A/N: Sorry for the delay. Was having some issues uploading and editing. The site seems to be bugging out a lot. People are mad on Twitter about it, though it's been kind of refreshing to see people angry at fictionpress instead of hearing people screaming about the election. I'm in Atlanta. I get to live out this election stuff for another 2 months because of the Georgia Senate run-offs. *laughs nervously while screaming internally* I don't normally do the politics thing here, but if you live in Georgia...vote in this run-off. If you know someone in Georgia, encourage them to vote. There is so much at stake for LGBTQ, BIPOC, immigrants, women, and this country as a whole. *end politics*

Now, on to the stuff you're here for. I bit off more than I could chew with this chapter...as originally the word count was 20k. I ended up having to split it so I didn't drown you in word soup.

The reviews to the last chapter made the inner critic run and hide for a little while. It seems a majority of people have been really invested in the Courtney/Emily flashbacks. I saw a review asking about the possibility of hearing more about Courtney/Emily in a possible spin-off. That could definitely be interesting to explore. It means a lot that you all are invested in Courtney's character. I've worked hard to give all of my characters layers.

Lastly, to the reviewer who noted this story is keeping them afloat, I just want you to know you're not alone. You guys are keeping me afloat, too. Sending lots of love your way.

Got some M-ish shenanigans in this one.


Chapter 33:

Family Values

Wilden's death was all everyone in Rosewood talked about for the next several weeks. It took the spotlight off of Emily's pregnancy, but people were still casting sideways glances at her in the school hallways and everywhere else in town.

On top of that, people looked at Alison and Emily like they had something to do with Wilden's death. Crazy theories suddenly emerged about how Alison's rich parents paid a hit-man to do the dirty work or how Emily's military father had a super-secretive government operative kill him. All crazy flights of fancy perpetuated by psychopaths and trolls and exacerbated by the dark side of the internet. Someone even created the hashtags #DeadlyDykes, #WhoDoneitWhores, and #SluttySerialKillers.

Alison knew the twins were behind it, but she couldn't prove it. Emily told her not to feed into it. She managed to keep her head held high, and in the process helped Alison do the same. They even had a little fun with a hashtag that popped up dubbing them the #MobsterMamas by wearing fedoras to school.

The commotion hadn't stopped Emily's promposal to Alison. She'd planned everything out with Spencer. She'd driven her bike into the cafeteria just like she'd wanted. Alison had loved it, and her answer was a resounding "yes." Some of the students cheered. Others just looked at them like they were pariahs. It didn't bother them.

They found support in a lot of the women in town…women whose daughters had been groomed and victimized. A lot of the girls involved went out of their way to be a pillar of support. Their friends were also there every step of the way.

Spencer's activist side came out. She put together a women's group at school with Mona as her co-president. Aside from prom, it was one of the first times the two of them had worked together without wanting to strangle each other.

Aria worked with Ezra and Jake to put together a self-defense program at the gym to help women feel more empowered. Hanna took it upon herself to shut down anyone who had anything negative to say about them.

Not many details had been released about the death. Only that it was a suicide, though Emily and Alison knew better. It just as easily could have been someone enacting the prisoner's code and killing the perv, but it also could have been someone on the outside.

They hadn't heard from Wilden's other half. Whoever had been sending the messages had gone dark. Emily suspected it was because they had stopped digging. But the silence was more nefarious than they realized. A dangerous darkness was growing in the thick quiet blanket of the serenity. The storm was still raging, but the calmness of the storm's eye created an illusion. It was giving them a false sense of security.

They didn't know they were still being watched. Courtesy of Wilden. His little tracking device idea had ended up paying off in the long run. The girls rarely took their jewelry off. Their movements were predictable. They stayed close to town. They stayed close to each other.

New York had really scared them senseless, but after Emily's dad had been poisoned and Wilden was killed they realized they were in over their heads. And they had no idea what to do about it. If they told anyone they risked the lives of everyone they cared about.

Fortunately, they had other things occupying their time. Emily's due date was getting closer. Things were starting to get real for her.

She found it freeing to have the pregnancy out in the open. She heard the whispers from the town gossips who thought she was some kind of rebellious harlot, but it didn't bother her. After everything she had been through the insignificant things didn't really matter to her.

It was the little things that mattered, like the way the early April sun hit her girlfriend in a striking way through the car windshield, illuminating her tiny dimples as she leaned carefully towards the steering wheel. Spring had never looked more beautiful, though autumn still had Emily's heart.

Emily kept her eyes on the blonde. Alison always had a very serious dip in her brow when she was driving. Her sunglasses covered the intensity of her eyes, but Emily knew they were fixed on the road. She was cautious when she was driving Emily and the baby places. She knew she had precious cargo on board.

They were on their way to a birthing and early childhood education class. Crossing the threshold into her eighth month of pregnancy had really ignited a passion to learn. They had been listening to books on tapes and podcasts about pregnancy together to prepare. The birthing class was just another step in the process.

"How is your dad doing?" Isaac's voice startled Emily out of her trance.

She'd been staring at her hot girlfriend so intensely that she'd completely forgotten she was on the phone with Isaac. They'd been talking more frequently since her dad's heart attack.

"Better." Emily toyed with her seat belt nervously. "His meds have been adjusted and he's doing well." She couldn't tell him the truth. I think your psychotic sister had someone poison him. She reached over and mashed the button to lower the window, cracking it to get some air. "How are things there?"

"Still a war zone." He huffed. "I'm doing my best not to get hit by shrapnel. Courtney is still having it out with Mom and Dad. It's the worst I've ever seen…"

Maybe she was confronting them about the fact her father might not be her actual father. The theory that Wilden was searching for a long lost sibling before his death was all they had to work with. Maybe Wilden and Courtney had found each other through one of those creepy 'Ancestry' sites.

The question as to why she had him killed still remained. Turning him in and killing him was drastic, though it's not like she was loyal to him. She'd done some abhorrent things to Isaac when they were growing up. She didn't have any loyalties to Wilden. But murdering him seemed extreme. Then again, Emily had seen Courtney at her most extreme.

She had seen the humanity in her eyes fizzle out. She had seen the monster inside. She'd heard it in the poisonous things she'd said, the angry "You're a freak, Fields." She'd felt it in her cold angry grip, her fingernails tearing into her flesh. She'd tasted it on her lips, her tongue forcing its way into her mouth. She'd sensed it in her manic touch, her fingers vigorously touching her.

Courtney was a force to be reckoned with. She'd left Emily defenseless even when Emily had defenses against her. She'd summoned strength and pinned her against her will. She was capable of anything. Even murder. It made the situation with Isaac much more complicated.

"I can't wait to get out of here." There was something crinkling on Isaac's end of the phone, like paper being balled up. "Did I tell you that I'm seriously considering Ohio? The scout loved me. The recruiter says they're willing to offer me a free ride."

"That's awesome."

She was happy for him. He'd worked really hard to maintain his sports scholarships, and she was proud of him. She always knew he would not only succeed, but excel in life. She hoped her daughter got that drive.

"I wouldn't exactly be right next door, but…closer than Texas. I could come visit more often." There was a strange tone in his voice, a timidity she wasn't used to. "How…how would you feel about that?"

"You're welcome here any time, Isaac."

Emily heard Alison let out a quiet disapproving grunt from the driver's seat. Emily shot her a warning look. She knew it was just a reflex. Alison was protective of what they had as a family. She didn't let many people in her inner circle. She was going to be the kind of mother who ripped into children and parents who even dared look at her little princess the wrong way.

They still hadn't discussed what the future plans were. They were taking it a day at a time. Isaac was honest about his inability to come to terms with the fact that she was having their baby. He'd admitted that even if he could get away from his family, he still had reservations.

