Emily awoke with a start the next morning, jerking awake due to a sharp pain in her lower left leg. She must've moved it slightly in her sleep, propping up her leg on a pillow was probably a good idea. The first thing Emily realized after she fell back onto her bed was that the bed was empty. Remembering last night's events, she touched the spot next to her where the sheets were disheveled and there was a tiniest dip in the bed. Alison must've left, and to say Emily was disappointed was an understatement.
She reached for her phone on her bedside table, unlocking out it to view the single text from Alison.
Ali: thanks for everything last night :) happy thanksgiving
Fully awake now than before, Emily quickly typed out a message in response.
Emily: what time did you leave?
Alison: around eight, had to get home to start making thanksgiving dinner. family is coming over soon
Not bothering to respond, she clicked her phone off and placed it back on the bed side table. It was closer to ten thirty, but Emily was still exhausted. Throwing the sheets away from her, Emily sat up and rotated in bed so that she could get up. Sunlight was streaming through the windows were she would sit and read, casting a yellow glow on the wood floor. Every so often there was a gust of wind, which made the beautifully colored falling leaves almost chatter with noise as they moved about. Her dad had already been out twice since her arrival back to rake up the fallen leaves and put them in bags.
Emily cracked her neck, back, and fingers before getting up to go take a shower. Her mornings were almost automatic, it was the same thing everyday. It had been the same thing back when she was in high school as well, even in the army. Emily's showers were always an event, since it required a lot of time and patience that Emily didn't really have anymore. She had to remove her brace and clothes, hop on one leg into the shower, hold onto the side of the shower to balance herself as she washed herself with the hand that wasn't gripping the railing, hop out, and wrap herself in a towel.
She had already fallen over once, dripping wet and struggling to stand up. Her mom had bursted into the bathroom, trying to pick Emily up while Emily almost wanted to die of embarrassment. Privacy apparently meant nothing to mothers.
Her mother always started making Thanksgiving dinner in the morning, it was always an all day event just to eat. She could hear her mother slightly as she got ready to get in the shower, and drowned out the sounds of downstairs with the sound of the shower. Today wasn't as bad, her balancing skills were on the better side, but shaving was still just as hard as ever before.
By the time she was done and dressed, it was almost forty-five minutes later. Emily was halfway down the steps sliding on her butt, when her father walked in the front door. He noticed Emily immediately as she came down the stairs, smiling at her situation as he held up an object in his hands.
"Who knew, we needed a new turkey baster." Wayne chuckled. "Feels like snow is coming soon."
"If it comes anytime next week, Hanna will have won our bet." Emily said, as she stood up. She placed her crutches under her arms, watching her dad take off his coat.
"You girls are still doing that snow bet?" he asked.
"Well you know, 'tis the season.'" Emily chuckled.
"Speaking of 'tis the season', your mom and I know how much you love Christmas so we're going to go and get our tree on Sunday. It's time to bring out the baby Jesus and decorate this house." he said, kissing Emily's forehead while giving her a side hug. "Now let me get this turkey baster to your mom before I'm the meat being served at dinner."
"Ew, canabolism? Hard pass." Emily said, following behind her dad into the kitchen.
"Emily! Finally awake?" Emily's mom asked, looking up from pouring pumpkin pie filling into the crust. "Were you tossing and turning last night?"
"I don't know." Emily said, noticing that Olivia was in the kitchen as well with an apron on and cutting apples. "How'd you convince Olivia to help you?"
"Actually she offered." Emily's mom said happily.
"Yeah Emily, I actually really like to bake." Olivia almost scoffed, rolling her eyes slightly as she put the sliced apples into a bowl.
"Only bake?" Emily asked, trying to reach into the bowl for a piece of apple only to be slapped away by Olivia.
"Yeah, baking. And don't eat anything." she said.
"It seems she's finally found her passion." Pam smiled.
"If that means there are a lot of pastries in my future, than I am all for this passion." Emily said. "Anything I can help with?"
"You can help me with the stuffing once I put this pie in the oven."
"Perfect."
When Alison arrived back at home at 8am, her husband wasn't home. Everything in the house was dark, and there was a cold atmosphere. Frowning, she turned on a few lights and put her purse down on the kitchen counter.
"It's freezing in here. Did he turn down the heat?" Alison mumbled to herself, going to the thermostat to turn the heat back up.
Realizing her dog was nowhere in sight, she called his name loudly while opening the freezer to pull out the large turkey she had bought a few days earlier. As she placed the turkey on the kitchen table, she heard the soft and slow tapping of paws as they reached the kitchen.
In came Pepe, yawning and sleepy. His tail was wagging slightly behind him as he approached Alison, who bent down to rub his ears.
"Well happy Thanksgiving buddy." Alison cooed. "Did Rollins feed you yet or is my Peoe hungry?"
Alison made her way towards Pepe's bowl and took his special dog food out of the fridge. Placing a good portion in, she mixed it up a bit before placing it down in front of Pepe.
