"Waking me up at five o'clock in the morning better have good-ass excuse, Joshua," I mumbled, head still partially underneath the pillow as I held the phone to my ear lazily. "Someone better have died."

He was silent on the other line as I pulled the phone away from me to make sure we were still connected. We were. I had just barely missed his response, murmuring an inaudible 'huh' as he quietly repeated what he had said. "I lied to you."

Now I was waking up. I was getting angry and I didn't even know what he had lied about. It was probably about what he ate or how he felt the three hours before he had called to fill me in on the lying. "About what?"

"I lied to you about when I fell in love with you," he said softly as I raised an eyebrow and my own head to remove my face from the pillow's cotton surface. "I lied. It wasn't at the wedding, nowhere near."

"And you called to tell me this?"

"I just figured it out, Lil," he said softly. "I'm sorry I woke you, I know how much you love your sleep - probably more than I do, but I just wanted to tell you. I knew you felt alone all that time and all the moments I had told you that there was a man out there that would love you for who you were and what you did to them. I was thinking about that day back when we got into the fight at the club, do you remember? When Charlotte came in with Jeremy?"

"Yeah," I murmured, rubbing my eyes to rid them of sleep. "What about it?"

"That night, with you and I on the bed and we were lying there, talking. I was saying all those things and I remembered that I had felt a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I figured out it was jealousy. And then, when I had the urge to just touch you, even if you thought it was more for comfort - it was more for me and my curiosity about how your skin would feel. And then, my need to sleep there with you ... it wasn't because I was worried about you, though I was ... I needed to be close to you. I had all these weird feelings and I didn't know if I wanted to accept them or even grasp what they were, but now, I am and I do. I fell in love with you then, Lily. I fell in love with you at your most vulnerable and modest time. I always knew I had feelings for you, but I always tried to mask them and excuse them as loving you like a sister ... but I never knew ... I never knew."

"Jace -"

"I love you, Lily Anne Hennessy. I love you more than I have ever loved Eva, or Bobbee. Even Nikki. I love you with my entire being and I can't ... I can't figure out how I got you. Every decision I have made revolved around what you thought, how you'd react. Every stupid little song I've written since God knows when has pertained to you, even if I didn't know it at the time. I love you like Romeo loved Juliet, like Chandler loved Monica - or Ross loved Rachel, for that matter. I love you ... like a fat kid loves cake."

I laughed at this, tears burning my eyes in my still semi-asleep state. "What is the point in the 'love' ramblings, Jace? You okay?"

"Now," he said softly. I then noticed the sad tone his voice had been carrying on. "It's been a bad day and I'm only counting down the forty eight more hours until I can see you again."

"Why bad day, baby?" I heard him sigh deeply, picturing him sitting on the edge of his bed, head in hand as he held the cell phone with the other. It was probably about eight his time in Australia and I could only imagine how tired he now was. "Hassle?"

"I went to bed last night drunk off of my ass," he started, voice trailing off as I suddenly feared the worst, beginning in the pit of my stomach and going all the way to my throat, "and when I woke up, I turned on my side to bury myself in your smell and you ... and you weren't there. It's just been hell here, it's been hell without you."

"You sound like a lovesick newlywed," I laughed. He laughed slightly with me but got quiet again. "Jace?"

"I am a newlywed, Lily. And so are you. Do you realize that we've been married for two months, and out of those eight weeks, I've only been around two? It kind of sucks. At least ... at least I'll be home for your birthday."

I smiled. "My birthday isn't until the 17th of October, Jace. You'll be home for like, a week and a half by then."

"I don't want to pretend anymore, Lily. I don't want to live a fake life."

"So you wanna drop this whole marriage thing?"

"No," he said softly. "I want to be with you. I want to marry you in the wedding that I know you've been wanting since you were little. I want to get that same feeling I got in my stomach the moment I saw you start down that aisle. I want to really, really be married to you. I want your sisters and my siblings to stand with us up at the altar when we exchange vows. I want your dad to give you away and to see our mother's both crying. I want to share a home with you. I want you to be able to have my last name and wear it with pride. I want to make love to you in our own bed and not some hotel room bed ... or bath. I want to make babies with you. I want to see my children in your eyes and I want to see you all beautiful and pregnant. I want to come home from a long day at the studio and hear little feet come running down the hallway screaming, 'daddy'. I want that life, Lily. You came into my life when I didn't know what I wanted or what I needed and knocked me on my ass. You made me realize that I want to be married and have babies ... that I need you."

