A/N: Thank you all for the continued support. You're all so lovely.
Chapter 14:
In the Dark
The scene was absolute chaos, like something straight out of a grisly unedited crime scene documentary. The splatter had gotten everywhere. There were red splotches all over the place. The air smelled like sweat and adrenaline. Quick feet padded against the ground, everyone rushing to do something to help. They moved quickly. Everything happened so fast. Seconds turned into minutes. And every minute that went by was crucial. What happened later depended solely on everything they did now.
"What have you got?" An enthusiastic, yet controlled, voice asked.
"Head shot." The reply came as they rounded the corner.
A pair of crimson soaked hands were shaking under a faucet of warm water, scrubbing frantically, trying to wash away the stains, but all it did was coat the sink. The thick dark substance was painting the white porcelain red, the water splashing and sending flowery patches of the hue spreading out like a field of bright blooming poppies.
"She's dying!" A frantic voice could be heard around the corner.
God, not this again, was all that went through her mind.
"What do we do?" Another voice asked, cracking under pressure.
There were a bunch of whispers and murmurs and then for a few seconds there was nothing but total silence. Then there was the sound of the drain sucking up the dirty dyed water, leaving traces of thick red streaks behind.
"She can't die! We can't let her die!" Someone ordered.
"Damn it." Dripping wet fingers gripped the sink.
"Hey, it's going to be okay." A warm hand clasped down on Ali's shoulder.
Ali spun around and found Spencer standing behind her with a scrub brush and soap to try and help her get the paint off of her hands. The drama department had some malfunctions with the set, and the parents and teachers had jumped in to help them work overtime to scrounge together a few last minute set decorations for the play. They had a little over an hour before curtain time. Ali had been in the middle of doing some touch up painting on some props with Aria when she accidentally kicked the can of paint over, leaving the surrounding area looking like a complete bloodbath.
"It's everywhere, Spence," Ali complained. "It even drenched a bunch of the kids' glamour shots." She motioned to a few head shots that had been salvaged from the great paint disaster of opening night.
"It's not that big of a deal," Aria said, walking in with more cleaning supplies. "They have extra copies. And as far as the floor goes, it's just paint."
"Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!" Someone shouted from the stage.
There was a bunch of enthusiastic clapping from off-stage, a bunch of kids who were filling in for the audience participation to get the actors and actresses ready for the real thing.
"Look, it's working!" The voice replying was Levi's.
More clapping.
"She's not dying!" Another kid exclaimed. There was a pause and then, "Tink, you're okay!"
"Okay, let's try that again. Remember to project and enunciate." The drama instructor walked out on stage to give a few pointers to her kids. "From the top, guys."
"Ugh, again?" Ali grumbled. They'd been through the scene like twenty times already. If the kids weren't ready for the play an hour before curtains up, they would never be ready.
"I know. Now you feel my pain." Hanna peered up from behind a large wooden plank that was part of the pirate ship set. "If Levi spent half as much time memorizing quantum physics or some other brainy thing instead of lines from this play he'd probably be like…running NASA or in Mensa by now." She stood up.
"Harper is in Mensa." Spencer smiled.
"It's not a competition, Spencer." Hanna rolled her eyes.
"I'm just saying, my child is already managing. Yours got his tongue stuck to the freezer door the other day."
"He won a bet. He took money home. I'm happy." Hanna smirked. "Plus, he wasn't singing any songs on repeat that night because his big mouth had frostbite."
"My house has been 'repeat' central, too. Fiona was running lines with her brother the other night and Kai got bored so he just started dropping in beats from his favorite raps to throw her off. She didn't even flinch."
"Peter Pan meets Hamilton." Spencer nodded, considering the outcome, and then nodded. "Peter Pamilton."
"How does a bastard orphan boy pirates abhor, no yachtsman, drop into the middle of a forgotten neighborhood in suburbia by providence all poverished and not blue collar never grow up to be a real boy and a baller?" Aria did one of the worst impressions of rapping that they had ever heard. They stared at her. She looked at them with a really sheepish smile. "Kai…Kai does it better."
There was a moment of silence, followed by all four of them bursting into laughter, including Ali, who very much needed the laugh at the moment.
"It has a nice hook." Hanna smirked.
"I see what you did there." Spencer grinned. "I'd go see it. Start writing it."
Ali couldn't help but laugh at her friends' antics. They made her feel better about the fact that she'd made a mess of things. The past twenty-four hours had been rough on her. The only break in the non-stop emotional rollercoaster her life had become had been the time she'd had with Emily before they got into it. She had felt like they were settling into a new normal. The dinner Emily prepared had been perfect. And the sex had been so sorely needed, and insanely great. With Emily it always was. Because Emily knew how to take care of her in every way. She tried to hold on to the image of what Emily had looked like watching her as her fingers and body drove her to the brink instead of the pure terror she'd seen in Emily's eyes when she'd flashed back to the night Grace died. Ali wanted to remember the pleasure from last night. Not the pain.
"What are you blushing about?" Hanna asked in curiosity.
"Huh?" Ali blinked and faced her friends.
Ali didn't realize she'd been thinking about their sex so intently. Then again, it had been a while. She could actually feel herself getting wet just thinking about it.
Don't orgasm in the middle of this stupid fucking pirate set. She snapped at herself.
If she lost control of her sex drive in the middle of a high school production of Peter Pan in front of her friends and all of the kids in her school she'd never hear the end of it.
"I'm not blushing." The child in her wanted to stick her tongue out at Hanna and add, Shut up, YOU'RE blushing. "I'm just hot. It's hot back here."
"Yeah, it really is." Hanna agreed. "I'm sweating balls here."
Ali turned away, relieved that there were no follow up questions. She had to get better control of her thoughts. Her emotions had been all over the place lately.
She went back to scrubbing her hands. She hated the color red. It used to be one of her favorites, especially when it came to her favorite lipsticks. But now all the color reminded her of was blood. It made her sick to her stomach, because all she could see in her mind was the blood stain she'd seen on the steering column of the car. Her wife's blood. All she could see was Emily bleeding to death while trying to save Grace. She grumbled to herself, wanting to go back to thinking about sex. She looked at the paint coating her hands and they started to tremble. She was starting to feel anxious, so she started scrubbing harder.
