Disclaimer: Jason, Elizabeth, Audrey, and Sarah, aren't mine, they are being misused on GH. The others though come from my own little mind.

Feedback: Well let's put it this way I'm not holding my breath, but please surprise me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bride on the Loose

Part III

~Lunch~

Elizabeth was humming and Jason was glowering when he pulled the bike to a halt in front of a burger joint called the Tasty Fre_ _ _, the last three letters of the sign were burned out. Instead of the word Freeze some enterprising person had put up new letters on a plain piece of paper.

Elizabeth slid gracefully from the bike and the full skirt fell close to the ground, hiding her shapely calves from view, and studied the sign. "I've never eaten at a Tasty Freaks have you? I wonder what the specialty is."

Jason took the helmet from her hands and placed it on the taillight ignoring her question and the stares they were receiving from the partially filled picnic tables and led the way to the ordering window.

"You don't talk much do you?" Elizabeth fell into step beside him, absently shooting a mile wide smile at a teenage boy with freckles causing a blush that matched his hair.

He ignored her question and joined the line at the window.

Elizabeth studied his set shoulders and began to hum again. Her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own and they moved from his shoulders, down his back until they reached his butt that was partially hidden by his jacket. She had to admit that the part that was visible through the tight blue jeans was sure nice. "Just a gigolo and everywhere I go, people are," she grinned cheekily when Jason turned to glare at her.

~*~*~*~

"Oh look it's a bride." Deb Vee cried out loudly. Pushing her pinch-nez glasses higher on her nose she focused on the bride who was several yards away.

Michele Cott turned around to look and narrowed her eyes when she spied the petite brunette. "Odd place to eat after you get married.

"Odd dress too," Dana North commented. "Is that what they call new wave? And where is the groom?"

"She isn't here with a groom," Julie Tones snapped. "Am I the only way who was paying attention? She got off that bike over there and there is no way that the man she's here with is her groom."

"What makes you say that?" Deb demanded leaning farther over the table, almost too far.

"Watch it," Julie warned her friend, moving the bowl of baked beans to another place on the table, before Deb's ample bosom found the container. They lost more food that way.

"I agree," Michele commented. "Did you see the size of the rock on her finger? No way he bought her that ring," she narrowed her eyes and studied the man again. "He sure is nice to look at though. They make a striking couple, her brunette and petite, while he's so big and blonde. I wonder if he's big everywhere."

"Michele," Dana chided her friend. Ever since Michele's husband Pete had died three years ago, Michele had entered into a second childhood of sorts. Only her childhood seemed to begin and end at the hormone crazed teen years. Which wouldn't be so bad except Michele would never see 60 again.

"He's her lover." Deb cried loudly, clasping her hands to her chest. "That's so romantic. He must have burst into the church and took her away before the I do's."

"Deb," Julie interrupted with a sigh.

"Oh I bet it was just like in that movie. He probably came through the door right at the part where the minister asks if there are any objections."

"Deb!" Dana tried this time but it was no good.

"He probably declared his love and she ran off with him, leaving her groom standing there holding the bouquet," her green eyes were shining from the sheer romance of it all. "Or maybe he didn't give her a choice. Instead he just picked her up and carried her out of the church, claiming her for his bride."

"Yeah he claimed her and brought her to the Tasty Freak," Julie commented dryly. "Real romantic guy."

"She probably struggled at first. But inside I bet her heart was racing, thrilled over being taken like that." Deb had always wanted to be taken. But Mike, the man who was supposed to do the taking had died in Korea, so she was left with only the romantic dreams of how it could have been. Those dreams were nourished monthly by the delivery of her latest Harlequins and Loveswept.

"And she's off again," Michele muttered before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Wasn't it your turn to watch her?" Dana asked.

"Hush. Don't you see the romance of it all?" Deb rested her chin on her hands and studied the couple. "I can feel the love all the way over here," she leaned forward again and Dana quickly moved the potato salad out of her breasts reach. "Oh I wish I could hear the romantic things he was saying," she whispered when the man turned around to speak to the bride.

~*~*~*~

"What are you doing?" Jason all but growled the question.

"Me?" Elizabeth smiled up at him innocently. "I'm just singing."

"Is that what you call it? I thought someone was torturing you."

Smile gone she glared at him. "My voice is not that bad."

