The Hamptons 2013

"Always the bridesmaid never the bride," Ashley Davenport bellowed in her luxurious buttercup colored bridesmaid dress across the table from Emily Thorne who was wearing a Vera Wang dress straight off her spring line. The dress had almost a mermaid shape to it by the way it clung to her body and hugged her hips. An ivory sash rested at her waist, pulling everything tightly together like a corset and giving her ample cleavage. Her breasts sat in a sweetheart top covered in diamonds and tiny flowers made of lace. The buttons at the back were pearls and she chose not to wear shoes since they were getting married on the beach. In the sand Ashley took off her kitten heels and chose to be barefoot as well, everything freshly manicured the day before.

"It will be your turn soon Ashley, as long as we can find you a man, someone brave enough to put up with all of your English sass."

Ashley smiled softly and let her glass clink against Emily's.

"You know me too well Miss Grayson," she said, already throwing the Grayson name around even though Emily chose to keep Thorne as her last name for legal reasons and because being a Grayson on paper made her skin crawl.

Over the past year Emily had reacquainted with Ashley in an attempt to learn everything she needed to about the woman. She needed to get on her good side. She needed to get Ashley to trust her so the girl wouldn't cause her any more problems. She had enough problems to deal with; she didn't need a nosy former friend poking around in her business as well. Emily also wanted to keep her friends close but her enemies closer. She needed information to blackmail Ashley with in case she ever got in her way.

Charlotte looked gorgeous in her yellow dress, she top a bit lighter than the bottom which was cut at the knee so it showed off her legs but was still modest. She had gone to rehab but had come home in time to attend the wedding of her brother and unbeknownst to her, her half-sister. Declan and Jack Porter did not attend. Victoria Grayson made it very clear that they were not welcome, not after everything.

Emily thought it was a good idea they didn't come either, it just would have been a distraction with Jack being there since she would have preferred the groom to be him instead of Daniel. She knew she was marrying Daniel for the wrong reasons and it had taken a lot of healing between the two to get him to give her the ring back.

While the ring looked good on her finger, Jack looked better on her arm.

She invited Nolan who also wasn't pleased about her choice of who to marry but he made it as Daniel's best man even though the two weren't close. Daniel didn't have many friends left after his time in prison and Tyler was dead so that was out. Nolan wore white slacks with the buttercup colored suit jacket provided to him. Underneath he had a white dress shirt with a baby blue bowtie and the same colored dress shoes. Emily thought he looked very posh, it was all very him. He looked good in her wedding photos. The man happened to be very photogenic as if he were a model or something. He did have the height and body for it.

Catching Nolan's eye from across the room she glanced at him and he waved at her, his wave a mixture of The Queen's wave and almost looking like he was trying to catch a bug in his hand via slow motion. No matter what, she liked it, it was unlike any other.

She liked that about him, unlike Daniel Grayson, Nolan Ross was his own person. Nolan didn't have to look to other people to see how to act and behave. Nolan was a leader and Daniel was a follower.

Looking back to Ashley she already saw Ashley peer over at who she was looking at. "Nolan Ross. Brightly colored per usual…" she said as she reapplied her lipstick.

"Mmm," was all Emily could say without sounding like Nolan Ross's biggest fan. He was her best friend after all even though she wouldn't ever tell him out loud. She imagined he knew how much he meant to her.

"The ceremony was fantastic by the way; Daniel looked stunning in his suit. I've never seen him look better and I do believe I've seen him in a lot of suits, even in pictures," she said as she tucked her makeup in her clutch bag.

"He does look nice," Emily said, not one for small talk.

Usually everything she talked about, there was a purpose behind it. Today she had no purpose except to have fun and mingle with the rest of the Grayson family, people who were not immune to her lack of kindness. Half of them would succumb to her trail of terror in the next few years. Everyone needed a little bit of punishment, especially if they had harmed her or anyone in her family.

Finding out her mother was alive was a big shock to her, the biggest.

