Siggy...you're back! Woo-hoo! I've missed you guys! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter...the OCD is slowly but surely returning, its the power of reviewing that fuels it. :D Anywho...you know the drill: love it, hate it, indifferent, all feedback is welcome. Enjoy! (And to Becki who has reviewed every frickin' thing I've ever written: you, lady, are my saving grace! Hope you like this one!)

"Do you want to run that by me one more time, mate?"

Pete looked up into Bovver's wide eyed gaze and fought the urge to laugh; he should have known that of all people, Bov would have taken this harder than anyone.

"I'm going to ask Allie to marry me," he repeated, watching as Dave laughed and shook his head, while the rest of the boys just stared at him open mouthed. "Fuck me, is it that much of a shock?" he laughed.

"Nah mate," Swill shook his head. "It's just…well, it's a bit fucking serious, ain't it?"

"That's kinda the point, mate," Pete frowned and then took a deep breath. "So come on, what d'you reckon?"

"I reckon you're fucking crazy," Dave laughed and then winked at him. "But I'm proud of you, Pete. She's an amazing girl,"

"She hasn't said yes yet," Bov muttered and Pete shot him a look. "Are you sure about this, Pete?" he asked.

"Positive," the blue eyed man nodded and felt a goofy grin pulling at his lips. "I want this more than I've ever wanted anything,"

"Right then," Bov nodded and then stood up, looking as though he was about to leave. Instead he made his way over to Pete and pulled him into a tight, brotherly hug. "Congrats, mate. You poor bastard," he laughed. "Signing yourself up for the long haul…"

"Yeah, yeah," Pete laughed and sat back down, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the black jewellery box, opening it and placing it on the table.

"Fuck me sideways!" Swill cried, leaning in and inspecting the ring. "How many zeroes did that take off your pay check?"

"More than was there to begin with," Pete laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "But what do you think? Do you reckon she'll go for it?"

"Mate, I would if I was her," Swill nodded and then winced, feeling the rest of the boys' eyes on the back of his head. "Right, that sounded a lot less gay in my head,"

"Have you told Steve?" Dave asked, laughing and shaking his head at Swill who went back to drinking his pint and muttering something about not being gay under his breath.

"Yeah," Pete nodded. "The cheeky fuck laughed at me for about 20 minutes before I could actually convince him I wasn't taking the complete piss,"

"So when are you gonna…" Bov gestured to the ring, still not quite sure that it had sunk into his brain yet. Pete was getting married…this would change things forever whether he wanted them to or not…

"I was thinking about Friday," he nodded and then took a deep breath. "Fuck me, that's three days away," Pete braced himself against the table top, suddenly feeling physically sick. "What if she says no? What if she fucking laughs in my face like Steve did?"

"Quit being such a bitch, Dunham," Ned laughed and smacked him on the arm. "You know that Allie-…"

A loud knock on the door broke their conversation and all six men turned and stared at Pete's front door, holding their breath without knowing it.

"Pete?"

The man in question felt his stomach sink as Allie's voice drifted through the door. Oh, fuck.

"Are you in there? I forgot my key!" she called again.

"Yeah, hold on one sec," he called back, standing up and nervously rubbing his sweaty palms on the back his jeans. Reaching for the small box on the table, he frowned when Dave snatched it before he could and jammed it into his pocket.

"She's a bird, Pete," he warned him seriously. "They can smell shit like this, I'll keep hold of it till she goes,"

"Nice one," Pete nodded, knowing that it was probably true. Chances are that she could feel it through his shirt when he hugged her, or better yet he'd forget he had it on him and then tonight when they were in bed it would just drop out of his jeans. The point was, neither of those scenarios had been in his head when he'd been thinking about how to propose to her.

Jogging over to the door, he snapped open the latch and pulled it open, smiling at the woman on the other side, her honey coloured hair swept up into a sleek pony tail, her peach coloured silk camisole and black skinny jeans which would have looked casual on anyone else managing to look stunning on her.

"Hey," she grinned, standing on her tip toes to give him a kiss before stepping into the apartment. Spotting the familiar faces in the living room, she smiled broadly as she hung her jacket up on the wall.

"Hey boys," she waved.

"Alright gorgeous," Dave called back to her, fidgeting nervously with the ring in his pocket. What the fuck had possessed him to offer to carry the damn thing? It was like having a nuclear bomb in your pocket.

