When he and Emma had arrived back at her place he couldn't help but look around a little. Everything in the loft had some sort of connection to the woman he had left behind eleven years ago, so he was bound to be curious about things she had done and accomplished between then and now. "You know, I still have you pegged as a thief, so I'd be watching my step if I were you." Emma said, eyebrows raised. At that, he couldn't help but look at his ex whom had made it perfectly clear how much she still hated him, even after all this time had passed. It was written all over her face and how she wouldn't even come near him. This stung so much deeper than any other scenario he could have ever imagined. Still, he couldn't help but wonder why it still had hurt so deeply, after all he's engaged to the most perfect woman he had ever met. However, by this point he went to sit over on her couch, so she wouldn't get too suspicious, he knew how Emma's mind worked.
He looked back up at Emma who had presently decided to sit uncomfortably in the chair across from him. At that moment he decided to open his mouth, "so uhhh… what have you been up to in the past eleven years?" She was obviously caught off guard because her face told him her shock. After she had composed herself, she finally answered, "the same as almost every other person, working hard."
"Really what kind of work have you done?" He couldn't help but push her a little, damn all these walls she hides behind. She contemplated for a moment and then answered, "I've been a bondsperson. I would find people, so they could pay for whatever they had done." "That sounds like a good fit for you." He had said because he honestly did not know how to respond to the last point of her comment. Had he really scarred her that bad when he left?
"I have to say this," he couldn't help the words now flowing from his mouth, "I'm glad you made it home and you're a stronger person than I had ever been."
"What do you mean?" She was now looking at him with so much intense interest that he just looked down at the floor.
There was no backing out of it now. "Just leaving you nearly killed me; I couldn't even breathe for over a year. But you, you were sent to prison for what I did, carried my child, and how to rebuild your life after all the damage when you finally got out. I just don't think I would have survived all that, I mean I barely survived living without you."
She didn't seem to know how to respond, but it looked like he had knocked a barrier down. "At the beginning it was like living in a nightmare, and then I started changing and growing stronger because I didn't have a choice."
"Yeah I can tell you've changed a lot. You used to always wear your hair up and had those glasses that made you look smart and that red lipstick." He couldn't help but smile at the memory of her red lips. "You also used to not hate me, you once loved me."
At that, they both fell silent and he wished he hadn't shared that last part. But there it was, there was no denying that a part of him will always love this woman in front of him, but there was just too much damage to mend. Besides, he also loved Tamara, and there was no barriers separated between them. He just hoped that Emma maybe found someone like that too when he was gone, even if it was brief, he liked to believe that she had been happy.