You Belong To Me - a Lucky and Emily AU story

There was a time I loved the idea of this couple. This is a story about how it all could have been.

Some of their history stays the same, but most of it gets twisted.

Watch the dates carefully to follow the timeline in this story.

Part One

October 28th, 2006

She stood in the tiny room at the back of the church, dressed in a gown that had been passed down through generations. Not of her own family though...of his...of the man that was not here today.

Lucky was on her mind though. But, then again, when wasn't he?

Emily was grateful her loud and boisterous relatives and even her well meaning friends had given her this time alone. She needed to think about him, about them, about what it felt like the first time he ever kissed her- the first time she had ever been kissed in her life- and she needed to finally put him behind her.

She laughed. That would be one hell of a trick, if she could pull it off.

Lucky Spencer was in her- a part of her bones, a part of her DNA- but he was also gone. He left her. He walked. He wasn't coming back. She was marrying someone else in...exactly 19 minutes...her laugh turned into a choking sound as tears flooded her eyes.

The door opened behind her, and in the mirror, there he was. His eyes still had the power to cause her heart to stop, for just a half of beat, whenever he looked at her like he was now.

"Hey, now," he started in his soft drawl "this is supposed to be a happy day. Where's that smile I remember?"

She wanted to hate him. Oh, how nice that would be. Then this was be over. The best thing in her life, and the most painful, it would finally be done.

But hate was far from what she felt. That would be too easy. She felt everything else for him, every other emotion in the world- anger, disappointment, devotion, loyalty, hero worship, joy, hurt, love, lust, bonded, torn. She felt understood at her deepest level, and misunderstood all at the same time.

He walked fully into the room, closing the door behind him, and she turned around. He wasn't dressed to attend her formal black tie wedding, instead he wore jeans, work boots, a black tee-shirt- and a gold chain he never took off.

She had put it around his neck nine years before, when he was eighteen and more hers than anyone else's. A lifetime ago now.

Emily only stared at him as he kept moving closer to her, so close that he was nearly touching her, and then he did. He raised his hand and brushed a single strand of hair behind her ear. It had escaped her nearly perfected coiffed updo.

"There you go," he whispered, then smiled at her.

But it wasn't the same grin he flashed her the day they met, at thirteen years old. Then he was simply outrageous, the wild child that had never even been in a real school, never lived in a house he could call his own, never had any roots. He was bursting with life- filled with a certain rawness and freedom that she had never known before- and she needed him like air back then. And now...

"Why are you here?" she asked softly

"I heard my best friend was tying the knot."

"From?" But even as she asked, Emily knew who it was. Not his mother or father or brother. He must have been secretly in touch with the only one he couldn't leave behind. "Lulu."

"She got my number, somehow. Well you know...Lu can be pretty creative when she is desperate."

"She shouldn't have bothered."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The coldness in her voice cut into him. But that wasn't what had Lucky scared. He had never seen Emily so detached from him before.

There was a time she would run across the room, when he walked in the door, and literally toss her whole body against his.

And they were only friends then. But she was young, just fifteen or sixteen, and she still had complete faith in him. He was what made her smile, he was what made her happy, and safe and hopeful.

He hadn't expected that response today. But if he had gotten it...God, what would it feel like to have her look at him that way again?

"Well," Lucky said, looking down and breaking the eye contact that was making it hard for him to think. "...Lulu seems to think it's up to me to give you away. Now," he glanced back up "where would she get that idea?"

"I want you to give me away," Emily announced to Lucky as they sat in a room full of people at Lucy Coe's bridal shower "when I get married. Because I belong to you more than anyone else on earth." She was young, and it was easy to make grand statements like that. To assume it would all work out perfectly.

Emily told Lucky now, "The kid has a good memory, and a cunning sense of just when to use it. She had to only be- what? Seven years old when I said that?"

"About."

"Ten years ago and she drags it out now. I'm surprised it worked though. If you wouldn't come back when Nikolas was in the car wreck, when your Dad was behind bars-"

"When isn't my dad behind bars? He always gets himself right back out. "

Emily finally smiled. "True. But still...you come back for this? Just to give me your blessing?"

"Who says I'm doing that?" Lucky reached out and took her hand, intertwining their fingers. "Why would I want to give you away?"

Knock. Knock.

Emily's eyes stayed locked on his, as the door opened and Nikolas said "It's about time...oh."

"Hello, brother," Nikolas added formally.

Lucky didn't turn to face him. "She needs a few more minutes."

Nikolas looked at Emily and she nodded. He backed out of the room and closed the door.

She told Lucky,"I need a lot more than a few minutes. I need answers. I need to know why my best friend in the world did this to me? Was I just a foolish little girl to believe you meant what you swore all those years? That you would never leave me behind? Am I the immature one because at 25 I still couldn't let you go and now two years later I'm thrilled that you're here...after you ditched me...I'm still happier to see you than is reasonable or logical or right. Tell me how you can do that to me? Tell me why you did this to me? Tell me you hated being away from me...tell me...something, Lucky."

He whispered, his voice hoarse and desperate, "I had to go. I had to come back. It's that simple."

"After all we have been through- that's all I get?" Emily asked "Am I remembering everything wrong? Weren't you the boy who was never going to let me down?"

She jerked her hand out of his and turned back toward the mirror.

He said, "But I did...long before I left."

Emily argued, "No, you did...only when you left."