AN: Here is the next chapter. I've included some flashbacks. The title of the chapter and part of the chapter was influenced by the song in Wicked by the same name. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, Wicked, or I'm not that Girl.
Emily entered her apartment and slams the door. Walking into the living room, she walked over to the bar and herself a drink. After downing it in one gulp she refilled her glass and walked across the room into her kitchen. Picking up a remote, she turning on the music from her playlist before walking over to the couch. Sitting down, she swirled the liquid in her glass as she tried to come to terms with what she had learned earlier that evening. It was so much worse that what she had expected when she went to her parent's house.
Since Hotch had told her about the call from her mother about the bank information, Emily had been furious with her mother. She had lied to Emily during the case when she told Emily where she had gotten the information.
A part of Emily could tell by the glimpse of a guilty look on her mother's face that day that she hadn't been telling the truth about the origin of the information. But she hadn't expected that she had gone to HIM for help. Emily hadn't pressed then because they were under a time crunch on the case so she wanted to get the information to Garcia ASAP. She also knew her mother. The Ambassador would not have responded well to being challenged in public.
Her mother knew Anton Melnik was a no go for Emily now that she fully understood what he was did and trying to do when she was a child. As a young child, she hadn't understood the concept of grooming. She hadn't understood the heated reaction from her nanny or the unusual concern of her mother.
Then without explanation she found herself in France with her grandparents. Their presence and home had, as always, been comforting. After the confusing experience, she had quickly stopped asking questions and enjoyed her time with them.
It wasn't until later, much later when she was in college, that she started to put together what happened. At first she hadn't understood why she started to feel anxious about going to one of her psychology classes at Georgetown.
Then after a series of nightmares, she was able to work through after several session with Alicia what the trigger had been. Confused by the memories, Alicia had suggested talking to her mother and/or others she knew at that time.
Knowing she was unlikely to get answers from her mother, Emily dismissed starting with her. She first contacted Alix, the woman who had been her nanny when Emily was with her mother until they moved to Rome.
Alix's excitement at seeing Emily came to a halt when Emily mentioned her memories. After a couple of attempted diversions, Alix had reluctantly shared with Emily what she had walked in on as well as the Ambassador's reaction.
Unsettled, Emily stopped in France before going home to talk to her grandfather. Once she mentioned the memories and nightmares, he explained to her what he remembered about that time which he admitted wasn't much.
He shared that he knew there was more to the story when Elizabeth had suddenly called and asked if he could take Emily for an indeterminate amount of time. He had quickly agreed though his suspicions were raised further at the vague explanation when Emily was dropped off by her nanny instead of her mother.
Armed with this information, Emily had confronted her mother when she returned home. After initially downplaying what Emily had and was still experiencing, her mother finally shared his name with Emily as well as his current position.
But even knowing all that not only had the Ambassador called on Melnik for a favor but then she had called Emily's boss with the correction instead of Emily herself. To give the name that they needed for the official report. Emily's now very suspicious boss.
Since then she was not only upset that her mother had contacted Melnik but furious that she had involved one of the best profilers who's attention had now been peaked. If she was going to tell Hotch what happened, she wanted it to be on her terms, not like this.
After giving herself a couple of days to cool down, Emily had called the staff at the house to check her mother's schedule in the evenings that week. And that is what had lead to the confrontation at the house earlier than evening.
FLASHBACK
Emily paced around the living room at her parent's house as her mother said, "you weren't supposed to find out, Emily."
Emily rolled her eyes before turning towards her mother and saying, "Obviously, but why…" she was interrupted when she heard someone clearing their throat across the room.
Both women turned and saw Emily's stepfather, Edward Carmichael, standing in the doorway. He looked back and forth between then as he said, "pardon the interruption" before he paused and glanced over at his wife saying, "Elizabeth, there is a courier from the State Department here with paperwork for your assignment. He needs to you to sign for it."
The ambassador's eyes lit up as he spoke and she said, "excuse me" as she walked out of the room, her discussion with Emily unilaterally tabled.
There was an uneasy silence for a few minutes. Emily continued pacing as she waited for her mother to return so they could continue their conversation. Her thoughts were interrupted when her stepfather said, "what we did. It was for the best."
Emily huffed as she stopped pacing. Looking at him with her arms crossing her chest, she said "really?".
As she thought about it, she really wanted an answer to the question as to why her mother was still in contact with Anton Melnik. And what her stepfather's role in it was since as far as she knew her mother didn't even know him when the incident happened.
