Back To Life

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Lucky wasn't sure what Emily wanted with him or what she wanted to show him, but he figured it was best to just leave it between friends. His wife had other things on her mind anyway and he doubts she'd care much about Emily's desire to show him something important to her. Though he has tried to build a bridge between the two, with his brother as well, it seems as if his wife was intent on burning it down each time. He loves her, no doubt about it, but he wishes she'd at least try to get along with them for his sake.

Standing in front of the mirror, staring at himself, Lucky begins to see the changes that his brother and Emily had mentioned. He's growing a lot thinner these days, but he just didn't have an answer as to why. The only excuse he could come up with is the long hours he has put in at the club lately, but it couldn't be the real answer because his father feeds him every chance he gets. Looking back now, he gathers its because he had seen the changes, as well. His parents have started to distance themselves from his wife and he really wishes they'd stop. Its hard enough with Emily and Nikolas, he didn't need it from his parents too.

"I'm heading to work." he voices to his wife, who remains by the vanity applying her makeup.

"Yeah, okay, bye." was her response before she picks up her cellphone to call her grandmother, the only person she seems to talk on the phone with these days.

"Love you." he calls out to her as he pulls open the door, thankful that she at least has her grandmother to feel connected to besides him.

"Love you, too, darling."

Closing the door, he makes his way to his car before heading out to the club, thankful for the moment of peace where he can just be himself. The days had to get easier, didn't it? They wouldn't always be this way, right? Holding onto hope for a better future with his wife and his family, Lucky focuses on the drive, driving just below the speed limit in an attempt to prolong the peace. Arriving at the club, he lets himself in, finding the usual note from his father, detailing all that needs to get done before he arrives.

Arriving just after Lucky walks into the club, Elizabeth dismounts the bike before handing Jason the helmet, taking a deep breath as she stares at the club. Could she really do this? Could she really walk in there and face the reality that he was no longer hers? To face that he has moved on to a life without her? After all this time, she wanted nothing more than to go back, to go back to that moment and leave the apartment with him to get the ice cream. If only it were possible.

"Elizabeth..." Jason voices when she remains frozen by the bike, reaching out a hand to take hold of hers. "You don't have to."

"I know." she whispers. "I just..."

"Hey." he dismounts the bike before making her face him. "You can do this later. When you're ready."

"Nothing will change if I leave now, Jason." she counters, allowing him to take her other hand in his, accepting the support he was giving freely. "My time away won't disappear. His marriage won't disappear."

"But you don't have to face him now." he points out. "You don't have to face this...all of this...now."

"I...can do this." she takes a deep breath before shaking her head. "You'll be out here, right? You won't leave?"

"I'll be right here."

"Okay...I can do this." she says with a little more confidence than before. "I'm going to do this. There's no use running from reality."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." she says giving his hands a quick squeeze before releasing her hold on him. "Just...don't leave."

"I won't."

Taking a deep breath, she turns away from Jason to face the club once more, pausing for just a moment before she makes her way across the parking lot to the front door of the club. Reaching up a shaky hand, Elizabeth turns the doorknob before pulling it open, knowing she couldn't turn back now. Emily wanted to be here, but she didn't think it was wise. She had to face Lucky alone. With what they had to discuss, it was best this way. Emily would only get in the middle and it wouldn't help anything. Walking in, she finds him wiping down the bar, a vision beyond compare. God, how long has she wanted to see him, to be near him again?

"Lucky." she voices nervously before clearing her throat. "Lucky!"

"That voice..." he whispers, not daring to look up, afraid to do so. "No..."

Walking over to the bar, knowing she had to be right in front of him, she reaches out a hand to stop him from wiping down the counter. The moment her hand touched his, he stopped cold, unable to move or even look up to see if it was real, to see if she was really there. His eyes slide shut and he holds it tightly, refusing to believe, refusing to allow himself the miracle that has taken claim to him. This couldn't be real. It couldn't. She's not really there, he convinced himself, but still her hand remained over his, the feel of her skin upon his own and he couldn't deny it any longer. Opening his eyes, he meets the deep blue orbs he had only seen in his dreams as of late.

"Elizabeth..." he chokes out past the tears.

"Hi, Lucky."

"I...how?" he voices, looking down at their hands as she pulls away. "How are you here?"

"Jason." she replies as she turns away to walk over to an empty table, pulling out a chair to sit down. "He found me. He brought me home."

"J-Jason..." he shakes his head before walking out from behind the counter. "Found you? Found you how? Where?"

"Puerto Rico." she answers as he kneels in front of her, staring up into her face. "I was taken, held captive..."

"My god, Elizabeth, I thought you were dead! We all thought you were dead." he says as he takes her hands in his, tears falling as it sinks in that this was real, that she was real. "Why would someone do this to you? To us?"

"I don't know." she whispers, sliding her hands from his before standing up and walking away from him, unable to handle the closeness. "I wish I did."

"Elizabeth..."

"For so long, I've wanted to see you again, to be with you..." Elizabeth voices, arms wrapped around herself. "So many nights of wishing you'd find me and take me from them. To save me from the hell I was living in."

"I didn't know..."

"I've missed you, so much." she whispers, turning to face him with tears in her eyes. "I've missed us so much."

"Elizabeth..." Lucky fidgeted with the wedding band that now lay heavy on his left hand.

"Its okay, Lucky." Elizabeth sighs, swiping at the tears. "Jason told me after we got to safety. He told me you got married."

"If I knew you were alive..." Lucky takes a step forward before stopping when she held up a hand to him. "If I knew you were alive, Elizabeth, I would have done anything to save you."

"But you didn't know." she counters simply. "And you moved on."

"Elizabeth...please."

