Here you go, a nice long happy chapter for Christmas. If any of you are wondering, that's why the ending is a little choppy, because this is actually only part of a chapter, but I'll put the unhappy part next week.

Also, I'd like to make an announcement. Through a human connection I made recently, this fic in its entirety could possibly be forwarded to the e-mail of Jesse L. Martin (who, for my unenlightened people is the OBC Collins.) PRAY FOR ME! I'd also like to thank Liss1 for her helpful review. OK, I'm done now. Happy Holidays!

Disclaimer: Still not mine, except Lily

Chapter Three: At Last  

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me!" Angel sang along with his small radio as he sliced apples for that night's dessert. He was excited and happy today. He and Collins were going to their friend Mimi's birthday party at The Life Cafe later. Collins crept up behind him and put his hand on his hip.

"Guess who," he whispered.

Angel pushed him away gently.

"I gotta finish this."

"What can I do to help?"

He thought.

"Could you check our messages?" 

"Absolutely."

He kissed him and strolled into the living room. There was one call.

"Hi Angel! Oh, god, this really is your number! You probably don't recognize my voice. I'll give you a hint; I'm a poet with a fondness for watermelon and the harmonica. Have you guessed? It's me, your baby cousin Tiger Lily! Yes! Big shock right? I have a surprise for you. I'm in town! That's right! I got in about three weeks ago and I just found your number in the phone book. Have you missed me? I really wanna see you. Do you realize I haven't seen you in four years? Four years!  You're still my best friend though. Listen; if you want to see me you can call me at my apartment, 559-9865, or on my cell,

229-4367. Please call, Angel. I love you times a trillion. Byes!"

Okay, so there's my answer, Collins thought.

"Baby," he called.

"Yeah?"

"There's a message for you. I think you should hear it."

Angel's bare feet padded into the living room. He stood behind Collins with his arms around his waist. Collins replayed the message and his jaw dropped. He repeated the phrase 'oh, my God' at least ten times and then spread his arms out wide and jumped for joy.

"My baby girl! My Tiger Lily!" he squealed. "Oh, pinch me I'm dreaming!"

Collins laughed.

"Speaking of dreaming, you must have some kind of subconscious link to this girl. She says she got in three weeks ago and you've been calling her name in your sleep for about two."

Angel stared disbelievingly at him.

"You're right, I have dreamed of her! Man, how wild is that? Oh, Collins, I can't wait for you to meet her. She's amazing!"

"You didn't tell me you had a cousin Lily. Why am I finding out now?"

"What? Jealous that I kept a secret from you, Tomcat?" He used the pet name he'd given the philosopher.

Collins pulled him close and kissed him.

"No, but I was curious who she was when you started asking for her at night."

"Well, she and I are only a few years apart, so we were best friends growing up. She was the first person ever to find out I was gay, but even then, she never deserted me. She was devastated when my parents made me leave. Naturally, her parents went with mine. We wrote each other for a while but right before I lost my job at Femmes Fatales they found out and started confiscating my letters. We haven't spoken since then." He paused. "I didn't tell anyone about her because it hurt me so much."

"Don't sweat it, Angel girl," he smiled. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Call her back."

Feverishly, Angel replayed the message and wrote down both numbers. He was confused about one.

"Her apartment? What does she mean by her apartment? She's only fifteen."

He dialed the home number, excitement mounting. It rang twice before a gruff voice answered.

"What?"

"Uh," said Angel unsurely, "I'm looking for Lillian Dumott."

"Who? Oh, you mean Lilly. Who this?"

"Angel."

"Oh, word. She'll be psyched to here from you. Hold on."

Angel heard him holler:

"Yo, Lily! Girl, get yo' skinny ass to the phone! Yo' friend Angel is on the line."

Then he heard her tripping and dropping things in haste. She snatched the phone from Smack and greeted him with an elated scream.

"ANGEL!!!"

"Oh, my God! Tiger Lily!! Is it really you?"

"Yes!! Oh man I can't believe this is real!"

"Me either!"

"So you got my message? Have you missed me?"

