Some of you will love this chapter, some of you might now but that's the way it goes. For Jessica fans you're probably going to love the next few chapters we are going to be seeing a lot of her! I know some people who don't like Jessica as much won't like the next few chapters as much but it's what I wanted to do with this story and yeah you can't please everybody haha. Enjoy and please, if you enjoy the chapter, let me know, even if it's just a couple words!

She must have drifted off again because when Emily wakes up, Hanna is standing over her on the other side of the bed. Her parents and Paige aren't there anymore.

She leans over and gags into the plastic pan that Hanna holds in front of her and she tries to vomit but nothing comes out, her body is shaking. When she's done she lays back on the bed, her chest heaving. Hanna's eyes sparkle with unshed tears.

Hanna's face disappears from view as she places the plastic pan on the floor and when she looks up she is a picture of composure again. Emily is glad of that.

"Are you about done?" Hanna asks gently.

Emily's brows crease in confusion. Is she about done with what? She doesn't have a clue what Hanna is talking about.

"You've been doing that for the past hour," Hanna says as she tucks Emily's hair behind her ear. "You don't remember it?"

Emily curls on her side. "No."

"Well, your Doctor came to see you, do you remember that?"

Emily shakes her head. She's covered in blankets and yet she's still cold. She pulls the blankets up to her shoulders, her arms and legs are shaking. It feels like everything is sore.

"He said if you make it twelve hours you will be able to have more pain meds."

"How much longer is that?" Emily asks.

Hanna looks at her phone and then tilts her head sadly. "Six more hours."

Emily feels more acid rise in her throat so she pulls her knees to her chest. "I can't do it."

Hanna leans over and kisses her on the cheek, near the corner of her mouth, but there's nothing romantic about it. It's soothing in the way a mother might kiss their child. It's a reminder that Hanna is right there. "You can, Em. She is not going to beat you."

Emily feels the tears pool in her eyes because it breaks her heart. Jessica has already won and she attempts to hold her knees tighter to her chest but everything hurts so she turns over and buries her face in the pillow so she doesn't have to look at her best friend.

"She's not going to win, Emily," Hanna repeats as she moves her chair out the way and climbs on the bed, careful not to touch Emily. Emily can feel the bed dip under the additional weight. There's a hand on her shoulder and it burns. But she turns around anyway.

"She already has," Emily mumbles before she places her head on Hanna's chest and she allows herself to cry as Hanna's arms wrap around her. Her whole body wracks in pain as Hanna keeps her in place.

"No she hasn't and she won't, Em. I promise you that."

"We need to go and celebrate your birthday, Em," Toby said as she waltzed into her office. It was just leaving half past five in the evening.

"My birthday isn't until tomorrow though," Emily replied as she looked up at him from her computer screen.

"I know," he answered as he sat on one of the blue leather seats across from her desk. "But you won't be here tomorrow and me and Spence have Hastings' commitments which we can't break, obviously, so we can't spend it with you and you know the department tradition."

Emily shook her head. "Nope, the tradition is cancelled this year."

"It isn't, all the guys are already waiting. Rachel is coming along too so you won't be the only woman this time. Do you have money on you?"

Emily smiled as she clicked off the windows on her computer. "Fine," she relented. "I'm not staying too long and don't get me any dances but yes I have cash on me. So lets go and get this over with so I can go home and be old with Ali."

- x -

Emily sat with a red paper birthday hat on her head and four bullets in her pocket. The bullets clinked when she moved, but only she seemed to hear them in this place. The hat's elastic band tugged at her hair and gripped her neck. She adjusted it, feeling a red line forming on her skin.

She couldn't quite believe they had taken her here and yet it really was a tradition in their department - even though she was a woman, even though she missed it last year for obvious reasons - they'd brought her back. Like one of the group. She shook her head as she watched the men at the bar collecting the beers. Rachel sat across from her, shifting in her seat like a cat on a hot tin roof.

The place was busy with the usual suspects. A group of testosterone filled men on a bachelor party gathered around two tables and sang encouragements to a poor guy wearing a nurse's outfit. Men in suits hunched over their beers while their wedding rings jingled in their pockets. Emily knew their table stuck out like a sore thumb.

