DISCLAIMER:This fanfiction will follow its timeline, however, I've tried to stick to the movie timeline as much as possible. It must be noted that this story is rated M as there will be some explicit content mentioned later in the story (depictions of sexual intimacy, and also mentions of rape and abuse) but forewarnings will be provided at the beginning of the respective chapter.

It must be noted that I don't own any of the Marvel characters or anything affiliated with the Marvel Universe. However, all OC and original content have been created by me.

CHAPTER TWELVE

"The One with the Party"

It was almost 19:00 when Lilah arrived at Jackson's Bar, the location of Holly's party. Due to its proximity to the hospital (it was just across the street), Jackson's was the hospital staff's regular meeting spot and so they thought it only fitting that their most regular patient usher in her legal drinking age at their bar. Since there weren't too many of them, the staff promised Holly nothing overly formal for the party and had arranged for a rooftop patio party with fairy lights, a DJ, a dancefloor, nibbles throughout the night, and of course, bar access. Holly's parents spared no expenses for the party, and it was evident when Lilah got to the rooftop.

Although you couldn't technically call it a rooftop anymore – it now looked like it could pass for a wedding reception. Save for the small dance floor, the whole rooftop was now lined with AstroTurf, cocktail tables with candles were scattered throughout the venue, with lounging areas at three different points of the rooftop. What tied everything together was the lighting. Soft lighting from the fairy lights draped on beautiful plants at the edges of the venue gave an almost halo-like look to the rooftop. In the early evening glow, the venue looked surreal. Lilah couldn't believe this was the same drab concrete, dusty, pigeon-infested rooftop they could see from their hospital staff room window.

"Amazing, right?" said the waiter, as he handed her the welcome drink by the entrance, "George!" she recognized him as she took the glass of champagne, "this place is breathtaking! You guys did all of this today?" He nodded in response, "Yup, it killed us, but this place has never looked better," he looked around them with pride, "and just between us, there are whispers that if all goes well tonight, the Jones might let us keep everything and we could start renting the space out for functions! How sick would that be?!" George's excitement couldn't be contained; it was almost infectious. Lilah wasn't surprised by Holly's parent's generosity – that's how they were but sometimes they needed to know where to draw the line, especially when it came to spending money unnecessarily.

Leaving George by the door, Lilah moved further in and found some other staff members along with some of Holly's school friends milling about, admiring the view from the rooftop. There were a fair few people there already, chatting, laughing, and enjoying the music coming from the live DJ. Right next to him, was a small raised stage that took up a slice of the rooftop corner. Making this note, Lilah downed her champagne and then set out to find Sophia and the Birthday Girl, which she conveniently found at the bar. "Finally! You're here!" Sophia shrieked with glee, "Holly's doing her first shot! Come on!" Sophia didn't even give her a second to consider backing out, she just thrust the shooter glass of tequila into Lilah's hand with the lemon wedge on the top and started the countdown. Holly looked at Lilah excitedly, knowing that it was okay for her to have alcohol for today, yet she still wanted to check with her Doctor. Lilah winked back in acknowledgment, their unspoken Doctor-Patient bond far exceeding its boundaries as they both followed Sophia's instructions and drank their tequila shots.

It was just after 19h30 when the first round of formalities had started - which the hospital staff promised wouldn't happen. It was just a few speeches from school friends and new friends from University, a beautiful tear-jerking speech from her parents, and then a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' while the hospital staff brought out Holly's birthday cake. After the ceremonious blowing out of the candles, cutting of the cake, and assuring Holly that there would be no other reason for her to get back on stage, Lilah led Holly off the stage and left Sophia to continue her job as emcee for the evening.

Taking her fresh order of gin and tonic with extra ice over to the rooftop edge, Lilah admired the cityscape, the lights, and how peaceful and alive everything looked at the same time. There was a slight nip in the June air this evening, as the breeze brushed up against her exposed arm. She ran her free hand over the chilled skin and her thoughts automatically drifted to James. He was just … second nature for her now. Where was he now? What was he doing? I shouldn't have been so brash with him today. A million thoughts flooded Lilah's mind at once and they were all about him and a replay of this afternoon. She took a large swig of her drink and continued to chastise herself. He was so kind and sweet, and I didn't even give him a chance. She leaned forward on the railing and held her cold glass to her head to tend to the early onset of a headache.

