A/N: Alright, this took really really long and I'm really sorry. I don't even have a good excuse except school and writer's block. I've been having the first 500 words of this chapter done for weeks now and somehow didn't find the time to finally continue. So...bla bla bla, I hope some of you still stick around to read this and here you go...Chapter 11.

- 5 years later –

This summer - in fact - was an unusual warm one.
Nellie enjoyed it, though. She loved wearing her dresses and walking through the tepid breeze every day.
Today Mrs. Mooney - the baker she's been working for since last year - had asked her to grab some ingredients from the market place. She had happily agreed to this; glad to catch some fresh air and see the sun outside.

She loved how everyone seemed to be happier with the sun and warmth around. Children played games in the park, everyone seemed to be joyful. Nellie passed the park and stopped shortly as a large tree caught her attention for some seconds. She shook her head and walked on, down the street.

She got lost in thoughts. Her memory shot back to the day that had changed a great part in her life. Nellie had lost her best friend. Of course, she had moved on – she had to but it didn't mean that she could simply erase all the cheerful moments they had. She still missed him – missed him every day. The only thing was that she had learnt to deal with it over the years. She got kind of used to the feeling of loss inside of her, as if it had become a part of her existence.

She took a deep breath and wiped those thoughts off her mind again before she reached the market place and strolled through the rows. By now, most of the faces there were familiar to her, so it became a nice habit to chat with the owners of some booths or some customers passing by.

Nellie looked through the list Mrs. Mooney had neatly written down for her and made her way through it. She bought some flour, some milk, some eggs and some butter. She couldn't have been better off with the job the older lady granted her. It was indeed really hard work but the payment was worth every hour. She still had no idea why Mrs. Money had given her the chance to help her in the shop but she was thankful for it every day again.

"And a bunch of these beautiful primroses" Nellie told the salesman as he was getting her ordered goods together. It had become a nice tradition. Whenever she went to the market she made sure to get some primroses for Mrs. Mooney. Those were her favourite flowers and Nellie loved how her face always lit up when she saw them. She often tried to stop Nellie to buy them for her. But for the girl it was a nice way to at least show her gratitude towards the woman - who had got her a job – in a small extent.

After she finally had collected everything she wanted she made her way back. This time she took another way because whenever she got the time to be out, she always used this time to explore new places of the city she has lived in so many years now. And every time she was surprised again about how many places there were she hadn't seen by now.

Not only the streets of London had changed quite a bit over the last five years, Nellie had changed as well. Her hair for example had grown. It was now reaching the middle of her back and although it still took her hours to comb the mess and get it in a right order, it looked more elegant, more lady-like now. In fact, time had changed and Nellie had become a real lady. Her figure was curvier, more woman-like now and although she mostly ignored it, she couldn't say she wouldn't enjoy the glances some boys granted her every now and then.

But at present, Nellie had convinced herself to fully concentrate on her work. Everything else would work out later. At least she hoped so.

She made her way back to the pie shop - passing more and more people as she entered the busier part of London. It got harder and harder to make her way through the crowd and it wouldn't be surprising if she got run over sooner or later.

Nellie sighed dramatically - kneeling down and collecting the groceries that fell out of her bag after a collision with some tall man.

"I'm awfully sorry" a male voice above addressed her. "Some people become really rude when they're busy and just push around."

He knelt down next to her and helped her collecting.
She could hear in his voice that he meant the apology, so she couldn't be angry anymore and greeted the kind stranger with a bright smile.

"Oh, don't worry. That's no-" she caught her breath.

Nellie scrutinized the boy in front of her: the brown hair, the unique shape of his face, the cheekbones, these deep brown eyes-

She put a hand on her mouth before a loud gasp could escape her lips and stared in complete shock at him. The boy noticed her sudden mood change and eyed her confused. He already opened his mouth to form a sentence when his eyes widened. He scanned her face with his eyes and you could make out the complete shock in his face - the way every muscle tensed.

They stared at each other for what seemed like hours but probably only had been minutes while the people kept on passing them.