She was broken from her observation when her phone vibrated in her phone pocket. She pulled it out fully expecting to see Alison's name on her screen; it was. She excused herself before she walked out into the cold, she could see a cloud of vapour above her head every time she exhaled.

"It's me," Alison greeted her warmly and Emily smiled at the blonde's voice.

"What's up?" Emily asked.

"Where are you and what's that noise?"

"I'm at a lap dancing bar, it wasn't my idea. It's department tradition for our birthdays," Emily replied as a group of guys walked past her into the bar.

"I don't want to know," Alison answered calmly but Emily could tell she wanted to know more, had clingy questions that she didn't want to ask. "I'm heading over to your apartment just now, there's a chance I may have a late meeting though so if I'm not there when you get back that's where I am."

"So you won't be there to bring in my birthday with me? I'll have to get old by myself?" Emily joked, she heard Ali laugh gently into the phone.

"Hopefully not, but if I have to go to the meeting I will text you and let you know and if it's not too late I will come back to yours. Are you really not getting a dance?" Alison asked.

There we go. "No, I'm not getting one, Ali. I would be home by now but it is department tradition at the end of the day and it's only fair that I stay for a little while."

"Okay," Alison answered. "I know it's kind of late in the day but is there anything in particular that you do want for your birthday tomorrow as a gift?"

Emily considered the question before she bit her cheek and grinned. "How about a lap dance?"

- x -

Alison slipped the key in the door and stepped into the apartment, she dragged her desk chair behind her, it rolled over the hardwood floor easily. Every time she stepped into Emily's apartment she had to shrug off the feeling that she was home. Her childhood house wasn't home, it was merely a place to sleep, which wasn't often anymore since she spent nearly every night here.

She poured bath salts into the water and then lit the one candle Emily had in her bathroom. The bright scent of the bath salts filled the room and a cloud of steam rose from the hot water. When the water was knee high, Alison placed her towel over the sink and stepped into the bath tub.

She closed her eyes and sank back into the water. Her face felt hot, not just because of the water but because Emily wanted a lap dance. She wasn't sure if the brunette had been joking or not, she hoped she hadn't been, she had a feeling it could turn out kind of fun. Even if she hadn't done it before, how hard could it be really?

By the time she got out and got dried, Parker still hadn't text her about the meeting which was a good thing. She blanked the image of Emily at a lap dancing bar out of her mind, she really didn't need to think about that, it was pushed to the back of her mind. Nearly. Almost.

She sighed when she saw the screen on her MacBook still alight in the coffee table. It should have been asleep by now. A computer glitch was not what she needed. She pressed on the mouse pad and groaned when she saw the screen.

The document she'd been typing up had gone. The page was just a single sentence. She wanted to pick the MacBook up and launch it at the wall. The screen glowed for a few more seconds and went blank, and then her phone rang. She shook her head in frustration.

She picked the phone up and placed it to her ear. "I'll be there Parker, just give me twenty minutes to get dressed."

She text Emily the situation before she huffed her way out of the apartment door.

- x -

"Emily," the voice called as Emily opened the door to her apartment. She turned her head right towards the staircase that led upstairs. Amelia was walking towards her with something in her hand.

"I need you to be neighbourly. My laptop has decided to buckle and I really need to send these emails. I have the attachments saved on this," she held up a USB stick in Emily's direction. "Can you help me, please?"

Emily hesitated as she stood outside her apartment door, Amelia looked flushed. Her cheeks were red, her hair was messy and she looked like she was in a bit of a panic. Really, Amelia shouldn't be talking to her after her behavior in the other brunette's apartment.

"Yeah, sure. Come in," Emily said as she opened the door and allowed the other woman to walk in first. The place smelled like flowers even though she had none.

"Laptop is over there," Emily pointed towards the coffee table where, to her surprise, two laptops sat side by side. "Use the one on the right, that's mine. If you use Ali's she will cut your hands off and I won't stop her."

Amelia chuckled nervously. She looked nervous, like she was afraid of being in Emily's apartment for some reason. "Are you okay?" Emily asked as she sat her keys on the kitchen counter. The made a rattle through the silent apartment.

Amelia looked around the apartment, taking everything in, Emily imagined that's what she had looked like in Amelia's apartment too. "What? Oh yeah, yeah I'm fine…I just want to get these sent off. It's to do with my apartment back home."

