I have to give a shout out to Gia12, who read reviewed every chapter of this story over two days last weekend, and followed up with a lovely PM. I should also mention the rest of the regular reviewer gang - you know who you are, and I hope you know how much I appreciate everyone of you! You make the time and effort involved in writing this more than worthwhile. I love every comment and question and critique, so thank you. And to all of you who have followed or favourited me or this story, well, thanks to you, too. Very much.

Finally, to my friend and amazing Beta Miss Marauder, a HUGE thank you for the shout out in the latest chapter of Educating Naomi (which was fabulous!). You have been cheering me on since the beginning, and I can't thank you enough.

Still not mine. Still kind of bummed about that.

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Chapter 8: Promises, promises

Then

Effy had been worried about Naomi and Emily for a while. Ever since Emily's internship ended, the younger twin's calls to Katie had almost trickled out, and more often than not she didn't answer Katie's messages or texts. Naomi hadn't touched base in weeks either, pleading course work and exams every time Effy tried to pin her down to catch up.

Effie's "spidey sense" was tingling and she didn't like it. So, she carefully laid the groundwork for Katie to decide that it was high time that she and Effy paid her twin a visit in London again.

It was easy, really. As soon as Emily tried to not invite them when her sister brought up the possibility of dropping in, Katie was more determined than ever to go. And so, on a rainy Autumn Friday, the two friends hopped the train to London and made their way by tube and cab to the little house with the purple door.

Emily wasn't home yet when they arrived, which was the first sign that something was not quite right. Emily hadn't seen Katie in weeks, and would normally have made sure to be home when they got there. Naomi explained about the bitch of a manager at the salon who wouldn't give Emily the time off, but didn't seem overly troubled by it. It was as though this was nothing new and Naomi had grown to accept it as normal.

Emily finally made her way through the door and up the four steps to the living room just after 7 p.m. She looked terrible, Effy thought, with dark circles under her eyes, and a lack of enthusiasm even about seeing her sister. There was no life to her, none of the typical Emily bubbliness and joie de vivre. She allowed hugs all around before saying that she wanted a quick shower to flush off the smell and grit of work. To Effy it seemed almost like Emily did not want to be at the house at all. And given how much Emily loved that house and the people in it, that was a very odd indeed.

"Alright Ems?" Naomi had leaned over to ask the question, her hand resting lightly on Emily's lower back before she left the room. Emily sighed softly, before looking up from under her lashes at her girlfriend.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Like I said, I just need a quick shower to rinse off."

Naomi looked as though she didn't quite believe that and was going to ask something else, but reconsidered, and gave Emily a quick kiss and an encouraging smile instead.

"Right then. Hurry back, Hun."

Naomi turned away before Emily had even cleared the threshold to the bathroom hallway, and turned to the visitors.

"Wine?"

Katie agreed wholeheartedly, while Effy simply nodded her assent, her thoughts pre-occupied. They were half way through their first glasses of a reasonably decent Cabernet when Emily returned, her hair still somewhat damp from the shower. Naomi stood up right away to retrieve the glass of wine that she had already poured for Emily, and passed it over accompanied by another light kiss, this time to the top of Emily's head. Her affection for the little redhead was obvious.

"Here you go, Love. It's that Cab you like so much."

"Thank you, Naoms."

There was a real appreciation in Emily's response, but it was fleeting, and she moved across the room to take a seat by Katie, instead of curling up on the sofa near her girlfriend.

The women sat and chatted through another glass of wine each before Katie asked what the plan was for supper. Emily looked over to Naomi, who had been home all afternoon, only to see Naomi's eyes widen and her face drop.

"You forgot, didn't you, Naomi?"

"I'm so sorry, Ems. I was on a roll with my constitutional law paper and going to the shop completely slipped my mind. I'm really sorry. I'll go now."

Emily sighed resignedly and began to stand up. "No. It's fine. I'll go."

Naomi looked sheepish and embarrassed, and was starting to stand up herself when Effy intervened.

"Hang on, Emily. I have a better idea. Let's go out somewhere. Katie and I will treat. Like a thank you for putting us up for the weekend."

Effy watched carefully as Emily mulled over the offer. After a short interval the twin threw a look back over her shoulder at Naomi before saying, "Thank you, Effy. That sounds lovely. It's very thoughtful of you."

Naomi knew that she had screwed up, so she rushed in to accept as well, with thanks, more than appreciative for the obvious bail out. As they all gathered to collect coats and bags Naomi made a point of getting Emily's coat, and holding it for her to put on. Emily allowed it, but offered no thanks, or really any recognition of the gesture at all.

Effy watched, as always, and took note. It was starting to look more and more as though her intuition had been spot on. All was definitely not well with Emily. But whether it was just a minor blip in her relationship with Naomi or a sign of something more serious, more worrying, was hard to tell.

Over dinner conversation, and then as they chatted once back at the house, Effy was able to get a better sense of things. Emily was obviously still annoyed with Naomi for forgetting supper, but it was more than that. From her occasional muttered comments, it was clear, to Effy at least, that Emily wasn't happy with any of her current jobs, and that she deeply missed the radio work from her internship. The only time her eyes really lit up was when she was telling stories about the radio experience, and the effects of that loss seemed to be ever present.

