A/N: This started as what was supposed to be a short prompt from tumblr but turned into something significantly longer. It's only going to be a short fic, around 5 chapters, and as most of it is already written I'm going to try and post an update every three days or so.

It's set seven years after the finale aired, and Alison and Emily have had very little contact in that time, and the whole thing will be from Emily's POV. I am in no way a medical professional and most of my medical knowledge comes from watching TV shows, so while I've done research for parts of this as best I can, I very much doubt that it'll all be perfect, but I've tried my best!

A couple of warnings apply for this fic: there will be some focus on medical procedures but I don't think anything is too graphic and it's pretty minimal, and there are brief mentions of suicide from chapter two onwards.

Think that's all I need to say, I hope you enjoy the story!

"Fields!" Emily groans when she hears her name yelled from across the ER – she's about to enter into the nineteenth hour of her shift (she was supposed to go home three hours ago, but the surgery she'd been assisting on had gotten a little complicated and ended up taking six hours instead of three), had only come down her to check in with her resident before heading home, but as she glances up and sees the head of cardiac surgery waving her over she sighs before turning and walking over to her. "Can you take the woman in bed two for me?"

She's about to say no, that someone else can do it – she sees one of her fellow interns walk through the ER doors and is tempted to suggest them, instead, but… ever since the first time she'd seen a chest open on the operating table she'd been set on specialising in cardiac surgery and a little sucking up never hurt anyone.

"Sure." Her inability to say no to her superiors is going to kill her, one day. She spends too many hours in this damn hospital, and she'd resent it if she didn't love it so much. But she does, she loves her job and seven years ago when she'd been applying to colleges with no idea what she wanted to do, she never would've dreamed she'd end up here.

She's only a month away from finishing her internship, and she's already secured a place in the residency programme at the same hospital. It had been an adjustment, getting used to the Minnesota winters when she'd gotten her medical degree in California, but when her acceptance letter from Mayo Clinic had come in the mail, Emily knew there was no turning it down.

And she does like it here, even though it's far away from her family (her Mom and Dad are still down in Texas, and she hasn't seen them for nearly six months now and it's hard but it'll be worth it, in the end, she keeps telling herself that), and both the friends she'd made at college and her friends from Rosewood.

Aria and Hanna are both in New York, one as a journalist and the other as a fashion designer, and Spencer's steadily climbing the political circuit and is based in Washington D.C. It's been months since she'd seen any of them face-to-face, and sometimes they go weeks without speaking but each time they get back into contact it's easy to fall back into the old routine of it all, and Emily's glad that they still talk, even after all these years.

She pauses outside the curtain that's shielding bed two from view in order to smother a yawn (if there's one thing that freaks patients out immediately, it's their doctor yawning as they walk into a room), before yanking the curtain aside and stepping within, pulling it shut behind her.

Her mouth opens to give her name and ask what's wrong, but she's too stunned to do anything other than stand and stare when her eyes connect with sea blue, eyes that she hasn't seen since the day she'd left Rosewood seven years ago and hadn't once looked back.

"Alison?!" If there was ever a person Emily Fields didn't expect to see ever again, Alison would be it. She was the only one, out of the five of them, who chose to stay in town after they'd all left for college, wanting to be close to CeCe (Emily couldn't for the life of her understand why, after everything, but it was Alison's life, and she could do whatever she wanted), and it had gotten too difficult for her, after a while, to keep in contact with the blonde.

There was too much still between them, too much history and things left unsaid, and maybe some residual feelings, too, and Emily didn't know how to get over her if they were still talking every week. So eventually she'd stopped picking up the phone, her answers to texts becoming increasingly short, and it hadn't taken long for Alison to stop calling.

"Em-Emily," Alison breathes, like she can barely believe it, and really, Emily can't, either. She's half-convinced that she's fallen asleep in an on-call room somewhere and this is all just… some sort of awful, awful dream.

She can't stop staring, because Alison looks amazing. Her hair is longer, lighter, curling around her shoulders, her eyes still that same brilliant shade of blue, and when her lips curve into a smile it steals the breath from Emily's lungs.

