Author Note: Thanks for the review for giving me a little laugh about Canada legalizing MJ in 2018. For now though, it's still illegal, and as the News and government clearly states, it's STILL illegal to sell or have until then. Can't wait though ;)

ONTO THE STORY..

"I want to see you, Em. Don't you wanna see me?"

Emma laid on her bed, curled up on her side with her cellphone held to her ear. She thought about it long and hard, biting her lower lip. "Ok.."

"Yea?" Ty's voice asked.

Emma sat up on her bed and crossed her legs under her. "Yea. Come over."

"Great. I feel like it's been a week since I've seen you. Be there soon, gorgeous."

With that, he hung up. Emma did too and threw the phone a little less then gently back on the bed and just stared at it.

Why should she stop a good thing? Ty was a good thing. It seemed Jay had made up his mind and wanted to avoid/hate her now, for god knows why so why shouldn't she be with a nice guy like Ty? It'd been a while since with somebody treated her right, or who called her those nicknames….those…cheesy, unfulling..nicknames…

Emma shook her head out of it and prepared herself for Tyler coming over. When he got there, he came up to her room to be alone. She slowly closed the door behind him, eying his retreated back as he took his sweet time edging closer to her bed.

"I don't think I've been in here before.." he admitted, turning around to her then gave her a playful smirk.

Emma smiled and rolled her eyes. "Well," she got closer, "Now you have." She stopped in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He was right about one thing; they hadn't seen another in a week. She decided it was time to stop this stupid thing going on in her head and forget about Jay. It'd never work out anyways. Jay with one girl and one girl only? Please. He'd probably starve to death without the option of more girls.

Ty grabbed her hips with his hands and sat down on the edge of her bed, bringing her down with him and on top him. He placed her on his lap and Emma paused before leaning her head down and kissed him deeply. His eyebrows raised but he closed his eyes and kissed her back before they pulled away breathless.

"Wow," he sighed and his hands itched up the back of shirt, sliding under. "You've never kissed me like that before either." He mummered against the kiss.

Emma sighed, "Just….shut up right now, Tyler." She got to it, pulling at his own shirt and once he realised what she was doing, they both ripped off hers too. Once she was straddling him, he groaned, getting hard underneath her.

"Guess you missed me too." He teased, and began kissing around her neck. About time they do this!

Emma's eyes opened then, and she stared at the wall behind him in a daze. When his fingers got to her bra from behind to undo it, she pulled away and got up.

His face dropped until it turned into confused, "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Sorry." Emma said with a cringe, turning around and picking up her shirt. "I made a mistake. I-" she tried to think of something that wouldn't offend him. "I thought this was something I wanted. But I don't think it is."

She turned back to his see his mouth had fallen and he looked like he couldn't believe it. "Have you… have you done this before? Are you nervous?" he asked, and stood up.

Emma gave him a weird look and backed up when he came closer, "Yes, I've done this before. God." She rolled her eyes then put on her shirt. "I just..don't think we should."

He continued to stare at her in awe.

She sadded, "I know…I'm sorry."

He turned around after huffing, "Save it."

Emma bit her lip, almost flinching at the anger in his voice. "We could hang out? ..Get dinner?"

He ripped his shirt back on and turned back towards her "…nah. I think I should go back home." He walked by her and added, "Maybe you should deal with your issues too."

"My issues?" Emma turned around heatedly.

He stopped at the door and nodded right at her, "Yea. I mean- maybe it's Daddy issues? I don't ever see parents around."

"You don't know a thing, Tyler." Emma glared daggers.

He put his finger up, "I know you threw myself at me, teasing me, then pulled away and now act as if I'm the bad guy-"

"I'm not- I just changed my mind!"

"You can't just CHANGE your mind in the middle of that."

Emma snickered in disbelief and squinted her eyes at Ty. "I can change my mind at the start, middle or end of it. Whenever I please." She walked to her doorway and grabbed her door, "Now get out."

"My pleasure. You seem like a damaged piece of work anyways."

Emma slammed the door behind him and waited to hear him leave before tears lashed out. She covered her mouth with her hand, wishing she wouldn't cry over what that idiot had said but one thing hit close to home. Did she have issues? Was she damaged? I mean if she was, it'd be Spikes fault. Not Snake's. It wasn't his fault he died. .. he didn't chose to, he wanted to stay. But Spike? What was her excuse…

Emma went to her bed and crawled onto it before hitting her pillows and letting it all out. She sobbed and shook as she tried to stay quiet so nobody would hear her. She had to be strong. She was the 'mom' after all in this house.

((((((**********)))))

The following week, Manny walked around the Dot during the day shift and tied her little apron around her waist. It didn't cover much, stopped at her thighs, and only carried her notebook- but it was cute.

"Em," she said, tilting her head at the blonde who leaned on the counter in a daze. "Emma you've been staring at straws for an hour now."

Emma answered robotically, "Just counting them.."

