Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.

"A Permanent Lock"

Once they were settled in their private car, Elizabeth ventured to ask, "Is it worth anything to me to ask where we're going?"

Lucky leaned back in his seat and gazed out the window. "Canada," he answered. "A little town called Red Bank." He pulled out a bundle of papers and handed some to her.

"What's this?" she asked.

"The new you."

Elizabeth frowned , not understanding. In the bundle she found a fake passport and drivers license and other identification papers. All featured the name Sasha Miller. "When did you have time to do this?" she asked.

"I actually had these made last year, before...before," Lucky answered, stalling for a moment. "It's always best to be prepared, especially when you're involved with a Spencer."

Almost thirty minutes passed in silence before Elizabeth could stand it no more. "What happened that night, Lucky? Where have you been? Why didn't you try to call me or let me know? Whose body was in your apartment?" Her questions streamed from her mouth as fast as her breath could support them. Lucky just let her talk. When finally it seemed she had run out of stream, or courage, or both, and she looked back at him with wide questioning eyes, Lucky started the long explanation.

"We talked that night, on the phone. Do you remember?"

"Of course," Elizabeth protested. "I've repeated that conversation in my head for almost a year, Lucky. I kept thinking about what you said about the candles. I blamed myself for the longest time because I'd asked you to light another one for me."

Lucky stared in horror and made a move to reach out and touch her but stopped himself. He'd never imagined she would blame herself. He thought of the aggravated pain she must have gone through and his blood stung his veins.

After a minute, Lucky continued his story. "Not long after we talked, not more than fifteen minutes probably, they came." Before Elizabeth could ask who "they" were, he barreled on. "One of them called first to distract me. I shouldn't have fallen for it," he admonished himself. "I'm a Spencer, dammit, I know better...but I wasn't thinking and in my lapse they managed to sneak up on me. I never knew how many there were exactly, they knocked me out, but I know it was a least three." Lucky issued a hollow laugh. "I guess I should have been flattered that he thought it would take more than three grown men to take me down."

"He?" Elizabeth asked, confused. "I thought you said Helena was behind all this."

"She is," he told her. "But she had help. A guy named Cesar Faison. A ghost," he muttered, so low he couldn't be heard. "Faison nabbed me, but he was working for Helena." Elizabeth nodded her understanding, but did not interrupt again. Lucky continued. "I have no way of knowing this for sure, but I would bet that we were a good hour away before they started the fire at the bike shop. I don't know whose body was in my bed and frankly I don't want to know. Helena has so much blood on her hands..." his voice trailed off and he thought with some regret that he had added to the blood. Helena had not doubt exacted revenge on the guards that let him escape. "Faison took me somewhere, I still haven't figured out where, and after a month of living in a little grey room, I moved to Helena's yacht. Since then I've been floating around the world, waiting for something, anything to happen. A few weeks ago she finally arrived and I started tolerating her company, waiting until it was safe to run. And four days ago came my chance. I came straight to you and that's more of less it. At least, that's what happened on my end. I need to know what happened here. What happened that night?" he asked. "Who was there, what did people say about the fire?"

Elizabeth allowed her mind to return completely to that night and all its horror. She described to Lucky her dream and how she woke up and tried to call him. She told him how she'd gone over to the bike shop to see if he was okay after she couldn't get him on the phone. She described her terror at seeing the flames and even though she knew he was alive, knew the body inside had not been him, recalling it now still filled her with a heavy dread.

"Who was there?" Lucky asked gently, noting her distress.

"Lt. Taggert was the first on there, I think. Commissioner Scorpio, maybe. Your Aunt Bobbie was there. That I remember." Elizabeth struggled to remember that fiery moment of grief with some clarity.

"Was anyone else hurt? Was there anyone else in the bike shop?"

"No," she answered.

"What were people thinking?" he asked. "Before there were any official reports, how did they explain the fire?"

"First they thought it had to do with Sonny's business," Elizabeth told him. "Jason said at first he thought it was A.J., you know, because he burned down Sonny's warehouse."

"Jason?" Lucky was surprised to hear her mention him, though he knew he shouldn't have been. "They didn't go after A.J., did they?" he asked. He never much cared for Emily's brother but he didn't want him to pay for Helena's crimes.

"No," Elizabeth assured him. "The reports came back and said the fire had been caused by the candles."

"How did they know the body was me?" Lucky continued. "I mean other than the fact he was in my room in my bed. Who identified the body?"

"That night Taggert showed me your subway token. They'd found it on your...on the body," she corrected herself.

Lucky nodded, and said, partly to himself, "I figured that's what they'd done. The token was the first thing I realized was missing. Who identified the body?" he asked again.

