WoodenOwl31, you made me laugh out loud when I read your review! And Guest reviewer, Great Job, haha yes James is an ass (and Miranda), and both of you are probably gonna hate James even more after reading this chapter. There is going to be a bit of drama and a touch of angst in this story, but I hope that doesn't stop you from reading.

Two weeks later, Emily was sitting across from what was hopefully her new assistant. The girl looked terrified, though. Serena gave her until lunchtime. Emily tried to have hope for her. She also didn't want to be the second assistant anymore. Miranda was being her usual self, though, and the girl was most definitely gone before lunch. Emily felt disheartened. She alerted HR, and they called in a few more girls for interviews. Over the next few weeks, Emily trained the second new girl, and it looked as though things were going to work out until Miranda fired her too.

"I guess you're just going to have to do all of the work alone," Miranda said one night, making Emily cringe.

"We will find someone," Emily promised.

"Hm," Miranda said. Like always, that was all. Emily got home to find Lee with his bag packed at the door. It was the final straw for her, and she burst into tears.

"What? What's wrong?" Lee asked, gathering her into his arms as she cried.

"You're leaving," she said. "Why? Why do you always leave?"

"I'm sorry. It's a promise I made to Barney, that I'd always help him."

"What do you guys do that he needs you so much for?" Emily asked.

"I...I don't have time to explain right now," Lee said. "I promise we will talk about it when I come back."

"I need you," Emily said, teary. "Please don't leave."

"I'm sorry," Lee told her, feeling bad. "I have to go."

"No, you don't. That's what you always tell me," Emily pointed out.

"But you always go, right?" Lee countered. Emily knew he had her there. She pressed her lips together and held back her rebuttal.

"How long?" she asked instead.

"A few days at least," he answered. Emily held back her fresh batch of tears. She wanted to make him stay, but she knew she couldn't. She let him go and took off her coat, trying to act okay.

"Em?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered. "You can go."

Lee knew she was lying, but he also had to go. The last thing he wanted was Barney busting down his door looking for him. He went over to her and made her look at him.

"I will be back soon," he promised. "Then I'm all yours."

"And you'll tell me about your trip," she added. She wanted to know. She had a feeling it was more than just helping out a friend.

"Yes," he nodded. He felt scared just thinking about it, but there was no escaping it now. The truth was going to come out. He gave her one last kiss in case he didn't make it back and in case she broke up with him after he told her what he did for a living when he got home.

"I..." Emily started, but she stopped abruptly.

"You what?" Lee asked.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "See you in a few days."

Lee picked up his bag and gave her one last look before leaving. Emily put a hand to her mouth when he was gone. She had almost told him she loved him. Where had that come from? They'd only been dating a couple of months. It surprised her. She wondered if he caught on or if he felt the same way. She had to wait until he came back to find out.

...

Lee was quiet on the plane ride to their next mission. He kept thinking about Emily and her expression on her face when she saw he was leaving. When she had stopped herself from saying what Lee was pretty sure she was about to say, he felt bad. If she loved him, she would be even more hurt to find out the truth.

"What's got your knickers in a knot?" Barney asked through his cigar. Lee looked at him.

"Nothing," he lied.

"Right. I can read you like a book, you know," Barney pointed out. "You might as well spit it out."

"Emily wants to know where I go when I'm with you," Lee said after a moment.

"You're gonna tell her?"

"I have to."

"Shoulda done it sooner," Barney said, shaking his head.

"Thank you for that," Lee snorted.

"Break it to her gently," Barney advised. Lee didn't say anything else. He had no idea how she was going to react, and that was what scared him the most.

Days Later

James was feeling anxious. He paced in his office, unsure of how to proceed. He didn't want her to hate him or not believe him, but she also needed to know. Then there was that part of him that wanted to see Lee suffer. He heard her shoes first before she rounded the corner.

