Title: Mochas and Hot Chocolates
Author: Nesma
Disclaimer: Not Mine.
A/N: This is an AU fic. This is an AU Coffee shop fic to be more precise. If you dislike AU, I recommend that you stop reading now. Otherwise. Enjoy. Also, for those who know my Tumblr, then this story is hardly new. If you don't know my tumblr, well... this is new. Enjoy?

She could tell right away that she wasn't home. Her alarm clock doesn't beep with her heart and when she rustles in bed, her clothes hardly make a crinkle noise like paper. When she opens her eyes, she sees the dots on the ceiling and realizes she's in trouble.

She's in a hospital room.

She turns her head to the left (her head is throbbing) and she sees a familiar face. Well, at least she knows that face.

The woman had wavy blond hair and was currently slumped in her chair. Judging by the wrinkle of her clothes and the dark bags under her eyes… she'd been here for a while.

She has memories flooding back of the blond woman throwing her head back, laughing as she clutched the coffee cup close to the edge of the table. She's seen this woman take care of Harry…

She shuts her eyes again because she can't believe she forgot about her own child. And where is he? Was he here? Oh god…

"Hello?" She mutters, shocked at how raspy her voice was. She starts to struggle against the tubes and wires and in doing so, she starts to lift herself a bit off the bed. Only to activate a piercing alarm.

The woman in the chair wakes up and nearly falls out of her chair as she rushes towards her.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay Lily" The woman mutters, pushing her hands against Lily (her name she supposed) back to the bed.

"Harry?" Lily mutters, her hand fluttering weakly against her forehead, her eyes closing. She's having a hard time breathing as if the wind was knocked out of her lungs with the simplest movements.

"He's fine. There's another nanny from the agency looking over him." The woman replies, hovering slightly over Lily, her lips forming a frown.

Lily nods and feels an overwhelming amount of weight off her shoulders. But she's still breathing heavily and it felt like her heart was going to burst. Despite repeating to herself stubbornly, He's alright, he's alright… she still fainted.

They tell her she had a nasty fall at the coffee shop. They tell her she slipped on a drink and banged her head up pretty badly on the counter. There was even the fear that she paralyzed herself.

Lily vaguely remembers the motions but has a hard time grasping earlier memories. She has a hard time remembering friends' names and school stuff and other pointless things. Like the bus schedule. And the fact that her nanny is named Marlene. And the fact that Harry was created by Lily and some asshole who just sends his lawyer (whose also a piece of work) to deal with the child support and nanny and hospital bills.

Lily has tried asking Marlene about it, only to see the woman turn away and mutter under her breath that it is far better that Lily forgets about the man for he wasn't very nice even if he throws his money around.

Lily tries hard at night, after getting retrained to be a barista, the man that she once dated. She only remembers flashes, and those amount to nothing. She only recalls the feeling of being safe and at home but she guessed that her mind repressed the other memories if Marlene refuses to share more than necessary.

It happens during the late night shift.

She had no intentions of closing the shop by herself, but her co-worker wasn't feeling well and Lily would rather do the work by herself than try to clean up after other people's sloppy cleaning. And after a quick phone call to the nanny, Lily dismissed Claire from her closing obligations.

It was nearing 1:30 AM and Lily still had to mop the place. Giving a heavy sigh, she walks towards the back of the bar to fill the rusty yellow pail with hot water. The bane of her existence, the yellow nasty, disgusting pail with wheels that hardly moved, causing whoever was unfortunate enough to mop to spill water everywhere when simply moving it a few inches.

It was near full when she hears the clatter of doors (she thought she locked them?) and the swearing and the knocking over of what sounded like a hundred chairs. Alarmed, Lily turns off the faucet and runs over to the sitting room. But not before grabbing a knife.

In the dim lighting, she could make out a man hunched over on the floor. Clearly out of breath, one hand on his forehead (was he bleeding?) while the other was holding something. And while it was obvious that there was some kind of emergency, Lily couldn't help but feel annoyed that this bugger just smashed on through the doors and messed up the chairs and was fucking bleeding on the floor.

At least there will be a real reason to mop.

"Excuse me. What on Earth do you think you're doing?" Lily calls out angrily, as she storms to the doors that were still opening and closing with the wind. At least she should lock the damn things. And without waiting for the man to respond, she walks past him to shut the doors.

"I'm sorry – I thought, that this place was open? I mean, I thought no one was, fuck, here?" The man stammers as Lily fiddles with the lock and checks it. He keeps on wheezing and hissing out things while stumbling around.

Lily rolls her eyes as she shoves the key in the door to lock it properly.

"We're closed. So, I'll let you leave through the back –"

"No, please. I need to stay here. Just for a bit." He pleads, real desperation in his voice.

Lily takes a deep breath before turning around to fully face the man. He is shaking like a leaf, the gash in his head is clearly not a small one, and his hair is an absolute mess.

And the anger Lily has dissipated as she realizes that there was clearly a right thing to do here.

"Hold on." She mutters, stalking towards the back. Under the counter, she brushes her hands around until she came across the very large, metal 'First Aid' kit and brings it out. The guy is still clutching his forehead, gasping out every so often.

"What happened?" Lily asks quietly, approaching him and gently putting the box next him. She kneels as he lifts his hand out.

"Could say I was ganged up on." He muttered as Lily examined the wound.

It wasn't deep, she didn't think stiches would be necessary. At the very least, she had to clean the wound.

"I'm going to start cleaning it. It may sting." Lily warns him, as he nods his head. He gulps loudly and Lily couldn't help but smile as she starts to dab at the wound. He hisses at particular points and Lily grimaces and whispers a sorry.

"It's not your fault. I'm just lucky you took pity on me." He mumbles, eyes clenched as she continues to clean up the wound.

