Welcome to the story! There's a lot to be explained at the end, where the next Author's Note is.

Will woke up, sweating bullets and gazing around the darkening room. Dappled grey light peppered the walls from the streetlamps outside, and shadows roamed along as cars chugged down the road. Shadows. Not Shadows, shadows. Not Lyra.

He rolled on his side and cast a look over his shoulder at Maritza. She was asleep next to him, and yet he felt nothing more than a generous friendliness for her. His chest was bare and she was wearing little as well, but in the dark bedroom Will nonetheless did not really want any part of Maritza touching him any longer. He turned back to the window.

Memories raced in his mind. It was such a slideshow. He was on holiday from the university, and summer was just begun. With a good deal of help from Mary Malone, Will had managed to gain entrance into Oxford itself as a student. While it wasn't a secret to Mary, Will tried to as hard as he could to play off his burning need to finish his studies at Oxford casually. Both he and Kirjava knew that he wanted to be there only so that in some way, he could be closer to Lyra. Midsummer was a month off yet.

More memories filtered. Maritza, that happy girl with the white teeth and thick brown hair from his physics course. She was nice, and she was a good friend, and she was pretty. Will also saw a flicker of someone, maybe Serafina Pekkala or Mrs. Coulter herself, in Maritza. The similarity between the names Maritza and Marisa lay untouched by Will.

She was always so good to him. On some occasions, Maritza would invite Will to study alone in the library or eat dinner at some café. Will would do so, and they were still only friends. Maritza made him laugh. It was that laugh that finally convinced him—after his first full year at Oxford—that it would be no betrayal to Lyra if he finally accepted the invitation Maritza had given him when they had strode through the streets together.

Now he lay here on the damp sheets, feeling nothing, thinking only in his head about Lyra and Pantalaimon and his all friends from the other world. Why was it that whenever he even thought about getting close to a girl, all he could think about was Lyra? It wasn't a guilty feeling and it didn't make him mad at himself, but right now he didn't feel like dealing with Maritza or anyone else. He didn't even want to deal with himself. Will dozed in and out of a colorful sleep, filled with flaming bitumen torches and bright dragonflies and little red fruits.

He fully awoke next when the morning sun was high. He still had not enough sleep, really, but Maritza was awake next to him. Her slender hands plucked at his shoulder and slowly, but not regretfully, he rolled over.

"Hi," she smiled quietly.

"Hi."

"Had a nice sleep?"

Will paused. He figured some flirtation should be forthcoming, some acknowledgement and praise of what they had done the night before, but he couldn't bring it to his lips.

"Yes."

Maritza giggled.

"The strong, silent type."

Not with Lyra, thought Will, and the thought stung him. Why, oh why, did he have to do this now? He had to put her from his head for at least a moment.

Maritza's smile faded and she looked up seriously at him.

"Will, do you like me?"

"Of course," Will answered truthfully. Maritza was a good friend.

"Who is the other girl?" she asked softly, averting her eyes so that he could only see the top of her brown head.

"What?"

"Who is she?"

"Who?"

"The girl you're so devoted to, Will. The girl you're in love with and the girl that broke your heart."

A powerful feeling gripped his chest and Will wrested with it like a lion. His mouth was dry. Bravely, however, Maritza plunged on before he had to reply.

"I know you," she said, mainly to his broad chest. "I've met your mother and your Aunt Mary. I've seen you struggle to answer a difficult question during an examination and I've seen you smile when you're not really here or there. You're somewhere else so much of the time, Will, and I know that no one knows where you go. Not me nor Kelly nor Johnny nor Chris or any of your other friends. I thought that maybe you were just shy sometimes, but now I'm sure. You're in love with someone."

Gently, despite the stinging that accompanied the names of some of his best friends in this world, Will lifted up Maritza's chin to gaze calmly into her placid hazel eyes. He planted a light kiss on her lips. She wasn't crying and Will hadn't expected her to.

"I'm here now, Maritza. Just here. There are just some things that I can't explain. I'm not in trouble or anything stupid like that. And I really do like you, but—"

"Not in this way," she said firmly, making only the slightest gesture to the bedroom setting around them.

