Hello this is my first attempt at writing fanfic hope you like it as I really love this movie. Please feel free to write a review to let me know what you think. Thank you.*

Chapter 1

"I object!"

Lucy was running late for her wedding to Peter. Though it was traditional for the bride to be late to the ceremony, running pell-mell though the streets of Chicargo clutching half a dozen pink roses, wearing a simple ivory dress and her Dad's old trench coat, was not how she had imagined her wedding day would be.

She had left it until the very last minute to get ready, staring at her dress hanging on the lamp from across the room. The roses, purchased from a local street vendor standing in a vase still wrapped in paper. She sat alone, going over the events of the last couple of weeks. How could so much happened in such a short space of time, her life had been completely turned upside down in what felt like a few short days and she was finally getting everything she ever wanted, wasn't she?

The man she had sat in her token booth dreaming about for so long had asked her to marry him. She would be finically secure, looked after and he came with the most amazing, crazy, beautiful family who had embraced her as their own without hesitation and seemed to love her as much as she loved them. She was no longer alone, safely nestled in the Callaghan bubble and in a few short hours she was going to be legally joined to them for better or for worse.

So why the hesitation? She could see the seconds ticking by on the clock on the mantle that had belonged to her father. She knew that with every minute that passed by she was cutting it finer and finer to getting to the hospital Chapel on time, where her beloved Callaghans would be waiting for her. But still she was sat rooted to the sofa in her apartment.

As she sat Lucy's thoughts drifted towards her dad. How she longed for him to be standing by her side today, giving her his ever comforting pearls of wisdom while telling her stories of excitement and anticipation of his own wedding day to the love of his life. Though she had heard him talk of his wedding many times since she was small, she never grew tired of listening and with every story she felt it brought her a little closer to the mother she never knew.

What would her dad say about her current situation if he were here today?

Though if she was really honest with herself if he were here with her in this room she wouldn't be in this situation. She wouldnt be marrying a man she didn't really know, that she had never kissed, never slept with! Hell she hadn't even been on a date with him, but the crushing sense of loneliness had been overwhelming recently and seeing what being part of a real family was truly like had a pull on her that she found difficult to cast aside.

She didn't love Peter, she knew this much! There was a time that she thought she had but Lucy knew this was a stupid fantasy made up of pure physical attraction (even she couldn't deny that smile!), whiling away mundane hours in the token booth and to be honest with the lack of any real better offers had she allowed this dream to manifest. But Peter Callaghan was, as she has said to Jerry, rich and handsome, and he wanted to marry her. She could make herself content with this, couldn't she? Especially when his wonderful family also came part of the package deal.

But still she sat...

There was still the deceit. When her mind flickered to this too intensely it made her recoil internally. She had never meant to lie to Peter's family. Midge, while standing over her lifeless eldest son had been so overwhelmed, with a mixture of joy and grief at the news of his engagement that Lucy hadn't the heart to shatter the poor women further by contradicting the claim.

Then Elsie with her weak heart, Peter's grandma already seemed so vulnerable during that day in the hospital, Lucy couldn't stand to have been the cause of anymore distress to her. These were the reasoned arguments that Lucy had played over and over in her mind over the last few weeks, whenever she tried to justify her actions to herself, but she couldn't deny that they were poor excuses. These wonderful people had taken her into their lives and into their hearts and from that first visit to their home to celebrate a belated Christmas Lucy had felt like she had found her place, found her home, found peace. But it was still a lie!

Then there was Peter, hadn't he been through enough, she had them all believing he had amnesia to explain why he didn't remember her or there supposed engagement, she was allowing this lie to grow to smother her own loneliness.

Would she now spend the rest of her life walking a fine tight rope between the truth and fiction. Would she spend the rest of her life waiting for the truth to one day slip out, or as time went on would this slice of the past get washed away in all the new memories that they would share together? Lucy desperately wanted this to be the case, but even so this peace that she had found when in the comfort of the Callaghan's was being disturbed by the mear thought of her lies.

Was this the reason she continued to sit and stare at her wedding dress, unable to make the next step towards her future?

Lucy took a deep breath and a single fat tear rolled down her cheek. She looked over to the mantle that now held a beautiful snow globe with the miniature Florence nestled inside, the most perfect thoughtful gift she has ever recieved. More tears slid down her face as she tried to wipe them away with the sleeve of her over sized sweater. Deep inside she knew the truth, the reason why her dress was still hanging limply on its hanger, the reason her hair went unbrushed, the reason she remained on that sofa in her small rented apartment, Jack...

