The same night after she and her husband Rollins' dinner at The Radley, Alison found herself curled up in their large bed with her laptop settled on her stomach. She was propped up by a few fluffy pillows, listening to the sound of running water in the master bathroom. Now that it was later at night, dark brown Wayfarer optical glasses were on her face instead of the contacts that she usually wore during the day. Her hair was pulled back into a French braid, coming to rest on her shoulder as she looked at the screen to her computer.

She was on Facebook, scrolling through her feed and liking photos that she barely even liked. Looking at her "Friends You May Know" list, she recognized a name and a face almost immediately. Emily Fields, with 67 mutual friends. Immediately interested, she clicked on Emily's profile as was brought up with a taste of what Emily's life was like.

She scrolled through the pictures, but from the looks of it, Emily didn't use her Facebook often anymore. A lot of her activity was from five years ago, and the only activity in that five years was for about a month every year. Alison assumed it was because she was in Afghanistan and couldn't update her profile or add any pictures. Emily's profile picture was from five years ago, she was in a blue cap and gown holding her high school diploma. Alison remembered that day like it was yesterday, and even remembered Emily receiving her diploma and posing for the picture. Alison had already received her diploma and was back in her seat when Emily went up, beaming the whole time she shook hands with the principal and the superintendent.

The rest of Emily's pictures were a few army pictures and some of her and her best friends that Alison also recognized. Emily was good friends with Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery, and Spencer Hastings. Alison was friends with Spencer, which was the one of Emily's friends that she actually had a friendly relationship with.

Just as she was scrolling through Emily's photos which must've been from when she was a freshman in high school, her husband emerged from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and toothpaste on the side of his lips. His hair was wet from taking a shower, and Alison glanced up at him before quickly exiting out of Emily's Facebook profile.

At her feet, her old and beloved dog Pepe let out a deep breath and shifted slightly from his spot where he was curled up on the end of their bed. Rollins continued to brush his teeth as he glanced at Alison's old dog.

"Are you sure you want to keep your dog for much longer?" Rollins asked. "All he does is mope around all day."

Alison looked up from her spot on the right side of their bed, her eyebrows crinkling at what her husband said.

"Of course I want to keep him, I've had him since I was seventeen." Alison said, surprised with her husband's dislike for her dog. Alison knew Rollins wasn't a big fan of Pepe, mostly because Pepe couldn't do much anymore besides eat and sleep, but she didn't think he would want him to be put down.

"Ok and he's old and clearly dying. I can just get you a new puppy, one that will play fetch and go on walks with you like Pepe used to." Rollins said. "Isn't that what you want?"

"You don't get it." Alison said, shaking her head and looking back down at her computer.

"Of course I don't get it, Alison." Rollins said, going back into the bathroom and spitting into the sink before turning of the water. He reentered the bedroom and made his way towards his side of the bed, pushing back the sheets and getting under the covers. "You never tell me anything anymore."

"I tell you things." Alison protested.

"Not what goes up in here, sweetheart." he said, as he pointed to his head.

"Fine, what do you want to know?" Alison huffed, as she closed her laptop and placed it on her bedside table.

"I'll ask you when I think of something." he sighed, cracking his neck and adjusting himself in the pillows.

"Ok then." Alison said, looking at her husband as he closed his eyes.

Alison met her husband through her sister Cece when she was nineteen years old, although it was indirectly. Dr. Rollins and Dr. Gordon opened a psychiatric practice in Rosewood, the closest place her sister could go to talk to someone and receive the correct medication to help counteract what was going on. She met Rollins when she picked Cece up from one of her appointments. He was charming, attractive, and got Alison laughing within a few seconds of meeting him. Even though Rollins had a first name, in high school he was always called by his last name, so it sort of just stuck.

It wasn't long until they went on their first date and after a few more, they were steadily dating. Everything was great in Alison's life, a year later they got engaged and shortly after married. Rollins was older, thirteen years older to be exact, but he had his life together and seemed to care about Alison for who she was. But more recently, the feelings that she once had for her husband weren't the same.

"What do you think was up with that girl in the restaurant today?" Rollins asked, propping his head up on his arm to look at Alison.

"Which one? There were a lot of girls there." Alison said, looking at her husband. Although she knew exactly who he was talking about.

"The one who like freaked out towards the end." he said. "Do you know who she is?"

"No." Alison lied. "Never seen her before."

"Only wondering because you seemed to know her." he said.

"What?" Alison asked, raising her eyebrows.

"You waved at each other, I could only assume that meant you knew each other." he said. "Just because I was looking at my phone screen doesn't mean I'm totally blind Alison."

Alison sighed and closed her eyes, "She used to go to my high school, I just was being friendly. Is that a crime?"

"No, it's not." Rollins said. "Do you know what happened to her leg?"

"Well she came back from Afghanistan, so she probably got hurt over there. I didn't ask." Alison said, picking up her laptop again from the bedside table.

