Disclaimer: I don't own Skins or the characters from the show, I do, however, own a man called Howard, a girl called Lexie and the contents of this story.

Author Notes: Thank you to everyone for your reviews. This chapter is for 3 people - jm (thanks for your message, I completely understand, thanks for all of your support), Vix884 (sometimes in front, sometimes behind, hopefully you'll have read this before ch 26 appears), McIzzieFan (sometimes writing takes over, right?! This is for you. Enjoy it and please tell me what you thought... ;-) )

Without Warning

Chapter Twenty-Five

A strand of red hair on top of Emily's head was moving up and down as she breathed against it. It had been a long time since Naomi had watched her sleep, had really paid attention to Emily dozing. If the situation between them hadn't taken a few steps backwards she would have thought only how beautiful Emily was when she slept. Instead she felt guilty that she was asleep in the middle of the day. She reached a finger out to brush the hair back from Emily's mouth, but Katie's voice made her jump back.

"What?"

"I said I made you a coffee."

She forced a smile onto her lips, "Thanks."

"Emily wouldn't tell me what happened," Katie informed her looking to her sister with worry.

"I think I know," Naomi admitted.

Katie's eyes grew wide with a look of realisation, a hand moved from her swelled stomach to her mouth and she stared at Naomi like she was a criminal.

" I knew there was something going on yesterday. You broke her heart didn't you?"

"No," Naomi snapped, wishing she wasn't always seen as the bad guy.

"Then what happened?"

"Yesterday was perfect," she smiled, "We were under all but a name, together."

"How the fuck do you get from together to this?" Katie gasped, shaking her head.

"She told me she's accepted a job in America."

Katie bit her lip, "Right."

"You already knew?" Naomi asked, feeling angry.

"She told me she was thinking about it."

"Well that's fucking fantastic, so I was the last to know."

"I'm the only other person who knows Naomi, get your head out of your own arse for five seconds."

Naomi wasn't the one who had not told the truth, Naomi wasn't the one who had cheated over a year ago, Naomi hadn't been the one to intentionally cause the pain in a long time. Katie just had to get used to that.

"I don't want to argue with you Katie, can we stop with the insults." Katie just nodded. "She asked me to decide whether she should stay or not."

"What is fucking wrong with," Katie snapped, her brain working overtime.

Naomi sighed, "Katie!"

"Not you," she snapped, "My sister, she keeps fucking this whole thing up."

"I got mad and next thing I know you called me and this has happened," Naomi muttered, looking down at Emily's sleeping form.

Katie couldn't seem to listen to her mind, "You better not be here to break her heart."

"What I'm here for," Naomi began, "Is Emily. Whether I break her heart or not is up to me, I'm sure you'll find out what happens from Ems."

"You sound like that Da Vinci guy, speaking all in code."

There was a throbbing in Naomi's head that she knew was the onset of a headache. It was annoying and quite frankly she could have done without it. It was making her irritable, instead she took a deep breath and looked towards her sister-in-law.

"Would you mind giving us some space?"

Katie rolled her eyes, "Whatever, just don't be too horrible."

"Sure, I'll just break half her heart instead her whole heart," Naomi laughed, prompting a slight smile in return from Katie.

*

A number of fingers were touching Emily's. She could feel them, but she couldn't quite figure out where they were coming from. She felt a little light headed and weak, the attack flooding back into her mind with fear and dread.

"Katie?" she gasped, sitting up a little too quickly.

"It's Naomi," a voice answered and tears instantly filled her eyes. "Don't cry, please don't get upset again."

The last few hours were mostly a blur but one thing she did know was that she couldn't handle another panic attack.

"If you're here to tell me it's over you don't have to waste your breath because I don't want to hear it, I understand," Emily sighed, her voice unbroken and unusually calm.

"I'm not here to tell you it's over," Naomi admitted, sliding her hand across Emily's cheek. "I'm here because Katie said you had a panic attack."

"Yeah."

"It's been forever, I hope our argument didn't cause it."

There were two answers to Naomi's question, the right one and the lie. She was momentarily angry at Naomi for making everything harder, but it lasted barely a second as she knew it wasn't fair. She had been the one in the wrong, it was always her.

"No." Emily admitted, finding her own thoughts more dangerous than Naomi's presence. "I did, I have this ability to fuck up when things are finally getting back on track."

