A/N: WOW! You guys are awesome for reviewing. See how well you can do when you try? Quick answer to Pylea, I didn't realize you had this antagonism towards my Tanya. I love her very much. To be fair, the only one of my characters I've ever hated was in my New York series, Delia, which is why I never wrote about her much. I love this chapter, I worked very hard on it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 48: Preparation

Julie hurried packing Stephanie's bag for California. Stephanie walked into her room. Julie looked at her.

"Hey baby," she said. "Is there anything specific you want for California?"

"Can we go see Mommy and Daddy before we go?" Stephanie asked softly.

"Sure," Julie said. "I told you, we can go see them anytime you want." Stephanie nodded. "Is something else wrong?"

"No," Stephanie said. "Who's going to cook dinner on Thanksgiving?" Julie swallowed. "Mommy always did."

"I know Bug," Julie whispered. "I'm doing it this year." Stephanie nodded. "But I have all of Mommy's recipes, so it won't be exactly the same but it'll be close."

"OK," Stephanie said softly. "And Aunt Jaime and Uncle Josh will be there?"

"Uh huh," Julie said. "Are you sure nothing's wrong sweetheart?"

"Today at school, Aaron was talking about Brett coming home," Stephanie whispered. "I just got really sad because he was so happy to have his daddy home and mine won't come home."

"Yeah," Julie said, "come here," she hugged her. "I love you so much Stephie. More than everything in the whole world, and loving you and Mikey has been the only thing that's been keeping me from falling into the big hole in my heart from missing Daddy."

"I love you too," Stephanie said. "Can I bring Bear to California?"

"Sure," Julie said. "You can bring whatever you want."

"My blanket?" She asked. Julie nodded. "Mommy and Daddy's picture?" Julie smiled.

"Of course," Julie said. "Actually, I have an idea." Julie walked into her room and opened her nightstand. She pulled out the small gold locket Jaime had given her as a baby. She walked back into Stephanie's room.

"What's that?" Steph asked.

"Jaime gave me this," Julie said. "When I was a baby, so that she could always be with me," Steph nodded. "We're going to get a littler picture of Mommy and Daddy, and you can wear this so that they're always with you."

"Thanks," Stephanie hugged her.

"Hey," Jimmy said walking in. "Are you ready to go? We've got to head out."

"Almost," Stephanie said, grabbing her blanket. "Can I bring it on the plane?"

"Of course," Julie smiled. "Go potty, OK?" Steph nodded and ran off.

"Hey," Jimmy said.

"Hey, do we have time to Pit stop at the cemetery?" Julie said. "Steph wants to say goodbye to Dad and Elyse."

"Yeah, we'll go," he said, "of course."

"And you're sure about this?" She asked. "You don't want to stay behind and then go down to Connecticut."

"I'm perfectly OK with not dealing with Tammy and Dave's sexual tension," he grimaced.

"Ooh, I didn't even think of that." She said. "We made the right call."

Bonnie sat down at the dressing table in her apartment and ran a brush through her hair. She put her hand to her bare neck.

"Looking for these?" Liam smiled coming behind her and putting a string of black pearls around her neck.

"Oh Liam!" She whispered. "They're gorgeous!"

"Mm, I thought you'd like them," he kissed her softly. "Beautiful, classy, but not ordinary by any stretch, like you." She kissed him. "I thought you could wear them tonight."

"Liam, we've only been dating a few months," she said. "I don't know that I'm ready to meet your family."

"Bonnie," he said. "It's dinner with my brother and his wife." She nodded. "I understand that your last boyfriend was Jimmy Riley and 'meeting the family' meant something very different." She laughed. "Grant will adore you, and Alexia is far too stupid to notice anything beyond your shoes." She laughed. "Please relax," he kissed her.

"I am relaxed," she said. "Mostly," she stood up and they kissed again and he pressed her against the table. "Thank you for the necklace."

"I was thinking you could wear it to dinner," he whispered, "and then later too."

"With nothing else?" She giggled. "You are so bad!" He kissed her again.

"I'll let you get dressed." He whispered and walked away. She smiled. It was nice to be with him, and she'd never had sex like this. In fact the whole thing had started because they'd been at a fundraiser and had too much to drink and then shared a cab and he'd gotten far too handsy, but it had felt good. Two more martinis at her place later, and they'd spent the night together. She knew Liam Nichols had a playboy reputation, but to be frank, she didn't care much, he seemed sincere about her and she was enjoying herself.

"OK," Kelly said. "Here's what I do get, I mean, she's a socialite, right?" Scooter groaned. "But she has a job! I mean, she's really dedicated to her career, that's not normally his thing."

