A/N Don't hate me. ;)

Previously: Dr. Bolano drew back the curtain so everyone was in plain view. "Hi, I'm Paige McCullers."

"Hi, Ms. McCullers." Dr. Bolano made his way away from Emily towards Paige. Although his attention was on her, Paige's stare never broke from Emily. There was something in Emily's eyes that scared Paige. It wasn't anger or sadness, it was fear. There was nothing threatening in that room, no one to get them, so the only logical explanation to Paige was that Emily was afraid of her.

"Your shoulder isn't something you should be too worried about. It'll be a simple fix but I did recommend sedation only because it would be too painful otherwise. We have had a few emergency come through tonight but I have you booked for tomorrow morning at 6. That's not too long off and you can stay here until then. You'll be in and out in no time I promise." Paige broke her staring contest with Emily and smiled at the doctor.

"Thank you. I know you probably don't know this but what would the recovery time be if I was say a swimmer?"

"Honestly, the bruised rib will take longer to not hurt then your shoulder. It is in a delicate position where it could cause some tearing but I think that is not likely the case here. If I was a betting man I would say you'll be out for 3 weeks tops. I'm going to go process your chart and I will check in with you at about 5:30." Paige watched as Dr. Bolano left the room not wanting to look back behind her. Regardless, she could feel two pairs of eyes on her back. Before she could say anything she felt a hand on her good shoulder. When she turned, her eyes met Mrs. Fields. They held a much different emotion then Emily's. They were cold and angry.

"Paige, I have been more angry with you then any person in my life."

"Mom!" Neither Emily or Paige expected that from Pam. Her ambivalent exterior hid any malice she ever held inside but now her true self began to show.

"Emily, let me finish." She put a hand to her daughter and tightened her grip on the girl's shoulder.

"Most people say when you have a child it is like seeing your heart outside of your chest and what I have experienced in these past weeks is like my heart dying in front of me. Watching your child lose themselves every day is unimaginable. There are no words you can say or meals you can cook. You just have to pray that the next morning will be a little better, that maybe she won't have a nightmare that night or she won't come to breakfast with tears in her eyes. That's what you pray for but sometimes prayers aren't enough. The pain is so great that not even God can come between your child and their grief. Your heart is dying and you have to watch it happen. Paige that is what I have gone through every day…because of you." Tears had formed in the eyes of the room's occupants. Paige couldn't bring herself to look up and she sat there with the looming presence bearing into her soul.

"You are the girl who broke my daughter's heart. You are the girl that left without a word. You are the reason my heart is dying. I have had a lot of time to get angry and it isn't fair because for all the reasons that I am angry with you, there are a hundred more for why I should thank you. Because of you, I still have a daughter…" Pam's words were muffled by the cascade of tears streaming down her face. "…and I know no matter how much she is hurting now, she is still alive. I never got to thank you before but I am now. I don't know where you've been or why but thank you for coming back." Pam let go of her shoulder and turned towards Emily.

"I need to go call your father again. Will you be okay by yourself?" Emily nodded and looked at Paige, "I'm not alone." Pam's exit was marked by silence. There was no way to start a conversation because neither party knew where to begin.

"She used to make pancakes whenever I would come over, didn't she?" Paige slid off her bed and walked towards the back. Emily laughed at the many times that would happen. "Yeah. How'd you know?" Paige sat in the chair next to her bed, eyes still down. "When I saw her, I kind of flashed to some memories of her and they all included pancakes."

"That's a Pam Fields specialty. She did always joke that it would be an experience you can't forget." They both laughed although it was forced.

"Paige, why can't we talk like we did on the train? Let's just pretend there aren't a million things wrong with the world right now and just talk."

"Your mom just told me that I broke you. How can I pretend like that didn't just happen?"

"It isn't fair of her to blame you. You were going through stuff none of us can relate to. I would have run too but that's not important right now. I don't want to think about that, I just want to talk to you." Emily grabbed Paige's hand and began rubbing circles with her thumb over her wrist.

"Talk about what, Emily?"

"I don't care. I have gone so long without hearing you and feeling what it was like to hold your hand. Even if we talk about the weather it doesn't matter. I have lived in this space where I have tried to pretend you don't exist and right now I get to escape. Even if you go back home tomorrow and I never see you again, I want tonight." The instant rush Paige felt throughout her body had no name. It was something that can only be felt and it was something she knew she would only feel with Emily.

"Like that Bob Seger song, right?" Emily began to laugh.

"What are you even talking about?" Paige gave her an incredulous look. "Please don't make me sing it." Emily raised her eyebrow and smirked. "I'm not going to sing. You're just going to have to sit there with the pain of not knowing." She curved her lip from a smirk into a frown and gave her best puppy dog eyes. "Seriously?" She nodded.

