When Ali awoke, she was wrapped in warmth. Her body was bare, and the person she was lying on's body was also bare. The covers surrounded her and ended at her lower back, trapping her warmth within while leaving everywhere above her back exposed and bare. She felt warm inside, just like the outside. The bridge of her nose was pressed to the warm neck of the person she was lying on, and she breathed in their smell. It was a mix of sweat and perfume, and it smelt really good. Her arms were around the person's neck, and she rose up and down slightly whenever they breathed.

She had just realized the sound of her phone ringing, breaking the silence in the room. Her eyes fluttered open, as she squeezed the person slightly with her arms. Carmel colored skin and dark brown hair filled her eyesight, but Ali could barely see in the dark room. Her clock on her bedside table read 4:32AM, a weird hour for someone to be calling.

Without thinking much of it, she pushed slightly off Emily and reached for her cellphone.

"Hello?" Ali mumbled, sleep evident in her voice.

"Hello, this is an automated message from Rosewood Public Schools. All schools and school activities for, Friday, December 22nd, 2017, will be closed. Repeat, all schools and school activities for Friday, December 22nd, 2017, will be closed." the automated message said.

Alison hung up, slightly relieved she wasn't going to have to get up for school in half an hour anyway. She sat up slightly, letting the covers fall from her naked body as she opened her flight information. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light, reading over any reports on her flight.

"Flight 12445 AirCanada, Philadelphia to Vancouver at 3:15PM has been delayed to 5:30PM due to inclement weather."

"Who was that?" Emily mumbled, sitting up slightly. Her eyes were squinted as she looked at Ali, her hair disheveled and her face scrunched up.

"Oh, no one. Just the school, I wonder how badly it snowed." Ali said, pushing the covers back as she rose from bed.

She crossed her bedroom and peered out of her window, looking out into the dark night. There was a lot more snow on the ground than before, and from the looks of it, there was still snow coming down on the ground.

"Wow, it's pretty bad out there." Ali said, turning around to see Emily watching her.

"That's great, well I'm exhausted so I'm going back to sleep." Emily said, falling back onto the pillows. "C'mere and join."

Smiling slightly and shaking her head, Alison crossed back over towards the bed and crawled on top of the sheets towards Emily. She hovered right above Emily's face, waiting for Emily to open her eyes again. Emily's eyes fluttered open lazily as she looked up at Ali,

"Hi." Emily said, smiling.

"Hi." Alison replied, though the happy feeling inside her soon turned into a sinking one.

Ali immediately snuggled back into Emily, wrapping her arms around her chest and she carefully laid back on top of her. Emily's arm automatically grabbed Ali's hips, pulling her up towards her to get comfortable. Emily sighed deeply, as one of her hands absentmindedly reached up to stroke Ali's hair.

The pair fell back asleep together, their bodies intertwined in soft warmth. For Ali, she hadn't felt as happy as she was then in two years but, now she wasn't so sure about what she was going to do. Although what happened felt right, she knew that she was going to have to make a decision.


It was close to ten when Emily stirred underneath Alison, the weight of her body was pressing on Emily's upper chest. Alison had her in an arm lock, holding tightly to Emily's waist as she slept peacefully on her. Using her free left hand, she pushed the stray hair out of her face and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Emily sat up slightly, causing Alison to take a deep breath and move. She must've woken her just by moving, what a light sleeper. Alison lifted her head from Emily's chest and squinted her eyes, her blue eyes focusing on what was going on around her.

"What time is it?" Alison asked, her voice raspy with sleep.

"I think it's around ten." Emily sighed, letting her head fall back onto the pillow. "My mom's probably wondering where I am."

"Who cares where your mom thinks you are, you're an adult." Alison frowned. "You're 23."

Emily sighed, knowing Alison was probably right.

"And besides, it's not like you can go anywhere. The streets are a mess from what I saw earlier." she added, releasing Emily from her grip to turn her back to her and lay back down. "Now let me sleep, I'm still tired."

