Well hello there, hope you're all well and life is treating you right. Not as long between chapters this time, I'm all about getting this finished! Well, in between Netflix binges and general procrastination, but yeah! Let's finish this! Thank you to the people that took the time to comment and let me know what you thought, much appreciated. Thank you also for not yelling at me too much about my unauthorised sabbatical. I apologise for any mistakes, I'm sure there are some. Actually I'm sure there are loads. So I hope it's not too horrific a read, both emotionally and just in terms of bad writing. My editor/publisher/manager/cheerleader/life coach/number 1 fan was pushing me to get it out tonight. Onward we go...

Emily stumbled into the kitchen, opening up the fridge to grab another beer. It was the only time she left her room, at the start Hanna had tried to fight her on the constant drinking and sleeping the day away. After the first week though, she had finally let her be and the unanswered calls from Spencer and Aria had stopped also. They still sent her at least one message a day reminding her that they were there for her, but that they'd give her some space. She slammed the fridge door and turned to make her way back to her room.

"Enough is enough, Em." Hanna's stern voice came from behind.

She ignored it and continued her staggered walk back to her refuge.

"No." Hanna all but yelled, moving to stand in front of her best friend and yanking the bottle from her grip. "It's been two weeks, I've let this go on long enough. I thought you just needed some time, but this has to stop. This isn't a way to live and this isn't you."

Emily's glazed eyes stared vacantly back at her, "I don't care."

She pushed past her and stalked into her bedroom, Hanna stopping her from closing the door and entering behind her.

"I get that you're hurt, I get that, but you're acting like nobody else cares about you! Like nobody else matters! You may have lost Alison, but I've lost my best friend. So no more, tomorrow you are getting up, you are getting dressed, you are not drinking anything stronger than coffee and you are sorting your shit out!" Hanna folded her arms and stared her down.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

Emily had absolutely no intention of doing any of those things, but she hoped that with that answer she'd be left in peace to wallow in her constant misery.

"Not whatever, I mean it, Em!" Hanna's eyes got wet, "I miss you and I want to help you, but you won't let me."

"Ok. Fine." Emily lay down on her bed and rolled over to face the other way.

"It's not fine, you're not fine." Hanna sat down on the bed behind her, "I know you need time to process things, so I've given you that, but now it's time to talk."

"I don't want to talk." Emily was getting irritated.

"I know you don't want to, but you need to." Hanna said gently, stroking her hair.

"There's nothing to talk about, she's gone, it's over. Done. That's it." Emily felt the latest tear slide down her cheek. She was surprised she had any left.

Hanna moved so that she was the big spoon and wrapped an arm around her, "I've always been there for you. Just like you've been there for me. When my dad left, we got through it together. When you came out, we got through it together. When your dad died, we got through it together. If we can get through that, we can get through this."

Emily felt her body begin to violently shake as she let the tears flow. Hanna just held her tighter, "Tomorrow we talk, tonight we cry it out."

Emily nodded through her tears and for the first time in two weeks, she remembered what it felt like to be loved.

Hanna had held her as she sobbed herself to sleep, she never said anything, she just let Emily get it all out. When she awoke in the morning she had a pounding headache and felt completely dehydrated. Hanna was right, she couldn't go on like this. While it may have felt like her world had ended, it hadn't. There were still plenty of people in her life and she owed it to them to pull herself together and start to move on. No matter how painful that was going to be. True to her word she had talked to Hanna. Filling her in on every going on from the start, to that horrible day in her fathers office. Her best friend reacted exactly as she'd expected. There was name calling and offers to inflict pain on the parties involved, but Emily just shushed her and asked her to please not speak badly of her ex. Although she had broken her heart, Emily still didn't believe a word she had said. Maybe it was just hope that the last six months had meant something to the blonde socialite, but she had to have that hope, because the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that Alison had meant every word was too much to bear.

"Have you spoken to her at all?" Hanna breaks through her troubled thoughts.

"No, I'm not allowed. The contract is ironclad. If they say I can't, then I can't." Emily sighed.

"You're going to let a little thing like a legal document and going to prison stop you?" Hanna scoffed.

"Honestly Han, I'm done." Emily rubbed her head, as though if she rubbed hard enough the head ache might go.

"You are?" Hanna looked shocked.

Emily sighed again, "She can contact me, she hasn't. This is her mess to fix. I'm sick of being put second to everything else in her life. If she wants me, she has to be the one to come and get me. I won't go back to how it was before, it's all or nothing. So yeah, I'm done, because the chance of that happening is the same as you finishing a novel."