Allie stared back at them wondering what was with the atmosphere in the flat; usually at this point Swill would have physically attacked her and they'd be yelling sibling like abuse at each other. But today all they could seem to do was stare at her like they'd never met her before.

"Are you guys ok?" she asked frowning slightly as she made her way into the kitchen and started putting the small amount of groceries she had bought away.

"Yep,"

"Fine,"

"Absolutely fucking dandy,"

She laughed and shook her head at them; they were worse at lying that Pete was and that was saying something.

"Ok," she picked a couple of grapes out of the fruit bowl and popped them into her mouth, still trying to suss out what the hell was going on.

"Pete," Dave piped up; wincing when he realised his voice was a little too loud. "I was going to put back that book you leant me," he nodded more to himself than anyone else. "Where should I put it?"

"Bedroom," Pete nodded firmly, standing up and making his way towards the hallway. "We'll be back in a sec,"

Allie frowned as she watched her boyfriend and one of his best mates jog into his bedroom looking more than a little shady.

"Uh," she laughed, pointing down the hall. "What was that about?"

"Oh that," Ned rolled his eyes. "Dave, uh…"

"Dave has a rash," Swill jumped in, trying not to laugh as Bovver choked on the sip of orange juice he'd just taken.

"Dave has a…rash?" Allie bit her lip to keep from giggling. "I don't believe you,"

"Nah, it's Gospel of Paul," Bovver nodded. "Pete had something similar a few years back," he caught the look of utter horror on her face and felt Swill shaking beside him as he tried not to laugh. "Nothing to worry about sweetheart, it was a long time before he met you,"

"What?" she cried, her eyes wide. "You've got to be-…"

"Alright?"

All eyes zoned in on Pete and Dave as they reappeared in the doorway of the living room, both of them looking much calmer than they had before.

"Yeah," Swill grabbed his cigarettes and grinned. "We should get going though, right?"

"I'll see you lot out," Pete gestured for them to follow him to the door and watched as Allie shook her head slightly, not making a move to follow them as she usually would.

"Uh, I'm going to go wash my hands a couple of hundred times," she mumbled. "I'll see you guys later,"

Pete let out a deep breath as the bathroom door closed and turned back to his mates.

"Shit, that was close," he breathed, leaning against the doorframe. He noticed all the boys with the exception of Dave were grinning at him and he frowned. "What?"

"What?" Swill shrugged.

Pete glanced over his shoulder at the still closed bathroom door and narrowed his eyes.

"What did you say to her?"

"Nothing," Bovver shook his head. "Chill out, son. Good luck with everything, yeah?" he slapped Pete's shoulder. "Give us a bell later."

"Yeah, alright," he nodded. "See you, boys,"

Shutting the front door, he paused for a moment when he heard the distinct sound of his friends' pissing themselves laughing and then Dave shouting, 'You cheeky fucks!' as they made their way down the hallway. Shaking his head, he decided he'd rather not know what was going on and instead rubbed his hands nervously on the back of his jeans before collapsing down onto the sofa.

"Hey, where'd everybody go?"

Pete craned his neck and grinned at Allie who was making her way back into the living area, looking slightly unsettled.

"They left to go to the pub," he told her, then laughed. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Allie shook her head and then grinned, unable to help the laughter that escaped her lips. "Ok, I'm sorry," she pressed a hand against her chest and took a deep breath. "It's just…the boys kind of told me what was going on when I came in,"

Pete's eyes widened and his stomach sank the whole way down to his toes; those cheeky bastards…surely they wouldn't.

"Uh, what…" he shrugged, trying his best to look casual. "What do you mean?"

"About Dave's little problem," she laughed, feeling bad but unable to stop herself. "You know the whole…rash thing,"

"Rash thing?" Pete frowned.

"So what exactly did you have that makes you such an expert on it?" she raised an eyebrow. "Jesus, you think you know a guy…"

"Wait," Pete stood up and shook his head. "You're going to have to clue me in because I don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about,"

"Dave's got some kind of STI, right?" Allie regarded him seriously, her green eyes meeting his evenly, not even the slightest bit of humour left in them.

"What?" Pete choked out.

"Bov told me," Pete bit his lip, willing the string of obscenities he was silently cursing him with to stay in his brain. "That you had something a few years back and Dave has the same thing,"

"Bollocks," Pete laughed.

"Dave has bollocks?" Allie frowned.

