"No, no. My husband is not Olivia's father." Alison frowned, as she read over Olivia's birth certificate. It had to be coincidental, but then again how many Elliot Patrick Rollins were there that were born in Vancouver?

"Ali…" Emily said, soothingly. "I know it seems weird right now but-"

"Wait," Wayne said, cutting off Emily as he rubbed his temple. "I know Olivia has a photo of Rowan and her birth father. She didn't let any of us see it, but I think I know where she keeps it."

"Will she get mad?" Pam asked. "We would be invading her privacy."

"Honey, this could help us adopt her. Alison can confirm if the man in the photo is her husband or not, and if he isn't we'll have to find him somehow." Wayne said. "Just stay here and I'll try to find it."

Wayne left the kitchen, leaving the three women in silence as they tried to process the new information. Rollins had a child sixteen years ago, with an underaged girl. She knew he liked them a bit younger, considering he married her but, what?! She didn't know what to think. Either he didn't know about Olivia at all, or he could've known about Olivia and abandoned Rowan, keeping a secret of him already having a child from her.

"Here." Wayne said, returning with a not so gently used photo. The edges were worn and it was cracked at some parts, but as Ali was passed the photo, she could clearly make out the faces of the people.

The man in the photo was most definitely her husband. Being married to him for almost two years allowed her to know her husband's face like the back of her hand, and the man in the photo was 100% Rollins. Just sixteen years younger. His face was more radiant than now, and he had stubble covering his face. His hair was its normal length, brown and a bit unruly since it didn't have any hair gel in it. He was wearing a light blue polo, accompanied by Aviator sunglasses on his face. He looked happy, his smile not the least bit artificial.

The woman next to him, who Ali assumed was Rowan, was gorgeous. She looked like Emily, but of course she would look like Emily. Olivia even looked like Emily. Now Ali knew why her husband would often ask of Emily, wonder how she was doing or what she was up to. Emily reminded him of Rowan, he even said one night that Emily reminded him of someone he used to know.

But something didn't fit, Rollins had to have made the connection between Rowan and Emily, both of them had the same last name and looked shockingly the same as well! Had he been lying to her?

Ali continued tO stare at the Rowan in the photo. She didn't look like how she did at the prison. Her hair was long and wavy, pulled back into a long ponytail that flowed down her shoulder. She was leaning into Rollins, who had his arm around her as she nestled into his shoulder.

"Can I keep this photo?" Ali asked, looking up at Wayne. "Rollins comes back from Vancouver after the holidays, and I want to see what he says about all of this."

"Do you think he'll agree to sign Olivia off to us?" Pam asked, tentatively.

"I'm sure he will." Ali nodded. "And I'll take good care of this photo. It's getting late, and I don't want to keep you guys awake. Thank you so much for having me."

"Are you sure you want to go home Ali? You can just stay here tonight." Emily said.

"No really, it's fine. I have a lot to think about, this is kind of a lot to take in. I basically have a step-daughter I had no idea about, and she's my student." Ali said, sighing as she rubbed her temple. "Can you do me a favor? Please for now, don't tell Olivia who her father is. It would really save me from the consequences that's going to come with this, at least until I figure this out with him."

"Yeah...yeah we won't say anything yet." Wayne said.

"Thank you." Ali said, smiling. "Like I said, I really should get going but, thank you so much again. And Merry Christmas, I'm sure I'll see you guys soon."


It was the evening of Christmas Day, and Alison hadn't left her house. She wasn't feeling very Christmassy anymore, especially after finding out her husband had a sixteen-year-old daughter. Instead of opening presents and having Christmas dinner, Alison had been thinking about what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She stared at the photo that she took for Olivia, and went over how she was going to confront Rollins about it when he got home after New Year's.

She had gotten a few texts from Emily throughout the day, saying Merry Christmas, checking up on her, and making sure that she was sure didn't want to come over for Christmas dinner with her family. Ali was touched by Emily seeming to care so much, but she really didn't want to see Olivia until after Christmas break.

emily: but i still have your present to give you :(

ali: haha thank you, you can give it to me another time. i have yours too but right now i'm still trying to process everything that's going on

emily: of course. no worries, text me if you need anything. i'm going to sleep. night!