"I know it's late, I know you're weary…" Paige's voice cracked but a gentle squeeze from Emily's hand begged her to continue. "…I know your plans don't include me. Still here we are, both of us lonely. Longing for shelter from all that we see. Why should we worry, no one will care girl. Look at the stars so far away." Paige stopped and hid her face from embarrassment. Without missing a beat, Emily picked up the song, "We've got tonight, who needs tomorrow?"

Paige's eyes came out from hiding and she yanked her hand from Emily's. "You lied. You just wanted to hear me sing didn't you?" Emily couldn't hide the smile forming on her face. Paige got out of her chair pretending to walk away before Emily grabbed her hand singing, "We've got tonight babe." Her hand guided Paige back into her seat as she finished the chorus, "Why don't you stay?" Their hands didn't separate and neither did their eyes.

"If you insist." Paige's serious expression instantly melted into a smile.

"God, why is this so easy? I can't remember more than snippets of us but it so easy to talk to be around you."

"What do you mean by snippets?"

"It's really hard to explain. Sometimes I'll have like dreams or flashes of things. Half the time I'm not sure if they are real or not and most of the time I forget most of what happened. I just wished there was a switch I could turn on and everything would go back."

"You and me both." Paige was starting to realize how much her leaving affected Emily. If everything Pam said was true then everything Emily had been going through really was her fault.

"Emily I am so sorry for anything I did. I didn't know I was doing it. All this time, everyone made you out to be the bad guy and you weren't. I didn't understand the truth until now and really I still don't understand but I want to try."

"None of this was your fault, Paige. I know I said we shouldn't worry about what happened but I have to ask, what did your parents tell you? I've been playing scenarios in my head but I can't imagine what they could have said to make this my fault." Paige was waiting for this question. Out of all the things she couldn't answer, this was something she could.

"In the first week, I didn't really ask anything. I was still recovering and I was so confused. They talked about the amnesia and what mind set I was in. That is what probably freaked me out the most. I guess I changed a lot since freshman year. I barely recognized myself. As time went on, I started wondering a bit more. They gave me excuses like they didn't want to say anything to the police report came out. Instead, they filled me with information about what I had been doing. They showed me pictures of swimming and lacrosse. They talked about my family and where I wanted to go to school. One day, they finally sat me down and explained everything, or at least I thought they explained it. They said that one of my swim team mates, you, was being stalked by some kid at school. He invited you to a lighthouse cabin to talk about it and you agreed. Except, you didn't want to go alone but you also didn't want to tell anybody about what was happening. Instead, you invited me out there saying that the whole team was going to go. We met up in the light house for a supposed captain's meeting but it was really where this kid asked to meet you. I had gone up first and he thought I was you. He shoved my head up against something, we struggled and he stabbed me. Emily, they had me convinced that you put me in this position. That you knew this guy was dangerous and you let me get attacked." Emily was still registering all the information.

"They basically thought I tricked you. That I wanted you to get hurt to save my own skin? Did they even tell you we were together, or was that just another trick?"

"No. They told me I had been really confused lately and that I had been all about swimming. The only reason I found out we were together was because of the flashes and it was a guess. Please don't be mad." Emily's eyes widened, "I am in no way mad. I'm frustrated. The world seems to fall apart every time I get close to being comfortable or happy. I'm tired of being in hospitals or at funerals. This space I have been living in is making it hard to breathe. Back when you were around, you made it a lot easier and I get you don't remember but is it too much to ask for you to try?"

"All I do is try to remember. Imagine looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing a completely different person. I don't think you understand what it is like to not know yourself anymore. You're telling me to remember this great relationship with you and I can't even remember that I was gay. Of course I always thought about it. Hell, Ali tortured me over it but I wasn't out. It was my secret shame. I still think it's a secret but the rest of the world knows. It makes me wonder what else the world knows about me, that I don't know. I was swimming laps and swam a twenty six-eight without trying but the last time I remember swimming I hadn't even broken a thirty. So when I say I'm trying, I mean it. But with every new thing I learn, I just want to go and hide." Emily knew she had just hit a nerve. She had to be honest with herself, she didn't know what was Paige was going through. There was also another nagging thought in her mind that was going to destroy her.

"Em, you keep telling me all of these amazing things. I was a super hero or something and you really cared for me. That's amazing."

"But?" Emily could hear the reluctance in her voice.

"But I'm afraid I'm not that girl you're talking about, at least not anymore. I can't just snap back together like that. For right now, she is gone and I don't know if I am good enough to replace her." Emily sat up in her bed. Breaking the contact of their hands, she put her hand to Paige's face.