"Ah there's the asshole I know and love." Hanna smirked, then her face turned serious, "I…I sent her a message."

"What? When?" Emily sat up properly and stared open mouthed at her sheepish looking best friend.

"The day after it happened," Hanna looked at her sombrely, "I didn't want to message her on the first day. I hoped it was all just a misunderstanding, or one of your normal fights. By the second day though, seeing what you were like, I knew it wasn't. So I sent her a message, she didn't reply, so I got angry and sent her a pretty horrible one."

"Saying what?" Emily was a little bit pissed off at Hanna for crossing that line, but she was more curious as to what Alison may have said to her.

"What I said doesn't matter," Hanna looked like she was trying to contain her anger, "she finally messaged me back after the sixth or seventh tirade."

Emily just stared at her with questioning eyes.

"I mean I said all this horrible stuff, stuff that I thought would at least get a rise out of her, but all she sent back was 'I'm sorry'. Then she blocked my number."

"You shouldn't have done that."

"I know, but you're my best friend and Alison's supposed to be my friend too." Hanna looked sad.

"I know why you did it, but please don't get involved in this. It's not your problem." Emily softened somewhat. She knew Hanna's intentions, despite her poor execution, had been good.

"Well we can't get involved now anyway." Hanna rolled her eyes.

"We?"

"Yeah, Aria and Spence both tried to call her. See if they could help with whatever is going on, but she blocked their numbers too."

"I love you all, but no, you guys don't have to try and help anything."

"I don't know about Spencer, she was probably going to give her an earful, but Aria actually called to see if she was alright." Hanna didn't look impressed, "Apparently when it comes to friendship she has no loyalty."

Emily didn't respond, but internally she mused that while she may not be the most loyal, she certainly had the biggest heart.

"Also, I know you need time still, but you also need a pay check. I may have a job for you if you're interested?" Hanna pushed.

"Yeah, sure, tell me about it later. Do you want to go for a run?" Emily moved to drag herself out of bed, she was done with talking about this. She needed to get back to being herself.

"I would rather do anything else." Hanna pulled a face of disgust.

"Tough," Emily reached for her hand and pulled her up, "You're meant to be there for me and right now that means exercise."

"I may have preferred it when you were constantly drunk and wallowing in a pit of your own filth and misery. Let's go back to that."

"Well I mean if you're sure…" Emily pretended to ponder on it for a moment.

"Okay, okay." Hanna held her hands up in defeat, "Just give me a moment to go get ready for this living hell."

Emily smiled a genuine smile as her friend stomped out of her room. Thank god for Hanna Marin.

The run turned out to be more of a gentle jog and Emily seemed to exercise her mouth more than anything else. Her constant shouting for Hanna to get her ass moving had caused more than one head to be turned. Running gave her time to think though, something she had been avoiding doing too much over the last couple of weeks. She thought about what else she could have said in that room, she thought about whether she should have just gone along with Ali's world of lies forever. She wondered if she would have been happier living in that situation rather than the misery of being alone. Most of all though, she thought about those damn pictures. The reason it had all gone to shit. Everyday since it happened she expected her phone to ring and some reporter to be on the other end, begging her for the scoop, but it never happened. She'd never seen or heard a trace of the story. Realising that she'd been living in her bubble of booze and hate for the last fourteen days, maybe she just missed it all.

"Hey, Han?" She called out to the blonde who was still panting heavily and heading to take a shower.

"Yeah?"

"Did the pictures ever come out?" Emily tried to sound like she didn't care whether they had or hadn't, she was supposed to be moving on.

Hanna could clearly see through her fake nonchalance though, she looked at her with pity, "Not that I ever saw. Daddy's money must have worked after all."

"Good, I mean, yeah that's…whatever." Emily trailed off and pretended she needed a drink.

Hanna just stared sadly after her, "Alison's been on the gossip sites and in the magazines though."

Emily stopped and turned, "She has? Why?"

"Look I don't know whether or not I should be telling you this, but it's better you hear it from me than see it on a newsstand or some internet site." She paused and sighed, "There's a different guy every night. Models, sports stars, actors, singers…I think there was even a YouTuber…anyway, she's on a mission. Leaving clubs in the early hours with a different piece of arm candy and then just saying, 'no comment' to the paps."

