Author's Note: Hi, so this piece is a part of a multi-chaptered story called "Scar Tissue" but it can also be read individually and be understood as a one-shot which is the reason that I also decided to publish it separately for one-shot fans to enjoy. I really hated in the show how they just skip over three months of Paily and only allow us to see them get back together before Christmas and then whomp! suddenly it's three months later and Paige is leaving for California, so this piece is my way to make up for that and imagine what was happening in those stolen moments during that three month jump.
Pensylvania welcomed the Emily, Hanna and Caleb back with hefty snowfall and slippery roads. They had fortunately rented a car that had good winter wheels and made their way towards Rosewood without any hangups. Emily felt herself getting sleepy and leaned droopily against the cold window. She admired the landscape that slid by outside as she felt her eyelids getting heavier. Despite it being totally dark she could see how the snow glittered in the pale moonlight. They were closing in on Rosewood and had taken a road that Emily found oddly familiar. She thought back to when she had last been here.
"There was definitely snow," she thought to herself as she slipped into warm slumber. "Snow all around. So much of it that I felt like there was magic in the air."
"Are we there yet?" Emily asked excitedly and attempted to peek from underneath her beanie.
"I said I'd tell you once we get there," Paige said, feigning annoyance. "Now pull that hat down. I can see you peeking."
"I'm not peeking."
"If I can see you peeking you are most definitely peeking."
"Fine. Fine. I'll pull it down. I don't know why you insist that I have to cover my eyes anyway. I have no idea where we are. I get lost on my way to the fridge. You know that."
"I know. I just want it to be a surprise," Paige said. The two girls drove in silence for a few minutes before she exclaimed "Okay, we're here."
Emily heard Paige stopping the car and before she could even think of pulling her blindfold off, the other girl had exited the car and opened the passenger's door, grabbing Emily's hand:
"Here. Let me take you."
Emily allowed Paige to unfasten her seatbelt and guide her outside where they walked a few steps before coming to a halt:
"You can take it off now."
Emily pulled her hat up and gasped in surprise when she saw what was in front of them. It was a small cabin, covered in snow so deep that it looked like a cake with a hefty dose of frosting. Multi-colored lights had been strung along the roof and a beaming wreath blinked from the front door. But what amazed Emily the most was the snow all around. It glittered in an unusual manner, much more and brighter than she had ever seen before, forming a pattern on each side of the path towards the cabin.
"How did you…" she turned towards Paige, completely gobsmacked.
"My uncle owns it," Paige said and smirked, obviously very happy with herself. "He's in Barbados with his family for Christmas so he didn't mind me borrowing it."
"The snow, it looks so shiny," Emily said and looked around. "I have never seen snow glitter like that."
"Well, it might have gotten a little boost," Paige said.
"What do you mean?" Emily asked.
"I might have performed some Christmas magic to make it extra shiny," Paige said and revealed a large cylinder full of glitter.
"This must have taken you ages," Emily said. "You did all of this just for me?"
"I had time while you were out with your friends," Paige said. "Look Em, I know I'm moving to California in a couple of months and nothing short of a miracle is going to change that. But I don't want to think too much about that. What I want to do however is make sure to enjoy the time that I have left here with you. And to make you happy. Gosh. Above everything else I just want to make you happy. I know that things haven't been easy with everything that has been going on but I just wanted to give you something special."
"Well, you can consider yourself to be successful," Emily said and caressed her girlfriend's arm. "This is definitely something special. It might be New Year's Eve but it feels an awful lot like Christmas."
"I'm glad that you feel that way," Paige said, leaning closer but then stopping herself. "Wait." She grabbed a handful from the cylinder and threw it into the air.
Emily watched the other girls antics and couldn't help laughing:
"You are quite something, you know that?"
"I do," Paige said and pulled Emily closer, melting the winter cold with a warm kiss that she laid ever so gently on her lips while the glitter danced in the air.
The flames in the fireplace had been reduced to embers while the girls slept. Emily woke up at the sign of first light, noticing how the air in the cabin was getting progressively colder. She wasn't looking forward to getting up, not when underneath the covers was so warm and welcoming. She looked to Paige who stirred in her slumber; there was a large clump of hair that hung over her face and the sleeping girl tried in vain to claw it off. Emily giggled as she peeled the offending lock away from her girlfriend's face and laid it gently behind her ear. She thought back to the evening before. When the surprise factor had settled in Paige had engaged her in a snowball fight, which turned quite colorful once Emily discovered another cylinder filled with glitter in the backseat of the car. It had ended up with both girls rolling on the ground, shoveling glistening snow at each other, trying to get the other one to yell mercy. They ended up settling on a tie once they realized that they were both soaked and that the setting sun was making them shiver. They went inside to dry off their clothes and get something warm to drink, planning to get outside again once the fireworks started which they somehow never got around to see.