"Your parents," she answered quietly. "It really shook your mom up."

Lucky leaned back and was silent for a while. At last he said, "I can't believe they fell for it. It was all too neat, they should have known better."

Elizabeth assumed he was talking about his parents. "There was so much proof, Lucky. They had dental records, the token...please don't' blame your parents."

"I don't," he said quickly. "Not really. But they should have known better. Smart enough to make it from Canada to Kelly's on my own as a kid, but not smart enough to put candles out before I went to sleep." Lucky shook his head. "They should have known better."

Elizabeth sat staring out the window, digesting all this information. Finally, she asked, "What did Helena want you for?"

"Bait," was the simply answer. "At least at first. I don't think she really intended my parents to buy the death really, so when they did she had to readjust. Since then she's been sailing me around the globe on her yacht of medieval intrigue, trying to get me to spill information, or cross over to the dark side, or something like that." Lucky watched. Elizabeth was nodded silently. A darkness was creeping into her eyes. "I tried calling you once," he told her. She looked at him in surprise. "A few days after the fire. Faison let me steal his cell phone and I called your house. You picked up, and I could hear you but I guess you couldn't hear me." He paused, remembering the awful feeling he'd had, knowing that Elizabeth thought he was dead. "Faison just wanted me to know that you were okay, I guess. So I'd struggle less."

Elizabeth remembered that phone call. She remembered thinking that maybe it was the police to say they'd made a mistake, or maybe it was Luke Spencer to tell her where Lucky really was, or maybe it was Lucky himself to tell her he loved her. The knowledge that it really had been Lucky brought the present reality crashing down around her and she started to cry, her sobs breaking out in uncontrolled waves. All that she had wished for and hoped and prayed for had come true. Lucky was alive. For the first time the true really hit her and she shook with the effect of her cries.

Lucky closed the distance between them and held her tightly in his arms. He said nothing but softly stroked her hair and let her cry. Finally she recovered herself and moved out of his embrace. She wiped her tears from her face. "Sorry," she said quietly.

"Don't be," Lucky said. "You never have to apologize to me." They were still very close to each other and he was almost dizzy with their proximity. She was looking up at him, her brown eyes wide and still moist with tears and he was struck with the desire to kiss her. He leaned closer, but at the last second pulled away. He shot off the seat and moved to the other side of the car. He rubbed his temples trying to massage away the thoughts in his head.

Elizabeth watched him, her fear returning. "Have I changed so much?" she asked. "Has your...affection for me changed so much?"

Lucky looked at her surprised. "Not at all," he said. "Not one bit."

"Then why...?" She couldn't finish her question.

Lucky sighed and resumed his sea. It was a conversation that had to happen sometime. "I realize," he started slowly, "that I have no right to stake any claim in you. I've been gone for almost a year, and it would be foolish for me to assume you wouldn't have moved on. It would be unfair for me to want you to hold yourself back from your own life."

Elizabeth stared at him, and started to understand what was happening. She took his hand and said, "You are my life, Lucky. I couldn't move on from you. I didn't want to. Memory of you is sometimes all that keeps me going. Gram tries to help, but you know how she can be. Emily and Nikolas want to be there for me, but they have their own lives, too. Jason was my best hope for a while, but he left town." This second mention of Jason sparked a flame of jealousy that Lucky hoped wasn't obvious from the outside.

"Your love saved me," Elizabeth continued. "Now are you telling me I based my entire survival on something that's not there anymore?" Despite the question, she spoke as if she already knew the answer; she only wanted Lucky to realize it for himself.

"No," he answered her.

"You haven't moved on, then?" she asked.

"No."

"So you do still love me."

"Of course I do."

It happened so quickly Lucky wasn't sure of what he'd said. But he saw Elizabeth's face, truly bright for the first time since he returned, her eyes gleaming victoriously. Slowly he realized what had happened. He brought one hand to the side of her face. "I love you," he said, with some note of strength in his voice. "I never stopped loving you and the memory of you was the only reason I had the power to wake up every morning."

Despite the tears that welled in her eyes, Elizabeth was smiling. "I love you, too," she said soflty. Lucky silenced any further words with a kiss that had been burning in his mind for almost a year. He poured out all his heart into that kiss and for the first time since escaping from Helena's yacht he felt truly safe.

"You've got my heart," Lucky whispered, and Elizabeth smiled to hear the vows she had repeated herself only the evening before. He wound his arms around her body and held her as if he would never let her go again.

A/N: I will be computerless for about a week, so this will be my last update for a while. I apologize for the upcoming lapse.