AN: Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I know many of you are excited to find out what happens after last chapter's cliffhanger, so here you go. Enjoy!
Emily watched through her tears as Alison's car hit a tree with a sickening crunch, and the brunette could only hope that Paige's plan hadn't worked all the way. For a second, Emily was frozen in shock, but she quickly recovered, hurriedly reaching for her phone and dialing 911.
A voice came through the phone seconds later. "911. What is your emergency?"
Emily tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke. "There's been an accident on Bridgewater Terrace. Please hurry."
"Did you see what happened?" the operator asked.
"A car was going really fast, and it crashed into my friend's car. She spun out of control and hit a tree," Emily explained.
"Were you in the car with her?"
"No, ma'am. I was on the sidewalk. I saw the entire thing."
"Don't worry. Just stay calm, and we'll send an ambulance immediately."
Once the operator stopped speaking, Emily hung up the phone, and she wanted to run to Ali's car, but she found that she was rooted in place, afraid of what she might find. When she finally got herself to move, she slowly approached the car. She noticed that the driver's side window was completely shattered, and she quickly opened the door. Ali was slumped in the driver's seat, a huge gash on her forehead that must have come from the shattered glass of the window. It made Emily queasy just looking at it. She wanted nothing more than to climb in and pull Alison into her lap, but she didn't want to risk hurting the other girl by moving her. She immediately reached over to grab the blond girl's wrist, desperate to find out if Paige and Lucas had succeeded or not. "Ali, please tell me you're still alive."
Emily sighed in relief when she felt Alison's pulse. She was still alive. Paige's plan had failed. Emily brushed a piece of Ali's hair behind her ear on the side of her head that wasn't injured, and she was surprised when Ali groaned, blinking open blue eyes that were glazed over in pain. Emily gave Alison a wobbly smile when blue eyes met brown.
"Em?" Ali croaked.
Emily climbed into the car beside Ali, putting her arms around the blonde's shoulders to hold her close. "I'm right here, Ali." Alison relaxed against the brunette girl, resting her head against Emily's chest. She brought her hands up to clutch onto Emily's arm, not wanting to let the other girl go, and Emily hoped the ambulance would get there soon. Emily tried to comfort the girl in her arms by murmuring soothingly in her ear. "It's okay, Ali. You're gonna be okay. The ambulance is on its way. Everything is going to be okay."
Emily wished she could believe her own words, and she had to stop herself from shaking and letting Alison know how worried she was. Soon, Ali's eyes fell closed, and her grip on Emily's arm loosened significantly. Emily looked down at her, kissing the side of her head and hoping that the ambulance would not be too late.
When the vehicle finally arrived, Emily gently let go of Alison, stepping out of the car to meet the team of paramedics. A few of them immediately got to work lifting Ali onto a stretcher, and one of them stopped in front of Emily. "Are you the one who made the 911 call?"
Emily nodded, too afraid to say anything else, and the paramedic continued, "I promise your friend will be well taken care of. Will you be joining us at the hospital?"
"Could I ride with her?"
"We typically only allow family members inside the ambulance."
"But my car's still parked at school," Emily protested.
The man looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but it's best for your friend if she rides alone. The medics need room to work to make sure they can save her."
Emily nodded in understanding, and the man who had been talking to her, who she later found out was the driver, walked back over to his team, helping them to load Ali into the ambulance. Emily felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of Alison going all alone and the fact that she would not know if Ali pulled through until she arrived at the hospital. She didn't even want to think about that though. Ali was going to pull through, and that was that. As the ambulance sped off down the street, Emily made her way back down the sidewalk, heading to get her car.
When Emily arrived at the hospital, she was informed that Alison had made it there alive and was currently being examined by the doctors. Emily simply sat in the waiting room, trying to quell her nerves by telling herself that Ali would be fine. If she had made it here, she wouldn't die now. Emily had to believe that she would pull through. The brunette girl sat there for hours, waiting for any news on Alison, and she practically sprang from her chair when a doctor finally came out asking for her. "Ms. Fields?"
"That's me." Emily quickly walked over to him.
"I understand that you are here for Alison DiLaurentis?"
"Yes. I am. How's she doing?"
"We gave her stitches for her forehead—"
Emily cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "Is she going to be okay?"