But then there's the sound of someone clearing their throat, and Emily realises that one of Alison's hands is clutched tightly within that of another, and she lifts her eyes to meet those of the person standing beside Alison's bed, taking in the handsome features, sharp cheekbones, and dark hair – and then she notices the diamond ring, sparkling on Alison's left hand, a wedding ring sitting beside it, and feels like she's going to throw up.

"Honey," Alison turns to the guy, smile still playing around the edges of her lips, "this is Emily. We went to school together. Emily, this is David, my, um, husband."

"I didn't know you got married." She's amazed that she manages to make a sound, considering her throat feels like it's all closed up and she feels like there isn't any air in this room and Christ, she is way too tired for this.

"We didn't exactly keep in contact," Alison murmurs back, a little sadly, and Emily winces, because that had been entirely her fault.

"What, uh, what are you in here for, anyway?"

"Oh, we were skiing." That would explain the clothes that they're both wearing – which Emily probably would've noticed had she not been so taken aback. "And I had a pretty bad fall and my ankle…" She trails off, biting at her bottom lip as she glances down, and Emily nods, taking a step forward.

It's pretty easy to see which is the injured leg – the blonde's left ankle is about three times the size of her left, and Emily tugs her shoe and sock of as gently as she can manage, but she still has to murmur an apology when Alison hisses in pain.

"I'm sorry," Alison's husband speaks up for the first time, frowning at Emily as she glances at Alison's leg. "But are you qualified to do this? How old are you? Do you even - "

"Babe," Alison cuts him off, throwing Emily a look of apology. "Just let her do her job."

"She's only an intern," he argues back, and Emily takes advantage of the couple's distraction to examine Alison's ankle more closely, her fingers pressing gingerly around the edges of the joint. "I want to make sure you're well looked after."

"I assure you, Mr…?" She trails off, her voice cool – she's had to deal with her fair share of difficult patients over the course of her internship, after all – as she raises her head to look him in the eye.

"Rollins," Alison offers, and Emily tries not to wince as she imagines Alison taking his last name – Alison Rollins definitely doesn't have quite the same ring to it as DiLaurentis does. Not that she can blame Alison for wanting to change her name, with how it must haunt her, after everything that had happened.

"I assure you, Mr Rollins," Emily continues, wondering if her stare is as icy as her voice, "that your wife is in good hands. I might only be an intern," she injects the word with as much scorn as he'd used, smiling sweetly, "but I'm top of my class. Just like I was every year in medical school. Now, I can stand here arguing with you over my credentials, go and get another doctor – which, considering we're slammed right now thanks to all the snowfall we've had lately, is very unlikely to happen anytime soon – or you can let me do my job."

He doesn't say anything, though his jaw clenches and Emily knows she's hit a nerve – not that she really cares all that much. She's been awake for over twenty-one hours and she's been here for nineteen and a half, and she is so not in the mood to deal with some asshole questioning her capabilities.

(The same asshole that's married to the first girl that Emily had ever loved, and yep, she's not going to be getting used to that anytime soon).

"I'm going to page the orthopaedic surgeon that's on duty," Emily says when she's finished her initial examination, ripping off the gloves she'd donned before entering the room and dropping them into the trash can behind the bed, "because it's looking like you've got a pretty nasty break. You're going to need x-rays and I hope you don't have any plans for the next couple of days because it's also probable that you're going to need surgery so you're going to be in here for a while."

"How long's a while?" Emily has to force her teeth not to grind at the sound of Rollins' voice and she knows she's being a little ridiculous – she doesn't know the guy, and she's sure Alison wouldn't marry an asshole on purpose, but so far, she's really not impressed.

"I don't know," she replies with a shrug. "It depends how extensive the damage is, but it, uh, doesn't look too good." She throws Alison a sympathetic look. "Have you been given any painkillers?" The blonde shakes her head, and Emily's actually a little impressed, because she must be in some serious pain but she's not letting any of it show. "I'll go and get you some – I'll be right back."

She slips from the room, grabbing her pager as she goes and sending a page up to orthopaedics, before wandering over to her resident to sign out the pain meds Alison needs. When she returns to the room a few moments later, Alison is alone, staring up at the ceiling and biting hard at her bottom lip.

"Hey," Emily murmurs when she blonde glances her way. "Where's Mr Nice Guy?"

