A/N: I hope the slow pace of this story isn't driving people nuts - when I started it, Lilly and Scotty kind of wanted me to write the first days of their new relationship like this:) It will pick up a bit soon and there will also be some case stuff but that's not going to be the focus.

Haddonfield was a lovely small town, leafy and green with wide, quiet streets, and Lilly had liked the look of it already back when she had first practically stalked her father, before gathering the courage to approach him; she turned the car off in front of Paul and Celeste's house and Scotty smiled.

"Looks really nice; I think little Lizzie will be very happy here." He undid his seat belt, squeezed her hand. "Ready?"

"Yeah." She got out of the car; the front door of the house opened and Paul waved at them, holding his granddaughter on his arms.

"Look, Lizzie, it's your auntie Lilly." He pulled her into a tight hug, kissed her cheek. "Hi, sweetheart."

"Hey, dad." Her throat felt slightly constricted; saying the word was still a little strange, a little difficult, but each time it felt a tiny bit easier. Lizzie babbled something and she chuckled, leaning to kiss the little girl's forehead.

"Hello, you." She lifted her niece onto her arms, watching Paul greet Scotty with a warm handshake; then Lizzie's gaze shifted to him and just like on the day before, she was obviously spellbound instantly, turning on the charm with huge blue eyes and a happy smile, and Lilly laughed.

"Here we go again; somebody is just completely crazy about you, Valens. Aren't you, little one?"

Scotty grinned, grasping the baby's tiny hand. "Feelin's definitely mutual. Hi, little Lizzie."

Lilly surrendered the baby as she began to fuss, little arms reaching for her partner; Paul chuckled, motioned for them to step inside and Celeste bustled over instantly, hugging her tightly, then moving to squeeze Scotty like she'd known him forever instead of just meeting him for the first time. Lilly sniffled, again feeling quite stunned over how her father's wife had instantly accepted her, even after she had stood her up for dinner four times, just desperately thinking of an excuse after excuse until there had been none left. And after finally giving in, she had gained so much more than just a father, she had gained an instant new family.

"Hey, Lil." Finn Cooper appeared, giving her a wide smile and she grinned, happy to see her little brother, playfully messing up his hair.

"Staying out of trouble, I hope?" She chuckled at his pretend exasperated expression. "Scotty, this is Finn, my brother; Finn, Scotty Valens, my partner."

"Partner, huh?" Finn grasped Scotty's outstretched hand, tilted his head, eyeing the detective curiously. "Are we talking partner just at work, or… partner somewhere else as well?"

"Finn," Celeste admonished her son, rolling her eyes gently. "That's none of our business, really."

"Of course it is." Finn gave Lilly a little nudge, grinning. "Because if he is her boyfriend, then dad's gotta give him the third degree, and those are always fun. Like with Maggie, every time."

"How is Maggie, by the way?" she asked, spotting a way out of the situation as Scotty was looking slightly terrified. "Am I ever going to meet my other sister?"

"You will soon; she'll be back from college in a couple of weeks," Paul answered, shaking his head at Finn. "She's very good; she said she's really looking forward to meeting you. Meanwhile, Christina is in her bedroom if you want to go say hi; we're almost ready for lunch but she hasn't managed to eat much anything."

Scotty nodded. "Withdrawal makin' her nauseous?"

"It is; the doctor prescribed something for it, but she doesn't want to take any pills at all. It looks like she's really decided to kick the habit." Paul sighed, both worry and pride clear on his face and Lilly hesitated, glanced at her partner; after his words yesterday about not being comfortable in the same room with Christina, she knew he wouldn't go with her, would probably struggle even with the lunch if her sister managed to attend.

"Will you be okay here for a while, with my nosy brother?" she asked, with a pointed look towards Finn; he gave her an innocent smile and Scotty chuckled, tickling Lizzie who was looking very content on his arms.

"I'll be fine; go ahead." He accepted a very adorable stuffed cat from Celeste, offering it to the baby. "Look, Lizzie, a kitty. You better like 'em a lot, if you're plannin' to get along with your auntie Lilly, little one."

Celeste laughed, heading to the kitchen and she rolled her eyes, overcome with such deep affection towards him; seeing him with the baby was amazing, making tears burn her eyes as she was still a little raw and very emotional following their talks that morning, and also in the car. God, she loved him so much, and this utterly gorgeous man was hers; it was an absolutely dizzying thought and she wanted nothing more than to kiss him right there and then.

So she did just that.