Lucy had always believed in love at first sight, she had thought that the lightening bolt she had felt when she first saw Peter had been exactly that, an overwhelming enduring force that would conquer all else and lead her to a happiness that surpassed her wildest dreams. Then on the day after boxing day, early in the morning, in the hall way of the Callaghans lovely home she met the one person who had completely challenged everything Lucy thought she knew about being in love.

Looking back there was no bolt of lightening, actually as Lucy remembered there was more of a sense of panic and anxiety as Jack sat on the stairs that morning, mug of tea in hand, folding up his morning paper. She had wondered if he saw straight through her lie. He was looking at her so intensely it was as though she was being xrayed, but there was a kindness in his eyes as he welcomed her to the family that had stuck with Lucy for the entire cab ride home.

Jack was handsome there was no doubt about that. Not in the classically obvious way Peter was, but in a more rugged raw way that was accentuated by his floppy sandy coloured hair and his gravelly voice. Although initially she found him slightly irritating due to his excessive question asking and his accusing her of dating Joe Jr (as if!) Lucy soon came to realise that Jack was a genuinely nice guy. Not only was Jack a nice guy but he made her laugh, he was so easy to talk to and to her astonishment reminded her a little of her Dad in a way that seemed to squeeze at her heart.

During the week that Peter had been in the coma, somehow Lucy had been spending alot of time with Jack and it was during this time that she felt a shift. It was subtle at first, a look in those beautiful grey/blue eyes, the way she felt in his arms when they desperately tried to save each other on the ice outside her apartment, the way he pushed his floppy hair out of his eyes when he was nervous or unsure, but most of all he made he laugh. Lucy couldn't remember a time when she had enjoyed another person's company so much and although it hadn't struck her like a bolt out the blue it had only taken a matter of days for irritation to turn to liking to turn to...what?

When Jack had 'leaned' into her on New Year's Eve she had looked into his eyes and her heart had stopped, she had never known an intensity like this, her breath had caught in the back of her throat and butterflies erupted in her stomach. For the briefest of seconds she had felt sure that he was going to close the gap and touch his lips to hers, the soft, exquisite lips she had experienced under the mistletoe in the Callaghan's door way, but this time it was real, no tradition or cheering and clapping for a peck on the lips, no this would be real. The disappointment she had felt when they were interrupted had been overwhelming.

The night that Peter woke from his coma she had excepted a lift home in Jack's truck, as they drove though the quiet streets in companiable silence, her still calm exterior belied what was going on in head. She wanted to scream, cry, grab his coat and beg forgiveness for telling a lie and allowing it to grow bigger than she was, but the truck came to a stop outside her apartment and words failed her, she couldnt end it all here an now in the dead of night and not when Jack looked at her in that way. She had sat in his truck sure that the next day everything would change. Peter was awake, Saul had assured her he would tell the family the truth and Jack, well she was sure he would be gone once he knew that she had decieved them all. One more night, one more time being in Jack's presence and feeling an deep sense of...of something she didn't dare put into words, even in her own mind.

So she had used the only words she known would be safe, she thanked him, thanked him for becoming a 'really good friend', but as the words escaped her lips they seemed so wrong, so inadequate! Jerry was her friend, Ox and Saul were her friends, what she felt at that moment sitting with Jack was definitely so much more than friendship, but she had built herself into a corner. Jack had thought she was engaged to his brother and therefore Lucy was off limits, but if she told him the truth she had been sure that would ruin everything too, so she got out the truck said her goodnight and watched him drive away into the dark.

Lucy didn't know why she had said "yes" to Peter that afternoon. Had it been that she was so thrown off guard and it had been a knee jerk reaction? Probably, but at the time it all seemed to fit together nicely, the truth would remain hidden and she would keep her new family, it would all be very tidy and she genuinely did like Peter.

It had only really been yesterday when she returned home after a day of wedding prep with Midge and Mary that the reality of the situation had hit her! She was getting married, she would be Mrs Callaghan, but a small voice in her head that refused to stay quiet told her, "but it's not the right Mr Callaghan!" Lucy knew in her heart that this was true and it caused a searing, burning pain in her chest and tears to prickle in the corners of her eyes, but then she though about her new family and how much better life would be with them around and it slightly soothed the pain in her chest. She had been given a chance, a chance for happiness, a chance of an escape out this mess, it wasnt perfect but who had a perfect life?

She had decided then a there to put Jack out of her mind, wasn't that the best thing she could do? How often would she see him anyway once they were married? Birthdays, Christmas, the odd summer BBQ... she could manage that right?

