Chapter Two

A Walk To Remember

Emily and Hanna slowly headed down Serenity Lane, towards the center of town, to their favorite little hideaway diner, Muddy Waters. This was their favorite place, the place they had found when Hanna was staying with Em, a few months back.

"Hey, Em, do you remember the day we found this place?" Hanna asked.

"Yeah, after we raided the morgue with Spencer. What a cluster-fuck that was!" Both of them were thinking back on how much they had been through in the past year. "Hanna," Em asked. "Why now? I mean, after all we've been through. Why tonight?" Emily was, of course, talking about that recent confession.

In her mildly inebriated state, Hanna stalled for a minute, "because you were doing so well getting over Alison, I saw her starting to …. Well take advantage of the situation…" Hanna shrugged. It made sense right? "Emily, I know she really did a number on us…"

Hanna clung tight to Emily's arm. "Something just changed, I had always loved you but driving home from Philly with you I looked at you and all I wanted to do was kiss you…" She paused for a moment to think and lick her lips. How much did Emily want to know? How much could she really let herself say? "There was this deep fire in my stomach, watching you around Alison, I couldn't put a finger on it till tonight." That was enough, Hanna decided.

They arrived at the front door of the diner, it was the only late night place in all of Rosewood. They waited to be seated and they were placed at their usual booth. "I think I need some pancakes to soak up what is left of this alcohol in my system…" To say that Hanna was already starting to feel the effects of her midnight booze-mission would be an understatement. Her head was pounding and if she didn't get food in her soon she was going to ralph all over the tiled floor. "AND a coffee." She added, "What about you?"

"I, think I'll go with oatmeal & a side of bacon and a grapefruit juice please." Emily was so together. It both bothered and enchanted Hanna who was staring from the other side of the booth and feeling alone with Emily so very far away.

Hanna looked at her and looked away. She thought for a second and then decided to just go for it. "Does kissing a girl always feel that amazing? I mean, Em, it felt like coming home for the first time, all safe and warm."

Emily laughed awkwardly. They were in a public place and she could never guess what Hanna was thinking. "To be honest, Hanna, sometimes it does, but, tonight felt more than that, kind of like a longing and comforting…" She wanted to stop but Hanna just stared seeming confused and in want of much more. "You were one of the very first people to accept me after I came out, you know that right?" Emily shook her head and looked down at her hands in her lap. "You're like a safety blanket to me, Hanna. So, yeah," she scoffed. "I think I get that whole 'coming home' feeling." She didn't just get it. She felt it just the same.

"Em, where do we even go from here?" Hanna was nervous. She loved everything that had happened. She loved that Em knew finally and that they had kissed and held hands and been everything she had wanted them to be for months upon months. "I've been trying to distance myself from everything but I keep fucking everything up.. You must be so fucking mad at me." Hanna grumbled, looking away.

"Hanna, of course I'm not mad at you. We've all been walking on eggshells ever since Ali. And you had this secret," Em looked at her and noticed her insecurities again. She shouldn't have told Hanna earlier that she was angry when she wasn't. Hanna had a hard time differentiating Em's sarcasm from Em's blame. "Here's what we'll do." She took Hanna's hand and made her look at her. "I promise not to be mad at you. I will always talk to you. I will not get pulled back into Ali's tangled web. You and I will go where this takes us." Emily wanted her to feel comforted. She'd been a mess since Caleb left and came back. Hanna didn't deserve any more grey area in her life.

"Yeah but, Em, what will the others think?" Hanna felt even more embarrassed thinking about all that. If Emily had a hard time believing her, Aria and Spencer would be even weirder about it. And Ali. God. She didn't even want to think of what Ali would do.

"Well," Emily thought visibly. She sighed and met Hanna's gaze again. "Aria's too caught up in Radley and Ezra to notice anything, so there's no problem there." "Spencer is the only one to worry about. She can sniff anything out. She's like scrappie-doo when he gets a whiff of a scooby snack." Hanna, was finishing up her pancake and Em reached her fork over to snag the last bite. Hanna made a sad face so Em offered her the rest of her bacon. Hanna never ordered her own bacon but she always wanted it. Em knew this. She always ordered extra. It was one of their things.

"We should settle the bill and head home," Hanna said reluctantly. She didn't want to leave but they really had no choice. "I'll text my Mom and tell her we fell asleep at your place after dinner."

"Ok," Emily approved. "We cannot talk about the vodka incident, please!" Well tonight diffidently was eventful on all fronts.

"Hanna, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, shoot," Hanna said. Emily could always ask her anything, and she knew that.

"Did you ever have anything, or I guess, did you ever do anything with Mona?"