Soooo...that update I promised you a year ago...Apparently my time keeping skills are appalling. I'm so sorry guys, I can't even begin to tell you how much it means that this story is still getting reviews and I'm still getting PM's for updates.

This isn't my best, I'm still getting back into the swing of writing again, but this has been lingering on my laptop for months so I want to post it just to get that damn cliff hanger out of the way. A bigger, more dramatic, GSE, Pete filled chapter is following tomorrow, I'm just finishing it up. I'm so nervous about posting this, you have no idea so please be kind. I'm so excited to be back in the world of Pete and Allie! Reviews are welcome as always. Look out for the longer (and I promise better) chapter tomorrow.

El x

Closing her eyes so hard that brightly coloured dots danced blindly behind them, Allie fought off the feeling of unfamiliar hands working the zip at the back of her dress, sliding up over the skin that only Pete had been allowed to touch. His kisses felt wrong, it all felt...wrong but still she fell into his arms, onto his bed and-

"Ugh, are you shitting me?"

Allie Dunham broke out of her reverie, staring at her hand frozen over the doorbell of Nathan's front door, her shaking fingers causing her wedding ring to glimmer mockingly in the dim light coming from the mock art-deco lamp on the wall beside her.

"I mean, seriously Allie-Cat, what are you doing?"

That voice. She hadn't heard it in so long and now here she was, frozen to the spot of a strangers hallway, shaking, trying her best not to cry and terrified to turn around. Her blood ran cold and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, just as she had in her daydream a moment ago.

"You're going mad," she whispered to herself.

"The fuck you are," Lara Knight glared at her from where she was sat on the long oak table in the hallway, legs swinging carelessly as she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "You think I want to be here cleaning up your mess?"

She pointed sharply to the ceiling and widened her eyes.

"Heath Ledger is up there, I mean have you any idea how much ephemeral ass I could be getting right now?"

Against her better judgement, Allie laughed.

Fantastic, she thought, picturing your dead best friend and laughing at her jokes. Perfectly normal.

"What are you doing here, Allie?" her voice was softer this time.

"Pete told me..."

"To decide what it is you want," Lara nodded, pushing herself off of the table and over to lean against the door. "You think this," she tapped her finger against the door but amazingly, it made no noise. "...is what you want?"

"No," she whispered, meeting the brunette's eyes and feeling a lump form in her throat so big that she wondered if words would fit around it. "But I'm talking to a dead person about a failed marriage, I'd say my judgement is shot,"

"First off, the dead thing: cheap shot." Lara glared at her. "Secondly, since when is your marriage failing? Jesus, how many times are you and Pete going to need to be told that what you've got is rare. You guys love each other, better than that you like each other. You're friends and you're lovers and you would walk in front of fire for the other, why the hell isn't that enough?"

"But what if we're too different?" Allie shook her head, eyes watering painfully as she tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, determined not to cry. If she started, she'd never stop. "He's mind is still in the GSE, even now with a family..."

The elevator doors at the end of the hallway let out a shrill ping and a middle aged woman with a skeletal looking dog ambled out, lowering her glasses and looking at Allie strangely.

"Do you mind?" she snapped. "This is a private conversation."

The woman's eyes widened and she walked briskly to her door on the other side of the hallway, opening the door with record speed and slamming it shut. Upon hearing the lock slide into place, Allie dropped her head into her hands and groaned.

"That's it," she peeked at Lara through her fingers. "I'm done here, you're dead and I'm going mental,"

"Oh enough with the dramatics," Lara rolled her eyes. "You break your neck in one teeny weeny car accident and no one ever lets you forget it,"

Allie gawked at her, unable to believe her own subconscious was this sick and simultaneously this accurate at portraying Lara Knight.

"If this is what you want, then go for it. I'm your friend and I love you and all I want is to see you be happy," she shrugged. "But the only time I've ever seen you happy is with Pete. Things aren't always a walk in the park with you two and yeah, its scary because there is a lot going against you. He's all broody and from the other side of the tracks, you're all posh and whatnot. Its Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando but you know what, fuck it. For every one thing that's going against you, there's 50 going for you. But if you can shift the scales, if you can look at me and tell me that you don't have one reason to turn around and go back home, then..."

Lara rested her chin on Allie's shoulder and the sensation whipped her breath from her body. She knew Lara wasn't really there, nor had she been for any of the million and one conversations they had had over the last few months, but it felt so real. She closed her eyes, wanting so much to turn and hug her but knowing the pain of not being able to wasn't worth it.

"This isn't a choice, Allie." she whispered. "You know that as much as I do. Your fate was sealed the first time you laid eyes on that hunk-o-hooligan you call your husband."

What felt like a soft kiss brushed her ear and Allie's eyes instantly filled with tears, too many of them spilling over at once to even try and stop.

"I trust you, kiddo."

She opened her mouth to respond but before she could, the door swung open and Nathan stared at her expectantly, the same smug grin he had been wearing in her daydream adorning his face.

"Well, well, well," he let the door swing open far enough to reveal he was only wearing his boxers. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Allie blinked at him through her tears and felt sick; Pete would have noticed the tears first, he would have seen the dead look in her eyes and pulled her to him, not even having to say anything to soothe her.

"I, um," she stuttered, absentmindedly swinging her purse onto her other shoulder. "I guess I came here to, um..."

In the corner of her eye, she spotted a small piece of paper fluttering to the ground and breathed heavily, momentarily thanking God, Lara or possibly even Heath Ledger for their divine intervention. Bending down to retrieve it, her slim fingers caught it just before it brushed against the carpet.

Squinting down at it, she felt her heart begin to hammer, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she straightened up and held onto it so tightly that she thought it might rip.

"I came here to tell you," she spoke, her voice steady for the first time in days. "That I can't go on this trip. I don't want to go," she amended carefully upon seeing his eyebrows raise. "I love my husband, there is nothing and will never be nothing between you and I that crosses that line. And if you make him think otherwise again, I'll personally give you a guided tour of your own intestines."

Nathan raised an eyebrow at her, looking almost impressed. She noted though that the smug smirk had bled off of his face and he had taken a step back, his body language suddenly very different to what it had been a moment ago.

"That's it?" He asked her.

"That's it." she nodded and turned on her heel, striding towards the elevator and not turning back to face him, despite feeling his eyes piercing the back of her head. She punched blindly at the buttons in the lift, not taking her eyes off of the small scrap of paper in her hand, the familiar scrawl on it filling her with a combination of warmth and fear.

Back when they had been dating, Allie had given Pete this IOU when she went to work in the states for those few months, though they had felt like years. He had attempted to cash it in on various occasions, the most memorable being their wedding night. But she had assured him he would have all that for free, to save it for something important.

Her eyes stung and her breath caught in her throat as she fought harder and harder not to break down; she needed to see him now, to hold him, kiss him, scream that she was sorry, that she would never ever let him doubt her again. But she knew that wasn't what they needed. All she needed was to kiss him and make good on the promise she had made him all those years ago.

A small smile spread slowly across her delicate features as she clutched the note tighter, stepping out into the cold London wind, her fingers tracing the letters that had been written with such force that she could feel them.

I'm cashing it in.