AN: Thank you as always for your wonderful reviews for the last chapter :) And thank you for getting me past 100 reviews! I'm so glad you thought I captured Lauren well – I haven't studied her quite as intently as I have Charles and Liza so I was worried about getting her right!

So here's the next chapter and it's them taking that big step so I hope you like it! I'd love for you to drop me a review and let me know what you think :)

Enjoy!

LIZA

"Are you ready for this?" Maggie smiled at Liza as she looked around at her now empty bedroom. This had been her home for the past two years and it was weird to see it without her books on the shelves or her clothes draped over the chair. She loved this apartment and she'd loved living with Maggie. But now, for only the second time in her life, she was taking a massive leap of faith and following her heart to share a home with a man. Her man, the man she'd fallen hopelessly and irrevocably in love with – Charles Brooks, who was downstairs right now putting the last of her things into his car.

"I am" Liza replied, smiling happily at her best friend. As nervous as she was about taking such a big step, she wanted this and it felt right.

Maggie squeezed her hand in a show of solidarity. "I'm gunna miss you."

Liza felt her throat tighten and her eyes mist up as she pulled Maggie into a tight hug, "I'm gunna miss you too. But I'll be round all the time and I'm not going far." As she stepped back she blinked away the tears that had started to form, "Thank you for everything you've done for me." Maggie waved her off but Liza continued, "Seriously Maggie, if it wasn't for you I don't know what I'd have done after the divorce. You saved me."

"It was nothing – you're my best friend. And you'd have done the same for me."

"I would. But I'll always be grateful for what you did. It was because of your crazy plan that I got my job at Empirical, and that I met Charles when I did."

Maggie smiled fondly, "I'm pretty sure you two would have met anyway."

Liza grinned, "Especially if Bob and Julia had anything to do with it."

They laughed and Maggie looked at her with a mixture of pride, happiness and sadness. "Seriously though, I'm happy for you. I never did like David – I always thought he was a bit of a douche and that you could do better. And I love Josh - he was good for you after the divorce, but he was never right for you long term. But Charles – he's a good man, and you're both as nerdy as each other! I've seen the way he looks at you, and you at him – I have a good feeling about you two."

"Thank you, that means a lot." Liza had known Maggie had never been David's biggest fan and it turned out her intuition was right, but knowing she was rooting for her and Charles really meant a lot to her.

Maggie wrapped her arm around Liza's shoulder, "Come on, let's get you to your Mr Darcy."

As they came back into the lounge, Charles smiled warmly at them from his seat at the breakfast bar. She hadn't realised he'd came back up. Liza went over to him and leaned into his chest as he made space for her between his legs. She wrapped her arms around his neck and played with the hair at the back of his head, "Hey, all done?"

Charles wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her to him, "Yeah, everything's packed. I erm didn't want to interrupt" he added, nodding towards her old bedroom.

Liza smiled affectionately at him – he was definitely the sweetest man she'd ever met. This was a big day for them but he knew how much Maggie meant to her and he wanted to give her some time with her friend. "Thank you".

Their eyes glistened with happiness as they smiled at each other, with looks that said 'I can't believe you're mine' and 'I can't wait to start my life with you'.

"You guys look like you're ready to strip each other naked any second" Maggie teased, "Just hold on 'til you get home!"

Charles blushed and dropped his gaze. Liza had always found his shyness endearing. She felt a rush of warmth run through her veins at the thought that 'home' was now the same place for both of them. Liza smiled and held her hand out to him, "Are you ready?"

Charles glanced at her hand then sighed happily as he looked back up and held her gaze, "I've been ready for a long time."

As he took her hand in his and they walked to the door, her heart did a little flip flop. In that moment she fell in love with him just a little bit more. Maggie followed them out into the hall and Liza could tell she was trying to hold it together. Charles seemed to sense this too because he stepped forward and hugged her gently. It was whispered but Liza was sure she heard him say "I'll look after her."

As he stepped back, Maggie smiled warmly at him. "I know you will." As Maggie turned her attention to her and pulled her into a tight hug, Liza lost her battle with fighting off the tears. It was the end of an era, but also the start of a new and exciting one. Maggie lost her own battle with the tears as she held Liza's arms in her hands and smiled at her. "Go on, get out of here. There's a lot of rooms in that Brownstone to christen!"