"He's not that bad," Alison replies with a laugh, and Emily shakes her head as she hands the blonde some pills and a plastic cup filled with water. "He went to medical school, so he - "

"Thinks he's a know-it-all?" Emily interjects, because she's seen that with doctors and surgeons who brought family members to the hospital, sometimes. "That guy's really a doctor?"

"Psychiatrist." Emily makes a face, and Alison laughs again. "Not as impressive as you, clearly," she murmurs conspiratorially, and Emily grins. "What is it you want to do?"

"Cardiothoracic surgery, hopefully." Alison's eyes widen, impressed, and Emily shrugs, nonchalant. "I'm a long way off that, though. And I don't know if I've got what it takes, but…"

"Oh, she's got what it takes." A new voice joins the fray, and Emily freezes at the sound of it, turning to see a tall brunette stepping into the room. "She's just modest."

"What are you doing here?" Emily asks, ignoring the way the woman's eyes linger as she takes Emily in – she turns back to see Alison eyeing them curiously and nearly groans.

"You paged orthopaedics," comes the reply. "And Ramirez is busy, so you got me, instead." She turns her gaze to Alison, soft smile on her face. "I'm only a resident, but I'm in my final year and more than qualified to take a look over some x-rays," she assures the blonde. "I'm Dr. Martinez." She turns to Emily, then, an easy familiarity to her gaze. "You'll take her up and page me when you get the screens back? There should be a room free for her when you're done, too."

"Okay."

"Wait," Martinez (Alana, as Emily has come to know her), pauses before disappearing back into the ER, eyeing Emily critically. "How many hours have you been working?"

"Have you been checking up on me?"

"No," she replies with a roll of her eyes. "But I saw you here this morning before I went home and that was hours ago."

"I'm fine," Emily shrugs, because she's seen Alison for the first time in seven years and she can't just go home. "It's just an x-ray, it's not like I'm going into surgery."

"Alright, suit yourself," Alana murmurs, before throwing Alison one last smile. "I'll see you soon."

"What was that about?" Alison asks as soon as she's gone, and Emily pretends to be oblivious as she gives Alison a puzzled look. "Oh, come on. I saw the way she looked at you. She your girlfriend?"

"Uh, no." Emily hasn't had a girlfriend since – well, honestly, she can barely even remember. She's so busy that she doesn't have time for a relationship – hell, she barely has time for friendships – or even for dating, and hasn't for a long time. "Not in the traditional sense of the word, anyway," she mutters, more for her own ears than Alison, but the blonde hears anyway and smirks.

"Friends with benefits?" She asks, waggling her eyebrows and Emily shakes her head and tries not to smile at the ridiculous look on Alison's face. "Oh, come on, girl in pain over here. Distract me."

"Fine," she says, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I guess that'd be the best way to describe us. But then she got too attached so I… I ended it." She'd regretting it, too, because Alana was freaking amazing in bed – but Emily didn't have feelings for her, knew it would be unfair to keep seeing her when she knew Alana felt so much more. "How long have you been married?"

"Three years," Alison replies with a soft smile, and Emily feels like she's been winded, her heart aching, because that is a long time for them to have been together, and she'd had no idea. "This vacation was actually for our anniversary."

"I'm guessing it didn't go the way you planned."

"I wasn't planning on spending it cooped up in a hospital bed, no," Alison replies with a laugh. "But…" she trials off, her eyes meeting Emily's and a shy smile curving at her lips. "But I'm glad it means I get to see you again."

"Yeah," Emily says softly, smiling back. "Me too." Alison's husband returns, then, and Emily feels the smile slip off her face. "Ready to head up to x-ray? I'll just go grab you a wheelchair." When she returns with it, Rollins helps her into the chair, but when he tries to push Emily's hands away from the handles, she narrows her eyes. "I can handle it."

"You don't look like - "

"I can handle it," she snaps back, because she's definitely had enough of him for today. "And in any case, you need to go wait in the waiting room. Family aren't allowed upstairs."

"I'm a doctor - "

"Psychiatrists don't count," she says sweetly, her hands tightening around the handles of Alison's wheelchair as she starts to walk away. "I'll come and find you when we're done."

