Mr. Ambrose's face twitched slightly in surprise. He smoothed his features again, returning to the block of stone he was carved of. Still, his eyes regarded his secretary curiously, daring her to tell him. "Your... Best friend?"

"Yes," Lilly nodded slowly, eyes far away. "We went to Alsop High School, Famam Extendere Factis."

"We extend our fame by our deeds," Mr. Ambrose translated effortlessly, nodding. "I've heard of it."

Lilly shot him a sly smile. "Needless to say, I'm not a very good example of an Alsop student with my fame being nonexistent and all." Mr. Ambrose did not smile, nor did she expect him to. "Still, I was accepted there when I was 13, for Grade Eight. I went to that school for five years. In my second year, when I was fourteen, Daniel- or Dan, showed up." Her eyes drifted to the windows, reliving those days, when she'd been free and happy. Despite the butt load of homework they were given, she missed those days.

"He wasn't a very popular guy, and the first day I met him, he was being pushed into a wall."

*Seven Years Ago*

Lilly closed her locker door, banging it shut. She'd forgotten her math homework again and once her Aunt had seen her grades, she'd be in big trouble. It hadn't been her fault anyway, she was sure she'd stuffed the worksheet full of Trigonometry problems into her bag. Maybe Maria, or Anne, had stolen it again. Again, it hadn't been her fault they hadn't been accepted into Alsop like the rest of them!

The bell rang overhead, and Lilly cursed under her breath. She ran to first period English with Mr. Goldman. The over sized sneakers that she'd inherited from Gertrude slapped the pavement roughly, the rubber soles in danger of falling off. She ran into the classroom just as the second bell rang. The class turned their eyes to her, many of them sniggering. She muttered an apology to the teacher and dropped into her seat. She started to pull out her things just as she did every morning, but then noticed it was way too quiet.

She looked up to find Mr. Goldman's eyes on her. At the front of the class, her extremely tall teacher had a hand upon a boy's shoulder. He cleared his throat, and it became evident to Lilly that they had another new student, and he was about to be introduced before she ran in. She blushed under the heated gaze of her classmates and turned her attention to the golden haired boy.

He was taller than her, and basically everyone else for that matter. He was by Mr. Goldman's head, and he was a full 6'3. Still, he didn't look as though he played sports at all. He still had some boyish chubbiness to his cheeks, and his hands and feet were overly large. All his clothes were too small for him, which was an opposite to Lilly's state. All hers were way too big.

"Class, this is Daniel Dalgliesh, and he recently just transferred from the North Liverpool Academy. Please be kind, and show him around."

"Hi," He waved. Lilly smiled slightly and waved back. He lumbered to a seat in the back of the class as Mr. Goldman started his lessons.

He wrote a sentence on the board. "Tell me if this sentence is written in passive or active voice."

"Olivia is comforted by Feste the Fool, who tells her that her brother is in heaven and teases her about being a fool."

Brannon, one of the popular kids Lilly absolutely detested, raised his hand pompously. "I do believe it's Active Voice!" he smiled, proud of himself. His friends around him patted him on the back, congratulating his stupidness. Lilly, as with many of the smarter students in the class, knew that this was indeed in passive voice. (...I'm actually not sure. I'm supposed to studying for a Grammar test but I decided to write this instead. Also if it's not actually active voice can you tell me because then I need to change my answer on my worksheet. oops.)

Surprisingly, it was Daniel who had enough courage to correct the proud boy. He raised his hand, and Mr. Goldman called on him. "Actually, It's in the active voice. Olivia is being comforted by Feste."

Mr. Goldman bestowed him a smile. "Can you re-write it in passive voice then?"

Daniel thought for a while, as did Lilly. She constructed the sentence with difficulty in her head. Language Arts had never really been her strong suit. "Feste the Fool comforted Olivia by telling her that her brother was in heaven, and also teases her about being a fool." (Can you help me guys? Is this in passive voice? I'm so dumb.)

Goldman laughed. "Great job, Daniel!" As he went back to teaching, he missed the furious glare that Brannon launched at the new kid. Nobody else did though, and they knew Daniel was about to be put in his place.

As Lilly finished packing up her things, she heard Daniel's loud voice in the hallway outside. He sounded slightly panicked, and Lilly knew why. Everyone else had cleared out for their break after an exhausting Math period. Even Mrs. Hayes had left. Lilly peeked out the door. The last thing she wanted was to be involved. Seeing no one, she ran around the corner, catching a glimpse of the panicked new boy and Brannon's dumb cronies. Daniel mouthed one word, one word that changed everything.

"Help."

Lilly knew bullying. She herself had been picked on by Brannon and his friends for her clothing, her feisty nature, trying to break her. She hadn't, not by any means, but the punches had still hurt. She'd cried out for help after school, in forgotten corridors like this one. So when that tall, baby face new kid had cried out from a punch, she knew she couldn't just leave him.

She whirled back around, her ratty backpack slamming against her back as she ran. She yelled at the boys to stop, her heartbeat hammering in her chest. Still, she stood tall even as Dan slunk back against the lockers, blood making its way down his nose. Brannon never did the dirty work. Not even a splatter of blood had fallen on his trainers. But his two friends, Dumb and Dumber, turned around, a predatory gleam in their piggy eyes. "Stop." The words were quiet, spoken with conviction. Even Brannon stopped smirking. "You're monsters. Stop it."

