~*~Chapter 61~*~

V hurries into Jake’s, searching the small room for Lucky. When she doesn’t see him, she approaches the bar and waits for the bartender to finish with his customer.

“Excuse me,” she says loudly, waving to get his attention.

“What can I get you?” he asks cheerfully, walking to her end of the bar and placing a cocktail napkin down in front of her.

“I’m looking for somebody, and I was wondering if he’s been in here tonight. Lucky Spencer? He comes in here a lot, he’s about my height, has short, dark blonde hair....any of that ring a bell?”

The bartender thinks for a minute, scratching his chin. “Yeah, I think I did see him earlier. He was pretty drunk, so Kimber took him home.”

“Kimber? Is that the blonde woman?” she asks, starting to become worried.

The bartender nods. “She’s blonde, yes. You know her?”

“I’ve seen her before. Thanks for the info.” She drops a five-dollar bill on the bar for his trouble and leaves. Once she’s outside, she pulls out her phone and dials Sonny’s penthouse.

“Yes?”

“Hey, Sonny, it’s V. Um, I don’t suppose Lucky’s showed up since you last talked to Laura?”

“No, he hasn’t. Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know. Actually, I think I know where to find him now. Thanks, Sonny.” She hangs up and climbs into her car. There’s only one other place she can think of to look, she just hopes she can get there before anything happens.

~*~

Kimber watches patiently as Lucky leans towards her, knowing all her hard work is finally paying off. She closes her eyes as his hands come up to touch her hair, and reaches up to caress his cheek.

Lucky leans closer to her, feeling as though he is running on automatic, as though he no longer has control of his actions. He can feel himself reaching up, running his fingers through her hair, but he’s not sure why he’s doing it. Loneliness, probably. The need to feel connected to someone again. Whatever it is, it has taken over his body, and he’s just along for the ride.

Unable to stand the suspense any longer, Kimber lets her hand rest on the back of Lucky’s head, pulling him closer, closing the distance between them. Their lips meet, crashing together hungrily. Lucky’s other hand comes up, grabbing the back of her neck, pulling her closer. For that moment, he is able to forget everything, all the sorrow in his life, all the loss. For the first time in months, he isn’t alone.

In the back of his mind, he’s screaming at himself to stop, to get as far away from Kimber as possible. He knows what he’s doing is wrong, that he’s betraying Elizabeth, but at the same time, he’s drunk and needy, and Kimber’s there, willing. It’s weak and selfish, but he can’t help himself. Instead of pulling away like he knows he should, he intensifies the kiss, trying to bury the last few shreds of rational thought he has.

~*~

V pulls into Lucky’s driveway, cursing to herself when she sees the other car. The license plate says “KIMBER1”. She rolls her eyes as she jumps out of her car and practically runs up the sidewalk to the front door, muttering angrily to herself the entire way.

“...little hussy better not touch one hair on his head if she knows what’s good for her....stupid blonde bimbo, how dare she go after a married man like that, and when he’s drunk!?...probably the only way she can get a man....”

The front door is slightly open, so she decides to let herself in. The house is quiet and dark, and it’s obvious no one has been living there for a while. She looks down and sees Lucky’s keys on the hall table and knows he’s there. As she walks farther into the house, she sees a light out of the corner of her eye and turns. At the end of the hallway, the door to his bedroom is halfway open, and the light is on inside.

Fuming, V starts down the hall, not caring that she could be walking in on a private moment. All she knows is that Lucky told her once to watch Kimber, to keep her away from him, and that’s what she plans on doing. She pushes the door open and stands there, shocked to see the two kissing.

“Take your skanky lips off of him!” she shouts. Lucky and Kimber break apart suddenly. Kimber turns to glare at her, while Lucky looks somewhat relieved.

“Excuse you?” Kimber asks, standing up to face V. “How dare you burst in here like that!?”

V steps closer to her, hands on her hips. “How dare you take advantage of a man who’s not only drunk, but married?”

“He wasn’t exactly complaining!” Kimber shoots back, mimicking V’s stance.

“That’s because you made sure he was nice and liquored up first!”

Kimber glares at her, knowing she’s right. “He’s a consenting adult, he could have stopped any time he wanted. And he was drinking on his own, I had nothing to do with it!”

“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t. Look, why don’t you just haul your pasty little butt out of here right now before this gets any uglier? You’re little rendezvous has been cut short.” V steps past her to stand next to the bed, looking down at Lucky for a moment to make sure he is all right.

Kimber spins around and looks at him. “Lucky? Are you going to let this woman talk to me like that?”

Lucky looks from Kimber to V, trying to get his bearings. He rubs his face, confused and ashamed. “Um, maybe you should go. I’m really tired.”