Ali was drifting off to sleep as well, her hand absentmindedly stroking Pepe's fur as she tried to keep her eyes open to watch reruns of Modern Family. Just as sleep was about to overcome her, the front door of her house opened and slammed loudly.

Pepe jumped up, barking as he got off the couch and walked towards the front door. That was weird, Ali swore she locked it. She lifted her head from the couch and rose to her feet, walking cautiously behind Pepe as he entered the front hallway.

"Ali!" a deep voice called out.

It was Rollins, that was weird. He wasn't supposed to be home until after New Year's, why was he home so soon?

"Hi?" Alison asked questionably, stepping out from behind the wall she was standing behind. "What are you doing home so soon?"

"I decided to surprise the love of my life." Rollins smiled as he dropped his suitcase. "I knew you were all alone back in Rosewood, and I decided to come back and see you. Who needs my parents anyway."

Alison smiled weakly, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Listen, we need-"

"And how's Pepe doing?" he asked, bending down to rub Pepe's ears. Pepe stepped closer and rubbed up against Rollins legs.

Alison brought a hand up and pinched her nose, already becoming frustrated with her husband in less than a minute of his arrival.

"Elliot, I really think we need to talk." Alison said, firmly.

Rollins stopped making cooing noises at Pepe, and straightened up. "What's going on?" he frowned.

"A little over sixteen years ago, did you know a Rowan Fields?" Ali asked.

Rollins frowned and shook his head, "Name doesn't ring a bell. Wait Fields, isn't that Emily's last name? How's she doing by the way-"

"Just please stay focused." Ali said, quieting her husband instantly. "Look, so while you were gone, Emily's family and I came to the discovery that you had sexual relations with Emily's aunt, and ended up getting her pregnant."

"What?! Alison that's absurd, I don't even know who the fuck Rowan Fields is! How am I supposed to have a child with her?" Rollins asked, his voice raising.

"I don't know Elliot, you tell me! Your name is written on her daughter's birth certificate." Alison said, pulling out the old photo. "And you're the one in this photo with Rowan."

Rollins stepped forward and hastily grabbed the photo from Ali's hand, "Let me see that." he grumbled, his face pink with anger.

He examined the photo for a few seconds, frowning as he looked up at Ali. "This is Jamie Pierce, not Rowan Fields." Rollins said.

"No, that's Rowan Fields." Alison said. "In that photo she was sixteen years old, and she had your daughter at seventeen."

"What? No, that's Jamie. She was nineteen and going to Penn State, majoring in accounting." Rollins said, pointing hastily at Rowan in the photo.

Alison rubbed her temples, "What do you know about this Jamie Pierce then? What's the history behind this relationship?"

Rollins sighed, "Please don't get mad."

"Honey, I was seven years old sixteen years ago, I'm not going to hold that against you." Alison said. "Now explain."

"We met through a friend, Gordon actually." Rollins chuckled slightly. "She was talking to a group of girls at this small get together in someone's dorm room at my college, University of Philadelphia. We just hit it off then, went on a date or two, it was pretty unconventional. Then she disappeared, dropped off the grid a month later, never saw her again."

"She probably dropped off the grid because she was pregnant with your daughter!" Alison said.

"And so what if she was? How was I supposed to know she was pregnant, huh? This is not my fault Alison!" Rollins yelled angrily. "Can we just fucking chill out about this?"

Alison took a deep breath, "Fine if you want to chill about this. Emily's parents are going to adopt Olivia, which is your daughter's name by the way. They need the birth father to sign off that you will let them adopt her."

"And what if I don't want to sign the papers?" Rollins asked.

"You're going to sign the papers or Olivia will be your only child because your parts down there won't be able to have any." Alison hissed. "Emily's parents are the sweetest people I have ever met in my life, and they love Olivia as much as they love Emily. This is good for Olivia, and I don't think she would be willing to live with her teacher and her father that she hadn't had any contact with in sixteen years."

