A/N - Hey guys! Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter. I knew there would be excitement for jealous Ali. This chapter was originally split into two, but I see the comments... you guys are asking for longer chapters. So here ya go! I have the next one split so it can be just as long. I'll do my best to keep it up! Hope you enjoy this one!

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The week leading up to Halloween was much less tense than Emily initially expected it to be. She didn't miss the tone of Alison's voice and it worried her that the blonde was annoyed with her for wanting to go out on Saturday night.

A part of her felt guilty, though she wasn't exactly sure why. She and Alison were partners for a job. They were Ellie and Liam's guardians, not a married couple. Emily wasn't supposed to have any romantic loyalty to Alison, certainly not after the events that had taken place in the past, but it still felt weird to leave her and go on a date with someone else. She hadn't even been able to call it a date when she'd mentioned it to Alison. She told the other woman that she was just having dinner with a friend. Technically that wasn't a lie. She and Sabrina were friends. They had never had a conversation before where they defined their relationship, though Toby always had referred to her as 'your girlfriend from the coffee shoppe'.

It was also possible that Alison was jealous for a different reason. The idea of Emily getting out of the house to do something social with anyone might have made the blonde envious. As far as Emily could tell, Alison didn't seem to have a lot of people in her life that she socialized with. Back when she'd gone to lunch in the city Emily had assumed that it was a social thing, but after finding out that it was for work she wondered if Alison even had people in the city that she hung out with. She was a writer so it wasn't like she had a group of office colleagues. When Emily saw her again for the first time, she was supposed to be meeting her cousin. It wasn't like Emily had a ton of friends, but she had a few people. Toby and Spencer had been who that she spent most her of her time with, but she also had other teachers at the school and people that she knew through the swimming community. She also hung out with her mother pretty regularly whereas Alison's relationship with her Dad wasn't totally clear to Emily. Either way, she realized that the the blonde was probably lonely. She was also likely missing Toby and Spencer too, so Emily tried to be delicate.

Despite the bit of guilt that she felt, she was also excited. It had been almost two months since she'd been on an actual date. She hoped that going out to dinner with Sabrina would help to make things continue to feel normal for her. It was nice to talk to Sabrina and see her in person, but she wanted to hold her and kiss her again too. It felt like it had been so long. Having to say goodnight to Alison and then lay by herself on the couch every night was lonely. She hadn't realized until recently how much she was missing physical interaction.

The week went by quickly. On Friday night Emily and Alison discussed the plans for trick or treating before going to bed. It was nice that Halloween was on a Saturday. It meant that Emily wouldn't have to cut practice short in order to get home for trick or treating like she would if Halloween had been on a school night. The costumes were all ready and Emily had even bought them little trick-or-treat bags to put their candy in. Deep down, she was pretty sure that Ellie already had a bag that she'd used the previous two years, but Emily couldn't find it in her to go down to the basement and start digging through Spencer and Toby's seasonal boxes. Instead, she just picked them up one day on her lunch break and Alison had been happy all the same when she showed them to her.

Throughout the day, Ellie marched around the house excitedly raving about how she was going to be a princess that night. Emily couldn't help but chuckled when she took note of Alison's face each time. Her lips were pursed, neither scolding the toddler or egging her on, and her eyes darted around the room. "Ali," she said humorously, "chill out." She understood where the blonde was coming from when it came to wanting to honor Toby and Spencer's wishes, but feeling guilty over a three year old wanting to dress like a princess was a little bit extreme. Alison noted her words and Emily watched a light blush spread across her cheeks. "The Hastings aren't coming over, are they?"

Alison's brows shot up and she shook her head wildly. "God, no."

"For some reason, Im guessing that they were that house on Halloween that kept their lights off and didn't take trick-or-treaters," Emily theorized.

Alison chuckled, "You guess right."

Emily thought about it and remembered that Alison used to live next door to them. "What about your family?"

The blonde's laughter turned serious at the question. "What about them?"

"I mean, were they the same? Were your two houses the ones that everyone had to skip over on Halloween?"

"Oh," Alison chucked again. "No, we had trick or treaters. I actually have always loved Halloween."

"I can see that," Emily nodded.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Emily laughed at her defenses coming up. She wasn't thinking that Alison was some giant witch if that's what the blonde thought. Though maybe she would have in the past. "I just mean I figured you'd like to dress up."

"That's true... but for me it was more the excitement in getting to be someone else for a night."

Emily eyed her. She wondered if there was more to the comment than just dressing as someone else. Alison was popular in high school by all accounts, but if Emily knew anything about high school, she knew that it didn't always mean you felt like yourself. Before she could respond, Alison spoke up

again.

"I was Lady Gaga my Sophomore year. That was probably my favorite."

"Didn't know you were such a fan," Emily noted, humored by the insight.

Alison just shrugged. "She was different than everyone else. Still is." She paused for a moment before adding, "Plus she looked good doing it."

Emily peered over at the blonde with a slight smile. Alison was still full of surprises and some, like this one, weren't necessarily the bad kind.

Around four o'clock, they started getting ready for trick or treating. Emily offered to get Ellie dressed and ready since it was likely to be more of a production and left Alison to dress Liam.

"Stay still," Emily instructed Ellie. The little girl was excited and squirming all over the place as Emily tried to tie her hair back into two pigtails. Ellie's hair was hardly shoulder length, and it was so thin that Emily was already having trouble gathering it into two. She wrapped a pink ponytail holder on each side. "What do you think?" She asked.

Ellie hopped down from the bed and ran to her mirror. "Pretty!" She grinned.