"Does this mean you're not going to Vancouver?" Emily asked, looking at Alison's hair.

Alison didn't respond immediately, "I don't know." she said. "The flight was cancelled so."

"Does Rollins know that?" Emily asked.

"Can we not talk about my husband right now? Thanks." Alison snapped, burying her head under the pillows. "I'm going back to sleep."

Emily sighed again and pushed the light gray duvet off of her. She carefully swung her legs over the bed, and began to get up to find her clothes.

"Where are you going?" Alison asked, turning over to watch Emily through the pillows that covered her head.

"Relax, I'm just putting clothes on. It's not like I can go anywhere." Emily said, balancing herself as she picked up her shirt off the ground.

Alison's phone began buzzing from the bedside table in long vibrations. Alison let out another loud groan which was muffled due to the pillows that still covered her head.

"Who the fuck!" Alison yelled, but lifted her head from her pillow fort to hastily grab her phone. "Oh, oops."

She slid her thumb across her phone and pushed her hair away to lift her cellphone to her ear.

"Hey!" she said, her voice instantly changing from snappy and annoyed to happy and sweet.

Emily couldn't hear the person who was talking, but she could hear Alison's responses as she busied herself with finding and putting back on her clothes.

"No! No, everything's fine here." Alison said happily.

Emily hopped across the room and picked up her neatly folded clothes, and replaced them with the disheveled pajamas of Alison's that she had worn for about fifteen minutes maximum.

"Yeah, the flight was delayed. It got cancelled entirely, the road's are still shit." Alison said, laughing slightly.

Emily pulled on her tanktop and sweater, and sat down on the edge of the bed to remove her leg brace so that she could pull her jeans back on.

"Yeah, I don't know about the rescheduling thing. Cece called last night and said she's been having a rough two days...I feel bad, but I'm always here for her and I don't want to leave her now especially when she isn't doing well." Alison easily lied, and if Emily didn't know, she would've sounded like she was telling the full truth. "No! It's not that I don't want to see you. She really is just having a bad few days, that's really it."

Emily could faintly hear the sharp voice of a man coming from Alison's phone as she pulled on her jeans as Alison's husband responded. "I wouldn't skip Christmas with your family in Vancouver if it wasn't important."

Alison sighed, and Emily turned to look at her as Alison ran a hand through her blonde hair.

"Yeah, I know. I'll make it up to you." Alison said, looking out the window. "Yes, I promise."

Emily buttoned her jeans, and turned to watch Alison fully as she began playing with a loose string of the bed sheet.

"Yes, I will...I love you too...bye." Alison said, removing the phone from her ear to hang up.

Emily frowned and looked down at the duvet, she still loved her husband? Well of course, he was her husband afterall.

"Hey, are you ok?" Alison asked, as she pushed Emily's chin up with her finger. Emily met Alison's curious eyes, how did she get over to Emily so silently?

"What?" Emily asked. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine."

Alison watched Emily for a moment, and chewed her bottom lip subconsciously.

"Hey, I think we need to talk about what happened last night." Alison said.

"What about it?" Emily asked.

"I think it's for the best that what happened remains a one time thing and that it stays between us." Alison said.

Emily looked over at Alison, who had wrapped the duvet around her body snuggly. Emily knew something along the lines of that coming, though a part of her hoped it wouldn't. A small sense of relief washed over her though, cancelling out some of the feeling that her heart was sinking.

"Yeah I agree." Emily said, trying to smile slightly.

"You do?" Alison asked, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Definitely." Emily nodded, trying to convince herself more than the girl in front of her.

"I really don't want to let this come between our friendship." Alison said, her voice thick with guilt. "I just needed some form of release with all the things going on in my life, and I'm so sorry that I used you to help with that."

"I get it. And, we don't have to let this come between us. Really, we can forget this happened." Emily said. At this point she didn't care, but would do whatever she could to have Alison remain her friend. Despite what she was feeling inside.

