Until I Have To Go

The doctor smiled and went to the waiting family, telling them that Jo was out of danger. She has felt sick probably long before she showed symptoms but with Liam’s own accident she ignored them. He didn’t mention what he had just told Liam, but he nodded to Lorelai when she asked with one look.
Jo didn’t wake up that night and nor the next day, she was too exhausted. It was five days since they left London when she woke up. Seeing Liam sitting on a chair but sleeping leaned on her bed. He was holding her hand. As soon she moved she felt pain at her lower stomach, like a pinch.

“Ouchy!” Liam lifted his head. “Hey beautiful you are awake.” He kissed her gentle, giving her time to wake up. But he saw the question in her eyes, so he climbed gentle to her into the bed and pulled her slowly into his arm.

“You were never pregnant, it was just an acute appendicitis.”

Jo blushed and just cuddled closer to him before she fell asleep again. The doctors had told him that she would be very tired because of the medication…

Not a week later Jo had left the hospital. Liam and she were for a couple of days in London he had a job (not that he really wanted to go but he had to). She was walking through London when she suddenly heard a gunshot, she ducked behind some bins and held her breath. A man was running out of the street jumping into a black car just before a second man bleeding went into a second car and with squeaking wheels followed the first car. She waited another minute before she ran to the building Liam was. When she told him and the rest of the team about it she failed to clearly remember how the men looked or what cars it were. They all forgot about it.


The summer went on and it became September.

“Liam? Are you ready? We should go. Come on what are you doing in the bathroom? I don’t wanna be late to my own birthday party.”

Jo was excited after spending her real birthday entirely with her boyfriend, nothing would ruining the annually big party at her parents. When she was younger it wouldn’t had surprised her when the Queen of England would have shown up. She was playing with the small pearls on the bracelet she got from Liam the day before, he had taken her to a picnic. He was really embarrassed since he knew what expensive gifts she would get but Jo loved the bracelet. She really hoped that one day Liam would see how much she loved the little gift he gets her, and each of them are more valuable than gold or diamonds.

“Liam can we go?”

She knocked again at the bathroom door waiting for him to answer. After all they would get changed at Waterfall Downs.

“You’re not getting drunk in the bathroom again, are you?”, she asked, half-jokingly, half-worrying.

He opened the bathroom door, looking serious. “I think…”

“What is it?”

“I think I might be pregnant.”

“Liam, you idiot!” She laughed and punched him the shoulder.

“Well, I thought of a good excuse not to go the party, and I think if I’d say I’m pregnant and dealing with morning sickness you all would let me stay here.”

Jo rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible.” She watched him sitting down on the coach, picking up a book. “Ahem…what are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

“There’s no time for reading, we have to go now or we’ll be late, and I can’t be late to my own birthday party.” She tugged at his sleeve. “Come on!”

“Okay, okay…can I take this with me?” He held up the book.

“Flaubert’s Madame Bovary? You’re joking, right?”

“No…”

“You’re not taking a book about a woman who commits adultery to my parents’ house.” She snatched the book away from him. “What is it with you and inappropriate books?”

“I’m sorry, but Goldilocks and the three Bears bores me.”

Jo sighed. “Are you coming now?”

“Yes, I just need my jacket.”

“We’re going to get changed anyway, you don’t need a jacket.” She grabbed his sleeve and dragged him to the door.

“Do I have to wear a stupid suit again?”

“No, you have to wear a clown’s costume. Of course you have to wear a suit!”

“Brilliant…”, he mumbled. “And I assume there are going to be more than just ten people?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Wonderful. This is so exciting! Seriously, I’ve never been so excited about anything…”

“Liam, stop being sarcastic. You’re doing it for me, remember?” She looked at him with puppy-eyes.

“All right, I promise to behave”, he said, holding the door open for her while secretly hiding the book under his shirt.

Jo grinned she didn’t even have to look and knew that Liam was taking the book, but she knew what books her father had in the library so she allowed him to take it along. She had a surprised for him, something that would make him different from all the others.
Just at the front door, before they went inside Jo put her hands on Liam’s which was still on the gear shift.

“Liam? Listen this parties for me they are planned by my mother and I never really had friends to invite, so most of the people I don’t care if they are there. This picnic yesterday with you was the best birthday I ever had. And father told me that mother invited Victor again. Just ignore him okay? I love you and not him and that drives him crazy because his family lost all their money.”

Before he could say anything she climbed on his lap and kissed him passionately. “Do you hear me I love you and not this idiot Victor!”

“Just one word and I would let you go, you know that?”

“Yes I know but I’m not letting you go.”

Jo kissed him once more and then opened the driver’s door.

“Anne!” Jo yelled and flew into her nannies arms. “My little dearest Jo. You look wonderful and each year more beautiful.” Anne hugged Jo tight, and Liam could see how dearly they loved each other. It took him by surprise when Anne let go of Jo and hugged him just as tight. “It is good to see you Mister Liam.”
She did hug him very lovely, and warm but at the same time very respectful as a servant.

“Anne I’m not more than you are, don’t call me Mister.” Liam said smiling.

Jo chuckled when Anne looked stern at Liam. “Very well Liam.” Jo and Anne started laughing. “Come on children, you should get changed, Jo your mother awaits you and of course she is saying that you are late. No worries your father know you are not.”

They went inside and to Jo’s room. Jo took her dress and went behind the dressing screen to get changed.

“Liam your suit is on my bed.” Jo said. The two teenagers were alone in her room and Jo was giggling behind the screen of Liam’s face when he would look through the suit and find her two surprises for him.

His girlfriend most certainly knew how to surprise him. He picked up the Mickey Mouse panties and couldn’t hold back a grin. “You have an extraordinary taste in fashion.”

“Well, since you’re going to be stuck in a suit for the rest of the day I thought you should wear something underneath that makes it more comfortable for you, hence the Mickey Mouse.”

“If you check the dictionary for the word ‘wonderful’, you’ll find a picture of you right next to it. You should also earn the ‘Best Girlfriend of the Year Award’, if there is such a thing.”

Jo giggled. “Now you’re making me blush.”

“That’s nothing new”, he replied jokingly, walking towards the bathroom.

“You don’t have to go to the bathroom to get changed, you prude!”, she said teasingly.

“Do I have to remind you that the last time I got changed in your room, your nanny saw me in my Superman boxer shorts?”

“So? Anne doesn’t mind…”

“Well, I do.” Liam locked the bathroom door, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t get rid of Jo who kept on nagging that she wanted to see how Mickey Mouse was suiting him.

“Come on, nobody is going to storm into this room, so don’t be so scared.”

“I’m not scared”, he said through the door.

“You’re a scaredy-cat!”

“I’m sorry if I don’t want to run around half-naked in your parents’ house, they already have a bad impression of me…”

Jo rolled her eyes. “You’re such a girl!”

“Okay, that’s enough!” He opened the door, already wearing a white shirt from some weird, unpronounceable French brand, and, of course, the Mickey Mouse t-shirt underneath as well as the underpants. “Are you happy?”

“Very.”

“Can I go now and put the trousers on before someone bursts through the door?”

“Not so fast”, Jo grabbed his arm before he could hide in the bathroom again. “You need to help me with my dress.”

“Why? It looks nice.”

“The zipper, silly! I can’t reach it on my own.” She turned her back on him and waited.