He didn't know how to feel about the baby. He'd talked to her about his confusion and how he was trying to work out his feelings. He wasn't emotionally invested and he felt guilty about it. He'd told her that he didn't feel like a father, and that he felt bad about it. But he was curious about her. He wanted to know more about her.

"I really like Georgetown, too. It's closer. But it doesn't offer as much for me. And I don't want to make these decisions based on…" He stopped himself short of saying what he was thinking.

He didn't have to say it. Emily knew the rest of the sentence,

"I don't want to make these decisions based on you and the baby."

He wanted so badly to do the right thing and to be the father he never had. He wanted to be the kind of man that his grandfather was...the man who had defied everything for love. But his love had always been for Emily. His love wasn't something that could be salvaged by adding a baby to the mix. And he understood that. He knew where he stood with Emily.

"I want to be a part of your lives, but I don't know how big of a part. Does that make me an asshole? I should want to be as close as I possibly can, right?"

"You're not an asshole." Emily assured him. "I'm the asshole."

Alison took one hand off the steering wheel, which she rarely did, and put it against Emily's knee to comfort her.

"This is an unusual situation. And I know I made it worse by keeping it from you." Emily put her free hand on top of Alison's. "I get why you're struggling with what you want to do. It's totally fine that you don't know. Take all the time you need. I promise I won't judge you no matter what you decide."

"Thanks." He breathed a sigh of relief. He paused. Emily could feel the heavy weight he was carrying. She knew him. His heart was so big. "Man, I still can't believe I got you pregnant. Your parents must hate me."

"They were too focused on the 'our daughter is a lesbian' thing to even process the pregnancy at first." Emily didn't remember much about the night she'd spilled her guts to her parents, but she remembered her mother being equally outraged about both.

"I'm surprised your dad didn't show up on my doorstep with his service weapon and threaten to shoot my ass," Isaac said.

Emily bit her tongue. Her parents had wanted to tell Isaac's family. She couldn't imagine how that would have played out. It was terrifying to think about.

"My parents don't blame you any more than they blame me." They actually still held Isaac in high regard.

"I'm just saying…if Nick got Courtney pregnant my dad would fucking kill him. The fact that your parents don't hate me is a testament to their self-control."

"Well, my mother thinks murder is a sin." Emily deadpanned. "Then again, she thought homosexuality was a sin and she didn't stone me to death, so…grey area. She's finicky that way. Might want to check your car for bombs. When she gets mad she gets army mad. She won't fight you. She'll just try to kill you."

"Don't cross your mother. Noted." He laughed. His laughter ceased after a few seconds. His mood seemed to shift. "So…um…what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you hate me?" There was a quiet anticipation in his tone.

"What? No!" She answered without hesitation. "You know I could never hate you."

"Your whole life is going to change because of me."

"Because of us." She corrected him. "I chose this. I'm not doing anything I don't want to do. And I wouldn't change a thing, because if I hadn't done everything exactly the way I'd done it…I wouldn't have her. I don't want to imagine my life without her." She ran her hand up and down her smooth bump.

Alison smiled warmly. She wouldn't change anything either. They were both madly in love with one another and with the baby. It was a happy accident. The happiest accident in the world.

"This child is the best thing that's ever happened to me." Her pregnancy had changed her in ways that she had never imagined. "And I wouldn't have her without you. So, no, I don't hate you. And yes, my life is going to change. But in the best possible way."

She was so thankful to have her baby. She was thankful that it had brought her and Alison closer. She was thankful because it had given them both a sense of family.

She knew that raising a child was not going to be easy. She knew that it wasn't anything close to a fairytale. She knew it was going to be a rough road, financially and emotionally.

She'd become another teen pregnancy statistic, but she wouldn't have done it any differently now that she'd connected to her baby. It wasn't a life she'd recommend to her peers, but she wouldn't trade her journey for the world.

"You're such a good person," Isaac replied.

"Only when I want to be." Emily laughed. "Speaking of good people…" She trailed off. "I got the money you sent through the cash app. It was really thoughtful. You didn't have to do that."

"I want to contribute. I want to help." He explained. "It's today, right? The class?"

"I'm on my way now."

"What exactly do you do in the classes?" Isaac asked.

"Well it's a birthing and Lamaze class. It's childbirth education. It's about the birthing procedure. They coach you in some of the techniques in how to get through the labor and we'll also go over the basics of caring for a newborn."

"And Alison will be there, too? You won't be alone?" There was no malice in his tone at all. He just wanted to make sure she had someone with her.

"She's with me." Emily looked over at the blonde, smiling at her. "She's driving."

"Hey, Isaac." Alison glanced at the phone.

"Tell her to drive safe."

"She always does." Emily reached out and grasped Alison's hand.

"How did your last doctor's visit go? Is everything progressing okay?"

"She's good. Healthy. The doctor said she looked like she was about five pounds. They said she's about the size of a coconut." Emily smiled as she put her palm over her swollen belly.

The latest ultrasound had been breathtaking. They had been able to see her in perfect detail. Her cute smooshy little nose. Her tiny little fingers. Her lips were pursed in thought, just like her mother's. She'd been facing the probe taking the image, like she was ready for her close up. She was already curious about life. In the first picture they'd gotten she looked like she was sucking on her thumb.

"Do you want me to send you the ultrasound picture?" Emily put the call on speaker and started scrolling through her recent images.

"I…think I'd like that, yeah."

Emily had sent him pictures of the previous ultrasounds, but Isaac hadn't been able to tell much from them. Everything had just looked like static electricity. The most recent one had a clarity that the others didn't.

Alison had been in tears when she saw the little girl at Emily's appointment.

Emily had teased her, "I thought I was supposed to be the emotional one."

Alison had responded by scoffing with a laugh, "Shut up."

Emily scrolled through her images until she found the best one. She sent the picture, watching as the little check mark appeared in the text screen.

On the other end of the phone she heard Isaac's text alert. There was a shuffling noise and then she heard him make a curious sound.

"Wow." He sounded breathless. "Oh, wow. She's like…she's a little person." His voice was noticeably quieter. He'd pulled the phone away from his ear to study the picture. "Em…she has your nose." She heard rustling. He was zooming in on the picture. "This is wild. Everything is so…clear." There was a thoughtful pause. "I think she has my jaw line."

"I was thinking that, too."

"God…wow…she's beautiful. She's going to be a beautiful baby." He sounded like he was in disbelief.

"We have good genes."

"You for sure. But I don't know about mine. I know I'm a goofy-looking motherfucker." He huffed out a laugh. "Hope she gets your ears."

Alison had to stifle a laugh. She didn't know that Isaac was so funny. She liked that he had a sense of humor about himself. She'd been so focused on whether or not he would derail her future with Emily that she'd ruled out the possibility that maybe he wasn't that terrible. She didn't really know him. She only knew what Emily told her about him. And Emily loved him.

Emily took him off speakerphone. She put the phone against her ear again. She heard a scratching noise. She knew him well enough to know that he was rubbing his head.

"Man, technology is crazy," he said. "That picture…it's so surreal. I can't believe she's already making faces at the camera. Don't kids usually wait until they're out of the womb to do that?"

"She's almost out in the world." Emily pointed out. "Six weeks. Maybe seven if she decides to overstay her welcome."

"Damn, I didn't realize it was coming up so fast. Do you need anything?"

"Not right now."

"Do you have a birth plan?" He asked curiously.

"Not really. I'm just going to wing it." She said that about a lot of things in life, including things she most certainly should not wing, but when it came to childbirth she knew that she had to be open to anything.

"You always were a free spirit." He chuckled.

"My mother denounces my hippie ways."