As Pepe ate, Alison went upstairs and went into her drawers to grab an all black bandana. Going back downstairs she folded it and approached Pepe.
"Humans aren't the only ones that need to look spiffy today huh." she said, tying the bandana around his neck. "Now let's see where Rollins is."
Pulling out her phone, she quickly dialed her husband's phone number and put the phone to her ear. The rings went by, one by one.
"Hi! You've reached Dr. Rollins. I'm not available to take your call right now, but if I have your caller ID, I'll most likely call you back! Thanks a lot!" his familiar voicemail played out, followed by a long beep to start a message.
"Hey babe," Alison said. "Just wondering where you are... You know since my family is going to be here at four and I kind of can't do this on my own... If this is about last night, please come home and we can talk about it. Bye."
Sighing as she placed her phone on the counter, she looked at Pepe who was looking up at her with expectant eyes.
"Think you can help me make dinner Pepe?" Alison joked, though a small part of her was actually serious.
At eight PM, everyone was sitting in Emily's living room with the Thanksgiving football game on. Emily wasn't really paying attention, instead much more interested in the case of her phone. She was sitting on the couch with her leg propped up, listening to her dad practically commentate the game in hopes of Emily paying attention.
"Can't we just watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or something?" Emily asked, leaning her head back on one of the pillows of the couch.
"Hey this is good stuff! Maybe if you just tried to learn the rules so that you could follow…" her dad said, glancing at her from his arm chair.
"Thanksgiving is about being with your family." Emily said, looking at her lock screen for any new notifications. "Football is just one of its perks for you."
"Hey guys, dinner's ready." Olivia said, walking into the kitchen quickly. She looked slightly disheveled from baking, and was untying an apron from around her waist.
Getting up, and almost falling over, Emily made her way into the dining room followed closely behind by her dad. Olivia and Pam were laying out the turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, and other food items as Emily and her dad took their seats. There was a dim glow to the dining room, and candles were lit in the middle like a centerpiece.
"This looks really good mom." Emily admired, looking at all of the food.
"Why thank you Emily, we did slave all day after all." Pam smiled, picking up the carving knife to cut the turkey.
It wasn't until they were finishing up with dinner that the atmosphere of the room began to change. Emily was finishing her mashed potatoes, already starting to feel full when the conversation turned from Black Friday shopping to Emily herself.
"So how are you adjusting to your crutches, Em?" her father asked. "Doing any better?"
"I mean, it's ok." Emily said, reaching for her water glass to take a sip. "Kind of annoying. When did you schedule my appointment with Dr. Kingston to see if I can walk without crutches?"
"Well, usually you're able to walk at the six weeks mark. So you'll probably be off them before Christmas." her dad explained, looking down at his plate.
Emily breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God, I can't stand this for much longer."
"You'll still have that brace on definitely. At least until March." her father said, taking a bite of his turkey.
Emily's sigh of relief quickly turned into a groan as she dropped her fork and leaned back onto her chair. Her stomach was pretty much full, though she knew the pies and cookies Olivia made were still yet to come. Hearing that she still had four more months to go before she was fully recovered hadn't really sunk in until just then while she sat at dinner.
"That's literally four months away." Emily said, putting her hands over her eyes as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Well I'm sorry, but that's the recovery time. You're still going to need physical therapy before you rejoin the army." her dad said. "Best case scenario is that you'll fully recover, be able to walk correctly and be able to be a combat medic again."
Emily took a sip of her water, "Right, that chance I won't be able to walk again."
"You're over exaggerating Emily," her dad frowned. "you probably won't be able to walk correctly once your leg has fully healed because you haven't used it, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to walk ever again."
Emily rolled her eyes, and looked down at your plate.
"Emily, honey, I really think you should calm down." her mom said, reaching for Emily's free hand that was resting on the table to squeeze it lightly.
"Hey you know this could be way worse." Olivia said. "At least you can tell people that you were wounded in battle, how heroic."
"It's not fucking heroic, it's pathetic." Emily snapped, yanking her hand from her mom's grip. "A fucking building collapsed on top of me while I was trying to stop one of my squad members after he was fucking shot. And also, because of the building falling on us, he bled out because I couldn't fix him in time and we were stuck under the rubble for four hours. So it's not heroic, it's all fucking stupid."
Emily didn't realize how loud she had gotten, how hard she was frowning at her family, and how they all had gone uncomfortably silent. She realized she was being unnecessarily angry, but she couldn't stand people going around and thinking that what had happened was an act of heroism.
"I think Olivia just wanted to point out that that worse things could've happened to you, and fortunately they didn't." Pam said calmly.
"Really?" Emily asked, her voice had a biting tone. "Because I'm pretty sure dying in the collapse would've been better than being stuck in this stupid fucking brace and be unable to do shit around here-"
"Emily Catherine Fields!" her mother's voice easily overpowered Emily's, calling her to fall silent. She had set her mother over the edge, it wasn't the first time. When her mom raised her voice in that manner, it wasn't good. "Don't ever say that again. I just wanted a nice Thanksgiving, stop this!"