Emily watched as Amelia took a seat on the couch, she hesitated before she leaned over and flipped the screen up. "Do you have a password you need to put in? I won't look don't worry," she smiled in Emily's direction.

Emily shook her head. "No, there's nothing really on there anyway. Just some music. I don't have time to use it for my leisure as you can imagine."

She watched as Amelia slid the USB stick into the port and clicked a few times on the mouse pad, when she was done relief flooded her face.

"You seem nervous?" Emily questioned as she leaned back against the kitchen counter.

"No, I'm fine," Amelia reasoned as she pulled the USB stick out of the computer. She shut the lid back over and the Apple logo glowed white for a few seconds before it went blank. "I just needed to get it done, time was ticking."

"Have you officially left California behind then?" Emily asked.

The brunette nodded as she stood up from the black leather couch. "I have, it's been a whirlwind but it looks like I'm finally getting settled. I've even met a few people around here now."

"Well, that always makes things a bit easier."

Amelia smiled at her. "I will be out of your hair now, don't worry."

Emily walked her to the door and opened it for her.

"It's nice being neighbourly isn't it?" Amelia asked cheerfully as she turned and faced Emily fully before she stepped out of the door and sauntered back down the hallway.

- x -

It was ten to midnight and Emily had unbuttoned the cuffs of her shirt, she undone the top two buttons for good measure. She had her shoes off and her socked feet were propped up on the coffee table. The remnants of a peanut butter sandwich sat next to her feet and an empty beer bottle. She was considering another beer when there was a knock at the door.

It was now seven minutes to her birthday. Twenty-eight and she was spending it alone. Hanna had a meeting in the morning. Alison's meeting had ran over late so she was coming over early morning instead, and Spencer and Toby had family commitments. At least twenty-eight wasn't a birthday in need of a big celebration.

"Who is it?" Emily called through the door as she stood up, wary of who was on the other side.

"It's me," Alison answered.

Emily frowned. "Why are you knocking? You know you can just come in, Ali."

Emily heard Ali sigh impatiently. "Just open the door Em, and please hurry."

A smile spread across her face as she opened the door, Alison stood in the corridor with a hand on her hip. Her poppy red coat was tied tight at the waist, and highlighted the curves of her hips Emily couldn't complain at the amount of leg and cleavage it showed either. It was short enough that Emily could see the black stockings she was wearing came only to her upper thighs.

She had heels on that raised her to the same height as Emily and lengthened her legs. She smiled back at Emily and then batted her long, curled eyelashes. Her eyes were their usual brilliant azure blue.

"Is this your birthday present for me?" Emily asked brightly.

Alison stepped forward and placed her hand on Emily's chest. "Part of it," she said. "You know it's your birthday in like five minutes?"

Emily moved her hand to Ali's thigh, feeling the stockings give way to soft, smooth flesh. Her detective skills were leading her to think that whatever the blonde was wearing under the red coat was not much. But she had a feeling she was going to find out for definite. "I do, so you better come in."

She walked past Emily, her hips swinging and exposing the back of her thighs as the red coat lifted with the motion. Emily glanced down the empty hallway as she closed the door, wondering if anyone had seen Alison come into the building like that. She doubted it at this time.

When Emily turned back to the room, Alison was standing in front of the MacBook, typing something into the keyboard. The blonde's eyes were fixed on the screen and she typed quickly. You could tell she done that kind of thing for a living.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

Ali looked up at her and winked. "Putting some music on, you can't have a lap dance with no music," she replied. She hit another button and the MacBook burst into song, it was some sort of dance number that Emily hadn't heard before. That didn't surprise her, she'd never really cared much for dance music.

Ali nudged the coffee table before she wheeled the desk chair into the middle of the living room. Emily stood with her hands in her pockets and watched as Ali adjusted the position of the chair and then she twirled and faced the brunette's direction. Emily could feel the pulse of the music bounce off the walls.

Alison unbuttoned the top button of her coat and pulled up at the collar, exposing more skin, and then she sauntered towards Emily, hips swaying in time to the music. She glowed. She was Technicolor. Emily could feel the familiar again twitch in her stomach.

The heels accentuated the curve of Alison's hips and Emily felt like she was getting pulled towards her. She could physically feel Alison getting closer, the pressure in her stomach building with each step. The brunette imagined Ali's arms around her neck, her fingers unbuttoning the rest of her shirt, the blonde's mouth on her own...