Will nodded and Maritza took a deep, cleansing breath. She'd have all these feelings to sort out when she returned home, but for now, Will was just being Will and she loved him for it anyway. She was a bright girl, though. Will Parry was the most considerate, enigmatic, and formidable person she had ever known, and spending time with him—any time at all—made her think that the world was a little safer as long as he was around.

"So who is she, then?" was all that Maritza said.

Will blinked and smiled, finally.

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Wi-ill…"

"Marit—zaaa…"

She pinched him lightly, knowing it wouldn't hurt him a bit. He laughed and rolled away, climbing out of bed in only his boxers.

"I'm going to make us waffles, now, Maritza, so you can stay here if you'd like but if it's breakfast you want, then you'd better get up."

"You'll just reheat frozen waffles your mother made," accused Maritza grudgingly. Will shrugged. She didn't need to know he could cook waffles and freeze them himself. And with his mother and Mary on a holiday, no one would be around to make Maritza the wiser.

A pillow hit him in the head and he chuckled again, tossing it back.

"I'll wake you when they're ready."

"Good," replied Maritza stuffily, her face sleepily pushed into the blankets.

Will opened the bedroom door and saw Kirjava in the hallway. Trying a calculated focus of his eyes, Will saw another dæmon near the kitchen. It was clever-faced badger with smiling eyes and knowledgeable stripes across its pointed head. Will grinned at Maritza's dæmon, whom he had not been able to pin down and see before now. The badger made a soft, growly noise of hello.

"You're wasting time," chided Kirjava. "Make the waffles."

"Impatient," muttered Will.

"What was that?" came Maritza's dreamy voice from his bed. Will stepped back into the room.

"I said—no, wait. That's wrong." Will took a deep breath. He didn't show nerves about many things, but he had never tried to explain himself to a girl before. "Maritza…there's no other girl. Not anymore. I can't forget her and it would be wrong to forget, but it's also wrong to think that I can wait around to see her again. I know when I'll see her, and it won't be for a while. I do love her though, even if I only have the memories now. I'm sorry if that bothers you."

"No," Maritza answered, suddenly perfectly clear and lucidly awake. "Thank you for telling me, Will. And I won't say anything to anyone else, if you want. About her, or...or about this."

Unconsciously, Will stuck out his jaw just a bit.

"I'm not ashamed," he said defiantly. "About her or you. Especially not you. I'd never be ashamed of you, Maritza."

Maritza couldn't help the little smile that touched her lips.

"Good. Well…good. Just good. Now get your bum into the kitchen and fix the breakfast you promised."

"So, Kirjava," began Will later that evening. Maritza had left just as night touched the sleepy part of London where the Parrys and Dr. Malone currently lived. Will sat alone in front of the fireplace, wherein he had lit a blazing inferno. Kirjava's eyes were half-closed as she curled up on her rug close to the flames. "Did we do right? D'you think that we—I, d'you think that I betrayed Lyra? I…I don't feel like we did…"

Kirjava flicked her tail and sat up.

"You promised her you'd move on if you had to," said Kirjava solemnly.

"That just it!" burst Will with savagery. "I haven't! I haven't moved on! I haven't forgotten Lyra for even a day, even an hour. I just…Maritza…I don't even think of her like I think of Lyra…I don't want to make her into Lyra…"

"Then you did right by Lyra," said Kirjava. "You're living your life, and you don't have anger or resentment or anything like that for Lyra because she couldn't be with us. You haven't replaced the good memories. We're just learning a new way to be, Will, that's all. We're learning how to be adults, and that's the best thing we can do."

"I know," mumbled Will. He felt very young. "I just wish—"

"I know." Kirjava laid down again, letting the flames lick over the colors of her fur. "I know. I wish I could see them too."

Hello, hello. Let me just say that I have ever written any His Dark Materials fanfiction before, even though they are my second-favorite books. This just came to me, and there will be at least one more chapter for Lyra too. It is not just a one shot. Each chapter will be a little peek into Will and Lyra's lives at random points and events. I dunno how many there will be. Review, please, especially if you have any questions on the characters because I realize that there will need to be mucho OC in this story, and there's not much I can do about it even though I normally hate that kind of thing. Thanks!