Emily stood up and walked over to the toddler. She caught a glimpse of her in the mirror. She's never seen any pictures of Spencer as a young child, but Emily imagined that she looked exactly as Ellie did now. She'd likely be wearing something other than a pink dress, but otherwise the little girl in the mirror was all Spencer. Emily pressed her lips together and took a few silent breaths through her nose when she noted her heart rate picking up. She tried not to look at the kids and think of her friends, but sometimes it was impossible not to see them in their children. After a moment, she looked back down at Ellie. "One more thing..." She pulled out a little tiara and secured it on top of her head. "Do you like it?"

The little girl nodded her head with a grin on her face. "I want Aunt Ali to see!" She told told Emily.

Emily breathed out a light laugh. "Okay, let's go," she reached her hand out so that the two of them could join Alison and Liam downstairs.

Ellie pulled her down the stairs, little legs moving as quickly as they could. Emily had no problem keeping up, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Liam. "Uh, what is that?" She asked Alison.

"What's what," the blonde raised her brows. She was sitting on the couch with Liam on her lap. He was dressed in a simple little pumpkin costume. It had been Ellie's idea last week. She wanted to wave her wand and turn her baby brother into a pumpkin.

"That... thing in his head." She squinted. The costume was as they had planned it, but there was a headband resting on top of his head with something poking out of his blonde hair.

"It's the stem for the pumpkin," Alison giggled. She rubbed the back of Liam's head and then touch the headband. "It's got a little leaf too. I thought it was cute."

Emily arched a brow. It looked a little strange but Alison seemed to like it and Liam hadn't pulled it off yet so... whatever.

"I'm more worried about what's happening on top of her head..." Alison noted.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"Come here, Els." She ignored Emily's question and waved the little girl over. "Turn around," Alison directed to Ellie. She carefully freed her hair from the pigtails.

Emily dropped her mouth. She'd worked hard on that. "What's wrong with it?"

"Aunt Em doesn't know how to do hair for a princess," she said out loud to both Ellie and Emily.

"I do so," Emily gawked.

"If she did," Alison continued as she smoothed out Ellie's hair before gathering it into multiple sections and weaving it through her fingers, "She'd know that princesses wear their hair in braids."

"Like Elsa," Ellie spoke up.

"The pigtails were cute," Emily defended. She didn't see the big deal but again, she'd defer the style choices to Alison.

Just as Alison was retying the pony tail holder, the doorbell rang.

Emily glanced in the blonde's direction. "You sure the Hastings aren't coming over?"

"I hope not..." Alison walked to the door and looked through the peephole. "Oh!" She let out and turned to look at Emily.

Emily's eyes got wide. She really hoped it wasn't the Hastings. She had enough to worry about tonight between taking the kids trick or treating and going on her date with Sabrina. She didn't need the Hastings coming in and doing their typical investigating. Alison stepped aside and Emily checked the peephole. "Oh!" She repeated with a smile. "Hey," she opened the door.

"Hi," her mother smiled from outside. "I didn't want to make you drive all the way to my house so I decided to bring the trick or treating here." She held up two small pumpkins filled with treats.

"Mom, Liam doesn't eat candy," Emily raised a brow. He was eating some solids, but they tried to keep it to natural foods and definitely didn't give him candy or snack food.

"That's for you, Hunny," her mother smiled. She passed one of the pumpkins over to Emily. "Make sure you share."

Emily felt like she was ten years old again . Alison snickered next to her and she silently side eyed her in return.

"Can I come in?" Pam asked.

Before Emily could answer, Alison spoke up. "Of course, come on in." She turned her head fully at the blonde's words and noted the big sweet smile on her face. They both stepped aside and let Pam walk into the house.

"Oh my..." Pam's voice echoed through the living room in awe. They followed her into the room where Pam was looking in awe at Liam in his costume. Emily smiled. Her mother loved babies. " I think he's the cutest little pumpkin that I've ever seen," Pam gawked with wide eyes. She picked up Liam and bounced him on her hip as his body slid around in the costume. "And that's saying something because I dressed you as a pumpkin when you were little too, Emmy."

Emily pressed her lips together and forced a smile despite feeling slight embarrassment. Alison, meanwhile, looked like she was doing everything she could not to laugh.

"I love the little headband too!" Pam complimented.

"Do you like my crown?" Ellie came running over in her dress to ask.

"See, told you the headband was cute," Alison gloated. "Emmy."

"I thought I told you that wasn't for you," Emily said through her teeth. She had a feeling that Alison wasn't going to let this 'Emmy' thing go.

"Why don't I take a picture of the four of you?" Pam asked.

"Oh...um..." Emily hadn't really thought of that. She was wearing workout pants and a sweatshirt. She'd done her hair in the morning, but it was less than perfect now.

"That would be great!" Alison agreed. She smiled towards Pam again. "Thanks so much for offering."

Emily stared at the blonde. Had she been drinking? Why was she being so nice.

Alison round up Ellie and stood near the fireplace. She turned to Emily who hadn't moved since she animatedly accepted Pam's offer. "Are you getting in the picture, Em?" She asked with a smile still perched on her face.

It still took Emily a minute to move, because really... Who was this person? She recovered, though. "Yeah, just a sec." She took her hair from her ponytail and gathered up the loose ends that had strayed before twisting her hair in a bun on top of her head. "Okay let's do this." They smiled at the camera. It was the first picture that the four of them had ever taken together.

Pam stayed for a short while and then headed home before Emily and Alison took the kids around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat. It wasn't nearly as hectic as Emily thought it would be. There were plenty of other neighborhood kids and their parents out at that time so they just followed the crowd. Emily held Ellie's hand and led her to the door at each house while Alison hung behind them pushing Liam in his stroller. The whole event lasted just over an hour before Ellie's candy bucket was filled.

Emily noticed Alison sneaking pieces of candy out of the bucket while they were walking back to the house. She teased her when they got home. "I totally saw you pocketing some of that candy for yourself," she told the blonde with a 'gotcha' grin.

Alison raised her brows. "Are you still planning on going out tonight?"

Emily tilted her head at the question. "I was... yeah."

