when I hadn't been there very long, he let me get hold of his cell phone. I think this was the worst day of my life. I thought I had gotten one over on him, and I dialed your number. You answered, and I could hear you, but you couldn't hear me. Your beautiful voice, saying 'Hello?' over and over again, and I was screaming at you, but..you didn't hear me, and you hung up. Then he came in, and asked me why I wasn't grateful that he'd let me hear your voice.
"Oh, Lucky..."
"From then on out, it was one head-game after another. He seemed to love pushing me to the breaking point. He gave me pictures of you, he showed me videotape. I got to see you, at least, but it was so horrible, not being able to talk to you, or touch you. He made sure I thought that there was something going on with you and Nikolas, when it had only been about a month since I was gone. I had a hard time with that, but I wanted you to be happy. Finally, he quit coming to see me, and the only people I ever saw were the ones who brought me my food and stuff." Then, Helena got hold of me, and you know the rest of the story."
"That monster! If he was here, I'd kill him myself," said Elizabeth, and Lucky believed that she would.
"Well, it's all over now." he said, and he meant it. All of the talking they had done made them feel like they were starting fresh and clean, with their whole future ahead of them. "This is kind of embarassing," Lucky said suddenly. I just realized that you're in college, and I still have to finish high school!
"Well, you were almost done," said Elizabeth. "Maybe they'll let you take some tests or something, and get your diploma."
"I hope so!" laughed Lucky. That would just be too weird, going back there like a regular kid or something. I mean, not that I'm anything special, but--"
"Hey!" Elizabeth interruped. "You are too something special!" She gave him a playful poke in the ribs.
"You know," he said, turning serious again, "I hope you don't think I want you to rush into anything, with this engagement, I mean, not if you don't want to. I know you're in school, and I'll understand if you aren't ready to settle down yet. I don't even have a job, and, and..."
"Lucky! Do you honestly think I care about all that? I mean, of course I want to finish school, and have a career as an artist, but I want to be right by your side the whole time. I'll marry you tomorrow!" She blushed, realizing how forward she sounded. "I mean, if you wanted to," she finished with a giggle.
"Do you mean that?" Lucky had taken her words to heart. "Because, I don't want to waste one more second of our lives Elizabeth. I don't know if we can do it tomorrow, but I want to marry you as soon as humanly possible."
She nodded wordlessly, her heart racing with excitement, and he pulled her to him. "Then we'll do it as soon as we can." he said softly into her ear. Their hearts were full and happy, and they didn't see forsee any obstacles in the way of their future together. There was one that they had forgotten about, though, and it was going to be a big one.