The doctor looked at her sympathetically, and her heart dropped into her stomach. She knew that whatever she was going to hear next wasn't going to be good. "She will live, yes. She is very lucky in that aspect. With the speed the other car was going before it crashed into hers, it's a miracle that she wasn't killed immediately. However, the impact compressed her spinal cord. When she wakes up, she won't be able to feel her legs."
Emily's heart clenched in sorrow for Alison, and she felt tears begin to prick at the corners of her eyes. "For how long?"
"Forever. The chances of her walking again are very slim."
Emily couldn't accept that. She latched immediately onto this slim chance. "But there is a chance, right?"
"There's always a chance, but like I said, it's highly unlikely. Don't get her hopes up."
Emily couldn't believe this was actually happening. This entire day had felt surreal, and she seriously wished that she would wake up, and this would all be a dream. Only she didn't wake up because it was real. She tried to keep from crying as the doctor continued to talk. "I spoke to Alison's parents, and it seems that they are both out of town on a business trip. Her mother has promised to be here as soon as she can."
Emily nodded, trying not to let her desperation show in her eyes as she asked her next question. "Can I see her?"
The doctor nodded. "She probably won't wake up for a few more hours, but you are perfectly welcome to wait with her until she does."
Emily walked calmly past the doctor before quickening her pace and trying not to run as she made her way to Ali's room. The sight of Alison lying in that hospital bed broke her heart. The blonde looked so small lying there in that hospital gown, and Emily blinked the tears out of her eyes for what she felt must be the millionth time that day. She pulled a chair next to Alison's bed so that she could sit down, and she took Ali's hand in her own. She couldn't help but feel that this was all her fault. Paige was about to call off the attack. She was literally calling Lucas to tell him to stop, and she would have too if Emily hadn't blurted out that she loved Alison. That wasn't the only mistake she had made. It might not have even mattered that Paige decided to go through with the attack if Emily hadn't gotten Ali so furious with her. If she had never hurt the blonde's feelings, Ali wouldn't have even hesitated to pull her car over when she saw Emily on the sidewalk. Emily had messed up, and now Alison was lying in a hospital bed. Emily couldn't help but feel that if it weren't for her, Ali would be just fine. She would still be able to walk.
Emily tried to clear her head of these thoughts as she tried to think of what she would tell Alison when she woke up. How could she break the news to her? Where would they even go from here? Emily didn't know the first thing about helping people in wheelchairs, but she knew that she would soon find out because she intended to help Ali's mom take care of the blonde whenever she could. She knew this would be extremely hard for Alison. The blonde would hate feeling so helpless, and she knew that the girl's precious reputation would be ruined now. There was no way she would still be ruling the school after this. Everyone would more than likely make fun of her now that she was so powerless, and Emily wished that she could turn back time and prevent this from happening. She knew that Ali was strong, but would she be strong enough for this? Emily didn't know.
Alison blinked her eyes open, her gaze immediately locking on Emily who was sitting beside her, holding her hand. Her brow furrowed in confusion when she tried to think of what on earth Emily might be doing in her room, but she came up empty-handed. She knew she had been mad at Emily before, but she found that her anger had dissipated, and she knew that she was the one who was being stupid the whole time. It hurt that Emily didn't trust her, but honestly, why should she? Ali constantly used and manipulated everyone around her, and even though she would never even dream of doing the same to the brunette, how was Emily supposed to know that? She felt bad for having yelled at Emily earlier when she came to apologize, and she was glad that the other girl was clearly not mad at her. Even though it was kind of strange that Emily would just show up like this, Ali let it slide, knowing that she owed the girl an apology of her own. More than anything though, she just missed having Emily around. She had never gone this long without talking to the brunette before, and she found that she wanted it to end now. She looked up to meet Emily's sad eyes, but getting out an apology was harder than she thought. Alison DiLaurentis never apologized to anyone, so for now, she settled instead on, "What are you doing here?"
"Ali, I—" Emily started to say.
Ali knew before Emily even started that the brunette was about to apologize again, and this gave Alison the courage she needed, knowing that it was her turn to say she was sorry. "Don't apologize, Em. It's me who should be apologizing. I never even had a right to get mad in the first place. I should've just respected your decision, just like you said. I seriously love you, Emily, and to be honest, maybe we should just tell everyone about us. Maybe my status shouldn't matter to me as much as it does."