"Well exactly," Alison responded with a slight roll of her eyes. "She's not going to eat an entire bucket of candy and then be up all night when you're gone."

Emily almost pointed out that she'd stayed up with Liam the night that he wouldn't sleep through the night but she stayed quiet to keep the peace. "Can I at least have one of those Reese's cups from your pocket then?" Emily asked. She kept her tone light hearted and gave the blonde a small smile. She didn't want any arguing tonight, especially since she had a date to get ready for.

Alison breathed out a laugh and Emily watched as she visibly relaxed again. She handed Emily two peanut butter cups and continued walking through the house.

While Alison got dinner ready for the kids downstairs, Emily got herself ready upstairs. She used Ellie's room to change into her outfit for the night. She'd never been to the restaurant that they were going to. Sabrina had mentioned that it was slightly trendy, which Emily thought

was a little out character for the usually easy going, almost hippy blonde. The fact that Sabrina wanted to go somewhere nice told Emily that she really did want the date to be special. It made Emily excited. She felt like Sabrina had maybe been missing her in the same ways that she was. She opted for a pair tight black pants with a white and blue striped long-sleeved silk blouse. She hoped that it went with the vibe of the restaurant. She took her time doing her hair and makeup in front of the mirror, trying her best to make sure that she looked nice.

She was also maybe just a little bit trying to stall upstairs to lessen the time that she was with Alison before she left. She was still feeling guilty about leaving Alison with the kids. The blonde spent everyday during the week with them and Emily struggled to decide if it was fair for her to leave on Saturday night too. They had also had a nice day together with the kids. Leaving didn't feel completely right. Still though, she was excited for what the night would bring, so she tried to ride that feeling instead of the others that felt confusing to her.

She was putting on the finishing touches of her mascara when she heard Alison getting the plates out downstairs. She put her things away and went down to the kitchen to where the blonde was with Ellie and Liam.

"Here, I'll get their food plated and feed Liam," Emily offered.

Alison was grabbing some utensils from a drawer and turned around at the words. Emily watched as the blonde's eyes widened for a split second. If she hadn't been watching her face, she might have missed her the surprised expression, because Alison regained composure almost right away. "You look nice," she said evenly.

"Oh," Emily stopped in her tracks. This was what she had been avoiding. "Thanks," she said softly. She could feel the heat rising up her neck and hoped that she wasn't turning red. She'd spent the majority of her time with Alison wearing house clothes like leggings and t-shirts. Even her work attire generally was pretty casual because she taught PE. Her look tonight was majorly different and she knew that she stood out.

Alison passed her a bowl with what looked like blended sweet potatoes for Liam. "Where did you say that you were going to dinner at again?" She asked before taking a seat at the table.

"It's called The Radley... I think," Emily told her. She scooped some of the food onto a spoon for Liam and slowly fed him as she spoke. "Have you heard of it?"

"I have," Alison said right away. "It's a nice place." Emily didn't miss the edge that had crept into her tone.

Emily stayed quiet for a moment and gave the baby several more bites of food. All of the excitement must have worked him up into an appetite because he hit the tray in between bites to continuously signal for more. "But you said that I look okay? I don't need to change, right? I've never been there."

"No the outfit is perfect," Alison nodded. She paused briefly and then spoke again. "I'm just surprised you're going somewhere so nice for dinner with a friend," she added.

The heat started rising up Emily's neck again. She wasn't hiding that fact that she was going on a date, but she didn't want to come out and say it either so she just shrugged. "I didn't pick the place, so..."

Alison replied with a simple "hmm," and then moved on to her food. She didn't say much else for the majority of the meal. The only sounds came from Liam cooing between bites and Ellie, who was still wearing her princess costume, talk about all of the candy she wanted to eat.

Emily helped clean up after dinner and she and Alison gave the kids their baths and got them ready for bed. Emily offered to put Ellie down, deciding that she would probably be the harder of the two that night. It took a little bit longer than usual, but after putting her into bed, asking her questions about the day, and reading a few stories, the little girl fell asleep.

Emily checked her watch as she walked down the the stairs. It was right at 8:00 which was perfect timing. Alison had already finished putting Liam to bed and was sitting in her usual spot on the couch and with her legs tucked under her and a book in her hand. Before moving in with her, Emily really had no idea that Alison read so much. Obviously she knew that the blonde had wrote a book, but she didn't know that she read so many of them. She'd lost count of how many different books that Alison had gone through, presumably reading them all. Finding out that this was such a major hobby added just another layer to her for Emily. One that she liked and felt intrigued by. She sat down on the couch and checked her phone, noting that she hadn't gotten any texts yet.

"Don't you have to go?" Alison spoke, looking up from her book in Emily's direction.

"Yeah..." Emily met her gaze and tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch. "I'm getting picked up though."

"Oh..." Alison nodded. "Nice." Her voice stayed neutral. There was nothing negative in it, but she didn't sound particularly happy either.

Emily looked down at her phone again. She felt stressed and that wasn't what tonight was supposed to be about. Trying to determine exactly what her relationship with Alison was supposed to be was confusing. They were definitely making progress as partners doing probably the most important job that either of them had been given and Emily wanted to keep building that. She just wasn't sure how to be close to her and keep building on their relationship because it felt like getting too close to the sun. She wasn't sure when, but she felt sure that if she got too close she was going to get burned. It wasn't an irrational fear because it had happened before... and based off of what Alison told her then, why would Emily think that things would be any different this time? It made her happy that they were in a good place now, but she couldn't let her feelings develop again. That would lead to a disaster and the fall out would surely be worse than the last time.

Her phone buzzed with a text from Sabrina. Just pulled up! It read. She smiled, partially out of relief that she didn't have to keep waiting and partially because she really was looking forward to going out with the other woman. She hopped up from the couch. "Okay, I'm heading out..."

Alison looked up from her book again. "Okay," She nodded. "Have a... good night."