"Can I at least meet her?" Rollins asked. "She lives in Rosewood doesn't she?"

"She does." Alison said. "And you can only meet her, if she's willing to meet you. I'll have to talk to Emily's parents."

"Alison I want to be a part of my daughter's life, but if she doesn't want to than I won't." Rollins said, calmly. "Jamie-, I mean Rowan, will always hold a special place in my heart."

"Whatever." Alison sighed. "Just sign the adoption papers when they're presented to you."


"Woah seriously?" Hanna asked, flipping through the booklet of color choices. "Talk about major plot twist."

Hanna and Emily were currently doing their bride and maid of honor requirements of picking out the color scheme of Hanna and Caleb's wedding. Caleb and Hanna had already picked out their location, settling with a destination wedding in New York City. He had left all the other wedding planning to Hanna, since he wasn't into picking out what color napkins that the guest would be using. Hanna didn't seem to mind, since that meant Caleb couldn't object to any of the decisions that she would make.

"Alison always liked to have an eventful life." Hanna remarked, turning another page. "Now she's practically living a soap opera...do you like this green? Or is it too vibrant for a wedding? Or is green to like, vomit colored."

"I don't know, I kind of feel bad for her. She's had a lot going on lately." Emily said. "And no, I wouldn't go with green. Especially that green, this isn't prom."

"You're right, what was I thinking. God, who knew how much effort it would take to plan a wedding." Hanna sighed, flipping to the blue and purple swatches.

"How did you get Caleb to agree to have your wedding in New York?" Emily asked. "He seems more of a laid back, small wedding kind of guy."

"If Caleb had his way with everything, it would be a three minute wedding in jeans and a t-shirt, washed down with a bottle of beer." Hanna said.

"Wow, someone's been watching Mamma Mia I see." Emily laughed. "And he's okay with all of this?"

"For the most part. I think he's so okay with all of it, mainly due to the fact he doesn't have to worry about it." Hanna said. "I wonder how much worse this would be if I didn't have a wedding planner."

"Hey, this purple looks really nice. It's not too in your face, but will be a nice compliment to everything." Emily said, pointing to the purple gray color swatch.

Hanna eyed it over, "I like that." she smiled. "That color bow tie on Caleb with a white vest and black tux? Of course, the only thing he's actually deciding is what his tux will look like...but, I'm sure it won't take much convincing."

"Is that all we have to do for today?" Emily asked. "Or did you want to look at the bride's maid's dresses while I'm still here."

"Oh! Yes! I brought a whole catalogue of those! I'm thinking now that we have a light purple for the theme, it would be nice if my bride's maid's were in like a darker plum color. I think there are a few really nice looking ones in this catalogue, I looked for like five minutes before my gynecologist appointment this morning." Hanna said, pulling it out of her purse.

"Wow, yikes Hanna. Thanks for that information." Emily said, raising her eyebrows slightly as Hanna began flipping through the catalogue.

"I had my eye on this one style, mostly because I definitely could see you in it and you would look really hot." Hanna said, stopping on a page. "What do you think?"

Emily looked at the bride's maid's dress. It was a dark plum color, had strapless sleeves and the dress reached the floor. The woman who was modeling it looked extremely happy, laughing at absolutely nothing.

"Wow, this one is really nice Han." Emily said, examining the dress. "Do you think the other girls will like it?"

"Even if they don't, they still have to wear it." Hanna shrugged. "I just asked you what you thought because you're my maid of honor."

"Well, I think we're going to look really good in this." Emily said. "When will you have us go get fit for it?"

"Maybe in a few weeks. Caleb and I have to go and do cake tasting in a few days, and even though I would love nothing more than to just eat cake all day, I really wish I was doing other things." Hanna sighed, closing the catalogue. "Did you get the formal invitation yet? I know I sent them out like yesterday but, maybe you got it already since you live in Rosewood?"

"I'm sure I'll get it in the next few days." Emily said.

"I invited Alison by the way...and guest, you know in case she didn't want to bring her husband or something." Hanna shrugged.