Scotty seemed stunned for a moment, and she couldn't blame him as he probably hadn't been expecting her to be willing to reveal the exact nature of their relationship to her family immediately; he smiled against her lips and she heard Finn snicker, her father chuckling warmly, felt her partner's arm wrapping securely around her waist as he deepened the contact. Then Lizzie babbled loudly, hitting her on the face with the cat and she reluctantly stopped kissing him, shaking her head at the baby and tenderly poking her on the nose, grinning as that seemed to be the funniest thing the little girl had experienced in a while.

"Knew it!" Finn declared, clapping his hands, arching his eyebrow at their father; Paul pretended to sigh heavily, crossing his arms and fixing Scotty with a firm look.

"Okay, okay; not that I have any right to have a say in Lilly's life, considering I have completely failed to be any sort of a father to her until lately… I'm very happy for you two, as long as you treat her right, Scotty. And I know that you will; I may not have a complete picture of my daughter yet, but I do know you have always been there for her. That's really all I need to know."

Scotty nodded, kissed the tears from her face; Finn huffed playfully. "That's it? With Maggie's latest one it was at least an hour-long interrogation."

"Yeah, well, he's still a teenager; they're a different breed altogether." Paul patted Scotty on the back, smoothed Lizzie's blonde hair. "And he's behaved himself perfectly so far, which means my tactic worked."

Scotty chuckled, turned his attention to Lilly; she still remained against him, not really wanting to budge since it was just her favorite place in the world to be right now, his lips again tenderly brushing hers.

"You good, bella?"

Celeste arrived from the kitchen, looking slightly surprised for a brief moment to see them, then giving a wide smile and glancing at her husband for confirmation. "Oh my goodness, I didn't know you two are…I would have asked you to come over much earlier, Scotty."

"It only happened yesterday," he told her quietly, kissing Lilly's blonde hair. "Lil? You okay?"

"Yeah," she muttered into his shirt; Celeste rubbed her shoulder reassuringly, eased Lizzie off his hold.

"Come here for a moment, baby girl; let's give uncle Scotty's arm a bit of a break. He needs to hold someone else with it now."

He laughed; Lizzie whimpered a little, her face twisting as she prepared to express her discontent over having been separated from him. Celeste hushed her tenderly, Finn making funny faces at her and she settled, agreed to give a smile, attempting to gnaw on the ear of her stuffed cat.

"How old is she?" Scotty asked, wrapping his now free arm around Lilly, his other hand again gently massaging her neck; she whimpered at the incredible feeling, trying to press even closer to him.

"Seven months."

She felt him tensing at the sound of Christina's voice, the hand in her neck halting for a moment; then his hold of her waist tightened and she knew he wasn't about to let her go, was maintaining the close contact for his own sake as much as hers, to show her sister she was never getting between them anymore. Lilly turned her head, unsure of what sort of an expression she might find on Christina's face, but there wasn't much anything; her sister was very pale, her skin looking sallow, bringing out the signs of abuse even clearer, the black circles under her eyes betraying the fact she probably hadn't had a decent night's sleep in months.

"How are you feeling, honey?" Paul rubbed his younger daughter's arm carefully. "Think you could face any lunch?"

"I just wanted some water," Christina sighed listlessly, glancing at the empty glass she was holding; Finn reached his hand out, offering her a little smile.

"I've got it."

"Thanks." Christina made her way to Celeste and the baby, dropped a tender kiss on Lizzie's cheek; the baby babbled, offered a dazzling smile but her mother turned, accepted the full glass from Finn and started heading back towards the bedroom, glancing at her sister and Scotty on the way.

"Hi."

Lilly watched her disappear into the room, turned her head and pressed a gentle kiss onto his jaw. "I'll go talk to her quickly."

He hesitated, his face looking uncertain and she could read worry in his eyes too, knew what it probably was about: worry of her again getting hurt by her little sister, worry over what it might mean for their relationship. She gave a little nod, tried to reassure him with her own gaze, and eventually his hold loosened; she kissed him quickly and finally stepped away, feeling quite warm from having been pressed against him for so long, but still missing him immediately.

Christina glanced at her from the bed when she stepped into the room and closed the door, a tiny hint of a smile drifting across her face. "I see you actually managed to take my advice yesterday, Lil."

"Yeah." She swallowed, took a seat on the bed, still unsure of how Christina might react to things, how much interest and feelings her sister might still be harboring towards Scotty. "I...uh…"

"I'm glad," Christina said quietly, sighing a little. "He loves you. I'm pretty sure it was you he wanted to be with back then; I was just a replacement. Not that he realized any of it himself; neither did you, and you probably wouldn't have given him the time of day even if you had."