Brannon opened his mouth. "We were just showing him around. Just showed him the lockers. Now we're going to the bathroom, aren't we, Dogleash?" Dumb and Dumber guffawed stupidly. Lilly took a step closer.

"No, you're not, Brannon. You're going to turn around, you're going to leave to your next period, and you are going to leave me and Daniel alone. Got it?"

He sneered down at her. "What is teeny, weenie little Lillian going to do about it? Huh, huh? Are you going to hurt me-" The slap echoed around the not so empty hallway. A small crowd of students had gathered at the end of it, watching with wide eyes. Brannon gaped, holding a hand to his tender cheek. She had slapped him, actually slapped him.

"Yes." The word was merely a whisper, but it was heavy with the weight behind those words. It was a promise of more to come.

Lilly had glared up into those muddy brown eyes, seen the fear in them. He may be bigger, he may be richer, but he was not brave. And this girl, this girl was fire. And he had just been burned.

He laughed, trying to save face. "Go kiss Danglefish's boo boos away, huh, Lilly? I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

"Only if you run to your momma so she could kiss your red little cheek." The crowd at the hallway erupted into laughter, unable to stifle their grins. Brannon had tortured them all, one way or another. Finally had someone snapped. Brannon stalked away, Dumb and Dumber behind him. They looked faintly astonished at what had just happened.

Lilly turned back toward Daniel, who was still pressed against the lockers. He was sporting a black eye and a bloody nose, but his eyes were alight with respect. Lilly extended a hand to pull him up. The moment their fingers touched, was the start of an epic friendship. A friendship that shouldn't have been torn apart. Shouldn't, but had.

Daniel Dalgliesh was pulled up by a small girl, barely reaching his stomach. He was almost two full heads taller than her, and yet she had managed to triumph. He thanked her wordlessly by reaching down and shouldering her ratty backpack, falling apart at the seams because of the books inside. Together they had parted the crowd, cheering and patting Lilly on the back. That day they had become friends. Bonded. The next day, Tuesday, Lilly had found a new black backpack waiting on her desk in Language Arts. A brand new one.

Lilly unzipped it, a smile gracing her features. Inside, was a book. A notebook. Inscribed on the new leather cover were the initials, D.E.D. She looked up and met Dan's eyes.

*Present*

Lilly was stroking the cover of the notebook. The leather was faded, the outlines of the initials worn from the stroking of fingers. Inside, Mr. Ambrose could see the corners of photographs and scraps of paper peaking from between the pages. His secretary was sitting on the couch, having just finished her story.

Of course, he hadn't wasted time by not doing work. He'd been reading reports on the data sent in by his scientists on the profit of the AE 4+ phone he'd released a month ago. But inside, he was in turmoil. He'd found the one person who could possibly understand his most dangerous rival. And he could tell that that story wasn't their only one. He could feel the history lingering in the air around her.

A pulling in his gut was setting him off. Maybe it was respect for the woman before him. To have stood up to a childhood bully in that way... He couldn't help but admire her for that. Not that he would ever admit it, either.

Lilly sniffled. He stiffened. She was crying? What had happened between them? What had Dalgliesh done to make this woman cry? What. Had. He. Done? He was going to find out. But not today. He'd already lost enough time. Too much money. He grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk, and carefully tore it neatly in half. Then into quarters. She didn't need the whole tissue to wipe her eyes. That was just a waste of money.

He stood up and rounded the couch. She was indeed crying, though he still didn't know why. Wordlessly, he offered the tiny scrap of thin tissue to her. She looked up in surprise. Lilly hadn't realized her boss was still here, still listening. She flushed, grabbing the tiny tissue and wiping her eyes, her nose, her mouth. He was such a miser, to have actually ripped the Kleenex into fourths! Did he really care only about money?

"Thank you," She mumbled, wiping her eyes. She made to stand, sniffling into her tissue. She bumped into his chest, not realizing he'd been that close. She froze, looking up at him.

Lilly could usually forget how truly handsome this man was, especially when she was alone in her tiny box office, away from him. But here, when there was no space between his hard, muscled chest and hers, when his face hovered high above hers, but tilted down to meet her eyes? Here she truly saw him for the first time, the sculpted chin and cheek bones, the straight nose, and dark brows. His eyes were more enchanting than ever, seemingly boring into her very soul. Bright, sea blue. A mysterious, swirling storm.

The moment snapped when he took a step back from her, closing his eyes and turning his eyes away from her face. Her delicate, pretty face. He had no time for this, and it was time to go back to work.

"Send me File #LXVII, I do believe that was from last January." Just like that, she was dismissed. Back to work. No more close, quiet hours, sharing her childhood with her boss. She nodded professionally. On her way to her office, she threw the tissue away.

Hey guys! I'm sick again, kind of. My parents are like, go rest, you're going to be worse if you don't rest blah blah blah. I've got heaps of tests to study for too. But I made some time to write this for you because I haven't exactly been up to date with my promises on Modern AU. I hope you like this. I may keep changing things because as of right now I've got no plot. Whatsoever. Oops. But if you guys can, leave comments on the Active vs. Passive voice thing. I'm really struggling. I'll start working on the Valentine's Day chapter! Guess who's going swimming?! ;)