"Have I missed you?! Girl, are you nuts? Course I have."

"Are you gonna come see me?"

"Where are you? I'll come get you now."

Collins looked at him, surprised and he gave the teacher a replying glance that said, "There's nothing you can do to change my mind, so don't try."

"You will?" Lily cried. "Oh, Angel!"

"Would it totally scare you if I came in drag? Because that's what I'm wearing now, but I'll change if you want."

Lily snorted so loudly that even Collins could hear her.

"Babe, you're not talking to one of our moms here! You're talking to me! You could come in a chicken suit for all I care, just as long as I get to see you."

Lily gave him the address hurriedly. It surprised him that she wasn't living too far away.

"I'll be there in fifteen," he said. "I love you."

He hung up and, grinning from ear to ear, turned to face Collins.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this happy," he chuckled.

 "Sure you have," breathed Angel. "I felt like this the day I met you."

"What about tonight?"

"Are you kidding? I'm taking her with us so I can show her off."

He kissed his cheek and ran into their room and grabbed a pair of white heels to go with his white blouse and denim skirt. He applied his makeup and put on his favorite short black wig. Then grabbed his jacket and his Collins' keys, kissed him again and ran out. Collins chuckled again as Angel waved and took his dilapidated old car speeding down the street.

*********************************

There were no mirrors in the flat, so Lily surveyed herself in the closed window.

"Do I look okay?" She turned to Smack for a second opinion.

"Nah," snickered Cookie as she snorted up rock. "'Cause ya can still see your face, which is shit."

"I'm not the one with bad roots and C all over my face," she snapped over her shoulder.

Cookie threw one of her heels at her but she ducked and caught it. She knew they were both; toast if they broke a window. Not that she was concerned about Cookie, but she had enough bruises.

"I think ya look finger lickin' good." Jake was almost drooling with lust.

Lily made a disgusted face and donned her dark sunglasses to hide her still-healing eye. There was a knock at the door and her heart almost stopped.

"I got it," Jake said with a groan.

He got up and opened the door.

"You're in the wrong apartment, uh, miss," he smirked. "The other faggots live down in 2C."

Lily could have kicked him for using that word, but Angel seemed unflustered.

"No, no." He didn't bother to make his voice sound girly, but she could still hear that slight womanliness that had appeared when Angel had first discovered his sexuality. "I'm looking for my cousin Lily."

Jake turned and hollered, "Door's for you, Sugar Drop!"

Cookie glared at her as she walked quickly to the door. Jake grabbed her ass and she slammed the door on his hand. His shouts were extremely gratifying. Then, she went through a mood swing as she turned to Angel.

At first it was a little discomforted. They stared, taking each other in, for they both looked different. Then the awkwardness melted away. They both screamed with delight and embraced. Angel started to cry and Lily buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling the familiar smell of his skin. He was wearing some kind of perfume made of peaches and cinnamon. They released each other and sighed.

"It's been too damn long," Lily said at length.

"My baby. Lord above, I never would have recognized you."

It was true. Lily looked completely different. The last of her baby fat was long gone and her body was toned and shapely. He had always remembered her loving comfy leggings and T's, but now she'd traded those in for a black leather jacket, a pair of ripped up jeans, and a pair of broken in construction boots. But the thing that struck him most was her hair. He had remembered an unruly mop of brown curls. What she had now was straight and orange with black streaks. She was beautiful.

Angel too had altered greatly. Lily had seen him in cross dress from photographs he'd sent her from the Femmes Fatales, but it still stuck her how amazingly attractive he was. She would have been completely fooled. But it was still her Angel. Same beautiful eyes, same coffee complexion, same radiant smile.

"Come on," he said. "My car's parked outside."

As they drove, Angel asked, "So when'd you turn into a biker chick?"                   

"Oh, I've been working on a new image for the last year or so. Do you like it?"

"Love it! Very fierce. And I love the dye job. You do that yourself?"

"Nah. Paid fifty to have it done. Now I really look like a tiger lily."

He laughed.

"You do. It looks great on you. I'll bet you've got all the boys after you."

She glanced at her knees.