"Still better than my mother," he uttered. "I really really hope this baby takes after your side of the family. I want her to be…normal. And I want her in a stable environment." He sighed. "Instability is so fucked." There was a quiet pause. "Think you and Alison can provide stability for her?"

Only if we can catch the demonic psycho after us…

"I do." Emily answered.

"Have you two talked about the birth?"

"Yeah…about that…" She flinched uncomfortably. "There is something you should know." She chewed on her lip. "I asked her to be there in the delivery room."

Alison curiously turned her head, trying to get a feel for Isaac's reaction. She caught a quick glimpse of the guilt on Emily's face.

Emily nervously waited for his response. Trying to navigate between Alison and Isaac was very tricky. She felt like a jerk for not including him in the decision, but he didn't seem to be upset.

"I kind of figured that."

"I want to be honest with you. I promised you I would be honest with you." Emily rubbed her maternity pants with her hand. "If you want to fly out here and be here you're welcome to."

"That might be hard to do without tipping off my parents. And like you said before, it's not an exact science. We don't know when it's going to be," he said. "Sucks that we're so far away. But in a way I'm kind of glad you got out when you did. You're lucky. You escaped the madness."

If he only knew…

Things were just as heated in Rosewood. It's like she'd brought the toxicity from Texas with her.

"The Battle of the Alamo is getting wild." He laughed, but it was half-hearted, almost forced.

"I'm really sorry you're stuck there."

"Only for now." He tried to look on the bright side.

Emily felt truly sorry for him. She couldn't imagine having to live with Courtney for eighteen years. She'd probably done a lot of psychological damage to him. She couldn't let her daughter be subjected to that. If there was even the slightest chance that Courtney was behind everything they needed to know.

She thought about the trip to Buffalo and the house with Alison's clothes and the mysterious red coats. Did that mean there were two people helping Wilden? Or was the other coat just a back-up? Had she recruited someone?

Emily knew she had to tread carefully, because if she accidentally dragged Isaac in to it he was in the direct line of fire. She thoughtfully considered how to prod for information.

"Has your sister said anything else about me? Or the baby?" She asked as casually as she possibly could.

Alison listened eagerly, trying to make out what Isaac's response was. She poked Emily, trying to get her to put him on speakerphone. Emily shook her head and mouthed "I'll tell you after."

"Not since I chewed her out about everything. She threw things at me for a little while." The grumble in his voice was telling. She could very clearly picture him rolling his eyes. "Now she's moved on to passively aggressively doing little things to get under my skin. But other than being herself she hasn't said much of anything to me. We're not exactly on speaking terms. Besides, I hardly see her. She's never home. And she started skipping school to piss off my parents."

Emily felt her spine tense up. She was unaccounted for? She had to remind herself to stay calm. If there was any indication of panic in her voice Isaac would know something was wrong.

"How long do these stretches of disappearance last?" She made it sound curious, but not overly-important.

The question caught Alison's attention. She glanced away from the road briefly, her brow raised in alarm. Emily put her index finger up against her lips to curb anything Alison might say that Isaac could overhear.

"It's sporadic. Sometimes it's just two days. But I've gone without seeing her for four days. She has friends she stays with. She's there this weekend. And she stayed with Nick when he came to visit last week."

"Nick was there?"

"Yeah. He said something about needing a break from school. I think it's starting to take its toll on him. He seemed really sullen. I hadn't seen him so moody since his blowout with Courtney at the club on Christmas."

The club. Emily gagged at the thought of it. She wanted to push that memory as far out of her mind as she could. Courtney had deliberately made sure that they were directly in her line of sight as they were grinding right out in the open. She still couldn't get the sounds they were making out of her head. Courtney always had some kind of spell over Nick. And even though he was pissed at her that night he was happy to let her use him for sex.

The worst part of that entire night was Courtney's little stunt in the bathroom. It had really messed with Emily's head. She had been so catty about Maya. Then she'd pounced, a tiger ripping into her prey. She'd forced that encounter so hard that sometimes Emily could still feel the pain in her head and the panic she'd felt in her chest when Courtney refused to let go.

Courtney wasn't someone who just threw people around physically. She destroyed them mentally, too. That night in the bathroom had been no different. She'd made Emily feel small. And weak. Even though Emily could physically best her in a fight Courtney had paralyzed her and destroyed her with four words.

"You're disgusting. A disease."

Of course, Emily knew it wasn't true, but it still cut her down. Courtney had often believed that she had some kind of claim over her. She'd said it over and over again until Emily had subconsciously believed it.

"I. Own. You."

She didn't want to love her. She wanted to claim her. She wanted to dominate her. She wanted to take something that Emily was not willing to give. She'd said no, but Courtney made it seem like she was okay with it.

The girl was a master manipulator. It wasn't a leap to consider that she was the one helping Wilden. But the fact that she lived in Texas complicated all the theories they had.

"I for sure thought they were going to break up that night. But Courtney dragged him back to our place because our parents were at a friend's place. She practically undressed in the living room. They went at it like crazy. Something had riled Courtney up." He made a grumbling sound. "I swear she gets loud on purpose just to fuck with my head. I went out for a while and when I got back Nick was on the front porch smoking a cigarette. He seemed..." He tried to think of the right word, "...disconnected, not like a guy who had just had a marathon sex-romp." She could hear him cringing. "He seemed really sad, actually. I don't think he was as into it as Courtney was. He said she was like a maniac after something happened at the club. I always assumed it was about their fight."

"Did Nick ever tell you what that fight was about?" Emily continued to press for information.

"Not that night. But we talked about it later. He just said they were on different pages about their future at the time. I asked him about it after I came to see you on Valentine's Day. We had this really long talk when I got back to the city. I didn't tell him that I went to see you, but he knew. Because apparently Courtney told him while I was gone. We snuck into a bar with some fake IDs and grabbed some drinks. Chatted over wings and beer. Danced with some locals. You know, typical guy's night out."

Emily felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Did Courtney go with you?"

"No. Apparently she got pissed at him because he told her she crossed the line creating drama over our personal lives." He replied.

"Where was she?"

"I don't know. Probably clubbing. New York is a wild city." He sounded perplexed. "What's with all these questions? I feel like I'm on trial here."

Emily cringed. She'd pushed too hard.

"She didn't show up in Rosewood, did she?" he questioned.

"Not that I know of. I never saw her."

But that didn't mean she hadn't been there. Someone had slipped into her house to mess with her dad's drugs at some point. Granted, it could have been Wilden, but Courtney was sadistic enough to do that.

"You think she might have been there?" He read between the lines.

Emily didn't answer. Isaac didn't like her silence.

"Em…is she harassing you?" His tone sounded serious. When Emily didn't reply, he pushed. "You said she did stuff to you after she found out about your sexuality. Did she hurt you?"

Hurt was a relative term. Courtney had destroyed her. In several senses of the word. She had chipped away until there was nothing left. It had forced Emily to rebuild herself. It had changed her, though she didn't like to admit it. Because if she admitted that Courtney's actions had a part in who she was she was admitting that her actions had merit when they didn't. It was cause and effect. The causality of the events in her life had contributed to who she was as a person.

"Emily…did my sister hurt you?" The question was blunt and left no room for ambiguity. The more he spoke the angrier he sounded. "Listen, I know what she's capable of. I've got a lifetime worth of scars to prove it."

"Isaac…" Emily replied empathetically. She'd seen a few cuts and bruises on him, but she'd never stopped to consider the toll his emotional scars took.

"It's…it's fine." He brushed it off. "I can handle myself. I may get a little scraped up here and there, but…you know…nothing big. We fight. It's what we do. She's my sister. Brothers and sisters fight."

