A/N: Thanks for all your positive feedback and thoughts :) We were gonna post on Tuesday, but I know how rough Mondays are sometimes- so hopefully here's something to help get you through the day and to kick start your week! You guys are the best people to write for.

kayweston: Guys, guys! You're awesome, you know that? You never cease to make us smile! We truly do hope you will enjoy this chapter as well. And never hesitate to come and say what you think, you make our day by doing so! So once again – thank y'all ! : )

Chapter 3 – A Perfect Storm

A few days go by on the beachfront lazily. Alison continually rises to greet the morning sun, every day feeling a little more empty than the last. This should be a wonderful summer vacation for her- she's just graduated, she has her best friend on the beachfront with her, and there are plenty of gorgeous guys strewn around the beach. She can't even keep track of how many times she's been hit on.

Her art is coming along nicely and her sketches are beautiful- but that's just the problem. All her drawings consist of the dark, mysterious girl that she is dying to see again. Knowing that wanted-criminal Emily Fields is possibly within the same state as her, and was quite possibly on the same freakin' beach as her, keeps this hope alive inside her that she'll see the beautiful girl again. She knows that holding out this hope is ridiculous, but she gave up trying to stop herself six sketches ago. This must be what obsession feels like, she thinks. And she's positive this is the unhealthy kind but she can't help it.

Nobody knows about that night six weeks ago, nobody but Alison and Emily. What if someone finds out? What if Emily dies on the run and it's all for nothing? But what if Emily is actually a crazed murderer and-

"What's wrong with you lately?" Cece asks, interrupting her thoughts as she comes down the stairs while Alison eats breakfast. The older blonde is wearing Jason's oversized baggy t-shirt and Alison rolls her eyes at how sexed up Cece looks with her tussled hair and lack of bottoms. She's a great influence, Ali thinks to herself sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Ali asks as she sips her tea and puts down her book, Tender is the Night. Reading is her only escape now, because at least she doesn't feel crazy as she reads about a lavish yet endearing character who actually falls in love at first sight.

"Your parents went back to work in Rosewood on Monday and that's usually when you start coming out with me and Jason more," Cece notes astutely, her eyes noting how Ali's body language cringes at that. "But you wouldn't even come out last night to the bonfire down the beach."

"I wasn't feeling one hundred percent," Alison shrugs trying to play it off nonchalantly. She's tired of partying and having meaningless conversations with strangers, she has a feeling she's going to be one of those kids who becomes a recluse in college because she partied herself out in high school. But she feels as though her life needs something more meaningful than parties and hookups, as fun as both of those are. She's not against the social fun or casual relationships, she has just never had anything deeper, and she knows that's her own problem. "Plus my Nana would have noticed."

"I saw you passed out in your bed with that book last night," Cece quips as she sits down across from Ali. "And, seriously? Your Nana thinks we're all saints. Come on. I know you. You love partying it up on the beach with us. I mean, you love being the center of attention and all the people and boys and booze and dancing and being stupid with Hanna-"

"I know I do," Ali insists, and it's not a lie. She just isn't feeling up to it lately.

"You do what?" Jason interrupts in a gruff voice as he enters the kitchen sleepily.

"None of your business," Ali says and Cece smirks. She's not trying to be a bad influence, but she can tell there's something bothering Alison. And the older blonde has come to view Ali as a little sister, so seeing her all introverted and sulky about something is driving her crazy. She at least wants to know the source of her problem.

"Whatever," he grumbles, hunching over the sink before grabbing a glass of water. "Cece and I will be going out tonight with my buddy Charles and a few of his friends. We're going drinking down at the bars near the bay."

"Sounds fun," Ali responds unenthusiastically. "I think I'm going to take the boat out."

"Take Hanna with you," Jason advises as Cece snorts. He shoots her a look and she raises her eyebrows.

"That girl has no patience for the luxuries of sailing or boating. Just saying," Cece drawls as holds her hands up defensively, deciding to stop trying to pull the truth out of Alison. She grabs an apple and her magazine and marches off to go change upstairs.

"It's just a small fishing boat," Jason states. "She doesn't have to do anything but sit there."

