Married on Sunset Beach, a Romance fanfic

August 21

The departure for Liz was bittersweet. She was creating a new life for herself, something she knew she needed to do as her own step towards independence; yet, the fact remained that Liz was who she was and ingrained in her were strong families ties. It seemed as if everything recently was created from torn feelings whether it was her decision to marry Brett or her desire to leave her family behind and search for her own life.

Yes, these two ideas were tied together, but truthfully and honestly, Liz’s own search for independence didn’t take on the form of marriage until Brett emerged in the picture. The fact that Liz had accepted Brett’s impromptu proposal did partly stem from the idea that taking the step of marriage would be closer to independence, but at the same time, the majority did evolve from Liz’s feelings towards him as well. Independence had come much before Brett was even in her life. Liz relished the freedom she had at BU, yet it wasn’t going to be the same as medical school. She saw it as the step that really made her an adult, despite not having been seen as a minor almost five years.

Liz even had the funds to start paying for part of med school at UCSF as well as paying for her mountains of debt. But that was the hard life. She had always paid her own credit card bills, supported herself financially for everything but tuition throughout college and now medical school was going to allow her to take the next step. She was going to be independent, reaching for her first taste of the real world.

There were definitely tears involved and it wasn’t just on the part of Liz and her mother. She saw her father’s eyes well up slightly as he had essentially given his daughter away in marriage in about a week. She was being torn from his side and carried off from the safe Ann Arbor area that Paul Walker knew so well. Instead, Liz was entering the big city, hardly his little girl anymore considering that she had come home from vacation in Hawaii with a spouse. Perhaps the only one out of the immediate family that didn’t shed tears was Rachel. Liz was slightly hurt by the fact that she didn’t even bother coming to the airport to see her leave home, though a cordial goodbye had been spoken quickly outside Rachel’s room as she seemed to be in a hurry like always.

Brett was good...he was there like he should have been but for once, since Liz had met him, he didn’t fill a part of her that she needed him to. But the irony behind it was that the part Liz was missing in her heart was family and that’s what Brett was to her now. He was her family. Her only family.

Despite the memories of the first night spent in her new home, Brett’s San Francisco penthouse, from being carried over the threshold in tradition to the “christening” of their bedroom, Liz was feeling empty and alone as she laid by herself in Brett’s...no, their...starkly blue and white sheets that matched the clean cut paint job on the walls. She knew Brett got up early to go to the office as the note next to her nightstand revealed. It wasn’t going to be the only time she was going to be alone in the apartment Liz figured and so it was about time that she got use to it. After all, that was a first step towards independence wasn’t it?

The first conclusion Liz came to in the penthouse was that she was going to spend her time making it more...cheery. The décor was obviously done by an interior designer who had wanted to cater to the image of a single bachelor living alone, but it was different now. Putting some pastel colors in, paintings and antiques would liven the place up but also effectively make the penthouse Liz’s as well. She knew it was technically hers as well; after all she was Mrs. Brett Thompson. But she wanted to make it noticeable in Brett’s life and the easiest way to do that was to start with the penthouse. It wasn’t that Liz wanted to be pointed out in public as the new bride of one of the Thompson kids, but that she needed a sense of closure for herself. By integrating herself in Brett’s life, Liz had a family, a place where she belonged. As of now, it was still Brett’s apartment just with her boxes lying all over the place. While Brett was still in Michigan, together they had just taken all her stuff and shipped it to San Francisco, sealing the deal on their marriage. And Liz needed a sense of belonging...not for anyone else, just herself.

The shrill ring of the telephone startled Liz out of her thoughts. She sat up straight in bed, looking around the bedroom for the phone she knew was there. The apartment itself wasn’t cluttered; it looked too new and hardly broken in to be messy. But at the same time, there were signs of life here and there, and one of those signs was the fact that the telephone was missing. Liz saw the empty phone set holder for the cordless phone, the only problem was...she didn’t know where the phone was.

After frantically searching through the four rings, the phone call went through to the answering machine, still with the automated voice picking up the unanswered calls.

“Liz? Sweetie? I know you’re there...pick up the phone,” Brett’s voice floated through the speakers.

“Hang on! I’m looking...I’m looking!” Liz yelled even though she knew he couldn’t hear her.

“Anyways, sorry I had to leave early this morning...my dad wanted me to close that deal on the company I saw in Hawaii. Yeah, surprise, surprise, I had time to do work there too,” he chuckled.

But Liz wasn’t laughing. She had turned the entire bedroom upside down and was ready to search the bathroom though she knew the ring hadn’t come from there. Finally, in the corner, sitting on top of a pile of Brett’s black colored suit pants, was the black cordless phone.

“Alright...so maybe you aren’t there. I was just calling-“

“Why did you have to hide the phone?!” Liz panted into the phone after finally picking up.

“Good morning to you too, honey,” Brett answered without a pause.

“Haha. You’re so funny. Couldn’t find the damn phone.”

“I’m sorry I hid it,” Brett replied conciliatory, without any hint of laughter in his voice, as if it was the easiest way to mock Liz. “Can I make it up to you with lunch?”

Lunch was good...like all meals with Brett. But it wasn’t the lunch that made her smile radiantly, despite the fact that a small meal had cost more than she ever remembered making in a week. It wasn’t even the brief walking tour of Pier 39 in San Francisco that made her giddy. Instead, Liz was happy because she was. Maybe it was the honeymoon bliss...maybe it wasn’t. Even though the sadness from leaving Michigan was still in her heart, there was someone new in her life and that was her husband. Somehow, the pain that she had felt yesterday and again in the morning had magically disappeared in the span of a few hours. How...Liz still didn’t know.

