Chapter Text
Day one
“Are you ready?” she hears Liam ask as he knocks on the door of her room at the Plaza Hotel.
“Give me one minute” she replies as she gives one last look in the mirror, satisfied with her appearance she grabs her black Louboutin heels and puts them on.
“Finally, let’s go” she hears him say the moment she opens the door. Fallon takes in his appearance; Liam was wearing a white shirt and black leather jacket and unlike her he went for comfortable Nike shoes.
“Fallon, maybe you should change shoes” he suggests.
“Fallon Carrington does not wear flat shoes” is her immediate response.
An hour earlier Liam had asked her if she wanted to go explore New York after they had met his niece Emily. At first, she was hesitant if alone time was a good idea considering her confusing new feelings for him, which she was trying her hardest to ignore. She had tried to call Michael, but he was not answering her calls or text, and eventually getting bored she had agreed to go out to explore around.
He had told her he wanted to plan everything; she had opposed against that idea as she loved being in charge and know every detail of a plan. He had insisted that she let him plan, since New York had been home for him, and he wanted her too to experience the places he loved. The sincerity in his voice, along with the puppy eyes had made her reluctantly agree.
“Liam at least give me a hint where you are taking me” she says attempting to get information from him. She hears him chuckle, as response she gives him her famous eyeroll.
“Listen, we are going to do this Liam Ridley style. Most of the places we are going to are connected to my past somehow. Don’t worry Fallon, I will give you some cards that says a fact about the place and I am sure that you will guess correctly. You are afterall the smartest person I know”
She looks at him, the adoration in his eyes as he says the last sentence and the admiration in his voice clearly visible. A part of her wants to tell him to stop looking at her like that, because he is going to make her walls weaker if he continues adoring her the way he does, the way no one else has dared to do. The other part of her, the selfish one, wants him to keep looking at her like that forever. As always, the selfish side of her wins.
“Really, Liam? Just tell me, I don’t want to guess out from facts. I am not a child.” she says, but he ignores her half-hearted protest and gives her the first card instead.
“Charles Stuart Gager”
“I have no idea who that is, I thought you will take me to Empire state building like normal people do” she admits, but clearly, he had made a bigger effort and planned an adventure for them. She was not going to say it out loud, but his gesture was really sweet. She can’t remember someone ever planning an adventure for her, perhaps because she never let anyone else ever be in control. For some reason her heart tells her to trust Liam, to go with him on this adventure and be open to what he has planned for them.
“We don’t really do things normally, Fallon. We got married the first day we met” he said laughing, in return she can’t help but give him one of her rare smiles.
Fallon lets out a surprised gasp when she sees the limousine waiting outside the Plaza hotel for them. She turns her attention to Liam and raises her eyebrow.
“ Today we might do a lot of things in Liam Ridley style, but I know not to push my luck and not to try to make you sit behind me on my bike so I thought maybe today we are doing things in both of our styles.” He said looking at her with twinkle in his eyes.
“Fallon & Liam style” she said laughing
“I like the sound of that” she hears him say in a husky and low voice, which she can’t help but find attractive. She attempts to ignore her beating heart, it doesn’t help that he is standing so close to her making her take in his alluring scent. She sighs in bliss; she doesn’t want to be attracted to him, but she is. She catches his eyes looking at her lips, and immediately she looks at his inviting red lips. She wonders if he is going to kiss her, and what if she likes it?
He tears his gaze away from her lips quickly as to remind himself that it’s forbidden territory, making her snap out of all the confused feelings she is feeling. She looks at her ring, she is with Culhane and she has to just keep ignoring her growing feelings for Liam.
“Are you really happy with him?” she hears him gently say, his voice traced with kindness, but she can also hear the pain in his voice. Like he is afraid of her answer, and what that can mean.
Fallon looks up from her hands and looks at him, his blue orbs gazing at her intently.
“Sometimes” she finds herself reply, to lost in his eyes to recognize what she admitted to both of them.
She sees him hesitate to say something, he takes a step forward towards her and tucks her hair behind her ear before he softly tells her :“you deserve lifetime of happiness, small sweet gestures everyday that makes you feel cherished, loved and seen. Not few occasions of bliss”
She looks at him flabbergasted with his words; the depth of his love evident in his voice. For a split second her walls are down for him to see, she feels herself get teary eyed. She looks away from his gaze, putting her walls up to protect her heart.