Emily just nodded sadly, that wasn't Alison. She wasn't even angry at her for it, she knew she should be, but she just couldn't find the energy to be. If anything it made her feel concerned for her ex. What she was doing was either her going off the rails, or her fathers instructions. Neither made her feel any better about the situation.

"Thanks for today, Han."

"Are you ok?" Hanna tilted her head, looking at her with pity.

"No." Emily answered honestly, "but I will be."

Alison stumbled out of the club laughing. Not because she was having a good time, or had actually felt any joy at all in the last three weeks, but because there were a crowd of photographers all waiting to catch the best shot and those were her orders. Tonight's pretend love interest was an up and coming NBA player wanting to make a name for himself. Not that she could even remember his name. Her fathers secretary just sent her an email letting her know who she would be spending the evening with and a short bio. She never read anything past the name, what was the point, it wasn't like it was going to go anywhere. The men all understood the deal, a night out with her and their profile would be raised significantly. They all signed on the dotted line and everyone was happy. Everyone except her that was. When she had asked how long she would have to keep this charade up for, her father angrily told her as long as he told her to and that was that. He had struck a costly deal with the owner of the photographs that would keep them out of the press for one month, enough time for them to create their own narrative. Alison would be gaining a reputation as a party girl, young, single and having fun. No crime in that, but inevitably the press would want to bring her down. The photos would be released at the same time she was going to announce her new make up line. More specifically, the same day she was scheduled to go on a talk show to promote it. She could set the story straight right away, laugh it off and use it to gain publicity for her new business venture. Everybody wins. Everyone except her, yet again. She had no interest in bringing out a make up line, but as her father had told her, this was what was happening, end of.

"So, shall we go back to your place?" The guy, who's name she couldn't remember, whispered into her ear as they made their way to the car where Carter was waiting with her door open. She felt like it began with a J.

She ignored him as she clambered in, pretending she couldn't see her drivers disapproving stare. There was a time she would have fired him for that, but she knew she deserved it and she couldn't face losing Carter too.

"Take…him home please." She asked her driver as they set off. She'd given up on the name, it wasn't important anyway.

"Wait, I thought we had a good time?" Mr nameless said, trying to put an arm around her.

"You knew the score." Alison replied coldly as she shrugged the arm away.

He looked pissed off, but he didn't push the issue under Carters watchful eye. The drivers thoughts made clear when he didn't even get out to open the door at the mans address. Just a curt, "We've arrived."

The rest of the journey Alison could see that he wanted to say something, but he wisely chose not to. His face a picture of concern in the rear view mirror. Alison was glad when they arrived at her place, she couldn't take anymore of his disappointment.

"Let me walk you in Miss DiLaurentis." Carter said as he opened her door.

"No, don't worry. I'm fine." Alison tried to force a smile as she all but fell out of the car.

"Just up the steps." Carter took her arm before she could protest further and walked her to the door.

Once inside, she finally let the façade drop. Her whole body sagged, she greeted Pepe and made her way upstairs to bed. Slipping on the grey stained shirt and pulling the pillow out of its hiding spot in the closet, so that Martha couldn't wash it. She climbed into bed, hugged the pillow tightly and inhaled. The smell was fading and that was enough to to tip her over the edge. She unlocked her phone and went to contacts, thus her nightly ritual began. Sobbing into the pillow while her thumb hovered over Emily's name until she finally fell asleep.

When she woke up the next morning, head pounding as usual from a combination of alcohol and crying, she did her usual panicked check to make sure she hadn't actually drunk dialled Emily. Both relieved and sad to see that she hadn't. She didn't know how she even had the right to be this broken. This was her fault. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, protect Emily at all costs. However the more she thought about it, the more she realised it hadn't been some selfless act to save Emily's privacy, it had been a completely selfish one that had backfired. Surely whatever would have come their way couldn't possibly have hurt as much as she was hurting right now. There was no going back though, how could she possibly ask Emily to give her another chance now. Not to mention the fact that despite all of these thoughts, she still couldn't stomach the idea of the story breaking and what would happen after. The fear of the Unknown, the lack of control. Alison was someone who had to have control. Not that she even had that anymore, her father was the puppet master now, he pulled the strings and she moved into whatever position he instructed. The only thing she had left at this point that was completely hers, was her writing. It turned out that having her days completely free gave her a lot of time to sit down and pump out chapter after chapter. The first book was now finished, in her head she had planned a full series, but while she was filled with inspiration for the first book, she just couldn't find any for the second. Just like her own life, her characters lives were up in the air and in turmoil with no idea what was coming next.

