A/N: So, hi!
I think my brain thinks I don't have anything to do in my life, so between school and work, he thought I should restart writing fanfictions. And because he is terribly depressed with the PLL summer finale, he thinks I should write all the Emison fluff I can think of. So, he thought I should associate Emison with a few songs and write fanfictions inspired on those songs. I let him have his way, and here we are.
This will be a series of fluffy one-shots - not linked to each other – full of Emison fluffiness, and inspired by a few songs I have on my playlist.
For this, I'll also be rewriting a small part of "Rude", because when I read it again after I posted it, I thought it didn't end the way it should.
But first, I'll leave you with this one. I hope you enjoy, and please, remember that English is not my main language, so you have to forgive me for a few mistakes :p
BREATHLESS
"You leave me breathless / You're everything good in my life / You leave me breathless / I still can't believe that you're mine
And if our love was a story book / We would meet on the very first page / The last chapter would be about / How I'm thankful for the life we've made
And if we had babies they would have your eyes / I would fall deeper watching you give life / You don't even know how very special you are
You must have been sent from heaven to earth to change me / You're like an angel / The thing that I feel is stronger than love believe me / You're something special / I only hope that I'll one day deserve what you've given me / But all I can do is try/ E very day of my life" Shayne Ward - "Breathless"
Five-year-old, well, five years and THREE months old, Claire Jade Fields was one of those little girls that could light up an entire room just with her presence. Her shiny brown eyes, always sparkling with excitement, her blonde long curls forever bouncing as she skipped around the room, her little giggles, that made her cute little dimples more noticeable, always there to cheer someone up just by hearing them and her extraordinaire outgoing and kind personality were reasons enough for her to have you wrapped around her little finger in no time.
"Mommy, mommy," little Claire screamed as she ran straight into her mother's arms. Her mother picked her up and spun her around the room causing the little girl to giggle, "I missed you".
"Oh baby girl, mommy missed you too, so much". The older woman said, hugging her daughter close to her. She hadn't felt the little girl in her arms for a week, and she was already missing her girl too much to her own liking.
"So why did you leave, mommy? I was sad", the little girl questioned.
"Mommy had some work to do outside town. But I'm back now, and I'm not leaving for a long time", she informed her daughter. "Pinky promise, mommy?" Claire said as she put her pinky finger up. "Pinky promise, baby", Claire's mother answered as she linked her pinky finger to her daughter's.
Alison put her little girl down and watched as she ran upstairs to play with her 'cousins', "Careful, baby" she warned as she walked into the living room to greet all her friends. It was Spencer's birthday and she chose to have a more private celebration, with just her friends and her husband and son. She congratulated Spencer, as she hugged her. She went over to Aria who also hugged her, and she gave a polite nod to Hanna who returned it. She said hello to Caleb, Toby and Ezra and finally turned to Emily. "Hi, Em", she smiled at the brunette. "Hello, Alison," was the response she got. Everyone in the room was feeling a little uncomfortable with the situation. You see, Emily and Alison had gotten together after all the –A trouble, around 10 years ago, and they had spent every awaken moment with each other since up until two months ago, when they split up because, according to both of them, they had fallen apart. However, it was mostly because Alison spent an awful amount of time working around the states, which left her with no time for Emily and their daughter, something Emily didn't enjoy very much.
She had told Alison how much she felt like they weren't working out anymore when Alison forgot their 6 year wedding anniversary, because she had a project due at the end of that week. It broke Emily to see that Alison was setting other priorities and was forgetting the relationship they fought so hard to have.
The afternoon passed awfully slowly to Alison's liking. Hanna was constantly giving her deathly glares, and Emily wouldn't even look at her. The only thing that made it bearable was her little girl, always around her, having missed her mommy very much the past week. However, Alison's afternoon would be thousand times better if she noticed the adoring look Emily had on her face every time she saw her daughter and the love of her life interact, she just couldn't help but smile at the sight.
That night, it was Alison's turn to spend the night with her little girl, which made Emily somewhat sad of not having either of 'her' girls with her. As broken as Emily had been, she just couldn't shut off the feeling she had towards Alison. In Emily's mind, Claire and Alison both would always be her girls. That night, Alison started telling their daughter a bed time story that Emily would have a hard time finishing.