But when Alison was within arms length, she stopped moving. Emily's body constricted with frustrated desire. She wanted to touch Ali. She needed to touch Ali. She took her hands out of her pockets and took a step forward.

"Ah, ah," Ali warned, a flirty smile played across her lips. She reached for Emily's wrist and walked her to the chair that she had positioned in the middle of the room. God she was beautiful. Sometimes Emily still found it unbelievable that Alison wanted her.

Alison sat Emily down, opened her legs and stepped in between her knees. "Stay here," she said and leaned in to kiss Emily on the mouth, her hand raked through dark hair as Emily's tongue explored her mouth. Emily head was swimming. She lifted her hands to the blonde's hips.

Alison pulled back as soon as Emily had touched her. Alison giggled, her cheeks were rosy and Emily wondered when she was finally going to take the coat off.

"It's a lap dance Em, and you're not allowed to touch yet," she said. She leaned down so their faces were inches apart, Emily's eyes dipped to the opening of the blonde's coat. She could see the black material of a bra strap.

She stood up and made her way across the living room, Emily exhaled as Alison closed the blinds. She wanted to turn around to watch the blonde but she stared straight head because the prize would be worth it. Ali's heels clicked against the floor as she came back up behind her.

Emily caught her subtle perfume as Ali leaned over her shoulder, their cheeks pressed together, she reached down Emily's shirt and unbuttoned a few of the buttons easily. Her touch was full of promise and Emily could feel her self resolve fading. When Ali appeared back in front of her the coat was gone.

The black lace bra and underwear she had on contrasted against her pale skin perfectly. Emily's eyes roamed freely over her and Alison was pretty sure her heartbeat was audible to both of them. She'd never done this before and she hoped she was doing it right. It looked as if she was judging by Emily's face.

Emily watched as Ali closed her eyes. The blood took a breath for second and she slowly slid her finer along the edge of one of her stockings. She was nervous. But before Emily could reassure her, blue eyes sparkled in her direction and Ali started to dance. Emily looked to the ceiling and thanked whoever was looking over her.

Ali's eyes remained trained on her as she moved freely, her hips rolling. She ran her hands over her breasts and down her stomach before she moaned. Emily felt all her blood rush to the surface. Ali's tongue flicked across her bottom lip as her hips kept swinging, Emily found it hard to swallow. She didn't really know much about lap dances, but she knew then that Alison was good at them.

Alison smiled as she put her hands on Emily's knees and pushed them apart, she stepped in between the brunette's legs and she could feel Emily's breath on her bare chest. With her hips moving in circles, she lowered herself onto Emily's lap, she moved slowly though, so by the time that she made contact with Emily, every muscle in the brunette's body was coiled.

Blonde hair brushed her face as Alison moved against her, every movement sent a jolt through her body and she finally grabbed a hold of Ali's hips holding her in place. She kissed the blonde eagerly as her hands ran delicately up over the blonde's spine.

She pulled back and Emily noticed that one of the bra straps had come loose, it was hanging over her upper arm. She leaned around and unhooked it at the back, and allowed it to drop down her arms. Emily's heart lurched in her chest. She was on fire.

Alison kneeled and placed a hand on each of Emily's knees, her thumbs tracing the inside of the brunette's thighs. When she was completely between Emily's legs she started unbuttoning the rest of her shirt. She did it deliberately, starting at the bottom and working her way up. When she was done, she moved the shirt open and unbuttoned Emily's jeans.

Emily made a grateful noise and she looked up and smiled as Ali leaned back down to kiss her. The blonde moved her hand into Emily's hair as she pulled them closer. Emily reached out and pulled Alison onto her, the chair rocked back slightly before it settled Alison on her lap.

"How was your lap dance?" Alison breathed as Emily's hand palmed her breasts roughly.

"Better than I could have ever have imagined," Emily replied as she leaned up and sucked on the blonde's pulse point, she could feel Ali's hands tighten in her hair. "You… are incredible."

She ran her thumb over a straining nipple and smiled as Ali moaned and pushed down on her lap, lowering her mouth to the blonde's chest. Emily tugged her hand lower, allowing her thumb to skate along the inside of Ali's thigh, deliberately moving over the blonde's soaked underwear.

