**A/N I wanted to clear up some questions I had recieved in an review. (BTW, thanks for all the wonderful reviews). The first question is that Elizabeth never dated an earl in the svu books. In that particular subject I was referring to the Elizabeth series. Which was a six book miniseries where Elizabeth runs away to London and becomes a kitchen maid for the Earl Penningtom and his family. Max was Earl Pennington's son. He asked Elizabeth to marry him in the last book. She ofcourse turned him down. You will have to read the entire miniseries to completely understand the situation. It sounds, to me that you never read the trilogy about Laurent. Anyway he proposed to her, thats the only two proposals I know of, maybe you know more. And about Todd, I know that they became close to enemies, I am pretty sure that you are referring to the Senior Year series. I mentioned that she dated Connor but I lost interest in that series. I wouldn't have metnioned it but I had to have something to connect from the time in France to College. I am basically using the story line that they went from the summer to SVU skip the rest of the stuff, well I did bring up Devon Whitelaw. Until I read the review that was posted. I didn't think that I made Jessica sound like a twit or Elizabeth act like an old woman. I also saw that the reiew was posted after ch. 2 so I suggest that you read through the rest of the chapters then make your judgement. If after that you decide that Second Chances Only Come Once A Lifetime isn't for you then choose a story that you can understand better. But thank you for looking at it and reviewing.
Now that's out of my system, enjoy chapter 16 and please don't be afraid to reivew. **




Elizabeth sighed, she had never felt so free, so ialive/i in an extremely long time. She turned her head up to the cloudless blue sky. She wanted to sing with happiness. She didn't realize it until now, but that book deal added so much pressure. It felt good just to be there and not have to worry about a deadline or a press meeting. In a couple of hours she will realize what she has done, but for now she felt that she could do anything she wanted.
And that she wanted to do was go to Laurent. She walked to her jeep and climbed in. She turned on the cd player that already had the J n H soundtrack in it and set the cd player on Alive! She even sang to the song, badly but she felt too good not to. Before she realized it she had turned onto her driveway.
She turned off the jeep and walked out. She brushed the wrinkles out of her slinky blue-green linen dress and walked up to the door.She stopped right before she could open up the door and turned back and got into her jeep. Something really special was going to happen tonight and she could feel it. She pulled out of the drive and went to a small beautique. She had seen the most beautiful white dress there and she wanted no ineeded/i to have it tonight.
She walked inside and directly over to the semiformal dresses.
There it was. In all its glory. It was pure white that hung right about mid thigh, The straps criss-crossed in the back and had a halter top look to it. She pulled it off the rack and brought it to the cashier. She pulled out her credit card and rang the dress up. This was very risky, the dress was $300 and she just tore up her contract up. She shoved those thoughts out of her head. Any other day it would have bothered her, but not today. Today she was going to act her age and make a crazy buy, no more acting like an old lady. She was 24yrs old and now she was a 24yr old with a hot dress. Plus she had a wonderful man who was absolutely crazy about her waiting at home. Smiling she took the box that the dress was put in and went back to her jeep. She pulled out and went back home. This time she was singing to one of the songs called "Someone Like You."
She pulled back into the driveway and made her way with her package up to the double oak doors. She opened the doors and went into the foyer. She walked to a vase sitting on the high table next to the wall. She pulled a rose out of it and breathed in the scent. She carried the red rose with her as she made her way into out through the house to the backyard.
She had beach front property, but she also had a small side yard where she relaxed. She stopped and smiled, silently watching Laurent, who was out there, in the yard. He was kneeling at her little garden and was pulling herbs out of the garden. He stood up and turned and smiled. Elizabeth put the box on the yard table.
"So how did the meeting go?" He smiled and pulled her into a hug. She lifted her head for a kiss.
"I'll give you the short version. I quit writing."
His eyebrows came together. "Why? Writing was your dream."
"Well. I realized that some dreams aren't all they are cracked up to be."
"So now what?" Laurent followed her into the kitchen area.
"I have absolutely no clue, but now at least I have the possibiltites."
"So why did you quit?"
"Your not going to drop the subject are you?"
"For as long as you have known me, when have I ever dropped a subject?"
"Point taken. I'll tell you what, lets make a deal tell me what you were doing with the hersbs and I'll tell you why I quit."
"You first."
"I gave it all up because George was just using me to pull himself out of the gutter, and the only reason in his opinion why my book sold was because of what I look like not because of what I write. The reason he wanted to see me was becuase of you, we wasn't happy with the fact that we have been together. He never liked the fact that we have history. So he told me in order to continue..." Elizabeth recounted her meeting with George. By the time she was done, she had never seen his face so dark, so angry. Without saying a word, Laurent turned on his heel and stomped to the door. "Where are you going?"
"To have a nice conversation with your ex manager."
"Please don't." He stopped and turned to face her. "Nothing about you is nice when it comes to things like this. You'll make it worse than what it already is."
"You're right as usual, Elizabeth." He sighed and took her back into his arms. "It's just that when he said those things not only was he talking to you, but also to me."
"So what were you doing with the herbs?"
"I was going to cook dinner with the herbs."
"At least you are staying out of trouble, while I on the other hand screwed up the dream I have worked my butt off for my entire life. But for some reason, I don't regret anything I have done until now."
"That is good, why don't you go up and relax and I'll cook dinner."
"You are truly an amazing person Laurent, and I feel so lucky to have you in my life."
"I feel the exact same way, my love." Elizabeth headed up into their chamber and stretched out on the bed. Her eyes drifted shut.
She opened her eyes again to see Laurent sitting on the bed. "How long have I been asleep?" She questioned.
"About two hours."
"Sorry."
"Don't be there is nothing to be sorry about. Dinner is ready."

**On the roof of Blackwell Manor**

"This was absolutely wonderful. And so romantic." She sighed and gazed out into the ocean. Darkness had completely fallen with the moon shining brightly in the midnight blue sky. The reflection of the moon in the ocean added a sense of mystery to the place.
"You really might want to reconcider the name for this place, Blackwell Manor just doesn't seem to work anymore."
"I know, it was fitting when I bought the place, but now that I hve had work down on it. It feels so much more lighter."
"So what are you going to call it?"
"I don't know."
"Elizabeth when I was in my hotel room, in England, I saw you on the Tv, I made a promise to myself that I would not let you go,"Laurent took her hand and kissed kissed her palm.
Oh god. Elizabeth thought knowing what was coming up.
"Elizabeth, will you marry me?"

i"I can't marry you." /i

Her own words hit her in the face, the words she told him eight years ago. She said that because she had her own life in Sweet Valley. But now...
"Elizabeth," Laurent's voice gently pulled her out of her memories. She looked deep into his blue eyes, and knew the answer.