It was the scene that Liz and Lucky fans had been waiting for on General Hospital, though it did not go the way that they (or Lucky!) might have expected: Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) prepared a beautiful lunch in the park where he surprised Liz (Rebecca Herbst) with a marriage proposal — though having found the ring box earlier, it wasn’t a complete shock to her. Unfortunately for lovelorn Lucky, Liz turned him down and in the June 5 episode, explained why she had to decline.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
When she first rejected his proposal, a stunned Lucky got to his feet and wondered if she was saying no right now or if this was a no forever. “It’s a no,” Liz replied. “Because right now I just don’t see any way for our lives to fit together.”
Lucky began pleading his case, insisting that he wanted to be with her and their family for the long haul. Liz replied that she believed him, but knowing his wanderlust, she doubted that settling down with her was what would truly make him content. Wanting his happiness as much as her own, she worried that living in Port Charles and doing the same thing day after day wouldn’t work for him. “Here is too small of a place for you,” Liz declared. “And the last thing I want is for you to live an unfulfilled life just so you can prove yourself to me.”
When Lucky tried to protest, she urged him to be honest with her — and himself — and think about whether or not he could truly live with putting down permanent roots in P.C. “I love you, Elizabeth,” he said finally. “And… more than that, I want to be with you. Maybe you’re right. Port Charles… it will always be important to me, but it’s… it’s not my home… anymore. And being here full-time, even with everything that I love about it, it won’t fulfill me. At least, not right now.”
Liz thanked him for being honest — but then Lucky suggested that she could come with him and they could see the world together, even trying to sweeten the deal by mentioning the good she could do as a nurse. Liz reminded him about their son, and when Lucky noted that Aiden could join them, she countered that Aiden wouldn’t want to have his whole life uprooted like that. Still searching for a way to make this work, he proposed that they wait until after Aiden goes off to college, and then they would be free to go wherever they wanted.
Her voice thick with emotion, Liz sadly had to shut down that plan as well. “It’s not just Aiden,” she explained. “I have a life here, too. A life that… I really love. I have friends and family and a career that I’m proud of. I wouldn’t want to leave any of that behind. It would make me as unhappy as you would be if you stayed.”
