Disclaimer: Most of these characters are Philip Pullmans and all of them revolve around his story.

Chapter 1

It was Midsummer's Day at 11:45. Will was driving like a madman through traffic to get to the park bench to meet Lyra. He had been working on his project about Dark Matter and Dr. Malone had been helping him out. He hadn't realized how late it had gotten.

He decided to give up and just wait the traffic out. It would give him some time to think. He had last seen Lyra 12 years ago. She would be 25. He tried to imagine what she would look like, but he just couldn't. He pictured her as a more mature 13 year old, though he was sure she probably changed in many ways that he couldn't even imagine.

Then, Will decided to think about Olivia. She had befriended him 10 years ago, when she saw him sitting on the bench on Midsummer's Day alone. They had been best friends since the day they met, and had dated for 6 years. He wasn't in love with her. How could he be when he was in love with Lyra? But, he was in serious like with her. She had been pressuring marriage, and he and Lyra had agreed to marry other people. They had a date tonight, at a very romantic restaurant and Will had bought a ring. He was going to propose to her.

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Lyra sat on the bench waiting for Will. It was 12:05 so he must have been running late. She started to think. It had been 12 years since she last saw Will, but she was still very much in love with him. Oh, she had dated boys over the years, but she never asked them out, they always asked her out. She couldn't say no to their pleading eyes. She also had a 5-date limit. Anymore than that and she thought she might forget Will.

All of a sudden, a presence stopped her thoughts. She concentrated very hard, and managed to feel Will. Oh at last, her Will was there!

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Will sat on the bench, trying to convey to Lyra that he was going to propose tonight. He thought it in his head, over and over, but he could tell she wasn't getting it. Oh well, he thought. May as well just sit here and enjoy Lyra.

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Will was eating his shrimp and caviar, not looking at Olivia, and not thinking of Lyra. It was very difficult. All of a sudden, she stopped talking. "Will? Are you listening to me?"

"What? Oh ummm…sorry dear, I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Doing this." He bended on one knee, held out the ring and said,

"Olivia will you marry me?"

She didn't say anything for a moment. Then she said, "Of course," and gave him a big kiss.

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Lyra lay in her bed at Jordan College and thought about Will. He had seemed a little nervous today when they had their annual meeting. She wondered why. Maybe he was missing something very important so he could meet her. He would probably get in very big trouble and when asked why he missed the important thing, he would say, "I had a meeting with love." That made her smile.

Suddenly, she saw something outside of her window. This confused her, because her window was in a tower 4 stories up. She went over to the window, looked out, and saw Serafina Pekkala.

She opened the window and called, "Serafina!" Serafina flew over and crawled through the window.

"I have very exciting news little one."

"What?" Lyra asked, still surprised to see her. She hadn't seen her in over a year.

"I found a way for you to meet Will!" Serafina said. Lyra's jaw dropped open.

"How? When? Can we leave now?"

"Hop on my broom with me and I'll explain as we get there." Lyra clamored through the window after Serafina and waited patiently (something hard for her to do) for Serafina to explain. "Well, I was talking to a queen of another clan the other day and she said that while finding Lord Asriel, she flew with angels. The angels flew way up high in the sky, and passed through worlds without a window. All the worlds are connected, if you fly up high enough. We can fly to Will."

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Lyra got to Will's world at around 3:00. She went to the lab where Mary Malone had worked, and got information from them about the private lab Mary now worked in. She decided to head there, and see if Mary knew anything about Will.

When she arrived, she knocked on the door. Some strange man answered the door and asked her who she was. "I am Lyra Silvertongue and I need to speak to Dr. Malone about Will." The man looked at her curiously for a moment, her long dirty blonde hair and determined chin, and decided not to make it hard for her.

"Follow me," the man said, and she did. She followed him down 2 flights of stairs and through many twisty corridors until she was standing at a door that said Dark Shadows Lab.

She went in and Dr. Malone turned around, startled. "Who is this James? And did I not ask you to please come talk to me before you let people in?"

"Well, yes, but this woman knows about Will."

Dr. Malone looked frightened. "Who are you?"

Lyra looked at her and then stated, "Why, I'm Lyra."

"Ly-Lyra?" Dr. Malone choked. "How'd you get here?"

"Serafina Pekkala, the witch, flew me here, over the worlds. It took 3 days. Do you know where Will lives?"

"Ummm…yes I do. He lived with me until about a year ago and now he lives on his own. He wasn't supposed to be living with me, and that's why I was so surprised you knew about my connection with Will."

"Why didn't he live with his mother?"

"Oh sweetie…His mother was kidnapped and murdered a little after Will got back. She was tortured for information. Try not to bring up this subject with Will, okay?

Lyra sat there, stunned. A tear ran down her cheek. She knew how much Will cared about his mother. "It must have been awful for him to live through."

"It was." They sat, silent for a moment, until Dr. Malone said, "Lyra, I know you're probably anxious to see Will. He lives a couple of blocks from here, on Cherry Avenue in a big apartment complex."

"Apartments?"

" Apartments look like one big, giant house, except the house is split up into many rooms where people live. He's apartment 1H."

"Okay. Well, I'm sure I'll find it. It was good seeing you. I'll visit." She gave Mary a hug, and then left.

Will was in his apartment, making dinner. Olivia was going to come over as soon as she got out from work. He was making omelets. He suddenly remembered the first day he had met Lyra. He had made them both omelets and beans. A tear ran down his eye. He heard a knock on the door. Olivia must be early he thought. He went to open the door and there stood Lyra. Will opened the door. "Lyra?" he asked.

"Oh Will, I've missed you so much. The witch Serafina Pekkala brought me here. She can fly us back whenever we want her to and we can stay together!" She threw her arms around him and squeezed him as hard as she could.

Will croaked, "Lyra, I can hardly breathe."

"Oh, sorry. I haven't seen you in so long and I mean look at you. You're probably over 6 feet! The last time I saw you, I was taller than you!"

"I'm not the only one who's changed. Lyra you're probably over 5'5''. You have really long legs. And your hair is longer."

"I'm 5'8''. Do you like my hair long?"

"Yes, it looks wonderful. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, I'm famished. What do you have? Any beans?

Will laughed. "No, I have something better. Omelet's."

"YUM!" Lyra screamed.

"Lyra, where's Pan?"

"Oh he's right…well, he was in my coat pocket. Hold on. I think he's with Kirjava, wherever she is."

"Here, come in the kitchen. There's the omelet's and there's…Kirjava and Pan."

"Lyra sit down at the table. I'll serve the omelet's." It was a struggle for Will to remain under control. He just wanted to grab Lyra and kiss her all over.

They ate quickly, and after they were done, Will could resist no longer. He grabbed Lyra and began to kiss her. She kissed back. She was a lot sexier than he remembered and was very, very beautiful. She looked like a fashion model. Will was about to take her top off when Olivia walked through the door.