“Can I put my trousers on first?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it takes a second to close the zipper!”

Liam sighed. “You’re doing this on purpose.”

Jo chuckled. “Maybe.”

“What if someone opens the door now and-“

He couldn’t finish the sentence because someone opened the door and Anne entered the room. “Oh, Miss Jo, I didn’t know you were still here and…” She raised her eyebrows as she watched Liam trying to hide behind Jo, which naturally didn’t work.

“It’s not what it looks like!”, Liam exclaimed.

“It looks like you’re helping Miss Jo with the dress”, Anne said.

“Well, then it is what it looks like. If you will excuse me…” He nodded at Anne who had a hard time hiding her grin, then turned around and quickly fled into the bathroom.

As soon as Anne was gone Jo started laughing. “It’s not what it looks like? You’re hilarious, you know that?”

“That’s not funny”, Liam mumbled behind the door. “You know, it would be really nice if there is one time, just one time, when I can actually talk to Anne without her inspecting my…you know...”

“You’re lucky it wasn’t my mother who came in.”

“You said nobody was going to come in…And here I am, being all stupid and actually believe you…” He opened the door, this time dressed from head to toe, he even forced himself to wear the tie that someone had put out to go with the suit. He wished he could wear a tie with puking Leprechauns or something else that reflected his mood. “The next time I’m in you room you’ll lock the door, are we clear?”

Jo laughed. “Yes next time locked door got it.” They went downstairs and were greeted by Colin.

“Jo! Happy birthday baby.” Colin hugged his daughter tight. “You mother will hate the dress. I think it is very pretty.”

“Thanks daddy.”

“Liam, I assume you got all parts of the suit? And to your information, my special piece is just red. Elizabeth doesn’t like the colour at all.”

Colin laughed and so did Jo, and after a few moments Liam laughed too.

“Shall we go? The first early guests arrived under them are John and Lorelai.” John let Liam take Jo’s arm and followed smiling his daughter and her boyfriend into the Garden Salon, the one that had the huge windows to the garden. As so often to Jo’s birthday the sun was shining.
A few hours later the party was fully going everyone was there and Lorelai had just told Jo a secret.
Liam was talking to one of Colin’s Professor friends.

“Excuse me sir, but I need to borrow my boyfriend for a minute.” Jo smiled sweetly at the old man.

“Of course my dear child.”

Jo pulled Liam into a corner of the Salon. “Jo not hear in the Salon everyone can watch.”

His girlfriend giggled kissed him and whispered. “I wasn’t planning to do it now, I thought we would do that later. No I have news, Lor just told me a secret. She doesn’t want to spoil my birthday so she will pronounce it tomorrow. But she wanted to tell me today. Lorelai and John are engaged. They are getting married and I am Maid of Honour.” Jo beamed at Liam. “Isn’t that great? Lor getting married, and me a maid of honour. They will be married before Christmas.”

(OOC: Ariel, I feel so embarrassingly girly! I’m not used to write that kind of stuff…I feel like I’m in a chick-flick!)


What?
What???

“They are…they…they are…” Liam had a hard time saying anything at all after Jo threw this news at him.

“Getting married!”, Jo repeated happily. “Isn’t that just great?”

Married. Married? Married!!!
Shit!

Jo continued babbling about how exciting she was and what kind of dress she would wear, but Liam didn’t pay attention to anything she said. When she mentioned how beautiful Lorelai would look in a wedding dress, he couldn’t look at her anymore. He needed to get away from her before she noticed anything.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be right back”, he said, turning his back on her and walking towards the next exit. It was getting cold outside since the sun already went down, but he didn’t care. He crossed his arms and leaned against the cold stone wall of the building. He could hear the voices and music from inside, but everything seemed far away. Of course Liam had always expected- and dreaded- the moment when Lorelai and John would announce their engagement, but for some reason there was always this little hope that it wouldn’t happen after all. He felt guilty about his jealousy, especially since he had a lovely girlfriend, but still… He knew there shouldn’t be a ‘still’, or a ‘but’. He knew it was wrong but he still had feelings for Lorelai, despite being in a relationship. That was something he couldn’t just switch off from one day to the next.

“Here you are”, Jo appeared next to him. As expected, she had followed him.

“Hey…” Liam didn’t look at her.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And that’s why you’re standing here in the cold, refusing to look at me?”

He turned his head to look at her. “I’m fine, it was just getting really warm in there.”

“Okay…” Jo leaned against the railing. “December is less than three months away, and there are so many things to do as the maid of honour. I will help with the shopping, the planning, the choosing of the dress...oh, this is going to be so exciting! The dress-“

“Can we not talk about this?”, Liam asked her rather coldly.

She looked confused. “What?”

“I’m really not in the mood to talk about this right now.”

“Come on, you’re acting like you’re still…” She suddenly realised what was going on. “Oh God…” She bit her lip while she came to the realisation. “You’re still in love with her.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “No…”

“Yes, you are. That’s why you’re so upset about the whole wedding thing…” She felt her heart racing. “God, I’m so stupid!”

“That’s rubbish, Jo.”

“Is it?” She looked him right into his eyes. “Then tell me honestly to my face that you don’t have any feelings for her.”

“Well, I do have feelings for her but…”

“Unbelievable.” Jo shook her head.

“I don’t love her, okay? Not the way you think…”

“You know what? Just save that speech for someone else, but I really don’t want to hear it right now”, she said, turning away from him.

“Where are you going?”

“Inside. The guests expect me to unwrap the presents they gave me”, she replied coldly.

“Jo…”

“You can stay outside, that gives you a break from pretending to be my boyfriend.” She ran inside and slammed the door.

((Anyone of our dear readers have a better idea for a tilte MissA and I start to dislike A bookworm meets a scientist. Let us know if you have an idea.))



Jo took a moment to calm herself, put on the happy mask she was supposed to wear and was the perfect rich daughter. Just one look and Colin knew that it was an act, but it was her mother that reached her first.

“Josephine where is Liam? You have to open the presents he should be here too.”

Jo took a deep breath and answer rather coldly. “I have no idea where he is. I have to unwrap my presents.”

Jo went to the table smiling and looking happy but with each present she unwrapped her smile broke. Just in time Colin announced. “As you all know my present is always given in private by me. Please excuse us. Josephine?”

Colin put and arm around his daughters shoulder and led her into the library. “So do I assume right that Liam is not happy about Lorelai’s engagement?”

Jo nodded.

“This envelope contains the details and tickets for a journey. It is for two people. I did plan that you would go with Liam, but you can go with anyone.”

Jo cried silent tears.

“Thanks daddy.” She felt so stupid, why hadn’t she seen it. Liam didn’t love her, he just hoped that through her he would get Lorelai. He knock interrupted them.

“Excuse me Mister Williams but as you I have a gift for Jo I would prefer giving her in private.” The one guest Colin and Jo didn't like at all was standing priggish in the door. Colin didn’t like that idea but Jo nodded and he left the library.

“My dear Jo, in all those years you meant a lot to me and…”

“Josephine!”

“Pardon me?”

“For you it is Miss Josephine on good days and by looking at you I never have a good day with you so I guess it is Miss Williams on every bad day, but go on. You were saying?”