"What is up with you?" Manny asked, rolling her eyes and couldn't handle the weirdness anymore.

"Nothing," Emma grumbled and Manny just eyed her and wondered if this could be about who shall not be named. And as if on cue, the devil himself walked on in. With his new victim- erm, girlfriend.

Jay walked ahead of Mel, and he glanced at the counter to see Emma working and he almost looked shocked and a little nervous but he quickly covered it with turning his head away and focusing on Mel.

"Let's just grab a table." He muttered to Mel, knowing Emma only worked at the counters.

Mel didn't follow him. "No, I just want to grab it and go." She told Jay.

Over by the counter, Emma straightened up and her palms got sweaty. Her heart started to pound so she turned quickly before Jay came over but then Manny grabbed her and shoved her towards the cash register. That's when Jay huffed in defeat and followed after Mel, finally raising his head to look at Emma.

Emma sucked in a big breath and just greeted as 'casually' as she could, "Hi."

Mel just gave her a tight odd smile before glancing at the menu without a care. Emma shifted her eyes back to Jay who just nodded and itched the back of his head. Was that the best he could do? Was that his 'friendly' hello?

"What kind of doughnuts do you have?" Mel asked even though it was all written on the menu. Emma even bit the end of her tongue and opened her mouth to answer-

Manny stepped behind Emma and spoke for her, "There's chocolate, strawberry, orange, mint.." she kept going as Mel followed her over to the supply of doughnuts to the far right..leaving Jay and Emma alone.

Emma laughed a little and put a piece of hair behind her ear. Jay was looking down with a slight smirk and kind of a cringe on his face before looking back up at her.

"She's…pretty." Emma noted.

Jay snickered, glancing at Mel and then at Emma to then frown. She wasn't as pretty at Emma. Even standing by her again was excruciating as she smiled and looked so good, even just on the job. Her skin was flawless, hair in long soft curls, one side tucked behind her ear- Jay stopped himself and shook his head.

He joked, "Has to be right? Tell Manny I'm sorry for…" they looked back at Manny still going through the list of doughnuts they had, "….that."

Emma laughed and it sung in his ears. He dug into his pocket and threw a $10 bill on the counter.

"We're just going to get that, a hot chocolate and go."

Emma's heart dropped but she pushed in some buttons and gave him back his change, "..ok." with that, she went to go get the hot chocolate, now giving him the cold treatment.

As Mel went back to Jay, Manny went to Emma where they were out of earshot and muttered, "That girls dumb as nails."

"Shh." Emma focused on putting a cap on the cup now.

"What?" Manny scoffed and crossed her arms, "She's not even that pretty."

Emma rolled her eyes at her and walked back to Jay with his drink. Even on her way back, Mel stood by his side and eyed Jay as his eyes were glued on the waitress serving them.

"Here you go," Emma stated and added, "Hope you enjoy, and have a nice day."

Mel held her bag of doughnuts and went to go, putting her hand on Jay's arm and she went to pull him but he wouldn't budge. Jay was staring at Emma who just went back to punching in some things on her register. He knew that last line was just what workers had to say to customers. She was now giving him the silent treatment and not even looking up.

"How's Zig?" Jay asked.

Mel turned her head towards the waitress now again, but annoyed and now highly suspicious. Jay was acting weird. Did he know this girl?

Emma just glanced up and muttered, "He's fine."

Jay clenched his jaw and glanced down at Mel who again pulled his arm and gave him a look to show him she wanted to leave. He didn't care. He looked back at Emma and asked, "I heard his birthday was good.."

What was he doing? Emma's blood was now boiling. She was so sick of his hot and cold behavior.

"I'm really busy."

It's like hell had frozen over and Jay almost looked slapped. Emma now gave him the cold shoulder and Mel was more than pleased by that and said, "You heard the girl, she's busy Jay. Leave the waitress alone and lets go back to my place." She practically purred.

Emma sent her a look but quickly looked away when Jay looked back at her. Phew- almost caught!

Jay grabbed his hot chocolate and muttered some words like 'whatever' or something along the lines before he left with his airheaded girlfriend. Emma was fuming and stopped 'pretending' to be at work, storming off into the back and Manny chased after her.

"Em!" Manny grabbed her before she dove into the bathroom.

Emma turned around, shaking her head and about ready to sob again. She sick of guys! "What is wrong with me, Manny?" her voice cracked.

"Nothing!"

"Then why do I go for guys like…him?" she snickered madly, "Do I like being treated like crap?"

"Jay didn't treat you like crap before.."

"Well he is now, and he did in the past!"

"But you guys were really getting along before. He was different!" Manny reminded.

"Well now he's changed again! And we're not friends! We-we're not anything!"

"Maybe you need to tell him how you feel." Manny saddened as she saw the tears start welling up in Emma's eyes.

"Never."

"Emma." Manny sighed then went serious. "I have to tell you something.."

Emma whipped a tear off her cheek when it ran down, "..what?" she watched Manny take a slow deep breath while looking at Emma as if the blonde might rip her head off.

