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Chapter Twenty One

Almost forty-eight hours and not one word. Elizabeth's mother walked into her bedroom with a tray carrying a tomato-basil soup and hot tea. "You really don't have to do this," Elizabeth said.

"Yes, I do." Caroline shooed Cath from the bed. "What kind of mother would I be if I let you go hungry?"

"I wouldn't starve myself to death," Elizabeth said. "I ate a whole gallon of chocolate mint ice cream at Elaine's last night. And Diane brought over pizza with pineapple for breakfast."

Her mom set the tray down on the bedside table and edged down onto the corner of the bed. "Oh, sweetie. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? I could run to the store and pick you up another gallon of chocolate mint ice cream. Or maybe chocolate fudge? I could call my masseur and have him bring out a table and give you the rubdown of your life. Or I could hire a hit man to take that jerk out."

Elizabeth smiled through her pain. "I'm fine." Then, reaching up, she gave her mother a hug. The woman drove her crazy, but at the end of the day, she was always there for her.

Caroline squeezed Elizabeth's shoulder. "You know, the only thing that hurts worse than a broken heart is seeing your child dealing with one. You're so special, and if that idiot can't see that, he doesn't deserve you."

"It's not his fault," Elizabeth said, her voice coming out small. "I knew when this started that he wasn't open to committing. I just thought...I thought I could keep my heart out of it."

"The heart is a strange thing, Ellie. You can't control it. It loves when it loves." Her mom handed her the tea and tucked a strand of hair behind Elizabeth's ear. For just a second, Elizabeth felt like a child again, and she wanted to wallow in the safe embrace of her mother's love.

But even that embrace allowed a few feelings to penetrate. Elizabeth looked at her cup and found the courage to ask the question she had pondered for a long time: "Did you love all of them? Did...Did you love the men you married?"

Her mother's eyes clouded over. "I thought I did at one point or another. But the truth is, no, I didn't love them all. I like them all and-" She grinned, "-the sex was always great."

Elizabeth held up one of her hands. "Please, Mom."

Her mother ignored her objection. "No, you need to listen to me. Because sometimes I feel guilty about how my mistakes might have affected you. Did you know that I'm seeing a therapist?"

Having sipped her tea, Elizabeth nearly choked. "You are?"

"Yes," Her mother looked to her. "I'm not beyond admitting I need help, Ellie." She let out a deep sigh. "Mr. Dana, my therapist, is making me see a few things about myself that I would really prefer not to see."

"What kind of things?" Elizabeth questioned, placing her cup into her lap.

"I loved your dad so much. We were young and...naïve. We didn't know what it took to make a marriage. When we got the divorce, I thought I would have just died. I loved your dad like I've never loved anyone. And he loved me. It was that kind of love that fit, that felt like slipping on a silk glove. Perfect. But we were young and...let things come between us."

Her mother took Elizabeth's hands in hers. "We had half decided to remarry when we was sent to serve in Camelot for six months. He begged me to make it legal before he was sent out, but...I wanted to take things slow, to be sure. I thought we could use the six months to figure out how to do it right. And then..." Her mother flicked her gaze to the wall. "He was killed." She stroked her fingers over Elizabeth's knuckles. "The biggest regret of my life is that I didn't take a chance on us again. I let the opportunity go, Ellie. So now, whenever a man asks me to marry him, I..." She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

"You feel as if you're making the same mistake," Elizabeth finished for her, gazing down at their joined hands.

"I want love." Her mother's voice tightened with emotion. "And I don't want to let the chance slip away." She reached up and cupped Elizabeth's chin with one hand and stared at her. "But you're not me, sweetie. You can't make decisions about your life based on my mistakes. We can't even make decisions based on our own mistakes sometimes. We have to weigh our mistakes against our fears, and then let our heart and brain fight over what's right." Caroline stroked a hand through Elizabeth's hair. "Do you really love this guy?"

