The next morning, they all sat around the table for breakfast. Sonny had made his famous blueberry waffles. Michael and Morgan always enjoyed them. Emily smiled and laughed with the boys. Sonny watched her and knew she was putting up a front. He had done it for so many years that he knew the signs. He wished that she would open up to him, but he knew that she wouldn't. After breakfast, Emily said she was taking the boys outside for a while.
Meanwhile, Sonny made an important phone call.
"Hello Elizabeth, this is Sonny. I really need a favor from you. I don't know if you've seen much of Emily these days, but there's something wrong with her. I tried to calm her down after a bad dream last night and she about jumped out of her skin. I thought that when you had some time, you could come by for a visit. I recognized the signs of Carly's breakdown too late to help her. I can't help Emily right now. She won't let me. So I was hoping that you could try and help her. It would mean a lot to me."
"I'm glad you called me Sonny. Emily's made herself so scarce these days that I hadn't really had a chance to visit with her since Nikolas' funeral. Is this afternoon going to be alright?"
"Yes Elizabeth, that will be great. Thanks."
"No problem Sonny, I'll see you later."
Shortly after Sonny hung up the phone, Emily came downstairs. She smiled at him, but he could tell it wasn't real. "Do you mind staying here with the boys while I go take care of some things?"
"Of course not Sonny. You know that I'm happy to be around them. They bring a lot of joy into my life." Emily smiled once again, but the smile never reached her eyes.
"Alright, I'll see you later." Sonny walks out of the room, and into the foyer. He silently watches as Emily sits down on the couch and hugs herself. She gets a far away look on her face. The longer she sits there, the stiffer she gets. It's almost as if she's afraid of something. "But what could it be? Hopefully Elizabeth will be able to find something out." Sonny quietly walks out the front door and steps into the waiting car.
About an hour after Sonny leaves, Elizabeth shows up. She knocks on the door and is shocked by the sight of Emily. This is not the Emily she knows. She looks small and afraid. Emily tries to quickly cover by smiling and hugging her, but it's too late. Elizabeth knows something is terribly wrong and will do anything to find out what it is.
"It's so good to see you Liz. I'm sorry that I haven't been around much. I've been busy taking care of Michael and Morgan for Sonny. Being around the boys is helping me get over Nikolas being killed. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to fully recover from that. I loved him so much."
"I know you did Em. I'm sorry that things turned out the way they did. Let's go see if Sonny has any ice cream in the freezer and have some girl time."
"That sounds like fun. I haven't had any of that in a long time."
The girls not only find some vanilla ice cream, but some double fudge brownies. They put brownies in a bowl, top them with the ice cream, and then with some chocolate sauce. They laugh and talk about fun memories. The entire time Elizabeth watches Emily. She watches her body language most intently. Eventually, she thinks she's figured out what's wrong with Emily, but she prays she is wrong. If she's right, then something truly horrible has happened to her best friend.
"Em, I'm here for two reasons. I came because I wanted to see you, but I'm also here because Sonny is worried about you. He said he came in and saw you having a bad dream, and when he touched you, you screamed and bolted into a corner. Please talk to me. Tell me what's going on. What happened to you?"
The smile fades from Emily's face and she looks down at the table. "I have a feeling you already suspect what's happened to me Liz."
"Were you raped Em?" Emily slowly nodded her head yes as the tears she had kept at bay for so long spilled out of her eyes. "Oh Em! Who did this to you? We need to make sure he gets locked up for a very long time!"
"He can't be locked up Liz. It was Connor. One night he just came at me in the basement. I tried to fight him off, but I wasn't strong enough." Emily started sobbing. "I yelled and I screamed and he hit me. All I could do was yell no over and over again in my head while it happened."
Elizabeth slowly went to her friend and put her arms around her. Emily flinched for a second, but then sobbed even harder on her friends shoulder. "Oh God Liz, you're the first person I've told. I was so ashamed. I should have known I could tell you. Can you forgive me for not saying something sooner?"
Elizabeth smiled and looked at her friend. "Em, I am not mad at you, and there's nothing to forgive. I've been through this myself remember? You do things at a pace that works for you. Now, why can't Connor be locked up?"
"Because he's dead, Liz. That night, I set fire to the place and he died in the fire. That's another reason I didn't report the rape. I killed him, and I didn't want anybody to know. Nobody knows that Connor was in there. They all think he's out of town. You can't tell anybody."
"You can count on me Em. I won't say a thing to anybody. I'm glad that you finally told me. I can help you if you will let me. I won't push you to do anything you don't want to do. I will promise to always be there when you need to talk about this."
Elizabeth hugged her friend again, looked at her and smiled. "You're one of the strongest people I know Em, and I just know you'll get through this. I hope that you'll at least think about going to counseling. It does help. Just think about it. No pressure, I promise. Now, I've got to get going. We'll have to have some girl time again soon."
Emily smiled as Elizabeth left.
"Okay Em, that's step one. Where are you going to go from here? You owe it to the people that love you to find a way to get past this."