What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 83-84

~*~Chapter 83~*~

“Barbara!” Luke yells, running to the nurses station. She looks up in shock.

“Is it Lucky? Is he...” she starts to ask, but he stops her.

“Just come look. Hurry!” He pulls her by the arm back to Lucky’s room. Laura, Nikolas, and Emily are all standing outside, staring in the window. “Okay, tell me what you see.”

She looks at her brother for a moment, wondering if he’s lost his mind, and then looks in the window. “Well, I see Lucky and Elizabeth on the bed. She seems to be asleep, and he...oh my gosh! He’s rubbing her arm! Luke, he’s alive!”

Luke chuckles. “It’s good to have your medical expertise there, Barbara. Now, how is this possible?”

She thinks for a moment and shrugs. “Well, like I said before, this poison is new to all of us. We’ve never actually seen the effect is has on human beings. Maybe the 24 hours was only an estimate, so don’t get too excited. He may not be out of the woods yet. On the other hand, the 2-hour window for the antidote could have been wrong, which could mean that he’ll be okay after all. I really don’t know, but I’ll go call the lab right now, okay?” She smiles and hugs Luke before rushing back to the nurses station.

“She’s right, Luke,” Laura says, touching his arm gently. “We shouldn’t get too hopeful yet. He may still be dying. Maybe the antidote only slowed it down. As much as I’d love to be optimistic about this, I don’t want us to all get our hopes up and then have them crash down again. We need to stay realistic for now.”

Luke smiles at her. “Since when have you been so wise darlin’?” He hugs her, still unable to give up hope for his son.

~*~

“Lucky...” Liz mutters in her sleep. He wakes up and gazes down at her. She always looks so peaceful when she sleeps, so beautiful. He is so entranced by her, he doesn’t even realize where he is.

She stirs again, and her eyes flutter open. She looks up his gorgeous blue eyes and smiles. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself. Did you have a nice nap?”

“Mm-Hm. I had this dream...” she looks down and suddenly remembers where they are. “Wait a minute! What time is it?” She checks her watch and takes a minute to do the calculations before jumping off the bed. “Lucky! You’re alive!”

He looks at her for a moment. “For now, yeah. Why are you acting like that, Elizabeth?”

She grabs him by the face and looks into his eyes, grinning. “Because it’s been over 26 hours, and you’re still here! The antidote must have worked after all!”

He grins and jumps off of the bed, kissing her. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard since you agreed to marry me!”

She giggles and kisses him again. They don’t hear the door open until Luke speaks.

“Hey there, get a room you guys!” he jokes, so happy to see his son smile again.

Lucky grins. “I thought that’s what this was.”

Luke laughs and gives him a hug. “Okay, you got me. I’m just happy to see you up and around, Cowboy. But, when we were outside, your mother brought up a good point. We shouldn’t get too happy yet, because we don’t know for sure that you’re going to be okay.”

“You just had to burst my bubble, didn’t you?” Lucky asks, still smiling. “I understand why you’re being careful, but I have a feeling that I’m going to be fine.” He kisses Elizabeth again as Bobbie comes in the room.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a patient disobeying doctors’ orders!” she exclaims, hugging her nephew tightly.

“Sorry, Aunt Bobbie. I was just excited to be alive,” he explains, still grinning.

She laughs. “Yeah, well, I’ll forgive you this time, but only if you get back in that bed!”

He salutes jokingly and climbs back in, pulling Elizabeth in after him. She cuddles up against him.

“You know, Cowboy, these beds aren’t made for 2 people,” Luke jokes.

“Does it look like I care?” Lucky asks, causing everyone to laugh. He then gets serious again and looks at Bobbie. “So, what’s my diagnosis now? Am I going to live?”

“Well, I just called the lab, and they’re looking into it. I should hear from the shortly. But, I will say that their guess is that the time frame on the antidote was wrong, and that it was actually administered in time after all. Since they obviously couldn’t test the poison or the antidote on people, all they could do was estimate the effects on people based on the results they got from lab rats. They think they may have estimated wrong.”

“You mean, they let me believe that my son was going to die because some lab rats did?! I don’t believe this!” Luke yells.

“Now, Luke, just a minute. You knew from the beginning that all of this was still unknown. They did the best they could with the resources they had, and the short time they were given. The important thing to remember is that Lucky’s okay for now. We still want to keep him under observation for a while, just in case.” Bobbie explains, trying to calm down her brother.

Luke nods. “You’re right, Barbara. I lost sight of what’s important here. Thank you. How long do they want to keep him here?”

“They want to wait another 12 hours, just to be safe, but after that, he’s all yours.” She smiles and hugs Lucky again before leaving.

Everyone takes turns hugging him as they get ready to go back to the waiting room.

“See, you guys can’t get rid of me that easily!” Lucky exclaims, and they all laugh.

~*~Chapter 84~*~

“This is weird,” Lucky says. He’s standing at Elizabeth’s front door after kissing her good-night.

“What’s weird?” she asks.

