~February 13, 2043~ At a Bar

Lara sat at the barstools of her favorite bar, staring into her fifth martini from the last half hour. She wondered as she stared deeply into the drink how one simple thing couls change her entire outlook on life. When she and Will had gone their seperate way, it had hurt in a way Lara never knew it could, but eventually though, she got over it and moved on with her life.

Or at least, she thought she did.

In the eight years since graduation, Lara had began acting and performing, started her own radio show, performed in various shows with cameo appearances on a myriad of bands, a few plays, and various little projects, basically making her mark upon the entertainment industry. Her life had composed of two speeds: fast and faster, filled with making appearances and interviews, and, of course, partying in the spotlight. Her dream of glamour and stardom had come true and yet... she realized, with blinding clarity, that she had been lying to herself for the past eight years.

She wasn't happy.

While all her dreams had come true, one of them had crumbled; and to her misfortune, it was the one that mattered most. Lara Kaminski may have gotten all she ever wanted in life, but all it took was one invitation, and one photograph, to make it have all count for nothing.

Will thought his side was going to burst in laughter. He knew he wasn't really going good to his word by letting dear Darius get terrbile wasted, but Darius singing his own rendition of "Wild World" on top of a table was definitely a highlight. However, the Bartender didn't find it too amusing (Darius had ended up kicking a few vodka bottles) and Will's whole party group was kicked out. It was alright though, Will knew a bar just across the street and that's where they headed.

The rowdy group entered, settled on a table and continued their fun.

"To getting married!" One of Will's mates said.

Yes, Will was going to get married. To Sara Rider. She was two years his junior and in a different house (Gryffindor to his Slytherin) so he didn't really know where when they were in school. But when he met her just seven months ago, it was love at first sight. Will hadn't really been in any serious relationships since he left Hogwarts, opting for a few one night-stands and having no real steady girlfriend. But Sara was different. She was everythng Will had wanted. Funny, smart and beautiful, she made him feel an emotion he didn't feel since....

Will brushed the thought away. He was getting married to tomorrow. She was everything he ever wanted. He was happy. Wasn't he?

Emerald eyes rolled with annoyance as she heard a particularly loud noise coming from the party a few feet away from her. While she was a big fan and endorser of partying herself and, under other circumstances would have joined in, even if she didn't know the people. Today, however, she really did want to drink herself out of her misery in peace.

As another wave of loudness echoed from their end, Lara hobbled to her feet, stumbling slightly due to the amount of drinks she'd just consumed. Despite all that though, she still managed to walk gracefully in her three-inch high dragon boots towards the group of guys partying with the intent to shut them up.

"Hey, do you mind? Some of us are trying to drink in pea-" Only to see that the cause of the whole celebration was also the person causing her pain.

"Will..." she breathed out softly. Subconsciously, she ran her hands through her blonde hair, and downwards, smoothing the gothic mini-corset dress she was wearing. She breathed in deeply, commanding herself to stay calm and keep it cool. The last thing she wanted was to look like an idiot in front of Will.

After a few more deep breaths she approached Will with her 'confident' smile. "Hey stranger..." she uttered as she stood in front of him.

As she stood closer to the man she loved, and had loved for as long as she could remember, her eyes scanned his appearance, taking in how different he looked from the last time she had seen him. She felt her heart skip several beats and then speed up, and struggled to keep her composure. While she had her own plethora of one-time gigs with other guys, flings, and extremely short-term relationships, most of which she couldn't even remember the guy's name, there hadn't been one moment she hadn't thought of the man in front of her in some way or form.

She missed him so much...
But now he was getting ready to be bound to another.

"It's been a long time..." she added as an after-thought, merely stating the obvious. "H-How've you been?"

"Matt, Matt, Matt!" Will's group chanted and Matthew West, Will's co-worker and current best friend drank a large pint of the bar's newest concoction. As the last bit of liquid entered Mr. West's throat, his audience cheered audibly.

"Hey, do you mind? Some of us are trying to drink in pea-"

But what happened to the rest of the statement, Will had no idea for the rest of his senses were numbed as a vision of his past appeared before him.

Lara Kaminski stood before Will and his group looking as beautiful as ever. Will blinked once, then twice, aware that this was would not be the first time his eyes played this cruel trick on him. But it was her, standing before him. The girl he'd always wanted, but never really had.

