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Chapter 14: You're the Pip to her Estella

"Can anyone tell me what chemicals we would use to prepare a sample of Carbon Dioxide for this experiment" Emily scanned her eyes around her classroom.

"Anyone" She sighed to the tired looking class in front of her. She looked to the only student who had his hand held up high in the air but her eyes quickly moved to the young girl cowered in the corner. "Macey, have you any idea?"

The young blonde shot her head up from her book and looked at her teacher. "Ehm...Dilute hydrochloric acid and...and marble chips" she answered, pushing her thick rimmed glasses further up her nose.

"That's right" Emily smiled as she clicked the remote in her hand and switched to the next slide on her powerpoint, showing the apparatus used to prepare Carbon dioxide with each chemical named by Macey highlighted.

"So, the dilute hydrochloric acid is dropped into..." The brunette trailed off when she saw a call coming through from Ali. She sighed to herself, thinking back to the argument they had earlier this morning. She already knew this phone call was probably going to consist of Ali giving her a piece of her mind following all the angry texts she had received from her a few hours before.

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"I was going to go shopping with Hanna after work today, could you collect the girls from daycare?" Ali asked as she balanced a winging Madison on her hip and picked up her takeaway coffee cup from the kitchen island.

"Ehm, I have practice today actually. Could you take them with you?" Emily questioned from her position on the ground where she was fixing the shoelaces of Ellie's navy converse.

"You only have practice until 4 Em" Ali furrowed her brows after swallowing the coffee in her mouth.

"Yeah...I know that but I was going to go to the gym with Spencer afterwards"

"So you get to to the gym but I can't go shopping" Ali scoffed, giving Emily that famous Dilaurentis glare that seemed to be appearing on her face a lot more lately.

Emily lifted Ellie up in her arms and swung her handbag over her shoulder. "I just presumed you were collecting th…"

"Oh, you presumed I was collecting them, just like you presume I'll do everything else around here" Ali interrupted in a loud, frustrated tone that caused Maddie's soft winging to turn into loud sobs.

"Calm down Alison." Emily's jaw clenched with anger. "I'll collect them and bring them to my Moms Okay"

"Seriously" Ali chuckled, rubbing small circles on Maddie's back and swaying her from side to side to sooth her. "You're gonna dump the responsibility on your Mom...Again"

Emily shook her head and laughed. "Fine, ill..."

"You know what, forget it" Ali spat as she stormed out of the kitchen. "I'll do it myself"

"1...2...3" Emily counted in her head, anger boiling up inside her. "4...5...6" she continued, inhaling deeply through her nose as she heard Alison spitting out remarks and making as much noise as she could in the living room, trying to make it as clear as she could that she was pissed off. "7...8...9" she trailed off, hearing Madisons screams become louder and louder. "...10..." She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes when Alison slammed the front door closed behind her. Counting always helped when her and Ali got in arguments. 10 seconds to calm down instead of lashing out at her wife. 10 seconds that made the world of a difference.

"You're Mommy's a tough one Ellie'"She sighed to her murmuring daughter. "I just hope she hasn't drove off without us"

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"It's dropped into the marble chips in the beaker underneath it and they react together, sending Carbon dioxide into the gas jar" Macey spoke up shyly, breaking Emily from her thoughts.

"Well done" Emily smiled to the usually silent student. "So tonight I want you all to draw this diagram and read over the chapter on gases for the test next week. I want all A's okay...you guys are well able, you just need to put the effort into it" The chemistry teacher finished just as the bell rang.

"Kyra" She called out to the brunette just about to leave the classroom. "I missed you at training on Tuesday"

Kyra stopped in her tracks and twirled around on her heels. "I missed you too"

"Are you going to be there today?" Emily asked, the expression on her face hard and cold. "You know we're counting on you for the relay and If don't bother to show up to practise I'm going to have to replace you with someone who does...Understood"

Kyra swallowed hard, realising her playful remarks weren't going to be tolerated by her teacher today. "Y...Yeah coach, I'll be there"

Kyra quickly made her way out of the classroom and Emily's eyes darted to the young blonde in the corner packing her books into her bag. "Macy, can I speak to you please"

Macy kept her eyes on the ground as she approached the desk, realising she was probably about to get a grilling from her teacher just like Kyra did.

"Great job today, I want to hear your voice a lot more in my class. You've shown a real gift for chemistry the past few weeks so don't be afraid show it off."

