CHAPTER ELEVEN

Emily was thankful she had the strength to walk into the house of her own free will. If she'd had Aaron's help, as they'd argued about on the ride back to the house, she was sure she'd be in for the Spanish Inquisition. Even so, her heart beat sped up as she opened the front door, turning to glance back over her shoulder and return Aaron's wave. When she closed the door, she couldn't stop the wistful smile from flitting over her face as she twirled the rose between her fingers. She'd never been so excited or giddy about a flower in her life.

"Emily!"

Her head shot up as Taylor raced down the stairs, Tia not far behind. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself. "Good morning."

"Did you just get in?" Tia asked, her eyes glowing.

Emily fought her blush. "Yeah."

Taylor outright squealed, a high-pitched sound that made Emily wince. "You stayed all night?"

"I fell asleep," Emily tried to defend herself. "It was midnight when I woke up and he decided it was just easier, since I was sick, for us to wait until morning."

"How are you feeling?" Taylor asked.

"Better," Emily admitted, pushing away from the door. She looked down as she murmured, "It was nice to have someone else take care of me."

Taylor grinned. "You have to tell us all about it!"

Emily sighed, glad she'd done a heck of a lot of sleeping the night before. She had a feeling it was going to be a long morning.

Aaron had been surprised when Haley pulled him aside almost immediately upon his arrival to the house for the Rose Ceremony Cocktail Party. Nevertheless, he'd followed her out onto the patio in back, leaving the others chatting in the living room. "Is everything okay?" he asked as they sat down.

Haley looked up at him, her eyes watery. "It's just hard."

Aaron took her hands. He didn't want to see Haley cry. She was a sweetheart, and he enjoyed spending time with her. She was the light in his dark world, someone who reminded him of the reason he did his job. And she wasn't jaded. She worked a non-law enforcement job, it sounded like she adored her family... Aaron liked her. "What's hard?"

"Being here with all of these girls," Haley whispered.

"Hey," Aaron said. "Talk to me."

And he sat there and listened while Haley spoke of how it felt to be one of many. More so, he realized, how difficult it was when every girl in that house was your rival.

"And I'm not sure every one of them really wants to be here," she finished.

"Oh?"

She seemed to sigh. "I was talking with Kate... If you don't end up keeping me, Aaron, I want to make sure that you are keeping women that actually want you."

He was touched. "You're thinking of someone in particular."

"We all see the way you watch Emily," she answered, her eyes sincere. "I just... she's cold, Aaron. She doesn't open up easily, she doesn't make friends easily.... She rarely tells anyone anything."

"Maybe there's more to her," Aaron replied carefully. Haley had no reason to come to him with false accusations. There had to be a foundation for her worry.

Haley sighed. "I just..." she took his hands. "I want you to be careful. I don't want you to set yourself up to be hurt."

He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. "Thank you. For looking out for me."

"It's what people do when..." She paused, took a deep breath and continued. "When they really care about another person."

Aaron felt his heart leap in his chest. He cared about her too and couldn't stop his smile from blossoming across his face. His hand let go of hers to cup her cheek. "Thank you," he said softly. "For caring."

She turned her head into his palm. "I just don't want you to make the wrong decision."

He sighed. He didn't want to make the wrong decision either, but his gut was telling him that Emily wasn't a wrong decision to make. Then again, that same gut was telling him Haley wasn't a wrong choice to make either. Which was why, when he walked away from the girls later that night to make his decision, he found himself surprisingly conflicted. Emily had a rose, so there was no question there. He'd given Kate a rose on one of his other one-on-one dates, so there was another decision made for him. Whitney had received a rose on the group date. Which left him with five women and three roses. And he didn't like that feeling one bit. Haley, Tia, Taylor, Victoria, Shaena... And two of them would have to go home.

"Aaron."

He almost jumped as Chris stepped into the room, but didn't turn away from the pictures. "Hi Chris."

"Would you like to sit for a minute?"

He understood that as more of a request than a question and finally turned away from the framed photos of the women. He smiled slightly as he took one of the two seats.

"Tell me about your week."

"My date with Kate was... fun. She's a good girl. She's ambitious, she's beautiful..." Aaron said, not looking at Chris and avoiding the camera at the same time. The camera was annoying, but an unfortunate evil.

"What about your group date?"

Aaron sighed. "There's something... there's tension here. It's hard for these girls, for all of them. There's so many great women and I had a great time with all of them and it doesn't make this process any easier." He wasn't used to opening up and he knew he was withholding details. He kept a lot close to his chest and he wanted it to stay that way. He wanted to tell the women how he felt about them, he didn't want to tell Chris.

"And what about Emily?"

"There's so much more to her than anyone realizes. They're worried about her, about how much she doesn't say, but she's got a past that... it tells a lot about her."

"So, eight women, six roses, three of them already given out... I'll leave you to make your decisions."

So he stood for twenty minutes in front of the pictures, not realizing how the time passed before Chris walked back in. "Aaron? It's time."

He found his heart racing. He hadn't made a decision in the slightest, but he knew that he was going to in literally the next five minutes. So he followed Chris back out to where the women stood waiting. He met each one of their eyes as he came to stand beside the roses. He was shocked by two things: first, he was shocked by the way Emily was worrying her lower lip, and then, the wave of reassurance that washed over him. Even with a rose, she was nervous.

He took a deep breath.

"Ladies, Aaron. Five women, three roses. Aaron?"

He glanced at all of them again. "I've had a great week. I hate this part, I really do." He reached over for the first rose. "Taylor."

Taylor relaxed immediately and he smiled as the other women chuckled. "This is the worst part," she agreed with a chuckle as she closed the distance between them.

He smiled. "Will you accept this rose?"

"Definitely."

He hugged her and kissed her cheek. He met Haley's eyes, as well as Shaena's, Tia's and Victoria's. How was he supposed to send two of these women home? He picked up another rose. Slowly, he looked at each one of them in turn. He met Shaena's eyes after Tia and Victoria and something churned in his gut. Shaena had been on the group date and he'd discovered that, much like Emily, there was another layer to Shaena. He'd pulled her aside and he'd had a serious talk with her and discovered that as much as she and Emily stuck close – and that it was because they were a lot alike in a foreign environment – Shaena had her own feelings for him too. The churning in his gut made his decision for him.

"Shaena."

She grinned widely as she stepped towards him. "Hi," she whispered.

"Will you accept this rose?"

"Yes."

The tension racked up another notch as Shaena walked back to her place and he picked up the final rose. He saw Chris come back into the room out of the corner of his eyes. In those few seconds, he felt his eyes drawn to only one woman. So his decision was made as he picked up the final rose of the night.

"Haley."

I should be back on track now. I kept dividing scenes, in this one and in other stories so I'm hoping I'm back on the road again!

Nevertheless, I may not be updating anything until the weekend. I have midterms and classes starting back up again, so I could be a while! Patience is loved and adored!