"Why wouldn't she?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, with that Olivia thing with her husband...I don't know, it's not any of my business." Hanna said, standing up from the table they were sitting at in The Brew.

"I don't think Alison is going to hold it against him if he genuinely didn't know. What he had with my aunt happened sixteen years ago, we were like six or seven." Emily said, rising from the table as Hanna shoved the booklet of color swatches in her large purse.

"I know, I know." Hanna said, exasperated as she shook her head. "It was wrong of me to make assumptions."


Rollins tapped his thumbs nervously on the table of the restaurant that he and Alison were in. The booth they were in could sit four, and both Alison and her husband were sitting on one side. It was the spot that they had come to the agreement to meet at so that Olivia and Rollins could finally meet for the first time.

"Do you think she'll like me?" he asked, nervously as he looked at Alison. "What if she doesn't like me."

"You'll be fine…just be you." Alison said, not knowing what else to say. This encounter could honestly go many ways. "She should be here any minute."

Her husband continued to tap his fingers on the table, his leg bouncing as he glanced around the restaurant. Suddenly, the door to the restaurant opened and Olivia entered, followed by Emily behind. Olivia was wearing a gray peacoat, and her hair had a few stray snowflakes stuck to it. Olivia looked around nervously, before catching Alison's eye. Rollins looked up the same time she did.

"That's your daughter." Alison said, smiling at Olivia.

"I know." Rollins said. "She looks exactly like her mother."

Olivia and Emily walked over, Emily more confidently than Olivia. Olivia stayed back a bit as she walked over, looking at her feet as they approached.

"Hi!" Emily said, smiling as she slid into the booth. "Sorry we're late."

Rollins stood up from the booth, seemingly mesmerized by Olivia. "Hi." he said, looking down at his daughter. "I'm Elliot, or Rollins if you want. That's what all my friends call me."

"I'm Olivia, or Olivia if you want." Olivia said, looking up at him and smiling slightly.

"Can...Can I hug you? Or is that too weird?" Rollins asked.

"Yeah." she smiled.

For the awkward moment that they shared moments before, their hug was anything but awkward. Rollins hugged Olivia rightly, resting his chin on her shoulder. From the angle that Alison was sitting, she could see tears in her husband's eyes. As they broke from the hug, he sniffled and wiped his eyes before sitting down next to Alison.

"So," Emily spoke up, smiling. "Do you guys know what's good here?"

"I heard the clam chowder is really good, though I'm going to get my usual of a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings." Rollins said, glancing at his menu.

"Bacon is actually the best food on Earth." Olivia commented as she examined the menu. "If I get the same but with curly fries, can I have some of your onion rings? You can have some of my fries."

"Sounds like a plan, I can already see that there's some of me in you." Rollins laughed.

"I think I'm going to get the clam chowder if it's really good here." Alison said, ignoring her husband's weird comment.

"Yeah, clam chowder sounds good." Emily said. "I haven't had it in years."

"So, Olivia, what have you been doing in the past sixteen years?" Rollins asked after they had ordered.

"I don't know, nothing too eventful." she shrugged. "I'm a junior now...and I've been...going to school I guess."

"Yeah I hear my wife's your English teacher." Rollins said, leaning forward slightly. "Have you always been going to Rosewood?"

"No...my mom and I have moved around a lot...I think this is my, twelfth school?" Olivia asked. Emily and Ali exchanged looks before looking back at Olivia. "I don't know, it's kind of hard to adjust to all the schools."

"Really?" Rollins asked. "I didn't realize you had to move around. Do you play any sports or not really?"

"No, sports aren't really for me...I tried soccer when I was like five but I didn't last very long. Plus my mom said it was too expensive for me to play." Olivia shrugged, sipping her Coke.

"Isn't it only like $30 for a five-year-old to play soccer?" Rollins frowned, sipping his beer.

"Yup." Olivia said, shortly.

Alison kicked her husband's foot without being noticed by Olivia and shook her head. "Don't." she mouthed to him.

"Oh...I'm sorry. Do you like where you're at now though?" he asked. "I hear Emily's parents are the most wonderful people in the world."