"Look at me." Their eyes were level but the contact was not there. "Paige, please look at me." Reluctantly, her eyes moved towards Emily. Emily dropped her grip but she still held her eyes.

"I know you. Whether you know you or not, I know you. You love musicals even though your dad told you that theatre was for pansies, you have to flip coins to heads when you see them but you never pick them up, you always read the last page of books before you start them because you hate surprises, you're spontaneously romantic and you always smell like lavender and chlorine... I could tell you a million things about you. Things that you don't have to have memories to know are true. When you warm up you swim until you've sung 500 miles and Take on Mein your head and when you are about to swim in a meet you listen to Chariot." Paige was surprised at all the quirks that Emily knew about her but it didn't change the fact that there was so much more than just quirks and habits.

"Just because I do those things doesn't mean that I am the same person. On top of that, you know all of this but I know nothing about to you."

"Then let's start over. We've done it before, or have you forgotten." Paige still had no idea what she was talking about. Emily unhooked one of the chords from her arm and got out of the bed. She started walking for the door. "Emily where are you…" Before she could finish, Emily had turned around and started towards her. She smiled and held out her hand. "Hi. I'm not sure if we've ever been properly introduced. I'm Emily Fields. I saw you tonight, you were the Phantom right?" Paige shook her head and smiled, deciding to play along. Using her good arm she shook Emily's hand.

"Yes. I am very fond of that production. If I'm not mistaken, you were…Wonder Woman?" Emily sat on the corner of her bed in front of her. "So you do remember me."

Paige laughed. "Well Miss Fields, I'm afraid you are a hard person to forget." She placed her hand on Emily's leg, smiling at her mock shocked expression. Emily leaned in closer. "Why's that exactly." Paige closed the gap between them. "The hair" she whispered. Paige pulled back laughing. Emily's face was a mix of anger and happiness. "For your information, my hair was perfect. Now, are you going to insult me without even giving me a name?"

"I don't reveal my identity to just anybody."

Emily twirled her hair while continuing the game. "What if I made you an offer you couldn't refuse?" Paige's throat went dry. The game was getting into unsafe territory but something drew her into it.

"I'm listening." Emily drew back a stray hair from in front of Paige's face and placed it behind her ear. As she did so, she slowly leaned it leaving scarce space between their faces. Paige's heart beat faster the closer Emily came. As she closed her eyes, she felt an air brush past her face. Emily positioned her mouth beside Paige's ear only to whisper, "Maybe it is too dangerous." She withdrew completely leaving Paige stunned. No matter what doubt she had had up to this point it melted in that moment. Emily was something else. She was everything Paige had ever needed or wanted and in that moment she knew that she was going to try and make this work.

"You don't play fair."

"All is fair in love and war my dear." Emily had this. She knew the buttons that needed to be pushed. If she ever wanted Paige back in her life she was going to have to reel her in, however long it took.

"You really are incredible." Emily smiled at the compliment. Silence engrossed them but it was not recognizable because the look shared between them was full of more conversation then words could produce. What began to pass was more than understanding. It was as if in that shared glance a space that had been so long ago emptied became filled. Both were aware of the intensity of this moment, but neither of them knew how to act. As if on cue, they both reached out for each other. Emily's hand came to Paige's face while Paige used her good arm to wrap around Emily's abdomen. Their lips met gently. Neither forcing action, they stayed suspended. Familiarity over took them, and the kiss became the manifestation of their hearts. Paige moved up from her seat onto the bed next to Emily as they continued, slowly. Emily's hands still gripped Paige's face when a knock came at the door.

"Emily? It's us, can we come in?" Paige and Emily quickly broke.

"One second." Emily didn't know what to do. Paige was just as clueless.

"Emily listen to me. They can't know I am here. The police are probably going to ask you what happened but you can't put me there. Say it was one of them or something but if my parents find out they will never let me back." Emily kept nodding. Paige slid off the bed and started towards her own part of the room when Emily called out to her. "Hey." Paige turned back again. "I still didn't get your name." Paige couldn't believe she was still playing this game. She walked towards her again and slid her hand behind her neck pulling her into a quick kiss. It lasted only a second but left Emily stunned. Paige whispered her name into her ear. As she walked back, Emily couldn't help but smile whispering to herself, "Nice to meet you Paige." Paige closed the privacy curtains all around her. Emily saw that she was clear and called out to the girls on the outside.

"Come in." At her command the three girls walked in. They all rushed back to her touching her to make sure she was okay.

"You scared the shit out of us." Spencer kept checking her until Emily swatted her hands.

