Discaimer: I do not own Revenge or anything related to it.
I've been sitting on this oneshot for a while. It's my first fic in this fandom - I am totally in love with the show and Emily/Aiden. This is a post-season 2 speculative AU, so anything from the season premiere is not taken into account as I am completely unspoiled right now.
The world is burning around her and there is nothing he can do about it. The media storm that follows the revelation that Emily Grayson, the beloved wife of Daniel Grayson, is Amanda Clarke is incredible. All Aiden can do is watch. Amanda – his Amanda – has brought the Graysons to their knees. Their involvement in the Initiative is splattered across the news everywhere he looks.
This is not how they hoped it would end. (Aiden knew this would be how she let it end, though. He always knew that there was nothing for them when they had their revenge. It cost them too much.)
Amanda's face is everywhere. Her name is all over the newspaper. He has never felt farther away from her than this moment.
She tells the whole story to the FBI in exchange for immunity for her own crimes. Bringing down the Graysons has not been without its casualties. Amanda – the real Emily Thorne – was only the beginning. Aiden knows that those casualties – especially Emily and Declan – still hurt his Amanda more than she will admit.
Gone are the days when they worked together – those ended when she married Daniel. They had been forced to stop working side by side then; Daniel was forever paranoid that Aiden would steal Emily from him. (Aiden finds it funny now, since he knows Amanda's heart has belonged to him for a long time.) It was harder to help her from the distance. It was harder to warn her when he had no idea what was going on. He supposed that was what Nolan felt. It is, however, an old hurt.
It is clear to him that Daniel will not stand by Amanda. She is not the woman he thought she was. In that regard, Aiden does not blame Daniel at all. Amanda never lied to him like she has lied to Daniel. That made him feel better about being so far away from her. It was some consolation, at least.
He watches her on talk shows, telling the world her story. She has put herself in the spotlight. She is Amanda Clarke again. She is his Amanda, but they are still so far away. She has left him out of the story entirely – they both agreed that it was better that way. It would only cause him trouble in the end if his involvement was revealed. He had long since had his revenge, but he did not want to spend the rest of his life locked away in prison. He did not want to die like her father did.
Aiden wants to see her, but it is not time yet. It has been far too long already.
He finds himself in her beach house not long after the latest interview ends. He knows she never sold it. She was too attached to the place and she and Daniel had lived there during the summers when they visited Charlotte in the Hamptons.
The house had barely changed at all. Aiden can't help but see that as a sign of hope.
He hears footsteps outside and turns to the door. There she stands in all her glory: blond curls tumbling over her shoulder, tasteful makeup accenting her already pretty face, the white dress from all those years ago when he was at Grayson Global hugging her body. He had missed her so.
She is staring at him, her deep brown eyes wide. He can't help but offer her a weak smile.
It takes a long moment before she lets herself in and crosses the room to stand in front of him. Her breath catches on his name. Then she throws herself at him. Her arms are around his neck and her lips are pressed to his before he can say a word to her. It feels right to be back where they had begun again.
The world is burning around her and there is nothing he can do about it. Aiden is caught up in Amanda's fire and there is nothing he would change. There is something right in the world. That is all he needs.