"Yeah, it's nice not having to worry about some of the things I used to worry about." Olivia smiled. "Emily's like a sister to me, she lets me borrow her clothes a lot."

"Which is why you are one of the best dressed at Rosewood High might I add." Emily spoke up, knocking into Olivia slightly.

Alison laughed, watching Emily joke around with Olivia. It was nice to see after so much both girls had gone through, they were still able to be happy.

When their food arrived, Emily let Alison take the rest of her oyster crackers since Alison liked a lot of oyster crackers in her clam chowder. Rollins and Olivia were engulfed in a conversation about a TV show called, Mr. Robot. Alison didn't even know her husband watched any sort of television other than his beloved Philadelphia Eagles.

"So, how's your mom doing?" Rollins asked. "I haven't heard anything about her since I last saw her."

Alison froze, she had specifically told her husband not to mention anything about Olivia's mom unless Olivia brought it up.

"Um...well she's in prison right now…" Olivia started, taking a bite of her fries. "She got caught with possessing heroin, which to be honest was going to happen eventually. This guy she was dating, I always knew he would end up snitching on her."

"Oh...is that why you're staying with Emily's parents?" Rollins asked. "And why you're being adopted by them?"

"Yeah…" Olivia said, looking at her plate. "Can we not talk about my mom? I know you haven't seen her in forever and all, but it's not an easy subject."

"Oh, yeah of course." Rollins said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, if you want. I can give you her prison address and you can send her a letter or something." Olivia said.


"I think their dinner went well." Emily said, as they walked down the main street of Rosewood on New Year's Eve. There was ice on the sidewalk, and Emily would slip occasionally. Due to the chance of Emily slipping, Alison wrapped her arm around her waist so that Emily could hold on for support. Emily had her arm around Alison's shoulder as they walked slowly down the street.

It was nearing midnight, and the few bars and restaurants that were open had people packed inside and watching the TV to see the countdown clock and ball drop from New York City. Occasionally, people would pass them on the street, paying no attention to either of the girls as they walked.

"I think so too, Rollins wouldn't stop talking about it." Alison said. "God, my ears are freezing."

"Here." Emily said, taking off her hat. "Put this on, it covers your ears."

"Are you sure you want me to wear this?" Alison asked, taking the warm hat in her free hand.

"Yeah of course. I don't want you to freeze." Emily said, watching as Alison stopped and put on the hat.

They passed a local bar that, which was emitting a large amount of chatter and laughter.

"Welcome to the countdown to New Year's 2018 here at Times Square in Manhattan!" the announcer said. "We are less than one minute away from a new year!"

"Another year without someone to kiss at midnight." Emily sighed. "Maybe I could run in there and get lucky with someone in that bar."

The countdown of the people inside the bar began. Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen...

Alison frowned and looked at Emily, "Um, no way that's happening. You're not leaving me, I have no one to kiss either!"

Thirteen, twelve, eleven...

"Hmm, well how are we going to fix that?" Emily asked.

Eight, seven, six, five...

"I don't know wise ass, you tell me." Alison said, rolling her eyes.

Four, three…

"How about I show you." Emily smiled, grabbing Alison's waist.

Two, one…

Happy New Year!

Alison didn't hear the last few seconds. Emily had pulled her flush against her, a hand wrapped around her waist and another on her neck. She tilted Alison's chin up slightly and in one solid movement, attached their lips.

Alison smiled, trying her best not to separate their lips. She kissed Emily eagerly and sweetly back, forgetting the awkward yet heartwarming dinner that they went to the night before.

As the cheering died down, Emily separated their lips, but kept the tip of her nose pressed to her cheek. Alison tried her best to process what just happened, but Emily had already backed up and was pulling Alison down the street.

"Happy New Year bitch!" Emily said playfully to Alison, and Alison was still processing what had just happened.

When she finally had recovered enough, they continued to walk down main street and back towards Alison's house.

BOOM!

"What the fuck!" Emily screamed, slipping on ice as she tried to push off of Alison. She fell to the ground, swearing as her damaged knee hit the ice.

