Masked

Chapter One; The Party Scene

Summary; The ravine wasn't Emma Nelson and Jay Hogart's only secret.

Authors Notes; Usually people get lost in the glitz of most future fan fictions. A story is usually more affective when fewer characters are used so we decided to use the base as Emma, Jay and Sean and the rest from there. Most show happy marriages full of drama free - but usually the drama generation would just simply spill right into the drama future. This is why we decided to add a little drama to your not-so-average triangle. Skye is the main of character of this specific fan fiction, she's an incoming grade seven at Degrassi Community School, Jay is her by association of Sean her Uncle slash Godfather and we'll leave it at that.

We hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer; We own Degrassi; we're a bunch of compulsive liars. We will probably be the writers of the next next generation. We also own all the songs in the titles of the Chapters; this one is by All Time Low.

Flashback

"Manny, I slept with Jay." Emma confessed to her best friend after holding it in for as long as she could. The bad thing is it was three days before her wedding.

"What?!" Manny dropped the needle ball she was using while she helped Emma fix up the dress she had bought, it was just a tad too big and Emma wanted everything to be perfect, so she called in the wonderful, amazing, Manny Santos, known to have many talents, dress altering being one of them. "Well, do you love him?" She asked trying to be calm.

Emma rolled her eyes, "I think I've heard those exact words from you before. . last time I was with Jay." She shuddered at the thought. "But this time. . I don't think the answer is so clear."

End Flashback

Emma now sat pool side at her house while she watched her daughter, Skye Cameron-Nelson, at her eleventh birthday party. The question always looming in her mind; who was Skye's father? She glanced over at Sean, who was stroking her hand with his thumb. Then she glanced at Jay. She frowned and thought; what did I get myself into?

Jay Hogart eyed Emma after he recently threw Skye and her friends one by one into the large pool each girl asked to be thrown in again. Clatters of her good friends saying, "Wow your Uncle is so cool." seem to boom throughout the pool. Emma politely acknowledges the look with a nod before looking back at Sean, "Can you believe how old she's getting? How old I'm getting?"

"You haven't aged a day since the day I married you." Sean told Emma, still holding her hand. With the mention of wedding a memory came to Emma's head.

Flashback!

"I do," said Sean happily. He was the happiest man on Earth right now, getting to marry Emma.

"And do you, Emma Christine Nelson, take Sean Hope Cameron as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or worse, until death do you part?" The preacher said in a sing-song voice, almost making Emma want to punch him and tell him to stop being so damned happy. Emma glanced at the best man - Jay Hogart - and he nodded knowingly, encouraging her to say 'I Do' and to tell her I know how you're feeling.

Emma smiled slightly and nodded at the preacher. "I do."

end flashback!

"Yeah right, Sean. I'm so getting old. . I found wrinkles this morning."

"Well, I like your wrinkles."

She laughed and looked at him, "You do? But I'm sure there'd be a different story 5 years from now. . "

"Em, you're only 29, five years from now you'll be 34. You're not that old."

She felt even more uneasy as she let out a calm nervous laugh that didn't at all appear nervous to Sean with a shake of her head. Even with Sean right there, not even questioning anything about her, her eye still veered to Jay on the pool deck so happening to have his eyes fixated on hers. She hated how he made the world stop, and yet at the same time she thought it was something she loved.

Jay had just finished throwing Skye into the pool. He had to admit, he was the cool one of the family. He was the only one willing to get in the water with the girls and mess around. What can he say? He's a kid at heart. Jay continued to stare at Emma, unaware that Sean was right there. She was watching him too, which seemed to make everything less important. "Hey Nelson!" He smirked, he still loved teasing her. "Come in, the water is great!" He heard several other girls chime in, yelling, "Come on Emma!" Emma had told all her daughters friends to call her Emma, she didn't want to be called Mrs. Cameron, she said it made her feel old. But her mind told her there was another reason she didn't like being called that...

