Title: Me and Emily

Author: blackbeltchic

Disclaimer: The song is sung by Rachel Procter, and the characters belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. The only one who is mine is Emily.

Mrs. Jordan squinted through the rain and the fog, trying to stay on the highway. The cell phone wouldn't stop telling her that the battery was low, and the gas tank was promising to empty out at any moment.

She heard a noise behind her. Em had rolled over, deep in some dream. She quickly surveyed the remains of their cross-country drive. The back seat, and front seat for that matter, was trashed, and she couldn't help but feel her hands still weren't clean enough.

Floorboard's filled with baby toys

An' empty coke bottles an' coffee cups

Drivin' through the rain with no radio,

Tryin' not to wake her up.

Cell phone says "low battery",

God, what if I break down?

I'm just lookin' for an exit with a lotta lights,

A safe little interstate town.

Just a cheap hotel,

With a single bed,

And cable TV

Is good enough for me an' Emily.

After her daring escape from the town she had considered home for seven years, she talked herself into going back to college, and that's where she had met him. He was exactly what she needed to move on and forget.

Some day, when she's old enough,

She's gonna start askin' questions about him.

Some kid at school brings his Dad for show an' tell,

An' gets her little mind a-wonderin'

"Where's my Daddy? Do I have one?

"Does he not love me like you do?"

Oh, maybe I'll find someone to love the both of us,

An' I'll tell her when she's old enough to know the truth.

He had been incredibly tall, with light brown hair, totally good looking, he was as sweet as can be, kinda possessive, and he could imitate accents.

They were married just after she turned 25, and he let her complete the school year, before becoming a housewife. It had been a small wedding, just his family and friends; she didn't want to bug hers.

Will it break her heart?

Will she understand,

That I had to leave?

That's what was best for me an' Emily.

Just after their first anniversary, she learned she was pregnant, and that's when he changed. Maybe he just didn't want the child. Suddenly she couldn't do anything right. Her hormones were wacky, and the more she cried, the angrier he got. Things only got worse after Em was born, the house was never clean enough, supper was never on time, or cold, and she 'spent too much time with that damned baby!'

That house was never clean enough

His dinner never warm enough.

Nothing I did was ever good enough to make him happy.

So, I guess, he gave me what he thought I deserved,

But it would kill me if he ever raised his hand to her.

Five days ago, it became too much. When he started hitting, she didn't take it meekly as she had so many times in the past. She fought back. Now she was a murderer. She had thought she had loved him, but along with everything else she had become in the small "sunny" town, she had become adept at lying, so much in fact, she had convinced herself.

Big rigs are throwin' rain on my windshield,

An' I feel like they're laughin' at me.

Fin'lly the storm is lettin' up,

An' the mornin' is breakin' free.

The rain slowly stopped, and a breeze picked up. She opened her window a crack to feel the wind on her face, drying her tears. She looked through the thinning fog at the predawn city. It was like returning home. She had been born in this city, and she had come here in hopes that so many others did: to get lost.

She found a parking spot; locking up the few possessions they had, picked up Em, now one and a half, and started looking for a place to stay.

It's a brand new day,

It's a second chance.

Yesterday is just a memory,

For me an' Emily.

Ah.

Floorboard is filled with baby toys,

An' empty coke bottles an' coffee cups.

Least there's one good thing that he gave me,

An' she's startin' to wake up.

"Buffy?"