"What is it?" she asked. She felt slightly annoyed that he had summoned her. Was he going to try to convince her that Lee was no good for her?

"You need to see these," he said, handing her an envelope. She stared at them, not moving.

"What are they?"

"Do you really know your boyfriend?" he pressed. "Do you?"

"James, enough. I'm sorry I hurt you by ending things between us, but you can't keep attacking my new boyfriend," she huffed. Ever since they had broken up, James had made little digs towards Lee here and there. They weren't noteworthy enough to bring to Lee's attention, but Emily still got annoyed by them. Unfortunately, she had no idea about James accosting Lee at the New Year's party.

"This is proof that Lee is lying to you."

"About what?" Emily asked. Before he opened his mouth she cut him off. "You know what, I don't care. I'm not taking that. You're making this up because you're mad."

"Emily, you have to look at this. This is serious," James insisted. Emily didn't know what to do, so in the end, she took the envelope, but she wouldn't look at the contents.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Goodbye then," she said, stalking off. She left the envelope untouched all day, but she had to admit that she was a little curious. What would Lee be lying about? She told herself she'd wait until she got home. Then she'd look.

...

"You're gonna tell her?" Barney asked as Lee grabbed his things and got ready to disembark the plane.

"Yea."

"Good luck."

Lee knew he needed all the luck he could get. He walked over to the cab he'd called and got in. He had contemplated having Barney come with him to help explain it all, but he decided against it. He was full of excitement for seeing her again but also nervousness for knowing what he was about to do. It was time, though. It was time.

...

At the apartment after work, Emily stared at the envelope on the table in front of her for what seemed like hours. A part of her wanted to know, and a part of her didn't. Things were near perfect between her and Lee, and she didn't want to ruin it. Then again, if it was so serious, maybe she should know. She untucked the flap and dumped out the contents. They were photographs. Frowning, she picked them up and went through them. They all had Lee in them, and he was holding rifles and knives, dressed in army-like gear, but it was all black. The time stamp was from a few days ago.

"What is this?" she asked herself. "What is happening?" She didn't understand. She was still sitting there staring at them when Lee came through the door, returning from his latest trip.

"Hey," he said, happy to see her. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was really..." He stopped talking when he saw her staring at something in her hands, her expression one of confusion and a little bit of fear.

"What's that?" he asked.

"What is this?" she asked at the same time. From the way she was looking at him, he knew that she knew. "Lee, what is going on?"

He could see now that she was holding photographs. Looking closer, he saw they were of him. He sighed and dropped his bag onto the floor. He had been so close to telling her first. He felt confused himself, though, because how did she get those pictures of him?

"Where did you get these?" he asked, taking them from her.

"That is not important," she dismissed. Lee felt angry. Whoever had taken these was obviously following him.

"Did you have someone follow me?" he demanded. Were they still following him?

"No! James gave them to me..." she stopped. "That is not what is important here, Lee. What is important is that you've been lying to me. Now, tell me the truth. What is this?!"

Of course it was James. Lee worked to keep his cool. James couldn't handle losing Emily, so he sabotaged. Lee was planning on telling her tonight about what he did, just like he'd promised her before he left. He had thought about it the whole time he was away, and he finally knew how he was going to do it.

"Lee," she said hotly.

"Em, I'm not a carpenter."

"Yes, that is clearly obvious, but why, then, have I seen you at work?" she asked. She remembered. Then again, she'd only seen him at a job site once, hadn't she?

"I do that part time. It keeps me busy until I'm needed at my real job."

"And what job is that?" she asked, but she was afraid to find out.

"I don't tell people because it scares them," Lee started.

"Just tell me," she ordered, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.

"I'm a mercenary, Em. I kill people."

There was complete silence in the room as Emily digested this information. Lee watched her face carefully, and just like he feared, she was afraid of him.

"Em," he tried, moving towards her. She got up from the chair and backed away quickly.