Macey looked at Emily and her smile brightened. "Thanks coach, I will"

Once all the students filed out of her class Emily picked up her phone and called Alison back. Unsure of what to expect from the other side of the phone when her wife picked up, she let out a loud exasperated sigh which was heard by the blonde who had answered almost immediately.

"Well hello to you too Emily" Ali called out after she answered the phone.

"What's up" Emily asked as she exited out of the powerpoint displayed on her laptop.

There was a moment of silence from the other side of the phone, which Emily figured was Alison deciding if she wanted argue about Emily's bland greeting or just let it go. "The daycare called" the blonde finally spoke up. "Maddie isn't feeling too well. I know you probably have prior commitments but Hanna just went to meet up with her mom so I can't leave the store"

"Did they say what was wrong with her?' Emily questioned, the concern for her daughter quickly showing in her voice. "Is it a fever? A stomach ache?"

"She didn't say" Ali sighed.

"Did you not think to ask?" Emily questioned. "What if it's serious"

"Calm down Emily, if it was serious she would have said so...Anyway it's most likely her teeth, she was chewing down on everything in sight this morning, including my boob"

Emily closed her eyes and rubbed her hand across her forehead. "My mom is working so I'll ask someone to take over my classes"

"Yeah...you do that" Ali finished as she hung up the phone to Emily.

Emily rolled her eyes and sighed after Ali ended the call. She hated how much her and Alison were fighting lately, it seemed like they always found something to argue about no matter how big or small. She looked at the screensaver on her phone of her and Ali on top of the Eiffel tower and immediately her mood lightened, that week had been one of the happiest of her life: Ali had just proposed to her at the kissing rock and Emily decided the Eiffel tower was the best place to surprise her fiance with a ring of her own. What made even more special was the violinist playing the tune of their favourite song 'Heaven' by Bryan Adams when they were up there. Smiling to herself at the memory she turned her phone off and tossed it in her bag along with her keys, books and laptop. She then switched off the lights and made her way out of her classroom to ask one of her colleagues to supervise her classes after lunch.

On her way out of the school she knocked on Arias classroom, bizarrely the same classroom Ezra thought them in a few years before.

"Mrs Fitz, can I speak to you for a second" She called out from the doorframe to the petite brunette fully enthralled in the book infront of her while her class did that surprise test she was talking about in the teachers lounge earlier.

Aria scanned her eyes around to her students, all of who still had their heads down. She then stood up from her desk and walked towards the chemistry teacher.

"Hey" she smiled as she closed the door behind her. "Everything okay?"

'I have to go collect Maddie from daycare. Will you let Mr Hackett know I left early and fill me in if anything important comes up in that faculty meeting during lunch?'

"Sure" Aria smiled. "Is Maddie okay?"

"She's not feeling well" Emily sighed. "I knew she was a bit off this morning. She's been teething again lately so it's probably that."

"Oh" Aria widened her eyes with a sympathetic smile because Madison teething was worse than Noah...and Noah was bad.

"Yeah" Emily chuckled.

"Poor baby" Aria pouted out her bottom lip. "Tell her aunty Aria was asking about her"

"I will" Emily called back with a smile as she walked away from Arias classroom.

"Kyle" She heard Aria shout from the distance. "Copying Olivia's work won't get you that spot in Harvard. I want a two page essay titled why cheating is wrong on my desk by 9am tomorrow morning."

Emily chuckled to herself as she turned the corner and Arias voice became inaudible. She always smiled to herself in class when her students would file in after coming from English, all of them bitching about how much homework Mrs Fitz gave them or how she "has eyes at the back of her head" and "doesn't miss a thing". Then there were other times when they would talk about how inspirational she was and how she always goes that extra mile with all her students, taking time out of her busy day to meet with them and help them with college essays or anything else they might need. It was no wonder she became head of the English department in such little time.

Emily walked down the pavement leading to the daycare a little under twenty minutes later. They had started the girls in daycare when Emily went back to work at the beginning of September, just over three weeks ago. It was hard trusting complete strangers to watch your children but Hanna, Aria and Spencer all sent their kids there and said it was the best place around. Pam had offered to help out with the twins by taking evening shifts at work but the older woman was already doing do much and they didn't want to put that burden on her. It was so overwhelming on the first day Emily and Ali dropped them off at daycare. Ellie ran straight inside without a goodbye or a hug while Madison held onto Alis legs and screamed her little lungs out. It was heartbreaking to see two teachers pull her away and then watch her waddle up to the window, smacking her little hand against it as they walked past it.

Emily hadn't even taken off the whistle from around her neck when she walked through the doors of the daycare. She immediately spotted Ellie playing with blocks with Evie and Jane but didn't see Madison anywhere.

