A/N: Hi everyone! I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to get this chapter done, but as I hope you can see, it's a bit longer than the other chapters so far, and it's quiet important I think, especially towards the end!

I'm not going to babble too long today, I swear. Mostly because it's after 1am, but I was determined to get the chapter done and posted haha I really really appreciate all the amazing reviews and ideas coming from you guys! Although I have a rough idea of what is going to happen, I'm always up for suggestions, and I promise I do consider the ideas I've been given so far, so just know that even if I don't use them, or if I tweak them a little, I am so very thankful for them!

I'm trying to catch up with the episodes, so sometimes I have reviews mentioning things that I didn't know about (like the school merge haha) but I'm trying to work to the rough storyline and timeline of the episodes, so chances are, if it's happening in the show, it will at least be mentioned in this fic :)

So much for not babbling, ey? haha I really am going to shut up now. Please please let me know what you think! I'd especially like to know people's reactions to this chapter in particular ;)

Thanks again!

xoloveJBox

Chapter Nine

Lydia gritted her teeth frustratedly as she made her way down the breezeway, her mother and Darcy following. It was the morning of the wedding, and Lydia had been sent to pick the two of them up from their homes in Mangrove River. Her niece was fine, but every time Lydia saw her mother she was reminded of why she'd rather live in Summer Bay with her brothers rather than staying in her home town.

As they approached the front door, Lydia could hear her brothers talking, and she never thought she'd look to the Braxton boys for a source of sanity.

"...what didn't happen?"

"Nothing!"

"Pfft, didn't sound like nothing."

"Oh hey, look who I found." Lydia announced loudly as she walked in, her words laced with a 'please save me' tone.

While Heath greeted his Mum and daughter, Lydia wandered over to Brax "Do me a favour," she muttered quietly to him "next time I offer to pick up Mum, remind me of today."

"Will do," Brax promised with an amused grin.

"There's my baby!" Cheryl boomed, walking over to Casey and enveloping him in a tight hug. Lydia rolled her eyes, more than used to being ignored by her mother in favour of her brothers. It was the way it had always been, and she'd long since accepted that was the way it would always be.

"Are you going to say anything?" Cheryl spat at Kyle, still sitting on the sofa.

"What do you want me to say?" Kyle retorted coolly.

"Well, a 'Hello Mrs Braxton' wouldn't go amiss." Cheryl replied, not even bothering to hide her disdain towards him.

Kyle just about refrained from rolling his eyes at the woman, not seeing how that would help, so he forced a civil tone when he answered "Hello Mrs Braxton."

"Good," Cheryl finished "Now that's enough out of you."

Lydia let out a chuckle and leaned over the back of the sofa "Don't worry mate," she told her brother "I wouldn't talk to her if I had the choice either."

Kyle shot her a grin and Lydia straightened up "Right, come on Darce, we should go and start getting ready."

Darcy nodded and bounded out the door to Heath and Bianca's home, and when Lydia followed, she saw that Ricky was already there. As Darcy distracted Bianca, Lydia sat down next to her old friend, and shot her an expectant look.

"Alright," she started casually "spit it out, what's going on?"

"Spit what out?" Ricky asked, an amused chuckle escaping her lips.

"Oh come on Rick, I'm not blind," Lydia retorted "I know my brothers, and I know you. It's obvious from a mile away that something is going on because you and the boys have been having your secret little meetings ever since they got back from Melbourne. So I repeat: spit it out."

Ricky opened her mouth to argue again but Lydia shot her a look that oozed 'don't bother', so she let out a sigh "Look, it's not my place to tell you, otherwise I would."

Lydia scoffed "Like that's ever stopped you before."

"I know," Ricky replied quickly "but this time, you really need to hear it from your brothers."

Lydia spent a long few seconds inspecting her friends face, looking for any sign that she should press the topic. But, in the end, she decided to drop it; she trusted Ricky's judgement, and she knew that Ricky would tell her if it was important and she thought her brothers wouldn't do themselves.

"Alright," she finally relented "But I'm not letting this go."