Her stepfather shook his head at her and responded, "he wasn't right for you, Emily."
Wasn't right for her?
Who was he talking about?
What did he think they had been talking about?
Emily quickly masked her confusion from the career diplomat. If she wanted answers to her questions, she needed to proceed carefully. It seemed that he was talking about something else entirely. Another secret about her that they were keeping from her.
Emily stopped and cross her arms as she narrowed her eyes as she asked harshly, "what do you mean?"
He took another sip from his glass as he watched her before saying, "Aaron Hotchner was a distraction. He…."
Emily froze. She could tell he was still talking but she couldn't hear what he was saying. He knew about her past relationship with Aaron. Apparently they both knew.
A distraction. What did that mean? A distraction from what?
All of the sudden Emily was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard her mother's voice "...Edward" Looking up, Emily could see her mother paled, looking rapidly between the two of them. She had heard the end of their conversation and knew that Emily now knew.
Walking up until she was standing in front of her mother, Emily asked, "what did you do?" annunciating each word.
It had just gone downhill from there as her mother gave excuses as she tried to justify their actions. Her stepfather was unapologetic and explained in detail what he had done while she had been in France that summer.
END FLASHBACK
Now that she was back at her apartment, the impact of what she had learned was starting to hit her. The lie that she had been angry about for days was not nearly as significant as manipulation that she found out about this evening. Manipulation not only of her but of Aaron as well.
Placing her glass down on the table, she stood up and walked over to the closet. Pulling out a small box, she walked back to the couch and sat back down. After opening the box, she looked down at the items she had packed up after she came home and found out that Aaron had left seemingly without a word. Items that she had fully intended to get rid of. In fact, her plan had been to take it out to the fire pit at her parent's house and burn everything in it.
But she hadn't been able to do it and that had upset her even more. Not being able to look at the box, she had put it in her closet at her room here.
But now that she knew the truth of why he left, she wanted to open it again. She pulled each item out. An FBI Academy t-shirt. A single sock. A toothbrush. A comb. A CD single of their song. A couple of movie ticket stubs. A CD of the Beatles White Album. A stub for a music concert they went to together. Some pictures of them together. The last thing she pulled out was a bookmark from a local bookstore. The bookstore where they met.
FLASHBACK
March 1994
Emily walked around the bookstore looking at other titles after picking up the just published Max Ryan's book that had brought her to the store that day. She was home for a week on Spring Break from Yale. Her plan had been to stay on campus to do some research on her dissertation. However her mother insisted that she come home after she hadn't come home at Winter Break. She had chosen to go to France to visit her grandfather for Christmas.
Now she was home and her mother had been called away less than two days after she arrived. As she walked around the bookstore dejected, Emily considered driving back to Yale that afternoon hoping that she could salvage some time to make progress on her research.
Looking at the shelves as she turned the corner, Emily dropped all of her books as she walked into what felt like a wall. Looking up she met his eyes and was unable to find her voice. She was brought out of her head when he put his hand on her shoulder and said, "are you ok?"
Emily blushed, embarrassed that this cute guy first impression of her was as a klutz. She nodded her head and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear before she said, "yeah, sorry about walking into you."
Aaron smiled as he said, "it's fine." They just looked at each other before he cleared his throat and said, "here let me help you pick up your books." before they both crouched down as he helped Emily gather her books. He paused as he picked up Max Ryan's book having just heard him lecture at the Academy.
Emily gather the stack of books in her arms and they both stood up. Adjusting the pile, she put out her hand and said, "thanks. I'm Emily." She felt an energy pass between them as their hands touched.
Aaron smiled as he also felt the sensation on his hand as he replied, "I'm Aaron."
Emily stepped back and gave an awkward wave before saying, "well, sorry again about bumping into you. It was nice to meet you Aaron." before she turned and started to walk away.
Aaron panicked as he saw her slowly moving away from him. There was just something about this woman that made him want to learn more about her. Looking up, he blurted out, "Emily". He waited until she turns before he took the few steps to be standing right in front of her. She cocked her head looks at him curiously as he said, "would you like to have lunch with me?"
Emily smiled back at him before she said, "I'd like that."
END FLASHBACK
They had spent hours that afternoon talking in the small restaurant they found near the bookstore as conversation flowed easily between them. After that they spent as much time together as possible that week working around Aaron's commitments at the FBI Academy.
