Hello friends - we're back with the last main chapter of The Underground. We all know what this is (with a sprinkling of some unexpected (light) smut), but I hope you enjoy anyway xx
VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: UK readers! You have until the 22nd (THAT'S TODAY) at midnight to register to vote in the upcoming election! FF probably won't display the URL (UGH) but you can go to gov DOT uk SLASH register-to-vote
^^ SERIOUSLY, DO IT. Okay, on with the fic
Lily tried her best to forget about the scene back at the end of May, to stop thinking that every tiny thing James did was a potential proposal. It didn't help that James, the bastard, thought it was hilarious to start pretending that he was actually proposing at random. He would kneel down beside her while they waited for the Tube in Stratford to tie his shoe, would start giving her romantic speeches in the middle of coffee shops, restaurants, their kitchen. She threatened him with death on multiple occasions, but it only seemed to spur him on. Knobhead.
It had the effect, though, of dulling her attention, of making her forget, a bit, that the proposal was something that was really going to happen, and, when she thought back on it later, it seemed like that was what James was going for. He knew that she knew that he was going to do it, but he still wanted to be able to surprise her.
Luckily for James, work in the Foreign Office increased about a hundred-fold after the summer bank holiday, and Lily was now almost constantly at work. She brought home bigger and bigger bags of files each night, stayed up later in the evening, barely got any bloody sleep. She usually worked in her office, what had been Remus' room for all of two minutes when he'd lived here, sometimes spreading out the files on their bed and leaning back onto the pillows while she sorted through the reports. James usually left her to it, didn't grumble, didn't whine about how she was spending all night holed up in her office, and she was so, so grateful that he didn't pressure her to just forget work the moment she got home. It would have been nice to have a break, to lie on the couch with James and watch Netflix… she wanted to do those things, but she wanted to get ahead at work, too. And so she made a choice.
It was the difficult thing about pursuing this kind of career… that she'd often have to choose work over the rest of her life. She didn't feel good about it, didn't want James to have to sit there by himself when they got home from work, but she also didn't regret the choice that she was making, knew that if roles were reversed, she would encourage James to make the same choice that he was encouraging her to make. If she kept on the path that she was on (and Minerva seemed increasingly confident that this would be the case for her), this job was going to ask a lot of them both, was going to require sacrifices on both their parts. And James seemed prepared to make those sacrifices, to let her and her work take centre stage. She knew that it couldn't always be that way, that it wouldn't be fair to him, to either of them, if that were the case, but she would need these bursts of time, and she was glad that he was willing to give them to her.
Mid-June, she brought home the largest bag of files yet - as soon as she and James fell through the door of their flat, she carried the bag into their bedroom, changed into trackies, wiped off all her makeup, and spread all the files out on their bed. She probably should have gone into her office, but she'd had a long day sitting behind a desk and she just wanted to sit in her comfortable bed in her soft trousers and get through these fucking briefs. James kicked his shoes off into the bottom of his wardrobe, planted a kiss to the side of her head, left her to her work.
She was about halfway through the first stack of policy briefs when she noticed James standing in the doorway. She sat up, pushed her reading glasses up into her hair, and smiled at him, "I'm about halfway, through." James grinned, "That was fast."
He had his hands in his trouser pockets and was leaning casually against the door frame, and she felt her heartbeat pick up a bit, looking at him like that. He hadn't changed out of his work clothes yet and there was something so devastatingly handsome about him in those khaki trousers, that white button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows… she knew it looked even better when he had the lab coat overtop, but it was best that he left that at work. She might never let him leave the bedroom otherwise. She licked her bottom lip, nodded, "I know, I might actually be done with enough time to watch some telly with you or something."
James grinned, "Well, I'll let you get back to it, then, but I wanted to ask what you wanted for dinner?" He was fiddling with something in his pocket, and she just smiled at him. Fidgety bastard. She shrugged, "Whatever you want is fine. Though, oh my god, I think we still have some of that soup you made?"
James smiled, "The salmorejo?"
Lily groaned, "Yesss! If we have enough, we can have that? Sit out on the terrace?"
James hummed, "Good plan, Evans. I'll boil some eggs. Do you want prosciutto too, or?" Lily shrugged, "If we have it, but if we don't it's no big deal."
