Rain was still falling when Lilly stirred a few minutes before eight in the morning, sleepily opening one eye; the room was semi-dark and the day cloudier than the one before, any sunlight obstructed. She closed her eye, then opened both of them, smiling at the sight that greeted her; Scotty was holding her securely, his sleeping face close, his breathing deep and even. His eyelids were moving a little and Lilly wondered what he was dreaming of; he was quiet, peaceful, so hopefully was something good. She studied the gorgeous man in front of her, his messed-up hair, the long dark eyelashes pressed against his cheeks; his full lips were slightly parted and she traced them very carefully with her forefinger, just a featherlike touch so he wouldn't be disturbed. Waking up with him felt so natural, so right and so good, she felt good despite the fact that there were important days ahead; today he would meet her family, and tomorrow they would need to face work, still had to talk about how to tackle that particular situation.

She sighed, turning to her back slowly; she still didn't know what to do about anything career-wise, as the past two days had completely changed her personal life and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to deal with something as huge as a new job and a new city right after. And on top of everything, she no longer had just herself and her cats to think of when making these decisions; now she had Scotty too, and also her baby niece, whose life she definitely wanted to be a very regular presence in, right from the start. She knew New York wasn't that far, and she could easily make the trip to Paul and Celeste's place, but it felt like a galaxy away from here, from this man she never wanted to be apart from anymore, the man she now needed as intensely as oxygen.

She heard children's voices outside, some happy giggling; it was probably her neighbors' kids, 6-year-old Billy and 4-year-old Samantha, enjoying some splashing around in the puddles of rain, the sounds fading after a moment. She'd known Billy and Sam ever since they'd been newborns, tiny bundles arriving home from the hospital; their parents Rick and Zoe looked after her cats when she needed to be away for a longer period of time, and Lilly often allowed the kids to come and hang out with Tripod and Olivia too if she was at home on weekends, spending a while coloring pictures or listening with a smile as they eagerly told her stories about their adventures at school and daycare.

She rubbed her forehead, staring at the ceiling as the room slowly brightened; Scotty moved slightly, burying his face into her shoulder but not waking yet, and she smiled faintly, turning her head and pressing a gentle kiss onto his hair. Idly, she wondered if he wanted children; that was just one of the many conversations they needed to have soon, and it wouldn't be an easy one as she'd never been fully sure, and in all honesty she didn't have a ton of time left from the biological standpoint either. She knew it had fully been in his plans with Elisa before his former girlfriend had gotten ill; at one point he'd mentioned their dreams for the traditional white picket fence life together before fate had intervened, and now Lilly no longer knew where he stood about it all.

A wave of stress washed over her, making her throat feel constricted; she carefully pulled herself from his hold, reached for the Eagles t-shirt he'd given her on the day before and tugged it over her head, grabbing a pair of underwear from a drawer. Of course she managed to close it with a little too much force and Scotty startled awake, his arm reaching out as though automatically searching for her; upon finding nothing, his eyes opened, turning towards her, a lazy smile spreading over his handsome face.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Hi," she said, quickly pulling her underwear on. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you; I'll just…"

"Lil." He sat up, his smile disappearing, worry immediately appearing in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I…" She didn't know what to say, suddenly drowning in a flood of emotion she couldn't recognize, her eyes burning; she scrambled desperately for her Ice Queen mask to cover everything but for some reason that didn't seem to be working, so she just left the room before tears could escape, made her way downstairs.

The cats were sleeping on the living room couch, not bothering to move a single whisker yet this early on a Sunday morning, and Lilly started to mechanically make coffee, knowing she had precious seconds before Scotty followed her. Sure enough, he arrived just then, having pulled his own shirt and boxers back on, a panicked expression on his face, and she knew he had to be instantly jumping into conclusions, wondering if she was already backpedaling, freaking out, ending things between them before they'd even fully started.

"I'm not," she said before he could even open his mouth, her hand trembling slightly as she measured coffee; he frowned, swallowing heavily.

"You're not…what?"

"Leaving you," she muttered, sniffling slightly, switching the machine on. "I know that's what you're probably thinking, so… I'm not."

