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Chapter 9 - The Bodyguard

Something was wrong, Gordo knew it. What was wrong with Lizzie? Why did she suddenly seem frightened of something? He noticed her come out of her room and look up and down the corridor with more fear then he could ever remember seeing on her face. A short while later he noticed someone new walk up the hallway, a face he recognized from before. "Who is that? Where do I know him from?" he asked himself.

The familiar guy knocked on Lizzie's door and shortly thereafter Lizzie came to the door and looked incredibly relieved to see him, she showed him a piece of paper and then he entered the room and closed the door, it was then that Gordo realized who it was, it was Sergei, Paulo's bodyguard from the Rome encounter a few years ago, and he recognized that piece of paper too and realized his incredible mistake. In his desire to show Lizzie that he appreciated her, he had scared her instead. "How could I have been so stupid", he thought. "Of course that would scare her, I mean she got a repeat of a letter she had seen years ago now halfway across the world from the original, that just screams stalker! How am I going to fix this?"

Gordo sat on the bed and then collapsed backwards. He just lay there staring at the ceiling beating himself up for scaring the woman he loved.

"You know Mr. Gordon, you aren't very good at this." a voice came after Gordo had been there for what seemed like an eternity, the sudden shock of being addressed startled him so much he fell off the bed, when he looked up he saw Sergei staring at him.

"G...good at what Sergei?" he stuttered back.

"Being a stalker of course, glad to know you recognized me, I recognized you right away when I saw you looking out the crack of the door."

"I'm not stalking her."

"No of course you aren't, that's why you aren't any good at it."

"That's the second time you said I was not good at it, what do you mean?"

"Well first of all you looked through the door, and then when you realized that you had scared her, you left the door cracked before collapsing on your bed, I didn't even have to break in."

"Well as I said, I wasn't stalking her. Does she know I'm here? Does she know it was me? And how did you know I wrote that letter?"

"One question at a time Mr. Gordon, first question, no, she doesn't know you are here. Second question, no, she doesn't know it was you, she hasn't got a clue. And for your final question, it wasn't that hard to figure out, your feelings for her were obvious at our last meeting, and when I saw you through the crack in the door and then read the letter...."

"How come everyone seems to know? Even you whom I've barely met."

"Not everyone knows Mr. Gordon, she doesn't know."

"How do you know she doesn't know?"

"Because she looked at you with the same insecurity that you looked at her with back in Rome."

"She doesn't feel the same way about me as I do about her. Wouldn't she have told me by now if she did?"

"Well Mr. Gordon, perhaps you don't feel the way you do, wouldn't you have told her by now if you did?"

"Point taken," Gordo answered and then flopped back down on the bed.

"So tell her, or do I have to have you arrested for stalking her?"

"But... What about Frankie Muniz?"

"What about him? Look... Gordo, that's what she calls you right?"

"Right. How did you know that?"

"Um, the encounter in Rome was pretty... unusual, you honestly think I would forget it? That whole event is burned in my mind."

Gordo thought about this and it made a lot of sense, he nodded in acknowledgement, so Sergei continued, "Gordo, what do you have to lose by telling her how you feel? I know your friendship is important to you and you are worried that if you tell her, that she won't like you as a friend anymore or something, but trust me, you are one of the most important people in the world to her, if not THE most important person in the world to her, even if she has gotten over you, which I doubt, she will still want to be your friend. Just tell her, you are only causing turmoil by continuing to stretch it out."

"I guess..."

"Look man, just tell her, or would you prefer if I don't give you a choice?"

"What do you mean?"

"Lizzie has hired me as her Bodyguard because of your little note, she's going to be expecting me to bring in the person that wrote that note, so that she won't be scared anymore. You don't want her to be scared do you?"

"No, the last thing in the world I want is for her to be scared."

"Ok then, let's go Gordon."

"Now?!"

"You'd rather she stay scared till you can work up your nerve?"

"No, you are right."

"I'll go in first, you wait here," Sergei said. Gordo nodded and then Sergei walked out into the hall and knocked on Lizzie's Door. When Lizzie answered the door he told her, "Lizzie, I have found the person who wrote that letter."

"Already? How?" she asked back.

"It wasn't hard, and it wasn't exactly a stalker, although his tactics could have been better."

"Well... who was it?"

Sergei turned and faced Gordo's door, "Come on out."

Gordo inhaled deeply, then walked out into the hall and said "Hi Lizzie, it's me."