Liza chuckled as she shared a look with Charles, knowing they'd made a pretty good start on that already. She sighed in a mixture of happiness and nervous anticipation as she looked back at her friend. "Now you have the place to yourself, you could think about getting a new roommate – maybe Malkie?" she added teasingly.

Maggie smirked and rolled her eyes, "Maybe. Now go on – go be happy!"

With one last smile at Maggie, Liza took Charles's hand and they walked outside into the sunny New York afternoon to begin their new life together.

Charles opened the car door for her when they pulled up outside the townhouse and they walked hand in hand up the steps, grinning uncontrollably at each other like love-struck teenagers. Before opening the door to 'their' home, Charles cupped her face in his hand and leaned down to tenderly brush her lips with his. "Welcome home" he murmured softly.

Liza smiled warmly as he stroked her cheek with his thumb, then stepped over the threshold of her new home as he held the door open for her. Less than three seconds later she was met with the sounds of excited giggles and a stampede of little feet as Nicole and Bianca rushed over to them, trailed by their babysitter.

"We made you this Liza" Nicole declared happily, proudly holding out a handmade card, covered in glitter and shiny foil, and lovingly inscribed in their childish scrawl.

"Yeah and we made you some cookies too!" Bianca added excitedly.

Liza crouched down so she was at their height and took the card from Nicole. "Wow, girls that is so thoughtful – thank you!" She looked down at the card and a lump immediately formed in her throat as she read the words on the front: 'Welcome Home Liza' with a heart drawn underneath. It meant so much to her that the girls accepted her and were happy about her sharing their home.

"We wanted you to feel welcome" Nicole explained shyly.

Liza reached out and cupped her little face affectionately then smiled at them both, "Well I do, so thank you. I love the card – it's beautiful, and I'm gunna keep it forever."

The girls beamed at the compliment then looked excitedly at each other, "Let's go get the cookies!" Bianca decided, before both girls dashed back into the kitchen.

Liza stood back up and turning to Charles she saw he was giving her that look that always turned her insides to mush. She grinned back at him. "Did you have a hand in this?" she asked fondly, holding the card up.

"No, this was all them – they love you Liza" he assured her.

Liza's heart melted. If someone would have told her two years ago when she was bankrupt, homeless and had just filed for divorce, that she'd be this happy and this much in love, she would never have believed them. It was crazy how much her life had changed, for the better, in such a short space of time.

"But I did have a hand in this" Charles added as he pulled a gift wrapped box out of his jacket pocket and shyly held it out to her.

Liza's eyes widened in surprise as she recognised the iconic Tiffany & Co turquoise box and white bow. "Charles, you didn't need to buy me anything!"

"This is a big day for us Liza – I wanted to commemorate the occasion." Charles replied sincerely, his eyes shining with love.

Liza sighed happily. This man stood before her had no idea how amazing he was, and she loved him all the more for it. He was romance personified, without any conscious effort. "Thank you. You shouldn't have, but thank you."

Charles smiled happily, "Open it".

Liza returned his smile and delicately untied the bow. When she opened the lid she felt a lump forming in her throat again and her eyes misting up. Inside was a beautifully delicate silver charm bracelet, which held two charms. One was a key, which she knew signified her moving in, and the other was a silver heart, and when she picked it up she saw that on one side were their entwined initials and on the other was today's date. For the second time that day, Liza felt tears roll down her cheeks. She looked up at Charles and saw that he was watching her with nervous anticipation of her response.

"Are those happy tears?" he asked cautiously.

Liza chuckled happily and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a searing kiss. "Yes! Yes, they're happy tears! Charles I love it, and I love you."

Charles beamed and his happiness was palpable as he rested his forehead on hers and kissed her nose. "I love you too Liza – so much."

"Will you put it on for me?" she asked, holding it out to him.

"Of course" Charles replied, talking it from her and gently fixing it around her wrist. "I thought we could add more charms to it for other significant events we share in the future" he added as he caught her gaze.

