~When all of your flaws and all of my flaws,
Are laid out one by one,
A wonderful part of the mess that we made,
We pick ourselves undone~

James & Lily

He still can't believe it when she says it.

But life always manages to turn things around, for better or worse.

It all started as it always did: with a fight.

"What do you mean you love me?" she yelled exasperated.

"That was not the reaction I was hoping for, and I'm not playing at anything! I'm expressing my feelings. Ever heard of those? You expressed you had sort-of-positive feelings towards me about a year ago and we started dating, if you can recall," he retorted while throwing himself in a huff on the bed of their flat.

They had been lying in bed, both stark naked, when he said it. He was admiring her beautiful red hair that seemed to shine even more in contrast to the white bed sheets. It was the way her eyes looked like they were smiling as he placed his lips lazily upon her thin fingers. It was just a whisper; he thought she wouldn't even hear. I love you.

Lily's breaths were shortening. Her vision was blurry. Her heart-rate sped up, and not in a good way.

"Why. Would you say this? Now of all times?" Her voice was panicked. She sat up hyperventilating on the other end of the bed.

"Lily, why are you panicking?" his voice was worried.

She kept trying to catch her breath, but couldn't and her eyes darted around the room.

"I need some air," Lily says as she starts collecting her clothes from the floor and putting them on as she paced around the house.

"Lily, stop! What-where are you going?" James followed her from a distance.

"I just-I have to-I-uh," she kept saying as she frantically looked for her keys.

"LILY!" James said as he took her by the shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, searching for her eyes. "Stop! What are you doing?!"

At that, Lily finally looked up to his hazel eyes that were a mixture of worry and anxiety. "I don't know James," she whispered as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. He wrapped her in his arms, and she placed her head on his chest as she sighed.

They broke away and James held her hands, still staring profoundly into her deep green eyes. "I don't want you going mad like McGonagall when she found out that Slughorn was trying to negotiate with Dumbledore into letting you into Slytherin," James said softly with a small grin as he stroked her cheek gently, Lily chuckling a bit as he said so. "I like you when you're calm. You know you can talk to me about these things that bother you."

She gave him the tiniest smile she could muster up. "I'm just going to go out for a bit. I need to clear a few things out of my mind," she brushed off by squeezing his hands.

James nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Go on then, I'll be waiting here. Don't come too late."

"I will," she promised. Lily saw that James was averting her glance, like he couldn't almost believe her. She took his chin and made him look back at her. "Hey, I will be back. I always come back," she whispered.

"I know," he replied, giving her a sad smile. She kissed his lips softly and broke away. Walking fast, Lily went out the door and turned on the spot, Apparating in front of what looked like an abandoned building from the outside. She now had a purpose and, climbing up three floors, she knocked on the door of the flat labeled 4C confidently.

The door opened, revealing a handsome man with long black hair and sharp grey eyes, dressed with jeans and buttoning a puffy, long-sleeved white shirt, looking at her with confused eyes. "Lily? What are you doing here? Is James there?" Sirius Black asked as he peered around.

"No! Um, are you busy? I really need to talk to you," Lily asked him before sniffing the air around her and crumpling up her nose. "Are you wearing cologne?" Realization dawned upon her and she opened her eyes. "OH! You're going out tonight! Right! I'm so sorry! I'll just go and visit Marlene instead, don't worry-"

"Lily, don't worry, I was only getting ready. I don't have to pick up anybody, the girl is coming over for dinner, so calm down and enter the damn place," Sirius cut her off, opening the door so the redhead could enter.

She hesitated for a moment, her mouth gaping like a fish out of water and went inside. Sirius shook his head thinking about how foolish this girl could become.

"Good of you to come inside, because Marlene is busy tonight, she's arriving from a mission and will probably want to sleep off her exhaustion," he informed Lily.

She only hummed in response as she took in the flat. Normally the place would be sort of messy, with books thrown around all over the place and pieces of parchment crumpled up in some corners. Tonight, there were candles floating throughout the path, from the door to the dining room, and there was actually a nice smell coming out from the kitchen. "Wow, Sirius, you've really outdone yourself. This is one lucky girl!" she could not help exclaim.

He merely shrugged and motioned for her to sit down on the sofa. "So," he clapped. "What makes Lily Evans stop by in the middle of the night, by herself, at Sirius Black's casa?"

Lily took a deep breath and clamped her hands together as she spoke. "Well, tonight James told me he loved me."

Sirius looked expectantly at her. "Yeah, and?"

She chose her words carefully. "And, I don't know how to feel about that."

"What? What do you mean you don't know how you feel about that? You either feel it or you don't. Easy," he told her as if she were a toddler.

"Sirius, it's not easy for me!" she said, waving her hands all around exasperated.