"Jeeze, take it easy, Ali. You trying to scrub away your fingerprints there?" Spencer glanced up from cleaning up some paint that had pooled on the floor. "I played Lady Macbeth in high school and even I didn't scrub my hands that hard."
"They're just skin cells. I've got plenty of those." Ali quipped back. "You just work on getting that damned spot out, okay, Lady Macbeth?"
"Are you okay?" Aria noticed that she seemed jumpy, and she was starting to wonder if it was more than just the stress of the play and the spilled paint.
"Yeah. I'm just pissed that my manicure is ruined." Ali shrugged.
She rubbed her hands until they were raw, but she got the paint off. After she finished she dried her hands and slipped her jewelry back on. She glanced at her watch and frowned.
"Hey, what time is it?" Ali questioned. "I think my watch is broken."
"I've got…uh…" Aria looked at the watch on her wrist, "7:24."
Ali grimaced. Emily was almost half an hour late. And she hadn't called or texted.
"Where the hell is Emily?" Ali muttered.
She tried not to panic over every little moment she wasn't with her, but ever since the night of the wreck it made her really antsy when Emily was out of touch. All she could think about was Emily trapped in her car in a ditch somewhere.
"Has she called any of you?" Ali asked.
"You're the one that's married to her. Why would she call us?" Hanna questioned.
"Did something happen between you two?" Spencer asked, noticing the pensive look on Ali's face.
"No." She lied. "We just…we haven't talked much today." Ali pushed her lips together. "We've both been busy and I haven't really seen or talked to her. But she's supposed to be here."
They'd basically only seen each other in passing. Neither one of them had been in a talking mood since their argument. Not to mention they'd both been busy doing other things, both of them trying to chase leads on the other driver…in very different ways. It had put them on very different paths in the investigation, too. The police were on the wrong track. Emily wasn't. Ali had no clue how close Emily was to Grace's killer.
"I saw her around 5:30 when she came by to bring me some of Iris's things. She said she'd be here." Hanna shrugged. "I'm actually surprised you two didn't come out together."
"I hitched a ride with Toby after we left the station. I texted Em and told her to meet me here and she said she would." She looked at her watch and frowned again. "She should be here by now."
"Relax. Isn't she usually at the gym around this time of day? She probably just lost track of time," Spencer said.
Of course Spencer knows Emily's schedule. Ali laughed to herself.
"I bet she's running on the treadmill as we speak." Aria tried to ease Ali's mind.
"Or running as far away from this musical as she possibly can," Hanna muttered under her breath.
She was perturbed her drinking buddy wasn't there yet. She'd already been partaking in the alcohol she'd snuck in. She loved her son more than anything in the world, but she was so sick of hearing him sing and recite lines. It's like he was two years old again and repeating everything he heard.
"Hey! Can we get the pirate set out here to check our final blocking?" Harper called to her mother and her mother's friends.
"Did she just give us stage directions?" Ali asked in surprise.
"Heellllo? It's an hour until show time! We need to step it up!"
"I am not drunk enough for this shit." Hanna muttered. "Spencer, control your spawn."
"Yeah, like I know how?" Spencer snorted. "I caught her lecturing Eli on the proper way to give her a bottle when she was like thirteen months old. She's been in control of everything since she decided she wanted to come out of me almost three weeks late."
"You can't blame her for that. I know that if someone was feeding me spicy food every day for three weeks I'd just want to curl up and go to sleep, too." Aria teased. "You should have tried to entice her with coffee instead. She would have walked right out and demanded her caffeine."
The girls laughed. Harper had always lived by her own set of rules.
"God, I was so desperate I even tried bribing her in utero." Spencer shook her head with a laugh.
"What would one bribe an unborn child with?" Aria asked curiously.
"A promise not to strangle them for coming out almost a month late."
"Mooom!" Harper called out. It was very much a 'you're making me look bad in front of the theater nerds' whine.
"What about now? Can we strangle her now?" Hanna asked.
"You have my blessing." Spencer nodded.
"I'm about to go Mensa on her ass, Rivers style," Hanna muttered.
Of course, before Hanna could catch the child she had already run off and started bossing others around. Her brother and her friends watched from the opposite side of the stage. She turned around to face them. They thought she was going to wave. Instead she called out to them.
"Guys, you're in the light! Step back!"
"She's really in her element." Iris watched Harper flutter around, gathering people, making sure props were where they needed to be.
"What, bossing people around?" Eli smirked. "Yeah. She's really good at it. I practically got her the job. I gave her a glowing reference. Gets her off my case."
"Sometimes I think you're smarter than she is." Lily laughed.
"I'm older and wiser." Eli dramatically put his hands against his sides and tried to look poised and dignified, but he just ended up looking like a dorky superhero.
"Is that so, Sensei?" Iris eyed him suspiciously. "Wasn't it just last week that you got stuck in a storm drain?" She shuddered. She'd never been the same since a demented clown invaded storm drains in Stephen King's It. "Who would willingly offer themselves up for hungry evil clowns like that?"
"I am an adult. I'm not afraid of clowns." He kept his stance, which was starting to look more and more ridiculous. "Besides, there was a kitten stuck in there. What would you have done?"
"Coaxed it out with food. Dangled a string to get it close enough to grab. Used a laser pointer for it to follow out. Called your dad to protect and serve the kitten," Iris replied.
Eli paused in thought. Those were all actually very good ideas.
"Shut up." He frowned, his hands dropping back to his sides.
"Not so adult now, are you, Cavanaugh?" Iris smirked.
"I'm still older than you, Rivers." He smarted back.
"A whole whopping six weeks." Iris rolled her eyes. "Besides, Lily is older than you, so since Fiona is on stage and Kai isn't here, she's the acting adult here."
Iris paused, because she suddenly realized that Grace had been older than Lily. Even if they were only four minutes apart, Grace had always been older. She had always been her big sister. She always would be, because even though she was gone she would always be a part of Lily's and her friends' lives. Iris's eyes darted to Lily, afraid she may have hit a sore spot. It was exactly what Lily was thinking, but she didn't want them to know that, so she just smiled at her friends and teasingly pushed Eli.
"Yeah, respect your elders." Lily nodded.
