Reuniting family ((Lily))

[dana]

Dana glanced at her wrist-watch and saw that it was about time for her to go and pick up lily from the airport. She had found Lily’s brother – well actually her grand-mother Meredith had found him. It had taken just one call from Meredith to get Lily’s father to allow Lily to visit Dana for a couple of days. The real reason – that Lily would see her brother at Dana’s house – was kept a secret. Actually the finding of Johnny – Lily’s brother had been pure luck – he had accidentally walked into the book-store owned for muggles that belonged to Dana’s grand-parents, as Johnny had retreated to live in the muggle world. He was working somewhere now – in some hotel wasn’t it?
Throwing her bag in the car and slipping on her sun-glasses Dana sat behind the drivers-wheel of her bright-red Porsche that she had received as an early birth-day present from her grand-parents. The powerful car moved swiftly and quietly with music blasting n it, just like Dana liked it.

Pulling to a full stop in front of the airport, Dana closed the car and entered the cool building smiling absent-mindedly to some luggage-boy who winked at her rather suggestively. Standing next to the toll Dana waited to see the first year Gryffindor coming through, so she could drive them to Dana’s house, where Lily’s brother was already waiting.
Smoothing her whit e miniskirt and red blouse, Dana clicked the heels of her knee-length red boots impatiently until she finally saw the little red-hair.
“Hey, Lily!” Dana grinned and waved and made her way over, “Hey, had a nice flight? Let’s pick up your luggage and go.”<br>Smiling at the first year friendlily, Dana knew how excited she must be, so Dana assured her: “Don’t worry – your brother is already waiting at my house.”<br>
The two girls chatted about some random things or were silent sometimes as they picked up Lily’s luggage and Dana drove them through the rather crowded streets of Paris once again.
Driving through the security gate, after entering the proper code, Dana stopped in front of the main-doors and smiled seeing their middle-aged gardener approaching.
“I’ll take the car to the garage,” he gardener said with a smile taking the car keys from Dana, “Bonjour miss. Johnny is waiting in the lounge.”<br>“Bonjour Pierre and thanks,” As Pierre had talked in French, Dana smiled at Lily, “Come on. Your brother is waiting in the lounge. I’ll take you there. Pierre will also take your bags inside – the guest rooms have already been prepared for you and your brother.”<br>Dana entered the house and smiled and greeted the house-keeper, main maid – Maria – quickly, leading Lily through the house. It was a warm and welcoming place, even though there was a lot of antique and glass there. It was friendly, light and spacious and made you feel at home, even though it was plain that it would take money to decorate a place like that. Then again – Meredith and Julien – and one day Dana, as she would inherit all of it – were probably the richest wizarding family in France and the most influential. Maybe that was also one of the reasons, why Lily was allowed to come that quickly and easily.

Stopping at the beige wooden doors to the lounge, Dana smiled at Lily and nodded towards the doors: “Just go through there and you’ll find your brother.”<br>

[lilyanne]

Lily wore her curly red hair down with a navy blue bow tied around it. Her knee-length navy blue, floral printed jumper went over a crisp white blouse. Her white tights and mary janes made her appear slightly younger than her 11 years.


Lily was nervous being on a plane for the first time. Well, maybe it wasn't exactly the plane that was making her nervous. She was about to go and visit a friend from school for the first time.

Yes, her father had recieved a call from Dana Coran's grandma asking if she could stay with them for awhile. To Lily's surprise, her father agreed.

It would save Lily from the mental and physical abuse that her father subjected her to almost daily when she was at home.

As if the trip itself wasn't enough excitement for her...she was about to be reunited with her dear brother, Johnny. They had not seen each other for about 7 years. He had been disowned and banished after the murders of their mother and baby sister. Lily had been 4 and Johnny had been 18 at the time. Johnny had no idea what their father had turned into once he was banished from home.

Lily took a deep breath as the plane landed. She stood up straight, butterflies leaping in her stomach. As she walked down the runway to Dana, she smiled. They went to get her bags and then to Dana's car. The two made small talk for awhile. Lily could barely contain her excitement or nervousness, though.