"So you have talked to her?" Rollins asked. "You used to be better at lying."

"Why are you prying?" she asked, his comment sparking anger within her. "It's not really any of our business."

"Honey, prying in people's lives is my business. It's my job." Rollins smirked at Alison.

"Okay it is, but she's not one of your patients so I really don't think that you should be prying into sensitive matters of her life." Alison said.

"My mom wants us to come to their house for Christmas." Rollins said.

"Okay, what days?" Alison asked.

"That's the thing, she wants us a week before Christmas break starts for you." he said.

"A week? Babe, I can't just take off like you can." Alison sighed. "My students need me, I just can't throw them a substitute a week before break."

"Well I haven't seen my family for a long time, they don't live within driving distance like your family does." Rollins said.

"Than fine, go without me for a week. I'll take a plane to Vancouver once the break starts." Alison said, pulling up the Air Canada website to book a flight.

"Are you sure?" Rollins asked. "You know, that you don't want to just come with me?"

"Yeah it's fine." Alison said, entering in the information to book a flight in December.

"The house won't be too lonely?" Rollins joked.

"I'll have Pepe, I'll be fine." she said, booking the ticket for herself.

"Alright then," Rollins said, leaning forward to press a kiss to his wife's lips. "Would you be a dear and buy a ticket for me too?"

"For when?" Alison asked.

"The Sunday before Christmas, like the seventeenth I think?" he said, closing his eyes while pulling the covers up onto him. "Just think, we could drink champagne and snowmobile for the next two weeks and then watch the fireworks display on New Years."

"Because nothing says Merry Christmas like snow that's taller than you." Alison said sarcastically, booking Rollins flight and exiting out.

"You know it." Rollins said, turning off his light on his side of the bed. "Goodnight."

Instead of going to sleep like her husband, Alison stayed up and logged back onto her Facebook. Making sure that her husband's back was turned to her, she typed in Emily Fields on the search bar and pulled up her profile again.

Emily's profile picture of her graduating was easily her favorite photo of her. Her smile somehow made Alison want to smile, and Alison remembered how despite Emily being a shy girl, she always smiled when Emily did.

In the information of her Facebook profile, Alison is quick to learn more about Emily in a few short words.

Born on November 19th, 1993

YGraduated Rosewood High School in 2012

Currently a Combat Medic for the US Army (since 2012)

Her birthday was soon, as in her 24th birthday was in eight days soon. Now that Emily had been reintroduced into her life, she couldn't seem to be able to stop trying to find out more about her.

The last photo she looked at of Emily was one from her senior year. She was at the Rosewood swimming pool with a towel wrapped around her body, smiling brightly at the camera with her goggles still on her face. She was holding up a gold medal, a smile from pure accomplishment on her face. A small smile creeped onto her face as she looked at the photo, Emily in her element. Water.

Alison exited out of the photo and scrolled back up to the top of her Facebook profile, hitting the "Friend Request" button before closing her laptop and going to sleep.


The Monday afternoon following the Rosewood students lunch block, the bell rang to signal the students to make their way to their next class. Alison was already in her classroom, opting not to go to the teacher's lounge for lunch and instead enter some grades into the gradebook on time. One thing Alison hated while she was in high school was her teachers being behind on grades and Alison was not going to be one of those teachers.

She finished the last of her salad before closing the tupperware lid to store in her hand bag. Her almost empty can of soda was still sitting near the keyboard of her computer, which would probably be finished in the next few minutes.

Soon students began filing in as they did every day, Alison didn't pay much attention since class didn't start for another two minutes. Quickly sending a text to her husband about her being in need of dog food for Pepe, she stored her phone in with the tupperware container before pulling the day's assignment out from the printer.

Looking up at the students coming in, she noticed someone in their desk chair that normally wasn't sitting in it at this time. It was a rarity for Olivia to be on time, and when she was she was just arriving a few seconds before the start of the class. Never was she full minutes early like she was now, and Alison watched her as she leaned over her desk to continue typing away on her phone.

On the first day Olivia came to her class, Alison thought Emily had somehow reversed her age clock and became sixteen again. She did a double take when Olivia walked in on the first day in clothes that she distinctly remembered Emily wearing back when they were in high school. The second Olivia sat down in an empty seat in the back of the class, Alison frantically dug for her class list. Looking over the list for Emily's name, she saw "Olivia Fields" listed instead. At first Alison thought Emily had a sister she never knew about, but when she thought back to their high school days she remembered Emily mentioning being an only child. It wasn't too long until she figured out that Olivia was Emily's cousin.

When the rest of the time for students to arrive was up, Alison turned on the SmartBoard which projected what she had on her computer onto a screen.

"Alright, it looks like everyone is here on time today." Alison pointed out, standing up from her desk with a stack of papers. "You know the drill, a mini quiz on last night's reading. Continue reading in your free reading book afterward, I'll collect the quiz when I check off that you did your homework."