"That means a lot to me Emily." Alison said, smiling slightly.

Emily allowed herself to be pulled into a hug, and tried to her best to hug Alison as tightly as she was being hugged. At the same time, she also tried to avoid the fact that Alison was still wearing absolutely nothing as she hugged her.

When Alison released Emily, she touched the tip of her finger to Emily's nose, and Emily couldn't help but smile, despite the agreement they came to.

"The offer is still up by the way." Emily said, trying her hardest to keep her eyes locked with Alison's.

"What offer?" Alison asked.

"If you don't want to go to Vancouver, you're more than welcome to spend Christmas with us. My mom would be more than happy."

"I may just take you up on that offer." Alison smiled. "Thanks for thinking of me."

"Of course." Emily nodded, the corners of her mouth tipping into a smile. "You know if you are okay with eating with one of your students."

"It wouldn't be the most awkward thing I've ever done." Alison shrugged. "Do you think she'll be okay with it?"

"Um, she probably will be." Emily sighed, biting her lip. Christmas Eve was Olivia's mom's birthday, she would probably be too preoccupied with that on her mind to worry about her teacher being in the same room as her outside of school. Emily also just had recently found out that her mom had been moved from rehab to Riverside Correctional Facility. Her mom was being charged with heroin distribution and was awaiting her trial.

Olivia hadn't contacted her mom, didn't return the letters she got or even mentioned her mom besides when Emily's father gave her news on her mother's condition.

"Sounds good. Let me just take a quick shower and I can take you home. You can take a shower after me if you want." Alison said, getting up from the bed.

Acting like nothing happened.


When the doorbell rang at six-fifteen on Christmas Eve, Emily sprung from her spot on the couch. She walked steadily to the door, her strides awkward due to the brace on her leg.

"I got it!" she called out, passing through the front hallway to her front door.

She eagerly grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, revealing a smiling Alison on the other side with a large bowl of sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pecans.

"Merry Christmas!" Alison said, the side smile on her face revealed her dimples.

Alison was wearing a maroon sweater and a white knit infinity scarf. She looked particularly good to Emily, but in the past two days, Alison had looked way more attractive to Emily anyways.

"Hey! Glad you made it!" Emily smiled. "Come on in."

Emily stepped to the side to allow Alison to walk through, watching Alison look Emily up and down.

"It's weird seeing you without crutches now." Alison said. "I'm so used to you having them."

"Yeah well, Doctor Kingston thought that since I passed the six week mark, I wouldn't be needing them anymore. It doesn't hurt to walk or anything, but my leg is still healing so I have to keep the brace on." Emily said, closing the front door.

"And when does it fully heal?" Alison asked, as Emily took the bowl of sweet potatoes from her.

"Probably April, then I start physical therapy. I feel like we've been over this." Emily said, watching Alison remove her coat.

"We have, I just want to make sure that nothing has changed." Ali said. "Should I follow you?"

"Yeah, let me introduce you to my dad, you've already met my mom and all." Emily said, leading Alison toward the living room.

Wayne was crouched down at their large Christmas tree in the living room, which was lit up with an abundance of lights and homemade ornaments. He was wearing a forest green sweater, the same color of the tree that he was watering.

"Hey dad, I got someone to introduce you to when you're done." Emily said, watching her dad struggle to pour the water into the tree holder.

"Just a second Emmy, this damn tree has so many branches I can't fit the water in." her dad grunted.

Alison laughed slightly behind her, as Wayne abandoned the spot under the tree and began to stand up.

"Oh boy, definitely not as young as I used to be." he joked, as he set down the empty water jug on the side table.

"Dad, this is my, uh, good friend Ali." Emily said, side stepping to allow her dad to properly see Alison.

Her father's eyebrows raised slightly when he first saw Ali, and quickly looked at Emily before looking back at Ali.

"Well Alison, it's very nice to meet you." Emily's father smiled brightly, and held out his hand to shake Alison's. "Call me Wayne."