"Mama, can you finish the story Mommy was telling me last night?" Claire asked her mom with pleading eyes, "Please mama?"
"But I don't know the story, baby. Can I tell you another?" Emily questioned. She really didn't want to hear about anything Alison-related right now, but she knew her daughter wouldn't let go, and she had very good persuading skills, she got that from her mommy.
"No. Mommy never finished it. I wanted to hear the happily ever after, Mama. Mommy told me it was about two princess friends, who met when they were little, like me. One was a blonde girl named Lauren and the other was brunette and she was Katelyn. They were the bestest of friends and they went everywhere together. And then when they were in big kids school, like fifteen years old, Princess Katelyn kissed Princess Lauren but Lauren was scared, I don't remember why" Claire paused to see if she could remember. Emily smiled, her daughter's thinking face was the most adorable sight. But she knew where this was headed, this was her's and Alison's story. Alison was telling their daughter everything. "Oh, I remember. She was scared because she was popular and she wasn't supposed to be kissing a girl. Mama, what's so bad about kissing another girl? Mommy and you used to do it all the time." She looked up at Emily. "Well, baby, not everyone thinks that it's okay for two girls to kiss, some people don't like it very much", she tried to explain to her daughter.
"Hm, silly people, Mama. But yeah, then Princess Lauren was kidnapped and sent away from Princess Katelyn, but she missed her very much. Mommy said Princess Lauren cried every night and wished she could be with Princess Katelyn, but Princess Katelyn thought she was dead. Mommy said that after two years – that's a long time isn't it, Mama?" Emily nodded at her daughter, "Yeah, it is, baby".
Claire smiled and continued, "Well, two years after, Princess Lauren came back and tried to talk to Princess Katelyn, but Katelyn didn't trust Lauren very much. And Lauren was very sad, but she knew that she had been mean to other people and had lied to Princess Katelyn. Princess Lauren thought she had lost her best friend, and she was going to tell her that she loved her, but she didn't because Katelyn was mad. But then, Katelyn was not mad anymore and they stayed together, like grown-up together, kinda like you and Mommy before. Mommy said that Princess Lauren thought that Princess Katelyn left her breathless and that she was everything good in her life. Mommy also told me that Princess Lauren wanted their babies to have Princess Katelyn's eyes. They were brown, Mama, just like mine, see?" Claire asked, pointing at her eyes, "Mommy said Princess Lauren thought they were beautiful eyes", Emily smiled.
Alison had indeed told her a few years back, when Emily was pregnant with Claire that she wanted the baby to have Emily's eyes, so that she could look at another amazing pair of soft brown eyes. And Alison was indeed over the moon when Claire was born with Emily's eyes. Emily remembered the look of awe Alison had plastered on her face the first time she laid eyes on Claire. It was a look of wonder that Emily would never forget, those blue eyes sparkling with unshed happy tears. She wondered where that Alison went. How could Alison have forgotten everything they went through and put work over her and Claire? She never asked Alison that question, not even when she threw Alison out of their home, two months ago. "Well, then, they had a daughter, named Jade. Mommy, she had my middle name!" Claire said excitedly. "And they were very happy. But then Mommy said that Princess Lauren was a bit sad, because someone told her that she didn't deserve to be with Princess Katelyn. They told her that she had hurt Princess Katelyn very much when they were in big kids' school. So Princess Lauren thought that she should stay away from Princess Katelyn, but she couldn't just leave Princess Katelyn and their daughter, so she started working very much, and she was almost never home. Then Princess Katelyn was sad and she didn't want to be with Princess Lauren anymore. So Princess Lauren left, and she was happy because the Princess Katelyn could find someone who was good enough for her." Emily was shocked. Could her daughter actually be telling the truth? And if she was, how come Alison was telling her this? She had gotten every aspect previous to the break up right, but now Claire was telling her things she didn't knew that had happened. She needed to speak with Alison soon. Her thoughts were interrupted by her daughter, "Mommy, then Mama said I had to go sleep, so she didn't get to the happy ending. Can you finish? Because I think that Mommy said that Princess Lauren was happy, but she wasn't. I'm sure. She loved Princess Katelyn and baby Jade very much", Emily had tears in her eyes, "I have to call Mommy to ask her about the ending, okay? Can you stay here for a little bit?" Claire nodded, excited due to the fact that she was going to know the ending to her bedtime story.
