A/N: Sorry about the wait. A family member has been very sick and I haven't had much free time. Hope you enjoy!

"How does it feel being home?" Emily asked. She and Paige were standing in Paige's childhood room, looking around. It was comforting, the soft blue walls a reminder of innocence.

"Home is wherever you are," she replied, pulling Emily into her arms. "Thank you so much for standing by me."

"Always," Emily assured her. "I'll always be here for you, Paige. I will never doubt you."

"Why are you so sure of me when they're so sure I did it?"

"Because they're desperate. They want to find someone to blame, whether they actually did it or not. She was murdered away from home and the only person they think has a motive is you. So they're grasping at it." She paused, thinking for a moment to decide if she actually wanted to say what she was thinking. "I'm surprised they're not looking at me."

"What?"

"I'm your girlfriend and your ex kept popping up. That's a motive."

Paige raised her eyebrows. Emily was right. She did have a motive, maybe even a better one. A jealous lover was probably the most common cause of murder, but for some reason that hadn't occurred to the police.

"I won't let them try to put this on you, Em."

"Maybe I should-."

"No. Them accusing me is one thing. We don't need them thinking we were in on this together."

Emily frowned. She hadn't thought of that, but it was certainly possible of them to think. They both had motives to kill Shana, and she guessed she was lucky that the police hadn't come up with that genius theory yet.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

Paige sighed, sitting on the edge of her bed. She clasped her hands together, looking at Emily.

"This is such a fucking mess. This was supposed to be a fun weekend."

"For what it's worth," Emily started, sitting next to her. "It was fun. I loved spending every minute with you."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Paige replied softly. Emily smiled.

"Of course."

"I just wish you hadn't seen me so… weak," she continued. "First with the Alison thing, now this…. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Paige. Nothing at all."

"I just want you to be happy," she replied sadly. "I want to give you the life you deserve."

"You are, Paige. I know how much you love me. That's all I can ask for."

"I do love you," Paige replied, holding her close. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Emily whispered, burying her face in her shoulder.

"Paige?" Nick called, poking his head into the room. "Veronica Hastings is on the phone. She wants to talk to you."

Paige nodded, getting up. Emily followed her, praying Mrs. Hastings could get her out of this mess.

Thunder crashed outside as Paige and Emily laid together in bed, neither of them able to sleep. It had been an unreal past few days, and although they were exhausted, they were stressed at the same time. Paige sighed loudly, turning to face Emily.

"Can't sleep?" Emily asked sympathetically. Paige nodded.

"Not at all."

"Poor baby," she replied, soothing rubbing her shoulder. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Mmm," Paige replied, snuggling into her side. "Actually… yes."

"What? Anything."

"I was thinking," she started, kissing Emily's neck. "We could both use the release."

"We could," Emily agreed. She was glad Paige was still in the mood for sex. And if it was going to help her, she would be more than happy to try it.

Paige sighed as Emily slid her hands under her shirt, cupping her girlfriend's breasts. She rubbed her fingers over her nipples, Paige's soft moans filling the air. She could feel her physically relax as she played with her breasts, kissing her gently.

"Em," she whispered, closing her eyes as Emily slowly pulled her shorts down. She gasped as she began massaging her clit, her center growing even damper at the sensation. She needed to feel Emily too, and she easily slipped her fingers inside of her, sighing in content at the feel of Emily's warm, wet walls around her. She groaned and Emily kissed her to absorb the sound.

"Shhh. Your parents are down the hall," she reminded her, her own face set in an expression of pleasure.

Paige gasped in response, burying her face in Emily's shoulder. Yes, this was definitely what she had needed. To be able to feel the connection she had with Emily, to be reminded that she was loved. Whenever this got to feel like it was too much, all she had to do was remember she had a strong, amazing woman on her side.

