Notes: (In this story, Emma managed to keep the gun). Story corrected by Queen Becc.
Eli didn't even have a speck of surprise as he looked to Emma. Her eyes were wide open, her lips were shaking, and her breathing was faster than normal, which alarmed him slightly. She looked like someone who had just experienced their worst nightmare, and, in fact, that was what had happened. At this point, he didn't even need to ask what she was dreaming about.
She has been having the same dreams since the day she found out that the killer was Kieran. She would remember that moment, his psycho face, his words, the evil glint in his eyes. He was terrifying, totally different from the man she had known and loved. She couldn't move, her skin turned cold as she couldn't believe what was happening. Even deep down she had to admit that she had always felt something strange about him. He had tried too hard to get close to her, but she was too naive that she believed he just had a crush on her. She had fallen for his act, fallen so hard.
She couldn't do nothing as he kept talking about all the horrible things him and Piper had done together. She tried to replace the image of the Kieran that she knew with that guy she knew before. She felt afraid. He would kill her and she knew it.
She knew she should do something, try to run, hit him, anything. But he had Audrey handcuffed, so whatever she did was going to bring a lot of pain to her. Emma would never hurt her like that.
But then Eli had stood out from where he was, ready to face Kieran. His body tensed in a way Emma had never seen before, ready to do whatever was necessary to save her, even if that meant killing his cousin that he could barely stand.
Emma saw Kieran picking up the gun to shoot Eli, his hands grasping the weapon with a bitter, vicious look smudged upon his face.
That was the moment everything changed.
Something dark, an instinct inside of her clicked and she realized that Eli was going to die if she didn't act quickly. The gun in her hand was quickly pointed to Kieran, and without hesitation she shot him, close to his heart. He stepped back immediately, pressing his hand against the blood that was coming from where she had hit him. He even looked shocked and definitely angry. She could of swore she saw a glimpse of hurt in his eyes, but she pushed that aside.
Her fear come back and she held the gun closer, but didn't have the nerve to shoot him again. Now that the immediate threat to Eli's life had gone away, she just couldn't kill Kieran. Even if she wanted to, there was part of her that still longed that what they had should have been real.
She glanced her eyes to where Eli was, still weak, but apparently good enough to keep himself up. She left out a relieved sigh, wanting to run to him and hug him while apologizing a million of times, but right now she had to keep her eyes on Kieran. Knowing him, he could still try something, even though he had a gun pointed to him and he was gritting his teeth from the pain with a smug smirk.
She glanced to where Aubrey was to make sure she was okay, then quickly placed her gaze onto Kieran. The image on his face never changed, as he just had a smug grin, his breath hitching as he was obviously in pain.
It felt like years until the cops had finally arrived. Once they came in, she moved out of spot she was at and handed the police the gun. The police then handcuffed Kieran and stated his rights, and then arrested him.
That was what happened.
But in her nightmares, Eli died. She felt like it was her fault, for not trusting him. She saw over and over again his life leaving his body, closing his eyes forever to retreat to a deep slumber. She almost always wake up crying.
The only thing that made things better was to see Eli laying right next to her the second she opened her eyes. The first few weeks when he wasn't there to sleep beside her had been hell. The first few days she had to go talk with her mom to make sure he was fine and in the days to follow she started calling him.
He called her too, with the same demons like her. He dreamt about what could happen if he had never arrived there, or if his cousin killed her. He would dream about Kieran manipulating Emma, having rough sex with her and then killing her shortly after. He never knew what was worse, but both of them shook him down to his core.
The first few days after the events of the threat, he had to sleep in Kieran's house. He had felt sick and paranoid, not being able to sleep and being afraid of every little sound that filled the so empty house. He didn't want to go back there, so in the next day he did the only thing he could: he asked the owner of the coffee to lend him some money so he could stay in a crappy hotel until he found a new place he could afford. Terry had been caring enough to offer his house to him stay for a while and to go with him grab his things. Eli accepted, though feeling a little guilty about it.
And even if it was a million times better to relax in Terry's house, Eli still had nightmares every night. He would wake up afraid, heart beating fast and breath rapidly moving, expecting to see his cousin's face. After the episodes, he always found himself alone in his room with just Terry in the house. His phone rang so many times as well.