Emily ran downstairs and picked up her phone from the kitchen counter and immediately pressed speed dial #2 and she waited for Alison to pick up.
"Em?", a very confused Alison finally picked up, "What's wrong? What happened? Is Claire okay? I'm going there right now!" Alison was panicking; Emily calling her could only mean something was up with their daughter.
She started to get dressed not hearing Emily calling her name on the other side, "Alison! Keep yourself together, Claire is fine. She is great! Calm down", she tried to stop Alison from panicking. "She is? Then why are you calling me?" Alison was quite intrigued. "I'm calling, because I was putting Claire to bed, when she asked me to finish the bed time story you started telling her yesterday that never had an happily ever after", Emily could fee Alison's breathing speed up through the phone, "she told me the entire story you told her. And I understood everything up until the part where someone told Princess Lauren that she didn't deserve Princess Katelyn. Now, Alison, I'm not stupid and I know the story was our story, so care to elaborate on this part?" Emily suggested, waiting for Alison to explain.
"Hm, Emily, can I come over? I prefer to talk about this face to face", Alison knew now was the time. She had to clear everything up. She thought that maybe by explaining everything that went through her mind two months ago, Emily would understand and the could even go back to being friends. She didn't dare to ask for more. Emily was a bit taken aback with the despair in Alison's voice, "Yeah, hm… sure, you can come".
"Okay, I'll be there in 20. Do you think Claire will be asleep by then?" Alison questioned. Although she wanted to see her baby girl, she wanted to talk to Emily in private and without interruptions.
"She probably will. I'll tell her I will finish the story tomorrow. See you later, Alison", Emily informed.
Alison got dressed, checking the mirror twice to see if she looked okay. She was nervous. Really nervous. She had the chance to tell everything that happened, she had the chance to make Emily see the regret she felt. She now knew that she was stupid to think that Emily would be better off without her. Truth is, neither could live without the other. Soul mates are supposed to be together. And Alison was sure Emily and her were soul mates.
After checking if she had her phone and her car keys Alison got in her black BMW and drove off to the home that once she shared with Emily.
As soon as she got there, she texted Emily, letting her know she was at the door. She thought it was best not to ring the doorbell because she might wake Claire. Soon Emily was at the door "Hey", she greeted. "Hi, Em" Alison greeted back.
"Come in", Emily invited, stepping away from the door and going towards the living room. Alison walked behind her. She hadn't been inside 'their' house in two months, and as soon as she stepped in, memories came flooding back to her, causing her eyes to water with unshed tears. Alison blinked fast to stop the tears and followed to the living room.
"You can sit, you know?" Emily informed, gesturing to the couch in front of her. Alison sat down and looked Emily straight in the eyes. Right there and then, Emily had to control herself not to jump into Ali's arms, but she needed to know everything, every reason behind the not so normal behavior Alison had demonstrated a couple months back, "Care to tell me about Princess Lauren and Princess Katelyn?" Emily asked.
Alison smiled sadly, "I know you might not understand. Now that I think about it, not even I understand. But at the time, it seemed the right thing to do. And now, I regret every last bit of it. Because it only brought misery into my life, and I would be fine if you were happier than before, but I don't see that happening" Emily laughed, "Me? Happy? Alison DiLaurentis, I had my heart broken a third time by you without any warning. How was I to be happy? Please enlighten me!", Emily was getting a bit frustrated.
Alison nodded, "I'll tell you everything, but you can't interrupt me, or I will not be able to go on," as she saw Emily nod she began, "It was around three or four months ago, back at the office. I was just finishing drawing a building project that was due that day, so I was very stressed out. When I finally finished, I went to the company that asked for it, and guess who was the receptionist? Paige. Paige fucking McCullers. Can you believe it?" Alison could see the surprise in Emily's eyes, they had not heard of Paige since she tried to kick Alison's ass after finding out she was dating Emily.
Alison continued, "Well, I tried to be as polite as I could. I even said hello and then I asked if she could call her boss and tell him the project was ready. But as soon as she laid eyes on our wedding ring, all hell broke loose. She asked me who had been stupid enough to actually marry me, and when I told her that you were the one, not stupid person, whom I was married to, she laughed. She just laughed, and then the bitch glared at me like she wanted to kill me and started saying that I should have never gotten back in your life, that all I could do was let you down and break your heart. She told me I would do it again, and that I was not worthy of you. She told me that the most amazing, kind and sweet girl she had ever met should not be with the meanest, most untrustworthy, most lying bitch she had ever come across".
