A/N: Hey guys, happy Friday and Veteran's Day (kind of) (for all of you in the U.S.)! I just wrote this chapter while my daughter was napping and I couldn't wait to get it out to you, so here's my final update for the week! We get a little Emison and some of the aftermath of the drama, but it's mostly a Pam/Emily heart-to-heart filled chapter. I hope you all enjoy! The reviews have been awesome so far. Keep them coming! Thanks for ready and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The next couple of days had been odd for the brunette. Her and Alison had basically gone back to the way it was before Saturday. They met for coffee, well, decaffeinated tea for Alison, each morning and spent their lunch hour talking about anything and everything. Emily was taking a genuine interest in Alison and the baby, asking how she was feeling, making sure she was eating properly, taking her prenatal vitamins and getting enough rest.

Alison appreciated that their friendship didn't seem to suffer at all because of their falling out from the weekend. She had feared that she had ruined their relationship beyond repair, but Emily really had been amazing. She had never met anyone like Emily Fields before in her life. Over the past day or so, Alison had been having thoughts about where her and Emily would be right now if things had gone differently between them that day in high school. She had been apologizing profusely to the brunette since Tuesday, feeling even more guilty for all the pain that she put Emily through, but Emily waved it off each time. By lunch on Friday, Emily finally explained why the blonde didn't need to keep apologizing.

"If I didn't go through all that, I don't know if I would be as strong as I am today. I don't think I would be the same person sitting here today. Who knows? Maybe my personality would be completely different. Maybe I would have never come back to Rosewood with my mom. Hell, my personality may have been so vile and disgusting that you wouldn't even have the stomach to look at me."

Emily winked at Alison, causing a small laugh to escape the blonde's lips. "I don't think there is any timeline where I didn't want you in my life, Em."

This caused a blush to creep up Emily's cheeks. She wanted to reach out and grab Alison's hand, but knew that the blonde needed more time and she didn't want to push too far. As much as she didn't want it to, she had to admit that her heart felt heavy when she wasn't around Alison. When they were together, ninety-nine percent of the time Emily just enjoyed the blonde's company. But when they were apart, the unknowing weighed on Emily's mind. She wanted Alison, and it hurt knowing that Alison may not end up choosing her. She understood that the baby came first in Alison's life now, and there was no way that Emily was going to fault her for that. But she wanted so badly to be a part of their lives. Both of their lives. As more than just a friend. She knew in her heart and her mind that she wanted Alison and everything that came with her. She just hoped and prayed that Alison felt the same way about her.

She was brought back to the moment by Alison's voice. "So, what are you up to this weekend?"

"We have a swim invitational tomorrow that will be taking up most of my day, but other than that I don't have much else planned. You?"

"Well, my brother called me last night. He's in Philly for the day on business, so he wants to meet up for dinner."

"I didn't know that you had a brother. I don't remember you ever mentioning him."

"Yeah, we were never very close as kids. He's 4 years older than me. Got involved with the wrong crowd in school and fell into drugs and alcohol at a young age. He was always my weird, wasted brother who hung out with his friends in his room. When our mom passed, he hit rock bottom. Took him a while to get out of it. Once he got clean though, we grew closer. Our relationship still isn't perfect, but we're getting there." Alison said with a fond smile. She was proud of Jason for how far he had come in the past couple of years. She knew how hard life was on him growing up. She knew that he was struggling, but she still resented him. She wanted a normal brother, not someone who got high and would try to hit on his sister's friends whenever they came over. Alison also knew that their father played favorites. She was a daddy's girl and she knew it. She knew her parents were disappointed in Jason and she used that to her advantage. She would often find ways to rub it in Jason's face how much of a screw up he was. If she knew Jason was lurking around, she would brag about a good test grade she got, or would ask her dad for something she knew he would give her, just to make sure how much more their father loved her over Jason. She was glad that they had been able to work past all of that. They were both completely different people now and neither one of them held a grudge towards the other.

