Hello again! Are you up for another mini emison story? Because I'm :D !

This mini story was inspired by the song The Call - Regina Spektor. It's an AU. Hope you like it! Not sure how many chapter we will get, let's just enjoy the ride...

My Mannequin

CH 01

Any love story starts with a girl…

"Emily!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!"

Yeah, every good story starts with a girl and in this case that girl is Emily Fields. The brunette who's rushing to bring the boxes of the new collection to her manager. You might wonder what the hell is doing Emily in a departmental store and believe me, she's wondering the same. Like any child, our dear Emily always dreamed of doing more with her life than spending most of her time changing the clothes of mannequins or cleaning the mess of her best friend Hanna.

"Why do we have just big sizes?! Didn't I ask Hanna to order one item of each size?! Damn it! Fix it, Emily!"

"But, I…"

"No, buts Emily! You want to keep your job, you better fix this now!"

The brunette sighs, she was planning to get out of work earlier today so she could go to the store and do groceries because knowing Hanna, on her day off she's probably eating everything she finds in the fridge.

"Emily, what are you waiting for?! Move!"

"Oh! Yes! Right!"

The manager doesn't wait to speak poorly about her as soon she turns around, Emily doesn't seem shocked, her boss is not a nice person. Even then, her way of speaking about others hurts, but Emily has no time to think about it so, the brunette shakes her head, she cannot focus on her feelings getting hurt now, she needs to fix Hanna's mistake or their boss will not hesitate on leaving them without a job and they cannot afford that. So, like always, it's to Emily to fix everything.

Since the moment Emily met Hanna at the orphanage years ago, she knew that the blonde would bring her nothing more than troubles, nevertheless she became her friend. Where is the logic on that? There's none and that's because this brunette doesn't follow logic, she's guided by her heart. Maybe that's why everyone loves her, everyone except her boss who doesn't waste any time to make her feel miserable.

"She's jealous of your beauty, Em, you shouldn't let her talk to you like that"

"It's okay, Aria. I don't mind…"

The little brunette pouts, puffing her cheeks because she disagrees, she can see it in her eyes. Emily looks sad, who wouldn't? No one likes to be treated badly. But, without parents, without someone else as support, what other option she has than to lower her head and keep the job that pays the rent?

Life is tragic most of the time but that doesn't stop Emily to keep seeing the good in this world. Because as hard as it can be, this brunette still believes in the goodness of people, in fairy tales and magic. And, there's nothing more closer to magic than love.

Oh… love, a word so simple and yet complicated at the same time. Emily has read about it in so many poems, in so many novels. She can recite the most beautiful verses about love, but those words feel empty when her heart has never really had a real glance of such a feeling. Yeah, love has never really knocked Emily's door… at least not yet.

Emily constantly daydreams about love, about what she would like to have. And, she shares all those dreams with no one else than the girl she dresses every day. The thin and unmoving figure that has blond hair and according to Emily, the most beautiful blue eyes she has ever seen. And, once again, Emily was flattering the white doll when the security boy, her friend, approached.

"Always talking to that mannequin, Emily. People will start to believe you're crazy…"

The brunette chuckles, she doesn't care if people think she's crazy, she likes to talk to the mannequin. It's her little window to escape reality when the work it's too tiresome. Emily might look tough but that's just a facade. Just like the mannequin, Emily shows an image of her that's far to be the reality. Maybe that's why she feels so comfortable talking with the mannequin, because sometimes she feels like her, looking good as inside she feels so empty. Because after all, what is a life without love?

"Are you working tonight, Toby?"

"Yeah, I'm doing both shifts this week. The other guy quit and the money of the extra shift will get handly"

"Oh, it's that or you just want to spend more time with Spencer?"

Toby gets red, with a blush on his cheeks, it's cute really, it's so obvious he's crazy for the only girl who doesn't put any attention to his existence. From all the girls of the store, he had to put his eyes on the only girl who spent more time looking into books than looking at what is around her, or, maybe that's her charm like Toby likes to say.

"One day, she will notice me, Em. I swear!"

"Of course she will. Just do not overwork too much trying to catch her attention, after all, the safety of my lady is on your hands…"

"Your lady…?"

Toby doesn't understand what she's talking about till he sees how Emily stares at the mannequin that's in the display case of the front of the store. He chuckles as he realizes that Emily is in love with a mannequin and he wonders what love story is more doomed, his or hers.

In any case, Hanna's troubles have always kept Emily busy and maybe that's for the best. This brunette prefers to spend her time fixing the problems of others than trying to understand what is wrong with her heart and the lack of love in her life.

It was a hard task, but, Emily was able to pull out the day, fixing Hanna's mistake, obviously she didn't get out of work earlier enough to find an open store, and expecting to find home made food was a dream, which would never become true, especially because Hanna, her roomie and best friend has the same skills in the kitchen than her: zero. So, there was no other option than to spend her last 20 bucks of the month on a pizza.

Walking back home, Emily licks her lips as she images the wonderful flavours of her dinner. She's a pizza lover, and it's not all the time she can indulge in such tasty meals but, after the hard day she had today, she deserves a reward. So, she walks home and opens her piggy box to find…

"Nothing?!"