Emily didn't need Alison to tell her anything else; she knew what had crossed her wife's mind at that time. She knew Alison all too well. Since day one of their relationship, Alison had felt insecure. She always felt that she didn't deserve Emily, she was always telling Emily that she understood if Emily didn't want to have anything to do with her. Hearing those words from Paige's mouth had brought back all those insecurities, Emily was sure. She noticed that Alison had more to say, "I just looked at her, not letting her see she was getting to me, but I dropped the subject and asked her again to call her boss, she did. When I got home that night, you were lying curled up with Claire on the couch both of you asleep, and I started thinking about all of it again. Was I really worthy of all of this? Of you and Claire? How come someone who had done so many bad things to people could actually deserve all of this? And I thought maybe it was best if I let you go, so you could find someone who really deserved you, but I couldn't just leave you. So I started working late, I started to pretend I had forgotten the important dates, so you could see that maybe I wasn't that good of a person. I still don't understand what you ever saw in me," Emily shook her head. How could Alison be so stupid? How could she be so stupid? To think her Alison was just putting work above everything else? How could she think Alison would ever forget their anniversary? Her Alison wouldn't never be like that.
"Ali, what did I ever saw in you? You don't give yourself enough credit. Yes, you did bad things, you made some bad choices, I admit. But I've never seen anyone so brave and who tried to protect me with everything she could. I've never seen anyone just give everything up to save their friends. I've never seen a stronger girl than you. But what I did see in you, was the one thing you would never show people intentionally. I saw your real smiles, the kind you have when you are truly happy. I saw you be a little kid when we watched cartoons and ran around the house singing when we were teenagers. I saw how intelligent you are. I saw how loyal you are to your friends. I saw you cry to sleep when you dog died. I saw the vulnerability. I saw your insecurities. I saw everything that makes you human. And not many people know the real Alison DiLaurentis, not many people know she is indeed human. And even though you wouldn't let anyone else know the real Alison, you let me. That's what I ever saw in you. I saw and still see the love of my life. The only girl I was ever capable of truly loving. The only one who has my heart forever".
They both had tears in their eyes, now. Emily was ready to forgive Alison, to make her see that they both deserved each other. But Alison didn't think that was possible, "How can I have your heart forever? I've broken it three times, I'm not worthy of having your heart, I myself can't trust myself with your heart. I still don't understand how you could have given me so much. Something so precious. When I haven't given you that much".
Emily smiled, "Alison DiLaurentis, you listen to me. You've given me so much, and you don't even realize. You've given me love. With you I felt loved. You've given me your trust. I know you trust me with all you heart, as I trust you with mine. You've given me endless nights of cuddling that meant the world to me. You've given me a reason to wake up every morning smiling. You've given me all of you. Don't you see that? You've given me Claire! You can't even begin to understand how thankful I am for that".
Tears were streaming down Alison's face, "You really are an angel sent from heaven, Emily Fields. I think that's the only possible reason to explain you entering my life and seeing the best of me. You're something special, Em. I love you so much, and I was so stupid to let you go and to hurt so badly".
Emily knew that Alison was starting to realize how much she meant to Emily. Emily loved Alison with all her heart and soul, and if it was necessary she would spend the rest of her life making Alison aware that she deserved Emily. "See, Ali? I saw this side of you, I saw the human side, the side that loves me and would do anything for me. I saw the real you. And that Alison has the power to leave me breathless every time I look at her, and I wouldn't have it any other way", she smiled.
"You leave me breathless too, Emily Katelyn Fields and I'm so thankful to have you and Claire in my life", she said, walking closed to Emily, putting her arms around Emily's shoulders, closing the gap between them and putting her lips ever so gently on Emily's. Emily couldn't resist the feeling of having Alison's lips back on hers after so long. She put her arms around Alison's waist and pulled her impossibly closer, returning the kiss, passionately.
As they broke up the kiss, Alison noted a small person standing just at the bottom of the stairs, wearing the biggest and warmest smile Alison had ever seen. Emily turned around and they both smiled at their daughter.
Little Claire finally had a happily ever after to her bed time story. And she couldn't be happier with it.