Thank you all for the kind reviews; I was happy to see that everyone hadn't completely forgotten about this story considering how long it'd be since I last updated.

Sorry for any mistakes. My beta reader is at the Laundromat and I wanted to get this posted as quickly as possible for you all.

Chapter 25

The very next day, Emily found herself in the exact same position again; she was staring across the street into the café. Instead of standing out there for hours though, she immediately crossed the street and entered the building. As soon as she opened the door, Gina looked up at the sound of the bell and smiled at her.

"Hello, love," she greeted.

"Hi," she said, shifting the letter nervously in her hands.

Gina looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "You still look terrible."

"I see where Naomi gets her brutal honesty from." Emily let out a laugh and shrugged slightly. "I haven't been sleeping well."

"You and my daughter, both," Gina said, shaking her head. "I hear her crying half the night."

"Stubborn cow," Emily mumbled.

Gina smiled. "That she is. Are you sure you want to spend the rest of your life with her?"

"Positive," Emily said, grinning. "Although I do see some sort of GPS tracking device in our future."

"Smart girl," replied Gina. "I wish I'd done that before she learned to walk."

Emily smiled. "Why do you say that?"

"Well you know how most children will walk toward their parent?" Gina asked. "Not her. I could tell she was about to take her first steps so I had my arms out waiting for her, but she turned around and promptly started walking away from me." Gina shook her head. "That's my daughter though; always trying to prove she doesn't need anyone."

Emily couldn't help but smile at the thought of Naomi as a toddler. "I guess some people never change."

"Doesn't seem like it," replied Gina.

Emily sighed and took a seat, putting her head in her hands. "It's amazing how one event can change the course of your life. If only we decided to stay in that night, we'd both be happy right now."

Gina nodded. "Maybe there's a reason for it."

A smile twitched at Emily's lips. "Of course if I hadn't gone to the park all those months ago, I never would have met her."

"Funny how life works, huh?" replied Gina.

The bell jingled and the two women looked over to see Katie at the door.

"Hey," Emily greeted.

Katie walked over and kissed her sister's cheek. "Sorry—I'm a bit early."

"That's definitely a first," Emily replied.

"Hey Mrs. Campbell," Katie said, giving Gina a quick hug after throwing her sister a dirty look.

The older woman laughed. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Gina?"

Katie blushed. "Sorry."

"No worries, dear," Gina replied, watching Katie sit down next to her sister. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We're going shopping," Emily answered. "So I asked her to meet me here."

Gina smiled. "Lovely. Maybe it'll take your mind of things if you're having fun with your sister."

"That's the plan," Katie replied. "A little shopping is what we both need."

"How have you been?" Gina asked.

Katie shrugged and looked at her sister. "Better than some."

"Sorry," Emily apologized. "I'm sure I've been miserable to be around."

"Em—" Katie started to say.

"It's not your fault," Gina replied.

"I know," Emily said. "But I imagine it sucks being around me right now."

Katie shrugged. "That's what sisters are for; you did the same for me when I was freaking out over Effy."

Gina looked over, amused. "What about Effy?"

"Oh I—" Katie sighed. "I kind of—you know—" Gina waited patiently while Emily couldn't help but laugh. "This is not funny."

Emily tried to hide her grin. "Sorry."

"So—what about Effy, dear?" Gina asked again.

"Katie kind of fell in love with her," Emily answered for her sister, who was clearly too embarrassed to say it.

Gina nodded. "Is there something in the water? First my daughter and now you."

Emily laughed. "Must be."

Gina looked at the redhead and smiled. "It's good to see you genuinely laughing again."

Emily smiled at the older woman. "Yeah, I—" Emily paused as she stared out the window.

Katie caught the look on Emily's face. "What's wrong? Em, are you okay?"

"Who is that?" Gina asked, following Emily gaze out the window.

"No one important," Emily said, looking down.

Katie was already on her feet. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Don't," Emily said, trying to grab Katie's arm, but missing it. "Katie!"

But Katie was already out the door and striding up to the brunette before Emily had even jumped out of her seat. Sighing, Emily got up and stood just outside the door, with Gina by her side, watching the scene unfold.

Amanda was turned away from her when Katie caught up to the brunette and shoved her in the shoulder blade.

"What the fuck!" Amanda said, turning around and shoving Katie back. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I'm Katie fucking Fitch," she said as she punched her in the face. "Who the fuck are you to screw up my sister's life?" Katie was standing over the brunette, shouting down at her. "Get the fuck out of town today or the next time you see me, you will get a lot worse than a bloody nose."

Katie turned on her heel and walked back over to Emily and Gina. Gina was smiling and Emily's mouth was hanging open, but she was smiling as well.

"Feel better?" Emily asked, amused.

"Much," Katie said, straightening her top.

"Here," Emily said, handing Gina the letter she had been carrying.

"I'll get it to her," Gina promised. "Although, it'll probably end up in pieces on her floor."

Emily shrugged. "I have to try something; calling her isn't working."

"I love my daughter, but she is infuriating at times," Gina said before looking down at the letter and frowning in confusion. "Why is there a picture of a lobster on this?"

Emily just smiled.

"Mmm," Effy mumbled into her pillow, her left hand reaching out toward her nightstand and groping around for her phone. It stopped ringing by the time she found it, but it immediately started up again.

"Hello?" she said as she groggily hit 'accept'.

"Hey Eff."

Effy's eyes shot open. "Naomi?"

"Yeah," she confirmed.

"Where the hell have you been?" Effy yelled. "We've all been looking everywhere for you!"

"I know—"

"No," Effy said, cutting her off. "It's been two weeks and I haven't heard a damn thing from you."

