Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with CBS, Guiding Light, Daniel Cosgrove, or Marcy Rylan.

Author's Note: It's angsty this chapter, and really sappy, but I thought you guys might appreciate a sweet ending for a change. Please continue to review; I'm really encouraged by those. To be honest, I thought with the low activity with GL fanfics, it would never even get reviewed, so thanks to all of you who have reviewed and enjoyed so far! Hope I continue to please!!

Oh, and I may have changed my mind about a return for Jon in this story...not sure, but I'm pondering it.

For now though, here you go...

For Keeps

IV. "I was looking for something a little more magical than that."

"You've got no reason to say you're sorry" Bill said, his voice softer than he'd heard it in a long time.

"Yeah I do, it's my fault, it's all my fault." She choked out, sitting up and hugging her knees

"How could it possibly be your fault Lizzie? These things happen, it doesn't mean that you caused it." He said comfortingly, stroking one of the tears from her cheek

She closed her eyes in pain.

"But it is my fault Bill. I'm being punished. God knows I'm not a good mother. He sees what happened with Sarah, and he knows it's my fault. He's never going to give me the chance to hurt someone the way I hurt Sarah again."

"Hey, it was your granddad that sent Jonathan over that cliff, not you. You had nothing to do with it."

"I had everything to do with it!" Lizzie wailed intensely. "I was so…lovesick over Jonathan that I couldn't see straight. I ignored the one thing that was most important, my precious little baby girl. I wanted to make her a family so bad, that I didn't care who it hurt. And the one who ended up getting hurt was her. She didn't even live a year…"

Bill ran his hand up and down Lizzie's back, soothingly.

"You've got to stop beating yourself up about it. So you made some mistakes-"

"Yeah" She said talking over him, looking up at him again "And I keep making them, over and over. I fall for guys that don't want me, guys that are…no good. Then, I make myself worse than them by chasing them around like an idiot. I ignore the most important things for some cheap minutes worth of romantic feelings. I made myself blind with rage because Jonathan wouldn't love me, wouldn't be my husband. And what happened? I lost Sarah. And now…now that God decided to give me a second chance, I ruin it, and I miscarry my baby because I'm all stressed out over trying to make you want me."

Bill closed his eyes, guilt rushing over him, as he stood up from the bed. This is not what he'd come back to town for. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved with someone as emotionally scarred, heavily laden with traumatic baggage, and down right needy as Lizzie. Dating someone with that many problems would be like dating himself!

But, he was drawn to her. He had been drawn to her from the minute he'd laid eyes on since getting back. He had just tried so hard to fight it because he had an agenda, which didn't include playing footsie with a high-maintenance heiress. She had been fun, and really sweet…but man, this was heavy.

"Lizzie, I don't think it had anything to do with the miscarriage, but you didn't have to do anything to make me want you."

Lizzie flopped back down against her pillows.

"I know. I was stupid for trying. You have Ava. I was wasting my time."

"I'm not with Ava." Bill said honestly "And that's not what I meant. I meant that I already wanted you."

"Yeah, wanted me to go to bed with you, no strings attached, and help you reel in clients by promising them 'favors.' No thanks. I was looking for something a little more magical than that."

"That's your problem Lizzie, you can't just go with the flow, see where things take you. You have to have the fairytale right now, or else."

"Yeah, since I've lived such a fairytale life so far." She said with sarcasm, but only mildly, it was more depressed than cynical.

He rolled his eyes.

"You have to take everything to such a sappy, melodramatic level."

"And you have to be an egotistical jerk who spits on everyone that cares about you!" She snapped back, clinging to the new found anger and fire in her stomach. It was better than the bitter, sorrowful self-loathing she had been wallowing in.

She stood up from the bed, her white cotton nightgown fluttering as she inched closer to him.

"I could have been good for you Bill. I tried so hard to help you, and all you did was have sex with Ava and make fun of me!"

"Oh will you come off it. It's not like I'm your property Lizzie" He said getting more irritated. Ever since he came back to town everyone was dumping on him, criticizing every move he made. "Maybe I just wanted to be with someone for two seconds who didn't act like my mother!"

"I never acted like your mother, and I never said you were my property, you ass!"

He laughed sarcastically.

"No? You didn't yell at me like a jealous wife when you walked in on us? You think that because I slept with you, I'm yours… I bet you're really going to think it now that you've had my kid inside you."

And he immediately regretted saying it. It had come from a cold, hard, dark place inside him. A lot of things he told people lately were coming from that place. He hadn't meant it at all. He hadn't meant to bring up something so tender, so hurtful, in such a callous way.

Her face fell, and for a minute all anger drained out. Her lower lip began trembling, and she clutched her stomach limply with one hand.

"I didn't mean to—I shouldn't have—I'm sorry Lizzie" He said, and reached out to put his hand over hers on her stomach, but she cringed from his touch, and before he knew what was happening, she had stamped her little red hand print right across the side of his face.

"You…are the meanest, coldest, most horrible man I've ever met, and I'm Alan Spaulding's granddaughter! I don't ever want to see you again Bill Lewis. You are a bad, bad man."

He ran his hand over his reddened cheek, and thought about getting mad, but he didn't. He'd deserved that slap. It was a long time coming.

"What you just said was only part true." Bill said looking at her deeply.

Her eyes watered, but no tears fell.

"I meant it all, now just go, before I call for Reva"

But he didn't even think about leaving, in fact he took two steps closer to her, until their bodies were grazing each others, and he was looking right down into her dark eyes.

"No you didn't. You may think I'm a mean, cold, horrible, bad man, but despite all that, you want to me stay."

She shivered, but tried to keep a hard-set look about her face, as he fingered soft material of her nightgown. She closed her eyes, and told him "Just go" again, but it had lost some it's stone like quality, and Bill picked up on that.

"If I thought it's what you wanted, I would" He placed his hand on the small of her back, and took hold of one of limp hands with the other.

"What do I want then?" She asked, slowly turning her face up to look in his eyes, their faces now mere inches apart.

"You want me to kiss you, call you Princess, then crawl into that bed and hold you all night and make you feel like everything is going to be all right." Bill said softly.

And before she had time to confirm any of this, Bill brought his hand under her chin and pulled her lips to his, kissing her he slowly, and softly. When they parted, he lifted her from the floor with ease. She felt no heavier than a doll.

"Now, Princess, it's time for you to get some sleep" He laid her softly on the bed, and pulled the covers up around, and leaned in to kiss her lips tenderly once more. As she started to walk away from the bed, she called out for him.

"I thought you were going to hold me and make me feel like everything was okay."

"Just say the magic word." He breathed.

"Stay. Bill," She said, softly patting the bed beside her, "Just stay."

And with that, he climbed in the bed, and draped an arm around her. She turned her back to him at first, and just held onto his arm as he pulled her close, but after a few minutes of just their breathing; she turned around to stare in his eyes.

"You know Bill, I just wanted you to be my hero." She breathed, before nuzzling close to his neck.

Bill wasn't sure if he was ready to be anybody's hero, but he was sure of one thing. For tonight, he was going to take care of Lizzie.

F/N: Who is else is dying for this week's GL? I've read spoilers. It's going to be intense! I can't wait. It's 12:49 here, and I'm chomping at the bit!