"I'm fine. I promise. I was a little shaken up but things have really taken a positive turn." She looked at the privacy curtain where Paige was hiding behind. When she regained focus she saw the girls sharing glances and whispering under their breath.

"Something you'd like to share with the class?" She looked directly at Hanna.

"Well..we…why we are here…why you're here…who sav…"

"Hanna we agreed to not tell her this tonight." Spencer gave her a death stare.

"Part of that was English. How bout the rest there Han." Hanna broke under Emily's look.

"So this whole thing is because of this guy, Jacob Masey. Yeah well he is super against us because of Ali and he was the grim reaper and he was in jail but now he is not so much in jail. And umm…the only reason you are alive is because of Paige. Like, Paige Paige, your Paige." Hanna summarized a 30 minute conversation in about 30 seconds. Emily knew about Paige but the Jacob thing really surprised her. Regardless, she had to act the part.

"At least she shows up when it is important, right? I don't remember Jacob but if he is on the A team we better learn a little bit more."

"Em you are a lot more calm then I thought you would be. And I hope this doesn't affect your calm but Paige is actually in this hospital right now. We had to get her phone back to her and we found out." They had no idea how close she actually was.

"Spenc it's fine. I'm not going to go seek her out. Really, I just want to get some rest."

"Okay. The police are going to want to take your statement in the morning so rest is probably good." They all hugged her and walked out of the room.

When the door shut, Emily crawled out of her bed towards the curtain. When she pulled it back she saw a sleeping Paige passed out above the sheets. The pain in her arm had finally gotten to her, along with the trial of the whole day. Emily took want of the sheets on the night stand and laid it over her. She bent over and kissed her on the forehead ad made her way back to her bed to sleep herself. She never expected the day to end like this.

The Next Morning

Paige awoke to Jess gently pushing on her leg. The pain in her arm finally hit her and she nearly blacked out. She looked at the wall clock and saw that it was nearly 5:30.

"Dr. Bolano is going to be in her in a minute. You ready?" Paige nodded, not able to speak through the pain. The curtain had been open at some point and she could see to where Emily was still asleep. Jess noticed her looking. "Don't worry, she'll be here when you get back." An orderly came in and began wheeling Paige, bed and all, into the hallway. Jess was walking with them until they got to the O.R. doors.

"Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to stay back here." Jess understood and squeezed Paige's hand for good luck. The doors shut behind her and she was in a dimly lit hallway. Another doctor came by and began hooking up anesthesia to her bed.

"Okay now that we have you hooked in, Dr. Bolano will come in and everything will be just fine." He turned to the orderly to give instructions. "tell Bolano that the machine is set and that as soon as he is ready click the button and she'll be under." Paige waved as the doctor walked away. Once again she was alone with the orderly.

"Is Dr. Bolano ever late?" She tried to break the silence.

"Actually I told him we were running behind a bit."

"Why would you do that?" Paige became suddenly nervous.

"For one thing Paige, I thought it would give us a chance to chat a little bit." He turned towards her and finally got a good look at his face, his most defining characteristic being his crooked nose.

"What do you want?"

"Don't you remember me darling, from last night? You are quite the football player with that tackle." Paige started to move but he grabbed her bad arm.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to you listen." He put more pressure on her arm making her almost scream out.

"My friends and I don't like when things change without us knowing. You, last night, that wasn't supposed to happen. They don't deserve to be happy."

"Who are y…" As she spoke he pushed deeper.

"You can see how much influence we have. Let me make something clear, you cannot beat us, the only choice you have is to do what we say, or people get hurt. In your case, if you don't do what we say Emily gets dead. So here are the rules, you have to break up with Emily Fields. Simple enough?" He let go so she could answer.

"We aren't even dating. In case you haven't heard I don't remember anything circa 2009."

"That's not what it looked like on the train though. You two seemed pretty cozy." He could see the change in Paige's eyes. She didn't realize how much influence he was talking about.

"That's what I thought. So here it is, plain and simple. You need to crush Emily Fields. I don't care how but you make her know that a relationship with you will never happen. But you have to really sell it. I want her to know what it is like to be completely rejected. In return, she gets to live." Paige didn't even know what to think but her instinctiveness to protect Emily was driving her.

"How do I know I can trust you?" He laughed removing his hand from her arm and holding his own figure.

"I don't really think you have any other option. It is the better interest of my people that Emily is alive. However, happy is a completely different matter. You have my word that she won't be harmed again as long as you keep up your end of the deal. And trust me, we will know..." He inched closer whispering in her ear, "Just like we know about your little dream journal" Paige went numb. Whatever world she was about to get into had the capability of knowing her every movement. She had no choice though.

"Do we have a deal?" He reached out his hand to her.

"Deal."