“Yes. Josephine I was saying that. I love you very much and…” He went down on his knee. “Do you want to marry me?” Jo was down on one knee holding a little box in his hand which contained a ring with a huge diamond on it surrounded by little ones.

Jo starred at Victor for a moment she thought about Liam and considered saying yes to Victor and if it was just to hurt Liam as much as he was hurting her. But then she looked in her heart and she couldn’t.

“Victor for nothing in the world I would marry you.”

“Jo…”

“Josephine!”

“…Josephine, I love you.” Victor got up and stepped closer to Jo who stepped away from him.

“You love my money Victor, not me and I for a fact despise.” Jo said with hatred to Liam.

“That is not true. And you would know that if you wouldn’t try to keep telling yourself that you want this little Irish rat. You need a man Josephine, not a boy who will be a heavy drinker as they all are from his country. He doesn’t even have a real job.”

Jo looked angry at Victor. “That. Was. A. Mistake!” She pressed through clenched teeth. Victor didn’t care he stepped forward pushed her against the bookshelf and kissed her.

Usually Liam followed Jo when she ran away from him, but this time he stayed outside. He didn’t really know how to act in her presence right now because he was still too upset about the news, and she was too upset to talk to him anyway, so it was probably the best for both of them to calm down first.
He sat down on one of the countless benches and scrutinized the garden statues that looked like they’ve been picked up from the ruins of ancient Greece. For some reason all rich people had statues of Roman or Greek gods in their garden, he had no idea why. Well, the Venus statue looked kind of hot…but that was probably not the reason why the Williams had put it there.

Liam picked up a magazine that someone had left on the bench. Not the kind of magazine he would usually read, but well, it was a distraction…and some of the women looked really nice. Not that he had much clue about anything inside that Vogue magazine, since it was about strange fashion, articles about weird subject such as plucking eyebrows, and even stranger articles about ‘how to impress men’ with the most ridiculous tips he had ever seen. He sure as hell knew that none of those tips would work on Dick… While Liam flipped through the magazine, he realised how glad he was that Jo was not one of those girls he saw on the pictures. He liked her especially for the fact that she was different. Until he met her he was only interested in those supermodel kind of girls, but Jo, being this little tomboy who memorised every single author alphabetically in her head, was so special that he couldn’t compare her to any other girl, and he loved that fact. But he really sucked in letting her know. He really sucked in being her boyfriend, or any boyfriend for that matter.
Liam’s eyes wandered over an article about different ways to curl your hair. This was a joke, right? He just couldn’t understand why women spent so much time being concerned about things like that.
Jo never wasted her time on stuff like that, because she was different than the rest. She was special.

For a moment Jo had no idea what to do, she didn’t want to be kissed by Victor, she didn’t want to be kissed by anyone else than Liam but he…
With all her strength she pushed Victor away from her.

“God gracious, what do you think you are doing I said no! I would never marry you I rather stay alone for my love than marry you!”

Victor grinned and was about to kiss her again, but Jo had something other in mind. She remembered everything John had told her punched Victor right in the face. He screamed and through his fingers ran blood.

“You stupid cow you smashed my face!” He shouted at her.

“Good it was ugly anyway!” Jo ducked and ran out of the room.

In the hallway Jo ran into one of the servant boys, he was carrying a Champagne bucket in it was mainly water the ice in it all melted. “I’ll take this, please tell my father that I will not come back. He will know what to say.”

“Yes Miss!” The servant said while she was on her way into the gardens. She put her right hand into the bucket to cool it.
She found Liam on a bench. “Hey.”

He didn’t look up.

Great I meant so less to him.

“Father gave me as a present a journey through Europe, it is for two and… Victor proposed to me.” Liam faced the truth he would now hear that Jo too would get married too. “He… he kissed me, and you know what maybe I should have married him, maybe I should have said yes to him.”

Liam didn’t look up.

“For God’s sake Liam look at me!” Jo shouted with no reaction.

“Seriously Liam, you know what just go to Lorelai and ask to marry you instead. I never thought you are such a huge asshole, I hoped this would be just a crush like my crush on John, but apparently I am not enough for you and I never will. No matter how much I try, I will never reach your Goddess, I will never be Lorelai Von Gruensee. “ She looked sad at him.

“Jo…”

“No don’t I guess you and I were just meant to be a summer, we shouldn’t lie to each other and ourselves. You go your way and I go mine.”

“Jo don’t…”

Jo was sad before but his indifference drove her over the edge. “You stupid idiot, I gave you my heart and all I was for you was a distraction from Lorelai. Here! Take this let it be your honeymoon and never see me again!” Jo first threw the envelope with the journey tickets at him and then she emptied the ice water over his head.

“I better go and do what I do every birthday.” Jo cried angry tears. Normally she was disappointed that this year when she really thought her birthday would be great but as usual it sucked majorly. She ran inside the house, slammed all doors on her way into her room.

Meanwhile in the garden

Lorelai heard their fight. She really tried to open his eyes but apparently he was not much of a genius. “Liam?”

Liam turned around quickly and saw Lorelai. He was dripping ice water. For a moment Lorelai felt pity for him, but just for a moment.

“She broke Victor’s cheek bone.”

Liam looked surprised. “She what…?”

“Liam listen you mean a great lot to me but…”

“Mina I can…”

“Shut up Liam. I am not Mina. Not anymore I thought you learn to be a friend but you didn’t. I’m Lorelai and in first instance Jo’s sister and when you can’t be my friend I don’t want to ever see you again. What the devil did you think? Oh right you didn’t think. You are a stupid moron. I can’t believe you broke her heart. You still don’t understand it do you? She had this one special kiss in her right corner of her mouth and it belongs to you, it always will. Goddammit Liam I will never love you. I’m nothing more than a hot body and if you don’t see this I don’t want you in my life anymore. I rather never see my best friend again than see my little sister get so much hurt.”

“Mine…”

Lorelai slapped Liam hard in the face. “I am not you Mina. I am Lorelai Von Gruensee, there is nothing that connects us! And there never was.”

Lorelai stormed away, to John who was standing in some distance in the garden. For a very long time Lorelai cried. She fled into John’s arms and knew it would turn out to be good for her, but Jo? Jo was the one that lost this time and there was nothing she could do for her.

Jo never felt it so difficult to write down her thought. She was fine before she met Liam, she never thought she is missing out something but then came Liam. He taught her how to love, he opened her eyes and made her see a world full of wonders. And then she saw that all of this was nothing but a lie. He had played with her, hoped that through her he would get Lor. She was sitting in her favorite chair looking over that dark fields, wishing nothing of this would happen. As every character in a story does, but it is happening. She lost him.

((Thanks for the commercial break after this very emotional scene, it really makes me feel like I’m in front of a TV, just shocked about what happened and then… “Say hi to mummy, purrrr”…and that slap from Lorelai…nice one, man!!!))

Sometimes there were movies where the protagonist of the story lost everything.
But in the end they got it back anyway.
Sometimes there were books where the protagonist of the story lost everything.
But in the end they got it back anyway.
No matter if it was a movie, a book or a stupid television show, the one who lost everything always got back what he wanted the most. Always. That’s what people wanted to see. That’s what they wanted to read about before they went to bed. Happy endings. Bloody happy endings that they made up in their bloody heads to feel better, to tell themselves that someday everything will turn out just fine.