James nodded, "Alright." Lily smiled, slid her glasses back down her nose and opened the file she'd been reading, started mumbling the words under her breath while she took notes for her Parliamentary reports. Minerva wasn't expecting first drafts of these reports until Friday, but Lily knew she could get them to her tomorrow. They were only summary reports on current common EU foreign policy, and it wasn't going to take Lily too long to pull them together - and, honestly, the earlier they got them over to Parliament, the better. The MPs had some shit to hash out. I still can't believe we're fucking doing this, but alright.
When James called her twenty minutes later, she had finished about half her remaining stack of files and she figured she'd earned a bit of a rest. She was a lot further ahead than she'd expected to be at this point, but she was more familiar with the various policy areas than she'd anticipated. All this hard work must be paying off. She walked out into the kitchen, rested one hand on James' forearm, kissed him briefly, "Thanks for pulling dinner together, love."
He grinned, kissed her again, "No problem, Evans. Now," he turned and held up two bottles of wine, "red or white?"
Lily hummed, "Shit… hmm… well, we had red last time, let's do white tonight."
James nodded, uncorked the bottle, poured a bit into a glass, and handed it to her. She took a quick, thoughtful sip, and nodded, "Perfect."
They carried everything out onto the table on the terrace and James poured them full glasses of wine while Lily grabbed them glasses of water from the kitchen. Before Lily had moved in, James had largely used the terrace as a house for the grill he almost never used and the firepit he and Sirius had purchased on a whim, but now that Lily had put a table out there, they'd taken to eating outside more often (and using the fire pit responsibly when it was cold enough). She loved sitting at the table, glass of wine (or gin if necessary) in hand, sun setting over Victoria Park, James smiling at her from across the table, laughter on his lips as he recounted a story from earlier that day, a month ago, ten years ago. She loved seeing his eyes light up as he recalled the details, watching his hands move in increasingly animated gestures, listening to his bright, full laugh echo around them… he always made her so, so happy and she sometimes couldn't even believe that she'd managed to live almost thirty years without him by her side.
She practically inhaled the soup as soon as they sat down and James laughed so hard he nearly spit wine on himself. Lily cocked an eyebrow, wiped a bit of soup from the corner of her mouth, "What?" James shook his head, still laughing, "I was just thinking that that was exactly how you'd eat earlier and I wasn't disappointed."
Lily threw a bit of egg at him and James laughed as he ducked and the egg flew behind him. Lily scowled and he just winked, "Gotta be better than that, love."
Lily took a long drag of her wine, held her fingers up at him, and James just laughed, blew her a kiss. She rolled her eyes, but he knew he'd won by the smile on her face.
They chatted about work, what they were going to have for lunch on Saturday now that it was their turn to host again, and other random things that popped into their minds as they sat there, eating the bread still on the table, watching the sun go down. It always amazed her that they never ran out of things to talk about - they spoke every day, nearly all day, and she couldn't believe that they hadn't yet run out of things to say to one another.
Lily took a piece of bread from the board in the centre of the table, scraped it against her empty soup bowl, "Minerva seems to think that we can get the Tories to agree to this budget we've been working on but," Lily stuffed the piece of bread into her mouth, "I'm not so sure we'll get them to see the light on this. They're slashing budgets at home as it is, how are we going to get them to agree to maintain this level of funding for foreign projects?"
James shrugged, "Well, you have the evidence on your side, don't you? Proof that these programmes work?"
Lily laughed, tossed another piece of bread into her mouth, "How long have you lived in this country?" James laughed, nodded, "Fair."
"Anyway," Lily took a long draught of her wine, "I think I'm going to finish reading these bloody reports tonight, though, and I can write up summaries for the MPs tomorrow once I get into the office and get them to Minerva before lunch."
James scooped up what looked to be his final bite of soup, "Didn't Minerva want these by Friday?"
Lily grinned, "Yup." She exaggerated the pop of the 'p' and James grinned at her, "You'll be getting that promotion before you know it, Evans."
As soon as they'd both finished eating, Lily carried their dishes into the kitchen while James poured them both another glass of wine; when she got back, he'd moved his chair so that he was sitting next to her. He draped his arm across her as soon as she sat down, letting his hand splay out across her lower back, and she smiled, rested her head on his shoulder, and sighed contentedly as he turned, pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You always smell so good," James said, and Lily turned her head, buried her nose into his neck, "You do too."
