Chapter 40

Lucky came home after school and slammed the door behind him. Luke, who was sitting on the couch, turned to see what all the noise was about.

"Hey, Cowboy, what's wrong? You look like you just lost your best friend!"

Lucky glared at him in response.

"Whoa, what happened? Is it Liz?" he asked, getting worried.

"Liberty died."

"Who?"

"The project. Our baby was a girl, but our sadistic excuse for a teacher thought it would be cute to have one of the groups lose their baby, and we were lucky enough to get that one," he explained bitterly.

"Hey, Cowboy, I'm sorry. Why are you so upset, though? It's just pretend, right?"

"I know, but it's still something we planned for a whole month. It would have been nice to have a happy result, even if it wasn't real. Look, I have to go call Elizabeth. She was really upset, and I didn't really get a chance to talk to her in our classes." Lucky rushed upstairs, leaving Luke behind, shaking his head.

~*~

Liz flopped down on her bed. She was still upset over what happened in home ec, even though she knew it was silly. It was just pretend, after all! Why was she so sad about a baby that never existed anyway?

The phone rang, and she reluctantly leaned over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Elizabeth," Lucky said sullenly. "How are you?"

She sighed. At least he seemed to be taking it hard as well. "The same. You?"

"Okay, I guess. Got the third degree from my dad when I got home. He probably thinks I'm nuts!"

"So, are we? I mean, this is just a project! There was never a real baby, so why are we getting upset about this?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should think of something to take our minds off of it. Any ideas?"

Liz thought for a moment. "I have to work all weekend, but I'm free tonight. Maybe we should just go to a movie or something. Wait, no movies. With my luck, it'll be scary, or have a baby in it!"

"Well, there's a carnival in town. We could go there," Lucky suggested.

"A carnival! That sounds perfect. Let's go tonight. If that doesn't take my mind off of this stupid baby thing, nothing will!"

"Cool. You want me to pick you up in an hour?"

"Sure, that should be enough time for me to take a quick shower. I'll see you then!"

~*~

"Okay, what do you want to hit first?" Lucky asked as they entered the park.

Liz looked around, smiling at all of the lights and smells. "Hmm....how about a roller coaster? That should take my mind off of things!"

"Cool, I think there's one right over there," Lucky said, pointing to the right. They rushed over and got in line, then stood there, looking uncomfortably at each other.

"So..." Lucky said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"So..." Liz responded, looking at the back of the head of the person in front of her. There was suddenly a huge tension in the air, and neither of them knew how to handle it. The line moved slowly, but they were finally on the next round of people to get on. Lucky nodded for her to go first, and rested his hand on her back as she climbed into the car to steady her. She smiled slightly at how natural it had seemed.

The ride operator strapped them in, then moved to the next car. They sat there in silence, waiting for the ride to start, trying to ignore the fact that they were sitting so close to each other that their arms were touching. After what felt like an eternity, the ride finally started. They screamed along with everyone else, throwing their hands in the air and having a good time. Once it had ended and they had disembarked, Lucky turned to her and smiled. "So, did it work?"

"Work?" she asked, not sure what he meant, and still pretty shaken by the whole experience.

"Did the ride take your mind off of....things?" he asked, not wanting to bring up the subject of the baby again, but not sure how else to ask.

She nodded. "Yeah, it did." 'But now my mind is on other things!' she thought, looking at him out of the corner of her eye as they walked to the next ride.

After riding a few more roller coasters, they were both starving. They stopped at a concession stand and looked over the menu on the wall behind the cashiers.

"Anything look good?" she asked, still reading the list of food.

"Um-hm," Lucky mumbled, turning to watch her. She was studying the menu so intently that she didn't even realize that he was looking at her, let alone that he wasn't talking about the food anymore!

"Really? What are you getting, because I can't decide!"

"Hm?" He couldn't stop staring at her, at the way the corner of her mouth curled up when she talked. She turned to him, and was thrown for a moment to find that he had been looking at her.

"Um...I said what are you getting. You know, to eat?" she asked quietly. As soon as she had turned to look at him, she had been drawn into his remarkably blue eyes. She felt like he was looking right into her soul. Afraid that he would be able to see what she was thinking, she quickly looked away, stepping up to the window to order.

Still shaken by her gaze, he got into line behind her. Every now and then a breeze would come through, carrying along the scent of her hair, and he would catch himself wondering if that was what Heaven smelled like.

~*~

"Hey, babe. Long day at work?" Luke asked as Laura came into the house. She had been working on the Outreach Program at GH and would sometimes stay late to catch up on some case files. She flopped down on the couch next to Luke and sighed.

"Very long. I'm so glad to be home!"

He started to massage her shoulders as she talked about her day. After filling him in on her latest case, she turned around and smiled. "Thanks, that felt wonderful. Now, where are my children? It's way too quiet in here!"

Luke laughed. "Lulu's at Bobbie's for the night, and Lucky went to the carnival with Liz."

"The carnival?" Laura asked, raising an eyebrow in astonishment. "Aren't they afraid of being teased for that?"

"Not this time. They had a bad day at school and thought they would cheer each other up."

"Uh-oh, what happened?"

"You know the baby thing, right? Well, their teacher decided to play a cruel joke and have one of the couples lose it. Guess which who the lucky couple was?"

Laura gasped. "Oh, no! They weren't!"

"Yep. Lucky said it was a girl, but it was stillborn. I know it was just pretend, but he was taking it so hard, and from the sound of it, so was Liz."

Laura shook her head. "How could their teacher be so heartless?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they're fine now. I mean, kids bounce back fast, and they're at a carnival, with none of us to bug them. They must be on cloud nine right now!" Luke said, an evil glint in his eye.

Knowing her husband all too well, Laura gave him a warning look. "Luke... don't even think about it. They've had a hard time lately, and they don't need us making things worse!"

Luke stood up and grinned. "Baby, how long's it been since I bought you some cotton candy?"

Laura laughed and shook her head, knowing when he got this way, there was nothing to do but go along for the ride. "Too long. Let's go."

Graphics Courtesy Of: