A/N: This is a one-shot. I'm not going to re-watch the episode, so dialogue from the episode will not be a match to this story. There won't even be much dialogue from the episode anyway, but I'm just warning you that it will not be the exact same dialogue.
Emily angrily pushed her black hair from out of her face. It had been sticking to her cheeks from all of the sweat due to her anxiety. Ali had just slipped from her reach. Spencer was facing her, her eyes wide open with "sorry" written all over them.
"You were listening?" Emily asked, her voice so loud that it echoed around the stale room. "The whole time?"
This was supposed to be private. Emily didn't want anyone to hear her conversation with Alison except for the two involved. She told Spencer about the meeting in case something happened. She didn't expect Spencer to actually show up and ruin everything for her. This was the first time she'd get to have a conversation with Alison; the first time she'd be able to ask for answers and hold her friend again. But Spencer had ruined everything by barging in and causing Alison to run.
"I wasn't going to let you come here alone," Spencer replied in a strong tone. "We've been in this situation multiple times. And what has always happened? Someone gets hurt. I wasn't going to let it happen again."
Emily rocked back on her heels as her heart started beating faster. She let out a sarcastic laugh and narrowed her eyes at Spencer.
"I knew it was Ali this time," Emily stated angrily. "There was no doubt in my mind. And it was Ali. And you ruined it."
Spencer felt tears running to her eyes in need of escaping. She quickly racked her brain for a response to Emily's allegations.
"Okay, if Ali is so innocent," Spencer began. "then why did she leave you here? When she heard someone coming, why did she just get in the elevator and leave? It could've been A. She probably thought it was A. What does A do? Attacks people. A assaults people and tries to kill them. She left you hear to fend for yourself. Doesn't that tell you enough?"
Emily knew Spencer was right about that part. She felt the anger subside as logic made its way into her brain. Knowing that Ali would just leave her to fend for herself against A hurt Emily, but that didn't change the fact that Alison was there and wanted to see Emily: only Emily. Spencer still ruined her chances to get answers, despite Alison leaving her.
"Maybe A wants to kill her but not us, and maybe she knew that," Emily said, losing much of her will to argue against Spencer. "If A wanted to kill us, he would have by now."
Spencer stepped closer to Emily, seeing her eyes getting shinier as tears began to fall from them. "Em," Spencer began. "she's trying to draw you back in. She's trying to divide us. She knows that you're the easiest target for her to grab because of how you feel about her."
"I don't care," Emily retaliated. "This was our only chance to get some answers. To find out who A is. It was worth the risk."
"No, it wasn't," Spencer stated. "I came here because I don't want anything to happen to another one of my friends. I could've stayed at home, I could've told the other girls, but I didn't. I came here alone because of how many times A has attacked us in occurrences like this. I just didn't want you to get hurt, or worse."
Emily wiped a tear from her eye. She knew Spencer was just looking out for her. Spencer had been through a lot recently. Helping Toby with his mother, finding out about Jason, traveling to sketchy shacks in the middle of the night. Emily didn't want to forgive Spencer, but she couldn't not forgive her. Spencer risked her life for Emily, something Ali didn't do. Ali ran. Spencer stayed. It had always been this way.
Emily fell forward and Spencer quickly caught her. She gripped on to Spencer's back as tightly as her strength would allow her to. She buried her head into Spencer's shoulder and cried. Spencer wrapped an arm around Emily's lower back and placed her other hand on the back of Emily's head. Spencer stood with her eyes wide open. Emily isn't the person who breaks down in front of her friends. Spencer is the same way. Instances like this hardly happen, and Spencer hardly knows how to react to them. She's used to this with Aria and Hanna, but not with Emily. She's stronger and can hold her feelings in for longer. Not often does she break down.
Emily kept crying into Spencer's shoulder. She turned her head so her nose touched Spencer's neck and more tears raced down her sobbing face. Spencer rubbed her hand up and down Emily's back fluently in an attempt to comfort her. She pulled Emily closer into her with all of her strength; she was not going to let go.
Spencer looked up at the ceiling of the building. She turned her head slightly, trying not to disturb Emily, and looked out of the window. The sky was pitch black without a star in sight. Spencer stopped rubbing Emily's back. She ran her hands up to her shoulders and slowly pushed Emily away to look at her.
"We need to leave," Spencer said softly. Emily didn't look up at Spencer, she kept her head hung low. Spencer knew not to move Emily's head up to look into her eyes; Emily is not the type of person who wants to be seen weak, especially after being called an easy target. Spencer took Emily's hand and led her out of the building into the night. The air was cold and Emily was in a tiny skirt. They quickly got into Spencer's Mercedes and sped from the lot.
Spencer wasn't going to let Emily spend the night alone, and Emily was aware of this. They drove past Emily's house and pulled into the driveway of the Hasting's. Emily got out of the car, her eyes still red, and slowly walked to the door. Spencer followed behind her and took Emily into the house. She and Emily headed upstairs to Spencer's room and she shut the door behind them.
"You can cry as loud as you want here," Spencer said with a sad smile. "Nobody's going to be home until tomorrow afternoon."
Emily let out an upsetting giggle and curled up into a ball on Spencer's bed. Spencer looked at Emily sadly. She hadn't seen her friend like this since Maya. She wasn't as angry as she was with Maya's death, but she had lost any chance she had of getting answers from the girl she loved-and possibly still loves.
Spencer sat down next to Emily and put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want me to call Hanna and Aria?" she asked.
Emily sat up in a rush. "No," she said defiantly. She looked at Spencer. The other girl was watching her with immense concern. Spencer grabbed Emily's hand.