"Okay. Well. I think I've cleaned up most of it." Which was true, the cut was still bleeding a bit but the wound was clotting now which was a better sign than before.

"I'm going to put some cream on here so that the injury doesn't get infected." Lily says softly, as she starts to twist off the cap for the tube.

"You're good at this." The man mutters, his breathing coming back to normal and the color in his cheeks returning.

Lily snorts as she starts to dab at the wound. "Good. I just got retrained for first aid training just a few months ago."

"Retrained?"

Lily sighs "I had a fall myself. My memory was completely shot. Luckily, I was a good barista-"

"A what?" The man interrupts, his brows furrowing, reopening the wound. Lily lets out an annoyed sigh.

"Hold still!" She spits out, as if she was dealing with Harry and not a grown man.

"Sorry." He mutters, fidgeting with his fingers and the glasses in his hands. There was an awkward silence before Lily plunges on.

"A barista is what we call someone who makes coffee in coffee shops." Lily says and the man let out an appreciative ahh.

"And you had a fall?"

"Yes." Lily says, careful to place the gauze over the cut. "I don't have big enough bandages so I'm going to have to wrap your head with this thing." And Lily lifts out a flesh colored bandage. The man just nods. Lily placed the start of the wrapping on the bandage and slowly starts to unravel it from the spool as she wraps it around his head.

"My god, you have so much hair." Lily mutters, completely forgetting that she should probably filter out such thoughts.

The man just laughs a bit. He has a nice hearty laugh. Not that Lily was noticing or anything.

"Yeah. It's always been a mess. No gel or anything can really keep it down. It always looks like I've been running or something."

"Perhaps some bobby pins or barrettes would help." Lily jokes, a spark of a smile starting on her face as she tucked the last strand of the bandage in the hair. Leaning back a bit, Lily covers her mouth with her hand as she starts to bite back a giggle.

He looks ridiculous. The bandage job was fine but excessive. It looked like he lost an ear or something rather than a silly cut on his forehead.

"What's so funny?" The man asks, a smile pulling on the ends of his lips. He has dimples.

Lily just chokes down on her laughter as she fishes out her small hand held mirror. She pops it open for the stranger as he takes the mirror and gives her the glasses. Clearly snapped in two, Lily pulls out the medical tape (which she guessed she could have just used to cover the gauze but memory problems sometimes over power the logic in her brain) and starts to tape the glasses.

"I do look silly, don't I?" The man says as he checks himself out in the mirror.

"Well, you may get a scar, and woman do love those…" Lily says innocently, heat reaching her cheeks as she focuses on the wired frames in her hand.

"I'm terrible with the flirting and pick up lines. Maybe this wound will help my game." The man says lightly, putting down the mirror and looking at Lily fixing the glasses.

"Well, there is a cheesy line that can be used on you right now." Lily says, passing the glasses over to him.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" The man asks, pressing his glasses on his nose and leaning back on his hands. His head tilts to the side and even though his glasses hide part of his eyes, Lily just notices that he has hazel eyes that made her feel warm inside.

Lily hesitates for a bit. She is never one to use cheesy lines but it was so damn obvious here. And she did love cheesy lines.

"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Lily says, smirking as the man's eyes widen (they were such a pretty shade of hazel) with shock before he burst out into laughter.

"Wow. That is… well, straight forward? I'm assuming no bulky boyfriend?" He asks, his question hardly disguised as Lily felt a smile come back on her face.

"No, no bulky boyfriend. Guessing no jealous girlfriend on your end?" Lily asks, putting things away in the first aid kit.

The man just laughs again. "With nonexistent moves like mine, it's rather hard to get a woman to go out with me." He says, a smirk on his lips as Lily closes the first aid kit.

"Well. It looks like you're all cleaned up. Your glasses are fixed. Do you need any other help?" Lily asked, standing up with the first aid kit clutched in her arms. The man mimicked her movements as he stood up.

Lily notes that he is rather tall.

"No. Uh, could I offer to walk you home?" The man says as left hand ruffled his hair into a worse state.

Lily cocked her head to the side. "I don't exactly go home with strangers…"

The man smiles and extends his hand. "The name is James Potter. And yours?" Lily shifts the first aid kit to shake his hand. "Lily Evans."

After sending him outside, Lily is quick to mop the floors and reorganize the chairs before officially closing the coffee shop. The walk is short and James spent most of his time asking Lily about her job.

She learned that he has never tried coffee but has a soft spot for hot chocolate. She learned that his eyes are a particular shade of gold and green and brown and she can't shake off the feeling that there's a sense of familiarity within them. She's learned that he's equally as clumsy which is odd since he does a lot of running.

When they stop outside of the house, Lily could tell that Marlene is resting on the couch by the dim lights.

"Well. This is me." She says, hugging her jacket closer and shifting her gaze to the ground; slightly swaying her body as she attempts to move one step towards the door.

And he nods, perhaps he was able to pick up her uneasiness. "Thank you again for your bandages and such." He says, and Lily looks up and stares directly into his eyes and she isn't sure how to tell her heart to stop thumping.

"It was no problem. Stop by tomorrow morning. I'll make you a mocha or a hot chocolate if anything." Lily says, a tight smile on her lips because flirting is hard and she's not even sure if she's doing it right.

But she must have said it right because his face lights up. "I certainly will. You open the store at 7:30? I can't promise I'll be able to wake up that early…. But I'll be there before noon." He says.

They both say their goodbyes and as Lily walks up the steps she can't help but take a look back to see that he's already gone.

At 10:03 AM, not that Lily was keeping track or anything, James walks into the coffee shop with a sizable bandage on his forehead and glasses free of medical tape. In his left hand, he carries a bouquet of flowers. It is clear he picked out the flowers himself as roses and lilies and daisies and others that Lily can't place a name to are not a natural combination.

Lily goes up the registrar (which is thankfully free of any line) to greet him.

