I told a poor anon I'd write this a literal year ago and here we are (finally). And also please come say hi to me, anon, because I want to thank you for getting me to write this stupid thing that I love too much for words.

At the risk of looking like I'm giving my Oscars acceptance speech, I do want to take a minute to thank all of my lovely, lovely friends for getting me through this fucking fic. Thank you for listening to me bitch about it, thank you for telling me that I needed to stop being mean to myself in my comments (even though things like "this is shit – fix in edits" really are part of my process), thank you for giving me weird little details about things that I pulled from your lives and incorporated into this fic, thank you for reading it over and over again as it developed and for leaving me every keyboard smash, scream, and note for improvement.

scaredofrobots levins18 beks21 petalstofish professor-riddikulus – this fic would not be what it is without you and I love you all so immensely that my repressed little heart can't even begin to tell you.

To my poor tumblr friends I spent the entire month of May torturing ( julxr4 youreyesinstarsabove victoria8719 raissassampaio women-inthe-sequel jamespottrr decaffeinatedmouse carolynn1735 itssoweirdyoureher tevescomoungirasol and whoever the fuck else I didn't mention because I am lucky enough to have so many of you but not lucky enough to have a good memory) – there is a universe where I'm sorry (also I love you).

And, finally, for those of you that don't already know, enjoy the twist.

'Tell James he has twenty minutes.'

Lily heard Mary knock on James' door over her earpiece before she let go of the call button and the line fell silent again. Marlene raised her eyebrow at Lily, but Lily distinctly avoided her gaze, sifted through the papers on her clipboard instead, double checked the filming schedule for the day to make sure they didn't already miss some fucking call time that she'd forgotten about.

She knew they hadn't, but she'd do anything to avoid looking at Marlene right now.

'Ms Evans,' Lily's attention snapped back to Mary — she never called her that unless there was really bad news. 'He says that he doesn't want to go through with this.'

Lily must have blanched, because Marlene was now looking at her with intense interest. Lily grabbed the end of her mouthpiece and pressed it closer to her mouth, lowered her voice as she walked swiftly out of the makeup room. 'Well he should have fucking thought about that, there is nothing that I can do for him now! Tell him he signed a contract!'

Mary sighed and Lily heard her knock again before she cut the connection. Lily's anxiety peaked as she listened to the silence ringing in her ears and she did her best to walk quickly through the corridors without breaking into a full run.

Mary clicked back onto the radio. 'He said he doesn't care about the contract. He was packing his bags when he opened the door.'

'I don't give a flying fuck if he cares about the contract, and he better not be packing his bags,' Lily hissed, and she doubled her pace through the hotel. 'Mary, keep him distracted, I'm going to be there in a minute.'

'Lily, I — '

'Mary, just fucking do it. I'm not losing this fucking finale episode because Potter's getting jitters. Talk to him — I'll be there in a minute.'

Mary was silent for a moment before she exhaled heavily. 'Yeah, alright. I'll do what I can.'

'That's all I ask.'

Lily was half-tempted to switch off her walkie, run into the nearest broom cupboard and scream out some of her stress, but she really, really didn't have time for that, especially if James was already packing his bags.

When she got to James' hotel room a moment later, she noticed that Mary had slid the catch so that she didn't have to wait to be let in (probably because if she knocked, there was no way that James was going to let her in). She rapped hard on the door as she pushed it open, and Mary and James, standing in the middle of the room, whipped around to look at her as she walked through the door. Mary's expression, stressed and apologetic, was the complete opposite of James' angry, defiant one.

'James, what's going on?' Lily asked, doing her best to slide into her "Nice Producer" voice even while she wanted to fucking throttle him. 'Liza and Summer are in hair and makeup already, I'm going to need you to — '

'No.' James crossed his arms, shook his head. 'I told Mary I'm not doing it. I can't do that to them, they think — '

'James,' Lily said, gritting her teeth to keep it together, 'you signed a contract. The network will have you for everything you fucking have and then some if you back out now.'

'Surely you can make up some hyper dramatic ending that will make the network forget all about wanting to sue me,' James said, laughing derisively, 'that's your job, isn't it?'

That fucking stung and he knew it. Lily exhaled sharply. 'My job, Mr Potter, is to get you in a fucking tuxedo and up to that fucking observation deck so that you can propose to one of these fucking women. That is my job and whether you like it or not, that's what you agreed to do, so you're going to stop whatever this,' she gestured vaguely in the air around him, 'is, and get it the fuck together. Mary — ' she turned quickly and caught Mary's eye, 'head to hair and makeup, make sure that Marlene is ready and then escort her up to the observation deck. Be back here to get James in fifteen to take him to set.'

It was a testament to Mary's faith in her that she didn't hesitate before she turned on her heel and walked out of the hotel room.