Elizabeth stared down at her tea, suddenly not sure how much her refusal to call Meliodas was due to her believing he didn't want her, or her fear of marriage and of turning into her mother. "I think so, but I'm scared. It all happened so fast...One minute I thought he was going to kill me, next I was fantasizing about getting him fitted for his tux. What if I'm fooling myself? What if we get married and then it doesn't work out?"

"I knew your dad only five days when we got married, and he was the true love of my life. I'm not saying that this man is right for you. I'm just saying you shouldn't not try to work things out because you're afraid. Just like I shouldn't marry the next guy who asks just because I'm afraid."

Caroline let out a deep breath. "If you think you love him, you owe it to yourself and to him to give it a fighting chance. Hey." She gave Elizabeth's hand a squeeze. "I didn't raise a quitter."

Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip and remembered what she had discovered about Meliodas. "I'm not quitting. But...he still loves his late wife. He doesn't want to love again. He-"

Her mother placed her finger on her lip to silence her. "His wife is in the past. I saw the way he looked at you, he's ready to move on."

Elizabeth gazed at her mother, wanting to believe, wanting to put her fears behind her once and for all.

Her mother cleared her throat. "I'm not saying you should marry him. But what would it hurt to drop by his place, to let him know that you're thinking about him? Maybe he's waiting on you to make the first move."

"You think so?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, and if he turns you down, then I'll hire that hit man."

Elizabeth couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face as she pulled back the covers. "You're right, I should at least go find out where I stand."

"That's my girl," Her mother said.

After her mother left, Elizabeth pulled off her Divorced, Desperate, and Delicious shirt and took a shower. Feeling a tad bit desperate and wanting to feel just a bit delicious, she dug deep into her closet, to the clothes from before her anti-men campaign. She needed something sexy, something that said wow, something that could compete with Zaneri. A dark feeling of jealousy surged through her, but she ignored it.

A red fitted, silk dress with a scooped neckline was about as wow as she had. Elizabeth smiled, deciding that some matching underwear would make the outfit say double-wow.

After drying her hair and styling it in an updo, she put on a pair on black pumps, gold studded earrings and a spray of cashmere perfume added the final touch. Smiling at herself in the mirror, she said, "Here I come, Meliodas."

She knew there probably was a good chance that Meliodas would turn her down, but she felt optimistic. One way or another, she would deal with what happened. If Meliodas didn't want to continue seeing her, well, she would move on. She might tell her mother to go ahead and pay the hit man, but Elizabeth Liones was done with hiding.

She drove through rush-hour traffic to get to his place. Like air from a week old balloon, by the time she cut off the engine to her car, her courage had seeped out. Her stomach hurt and her hands felt clammy, but she forced herself to get out and walk up the stairs. Remembering the passcode, she let herself in. As she moved to the elevator, a man walking past stopped and smiled, his gaze brushing over her in definite male appreciation. Her courage rose up a notch. But her heart thumped against her chest when the elevator opened on the second floor.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, stepped out, and started down the hall toward Meliodas' unit. Two more steps, and she heard someone whistling a lively and familiar tune. Elizabeth paused as the words ran through her head. It was 'Grandma got Ran Over By a Reindeer.'

She stopped and glanced over her shoulder. There, fifty feet from her, his back to her, Meliodas ambled down the hall. She opened her mouth to call out his name, but her voice faltered. He carried a bouquet of red roses in one hand and a plastic grocery bag in the other. He stopped, juggling the items in his arms, and knocked on a door. Zaneri's door.

Elizabeth froze. Sometimes, the truth was hard to swallow and it took her a couple of attempts to get this bit of truth down her throat. The truth being that Meliodas preferred woman who didn't care, and his returning to Zaneri could only mean one thing. He really hadn't cared about her. Her lungs shut down and the pinch in her heart started unraveling for good this time.

Zaneri's door opened. "Meliodas? Oh, my God!" The woman's voice seemed to bounce down the hall and hit Elizabeth in the chest. "I've been worried sick. Oh my, you brought me flowers."

Turning around, Elizabeth repeatedly hit the elevator button. When it opened, she stumbled inside and punched the button at least four times to close the door. An allergy attack hit full force, but she fought back the tears, remembering her vow to move on. She hadn't gotten fancied up to go home and cry, she could always do that later. Some guy, somewhere, was going to enjoy the red dress. And maybe even the red underwear.