She knew somehow the Grayson family was tied to her disappearance as well, everything was linked and she was ready to find out how. The best way to find out what she needed was to marry Daniel, to get closer to his family. As his wife she would have more legal rights and ways in to certain accounts, trusts, numbers, files etc. and thus Nolan could take it from there.

"I'm glad Charlotte could make it here," Emily said to Ashley as she sipped her champagne, watching her new husband chat with his guests.

Her guests were…well she didn't have any other than Nolan which everyone found odd but she didn't have time to throw together people to pay to come to her wedding. It was too risky.

Ashley nodded, watching the girl talk to her grandfather, "As am I, she looks happy, what a relief. Too many teens around here are getting addicted to drugs. If they're not popping pills then they're shooting things into their arms or up their nose."

"It's a shame…" Emily said as she got up, leaving Ashley to mingle herself.

She had a family to charm and win over despite Victoria Grayson's wishes. She could tell Victoria hated her, every time she glanced over at Victoria she received a death glare with vacant eyes and a cold smile that made her spine tingle in a bad way.

She expected nothing less though.

The wedding in itself was a lot to digest. Half the people there couldn't stand her existence and they didn't even know she was Amanda Clarke; the other half may have liked her but kept quiet per the ice queen's request.

She was suddenly feeling very lonely.

Standing next to Daniel she linked her arm with his. At this point in their relationship she truly thought he cared about making his family look good than his marriage with her. It hurt but it also made things a lot easier.

She could learn not to love him. She could take pleasure in his sex, in his kind words, but she knew how to keep her emotions at bay now. The mission mattered. That was it.

"You look beautiful…" Daniel murmured as he admired her body in full, whisking her away from people and wanting a moment alone. "Like a poem…"

Emily smiled as she put her hands on his shoulders, "Which poem?"

"Robert Frost's "Love and a Question" of course…" he said as he leaned in to kiss her sweet lips that tasted like cherries according to him. He would tell her later on their honeymoon in France.

"Oh yes of course…" she said with a little smirk, petting his hair, taking pleasure where she could get it.

"The bridegroom came forth into the porch
With, 'Let us look at the sky,
And question what of the night to be,
Stranger, you and I.'"

Daniel recited part of the poem for her as he slow danced with her to music in the distance they could both hear if they really listened. He was pretty sure it was Etta James.

"I love you…" he cooed as he swayed with her under a weeping willow tree twinkling with little white lights as the sun went down.

"I love you too," she replied as she closed her eyes and let all her worries and fear wash away.

This feeling didn't last for long.

"Did you love her?" Emily asked robotically as they spread his Aunt Carole's ashes by the sea.

Nolan sighed and cocked his head, questioning her word choice but understanding her. She didn't know what love was, not anymore. Or she did but she couldn't explain it in words.

She didn't like words, she preferred actions.

"Of course…" he chimed as he watched her ashes move against the ocean's currents. "This is what she wanted…" he said as he put the urn into the sand, an eternal resting spot. He would have his memories and those were enough.

"It's nice…it's nice just you and me here," she said, able to rest her mind for a little while as she mourned with him.

His Aunt Carole liked things to be easy and simple. She never wanted him to worry or fuss over her. She wanted him to be happy and have peace and he was getting it. He hoped to. She wanted what was best for Amanda Clarke as well since she had known what the girl had been through.

Turned out, this was only the beginning.

"To Aunt Carole," he said as he popped open some champagne for the both of them. Taking a swig from the large bottle he handed it to her and she drank.

"To Aunt Carole…" handing it back to him, they shared the bottle until there was not but a drop left.

They watched the sun set and she remembered doing the same with Daniel at her wedding. This was years later and somehow she felt more beautiful here with Nolan than she did in her wedding dress years earlier.

This wasn't about her though, it was about him.

Him

It was always about him and his family. For years they were the center of attention and Emily Thorne wasn't about to end that. She focused herself on their success; while they thought she was helping them she was actually hurting them. Amanda Clarke was ratting the Grayson family out to the Initiative and watching each family member burn for helping them. They didn't know how deep they were in, no one did. Emily still didn't realize how far everything branched out.

