It was a short time after Alison went missing that Emily and Hanna had started sleeping together. Looking back on it, they couldn't seem to remember how it started, or who kissed whom first, it just kind of happened. In the wake of something so horrible, it was nice for them both to feel something that wasn't a negative emotion. They had an unspoken rule: No talking, just sex. In fact, the two of them stopped speaking to each other entirely, except for text messages that would designate where they would meet. It was usually at night and it was anywhere and everywhere that they wouldn't get caught: in the woods, behind the school, or the backseat of Hanna's car in an abandoned parking lot. When they were actually in school, they wouldn't acknowledge each other, since Emily had swimming and her teammates and Hanna had Mona and the jocks. Considering that all of the girls had fallen out of touch the moment that Aria left for Iceland, no one thought anything of their new behavior. Not talking became the new normal, and it was odd to think that neither of them really knew each other anymore, despite the fact that they would end up tangled up together four or five nights out of the week.
After this had been going on for several months, Hanna started dating Sean Ackard, so she broke the rules of "no talking" simply to try to end things with Emily. Sean was her future and who she should be spending her time with, because after all she was Hanna Marin and she was fabulous…and straight. She would do this occasionally; sometimes it would last for a couple of weeks, but most of the time it only lasted for a couple of days. Emily would shrug her shoulders and say "Okay," every single time, knowing that she would receive a desperate plea for her to meet Hanna days later, and the blonde would pin her up against her leather interior like nothing happened. Emily dated a guy named Ben briefly, but for some reason Hanna had started leaving marks on Emily, so she ended up dumping him after a couple of months. Coincidentally, the blonde stopped leaving marks after the break up. If Emily hadn't known any better she would have thought that Hanna did it out of jealousy, but then again that couldn't be, considering she had Sean and her perfect reputation.
By the time Aria came back to Rosewood a year later, Emily and Hanna's rendezvous' had become less frequent, but there were still the occasional evenings, every so often, that they would text each other an address. After Allison's funeral, the two of them had waited until the parking lot had cleared out to talk, and it was Hanna who spoke. "I think that we should stop, um, you know, meeting. I mean since we are all becoming friends again," she said, while hugging her arms to her body. "Yeah, I agree," Emily responded nonchalantly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Good. I just… I mean we used to be best friends. And now with this A person out there…" Hanna replied, this time with a softer tone. "I know. But A won't figure out anything. And I missed you, I mean, like actually talking to you. Just as a friend," the brunette clarified, giving the other girl a tiny smile. "Okay, awesome. It's like this past year never happened," Hanna finished, before giving the brunette a small wave goodbye and getting into her car. Emily let out a sigh as she watched the other girl drive off. "Never happened. Great," she muttered to herself.
xxx
It was surprising how easy it was for all of the girls to fall back into their old routines and friendships, especially for Hanna and Emily. Most of the time it did feel like the previous year hadn't happened, but every so often they would remember the countless nights they spent together and wonder what would happen if anyone, specifically A, ever found out. Despite their worry, it wasn't weird or awkward between them, and they were both grateful for that. Hanna was still with Sean and Emily had met Maya, although no one knew about them yet, and it seemed like they really would get away with never having to talk about that fateful year, ever. That was the case, until the night that Hanna opened her computer and found pictures of Emily and Maya kissing, courtesy of A. When she figured out that A hadn't sent them to Aria and Spencer, her stomach dropped. There was only one reason she could think of as to why she was the only one to receive them. "That bitch has to know," Hanna muttered to herself one evening.
The pictures made Hanna think about what hooking up with Emily had actually meant. In regards to her own sexuality she had never thought it counted, she just dismissed it as something that happened. In all honesty she still wasn't sure what it meant, but she did everything in her power to not think about it and it seemed to work. Now that Emily was clearly into other girls, Hanna wondered if Emily had been in love with her, but quickly kicked herself for being so egotistical. The brunette had never been clingy or romantic; in fact Hanna was usually the one instigating their meetings. Emily was a good friend and had been amazing in alleviating all of the awkwardness that should have been between them. Hanna decided that she needed to try to make Emily comfortable with talking to the girls about Maya, and that she would support her in her relationship.
After the disaster that homecoming was, Hanna and Sean broke up and Hanna was surprised when she didn't feel any sadness over it. The only thing that bothered her were the whispers she would overhear as she walked to class, presumably girls talking about the breakup. The closer she got to her old friends, the angrier Mona would get, and the more her social status would slip. Deep down, Hanna didn't want to care, but all of the whispers still bothered her. She could imagine Alison looking down on her, laughing, and sometimes she could hear her saying, "Oh sweetie, I thought you left Hefty Hanna behind. You became me, but it looks like you're starting to slide back down to where you came from."
xxx
When the girls were stuck in the library after the SAT's were canceled, Wilden had cornered Emily and accused her of being the one who trashed Alison's memorial, as well as having something to do with her death. For Hanna though, the worst thing to come out of his mouth was when he implied that Emily had been in love with Alison, holding up a note that she had sent to her days before Ali disappeared. Hanna had been convinced Wilden was making it all up, so she had yelled, "Give me that!" and snatched the letter out of his hands. She looked down at the piece of paper long enough to see Emily's familiar handwriting and the phrase "Like after we kissed and I thought it might happen again," before she slowly handed the letter to Emily, stunned. "Wait, what?" Spencer blurted out, looking from Hanna to Wilden to Emily with wide eyes. "I loved Alison, as more than a friend. I just never had the chance to tell her in the right way," Emily admitted tearfully to the girls, tucking the letter back into her purse. "Wow," Hanna replied with bitterness in her voice as she stormed out of the library and down the empty hallway. At the same time, Spencer's mom burst in and began to argue with the detective. Aria and Spencer exchanged confused glances as Emily shoved her purse into Spencer's arms, and left the room to go after the blonde.
"Hanna!" Emily shouted down the hallway, her voice echoing among the lockers, which caused Hanna to stop in her tracks and spin around. "Really Emily? Alison? I mean, seriously?" she responded, her voice laced with anger and her eyes starting to tear up. "What? You're the only one who has known about Maya and I the past few weeks, and you were so supportive. Why are you being so weird about me liking a girl now?" Emily questioned, genuinely oblivious to what was wrong. "Did you just pretend I was her? Close your eyes and imagine my hair was a different shade of blonde? That's all it was to you wasn't it," Hanna spat out, balling her fists together. Emily remained silent for a moment as Hanna wiped a tear from her eye that was threatening to fall. "So what if I did pretend you were Ali? Why would you care?" Emily asked, her tone softer, lacking anger. Hanna let out a sarcastic laugh, "I don't know. You're right. I shouldn't," and with that she walked past Emily and back into the library.