Her day was like any other of late, she went through the the motions, avoiding leaving the house as much as she could so she didn't have to spend time with her new security, Stone. He was one of her fathers, on loan indefinitely. It was like she was constantly being spied on, if she decided to cut out of the club before the agreed time he'd be stood there with a shake of his head. There wasn't anything she could do about it, because he didn't work for her, he was following somebody else's orders. What she said didn't matter, he knew his job was safe and he was as hard and dull as his name suggested.

Settling down at her computer, she poured herself a glass of wine. It was late afternoon she justified to herself. She opened up her emails and replied to the urgent ones, ignoring anything else. Then as it usually did after a bottle of wine, curiosity got the better of her and she opened up Facebook. She had a fake profile set up so that she could check in on whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Right now, that person was Hanna Marin. Typing her name in the search bar she clicked her profile to see if there was any sign of Emily on it. She knew it was stupid and juvenile, she also knew that the last twenty times she'd looked there was nothing on there anyway. Then her heart stopped. Hanna had been tagged in a post four hours ago, but Hanna wasn't in the picture that accompanied it. No, that wasn't Hanna with her arm around some bitch called Astrid's shoulders. That was Emily. Her Emily. Expect she wasn't her Emily anymore, because the post clearly read 'Can't thank Hanna Marin enough for setting me up with this wonderful woman, I know I'm not going to be able to walk tomorrow though!' Followed by a laughing face. Alison saw red, before she knew what she'd done her computer was hitting the wall at the other side of the room. Who the fuck was Astrid?! It had been three weeks! Three weeks and she was already making sure that some whore couldn't walk straight! She stormed to the kitchen and grabbed another bottle, not even bothering with the glass. She knew this was her fault, but for her to go and fuck somebody else while Alison was still falling to sleep smelling her scent on a pillow…"FUCK YOU, EMILY! FUCK YOU!" She yelled into the empty house, before collapsing on the floor and sobbing. How long she stayed like that, just laying on the floor drinking and sobbing, she didn't know, but her emotions soon turned to angry. She was Alison DiLaurentis and she deserved answers. Had Alison actually had any friends left, they would have been there for her at this dark time in her life, but she didn't. So there was nobody there to stop her from making this reckless, drunken phone call. She hit call on Emily's contact details and after a moments silence it began to ring. It rang exactly six times, before it went to voicemail. Which would have been the ideal time to hang up and pretend like this never happened. The near enough two bottles of wine that Alison had consumed though, they had a different plan.

"WHO THE FUCK IS ASTRID?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO THIS! MOVED ON PRETTY QUICK DIDN'T YOU?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME! BUT NO, NOW YOU'RE BUSY MAKING SURE SOME BITCH CAN'T WALK PROPERLY! DID I MEAN NOTHING TO YOU? WELL DON'T WORRY BECAUSE I AM SO OVER YOU! I'M FINE, I'M DOING JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU! IN FACT I WROTE A FUCKING BOOK BECAUSE I'M DOING THAT FINE! YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK YOU, EMILY!"

She hung up the phone and stomped over to where her computer lay on the floor with a broken screen. The crack going straight through Emily's face. Then it hit her what just happened, what she'd done. While it hurt her that Emily had moved on so quickly, she had caused it. It was all on her. In no way did Emily deserve that phone call, she didn't deserve Alison storming back into her life like a bull in a china shop, just causing more pain and damage. That's all she ever seemed to do, just cause more hurt wherever she went. She had lost the one good thing that had ever happened to her. Actually, she hadn't lost anything. This wasn't carelessness on her part, she had tossed it away, destroyed it in the space of five minutes. Six months of the most blissful happiness she had ever felt, completely obliterated in less than five minutes. All because she was a coward. It was her that deserved a lifetime of misery, not Emily. If Emily had managed to piece her life back together, then Alison was just going to have to find it somewhere deep within herself to be happy for her. She couldn't even fathom where she was going to find that, but she owed it Emily. Realising that the tears had started to flow again, she wiped angrily at her face. She needed to apologise to the brunette, the alcohol was starting to lose its affect. If she was going to do this, she needed to do it while she still had the courage. She looked down at her phone again. Emily might not have even heard the voicemail yet, if she had she probably wasn't going to pick up now. Maybe she didn't want to talk to her at all anyway, there was a reason it had gone to voicemail in the first place. Maybe she was with Astrid, the thought made her blood boil with anger again. Maybe calling her again wasn't a good idea after all. No, she needed to make this right. Or as right as she could considering the fact that she had shattered the girls heart, all while staring her right in the eye. She took a deep breath as her thumb hovered above Emily's name. At this stage she had nothing left to lose, she pressed call. The phone barely rang twice before it was picked up.