Emily swallowed dryly, her jaw hardening as her mother rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands. Her father reached across the table and stroked his wife's back comfortingly as Pam let out a small sob. Emily felt instantly guilty, but her anger was overpowering that guilt.
Olivia watched her as she rose from the table and grabbed her crutches, hastily placing them under her arms as she quickly exited the kitchen. Trying her best to quickly hop up the steps, she left her family behind her as she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. She couldn't deal with her family at the moment, with anyone in fact.
When she made it to her room, she threw her crutches towards her window and sat down on her bed. Emily felt awful inside, and stared at her feet for a few moments as she tried to process what just happened. She never really went off on her parents, never. She never swore in front of them either, but Emily was never really one to swear in large amounts in general.
It was closer to nine-thirty now as Emily's clock displayed. She glanced at the bottles of pills on her dresser, deciding to take them now since the pain in her leg was slowly starting to creep back. She rose slightly and reached across to her dresser, mindful not to bump her left leg into one of her bed posts. It had already happened twice, and she really didn't need a repeat of it.
Too lazy to go and get water, Emily dry swallowed her pain medication and antidepressants. She didn't know when she would be falling asleep since she wanted to finish the book she was reading before she went to bed, so she abstained from taking her sleeping pills yet.
When she sat back down on her bed, she rubbed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. Thanksgiving in the Fields' household had always been a good time, but she had totally screwed that up. Having a brace was a nuisance, but she had no idea why she snapped at all of them like that.
To take her mind off of what had happened a few minutes before, Emily grabbed her book from her bedside table and laid back on her pillows. As her head it the pillows rather forcefully, a strong whiff of shampoo hit her nose that wasn't hers. She frowned and grabbed one of the fluffy pillows next to her, lifting it to her nose to smell it.
The whole pillow had a very strong scent of a mixture of Alison's perfume and shampoo. It was a pleasant mixture, and lingered in her nose and she lowered her pillow back down next to her. She tried not to think about Alison's smell on her pillow, although it smelt awfully inviting. There was a slight vanilla to her shampoo and something that had a spicy smell to her perfume that reminded Emily of cinnamon. It kind of matched Alison's personality perfectly.
She opened, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" by Agatha Christie, who happened to be Spencer's favorite mystery writer. She was slowly becoming Emily's favorite too, the mysteries were hard to figure out, and every character had so much depth to it. She was on the beginning of the last four chapters, wanting to know who Hercule Poirot was going to charge with murder.
She didn't know how long she was reading, but at the start of the last chapter there was a knock on her door. It was a soft knock, like the person on the other side didn't want to disturb Emily. Emily glanced at her door, her stomach knotting as she anticipated who was behind the door.
"Emily, honey, are you still awake?" her mom's voice said quietly from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, you can come in." Emily said, as she closed the old smelling paperback book and placed it on her bedside table.
Pam entered the room quietly, and closed the door behind her. She was still in her clothes that she wore for Thanksgiving, even though it was closer to eleven now. She moved smoothly and quietly across Emily's floor, and sat down at the edge of Emily's bed to face her.
Emily didn't know what to say, but she could feel the sadness radiating off of her mother. She felt bad, she really did, but the words 'I'm sorry' couldn't make their way to her mouth.
Her mother smiled sadly at her and placed a comforting hand on her right shin, stroking the fabric of Emily's jeans with her thumb.
"It's taken me a while to realize how fast you've grown up." Pam said.
Normally, Emily would've rolled her eyes and told her mom that she was being sappy, but this time she decided not to. It was the least that Emily could do to make up for what happened before.
"Thanks mom." Emily said, smiling weakly.
"Joining the army...I always knew you were more like your father. I didn't think you would follow in his footsteps though." Pam smiled. "You two were just two peas in a pod."
Pam held two photographs into view that she must've brought in. They were clearly old, slightly faded and worn down. The first photograph that Pam showed Emily was of Emily and her father. Emily must've been four at the most in the photo, sitting on her father's shoulders and wrapped in a bright red coat. Her father looked considerably younger, only mid thirties at the time the picture was taken. His hair was completely thick and a windblown tangle of black, much like Emily's own hair, and the wrinkles on her face weren't nearly as noticeable as they were now.
They both were smiling, Emily clearly holding on tightly to her father's neck. They were standing in front of the giant Rockefeller Christmas tree in New York City. It was Emily's favorite place to go during the Christmas season, since so much Christmas spirit practically radiated off of Rockefeller Center. Emily had always been close with her father, especially at a young age and despite the fact that for most of the time he wasn't around because of being in the army.
"I remember this." Emily said, taking the photograph from her mom. The memory flooded back to her, and many details from their Christmas New York trip. "Dad thought I would be able to ice skate at four."
"Your dad had great expectations of you." Pam said, as she handed Emily the next photograph. "Do you remember this?"