When Liam watched those movies where the protagonist loses everything and mentions the word ‘emptiness’, he never understood what the hell that actor guy was talking about it. What emptiness? Technically, that wasn’t possible because one could never be ‘empty’. A human consisted of the brain, lymph nodes, lungs, heart, liver, arteries, kidneys, at least 206 bones, and the list could go on and on…so how could a human be ‘empty’? Liam was not a poet and despite having read important works of literature, his brain didn’t always recognize ‘figurative language’. He simply was too much a scientist.
Now he knew what that actor guy in the movie meant when he said he felt ‘empty’.

He had not lost one but two of the most important people in his life within a couple of minutes. And he knew, he knew he wouldn’t get back what he lost. This was not a bloody unrealistic movie.
He was wet and cold from the water, his cheek was red and still hurt from Lorelai’s hand…but that was nothing compared to the feeling inside. He looked down at the two tickets he was still holding in his hand. He dropped them on the grass, left the garden and went inside. He ignored the countless faces that turned to him when they saw the completely wet boy walking through, he didn’t even notice Mrs Williams who raised her eyebrows warily.

Liam knew he had no chance getting Jo back. He could talk as much as he wanted, there was no way he’d ever get her back. Of course he didn’t expect her to forgive him either, but he couldn’t leave Waterfall Downs before he apologised to her. He wanted to apologise to Lorelai as well, but he had to do it another time…if she would ever talk to him again. He had never seen her that upset, and sadly he was the reason for it.
Liam knocked on Jo’s door, but as expected, she didn’t answer. He was lucky because she hadn’t locked the door, so he could go in.

“Jo?” When he entered the room he saw her sitting in one of her big armchairs, staring out of the window. She didn’t cry, which surprised him, because she was probably the most emotional person he’d ever met. He expected her to yell at him, to throw things at him…but she just sat in the chair, not moving at all, not even when he appeared right next to her. He wanted to say so much but he couldn’t. “I’ll finally get out of your life, and you’ll see, you’ll be happy again as soon as I’m gone, I promise”, he said with a lowered voice. “I just…I’m sorry, Jo…sorry for the day we met.” He took a last look at her, she still didn’t show any reaction. “You’re lovely…”, was all he managed to say, then he went back into the guest room to get his bag. He grabbed his jacket when suddenly a piece of paper fell on the floor.

Liam read the letter three times until he finally looked up. It sounded like a farewell letter. He was pretty sure it was a farewell letter. It hurt him reading it, but for some reason something worried him. Something wasn’t right about it. He knew that Jo tended to be very emotional, sometimes even unstable because she didn’t really know how to deal with too many feelings. He read the letter a fourth time, and when he was finished he held his breath. She wasn’t going to hurt herself, was she? Liam didn’t hesitate any longer, dropped the letter and ran out of the room.

“Jo!” He stormed into her room, she was still sitting in the same position in her armchair. He knew he could be reading too much into this, but the way Jo acted at the moment worried him. He grabbed her by the shoulders. “You’re not giving up, are you?”

“Do not touch me”, she said almost robotic without looking at him.

He let go off her. “Jo, do you hear me?”

“What I do and what I don’t do is no longer of your concern.” She didn’t even blink. “Just go to your goddess and spend the rest of your life adoring her like a sick puppy.”

“That’s ridiculous, Jo, you know that.” He wanted to tell her how wrong she was, but he didn’t want to start upsetting her again, so he remained quiet.

“You know what’s funny?”, she mumbled, still refusing to look at him. “The first time we met you completely ignored me and only focused on Lorelai. And still, despite the fact that you couldn’t keep your eyes off her, I always believed that one day you would notice me too. And then you did…well, at least you noticed me as in ‘perfect way to get to Lorelai’, but still…It sounds incredibly stupid but the very first moment you looked at me, really looked at me, I thought: This is him. This is ‘the one’…” She paused, then continued in a whisper. “And some people seriously think I’m smart…”

Liam watched her profile for a moment, then left the room. He though the apology was the last thing he had to do, but there was still something left.

Jo didn’t notice the Liam was there or that he had left again, she just kept starring at the dark fields outside. In her mind she saw all the wonderful moments with Liam, just like a movie and she had to admit the picnic yesterday would have made a perfect ending to a movie. That’s what they ended. She might was sitting in her room, but in her mind she was far away.
Liam came back in her room, he was holding the letter she had written and his guitar.

“Yvaine?” He whispered.

No reaction from her.

He crouched down in front of her. “Yvaine?” He whispered a second time, not touching her just trying to make her listen, just trying to get her attention.

“I told him that I will rather stay forever alone than marry him. There is no one I could spend my life with than… you. All my plans, our plans… they won’t come true. They will always be plans and dreams nothing more. All those places we wanted to see, adventures we wanted to have. All I will do is sit in the library of Waterfall Downs and write about love, failure, a girl that had too much money to be loved and without enough curves for the man she loved. I have to find out from where I can order Mickey Mouse jumper, I better get a couple of dozen. In case they stop producing this one. It will be my reminder of you the boy that will always own my heart. Maybe one day when I spend enough time in the library I will be absorbed into the world of my books. I don’t think can write anything good, not even this piece of crap of a letter is good for anything. It doesn’t make anyone feel anything; it wouldn't even last long enough to warm someone when you burn it.” Jo was babbling it didn’t matter that she didn’t made a lot of sense. She wasn’t even sure if she was really talking to Liam or to herself.

“This! Is no rubbish Jo!” Liam held up her letter. She took it without looking at him, crumpled it into a tight ball and threw it away.

“It is shit, nothing more! Everything is falling apart.” Jo whispered.

Liam didn’t say anything he looked at his guitar, when he would have been religious he would have prayed but we wasn’t, and he wasn’t sure if he would manage it. He never composed a song in one go, but he gave it a shot. Slowly and a little shy he started playing. Again and again, he didn’t know how long he played this song until suddenly Jo softly sung following his melody. First not looking at his, but still just starring at the fields. Very slowly she turned her head and looked at him, still singing to his melody.

“Liam I love you so much that it hurts me not being with you, but… I see that you will be happier without me. I’ll let you move on from me, I’ll be fine… one day I hope or think.” She looked at her knees, feeling overwhelmed by everything. “I wish life could be like a book than I would know what to do.” It was just spoken softly, not even really for Liam’s ears.

He was glad the music seemed to calm her down a bit, but she still looked like she had fallen apart. He had no idea someone could look that sad.
“You know, you have to remember that those stories you read are not true”, he said. “Take Jane Austen for instance. What do all her books have in common, except fancy balls and tea parties?”

“Happy endings”, Jo whispered.

“Exactly. All of them end with a happy ending. And you know how Jane Austen’s life was, right? She was perhaps one of the only women during this time who never found love and got married, and she died when she was 41. No husband, no children, only her books, full of things she never head. I’m not saying she was unhappy, I didn’t live back then and I don’t know how she felt about her situation, but I’m sure that just the writing alone didn’t make her happy, you can see that in the way she writes, in the way she insists on happy endings. She wrote about something she would never have, but always wanted…” Liam paused for a moment. He saw that Jo’s face softened a little bit. “When you read those stories and want to be part of them, you always have to remember where they came from, who wrote them.”

“I’m going to be just like Jane…”, Jo mumbled. “I will never marry, I will never have children, and all I will do is writing books about things I wished would happen, but never will.”