The brunette is shocked because she was sure she had 20 bucks saved for an emergency. And, she wasn't wrong, she had them for an emergency, an emergency that Hanna had that day to repair her boots.

"Hanna!"

"I'm sorry, Em! But look! I needed to glue my boot sole"

"And, you spent 20 bucks in glue?!"

"Yes! But, it's not any glue! It's a magic glue according to the old lady of door 22…"

Emily rolls her eyes as she's sure that their neighbor con Hanna into buying her weird products. The brunette has nothing against Ms. Drake, but, the entire building is sure that her concoctions are the one of a witch.

"I can't believe you bought glue from that crazy lady. Why didn't you go to the store?"

"Because if I go to the store, I'll buy anything but the glue! Besides, this is a magic glue! Look, it sparkles and everything!"

Emily rolls her eyes once again, she's not in the mood to keep talking about the subject, especially with the empty stomach. So the brunette goes to bed, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day than today, but it wasn't because when she and Hanna arrive at the store, they are shocked to find out that the store has been stolen.

"OMG! What happened?!"

Spencer and Aria, their co-workers are as shocked as them. And, everyone is more shocked to notice that Spencer is more worried about Toby's well-being than what the thieves could have taken.

"Awww, you like Toby!"

"Shut up, Hanna!"

"There's nothing wrong to recognize you've a heart, Spencer…"

"No you too, Aria!"

And, as the girls are teasing Spencer, Emily sadly looks at the broken body of the mannequin that lays limp on the cold ground. It looks like the thieves broke the big window to get in and in their way, they broke the mannequin too. Toby approaches and apologizes because he failed in protecting her girl. Emily sadly chuckles, she tells him not to worry because the important thing is that he didn't go badly hurt. The bad guys knocked him out, but they didn't shoot him, knowing he is going to be okay was enough for Emily or at least that is what she thought until her boss asked her to put the mannequin on the garbage.

"You cannot do that!"

"It's a broken doll, Emily! It's useless now, just like you if you are unable to follow my orders!"

Emily angrily pouts, she wants to reply something like 'You're the useless person!' but she doesn't dare. Just like she doesn't dare to put her dear mannequin on the trash. She doesn't have the heart to let go of her dear Alison. Because, yeah, she named her! And that's why, with the help of Hanna, she brings Alison to their home.

"Do you still have some of that glue, Hann?"

"You want to use my magical glue on that?!"

"My money, my glue!"

Hanna rolls her eyes, she has no way to go against Emily's wishes so she gives her the sparkling glue.

"You have to make a wish as you use it, Em"

"What?!"

"That's what Ms. Drake said: 'wish with all your heart and the glue will make it real"

Emily rolls her eyes, are they 10 or what?! She cannot believe Hanna fell for that.

"Fine, don't believe me, Em! But look at my boots! They look like new because I wished it!"

The brunette doesn't say another word, she just nods and following Hanna's instruction, she spends that night wishing that her dear Alison will be okay, or maybe more than okay…

"I wish you would be real, you know? Like a real person with whom I could really speak. Do not get me wrong, you're a great listener but sometimes I wish for more…"

The brunette keeps talking and spends till the last gout of the glue on trying to repair her dear mannequin.

"Okay, that's it, I did the best I could with what I had. Let's hope for the best…"

On one leg, the damage was a little more severe because there were a few little minor missing fragments, Emily had to put more glue on that high section of the thigh of the Mannequin so there would not be a hole but even if it looks like a scare, the brunette feels satisfied with the work done.

It's around 3am when she finishes and drags her tired body to the bed. But before that, she softly kisses the mannequin's cheek wishing with all her heart that her dear Alison will come back to her. And, like any spell, it never goes as planned because Emily was expecting to find a fixed life-sized of a person and not a real person…

"Emily…"

"Hmmm…"

"Emily, wake up…"

The brunette groans under her sleep, she doesn't want to wake up, she didn't sleep a lot last night, so she wants to spend a little more time in bed but she can't, especially when she senses this steady gaze towards her and somehow, she feels compelled to open her eyes. Emily opens her eyes and the first thing she sees is two beautiful blue eyes, looking at her. The brunette's eyes get bigger with shock as her brain tries to understand what the heck is happening and why there is a beautiful naked blonde, laying down at her side.

"W-w-what?!"

By the shock, Emily falls out of the bed and the blonde chuckles as she sees Emily on the floor. The blonde is intrigued to experience everything that any human can do, so she mimics Emily's actions and falls out of the bed too. Contrary to Emily who hit the floor, the naked blonde fell directly into the arms of the brunette.

Emily's cheeks get red, blushing a lot, especially because she has no idea of who's this girl and what she is doing at her home till the girl says with so much joy…

"Emily! You put me together!"

"Huh?!"

The brunette frowns, she has no idea of what the hell she's saying till she realizes those blue eyes, she has seen them before.

"A-Ali… Alison?!"

The blonde nods, she puts her arms around Emily's neck and kisses her on the lips, leaving a speechless Emily.

"Sorry, I always wanted to do that…"

Yeah, every great story starts with a girl… a girl who magically brought to life a mannequin.