"I don't follow. You love everyone," Sirius said.

"I know! So why is it that I can't tell him that I love him?" Lily said this and froze, again giving him the same look of understanding of earlier.

"Lily…? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah," she answered but sounding far away.

"Um, will you care to explain?" Sirius inquired while looking at the clock. Damn, she's going to be here soon.

She snapped out of her reverie and stood up. "I have to find James!"

"Wait-what? Lily! You still haven't explained!" Sirius cried as he looked at her like she'd grown another head. That was pink. With 5 eyes.

"Sirius, I didn't want to tell James I loved him, because we're in a war against prejudice and sometimes I feel like we don't stand a chance! But I've realized that I love him and being with him in a world full of peace where I could live with him and be enveloped with his love is enough of a reason for me to fight! So, I'm very sorry Sirius, but I have to go back! I'll let you know or James will!" she was already at the door. Lily opened the door and there was a tall, scarred blonde woman that she recognized. "Marlene? I thought you were going home after the mission."

Marlene looked flabbergasted and stuttered. She couldn't even finish her sentence before Lily attacked her in a breathtaking hug. "Marlene, I have so much to tell you, but I'll tell you later!" She released her friend and ran back down the stairs and Apparated between the 2nd and 1st floor to her front door.

The blonde girl was still processing everything that had happened and turned around to face Sirius. "What just happened?"

"Hell if I know," Sirius replied as he grinned at her from his place inside the house. "Aren't you coming in?"

Marlene smirked back at him as she entered and closed the door. "Does she know?" she asked as she walked towards Sirius and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him gently.

"She will when she pieces everything together," he smiled roguishly at Marlene and kissed her once more. "I missed you."

"James? I'm back! Where are you?" Lily said as she barged through the front door. She heard the shower running and ran to the bathroom, opening the door.

Steam surrounded her when she entered, but it was clear was in there for she could hear his atrocious shower voice attempting to sing all the parts of "Bohemian Rhapsody". But Lily was anxious. So, with a huge smile on her face, she ripped the shower curtain open while he sung "I see a little silhouette-o of a man, SCARAMOUCHE! SCARAMOUCHE! WILL YOU DO THE FANDANG-AAAAAH" scaring James so much with that that he slipped and held himself thanks to the wall. "JESUS CHRIST, LILY! I swear, you're going to kill me someday!" he yelled, muttering some choice swears under his breath as he held his chest in an attempt to control his thudding heart.

"James, I love you," Lily said loudly so as to be heard above the noise of the shower.

James stopped attempting to control his breathing. As a matter of fact, his whole being just stopped. Then, he picked Lily from where she stood and placed her under the shower with a smile that matched hers and laughed loudly. Lily was shrieking, but it was cut off by James' kisses.

"James!" she managed to shriek as she giggled and he kept kissing her face in any available spot. "I had a whole speech prepared and now you're ruining it!" she kept insisting, yet not making any effort to stop him.

"And I'm sure," kiss, "you'll have," kiss, "some time," kiss, "later," kiss.

Lily finally shoved him back, holding him by his shoulders. "I love you James Potter, with all my soul and heart," she said as she smiled up at him.

James' heart could have burst at those words. He stepped up so that Lily's sodden clothes and his bare body were completely touching. "And I love you, Lily Evans."

"James… Marry me?"

"What?" he asked with a grin.

"Marry me!" she exclaimed laughing.

"No! Now you ruined my plan!" he said laughing at her.

"What plan?"

"The one where I would get down on one knee and proposed while declaring my undying love to you!"

"You can still do it!"

He fished around for his wand in the heaps of clothes and, when he found it eventually, summoned the ring he'd been holding onto since his mother's death. He kneeled and took Lily's left hand. James looked at her and was encouraged by Lily's expecting smile, which made him laugh once more, due to the fact that she was soaked beneath the showerhead.

"Lily Evans, you're a crazy woman, but that's what I love about you. You don't care that I sing really bad, or that I've been adoring your frog-green eyes from afar since I was eleven. But now you're standing in my shower, telling me that you love me, and that makes me not care either," he presented her the ring. "Lily, love, will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. James Potter?" he finished with a grin.

And, somehow, between all his loving words and his loving eyes, she managed to laugh and say "Of course, Mr. James Potter!" Then, she kneeled in front of him, and he placed the ring on her finger and kissed her again, taking all his sweet time, under the water that had suddenly turned cold.

But nothing mattered, because her flaws were his and now they would get to live with them. And it would make loving each other and fighting for a chance at love worthwhile.

A/N: Hello! I know, I should be working on NSOAM, but I had started this project and decided today to give it a go. And here we are! Hope you liked it, it's not edited or beta'd so bear with me, and don't be afraid of reviewing and give me some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism! I love you all!

-Adri-