Counting out the papers in fours, she passed them to the front desk of each row, who would take one and pass them behind. When all the quizzes were passed out she returned to her desk and picked up her gradebook so that she would be able to check off if each person did their homework. Waiting a few more minutes, she began at the row closer to her and made her way around.

"Misha, did you complete the reading response questions?" Alison asked, looking at Misha's desk for a sign of her homework.

Misha looked up from her completed quiz before starting to dig through her slightly unorganized backpack. "I know it's in here somewhere, Mrs. Rollins." she said.

"I'll come back, but please have it out by then." Alison said, taking the quiz from her but smiled slightly at her.

She continued around the room until she made it to Olivia's desk. Normally, Olivia would be struggling with completing the quiz, but when Alison approached her pencil was on her desk and her answers were neat and complete. Another first.

"Do you have your homework, Emil- I mean Olivia?" Alison said, shaking her head as she found Olivia's name in her grade book.

"Do I really look that much like her?" Olivia asked almost monotonously as she brought her completed homework questions into view for Alison.

"I'm sorry, but yes you do." Alison agreed. "Turning it around I see."

"Yeah well, Emily forced me to stay at the dining room table until I read and finished all of my homework. It's one of the cons of having her home, she has nothing better to do apparently." Olivia sighed.

"I think she's just looking out for you." Alison said, checking off that Olivia did her homework. "She just wants you to have a bright future like everyone else. Are you going to participate in the discussion today?"

Olivia shrugged, "I guess so."

After checking off all the homework, Alison opened up the powerpoint she made that brought up key ideas from the chapters they read for homework. The notes were mainly reference points for the students, since Alison knew the book like the back of her hand already.

"So from what you read, Pip seems to have this idea of what he thinks Estella is actually like compared to what others think of her. She's a manipulator and doesn't seem to return Pip's feelings, why do you guys feel he's still holding onto his feelings? As the books says he loved her, 'against reason, against peace, against promise.'" Alison asked.

Uria raised her hand first, making Alison quick to call on her to start the discussion.

"Well, Pip seems to be in way over his head about Estella. They spent years apart and yet he was still fantasizing about her and was unable to love anyone else like he loves her. When he was visiting Estella's mother, all she did was manipulate them and they were just kids back then. Being together again, I think the only reason he's still in love with Estella is because he's feeding into his younger self." she said.

Olivia was quick to butt in and only barely raise her hand slightly, "Actually, in my opinion, Pip's in love with Estella because he sees the good that no one else can in her. Behind her cold demeanour there must be something that Pip sees, not some flame from his childhood. He loved her against promise because he knows of the slim chance that he has of being with her. He loved her against reason because nearly everyone knew not to have feelings for her. And he loved her against peace because he knew he would never be able to fully rest if he didn't have her." Olivia explained.

"Those are both good points, does anyone else have anything to add to them?" Alison asked, not being able to help herself but smile at Olivia's display of effort.

After the discussion ended and Alison was showing a few clips about grammar in the 19th century, she took a peek at her phone to see if her husband replied to her text about Pepe's food.

Rollins: I get out of work at 6, pet store is closer to the school… I'll pick it up but I expect payment ;)

But right underneath the notification of his text, she saw something that caught her interest more.

Emily Fields has accepted your Facebook friend request.


To say Alison was exhausted after school on Wednesday was an understatement. She exited the school building with her handbag on her arm, holding her empty coffee thermos and phone in the other hand as she walked to the teacher's parking lot near the front of the school. As she approached her silver car, she dug through her bag to find her car keys. A small gust of cold wind blew through, causing the remaining turning leaves on the tree to rustle. Alison shivered slightly in her gray peacoat, happy to get into her car so she could turn up the heat. It was cold, but not cold enough for snow.

Hoping that she wouldn't fall asleep behind the wheel, she began to drive towards her house in the north part of Rosewood. Passing by coffee shops, Alison didn't stop until one in particular caught her eye. The Brew definitely had the best coffee in Rosewood, and at this rate Alison wasn't going to make it home without crashing her car. So instead of risking her life by continuing to drive home, she pulled into the parking lot of The Brew and exited her car.

The Brew smelt like coffee beans and some sort of gingerbread, making Alison feel instantly better as she took in the cozy atmosphere. It was comfortably warm inside, enough to make Alison remove her coat and hang it on a peg by the door. There were a few people inside, college students who were going to Hollis and came to Rosewood to study, small groups of girls, and an elderly couple sharing a gingerbread cookie.

Alison caught sight of someone towards one of the windows of The Brew, sitting by themselves with a mug of coffee while flipping through a Vogue magazine. Alison smiled slightly and got in line to get her usual coffee, a flat with with three sugars cubes. There was only one person in front of her, a guy who looked middle aged and smiled at Alison when he turned around with his coffee.

