A/N: Thank you so much for all your reviews and nearly 100 follows!

*Emily POV*

It's now been a week since the whole dinner disaster with Ali. I leave for the military tomorrow and I still haven't spoke to her or told her I'm leaving; I've been with Hanna in New York for the past week so I haven't even seen her. My head is just so messed up at the minute I don't know what to think about everything. Seeing Ali so broken when I left her in her foyer really broke my heart and I really hope she's okay. I hope I did the right thing. I thought that not talking to her and not seeing her would be fine, I thought I could handle it but the truth is I can't. Now I've seen her after 5 years I need to see her, I can't go through another 5 years of not talking to her and not seeing her. But then again, I'm going into the military where I won't see her for months at a time anyway and I can't even imagine what it would be like if we were together...married...with children. I shake myself out of my deep thought, how can I be thinking about having children with Ali? I walk back up the pathway to my home, my mom asked me to go to the grocery store to collect some wine for a neighbor's birthday apparently. In fact she didn't ask me she ordered me, marched me out the door and closing it before I could even open my mouth. As I walk up to the porch I notice that the house is in complete darkness. I try peering through the window but all I see is darkness so as confused as ever I open the front door slowly.

'SURPRISE!' A huge chorus of voices scream as I turn the living room light on. I practically levitated off the ground, holy crap. Hanna, Spencer, and Aria came over and instantly pulled me into a group hug.

'Did you guys organise this?'

'Well, it was your mom's idea but we helped of course' Hanna smiled, tilting her head towards my mom who was stood near my grandparents. They all waved, a proud grin on their faces.

'What about-'

'We didn't invite Ali, don't worry' Hanna smiled, reading my mind and placing a reassuring arm on top of mine. I spent the next couple of hours making my way around everyone, thanking them for coming and talking about leaving. There is only so much small talk you can make before you start trying to avoid people and that's exactly what I'm doing now, sitting on my front porch with a beer whilst watching the stars. I was so caught up in the peace and silence that I didn't realise that someone was now sat next to me offering me a cold beer.

'Thanks' I smile, finally turning my attention the person sat next to me.

'No problem, how you doing?' Toby said, cracking open the bottle top on the step.

'Yeah I'm doing good' I smile, weakly.

'Come on Em, you can talk to me. Spencer told me about Ali.' Over the 5 years we've spent apart Toby and Spencer have gone separate ways. With Toby staying in Rosewood and Spencer travelling around the country with her law firm, they drifted apart and on a mutual agreement decided to call it quits. It's nice to see them finally reconnect over the past few weeks.

'I can't see her married to someone else, I can't do it'

'Do you love her?'

'I don't know' I shrug. 'I've never had the opportunity to really love her so I don't know'

'Do you think you love her?' I know he could see the confusion in my face so he decided to rephrase the question, 'Do you want to love her?' That caught me off guard. I've been so caught up in everything that I've not really thought for one minute about what I want. I've always focused on what I'm feeling, not what I want.

'Yes'

'Yes what? You want to love her?'

'I've loved her since we were 14 years old. That's nearly 10 years, 10 years I've wanted to show her I love her but something always pulled us apart and now she's married I guess it just proves we weren't meant to be together' I didn't even realise I was crying until he pulled me into his shoulder.

'Hey, if you still love each other after all this time, that proves you are meant to be, not the other way around. All that what you just described, are obstacles and things that prove how strong you are'

'I still love her but I don't know if she loves me'

'There's only one way to find out. Ask her. No more storming out on each other, tell her exactly how it is'

'And what if she doesn't?'

'Then at least you know and you can move on. But one way or another Ali does love you, she'd always ask if you had contacted me or if you were okay. She wouldn't hurt you like she did all those years ago, she only wants you to be happy' he smiled, and I smiled too. After everything, it's nice to see Toby and Ali actually being friends. It took a long time to build up the trust but they did and their friendship now shows for it.