I bit my lip to keep me from crying, the smile hurting as my teeth kept my bottom lip from moving too far. "What brought you to this, JC? What made you change your mind?"

"You did, baby," he said softly, seriously. "The thought of moving on and not waking up next to you like I did today was heartbreaking. I don't want to go through that again. I need to have you with me."

"Well," I said softly, voice trailing off as I glanced at the clock: 5:15AM. Still so early ... "Get on that airplane and come home."

"Right now."

"Right now," I said softly. "Come to Maine and we'll fly to California together. Come home and you won't have to wake up without me there."

"God, Hennessy," he chuckled, "look what you've done to me."

"I was nothing but an innocent bystander."

"Right." He yawned then, my eyes falling closed and now picturing him lying in bed, eyes falling closed. "I could leave. I don't have anything left here ..."

I smiled to myself, closing my eyes and listening to him mumble to himself as he tried to figure out what was best for him. I turned my head, looking at the vacant spot next to me and my heart slowly descended into my stomach. "Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"Come home."

"Okay, baby," he said softly. "I'll call you when I get a flight."

"Okay."

"I love you. I mean that. I really love you."

I laughed to myself slightly, shaking my head in disbelief. When had this become? When had he and I become two love-sick people? Love-sick for one another? Whenever it was, I wasn't complaining. "I really love you, too, Joshua Scott."

"I'll be home soon."

"I'll hold you to it."

"You better."

I hung up with him, putting my phone back on the nightstand and looking up at the ceiling, then digging the palms of my hands into my face. It boggled my mind had quickly this had come for me. Of all those times that he told me there was a man out there just waiting for me, waiting to love me the way I deserved to be loved ... it was him. It was him who waited, who loved me deeper than I could even fathom. I knew it came quickly for him, and probably scared the hell out of him him as it did for me - but we were here. We were at that place that I was so afraid I'd never get. And now I had it. And now, I suddenly had a real wedding nearly promised to me. A real husband (though he was my husband already), a real family. Of my own. He couldn't get home soon enough.

When I got to the airport the next day at nearly the same time he had I had talked (adding about two and a half hours), the airport was quiet. Not many people came and went through Maine, though it was a beautiful place to be. In the midst of all the flights and airports I had seen while running back and forth to connecting flights, there were always hundreds of people running around, frantic and trying to catch their flight. Here, there might be, at most, a hundred people. Most were sleeping in the chairs by the gate, others waiting in line with tickets.

Of course, with the events that had happened back in 2001 that had be scared to death to be on planes even more than I am now, if you did not have a ticket, you weren't allowed past the security post. In my mind, all I could see was me standing at the large window, watching as his plane landed and then standing there, impatient and doing the bouncy dance, a smile on my face as he finally exited. Those thoughts were quickly ruined as I stood there, leaning up against a wall near a gift shoppe, a woman announcing departing and arriving flights as they came in. US Airways Flight 105 has landed and all passengers will be arriving shortly.

Then I felt it: the butterflies had emerged from their cocoons, my hands suddenly had taken on a mind of their own and were anxiously tapping against the wall I was up against. What if he saw me and suddenly realized what he felt was just being homesick? What if he saw me and ran in the other direction? What if he fell out of love with me?

That would royally suck.

My phone began to ring, bringing it to my ear as I scanned the crowd of people leaving. No sign of him. "Hello?"

"He come yet?"

I laughed, shaking my head at my sister's question. "No, not yet, Laney. Why?"

"... Because I want to see my brother-in-law?"

"You're such a bad liar."

She laughed. "Well, because I know you two will be ... you know ... and I want to know when I have to go so I don't have to hear it."

I blushed, shaking my head as I smiled widely. "Soon. He'll be here ..." I trailed off, eyes locking with beautiful, familiar blue eyes that wrinkled with the wide smile painted on his face. "Now. He's here. I have to go." I shoved my phone into my pocket, pulling myself away from the wall and felt the tears form in my eyes as he ran towards me, two bags in his hand and a suitcase in the other. I met him half-way, the bags dropped at our feet as he held onto me tightly, lifting me up from the ground and spinning slightly. "God, I missed you ..."