A shiver ran down her spine at the look in his eyes and the thought of the significant events they could share. She wanted it, all of it – with him. "I'd like that." She smirked as she delicately ran her fingers over the date engraved on the heart, "It's a good job we didn't postpone moving 'til tomorrow."

Charles chuckled in amusement, "Yeah that would have been problematic."

They laughed and then turned and grinned as the girls came dashing back into the lounge, holding a plate of homemade cookies. Liza leaned down and made a show of examining the girls' efforts, before picking one and taking a bite. "Oh my gosh, these are the most amazing cookies ever!"

The girls giggled in delight at the compliment. After Charles paid the babysitter and walked her to the door, the four of them went out to the car and helped carry Liza's things into the house. It was touching to see the girls so eager to help and she busied herself making sure they weren't carrying anything too heavy. After they'd finished they sat down on the rug in the lounge, talking and laughing together as they polished off the entire tray of cookies. It didn't matter that eating all those cookies would ruin the girls' appetite for dinner or that there were crumbs all over the floor, because for all four of them it was a moment of pure happiness.

With their bellies full with cookies, none of them felt like doing anything energetic, so they spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in total lazy mode. They played board games (and let the girls win), watched a movie – not Frozen this time, which Charles seemed relieved about, but Despicable Me instead, and ordered in pizza. It was such a fun and carefree way to spend the day, and Liza couldn't have been happier.

When the girls had started to fall asleep on the couch from their carb overload, Charles had carried Bianca in his arms up to bed, trailed by a sleepy Nicole. Liza had offered to help but Charles had told her that tonight her only job was to put her feet up and relax, even though she'd humorously reminded him that that's all she'd been doing all day. She sighed contentedly as she followed Charles' instructions, reclining on the couch as she put on her reading glasses and browsed through his copy of The New York Times.

She looked over as she heard him coming down the stairs and caught his gaze. He smiled warmly at her, but his eyes shone with a hunger that made her skin tingle. She knew he had a thing for her wearing these glasses, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't make a point of wearing them more often around him, to elicit a reaction like this.

He couched down in front of her and drew featherlight circles on her arm with his finger, and she felt the sensation all the way down to her toes. "Mmmm, you know what those do to me" he murmured huskily, his gaze boring into her.

She swallowed, desire burning deep in her belly, as she watched his irises turn a deeper shade of green. "I know" she whispered.

Charles grinned, "They are very, very sexy." His fingers continued their torturously distracting caress down her torso, then over her folded legs, settling on her hip, making her gasp and her pulse race. "I think there's one more thing I need to do to welcome you to your new home" he added softly, the reverberations of his silky voice causing the hairs on her arms to stand on end.

"And what's that?" she murmured breathlessly. Her mind was going wild with images of what she knew he was talking about, but wanted to hear him say it.

The look he gave her could have melted her clothes right off, right there. She gasped in surprise as he lifted her effortlessly into his arms as he stood up. "Well, I'm going to carry you up our stairs to our bedroom, and make love to you, all night long, in our bed."

Liza's insides liquified at the prospect, and the emphasis he placed on 'our'.

"Keep those on" he whispered into her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin and sending tingles down her spine. Liza could only nod in response as he'd left her speechless. The look in his eyes as he grinned at her held a promise that tonight would definitely be a night to remember. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a searing kiss that left them both breathless. She made a mental note to never take those glasses off again.

They giggled happily as Charles carried her up their stairs, to their bedroom, and lay her down tenderly on their bed. He smiled reverently at her as he brushed a tendril of hair from her face, and in that moment she could see with absolute clarity the depth of feeling he had for her. She knew he loved her, but until that moment as she looked at him with the moonlight reflecting in his eyes, she hadn't realised quite how much. She hoped he could see she felt exactly the same way about him.

"Welcome home Liza" he murmured softly.

"It's good to be home" she managed to choke out, her emotions getting the better of her.

No more words were needed as their mouths found each other once more, and their bodies delighted in the familiar but indescribable ecstasy of having found their home.

As the hours ticked by and night turned to day, Charles made good on his promise, and made her feel very, very welcome.