Neither of them knew how long they had been holding each other and crying. It seemed like hours because all the tears they could possibly shed had been shed. When Elizabeth felt like they had gotten everything out of their system she tried to push away from him, hoping that he’d get the message and put her down. Instead of putting her down, Justin held her tighter. Elizabeth smiled before calling him out on his behavior.

“Justin if you don’t let me go you might actually succeed in breaking my ribs. Do you really want that on your conscience?”

Justin chuckled into her shoulder before giving her one last squeeze and gently putting her down. She closed her eyes when he reached out and wiped away the tears on her face with his hands. She opened her eyes when his hands lingered on her face long after the tears were gone and Elizabeth wondered what he was thinking. His blue eyes seemed to be searching for something, something she couldn’t put her finger on. She knew the way they met up wasn’t what she had planned but then again the things that have happened between her and Justin have never been planned. When he didn’t do or say anything, only stared at her, she decided to break the silence.

“I’m sorry for dropping in on you like this; I know this is a lot to process.” Still nothing. He was like a frozen statue except this statue had many emotions radiating out of his eyes. Elizabeth tried again.

“Justin… are you ok?” She asked placing a hand on his right cheek. He closed his eyes at the touch and leaned into her hand. She saw him struggling to speak as if he didn’t know what to say.

“What is it blue?” His eyes popped open at the familiar nickname that he hadn’t heard in so long.

“When was the last time you called me that?” He choked out looking into her eyes.

Elizabeth shifted her eyes away from him when she couldn’t handle his intense gaze any longer.

“Um… probably six years or so…” She replied softly. Justin touched her cheek again and turned her face towards him, their eyes meeting again.

“Do you have any idea how much I missed you Liz?” He asked his eyes tearing up again.

“If it’s anywhere near how much I missed you, yes I do. I’m so sorry.” Elizabeth said tears gathering in her eyes as well.

“What are you sorry for?” Justin asked running a hand through her hair.

“For… for everything. For all the pain I caused you and for making you worry all these years.” She replied biting her bottom lip.

Justin sighed and looked at the ceiling. He didn’t really know how to respond to that because he had been wondering why she would deliberately cut off communication with him but he was sure she had her reasons.

“Why did you stop talking to me?” He asked bluntly. He didn’t see any reason in beating around the bush.

Elizabeth tried to think of the best way to answer his question without revealing everything that went down in France. She didn’t want to tell him everything… not yet anyway.

“I…” Before she could finish her sentence the door swung open and Joey walked in with Chris and Trace close behind him.

“Hey children are y’all done reuniting? We have dinner with everyone else in a little bit.” Joey informed.

Elizabeth and Justin looked at each other before smiling sheepishly when the guys gave them questioning looks. Justin was the first to speak.

“No we weren’t done talking because we haven’t really been doing any talking, but we will join y’all for dinner. I don’t know about Liz but I’m pretty hungry.”

“Yeah me too. Let me go clean up and I’ll meet y’all outside my room in ten minutes.” Elizabeth replied squeezing Justin’s hand. He squeezed back before releasing her hand and allowing her to walk out the room.

“You ok J-man?” Chris asked putting a hand on his shoulder. Justin smiled a small smile still staring at the door which Liz had exited out of.

“I don’t know but I think I will be. Is she why we were gonna have a get together?”

“Yeah but even we didn’t know she was here until your mom showed up with her at C’s house. Justin you might wanna go get cleaned up cause you honestly look like shit.” Trace said with a chuckle.

Justin flipped him off and headed for his bathroom.

“Do you think they’ll be ok?” Joey asked. The other two nodded yes.

“As long as they have each other, they’ll be more than ok.” Chris responded.

 Justin heard the conversation that was going on between his friends and he couldn’t help but smile. Liz was now back in his life, she was alive, and she wasn’t going anywhere. Even though they still had a lot of things to discuss and a lot of catching up to do, they would get through it because no matter how big the obstacle, they always got through it together.

~Dinner~

Dinner had been going on for about 20 minutes and everyone seemed to be having a good time reminiscing about old times with Elizabeth. Justin didn’t join in the stories however; he just sat back in his chair and smiled or sometimes even laughed at some of the things that were said. He mainly sat there and watched Liz and how she interacted with the people she had once known so well. Something was different about her. She laughed but it wasn’t the type of laughter he was used to hearing. Her laugh had always been so infectious and full of life, now it almost seemed… forced. It seemed like she was willing herself to be happy. He could be completely off but this wasn’t the same Elizabeth that left six years ago. There were definitely pieces of the old her that he saw every now and then but she was definitely different. Why was he analyzing this so much? If Elizabeth was different it was probably because of everything she has been through in the past six years. Having to leave her home and almost everyone she loves probably didn’t help either. Justin frowned when he realized that she would probably tell him everything that had happened to her in France but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He hated it when Elizabeth was in pain, especially when he couldn’t do anything about it, and he knew from the look in her eyes earlier that pain was exactly what she had gone through.

Justin snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Liz sigh and bite her lip. He knew the conversation had taken a turn from funny to slightly serious.

“Where are you going to stay Liz?” Lance asked. Justin noticed how she nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and gently shrugged before looking up.

“I dunno… Uncle Mark said I can stay in his hotel for as long as I need to. I think I might just stay there and look for an apartment sometime next week.” She replied.

The guys looked at her in disbelief before answering.

“There is no way in hell you’re gonna be staying at a hotel when any of us are willing to take you in. As a matter of fact, if you want you can stay with me.” JC said to her.

“No I want her to stay with me plus you’re house looks too depressing anyway C,” Lance replied with a smirk. JC grabbed a carrot off his plate and threw it at Lance who dodged it.

“Boys behave,” Lynn said sternly. Justin cleared his throat and his eyes locked with Elizabeth’s.

“She’s gonna be staying with me and Trace until she gets sick us so y’all can stop arguing now.” Justin said.

Elizabeth smiled a small smile before responding.

“Are you sure you’re ok with that?”

“Come on Liz, you shouldn’t even need to ask me that. We’ll get your stuff as soon as we get back to L.A.” Justin responded.

“Ok… Since I know it’s going to be impossible to change your mind I won’t even try it.”

A while after discussing Elizabeth’s living arrangements everyone started filing out of the dining room and up to their rooms until only Elizabeth and Justin were left behind.

“So you’ve grown quite a bit since I last seen you.” She said.

“Well duh… Just cause you haven’t grown doesn’t mean I haven’t Miss Thumbelina.”

“Shut up… I can’t believe you’re still making fun of me just because I’m short. There are plenty of people that are as short as I am.” She said trying to keep a straight face.

“Sure there are, but since you’re part of the munchkin community I guess you are used to it,” Justin said and laughed when he saw her face. It was a cross between offended and amused.

“I am so telling your mother. I’m pretty sure she’s still capable of beating your ass.” Elizabeth said and laughed when she pictured a grown man like Justin getting his ass whopped by his mom. Justin laughed right along with her.

“Liz we’re 24 years old… I don’t think my mom can still beat my ass but hey, you never know.” He said with a grin. Soon the laughter died off and they just stared at one another.

“Do you think we’ll be alright Justin?”

Justin reached across the table, took her small hand into this much larger one, and slowly rubbed the back of it. Looking into her deep brown eyes he smiled a reassuring smile.

“Now that you’ve found your way back to me, I think, no, I know we’ll be ok.”

And that was all the reassurance she needed, nothing more nothing less.