Meliodas placed another log on the fire and paced the wooden floor in Elizabeth's living room. All four of her pets sat on the sofa and observed him, their heads turning left, then right as he moved. he'd had this evening all planned out. However, his plans had a serious flaw.

When he found her gone, he had decided to surprise her. He had pulled his car around back and started dinner, grateful for the time to figure out exactly what he needed to say. But that had been three hours ago. How, he had practiced his speech so much that he felt sure Hawk knew it by heart. Wandle had gotten bored and sneaked into the kitchen and the dinner had long since gotten cold. The grandfather clock struck ten times. Where could she be at ten o'clock on a Tuesday night?

Car lights sent a beam of brightness through the front windows. Meliodas stepped to the door and started to open it when he heard voices. He moved to the window in the dining room and peered out. In that moment, his heart plummeted.

It was Elizabeth, wearing something far too sexy to be standing next to any man besides him. She stood on the front walk next to another man.

Jealousy flooded Meliodas' blood like poison. He forced himself to breathe, to not react like an idiot.

"You didn't have to follow me, Alioni," Elizabeth said. "I told you I was fine."

Meliodas scowled. So this was the impatient vet who had wanted to share sin with his woman. 'Maybe I should act like an idiot.'

Alioni brushed a hand up against Elizabeth's arm. "What kind of guy would I be if I didn't make sure you got home safely?"

'A dead man if you touch her again.' Meliodas clenched his fists when he saw the man lower his face. Elizabeth turned her head, and the man's lips only landed on her cheek. Nevertheless, Meliodas didn't want the man's lips anywhere near her.

"Thanks for letting me hang out with you at the clinic." Elizabeth put her hand on his chest to ward off another kiss. "I should go in. It's been a long day."

Meliodas decided to give the man two seconds to get Elizabeth's goodbye message before he offered his own goodbye. Much to his disappointment, Alioni shrugged and walked away. Elizabeth watch him drive off, then she turned to unlock her door.

She stepped inside and dropped her purse on the antique sewing machine. Standing a few feet inside the dining room, Meliodas didn't move, didn't make a sound. She must have sensed him, because she swung around.

"Oh, God! You nearly scared me to death!"

Meliodas' gaze moved over her body, wrapped in red silk. The dress' neckline dipped low, showing off the soft swells of her breasts. The waist hugged her figure, and the hem of the dress fell an inch above mid-thigh, leaving the rest of her legs exposed. Meliodas didn't know much about women's fashion, but he knew when a woman dressed like that, she was on the make.

"You went out with Alioni?" He asked.

Elizabeth's eyes squinted with what looked like anger. But he was too busy dealing with his own fury to worry about hers.

"How did you get in?" She crossed her arms over her middle, causing the scooped neckline to lower.

"You went out with him?" Meliodas asked again.

"What business is that of yours?"

"I'm making it my business!" He waved a hand up and down. "Do you know what that dress says?"

Elizabeth looked down as if needing a reminder of what she wore. "It says, 'Get out of my house,'" She snapped. "No, wait. That's what I'm saying. Get out, Meliodas."

He ignored her. "It says, 'Take me off.' When a women wears a dress like that, she doesn't intend to keep it on very long."

"How would you know?" Elizabeth said. "Does Zaneri have one just like it?" Turning on her heels, she took one step then swung back around. "Call me selfish. Blame it on the fact that I'm an only child and I never learned to share. But I refused to share Howser with the professor, or Arthur with his secretary, and I refuse to share you with Zaneri."

Meliodas raked a hand over his face and stared at her. "Why are you bringing up Zaneri?"

"You slept with her! I know I'm just a vanilla wafer, and that's what happens to vanilla wafers. But someday, I'll find a guy who loves vanilla wafers so much that he won't need to go sampling other cookies."

Confusion filled Meliodas as he tried to decipher her meaning. "I was completely up front with you about Zaneri." He took two more steps toward her and got a whiff of her perfume. Delicious. "You can't be mad about that now."