Emily dozed off again, smirking at the thought of the night's events. There had sure been fireworks, if only to provide percussions for the music that went on inside the cabin.
Once she woke up again it was already completely bright outside and she noticed that the spot in the bed next to her was empty. She turned around to find Paige turning her back to her, engaged in something at the kitchenette. Steam rose into the air which filled with the thick smell of roasted coffee.
"You mean to tell me that despite this place being the size of a shoebox it still has a coffee machine?" Emily asked, startling Paige who turned around to face her.
"It doesn't," Paige said and showed her the items in her hand. "But you can get around that perfectly fine with a funnel and a thermos."
"That sounds...quite rustic."
"That's because it is. But wait until you taste it. It'll give those fancy machines that you use over at the brew a run for their money. What?" Paige enquired as Emily had started smirking at her.
"Nothing. It's just you with that old fashioned brewing method. It reminds me of a lumber jack. It's very much you."
"I remind you of a lumberjack?"
"Well, yeah sometimes. You have some mannerisms that are akin to that of a lumberjack."
"I can't really see that but being a lumberjack would be a-okay."
"Sleep all night and work all day?"
"Something like that," Paige said and got back to her mechanism. "Oh, and sugar…"
She abruptly stopped mid sentence and Emily looked at her open mouthed.
"Did you just...call me sugar?" Emily asked.
"No… I, I, was asking. Do you want sugar? You know… in your coffee?" Paige stuttered, blushing profusely.
"You're such a bad liar."
"Am not. It's the truth."
"No, the truth is that you said sugar. You called me sugar."
"Okay, so what if I did? Are you mad about it or something?"
"No. It's nice. I like it. You've just never called me that before. It was sort of unexpected."
"Well, unexpected can be good can't it?"
"It sure can," Emily said and accepted the cup of coffee that Paige passed on to her.
The two girls sat together on the bed in silence for a while, sipping their drinks and looking at the immense whiteness that was the outside.
"I can't believe that we missed the fireworks last night," Paige said after a while.
"Well, we were otherwise occupied," Emily said and nudged her girlfriend's shoulder.
"That is true."
"Do you want to hear something funny?"
"I'd love to hear something funny."
"WIth all the horrible stuff that has been happening lately I haven't really felt safe anywhere. But since you took me here yesterday I've felt like I am safe here -with you."
"I know what you mean. It's like we've slipped into some sort of a snow globe and the rest of the world just can't get to us."
"I wish we could stay like that forever."
"We won't. But for now let's pretend that we can."
"Do you think she's out there?"
"Who?"
"Mona. I just can't believe that she's gone so I've been thinking about whether she still exists in some shape or form."
"Oh, I think she is definitely out there."
"How so? The police thinks that she was murdered."
"Because, that's just the type of person that she is. You know, throw her to the wolves and she'll come back leading the pack. Something tells me that we haven't heard the last word from Mona Vanderwaal."
"Maybe you're right. How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Make everything seem so manageable."
"Well, I just think to myself that no matter what happens I have you. And that always tends to set me right."
"Can I ask you for something? A Christmas present if you will."
"Sure, it's your season so I'll give you anything that you want Christmas Girl."
"Never let me go."
"I'll never let you go Em. Not really. I'll always be with you in one way or the other. Just remember that whenever you're feeling gloomy. Take this safe place that we have together now and put it in your heart and you can visit it whenever life just gets too harsh."
"Since when did you become so poetic?"
"I've had a nice muse as of recent. Are you done with your coffee?"
"Almost, why?"
"Because I was wondering if I could treat you to a firework show."
"I didn't know that there was suppose to be another firework show today. I thought the Rosewood Council only organized one show and that one was yesterday."
"I'm not talking about those kind of fireworks…"
"Em, hey, sorry to wake you but we're here," Hanna's voice pierced through Emily's slumber and she found herself slumped up against the backseat window. "What's with that smirk on your face?"
"Nothing. It was just nice to get some sleep," Emily said and got out of the car.
"You don't need to tell me," Hanna said. "I feel like I could sleep for a year. Are you going to be fine carrying your bags upstairs?"
"Sure," Emily said and got out of the car. "I didn't really bring that much. I told mom not to wake after me."
"Okay then," Hanna said and got out of the car. "Give me a hug and I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow Han, and thanks for everything," Emily said and gave her friend a tight hug. Once they broke apart they stopped for a moment, admiring the snow that was all around them.
"I forgot how nice it is here this time of year," Hanna said. "It looks almost magical, like…"
"Glitter in the air," Emily said and sensed how the her memory of being safe, together in their snowglobe in the woods warmed its way from her heart to the rest of her body.