Naomi let her lips curl at the edges. "You didn't fuck up."

Naomi's relaxed responses weren't doing anything to settle her worries or fears. It was a lie, she did fuck up and no matter how much Naomi wanted to make her feel better, it wasnt helping.

"If you're just being sympathetic because you feel bad, don't. I'm a big girl Naomi, I can handle rejection."

"Rejection maybe, whatever happened today, not so much," Naomi eyes were sad and regretful, making Emily frown.

"I'm fine," she tried.

"Emily you had an attack for the first time in years, that's not fine."

"It doesn't matter," she assured her, more for her own mind than Naomi's.

"If we're going to be together, it does." Naomi informed her, which only confused her further. "Honesty, you've been asking me to be honest about my feelings, it's time you listened to your own advice."

"I'm fine," Emily snapped, adamantly.

But Naomi wasn't convinced and their knowledge of each other had became a curse. "Emily."

"I am," she shouted.

Naomi just nodded her head. "I'm here because I love you and I want to be with you, job in another country or no. You and me are what matters."

Tears were falling before Emily could stop them, she didn't even know why she was so upset, the sadness just fell from her eyes as a weight pushed against her heart.

"I can't lose you again."

"You're not going to," Naomi muttered.

"But the job."

"Screw the job, we'll be together."

Her own regrets filled her conscious. "I shouldn't have asked you to choose. I'll call the office in the morning and quit."

"No."

"What?"

"Don't quit, if it's your dream job, it's your dream job."

"It is my dream job."

"Then you need to do this."

"But what about us?" Emily mused, "What about what you just said? How can we make it work?"

"I've been busy thinking," Naomi admitted, holding one of Emily's hands between her own.

"About what?"

"About," Naomi paused to breath, "About whether we could come with you."

Words filled Emily's mind, but she couldn't be sure if she'd heard them right.

"What did you just say…?"

"Our life here has changed Emily, at the moment it feels like it's full of bad memories. I hate my job, I hate my life and it's taken you and your promotion for me to see that. I've been miserable for months now and it's not just because we weren't together, it's everything." Naomi spoke, a lump forming in her throat, "Ever since Harley was born it's been a non-stop rollercoaster, it's time we lived a happy life. I think a break from all of the crap would do us all good."

Emily frowned, "Even Lexie?"

"Even Lexie. The kids at school have been horrible and I know she's not been an angel back, but maybe starting fresh in a new place for a while will help her to gain some prospective."

"What about your job?" Emily questioned, bewildered by the sudden change in everything.

"I quit."

"You what?"

"I spoke to Margaret and told her I would be working my notice, then I'm free. So you keeping your job is kind of important, if that's okay?"

"That's more than okay. What about the kids? What if Lexie isn't as interested in this idea as we are? I don't want to uproot her if she doesn't want to go."

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. But now I want to do this," Naomi grinned, pressing her lips against Emily's.

It was small, but it was powerful. It was fast, but it was painfully slow. It was everything they wanted and not enough. Emily could feel her voice catch in her throat as she tried to speak.

"That's good," she finally whispered.

Naomi raised an eyebrow, "Making you feel better?"

"Much."

The kissing intensified and Emily slid her arms around Naomi's waist, pulling her onto her, pushing her lips against Naomi's neck until she let out a small moan.

"Threes still a lot we need to talk about," Naomi mumbled into kisses.

"I know," Emily replied, continuing to kiss Naomi.

"Like everything we didn't talk about before which is the majority of things we need to discuss."

Emily sighed heavily, her heart rate speeding up for a more positive reason, "Fuck talking, just make love to me," she cried, fumbling her hands across Naomi's top looking for a way in.

"We can't keep doing this," Naomi moaned back, kissing Emily's collar bone and sliding her hands into the waistband of Emily's skirt. "We're going to have to face up to the reality sooner or later."

"We will," Emily muttered, pushing Naomi's hand further between her clothes and skin.

"Later," Naomi finished as Emily pushed against her, sending shockwaves between them, silencing her with a kiss.

*

For the second time in their lives Emily wasn't there when Naomi woke from her doze. It had been a peaceful slumber, the two of them falling asleep still tightly together, their hands in places they didn't normally stay. But the sofa was small and at some point Naomi noticed the absence, pulling her from her sleep.