Emily took the next photo from her hands, and looked down at it. She was with both her mom and dad, on a picnic blanket. There was a lot of grass in the background, but Emily distinctly remembered the occasion just because of the blue overalls and light pink shirt that she was wearing. She was eight years old, and at an end of the school year party at the Rosewood park. Her mom and dad were both still young looking, and even though most people told her that she looked like her father, she could see why some people often said she looked like her mother. When people said her mother was beautiful when she was younger, they certainly weren't lying.
Looking over the photograph, Emily noticed something in the eight year old Emily's hand, a bracelet clutched in her fist. It was silver and there were little charms on it that Emily couldn't make out, but she remembered what it was and whose it had been.
There were kids everywhere, and yet she couldn't find Hanna. Hanna had run off with a boy named Caleb, who told her that he found a secret tunnel behind the slide of the playground. Emily had been there a bunch of times, and she had never seen any secret tunnel. Part of her thought that Caleb was just lying, and part of her knew that Caleb had a crush on Hanna.
Aria and Spencer weren't in sight either among their classmates that moved throughout the jungle gym and across the woodchips, scattering them everywhere. Deciding to look for one of her friends near the top of the slide, Emily climbed the stairs that led to a bridge to get to the part of the jungle gym with the slide.
"Noel! Stop it!"
"Come on Ali, I want to be the prince."
"I said no, go away."
Emily approached the small bicker near the slide, quickly figuring out that none of her friends were at the slide. Instead, a boy and a girl were standing right at the top of the slide. The girl had a fiery personality, Emily could already tell. She was in her grade, but was always in a different class. Emily knew her name was Ali DiLaurentis, and that she was the prettiest girl in the grade according to the boys. What made her stand out against the other girls in their grade at Rosewood was the golden waves and bright blue eyes. Her natural facial expression was almost a slight smirk or glare, making the teachers call her 'sassy' at parent teacher meetings.
The boy that was with her was named Noel. He was taller than most of the boys in her grade, and had a really bright smile. He wasn't very nice, only sometimes when he wanted your snack or wanted you to help him with something. When Noel was on Emily's team during gym, he liked to order people around and wasn't a very good sport. He was Alison's best friend, and liked to push her buttons much like how an older brother would. Although they weren't siblings, it didn't stop Noel from trying to kiss her last summer when they were playing hide and seek. But that was just a rumor.
They continued bickering as Emily shyly approached. She didn't really know these kids, and she was scared of how they would react when she tried to ask if she could go down the slide.
"Ali you're always so annoying about pretend." Noel groaned, hitting his stick on the railing of the jungle gym. It must've been his fake sword.
"The princess just wants what's best for her." Alison said, trying to sound proper. They both were totally oblivious to Emily standing there. "My game, my rules. And you can quit if you don't like it."
"Whatever, just let me be the prince that saves you." Noel rolled his eyes as he continued to hit his stick on the side of the jungle gym.
"Hey," Alison said warmly. Emily looked up to see that Alison had turned her attention to her. Alison was two steps above her, looking down as if she were a princess or maybe a queen. She had a small smile on her face, making her eyes sparkle. Emily was blown away by how pretty this girl was. "Can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah. I just wanted to use the slide." Emily said shyly, casting her eyes to Alison's pink sneakers, much like how a peasant would look upon royalty.
"Oh I'm sorry, Noel was just being an idiot." Ali said, stepping to the side to allow the entrance of the slide to open up.
Emily smiled slightly and thanked Alison as she moved towards the entrance of the slide and sat down, preparing to push off and go down to continue looking for her friends.
"Hey wait." Alison said, before she could push off.
"What?" Emily asked, looking back at Alison and Noel.
"Do you think you could help rescue me from this annoying smelly dragon?" Alison asked, glancing back at Noel.
"Hey! I'm not smelly! And why do I have to be a dragon?" Noel groaned.
"My game, my rules twerp." Alison snapped angrily, as she turned back to Emily. Her voice instantly became soft and sweet again, "So will you help?"
"Don't princesses need to be saved by princes?" Emily asked.
"Not in my pretend world. Who cares if a princess saves a princess?" Alison asked.
"I'm not a princess." Emily could feel her cheeks becoming hot.
"Well you are now. Now save me princess."
Feeling like she didn't have a choice, Emily shifted awkwardly at the top of the slide.
"Here, you can sit in front of me and I'll hold onto you." Emily suggested, it was the only thing she could think of.
"Thanks! You're a good rescuer." Alison said, as Emily moved to the side to allow Alison to sit in front of her.
"Alison, your mom told you to play nice with me." Noel whined.
"And I am, now buh bye." Alison said, as Emily pushed off from the top of the slide and quickly wrapped her arms around Alison to prevent her from getting ahead of her.
Alison giggled the whole way down, and Emily couldn't help herself either. When they reached the bottom, Emily spotted Spencer pushing Aria on one of the swings.
"That was fun." Alison said. "Thanks for rescuing me."
"No problem." Emily said, catching Spencer's eye.
"What's your name?" Alison asked.
"Em-Emily." Emily stuttered out, shaking her head at Spencer who was waving at her to come over.