Emma looked at Sean who gave her that extra push to go on and have fun with her daughter, she touched the lukewarm water with her toe and laughed as she removed her sheer wrap skirt and tossed it to the chair behind her. She then went down the ladder and found herself in the pool, "You weren't kidding."

"Why would I kid about this? I live for getting girls to take their clothes off." He said the last part in a whisper; to be sure none of the younger girls heard him. His trademark smirk from high school still lingering on his face. Jay turned away from Emma and towards Skye "So Skye! Are you ready for your first day in He--Degrassi CS?" He asked, correcting himself from saying Hell Hole.

Skye nodded enthusiastically, looking at her mom who just happened to be watching as Jay used his classic charm on everyone, "Yes yes. I can't wait to have Elh's class. Someday I hope to have 'S and J Auto'" She had a lot in common with Sean and Jay it was hard to tell who she was more like , whose qualities she had more of. It was a fact she looked like her, no doubt on that from her height and her hair color but her eyes were like a Precious Moments doll big, beautiful and blue and all inside her she had the hobbies of her potential father and her 'dad', she then added, "Like the ghost stories I hope to sneak in at night see Rick's ghost."

Emma instantly went pale and Jay turned to her and made an apologetic face. "Skye, Rick's ghost isn't at Degrassi, he's resting up in heaven." Jay said sweetly, but thought "More like hell." bitterly in his mind.

"Oh come on, ma you honestly believe that? Nobody witnessed the kids death it's still under investigation, right Jay?" Skye often saw her mother as timid and afraid to talk a certain way, to make her daughter believe that what she said was right when really she had a feeling she's not telling her something, like the fright gripped expression on her face.

Jay shook his head and rolled his eyes, "I know some people that witnessed his death. And to everyone that went to DCS that year it's a touchy subject. Besides you kids don't know the full story." Jay sat on the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water. Emma still looked just as frightened as ever, like she'd seen a ghost or something.

Emma remembered the gun being just being pointed without hesitation at her face. She wanted to scream but her lungs refused to permit it. Toby simply with all of him clung to her arm seemingly cutting off her circulation, she wanted to know why he was there but she didn't say a word. She remembered Sean, she thought it was the end when he got in the way; she wanted to know why he did something that crazy when her and Sean hadn't spoken in months, almost a year. She honestly thought he was gone when the gun went off.

"Eww." Emma removed her frost white hands from the water, and shook her head she wanted to be rid of her fear and away from the memory, "I'm getting all pruny. ."

"Mooooommmm." Skye whined. "You've only been in the water for like five minutes. You always care about how you look." Skye rolled her eyes.

"Well I have my reasons." She hoisted herself out of the pool. Jay seemed to eye her as she got out throwing a towel around her, instead of back at her chair with Sean she left the pool completely and went inside.

Skye seemed to look at Jay as he watched her mom leave the pool and she couldn't help but notice it in a way she couldn't put her finger on, she wanted to get his attention, "So what was high school like for you? Any advice?"

"Advice. . advice. Let's see. Stay out of trouble, don't cause drama. Do your work. All that obvious stuff." Jay said. "Oh yeah and you're not allowed to kiss any boys until your 30, your dad and I agreed on that."

"And no kissing girls like, Aunt Alex." She smirked.

He stifled a laugh "You've been around me too much kid." He reached out and tickled her.

She moved backward, avoiding it but still laughing, "Oh yeah? It's not my fault you come over everyday!"

"Well somebody's gotta keep you inline." He laughed, knowing he obviously made the opposite effect on anyone he was near.

Sean came over to the side deck, where Jay and Skye had been standing in the pool, "Hey did Em come out yet?"

"She went in the house, daddy." Skye told him.

"Was she alright?" Sean asked uneasily noticing how she looked when she exited the pool, "You two didn't splash her or anything?"

"No, we didn't do anything." Skye shook her head. Jay pulled Sean aside, "Skye brought up Rick. . you know how she is with those things. She said that she wanted to sneak in and see Ricks ghost. And how nobody saw him die. ."