The pain in her chest flared up again and as she sat her imagination had gone into over drive,

... she was sitting in the garden at the home of Ox and Midge with Peter at her side, then Jack walked out, a new faceless girl on his arm, smiling and laughing...

Lucy had felt sick, squeezing her eyes shut and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. She had to over come this if her marriage had any chance of working. In that minute she had got up and decided to be pro-active, she grabbed her dress on the hanger and had hooked it over her head, she found 2 pairs of possible shoes she could wear for her wedding and decided to make a decision. She needed to do something to make the looming wedding to Peter seem more real. She had shoved one of each shoe over her thick woollen socks and tried to decide which looked best with her simple dress, but then came a knock at the door...

She had expected Joe Jr. She hadn't expected him. As soon as the door opened a smile she couldn't have contained if she had tried spread across her face, then he had made her laugh, he always made her laugh! Her heart soared and before she had know what was happening she had invited him in. It was the first time Jack had been inside her little apartment and she loved how well he seemed to fit there. She had seen him in Peter's apartment a couple of times but he seemed out of place with its clean white carpets, walls and black leather and chrome, but if she were honest so had she. Having Jack in her home gave her such a warm, calming feeling she had forgotten she had her wedding dress still hanging round her neck.

He stepped forward and handed her a parcel, making some comment about getting his wedding present in before they piled up. She had blushed as she opened the present wrapped in newspaper. She could quickly tell that it was a snow globe but her mouth fell open in surprise and all she could do was utter one word 'Florence', he nodded 'Florence' and their eyes had locked.

He had listened, he had understood her dreams and found this most beautiful gift because she knew how special it would be to her. Butterflies erupted in her stomach when she looked into those beautiful eyes, this was what she wanted, who she wanted, this was her perfect.

He started a speech about what a lucky guy Peter was and the familiar pain rose up into her chest, then the image popped back into her mind, the one she had conjured earlier about her and Peter sitting in the garden and Jack with the faceless girl,

"we will see alot of each other"

she had said before she could stop herself, though she'd wished it unsaid the next second. Hurt flashed across his face, if she had blinked she would have missed it, but she knew the features of the man she loved so well..., she loved! It was the first time she had allowed herself to even form the words in her mind, but there was no denying it, she loved him, every inch, every molecule of him, holding her beautiful snow globe in her hand, how could she not? It wasn't the gift itself that finally made her so sure of herself, it was what it represented, this single gesture had told her everything she needed to know and more about the man standing infront of her.

Then he was gone, he spun round out the door and started his decent down the stairs. The wedding was tomorrow, it would be a case of now or never and Lucy wasn't sure what gave her the courage in that second to follow Jack into her hall way, to call his name but she had. He froze on the steps and turned to look at her, she marvelled at how beautiful he was.

"Can you give me any reason why I shouldn't marry your brother?"

He hesitated for a heart beat and then gave her a sad sort of smile, was it pity? Or was it because he couldn't tell her the truth of how he felt?

"I can't"

was his only reply, then he was gone, slamming the door of her building almost off its hinges on his way out.

Lucy didn't know how long she had stood in the hall way outside her apartment, clutching her snow globe to her chest. Tears trickled down her face as she digested his words. He didn't want her, the pain these 2 simple words caused had come crashing down leaving her paralysed, numb, hollow. He wasn't coming back, he was gone.

Eventually she had made her way back to her apartment and dropped onto the sofa.

What had she expected? For him to run back up the stairs, to take her in his arms and fearsly crash his lips on hers? Beg her not to marry Peter and confess his undying love?

She had hoped she supposed, but now that sounded stupid. Jack was a good guy, a genuinely good guy, it was one of the things she loved most about him and even if there was a small chance she hadn't miss read the signs, he wasn't the sort of guy who stole his brothers fiancee. Especially a brother who had just come out of a coma, the night before his wedding.

She hadn't meant any of this to happen, still she knew this was all her own fault but why couldn't life just go her way for once. She had lost her own family, she was alone, she had a few friends but it wasn't the same. Then she had fallen for a gorgeous, rich guy, saved his life, had excepted his proposal and now she was part of his wonderful family. She would travel with Peter, have a family of her own and by most people's standards have a pretty fantastic life. Why couldn't fate just leave it at that, cut her a break and allow her some happiness after all the sorrow she had experienced over the years? No she had to fall madly, deeply, passionately, hopelessly in love with her fiancé's brother. Her perfect future that could have been was now tainted by pain and loss, again!