James hummed, the vibration of his throat tickling her neck a bit and she chuckled, nuzzled her nose against his skin. James took a deep breath, "I love you, Evans."
Lily leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the side of his neck, just under his ear, and smiled when he shuddered a bit, "I love you, too, Potter."
They sat there quietly for a few moments sipping their wine, his fingers tracing shapes onto her lower back, before James' voice broke the silence, "Where do you think they'll send you when you get your first foreign appointment?"
Lily hummed, "I don't know, haven't thought about it much. I know where I'd like to go though."
"Oh?"
"Ideally, I'd stay in Europe, and, honestly, all my research is eurocentric, so I'm not sure I'd be that useful anywhere else. France would be nice, but any French speaking country will do, really. Or English speaking, but I imagine they'd rather put my French to good use."
James nodded, turned to look at her briefly before looking back out at the trees in the park across the way, "It would be nice to stay on the continent. We'd still be close to everyone that way."
Lily didn't miss the pronoun and she felt her heart start hammering in her chest again. She took a breath, "They could send me anywhere, though. In theory." She'd been nervous about this, turning it around in the back of her mind ever since she realised that James was intending to propose. They'd talked about this before, of course, and he knew that working in a foreign embassy was her goal. She knew that he knew it, but once she realised the depth of his commitment, she wanted to be sure that he knew exactly what he was getting himself into.
James must have felt her stiffen a bit against his arm because he turned in his chair to look at her, "You know I'd follow you anywhere, Evans."
"You would?"
James nodded, leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers, "Absolutely. There are museums everywhere and I've got connections. You have to go where your work takes you… and I want you to do that. I want you to get everything you've ever wanted, I'm not about to stand in your way."
Lily bit her lip, "What if we have to move halfway across the world?"
"Are you going to be there?"
Lily laughed, "Obviously."
James looked very seriously back at her, his gaze steady, "Then I'm alright with it."
He hadn't told her anything that she didn't already know, but hearing it again made Lily's heart stutter in her chest. He really was okay with it, he would really follow her, they would really be able to do this. Lily leaned forward, closed the distance between them, and pressed her lips softly to his, set her wine down on the table before she moved her hand up to tangle in his hair and deepened the kiss. He tasted like wine and tomato, a bit spicy from the peppers, and she tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth as she pressed herself closer to him, doing her best to ignore the armrest pressing into her stomach as she leaned across it. When he wound his hand into her hair, his fingers skimming across her jaw, down her neck, she didn't give a single damn about the arm rest.
He pulled away a moment later, pressed his forehead to hers again, "I'm serious, you know," he said, his hand brushed through her hair, moved up to cup her cheek, "I would follow you to fucking Antarctica if that's what it came to."
Lily laughed breathlessly, "I don't think there's a British Embassy in Antarctica." James laughed, bumped his nose against hers, "You know what I mean, Evans."
She nodded, pressed a light kiss to his lips again, "I do."
James hummed against her lips, "Can't wait until I get to hear you say that in an entirely different context."
Lily laughed, pushed her hand against his shoulder, "When are you doing that by the way?" James just grinned, swallowed the rest of his wine, stood up, grabbed her glass off the table, and winked at her over his shoulder as he walked towards the kitchen door, "Wouldn't you like to know, Evans."
All told, she probably should have been expecting it would be soon. And in a way, she was - she just wasn't expecting it to be this soon.
The morning was a normal one, though she supposed they always are, or at least seem to be in retrospect. She woke up just gone six, half an hour before her alarm, and while she normally would have slid out from under the duvet, tiptoed into the kitchen, had a bit of quiet before James woke up, when she opened her eyes and saw him lying sprawled on the bed next to her, she couldn't bring herself to move. He was lying on his stomach, his back muscles on full display, one arm wrapped around her waist, fingers twitching against her skin where her shirt had ridden up, his other arm buried underneath the pillow he was resting on. One of his legs was hanging off the side of the bed, his hair was standing up even more chaotically on top of his head, his mouth was hanging open, and though he looked a bit mad spread out like that, she felt her heart swell just looking at him. He looked so unbearably adorable that she can't be blamed for sliding closer to him, pressing a kiss to his neck, and waking him up.