'Even if she does confess to loving me, what happens then? I'm leaving tomorrow for 6 months'

'She'll understand, she'll wait until you get back'

'She doesn't even know'

'What? Emily. You have to tell her' he turned to me, his expression turning to one of dread, 'what if you don't come back? You need to tell her how you feel tonight and you need to tell her you're leaving otherwise you might never get the chance again'

I nod gently, 'you're right, I need to speak with her' I get up from my position in his arms and run inside for my cell phone, quickly finding her name and sending her a text.

'Meet me at the kissing rock in 10 minutes. It's urgent.' I decided it wasn't appropriate at the minute to put a kiss. I run back outside, ignoring the people inside calling my name and pulled Toby into a hug.

'Thank you' I smile, running down the steps.

'Good luck' he smiled, as I ran off down the street towards the kissing rock. As I jogged closer to the entrance of the woods, I noticed that Ali's car wasn't there so I presumed she wasn't here. God I hope she turns up. I slowed down my pace to a walk but as I got closer to the opening of where the rock was, I noticed the familiar golden haired blonde already sat on the rock. As I moved closer I could see that she was shivering slightly, instantly making me feel guilty. After all, it was September and it was getting cold.

'I'm sorry to keep you waiting here in the cold' I say quietly, careful not to startle her. She instantly turned around to look at me, a small smile appearing on her face before it quickly faded again. I knew she was still upset with me.

'I was already here, actually' she said, stuffing her hands into her pockets to warm them up.

'You were?'

'Yeah, I come here a lot to think. Get away from everything' She gazed up at the stars through the opening in the trees it really was a beautiful sight, almost as beautiful as the one in front of me. She glanced over at me, her eyes quickly catching my stare as I look down embarrassed. 'Come sit down' she said, patting the space next to her on the rock. It was a tight squeeze to fit us both on, but I wasn't complaining.

'I asked you here because I need to tell you something' I say, as she nods like she already knew where this conversation was going. Wait did she know about me joining the military? But before I could even answer my own question she broke the silence.

'Did you mean what you said yesterday? About you still loving me?' She didn't seem angry or upset or happy, she seemed vulnerable, scared to know the answer. I let out a deep breath.

'Yeah' I say, I wanted it to come out confident but instead it came out nothing short of a whisper. She shifted position slightly, removing her hands from her pockets and taking my hand in her own. She turned her body around so our faces were now looking at each other.

'Then why did you leave me? Cut me off like you didn't care?' Her voice again wasn't angry like the old Alison's would have been, it was calm yet desperate.

'I didn't know what else to do. We went through so much, ignored everything that happened between us. I thought that if I couldn't see you or be with you then I couldn't talk to you or think about you. That way we could both move on but I couldn't move on. All I could think about was you, every girl I was with I compared to you and when I came back here and saw you had moved on I didn't know what to do. I didn't expect for you to be in love with someone else. It broke my heart' I said, my voice cracking as the tears began falling down my cheeks. She wiped them away softly, tears forming in her own eyes.

'I loved you Em, and I really did think after everything with the A drama that we could have our forever in Paris but I couldn't wait forever' she said, not breaking eye contact with me for a second 'When you stopped contact with me it broke my heart. I was empty and Adam was there to pick up the pieces and he put me back together but there wasn't -isn't- a day that goes by that I don't think about you, us and what we could have been'

'I think about that all the time too' I say, my voice quiet as we are now inches away from each other's face. Staring into her eyes right now, I could see how vulnerable and scared she was. I've never seen her look so innocent before. I place my hand on her cheek to wipe away her tears and I could feel her nuzzle into my palm. Our eyes locked, and although we didn't speak I could see a desperate hunger in her eyes. Her eyes that kept wandering to my lips. I slowly started to lean in when her phone buzzed in her pocket, making us both jump backwards.

'I have to go' she said quietly, sniffing slightly before standing up. She smiled sweetly before heading off towards the exit of the woods. I felt completely drained of emotion but somewhat calm, no longer feeling the familiar feeling of anger or jealousy. But then I realized that I still hadn't told Ali that I was leaving for the military tomorrow.

Was that really our last goodbye?

A/N: Do you think Ali will find out about her leaving and get the chance to say goodbye? If we can get to 100 reviews i'll make the next chapter special;)