"Hanna has her anniversary with Caleb today, ew," Alison makes a face as she talks to Jason, the thought of that loving bond sending empty pangs through her. He looks at her, concerned. Though the two of them aren't close, he has noticed the changes in Alison's demeanor lately as well. His baby sister seems distant, almost as if her head is always somewhere else. He notices enough to realize she had become even more isolated after the last party they had went to.

"Are you okay?" he asks her outright. She flinches, because is it really that obvious that she's feeling a little off lately? Ali makes a mental note to be more subtle about her display of emotions. "You've been moody lately."

"I'm fine Jason," she insists slowly, a warm hint to her voice that eases him.

"Okay then. Just be careful," he warns her in a brotherly manner. "Maybe you shouldn't take it out by yourself."

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to tan and read," Ali nods with a small smile. She has missed the little boat that she grew up with. She and Jason used to take it out together and go sea fishing just far out enough to feel isolated away from the real world. She's taken it out by herself a few times, and so she doesn't mind the idea of doing so today, on this beautiful sunny morning.

x-x-x

Scratch that. Alison doesn't understand how she could have been so stupid, but she somehow managed to fall asleep on the boat in the early afternoon sun. It must be because she isn't sleeping well these days, she thinks. In fact, she's lucky if she can fall asleep before midnight because her mind is racing with thoughts of that…that tan dark haired beauty who stares at her with those haunted brown eyes.

But those stupid thoughts have done nothing except brought trouble to her, and now she's stuck on a boat far from shore while a terrifying storm has quickly formed. She'd woken up, startled, when a wave had splashed her and she realized her predicament. To her chagrin, the sky was dark and the ocean was crashing around her.

The waves are now wild, and they rock the boat aggressively as Ali yelps when it dips forward, lurching her towards the wheel. Another large wave comes crashing down near the boat and sprays water all over the blonde and the boat, leaving her shivering and panicked.

"Fuck," Ali curses in a panic as she grabs her cell phone and tries to call but she has no signal. Frustrated, she puts her phone back in her pocket as she tries to start the small motor on the boat, but the engine is filled with water and refuses to start.

Her heart begins to pound furiously as she realizes she doesn't have very many options here- she could pathetically sit in the boat and hope some coast guard finds her soon, or get swept farther out to sea in the tiny thing. Or she could abandon ship and swim, but Ali doesn't know if she'll make it safely. She doesn't know shit about the ocean and has heard stories about the undercurrents, and quite frankly she doesn't know what part of the beach she's near. What if there are sharks? Oh god. The blonde pales quickly at the thought of sharks, one of her biggest fears.

Worst of all, she sees rocks in the distance near shore, large rocks, and waves breaking against them. She worries that if she tries to swim, those waves will throw her against the rocks ruthlessly. Or worse, tear her body up with rocks that are barely beneath the surface of the water.

Fear paralyzes her body, and this is not a situation that has ever even crossed the blonde's mind. But here she is, stranded off shore in a boat that is suddenly defective, with no one knowing she needs help. She feels at a loss, as if all control has been stripped away from her (later, she wonders if this is how Emily feels). But she clutches tightly onto the wheel of the motorboat, as if willing it to move on its own accord. Still, the storm brews more aggressively by the minute and the winds hit her unpleasantly, causing her tiny body to shake.

A large wave comes crashing down, bringing water onto the boat up to Ali's ankles, and the blonde really starts to panic. There's nobody around as far as she can tell, on the beach or on the water. She truly is all alone. If she died out here today, she'd be lost at sea for a day or two for sure.

But she can't let herself think like that, she knows she's just frightened. "Think calmly," Ali tries to tell herself as she goes to check the motor on the back of the boat carefully. Maybe if there's some way she can empty the water from it-

She never gets the chance to even try the desperate move. A giant wave comes crashing down, partly on the boat, and the motion of the wave with the water causes the boat to rock dangerously and Alison gasps as it begins to lean one way with the weight of the water.

The boat tips over and Ali shrieks as she goes overboard with it. She gasps for air as she surfaces, scrambling to hold onto the bottom of the boat as it floats. The waves are pretty harsh and she feels herself being pushed towards shore, but there are those damn rocks in the way. If she lets the waves guide her, she'll for sure be thrown against them.

And, as if it couldn't get worse, the rain begins to fall faster, blurring her vision. Her damp hair clings to her head as she gasps for air, her chest heaving. Unable to hold onto the boat much longer, her fingers begin to slip and one more wave knocks her away from the boat.