Alison looked around, what the fuck? Did she just get shot? Alison looked around, when another loud boom went off.

BOOM!

This one was louder than the previous one, causing Emily to whimper and cover her ears.

"Make it stop!" she yelled, practically crying.

Alison looked up into the sky, the dark night sky was filling with light. Fireworks, they were setting off fireworks.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"No!" Emily sobbed. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Emily!" Alison said, falling to her knees next to her emotionally distraught friend. She was having flashbacks from the fireworks. "Emily, it's okay it's just fireworks."

She reached out and placed a hand on Emily's back, only to find Emily was shaking rather violently either from being cold or because she was scared. Or both.

Emily slapped Alison's hand away, practically shoving her backwards into the sidewalk.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Emily said, curling up into almost a ball as she pressed her hands to her ears. "Just make the gunshots stop!"

BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

"Emily, they aren't gunshots!" Alison said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She was helpless in helping Emily. "They're fireworks, there's nothing bad happening."

Alison painfully waited the few minutes of the firework show, trying her best to do something for Emily. Passersbys stopped, asking Alison with concern if Emily needed an ambulance.

"She just got back from Afghanistan," Alison said. "I think she's having flashbacks."

As Emily continued to cry with her head in the snow, Alison pulled out her phone and called the only person that she could think of to help her. She waited as the phone rang, hoping that they would pick up.

"Hello?" the voice asked.

"Cece, something's going on with Emily." Alison said, crying as she tried to talk.

"What? Alison, what is going on?" Cece asked, her voice instantly becoming panicked. "Take a deep breath, what's going on?"

"We were walking down Main Street and right after midnight and fireworks started going off. I think she's having like a PTSD reaction or something. She won't let me touch her and she keeps crying hysterically." Alison said, wiping her nose. "Can you please come and help me?"

"Of course, I'm getting my coat on right now. Where are you guys?" Cece asked.

"We're near that bar on Main Street." Alison said. "You know the one with the movie theater next door."

"Okay, I'm on my way. Hang in there." Cece said, hanging up.

When Cece arrived, the fireworks had ended. Emily was still laying face down in the snow, taking deep shaky breaths as she cried softly.

Cece pulled up to the side of the road in her black car, getting out as soon as the car came to a complete stop.

"Hey, hey. I'm here. How is she?" Cece asked, running around her car to Ali.

"I don't know what to do Cece!" Alison said, gesturing to Cece.

"You're lucky I have experience with this PTSD type of thing." Cece sighed, walking over to Emily. "Emily, it's Cece. Come on, I'm taking you to my house. You're on main street in Rosewood Pennsylvania right now. There were fireworks that went off, you're safe."

Emily didn't react any differently, and Ali was surprised Cece wasn't freaking out as she was.

"Emily, honey, can I touch you? Is it okay if I touch you to help you in the car? I'm going to help you into my car and I'm going to take you to my house so that you get warm." Cece said.

"Y-yes." Emily muttered.

Cece gripped Emily's arms, and pulled her into a sitting position. "Come on babe, let's get you home." Cece grunted.

It took some effort from both Cece and Alison, but Emily was able to be pulled up and placed in the back seat of Cece's car. She instantly laid down and continued to cry softly.

"Get in the car Ali." Cece said, firmly. She moved to the driver's side door of the car.

Alison got in the car, wiping at her eyes as Cece began driving back to her house. Cece continuously repeated the same few phrases to Emily, telling her where she was and what she was going. Alison looked back at Emily, her face wet and ride from the snow. There were tears streaming down her face, Alison had never seen anything so helpless.

It took a miracle getting Emily inside Cece's house. Alison helped remove Emily's winter coat, which took some coaxing since Emily seemed adamant at not moving. Cece placed a blanket on Emily and laid her on her couch, wiping the melted snow off her face as Emily's sobs subsided.

"Hey hun," Cece said, as Emily sat up. "Can I get you some water, something to eat?"

"No." Emily said looking down at her hands. "No, I'm fine."