Once at the house, a servant took the car keys from Dana and told her that he would go and park it in the garage. The two girls went into the house. A servant named Pierre greeted them, saying that Johnny was waiting, and took Lily's bags.

Next, Lily met Maria, the housekeeper. The young girl wasn't too nervous to notice her surroundings, though. The house--well, mantion, really--was very welcoming. You could tell that Maria worked hard at what she did. Lily looked around, anxiously as she was led quickly through the house.

Soon, the girls came to a beige, wooden door. Dana told Lily that that is where Johnny was waiting for her. Lily took a deep breath and cautiously opened the door. Dana followed close behind her.

Lily's first glance at her brother was of him looking out the window. He was about 6'4'', about 1 and a half feet taller than his younger sister. He wore a red shrirt, a pair of jeans, and brown shoes. His brownish hair was short and clean-cut.

Upon hearing the door close, Johnny turned toward the two. His facial features were much different than Lily remembered them. He now had a small moustache, neatly kept. His blue eyes were kind and tears were forming in them. He barely resembled the eighteen year old boy that had been forced to leave her all those years ago.

"Lilybear, it's me. Johnny." He spoke to her for the first time, kneeling down with his arms out, waiting to embrace her. He called me Lilybear. No one else knows me by that name. It really is him! Lily ran into the arms of her brother and, for the first time since Johnny left home, the young girl felt completely safe. Dana stood by, watching the reunion.

[dana]

Dana followed Lily into the room just in case the relatives would feel awkward around each-other after not having seen the other one for so long. In that case Dana could soften and make regular chat to get everybody to loosen up a little.
Seeing Johnny kneeling and spreading his arms for Lily to come and hug him, Dana smiled watching the friendly reunion. Obviously she wasn’t needed as someone to cut back tension, so Dana started to move out of the room quietly, thinking that the brother and sister might want some time for themselves to catch up on everything that has happened.

Dana almost ran into Maria on her way out, as the maid was brining coffee, soda and cookies to the room, so Dana waited by the door, and then left quietly with the middle-aged maid.
“They looked happy together,” Maria whispered quietly to Dana, who just nodded with a small smile. Lily seemed like a nice girl and had obviously been through quite a lot, so Dana was glad that she could have helped her with something at all. And Johnny – who Dana had seen earlier the day – didn’t’ seem that bad of a fellow either.

Dana dropped by her room and changed her boots to thick red socks with small white hearts on them. As weird as it was, Dana always had some kind of a decoration on her socks – pictures or stripes or whatever, but they were almost there.
Slipping down-stairs once again Dana made her way towards the kitchen and helped the cook working there. Actually Dana rather disturbed the old squib, as she ate half of the decorations meant to go on the chocolate cake, but with Dana’s grand-mother, Maria and Isabelle gathering into the kitchen as well the company was pleasurable. Besides Anna was used to this kind of behavior.

About half an hour later dinner was ready to be served, so Dana jogged to get Lily and Johnny as well.
Knocking on the door briefly before poking her head in, Dana grinned at the two occupants who seemed to be having a rather cozy conversation: “Hey, pardon for disturbing, but dinner is ready to be served. Will you join us, or will I tell Isabelle that you guys want dinner here?”<br>

[lilyanne]

Lily glanced at Johnny. "Up to you. I think I would rather enjoy eating with Dana and everyone, though. And, that way, you would get to hear about all of the things that have been going on in school."

Johnny grinned. "Yes. I would love to hear about all of the trouble that Lily has gotten you into, Dana." He replied with an impish grin, getting up from the couch and pulling Lily to a stand. "After all," he continued, placing a hand on his little sister's back and guiding her out of the room, "we will have plenty of time to speak privately later."

The group headed off to the dining room, chatting happily. Lily could not wait to meet the rest of Dana's family and wondered if Kris was home and aware of what was going on, also.