Emily was struggling to keep her rhythm as her own pleasure grew, her fingers sloppily grazing Paige's clit with each thrust. But it was good enough for her girlfriend, who was clenching so hard around her fingers she could barely move them. She was close, and it didn't take much longer for her to come, biting down on Emily's shoulder to keep from screaming. Her orgasm triggered Emily's and she came too, soft moans escaping her lips as they brought each other down slowly. They laid there together, their breath mingling as their hearts pounded wildly in their chests. Paige removed her fingers from Emily's center first, pulling her in for a soft, passionate kiss. She already felt far calmer than she had just before, and she had the loving woman beside her to thank for that.

"That was so good," she told her, grinning. Emily smiled, holding her close.

"It was," she agreed. "How do you feel?"

"Relaxed," she replied honestly. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, honey," she assured her, sitting up. She settled herself between Paige's legs, smiling gently at her.

"You don't have to do anything else if you're too tired, Em."

"I want to taste you," she replied, licking her lips at the sight of Paige's glistening center. "Then we'll go to sleep."

Paige could never argue with that. She moaned as Emily's lips connected with her clit, covering her mouth with her hands to keep from being too loud. Her parents may be supportive, but she was pretty sure they had no desire to hear their daughter having sex no matter who it was with. But Emily was so good that it was hard to be quiet even with trying to muffle her sounds. The woman was an expert at absolutely everything.

She was still worked up from before and desperate for all the release she could get. It wasn't long before she came again, fingers lacing through Emily's hair as she rode out her pleasure. Emily moved back up and kissed her softly, her lips lingering on Paige's. She curled up next to her and pulled the covers over them, looking at her sleepy girlfriend lovingly. She touched her cheek, smiling as Paige looked over at her through half closed eyes.

"Do you feel better, sweetheart?" she asked.

"Yeah," Paige whispered, struggling to keep her eyes open. The storm was fading outside and she suddenly felt very tired. Safe, even. She moved closer to Emily, letting her eyes drift closed as Emily's fingers stroked her hair.

"It would help it we knew the girl's last name," Paige sighed, her grumpiness from the previous day returning. She was telling Emily about her encounter with Shana in the bathroom at the ice cream parlor, and how she had mentioned Jenna couldn't see them talking. If Jenna was the jealous type and she had known Shana had been following her ex-girlfriend around, then maybe she had gotten angry enough to kill her. But she knew nothing about this woman, except her first name. And that wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Why don't we look up some of the articles?" Emily suggested. "If Jenna is her current girlfriend, she has to be mentioned by full name."

"Good idea," Paige replied, taking a sip of her coffee. She frowned. "Can you do it? I don't think I want to see what those articles are saying."

Emily nodded in understanding. She pulled out her phone and looked up the main Massachusetts news, and sure enough there were multiple articles on the brutal homicide. Half of which were accusing Paige. Gritting her teeth, she scrolled through until she found one that didn't seem to be biased, clicking on it.

"Hmm…. I don't see….. oh, here. It says 'Current girlfriend, Jenna Marshall, was inconsolable. She claims she never knew her girlfriend left their hotel room.'" She stopped, figuring Paige wouldn't want to hear any details. "Marshall. Should we look her up?"

"I doubt it would do any good. You'll just find stuff about the murder."

"Well, maybe you should tell the police. It doesn't even sound like they're looking at her."

"Like they'll believe a word I say."

"If they're actually interested in doing their job, they'll be open to looking at other suspects."

"I guess," Paige sighed. "I wonder how long it will be before they call me back."

"They can't if they don't have a real reason. Your dad would flip."

"True. But I'm sure they'll do anything to find a reason."

"What time are your parents coming home?" Emily asked, glancing outside at the setting sun. "I don't really want to be here alone."

"What? Why?" Paige asked. "Oh. Honey, if you're thinking of the person at the beach house, they're far…" She trailed off. Emily looked at her, the same thought occurring to her.

"Do you think that person we kept seeing outside is who killed Shana?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Maybe it wasn't someone she knew, then. Maybe it was just a random stalker."

"We don't know. We never saw their face."

"You should tell the police about that," Emily replied, getting excited. "That definitely could be something!"

"Em, settle down. We have no idea who that was. The police wouldn't, either."