"Oh, I see." Her tone rang out with sarcasm. "You told me about her and so that makes it okay to sleep with her. Well, if that's the way it works, you knew about Alioni, too. So put the key back under the rock and leave."

"You slept with Alioni?" His emotions went back and forth as he tried to make sense of the conversation.

"No," Elizabeth said. "But if I wasn't such a lousy liar, I'd tell you I did."

"Then why the hell did you wear that dress?" He asked.

Elizabeth kicked off her one of her shoes. The pump swished by his leg, landing in the dining room, and then the other came whizzing past and hit the litter box. "Good kitty," The litter box's recorder played. "Now cover it up."

"You're right," Elizabeth said. "I intended to get laid tonight. But it just didn't work out. So tell me, did you have better luck than I did?"

Meliodas raked another hand over his face. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm not understanding something here."

Elizabeth pulled her hair out of it's updo. "Please, don't play me for a fool. I saw you, Meliodas." Her bare foot started tapping.

Her words sank in and he got his first clue to this puzzle. "You saw me where?"

Elizabeth pushed her fingers through hair, detangling the leftover knots and giving her hair a more loose appearance. Meliodas longed to step closer and help her. One or two runs of his fingers and he would have her hair properly mussed for a night of serious lovemaking. A second or two more and he would have that dress unzipped and puddling around her ankles. He wondered if she had on red underwear to match the dress. Damn, she looked sexy. Smelled great. But she had dressed up for Alioni, hadn't she? Her foot continued to tap on the floor.

She pointed a finger at him. So, Elizabeth was a toe tapper and a pointer. Meliodas watched the small digit start to shake. His mother had been a pointer, and if he had learned anything, it was that when the finger came out, hell was about to break loose. But Elizabeth wasn't his mother and he could give her hell back.

Meliodas grabbed her by the wrist gently. Her blue eyes squinted tighter, and she started talking. "You had flowers and groceries. It was another...another cook-dinner-and-have-sex-with-Zaneri night. Never mind that she doesn't even care for you. Oh, but wait. That's why you like her, isn't it?!"

Understanding hit like a cool breeze in mid-July, and damn if it didn't feel good. "You came to my place tonight? You saw me knocking on Zaneri's door? You know, I smelled your perfume when I got in the elevator."

"You finally figured it out." Elizabeth jerked her hand free and propped it on her hip.

"So this..." He waved a hand up and down again. "The dress and the perfume, it was all for me?" He smiled and reared back on his heels a little, and took some time to enjoy the view.

Elizabeth couldn't believe Meliodas stood there all cocky and smiling. The nerve! How dare he find something humorous about this? She was definitely going to tell her mother to hire the hit man.

"What kind of flowers were they, Elizabeth?" He stepped closer as Hawk came barking into the room.

"You know what kind." She walked backwards into her living room, nearly tripping over her own feet as Hawk danced in her path. Oh, goodness, but Meliodas looked good tonight. Dressed in khakis and a button-down black shirt, sex appeal oozed from him. But he had already oozed it all over Zaneri. Still, she longed to touch him. She had missed him, missed his laughter, and the devilish gleam in his green eyes. But the green-eyed demon was going to have to go, because sharing just wasn't her thing.

"Were they red roses?" Meliodas arched an eyebrow. "Like those?" He pointed behind her.

Elizabeth swung around. Her mouth fell open.

There, on her kitchen table, complete with candles and two plates, sat a vase of red roses. She heard him move behind her.

"I went to wish Zaneri good luck with her husband and to tell her goodbye. Nothing else. Just goodbye." His hands came around her waist as he pressed his lips to the back of her neck. "So, you expected to get laid tonight, did you?"

Elizabeth bit her lower lip and turned around. "You...You didn't stay at Zaneri's?"

"No, I came her and cooked chicken cordon bleu, rice pilaf, and fresh green beans with pearl onions. And..." His gaze shifted to her neckline. "I was kind of hoping to get laid, too."

