Disclaimer: I own nothing copyrighted by literary geniuses or companies that don't care about a 19 year old girl writing fanfiction.

Author Note: sorry about the wait…that's all I'll say about that. And in regards to James' Quidditch position, I have him playing seeker so that Harry being a brilliant seeker is more plausible though J.K. Rowling stated that James played chaser. However this confuses me as in OOTP he is always playing with the Snitch he stole. Is this just to practice a wide variety of skills or to appear cool? And the 1st movie doesn't help things much by listing James Potter as a seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch shield. Any thoughts? Done my rant, onto the story. Wait, I found out what it is. Apparently a Snitch is a lot cooler to play with than a Quaffle if you want to impress the ladies (thank you J.K.)

This is the last chapter of this story, excluding the epilogue which will follow in a day or two (but it's pretty short.)

'Where the hell did I put my cup of coffee?' Lily growled as she ransacked the nurses' station in the emergency room of St. Mungo's.

'Whoa, Lily, what's going on?' one of the nurses asked, scurrying over and seeing the mess.

'I can't find where I put my coffee cup, and I need it!' she said, curiously close to tears.

'It's right here V,' Mark said from the door to the staff lounge. 'You started to pour the milk in but then got distracted by a code and left it here.'

'Oh thank Merlin,' the redhead breathed as she crossed the room in three long strides, and downed the coffee. She sighed in delight as the caffeine rushed through her system and lessened the muffled pounding behind her eyes. Opening them, Lily noticed that the entire emergency room was staring at her. 'May I help you?'

The room moved into action as people quickly got out of Lily's way.

'What is wrong with you? You just went postal on the nurses' station over a cup of java!'

She groaned, causing Mark to laugh. 'I'm sorry. I've just been going on no sleep, tons of cranky patients, and I haven't been able to see J all day.'

'J? That celebrity patient of yours? Do I detect something more in your tone than a regular healer's worry for a patient?'

'Am I that obvious?'

'Not to everyone, but I know you pretty well. Since when do you fall for your patients?'

'Never! What is wrong with me? I don't even know his real name!' Lily just shook her head. 'And speaking of the man in question, it is time for me to check on him so I'll see you later.'

Mark just waved her on as Lily took down the hall at a fast clip.

When she entered J's room, she found him sitting up in bed staring blankly ahead, but his attention snapped to her as soon as she stepped through the door.

'V! There you are! You haven't been by to see me all day. What gives?' he asked, slight pout on his very handsome face.

Lily tried not to make her happy feelings at seeing him too apparent. 'Sorry about that, it's been crazy around here this morning. I've been rushing around trying to deal with a few new patients. Plus, you're recovering quite well after your act of complete stupidity a few days ago and so you're able to go without constant supervision.'

'Funny, that's the exact opposite of what my teachers back in school would've said.'

Lily and James chatted quietly for a minutes as she checked his wound and wrote notes down on his chart. However, they were soon interrupted as James' agent rushed into the room looking panicked.

'Can you excuse me and J please Healer? I have some really important news to discuss with my client.'

Nodding, Lily got up and left the room, smiling at James from the doorway. James grinned back and continued to stare at the doorway until his agent snapped his fingers to get James' attention.

'Yeah, I get it. Your healer is one very attractive bird, but we've got more important stuff to deal with.'

'I really don't see anything bumping Lily off the number one place on my top priority list.'

Dan Donahue ran an irritated hand through his hair. 'How about responsible journalism?'

James was quite confused. 'Say what? Have you gone daft?'

His agent pulled a newspaper from behind his back and thrust it into James' face. James was confronted with a large picture of himself that had been taken before a Quidditch game during the season. It was accompanied by a glaring headline that read 'James Potter Missing from a Week's Worth of Practice: is it really a family emergency?'

Grabbing the paper, he read further out loud.

'James Potter has not been seen in public since his practice with the Falmouth Falcons last Wednesday. His coach provides a death in the family as the reason for Potter's absence, but upon investigation this reporter has discovered that no such death has occurred. In fact, there have been no deaths in the Potter family since his parents, famous Aurors Brian and Kate Potter were killed in the tragic Death Eater attack on Diagon Alley last year. Friends and remaining family could not be reached for comment on James Potters' whereabouts.'

Finishing, James sat there and stared dumbly at the paper. 'Are they bloody serious?'

