Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who...but I do own: Lily and Stephan Jones-Smith, John Fenton, James Perkins, and all the other minor characters...plus all the creatures and planets that I make up off the top of my head. So take that BBC!

Lily fidgeted on the blue jump seat that was adjacent to the yellow run down one. Ever since it had been arranged for John to meet her family, she had been fine. That was until her mother had invited him to the get-together that her grandmother was giving. Now Lily was nervous. She had already vomited twice that morning, and she could have sworn that she had lost at least one dress size that week. And on top of that, she had John's declaration ringing in the back of her head. She felt bad about not saying anything to him, it's not that she didn't love him, she did; tremendously. She just found saying the exact words, that was the difficult part.

As Lily sat there, she recalled one of their meetings. At her father's protests and her mother's insistences Lily was allowed to spend the week with her grandparents, most of which she spent with John. She remembered one night after they had made love, an act that Lily found more enjoyable each time, during which John had whispered, yelled, and chanted the three endearing words. Lily, apart from the sounds of pleasure, had remained silent.

She could still see his eyes burning into hers as he had said, "I can't sit here with my arms and heart open to someone who doesn't love me back."

"John," She had said, "It's not that I don't, it's just the words themselves."

"So you do love me?" He had asked.

"I think so."

John's disappointed face would haunt her forever. It was three words, only just not the three he wanted to hear. Nevertheless, he answered, "That's good enough, for now."

Now he was about to meet the family of a girl who 'thought' she loved him. How he still wanted to be in her life was beyond her. She didn't deserve him that's for sure.

"Are you ready?"

Lily looked up at her mother, trailing behind her was her father and brother. She could tell by the looks on their faces that she had managed to ruin another trip for them. She wondered how big she could make the rift between her family and John. That, she had promised herself, would be one thing she'd never do, yet, it seemed to get harder and harder each time. She wanted to be with her family, and with John. How she was going to do both appeared to be impossible. Even when she saw so many impossible things in her life, this was one matter that was exactly as it seemed to be.

This was certainly a predicament.

Martha placed her coat over her shoulders, "Are you ready?" She asked again.

Lily nodded hesitantly, "Yeah."

"Okay then." Martha said with a smiled, she looked over her husband and son.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, trying to flatten the mass down, but instead made it spike up even more. He really had wanted to take the family to Cinattomek, it was one of the best swimming holes in the entire universe, but nooooo. It wasn't that he didn't want to properly meet John, and he was sure that with Francine, James, Tish, Leo, their spouses, their children, along with Martha, Stephan and himself. Well, it was certainly one occasion that he didn't want to miss. Cinattomek could wait.

Martha walked up to Lily, also taking her in. They were both dressed in black slacks, Martha in a blue top, with Lily in green. Lily's hair was done up in a tight ponytail, she had been given her father's hair; unmanagable even with hours of trying to tame it. Lily envied her mother and brother, as she fussed with the ends of her hair. Martha lovingly slapped her daughter's hand away, with a smile.

"It's going to be fine." Her mother said.

Lily shuddered lightly, and grinned back, "I guess we should go."

Martha mouthed an 'okay' and turned to the Doctor, he nodded and went to the controls. With a few flicks and twists the Tardis came to life, it whirled and groaned as it traveled through the vortex. A moment later it stopped with a gentle thud, the Doctor looked up at the center console, taking note at the cheerfulness of his ship. There was a sharp twinge of betrayal, but he quickly shrugged it off.

Lily was the first to the door, taking her coat from the coat rack. She always found it odd that her father had a perfectly good coat tree next to the door when he always threw his over one of the coral branches. She watched as he placed the garment over his body, the long brown coat wrapping around his body. After so many years and adventures, she was amazed that the coat was still in mint condiction. So many warm memories always went with her father's coat; safety and love. It was one thing that almost made her father human, that even the mighty Time Lord had a security blanket.

"Okay, then." She said nervously, looking at her family. She had talked John up as much as she could, he was on his own now. She knew that he was going to make an impression; weather it was going to be a good or bad one, it was fair game right about now. Hopefully, the qualities John possessed, being a doctor and a man under 30, the women in her family were going to eat him up. Then again, being a man that fancied her; that wasn't score very high with the overprotective men in her life; they too would eat him up...but not in the good way. Seeing as how the men outweighed the women in total, John's only hope lay in her father. If her dad warmed up to him, then John was in.

She opened the door and stepped out onto the pavement, the late autumn weather met her face as she bundled the black woolen coat against her. A smile graced her lips when she saw John standing rather anxiously outside the fence in front of his house. He noticed her and waved his hand high in the air.

Lily turned to looked at her parents, she gestured to John before going off in that direction, without waiting for their consent.

Martha tugged on her husband's arm and motioned her head to Stephan for him to follow along, she ignored the Doctor's disliked gaze to the young man. Even for a 923 year old Time Lord, he was acting like any father would; she guessed being a father before he had experience with his children growing attached to the opposite sex; and how to deal with it. She wondered for the first time if that was how parents were suppose to act towards their child's interest. Hadn't her mother acted the same way towards the Doctor in the past? Shaking her head, Martha decided to go against the grain, even if her husband thought otherwise.

"Hi." Lily said as she came up to John.

"Hello." He replied meeting her eyes briefly before looking over her shoulder at her family who was on the sidewalk before Francine's house. He smiled at them, but only Lily's mother gave him a wave. Her father and brother remained impassive.