"Flowers!" He says brightly as he passes them over to Lily. And she can't help but smile widely, a blush on her cheeks. She doesn't remember getting flowers before from anyone.

"They are gorgeous." She says, sniffing them and holding them close to her chest. She can't help but beam at him (he is rather cute in his red shirt and a smile that reaches his eyes as if pleased with his success).

"Let me put these in the back." She mutters before doing just that. But before she goes out to the front, she checks to see if her eyeliner is still in place and that her hair is in the careful (and pretty) braid that she did early this morning. For no reason at all.

"What can I get for you?" Lily asks as she returned to the front. A smile on her face (and maybe a coat of lip gloss but who can tell really?).

"Uh, I will have that mocha." James says, looking at the menu above, his hands clutching the edge of the counter while tilting his head back. "And…" He says, his eyes scanning the lines before hitting a particular line "a date with you please." He states, smiling widely as Lily took a step back and lets out a nervous laugh.

The other baristas behind Lily exchange looks before looking at Lily who mets their glances.

They have taken her out countless times. After the accident, they made sure to make her feel included and helped her out when she made mistakes with drinks. They've been a shoulder to cry on when Lily had the cold meetings with the lawyer (Lily often questioned if he had a heart) and they have helped out when Marlene had to cancel. They have been wonderful.

But they have never seen Lily with another man. They knew she had a son but told her that Lily never spoke to them about the father. As if wanting to forget about him all together before the accident. They have seen her be nervous with men and put up a front. They have seen her smile politely and turn down handsome and kind men. They have never seen her accept a date till now.

"I'm hoping that my flowers and me branching out of my hot chocolate comfort zone will persuade you that I'm a kind and adventurous and brave person." He says happily as Lily laughs as his silly line.

"Yeah, why not?" She says happily as she writes her number down on his cup. "Call me later this afternoon when I'm home and we can figure out our date." She tells him and she can't help but notice the extra spring in his step as he bounces out of the café.

"Who are the flowers from?" Marlene asks while juggling Harry on her hip.

Lily hesitates for a second as she puts the flowers down the kitchen table. She loves Marlene but Marlene always seems to disapprove when Lily's friends took her out to the pubs to mingle with strangers. And though Marlene joined Lily in a few times, she always seemed to be agreeing too much when Lily turned down a man.

"One of the regulars." Lily lies. "He comes in so often and thought it'd be a good idea to give flowers out to the baristas." Lily says simply as she starts to get a vase out.

"That's very nice." Marlene says, and something else is said but the running water made it impossible to get the right words.

"What's that?" Lily asks as she turns around with a vase full of water but no flowers.

"Mr. Assaud called." Marlene says, biting her lower lip as Lily rolls her eyes at her.

"Probably to make sure that his clients' assets are being used in a proper matter." Lily mutters darkly as she shoves the flowers in the vase.

"He'll probably stop by any minute knowing him…" Marlene trails off while staring at the flowers. "Maybe you should hide the flowers from him." Marlene says quickly, making a hasty look at Lily.

"Why? He's not madly in love with me and if his stupid client wants to see me or his son then maybe his lawyer shouldn't always be visiting-"

"You know how he gets when you even hint at dating. Honestly. It's like you're cheating or something."

Lily gives Marlene a nasty look before grabbing the flowers and moving them to her bedroom. A place where Mr. Assaud would never look. The doorbell rings as Lily fiddles with the flowers and she rolls her eyes as if to ask for some extra strength.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Lily mutters as she strides to the door. Opening the beaten white door, she iss hardly shocked to see Mr. Assaud standing stiffly in the door way.

"Hello Ms. Evans."

"Hello Mr. Assaud, would you like to come in?" Lily asks, not even pretending to hide her annoyance as she steps to the side as he comes in. She shuts the door behind him and crosses her arms.

As usual, Mr. Assaud makes himself at home by sitting in one of the arm chairs in the living room. Marlene, used to his surprised visits, starts to heat up some hot water for some tea. Lily gives out a sigh before sitting on the other chair in the living room, hating the fact that Marlene becames a servant during these times.

Lily cried about it after the first time she was re-introduced to him on Marlene's shoulder.

"My client wanted me to come and checkup you and make sure that your injury is healing properly." He says briskly, his black eyes peering into hers as he sits up straight. His shirt tucked in properly, his tie in place, and there is hardly a fleck on his nice jacket.

"I'm doing fine. Other than the memory loss." Lily darkly mutters.

Mr. Assaud merely nods. "And your work? They have not been giving you a hard time? My client would cover the costs if they were cutting your hours or your pay due to your injury –"

"No, they're being very nice. Nothing illegal taking place." Lily says quickly, smiling widely as if to hide her disgust towards Mr. Assaud.

"Very well. And Harry is doing well I take it?" He asks, as Marlene sets the tray of tea and biscuits in front of them.

Lily nods. "Yes. He's doing fine. Marlene has been really wonderful." Lily says smiling at Marlene who winks at her as she leaves the room.

Mr. Assaud nods again before taking a cup and taking a sip. "Very good. Well. My client wants to let you know that he's covered your hospital bills so there's nothing to worry about there. As well as Marlene's overtime and such. Please let me know if there is anything you need for Harry."

Lily nods, her lips purses. She hated when Mr. Assaud talked about Harry as if he was another asset for his client. As if it was a machine that needed calculated checkups. He is a human being who needed a father and not a stressed out mother and a nanny.

"Nope. Nothing else. Is that all today?" She asks as he finishes sipping his tea in such a dainty manner.

"That is all. I will see myself out." He answers briskly. Lily makes no attempts to give a warm good bye as he leaves the house.

She is convinced (as well as Marlene) that Mr. Assaud has no heart. This has been discussed multiple times after his visits over cups of coffee while Harry quietly sleeps.