Alison has never been good at swimming. She's not terrible, but her body feels weaker and weaker with every passing moment that she tries to stay above surface level so she can breathe. The rain makes it hard to inhale, all the water around her is making her feel trapped; it's like she's in a giant death cage that's continually filling up with liquid, the way her lungs are right now. Her nostrils burn as she accidentally inhales too much saltwater and she feels the fiery sensation crawl up her throat as liquid fills her lungs.

A new wave submerges her, drowning her helplessly, and she is caught under the water as she feels her body weakening.

Suddenly, as she feels her body being tossed around beneath the surface once more by a giant wave, strong arms wrap around her upper torso, startling her at first with the foreign touch but then bringing intense relief. Her heartbeat races, grateful that someone has finally found her- she hopes it's a coastguard that can pull them both to safety on their ship. The person loops their arms under her arms and around her chest and struggles to pull her above the surface of the water. Ali gasps for air as she's finally yanked above the wave, desperate to breathe.

"It's okay, I got you!" she hears a voice say desperately- and a shock comes over her because she recognizes that voice. She tries to look behind her in disbelief. Sure enough, through the rain and all the water, she sees none other than Emily Fields, the girl she thought she'd never see again. Is this a dream? Is she hallucinating that the same girl who held her hostage is now rescuing her, thousands of miles away from Pennsylvania, in the middle of the ocean? Oh god, maybe she is going crazy. Her eyes widen when Emily breaks the strong wrap around her yet continues to hold on to her arm tightly. "Put your arms around my neck!"

Emily maneuvers herself so that the blonde realizes the mysterious brunette is asking her to hold on piggy back style.

Quickly, she scrambles to hold on to Emily, afraid that she's going to end up dragging them both underwater. But as she holds tightly, Emily's physical stamina seems to uphold and she begins to attempt to swim towards shore. Alison is amazed at her physical ability, and it barely crosses her mind that Emily is wearing nothing but a skimpy shirt and underwear- she must be just as cold as Ali is. The blonde tries to help propel them forward by kicking too, but she eventually resigns to wrapping her legs around Emily.

It's a terrifyingly long amount of time that passes as the ocean propels them towards shore roughly but their own physical progress is slow.

"The rocks!" Ali shrieks as the waves push them in the direction of those nasty giant boulders.

But it's too late.

They try to maneuver their bodies so that they only scratch the hard surface, but there's no use – the storm is so powerful that they are hurled towards the rocks like ragdolls. Alison suddenly hears Emily release a painful, gut-wrenching scream and she sees fresh blood on Emily's skin mixed with the raging water.

It registers after a few seconds that the brunette's right shoulder had slammed against the corner of a rock, and Ali tries to rest her arm around Emily's neck as inwardly as possible so she doesn't put pressure on the injury. But soon her own throat is tightened by cry from a sudden sting of pain shooting up from her foot which collided harshly with an underlying boulder. As a strangled cry escapes her throat, she realizes she can't really feel her own right foot anymore.

But they can't give up, not now – she feels it in Emily's movements, this silent determination to make it to the shore, and Ali manages to think she can never thank her enough, making it her own personal mission to help this brunette girl straighten her life out once and for all, and it's the last thing she remembers thinking before her world goes nearly black. The salty liquid gathers inside her throat and she can't stop choking on it, feeling her own body weight going down, as if the ocean wants to swallow her whole. She feels her eyes burning, her chest stuffed full of saltwater and she feels absolutely helpless.

Ali tries to fight it, she really does – trying to spit the water out and to rise above, making an attempt to swim up and take a breath – one tiny little breath, but the suffocating inhales that exhaust her are more deadly than anything, and her actions are too desperate and rapid to be successful.

And that's when the silence comes. Total, serene silence combined with warmth, but also with this strange kind of internal heaviness. It's like falling from a cliff but in slow motion, plummeting down – very, very tranquilly, and the warm peacefulness that surrounds her body is trying to take over. And she wants this, wants to stay inside, wants to surrender to this glorious silence.

She doesn't see or feel much, and it all escapes her – the tight and sharp grip of strong hands dragging her to the surface over and over again, the shallow, shaky breaths and the pleading for her to wake up. She isn't conscious for a thing.

x-x-x

Emily panics slightly when she feels Alison's body go limp on her back, her hands no longer gripping tightly together. A new surge of energy takes over, adrenaline pushing her forward despite the fact that her shoulder feels like it's on fire. She knows there are tears escaping her own eyes, but she does her best to forget about herself for a second.

