Disclaimer: I do not own Skins, please don't rub it in. :-(

Author Note: I'm sorry that it's taken me a while to get the next chapter of this up, I was struggling with it as the ideas are still forming in my mind, which makes it a little difficult. Thank you soo much for the overwhelming number of votes & comments. I really appreciated them all so much.

Happy New Decade to you all! :-)

* * *

Carry Me Away

Chapter Two: Yesterday Is Gone

'She got arrested.'

Emily looked up from the newspaper she'd been reading, folded it up and dropped it back onto the table, busying herself with buttering a slice of toast. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she couldn't avoid hearing words she never expected.

'When?' Rob replied, his voice growing louder as he pushed the kitchen door open.

'When she was supposed to be at our wedding.'

Gina seemed to fall into Rob's arms, a reunion of two people so broken by yesterday's events that after hours apart there was no other option but to seek comfort in each other's arms. Emily shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the kitchen table. She liked Gina, it was difficult to watch her so visibly upset by what had happened.

'What did she do?' Emily asked, a piece of toast catching in her throat, making her cough.

Gina, her face almost broken with tears, stared at her, looked into her face with sorrow. Emily regretted speaking, didn't think it was the time or the place to be questioning her near-stepmother when she looked anything but okay.

Emily stood up, picked up her final piece of toast and dropped her plate into the sink. 'I'm going out.'

For the first time in months Emily felt emotions stronger than any she'd felt since being back on anti-depressants; anger, frustration, sympathy towards the one woman who treated her like a daughter. She felt protective over Gina, so protective that all she could think about was telling Naomi just what damage she had done to her own mother. They hadn't seen each other properly in a long time, they'd not even spent more than thirty seconds alone together and though it should have scared Emily to think of confronting her, her anger was stronger and seemed to diminish anything else.

*

The phone landed on Katie's bed so quietly that she had to turn around to check it was still there. A small grin spread across her lips. She still didn't understand how love could make you so happy all of the time, but it did. It didn't even matter why anymore, she was happy and that was all she cared about. As well as JJ, of course. A knock on her door made Katie look up from her dressing table, calling for whoever it was to enter the room.

'Are you still going to your dad's today?' Jenna asked as she pushed the door open, hovering in the doorway cautiously.

'No,' Katie replied, taking a deep breath as she informed her mother of the failed wedding attempt.

'Oh, I didn't realise.'

Katie picked up her brush and began running it through her hair. 'You were asleep before I got home.'

After a moment's silence, Jenna entered the room and took the brush from Katie's hand. She turned back to the mirror and watched the reflection of her mother brushing her hair. She let her smile return to her face.

'You look happy.'

'I am,' she grinned. 'Jonah and I are going out tonight.'

Jenna raised an eyebrow, 'That sounds nice. What time did you want to stay out 'til?'

'Probably not late, we're only going to Freddie's house.'

Katie watched her mother again, enjoyed the moment which reminded her of being a small child. She stared into Jenna's eyes, wondering what was in them, what she was thinking. They'd not really spoken again about anything that had happened, just seemed to brush most of it under the carpet like it mattered little to the present day. If Katie was honest, most of it didn't matter.

'What happened?' Jenna finally asked, smiling back at Katie, despite a look of curiosity hovering in her eyes. 'With your dad and his girlfriend?'

'Naomi didn't turn up,' Katie answered honestly. 'I'm worried about her, she's not been herself lately.'

Jenna raised an eyebrow, 'I know you think you know this girl, but you've really not known her all that long.'

'She's my best friend mum,' Katie sighed. 'I do know her.'

'I know you think so, but maybe you don't know everything about her. Maybe it's normal for her to be like this.'

A moment of quiet contemplation made Katie question her mother's thoughts. Maybe she was right. Maybe there was a side to Naomi that she'd not yet seen. The smile seemed to fade from her lips, causing Jenna's eyes to narrow. Katie turned to face her when she put the brush back down on the table.

'I'm just worried about her.'

'Maybe you should go and see her,' Jenna suggested. 'Go be her friend, find out what's going on.'

*

The door was unlocked when Emily pushed down on the handle. She wasn't in the mood to be turned away and when there was no answer on the door, she thought she'd give it a try. It surprised her, but she wondered if maybe Naomi was home and just didn't want to see her.

'Naomi?' she called out, walking through to the kitchen.

It was too quiet, so quiet that Emily suspected there was no one home. For the first time, she felt awkward. It wasn't her house and she shouldn't have been there. A noise from upstairs made her jump.

'Naomi?' she shouted, a little louder as she went back towards the front door.

It was just a noise, Naomi was probably watching television or something. Emily didn't think it would be a problem going up the stairs, stopping by Naomi's door, knocking and opening it before she heard the squealing. She hadn't expected to find Naomi, naked, with some girl's head in her lap.

