"Thank God." Nolan says as he eagerly takes the bag out of Emily's hand. He was just told he would be released in a week, and he had never been happier. Well, not until Emily walked in with some clothing items that weren't in the orange category. That doubled his happiness. Emily glanced at Nolan and could not help the smile that crept up on her. Nolan was lit up like a Christmas tree. She would never admit it out loud but she had missed him more than she thought possible this summer. "A scarf?" Nolan asks as he is sorting through the clothing items she bought for him. "It looked like you. " She shrugs. "And last time I was here, it was like sitting in an igloo." Nolan grins at her before deciding that scarves will be in his wardrobe this fall. Truth be told it made Nolan almost giddy that his friend had spent time looking through the men's department with him in mind. He knew Emily cared about him, but little reminders were always nice.
"How have you been?" Emily asks before looking down. Suddenly her shoes seemed to be the most interesting thing in the room. Nolan knew Emily was still blaming herself for him being in jail in the first place. He had told her over five hundred times there was nothing she could have done, but he's almost positive it goes in one ear and out the other. He grins at her, deciding to lighten the mood a little. "Well let's see. What has changed in the week since you were last here…? Oh that's right. Trish is mad at me…again." Emily looks up at this. "Nolan, I told you to stay on her good side! What if you end up having to stay here longer for bad behavior?" "Relax kitten. She's just the cafeteria lady. Besides she pretends to hate me, but how could anyone really hate this?" Nolan asks as he points at himself. Emily tries to fight back the smile, but it escapes her anyway. "So what did you do to Trish now?" "Well, let's just say do not mention my name or Mahi Mahi anywhere in a ten mile radius of her." Emily shakes her head while laughing softly. "Anyway, enough about my boring life on the inside. What's going on with you? Have you talked to Jack anymore?" "Not since the day at the beach." Emily says sadly. "Hey." Nolan says as he touches her shoulder. "He'll come around." Emily half smiles. "Yeah maybe." "Nolan Ross, your time is up." One of the guards interrupts. Nolan quickly frowns before he looks back at Emily. "Well hell calls. See you again next week?" Emily smiles before wrapping her arms around him. "I'll be waiting for you on the outside." Nolan pulls out of the hug and smirks at her before getting up to walk back to his cell. Emily smiles as she notices the slight bounce to his step that hadn't been there in a while.
"Daniel, I already told you I can not go with you next week. Nolan is being released and I promised him I would pick him up." Emily rolls her eyes at Daniel's back for the one thousandth time that week. She wasn't sure how much longer she could pretend to be in love with him. Lately everything he did was annoying her. "Emily, can't he just pay someone to pick him up?" Emily literally thought about throwing something at his head, but instead took a deep breath and counted to three before she began calmly. "Well Daniel, maybe he could if he still had a company that was up and running." That shut Daniel up quick enough. It was still a sore topic between the two of them. Just when Daniel was about to apologize, the door bell rang. "I'll get it." Emily said a little too quickly. Any reason to get away from Daniel Grayson for even half a second was always well worth her time.
Emily quickly ran down the stairs to open the door; only to be stopped dead in her tracks. It had been almost two weeks, but to be honest she had expected it to be a lot longer. "Jack." Emily says shocked. She's surprised her mouth can even form one word. "Hey…." Jack says awkwardly. "Uh, can we talk?" Emily nervously looks behind her to make sure Daniel hadn't followed her from upstairs. "Well….now isn't the best time." Jack scoffs. "Of course it isn't." "Jack…" Emily pushes him outside gently and closes the door behind her; leaving them both standing on the porch. "Daniel's here." Emily says quietly. "Why is Daniel here? Are you still with him?!" Jack half way yells. "Jack please…" Emily says nervously looking around. She didn't want Daniel to hear them, or even worse, Victoria. "Listen, I promised you I would tell you anything you wanted to know, and I meant it. I just can't right now." Jack looks at Emily for a second before scoffing and turning to leave. "Jack wait." Emily says before grabbing his arm gently. Jack slowly turns around to give Emily another chance. "Do you have your phone?" "What?" Jack asks, confused. "Your phone, do you have it on you?" Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket in confusion before handing it to her. Emily opens up his notes to type in an address before saving it and handing it back. Meet me at this address tomorrow. I promise I'll tell you anything. Emily says the last part quietly. It's still hard for her to come to terms with Jack Porter hating her guts. Jack looks at the address for a second before giving a slight nod toward Emily. It was hard to keep his temper in check, but he had been working on it. "Alright." Jack says before turning to walk off. Emily watches him leave and to be honest she isn't sure if the tears are from Jack or the thought of having to go back into the house with Daniel, but either way she's sure she hasn't shed this many tears since she was a child. She shakes her head before heading back inside. She needed to get a grip.