"Babe, they're having you on," he shook his head, still unable to believe the shits had gone to that extent. Oh, he'd be having words later…

"Oh," she nodded and then blushed, feeling royally stupid. "Oh," wincing, she laughed lightly and ran a hand through her hair. "I did think it was kind of…"

"Fucking disgusting?" Pete finished for her.

"That was one of the things that came to mind, yeah," she laughed.

Pete knelt on the arm of the sofa to pull him to her and then frowned when she pulled away.

"But," she bit her lip and Pete almost groaned. He knew that look all too well. "If that wasn't it, then what were you and Dave doing in…your bedroom?"

"Alright," Pete sighed dramatically. "You got me," he held up his hands. "I'm secretly gay with Dave,"

"Sod off," Allie laughed, shoving him backwards and then moving to stand over him. "I'm serious,"

Pete looked up at her and felt his chest tighten a little; he hated lying to her more than anything else in the world, but this was something he actually couldn't tell her. At least not till Friday when he's grown a pair of balls and psyched himself up to do this properly.

"A bird," Pete blurted suddenly. Ok, this could work. "Yeah, Dave has a thing for some bird who works at my school and he wants me to try ad fix them up."

"Oh God, it's not Ben is it?"

Pete laughed and yanked her down on top of him, lying back and enjoying the view; yeah, he could easily do this for the rest of his life…

"Nah, it's a sub teacher," Pete nodded, finding the lies came out a lot more fluently when he was focusing on just how to undo her belt. "So am I out of the woods?" he raised an eyebrow up at her.

"Well for a second there my main worry was that you were out the closet, never mind the woods," she grinned at him, giggling loudly when he tackled her playfully onto her back.

"Take it back," he growled at her, grinning as he pinned her hands above her head.

"No," she smirked. "It's actually all starting to make sense now," she pursed her lips. "This whole scary Major thing is all a cover and you're so only with me because I work for Vogue," she winced slightly. "Ooooh, I knew I never should have let you watch Brokeback Mountain,"

"I hate you," Pete laughed, shaking his head.

"Uh-uh," Allie laughed. "See now you've upset me and I'm going to have to withdraw any offers of free pink shirts and face masks I could have gotten you,"

Pete lowered his body completely down onto hers and despite the grin on her face, he felt her breathing speed up as his mouth lingered just a few inches from her own.

"You're evil," he smirked at her. "I can't believe I ever fell for that little miss innocent bollocks,"

Allie pushed herself up onto her elbows so she could nip at his bottom lip playfully.

"You, Dunham," she whispered against his lips, her eyes on his. "Wouldn't have me any other way,"

Ok, she had him there. Grinning down at her, Pete closed the gap between them and kissed her deeply, releasing her hands so that they could wrap around his neck.

"Allie," Pete whispered against her mouth, biting back a groan when she pulled back and nipped his ear lobe before sucking on his pulse point. "Shit," he hissed, feeling his body reacting already.

"What?" she whispered back, making her way back to his mouth and teasing him with her tongue.

"I uh," Pete panted, trying to get his brain fully functioning, but how the fuck could he when she was kissing him like that? "What are you doing Friday night?"

Allie pulled back from him, a faint smile pulling at her mouth; he chose this very moment to make a date with her? Even after nearly four years the man still managed to catch her off guard.

"More often than not I'm doing this," she laughed, tugging playfully on his collar. "Why?"

"Do fancy doing something?" he felt stupid. The romance aspect of their relationship was something he'd never been great at…at least not when it came to traditional romance. But as far as Allie was concerned, Pete had never needed those kind of 'tricks' that most men used: flowers, chocolates…that kind of crap meant nothing to her anyway.

"Something?" Allie raised an eyebrow and smiled up at him; he was cute when he got nervous. "Can I have a clue?"

"I thought I could cook you dinner," he smirked. "Maybe out on the roof or something?"

"Really?" Allie beamed up at him; the rooftop of his flat had been the location of their first real date and it had always been special for them…in fact on their four month anniversary it got a whole lot more special when they realised that there's a certain spot on the balcony where no one can see what you're doing….

