A/N: Hey, guys! I'm back! Nothing major to say, so…here's the next chapter! Enjoy and please keep those reviews coming! PLEASE check out "Star of David" by River Tam. It is freakin' amazing!

YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT.

Much time left for what? Much time left together? Much time left at all? Questions zoomed through Lizzie's mind, and she had to sit down to stop the dizzying sensation. She picked up the phone and dialed Gordo's number. "Gordo?"

"Hey, Liz…are you okay?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"What?"

"I got another note…"

"I'll be right over." Five minutes later, Gordo was back at Lizzie's house. They were both sitting on Lizzie's bed, contemplating the note. "I just don't get it," Gordo said.

"Do you think they want to break us up?"

"I really don't know, Liz."

"Well, if they do, I won't let them! Nothing can pull me away from you," she said, nuzzling closer to Gordo.

Gordo chuckled, "That's some pretty big talk for such a little lady." Lizzie stuck her tongue out.

"I'm getting tired," she said. She fell back onto the bed dramatically.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning, then?"

"No, stay for a little longer. Please?"

"Alright. Since you asked so nicely." Gordo curled up next to Lizzie. Soon all four eyes were closed, and the two teenagers were off in "dream-land." (A/N: That's my fave place to be! Lol)

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The sun shone through Lizzie's window, causing Gordo to awaken. He sat up. "Stop moving, Gordo," Lizzie whined, half awake.

"Crap," Gordo said, rubbing his eyes. "I've been here all night. My parents are probably worried sick."

"Oh, yeah. Them," Lizzie said, sitting up as well.

Gordo laughed. "I gotta go, sweetheart. I'll call you later?"

"Okay. Love you."

"I love you, too."

Later that day, Gordo was walking around downtown; he had nothing else to do. As he stopped to glance in a bookstore window, a man came up behind him. "Gordo?" The man asked.

"Hey," Gordo said, turning around. "Umm, do I know you?"

"Of course you do! Don't you remember me?"

"Umm…"

The man changed the subject quickly, "How's Lizzie? You two still together?"

"Yeah," Gordo said, thinking he must know this guy from somewhere. "She's good. Just had her birthday yesterday."

"Really? Oh, you kids are growing up so fast." Gordo thought that a strange comment, considering this guy couldn't be over 22 himself. "So what are you out shopping for? Late birthday present for Liz?"

"No, no. I'm just wandering."

"She turned 18, right? What'd you get her? That's a big birthday."

"I took her out to dinner, and…and I was going to propose. But I chickened out."

A grave look came over the man's face. He ran a hand through his beard thoughtfully. "It's a good thing you did chicken out."

"Why?"

"You kids are so young…it would have ended in divorce, anyway."

"Oh, well we've been dating since we were 15. That's a long time…I'm going to propose when I get my courage back."

"That's a long time for high school kids, I suppose. Well, I best be going. Tell Lizzie I said 'hi'."

"Will do. Have a nice day."

"You too, kid. You too." The man left and got into a Ford truck.

"Who the hell are you?" Gordo mumbled under his breath. "And why were you in such a hurry to leave?"

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"Lizzie! Your father and I are leaving for the airport. Come say goodbye!" Jo yelled up the stairs. She and Sam were about to leave on business for 3 days. Lizzie came bounding down the stairs.

"Bye, Mom." She gave her mother a kiss. "Have fun!"

"We will. Remember, no friends in the house except Miranda and Gordo. And take care of Matt. Try to put aside your differences for a while. Please?"

"Since when have I had problems with Weasel Boy?" Lizzie rolled her eyes sarcastically.

Jo sighed. "I love you." She patted Lizzie's shoulder. "Matt, come say goodbye!"

"Bye!" came the muffled reply from Matt's room. Jo rolled her eyes.

"Sam, let's go." Sam came into the room and said goodbye to Lizzie. When they had left, Matt came downstairs, iPod in hand, music booming from his headphones.