However, there was one memory that made Lily doubt his severe personality. Early on, after the accident, when Lily was tending to Harry, Mr. Assaud came knocking on the door for the bills and papers for the hospital. Lily, feeling frazzled as she did in the first few days, simply dumped Harry in his surprised arms before rushing into her bedroom to ruffle through her desk.

While searching, she was shocked to hear Harry laughing… and Mr. Assaud's as well. Slowly, yet quietly, Lily tip toed back to the room and hid behind the wall as she heard Mr. Assaud's voice tease Harry. Harry cooed and squealed with laughter while Lily's jaw dropped. She took a quick peek and it was enough for her.

Mr. Assaud's face wasn't drawn into that awful frown with the crease of the brows. Instead, his eyes were full of happiness and the wrinkles around them even shown. He was laughing and teasing Harry and it was so bizarre. Lily quickly made some noise as if returning and when she saw him again, his face was stern and Harry was bubbling with laughter.

"Here's your kid." He said stiffly as Harry started to whine as the two adults exchange documents and children.

"Paddy!" Harry exclaimed, pointing to Mr. Assaud his face was just as confused as Lily's.

"Paddy?" She asked Harry, trying to show extreme skepticism in her voice and face (apparently babies notice those changes?). But Harry, stubborn as ever, continued pointing at Mr. Assaud and calling him "Paddy".

"No idea what's that about." Mr. Assaud said coolly, but Lily couldn't help but detect a note of fear and nervousness in his voice. It didn't help that he kept on fidgeting with the documents and his briefcase and his tie and shirt.

Lily couldn't help but think that there might be more to Mr. Assaud than what meet the eye. Especially since Harry keeps calling him, "Paddy" whenever he showed up at the house.

"So, did he call?" Claire asks two days later as she passes a coffee mug to a customer.

Lily smiles as she grabs a rag to clean up the counter. "He did." She replies, smiling as Claire let out a squeal.

"Finally. I never thought I'd see the day when Lily Evans finally goes out on a date." Claire says with a wink as she starts swiping down the espresso bar.

"Oh come off it. I'm not that awful!" Lily exclaims as she tossed the rag with the rest of the dirty ones.

Claire just scoffs as she tucks some brunette hair behind her ears. "Of course you are! You always turned down the best of men in the bars! Ugh, the amount of guys that fall all over you… "

"You know I have to be selective." Lily says softly, looking over to Claire whose zealous energy deflates with one look.

"I know. All I'm saying is that it's nice to see you smile for no reason. And he's fairly good looking too…" Claire says as Lily just smiles to herself.

The first date with James Potter was very low key. He called when Lily got home and they decided that it would be a good idea to take a stroll around a nearby park.

The next day, Lily lied to Marlene about needing an extra few hours to run errands. She had no idea why she felt the need to lie about a date but her gut was particularly strong with this urge.

And it was a cold day. Grey in the sky. Not a hint of the sun but it was still a perfect date. James showed up on time at the coffee shop and let Lily lead the way. They walked along the beaten path and had an easy conversation. Both letting their arms sway and bump into one another 'accidentally'.

Lily learned that James had a hard time balancing work and personal life. It was also his first time in a florist the day he asked out Lily and decided to create his own bouquet rather than let the florist do it ("Her arrangements looked so depressing"). His parents died due to health reason ("It was bound to happen, it still sucks.") he said with an edge of bitterness that Lily could understand (her parents also died due to health issues and it was nice to find someone who understood).

James found out that Lily had been working at the coffee shop as long as she could remember ("Ha. Get it? Because of my head injury?") which made her laugh as James rolled his eyes at her. She started to jump a bit of her joke and James grabbed her hand and brought her closer to him and he didn't mind her gloved hand in his. He found that she had a sister whom she never spoke to and Lily hated carbonated drinks (whatever that was).

Lily liked the way James smiled, with the dimples. She liked how his eyes made her dizzy and giddy and just happy. They were a warm colour and she liked how intense they were when she was telling him things about her life. She liked how he listened and how his sense of humour was just as bad as her. She liked how his hand over hers made her feel safe.

It becomes custom now that Lily arrives an hour or two late home after her shifts end. James Potter makes an appearance as much as he can. They often go on walking dates or grab snacks. But both seem to avoid meal dates (James may have mentioned it once but Lily told him she had work and it turned out he had meetings so mid-day dates worked out fine).

They were often innocent enough, hand holding and quick pecks on the cheeks. But after a week or two, Lily was going crazy. She often daydreamed kissing him and she wanted to find out if his lips were truly as good as her mind was making them be. And so, on a dreary Thursday, James shows up on time and Lily grabs his hand and leads him towards the back alleyway.

James makes a joke about a murder or a secret path but Lily didn't really listen since she shoves him up against the wall and with her hands on his chest she kisses him. It takes a second for him to realize what's going on, because when he finally gets that Lily Evans is kissing him, he's quick to bring one of his arms around her waist while another cradles her neck.

With the encouragement, Lily moves her own arms around his neck and tangles her hands in his hair and she cannot help but grin as something in her heart explodes into a thousand different little pieces. She likes feeling close to his body and close enough to count his eyelashes and see his pupils dilate when he's looking down at her with such intensity.

"Aren't you full of surprises?" He mutters quietly before leaning down and pressing his lips urgently on hers.

"When do I bring up Harry?" Lily fretted a few weeks later when talking to Claire. Claire's eyebrows shoot up.

"You haven't?"

"No! I have no idea how?"

"Geez, by telling him?" Claire snaps back. "Look, you've been going out with him for a while now… he needs to know. You're hitting the 'are we serious or not?' point." Claire says, giving Lily a knowing look as Lily just twirls a strand of her hair.

