A/N: Thanks so much for the favs, follows, and reviews so far! This chapter is more or less to set things up for later in the story, but there is fluff in the second half. Keep in mind that while there will be some other characters at school/work to advance the plot, there's not going to be any cheating nonsense in this story. I'm excited for you all to see what's coming in later chapters. I just wrote one with a kissing rock flashback/parallel :)


Once they'd seen the missing poster, it became impossible to ignore the woman in the picture. She was gone but ever-present in town, showing up in whispered conversations and on every window shop television screen. Just like Alison all those years ago.

Emily gulped, remembering that period of her life. She stood near the cops with tears in her eyes the day the posters first went up. There had been exactly 17 signs hanging between her house and Rosewood High. Seventeen pairs of eyes watching her on her walks to school. She'd tighten her arms around herself as she passed them and reason that Alison had probably run away on her own account and was living a fabulous life somewhere far away, free from any real danger.

Even years later, after she and the girls brought Alison back from New York, she still saw the missing posters from time to time, dilapidated and hanging crookedly on abandoned bulletin boards outside of businesses. Missing: Alison DiLaurentis. Would now be 16.

But this woman was 26, not 16. Her name was Laura Royce, and she'd been missing for just over a week. Her disappearance followed the body identification of another woman who'd been abducted three months earlier.

To Emily, the news was unsettling, but the effect it had on her was nothing compared to the hold it had on Alison.

Emily looked up from her spot at the table, where she was attempting to feed the twins a mix of fruit and yogurt. She noticed Alison was still standing by the stove, preparing breakfast, but she was turned around and her eyes were glued to the TV in the living room. The same news story that seemed to play in a constant loop was on once again, showcasing the same picture they'd seen hanging all over town.

"Ali, the French toast is gonna burn," Emily said in a gentle voice.

"Ugh, not again," Ali groaned as she flipped over the darkened bread and tossed it on a plate. "I hope you don't mind yours being a little crispy."

"We could always switch places if you want," Emily offered, smiling to herself because she already knew what response she'd get.

"Please," Ali said, grinning for the first time since they'd gotten out of bed. She pulled up a chair next to Emily and nudged her shoulder. "I haven't forgotten about the time we had to call the fire department on our anniversary after the dinner you cooked for me went up in flames."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Emily turned her attention back to mixing the babies' fruit. "What about you, Lily? Grace? Do you trust me to make food for you?"

The twins were both mid-yawn, exhausted from being switched to a different sleep schedule, but they perked up when Emily said their names. They leaned forward in their high chairs to see what was in the bowl.

Then they looked at their mother expectantly. After a lot of trial and error, Emily learned that the girls wouldn't eat anything unless they watched her try it first.

"Mmm, look, Mama's eating it," she told them as she tasted the tiniest spoonful. "No vegetables here. It's yummy food." Lily squealed in delight and Grace reached out for the spoon. After months of struggling to get her daughters to eat and worrying they weren't getting their nutritional needs met, it made Emily happy beyond belief when it came easily.

"Good girls," Ali cooed. "Can you say, 'Thank you, Mama?'"

"Tank Mamamama!" Grace babbled.

Ali leaned forward and kissed both girls on the forehead before quickly kissing Emily's lips. "I love you and I wish I could stay longer, but I can't be late on my first day."

"I love you, too. I'll be leaving soon anyway. Just need to eat first," she said, sliding the breakfast Ali prepared closer to her.

Ali threw away her own empty plate and smoothed down her blonde hair and new dress while taking a deep breath. "What do you think? Should I have gone more casual?" In the background, a news reporter on the TV was talking about Laura Royce again, and Ali turned in that direction to listen in.

"You look perfect. Don't worry about that," Emily assured her. Biting her lip, she glanced in the direction of the TV as well. "Try not to worry about anything, okay? No one's going to hurt us here."

"I know, I know. I just can't help listening. Good luck with your first day," Ali said as she picked up her purse and left in a hurry.


At the high school, Ali was greeted by two teachers the vice principal assigned to help set up her classroom. There was an older woman, probably nearing retirement, with short curly hair and glasses, and a man who looked to be in his early thirties with sandy, dark blonde hair. The latter reminded Alison of a less rugged version of Jason.

The three of them lugged a few boxes of posters, decorations, and office supplies from Ali's old classroom in Rosewood down the hallway and set it on the desk.

"Where should I hang these?" the man asked, holding up posters with information on punctuation and the writing process. Both teachers had introduced themselves at the door, but Ali forgot their names almost instantly, too anxious about her new position to focus on much, and she figured it would be better to wait a while before asking again.

She pointed to the large bulletin board at the back of the classroom. "Anywhere over there is fine. It doesn't have to be perfect."