Liam opens the door of the limousine for her and she gets in the limousine, trying to focus on guessing where he is taking here instead of how he makes her feel.
“Liam, I figured it out we are going to Brooklyn Botanic Garden” she says after thinking for 20 minutes. His huge grin in return lets her know she had guessed correctly.
They walk side by side as they take a stroll together through Cherry Esplanade, the sun is shining. A gentle breeze hits her face making her hair comes in front of her eyes. She moves her hair from her eyes and looks at the dozen beautiful cherry trees surrounding them.
“This is like out of a fairy tale” she says in awe of the beauty surrounding them.
“I know, I love coming here. It’s so serene here.”
“So how is this place special and meaningful for you?” she asks him.
“There are two reasons” he says giving her a shy smile.
“Well, ehm.. I brought my first date here” he says shyly making her smile.
“Liam, that’s smooth move for a first date. This place is breathtaking beautiful, I am sure you scored some points for taking her to this place alone in itself” she says impressed.
Liam laughs gently; she ignores the giddiness she feels hearing his beautiful melodic laughter. He run his hand through his hair, messing his beautiful blond hair. She feels a desire inside her growing tempting her to run her hands through his hair, she is so shocked by her feelings that she looks away.
“Well, I was too nervous and shy for the date to go well. It ended badly, but I did fell in love with this place. The second reason is that the first article I ever wrote, I wrote it here. I realized my love for writing here” he says looking at her with a peaceful look on his face, warmth and kindness radiating from him.
The continued walking to the Japanese Hill -and-Pond garden, and Fallon takes in the beauty in front of her. The beautiful garden in front of her had an ancient hill-and -pond style but also modern stroll -garden style. Fallon found this place to be straight out of fairy tales.
Fallon watches a family of four standing in front of the pond, the father was taking pictures of his wife and two children. Liam stopped by them, asking if they wanted him to take a photo of the four of them. The man gave Liam his phone to take pictures for them, Liam clicked some couple photos for them. Fallon watched the happy family enjoying their day together, the bright smile on the kids’ faces and she hoped that would be her future too one day. That she will be blessed to have a family of her own, have a home to come to after a long day at work.
“That was really sweet of you” she says as they walked past the happy family.
“Oh that, that’s nothing” he says shyly, running his hand through his hair, she has noticed that it’s a habit of his when he is shy or embarrassed.
They continue walking in silence, the botanic garden is full of families and couples enjoying the beauty and peace the place has to offer. Fallon takes her arms around herself, as the wind blows. Soon she feels Liam placing his beloved black leather jacket around her, she looks at him with gratitude. She was grateful for the warmth his jacket had to offer her, taking in his familiar scent from the jacket she could not help but smile for herself.
“I have a confession” she hears Liam say, looking at her intense as if she was his whole world.
“I just found the third reason for why this place is so special for me” she hears him say while looking at her with love. Without knowing it she gives him a piece of her heart at that very moment.
“I can’t believe instead of giving me a fact, you have blindfolded me” she says annoyed
“Trust me Fallon, it will be worth it. I am more concerned that you are trying to walk without my help in heels while you are blindfolded” he says concerned as she had refused to let him hold his hands because she don’t think his presence and her hormones work well together.
Fallon takes a wrong step making her lose her balance, she is about to fall but instead of feeling the ground she feels two strong arms around her holding her carefully.
“Yeah that’s’ it. You either let me help you or I will carry you” his says seriously, not wanting her to get hurt due to her stubbornness.
“Fine, just take my hand” she says as Liam made her stand properly, he takes his hand in hers and she feels a shiver down her spine. She prays for him to not notice the tint of red appearing on her cheeks.
“Liam, please tell me we are getting closer to wherever you are taking me” she complains like a five-year-old.
After some minutes of complaining from her side, he takes off the blindfold and she is standing in the middle of The blue box café. She gasps as she looks around, taking in every detail.
“Can’t have you miss out on Breakfast at Tiffany’s” she hears him say, she stops admiring the place and looks at him with a huge smile on her face.
“You were right it was going to be worth it” she says grinning. They sit down on the blue coach and orders waffles and coffee.
