The Lucky Ones

Chapter Thirteen

Lately when I look into your eyes I realize
You're the only one I need in my life
Baby I just don't know how to describe
How lovely you made me feel inside
You give me butterflies
Got me flying so high in the sky
I can't control the butterflies

Carter slowly opened his eyes saw that there was an empty spot on the bed where Lucy should've been. He frowned, not liking the fact that he didn't get to wake up with her in his arms. That's how he always got to wake up. He wondered why she had gotten up before him, then he realized why. They didn't have to work today because it was..., well it was Valentine's Day. He dragged himself out of bed and looked at the clock. 10:02 a.m. He walked out and saw Lucy sitting at the kitchen table, clutching a cup of coffee and staring deeply into it. He grabbed a cup and sat across from her. "How long have you been awake?" he finally asked.

"I dunno. Maybe an hour?" Lucy replied, looking up at him.

He yawned. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You looked so peaceful. I know that you haven't gotten much sleep lately." She replied. Her nightmares had almost completely gone away. She had only had one since the New Year. But John had been having a lot of nightmares lately. She figured that it was only normal because the anniversary of the attack was coming up. He'd never tell her what the nightmares were about, but she had a pretty good idea of what they were about.

"Thanks, but you should've woken me up anyway. I don't like to wake up when you're not in my arms." He smiled.

She smiled back. "Sorry."

"No need to be. But what were you thinking about when I came in?"

The smile on her face got wider. "You."

"Me? What about me?"

"I don't know...just everything. Like the fact that I never imagined that you'd be sitting across from me, drinking coffee and looking at me like that!"

"Like what?" he asked. He didn't realize he was looking at her in a special way.

"Like you love me!" she exclaimed. "I never thought that would ever happen."

"Well you're a very lovable person." He told her.

"But there was a time when I thought that you hated me, or at least were extremely annoyed with me."

"And now look at us. We're living together and secretly dating."

"We've come a long way." She pointed out. "Cause I can still remember times when all we could do was fight."

"I'm not proud of those times." He admitted. "But I think part of the reason I would goad you into fights was because you're very cute when you're angry."

"Oh am I?" she asked.

"Oh yeah. You get this cute look on your face." He tried to imitate the look that she makes.

Lucy laughed at the face he made. "I do not look like that!"

"Well, maybe I'm just not conveying the look correctly. But trust me, you are extremely cute when angry." He complimented.

After a few minutes of silence, she took another drink of her coffee and then spoke again. "I know we said we'd stay in today, so what do you want to do?"

He got up and started kissing her neck. "Do you really have to ask?"

"I'm not sure you can keep that pace up all day." She laughed.

"Is that a challenge? 'Cause I love challenges." He got an evil look in his eyes.

"Well fine." She laughed. "Prove me wrong." She was surprised when he picked her up out of her chair. "What are you doing? Put me down!" she squealed.

"You shouldn't have given me a challenge." He replied as he carried her back to the bedroom.

It was finally about 6 p.m. when they re-emerged from the bedroom. "Wow." That was all that Lucy could say as she opened up the freezer and took out a frozen pizza. After putting it in the oven, she walked back over to Carter and wrapped her arms around him.

"I think that was a personal best for me." He boasted with a smile.

"I guess you have more stamina than I thought. The pizza should be ready in about a half-hour." She said as they went over to the couch and laid down together. "Today's been great."

"Yeah. It has."

"Can we do this every Valentine's Day from now on?" she asked.

"It's fine with me." He replied, but his mind was really a thousand miles away.

Lucy could tell that he was tuning out. "Ok, what's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?"

"What makes you think that something is wrong?"

"It's the tone of your voice." She replied.

He chuckled because she knew him so well. "I guess that the day is finally catching up to me."

She knew exactly what he meant by that statement. "Do you want to talk about it? It might help, especially since you're having nightmares. I'm kinda worried about you."

"You don't need to be." He reassured her, kissing the top of her head.

"But I am. I love you John, and I can't sit back and do nothing while you have these nightmares. You were there for me, now let me be there for you."

He sighed. She was right. It was only fair that he confide in her the way she had confided in him. He sat up on the couch. "The nightmare's always the same." He started, pausing for a moment. "I'm transported back to that day. I see that your name is still on the board and that you haven't completed your work yet. I go into his room looking for you so that I can chew you out about not doing your work and he's not there. But you are. You're just lying there. I think that image of you on the floor will forever be burned into my corneas." He stopped, and felt her wrap her arms around him. "I rush over to you. You look at me and say 'what took you so long?' and it breaks my heart because before I can do anything to help you, you die...You always die." He couldn't help it anymore. Tears ran freely down his cheeks.

Lucy wiped the tears from his cheeks. She couldn't stand to see him this way. It was the first time that he had shown this kind of emotion when talking about his feelings about the attack. It broke her heart. She wanted to cry for him, but knew that she had to be the strong one right now. "Shh, it's ok. John, look at me. Look." He finally looked at her. "I'm fine. I'm not dead. I'm right here; I'll always be right here."

"I know that Luce, but the dreams are so real."