Lucy knew feeling sorry for herself wasn't going to help, if she had had the courage to tell the truth from the beginning she wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe she could have still visited Peter in the hospital once things had settled, she may still have befriended his family, met Jack, met him as the free and single women who had saved his brother. Despair crept through her, there was no way back, she had to make a decision that would define her whole future and she had to do it now. She knew she had 2 opinions marry Peter, join the Callaghan's and make the best of the situation or go back to her lonely life of solitude, with added pain of knowing she had hurt the family.

She had known in that moment what she had to do. She drew in a deep breath, took her wedding dress from where she had hung it, picked up the shoes and decided that the strappy heals would be better than the ballet pumps for her wedding tomorrow...

Coming out of her reverie Lucy slowly stood, she could feel the effects of her sleepless night hit her as she moved across the room. She had been over it a million times throughout the night but the outcome always seemed the same, she was getting married today, she better get ready!

There had been no cabs available as she left her apartment so she ran. She had 15 mins to make the 30 min journey into the city. She got to the station, thrown her token into the booth and hopped into the first 'L' train that would take her in the direction of the hospital. Jumping onto the platform Lucy continued running through the busy streets of Chicargo until she reached the 'Northwestern Memorial Hospital'. Inside she slowed her pace so as to be able to catch her breath. She was 10 minutes late and she knew they would all be sitting in the small Chapel waiting for her. Becoming more nervous with every step she followed the signs until she reached her destination, by the time she arrived she felt such a wave of panic that she nearly walked straight past the room but corrected herself quickly and entered as the bridal march began to play.

They were all there, the whole Callaghan family along with a few friends, Jerry and Celeste included. They all turned to look at her as she started down the aisle, her heart was racing so fast that she thought she might pass out. Midge signalled to her that she still had her coat on, hopping back to the door way she took it off and allowed herself half a second to calm her nerves. She turned back to the aisle as the music started up again.

This time she took in the whole scene before her. Everyone was turning and smiling as she walked slowly between the crowded chairs. Saul gave her a knowing smile and she heard Elsie say she was lovely. Peter was there standing at the front of the altar, she couldn't help noticing how well he looked, he had only come out of a coma a couple of days ago yet his eyes were bright and his skin was giving off a healthy glow. Even in his pajamas with his suit jacket over his shoulders he looked good, not many men could pull off that look but somehow Peter managed it with ease.

Lucy's eyes were then drawn to Peter's left and there he was standing beside his brother. Jack, in his tweed jacket and brown tie, though he wasn't smiling and he wasn't laughing. Her heart leap into her mouth the second she saw him, but he seemed wrong, seemed nervous, anxious or what it was she wasn't quite sure. She had never seen him acting like this this before, his normally relaxed posture was tense and irritable, but then his eyes locked on hers.

As she continued walking they held each others gaze, she noticed that he had a pained expression on his face and she couldnt bring herself to smile either. How could she be walking down the aisle transfixed by the face of the man she loved, yet he wouldn't be the person she met at the altar when she said those sacred words.

She could feel her heart breaking as she continued to look into his eyes, she felt like his face was reflecting how she was feeling. He said he didn't want her, she knew this, yet she couldnt account for him acting this way, he genuinely looked hurt. Maybe he was upset with her about her last words the previous night, maybe he thought she wasn't devoted to Peter.

She knew she should pull her eyes away from him, knew she should focus her attention on her soon to be husband but she just couldnt bring herself to leave his eyes.

Had anyone noticed, would anyone think it was strange, but just then she didn't care because he smiled. His smile was only a small thing but it was for her and her alone and was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, it was him, it was her Jack and in contrast to his previous expression he looked radiant, shining, perfect. She had to look away, she couldnt bare it any longer.

Just then she reached the altar. Lucy looked at Peter and he gave her a small smile. The kind, sweet smile on his handsome face truly was lovely. He was ready to marry her, invest his future in her and it was all a lie. He had never loved her before the accident and she certainly didn't love him now. Panic started to bubble up within her making her feel nauseous. She couldn't do this, she couldnt trick a man she didn't love into marriage because she wanted to be part of his family and not when the man she truly loved was standing right by his side. What had she become, this wasn't the person she wanted to be. The nausea was starting to become overwhelming, she felt as though she couldn't keep a calm expression on her face, heat was rising up her neck into her head, her cheeks began to boil. The priest drew a breath and started to speak,

"Dearly beloved, we are..."

She hadn't planned her words, she had been so overcome with emotion her brain acted subconsciously because her mouth opened and she could hear her voice before she could understand what she was saying,

"I object!"

Relief washed over her like a jet of cold water, she would have some explaining to do.