As the end of the week came, they could feel their time together coming to an end. After dinner on Friday evening, they went to apartment she now lived in and things had heated up between them before they both pulled back.
They needed to talk first since it was impossible for them to be together anytime soon. Emily was heading back to Yale and still had a couple of years to finish her degree. Meanwhile Aaron still had a few weeks left at the FBI Academy and he didn't know where they would assign him when he finished.
The next morning, Emily was thrilled that Aaron was still there in bed with her. She had prepared herself for him to be gone when she woke up. Given the circumstances, it would have been easier for him to leave before she woke up.
He had greeted her with coffee and the suggestion of trying a long distance relationship. He said he would request an assignment in the northeast or at least on the East coast. After thinking about it, Emily agreed especially since she only had another year of classwork before her schedule became more flexible when she was solely focused on her dissertation.
They celebrated their decision by spending most of the day in bed together getting up only to eat. The next morning they showered together before parting happy with their understanding but unsure of when they would see each other in person again.
Emily headed back to her parent's house to pick up her stuff before making the journey back to Yale while Aaron returned to his dorm room at the FBI Academy.
Over the following weeks they spoke on the phone intermittently however they found that they talked to each others' answering machines more often than not.
They were both thrilled a couple of weeks before she came home for the summer when he called to let her know that his assignment was in DC for the summer. He promised to tell her more when she arrived. For once, she was counting the days until she drove back to DC.
Little did she know of the surprise her and Aaron were going to get when she arrived.
FLASHBACK
May 1994
Emily rushed around her room at her parent's house before heading out to run some errands. She had just arrived the previous evening after driving down from Yale. She already had plans to see Aaron that evening at the restaurant where they had had lunch the day they met.
Grabbing her purse and a sweater, she hurried out of her room and down the stairs hoping to make it out the door without running into her mother. She didn't have time this morning for an interrogation.
As she was almost at the bottom of the stairs, she saw her mother talking to a man in a suit in the living room. Before Emily got to the bottom, her mother called out to her. Rolling her eyes, Emily turned at the bottom of the stairs to walk into the living room hoping that this wasn't one of the men her mother had mentioned wanting to introduce her to.
As she walked into the room, her mother walked over to her as she said, "Emily, this is the FBI agent who will be performing the security checks…."
Emily didn't hear anything past that as it was then that Aaron turned around and she saw who was going to be working for her mother. He looked as surprised as she was when he realized who was standing in front of him. She was hoping he wasn't going to be upset with the unexpected situation since she hadn't told him what her last name was.
She felt her heart leap as she saw him standing in front of her for the first time in two months. But she quickly schooled her expression, not wanting her mother to become suspicious. That would not have been good for either one of them.
Aaron stepped forward and put out his hand as he said, "Ms Prentiss." As she took his hand, there was the same energy there as they touched.
Emily responded, "Agent." before reluctantly letting go of his hand as her mother started to explain what Aaron would be doing to prepare for assignment that she would be starting that fall.
After several minutes when her mother turned to pick something up from the table, Emily winked at Aaron and said, "Mother, I'm going to head out. I have several errands to run. I won't be home until late. It was nice to meet you Agent," before she turned and walked out of the room and out the front door before her mother could stop her. It had been overwhelming to be standing near him without being able to acknowledge that they knew each other.
END FLASHBACK
As expected their conversation over dinner that evening revolved around them deciding how to handle the situation they now found themselves in.
Although it was not what either of them wanted, they agreed to keep their relationship under wraps until after he had completed his current assignment. Emily didn't care if he parents knew who she was dating. If anything, she would hope it would get them to stop bombarding her with men they wanted her to meet.
However with this being his first assignment as an FBI agent, any negative reports could adversely affect his career as well as make it unlike he would be assigned to where he requested next. In this case, he was going to request the New Haven or New York City field offices to be closer to Emily while she finished school.
That decided, they spent the rest of the night reconnecting with Aaron leaving her in his bed the next morning because he didn't want to wake her. They also couldn't show up at her parent's house at the same time without arousing suspicions. He had been working in his makeshift office for about an hour when he heard her arguing with her mother about where she had been all night.
And for the next couple of months, they spent evenings, nights and weekends together either at the apartment he was subletting or her family's apartment in DC while making all reasonable efforts to actively avoid each other at the house. They rarely went out locally concerned that word would get back to her parents though they did get away for a couple of weekends.
