Right so this is what I found lurking in my GSH file on my laptop…it was supposed to go with chapter 16 of WCHB in which the boys throw Allie a 'leaving do' and have the infamous shot contest. This is basically the lead up to that and then the next chapter will be what happened after the rooftop scene in which Pete actually proposed…enjoy!

"So tomorrow's the actual big day, eh?" Swill grinned as Pete visibly turned a little bit paler. "You still got the ring?"

"Yeah," Pete nodded slowly. "After the fucking disaster last time I've got it completely sussed now."

"Do you reckon she's copped on?" Dave asked him.

"Nah," he grinned. "She doesn't have a clue," glancing at the white box Swill had carried in with him and placed on the table, Pete frowned and nodded towards it. "What's that about?"

"Oh," Swill grinned. "We got Allie a little going away gift," he walked over and opened the box. "You can't have a party without cake, can you?"

Pete leant over and looked into the box, unable to stop himself shaking his head as he immediately burst out laughing. Only Swill…

"Mate, tell me you're fucking joking," he snorted.

"What?" Swill protested, glancing down at the cake and snagging a piece of icing. "I know it's not ideal, but it's all we could find,"

"Happy 3rd birthday, Jake." Bovver narrowed his eyes. "Tell me you haven't gone and robbed a fucking toddler,"

"No," he huffed, yanking the lid back down on the box. "Someone forgot to pick it up from the bakers round the corner from where I work so they gave it to me half price,"

"Nice," Dave rolled his eyes and just about caught the bottle of orange juice Ike threw to him from Pete's fridge. "So is she all packed up then?"

Pete cast a glance at the bedroom, knowing that inside all of her clothes, perfume bottles and shoes were packed away safely, making it look as though she had never been there. It made him feel ill every time he walked in.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Just about," he was mortified to realise that his eyes were starting to sting and so coughed, trying to appear nonchalant. "You know what birds are like," he rolled his eyes. "She's got a whole fucking case in there full of nothing but shoes,"

"So, what's the plan for tonight then?" Bovver piped up, fishing his cigarettes out of his pocket and opening up one of the windows in Pete's living room as far as it would go. Leaning out, he sat on the window sill and fumbled about for a lighter, nodding his thanks when Keith chucked one at him.

"Stay here for a bit, have a couple of beers and then onto the Abbey," Pete shrugged. He'd left it up to Allie what she wanted to do and that had been her response; he knew from the state she had been in two days ago that she's already had her work do so now she just wanted to chill out with him and the boys, of course not forgetting…

"How scary are the kids in this neighbourhood?" Lara shook her head as she stepped into the flat, tugging what looked like a suitcase behind her. "I genuinely thought for a second that some ten-year-old was going to jump me for my phone,"

Blowing a wisp of red hair out of her eyes, she grinned at the group of intimidating looking blokes and rested a hand on her hip.

"So, how are my boys?" she grinned.

"Not too bad, sweetheart," Dave winked. "How about yourself?"

"I am just…peachy," she smirked at Pete who merely shook his head and laughed; the woman was more of a liability than Allie…she was the worst flirt in the world.

"What's with the case?" Ned frowned, gesturing to the bright red block at her feet.

"Ah," she raised an eyebrow. "Prepare to fall in love with me," she bent down and flicked the lock before pulling the lid open and shivering as a wave of cold air hit her. Stepping aside, the watched as the boys' faces lit up.

"There is a God," Swill muttered under his breath.

"It's a fully stocked cooler," she told them proudly. "I stole it from a photo shoot yesterday," bending down again, she began sifting through the ice. "Let's see, we've got vodka, corona, champagne…Ooooh, shots!"

"We brought her cake," Ned informed her proudly.

"Aw," Lara laughed. "That's actually pretty cute," standing up, she wiped her hands on her jeans and pointed to the box on the table. "This it?"

"Yeah," Pete laughed, scratching his eyebrow. "That's it alright,"

"Ok," Lara winced looking back up at them. "Who the fuck is Jake?"

"For all tonight's intents and purposes, that's Allie's new name," Dave explained fairly. "Ask the fat retard here why,"

"Oi," Swill frowned, smacking the back of his head. "I am not fucking fat,"

Shaking her head as the argument escalated around her, Lara made her way over to Pete and handed him a beer before hugging him quickly.

"How're you holding up?" she asked him quietly.

"I'm alright," he smiled down at her, unscrewing the cap and taking a long sip. Jesus, posh beer tasted good.