"Hi! Thank you so much for letting me spend Christmas in your house, it means a lot." Alison said, shaking his hand and smiling widely. "And call me Ali."

"Well Ali, it's always nice to see bright young faces around this household. You're welcome here anytime you want." Wayne said. "I was just about to turn on A Christmas Story and then make some Christmas cocktails, are you interested?"

"Sure! That sounds great." Alison said.

"Well, we're going to go take the sweet potatoes into the kitchen. Is Olivia okay up in her room?" Emily asked, glancing at the stairs.

"Uh...yeah. I think she's doing okay." Wayne sighed. "She's been a bit under the weather today, but you know how it is."

"Did she ever answer my offer about going to visit Aunt Rowan?" Emily asked.

"No, you'll have to ask her again if she comes down for dinner." Wayne said. "I'm going to go make those drinks. Do you want a soda or anything?"

"I'm good for now, but thanks dad."

Emily turned away and began walking towards her kitchen, with Alison close behind.

"Hey mom, Ali's here." Emily said, setting the sweet potatoes down on the counter.

Pam looked up from stirring string beans in a pot, and smiled instantly when she saw Ali enter the kitchen.

"Oh! Mrs. Rollins, welcome! We're so glad you could come!" Pam said, abandoning her cooking to hug Ali tightly.

"Thank you so much for having me!" Alison said, hugging Pam as tightly back. "And please, it's Ali."

"Oh, I'm sorry. The only time I've met you was at school for Olivia, I should've known." Pam said, picking up her wooden spoon again.

"No don't worry! Really it's fine." Alison said.

"Well I'm sure Emily will get you all situated for now." Pam said.

"Yeah, we're just going to go up to my room for a bit. I was maybe going to check on Olivia." Emily said, leaning on the doorframe to the kitchen.

"You probably should, she's been up in her room all day." Pam said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Ali raised an eyebrow and glanced at Emily, who shook her head in response, but began beckoning her to follow.

Both girls left the kitchen and climbed the flight of stairs that led to the upper level of Emily's house. Emily went first, taking her time as she took a step and swung her booted leg up the stairs. It was faster than when she was on crutches, but still not at fast.

"I'll get the goddamn hang of this soon." Emily mumbled, as Ali stayed a step behind her, following behind Emily with each step.

"You're fine, don't worry." Ali said, reaching up to touch Emily's lower back.

"Oh Ali!" Wayne called, entering the front hallway where the stairs were. Ali turned and withdrew her hand from Emily's back, turning around to see Wayne holding a glass in his hand. "I made you your drink, a mixture I like to call 'Peppermint Wayne.'"

"Peppermint Wayne?" Emily asked, as Ali smiled and reached out for the drink. "How creative."

"Thank you so much Mr. Fields." Ali said. "I love peppermint."

"Oh please Ali, it's Wayne." Wayne said, smiling up at her. "I'll see you girls at dinner."

Emily raised her eyebrows slightly, but reached out to touch Ali slightly.

"Come on, let's go upstairs." she said, as she began her climb up the stairs again.

They passed Olivia's room, which was silent within. If Emily hadn't been told that she was in there, she wouldn't have guessed that there was anyone inside it. Emily paused in front of the door, listening for any sort of noise to come from the room. She raised her hand to knock, but relented in the last second.

As she withdrew her hand, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Alison giving her a sad smile.

"Maybe you should give her space for now. You can tell me what happened when we get to your room." she whispered, so soft that Emily had to strain to hear her.

Emily nodded mutely, and turned to continue her way down the hallway to her room. She opened the door and walked in, immediately sitting down on her bed to adjust the boot on her leg.

"Wow, I see you've changed your room up a bit." Alison said, sipping her drink as she looked around.

"Well you know, the room was basically a timestamp of five years ago and I figured if I was going to be spending a lot of time here, I might as well update it." Emily shrugged.