“So afterwards we can go to the other floor, so you can do some shopping. I am sure you will find some jewelry you like” he tells her.
“I might never want to leave” she says laughing.
“Well they say diamonds are a girl’s best friend” he says chuckling.
The waitress serves them waffles and blue mugs with their coffee’s and they dig in tired and hungry. Fallon gives a satisfied smile after tasting the waffles, she has to admit they were delicious.
“You know breakfast at tiffany’s is one of my favorite movies” she tells him, he gives her a charming smile in return making her heart skip a beat. She will forever claim that it was the coffee’s effect.
“I know, the number of quotes you give from that movie is insane” he says shaking his head fondly.
She catches Liam looking at her lips, and she feels her cheek turn red. She takes her hair behind her ear flustered, which is a new territory for her. She can’t remember the last time she has been flustered, she needs to get her shitt together and stop swooning over Liam Ridley especially since she is engaged to another man.
“You got some sirup” he says pointing at her bottom lip. She takes a tissue paper and tries to wipe it off.
“Gone?” she asks and see him shakes his head, he leans forward taking the tissue paper from her and wipes the sirup of her bottom lip. Fallon closes her eyes, taking in his comforting scent.
After jewelry shopping and shopping at Bergdorf Goodman they had headed back to the hotel, to get some rest before they head outside at night. The moment Fallon walked inside her hotel room she took of her heels, her feet sore from all the walking.
She places her shopping bags on the bed along with Liam’s jacket. She then takes her towel out from her bag and goes to washroom to take a nice relaxing bath.
An hour later when she comes back from her bath, she sees some white lilies along with a blue tiffany box on her bedtable. She walks to her bedtable, and reads the note attached to the white lilies.
“Fallon, consider this me saying thank you for exploring New York with me. While you were distracted with diamonds, I found this cuff bracelet, that represents peace and abundance and I knew I had to get it for you. Thank you, Fallon, for everything.
I will see you tonight.
Love Liam Ridley “
Fallon places the note away and opens the blue box, inside the box is an olive leaf cuff made of gold, it’s beautiful. She tries it on and its fits perfectly, she is so touched by his kind gesture. So many men had tried to impress her with gifts, heck jeff had gifted her a sportscar but this gift, the sentiment behind it was different. His gift also reminded her of what he had told her earlier on the day about her deserving lifetime of happiness not moments. She felt adored, in a way she never had before. She took in the scent of her favorite flowers, the white lilies, while smiling brightly.
She walks over to the second floor where he is staying, as she had insisted on separate floors. She knocks impatiently on his door, waiting for him to open the door. The door opens and in front of stands bare chested Liam Ridley only with a towel wrapped around his waist. She gulps as her eyes involuntary goes to abs.
“Fallon?” she hears him say surprised, but all she can think about is how great it would feel to run his hands on his abs. She shakes her head and tear her gaze away from his abs, and looks at his beautiful green orbs, and regrets it immediately.
“Has your eyes always been this beautiful” she says not realizing she said that out loud.
“Thank you” he says smirking, her eyes went wide realizing what she had blurted out loud.
“Don’t flatter yourself” she said after a while, trying to cover up that she just made a fool out of herself, and she is pretty sure he was enjoying this way too much.
“Ehm, anyways. I actually came to thank you for the gift, that was really sweet Liam. So, thank you” she says, before he could respond she turns around and walks away. Trying to get the not so innocent thoughts out from her head. When she finally reaches her hotel room, she falls down on her bed embarrassed on what had just happened.
“You are so beautiful” he whispers in her ear before pecking it, making her smile as they stood in the shower together.
“I know” she responds back giggling, he turns her around, so they were facing each other. He leans forward capturing her lips into a sweet kiss, that makes her melt. She kisses him back with love, taking her arms around his neck as the kiss deepened. They break away to catch their breath, he rubs her nose with hers making her laugh.
“I love you Mrs.Ridley” she hears him say as he plants butterfly kisses between every word.
“I love you too Mr.Ridley” she says looking up at Liam smiling, before planting a sweet kiss on his jaw.
Fallon smiles as he puts the shampoo on her hair, taking his time washing her hair while she enjoys being pampered by him. He washes her hair, while she stays in his arms feeling so peaceful and abundance of pure happiness and love.