They made eye contact briefly. There hadn't been any sass in her voice. There was almost a questioning tone at the end of her sentence. She sounded a little bit down actually. Emily pushed her lips together and tried to push the guilt away. She told herself that she didn't need to feel bad. She didn't owe Alison anything. She wasn't doing anything wrong. So Emily just nodded back. "Okay, see ya." She turned towards the door and headed outside.

Sabrina was parked in the driveway and Emily hastily walked to her car, opened the door to the passenger seat, and sat down. She turned to greet the woman next to her, but the words got caught in her throat when she got a look at Sabrina. Typically, when she saw her at The Brew, Sabrina had on an apron with her hair tied up in some kind of messy updo. Even the times that they saw eachother in the evening, it was usually after a long day. This was... this was different. Her blonde hair was down in styled curls, she had a dark brown eyeshadow that accentuated her eyes, and even a medium red lip stain. "Uhm- wow." Emily uttered as the corners of her lips turned up.

Sabrina chucked at her response. She tilted her head. "What's wow?"

Emily's smile widened. "You," she said. "You look really good."

The blonde chuckled again. "Okay maybe I put some extra effort in. I wanted tonight to be nice." She eyed Emily for a second. "And it looks like we were on the same page."

"I didn't want to be underdressed," Emily blushed slightly.

"Well let's go take The Radley by storm then. I've never been."

Emily found herself nodding along. This had been the perfect start to get herself out of her own head. She was going to dinner with a sweet, beautiful girl that she really liked. A girl who actually liked her back. It was a good feeling.

When the got to the Radley, they both realized that they'd missed the dress code memo. And it wasn't because they were underdressed. Apparently there was a Halloween party at The Radley that night. Just about every person in the restaurant had an elaborate costume on and the majority of the tables had been moved to make room for a dance floor.

"Sooo do you want to see if any of the tables are available?" Emily asked. It wasn't an ideal situation, but she hadn't be out in almost two months. It didn't matter what was going on around her, she was only here to see one person.

"I can't believe I didn't call first," Sabrina covered her face with her hands. "I'm so embarrassed."

"You care what these people think about us not wearing costumes?" Emily asked.

Sabrina removed her her hands. "No... I just wanted to plan a nice night together."

Emily shook her head. "This is a nice night."

"I know, but we won't even be able to talk."

Emily bit her lip. That was true. She didn't really care what anyone here thought about their lack of costumes, but the DJ was pretty loud and there really weren't any opened tables. "Wanna grab take out somewhere?"

She expected Sabrina to disagree because it seemed like she really wanted to do something nice, but instead the blonde looked up at her with an innocent expression. "You'd be okay with that?" She asked, raising her brows slightly.

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm fine with that. I've been craving Chinese food anyway."

Sabrina smiled. She grabbed Emily's hand and tugged her back towards the car. "Your apartment it is then."

The words hit Emily quick. She hadn't thought they were going back to the house with Alison and the kids and she knew that Sabrina had a roommate, but it still made her eyes go wide when she realized that they were actually going to be alone together. She smiled back. "Yeah, let's go."

They headed back to Emily's apartment and ordered dinner to be delivered. She'd only been back at her apartment a handful of times since moving in to the house. It was strange to be back there. All of the things inside belonged to her, but they didn't feel like they were hers anymore. They almost felt like they were from another lifetime. Everything was the same as it had been two months ago, but she had changed so much.

She sat on the couch and took her phone out while she waited for Sabrina to plate the food and opened the texting app. As much as she just wanted to pretend that this was actually two months ago and that her whole life hadn't been turned upside down, she knew that she couldn't do that. She started typing out text to Alison. Everything still good with the kids? She looked at it the message and second guessed herself. She erased it right as Sabrina walked over with a plate for her.

"You okay?" Sabrina asked, noting Emily's posture and the phone in her hand.

"Yeah, I mean I think so. I was going to text and make sure but I-"

"You should." Sabrina interrupted.

Emily looked up at her. She wanted to be present and in the moment. She also felt like it was weird texting Alison while she was on a date, but of course Sabrina didn't know that. "You don't mind?"

Sabrina sat down on the couch next to her and put her own plate on the coffee table. "Emily," she reach out and out her hand on the brunette's knee. "I've told you before, I know that your life is a little bit different now. It's okay that I'm not your priority... I understand. I'm just happy that we can hang out now."

Emily smiled and exhaled. She found the hand that Sabrina was touching her with and gently pulled her in towards her to give her a soft thank you kiss. When they parted, she took her phone out and retyped the message from earlier and hit send.

Within seconds, Alison texted back. Yep. Just one simple word. Emily twisted her lips. She'd been expecting more and considered responding again, but what was there to say? The kids were fine. She looked back up at Sabrina as the blonde spooned some rice onto her plate.

She glanced over at Emily. "Are things good at home?" Her voice was calm and concerned. It was obvious that she actually cared about the answer.

Emily nodded, but inside she felt warm. Here she was with a mature and caring woman who had dressed up for her and tried her best to make their date a good night while still being accommodating to Emily's new lifestyle. It made Emily want to make the most out of their time.

So that was what they did. They ate their dinner, but before long they migrated to the bedroom. Being with Sabrina intimately again after weeks of nothing except sexual frustration and bad memories at home was exactly what Emily needed. She felt wanted and appreciated as they kissed under the sheets and let their hands roam over each other's bodies. For Emily, the release was like an exhale. It re-centered her. Things were different in her life now because she had the responsibility of the children and the addition of Alison coupled with the grief from losing her best friends, but here in this moment, it made her think that there might just be some happiness out there for her.

Close to an hour later, Emily was drifting in and out of sleep. She was laying comfortably on her side, with one arm under the pillow and another around Sabrina, tracing her bare side.

"Hey," Emily whispered, her voice low and still a bit raspy.

