Disclaimer: I own nothing, all mistakes are my own.
AN: Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. Its late, and shorter than normal, I apologize, its been a hellish week. A special thank you to nick2951 for the encouragement. Don't forget to give his fic's a look especially if you are a Mona fan.
Paige woke to the feel of Emily nuzzling into her neck, her girlfriends fingers tracing absent-minded patterns on the skin near her belly button. She turned her head towards Emily, and was met with a shy smile.
"Morning." Paige whispered, her voice was huskier than normal.
Emily pressed a soft kiss to her neck and then leaned up to cover her girlfriends lips with her own. "I've missed this."
"Naked cuddles?" Paige smiled, before kissing her again.
"Mmhm. But also being with you, in every way." Emily moved back, resting her elbow on the bed, and her head in her hand. "I'm just glad we have us another chance. That we're being honest with each other."
Paige felt guilt clench around her heart, and she shifted until she was sitting up against the headboard, pulling the sheets up to cover her torso. "I actually want to talk to you about something."
"I don't want to know." Emily stated, sitting up and shaking her head. "If it's about A, and going to pop this bubble we're in, I don't want to know. Not right now anyway." Emily shifted so that she was straddling Paige under the sheets, "For right now all I want to do is pretend," Emily kissed her hard, leaving no doubt as to what she had in mind, "That it's just me and you, that the outside world doesn't exist. Can we do that? Just for a little while?"
Paige nodded, sealing their deal by bringing their lips together again, her hands already moving to explore Emily's body.
A little while turned into days of not popping the bubble, with no A around the girls finally had the chance to be normal. No more days spent worrying about what A might have in store for them, no more looking over their shoulder every few minutes. However the heart wrenching moments that came after the sound of a received text would take a while to get over. For the first time in years they felt like they could breathe. Alison's trial wouldn't start until after the New Year, and they avoided bringing up the subject, distancing themselves from the speculation of the town, and concentrating on their futures.
They were currently at the Fields residence, since Wayne was leaving on the second, Pam had invited the girls and their families, as well as their partners, over for a small get together for New Year's Eve. After an amazing dinner, where conversation and jokes flowed freely, the teens offered to clear the table, while the adults moved to the next room. Paige was thinking of a way to get her parents to reconsider the whole California move, so far she figured she could either get them to agree to let her finish her school year, and graduate with her class, or she'd have to go to an extreme. She really hopped it was the latter. She had spoken to both Caleb and Hanna, knowing they could both help her out in case things didn't go her way. Although skeptical, Caleb had agreed to hack into the school's system and change enough to not make her eligible for early graduation, and Hanna had agreed to talk to her mom about Paige staying with them if things came to worse with her parents.
Even though it had been stressful, after getting some semblance of a plan together, she allowed herself to forget about it and enjoy spending time with the group.
The adults had taken over the living room, and from her spot on the balcony, Paige could hear laughter coming from there. She had left the group, downstairs in the den and had come up to the bathroom, stopping for a few minutes on the balcony hoping the cold air would help to clear her head.
She'd been having nightmares, more frequently since Alison had been arrested, each one featured the day Mona had been attacked. Each night Paige re-lived the fight with A, and every time she woke up covered in cold sweat, breathing hard, with her heart trying to break from her chest. Every time it happened, she'd spend the rest of the time trying to figure out what the nagging feeling meant, what her subconscious was trying to tell her.
She rested her elbows on the balcony railing, glancing up at the stars as she went through it again.
She changed directions after Caleb's call, heading into the opposite side of Rosewood. She reached Mona's house first and when she opened the door of her car and got out she heard the first scream.
She darted up the path and took the porch steps two at a time. She burst through the door, her eyes immediately finding a bloody Mona on the floor, a black hoodie standing over her, knife in hand. She charged, the few seconds of surprise giving her an advantage. She shoulder tackled the hoodie, feeling something in her shoulder move as they landed hard on the floor, the knife clattering to the floor.
They rolled over, each trying to pin the other-
"There you are."
Emily's voice jerked her from her memories, and she started, her hand flying to her heart as she turned around.
"You scared me." Paige breathed a laugh, as her face colored.
Emily moved closer, mirroring Paige's previous position. "Sorry, I called you but you were in there pretty deep. What were you thinking about?"
Paige retook her position, moving slightly so that their arms were pressed together. "I was thinking about the day of the attack." This was it, time to be honest, no more secrets no more lies.
Emily's brow furrowed and she turned to face her girlfriend, "What about it?"
Paige rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. "I just feel like there's something I'm missing. I keep dreaming about that day."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because you had enough to worry about without my nightmares and weird feelings." Paige stood up straight, wanting to look Emily in the eye as she confessed everything.
