A/N: I realize I haven't added a story in OVER A YEAR! That's a long time… but today is valentines day and I was in the writing mood so I decided to randomly update. I think you'll really like this one… its edgy and original… review and let me know!

Disclaimer: not mine, not mine

Tandem

By: XxfallenangelxX

Lizzie yawned and rolled out of bed, bumping clumsily into her dresser on the way to her bathroom. It was another great day just beginning… a day of work at the office. She rubbed her sleepy eyes open and glanced in the mirror… she looked like a wreck. Peeling her clothes, she jumped into the shower in an effort to make herself appear atleast half-way alive.

"Let's see," she thought to herself "Friday was the 11th… that would make today…ugh. Valentines day."

Here she was on the day for lovers, alone, once again. It had been that way for quite a while. She could never quite work up the guts to start dating again… after… she hated to think about it.

But thinking about it was unavoidable… and pictures of him came flowing into her memory faster than she could shut them out. Pictures of them, together, happy. She could only remember how it was to feel loved. She hadn't felt that way in so long.

But he had left her… told her that he couldn't handle a relationship right now with everything else that was going on. Promised that he loved her uncontrollably and that when things weren't so tough, they'd find each other again. She had believed those words at first. At least, she thought she had believed them. Ten years later, she had come to live with the truth… he wasn't coming back. He hadn't loved her as he said he did, or he wouldn't have left her in the first place.

She knew she had to move on. Here she was alone, when most people her age were married with several children. But a part of her didn't want to move on… a part of her still believed those words, still believed that one day David would return for her and that she had to be ready.

Lizzie switched off the water and put her wet hair up in a towel. Glancing at the clock, she realized that her shower had taken longer than she had planned on and that she would have to hurry if she wanted to be on time for work. She applied a heat protector to her hair and began to blow dry furiously.

It was another warn day in Sacramento, and the sun shining through the picture window woke the young man around ten as it often did these days. But today was different… he hadn't been dreading the wakeup as he often did… he was more waiting for an excuse to get out of bed early. He had been up very late the night before, but excitement was getting the best of him… or was it nervousness?

David climbed out of bed, still in yesterday's clothes and began to rummage through the papers he had been up with so long last night. It was all there… the plane ticket, the address that he had already memorized, the name (the same old name, thank goodness)

With a little more spring in his step than usual, he headed into the shower and set about his daily routine. Or, rather, what had used to be his daily routine. Since he had retired temporarily from the directing world, he had hardly been brushing his teeth on a daily basis.

The dragged on for Liz as it often did on days when her heart was aching like this. Finally the lunch hour came and she wandered across the street to her favorite Chinese restaurant for a meal. She ordered and took a seat at a table alone. Her office partner, and best friend, was out sick today, and there was nobody else that she knew in the restaurant.

She received her food and ate it slowly, her mind still not quite recovered from this morning's reminiscing, received her bill, and then left the restaurant, placing the complementary fortune cookie in her purse for later.

The afternoon went by rather quickly, to her surprise, and before she knew it, she was headed out to her car. She pushed her way out the front door of the office building and was just making her way to the car when someone bumped against her, causing her things to fall to the ground. She yelled out at him, and only then did he apologize curtly.

Grumbling to herself, she bent over to pick up her things, wanting to get the day over with and get home. But something stopped her from standing up promptly with her pens and compact in hand… it was a small piece of paper, crumpled and well worn, and slightly damp from the wet sidewalk beneath it. Where it came from, she could only venture to guess. Stuck in an old garbage truck, hanging around as someone's scrap paper…

Scrawled in the most recognizable handwriting were the words Love Forever, Gordo

Her heart began to race and she felt as though she were about to pass out. She stood up, paper in hand, and climbed into her car, where she only sat staring at the paper some more.

She hadn't called him Gordo since they were fifteen. That was almost sixteen years ago… yet she could picture the letter that this was from… but how could it be showing up here…today?

Later that night, Lizzie was still in a maze. It was a little warmer outside today, so she slipped on her robe and some sneakers and walked down the little path to the pond in her back yard. Sitting down on the park bench, she stared into the dark water. Was this a dream? Was she imagining this all right now, soon to wake up and realize it had not even been real?

She was so depressed, but even in her sorrow, she couldn't help but find a little spec of light… he really had loved her. She could have sworn it… back then when everything had been okay. Before his parents' accident, before he got the job in California and pulled away from everything including her.

She couldn't help but wonder where he was now. She could almost see him, no… she could see him very clearly… walking alone down a sandy path, head hung low, eyes looking straight ahead, so amazingly handsome, looking just as good as he had the last time she had seen him.

If only it were real, if only he was there…

Lizzie blinked and suddenly realized that the vision she had was occurring when her eyes were opened… he was getting closer. He stopped and whispered her name…

When Lizzie came to, she was in his arms, and upon realizing this she began to feel faint immediately again. She sat herself up, however, and tried to talk…

"David… I… Oh My god…." She gasped.

He wrapped his arms around her and she fell into his embrace. Tears fell from his eyes down her cheek and onto her shoulder as they held eachother tightly.

"I've been looking for you all day." He whispered. "I woke up a few weeks ago and decided I could wait any longer before finding you…"

Lizzie stood up and he followed her, staring into her deep eyes. "I knew you'd come." She told him. Hardly able to speak. "I felt weird about it all day… I didn't know what it was. I knew you were near me."

"I am so sorry I didn't come earlier, Liz."

She didn't respond, she simply too his hand and led him back up the sandy path and through the back door of her home.

"We have so much to catch up on." He told her.

"David?" she asked quietly, looking at the floor.

"I love you. Do you love me?"

He kissed her gently on the lips, just as he had before they had parted long ago. "I love you more than anything Lizzie."

A/N: I may add another chapter to this, but for now, that's it. Sorry… I know it's a little strange that he'd leave her if he loved her as much as he did, but I tried to convey that he did it because he felt he was a burden to her with all his problems after his parents death and everything… if you didn't get that… sorry.

ANYWAys…. Read and REVIEW! Luv ya

Ami