"He feels the same way." She confessed.

Emma's hazel eyes searched for any sign of this being a lie. "I don't' need this right now, Manny."

"Seriously Em, he told me." Manny explained, "Well, I got it out of him. He's liked you for a long time but I don't think he's ever known what to do with it. It's wasn't just a crush for him, it was something more! And you know how that could scare a guy like Jay."

"If any part of that was true.." Emma stopped herself and shut her eyes tight for a moment. "It doesn't matter. We're done. My and Ty are done. I need to be alone anyways right now."

Manny grabbed Emma from leaving again, "You of all people shouldn't be alone. You've been left alone by your mom, ripped apart from your Dad, had to say goodbye too early to your step father, and you never felt truly happy with anyone- not even Sean." She had to ask, "So would you? With Jay? Would you be happy?"

Emma tried to stop herself from getting emotional, but that really hurt. Maybe because it was true. Her heart broke and she was barely keeping it together.

Emma shrugged her shoulders sadly with pure agony in her eyes and tears started to pour again, "Jay made me feel important. He made me feel like I was strong, and could do anything." … .and she loved that. That made her happy.

..He did make her happy..

Manny hugged Emma tight, and the two held an embrace for a long moment before Manny took Emma's shift and she got to go home to get away from this.

As Manny was just about to close up the empty diner, one last customer came in and Manny turned her head for her to snicker and not believe who just walked on in. She stared for a moment before looking away and biting her trembling lip.

The person looked like she expected it to be Emma working, not Manny. For a moment, it looked like Spike hadn't even recognized Manny for a moment.

"Manny!" Spike had this obvious drunken sway as she came over, throwing her arms out for an embrace from the young girl.

Manny put down the towel she held and froze when Spike hugged her. Chills ran down her spine..

"Oh Manny." Spike then pulled away and kept shaking her head with a smile Manny knew she wouldn't be able to shake off for days. "You look different?"

"Yea well, you've been gone for months." .. . it was a good thing Emma left. Manny didn't know how she would react to Spike's return. She was barely holding it together herself. "We're closing."

Spike looked behind her and saw a stool and decided to sit on it. "Could you get me a juice? Maybe a sandwich on the house?"

Manny stood there, not moving. Not really steadily breathing either.

"Fine." It was the least Manny could do. .. .this woman had let her into her home and treated her like family but this Spike that sat infront of her with a drunken daze and greasy hair- wasn't Spike.

After she made her a sandwhich, Manny stood across the counter and watched Spike pause before thinking about finishing her drink. Without a moment though, she reached into her purse and took out a flask. Manny's eyes watched in horror as Spike put the vodka from the flask into the juice.

Manny grabbed the juice and put it behind her.

"Hey!" Spike snapped, her warm and what use to be friendly face, now angry.

Manny whipped around just as angry it even scared Spike who cowered a little away when Manny stormed back up to her and grabbed her flask next. "Get out."

Spike's mouth fell but she then sat up straight (Which seemed hard for her to do), "What? A girl can't enjoy a drink?"

Manny was seeing red. "You're not a girl. You're a woman, you're a mother! And you're a drunk who abandoned her kids."

The silence couldn't be more deadly. Spike stared cold and empty back at Manny who was struggling not to break. She felt the tears coming to her eyes.

"I didn't abandon them." Spike turned back to the counter and stared down at it. "…they're fine."

"They're not fine!"

"Yes they are. They have Emma."

Manny looked up and the water works came. "Emma is hanging on by a thread! She's trying to take care of everyone a-and Jack barely talks because he misses his mother," her voice cracked, "KC is home, and he doesn't know where he fits in and he probably feels unloved and..and.." Manny shut her eyes, tears pouring down, "Holly J a-and Zig-..they..I."

Manny needed to breath before she lost air. Her shoulders shook though until she looked for a reaction from Spike. She got nothing. Spike still didn't turn, she didn't even seem to care.

After a moment she got up and turned to Manny, taking a deep breath and retrieved her flask back from Mannys numb, shakey fingers. "It's a lot better than what would of happened if I stayed."

Manny shook her head. She couldn't believe Spike really meant that.

Spike chuckled and sipped her flask, walking towards the door. When she was about to leave, she shocked Manny by turning back. She swallowed the strong vodka down before her unreadable face cringed up. "I would of kept KC away at boarding school. It would have been one less thing to worry about after Snake died. I would of told Snake's mother to keep Holly J and Zig. And I wouldn't be able to even look at Jack for how much he looks like his father.."

As the reminder of Snake hit Spike, her cold eyes finally shimmered a little warmly before turning numb and glancing back at Manny "…so yes, they're a lot better than they would have been if I stayed. Emma is doing great."

Manny snuffled watching Spike pull the door open, not even looking back as she left. She'd probably be gone again for months.

Manny finally broke and put her hands to her mouth to muffle the cry that slipped through her lips and she shook as she cried her heart out.