'I'm afraid so,' Dan replied. 'I've already told your friends to keep their mouths shut and this hospital is legally required to keep your identity secret. Staff who work with you however will know. On my way down the hall, I passed a nurse reading the story so expect a hubbub.'

'Lily obviously doesn't know, otherwise she would've been in here like a shot to knock me upside the head. It'll only be a matter of time until she figures it out, and then I'm in for it.'

'What do you mean?'

'Do you remember how I told you that we hadn't been on the best terms back in school?'

Dan crossed his arms and nodded.

James sighed, thinking back to some of the worst rejections he'd gotten from Lily. 'That's because I was half in love with her but too immature to know how to handle it. I decided my best route would be to ask her out every day, even when I had a girlfriend hoping that after a while she would just give in.'

'And?'

'She just resisted me even further. But in 7th year when were Head Students together, we had to work together without her strangling me so I just gave it a rest. Still played pranks on people though, which apparently wasn't very appropriate. When she finds out about this whole thing, I'm going to get some speech about how I haven't changed and am still trying to get her to go out with me. Same old, same old. Plus she had that renowned redhead temper.'

The agent smiled as he picked up the newspaper. 'I think you may underestimate her. I see the way she looks at you, and I doubt she'll be angry. Probably just be amused if anything. Mark my words, you'll benefit in the end from this. But if you'll excuse me, I have to go create a new excuse for your public absence.'

'Good luck.' With that, James was left alone to both dread and long for Lily's return.


Entering her office, Lily was slightly annoyed. It seemed like every time she and J were alone lately and getting closer that damned agent of his interrupted them. And truth be told, she was getting sick and tired of all the secrecy for the sake of her patient's security. She felt a bit like an idiot having all of these feelings for J when she didn't even know his real name. She was no better, considering she hadn't told J her own name either. With that, Lily decided to tell him her real name as soon as she saw him next.

Nearing the desk, Lily spotted what appeared to be that day's Daily Prophet and sighed in relief. Because of her extremely busy schedule of late, she had not been able to sit down and read the paper- something that relaxed her because it took her away from the craziness of the emergency ward.

As Lily reached out and grabbed the rolled paper, her attention was called to her office door. There stood a young nurse, looking slightly panicked.

'We need you right away Healer Evans,' she said. 'There was a small Death Eater attack in a town outside of London. The wounded are being transported here and of course we're understaffed.'

Lily sighed and dropped the paper back on her desk. She was not even slightly surprised by the interruption. 'Of course. Let's go deal with it.'


It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Lily and the rest of the emergency war staff finished with the victims of the attack. Patients had trickled in over the hours, but none with ailments that were too severe. Only 3 people had had life-threatening injuries but they were taking care of quickly, and Lily was proud to report zero fatalities. After she had finished with the charts and gave reports to Aurors and other Ministry representatives, Lily leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. At that moment, she was too drained to even seek sleep in her office which was only a meter away.

Lily was startled a few minutes later as she felt something tugging on her left hand. Looking down, she spied possibly the cutest little boy she had ever seen. He looked up at her with large emerald eyes through a shock of black hair. He couldn't have been more than 4 and was clutching a stuffed Snitch.

'Hey little guy. What can I help you with?'

The little boy just continued to stare at her so Lily decided to try another tactic. Hunching down to the child's level, she said, 'that's a cool Snitch. Can I see it?'

He nodded and held out the stuffed toy.

Lily took it and smiled. 'What's your name?'

'Aidan.'

'Hey Aidan, I'm Lily. I guess you like Quidditch huh?'

A shy smile appeared on his face as he nodded quite emphatically.

She laughed in response. 'What's your favourite team?'

'Falmouth Falcons.'

'Do you have a favourite player?'

'James Potter…'

Lily was glad the little boy was opening up to her and so decided to engage him in light banter until she could find out why he had stopped at her.

'I used to go to school with him you know.'

Aidan's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. 'Really?' James Potter was clearly his idol.

'I swear to Merlin…so are you lost or something bud?'

He nodded and took his Snitch back. 'My da bringed my mummy her cuz my baby sister is coming. But I didn't wanna wait with da so I looked for her by myself but I couldn't find her. Now I'm lost.'