Alison sat tentatively down next to her, watching as Emily glanced in her direction.

"Alison's here to help you too." Cece said, sitting down in a chair near the couch. "Do you want her to give you a hug?"

Emily nodded slightly, and rubbed at her eyes.

"Ali, hugging them will help sometimes. Just give her a long tight hug, but don't hurt her or anything." Cece whispered.

Alison moved closer, and opened her arms slowly. Emily fell into Alison's arms, who immediately wrapped around her. She hugged Emily tightly, afraid that something would happen if she let her go.

"It's okay." she whispered, her lips in Emily's hair. "Nothing's going to happen."

"I know." Emily croaked, as Alison felt her hot breath on her neck.

"Goals." Cece whispered, and Alison shot her eyes up to Cece upon hearing it.


"Thanks for helping me tonight guys. I'm really sorry about that. I don't know what happened." Emily sighed, staring at her hands.

"Don't apologize Emily, it is not your fault at all." Cece said, squeezing Emily's hand. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"Talk about it?" Emily asked. "Like what?"

"Talk about what happened in your flashback." Cece said. "You don't have to if you don't want to of course."

"No, I think I should. Really, I was back in Afghanistan right before I got hurt and broke my leg." Emily explained. "I should probably tell you since I haven't really explained it to anyone else."

"What happened Emily?" Cece asked.

The sun was hot, so hot. Emily felt like she was being cooked alive underneath the hot gear on her body. Even the M4 rifle in her hand was starting to feel heavy as she hid behind the building, waiting for one of the men or women to start shouting for her to come and aid them. Her breathing was erratic, the thumping of her heart in her ears was intensified with her helmet pressed against her head. Her hand that was on the trigger released itself so that she could wipe the dirt away from her face and off of her glasses. She could hear the whizzing of bullets occasionally fly by her as she tried to control her breathing, waiting for something.

"Medic! I need a medic up here on level three!" a female soldier called directly above her.

Emily looked up as dust fell onto her face from above the clay building. Rising from her spot in the dirt, Emily made a break for the entrance of the building and towards the stairs that would lead her to the third level. Holding her gun out to check to see if any of the enemy soldiers were lurking around, she made her way up the stairs. Dust was falling from the ceiling of the building, as a loud explosion went off that shook the building erratically. Emily could hear the tension of the building, as she made it to the third floor.

"We need a medic right here." the soldier who had called before shouted, her hand red as she continued to press it to the other soldier's lower abdomen. The wounded soldier groaned and winced in pain as the soldier removed her hand to let Emily take over. The other two soldiers who were firing out of the open windows right beside them, kept going as if one of their men wasn't bleeding out right next to them.

There was another loud explosion and the building they were in began to shake violently again, causing more dust to fall. One of the soldiers who was firing stopped and turned around, yelling over the gunfire.

"One more of those explosions and this building is going to come down right over us!" he yelled. "We need to get out of here!"

"We can't pull Foltz out, we need to wait!" the soldier with the bloody hands shouted as Emily began to treat the wounded soldier.

"Hey, Foltz? Can you hear me?" Emily yelled, bending over her fellow soldier. Foltz was a good friend of hers. He was twenty-five years old, and had a beautiful wife and infant son. He had everything going for him, she wasn't going to let this bullet kill him.

Foltz groaned in response and gritted his teeth as Emily examined the bleeding wound from his hip. The wound was right below where his bulletproof vest ended, near his right hipbone. Emily struggled to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his combat pants so that she could slide them down his legs to access the wound. Emily pressed down on the open wound with one hand as she opened a pouch to retrieve gauze with her free hand, shaking as she grabbed the tape to tape down the gauze with.

She continued to hold pressure on his wound until the bleeding had stopped and his wound was beginning to clot, before beginning to wrap layers of gauze around the area. Just as she was about to tape down the gauze, there was another loud explosion and the building never stopped shaking.

