Disclaimer: I regrettably do not own Pretty Little Liars. Not even in box set or digitally. 'tis quite a tragedy.

Summer Part 1
Emily-

The heavy heat of the sun beat down upon her deeply tanned skin. A bead of sweat drew its path from her temple down across her angular jaw where is collected before falling to hit her soaked shirt. The noise of heavy-duty machinery could be heard all around. Table saws, nail guns, pressure motors, electric sanders, and not too far off sat a couple of cement trucks waiting on monstrous metal claws to rip away and clear the next plot of land for a fresh laid foundation.

Her lazy gaze traveled the scene before her, taking it all in for what it was. The chaos. The destruction. The rubble. The loud, incessant noise that assaulted her senses coupled with the blistering summer heat. It was the perfect corporal depiction of her metaphysical internal rupture. Twisted metal, still molten hot from the jarring shock of lightning, coiled its way around her heart. Trapping. Suffocating.

The scorching pain use to bring her to shattering sobs and broken tears, but a month later and it was becoming a fleeting numbness. The feeling of empty sorrow crept upon her steadily, showing no signs of retreat. She liked it that way, the numbness. It was completely different from the emotion that brought her here in the first place.

"Emmy, sweetheart." The baritone voice soothed, over Emily's echoing, panicked gasps for breath. "Breathe. Let it out and breath, Emmy. I'm here now. Shhh."

He sat there with his baby girl wrapped tightly in his strong, soldier arms, the front door left open to the cool night breeze that stung her heated flesh. One phone call from his wife, one call to his fellow commanding officer, one call to book an immediate flight and he was there to hold his visibly trembling daughter together in her time of need. One phone call was all it took. No delays, nothing holding him back.

He returned her strong grip, clutched her tighter against him to help ease the shaking. She was like a lone leaf that refused to release the thick limb of the mighty oak tree it clung too, blown by the stark autumn wind. He was her strength and he held on just as tight. He wouldn't let her blow away with the sweeping wind.

"Shh, Emmy. Shh." He continued to sooth again and again in time with his slow rocking motion. He placed a loving kiss to the top of her head, tucked into his shoulder, while his large, calloused hands rubbed the tense, sporadically twitching muscles of her back. There was no telling how long they sat there. Even after her sobs subsided, Emily refused to leave her fathers warm embrace. She felt safe, protected in the arms of a warrior. 'A' couldn't touch her here.

But 'A' got Maya. Maya didn't have a soldier for a father to protect her like Emily did. Neither did Ali. Neither did Spencer. Not Hanna or even little Aria. Maya was… Maya was… she was gone. No one was safe from 'A'. She was sick and tired of it. She was sick and tired of being the weakest link even when she tried to be strong.

"I can't be here." Those were the first words that Wayne Fields heard from his daughter after he arrived home to her falling into his arms. "I can't, daddy. I just… please don't make me?" she pleaded as fresh tears found their way in a slow path down her puffy cheeks, even after she felt all cried out.

"What do you mean, Emmy Bear?" He gently tilted her chin up so he could look into her heartbroken eyes. With his other hand he tenderly wiped away her tears, the same way he always had.

"I don't want to be here. I want to be somewhere else. I just can't, daddy." Her voice cracked and she felt like a little girl again, begging for forgiveness in her father's arms. She felt like it was all her fault. She was to blame and she was begging for her father to allow her to run. Run away from all of this. He was the fighter, not Emily. Not even when she tried her hardest.

Wayne understood. He understood his daughter in a way that even his wife didn't. They shared a strong bond together forged through many years of love and hardship, through years of wars and distance. This was the second time that Emily had lost someone close to her. There were so many memories, good and bad, and she didn't feel safe here any longer. Ali's killer was arrested only 24 hours ago and now Maya's killer was on the loose. It was just too much for her.

"Do you want to come back to Texas with your mother and me?" She shook her head and returned to lying on his shoulder.

"No." Even her parents reminded her of Maya, especially her dad. They had more fond memories together than with her mom. He was more open to who she is and what she needed. That's why she waited to tell her dad, not her mom, that she needed out. She just needed to get out of there and Wayne knew it.

She pulled back a little to see the faint look of uncertainty on his face that was replaced with a sigh of acceptance. "Well, there's this group down in Texas that is sponsoring volunteer efforts in Haiti."

He could see her processing this information with interest. An interest in escape or an interest in making a difference, he couldn't tell. Her nod was followed by a call from her mother.

"Emily!"

"Emily!"

"Emily!" A voice shouted off to her right. "Hey Fields!" She turned her head to see Andi running toward her with a bottle of fresh water and a large package, presumably her weekly mail. Andi was the volunteer runner for their group in Haiti. Her name was actually Andrea but everyone thought it was too girly for her. She was a feisty little Latina who had maybe 2 inches on Aria.

The job of a runner was to deliver the mail that came in on a plane at the same time once a week to bring news from the states and for families to send stuff to aid the volunteers plus building supplies. Runners also carried messages between the various groups and teams of volunteers through out the numerous construction sites in the region. They helped keep everyone on the same page around here.

She accepted both her package and her cold water with a pained half smile that looked more like a grimace. "Thanks, Andi."