Lily stifled a laugh caused by the little boy's adorable confused expression. 'No sweetheart. What your parents meant when they said your baby sister is coming is that your mummy is having her now. You know that big bump on your mummy's tummy? That's where your sister was, and she just has to come out. But your parents must be frantic by now, what with the new baby and you being missing. Come with me, I'll take you back to the maternity ward.'

Aidan held his small hand out to Lily and grasping it, she led him away.

Reaching the maternity ward, it didn't take long to see who Aidan belonged to. A tall man with brown hair was quickly walking up the hall, frantically calling out the little boy's name. When Aidan saw him, he took off running, effectively yanking himself out of Lily's grasp. 'Da!'

His father caught Aidan up in his arms, squeezing him tightly. Looking up, he saw Lily standing there. 'Thank you miss! Where did you find him? I was going spare looking for this little hellion.'

'He found me actually. I'm a healer down in the emergency ward, and as I was taking a break I felt a tugging on my hand and there he was.'

'I brought my wife in her because she went into labour with our second child. I went to the desk to sign her in and when I looked back Aidan was gone. I'm Grant Bishop by the way.'

Lily reached out and shook hands with him. 'Lily Evans. Aidan actually told me that he was tired of waiting for his baby sister to come so he went to look for her himself.'

Grant turned his head to look at his son and chuckled. 'Did you really?'

In true child fashion, Aidan's response was just to bury his face into his father's shoulder. Grant laughed again and then turned back to Lily.

'Thank you so much for bringing him back to me Healer Evans. I thought I was going to have to go in there and tell my wife that I had lost our son, and I really like my limbs attached to my body.'

A grin lit up Lily's face. "That's generally the favourite place for them. But I have to get back downstairs and check on a few patients. Congratulations on the new baby and you,' she said, pointing at Aidan, 'no more running off okay.'

Aidan nodded and waved. Waving back, Lily headed downstairs.

As she was getting a few charts from her office, Lily let her mind wander. 'I wonder what he would look like if J and I had a son? Would he look at all like Aidan?' But she quickly brushed that thought aside and chastised herself. 'Get his real name first Lily, and then you can think about phantom children.'

Tamping down a blush, Lily decided it was time to check on J.

Walking into his room she noticed that he was once again sleeping and she smiled to herself. He moaned softly as she checked his collarbone and stomach but didn't wake up.

'Looks like he's almost able to check out of this place,' said a voice from the doorway, startling Lily.

'Looks like,' she replied as one of the interns entered the room.

'I can't believe a huge Quidditch star is on our ward!' the intern gushed.

'Huge star?' Lily questioned.

'You know who he really is, don't you?' the other woman asked Lily as she tenderly gazed down at the sleeping James.

'No. His face is so familiar and I've been trying to place him since he got here but I can't do it and it's been driving me crazy.'

'Are you serious? That's James Potter, seeker for the Falmouth Falcons and the English National Quidditch team. There was a front page story about him in the Daily Prophet today too!'

At the mention of his real name, images flashed in Lily's mind of school Quidditch games, dances, feasts and long common room nights, all filled with James' grinning face. And why hadn't she clued in before when Aidan had mentioned his favourite Quidditch player?

'I can't believe I didn't recognize him!' she cried. 'I mean, we were in the same house at Hogwarts for 7 years. We were even heads together! I can't believe I was that blind!'

'I wondered when you were going to figure it out,' a voice said from the bed. Lily looked down to see that same grinning face. She moved to sit on the edge of James' bed, the intern slipping out of the room completely unnoticed.

'Hey, I'm not completely at fault here. You can't say that you knew who I was either.'

James grinned unabashed. 'True. At first I had no clue, but things started to click in after awhile. Your smile is still the same, your laugh and the way you flip your hair. You still bite your nails when you're thinking. But what tipped me off was the look you kept giving me when I did or said something incredibly stupid. That look has been burned onto my memory from repeated viewing.'

Lily just gazed at him skeptically. 'Someone told you my name, didn't they?'

She thrilled as James took her hand laughing. 'Yeah, but all that stuff is true. You're still the same as you were at Hogwarts.'

'As the sophisticated young women that I am, I'd like to think that I've changed at least a little.'

'Well, you are more beautiful than before, though when we were 17 I would've never believed it to be possible.'

Lily smiled at him indulgently. 'Flattery will get you everywhere.' She was a bit disappointed as James abruptly let go of her hand, but realized why when he stuck his hand out towards her.

