Hey guys…sorry it's been so long but I'll add a new chapter soon because I'm way ahead on the other site so I can add a lot here!

Also, sorry for the weird spacing…it's being stupid and annoying!

Enjoy!

Chapter 11:

James sat up, slowly eased back to consciousness by Lyla, who waved Sirius over and asked for a glass of cold water and a fresh cloth for James' head.
"James...James? I'm right here, can you hear me?" she was watching him carefully, trying to catch his eyes with hers, but James' eyes were darting left and right.
"James, can you-" she started to ask again, but he suddenly looked right at her and nodded. The quick jerks of his head caught him off guard and he groaned and moved to lay back down, his head falling softly on the pillow Lyla had found for him.
"Ok, that's good...now you need to stay with me, James," she said, quietly. She tapped him on the cheek and pleaded with him to look at her. "Open your eyes, James. That's all I want, just open your eyes again."
"Her you go," he heard Sirius' voice echo somewhere above him.
"Thank-you," Lyla replied. There was some quiet rustling as she took whatever it was from Sirius and then James heard his friend's dying footsteps.
"Come back..." he tried to whisper, but he didn't have the strength to say anything. He let his mouth hang slightly open and his head he let fall to the side slightly. He soon felt Lyla's hand cup his chin and push it back to center.
"James.." she whispered, and he so wished to look at her, but he was sure he couldn't. "Open your eyes for me, James..."
James swallowed hard and used all of his effort to reopen his eyes. Lyla's worried face and vivacious curls opened in front of him and he smiled. God this is painful... James thought to himself, fighting to stay conscious.
"That's it, James. Now focus on me," Lyla said, her tone was firm but soft at the same time and James obliged.
"That's it...stay here, James," she repeated, and he saw her reach her arm acrss the floor. When her hand returned, James saw she was holding a tiny silver flashlight, which she held up and smiled.
"Ok, this will just take a second. Just concentrate on me, James."
Suddenly, the light was shining in his left eye, like a blade cutting through his most sensitive body part. He quickly shut his eyes and leaned his head away from the light.
"Fine," he heard Lyla's voice above him. She beckoned to some people and there was a shuffle of feet.
Next thing James knew, someone was pushing his head up while a second person held his head straight with one hand and forced his left eye open with the other. He grunted his disapproval and tried to squirm, but they held on tight and he stopped resisting.
"Ok, let's do this."

"Well, he doesn't have a concussion, he just needs a good nights' rest and a lot of fluids. If he starts acting odd, let me know," Lyla said, handing Remus a piece of paper on which she had scribbled her phone number.
"How do you know all of this?" Sirius asked her.
"I'm training to be a nurse at St. Mungos, this is basically the first thing they teach you how to determine," she replied, packing up her purse and shutting it with a click. She slung it over her arm and turned back to Remus and Sirius.
"Oh..." Sirius replied.
"A delightful evening, boys," she joked, raising and eyebrow at them.
"Yeah, well, if we ever want to do it again, I have your number," Remus laughed and she smiled.
Lyla leaned down to where James was still being propped up on the floor. He sat in front of her, his eyes open but slightly glazed as he stared across the room at a desk chair.
"James?"
He slowly turned his head to look at her.
"Good-night," she said simply. Lyla was about to get up and walk away when James finally opened his mouth.
"Lyla?" he croaked, his throat dry and scratchy. She looked at him. "You are..." he seemed to trail off, turning his focus back to the chair, but then he looked back at Lyla and finished his sentence, "beautiful."
Lyla was still rolling her eyes when James suddenly leaned forward. It wasn't so much a kiss as James' lips crashing onto Lyla's, but she stiffened suddenly as she felt his face on hers and looked around at the other people watching, silently asking for their assistance. James, however, pulled away before they could come over. He closed his eyes, muttered, "I just wanted to tell you that..." and fell over onto Lyla's lap, apparently fast asleep.
Lyla slowly stood up, catching James' head in hands and laying him back down on the floor, his mouth slightly open.
She looked around and smiled. "Make sure he gets a lot of sleep." She shook her head and walked out of the room.
Remus and Sirius looked at each other and cracked up laughing.
"Oh. My. God." Remus said, raising his eyebrows at Sirius.
"Let's just get this lover boy home," Sirius replied, lifting James up into his arms and walking out the door as Reus held it open for him.