Andi gave her a sympathetic smile and a nod. "You know it's no big deal. Deliveries are my job, ya' know. Also, papi wants to see you whenever you get a free moment. No rush or anything."

"Alright. Let him know I'm almost done with the cement frames then I've got maybe three hours of painting over at Shelby." Andi nodded and took off running again.

The volunteer group Emily was in had the largest number of people with a diverse set of construction and remodeling trades across the board. They had carpenters, flooring installers, cement professionals, painters, electricians, plumbers; they had everything. Because of this, they were in charge of a large residential area so they kept things simple by giving each housing division a name.

Any of the volunteers without a specialty, like Emily, got a schedule each week working two different trades for a few hours each day. This kept Emily pretty busy with learning a little bit of each aspect of construction, but she still found the time to feed her recently acquired bad habit each evening.

The almost mindless work was comforting, therapeutic even. It was better than the week in Texas that she spent nearly catatonic while waiting for the launch date of the massive volunteer project. Her mother became so concerned with her health that she almost didn't let her go but Emily needed it so bad. Towards the end of the week she pulled it together enough to meet the project leader Raimundo Ortiz, his wife Irina who promised Pam that she would watch Emily's health like a hawk, and his daughter Andrea. They were all instantly fond of Emily, especially Andi.

The interior painting was finished with ease and skill, releasing Emily from work to return to her bunk a little early, allowing her the time to open the package that she had received earlier from Andi. It was addressed from her parent's home in Texas just like every other one she had received since she arrived. She looked inside to see some of her favorite candies in a cute little bag with a tag that said "Courtesy of your old roomie. They can't be feeding you anything good out there. – Hanna" with her signature heart doodled at the end in true Hanna fashion.

Below that was a framed sketch of Hanna, Aria, and Spencer together making hearts with their hands and smiling brightly. The note on the back read in Aria's fancy scripted handwriting "So you don't forget the love of your 3 best friends. We'll always be with you Em… through everything." Seeing them again, even in black and white, brought just a little bit of joy to Emily's heart, especially Spencer and her charming smile, before the gnawing guilt kicked in over leaving them all behind to deal with 'A' on their own. She felt guilty for having even the tiniest shred of happiness again when Maya no longer could.

Holding back tears of guilt, she pulled out the last object that was at the bottom of the box under the picture. The legal sized manila folder hinted at something very Spencer inside and Emily slowly opened it, feeling a little flutter of nervousness in her stomach. She looked inside to see several sheets of paper held together neatly by a single staple. The first sheet was a scanned copy of an airline ticket from a couple days ago for a "Spencer Hastings" flying from "Philadelphia, PA to El Paso, TX". She stared at it for a few seconds not believing that it was real. Why would Spencer visit her parents when she knew that Emily was in Haiti? She turned to the next page to see a perfect looking letter written in Spencer's smooth flowing cursive.

Hey Emmy,

If your reading this then it means you are hopefully receiving the care package that the girls and I put together for you to let you know we care about you. We wanted to show you that we know you Em. Which means that we know that you are blaming yourself and feeling guilty for leaving us behind on top of all the pain already in your heart. If Hanna didn't know that you don't have a cell phone in Haiti with you then she would probably call and tell you to quit being stupid.

I, however, convinced her to let you know she cares in a more acceptable fashion than insulting you. Aria already had something ready for you that she wanted to give you when you came back, but the opportunity to give it to you before that arose. I decided to take a trip down to Texas after talking with your dad on the phone. He told us about the weekly packages that they send you and we wanted to send you something with them to remind you that we care about you and that we aren't blaming you for leaving. We have all wanted to leave at some point since this all began. You just had the courage to go first.

I have some more important things to tell you and I have to say, you are very hard to get a hold of. Turn to the last page and you'll know where to find me.

Love always,

Spencer

Wiping away the tears on her cheeks, Emily allowed herself a small sense of guiltless happiness at how well her friends knew her so truly and deeply, especially Spencer, before she turned to the next and last page. Her confusion over Spencer's last words was erased when she saw that it was another scanned plane ticket except this time it was from Texas to Haiti.

The instant she saw the destination typed neatly across the page, Emily remembered her meeting with Raimundo. She froze with a deer in the headlights look before looking over at the clock on her nightstand. She had 15 minutes before she told Andi that she would meet Raimundo Spencer couldn't possibly have flown all the way to Haiti just for her. Spencer couldn't possibly be waiting in Raimundo's office. It just wasn't possible.

Before Emily could register what she was doing, she was already halfway to the main office trailer of their camp with dirt and debris crunching under the soles of her running shoes as she darted around the uneven path leading towards her destination.

A/N Okay, a few quick points on this chapter, I've been reading so much Spemily that I wanted to write one myself and the chance to write this fic just couldn't be passed up. I normally don't write such lengthy chapters but each chapter is going to highlight a different liars summer so it's a lot to write. Also, I'm just making up what Emily's experience volunteering in a natural disaster area could have been like cause I've never done it myself though I have wanted to. Anyway, feel free to share your thoughts good or bad. I work well with criticism. I also do not have a Beta to mistakes are bound to happen.