"Hey babe, you ready to go?" Paige slipped up behind her girlfriend and planted a kiss on her cheek. The couple had spent most of the night apart, wary of Emily's mom, or anyone else figuring out they were actually together. Pam Fields had eventually called it a night and Paige had broken away from the group in the kitchen to go and find Emily. She'd had a bit to drink and she had to wrap her arms around Emily's waist to steady herself.

"You actually remembered me then?" Emily answered dryly. She'd hounded Shana to tell her who it was that Paige had been in love with in her senior year. The other woman had refused to give up the information though, choosing instead to goad Emily with it. Hanna had eventually stepped in to drag Emily away before she could lose her temper with Paige's ex.

"Don't be like that. I've been dying for your mom to leave all night!" Paige let out a heavy sigh, having no idea how riled the younger woman really was.
"You looked like you were having fun." Emily huffed. Her eyes narrowed on the group of girls that Paige had spent the night socializing with: Pru, Shana, Melissa and CeCe. Any one of them could have been the girl that Paige was so desperate to impress.
"You know you're all I've been thinking about." Paige insisted, her voice thick and husky in Emily's ear. Her girlfriend relented a little. It was hard for her to stay mad with Paige when one of her hands was running up the outside of her thigh.

They said their goodbyes to their friends and climbed in to Paige's car. Emily drove them back since she hadn't been drinking. The drive was tense and silent. Paige had finally figured out something was wrong by the time they walked through her front door. "Have I done something to piss you off?"
"Who were you trying to impress the night of your accident?" Emily crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground as her girlfriend frowned at her. It hadn't been the response she'd expected.
"Okay, where is this coming from?"

"I always figured you were trying to show off to Shana that night, but she said it was someone else...someone you were in love with. Was it Pru?"
"What? No! We've been over this, me and Pru have never been like that." Paige protested without actually answering her girlfriend's question. "It doesn't matter who it was. It was years ago..."

"So why won't you tell me who it was?" Emily demanded. Shana's teasing had infuriated her and she wasn't about to just let it go.
"What do you want from me Em?" Paige snapped, finally losing her patience with the younger girl. "Do you want me to apologise for having a life before I met you? Well I'm sorry, but I did! I was fifteen when I realised I was in love with my best friend!"
"With Melissa." It all clicked in to place for Emily. The oldest Hastings had been a pillar of support for Paige during her teenage years. It was easy to see how she could have fallen for her.

"Yes, with Melissa. Don't tell me you've never had a thing for one of your friends?" Paige asked defensively; though she had no idea why she even needed to defend herself in the first place. It had been five long years since she'd last had any romantic feelings towards Melissa Hastings.
"I was in love with Allison DiLaurentis; the difference is she's not here any more, but Melissa is. You see her all the time-"

"I'm sorry about Allison." Paige interrupted, trying to keep her voice calm and level. The last thing she needed was for a full blown argument to erupt. "But you're a teenager. In a few years you're going to grow up and realise that the people who meant the world to you when you were this age, really don't mater that much. You're just a kid Em..."
"So you're saying I'm childish?" The younger girl reared back as Paige tried to take hold of her hand.
"Don't be stupid, that's not what I'm saying!"

"Oh, so I'm childish and stupid?" Paige wasn't sure how things had blown up so quickly. She'd been looking forward to the two of them spending time together, but it didn't look like they were about to kiss and make up any time soon.
"Don't put words in my mouth! You're perfect, Em! …I'm the fucking screw up." Paige admitted huffily as she reached in to the fridge for a beer. She popped the top off on the edge of the counter. The thought of Emily leaving her had been a mounting fear for as long as they'd been together.

Paige couldn't help but worry that Emily's interest in her was just a starry eyed crush. After graduation she would be going off to college and meeting dozens of interesting new people; Paige wasn't secure enough to believe that she could hold on to her forever. Had she not been drinking she probably wouldn't have shared her fears with her young girlfriend, but the alcohol had loosened her tongue considerably. "I'm terrified that you're going to wake up one day and figure out that I'm not the person you want to be with."

Emily's anger deflated the second she took in the other woman's defeated look. She had never seen Paige looking so heartbreakingly sad. "That's never going to happen." The teenager let out a heavy sigh as she stepped forward and took the beer out of Paige's hands. "I think you've had enough."
"I don't." Paige sulked, but made no attempt to reach for the bottle back. She was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring at spot on the floor. She was about to ask if Emily wanted her to sleep in the guest room when her girlfriend took another step towards her and ducked her head to claim her lips.

