Paige and Emily settled back into their seats and relaxed. It felt good, after all the highs and lows of the evening, from the adrenaline-fueled kiss to the painful confessions, and the teary-eyed apologies.

Emily looked at Paige with a smile that gave away how embarrassed she was about what she was going to say. "Okay, do you want to hear something pathetic?"

"I would love to hear something pathetic."

"Well, back when I was running around with all those groupies, I was looking for a girl like you. Someone whom I could connect with; someone who wasn't just my body, or the fact that I was in a band; someone who wanted to be with me, for me."

"Aww..." Paige squeezed Emily's hand. "That's not pathetic, Em. That's... that's kind of sweet."

'Wait, I haven't gotten to the pathetic part yet." Emily squeezed Paige's hand for support. "So, after that night when we met, I literally went looking for you. I tried to find you on Instagram and facebook - which isn't as easy as it sounds, when you don't know someone's last name. And I didn't even know whether liked girls or not."

"You figured it out before I did."

Emily laughed lightly, nodding her head as she continued her story. "And then I went back to the bar, and asked the bartender whether he remembered Paige, who ordered the gin and tonic."

"You tracked me down?"

"I tried to. I thought I was never going to see you again. But then, when you showed up at the fundraiser for the Art Museum, I thought it was fate. But you were with Sean..."

"I guess it was fate, though, don't you think? I mean, that's how we became friends."

Emily smiled. "I guess it was."

Paige and Emily agreed that they needed to spend some time reconnecting as friends before they could think about anything deeper. It was Paige's idea, and Emily went along with it, not wanting to push too hard. She could see Paige's point - something about how they never really progressed through the stages that go from friendship to relationship - but she wasn't pleased about it. It was a setback, but Emily decided that, in the long run, it was better to take it slowly than to risk scaring Paige away.

Emily's mind cued up the lines from a scene between Tara and Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It's a long, important process.

Emily knew how important it was. After all, this wasn't just a new relationship for Paige. It was an entirely new lifestyle.

Couldn't we just skip it?

But she and Paige had known each other so long – and so well. Did all of that count for nothing? Couldn't they just pick up where they'd left off?

Couldn't we just be kissing each other right now?

Oh, God, how much she wanted that. She just wanted to hit the FAST-FORWARD button – or at least the PLAY button. Just not the PAUSE button. And especially not REWIND.

As they left the restaurant, Emily suddenly and without warning backed Paige against the wall and kissed her, long and hard. When the kiss was over, Paige did her best to keep from smiling. She wasn't complaining about the kiss, but she didn't know where it came from. "What, uh… what was that for?" she asked shyly.

"I just wanted to see how it felt to be the one on the giving end of the shock-kiss, instead of the receiving end, for once!"

Paige dipped her head, smiling at Emily's explanation. From her perspective, it felt pretty good to be on the receiving end, too.

They got into Emily's car and set out. Paige pointed to her left as Emily headed through an intersection, noting that that Emily had missed the turn for En Banc.

"You said you were going to pick your car up in the morning," Emily reminded her impatiently, her eyes not straying from the road in front of her.

"I know, Em, but we both know that it would be wiser…"

"Paige, it's fine," Emily said, pushing the hair away from her face. You can pick up your car in the morning. We'll figure something out for tonight."

Paige paced nervously as Emily used a blanket and some sheets and a pillow to try to make her couch into a bed. "Paige, this is ridiculous," Emily said. "What do you think's going to happen? We're both so exhausted…" Emily was sure that she would be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"I know," Paige said, raising a hand. "I know nothing would happen. But I'm just going through so many emotions and so much confusion right now, I just… I don't want to put myself into a position to do something I'm not ready for."

"Okay," Emily said, drawing out the word. She stretched out her arms and exhaled, adding, with an overflow of sarcasm to lighten the mood, "Do you think it would be tempting fate too much if we had a good-night hug?"

Paige smiled, sarcastically whispering, "I suppose that would be okay."

Emily fell comfortably into Paige's arms. There was just something about it; perhaps Paige's freshly scrubbed scent, the familiar feel of Emily's head on Paige's shoulder, perhaps; or maybe the strength that Emily could feel in Paige's arms, even in a casual hug. "Paige!" she said urgently, as she backed away from the hug with a shy chuckle. Paige may have had a point. It was probably too soon for them to think they could spend the night in bed together without getting in over their heads.

Emily was surprised that she had been able to fall asleep that night. She was up early the next morning, too keyed up to sleep. She decided to check on Paige.

Paige, despite the slightest scowl in the form of a crease in her forehead between her eyebrows, looked so peaceful, asleep on the couch. Her chest was slowly rising and falling underneath the blanket and her lips were slightly parted. Emily wondered what she was dreaming about. She sat next to her, in an open space on the couch, and placed her hand on Paige's hair. Paige tensed at the touch, but, as Emily's hand slid from the hair down to Paige's cheek, the scowl line disappeared from Paige's face and she snuggled up against the pillow that she was clutching to her stomach.

Emily realized that this was what she wanted. She wanted to be the one who smoothed out Paige's brow. Chased away her demons. Would it be so wrong to wake Paige with a kiss? Emily lowered her face to Paige's, then backed away, trying to find the right angle. She quickly adjusted and leaned in again just as Paige stirred.

"Hey," Paige said sleepily, "What's going on?"

Emily smiled guiltily. "I… uh… I was just checking that you were okay."

Paige leaned up on her elbow, and Emily, realizing where her hand still was, let it slide off of Paige's face. "Not too creepy," Paige observed, with a smile.

