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Elisabeth stood in front of her full length mirror and admired herself. She had talked to Nick earlier in the day and they decided that they would just go out for a casual dinner and talk about things. Smoothing out her blouse, she walked over to her vanity and dabbed a bit of perfume on her wrists and behind her ears; a habit she had learned from her grandmother when she was a teenager. Satisfied that she wasn’t overdressed or too casual, she picked up her handbag and headed for the door. Instead of having him pick her up, Elisabeth had decided she would meet him at the restaurant.

Stopping at the entrance to Jacob’s room, Elisabeth leaned on the door frame and watched as her son concentrated on his video game. Sometimes it amazed her how hard he could concentrate on a game; his hair was messy and hanging in his eyes, his tongue was poking out of the corner of his mouth and he was moving with the controller as though it would help him win.

“Are you still going to Joey’s?” Elisabeth asked after a few minutes.

“Mo-om! You scared me and made me lose!” Jacob huffed annoyed.

She held up her hands in defense. “Sorry. I didn’t know I would mess you up. Are you still going to Joey’s?”

“You knew you would, Mom, you always do,” he grinned and poked his tongue out. “Yeah, I’m still going.”

Elisabeth laughed. “Well, do you want me to give you a lift? I’m leaving now and I can drop you off if you want.”

“That’s okay, Mom. I’m just gonna walk down to Pizza Hut and meet him there. It wouldn’t be cool if you took me.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I’m going now,” Elisabeth walked over to Jacob and placed a kiss atop his head. “Don’t stay up all night. You’ll come home cranky tomorrow if you do.”

“I won’t, Mom.”

“Be careful and have fun, okay? Love you, sweetie.”

“Later.”

Elisabeth laughed as she descended the stairs. Boys, she thought jokingly.

***

Nick sat in his car in the Olive Garden parking lot waiting patiently for Elisabeth to arrive. He still didn’t understand why she didn’t let him pick her up since they had to drive down to Myrtle Beach, but he wouldn’t say anything about it. That’s not what they were here to discuss.

Checking his watch, Nick saw that she was almost 20 minutes late and he was beginning to lose his patience. She’s the one that wanted desperately to talk, now where the hell is she? Won’t I be cute if she stands me up? he thought with a cynical laugh. Finally, Nick spotted her getting out of a black 4-Runner across the parking lot and he climbed out of his car.

“Hey,” she greeted softly with a small smile. “Sorry I’m late. I, uh, had a last minute phone call.”

“That’s okay. I just got here myself,” he lied.

“Oh, good. I’m glad you didn’t have to wait long,” Elisabeth said feeling uncomfortable.

Holding open the door for Elisabeth, Nick took a moment to admire her. Still as beautiful as ever. And she smells delicious, he thought as he caught a trace of her perfume. Mixing with her shampoo, the scent was almost intoxicating to Nick and he didn’t realize that Elisabeth had made it through the door and was now waiting expectantly for him to enter the restaurant as well.

After being seated, Nick and Elisabeth sat in uncomfortable silence as they waited for their waiter or waitress to come take their drink order.

“Hi, my name is Jaime and I’ll be your waitress this evening,” a perky young redhead said happily. “What can I get you two to drink?”

“Sweet tea,” they answered in unison.

“Two sweet teas coming up,” Jaime said with a wide smile.

Once again, an awkward hush fell over them. Deciding it was almost too much to bear Elisabeth picked up her menu and started looking over it. She could feel Nick’s gaze boring into her, but chose to ignore it for the time being.

“So, do you know what you’re gonna have?” Nick asked and closed his menu.

“Yeah, I think I’ll get the Chicken Parmesan,” she answered quietly and continued to skim over the selections.

Jaime finally came back, as happy as ever, to take their order. Nick ordered for himself and Elisabeth and then folded his arms atop the table and locked eyes with her. “Okay, so, you wanted to talk about something?”

Elisabeth let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and nodded slightly. “Yes. I just…I’m not sure where to start.”

“Why not at the beginning?” Nick questioned gently.

Elisabeth felt a familiar stinging in her eyes and dropped her gaze to the table. “The beginning…that seems like such a long time ago.”

“Well, six years is a long time.”

“It feels like it’s been a life time,” Elisabeth whispered as she tried not to cry. “I really wish there was an easier way to explain this.”

“Okay, my biggest question right now is why did you leave so abruptly?” he asked as he began to fold and unfold his napkin. “I thought things were great between us, but apparently I was wrong.”

“Nick, it has nothing to do with us.”

“How can you expect me to believe that? You left with no warning at all,” he said in a slightly harsh tone. “I mean, you were in my bed just hours before.”

“Do you think it was easy for me to leave like that?” Elisabeth countered, her tone growing harsh as well.

“I really don’t know what to think,” Nick leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Part of me understands why you might have left, but then the other part is just so confused. Why wouldn’t you let me know something? Anything.”

“Things weren’t that simple, Nick. I didn’t decide to leave until that day. I overheard your conversation about Dee-Dee and I knew that I didn’t need to interfere with that. I could never have forgiven myself if I had been the reason you didn’t know your daughter.”

“You know what I think?” Nick asked as he tossed his napkin along with two twenty dollar bills to the middle of the table. “I think that you were just looking for an out. A way out of your marriage and a way out of whatever it was we were doing. Well, guess what? You got that way out and you’re off the hook now.”

Elisabeth looked on, slightly shocked as Nick unexpectedly stood up and headed for the exit almost knocking their tray of food out of Jaime’s hands. Standing up quickly, Elisabeth followed and yelled after Nick once they were outside.

“Why do you always run away?”

Nick stopped walking and turned to face her, an angry expression on his handsome face. “Damn it, Elisabeth, you’re getting married. What the hell do you care what I do?”

“You can’t run away from everything all the time,” she said defiantly.

“I’m not the one that ran. Or have you forgotten that already? Seriously, why did you ask me to talk? Why did I even agree?”

“Because deep down you wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see you, but you’re too damn stubborn to admit that.”

“No, I don’t have a problem admitting that I wanted to see you; I’ve been thinking about you constantly for six years. What I was too stupid to admit was the fact that you had long ago moved on. I was the one stuck in the past, but that’s different now,” he whispered.

Elisabeth bit her lip and tried to keep her tears at bay. “Nick, it wasn’t easy for me to leave that day. It hasn’t been easy at all since I left. You don’t know how many times I wanted to call or come running back and pretend like I never left.”

“Then why didn’t you? I was here the entire time.”

Elisabeth sighed in frustration and started pacing back and forth behind Nick’s car. “Not everything is that simple, Nick.”

“Well, Lizzie, you don’t need to explain anything, okay? You’re off the hook. I’m letting you off the hook right now. Is that better for you? Or do I need to have it printed up in the paper and put on TV so the whole world will know that Nick Carter has let Elisabeth Walker off the hook?”

Before either of them realized what was happening, Elisabeth had moved forward and wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck. Staring up into his blue eyes, Elisabeth slowly stood on her toes and brought Nick’s face to hers. It seemed to take forever, but their lips finally met and everything around them seemed to disappear. Elisabeth sighed inwardly at the feeling of their lips melting together. She kept one arm draped around Nick’s neck as the other slid down his chest and rested over his heart while Nick’s arms found their way around her waist to pull their bodies closer together.

After a few minutes, Nick finally broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. Closing his eyes, he gently bit his lip and tried to process what had just taken place.

“Nick?”

Silently, Nick opened his eyes to stare into Elisabeth’s as he waited for her to continue.

She offered a small smile and tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. “What makes you think that I want to be let off the hook?”