"You...you kill people?" she asked. Her mind was racing. "But...you're not in the SAS anymore."

"No, I'm not."

"Then...why?"

"It's something I'm good at," Lee answered.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. I...okay."

"Em?"

"I can't be near you right now," she said, moving past him. He killed people. She didn't even want to know what kind of people.

"They're all bad, in case you're wondering," Lee said on cue. "Anyone I kill is either a terrorist or someone really bad. They've done terrible things."

"Justifying it is not helping your case right now," she said.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't even know who you are!" she cried, getting angry now. "You went on to me about how you like to really know someone, and here you were lying to me the whole time."

"Not about everything, just what I do," Lee insisted. "I'm still me, Em..."

"I'm sorry, but killing people is something a woman wants to know before she...before she..." Emily couldn't finish. The rest of that sentence was "falls in love with you," but she hadn't said it out loud to him, and now she didn't think she could.

"Emily, it's no different than the SAS," Lee urged. "It's not. I have a team. I have a leader. I follow orders. We only accept work where there is significant proof that our target is either a terrorist or a trafficker or anything related to that. That work majorly comes from the CIA." He reached for her hands.

"Don't touch me," she snapped, yanking them away. "Don't look at me. Don't talk to me!" She moved to run then, desperate to get anywhere but there.

"Emily!"

She didn't look back as she slammed the door behind her.

...

Lee felt sick. He should have told her in the beginning. This whole thing was a nightmare, and now he was pretty sure he'd lost her forever. He paced the apartment for hours, waiting for her to come home. She didn't.

"What's up?" Eric asked, coming in from work and seeing Lee in a state.

"I told her what I did for a living," Lee answered.

"You did?" Eric questioned.

"Well, technically no. James gave her photographs of me," Lee said, gesturing to the table. "It seems he had me followed." Unless James had followed him on his own. Lee wasn't sure. He felt rage towards that twerp. He wasn't just going to let that go.

"I'm assuming she took it badly?"

"Oh yea."

"I'll call her," Eric said, pulling out his phone and dialing. It went to voicemail. "Damn it."

"I messed it up," Lee moaned. "I've messed it up. I should have come clean in the beginning."

"Just chill," Eric ordered. "Em needs time to think on stuff. She might come around yet."

"Oh God I hope so. Eric, I love your sister. I can't lose her."

"You love her?" Eric asked, surprised.

"Yea, I do. I really do."

"Well, shit. Does she know that?"

"I haven't exactly said it yet. I was planning to soon."

"Let me talk to her," Eric suggested.

"She might be even more pissed that you knew and didn't tell her either," Lee pointed out.

"You're right. I guess I have to fake that I didn't know."

Lee said nothing else as he continued pacing. He needed to talk to her. He needed to know she wasn't going to leave him, but something in the back of his head told him that this had already been decided.

...

Emily returned hours later. She found Lee sitting on the steps outside of the building. He stood when she approached. Just seeing him made her almost change her mind, but she held fast to her decision, the one she had spent so long making. She could not be with someone who couldn't be honest about their job because what else was he not being honest about? Who was to say he wasn't being honest about wanting to be with her? She did not want to take that risk.

"I'm so sorry," he started.

"You and I are over," she cut him off. It still hit him hard even though he had expected it.

"Em..."

"Let me finish," she said, holding up her hand. He closed his mouth. "You lied to me, Lee. I can't trust you now. I can't believe you would keep this from me. I can't have a relationship with someone who lies to me." It was half true. The other half was that she knew he was going to leave her eventually anyway, so it was best to end it now on her terms before that happened.

"Emily, please."

"No, Lee," she said, starting to cry. "It's done."

Lee stared at her, willing her to change her mind, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. He also knew what it was really about.

"You're afraid, Em, of being with me, and God knows why. It's got nothing to do with what I do for a living. I think you accepted that the moment you heard it. No, this is about your job and how I don't agree with it. It's easier to use my job as an excuse for ending this relationship."