"I'm scared." She whispers, looking down and smoothing her hands over her apron. "I'm terrified that he's going to bolt because of Harry. It's been nice." Lily says quietly, looking up to see Claire's concerned face.

"Do it tonight. Call him now and ask for dinner." Lily makes a face and Claire rolls her eyes, "I can watch Harry tonight if you want to keep this from your nanny." Lily gives a weak smile, "Thanks Claire." Before heading off into the back to make the phone call.

Marlene is a wonderful nanny. And a great friend. But Lily can't shake the feeling that she may be closer to Mr. Assaud than what she gives on. She always knows when he's coming and she's sure that Mr. Assaud pays her far more than the actual nanny rate for her to keep an eye on Lily's personal life.

The dinner date started out awkward. They hardly did meal dates and then doing one, all of a sudden, with the pretext, "We need to talk" only made things worse. James ruffles his hair far more while Lily takes more deep breaths.

James, a nervous chatter, decided it was best to talk about his day and how the weather is making him feel a bit down. He didn't mind the rain or the puddles but the grey in the sky made him sulk. Of course today isn't great since he was yelled at by his boss and his buddies have started to act a bit more secretive-

"I have a son." Lily blurts out and bites her lip as James drops his bread roll.

"Sorry?"

"I have a son. He's a year old. I don't talk to the father at all." Lily plows on. And since James thought it was appropriate to keep his mouth wide open Lily just continues talking. "I mean, the father only talks through his lawyer who I hate. He's always cold and mean. Essentially, the dad pays me off to make sure that his son is raised well even though he wants no part in his son's life. But I have a son. His name is Harry. He's a year old."

James, at this point is able to close his mouth, and looks thoughtfully at his empty plate. Lily takes this as a sign that it is a good time leave.

"I'm so sorry. I just… I understand." She gabs, as she stands up and grabs her purse. It is only when she turns her back when she thought she heard James yell out something. But by then, she was already running home.

Lily came through her front door and though Claire was by her side and willing to talk badly of James… Lily didn't have the heart to do so and she was exhausted.

"I just want some time alone." She tells Claire, who nods her head and left with no arguments.

Lily gave a loud sigh as she kicks off her shoe. It was a disaster of a date and it just reminded Lily all the reasons why she refused dates with handsome men with pretty eyes. Heading over to Harry's crib, she plucks him out with little fuss on his end.

"Guess it's just us two." Lily murmurs as Harry tucks his head in the nook of her neck. She sits down on her chair as she slowly rocks him, liking how his breaths tickled her neck and how full his head of hair was. Lily was even getting sleepy herself until she hears some sharp knocks on the door.

Lily grits her teeth as she stands up to put Harry away. She hears a second pair of sharp knocks and groans as she stands up fully. Mr. Assaud had no problems making late night visits like these and Lily knew his knocks well enough to know that it was him.

Stomping to the door, Lily rips it open only to find James standing in the doorway awkwardly.

"James. I didn't expect to see you here…" Lily says, hanging her head a bit.

"What did you expect when you literally ran out of the restaurant?" James snaps back and Lily could tell he isn't pleased.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier-" She starts but quickly shuts her mouth as James puts his hand up before speaking up.

"I'm not mad that you didn't tell me earlier. I mean. Kind of but that's not that big of a deal. I'm just mad that you didn't give me a chance to react or speak or anything!" James says before taking a deep breath. "Look, I like you. A lot. And I haven't felt this way in a really, really long time and I'd like to keep seeing you and snogging you behind the café and lots of other things. And if there's a kid... then I can learn to work around that." He says in one big breath with his fidgeting hand.

"Okay." Lily says slowly not entirely sure how to react to such news.

"One last thing. This father… no chance of you getting back together?" James asks cautiously and Lily can't help but drop her arms from the door frame and laugh.

"There's no way." She says. She decides it would sound better if she omits the part that she couldn't even pick out the father from a line up of guys.

James lets out a sigh of relief and smile enters his face. "Good" He mutters before grabbing Lily's head and giving her a kiss. And Lily, liking his lips on hers, can't help but curl her toes and trace her fingers in his hair.

"Can I meet him?" James asks, pulling away from this kiss, his eyes alive.

"Harry?" Lily asks, biting her lip as James nods his head as his hands pull away from her face. And she can't help put look him over. He wore a nice shirt to the dinner and his hair is a mess and he looks scared. But he's still standing in the doorway and he hasn't bolted yet and Lily can't help but take a chance.

"Come on in." Lily says, moving away from the doorframe as James steps on in. And Lily leads him to her room where the crib is stationed (and hopes that James doesn't notice the mess on her desk). But there was no need to worry since Harry (who was still awake) starts to squeal with James and who automatically makes faces at Harry who laughs.

Lily is shocked when James bends down to pluck Harry from this crib (who keeps on saying 'dada' but Lily assumes it's him making noises like with 'Paddy') and Lily wonders why she was ever nervous with James.

Of course, Lily still has her doubts with Marlene. She tries not to let it show but she often wears a baggy sweater when she's dressing up for a date later in the day and Marlene is over. She tells James to come after the nanny leaves (he's aware of Lily's fear) and within minutes of Marlene leaving he's at the doorstep knocking.

Sometimes, they have quiet nights in. Other times, they spend time with Harry. After a particular rough night, they both collapse in the kitchen chairs and James offers to make some tea which Lily accepts. Of course though, he finds the one tin jar without tea.

"Uh, Lily? Why is there a bunch of notes and coins in here?" James asks as Lily's eyes widen at the sight of her orange and black tin jar. Her cheeks redden as James throws a quizzical look between her and the jar.

"It's my tip jar." Lily mutters as James puts it to the side as he walks back to the table, ignoring the bubbling of hot water in the kettle.