"Not like she fights," Emily said softly.

She expected him to rebuke her claim, but he didn't.

"I know. You're right."

He'd never known anything different, so he thought it was normal. And there were times, rare occasions, when his sister showed up for him. She would beat the holy hell out of anyone who made fun of him, like the racist little shits in the cafeteria at school. But when she wasn't standing up for him she was beating the holy hell out of him on the side.

Isaac was coming to terms with the realization that his family dynamic was not normal. It was Emily's pregnancy that had opened his eyes. Because he realized how toxic it would be for an innocent child to be around his sister. He'd known when he was little that she was messed up. He had never understood why his friends had older brothers and sisters who played toy cars with them and held their hands when they were walking down the sidewalk. He didn't understand it because while his friends' siblings were playing with them, his big sister was locking him in small spaces and sitting on his chest until he couldn't breathe. His earliest memory was toddling after her and calling for his "sissy" and Courtney turning around and pushing him down.

As he'd gotten older he'd wondered if it's something he had done. He'd done his best to be a good brother. It wasn't until they got to high school that he realized something was seriously wrong with her. He'd spent years trying to fix it himself. But he couldn't fix her. He didn't have the right tools. And the more he tried to help her the more she resented him.

"I've always tried to hide my scars," he said quietly. "And I've always tried to protect the people I love from her. I assumed if I could just keep her in check that the people in my life would be safe. In a way I felt like I was protecting her, too…from herself." He sounded irritated, but not at Courtney. At himself. "I don't know why I let her get away with her shit for so long. I don't know why my parents turn a blind eye to it. Maybe that's where I get it from. Maybe I feel like I owe it to her…because we're blood, you know? But I can't anymore. Because I love you. I know you don't want me to…"

"It's not that I don't…"

"It's that you don't feel it in the same way. I know." The line was silent for a few seconds. "But I do love you. And if she hurt you…if she ever…" He growled under his breath, "…if she ever did anything to you I want to know. I don't want you to protect me from it. You promised honesty."

She had promised honesty about the pregnancy. Not about his sister or her weird torture fetishes and her many attempted times of trying to get into her pants. Courtney was struggling with her sexuality. Emily had witnessed her unravel because of it. The girl had poison in her brain telling her that being gay was wrong. That they were wrong. She'd seen it the last night she'd been at her house. There were many many thoughts clawing Courtney to shreds on the inside. There were people inside of her telling her to do things. And she punished herself and everyone in the vicinity because she didn't understand.

"She tortured you, didn't she? Like really tortured you?" The tone in Isaac's voice nearly shattered Emily's heart, because she knew he felt like he had failed to protect her.

"It's…it's in the past." Emily replied softly.

Alison sensed Emily's tension. She reached up and put her hand against the back of her neck, massaging it gently.

"She attacked you in the locker room that day, didn't she?" he asked. "When you showed up to work out with me you had bruises. She did that to you."

Courtney had been so fucking weird after that day. Emily had been weird, too. Even Nick seemed off. Isaac hadn't thought much about it, but now that he knew that his sister had been torturing Emily about her sexuality things were coming to light.

"What did she do to you?"

Emily couldn't answer his question. She couldn't tell Isaac everything without telling him his sister was gay. Or she thought she was gay. Maybe she was bi. Maybe she was confused. Maybe she was just controlling and she liked the rush of seeing people squirm. It was really hard to say. Emily wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't.

When Isaac realized that Emily wasn't going to answer he changed his line of questioning.

"Is she still torturing you?"

"From Texas?" She tried to change the subject, tried to throw him off the trail.

She was doing the very thing to him that he had tried to do for her…she was trying to protect him. Courtney was dangerous.

"Emily…just say the words. Just tell me. Is my sister doing something to you? Because she may be my sister, but if she's threatening you or the baby I will put an end to it." He sounded resolute in his decision, like if there was a choice between Courtney or Emily and the baby...he would choose the two of them.

Emily wanted to tell him. She felt like screaming, "SHE'S TRYING TO KILL US!"

But she didn't know that for sure. She didn't have any proof. And even if she was sure, how could she pull Isaac into it? She thought about Maya. And Caleb. And her dad. Even Wilden.

If Courtney knew him…if they were related and she had something to do with his death it proved that she was willing to kill people. She'd probably paid someone to kill him. By stretch of the imagination it wasn't hard to believe she'd kill her own brother.

"I haven't heard from her." Emily wasn't sure if it was a lie, because she had no idea who had been working with Wilden and sending her threatening messages.

There was another heavy sigh on Isaac's end of the phone.

"This is so fucked." He sounded like he wanted to cry. "I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I should have tried to get her help a long time ago. I was just…young and stupid. But I see it. I know she's got problems, Em. I know that. I just thought…" His voice broke. He was so conflicted. "She's my sister. I thought I was doing the right thing for everyone. But…but I don't know if that's the case anymore. I don't know what to do." He groaned. "I love that miserable fucking bitch. But why? What is wrong with me? Why do I care about her when she's never cared about me?"

"She's your sister." The answer was so simple, but so complicated.

"She can't ever get near the baby. Ever." There was a dark sincerity in his tone. "She hasn't tried, has she? She hasn't tried to come after the baby?"

Alison pulled the car into a parking spot in front of the Early Childhood Education Resource Center. There were several cars already taking up spaces. She didn't see the black car parked by the side of the building. She was too invested in what was happening with Isaac and Emily. The conversation seemed to be taking a serious turn. She could tell by the look on Emily's face.

"Emily…" Isaac's tone was verging on chastising. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing. I was just curious about what's going on there. I didn't mean to stir anything up." Emily forced herself to sound normal.

She tried to keep her voice steady so he wouldn't call her on her lie.

"If anything ever happens I want you to know you can call me. Just…know that, okay?" he asked.

"I know." Emily smiled. "We just got to the Resource Center. I've got to get going or we're going to be late."

"Okay." He seemed uncertain with her response, but he didn't argue. "Good luck. And let me know if you and Alison need anything."

Emily smiled. It was sweet that he had included Alison.

"I will. And you keep me posted, too. If you need anything you know how to reach me."

"Thanks."

They said their goodbyes. The second she hung up the phone Alison prodded for information. She was bursting at the seams.

"What did he say?"

"Courtney is acting shady as hell. Apparently she's protesting being at home. She's allegedly staying with friends. And when they were in New York for Valentine's Day she didn't go out with Isaac and Nick after Isaac went back to the city." Emily was trying to get the dates straight in her head, but her child was sucking a lot of her brain capacity out of her and she could barely do basic math without getting a headache.

"What about the weekend Hanna and I saw red coat?" She still had the footage of Wilden meeting the twins. She hadn't captured red coat, but she knew what she saw. "Or when I was in New York with Aria and Mike and ran into that Bethany Young girl? Courtney was on a holiday break that week, right?"

"I think we need to draw out a timeline to see if any of it is possible. She'd have to jump on a four hour flight to New York and then drive an hour and a half to get here. And that's if she can ditch her parents and fool her brother into thinking she's still in town. It sounds crazy in theory, but we have to look at it." Emily reached for a pen, tapping it against her lips before reaching for a notebook to write down some notes. "It's also entirely possible that she's not involved and she's just being a bitch to her brother and the state of Texas instead."

"It sounded like Isaac was asking more questions." Alison faced Emily in concern. "Where are we on bringing him into the loop?"

Emily looked down at the floorboard. She felt guilty for lying to Isaac again. He deserved to know if his sister was a criminal mastermind. Then again, they had to prove she was a criminal mastermind first.

"Considering he's still trying to get used to being in the loop with the baby I don't know if throwing him on another ride is ideal right now. Maybe if we get proof. He does deserve to know. She is his sister." She frowned. "He's really struggling. He wants to help her work through her issues. But he knows he can't."

