Disclaimer: I own these words, I made them all up. I did, really. No one has ever used words such as these before, and I shall sue anyone who says different. As for the two main characters...not mine. But once again, words...alll mine.

--

Her eyes danced with a mixture of excitement and fear as she watched him stalk closer. Light glinted off the blade in his right hand and she thought of running for a brief moment. That window of opportunity had quickly closed as she felt his body press against hers, the knife still down at his side. Her fingers numbly ran the length of the blade and she winced as a small amount of blood dripped from her hand to the concrete. Taking her hand in his he brought the wound to his mouth, tasting her blood. A smile spread slowly across his face as he drew the knife into the air and brought it crashing down into her…

"Fuck," she exclaimed waking up in a tangled mess of sheets. Her body was tense and drenched in a cold sweat. Her hand flew to her chest half expecting to feel the handle of his knife still protruding from her heart.

It had been four months to the day since Lisa Reisert had taken the red eye flight from hell, but she hadn't gone one night without seeing the haunting blue eyes of Jackson Rippner. Unfortunately for Lisa as the months passed by her life had gotten worse. The attempted assassination of the Keefe family was only the beginning. Shortly after the whole debacle her beloved father, Joe Reisert, had suffered a heart attack which ultimately ended his life. That's when her nightmares turned into dreams. Lisa wanted desperately to still call them nightmares, but she couldn't lie to herself. Nightmares were full of fear; these dreams were full of what could only be described as passion.

Turning her head to the right; Lisa glared angrily at the bright red numbers on her alarm clock. 3am, why did it always have to be 3am?

'…scrambled eggs at 3am…'

"Get out of my head," she growled fixing her covers and pulling them up to her chest.

If she went right back to sleep she'd have another two hours of rest before having to start the day. But sharp knives, piercing blue eyes, and unwanted emotions kept her from having anymore of that much needed sleep. So Lisa started her day two hours earlier then she needed to, which was becoming a rather annoying routine. When the alarm clock did go off she was already showered and trying her best to enjoy her morning coffee. How her life could've gotten so messed up in such a short time was beyond her. Four months ago she was happy.

"Yeah, happy…happy living a lonely sheltered life." Lisa had recently acquired the habit of talking to herself.

Finishing her coffee and placing the mug in the sink she decided, for the third time that week, to start work early and headed out the door with her keys and purse in her hand.

--

"Lux Atlantic, this is Cynthia speaking, how may I help you?"

Lisa smiled upon hearing the familiar greeting of her hotel. Striding past the front desk she waved at Cynthia and headed to her office to get started on some paper work. Cynthia gave her a quizzical look and smirked shaking her head knowing all too well that Lisa was in early due to insomnia. She felt bad for her, soon to be former, manager and hoped that Lisa's early retirement would help her relax.

As Cynthia finished her phone call she noticed that Lisa was heading to the front desk with a not so pleasant look on her face.

"What's up Leese?" She asked with a larger then life smile plastered on her face.

"Where did those flowers come from?"

Cynthia's smile grew wider at the question. "Apparently you have a secret admirer," she said in a wistfully romantic tone. "They arrived about 5 minutes before you did. Who are they from?"

'Happy retirement, Leese. Wonders never cease.'

"I don't know," she lied. She knew who they were from.

Part of her was flattered that he'd sent her a bouquet of her favorite flowers, but the sane part of her was scared that he was back to finish the job. He was supposed to be dead, or at the very least in a maximum security prison playing house with a big black man named Bubba. But Jackson Rippner had seemingly disappeared into thin air just hours before his trial. It still bothered her that a man in his state could just vanish without leaving any clues as to where he'd gone. She knew he'd come back for her though, she just didn't expect there to be flowers involved. Something like relief seemed to fill her body. Maybe it was the end for her; she had nothing left to survive for really.

After her rape, Lisa threw herself into her job at the Lux Atlantic, quickly working her way up from head desk clerk to hotel manager in a matter of months. But after facing Jackson she found that the mundane problems of the hotel guests did little more then aggravate her. She found herself to be angry all the time and, on more then one occasion, had to walk away from some of the 'friendlier' male guests before that anger turned into physical violence. Lisa had given her two weeks notice shortly after her father passed away. She intended to take the money from the sale of his house and just go. She was going to travel, see Europe, hell maybe even Canada. She didn't care where she went; she just needed to get out of Florida. She found that it was getting harder and harder to lose herself in the problems of others, and it was damn near impossible to face her own.

--

"Goodnight," Lisa called over her shoulder as she made her way to the employee parking lot juggling her purse, keys, and a rather large bouquet of daisies.

Two more days and that would be the last time she'd walk out of the Lux Atlantic as Lisa Reisert, manager extraordinaire. The day had gone by fairly quick save the few agitated guests, and the child in room 1235 that apparently thought that a bar of decorative soap was food.

She sighed as she settled into her car and got ready for the drive home, looking over at the flowers on the passenger's seat she couldn't help but feel as if he were there; watching her. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts Lisa pulled out of her parking space and onto the busy boulevard. She glanced toward the clock set into her dashboard, 7:00 on a Friday night and her only plans were to go home and go to bed.

"Woo hoo," she said aloud with sarcasm dripping from her voice, "Another amazing Friday night of nothingness." She looked sheepishly around the empty car and decided to stop by the liquor store. A bottle of wine would do her good; and maybe she'd go all out and get a movie while she was at it.

After spending an hour roaming aimlessly through the stocked shelves of her local Blockbuster, Lisa decided she was better off watching something she already owned. She made her way back to her car and smiled at the bottle of Yellowtail Shiraz that now shared a seat with the daisies. She drove the rest of the way to her home in silence contemplating why she had brought the flowers with her. The drive was short and by the time she reached her small condo on the beach all she felt like doing was showering and going to bed.

The house was dark and Lisa spent a good 15 minutes going from room to room in the small dwelling checking for intruders. When she was satisfied with the emptiness of her humble abode she made her way to the bedroom and got ready for a shower.

The warm water cascaded down her naked body pooling, for a short moment, by her feet before running down the drain. It seemed to wash away all of her stress. She just needed to clear her head. Jackson was back, and sending her flowers? She felt tired and confused, all she wanted to do was shower and go to bed. Thinking made her head hurt. She hadn't realized how long she'd been in the shower until the warm droplets of water began to run cold. Stepping out of the basin she wrapped herself in a large towel and proceeded thru the doorway into her bedroom. Glancing at the clock she realized how early it was.

"10:00 on a Friday night and you're getting ready for bed?" She questioned her reflection atop the bureau as she pulled out her pajama bottoms and a tank top. "Leese, you're too young for this shit." With a shake of her head she slammed the drawer and got herself dressed. She hated what she had become and was determined to change it. Just not tonight, tonight she needed sleep.