"Hey Mrs Dilaurentis-Fields" The daycare owner, Sally greeted her as she walked towards her.

"You can call me Emily" The brunette smiled. "Is Maddie okay"

"She was a bit fussy after you left this morning and about 30 minutes ago her temperature got very high. She was a bit upset so we said it was best to send her home." Sally explained as she directed Emily to her one year old daughter laying down on a beanbag next to Haven with one of the assistants reading them a book. When Maddie saw her Mom she rached her hands up, her little face flushed and stained with tears.

"My poor baby" Emily cooed as she leaned down and picked her daughter up. "You okay"

"Maybe a nap when she goes home would do her the world of good. Wake up feeling nice and refreshed" Sally smiled to the dark haired brunette resting her head on Emily's shoulder.

Both women jerked their heads around when they heard a loud crash from the other side of the room. Emily widened her eyes when she saw Ellie standing there with a box held high above her head and a large pile of blocks spilled around her.

"Uh oh" Ellie looked up with her mouth in the shape of an O. The little brunette spotted Emily and threw the box on the floor, just missing the little boy's head next to her.

"Mama" She squealed as she ran towards the swim coach.

"Hey Ellie bug" Emily smiled to her daughter, kneeling down and pulling her in for a hug. "Are you causing trouble again"

"She's fine" Sally smiled. "These things happen"

Emily placed a kiss on Ellies forehead and tousled her curly hair. "Go over and clean up your mess now okay" she smiled as she stood up, watching the one year old squealing in excitement as she ran towards her friends with her hands held high above her head for balance.

Emily contemplated bringing Ellie home too but figured it was best not too incase Maddie got fussy with her teeth, because when Maddie cried Ellie always made it her duty to outdo her sister and Emily was not up for an afternoon of screaming babies.

"I'm going to run there" Emily smiled to Sally, holding Madison close to her as she swayed her in her arms. "I'll be back to collect Ellie later on"

"That's perfect" Sally said, handing Emily Madisons frozen themed little backpack. "Feel better Maddie"

"Say bye to everyone" Emily whispered to her daughter but Maddie wasn't up for farewells, the little brunette simply snuggled her head further into the crook of her Moms neck and rasped "Iggy"

"Yeah baby" Emily cooed. "Iggy is waiting for you in the car."

"Come on Ellie bug, let's take off your jacket" Ali smiled as she placed her keys in the bowl on the hall table and dropped her bag on the floor. She trailed into the living room with Ellie on her hip where Elsa was mid way through "Let it go" on the TV. On the couch she saw Madison fast asleep on Emily's chest with her binky falling out of her mouth and her favourite elephant 'iggy' under her arm. She looked at Ellie and put her finger on her lip as they walked in to the kitchen.

After turning on the TV for Ellie and giving her some fruit in her high chair, Ali made her way back into the living room to Emily and Madison.

"Em" she nudged her wife on the chair. "Emily wake up" she whispered.

Emily fluttered her eyes opened and looked down to Ali with furrowed brows. "Your home early?"

'Yeah' Ali sighed as she fixed the blanket on Maddie's back. "Hanna said she'd stay and wait for Lisa to come in"

Emily nodded and looked down to the one year old sleeping soundly on her chest.

"How is she" Ali asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

"She fell asleep right after we got home. She was really fussy in the car and chewing on everything. It's definitely her teeth"

"Yeah" Ali agreed. "There's drool all over your boob"

"That's okay" Emily chuckled softly. "What time is it?"

"Just passing 2:30" The blonde answered.

Emily very slowly sat up, pulling the blanket off her and carefully resting Maddie over her shoulder. "I'm going to head back to work for practice. I'll put her upstairs to her crib"

Ali slouched back on the chair and ran both hands through her hair. "Are you still going to the gym with Spencer"

"No, I'm not" Emily muttered so it was barely audible to the blonde.

When Emily walked in through the main doors on RHS the last bell had just rung. There was a swarm of eager students shuffling to their lockers and getting their books ready to go home. She walked down the hall towards Aria's classroom where the petite brunette was on her tippy-toes wiping her blackboard clean. When she walked inside she leaned on the desk in front of Arias. She spotted the book on her best friends desk and smiled as she picked it up. 'Great Expectations'

Aria turned around and placed the blackboard wiper on her desk. "Yeah, I'm doing it with my seniors. They love it"

Emily looked down at the book and smiled, then looked up to Aria. "I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be"

Aria widened her eyes and smiled as Emily recited her favourite paragraph from the book. "Impressive…I didn't know you were a fan of Dickens"

"Yeah" Emily chuckled softly. "it's Ali's favourite book...mine too. We started reading it to the girls. There a little young to understand the meaning behind it but at least it puts them to sleep"

Aria chuckled as she sat on her desk right in front of Emily. "Never too early to read them a good novel"

"A few pages a night. We sit in the nursery and read to them. It's like a concealed version of their Mommies love story"

"Your the Pip to her Estella" Aria smiled.

