Chapter Ten

A/N: Thank you to storyteller angel for reviewing the last chapter.

"Milly? Milly? Milly!"

Emily started in her seat, Ben finally having caught her attention. He was looking at her with that annoying expression of his, the one that told her he knew all her secrets and yet was still waiting for her to confess them.

"I'm just thinking about the ball." she told him, her voice nonchalant, as if she hoped that a pre-emptive strike would stop him pressing the matter any further.

"Yeah, sure you were." Ben answered, his smug grin proving beyond doubt that he did not believe a word of it. Emily opened her mouth to defend herself again, but to her surprise, Ben continued to speak of the event, smiling at her from time to time. Still, there was something about him that rang false, and it was not until later that she found out why.

She had gone through all the details with Ben, so that he knew what to say to the guests when they arrived for the event and made enquiries, but he still lingered at the door of her office, looking at the wallpaper pattern as if it was the most incredible thing he had ever laid eyes on.

"What is it?" she asked, tired of the games. The receptionist grinned cheekily, sat back down and leant over the table on his arms.

"So..." he began, elongating the syllable deliberately. "Who are you going to be bringing to the ball?"

Immediately, Emily's face fell. She had been anticipating the question, she supposed- after all, it was not like Ben to set up two people who worked well together and then not keep a check on them- but there had still been a part of her hoping he would leave the subject alone.

'We do work well together, David and me,' she thought. 'He's funny, charming and he really wants to make me happy. And I like him. I do really like him.'

True, when she was young, she had not dreamt of marrying a man she liked, but life was not a story- she had learnt that very early on, watching her father's business dealings, and the people he had pushed down to allow himself to climb the ladder. In the real world, most people had to settle for what they had and hope that it would all work out fine. And that was the world she had chosen, over the pampered luxury provided by her father's credit card- at least this way no one else got hurt.

"David's going to meet me here." she answered, putting on an air of mystery that she knew would distract her friend from her recent melancholy behaviour. Knowing Ben as well as she did, the tactic worked, and he clapped his hands together with excitement.

"I knew it, I knew you two would work!" he exclaimed, seeming very proud of himself for the match. He was right, she and David worked very well together, or they would do once she convinced her mind not to keep flitting back to Sam.

"Well, I need a handsome man in a tuxedo, and he certainly fits the bill." she responded with a smirk, remembering the conversation she had had with David on their last date. She had invited him to the ball and the excitement in his eyes was one of the most endearing things she had ever seen. Of course, David attended numerous formal events throughout the year, enough to have owned his own tuxedo for many years, but it was something about attending with her that had made him sparkle.

Except that, for the first time, Emily had felt the same sparkle. She had felt the same hope for the future. And in that moment, and many others that had followed it, she had forgotten all about Sam.

This was clearly fated not to be one of those moments, as Ben's awkward clearing of his throat illustrated. Emily flashed him a sad smile, already knowing what he was steeling himself to tell her.

"I already know that Sam's been invited to the ball, Ben." The receptionist's face slackened with relief, before he caught himself, his features rearranging themselves into an expression of sympathy. "He's the owner; why would he not be? He'll be here, with his wife, and I'll be here, with David. That's all there is to it."

It seemed Emily was more successful in convincing herself of that than she was Ben, something which surprised her immensely. Denying the importance of Sam's attendance out loud seemed to make the statement more real in her mind, more of a general occurrence than a significant one, not something that she should even bother thinking about beyond her happiness at seeing old colleagues she had once gotten along with. 'Maybe that's all it is.' she wondered, a small smile creeping onto her face. 'Maybe if I say it enough, I'll finally believe myself. Me and Sam are over, if we ever really started. Now we both have someone else and we're both happy, really happy. It doesn't matter about us anymore. It matters about me and David, and him and Juliet.'

"Are you alright, Milly?" Ben questioned, his voice quite sympathetic, and her smile as she nodded was a genuine one.

"I'm fine, Ben." she answered, glad not to be lying for once. "I really am."

Ben was usually able to see through his friends' facades, making Emily a little more confident in herself when he did not question her. 'What's the matter with me?' she wondered off-hand. 'When did I start caring so much about reinforcing my own decisions? I've never done that before.'

Eventually, Ben was forced to return from his gossiping break to his actual job on the reception desk, leaving Emily alone. Opening a document on her email attachments, another assortment of minute details to ensure the ball went to plan, the blonde glanced across at the photograph on her desk, a moment capturing the Babylon workers during her party not long ago. Every face wore a beaming smile and it was easy to ignore the sadness behind her own in the image, when she did not feel it anymore.

"I think I've finally done it." she whispered, barely audible even to herself. "I think I've finally moved on."

A/N: Sorry about the ending guys, this was more of a filler chapter than anything and I think it's probably a bit rubbish, but the drama's going to pick up again soon. Next chapter, parties, David and Samily come face to face again. Please review!