[dana]

Dana answered Johnny’s grin with a calm smile: “I’m afraid I don’t know much about the troubles Lily has caused. I’m in a too much trouble myself or too busy keeping my relatives in check. Which I don’t do a very good job at, as he is grounded until summer once again.”<br>Dana lead the brother and sister to the dining room and slipped to her seat on Meredith’s right hand, and Anna’s left. The seating arrangements had been changed a bit as Dana noticed – Meredith and julien were sitting on opposite sides of the table, Dana was on Meredith’s right, then came Anna, then Isabelle and on Julien’s right was Maria and two empty seats for Lily and Johnny side by side.

“Pierre isn’t eating with us today?” Dana asked and nodded to Lily, “Well, everybody already know Johnny and they know who you are, Lily, so I’ll just introduce them to you – this is Meredith – my grand-mother, who found Johnny and on the other end of the table is Julien – my grand-father. And these are Anna, Isabelle and Maria. Just take a seat and enjoy. Anna is an awesome cook.”<br>
Dana moved to her seat and smiled helping herself to some salmon, even though the choice was wide once again. But Dana just loved fish: “Where did Pierre go?”<br>“He should be in Italy already. Helping your cousin to get his dog settled in. He should be back tomorrow or the day after that,” Julien answered handing potatoes to Maria, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lily.”<br>
Conversation picked up quickly and happily, with a lot of teasing and laughing envolved, as everybody said what they meant. There was no difference done between ages or family and maids. Maids and the helpers here were part of the family here rather. Even Johnny was pulled into the conversation by Julien as Meredith and Julien were surprisingly open and social person considering how important they were in the wizarding world. Smiling at Lily, Dana doubted that the younger girl even knew that Julien would be the next Minister of Magic in France: “Happy?” Dana mouthed to Lily with a small smile as she seemed to be a bit drawn-back and just observing everything or deep in thought.

[lilyanne]

Lily took a seat next to Maria, and Johnny sat to her other side. As the dishes were passed, Lily took some salmon and potatoes. The conversation picked up soon and easily enough, with Johnny and Julien talking away. Dana caught Lily's eye and shot her a small smile, mouthing "happy?"

Lily gave Dana a smile and nod in reply. She listened to the conversation that was going on, but in her mind so many questions were flowing. How was Johnny found? What is going to happen when I have to go back to school? Lily was enjoying the company of her new friends and tried to push aside her questions until later.

Upon hearing that Julien was going to be the next Minister of Magic in France, her ears perked up. "Wow. That seems sort of like a dangerous job, especially right now. My father wants ythe job at the Ministry in England, but I highly doubt he will get it, seeing as he doesn't have to good temperment to deal with all that I imagine it reuires."

Lily looked down at her plate. She had not wanted to mention anything about her father around Johnny, at least not yet. As she picked up her fork and stabbed a potato to eat, the light shone just right on the sleeve of her blouse to show a large, purple bruise on her arm.

[dana]

Julien frowned a bit: “It’s hardly a dangerous job actually. Aurors have it much worse. And we don’t have Voldemort here either, so it’s not that big of a deal.” Julien looked at Dana, as he obviously was rather worried about how Dana would be safe in England, where things were much more hectic.
Dana noticed a large bruise on Lily’s arm and frowned it took only a couple of quick words and the family excused themselves one by one. Julien excused himself and went back to his study to smoke a bit and the others left as well Maria and Anna cleaning up the table, leaving just some snacks and drinks on the table.

“That’s my family. Most of it – two members were missing. Three – Mary is practically a sister as well,” Dana told Lily with a smile as she pulled one of her legs under herself, “But that’s not why I asked them to leave. Your arm Lily – what happened?” Lily’s voice was almost stern – also a trait Dana had inherited and learned from Meredith – it was hard to lie to a stern glance and the tone of voice Dana was using, “Is this why you wanted to keep this all hidden from your father? If your father abuses you like that, then you have to take the matter up in the Ministry and find help. If a man raises his hand to hit once, then he will do it again no matter what. And this is child-abuse and can’t be tolerated!”<br>

[lilyanne]

Lily looked down. Johnny moved his chair closer to her and put his arm around her waist. "Is this why you avoided telling me about Father at all?" Lily looked to Dana, then to him.