They had just come back from one of their weekends away when the housekeeper woke her in the middle of the night. It was one of the few nights she had spent at the house to let her know her grandfather had taken ill and her mother had booked her on the next flight which was leaving in a few hours.
After quickly getting ready and hastily packing her bags she debated calling Aaron v leaving him a letter to let him know where she was going and why. Given the time, she decided to write a letter and leave it in the office he was using at the house. It was a choice she now regretted after her stepfather had admitted earlier in the evening to removing the letter and destroying it before Aaron came in the next morning.
Of course he had needed to get rid of it. If Aaron had seen her letter, he wouldn't have believed the lies her stepfather had made sure he overheard about her leaving with a fiance and switching schools.
Or at least she would like to believe that he wouldn't have believed it. But he had and because of it he hadn't contacted her again.
Emily had tried to contact him once she came home however he had already moved and he phone had been disconnected. Her stepfather had admitted Aaron left a letter for her at the apartment but he had removed that as well.
With everything she learned, Emily wished she had just called him that night before she had gotten on that plane. However, her focus that night had been on getting to France as quickly as possible to see the one person that had always been there for her.
But would it have really made a difference?
Would her parents have just come up with something else to separate them?
If this plan of theirs had failed, would her parents have instead done something to jeopardized Aaron's career? An outcome that they had both been trying to avoid.
Emily was dismayed that her mother of all people had gone along all these years with a plan that would make someone, regardless of who it was, believe that she was not only a liar but a cheater as well.
How could she have stood by without saying anything as she watched how upset Emily was in those weeks after she returned from France?
They weren't close and had certainly had their issues over the years but this betrayal crossed a line that even Emily didn't think her mother would cross.
As she took another gulp of her drink, the song changed on her playlist. She had heard the song many times. She had gotten the entire soundtrack after seeing Wicked on Broadway. But right now, this song was speaking to her. And not in an encouraging way.
As she listened to the lyrics, she felt more conflicted about what had happened. Yes what her parents had done separated them. But no one had anyway of knowing if they would have stayed together without that interference no matter how much she wanted to believe they would have.
But being apart had put them on two separate paths. For herself, she was certain that many of her choices would have been different. Choices that she couldn't change now. Some choices that she couldn't even let him know that she even made. Some choices that she wasn't sure he would accept.
If she remembered nothing else about Aaron is was how important he considered truthfulness. Since she had joined the team, while she had not outright lied to him, she also hadn't been completely honest because he didn't have the clearance to know her complete job history.
She who's winsome, she wins him. Gold hair with a gentle curl. That's the girl he chose.
And for him. Well for him, he chose to get married.
To Haley.
She had met Haley. As far as she knew they were happy. They had a child. He had moved on with a woman he had been dating on and off since high school.
He could be that boy. But I'm not that girl
Time had past. He may be the man she hadn't been able to get past. Be the man she had wanted to be with. But she was no longer the college student that he knew back then and wanted to be with.
As the song finished, Emily's feelings bubbled over. She stood up and started pacing around the room before turning and throwing her glass against the wall. The strength of the impact shattered the glass with a satisfying crunch. Emily sat back down and leaned forward resting her forearms on her legs and looked down at the floor.
Right now she felt worse than her first day at the BAU. When she saw Aaron again after 12 years. It had been difficult to see him that day but the culmination of her anger with him had been her primary emotion where he was concerned.
But now she knows he was not at fault for them losing touch. If anything, he was manipulated more than she was by what her mother and stepfather had done.
As she thought about it it was no wonder he was opposed to her joining his team. He thought that she lied to him about being single and had been cheating on her fiance the whole time they knew each other. He had put his career in jeopardy by continuing to see her while assigned to her mother. Then he was led to believe that she had just taken off without explanation with this supposed fiance and switched schools after he had made plans to take a position at a field office close to Yale so they could be together.
She couldn't really blame him for believing the stories when he couldn't find her and she had suddenly become unreachable.
But it still hurt. It hurt that he didn't trust her enough to question what he was hearing. That he never had sought her out to confront her.
But, she sighed, she hadn't sought him out either even after joining the FBI and having access to his current assignment.
That is when she realized that that was why each of them were told what they were. Her parents were counting on the nature of what they thought the other did would affect each of them in such a way that they would not seek each other out.