"Oh, ok. Would you maybe want to get together on Sunday? Maybe grab breakfast or something?" Emily was giving Alison her best puppy dog eyes.

Alison let out a laugh. "How can I say no to that face?"

By the time Emily reached her apartment building, she was exhausted. She had been pushing the girls hard this week for the invitational and had decided to stay after practice and get a few laps in herself. With everything so up in the air with Alison, she needed to let off some steam and ended up swimming for 45 minutes. She opened the door to the apartment and was met with the most amazing smell of her favorite meal being cooked by her mother. Her mom was standing at the stove, rapidly stirring vegetables in the wok while a pot of jasmine rice was cooking on the next burner.

"This smells amazing mom!" Emily said as she kicked off her sneakers and put her duffle bag down by the door. "My favorite, what's the occasion?"

Pam Fields glanced over her shoulder with a smile as she saw Emily head over to the counter, pluck a piece of teriyaki chicken out of the bowl and pop it in her mouth. "Hey, don't go eating it all before it even makes it to the plate!"

Emily laughed. "Well, maybe if it wasn't so good, I wouldn't want to devour it straight out of the pan! Seriously, mom, what's the deal?"

Pam laughed along with Emily. Well, I thought that since we both have a rare night off together that we could enjoy a nice dinner. It's been a while since we've caught up."

Emily smiled at her mom. She was right, they had both had crazy schedules these past few weeks and barely saw each other anymore. "That sounds great, mom. Let me just hop in the shower real quick?"

"Ok, but hurry up, dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes!" Pam called out to Emily as she ran down the hall and shut her bedroom door behind her.

Emily emerged less than 5 minutes later in her Pepperdine hoodie and matching sweatpants with her wet hair up in a messy bun. She walked over to the cabinet and grabbed two bowls before heading to get some glasses. "You want some wine tonight, mom?"

"Sure honey, I'll take a glass."

Emily reached for two wine glasses and poured a healthy amount into each before bringing them to the table and grabbing some silverware. Pam put some rice, vegetables and chicken into each of the bowls and brought them over to the table. Emily didn't realize how hungry she was until she started digging into her stir-fry. They ate in silence for a few minutes until Pam spoke up.

"So, how's work going?"

"Great! I love most of the kids I teach, and the girls on the swim team are all really hard workers, so it's nice to coach them. They take all of my advice and are so eager to get better!"

"That's great, Emmy! I know your father would be so proud of you if he were here right now." Pam gave Emily a sad smile. Even though it had been over a year, Emily still missed her dad like crazy. He had always given her the best advice and the best hugs. When she came out to her parents in college, he was the voice of reason with her mom. Her mom took it hard, but with her dad there, Emily knew she wasn't alone and eventually her dad helped her mom to see that she was still the same daughter they had raised and loved. Their relationship was stronger once her mom accepted her for who she was.

And it grew stronger still after Wayne Field's passing. Emily knew that her mom was lonely without her dad around. She wished that she would get out and start dating. She knew that her dad wouldn't want her sitting around not living her life. Yeah, she worked and was making friends, but she never wanted to find someone new. But Wayne would want that for he. He would want her to find love again. To find someone to share her life with.

"So, mom, any cute guys that you work with at the police station?" Emily wiggled her eyebrows over the rim of her wine glass.

Pam's eyes went wide. "Emily Fields! You know how I feel about this kind of conversation!" She defended.

"Mom, it doesn't hurt to just meet a couple guys and go on a few dates. I'm not talking going out and marrying someone tomorrow, but it doesn't hurt to put yourself out there and see what's waiting."

"Emmy, I don't think I'm ready for that." Pam said as she began pushing the stir-fry around in her bowl.

"You know dad would want you to be happy again. You know he would want you to love again." Emily's eyes were pleading with her mother. She didn't like seeing her mom alone. She knew that she wasn't going to be living there forever and she didn't want to feel like she was abandoning her mom when she finally did move out on her own.