"I feel sick." John said, quickly turning his eyes away from Lily's family.

Lily frowned as she watched him bring a hand up and press it to his chest.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm nervous." He told her, "I'm not a nervous type of guy, Lil, but I'm nervous now."

Lily smiled at the use of her nickname; she looked him over, for being as anxious as he said he was, he sure didn't look it. He looked great in fact. His sandy blonde hair, damp from a shower, was combed back; his face clean shaven, he was wearing black pants, a crisp white shirt, a crimson red tie around his neck. This was all toped with a long black trench coat.

"You look handsome." She said softly.

John met her eyes, "Really?" He asked, a tiny grin on his face.

Lily did notice that his shoulders relax a bit.

John shook his body, craning his neck side to side. He looked like a pitcher that was about to throw the winning pitch. She guessed in a way he was, this family engagement was the make or break point.

Lily placed her hands on his shoulders, silently promising that no matter what the outcome, she would continue to love him. Even if she hadn't told, yet.

John's hand came up again, catching Lily's attention, his hand was balled up in a fist and was pressed against his chest, hard.

"Are you alright, John?" She asked again, her eyes moving from his eyes to his hand and back again once again.

John nodded, taking a deep breath, "Indigestion. Had Chinese last night." He explained.

"I think my Gran has some antacids." Lily said, straightening his tie.

"Oh, that's just brill," He said, "Thanks for inviting me to your house Mrs. Jones,"

"Perkins."

John looked down at her quickly before continuing, "Perkins," He corrected,"You have a lovely home, but I was wondering if you might have anything that could settle my nauseated stomach."

Lily grimaced slightly, "Well, I wouldn't open with that."

They both smiled, and laughed quietly.

John bent down and scooped her up, embracing her tightly. Their lips met as Lily wrapped her arms around his neck.

He set her down and broke the kiss. He breathed in her scent, vanilla and cherries, not surprisingly, it seemed to settle his tension. Lily Jones-Smith, the best kind of medicine; to be taken as needed. The rest of his life seemed to be a reasonable amount of time, John thought.

"I love you." He told her.

Lily inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"Not today, huh?" He asked.

She smiled softly, "Make it through today, and we'll see."

John shook his head, "Tease."

Lily gave a mock gasp of offense, her hand coming up with only her fingertips touching her chest, right above her heart, "Moi?"

"Yes, you." He assured her.

"But you love me for it."

He nodded earnestly, "Yes, I do." He said before kissing her cheek.

She straightened up end offered his am to her, "Shall we get this over with this?"

Lily stepped around to stand next to him, looping her arm through his. She slapped his arm lightly, but smiled at his cheekiness.

They strolled along past two houses and turned inside the gate at the third. Not bothering to knock, Lily and John entered to complete silence. No music playing, or her family talking. Shutting the door behind her, Lily shrugged to him.

Lily took John's coat and hung it in the closet. She didn't call out, but took his hand and led him to the living room. She looked back at him, he was looking at the pictures on the wall. She would take him on the tour later.

They stopped before the archway, Lily looked him over once more.

"John?" Lily whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Nothing." Lily shook her head, she wanted to say something to boost him in that last moment, but thought against it. If she told him she loved him, then he might say something that would ruin his chances. She would keep her mouth shut until they were alone, and she knew that all was going well. That would be when she would tell him; it would be their secret weapon.

John gestured his shoulders, hiding his disappointment, knowing that Lily wanted to say something. But, decided not to press her about it just yet.

She nodded, grabbing his hand again and rounded the corner. They both stopped dead, no was there; cups of coffee were left, steam still rising off the caramel color liquid.

"Hello?" Lily called out, as if she was expecting them to jump out behind the furniture any moment.

Lily released John's hand and moved to the window, there wasn't anyone in the backyard.

"Well, this was easy." John said indicating to the empty room.

"John, this isn't a game. Something is going on. Mum? Dad? Anyone?"

John's smile and casual demeanor changed at her panic-stricken tone.

Lily moved past him to the door on the other of the hall he knew that led to the kitchen.

She came back out, her eyes telling him that Lily was scared.

"Where are they?" He couldn't stop the thick question leaving his mouth.

"I don't know." She said in a small, frightened voice.

"We'll find them." He said calmly.

Lily nodded and went to hug him, when a glass-piercing shriek filled the room. It was so deafening that they had to slam their hands over their ears.

Panic filled Lily, she knew what this was and it wasn't good; not at all.

Oh no! Not another dreaded cliffhanger!! HAHAHAHA….sorry, got carried away. Please review, and thanks for reading.

I was planning to write the 'family meeting' in one chapter. But...I should have known my plans don't always turn out. A sudden thought struck me and now my one chapter has turned into three. More chapters I guess. Okay, just to let you know now; the next chapter is a long one. I'm almost done now, I have been writing all the chapters out be hand, and it is long and tedious. You should see the notebook I have, I had placed a packet of colleged ruled paper; roughly 150 sheets and it is almost completely used up! Front and back. So I have the next two chapters planned out, but the rest I'm not sure about, I basically make this up as I go, as the Doctor would say: "more fun that way". :) So bear with me, and keep up those reviews. I love them, they make me feel all warm inside.

Thanks again...VampMistress