A/N: Chapter 6! Remember, I don't know if Liz and Jimmy were ever married, but it was a suggestion that for the Liz chapter, I use Jess' dad, so I'm just assuming that they were.

I'm sorry for the slight delay in posting. I had a busy weekend, filled with wallpaper stripping and friend issues. I hope to have the next chapter up soon…

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Chapter Six – Elizabeth Danes

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Her relationship with Jimmy Mariano had sprung from a simple hotdog craving.

On her lunch break she stopped at his hotdog stand, and everything unfolded from there.

She'd returned to his cart every day, not because of the hotdogs – because she didn't have the heart to tell him she hated them – but because she had become Jimmy's friend. He looked forward to her visits, knowing that she came at 12:17, give or take a couple minutes.

And after they had a firm foundation of friendship, he'd nervously asked her out on a date.

Much to his surprise, she'd accepted.

He wasn't the richest man in New York, but he still chivalrously footed the small bill of their pizza and movie. The one who asks, pays, after all.

Again to his surprise, they'd had a good time. He'd expected awkwardness and silence, like there usually were on his first dates. But there'd been none.

They continued to go out for a few days after that.

Then the days turned into weeks.

The weeks turned into months.

And before she knew it, Liz had been seeing Jimmy for a year.

She thought she'd finally found the infamous, elusive Mr. Right. She was sure that, this time, it would work.

So when he proposed, she said yes.

It wasn't her first wedding, but she told herself that it would be the last.

The wedding was small. On Liz's side sat her father and brother, along with some old high school friends and a few colleagues. On Jimmy's side sat his parents and younger sister, with his high school best friend and the owners of the neighboring carts on the street. The service was short, as was the reception.

However, the meaning of the event wasn't lost on anyone.

They moved in together in a small apartment in a dingy building. Because neither of them had glamorous jobs, they couldn't afford much. But many would describe their way of life as 'living on love'. Sure, it was cliché.

But it was true.

Everything was absolutely perfect for a few months. Liz was actually in awe of how smoothly things were going. She wasn't sure that life could even be this perfect.

Maybe she jinxed it.

Because before their six-month anniversary even rolled around, there she was holding a pregnancy test. After seeing the thin pink line, she threw it as hard as she could against the opposite wall.

It didn't even make a mark, which seemed to anger her more.

This would screw everything up. She knew it would. They could hardly afford to live themselves, there was no way they could support a kid. No way.

When she told Jimmy, he was floored. Completely shocked.

He was going to have a kid. He was going to be a father. Him, of all people.

And he knew that there was no way he could do it.

Jimmy stuck around, though, through the pregnancy. But as the months dragged on, he became more and more distant. By her eighth month, they were barely talking. And when she went into labor, she had to drive herself to the hospital because he was screening her calls.

After getting her message, though, he arrived in her room just minutes after Luke.

Like any good husband, he held her hand through the delivery as her brother sat in the chair outside the door. He cut the umbilical cord. He held the baby. He stayed with Liz for the mandatory 24-hour period that she had to remain in the hospital.

And when they left, he offered to go pick up some diapers and meet them back at the house.

Liz was excited. She thought that she and Jimmy were finally bonding; finally getting close to the way that they were. So she smiled through the whole ride home from Luke.

He was glad, too, that she was happy again.

She waited for about an hour before sending Luke home. Jimmy was probably just caught up in traffic somewhere. That had to be it.

Another hour passed as she sat, awaiting her husband's return. She fell asleep on the couch, and when she awoke two hours later to her son's screams, still no Jimmy.

Then Liz knew.

He was gone.

Her hand flew to her mouth in realization as the tears began to flow freely from her eyes.

She picked up her son and held him as she sat on the couch.

And she rocked him slowly as they cried together.

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To Be Continued…