Of Dreams and Miracles
By Misha

Disclaimer and Rating in Prologue.

A.N- Here it is, the part you've all been waiting for: Elizabeth's decision. I thought with this decision, for a long time, my original intent was to take it one way, but my muse kept saying no, I couldn't do that. So, in the end, I did what Elizabeth told me to, since it's her life after all. Also, I was torn between whether to make the first part of this angry or bittersweet. Bittersweet, just felt right. I hope you guys all agree. Enjoy!

Part Forty-Three: Decisions

The XII Winter Olympics, Day Five

"Rob, could I talk to you for a minute?" Elizabeth asked, as she entered Rob's hotel room.

"Always." He told her, closing the door behind her.

Mark, Rob's roommate, was off with Kathleen, so they had plenty of privacy. Which was good, since this was definitely a private conversation.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, unsure where to begin. She'd waited until after the game against Czechoslovakia, which they'd won 7-3, to approached either Jack or Rob since she hadn't thought that it was was sort of thing that should be said on game night.

"I love you." She said finally and watched his eyes light up, then she had to take another deep breath, waiting what she had to say next. "I'm always going to love you, but I don't love you the way I used to."

"What do you mean?" Rob asked, the light dying from his eyes.

"I mean, I love you the way one loves an old friend or the first boy they ever loved." Elizabeth told him gently. "I don't love you the way a woman loves the man she's going to spend the rest of her life with."

Rob was silent.

Elizabeth bit her lip. "I never wanted to hurt you, Rob. You're so special to me, you have to know that. I'd never give up what we shared, but it's gone. I'm sorry."

She looked deep into his eyes.

"And I think if you're honest about it, you'll admit I'm right." She told him quietly. "We can't go back, we can't recapture the past. It's gone and we're both different people now. You know that as well as I do."

"Yeah." Rob agreed after a moment. "I think I do, actually. Maybe I knew it all along." He paused and then smiled sadly. "It was sweet though while it lasted, wasn't it?"

"Definitely." Elizabeth agreed.

"I do love you, Lizzie." Rob told her.

"I know." She replied quietly. She reached into her purse and took out the wooden, she handed it to Rob. "Here, this belongs to you."

He looked puzzled, but took it. He opened it and then looked up at her. "Liz, I gave this to you as a gift."

"I know." She said quietly. "And that's why I kept it this last year, but it's time for me to give it back. You and I, we weren't meant to have forever, just a moment in time, a beautiful moment that's now over."

She had debated it for a long time, whether she should keep the ring or not, but she knew that she couldn't. It was a symbol of another time in her life and she no longer needed it.

Rob looked like he wanted to protest, but then he nodded. Elizabeth thought that he understood.

He was quiet for a long moment and then he looked deep into her eyes. "O.C's a lucky man." He told her softly. "I hope he knows it."

"I think he does." Elizabeth said softly.

Rob nodded and then kissed her cheek. "Be happy, Lizzie."

"I will." She promised. "And I hope you will too."

Elizabeth leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. It wasn't a romantic kiss, but a good-bye and they both knew it.

"You deserve the best." She told him softly.

Rob managed a rueful smile. "Well, then I'm in trouble, because she's already taken."

Elizabeth smiled at his words. "You'll find someone even better than me, I promise."

She felt bad, because she knew that despite how well Rob was taking it, she had hurt him. She wished more than anything she could have avoided that, but there had been no way. Their moment it had come and then gone, never to be recaptured again. They both knew that, but it was perhaps easier for Elizabeth because she had Jack.

Elizabeth turned to go. "I'm sorry." She said once more, turning around when she reached the door.

"Don't be." Rob told her. "I'm the one who was stupid enough to let you go in the first place, I should have realized then what I was losing."

Elizabeth nodded sadly and then turned and left the room.

As the door closed behind her, she knew that she had closed another door once and for all. Her feelings for Rob would always exist in her heart, but as memories, nothing else.