"Hey stranger..." She flashed him a smile. He couldn't breathe. Even after-all of these years, she still took his breathe away.

"It's been a long time..." She said. "H-how've you been?"

Will's would be reply was intercepted by Matt's drunken indignation. "And why ssssshould wwwe keep it down?" He drunkenly looked at his group. "We'vvvvve.... we'vvvee...." On the third try he was more successful. "we'vvvve a parrrty."

Will flushed a violet shade of red at Matt's behaviour. Normally he wouldn't have minded as much but it was different now, he stood behind Matt and patted him on the back. "It's alright Mattie, I know her and I think you know her too. It's Lara Kaminski."

Will had manuvered Matt back to his seat. "Know 'er?" Matt said looking back at Lara. He squinted several times. "Hey! You're Lara Kaminski! I listen to you all the time!" Then he passed out.

Will couldn't help but roll his eyes and chuckle to his friend. The other members of his party were too interested in the vocalisation of Darius, who had taken upon his self to start singing yet another round of 'Wild World' on top of a tabletop, to notice what had happened. Convinced that Matt wouldn't be a problem anymore, Will turned back to Lara.

She was so beautiful that Will felt a mixture of pure bliss and of a sharp pain when he saw her. She was so different now, yet at the same token, still the same. It saddened him so that they did not keep in contact with each other. On countless nights Will wished that they had. They'd been good friends first and he just went and ruin it with all of this other emotions losing her forever. Well Will learned from his mistakes.

"Hey ya stranger." Will pushed all of the tumulus emotions away. He missed her so much and since he couldn't be with her, he decided he should rekindle their friendship, if anything else. Besides, Sara was now in the picture, so he was sure he wouldn't make that big of an ass of himself in front of Lara.

"Oh Baby baby it's a wild wooooorld!" Darius horrid singing voice broke his reverie. Well that wouldn't do. He looked back at his party, judged that it could go on without him for a few minutes.

He looked at Lara sheepishly. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

Lara smiled a little nervously at one of Will's friends recognizing her and nodded right before the guy passed out. She blinked in mild suprise, used to the sights and sounds of partying, before carrying onward to stand in front of Will. She couldn't help but laugh lightly at Darius' singing. While it'd been a good number of years since she'd seen the guy, she'd still always thought he was a cool kid, and evidently an awesome partyer. "

Looks like the kid over there's having a blast. Y'know he's not all that bad. Maybe I could have him on my show sometime." Lara remarked in a voice tinged with good nature.

When Will had turned his attention fully on her, she took the opportunity to really take a good look at Will's appearance.

God, he was gorgeous...

In Lara's opinion, Will had been the hottest Slytherin guy in their time at Hogwarts, and she was fully convinced he still commanded that title. Hell, he was the definition of hotness. Her mind spun, furiously trying to remember why it was they had gone their seperate ways and never even kept in touch.

...Oh. That's right. Because she went Super-Bitch on him and screwed it all up...

"Sure." she eagerly replied at Will's offer, wanting nothing more than to go with him. To be with him.

A light blush tinged her pale features as she added. "I mean... if it's ok. I don't wanna be a kill-joy and yank you away from your party..."

"Merlin," Will said looking back at Darius, who didn't know the rest of the words to the song and sang two lines repeatedly and started ad-libbing the rest. He shook his head in with apparent dismay. "Don't encourage him." He said with a grin. "Your show would lose thousands of fans if he went on it."

He ignored the summersault that his heart made she agreed. When she expressed her concern of pulling him away from the group he gave her a grin and a shrug.

"Don't worry about them," Will said more confident then he felt, He headed towards the door. "They'll be fine without me." He opened it for her. "Shall we?"

Lara smiled with a shrug. "You never know. With a stud like him, I may end up even gaining a whole new fan base. It's been a while since I last saw him, but I gotta say, he turned out pretty good lookin'." she hesitated for a moment before adding. "Guess it runs in the family." While there was flirtation in her voice, there was also a sense of sincerity. And a subtle hint of affection.

Her heart sped up at the grin he tossed her way, and she happily, yet painfully, returned the gesture. "If you're sure."

"We shall." she replied with a bright smile. A mischevious light illuminated her emerald orbs before she added. "Race you there!" and took off, running out of the bar with a teasing laugh.

Will personally thought that Darius was at most 'cute' but a stud? He gave one last look at Darius before looking back at Lara just in time to hear her flirtatious comment. He flushed and chided himself. He was blushing now? What was he a school boy?

