HEY GUYS! SO SORRY THAT I'VE BEEN MIA FOR SUCH A LONG TIME. I'VE BEEN SO BUSY WITH STUFF THAT I HAVEN'T HAD TIME TO ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WRITE MORE THAN A COUPLE OF SENTENCES, AND THEN I'D FORGET WHAT I WAS WRITING ABOUT. SO HERES THE NEXT CHAPTER, I'M SORRY THAT IT'S SO SHORT. I'VE BEEN TRYING TO THINK ABOUT WHAT TO WRITE NEXT. If you guys have any ideas or direct in which you would like the story to go comment and let me know! THANKS FOR BEING SUCH AN AMAZING AUDIENCE! 3 :)

Chapter 12

Emily's POV

I finished my shift around six o'clock. I made sure that everything was done so that I wouldn't be interrupted during my talk with Paige. My apartment wasn't far from the bar that we were meeting at later. I quickly rushed home and showered.

It took me forever to find an outfit looked nice but casual. I wasn't sure what Paige would be wearing since, my guess, she's coming straight from work. I settled on skinny jeans and a nice open shirt. I added a light layer of make-up before pinning my hair back.

It was 7:45pm when I set out for the bar. It was only a ten-minute walk, but I wanted to make sure that I got there before Paige. I like this bar because it was extremely homey. It reminded me of the inside of a lob cabin. I was able to grab a table near the door. When my watched chimed, I glanced out the window and noticed that I was pouring rain outside. The minutes that past by were the most painful. I thought that Paige had stood me up. At 8:20, as I was beginning to gather my things, the door opened, and there was a soaking wet Paige standing in front of me.

"Emily, I am so sorry," she started.

"Paige, you're soaking wet," I said forgetting my feelings. "Take that jacket off."

Paige took of her soaking wet jacket. She was still partially in her uniform, she had on skinny jeans but she still had on her blue shirt. The shoulders of her shirt were wet along with her hair and pants. I quickly took her wet jacket and hung it up on the back of the chair.

"Here, put it on. You look like your freezing," I said wrapping my jacket around a shivering Paige.

"Em, I'm really sorry I'm late. We got back to the station late and then the rain," she said wrapping my jacket tightly around her.

"Paige, relax, don't be sorry. I got here a little late too," I lied trying to make Paige feel a little less guilty.

"So, miss resident, how have you been?" Paige asked as she ordered a beer.

"Well, it's been pretty great. Worked my ass off to get here, but hey I guess it all paid off."

"I guess it did," Paige said with a chuckle.

"So, how have you been? I didn't know you were working in Philly."

"Yeah, Rick called me when I got out and I guess one thing led to another and yeah."

"Well that's great Paige. I'm really happy for you. So you're living in Philly?"

"Yeah, I have an apartment a few blocks from the station."

"Really, mines just a few blocks from the station," Emily said in excitement, "Anyways, how are things? How's your dad?"

"He's great, I don't think I've seen him this happy in a long time. Where suppose to get dinner sometime this week. What about Pam and Wayne?"

"Pam's the same old Pam. She hasn't changed one bit. They're both excited to see you."

"That sounds great."

There was a pause in the conversation. I sensed that Paige was still a little on edge. I would be too after everything that she's gone through. I mean who can really blame her.

She took of swig of her beer before focusing her eyes on the fire. I took a depth breath before breaking the silence that had been floating around us for a while.

"How's Lily?" Paige asked.

"She's good. She's getting stronger every minute."

"That's wonderful."

There was another long pause of silence between us. Paige rolled her bottle around in her fingers.

"I'm sorry Paige," I whispered, taking her hand in mine. Her eyes moved from the fire to my hand.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Em," she said still staring at our hands.

"Paige, I should have believed you when you said you were innocent. I should have done more, but instead I turned and ran away. I didn't even have the guts to visit you when you got out. I ruined everything that we had; everything was perfect for the longest time. And that's what I miss the most, so I'm sorry."

"Emily…" Paige whispered, before focusing her eyes on me. They were full of sadness, but there was something else that I couldn't describe. "You didn't do any of this. It was all Alison."

"I should have said something, instead of lie. I should have told the truth, instead I let Allison get the best of me."

"Emily, if you had told the true, we would all still be behind bars. You wouldn't be this amazing doctor, Spencer wouldn't get to be the lawyer to get me out of prison, Aria wouldn't be writing New York Bestsellers, and Hanna wouldn't be designing runway clothing. Allison manipulated her way through life, but that only landed her in a place were she'd never be able to do something like that again. Sure, Allison did a number on all of us, but we all came of out of it better and stronger than we were before. I wouldn't have asked it to happen any other way."

"I just hate that I've made you waste years of your life sitting in prison for something that you didn't do."

"That time that I spent in there wasn't a waste," Paige sighed. "I learned so much about myself that I didn't before. There are so many things that I learned to appreciate, so many new things that I discovered, and so many people that have helped me become a better and stronger person. It's helped me become more of who I want to be."

"That's wonderful Paige," I said pulling her into a warm hug. To be honest I didn't really know how to respond to her. My response was probably the shittiest response that one could come up with, but my mind was lost in this cloud of confusion.

"So…" Paige said. "What have you been up to since high school?"

I could tell that Paige was trying to change the subject after my deflating response.

"Well, I went and swam for Danby all four years, and I might add that we beat Stanford all for year."

"Hey, that's because I wasn't there to whoop your ass," Paige laughed.

"Whatever, Danby still has a trophy to prove it," I laughed as Paige rolled her eyes. "Anyways after that I continued into the health field and did a couple internships over the summer. After a couple of summer interning at hospitals around the Philly area, I got a residency at Penn Gen, and they're paying for grad school, so now all I have to do is make some money and pay back my student loans."

"Well at the rate your going, I think that you'll be out of that hole in no time," Paige said with a smile.

"And at the rate your going, you'll save so many lives," I said rubbing my thumb across Paige's hand.

"In the end, I think that we've both gotten to the places we wanted to go, even if the journey was long and treacherous."

"I think your right," I whisper, leaning my head on Paige's shoulder.

"Being here, with you, is the first time I've felt truly happy in a while," Paige said kissing the top of my head.

"I really missed you Paige," I said giving her a peck on the cheek.

"I missed you too Emily," she replied, giving my hand a tight squeeze.