Just thought I'd return to the bar's humble beginnings. So just to make this clear basically this entire chapter will be a flashback. No italics or little FLASHBACK, END FLASHBACK thingies. Just one big flashback chapter. Like 75.

Oh, I keep forgetting to put in a disclaimer so here it is: I don't own these characters or their shit. So there.

…

sob

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Elizabeth Hemmingway stopped in front of the half-finished building. She cocked her head to the side. This must be the wrong place. But it couldn't be, she wrote it down somewhere… She dug through her purse for the tiny slip of paper that she grabbed to scribble down the address she was given over the phone. Ah, there it is… She looked back and forth from the paper to the building. 362 Kaufmann Street. This was the place…

She took a closer look. There was a sign over the door, a blank sign. The windows were put in, but they were so dusty from lack of care over their short life that she couldn't see through the glass. Why on earth would he want her to meet him here? If this is some smartass idea for a 'date' then he would be on the business end of her foot, that's for damn sure…

She pushed in the door tentatively. A small bell rung over her head. She looked around to take in the scenery, or lack thereof.

"Ah, you're here. Great." Roy Meier clapped his hands once and stood in a grand fashion in the middle of a room that couldn't be less grand. It was haphazardly fashioned with tables and chairs slung over the space of the lower level, and the stairs leading to a row of numbered doors upstairs stood menacingly, daring any brave soul to venture towards them. Elizabeth just stood there, staring. Yet Roy was smiling wider than she had seen him in months. Then again, she hadn't seen him so much in the past few. That's right; she had been wondering why he hadn't been showing his face around as much lately…

"So this is what you've been holed up in for the past nine months. And here I thought you were pregnant, I was gonna ask to be the godmother…" Roy still smiled; even her smartest insults didn't faze him. This must be big. "So what do you think? I know it's not finished yet, but when it is it'll be great." She was still dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, are we standing in the same room?" She asked. He finally got hold of the fact that she was lost.

"Oh, I didn't tell you did I? This is gonna be the newest bar on the street. Restaurant too. The rooms upstairs are gonna be for an inn, so the drunks who have one too many can crash here and we can charge them extra! Great, huh?" His childlike enthusiasm was almost contagious; she smiled as she berated him. "One: You don't know how to run a bar. Two: Even drunks won't sleep in those caves you have up there. Three: We?" He finally stopped smiling.

"One: I've been looking it up, and I'm pretty sure I can handle it. Two: Like I said, it's not done yet. Three: You're going to work here, didn't I tell you?" She dropped her purse. "Look, Liz, I know you've been looking for a place, and you can't sack it out on Gracie's couch forever. Not only that, you'll have the best commute in town. From the upstairs," He gestured to the landing on the top, "To the downstairs." He made a shifting motion to the bottom. Liza scoffed. "With the looks of those stairs, I'd rather take my chances on the Autobahn. And I told you not to call me Liz." He walked over and put an arm around her shoulder in what he hoped was a nonchalant fashion. She was too stunned to notice the abrupt change in his body heat when he touched her. "Look, I can't do this whole thing by myself, and you're the only person who can put up with me for long amounts of enclosed time. And why do you have to be so negative, we'll get this place worked over and it'll be ready for business before you know it."

She stared fixedly at her feet so he wouldn't see how red her face was. She kept her voice steady. "Gee, Roy, Living together in separate rooms, me working for you 'round the clock, if you want me to marry you, just ask." He froze. She laughed. "Kidding, kidding. So what, you'll sit around and cook all day, I'll put up with drunken bastards trying to grab my ass at all hours, and we'll all be one happy family? Why don't we--" He pressed a finger to her lips to stop her. She couldn't even hide how hard she was blushing. "Don't think about this too much. It'll be like an adventure. For both of us." He tried to maintain himself; the urge to close the already small gasp between their lips was overwhelming. It seemed like she was getting closer… and closer… with each endless moment she was getting warmer, her lips were getting larger, her eyes were closing more and more…

And before either of them knew it, they were lost within themselves. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her closer to his mouth and almost off her feet; the toes of her flats were barely clinging onto the floor. She tilted her head and brushed her tongue just lightly against his lips. He whispered her name against her mouth and let his shoulders shift to lead her arms around his neck. His hands traveled the length of her back, through her hair and down to her even thigh. A few of his fingers found his way to the delicate skin underneath the skirt. She pulled apart slowly and resentfully when she finally couldn't breathe anymore.

"So when do I start?"

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"Liz? LIZ!"

Liza lifted her head slightly and let a drowsy 'urrgh…' escape her. Soft blonde hair spilled across the pillow and she turned around to see her boss and lover standing in her doorway, looking annoyed. "I've held off opening hours as long as I can. Get up and get dressed, the breakfast crowd is gonna be coming in soon and I don't want to miss them because you're too busy sleeping the day away!" His eyes softened a bit and he lessened his shoulders. "You were moaning. What were you dreaming about anyway?" Liza shook her head and shifted her legs to the edge of the bed, revealing the skin that tempted the man in the doorway to no end.

"Just a little reminiscing. Nothing too exciting."

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Tee Hee.

You thought I was gonna give you a lemon but I didn't.

I just like messing with you!

R&R, you know the drill.