"Emily?" she gasped, a fear rising inside of her chest.

"I'm making dinner, don't come in here," a voice called from the kitchen and Naomi's heart started to beat at twice the speed.

"Why not?"

"I'm making a special dinner."

"Does it involve sex, and chocolate?" Naomi grinned, sliding her clothes back on.

"No, it involves a table and talking," Emily called back.

"But I want to fuck you," Naomi replied, a huge grin on her face.

Emily appeared at the doorway, "I wanna fuck you too, but if one of us doesn't be assertive, we're going to end up spending forever in bed and then have a huge fight about everything we haven't talked about."

"That's alright with me," Naomi admitted with a cheeky grin.

"You really want to fight?"

"Fighting no, make up sex, yes."

Emily laughed, "Why don't I leave you again for a year the first proper sex after that was better than I remember it ever being."

Naomi frowned looking upset, "I don't find that funny."

"I'm sorry it was just a joke," Emily admitted, guiltily as she moved closer to Naomi.

But Naomi's lips had already curled into a smile. "Just kidding. If the being apart for a year thing didn't have to happen first I'd be all for it. I agree, it was the best we've ever had."

*

"This is great, I thought you were a bad chef?!" Naomi pointed out with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Living alone certainly changed that," Emily stated, wiping her face with a napkin. "Bear it in mind that I can only make three meals."

"At least that means you can cook three nights a week and I can cook the other three," Naomi stated.

"What are we going to do the other day?"

Naomi shrugged, "Get take out."

"You seem to have it all planned out," Emily smiled.

"Not really, only just thought about it."

The conversation brought a huge smile to Emily's face that she wished would never leave. Things were changing and she could feel it. Christmas day was amazing, but a small part of her happiness was reserved for after Naomi knew. With things finally out in the open, she could feel full, complete happiness, uncensored.

"I've missed this," Naomi admitted, pulling Emily from her thoughts.

"Missed what?"

"Everything." Naomi sighed, "Talking to you like this, I wasn't handling things very well before tonight. I know that. After we slept together I should have just told you what it meant to me. But I didn't."

"It's okay, I didn't really tell you either."

"Only because I made it near enough impossible."

"It doesn't matter now." Emily smiled, "All that matters is that we're working through it."

There were lots of things Naomi wanted to tell Emily, but when it came down to it, there was only one thing that she wanted to share.

"You know, I was scared. It actually made me feel physically sick every time I thought of being with you. Not because I didn't want to because I bloody didn't want anything else."

"Then why?" Emily frowned.

"I was scared Ems, I was petrified that we wouldn't work again." Naomi whispered. "I've been alone for so long; without the children, without you, I have nothing else. You are my only family."

Emily looked her in the eye with down turned eyes, "That's my fault."

"No."

"Yes, it is. If Katie had known from the start that I was to blame for the separation, maybe you and her would have still hung out."

"I somehow doubt that, Katie's loyalties are with you and I get that."

"There's Howard too."

"But his loyalties were with Katie."

"I still feel responsible," Emily sighed.

Naomi reached a hand out to Emily's wrist, "Don't. Please. Let's just put the past where it belongs. So we're already married, already have children. This is the first date of our relationship."

"Does that mean no sex?" Emily chuckled.

It was a throw away comment that Emily had only meant as a joke, but when the words had fallen from her lips, they suddenly became more serious. Their relationship had always been a passionate one, built on fire and heat. But when it all broke down, they sometimes struggled with the bits in between.

"I'm not adverse to sex on a first date," Naomi winked, her lip hiding carefully behind her teeth.

"I am," Emily muttered, seriously. Naomi frowned. "Don't look at me like that, or you'll get me saying yes to you."

"You don't want to have sex?"

Emily let her shoulders move in a slight shrug, "I want us to make this right, not rush in with our hearts burning at full speed. I think we need to rebuilt our relationship, not just the fire between us."

Naomi took a long deep breath and let her fingers connect with Emily's, "I can't say I'm not in the mood to spend a week in bed with you. But if that's what we need to do, it's what we need to do."

"A week?" Emily grinned, "How about we set ourselves a challenge? One week, a date every night, no sex."

"A whole week?" Naomi asked, sceptically.

Emily couldn't help but smile, "I know, but let's try it."

"For you, anything."

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