After getting her coffee, Alison made her way towards the small table that Emily was sitting at. Emily still hadn't lifted her head from reading the Vogue article until Alison placed her coffee down on the table for two and sat in the seat across from her.

"Hey you." Alison smiled, as Emily looked up.

"Oh, hey." Emily smiled slightly, her eyes glancing towards the door. She was wearing a cream colored sweater that hung off her shoulder slightly, and a similar colored beanie on her head.

"What's new in your life?" Alison asked, watching Emily take a sip of her coffee. "Your leg getting any better?"

"Well I get my stitches out soon, but my leg probably won't be completely healed until April." Emily sighed.

"Are you going back to the army once it heals?" Alison asked, keeping her eyes locked with Emily.

"Um, probably not immediately. I first have to do physical therapy to make sure I can still walk correctly and will be able to handle being back in Afghanistan. It could go either way really." Emily responded, setting her coffee down quietly.

"And what happens if you can't?" Alison asked.

"Well I'll probably be given another job within the army, one that I'll be able to do. They also could retire me, but I doubt that since I've only been in the army for five years." Emily shrugged.

"That's a pretty fancy contraption on your leg." Alison said, looking down at Emily's leg with the brace on it. It was black and had many straps, probably to make sure her leg was secure. "Where'd it break?"

"Um, well it broke in three places." Emily explained. She pointed to her knee, "It's fractured once in the patella, and two more times in the tibia."

Emily pointed two spots on her calf, one near on the shin and one close to her ankle. When Emily touched her braced leg, she barely even touched it all. She delicately touched her jeans with her fingertips, before returning her hand to where it was on the table.

"Wow, must hurt like a bitch." Alison said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"So, enough about me, what's happening in your life?" Emily asked, sighing slightly.

"Well you know, life of a teacher and all." Alison shrugged. "Grade papers and go home and grade more papers."

Emily laughed slightly, "Sounds pretty boring." she said, causing Alison to smile wider at the sound of Emily's laugh.

"That part is, but knowing you're helping people learn and grow really pays off." she explained. "You know Olivia told me that you actually forced her to do her homework."

"I did, she needs to have a bright future." Emily said, looking up as Alison felt someone come up behind her.

She rotated in her seat to look up at the person behind her, seeing Aria Montgomery five years older and for once, towering over her.

"Hey Em, sorry I'm late." Aria smiled at Emily. "Got held up at work."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here I think this is your seat." Alison said, rising from her chair and picked up her coffee. Once she stood up, she was back to being taller than Aria.

"Oh it's not big deal, I'm glad someone talked to Emily in my absence." Aria smiled.

"Aria this is uh, Alison DiLaurentis. She used to go to high school with us." Emily said from her seat.

"I know, how could I forget Alison." Aria smiled, holding out her hand for Alison to shake.

"I get that a lot." Alison said, trying to prove to Aria that she wasn't the same person in high school by smiling brightly at her as she shook Aria's hand.

She turned to Emily, who seemed slightly uncomfortable with her interaction with Aria.

"I'm gonna go, I'll see you around Em." she said, giving her one last smile.

"Yeah, see you." Emily responded as Aria sat down in the chair that Alison previously occupied.

Alison made her way back towards the front of The Brew and took her coat off of the peg. Somehow she managed to pull on her coat while still balance her coffee in the other hand. She left the warm atmosphere of the coffee shop and into the cold November weather, instantly drinking more of her coffee so that she could keep warm inside.

Her phone rang just as she was approaching her car, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see who was calling her. On the screen displayed "Cece" and a photo of she and her sister smiling in Cape May from a few years ago. Quickly sliding her phone to answer the call, she brought her phone to her ear.

"Hey Cece!" Alison said, instantly smiling.

"Hey chica." Cece replied. "Staying out of trouble?"

"Of course, you know Rosewood, nothing goes on here." Alison sighed, opening her car and climbing in.

"Good, just checking in on my favorite little sister." Cece said.

Alison rolled her eyes playfully, "I'm your only little sister." she sighed.

"You never know." Cece laughed over the phone.

"Hey listen, I wanted to invite you over for dinner. Just us and Rollins, maybe on Thursday night if that works for you. I was going to make salmon if you were interested." Alison said, turning on her car to warm herself up.

"You know I can't pass up an opportunity to be with my sister." Cece said, and Alison could almost hear Cece smile through the phone.

"Alright that sounds good, I'll let Rollins know." Alison said, putting her free hand on the vent which was distributing hot air into the car. "I have a lot to tell you. A lot has happened in the past week."

"Sounds exciting, can't wait to hear!"


A few minutes after seven the sound of the doorbell rang through the house that Alison and her husband Rollins owned. Looking up from cutting the tomatoes for the salad that she was making, Alison placed the knife down on the cutting board and headed towards the front door of their house. Pepe had risen from his spot on the kitchen floor near Alison and barked a few times as he followed her slowly, as if to make sure that she heard the doorbell.