"You do realise unlike the emotional fuckwits behind me, I won't call you a bitch if you confess you're going to miss her a little bit," she whispered, grinning at him. "Are you still planning on…"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I've got a whole day planned out tomorrow," he shot a quick glance at her. "You haven't mentioned anything…"

"Oh, shit," Lara gasped. "Was I not supposed to tell Allie you were planning on asking her to marry you?"

"You're fucking hilarious," Pete told her, shoving her lightly and then ruffling her hair.

"How long until the guest of honour makes an appearance?" she asked, walking over to the sofa and collapsing down on it.

"I called her about half an hour ago and she said she'd be done at work by 6,"

"Right then," Lara grinned, fishing a beer out of the cooler for herself and then gesturing to the pack of cards on the table. "That gives me over an hour to take you little girls to school at Poker,"

Allie groaned silently as she dragged her huge bag through the Vogue foyer, the only thing keeping her from collapsing right then and there being the fact that she could see the silver glint of her Porsche through the large glass doors.

"Allie!"

Jumping slightly she glanced up and laughed seeing the familiar but completely unexpected face running towards her.

"Thank God you're here," the older woman laughed. "The looks I was getting, I thought they were going to call the bloody police,"

Grinning and dropping her bag down, Allie instantly pulled Moira Dunham into the biggest hug she could muster. Pete's mum actually had to be the sweetest woman on earth and it helped having her around, especially as Allie had lost her own mother at such a young age.

"Why didn't you come up to my office, you silly bugger?" Allie laughed.

"Oh Jesus, can you imagine me going over to the desk asking for you when I'm looking like this?" she gestured down to her working clothes. Being a school nurse didn't exactly give you a lot of room for style.

"No one here would care," Allie told her firmly. "Pete comes in all the time and if they can survive him playing football with the handbags…"

Moira laughed and rolled her eyes knowing all to well that that probably wasn't a joke.

"I just wanted to pop in and see you before you jet off," Moira smiled at her handed her a present, the bright pink wrapping paper contrasting against her army green shirt.

"Moira," Allie smiled and shook her head. "You didn't have to get me anything,"

"Oh it's only something stupid," the old woman sat down on the stone bench which over looked the water fall in the foyer and pulled Allie down next to her.

Grinning, Allie ripped into the gift, pulling the wrapping paper off it and dropping it into a nearby bin. Looking down at the object in her hand, she laughed.

"You know what?" she turned and beamed at Moira. "This is the one thing that no one thought to get me,"

"It's a mum thing," Moira giggled. "We tend to think practically at times like this,"

Picking up the 'Travellers Guide to New York' she flicked through it and pointed to the bright yellow post-it notes stuck to some of the paged.

"I bookmarked all the nice restaurants and there's a list at the back of things that everyone should see when they're out there," she bit her lip. "Although I can't see a horse drawn carriage ride around Central Park being much fun on your own," she shrugged. "It's like a taxi in London though, ain't it? You'll just have to hope you get a chatty driver,"

Leaning in, Allie kissed her on the cheek and leant her head on her shoulder.

"Thank you so much for this," she smiled.

"It's my pleasure darlin'," Moira rubbed her shoulders. "You know I don't know what my son is going to do without you,"

"He'll cope," Allie laughed and rolled her eyes. "Probably better than I will actually,"

"I wouldn't say that," Moira shook her head. "I know how much he loves you; he'll be completely lost on his own for the next two months,"

"You'll just have to look after him for me," Allie told her with a small smile. "Keep him out of trouble,"

"Easier said than done with that boy," Moira laughed. "He's been trouble since day one. The only time I've seen him settled or remotely happy has been since he met you." She looked at the young woman for a long moment and then laughed, shaking her head. "To be honest, I'm surprised you've put up with him as long as you have,"

"I kinda have to," Allie smiled. "Unfortunately for me, it turns out your son can be pretty charming when he wants to be," she laughed. "Believe me; I didn't stand a chance against falling for him,"

Moira stared at Allie for the longest moment, trying not to grin too much as it occurred to her that she was technically sitting next to her future daughter in law. As close as she was to Shannon, Moira had always felt that little more affection towards Allie, maybe it was something to do with her having lost her own mum, or maybe it was simply because where Shannon had forced Steve to change, Allie had changed Pete without meaning to; it was a decision that he had made and Moira knew from the look in his eyes yesterday morning when he'd shown her the engagement ring and explained what he was planning on doing that Pete Dunham was –and always had been- a goner when it came to the woman next to her.

"You better get running," she nudged the blonde and smiled. "I hear you've got a party to get to,"

"Oh yeah," Allie laughed. "Fancy tagging along?"