"I'm going to Melina's," the 14 year old practically screamed above the rap music.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Lizzie grabbed his headphone cord and Matt jerked to a stop. "I am in charge here. Therefore, you don't tell me you're going to Melina's, you ask me if you can go to Melina's. Got it?"

"I have news for ya, Liz. Mom and Dad are out of town. If you tell them I misbehaved, I'll tell them that Gordo slept over last night." Lizzie gaped. "And you wouldn't want that, would you?"

"That was completely innocent!"

"Right," Matt said, stretching out the word to show his disbelief. He raised an eyebrow.

"Ew! All clothing items stayed on! Gordo and I have not done that!"

"Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. I'm going to Melina's." He gestured to the door and left.

"Ew!" Lizzie shrieked again. She sighed and went to the phone. Miranda came over and they spent the night watching movies. The newest "Pirates of the Caribbean" was on.

"Johnny Depp is sooooo hot!" Miranda announced, reaching for the popcorn.

Lizzie laughed. To her, all Johnny Depp was was a stupid pirate. "What about Keith?"

"Things have been…difficult." Miranda sighed and shook her head.

"Want to talk about it?"

"He just never wants to spend time with me anymore. I'm thinking of dumping him."

"Aw, Miranda! I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Liz. Maybe Keith and I just aren't meant to have that fairytale romance that you and Gordo have."

"Yeah…you'll find your 'Prince Charming' sometime." Lizzie bumped shoulders with her best friend.

"Yup. I have faith." The two girls laughed. Lizzie loved Gordo with all her heart, but she was grateful to have some girl-time with Miranda. She felt so content sitting in her living room, watching movies, surrounded by mounds and mounds of junk food. Yeah…life was good. Miranda couldn't sleep over, and left at about 11:00. Lizzie got a call from Matt to say that he needed a ride home from Melina's. She sighed and grabbed her car keys. Matt and Melina were the typical "on-again-off-again" teenage couple. Lizzie had had to pick Matt up from Melina's house so many times that she had the route memorized by now. She pulled up in front of the house and honked. Matt gave Melina a quick kiss goodbye and got in the car.

"I guess you and Melina are on right now?" Lizzie smiled.

Matt blushed. "I guess so."

"Don't feel bad. I remember what being your age was like. God, it feels like so long ago."

"Melina's 15th birthday is coming up. What do you think I should get her?"

"Jewelry. Every girl loves jewelry. Or perfume."

"Well, I did see this locket at the mall with Melina. She really liked it."

"Get it!"

"I don't have the money. My allowance is barely anything."

"You could always go work at the Digital Bean," Lizzie laughed, remembering her first job. "Or, you could help me out with my chores and I'll give you some cash."

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah."

"Well, thanks, skunk breath."

"Welcome, Weasel Head." Lizzie smiled as they pulled into the driveway. She was happy to have peace with Matt again.

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Lizzie snuggled deeper under her warm covers. Sleep finally took over her mind, sweeping her into unconsciousness. She was completely unaware of the man prying her bedroom window open. She was also unaware that the man's friend was prying open Gordo's window at the same time.

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"Don't scream." A man instructed. Gordo could see that the man was holding up a knife, so he was happy to obey. "Stand up. No funny business." Gordo stood up. The man brought out silver duck-tape and wrapped it around Gordo's wrists, binding them together. He also put some over Gordo's mouth. "We're leaving." The man said. Gordo nodded slightly. He may have seemed calm, but inside he was freaking out. He was smart enough to not try anything, though. He didn't want to be killed. Gordo was lead out his bedroom window, across the lawn, and to a pickup truck. The man opened the door and roughly pushed Gordo into the backseat. The man got into the driver's seat and started the car. Gordo could vaguely recognize the houses they were zooming past at way above the speed limit, but he didn't truly realize what was happening until they stopped in front of Lizzie's house. The man parked and pulled Gordo out of the car. "Keep quiet," he instructed. They clumsily climbed the tree next to Lizzie's room and crawled in the window.