But before he could do anything else, Lara smiled and ran out, taking what seemed to be his heart along. He had no choice really but to follow her. He caught up to her seconds later.

"Really Darius a stud?" Well he just couldn't believe it.

Lara giggled as Will caught up to her, nodding in response. "Totally. What is he, like 18 now? For real, he turned out pretty easy on the eyes." after a short pause, she added in a teasingly reassuring tone. "No worries though, you're still the hottest one of all." she said with a wink.

"Damn it, Lara! Stop bloody flirting with the guy! In less than 24 hours he'll be married to some other chick!" Her mind scolded her.

But the shard of her broken, yearning heart didn't want to listen. She wanted Will, and somehow, she was going to get him.

Will laughed. It was so good to be with her again.

"That's good," Will said flipping his hair playfully. "I thought I was going to have to get rid of him. It'd be a shame too, I'm rather fond of the kid."

It was so good to hear her voice again. Hear her laugh, see her smile. "So what brings you this part of town?"

A cadence of laughter escaped Lara as she jokingly wolf-whistled at Will's hair flip. "Uh-huh. Well no worries. your royal Stud-ness. You're still number one."

In more ways than you know.... she mentally added.

The smile on her face dimmed slightly at Will's question, and she shrugged. "I-I guess after today, I needed a drink. I had no idea you'd be down here too." she replied with a sad smile.

Will subconsciously licked his lips. "Bad day huh?" Will said empathetically. "Yeah, I've had a few lows myself -Though not recently."

He stopped at a nearby lamp post, and leaned on it. "Care to tell me about it?"

Lara winced slightly, shaking her head. "Not really." she replied. After all, how could she tell Will that she was over here drinking her misery away after hearing how he was getting married tomorrow?

"How about you? I-I heard you're getting hitched..." she asked with a sad tone, and an attempt at a smile.

Was he imagining it or did she sound... sad? Will brushed the thought away. No. He was imagining it. Merlin, him and his overactive imagination.

"Yeah," Will said blushing and smiled sheepishly. "I am. It's rather insane actually. I never knew how much work these things take. Mum was getting slightly worried that I've been enjoying the bachelor life too much. Then I met Sara. Sounds lame I know but, it's just one of those things."

"Anyway, Sara's great," Will said. "I'm sure you'll like her. I know it's a bit short noticed but if you aren't doing anything tomorrow, I'd really like for you to come."

Wow, he hadn't meant to do that, but for some reason he started to babble. Besides he wanted to know, wanted to know for sure that he could go through with it, and a little part of him was looking for her approval. It would just be icing on the cake.

With each and every word about the new love in Will's life, Lara felt the shards of her broken heart break down into even more pieces. She bit her lip, glad that it was dark outside. Maybe then he wouldn't see how close she was to tears. She doubted she actually would get along with Sally, Sandy, what ever her name was. Particularly since she had strong feeling if she ever ran into the other witch she'd be tempted to tackle her to the ground. Still, she forced a smile on her face, fighting her tears as she replied. "As long as you're happy..."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Will..." she responded to his offer. "I'm sure it's a great ceremony and would be an awesome party, especially with Darius's vocals, but... I don't think I can."

"Oh..." Will tried not to sound too disappointed. But he was. He wanted her to be there. She's one of his greatest friends and though they had lost it, now they were reacquainted - well he wanted to share the day with her. He always thought she'd be in his wedding day... once upon a time, playing a different part, but since that was out of the picture, just a guest would do. "Are you busy or something...?"

"Yeah..." Lara lied as she furiously blinked back tears that were threatning to come down her face. It hurt like she had never known it could to know that just eight years ago, if she hadn't been such a stupid bitch, she could have been the one walking down the aisle with Fitz smiling back at her, for her, instead of just a guest regretting her stupidity.

"D-Do you love her?" she asked in a cracked voice, but curious and fearing the answer.

Will knew he should have said a definite yes. Because he did. He did love Sara. But for some reason Will couldn't tell Lara that. Will didn't want to phantom why. He was getting married tomorrow for ****'s sakes! Why couldn't he tell her?

"I asked her to marry me didn't I?" He said playfully. It was safe, and he didn't really answer the question.