"Not exactly," she muttered.

Quickly she changed the subject.

"Was that your boyfriend on the machine?" she asked.

"Yep," said Angel proudly. "My Collins. I can't wait for you two to meet. I just know you'll click."

"What's he like?"

 He used to teach philosophy at NYU. He's an anarchist."

 Lily's eyes got wide.

"Really? Wow. I'll bet he's wild."

"When we get there I'll have him tell you a few stories of his adventures. He's done some pretty crazy stuff. He says he's protesting the state of the world."

Lily nodded.

"If anybody should protest anything it's the state of the world. What about you're other friends? Do you keep in touch with Amazing Grace and all the other sisters from the House O' Drag?"

"Yeah, occasionally I see them, but we've pretty much gone our separate ways. Grace stops in my store once in a while though."

"Your store?"

"Uh-huh. I run a little place a couple of blocks down from here. I design and sell clothes for drag queens."

His cousin beamed at him, gushing with pride.

"You're kidding! That's so awesome. And it's so perfect for you. You were always doodling on corners of napkins and stuff and now look at you! I'm so proud of you, Angel."

He smiled at her. This was the way he'd always wanted things to be, he and his Tiger Lily together, their relationship untouched by years or changes in themselves.

The car slowed to a stop and Angel sang, "Here we are."

They walked up the stairs still gabbing and he opened the door.

"Collins?" Angel called.

"I'm in the shower!" answered a muffled voice.

"He'll be out in a minute," he said to Lily. "In the meantime, come into the kitchen and talk with me."

Lily fallowed him. He went behind the counter and she sat down at the table, slinging her bag over the back of the chair.

"What are you making?" she asked.

"Fruit salad."

"My fave!"

"And my friend Mimi's turning twenty today. Collins and I are going to take you to the party."

"I hope I'm not messing up any plans," Lily said.

"No! I'm taking you so I can brag. And my friends are awesome, they won't mind."

Lily smiled. There was a short silence which was broken by Collins' voice from the bedroom.

"Baby, I can't find any socks!"

"Did you try the sock drawer?" Angel called.

There was another silence, fallowed by the sound of drawers opening. Lily and Angel laughed.

"Amazing," he smiled shaking his head. "The man can rewire equipment so it blows up but he can never remember where I put his underclothes."

Collins walked down the hall humming in his sexy baritone. He stopped in the kitchen and smiled down at Lily.

Angel's got good taste, she thought.

Standing at about six feet, the tall black teacher was rippled with muscles. Lily stood up and outstretched her hand.

"And so you two finally meet." Angel came out from behind the counter. "The two most important people in my life set eyes on one another. Collins, this is my cousin Tiger Lily. Lily, my boyfriend Collins."

He shook her hand and flashed another brilliant smile.

"Nice to meet you."

Lily sat back down and he sat across from her.

"So I hear you're a revolutionary," she smiled as Angel put a bowl of grapes on the table. "You believe in anarchy?"

"Only because our government is going down the toilet. What about you? Tell me a little bit about yourself."

"I'm part of the underground poetry movement," she replied.

"Oh, you're a poet! I love poetry. Ever hear anything by Todd Alcott?"

"Actually I have. He wrote this one piece called "Television" about the ludicrously of peoples' addiction to TV."

"I've heard that one! That's the one where he's the voice of the TV…"

Instantly they were immersed in a lively discussion on both poetry and politics. Angel came and sat next to Collins. He was astounded by his cousin's wit and intelligence. He couldn't be happier. The two most important people in his life laughing and talking like old friends. Life was good.

"Babe," he said. "Tell her about your Theory of Actual Reality."

"Oh, you'll really appreciate that," Collins told Lily.

And he began to tell her about how he got fired from his job because he rewired the virtual reality equipment to explode while a recording of his voice shouted, "Actual reality! Act up, fight AIDS!" Lily adored the tale. She screamed with laughter and applauded the philosopher.

"But I see where you're coming from with that though," she agreed. "We're living in a world where everyone's lying to everyone else, and the media's controlling our minds. Everyone's turning a blind eye to all the real issues in the world. You are so right. We're living in virtual reality."

