Woooohoo, I'm out of school, you know what that means! More frequent updates! (hopefully). I'm really excited! Anyways here's this...enjoy

I Can't Shake You

Em sat in her bed, unaware of the time, only aware of the faint buzz coming from the muted TV, whose screen was the only light illuminating the small hospital room. She had tried to sleep but when she closed her eyes, she felt two more on her. But not just any two eyes, this pair was so foreign yet somehow the most familiar thing she could remember.

They were blue and sometimes stormy or calm; they were captivating and intimidating, and Emily couldn't get them out of her mind…

She couldn't get Alison's eyes out of her head.

And Emily couldn't decide if that was a good thing.

x-x-x-x-x

Alison spent 3 hours in a room, sitting on a cold metal and hard chair, talking and talking, painfully reliving the events of the past three months. She went into as much detail as she could, leaving out the part where she figured who –A could possibly be. But something to her felt off, she herself was forgetting something, forgetting someone and she knew it was important.

But her time was up and the police were caught up with most of her story:

"I met with whoever –A sent to pick me up from the airport and I was driven someplace far, I must've been in the car for 2 hours. Then they ted my hands behind my back and blindfolded me. I tried to stay awake, but I assume once I got drowsy whatever they covered my head with had some chloroform in it."

"And then?"

"And then I woke up in a room, it was smaller than my own, but it was almost an exact replica."

"Do you know who could've done this?"

Ali bit her lip and seriously considered revealing some craziness that she based on a hunch.

"No."

"And then what?"

"I was locked into that room for a few days, there was a bathroom and when I woke up, there was always food."

"And you didn't freak out? What about what you told your girlfriend, don't you think she'd have been worried?"

"There was nothing I could do to contact Emily, but if –A really wanted me dead, I guess they would have killed me at the first chance they got."

"So you're defending this –A character?"

"No!"

"Then? Explain."

"Look, if –A wanted me dead so bad, I wouldn't be here right now."

"And what if that's not what they want?"

"What?" Alison was slightly confused and Detective Swan's questions were starting to rub her the wrong way. "Now it's your turn, please, explain."

Alison huffed, sat back in the chair and crossed her arms as gently as she could careful not to tear her stitches…again.

"Miss DiLaurentis, I'm just doing my job here. But what exactly did you tell your girlfriend, Miss Emily Fields, was it?"

Was…damn, that hurt.

Alison sighed, "I promised her to be back in a matter of days, maybe a week."

"And you didn't tell her where you were going?"

"No, but she knew what I was planning on doing and she knew why I didn't tell her."

"Then, please explain to me how she did. And so soon."

Ali bit her inside lip, she didn't want to sell anyone out, but she knew he's never get in trouble anyways.

"Emily asked our friend," Alison paused, choking up a bit, "asked our friend's boyfriend, Caleb Rivers to hack my phone. From there he gained access to my GPS and found the last place I was before I got to –A's lair."

"Hmm, I see, and she didn't think to alert the authorities, she went alone?"

"She's also a good liar, we all are, we had to be once the threats came in."

"Even with each other?"

"If we thought it was going to protect the ones we love, then yes?"

"Hmm, seems…"

"You have no right to judge, ask the next question."

"Okay then, so after the help of Mr. Rivers, where did that lead her?"

"To some run down gas station in the middle of Oregon, it was somewhere near the highway and the California border."

"And how did she presume her look for you? What was happening in the 'house'?"

Alison made a hard line with her mouth.

"Emily is smart, her dad has served in the military for years, and she's fearless. She asked around and soon enough she found out that there were some old abandoned hike trails nearby. She assumed that I couldn't have been driven any further and searched on foot in the of a god damned forest to find me. I don't how she did, but she did, I now I'm the one okay and she's sitting in that god damn bed without a fucking clue of who she is! Can I answer anything else?"

Ali was heated, livid with anger and frustration, and it pissed her off more when she sensed how calm Swan had remained.

He put his pen down and interlaced his fingers in front of him, on the table, leaning forward, "yes, you can."

Alison shook her head, you fucking asshole.

"I want to know about Emily Fields and any possible relations between her and –A."