“Your future won’t be like Jane’s.”

“Yes, it will. It will exactly be like hers. And that’s fine. Writing makes me happy, even if the things I write are rubbish, but still…it makes me happy.”

“But you won’t be happy, not from writing alone.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I will be just like Jane…”

“No, you won’t!” Liam almost shouted at her, but at least Jo showed some reaction and flinched. “Because I will make sure that you won’t end up like her. You will not sit in the library of your parents’ house and write books your entire life long, losing contact to the outside world. You will not become an old spinster with twenty cats and countless ugly tea sets with flowers on it. Because I won’t let you! I would rather see you getting married to that douchebag Victor than letting you become one of those women who always think about the past and wish they could have changed it. You hear me?”

Jo bit her lip. She slowly turned her head to him, and she was a bit proud of herself that she managed to look at him without starting to cry.
“You know why my mother doesn’t like you?”

Liam looked surprised for a moment because he hadn’t expected that question, but then a brief smile appeared on his face. “Gee, if I start listing all the reasons now, it might take me until tomorrow morning…if I don’t take any break, of course. “

Jo shook her head. “No, it’s something else.”

“Something else? I don’t know your mother that well, but I’m pretty sure I’m not her favourite person because I almost got you pregnant and you will most likely end up in hell and be teared up by hellhounds. That’s what she said to you, remember the hellhounds? And I’m responsible for that.”

“It’s not that”, Jo said. “Well, that doesn’t particularly make her like you better, but it’s not the main reason.”

“That’s confusing. What is the main reason? Is it the nationality thing? Is it because she’s that patriotic English upper-class woman who would rather see her daughter married to someone from lower class than an Irish? If that’s the main reason I can’t do much about it. I can’t pretend to be English, it’s not working. I can’t do the English accent, believe me I tried, but I can’t do proper English. I mean, I can try again but I swear to you it will sound more than ridiculous, seriously, you don’t want to hear-“

“That’s not it.” Jo looked at him. “My mother lost eight babies. Six miscarriages and two still born. I was a miracle.”

“I’m sorry…” It was awkward for him because he really hadn’t seen that one coming and didn’t know what to say.

“She wanted to call her first child after her deceased brother, William, but since her last name was already Williams it wouldn’t sound right, but the name meant a lot to her, so she decided she would use the Irish form of William, and that happens to be your name.”

Liam was quiet for a moment. “So…she doesn’t like me because of my name?”

“It’s just…you remind her of the son she lost, even if you don’t do it on purpose.”

He nodded. “I see…”

“I found out about the babies when I discovered some of her old journals. In our house we don’t talk about those things, we don’t talk about anything that could be an uncomfortable subject, so she would never tell me.”

Liam’s eyes wandered around the room that looked like a princess lived in there. It wasn’t extremely girly, it was just full of valuable objects and furniture. He totally forgot that he was still wet, but now he started to feel cold.
He had promised Jo to get out of her life because he knew he made it worse if he was still around. He cleared his throat. “Anyway…I should go now.” He knew he shouldn’t leave her like that. He owed her one more thing. “Just because Peter let Wendy go doesn’t mean that he stopped loving her.” He looked at her a last time. “Goodbye, Wendy.” He was just about to turn away when he felt her hand grabbing his sleeve. He turned around surprised.

“Don’t go, Peter.”

It was the desperate pleading of a broken heart and she felt more than stupid by doing it. He had set his mind, he was leaving her…

“Wait! What did you just say?” She looked at him for the first time in hours, really looked. He was dripping wet and his left cheek was slightly red, was that a hand imprint? She got up, her legs were shaky and the tears she was holding back since hours found their way out.

“I said erm ‘Goodbye Wendy’?” He said unsure.

“Yes.” She sounded just as unsure as he, telling herself that it meant nothing, it was just a phrase. “But he forgot her as everyone does in Neverland.”

“You misunderstood the book.” Liam was whispering and smiling at her. “Peter never forgot his Wendy…” Her hands were tracing up the button line of his wet shirt. While he was inhaling her, she smelled of books, ink and there was something he couldn’t name. Lorelai always smelled kind of flowery but Jo there was a hint of… if he could just name it. “… It just hurt Peter so much to see his Wendy grow up without him. It hurt him to know that he couldn’t make her happy and turned into memory, her favourite story and then into nothing more than a story. He came many times back but after time she didn’t see him anymore. It was too late for him to admit that he had made a mistake by letting her go.”

“You are wet?” It was a question, not a statement.

He chuckled. “Had you been drinking?”

“No maybe I should have.” Jo looked up, and Liam realized for the millions time that she had the most wonderful brown deer eyes.

“You dumped a bucket of ice water over me, don’t you remember in the garden.” There was nothing more he wanted to do than pulled her close to him, not just because he started to feel cold but also he missed being close to her. “I think I should go, like you want me to.”

Jo shook her head just before she tiptoed to kiss him gentle.

Who cares that I am never his number one I can keep trying…

“Liam I can change.” Jo aspirated between kissing him.

“No way.” He said heated. Jo flinched and stepped backwards.

“Oh okay I see…” She looked at the floor feeling stupid. Why didn’t she let him just go? She considered running away from him but her legs didn’t work. She just stood there.

“Oh Yvaine!” Liam finally pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately. “You still don’t understand it. Yes, Peter loves Tinkerbell but for totally other reasons than he loves Wendy. You don’t need to be jealous of Tinkerbell. She is just a fairy, yes I had fun with her but that’s all. She is not the girl I visit every night to listen to her stories, to see her smile, to watch her sleep to know she is safe.” He kissed the tears on her cheeks away. She didn’t want to but she fell into his arms, feeling safe and as this was the place where she belongs.

“Jo listen, you are my soul mate, the girl I always want to be with, don’t leave Neverland. It is not as magical without you.” Liam felt rather silly by saying all this, what would Dick say if he knew what a horrible softy he is. He sounds just like a guy from her precious books. Liam felt Jo calm down, her tears dried and she held on to his wet suit jacket.
She kissed him, and started unbuttoning his shirt, hell yes he wanted this but…

“Wait!” He let her stand and went to the door, her heart stopped he was leaving, just like this…

“I won’t let anyone walk in this time.” And with that he locked the door and dropped on his way back to her his wet jacket. He pulled her close, rather roughly, luckily she wasn’t wearing her shoes anymore. Josephine wasn’t a stable walker in high heels. He whispered in her ear. “And now let me teach you to fly on the back of the wind.”

"You offend reasons Sir." Jo whispered back. Liam kissed her neck. "Oh, I would be glad to offend them with you." She moaned. For the first time in hours she giggled. “Sorry for the water.”

“Nah, I deserved it. I can’t believe you broke Victor’s cheek bone, how is your hand doing?” He took her hand and inspected it, he saw a bruise and some scratches.

“I broke his cheek bone?” She asked looking rather sorry, he started laughing. “Yes you did, brilliant.” He pulled her close. “I’m so cold.”

“I think I can do something that warms you up.” She kissed him and together they made the way to her bed losing their clothes. She suddenly giggled.

“What?”

“I just realize that my room is just losing its innocent.”

“No one can come in or hear us, right?” He looked worried at her.