"Got him?" A voice whispered. Gordo squinted to see in the dim light. It was the man with the beard.

"Got 'em."

The bearded man went over the bed and tapped Lizzie on the shoulder. "Don't scream," he said as she awoke. He held up the knife. Gordo struggled to get out of the other man's grasp. The man with the bead took out his own roll of duck-tape and put it over Lizzie's mouth and wrists. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Do you remember me, Gordo?" Gordo nodded. He was really starting to get scared for his life. "Good. Well, I don't like you and your family, Gordo. And now you and your girlfriend are gonna pay." He shoved Lizzie back onto the bed. He raised the knife to above her chest. Lizzie thought briefly about screaming, but her parents weren't home and she didn't want to put Matt in danger, too. She silently apologized for all the bad things she had ever done in her life. She silently told Miranda, Matt, Gordo and her parents goodbye. Just as the knife was about to plunge into her chest, Gordo pulled away from the man and made a mad dive across the room. He tackled the man off of Lizzie and kicked him. The other man stabbed him in the arm. Lizzie managed to knock the phone off of its cradle and hit speed dial 1 (which had been automatically preset to 911). She made muffled screaming noises to let the operator know that she was on the line.

"Hang on, I'm sending the police," the operator confirmed. Lizzie then flew across the room and tried to knock the men off of Gordo. As sirens came echoed down the street, the men reluctantly retreated down the tree, calling out that they would be back and to not tell the police anything.

The police banged on the front door. "Lizzie?" Matt called from his room. Lizzie picked up her pocket knife and placed it in her hand. She cut through the duck-tape and pulled the piece off her mouth.

"Matt!" she responded, thanking God she was still alive. "Stay in your room. Don't ask questions; I'll get the door." She turned to Gordo, "are you okay here for a minute?" He seemed to be in pain, but nodded anyway.

Lizzie dashed down the stairs. "Yes?" She asked, answering the door.

"There was a call to 911 from this address?" The officer asked.

"Really?" Lizzie tried to seem surprised. "I never called 911. Everything's fine. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Lizzie must have done a good job because the officer bought it. "Have a good night, ma'am."

Lizzie closed the door and rushed back up the stairs to Gordo. She gingerly worked all the duck-tape off of him and hugged him tight. "Oh my God, Gordo, are you all right?" She began to cry and the salty tears dampened her boyfriend's shirt.

"I'm fine, honey, are you all right?"

She nodded. "Omigosh, Gordo! You're bleeding!"

Gordo looked at his arm. "Well…that's worse than I thought."

"Let me take you to the hospital."

"It's not that bad, Liz."

"Yes, it is! Let's go. I don't want you to be hurt."

"Okay, fine. Fine, let's go."

Lizzie scribbled a note to Matt and taped it on his closed door. They got in Lizzie's car and zoomed over to the Emergency room.

"We seem to be making this our second home," Lizzie joked, trying to lighten the situation. She wiped at her tears and took Gordo's hand. They approached the front desk.

"Can I help you?" The nurse asked.

Gordo showed her his arm and explained that he wanted to get it checked out.

Lizzie and Gordo were sent into an examination room. "How on Earth did this happen?" The doctor asked right after he entered the room. The sight of Gordo's blood covered shirt was enough to tip him off on the situation, but he had never seen a cut that large.

Lizzie shot Gordo a look, and Gordo answered simply with, "Um, I'm not really sure."

"Take your shirt off, please." Gordo had trouble lifting his arm, and Lizzie and the doctor helped him with his shirt. "There we go. Now I can see it better." The doctor sanitized the wound and bandaged it. "Feel better, and come back in if anything concerns you."

Gordo signed the release forms and paid the fee. "Gordo," Lizzie said in the car, "Thank you. You tried to save me and I really appreciate it. I love you," she reached over and took his hand.

"I love you, too. And, Liz…honestly. We need to tell your parents. We almost lost our lives tonight."