"Does Toby still have the glove?"

"He might.. But I don't think that would mean anything."

"Maybe we should go back to Massachusetts. Do some of our own snooping."

"Em, that is not a good idea. We don't want to get a murderer angry at us. We did that last year and it didn't turn out well."

"I know," she replied sadly. "I just don't want them to keep accusing you. You were so….. heartbroken yesterday and I can't stand to see you that way."

"Oh, Em… babe, I appreciate that. But I'm not letting you endanger yourself for me."

Emily sighed, looking down at her phone. She scowled when she saw who she had a message from, angrily placing her phone on the table.

"Emily?"

"It's Hanna."

"Look…. it hurts that she doesn't believe me. But she's your-."

"Don't say she's my friend. If she was she would have stood by you."

"She was afraid. I really can't blame her. She doesn't know me like the others do and it didn't look good."

"Are you really defending her? Paige, you're too nice. To people who don't even deserve it."

Paige shrugged. Maybe that was true, but she didn't know what to do about it.

"Well, still. Don't lose friends over me."

"Hmph."

"Do you want some more coffee?" Paige asked, getting up to refill her cup.

"No thanks. My bladder already feels like it's about to explode. I'm gonna go pee."

Paige nodded, watching as Emily left the room. She sighed, pouring more coffee into her cup. She hated the toll this was taking on everyone, and she felt guilty for ruining the nice beach vacation they were supposed to have. Spencer, Toby, and Caleb had all gone back to Pennsylvania, Spencer offering them the beach house if they needed to go back to Massachusetts. Sometimes she wondered why whoever was in charge of her fate had let her have Emily, because everything else seemed to go to shit sooner or later. She supposed it was just so she would stay sane.

If she wasn't so terrified about being arrested and charged with murder, she would be feeling incredibly guilty about refusing to listen to Shana. But her fear kept her from being riddled with guilt, which maybe in a way wasn't bad. There was probably nothing she could have done anyway, and worrying herself sick wasn't going to help. She sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. This was far from over and she knew it.

"Paige!"

Emily's terrified shout snapped her to attention. She raced down the hall and into the bathroom, where Emily was standing with her face pressed to the window.

"Baby? What is it?"

"There's someone out there!"

"What?" Paige asked, alarmed. She tried to see outside through the fog. "Who?"

"I don't know. I just see a shape."

Paige squinted, trying to see if she could see anyone standing in the distance. It was always so foggy around her parents' house during the summer, and she couldn't see anything.

"I don't see anything, Em," she replied. Maybe Emily was wrong and she had just thought she had seen someone.

"I saw them! I know I did," she insisted, sounding near tears. "Somebody's out there, Paige. You have to believe me."

"Okay, okay," she soothed, pulling Emily into her arms. "It's okay, honey."

"How do you know? Maybe it's Shana's killer!"

"Why would Shana's killer follow us to Maine?"

"I don't know. But I know I saw someone," she insisted stubbornly. Paige sighed.

"I'll go outside and look."

"No!"

"Emily, if someone's out there, we need to call the police. But I don't want to call if there's no reason to."

"Paige, please," she begged, following her as she started down the hall. "Don't go out there."

"Em, just relax," she replied, opening the door. "Stay here."

Emily watched helplessly as Paige stepped out into the foggy night. She glanced around, looking for any flashes of movement. She didn't think anyone was here, but there was a part of her that was afraid maybe someone was. She wasn't thrilled about the idea of walking into the fog, so after giving a quick once over she hurried back inside, closing and locking the door.

"I didn't see anyone."

"Someone's out there."

"Emily…"

"Don't you believe me?"

"Em…. yes, I believe you. But I don't want to call the police when we're not sure there's a problem. The last thing I need is for them thinking anything else bad about me."

Emily nodded. Paige had a right to feel that way.

"Anyway, we're safe here," she continued. "My parents will be back any minute. It's okay."

Emily looked reluctant. Paige gently touched her cheek, giving her a reassuring smile.

"I'm going to keep you safe, Emily. You don't need to worry."