He laughed into my skin, nodding. "I missed you, too."

"Don't ever go anywhere without me again."

"Even to the bathroom?"

"Ew," I laughed as he pulled away slightly, he still holding me up, toes barely grazing the ground. "Maybe just there."

"Hold on," he said, letting me slide down as he cracked his knuckles, "all right." With that, his hands cupped my face, pulling me towards him and kissing me deeply. At that moment, I didn't care if I was for or against PDA. He was home.

"Good girl," he laughed, bringing my hand to his mouth and kissing it gently before moving our hands back to the gear shift. Thank God for automatics. "I got you something."

"What?"

"You won't know until your birthday."

"Then why tell me now?" I asked, laughing as he grinned beside me. "Now I'm gonna bother you until you cave."

"Well, I guess I could ... not tell you."

"You're gay."

"Only for you, baby."

"That makes no sense."

"Just like the two of us."

"Don't I know it," I said softly, letting the quiet invade our senses as I drove. But really, why had two people connected the way the had? It didn't make sense. We were fine as friends, and then all of a sudden, we're brought together by some fluke, yet it works. How does it happen? "Don't I know it."

"Lily?"

"Hmm?" I turned my head, looking at him as his eyes slowly dropped, he fighting sleep. It was really cute, actually.

"What are you thinking? You look like you're gonna bust the vein on the side of your head."

"Nothing," I said softly, giving him a small smile. "Just go to sleep."

"You sure?"

"Yep," I said quickly, putting on the windshield wipers as it began to rain. "Positive."

"All right."

Yeah, I wasn't positive. I wanted to know. Of all the women in the world, why me? Why had he chosen me when he could have had my more beautiful sister (well, one of the two) or some model that had been throwing herself at him every fashion show we went to together (and when he went alone)? Why had he chosen the girl that was afraid to accept herself for who she was until he came along? Why did he fall for someone who depended on so many people, so many words to keep her stable and sane? "I'm not positive," I said softly as I heard him chuckle slightly. "Something is bothering me ..."

"What's that?"

"Why me?"

"Why you, what?"

"Why did you choose me?"

He sat up then, pulling the lever on the side of the chair to bring it to a straight-up position. "Why did I choose you," he said, letting the question sink in, "why did I choose you? Because you're you, Lily. You saw me as who I was, not who they made me out to be. You stood by me when no one else would. You make me laugh, make me smile, make me think ... make me cry. You bring out all these emotions I never wanted to deal with and it's made me better. You were this girl who was touchable and yet out of my reach at one time. The one girl whose smile could light up a room and yet bring grown men to their knees. You're loud, opinionated ... quiet and introverted. You're this fucked up mix of everything and it drives me crazy. You drive me crazy. I didn't think I needed you and then I go one day and all I can do is think about you and mope. You and I just fit, Lily. Your body molds to mine like molasses flowing through crevices. Your hand, your insanely small hands, are the only ones that have ever felt right there. You let me be an asshole when the time comes, you knock me on my ass when I'm too much of one. You've made me realize that just one touch from you can affect my entire day. One gaze has me turned into some disgusting goo on the spot. You're just it."

I waited for him to continue, but he had stopped. At first, I had thought he had fallen asleep, but when I opened my mouth to speak, he continued.

"Because to me, you were everything I never thought existed. To me, you're perfect."

If I didn't love him then, I loved him now.

"Oh."

He laughed. "Yeah, 'oh'." He squeezed my hand in reassurance, yawning once more, "Lily, just know that I love you. You're it for me. I don't think there's ever going to be a time where I don't believe that. The moment our eyes locked in the airport, I knew I had made the right decision. There will never be a woman in this lifetime that loves me as much as I love her. There's not one person that will put up with me like you do."

I sniffled, nodding as I turned onto the one road that would be the longest distance to home, yet the one road that led us there. "I love you."

"I love you, too, baby," he said softly.

"Josh?"

"Hmm?"

"I still wanna know what you got me."

He laughed. "Don't worry. You'll know in due time."

"Due time is stupid."

"Lily?"

"What?"

"Give it up," he laughed. "You'll never know."

"Whatever," I mumbled, he still laughing as I couldn't help but smile. God, I missed him.