'Oh fuck,' Naomi screamed out, her fingers curling up around the hair on the girl's head.

Her eyes were closed, pressed tightly together. Emily could feel her body shaking, her heart beating faster. She'd been stood there long enough, too long. It had to have been less than a minute. She turned around, hoping that Naomi hadn't seen her, wishing she could escape the room before Naomi had ever known she was there. Emily moved so quickly, turned so fast that she didn't notice the pile of books hanging precariously on the edge of the desk. It was too late. They'd already crash landed on the floor in front of her, provoking a number of loud screams from behind her.

'Fuck, Emily, Fuck.'

Emily turned around, her eyes filling with tears when she saw Naomi stood up, a blanket wrapped tightly around her body. The other girl now lay on the bed, pulling the duvet up to her chin. She couldn't stay there, she couldn't be with them any longer. Yet Emily couldn't seem to move, struggled to get her feet to start moving.

'I,' she whispered, trying to speak, trying to explain her presence. Words escaped her.

The blanket was warm, but it wasn't nearly big enough. Naomi rearranged it like a towel, tucking it carefully around her chest so that she could walk across the room without losing it. She glanced at Fem, willed for the situation to reverse itself and for Emily to be the one lying in her bed. She walked forwards, reaching an arm out to Emily, but before she could even get close, Emily had turned and walked out of the room.

'Emily, don't,' she shouted after her, running down the stairs and grabbing hold of her arm before she could open the front door.

'What the fuck are you doing?' Emily cried, her face red with tears and her eyes devastated.

'I'm trying to stop you from jumping to conclusions.'

'Jumping to conclusions?' Emily scoffed. 'What conclusions can I jump to? You were fucking some girl.'

'You didn't want me Emily,' Naomi replied, biting her lip to stop the tears threatening to fall. She sounded bitter, hurt. She hated herself for feeling so angry at Emily. 'You didn't want me.'

Emily's brown eyes disappeared under her eyelids, giving Naomi the chance to brush away a couple of stray tears. She didn't want to cry in front of Emily, she didn't want her to know how much it hurt her too.

'Is she the reason you ended up in a fucking prison cell?'

'What?' Naomi whispered, not expecting Emily to know.

Getting arrested had never been her intention, but Emily knowing about it was the last thing she wanted. Tears threatened to fall, making it harder to pull herself together. She didn't want Emily thinking bad of her, didn't want her assuming she knew the situation when she didn't.

'Your mum is devastated because you were too busy getting yourself arrested to go to her wedding. Do you know how upset she is?'

Naomi bit her lip, regretted it when she felt the skin break. 'I know.'

'If you know, then why the fuck did you do it?' Emily shouted.

'Fuck off Emily, you don't know a thing about what happened. You can't fucking judge me.'

Emily stared at Naomi, she was still angry, still so frustrated that she couldn't let up. The way she saw it, Naomi was in the wrong. That was all that mattered. Except that it wasn't. A look in Naomi's eyes, broken, confused. It made Emily's heart swell. She hadn't wanted any of this. She wanted to hate her, to get angry about the girl in Naomi's bedroom, but she couldn't. The whole situation was a mess. Naomi didn't look like she was dealing with any of it and though Emily wished the girl meant nothing to her, she couldn't help wonder if it would be fair to question why Naomi was moving on.

'Why are you doing this?' Emily whispered, her tears subsiding as she reached out, resting a hand on Naomi's cheek. 'Why are you acting like you don't care?'

'Because I don't,' Naomi sighed, pushing Emily's hand away.

It wasn't true. No matter how sincere Naomi had sounded, her eyes gave her away. Emily wished she couldn't see into the sparkling grey-blue orbs, didn't want to see the pain that still lingered in Naomi.

'I think you do,' Emily whispered.

'What would you know?' Naomi snapped. 'You don't fucking care about me, don't come over here acting like you actually give a shit when you clearly don't.'

Emily let out a faint whisper, keeping her eye's on Naomi's throughout. 'That's not true.'

It felt true. It had always felt that way. Naomi shook her head, told herself repeatedly in her mind that Emily was lying and that she just didn't care for her. It was easier that way, it was easier to believe that Emily didn't care, than to realise that she'd moved on without giving Emily a chance to come back to her.

'You wanted to fucking sort yourself out, you fucking did it,' Naomi spat out, letting her anger build up because it was her only defence against the pain she felt inside. 'You didn't want me there, you never wanted me there.'

'I did,' Emily sobbed, clawing at the inside of the legs of her jeans.

Naomi pulled Emily's hands away. Even after everything she couldn't bare the thought of Emily wanting to hurt herself. As much as she denied her feelings, she couldn't deny the fact that Emily in pain broke her heart. The thought of her hands playing with her trousers, even though the chance of them getting under the material, into the skin, scared her. She didn't know if Emily had stopped, if she'd really worked things out. She suspected she had. The Emily that stood in front of her seemed more together than the Emily who had fallen apart four months earlier. It didn't stop her worrying. Emily's brown eyes were still so watery, still full of tears that overflowed down her cheeks.