Collins nodded avidly.

"Right, now, how old are you again?" he asked, laughing.

"I'm fifteen, but I do a lot of reading. And I've been doing some rebellion of my own."

She gestured to her hair and face.

"Yeah, doing the teenage thing," Angel agreed.

"Well, it's not meant to be a teenage rebellion. I'm just trying to figure out my life. If they would be supportive and help me out I wouldn't have to rebel."

Angel nodded.

"So obviously no one in our family's changed, eh?" he asked.

"Nope. Still big, rigid and disgustingly indulgent."

Collins glanced at his watch.

"Whoa! We should get going or we'll be late."

They grabbed their coats and got in Collins' car. When they'd driven a little ways Angel pointed to a small store called Differences.

"That's my store," he told her.

"Well at least I know where to go if I need a job."

"Oh, totally! I'd love to have you work with me."

They drove a little further before they stopped at The Life Café.

"Cool place," Lily remarked as they walked inside.

"Oh…" the server did not look at all pleased. "Mr. Collins, Miss Schunard, how...good to see you."

"They're here!" sang a nasal male voice and then a video camera was rushed in on them.

"Enter Collins and Angel. Now the gang's all here."

Hey, Mark." Collins locked hands with the cameraman, a man with choppy blonde hair and glasses. Angel hugged him.

"Angel!" a beautiful Spanish girl with curly hair ran and embraced first Collins, then Angel, who kissed her on both her cheeks.

"Happy Birthday, Mimi!!" he cried.

"I'm so glad you could make it."

Lily's insides trembled when she saw Mimi. She was another dancer at Cat Scratch and an ambassador in the field. She could blow Lily's whole secret to Angel. She would have to find a way to speak to Mimi alone.

"Lily, come on," Angel whispered and he led her to the table. There were a lot of greetings before Angel requested silence and said:

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make-"  

"You're gonna have a baby?" shouted a beautiful girl with brown hair and blue eyes.

"Maureen!" groaned a few people in unison.

"What?!"

"Something like that," laughed Angel. "Mimi, not to detract from your day or anything-"

"Get on with it!" Mimi cried.

Lily walked over and stood beside him. He draped his arm over her shoulders.

"Everybody, this is my cousin Tiger Lily. Lily, these are my friends."

He introduced her to all of them, gesturing to them as he did so.

"That's Mark Cohen." He pointed to the guy with the camera. "He's filming a documentary on the bohemian community. So he'll be shooting a lot tonight."

Mark zoomed in on Lily and she gave him her best model smirk.

"Ooh, very nice," he said.

"And over there is Mimi's boyfriend Roger."

The husky blonde man smiled and picked out Musetta's Waltz on his guitar. Lily sang the line back to him.

"I've seen La Boheme nine times," she said and Roger gave her the 'rock on' sign in approval.

Angel gestured to the woman named Maureen and a black woman beside her.

"That's Maureen and that's Joanne. Maureen helps me over at the store."

"Hi, hi!" Maureen said in a loud excited voice.

"Nice to meet you," Joanne smiled.

"You too," Lily replied.

"And finally, this is Mimi Marquez. It's her birthday."

Mimi gave Lily a friendly smile.

"Congrats," she said.

"Thanks."

Angel and Collins sat down and ordered food. Lily sneaked over to Mimi, who went to smoke in the bar."

"Hi," she smiled.

"Hi. I was gonna ask, don't I know you?"

"Yes. I work at Cat Scratch. I signed on a few days ago."

"That's right! I saw your act last night. You're not bad for a beginner."

"Thanks. Listen, being that we're sisters in the stripping business I need to ask a favor."

"Sure, shoot."

"Could you please not say a word about me working to Angel? He doesn't know yet and I'm waiting for the right moment to tell him."

Mimi did a pantomime of zipping her lip.

"Your secret's safe with me. But you know, you are still young and our job can get people in a lot of hot water."

"I'll be all right. This job is just until I can get my singing career off the ground and I'm determined to strip and nothing more. No drugs and no sex for this girl!"

