A/N: Hello again, everyone! :) We're back again, with our girls and boys at Yale and life moves on...Nellie's birthday's approaching, semester exams are approaching, a wedding is approaching...what new challenges await our friend, eh? ;)

Nushka, my dear friend, another chapter for you, hehehe...thank the Faculty of Philosophy for that ;)

Lucy W: Thank you very much for your comment! :D Yeah, that's why I decided to write a story about Pitts, not only because he's my favorite character, but also because he was quite undeveloped in the movie ;)

The title is inspired by a quote said by Stannis Baratheon in HBO's "Game of Thrones", Season 5...it's the quote Pittsie says at the end of his point of view.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Dead Poets Society and its characters

"But what are our stories if not the mirrors we hold up to our fears?"

(Wally Lamb, "I Know This Much Is True")

Nellie's POV

"'No deed in any manner affecting any land shall be enrolled or recorded in any office or record other than in the Deeds Registry'," I read out loud for Virginia to hear, taking care that no one near us was disturbed from my voice. Several days had passed since our return to college and, no matter our happiness to be all together again, it was time for us to gather our strength and our composure and resume studying for the upcoming semester exams.

Which was why Virginia and I were in the library to learn for one of the most confusing—and, to be honest, one of the most boring—courses we had chosen; deeds, registrations, legislation and so on. The quiet all around, the sight of students buried in various books of various subjects and the uncountable bookshelves were giving a peaceful atmosphere, making it quite easy to concentrate—even though the literature department not far from where we were seated was a permanent temptation. Virginia had asked me the same morning if it would be better for us to read in our dormitory, but being in a room all day, having to memorize difficult details would drive me crazy. Besides, Ginny had said—and I had agreed—that it would be more beneficial for us if we chose more books than those of the syllabus; and, therefore, I had Registration of Deeds opened in front of me while my friend had our course book in the middle of the table so that both of us could read in it.

"Who on earth cares?" she mumbled now and tiredly leaned her head against her hand, half-closing her eyes and letting her pen fall from her other hand on the table. "Not me, that's who…and why did we choose this course again?"

"Because we had thought that a good lawyer needs to be educated about everything concerning law business, including registration," I whispered, chuckling at her genuinely frustrated expression. If I wanted to be honest with myself, I agreed with my friend on that: it was true, we had picked this course to have an idea about the confusing field deeds were, but it really was something I didn't enjoy studying at all. Of course I would study, of course I would do my best in the exams, but only that. After all, when you love what to do, the result is always better.

"Can't we just leave it and go for Family Law instead?" Virginia groaned, laying her head on the table in a gesture of giving up and desperation, as if she was wondering why the world was so unfair.

"Sooner or later, Ginny, we'll have to go back to Legislation, so let's read and be done with it, what do you think?"

"I think that people should go and settle their deeds themselves and leave us poor future lawyers alone! That's what I think!" she replied, her voice muffled because of the table, but then she probably thought that I was right and the sooner we were done with the course the better, because she rose her head and tried to focus on her notes again.

It was almost weird how circumstances changed the library from an almost-empty room to a crowded place. On a normal day it was almost entirely empty, with only a few students visiting it to borrow books for their classes or to search through the literature department for something interesting to read; now, though, it was impossible to spot an empty seat, since the whole library was filled with students learning for the exams that were approaching, questions being exchanged in whispery tones and notes being taken down; some others were walking through the shelves searching for books that would help them more.

And as if the exams weren't enough, I also had a wedding to think about. It was still three months away, but, as the maid of honor, I wanted and had to help Olivia with the preparations; my presence at Yale until Easter vacation, on the other hand, made things slightly more difficult. I mentally noted to call her later to learn what exactly was needed and to discuss possible solutions with her; because I could be hardly considered a maid of honor and childhood friend if I wouldn't even help in my best friend's wedding…not to mention that Virginia had declared herself willing to help with anything that could be done from here.