Alison felt a surge of compassion for him. She'd had to deal with Jason a few times when he went off the rails when he was drinking and doing drugs heavily, and that couldn't even compare to what Isaac was going through with Courtney.

"I'm sorry for being bitchy about him when you were on the phone." Alison leaned back against her seat, turning to face Emily. "He really does seem like a good guy. I just don't like to share."

Emily pressed her lips together, smiling. The revelation wasn't a surprise to her. Alison had always been territorial.

"You're not sharing me. He's not going to try to take your place or pull rank or anything. You know you have me, one hundred percent." Emily put her hand on top of Alison's.

"I know." Her solemn blue eyes darted to Emily's stomach. "It's not you that I don't want to share."

Alison had been attached to the baby since the very beginning. It had surprised Emily that the sharp-tongued vixen had such a soft spot for her daughter. Ever since the night in the treehouse when she'd told Alison the truth there had been an unspoken connection between the three of them.

Emily would never forget the look she'd had on her face when she asked to touch her stomach. The blonde's eyes had lit up like Emily had never seen before. Alison had been so certain that she could feel the baby moving.

After Emily had gotten to know Alison better she understood why she had such a deep desire to be part of a loving family…to do better than her parents did for her. She had put the baby first every step of the way. And Emily loved her for it.

"I know it's selfish, but I want her all to ourselves." Alison admitted.

She couldn't wait to hold her and snuggle her and listen to the little curious sounds she was going to make. She had a picture in her head of what it was going to be like.

Emily knew that she was so obsessed with the good that she wasn't thinking about the more difficult aspects of raising a child. Sometimes she had to remind her of the reality of the situation.

"You say that now," Emily said, caressing Alison's arm, "but just wait until we're two weeks in and we're so sleep deprived we can't even remember the name for the word 'spoon', and she's screaming every two hours because she's hungry and neither one of us knows what life is anymore. At that point sharing is caring."

Alison clenched her teeth and jutted her jaw out. That sounded like a nightmare scenario. She'd heard horror stories about never being able to sleep again after having a baby, but she'd never gotten the full picture. It was intimidating.

"Right. We should definitely pay attention to 'Mommy Moon of the Earth' or whatever this crazy doula's name is." She motioned towards the building. "Maybe we'll get some tips on how to survive sleepless nights."

Emily laughed. It was only after they'd signed up for the class that they'd realized it leaned more towards "new-age" parenting. But there were a lot of traditional subjects being covered, too.

"I'm really happy you're doing this with me." Emily laced her fingers into Alison's.

Alison felt her cheeks flush with heat. Emily had such a unique touch. Her body always automatically responded. She felt a connection that bonded them. It was like she was an extension of her. She could feel her love.

"I can't believe she's almost here. This is getting so real." Alison looked at Emily's figure and then glanced at the building. She kept her gaze fixed on the structure. "What did Isaac say about me being in the delivery room?"

"He was cool about it."

Alison slowly took her eyes off of the building and turned to face Emily. There was a hint of trepidation on her face.

"Is he going to come out for the birth?"

Emily's face tightened in thought. She knew it was a touchy subject for Alison.

"I don't think he knows yet."

"He should know something by now, right?" Alison asked cautiously. "I mean…he's not going to suddenly change his mind and start demanding things, is he?"

"He's not like that." Emily assured her. "He actually asked if we needed anything before he hung up. He knows that this is weird for you, too. And he doesn't want to make it weirder. I think he's just trying to do the best that he can."

He was doing more than he needed to, but Emily could tell that he was still all over the place emotionally. And she didn't blame him. He was dealing with far more than her pregnancy. He was dealing with his home life, too. He was wrestling with how to handle his sister.

"He's having a hard time with this. I can hear it in his voice. He doesn't know what his future looks like. And I don't blame him. He thought he was going to do one thing and then this came along. He wants to go to Ohio State, but he's worried that it's too far away. He got into Georgetown, too. It's closer, but it doesn't offer him as much. And I don't know if he wants to make decisions based on the baby."

Alison's head bobbed as she nodded in understanding.

"Do you think…" Alison hesitated, pulling back at the last second. She let out an uncertain breath.

"What?" Emily could see the apprehension on her face.

"Nothing. It's nothing…" She looked away uncomfortably.

"Ali," Emily said softly, cupping her cheek, forcing Alison to look in her eyes, "you can talk to me about anything. What is it?"

"It's just…" She glanced at the phone in Emily's lap.

She was trying really hard to be okay with Isaac and Emily talking to one another about the baby, but it made her feel self-conscious. She wasn't insecure about anything in life, except for when it came to her place in Emily's daughter's life.

"…if Isaac does decide he wants to be involved where does that leave me?" She blinked and then slowly made eye contact with Emily. "I'm afraid she might love him more. Like a blood connection or whatever might make her naturally want him more."

Emily exhaled quietly, a patient smile on her face. She knew Alison had been worried about what the dynamic might look like if Isaac changed it, but Emily wasn't concerned. Because she knew exactly what Alison was to her…and her daughter.

The brunette's fingers gently raked Alison's cheek. She combed her fingers through her long blonde locks. Her touch said so much. I love you. You're beautiful. It's us. It will always be us.

"Regardless of what kind of role he wants to take…she's ours, Alison. Family isn't blood. It's who we belong with. Isaac and I may be her biological parents, but you have been the one who has been with me every step of the way. She knows you. She wants you. I can feel it. And she's just as much yours as she is mine. She's our daughter. You're her mother, too." She took her hand. "That is, if you want to be…"

"I do." Alison replied, her voice strained in emotion as she fought back her tears.

Deep down she had known it, but hearing Emily confirm it hit her differently. She felt a flood of emotions wash over her. She reached out and tenderly grasped Emily's cheeks, pulling her in for a kiss. Emily leaned as close to the center console as she could get, her belly pressing against it as their lips met. She could feel the mixture of tenacity and affection in Alison's motions.

When they pulled away they were smiling at one another. Alison reached up and touched her necklace, looking at the baby's birthstone. Emily could tell how much her words meant to Alison.

"I don't know what's going to happen after we graduate." Emily's hand slid down to the side of Alison's neck, "…with NYU and everything, but I do know that whatever it is…we will make it work. We're a family, Alison. That's never going to change."

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that."

"I mean, I'll still have my side pieces and hookers on the downlow…" Emily teased.

"Damn it. We were having a moment. And you ruined it." Alison lightly palmed her face, tapping a gentle slap against her cheek.

"Always do." Emily grinned.

"You mean it though, right?"

"About the hookers?" Emily pressed her index finger against Alison's ribs.

"No!" Alison laughed, playfully slapping her arm. "About us being a family."

"Hey, I dragged you to this childbirth class. I will drag you to our 'mommy and me' groups and our wedding, too." She watched Alison's face light up at the mention of their future.

"Or maybe I'll drag you to our wedding. You don't know." Alison held her head up high with a mischievous glint on her face. "Make an honest woman out of you…"

"I was never an honest woman." Emily scoffed.

"Mmm." Alison pecked her lips. "My rebel with a cause." Another kiss. "My Hell's Angel."

The car shifted when they moved. Emily's phone buzzed from her lap. It was the reminder she'd set for the class.

"We should get in there lest we be shamed for being late." Emily reached for her phone and grabbed their paperwork.

They climbed out of the car and walked towards the building. Alison reached for Emily's hand and their fingers naturally linked together. As they disappeared into the building a person who had been hiding in the shadows rounded the corner.

They hadn't come alone.