Lilly scoffed, rubbing a tired hand across her face. "What does it matter now? You came between us, Chris, and it took us a long time to get back to where we were before you showed up. I don't know what I might have done if things had been… different."

Christina chuckled. "And it never struck you as even a little bit weird that you reacted so violently to our relationship? Ask yourself this, Lil; if it had been any other guy, would your reaction have been the same?"

She swallowed, looking down to the bedspread, knowing there really was more than a hint of truth to her sister's words; she had wanted to protect Scotty from the train wreck that was Christina Rush, but perhaps there had been something else as well, contributing to the helpless anger and sadness she'd felt upon learning the truth about them.

"Probably not, but… but only because he had just lost his girlfriend, and…"

"Bullshit," Christina told her on a low voice. "His girlfriend – who wasn't his girlfriend anymore at the time, by the way – was very much alive when we first met. Which was about ten minutes before you kicked into an almighty fit of rage, right in front of him at the precinct. Nope, sis, using Elisa as an excuse doesn't fly."

Lilly sighed."What do you want me to say? That I've subconsciously been in love with him for seven years? Maybe I have been, I don't know. But now I definitely am, and…"

She blinked rapidly, suddenly feeling crushed down again by her fears, by all the shit they'd experienced in the past; God, would she ever be able to stop seeing her own sister as competition, ever be able to trust Christina fully when it came to her relationship? Would she ever be able to stop this tiny lingering flicker of worry that was questioning Scotty too, wondering whether he might still fall back into Christina's clutches if that kind of a situation ever arose? He had worked so hard over the past years to regain her trust, had done everything he possibly could over the past couple of days to convince her he never would hurt her, never would leave her, and still, despite all that, she couldn't get her restless, swirling, fearful mind to settle fully.

"Lil, I know I can never apologize enough for Patrick, but you have to know I would never come between you and Scotty, not again." Christina reached for her hand, her fingers feeling cold, clammy; the reassuring words flew right over Lilly's head as she was suddenly taken right back to her childhood, to her mother hungover and battling the desire to drink, to that evening when Ellen's hand had felt exactly like this as she'd handed her ten-year-old daughter whatever cash she'd managed to find, told her to go to the corner store and bring back alcohol. Trembling, she yanked her hand from her sister's hold, feeling lightheaded, gasping desperately for breath.

"Lilly?" Christina sat up, her pale face worried, touched her knee carefully. "Lil? Are you okay? Do you need me to get Scotty?"

She closed her eyes, tried to breathe, to force the terrible memories from her head; finally air seemed to be moving easier again and she shook her head, slowly managed to open her eyes. To her relief she noticed she wasn't back at her childhood home, but at her father's house instead, in the beautiful, tastefully decorated guest bedroom with a window to Celeste's garden, flowers just getting ready to bloom.

"Did you hear me, Lil?" Christina swallowed, studying her sister's face. "I meant it; I would never do anything to hurt you and Scotty. Please believe me; I know it's a massive ask, but I really hope that one day you can forgive me, both for Patrick and for what happened with Scotty. I want us to be sisters, like we were a long time ago, and I'm going to do whatever it takes for that to be possible."

"Are you going to get clean?" Lilly asked, her voice sounding biting even to her own ears. "Or are you going to run away again at the first available opportunity, like you have done your entire life?"

Christina bowed her head, sighing. "Yeah, I definitely deserved that. But I really am going to give it everything I've got, Lil. I know my word means nothing, so I'm just going to have to convince you with my actions, and that's exactly what I'm hoping to do, starting this afternoon."

She watched her little sister for a moment, then gave a short nod. "I really do hope you can do it, Christina. For your own sake, and your daughter's, but unfortunately it's not that easy to just trust you, after everything that's happened. I guess we'll just… wait and see."

"I know. But maybe I will surprise you. You and everyone." Christina idly picked at a loose strand on the bedspread, then looked up, her eyes somehow so fiery that Lilly couldn't help startling a little. "Because trust me, Lil, for that little girl… I'm going to make damn sure she doesn't have to go through what you and I went through with mum. We didn't deserve any of that; I gave Lizzie her middle name after our mother, because I do remember some good times too, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten the bad, or forgiven her for everything that happened."

Lilly sniffled, then hesitantly reached to grasp her sister's hand again; this time it felt warmer and she managed a little smile, entwined her fingers with Christina's like she had done so many times when they had been growing up. And at least momentarily, her mind was calm, the bad memories were banished and she felt closer to her baby sister than she had in well over a decade; it was a small step but one she was more than happy to take.