Standing up, Emily went over and started to deal with the remnants of the broken glass. As she was cleaning it up, she cut her finger. Cursing, she walked into the kitchen and washed it off in the sink relieved that it wasn't too deep. After wrapping the finger with a paper towel, she opening the drawer where she kept bandaids noticing that there were none there.
Keeping pressure on the cut, she walked up the stairs hoping that there were some bandaids in her bathroom.
After walking into the bathroom, she started to look through drawer for her stash of bandaids. As she opened one of the drawers, she froze. Sitting there alone in that drawer was her razor blade. The one she had been using when she last cut.
Looking down, Emily reached out for it with her uninjured hand. With all of the stress of the day, she knew that a few cuts would make her feel better. Picking it up, the cut on her other hand was forgotten.
She picked it up and observed the sharp blade before her eyes found her reflection in the mirror just past the blade. As she looked back at herself, she remembered the discussion she had with Spencer after he figured out about the cutting.
She hadn't cut since that day and been working hard with Alicia on her other coping strategies. And as she thought back over those conversations, she dropped in the razor on the counter. She wasn't going to undo the progress she had made.
Quickly finding a bandaid in another drawer, she walked out of the bathroom, waited until she was back downstairs to put it on her hand. But downstairs wasn't far enough.
Looking around, it hit her that this was her parents apartment.
Much of her relationship with Aaron had happened in this apartment.
She couldn't be in this apartment right now. And she didn't want to be tempted to go back up to the bathroom. Grabbing her purse and bag, she walked out of the door without looking back.
####
Aaron Hotchner sat at his desk looking down at the bullpen. Though she had been going through the motions today, Hotch knew something was off with Emily.
His first indication was she was in the office that morning before him. And he had even arrived earlier than usual to prepare for a meeting. He had walked in on her in the break room as he arrived.
He had immediately noticed that her hands were all bruised. She had waved off the concern as she had forgotten to tape them in the gym.
But what he found most striking that morning was as they were talking, she had allowed her walls to completely drop. She looked at him as she hadn't since they were together. He was able to see her as he hadn't since their relationship ended. And what he saw behind those walls. Fear. Regret. Anger. Sorrow.
She also appeared to be struggling as it appeared she was trying to tell him something. But he never found out what it was because after a thud as another agent came through the bullpen her walls quickly fell back into place and the moment had passed.
But even now, part of him was intrigued about what she seemed to want to tell him as well as the reason for how open she had allowed herself to be around him all the sudden.
As he observed her since then, he recognized that she was quieter than usual and mostly keeping to herself. Reid seemed to be the only other member of the team that had seen through her explanation to realize there was something going on under the surface.
Hotch sighed and shook his head as he thought back that she had been somewhat off since he had spoken to her about the strange phone call from her mother after that bizarre case the previous week. But today, it appeared amplified. Or maybe he was just more sensitive to it because of her reaction when he saw her that morning.
Either way, he would keep an eye on her and hope that she would share with him what she was going to say that morning when she was ready.
####
Spencer Reid had been covertly observing Emily most of the day. He had noticed early that morning that she was struggling.
Since the weeks that he was staying with her, he had a better understanding of the range of her tells and micro-expressions. Which as far as he could tell the rest of the team hadn't picked up on completely yet.
As the others noticed her bruised and swollen knuckles, they had just accepted her explanation.
Except for Hotch.
Reid had noticed the Unit Chief repeatedly glancing at her when they met for case review as well through his window during the day.
As the day went on, Spencer was worried that something was seriously wrong. However, he also knew whatever it was his friend wasn't going to talk about it in the office. But he wanted to be there for her as she had been there for him.
As the afternoon progressed, an idea came to him. After walking out of the bullpen, he walked down the hall until he found an empty interview room.
Pulling out his phone, he dialed a familiar number. After a couple of rings, a deep voice answered, "Dr Nelson."
Spencer cleared his throat before saying, "Hello Doctor this is Spencer Reid."
"Spencer, it is good to hear from you. What can I do for you today? Do you need to come in?" Dr Nelson asked, an edge of worry noticeable in his voice.
"Um, I'm doing OK. That's not why calling. My friend Emily who came with me. I know she sees someone in your office." Spencer replied rambling.
Dr Nelson sighed before replying, "I'm sorry Spencer. As you know I can't speak to you about that."
Spencer nodded before continuing, "yes I know Dr Nelson. She seems to be having a bad day. I wanted to see if the therapist she sees has time today."