Eli wasn't going to argue with Iris's assessment, because Lily had always been one of the most mature ones in their group of friends.
"So, what do you guys think?" Fiona walked over to her friends. Levi was right behind her.
"You're great, Fi." Lily smiled.
She was still trying to adjust to the fact that tonight would be the first night she'd sit in an auditorium and not see her sister on stage. It was hard for her to be there, but she wanted to support Levi and Fiona.
"Yeah, a total natural." Iris agreed. "You're going to rock the stage tonight."
"What about me?" Levi nudged his sister.
"Eh," Iris said, waving her hand in a so-so manner with a smirk on her face, teasing him.
Levi rolled his eyes and let her insult roll off of his back, like he always did. He knew she was just screwing with him. And even if he got mad he couldn't do anything about it, because his dad taught him that it was never okay to hit a girl, even if that girl was his bratty older sister. Instead he just did passive aggressive things like changing the password on her phone so she couldn't get in her lock screen and licking all the cream out of oreos and then replacing it with toothpaste.
"It means a lot that you guys came out," Fiona said. "Especially since Kai can't make it."
"Wait, he's bailing on you? I will go over there and destroy his video console myself." Iris scowled.
"No, he's not bailing." Fiona laughed. "He's sick. He has the flu."
"Lucky him," Iris muttered under her breath, a little annoyed that even though she was being forced to sit through this for her brother, Kai didn't have to suffer the same fate for his sister. "Man, I wish I would have thought of that. I could have flu the coop, too."
The only person who caught her quip was Lily. She gave her a look warning her to knock it off. Iris looked back at her with an innocent 'who me?' expression, which just made Lily roll her eyes. Iris had the same cheeky grin as Grace.
"Oh, I've gotta run." Levi glanced to someone waving for him on the other side of the stage. "They need to fit me for the harness for when I fly."
"I can't believe they're letting you fly through the air like an unrestrained drunk goose." Iris shook her head. She had a feeling that the flying was the only reason he'd tried out for the play in the first place.
"Aw, are you worried about your widdle brother?" Eli teased Iris. "You afraid he might get a boo-boo?"
"Oh, please. He's jumped off of cliffs and roofs higher than this. I'm more worried about the crowd of unsuspecting people he'll be soaring over."
"You loooove me." Levi poked Iris with a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Iris rolled her eyes. As he was walking away, she called out after him. "Hey, dumbass!" He turned around to face her. "Be careful, okay?"
Lily watched them with an ache in her chest. Because she missed her sister so much. Iris and Levi were a lot like her and Grace. Every time she looked at her friends and their siblings she was reminded that they all still had one another, but she didn't have her sister anymore. Her nose started to burn, but she managed to fight back her tears.
"I should head back, too." Fiona turned back towards the stage and took a few steps.
Iris saw a thread she didn't like sticking out of her costume and she went chasing after her to fix it. Eli saw Lily rub her eye.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lily smiled weakly. "It's just weird being here without her."
"If she was here right now she'd be switching the score of the musical with Pink Floyd classics, switching the signs for 'stage right' and 'stage left' to confuse everyone, and then passing out the loudest theater snacks in existence." Eli smiled.
"Pretzels, cracker jacks, and hard candies." Lily nodded in agreement. "And knowing Grace, probably cabbage or something even louder." She laughed softly.
She drew her bottom lip in in thought. It was a habit she'd picked up from Emily. Sometimes she bit her hair like Ali, too. She'd picked up several tics from both of them over the years. Eli threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a side hug.
"We could honor her memory," he offered. "The corner store down the street is still open and they have slushies. We could get a bunch of them and grab the loudest straws we can find and pass them out to the younger kids in the audience and watch the chaos unfold. Sugar and noisy kids are always fun. Levi is proof of that."
She knew he was joking, but a part of her wanted to do it. It would be funny to see. Then she realized she couldn't do that to her friends. They'd worked really hard on the play. Lily laughed softly.
"Next time." Lily nodded. "Definitely next time."
They walked off stage together and walked past photos of kids in the drama department. They walked out of the theater and to one of the less populated hallways. There were single shots on one wall and group shots on another. Lily caught a glimpse of Grace in one of the group shots. Her smile was obnoxious, but sweet. Her smile was one of her most defining characteristics. There was a spark hidden behind her eyes that gave her her signature mischievous look.
Lily walked forward a few paces, knowing what the next photo was. It was one of the last head shots Grace had ever taken. It was from about six months ago, from the last theater production she'd been in. The area around her picture was littered with letters of love and kind quotes and memories of her. Lily stared at it, her eyes watering. Eli stopped to look at it, too, waiting patiently, giving Lily all the time she needed. She reached up and traced her fingers over a sweet tribute written by Sam Strauss, which Grace would have absolutely gushed over. Then she looked at another one from another one of their friends. There were so many people who knew her and loved her and it was overwhelming for Lily.
"I haven't read these yet," Lily admitted. "I pass them in the hallway all the time and I try not to look." But now she couldn't look away.
"If you want some privacy I can wait in the theater." He offered.
"No." Lily shook her head and faced Eli. "I want you to stay."
So he stayed with her as she started reading through the notes. She got to a point where she couldn't do it anymore, because it was getting really hard for her to focus on the words. She asked Eli if he would mind reading them to her. He had no problem helping her out.
They had just finished up and were moving on when they saw someone turn the corner. It was Ali. She had just finished hanging one of the photos that hadn't been damaged by the paint debacle.
"Hey, guys." Ali waved. "What are you up to?"
"Just killing time before the show starts." Lily shrugged, hoping her mother couldn't see her red-rimmed eyes.
Ali saw her puffy eyes immediately, but she didn't call attention to it because she didn't want to upset or embarrass her for being emotional. It was emotional for Ali to be there, too. She knew how Lily felt. She wanted to pull her in for a hug and kiss the top of her head, but she resisted. Because Lily had been so closed off about her emotions. And if she was finding solace in her friends and they were helping her work through it, that was a huge step.
"Well, we're getting close. The crowds are starting to arrive." Ali looked at her watch. It was almost 7:55. Curtains up was in 35 minutes. And she still hadn't heard from Emily. "Eli, your mom is looking for you," Ali said. "She's got your seats and wants to show you where you'll be."