"If you don't mind the whole tone deaf experience it's quite nice." The perverse need to tease her was back. He wasn't surprised to see her eyes narrow as she rose to take the bait.

"I'm not tone deaf." She put her hands on her hips to glare at him, and another rip sound came from the delicate lace.

"If you say so." Jason turned around and went back to ignoring her.

"Maybe your upset because the words hit a little too close to home," Elizabeth challenged him. Infuriated when he didn't acknowledge her taunt she went on in a louder voice. "Don't you want anyone to know that you're my lover for hire?"

A teenage girl who had just taken a drink of her soda choked and turned to look at them. But neither one looked back at her, or any of the others who were now staring around them.

Jason kept his eyes focused on the ordering menu and tried the counting method, to work off the irritation he was feeling. The counting method never worked but it gave part of his mind something to do, while another part was cursing the fact that he had promised not to ditch the definite pain in the butt named Elizabeth.

Angered that he was still ignoring her she was about to go on when her stomach growled loudly at her. The sound reminded her of the fact that she had no money and if he chose not to, he didn't have to buy her any food. The thought of no food made her swallow her next tease as an appetizer for lunch.

She idly wondered where the need to provoke him came from in the first place. She wasn't really a brat, although she had been called one by her family at times. But she definitely had been acting like one. She had always preferred the word spunky instead of bratty as a description though. Or at least she had until Sarah had commented that the word spunky always reminded her of Scrappy Doo.

Sarah needed to break away from the cartoon network more often.

Dismissing the viewing habits of her older sister as a lost cause, she focused on the man in front of her. Her unusual testiness was probably because of the fact that she had walked out on her own wedding. Doing that was bound to throw even Mother Teresa for a loop, although Mother Teresa getting married was a whole other can of worms.

She sighed and concentrated on her own mess. She was out of sorts because she was standing at the Tasty Freaks in her wedding dress, on her wedding day with a man whose last name she didn't even know. It had nothing to do with Jason himself.

She was jostled from behind and moved closer to Jason. Close enough that she could smell him. She could smell the slight mixture of gas and oil coming off of him. But more then that she could smell him. The spicy strong scent of pure male suited him. She sucked in another whiff, trying to place the scent, it was unique, it was inviting, it was…

Only a hormonal reaction.

Her brain screeched to a halt and she took a step back, only then realizing she had all but pressed her nose into his coat. Her reaction to him was brought on by the stress of the last few weeks. And, maybe, possibly, a very, very slight physical attraction to him. After all she wasn't dead and he was kind of cute, she studied his profile, kind of cute, in that whole drop dead gorgeous kind of way.

"Elizabeth?"

Not drop dead gorgeous, that sounded like to preppy of a description for him. He was gorgeous yes. But he was also wild, and sort of rough around the edges. Sort of like someone who wasn't quite tamed. He wasn't refined, he wasn't polished, but he was interesting. Unfortunately for her she had always been drawn to the wild.

"Elizabeth?" Jason touched her arm in concern when she just continued to stare at him.

"Huh?" She blinked up at him lazily. Yes definitely wild, she thought when she met his concerned gaze.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Eat?" The mention of food brought her back to reality and she tore her gaze away from him and focused on the bored teen behind the counter. "I'll have a Bacon Double Cheeseburger, no onions or mustard, 2 large orders of onion rings, a large double chocolate shake," she paused and studied the menu. "Oh and a cherry pie for dessert," she turned to face Jason. "Are you getting anything?"

He just shook his head, but the half grin stayed on his face while he placed his order. "I'll have the same, but a soda instead of a shake." He had no idea where she was going to put everything.

"Why don't you get fries then we could share?" Elizabeth asked then turned to the counterman. "He'll have fries."

"Are you always this bossy?"

"When it comes too food yes." She rested her elbows on the counter and peered through the mesh window. She hated to wait for food. "Hey they have Nacho's do you like them?"

Jason glanced down at the woman on his right, the delicate lace had split up her back right along a line of small delicate buttons, exposing her skin to his view. It was pale, and looked very soft and inviting. He was about to look away when she shifted, and the edge of dark mark was exposed on her shoulder. He immediately thought it was a bruise, but then she shifted again and he could make out a faint pattern to the design.

The bride had a tattoo. She was definitely going to be more trouble than he had originally thought.

"You better add an order of Nacho's," he called out with a sigh and deliberately put his hands in his pockets, so he didn't give into temptation to move the strap that was hiding the tattoo, so he could see exactly what it was.