"Princess Emily. It has a nice ring. You could rule a kingdom one day Emily." Alison said, getting up from the slide. "See you around."
Before Emily could say anything, Alison ran off towards the grassy hill where the parents had set up picnic areas to watch their children and still enjoy themselves. Emily moved to get off of the slide, but the palm of her hand hit something hard and rough. A small pain shot up her hand, causing Emily to snap her hand away. Looking down at what it was, Emily realized it was a charm bracelet.
She picked it up off the base of the slide to examine it. There were little charms of what looked like that famous tower in Paris, some flag that was probably France, and other things that had to do with Paris. It must've been Alison's, and it must've come off her wrist as they went down the slide.
Picking it up, Emily now had another mission to help her princess. Was Alison her princess? She seemed to have worded it that way. Waving to Spencer, Emily took off in the direction of the parents with the bracelet clutched in her hand. She looked around at all the people, trying to find Alison who was most likely with her mom and dad at a blanket.
Instead her parents found her first and called out to her. They weren't going to let Emily leave until Emily took a photo with them, with the help of Mr. Montgomery.
"Here, one picture." Pam said, plopping Emily down between she and her husband.
Emily did her best to smile so that she could get it over with and continue looking for Alison.
"Hey Em, I think we're going to get going soon. Five more minutes ok?" Pam said, wiping the wood chip pieces off of Emily's knees.
"Ok." Emily said, taking off again to continue looking for Ali to deliver her charm bracelet.
In the five minutes, she seemed to find everyone but Alison. She found her best friend Toby, Hanna, Caleb, Travis, some girl named Paige, and just about everyone else.
"Noel!" Emily called, catching sight of him at the swings. "Noel, where's Ali?"
"Ali?" he asked, sounding shocked that Emily would ask such a thing. "She left. Her family is going to their beach house in Cape May for the summer."
"So she's not going to be in Rosewood." Emily asked, her heart dropping.
"Not during the summer." Noel said. "Sorry I guess."
Emily felt utterly defeated, and put the bracelet in the front pocket of her overalls as she slowly walked back to where her parents were packing up their stuff. She forgot about the bracelet over the summer since she got new overalls and the bracelet remained inside of it, and Alison's Paris charm bracelet still remained lost.
"Yeah. Yeah I remember this one too." Emily smiled.
Pam let out a sigh, and Emily looked at her. Pam was watching her in the dim light, and Emily could see her eyes were brimming with tears.
"Mom," Emily said sadly. "Don't cry, why are you crying?"
"I've never been so worried in my life as I have been when you joined the army." she said, her voice cracking. "Not even with your father."
"What?" Emily asked, slightly confused.
"I was proud of you, when you joined. But I was always worried, you were doing something so dangerous. All the time I would ask myself, 'what if Emily gets hurt?' or 'what if she dies out there and I'm not there with her?' It hurt so much, I never worried this way while your father was in the army. You're my only child, and just thinking about your getting hurt out there hurt me."
"Mom I-"
"And then, it's two A.M. and I get a phone call. When the person calling me tells me they're from the army, I started bawling. I thought you were dead, even though it was stupid to think so." Pam said, sniffling. "Your father had to assure me that family members of a member of the armed force aren't told that their loved one has died over a phone message. But, when they told me that you had been trapped under a building when it collapsed, all of my nightmares came true.
"Although they said your leg was shattered, you were in the hospital and you were going to be ok. And that they were going to send you home to recover. You could've died, and I would've been distraught. You're my little Emmy, and I don't want you to feel that dying would've been better than living through this. You'll get better, you will be ok."
Pam reached her hand out as Emily leaned into her mom. Her mom wrapped her arms around her and rested her cheek on Emily's head as she cried. Emily sat there, trying her best not to cry herself.
"I'm sorry." Emily finally was able to say.
"I found this photo," Pam said, sniffling to pull out another photo to give to Emily.
The photo was of Emily in the same red coat from the photo of her and her dad. The photo was from the same visit to New York, but this photo she was standing alone. She was pressed up against the glass of a window, looking out at the New York skyline. They were very high up, making the buildings below look like models that you would see in a train set. Emily was facing the window, but her head was turned towards the camera, giving the same big smile as the other pictures. For four years old, Emily did a lot of smiling. The photo was labeled, "December 7th 1997" in the corner, the same as the other photo.
"We took you to the South Tower at the World Trade Center because you wanted to go to the very top and see what the world was like from above. So we took you up there to the observatory that used to be there, and you wouldn't leave for a good hour. You love to just stand there and watch the city at a whole new perspective." Pam explained. "You said you wanted to work in a very tall building like the World Trade Center buildings."
"I don't think I'm ever going higher than four floor in a building ever again." Emily said. "Things change."
"I know they do." Pam said, taking the photo from Emily. "It's getting late, you should probably go to bed. We're going to start decorating the house for Christmas tomorrow."
"Yeah you're probably right." Emily sighed, her eyes itching from the dim lighting. "Good night mom."
"I love you." Pam said, kissing Emily's forehead as she gathered her belongings, leaving Emily to get ready for bed.
