What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 59-60

~*~Chapter 59~*~

Everyone was outside of Elizabeth’s room, crying. They had all seen her wake up, and it was the most wonderful, beautiful thing they’d ever seen.

“Who said love can’t heal everything?” Luke asks, watching the tender exchange inside.

Laura smiles at him. “I kept saying that he was all she needed to wake up.”

“Barbara, thanks for talking to him,” Luke said to his sister, who had come back in time to see Liz wake up.

She smiles. “I didn’t say anything you guys weren’t saying.”

“Yes, you did. I think when he heard what would happen if she didn’t wake up, well, I think it scared him enough that he finally gave in.” Laura says.

Luke grins. “So when do you think the wedding will be?”

Laura hits him playfully. “Oh, Luke, stop it. Give her a chance to recover before you start naming their kids!”

He shrugs. “Sooner or later, the boy is going to come to his senses and pop the question. Something tells me that after this, it’ll be sooner. There’s nothing like a close call with the ‘ol reaper to put things in perspective, you know?”

“Is everything okay?” Nikolas asks, approaching the group. Emily is limping along next to him.

Laura smiles. “She woke up a few minutes ago.”

“Really? What finally triggered it?” he asks, grinning.

Luke nods towards the window. “See for yourself.”

Nikolas and Emily go up to the window. “I knew that’s all it would take,” he says, putting his arm around her.

~*~

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re all right!” Lucky exclaims through his tears. “Bobbie told me what could happen to you, and I was so afraid. I’m so sorry I didn’t come in sooner!” He runs his fingers lightly down the side of her face. “By the way, what did you mean when you asked what took me so long?”

She smiles. “Why do think I haven’t been able to wake up until now?” He keeps looking at her, waiting for her to explain. “I was waiting to hear your voice. All week, everyone has been so wonderful, coming in here and talking to me, telling me to keep fighting, telling me that you love me, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake up. Then you came in and just by saying my name, I felt like I could almost break through. You were all I needed, Lucky. You always are.”

She looks up into his tear-filled eyes and sees the hurt and regret in them. “Don’t blame yourself, Lucky. None of this was your fault. I’m back, and I’m never going away again.”

He looks at her and sees nothing but love in her eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost you. I was so scared, Elizabeth.” He starts crying again, and she pulls his head down to her chest, cradling him in her arms.

After a few minutes, he raises his head and smiles at her. “You know, you’re going to be a great mother.”

She laughs. “One thing at a time there, Cowboy! Let’s just worry about getting me out of this hospital first!”

He laughs and kisses her tenderly. “Yes, ma’am.” They gaze at each other for a moment. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Lucky, but I’m starting to feel like we’re in a fish tank.” He looks at her strangely, and she nods towards the front of the room. He turns and sees everyone standing outside, watching them through the window.

He chuckles. “Hey guys, this isn’t a peep show! Get in here!” He laughs and waves them in.

Feeling guilty about being caught watching them, they slowly file into the room. They take turns hugging Elizabeth and welcoming her back. When they’re done, Elizabeth wipes her eyes and clears her throat. “I just want to thank you guys for being here for me all week. It meant the world to me to know that you were here, talking to me. I love you guys so much!”

Luke smiles. “Yeah, well, we’re pretty fond of you too, little lady. Just don’t scare us like that again!”

Liz salutes him and smiles. “Aye, aye, sir!” Everyone laughs, happy to have her back.

~*~Chapter 60~*~

[A month has passed]

“What is that, a dog?” Lucky asks, cocking his head to the side.

“No, and shut up! It’s not your turn!” Nikolas replies angrily.

“Time’s up!” Liz announces, smiling.

“All right what was it?” Emily asks, confused.

Nikolas sighs. “Where the Red Fern Grows”

They all burst out laughing. “That was a fern?!?!” Lucky says incredulously. He grins at Elizabeth. “No wonder we’re winning!”

Nikolas rolls his eyes. “No, you’re winning because you have an artist on your team! Whose idea was it to play Pictionary anyway?”

Liz and Emily point at Lucky, who grins.

“Figures,” Nikolas mutters. “Fine, you guys win. Can we please do something a else?”

Lucky laughs. Over the past month, they’ve become like regular brothers: always competing. At first, he thought that living with Nikolas would get on his nerves, but instead it’s brought them closer together. The cottage also served as a perfect getaway for the four teens. Tonight they had decided to spend the night playing games and eating pizza, like normal teenagers.

