This is my first fic, and I wrote it before the glory that is Paige waltzed back into Emily's arms. Please review! Criticism is welcome but flames will be ignored.
It's been five months, and Emily is broken as ever. Maya is everywhere: the newspapers are still rehashing her death and that of Alison, and Emily can still see the dark-haired beauty waltzing down the school hallways, can still smell her sweet vanilla scent on her pillow. She hasn't smiled once in the last five months, and it pains Spencer to watch the girl die inside.
Spencer had always had Emily's back. She was the first to rush to her side the night Wilden forced her to come out to the other girls. She had been the one to tell the swim coach about Paige's snarky comment, the first one to volunteer getting revenge on her after the incident at the pool, and the first of the girls to find out about the end of her and Paige's short-lived relationship. It was her whom Emily called when Samara left her and she who quieted the girl's cries over the phone. Spencer was the first to know when Maya had come back to Rosewood, Emily's face glowing and eyes dancing as she jubilantly relayed the news. And she was the one who held Emily up and kept her from falling when the girls found the police swarming Emily's house. She was the one who silenced her screams and wiped her tears when the paramedics wheeled out Maya's body.
It's not enough. Spencer can drag the bottle away from Emily when she tries to drink herself into oblivion. She can be the one to cradle the broken girl in her arms on nights where the nightmares are too much to bear and Emily's screams tear through her chest until her throat is hoarse and she coughs up blood. She can be the first to wake up when Emily's gone and go out alone to search for her and pray she hasn't done something stupid. She can face down with her mother over Garrett because Emily is hurting and needs answers that only the slimy ex-cop can give. But it will never be enough.
Maya's death shattered Emily, and Spencer is trying desperately to pick up the broken girl and restore her as best as she can. The swimmer's heart has been ground into a pulp, and she can barely go through the motions of living life without her knees buckling. Spencer will catch her every time she falls. She will be there every time life is too much to handle and Emily spends the nights shaking and sobbing herself to sleep. She will be there to help Emily concentrate so that she can pass her makeup exams and graduate on time with the rest of them and continue on with her life. It will never be enough, because Maya had been the one to hold Emily together before, and now that the glue has been yanked away, the pieces have come crumbling down. But Spencer loves Emily, and she will continue to pick up the pieces, even if she cuts her hands on the glass.