Rollins finally arrived home, only two hours before Alison's family was due to show up. Alison had been working hardly all day, trying to calm her nerves of Rollins not being home and everything not being perfect by listening to Michael Buble's Christmas album on repeat.
"Hey, I'm here." Rollins called out, as the door opened and closed. "Bit cold out there."
Glaring to herself, Alison waited until her husband had taken off his shoes and coat. He came into the kitchen holding a six pack of beer, and a plastic bag filled with a few food items that Alison had texted him to pick up.
"Hello hello." he said, leaning down to kiss Alison on the cheek as she rolled out the gingerbread for the cookies. "I brought you your grocery items."
"Thank you." Alison said, keeping her voice at a monotone.
Rollins put his beer in the fridge as he coughed rather hardly. His cough sounded dry, and he sniffled right afterward.
"I think I'm getting sick with something." he said, clearing his throat with a loud noise.
"You should probably go and get ready." Alison said, glancing at him. "Take a hot shower and put on that collared shirt, tie, and sweater vest that looks good on you. You're literally wearing a t-shirt from your frat in college that has a mustard stain on it."
"Relax, babe. I'm on it." Rollins said. "Are you actually going to be nice to me now?"
Rollins left the kitchen, leaving Alison to finish getting dinner ready. Although she hated everything that would qualify people to call her a 'housewife', cooking a meal and making sure everything was perfect was a must for Alison. Anything less than perfect would make her parents make a comment that she really did not like dealing with.
When everything was about ready, and Rollins had gotten out of the shower, Alison got into the shower herself so that she could change out of the clothes she had worn the night before when she went to Emily's. She hoped Emily was going to have a better Thanksgiving than she was going to.
Putting on a cream knit sweater and black leggings, Alison finished straightening her hair and applying mascara just as their doorbell rang.
She ran down the stairs at incredible speed as her husband beat her to the door. He had turned on the football game in the living room, and she was surprised that he had left his spot there to open the door for her family.
"Shit, I forgot to set the table." Alison muttered.
"Relax, I just finished doing it." her husband said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"You did?" Alison asked, surprised that her husband helped her when a football game was on.
"Yeah, just take a deep breath." he said, opening the door to Alison's parents.
"Hey!"
Greetings were exchanged between the two couples, tight hugs, even though Alison low key thought her parents were the most annoying people on the planet. But because it was Thanksgiving, and her sister Cece would be there to save her, she put on her best smile.
"The traditional red wine," Rollins said, taking the bottle from her father. "Let me take that from you.
"Cece said she was about five minutes away," her mom said, as they entered Alison's home. "I'm not sure about Jason."
"Rollins set an extra table setting for whatever girl he's brought." Alison said, as her parents took of their coats.
Alison went back into the kitchen and made sure that everything cooking was ok, before going back to the front door when the bell went off again.
"Sister sister!" Cece smiled, as Alison opened the door.
"Hey!" Alison said, hugging her sister like she hadn't seen her in five years.
"We're still Black Friday shopping tomorrow right?" Cece asked, handing over the plate of cookies that Cece famously made every Thanksgiving.
"Totally. I am if you are." Alison said.
"Aw, nice bracelet." Cece said, grabbing Alison's wrist to look at the Paris charm bracelet that Emily gave her. "Where'd you get it?"
"Emily gave it to me." Alison said. "Come on inside."
Jason arrived thirty minutes later, and surprisingly alone. He was single at the moment, so he didn't feel the need to bring someone with him to dinner with his family. He was still the same Jason, his voice deep and slightly awkward with how he moved about. He smelt faintly of cigarette smoke when Alison hugged him, but then again Jason was always into that sort of stuff.
Her husband was being surprisingly nice and helpful tonight, doing things for Alison before she even asked him. He paid little attention to the game, and more attention on her father and the can of beer he was holding. Thanksgiving was going off without a hitch for once, but Alison didn't want to speak too soon.
Dinner was normal, Rollins was explaining how in Canada during snowstorms he and his older sister would go into the basement and play cards and wrap themselves in blankets while watching old movies on VHS tapes. He usually hammed it up for Thanksgiving, but never enough that he wouldn't pay attention to a game or do practically everything for Alison.
Halfway through the dinner, there was a retching sound and a cough. Freezing where she was, Alison looked at where the noise came from at the threshold of the dining room. Pepe was standing in the doorway, his head bent as he puked onto the hardwood floor. She saw the contents of what she had fed him earlier that day, and knew it was all too good to be true.
"Oooo, gross. I'll get it." Rollins said, quickly placing his napkin in front of him and rising from his spot. "We'll take care of Pepe's accident in just a minute."
Rollins cleaning up for Pepe, that was a first as well. What kind of game was he playing? Whatever game it was, he was pretty serious. Once he came back with paper towels, a bag, and some spray, he immediately began cleaning up Pepe's vomit as Pepe settled back down near Cece's chair.
Rollins opened the wine Alison's father brought, and poured a good amount in everyone's glass. Jason stayed quiet for the most part, where Rollins and Cece were practically the life of every conversation.