Meliodas raised his gaze and frowned. "What were you doing all night while I was slaving away in your kitchen?"

"I watch Alioni neuter a male cat." Elizabeth grinned. "He had the third shift at the clinic. I was actually very interesting."

"Remind me to sleep with one eye open if I ever make you mad." He pressed his forehead to hers. "You didn't play doctor on vet with him?"

"No! There wasn't any spark." Her breath caught when his hand moved down to her backside and held her against the hardness filling his pants.

"What about now?" Meliodas asked. "Feeling any sparks?" He wrapped his arms around her waist, cradled his arousal against her, and started them slow dancing.

There wasn't any music, but it didn't matter. With Meliodas this close, she heard music. They made their own music.

"Feeling sparks?" He repeated, and his right hand moved up to caress the swell of her breasts.

"That depends." She sucked on her bottom lip.

"On what?" His lips brushed across her cheek.

"Is this casual?" She asked.

Meliodas leaned his head back and stared into her eyes as if trying to read her. "You want it to be casual?"

"I asked you first." Elizabeth closed her mouth to keep from saying that she would take him any way he came, temporary or permanent. But good Heavens, she wanted permanent.

"Casual is okay," He whispered, studying her eyes, then tilted down her chin. "If I can casually tell Delivery guy Hunky, Impatient Alioni, and Arthur to go shoot themselves." He lowered his hand to the hem of her dress and moved it up and up, until he cupped her silk-covered bottom in his palm. "Casual is fine if I can casually sleep with you every night. And hell, since we're spending all our time together, I don't see why we can't just casually do the paperwork to make it legal."

He slow-danced her around the room, his body brushing against hers in all the right places. He breathed into her mouth, his tongue slipping between her lips. "You know, sooner or later one of those condoms might fail us and you might have a little Meliodas or maybe a little Elizabeth growing inside you. Paperwork just makes things like that easier." He pressed a palm against her lower abdomen, as if imagining her carrying his baby.

Elizabeth ran her hands up to his shoulders. "And how would you feel about...about a little Meliodas or Elizabeth?"

"Ecstatic," Meliodas whispered in her ear. "I'm twenty-nine, so I figure I'd better get busy." He ran his tongue along the curve of her ear. "What about you? Kids okay?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Yes, I'm open to the idea." She said, unable to hide her excitement.

"Hmm," He pushed his thigh between her legs. "How open?"

Elizabeth pushed against him. "Very open."

"I love you," Meliodas whispered, and his hand moved around her waist. "And just so you know, I'm very fond of vanilla wafers. I don't believe in sampling other cookies when I have the perfect one at home."

Elizabeth giggled and pressed her forehead to his. "I love you, too." She said, and her zipper fell open with Meliodas' help. The silk dress slid over her shoulders and down her body.

"Ooh," His face lit up with a devious smirk. "I was hoping you were wearing all red." He swayed against her.

"You really are a bad boy," Elizabeth said, and stepped out of the dress encircling her bare feet.

Meliodas wiggled his eyebrows, pulled her close, and continued to dance. "I even brought my handcuffs." His gaze lowered again to her body. "Wow, you look amazing." His tongue traced his bottom lip. Then, his gaze continued to feast on her matching red bra and panties.

Elizabeth smiled as her cheeks flushed before she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. "There's a lot we need to talk about."

His feet slowed and they eventually stood frozen. "I should have told you about Liz," Meliodas said, somehow reading her mind. "I think I just needed to say goodbye first."

"You loved her a lot," Elizabeth said, trying to control her jealousy, jealousy that she knew she shouldn't have. "Are you sure-"

"I did love her, a lot. But she's gone now, and she would be happy for me. I love you, Elizabeth. I don't want to spend my life in the past. I've never been more sure about anything in my life.

"Good." Elizabeth smiled, then rested her head on his shoulder.

"What about the Arthur issue?" His hands moved to her upper arms.

Elizabeth raised her head from his warmth. "I'm not in love with him anymore. I haven't been for a long time."