Alison watched in confusion as a tear trickled down from Emily's eye, and she wondered what she could have possibly said to upset the other girl. "Why are you crying? Are you still mad at me?"
"No, Ali. That's not it at all." Emily was quick to assure her. "It's great that you want to be with me. I want to be with you too. It's just…do you know why you're here?"
Alison finally took the time to actually look around, realizing that she was not in her room after all. When she had first come to, she had been so focused upon Emily that she hadn't even bothered to look at anything else. She now saw that she was lying in a hospital bed, and the events of the day came rushing back to her. Emily running along the sidewalk, crying, trying to get Alison to stop her car. Ali ignoring her and driving on. Emily collapsing to the pavement behind her. That car coming out of nowhere and hitting her. Her world going black. She also faintly remembered being held by Emily, but she didn't know if that was real or not. She looked up at Emily, finally realizing why the brunette had been crying earlier. "How did you know?"
"Know what?" Emily asked in confusion.
"You knew that car was going to hit me. That's why you were telling me to stop my car, but how did you know?"
"Lucas programmed the car to hit you, and Paige was in on it too. They were trying to kill you, Ali. Paige told me about it after school, and she thought I would be happy about it. As if I could ever be happy about hurting you. I tried to get Paige to stop, but I messed up, and she wouldn't." Emily hung her head in shame as if this was all her fault, and Alison didn't miss it as more tears streaked down her face.
Alison stroked the back of Emily's hand soothingly with her thumb. "Em, don't cry. This is not your fault at all. Paige is clearly a psychopath. There was nothing you could do. Besides, Paige and Lucas failed. The crash didn't kill me. I'm still right here."
"Ali, can you feel your legs?"
Alison found this question to be very odd, and she had to admit it caught her off guard. That was, until she realized that she couldn't, and she suddenly began to panic. "What's wrong with them? Are they broken?" Alison looked down for any sign that her legs might be in casts, but she found nothing.
"No. They're not broken," Emily said gently. "They're fine. It's just that the crash compressed your spinal cord, so you can't feel them."
Ali felt her panic begin to grow. "What do you mean? How long will I have to stay off them?"
Emily was trying her best to blink back her tears. "Ali, I don't think you understand. You're probably never going to walk again."
"What are you talking about? I can't never be able to walk again. There has to be some way for me to heal," Ali argued.
Emily gave Ali a grim look, and the blonde started to feel dizzy. She felt tears prick at the corners of her own eyes as this new reality started to sink in.
"The doctor said there's a slim chance that feeling will return to your legs," Emily mumbled quickly, unable to meet Ali's eyes.
Ali blinked, trying to understand the situation. "So I could walk again."
Emily sighed. "Yeah, but he made sure to tell me how unlikely that was and how I shouldn't get your hopes up."
Alison shook her head. "I can't do this. How am I going to be able to do anything for myself if I can't walk?"
Emily finally brought her eyes back up to meet the blonde's. "Your mom is coming back to take care of you."
"What? My parents don't care about me. They never have," Ali argued.
"You got hurt, Ali. I'm sure your mom cares enough for this."
Alison knew better than to trust this promise of her mom taking care of her, even if the older woman was coming back like Emily had said. It was probably necessary for her to be there for Ali to get discharged from the hospital, and the blonde knew her mother would be furious about having to come home to take care of her daughter. Alison knew that living with her mother would be rough, and she didn't even want to think about what school would be like for her now. "I don't ever want to go back to school. I definitely won't be ruling the school anymore now that I'll be in a wheelchair. Everyone will probably make fun of me."
"I'll try and keep people away from you as best as I can. I'll walk you to all of your classes," Emily promised, trying desperately to reassure the blonde, but it wasn't working.
"I just wish this never happened." Alison felt the tears begin to pour down her cheeks, and she didn't even try to stop it. Emily immediately climbed into the bed beside her, pulling the sobbing blonde into her chest. Emily began to rub her back soothingly, murmuring comforting words into her ear to calm her down, but Ali was too upset. She still couldn't believe that she would never walk again. How could she spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair? If only she had stopped the car when Emily warned her to, if only she wouldn't have gotten mad at Emily last week for nothing, this never would've happened. Their argument last week seemed so trivial now compared to this. Everything that the blonde had cared about last week seemed trivial compared to this. She tried to calm down a bit, focusing on the brunette who was holding her close, but even after her tears had stopped flowing, Emily made no move to let her go.