Alison quickly opened the large wood door to reveal her sister Cece behind, smiling brightly as Cece came into full view. Cece flashed a similar smile back to Alison before stepping forward to wrap her sister into a hug.

"Hey Ali D." Cece said into Alison's ear as they hugged. "I brought wine."

"Wow, best sister ever coming in strong." Alison smiled, letting going of Cece to allow them inside. "Rollins is watching the Eagles game but he'll probably join us for dinner if the game isn't too exciting."

"Oh right, I forgot how much he was a fan of football." Cece said, as they walked towards the kitchen of their house. She placed the bottle of red wine on the island where Alison was cutting tomatoes, and immediately bent over when she saw a very old Pepe walk slowly towards her, wagging his tail extremely fast as he approached Cece.

"Looks like someone has a favorite." Alison remarked, as she began cutting the rest of the tomatoes again.

"Well hello Pepe, someone's looking dapper in his new leather collar." Cece said in a baby voice, as Pepe laid down so that she could rub his stomach. Cece dropped the voice as she looked up at Alison, "How's he doing?"

"The vet removed the tumor on his stomach and gave me some medication to help with his larynx but he's really just been like this all the time." Alison remarked sadly as she put the cut up tomato into the salad bowl with onions, lettuce, and bits of carrot.

The oven beeped, signaling the salmon that was within was done. She stopped making the salad and went to take the cookie tray with the salmon on it out the oven, turning off the timer before turning back to Cece. A loud noise came from the living room that sounded like lots of cheering and they heard Rollins shout in excitement.

"Sounds like the Eagles got a touchdown." Cece remarked, patting Pepe on the head before straightening up.

Alison nodded as she placed the cookie tray down on the granite to cool, checking the timer for the asparagus.

"Well dinner is pretty much done, there's thirty seconds left on the asparagus." Alison said to sister.

"Great, I'm starving. Want me to bring the salad and wine in?" Cece asked, picking up the salad bowl.

"That would be great." Alison said, taking the salmon off the cookie tray and onto a serving plate. "I'll let Rollins know that dinner is ready."

After she finished putting salmon on a serving plate and took the asparagus out to place them onto a separate plate. Carrying both plates towards the dining room, she stopped at the open sliding doors to the living room where her husband back was to her as she watched the game on their flat screen TV.

"Hey, dinner's ready." Alison said.

"What?" Rollins asked, not turning his attention from the screen. "I'll be in soon."

Alison glanced at the score of the game before heading towards the remaining distance towards the dining room. Cece was already inside, opening the bottle of wine and pouring it into glasses.

"Don't pour any for Rollins, I don't know if he'll be joining us for dinner or not." Alison said, waving off Cece as she walked towards Rollins table setting with the bottle of wine.

"Interesting game huh." Cece remarked, setting the wine bottle down in the middle of the table as Alison began dishing out the salmon with mustard sauce, asparagus, and salad.

After they sat down and began to eat, Cece told Alison a story of a how she went to Ravenswood to look at houses since her apartment just wasn't cutting it out anymore. Dinner continued with much laughter until Rollins appeared towards the end of it.

He walked in, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles football jersey and holding his glass of whiskey.

"Hey, decided to join?" Alison asked, looking up at her husband. His hair was messy, unlike his normal combover he did for work.

"Uh yeah, actually I was just wondering if I could bring a plate in. The game is pretty interesting tonight." he said, picking up his plate and began scooping salmon and onto his plate.

"They were leading 35 to 7 when I went in during the halftime, think it's pretty obvious they're going to win." Alison remarked as her husband opened up their alcohol cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

"Yeah well it is interesting ok?" Rollins said, a little louder than his normal tone. "It was your fault for making this dinner on a game night."

Alison's jaw hardened as she stared at her husband's back, and Cece noticed her sister's telltale signs of anger. Although she was better at controlling her anger than she used to be, some things just threw Alison over.

"I think Alison just wants to spend some family time together." Cece spoke for Alison in a much nicer way than Alison would've had she opened her mouth. "And hi, by the way."

"Hey." Rollins replied, putting the alcohol back in the cabinet. "I'm going to go back to the living room."

He picked up his plate and glass of whiskey, heading towards the exit of the dining room.

"You both can join me you know!" he called as he left.

Dinner continued in silence for a few more minutes as Alison tried to cool off and Cece eyed her sister occasionally.

"So, uh, what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Cece asked, as Alison finished her dinner. "You said a lot has happened in the past week or whatever."

"Oh right," Alison said. "let's go talk about that outside on the deck. Let me just take care of the plates."

Cece helped Alison clear off the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher despite Alison saying that she didn't need the help. Pouring the rest of the bottle of wine into their glasses, both girls went out the back door to the deck.