"Well, kind of. It started right after you left home. I wasn't allowed to mention you or Mama or Rose. All the pictures disappeared and he turned mean. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere or do anything, like when we were little, but it got worse.

One day, he found a picture of the family that I had saved and hidden when he was throwing everything away. He went crazy. It's been happeneing for years. I don't want to go back there. I'm scared he will find out that I saw you and he will lose it. I don't want to lose you again, either.

As for this bruise," Lily unbuttoned her sleeve and rolled it up to show it clearer. "I spoke harshly to Papa before I left. He knocked me to the floor and I used my arm to break the fall." Lily waved her hand across her face to reveal a similar one in color across her cheek. "He used so much force, it knocked me over. All I did was tell him that I didn't do something that he blamed me for. It's always my fault. No matter what it is."

Lily looked Dana in the eye. "Dana, I am sorry for bringing you and your family into this. It's not your problem. I really didn't want this visit to be about this. I just wanted to spend time with Johnny and you and your family. Really."

[dana]

Dana listened to Lily’s story with her eyes turning into steel and her facial features sharpening with every word Lily said.
“I’m glad you brought my family into this. I'm just sorry you didn't do it earlier,” Dana forced out before gritted teeth. This was child abuse and even though Dana could be sly and even a bit manipulative at times, unfair play was something she was completely against. And this was certainly that.
“Your father won’t dare to step against my families wealth and power in this part of the world. I won’t let you go back to your father,” Dana said sharply standing and opening the door. Inviting Meredith back to the dining room, Dana returned and repeated Lily’s story with short words her voice strained.
“I told Lily she wouldn’t be going back to his father, Meredith?” Dana said showing Lily’s arm to her grand-mother seeing the same hardening of facial features on her grand-mother. Dana and Meredith had rather similar characteristics and right now they were more alike each other than ever. The hard glare and stern looks on their faces had made rather many strong men step back.
“You are right. This can’t go on!” Meredith stated sternly, before looking at Lily scrunitizingly, “Your father owns no power over us and the officials of the Ministry will be here in a moment if I contact them and after that your father can’t deny the damage done to you. Will I floo them?”<br>Dana smirked – no matter what people said power and money were fantastic tools when used the right way.
“Your father can’t do anything here to you and if he tries he’ll end up in jail in a heart-beat,” Dana stated maliciously. She hated men who raised their hands against a woman. Worse than that was only a man raising his hand against a child, who Lily still was in so many ways.
Dana and her grand-parents would offer Lily shelter and pay for her schooling and help her get settled in, even though they wouldn’t share their family-name. It would just require one affirming word from Lily to get everything rolling.

[lilyanne]

Lily looked at Johnny. He nodded his head. "I am not in a position to care for you as these people are. This way, I will know that you are safe and I will be able to be a part of your life. You have found me, Lily, and you are not going to lose me again." He turned to Meredith. "I will help when I can."

All eyes turned back to Lily. She sighed. "Yes. I will do as you like. I don't ever want to go back again." She leaned back against Johnny, who kissed the top of her head.

"I'm scared." Lily felt like a 3-year-old again. The same 3-year-old whose brother would sit up at night and tell her stories to chase the thunderclouds away. Only this time, the "thundercloud" would be their father.

She looked at Dana. "While we are waiting, will you please tell me how you found Johnny? You meant to tell me, but you haven't had the chance." Dana smiled, and began the tale.

[dana]

She looked at Dana. "While we are waiting, will you please tell me how you found Johnny? You meant to tell me, but you haven't had the chance." Dana smiled, and began the tale.

Meredith and Dana looked at each other, for a moment, the one look being enough to know what the other woman was thinking.
“Good. Now, Lily – you are welcomed to stay with us until you graduate from school and don’t worry about paying for your books and whatever you might need. Dana and Isabelle will take you shopping later for clothes and everything you might need and Maria will prepare a room for you to stay for longer. You will be a part of the family as much as Anna, Maria, Isabelle and Pierre are. But we won’t share our last-name, that you must know,” Meredith stated calmly,. The maids and the gardener were a part of the family – like aunts and uncle for Dana, so it wouldn’t really even matter, but the small detail – family-name, was private and not to be shared.
“I’ll go and tell everyone about the things needing to be done and have Julien contact the ministry and then Lily’s father. You contact Pierre and Kris, dear,” EMredith told Dana and glided out of the room.

