Disclaimer: I don't own these characters… so don't sue me… please? You won't have much to get from me anyway…wait I have a new car… okay don't sue! Don't sue! DON'T SUE!

This takes place a year after Marauder and Lily graduate, and for those of you who haven't read One More Chance, things will make sense, but you might find you'll get everything if you read that one first. =)

Chapter 1- Wanting to Catch

Lily Evans curled up in a corner of the couch in the living room against one arm. In her hands was a book entitled Catcher in the Rye. Things had slowed down since the prior week when her older sister, Petunia, got married. Petunia and Vernon were now on their honeymoon in Italy.

Lily had spent the past year, since she had graduated from Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, studying to become a Mediwitch with St. Mungo's, the wizarding community's hospital, but had a short two week break before the next classes started. On top of all this she was helping at home quite a bit and still trying to spend time with her boyfriend, James Potter.

"Lily," Josh Evans said while entering the kitchen.

"Yes Dad?" Lily shouted so he could hear, continuing to move her eyes from left to right across the page.

"I have a meeting tonight, but I'll be back before dinner. Did you want to eat out?"

"Sure…can James come?" Lily asked then bit her bottom lip and moved her eyes to look out of the corner waiting for his answer.

"Sure," he said confidently. The last month or so Josh had been touchy at times about Lily's relationship with James, but more because he felt the rest of his family slipping away than because he didn't like James. He actually found James quite agreeable to be around. Josh felt James had a good head on his shoulders and Josh couldn't wish for a better young man to help Lily; especially what had happened about a year and a half prior.

Violet, Lily's mother, had developed cancer, and by the time it was discovered it had been too late to treat it. Josh partly blamed himself. Violet had been having pains in her lower back for months before they knew what was wrong; Josh had told her to see a doctor, but she would just wave the idea away. It wasn't until she collapsed in pain two summers ago that he took her to the hospital, whether she agreed or not. Josh often wondered what would have happened if he had insisted she see a physician instead of handling the pain on her own.

It almost killed him when they discovered that Lily also had the disease. Josh endured months of watching his daughter and wife suffer, both in their own way, and both acting as though they didn't need help. Lily's so much like her, Josh thought, as he passed, seeing Lily reading in the living room. Violet probably would have been caught with a magazine instead of a controversial novel, but Lily was sitting just the same way, and in just the same place.

Josh walked up the stairs to find a tie. On his side of the closet, things were messy and disoriented, but Violet's side had stayed just as neat as the last day Violet had cleaned it. Josh tried to keep his side up after Violet died, but he was never as efficient at cleaning.

Lily did most of the upkeep in the house these days. It didn't take her nearly as long because she was learning to use her magic to do so. Lily usually made meals too, but they had found themselves slipping into a trend of eating out. At first it was to meet Vernon's relatives and because they were busy making plans, but now it had just become habit.

Josh took one last look in the mirror and made his way back down the stairs. "I'll be back in about two hours," he said opening the front door.

"All right," Lily said, her nose still in the book. She read twenty minutes before something interrupted her. It was Darcy, Lily's owl, who pecked playfully at her hair. "That's enough of that," she said. Darcy held out his foot with a thin roll of parchment attached. "He sent something already did he?"

My wild flower,

I can't wait to pluck you from the field and make you mine…

Most of what James sent were little charming anecdotes like this. Lily rolled her eyes, and tried to act annoyed when a pop came from the dining room. "Where's my Lily?" James asked.

"Go plant one! No one owns me," Lily said defiantly. James came into the living room a bouquet of Cala Lilies in one hand.

"Oh right, I keep forgetting," James grinned.

"How were your classes?" Lily asked, her legs still under her, but her book finally had come down. James had started with Auror training about six months after graduating. The program took two years, but he thought he might be able to cut it down a bit by taking an extra class every session. He had never been so tired, but he knew he couldn't show it to anyone.

"Good. Long, but good," James said.

"Good," Lily said, then pulled her book right in front of her face again. James went over and snatched it away, laying the flowers on the side table. "Hey!"

"Where's the love?"

"It was being given to the book," Lily said as if it should have been obvious.

"Me first," James said, sitting next to Lily and leaning over to kiss her. Lily played the game, as she usually did, and at the same time reached for the book until it was in her grasp.

While Lily found her place again, James made himself comfortable by kicking off his shoes and stretching himself across the couch and laying his head in Lily's lap. She followed this routine as well by mindlessly stroking James's messy black hair while reading about the boy trying to kiss the girl next door to him.

James fell asleep soon after this started, tired from a long day's work. Things were becoming a pretty usual routine, though it wasn't always like this. There were many days that Lily felt like being alone, and though James didn't know how to handle it, he let her have that time by herself. There were a lot of reasons for this behavior, and James couldn't really tell if Lily's method of dealing with it was a good thing for her or not.

The wedding had been a hard thing on Lily. Lily didn't feel that Vernon accepted her for what she was, or that he ever would accept her. There was one night Lily had Apparated to James's house, tears streaming down her face because Petunia had taken to demeaning Lily – all because she was a witch. Lily had always known Petunia had been upset that she couldn't be a part of Hogwarts, or most of what Lily did for all those years, but never had Petunia called Lily names due to that or made her feel that she wasn't worth less because of it.

Lily knew what this was coming from. Turning to Vernon was Petunia's way of dealing with the death of their mother, but it was turning Petunia away from her own family at the same time. Josh had tried to talk to Petunia about it, but she seemed to think she was independent enough to do things without them. Josh didn't want to make her wedding something that she would look back on bitterly, so he compromised with Petunia to do things her way, so long as she didn't say rude things about Lily.