“Nope we are perfectly safe as long you get in the morning unseen in your room.” She whispered between their kisses, which quickly grew more passionately.

They had just fallen asleep two hours ago when someone knocked on the door.

“Josephine!”

Liam blinked and needed a moment to realize that he was in Jo’s bed. He looked at her, cuddled into her blanket, her back turned towards him.

“Josephine, why is your door locked?” He heard Mrs Williams’ impatient voice.

Oh crap!

“Josephine, open the door!”

“Jo!” Liam grabbed her shoulder and shook her. “Wake up!”

“What…?” She opened her eyes and looked sleepy at him.

“Josephine Williams, open the door immediately.”

“Oh shit!” She sat up, looking shocked at the door, then at Liam. “You’re still here!”

“I know!”

“My mother can’t find you here!”

“I know!”

“Josephine? What is going on?” Mrs Williams knocked impatiently on the door.

“Nothing, mother!”, she shouted. “I was still asleep.”

“It is eight in the morning, Josephine. You know that breakfast is always at eight sharp.”

“I’m sorry, mother…I was just…” She looked at Liam who was incredibly pale. He was always pale, but not that pale.

“Open the door, Josephine, I insist!”

“But mother…I’m getting changed right now.” She wrapped the blanket around and jumped up to look for clothes. “You have to hide!”, she hissed while Liam got up to collect his clothes that were still not completely dry yet.

“Where?”

“I don’t know!” Jo panicked. “Under the bed. No, in the wardrobe!”
“What?”

He had no chance arguing with her because she already dragged him to the wardrobe, pushed him in and closed the door. “Don’t make any sound, don’t even breathe!”
Her mother surprising them in the morning, and the boyfriend hiding in the closet… this was so cliché!

“Josephine, I’m going to open the door now. I have a spare key and-“

“No need mother, I’ll open it”, Jo exclaimed, pulling the next best dress she grabbed from her wardrobe over her head and stumbled towards the door.

“What in God’s name…?” Elizabeth Williams raised her eyebrows when she saw her daughter barefoot, with tousled hair, in a dress that was not even buttoned yet.

“I’m sorry, I overslept…”

“You know that breakfast is always at eight sharp, and you’ve never been late. And what are you wearing?”

“I can change if you want.”

“Yes, I want that indeed. You look like you just fell out of bed.”

Jo smiled nervously.

“When did Liam leave yesterday?”, her mother asked.

“What?”

“He must have left sometime yesterday because the guest room was empty.”

Jo couldn’t avoid it, she had to blush. She hoped it would stop, but it just didn’t.

“I think I saw him outside…”, she mumbled. “A couple of minutes ago.”

“Outside?”

“Yes, when I opened the curtain I saw him in the garden. He probably wanted to get some fresh air.” She was a terrible liar.

Meanwhile Liam had the hardest time not to move. He held his breath and couldn’t even put his trousers or shirt on because he was too scared Mrs Williams could hear something. He was looking for his Mickey Mouse boxers, but couldn’t find them in the pile of clothes he had in his arms. Which could only mean one thing…
The same moment Jo spotted the boxers next to her bed. She grew very pale, thinking of something to distract her mother before she would notice them too.

“Mother, I am so hungry!”, Jo said, grabbing her mother’s arm and leading her to the door.

“You’re not going dressed like this, Josephine.”

“Oh yes, my shoes!” She quickly ran back, grabbed her shoes and buttoned her dress.

“Josephine, I want you to change first.”

“Mother, please, I really need to eat something. I will immediately change after breakfast, I promise.” Jo shut the door behind her.

As soon as Liam heard the door closing, he quickly got out of the wardrobe but then remembered that his bag with clothes was still in the guest room. He quickly put on his wet suit and sprinted to the guest room, opened his bag and realized that he had packed the wrong jumper. In Oxford he had packed the bag in a hurry because they were late, and he accidently stuffed the wrong jumper in.

“Oh no…” He held the jumper up. “Crap!”

Liam came not ten minutes after Jo and her mother into the breakfast room. Jo choked on her tea. “Liam!”

Colin looked up and smiled at him. “Good morning Liam. Did you rest well? Apparently Jo mentioned that she couldn’t sleep she got a new book that kept her up. I think she got it to impress you it is about the flying.”

This time Liam choked on his tea. “Really you have to show me the book later.”

“Liam, where have you been? You are late and when I knocked at your door you weren’t there.” Elizabeth asked rather coldly.

“Erm, Mrs. Williams I apologize I was outside for a walk in the gardens and forgot about the time.” Liam sounded intimidated he hadn’t forgotten the shock yet by being woken from her in her precious daughter’s bed wearing nothing.

Elizabeth didn’t say anything else but continued eating her porridge. Lorelai and John walked hand in hand into the breakfast room. With a shatter Jo’s spoon fell into her cup which broke into pieces. Jo never felt so scared, but seeing that Lorelai was still here froze her heart.

“Excuse me please I… I don’t feel well.” She basically ran out of the breakfast room. Jo knew this stupid how she acted, but she couldn’t stop it. She sat in the Fireplace Salon, the same salon Liam was hiding when he was drunk. It didn’t take long that Lorelai came.

“Hey sweetheart, erm I know about your and Liam’s fight. Listen I’m not your competition, the way I like Liam is like a best friend, a brother but nothing more.” Lorelai sat down next to her on the couch.

“I know, but…” Jo let Lorelai hug her.”… it’s just that I’m not like you.”

“And that is why you and Liam last forever. I will grow old and one day I will not be that beautiful anymore but you will always his adorable super brain.” Lorelai whispered.

Jo giggled. “Daddy gave me the usual Europe journey for my birthday, just he and me the next four weeks.”

“Don’t come back like me.” Jo looked up, and Lorelai’s shining face gave it away.

“Really when?”

“End of March.” Lorelai giggled. A knock interrupted them. “Jo?” A shy Liam looked through the door. Lorelai said without words to Jo not to say anything.

“Yes I’m here, sorry I ran off. Come on Liam we are leaving three days for Paris and we have a lot to do before we leave.” Jo jumped up and took Liam’s hand. “You can accompany me while I pack, and then we drive home to pack more things there and after that we can drive to London and stay there so that you can pack everything and then we leave from there.”

Liam groaned, they spend a couple of hours packing things from Waterfall Downs. On Sunday they were packing all things they needed from the apartment and drove Monday morning to London, to pack Liam’s things there. To their surprise Dick was out and didn’t come back. Liam left him a note when the two went Tuesday morning to the train station to start their journey.
Their entire luggage was in the luggage wagon. Jo was holding Liam’s hand excited when they got into their cabin.

“This is so awesome Liam.” The train moved and their journey began. “Liam?” He turned around to her. “Is there anything you need me to do Sir.”

Just thought I would squeeze this in here, I think it would be funny if Liam wouldn't get rid of Victor that easily, he needs some competition!



And this was a fan-made film poster, but I added the quote.

“Woah!” He just sat down when Jo took off her coat, looking more than hot. Of course he had seen women in certain magazines dressed with less than this, and Lorelai…wait, don’t think of Lorelai, you idiot!...but it was certainly something else to see Jo like this. She was more the tomboy-kind of girl, and when she wore dresses they always looked nice, but sometimes a little too appropriate. Well, she was raised to be a good girl, and the last sixteen years she had played that role perfectly well, so a little bit of change did her good. Although he worried a bit that she only acted and dressed up like that for him.
“You know, if you keep walking around like that when we’re in Paris there’s no way I will be able to focus on any of the tourist attractions.”