The night couldn't have gone by slow enough for Alison, who just wanted to go to bed after a long day's work. When dinner and then dessert was finished, her family decided they were tired and going to head home. Solidifying her plans with Alison, Cece was the last to leave at close to ten.
"Well that was, actually that went really well." Alison admitted, as she began to stack dirty plates and bring them into the kitchen where Rollins was loading the dishwasher.
"It's always nice to spend time with your family." Rollins said, rinsing the extra food off the plates before putting them in the washer.
"The only iffy thing that happened was Pepe, but I think he just ate too much." Alison reassured herself.
"So are you actually going to talk to me now?" Rollins asked, as Alison wiped down the counters.
"I don't know, are you going to take back what you said to me?" Alison asked, her voice quickly becoming cold.
"I was mad, I didn't mean any of it." Rollins said. "I'm sorry, I just want a family."
"Not now Rollins, don't you get it? I'm twenty-three, and having a kid would basically put all the hard work I have done on hold." Alison said.
"But-"
"My body, my rules." Alison snapped. "If you have a problem, you can sleep on the couch."
With that, Alison threw the sponge she was wiping down the tables with into the sink and left Rollins to clean up everything. She had made the food after all, it was only fair for him to clean it all up.
She angrily got ready for bed, kicking off her clothes in exchange for her comfortable pajamas. Her husband seemed to take what Alison said seriously, since he didn't come up to their bedroom the whole time Alison got ready for bed and went to sleep.
It wasn't until past three A.M. that there was a nudge on her shoulder that awoke her from her slumber.
"Wha-, what is it?" Alison groaned, sleepily.
"Hey, it's me." Rollins whispered. "I can't sleep."
"Well that sounds like a personal problem-" Alison began, turning over to face the opposite way.
"Look I'm sorry Alison, I really am. I didn't mean any of that, and you're the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me." Rollins said. "I love you so much, now will you please let me come back into our room and sleep with you."
Alison groaned, not wanting to argue with her husband. "Fine, but if I hear one more thing-"
"I promise you won't, thank you so much."
Rollins walked around to the other side of their large bed and climbed in, making little sound as he adjusted himself in the bed. He pulled the sheets over him, and Alison could feel him scoot closer to her and wrap his arm around her middle.
"I love you so much Alison." he said, kissing the spot behind her ear.
Alison felt a pang of guilt, that she quickly pushed away as she fell asleep again, for she didn't know why Rollins having his arm wrapped around her didn't feel as safe as when Emily had her arm around her.
Sunday night, somehow Alison ends up at Spencer and Toby's for a house party, even though she has to teach in the morning. When she and Cece went Black Friday shopping, Alison stumbled into Spencer who invited her house for a get together. Rollins decided he didn't want to go, mostly because of the Sunday night football that he would miss since Spencer and Toby weren't huge fans.
Alison rang the doorbell at around eight PM, only planning to stay for an hour or two. She didn't want to stay out late and then be exhausted the next day.
Toby opened the door, a big smile on his face which caused his more prominent smile lines to appear. He was holding a beer in his other hand, carefully keeping it out of the way as he greeted and hugged Alison.
"Good to see you!" he said. "I think Spencer's inside, if you want me to show you where she is."
"That would be great, thanks." Alison smiled, following him inside.
"Spenc!" Toby called, causing Spencer to stick her head out of the crowd of people.
"Hey! Glad that you made it!" Spencer smiled, hugging Alison. "Can I get you something to drink?"
"Sure, anything is fine. What kind of beer do you have?" Alison asked, following Spencer into their kitchen.
Spencer and Alison entered the kitchen, where only two people had stuck around to chat in. Alison didn't recognize either of them, and paid no attention to them as she got her beer. It was a bitter taste in her mouth that Alison never liked when she was younger, but in college she learned that you got what you got and the taste just sort of grew on her.
"I can reintroduce you to some people around, Emily's here. I know you're friends with her." Spencer said.
"Oh yeah, that would be great." Alison said, instantly feeling happier now that she knew that Emily was there.
She followed Spencer out of the kitchen and into their living room, where sure enough Aria and Emily were having a conversation. Emily had no drink in her hand, probably because she couldn't. Both girls approached, causing the two who were sitting on the couch to look up.
"Hey!" Alison said happily, looking down at Emily. "Nice to see you here."
"You too, I didn't know you were going." Emily remarked.
"I kind of decided last minute. Pretty spontaneous." Alison explained. "Hey Aria."
"Hey, I was just about to get up. Do you want this seat?" Aria asked, standing up and motioning to the seat.
"Oh Aria it's fine, you really don't have to get up because-"
"No really it's fine. Come on Spencer, help me pick out my next beer." Aria said, dragging Spencer away from the two girls as Alison sat down on the couch.
"So how are you Emily?" Alison asked, sipping her beer.
"I'm good, yourself?" Emily asked. It was a bit hard to hear in the living room, since it was where most people were congregating.