A small knock came from the door some moments later and Celeste peeked in, holding the whimpering Lizzie and a bottle of milk, giving the sisters a smile. "Christina, do you want to…"

"Yeah. Hi, sweetie." She smiled, reached for the little girl, kissing her forehead; Celeste withdrew after handing over the bottle and telling them lunch was ready whenever they wanted to come over. Lilly watched with a smile as the baby settled to eat on her mother's arms, her eyes tightly focused on Christina's.

"She's so beautiful, Chris."

"I know." Her sister sniffled, wiped an errant tear from her cheek. "The one good thing I've managed to produce, to get right in my life. Listen… I really hope you can spend as much time with her as possible, you and Scotty both. I think you two are the best role models she could ever have; as a matter of fact, I was hoping you'd be her godparents."

"Really?" Lilly had to brush away some tears of her own. "It would be an honor. Scotty is a bit… I had to tell him the truth about what happened between you and me back then, about Patrick, and he…"

"Hates me?" Christina gave a wry grin, not looking very surprised. "I knew he would. He asked, when we were… dating, but he didn't want to hear the full answer. I think he knew in his heart that it was something horrible, and he was feeling bad enough about being with me as it was."

She glanced up from the baby, sighed. "He tried to end it, you know, for your sake, but I convinced him otherwise, and… I think his need to just have someone there after Elisa's death, and later on to try and help me was just too great. But whatever I may have meant to him wasn't even a fraction of what you mean to him, both back then and especially now; I saw you two kissing in the living room, and it was just… you've never looked as right with anyone, Lil, or as happy, and I doubt Scotty has either. But no matter how much he may hate me, I really hope that he will be there for Lizzie."

"He will; like you said yesterday, she loves him already and the feeling is clearly mutual." She gently caressed Lizzie's cheek, the baby's eyes drooping now. "I have to say that I'm kind of surprised you… chose to have her."

"I know; I was too. She obviously wasn't planned, but…" Christina tilted the bottle a little more. "At first I was dumb enough to think that maybe my ex, her dad, would want her too; he obviously didn't, since he disappeared the same day I told him I was pregnant. I was going to end it; I thought there was no way I could be a mother on my own, or a mother at all, really, but then I had an ultrasound and… I just couldn't."

She placed the bottle onto the nightstand, lifted the half-asleep baby onto her shoulder and gently patted her back; Lizzie released a little burp and Christina settled her back down. "So yeah, I decided to keep her; luckily my boss was really understanding and gave me extra shifts so I could buy her stuff, even after I had to miss some work with really bad morning sickness. I met Cliff when I was nearly six months along; it was good at first, I knew he was involved in something...shady, but he supported me, promised he'd take care of us both."

She sighed, watching her sleeping daughter. "I got into a car accident at eight and a half months, had to have a C-section because the baby was in distress. The pain afterwards triggered my addiction, and Cliff started to use me… he knew how desperate I was, so it was easy for him to talk me into it. And when I tried to get out, to stop it, he got abusive, which meant I needed even more pills; it was just this vicious circle."

"I knew I should have killed him yesterday," Lilly muttered, feeling a wave of rage moving through her. "Did he ever… hurt Lizzie?"

"No, never; he really adored her, believe it or not." Christina gave her sister a small smile. "And as for killing him, I'm glad you didn't; not for his sake but for yours. It could have gotten you into trouble, and… I'm relieved Scotty managed to stop you; I was drifting in and out but I did hear that much."

She grimaced, a strong shiver grasping her, her face looking even paler. "Jesus Christ. I think I'm gonna be sick."

Lilly moved to take the baby, looking around for a trash can, but after a few deep breaths, Christina seemed to feel better and she wrapped her little sister into a blanket, rubbing her shoulders gently.

"Can you face any food?"

"I doubt it; you go though, you must be getting hungry." Christina lay down carefully, glanced at the baby. "You can take her with you; I'm sure Scotty's missing you both terribly by now. I'll try to sleep a little too."

"I think she's just happy here with her mum." Lilly settled the baby down onto the bed next to her sister, kissed Lizzie's forehead. "Thank you telling me… everything you've told me. For being honest. It means a lot."

Christina nodded, yawning. "You're welcome. And please stop worrying about things there's no need to worry about; let yourself be happy, Lil, and let Scotty make you happy. If there's anyone who's deserved it, it's you. Both of you."

She sniffled, leaned to kiss her little sister's cheek. "I'm trying. It's not exactly easy for me, but…"

"I know." Christina smiled, starting to fall asleep. "You'll get there."

Lilly watched the two for a moment, amazed by how they looked so similar, so obviously a mother and a daughter; wiping her cheeks again, she stood, quietly made her way to the door, feeling lighter and definitely ready for some food now.