"By the way, did you hear anything about the exam schedule?" I asked her now, distracting her from her stupor and she looked at me as if the only thing she wanted was to fall asleep; it was funny, considering that we were here only for an hour. "They're only a month away and we have no idea when we'll write which course."

"Oh, that arrogant and snobbish redhead, Heather or whatever her name is, said that we'll learn it tomorrow," she replied and I sighed with relief; after all, if we knew the exam dates, we'd be able to organize our studying program much better. I only hoped that we wouldn't write anything on my birthday…not exactly the ideal gift, right?

Of course, momentarily thinking about my birthday automatically returned me to my birthday five years ago and everything that followed two months afterwards, but for now I prevented myself from going there and made another mental note instead, to write to my little brother, who was surely going through his own exams this period. Not that I feared that he'd fail, I wasn't like our father, who pressured him extremely; Alexander always studied very hard and, even though he had some difficulties in Math and Physics, he refused to give up and gave his best. A part of me worried that this was due to his fear to disappoint or anger our parents and if that was the case, if I noticed anything like that, I'd tell father my exact thoughts on the matter. My father could consider me the black sheep for all I cared, he could be indifferent towards my college life and my grades…but I wouldn't let him treat Alexander like an object or nothing more than a successor to his law office.

Going back to my book, I noticed an article that slightly confused me and I turned towards Virginia to ask her if she had something in her notes that would elaborate on it. But soon I realized that my friend was once more distracted by something, only that this time her gaze wasn't tired and bored, on the contrary, it had become sharp, with a hint of amusement, and staring at something in the distance, at the far back of the library. Following the direction she was looking at, I noticed Gerard exiting the room where the photocopier was, for students who wanted to copy notes or even pages from textbooks. Of course it was an entire process in order to be able to make any sort of copies, but considering that it was impossible to note down everything the professor said during class, it had practically saved me several times. Virginia and I both waved, not wanting to call out at him and disturb those around us, but he didn't even see us.

"My, my, is it me or is our dear friend lost in thoughts?" Virginia commented with a sly tone and suppressed a chuckle. "And why is he acting all mysterious and I-don't-want-anyone-to-notice-me?"

"What are you talking about? He's probably thinking about his courses too and that's why he didn't see us… obviously that's what he went to copy, some notes." I whispered and couldn't help but roll my eyes in a playful manner.

"Oh, really," she didn't seem satisfied with my explanation and stretched her heard to observe him better as he was about to leave the library. "Then why is he acting as if he went to copy some top private government secrets? No, no, no, there's a mystery here, Nellie, big mystery."

"The only big mystery here is how on earth we will manage to cover the legislation syllabus today, since neither of us is in the mood," I said sarcastically and chuckled; if Virginia's goal was to distract us from the specific course so that we'd study something far more interesting, the odds of achieving it were in her favor. "Leave the poor guy alone, Ginny, it's not our business what he copied and why he's lost in his thoughts."

"Oh, no, my friend, no, no, no, now he got me curious," Virginia giggled menacingly and stood up, obviously planning to go and talk to him.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know!" I told her, but she had already taken her leave and didn't pay attention to my comment. Now I couldn't hold back my laughter as I covered my mouth in order not to be heard while shaking my head at the same time: Virginia would always remain Virginia, this girl would never grow up!

If Ginny ever sits down to study undistracted for one hour, I'll marry the mysterious best man the day after Olivia's wedding, I thought and went back to reading.

Pitts's POV

Two things could make a guy's life in Yale extremely frustrating and today I had experienced both.

One, the universe conspiring so that the queue of students waiting at the photocopying machine would be extremely long particularly on the day I'd need it the most and be in a hurry.

Second, the man responsible for said photocopying machine, with whom I had to negotiate for ten minutes about whether I was allowed to copy any pages from the specific book I had and, after that, how many pages I could copy every time. Not even my (insisting) statement that I didn't have time on my side and had to have finished with the copies by the middle of next month was able to convince him and in the end I had to be grateful for the (small) amount of pages that were copied in the end.

Ah, well, when was reality easy to be now?