"You're being ridiculous..."

"You are afraid of me," Lee said again louder, cutting her off. "Because being with me makes you think about your father, and you can't bear to think about him at all."

"Do NOT bring my father into this!" Emily shouted, shaking now.

"Being with me," Lee went on, "makes you feel good, and for whatever reason, you can't allow yourself to feel good about yourself. You are self-sabotaging, Em."

"Stop," she commanded. "I'm afraid of you because you kill people, Lee."

"Really. So if a man came up to you and tried to kill you but I killed him first, you would side with the guy trying to kill you?" Lee challenged.

"That sentence makes my head literally want to explode," she said, gripping at her forehead.

"Admit it, you'd be relieved that I saved you," Lee went on. "That's what I do for people, Emily. I save people whether it's in the moment or stopping someone from causing more harm in a more distant way."

"This conversation is over," Emily said, moving to go inside.

"Emily," Lee said, grabbing her arm. She tried to twist out of his grasp, but he held on. "You know I'm right. You're scared of how good this is, so you're using this as a reason to break it off."

"Think what you want, Lee. It doesn't change anything," she said. "Let me go, please."

He released her, and she went inside. He gripped his face and swore out loud. He lost her. After everything, he lost her. What would Edward think of him now?

...

Emily was stopped by Eric when she entered the apartment.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Did you know?" she asked. "About his job? What he did?"

"Yea," Eric answered honestly, abandoning the idea of lying once he saw her face. "I did."

"It didn't bother you?"

"No. Hell, I almost joined him, but I can't stomach that sort of stuff."

Emily didn't say anything else before going to her room.

"What do you want for dinner?" he asked before she shut her door.

"I'm not hungry," she answered. She avoided Eric's eyes, knowing he was just as devastated as she was to see her revert back to her old self so quickly. She shut her door and tried to forget about everything. She cried and cried on the bed, knowing that Lee was right in every way. His job did not bother her. If he saved people, then who was she to be upset? No, it was the fact that she couldn't let herself be happy. She couldn't feel good about herself because she didn't remember how. The fear inside of her about Lee casting her aside for someone else was too great to stuff down anymore, so she wanted to break it off first and save herself from getting hurt. There was also the lying thing, though, but she understood why he didn't tell her about his job. How could he have told her without knowing her reaction, without worrying her?

"What did you do?!" Eric was shouting outside her room. "She looked terrible. What did you say to her?!" She gulped and paused her crying, listening.

"It was her choice," Lee was saying back.

"I told you, man. I told you if you hurt her..."

"She's only hurting herself," Lee interrupted. "And she knows it."

"So how is this going to work? Us all living here?" Eric demanded.

"I don't know," Lee answered. It was quiet, and Emily strained her ears to hear.

"Just...don't make it weird," Eric finally said.

"I'll do my best," Lee responded. She heard him go into his room then and shut the door. She could feel him on the other side of her wall. She wanted to get up and go to him and forget this whole thing ever happened, but she couldn't move. That dark part of her brain was congratulating her on saving herself from disaster and hurt in the future. She had no idea what to do now.

...

Lee paused when Emily came out of her room the next morning dressed for work. Every fiber of his being wanted to hug her and apologize and try to fix things. He didn't, though. It was too soon.

Emily didn't know what to say, so in the end, she didn't say anything at all. There was a moment, a brief moment, where Lee opened the door for her, and she hesitated in front of him, knowing she could easily fix everything with either one word or one gesture, but she didn't.

"Have a good day," he said. She felt like she was going to cry, but she nodded.

"Thank you."

She walked away cursing herself for not even saying she hoped he had a good day too.

When she got to work, she found another woman waiting for an interview. Andrea Sachs. One look told Emily that this girl had no sense of fashion and was most definitely in the wrong place. She went through with the interview, though. She was short and clipped in her speech, but what did one expect when one had just broken up with the only man she'd ever loved? Emily toughened her resolve. Better to dump than be dumped. He'd wake up eventually and realize she was flawed and hopeless. She just beat him to it.