Dana looked at her grand-mother go and smiled calmly at Lily: “Welcome to the family you two. Meredith and Julien are fair people so you won’t be missing anything.” Johnny nodded, as Dana stepped up and took hold of a phone – since they lived in the muggle world it came useful from time to time.
Dana dialed Kris’s number and slipping into French gave a quick summary of the situation, smiling at Lily again after the conversation had ended a couple of minutes later.
“Kris and Pierre are coming. They’ll catch the next flight here, so they’ll be here sooner than you father ever could come. I don’t have a clue if you know Kris, but he is my cousin. Brother. Best friend. He also goes to Hogwarts and is a fifth year. A Slytherin mind you, so don’t be scared by his rather rough appearance and behavior.”<br>
Settling into an armchair Dana observed Lily thoughtfully: “We can’t do anything about the bruises until the Ministry Officials have seen them – byrocracy rules every-where. We’ll take care of that later, but now as you wanted your story. It was really a lucky chance rather. My grand-parents own book-stores. 5 in the magical world and also one book in the muggle world. That should give you enough for the back-ground as I think Johnny could tell the story better, since he was actually there.”<br>
Johnny smiled fondly at Lily and picked up as well: “Well, I didn’t found father to find me, so I now live in the muggle world and I stepped into a book-store I really like. Only this time I was approached my Meredith who I knew was the owner of the place. I was scared out of my wits at first when she asked me what my name was, thinking it had something to do with father. I tried to run away, but Meredith is a hard woman to crack so the next I know I’m being petrified by her spell and she drags me into her office in the book-store and tells me the whole story about how you are trying to locate me and you pretty much know the rest. Kept me under the ‘Petrificus totalus’ spell for a good half an hour though.”<br>
Dana smiled almost proudly at the last comment: “Meredith is a strong woman and you were a fool.”<br>Meredith and Julien entered the room together this time and Meredith sat gracefully into an armchair and Julien nodded to Lily: “The Ministry will send someone over in 15 minutes. After we have gotten the matter of your father out of the way – who will be here in the morning, we can discuss how all of this is going to work.”<br>

[lilyanne]

Lily was told that she would be as much a part of the family as the others. Dana called Kris and let him know what was going on. When Dana asked if I had met him, Lily replied, "Yes. I met him when I was wandering the corridors late one night. He has a wonderful voice. It rather reminded me of when Johnny used to sing to me."

The last comment earned a LOOK from Johnny. "And why were you wandering the corridors? You know better. You could have been hurt or something. Plus, you broke the rules." At her brother's harsh yet gentle tone, Lily looked down at her hands. "I couldn't sleep. I had had a bad dream."

Dana looked a bit shocked at the words Johnny spoke to his little sister, but grinned when she saw him wink at her, letting her know that he was kidding with Lily. "Look at me," Johnny said to Lily as he made his face return to seriousness, "What were you thinking? You could have been caught!" The young man laughed. Lily giggled back. "Ha!" Johnny said, "you thought I was serious, didn't you?
Don't tell me you forgot that your brother was a kidder?" Lily grinned. She had missed him so much all those years.

Dana then asked Johnny to tell the story of how he was found, because he was actually there. Lily laughed at the thought of her big, strong brother under the petrificus totalus spell.

Then, Meredith came in and told the group that Johnny and Lily's father would be there in the morning. Lily looked warily at Johnny, who placed a protective hand on her shoulder. Next, Lily looked to Meredith. "Does Father know that Johnny is here? I don't want Johnny to be hurt."

Johnny gave his sister a gentle squeeze. "I will be okay. I promise. I can handle him." Even though he said that, he looked to Meredith for the answer to that question as well.