It was a chilly night, but neither girl seemed to mind the cold with some alcohol in their systems. Both could see their breath contrast against the dark sky as they leaned against the railing of the wooden deck with their wine glasses in their hands hanging over the edge.

"So, fill me in." Cece said, taking a sip of her wine.

"So, I met someone from high school who I haven't seen in five years like last week." Alison said, glancing at her sister.

"Ooooh, significance?" Cece asked. "Who was it?"

"Uh, do you know Emily Fie-"

"Oh my God, you saw Americano!" Cece cut Alison off.

"Americano?" Alison asked in confusion.

"Yeah, that's my nickname for her." Cece explained.

"Oh, so you know her?"

"She used to work at The Brew in her senior year. Whenever she drank coffee, she would always have an Americano." Cece said, smiling the whole time. "How is she? I miss her so much, she was always great to talk to."

"Well uh, she's got a broken leg." Alison said.

"Oh I already knew that." Cece said, waving her off as she took another sip of her wine.

"You did?" Alison asked.

"Shit travels quickly in Rosewood, you would know." Cece smirked as she watched Alison take a sip of wine. "Remember the days in high school when you had a giant secret crush on her? Because I do."

"You knew I had a secret crush on her and you didn't tell me she worked at The Brew!" Alison gasped. "Some sister."

"Alison, you were dating Noel Kahn, and she was dating some girl named Kelsey and then that swim girl Paige. It wouldn't have worked out." Cece said.

"She dated a girl named Kelsey?" Alison frowned. "Why didn't I know this?"

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" Cece asked.

Alison thought over the new information she learned about Emily while taking another sip of wine.

"So, you doing anything fun with Rollins soon?" Cece asked. "Or have you guys become permanent home bodies."

Alison sighed, "Well he wants to go to Vancouver for Christmas break."

"That's something!" Cece nodded.

"Yeah but he wants to leave a week before Christmas break starts for me." Alison said.

"Oh, so are you guys going after it starts?" Cece asked.

"Well I am, he's leaving the week before." Alison explained. "He wasn't really up to staying behind any longer than he had to."

"Yikes." Cece said, sipping more of her wine. "Anything else?"

"Not really, he's too invested in figuring out his patient's problems than anything else." Alison said, chuckling slightly. "I used to think that was pretty heroic."

"Well Rollins was McDreamy in one package, I don't blame ya honey." Cece shrugged. "At least you got Thanksgiving with the whole DiLaurentis family to look forward to."

"What type of girl do you think Jason's going to bring to dinner this time?" Alison asked, smirking to herself.

"Hmm, well last year the girl was definitely on drugs and the year before that it was some girl who had a tattoo of a pickle on her wrist." Cece smiled as they both remembered Jason's girlfriend history. "She was a nice girl though."

"You know what you guys should do to get the fun back in your lives?" Cece suggested.

"What?" Alison asked. "Humor me."

"A party." Cece smirked.

"A party?"

"You heard me. Invite your friends, invite his friends, invite me, and especially invite Emily." Cece said.

"Why especially Emily?" Alison asked. "You know I'm married."

"Who said anything about Emily being there for your benefit? I want to reconnect with my favorite barista." Cece said. "You were right, she is a real hottie. I bet she's got that whole, 'hot wounded soldier who's looking for love with the girl that gets her' thing going on."

Alison laughed slightly, "I'm sure."

"So will you have the party?" Cece asked, hopefully.

"I'll talk to Rollins about it." Alison nodded.

"Just don't have it on football Thursday, or he's just going to hang out in front of the TV the whole time."


On Saturday, the day before Emily's 24th birthday, Alison found herself buying things for a gift basket for Emily. She already had bought different types of cookies, bath salts for relaxation, a new pair of knit gloves since she noticed Emily's were wearing out from the last time she saw her, hot chocolate mix, and now she was picking up something special from within a jewellery store.

After placing everything in a cardboard box and wrapping it in some colorful birthday wrapping paper, Alison decided to bring Emily her presents over now since she wouldn't be seeing Emily on her birthday. She still remembered Emily's address since Emily's friends had convinced her to have a party or two once back in their high school days at her house.

Making sure her scarf was snuggly around her neck, she parked on the street right by Emily's house and got out with the cardboard box under her arm. Crossing the street, she looked at the green house and noticed how cosy it looked. It was already starting to get dark outside at five o'clock, and the living room light of Emily's house was shining brightly through the windows.

Alison climbed the porch steps and approached the front door, ringing the doorbell while praying Emily was home.

The person who opened the door wasn't Emily, but who it was certainly looked a lot like her.

"Mrs. Rollins?" Olivia asked, frowning. "Did I do that bad on your test or something?"

Alison laughed slightly, "No, you're fine. I actually was wondering if Emily was home."

"Duh, she barely ever leaves the house since her parents are always at work and can't drive her everywhere." Olivia said. "Let me get her."

Instead of going to get Emily, Olivia just turned around towards the living room.

"Hey, Em?" she called.