"Kelly," Scooter said. "Baby, I love you, but you're obsessing. It's been a week. Yes, I agree with you, it's excessively odd that Liam is dating Bonnie, weird because he slept with you and she slept with Jimmy. Although, you know, Ellie and Portman did the same thing." She rolled her eyes, "anyway, that's weird, and it's weird because she's not his type. But can we also agree that it is completely none of your business?" She crossed her arms and frowned. "Kelly, you and Liam went your separate ways personally six years ago and professionally one. I'm trying really hard not to read too much into this, especially after what you told me about right before we got married." She sighed.

"She's so much like me." Kelly whispered. Scooter nodded. "He could really settle down with her."

"Yeah," he nodded. "This is good. We like Liam, kind of, we want him to be happy."

"Thanksgiving is going to be miserable," she sighed, pressing her forehead into his chest.

"I don't think so," he said. "Dave promised to behave, your dad's still none the wiser about the him and Tammy affair right?"

"Yeah," Kelly said. "But Ana isn't." He sighed.

"Right," he said. "God, Dave is such a moron."

Tammy took a deep breath and knocked on the door to Jimmy's apartment. Steve answered the door.

"Hi," he said with a smile.

"Hi," she said, "um, I guess I just wanted to say hello and see if you maybe wanted to hang out tonight."

"Oh," he said. "Yeah, I would, but I can't, I'm heading out to California for Thanksgiving."

"Oh, you're going to California," she said softly.

"Yeah, I promised Julie," he said, "and more importantly Mikey. Did Dave head to Connecticut early or something?"

"No," she said. "I mean maybe, I wouldn't know, Dave and I kind of broke it off."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he smirked.

"Don't lie," she shook her head, "you suck at it." He smiled. "I thought we could maybe," she sighed. "I mean."

"Can it wait until after the holidays?" He asked. She blinked at him. "Talking about getting back together is hard enough when we're in the same place." She nodded.

"Sure," she said. "Um, I'll call you."

"OK," he said and kissed her softly. "I'm glad it's over."

"It wasn't going anywhere," she shrugged. "I'm not a girl who can do casual. It was fun, but…"

"But you need a plan," He smirked. "Yeah, I know." She laughed. "We'll talk soon." She nodded and turned around. "Tam," she looked over her shoulder. "Have a good time. With your family."

"You too," she whispered. "Say hi to everyone for me. Kiss the kids."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Oh um, Fulton's wedding was a few weeks ago right?" He asked. She nodded. "You doing OK?"

"Yeah," she said. "You know, it's hard, there was that part of me that thought maybe someday," she laughed. "I'm happy for him though, and now I can let that part go."

"Sure," he said. "I really have to catch my plane." She nodded; he walked over and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said. He pulled her inside and closed the door. "Your plane," she mumbled.

"I can take a later flight." He whispered. She smiled. "I want to be with you."

"So I was thinking that maybe we can do a destination wedding," Tommy said. Diane looked at him. "You know, small, just our families someplace really sunny."

"Tommy, um," she said softly.

"Unless you want to do it at home, like your mom and Claire did," he shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm not getting married in Iowa," she laughed.

"OK," he said. "It's pretty cool that your parents and Grandparents are coming to Connecticut."

"Oh, it's always fun when the Fitzgeralds and the Vanderbilts get together," she nodded. "Listen, Tommy, about the wedding. Now that we know, I mean, now that I'm going to be fine maybe we don't have to rush it." He stopped and looked at her.

"You want to post pone?" He said. She nodded. "Why?"

"Because I'm not dying," she said. "And I don't want to get married wearing a scarf on my head when I'm ten pounds underweight."

"So you want to put off the wedding?" He said. She nodded. "I don't know why I'm surprised." She sighed.

"Tommy, me agreeing to marry you was never about me being sick!" She said. He looked at her. "I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I'm just saying we don't have to do it before Christmas anymore! Can't we do it in the summer, when I'm healthy again?" He looked at her.

"Di," he said softly. "I know you, and this summer will turn to next spring, which will turn to next summer, to next fall, and the next thing you know we're going to be back where we were before you got sick." She stopped and looked at him and then leaned back. "What?"

"I just realized," she said. "You didn't ask me because you love me," he started, "I mean, I know you love me, that's not what I mean," she swallowed. "You asked me so that you would know where we stand."

"Di," he said, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said. "Why isn't that ever enough for you?" He sighed. "I'm not going anywhere. I want to marry you, but I want to be at my best when I do it." He looked at her.

"Diane," he said, "being afraid of the putting the wedding off has nothing to do with you or our past or knowing where we stand." She looked at him. "My sister and my best friend have been engaged for,"

"Oh," she said and giggled. "You're afraid I'm going to put it off for years the way that Kelly and Lena did?" He nodded. "God, no, I don't want to be engaged for five years." He laughed. "I'm just asking to gain some weight and let the bruises heal before I start trying on wedding dresses."

"Yeah," he said and kissed her. "That's OK." She nodded.

"Tommy, getting sick woke me up," she said. "I don't want another minute without you." She kissed him. "But there's no reason to rush anymore because I'm fine and I'm fine because of you, because you took care of me." He kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said.

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