Exactly two days later, Alison's mother arrived. She knew Emily was wrong about her mom suddenly caring about her. The older woman never did before, so why would she care now? Ali's mom had told the doctor she would be there as soon as she could. Any normal parent would probably drop everything to come and see their daughter. Not Alison's mom.
When Jessica DiLaurentis finally walked through the door, Alison found herself immediately enveloped into her mother's embrace. "Oh, Alison, sweetheart. I'm so glad you're alright. When the doctors called me and said there was an accident, I was so worried."
Alison had to stop herself from scoffing. If the woman was so worried, then how come it took her two days to get here? Alison wasn't falling for her mother's act, knowing that it would disappear the minute they were alone. Still, Ali was sort of glad to see her mother because that meant that she could finally be discharged. If she had to spend another minute in this hospital, she was going to go mad. "When can we get out of here? I want to get out of here."
Emily stood from the chair she was sitting in. "I'll go get the nurse so she can discharge you."
Jessica and Alison waited in silence for the nurse to arrive. Ali could feel the tension in the air, and she knew the only thing that was keeping her mother in check was the fact that the nurse could come in at any minute. When the nurse arrived, she checked Ali over one more time to make sure she was ready to go, and then she began explaining to Jessica how to help Ali as she got used to her new condition. After explaining all the basics, the nurse gave Jessica a shower chair and a spare wheelchair and then went to help the older woman take the items down to the car. When they were both gone, Alison and Emily were left alone, and Ali breathed a sigh of relief that her mother was gone, even if it was only for a few minutes. Emily immediately moved back to sit beside the blonde, grabbing Ali's hand soothingly. "See? I told you your mother cares about you."
Ali almost rolled her eyes at the fact that Emily fell for her mother's act so easily. "She doesn't, Em. It's all an act. The minute we leave this hospital, she will be back to her usual horrible self."
Emily looked at her skeptically, clearly not believing her, and so Ali said nothing after that, not wanting to argue with the brunette over something as stupid as her mom. Besides, she couldn't blame Emily for having this viewpoint. The brunette always saw the best in everyone, and any normal mother would care for their child in a situation like this, no matter how strained their relationship had previously been. Plus, Jessica did put on a good act. Ali hated it.
When her mother returned with the nurse, the latter helped her into a wheelchair, and she was released to her mother, who began to push her out of the hospital. Jessica kept her cheery and loving demeanor until they reached the parking lot, but the second they did, it dropped, just as Ali knew it would, and the real Jessica came out. "How dare you make me come back here? Your father and I are very busy people, and we don't have time to come back here for silly little children who can't look after themselves."
"I knew you were just putting on an act in there. You don't care about me," Alison was quick to say.
"Don't you get smart with me. You are a total inconvenience. I still cannot get over the fact that you wrecked the car that your father and I so graciously bought for you. Do you know how much money that cost? A lot!" Jessica yelled.
Alison was not in the least bit surprised that her mother cared more about the car than her own daughter, but she figured she had to at least try and defend herself. "You don't understand, Mom. The car crash was in no way my fault. That car was intended to hit me. These kids from school—"
Jessica cut her off. "Let me guess. They'd had enough of you? What did you do to provoke them, Alison?"
Alison just sat there in silence after that. She didn't know how to respond without angering her mom further, and she thought that it might be smart not to anger the woman who was now going to have to take care of her. She'd be lying if she said her mother's words didn't sting though. There was a little part of her that had actually believed Emily and had thought that maybe this accident would make her mom actually start to care about her, but things were no different than before. Alison had figured that her mom might at least try and be nicer to her after what had happened, but no. Ali had almost died, and her mom didn't even care.
"We need to hurry back to the house. This has already inconvenienced me enough, and I need to be back in New York tonight. Hopefully this doesn't take much longer because I don't want to be tired for my business conference tomorrow," Jessica said, almost to herself.
Alison looked up at her mother incredulously. "You're not even staying to take care of me?! What about the things the nurse said? Mom, I'm in a wheelchair. I can't walk!"
"Yes, I realize that. I'll move your bed downstairs before I go. You'll be fine," Jessica said, as if that would solve the problem.