"I was worried about you," Emily whined, placing both hands on the side of Paige's face. "I know it couldn't be comfortable out here on this couch all night." Emily had her face right in front of Paige's, so close that she was daring Paige not to kiss her.

Emily's hands felt warm and gentle against of Paige's face. It was so much different than what Paige was used to with Sean. So much softer. So much better.

Paige took Emily's and held them, gently lifting them away from her face as she scooted into a sitting position. "What time is it?" she said with a big yawn, which was as much about catching her breath as she recovered from the rush of Emily's touch as it was about how tired she was.

"Early," Emily said. "I couldn't sleep."

"Come on," Paige said, standing up and pulling Emily to her feet. "I'll buy you breakfast."

Paige felt a sense of accomplishment as they drove to pick up breakfast and her car. They had passed the first test. They had made it through the night without jumping over any milestones.

The ride was silent, for the most part. Emily was trying to figure out how this new arrangement was going to work. She knew that she couldn't handle too many more nights like that last one. The problem wasn't just how long it had been since she had spent the night with someone. It was that she and Paige had such a strong connection. She knew that they weren't going to jump into bed with each other at the drop of a hat. That wasn't even what she wanted. But she didn't want to pretend that there had never been anything between them, either.

Couldn't we just skip it? Could you just be kissing me right now?

Sometimes, Emily wished she were on a TV show. Things were so much easier – and faster – than they were in real life.

"So, Paige," Emily began, setting her menu aside, "what exactly does it mean, reconnecting as friends?"

"What don't you understand about it?"

Emily closed her eyes and reminded herself to be patient. She didn't want to lose Paige. "Like, what does it mean? Are we back to square one? Are we just supposed to forget that we ever kissed – or ever wanted to?"

"I thought you were on board with this, Em. I thought we agreed…"

"Paige. I'm on board with giving you as much time as you need." Emily put her hand up, signaling she wanted a redo. "Giving us as much time as we need." She didn't want to make it seem that she was only doing this for Paige. It was something that they both needed. At least, Paige saw it that way. "But I just want to know," she continued, "is this going to be a long time, a short time, a medium time – what?"

"Are you saying that a long time would be a deal breaker for you?"

"I'm not saying anything. I'm just… frustrated, because we've already wasted a lot of time not going after what we really want, and I just want to know…"

"How much more time we're going to waste?" There was bitterness in Paige's tone.

"No, Paige." Emily grabbed Paige's hands. "That's not what I'm saying at all. It's just… Life is short, you know? I mean, it's spring now, and we could, I don't know – go down to DC and catch the cherry blossoms, or head down the shore before tourist season or… You know. Any number of things. But I'm just afraid that we're going to let this spring go by, and then the summer, and… by the time we finally get together, we'll be asking ourselves – my goodness, why did we let the whole year go by when we could've been together?"

"We can still do those things!"

"Okay, but I want to do them together. Not just as friends. Arm in arm. Like a couple."

"I want that, too, Emily!"

"So, this whole… reconnecting thing…"

"I guess… I mean, I don't know. Maybe it's not the best way to go. Maybe we can just keep going the way we're going, but just take it slowly."

"So… kissing?"

Paige put her hands in her lap and smiled a shy smile. "I would like that."

Emily's smile was eager. "I would like that, too!" She rubbed Paige's shoulder. "So, we'll take it slowly."

Paige nodded. "But, Em. I… just remember, this is all new territory to me. I don't know how to navigate, or what the boundaries are. It's just, I"m flying blind, you know? And I don't want to get too far off course."

"Okay," Emily said softly. "I understand. And that's fine. We don't have to go fast, as long as we can go together."

Paige and Emily's friendship was a kind of torture for Emily. Paige, worried that she would let herself lose control, avoided almost all physical contact, even the things that they used to do back before they were in a relationship. Despite what Paige had said, kissing was pretty much out of the question. There was the occasional peck, but if it led to another, or to anything beyond simple lip-to-lip contact, Paige backed away, throwing her hands up and saying the six words Emily grew to hate: Let's slow things down a little.

Emily reminded herself why she needed to be patient with Paige. After all, when Paige began to be honest with herself about who she was, she was much older than Emily had been, when she first admitted to herself who she was and what she was feeling. At thirteen, Emily was confused about a lot of things, and a lot more open to reevaluating her world. Paige, in her mid-twenties, was getting set in her ways; past the developmental stage of middle and high school, past the experimental stage of college. And she had been in denial for so long. Old habits die hard.

As frustrating as it was, for Emily, that Paige was older, Emily was glad that she, herself, was older, though. Back in high school, she had little patience for girls who were still in that "hiding and deciding" phase of their sexuality. Back then, she feared that girls like that would tempt her to go back into the closet. But, at twenty-four, she was confident of who she was, and she knew that there was no going back. Even more than that, she knew that someone like Paige was worth waiting for. She hadn't found a similar connection in all of her blind dates, and certainly not in her hook-ups. Her hook ups. She ached for the opportunity to be with Paige, almost to the point of physical pain. Since she and Paige had decided to make a go of it, Emily hadn't been tempted or even interested in anything sexual with anyone other than Paige. But she was definitely interested in something sexual with Paige. She was interested in everything sexual with Paige. Really interested. After they spent time together, Emily got used to taking cold showers in an attempt to cool herself down, but they didn't really work. On more than one long, lonely night, she ended up taking matters into her own hands.

A/N - Kudos to lifelongloveforlindsey for pointing out that Emily never told Paige that it was love at first sight for her, too...

Thanks for reading! :)