The older woman helped her shift through items in the boxes. "You'll fit right in here," she told Alison. "The students seem to relate better to younger teachers. Just make sure they remember you're the adult."

"It's usually fine, for the most part. I've had a couple of students who were a little…headstrong," Ali trailed off. Her thoughts turned to Addison, who she'd hoped wouldn't go down the same path she had, but it was inevitable. Life didn't give her the second chance Ali got; this time, there wasn't any confusion over the body identification. It made Ali sick. Anywhere she went, a missing person investigation was sure to follow.

Her friends always pleaded with her not to believe it was the result of a karmic imbalance in the universe. Alison wasn't superstitious, not really, but sometimes the darkest part of her mind wondered if other people were paying for her to have a happy ending.

"I can give you a heads up about any potentially challenging students if you show me your roster," the woman volunteered.

"Sure," Ali said warmly in return.

She handed over the list of names and continued shifting through the box, reaching for the framed pictures she wanted on her desk. The first was an old favorite. Fifteen-year-old versions of her, Emily, Aria, Hanna, and Spencer smiled back at her from lawn chairs between the DiLaurentis and Hastings houses. The second was taken a year ago in a hospital delivery room. It was a photo of Emily holding their newborn daughters for the first time. There was a sparkle in her eyes and a huge, ecstatic grin across her face. The kind of smile that made the world a brighter place.

"Hmm, it seems like you have a pretty good group here," the teacher said.

The one who reminded her of Jason walked up and examined the list. "Yeah, looks like it," he agreed. "A lot of these kids are in my history class. Maci is really bright."

The older woman spoke up again. "Listen, Alison, we really appreciate you taking over the class for the semester considering their teacher disappeared so suddenly."

Alison felt her heart drop in her chest. She stood there, stunned, and it took her a moment to regain the ability to speak. "They- they didn't tell me why the position was open. I had no idea it was linked to the disappearance."

"Oh no," she clarified. "No, I mean their teacher disappeared because she went into labor two months early. She's on maternity leave indefinitely for now, with all the time she has to spend in the NICU."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Ali felt her cheeks flush when she realized her mistake. Obviously, it wasn't about the Royce girl. She'd only been gone a week, and this position was open months ago.

She was ready to change the subject to lesson plans, but the male teacher spoke up before she could.

"You're talking about the Royce girl, aren't you?" he asked. "It's impossible to avoid hearing about her, even if you're new to the town." He glanced at the pictures sitting on the desk, focusing on the one with Emily and the twins. He looked unfazed by it.

Alison folded her arms and leaned back against the desk. She knew she shouldn't go any deeper into the hole of investigating a missing person who had literally nothing to do with her, but she also knew she couldn't stop herself from asking. "Did you know her personally?"

"She was just an acquaintance," he shrugged. "Her family owns a printing shop in town, and she did a lot of design work for the school."

The woman adjusted her glasses and nodded in agreement. "She was here from time to time."

"I hope the police here are more competent than they are where I'm from," Ali mused.

The other two looked at her with raised eyebrows but didn't have time to question her further before the first bell of the day signaled them to get ready for homeroom.


By the time Emily made it to class, she was already exhausted. Her heart hurt from watching Lily and Grace sob when she dropped them off at daycare, and she was on edge from the usual first day of school jitters. After high school, she hadn't adjusted to college life as easily as the other girls. Though her struggles in California all linked back to one very specific event, it was still easy to feel discouraged.

She spread some pencils out on her desk and pulled out a notebook while imagining her dad was there to reassure her.

Without swimming, I'm… average, she'd said once, sitting in her childhood bedroom.

Wayne Fields refuted that claim immediately. There is nothing average about you.

If nothing else, she knew she could at least survive syllabus day. In just over half a year, she would be licensed to start a new, hopefully more fulfilling career. That's what she had to hold onto.

A middle aged balding professor came into the classroom and wrote "Exercise Physiology 101" on the whiteboard.

Emily listened diligently as they reviewed class etiquette and assignment schedules. The lessons would be lecture based for the first half of the semester, with the hands-on projects taking place later. There would be a substantial amount of group work.

The professor jumped into the chapter one notes right away, while Emily wrote down all the vocabulary as quickly as possible.

"Since we have a lot of material to cover in a short amount of time, I'm going to assign groups to document and present half a chapter each so we can get through three chapters every week. Your first test will be next Friday," the professor said.

"Sounds like an easy way to get out of teaching anything," someone beside Emily muttered under her breath.

The brunette looked to her right and saw the voice belonged to a girl, probably a few years younger than her. She wore a black zipped up jacket along with a scowl on her face, and Emily wondered if it was possible for someone to look any less enthusiastic about being in class.

