Cuddled in absolute warmth, Lilia was lying next to Nick, with her head pillowed on his shoulder. Sighing, she tightened her hold around his torso, and nestled her lips against his throat.

"Lily," Nick began, before she shushed him.

"No talking. Whenever we talk, it's bad. No talking. Bad," she mumbled.

"Well there goes my moment," Nick sighed in frustration.

"You were working up to a moment? That's so cute," Lilia giggled.

"Why are you acting like such a child?" he asked lightly.

"Because I'm happy. It's been awhile since I've been this happy. I've forgotten what it was like," she said.

"So back to my moment," Nick interrupted the slight silence that followed.

"Back to your moment."

"Shit, now that I have the stupid moment, I have no idea what to say," Nick said, rolling his eyes. He sat up, pulling Lilia with him. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. The intense blue eyes sent shivers down Lilia's spine. They were so clear, so blue, so free. They represented happier times; times where she had had everything she wanted.

"I love you," she whispered.

"Well there goes my moment for the second time. Dammit, Lily, why do you always do that?" he asked, feigning exasperation.

"It's a talent."

"Oh no you don't. No this time. I will have my stupid moment, even if I have to kill you first. Lilia, I love you," he said forcefully. She bit her lip as she tried to not burst into tears with the happiness she was feeling weld up inside.

"So what happens now?" she asked shakily.

"I don't know. We take it one day at a time? There is a lot we need to work out, you know."

"And a lot to forgive, on both sides. Do you think we can make this work?" she asked.

"We can always try. But I'm not going to let you go, ever again, so we kind of have no choice in the matter," he said, as they settled back down.

"Now tell why this was so easy, and why on earth it took this long?" Lilia asked, chuckling slightly. Nick's hand slipped down over her stomach, and a thought passed over him.

"Who do you think she would have looked like?" he asked gently.

"What makes you so sure it was a girl?" Lilia retorted, imperceptibly giving him permission to talk about a subject that caused her so much pain.

"Oh, it was a girl. Who needs boys? She would have had your hair."

"No way, yours. Anyone with Carter genes would have to have your trademark hair."

"And your eyes."

"And your height."

"And your voice."

"Well, I hope she wouldn't have yours. Unless of course you are admitting to sounding like a little girl."

"Quiet you!"

"She would have been beautiful, Nick. I just wish…I wish that everything could have been different," Lilia sighed sadly.

"But they weren't, and with everything the way it is now, maybe it's a good thing. I mean, everything happens for a reason. While we don't know what those reasons are yet, we might eventually know. A choice was made, and you came back to me, so I can't say that I'm sorry for that," he said. Smiling through gentle tears, Lilia swallowed.

"How could I have possibly survived these months without you?"

* * * *

"So I wonder if they are still sitting in absolute silence," AJ said as he entered the darkened hotel room.

"Oh probably not. I wonder which one is dead," Howie wondered out loud.

"What makes you so sure they'd result to homicide?" Paul asked.

"Come on, they are both the most stubborn people we know. Either they made up completely, or one of them is dead. There is no turning back," Howie reasoned.

"Hey, do you think they've figured out that we unlocked the door before we left?" Sandy asked quietly.

"If they really wanted to leave the closet, they would have found the way," Brian declared. He was about to reach for the light switch when a lamp suddenly flicked on.

"Oh really. Did you hear that, we would have found a way," Lilia's voice was hard.

"Imagine that. Finding a way," Nick's voice was equally cold.

"Uh…" the guilty party said nervously en masse.

"So, what do you think we should do with these people? You know, considering the whole 'holding people against their will' thing is a felony," Lilia asked.

"Let's kill them. It's the only solution," Nick said.

"I'm sure we'll figure out a suitable punishment," Lilia said.

"Oh, I'm sure we will find a way," Nick echoed her though.

"Now come one, it's not like you left us any choice. You guys were being so incredibly selfish about this whole thing, you didn't realize the uh…the strain that you were putting on us," Brian said, with a pained expression on his face.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! We felt like…like we couldn't talk to Lilia or say anything about her or her friends. It was terrible, considering that we really…like them…and…it was hard and we had that stupid loyalty thing with you and…and…" Brian stammered.

"And you're pulling this straight out of your ass right now, aren't you?" Nick asked. Brian nodded weakly.

"Okay, we got sick of seeing two really great people who should be together, who weren't together for some reason we just couldn't seem to decipher. It was ridiculous. So we did what we thought was right, you stupid, ignorant, selfish and immature…brats!" Jacki stepped forward to chastise the pair.

"So, what happened?" Paul asked, silencing Jacki's tirade with a slight warning glance. Lilia looked away shyly, and she slowly began to redden.

"We made a few decisions," Nick said simply.

"Lilia," Paul said in a sing-song voice.

"Yes, Paul, my dearest, most TRUSTED best friend?" Lilia answered, refusing to meet Paul's eyes.

"What decisions were made?" Paul asked again with Lilia once again refusing to meet his glance.

"I'm going back to Florida," Nick said. A few groans were heard as the would-be matchmakers realized that they had failed.

"And I have decided that I'm selling Genuine to my father, and I'm going to take up a new career," Lilia declared. This declaration was met with a few surprised looks.

"What new career?" Sandy asked, slightly worried.

"Well, it's not really new. I've been doing it for years, but now I'm actually going to get paid for it," she smiled. Paul's eyes widened as he realized what she was talking about it. Sandy had an idea, but she thought it was too far out to be true. She decided to test her theory.

"You're going to try to get a record deal?" she asked warily. Lilia burst out laughing at the ridiculous thought, and was soon joined by the rest of the assembled group.

"No, no. Can you imagine that?" Lilia laughed. Everyone else kept laughing, and after a few minutes, Lilia stopped, while everyone else continued.

"It's not that funny," she protested.

"So what will you be doing?" Damon asked.

"I'm going to be a song writer. Or I'm going to try, anyway. Who knows, it could work. If not, I can always open a night club," she said. The announcement set in, and she was met with quite a few exclamations."

"Song writer? I didn't know that you could write, Lilia!"

"This doesn't mean that you're going to start asking for royalties on the that stuff you wrote for us that is on our albums, are you?"

"So where are you moving?"

"When did this happen? Why are you selling Genuine?"

"Alright, alright already. I'm moving to Florida, I've written a few for Genuine before and I liked it. Who knows, I may be a horrible song writer, but at least I'll be a happy, horrible song writer," she said, for the second time in many months she was feeling genuinely happy.

"But that didn't answer my question!" Paul protested.

"That's right! What happened with you two?" Kevin demanded.

"We are currently…"

"…attempting to hopefully…"

"…tentatively and very carefully…."

"…working things out," they explained together very reluctantly. Happy that their plan hadn't resulted in a double homicide, the guilty group sighed in relief.

"I hate to be the one to say it, but I told you so," Brian said. Everyone groaned.