Audrey tried to hide her smile as she took in the sight of the young couple in front of her. It was Elizabeth's birthday and Lucky had been driving her crazy for weeks with hints about their date that night. He had certainly dressed up for the occasion, wearing black dress pants and a freshly ironed red button down dress shirt. Of course her granddaughter looked just as well, wearing a simple thin royal blue sweater with a black skirt. Elizabeth had been trying to hide her excitement ever since she got home from work, but she hadn't fooled her grandmother one bit. Her girl was excited.

Her matchmaking had succeeded beyond her and Laura's wildest expectations. Well, maybe not Laura's, Audrey amended. But it did her heart good to see her granddaughter smile more and actually start to trust Lucky. She wasn't going to lie and say the idea of marriage hadn't crossed her mind, but she wasn't going to mention that to either of the young people in front of her.

"Why can't you tell me where we're going?" Elizabeth was complaining, a smile negating the annoyed tone Audrey was sure she forced into her voice. Elizabeth loved surprises. She was just terrible about waiting for them when she knew they were coming.

"Because that would ruin the whole concept of a 'surprise' Cinderella." Lucky laughed softly. Turning to Audrey he joked, "Is she always this anxious about surprises?"

Audrey paused to consider his question, tilting her head to the left. "No. Usually she's worse."

Stomping her foot in a mock huff, Elizabeth crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You are not supposed to make fun of the birthday girl."

"Says who?" Lucky asked, struggling to keep his laughter in check. Audrey noticed him fish something out of his pocket and quickly hold it behind his back. Now what was going on here?

"I did. Right now."

"Oh we better get this show on the road if you're already quoting your students." Lucky smiled and held out Elizabeth's jacket for her to slip into. "Mrs. Hardy, I promise to have her home at a decent hour."

It crossed Audrey's mind that six in the morning so Elizabeth could get ready for work didn't fit her definition of a decent hour, but it was probably better to let that remark lie. No point in completely embarrassing her granddaughter. It was her birthday after all. "I'm sure you will. Have fun dear." She held her arms open for a hug.

After quickly releasing her grandmother, Elizabeth turned back to Lucky. "So are we all set?"

Lucky snapped his fingers and Audrey noticed him bring the object he hid behind his back to his side pocket. "Oh you know what? I forgot one thing that you'll need."

"What's that?"

"This." Audrey tried to hide her laugh but she couldn't as she caught sight of the blindfold in Lucky's hand.

"Just tell me. Why do you have such a kink about blindfolds?" Elizabeth whined. Lucky had insisted she wear the bandana since they had left her grandmother's house. After weeks of only giving her cryptic comments about her birthday, now he wanted to torture her by keeping her literally in the dark about where they were going? It was beyond mean, beyond cruel, it was borderline psychotic.

"Steady there." Lucky moved his hand under her arm to guide her around a crack in the sidewalk. Grinning as she continued to grumble under her breath as she adjusted her skirt from the near tumble, he tried to keep back his laughter. Maybe the blindfold had been a bit much, but he couldn't resist. Sometimes it was just too much fun to get under her skin.

"I keep telling you," he whispered. "I only developed what you call a kink after meeting you. I am more than open to exploring why that is."

She could only imagine the outrageous wink he was doing at this very second, probably laughing at the blush she could feel starting in her cheeks. Biting her bottom lip to distract herself, Elizabeth tried to figure out the best response. Grinning in his general direction, she lightly scratched her nails on her forearm. "Too bad we always get interrupted whenever you bring this out to play." She purred. "We might have already had the answer to that question."

Lucky lowered his eyes. Oh she was good. She was damn good. That last little comment of hers almost distracted him enough from the actual purpose of the evening, namely to keep her completely off balance until the end of the night. "Nice try but you still aren't taking that off until we get to phase one."

"You're being mean. You aren't supposed to be mean to me on my birthday."

"You hang out with three year olds entirely too much."

Elizabeth stuck out her tongue in retort, which caused Lucky to nearly double over with laughter. This was going to be entirely too easy, he realized. And her reaction to her real surprise was going to be priceless. "Relax Cinderella. Just a few more steps and we'll be there."

With his hand on the small of her back, he guided her through the small courtyard, carefully avoiding the chairs thoughtlessly flung back by departing patrons. Stopping her just outside the door, he paused as he reached up to undue the knot. "You ready?"

Elizabeth fought back the urge to answer his question with a well deserved response of "duh". Instead she decided on a much more mature and classy approach of socking him in his arm and stomping her foot. "I swear to God Lucky if you don't take this off me right now..."

"Tsk tsk. What have I told you about using bedroom talk in public?" he chided as he removed the knot and lowered the blindfold from her eyes. "Happy birthday sweetie."

Elizabeth blinked in confusion as the building came into focus. Here? He brought her here? Not that she didn't appreciate the diner and the memories associated with this place, but why had he made such a big deal about blindfolding her to bring her here? "Kelly's? We're eating at Kelly's?"

Moving his hand up to his face to hide the smile, Lucky ushered her forward. "Just trust me. Just trust me."

Trust him? Right now she could trust him about as far as she could throw him. Dinner had been wonderful. Lucky had begged his aunt Ruby to make Gram's spaghetti and marina sauce for her. He had gotten Robin to make some chocolate brownie cake concoction that was to die for. And then when he announced it was time for phase two, he produced that damn blindfold again.

"You had almost redeemed yourself for the drive over with dinner. I hate to break it to you, but you are so losing points here."

Lucky mimed being shot in the heart, even though she couldn't see his actions. "Points? I thought we had moved beyond points by now."

