AN: I'm not sure when this came to me, I was just going through my files last night and rediscovered it. Tell me what you think.

Lily Humphrey looked around her home with a satisfied smile.

It may have been the smallest home she'd ever had but it at least felt lived in. Unlike anywhere her parents resided.

She laughed as her husband Rufus entered the apartment, carrying their three year old daughter, Daniella, over his shoulder.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked, giving her a kiss.

"Nothing. I'm just happy is all."

"Good."

Daniella screamed to be put down and then proceeded to tell Lily all about their adventures at the park. when her daughter was done, she raced off to the kitchen for a snack. Lily took another look around.

The walls were covered in photos she'd taken. Family shots, pictures of Rufus on stage, landscapes. She'd done her best to make the tiny space feel like a home and surprisingly it had worked.

Lily worked as a freelance potographer for the New Yorker and Rufus was in the process of opening an art gallery, while still playing the occasional gig with his band, Lincoln Hawk.

She knew they would be ok.

Her parents hadn't been able to accept Rufus into their lives, they threatened to cut her off. And so she had cut them off.

Daniella may not grow up with all the privaliges that Lily herself had, but she would be loved and happy. Of that Lily was certain.

Suddnely Lily woke to... the sound of Serena's voice. Not Daniella, but Serena.

"Mom! What are you doing? You have to get up, you're getting married today!" the teenager exclaimed. Lily frowned, still half asleep.

How was that possible?

She was already married to Rufus. And where was Daniella?

Lily opened her eyes with a sigh, and it all came flooding back.

She never married Rufus. She hadn't been strong enough to stand up against her mother.

She was marrying Bart Bass.

She and Rufus would never live in that 5'4" walk-up.

That was just a dream that was never going to come true.