Emily was still on edge by the time the front door opened again; signaling Jaiden's return. The brunette had remained in the kitchen, picking at the toast and eggs that Chloe had made. Truthfully, Emily was fighting the panic in her chest from the moment she had heard her mother's voice and the fact that she was around unfamiliar people wasn't necessarily helping. Truthfully that was why the idea of going home had even popped into her head. She was craving familiarity and even though she would have to face her parents, her room sounded safe. By the time Jaiden stepped into the kitchen, Emily was shaking.

Jaiden took a few seconds to analyze the general feeling in the kitchen and then cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Is everything okay?"

"Well…" Chloe her voice trail off. Jaiden's eyes narrowed at her.

"Well what?"

"It was nothing." Emily said. Jaiden could tell by the look on her face that it wasn't.

"Her parents showed up."

"What?"

"I handled it." Beca said defensively. Her younger sister didn't look necessarily relieved. In fact, she looked downright pissed. Jaiden hesitated for a few seconds before picking her keys back up off of the counter.

"I'll be back in a bit." The 18 year old grunted.

"Jaiden, don't. It's fine." Emily hopped off of her bar stool and went after her.

"You're just going to get yourself in trouble." Chloe called after the younger Mitchell. Jaiden stopped begrudgingly as Emily caught her by the wrist and held her back.

"They can't just come over here and harass you." Jaiden argued back. She bristled at the look that Emily gave her, mostly because it quelled her anger. "Fine." She huffed. Emily released her grip and relaxed; grateful that she wasn't going to have to undergo the stress of her sort-of girlfriend trying to fight her parents.

"So," Chloe smiled and tried to lighten the mood. "How was your session?" Jaiden rolled her eyes.

"It was great. Really dug deep today."

"Hey, Sass-Master, cool it." Beca warned with the arch of an eyebrow. It was pretty easy to pick up on the fact that Jaiden was starting to get defensive.

"Sorry," Jaiden feigned the apology and then glanced longingly in the direction of her bedroom. "Look, I got up early and I'm tired. So, I'm going back to bed."

"It's like 10:30 am." Chloe pointed out.

"Yeah." Jaiden nodded and then shuffled down the hallway. A few seconds later, they heard her flop down onto her bed. Emily looked at the older two girls in confusion.

"She sleeps a lot." Beca said. "Actually, probably an unhealthy amount."

"I know. She tried to do it back when…when we were rooming together and the nurses always had to drag her out of bed." Emily admitted. A small smile played at her lips, which she quickly hid.

"So, do you want to do anything?" Chloe offered. She watched the younger girl glance towards the guest room a bit longingly.

"I actually have some classes to catch up with online, so I'll probably just try to get that done while Jaiden's napping." She excused herself politely and hurried off to the room she was sharing with the other girl. Emily let herself in quietly, seeing as that Jaiden was already face down on the bed, and rooted through her bag for her laptop. Unsure of where to sit, the brunette opted to perch on the edge of the mattress and opened up her computer. Thankful that the apartment's wifi didn't have a password and she wasn't going to have to wake Jaiden up, Emily logged onto her school account and started clicking her way through the lessons. She didn't notice her roommate was actually awake until the older girl rolled over to look at her.

"Sorry, was I being too loud?"

"No," Jaiden shook her head quietly. "You're fine. What're you working on?"

"Just school stuff that I missed. Chemistry."

"Hmm." She grunted. "Do you need help?"

"I think I've got it. It's pretty easy." Emily replied. Her cheeks began to burn as Jaiden rested her head against her side and stared at the screen blankly. She wasn't quite used to feeling the other girl in such a close proximity; Jaiden had been relatively physically reserved when they were in treatment together.

"Okay then. Let me know if you, uh, do." She mumbled. Emily paused for a second, waiting for Jaiden to close her eyes again, and then resumed typing in her answers. Once again, she fell under the impression that Jaiden had fallen asleep, but the older girl was still quite conscious. She listened to the tapping of Emily's fingers on the keyboard and kept her eyes shut; content with the lack of conversation between the two of them. It allowed her time to think about the way she was feeling at the moment. Emily's skin was warm against her's, and she'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't comfortable. She had been comfortable last night as the younger girl had fallen asleep next to her in bed and Jaiden knew she couldn't ignore that.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" She asked quietly. Emily tensed against her, obviously surprised that she was actually awake, and Jaiden opened her eyes to look up at her. "You don't have to, and you can still stay and everything if you decide to say no. I just…with the way things are between us and everything, I don't want to leave a ton of questions just hanging in the air."

