I didn't mean for this update to take so long, I decided to go a different direction than originally planned and I didn't like how it came out at first so it took me a couple tries to get it just right. I hope it is worth it, I love writing and try to put my soul into it.
Internal thoughts in italics
Flashbacks in bold
Chapter 2
The whole flight Alison kept fidgeting with her tray table and seat, she had this nervous energy flowing through her and she wasn't quite sure why. It's not like she hadn't lived with Emily for three years previous to her departure to BHU. But for some reason this felt different, more important. Like it could make or break something crucial in their relationship.
As the plane start it's final descent she felt like she was about to implode or at the least have a heart attack. She started to take a few deep breaths and calm her racing mind as they touched down and a voice came over the loud speaker.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Philadelphia International Airport. Local time is 3:23 and the temperature is 71 degrees.
For your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. This will indicate that we have parked at the gate and that it is safe for you to move about." At least she had time to become acclimated to being back in Pennsylvania before she saw Emily and the girls.
"Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the overhead bins, as heavy articles may have shifted around during the flight." She started packing up her small bag she had brought on board and slipped her worn out and dog eared copy of Withering Heights up and sat back in her seat.
"If you require deplaning assistance, please remain in your seat until all other passengers have deplaned. One of our crew members will then be pleased to assist you.
On behalf of North Atlantic Airlines and the entire crew, I'd like to thank you for joining us on this trip and we are looking forward to seeing you on board again in the near future. Have a nice afternoon!" Alison waited for the line of passengers to thin out before she got out of her seat and grabbed the small duffel bag from the overhead bin.
She makes her way down the hallway after exiting the plane and she hears all the people meeting loved ones and for half a second her heartbreaks at the thought of no one being there to meet her but that's what she had wanted wasn't it? She had told Emily not to meet her but now she was sort of regretting that decision.
As she turned the final corner she could have sworn she'd seen Emily but she knew that couldn't be, she shook her heard to clear it and made her way to the gate thankful she she didn't have to check her bag. She was so grateful she didn't have to mess with baggage claim and she could just get an uber and head home, it felt so nice to say that. Home, Emily and the girls were her home and she was going to see them soon.
"Mommy!" Alison turned her head towards the sound of Lily and Grace's voices and tears start to prick the back of her eyes.
"My babies!" She cries as she makes her way toward them and she saw the sign they had pulled between them. It was the most beautiful thing she had every seen. It was a purple banner that was decorated in drawings of flowers and a stick figure family of her and Emily with "Welcome home mommy!" in rainbow colors.
"We made it for you..." Lily said excitedly.
"We did everything but the lettering..." Grace add practically dancing on her tip toes.
"Mama did that!" They said together beaming up at Emily who mused their hair returning their bright smiles.
"Thank you so much my sweet girls." Alison said as she set her bag down and leans downward with her arms open. The two olive skinned auburn haired girls throw themselves into her arms squealing in delight. She can't believe how much her angels look like Em except their eyes they were crystal blue very similar to her own. She locks eyes with the brunette and they both can't help the lovesick look plastered on their faces. She reluctantly lets the girls out of her tight embrace but she really wants a hug from the other mother.
She stands up and Emily brings a bouquet of dark red roses from behind her back with a flirtatious smile. "These are for you." She says as she hands them to the blonde.
Can... can I..." Alison is suddenly overcome with nerves standing in front of the brunette beauty.
"Get over here." The brunette says pulling the blonde into a tight hug and they both sigh into it, basking in the familiarity of being with each other again. After a bit they reluctantly part as the twins start pulling at their shirts.
"Mommies are back together!" They sang in unison.
"Just for a few days." Emily told them sternly, so that wouldn't get their hopes too much.
"Yeah... I - I still have to go back to school and finish my degree for my girls." The blonde tells them trying not to sound too disappointed.
"But why mommy?" Grace asks her little lip quivering.
"I want to be able to provide for you girls... we talked about this when I left sweet girl" Alison says fighting back tears
"Are you hungry?" Emily asks Alison looking for a distraction.
"Yeah, I haven't really eaten anything today." The blonde admits sheepishly.
"Well how about an early dinner then? What would you like?" The swimmer asks Alison with a little smile.
"Chuck Cheese please!" Lily shouted happily.
"Yeah! Pl-lease?" Grace echos just as excited.
"I don't think your mommy wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese and eat nasty ..."
"Of course I would Em." She cuts her off and smiles brightly at the swimmer. She would eat gross pizza if it meant her girls were happy.
After choking down some pizza and a bit of limp salad, Emily and Alison sat watching the girls play in the ball pit and small tunnel area.
"So how are things at BHU?" She turns to the blonde.
"It's not great," She tells the brunette. "There... there was a murder on campus." Emily pales at the revelation. "The woman who recruited me, she wanted me at BHU because her daughter disappeared and they found her dead. She thought I might be able to think like her and find out what happened to her. Well, her son was murdered, they found him impaled on the fence outside Throne Hall. To make things even worse he sent me a text to meet him before his death." She stops to let it sink in as Emily waits patiently for her to continue. "There is this investigator, Dana Booker, think Linda Tanner" She says rolling her eyes. "She decided that Nolan's girlfriend and two close friends are the prime suspects. So I told her they were with me the night of his murder, studying."
"Alison?!" Emily yells and looks around to make sure she didn't draw attention. "Don't get in the middle of all this."
"I didn't mean to..."
"You never mean to Alison." Emily says angrily.
"What is that suppose to mean?!" The blonde can feel her temper flaring up and she tries to control it for the girls sake.
"Nothing..." Emily says frustration evident in her voice.
"Please don't shut down Emily." Alison begs, she doesn't want to fall into old patterns again.
"We'll talk about it later." She says looking at the girls who where walking over looking sleepy.