James groaned, nudged his head along the pillow, eyes closed, until he buried his face in her neck, "What time is it?"
She chuckled as his warm breath blew across her skin, "Just gone six." James groaned again, but the hand on her stomach slid up underneath her t shirt, fingers pressing into her skin. She grinned, he's so damn predictable, buried her hand in his hair and moved his head so he could look at her. He kept his eyes resolutely closed and she chuckled, leaned forward and kissed him softly. "Alright, sleepy baby. I'll leave you to it. I'm going to go get in the shower."
She climbed out of bed and was halfway to the door when she heard his mock-feeble voice say, "Evans, wait, don't leave me."
She turned, broad grin on her face though she knew he couldn't see her from this distance. He'd rolled over onto his back and one of his hands was waving out in front of him, his eyes still closed, "Take me with you," he said, and though she laughed, "You're such a prat," she crossed the room, grabbed him by the hand, and pulled him from bed. He stumbled across the floor, wrapped his arms around her waist, used her body to steady him, and she shook her head as he pressed his forehead to hers, "I can't see."
Lily laughed, "I know, you're useless without your glasses." His hands found her hips, he moved his mouth down to kiss her neck as he slid her knickers down her legs. "I have to be at work early today," she said, as she kicked her pants off onto the floor and walked them backwards towards the en suite.
"Oh?" He kissed the underside of her jaw and she shuddered against him. "Yeah, I have an 8 o'clock meeting."
James hummed against her neck, "So you're catching the - " and she groaned again as his fingers brushed between her thighs, pushed their bathroom door open with her back.
"The 7:13, yeah," Lily said, stepping back from James and pulling her shirt over her head. He opened his eyes as she stepped back, and he blinked, trying desperately to focus his eyes, "These fucking things," he grumbled and she laughed, stepped forward, and slid his trunks down his thighs, "I think you're practised enough that you don't need to see, yeah?"
Messing about in the shower always seemed sexier in movies than it ended up being in real life, and, as such, she and James tended to avoid it unless they were really short on time and needed to compress some of their morning activities. Still, they'd done it often enough (especially lately), and Lily took him into her hand the moment they stepped into the shower, pushing his back up against the cold tiles while she moved her hand over him in quick, smooth strokes.
James groaned, "You're just jumping right to it, then?" Lily hummed, leaned forward, kissed his neck, "I told you, we don't have a lot of time."
James moaned as she twisted her hand a bit, "Shouldn't you wash your hair or something?"
She chuckled against his neck, "Do you want me to stop?" She moved her hand in a few more quick strokes and James groaned, dropped his forehead to her shoulder, "Fuck, no, keep - "
She did, and it wasn't long before he swore again and she felt his knees shake against hers as they struggled to keep him upright. She pressed another kiss to his neck, leaned up and smiled, "Now I'll wash my hair." She winked and he just laughed breathlessly, closed his eyes, and rested his head against the tile wall, "You're trying to kill me, Evans."
She'd just finished putting conditioner in her hair when James wrapped his arms around her waist, "I was hoping you'd come around soon," she said, going to turn in his arms, but his hand gripped her hip and stopped her from moving, "Nope."
She turned her head to glare at him, "What do you mean 'nope'?"
James moved the hand on her hip to the inside of her thigh, picked up her leg and rested her foot on the inside ledge of the shower. "I mean," he said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the side of her neck while he slid his hand back up her thigh, "nope."
He brushed his fingers against her and she groaned, let her head fall back onto his chest. But still, she couldn't resist sassing him, "I don't take kindly to being told what to do, Potter." He pressed his thumb against her clit, whispered "Don't lie, Evans," into her ear, her moan echoed around them.
One of his hands moved up and grasped her breast while the other began tracing slow circles around her clit, making her knees tremble as they fought to continue supporting her weight. James leaned down, pressed his teeth into her neck, careful not to leave a mark, but enough to make her groan and push her back into his chest. He let his hand slide from her breast and dipped one, two fingers inside her, as he kissed her neck, rubbed his fingers in quicker circles against her. Her head fell back against his chest and she arched into his hand, desperate for just a bit more pressure, and when he curled his fingers inside her, she came undone. James pressed his forearm more tightly against her thigh to keep her upright, moving his fingers in increasingly slower circles as she came down, littering kisses across her neck and shoulders as her breathing slowed.