Sean sighed somberly, just looking down at the ground for a few moments, "Yeah I know what you mean, Jay. I didn't really tell her about what really happened, you should tell her I mean you know more than I do. . besides you two get along she'll freak because I didn't tell her before if I mention it. I just know you can paint a better picture that's all. I got to check on Emma."

"I'll tell her, just not today." Jay nodded as Sean walked away, going to check on Emma. Jay turned around and started running and yelling, "CANNONBALL!" He jumped in the pool.

Inside Emma stood with a towel around her warming her in the air conditioning looking at the yearbook smiling calmly to her, Charlie the dog calmed her by lying at her side in a sleep. Emma noticed Sean coming inside, "Can you believe how long it's been since we went to Degrassi?"

"It's been a while. I'm not sure if I'm happy or not that Skye is gonna go there." Sean sat down next to her on the chair. He kissed her cheek as he relaxed. He glanced down at a picture from sophomore year. It was a picture of Emma and Jay in the library, he stared at it for a few moments longer, wondering what had been going on, but he brushed the thought away as she turned the page.

"Gosh, what was I thinking with those bangs?" Emma asked looking at her hair when she turned the page to the rows and rows of pictures of the class when it got to Nelson.

He laughed, "You've changed a lot since 7th grade." He said, now looking at their seventh grade yearbook. "Back in my denim jacket days."

"Oh Gosh, I was a stick. What's crazy is I bought each yearbook to mortify myself even more now." She told him laughing lightly, "How many jackets was it that you said you owned?"

He laughed with her "Too many." He looked at her "Can you believe we started dating seventeen years ago?"

"I can't believe it but it's true." She told him matter-of-factly, "Years go by fast, I can't believe how old Skye is. . already going to our old high school?"

"Imagine being in your mom's place, having your granddaughter go to your old high school. It's crazy."

She snickered, "Point taken." closing the yearbook and scooting a tad closer, "Do you like how things ended up?"

"I love how things ended up." He leaned in and kissed her.

She kissed him back, and cracked a smile once they pulled away, "I like it too. Just I'm not in love with the fact she's going to Degrassi. . "

"With everything that's happened there, I'm surprised the school isn't closed yet." He agreed.

"I know, Skye needs to know what really happened." Emma sighed just thinking about how hard it would be for some one to tell her how hard it would be to tell the truth, "I just can't do it though. . I feel like I've been sheltering her. . way too much. I just don't want her to end up like me, still frazzled no matter how many times I visit Libby."

Libby was once Liberty Van Zandt everyone's favorite overachiever, the girl everyone loved to hate with a passion. She was the girl who wore overalls to she reached the ripe old age of seventeen and then broke the mold by being the first student council rep to be pregnant in office. She's done a lot of growing up after the untimely death of her first and only love J.T she decided to lend her advice and help to others and went to college for psychology. Emma visits her bi monthly and they talk about everything, we mean everything. From her whirlwind between Jay and Sean to her fears and feelings about the shooting. Even with her age, she hasn't exactly over come it all and it's hard to let go.

"Well I'm sure anyone in your place would be the same way. I mean you don't exactly get over having a gun pointed at you. And let's hope you never get over the fact that your loving husband saved your life." He smiled, showing his dimples.

"You know, we really never talked about it. I didn't know you saw it quite like I did." She returned the smile stepping closer to him.

He stepped closer to her too. "Well I'm glad we see eye to eye on this."

"Of course" She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in a hug. She was facing the windows, but the large bay windows overlooking the pool on the lower level where they were standing showed Jay at the party with the guests and her eyes seemed to fixate on him, as if she couldn't see anything more.

He held her tight, kissing her neck softly. He pulled away slightly, "We should go out there, serve the cake, sing happy birthday. You know all that fun stuff."

She pulled away gently and slowly acknowledging his question, "You go, the cake is already out there I'll go get the silverware." giving Jay who happened to see her one last look before she went on to the kitchen to get the silverware for the cake.