Sabrina blinked opened her eyes from her spot next to Emily. Her body mirrored the brunette's and she met her gaze with a tired smile. "Hi."

"Thank you for tonight," Emily let her fingers wander to the other woman's back. "I missed being with you like this." She really did. She hadn't realized until she was with her tonight but this was one of the few things that remained from her life a few months ago. She didn't miss her her apartment or happy hours with coworkers. She missed being able to be intimate with someone who genuinely cared about her the way she cared for them.

"Good. I could tell you needed to get out of the house," Sabrina told her.

"Oh yeah, so this was all about me?" She asked somewhat jokingly.

Sabrina blushed a little and turned her head into the pillow. Emily leaned across and kissed her cheek causing the blonde to peak her eye back out. "I missed you too," she confirmed. "A lot actually. I've just been trying to give you space."

"I appreciate that..." Emily pulled her closer and their bodies rested against each other. "But I want you to be a part of my space too."

Sabrina leaned in and pressed their lips together. "I'm really proud of you for doing what you're doing. Not everyone would take on that responsibility."

"I want to do it. I love Ellie and Liam so much. It's just been hard."

"I can't imagine..."

Emily exhaled. She and Alison had gotten used to their schedules and the kids seemed comfortable, but the grief was still there. She knew that it would be for everyone. She'd been trying to stay focused on Ellie and Liam. Her job was also keeping her together. She felt like she had to be strong or things would crumble. Right now, though, she felt good.

And god, it felt nice to be in an actual bed again.

She relaxed her head against her pillow. "I wish we could stay here tonight," she said almost wistfully.

Sabrina looked up at her, "But I'm guessing that's not a possibility..." She didn't phrase it as a question. She knew the answer.

It sounded nice, but as much as Emily wanted to stay in her comfortable bed with Sabrina, she also wanted to get back to the house. The kids had become her life and she felt a sense of responsibility to Alison. Despite some of the flaws in her personality, Emily was thankful that she had Alison to do this with her. The blonde had come a long way. She was committed and Emily was proud of her.

She gave a small smile and shook her head lightly before sitting up. The sheet gathered around her bare middle and she grabbed her blouse and bra from the end of the bed. She turned to Sabrina and took her hand. "Thank you so much for tonight. I want to do this again."

Sabrina raised her brows. "I bet you do," she said suggestively with a smile.

By the time that they were dressed and had cleaned dinner up, it was nearly midnight. She quickly grabbed a few clothing items to add to her collection at the house and they headed out. It was later than Emily originally planned to stay out, and she hoped that she could quietly enter the house without waking anyone up. Sabrina drove her back and they kissed goodbye before the brunette exited the car and walked back to the house. When she glanced at the window, it looked like there was a light dimly lit in the living room. She was actually thankful, because that meant that she wouldn't have to fumble around in the dark. She put her key in the door and slowly turned it as she pushed herself inside. She stayed light on her feet in the entryway so as not to make any noise, and walked into the living room. She sat down and unzipped her boots.

"Glad you made home safe," a low voice sounded in a flat tone.

Emily sucked in a frightened breath through her nose and snapped her head up in the direction of the voice. She saw Alison sitting at the other end of the room, near the large window. When she'd left, the blonde was on the opposite couch. At some point she must have migrated because she was seated in a club chair, still with her book, and an empty glass of wine. "Jesus, Ali!" Emily put her hand to her heart as she felt it beat rapidly. "What are you doing up?"

Alison shrugged. She closed her book and put it on her lap.

Emily wasn't sure what to say. She noticed the position of the chair. She'd sat there before and knew you could see directly out of the window. It was dark outside though, so maybe she didn't see Emily kissing Sabrina goodbye. But even if she did... Was that a big deal? Emily was allowed to go out with people. She tried to play it off. "Sorry if you were waiting up for me. We just got held up at dinner."

Alison cocked a brow. "At your apartment?" She tilted her head towards the stack of clothes that Emily brought back.

"Yeah..." She knew what it looked like. Most of her make up had been rubbed off. Her clothes were wrinkled from being thrown on the floor. Her lips were probably still swollen from kissing. She wouldn't apologize for any of that, but she hadn't wanted Alison to worry if that's what her tone was about. "I would have texted you to let you know I was going to be out late if I knew that you were staying up."

"Yeah," Alison snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that you would have had time for that."

"I would have," Emily shrugged.

"Whatever," Alison stood up. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

And that was that. No 'goodnight'. Just sass and heavy footsteps that had Emily praying that the kids didn't wake up. She heard Alison's bedroom door close loudly and she sighed and shook her head. She didn't expect a 'congrats on the sex' from the blonde but she thought that there would be a little bit more maturity from her. Just an hour ago, she was laying in bed thinking that maybe this could all work. Maybe she could raise the kids with Alison, do her job, and still find love and happiness for herself. This left her questioning that. They hadn't had any conversations about dating, but maybe they needed to. Emily wasn't sure what she was supposed to say, but she knew that they would have to talk. She looked down at the couch and thought of how comfortable her bed had been earlier. She wanted a way for all of this to work, but they had a long way to go.

—

The next morning, Emily woke up on the couch feeling as uncomfortable as ever. Her neck felt stiff and her side felt sore. She rarely felt that way when she woke up. After weeks of sleeping on the couch, her body was pretty accustomed to it, but today was different. She thought back to the previous night. After everything with Sabrina, her body had been in a state of bliss. She felt great when she left her apartment and headed back to the house. It was the interaction with Alison that left her feeling uneasy. Her initial feeling was frustration and anger. Emily worked hard. She felt like she did everything right when it came to trick or treating. She left the house after the kids were asleep. It was wasn't like she had saddled Alison with a ton of extra work, so she was surprised at the attitude she had come home to.

Unless it was something else?