Pam huffed before taking a sip of her wine. She narrowed her eyes and peered over her glass at her daughter. "What about you? Any cute girls that you work with at the high school?" Pam wiggled her eyebrows in the same fashion Emily had to her.

All the color drained from Emily's face and she quickly took a large mouthful of wine. She looked to her mother who was smirking at her now. She didn't expect her mom to turn this around to her! She had to laugh at herself though, being beat at her own game. "Well, there is this one woman, Alison." Emily started off shyly. She looked up at her mom who was genuinely smiling at her now.

"And….?" Pam goaded Emily to continue.

"And we have been spending a lot of time together in school and we text a lot to each other."

"Is that who you are talking to when you are on your phone and a smile lights up your face?" Pam's smile was ear to ear now and it lit up her eyes. She had wondered if Emily was seeing someone with some of her actions lately, but she was waiting for the younger brunette to bring it up.

Emily felt like the heat in the apartment was on full blast. She wiped her sweaty hands on her sweatpants and took another swig of wine. "Y-yeah, but it's complicated."

"How so?"

"Well, first off, she just got divorced on Monday."

"Well, good, that means she's available." Pam smirked, trying to lighten the mood for her now-obviously-nervous daughter.

Emily looked at her mom incredulously. "Second, we kind of have a complicated past."

"What do you mean by that? Is she from here? Did you guys go to school together?"

"Yeah, we went to high school together, not middle school though. But we weren't really friends. We didn't even really talk to each other." Emily said, continuing to push around her food instead of eating it. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

"Wait, did she have anything to do with those rumors in high school?"

Emily's head shot up and her jaw dropped. "H-how? H-how did you know about those?" She was dumbfounded. How in the hell had her mom found out about that? She never told them. She kept it all bottled up inside.

Pam looked suddenly very shy. "Well, Hanna approached me one day. Said that some of the kids at school had started saying some pretty mean things about you being, well, gay and she said that the four of you were drifting apart. She said that she had tried to talk to you, but you kept telling her everything was fine. She didn't believe it though, so she wanted to ask me if I noticed anything different in you."

"What did you say?"

"I told her that you seemed fine and never said anything to me about it. Because you never said anything to us." Pam's voice broke at the last sentence.

"Why didn't you ever ask me about it?"

"Because I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want to think of you as gay. I didn't want to think that you were hurting so much over something like that. Was it true?" Tears began to form in Pam's eyes. When she looked up at Emily, she could see her jaw was clenched and she was trying desperately to hold back her own tears. She knew immediately that Hanna had been right. She felt that she had failed as a parent in that time of Emily's life. "I'm so sorry, Emmy. If I had known you were hurting, I would have tried to help. I should have asked you. I should have told your father." Tears were spilling over Pam's eyes and onto her cheeks.

Emily looked up and met her mother's wet eyes. The flash of anger that she had felt dissipated when she saw the guilt and remorse in her mother's eyes. The emotions bubbling inside her quickly came pouring out and hot tears stung her face.

Pam stood up and walked over to Emily. She knelt down in front of her and grabbed both of her hands as Emily turned to face her. "Emmy, I am so sorry that I failed you all those years ago. I am so sorry that you felt that you had to hide your life away from us. I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that alone. Please, can you forgive me?"

Sobs wracked through Emily's body as she threw her arms around her mother's neck. The truth is, she forgave her parents years ago. She knew that it wasn't their fault and that she shut them out. Emily took a few calming breathes, trying to gain her composure. Once she was calm enough, she pulled back from Pam's embrace. "Mom, it's ok. I forgave you guys a long time ago. I was good at hiding it, I should have been more honest."

Pam placed her hands on Emily's cheeks and wiped away her stray tears with her thumbs. "Promise me you'll come to me when something is bothering you? Promise you won't shut me out again?"

Emily smiled gently at her mom. "Promise."