Daniel welcomed her into his home which was nothing like it used to be. He was living with Charlotte in a small apartment near the beach but it was nothing like the manor. It was two bedrooms, a living room, one bathroom, a kitchen and a tiny balcony. He didn't have much to offer her, not anymore.

"It's time we talk…" he muttered as she helped herself to sitting on one of the chairs between the living room and the kitchen.

Emily looked over at him and nodded "So talk."

Daniel almost laughed as he sat next to her, pulling a chair close to her. "I was hoping you would start, you're the secretive one…the liar."

Emily brushed his comments off her shoulders and cocked her head slightly, her lips parting. "You lied just as much as me. You turned your back on me and chose your family."

"Isn't that what family is supposed to do?" he asked, choosing blood over love very clearly.

"You can be loyal without betraying your wife time and time again" she said as she glared at him with her killer eyes.

"You betrayed me Emily…you lied about your identity for years. You came up with elaborate stories about your life, you hired relatives, you made up friends, and you chose to spend your time with Nolan Ross over me. You're just as lonely as he is. You're perfect for each other."

"I didn't choose Nolan, Daniel, I chose you," she murmured, trying to give herself some credit.

"I was a game to you, one piece on a giant board. You didn't think I would figure it out but I did. I figured you out. It was only a matter of time," he said as he crossed his arms.

"Don't look so smug Daniel. I let myself get figured out. Staying married to you was a chore. You're right…I wanted someone else to clean up my mess and I got you to do it."

Daniel pulled back and bit his lip, shifting in his chair. "Look, I don't want to be petty…I've had about enough of that. Remember when we were happy?"

Emily looked into her lap, thinking back. "Sure…but happiness for me is fleeting Daniel. That's something no one could understand but me."

He nodded, his eyes squinting as he tried to understand her and really listen. Maybe he hadn't listened enough to her during their marriage. "We could be happy again…"

Emily laughed, she actually laughed as she leaned into him. "You want to re- marry the woman who imprisoned your family and everyone you've ever loved? Do you really want to be with Amanda Clarke?" she asked.

Daniel shrugged "I'd do it…for the baby,"

"More lies," she said as she smiled inside, he still thought she was pregnant, sweet delicious karma was on its way.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he looked at her, keeping his eyes to hers.

"I mean you're just ready to live more lies for the sake of a child…" she said as she crossed her legs.

"Emily I still love you…I love this baby no matter what…" he said which made something in her break and snap. She felt anger in her veins, in her bones. It hurt.

"If you loved me then you wouldn't have tried to destroy me. You wouldn't have broken into Nolan's home and taken what you did. You never would have looked at those tapes and read those files," she said as she shook her head.

"Are you kidding me Emily? You've videotaped us making love, you've destroyed my entire family, you've gone above and beyond to ruin me and my name," he said shrugging. "Forgive me for wanting some of my own…control."

"No one controls me." She said as she stood up, looking angered and as strong as an amazon.

""I'm not trying to control you, I'm trying to love you…work with me here," he said as he clutched her hand, kneeling before her.

"Your family started this whole thing…"

"My family, not me Emily…" he said as he looked up at her.

"My name is Amanda Clarke…" she said with conviction.

Daniel stood up and held her hands, looking into her eyes. "Amanda…we can make this work…"

"You wanted to hurt me, you wanted to hurt my friends…even you are not immune from me Daniel. No one is going to get in my way…"

Squeezing her hands he tried to talk her through her pain. Now she knew what being betrayed felt like, at least in his eyes. Leaning in to kiss her he clutched her face and let her fall into him.

She didn't.

"I want this baby more than anything…" he said to which she quickly replied.

"I'm not pregnant…I was never pregnant."

Daniel pulled back and she could see the misery panning across his face. She knew she had really hit a nerve.

"What?" he managed to wheeze out.

"No child of mine will ever be a Grayson…" she said as she pulled back from him, walking toward the door. She didn't want to be his trophy wife or his vessel. She just wanted to be her.

The mission was what mattered.

Turning to face him, the puppy of a man looking neutered she was prepared to become a viper. She had to give her final blow.

"Payback's a bitch Daniel."