The kiss was unexpected and had Paige looking up to question the reasoning behind it. Just minutes earlier she'd been pretty sure that Emily was going to try and walk out on her. "What was that for?"
"Because I love you; and I'm always going to." Emily answered like it should have been obvious as she draped her arms around her girlfriend's neck.
"Shana was just trying to get to you. There hasn't been anything between me and Melissa in-" Paige started to try and explain, but the other girl cut her off with another lingering kiss. "How about we stop talking about this and just go up to bed?"

Paige didn't need to be asked twice. They made their way upstairs and changed for bed. Emily changed in the bathroom while Paige climbed in to bed and tried to keep herself awake. She wasn't really a heavy drinker, so she was definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol as she lay on her back waiting for the other girl to join her. Emily finally appeared at the door way, wearing a white satin slip that ended at the top of her thighs. Paige's reaction to it was the same one she'd had to her dress; she was absolutely dumbstruck. "Wow..."

"I never get tired of you looking at me like that." Emily smiled bashfully as she tucked her hair back behind her ear. She was trying her best to put the rest of the night behind them. Shana had tried her best to drive a wedge between them, and Emily wasn't about to let it happen.
"I never get tired of looking at you." Paige admitted. She suddenly felt wide awake. Her eyes never left her girlfriend as she sauntered towards the bed they shared most weekends. "You're stunning..."

"You're not so bad yourself." Emily grinned as she climbed in to bed and slipped under the covers. She shivered from the cold sheets and scooted in closer to Paige to try and warm up. "Do you still want to go running in the morning?"
"Ask me in the morning." Paige grumbled in to the other girl's hair as she wrapped her arms around her. She was already pretty certain she was going to have a sizeable hangover come morning.
"How about we just sleep in instead? We can spend the whole morning in bed." Emily suggested with a soft laugh. "I have to go to Spencer's after lunch though. We're all meeting up to study."
"I'll come with you. I need to ask Veronica for some advice about this Hunt thing... I think I might have to tell Wilden about us; there's no way I'm using Shana as an alibi."
"Good."

"Veronica, thank you for seeing me on a Sunday." Paige shook hands with her best friend's mother before taking a seat in front of her desk. It was early afternoon and Paige had driven over to the Hastings house along with Emily. Her girlfriend was downstairs with Spencer and the rest of her friends, studying at the kitchen table.
"I'm happy to help. To be honest, the first thing I did when I heard about the murder was call your father. Have the police contacted you yet?"
"Not officially, but they're going to. Wilden is the lead detective. He's given me a heads up...it uh, it doesn't look good."

"What have they got?" Veronica questioned as she took her seat behind her heavy wooden desk. There was a nick in one of the legs. It had gotten there when Melissa and Paige had been playing softball in the hallway and a wide ball had went soaring in to Mrs Hastings' office. Paige would have smiled at the memory had she not been so preoccupied.
"Hunt came to my house a couple of times, asking for forgiveness for what he did to my mom...the last time he came by I chased him off with my dad's Colt .45, and a neighbour saw. Wilden's already asked about my alibi. I lied to him. I said I was on my own."

"And you weren't?" Veronica guessed correctly. She was already jotting down notes on a pad of paper. Paige had never really seen the older woman in 'lawyer mode' before. The way she was looking at her was pretty intense. "Why did you lie?"
"Fifth amendment? Hunt was killed in the middle of the night, when I was with someone I shouldn't have been."
"Paige, right now I'm your lawyer, not your friend. Whatever you tell me stays in this office. This person you were with, are they a student?"
"She's eighteen." Paige blurted out, trying to defend herself. She had known Veronica Hastings a long time and she didn't want her thinking badly of her. "And I met her in a club before I even knew she was in high school!"

Veronica's lips pursed, but she didn't show any other outward signs in response to Paige's admission. She took a moment to compose her thoughts before narrowing her eyes on her daughter's friend. "Just tell me it's not Spencer."
"It's not! I swear it's not!" Paige felt herself growing flustered as she tried to reassure Veronica she wasn't sleeping with her youngest daughter.
"So it's Emily then?" Veronica Hastings was two for two with her guesses.
"Is it that obvious?" Paige blushed. She felt like just about everyone knew about her supposedly secret relationship with Emily. Veronica's expression softened as she smiled at the young teacher.

"You've always worn your heart on your sleeve, Paige. As for telling the police about your relationship, Emily is legally an adult. It would be a matter for the school. I think it would be in your best interest to have Wilden talk to Emily, to verify your alibi for that night. Murder is a serious charge. You need to get ahead of this thing." Paige completely agreed with her lawyer. She promised to speak to Wilden first thing Monday morning. Hopefully her old friend could verify her alibi without letting it become public knowledge.