She took a moment, using his chest as support, before she took a deep breath and stepped out of his arms. She spun on the spot, dipped her head back into the water to rinse the conditioner out. "We're getting really good at this," she said, smiling as she combed her fingers through her hair. James watched the small bubbles trace their way over her skin and she smirked at him before tossing him his shampoo. "Wash your hair, you prat."
She quickly washed her body, swatting off James' attempts to run his hands over her (and, thus, distracting them and making her miss the train), before she leaned forward, pressed another kiss to his neck, and stepped out of the shower. "You coming with me on the early train or are you going to go in the usual time," she asked as she grabbed her toothbrush out of the holder, put toothpaste on, and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Uh, what time is it now?"
Lily stepped out of the bathroom to look at the clock on their bedside table, "Fuck, 6:20."
James groaned, "I don't have too much to do around the house this morning, I'll just come with you. I could use more time at the office today anyway, I have a bunch of reports to finish."
Lily dropped her toothbrush back into the holder, ran some product through her hair, "Oh god, now we're both going to be overworked."
James stepped out of the shower and didn't miss the way that Lily's eyes traced over him in the mirror. He winked and she rolled her eyes, but smiled when he walked over, planted a wet kiss to her neck. He went to grab her waist and kiss her again but she laughed, swatted his chest, "Noooo, Potter, we don't have time for this again."
He frowned but she just shook her head, laughed, "Brush your teeth. I'll go put the kettle on, yeah?"
They made it to the the station with just a few minutes to spare before their train was set to arrive. James seemed to be in an unusually good mood that morning, one she attributed, at the time, to their exploits in the shower. He kept laughing, burying his face in her hair, trailing kisses across her skin and making her shiver - pretty much everyone on the Tube hated them that morning, but by the time they'd gotten to West Ham, Lily wasn't able to find it within herself to care.
She kissed James goodbye in Westminster, laughing as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her back in for one more before he went to his District train. "I'm going to be late," she said, laughing as he kissed her again. He smiled against her lips, kissed her once more for good measure, "I know, I know. I love you, Evans."
She grinned, pushed him on the chest so he wouldn't capture her again, "I love you, too, Potter. See you tonight." She blew him a kiss and walked over to the escalator out of the station.
Her day went by as usual - she had a productive morning meeting, handed an impressed Minerva a stack full of MP reports before she went off to lunch, fielded cheeky texts from James all day about what he couldn't stop thinking about while sitting at his computer at work. His last one made her flush so violently red that she had to tell her assistant Penelope that she was just a bit hot, needed some air. Penelope had raised her eyebrow knowingly, but said nothing, and Lily made a mental note to advocate for her to get a pay rise at her next review.
The afternoon had flown by in a mess of meetings and phone calls, and by the time she was gathering her things just gone five, she was properly exhausted. She heard her mobile beep while she was walking out of the building, but hadn't actually pulled it out to check what it was until she was walking down Parliament Street.
James Potter: Have to stay a bit late tonight - still finishing up that marking report. Sorry :(
Lily hummed, brushed her hair back from her eyes. She'd been looking forward to seeing him, but she knew how important this report was. And it wasn't like she hadn't been putting work first a lot lately. She typed back a quick response -
Lily Evans: No worries, love. I'll get started on dinner. What do you want? x
He replied almost immediately -
James Potter: Whatever you like. I'll see you when I get home. Guess what? Xxxxx
She smiled to herself, widely, uncontrollably as she turned onto Bridge Street. Some man in a suit raised an eyebrow as she walked by, but she shot him a look and he diverted his eyes.