He didn't mind Emma's calls at all, as they made him feel safe along with Emma's safety was assured. When he was the first to wake, he didn't hesitate dialing her number, feeling a hundred times better when she answered with that sweet voice of hers.
One day, he was at her house until late. He knew he had to leave to go back to Terry's house, but he was afraid that something would happen to himself on the way or something would happen to Emma (honestly, he was afraid to everything recently). She was afraid of leaving him too, he could see it in the way her face was formed, a deep over-reactive worry in her eyes. She asked him to stay with her. He hesitated, but she insisted, her voice breaking as she was a little child afraid of invisible monsters. So, he had agreed. He called Terry to let him know he wouldn't come back (he didn't like text messages anymore).
They kept chatting for awhile and had a nice dinner with Meg, Emma's mother. She didn't ask why he was there, or who he was in relation to Emma, but just told him that she was going to her bedroom before leaving the two alone.
They cleaned up the dishes and then went to Emma's bedroom. Emma threw herself in the bed, sprawling out in it while Eli went to the floor. She wanted him to climb onto her bed, since her mother always slept with her, so she was used to it, but she didn't say anything. She knew she should also say that there was an extra bed in the guest room. He didn't need to sleep in the floor. She knew it was selfish, but she couldn't managed to make herself get separated from him. So, she just let him stay there, grabbing blankets and pillows to him.
She asked if Eli had a problem with her keeping the lights on - it was the only way she had managed to sleep the past few days. He told her that he didn't, it wasn't like he was getting much sleep recently. Just being there was better than he had expected.
They didn't even knew how they had managed to do it, but somehow they found themselves sleeping. Still, there were nightmares, resulting in Emma waking up screaming, something that happened more times than either of them would like.
Her whole body was shaking, but not from the cold, and she putted her hand on her knees, trying to hug herself. She felt cold and scared.
"Emma…" Eli said, unsure what to say next. He had been woken by the girl's scream. He had expected her to have nightmares, but to see how she was suffering was terrible. The worse thing was that there was nothing he could say or do, to make everything okay. Things weren't fine and maybe they never would never be.
"Eli?" she sounded panicked, confused, and lost. The way her voice rang in his ears made a chill run down his spine.
"I'm here" he said, lifting himself from the floor so she could see him. Her breaths were relieved as soon as she saw his all too familiar bright face.
"You're alive… thank god you're okay…" she whispered.
"I'm okay, Emma" he said, trying to convince himself more-so than her. "I got you" he said, moving closer and sitting next to her. He rubbed his hand in her back, making smalls circles to attempt to relieve her.
They didn't say or do nothing for a while. They just stood there, trying to convince themselves that everything would be okay.
"I'm so afraid" she said finally, closing her eyes.
He could say it was over, that Kieran was in jail. But how could he tell something that even him was afraid to believe?
"I know. I'm too" he said, his voice as low as hers was.
"Will you please stay with me?" she asked. "Please.. please sleep next to me" she pleaded, without really caring how broken she sound. He already knew how broken she was and she knew how broken he was too.
"I will" he assured, quietly surprised with the invitation. He felt himself relaxing just at idea, that for the first time in weeks he would have something to hold while he was back to that very known place. She moved herself, so she was laying with her head on her pillow and left the other half of the bed to him. He slid softly and quietly next to her on the bed, grabbing her hand. She squeezed his hand as in result.
They knew this would be awkward, going to sleep beside each other for the first time - especially because they never had sex with each other before and weren't even thinking about it - but all they felt had been relief and comfort.
Just the fact they wouldn't have to rely on the phones to make sure things were alright and could instead could just open their eyes to see if one another was enough to drive away any embarrassment.
It had taken them a while to fall asleep again, listening the sound of each other breathe. And when they did, they slept while still holdings hands. This time, they managed to stay asleep for a few more hours than normal, but Eli still woke up in a spur of fear because of a nightmare.
He tried to not wake Emma, and not interrupt her slumber, but as he moved he felt her move too. He tried even harder to not make a sound and quietly left the room.
He had a strange urge to laugh as he looked at the unrecognizable person to the mirror. Damn, he looked worse than he ever did in his life. His eyes seemed to have permanent dark circles under them, contrasting with how paled he was. He was looking more dead than alive.
