AN: Sorry for such a late update. I managed to lose the planned chapter which was considerably longer than this one.
Thank you for your reviews and follows. Have a scrumptious brownie on me.
"We're not at work anymore," Alex stated, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"Your deductions are incredible, Mr Knightley. I would never have suspected that my front steps were not at work," Emma's jaw twitched as she realized He might not have realized she was being friendly rather than nasty, and she quickly averted her gaze to her twiddling thumbs.
"I should never have told you I watched that show."
"No, you should never have made me watch that show."
"You didn't watch it," Alex defended. "You fell asleep half way through." Emma merely shrugged her shoulders innocently. They both stood silently for a moment thinking back to the time Alex had forced Emma to watch something of his choosing rather than her's. This had resulted in a rather tired Emma, criticising most every aspect of his favourite show. Becoming bored of that she had curled up half on the couch, half on Alex Knightley and eventually she had fallen fast asleep.
Emma was finding Alex's early arrival unsettling, and he really was far too close at the moment. Alex finally broke the silence, somewhat pulling her out of her thoughts, "you said you didn't want to have this conversation at work," he raised his eyebrows pointedly, and Emma was quiet sober all of a sudden.
"Alex," Emma wasn't sure she was ready for what he was going to say to her, especially not when Izzy and John were expected for their family dinner soon. It was going to be difficult enough figuring out just what wrong with her sister, without adding the complication of Alex into the mix. He made to speak again but Emma cut him off. If he continued he was likely to make her cry. Emma Woodhouse didn't cry for anyone, least of all Alex Knightley. Not that he knew of anyway. "Izzy and John are going to be here soon, can we just… not now. Please, Alex."
Alex let go of the air had unknowingly been keeping prisoner in his lungs and said in a softer voice than he usually used, "So long as you not avoiding me anymore."
"You were the one doing the avoiding," Emma replied, huffily.
"I haven't, I've just been… preoccupied… busy."
"There's hardly anything to be busy about. We've hardly had an influx of new clients," with that she turned and left him to follow, and close the door behind himself. The smelling of freshly baked brownies caught the attention of Alex and he couldn't help but to steal a taste. Emma was not impressed that her perfect brownies now had a considerable hole in the top. "Knightley!" she flicked her spatula at his hand. "Stop stealing and make yourself useful." She rummaged around in one of her drawers and eventually found the item she had been searching for. She handed him a dreadful looking apron Maddy Bates had given her last year. The colour alone was enough to make him cringe, the ruffles? Well he'd prefer not to think about those.
The tension in Emma's kitchen was mercifully broken by the arrival of John, Izzy, and their children, who immediately jumped on their aunt and uncle. Emma, having seen her sister face to face knew without a doubt that there was something her sister was not telling her. Izzy, having seen her sister face to face, knew there was something she wasn't telling her. Whilst Emma was still unsure of what was upsetting Izzy, Izzy was almost certain that her sister's secrecy had something to do with the man discussing finance with her husband. The children had lost interest in their Aunt and Uncle and had taken up the mission of sneaking freshly baked treats without their mother seeing.