Dr Nelson sighed and paused before he said, "hold on a minute Spencer." Spencer paced as he listened to the music playing while he was on hold until Dr Nelson came back on the line saying, "Spencer, can you come with her at 6?"
"Yes, doctor. Thank you." Spencer answered before hanging up the call and walking back towards the bullpen considering now that he had the appointment how was he going to get her there?
####
Emily sighed as she drove away from Quantico with Spencer. She had been worried since he pulled her aside a couple of hours earlier and said he wanted her to come with him to Dr Nelson's office. She hadn't noticed him struggling that day however she had been in her own head since the night before.
After leaving her apartment, she had gone to the gym at the FBI Academy. She swam countless laps before switching to the workout room. It wasn't until later that she realized she was so distracted that she hadn't taped her hands.
Once she finished her workout, she was still wound up. Unable to get what her mother and stepfather had said out of her head. After getting cleaned up in the locker room, she went to do target practice.
It was early when she reached the bullpen. Very early. Earlier than Hotch.
He had surprised her in the break room when he arrived. All of the preparation she done overnight was forgotten when he walked into the room. For a few seconds, all she could see in the room with her was the Aaron she had known in the past and not the skeptical Agent Hotchner she had known since she started at the BAU.
She wanted to explain everything to him but thankfully she couldn't get the words out. She couldn't throw all that she had learned at him until she had processed the information herself. She had tried to avoid him the rest of the day but several times had felt his eyes on her.
After pulling into the parking lot, Emily turned to Spencer and said, "we're here." She paused and shook her head before quietly saying, "I sorry I didn't notice you were struggling. Thanks for coming to me."
Spencer shook his head. He really hoped she wasn't going to be too angry with him. He looked at her and said calmly, "Emily, I'm doing OK. We aren't here for me. We are here for you."
Emily opened her mouth to say something before closing it and looking forward before turning back to him and saying, "Reid, I'm fine."
Spencer shook his head before he replied, "No you're not. You've been off since shortly after your mother brought us that case. But today, you are struggling. You don't looking like you slept. You didn't tape your hands in the gym. You have been quiet and trying to isolate yourself all day. I'm worried."
Emily sighed and nodded at each point that he made though she wasn't sure how she felt about how well he had been reading her. Looking over at his concerned expression, she said, "I'll be OK. I kept my promise to you. How did you know?" She was curious how he knew about Alicia since it was a topic that they had never discussed.
Spencer nodded before replying, "I saw you come out of an office a couple of times. I still don't know who you see. I made the appointment through Dr Nelson."
Emily sighed and said as she reached for the door handle, "are you sure you want to stay? I may be here a while."
Spencer nodded and they walked into the building.
####
Alicia walked over to her chair and sat down as she carefully observed Emily as she also sat down in her typical chair.
Alicia's concern had been peaked earlier in the afternoon when Dr Nelson had stopped by her office to inform her about the phone call he had just received. After checking her schedule, she was relieved that she did indeed have an opening that evening.
Now with Emily in front of her, Alicia could see signs of what led Spencer to call her. The fatigue was evident on her face and Alicia wondered when was the last time she slept.
However the largest red flag were the bruised knuckles and fingers. Working out in the gym was one of the coping strategies that Alicia knew Emily employed when stressed. That wasn't the concern. That was a good sign that she was utilizing one of her positive coping strategies.
The red flag is that whatever had her upset to use it distracted her enough that she didn't tape her hands and then didn't notice while she was working out.
Now that they were both seated, Alicia looked over and asked, "so Emily, what is going on?"
Emily took a deep breath and before she could say anything, she could feel a tear and then another one fall down her cheek. She shook her head as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.
Taking another deep breath, Emily remembered that Alicia knew of the difficult relationship she had with her mother. Over the years, she had shared various stories.
Alicia also knew about her relationship with Aaron. She had encouraged Emily's desire to know why he left though Emily had always refused to seek him out.
As she sat across from her, Emily realized that if anyone was going to understand how she was feeling right now, it would be Alicia. And as that thought passed over her, the dam broke and the tears flowed down her face as she broke down.
After taking the offered tissue, she looked at Alicia and said, "it is their fault that he left." before slowing explaining to the older woman everything she had learned over the last few days.
AN: Unfortunately, I probably won't be updating this story again until mid-July as I'm going to be travelling for the next few weeks. Next chapter: Girl's night. Someone from Emily's past wants information and has her questioning herself. And after a moment of openness, Emily realizes that she revealed a closely guarded secret.