Emily pulls up into Nolan's driveway at the new house she had bought for him. She takes off her sunglasses and winces at the rays coming from the sun. She hadn't slept a wink last night, and it was written clearly in the huge bags under her eyes. Dark circles under her eyes were actually starting to become a trend and Emily was not amused. She reaches into her purse and grabs the keys to unlock the door. Her mood is instantly lifted when she walks into the empty house. Nolan was going to be so surprised. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face. Or maybe she won't get to see the look, because Jack Porter will probably rip her to shreds when he arrives. Emily shakes the thought from her mind. She had been dreading this meeting since Jack left her house the night before. Emily walks out back to the pool and sits at the edge, putting her feet in the water. Before Emily can block it out, memories of her mother enter her mind. Now that Jack knew who she was, she was afraid he would tell her mother. They needed to talk about that soon. She wasn't ready to deal with that storm just yet.
"Um…hey." Emily quickly turns her head toward the back door. She hadn't even heard Jack come in. "Hi." Emily says quietly. "The door was open…so I just came in." Emily smiled at him. Jack walked over and sat next to her; taking his shoes off. He figured he might as well enjoy the sun. "So, is this your new getaway? Not bad…" "No, it's a gift for Nolan. It's a long story, but I sort of owe him a house. Plus he deserves it." Jack notices the smile on Emily's face when talking about their friend. "Yeah, I guess he does." Jack says quietly. They settle into an awkward silence for a minute before Emily speaks up. "Listen Jack…" "No, me first." Jack says. Emily closes her eyes and prepares for the worst. "Look Emily, I didn't mean to go off on you the other day at the beach. I was just angry and humiliated. How could I not know?!" Jack asks with a laugh. "It isn't your fault...I didn't want you to know so you didn't." Emily says quietly. Jack looks at her for a minute before continuing. "So, you're doing this to get back at the Grayson's. For taking away your father?" "They didn't just take him away Jack, they had him murdered." Emily says a little defensively. "Yeah, trust me; I get that part of it." Emily looks down ashamed. Of course Jack understood. They killed his brother.
"Jack, I am so sorry about Declan, if I could have just.." "Emily stop." As angry as he was at her, he wouldn't let her blame herself for Declans death. "There isn't anything you could have done." "But if I could have just gotten there sooner…" Emily begins. "Then they would have killed you too." Emily mumbles something that Jack doesn't catch. "I can't hear you Emily." Jack says gently. "I said, maybe they should have. Maybe if they would have gotten to me then Declan wouldn't be dead right now, maybe if I had tried harder I could have saved Padma before she was forced to frame Nolan, maybe he would be…" "EMILY. STOP." Emily jumps at hearing Jack raise his voice as her. "Emily, the Grayson's are terrible people. There isn't anything that you could have done to stop them. Declan would have become involved with Charlotte with or without you here. Padma was tied up with the Grayson's before she even met Nolan. You couldn't have stopped any of this from happening." Emily hears the desperation in Jack's voice. He was one of the only pure things left in her life, but even that had become tainted in the last year.
Jack beings to speak again "And besides, I actually got something good out of all of this." Emily looks at him as if he had grown another head. "I got Carl." he says with a slight smile on his face, but just as quickly as it appeared; it was gone. "That's why you have to stop all of this." "Jack I can't…" "Yes, you can Emily. They have already killed your father, your best friend, and my brother. If they find out who you are, they will go after you, and everyone else you care about. Including Nolan and your mother." "And you…" Emily finishes quietly. Jack quickly snaps his head to look at Emily. She's looking down at the water and he beings to wonder if he imagined it.
"So promise me…promise me you will end this." "I can't!" Emily says exasperated. She can already tell this conversation is headed for trouble. "Why not?! What is so important that it's worth risking your life for?!" "You said it yourself Jack!" Emily says frustrated. "They took everything from me. They took my mother, my father, my entire childhood was gone because of them! I had no one!" Emily says out of breath. Her voice had been getting higher and higher with each word. Jack stares at the broken girl in front of him before gently grabbing her hand. "Had Emily. Past tense, you have people right by your side everyday that care about you." Jack says. Emily feels her heart jump. It wasn't so long ago that she had almost given everything up for a life with this man. "I still have to clear my father's name." Emily says with a shaky voice. Jack sighs and releases her hand. He realizes he was fighting a lost cause. They sit in silence for a few minutes both with heavy hearts.
"Fine." Jack beings. "If you really want to do this. If this is something you can't let go. Then I want to help you." Emily is shocked at what she is hearing and quickly begins to shake her head. "Jack, no. There is no way; you can not get involved in this. I won't risk you.." "Emily, I'm not asking you." Jack interrupts. "I want whatever you are planning to be finished by the end of the summer. I can't risk anything happening to my son. I'm going to send him to my aunt's house for a little while. I want him safe." Emily flinches at this. She can't imagine anything happening to Carl, but she wouldn't put it past the Grayson's. Emily sits quietly for a minute before making her decision. "Okay." Emily says. "Okay?" Jack questions. He was expecting more of a fight. "I'll let you help, but if it get's too dangerous…" "Then we both back down." Jack interrupts her. Emily looks at Jack and knows what she has to do. It was time to take down the Grayson's for good.