As I contemplated about possible alternatives I could use to realize my plan easier and on time, and clutching the book and the pages in my hand, I started walking through the sea of students filling the library to go back to my dorm and my textbook; today I had decided to devote my day revising some of the exercises we had done in one of the classes early in the semester. With the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a glimpse of two familiar faces, a blond and an auburn-haired head sitting on a table, the latter bent over some book or the other, and I quickened my pace, not wanting to be noticed by the girls and have the surprise ruined. Only Meeks knew of my plan and, after staring at me like a whole new Pitts was standing in front of him, he had said that my idea was 'brilliant and totally genius'—his words, not mine.

"And where do you think you're going, Mr. I'm-So-Mysterious-And-Think-I-Can-Escape-Virginia-Meadows?" a mocking voice stopped me right in my tracks outside the library and, as I turned, I saw no other than Virginia Meadows herself, smirking at me as if she had caught me doing something that no one shouldn't know.

Which she had, by the way!

Mission not to get noticed: a complete failure!

I hate you, universe! I really and absolutely hate you right now!

"Hey, Virginia!" I greeted her, giving an extra cheerful tone to my voice in order to hide my embarrassment and my awkwardness; and, at the same time, I turned the book so that the back cover was visible, making it impossible for her to see the title. "How's the studying going?"

"If it was any other course and not this one it would go much better," she answered and then focused back on me, her smirk becoming slier. "However, I think that you are the interesting case here, trying so hard not to get noticed…is everything okay?"

Despite her voice, that was still teasing, I didn't ignore the slight concern behind it, as if she was wondering if something had indeed happened to me and that's why I didn't want the girls to see me. Not that this was the case, of course; I was so happy to be away from my father, so happy to have reunited with my friends, so happy to finally be back in the Physics University classrooms that I had thrown myself into studying, more eagerly than before; I was seriously more carefree than ever, from the moment I stepped my foot in here. "Yes, don't worry, everything's fine, Virginia," I quickly comforted her and gave her a sly smirk myself. "It's just that…well…I'm preparing a surprise." I revealed, knowing that she wouldn't let anything slip; spontaneous and witty she might be, but she also knew how to keep secrets.

"Aha, so that explains everything!" Virginia exclaimed and winked towards me. "A surprise for a special someone, if I may ask?"

And now what do we answer, Pitts? I thought and stayed silent for a few moments. I knew, of course, what Virginia was implying and what she meant with this phrase, something that wasn't true in my case, since it was concerning only a very good friend. On the other hand, of course, I couldn't simply push aside the numerous conversations, the comforting, the easiness with which we behaved towards each other, even when we had our moments of silence or when we didn't want to talk about something that had hurt us.

So, in a sense…

"Yeah…you could say that," I stated in the end and immediately my still-existing boyish shyness struck and made my face heat up and get all red. "But, hey, don't…don't tell anyone, okay? I…I really want it to be a surprise."

"Don't worry, my friend, Virginia's lips are sealed," she promised and mimicked zipping her mouth. "I only hope that whoever it is for, that she's worth the surprise."

Ah, I can guarantee you that much!

"So, I'll let you be on your way, then, I've left poor Nellie alone with our dull notes. See you later, Pitts!"

"Yeah, see you later!"

"Soooo, everything alright?" Meeks wanted to know when I entered our dormitory a few minutes later, dropping the book and the copies on the desk and grabbing my desk.

"It took all my energy and all my convincing skills, but, yeah, everything alright in the end," I mumbled as I thought about the near future. We were having our first exams at college, I had started to fully live my life despite my traumatic experience at Welton, the Dead Poets were catching up, the girls had become a regular part of our lives here...even Nellie's friend who was getting married was a part of the story now.

We were moving on, finally realizing what it truly meant to seize the day.

Of course, it was still a battle, a war, and our hearts and minds could be the casualties.

But we were moving on, struggling through this battle.

And whether we marched to victory or defeat, the important thing was that we were moving forward. Only forward.