"Jesus Christ, no!" she laughed. "Between my son and those boys forcing vodka and God knows what else down my throat, I wouldn't last 10 seconds."

"And you think I have it any better?" Allie giggled, standing up and offering the old woman her arm. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

"Don't be daft," Moira waved her off. "It's out of your way,"

"Moira," she warned, tugging on her hand and winking. "Come on, I'll even let you play Boyzone in the car again,"

"Shhhh!" Moira hissed at her. "You're the only one that knows about that,"

"Well you can pay for my silence by not arguing with me," Allie took her car keys out of her bag and jingled them as they walked through the huge glass double doors which led out into the warm August afternoon, thinking about the night ahead of her and trying not to focus on how hard it was going to be to say goodbye.

"I remember that!" Lara practically wet herself as she sat on Pete's sofa wedged in between Bovver and Ned looking at one of the photo albums Allie had put together over the years. "I still can't believe you didn't wake up,"

"It's a form of abuse," Swill snapped, glancing down at the photo from one of Pete's birthday parties during which he had passed out, giving Lara and Dave ample opportunity to put lipstick on him and shove his feet into a pair of Allie's heels. "And you lot were twats for not telling me I still had lipstick on when I left to go home the next morning," he shook his head. "The fucking looks I was getting on the underground..."

"Wow," Lara leant forward, staring a photo of Allie, Swill, Ike and herself. "My boobs look huge there,"

"Yeah, so do Ike's," Swill laughed and then winced when the man in question slapped him around the back of the head.

"Hey Pete," Lara craned her neck and glanced over the back of the sofa. "Look at this one of you and Allie, it's really cute,"

Squinting at the photo, Pete smiled when he saw himself and Allie the morning after his birthday looking a wee bit worse for wear as they lay on the sofa, her head on his chest obviously giggling at something he had just said to her unaware of the camera pointed at them.

Suddenly something in his chest started to hurt a little and he forced his eyes away from the photo.

"I'm gonna head outside and get some air," he told them as he pulled on his sweater and reached for this keys.

"Are you ok?" Lara frowned, obviously picking up on the fact that he wasn't.

"Yeah," he smiled at her briefly. "You stay here and keep these bastards out of the drinks till I get back,"

Not really giving any of them a chance to respond, he practically ran out of the flat, pausing to breathe only when he got to the bottom floor of the building and leant against the wall of the elevator. Tomorrow…the day he had been secretly dreading and telling himself wasn't actually going to happen was becoming increasingly real. He had to lose the girl he loved and propose to her all in one day…fucking hell, why couldn't things be simple in his life just this once? Sitting down on the top of the steps which led to the basement, Pete dropped his head into his hands and sighed deeply. The next 24 hours were going to kill him.

"Uh-oh,"

Pete's head shot up and he set eyes on the familiar figure as they moved through the door, smiling broadly at him.

"I know that look," Allie raised an eyebrow. "Last time I saw it was when you realised that I'd lied to you about Angelina Jolie doing full frontal nudity in Mr and Mrs. Smith just so I didn't have to watch football factory…again."

Pete laughed and stretched his hand out, smiling when she took it and moved to sit next to him, lacing her fingers through his.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, her tone less playful than before.

"Nothing," he told her, leaning down and kissing her lips softly, wanting to savour the taste of her for that one moment, knowing that no matter how tomorrow went down, things would change between them forever. Either she's say yes to him like he wanted her to and they could look forward to being happily married or…

Pete shuddered at the thought of any other ending and tightened his grip on her hand.

"Where've you been?" he frowned, realising the time. "I thought you were getting here for six?"

"I was," Allie nodded, reaching down into her handbag and smiling when she handed him three objects. "But I had a visitor at work and got a little distracted."

Staring down at the New York travel guide, flight socks and eye mask in his hand, Pete didn't have to even ask.

"My mum hunted you down, didn't she?" he laughed.

He knew how much his mum loved Allie and if he was honest, he loved it. Moira Dunham's reactions to the other so called girlfriends he'd brought home over the years had been less than warm, constantly trying to knock it into him that he could do better, but when she's met Allie at Steve and Shannon's wedding three years ago Pete had almost shaken his head in disbelief at how well they had gotten on.

"How did you guess?" Allie laughed, taking the things back from him and shoving them into her bag. "I can't believe you actually have a Borrower for a mother," she joked. "I told her we have to go out for dinner when I get back,"

"Yeah," Pete grinned. "Sounds good,"

"Who said you were invited?" Allie laughed and shoved his shoulder playfully so that he was lying back on the stairs slightly. "I can't bitch about you if you're there, can I?"