The only thing that really changed in Emily's room was the decor. She took down her old swimming Olympic posters that she had hung up in awestruck as she dreamed of being one of the girls on the team. The posters were instead replaced with pictures of she and her friends. Most of the photos were a bit old, but most were from the five years that she was in service. That one month she got to spend at home, she would spend as much time as she could with her best friends. This time it was as if she barely saw them. Times really changed, but she understood how busy their lives were.

Alison walked over to Emily's bedside table, and lifted the lid to Emily's music box that she got from Aria for her birthday.

"Wow, when did you get this?" Ali asked, listening to the delicate music stream softly from within the box.

"Aria got it for me for my birthday." Emily said, spreading herself out on her new deep purple bed spread.

"Damn, and I thought I was good at giving presents." Alison said, setting her drink down on the bedside table. She took a seat next to Emily, as she continued to listen to the music box.

"So I guess you're going to want to hear about what happened with Olivia and why she's acting like this." Emily said, sitting up. Ali moved closer to Emily and picked up the book Emily was currently reading for her bedside table.

"If you would like." Ali said. "I know only a little from what I was told from a teacher's perspective."

"Right...so, the whole reason Olivia is staying with my parents for an extended period of her time is because her mom, has some problems. Substance abuse problems, and Olivia was caught up in that unfortunately. For most of her life, we didn't hear from Olivia or her mom. It really scared my dad sometimes, since it is his sister after all." Emily explained, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Alison was watching her, giving Emily all her attention. She reached out and squeezed one of Emily's hands lightly. "She had never really been in a stable family situation, always moving, always introduced to her mom's new boyfriend. When my aunt was arrested and charged with the distribution of heroin, Olivia was going to be put into the system. My parents, being who they are, decided to take Olivia in. It was just the two of them now that I was gone, and I think my dad felt obligated to help take care of his only sister's daughter."

"He felt obligated because he was her brother?" Alison asked softly, tracing a pattern into the back of Emily's hand absentmindedly.

"That, and I think he feels that it's his fault that his sister got into the situations that she was in. He was a bit older than her, about fourteen years. So by the time she got to that critical age, he was expecting me with my mom." Emily said. "I think it hangs over him, and I think he feels that he could've prevented it in someway. My dad's like that, he thinks he can save everyone from the evils of the world. I think that's why he joined the army."

"Like how you joined the army?" Alison asked, bumping into Emily slightly. "I see you have that trait in common."

Emily let out a breathy laugh, "No, I joined because I thought I could help people from their injuries. Not that I could save them from the evil of the world."

"Oh it's the same thing Emily Fields! Don't lie to yourself." Alison teased.

"Anyway, he thought he would take in Olivia. It's been hard for her, but you probably know very well how it's been with her since you do teach her. I just, don't know how to help her." Emily admitted. "I know what it's like to have a shitty teenage life, but I don't really know how to reach out to her."

"You don't have to formally reach out to her, Em." Alison said. "Just showing that you care for her and that she's in a safe place is all she will need from you for now. If she wants to come around and tell you her feelings, she will. I know how she feels with the weird family life, I was never close with either of my parents. I think she's going to turn out to be an amazing person Emily. I can see it, she has three amazing supporters in her life right now."

"Since when did you become an advice giver?" Emily asked, smiling slightly at Ali's words.

"Well when you have a hus-..." Alison's stopped, the words catching in her throat. "I mean, I did minor in psychology afterall. You didn't tell me why Christmas Eve is such a touchy day for her?"

"Oh right, well it's my aunts birthday. I think she's 32."

"She was seventeen when she had Olivia?" Alison asked.

"Yeah, dropped out of high school and everything." Emily sighed. "We don't know who the father is but she does. She never told us his name but she said he was an older college man, with smoldering brown eyes and white skin."

Alison picked up her drink from the table, "Well, thank you for sharing." she said, sipping her drink. "Your dad really does make a good drink."

"Well he'll be glad to hear that. Maybe he'll let it get to his head and quit his job to become a bartender." Emily said, watching Ali take another sip of her drink.

