Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me.

Author's Note: Originally written for the galpal ficathon on livejournal, using the prompt Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom, first one to the finish.

This falls into an au I'm writing whereby Neville, Harry and Luna travel to an alternate dimension after the final battle. (Why yes, that is quite a cliche.) To save questions, beyond this and two other one shots – Pesky Thoughts, Late at Night and Answers and Questions – I have not written the actual fic where these fall into. I also couldn't tell you when it will happen, other than it will. This particular one shot is fairly self-explanatory.

"Ha! Beat you!" Lily crowed, red hair flying around her like a halo, as she turned to stick her tongue out at Alice. Her green eyes sparkled with a renewed mischief that had disappeared these last few years. Hands protected by oven mitts, she carefully inserted her last tray of decorated Christmas biscuits into the oven. Perfect. Just like this Christmas will be. Had to be.

"Yeah, yeah. You're the best. It has nothing to do with your familiarity in using Muggle cooking equipment," Alice retorted, as she wiped a smudge of flour off her face. The smile that danced on her face belied her words.

"And how many years has this been a tradition?" Lily asked. She moved to stand next to Alice, peering at the neat row of biscuits that sat on Alice's greased tray. Alice carefully inserted the cutter into the dough before lifting the shape out and placing it on her tray. She moved in a very precise way, had done so ever since they had first started this silly little competition during their fifth year. Alice had visited Lily during the Winter holidays, just in time to help Mrs. Evans with her Christmas baking. Lily's mum had handed over the biscuit making to the two teens. Lily can't really remember why they had turned it into a competition to see who could finish cutting out and then decorating the biscuits, but it had.

"I'll beat you one day, Lily. Just you wait." Alice finished with the last of her dough and sprinkled some small candies onto the cutouts before adding her own tray to the oven. "You know, if I could use magic, this wouldn't even be an issue," she pouted.

"But the whole point is to not use our magic," Lily pointed out. "It's more fun this way."

"You're right," she agreed after a moment of thought. It was true; Alice had no idea why baking without magic felt more satisfying than doing so with. It just did. Maybe because they got their hands dirty? And everything else, she thought with a rueful look at the mess they had caused. Flour lay everywhere, coating the counters, the floor and even their clothes. Candies and bits of icing were smeared on the counters, mixed in with the flour. At least Lily didn't object to using magic to clean up the mess they made.

Alice helped Lily with the clean up, while they waited for the biscuits to finish baking. "How did you get James and the others to leave us alone?"

"Simple. Told them if they didn't leave us alone, they weren't having any biscuits. I would give them all to Harry, Neville, and Luna."

"Devious," Alice complimented with a raised eyebrow.

"Learned from the best." In all likelihood, James had let her gain her way, but since that meant he could spend the day with Harry and his friends in the manor they had taken over, she didn't think he minded all that much. "Didn't Frank and Evelyn join them?"

Alice nodded. Evelyn had barely stood still enough for the side-along apparation with Frank. She had taken to Neville as if they had grown up together as siblings, rather than he being the dimensional analogue to the son she had borne in her womb and who had been killed by Voldemort. "She likes spending time with the three of them." It surprised her how well the three dimensional travelers had adapted to their new home. They still held themselves apart from the analogues of their family, as if they didn't know how to deal with having parents and siblings, but slowly, they were losing a lot of their caution.

The timer dinged and Lily rushed to remove her tray before the biscuits burned. "Do you think they're settling alright then?" she asked quietly, keeping her attention on the biscuits. She desperately wanted to take her son, who was not actually her son, into her arms and never let him out of her sight. She assumed Alice felt the same way towards Neville.

Alice sighed. How to respond to that? "They're not jumping at every little sound or movement anymore," she offered. The three travelers had come from a war, a horrific one, from what little they had actually let slip. Another timer dinged, and Alice removed her own tray, before turning off the oven. She and Lily fell into a comfortable silence and finished cleaning up the kitchen.

"It's just that, I don't want to scare him off," Lily suddenly said, as she finished boxing up the biscuits for easy transport.

"Merlin, Lily. None of us want that. I look at Neville sometimes, and I'm so proud. So very proud of everything that he is. But he's not mine, not really is he? And I'm terrified that if I say or do the wrong thing, he's going to run, and I'm never going to see him again." She sniffed as a few tears fell from her eyes.

"Alice," Lily softly said, pulling her friend into her arms for a hug, letting tears of her own fall. "I know, I know. But we've got to hope. Be patient."

The two women just clung to each other, letting go their grief and fears in a way they haven't allowed themselves to do as of yet. Sons that were their own, and yet not. A reminder of the war that they had tried to put behind them two decades ago, and had never succeeded in doing.

Eventually, they cried themselves out. Alice sniffed, drying her eyes with her sleeve as she pulled back from Lily. "Merlin. We look a mess."

"You can borrow whatever you need from my closet. Not like it hasn't happened before," Lily offered, smiling weakly. "We should probably head out soon. James and Frank might get worried and come to find us."

"Yeah. No need to worry them."

Lily and Alice took the time to clean themselves up, reapplying makeup to hide the evidence of their crying jag. "Still look gorgeous," Alice commented as the two of them looked at themselves in the mirror. Lily grinned, reminded of all the times they had done this very same thing at Hogwarts.

Alice wrapped an arm around Lily's side. "We should get to our boys."

"Hm… yes. Who knows what mischief they'll manage to get into. I think Sirius and Remus are joining us tonight."

"Oh Merlin! We need to get there. Who knows what they'll get up to!"

Lily laughed as they both ran down the stairs. "Bet I can get there first!" she called out as she grabbed her wand and the biscuits.

"Oh, no you don't! Get back here Lily Potter!"

And just like that, life was better. Not perfect, no less problematic, but some things remained the same, no matter what life threw at them. Alice apparated with a loud crack and a smile, ready to spend time with her friends and family.

/fin