"Yeah" Emily flicked through the book in her hand as the memory of Alison reading to her in the library of this very school all those years ago came flooding back to her, that was the first time she found the courage to lean forward and kiss those heart shaped lips. Emily shook her head, snapping herself out of her reminiscing when she realised the time. "I should get going" she stood up from the desk and handed Aria the book. "I have to get to practice. I might see you afterwards if your staying late" she called back as she made her way towards the door.

"Actually Em..."

"Oh Yeah" Emily interrupted, turning around just outside the door. "Anything important come up at the faculty meeting"

Aria walked over to the brunette and folded her arms as she leaned against the doorframe. "Yeah actually" she cleared her throat. "They hired a new faculty member."

"Really" Emily smiled. "What department are they in?"

Aria looked over Emily's shoulder and sighed when she saw who was walking towards them "Your about to find out"

Emily furrowed her brows at Aria and turned around to see where the petite brunette was looking.

"Ah, Mrs Dilaurentis-Fields. Just the person I was looking for" Mr Hackett called out.

Emily felt her pulse race and a cold feeling rush through her body when she saw who was with Mr Hackett. The last person she expected to see today was standing right infront of her.

"I'm sure you both know Paige McCullers" The older man beamed.

"We're all old friends" Paige added, giving Aria and Emily her best smile.

"Y..yes" Emily stuttered. "Yes we were"

"So Ms McCullers is our new athletic department supervisor. She's also going to help you around the pool with practice every once in a while. Im sure one great swimmer would appreciate the help of another" He nodded to Emily, then looked back to paige. "Maybe even assistant coach could become a permanent position, I've heard great things from Stanford"

Paige rocked back and forth in her heels and let out a nervous chuckle.

Mr Hackett inhaled deeply through his nose and the huge grin on his face widened. "You know, it's so great to see old students come back and teach. We have Mrs Fitz, Mrs Dilaurentis Fields, Mr Martell and you, Ms McCullers"

"It's great to be back sir" Paige smiled to him.

Emily fiddled with her fingers and looked to Aria, who stood next to her with her arms folded and an expression on her face that Emily couldn't quite read, if she didn't know any better she would have said Aria was constipated.

"So, Mrs Dilaurentis Fields, I was just suggesting Ms McCullers here sits in on practice today. You could introduce her to the students and maybe show her how things are done here in Rosewood from a teacher's perspective."

"Yeah" Emily nodded. "Sure."

"I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do" he grinned.

"Yes, we do" Paige added as her and Emily followed Mr Hackett down the hall.

"Now Emily, I was telling Ms McCullers about the new policies and the meets coming up in the next few months but I'm sure you'll do a much better job explaining them than me. Maybe you two could catch a coffee during the week and you could get Ms McCullers up to date on everything"

Aria stood against the doorframe of her classroom and allowed the conversation between Hackett and the girls fade into the distance. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. 'This is not going to go down well with Ali' she thought to herself.

"Hey" Paige knocked lightly on Emily's office door as she entered.

"Oh, Paige" Emily sat up straight on her chair. "Hey"

"Great practice today" she smiled. "Those girls have great potential"

"Yeah...They do"

"Listen" Paige walked further into the room and closed the door behind her. "I was wondering if maybe you want to catch up over a few drinks...my treat"

Emily looked down to the flashing phone on her desk at the text that had just come through.

Do you plan on coming home anytime soon! The twins are cranky and this is a two woman job! -Ali

"Ehm" the brunette cleared her throat. "I can't tonight actually"

"No problem" Paige grinned, scratching the back of her neck. "Maybe another time"

Emily straightened the pile of papers on her desk as she stood up from her chair, making it look like she missed the last past of Paiges sentence.

"Well" paige sighed, clasping both hand together. "I'll see you tomorrow then"

"Yeah" Emily watched as her ex girlfriend as she trailed out through her office door. "Tomorrow"

"Hey" Emily breathed out as she walked in through the kitchen to Ali and her daughters a little over twenty minutes later.

