I wanna thank everyone for your amazing reviews. I know the last few chapters have been emotional roller-coasters and I'm going to try and keep that going. This one picks up where the last one left off and ends with quite a bang.
Again reviews are welcomed and encouraged! :D Glad everyone is enjoying it!

It had taken Emily less than five minutes to jump in the car and speed down the road to Alison's house despite it being on the other side of town. She knew that when all she got from Alison was SOS, that her confrontation with Rollins hadn't gone well, but she wasn't ready for what she was going to find when she arrived. She had barely parked her car when she ripped the keys out of the ignition and rushed out of the door. She got to Alison's front door and didn't even bother to knock as she rushed in. The only lights that were on in the entire house were the hall light and the light coming from the kitchen. Emily walked in and looked in the kitchen but there was no sign of Alison.

"Ali?" Emily called out but before she heard an answer she heard a soft cry coming from Alison's living room. Slowly she walked in and turned on a light on an end table casting a little light on Alison. She sat in the dress she'd worn to school, crying as she held a towel to her bleeding eyebrow.

"I'm so stupid." Alison's voice was soft, "You were right Em..."

The anger instantly spiked inside of Emily seeing Alison's face bruised and eyebrow bleeding. Her brown eyes were fixated with absolute rage as her fists balled up and she started shaking. How dare he! However the caregiver in Emily came out first since Rollins was not in the immediate area. Slowly and gently Emily reached out and turned Alison's head towards her seeing the extent of the damage. Her fingers gently moved along Alison's jaw, feeling for any sort of breaks or any permanent damage that would require a doctor. After several minutes, satisfied that Alison wasn't in need of immediate medical care, Emily fetched some Band-Aids and a wet cloth to clean her beautiful Angel up. Not a lot was said, Alison mostly sat there, quietly sobbing as Emily tenderly cared for her.
Finally when Alison's eyebrow had two butterfly Band-Aids on it and they had taken care of some of the bruising, Alison laid in Emily's arms on the couch in her living room. Emily spoke, "I want you to come stay with me, Ali." There was care in her voice but otherwise it was flat and void of any emotion.

"I can't." Alison said, "Your mother would never allow it since I'm married still."

Emily shook her head, "She doesn't have to know there's anything going on between us yet. You've been my friend for years. She'll be ok with it. We'll just have to sleep in different rooms." She sighed and kissed Alison gently on the head, "I also want you to get all the locks changed in this house."
Alison nodded quietly, too shaken to argue otherwise. Her face was in an excruciating amount of pain and she was so upset, confused, and hurt. She had done the right thing, she'd done it the mature way, and yet it had still ended badly. Alison finally moved when Emily pulled out her phone, "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Hanna." Emily said, "Two of us here is better than one." Emily put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring until Hanna picked up on the other end. "Yeah, Han.. it's Emily. I need you to come to Ali's house." There was a pause as Hanna spoke, "Yeah. Right now. I'll explain everything when you get here." After another moment Emily hung up and set the phone down.
Alison looked up at her, though not without a great deal of pain, "Remember that time -A attacked me when I first got home and you rushed in and saved me?" her voice was weak but Emily could hear her as her tanned fingers gently raked through her golden locks.

"Yeah...I couldn't do anything else. I wish I'd gotten there sooner." Emily said recalling the incident. Alison had been forced to wear a scarf around her neck to hide the bruising for a few days after.

"I kept hoping that you would do it again. With every blow he struck I kept longing to see you coming through the door like you did that night." She bit her lip the tears starting to fall again, "But with every blow, I just kept telling myself that he can beat me, but he can never take you from me again."
Emily smiled, a tear rolling down her cheek as she leaned down and kissed Alison's lips very gently as to hot hurt her. Still there was a wince of pain followed by the sound of the doorbell. Gently Emily moved Alison so she could slip out from underneath her and walked into the foyer and opened the front door.
"So what's the big emergency and why is it so dark in here?" Hanna asked in usual Hanna style, loud and out there for everyone to hear.
Emily shut the door, "Alison served Rollins the divorce papers tonight."
"And?"
Emily walked into the living room and turned on the main light as Alison sat up looking at Hanna with a bruised and swollen face. It hurt Emily to see Alison like this, and made her angry all over again. Hanna just gasped before running over and hugging Alison, "Oh my God, Ali! What the hell?"
"I figured two of us would be better than one against him if he decides to come back." Emily said.

"But don't you have your Army kung-fu or some shit?" Hanna asked, her arm still around Alison's shoulders.
"There's always strength in numbers Hanna, or don't you remember high school?" Emily turned and walked into the kitchen turning on a kettle of hot water to heat for tea. She knew it would help calm Alison down and maybe get her to sleep that night.

A few moments later Hanna walked in, her coat off and her phone and purse out in the living room, "So what's your plan?" she asked leaning on the breakfast bar where the papers were still scattered.

