Disclaimer: I don't own any of the skins characters or the show itself but i can be held responsible for a man called Jeremy and 3 kids called Nicholas, Michael and Kaitlyn

Summary: this story is a naomily and Katie story. Emily and Naomi are still blissfully happy after 8 years together but Emily has a secret that could shatter their lives forever. Katie seems to have the life she always dreamed of but is everything really as perfect as she makes it out to be. some other characters may feature

Rating: T

Chapter Two

"Ok kids, time to pack all your stuff up please!" a big unanimous groan comes out. I always find that weird, when i was a kid i couldn't wait to leave school but everyday i get that little groan from them all when they have to pack up their stuff. Probably because the last hour is always just indoor playtime. I open the door and suddenly the groan disappears as they see their mummy's have come to get them or they find out that their going to a friends house for the afternoon.

I love watching their happy faces when they get to go home and it makes me love my job because i get to help them through this bit of their lives, the best time, when kids are just kids.

After the last kid is gone i walk back to my desk and pack up all the stuff i'll need to do at home tonight. I look up as i hear the classroom door open and i have to try and hide my laughter as Pandora walks in covered in paint

"bloomin eck Ems, look what the little monkeys did to me" i fail at holding it all in and my laughter just comes bursting out

"oh Panda their just kids, nursery kids at that, what where you doing with them anyway?"

"finger painting"

"well your not getting in my car like that, go get yourself cleaned up so we can go yeah? I have to get home before Naomi does"

"why? is it a race or something, me and Tommo do that sometimes but he always beats me, he can't half leg it"

"no Pandora, its not a race, now please just go and get cleaned up"

She walks off into the toilets and i find myself laughing again. God I love Pandora, she always knows how to bring a smile to my face.

"Emily?" i turn round, not having heard the door open

"Oh hi Zoey"

"you got a minute?"

"yeah sure, i'm just waiting for pandora to clean herself up, kids painted her again" she smiles and gives a little chuckle before sitting down on one of the tables.

Zoey Henderson is Naomi's cousin and one of our best friends. She's probably the strongest person i've ever met, she's had a lot to deal with in her life. Her sister died of Cancer when she was 15 and according to Zoey thats when everything changed. She's gay too and when she told her parents they disowned her and she wound up living in her car for a while before me and Naomi found out about it and forced her to move in with us until she found her own place. As far as i know she has't spoken to her parents since the day they kicked her out. She's also another teacher at my school but she teaches the older kids in year 6.

"have you talked to Naomi yet?" the smile drops from my face when i realise she's dropping all this on me again

"you know i haven't" I put my coat on and carry on packing up

"Ems you have to talk to her, you need to tell her the truth, we can't keep lying to her like this" I close my eyes and i sigh deeply, i know she's right

"Can we please not talk about this here" I walk to the bathroom and bang on the door "Panda hurry it up in there"

"Look Emily, things have gone far enough, Nay is really worried about you, can you imagine how bad i feel when she tells me that, when she tells me about how distant you've been from her over the past few months" I look into her eyes and i can see she's determined to stop this "All this sneaking around that were doing Emily just to make sure she doesn't find out the truth, who are you really trying to protect here? Naomi or yourself"

"That is not fair and you know it and you of all people should understand why i can't tell her the truth yet, you know it would destroy her just like Shelly destroyed you"

"leave her out of this ok" i can see a few tears in her eyes and i know i took it too far

"look i'm sorry Zo, i didn't mean to upset you, but you know i'm right, i will tell her i promise and then all this will be over" i pull her into a hug and try desperately to stop my own tears from falling. We stay hugging until were brought back down to earth by Pandora

"whats wrong ems?" we pull apart and i give Pandora a little smile

"nothings wrong Panda, everythings fine"

Oh if only that was true


"Ems i'm home" i hear Naomi shout me as she walks in the door

"in here" I carry on flicking through the channels trying to find some decent tv to watch, in the end i just leave it on Eastenders and wait for Naomi to join me. She waks in and smiles at me

"hey you" she leans down and gives me a deep and loving kiss. I smile into the kiss, i love the fact that when we kiss i still feel exactly the same way i did when it was the first time. i pull back and pull my legs off the sofa so she can sit down.

"hey yourself" she sits down and i drape my legs over her

"hows was school today then miss fitch" i laugh at her stupid and very bad joke

"it was good, the kids are starting their 3 times tables now, had a bit of an incident with Nicky though" she looks concerned when i say this, she may not be a blood relative but she'll always be his Aunty Nay

"what happened?" I pull my legs off her and pull myself into a proper sitting position

"found him bullying another kid, pushed him over and hit him, stole his milk money"

"what? that really doesn't sound like Nicholas, how did Katie take the news?" I laugh at the memory of an angry Nicholas getting dragged to the car by his mother

"he's grounded for three days and he's not allowed to go to Jake's birthday sleepover tomorrow night"

"awww poor Nicky, but well its his own fault"

"yeah well i think their coming over later" She stands up and pulls me up with her

"exactly how much later?" i laugh as she pulls me in for another kiss, wrapping my arms around her neck.

god i love these little moments we have together. Sometimes i can't believe its real and i have to stop and take a second to remind myself that she's mine. We've lived together ever since we got out of uni but we decided not to get married. We had seen so many marriages fail before our very eyes that we didn't want to risk what we have.

"I love you" i smile at her and give her a quick peck on the lips

"I love you too"

she pulls me into an embrace and once again i'm hit with a huge wave of guilt over the secret that i'm keeping from her. I don't know what to do; do i tell her and risk hurting her or do i not tell her, and risk losing her for good.


Please Review...Emily's secret will be revealed in the next chapter.