Chapter 13

A few minutes later, they joined Laura in the kitchen.

"Did you think of anything else, Mom?" Lucky asked.

She smiled. "Well, you guys did a pretty good job. You've covered most of the bases, except one."

"Which one?" Liz asked, confused. She'd been racking her brain, trying to think of something they might have overlooked, but was unable to come up with anything.

"The honeymoon," Laura said simply, laughing at the look of disgust that flashed across their faces.

"Ugh. Do we really have to go there?" Lucky asked.

Laura shrugged. "You said it had to be realistic, and part of planning a wedding is planning the honeymoon. You don't actually have to go on it, you know! This is just pretend, remember?"

"But still..." Liz said, shuddering, "it's just gross."

"Hey, I'm not that repulsive!" Lucky said, trying to ignore the fact that her words had bothered him more than they should have.

"Oh, you know what I mean!" she said.

Laura just stood there watching the two of them argue. There was something about the way they fought that seemed odd, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"My Mom does have a point, though. It's part of planning a wedding, so we should do it. Anyway, how hard can it be? All we have to do is decide where we would go, maybe research some hotels or something, but that's it, right Mom?" He looked at Laura questioningly, hoping that there wasn't more to it.

Laura nodded, turning back to the counter. Liz sighed. "Fine, we'll plan a stupid honeymoon. Where are we going to go?"

They sat down at the kitchen table, and bickered over locations while Laura started to make dinner.

"I've always wanted to go to Hawaii," Liz said, adding it to the list they were making.

"Once again, too expensive. Remember this has to be affordable." Lucky promptly crossed it out, causing Liz to glare at him.

"You haven't accepted one of my ideas!" she grumbled.

Lucky shrugged. "Maybe that's because none of your ideas will work. You need to think less glamorous, more thrifty."

"At least they're romantic. What's up with this one....Atlantic City? Oh yeah, perfect honeymoon location there! And what about Washington DC? What's romantic about that?"

He sighed. "I never said all of my ideas were perfect! At least they're reasonable. Look at yours: Paris, the Bahamas, Hawaii, Venice... last time I checked, I was broke!"

Laura chuckled to herself. They were already fighting like a married couple. They were so caught up in the heat of the argument, it seemed like they had forgotten that it was all make-believe.

"Okay, fine. How about Niagara Falls? I know it's corny and traditional, but it's not too far away, so it would be cheap." Liz looked down at the list, chewing on her lower lip in contemplation.

He studied her for a moment, watching her think. She looked up at him, waiting for his answer. "Lucky? Don't zone out on me again! Did you hear what I said?"

Embarrassed that he let himself slip away like that again, he answered her quickly, "Uh..yeah, Niagara Falls. I guess that would be okay."

She smiled. "Great! Well, that's settled. What about the hotel stuff?"

"I can go on the Internet tonight and look them up. Do you mind if I just pick one, or do you want to approve that too?" He asked sarcastically, but before she could answer, someone else spoke from the doorway.

"Hey, babe, next time warn me when I'm about to walk into a warzone!" Luke chuckled, entering the kitchen with Foster at his heels. He turned to Lucky and motioned at the dog. "Look, Cowboy, can you do something about this beast? I can't seem to shake him!" Lucky grabbed his dog by the collar and started to lead him out of the kitchen, while Liz watched in amusement.

Luke walked over to the sink where his wife was peeling potatoes. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. "Hi there Angel, how was your day?"

Knowing the Elizabeth was still in the room, she tried to shake him loose, but he was too strong. "It was fine, Luke, but in case you didn't notice, we have company."

Luke turned to look at Elizabeth, who was sitting in an uncomfortable silence at the kitchen table. She couldn't help thinking how cute Lucky's parents were. They were obviously still very much in love with each other.

"I'm sorry, darlin'," Luke said, walking over to her. "I'm Lucky's old man, Luke." He extended his hand towards her, and she shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Spencer, I'm Elizabeth."

He chuckled. "You've got a good grip there, Elizabeth. And please, call me Luke. After all, we're going to be family, right?"

"Dad, that's enough," Lucky scolded, coming back into the room after putting Foster outside.

"What? What did I do?" he asked innocently. "I was just introducing myself to my future daughter-in-law."

Lucky rolled his eyes. "That's what I meant. We're not really getting married, remember?"

Luke chuckled. "Maybe not right now, but I have a feeling you'll change your minds later."

"Argh," Lucky growled, grabbing his papers off of the table. "Come on, Elizabeth, let's get out of here. When he gets like this, the only thing you can do is leave the room!" He shot an angry glance over his shoulder towards his father and left the kitchen.

Liz sat at the table, unsure of what to do. She didn't really want to stay here with people she barely knew, but she wasn't about to just get up and obediently follow Lucky. She thought it over for a moment and decided to stay. She got up from the table and walked over to Laura.

"Mrs. Spencer, is there anything I can do to help you? I'm not really a good cook, but if you need me to cut vegetables or something, I'd be glad to help."

Laura smiled at her. "First of all, please call me Laura. Secondly, if you really want to help, you can defrost the chicken for me."

Liz smiled, happy to be able to do something and went over to the freezer. She was putting the chicken in the microwave when Lucky came back into the room.

"What are you doing?" he asked, confused.

She looked at him defiantly. "I'm helping your mother. She was kind enough to invite me to eat here tonight, and the least I can do is help her with dinner!"

"Well, I thought we were here to work on the project some more?" he couldn't believe she was taking his parents' side!

"We can do that later...Cowboy." She teased, knowing that would get him. She had seen the look on his face when his dad had used the nickname earlier, and could tell that he hadn't wanted her to hear it.

He motioned for her to come closer. He didn't want his parents hear them arguing. She reluctantly went over to him. "What?:"

"First, don't call me that. Second, I thought you came here so we could finish this wedding stuff, not to play house!" He didn't mean to yell at her, but she had been pushing his butttons all day, and he had just about had it.

She frowned at him, growing extremely angry. "Look, I'm just trying to be a considerate dinner guest, okay? Did your mother forget to tell you that you're not the center of the universe?"

They're interrupted when Luke and Laura burst out laughing.

"Trust me, honey, I've tried, but he won't listen. I think he gets it from his father." Laura said, still laughing. Luke tried to look hurt, but he couldn't stop laughing long enough.

Liz and Lucky both blushed. They had be so involved in their argument, they had forgotten that his parents were still there.

Frustrated and slightly embarrassed, Lucky stormed out of the room, with Luke right behind him. Laura smiled to herself, admiring the way Elizabeth had just handled her son.

Out in the living room, Lucky was fuming. Luke put a hand on his shoulder and chuckled. "Sorry to tell you this, son, but that little lady in there is destined to be a Spencer!"

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