Effy could actually hear Naomi smirking. "Now you know how we all felt when you took off before Christmas."

"That's not the point," Effy said, rolling her eyes. "Will you just quit being such a stubborn bitch and come home?"

Naomi sighed. "I can't"

"Why not?" Effy asked, sighing as well.

"Because I don't want to see her," Naomi answered.

"Naomi," Effy said softly. "Emily didn't—"

"No," Naomi cut in. "I'm setting a ground rule: you're not allowed to mention Emily or I will hang up."

Effy rolled her eyes again. "But—"

"No!" Naomi exclaimed. "And you're also not allowed to ask where I am."

Effy stayed silent for a moment. "How are you doing?"

Naomi snorted. "How do you think?"

"I don't know," replied Effy. "You tell me."

"I feel like shit," Naomi answered. "I actually didn't know it was possible to feel this bad."

Effy closed her eyes, sighing. "Naomi, you need to come home." She paused for a moment and then rushed out, "Emily didn't cheat on you! It was her ex girlfriend and you left too quickly to see her push her away." Effy opened her eyes and looked at her phone. "Dammit Naomi!"

Naomi had hung up on her.

Effy flung herself back down onto her pillow and looked at the clock. She closed her eyes for a moment before throwing the covers back and getting out of bed.

Katie jumped when she heard a loud bang, but she just mumbled and turned over, burying her head in her pillow. The banging continued and she tried to ignore it for several minutes before deciding that whoever was at her door was not going to go away and needed to die. She untangled herself from her sheets and trudged toward her living room, colliding with the door frame along the way.

"What?" she asked, opening the door angrily.

Effy was standing there smirking. "Nice to see you too, Katiekins."

"Effy!" she said. "It's five in the fucking morning! What the hell are you banging on my door for?"

"I wanted to talk," Effy said coolly.

"Talk?" Katie asked, blinking. "Couldn't it have waited until the sun was up?"

Effy slipped between Katie and the door, letting herself in whether she was invited or not. "Naomi called me."

Katie's jaw dropped. "What? When?"

"Just a bit ago," Effy replied. "Woke me up."

"So you decided the next logical step would be to wake me up?" Katie asked.

Effy rolled her eyes. "Can you shut the hell up about sleep?"

"Fine," Katie huffed. "What did she say?"

"Not much," Effy said as she walked to the couch and plopped down. "Just that she's feeling like shit, which I could have guessed."

Katie sighed and flopped down next to the brunette. "That's it? Did you at least try to tell her about Emily?"

"I tried," replied Effy, "but she wouldn't listen to me. I brought her name up and she said I wasn't allowed to talk about her or ask where she was or she'd hang up on me."

"So what did you do," Katie asked, smirking.

"I tried to tell her anyway," Effy said, shrugging.

Katie cocked her eyebrow. "What did she say?"

"Nothing," Effy replied. "She hung up on me."

"Stubborn bitch," Katie mumbled.

"That's exactly what I called her," Effy said with a laugh. "So she didn't try to call you or anything."

Katie shook her head. "No. Maybe she thought Emily would be with me or something." Katie sighed. "I wish I could march over to her mom's house and demand that Naomi come out and talk to me."

Effy grinned. "Why don't you?"

"I promised Emily that I wouldn't," Katie replied. "Gina is afraid that if anyone tries to see her there, she'll run off and no one will know where she is then."

"Which she probably would," Effy added.

Katie sighed. "I know."

"So what are we going to do?" Effy asked.

Katie looked over at Effy, leaning her head against the back of the couch. "About what?"

"About them," Effy clarified. "Naomi's being a complete and utter twat and she needs to get over herself before Emily gets fed up with this bullshit."

"I don't think Emily's going to be giving up anytime soon," Katie said with a smile.

"You Fitch woman are patient when it comes do those you love," Effy said, mimicking Katie's position on the couch and staring at Katie.

"That we are," Katie whispered.

"So—how long til you finally give on me?" Effy asked.

"Oh you know," Katie said, pretending to think. "You at least have another 2 or 3days." She smiled and gently nudged Effy's leg. "I'm joking."

Effy quickly leaned forward and her lips gently brushed Katie's for a moment before she pulled away just as fast.

"Be patient with me," she requested, laying her head back on the couch.

Katie nodded. "Okay."

"So what are we going to do about them?" Effy asked again.

Katie sighed. "I don't know. You know how Naomi is; she won't listen to anyone."

"There has to be something we can do," Effy replied.

"Gina's working on it," Katie said, shrugging. "Maybe she'll have better luck than we would."

"Maybe…" Effy replied. "I'm going to go see Gina in the morning and see if we can devise a plan to get those two back together."

Katie smiled. "Do you think it'll work?"

"Yes," the brunette replied with confidence.

"Well then, I guess I will go with you," Katie said. "Want to crash on the couch until then?"

"You don't mind?" Effy asked.

Katie shook her head and pulled a blanket down from the back of the couch. "Here."

"Thanks," Effy said, stretching out as soon as Katie got up.

"Do you want a pillow?" Katie asked.

"No, I'm fine," Effy said, looking up at Katie.

Katie smiled at her friend. "Night then."

"Goodnight," Effy said as she closed her eyes.

Thoughts? Believe me when I say that reviews are a big motivator for writing so if you've enjoyed it—or even hated it—take a few seconds to let me know what you thought.

Also, I started another new story called When Fates Collide so check that out if you're interested. And my best friend is writing her first fic called Changing Skins by skittles84...Naomi and Emily aren't the main focus since it focuses on the whole group, but they are a major part of the story.