"Good," Pam said with a firm head nod. "I think we've had enough healthy stuff, how about some ice cream and you can tell me more about Alison and why it's all so complicated?"

Emily smiled at her mom. "Only if we get to watch trashy reality tv, too."

Pam laughed at her daughter. "Anything you want, Emmy."

XXXXX

After the table was cleared and the leftovers were put away, Pam and Emily were settled on the couch with their bowls of ice cream and watching some Real Housewives of Wherever make fools of themselves.

"So, tell me more about Alison." Pam said as she stared straight ahead at the tv.

"Well, when we first met again, I figured out who she was, but she didn't recognize me. When she did find out, she felt awful. She begged me to give her another chance and to start with a clean slate." Emily finished with a spoonful of ice cream.

"And you agreed, I assume?"

"Yeah, I thought about it for a couple days and decided to try again at getting to know each other."

"I wish I knew what you went through with her back then," Pam said with a frown.

Emily matched it with one of her own as she turned to face Pam. "Listen, mom, maybe one night, soon, we can go back to that place if you really want to. But just know that I've moved on. I am ok from it. I've come to peace with it, and believe it or not, Alison has helped with that a lot." A smile graced Emily's face at the mention of the blonde.

"She must really be special to you, huh?"

Emily couldn't keep the cheesy grin off her face and the softness out of her voice. "Yeah, she really is."

"Then what's the problem? Doesn't she feel the same way?"

"Well, she's never been with a girl before, but she was ok with that, I think. At least she seemed ok with it." Emily bit the inside of her cheek.

"Go on, I know there's more." Pam placed her bowl of ice cream down on the coffee table before grabbing Emily's out of her hand. She turned to face Emily on the couch and grabbed both of her hands. "It's ok, I'm not going to judge anything that you say."

Emily gave Pam an appreciative smile. "Remember how I told you she just got divorced?" Pam nodded her head that she did. "Well, she went on Monday to finalize it and while she was at the courthouse she passed out and was taken to the hospital."

Pam's hand shot up to her mouth. "Oh my, is she ok?"

"Yeah, the doctor's said she was suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. But while she was there, they did some blood work and she found out that she's pregnant."

"Oh, so does she want to go back to her ex?" Pam furrowed her brow.

"No, she said that she wants nothing to do with him and she could care less if he even sees the baby." Pam gave Emily a look of confusion, so Emily continued. "The night the baby was conceived, he forced himself on her. And then she caught him in bed with her best friend."

"Oh, wow. He seems like a complete jerk."

"He really is," Emily scoffed.

"So, is Alison going to keep the baby?"

"She says that she wants to, but she doesn't know if she's a hundred percent sure if she wants to include me. She says she doesn't want to hurt me again. She doesn't want to string me along and then realize it's not what she wants." Emily sighed as she dropped her head.

"What do you want, honey?" Pam asked, her voice laced with sincerity.

"I want to be a part of both their lives. I want to be there for her for whatever she needs. I told her that I could be there as just a friend to her, but I don't know if I can do that, mom."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm quickly falling in love with her." A smile slowly began to form on Emily's face and Pam's soon matched. "She's made me feel things that's I've never felt before. I feel alive when I'm with her. It's like the world falls away and it's only us. Nothing else matters. And the couple of times that we've kissed, it's felt like a thousand bolts of electricity coursing through my body."

Pam looked over at her daughter with a cheeky smile. "Em, it's sounds like you've already fallen." Emily blew out a breath and shrugged. Pam squeezed her hands harder. "I know you're scared and uncertain, but just be there for her, just like you have been. She's just gone through two life changing events in one day. She needs time to process it all. I have a feeling that she'll come around soon," Pam said with a smile on her face.

"I hope you're right, mom."

"Me too," Pam whispered before pulling Emily into another tight hug.

A/N 2: Ok, so that was the Emily/Pam talk. I hope you guys liked it! Up next: the Alison/Jason heart-to-heart. Hopefully I'll have it you guys on Monday, Tuesday at the latest!