"I think you enjoyed it too," Emily purred as she ran her thumb over Ali's underwear, deliberately pressing against the blonde's clit. She attached her lips around Ali's nipple, swirling over the tip of it with her tongue. The sensation of Emily's mouth against her while the brunette's hand worked against her underwear caused her hips to move eagerly against Emily's hand.

She pushed Ali's underwear to the side, running her fingers through warm flesh before slipping her two fingers easily inside. The blonde continued to kiss her as she moved against Emily's fingers, she pulled at the brunette's shirt, throwing it in a heap on the floor.

Her back arched as Emily's fingers curled inside her and she felt a strong arm wrap around her lower back to hold her in place. She opened her eyes to be met by dark brown ones filled with lust, filled with something Ali had never seen before. Emily curled her fingers again and she leaned down to bite the brunette's shoulder in an attempt to stifle a moan.

The seat creaked underneath them as Ali continued to move against Emily's fingers, her thighs shook with exertion, with excitement, with a combination of every sensation that she was feeling for Emily.

"Don't stop, Em," she gasped as Emily thrusted deeper inside her.

Emily shook her head as the blonde's lips crashed against her own. She felt Alison bite down gently on her bottom lip. Alison took her again and again, hot and wet and tight, until she couldn't stand it any longer. Her breath caught in the back of her throat.

"I'm going to come," Alison breathed.

For some reason, Alison thought Emily would tease her more, but instead, Emily's fingers continued to thrust quickly. She dug her nails into Emily's shoulders and heard as the brunette let out a little growl of pain and pleasure. She threw her head back and moaned loudly as she finally had her release.

Emily kissed over the blonde's exposed throat before Ali's head's finally turned back in her direction. The brunette's head swooned. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Alison grinned as she wrapped her arms around her neck.

"Happy birthday, baby," she said sweetly before her hand began to wander lower against Emily's stomach.

- x -

Emily ran her hand through her damp hair as she walked back into the living room. The noise of the music that was blaring from the laptop was driving her insane. She closed down the window that contained about a thousand music videos ready to play one after another. The room went silent apart from the sound of Ali grabbing a few things from the bedroom.

Despite it being after one in the morning, Emily walked round to the fridge and pulled another beer. It was her birthday after all. She opened the bottle and took a large gulp of it before she had even closed the fridge door. Then she headed towards the living room, glancing at the open laptop as she approached.

She froze, her eyes trained on the tiny red dot that was on just above the center of the screen. She didn't use it, not regularly anyway, only with her parents. But it had been weeks since their last Skype call. She saw Alison saunter down the hall and raised her hand so she wouldn't walk any further.

An uneasy sensation spread across her shoulders, like dozens of sharp pins biting into her flesh. She turned slowly towards the chair she had been sat in an hour ago, the computer looked right onto it. Breathing quickly, Emily turned back to the laptop. "Did you turn this camera on, Ali?"

"What?" Alison smiled playfully, her eyebrows raised.

"This isn't a joke, did you turn this on earlier?" Emily asked again.

"No."

The tingling sensation burned down towards her arms. The hairs on the back of her neck lifted. She recognised the feeling. It was the feeling of being watched. She squinted at the red camera lens. It was like a red eye. Her lungs were heavy like they were full of water.

"Someone was watching us. Is watching us."

Alison looked dumfounded. "What?"

Emily wiped the sweat from her hands before she fumbled around for her phone. It was on the kitchen counter, she grabbed Ali's wrist and tugged on the blonde to follow her. "Someone is on that computer. Someone who isn't us. I need to call Toby."

Alison's face creased with worry. She buried her face into Emily's shoulder as she heard the tell tale ring through the phone that was pressed to Emily's ear. It could be a simple mistake, it could be an error with the camera, it could even just be a problem with the MacBook itself. She repeated that in her head but she didn't believe it.

- x -

Within thirty minutes Toby, Donny, Hanna and Spencer were stood in the middle of her living room.

"Have you downloaded anything?" Donny asked as he finally took a seat in front of the laptop, the red camera lens hadn't gone out yet.

"No," Emily replied as she looked across at Ali. "I hardly use it, and when I do it's to Skype my parents."

"Well, if this is being used by someone externally there is something on here that will give us an indication of how it's happened."