"For a long time, I was angry, I hated you for moving on without me. A permanent lock, that's what you said to me." Elizabeth admits, needing to get it all out. "Permanent. So much for that, huh?"

"Elizabeth..."

"But I'm not angry anymore, Lucky. I'm not." she assures as she ignores the pained look on his face. "I'm...happy for you. I'm glad that you were able to move past losing me to find love again."

"Stop. Please." Lucky says as he walks over to her, framing her face in his hands. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, I'm so sorry. I wish I knew you were still out there. I wish I knew you were still alive."

"I know...if only you did." Elizabeth whispers, removing his hold on her face and taking a step back. "But we can't change the past. We can't change what is."

"Elizabeth..."

"You love her, don't you? Your wife...you love her, right?"

"Yes." he admits, allowing his hands to fall to his sides. "But I love you, too."

"I love you, Lucky, but we can't go back." Elizabeth takes a deep breath to steady her nerves. "What we had is gone...it died in the fire...its just taken me until now to realize it."

"Don't walk away, please, don't leave."

"G-Goodbye, Lucky." Elizabeth says as her hand hovers over the doorknob. "I really hope you get all you want out of life. I wish you nothing but happiness."

"Elizabeth..." he chokes out as she pulls open the door. "Please..."

"Goodbye."

Walking out of the club, her lip starts to tremble as the tears begin to fall, wishing more than anything that this wasn't the end for them. That they could go back to the people they had been before the fire, before she was taken, but she knows that's not possible. They are no longer those people and pretending that they were would only hurt them in the end. He's found love again, he's created a family of his own with his wife, and he will continue to progress through his life without her. He doesn't know it now, but this will be good for him. It'll be good for both of them.

Getting to Jason, she accepts the helmet he holds out to her before she straddles the bike and they take off into the night. Its done. She faced her past and she accepted the world as it is. Clinging to Jason, she allows herself to grieve as they speed down the streets of the town. When Jason takes a turn onto an unfamiliar road to her, Elizabeth lifts her head to see where they have gone, smiling slightly as they hit the first turn. Throwing her head back into the wind, Elizabeth lets go of it all, of the past and the pain, she lets go of the world around her to exist in that moment.

With each turn they hit, she finds herself letting go more and more, before all that was left was the thrill of the ride and the man that was opening her world to a new way of life. As the world speeds by them, melting into a blur, Elizabeth felt something familiar bubble up within her to ring out through the night air. Laughter. A deep emotional laughter as her heart raced with the sound of the engine. In that moment, as they hit top speed, she realized what it was. Freedom. Freedom from her emotions and her past. Freedom from her life.

"We're here." he says softly, when he stops the bike just shy of the bridge.

"What is this place?" she whispers as she dismounts the bike to take a look around. "Its so beautiful."

"Its the place I go to think." Jason admits as he walks with her to the center of the bridge. "When life becomes too complicated for me to handle I come here."

"I can see why. Its so peaceful here."

"If you're really quiet, you can hear the water down below." he says softly, as she looks over the edge.

"Thank you for bringing me here." she says softly, turning to look at him. "The ride was unlike anything I've ever experienced."

"It's my escape."

"Do you mind sharing it with me again?" Elizabeth asks softly. "Its an escape I can get used to."

"Anytime." he assures her. "Do you still want to talk?"

"I..." she smiles slightly. "Yeah...I think I do."

"Then come on." he says, holding out his hand to her. "The place I mentioned is just up ahead."

Walking together across the bridge, Elizabeth allows herself to relish the moment of peace that they had found themselves in, everything around them seemed to lend to the moment. As they walked, Elizabeth noticed some statues coming into view, only then did she release her hold on Jason's hand to go and look at the art before her. The little girl had to be her favorite of them all. She was so young and beautiful as if untouched by the world. The kind of house that must have stood there many years ago, how she wishes she could have seen it in all its glory.

"This really is the perfect place." she whispers as she makes her way over to Jason, who now sits upon a cement bench beneath an old oak tree. "Are you sure it'll be okay to talk to you about it? I mean, it could be too much..."

"I can handle it." he assures her. "Don't hold back."

Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes, takes hold of his hand before the words slowly pour out of her. She tells him what it was like the first time she woke up to find she had been taken. She couldn't move or speak, she felt trapped in her own body as people walked about, talking about her and all that would soon transpire. She tried to scream, to yell for help, but nothing came out, her mouth didn't even move. Once they realized she was conscious they injected her with something to drag her back down into the darkness.

"When they started the experiments, they kept me alert. I was still unable to move or speak, but I could feel everything." she says, her voice trembling. "I could feel as the knife cut into me for the first time. It was a pain I had never known before. The blade was cold, ice cold against my skin, but my body burned hot as the knife slid across my body."

She tells him of the time they had burnt a portion of her body to test their miracle burn treatment. It had felt like the fire was enveloping her entire body as they kept the flame against her skin. All she could hear was her own mind screaming against the pain. All she could smell was the burning of her own flesh. In that moment, she wished for death, she wished for her life to end, but it didn't. She still lived on and the experiments continued. Each part of her body tested for one of their many experiments. Ways to defy life threatening wounds and, in some cases, death itself.

"Sometimes, I can still feel the heat against my skin..." she whispers as the tears break through her tightly shut eyes. "I can still feel their hands on my body as they...as they cut into..."

"Hey, its okay." he says gently, taking his hand from hers to frame her face in his hands, wiping away the tears that haven fallen. "That's enough for now. Okay? You don't have to continue."

"I...I can't take it if they take me again." Elizabeth opens her eyes to meet his, the trapped tears falling down her cheeks. "I won't survive it, Jason. I-I just won't."

"They will never get to you again, you hear me? Never again!" he vows, wiping the tears before pulling her into a warm embrace. "I'll make sure of it."

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Thanks.