Now Petunia would be gone. She was married and the Dursleys had a home of their own. Lily was afraid things would never be the same between Petunia and her, which hurt more than anything. This was the third time this summer Lily had read The Catcher in the Rye and Lily had found herself relating and wishing to be the catcher. She felt like her entire family was somewhere within the field, and by family that meant everyone she cared about. Sirius was there, and Remus… James and Petunia. Peter, Josh, Samantha, and even Violet. They were all in the field, running around doing what they had to do, and someone had to be there to catch them, in case things went awry. Somehow, though, her arms weren't strong enough, and they were falling off the cliff… she was failing.

James had joined her, though. James had been here the entire time, to try and help her keep people within the field. James made her stronger. It was comforting to have him with her, and he didn't seem to realize what he did for her.

Lily put her right arm on the top of the couch, her thumb twisting the sapphire ring on her ring finger. James had given her that ring to complete the set her mother had given her. She wore the set almost everyday when she came home, and it had become a symbolism in her life of how James was completing things.

"What's going on here," Josh said in a booming voice that Lily only ever heard when he wanted to have fun with one of his daughters' boyfriends.

James was suddenly wide awake, though he had to rub his eyes as he sat bolt up and started putting his shoes on. "Nothing sir, I-I just came over to see what Lily was doing. I just got here," James defended and lied since he couldn't remember how long he'd been there.

This was another reason Josh liked James, he could mess with his head. Vernon was always so prim and affectionless when he was around them, which didn't make him very comfortable for Petunia. He had always imagined that his daughters would find men that showed their love in leaps and bounds, not bottle it all up for some better time. He had seen what a loveless marriage had done to his sister, and he wouldn't have wished that on anyone. "Hey Harry," he said addressing Lily in their usual game. She didn't know why, but he had taken to using the name 'Harry' a lot more often than 'Fred' or 'Barney', which had been his previous favorites.

"Yes?" Lily said sweetly; she liked it when her dad made James squirm in his seat just a little.

"Were we still going shooting?"

"Really, sir, I was just a bit tired and-"

"Lighten up, James," Josh said, and James did so for a second. "You're going to have to be light on your feet with my aim," he added loosening his tie and walking toward the stairs. James knew that Josh wouldn't do anything to harm him, but he also worried about what Josh thought, at times, about how James treated Lily. It was important to James to have Josh's approval, which meant treating Lily like a princess, which was how James thought she deserved to be treated anyway.

"Oh yeah, are you coming to dinner?" Lily said closing her book and setting it on the table, and picking the flowers up to put them into a vase.

"Sure," James said. "You don't think he's-"

"He's not mad at you, James. Trust me, if he didn't like you, you would know it," Lily reassured him, standing on her tip-toes and kissed him on the forehead.

"All right, I'll take your word on that," James said pulling Lily into him. James was about to place his lips on Lily's when he heard Josh clear his throat loudly from the top of the staircase.

A/N: Once again, a first chapter with a lot of set-up. I'm betting a lot of people who are reading this have probably read One More Chance, but I wanted to make it understandable for anyone who hasn't. Sorry for that, but there were some new relationships and interactions due to time and circumstances over the year and almost a half following the events of the story mentioned. I think I know what I'm doing with this one, and I hope you'll at least think so… but oh well if you don't! Thank you for all of those who reviewed in the other story and please do so here!

Thank you:

Lily Princess: I think I'll be heading over there sometime tomorrow, if I have the chance. Thank you for the invite! I'm so flattered!

Hearts Goddess: Thank you for reviewing at all! I finally decided that I could do a proper sequel, and I hope you'll agree!

Josephine Sawyer: I'm so glad you liked it, and as this one won't have much to do with Cancer as the after effects of losing a mother and wife and other things that are going one maybe you'll like it all the more!

Leoking: I already responded to this etremely long review, as you requested me to do, so I won't hash over it again. I'll just thank you for being such a good friend and helping me where ever I need it =)

JamieBell: Same goes for you as what I said to LeoKing. I'm glad you like my cheesiness, I am a hopeless romantic and just need someone to come and sweep me off my feet... oh well... To answer your concern of James being a Git... well... James is a git sometimes and it's hard to apologize to someone who you consider an enemy. In fact, it's hard for some people to apologize to their friends even, so just give him a bit of a break and understand that James is James, and that's why I characterized him the way I did. I don't think I wanted him to have a complete turn around. You also must realize that to James, Snape only did it to fulfill the life debt.

gavvie: Thank you! I'm blushing!

KSO: Here... as you've requested: a sequel!

ebec: I never like it when people make Rowling's characters absolutely flawless (even that to me can be considered Mary-sueish.) I'm glad you like my ideas with the last one, and I tried not to make the illness my main focus, but more how the people handled it. Here the illness is gone, but it still consumes some part of their lives in a way, if that makes any sense. Thank you for reviewing and I hope you like this one too!

Book Lover990: Thank you for reviewing! Enjoy this one!

animalluvr75: Thank you for your support! I hope to see your sn on more reviews because I enjoy hearing from you!

misachi1: Thanks!

mione-Xavier: That story's over, but this one's just begining =) There are others I've written that you might like as well (hint hint nudge nudge)

libyanauthor: Thank you... James is wonderful but as I've said before: James is still James. He's sweet and romantic, but in his head he's thinking 'go me' and 'score one Potter' the entire time. I think he's grown to care about Lily and he has his moments, but he's still a bit egotistical. Thanks again! Hope you like this one!

Mell Minamoto: Of course Lily gets to live! We all know what really happens, which I'm sad to say, I might be ending this story with, but I'll try and make it a bittersweet ending (which I just love to do) =)