"What?" Emily responded, sounding a bit distant and far away.

"There's a friend here for you with a large package!" Olivia shouted back.

"If it's Hanna I told her to wait until my party tomorrow!" Emily called.

"It's not! You might want to get over here." Olivia called, before turning back to say something to Alison. "Why don't you come on in Mrs. Rollins."

Olivia stepped inside to allow her English teacher to enter, shutting the door behind her.

"If you're staying, you can hang your coat on the pegs right there." Olivia said casually.

"Thanks." Alison smiled, feeling slightly awkward seeing one of her students outside of the classroom.

She heard the sound of crutches getting louder and as she hung her coat on the peg, Emily entered the front hallway of her house.

"Ali?" she asked, shocked to see her in her house. "I didn't know you were stopping by."

"Yeah me either, but I got you something. I would've waited until your actual birthday, but I figured I wouldn't be seeing you." Alison said, holding out the cardboard box.

"You didn't have to get me anything." Emily said. "It's not like I'm 21 and can legally drink or something."

"Yeah well, I wanted to do something nice for you. So just accept what's in the box." Alison said.

"Should I open it now or wait until tomorrow?" Emily asked, not taking the box from Alison since she didn't have any free hands.

"Well, I probably should explain to you why I got these gifts so I guess it should be now." Alison suggested.

"Oh right, we can open them in the living room." Emily said. "Follow me."

Alison recognized the living room, although she had always been in it when the couches were moved to the side of the room and most of the furniture had been cleared out to make a dance floor.

The living room had a cozy atmosphere, the electric fireplace was on and blowing hot air into the living room. There was a sectional facing a large television, and an armchair with remotes and the daily paper that looked like it was most sat in by her father. There was a basket of laundry on the end of the sectional, some of the clothes were folded while the remainder of the clothes were still in a heap in the basket.

"Sorry, I was doing laundry when you stopped by." Emily explained, as she sat down on the other side of the sectional.

Alison sat down next to her and placed the box on the coffee table. Olivia had disappeared once Emily came into view.

Alison pushed the box slightly towards Emily, nodding her head. "Open it."

Emily reached a hand out and found the edge of the wrapping paper, slowly removing the tape to tear it off.

"Wow, you're no fun at taking off wrapping paper." Alison remarked,

"I don't want to be rude." Emily replied.

"You're being rude by being slow. Come on, tear it off."

Smirking slightly, Emily tugged harshly and ripped the paper off the box. Alison smiled as Emily continued to rip the rest of the paper off of the box, revealing the unsealed cardboard box. After pushing away the wrapping paper, she lifted the flaps of the box to reveal her many presents.

"Okay, you really didn't have to do this." Emily said, lifting out the blue bath salts.

"The bath salts are really good, I use them sometimes. It's this special smell that's supposed to relax your body and joints." Alison said, as Emily examined the jar and placed it on the coffee table.

"You know I needed new gloves." Emily said, taking out the maroon pair that Alison had gotten her.

"I know. That's why I got you them." Alison pointed out, as Emily placed the gloves down next to the bath salts.

Emily continued to find her presents, the cookies and the hot cocoa mix, a few bags of candy that Alison knew Emily liked, until finally Emily found the black long box at the bottom.

"What's this?" Emily asked, raising her eyebrows slightly as she pulled the box out.

"What does it look like dummy?" Alison smiled, as Emily opened the lid.

"Woah." Emily remarked, looking down at the gold 'Emily' necklace that Alison had got her. It was plated with 18 Karat gold, and had a small gold chain around it. "You know I already wear a necklace with my name on it anyway."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure this necklace is a lot prettier than a dog tag." Alison pointed out.

"You're right on that one, Ali D." Emily smiled, taking the necklace out of the box. "Please tell me you didn't spend a lot of money on this."

"I didn't." Alison lied.

"Ali." Emily almost whined. "You know I can't accept this."

"How can you tell if I'm lying?" Alison asked, a smile teasing her lips.

"Your lips may tell one thing but your eyes tell all." Emily said, pointing at Alison's eyes.

"Just take the damn necklace before I choke you with it." Alison threatened although she didn't mean it.

"Ouch, I guess I'm going to have to accept it then." Emily said, handing Alison the necklace. "At least help me put it on though."

Alison smiled, taking the necklace from Emily's fingers. Emily rotated in her spot on the couch and lifted up her hair in both her hands. Alison cleared her throat and reached through the hole between Emily's arm and neck so that she could grab one end of the necklace with the other hand.

She fumbled quite a bit as she tried to hook Emily's necklace together, and Emily teased her about having butterfingers.

"The chain's really small." Alison said, waving off Emily's teasing.

When she finally hooked the necklace around Emily's neck, Emily let go of her hair and let it flow back over her shoulders.

"How does it look?" she asked, turning back to Alison with a bright smile on her face.

