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Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight


Chapter 9

Lily was cleaning, yet another distraction which she was grateful for. Noticing a sock half hanging out of a drawer she sighed at Jack's casual scruffiness. She pulled the drawer open with the intention of pushing the sock in and then moaning at Jack later. However, a blue box caught her eye. It was a ring box. Reaching inside she took it from its position nestled among the clothes. She quickly moved towards the window and snapped it open.

Her breathe caught in her mouth.

Lying inside was a beautiful ring with one simple diamond reflecting the light in such a way that she had only ever seen once before. Lily kicked herself for thinking of Carlisle in such a moment where she should have been solely thinking about Jack. Returning the box to its place where Jack would never know his secret had been unearthed Lily began to ponder on what this all meant. Lily and Jack. Jack and Lily. Married. Was she ready for that? Surely she wasn't if so many of her thoughts were still dominated by another man.

Except Lily knew what would happen if she said no. She'd loose Jack completely and she wasn't ready for that yet either.

Her thoughts then changed direction completely to when Jack would ask the question. What event was there in the near future. Her mind answered that question immediately.

Her 23rd birthday.

The birthday when she would become the same age as Carlisle. Was time really passing by that quickly? Within no time at all 10 years would have passed, 10 years and any chance of her being with Carlisle gone completely. If it could pass that easily then perhaps Jack was the better option. The long term option. The logical option. Long term and logical. Not the words that people usually associated with love but this wasn't a fairytale, this was reality which sometimes slipped into a nightmare.

The word nightmare instantly linked to the red eyed vampire which was tormenting her life. She knew it was Aro. She'd met him once before but it was still bad. Red eyes meant that...meant that he didn't share Carlisle's lifestyle choice. That was definitely bad. How many vampires were there? Would she be colliding with them for the rest of her life? She dearly hoped not. They'd even crossed her ancestor's life if she was truly part-vampire.

"Lily?" Jack's voice echoed upstairs, he had obviously returned home from work.

"Jack!" Lily fled from the room and bounded downstairs, almost knocking Jack down in her enthusiasm.

"Woah, careful!" Jack laughed, "You'll break me!"

"I can't break my big strong Police Officer," she punched his muscle clad arms and cringed when she saw him wince slightly.

"Have you been working out?" Jack asked rubbing his arm.

"Um yeah," Lily giggled.

"23 next month," he picked her up and span her round as she squealed like a small girl.

"Urgh," Lily pulled a face.

"23 is not old!" Jack insisted.

"Ever wish you could stop time and stay the same?"

"Where are you getting these silly ideas from? Late night movies?"

"Yeah," Lily pretended to laugh at the stupidity of immortality.

"So what can we plan for your birthday?" Suddenly life was back to normal.

...

Lily couldn't help but feel that time was running away with her, the future getting closer. Her destiny, whatever it might be, getting closer.

"A Victorian era theme party!" Eleanor exclaimed

"Proper ball gowns and everything!" Sarah chimed in next to her.

"Sounds rather glamorous," Lily responded not sharing their enthusiasm.

"If you're like this about your 23rd then what are you going to be like about your 30th and 40th?" Sarah asked.

"Greyer," Lily moaned.

"Oh give us a smile," Eleanor rolled her eyes pulling out a ball gown for her to try on. "What does my brother see in you?" She joked handing the dress across to Lily.

"This has a corset!" Lily almost screamed with fear.

"You'll look amazing!" Sarah insisted, "We both have one too."

"How...nice," Lily began to instantly regret agreeing to a big party for birthday. She had hoped that the crowd might prevent Jack from popping the question, hoping that he'd prefer a more intimate scenario for such an important moment.

"Jack's going to love it all," Eleanor commented.

"He's got his suit sorted," Sarah explained. "Ohhhh it's like planning a wedding!" How little she knew? In fact did she know that Jack was planning to ask the question? Eleanor definitely did.

"Help me get it on then," Lily insisted managing a smile, "I need to check that this dress fits if I'm going to wear it for the whole night. I want to dance to!"

"That's the spirit!"


What do you think Lily will do? What would you do? Please review with your thoughts. Thanks