"Maybe you should become the bartender." Alison said.

Emily laughed, "As if."

The pair continued to talk about anything they could think of as they sat on Emily's bed. They were too busy laughing about old high school memories to worry about anything.

"Hey girls," Pam said, interrupting their laughing fit over a particular photo in the school yearbook. "Dinner's ready."

"Thanks mom." Emily said, her laughing dying down as Pam gave her a knowing look. Thankfully Alison didn't see it, it was a look that Pam used to give Emily back in high school whenever a girl was in her room that wasn't Hanna, Spencer, or Aria.

Both girls rose from Emily's bed and made their way downstairs, still laughing over the memories. Emily could hear the soft Christmas music from the top of the stairs, echoing throughout the house. Olivia's door was still closed, and Emily figured that they wouldn't be seeing her for dinner.

The dining room was decorated with different Christmas knick knacks, and garland was strung around the room at various places. On the table was dishes of food that Emily's mom had made, if her dad ever tried to make something it would be macaroni and cheese.

Emily took her usual seat in the dining room, and Alison slid into the seat next to her. Wayne was already sitting in his usual spot at the head of the table, typing away on his phone.

"What happened to the no phones rule?" Emily asked, watching her father struggle to type.

"Sorry Emmy, just checking an important message." Wayne said. In one movement he locked his phone and took off his reading glasses. "You hungry?"

"Very." Emily said, as soft feet were heard at the top of the stairs.

Emily looked over to see Olivia coming down the stairs, dressed in a maroon beanie and a forest green sweater. Her facial expression was blank, though Emily wasn't expecting much from her.

"Hey Liv, joining for dinner?" Wayne asked, as Pam brought in food.

Olivia stopped in the doorway and looked directly at Ali, eyebrows raising in surprise as she realized her English teacher was sitting in her dining room.

"Um, hi?" Olivia asked, looking at Ali.

"I didn't know you would be here." Olivia said, keeping her eyes on Ali as she sat across from her.

"I invited her." Emily spoke up. "If you don't mind."

"Oh this is great! All of us together for Christmas! It's really great to have you Alison." Pam said, sitting down at her normal spot after everything had been brought out.

Dinner started off well for Emily. Olivia didn't talk much, only giving one word responses to the questions she was asked. Other than that, she remained silent and stared down at her plate. She barely at any of her food, but Pam didn't remark about it.

"I'm going back upstairs. I don't feel good." Olivia said abruptly, throwing her napkin down on the table as she rose from her seat.

"Olivia please sit." Pam said, sighing.

"I said I don't feel good!" Olivia said, hurrying out of the dining room. Her voice was quivering and Emily swore she saw tears in her eyes.

The table remained silent for a few minutes, they even stopped eating as well.

Next to her, Alison's chair scraped the floor and she stood up.

"If you don't mind, I was wondering if I could talk to Olivia." Alison said.

"Oh Ali, you don't have to. I'm not sure she would listen to you. She sure doesn't listen to any of us." Pam said.

"Yeah Ali, really. She'll be fine." Emily said, looking up at the blonde next to her.

Ali bit her bottom lip softly. "Really, I can sort of relate to the situation she's been in. If I could please just try to talk to her…"

"Go ahead Ali. You're her English teacher. You may not be her family, but you must see her enough to understand." Wayne said.

"Thank you." Ali smiled. "It'll only be a few minutes."


Ali knocked on Olivia's door tentatively, her hand falling to turn the door knob. She turned slowly, and opened the door to a pitch black room. The sound of sniffling came from inside, and a small cough.

"Go away!" a broken voice called out. "I just want to sleep."

"It's me." Ali said gently, testing her waters by opening the door wider and stepping into the room.

Olivia didn't respond, and Ali took it as an ok sign to fully enter the room.

"I said leave me alone!" Olivia said again, which followed by the sound of sobbing.

"Olivia, please." Alison pleaded. "I just want to talk to you. Just give me five minutes."