She passed through the kitchen on her way out and stopped to kiss Emily goodbye. "I'm meeting Pru for coffee. Call me if you can make it over for dinner."
"I probably can't, Mom's expecting me home tonight. I might have to swing by later for my math book though. I think I left it on the kitchen table."
"No problem. Just let yourself in if I'm not there; I'll call you later." With another kiss to the top of Emily's head, Paige said her goodbyes to the girls and left to go meet up with Pru.

"You have your own key to her place?" Hanna squealed with excitement the second Paige walked out of the door.
"Sort of." Emily shrugged. It wasn't like it was that big of a deal. "Paige gave it to me when she went down to Texas. She just never asked for it back."
"Wow, things must be getting pretty serious between you two, huh?" Aria quizzed.
"Yeah, so serious that she didn't think to tell me how she was in love with Melissa for years...oh my god, you knew!" Emily snapped at Spencer as she fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. "You knew and you never told me?"

"It was years ago!" Spencer objected, sounding a lot like Paige. "I only know because I walked in on them kissing once in senior year. Melissa threatened to kick my ass if I told anyone; and I kind of tried to kiss Paige afterwards, so I didn't really want to bring it up."
"You tried to kiss Paige?" Hanna's eyes almost popped out of her head; she seemed more shocked than Emily was.

"I was like thirteen and I had a girl crush, okay?" Spencer huffed defensively. "I made a total ass of myself, but Paige was really nice about it. She never told Melissa."
"Great, has anyone not kissed my girlfriend?" Emily rolled her eyes. She wasn't really mad at Spencer though. She was mad at herself for the way her stomach was twisting up in knots at the thought of Paige and Melissa kissing. Paige had been right; Emily was trying to blame her for having a life before they met.

"I think I totally would. Paige is hot." Hanna chose the wrong moment to pipe up. Emily gave her a scathing look that would have rivalled one of Spencer's.
"Hanna, I think we might have to go over the whole rhetorical question thing again." Aria rolled her eyes at the tactless blonde.

Across town in the Brew, Paige took a seat opposite Pru. The other girl had already ordered for her. Paige was grateful for the extra shot of espresso as she sipped at her coffee. As predicted, she'd woken up with a hell of a hangover; but that hadn't stopped her and Emily from making the most of a long morning in bed. It seemed like they'd managed to put the previous night behind them, but Paige wasn't stupid enough to think it was over and done with.

"So Jailbait found out about Melissa, huh? How did that go down?" Paige had called her friend and filled her in on what was happening while Emily had been in the shower.
"Like a nuclear bomb." Paige sighed. "But that was nothing compared to when I inadvertently accused her of being childish."
"Oh man." Pru started laughing and shaking her head. "You're going to pay for that one, McCullers!"

"Tell me about it! Somehow I don't think flowers are going to quite cut it as an apology." The young teacher huffed. "I didn't mean to say it, it's just...I love Emily, so, so much; but she's only eighteen. She's never been out of this town. What if she goes to college and realises there's a whole world of opportunities out there for her? What if she forgets all about me?"

Pru rolled her eyes at her oldest friend. Paige's self-confidence had come a long way over the years, but there were times when she still acted like an awkward teenage girl. "First off, Emily is nuts about you. Second of all, you're worrying about something that's a pretty long way off. You've got the rest of the school year and the whole summer. Just make the most of it and stop worrying all of the time."
"I can't help it." Paige sulked as she idly stirred her coffee. "Things are perfect right now, and I'm just waiting for it all to fall apart."

It was just starting to get dark outside when Paige finally made it home. She and Pru had talked for a while, letting Paige vent her frustration over everything that was going on; from the argument with Emily, to the fact that she was still a murder suspect. It had been a long day and the young teacher's head was still feeling fuzzy from the night before. She had plans to take a nice hot bath and then settle down to catch up on some marking.

"Em?" Her plans changed as she heard a noise in the kitchen. A smile spread across her lips as she remembered the other girl had mentioned swinging by to pick up a book. Maybe she could talk her in to sticking around for an hour or two. "Hey Em, do you want to stay for dinner...Em?" Paige frowned as she walked in to the kitchen and found it empty. She flicked on the light as she pulled out her phone. She'd been pretty sure she'd heard someone moving around in the kitchen, and as she looked around she noticed a few things were off. The bills and letters on the kitchen counter were no longer in a neat stack, and two of the kitchen drawers were open. They were two very small things, but they were a clear sign someone had been there while she was out.

Emily picked up on the second ring. Paige could hear Hanna and Spencer arguing over something in the background. "Hey babe, have you been by for that book yet?"
"Hey, not yet. I was going to swing by soon. Are you home yet?"
"Uh, yeah. I am." Paige took another look around the kitchen. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing to attention as she looked from Emily's maths book, still sitting open on the table, to the back-door. It was slightly ajar. "So you haven't been by at all since we left this afternoon?"