"He's just worried about me," Alison murmurs when they're out of earshot, as Emily's pressing the button for the elevator. "He's not usually so…"

"Obnoxious?" Emily provides helpfully. "Irritating? All-round asshole?" Alison's lips press into a thin line as she tries to will herself not to smile. "Sorry, I'm a little irritable myself. I've been up a while."

"How long's a while?"

"Trust me," she says as she wheels Alison into the elevator and presses the button for the third floor, "you don't want to know."

"I'm not… you're not staying longer than you need to because of me, are you?" Emily considers lying, but thinks it probably wouldn't be terribly convincing, so she settles for silence instead. "Emily," Alison continues, appalled. "You don't have to do that."

"It's fine," she shrugs, because she's already awake and was already here, so. It's not like she came in especially, or anything. "Honestly. It's nice to see a familiar face."

"I'm guessing you don't get much time off to go back home."

"I don't remember the last time I had a day off," she sighs as she wheels Alison out of the elevator when they reach the right floor – there's a queue for x-rays, two people ahead of them, so Emily leans against the wall and tries not to fall asleep. "Not one where I didn't spend the entire day catching up on sleep, anyway."

"I don't know how you do it," Alison says, shaking her head in awe. "I could never do something like this."

"I never thought I'd be able to, either." She hadn't for a long time – she'd worked her ass off in med school but actually working in a hospital was a different matter entirely. She remembers losing her first patient, on just her fifth day at this hospital, remembered standing beside her resident as she'd told a wife and her kids that their husband and father wouldn't be coming home, and when she'd gotten home she'd laid awake for a long time, wondering if there had been anything she could've done to save him, and wondering if she was really cut out for this job, after all.

One year on and losing patients isn't any easier, but it's not something she's ever let affect how she treats the ones still living.

"What do you do, anyway?" She asks, then, realising that she's asked very little about Alison besides about her husband.

"Oh, I teach. At the high school – English."

"Now there's a job I could never do." The thought of being around snotty teenagers all day – god, no. She wouldn't survive it.

"A little easier than yours."

"I don't know," Emily drawls back, smile playing at the edges of her lips. "Shaping the young minds of the future – that's a pretty important job. And not easy."

"I don't bring people back from the brink of death," Alison points out, and Emily chuckles.

"Yeah, and neither do I."

"You will when you're a hotshot cardiothoracic surgeon, though."

"That is a long way off, yet." She thinks about how much longer it'll be before she's qualified and it kind of makes her want to just… stop. Drop everything and stop, because she's not going to have a life for at least the next five years.

Maybe she should become a psychiatrist, instead.

She smirks at the thought, and then thinks that she's probably being a little unfair. But she just can't see what Alison sees in him, because as far as first impressions go… he hasn't made a great one. She wonders when Alison met him, and how. Wonders what would have happened if Emily hadn't been so determined to avoid her and –

Okay, no. She should stop now, because she's veering into dangerous territory. Dangerous 'maybe those feelings for Alison never went away after all' kind of territory. But she brushes the thoughts away, tells herself that it's just because she's so shocked to see Alison again, after so long, pushes them deep down where she can revisit them later, when the blonde's eyes aren't on her.

"How are your parents?"

"I mean, I haven't seen them in a while," Emily shrugs, "but they're good. Stifling down in the Texas heat while I'm freezing my ass off up here."

"This is a good hospital, though."

"The only reason I left California." She still dreams about it, sometimes – of white-washed beaches, the roar of the sea, the feeling of saltwater drying on her skin beneath the fierce glare of the sun.

"Regret it?"

"Never."

"Regret leaving Rosewood?"

"I… no, not really." It's not something she thinks about much, these days. She hasn't been there for so long that it's almost easy to forget. "The only thing I'd miss are the people, and I kept in touch with most of them, so."

"Just not me." There's that note of sadness in her voice once again, and Emily feels guilt wash over her, not for the first time.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs, her voice quiet, and she finds that she can't quite look Alison in the eye. "It was… it was hard for me, after everything. I just… wanted to forget."

"About me?"

"About the way I felt about you," she answers honestly, watches the surprise ripple across Alison's face.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Emily doesn't really know what to say, to that, and she's glad when they're called forward, a nurse emerging to take Alison to be x-rayed, and Emily leans back against the wall and waits for the pictures to come back.