"We're going to get Ali to sleep and then you're gonna stay with her while I go find Rollins and beat him to within an inch of his fucking life." Emily responded, the anger still very present, but also the frustration at herself that she hadn't been here to do something about it.
"Whoa! Wait... easy Em..." Hanna exclaimed, "You don't need to be doing any such thing. We'll call Toby and get the police involved."
"Lot of good they'll do!" Emily snapped.
"This isn't -A! This is some duche-bag with an anger problem. They can handle this." Hanna said taking a couple of steps forward, "Look, Em.. I know you aren't just mad at him. I've known you too long to not know what this is... You're mad at yourself because you couldn't save her. You shouldn't be. No one knew he was going to do this." Hanna's voice had soothed and it did help calm Emily down some as the teapot began to scream, "And you have a career to worry about."
Emily nodded, "Yeah.. I.. I guess you're right. But if I see the mother fucker, I'm beating his ass. Period."
Emily turned off the water and walked into the living room with it and Alison was still sitting on the couch just staring off into nowhere. It was almost like she was oblivious to the fact that Emily and Hanna were there at all. Emily made her a cup of tea and she took it before Emily made one for Hanna and herself. There was a long period of silence before the grandfather clock in the hall chimed the 9pm hour.

The three girls had sat up for a few more hours talking before Emily took Alison upstairs to get her ready for bed. Hanna stayed downstairs and called Caleb, telling him she wouldn't be home that night. Naturally he offered to come stay with them, but Hanna said they had it under control. They were planning on talking to Toby and the police in the morning. Em stayed upstairs with Alison and Hanna crashed on the couch watching TV.

The clock struck 1am and Hanna jarred awake. There was the sound of rattling from outside and she woke up fully and walked over to the door. It looked like someone trying to work the keys into the door. Finally it worked and the door opened and a man walked in quietly. The hallway and foyer were dark and he quietly closed the door. His tie was undone and his shirt was partially unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up. He turned as though he were going to go up the stairs when Hanna turned the light on in the living room, "I had a feeling you'd be back."

"What the... Where's Alison?" Rollins asked, his voice loud but not booming.

"SHHHH We don't wanna wake them. Especially Emily. She's about ready to tear you limb-for-limb right now and I wouldn't blame her a bit." Hanna said with her arms folded across her chest, "But as much as I'd like to watch Emily dismember you, I don't want her going to jail, so what's gonna happen is you are going to leave. NOW." Her voice was even, but firm, "I happen to know Toby is working Graveyard tonight and I have a text already written. It will take him about five minutes to get here from the second I press send. Is that how you wanna end the night?"

Rollins was about to protest but shook his head, "Figures she'd call you sluts for help." His voice was biter as he started to turn and walk out.

"Oh!" Hanna said, "You might want this." She handed him the manilla envelope with the papers inside of it.

Rollins looked at it for a moment and snatched it out of Hanna's hand, "Tell Ali that I hope she enjoys her life as a Dyson carpet muncher."
Hanna didn't even acknowledge that with a response as he walked out slamming the door as he went. Emily appeared at the top of the stairs, "What was that?!"
"Nothing. I handled it." Hanna said deleting the text she had been ready to send to Toby.

Emily was already on her way down the stairs, "It was Rollins wasn't it?" She skipped the last step and her long legs carried her to the door, which she opened as the car peeled out of the driveway and sped down the street.

"It doesn't matter he's gone now." Hanna said.
"Why didn't you wake me up!?" Emily asked standing on the porch illuminated by the light of the full moon.

"Because getting in a fight with him wouldn't have done anyone any good. Your career in the Army would have been over." Hanna said, "I dealt with it, don't worry. He won't be coming back."
Emily turned and folded her arms over her chest, "I know but it would have made me feel better."
Hanna walked up and put her hands on Emily's shoulders, "I know..."

The next morning Alison was up before either Hanna or Emily. The swelling in her face went down but the bruising was still very pronounced. She called the principle and told him what was going on and that she'd be doing some work from home but not actually coming into the school. So instead she walked around in a pair of Yoga pants and a tank top. Her hair was up in a ponytail as she turned on the pot for coffee, knowing that all three of them drank it.
Quarter after Seven and Emily walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Alison smiled as best she could seeing the woman she loved walk into her kitchen still wiping the sleep out of her eyes. Hanna was still sound asleep on the couch.
"Morning Mermaid." Alison said softly as she leaned up and kissed Emily and handed her a cup full of coffee, "Don't think you're the only one who knows someone's coffee order by heart."
Emily couldn't help but smile slightly as she took the first sip of her coffee, "Are you going to work?"
Alison shook her head, "I already called in. I'm gonna do some stuff from home and I know you and Hanna want me to go to the police station today, so that's probably it. Then I'll pack a bag and come stay with you." She smiled softly and looked at the clock, "I'd just be leaving now actually."

Alison and Emily walked to the entrance to the kitchen just as a large explosion rocked the entire house knocking the two of them over and breaking their coffee mugs. It knocked several pictures off the shelf and Hanna awoke in a panic rushing to her friends as they stood up and looked out of the window and saw the huge black plume of smoke going up from what had once been Alison's car.
"Oh my God Alison!" Hanna said wrapping her arm around Alison's shoulders while Emily just stared, holding Alison's hand.

"You would have been driving to work..." Emily said, "...that was supposed to kill you."
Just as Emily finished her words the sound of sirens could be heard coming closer and then all three of their cell phones blipped with a new text message.

"And boom goes the dynamite. Next time the Queen gets it. -A"