Emily wondered if she was supposed to tell Alison that she was going on a date. She had gone back and forth several times, ultimately deciding that she didn't want to have that conversation yet. Given everything that happened in the past, Alison didn't deserve any say in who Emily saw romantically. They had a connection- a strong and very intense connection- but that ship had sailed. And it was because Alison had made it sail. It wasn't fair for her to be upset if Emily was dating someone now. Right?

She moved her neck around a little to loosen it up. They were going to have to talk and she wasn't looking forward to it. She didn't want to dig the past and what had happened. She didn't want to relive the events or remember what had been said. She'd been able to get to a place with the blonde where they were comfortable around each other again. She actually enjoyed when they did things together with the kids or hung out after bedtime. It had taken some time, but it felt like they were settled in together. She didn't want this to disrupt things.

A sound from the baby monitor on the coffee table interrupted her thoughts. Liam was on the screen rolling slowly back and forth on the mattress. She checked the time and noted that it was about when he woke up most mornings. There was no sense laying around here and waiting for the inevitable crying. She swung her legs over the couch and headed for the stairs.

It was quiet on the second floor of the house. Ellie usually slept in a little bit later than Liam and there were no sounds coming from her room. Alison's door was closed and Emily had no idea if she was awake or not. She kept a baby monitor in her room too so if she was awake, she would presumably have seen the same movement on the screen as Emily had. She didn't mind being the one to get him. She usually got up with him most mornings anyhow. She stood outside the nursery for a second and then slowly turned the knob and pushed the door opened. She'd learned early on not to barge in or make her presence appear too quickly because it sometimes scared him. She poked her head in the room and tried to catch a glimpse of the baby. She was thankful for the monitor because it had night vision, otherwise she would never be able to see if he was awake or not because of the blackout curtains that were drawn whenever they put him down.

"Good morning," she cooed in a quiet, sing-song-like voice.

Liam had moved into a sitting position in the crib and was moving various limbs around as he woke himself up. His pacifier was in his mouth and after a moment, he rolled onto his back and stared up at Emily. She could tell that this was going to be one of his more chill mornings. Instead of spitting out the pacifier and crying out to her, he just continued to stare and wiggle in his sleep sack. She continued to whisper good mornings to him as he stretched. When he seemed ready, she reached down into the crib and lifted him out.

"Hi baby boy, are you ready to get up?" She whispered again as she settled him on her hip. He had ditched the pacifier and cooed back to her as he pushed his face into her collar bone. She smiled at his greeting and ran her fingers through his thin blonde hair that was sticking out in all directions after a long night's sleep.

As per the morning routine, she unzipped the sleep sack and took him to the changing table to get a fresh diaper for him. Originally, she thought that the constant diaper changing was going to be terrible, but truthfully after a few days she got used to it. Today was easy and he didn't wiggle around too much. She re-zipped his foot pajamas and carried him downstairs.

Once in the kitchen, she took out the formula and got his morning bottle ready. They'd talked to his pediatrician who had warned about transitioning from the no longer available breast milk to to the formula, but luckily Liam had handled the change much easier than expected. She was grateful, not just to Liam, but to both of the kids. There were so many little details of the day that could have been more challenging than they were, but both had accepted hers and Alison's care and rarely made the small tasks difficult.

They settled on the couch, Emily in a lounging position with Liam on her lap, and she gave him his bottle. He accepted it quietly and snuggled into her as he started to drink. A smile found its way onto Emily's face almost unconsciously as her worries from this morning faded for now. That was one aspect that made the guardianship arrangement easy. The kids brought her so much comfort and gave her purpose. If she wasn't tasked with taking care of them following Spencer and Toby's deaths, she wasn't sure what kinds of dark places that her mind would have gone. The responsibility helped keep her mind moving and though she found herself feeling sad and angry plenty of times, she wasn't losing herself in her grief. They sat in silence for several minutes as Liam continued to drink from his bottle. Emily watched him until she heard footsteps coming down from the stairs causing her to turn her head around.

Alison made her way towards them. It was a little bit early for her, Emily thought. She wondered if the blonde had her heard getting Liam up. She made eye contact when Emily turned around, but didn't say anything.

Emily decided to break the ice and just speak up. "Morning," she greeted loud enough so that Alison could hear.

"Hey," the blonde answered in low voice. She kept walking in Emily's direction, but she had her eyes on the baby instead of the brunette. She stopped in front of them and took a moment to watch Liam with a smile on her face. The baby noticed her presence, and he let one hand go from the bottle and reached out to her. "Good morning to you too," she took his hand and held on as he shook her arm around.

Emily noted the way that Alison regarded Liam. Her expression was warm and her words were soft. It was a major contrast to the way that she had just greeted Emily. The brunette tried not to take it personally. After all, she'd noticed the last couple of months just how deep Alison's love for the kids ran. She understood that love because she felt the same way. They were both pouring as much as they possibly could of themselves to make up for the Ellie and Liam losing the two people who loved them the most. Despite that, Emily still felt like the blonde was being a little bit icy with her. She was used to Alison's hot and cold nature... but that didn't mean that she liked it.

Alison backed away from Liam and sat down near them, but didn't bother to say anything else. Emily readied herself, but just as she opened her mouth to say something, Alison beat her to it. "I'm starving," she stood up abruptly. "I'm going to make breakfast. Do you want anything?"

Emily was a little bit startled, but stayed still. "No thanks... I'm good." She gave a small smile to try to show peace, but Alison didn't return it.

Emily exhaled a breath and continued to hold Liam as he drank his milk. She could hear pans being moved around in the kitchen and the smell of coffee hit her nose as well. She might take Alison up on some coffee if there was enough. When Liam was finished, she turned him around and let his chin rest on her shoulder while she patted his back several times. They stayed like that for a few minutes until more noise started coming from the monitor. She craned her head and saw Ellie rolling around and whining on the second channel of video feed. That was how she typically woke up. She would call for one of her aunts shortly after once she was ready to get out of bed- which usually wasn't long.