Kimber glares at them, then turns to the door and stomps off in a huff. A moment later, they hear her car start up and peel out of the driveway. Lucky looks up at V gratefully. “Thanks, V,” he slurs, his eyes not quite focused on her.

“Just doing my job,” she jokes, kneeling down in front of him. “Are you okay?”

He nods slowly, then covers his face with his hands. “What was I thinking? How could I.....?”

“Shh, it’s okay,” she says, reaching up to take his hands away. “Why don’t you get some sleep?”

Lucky nods. “Yeah, sleep, that’s a good idea. Thanks again.” He reaches out to hug her, then passes out in her arms.

“Ugh,” she groans, trying not to collapse under his weight. “How do I get myself into these things?”

~*~Chapter 62~*~

After going over her plan a few more times in her head, Liz turns off the CD and puts the player away, then crawls into bed. As eager as she is to start right away, she had already told Helena and Sergei she was going to bed, and doesn’t want to take the chance that one of them will come up to check on her. If they find out she’s still up, they could get angry.

As she lays in bed, waiting for sleep to come, she pulls her necklace out from under her nightshirt, gently fingering the wedding band that hangs from it.

“I hope this works,” she whispers to herself. “Please, God, let this work.”

~*~

Liz had decided that the best way to carry out her plan would be to wait about a week or so before doing anything, or else it wouldn’t be believable. So, she spent the next week doing pretty much what she always did. She wandered the grounds during the day, played with Mikkos at night, listened to her CDs, making sure not to play Lucky’s too much, for fear that someone would notice and grow suspicious.

Once a week has passed, she decides to go ahead and put her plan into motion. She waits until an afternoon where Helena is busy, and goes outside to find Sergei. After searching the grounds, she finds him on the far side of the island, looking out at the water wistfully. She pauses for a moment, wondering what he’s thinking about, then takes a deep breath and clears her throat to get his attention.

Sergei turns around and smiles, surprised to see her there. “Elisha, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, it’s fine, Sergei,” she says, walking up to him. “I need a really big favor, and I was hoping I could count on you for it.”

“What is it? I’ll do whatever I can, within reason of course,” he says, wondering what has her so excited.

“Right, within reason,” Liz says bitterly, knowing that he means anything that Helena would disapprove of. “I think this will be okay.” She holds out an envelope to him, and he takes it, looking up at her questioningly. “I need you to mail that for me.”

“Mail...but Elisha, you know you can’t write to anyone!”

“No, no, this isn’t like that. Remember that last group of CDs you brought me? Well, one of them, Robert Foster, is really good. I fell in love with it, and I just really wanted to send him a fan letter, to tell him how much I enjoyed his music. It’s totally harmless, I didn’t even sign my name. There’s no address on there, and I know you have ways of mailing things so that they’re not traceable, right?”

Sergei nods, not sure if he should go along with this.

“Anyway, I left the envelope open, so if you want, you can read the letter for yourself, see that it’s totally harmless Please do this for me, Sergei. I know it sounds silly to you, but after being on this island for so long, I feel so disconnected from the rest of the world. Writing this letter makes me feel better, like I’m actually talking to someone else. Please?” She gives him her best puppy-dog eyes, hoping it will work.

Sergei sighs and looks down at the letter in his hands, reading the address. “L&B Records, New York, NY. I guess that’s okay. Tell you what, I’ll skim the letter, and if I don’t see anything wrong with it, I’ll send it for you.”

Liz screeches happily and hugs him. “Thank you, thank you!” She kisses him quickly on the cheek, then bounces away, back to the house. She hurries upstairs to the nursery, closing the door behind her before picking Mikkos up.

“Hey, Mickey. You know how I told you that your real daddy was alive after all? Well, I think I may have just found a way to let him know where I am. I just hope Sergei mails the letter, and that Lucky reads it. If everything goes well, we might be getting off of this crazy island real soon.” She leans down and kisses the top of his head, then rocks him slowly while gazing at the painted walls of the room, wondering if she might actually be able to look at those scenes in person again someday.

~*~

Sergei walks over to a bench and sits down, sliding her letter out of the envelope. He reads through it quickly, looking for any sign that it’s a trick. From what he can tell, it’s just a regular, gushing fan letter. The grammar and wording is a bit odd, but nothing too drastic. Maybe she just has a strange writing style.

Helena had just informed him that morning that she wanted him to go to the mainland again tomorrow to do some business for her, so he figures it wouldn’t be so bad if he mailed the letter while he is there. It was obviously very important to her, and judging by how happy she was that he agreed to think about it, maybe doing this for her would finally win some of her trust.

“One of these days, Elisha, you will love me. We will be a real family, me, you, and Mikkos. Someday, you’ll forget about Lucky Spencer, and realize that I’m the man for you.” He seals the envelope and slides it into his breast pocket, then strolls back to the house, totally unaware that what he is about to do could change everything, not only for her, but for him as well.

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