"Please stop, Alison." Emily's voice answered at the other end, "I can't do this, please don't call me. This isn't fair."

Alison paused, all of her air suddenly taken away by hearing the brunettes voice after all this time. She suddenly realised just how much she had missed her and it was more she could even comprehend.

"You can't ignore me for weeks and then leave shitty, drunk voicemails like that and then call back to leave another one." Emily's voice brought her back, "You don't get to be angry, you made this decision."

"I'm sorry." Alison managed to choke out, although her voice was so quiet she wasn't sure whether or not Emily actually heard her.

"Well you should be." Emily spat back down the phone.

"I'm so, so sorry." Alison couldn't think of anything else to say as she began to cry down the phone, something she didn't want to do.

"No, Alison. You can't do this." Emily's voice shook as she spoke.

Alison fought back the tears and tried to sound as OK as she could, "I know, I just wanted to apologise for the shitty, drunk voicemail. You didn't deserve that." She took another deep breath and tried her best to sound convincing for the next part, "You've moved on and I'm happy for you, you deserve to be happy."

Emily made a noise at the other end of the line that Alison couldn't decipher. It sounded like a strangled laugh.

"You think I've moved on?" She sounded angrier than when she'd picked up the phone.

"I saw Hanna's Facebook…" Alison trailed off.

"Oh yeah, I gathered that." Emily said abruptly.

"So who is she?" Alison couldn't help but ask.

"So that's how it is? We can't be together, but I'm not allowed to be with anyone else either?"

The venom in her comment hit Alison hard, because she wanted to shout yes. She wanted to tell her that she didn't want her to be with anyone else ever, because she was hers. She was her Emily and nobody else was even allowed to look at her. Instead she tried to fight what the alcohol was telling her to do.

"I said I was happy for you." She managed to stutter out after a beat.

"Doesn't count if you don't mean it Alison." Emily could see right through her.

"And what if I didn't mean it?" The alcohol won.

"It wouldn't matter." Emily sounded like she was trying to put conviction behind her words, but something didn't ring true, "I mean you're out every night with a different fuck boy and you don't have me sending you shitty messages about it do you?"

"You know that's not what that looks like." She couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice, she knew that Emily knew it was all for show.

"Do I? How do I know that it's not exactly what the press are saying?" Emily sounded hurt too.

"Because I think you know me well enough to know that's not true."

" I used to think so too." The comment was laced with disdain.

"Yeah, well you think you know a person." Alison bit back.

"Yeah, you do." Emily just sounded defeated.

"So what I think doesn't matter to you anymore?" Alison raised the issue again.

"Well what I think has never mattered to you. You made that obvious three weeks ago."

That one stung more than Alison would like to admit, but rather than address the issue she just did what she always did and deflected.

"Well there's only one of us being publicly talked about for making it hard for people to walk the next day!" Alison's stated snarkily, she couldn't help it. No matter what she told herself, she was pissed off.

"Well yeah, it's my fucking job!" Emily matched her tone.

"Your job?! What are you a fucking hooker now?!"

"No! I'm her personal trainer!" Emily screamed back.

"Oh." It was all Alison could manage.

"You think people write shit about not being able to walk properly about people they're dating? You think I'd date someone who did write shit like that?" Emily asked as if she was stupid.

Which quite frankly, she was. Alison felt like an idiot. Of course people didn't put stuff like that on Facebook. Her jealousy had caused her to jump straight there and she didn't even for a second pause to reason.

"She works with Hanna." Emily offered up after a moments silence on both ends.

"Is she nice?" Alison didn't know why she asked that, she just needed to fill the silence.

"Seems it, but I don't really know. I only started working with her today. All I know so far is that she sings the Norwegian national anthem when she's trying to get through the pain barrier."

Against all odds of the conversation it made Alison giggle, "She does?"

"Yeah." Emily half heartedly laughed too, "It was a bit weird the first couple of times, but I'm getting used to it. I reckon I'll know all the words by next week."

"I'm sorry." Alison said again.