“Liam!!” she complains, as he splashes some water on her while he laughs the melodic laughter she loves so much.
“Okay this is war” she declares as she splashes water on him as well.
“Your majesty I submit to you” he bows chuckling making her laugh, caught up in laughter he manages to grab her and push her to the wall gently in one swift move. She stares back at him, in surprise, raising an eyebrow. In return he gives her a playful look that ignites a fire inside her.
Fallon wakes up from her dream with sweat running down from her forehead, she takes deep breaths to calm down her beating heart. She just dreamed about Liam and her being married, showring together and she can’t let go of the image of how happy they looked. They had seemed so in love, playful and so happy which was everything she had secretly dreamed about having with her life partner. She dreamt about a life with Liam, not Culhane. She looked at her engagement ring with a heavy heart, feeling like it did not belong there. She looked around the room, she sees Liam ‘s leather jacket on the coach, she gets up from her bed and grabs the jacket holding it close to her heart, filled her lungs with his scent.
Later at night Liam is getting ready for their dinner, when he hears a knock on his door. He goes and open the door, Jake, a staff member from the hotel is standing in front of him with a gift and an envelope.
“From Ms. Carrington to Mr. Ridley” he informs Liam.
“Thank you” he says slightly confused, accepting the gift and envelope, Liam made sure to tip him generously. After closing the door, Liam decides to read the envelope first.
“As a thank you for showing me New York Liam & Fallon style. This gift is a reminder that we will always have New York.”
Liam unwrap the gift eagerly with a huge grin, curious about what she had got him. He is not disappointed when he finds a beautiful snow glob which has similar looking dolls of him and Fallon standing under a blossom three that appears to be similar to one, they had been standing under at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Her gesture makes him fall for her again, he is grateful for the day they got to spend together and the gift that will be a reminder of their day.
“We will always have New York” he whispers softly as he places the snow globe on his bedtable.
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Fallon was wearing a black gown and had curled her hair; Liam had told her he was going to be in tuxedo, so she had decided to take her time to dress up. She put on her red channel lipstick and sprays her rose water perfume on herself.
She walks towards the door as she hears a knock, she opens the door to find Liam standing they’re in a black tuxedo, she can’t help but be a little awkward around him after the dream she had about them.
“You look beautiful” she hears him say, giving her flashbacks to how her dream started.
“Ehm, thank you.” She said awkwardly as she steps out of her room. He handles her envelope; she takes it gracefully and reads the fact he is presenting to her.
“capacity of 3.995 people”
“You don’t really make those facts fun or easy at all” she says and hears him chuckle.
Sometime later the limousine stops, Liam steps out of the limousine and opens the door for her. She steps out of the limousine, a smile appearing on her face as she sees The Metropolitan Opera. Liam offers her his arm for her to link with, she links her arms with him, and they walk together to the entrance.
“My dad used to love this place, he used to bring mom and me here some couple times and I can still remember the huge grin on his face” she heard him say, his voice traced with vulnerability.
“Thank you for sharing that with me, I am sure it is not easy” she said sincerely, in return he gives her a shy smile. They walk inside, taking their seats as the play of Romeo & Juliette started.
In the middle of the play she can see his demeanor change, she sees his gaze on a father and son sitting some seats below them, she can see his eyes tear up. She realizes this place, seeing families together must have reminded him about the times his dad would take him here.
She grabs his hand and squeezes it gently, as if to tell him he is not alone. He turns his gaze from the family and looks at her with gratitude, she gives him a small smile. He holds her hand for some minutes, before letting it go out of respect. She misses the feel of his hand in hers, and she shakes her head momentary, she really needs to shake of her feelings for him but her gut feeling says it’s not a harmless crush anymore.
Day two
The first part of the day they had spent visiting more members of the Van Kirk family, and both had to admit they were looking forward to continuing the adventures of the day before. Liam was still being adamant about not telling her which place in New York they were going too.
She meets him in lobby, he greets her with a charming smile. She was grateful he had not made comments about her acting weird occasionally, she could not help it after that shower dream of them, not to forget that they had been married and so in love in her dream.
