Thank you to reyrey'sgirl , AnGeL BaBii , CeNaZLiLDiVa and REM4488

The early shift beckoned Emma to the diner the next morning at 6.30. There where two waitress' already there, sitting in a corner booth with the window open so they could smoke. Angela who'd been there the night before gave her a half hearted smile.

"Hey." she greeted.

Cassidy, who was sitting opposite Angela looked her up and down like she was dirt before saying: "Tell me you didn't turn John down?"

Emma rolled her eyes, she hated Cassidy and she wasn't in the mood. Throwing her bag down on the counter and shrugging off her jacket she nodded.

"Yes. I turned John down."

"Why?"

"How is that any of your business?"

Cassidy looked as though Emma had been out of order. "Jesus Emma! I was only asking!"

"Well she was only telling." Angela cut in. "Now get off your ass and make the girl a cup of coffee."

Stubbing out her cigarette, Cassidy slid out of the booth and stormed behind the counter. Emma took her place.

"I have to tell you, I never expected that. I thought you two where soul mates."

"There's no such thing." Emma replied. "Just illusion."

"Get real. You can fool everyone else but not me. I saw you two together all the time, you did love him and he must of thought so too to work up the courage to propose."

"Don't Angela. I really don't need this."

Angela shrugged a little. "I'll be damn surprised if John takes this just like that."

"He already did. I saw him afterwards last night, he said his piece and left."

Cassidy came back at the tail end of the conversation and set the tray with coffee mugs down. She laughed.

"However good you think your reason is Emma, we all think you're crazy and you just threw away the best thing in your life."

She knew it was true.

The memories from the night before came flooding back as soon as John opened his eyes. The humiliation of finding himself down in one knee in front of people he didn't know, only to be told it was all a lie. He still couldn't comprehend what had really happened, or Emma's reason. He didn't buy what she said for a second . He wondered what she was doing right then. Was she thinking of him or getting on with life as though it had all been normal? John could actually see her in his head, happily serving breakfast's to customers and refilling coffee. But the scene in his head was all wrong, firstly the bruise on Emma's eye wasn't there, so even if this happy scenario had happened, it had been awhile ago. The urge to go see her again was somewhere deep inside him, and it was strong. But he couldn't go see her, it was over now.

Her break came at eleven and she hadn't been standing outside the back door long when Cassidy came out, with a smile plastered across her face.

"You have a guest." she said.

Emma's stomach sank, not John, not John. She couldn't keep up her 'everything's fine' routine for much longer. It wasn't John, it was Shawn. Emma had the horrible feeling that her breakfast was going to end up on her shoes. This was far worse then seeing John.

"Hi." he greeted, just like they where old friends.

"What do you want?"

"Some time with your lovely self." He kicked a chair out for her. "Sit down."

Emma laughed. "like that's going to happen."

"You're right. We shouldn't even be talking. In fact, should John be 'breaking my neck' as we speak?"

"Leave him out of this." Emma warned.

"You're going to have to tell him one day, you can't keep up this lie."

"For your information Shawn, me and John are over so I don't have to tell him anything."

Shawn leaned over the table and grinned. It sent a shiver down her spine. "He knows doesn't he? That he was handling damaged goods."

He began laughing and Emma sat down. "Why don't you shut up before I jab this pencil in your eye?"

Shawn stopped and leaned back. "He doesn't know does he? Spoil my fun. What happened to your face?"

"Do you have a point?" Emma demanded loudly.

"It would have been six years yesterday."

She got up with such force the chair tumbled backwards and hit the floor. "Is that why you're here? To remind me of something I could never forget in a million years, or just to torture me?"

"A bit of both, and I wanted to see you."

"Get out before I find someone who really will break your neck right now."

She turned to walk away, mentally congratulating herself for not turning into a weeping heap, when Shawn got up and grabbed her arm.

"If you stayed with me you would have been happy." he hissed in her ear.

"I'd be dead."

She pulled her arm out of his grip and walked away.