"Yeah, I guess we're supposed to learn several chapters of information by watching ten minute presentations," Emily agreed with a whisper, silently praying the rest of her classes wouldn't be this way. "We might as well just read the textbook."

Unsurprisingly, the professor grouped students based on who was sitting near who. Emily was paired with the frowning girl next to her, an equally unamused boy sitting behind her, and another girl who came across as good intentioned but ditzy.

Emily felt like a Hastings in the moment, recognizing that she'd probably be stuck doing the project but also not caring all that much about the burden being placed on her because she was actually here to learn. And she definitely wasn't depending on anyone else for a passing grade.

"So, you think either of them will do any work? I'm Rachel, by the way," the girl in the hoodie told her as class ended, surprising Emily. Maybe she'd judged her work ethic too soon.

"It's going to get done one way or another," Emily said. She shrugged her schoolbag over her shoulders and started walking to her next class.

"I'm not concerned about it. They can bail if they want to," Rachel said. "If I've learned anything, it's that people always get what's coming to them."

Emily turned around and narrowed her eyes at that, but Rachel had already disappeared into the sea of students passing through.

This was going to be a strange semester.


Covington High School's natatorium contained a standard sized pool. Emily could almost confuse it for Rosewood High if it weren't for the unfamiliar faces of the swim team girls and her light orange coaching jacket that kind of made her feel like a prisoner.

After half a day of college classes, she spent the next couple of hours assisting the head coach and correcting techniques for the butterfly stroke. It wasn't the most exciting work, but it wasn't unpleasant, and the team seemed welcoming enough.

A few minutes before five, the back door of the gymnasium squealed open. Emily ignored it at first, assuming it was a swimmer coming back from the restroom, but she turned around immediately when she heard an unmistakable cry.

Ali was near the entrance, holding Grace's hand as she tried to toddle toward the pool and balancing a crying Lily on her hip. The noise echoed loud enough to get most of the swim team's attention. The head coach crossed her arms and looked in their direction, causing Alison to mouth "sorry" and disappear behind the door again.

"Okay everyone, you're dismissed, but I want to see more effort tomorrow," Coach said. The swimmers pulled off their caps and goggles and headed to the locker room.

Emily approached her cautiously. "Is there anything else we need to talk about? If we're done, I'm going to go check on them and make sure everything's alright."

"You're free to go. Do me a favor and lock up when you're done," she said, tossing Emily the keys.

With that said, Emily strolled across the natatorium. "Hey," she said, face lighting up when she saw Ali and their babies were still waiting outside for her. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I picked up the girls, and we all decided that we missed you," Ali explained. "I didn't mean to interrupt practice."

"It was practically over, anyway. I'm just glad you're here now." Lily was reaching for her, so Emily picked her up and wiped away the tears stuck to her little cheeks. "I know, I missed you, too."

"Rough day?" Alison asked in concern.

"No, not really," Emily decided. "I just need some time to adjust to it. What's with the vests?" Emily asked, motioning to the life jackets over the twins' onesies. "Were you guys planning on swimming?"

"It was just a precaution since they're starting to walk now. You know my family doesn't have the best track record with babies and bodies of water. Well, bathtubs mostly, but you know what I mean."

Emily peeked back past the door and saw an empty room. She jingled the keys in her hand. "You know, maybe they can play in the water for a bit."

Alison walked back into the natatorium with Grace in tow as Emily locked the doors behind them. "And what about us?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't have a bathing suit."

"We managed just fine in high school, remember?" Emily smirked to herself thinking about all the times Alison had dragged her to the pool after hours and told her wearing a bra and panties was practically the same as wearing a bikini.

"Yeah, but that was before we had actual responsibilities and jobs we could lose," her fiancée responded in a teasing voice.

"Come on Ali, live a little," Emily joked.

Ali shook her head at that. "Hey, if I remember right, you were always the one too scared to break the rules."

"Well maybe I'm not scared anymore," Emily said, deliberately looking her in the eye. Without breaking eye contact, she tried to tug her own shirt over her head. She meant for it to look alluring, but it was easier said than done while holding a child. Her shirt ended up stuck on her arms and Alison laughed.

"It's not funny," she muttered as the blonde helped her out of the shirt.

"It is. You're adorable."

"That's so not what I was going for," Emily insisted, but she forgot what she was even trying to argue for when Alison leaned forward and kissed her.

"Lily and Grace's pool floats are in the bag. They're already in swimsuits under their clothes," Ali told her, and Emily realized this was all planned. Even when she thought she was the one controlling the situation, the other girl was always one step ahead.

"So you packed for them and conveniently forgot to bring our bathing suits?" Emily questioned.

Ali played along with a shrug. "Must've slipped my mind."

