A little something I've had in my head for a long time now. I always wanted to see Austin and Emily together on the show - I think they'd have been far more belivable and likeable than Emily and Damon or Austin and Kaylie. I think they'd have balanced each other nicely. Instead, I'll just go daydream.

all in, Emily. you gotta believe you're worth it.

May 2015; Boulder, CO

"Emily!" he calls, sweaty and breathless from running. She doesn't flinch. He slows as he reaches the playground. "Hey, Kmetko!"

She whips her head around. It's been years since she last visited Boulder and with the exception of her mom, who still lived in the city, she doesn't know anyone anymore. At least, she thought she didn't know anyone. Her eyes hone in on the source of the voice calling her name and she groans inwardly. The muscles in his arms make her as weak in the knees as they had at seventeen, when she tried valiantly to pretend she wasn't interested in a relationship—especially not one with him. But now he's jogging over, pulling his earphones from his ears and letting them hang down the front of his sweat-soaked vest.

"I thought it was you," he says, a grin splitting his face in two. "I'd hug you, but…"

"Yeah," Emily smiles self-consciously. She glances over at the jungle-gym. She wonders if she could excuse herself and get away, but she knows Lila would pitch a fit at the thought of leaving so soon. The tiny brunette girl appears from the end of the tunnel slide and bounces to her feet, arms in the air like a miniature version of her mother's former life. Emily's smile grows wider, more sincere.

"How have you been, Austin?"

"Good, yeah, I've been—I've been good. Training for Rio. It's kind of an all-consuming, full-time, no respite thing."

Emily nods and hums an agreement. She knows—or at least, she can imagine. She never managed to get that far herself. The pigtailed whirlwind skipping across the rope bridge in the playground put an end to her gymnastic dreams.

"How 'bout you?" he continues. He follows her gaze to the child climbing the slide like her life depends on it: she's quick and strong, like her mother, and he feels a pang of regret.

"Oh, you know—had a kid, found a job, the usual. I see the gym once a week if I'm lucky, and it's a good day if I get an hour of cardio in," she laughs lightly. It hurts to see Austin training for her old dreams and she looks away from him, fixing her gaze on the snow-capped mountains visible from just about anywhere in Boulder. Her daughter's raucous laughter as she emerges from the slide once again seems to shake Austin from his reverie as much as it does Emily from her own.

"But how are you, Kmetko? How are you doing, really? I wanted to—I wish I—"

"Please don't, Austin," she cuts him off. "I get it. You were busy."

"I wish I could've done more for you, Emily," he admits in a whisper. They watch her daughter hang from the low monkey bars. "You have no idea how much I wish I could've made everything right for you."

"Things… worked out in the end," Emily answers carefully. She loves her little girl. She has no idea where Damon is and she doesn't care. They live a few towns away in a comfortable apartment with a mountain view and she works four days a week as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic. Things worked out.

"I guess they did," he agrees, and he watches as Lila abandons fear and swings from bar to bar. Emily twists her fingers nervously as she watches, waiting for a fall and cry that never comes. He stares at the mountains for inspiration.

"Come to dinner with me?" he asks suddenly. He surprises himself with the question he's wanted to ask since Paris. She blinks in surprise. Lila hops down from the bars and runs over, pigtails bouncing. They're tied with sparkly ribbon to match her cotton-candy leggings. He smiles. The Emily he used to know would've hated that colour. This is a different Emily, but he looks at her eyes as she grins uninhibited at her daughter and the old Emily—his old Emily—is still there.

You gotta go all in.

"Pick me up at seven?"