Alison was ready to lunge for his throat.

"What are you insinuating?"

"What are you guessing?"

Alison narrowed her eyes and tensed her jaw, waiting.

Finally Detective Swan gave in, "you said that if –A wanted you dead, you wouldn't be here. Then why did they wait to torture you until Miss Fields found you? Why was it so easy for her to find you? Perhaps she was given clues by –A?"

"Please help me connect the dots to the fucked up picture you are trying so hard to draw."

Swan laughed and nodded, "perhaps –A's motive was never to kill you."

Alison sat and before opening her mouth, she just thought.

"-A has been torturing us for years." But Ali said it more for herself than for the detectives to hear, "that was the plan, to return the favor."

"What was that?"

Alison's head snapped up, "nothing."

"Alison, the whole time you were kidnapped you had been, treated…how would I say this, decently, correct?"

"Yes, I was never harmed."

"And you where presumably left alone?"

"Yes."

"When did things change?"

Oh shit.

"Alison, please answer the question.

Shit again, "when Emily found me."

"Yes, when Emily Fields 'found' you. And you and Emily had been very intimate, correct?"

Had…this jerk. "Correct again."

"And you cared for her?"

"Care," Ali corrected, "very much, yes."

"So then what happened when Emily arrived?"

Alison gulped, "it was morning and my door was slightly ajar, no breakfast. I heard shouting…it was Emily, I couldn't believe it and I had been silent for so many days that I almost couldn't find my voice. But somehow I did and I called to her, there must have been stairs, because I heard her stomping up them, two at a time, I managed to walk to the doorframe just as she reached the top and we ran to each other. I thought somehow –A had left and Em had found me."

"Sounds too good to be true."

It was. "Well that's what happened, and when Em comes to, she'll tell you the same."

Swan merely nodded and flipped to a blank note page, "next?"

"Then I pulled away from her to ask how she found me, but we heard more footsteps, from the room down the hall."

Alison squeezed her eyes, reliving the scene and the terror that accompanied it, in her head.

"The look of fear yet bravery in her eyes…she hushed me and said we have to get out of here. So we made a break for the stairs, but none of the doors would open. The steps above neared but never sped up, they knew. They knew we were trapped, and they knew we knew it too."

Alison had to stop. Swan kept asking her something but her heart was racing and still she was bothered by something other than what had happened in that house.

"Miss DiLaurentis, stay focused, we need to know what happened."

Alison gulped, "they found us, we were in the living room, trying to break the windows but nothing was working. I screamed and we threw things, anything near us, but nothing worked."

"Did you get a look at who it was?"

"No, the description is always the same, all black clothing: hoodie, gloves, boots…and a mask. But I could tell it was a man, taller than Em, thin, slight muscular build, if that, but he was strong."

"He? So you know the gender?"

"I-I don't know, I told you how they were built, I'm assuming it was a man."

"How were you taken?"

Alison cringed at this. "Emily stood in front of me, protective, and I could feel her rage coming off her skin, she shouted for them not to touch me."

Detective Swan sensed a change in her voice and set his pen down, leaning back to listen more tentatively.

"I had my hands on her arms, they were outstretched like a cross, shielding me. –A lounged and Em charged. I was frozen at first but then I ran towards them on the floor, crashed into the table and I started to kick –A. He somehow got on top of her and…"

Ali choked back sobs and didn't realize she was crying until she looked at the small puddle on the table.

"I got behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck, but it was no use. One blow and Em was knocked unconscious, I thought…." Ali took a deep breath, "I thought she was dead."

When Ali paused and stared ahead, into nothing, Swan let her, let her calm down before pushing again.

"Alison, what did…he do next?"

"I was thrown off of him and when I was trying to get up, a pair of hands, these ones slender and long, grabbed my shoulders and held me down…and…."

"And what?"

"I don't remember, but when I woke up, I was tied to a chair, gagged and sitting in a dark basement, it had to be underground because it smelled cold, and wet and there were no windows.

"Where was Miss Fields."

This is where Ali experienced heart break like no other.

"When the lights came on, I seen her, she was standing, but barely, supported by the thick roped that held her arms over her head. She had a gag in her mouth and I could see her chest, barely moving up and down."