'I just had to look after myself.'

The devastation on Emily's face made Naomi's legs shake. She thought she was going to collapse, had to move to the edge of the stairs to hold onto the banister. She'd hurt Emily. She thought what she'd been doing, trying to move on, would help. That it would fix what was going on inside of her heart. Instead it had just hurt the girl she still loved, which hurt her twice as much.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered, her voice painfully quiet as she sat down on the bottom step.

Emily reached for the handle on the front door, pushed it down again, like she had barely twenty minutes earlier. She turned to face Naomi, nodding her head, before walking out of the house.

*

The little yellow house that Katie really loved came into view. She stared up at the slightly rotten frames, she always enjoyed visiting Naomi's house even if it did look like it needed a good paint job. Her smile quickly faded when she noticed Emily marching down the driveway towards the road, her face contorted in anguish.

'Emily?' she called after her, turning back to the house.

She'd come to Naomi's for a reason and that reason was still important, more important than anything else she'd planned to do that day. Except that Emily hadn't been crying when she'd set off to Naomi's. No matter how much she needed to be there for her friend, it was equally important to be there for her sister. Even if that sister didn't want her to.

'Emily wait,' she shouted after her, catching up as Emily stopped a couple of doors down. 'Are you okay?'

'Fucking fantastic,' Emily snapped, sarcasm present in her voice.

'There's no need to be like that,' Katie sighed. 'I just wanted to check if you're okay.'

It was disappointing, that after everything, Emily was still the same person she always had been. Too quick with her words to realise that Katie just wanted to help. If she was honest, it hurt. She'd hoped that maybe she'd grown up a bit, that everything between their family wasn't caused by Katie or her mother. Sometimes it was difficult to see how anything could get any better.

'I'm fine,' Emily muttered, quieter, as she wiped her red cheeks.

'You don't look fine, what happened?'

Emily rolled her eyes. 'It's none of your fucking business.'

'It is when Naomi is my best friend and you're my sister,' Katie sighed. 'I care about you, both of you.'

'Care about us?' Emily scoffed.

The last thing she expected from Katie was for her to care about her. They were sisters by blood and nothing much else. In the four months since finding out the truth, Katie had barely even spoken to her. It was difficult to understand why she wanted to care now. Emily rolled her eyes, taking a number of long, deep breaths in the hope of calming down. She patted the pockets on her jacket until she found her packet of pills.

'That bad?' Katie smiled, sympathetically.

Emily glared at her before popping a pill into her mouth. 'I have to take them regularly, same as any medication.'

'Oh right. You sure you're okay? You look well upset, I don't want you to hurt yourself or something.'

If anyone else had said it, Emily probably would have brushed it off with a response. But it was Katie. The girl who acted like she cared. Emily had questioned any attention that Katie gave her a number of times, had wondered if it was because she felt she needed to, or because she actually cared about what happened to her. Emily thought it was the former.

'I'm not going to fucking top myself, if that's what you think,' Emily snapped, not regretting her tone, even after Katie looked saddened.

'I didn't,' Katie began, before Emily cut her off again.

'If you must know I just found Naomi in bed with some stupid fucking girl.'

Katie hadn't even been listening properly when Emily spoke, was only expecting another snippy comment back. Her eyes narrowed, moving to Emily's face for confirmation of what she'd just said. She didn't want to believe it, couldn't bare to think of what it would mean if it was true.

'Y, you, you're lying,' Katie stuttered.

She didn't need Emily to tell her she wasn't. Something finally hit her. The way Naomi had been since Emily came out of hospital. The weird vibe between her sister and her best friend. It had been obvious that they had a relationship of some sorts. Katie always assumed it was friendship. Naomi had been pretty distant lately, seemed to spend a lot of time with some politics group she'd joined. Katie had thought maybe she was distracted by her political life, she didn't even suspect it could have anything to do with Emily.

'Like I'd lie about something like that,' Emily snapped. 'Why do you think I'm fucking crying?'

The red stains on Emily's cheeks made everything fall neatly into place. All there was now was for Emily to confirm what Katie didn't want to realise was true.

'Naomi is straight, why would she be with a girl? Why would that make you cry?'

'Are you fucking dim?' Emily snapped. 'I fucked her.'

*

When Naomi returned to her bedroom, Fem was still in the bed, tucked up under the duvet. Naomi bit her lip, hovering in the doorway as a million different thoughts passed through her head. She liked Fem, she was a nice girl who accepted her for who she was. Under any other situation she could have seen herself falling for her, hard. But it wasn't any other situation.

'You should go.'

Fem sighed, 'What? I thought we were having fun.'

