"This is Ali. Obviously if I'm not answering, I can't fast-track your evidence bag. Offering to kiss my butt won't even work. You need me, leave a message. I'm a scientist, not a psychic, so you'll have to wait for me to get back to you. Cheers muchly."

[Please leave any message for Alicia or mun here]

LINK: More to it than belly rubbing and glowing prettily like a goddess dancing through daises.

LINK: I baked... a cake... and now I need to be committed.

LINK: Ali wasn't religious, even if she was Christened when she was a baby, and she wouldn't know why she found herself in front of a church plucking up the courage to go inside and light a candle for her lost babies except that she felt like she needed to.

LINK: She didn't care if she was a bitch, or had a reputation for being one, and if anyone didn't like it, they could kiss her fucking pale (slightly less firm due to childbirth) English arse.

1. Was 2009 a good year for you? Why? The best of my life, because I married the love of my life.

2. What was your favorite moment of the year? I have three. Being proposed to, hearing Andrew say 'I do', and my baby girl's first word.

3. What was your least favorite moment of the year? The miscarriage... miscarriages

4. Where were you when 2009 began? On the bathroom floor with Andrew while we vomited our guts up.

5. Who were you with? Andrew

6. Where will you be when 2009 ends? Probably at a party if I can move out of the comfy chair.

7. Who will you be with when 2009 ends? With the critters and my family My family.

8. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions of 2009? I don't make them, I never fucking keep them.

9. Do you have (a) New Year's Resolution(s) for 2010? No, fuck off.

10. Did you fall in love in 2009? I fall in love with my husband every day. Cheesy, I know, so fucking sue me.

( All the rest... )

LINK: Time to give up trying... at least for now.

2.7. "Promises are like babies: easy to make, hard to deliver."
Unknown

Co-written with agentfraser

James let himself into Ali's apartment with the key he had, just like she told him to when she called. The place was dark, all the blinds drawn with just a couple of lamps on here and there. She hadn't gone into much detail on the phone, just asked him if he could come around and keep her company while Andrew was in Chicago for some conference. He wouldn't be home until Christmas Eve, James knew Ali well enough to know just from the tone of her voice that she really could use some company. He found her curled up on the sofa, a blanket wrapped around her legs and wearing one of Andrew's large paramedic jerseys. She was nursing a mug of something, and the TV remote control was in easy reach while the large screen mounted on the wall looked like it was playing an old Eighties movie of some sort, if the clothing and hairstyles were anything to go by.

( He shrugged his coat off and draped it over the back of the nearby recliner before dumping his wallet and keys on the coffee table... )


Word Count | 1,276

LINK: How can you miss something you didn't even know was there?

That's it. I'm having a smoke.

And I want to get drunk.

[Way back-dated to the day after THIS. Follows THIS and THIS]

The night before for Ali had been sobering. She and Andrew had gone for a drive to a quiet place just beyond the border, though it was evident, despite their earlier joking, that Andrew was quite subdued. They were rugged up in thick coats and got out to sit on a park bench together. At first, they just sat quietly watching the stars of the chilled night with Ali stroking her fingers affectionately through Andrew's hair. But they started talking, and Andrew admitted that since their wedding, he had been really missing his Dad. It just wasn't helping that it was getting close to teh anniversary of his death, and the whole thing was just making Andrew sad. He told Ali is was like a rollercoaster of emotions. On one hand, he was ecstatic about their wedding, and being married, and the prospect of them about to celebrate Jamie's first birthday. All that was the prominent feelings for him, but sometimes, when he just couldn't stop them, the saddness crept up on him and that's when he started feeling the urge to drink. Just like that night. Ali asked him what it felt like, and then told him of her decision to give up alcohol too. Andrew had been touched by her choice, but also tried to talk her out it. He didn't want her to go without just because of him. But Ali had always been characteristically stubborn. She made her choice, and that was it. If she couldn't at least do this for him, what could she do. Inevitably, though, Andrew eventually got upset thinking about his Dad, and they ended the evening with Ali just sitting and holding her husband while he cried quietly. The drive home was quiet when Andrew, drained from the emotions, fell asleep while Ali navigated her way back into New York. It gave her a lot of time to think, and she decided that even if it did hurt James didn't at least call her to tell her about his son's birth, life was just too fucking short... often shorter than anyone could anticipate.

( It was that which had Ali finally coming to the hospital to visit James, Harri and their new addition. Andrew joined her with Sunshine, so at least she was going in with a united front in case her anger decided to kick in anyway... )


Word Count | 6,368

You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone comments you and asks.

Kissed any one of your LiveJournal friends? — Yes
Been arrested? — No
Kissed someone you didn't like? — No
Slept in until 5 PM? — Yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? — Yes
Held a snake? — No
Ran a red light? — No
Been suspended from school? — No
Experienced love at first sight? — No
Totaled your car in an accident? — No

( The rest... )

You there?