"I do. I mean, yes, I want to be your girlfriend." Emily stammered in reply. She shut her laptop and put it on the nightstand, giving the older girl all of her attention. Jaiden sat up and brushed her hair back out of her face. There were a few seconds of stillness between them before Jaiden leaned over and pressed their lips together. It seemed like every time they kissed, Emily got just a little more confident, and this time there were no thoughts of Stacie as she crawled on top of Jaiden and pushed her back down onto the mattress. The older girl put her hands on Emily's waist before she could even get worried enough to ask whether or not she was "crushing" Jaiden and kissed her back with rising vigor. Emily eventually quit hovering and let her body rest on top of Jaiden's fully. Her heart was racing as Jaiden's fingertips trailed up and down her sides, leaving goosebumps in their path. Her heart practically stopped as Jaiden's hands lifted and moved down to her thighs.

Emily leapt back so quickly that Jaiden wasn't quite sure what had happened for a few seconds. She looked Emily's tense figure up and down, wondering how and why she had gone to stand at the foot of the bed so suddenly. And then she pieced it together and felt sick. Jaiden took a deep breath and clenched her eyes shut.

"I'm sorry, Em. I…I didn't know."

"I'm sorry, I have to go-"

"No!" Jaiden leapt up and blocked the door from the younger girl. "Don't run away. Please."

"I can't do this. This was a mistake."

"No, it wasn't. Emily, please don't. You can trust me. You don't have to run."

"I don't want you to see me." Emily's voice shook and she tried to dodge Jaiden's body desperately. She couldn't get past. "We can't do this."

"I know you cut yourself, Em. You can't hide something that's already out there." Jaiden's words hit Emily like a bullet and the brunette's mind filled with anxious static. She was rigid as she waited for her to keep talking. "We've all got our shit and you know most of mine. I…I don't know how to explain to you that yours aren't going to scare me away or make me not want you as much as I do. I just want you to trust me. Please, just trust me." Jaiden pleaded. She moved closer to Emily, who had now chosen to stare at the floor.

"I'm sorry." She whispered after a few seconds. Jaiden bit her bottom lip and stared at her helplessly.

"You don't have to be. I just want you to understand what I'm trying to say." Jaiden closed the distance between them again and took a chance by gripping Emily's arms. "You can't make me stop loving you."

Emily's bottom lip trembled and her watery eyes met Jaiden's. "I don't want you to see them. They're…th-they're so bad."

"I don't care how bad they are." Jaiden shook her head. "It's not going to scare me away."

"I-" Emily's voice cut out with a choked up sob. Jaiden's hands slid down her arms and for once, Emily didn't pull back when they reached her wrists.

—-

"I love days like this." Chloe sighed, resting her chin on top of Beca's head. The two were curled up on the couch under a blanket, with Bailey snuggled up at their feet. "I love just being together."

"Yeah, well, you're easy to please." Beca smirked.

"Speaking of; have you thought anymore about, you know, getting married?" The redhead asked tentatively. Beca shifted uncomfortably, having not done any planning, and shrugged.

"Are you going to be mad if I say no?"

"I figured you would, so no. That's why I've been looking." Chloe admitted. "I know we want small and I already sort of reserved the auditorium Friday night next week…if that's okay with you." She glanced down to see Beca staring up at her wide-eyed.

"Dude, you picked our wedding date without us?"

"I knew you wouldn't!" Chloe replied defensively. "And I just…I don't want to put this off any longer."

"I haven't even gotten you an engagement ring yet!"

"I don't care, Beca," Chloe shook her head. "I just want to be your wife. We could get married in a dump with Ringpops and I'd love it."

"Bullshit. You'd bring it up during every argument we ever have-"

"Not the point!" Chloe interrupted. "I love you. That is the point."

"Yeah, well, I love you too. Even if you are a nerd."

Sorry for the wait! Running low on inspo so please, feel free to suggest anything you'd like to see and don't forget to review.