Emily carried Liam into the kitchen. "Hey, I think that Ellie is awake," she told Alison. She lowered Liam into his high chair. "I can go get her up if you're good to watch him."

Alison looked over her shoulder for no more than half a second. "Sure," she said simply.

Emily put one of Liam's soft toys on the tray for him. She started walking towards the door, but stopped herself. "Is everything okay?" She asked before she could talk herself out of it.

"Yep," Alison answered. This time, she didn't turn around at all. She had her back towards Emily and her hand resting on the handle of a pan.

"Ali." Emily said a little bit louder to get her attention.

Alison turned around with a single brow raised. "What?" She asked with a touch of annoyance slipping into her voice.

She figured she may as well cut to the chase. "Are you upset about last night?" She asked.

"No?" Alison shrugged and gave a half shake of her head. "I said it was fine. Do whatever you want."

Emily nodded along, but she wasn't really buying it. What was she going to do, though, object? She twisted her lips and turned back towards the door to go get Ellie.

"I'm going to go see Hanna in New York next weekend," Alison spoke again.

"Oh- you... you are?" Emily pinched her brows. She didn't even know that the blonde had been considering making a trip.

"Yep," Alison confirmed. She turned back towards to stove.

Emily stared at her back and blinked several times. "Like the whole weekend?" She asked.

"That's the plan," Alison replied. She turned around again to face Emily. "Is that going to be a problem?" She asked.

Emily stared at her for a moment. It wasn't a problem. Per se. Not exactly, anyway. It just would have been nice if there had been a conversation first. Or if she would have waited until Emily at least had some caffeine before dropping that news. She didn't want to rock the boat, though, so instead she just shook her head. "Of course not." With that, she walked up the stairs to get Ellie up.

She thought about how well things had been going the last couple of weeks and it frustrated her. Just days ago, they'd been laughing together in the living room. Now it seemed like Alison was being cold to her. There was no way that this was in her head, right? The only thing that had changed was Emily going out last night. Going out after bedtime had no effect on her responsibilities with the kids, so what was the problem? Was it that she was out on a date? If that was why Alison was acting this way, that wasn't fair. Emily could date whoever she wanted. She shook her head as she got to the last step. She had expected more maturity from Alison after all of the progress the last few weeks.

Ellie's bedroom was the first one on the right side at the top of the stairs. The bathroom was across from her and Spencer and and Toby's bedroom was right next door. Emily paused for a moment and looked towards their bedroom as she often did. It was easy to keep her mind moving when she had positive things to fill it like work, the swim team, excitement over a date with Sabrina, or even a funny quip that Alison had made. It was harder on days like this today when she felt pensive. Whenever she got caught in her own head, her mind was almost always bound to think of her friends and how much she missed them.

She looked back at Ellie's door and tapped the back of her knuckles on it twice before opening it. Luckily for them, Spencer and Toby had put rules in place for Ellie about staying in bed when she woke up and not roaming the house. She still followed that rule most of the time and usually patiently waited for Alison or Emily to get her out of bed when she was awake. Emily looked towards the bed right away and Ellie was sitting up with the blankets off of her ready to go. She smiled at the little girl who yawned once before reaching out to her.

"Aunt Emmmmmm," she called out. Her short brown hair was tasseled and messy from sleep. She looked like a disheveled mini-Spencer.

"Morning, Ellie-Bellie," she greeted in a warm tone. She sat down on the bed and tried to smooth over her hair. "Aunt Ali is making breakfast. Do you want to get changed before we go down?"

Ellie smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically. Emily wasn't sure where the excitement was coming from until the little girl lifted her arm and point in the direction of something across the room. Emily moved her gaze on that direction and her eyes landed on a pink dress laying in a ball on the floor.

"You want to wear your Halloween costume?" She asked. She couldn't help slipping out a little laugh too. This girl was obsessed with her princesses. Her smile yesterday when she was out trick or treating was the widest that Emily had ever seen it.

Ellie nodded again at her question. She crawled over Emily and stepped down from the bed to head in the direction of the costume. She grabbed it and ran back towards Emily, letting the fabric drag across the floor. Emily chuckled again and reached out for the costume. "If that's what you want to wear, go ahead and take your pajamas off," she said. She really didn't know if they had plans to go anywhere today, but they could cross that path later if did. She wasn't really opposed to letting her wear the costume anywhere because of how big the smile was on Ellie's face.

Ten minutes later, Emily carried Ellie into the kitchen- pink dress, plastic heels, and all. Alison was sitting next to Liam, spooning food into his mouth with her back towards them. "Ellie, I made some eggs for breakfast. Did you want that or cereal?"

"Cereal!" The little girl answered.

"How did I know that..." Alison grumbled. She turned around finally to face them and her eyes went wide with surprise at Ellie's outfit choice. She breathed out a laugh and shook her head.

Emily walked over to the pantry and grabbed Ellie's favorite cereal. She walked over to the fridge for the milk, but before she could grab it she heard the sounds of Ellie's plastic heels slapping into the hardwood. "I want strawberry!" She told told Emily, pointing to the strawberry milk.

"In your cereal?" Emily asked. The little girl nodded enthusiastically. Emily shrugged, "Okay, go sit down."

She walked over to find a bowl to pour the cereal in. Alison stood at the counter. She wrinkled her nose at the strawberry milk causing Emily to chuckle. It was a little bit of an odd choice because the cereal wasn't like frosted or fruity, it was cinnamon swirled. Emily didn't mind though, as long as Ellie ate.

"Did she wear that dress to B-E-D?" Alison asked, keeping her voice low and the word disguised so as not to draw attention to Ellie.

"No," Emily laughed. She probably would have let her but she wasn't going to tell Alison that. The blonde was still looking at her somewhat rigid. "Relax," Emily told her. "Look at her, she's happy."