'I'm James Potter. My best friends call me Prongs and my healer calls me J.'

Lily put on a serious expression as she and James firmly shook hands.

'I'm Lily Evans. My friends call me Lily, and my colleagues and one patient call me V.'

'Well, now that we've been properly introduced, will you go on a date with me Miss Evans?'

'I'd like that Mr. Potter.'

A silly grin appeared on his face. 'I have been waiting for that answer since I was 11 years old.

'Are you serious, and don't even think about bringing back that tired joke.'

James nodded, pieces of his messy black hair failing into his eyes. 'Lily, part of me has been in love with you since the moment you tripped me on the Hogwarts Express first year. But I was a complete berk and didn't know how to deal with it, so I just decided to annoy you until you finally caved and went out with me. It took me until 7th year to realize that it was a stupid plan and I thought my best bet would to just be friends with you so that you would see that I had changed. And we did become friends, but it never led to something more. So when we left Hogwarts, I was determined to forget about my feelings for you. It actually worked and after awhile, I only thought about you when I saw you in the paper and that was only with reminiscent fondness. But when I found out that you were my healer and I saw how you started to look at me, I knew that it was fate.'

Throughout this speech, Lily's heart alternately clenched or felt like it was going to burst with joy. 'Why didn't you tell me who you were as soon as you realized who I was? I wasn't going to give away your true identity. For one, I know how to keep a secret (remember Remus) and two, I'm contracted to the hospital for this sort of thing. I wouldn't have risked my job.'

The smirk that Lily had hated in Hogwarts now became endearing as he replied, 'I wanted you to come to terms with how you felt now before you had to deal with the way you thought about me when we were teenagers. Plus, its kind of funny to see you in a situation where you're not in control and don't know exactly what's supposed to happen, Miss Know-it-all.'

Lily reached out to slap his arm, but James used his seeker reflexes after catching her hand to pull her until she was laying half on top of him. 'Ah, that's where I like you. Much closer.'

But Lily quickly slid off him to stand by the bed.

James' expression darkened. 'What's wrong? Are you shirty with me or am I still that repulsive?'

'No!' Lily cried. 'I just wanted to lock the door so that nobody could interrupt us. With an unlocked door, knowing our luck, your agent would find it the best time to check in on you. Not to mention the hospital staff who now know who you are and want to catch a glimpse of you. I want to do this right and I don't think I could stand being interrupted again.'

He waggled his eyebrows at her, very relieved. 'Sounds like someone is anxious.'

'You think you would be too. After all, you said yourself that you've been waiting for over 10 years,' Lily flippantly replied as she shut and locked the door and firmly drew the blinds across the window to the hall. Turning, she flashed James a shy grin.

'Come here,' James said, holding his hand out to her. Lily gently grasped it and took a seat by the bed so that she was facing James. She hardly dared to breathe as the man in front of her reached out with his free hand and stroked her cheek. A tremulous smile appeared on her face and James slid the hand back to cup her head and bring her closer.

Just as their faces were close enough that their noses were a few inches apart, James stopped. 'Lily, I just want you to know that his won't be some week long fling for me. No flavour of the week; this is real, it's what I want and I want it to last. Is that what you want as well?' His heart madly in his chest, half believing that this was an elaborate joke and his friends would soon jump from their hiding spots and yell 'Gotcha!' Perhaps he was still asleep and this had been a dream the whole time.

But the girl who had briefly closed her eyes in wonder as he touched her was real and so were the words coming out of her mouth. 'James, I'm ready for this. I think my heart has always been waiting for you, even though my brain never made the connection. But I've grownup, so I'm not some stupid kid anymore that can't look past the surface. I want this, and I'm ready to commit to this with you.'

At last, their lips met as their arms wrapped around each other with the same thought going through their minds. 'Finally.'

A/N: I thought this chapter was a lot longer than it actually is, but I guess that's what happens when you write it out on paper first and then transfer to the computer. Okay, so that's the end of this story, except for the epilogue which will be out in the next few days and it will be the official end to the story. Oh man, this is the story I started most recently and I finished it before the other fics that I've had going for 2 years. Bad Lisa, bad Lisa. Please review. Did you like the ending? Was it unrealistic?

I'm probably going to have more chapters up of another story soon so please check out my other stuff. I would love you forever.