"Yeah," Pete kissed her softly. "I don't feel like I get to see you that much,"

"You're joking, right?" Allie laughed. "Pete, I practically live here. In fact I can pretty much count on one hand the number of nights I've spent in my own bed in the last month,"

"I meant we never get any proper time…alone," he explained. "There's always something else going on and I thought we deserved to have a night of just us,"

"You are so cute," Allie laughed when he sent her a look of slight disgust. "And that's not helping the ever growing pile of evidence in my 'Pete-is-gay' argument,"

"Ok," he smirked at her. "Well maybe this might help," he kissed her hard, groaning when she slid out from underneath him, straightening her shirt.

"You know what," she smiled, lifting her camisole over her head and throwing it at him as he sat there gawking at her in her pink bra. "I think I might need a little bit more convincing,"

Pete didn't say anything, he just stood up and grabbed her, laughing when she shrieked in surprise at being thrown over his shoulder as he ran towards his bedroom. God help him, she was a woman he could easily spend the rest of his life with…he just had to get through the next two days and it would all be perfect…he could feel it.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Allie muttered under her breath as she ran full pelt down the hallway of the Vogue pent house suite towards Jack's office. He'd called an emergency meeting via e-mail at 7am, but unfortunately both Allie and Pete had overslept making them both stupidly late for work. But whereas Pete only had to drive five minutes down the road to his school, Allie had to brave the early morning London bridge traffic to get to Vogue and as a result she was now…1 hour and 16 minutes late. In other words: she was fucked.

Bursting through the doors, she struggled for breath as she leant against the door frame for a moment causing Jack to turn around and look at her in horror, his bright blue eyes twinkling as the first hint of a grin appeared on his lips.

"9.30 on the dot, Harding," he winked. "Good to see you're student days are behind you,"

"Bugger you," Allie laughed breathlessly. Being best friends with your editor had that benefit; you could more or less say what you wanted to them and get away with it. "My alarm didn't go off,"

"Is that code for 'I was having sex with Pete'?" he narrowed his eyes, teasing her.

"No," she laughed. "I swear,"

"See, now I would have taken that as a better excuse than the alarm thing," Jack told her, pursing his lips and pulling on his bright pink tie. "If I had Pete Dunham in my bed…"

"Then I would probably kill myself," Allie finished for him, perching on the edge of his desk and picking up a croissant, munching into it happily. "I take it everyone else has left?" she smiled apologetically.

"Uh," Jack laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I may have told you a teeny-tiny lie,"

Allie frowned slightly, swallowing the mouthful of pastry she had and pouring herself some coffee.

"Okay," she spoke slowly. "Keep going,"

"Right," Jack clasped his hands under his chin and perched on the chair opposite her. "So I got a call from our New York office this morning and we have a slight problem,"

"What's happened?" Allie frowned.

"Basically, give or take a few details, Chanel are thinking about pulling advertising from us," he smiled tightly. "Permanently."

"What?" Allie burst out. "Holy fuck! That's…what the hell happened?"

"Oh some intern went against what Lagerfeld requested for the winter shoot and he had a bitch fit…" he waved his hands. "Bottom line, we need someone to fix this mess and fast. As in the wonder kid who gets chosen has to be out there by next week,"

"Ok," Allie nodded, dusting some crumbs off of her skirt. "So whose been given the honour?"

"Well, that's the funny thing," Jack pursed his lips. "Lagerfeld is apparently threatening to walk out unless the team behind last winter's spread step in and sign up for his whole couture line,"

Allie's eyes widened and she almost choked on her coffee…oh. Dear. Jesus.

"Wait," she held up a hand. "That was me…I was that team,"

"Exactly," Jack nodded. "They won't take anyone else but you, kiddo."

"Oh my God!" Allie shrieked. "That's amazing! He actually asked for me? Karl Lagerfeld asked for me? Allie Harding?"

"That he did," Jack grinned a little too broadly for Allie's liking.

"But…" she gestured waiting for him to finish.

"The Chanel couture line premiere's in October," Jack told her.

"But you said I'd have to be out there by next week," her face fell. "Jack, we're in August still. They want me out there for two months?" she shook her head. "I can't,"

"Allie," Jack stood up and moved to stand in front of her, cupping her face in his hands and forcing her to meet his eyes. "I know that seems like a long time,"

"It is a fucking long time," she protested. "Jack, what about my family? What about everything I've got going over here? I can't leave Pete for two months,"

"Ok," he nodded. "All those reasons are good, but they're offering you a hundred grand to do this," he watched her eyes widen. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, 'fuck me, that can't be right,' well it is, kiddo," he tilted her chin up.