"No. Is there something wrong?" Emily picked up on the unease in her voice. "Has something happened?"
"No." Paige lied as she reached for one of the knives hanging up on the rack on the wall. She backed out of the kitchen, keeping her wits about her as she made her way towards the front door. She locked it behind her before telling Emily the truth. "Em, I need to hang up and call the cops. I think someone's in my house."

Emily, Hanna and Spencer turned up at Paige's house not long after the police. There was a police cruiser outside, and two uniformed officers were busy clearing the house. Paige was sitting on the grass out front, her knees tucked up to her chin. She stood up the second she spotted Emily. "Are you okay? What happened?" The younger girl demanded as she threw her arms around her. Paige hugged her back, not caring which of her neighbours were watching. Finding out someone had been in her house had left her shaken.

"I came back from having coffee with Pru and I thought I heard someone in the kitchen. I figured it was you, but when I called and you were still at Spencer's...I just got the hell out of there and called the cops."
"Wow, that must be so creepy; knowing some random was inside your house, going through your things." Hanna shuddered at the thought of someone pawing through her closets.
"Hanna, not helping!" Spencer chided her. Paige was already plenty spooked without the blonde getting her any more worked up. "Speaking of not helping."

The three younger girls looked on warily as Detective Wilden pulled up in front of the house. Paige was the only one happy to see him. "Darren, you didn't have to come all the way out here."
"I heard the call on the radio and I was in the area." Wilden stood with his hands on his hips, it was a typical cop stance, pushing back his jacket to reveal his gun and badge clipped to his waist. He scrutinised the three girls standing next to Paige. "What are you three doing here? Hanna, I hope you haven't escalated from shoplifting to breaking and entering?"

"Bite me, detective." Hanna rolled her eyes at the cop who had been blackmailing her mother. Wilden shot her an amused smile, but he didn't get a chance to reply as the uniformed cops came out of the house. The older one of the two, a heavyset man with thinning grey hair nodded towards Wilden as he approached the group of people standing out on the lawn.
"Detective. We've cleared the whole house miss, whoever was in there is long gone. It doesn't seem like much has been disturbed, but you'll have to do a walk through and let us know if anything is missing."

"I'll take it from here boys." Wilden put a hand on Paige's shoulder as he ushered the uniforms on their way. He failed to notice the shared look of disdain on Emily and the other girls' face's. "You'll need to take a look around and let me know if anything is missing. We can do it tomorrow if you want? You don't have to go back in there tonight."
"I'm fine. Let's just get this over and done with so I can call it a night." Paige objected. She was tired and stressed out, and she just wanted to fall in to bed; preferably with her girlfriend.

"Detective Wilden is right. You shouldn't stay there tonight." Spencer agreed. "Come back with me and you can stay in our guest room. Mom won't mind, and Dad's away in New York." Paige wanted to argue that she wasn't about to let anyone run her out of her own home, but the look on Emily's face kept her silent. She knew the other girl would only worry about her if she stayed in the house.
"Fine. I'll just secure the back-door and then I'll go home with Spence-"
"I've got it. You just grab yourself an overnight bag and head off. I'll lock up for you." Wilden insisted. Paige was too tired to argue, so she followed him in to the house to go pack a bag while he checked out the back-door.

Wilden was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her when she came back down. There was a couple of days worth of stubble on his chin, which he scratched at as he nodded towards the girls outside. "What are they doing here anyway? I get Hastings is a family friend, but what about Hanna and the other one?" His question was hardly unexpected, not when she had three teenagers standing out on her lawn. She had been hoping for a little more time before she'd have to come clean with him about Emily.

"The other one is my alibi for Wednesday night. I've been dating Emily Fields for a while." Her words hung heavily between them.
"Jesus, Paige." Wilden ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "How old is she?"
"She's just turned eighteen; and nothing happened until she did! She's a student, but I met her before classes started. I tried to keep my distance-"
"She's legal, it's a matter for the school, not the police." Wilden waved off her explanations. "So you were with her all of Wednesday night? Right through until morning? I'll have to take her statement of course, but we can keep this quiet. Nobody needs to find out."
"Thanks, Darren." Paige hugged him, grateful to have her old friend on her side. Any other cop would have relished the chance to drag the name of a potential senator's daughter through the mud. Wilden was just interested in protecting her.

He shook his head again and let out a snort of laughter. "Jesus, you know her mom works at the station right? And her dad's in the army... Do they know about you two?"
"Are you kidding?" It was Paige's turn to snort. "If they did, you'd probably be investigating my murder!"