Darkness and Light

by: Beth

Disclaimer: I own nothing...except Marti, but I'd really like to own Lucky...but then again, wouldn't we all :)

A/N: Okay, so I'm just wondering how many people are actually reading this and how many people don't really care. If you hate it, please let me know and I'll remove the story from fanfiction.net....If you like it, please let me know and I'll continue to post it here. There are 23 chapters and an epilogue to the story, so the faster you review, the faster I will post them.

Dedication: To my lone reviewer, cleo...thanks for letting me know what you think! Emily won't show up until the end of the fic, when certain people make their way to PC. I hope that doesn't discourage you from reading though. This chapter introduces Marti's character and her relationship with Lucky a little bit. There are a few more originals that'll show up over the course of the story.



Chapter 2

Lucky took comfort in watching her sleep like he always did. He loved to just lay on the bed beside her and watch her sleep. He couldn't remember why they had started to sleep in the same bed but he was glad that they did. He needed her warmth and her calming presence. He couldn't really explain why he needed her. It was like he wouldn't be able to live or even breathe without her by his side. He was certain that he would die without her.

He watched the simple and soothing movement of her chest rising and falling regularly. It relaxed him like nothing else could do. It helped him keep his precarious hold on the life that he had built for himself.

She was beautiful to him. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face as she slept. Her face itself showed her youth and her innocence. She looked so peaceful, so free from the merciless world that they lived in.

It seemed to him that Marti was not plagued by troubling dreams the way that he was. She could sleep serenely while he tossed and turned, never truly remembering the parts of his past that evaded him during his waking moments.

As he was watching her, his mind drifted to the night that they had met. His superiors had sent him to a small bar to meet her. He had been surprised to get a partner before actually finishing his formal training but he realized later that everything had worked out for the best. He knew that he couldn't have asked for a better partner. When he later found out that Marti had been an agent since she was very young, he was very surprised. She was a little over a year younger than him.

~~~~**Lucky's Flashback**~~~~

Eighteen-year-old Lucky Spencer walked into the Gambler's Luck, a seedy little bar with few tables and few patrons. He immediately noticed the similarities between this bar and one that he had seen before but he couldn't really remember the particular bar that he was thinking of. The feeling of the place seemed strangely familiar, almost like he had been to it before. But the name didn't seem familiar to him. The bar that he was thinking of was named after a person. John's? Jack's? Neither of those names sounded right to him. It drove him crazy to not be able to remember little things like this. Sometimes he wished that he could remember, but other times he wasn't so sure that he wanted to know.

He glanced around the room, noticing the biker-type men who leaned against the one pool table in the room. They were obviously drunk since they were yelling, in slurred speech, and AT every person who walked by, man or woman. In the small crowd, he saw no one that he thought would even remotely resemble an agent for the WSB. He walked to the bar, carefully avoiding the bikers, and sat on an empty stool, facing the patrons of the dining area.

"Looking for someone?" A young, female voice startled him and caused him to nearly knock over a glass that was sitting on the bar behind him.

"Yeah. A friend." He answered in a clipped voice, annoyed with this girl already. She didn't even look old enough to be in the bar.

"Really. A friend, huh?" She inquired flirtatiously. 'This must be him. God, he's gorgeous.' She thought, looking him over. He was wearing a pair of nice-fitting blue jeans and a white T-shirt, which was nearly covered by his black leather jacket. She noticed the similarities between his outfit and her own. 'I love his hair.' She decided as she watched one strand fall into his eyes. It was so sexy how his hair was just long enough to do that. The way that he brushed it out of his eyes was even sexier.

Lucky smiled at her and looked her over. She was shorter than he was. Standing she would probably be about five foot, four inches tall. 'She can't be much older than me,' he thought to himself. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a fitted, black leather jacket over a white tank top. Her dark brown hair was pulled back by a black clip.

"What can I get you two?" The bartender unexpectedly appeared before Lucky. He wiped his hands on the shirt that barely covered his beer belly and waited for them to order.

"I'll take another Martini." The girl spoke before Lucky got a chance. He looked surprised at what she ordered but quickly recovered and asked for the first thing that came to his mind.

"I'll have a beer. Budweiser."

"Agent Spencer, a beer. I wouldn't have expected that from someone so young." She whispered the last sentence, leaning toward him. She smiled as he scowled at her. She could guess exactly what he was thinking and he was right. She is younger than he is, by over a year.

"Nice to meet you, Agent..." He trailed off, waiting for her to jump in with her name. When she failed to do so, he nodded toward the Martini the bartender had just brought her and said, "Guess I'll just have to call you Martini."

"Only if I get to call you Bud." She grinned mischievously and stood up. "Come on. We're gonna be late."

~~~~**End~Lucky's Flashback**~~~~

He grinned again at the memory before sliding out from under the covers and kissing Marti on the cheek.

Lucky made his way out of the cottage that they were sharing while they were on a small vacation from their hectic lifestyle. There was just enough moonlight to see the water clearly from where he stood on the old, wooden porch. Deciding to talk a stroll, he walked down the stairs and into the sand.

It was as if Marti could sense when Lucky's presence left the cottage. As soon as he was far enough away that he wouldn't be able to save her from her own demons, the one dream that she fears begins to play in her head. Lucky cannot save her this time; she must save herself.

!!!!****!!!! Marti's Dream !!!!****!!!!

She clutched her Scooby Doo stuffed animal closer to her Scooby Doo nightgown as she crept down the hall toward her father's voice. She reached the top of the steps in the darkness that surrounded the whole house, only in the few places that the moonlight shone through could you actually see anything, and sat down on the cold marble of the stairway. She thought it odd that her father would be talking to someone in the dark when she heard another man's voice coming from the bottom of the stairs.

The old Grandfather clock in the den startled her as it struck midnight. She gasped and then sat still, waiting to be caught. Her father looked up, directly at her, where she was still perched on the top stair. Their eyes were locked together as the other man pulled out a gun and shot her father. One shot to the heart was all it took. His eyes were full of pain and regret as he fell to the floor, a red puddle of blood slowly making its way toward her. The other man turned around and looked up at her from where he stood near the bottom of the steps, but his face was bathed in shadows and she couldn't make out his face. But she heard his laughter as he left her sitting in shock on the marble staircase. She would be haunted by the empty, lifeless sound of his laughter from the time that she was nine years old until her dying day.

!!!!****!!!! End- Marti's Dream !!!!****!!!!

Marti sat straight up in bed breathing hard and sweating profusely. She could still hear his laughter echoing in her ears.

She forced herself to get out of the bed and stumble into the bathroom. With shaking hands, she turned on the light, praying that Lucky wouldn't be able to see it. He didn't need her nightmares to worry about when he had his own to deal with. She found the bottle that she was looking for. It contained Lucky's prescription for a sleeping aid. He never took any of the pills that were prescribed for him but on the rare occasions like tonight, Marti would sneak a couple of these particular pills. She began to cry when she couldn't get the cap off of the bottle. 'D@mn childproof caps. Finally,' she thought as she grabbed a glass that was sitting beside the sink and swallowed two of the pills.

She made her way back to the bed as quietly as she could. Although she was still shaken, she knew that she had to be asleep by the time Lucky came back to the room. He couldn't know about her dreams. She didn't want him to know about the guilt that she felt because she had been the one who distracted her father. It was because of her that he was dead. This was her final thought as she succumbed to the pills and fell into a dreamless slumber.

Several hours later, Lucky walked into the bedroom just before sunrise to find Marti sleeping deeply and peacefully. He smiled as he covered her up with his blanket, never knowing about the pills or Marti's nightmare.

End-Chapter 2

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