There was a cracking sound that sounded too close and all at once, Emily wasn't kneeling on the ground, she was falling. She hit the floor below them, hard on her back as she realized that the building was coming down on top of them. Something came down and fell on Emily's left leg, which was sticking out slightly, effectively crushing it under a pile of debris. She yelled out in pain as the collapsed building began to settle around them, gunshots still ringing out and in the distance she could hear soldiers yelling that a building had collapsed.

Whenever Emily tried to move her crushed leg, a shot of pain ran up her body causing her to try to bite back a yelp. A small ray of sunlight was hitting her face, allowing her to see out slightly.

"Help!" Emily yelled. "Can anyone here me?"

No one answered, but she knew that other soldiers knew that people were trapped under the building from the sound of their shouts.

She waited four hours after the warfare ended for them to start moving the rubble and start pulling the survivors out. When they got to Emily, she took the longest to retrieve. Dust covered her face, her mouth matching the dirt on the ground. Utterly dry. They had to lift the bricks that were covering Emily's left leg, before dragging her out of the building and to the medical tent that was set up a ways away.

"Wait, wait. Foltz is in there along with Matthews, Peterson, and Darcy. Did you get them?" Emily coughed.

The soldier looking at her didn't respond, instead he continued to move about the tent and grab medical supplies.

"Hey! Answer me goddammit!" Emily yelled.

"Soldier Foltz and Soldier Peterson perished when the building collapsed. Darcy and Matthews are recovering, broken ribs and legs it looks like. I'm so sorry."

When Emily finished her story, both Cece and Ali were staring at her with their mouth slightly open.

"Emily...I had no idea." Ali said.

"It's fine Ali. I haven't usually said anything to anyone, not even my therapist." Emily shrugged.

"Well, I think we're both very grateful that you decided to share with us and that you trust us with this information." Cece said. "Do you want me to give you both a ride home? I bet Emily could use some decent sleep."


On January 1st, Alison was cleaning out their closet of any old or worn clothes. She had already taken a few things out of her side of the closet, and was now on her husband's. He had a few shirts with holes that she would probably have to fix, but other than that he didn't have much.

He did have a few shoeboxes though, that were becoming old and dusty as the days wore on. Alison frowned and picked up one of the shoe boxes, was there even anything inside of them? In the first shoebox, there was nothing but a few old baseball cards from Rollins's youth. Keepsakes and mementos, the type of things that you wouldn't throw away.

The second box had one letter in it. One single letter, that was slightly yellow from age. On the envelope was written, "Elliot Rollins" in fancy script. Curious, Alison opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside.

November 14th, 2001

Elliot,

I know that you haven't heard from me in about a year now, and that this letter is very unexpected…

If you haven't checked who sent this letter already, it's me, Jamie. But, I need to make a confession, that's not my actual name. My name is Rowan Fields, and I'm not going to Penn State for accounting either. When we met, I was sixteen years old. I go to a high school in Philadelphia, or used to. I dropped out a few months ago.

I know that this is a lot right now, but the reason was that I dropped out because I was pregnant with your baby. Yes, I know it's yours, she looks so much like you. Plus, I wasn't with any other men around that time, even though you probably think I was because of some of the things I said.

Your daughter is named Olivia Danielle Fields. Her middle name is Danielle after your mother, I thought you would like that. She's a beautiful little girl, and I'm so grateful that my parents are helping me with her. My brother, Wayne on the other hand isn't as enthused. I think he's more confused than anything, on why I would do something like this. He has a daughter named Emily, I think she's about eight now, and I thought he would understand better because he has a daughter of his own.

He may be disappointed in me now, but I know he would do anything for me and our daughter if it came down to it. He's that kind of brother, and I love him with all of my heart.

I'm not writing this letter to ask you for money, or for anything really. I just wanted to tell you about the amazing child that you have, I'm sure you'll agree. (I included a photo.) She has been the best thing to happen to me since I met you, and I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. I know I lied to you, a lot. About everything. In reality, you barely know me.

I think Olivia and I are going to have an amazing life together, just her and I. I'm going to make sure that nothing bad happens to her, and that nothing bad happens to me. She's my last happiness right now, and I'm so glad that I have her.

Thank you...I love you,

Rowan Fields


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