AN: Please review. I love to hear to your opinions about the events that took place and know that people are still reading. Thank you to all that do review, I don't have time to respond to all of you because most of the time I read reviews on my phone and it's too difficult to navigate the site to send messages.

"Do I look like hell? I feel like hell." Lily asked as she leaned on Gideon Prewett for apparition. The near silent man helped steady her as they transported back to England. The pair just finished a reconnaissance mission for the Order.

"Yes," he finally answered when they landed at their destination. "But Potter will be so happy to see you, you could be covered in dragon dung."

"Thanks," she huffed, not yet letting go as the wandered to pub a few blocks away from the alley they were at. "I'm starving, does this place have good food?"

"Best fish and chips in town."

"Are you sure you aren't Fabian?" she asked with a sideways glance attempting to get a laugh out of him, or at the very least a smile. Apparently she and his brother were the only ones that could muster one up after the death of his fiance.

"Can't even tell the difference between us? And you call us your friend." He smiled at her, tightening his grip as he guided her towards the establishment. "Are you sure you're alright? That hex you took was rather nasty, I can take you home."

"We won't have anything but bad tea, instant coffee and a box of stale biscuits, besides James would be worried sick after we agreed to meet him here." She nodded towards the wooden sign as she reached for the door with her free hand. As they walked in, those tending the bar and the men at the nearest table stared at them. They did make a pretty odd pair. Lily's hair was fighting against the restraint of a French braid; her pink flannel shirt, jeans and hiking boots flecked with dark spots she could not distinguish between blood or dried dirt until closer inspection. Meanwhile, Gideon looked the same state, but he wore black pants tucked into black shoes with a denim shirt.

"Do you want to get cleaned up? I'll order food from the bar, it's my turn."

"You sure?" Gideon asked.

"I want to be here when James arrives, go on."

"I meant do you think you should be walking on your ankle?"

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "If someone comes by when you're gone, I'll order, if not you can when you get back." Propping her head on her hand she watched him navigate through the crowd. She noticed that the bartenders mostly stayed behind the counter but there were a few younger workers milling about. They were late teens, early twenties at the latest. As she saw them it was peculiar to think that they were her age. In fact, one of them could have easily been her if she was a muggle or her life at Hogwarts had gone according to plan.

"Pardon me," A blonde girl with an impossibly high ponytail stood at her elbow. "Here you go." She laid a napkin with something scrawled on it next a squat glass filled with pink liquid and a thin straw.

"I haven't ordered anything yet."

"A guy at the bar ordered for you. Curly brown hair, your two o'clock," the girl informed her with a smirk.

"Me?" Lily asked.

"He said, and I quote, 'get me a Vodka Cranberry for the pretty red head', what can I say, some guys go for the outdoorsie type." She shrugged. "Just glad he's not hitting on me tonight."

"I'm waiting for friends, can you take this back?"

"No can do, I just got it from the bartender and I hate to throw out good drinks. Can I take an order while you're waiting?"

"A pitcher of the lightest ale you have, three baskets of fish 'n' chips and some soup."

"Beef stew okay?" The woman asked, pulling a pad out of her pocket and scrawled down the information, waiting for a nod of confirmation from Lily.

Once she was left alone, she rested her head on her arms and stared at the drink. Sirius would probably finish it one gulp when he got here. In the meantime, though, it stood there taunting her.

"Rough day?"

Propping herself up she saw the curly haired man from the bar. "I guess." How could she tell him she spent hours traipsing through the woods, dodging Dark Wizards and using magic to defend and camouflage her.

"Maybe I should have sent over a cup of tea instead."

Lily shook her head. "I don't really drink that much." Anymore. She thought back to the night when Sirius came after her parents came home and more recently when Alice graduated James decided it was time for a bar crawl.

"Work tomorrow?"

Could he not take a hint? "Not really." She laid her left hand out in plain view and started drumming her fingers on the table. He looked like he was going to say something, but before she could she waved her arms. "Love, come here!"