"I'm saving up you see." Lily continues, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm lucky that the father still finances a lot of things for Harry – the necessities and such. And even the house is paid off since it's technically owned by the father. But I don't want to have to rely on him for everything so I use my paychecks to cover certain aspects of the household and such. But my tips… I'm saving for a camera." And Lily blushes even more at that, putting her hands to her cheeks as she propped her legs on her chair.

"A camera." James repeated, looking at her for more explanation.

Lily rolled her eyes and shakes her head a bit, "It's silly. I know. I just. I want a camera to photograph Harry as a baby. I hardly have any photos of him and I have none with him. I realized this after my head accident and I really want some." Lily whispers, hanging her head and letting her hair fall forward. It's humiliating because Lily knows that her tips aren't much. She knows she could probably ask for more money from Mr. Assaud for a month to fully pay for a camera but she can't. And she wants to do this on her own, away from the father, Mr. Assaud, and her friends. Just, something on her own.

There is a brief moment of silence before James speaks. "I'm guessing you won't accept me putting in however much you needed for the camera in the tin jar, would you?" And Lily shakes her head, hating how much her pride gets in the way.

James lets out a breath. "Well. I figured that much. But, I can't just ignore such a request. You have the day off tomorrow, right?"

Lily nods her head and looks up at James, giving him a quizzical look. He rolls his eyes at her, "My friend has a camera. A nice one. That I'm sure he'd lend to me tomorrow. How about I buy some film and we can take photos tomorrow. We'll go on a walk in the park and we can take some photos of the three of us?" James asks, his head tilting to the side.

And perhaps it was because of the late night shifts and the fact that Harry was so fussy tonight but she can't help but let a few tears leak out of her eyes before standing up and walking over to James and giving him a kiss on the lips.

"I take that as a yes." James mutters, grabbing onto Lily's waist as she swings a leg over him so that she's straddling him. The kettle would eventually ring but by the time it did, James' hands are already under her bra while Lily just sighs into his mouth contently.

True to his word, James shows up the very next day with a camera and two rolls of films. They spend the first hour of the morning figuring out how to work the camera and he takes some goofy photos of Lily laughing while Lily take some of him sticking his tongue out. Afterwards, they bundle up and put Harry in his stroller and take off to the park.

James, being the perfect gentleman, takes a lot of photos of Lily and Harry. Cute ones of Harry throwing bread to the birds. And for the remaining few photos left on the film, he asks a stranger in the street to take a photo of the three of them. With Harry in the middle, Lily couldn't remember feeling any happier than she did in that moment. And she hoped the camera captured it all.

Just as James was thanking the stranger, the stranger offered to take a photo of just Lily and James.

"You two look like such a happy couple!" The stranger exclaimed and Lily shouted a yes while James gave her a happy smile. And though there is a photo of the two of them looking happy at the camera, Lily likes that she hears the click as James just stares down with her a smile on his face and his hazel eyes shining.

Dropping the film off at the store, they are told it'll take a few days before they are developed. And though Lily nudged James when he marked down 'Doubles' on the form, he gives a sheepish look asking if it's alright that he gets a copy.

Lily just smiles and gives him a peck on the cheek.

James has to go away on a trip. ("Just for a bit, I'll pick up the photos and we can look at them together!") He tells her, and she takes it in good spirits. But she doesn't tell her friends that she's made a small countdown calendar in her kitchen. And when Marlene finds it, and frowns a bit at it, Lily merely tells her it's a special pay day (she tries to ignore the look from Marlene).

Seven days later, she gets a call for him saying that he'll come home late tomorrow evening. He got trapped with the trains and planes and he's a forgetful person. But he promises that he'll be home tomorrow with the photos in hand. She tells him she has the late shift tomorrow but he brushes her off.

"I'll pick them up and I'll come the second your nanny leaves. I'm dying to see you Lils. I want to be home." And he says it with such vigor and Lily wonders if he realizes that he uses the word home with her.

"Okay." She whispers, a smile on her face. There is a brief pause before James takes a loud deep breath before saying it.

"I love you Lily." He says, and Lily's throat jumps to her heart (or is it the other way around?) taking a peek at her fellow baristas laughing while customers are drinking coffee.

"That's the first time you said that." Lily says hoarsely and James laughs a bit at the other end.

"I know. But I do. And I want you to know. That I love you. A lot." James adds these broken sentences one right after the other and Lily's heart swells at the thought of James whispering into a phone.

"I love you too James."

"I'm sorry?"

"I love you James." Lily says a bit louder, and when he tells her he can't really hear her, she laughs at his corny ways. "You heard me the first time James." She says into the phone and he chuckles.

"I know. But it's not every day a beautiful woman profess her love to me. On the phone. It happens to me loads of times in the street…" And Lily laughs because his attempts at arrogance are pathetic and hilarious. There's one more rounds of 'I love you' before the phone hangs up and Lily is positively dying for James to get home.

It happens during the late shift.

Lily is closing up by herself, Claire was acting weird earlier that day (a bit out of it) and claimed she had to be home early. Lily let her off, with the note of talking to her about ditching closing duties.

Just as when she met James six months earlier, there was a crashing of doors and chairs tumbling. But this time, there wasn't the hiss of pain as much as there was the shushing of others. As if it were an attack.

And Lily walks out without fully realizing what was going until there were streaks of light. Red. Green. Blue. She ducks behind the counter as more nasty words were being yelled and mugs above her were exploding above her head. She grabs the heavy caps for making espressos and the glass mugs and stands up long enough to start hurling them in the directions of the lights.

One mug in particular hits something in the face and it breaks. This thing has red eyes that seems to glow and he hisses in a way that no human being should. And Lily feels her blood stop as he sees him raising his arm. Everyone else backs off as if knowing what's going to happen next.

Except for one. A weak voice shouts out something, and Lily has enough time to lock eyes with black eyes and suddenly there's blood everywhere. She's gasping and on her knees but her shirt is drenched and there's pain like never before.