They weren't sure what to expect when they walked in. Emily had gone to one other basic Lamaze class, but this one was more involved.

They were greeted by a very peppy young woman wearing a long bohemian skirt and sandals. Her hair was up in a ponytail. She smelled like mint and patchouli oil. She welcomed them to the class and handed them a pamphlet and the class schedule and ushered them to follow the other couples.

Emily glanced at the schedule. It looked like something out of a summer camp, but with all baby-themed activities.

"Uhh…" Alison skimmed through some of the paperwork. "Why exactly is there a seminar on birthing the placenta?"

"Let's just be thankful there isn't a cooking class right after it on how to prepare it for dinner." Emily looked up from the pamphlet.

"People eat their placentas?" Alison questioned. "That's not mentioned in any baby book I've ever read."

"Everyone does things their own way, I guess." Emily shrugged.

They walked towards the lecture hall. The schedule was posted on a large board outside the door. There were numerous breaks between each session.

WELCOME:

8:00 - 10:00: Birth & Labor

10:30 - 11:30: The First Few Minutes

12:00 - 1:00: Benefits of Skin to Skin Contact

2:00 - 3:00: Breastfeeding

3:30 - 4:30: Swaddling and Crib Safety

5:00 - 6:00: Diaper Changes

NOTE: MOMMIES AND PARTNERS WELCOME TO BREAK AT ANY TIME

"Wow, they're covering everything. I'm surprised there isn't a course about sending them to college." Alison scanned the sign.

"That's the advanced course." Emily wrapped her arm around Alison's waist. "It's going to be a long day."

"At least we're spending it together." Alison shrugged.

"Thanks for giving up a Saturday for me."

"Are you kidding? Who doesn't want to spend their Saturday learning about afterbirth and dirty diapers? Fun." Her tone was oozing with sarcasm, but she was smiling.

They walked in the classroom and saw several other couples. A few of them cast sideways glances at them. Emily and Alison weren't sure if it's because they were teenagers or because they were the only gay couple in the room, but they were used to the stares.

The instructor at the front of classroom welcomed them with a smile. She was a cute dark skinned young woman in her twenties. She had a very personable air about her.

"Hello and welcome." She motioned for them to join them near the front. "I'm Yvonne. I'm the instructor." She extended her palm to shake both of their hands. She glanced at her clipboard. "You must be Emily Fields and Alison DiLaurentis?"

"Yeah." Emily nodded, glancing at the other couples. "Sorry we're a little late."

"It's not a problem. I know sometimes when you're pregnant you run on a different timeline. If you'll just have a seat we're ready to begin." She smiled. "We have a variety of different ways for you to get comfortable. This is a long class, so we want to make sure everyone is as comfortable as possible."

She motioned to several different seating arrangements behind them, including large bouncy balls that some women were balancing on. There were also thick padded yoga mats and chairs with cushioned seats.

Once Alison and Emily had settled in Yvonne started explaining the agenda, noting that they were welcome to take breaks any time they needed one. She gave a brief overview of what they would be covering and then she dived into the material.

She was extremely inclusive, which Emily really appreciated. She wanted Alison to feel like a big part of it.

"Every birth is different. Every journey is different. But one thing I can promise is that it will be one of the most emotional experiences of your lives. When you hold your baby for the first time there are no words to describe what you will be feeling. It will be a very powerful moment, and instincts of both mommy and baby will kick in…"

Emily was watching Yvonne as she spoke, but Alison was watching Emily. There was a serene expression on the brunette's face, her lips twitching at the thought of holding her child for the first time.

Alison reached for her hand. Emily looked over at her and squeezed her hand. They exchanged a loving glance.

"Your baby spends nine months getting to know everything about you sense wise. They will recognize your voice, so it's important to talk to them. And you'll see that they'll react." She smiled. "Of course, before we get to that point we have to go through the hard part. The labor."

Alison scooted closer to Emily and laid her hand against her back, slowly walking her fingers up Emily's spine as they listened to the beginnings of what labor was going to be like.

Yvonne didn't sugarcoat it. She explained exactly what it would feel like to be in labor, including what the pain would feel like.

"You worried?" Alison leaned close to Emily, tracing circles against the back of her neck with her index finger.

"No." Emily turned to face her. "It's going to happen. No sense in worrying about something I can't control."

"Your body will know what to do." Yvonne pointed to a large model of a pregnant woman. "But there are a lot of things that can help naturally progress the labor along, as well as things your partner can do to make it as smooth as possible."

She went on to talk about relaxation techniques and breathing patterns that were best for each stage of labor.

"The heat will feel excessive at first. This is when it might be a good idea for your partner to help with cool compresses and ice chips. Position changes can help as well. We're going to go ahead and practice some of those positions." She pointed to pregnant women in various poses on a large projecting screen.

Emily and the other pregnant women mimicked the position, which had them on their hands and knees, leaning up against the large bouncy balls with their hips in the air. Yvonne instructed everyone's partners to sidle up behind them and put pressure on certain points on their backs.

Alison knelt down behind Emily on her knees and started rubbing her back. She was trying to take it seriously, but Emily turned around with a seductive grin on her face. She winked. It was obvious other things were on her mind. She lifted her brows and playfully bit her lip.

When their eyes met Alison felt her cheeks burning. She felt like flipping Emily over and prying her maternity pants off and practicing other forms of natural pain relief. She'd read a lot about sex during pregnancy. She'd read that the natural high could help with the contractions. She doubted there was an interactive session on that in the class.

As she was thinking about all the different things she could be doing to Emily her hands subconsciously started to drift lower.

"Rolling your hips can help with the discomfort." Yvonne showed an example to the class.

Emily started rolling her hips. Alison firmly placed her hands against Emily's hips and helped her move. She watched as Emily's ass rolled in front of her. She let out a silent shuddering breath.

How the fuck was practicing labor turning her on?

Emily spent the rest of the practice teasing Alison, because she knew it was getting to her. Alison was incredibly hot when she was sexually frustrated. She was working her up on purpose, because she'd seen a relaxation room of worship that wasn't in use that they could use to their advantage during their next break.

When the session on practice labor was over, Emily quickly scrambled to her feet, grabbing Alison's hand and pulling her along for their "break", both of them quietly laughing along the way.

Emily took her to the room and pulled her inside, locking the door behind them. She pinned Alison to the wall, grasping her arms and sliding them up against the flowery wallpaper. She clasped her fingers around Alison's wrists to hold her in place as she trailed kisses against her jaw line.

"Here? Really?" Alison gasped in surprise. Her breathing hitched when she felt Emily's tongue against her earlobe. She looked at the room. It was a little chapel with soft lighting illuminating different deities. It almost looked like an exact replica of a church, except there were babies all over the wallpaper. "In a chapel, Em?"

"These hormones are no joke. I almost ripped your shirt off in front of that entire class." Emily nuzzled her neck, letting one of Alison's wrists go so she could unbutton the top of her blouse.

"Yeah." Alison put her free hand against Emily's ass cheek. "Me too." She leaned forward and whispered into Emily's ear. "You were shoving your ass in my face on purpose."

"You liked it." Emily teased her, moving down to kiss the exposed skin on her chest.

She felt Alison shudder.

"Emily Violet Fields, are you trying to seduce me?" Alison breathed heavily, her fingers stroking the purple hue in her hair.

"No matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it my middle name." She kissed her way back up her neck and found Alison's lips again.

"I'll call you whatever I want." Alison gripped Emily's ass, digging her fingernails in to pull her closer. "One of these days I'm going to rock the purple right out of your hair." She squeezed the taut area of her buttocks.

"Then the sheets would be stained."

"They'll be stained with more than one thing." Alison winked and gave her a seductive look.