“Why don’t we do something that doesn’t involve winning or losing this time?” Elizabeth asks, tired of the guys arguing all night.

“Like what?” Lucky asks.

She smiles. “I brought my Ouija board!” She goes over to her bag and pulls it out.

“What’s that?” Nikolas asks, never having seen one before.

Lucky laughs. “You really did have a sheltered childhood, didn’t you?” Nikolas shrugs.

Elizabeth explains how it works and Emily adds, “it’s supposed to help you talk to spirits, but really, it’s just your subconscious moving it. “Right?” she asks nervously. She had never used one before, and wasn’t sure what to expect.

Liz shrugs. “Probably, but no one’s really sure. Wanna try it? It’ll be fun!” She looks around the room at everyone. They look a little apprehensive, but they agree anyway.

“Wait, first we need mood lighting,” Lucky says, getting up and turning off most of the lights. He then lights some candles and sits back down with the group. He looks at Elizabeth and smiles. “Don’t worry, we’ll blow them out before we go to bed.”

She glares at him for a moment and hits him. “Don’t joke about that, Lucky Spencer!” She tries to look angry, but ends up laughing instead. He still likes to make fun of them for buying the idea that he slept through a fire that was only started by a couple of candles.

“All right, enough with the violence. How do we work this thing?” Nikolas says, seating himself on the floor next the board.

The rest of them follow, situating themselves on opposite sides of the board. Elizabeth starts to explain. “We each put our fingers lightly on the edge of the planchette, and someone asks a question. Everyone has to concentrate on the question, and it should start moving. We then read out the letters or numbers that it pauses over, and it should spell out the answer!”

“Sounds kind of freaky.” Emily says, still a little nervous about it, but also excited.

“Ready?” Liz asks. They all put their hands hesitantly on the planchette and look at each other.

”It’s not doing anything,” Nikolas says, confused.

Liz laughs. “We have to ask it something first. Fine, I’ll go.” She clears her throat. “Is anyone there?” The planchette trembles for a moment, then slides over to ‘yes’. Liz reads it out loud and smiles triumphantly.

Lucky starts humming the ‘Twilight Zone’ theme and Liz smacks him again. He laughs. “All right, I’ll ask something...what kind of stuff do you ask this thing anyway?”

Liz shrugs. “Stuff about the future, mostly. You know, ‘who will I marry’, ‘how many kids will I have.’ Or, if you believe that you’re really talking to a spirit, you can ask it things like ‘who are you’, or ‘how did you die’, but that gets kind of creepy.”

Lucky thinks for a minute and smiles. “All right, we’ll test this thing out....Who am I going to marry.” Liz grins at him. The planchette starts moving. Liz reads out the letters as it stops over them.

“E.......W.... Gee, I wonder who that could be?” She grins at Lucky again.

“How do we know you guys didn’t move it?” Nikolas asks suspiciously.

They both shrug. Lucky decides to defend himself. “Well, I for one, would have spelled out her name if I was moving it, wouldn’t you?” He turns to Elizabeth and she nods.

“Okay, my turn again!” Liz says, putting her hand back on the pointer. “Who will I marry?”

“L...... S...” She grins. “Isn’t your dad a little old for me?” Lucky punches her playfully and she laughs.

“Come on, you guys are hogging it. Give the rest of us a turn!” Emily is starting to get into this now, realizing it all just for fun. She thinks for a minute before asking her question. “What am I going to be when I grow up....as a job, I mean?”

“M.......O.......D.......E........L Hm, that’s not much of a surprise. I thought I’d do something different. Oh well, your turn, Nikolas!”

He thinks for a minute, not sure what to ask, and still not really believing that his friends weren’t moving it around. He grins as he thinks of a question. “All right, let’s test this thing. I’m going to close my eyes, so don’t read the letters out loud. Let’s see what it knows.” He pauses, closes his eyes, and asks, “What was the name of my first horse?”

They watch as it spells out the answer. L.....A......S.......H......A “Lasha?” Lucky asks as Nikolas opens his eyes in shock. “You named a horse after our mother?”

Nikolas is stunned. “I...no...I mean...Stefan named her. I can’t believe it got it right!” They look at each other strangely. Now things were getting spooky. In their shock, they hadn’t removed their hands from the planchette, and it started to move again.

“What’s going on? We didn’t ask anything yet!” Emily exclaims as Liz reads the letters out loud.

“B...E...W...A....R....E....O....F....N....B.... Huh?”

“Beware of N.B.? Who’s N.B.?” Emily asks, getting scared.