"Okay. Thanks." Eli smiled. "See ya inside." He waved to Lily.
Lily looked up at Ali, not really knowing what to say. She never knew what to say anymore.
"Is mom here yet?" Lily asked.
"No, sweetie. Not yet."
Emily, I'm going to kill you. Our daughter is upset and asking for you and you're not here to help me comfort her. Where the hell are you?
Ali tried to keep her internal panic to herself. Lily saw right past it. No one in their family had been the same since before the crash.
"But I bet she's on her way," Ali said with a forced smile.
Why do they always think they can lie to me and I'll believe it? Lily thought to herself.
But instead of saying anything or calling her mom out, she just nodded and smiled back.
"I'm going to use the restroom before we go in."
"You want me to wait on you?" Ali asked.
"No. I'll find you." Lily walked towards the bathroom.
Ali waited until Lily was inside, then she walked around the corner towards the theater. She pulled her phone out to call her wife. Something felt wrong. She knew Emily wouldn't miss this, because it was important to their friends. Emily's phone rang until it went to voicemail.
"Em, hey, um, it's almost 8:00. Where are you?" Her tone was a mixture of concern and irritation. "You said you'd be here, and I…I swear to God if you're dead again I'm going to kill you." She sighed and shook her head. "Just…call me when you get this. I thought you'd be here by now. And I'm…I'm just worried."
She hung up and stared at her phone for a minute, hoping maybe she'd see an incoming call from Emily calling her back. When that didn't happen she sighed and walked away.
Nearly thirty miles away Emily's phone bleated from inside her back pocket. How it hadn't been shattered in the scuffle was a mystery. Emily couldn't see who had called or left the message, but she knew…even being only semi-conscious, she knew.
It was Alison.
But she couldn't answer. She couldn't move. So she stayed on the pavement twisted on her side, one arm stretched out with her palm facing up and her other hand draped over her stomach. The top portion of her body was twisted slightly backwards so that she was almost turned on to her back, but her legs were curled against the ground in the opposite direction. She could see her arm twitching and her body jerking. She could see a drop of sweat rolling down her nose, but she didn't feel hot. She didn't feel anything. Her thoughts were running in circles. She heard movement beside her and she was able to glance over just in time to see Maurice crawling off of the ground. He pushed himself to his feet. He had a pistol in his hand and there was a bright red gash in his side.
"Hey, snap out of it." Maurice ordered, not realizing that it wasn't shock keeping Emily from moving. In fact, if she was able to get to her feet she'd be chasing the perpetrator on foot.
They heard rapid footsteps approaching. Seconds later Frank, poker player Bobby, and baby-faced Manny rounded the corner.
"Everyone solid?" Maurice asked Bobby.
"Everyone's good. Carlo and Gina have got it covered." Bobby nodded. "What about you guys?" He glanced at Emily on the ground and the gash in Maurice's side.
"Jackass took a couple of potshots and then took off down the alley." He shoved his gun in its holster. "We need to get a move on."
"Did you see whose guy it was?" Manny questioned.
"It was too dark in the bar. And when I saw him in the light he was wearing a ski mask."
It was finally registering to Emily what had happened. Maurice had followed her when she went storming out of the bar. He'd gotten to her just before the attacker fired at her. He'd knocked her out of the way.
"You need medical?" Frank asked.
"Nah, it just grazed me. I'm five-by-five." Maurice lifted his shirt and looked at the oozing slit in his side.
"You…you took a bullet for me?" Emily murmured, her breaths coming out sluggish and slow. "Why would…why'd you do that?"
"A simple 'thank you' would suffice." Maurice didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that he'd been shot.
"You don't even know me. You could have died." Her speech was starting to slur. She felt like she was about to pass out.
"Part of the job." Maurice offered her his hand to help her stand.
Emily didn't react. She couldn't. Her chest felt weird. There was a burning sensation in her stomach.
"You okay there, sweetheart? Did you get hit?" His brow furrowed, looking at the hand lying across her stomach.
"I ca – I can't move."
"Clearly it's serious if you aren't even going to yell at me for calling you sweetheart." He laughed, but when Emily didn't react his smile faded.
Emily's vision started to get blurry again. She struggled to take a breath. Her body felt like it was made of cement, and she was sinking into the deepest darkest depths of the ocean. She felt like she was drowning.
"Emily?" Maurice skipped the pleasantries as he knelt down next to her. "What's up?"
"He stabbed me with something. A needle, I think. It was…it…it burned." She closed her eyes slowly, not sure if she'd ever be able to open them back up. Her mouth was starting to get numb. "I can't move." She repeated.
Maurice moved her hair aside, and sure enough there was a small puncture wound in the side of her neck, the little red dot standing out against her skin. The area was already starting to turn several different shades of purple.
"Shit." Maurice reached down for her hand. "Can you feel this?" He squeezed the tip of her index finger, then continued by squeezing the rest of her fingers.
Emily didn't feel a thing.
"N-no." Emily muttered. "Everything feels numb."
"They snaked her." Maurice glanced up at his guys.
"Wh-what?" It was getting harder and harder for her to talk.
"You got a nasty drug in your system that's shutting down your nervous system. It works fast, like snake venom. It's working its way into your circulatory system right now. The more energy you exert the faster it travels. So don't talk. You're gonna need to lie real still and keep real quiet."
"Sounds like something you might say to your wife." Frank ragged on Manny, a huge dumb grin on his face.
"Fuck you." Manny bit back.
"Hey, focus, you idiots," Maurice snapped.
"Shit, she's passing out," Bobby said.
"No. I'm…" But she felt fuzzy-headed.
"You better tighten those lips if you wanna live." Frank warned her.
"Bobby, you're with me. Manny, Frank, get her to Donnie." Maurice ordered, standing up.
"What if it reaches her lungs and she stops breathing?" Frank asked.
"Then you breathe for her you fucking moron." Maurice snapped. "Bobby, let's roll."
"Maurice, wait." Emily stuttered. "Promise me you won't let anything happen to my family…"
"You ain't dying kid, so just quit your blubbering." He pulled his weapon out of its holster and looked down the alley. Bobby did the same. "Hang in there."
Then in a flash he was gone. Frank looked down at her and then back at Manny.
"You want heads or tails?" He asked Manny.