“Well, we’re married, but we’re still sleeping in different houses. It’s just kind of strange to be dropping you off at home like this, knowing you’re my wife.”

She smiles. “I know, but you just got out of the hospital this afternoon. We haven’t had time to find a place to live, and I wouldn’t feel right moving into the cottage with Nikolas there. After all, it is still his house!”

“True, but I’m going to miss you tonight. I got kind of used to you being around all the time.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that hospital bed was real comfortable with me crammed onto it with you! I’m gong to miss you, too, but it won’t be for long. I love you.” She reached up and kisses him again before gently pushing him out of the house. “Now go home, Lucky. I’m exhausted. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He laughs. “You know, considering what just happened to me, you’re awfully eager to get rid of me!”

She smiles and kisses him again. “I’m not eager, just tired.”

“Okay, I’ll go, but I’m going to be back in the morning! Good-night, Elizabeth, dreams of gold.”

“Good-night, Lucky. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

~*~

“Aren’t you tired?” Nikolas asks, yawning. “You’ve been at that for hours!”

Lucky shakes his head. “Nope. I want to find a house as soon as possible. Nothing personal, but I can’t wait to get out of here and live with my wife!”

Nikolas smiles. Lucky had been sprawled out on the living room floor looking through the real estate ads ever since he got back from bringing Elizabeth home. “Don’t worry, I understand what you mean. I’m going to miss having you around, though. I got kind of used to your mess everywhere.”

“I do not make a mess!” Lucky says, not looking up from the paper. “Oooh, this one looks good... Hey, man, thanks again for helping me out with this. I promise, I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.” He looks up and smiles at Nikolas. He had offered to cover the down payment on a house for Lucky, since him and Liz didn’t really have anything saved up yet.

“Look, don’t worry about it. What’s the point in being rich if you can’t help out your family? Consider it my wedding present to you.”

“Nikolas, a wedding present is a toaster, not a house! I appreciate the offer, but I can’t accept it unless you’ll let me try to pay you back, okay?”

“All right, whatever you want. But I refuse to charge interest.”

Lucky smiles. “Good, cause I wasn’t going to pay it! Now, look at this one. What do you think?” He points to one of the ads he has circled.

Nikolas leans down and reads it. “Looks perfect to me. It’s got everything you said and it’s not too far away.”

“Cool. Will you come look at it with me in the morning?”

“Only if you get some sleep first. Come on, you’ve read those ads so many times you probably have them memorized! Go to bed, and we’ll go look at them in the morning.”

“Yes, mom!” Lucky says sarcastically, folding up the paper. He yawns slightly. “I guess I am a little tired. Almost dying really takes a lot out of a person.”

Nikolas laughs. “Yeah, I know.” Lucky looks at him oddly. “Hey, I was shot in throat once, remember? “Does that not count as almost dying to you?”

He shrugs. “I guess, but it wasn’t as dramatic as mine.”

“Okay, I know brothers are supposed to compete over everything, but to argue over who almost died the most seems kind of overboard to me!”

Lucky laughs and claps him on the back. “Good point. Let’s call it a night, bro.”

“Hey, just because I said all that stuff to you before doesn’t mean you can get away with calling me those stupid nicknames!”

Lucky grins. “Yeah it does!” They both laugh and head up to their rooms, happy to have everything back to normal.

~*~

“Well, what do you think?” Lucky asks anxiously, waiting for his brother’s reaction.

“It’s amazing. You said she wanted something like the country house, right?”

“Yep. She wants something out of the way, with a nice garden, and a lot of space. Is this not that exact thing?”

Nikolas nods. “You were right. It’s perfect. Elizabeth is going to love this.”

Lucky grins. “Well, at least that’s decided. How is the wedding stuff coming along?”

“Emily got the church booked and the decorations taken care of and I just finalized the catering and reception stuff this morning, so all you have left is the guests and the wardrobe stuff. Emily is all excited about taking Liz out for dresses. When are you going to tell her?”

“Today, before I show her the house. Mom and Dad are taking care of the invitations, so we don’t have to worry about that. I can go rent some tuxes later this week. Do you think we’ll be ready to move here in time?”

Nikolas looks around the large living room. “From my experience, Elizabeth shouldn’t have any trouble getting this place filled with furniture in time, so I think you’ll be okay.”

Lucky laughs, remembering how excited she had been to help Nikolas furnish the cottage. “Yeah, you’re right. I can’t wait to tell her everything!”

“Come on, let’s go close this deal,” Nikolas says, leading Lucky out of the room to tell the real estate agent that they’re going to take the house.

“Thanks again, man,” Lucky says, hugging his brother. “This is the nicest thing anyone’s done for me.”

“I’m happy to do it. After everything that we’ve been through, it’s the least I can do. I love you guys, and I want you to be happy. If this house makes you happy, then it’s yours. But if you try to die on us again, I’m taking it back!” he says sternly, trying not to smile.

Lucky grins. “You’re becoming a Spencer more and more everyday, you know that?”

Nikolas chuckles. “Yeah, well, I learned from the best.”