He looked away, trying to focus in anything else than why he was like that. But the nightmare wouldn't go away. He remember seeing Kieran killing Emma, his mother, his old friends and even Audrey, Brooke and Noah. One by one, body by body. Eli jumped when he felt a hand resting upon his shoulder.
"Hey," Emma greeted, quietly. "I saw you weren't in the room so I decided to come to check on you." she stood next to him, seeing the image of the two in the mirror. She couldn't say which one of them looked worse.
"I'm okay" he replied softly.
Obviously she didn't believed him.
"You want to talk about the nightmare?" she asked after a long period of silence.
He thought about it. He wasn't eager to share what he had just saw, especially Emma considering it might make her uncomfortable, but then it would probably be good to him talk about it with someone else other than his mom (and even she prefers to avoid the subject). Emma already knew what probably had been seen in his nightmare.
Eli smiled sadly, knowing how much doubt and uncertainty Emma put behind her to comfort him. She really was a kind person.
"I saw him. He… he was killing everybody I care about," Eli explained, his eyes fading a little. "And I couldn't do anything. I just watch while… there was blood everywhere. And his menacing laugh…" he trailed off, worried that he had said too much. Emma didn't need to listen how he was cruel.
"I'm sorry.." he trailed off, not daring to stare in her eyes.
"It's okay," Emma soothed. "You are not the only one who has bad dreams with him in them."
She grimaced as she remembered. "Sometimes, I forgot that he was the one who had done all those things. Then I remember again, and it's just a constant hell of a cycle over and over."
He felt even sadder now, Emma shouldn't have to deal with stuff like that. She should been having a normal school year, but killers just couldn't leave her alone. They hunt her down like she was some kind of prey and they're the predator. But Emma hasn't even done a thing.
There's no way he could understand the pain that she was feeling right now. To know that your boyfriend always hated you, killed your best friends and tried to kill you. That was messed up.
For him, was different. Even if Kieran was his cousin, they had never really get along, and Eli always knew there was something wrong with him. It had been a shock to know he was the killer, but not the fact that he was capable to kill, if that made any sense.
"You're doing well," he told her, because somebody had to.
She managed to smile a little to him, even if she felt drowned out. Eli just had a way to make everything lighter. He was the only one who she could talk to about sentimental subjects and still end up laughing at the end.
"I'm not so sure about that." she admitted, truthfully. Sometimes, she didn't even felt like getting out of the bed.
"You know, the worst part is when I dream about the happy times I had with him" Emma said. There was something she had never told anyone, knowing how crazy it would sound. Kieran was serial killer, and he had never felt anything for her, so it was stupid to think that he wasn't just acting with her or missing those happy times.
"It makes sense" Eli told her, thinking about it. "I think you still feel like he was two different people," he told her. "I saw the way he acted about you and even I thought he loved you."
"Guess we both were wrong" she said.
"Yeah" he said and moved closer , hesitatingly hugging her. As she let him, he hold with more strength. It felt good, warm, and comforting. Both parties of the hug just clung on, and they didn't say a word for a few split seconds.
"Well.. I managed to fell in love with someone who wasn't even real" she half heartedly joked, just without the humor. She felt a little hysterical on the inside, but she gave off no signs to Eli. She didn't want to burden him with more anxiety.
"Don't worry, I'm sure the next guy you like won't be a psycho" Eli said with a trace of smile in his lips. Emma smiled just because he was like that.
"I really hope so" she said, remembering the times she was with Eli, before knowing Kieran was the killer. She had wanted him very bad, but she knew she couldn't be with him. He was his boyfriend's cousin. Now, she just wished she had done things differently.
She knew she still feel something about Eli that was growing stronger every day that passes. But right now, she was too confused or broken to even think about romance. She was trying to heal herself before jumping into her feelings.
"Come on, it's time to try sleep again" she said and the hug broke apart. Immediately she felt she had lost something very important.
Once again, they went to Emma's bedroom, making a second stop to grab a mattress for Eli. He slept there this time, without holding Emma's hands.
He woke up before her and felt unsure about what to do. It was a Monday morning, so he would be going to school soon enough, but should he wake Emma? What if she wanted miss a class? And what about her mom?