"I wouldn't expect any different from you Lyd," Ricky grinned, glad that she had dodged a bullet.

"I have to go and start getting ready anyway, and I'm sure Darce could use a hand." Lydia added as she pushed herself up from the couch.

A few hours later, after Marilyn had been and done all their make-up, Lydia was sitting the bathroom, finishing plaiting Darcy's hair, when she noticed that her niece had a slightly pensive look on her face.

"Aunt Lydia?" She started almost warily.

"Yes sweetheart?" Lydia answered, furrowing her eyebrows a little.

"Do you think Dad will still have to come and see me, even when he's married to Bianca?"

Lydia stayed silent for a minute, thinking carefully about her words as she tied the end of the braid. Then she put her hands on Darcy's shoulder and leaned down to press her cheek against the little girl's.

"Listen Darce," she began softly "Your dad loves Bianca a lot, and I know Bianca loves you, but no matter what; you are always going to be your dad's favourite girl, ok?"

Darcy nodded, visibly relaxed with a broad grin on her face, and Lydia pulled her into a tight, comforting squeeze before they were interrupted by April knocking on the door.

"Lydia, Sam's here to see you." She told them with a wry, playful smile "And he is looking pretty sharp in that suit." April teased, and Lydia gave her light, jesting shove.

"Alright," she laughed "tell him I'll be out in a minute."

"Is Sam your boyfriend Aunt Lydia?" Darcy questioned innocently.

"Err, no, not anymore Darce," Lydia replied, rubbing at the back of her neck a little awkwardly.

"Why not?"

Lydia mentally cringed, but she didn't want to leave the child's questions unanswered, so she reached forward and picked up the headband to go with Darcy's dress and slid it onto her niece's head "Well, I went to England, and that's a really long way away, and it would have been really hard for us to still be together."

"Well," Darcy replied, an expression on her face that gave the impression that she was wiser beyond her age "I think it's really silly that you don't love each other anymore just because you went away."

Lydia shot her a feeble smile and a sigh "Yeah, I think so too Darce, but I made my bed and now I've got to lie in it."

"What does that mean?" Darcy asked, scrunching up her nose a bit, and Lydia couldn't help but laugh.

"Never mind Gromit, now come on, I think you're good to go."

They smiled at each other, and Darcy slipped her small hand into Lydia's as they exited the bathroom.

"You two look so beautiful." April cooed, going over and pulling the two of them into a hug.

"Are you kidding me?" Lydia replied incredulously "You, my friend, are putting me to shame."
"I think you both look amazing."

Lydia looked around for the voice of the compliment, and saw Sam wonder in from the breezeway. His hair had been combed in a way that Lydia had never seen him wear before, but it looked good. His suit was a deep, dark blue, and although Lydia knew that it was probably rented, it fit so perfectly it could have been made for him and him alone. His tie was slim and silver, the end tucked just out of sight behind the fastened button his jacket. Looking at him, it was hard to believe that this was the boy the fished and surfed in tatty shorts and the same three t-shirts almost every day, with his hair constantly looking like he'd just rolled out of bed.

"You don't look so bad yourself." April retorted playfully, but Lydia simply glanced down at her feet, feeling her cheeks flush and redden.

"And what are you doing here?" Cheryl demanded with a scowl.

"Mum!" Lydia exclaimed, her head snapping up in horror "Don't be so rude."

"Well, last I heard you two had broken up, and now he's just waltzing in here?" Cheryl explained defensively, and Lydia shot her mother daggers.

"Mum!" she hissed back venomously.

"It's ok," Sam chuckled, clearly amused "I actually just came to see if you wanted a lift, Lyd. I know you're probably going with Bianca or your brothers, but I thought I'd ask."

"I'd like that." Lydia told him quietly before she looked over to Bianca "Do you mind?

"Oh carry on," Bianca replied easily with a sly, knowing smirk.

Lydia couldn't help but smile, and she ignored her mother seething in the corner of the room.

"Ok, cool," She grinned, gathering up her bag and stepping quickly into her shoes "I'll see you guys there then."

