Of Dreams and Miracles
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Prologue.

Part Thirty-Seven: What Do You Feel?

That night, Elizabeth's mother, siblings and Kathleen arrived in Lake Placid. Gloria was arriving the next day.

"Mommy!" Elizabeth cried out as soon as she saw her mother.

Herb was distracted by Kelly and Danny and hadn't greeted Patti yet.

Patti looked surprised, but hugged Elizabeth warmly. "What's wrong?" She asked immediately. "Is your father still angry with you?"

"He told you?" Elizabeth asked, slightly surprised, though she didn't know why. Herb and Patti had a very open marriage and told each other almost everything--it was the kind of relationship Elizabeth aimed to have for herself.

Patti nodded. "Yes, on the phone. He was quite upset with you."

Elizabeth looked down at her feet, still in her mother's embrace. "I know." She said ruefully. "I'm really sorry, but--"

"You did what you thought was best." Patti finished. "I understand, Elizabeth, I'm a little upset that you lied to us all for so long, but you're an adult. A beautiful, smart, responsible woman capable of making her own decisions and following her heart."

"Thank you." Elizabeth whispered, glad that her mother at least wasn't angry with her.

But, then again, it was never Patti's reaction that she had been afraid of. Patti smiled and released her embrace, but she reached out and touched Elizabeth's hair. "Anytime, sweetheart."

"Lizzie!" Elizabeth turned from her mother as her brother and sister launched themselves at her.

"Hey rugrats." She greeted, hugging them both tightly. "I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you too." Kelly told her. "We never see you anymore."

Elizabeth felt a pang in her heart at her sister's words. She knew that Kelly spoke the truth--she had barely been home these last few months and if she chose to go to Boston with Jack, then she'd rarely get to see her younger siblings.

It was a lot of to think about. Did she love him enough to give up everything to be with him? They were still so young...

"The Olympics will be over soon." Elizabeth assured her brother and sister. "I'll be home then and you'll see more of me."

But would they? Or would she be in Boston? At this point, she honestly had no idea...
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"Okay, so what's going on?" Kathleen asked as soon as the two of them had a moment alone.

"What makes you think that there's something going on?" Elizabeth asked defensively.

Kathleen rolled her eyes. "Because I know you?"

Elizabeth sighed. 'Yeah. So what do you want to know?"

"I want to know everything that's happened since the last time we talked." Kathleen told her, sitting down on the bed in Elizabeth's hotel room. "So?"

"Okay, you know about Jack's injury, right?" Elizabeth asked.

Kathleen nodded. "Yeah. That I heard about before we got here. Is he okay?"

"Doc said he should be fine in about a week." Elizabeth assured her. "He's still on the roster."

"That's good." Kathleen said with a smile. "Right?"

"Yeah, it is." Elizabeth agreed and then smiled ruefully. "Dad found out about Jack and I."

Kathleen grimaced. "How bad was it?"

"He was furious." Elizabeth confided. "We haven't had a real conversation since."

"Liz, you knew he was going to be upset." Kathleen pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Elizabeth told her. "I just hoped to put it off as long as possible."

Kathleen nodded. "I know. So what else? I know that there's something else bugging you, I can tell."

"Jack wants me to go to Boston with him." Elizabeth told her.

Kathleen raised an eyebrow. "To visit? Meet his parents, that sort of thing? Because that would make sense, after all you two have been together for a few months now."

Elizabeth shook her head. "He wants me to move to Boston with him."

"Like live together, or live in the same city, but maintain different residences, or get engaged or what?" Kathleen demanded.

"I don't know." Elizabeth admitted.

"You don't know?" Kathleen repeated incredulously. "Don't you think that you should know?"

"Probably." Elizabeth agreed with a small laugh. "I was just too shell-shocked to ask exactly what he had in mind."

"Well, you probably should." Kathleen told her. "So, do you want to go?"

"I don't know." Elizabeth answered honestly. "I love him, I really do, but..."

"But?" Kathleen prodded.

"A part of me is still really unsure about whether it's enough for me to move away from everything and everyone I know." Elizabeth confided.

"I think that's a question you need to answer pretty soon." Kathleen told her gently.

"Yeah. You think?" Elizabeth said ruefully.

"Is it Mac?" Kathleen asked shrewdly.

Elizabeth stared at her. "Huh?"

"Mac, is he the reason that you're not sure?" Kathleen asked her quietly.

Elizabeth stobbed and stared at her. Then, she really started to think about it. If there was no Robbie, would she be more sure about whether or not she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Jack? She didn't want to be with Robbie, she was pretty sure of that. But at the same time, he still occupied a huge piece of her heart. He was still in her thoughts.

"I think you need to decide once and for all how you feel about Robbie before you can figure out how you feel about Jack." Kathleen told her, rightly interpreting her thoughts. "And that means dealing with it honestly, not just telling yourself you're over him because you want to be. You need to do some serious self-examination."

Elizabeth made a face, but nodded. Kathleen was right. She had spent almost a year pushing Robbie and what they had meant to each other to a corner of her mind.

But maybe that wasn't the best way to deal with it, maybe she had to take it out and look at it before she could really make a decision about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life and who she wanted to spend it with.
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