Ali widened her eyes and put her finger to her lips, gesturing to the curly haired baby asleep in her arms.

"Where's Ellie" Emily mouthed.

Ali nodded to the pantry, swaying Madison from side to side.

"What are you doing" Emily cooed as she walked through the door of the pantry to see Ellie pulling wipes out of a packet one at a time.

"Leave her" Ali sighed, rubbing circles on Maddie's back. "It's the only thing keeping her quiet and I am not up for a repeat of the last hour"

Emily smiled softly to her daughter and stood up, making her way over to the kitchen island and taking a seat while Ali sauntered into the living room with Maddie.

The blonde placed her sleeping daughter in the playpen with her favourite elephant 'Iggy' and her binky close by. She covered her in a soft pink blanket and ran her thumb across the little flushed, tear stained cheek before making her way back into the kitchen to Emily and Ellie.

"How was Maddie today" Emily asked as Ali took a seat on the kitchen island in front of her.

"Ugh" Ali groaned, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "She woke up after you left and didn't stop crying until about twenty minutes ago"

Emily cleared her throat and fiddled with the bib in front of her as silence fell over them. "So you'll never guess who..."

"I'm off tomorrow so I'm going to keep her out of daycare" Ali interrupted with her head slouched in both hands.

"Yeah, That's probably a good idea" Emily said softly, gazing at the candle in the middle of the table and letting her mind drift back to practice today.

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"Okay ladies" Emily called out after she blew the whistle around her neck, earning the attention of all the chatting teens."This is Ms McCullers. She's the new athletic department supervisor and will probably sit in on a few practices every now and then"

"Hang on" Kyra held her hands up. "You're Paige McCullers, Stanford's head swim coach right?"

"Holy shit, she is" Another girl beamed.

"Caitlyn...Language" Emily called out.

"Sorry Coach" the girl apologised. "You coached Evan Wilkins, didn't you?" she asked Paige.

"I did" Paige smiled, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Evan Wilkins" A girl that was stretching in the corner spoke up. "As in olympic gold medalist Evan Wilkins?"

"Yeah" Caitlyn chuckled in disbelief. "He said he owed all his victories to you Ms McCullers"

Emily watched from the sidelines as all the swimmers hung on Paige's every word. A twinge of jealousy washed over her as some of them even asked Paige for pointers and extra help in the pool after practice which she had willingly agreed to. They had even followed Paige's journey in the 'Olympic Swimmers Magazine' which Emily herself couldn't help but read when it was published a few years ago, It talked about Paige's journey to the olympics which was cut short after a car accident which injured her knee, but how she didn't let it get her down and instead put all her aspiration into raising future olympians. Emily held the pen in her hand and pretended to be writing down something on her clipboard as the girls formed a barricade around her ex.

"Right!" Emily stepped in when she heard one of her students asked Paige why she downgraded to such a shitty job, which Emily herself took personal and got slightly pissed off by. "We can ask Ms McCullers about her life story later"

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"Emily" Ali clicked her fingers, breaking the brunette from her thoughts.

"Hmm?" Emily shook her head and darted her eyes up to the blonde.

"I asked you what do you want for dinner? I'm not in the mood to cook and it didn't seem like you were going to volunteer to do it" The blonde stated as she walked over towards the counter and opened one of the cabinets that held the wine glasses.

Emily watched Ellie waddle over to her with her chocolate covered hands held out. "Do you want me to cook something?" She asked Ali as she scooped her daughter up from the floor and rested her on her knees.

"You can't cook Emily" Ali chuckled, emptying the last of the wine from the bottle into her glass.

Emily opened the pack of wipes next to the dirty diaper in the middle of the island and began wiping the chocolate from Ellie's face and hands. "Actually, I can"

"No, you can't" Ali bit back, showing some sarcastic humor in her voice. "At least not without catching the house on fire"

"That was one time" Emily rolled her eyes.

"And the fire department had to be called" Ali chuckled with her wine glass to her lips.

Even though Emily knew very well she could cook and that Ali was most likely just trying to stir up trouble, she didn't want to start an argument over something so stupid and just decided to let it go. "Well then do you want me to order Pizza?" she asked in a calm tone.

"I don't care" Ali sighed. "It's up to you"

"I'll go get it from that Italian place by the boutique. I'll take Ellie with me, get her out of the house for a while"

"Okay" Ali said with the wine glass to her lips, staring absentmindedly out the kitchen window. "Get formula in the store and another bottle of this" she gestured to the wine in front of her. "Your on baby duty for the night, I need a break"