'We were, but I think you should go.'

Fem's eyes narrowed. 'What's going on Naomi?'

'What do you mean?'

She rolled her eyes, making Naomi turn away. 'I thought you wanted to be with me, yet you're running off after someone else like we weren't just about to sleep together.'

'It's just not going to work, okay?' Naomi muttered, sitting down with her back to the girl.

If she hadn't just pushed Emily away further and so made herself feel even worse than she had, she probably would have happily curled back up in Fem's arms. Part of her still wanted to feel her tongue sliding into her mouth or press her hands agains her body. But she couldn't do it.

'For fuck's sake Naomi, it's not like I don't know you're in love with someone else. I assume that's her. This has never been about us fucking falling in love or anything. It's just a bit of fun.'

'Maybe I don't want any fun,' Naomi sighed, letting her head drop into her hands.

Fem's hands rested on Naomi's back, sliding around her shoulders until Naomi was forced to lift her head. The feel of someone close, someone's arms comforting her in such a way, made her perk up. She turned around, sliding her hands around Fem's back, pushing her lips against hers until they were kissing again, the blanket slipping away from Naomi's body until their naked forms pressed up against each other. When it was over, Naomi felt empty. She couldn't seem to feel a thing, least of all any feelings towards Fem. She'd given herself over to her, allowed her to break down the defences she'd put up only to find that none of it even mattered.

'I think you should go,' Naomi whispered, her voice monotonous as she climbed out of the bed and slipped into some clothes.

*

Katie wasn't homophobic, she knew she wasn't. But she wasn't sure if she liked people being gay. She always thought men and women were meant to be together and anything other than that, well, she couldn't understand it. She'd almost forgotten that Emily was gay, they'd been so distracted discovering they were sisters that Katie hadn't had time to process the fact that Emily was one of the people she couldn't understand. She wondered if that was the reason they couldn't seem to get along.

'I'll see you around, thanks for fucking nothing.'

The voice shouting nearby pulled Katie from her thoughts. She jumped to her feet, turned in time to see a blonde haired girl with odd coloured highlights exiting Naomi's house. It hit her, the truth. The fact that Naomi really had been in her room with some girl. Part of her didn't want to believe it, tried to think that Emily was making it up. But she couldn't deny what she was seeing; the girl was still pulling her t-shirt down around her waist.

'Sorry,' Naomi whispered after her, her hair dishevelled, a pair of pyjama bottoms covering her legs.

There was no way that Naomi was gay. Surely Katie would have already known that by now. They were supposed to be best friends. Katie felt overwhelming feeling of resentment towards Emily, frustration that she'd known first. That Naomi's secret life hadn't made its way to Katie, but instead to her sister. They'd been together after all. Together. Katie couldn't even grasp what together meant for two girls. She took a deep breath, tried to stop her heart from racing so fast as she caught sight of Naomi staring back at her.

'Oh, hi.'

Words seem to catch in Katie's throat. She wanted to speak, there was so much she wanted to say. 'Why didn't you tell me, about you and Emily?'

Naomi's blonde haired moved about as she glanced down, looked away from Katie. She didn't know what the girl was doing there, but she suspected maybe she knew more than Naomi had ever told her. There was a look on her face, like a rabbit caught in the headlights, that even from a distance, was visible. It made her shift uncomfortably on her feet.

'What else don't I know about you?' Katie muttered, her voice cracking under the strain.

Naomi took a deep breath, rubbed her wrist subconsciously. 'I got arrested at a protest, that's why I wasn't at the wedding.'

A deep breath seemed to make Katie grow then shrink. 'Why don't I know any of this?'

Naomi felt guilty. She should have told her, she should have told her everything. She didn't know why she hadn't. 'I guess I didn't want you to know.'

'Do you even want to be my friend?' Katie sighed, her chest feeling harder to move with every breath.

'I do.'

Pushing a few tears from under her eyes, Katie stared deep into Naomi's eyes, silently breaking her down in the hope that she could understand just what she was feeling. It was like staring at a brick wall.

'I'm not sure if you really know what it means when your actions speak differently.'

Naomi's eyes narrowed, her glance moving away from Katie. She didn't stop looking at her, wishing that Naomi would say or do something in response. But minutes passed by and neither of them said a thing. Katie clearer her throat, muttered a brief goodbye before walking away.

Chapter One Voting Options:

Naomi 1) Naomi pushes Gina further away when she gets hurt.

Naomi 2) Gina won't let Naomi in when Naomi realises the mistakes she's made.

Twins 1) Emily's jealousy pushes her closer to Effy when Katie and Rob spend time together at the gym.

Twins 2) Rob, Katie and Emily spend time together at the gym, but the twins push each other further apart, which makes things harder for Rob.

TO HAVE YOUR SAY, REVIEW WITH YOUR CHOICES!