“Well…”, she smiled, sat down on his lap and put her arms around his neck. “That was my intention.”

“1803”, Liam said out of nowhere.

“What?”

“In 1803 the very first steam locomotive was invented”, he continued, not realizing that he had one of his typical Liam-moments, which meant he wouldn’t be able to shut up any time soon. “Everytime I’m in a train I have to think about how trains were invented. The first train with steam engines was built in 1825, but people were scared of it everytime it let off steam and they literally ran away from it. And you know that-“

Jo pressed her hand on his mouth. “No, I don’t”, she said. “And to be honest, there are other things I would rather like to think about than trains.”

“I’m sowwy”, he mumbled under her hand.

“Do you like it?”

“Hm?”

“My dress.” She put her hand down now that she was sure he wouldn’t get into the details of a train construction.

“It’s nice.”

“Nice?”

“It suits you.”

“But?”

“There’s no ‘but’.”

“If you don’t like it I can take it off.”

“What? No!”

No??? What’s wrong with you, man?

He could tell that Jo looked a little offended.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I just don’t want anybody else to see you. Not that you’re not worth looking at, that’s not what I mean either, you look great, really, it’s just…ahem…” Liam had to be very carefully with his word choice, after all, it was Jo he was talking to, and she was hurt easily.
“Well…I just want to be sure you’re not trying to please me by dressing like…” He didn’t dare to say Lorelai’s name because he didn’t know how Jo would react- probably not great. “You know what I’m saying? Don’t get me wrong, you look super-hot, really, I just want to make sure you don’t feel uncomfortable with that. I like you in trousers and in big, chequered flannel shirts just as much…”

Jo just looked quietly at him for a moment, which made him nervous because he was pretty sure he had managed to once again trample on her feelings- one of those things he knew he was outrageously good at- but to his relief a smile appeared on her face.

“Thank you”, she whispered, giving him a kiss.

“You know how I like you best?”, he asked grinning.

She raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“With nothing but my jumper on, that is seriously hot. I allow you to borrow them anytime…”

She giggled. “Oh believe me, I will. The next jumper you’ll see me in is that Huey, Dewey and Louie jumper you wore at breakfast with my parents.”

Liam blushed. “Don’t tease me, Jo. Did you see the look on your mother’s face?”

“Oh yes, I did. You managed to impress her once again, you’re really talented in that.” She had fun teasing him, but she did it in a nice way.

A couple of hours later they arrived in Dover to take the ferry to France. Before they got out Liam handed Jo her coat. “I just want to make sure you’re not cold.”

“You just want to make sure that nobody else stares at me.”

He smiled. “Well, yeah, and that too.”

((I apologize for crappy French, my French is based on google))

Jo smiled and took his coat gladly. They got in their car that would take them to the train. At the train station Jo went slowly she wasn’t used to walk in those high heels. “Pardon me monsieur.”

“Oui mademoiselle?” The Stewart asked checking her out from head to toe. She felt a little awkward and pulled Liam’s cloak around her.

“Monsieur, sont les dix-sept valises dans le chariot à bagages? » Jo asked with a smile but this certain rich girl flair.

“Oui Mademoiselle tous vos bagages en toute sécurité est emballé. S'il vous plaît prenez votre siège dans le train sera le départ tout moment. » The steward didn’t stop undressing Jo with his eyes.

“Oui, je vous remercie.” Jo turned around to climb up the stairs into the train, when the steward took her arm to help her.

“Et mademoiselle? Puis-je dire que j'espère une dame très belle jeune comme vous aime le trajet en train et en France. Vous êtes belle s'il ya quelque chose que vous devez me le faire savoir.” He lifted her up at her waist into the train, he got after her onto the train and trapped her at the wall.

“You are a very attractive girl.” He whispered with a heavy French accent in her ear. Jo had no idea how to get him off, and that scared her.







French translation:
"Excuse me Sir?"

"Yes Miss?"

"Sir, are all seventeen suitcases in the luggage cart?"

"Yes Miss all your luggage is safely packed. Please take your seat the train will departure any moment."

"Yes I will thank you."

"And Miss? May I say that I hope a very atractive young lady like you enjoys the train ride and France. You are beautiful if there is anything you need let me know."

There was a huge crowd of people walking towards the train and Liam lost sight of Jo. He saw her close to the door, so he assumed she was already inside since he didn’t see her anywhere outside. When he got inside he turned left to the first class train compartment to look for Jo- and he found her. With a guy. Was that a Stewart?

“Hey!” Liam grabbed his arm.

The older man turned to look at him. “What? Did you lose your mummy?”, he asked in a heavy French accent.

“Take your filthy hands off my girlfriend!”

He stepped aside. “Your girlfriend?” He huffed. “Yeah, sure…”

Liam walked to Jo who looked scared.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, still looking at the Stewart who obviously had a hard time believing that those two belonged together.

“Piss off, man!”, he turned towards the Stewart. “By the way, you might loosen your pants a bit, you sound like a pregnant zebra. Oh, I forgot, all French guys sound that gay.” He took Jo’s arm and led her away from the man.

“A pregnant zebra?”, Jo repeated.

“Did you say something to him?”, Liam asked.

“What?”

“I mean, something that could, you know, provoke him?”

“No! Of course not!”

“And your coat was buttoned, right?”

“Seriously? Do you think I walked towards that guy, took my coat off and said ‘Hey darling, do you want me?’”

“I’m sorry, of course not.” They got into the compartment and closed the door. “It’s just…I worry that you can’t defend yourself.”

“I think was able to defend myself perfectly well in front of Victor”, Jo replied.

“Yes, but that was only one time, and only because you were so pissed at me.”

“I can defend myself, Liam, don’t worry.”

He folded his hands and frowned. “I’ll come up with something…some sort of gadget with an emergency button you can carry with you and when you’re in danger you can press the button and…what?” He stopped when she started laughing. “I’m serious. I’ll build you one of those things and….stop laughing!”

“I’m sorry!” She continued giggling. “That is probably the most romantic thing you ever did for me.”

Liam blushed. “It’s not supposed to be romantic, it’s supposed to be practical and helpful and…” He gave up talking because she didn’t stop laughing. “I’m going to build it anyway”, he mumbled.

Jo smiled, and in her high heels she didn’t had to tiptoe to kiss Liam. “I know that you and that is very sweet.”

Jo liked a lot how he looked at her in her dress, but thinking of the attendant a shadow fell over her.

“Yvaine?” Liam pulled her closer. “Why the dress up?”

“Because… you like Lorelai dressed like this and I thought maybe when I…” Jo whispered feeling really stupid. She didn’t dare to look at him. They might still be together but he wouldn’t just stop admiring her cousin.

“True I do, but that doesn’t you have to dress like her. I prefer you in your normal clothes. Erm at least when you are in public and when we are alone all you have to wear is one of my jumpers.” He whispered back. “You look so hot in them.”
It took a moment until Jo could reply. “Just your jumper?”

“Yep!”

“No even shoes and trousers?”

“Not necessary.”

Jo smiled. “How long until we are in Paris?”

“A little bit more than five hours. Why?”