"Where was your captor?"

"I don't know, when I opened my eyes, it was just me and Em."

"And was she conscious?"

Alison winced, cringing at the memories, flooding her now faster than before.

"No."

"No?"

"Did I stutter? No! She was not! Emily was beaten and tied up, bleeding and barely breathing, her eye was swollen shut and her head hung limp from her neck, happy?"

"I'm only trying to get more on the person doing this, if we can target the motive, we have a better chance of narrowing any suspects."

"Why don't you just send some Rangers and some of your men into the forest near where I was found and find that damn house, it can't just disappear! Go there and find some damn clues instead of questioning me like I'm guilty."

"We have. We've sent several teams out there to look for a house, a cabin, some kind of building that would house you, but there's nothing…."

Alison's heart dropped.

"Did you see any actual windows in that 'house' did you see sunlight?

Alison thought back to the few days spent in the room, and realized there wasn't, somehow she didn't notice that her 'window' was just a wall with curtains in front of it. "No, I guess I didn't."

"And you didn't find that strange?"

"At the time? No, I just didn't want to die."

"Hmm." Swan made a face and Alison temporarily lost it.

"If you're trying to accuse me of something, say it so I can correct you. I'm not guilty of anything here. That's what all you cops do though right, when a lead runs dry and you don't think you're gonna catch the bad guy? You'll just twist the story and find someone to make guilty." Ali was practically yelling but Swan sat calm, cool and collected, trained perfectly to handle such outbursts.

"I don't think you're guilty."

"But?"

Swan sighed, "but I think you know more than you're telling."

"And why would you think that?"

"Not sure yet."

"Well when you have a clue, please let me know."

There was a silence that fell and Alison thought they were finished.

"Is there more?"

Swan looked at the two officers who had remained silent and still in the corners of the room behind him and they nodded.

"Yes, so after seeing Miss Fields, what did you do?"

Alison readjusted her body in the seat and sighed again, she hated picturing Em that way and just to retell it to a stranger who may or may not help her get closer who did this.

"I tried yelling for her, but like I said I was gagged. I tried moving from my seat, but that wasn't happening either. We were no more than 10 feet apart so I just tried to make as much noise as I could, to wake her up, I just needed to see-"

"See what?"

"Her eyes, I just wanted to see them open, and looking at me."

"Then what?"

"I got tired, my jaw hurt and I could feel the burns I was giving myself around my wrists and ankles, so I stopped and I started crying." Ali hated to admit that she was brought to tears, but in the spur of telling the story, it had just come out.

"I see, and during this time did you evaluate your own well-being?"

"I'm sorry? Are you deaf, I just told you! I was tied up and gagged and-"

"Okay, let me rephrase, upon looking at the injuries that Miss Fields had sustained, were there any injuries similar to that that you had also sustained?"

Ali paused and sucked in a harsh breath, she hadn't really thought of that, so in a whisper she realized, "no."

"I didn't hear you."

"NO. I wasn't harmed."

"I see, and do you have any idea why?"

She was starting to, but had no assurance that she could disclose what she was thinking with Detective Swan.

"No."

"So to make a short summary; you were lead on by –A and you thought you could join their team, but you devised a plan to double cross this –A character and it backfired. You were 'kidnapped' and held hostage where no harm came your way. Then after days of being gone, your girlfriend magically finds you and upon escaping, you both are taken to what presumably is a basement, but when you wake Emily Fields is the only one physically hurt."

"That sounds more like an accusation than an observation detective."

"And this sounds more like a set up than a kidnap."

"So there it is! You think I'm in on this or something?"

"I find it strange that you were taken and were hardly injured and Emily was taken, tied, and beaten almost to the point of death."

Alison wanted to act like that didn't hurt but it did.

"You don't think I know that! I KNOW THAT! I watched the life leave her eyes in the back of a god damned ambulance. She was dead! She flat lined and I went unconscious believing that she was dead! I know how badly she was hurt and I don't know why I wasn't. If I could go back, i would trade places with her in a heartbeat."