"This…this can't be true…" the boy finally interrupted the awkward silence but without taking his still widened eyes off of her.

Nellie was still not able to form anything useful since her mouth seemed completely dry and she feared she might choke if she only tried to say something.

The boy was faster to realise their situation, though and got up with one jump - holding his hand to her. It took the girl a moment to get what he intended with that gesture but took his hand then and let him pull her up. He then collected the rest fast and held the bag to her.

She nodded which he took as a non-verbal "thank you" and Nellie got the bag over her shoulder again then.

He then awkwardly looked down and kicked a stone away - as he always had done when he was bored or when he didn't know what to say.

"Please…say something" He hesitantly threw a shy glance at her before he focused back on the stony ground.

Nellie could do nothing but stare at him. After a moment, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

"I thought, I'd never see you again…"

It came out more like a whisper and Nellie herself was shocked how weirdly her body reacted on this encounter.

Shouldn't she be joyful? Shouldn't she hug him wildly? Shouldn't she have a huge grin all over her face?

Neither.
She felt completely numb - her body blind to every emotion.

The boy took his eyes off the ground and focused back on her.

"Me, too" was everything he said for the next minutes.

Without any verbal agreement, they made their way down the street. It was as if they both noticed without any conversation that standing around in the streets for hours had no sense. And eventually Nellie noticed that Mrs Mooney would worry if she didn't come back in time.

After some corners, he had taken the bag from her shoulder and continued carrying it. Usually, she would have protested because she hated it when people reduced her on being a girl and not having enough strength to carry her own bags. But today she let him. Probably because her mind still didn't function the way she was used to.

"Your hair got longer…"

It was such an odd way. Nellie had pictured their reunion so often in her mind although she never could have been sure there would be one in the end; this sentence simply seemed inappropriate. But she knew, he was just trying to say something - so that she was happy they didn't rest in complete silence.

"Yes, I let it grow. It's a complete mess anyway - no matter how long."

She heard a little laughter next to her and felt her heart leap as she threw a glance at him and noticed that her statement had caused this reaction. And this little sound broke the tensions.
She felt a grin spread all over her face.

"It doesn't look so messy, though." He smirked at her and almost out of reflex she poked him softly.

"You think you're so funny, hm?"

"No, I know I'm so funny."

He stuck his tongue out to her and she rolled her eyes.

"You're such a child" she mocked him.

He only shrugged it off and they spent the rest of the way with such conversation that didn't seem to be important but brought them closer and closer together again.

"Can I see you again?" he asked hopefully as they stopped in front of the alley that would lead Nellie to the pie shop.

"I've waited 5 years, 19 days and 17 hours for you. Do you really think I let you go so easily again?"

Nellie realised what she had just said and mentally hit herself for being so silly and making herself so vulnerable to him. He had to think she's a complete creep who couldn't live properly and had spent her life in grief since they had parted.

But he didn't even look shocked for a second. The boy again looked to the ground shyly.

Oh no. Did she embarrass him? Well done, Nellie.

"20 days…" he mumbled.

She looked completely flabbergasted at him. Did she understand right?

He noticed her surprised face and looked back at her.

"It's been 20 days…"

So the years, days and hours had been just as present to him as they were to her?

Nellie felt her heart beat faster. Her body filled with endorphins as she realised he had missed her just as much.
But although she couldn't be happier that moment, she still had to clarify something.

"No, I'm serious. It's been 19 days."

He looked confused at her and already opened his mouth to protest when she stopped him.

"I didn't count the last day in. It just didn't seem right to count in the day that separated us."

The boy closed his mouth as Nellie's words reached him and he looked at her with these deep brown eyes that where now wearing a sad expression. He made a move towards her and pulled her into his arms.

It felt so right.

His warm arms around her; his body that felt like it could protect her from anything wrong in this world; his soft voice some inches above her head that could have told lies which she would have taken as pure truth for any price.

"I'll never let that happen again. I made a promise and I'm finally going to keep it."