Jo didn’t answer she just took off her coat –putting Liam in the awe state again- and started unbuttoning his shirt. “I have an idea how to kill the time.” She whispered seductively. He took her hands. “Wait!” Went to the door locked it, and turned to the windows to close the blinds.
Jo wondered if her father knew what they would do, why else she he have booked a sleeper room for a train ride of five hours. It wasn’t even in the middle of the night. The young girl slipped out of her shoes and let Liam lead her into the bed. Enjoying his touches.

An hour later someone knocked at the door. “Tickets please!”

“Shit.” Liam said while he tried to find some clothes to put on. Dressed in nothing but his coat and checking once again Jo had at least a chance to cover herself, he opened the door. The older man in the train conductor uniform looked from Liam’s bare feet to his bare legs into his face, to look passed him to Jo.

“Excuse me Sir,” he spoke with a heavy French accent, “Your tickets please.” Liam handed him the asked tickets and tried to block the view on his girl. The conductor marked their tickets and look at Jo again. Jo started to feel very uncomfortable under the blanket.

“Hey! Can we have our tickets back?” Liam said a little gruffly. “C’est merveilleux, erm how do you say? Wonderful.”

Liam snatched the tickets back. “Yes she is and she is mine!” He shut the door in the face of the conductor. “Are all guys like this in France? I should have takes a few weapons from Dick.”

Liam was angry when he sat down, Jo felt a little bit like a piece of meat because of the conductor but seeing how angry Liam was it made her feel better, in a weird way. She kissed him gently, he forgot why he was angry and their kiss grew more passionately and became quickly more than just kissing.

They would reach Paris any minute now, when Jo threw his shirt to him and took a simple outfit from her night case. The train stopped and they got off and waited for their luggage to make sure it was all there. While they waited Jo took Liam’s hand. It was late and after a day travelling they were tired. The young girl leaned closer to him.

“Liam?”

“Yes?” He put his arm around her waist to show every stupid French dude that she was taken.

“I… I think I’m okay with being number two, because… I love you.”Jo whispered shy. They had said it before but somehow it was different. In a foreign country, the two alone, and Jo fighting so hard for his affection, his love.

Liam felt a bit uncomfortable talking about Lorelai, but he learned from his mistake and knew that he should just say what he thinks before Jo would get the wrong message again. Of course guys had more difficulties talking about their feelings, and he wasn’t any different, but that was also the reason he almost lost her- because he didn’t say that he loved her, he just didn’t say it. And that had made everything way more complicated. Of course he wouldn’t start telling her that every single time he saw her, he was still a guy, after all, but he would at least tell her what he was thinking, and not hiding it like last time.

Liam squeezed her hand comfortingly. “Don’t try so hard to be number one.”

She watched their suitcases taken to a taxi that was waiting for the two. “Because I will never make it, right? But that’s okay, I told you I’m fine with the second place…”

“Why are you satisfied with the second place if you’re on the first?”

Jo looked up in surprise. “But I thought…”

“I’m not just saying that to make you feel better, Jo. I really mean it. And yes, I would lie if I’d say I don’t have feelings for Lorelai anymore, but she opened my eyes and I realized that you’ve been my number one for a very long time already, I just hadn’t noticed it. And I’m really, really sorry for that. When it comes to things like that I’m really stupid, my high IQ doesn’t help at all.”

Jo didn’t say anything. She was so happy that he called her his number one that she was literally speechless. She smiled at him, she just smiled, happy and grateful.

“You order taxi?”, the cab driver asked them, adding something in French, and from the way he stared at the seventeen suitcases Liam assumed he was probably complaining about the fact that two people could have so much luggage.

“Oui, merci”, Jo replied.

When they drove to the hotel Liam’s eyes were glued to the window. He had been to many places outside of Europe, but ironically he had never been to Paris although it was not that far away from Great Britain. The driver stopped in front of a huge, luxurious building.

“The Ritz hotel?” Liam looked at Jo. “You’re joking, right?”

“I didn’t book the hotel, my father did.”

“So your father is joking.”

“I don’t think so.” She smiled, kissed him on the cheek and got out of the taxi.

While their luggage was delivered upstairs to their suite- yes, suite, not room- Jo picked up the keys. Liam only stared at the chandeliers, the gold, the columns, the people who looked like their noses were insured for one million pounds. He looked so out of place. After Jo got the keys they went up to their suite where a young man was already waiting for them to hold the door open. Jo gave him a tip and closed the door behind her.
Liam just stood in the middle of the room, unable to say anything.

“Oh, it’s lovely!” Jo looked around, then walked to the window. “The view is absolutely fantastic! Oh, and we have a piano!” She walked to the piano and sat down. “Daddy, I love you!”, she said, starting to play.
Liam watched her quietly. He never told her how much he loved watching her while she played the piano. She always looked so calm, almost dreamy.

“When did you start playing the piano?”, he asked. “You took lessons, right?”

She nodded. “Yes, I started piano lessons when I was about six.”

“Your piano teacher must have been one hell of a teacher.”

She looked up and smiled. “He was. You probably heard of him, his name is Graham Hart.”

“Graham Hart?” Liam looked at her in disbelief. “The pianist Graham Hart?”

“Yes.”

“One of the most famous pianists in Europe was your piano teacher?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…” Liam lay down on the bed. “Oh God…”

“What?”

“I’m never going to leave this bed! Never! I had no idea beds could be that comfortable.” He stared at the ceiling. “But I have to admit that I’m a little freaked out by that giant chandelier hanging right over the bed. I read stories about people who died because they got hit by a chandelier. I mean, we all have to die eventually, but I would prefer if my death certificate doesn’t say ‘Cause of death: hit by a humongous chandelier’…”

Jo giggled but continued playing the piano. “You know there is more in Paris than good beds.”

“When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary; When troubles come and my heart burdened be; Then, I am still and wait here in the silence, Until you come and sit awhile with me. You raise me up…” She continued humming along her song.
Liam got up and sat down next to her on the piano bench.

“You really like playing the piano don’t you?”

Jo nodded dreamy. “It is much more fun than the harp. Mother always wanted me to play the harp; I started playing the harp when I was about three. But I begged Father to let me play the big grand piano in the Music Salon. So he heard Mister Hart to teach me. Here give me your hands.”

“What are you doing?” Jo took Liam’s hands and put it on the piano keys.

“I’ll teach you to play the piano. It is one of my favourite compositions from him.” Imagine green fields full of magic, I somehow always pictures Ireland...” She smiled shy. “…with all the fairies and little folks.”

She led his fingers with skill over the keys. She didn’t plan one making him a pianist, but she liked teaching him. Somehow it often was the other way around. She turned around kissed him.

“This is a beautiful sing.” He whispered. “It’s late lets go to bed. We have a lot of Paris’ wonders to see.”

“I know I can’t wait to see the Musée du Louvre. All the paintings, all the wonderful painting and sculptures and…” She stopped talking when Liam laughed. “What?”

“You are adorable. How many languages do you speak?”

“I think five, German, French, Latin and Spanish oh and English.”

“Amazing one day I teach you Irish.”

“I would love to learn it, and I would love a lot more to see your home.” Jo turned off the lights and climbed to Liam into the large bed, wearing one of his t-shirts and his ‘Get Lucky’ boxer shorts.