"You two?" he smirked and pulled her down on top of him. "Bitching about me?" he laughed. "Piss off; you both love me far too much for any of that,"

Not bothering to answer him, Allie settled for leaning over and pressing her lips against his, lightly at first, teasing him and then smirking when he growled and sat up so he could kiss her properly. His hands moved down her body to skim the expanse of her arm bared by her pale green camisole under which she wore a thin white t-shirt, the other hand reaching up to gently cup her face as he kissed her deeper. Jesus, how was she going to survive seven weeks without this? It wasn't every day that you met a man who could make your knees weak…Allie had always thought that was such a sickening cliché; just like butterflies in the stomach or having your heart beat so loud that you could actually just hear it in your ears. But the truth was all of those things did happen to her when she was with Pete.

"So when do I get it?" she whispered, nipping at his bottom lip playfully before pulling away completely and catching the look in his eyes. "Behave!" she laughed, slapping his chest lightly. "I meant when do I get to go up to my 'surprise' party?"

"What?" he frowned. Fuck it, he thought he'd been pretty good at keeping it under wraps; Allie had known that they were having a night out with the boys at the Abbey but he'd thought that they should have some drinks at his flat first so they could spend some quality time together before the boys starting buying her every drink Terry stocked and forcing her to down them.

"Next time you plan something like this, you might want to leave Lara out of it," Allie giggled as Pete rolled his eyes. Fucking Lara…he should have known. "Subtlety isn't her thing. And even if it was, it's hard to miss a 5"5 red head who sounds like a female version of Hugh Grant dragging a fully stocked cooler worth three grand past your office."

"Fucking hell," Pete laughed, rubbing his forehead. The woman was a God damn liability…

"Well, how do you fancy acting surprised?" he smirked. "The boys will be heart broken otherwise…Ned even wore a tie for tonight,"

"Oh Jesus," Allie laughed. "That's like the royal treatment," raising an eyebrow, she picked at his sweatshirt and cleared her throat. "So where's your tie, Dunham?"

"I figured it'd just be one more thing in your way when you realise you can't control yourself and take advantage of me later tonight," he joked, laughing loudly when she rolled her eyes and flipped him the finger. Catching her hand in his, he kissed the tips of her dainty fingers and smiled, pulling her further on top of him.

"We're supposed to pretend tomorrow's not happening, aren't we?" he whispered to her.

"That's the general idea," she smiled sadly. "We'll throw ourselves off that bridge when we come to it,"

"So I'm not allowed to tell you that I'm going to miss you like fucking crazy, then?" he asked her, seeing the faint sheen of tears form over her eyes.

"Not unless you want me to cry," she laughed and tried to look nonchalant.

"I will though," Pete squeezed her hands lightly. "You know that, don't you?"

"Pete," Allie bit her lip and tried hard not to cry. "Can we please not do this right this second? If I let myself start thinking about leaving you…" she shook her head and trailed off. It felt like she couldn't breathe, like someone had reached into her chest and was jabbing rusty pins into her heart. That was how it felt when she started thinking about leaving him.

"We've got tomorrow to be miserable bastards," she laughed, wiping at her eyes. "Let's just…I don't want tonight to be me crying over everyone,"

"Ok," Pete kissed her forehead lightly and pulled her up with him, keeping his arm locked around her as they made their way upstairs to his flat. "So uh," he smiled, trying to ease the mood. "If everyone happens to start calling you Jake, don't question it, will you?"

"Jake?" Allie laughed, snuggling deeper into his side. "Really?"

"It's a long fucking story," he smirked. "But at least it involves cake,"

"See now that I can deal with," she smiled and then stopped suddenly, pulling him to a stop with her. "I'm sorry about getting," she gestured to her still slightly bleary eyes and laughed softly. "I love you though, you know that,"

"If I say it back, will you cry?" he narrowed his eyes as she giggled.

"Probably," she shrugged.

"In that case you're hideous, ugly and if I'm honest…a bit of a bitch," Pete grinned at her as she threw her head back and laughed.

"Oh thank God," she shook her head. "Would it kill you to say that more often?"

"I'll work on it," he winked and pulled her to him, kissing her gently and brushing the hair out of her eyes. "Come on, Jake. We've got a cooler of beer to destroy and only six hours to do it,"

Allie grinned and followed him down the hall to his front door, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for whatever was behind it. Squeezing Pete's hand slightly, she realised that with him there she didn't have anything to worry about, as long as he was there, Allie had nothing to worry about. Ever.