"A hundred thousand pounds?" Allie whispered. "For seven weeks work?" she shook her head again. "Jack, I can't."

"Why not?" he asked, taking her hands in his and shaking them. "Allie, if you weren't with Pete, would you even be thinking twice about this?"

Biting her lip, Allie knew she wouldn't be; she'd be on that plane in the hour. But that wasn't the point, the point was that she was with Pete, she loved him and the thought of seven weeks without him…

"Talk to him," Jack whispered. "See what he says, but I can bet my life Allie-Cat that he'll tell you to go,"

Sighing, Allie leant forward and dropped her head against Jack's chest, sighing when he ran a hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Remember when we first started here?" Jack smiled, talking into her hair. "And we thought that we were going to be making coffee forever?"

Allie's laughter came out muffled by his shirt and he grinned at the memory of the two of them plus Lara stood in the midst of the Vogue bull pen clutching note pads ready to take coffee orders.

"Well, if someone had told you that day that four years later you'd be a department editor and would get personally asked by one of the worlds most prestigious designers to go and work for them, what would you have done?"

"I don't know," Allie groaned, lifting her head and blowing a wisp of honey coloured hair out of her eyes. "I probably would have had an orgasm,"

"Well," Jack laughed, shaking his head. "There's your answer," he tilted his head to the side. "Plus, not to put pressure on you, but if Chanel drop us then everyone will hate you,"

Allie laughed and rubbed her temples; this was a lot to deal with at what felt like 7am. Tonight was the night she and Pete were having their romantic no GSE, no work, just us dinner and she was going to have to bring this up. Brilliant….fan-fucking-tastic.

"Just think about it, please?" Jack kissed her lightly and then pulled her off of his desk. "I know it seems…well, fucking terrifying if I'm honest, but just think about the long run,"

"Alright," she nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to get her head around what was happening. "How long to I have to decide,"

Jack winced and clenched his fists, mumbling something under his breath as he fumbled pointlessly through his diary.

"What was that?" Allie smacked his arm.

"I have to know by 8am our time," he smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, kiddo, I know it's not much time,"

"No," she waved her hand. "It's not your fault, and besides I think this is one of those situations with a major plaster complex," she caught his look of confusion. "You know, do it quickly so you don't feel the pain,"

"Oh, yeah gotcha," he winked and then reached out, taking her hand. "Are you going to be ok?"

Allie looked down at her shoes for a moment, unsure of how she was supposed to feel right now; a part of her wanted to be thrilled at being given an opportunity like this, but the other part…fuck, the other part just kept screaming the same thing over and over in her head.

SEVEN WEEKS WITHOUT PETE…SEVEN WEEKS WITHOUT PETE…SEVEN WEEKS WITHOUT PETE…

"Allie?" Jack prompted. "Are you ok, honey?"

"Jack," she laughed, shaking her head slightly. "Ask me that question at 8am tomorrow and then we'll see,"

Striding out into the hallway, Allie felt her heart get that little bit heavier with each step; only half an hour ago she had been looking forward to her date with Pete, just a night of hanging out with her boyfriend, happily pretending that he wasn't in a firm and just being a normal couple. And now, that had all gone to shit and she had to somehow pick up the pieces.

Feeling her eyes start to sting already, she slammed her office door and leant against it, taking a moment to try and calm herself down. Noticing her answering machine flashing, she pressed the button and waited.

"You have one new message: Oi, oi," she laughed as Pete's voice rang out in her office. "I just got into work and thought I'd make sure you did the same. If I get back at midday for lunch and find you in bed you cheeky bugger…actually, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing," Allie smiled and bit her lip. Why couldn't he at least be a bastard like most blokes? If she hated him, she'd be signing up for New York right this second. "Anyway, I need you to be at mine for about 7 tonight if that's ok? I figured tomorrow's Saturday so we can get pissed on wine again and just be lazy shits all day what'd you reckon? So just give me a call whenever, I missed you this morning," she grinned knowing exactly what he was referring to. "But that just means that tonight I'll have to-…" she heard the sounds of kids and chairs scrapping and figured his class must have come in. "Make you a really nice dinner," he rambled quickly. "So just call me back, alright. I love you,"

She caught the sound of the boys making kissing noises before Pete laughed and the phone went dead.

Flopping down in her chair, Allie rested her head on the desk and sighed heavily.

Oh yeah, tonight was going to be fun…