Luckily, her thoughts and moment of self-loathing were interrupted by Sophia, "Whatcha doin' way over here?" her friend asked, emphasizing the question. Not particularly interested in starting a conversation about James with Sophia, Lilah tried to divert the conversation, "I'm wondering when the performances section of the evening is going to start – Holly is going to flip out!" Sophia grinned in response, "I know! I can't wait to see the look on her face," Lilah looked down at her drink and then Sophia filled the silence between them. "Lilah," Sophia touched her friend's arm, and with the softness in her voice, Lilah knew exactly what she was going to ask, so she closed her eyes as Sophia continued, "I know today must have been difficult for you, seeing him not just once but twice in less than 48 hours" Lilah took a breath as she internalized Sophia's words, "how are you holding up?" Lilah opened her eyes to her glass, releasing a breathy laugh through her nose before continuing. "The hospital has always been my safe space, my escape, you know …and seeing him there, it was like my two worlds just," she searched for the right word, "collided." Lilah drained the rest of her drink until the ice hit her lips, "But I think I should have given him a chance to talk – I think he had more to say to me, you know?" impressed by Lilah's instinct, but not willing to give the game away just yet, Sophia nodded and agreed with Lilah. "I think you might be right, babes," Sophia said just enough for Lilah to hear, "maybe it'll be good for you to talk to him again," she encouraged. Squeezing her, Sophia mumbled something close to her ear about refreshing the drink for her and checking on the performance time, and then disappeared with her glass. When she returned, she had her glass and Elton – another member of their act – in tow. She gently gave Lilah her newly filled glass, looked from Elton and then to her, and with an excited glint in her eyes said "Okay, we're on in 10 minutes,".

Lilah was not a performer. Ever since she was in school, she would do everything and anything possible to get out of the roles they assigned her in the school plays. What made matters worse, was that Lilah was blessed with a great singing voice. Yet, all she wanted to do was to blend in and be a wallflower, or better yet, not have a voice at all! Tonight though, Lilah willingly offered her vocal services for the performances. Only because it was for Holly…

Between her and Elton, they were going to sing a medley of carefully selected songs that were chosen by a few hospital staff for Holly. Then, led by choreographer Sophia, some hospital staff members will be recreating the scenes from Holly's favourite movie musicals to the songs being performed.

It was just a little after 20h08 when Lilah looked down at her watch. Sophia made her way back to the stage to resume her emcee duties and put a pause on the fun that Holly was having on the dance floor. "Holly, I know we promised that earlier was the last of the formalities, but we –the BP staff – just couldn't help ourselves. So we've put together some songs that have earmarked our years with you and we hope you like it and also forgive us for the upcoming embarrassment!" Sophia playfully stuck her tongue out at Holly and then flagged Elton and Lilah to come up onto the stage.

Climbing onto the stage, the DJ who also doubled as the technician for the evening, handed Elton and Lilah mics with stands. Looking out into the crowd, Lilah could see every person's face. She had never been more grateful for her decision to chug that last glass of gin and tonic before coming on stage – she was going to need all the 'liquid courage' to get through this. The anxiety started to bubble at the pit of her stomach when the squeak of the entrance door was heard from the back of the venue and two people walked in, clearly late but Lilah couldn't see who they were because at that moment the bright wall light facing the small stage turned on. Blinding her temporarily, this is when Lilah refocused on everything happening on the stage and she managed to catch a glimpse of Holly just a few feet away. Lilah smiled at Holly, giving her a small wiggle of her index finger, which she reciprocated. It was like their thing for the longest time. Holly had a clear view of the stage.

At this moment, Elton had introduced himself to the crowd and Lilah smiled back at everyone that she was able to see. She had been on stage earlier for the cake-cutting session so most of the people looking up at her already knew who she was, but just in case, Elton nodded in her direction to introduce herself. "Oh, hi everyone, I'm Dr Lilah Novak. I work at the BP Hospital and on behalf of the staff we just wanted to wish Holly a very happy, happy birthday in our own weird and wonderful way; which she has unfortunately become so accustomed to over the years," Lilah grinned from the crowd to Holly, whose face was now buried in her hands, eyes peeping through her fingers. Lilah quickly turned to check if Elton was ready and then to Sophia; she signaled that she needed 2 more minutes. Swiveling back to the crowd, she continued, "Just to give you all a little bit of a background into our setlist, one thing you all have to understand is that Holly may look like a bit of a punk-rocker but she grew up around us 80s babies-" there was a sharp yell of protest that came from backstage and the crowd laughed. Lilah continued "Okay, most of us 80s babies, so we exposed her to the music we listened to back then and before we knew it she fell in love with it too, so these are just some songs we thought needed to be heard tonight, but don't worry we threw some others in there too" and with a wink in Holly's direction, "We hope you all enjoy it," Lilah said as she took a step back and took a step back to stand next to Elton.

Author's Note:

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