"You're an asshole, Frank," she muttered.
"You're not supposed to talk." Frank retorted.
"Worth it."
The paralytic had rendered her unable to move, but she was still able to feel the sensation of them picking her up. They were very careful with her, tender even, which completely surprised her. Maurice wasn't lying when he said his guys did their thing when they needed to. Emily's eyes kept fluttering open and closed. She forced herself to take a breath. It was requiring more effort than she currently had.
"She's not going to make it if we don't pick up the pace." Frank glanced at Manny.
"If I pass out you're in charge of the mouth to mouth." She looked at Manny.
"I'm flattered. But I'm married." Manny quipped.
"Looks like you're stuck with me." Frank gave her a hard time.
Emily wanted to tell him to shut up, but she didn't have any air left in her lungs. And she couldn't take any more in. She didn't get the chance to tell them that if Frank came anywhere near her with his bourbon breath and his ashy cigarette mouth she would bite his tongue off. But she didn't get the chance to insult him. She felt herself completely slipping from consciousness.
She closed her eyes, thinking of her family. She tried to focus on Ali and Lily. She held on to them tight in her mind. She knew that Ali was probably getting snappy with everyone around her because she was worried. She thought about Lily, too, and what she was doing…how she was dealing being back in the theater for the first time without her sister. She wanted to be there with them, for them. She had planned on it. She couldn't have known how this night was going to turn out.
As Emily thought about her little girl, that little girl was wandering the school completely lost in thought. The second her mother had left her to go to the bathroom Lily had slipped away to have a few minutes to reflect. She ended up at the indoor basketball arena. Only a few of the lights were on. She looked around the gym. It seemed so huge, especially without the crowds of loud kids screaming in the stands. She glanced at the backboards and she thought about the time she and Grace had taken turns trying to leap up and grab the net. Of course, they didn't get anywhere close to it, but that didn't stop Grace's determination.
She walked over and sat down on the edge of the bleachers, her feet against the ground. She leaned forward, resting her elbows and arms against her legs. She played with her fingers and stared at the ground. She sat there in silence for five minutes before she realized she was not alone. She heard something shuffling underneath the bleachers on the other side of the gym. Her heart started pounding in her chest. She heard shoes squeaking against the ground and she glanced towards the exit, wondering if she could make it out the door in time. Just as she was getting ready to bolt she looked up and saw Zane walking out of the shadows. He had something reflective in one of his hands. He walked towards her with a weird gait.
"Stay away from me, Zane." Lily's hands tightened into fists. She wished like hell she had Grace's pocketknife, but weapons weren't allowed on school premises.
"I was here first." He shrugged as he stumbled over his feet.
It was then that Lily realized that he was drunk. The item in his hand was a flask. He saw her staring at the flask in his hand. He plopped down next to her and she automatically flinched away from him.
"Want some?" Zane asked, holding the flask out to her.
She could smell the alcohol wafting out of it. A part of her just wanted to say 'screw it' and go for it, because at least maybe it would take the edge off. But she didn't really like alcohol. She'd only tried it a few times and she didn't like the weird sinking feeling she got when it hit her. She wasn't really a partier.
The only reason she'd tried it in the first place was because she and Grace were curious about it. She'd barely had two sips before she was stumbling over her words. They had gotten busted and had suffered the consequences of Emily lecturing them and then Ali waking them with as much noise as possible when they were hungover. She'd slammed doors and bashed pots together and then offered them the most disgusting foods she could find, making both of them nauseous as hell, convincing them never to drink again.
Zane waved the flask in front of her face, jostling her back into reality. Lily shook her head. He shrugged and took another swig.
"So, how've ya been?" Zane asked.
"Go away," Lily muttered.
"You're the one on my court." He puffed back in defense.
"You don't own it."
"Neither do you. Free country. Free court." He looked out at the gym. "You know those fuckers kicked me off the team?"
Lily had heard rumors about him fighting with his teammates and smack-talking the coach. He'd been in so much trouble that they'd had no choice but to let him go.
"I'm better than all of those assholes combined, but I'm apparently problematic." He took another drink. "I told 'em to suck my problematic cock." He laughed drunkenly.
Lily had finally had enough. She was really uncomfortable being alone with him without any way to defend herself. She stood up.
"Leaving so soon?" Zane pouted.
"I have somewhere to be." Translation: I'm here with friends and family, so don't even try anything.
"What's your deal? Why are you always so mean to me?"
"Maybe if you weren't such a jerk I wouldn't treat you like one." She felt her face getting hot, but she wasn't sure if it was nerves or anger.
"You sound like my old man." He snorted out sarcastically and stared at the flask in his hand. "I swiped this from him. Figured he was already pissed about me getting cut from the team. Can't get any more angry than he already is over the fact that his stupid perfect seed isn't just like daddy." He sneered.
He ran his fingers over the faded lettering on the shiny surface. The first letter was completely worn, so Lily couldn't tell what it was. But she thought she could make out an O or maybe a C as the second letter. She took a step down off of the bleachers and she heard Zane standing up behind her.
"Hey, hold up a second." He nearly tripped and fell flat on his face. "I was…I wasn't spying on you or anything. I just dipped in here to enjoy my booze. I was trying to leave." He stumbled around in front of her.
"Zane, get out of my way." Lily tried to stay calm.
She could hear her mother's words in her head telling her not to panic. Emily had always taught her to know her surroundings and to try and keep a level head if she ever felt like she was in danger. But before she could react to anything she heard a loud bang.
"Hey!" An angry voice shouted across the gym.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Iris, Harper, and Fiona walking towards them. Iris was the first one to reach Lily's side.
"She told you to move, asshole." Iris was irate. She reached up and shoved his shoulder.
"I wasn't doin' anything." Zane rolled his eyes and stumbled back.
"You were clearly bothering her. Which means you're bothering us." Harper interjected quickly. "Get lost, mouthbreather…before I make you my punching bag again."
"God, you bitches are crazy." Zane shook his head in disbelief.
"You haven't seen crazy yet." Fiona threatened. "You think Harper was bad? Try crossing all of us."