Across the crowded room Gideon gave her a perplexed look before walking over. After looking at the man, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hullo." He extended his free hand to the other man. "Names Gideon Prewett, I see you met my lovely friend. Do you want to join us while we wait for her husband?"

"Husband?" he asked.

"Real nice bloke, but he has a bit of a temper…" Gideon leaned forward, grabbing at the mans hand to shake it. "Come on, sit down."

"No thank you, I really must take my leave now."

As the man scurried away, Gideon sat down beside her. Laughter was bubbling to the surface between them, between the exhaustion and the awkward moment Lily couldn't even attempt to contain it. "Alright there?"

"Yes, thanks for that. I couldn't believe his face!" She let out another laugh. "I ordered a pitcher and food for everyone."

"Thanks, good thing you did it now, the bartender said some band is going to be playing here later."

Soon enough the food, pitcher and glasses were delivered. Lily and Gideon dug in, eating in silence. She was glad that Dumbledore decided to partner her with with him. The Order liked to pair an experienced member with someone who was just starting out. This mainly stemmed from a disastrous string of events that Sirius and James caused two weeks after graduation. One thing they liked to do was make married couples partners, as they were usually a good matchup for dueling.

They both were halfway through their baskets when the band started playing. Distracted, Lily didn't even look at the door. "Could I have this dance?"

Spinning in her seat, she saw James. Jumping up, she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "You look dreadful."

"So do you my lovely Lily-flower." James kissed her on his lips, his stubble scratching against her face. "Is this for me?" He sat down in an empty chair, as he grabbed a basket of fish and chips with hand he used his free one to secure Lily's waist and tug her onto his lap.

"We're in public place, Padfoot." Sirius slapped the back of his head slightly before he reached for the bowl of stew.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've seen her."

"He means, do you know how long has it been since he's had a decent meal," Lily clarified. "It's a good thing James never was on his own as a bachelor, the only thing he can make is instant coffee."

"Not true," he objected. "My toast is pretty good."

"Once we got the muggle appliance, before that you made a pile of ash." Lily rolled her eyes as she lifted herself off of his lap, doing her best not to put any weight on her feet. As she did this she saw James watching her. "I had a bit of a mishap, rolled my ankle when I was dodging a hex."

"Still got out better than James and I." Sirius poured himself a glass of ale and drank half of it in one gulp. "Well, the first time that we went out together."

"Are you talking about what happened with that motorcycle?" Gideon questioned. "When the two of you were dodging policemen?"

Lily rolled her eyes as she leaned on her husband and listened to their conversation. She absentmindedly wondered what the old her would think of this. It was three months after she graduated. She had no real job, she was living in an apartment with her husband (whose inheritance provided their source of income) and had no plan of furthering her education. Yet, she had never been happier. She never had felt like what she was doing had a purpose before this.

Soon enough they left, James paying the tab before walking as a group to a secluded spot to apparate home. Once in the building they walked upstairs to their flat, unlocking the door. James walked in first then turned around as Lily shut the door and bent over to unlace her boots. "I'm not leaving until Thursday."

"I'm just helping Remus with the Patronus message system," she answered. "But he's still trying to track down werewolves, I don't know when he'll be back."

"That means we at least have tomorrow." James smiled as he waited for her to take off her shoes, kicking his trainers off. "To be alone I mean."

"I know what you meant." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Can we just be lazy? That sounds good right now."

"We'll need to go to the store, we can't live off of take out."

"We can try." He kissed her neck, before wandering up to her ear. "There's this good place that'll deliver burgers, apparently they're the best in town."

"Are you really talking about food right now?" Lily asked.

"Give me something else to think about."

"I think I can do that." She laughed, pushing off of him before unbuttoning her flannel shirt, standing in front of him in her tank top. Reaching for his shirt, she pulled it off pressing her palms to his chest which was suprisingly warm.