"Who is Miranda?" Andrea asked after Emily finished telling her about the last two girls that got sacked. Emily felt like her head was going to explode. She stared at Andrea.

"I am going to forget you said that," Emily said. "Honestly, you're joking right? Miranda is the editor in chief of Runway and a freaking legend. A year working for her and you will get doors opened for you anywhere you want. There are a million other girls lined up for this job."

"I...I'd love to be considered..." Andrea started. Emily's phone went off then, and she almost screamed. As if this day could get any worse.

"Oh, dear God," Emily said, her voice strangled. She looked up at the nearest person to her. "She's coming! Tell everyone!"

There was a flurry of movement then, and Emily ran around while the frumpy girl tagged along. Emily finished making Miranda's office look decent and ran towards the elevator just as it opened. Emily could barely focus when Miranda started her tirade. Emily had grown used to these tirades in the last year.

"Who is that?" Miranda asked, cutting into Emily's trance and seeing Andrea.

"Oh, no one," Emily said, trying to block her view of Andrea. "She's someone's idea of a joke. I just finished her pre-interview, and I can tell you she is not right for the job."

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to hire for this position myself since the last two you sent me were the most inadequate human beings I'd ever seen," Miranda commented. "Send her in. That's all."

The blade sank in deep, but Emily showed no sign of being stabbed. She turned and went over to Andrea.

"Get in there. She wants to see you."

"What?!"

"Go!" Emily hissed, shoving the girl forward into the Devil's den. After less than three minutes, Andrea walked out looking shaky and as though she had been through the wringer. Emily was fairly certain she'd never see her again until Miranda called her into her office when Andrea was gone.

"I changed my mind," Miranda said.

"About?"

"The new girl. Go get her."

"I...are you sure?"

"Yes. Are you deaf? Get her back here. Now go!" Miranda snapped.

"Going!" Emily exclaimed, rushing down to the lobby to catch Andrea before she left. If this didn't work out, Emily knew she was going to be in big trouble.

...

Eric was waiting for her when she got home. Emily was exhausted and so not in the mood.

"You doing okay?" Eric asked her.

"I'm fine."

Emily didn't see Lee, so she wondered where he was. All day she had thought of him. She knew she was being stupid, that Lee was right and she was refusing something that was good for her, but her fear was preventing her from admitting it.

"He wanted to tell you," Eric said. "He just didn't know how."

"We're just not a good fit, Eric," Emily said firmly. "That's all."

"Right," Eric said, giving her a look. "You tell yourself that."

Emily didn't want to get into a big argument with him, so she disappeared into her room and fell onto her bed. She was lying there thinking about Andrea and how big of a mistake that was when she heard Lee come home.

"Hey, Shadow," he said. She pictured him petting the dog like he always did before taking off his hat and tool belt. She imagined him getting a glass of water and standing there looking out at the city as he drank it. She envisioned him looking at her door and contemplating barging in to talk to her. She wished he would.

Lee was indeed staring at her closed door, but he knew better than to barge in there. She needed time to think and process. If Lee knew one thing about women, it was you didn't press them right away for another big talk after the first one went badly.

"You guys are gonna have to talk sometime," Eric said, seeing Lee.

"I know."

"I gotta get to work. I can't play referee tonight unfortunately," Eric went on. "Get along, okay?"

"Thanks for your support, Eric," Lee said sarcastically. The door shut, and he stood in the silence debating what to do. In the end, he did nothing. He had no idea that Emily wanted him to do something on the other side of her door, but really, she knew she could do something too. She just didn't know what. Oh, what a big mess it all was.

Will things ever be the same? You'll have to just keep reading! Also, I used this break up as a way of explaining Emily's behavior in the film.