"Good as well. How was your Thanksgiving?" Alison asked.
"My what?" Emily asked, frowning and leaning in to try to hear what Alison said.
"Your Thanksgiving!" Alison said loudly.
Conversation continued like this for about ten minutes, before both girls were fed up with having to repeat themselves.
"Do you want to just go outside?" Alison asked. "It would be easier to hear."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. Let me just grab my crutches." Emily said, boosting herself up to grab her crutches while balancing on one foot.
Leading the way for Emily, Alison made her way to the front door of Spencer's house and opened it wide. She knew exactly where to go to talk, seeing it as she walked in.
"I've always wanted a porch swing for my house." Alison admitted, as she sat down on the porch swing. "Come and sit with me."
Giving it an uneasy look, Alison stopped swinging so that Emily could easily sit down without having to worry about falling over.
"It's really cold out here." Alison said, absentmindedly.
"Really? I'm not cold at all." Emily said, unzipping her blue Rosewood Sharks sweatshirt. "Here, this will keep your warm."
"Are you sure you won't be cold?" Alison asked, hesitantly taking the jacket. "This sure is a blast from the past."
She flipped the hoodie over to see Emily's last name printed on the back of it with "Rosewood Swim Team Captain" on the lower back.
"Oh believe me I know." Emily laughed slightly, as Alison put on the jacket and zipped it up. It smelt a lot like Emily. Hazelnut, chocolate, and a slight mint.
Both girls sat in silence for a few moments, watching their breath become clouds in front of their face. There were clouds covering the sky, making it unable for either of them to see any stars.
"It's finally Christmas season." Emily smiled.
"Oh true, you start your decorating early don't you." Alison smirked, nudging Emily.
"We're practically almost set up." Emily said proudly.
"That's what I call dedication." Alison said. "I don't even get my Christmas tree until December."
"That's unfortunate since all the good trees are picked out by then." Emily smirked. "You know every Christmas my grandmother used to read the palms of my cousins and I and pretend she was a fortune teller. Some of us would actually believe her."
"Do you remember how she did it?" Alison asked.
"Of course. It's been twenty five years of her reading my palms." Emily said.
"Read my palms then." Alison said, holding out her hand.
"Your palms? Alison it's a joke." Emily said.
"And I don't care, read my palm." Alison said.
Sighing, Emily scooted closer to Alison to have better access to her hand. She took Alison's right hand and laid it flat on her thigh.
"Okay, this may be a little hard to see the lines in your hand but I'll see what I can do." Emily said, touching her finger tip lightly to a section of Alison's palm. It was as if she was drawing a line.
"This is your life line. It's pretty curvy, so that means that you have plenty of enthusiasm. That can be used for good or for evil though." Emily chuckled, looking up at Alison who was few inches away.
As Emily continued her fortune, Alison realized how good it felt for Emily just to stroke the palm of her hand with one finger. Emily's face was mere inches from Alison, her breath fogging right as it hit Alison's face. Her breath smelt like mint gum, leaving a sweet undertone in Alison's nose.
"See, it doesn't really mean anything." Emily said, looking up at Alison who looked at her the same time.
Emily was four inches from her at the most, staring into her eyes. Emily's eyes were a dark chocolate in this light, but Alison loved them. Brown eyes were always her thing, and were even more so now than before.
"I think it's pretty interesting." Alison said, glancing at Emily's lips. It had been a long time since she had seen Emily's lips up close, and she watched in awe almost as Emily's tongue darted out to lick her lips.
She saw Emily visibly gulp, as the sensation to see if Emily's lips still tasted the same became overwhelming. She hadn't kissed anyone but Rollins in years, and his lips were firm and sloppy often.
Alison was pretty sure she was the first person to lean in, inching her way towards Emily. She closed her eyes, and stopped right as the sides of their noses touched. Just one move would close the space between them.
"It's snowing!" Hanna's voice rang out from inside the house.
Emily and Alison both snapped back, startled by Hanna's outburst. Emily scooted away from Alison, and watched as Hanna opened the front door and came out. Sure enough, large snowflakes were drifting down from the sky and landing on the lawn and everything else that was outside.
"I told you Emily!" she said. "Hanna Marin finally wins the snow bet, Spencer needs to pay up with all your cash."
"That's great Hanna." Emily said, as Hanna jumped into the lawn and danced a little bit in the falling snow.
Meanwhile, Alison was still trying to process what just almost happened. Was she just about to kiss someone that wasn't her husband? She couldn't deny it, they were only centimeters away before Hanna interrupted. What would've happened had she not interrupted?
"I think I should go home." Alison said, placing her full beer on the wood of the porch. "It's getting late, and I still have to grade papers before I go to bed."
Alison quickly rose from her spot on the swing, ignoring Emily's concerned questions as she made her way to her car. She was scared, Alison DiLaurentis was scared. Not from anything spooky that made her skin crawl, but because she was going to kiss Emily. And she wanted to.
Emily's jacket was still wrapped around her as she pulled out of the driveway, but hopefully Emily didn't mind.