~*~*~*~

"She's so tiny. I bet she hardly eats a thing." Dana groused, being on a perpetual diet, women who were size 2's were always on her not to be trusted list.

"Then he must eat for her." Michele nudged her friend and pointed at the couple making their way to the table next to them. Both were carrying overflowing trays.

"God her dress is falling apart at the seams," Julie mentioned.

"No," Michele corrected. "Not her dress, just the lace overlay."

"He must have gotten impatient," Deb whispered loudly. "He just had to have her and didn't want to undo the buttons." She broke off when her friends turned to glare at her in warning. "Hey it could happen. I've read about it."

~*~*~*~

Jason watched Elizabeth eat with a half smile on his face. People had accused him of being single minded when it came to food, but he had to admit he had nothing on the bride. What amazed him was the fact, that although the food kept disappearing from her plate, the conversation on her end never lagged. Well he should say the conversation never lagged, because his input wasn't required very often. She wasn't rude about it, but it seemed she loved to talk, and he had discovered quickly, she chose to talk with her hands. A testament to that fact was the population of squirrels that had grown near the picnic table, waiting for the next pile of crumbs to be dropped from the table when she gestured.

"I think my favorite place I've been is Greece. It was so amazing," Elizabeth paused and took a drink of her shake. "The water there is amazing, the sights are pretty great too. But definitely not for the faint of heart, everywhere you look there is plenty of skin on display."

Jason glanced down at the fry that had fallen to the ground, with her last remark. The big gray squirrel had beaten the others to the punch for that one too. Pretty soon he would be too fat to beat the others to the food.

"So do you like to travel?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah."

Elizabeth waited for him to go on, but he didn't. She had discovered that seemed to be his pattern. If she asked him a question he offered one word replies. It was a little unsettling, so she had been determined to fill up the silences, and had she ever. "You don't talk much do you?" She asked again.

Jason shot her a look. "When was I supposed to talk?"

She acknowledged the hit with an irrepressible grin that brought an answering one to his mouth. "I have a tendency to go on, but I don't like silences."

"I'm surprised you've ever heard silence."

"I'm not that bad," she cried flipping a French fry at him, her eyes widened in surprise when he caught it before it could hit his chest. "Nice reflexes."

Jason shrugged. "Have you given any more thought about where you want to go?"

"No," her expression grew serious. "I just don't want to go back yet."

He could see the pain in her eyes, and decided not to push. "Then don't."

"Just like that I can stay with you?" She asked studying him thoughtfully. "Just how long of a ride will my jewelry buy me with you?"

~*~*~*~

Michele began to choke when she heard the bride ask that question. Concerned Dana began pounding her on the back. "Did you," Michele gasped, "hear that?"

"Yes," Dana nodded her own eyes wide.

"What?" Deb demanded, she couldn't hear a damn thing and it was all her stupid vanity's fault. If she wasn't so proud she would have worn her hearing aid and she could hear what was going on too.

"She's paying him." Julie whispered.

"For what?"

"Somehow I don't think its polka lessons," Julie replied.

"You mean he's a, a"

"Quiet Deb," Dana hissed.

"But he's a gig-"

"Shut up," Michele warned her with a glare. "I can't hear what he's saying."

Three of the women at the table leaned farther back, straining to hear the conversation occurring at the table behind them. While the fourth forgot herself and leaned closer as well, unfortunately the only thing she managed to do was find the potato salad.

"Darn it." Deb hissed dabbing at her chest with a napkin.

"Shhhhhhh."

~*~*~*~

Instinct told Jason not to tell her that he wasn't going to keep her bracelet as payment. He had a feeling if he told her he didn't want payment from her, she would be very suspicious. Elizabeth may be flighty, but she didn't strike him as stupid. She also had enough on her plate, without wondering why a man she had never met before was willing to help her for no reason.

Somewhere during lunch he had realized that she wasn't that annoying. He had gotten used to being alone, since he had left Port Charles. But it was nice to talk to someone again. Or actually listen to someone again. He had a brief thought of listening to Carly and tried to banish it before the pain could arrive. But he couldn't quite manage it.

"Jason are you okay?" Elizabeth touched his hand in concern. His eyes had gone flat, and she could have sworn she had seen pain in them, before he shut down.

"I'm fine," he answered briefly. "You can ride with me as long as you want. Or until you annoy me."