He handles her envelope; she opens it and in a neat handwriting style it says “Don’t kiss & tell”
“Well this is easy; you are taking me where you had your first kiss. But I still have now clue where that is”, she says rolling her eyes.
“If you knew that, then that would take the fun out of it” she hears him say as he opens the car door for her.
“Come on Liam, give me another hint” she says as he sits in the car next to her.
“No, but good try” he says chuckling.
After playfully bickering back and forth, the car stops, and Liam opens the door for her. She gets out of the car, and she see Central Park.
“You had your first kiss at central park” she says as she glances at him.
“We were renting a boat on the Loeb Boathouse, and she kissed me” he said chuckling
“We are renting a boat?” she asks him, and he gives her a nod in return.
Later they get in the boat, Liam rowed while Fallon gazed at the beautiful view, as she heard the birds hum a song. Fallon turned her gaze to Liam who looked incredibly handsome with the sunlight behind him. Liam gives her a mischievous look making her raise her eyebrow in return. Liam stopped rowing, and splashes water on her making her gasp.
“Liam Ridley, you did not just do that” she said raising her voice and splashed water on him, making him laugh.
“Ooh I did” he said laughing and splashed more water on her
“Liam, this dress is expensive” she attempted to sound scolding, but he could hear the laughter threatening to leave her mouth. Liam laughed as she splashed more water on him, making him take his hand up in surrender.
“You should row us back; we need to get dried. Gosh my hair looks horrible now”
They took a walk-through Central Park after their clothes had dried out, the park was full of couples, families and friends walking around. After walking for a while, Fallon had to admit she did regret wearing heels, but she was not going to admit it out loud because Liam had warned her not to wear heels.
They kept walking forward, they see a group of people surrounding a singer and a guitarist who were performing. They were even few people who was slow dancing, she looked at Liam surprised as he offered her his hand.
“May I have this dance Ms. Carrington” he says charmingly
“You may, Mr.Ridley” she says giving him her hand.
She feels Liam take his hand around her waist; she places her arms around his neck while looking at his beautiful blue orbs.
May my hands be the hands you hold onto
When you let go of everything else
May my arms be the arms that you fall into
When the night gets to heavy to hold you by yourself
Fallon feels a thrill down her spine as Liam looks at her like she is his whole world, he twirls her around swiftly before pulling her back to his arms, she feels her heart skip a beat. She rests her head on his chest and she can feel his breath fanning on her ear as he whispers
“You okey?” his voice filled with concern for her
She nods as she gets lost in the lyrics of the song.
If you ‘re looking for a safe place to land
I will guide you home
And if the levy of your life breaks all your plans
You ‘ll never be alone
She takes her head away from his chest, looking into his eyes as they gracefully swayed to the music.
If you dance with me
Feel my heartbeat through your body to your feet
If you dance with me
Hold me in the dark now, until both your eyes can see
And if it’s you and me against the world
If I’m your man, you’re my girl
We’ll win you’ll see, if you dance with me
Fallon takes deep breathes, the artist sings the rest of the song, but Fallon and Liam are lost in each other’s eyes too recognize the song has ended. It ‘s when some people start clapping, that they snap out of their eye lock. Fallon moves away and ran her hands through her hair.
Liam put money on the hat that stood close to the street artists, Fallon followed suit and placed some money as well. Liam looks at her, struggling to find words after that dance and she is relieved he is not saying something.
“I think we should head back to the hotel, I am really tired” she says, he looks at her slightly disappointed.
“Okey then” he replies as they start walking their way back to the car.
Liam insists on walking her to her room, they walk in a comfortable silence towards her room. Fallon can’t stop replaying their dance in her head, how being in his arms felt so right. She feels guilty for feeling so happy with him, the truth is she has never been this happy as in those two days.
They stood outside the door, looking at each other unsure of what to say to each other. Fallon takes a deep breath, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.
“I had a good time Liam, thank you for showing me your New York” she said honestly
Liam gives her a smile; he leans forward and plants a tender kiss on her cheek before saying “I will see you around Fallon Carrington”. He gives her one last look before he turns around to walk back to his floor.
Fallon places her hand on her cheek as she walks inside her room, she falls down on her bed dramatically. She should be this happy with Culhane, but she is not. She found that happiness with Liam instead.
“I am in so much trouble”