He didn't have any feelings left for Lara did he? No, he was over her. Eight years had past, two years of absolute **** in a godforsaken country, one year of recovery, one year of relapse when he found that she was a celebrity and he couldn't avoid her even if he wanted to. And three years of just biting his cheek and dealing with it. And finally two years of freedom. But if he really was free, why couldn't he tell her?

Will was too busy wondering why he couldn't just tell her the truth to wonder why Lara even asked the question.

"How about you? Are you... with anyone?" Will said in an attempt to lighten the mood. And get rid of his guilty feelings. He grinned. "Oh you must be, you're as gorgeous as ever."

An eyebrow raised slightly at his response, noting how it was neither a yes or no. She wondered if maybe there was a reason for it before her mind shut off her thoughts. Any more speculation was just stupid. He was probably just avoiding the question since it was too personal, or something. "If ya say so." she replied with the same, albeit forced, tone of playfullness.

"Erm, kind off. I've been seeing this one bloke, Larry." she paused for a moment, contemplating. "Or is it Lance? No, maybe it's Logan? Oh well, some bloke with a name that starts with L." she replied with a shrug. "Nothing serious though. If anything we just hang out."

Once again, Lara was glad it was dark. Otherwise Will would see her blushing like hell. Forcing herself to get a grip, she looked to Will and teasingly asked him "Are you flirting with me, Casillas?" stepping ever so closely towards him.

"Still same old Lara huh?" Will laughed. "Well Larry, Lance and Logan are luckily to have you."

Was that a stab of jealousy he felt? No, couldn't be, it was just the cold.

"Maybe." Will smiled slyly, closing the space between them. He said huskily. "With that dress you're wearing, how could I not?"

It was just flirting, it really had nothing to do with Sara.

"Not as lucky as Sara is to have you." she whispered with a sad smile. In her mind, she cursed Sara. Not that she knew her or anything. She hadn't even met her yet. Or if she had, she couldn't connect a name with the face. But still. She had Will, and was about to marry him, so in Lara's mind she had every reason to loathe the other witch.

She blushed lightly, her heart racing at the tone of Will's voice. She hesitated a split second before admitting quietly as she stepped even closer. "I've missed you, Will. Alot..."

Will felt a surge of warmth past through him as he heard her say those words. She missed him. And there he thought she'd forgotten all about him. It sure did seem that way whenever he saw her in the tabloids. But it had made moving on easier had she forgotten all about him. It made things feel pathetic and therefore he really had no choice but to go forward.

"Really?" Will said closing his eyes then opening them again. He was convinced this was one of his more elaborate day- night dreams. But no she was there, real and more beautiful than his dreams. He said joking, "Here I thought you've forgotten all about me."

"Of course. Y-You have no idea just how much..." she whispered in reply, wondering if he thought she wasn't serious. No matter what happened, no matter who she was with, Lara always thought of Will, wishing he was there, by her side.

"I could never forget about, Will..." while Will's words were said in a joking manner, Lara's were sincere. "You're my... you're my... my... my..." she struggled for a moment, trying to find the best way to describe Will. One that wouldn't send him storming off, furious with her.

Will shocked when he heard that she hadn't forgotten about him. And she was stuttering. He'd never known her to stutter, she'd only done so on certain occasions when she was struggling through her emotions... was she struggling now? Why?

It was probably because of the cold.

Her next words made Will's heart beat faster and faster. He remained silent, willing her to continue her sentence. I'm your what? Will asked her in his head.

Lara stared at Will in confusion, for the first time truly at a loss for words. What could she say about Will? Aside from that particular little detail nagging at her heart... Merlin, surely there was a word for this aside from long lost love, biggest regret, loss of a lifetime... there had to be! So much for a number one radio show host... she couldn't even think of a proper word to describe Will in an appropriate way!

She let out a sigh of frustration. Eight years. Eight long years, 416 weeks, 2920 days, 70,080 hours, and 4,204,800 minutes. That's how long she'd thought, dreamt, and prayed about Will and for the guts to finally get off her ass to the floo network and give him a call, to tell him how sorry she was, how stupid she was, how much she missed him. And how much she loved, and still loved him.

Screw this. she thought to herself. If he backs away now then fine. At least I won't live in 'what if' world. Not to mention he's already getting hitched tomorrow... What else have I got to lose?

"You really want to know what you are to me, Fitz?" she asked, looking into his eyes. "Fine..." she whispered before she closed the remaining distance between them, covering his lips with her's.