Olivia sniffled, "Five minutes. Then can you please leave me alone?"

"Of course." Ali said, closing the door. "Can I turn a light on at least?"

"Yeah whatever."

Ali felt around for a light switch, illuminating the room so she could actually see in front of her. Olivia was sitting on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head was buried in her knees. Her room was decorated lightly, and Ali recognized some of the posters on Olivia's wall as being some that used to hang in Emily's room.

Ali crossed the room and tentatively sat down next to Olivia who kept her head buried in her knees. She was still crying causing instant guilt to pulse through Ali's veins.

"Hi I…" she began, reaching out instinctively to rub Olivia's back comfortingly. She felt awful for what Olivia was going through, and felt even more awful maybe because she was related to Emily.

Realizing at that moment her words wouldn't mean much to Olivia, she gently pulled on Olivia to come towards her. Olivia instantly melted into Alison, and wrapped her arms around Alison's middle. Alison wrapped her arms around her and rested her chin on Olivia's head as Olivia cried into her shoulder.

Alison continued to stroke Olivia's back comfortingly, allowing Olivia to let it all out.

"I know." Alison would mumbled occasionally. "I know."

When Olivia's crying slowly began to die down, Ali removed her chin from the top of Olivia's head and looked at her.

"I heard about what's going on with your mom." Alison said, moving away from Olivia. She reached out to hold her hand comfortingly. "I can see you're not taking it very well."

"My mom is fucked up Mrs. Rollins." Olivia said, wiping her eyes with her free hand.

"Hey Olivia. Outside of school my name is Ali. Since I'm your cousin's friend, if that helps." Ali said.

"And I know your life is shit right now." Ali said. "Life gets shit for 99% of the people in this world. You just need to know how to work through that and make your life better."

"You don't get it, it's been like this my whole life. My mom wouldn't come home sometimes, and I would stay up waiting for you. I would see her inject herself with heroin, it's awful. All she wanted was her next fix, and she would do anything to get that. She sold everything we had, she even sold the stuffed panda that I had when I was seven." Olivia explained. "I don't know how I was able to stay through that-"

"See! You've already been through so much, look how strong you already are at sixteen." Alison said, meaningfully. "My mother wasn't a drug addict, but I know what it's like for her to not be fully there. I didn't and still don't think my mom loves me."

Olivia sniffled, "Today is just so hard because I know she wants to see me but I feel awful. She never did anything for me and now she's saying she misses me and wants me to visit."

"You don't have to visit if you don't want to." Ali said. "But she may want to see you. Even though you have gone through so much, you are her daughter."

"I know." Olivia said. "I just don't want to be hurt again."

"You won't be hurt by her, not while she's paying her sentence. She's going to get help and maybe she'll get better. For now, you have three amazing people here to support you who love you so much. I know Emily loves you and cares for you SO much." Alison said. "Believe me, Emily gives her whole self to the people she loves."

"I didn't know you guys were friends." Olivia said.

"We reconnected recently. But if you want to go see your mom tonight to say happy birthday, or maybe find some closure, it may do you well." Ali said, rubbing her knee.

Olivia was hesitant to respond, "Well...I don't know."

"Think about it. If you want, I'll drive you. Emily and I will be with you through every step of the way. Trust me." Ali said.

Olivia sighed, "Maybe...maybe we can go tonight. Will you really take me?"

"Of course."


Olivia was sitting nervously in the seat, tapping her hand on the table as she waited for her mom to be brought in to see her. She, Emily, and Ali, had a piece of glass separating them from Olivia's mom. A phone receiver was hanging next to Olivia for when she and her mom would talk. Ali and Emily were standing next to each other, holding hands because to say they weren't nervous as well was a lie.

There was a monotonous buzzer and a woman came into view with a police escorting her. She had shoulder length short wavy black hair, and a sunken face. Alison realized that she must've been very beautiful once, but the years of drug addiction had made the beauty disappear. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit and was handcuffed in front, and she smiled slightly upon seeing her daughter.