"Can I ask you something?" Spencer questioned. Emily solemnly nodded her head and pushed her hair out of her face.
"Do you still love Alison?"
Emily sat on the bed without making a sound or movement. Her mind was like a rollercoaster, especially when dealing with her feelings for Alison. She had loved her when she was here, but a few months after Alison had "died", Emily felt less and less in love with her. She loved Alison, but was not in love with her like she once was. She still had dreams of kissing the blonde, but they were a blur. When she saw Alison her heart raced, but she felt no need to kiss her like she once did.
Emily looked to Spencer. "No," she said. "Not like I used to."
Spencer looked confused for a moment, but then shook the expression away. "What about Paige?"
Emily didn't need to think about the answer to this question. "I don't love her," she said. This surprised Spencer even more to the point where her eyes widened.
"I thought you did?" Spencer questioned Emily.
Emily shook her head. "I like her a lot, but I don't love her. I've been finding it hard to allow myself to love anyone since Ali and Maya."
Spencer figured this about Emily. Every love she'd had, had either died or…"died." She turned to Emily and looked into her big brown eyes. They were reflecting light from the water that had, a few minutes ago, been cascading down her cheeks. Spencer decided to change the subject in fear of making Emily cry again.
"Hey, I can drive you home if you want," she said. "I know that you're not exactly my biggest fan right now. I wouldn't be surprised if you hate me."
Emily laughed genuinely for the first time that night. "I don't hate you. I did for a minute, but then I realized that you were there for me and not for you. You were there because you thought I was in danger. Maybe you were there in fear that I'd fall back in love with Ali and once again go through the evidential perils of love."
Spencer laughed. "Wow, Em, those are some big words you're using. But I'm glad you don't hate me. I'd hate me. But I wasn't going to watch you get sucked back into Ali's traps. You don't really think she's innocent, do you?"
Emily looked into Spencer's eyes. "No," she said against her will. "She's never been exactly what I'd call innocent."
Spencer didn't want to talk to Emily about her hate towards Ali, but she felt like this was the best time. She'd told the other girls how much she never trusted Ali and never will, but she feared Emily would revile her. Now that Ali is seemingly back and trying to make contact, Spencer felt that now was the time to reveal her insight on the blonde.
"I never liked Ali," Spencer began. "She has never been a good person. I was slightly happy when she disappeared...not when she died, of course, but when she disappeared. I felt like she'd run off with some guy and wouldn't be around to torture us anymore. The thing that made me the angriest was how she treated you. We had no inclination that you were gay or had feelings for Ali, but now that we know, it's obvious to me how many times she made fun of you. Even on the night she disappeared, saying that you liked Beyonce's video a little too much. You genuinely loved her and she pushed you away. Not only did she do that, but she made fun of you for it and put you down. I'm guessing that you were already feeling a little uncomfortable about being gay in the first place, but then Ali made it worse for you. She hurt you the most, and that's why I hate her the most. I didn't want you to go tonight in case A was there, but also in case Ali was actually there, trying to draw you back in. To play with your heart some more before leaving you in the dust."
Emily's eyes widened. She didn't know that Spencer had read into how much Ali had mistreated her. Sure, Ali had kissed her once, but she did that with a lot of people. She played people; that was her form of entertainment. Emily hadn't thought that Spencer knew this much about her feelings. It was as if Spencer were inside her head.
"Are you some kind of psychic?" Emily asked with a smile.
"Some kind," Spencer replied. "And I'm just defensive over you. You've been hurt the most and I hate seeing you upset. I hate seeing the other girls upset, but seeing you sad is like having a stake driven into my heart."
"Why?" Emily asked, curious at how Spencer felt differently about her sadness compared to the other girls.
"I really don't know," Spencer responded, putting her head down. "It's just when you get hurt, I lose all inhibitions and do anything to save you. When the other girls get hurt, my mind doesn't go into overdrive; I have time to logically plan out what to do without diving into anything stupid. In other words, you're making me stupid." Spencer smiled.
"Spencer," Emily sighed. "You're too sweet."
Spencer's cheeks automatically turned red. She hadn't a clue as to why this sensation was occurring. Her mind was reeling. She looked away from Emily and internally screamed.
"What?" Emily asked. "You're strange," she said with a smile.
"I don't know," Spencer responded, facing Emily. "Just stop doing whatever you're doing so I can go back to normal."
"I'm not doing anything," Emily replied with a smile.
"You're right," Spencer stood up. "It's this room. It's hot. I'm opening the window."
Emily smiled at Spencer's obvious embarrassment. She walked up behind Spencer as she opened the window and when the other girl turned around, she placed her lips onto Spencer's.
Spencer's eyes blasted open in surprise as she felt Emily's lips moving softly against hers. Emily retreated and found Spencer with her mouth almost touching the ground.
"Wow," Emily said with a smirk. "I've never seen you like this. It's entertaining."
Spencer shook her head back and forth. "What the hell just happened?" she asked Emily.
"I don't know, I'm not you," Emily replied. "I was just seeing something."
"Seeing what?" Spencer asked in confusion.
"How you reacted if I kissed you."
Spencer shrunk into her red chair and wiped the hair from her face. "I reacted."
Emily laughed. "I know you did."
Spencer smiled at Emily's joyous tone. The tension in the room had quickly cascaded to something different. An atmosphere of uplifting characteristics.
Emily turned around and began walking to the door. "I'm going to leave now," she said with a smile.
Spencer shot up from the chair.
"No you're not."