4.15. "Find a person who loves you for exactly who you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the person worth sticking with."
Juno

Co-written with paramedically

Andrew sat stiffly on the sofa as he watched Ali rushing around the apartment trying to do ten different things at once. After all the excitement and squealing and sloppy baby kisses that afternoon that came from seeing her Mummy and Daddy again after so long, Sunshine was exhausted and was fed, bathed, and sleeping soundly in her bed by six pm. But Ali was primed waiting for James to call her back so she could blast him about not telling her when baby Campbell was born. Andrew knew she was really hurt by it, and coupled withjetlag , it was manifesting into what Ali termed her Bitch Mode. It had been important for her to be there for James during the birth of his first child, and Andrew suspected she was now feeling even more shunned by her best friend because of it. It seemed to be just one thing after another with her friends. If it was Luke or Leila who had their first child on the way and didn't tell Andrew, he knew he would be pissed off too.

( Normally he would be sympathetic, and understanding... )

All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe


Word Count | 1,240

LINK: Am I REALLY that much of an evil bitch that everyone has to continuously keep fucking secrets from me?!

LINK: Well fuck... there really is such a thing as too much sex.

LINK: The wedding reception was off to more than a perfect start, and not one of the guests had failed in jumping right into both the wedding and Halloween spirit. In every sense of it, it was a wedding reception, with the decor matching the church for the ceremony and a huge chocolate wedding cake standing proudly off to the side, which would be served with ever possible flavour of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream on offer as a side dish. Beside that, there was a large chocolate fountain in operation with every sort of fruit and sweets to select from for people to go back and forth all night if they wished. The meal had been lovely, the food proper soul food and none of the fancy shit with one carrot and drip of sauce on top of it. It anyone wasn’t already in a brilliant mood, the food certainly would have put them in it. The only people who hadn’t changed into fancy dress were the bride and groom who had mischievously decided to go to the party as a bride and groom because said bride refused to not get maximum benefit out of her designer wedding dress, already joking that Andrew was going to have to shag her in it while they consummated the marriage...

[Co-written by paramedically, notskywalker, asinthecity, doesntwaltz, aussielawyer, agentfraser, isabelowens, straight2point and agentsullivan]

ANDREW

Halloween 2009. October 31st 2009.

His wedding day.

Andrew had felt surreal when he woke up in Aiden and Pat's New York apartment that morning. It was like he was in a weird daze, and maybe having an out of body experience. He could hardly get himself to function correctly at first, almost bumping into a wall and doing a series of other stupid things when it was like his head wasn't attached to the rest of him. It made for a good laugh with all the guys, though, who wasted no time in pulling the piss out of him repeatedly over the course of the morning. He had been sick a few times, but he realised it was only because it was hard to get the nerves and excitement on an even keel. Riley gave him an injection of something to stop the vomiting, and then he felt much better, actually able to let himself enjoy the morning for what it was. Whilst, typically, the bunch of guys fell into time wasting activities such as watching the porn channel, smoking a couple of joints, and talking about tits and sex, Andrew fought not to just pace back and forth in the living room, grateful when Pat sat down next to him with a large cup of tea and a kind reminder that being married was the best thing ever. There was a lot of laughing and bad or crude jokes swirling around, with the inevitable farting competitions and tales of promiscuous pasts. It was a lot like Andrew's bachelor party a couple of nights before, only this time, Andrew could actually remember what went down. He had seen all of two minutes of video captured the night of his party with him as high as a kite on pot dancing wildly on a tabletop to a Britney Spears song for him to realise that forgetting was probably the best thing... and making sure that video never got out.

( Now they were at the church, and it was feeling more and more real as the minutes ticked over. Andrew's excitement dwindled into just sheer anxiety and nerves... )


Word Count | 7,822

Finally, FINALLY have everything done. With a few loose ends tied up, I can hopefully get some sleep tonight it preparation of the big day tomorrow. Still can't fucking believe that. My big day. I'm having a big day. Fuck me.

But first, updated Sunshine pictures!

( I can sympathise with her in this picture... )

By the time we got done, I was ready to join her in the backseat. Life is so much easier when you're a bub, and I was fucking jealous she could pass out like that while I had to stick to the wheel in rush hour traffic.

But it was all a result of getting this priceless shot by a professional photographer. I emphasise shot because this was the only decent pic we got. She spent the rest absolutely refusing to do anything cheesy or cute and sat in the pot plant he shoved her in with a frown on her face and the lip thing she does when she's about to burst into tears. I had to resort to drastic actions and sing and dance her favourite Wiggles song. I swear, I'm going to take Geoff out with his freakishly large dinosaur. Mummy maybe might have cried when she saw the photo, though. Next time, I'm asking Leila to take the photos.

( Still the sunshine of my life... )


[LOCKED FROM ANDREW]
And now to wedding stuff. Not an exhaustive list, but bits and pieces for posterity.

The dress by Oscar de la Renta, HERE

The shoes by Manolo Blahnik, HERE

Sunshine's dress, HERE

Bridesmaid dresses, HERE

The bouquet, HERE

Buttonholes for the guys, HERE

Honeymoon Down Under, HERE in luxury for a week in Tasmania, and then HERE in Sydney for a week so Andrew can catch up with family.


I think that's all for now.

Fuck, I'm nervous. I need tomorrow to be perfect. If just one day in my life can be perfect, please make it that.

LINK: Three days and counting...