Disclaimer: SC1
AN: Thanks to all the reviewers. I love you so much. I know most of you a ready to kill me for killing off Ellie but I HAVE A POINT! And I'll make it when I'm ready. Remember: Sellie is the real couple in this fic. Semma is just kinda there. GO SELLIE!
"Sean, sweetie, get up," Emma said in a way that to his half-awake ears sounded like an order. He didn't think anything of it, still shaken from dream. He knew he should have felt a little guilty at the fact that the intimate moment had been between his ex and not his wife, but he shook off that feeling my reminding himself that it was, in fact, a memory and not a fantasy in the making.
"Sean," Emma repeated. "We're going to be late."
"For what?" Sean asked. "It's like, 7 in the morning. What's there to be late for?"
"My children's hospital benefit," Emma reminded him. "You promised you'd help me set up in the morning and then after that, you said you'd help pack up what was left of the children's shelter that was left from last night."
"God, woman, do you ever sleep in?" Sean groaned, pulling on the first pair of jeans he found.
"Not really, no," Emma answered, throwing a pair of black slacks towards Sean. Her expression told him she was displeased with his choice of clothing, so he started changing into the slacks. "That's better. You know, I've been thinking. I think we should look into getting a smaller apartment."
"What's wrong with this one?" Sean asked, starting to get upset.
"It's to big for just us and I don't plan on having kids for the next few years and there's just no point," Emma argued.
To say the least, Sean was attached to the three beds, two baths apartment. Emma did have a point that it was too big for the two of them, but getting this apartment was the first thing Sean had ever been able to truly do on his own. No Tracker, no student welfare, no parents; just hard work, sweat and a little blood on the job as a mechanic. And it had felt good.
"But it's mine Emma," Sean retorted. "My name's on the papers and I pay all the bills. I like it."
"Look, I know it's like symbolic for you, but we have a chance to do better," Emma rationalized in her natural tendency to fight back. "There are apartments that are just as nice but more realistic for us."
"Us?" Sean spat angrily. "There is no 'us' in this. You want this, I don't."
"Don't be like that Sean. I know it's going to be hard to move from here what with all the mem-." Emma's voice dropped off into a buzzing sound as Sean's became, unintentionally lost in his subconscious...
"Oh. My. God!" Ellie squealed, pulling Sean into a tight hug. "Did you really? I mean, is this really- are we really-."
Sean laughed over her sputtering as he took in the beautiful, immense living room. He placed a soft kiss on her temple before responding.
"Yes, Ellie, this is it," Sean smiled. "Really. This is our new place."
"But how?" Ellie gushed.
"I've been saving up," Sean explained. "I made a deal with the landowner and he said that since we're still in school, he'd cut us slack on the payments so long as it's full price by the end of each season."
"It's so beautiful Sean," Ellie laughed, running her fingers down the marble kitchen counters.
"It's for you," Sean admitted. "That old shack was starting to look embarrassing with you in it."
Ellie laughed, her eyes sparkling as she spun around and jumped into Sean's arms, her legs wrapped around his waist.
"Thank you," Ellie whispered into his ear. "But anywhere I am, as long as you're there, I'm happy. You know that."
"I know," Sean nodded. "But I wanted you to have this. Because I love you."
"I love you too," Ellie repeated before letting her lips find his...
"Sean?"
"I'll see you later," Sean said in a strained whisper and stalked out of the room. Emma jumped when she heard the front door slam from down the hall.
In truth, she wasn't angry at him. She was angry at herself... and at her.
Emma remembered when she had let Sean go. He'd hurt her so bad when he'd chosen Jay and his friends over her, but as she looked back on it now, she knew she had wound him too tight. They were his release. She had expected Sean to be angry with her, and he was for awhile. But he was the better half, apologizing first and hoping that she could at least be civil. However, she was still pissed. Even more so when he met Ellie. For the first time since her break-up with him she had seen Sean smile. His smile used to be only hers, but now, Ellie was the one who could draw it out. It didn't seem right, but that's how it was.
She had hoped that Ellie would deem Sean as unforgivable when he left to Wasaga Beach. But when he'd come back, she welcomed him with open arms.
It was then that Emma knew she would never be able to have her first love back. And she hated Ellie Nash for that…
"Ellie!" Emma cried and jogged down the hall towards the red-headed punk.
"Hey Emma," Ellie shrugged in a confused way. "What's up?"
"I just had to ask you something," Emma confessed. "I saw Sean yesterday coming out of that CD store downtown and was wondering if you knew he was in town."
"I knew," Ellie answered, accompanied by a shrug again.
"So you talked to him then?" Emma waited for an answer. She received a nod, which only lead her to another question. "So is he back? I mean for good?"
"Yeah," Ellie couldn't help herself from smiling. From her smile, Emma knew the rest of the story.
Somehow she had managed to convince herself that if Sean came back, it would be for her. Their moment on the beach, she'd interpreted as something meaningful, but now, it just seemed to be nothing more than something between former friends. Right now, Emma wasn't even sure if she wanted to be friends with Sean again.
"You know, you're just rebound." Emma could barely believe the words coming out of her mouth. She had no right to them and they were cruel, even for her. "You have to know that. I mean, it's a long rebound but in the end, that's all you are…"
"Well, I might have been right," Emma sighed. "In the end, Sean came back to me."
- - - - - - -
Sean leaned his head against the steering wheel, already drained from the day and it was only noon. He had shown up at the hospital and set up the chairs and tables for the decorators; fix the collapsible stage when the springs got jammed, rigged up the stereo system all while trying to avoid thinking about the argument with Emma that morning. Or the fact that for some reason, he couldn't quit remembering a certain, dead, lover.
"Things would be so much easier if you hadn't left me," Sean whispered as he felt his eyes start to well up with tears. Instantly, he reigned in his emotions, knowing that it was best all around if did. He reminded himself that after today, things would go back to normal. It was only a dream-day.
"Only a dream," Sean repeated out loud.
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