The shopping goes well, getting everything she needs in the proper sizing. After some convincing, she even goes out of her comfort zone to get clothes more fitting for their new identity, specifically to be a teacher. Aaron and Jack also get plenty of clothing, and Jack gets materials for school as well as toys, candy, and movies once Emily joins Jack in begging, and Aaron loses any ability to say no.
After they finish shopping, all three of them go to a hair salon. Emily gets her dyed a lighter shade of brown and cuts her bangs into curtains. It doesn't change what happened to her, but it does make her feel nice not to look exactly the same upon first glance as she had before. Jack gets his hair trimmed, and Emily and Jack convince Aaron to as well.
By the end of all of this, it is time for dinner, but Emily is too exhausted to be out any longer and so is Jack who has become whiny. They pick up dinner and return to the apartment where they eat dinner on the couch while watching movies as Jack sits happily between them. After just two movies, finished dinner, and several empty candy wrappers, Jack falls asleep with his head on Emily's shoulder. Aaron lifts Jack up from the couch and carries him off to bed, returning to the living room moments later, sitting on the arm of the couch. "How are you doing, Em? It's been an eventful day."
She smiles, liking the nickname more and more each time he says it. "It was a good day… I am tired though," she says to him. Sergio runs up on her lap, and she pets him as she continues, "If I'm being totally honest, it was the kind day that I've been dreaming of for some time now, and I didn't even know it."
"Yeah, it's been pretty great," Aaron agrees. "I suppose tomorrow we're going to have to start working on memorizing our story for our job interviews."
"Probably should read up on the education system in France and our respective classes. We have a few days to become adequate high school teachers," she says, noting how daunting it is despite the grin on her face.
"You seem happy about it," Aaron says.
She shrugs, but she smiles more. "A challenge that doesn't put our lives in danger. I have been so bored for so long. I'm excited to have to really think," she tells him.
He nods just as she yawns, and he grins at her. "I think it's time we get some sleep," he says.
A twitch of a smirk pulls at her cheek, and she says, "I agree…" She stands, the room swirling enough when she does to stumble forward. Immediately, Aaron is at her side, with one hand on her waist and the other holding her arm. "I just got a little lightheaded. I can walk myself." Aaron rolls his eyes and walks her all the way to her bedroom. She gets out some new pajamas that she got today and goes to change. Aaron is walking out the room about to tell her goodnight when she realizes that she doesn't want to sleep without him. Last night was too good of a sleep, and she is scared without him. Plus, she really loved being held, but she doesn't feel like now is the time to contemplate that. "Aaron, when you change, how…" she drifts off, leaning her head against the doorframe and looking for the words.
"Emily?"
Emily takes a breath and looks at him. "How would you feel…about joining me again?"
Aaron looks at her for a moment, stares at her, and she holds the stare right back. He nods before he speaks, saying, "I will be back in a moment." Aaron leaves the room confused and eager. A combination he isn't fond of because he doesn't really know what to do with it. Emily is attractive, beyond attractive really, and he has been fully aware of that since they began working together. That doesn't matter—shouldn't matter now. She needs him because she has been hurt, and she trusts him. It's nothing more. He has to keep telling himself that.
When Aaron returns to Emily's room, she is already sitting to her side of the bed, brushing through her hair. He pulls back the comforter on his side, settling in the bed, and she slides under the blankets on her side soon after. "Aaron…" she murmurs quietly, and he understands immediately. He stretches out his arm and she moves in to lay her head against his chest. She was right… This is comfort. This is home.
In the days that follow, Emily and Aaron study constantly, preparing as much as they can for their interview and for actually becoming teachers in the fields decided for them. English, Emily realizes, will not be difficult for her. She has always been so good with languages, and she did always do well in school and tutored her classmates. The act of teaching though scares her, especially since she isn't sure that she will be good at it. It's been a long time she hasn't been sure that she will be good at something.
Aaron, on the other hand, is not excited for teaching math. "Math, really? Who do they think I am? Spencer?" Aaron says exasperatedly while leaning over a textbook the day before the interviews.
Emily walks over to him, passing a wine glass over to him where he sits facing away from where she stands. She drinks from her own glass as her now free hand slides from his chest behind his neck and to his other shoulder which she squeezes supportively. In a hushed voice because Jack's napping, she says, "Come on, Andy. You are an educator in the field of math for 20 years. You have gotten multiple appreciative awards for how you have helped your students. You have a bachelor and a master's in mathematics and education. You know exactly what you're doing."
She sits down next to him in time to see him roll his eyes, and she can't help but laugh as he says, "Yeah, right, Amelia … But seriously, math. And you get to teach English. The woman who can effectively speak every language known to man is teaching English."