She's pretty much fallen asleep by the time that Alison comes back, her eyes closed as she leans her weight back against the wall, and it's only the sound of the blonde clearing her throat that have her opening them.

"Christ, sorry," she says, sheepish as she takes the envelope the nurse hands her, wheeling Alison back over to the elevator and smothering another yawn while they wait for it to arrive.

"I'm getting tired just looking at you, Em, please go and get some rest soon."

"I will," she promises as she presses the button for the first floor, to where the free room she'd been instructed to put Alison in waits. "As soon as you're all settled in and Alana's seen your x-rays."

"Alana?" Alison teases, and Emily rolls her eyes.

"Dr. Martinez," she corrects, wheeling the blonde down the hall and helping her into the bed in the room at the very end of it. "Wait here, I'll go get your husband."

"Em, wait." Alison catches her wrist before she can leave, and her touch has Emily repressing a shudder. "Why didn't you tell me how you felt all those years ago?"

"I… I was too much of a coward, I guess." She shrugs, uncomfortable at the topic and at the weight of Alison's gaze on her, her fingers still wrapped around her wrist. "Couldn't bear the thought of you telling me to get lost."

"You thought I would?"

"I thought you'd be an idiot if you forgave me for what I did," she replies honestly, because she'd barely forgiven herself for it.

"I did forgive you," Alison murmurs softly. "And I wouldn't have told you to get lost." Emily stares at her for a long moment, blinking slowly as she tries to absorb that little piece of information, her throat feeling tight. "Far from it."

"It's pointless talking about the past though, right?" Emily manages to say, her voice more than a little strained. "I mean, you're married."

"Right." Unless she's mistaken, Alison's voice is a little wistful, and Emily definitely doesn't know how to deal with any of this and yeah, in hindsight she definitely should've volunteered someone else to take bed two earlier on.

It would've saved her a lot of mixed emotions.

"Anyway, I'm, uh, going to go get him. And the doctor." She shakes off Alison's hand and doesn't look back as she strides from the room, shaking her head to clear it as she makes her way back down to the waiting room, paging Alana as she walks.

She feels shaken, both by seeing Alison and also by her pretty much saying that she would've said yes, if Emily had asked her out all that time ago. Emily's always told herself that was an idiot, for not trying and for letting Alison go, but she'd always managed to make herself feel better with the thought that Alison would have never wanted her, anyway.

But now? To be told that that wouldn't have been the case? God, she curses herself because Alison DiLaurentis would've been her everything, everything she'd ever wanted, and she's an idiot for letting the blonde slip through her fingers.

She's sure that the guy sitting in the waiting room typing on his phone definitely doesn't deserve to be with Alison, but whatever – it's not any of her business, anyway. Because Alison is only here temporarily, once her ankle is healed enough for her to go home she'll return to Rosewood with her husband and Emily will hopefully feel a little less like her whole life is spiralling out of control.

"Dr Rollins?" Emily calls when she's close enough for him to hear. "She's in a room, now, if you want me to take you to her." His head lifts and he nods, sliding his phone in his pocket as he rises to his feet.

"I'm sorry about the way I acted before," he says as they walk, and Emily would really prefer he keep his mouth shut but she bites her tongue. "I can't imagine the impression I must've made."

"Wasn't a great one," she tells him, and he winces. "But I get it, you were worried about her. Don't worry about it."

"Were you two close, when you were in high school?" Emily feels herself tense at the question, because she doesn't even know how to answer that, and how has she ended her day having a casual conversation about her relationship with her first love with said first love's husband?

"Uh, pretty close, yeah." She doesn't think that adding 'I was in love with her for most of our friendship' will go down too well.

"She doesn't really talk about the past," he admits quietly as they step inside the elevator, and Emily clicks the button several times as if that might make it move a little faster, because she really, really doesn't want to talk to this guy for a second longer than she was to.

"She has a pretty good reason to." Emily certainly doesn't talk about it, not to anyone. As far as she's concerned, her entire high school experience was just… some awful, awful dream that she tries not to think about too much.