But every time Emily said anything to suggest that things were not ideal, Naomi made light of it, as if trying to sweep the issue away. She made several comments to the effect that, "It will be over soon, Em, I'll graduate and then you can quit the McJobs and go after what you really want."

Naomi was trying to be helpful, in her own way, and to be supportive. But, her focus was always about how things would be better later, with never a solution for now. And as Effy watched each exchange through the evening she realized that nothing Naomi said provided any solace to Emily at all, and in fact it was probably making it all even worse.

The women called it an early night after supper, the travelers and Emily being tired from the day. Effy watched her hosts disappear behind the closed door of their bedroom and found herself almost hoping to have her sleep interrupted by the wild moans and screams that were the hallmark of most Emily/Naomi night-time encounters. But her sleep was not disturbed that night. Not a single peep was heard from the master bedroom until the following morning.

Naomi had to head out late morning to attend a study group. It was decided over a breakfast of tea and toast that the other three women would join her at the coffee shop where the study group was meeting once the get-together was over. The trio arrived as planned just as the group was breaking up. Introductions were made all around, as Emily had never met the members of this particular group before, and of course, Katie and Effy were new faces to them all.

Everything was going fine until Naomi stepped aside to introduce the last member of the group, Jessica. It was dislike at first sight, especially for Emily. Emily wasn't sure if it was the woman's Sophia-like jean shorts or her perfect posture or the too frequent touches (one was too many, and there was a lot more than one) that Jessica dropped on Naomi's arm as she spoke. Emily just knew that she didn't like this woman. She didn't like her, and she didn't trust her. At all. Her hackles went up instantly, and obviously, much to Naomi's embarrassment.

Emily raked her eyes up and down Jessica, a slight look of distaste flitting across her face, before shaking her hand using the least amount of skin to skin contact possible, barely allowing her finger tips to be clasped by the other woman. Unlike with the other students she had been introduced to, Emily did not offer up her usual "Nice to meet you" to Jessica, turning instead to Naomi to demand, "So, are you ready to go or what?"

This instant antipathy towards Jessica was palpable, and it made the whole atmosphere so uncomfortable that while Naomi packed up her books, Katie pulled Emily out of the shop to find out what on earth had got into her twin.

"What the hell was that, Emily?"

"She was all over Naomi, Katie. Don't tell me you wouldn't have backed her off, too."

"I might have, if Naomi had given the slightest indication that she was interested. But she didn't, Emily."

"She didn't exactly push her away, either, did she Katie?"

"Jesus, Emily, they study together. She can't just go being rude or whatever. I mean, I know Naomi fucked up before, and I'm not exactly her biggest fan for how she hurt you, you know that. But she loves you, you idiot. You have nothing to worry about. Naomi is yours, and you have your well awesome home together, and a great life…"

"Oh yeah. Some great life I've got, Katie. Fucking brilliant it is. I work and I sleep and I eat. I hardly even see Naomi anymore because our schedules are so fucked. I get shit on - literally, I might add - by dogs in the morning, and then the rest of the day I get to deal with poncy fuckers who look down on me and think they're better than me 'cause I work such shit jobs, not to mention a boss who fucking lives to yell at me... Jesus, Katie. I've got no fucking life, can't you see?"

Katie was shocked by the vehemence of Emily's tirade, and the frustrated, angry tears her sister was trying to hold back. She didn't know quite what to say to calm her down or to make her feel better. The level of bitterness didn't make sense to her, not when Emily had so much to be happy about. It's not like Katie was in love with her job either, but she made do.

"I know it feels like things well suck right now, Emily, work-wise and such. But in a couple of years you'll be able to do anything you want, you know? Just like Naomi said. You can get back into radio, then, right? I mean really, it could be a lot fucking worse, yeah. You need to learn to appreciate what you've got, don't you?"

Effy came out just in time to hear the end of that, and to see Emily's response to being told, in so many words, to suck it up and get happy. She silenced Katie with a touch to her arm, but the damage was done. Emily clammed right up, retreating into herself and shoving her anger and hurt deep inside. She started walking home ahead of them, not looking back to see who was following or even if they were following, leaving the other three to try to tiptoe around her the rest of the day. She didn't talk to Katie or anyone else about anything of significance for the rest of the night, and certainly not about her feelings or her regrets.

Eff knew that nothing was resolved, though. Emily's reticence was hiding some very real problems. Effy's best guess was that Emily was tired, stressed and possibly depressed. And unless Effy missed the mark, Emily was feeling at least a bit taken for granted by her lover. For all Naomi loved Emily, she had a bad habit of just assuming that Emily was strong enough to handle anything and everything, and that she would always be fine. Even this latest conflict got written off by Naomi as though Emily just frazzled and needed to get a bit more sleep. The heart sees what it wants to sometimes, Effy supposed. Effy partially agreed that what was bugging Emily wasn't really about jealousies - old or new. But it sure as hell was about more than a lack of sleep, and the fact that Naomi wasn't facing up to that was a concern.