"It looks good." Alison commented, wondering why she could feel her heartbeat in her chest slightly.

Smiling, Emily looked back over her gifts as Alison glanced around the living room. She noticed Emily's army combat jacket hidden behind the basket of laundry that she didn't notice before. Smirking, she stood up and walked towards it.

"Wow, nice." Alison said, picking it up. The jacket was a bit heavier than Alison expected, and she saw the name 'Fields' written on the chest. On the arm was the American flag and on the other side was what looked like layers of a triangle but it told what level Emily was in the army.

Sliding her arms into the jacket arm sleeves, she pulled the jacket on and turned to face Emily. The jacket felt slightly heavy on her shoulders, but it fit her almost perfectly since she and Emily were close to the same body proportions.

"Having fun with that?" Emily asked, smiling at Ali from where she sat.

"I feel like I could save the world in this, why don't you wear this all the time?" Alison asked, buttoning the jacket up. "I could live in this jacket, no more clothes for me."

"Yeah I had to wash it specially, I'm glad you like it." Emily said as Alison playfully hid behind the coffee table.

"I'm camouflaged, can you see me?" she asked.

"Yes, I can see you." Emily said, shaking her hand at Alison's playfulness.

Straightening back up, Alison glanced at the side table by the sectional with a few photos on them. She walked over and picked one up, looking at the picture of Emily and her dad on a carousel. Emily had to be only four, and she looked extremely adorable in her overalls. If Alison ever had kids, she would want them to look like Emily did.

"Hey, was this at the Philadelphia zoo?" Alison asked.

"Yeah, you recognize it?" Emily asked, as Alison sat down next to her still in Emily's army jacket.

"My dad took me and my brother and sister on it when I was like seven." Alison said.

"Your sister's Cece right?" Emily asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "And your brother's name is...Jake?"

"Jason, and yeah Cece is my sister." Alison nodded. "Back then though she was Charlie."

"Right, I think your sister mentioned something about that. I didn't really think it was my place to ask though, she's a sweet girl." Emily said, smiling at Alison.

"Yeah, she's a great sister." Alison agreed, placing the photo back on the side table. She began to take off Emily's army jacket, folding it and putting neatly back on the laundry basket. "I probably should get going, I still have to stop at the grocery store to pick up groceries."

"Oh, sorry I shouldn't have kept you." Emily said, standing up.

"No it's fine, even though we only spent like ten minutes together I had fun. We should do it again sometime." Alison smiled as Emily made her way towards her.

"After getting me all this great birthday stuff, I think someone deserves a big hug." Emily said, opening her arms while trying to balance without her crutches.

Smiling widely, Alison stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Emily for the first time. Her high school self probably just rolled over and died of contentment, but Alison kept her cool. Her chin was on Emily's shoulder, and she was hit with the smell of Emily quite strongly.

"Oh shit, I'm falling." Emily said, and began pulling backwards.

Neither of them letting go, they both collapsed onto the couch with Alison falling onto of Emily. Trying to prevent her weight from falling onto Emily's broken leg, she unwrapped one of her arms and caught most of her weight by pressing her hand onto the couch next to Emily's side. With her other arm still wrapped around Emily's middle, both girls began to laugh with no want to get up.

"Guess I need my crutches to balance." Emily said casually, her breath hitting Alison's face as Alison's gold locks fell in front of her.

"Wow Em, your balance really is shit now." Alison teased. "And to think, you were the only one in our gym class to walk the full length of the balance beam in freshman year."

"Hey, I can't help the fact that I don't have use of one of my legs." Emily laughed, Emily's minty breath continuing to his Alison's face.

"I should probably go." Alison said, starting to carefully get up from where she lay on top of Emily.

"I would show you out, but I really don't feel like falling again. I don't have Life Alert, and Olivia's practically deaf to all noises with her headphones on." Emily said.

"Right. Hey listen, my husband and I are having a small party at our place on Tuesday. Nothing too big, like twenty people at the most. I was wondering if you wanted to go, my sister really wanted to see you." Alison said, including how Cece wanted to see Emily to play off the face Alison really wanted Emily to go.

"Tuesday? Uh, yeah. I can probably make it." Emily nodded.

"Here, let me give you my number so I can text you the details." Alison said, as she pulled on her coat.

"How about I give you my number since I barely carry my phone on me." Emily said.

"You don't use your phone?" Alison asked, pulling out her own.

"I never feel the need to, I don't get many texts or anything." Emily shrugged. "I only go on Facebook sometimes, but all people do is brag."

"Hmph, well consider me your new texting buddy Emily Fields." Alison said, going into the Contacts app and handing her phone over to Emily.

Emily typed her number in and saved the contact, handing her phone back to Alison.

"Well, have a happy birthday Emily." Alison smiled. "Can't wait to see you again."


your reviews make my life and really help my motivation! thank you so much and keep it up!

i was nervous about writing again since i haven't in almost a year :)