The next morning when Laura came downstairs she found Lucky and Liz curled up together on the sofa, sound asleep. She had heard them come in late the night before she fell asleep, and knew that they would probably stay up all night, but she hadn't been prepared for the intimacy she saw, even in the innocence of sleep. They had probably slept like this dozens of times, but still, it was a little unnerving for her. As she gazed at her son's peaceful-looking face, and saw the light stubble above his lip, she realized with a jolt that he had grown up. She had missed his eighteenth birthday, since it had happened while he was in captivity, but he was officially a man now. Probably more so than other eighteen-year-olds, because of all he had been through in the last couple of years, living on his own, and then the year of captivity had forced him to grow up even more still. She smiled when she saw his arm tighten protectively around Elizabeth as she sighed in her sleep.
Laura jumped when she heard a noise behind her. "How long have you been standing there?" she whispered to Luke.
"About as long as you have, and probably thinking the same things. Our boy's not a boy anymore, is he?" Luke gave her a bittersweet smile, and Laura instinctively knew that he was remembering Lucky's childhood. She marveled that even after their time apart, they still always knew what the other was thinking. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell and she hurried to answer the door, but the two on the couch were sleeping so deeply that they hadn't even heard it.
When Laura opened the door, Nikolas came in immediately, looking worried. "Mother, have you seen Elizabeth? I stopped by her place to pick her up from work and she wasn't home. Audrey doesn't..." He broke off when he saw the look on Laura's face. "What? Is something wrong? Did something happen to her?" When he saw Laura glance involuntarily toward the couch, his eyes followed, then widened in shock at what he saw there. Elizabeth was sound asleep, wrapped in the arms of his dead brother. But he wasn't dead! Joy welled up in him as he swiveled his head back to his mother. "Lucky?" he whispered. At Laura's nod he walked closer to the couch. It was Lucky. Looking a very little different, but unharmed and peaceful, and holding.....Nikolas suddenly could hardly breath around the constriction that was forming in his chest. Lucky was holding Elizabeth like he would never let her go. He had come home to claim the girl he loved....the girl who Nikolas had come to love too.
Feeling three pairs of eyes on her, Elizabeth woke up. The first person she saw was Nikolas, and she stretched, giving him a lazy smile. "Hi Nikolas! What are you..." Then she looked around the room, and realized that she was laying in the Spencer living room on the sofa with Lucky's arms wrapped securely around her. Suddenly the incredible events of the night before came back to her in a rush. "Nikolas!" She saw the pain in his eyes then, before he covered it up quickly. "Nikolas, Lucky is alive," she said unnecessarily, since he could see that for himself. But coherent speech was fast failing her.
All the commotion had awakened Lucky, and when he opened his eyes the first thing he saw were the eyes of his brother. Eyes that were filled with joy at seeing him mingled with pain. Lucky immediately knew that Nikolas was in love with Elizabeth. The only question that remained was...did Elizabeth love him too? "Hey bro. Long time no see." He gently untangled himself from Elizabeth and stood up, deciding to pretend he didn't know about his brother's relationship with her.
Nikolas stepped forward and embraced his brother, tears in his eyes. "Lucky. I can't believe this. How? When?" A storm of emotions was washing over him, but he was genuinely glad to see his brother. Then his glance slid to Elizabeth. She looked drowsy and tousled from sleep, and jealousy stabbed through him when he realized he had never seen her that way before. Her eyes met his and she gave him a silently pleading look. So, she hadn't told Lucky about their relationship yet. He wondered if there was any hope at all for him.
Laura was watching the whole scene, and feeling sort of torn. She completely believed that Lucky and Elizabeth were made for each other, but she hated to see her other son hurt. Stepping into the rather awkward scene, she announced that she was going to make breakfast, then turned and headed for the kitchen, dragging Luke, who was rather enjoying the look on the Prince's face, with her.
Back in the living room, Nikolas sat down in a chair across from his brother and Liz. Lucky gave him a brief explanation of what had happened to him, and Nikolas shook his head. "I can't believe you've been alive all this time, and we didn't know it." He was making a valiant effort to hide the hurt he felt inside, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stay around here very long, so when Laura came out to announce breakfast, he said that he would have to be going. Then he turned to Elizabeth. "Are you going to work today?"
"No, I don't think so," she answered, still not sure what to say to Nikolas. She gave him a look that begged him to understand. "I'll um, talk to you later, okay?"
Those words held a wealth of meaning to both young men in the room. To Nikolas they meant "I'll dump you later," and Lucky was hoping that was what they meant. He still wasn't sure, though, and he grabbed Elizabeth's hand possessively, and without meaning to, glared at Nikolas threateningly.
Elizabeth saw the look Lucky was giving his brother, and it made her wonder. It looked like a challenge, but Lucky couldn't possibly know about her and Nikolas...could he?
Nikolas had seen the challenge too. In that one look, it was as clear to him as if Lucky had spoken, 'She's mine'. He didn't know how Lucky had found out about him and Elizabeth, but in that instant, he was sure that Lucky knew. He was also sure, then that he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He gave them both a grim smile, then kissed his mother goodbye, and left.
Laura was aware of a feeling of dread as she watched her two sons sizing each other up. She had seen this before, way back when the Webber girls had come to town and Lucky and Nikolas both had been interested in Sarah Webber. Both of them were stubborn, and both of them loved Elizabeth. "Oh dear," she said softly.