Emily screwed her eyes shut. It wasn't just that they were being watched, it was the thought of someone watching her and Ali doing what they had been.

"Amelia," she muttered more to herself than anyone else. "Amelia," she said louder as Alison's eyes snapped in her direction.

"Earlier, she told me she needed to send some emails about her apartment in California so I let her use this. She looked panicked like she needed to do it right away so I let her use my computer with her USB stick." Alison just stared at her, she only blinked once.

Donny's fingers worked quickly against the keyboard as Hanna walked over to Alison's side, giving the other blonde a gentle nudge of reassurance on the shoulder.

"Where is her apartment?" Toby asked. Emily pointed directly at the ceiling and before she had time to utter the number Toby was already out the door and heading towards the stairs.

"Someone is controlling this from the outside, someone is running a program on it, you don't even have to have anything installed for it you just have to run it." Donny shut the computer over before he looked at Emily. "My guess would be that it came from the USB stick that she was using."

Emily shook her head and slammed her fist angrily against the kitchen counter.

- x -

Amelia looked worse now than she did several hours ago. Emily was certain that she had tampered with her MacBook while she was supposedly sorting her emails. She'd known exactly what she had been doing. Alison had been right all along.

"Are we playing neighbours again so soon?" Amelia asked as she looked between everyone in the room.

"I'm not playing here," Emily replied sternly. Amelia was afraid now, she tried to hide it, but Emily could see the colour vanish from her cheeks. She looked back at Toby who rotated the USB stick in his fingers.

"You have a lot of responsibility, a lot of power and sometimes it's good to give that up for a while, find a new lease of life." The statement was directed at Emily but she knew it was a reference to Alison.

Emily scoffed. "You've been watching me haven't you? Who for?"

"Answer her or I will make sure the next time you see a USB stick will be in a history book in about 50 years," Toby said from the corner of the room, he had his arms folded across his chest and promised an imposing figure.

"Who paid you Amelia?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, I was contacted via email and was paid through an offshore account. The contact was limited," she said it casually like it was a bank arrangement for a loan. "Since I've been here I've been keeping tabs on you. Everywhere you've been. Even today at the lap dancing bar, I was there."

Emily felt like she had been sucker punched in the gut. "What's on the flash drive?"

"I don't know, I was instructed not to use anything apart from what I did tonight."

Toby's phone ringing made her hesitate. Amelia waited until he was out of the room until she spoke again. "I didn't know who you were when I agreed to the booking."

"Are you really from California?" Emily asked.

"Yes and my personal details are all true. Originally I traveled the word with my job, I specialise in the girlfriend experience but someone had beaten me to that." Everyone turned to look at Alison. Alison simply blinked in Amelia's direction as if trying to stop herself from exploding.

"That psycho bitch is involved in this Emily, I don't know how she is from prison but she is," Hanna roared from the kitchen and Alison flinched in surprise at Hanna's outburst. "Tell us the fucking truth," she shouted at Amelia.

Toby appeared back at the door, his face was flushed. Alison thought if he was a cartoon character she would be able to see the steam flying out of his ears. The veins in his throat throbbed against his skin.

"Jessica," Emily said softly. She wanted to laugh. She wanted Toby to tell her that she was wrong, but she could see the truth in Toby's face as Toby stepped back into the apartment.

"She got out," Toby said.

"The other night, she didn't get attacked, she done that to herself to see what the security would be like. There were no marks anywhere else on her, I should have realised. She had this planned the whole fucking time," Emily replied angrily. "But how the fuck did she just walk out of there?"

"They found Andrews in her cell, dead. Looks like she used a razor blade. My guess is she just swiped out using Andrews card and instead of going through the whole prison she used the back exit directly onto the parking lot. Taken the doctors clothes too. Car's gone. Everything. Andrews card signed out at ten thirty, just after lights out so she has nearly four hours on us."

Emily closed her eyes and laughed weakly as she shook her head. Her mind wandered back to the other night when she had visited Jessica. "I could kill you Emily, you never know when I might have a sharpened toothbrush tucked under my mattress or a razor blade hidden up my sleeve."

Jessica had let her live. Again.

Amelia's head snapped up in their direction. "That's who contacted me. Andrews. The woman's name was Robin Andrews."