Chapter 2: The week begins

For the rest of the week, neither Lilly nor Scotty mentioned the deal they had just made. Scotty figured that she was probably still a little pissed off at him for making her do this in the first place and decided it was best not to mention it. Five o'clock on Friday afternoon, when Stillman bid them all a merry Christmas and told them he'd see all of them in a week's time, Lilly cleared her throat and looked across at her partner "So" She said lowering her voice so Vera (who had just hurried past their desks to join Jefferies in the elevator) wouldn't hear "How is this gonna work, should I meet you at your place on Monday or will you pick me up?"

Scotty stood up and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, and started winding his long black scarf around his neck "I thought I'd pick you up, at say ten, and we can go over a few things before you meet them" Scotty said, still so glad that she'd was willing to come with him.

"Fine so I'll see you Monday then" She said somewhat coolly and she headed for the elevator.

"Lil, wait" Scotty called after her and he heard her sigh as she swivelled around to face him again, her patented ice queen stare firmly in place "I just wanna say again, that I am sorry I dragged you into all of this" He said "And that I really, really appreciate it"

Despite herself, Lilly felt her anger lessoning and she even managed a small smile "Its okay Scotty, I'll see you Monday"

"Night Lil"

"Night Scotty"

...

The weekend seemed to go too quickly for Lilly's liking; she wasn't really looking forward to spending the week with Scotty's family, pretending she and Scotty were dating. Come to think of it she wasn't even sure why she'd agreed to go in the first place, but something told her to give him a break and help him out so that's what she did.

Lilly had organised with her neighbour to take the cats for the week, she was only to thrilled that Lilly would actually be spending the holidays with someone and not by herself like she normally did, completely ignoring the entire week. She was just throwing together some last minute essentials when she heard a knock on her front door; slowly she made her way down the stairs to let him in.

"Mornin' Lil" Scotty said

"Hey" Lilly said

"Err, you almost ready to go?" He asked, shaking the newly fallen snow out of his hair.

"I guess" She said, allowing him to come into her living room "So why exactly does your family do this week long celebration thing anyway?" Lilly asked as he followed her upstairs to her room.

"Its kinda a tradition" Scotty said "Started when Mikey and I were small, we would have these huge feasts every night and on the day before Christmas Eve, Dad, Mike and I would go get our tree and we'd all decorate it together."

Lilly smiled, mostly Christmas was overlooked in her family. They would never get a tree and usually her mother would be passed out in her room to even bother getting presents for Her or Chris. Lilly had explain to Christina every year that Santa must of gotten lost on the way to their house, and he'd bring double the presents next year, but of course it never happened and Chris eventually stopped asking.

"What about you Lil, what did your family do?" Scotty asked. He knew Lilly didn't have the best childhood but surely her mother had pulled it together long enough to give her girls Christmas. When Lilly merely shrugged and picked up her suitcase, Scotty realised that he was probably wrong.

He walked with her back down the stairs and out to his car. He watched as she dropped off her spare set of keys to the neighbour and gave her a list of instructions for taking care of the cats, before she came back to the car and slipped into the passenger's seat.

The drive over to his parents was made mainly in silence; Scotty was trying not to say anything to piss her off. Lilly was staring out the window occasionally sighing, she wasn't entirely sure she was comfortable spending Christmas with Scotty.

She liked him and got on well with him but she hadn't spend any time with him outside of work and now not only was she going to spend a week with him at his parent's house, but she had to pose as his girlfriend. It was at this moment she didn't really know much about him, she'd been his friend and partner for seven years but apart from the occasional anecdote about his family he hadn't really shared much with any of them.

"So tell me something about your family" Lilly said "What are your parents like?"

"Ma came from Puerto Rico when she was five and my Dad came over from Cuba as a teenager." Scotty said as he negotiated a left turn "They met in high School and they have been together ever since and next year will be their 41st wedding anniversary" he said proudly and Lilly smiled.

Scotty told her story after story of previous Christmases he had spent with his family, having snow ball fights with Mike and his cousins, eating his mother huge Christmas dinners and him and Mike sneaking downstairs early on Christmas morning to sneak a look at their presents before their parents got up.

They finally arrived at a quaint little townhouse and Scotty parked the car and hoped out, comming around to Lilly's side to open her up her door for her. "Here we go" Scotty said as he grabbed her suitcase in one hand and his with the other. She followed him to the front door and took a deep breath as he knocked on the door.

Scotty, who was completely unaware of his partners silent panic beside him smiled widely as his father opened the door and welcomed them inside. "Holá Mijo" The old man said warmly as he pulled his son into a hug. Scotty returned the hug briefly before turning to Lilly "Dad, this is Lilly. Lil this is my father Ramiro" Lilly held out her hand to shake the elderly man's hand, but was surprised when he pulled her into a hug. Lilly wasn't used to this must affection, her own mother hadn't even ever hugged her and now, here was Scotty's father hugging her warmly and welcoming her into his home.

"Come in, and we'll get you settled in" He said and with his arm still around her waist, he guided them inside towards the kitchen. Lilly could hear several voices as they approached and she could smell something delicious wafting out and down the hall. "Scotty and Lilly are here" Ramiro announced as they walked in. She saw two people sitting at the small table, who she figured were Scotty's Brother Mike and his sister in-law Allie and the small woman by the stove must be Scotty's mother.

"Hey Ma" Scotty said with a wide smile that engulfed his whole face and he put down the suitcases to hug his mother. "Ma, Mike and Allie, this is Lilly. Lil this is my mother Rosa my brother Mike and his wife Allie" Lilly found herself being hugged and kissed by them and she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. These people were welcoming her into their home, under the delusion that she was Scotty's girlfriend and she was starting to think that this might be harder to pull off than she first thought.

"I suppose you two want to freshen up before dinner, Scotty I set up your old room" Rosa said

"Great, where's Lil going to sleep" Scotty asked, he knew his mother wouldn't want them sharing a room. It had been the same even when he was dating Elisa and normally he would have been annoyed at the fact he had to be separated from his girlfriend but it had been the same ever since he and Mike were kids. But now that Lil was just pretending to be his girlfriend he was eternally grateful of his mother's rule.

"We don't have the room, so you too will be sharing" His mother said casually as she turned back to the stove.

Lilly eyes widen in shock and she shot Scotty an icy glare that told him in no uncertain terms that he'd better as hell fix this. "But what about your rule Ma" Scotty began trying to sound like he was curious rather than panicked.

"Oh, never mind about that. I am not that old fashioned Baby, I am sure you two can behave yourselves for a week. Now off you go and get settled in I am sure you'll want to get comfy before dinner" His mother replied and Scotty turned to Lilly and gave her what he hoped was a confident grin that didn't portray the fear he had that she was about to tear his arm off and beat him to death with it...or worse blow their cover.

"Come on Lil, I'll show you upstairs" Scotty said and after a few seconds Lilly followed him reluctantly up the stairs.

A/n: Spending the week pretending to be dating is one thing but now they also have to share a room. I certainly don't envy Scotty right now; Lil looks ready to kill him. I'll try and keep her at bay for now, please read and review.