So, Effy decided that it was time to use her talents to sort at least some of this shit out. She knew that what was going on with Emily needed to be fixed. The first step was to pry Naomi's eyes open to the seriousness of what was going on right under her nose, or at a minimum to get her to pay some real attention to Emily. But having seen Naomi's reactions to Emily's various comments over the previous few days, and in particular the way Naomi's attempts to soothe Emily invariably involved minimizing the issue or talking about how it would be better once Naomi graduated, or otherwise deferring the issues instead of resolving them, Effy knew that a direct approach was not the way to go. Emily needed Naomi to make something happen right then, not months or years later, and Effy decided to try to gently push Naomi in the right direction.

The first step was to convince the blonde to take the day off from studying. That turned out to be easier than expected when Sunday dawned unusually bright and warm and beautiful for November. The next step was to suggest a walk in the park, followed by a late brunch at a new Brazilian restaurant downtown with a growing reputation for making fabulous caipirinhas, heavy on the lime. The lure of a new drink experience was enough to convince them all to accept Effy's proposal.

The atmosphere among the women was much better by the time brunch was over, with each of them being happily buzzed on multiple rounds of the bittersweet cocktail and the sheer comfort of really good food. The conversation had flowed almost easily, with more than a little laughter along the way. Katie had managed to apologize, without in any way actually apologizing, as was the usual way between the twins, and Emily seemed to have accepted. All in all, the tension that had been so present the night before had abated. Even though Emily still looked tired and a bit disengaged, by the time they left the restaurant she was once again arm in arm with Naomi and her easy smile had returned. A slight shadow still hung across her face, but she was more herself than she had been since the weekend began.

That made the time ripe for the third step in Effy's plan - a walk by a small silversmith's workshop and gallery she knew about that was located a few short blocks from the restaurant. Effy knew that as soon as Katie laid eyes on it she would want to go in to check it out. Emily and Naomi would naturally follow, which was exactly what Effy wanted to see happen.

She stood back, seemingly aloof, as she watched her friends explore the boutique and its one-of-a-kind wares. She paid particular attention to Emily, her sharp blue eyes taking note of where the younger twin stopped and what pieces grabbed her attention. She knew that she'd found her mark when Emily stopped to pick up a pendant from one of the display tables.

It was sappy, and mushy and just what the little redhead would pine after. There was a vertical infinity symbol imposed over a stylized heart, all in oxidized silver, almost black in places, with a simple but stylish chain. It was not something that Effy would ever consider wearing, but it fit the romantic-at-heart Emily to a "t".

Effy sidled over to Naomi and nudged her. "Take a look over there," she whispered, nodding her head towards where Emily stood, with the necklace in her hand. Once Effy was sure that Naomi had noticed Emily's interest, she moved on to talk with Katie, and then to ask a few questions of the artist who was working on some new pieces in the workshop area at the back of the store. She trusted that Naomi was smart enough to take the hint, and, thankfully, her trust was not misplaced this time.

Naomi quietly picked up the pendant and moved to the checkout to buy it. She declined to have it wrapped, and instead carried it over to where Emily stood gazing out at a row of rings, and stepped behind her.

"I got something for you." Naomi spoke gently into Emily's ear, causing the younger girl to turn towards her.

"Oh, yeah?" A real, unreserved smile broke across Emily's face at the thought of a gift from Naomi. The blonde couldn't help but smile back. She held up the necklace for Emily to see, before lifting her arms to lovingly place it around Emily's neck.

Emily's eyes grew wide as she saw the gift.

"How did…?"

"I was watching. I saw you admiring it, so…" Naomi ducked her head, suddenly feeling shy in the face of Emily's gratitude.

Emily reached up to wrap her arms around Naomi's neck and kissed her. She held on, standing on tip toe, to envelop Naomi in a tight hug before finally releasing her. Naomi was thrilled to feel Emily's arms hold her so close. It was a relief to have Emily touch her so affectionately again, after the coldness of the last day and the distance of the days before it. Things had been off between them since the internship ended, Naomi knew, Emily's disappointment taking longer than expected to fade. But maybe this could be the start of a happier phase for Emily. That was Naomi's hope, anyway.

Their tender moment was interrupted by Katie, who was looking on and making gagging noises until Effy elbowed her firmly in the ribs.

"Thank you, Naoms. I love it. I'll never take it off. I promise."

Emily meant it, at the time, in that moment. She meant every word of it.

Naomi just grinned, relieved to have done something right, and to have found a way to make Emily happy again.

"Good. 'Cause I love you, Ems. I really do. Forever."

Emily felt so much better at hearing those words. She felt equal and valued. She felt loved. She felt hope.

And, in that brief, shining moment, Emily felt happy, truly happy, again.

She wanted to grab hold and bottle the feeling forever.

If only she could have.

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I couldn't resist referencing Brazil in honour of Kaya. If you haven't had a caipirinha, I encourage you to try one. They are extremely drinkable :)

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