Nellie's POV

"Nellie! Now that's a surprise! How are you, happy to be back to college?" Olivia's happy voice was heard at the other end of the line. I smiled as I pressed the phone between my ear and my shoulder, ready to write down in the notebook I was holding. It was late evening, the sun had already set and Virginia and I had finished studying about two hours ago. After grabbing something to eat and regaining my energy, I had decided that it was time for me to forget the role of the good Law student for the moment and assume the role of the good friend and the responsible maid of honor…which meant calling the future bride herself. Of course I still thought that she was way too young for this, she wouldn't even be nineteen at the day of her wedding—her birthday was in July—but since it was her choice and the groom seemed like a decent guy, I had suppressed my objections and was genuinely happy for her.

"It's great, Olivia, back to my classes at last! But don't think that I've forgotten your wedding just because I'm away from Medford," I said and both of us chuckled. "So you are on today's agenda; you and what you want me to do for help."

"Nellie, it's fine, don't feel bad about it…don't neglect your studies because of me."

See, that's why we were so close friends. No matter how compromising she was, she never pressured me to obey my father's orders or to put her above college and everything else; she respected that I had my own life in Yale and simply appreciated that I had accepted this specific position at her wedding. "No objections, your maid of honor is talking now!" I said in fake determination and laughed again. "In fact, that's why I called you, I came up with an idea: how about you come here for everything you need, for your dress, for decoration and so on?"

"You mean…"

"Yes, silly, here! In Yale! If you come at my birthday, for instance, we can spend the whole day making preparations and shopping and then you can either stay or return to Medford, whatever you want." I suggested. It had been circling my mind as I was eating earlier, the question how I would be able to help by distance, since there was no way to go to my hometown in the middle of the semester…and then this idea had come up.

"Nellie, are you crazy? It'd be great, of course, but I had thought you'd like to spend your birthday with your friends from Yale, it's totally fine…"

"Olivia, Olivia…just because I have friends here doesn't mean I've forgotten about my childhood friend who's about to become a bride. Anyway, I can go out with them at night or something, your presence here won't be an obstacle." I assured her, honestly wanting to help her. She had agreed to the marriage, but no doubt she was—or would feel—quite nervous about setting up her own household and raising her own family and I really wanted to be by her side and ease her worries.

After a bit more objecting from her side, Olivia finally agreed to come to Yale; I almost yelled out in excitement to have my friend here, at a place I had grown to love. We proceeded to make a basic list of the things needing to be dealt with and I noted everything down, promising her to study it thoroughly and make up my mind about what we could do here together, what Olivia could arrange on her own, what I could do by distance and what could be left for the final week before the wedding; Olivia, in return, promised me to make up the guest list as soon as possible and post it to me so I could look over the seating arrangements myself and make any changes I considered necessary. At her mentioning the guests, I remembered something I wanted to ask her, about my own guests.

"Hey, Olivia, I was wondering… would you mind if a friend of mine joined us at our wedding shopping? I've invited her and I thought it would be good for you two to meet."

"Of course, no problem!" she said at once and her voice became curious. "So you have invited some friends, I take it?"

"Three, actually, three very good friends who have agreed to come," I answered and my smile became wider; I couldn't wait for us all to catch up at Easter break. "And I was wondering if we could arrange it for them to sit with the best man's family or guests or something? I may love my brother, but I really don't want to put them through my father and his interrogations."

Especially not Gerard and Meeks, who wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Of course, I'll have that in mind. By the way, Thomas spoke to the best man and he told him he'll invite his friends from high school, about four guys or so…so that can be arranged. Talk to your friend, though, and if she minds sitting with so many boys, tell her she's free to sit with us."

Ha! Virginia minding sitting with so many boys? That's a joke if I ever heard one.

"Don't worry about that, she'll be perfectly fine!"

Wedding preparations, ladies and gentlemen. A big challenge in their own way!

A/N So, my dear friends, another chapter has reached its end! Hope you liked it and I'll start writing the next chapter as soon as possible! :D