Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Revenge

Chapter 24: Waves

I wish I could make it easy
Easy to love me, love me
But still I reach, to find a way
I'm stuck here in between
I'm looking for the right words to say

Artist: Mr. Probz

1 hour later

"It's huge "Eve said looking up at Grayson Manor in all its grandeur.

"It is" Emily replied as she knocked on the door.

Looking down at Eve she gently said "I know you're not one to smile at everyone you meet and I know you don't want to get to now Daniel right now and sadly, though I cannot change your mind I won't stand for any impoliteness towards him."

"Fine but don't for a second think, that anything he does will fool me into thinking it's sincerity because it won't." Eve replied bitterly, her ten year old mind not willing to give him a chance.

Before Emily could respond the door creaked open and Daniel held it open for them saying, "You don't have to knock"

"It's just been a while" Emily replied quietly, a faraway look in her eyes.

"That's an understatement" Daniel replied lightly as he looked towards the big white box in her hands.

Noticing his eyes glance at the box she handed it to him and said "Here, I brought dessert."

"I thought you said just dinner" Daniel replied an amused expression on his face.

"Well... I've missed you too" Emily replied, a rosy pink color flushing to her cheeks or so Daniel could have sworn.

"I'm glad you're here Eve" he said looking down towards her with a friendly smile. "I'm sure it must have been a bit awkward seeing me unexpectedly beside your mother but like I said before I'm hoping we can get to know each other a bit more."

"Why" Eve questioned him, her hazel eyes boring into his brown ones. "Since we both love my mother?"

"Well yes and..."

"I knew it" Eve said pointedly, looking up at Emily with a slight smirk.

Emily sighed quietly; he'd just failed the first test although to be fair, Eve hadn't even let him finish what he was saying. Ushering them in he closed the door behind them as they took off their shoes.

"Dinner will be ready in half an hour or so, do you want anything to drink?" he offered.

They both shook their head "Well come on then, let's sit down" he said leading them towards the living room.

Literally, just as they sat down the front door swung open again and Charlotte Grayson swept through the door. Not even bothering to take off her shoes she walked into the living room her face brightening when she saw the two guests. "Emily, Eve, It's so nice to see you." She said happily as she pulled them both into a hug.

Eve smiled brightly and Daniel couldn't believe that happy looking girl was the same girl who'd been sitting on his couch a minute ago with such a subdued expression on her face. "Charlotte, I didn't know you were coming to dinner" she said sweetly.

"And I didn't know you two were here in the Hampton's until my brother texted me telling me the good news."

Charlotte looked towards Emily frowning as she said "Why am I only hearing from Daniel that you're back."

"You two don't even give me a chance to settle back in." Emily replied lightly

"Because we've missed you" both Charlotte and Daniel said in perfect union.

"Although by the looks of it, you've visited Emily before since you're already familiar with Eve." Daniel replied feeling slightly betrayed by the both of them.

"There's a lot I need to tell you" Emily responded calmly.

"Then talk!" he said more harshly than he had intended due to the exasperation he was beginning to feel.

"Fine" she said standing up from the plush sofa "but first I'm going to get some water."

"Eve and I are going to go upstairs, call us when it's time to eat." Charlotte said to no one in particular before taking Eve's hand and guiding her upstairs to her bedroom.

Sighing Daniel, stood up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen, where Emily was.

"Whatever you're cooking it smells lovely" Emily said, surprising Daniel who hadn't expected her to notice that he'd walked in, when her back was to him and when he had walked in so quietly. "You really are a ninja" he muttered causing an amused smile to spread onto her lips at the comment she'd just heard.

"You're favourite, that's what I'm cooking and thanks."

Placing her glass of water on the counter she turned around and walked towards Daniel so that they were face to face. Taking both of his hands she looked up at him an apologetic expression on her face as she quietly said "I'm so sorry Daniel, I've been really selfish haven't I? When I first met you, I was selfishly taking advantage of you in order to help me with my quest for revenge, then we went through that long break up and fighting period and then when things were finally good between us I leave for a very long while."