She'll never be able to explain how with a crack she was on all fours on the floor of the café to the side walk outside of her house. She's yelling, screaming for Marlene. Struggling to see straight and stand up. She's wobbling to the door as Marlene opens the front door – yelling at someone to help her as Lily falls onto Marlene.

And suddenly, Lily feels some strong arms underneath her and sees Mr. Assaud's white face from her dizzy position.

She feels a little bit better that she called the lawyer/nanny pairing. She can barely make out what's being said but she can hear Harry's cries retreating while black dots are littering her vision. She suppose it has to do with all the blood on her arms now.

They lay her on the kitchen table which is close to the phone. Mr. Assaud is calling for Marlene and Lily thinks she sees white ghost of animals in the kitchen (she's losing it). And Lily, fearing the worst, grabs the phone and dials a number she knows so well.

He picks up on the first ring.

"Is she gone?"

"James." She whispers and takes in a rattling breath. "Help. Lights. Green ones." This time, it's harder to grip the phone and she ends up dropping it, letting the phone swing like a pendulum as James hangs up. And Lily shuts her eyes and hopes she'll wake up soon enough. She hopes she didn't sound too insane on the phone.

Marlene shrieks when she sees that Lily closed her eyes.

"No, no." She mutters as she rushes towards her sides and pulls out her wand and starts muttering healing spells. Defense curses. Anything. And Marlene starts to see progress with one spell and she keeps muttering it and muttering it. She starts to see hope when the flow of the blood starts slowing down.

It's Sirius that has to deal with a panicked James.

Of course James was going to come after such a phone call. Of course he was going to floo some members of the Order to see if a certain Café was ambushed. And when he gets the groggily answer from confused Peter at the Order Headquarters, James is quick to apperate at the exact spot as Lily Evans did only minutes before.

Perhaps if James didn't see the trail of blood to the door he would have been more civil. But, as Sirius learned early on at Hogwarts, James is a tad bit irrational when Lily Evans is involved.

"James?" Sirius asks incredulously as he sees him bounding up the steps and he can't help but block the door way with his arms (though he secretly knows that this will not stop James).

"Where is she?" James mutters, pushing pass Sirius roughly as he jogs over to Marlene.

"Who told you?" Sirius shouts, following him into the kitchen shooting a scared look at Marlene who loses her concentration for a second (the flow of blood picks up its pace and Marlene swears and James is yelling).

"Peter! I flooed him at the headquarters asking if her café was attacked and when he said yes I came over here!" James shouts at Sirius, hitting him a bit in the chest as he diverts his attention from Lily and Marlene to Sirius whose standing flabbergasted at James.

Sirius shakes his head, pushing his hair back roughly from his face. "No. No. Who told you about you and Evans?" Sirius asks, and it is James' turn to look confused.

"Told me? I've been dating her for six months!" James shouts, looking down at Lily, trying to control his breathing because he wanted to tell Lily in person that he loved him and he can't bloody well do that if she's dying.

"Dating? Who the hell told you that?" Sirius explodes, ignoring the warning look from Marlene.

And Sirius takes a deep breath and shoots a confused look over to Marlene because Evans and Prongs are not dating. They are bloody married and who the fuck told Prongs otherwise?

"Told me? What the fuck are you on about? I met her one night at the café she worked at and we've been going on dates ever since!" James yells at Sirius, ruffling his own hair because it felt weird that he didn't tell Sirius something this huge.

But the truth was, that James didn't really want to let Sirius know that he was dating someone new. After the first few dates with Lily, after the time behind the alleyway, James just couldn't tell Sirius. Something in him told him to shut up. Plus, she was a muggle which made everything so much worse. His friends would never approve, they'd tell him it's irresponsible and that he really can't be dating someone at this time in his life.

And he was terrible with words and he couldn't explain how the first time he met her, he didn't try to sneak a look down her blouse (though he easily could) but how he just wanted to stare in her emerald eyes. He had no idea how to tell them how familiar and safe he felt with her by his side. And so, after walking home the first night from her place, he decided to go with it. Keep it a secret.

And Sirius, sensing that James was telling a partial truth bunched up his face and swipes some magnets off of her fridge despite Marlene's protests.

"You fucking didn't tell me that you were bloody dating. All those, 'errands' you had to run – you were just running to her?" Sirius yells, pointing to Lily whose color started to come back to her cheeks (James was starting to breathe a little easier).

"I didn't! I knew you wouldn't approve of me dating a muggle, or any bird in general!" James shouted back. And Marlene stood up fully while Sirius took a step forward, his face livid.

"You dolt. Of course I didn't approve of you dating! You fucking asked me to derail any potential relationships!"

James let out a cool laugh. "When did I ever ask you to do such a thing?" James bit out and Sirius, with a smug smile on his face opens his mouth and nothing comes out. He tries moving it again only to find his voice gone and he gives Marlene a nasty look and the finger.

"You are angry. I get it. All our hard work for the past nine bloody months and they find themselves together. Again. And they're smart or dumb enough not to tell us. I get it. You're angry. Go sit in the living room and break some shit if you have to but cool the fuck down." Marlene hisses. And Sirius' eye twitch and Marlene retorts, "You're not doing anyone any favors by yelling it out. Go sit down. I'll make some tea. And we can both tell him."

"But Lily." James mutters weakly, stepping forward and grasping her hand in his.

"We'll put her to bed. We can change her shirt and put it in the wash. We'll explain afterwards." Marlene says softly.

James nods as he hears Sirius stomping into the living room. With Marlene's approval, James picks Lily up and walks her over to the bedroom with Marlene trailing him.

"Her clothes. She can't sleep like this." James mutters as he puts her on her bed. And James goes over to the chest of drawers and starts opening them up at random. On his third try, he finds her pajamas. It's a mess of shirts and sweatpants and James feels overwhelmed by the choices.