Her friends all blinked in surprise and stared at her. She never threatened anyone. Her calm nature was usually what balanced the girls out. She was normally very composed and almost never acted out. The look on her face was one of pure rage. It scared Zane enough that he backed away from them. She looked like she was getting ready to wail on his ass, which is something they all wanted to see happen. Because she was in costume and it would be hilarious to see this big bad basketball superhero getting beat up by a girl in a flowing pink dress with puffy white sleeves and a pretty pink bow on the back.
"Whatever." Zane snorted. He turned away from them and started walking away. The girls watched him until he disappeared.
"God damn, Fiona." Iris was the first one to break the tension with a loud laugh. She turned to Aria's normally docile child. "You even scared me a little. Were you really going to hit him?"
"I swear by my pretty pink bow I was." Fiona laughed.
"Remind me never to piss you off." Lily smiled.
"I'm so proud." Harper grinned with a fake sniffle. "My little pacifist is all grown up."
"Yeah, yeah." Fiona rolled her eyes. "You okay, Lily?"
"I'm fine," she replied. "I was going to kick him in the crotch and make a run for it."
"I've taught you well." Iris smirked.
"Don't you have a play you're supposed to be getting ready for?" Lily looked at Harper and then Fiona.
"You're more important than any stupid play." Fiona shrugged.
"But…we should probably get back. The cast and crew are probably lost without me." Harper grinned from ear to ear.
"Or they're enjoying the peace and quiet." Iris muttered.
"What was that?" Harper asked.
"Nothing." Iris smiled innocently.
They made it back to the theater just as the lights were going down. Lily found her mom in the audience. She didn't miss the empty chair next to her. She looked around for Emily as she sat down next to her mom.
"Is mom not coming?" Lily whispered.
"She's…" Ali felt like pulling her hair out in frustration, "…she's not feeling well, honey."
She didn't realize how close to the truth that was. The lights continued to dim until the entire theater was pitch black. Ali started grating her jaw together. She felt like she was in the dark in more ways than one. And she was tired of it.
Across town, her wife was in the dark, too. She was trying to climb into a light at the end of the tunnel. She could hear a familiar voice. The muddled noise started to come through more clearly. It was Grace.
"Mom."
Emily didn't even think twice about it as she ran towards the noise. And then seconds later she found herself sitting in the driver's seat of her car, peering in her rearview mirror and looking at her two beautiful babies in the back seat. Grace was pointing at her, a Cheerio stuck to her finger.
"Mom."
"That's right, Gracie." Emily nodded, her eyes back on the road again.
To pass the time in the car she'd started playing games with the girls. They were less fussy that way. The game was to point at things and name what they were. Lily loved it. She was good at it, too.
"Doggy!"
Out of the corner of her eye Emily saw a dog sitting in the backseat of the car next to her.
"Yep…that's a doggy, Lil. Good job."
"Mmm." Lily's little lips popped as she looked for something else. "Tree!" She put her palm against the window and glanced at a large tree.
"You're doing so good, honey." Emily encouraged her.
"Duck." She pointed to a billboard with a huge duck on it. It was hard to miss.
"That was a good one, Lily."
"Dan-di-lion."
That one surprised Emily. When and where had she learned that word?
"Awesome, sweetie. I'm so proud of you."
Grace started to get jealous of all the attention Lily was getting, so she decided to try her hand at it again. She pointed out the window to a plane flying overhead and blurted out,
"Firetruck!"
"Uh…" Emily laughed softly, "Good try, Grace. But not quite."
"Plane." Lily smiled.
"Very good. Yes, that's a plane."
Grace glared at Lily in disapproval. If she knew the words at the time she would have called her a smug little show off. Instead, she reached across the back seat and smacked Lily's arm.
"Ow!" Lily cried. "Mommy, Grace hit me!"
"You tattled!" Grace reached out to smack her again, her little cheeks red and angry.
"Hey, behave girls." Emily glanced in the rearview mirror.
When she looked back at the road everything changed. It went from a beautiful sunny day to a dark rainy night. Lights flashed in Emily's eyes and everything went dark again.
She heard a noise and her eyes shot open. She was lying on a cot in a cold bright room filled with medical equipment. On the opposite side of the room she saw Maurice sitting in a chair with Donnie hunched over him. Donnie had on a pair of latex surgical gloves and was suturing the gash in Maurice's side.
"What exactly happened out there?" Donnie lifted an eyebrow as he finished the last stitch.
"After little Laila Ali over there decided she'd go rogue it really hit the fan." Maurice motioned to Emily and realized she was up. "Hey, look who decided to rejoin the land of the living."
Donnie pulled his gloves off and walked over to Emily.
"How are you feeling?" Donnie pulled a small penlight out of his pocket.
"You're a doctor?" Emily looked at Donnie.
"Veterinarian." He nodded and then waved the light in front of her eyes.
I guess that's appropriate since I'm a total bitch. She thought to herself.
"You have your own medical staff?" Emily looked over at Maurice in shock.
"Well, we can't very well go to the hospital every time we get little bumps or bruises…or ya know, bullet wounds." Maurice shrugged as he slapped a piece of square gauze over the laceration the bullet had left in his side.
"Hey, go easy on that." Donnie frowned. "I don't want you ruining my handiwork."
"Yes, sir," Maurice replied sarcastically.
Donnie rolled his eyes and turned back to Emily, pushing her hair aside to glance at the bruise on her neck. He reached down and squeezed her fingers, pressing a nail into her skin.
"Hey! Ow! That hurt!" A split second after she yelped she realized that she had been able to feel it. She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. She lifted her arms and flipped them over, rolling her hands around.
"Is she gonna live, doc?" Maurice asked jokingly.
"She looks brain damaged to me." Frank's voice came from the doorway.
"Oh, God, if you tell me I stopped breathing and you had to save me I'm going to give myself brain damage to forget it." Emily sneered at him.
"Nah, relax princess. We got you here in time."
"Cut it pretty close, though," Donnie said. "Gave you the reversal for it. You'll probably be sore, but you should be fine otherwise."
"Actually, you know, I've got this pain and it's starting to get worse…" Emily looked at Donnie.
"Let me guess. It's a pain in your ass." He motioned to Frank, stealing Emily's punchline.
"Wow, you're good." Emily nodded.
"You are agitating my patient." Donnie frowned at Frank.
"Your patient was already agitated." Frank quipped back.