"And to make it even harder I don't allow you to contact me or even know where I am while for me when the longingness became too much, I could send you cards or easily look you up on the Internet. And lastly, when I finally do come back home, you have to ask me to come over for dinner when your house was the first place I should be and not only that but I come back home with a child, leaving you completely and utterly confused."

Sliding his hand out of hers, he placed them on either side of her face and said "You're not an easy women to be with Emily, but you're the only women for me and so you can be as selfish with me as you want and I would never stop loving you."

"I'm not sure I deserve such love" she replied honestly.

"You do, you of all people do" he replied as he leaned into her and kissed her softly on her lips. Pulling away to catch a breath he rested his forehead against her own and said "So don't you dare run away again or don't you dare say you need more time because if you do I'm going to be more selfish myself and not let you go."

"I'll hold you to that" she murmured "don't you dare let me go"

"I won't, never" he replied as he pulled her even closer to him and kissed her passionately on her supple lips.

"I love you too much" he said softly as their lips broke apart, sending a warm shiver to throughout her body.

Walking back towards the sofa, Daniel behind her they both sat down on its expensive leather surface.

"There's so much to tell you I don't even know where to start" Emily said sincerely as she looked right into Daniel's eyes. "And it's such a long story, by the time the dinners ready, my story won't even be halfway through."

"Then tell me just this one thing, was it worth it? Did you find what you were looking for? And do you now know who you are and who you represent?

"That's more than one thing" Emily murmured.

"but they're all interconnected" he argued.

"I... I do feel like it was worth it, I gained so much experience and explored many different things that I feel like it really has changed me in the right way. I no longer feel that hole inside, the darkness. I feel light and free and good. When I look in the mirror I no longer see the darkness that I still harbored deep inside me even after my revenge was complete and when I look up at the stars on a dark night I no longer see my father frowning down on me disappointed, I see him happy and smiling."

Leaning in, he kissed her softly on the cheek and whispered " I'm really glad Emily"... pausing he looked at her and gently said " One more question, when you look in the mirror is it, Emily Thorne or Amanda Clarke you see in your reflection."

Her eyes widened in surprise at the question and she cast her eyes downwards, feeling Daniels gaze to be too strong.

"That's a hard question to answer " she said softly. "As I stand right now, I see both of them in the reflection. Amanda Clarke represents all my good memories, and the girl my father taught me to be, like all my values that kept me from going over the edge. But it also represents the pain I still feel from my father being ripped away from me and my innocence being destroyed because of it. Whereas Emily Thorne represents the strength and cleverness I gained through my ordeal as well as the ruthlessness I enacted because of it."

"But like I said, I've changed now, the Amanda Clarke I was and the Emily Thorne I pretended to be, got blurred in the line of my identity, but after my long break I feel as if I've somehow been able to straighten out that line so that it's clear and... I know it sounds silly but I like to think of who I am now as the better parts of Amanda Clarke and the better parts of Emily Thorne."

"That's not silly at all" he murmured having listened intently to what she had just said,"Although now I just don't know what to call you."

"I mean, if we don't want to start a huge uproar in the Hampton's I think it's best everybody still knows me as Emily Thorne."

"Yes, you're right... but what about when it's just you and me together, when we're nice and close and warm in each other's arms, then what would you prefer I call you."

"Then call me what you desire" Emily said softly.

"I will then" he said a warm smile slipping onto his lips.

"Okay, then" Emily replied not being able to resist the smile he'd caused to spread onto her own lips as she leaned into him indulging herself into another long, sweet kiss. "I love you Daniel" she whispered, her lips brushing up against his ear.

Resting her head against his chest she murmured "There's still about 20 minutes till dinner's ready, would you tell me more about Innova global and what you did while I was away?"