"Alright," belatedly realizing she was still touching his hand, she reached for her shake. "But I have the ability to annoy people really quickly."

"I noticed."

"It's a gift," she grinned and reached for another nacho, pausing when she heard the lace rip some more. "Damn'it."

"That seems to happen a lot," Jason commented, earning a glare.

"I know, it's this damn lace," Elizabeth grumbled. "I never wanted it on the dress to begin with. But supposedly it was my great-great-great grandmother's or was it great-great?" She waved the question off. "Anyway it belonged to a grandmother of mine, and my mom said I had to use the lace in my dress. Of course she brings this up after I had the dress made. I hated the lace, it changed the whole style of the dress. It makes me look like a souped up Southern Belle with a hoop skirt," she reached for the plastic knife on the table. "So I only basted it on the dress to begin with. You should have seen my mom's face when I cut some of the precious lace to make this overlay," she grinned. "I thought she was going to have kittens. Was it wrong to be disappointed that she didn't?"

"What are you doing?" Jason caught her hand holding the knife.

"I told you it's only basted, I'm going to cut those threads and get this damn lace off," she tugged at her hand, but he didn't let go. "It's only attached to the bodice by a few threads on each strap, and then around the waist."

He finally let go of her hand, and she lowered her hand under the table and went to work on the stitches at her waist. "You have no idea how much I want this off." She began to saw on the threads with the flimsy plastic knife. "This isn't going to work. I need a real knife."

~*~*~*~

"She wants a knife." Dana repeated. She could only hear every couple of words, when the wind blew just right. But she had a feeling asking for a knife wasn't good.

"Oh god," Deb cried. "He kidnapped her. She needs a knife to hold him off. Maybe he was obsessed with her, and he stole her from the church," the words began to come out quicker while her brain-spun scenarios. "Her poor groom. He's probably desperate to find her."

Julie rubbed wearily at her eyes, sometimes it was exhausting being Deb's friend.

"Deb, switch to decaf," Michele ordered. "She hasn't made a break for it. She hasn't yelled for help. I don't think she's here against her will."

"Still," Deb narrowed her eyes when the man at the other table moved so he was sitting just beside the bride. "What's in his hand?"

"It's a knife," Dana murmured.

~*~*~*~

"It's just a few stitches right on the top of my shoulder, here," Elizabeth touched the thin satin strap under the lace. "You know I can do it."

Jason ignored her and opened his pocketknife. The last thing he was going to do was trust her with a sharp knife. He raised his hands and hesitated when he realized to get to the threads he was going to have to stick his hands under the lace, and more than likely touch her skin.

Elizabeth missed his hesitation, she was busy pulling the last of the flower garland from her hair, and moving her hair to the other side of her neck. When she didn't feel anything, she tilted a glance in his direction. "Is there a problem?"

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I want this lace off. The buttons are just for show, you can unhook the collar and then pull it down slightly. My dress won't fall off," she turned her head again, and for the first time realized how close he was sitting to her.

It was real close.

Her eyes locked on his and the air seemed to vanish from her lungs. She opened her mouth to tell him that he didn't have to do this, but then couldn't seem to force the words out. She felt his hand on the back of her neck, by an all too brief sensation of heat against her skin, then the collar was opened.

He drew the lace slowly towards her front, exposing the soft fair skin of her shoulder. He was being careful not to touch the skin he was exposing and kept his eyes on her suddenly flushed face.

It was strange. It was the middle of the afternoon, on a bright and sunny, late fall Saturday. There were people all around them, the muted sounds of the highway, and kids playing in the distance came to her ears, but to her it seemed she was all alone with Jason. He wasn't undressing her, not really. She showed more skin in church, but watching him peel the lace away from her gown, felt strangely erotic to her. Her stomach clenched into knots, and her hand clutched her dress to stop her from doing something. What she wasn't sure, but she wasn't ready to find out.

All the sound vanished when she felt his finger slide under the strap of her dress lifting it up, so he could cut the lace free. His hand was rough. He had the hands of a workingman, and the texture was strange on her smooth skin. Her fiancé's hands were smooth. He was studying to be a surgeon, she knew they always would be. But she found she liked the rough, calloused, hands that were touching her skin now.