"I.." She started before the voices in the living room began counting, causing Emily to stand up and take a step towards her.
10
9
8
7
6
Paige sighed, knowing that the longer she put it off, the angrier Emily would be, but for now she wanted to bring the New Year in with her gorgeous girlfriend. She pulled Emily closer, wrapping her arms around her waist, as Emily's arms circled her neck. For this moment, everything could wait just a few minutes more.
5
4
3
2
1
"Happy New Year Em." She whispered as she kissed her. Emily's arms tightened around her, as they lost themselves in each other. The fireworks in the background, could not distract them from the fireworks they were making. When they finally pulled away Emily leaned her forehead against Paige's.
"Happy New Year. I love you."
"I love you too." Paige smiled, leaning in for another kiss when a pointed cough from the balcony doors caught their attention.
Blushing hard, Paige jerked away from Emily putting a meter of space between them, as Emily's dad walked onto the balcony, a stern look on his face. Paige swallowed hard, her heart racing in her chest. "Happy New Year Mr. Fields."
Wayne's eyebrow raised, and Paige found herself wondering if she'd survive jumping off the balcony.
His scowl shook and he began laughing a full bellied laugh.
"Dad!" Emily scolded with a smile on her face. "I told you not to do that!"
"I'm sorry, I had too," Wayne sent an apologetic smile Paige's way. "Come on your mom wants to make a toast." Still chuckling he led the way downstairs.
When the festivities died down, Paige was slipping on her coat, when Wayne walked over.
"Why don't you stay the night? It's pretty late, drunk drivers." He smiled at her. He actually liked Paige. She didn't seem to have any hidden agendas, Pam liked her and he hadn't seen his Emmy smile the way she did with Paige before.
"Uhm are you sure Mr. Fields?" She stammered, her fingers frozen on the buttons of her coat.
"Of course, just no funny business." He warned sternly, before breaking into a grin, "And Paige? Please call me Wayne."
Paige nodded, "Thank you Mr... Wayne." she corrected herself, "I'll let my parents know."
Wayne smiled and left her to it, she phoned her parents and after letting them know, stripped off her coat and hung it back up. Emily had gone outside to say goodbye to everyone while Paige helped Pam clean up, and just as she was about to head out to tell her girlfriend about the change of plans, Emily walked back in.
"Uhm your dad invited me to stay the night." Paige still wasn't sure what to think of Wayne, one minute he seemed like he was about a second away from shooting her for even thinking about looking at his daughter, and the next he was inviting her to sleep over. "I'm still not sure if he likes me or not."
Emily laughed, "He likes you, or else you wouldn't be about to sleep in my bed. If he didn't you'd know." She reached over and took one of Paige's hands in her own. "Come on." The way Emily's eyes twinkled mischievously caused Paige to put on the breaks.
"No, no way." Paige shook her head, "I promised your dad that we wouldn't do anything, and that look? That look says you want to do something that will have me outside in the cold with half my clothes on."
"No funny business, scouts honor." Emily laughed and held up on hand, trying to school her face into the perfect picture of innocence.
Paige raised an eyebrow, "I'm watching you Fields."
She finally allowed an amused Emily to pull her up the stairs and into her room. They changed quickly and got into bed, both exhausted from the long night.
Emily grabbed Paige's arm as she turned onto her side, so that Paige was spooning her. With Paige wrapped around her, their fingers laced together and pressed against her heart, Emily never felt safer. Emily tried to get Paige to tell her what she wanted to on the balcony, but after the yawn that interrupted her words, Paige shook her head and promised Emily they would talk about it properly in the morning. With a whispered goodnight and a kiss to Emily's cheek they fell asleep.
And then it started, one minute Paige was reveling in the feeling of Emily pressed up against her, the feeling of her heartbeat under her hand. The next she was in Mona's door way, A was standing over Mona, the bloody knife in her hand. Paige froze for just a second before launching herself forwards. The struggle was a blur and soon enough A was pinned underneath her, the Alison mask so temptingly close, A's eyes narrowed at her.
She sat up in bed, her heart racing. She could feel the sweat running down her face and she trembled trying to catch her breath, she finally knew what had been bothering her about that night. One small detail that could change everything.
"Paige?" Emily asked groggily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up, she switched on her bedside lamp, the shadows the light cast throwing the worry on her face into deep lines.
"Their green, not blue. It's not her. Alison. It wasn't her." Paige managed to choke out, as soon as she said it her phone beeped signaling a text.
Welcome to the game. –A.
AN: Let me know what you think, thank you for reading.
