October 10th, 2005

Lily sat in her office. Today was her first day back to work. She wanted to be home. She wanted to hold her son. She sighed softly. These children needed her too. A soft came upon the door.

"Come in." She said as Lori walked in. Lori was a girl lily had been working closely with. She hated going on maternity leave and leaving her here. "Lori, what can I do for you today?"

"How are Taj and Maya?" Lori asked as she sat down.

"They're fine thank you." Lily said. "Is something wrong?"

"Not really, I guess." Lori said softly.
"Not really?" Lily arched her eyebrow, "Talk to me, Lori." She was silent for a moment.

"I'm just...frustrated with everything." She said. Lily looked at her questioningly.

"Everything?" Lily asked. Lori nodded.

"School, home, work, you know everything." She said, "I just want it to be over with. I want to be able to relax and not worry." Lily smiled softly.

"I understand. life can be very demanding sometimes." Lily said, "What do you do on the weekends?"

"Work from nine to nine. It doesn't give me much time." Lori said.

"Don't you have days off?" Lily asked.

"Rarely." Lori said with a sigh. Lily cleared her throat.

"Well, Why don't you come by my house sometime after school? It's a nice relaxing place, you could fish or swim in my pond." Lily said.
"I could?" Lori asked. Lily nodded.

"Yes. We would love to have you over." She said.

"Wow. That means a lot to me." Lori said as Lily wrote down her address.
"As you don't mind two babies, you'll fit in." She slid the address over. Lori took the piece of paper and held it in her hands like her most cherished possession.

* * *

"Mommy, I wanna eat." Maya moaned.
"Well, You'll need to wait." Lily chuckled as she turned to the sound of the Doorbell ringing. She sighed softly walking out. She opened the door and her boss, Stephen Mascol stood there, "Stephen, hello."

"Good evening, Lily." He said, "May I come in?"

"Certainly." Lily smiled, "Please excuse the mess. I haven't had time to clean yet."

"I don't care about that." He said, "We really need to talk, Lily."

"Oh okay. About what?" She asked leading him into the living room.

"About Lori." Stephen said. She turned around with a smile.

"Oh, Lori." Lily said, "We had a nice talk today. I invited her over to have a nice break. I hope that's all right." Stephen cleared his throat looking at Lily.

"Lori is dead." He said. Lily's smile faded.

"Wh....What?" She whispered.

"Her body was found an hour ago. She had hung herself." He said. Lily's eyes welled with tears.

"Sh-She...Feeling much better when she left my office." Lily whispered.

"I'm sorry, Lily." He said, "She obviously had more problems than you could take care of. You don't have to come into work tomorrow. I'm very sorry, Lily."

"Thank you, Stephen." She whispered.

"I'm sorry for breaking your spirits." he said leaving the room. Lily sat down on the couch and closed her eyes. Tears spilled out.

"Oh God." She whispered and started to sob. Lori didn't seem like she had wanted to kill herself this morning. Lily could have helped if she had known. She could at least have tried.

October 24th, 2005

Maya was turning Two in two days. It helped cheer Lily up planning the party some. Her little daughter was growing up so quickly. She couldn't believe it.

"Hey, Lily." Jordan opened the front door. Lily looked up from the table.

"Hey." She said, "What do you want?"

"My wedding dress." Jordan chuckled, "We've been putting the wedding off for too long so Woody and I are getting married in a month." A small smile came across Lily's face.

"A month. That's wonderful." She said as she got up. "It's right over here. Why don't you try it on and make sure everything is right."

"Thanks." Jordan smiled, "Woody and I have been putting this wedding off for too long. We're getting married in two weeks."

"What?" Lily's eyes were wide as she handed the dress over.

"I want to be Mrs. Hoyt." She took the dress into the bathroom.

"You're going to change your name?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Jordan said.

"I never would have pegged you as a name changing kind of woman." Lily said hoping the dress would fit.

"Well, you changed it, but you still go by your maiden name sometimes." Jordan said taking her pants off.

"That's because most people can't pronounce my married name and it's too long to fit on credit cards." She said. Jordan laughed.

"I understand it. I've been working with Bug for years and I still can't pronounce it." She said. Lily chuckled.
"How is the dress?" She asked. Jordan was silent. "Jordan?"

"It's...." Jordan mumbled.

"If there's something wrong with it, I can fix it." Lily said opening the bathroom door. Jordan stood there in the wedding dress and she looked absolutely gorgeous, "Jordan..."

"I love it." Jordan turned to Lily with a giant smile on her face.

"You look gorgeous, Jordan. You really do." Lily said.

"Thank you for this." Jordan ran her hand over the silky material, "You're so talented."

"It helps that you're beautiful." Lily chuckled stepping out of the room, "I'm glad you like it."

"I love it." Jordan said as she began to take it off. "I think Woody is going to be floored."

"Oh yeah. He will be." Lily smiled happily. Seeing Jordan in that dress made her a little jealous. Her and Bug didn't have the huge church wedding like she wanted. He did say when he was in labour with Taj they could have a huge party. Taj was two months old and still nothing. Maybe someday soon.

* * *

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