"Not here, we have a bed now." He grabbed her hand and tugged her gently towards the bedroom. There were some benefits to having their own place.

The sound of retching awoke James. Feeling the bed next to him, it was still warm, but Lily was missing. Stumbling out of bed he made his way to the bathroom where he found her kneeling in front of the toilet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, the food must not have settled with me last night." She wiped the back of her mouth.

"Are you sure it was the food? You had two glasses last night and we all know you're a lightweight." As he said this, he knelt beside her and brushed her hair out of the way, reaching behind him for an elastic that were littered all over the counter. Gently he tied her hair and rubbed her back.

"James…" she started.

"You probably have the flu, want some tea?"

"Yeah, I'm going to take a shower."

He kissed the top of her head, giving her a smile before leaving her in the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later she emerged and tenatively took the cup James handed her. "It's instant coffee isn't it?"

"Tea kettles are a rather terrifying device." He smirked. "No, I made tea, I followed the directions on the box."

"Thank you." She lifted it to her mouth as set a box of biscuits on the table and grabbed his own mug before sitting next to her. Reaching inside she ate a biscuit whole, they being her favorite ones. "I don't think chocolate good's for an upset stomach, but I'm rather hungry."

"We'll go to the store, get you some safe food."

Lily tried to ignore the odd feeling in her stomach and set down the food she was nibbling on, wash down the bite in her mouth with the tea. A wave of nausea hit her again and she raced back to the bathroom. James followed her with a great worry. "How about you go back to bed? I'll run to the store, do you want me to see if Alice or Sirius can come over?"

"I'll be fine, I promise," she answered. "I'll go with you."

"You can barely keep down tea," he said. "Dad used to get like this after he had a hard day at work, exhaustion does funny things."

"I'm fine."

"Lily, I'll be back in half an hour." He pressed a kiss to her temple before reaching for an elastic. "Remember how we would fight over you taking care of me?"

She rolled her eyes, but begrudgingly agreed as she followed him out of the bathroom and sprawled out. As he shut the door behind him, she suppressed yet another wave of nausea, gripping the sofa's arm tightly.

Three days later, James had left on a trip abroad. Lily's nausea hadn't seemed to have gone away and she had found herself becoming more fatigued no matter how much sleep she gotten. At Alice's insistence she made an appointment with a Healer that had a private practice. They could do all the same tests, but it was quite a bit cheaper and sympathetic to the Order's cause.

After an assistant took all the necessary samples for the tests, she left Lily alone in the room to wait for the doctor. It seemed to be ages before the Healer finally made an appearance. "Hullo, Miss," the Healer said. "Although, I surmise that it is missus, Mrs. Potter?"

Lily nodded.

"Do you want me to deliver the news delicately or tell it to you straight?" the woman questioned as she pulled a chair out from a desk and sat in front of the cot where Lily was seated.

"Am I sick?"

"No." She shook her head and laughed a little. "Far from it."

"The after effects of a curse?"

"No, Mrs. Potter you are pregnant. Congratulations." The Healer passed her a grin, but her face fell when she took in her patient's face. "Is this not welcomed news? From what I gather of your situation, it's not the most opportune-"

"Are you certain?"

"Yes," she responded. "You're not very far long, about eight weeks, perhaps nine."

"How long until…" Lily clenched her eyes shut. "My mother...I saw her medical file after her death. I knew about her history...She always talked about how lucky she was to have my sister and I...Do you understand?"

"You may see it as a disadvantage, but being young reduces your chances of miscarriage."

"How long before I know if…"

"About 12 weeks, if you make it until then there's a good chance the baby will make it to term." The Healer took in her expression and sighed. "Don't wait until then to tell your husband, the two of you are in this together."

"What happens if I tell him and…" Lily shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself.

"He'll help you get through it."

"This has to be a sick joke from the universe. How can I, in good conscious, bring a child into this world in the midst of a war?"

"Maybe it's a reminder to look towards the future."