Swan nodded, "Alison what I'm trying to get at is if you had any past relationships with someone that would want to hurt Emily?"

Ali was confused.

"Like a old friend, boyfriend, girlfri-"

"No, god no. The only guy I used to be like that with is dead. And there's never been anyone else. Emily couldn't make enemies if she tried. Everyone loves her."

Swan decided to change the angle.

"And you?"

"Me? Yeah, I made plenty of enemies, people always wanted to be me or be with me, but I hated it, and I've changed, and I don't know who couldv-"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Then wha-"

"You said everyone loves Emily. Everyone. But do you?"

Is this asshole kidding me? "Of course I love her, and I've been. Wait, who is this helping you build this case?"

"So you really love her?"

"More than life itself."

"And you'd do anything for her?"

"Anything under the sky."

"And let's say if she was hurt."

"I would do anything to make her feel better."

"And if everyone loves her, someone who would want to hurt her would actually-"

Alison caught on, cutting him off "being trying to hurt me." Her voice was low and soft.

"You've got thick skin Miss DiLaurentis, and this tough as nails attitude about you. And if you love Emily Fields as much as you say, then it seems the one way to hurt you is to hurt the one person you love."

Alison sat in silence, the asshole had a point.

"We can be done for the day, but tomorrow, I want to ask about how you two escaped okay?"

Alison nodded and Detective Swan stood, "you're free to go now, but until tomorrow, please consider thinking about who would want to exact their revenge on you this way."

Alison nodded again and was soon left in the room alone.

She sat there for another 20 minutes, piecing together the little clues she had, she knew that whoever did this….it was personal.

x-x-x-x

Ali lies there in her bed unaware of the person slowly rolling her wheelchair to her door. It was late and she was getting tired, but there was a small knock on the door before she croaked, "uh, come in."

Alison was more surprised when she seen who it was.

"Em, wha-what are you doing here? How did you get out of bed?"

Em grimaced at the look of pure worry reflected in Alison's eyes.

"Dr. Pearson helped me into the chair and wheeled me up until your door." And then more embarrassedly, "I've been outside your door for like 15 minutes."

Alison smiled, noting the nerves in Emily's voice, "Why?"

"I was contemplating going back."

Ouch. "Oh okay…," and with more confidence, "buuut, you didn't."

"No," Em smiled, "I guess not."

"Well, you're here now and didn't leave yet, so come here." Ali motioned her hand and Emily slowed wheeled herself with one arm to the side of Ali's bed.

"You got it?" Ali asked once Em had stopped right beside her.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

But Alison looked at Em a little more closely, the casts on her arm and leg, the dissolving stitches on her forehead, she looked lower and could even see the slight bulge where her bandage for her ribs were. Alison winced, noticeably shuddering.

"I should be asking you, are you alright Ali?" Em voice was full of that familiar concern and Alison grimaced, some things would never change.

"Yeah, I'm just-"

"Just what?"

Alison looked up, or down rather at Em whose eyes were bright and wide, awaiting an answer.

So Ali mustered up the best one she could, "I'm just sorry that all of this happened."

Em nodded. She looked down and crossed her fingers in lap, "oh," she said flatly, "I see."

"Em," Ali started, her tone knowing and warning.

"Yeah?"

"I'm happy you came to see me, but why…I mean why did you come here?"

Em chewed the inside of her lip before answering, "I couldn't sleep." At least it was partly true.

"Are you in pain, I mean I know you are, but if its unbearable to the point where you can't sleep, then Dr. Pearson can prescribe something stronger," Alison leaned over to the side, "I can call-"

"Ali," Em reciprocated the same stern tone and placed her hand above Alison's. Ali stopped dead in her tracks and turned her body back around. She tried not to make a big deal of their contact, but she betrayed herself by looking down, with a look close to horror on her face.

Emily quickly looked at their hands and drew it away, "I uh- sorry, you were rambling- and I- I didn't mean-"

Great Ali, look what you did. Alison quickly reached down and grabbed Em's hand back in hers, sighing briefly at how perfect they fit together, "hey, Em, now you're rambling, it's okay, you can grab my hand, I was just…I was surprised."