"Well it began with my desperate desire to cleanse the company..." he started, as he informed Emily of all his wins and losses, mishaps and successes that pushed Innova Global into action, as well as how he managed to get many people past the anger, disgust and skepticism that circled his identity and company.

"It's not there yet but I feel like in 5 years it will be up where it needs to be and in 10 years exceed the once notable Grayson Global." He stated ambitiously, his story having come to an end.

Emily shook her head slightly as she said "In my eyes, you've already exceeded Grayson Global. That company was corrupt, keeping its status only due to the many underhand things it did. But you, you've built your company working harder than your father ever did to erase the image he created and kept it successful all without selling your soul to the darkness that he did."

Sitting up so that she could look into his eyes, she lifted her hand up affectionately to his face and warmly said "Words cannot describe how proud I am of you Daniel.

"Thank you Emily, You know when I was at my lowest and felt like giving up it was the thought of you that gave me the strength to push forward. It's always you, through knowing you I can honestly say that I am a better man."

"You give me too much credit" she murmured but Daniel didn't hear for he had just gotten up to go check on the dinner.

"It's ready" he called out from the kitchen.

"I'll go get Eve and Charlotte then" she replied as she walked up the stairs and opened up Charlotte's room.

Looking in, she smiled brightly as she saw Eve and Charlotte, playing the board game Snakes and Ladders. Eve was seated cross legged on the floor leaning forward to move her pawn up the long ladder, she'd luckily gotten. Charlotte frowned pretending to be upset but it was obvious by the twinkle in her eyes that she wasn't.

"All I need is to roll at least a four and then I win" Eve said smirking at Charlotte.

Charlotte laughed as she said "Well you better hope that you don't get a three or else you'll go down the snake and be behind me."

"I won't" Eve said as she accepted the dice from Charlotte who'd just quickly had her go. Cupping the dice in her hands she shook it around for about 10 seconds before finally rolling the dice against the floor. Watching intently until it stopped a huge smile broke out onto her face as she happily said "It's a four, I win"

"Well done, well done" Charlotte said good naturedly as she pulled her niece into her hug, both surprising and pleasing Eve.

"Looked like a fun game" Emily said warmly making her presence known as she said "I saw the last part of it with you winning Eve, you guys were so into it that you didn't seem to notice though."

"We were really into it but still I think we just didn't notice because you're a ninja." Charlotte said teasingly causing Eve to giggle slightly.

Shaking her head Emily sighed and lightheartedly said "Just because I trained in Japan and learnt martial arts does not mean that I am a ninja." Why was everyone saying that? First Daniel in the Kitchen, then Charlotte here and months ago when she had asked Nolan about his opinion on her raising a child he had said "Before I answer tell me this, are you referring to a normal, human child, or a prodigy ninja one?"

"Anyway, come on dinners ready."

"We were having fun." Eve said, the prospect of dining with Daniel already dampening her mood.

"Time fly's when you're having fun" Emily said lightly as she patted Eve affectionately on the shoulder "but after dinner, there should be some more time for fun"

"Did you and Daniel have... fun?" Charlotte asked a sly smile on her face as she winked at her older sister who clearly heard but choose to ignore as all three of them bounded down the stairs.

Sitting down at the table, all four of them ate, chatted and laugh, happy to be in the company of each other, though three people were much more eager than one.

After Daniel and Emily had tidied up the kitchen, the evening they'd enjoyed was coming to a quick end but lucky for them Charlotte wasn't about to let that happen.

Cornering Emily alone after she'd come out of the bathroom she looked at her big sister smiling and said "I just came up with a great idea, like killing two birds with one stone."

"What?" Emily asked, her interest peeking.

"Well, I want to spend more time with my niece and you want to spend some time with Daniel, so why not use that tonight."

I can't believe this story has actually made it to 25 chapters, that's brilliant. Thank you all for reading it, commenting, favoriting and following, it makes me all so happy.

Sorry but I am crazy busy right now, so I won't be able to add another chapter for a few weeks.