This was unbelievable. The absolute indifference that Jessica had toward Alison really hurt the younger girl's feelings, even if she wanted to pretend that it didn't. She felt a few tears slip from her eyes, but she instantly wiped them away when she heard footsteps approaching behind them, figuring that maybe the nurse had come to tell them something she had forgotten to in the room. Ali's eyebrows shot up in surprise when she saw that it was Emily who stepped up beside them. "Hi, Mrs. D. I realize that you're a very busy person, and Ali told me how important your conferences are, so I just wanted to let you know that she can stay with me if you want. I listened to everything that the nurse said, and I'd be happy to take care of her."
Jessica turned to face Emily with a pleasant look on her face. "Are you sure…?" The older woman trailed off, not knowing the name of the girl who was currently offering to look after her daughter.
"Emily," the brunette supplied.
"Are you sure, Emily? I wouldn't want to inconvenience your parents," Jessica said with fake concern. As if she actually cared.
Emily smiled politely at her. "My father lives in Texas right now because he's in the military, and my mom is actually visiting him for a couple months, so it'll just be me and Ali for a while."
"That would be wonderful!" Ali could see the relief that was shining in her mother's eyes as she said this. "Thank you for doing this."
"It's really no problem at all," Emily said sweetly.
Alison simply watched as her mother transferred the items that the nurse had given her into Emily's car. Once she was done, the blonde was not surprised to notice that her mother was clearly ready to leave. Jessica bent down to hug her daughter. "Alright. I'm going back to meet up with your father. Have fun with Emily, sweetie."
Once Jessica turned around, she walked quickly back to her car, getting in and speeding away, leaving Emily and Alison simply watching from the street. Ali watched as Emily's happy smile morphed into a frown. She didn't say anything, however, so Ali decided to be the one to break the silence. "Were you behind us that whole time?"
Emily nodded. "I knew your mother was rarely ever home, but I never realized she was so…"
"Horrible?" Ali suggested.
"Yeah," Emily agreed.
Ali sighed. "That's how she's always been. My dad too. I never really cared though when I was younger because I had Jason. He always looked out for me, and I loved him. Then, he turned to drugs and alcohol, and now, he's no better than our parents."
Emily's voice took on a gentle tone. "Ali, you have to understand that Jason was in the same situation as you. I know you didn't turn to alcohol, but you have to know that his life was even harder because he had a little sister to take care of and no one to watch out for him. Home life was difficult for him as well."
Alison knew Emily was right, no matter how much she wanted to hate Jason for what he had done. Nothing could push away the fact that she missed him. A wave of nostalgia passed over Alison as she longed for the days when she and Jason were younger, and it was just the two of them. She'd give anything to have Jason back in her life, but she realized that she didn't even know where he was right now. There was nothing she could do until he came back home, so she brushed her nostalgia away.
"Can we go to your house now?" Alison asked Emily, changing the subject.
Emily gave the blonde a soft smile. "Sure."
The brunette easily wheeled Ali over to her car, bringing her around to the passenger's side and opening the door. Then, Ali felt Emily lift her up, and her arms instinctively went around Emily's neck.
"This is okay, right?" Emily asked. "I'm not hurting you?"
"You're fine," Ali assured, as she was lowered into her seat.
Alison could see the nervousness and worry that was on Emily's face as she pulled away from the blonde. "Is that good? Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, Em. Don't worry about me," Ali said calmly.
Emily hesitated for a moment, looking as if she didn't know whether or not to believe Ali, and then she sighed. "Just let me know if something's wrong, okay?"
"I will," Ali promised.
Ali watched on as Emily closed the door and folded up the wheelchair before proceeding to take it to the trunk. At that moment, she couldn't stop a few tears from slipping out of her eyes at the realization of just how helpless she was actually going to be. She wouldn't be able to drive anymore. She couldn't even get in and out of the car by herself. She probably wouldn't even be able to get dressed by herself now. As Emily joined her in the car, she tried to quickly wipe away her tears, but she was not fast enough.
"Ali, what's wrong?" Emily reached over to wipe away the other girl's tears with her thumb.
Ali knew there was no point in lying to the brunette. "I just hate being this helpless."
"I know Ali. I know." Emily took the blonde's hand in hers as she started up the car and began to pull out of the parking lot. Ali hoped Emily didn't notice her silent tears, but she knew the brunette did because she held Alison's hand the whole way back to her house.