She could literally see a lot of the tension draw from him; still, some remained behind, his eyes dark and concerned. "Well, thank God for that, but…somethin's definitely troublin' you right now."

He took a step closer, touched her cheek softly. "Any… any chance you'd tell me, Lil?"

She sighed, moving into his warmth and support, hoping he'd perhaps rub her neck again and he did just that, chuckling as she released a small, happy moan. His other hand settled onto the small of her back, holding her to him gently, his lips pressed against the top of her head.

"I just… what's your plan, Scotty? Your long-term plan for your life?" She tilted her head up to find his eyes, saw a slightly surprised expression forming in them and she couldn't blame him, really.

"What kind of a term are we talkin' about, exactly?" he asked carefully a few moments later, kissing her forehead. "One year, five years, ten years, more than that?"

Lilly shrugged. "Whichever you want."

He was quiet for a while again; the coffee machine stopped, having done its morning duty, leaving them into silence. "Lil… is this about kids or somethin'?"

She tensed, amazed he'd guessed so quickly; swallowing, she extracted herself from him, turned to retrieve two mugs from the cupboard, pouring coffee into them. He was silent, just observing, and eventually she agreed to give him a small nod, clearing her throat.

"I know you wanted them with Elisa; I don't know if you still do, but… you would be such an amazing, amazing dad, Scotty." She sniffled again, retrieved some milk from the fridge. "So amazing. And I don't know what the heck I want, or if I even still have time to… I'm older than you, and…"

He accepted the mug she was handing him, shook his head. "Three years, Lil. It's hardly a lifetime."

She sipped her coffee silently and he moved to the fridge, frowning as he observed the contents, or the lack thereof. "Do you ever eat anythin' in this house?"

"I do; I just don't cook." Lilly sighed, knowing she needed to get some groceries soon, especially since he'd probably be around a lot, and she really was going to try to be better with food from now on. "Are you starving?"

"Well, we have been burnin' quite a lot of calories lately, bella." Scotty shot her a teasing grin and she flushed, her mind instantly taking her back to the small hours of the morning when they'd both woken to a crash of thunder, had wasted no time reaching for each other, making love for a long time, first with endless tenderness, then with raw, exploding passion. The rain had pounded on the roof, lightnings flashing at regular intervals, and she had melted into several delicious releases, him following soon after, her name and words of pure adoration escaping his lips in choked whispers.

"I know. I can run to the corner store quickly."

"I'll go; I'll make us breakfast, an' then we'll talk about this kids thing." He kissed her softly, then looked down, a grin spreading to his face. "Well, hello there."

Lilly looked too, smiling as she saw Tripod, the white cat twisting herself around Scotty's legs, giving him shy glances, allowing him to gently scratch her between her ears. "Congratulations, Valens; you have now officially been accepted into my household."

"I'm very glad to hear that." He smiled, kissed her again. "I love being here, Lil. An' I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, holding onto him securely; if he was getting charged from her smiles, then she was receiving energy from just being close, feeling his strength, having some of it transferred into her. After a while she reluctantly let him go and he disappeared upstairs to get dressed; she had to wipe another errand tear, clearing her throat and smiling at Tripod, now joined by Olivia.

"You girls hungry?" She grabbed a can opener, reached into another cupboard. "At least I never run out of cat food, so you two are lucky."

Scotty returned from the store with a surprisingly good haul; she'd never really paid attention to the full selection on offer, only dropping in when she needed some coffee or milk, the paper or an emergency chocolate bar.

"They have fruit in there?" Lilly weighed the bag of apples in her hand. "Wow."

He snorted, closed the fridge door, having already piled a carton of eggs, cheese and butter to the side of the stove, along with toast and peanut butter. "All right. Ready for the best omelet of your life, Rush?"

"There's a big promise; I'll be holding you to that." She started making some more coffee, from the corner of her eye watched him cracking the eggs into a plastic container, gently breaking their structure, then adding the cheese, some salt and spices before pouring half of the mixture onto a heated pan. It smelled incredible, and having Scotty Valens in her kitchen cooking breakfast looked and felt so good; he somehow belonged there in a way that none of her previous boyfriends had, they'd all been just visitors, even Joseph who had lived with her for a few months.