It shouldn't be so difficult to just cut some threads. And it wouldn't have been, if it weren't for this unwilling attraction he was beginning to have for the woman in the wedding dress. He hadn't been attracted to a woman in a long time, no, he corrected himself, he hadn't allowed himself to act on an attraction in a long time. But now, with her, touching the skin of her shoulder, he found that the attraction didn't want to be denied anymore.

With fingers that seemed to have a mind of their own, he eased the strap close to the edge of her shoulder and peered at her tattoo, trying to make out the design of it. At that moment he hated his mental block, for seeing patterns, but still he tried.

"It's a dragon," Elizabeth whispered huskily, when she felt the pad of his finger outline her tattoo. His eyes moved to her face again and she went on. "I've always loved them. Their wild, free, and can never be tamed."

Jason turned back to the dragon, he had seen pictures of the mythical creatures in the books that Carly had bought for Michael, now that he knew what he was looking at, what had been a blur, now formed an outline of a dragon. "It's interesting."

She shivered when she felt his breath on her neck. He shifted closer to reach for the strap on her other shoulder. Unusual, and unexpected nerves gripped her and she reacted. "Dragons are the most unique animal there ever was. Many experts believe, that dinosaurs were descendents of dragons. I know most of dragon history comes from the fantasy realm, but I have to believe some of the material has a basis in fact."

Jason cut the stitches on the other strap and pushed the lace free of her shoulder, before moving to the stitches at her waist.

"Uh, are you warm?" Elizabeth fanned her flaming face with her hand. "Dragon's were monogamous. They had only one mate for life. Even if their chosen mate died soon after, they still never procreated with another. For them there was only that one shot at love, there was only one perfect mate, for them."

"You really believe that?"

She met his eyes again. "I'd like to believe that. I'd like to believe that everyone has a perfect mate out there in the world, just waiting for them to find them."

Jason could feel himself being sucked into those expressive eyes of hers. The need to kiss her seemed like it came out of the blue, but he realized that it had been there inside of him, since the moment she had taken off her veil. He inched closer, and she moved closer as well. He could feel her breath on his face, and tilted his head.

They both turned suddenly when a woman seated at the table behind them suddenly fell from the bench onto the ground. Concerned Jason moved quickly and helped the elderly woman get to her feet. "Are you okay?"

Michele blushed. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, nothing injured but her pride," Julie sniped.

Michele glared at her before wiping it from her face and smiling at her rescuer. "Thank you for your help Mr…"

The other women at the table leaned closer waiting his reply.

"It's no problem," Jason said in dismissal and stepped back to his table, instead of sitting by Elizabeth he moved back to his original seat across from her.

The women at the table sighed heavily in disappointment, and Elizabeth turned to them and shot them a sympathetic look. "Don't feel too bad ladies, I don't even know his last name."

Before the women could do anything but gasp, Elizabeth turned back to face Jason.

Jason used the time caused by the distraction to get control of himself again. Attraction or not, the woman had a ring on her finger saying she was involved with another. She was still in her wedding gown. And she had repeatedly said that she loved her fiancé. So attraction or not, he wasn't going to be sucked in by her big eyes. He would ignore the feelings, or at least sidetrack them.

Elizabeth's grin slowly faded when she saw Jason's expression. It was like a mask had descended over his features. It was very unnerving to see. "Jason?"

"If you believe in that one mate for life stuff, then why did you run off from yours?" Jason asked sharply. "Or did he actually leave you?"

Elizabeth's eyes flashed in pain, and he could see from her stricken expression that he had hurt her, and immediately felt bad. He may be uncomfortable with his attraction for her, but he shouldn't have taken his frustration out on her.

"No," she corrected quietly. "I'm definitely the one that left him at the altar."

The coolness in her voice stung. And the sunshine that had enveloped her since he had seen her, faded along with the light in her eyes. He felt bad for bringing up her pain. "Elizabeth…"

She got to her feet cutting him off, and he quickly rose as well. "I'm going to go the restroom. If you'll excuse me."

"Elizabeth." He called after her, but she was moving quickly, skirting the tables, ignoring the stares she was receiving and quickly disappeared around the corner and out of his view. "Damn," he muttered and sat back down.

That had not gone well. He tensed suddenly, his instincts telling him he was being watched. He raised his head and saw the women at the next table looking at him, each were giving him varying stages of glares.

~*~*~*~

"Hey Gram."

"Elizabeth is everything okay?" Audrey asked quickly, she could hear the distress in Elizabeth's voice.