"How much would I have to pay you to sew his mouth closed?" Emily questioned curiously.
"Believe me, you're not the first person who has asked me that." Donnie rolled his eyes. He glanced at Maurice. "We good here? I've got a splenectomy, two spays, and a liver biopsy on my schedule tomorrow. I need some shut eye."
"Yeah, thanks." Maurice nodded. "Frank will clean up."
"I will?" Frank seemed surprised.
"Make your dumb ass useful for once." Maurice motioned towards the bloody gauze and surgical instruments next to the chair he'd been sitting in.
Emily swung her legs off to the side of the cot. She rubbed her forehead. She had a major headache.
"What time is it?" Emily asked.
"8:45," Maurice replied.
"Damn it." Emily ran her fingers through her hair. "I have to go. I'm supposed to see Peter Pan."
"The fuck is she muttering about?" Frank asked. "Peter fuckin' Pan?" He tossed a pair of hemostats and tweezers into the sink and turned the water on. "We sure she didn't suffer a blow to the head?"
"I was supposed to be at my friends' kids play," she explained.
"Damn, sweetheart. If I were you, I'd take the paralytic and call it a night. It's less painful." Maurice snorted.
"God. My wife is probably freaking the hell out right now…"
"We got you covered." Maurice walked over to the counter to pick something up. He walked back over to the cot and held up her phone. "Texting is a beautiful thing. You never know who is really on the other end."
"Tell me you told her anything but car trouble." Emily couldn't tell if the knot in her throat was the numbness wearing off or if it was her emotions breaking to the surface.
"One of the boys wanted to go with 'explosive diarrhea'."
"Maurice, I will kill you…" Emily threatened.
"You wouldn't be the first to try tonight." He shrugged. He laughed. "Don't worry. We kept it short and simple. Just told her something came up, that you were okay, and you'd talk to her at home."
"Great, so you've left it all up to me."
"Hey, I can't think of everything." He shrugged.
Frank finished scrubbing the instruments clean and then gathered up the garbage and walked towards the door. He muttered something to himself about being a glorified janitor as he walked out of the room.
Emily rubbed her eyes, still trying to process everything she'd been through in the past few days. Strangely, tonight's fiasco didn't even rank top five of shitty things to happen to her in her life.
"Straight up, how ya really feeling?" Maurice asked.
"Raging migraine. But I've had much worse."
"That's the residual from the drug. It should wear off soon." Maurice rubbed the back of his neck. "You got lucky out there, kid."
"Kid?" Emily rolled her eyes. "I think I prefer sweetheart."
"Whatever you prefer, I prefer that you fuckin' listen to what I tell you. You can't just run off and go rogue like that. That may be how you're used to doing things, but on this side of town it'll get you dead real quick. You came to me for help for a reason. Just remember that. This is heavy shit, Emily. I don't know who you're after, but you've really pissed 'em off. Whoever it is doesn't like you asking questions…"
"Does that mean you didn't catch who did this?" That grated Emily's nerves. Because just like the night of the crash, she had absolutely no details about the attacker. Her eyes had been blurry from the smoke bomb and she'd been blindsided before she could get a good look.
"No. But it wasn't a completely clean getaway. We found a blade in the alley. Belongs to a crew called the Pit Vipers."
Hence the "snake venom".
Clever. Emily thought bitterly to herself.
"So that's why they tried to shoot me up with poison." Emily nodded.
"That. And it makes for an easier kill. When you've got a clean body you can virtually make it disappear, no muss, no fuss. They can Jimmy Hoffa your ass. Cement. Ocean. Wood chipper…"
"Yeah, okay, I get the picture."
"Not the whole picture, unfortunately." Maurice shook his head. "Listen, they don't use that shit randomly. They're planners. What happened at the bar was just a distraction. Someone knows you, knows how you would react in that situation. Someone's been keeping an eye on you, probably long before you came to me."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that someone's got a hit out on you," Maurice said.
"A hit?" She laughed, because, seriously? This shit again? She'd spent all of high school running from this kind of thing. "Great." She muttered.
"Eh, don't worry too much about it. I can't tell you how many times my guys and I have had hits out on us and we're all still here." He tried to keep her from overthinking it. "I'm gonna keep one of my guys on you at all times."
"That's not exactly low-key." Emily frowned.
"You'll never know we're there. Trust me."
"Are my wife and daughter in danger?" Emily swallowed hard. She'd never forgive herself if something happened to Ali and Lily.
"Nah. Hits like these have a focused target. As long as they're in the dark, they're okay. If they ain't digging, they ain't a priority. But we'll keep an eye on your family, too." He licked his lips. "Especially the kid." There was a heaviness in his tone and Emily could hear the sympathy in his voice. "You been through enough heartache for one lifetime."
"Thanks." Emily pushed herself to her feet.
"We'll figure out who's behind it. We always do. And once we know who ordered it, we'll have your kid's killer by the balls…" He said. "But in the meantime, you gotta keep your mouth shut. You tell anyone about what you're doing and what's going on, you put them at the same risk."
"Believe me, I don't have a problem keeping things to myself." She was an expert in that field.
"Alright," he said. "Hang tight, I'll get a car to get you back to town."
"You're the boss." Emily nodded.
"That's the spirit." Maurice laughed as he walked out of the room.
Emily glanced at her phone, silently sending an apology to Ali for making her worry, because she knew she was worried. Clearly, she had a right to be. She rubbed at her neck, already trying to think up excuses of what she was going to tell Ali when she asked about the bruise. Thankfully it didn't look anything like a hickey, so at least Ali wouldn't jump to the conclusion that she was cheating on her, though that would probably be a less bitter pill to swallow than the truth. But Emily would never stray, and Ali knew that. She was still in love with Ali after all these years, and Ali was still in love with her. The one constant they'd had in life was their love for one another.
The problem with that was neither one of them knew how to live without each other. And the game Emily was playing wasn't exactly conducive to love and marriage. She wasn't putting Ali in any physical danger, but that didn't mean Ali was immune to the emotional danger. Emily shuddered to think about how Ali would react if she lost her. She'd almost died tonight. For the third time in less than two months. And she'd probably be racking up more near death experiences before this was all over. Emily knew what she'd signed up for. But Ali didn't. If she did, she would kill her before Emily had the chance to be killed by anything else.