"Number one, you never move beyond points. Number two, even if we had, bringing out the blindfold again immediately returns you to point's status."

"But the blindfold is fun for all."

"No. It's only fun for you."

Unable to resist the opportunity, Lucky leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "I keep telling you. It can be fun for you too."

Determined to ignore the shiver his words sent down her back, Elizabeth straightened her shoulders. "It's my birthday, not yours."

Chuckling to himself, Lucky nodded in agreement. "True. So I guess we better get a move on to the next phase."

"Why do I have to ride in the Jeep with this on?" Elizabeth wondered.

"The Jeep?" Lucky laughed as he surprised her by undoing the knots once again. "Who said anything about the Jeep?"

Elizabeth couldn't contain the gasp of surprise. At the entrance of Kelly's small parking lot, stood a white horse pulling a black carriage, with plush black seats. The driver stood holding the door open, a footstool at his feet. He grinned in Elizabeth's direction and gestured for her to enter.

"Well Cinderella, your carriage awaits."

Elizabeth turned around, her eyes as wide as saucers. She kept looking between Lucky's smiling face and the carriage, as if unable to convince herself she wasn't seeing things. "Are you serious? That is here for us?"

"To be technical it's here for you. But yes, this is part of your birthday." Lucky gently pushed her forward toward the carriage. "Go on. Get up there."

Still in a state of shock, she unsteadily stepped up on to the footstool. Placing one foot inside the carriage she quickly turned back around as a thought struck her. "Wait, what about your Jeep?"

She couldn't give an exact reason why she was suddenly consumed with concern over his car, but she was going to blame the shock of the surprise.

Lucky smiled at her. "Elizabeth, this is why I have family and interns. Don't worry about it. It's all part of the plan. Just get in. We don't want to be late."

Elizabeth settled herself into the seat as Lucky followed her, lifting himself in. The driver shut the door, placed the footstool on its tack, before resuming his post atop the carriage. Lucky offered Elizabeth a portion of the blanket that had been folded up next to him on the seat.

"Chilly?" he wondered.

Taking the offered blanket, she also slid closer to Lucky, allowing his arm to rest over her shoulder. "There." she announced as she rested her head on his chest. "This should be perfect."

"Well if this is perfect then I guess giving you this is unnecessary then." Lucky shook a brightly wrapped package in front of her hands as the carriage started off in at a slow pace.

"Lucky..." Elizabeth grabbed at the present and shook it carefully, not wanting to break it if it was fragile. "You didn't have to do all this."

"Noted. I'll cancel the actual flying reindeer at Christmas." Lucky laughed. "Just open it Elizabeth. I know you are just dying to."

With no more urging, Elizabeth began to rip the paper off the package. She held it up to be able to see it clearly under the passing streetlight. Once she realized what she was holding, she dropped the present into her lap and hugged Lucky's side, burying her face into his side. "The new Evans Blue CD?"

"I take it that was a good gift?" He teased her, squeezing her right back.

Elizabeth lifted her head and met his eyes. Straightening herself up, she placed her arms around his neck, pulling him toward her. "The best." she whispered. "Thank you" she managed to tell him before she kissed him.

"Lucky? Why are we at your father's club when it's closed?" Elizabeth pointed to the sign on the front of the dark blues club in confusion. As glad as she was to not be wearing the blindfold again, she couldn't' help but wonder if she would be less confused if she was.

Lucky shook his head. "It's not closed."

"But the sign says..."

"The sign says closed for a private party. Dad has this thing about confusing people." Lucky turned the key in the lock easily and held the door open for her. "We're the private party."

Stepping into the club, Elizabeth almost immediately stopped as soon as she took three steps in. Candles were lit from almost every surface she could see. A table at the far end was set for two, with a single red rose sitting in a vase. Walking over to the table, she marveled at all the work that had so obviously been put into this. Pulling the rose out of the vase and breathing in it's aroma, she turned to look into Lucky's eyes. "How did you do all this?"

"I had help." Lucky looked around, satisfied with the effect. Cruz and Patrick had followed his instructions to the letter and had lit every candle, even the ones they had complained about setting up around the stage. He'd owe them, much as he would hate it.

He pulled out a chair for her to sit down. "Wait right here. I just have to check on one more thing." Lucky announced as he raced off toward the stage.

Elizabeth looked around the club in confusion and awe. He had something else planned, that much was obvious, but for the life of her she could not figure this one out. As she tried to figure out just what her boyfriend was up to, a spotlight suddenly shown on the stage. Training her attention forward, she felt herself creep up on the edge of her seat in anticipation.

"I understand there's a birthday tonight." A familiar voice sounded through the club's sound system. Elizabeth felt her eyes widen in shock yet again tonight as the members of Evans Blue filtered out onto the stage. The lead singer took his position and winked in her direction. "Happy birthday Elizabeth." he announced before counting the rest of the band off into their rendition of "Possession."

Lucky strolled back to the table, grinning when he caught sight of her reaction. Her blue eyes were wide and unblinking. Her mouth opening and closing as if she couldn't quite believe what was happening. Lucky dropped a kiss on the top of her head as he sat down. "Enjoying your surprise?"

Elizabeth could barely take her eyes off the stage to look at Lucky for longer than two seconds. "That's Evans Blue. And we're the only ones here."

Lucky nodded. "Yeah and after they finish they're going to come on down here and talk with us."

She raised her hand over her mouth. "Oh my God."

"You're ruining a perfectly awesome song by talking you know."

Finally looking him in the eye, she pulled him toward her and kissed him hard. "Please tell me there's nothing else because I don't think I could take it." She murmured as their lips parted.

"This is it." He promised, kissing her back softly.