"Lily?" Liz whispered, looking at her friend with sadness in her eyes.
Lily looked up at her and Carmen, tears threatening to fall down her wobbly cheeks.
"You cheated on James?" Carmen asked, shock echoing through her words.
"Well...I don't know..." Lily finally replied, blinking back tears.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Carmen shot back, a slight bitterness in her voice. Lily prickled at her tone and she quickly realized her harshness and softened her eyes. "Sorry. So, what happened?"
"Well..."

When Lily finished reliving the night she would least want to relive in her life, she looked around at her friends to see what they thought.
"Oh no...no, that's not cheating. A little irresponsible, yes, but not cheating...I mean, you were hopelessly drunk and unaware of what you were doing and that" she swore loudly, making Liz jump, "took advantage. No. Not cheating." She finished, smiling at Lily, who was wiping her eyes with a tissue. She had broken into sobs somewhere in the second half of the story.
"I agree," Liz said quickly. "Not cheating. Stupid and irresponsible, but not cheating."
Lily smiled weakly at her friends. "Thanks, you guys..."
"Aw, come here!" Carmen said, pulling her two friends in for a deep, strong hug. Lily's shoulders shook against her arm and she sighed and kissed her on the head. "Oh, poor Lily."
They pulled apart from each other, Carmen and Liz each slightly wetter from Lily's tears, but smiling at her.
"Does anyone else know?" Liz asked.
Lily sighed and nodded her head slowly. "Yeah...yeah, Remus knows because he was at Hogwarts with me."
"What'd he say?" Carmen asked, taking a sip of what was left of her wine.
"He was good. He didn't blame me or anything. I dunno. I was too emotional to take him seriously. He said that I made a mistake and it would be o.k., but I have to tell James," she sighed a big sigh after this last line.
"You do have to tell James, though," Carmen said.
"I know," Lily nodded. "But I'm scared to tell him," she whispered.
"If he loves you, he'll understand, and unless he's a very good actor and we never knew, he is completely smitten with you, Lils," Liz told her, patting her on the shoulder.
Lily smiled, just a little. Carmen held her arms out and Lily fell into them.
"Thanks, Carma. Thanks, Lizard," she said, closing her eyes and smiling.
"Any time," Carmen told her, rubbing her shoulder and smiling across at Liz.

Lily was lying on her back on the floor, Liz and Carmen snuggled on either side of her, when she heard the door open. Hushed voices floated through the hall to her ear.
"Shh! Quiet, Sirius. If I know those girls as well as I think I do, they fell asleep right there in the living room," Remus whispered hurriedly.
"So?" Sirius replied loudly.
"Quiet!" Remus chastised his friend. There was a pause and Lily heard a muffled rustling as though the boys were shifting something that they were holding.
"I'm sorry; So?" Sirius repeated himself, this time barely above a whisper.
"So...you don't want to wake them up, do you?"
There was a pause while Sirius weighed his options and chose a response.
"Is Carmen here?" he finally replied slyly, and Lily could almost see his grin in her mind's eye. She smiled and rubbed her tired eyes.
"Don't be such a prat!" she heard Remus' voice say and she lifted Carma's arm off of her stomach and replaced it on the ground as she stood up. She pulled her shirt back down over her stomach from where it had ridden up while she rested. She sighed before walking across the living room and into the hallway.

As Lily strained her eyes to look down the dark hall, she saw Sirius and Remus, inching towards her carrying something big and oddly-shaped. It took her a moment to recognize the "object" as her living (hopefully), breathing boyfriend.
"James?" she asked out loud, causing the boys to stop suddenly and look up. Sirius' eyes grew wide and he turned slowly to Remus.
"Let's turn around and walk back out...maybe she didn't see us yet..." he whispered, his eyes darting quickly between Remus and Lily, who was now standing with her hands on her hips, watching them carefully.
Remus just looked over at Sirius, his eyebrows raised and look of pure sadness on his face at his friend's suggestion.
Lily walked down the hallway towards them; she walked right up to Sirius and slapped him hard across the side of the head.
Sirius jerked back at her touch and nearly lost his hold on James' shoulders. "Ow! What was that for?" he cried, and Remus shushed him again.
Lily turned to him. "Sheer stupidity," was all she said.