Chapter Three: Plan

A/N: Lizzie's about 17 here and Edwin's around 18. Sorry if this one's a bit longer, but this was the one that I had originally thought of, and the other two where just a product of the idea of this one.

When Lizzie met Edwin she thought he was odd and kind of funny. He was little corky, prone to be a bit over dramatic, but she grew up with Casey, so she could deal with it and she liked him. Sure he could be annoying at times, and he listened to Derek way too much for his own good, but in general he was ok.

Lizzie had been unsure when they'd first moved in, not of Edwin, but of everything. She couldn't understand how her practical, logical mother, the one who refused to get into any sort of serious relationship with a man without dragging both her daughters into it and getting their approval and permission, could run off and get married after only three months. She liked George, really she did, but before she actually met him, she couldn't help but wonder who this George Venturi guy was that he could make her mother act so… irresponsible, to move her and her two daughters into entirely different life just to be with him.

She was ok now, she may not have understood, but she could deal. It was just an adult thing she reasoned.

It didn't take long for her and Edwin to become friends, for them to develop a bond. They plotted, they schemed, they brainstormed money making ideas, and they negotiated for Derek and Casey when things got too rough. He very quickly became her best friend.

It was surprising, or rather not, since Edwin's research had shown that it was leading to this, when they witnessed the first kiss of their elder siblings in the living room, both of them gathering information, aka spying, at the top of the stairs. It hadn't really bothered either of them at first, it had been so obvious that things between Derek and Casey were building to something like that, but then one day Edwin had snuck into her room, eyes wide with panic, clutching their "Dasey File" to his chest.

"Lizzie," he hissed into the dark, knowing she wasn't quite asleep yet.

"What?" she murmured aggravated that he was keeping her from her dreams.

"We have a problem. Look." He hopped on her bed, not even giving her a chance to react to what he said before she found the "Dasey File" open and in her lap, two charts side by side.

"Edwin," she said, her patience wearing thin, "what exactly am I looking at?"

"That," he said, pointing to the chart on the loose sheet of paper, "is the progress of my dad and your mom." She raised an eyebrow, not knowing his "researching" went that far back. "I just drew it up from what I remember and what little notes I did take while they were dating," he added quickly seeing the look on her face. "And this one is Derek and Casey's."

"Okay, and?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "And, don't you see the pattern?" She looked again. Her mom's and George's chart went up rather fast, going from "just met" to "madly in love" to "married" all within a short distance. Derek and Casey's however went from "just met" to "intense fighting" rather quickly. They didn't reach "madly in love" until almost two years after a dot on the chart in which you could just barely decipher the words "first kiss" in Edwin's messy scrawl, and they reached "engaged" just six months after that.

"No," she answered honestly. "Edwin," she sighed, noticing what he meant at last. "There's a humongous time difference here. Mom and George got married in just over three months from the time they met, it took Derek and Casey two and half years from their first kiss just to get to engaged."

"But they were fighting." He looked at her like he just disproved all of what she said, but by the stare she was giving him, he knew she still didn't get it. "They were fighting to not fall in love. Dad and Nora didn't. They just met and fell in love. Derek and Casey fought; even after that first kiss they still fought it. Come on Liz, you and I talked about this." They had, it was a rather long and humorous conversation about how they wished both of their stubborn siblings would just give in already, because they were just causing each other pain doing it their way. "If they hadn't fought it so hard, they probably would have gotten together when they met, and you and I would be an aunt and uncle by now." She gave him a disbelieving look, Casey was responsible, no way would she allow herself to be a mother barely into her twenties. But she could see his point. Casey and Derek had fought it; they hadn't given in easily, not like George and her mom.

"Ok, so what's the big emergency?" Lizzie asked, still not seeing his point.

"Well, if everything keeps going, you know," and he suddenly seemed a bit nervous, "we're next."

Lizzie just looked at him, allowing his words to sink in. She wanted to ask him how he knew that, what could possibly make him think that, but she knew what. She could clearly see the pages and pages of research they had done, could see the pattern of both their parents' relationship and Derek and Casey's, and her and Edwin were at risk. If they followed in their elder's footsteps, if history repeated itself- she didn't want to think about it. They looked at each other with horror filled eyes. Briefly Lizzie thought that maybe she should be offended that Edwin didn't want to be with her, but one look at his face and knew that it reflected her thoughts, it wasn't the thought of being with her that brought on such terror, because she could easily see spending the rest of her life with him, but it was the thought of no choice. What would be the point of crushes, of dating if she had met "the one" at the age of eleven? No, it couldn't happen. She couldn't have her life just set in stone like that.