"Just like old times, then," Emily said. The only difference now was that they had two twelve month olds with them who were still too young to question rules or makeshift bathing suits and instead had their sights set solely on getting into the pool. The brunette walked over to the diaper bag and tended to undressing the squirming twins while Ali inflated the lily pad-shaped baby floats.

She took off the diamond ring on her finger and put it in a safe compartment of the bag for safe keeping. It was strange how she'd only had it for a few months, and now she felt naked without it. Like part of her was missing. As she zipped up the compartment, she thought about another surprise she had in mind for Alison. It was part of the reason she'd wanted to take the job, but it wasn't going to be easy keeping their finances a secret from her fiancée.

A few minutes later, Emily helped Alison with the zipper on her dress and they eased their way into the shallow end with Lily and Grace. The twins trembled at first from the cold temperature of the water, but soon they were splashing gleefully and trying to bounce in their rafts.

"Babada wadder!" Grace cried out as she ran her fingers through it.

"Brrr!" Lily said which a dramatized shiver. She tried to lean forward in her raft, poking out her tongue to taste it.

"No, no, that's yucky water," Emily told them, pulling their rafts closer to her until they were both hanging onto her arm. She swished them around in circles, laughing along with them and wishing they could stay this tiny and cute forever. "Swimming is fun, isn't it? Are you two going to be swimmers one day?"

Amidst the twirling, she caught sight of Alison resting on the side of the pool, watching them from several feet away. Emily was going to ask if she was okay until she noticed the content smile on the other girl's face.

"Hey, you should come over here with us," Emily told her.

"I could spend the rest of my life just watching you with them," Ali said, causing Emily's heart to skip a beat. "They get so excited when they see you."

She continued as she waded closer, saying "There isn't anything I'd change about where we are now, even if it took us a decade to get here. I'd do it all again."

"Come here," Emily told her again, pulling her into a snug embrace. "Nothing's going to change. But I get what you mean. Every now and then, I wish I could freeze time and just stay as we are now. Everything's been going so well. I'm not used to that." She was quiet a minute, watching the twins play until she remembered a call she'd gotten earlier. "Hanna keeps asking for baby advice, but I told her the pregnancy and delivery stuff is more in your wheelhouse."

"Oh yeah, her due date must be coming up soon," Ali said. "I'll call her. Have you heard from the other girls? I told Spencer she and Toby should come visit us one weekend. Not sure if they can, though. I know she's pretty busy with law school, and work, and the Lost Woods."

"Well, Aria and Ezra are busy with the movie deal. They've had a few setbacks with the adoption agency. I'm sure it will work out. It just takes time. And I heard Paige took a new job as a counselor in Iowa."

"I think she'd be good at that. She's not afraid to make people be honest with themselves," Ali mused as she pulled the twins' rafts around. The two buried the hatchet around the time Paige left Rosewood, and Emily was grateful for the declaration of peace.

"You didn't tell me about your day," Emily noted while brushing back a piece of Alison's hair. Alison snuggled in closer to her, so she wrapped an arm around her shoulders, trying not to focus too much on her lacy black bra strap since they were still in a school gymnasium with the kids.

"It was good," Alison answered. "There's not much to say, really."

She could feel Alison's hand crawling teasingly across her lower back, reaching just under the fabric of her undies before retreating back up again. It felt like she was fifteen and at one of the college parties Ali used to be so fond of. After a few drinks, they would head to the pool, shedding most of their clothes, and Ali would start her games.

Back then, Emily didn't think they ever meant anything, but knowing all she does now, she recognizes it was Alison exploring, pushing the limits before changing her mind in panic and backing off. Ali would position her against the side wall of the pool, whispering and tracing the curve of Emily's hips. Then, a few times, she'd leaned in so close Emily could smell alcohol on her breath and their lips were almost touching. Sometimes they did brush together, briefly, before Ali heard someone else approaching and played it off like nothing had happened.

This time, Emily spun her around to bring her to the nearest wall.

"Em! What are you doing?" Ali giggled. Then her back was pressed up against the side and her eyes flickered in recognition.

Emily leaned in to kiss her and Ali reciprocated right away, pulling her closer. It wasn't just like old times, after all. It was different. It was real and it was honest, without fear or inhibition. They held onto each other and kissed, taking advantage of their moment together until Grace and Lily were clinging to their sides again, calling for them.

"Hey Lilybug," Ali said, lifting her out of the raft and kissing her cheek. She watched as Emily did the same with Grace. "They love interrupting us, don't they?"

"We should really consider getting a pool in our backyard one day," Emily said. "I think we'd all enjoy that."

"Let's enjoy our time here a little longer before we have to go," Ali said as she set Lily back into the water and pulled her fiancée close again.