"I know. But do you remember what you used to tell me?" she asked. "You said that dreams don't mean anything. Whether they are good or bad, they are just your imagination working overtime. They aren't real."

"I know that, but it's a lot easier to give out the advise than to listen to it."

She chuckled. "I know. Look John, everything is ok. We're ok."

He quickly pulled himself together. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to ruin this day. I wanted to make this Valentine's Day 100 times better than last year."

She ran her fingers through his hair. "Trust me, you already have." She whispered.

"But I wanted it to be perfect. Instead..."

"Instead, you let me help you. Do you know how many times you've had to help me like this? Frankly, I've lost count. But being able to have you confide in me just proves to me that you love and trust me. And besides, there's no such thing as a perfect day. Although this day has been extremely close." She smiled.

He finally returned her smile. "And the day's not even over yet."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing." He grinned. "I just have a surprise for you later."

"What kind of a surprise?" she asked, her eyes lighting up.

"You'll just have to wait until after dinner."

"But you know I hate waiting for surprises!" she complained.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to tell you." He smiled.

"Fine." Lucy grumbled, pretending to pout.

It was later, around 9 p.m. when Lucy finally quit asking him to give her the surprise. They were lying on the couch together, both exhausted from the day's activities. He knew that she had fallen asleep, but he couldn't sleep. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. He figured that this would be the time that he gave her the surprise. "Hey, you want your surprise now?" he nudged her.

"But I don't want to wear the orange dress." she mumbled, still half-asleep.

He laughed, wondering what kind of dream she was having. "Luce...Luce wake up."

Lucy slowly opened her eyes a little. "John, let me sleep. You've worn me out today."

He grinned. "Yeah, I guess I did. But if you don't wake up soon, you won't get your surprise."

She heard the word surprise and immediately woke up, catching a second wind. "Ooh, yeah! The surprise!" she exclaimed. "What is it?"

"Well I got you a present."

"And that reminds me, I got you one too!" she exclaimed, running over to the closet and taking out a wrapped gift.

"Mine's in the bedroom." He went to go get it and then came back to find Lucy sitting at the table. He walked over. "I want to give you my gift last."

"Ok." She relented, even though she was anxious to find out what the gift was. "Here. I hope you like it. You're a very hard person to shop for. I never know what to get you."

"It's because I already have everything that I want." He smiled, taking the long box from her. Unwrapping it, he opened it to find a nice gold watch. "Lucy, this is great."

"Turn it over." She told him.

He did, and saw a tiny inscription. To John, Thank you for loving me. Love, Luce He looked up at her and saw her smiling at him.

"I love you." She said, reaching across the table to give him a kiss.

"I love you too. This is probably the best gift I've ever gotten."

"Well I'm glad you like it. I came up with about a million different things that I wanted to write on the back, but there wasn't really room to write it all." She laughed nervously.

"I love it." He smiled. "Now, for your gift." He handed the small box to her.

She looked at it for a moment. It was a small, blue box. Ooh, he got me earrings! She smiled. That's good. She needed a new pair of earrings. Then she opened it, but didn't find earrings like she had expected. The smile on her face turned to a look of shock and confusion. "John?" she whispered, looking at him. But he had moved from his seat. He was now kneeling down in front of her. "Wh- what are you doing?" she asked as he took hold of her hands.

"Something that I've wanted to do for awhile." He replied, getting a little nervous. He had practiced this speech in his mind a million times, but now that he was faced with the situation, he couldn't remember the speech. "The first time I met you I knew that there was something special about you. Then after what happened in Exam Six, I knew that I loved you. It's horrible that a tragedy had to bring us together, but it did. And I realize that I don't ever want to live a single day without you by my side. You're my best friend Luce, and I don't even think that there are words to describe how much I love you. You are my best friend, and there's nothing that I want more than to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you've made me. So, Lucy Knight, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?"

Lucy sat there with her mouth hanging open, completely shocked at what he said. She hadn't seen this coming, although she always hoped that eventually he would ask her to marry him. Now he was kneeling in front of her with a ring, and she didn't know exactly what to do. She started to cry.

"Are you alright?" he asked, a little concerned that she didn't answer right away.

She nodded. "That was so beautiful. I don't think that anyone has ever said something like that to me." She continued to cry.

"I meant every word of it." He said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. After a few more minutes of silence, he got impatient for her answer. "So will you marry me Luce?"

She looked at him strangely. "You mean I haven't said yes already?"

"No." he laughed.

She laughed. "I'm so sorry! I really thought that I had told you yes already. I would love to marry you John!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding as he gave her a kiss and then hugged her. Then he pulled away and took the ring out of the box. "This was my gamma's ring. She gave it to me a couple of weeks ago. She wanted you to have it."

"Really? It's beautiful." Lucy exclaimed, taking a closer look at the large diamond.

"Not as beautiful as you." He smiled as he slipped the ring on her finger.

"I love you." She gushed as she gave him a kiss.

"I love you too." He replied when they finally pulled apart.

"Happy Valentine's Day." She whispered.

"Yeah, Happy Valentine's Day Luce." He then led her back to the bedroom.

Song Lyrics: "Butterflies" By: Alicia Keys