Mimi had to admire the conviction in the girl's voice. She hoped that Lily wouldn't be like her and lose sight of her goal. At twenty, she was more a whore than a stripper and this had led to her becoming HIV positive. Her job made her relationship with Roger rocky and at sixteen she had developed an addiction to cocaine. The worst of this story was that there were a thousand other young girls going through the same thing. New York was very unkind to its youth.

"Thanks so much, Mimi," Lily smiled.

"Aw, no big. I hope you accomplish everything you want to do."

She left her and sat down next to Angel. Now that she'd done that she could sit back and enjoy her evening.

"May I take your order, miss?" a waiter asked.

"A chicken salad and virgin margarita, please," she answered.

"Absolutely."

He walked away and Roger turned to her.

"So, I hear you're a writer," he said.

"Yeah, a little."

"I've never met a fifteen year old who likes opera."

"Well, I like anything that has to do with art or artists."

"So this must be like heaven for you."

"Oh, totally! And besides, heaven has angels."

She put her arm around Angel's shoulder and he kissed her.

  And so for the rest of the night Lily reveled in the warm glow of friendship. There was lots of talking and eating and laughing but the bubble was burst when a tall bald black man entered. The server shook his hand forcefully.

"Mr. Coffin, how wonderful to see you."

"Brian." The black man returned his greeting.

He sauntered arrogantly over to their table.

"Bonjour, boheme," he smirked. And once again, Lily lost all composure.

Does the world want me to be found out? She thought.

The man's name was Benjamin Coffin III. He had just come into money by marrying Lily's neighbor Alison Grey, therefore making him a friend of the family. Like all her parents' friends Lily thought he was an ass. He sat down very impolitely between Roger and Mark and looked at Mimi.

"Happy birthday, Mimi," he said. "Roger get you a ring? Not like he could afford one."

"What do you want, Benny," Roger asked testily.

"Do I really need to answer that? C'mon, guys, what do you think I do this for my health? I need the rent for your loft."

"And I need a car," Mark snapped. "You know we haven't got a cent to our names."

Benny nodded.

"I thought as much," he groaned.

He looked around and did a massive double take as his eyes landed on Lily.

"Lillian Dumott?" He was shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Vacationing," she answered, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "And my name's Tiger Lily."

"Oh, okay, Tiger Lily," he answered, sounding as though he were humoring a small child. "You're vacationing in a bad New York neighborhood by yourself?"

"I'm here to visit my aunt."

"You're aunt?"

Lily put her hand on Angel's shoulder and smiled sweetly.

"My aunt," she said coldly.

Benny stared for a moment and then comprehension dawned in his eyes.

"Oh, I get it. Well, boys, if you don't have the rent than I'll go."

He got up and started to walk away. As he passed her he whispered:

"You're parents are out of their minds with worry."

"You tell them where I am and I'll tear you apart."

He walked out without a backward glance.

"Asshole," she muttered.

Nevertheless, after he left everything went back to being happy. There was lots more eating and drinking and even Lily, who had sampled Angel's wine, got a little tipsy. When the server told them to leave because they couldn't pay, she handed him fifty dollars.

"Bring my friends a chocolate birthday cake with twenty candles. This should cover everything."

"Thank you, miss," he stammered and walked away.

"Cool!" cried Mark.

"Wow, Lily." Mimi was beaming.

"Aw, hell, my family sucks it's true but if ya got it ya might as well reap the rewards," she grinned, leaning back in the chair.

They sang to Mimi and then started gorging on cake. They stayed for hours until, at about one, they all left. Mimi gave Lily a hug.

"Thanks so much for the cake."

"It's for keeping my secret," she whispered. "I'll talk to you at work."

"Okay. Bye."

She walked away and the three of them got into Collins' car. Angel sat in the back seat with Lily and her head dropped onto his shoulder as she fell asleep, her dark glasses falling off.

"Oh, my God," he whispered as he looked at her swollen purple eye. He'd have to ask her what happened.

Coming up: Lily's secret. REVIEW AND I'LL GIVE MUFFINS!!!