The random blonde on her back had gone out on a limb to save her, and she's going to pay back the damn favor if it's the last thing she does. For the last few weeks all she has thought about is how fucked up everything is, how she just wants everything to return back to normal. That one bittersweet night in the coffee shop has been on her mind on repeat, haunting her terribly. Mostly, she's frightened by the way those piercing blue eyes seem to follow her wherever she goes.

The brunette thinks of nothing else but straight determination, and she sees an opening in the rocks that looks like it leads to an area guarded against the waves. She holds on to Ali and swims forward, slowly and painfully, but she manages to somehow. The waves continue to break against the tall boulders, but she slips through an opening between two rocks and she finds herself in a stiller part of the ocean, guarded by the boulder formation. The rocks form a U-barrier around a beach cove and so the waves break against them, but don't go past them, leaving a more tranquil section of water blocked off.

A cry of relief escapes her lips and her tired body swims quickly with Alison towards shore.

She doesn't know how she does it, but she pulls Alison's lifeless body out onto the shore, barely out of the water, and stands up, exhausted. The waves reach their feet, but they've escaped the damn water. Emily tries to catch her breath for a moment, and she thanks God for the hundredth time that her fourteen years of swimming have finally paid off.

She looks for a moment at the blonde's innocent face, and she feels her heart softening again like it did that night six weeks ago. But a cold horror takes over as she realizes Alison isn't breathing. She falls to her knees next to the blonde and hovers over her worriedly.

"Alison, can you hear me?" she tries to say while nudging her, all too aware that there will be no response. It causes a new wave of dismay to creep down her spine. Her chest constricts with a cold fear taking over her body. She can't die on her, she can't watch one more person slip away from her-

But it's not the time for a panic attack, and it certainly isn't the time to give up. She quickly decides not to waste any more seconds and so she starts performing CPR on Alison. The blonde's body is lifeless and her face has turned a very pale shade of blue, her lips almost a shade of bluish purple.

Pumping and blowing air into somebody seemed so distant, so unnecessary back when she'd been learning how to do it. But now she understands just how much her breath matters, every single exhale does, and she doesn't stop pushing down on Alison's chest and giving breaths. She pumps again and again and breathes into her mouth; and after a while her arms feel sore and she feels tears prickling in her own eyes. Seeing this beautiful girl, so unresponsive, so devoid of everything she used to have not more than fifteen minutes ago breaks Emily's already bruised and damaged heart.

"Come on, Alison. Please," she begs before breathing in once more, but the hope that's built inside of her starts to vanish, and fear quickly digs its claws into her, leaving her shaking and distraught. Dark red blood keeps seeping from the open wound on her shoulder, and her trembling hands push once more on Alison's chest, the breaths even more desperate.

"I still have to learn all about you," she cries and doesn't even realize that she says that out loud. She starts feeling dizzy, the dark reddish, metallic liquid from her shoulder mixing with the dripping water from her face as she pumps another thirty times once more. She is not even sure if she has broken any of Alison's ribs in the process but the most important thing is for her to breathe again, and so she continues over and over. Suddenly her world starts spinning as the warm, saline liquid suddenly spurts back out from Ali's mouth and trickles down her lips, and Emily pulls back quickly. She sees Ali choke and gasp for air desperately in between coughing violently and inhaling heavily, Her body convulses and sits up before her blue eyes blink rapidly darting around before landing on Emily in confusion and then amazement. Emily leans back at the sight of life filling Alison once more and she finally can manage a half-smile of absolute relief.

It's mere seconds before pain stings her body so hard that she almost collapses. Her left hand flies up to hold onto her shoulder as a searing burn shoots through her body and her mouth drops open in a silent cry. She grips it tightly, tears suddenly escaping from sheer pain.

The adrenaline is gone, her body is exhausted and torn up, but at least the blonde is safe; at least Emily saved a life.

x-x-x

Thoughts?! :) Hopefully that was satisfying enough. And to the anon that wanted Emily's POV, hopefully this was a good start. Trying to update as often as possible, babes. Review, please! xx