Em looked at their hands clasped around each others, resting on the bed near Alison's thigh and nervously laughed, "yeah, uh me too."

Ali crooked her head to the side, "you were?"

Em used her other casted arm, to reach behind her head, her fingers reaching to scratch behind her head, "yeah," she lowered her arm and avoided making eye contact, "I don't know what it is about you, but you make me kind of…"

Oh no, Ali thought.

She waited…

It seemed like hours passed within the mere seconds of silence that fell between the two girls.

Em sighed, "nervous."

Ali released a breath she didn't know she was holding, "nervous?"

"Uh, yeah, I never know how I'm supposed to act around you."

"And is that good or bad?"

"I'm not sure, but when I am, you'll be the second person to know?"

"Second?"

Em laughed, "well yeah, I have to be the one to know it first, right?"

Ali joined in on the light laughter, "yeah…well just be yourself."

Suddenly Em's laughter stopped and she withdrew her hand. Ali opened her eyes and seen the discomfort in Em's eyes, and she opened her mouth so say something, but the words wouldn't come out.

"How? I don't know what that even means. I don't know who I am."

Alison felt the shards of her heart slowly cracking again, at the same seams she worked so hard in mending back together, her voice was low and soft when she spoke, "Em, I'm-"

"Sorry, yeah I know. But why can't I remember? Do you know how hard it is for me? I sit in that room all day, wondering who I am, what I like, who my family is, if I was a good person, and I come up with nothing! Just emptiness and blurred out faces, mumbled voices and weird dreams."

Alison sat back, every word cutting her deeper than any knife ever could. This was her fault.

"No, Em, I don't know."

"Exactly! No one knows how this feels, but I do! And that's the only thing I know! I can't even remember anything about myself, other than I have a name and you're my friend and apparently we almost died together." Emily was close to tears when she finished and Ali was speechless.

"Em-"

"What!" Ali winced but took a deep breath, this was just Emily trying to find out who she is, her Em is still in there, she just needs help remembering.

"You deserve to know the truth."

"About what?"

Ali sighed, she had no clue if Em was ready to hear all of this, if Ali was really ready to tell her about them, and –A and Em's family and their friends, but the longer Ali waited, the more it would hurt Em if she found out later, and by someone other than her.

"Everything, Em, there is a lot you don't know, I know that, you know that, and I'm the closest thing you have at finding answers. And there are some things that even Dr. Pearson kept a secret to protect you, but memory or not, I know you're strong and you can handle all of this.

Em looked baffled and she opened and shut her mouth, trying to figure out something to say.

"Em?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll only tell you what you want to know, nothing more, nothing less, and whatever you don't ask, I'll be sure to fill in the blanks later. But only if you're ready?"

Em took a deep breath. Then another. And another.

"We don't have to talk about this now, I want to make sure that you're 100%-"

"I'm ready." Em cut her off.

Ali stopped, "You are?"

"Yes."

"Okay then-"

"But first, I have to say something."

Ali shifted in her seat, a little nervous, "okay, say it."

Em swallowed and made sure to look Ali in the eye, "I have to say this before I learn everything, and you don't have to respond, or say anything back, I just- I just think you should know, no, I want you to know this."

Ali was a little scared, but she said patiently, waiting.

"Ali, I don't know who we were before this, or how our relationship was, or what kind of friends we were to each other, but when I go to bed and when I close my eyes, all I see is you, and I- I- honestly it scares the shit out of me. I lay there all day thinking about what you're doing, and if you're ok, and I have these dreams, sometimes they're so vivid, that I think they're real, or that they're memories." Em paused to see that she hadn't scared Alison away yet.

"Ali, I can't shake you. I don't even know that I want to, you're the only thing that actually feels familiar, and I can't- I just can't shake you okay? So whatever you're going to say and tell me, whatever I need to know, I can handle it, I think…I'm ready. And I don't know how I'll react to it all, so I just, I needed to tell you."

Alison sat. She looked into the warm eyes that had never changed. She stared. And sat. And Emily waited. Em didn't expect anything, but the silence was making her itch.

"Ali? You can um, you can start now."

Ali snapped from her daze and smiled, "do you think you can sit up here, with me?"