"Everything's great. What could be wrong?"

"Elizabeth?"

"I'm fine Gram. Hey guess what? That obnoxious lace is finally off my dress," she tugged the last of it from her dress.

"Thank god," Audrey murmured. "You do know that the lace,"

"Was lace my mom bought?" Elizabeth finished for her. "Yeah I knew that."

"Then why did you agree to adding it? I thought the only reason you did was because of the guilt trip she laid on you."

"No I knew," Elizabeth began to pull the few pins that were left in her hair free.

"Why did you go along with her then?"

"I don't know," she looked up when the door opened and an elderly woman walked inside. "I guess it seemed easier if I didn't rock the boat."

"I thought you loved to rock the boat. In fact you seemed to insist on it," distracted Audrey tapped a still sleeping Sarah on her shoulder. "Roll over Sarah you're snoring." The blonde complied and toppled off the weight bench. Audrey moved quickly to check on her, but the continuing snores reassured her that Sarah was okay.

"I do normally," oblivious to Audrey's distraction, Elizabeth carried on. "But things were going so well. Mom was thrilled when we announced our engagement, and she dived right into the wedding plans. It seemed like the only time my parents ever fully supported me was with this wedding," she blanched when she thought about how that sounded. "I mean they supported me in the past, but…"

"They don't know what to do with you, or about you, most of the time." Audrey knew that Claire and Jeff loved Elizabeth in their own way. But they would have loved her more, if she conformed more. If she had been another Sarah or Steven. In other words a Stepford Webber.

"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed loudly. "I bet all that approval probably left the same time I climbed out of the church window."

"Do you think that their approval was one of the reasons you didn't talk about your concerns about the wedding before today?" Audrey asked.

"I don't know. Why does life have to be so complicated Gram? I love him, I really do, so why did I run?"

Audrey sighed wishing she could offer her granddaughter more. "I don't know Elizabeth. Only you do."

"But I don't." Elizabeth cried.

"Maybe you do, but you can't admit it yet."

"God I think I prefer Jason's one word answers to this," Elizabeth grumbled. "Although his zings are pretty strong."

"Did something happen with Jason?"

"Yes, no, he's a nice guy, even when I was being a brat, he still fed me, and says I can ride with him," she smiled weakly at the other woman who seemed to be taking a long time to wash her hands.

"And why were you being a brat? I thought you saved those moments to torture your parents with?"

"I don't know. He just bugs me at times. He's so cool and calm, like he can control everything. And well I like to ruffle that cool, when I can," she grinned. "You should have heard what the gas station attendant said to him. I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time."

Audrey heard the change in Elizabeth's voice the more she talked about Jason. She had a feeling that part of Elizabeth's earlier frustration had come from the man she was traveling with. Hearing the lightness in Elizabeth's voice now, roused her curiosity about Jason even more. "What did he say?"

"He thought Jason was my," she trailed off when her eye fell on the woman who was now drying her hands and listening to every word of the conversation. "I'll tell you later. I better go now, I don't want to be left behind."

"Keep in touch, and try to laugh more darling."

"Bye Gram." Elizabeth hung up the phone and moved to the sink, dragging her fingers through her disheveled hair trying to untangle the worst of the curls. "Hear anything interesting?"

Dana jolted. "Not really," she huffed out a breath. "Sorry."

"No problem," Elizabeth tied her hair back in a ponytail, using her lace sleeve as the holder.

"What are you going to do with the rest of the lace?"

"Leave it, it's kind of like my trail of breadcrumbs." Elizabeth answered. She frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Her dress was a lot simpler without the lace, and to her eye a lot prettier as well. "I designed this as an LA Confidential look, like Kim Basinger had in the movie. I love that style, even though I'm several inches to short, and don't have the long waist needed to pull it off. So this dress had strikes against it to begin with, but that lace made it look awful."

"Why would you want to get married in a dress you hated?"

"Apparently I didn't want to." Elizabeth answered quietly. "Apparently I didn't."

~*~*~*~

"Elizabeth I'm sorry if I upset you earlier." Spying her Jason got to his feet.

"You didn't you just made a comment that I certainly deserved." Elizabeth had realized something while hiding in the bathroom, now she just had to follow through with it. "Once we get to the next town, I'll get off and leave you alone."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Jason asked softly.

"I think it's for the best don't you?" Without waiting for a reply she turned and headed for the bike.