She sat down in the chair across from Olivia, the glass was the only thing that separated them. Both of them picked up the phone and held it tentatively to their ears.

"Hi." Olivia said.

Rowan said something in response, but neither Emily or Ali could hear her. Her voice was emitting from the phone, Olivia was the only one that could hear her.

Ali watched as they exchanged a few more words, and Olivia turned around to look at them.

"My mom says hi Emily and that she hopes you're ok from what happened in Afghanistan. Your dad wrote her a letter about what happened." Olivia said.

"Tell her I said hi." Emily smiled weakly.

"She said hi…oh that's Ali. She's actually my English teacher. Yeah I know she's beautiful." Olivia said, removing her ear from the phone. "My mom says you're really beautiful."

"Tell her I said thank you." Ali smiled.

Olivia and Rowan talked, the atmosphere was light. Alison was surprised how well it was going, and Rowan seemed like a very nice woman.

"I know you're sober mom...but you're going to be in here for a little while…" Olivia said sadly. "Uncle Wayne and Aunt Pam said they were thinking of adopting me."

"You never mentioned that." Ali whispered.

"I didn't know they were that serious about it." Emily said.

"Rowan kind of looks like you." Ali smiled.

"I got that a lot more back when she looked like a model." Emily sighed.

"Are you going to let them?" Olivia asked her mom. "...Yes I want them too. It's nice being with them, even if I don't act like it."

At one point Olivia and her mom were crying, from what Alison could make out on Rowan's lips, she was apologizing.

"Mom I can't go back to an unsteady home. I'm finally in a place I'm not scared to be in. I don't feel like I could die at Uncle Wayne's house. It feels safe, and...I feel happier." Olivia said, wiping her eyes.

Alison gripped Emily's hand tighter as she watched the heart to heart between mother and daughter.

Shortly after, a police officer came in behind Rowan.

"Visiting time is up." he said. "Say your goodbyes."

Olivia wiped her tears, "I'll come back soon. I'll write, I promise...happy birthday and Merry Christmas…..yes...I love you too. Bye mom."

Alison and Emily left the prison close to tears, with Olivia already in tears as they arrived at the car. Olivia fell asleep during the car ride home, curled up in the backseat as Alison drove in silence.

"Pretty powerful huh." Emily mumbled.

"It really makes you appreciate what you have in life." Alison agreed.


They arrived home after midnight, and Olivia was still out like a light. Wayne came out and carried her upstairs to her room, thanking for Alison for helping with her family situation. Emily remarked that Wayne used to carry Emily to her room all the time when she was younger.

Pam was in the kitchen, a long envelope in her hand. She was staring down at it, her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Hey mom, I'm surprised you're still up." Emily said, giving her mom a side hug. "What's up?"

"Olivia's birth certificate came in the mail." Pam said, tapping on the envelope. "In order for her to be adopted, we have to get consent from both of Olivia's parents."

"Her dad's listed on the birth certificate?" Emily asked, frowning as Alison moved towards the pair.

"Apparently so." Pam sighed. "Well, just staring at it isn't going to make it any easier."

Wayne entered the kitchen just as Pam began opening the seal to the envelope, his face becoming very serious as he realized what was going on.

"Whoever this guy was, hopefully he has a unique enough name that it won't be hard to track him down." Wayne mumbled.

Pam pulled the certificate out of the envelope, and looked down at the print. Emily moved to look behind Pam to read the print on the certificate.

Emily read the certificate,

Olivia Danielle Fields date of birth: 4-27-01

Mother's Name: Rowan Madison Fields

Birthplace: Pennsylvania Age: 17

Emily stopped at the father's name, and read it over five times to make sure she was reading the right name. She looked up at Ali, beckoning her forward to look at the certificate.

Father's Name: Elliot Patrick Rollins

Birthplace: Vancouver Age: 20


Reviewing really helps!