[dana]

“Hardly. I doubt he knows about Johnny. Johnny doesn’t have to be present tomorrow at the meeting – there are plenty of private rooms here for him to wait it out,” Meredith answered calmly, “There is no serious need for him. Me, Julien and Dana are more than able to hold your father with our wands. And Kris and Pierre cane hold him with raw power should it be necessary. Not to mention the Ministry people here to make things official.”<br>
Dana looked up as a ring sounded through the house and glanced at her wrist-watch: “What do you now, the byrocracy is moving faster. Who could have guessed the day will come?”<br>Julien stood up to go and greet the officials as Meredith nodded at Johnny: “Come on. No need for us to be here – these things are easier in easier in private and you won’t be allowed to stay anyway, so you wouldn’t influence her.”<br>“I want to stay! I’m her brother, I have a right to stay here!” Johnny argued jumping up only to fly out of a door a moment later and Meredith and Dana smiled at teach-other.
“Charming stunning-spell, Dana,” Meredith said with a smile before exciting the room and dragging Johnny along, after grabbing hold of his hear and lecturing him very seriously.

“Got to love Meredtih,” Dna told Lily with a smile, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly, “We’d stay and help, but this you have to do on your own, otherwise your father might raise a question as to how legal it is.”<br>Dana smiled and left the room just as the Ministry officials entered. Knowing that the questions the officials had to ask about Lily’s father behavior and how he treated her and some examples as to when she had used brutal force on Lily, must be rather shaking, Dana appeared next to Lily’s side again as the officials finally left.
“That’s over. Now it’s just signing the papers tomorrow and you are free,” Dana told Lily with a small smile, “It’s just your decision what you want to do now. Tour in Paris, see the rest of the house, see the garden. Go to sleep? Your choice.”<br>

[lilyanne]

In answer to the question, Dana replied, “Hardly. I doubt he knows about Johnny. Johnny doesn’t have to be present tomorrow at the meeting – there are plenty of private rooms here for him to wait it out,” Meredith answered calmly, “There is no serious need for him. Me, Julien and Dana are more than able to hold your father with our wands. And Kris and Pierre cane hold him with raw power should it be necessary. Not to mention the Ministry people here to make things official.” The siblings looked at each other, relief spreading acroos their faces.

Lily looked around a moment when she heard a ring throughout the room. The officials were here. Everyone left Lily and the officials alone in the room, though Johnny took some...magic...to get out. He was her brother, after all.

Lily was son left alone in the room with the officials. They asked her lots of questions about how her father had treated her. She told them about the times he had hit her and sending Johnny away. They said that she was going to be okay now, and that she would be safe here. The yalso told her that she would have to face her father one last time, with lots of supervision from Meredith and the rest of the household, as well as the Ministry officials. He would be brought to justice.

Dana came in after they left, and asked if Lily would like to do anything. She said that she would like to go with her and Johnny to get some ice cream, as she had not been allowed to have it since the last day Johnny had snuck her out of the house. The one exception being, of course, the snow cream, but it didn't really count, now, did it?

[dana]

Dana smiled and nodded as Lily decided she wanted ice-cream. There was probably some in the house as well, but it would be nice to get out of the house. And Lily might be able to see a little bit of Paris while at it.
“Sure, Ice-cream good. Just give me a sec and let me get changed, ok? I’ll drive the car out and I’ll see you in front of the house in a moment,” Dana asked with a smile already leaving the room, almost running into Johnny who seemed to be entering, “And no, you can’t drive my car.”<br>Dana told Johnny with a frown – her new red-Porsche was a dream come true to anyone who appreciated good cars. And Dana certainly was one of those people. Johnny was probably as well, as he had been bothering Dana to let him drive with it for ages. Well actually for two days, but still.

Dismissing the thought carelessly Dan ran up the stairs towards her room, taking two steps at a time. Pulling on white pants, but leaving herself in the same red blouse and red heeled boots, Dana moved back down-stairs and grabbed the keys to her car.
Moving out from the kitchen-door as it was closer to the garage, Dana sat into the car again and started the powerful engine. Which was extremely quiet luckily.