"But, I thought-"

She pressed a finger over his soft lips. "It was never about Arthur. I mean, he hurt me, and I guess that didn't help but...it was really about my mom, and my grandma." She took a deep breath. "They have a history of marrying and getting divorced. I don't want to end up like them."

"Is it the married or the divorced part that bothers you?" His hands moved down her forearms to rest on her waist again. And they felt so good there. The kind of good that she could get used to.

"Definitely the divorced part."

"Good. Because when I get married, casually of course, I don't get divorced." He kissed her, a soft touch of his lips to hers, a touch that spoke of commitment, of honestly, of forever. She knew she could trust him.

The phone rang. They ignored it. Her mother's shrill voice echoed through the sound system, "Ellie? Are you okay? Do I need to hire the hit man to take out that cop? We could kill him for ten thousand or wound him for two. What do you think?"

Meliodas ended the kiss. "Hell!" He said. "This is going to be my mother-in-law?"

Elizabeth smiled. "I told you...she's missing that filter thingamabob, and therefore she speaks before she thinks."

"I think," Her mom continued, "We could choose if we wanted it to be an arm or leg."

Meliodas rolled his eyes.

"She really wouldn't hire a hit man." Elizabeth giggled.

"Well, I hope the hell not." Meliodas took a breath. "Tell me, do they give thingamabob transplants? I'll even pay for it. Find that woman a damn doctor."

Elizabeth grinned. "She not all bad. She's the one who told me not to give up on you. And the bra and panties...she gives me a five hundred dollar gift certificate to Victoria's Secret every Valentines Day. I have a drawer full of...surprises."

"Five hundred? I love her already," Meliodas said, and moved to the kitchen to pick up the phone. "Hello, Mrs. Liones." He paused. "Yes, ma'am. I plan on that. No, ma'am. I would never do anything to hurt her. I remember, it was something about me and a meat grinder." Meliodas held the phone to his ear, but his gaze moved up and down Elizabeth's body with lusty appreciation. With a quick finger-wiggle, he motioned for to come closer.

Elizabeth slid into him, running her hands up and over his chest. Slowly, she undid his first shirt button, then the second. He folded his free hand around her back; then, raising his head, he pressed his lips against the curve of her neck.

"Uh huh," He mumbled into the phone. "Mrs. Liones, I hate to interrupt but...your daughter is standing here and I'm in the mood for a vanilla wafer. He paused. "Well, let me put it like this, She's practically naked and all I can think about is banging a headboard against the wall. Can we discuss wedding dates another time?"

Elizabeth buried her face into Meliodas' shoulder and tried not to laugh. She failed miserably though, her laughter muffled by his shirt.

"Yes, ma'am." Meliodas hung up and met her gaze. "Your mother said for you to enjoy yourself." He kissed the base of Elizabeth's neck.

Leaning back, she felt her laughter bubbling up again. "I can't believe you told her that!"

"Hey, there has to be some advantage to having that woman for a mother-in-law. If she speaks without using a thingamabob, then I can give my own thingamabob an occasional break." Meliodas grinned and unhooked Elizabeth's bra. "Now...what were we going before the phone rang?"

And that's the end of this story! Sorry, I know the ending is a little flat and I should give you guys that steamy scene between Elizabeth and Meliodas, but I decided to leave the story off there. The only reason being that I am thinking of making a continuation of this story in the future, however it is not certain yet! :) And plus, I have so many stories planned out for you guys that I think you all will enjoy!

Words cannot describe how much I appreciate you guys and all the amazing feedback you guys have given me. I honestly believe I don't even deserve it! You guys have given me so much confidence with my writing abilities and helped me improve it. I owe it to you guys for encouraging me to push through this story and complete it. This is my first completed work on here, and I am really proud of myself. I never thought this story would get so much nice feedback!

Currently, I am in the development of writing another SDS fanfic called Sinful Babies(the name may change) and I'm really excited for it! However, I have another stories planned out that aren't SDS, and I'm not sure which will come out first.

Anyways, I really do love you guys for all the support and I'll talk to you guys in my next fanfic! :)

-ThatWriterGirl715