"You cool with dirty sheets, princess?" Emily antagonized her.

"Maybe I like being dirty." She lifted the right side of her lip in a half smile, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Blasphemy." Emily teased. "What would baby Jesus and Buddha say about this?" She glanced at some of the decorations. "We should be careful, lest we corrupt the Gods in the room."

"They should be flattered. We're about to be worshiping them and praising their names..." She gently started to grind her thigh between Emily's legs, "...over..." She held pressure against Emily's center, watching as her eyes slowly started to roll back in pleasure, "...and over." She lowered her voice. "We're about to be their favorite show."

She pulled her palm back and brought it back down against her ass, slapping it forcefully. It wasn't too rough, but Emily felt a wild stinging sensation shoot up her spine. She was sensitive enough in her pelvic area that it was enough to make her body seize. She leaned forward and bit down on Alison's neck, trembling as she tried to keep her composure. She grunted into Alison's skin.

"You're killing me here, Uptown Girl," she whispered, her body still tense from the powerful wave of pleasure that had just racked her senses.

She slowly lifted her head, meeting Alison's eyes. She pressed her lips against the blonde's. Alison reached up and popped another button on Emily's shirt, getting closer to her warm supple chest. She slid her other hand inside the front of Emily's pants, her fingers immediately finding their mark.

Emily mirrored her actions. Their lips parted at the same time, their tongues exploring each other as their sounds of quiet pleasure got lost in their kisses. Alison felt Emily's hands all over her body. Her fingers were so perfectly practiced in what they were doing.

Emily met Alison's passion motion for motion, though she found herself losing control because of Alison's calculated movements. She had become very well-versed in knowing exactly what Emily needed. Her girl was very sensitive these days.

The impromptu fit of passion ended with Alison's head arched up against the wall and Emily's forehead against her shoulder, their soft sounds of satisfaction in perfect sync. Their bodies tensed and released at the exact same time. Emily felt Alison's legs shaking and her back sliding down against the wall. She managed to keep her from collapsing to the floor.

Emily kept her forehead pressed against Alison's sweaty skin. She peppered kisses against her shoulder and neck as she tried to keep them both upright. Alison panted, her eyes still closed. Colors were erupting in front of her. She'd once told Emily that she was the only person who had ever been able to get her body and soul to react so vigorously...so pleasurably. No one touched her like Emily touched her. No one could make her see an infinite number of galaxies in her mind, fireworks exploding, all of the things that romance movies preached about.

There was sex. And then there was love. Every single time they shared an intimate moment Alison thought it couldn't get any better. Then Emily would top it…somehow…someway.

She felt a fluttering sensation against her lips. She kissed Emily back, opening her eyes to meet the brunette's lustful gaze. They were both sweating. She touched Emily's face, reveling in the glow.

Neither one of them spoke for several minutes. They shared sweet innocent kisses as they rode it out.

Alison glanced at the room again, her eyes landing on a cross.

They'd hooked up in a church. A fucking church. In the middle of a baby-centric seminar. It was equal parts terrifying and invigorating. She started to laugh.

"We are so going to hell." Alison pushed her forehead against Emily's with a loud snicker.

"I was going there anyway." Emily shrugged, kissing her again.

They spent a few minutes trying to make each other look presentable again before going back to class. Alison's hair was askew. Emily's cheeks were still red. Their clothes were wrinkled in places. They had to strategically cover a few notable damp spots.

"Think anyone will notice?" Alison still had a huge smile on her face.

"I would bet good money that half of the mommies in that class are getting their fix somewhere else right now. Bathroom. Car. The Meditation Room." Emily straightened her pants.

"So basically this is just a brothel filled with horny women?" Alison snorted.

"My kind of church." Emily lifted her brows. Her expression softened. Her lips lightly ghosted over Alison's lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Alison pressed back against the kiss.

She laid her palm against Emily's neck, her fingers lightly tracing the band of her necklace. The hearts with the gems in them had flipped over and were tangled in the chain, so Alison gently straightened the necklace out. She smiled. She took pride in the gift.

She didn't know that at that very moment the necklace was transmitting a signal out into the parking lot.

Wilden hadn't been lying when he told Emily that he wasn't the one to be afraid of. Despite his antics in New York…despite the fact that he had tried to kill them…he wasn't even half as bad as the person running the show. Emily's necklace and Alison's bracelet were homing beacons that were a danger to them.

And they had no idea.

A few minutes after they had disappeared into the chapel a maintenance worker had walked down the hallway.

Only it wasn't really a maintenance worker.

Costumes were easy to come by. Costumes and masks and hoodies and all different kinds of clothing could easily transform a person into whoever they wanted to be.

The maintenance costume was the same one that had been used at the gym to replace the light fixtures right after Emily started working there. The bulb explosions had hurt the boy that worked there, but Emily didn't have a scratch on her. She was constantly evading traps, and it was starting to get old.

An old fashioned pistol would easily do the trick. And that had been the plan after the girls had split away from the other new mommies.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why the two of them had disappeared into an empty chapel. Emily was not a religious person. She was smarter than that. It's one thing they agreed upon. Christianity and religion as a whole was for suckers.

The gun felt like a hot burning iron underneath the cloth of the scratchy maintenance pants. The intention was to get in and get out quickly, but there was a sense of reservation once the time had come. Walking down the hallway lined with images of babies in all stages of infancy had stirred a bunch of mixed feelings. The discomfort of the children watching an atrocity was enough to cause a pause in the plan.

The babies were a distraction. People couldn't help but to stop and look at them. A gloved hand reached up and traced the pink frame encasing a picture of a baby girl with a pink bow in her hair. The gloved index finger landed on the pink bow. The glass protecting the picture was bouncing a reflection back at the maintenance worker.

It took a surprising amount of strength to turn away from the child. It was a strange sensation. But the mission had to come first, and that mission was in the serenity chapel.

The hallway was quiet. Too quiet. The silence made the sounds from inside the room easier to hear. Alison and Emily were clearly doing their best to suppress the noises they were making, but that didn't mean they couldn't be heard. Curiosity had won out in the end. An eager ear gently leaned against the door to listen.

Listening to them added an element of exhilaration to the idea of killing them. They were so caught up in each other they'd never see it coming. The gloved hand stroked the door.

The shirt that had the fake nametag on it slowly started to rise and fall as quieted heated breaths added to the noise volume in the hallway. Blood was pulsing to certain places. The uniform was beginning to get hot.

It would have been some kind of sweet poetic justice to gun them down in the middle of a chapel while they were mid-orgasm. But there were too many witnesses. It would have been too sloppy. Emotion had gotten in the way. But emotions had no place in the war against Emily Fields. It had to be tactical. It had to be smart.

Patience.

The long game.

Murder was too kind. Emily and Alison needed to suffer first.

The two lovebirds didn't know that they'd narrowly eluded death once again. By the time they had finished inside the chapel the hand that had been clutching the gun was no longer holding the weapon, but was buried inside the unbuttoned maintenance pants preoccupied with something else entirely. The same head that had been pressed against the chapel door was arched back against the headrest of the car parked by the side of the building. The same mind that had been envisioning killing Alison and Emily was instead picturing what they were doing in the chapel. There was a quiet groan in the car as the mental sounds of their pleasure was turned into something demented.

When Alison and Emily walked out into the hallway it was empty. They were still giddy. They couldn't contain their laughter. Emily grabbed her hand and led the way. Her cheeks were still flushed. Alison's hair was slightly messy.

When they got back to class no one looked twice at them. They couldn't wipe the dopey grins off of their faces.

Yvonne welcomed everyone back before launching into the next topic, breastfeeding. Alison's face turned pink when Yvonne told the partners to help the mommies situate their breasts and get a fake baby to help learn how to position babies for breastfeeding.