"Mommy can you carry me pw-ease..." Lily asks the blonde rubbing at her eyes sleepily.
"Of course baby girl." She says picking up the sleepy toddler as Emily picks Grace up.
"Let's go home." Emily tells the girls.
After getting the girls settled in bed Emily and Alison decided to retire to the living room with two glasses and a bottle of wine. After watching an old movie on TV they got to talking.
"Alright let's talk about the elephant in the room." Emily says as she swirls the liquid around her glass. "You are probably wondering why I sent the divorce papers?"
"Yeah, kind of..." she says taking a deep breath, "I would have never left if I thought even for a second this would happen."She says fighting tears.
"I just couldn't get the thought of you finding someone else out of my head, I kept seeing this... this vision of you meeting some guy and running off with him and leaving me with the girls."
Alison feels guilt build up in her stomach. "There is something I- I need to tell you...' She tells her, her voice quivering.
"Okay?" Emily can feel fear gripping her chest.
"We had some stupid mixer at the school where we had to do like this speed dating thing. Well I meet this adjunct language studies professor and I tried out my newly acquired Spanish skills on him from this app I downloaded. Anyway, I wasn't very good at it and he offered to tutor me." Emily hadn't moved or blinked since she started speaking. Well we both had a bit too much to drink and we sort of accidentally.. k-kissed."
"What do you mean accidentally kissed?! Did he trip and his lips happen to fall on yours?!" Emily's voice raised an octave.
"I-It was stupid really... I had signed the divorce papers and was feeling horrible and lost. We had a small spark b-but it was nothing compared to what I felt for you..."
"Felt or feel?" Emily asks harshly.
"Feel..." Alison says tears escaping her eyes.
"But it sounds like you are trying to move on..." The brunette says defeated.
"No... No Em that is so far from the truth. It showed me how much I still love and need you." She says as she gently places her hand on the top of the brunette's.
"I guess I should tell you my news then..." Emily says with dread. "Paige might be coming back to Rosewood, she got an offer at Rosewood Day."
"Do... Do you want her to?" The blonde says feeling a bit sick.
"No, I honestly don't." Emily says squeezing her hand in response.
"You say that now but you two seem to always get back together." The blonde says in defeat.
"It's not like that Alison, Paige and I weren't meant to be." She tells her resolutely.
"Then what do you want Em?' Alison asks with trepidation.
"I'm not sure?" She says honestly.
"Do... Do you love me?' Alison asks her heart cracking.
"Of course I do." Emily admits heavily.
"Then what?" Alison asks incredulously.
"I... I just don't know if that is enough." She says brokenly.
"Well, there you go..." Alison says as she stands up
"Wait Ali..." Emily grabs for her hand as she walks off.
"I... It's been a long day and I'm running on fumes, so goodnight." She tells her as she grabs her bag and heads to the guest room.
Emily sits there in complete shock, she didn't mean to sound so doom and gloom she just wanted to talk realistically about what was going on in her mind.
Alison closes the door and makes her way to the bed as sob racks her body and tears stream down her face, the floodgates breaking open. Is it really over? Her heart couldn't take it, she fought too hard to get back to Emily. The whole time she was on the run that was the only thing that kept her going was the thought of getting back to her. They had a rocky start and then Alison got pregnant with Emily's babies and they threw themselves into a relationship without really thinking. They barely had time to breath before Alison gave birth to their beautiful twins and reality finally set in.
They started arguing over the stupidest things and everything seem to fall apart. All these old slights and feelings started bubbling up. Emily started to worry that Alison would decide to run again when things got tough and with her history it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. The breaking point came when Alison got an acceptance letter from BHU.
Emily brought in the mail after getting home from work and set it on the table except for a large manila envelope addresses to Alison DiLaurentis-Fields.
"Hey baby you got something in the mail, it looks important!" She called as she made her way into the kitchen where Alison was busy cutting up some vegetables for dinner.
"Oh, thanks." She says with a smile as she sets down the knife and takes the envelope. She opens the flap carefully and pulls out a stack of papers. "That's weird..." She says as she shuffles through the papers.
"What?" Emily asks as she sneaks a taste of something simmering on the stove.
"I got accepted into the masters program," Alison says confused.
"That's amazing, where to? Was it Hollis or that state school in Philly?" The swimmer asks excitedly.
"No... It's actually BHU... in Beacon Heights, Oregon." Alison can't believe it, she'd been accepted to an Ivy league school.
"I thought we agreed on you staying within an hour of Rosewood when you put in applications?' Emily asks confused and slightly hurt.
"I didn't apply, that is the strange thing..." She says reading the sticky note on the agreement.
"Then who did?" Emily asks suspiciously.
"The founder got an anonymous recommendation and she read my file and was impressed. She wants to work with me and she is offering a full ride scholarship." The blonde says excitedly.
"Do... Do you want to go?" Emily asks afraid to hear the answer.
"I mean, Em this is a huge opportunity..."
"We talked about this Alison... What about the girls? Have you thought about them?" Emily interrupts her, her voice raising a bit.
"All I do is think about them... and you." She says stepping closer to the swimmer. "Everything I do, is for them and if I take this opportunity I can come back and teach at Hollis. Also I can use this time to prove to you that you can trust me Em..."
"How will this prove that I can trust you? You being all the way across the country?!" Emily's temper was starting to rise.
"I will call you every night and Skype with you and girls as much as possible. We can make this work... I know we can." The blonde said hopefully.
"I knew it... I knew you would try to run when things got a little hard." Emily says venomously.
"You know that is not true Emily!" Alison says in pure frustration. "You and the girls mean everything... I mean everything to me. I would never do anything to hurt you or them and I know you know this."
"I know.. but things happen Alison..." The brunette says sounding defeated.