Em's eyes widened in shock before she started to move, "yeah, but I'll need some help."

Ali reached her arm out, "I think I can lend this one."

Em laughed and soon enough…well, within a minute she was laying next to Ali in the small hospital bed. Their arms were flush up against each other, but Ali made sure their legs were far apart.

Don't push it Ali, this is close enough.

But Em was obviously oblivious to the effect she had on Ali. She slid her body as close as she could to Alison and scooted her body down, just enough so that her head rested on Ali's shoulder.

Ali smiled because that was always how she had laid on Em.

She dared to wrap her arm around Em's shoulders, so it wasn't awkwardly smashed between their bodies.

"Is this okay?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not hurting you am I?" Ali stopped, cursing herself for the poor choice of words.

"No, I'd tell you if you were."

"I don't doubt that, you have before." Alison whispered to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Okay, so…I don't- I don't know where to begin."

Em tilted her head back to face Alison, "how about the beginning?"

Ali thought about which beginning to start with. She slid her body lower too, so that they were almost lying on their backs, but as she did she caught a wiff of something foreign on Emily. Foreign on Em, but somehow familiar to Ali.

She had smelled it before. She knew that scent somehow.

"Em, are you, are you wearing perfume?"

Em sat up a little straighter, Ali wasn't able to hide the concern in her voice.

"Uh yeah, it's new. Someone gave it to me in the hall today. It was during your questioning with those detectives, one of the nurses took me to the cafeteria because I wanted some chocolate and this girl was there, said she thought she knew me. Why? Is everything alright?"

Ali inhaled the scent again. Lavender. Why she know that smell?

Oh shit, then it hit her;Ali remembered what it was that she was missing, what her brain had forgotten, WHO her brain had left out of the equation the whole time.

While –A was standing across from her, beating Emily into unconsciousness yet again, there had been hands, retying the gag around her mouth, slender hands, and that familiar scent of Lavender, she had a friend who always wore it. She smelled it that first night she went to see Emily. And it scared her shitless that she was smelling it again.

But Ali had to make sure.

"Em, did this girl give you her name?"

Em shifted to face Ali, "Ali you're scaring me."

"Just tell me if she gave you a name!"

Em stuttered, "uh yeah she did, she said that it was um, it was something short, sounded like a nickname-"

"Think harder!"

"'C' it started with a 'C', oh I know now Ali, of course, she said her name was-"

"CeCe Drake, that bitch."

x-x-x-x

Em stopped, "yeah, how did you know?"

Ali cut her off, "we can't do this right now Em, I think you should stay here too, don't leave okay, don't go back to your room?"

Ali made moves to get up, but was stopped when Em firmly grabbed her wrist, "wait Ali, first tell me what's going on. Who is CeCe? You know her? I do know her? I mean am I supposed to?"

Ali was sitting, her feet hanging off the bed and she sighed, turning to face Em, "yeah, I can't believe I didn't recognize that scent sooner or her face a few nights ago, I guess my concussion had a few more memory issues than I thought…" Em looked confused so Ali gave her a few more details, "Yeah, we knew her, but I haven't seen her in forever, I thought she left town, turns out, she's been closer to me than I thought."

"Where are you going?"

"To get Dr. Pearson and Detective Swan."

"What about me?"

"Caleb and the others are staying at a motel a few minutes away, I'll call them and have them stay nearby okay?"

Em simply nodded but she was more confused than when she first came in those doors.

Ali grabbed the crutches and hobbled as fast as she could out of the doors, if CeCe was helping –A all along, Ali was definitely going to make that bitch pay.

x-x-x-x

AN: It was so hard to stop writing…I was originally going to end the chapter sooner but, I couldn't. Anyways please let me know what you thought of this chapter. I'd love the feedback and I have so much more to give you all.

OTHER: I put up the third chapter of the Massage Prompt/Story, but it was terrible, and I know many were disappointed, so I'm taking it down and in some free 'free time' lol, I'll write up a better ending.

The next upload will be for #OITNE and then ISIKYW, so be on the lookout!

Oh and please, please leave me your reviews, they add fuel to the flame!

xoxo, Lina