Lily Evans: I love youuuu xxxxxxxxx
She put her phone back into her bag, pulled her Oyster out of the outside pocket as she went down the stairs into the station, remembering grab a paper from the man at the entrance as she went. She rolled the paper under her arm and strode quickly towards the turnstiles, trying her best to avoid hitting anyone with her bag on the way. The station was packed, as always, but the energy of the place felt almost mundane now. When she moved back to London a year and a half ago, she'd been overwhelmed by the mass of people everywhere, had forgotten just how big London was, how busy Central London could be. Brussels was a city, a big city, but it had nothing on London, and it had taken her a long time to get used to living in a city this large again. She'd expected, when she first moved back, that returning to London would be like coming back home and, in a way, it was. But in the quieter bustle of Brussels, she'd forgotten just how mad London could be. She spent the first few weeks back completely overwhelmed, but she'd adjusted more quickly than she'd imagined, something like muscle memory resurfacing to guide her. Still, if Lily then could see Lily now… she would be pretty fucking impressed to say the least.
She slid through the crowd, took the escalator down to the Jubilee line, made her way to the Stratford platform. She pulled the paper out from under her arm, glanced at the headlines. Brexit… America being stupid… funny how little has changed in a year. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, stuffed the paper back under her arm while she waited patiently for her train to arrive. Her mobile pinged in her bag and she let it slide from her shoulder into the crook of her elbow, dug her mobile out from the bottom of her bag. Email from Minerva. She replied quickly to the email, stuffed her mobile back into her bag as the train pulled up. She, miraculously, managed to find a seat, and she sat down, pulled the newspaper out from under her arm, and hid immediately behind it.
The train had just left Canning Town when there was a thud across from her and she looked up, startled. It took a minute for her to realise what she was seeing, like the cogs in her brain were stuck, just click click clicking in her head and couldn't move. He…
"James?"
James' hands were shaking when he reached up to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, were still shaking when he lowered his hand back down to his side. Lily opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, why he was even there, when he smiled at her from across the train, "Hey, Evans."
His voice was shaking a bit and her heart started hammering in her chest as her brain struggled to put it all together. Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my -
James cleared his throat, "You once asked me if I liked living all the way out here because I get to meet women on the Tube," she laughed and James just beamed at her, "and back then, I said no… but I never expected that moving to formerly-dodgy East London would bring me the love of my life, so I guess in a way you were right, as always," she chuckled, nodded, brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Lily," he said, his voice stronger than it was a moment before, more sure, "You are… you are everything. You are brilliant and strong and hilarious and stunning, and you make me want to be the best man that I can be. You are the best thing, the very best thing that has happened to me in my entire life and I love you so much. I love you more than I even know how to say. And we've only got a minute until we get to West Ham, so I don't have enough time to say it all anyway." James grinned and Lily laughed, a light, bright laugh that was nothing compared to the happiness ballooning in her chest.
The train pulled into West Ham and James paused, waited for the people around them to get on and off the train. His eyes were trained on hers and Lily felt her heartbeat hammering in her chest. She just wanted him to ask already, wanted to give him the answer he knew was coming, wanted to fucking celebrate because oh my god James fucking Potter was everything she never knew that she wanted and she - the train doors shut and James broke into a glorious, heart stopping smile,
"I know that we didn't properly meet until we got to that Costa, but the moment I saw you on that Central Line train, I knew that you were going to change my life," his eyes were shining with tears and Lily took a deep breath, dipped her head back a bit to collect herself, "and so when I thought about how I was going to do this, I couldn't think of a better place to ask you about our future than the place where we got our start."
"I've been carrying this around in my pocket for the last few months," James said, his smile widening as he spoke, "waiting for the right time to ask you this," he reached into his pocket, pulled out a small black box, and Lily breathed out a laugh as he crossed the train, got down onto one knee in front of her, put one hand on the other side of her seat to steady himself as the train rocked underneath them. She could feel everyone in the carriage staring at them, knew they were all waiting on tenterhooks for her answer, but nothing, nothing could distract her from the look in James' eyes, the smile on his face, the way his hands were trembling nervously as he held the little box in his hands. He licked his bottom lip, "Evans Lily Evans," she laughed again and his smile got impossibly wider as her heart swelled in her chest, "will you marry me?"
"Yes," she grabbed him by the collar, leaned forward, and pulled his mouth to hers, "Yes, yes, yes, yes."
The carriage had exploded into applause, people were shouting their congratulations, but James' mouth was on hers, he was laughing against her lips, her heart was bursting in her chest, and there was nothing else in the entire world.