He finished the omelet, reached for a fork and handed a very delicious-looking plate to her. "Try that."

She took a bite, her eyes nearly rolling around in her head at the flavor, the eggs absolutely perfect, melting in her mouth. "Oh my God."

Scotty arched a teasing eyebrow, now working on his own breakfast. "Good?"

"This is divine," she mumbled around another mouthful of the incredible food. "I admit it; you were right."

He gave a grin, plated his omelet and popped some bread into the toaster. "I'm glad to hear that; Mom taught both me an' Mike how to make the perfect omelet at a young age."

"I think she was very successful." Lilly refilled their coffee mugs, headed to the dining table; he joined her a moment later with some toast for them both and she covered hers with peanut butter, just absolutely adoring this quiet, relaxed Sunday morning with him.

"So." He cleared his throat, forking some eggs. "I don't really have a life plan; if I've learned anythin' from being in this line of work, an' from, well, some personal things too, it's that you never know what might be around the corner, so I gave up on plannin' things for more than a few days or so, a long time ago."

Lilly nodded, understanding that very well; he sipped some coffee, a frown moving across his face. "I did want kids with Elisa, but that was back when I thought I had actually found the love of my life at the age of 14, an' everythin' would be absolutely perfect for us, we'd get a house an' a garden, two point four kids an' a dog. But as we both know, things didn't turn out like that."

He offered her a small smile, reached to grasp her free hand with his. "Lil… you have been my dream for a long time now, an' yesterday that dream somehow came true. I want to be with you, I want us to spend the rest of our hopefully very long lives together; if you decide you want to have a baby, or a few, then I'd be very happy, but this is not any sort of a deal-breaker for me. I know you're scared because of your own childhood, but I want you to believe me when I tell you that you are not your mother, you're nothin' like her; I never even met her, but I've heard enough, and this much is definitely obvious to me."

She wiped her cheeks, feeling so touched by his words; of course he'd understood exactly what worried her, her fears of possibly transferring her terrible upbringing somehow onto the next generation.

"I just don't know," she whispered, staring at their joined hands. "What about your parents; they must be eager to have more grandchildren?"

"They already have two, plus half a billion kids in the extended family, an' it's never really been… they've always understood that it's my decision to make, with whoever I would end up marrying." He sighed. "Of course they mentioned it a couple of times when Elisa was still alive, but..."

Lilly squeezed his hand gently for comfort, picking up her toast. "Half a billion, huh? How big exactly is your family?"

"Big." Scotty grinned at her expression. "Lots of cousins and their families, there's kids rangin' from newborn babies to teenagers, so my parents are perfectly content with 'em; I really don't want you to base this decision on anythin' other than how you feel, okay? Definitely not on what my parents might want."

She nodded, finishing the incredible omelet. "There's just a lot I need to figure out, both personally and professionally, so… I guess I always thought it wasn't for me, motherhood, that I would never be in a relationship which was strong enough, secure enough, so I always just focused on work."

"I know." He reached to press a kiss on her temple. "I'm here, Lil. Whatever your decision, I'm right here."

The rain finally stopped a couple of hours later, the clouds breaking, the blue portion of the sky growing fast; the air felt a lot fresher than over the past few days, trees looking greener after the downpour. They left the house a little after noon to start heading towards New Jersey, and Lilly couldn't help reflecting how different everything was now, compared to the last time she'd been in a car towards the Garden State, just two days ago. Scotty had agreed to her driving after whining only slightly, shutting up when she'd pointed out the car was hers and his was at his apartment; he was leaning his head back against the seat, looking relaxed and gorgeous in jeans and a white button-down shirt with sleeves wrapped to his elbows. She was having some severe difficulties keeping her attention on the road, and not on his strong arms and the long fingers drumming against his thigh in a rhythm with the song playing on the radio; he was irresistible, drawing her eyes and hands like a magnet, and she was getting increasingly worried about the following day.

"What are we going to do about work?" she asked quietly, lowering the radio's volume slightly. "Are we going to tell Boss, or the others?"