"Any will do James." Marlene says from the door. James looks up to see her hands covered in Lily's blood, her head resting against the door frame and her arms crossed.

James nods again and pulls out the overlarge red shirt and some black fleece bottoms. And he hears Marlene laugh from the door but he doesn't know why.

James is careful to remove her shoes and socks. He hesitates for a second before undoing her pants and sliding them down (he thought he'd be doing that action differently tonight under a different circumstance). He quickly pulls the fleece bottoms on before tackling the shirt.

It was drenched with blood and James could feel his throat tightening as he took the shirt off. Her bra was completely ruined and he couldn't help but thing that the black lacey thing was on for his benefit. But it was ripped and when he took that off (he checked over his shoulder to see Marlene was watching who just rolls her eyes and walks away) he notices the wounds and he wishes he was on call that night to kill whoever did this to Lily. He cleans up the dried blood with a spell and carefully put the shirt over her.

He figures with Sirius waiting, he might as well take his sweet time. So, he grabs the blanket at the end of the bed and tucks her in. He is careful to kiss her on the forehead and whisper goodnight as he leaves the room.

"Right. Well. Is someone going to explain what's going on?" James asks as he plops into one of the armchairs.

Marlene and Sirius exchange a look before Sirius opens his mouth to find his voice.

"Before I do… you're telling me you met her at her café and just started dating her?"

James nods, ranking a hand through his hair as Sirius' eyebrows brunched up.

"And you didn't tell anyone?" He asks incredulously. "Since when does James Potter keep secrets?"

James shrugs his shoulders. "I mean, I kind of told Moony. But not really. I asked him if he would date someone with kids. And, it was close to full moon so he wasn't really coherent but he told me he'd dump them since he can't take that responsibility." James says lamely. As Sirius continues to look at him in such a strange way.

"I asked him that when Lily told me about Harry. I decided that I could take that responsibility so I continued to date her despite Moony's answer."

Sirius takes a deep breath. "Well here's the thing. You're not technically dating her." Sirius says with a slight anxious tone.

James shakes his head, "What do you do mean I'm not dating her?"

Sirius takes another deep breaths and pushes his hair back and Marlene is giving him a look. "I suppose there are far better ways to tell you this-"

"Merlin, Sirius!" Marlene says in a disgusted tone before walking out.

"Hey! Remember you get to have this conversation when she wakes up! It's not that easy!" Sirius shouts after her before turning back to James.

"But, as I was saying, this plan got derailed and I had a nice speech written out for this moment but I don't have it. So, I'm going to spit it out. You're not dating Lily Evans, you're married to her." Sirius said seriously and James tilts his head to the side while his stomach drops.

"What do you mean I'm married to her? I've only started dating her –"

Sirius shakes his head. "No, you two are married. Oh, and Harry? He's your son."

James continues to shake his head. "No, Lily isn't married and she doesn't even know who the father is! She just has someone named Mr. Assaud-"

"Which is technically my last name in another language." Sirius mutters, not that James is listening.

"Comes and visits! There's no way that I'm married-"

"We modified both of your memories. We made sure that you had no recollection of the two of you dating in Hogwarts. We erased hers a bit more extensively to make sure she forgot about magic and Hogwarts and you. We had to be a bit clever with the fake memories which she oddly helped out with." Sirius said, and seeing the confused look he continued on.

"There is a prophecy. It claims that Harry could be the one to vanquish the Dark Lord. Only if his parents thrice trifle with him. Of course, you just did that tonight with your wand and she just did that with coffee mugs. Anyways, you two thought that going into hiding would be too obvious – so modifying both of your memories was the 'natural' way to go."

James shakes her head. "She still claims she's Lily Evans-"

"Ah! But all her legal papers states that she's Lillian Evan. Makes it easier with the money transactions with the banks and such. And Harry is Harold Evan. Slight disguise but it bought us nearly nine months. Not too shabby I say."

"How do you know about her legal papers?"

"Didn't you hear me? I'm her fake lawyer and Marlene is her fake nanny. We needed covers to keep tabs on her since she was going muggle and you weren't."

"But why didn't anyone ask me about Harry and Lily?"

"Because you hardly talk with people other than a select few. You two were so isolated that everyone who knew of the plan were the only ones you spoke to. There was no fear of someone breaking the news." Sirius continues. And James starts to believe him.

"And you agreed to help me? In keeping my family hidden… making me forget my son and wife?" James asks hotly, his hands forming fists.

Sirius, shutting his eyes and squaring his jaw nods. James supposed that the feeling wasn't as satisfactory if Sirius knew he was going to punch him.

Lily takes the news easier. Well, at that point, Professor Dumbledore enters the household with the pensives for the both of them and explains the news. It was all overwhelming at first but makes sense as Lily travels through her memories.

Hogwarts, the spells, the magic, and her friends. All the memories and flashes she had in the past nine months are all there in the pensive. It doesn't take long to restore her memory and it's odd to have found the treasure chest of everything.

But the best part is to have James in her bed at night. For going to bed alone was certainly hard.

This time, they have to go into hiding. There is no question about. There are no other options. And Lily is terrified but she's has James to hold on to at night and it's hard to think of anywhere else she'd rather be.

And the first day of hiding, James pulls out the photos that they took when they were unaware of their past. Lily laughs and cries as James admits that he charmed his set while hers is stationary. It's funny to see how clearly they fit into one another despite the lack of history. How Harry looks so happy with the two of them and how happy the pair look when they stare into each other's eyes.

And when Emmeline is picking up the pieces of the house, another failed plan with a twist of a surprise ending, she can't help but cry at the fact that those two found each other against all odds. At least they had some time together before their deaths.

Fate was at its kindest when it let them die together.

AN: Love it? Hate it? Review it!