"Not every language," she argues. Aaron scoffs exaggeratedly, but there is an uptick to his lips that she enjoys to see. In the years that they have worked together, she has decided that provoking that look is an outstanding feat, but in the past few days and weeks, she has gotten a full smile from him multiple times. That smile is beautiful, and she loves pulling it off of him, so she continues talking. "I am fluent in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and I'm pretty good at Russian too. So not every language."
"Shut up, Em," Aaron says as that smile breaks out followed by a loud and deep laugh as she smiles proudly at him.
" Never ," she says, sipping her wine to keep from laughing.
"Thank god," Aaron says, the sudden seriousness clear in his eyes.
Emily holds his eyes. They still haven't really spoken about everything that happened, and Emily isn't ready to. Not really. She has been held by Aaron each night, and so far that is all the intimacy she can handle. Speaking about this and that isn't something she can do now. Aaron though, the look in his eyes is saying something, so she whispers, "Aaron…"
"Hey!" Bounding towards them suddenly is an energetic Jack, just up from his nap. He hops on the couch between them without a care in the world for the papers laying there.
"Did you sleep well, Jack?" Emily asks as he settles in between them and Aaron hastily moves the papers out of his way.
"Yep! I'm excited for school tomorrow!" he says as he plays with an action figure he had carried in from his room.
"I'm glad," Aaron says. "You remember what we talked about earlier?"
"I know. They're going to call me Jay Harrison, and you're going to have different names too," he says.
"Yep. As far as anyone here knows, my name is Amelia and your dad is Andy. We can't tell anybody our real names," Emily says gently.
"Ok. And everybody will think that you're my mommy, right, Emily?" Jack asks while never looking up at either of them from his toy.
"Yes…" Aaron says but drifts off.
His eyes are lost in a faraway memory, so Emily speaks for him, hoping it will bother him. "But that doesn't change what is real. You remember your mommy and you will never forget her or how smart and beautiful and loving and kind and wonderful she was. We're just all lying for a little while, but that doesn't change the truth."
"We're lying that we're a family?" Jack asks sadly.
Aaron seems to return to the present with that question. "We're lying about our names and our lives before here. That's all," he says, looking Emily in the eye. It's a communication of something that isn't said, and Emily refuses to presume.
"It'll keep us safe?" he asks, looking up and between the two of them. Emily doesn't say anything, looking to Aaron for an answer.
"Yes," Aaron says simply. Emily isn't sure if he believes himself or if she believes it either. Jack does though, and that's all that matters.
"Can we watch a movie?" Jack asks. His mind suddenly gone from all of his worries and focused on Sergio, who moves from resting at Emily's feet up onto Jack's lap.
"Emily and I have to prepare for our work interviews," Aaron says, and Jack immediately whines.
"Come on, Aaron. We are good and prepared. You're just worrying too much," Emily tells him. A little smile playing on her lips as Jack squeals excitedly in support of her argument.
"Em…" he begins.
"Aaron, this is the last day we have to just lay around before we have to live in this identity. We know what we're doing. We've studied for hours. Let's relax," she says. All of what she said is true, surprisingly so. This identity includes being spouses with a child who wear wedding bands and fall asleep together at night and share their lives. But that has already begun. The parts of the identity that should be the most shocking and difficult are the easiest. Having to work and lie about their names are somehow the hardest.
"Fine," he says but he puts their things away quickly before returning back with a blanket and popcorn. He settles back down next to Jack as Emily plays the movie. Emily and Aaron stretch their legs out in front of them onto the coffee table. The blanket lays over the three of them and Jack holds onto the popcorn, so that Emily and Aaron can both reach it.
As the movie continues, Aaron's arm stretches behind Jack, reaching around to the side of Emily's neck. His fingertips touch her skin, making her shiver even though they have touched significantly more over the past few days. Emily tilts her head, so that she can lay her head against Aaron's wrist and forearm. Jack snuggles into Emily's side when one of the cartoon characters is upset and he laughs brightly when the characters joke. Aaron's hand squeezes Emily's shoulder at the sound of his son's laugh. Emily looks over to Aaron with a bright smile that she didn't even realize she had, and she finds Aaron smiling too.
This is crazy and outrageous. The lies and the secrecy and the grief cause is devastating, but this moment right here with them is amazing. Emily has never been happier than she is now, and neither is Aaron. They are together. Perhaps, they are lying that they are a family in name, but in spirit, the truth is undeniable and it is growing with every moment that passes. Every moment that passes where they are together.