"I get to touch them in front of other people now." Alison uttered quietly with a laugh.

"Shh." Emily giggled.

They managed to shift their focus to the topic at hand during the rest of the class. They learned about breastfeeding, the proper techniques for swaddling, and how to change a diaper.

Near the end of the class Yvonne put on a video with a recap of everything from labor to after the birth. They'd seen the sample of birth with the props that Yvonne used, but watching a live birth was much different.

"Oh…" Alison grimaced, tilting her head to the side as she watched the birthing video, "That is…graphic." Her jaw dropped. It was horrifying. "Holy…wow, I…I didn't know it stretched that much…"

She looked at Emily, who was watching curiously. She didn't seem shocked or surprised. She looked perfectly calm until Yvonne mentioned something about vaginal tearing. That's when Alison felt Emily's hand tighten around hers.

But then something incredible happened. Their fear turned to intrigue when they saw the baby's little face and heard the encouragement of the doctor and nurses and the woman's partner. The pure delight in their voices was infectious.

It was the mother's cries of joy after the baby was finally out that pushed them to their emotional peak.

The newborn was placed on her mother's chest and the squawking cries quieted down as she listened to her mother's voice. There was an exhausted, but joyous tone in the mother's vocal expression of love that soothed the newborn. The baby's face nuzzled against her mom's flesh. It was like she knew she was safe. Her little head bobbed and weaved as she explored her mommy from the outside for the first time.

The room was completely silent when the video was over. Emily and Alison looked at one another with tears in their eyes. In a few short weeks they would be experiencing the unadulterated emotional high of pure love like the family in the video.

It was the most life-changing, daunting, yet beautiful thing that they had ever witnessed. The way the mother instinctively knew how to hold her. The way the baby knew exactly who was talking to her. The contact of skin against skin for the first time…not only connecting but seeing each other.

"Em…" Alison's voice was trembling with emotion. She was seeing things in a whole new light.

"I know." Emily nodded with tears in her eyes, gripping Alison's hand.

They left the class with an entirely new perspective on Emily's upcoming birth. Their emotions were riding high.

They passed several cars in the parking lot. They didn't notice the black sedan by the side of the building. The grey car had been compromised, so it had been ditched for another car. Getting the title switched hadn't been easy, but after Emily and Alison discovered everything in Buffalo it had to be done.

A pair of angry eyes watched the two of them get into Alison's car and drive off. The black car didn't follow.

Nothing was out of the ordinary on the drive back to Emily's apartment. Alison and Emily didn't speak much. They were still taking in what they had seen in the class. They'd both been able to feel the instant connection the mother had with her daughter. And they knew it would be even more intense when Emily gave birth. They knew that the amount of love they had for the baby now couldn't even compare to what they would feel when they held her for the first time.

Immersing themselves in the class had given them a momentary reprieve from all of the darkness looming over them. They were both intently aware that they were still in danger. But for a few short hours none of it seemed to matter. The dark shadows clouding them didn't seem so scary.

When they got back to the apartment Emily made dinner. They exchanged loving looks as they sat on the futon and watched Netflix. Then they did the dishes together, playing in the soap bubbles and laughing the entire time. It was nice to feel normal. It was nice to feel grown up.

Alison hadn't realized how much they had matured over the past several months. She couldn't wait to continue their journey as a family.

That night before they went to bed Emily told Alison she was going to take a shower to help combat her back pain. Alison made her a hot glass of tea for when she got out. Then she decided to join her.

She'd disrobed and stepped into the shower, surprising the brunette. She'd moved into the stream of water with her, kissing her as their faces were doused like drizzling waterfalls.

She'd moved down to kiss her stomach, pecking it several times as she spoke to the little girl in Emily's womb, telling her how beautiful she was going to be and how perfect she was and how much they loved her.

Emily could feel her daughter reacting. She could feel her moving. The way she responded still amazed them both.

Alison stood up, her face level with Emily's again. Emily leaned forward. Their foreheads met as they smiled at one another. There was a silent bliss between them.

Things felt different. Something had shifted. Their world was changing. And they were beyond happy. They were overjoyed. They were blessed.

That night they laid in bed together, totally content. Alison was curled against Emily's body, pushing to get as close as she possibly could to her girls.

When they had first started dating Emily had no idea that Alison was going to enjoy cuddling so much. She had no idea she would enjoy it so much. With Maya it had been more about the sex. With Isaac she hadn't been comfortable cuddling at all. But with Alison she couldn't get enough.

Alison stirred in Emily's arms, snaking down her body until her face was pressed against Emily's stomach. She laid her head against her baby bump and closed her eyes with a smile. Emily's skin felt like a searing inferno against her cheek. She could hear the sounds of slight movement if she concentrated enough. She swore she could even hear the baby's heart beating. She rolled her head slightly to the side and kissed something that felt firm.

"I think I just kissed her little head." Alison looked up at Emily, her eyes bright and excited.

"Knowing my child you're probably kissing her ass." Emily reached down to poke Alison's ribs.

Alison squirmed and then laughed. She addressed the baby again.

"Your mother thinks she's funny."

"Your mother is funny." Emily rubbed the side of her swollen belly.

Alison smiled and hummed happily against Emily's stomach.

"We'll see you soon, sweet girl," she whispered quietly. Really soon.

She closed her eyes again, trying to picture exactly what she would look like…what she would sound like. Would her laughter light up the room? Would her cries break her heart?

Alison concentrated on Emily's breaths, breathing in when she breathed in and breathing out when she breathed out. It lulled her to sleep. She stayed snuggled against Emily's stomach, her cheek against the bump, her palm resting right above her bellybutton.

Emily mindlessly stroked her hair, daydreaming about what things would look like after the baby was born. Usually the pregnancy insomnia bothered her. Usually not being able to get comfortable annoyed her. But she couldn't stop smiling, because she couldn't stop thinking about how it would feel when she held her daughter for the first time.

She could see the finish line. She could see her daughter in her arms. She could close her eyes and feel a tiny warm body in her embrace. She couldn't imagine anything sullying that moment. Everything would be perfect when she met her child. She refused to see beyond the beauty.

She couldn't have known that something might go horribly wrong. She couldn't conceive that she might not survive to see everything she was dreaming of. What would happen to her daughter if she wasn't around?

The light in her life was in very real danger of being snuffed out. Her perfect dream would not be nearly as perfect as she envisioned.

It was the illusion. The storm. The eye of the hurricane had created a false sense of security. When they least expected it, the storm clouds were going to roll in again and powerful forces were going to destroy everything in its path. And it would be too late for anyone to stop it.


A/N: "In a CHAPEL!?"

Please be sure to brush your teeth after chewing on the sickeningly sweet Emison fluff in this chapter. Something had to balance out the Courtney angst and the terrifying stalker vibes. What better way to wash away the heebie jeebies than baby feels? Also, I feel it's important to spend time reaffirming Alison's love not only for Emily, but for the baby. Equally important: Emily loving her co-mommy just as much. This fam...

I can't promise the same fluff in the next chapter. Prepare yourselves.

(Editing to add a clarification about the character of Yvonne in regards to this story. This was actually not a nod at Yvonne from the show, but a shoutout to one of my friends who reads/edits for me when the inner critic is being a bitch. Yvonne is her middle name. Thanks for the commentary about skin tones, SuperiorJenlisa! It sparks a greater conversation. I very much am always open to listening to POC and learning about all the beautiful different shades of melanin and constantly want to educate myself. I don't think it's a coincidence that I've had "Pretty like Lupita when the cameras close in" from Beyonce's "Brown Skin Girl" stuck in my head for daaaays).