Moving down the drive-way Dana reached the entrance to the door and sounded the horn twice, waiting for Lily and her brother to show up.
“Do you want to go straight for ice-cream or do you want a quick tour in this vehicle before? This is a new car so I absolutely forbid eating in this car!” Dana stated after both Lily and her brother had settled into the car, with one of them moving into the back-seat. The car was magically enchanted though, so it as comfortable for everyone, “And do you want the ice-cream for the muggle-world or magical world? Nah, I think we should rather avoid the magical alley of this place until we have dealed with your father. WE can enjoy the ice-cream while looking around on foot though? Your choice as I’ve seen all the interesting sights here.”<br>Dana looked over to Lily to hear what she would decide upon.

[lilyanne]

Lily climbed into the backseat of Dana's car, leaving Johnny for the front. Everyone was soon buckled in and they were off. The ydecided to go to the muggle world until the issues were settled with her father. Dana announced that there was to be no eating in the car and asked if the two wanted a tour of the city before they got their treats. Lily smiled. "Sure. I would love to see Paris." Johnny groaned, thinking that this was going to turn into some kind of girly thing. Lily giggled. She would make sure that Johnny was made to go shopping with the two girls at some point.

The trio passed by lots of shops in which Lily was promised a tour and possibly some new things ("I should be allowed to spoil my baby sister, should I not?" said Johnny.")

Finally they ened up outside an ice cream parlor and went inside. They each ordered ice cream and sat down to talk.

[Lily Ward G1]

((Dana, its not letting me stay logged in...I cant sign the march census or email someone to let them know either. I tried logging in and it kicked me off when I went to reply to a post. Can you please IM Catalina my email address. located in Lily's profiel (the one located where you click my name.) so I have her email and can tell her whats going on? I wanna still RP, but if I cant log on to sign this, then grrr!! LOL))

[dana]

((Welcome back then. I think you can delete the OOC posts you made then))

Dana joined in with the casual chatter in the car as she toured the city briefly- the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Cite Isle were only parts of the places Dana showed Lily form distant. Lily would have time to see all of those places even more than she really wanted. Finally they reached an ice-cream café Dana rather liked and pulled over so they could get some ice-cream.
Followed by some shopping with Johnny grumbling a little, but not seeming to mind
very much. Dana herself didn’t get many new clothes, even though she was greetd in some of the boutiques she led Lily to, where Lily was measured to get tailor-made clothes.
“Take it as a welcoming gift form Julien and Meredith. The bills are sent to them every three months,” Dana said with a shrug – there were definite bonuses of being wealthy.

They went back to the house when it was already almost 11PM, so Dana said good-bye, knowing they would be up practically at dawn, when Kris and Pierre reached the house. Kris also woke annoyingly early and if Dana was in the house, then she was woken just as early, unless Anna threatened to not chocolate-cake for dessert to Kris, if she didn’t let Dana to sleep.

((I figured we might as well get to the part with Lily’s father. If you don’t mind. If not, then I know how to get the thing started more or less.))

[lilyanne]

Lily rather enjoyed shopping, especially dragging her brother along. Thanks to Julien and Meredith, there would be a lot more of these times...with Johnny, that is. No sooner than they had gotten started, it was time to go back to the house. Tomorrow would be an early start.

Of course, Johnny was rather happy to be finished. Lily put up a bit o a fuss when Dana mentioned leaving, but Johnny looked at her and said "Oh, come on, Lily. It's late and we need our sleep. Plus, do you really want me to suffer any longer?" There was a pleading look to follow, making the two girls laugh. The three arrived back at the mansion and went up to bed.

[lilyanne]

Lily woke up the next morning feeling rested..and a bit uneasy about the day that was ahead. She joined her new family for breakfast, talking a seat between Dana and Johnny. She spoke "Good morning," to everyone. She was clothed in one of her new outfits from yesterday: a white, rose-print oxford shirt, a pleated red skirt, and a hairbow to match. High-heeled red boots that perfectly matched completed the ensemble.

The family had a delightful conversation to begin with. Then, it turned to the day's events. Meredith was unsure of if Johnny should be waiting for his father's arrival with the rest, but the stubborn man insisted, saying, "I won't leave my sister. I have not been able to protrect her for the past several years and I will not leave her again."