Note:

So I thought that I should add that the characters used in this fic belong to Pretty Little Liars, none of which I own.

Thank you for those of you that have reviewed. This is definitely a Paily fanfic, but will probably be a bit of a slowburner, whilst I try and piece together a decent enough story worthy of them both.

"Can I tell you something?" Paige heard Emily ask. "In fact can I tell you two things?"

They were now sitting on the edge of the pool, both with their legs dangling in the luke warm water.

"Sure," was all Paige replied with. Her eyes were transfixed on the water. She still couldn't look at Emily. She felt like she had shared part of her soul with her, and other than her mother, there wasn't anyone else that had understood what the water meant to Paige.

"Okay so firstly, I've never told anyone that before. I don't think anyone else would understand. Which leads me to the second thing I want to tell you. There's kind of a reason why I felt I could share that with you. So this isn't meant to sound creepy or anything, but I am a huge, and I mean huge fan of yours."

As Emily spoke those words, Paige's fixation with the water ended and she couldn't help but look at the girl beside her. Paige watched as Emily dropped her hand into the pool, scooping up at handful of water and letting it drain through her fingers.

"You're pretty famous around here McCullers. 4 times individual and team state champion? News like that travels fast. Coach has had us watching various videos of you racing since freshman year, trying to inspire us, motivate us. I must have watched the video of you anchoring and winning the relay at the last state champs a thousand times. You make it look easy."

Paige couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. The team knew who she was, Emily knew who she was. Knew her reputation, had seen her swim.

"The last time I watched the footage I watched it in slow motion. I could see your body relax on the block, the slow, deep breaths you took, the way you seemed solely focused on the race, nothing drew your attention away from the water in front of you. I'd never seen anyone else behave like that before. At my last race I remember standing there, closing my eyes and relishing in the fact that there was someone else who got it. Got that it isn't just about racing, or winning. It's more than that. It's about being in the moment, knowing that you are in control. Making that connection with the water, but not abusing it, not fighting it, but letting it become a part of you."

Silence fell between them. Paige was speechless. She felt like Emily had some secret key that unlocked her thoughts, like she was an open book for Emily to read.

"Are you creeped out? Oh god I've totally creeped you out. Was it the slow motion thing?"

Paige continued to sit quietly. Despite everything that was going on in her head, she couldn't help but enjoy Emily's moment of fluster. For a second it was nice not to be the flustered one.

'You wana say something there McCullers before she has a panic attack and passes out?!'

Paige reached towards Emily's arm, placing a hand there hoping it would calm her, the same way Emily had effortlessly done for her. Although she doubted beyond reason that Emily knew the extent of what Paige had felt when she touched her, she offered the gesture none the less, hoping that she could at least convey to Emily that she should relax.

"Hey, I'm not creeped out at all. I don't know what to say but I'm definitely not creeped out."

'Three cheers for Paige, the most verbally inept creature to walk the earth.'

Paige took a second, closed her eyes, and let her senses calm her again; the feel of Emily's soft, warm skin under her hand, the blueberry, the chlorine, the quiet. She let go of Emily's arm and braced the edge of the pool with both hands.

"When I was 6 my mum took me to our local pool for the first time. I remember not wanting to get into the water, thinking that it was going to swallow me. So my mum sat me in the bleachers and said that it was okay if didn't want to go in, that I could just sit and watch. So I did. I watched as she walked round to the deep end, pulled her goggles over her eyes and gave me a smile before diving in. I stood up and panicked instantly when I saw her disappear, thinking that the water had swallowed her like it would have swallowed me and that she was gone. And then, like magic she appeared, and started moving through the water. As she swam, the uneasiness that I first felt disappeared just like that. Then all I remember thinking was that the water didn't look scary at all when my mom was in it. I watched her swim laps, feeling more a more mesmerised each time she passed me until it reached the point when I wanted to be in the pool with her. I walked over to the edge and she helped me in. She made me lie on my back, I could feel the warmth of her hands under me but she wasn't holding me, the water was. I laid there for ages, feeling the water surround me; I was totally zoned out to everything and everyone, just me, my mom and the water. When I'm around water I just feel different, I feel like me, and like nothing outside of the pool matters. When I'm on the blocks, time outside the pool just stands still. All I can focus on is the water, the feel of it against my skin, wanting to move through it as seamlessly as possibly, channelling everything I think and feel into each stroke."

'Holy crappola, get me a tissue, I think I'm going to cry! When did you turn into such a sap superstar?'

Paige was about to apologise for what she had said, but Emily spoke first.

"Your mom must be pretty proud of you, of how far you've come?"

Paige wasn't sure if it was the sincerity in Emily's voice or having opened up to her, someone she had only just met; but she felt the sting of tears threaten to ruin her resolve. She hadn't spoken about her mom in such a long time. Her Dad practically recoiled at the mere mention of her. Paige was an only child, her mom had been her best friend growing up, they shared everything. When Paige finally realised she was gay, the first person she told was her mom. She had been scared to death, worried that it would ruin the relationship they had. But her mom never batted an eyelid, as if she had been expecting it.

As if sensing Paige's reaction, Emily stood up. Paige looked up and watched as Emily unzipped and shook off her hoody and removed her vest top, revealing the top half of her Shark's swimsuit. She quickly lost her tracksuit pants and reached down and grabbed both of Paige's hands, pulling her to her feet. Before Paige knew what was happening, Emily had launched herself into the pool. Keen to feel the water around her, Paige quickly relieved herself of her clothes. She watched as Emily resurfaced, a smile forming on her face when she realised Paige was on her way to join her.

Paige couldn't remember the last time she entered the pool without doing her pre swim ritual. Stretches, breathing exercises, mental coaching; all enforced upon her by her father. Everything about their relationship and interaction these days was so regimented. How her practices went, how her times were, what she ate, what her grades were like. Everything was so formal, and she couldn't help but think as she let herself dive freely into the pool, that she was just going through the motions.

As she hit the water, all thoughts of her father, of his overbearing nature, constant demands, dissolved as if they were sugar in a cup of coffee. The taste lingered but it was all background noise.

When she resurfaced she could see Emily treading water a few meters from her. She watched as Emily made her way over to her, her movement in the water confident, her body strong and lean, her hair flowing around her like silk.

'Oi dipshit, you do realise it is an asylums worth of insane to crush on a girl 30minutes after meeting her yeh?'

"Hey," Emily smiled as she stopped just in front of Paige, gently grazing her arm in an attempt to pull Paige back from wherever her mind had taken her.

"So did you know that this is a saltwater pool?"

As Emily spoke, Paige watched as the swimmer laid back into the water, letting her arms and legs float to the surface.

"So there is a chlorine generator which uses dissolved salt from a process called salt water chlorination, to produce free chlorines. The excess salt in the water makes the water denser than that in normal chlorinated pools. And because objects float better on a denser surface this pool is better than most to float around in."

Paige felt herself relax and lay back, letting her limbs become weightless, her body floating easily in the warm water. She felt movement beside her and noticed Emily had returned to treading water. As she laid there, looking up at the ceiling of the natatorium, an overwhelming wave of nostalgia engulfed her, as memories of her first time in a pool with her mom came flooding back all over again, only this time with the water touching her, the memories felt a hundred times more real.

"My mom…she died."

All of a sudden she felt a pair of warm hands under her back, as if they knew that she was about to lose control and sink to the bottom.