"True." Emily breathes a sigh of relief when the doors open on Alison's floor, walking down the hall so fast that Rollins has to hurry to catch up, effectively cutting off any further conversation. When they reach the blonde's room Alana is already inside with her superior, the two of them examining the x-ray closely – Emily looks towards it, to, hastily averting her eyes when she sees Rollins leaning down to press a kiss to Alison's lips, because she definitely doesn't need that image in her brain, and draws in a shocked breath when she sees how bad the damage is.

"Pretty wicked, huh?" Alana murmurs to her, voice too quiet for Alison to hear, and Emily can only nod.

"Mrs Rollins." Alana's superior, Dr Ramirez, turns towards the blonde with a serious look on his face. "I'm afraid the damage to your leg is a bit more severe than we anticipated."

"How severe?" Rollins reaches his hand for Alison's, taking it between both of his own, and Emily finds her eyes draw to the movement, remembering the feeling of Alison's fingertips pressed to her skin.

"I suspect it's going to take at least two surgeries to attempt to repair the bone. It's broken in two places - " He pauses to indicate the breakages on the x-ray film. "It'll be a difficult surgery, but I'm confident that I'll be able to restore it to what it once was, and you'll be able to make a full recovery."

"And how long will that take?" Alison is yet to say a word, her face growing paler and paler, and Emily is a little concerned that she's going to be sick.

"I can schedule the first surgery for tomorrow, but there will have to be a wait of around seven days before I can do the second one, and then after that we'll have to see how the recovery goes before we can think about discharging you."

"Is there any way she can be transferred to somewhere back in Pennsylvania?"

"That could probably be arranged," Ramirez says slowly, looking mildly offended. "But I can assure you both that you'd be better off staying here."

"Dr Ramirez is one of the best orthopaedic surgeons in the world," Alana interjects, practically gushing – Emily catches her eye and shakes her head in mock disgust, and Alana glares at her as soon as Ramirez's back is turned.

"I want to stay here," Alison speaks for the first time, her voice a little shaky.

"Babe, I have patients back at home that I - "

"I want to stay here," Alison repeats, more firmly, and Rollins' jaw clenches before he shakes his head and nods.

"Okay."

"Excellent, then I will schedule your surgery for tomorrow," Ramirez says, nearly beaming – he turns to leave the room, Alana in tow, and then seems to catch sight of Emily for the first time and pauses, looking at her curiously. "Fields, correct?"

"Y-yes sir." Ramirez is practically a living legend in the hospital, and Emily's barely ever been in the same room as him before, let alone have him address her directly (she feels a little giddy at the fact he knows her name, and maybe she shouldn't have made fun of Alana for sucking up so much, earlier).

"You've spent the most time with Mrs Rollins – would you like to be my intern for the duration of her case? You can scrub in on both surgeries."

"That… that would be incredible, sir, thank you." He beams at her before he leaves the room, calling over his shoulder as he goes.

"I expect you to be here for rounds at 5am, Dr Fields!" Emily glances down at the watch on her wrist, sees that it's already nearing midnight and groans – Alana throws her a sympathetic glance, squeezing Emily's shoulder before she leaves the room, trailing Ramirez like a shadow.

"Well, looks like I'm sleeping in an on-call room tonight," Emily murmurs, mostly to herself, but she can't even regret it, because she might hate spending the night in the hospital but getting to work with Ramirez for an extended period of time would be so, so worth it.

Of course, that also means that she's going to be spending an extended period of time with Alison. And with Alison came her husband, and Emily isn't entirely sure how she really feels about any of that.

And she has no time to process it, either, because as soon as she leaves this room she's going to fall into a bed and she's positive that as soon as her head hits the pillow she'll be out of it – and then she'll wake up and have to face Alison again, first thing and Christ, she is so not prepared for any of this.

"I, uh, guess I'll see you tomorrow," she says to Alison behind another yawn. "The nurses will be around to check on you pretty often, and they can get you a bed if you'd rather stay in here." She offers that last part to Rollins, who nods his thanks. "Night."

"Night, Em," Alison calls to her as she's leaving, her voice soft, and Emily shakes her head as she walks into the hallway outside, certain that her dreams tonight are going to be haunted by a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed married beauty, and yeah, it's definitely going to be a long few weeks for her.