When Emma woke up, she felt different. She didn't know exactly what it was, but she was feeling a little bit lighter than usual. Like a part of the loss and pain she was feeling recently had gone away and lifted a heavy weight off of her shoulders. She even seemed like she had be able to sleep a little. Strange.
She then threw her blankets away and as she went to the bathroom and she noticed the mattress beside her. She remembered what happened now. Eli had come over yesterday and stayed with her.
She cleaned herself up, taking a long shower and forcing herself to look presentable as she did every morning. It was not because Kieran had almost destroyed her life that she would stop fighting.
When she was ready, she looked for Eli around the house, not knowing if he would be there still… or if she really wanted him to be (maybe things would be a little awkward). She gave up and believed he had gone away when she heard a knock on the door.
Feeling a little anxious, she carefully and cautiously made her way to the door. Her relief faded and a smile formed when she saw it was just Eli.
"Hello, Emma" he greeted, smiling as well as she opened the door. "I wanted to get something to eat, but I didn't know if was okay pick your food… and I'm kinda not the best cook either. So… I went to the bakery and bought some food and got you some coffee."
Emma smile grows even bigger now. He was so sweet.
"You didn't have to, Eli," she said, leading the way to the kitchen. "And of course you could grab anything you wanted eat! Sorry, but I won't be responsible of starving you."
"Well, I hope you like this," he said pointing to the bag of food.
They organized the food and drinks and then began to eat, just doing some small talk. It wasn't awkward at all, as they both feared it to be. The time passed fast and Emma was ready to go, but she noticed that Eli was wearing the same clothes from the day before. She felt stupid for not thinking before about that - he didn't bring any clothes with him, so he had nothing new to wear now. She offered some of her clothes. He had barely said okay when she came back with a grey large T-shirt, a hoodie and jeans. She and him were both hoping the outfit fit on him.
"Sorry, but I think this the best I can do" she said, biting her lip, hoping that it wasn't going to be uncomfortable for him.
"This is great, thanks Emma. I think I've to be grateful we're not in XIX century" he joked.
She laughed, imagining Eli with a dress in the school. Yes, that would have been a little more difficult to hide.
He changed in a fast manner and then they left together for school in Emma's car, even though he was the one driving.
"Jesus, Emma, how do you stand this?" Eli complained. "This song is horrible!" he told, making a disgusted face at her. Of course he was joking, as a matter of fact he liked the beat of the song, even if wasn't his genre.
"Hey! It's Audrey's favorite band… and I like it" she defend herself. "BTS is very good" she informed him. "I thought you would like it".
"Yeah, but what it's the good in a music for if we can't sing it?" he replied. "Or do you know Korean?"
For a moment, she was tempted to lie and say yes just to see his face. Instead, she nodded a no and started singing the chorus of Not Today. She was really addicted to that song, because she felt stronger every time she heard it. It was like after all those terrible things that happened to her were gone and she was still okay.
He smiled at her, quite surprised. She was singing very well for a language she didn't know and better than that she was smiling. She looked more like the old Emma. So, he turned to the button and the music got louder. He tried to sing along the rest with her. He failed splendidly, but Emma was moved by his enforce and promised to let him choose the song on the way back.
They entered the school and felt heavier suddenly. They had managed to ignore the panic they felt, but it was still there. Emma grabbed Eli's hand and he squeezed it as they made their way together to the classroom. Neither of their classmates or friends commented about them, they all acted like it was normal. Emma was glad for that.
The rest of the day went pretty much like all the others ones, but Emma found that she was happier than usual. She didn't need to look behind her to know that it was Eli's presence that had helped. Just by knowing he was there, she felt like she could breath and be free. Every second she passed away from him was hard.
She guessed it was not a surprise when they slept beside each other again, and again.. and again, until they couldn't barely remember the time they were staying apart. Eli's clothes were in the same closet that Emma's was in. They could basically say he lived there at this point.
In other situations, they might feel suffocated with each other's closeness. But after everything they went through, that was what they wanted. They stayed together, and began healing together.
They both still wake up screaming, however, they were starting to believe they would be alright. As long as they had each other, they could get through anything.
Note: Wow. I thought I would never finish this - seriously, I started writing it right away after Eli had been killed. I always loved him and shipped him and Emma so much. His death broke me. So, I did this to all of us that wonder what would be like if he had stayed alive.