He watched her for a moment, clearing his throat softly. "What do you wanna do, Lil? I know you're still tryin' to decide about the FBI, an' if you take that… there's not much point in us havin' to go through the whole IAD grillin' process if we won't be workin' together anymore."

Lilly winced, a wave of sadness slamming into her at the sound of that; after seven years, not working with Scotty anymore would be like having a limb cut off, something she really didn't want to think about, even when he was now her partner in so many other ways. Nor did she want to think about having to start fresh with someone new if she joined the Bureau; she doubted she'd ever be able to build a similar level of trust with anyone else, and trust meant everything to her. She chewed on her lips, felt a couple of hot tears wanting to escape, blinking hard to keep them in check; he reached to gently rub her arm.

"How long do you have to decide?"

"They didn't give me a deadline or anything, but… I can't keep them hanging for very long." She sniffled, quickly wiping some moisture from her cheeks. "I know that it would be an amazing opportunity; they've got a lot more resources for their cold case unit, and… and it's the damn FBI, after all, but at the same time…"

"I know." He gave her arm a tender squeeze, nodded towards a roadside sign for a rest area coming up. "Let's stop for a moment; we've got time."

She pulled the car from the highway, turned it off after opening her window for some fresh air; they sat quietly for a moment, silence only broken by birdsong and the steady hum of traffic. Scotty grasped her hand, gently brushing his thumb over her slender fingers and Lilly again held onto him securely, feeling comforted.

"Lil… I know I've been freakin' out about the possibility of you leavin', several times, but that was before everythin' changed for us, when I was still terrified I would never see you again if you took the job. But now things are different, an' I need to... I need you to know that I never want to hold you back from anythin', okay? If this move is right for you, then you need to do it; me an' you will be just fine. Yeah, I'll miss you like hell, but…"

He took a shaky breath, held onto her tighter. "I'm so proud of you, Lil, so damn proud of you, an' I know Boss is too, along with everyone else on the team. The FBI wantin' you is just a sign of how incredible you are at what you do, an' I know you will kick ass over there just as much as you have done in Philly."

He gently brushed tears from her face, gave a teasing wink. "Hopefully Cavanaugh's ass more than anythin'."

Lilly laughed through her tears, so amazed by this man next to her; of course Scotty knew exactly what to say and do to make her feel better, he always had known, so many times lifting her mood during a difficult case or an otherwise problematic time with some comment or a smile or just a look that had told her she wasn't alone, that her partner had her back, no matter what. He leaned to kiss her softly, holding her close, soothingly rubbing her shoulders, and a wave of calmness moved over her, calmness and deep joy, almost delirious happiness for the fact that she was now able to touch him whenever she wanted. For so long they had avoided any physical contact, sticking firmly within the boundaries of proper professional conduct; now she knew what kind of a fire each touch ignited on her skin, and it was as though she was absolutely starved, needing to constantly be connected to him. That, indeed, would be the toughest hurdle to get over if she took the new job.

He smiled, tucked some blonde hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead; she'd left her hair down, just blow-drying it into a silky curtain, and the expression on his face when she'd emerged from the bathroom had told her he appreciated this very much.

"How about we just… take this upcomin' week an' see how things go? If it feels difficult to work together or if there's any chance that this new situation affects our performance, then we tell Boss; he will split us up, but… then we'll just go out to interviews with the others, like we've done a lot already anyway."

Lilly nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder. "The whole team's probably going to be shaken up soon anyway, whether I stay or go; I think Will's about to retire, for real this time. The Wanda Johnson case was the one last loose end he needed to tie up, before surrendering his badge."

"Yeah." Scotty sighed, his lips brushing her hair. "I can't imagine the place without him. Not without him an' not without you."

"Well, at least Vera will still be there to keep you company," she quipped, smiling as he groaned a little, shook his head. "I think we can do what you said; we'll see how things go, and we'll talk to Boss if it's needed."

"It's a deal." He gave her one more tight hug, then checked the time. "We'd better hit the road or we'll be late for lunch. You doin' okay, bella?"

"I am," she whispered, kissed his cheek and turned the car on again, her mind a lot lighter now. "Thank you so much. Thank you for everything."