"Why did you call, Alison?" Emily sighed.

"Because I am," She felt the tears coming again, "and I thought you should know that I never wanted any of this to happen."

"Then why did you let it?" Emily asked, her voice sounding quiet and sad.

"It seemed like the right thing to do."

"For who?" The brunette sounded like she was crying too now.

"I don't even know anymore."

"Why are you calling, Ali?"

The use of her nickname didn't go unnoticed by the blonde, in fact it made her heart ache.

"The story is going to come out next week." She mumbled.

"What?"

"The story, about us. The pictures, they're coming out next week." Alison spoke more clearly.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I just thought you should know. I thought you should know how it's going to go down." Alison suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment.

"I don't give a shit Alison. Do what you want, say what you want, deny what you want." She sounded angry again, "Just like you did in the office."

"Emily you know I didn't…" Alison tried to find the words, "what I said…I didn't…"

"I don't know anything." Emily replied plainly.

"Well…I didn't."

"Actions speak louder than words."

Emily was right and Alison knew that she wasn't going to like the actions she was going to take next.

"I'm going on a talk show."

"Good for you."

"I'm going to counter the claims on there."

"Goodbye, Alison."

"No!" Alison shouted down the phone, "Please don't hang up."

"You've just called me to tell me that you're going to deny the entire relationship that we had on national television. Of course I'm hanging up."

"I'm not denying the entire relationship, I'm going to say that we're friends." Alison tried to defend herself, but it sounded weak even to her.

"I am so sick and tired of your shit Ali, I can't do this."

"Oh you think the shit would have been easier to deal with if this came out and we were together?"

"I think you didn't even give me the chance to try, but yeah, I do. You know why? We would have had each other and at least it would have been true! You made the decision for both of us Ali! That wasn't fair, we should have discussed it together, we should have decided together. I shouldn't have been ambushed in that office by you and your father after you'd already made a plan!" Emily was definitely crying now.

"I know." Alison replied quietly and sadly.

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I was trying to protect you."

"Really? Because all you did was hurt me more than I've ever been hurt before."

"I know, but once this has all blown over we could try and meet up?"

"In secret?"

"Well, yeah."

"I'm hanging up now."

"Please don't."

"Why? Give me one good reason that I shouldn't?"

"Because I wanted this to work and I wish it could have been different." Alison spoke honestly.

"Yeah, well that's not enough. You can't just want something, you have to work for it. It could have been different Ali, but you chose for it to be this way."

"Ok then, because you love me." Ali spoke through sobs.

"Well if I've learned anything from you at all, it's that sometimes love isn't enough."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you need to start being honest with yourself, I haven't heard from you in three weeks and you only call me when you're drunk and angry. It means sort your shit out. It means I don't want somebody in my life that lies about me on talk shows. It means I don't want to meet up in secret. It means I want to be in a normal adult relationship, where people tell people when they love them and it means that this conversation is over. Goodbye, Alison. I'm happy for you that you finished the book. Believe it or not, I actually do want you to be happy."

Before Alison could respond the line went dead. She slumped down onto the floor where she stood and tried to replay the conversation in her head. It didn't go how she thought it would, but then again, maybe it did. What did she really expect? Emily to just tell her it was all ok and everything was fine? That they could go back to how things were before? What did she mean about being honest with herself? She was being honest when she said that she was sorry. Sad, angry and confused she hauled herself up to bed to begin her nightly ritual.

Emily was shaking when she got off the phone. She'd tried to stay as calm as she could throughout. While she wanted to cry and beg Alison to give them another chance, she knew no good would come of it. That had to come from the blonde. She had to be the one willing to change things. She'd missed her initial call when she was in the shower. While the voicemail had made her so angry she wanted to punch something, it still couldn't stop her from picking up the phone. Even if she'd told her to stop, a part of her wanted Ali to call her everyday. She had to stay strong and stand her ground though. She wasn't willing to go back to before and she couldn't keep living in the past. They had to move forward and they had to have a future or they had nothing. That's what she kept telling herself. That was her mantra. A part of her hoped that Alison would think about what she'd said, but the part that held that hope was getting smaller and smaller. The only thing that she did know for sure, was that in a weeks time, it would all be over for good.

So there we have it, chapter 14 done. Just one more to go, two reasons for that. 1. Our story is coming to an end and 2. I'm a really big fan of multiples of 5. Until next time...could be next week, could be next year, but isn't the uncertainty kinda exciting? :)