"Always a pleasure, Mrs Braxton." Sam told the woman who was still glowering at him with a mischievous grin.

Lydia bade them all goodbye, throwing a goodbye through the door to the main house as she wondered past, and Sam waited until they emerged onto the driveway before he leaned down to mutter in Lydia's ear.

"I figured you wouldn't want to drive with your mother," he explained with a wry smile "I hope that's ok."

"That is absolutely more than ok," Lydia giggled, a little surprised that Sam had thought of a plan like that. "She was driving me crazy, and we haven't even gone anywhere yet."

"That's not the only reason," Sam continued, looking a little sheepish as she rubbed the back of his neck "There's something I actually want to talk to you about as well."

"What is it?" Lydia questioned, slight concern etched into her features. She knew Sam wasn't one for being elusive, and she couldn't think of a reason why he would start now.

"Not here," he told her lightly "I think we're being watched by pretty much your entire family."

Lydia looked around and, sure enough, as soon as he eyes reached the windows, curtains fell quickly back into place, but not before she spotted Casey, Kyle and Brax from one window, and Bianca, April, Ricky and Cheryl in the other.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Lydia answered, still undeniably worried, but she knew it must be important, so she slipped into Sam's car.

They drove for a few minutes in a comfortable, though slightly nervous silence, and Sam pulled up just outside the diner. They walked together down the pier and stopped right at the edge, and without a word, Sam laced his fingers with Lydia's.

"I don't really know how to say this, so I'm just going to say the first words that come to me and hope for the best." He suddenly blurted, and Lydia gave his hands a comforting squeeze before she nodded expectantly. Sam closed his eyes and huffed out a long breath, slowly opening them again.

"I love you Lydia Braxton," he started, hints of a tremble laced in his voice "And I understand why you decided we should just be friends, but in the last few months, not a day has gone by that I didn't wish you would change your mind."
Hearing Sam's words, Lydia tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible until he'd finished, but she wasn't sure how successful she was. In the couple of weeks she had been at home, Sam hadn't really given any indication that he was less than happy with the casual relationship they'd settled into, so despite how much she regretted the choice she'd made before going to England, she'd kept quiet about it.

"Sam, I-" she began in a low, almost inaudible tone, but Sam cut her off quickly.

"No no, let me finish, because if I don't, I never will." He rambled "I want us to try again. I know it's not going to be easy, and I know we're both different people now, and we're in different places, but there's one thing I think I've always been certain of, and that's that I could love you forever."

Lydia felt her breath hitch in her chest, and she looked down as tears started to fill her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to force them back to keep her make-up from smearing.

"You know what," Sam mumbled defeatedly when she didn't respond, letting her hands fall back to her sides "forget I even said anything. It's fine; I understand. I mean, I don't actually, but you don't owe me an explanation. You probably have a new boyfriend in England, and that's none of my business I'm sorry Lydia I shouldn't have said anything and I-"

Before he could get anymore words out, Lydia took his face in her hands and stood up on her toes, pressing her lips desperately to his. For a few short seconds, Sam's surprise kept him from reacting, but soon enough, he melted into the familiar feel of her, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her closer to him.

"I love you too, Sam Rogers." Lydia whispered, a wide, broad grin playing it's way onto her face "and I don't have a boyfriend in England, because it's always been you. You're the one for me, you goon."

Sam couldn't stop the exuberant laugh that erupted from his chest, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed Lydia into a hug that literally lifted her from the ground, spinning them both around a few times, making Lydia squeal.

"You've got no idea how happy I am to hear you say that," Sam laughed heartily as he placed her back on her feet "And we'll sort something out when I have to-"

"Shhh," Lydia instructed, placing a finger across Sam's lips to silence him "Not today. We'll sort everything else out when we get to it, but for now, let's just enjoy this."

"I think today's going to be a good day." Sam grinned, running his hand gently along Lydia's spine.

"You know what?" She asked, pecking another kiss to his lips teasingly "I think so too."

In that moment, wrapped up in her own idea of bliss, Lydia didn't even consider the possibility that the day would be anything less than perfect, and she had no way to know just how wrong they both were.