"We have to stop it," she said suddenly, breaking away from his panicked gaze. "We'll, we'll fight it," she winced after she said it, remembering the two years of pure hell her sister went through with her and Derek trying to fight it. "Or we'll make a plan. We're good at that. Creating some kind of scheme, a way to keep us from…" she couldn't finish that thought.

Edwin took a deep breath, letting it out quickly, face resolved. "Ok. Where do we start?"

"Well, we could start with if we ever feel, you know, an attraction, we'll just," she paused her eyes searching her room for the answer, "find someone else and flirt with them; someone attractive. And we'll avoid each other that day, not completely 'cause that would be obvious and weird, but just kind of keep to ourselves more."

He nodded, pulling out a blank notebook from the back of the binder and began taking notes, drawing out their plan of action. They talked well into the night, coming up with different way to not fall for the other until they had pages and pages full of what they thought was a fool-proof plan.

They each only got about three hours of sleep that night, but it was worth it. Their plan worked… for a little while at least.

She wasn't sure when she gave in.

Lizzie was in love, and she hated every stinking minute of it. This wasn't suppose to happen, they had a plan, but it hadn't worked, well at least not for her, and that's what terrified her the most, that whatever curse seemed to be on their family, it had apparently affected her, but not Edwin. He was calm and collected, well, as calm as Ed ever really got, he was trying this "I'm so cool, look how I don't care thing" for the past couple of months which only made him seem even more odd, and she was a nervous wreck. She could barely look him the eye without risking a sappy smile. She had tried everything, but it was too late, she had failed.

So she found herself hiding in the game closet, their game closet, during her eighteenth birthday party, trying desperately to avoid Edwin. She just couldn't handle him, this, them, not today. She was supposed to be happy, but she wasn't sure if she could hide her feelings if she let her guard down enough to actually enjoy her party.

The door opened and Lizzie looked up seeing the one person she was trying to avoid. "Hey, what are you doing in here? You're missing Morgan trying to pull out every one of Nora's hair." Her heart sped up, and she could feel the tug of her blood in her veins, begging her to move closer to him, to give in.

"Just needed to get away for a minute," she lied. He nodded but instead of leaving, going back to see if their three month old niece was successful, like she had thought he would, he stepped in, closing the door behind him and turning on the over head light. There was an awkward silence, at least from her end. Edwin seemed unfazed although he kept up his trying to act cool thing he'd picked up, but there was a bit of concern in his eyes as he gazed at his best friend's frightened face.

"Wha-"

But she cut him off. "I didn't work," she hissed. He opened his mouth, preparing to ask "What?" when she forged ahead. "The plan," she clarified, "It didn't work." He just continued to stare at her, confusion clearly written on his face. Lizzie looked him square in the eye, leaning forward until their faces were just a few inches from each other, which wasn't that far (she'd swear that their closet had gotten smaller.) "I really really like you," she whispered, not willing to say it was anything more out loud. She heard his breath hitch. She didn't care that she wasn't following the plan anymore, that she was throwing all their hard work out the window in one instant of weakness. Screw the plan. Besides Mom and George, Derek and Casey, they were happy, why couldn't they be together too?

There was wonderment in Edwin's eyes, and an undeniable excitement. He leaned forward slightly, leaving just a breath of space between his mouth and her's, before whispering, "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that." Lizzie closed the space between them quickly. It was sweet and kind of desperate, and just a touch uncomfortable until they got their rhythm down, but neither cared, it was what they wanted, what they'd both been waiting for. This felt right.

She knew that plan was stupid.

A/N: Oh, look at that, I've figured out how to add a line. Yay me! In case you were wondering, Edwin was trying to act all cool to win over Lizzie. He gave into his feelings before Lizzie did. I think it's a Venturi quality, the lack of a will to fight something for too long, that's why I made both Derek and Edwin give in before Casey and Lizzie. George didn't have to fight, he had it easy. I don't my lack of reviews; they make me think you guys don't like my stories. *pouts* Make a poor girl happy and press the button. Please. XD