Alison looked over towards Ellie and noted her upbeat demeanor. She smiled at the sweet girl, before turning back to Emily with raised brows. "Spencer is definitely going to start haunting me about this from the grave." She gave a wry smile and then walked back towards Liam.

Emily smiled. Maybe she was thinking too much. Maybe Alison wasn't being intentionally cold.

But as the next week went by, Emily was more and more certain that she was getting the cold shoulder. Her conversations with the blonde were short and not because of her lack of trying. Alison seemed to talk to her on a need-basis. She would ask Emily questions if she needed to, but once they were answered, they conversations tended to die. For the last couple of weeks, they'd sat together at night in the living room until Alison went to bed, but this week Alison had stopped that routine. After the kids were asleep, she'd would head straight to her room. Emily was lucky to even get a goodnight out of her. The final straw, was when Emily asked if Alison wanted to finish the last few episodes of a show that they had been watching together.

"I already finished it," she told Emily.

"What? I thought we were watching that together…" Emily's eyes had gone wide. Everyone knew the golden rule of binging a show with someone was that you don't get ahead or finish without them.

Alison had just shrugged and moved on, without adding anything else.

She knew that she shouldn't think too much into the behavior, but it was really upsetting for Emily. Instead of watching their show, Alison poured herself a glass of wine and went upstairs while Emily stewed on the couch. It had been days of this and she was getting tired of it. She sat in silence for about a half hour and before she could stop herself, she started up the stairs to Alison's room.

She paused briefly at the top of the stairs and considered dropping it. She didn't want them to fight, but at the same time she was tired of walking around on eggshells again. She thought they were past that and this week showed her that she definitely didn't want to go back. She looked towards the end of the hallway where the guest room was. The door was halfway opened and the light was definitely on. She walked towards the door, pausing briefly when she got there, and knocked on the frame lightly.

It was silent for a beat inside before Alison reacted. "...Yeah?"

"Can I come in?" Emily asked. She didn't want to just push the door opened without checking first. Even though it wasn't technically 'Alison's room' it still felt that way sometimes.

"Yeah," Alison confirmed from inside.

Emily was used to her short answers after this last week. She pushed opened the door. Alison was in her pajamas and messing with something on her side table. She sat down at the top of the bed at Emily's entrance. She stared at the blonde for a beat. She hadn't exactly planned out the conversation.

"Did you need something?" Alison asked.

"Yeah," Emily exhaled. "I need you to tell me what's going on..."

Alison pinched her brows together. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the headboard. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Emily shook her head. "You've been acting like you're mad at me for almost a week. What did I do to piss you off so much?" She pressed her lips together and looked at the blonde intently.

Alison stared back at her, brows still pinched so tightly that they created wrinkles on her forehead. Eventually she just shook her head. "I'm not," she said in hard tone.

"Come on," Emily deadpanned. "We live in the same house together and you haven't spoken to me in a week."

Alison met her gaze, but remained quiet. She sat there taking quiet breaths in and out of her nose.

Emily threw a hand up. "You've been acting this way since I got home Saturday night, so I'm pretty sure that's what it's about." Alison shrugged across the room, and it only added to Emily's frustration. She huffed out a breath. "I thought you said you didn't mind if I went out?"

"I didn't," Alison told her. "I just thought you were meeting some friend for dinner, not hooking up with a tinder date."

Emily's eyes went wide at the implication. Sure, she'd framed it pretty platonic, but Sabrina wasn't just some random. "That's not what I was doing." She defended.

"Whatever," Alison rolled her eyes.

Emily didn't come up here to fight, but she was getting increasingly angry. She thought that maybe they could have a real conversation. They'd had some great conversations over the past few weeks. She knew that Alison was capable of it. This just felt really petty and immature. "What do you want me to do?" She asked, feeling exasperated. She deserved some happiness in her life, why couldn't Alison let her have that.

"We're supposed to be taking care of the kids," Alison raised a brow. "You said you wanted to do this together as team. I didn't think putting them to bed and then going out with someone else was part of that."

Emily stared back at her, she narrowed her eyes trying to understand. "So you don't want me to see anyone romantically? That's just not something I'm supposed to have in my life?"

Alison shrugged. She took a hard breath, breaking eye contact, and moved her gaze to different points in the room, avoiding Emily.

Emily exhaled. She lowered her tone and let it soften. "You know that's not fair."

The room was quiet for a moment, but then Alison looked back at her with dark eyes. "Life isn't fair, Emily." She told her with a bite. "If it was, Spencer and Toby would still be living here, not us."

It hurt. Emily didn't think that the comment was meant to hurt her, but it still stung. "I'm fucking aware of that, Ali," she said, adding heat to her own tone again. "And now I'm stuck living in a house with someone who literally broke my heart. So you know what? I'm not going to feel bad for going out on a date."

She hadn't meant to throw shots at her, but here they were. Alison kept her expression even across the room, and Emily was having trouble reading her. This conversation had gone off the rails, and Emily knew that she should probably leave before it got worse. "I'm going to bed," she told the blonde. "I'll try to end practice early tomorrow so that you can get to New York early enough." She started out the door but had one more thing she wanted to tell the blonde. "And just so you know. Sabrina isn't a random person. We've been dating for over six months now." She left it at that and closed the door behind her. She didn't really care what else Alison had to say. They weren't making any progress tonight. Her only hope was that with Alison going away for the weekend, maybe the blonde would come back in a better mood.

But she wasn't holding her breath.

—

A/N - Just when you thought they were making progress...

As always, looking forward to hearing your thoughts about where the story is going. Now that a lot of the stage is set you'll be getting more flashbacks. A shorter one next chapter and a much longer one in the chapter after that. Those seem to be what people are most looking forward to and I'm excited for you guys to get to read those.

Until next time, take care!