“So my dear husband...don’t you have to work?” Liz asked after a moment of silence watching fat, brown sea lions lounging on the docks at the pier. She shivered slightly as the ever-so-cool temperature of San Francisco dropped a little bit more with the sea breeze coming in.

“Yes...but I can be a little late,” Brett teased as he pulled Liz closer, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on the side of her head. Everything about Liz was different than Cindy had been. She was a lot taller than Cindy had been (despite the fact that his ex-wife had been a model), she was a natural beauty instead of possessing the stunning features that decorated Cindy’s face. And probably the one thing that made Brett happy about Liz was the amount that she seemed to need him. She was independent, sure. But Liz didn’t have the independent streak that Cindy lived with...a successful career that she had built up on her own and a desire to do what she wanted by herself. The ability of Cindy to live on her own and without the company of her husband eventually created a chasm between the two and Brett couldn’t help but feel good about being needed.

He didn’t want to compare his ex-wife with his current wife but he couldn’t help it. They both mattered greatly to him, but in different ways that Brett could never explain even if he tried. In ways, Cindy would always be his first and greatest love. There was just something there between the two that made the passion so strong and at the same time, so unbearable. Brett saw their divorce as the only way their love for each other could be saved though he wasn’t sure if Cindy saw it the same way. He hadn’t spoken to her since they parted ways so very long ago despite the fact that he had seen her plastered all over the media from time to time.

With Liz, the feelings were more from a sense of security than anything. Brett felt safe knowing that he was needed as much as he needed his wife. She depended on him for love and caring, something that Cindy didn’t need from him. It was instead something that she just wanted. There was a simplicity about their life as well...or as simple as it could be being a Thompson. Brett and Liz’s relationship was based on trust and caring rather than raw passion and the dealings of the outside world.

“Brett?” Liz called softly. She snapped Brett out of his thoughts.

“Hmmm?” he answered, trying to extract himself from the memories of his old life.

“What are you thinking about?”

Brett hesitated for a second. What was he suppose to tell Liz? That he was mentally comparing his life with her against the fabulous but rocky relationship that he had with his ex-wife? Or that he figured that he would never completely love her because the passion of the heart wasn’t the same?

“I’m mentally calculating how much money the company would lose if I played hooky,” he finally joked; it was a little late but Liz didn’t seem to notice. She gave him a quick kiss before letting him go.

“I have to go too. I need to head up to the school to get some paperwork filled out...medical school is calling so we might as well save the company a little bit of money. Not that the company needs more money...” Liz teased with a bright smile.

“Tell me about it,” Brett answered reaching for his wife again. Liz was standing at an arm’s length away but quickly evaded Brett’s reach. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“Because I have to go! And you have to go! You don’t want to lose all the company’s money and leave your new wife destitute do you?”

“You just said that the company didn’t need more money!” Brett protested, enjoying every second he had with Liz.

“Yes...but I didn’t say that they needed to lose money either,” Liz replied with a wicked grin. “My dear husband, I will see you later tonight.” With that, Liz gave and a little wave and sauntered off, something that surprised Brett and also surprised herself, her husband could see.

Brett took his time walking past the waterfront piers of San Francisco on his way back to the office. He was the boss...he was expected to take a few luxuries here and there, as long as it still meant profit for the company, he reasoned. His thoughts were occupied the entire way with musings about the similarities between Liz and Cindy again. No matter what he wanted, he couldn’t help but compare his two wives. They were so different yet so similar. Brett had never considered the fact but there was a sense of unbounded loyalty in both...a sense of loyalty to him. It wasn’t until things were completely destroyed in his first marriage that Cindy had stopped fighting for them, which was more than he could say about himself.

Liz had a personality that was filled with undying loyalty for those she really cared about. But then that brought up the question of why she fought for her marriage and for Brett instead of choosing her family above all. It must have been a slap in the face to the Walkers to think that their daughter had chosen to accept someone who was virtually a complete stranger rather than the family that had raised her all her life and been with her through the good and the bad. In a sense that was a betrayal of loyalty on the part of Liz to her family. It was completely against her nature, the very core of who Liz actually was. And it confused Brett. It could only mean one thing...Liz was more in love than he believed she was...and her feelings were less than fully returned. No...it definitely wasn’t love on Brett’s part.

She stared at the city around her as she walked out of the school...feeling excited and rejuvenated and just a little bit sad. But Liz got over the sadness easily. It was natural, wasn’t it? This was her opportunity to be free, to be herself and so far every single moment was perfect.

San Francisco was different and that’s what Liz wanted. A change. Who knew that a chaperoning trip for Rachel and her friends could turn out to be such a blessing? Liz felt like she finally found herself again, after all the disguise and camouflage that the last few years of college had been. She got sucked into a routine, one that didn’t suit her, yet she had no way of knowing, of feeling until her world spun upside down. All it took was one conversation, one look from this man that Liz could have never imagined to exist, that everything for her changed. Brett was special, he was different, he was it for her at this point in time, the reason that her life felt so complete. She had vowed to herself early on not to fall head-over-heels in love so quickly and so easily, but she had a feeling that she had broken that vow unintentionally. Or was it really love? All Liz knew was that she was consumed by one feeling, one that she didn’t know the source of, or what it really was. She didn’t know what it was and at this point in time, it really didn’t matter. Liz just knew that this feeling had changed her, and had become her sole reason for existing.

A/N: Hey guys...sorry for the enormous amount of time between chapters as well as the tiny chapter. And also sorry for no review responses but I wanted to get this chapter up ASAP and I figured I could do without review responses for once. Life has been hectic lately and left little time for writing but after numerous (like six or seven) sessions of pages here and there, I have this chapter done. The story might seem to be moving slowly from here, but we’re getting to where we need to be. So enjoy!