Her heart belonged to someone else now.
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Elizabeth took a walk to clear her head after her conversation with Rob and then went to Jack's room.

Rizzo answered the door.

"Is Jack here?" She asked.

Rizzo nodded. "Yeah, but he's in the shower."

Elizabeth smiled, thinking of the last time she had walked in on Jack after a shower. Well, this time she was here to talk, nothing else. "I'll wait for him, if that's okay."

"Of course it is." Rizzo told her, then he studied her for a long moment. "You discovered what you want."

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I did."

"That's good." Rizzo said. "Well, obviously you and Jack need to talk in private so I'm gonna go."

"Rizzo, I don't want to kick you out of your own room." Elizabeth said, even though she really did need to talk to Jack alone.

"It's okay." Rizzo told her. "I'll see you later."

With that, he exited the room. Elizabeth watched him go and then crossed the room to sit on Jack's bed. A minute later, she heard the water shut off.

After another few minutes, Jack emerged from the bathroom. Elizabeth noted that he was fully dressed and wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. It meant that he was less distracting, but then, she kind of liked being distracted...

"Hey beautiful, where's Rizzo?" He asked, when he caught sight of her.

"He thought we'd like to be alone." Elizabeth told him.

Jack grinned and crossed the room to sit next to her on the bed. "I like the sound of that." He leaned down and kissed her.

She let the kiss go on for a minute, then pulled away. "Jack, we need to talk."

Jack groaned. "See, that I don't like the sound of."

"Don't worry, it's good I think." Elizabeth assured him. "I love you, Jack O'Callahan."

"I already knew that." Jack told her. "But it's always nice to hear. What brought on this confession?"

"A lot of things." She told him. "Kathleen made me realize that before I could make any decisions about the future, our future, I had to deal with the past and decide where my heart really lies."

"And did you?" Jack asked softly.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes." She cupped his face in her hands. "I realized that I love you and whoever I might have loved in the past, it's you I want to be with now and always. I'll love you until we're both old and grey and beyond that. I'll love you for the next thousand years."

She had decided that Jack needed to know that much, but the rest wasn't really important. He didn't need to know how turn up she had been about the decision, how many doubts she'd had; he just needed to know that she loved him and that he had no reason to ever doubt that or wonder about Rob.

"Thank God." Jack whispered, then leaned over to kiss her deeply.

Once the kiss ended, Elizabeth looked at Jack. "What did you have in mind when you asked me to come to Boston?" She asked him quietly. "Did you want us to live together or for us to just both live in the same city?"

Kathleen had been right when she had pointed out that Elizabeth really needed to ask Jack exactly what he'd had in mind. It was something she should know before she made her decision.

"Well, I have to say I like the idea of us living together, but I think your parents would object." Jack answered.

Elizabeth smiled, he had a point. Her father, especially, would flip out if she told him she was moving in with Jack. Telling him that she'd decided to Boston, if she decided to do so, would be bad enough.

"I thought you could live in a dorm or something." Jack continued. "And that we could continue on pretty much like we are right now, at least for a little while."

"Jack, are you sure that you're even going to be in Boston?" Elizabeth asked him. "I mean, I assume that you want to pursue a hockey career."

"Yeah, that's my dream." Jack told her. "But it doesn't lead to the most stable of future. A lot of hard work and moving around and if I make it, then I'm on the road a lot of the time, so maybe I'm being selfish-"

"No, you aren't." Elizabeth interrupted. "Jack, if you get your shot I'll support you 100 wherever I am. If I do decided to go to Boston and you end up somewhere else, then I'll go there too. If we have to, I can stay in Boston for the year and finish school or stay in Minnesota and do the same thing. We can make it work."

Jack smiled and squeezed her hand. "Thank you. About Boston, I'm not asking you to decide right now. I told you to take your time and I meant it."

"Thank you." Elizabeth whispered, leaning into him.

"No problem." He told her. "After all, good things always come to those who wait, right?"
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