She couldn't get her brain to shut up the entire way home. She had the car drop her off a mile from her house, knowing that Manny was going to be tailing her the entire way to make sure she got home okay. Her headache had fortunately worn off. She kept her pace slow, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The street seemed so peaceful. Then again, all the kids and parents in town were at the high school.
By the time Emily got home, got the gun locked up, took care of Jett, and then cleaned herself up it was almost 10:30. Ali and Lily walked through the door at 10:32. She brushed her hair across her neck and glanced at her reflection in the kitchen window to make sure her bruise was covered. Then she took a deep breath and walked into the living room to meet them.
"Hey, how was the play?" Emily asked as she walked over to them, planting a kiss on Ali's lips. She could see a plethora of different emotions flashing across Ali's face. Relief. Irritation. Worry. Anger.
"It was good. Levi did a flip in the air, which got a big laugh. And Fiona got a ton of applause," Lily replied.
Emily was listening to her daughter, but her eyes were on her wife. She could see the tension in Ali's stance.
"I'm so sorry I missed it." Emily glanced at Lily. "Something came up."
"Yeah. Mom told me." Lily nodded. "Are you feeling better? I can make you some soup or something…"
That caught Emily off-guard, though it shouldn't have. She should have known that Ali would come up with something to cover her ass.
"No, that's okay. I know you've had a long day," Emily said.
Lily looked at Emily and then at Ali, trying not to laugh at the statement, because her mothers had no idea. If Ali found out about Zane, she would blow his house up with him in it. And if Emily found out, she'd buy the explosives for Ali to do it.
"Are you sure? You know Grandma taught me her chicken noodle recipe." Lily offered one last time.
"Sweetie, she's fine. Why don't you just take some time to unwind and relax?" Ali butt in.
"Okay." Lily shrugged.
She walked up the stairs.
"Why is she offering to make me soup?" Emily smiled through her teeth.
"I had to tell her something. You left us hanging." Ali smiled back through her own gritted mouth.
Once Lily had disappeared, Ali's fake smile faded. She looked at her wife.
"Where have you been? You scared the hell out of me." Ali kept her voice quiet. "When you didn't show up I thought…" She drifted off, unable to finish.
Seeing Ali's emotions emitting through her eyes rendered Emily completely frozen again.
"I…uh…I had a…"
You had a what? A goddamn mobster trying to kill you? A drug in your nervous system rendering you unable to move or breathe? You have had the entire night to come up with something and you've got nothing?
"…a panic attack." It was the first thing that came to mind, though she regretted it the second she said it. That was going to make Ali just as frantic as her nearly being killed.
"What? And you didn't call me?" Ali's eyes widened, half in anger, half in concern.
"It was no big deal. I just…" Emily stuttered. "…it was just a little…numbing."
Like 'she couldn't feel anything below her neck' numbing.
Don't you laugh right now, you idiot. Emily warned herself. Her wife would not find it nearly as funny as she did. In fact, Ali would blow her top.
"God damn it, Emily," Ali snapped. "I'm not going to live like this, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, constantly worrying that you're working yourself up into a heart attack or that you've blacked out while driving and wrapped the car around a tree. I'm not going to let you live like this. I don't give a shit if you think you're okay. You are going to talk to someone. I'd prefer it be me, but if you won't talk to me…then you're going to talk to a professional."
"Fine."
"And if you argue with…" She paused when she realized that Emily wasn't fighting it. "Wait a second, did you just say 'fine'?"
Emily had thought about a lot on her way home, especially about how her behavior lately was affecting Ali. She wasn't blind to how much pain Ali was in. She knew she was struggling, too. She knew that Ali was exhausting herself trying to be there for her. And if her opening up about Grace's death would help put Ali's mind at ease, then she'd go to a fucking shrink for her. Because she loved her.
God, she loved her so much.
Emily couldn't take it any longer, so she reached up, her palms grabbing Alison's cheeks. She firmly pressed her lips against Alison's. Because all she had been able to think about after she'd been drugged was her family. She loved Alison more than words could express. Alison melted into her touch, kissing back with a heated passion. Her hand swept the side of Emily's cheek as their lips moved together. After a few minutes they both pulled away to take a breath. Alison's eyes were locked on Emily's. She had a dazed look on her face.
"What was that for?" Alison's lips were still puckered in surprise.
"Because I love you," Emily said. I really need you to hear me when I say that. Please hear that, Alison. She added to herself in thought. She needed Alison to know what she meant to her...how far she would go to protect her and Lily. She needed Alison to know that no matter what, she loved her. The importance of the words and the importance of saying them as often as possible had really come to a head for her tonight, because tomorrows weren't guaranteed.
"That's…uh…" Alison had totally forgotten what her point was. She'd totally forgotten how pissed she was at Emily. "That was very nice and all, but I…" She got completely lost in Emily's soft brown eyes. "Wh-what was I saying?"
"I overreacted last night," Emily said, gently stroking Alison's cheeks with her thumbs. "I'm sorry. I heard what you were saying, Ali. I want you to know that. And I'm…I'm sorry."
"You're…" Alison looked at her like it was a trap of some kind, still trying to gather her thoughts. "What?"
She was breathless from the kiss. All she wanted to do right now was rip Emily's clothes off of her and taste her, taste every inch of her body. She found herself leaning forward, getting lost in the aroma of Emily's scent. She placed a light peck on her lips and then nuzzled her nose against Emily's neck, immediately finding the bruise. She pulled back and dropped her hand to Emily's neck, a shocked look on her face. She gently ran her fingers over it and then looked at Emily and sighed.
"What happened to you tonight, sweetie?"
"It's just from sparring at the gym earlier. I got a little distracted and got caught off-guard." Well, it was only half a lie.
"Did someone clock you with a barbell? This looks really bad, Emily."
"Then kiss it and make it better." Emily grinned, lifting her brows.
Despite her worry and her irritation, Alison smiled. Because despite what Emily was going through, she'd managed to reach her. Finally. She had a shot of getting her wife back. It didn't cross her mind that the reason Emily was giving in was because she was on the brink of death. Ali held Emily in her arms that night, unaware of how close she truly was to losing her.