A/N: I decided to go ahead and put the rest of what I have done up since I got such a good response. I was really nervous about what people would think of this since it is such an unusual pairing. I'm glad you guys are liking it so far, and no, my other stories are not going to be abandoned in favor of this. I'm too close to finishing a couple of them to quit now.

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And So It Begins

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Two weeks and ten days baby-sitting later, Emma had grown used to, and more disturbed by, the nature of the dreams she was having. Each night they grew more and more graphic, causing her to jolt out of bed every morning for a shower as cold as the water would go.

It was crazy. She knew that. Intellectually at least. As for everything else, it was a bit harder to convince herself that they meant nothing.

She told herself that it was perfectly normal. Teenage girls got crushes on older guys all the time. Joey was familiar. He was handsome and sweet and really not all that much older. So she convinced herself that it wasn't really as bad as it could have been.

Emma thought that would make the dreams cease. Logic and reason had a way of helping her when nothing else would. Instead, that night she was subjected to the most intense dream of all. After that she was unable to look at Joey's kitchen counter without blushing.

So she determined it was because she was lonely. Peter had broken up with her a few days before school ended, unable to handle the stresses that came with her recovery. Never mind that getting dumped could push her right back into a relapse so long as he was happy. Add that to the fact that Joey had just broken up with Diane it made perfect sense that she would fixate on him. After all, Diane was only six years older than she was, it wasn't that out there. Right?

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"So," Manny said the next morning, "what were you dreaming about last night?"

They were eating breakfast the way they did every morning before Emma headed over to baby-sit Angela; parked in front of MTV in their pajamas. Spike and Snake were already gone for the day, Spike to the salon and Snake to teach summer school, and Jack was at Snake's mother's house.

Emma choked on the cereal she was eating. Amidst coughs, she stared incredulously at Manny. "What are you talking about?"

Manny smiled mischievously. "Don't even try to deny it, I heard you."

"You're crazy," Emma muttered, sinking down into the cushions, flushing hotly.

"Then why are you all red?"

Emma's blush deepened, and she burrowed further down into the couch. "Shut up."

Manny laughed. "Ooh," she teased, "oh. Right there. Yes."

Emma smacked her arm. "Manny. Shut. Up."

"Fine, fine," Manny said, "but you at least have to tell me who it was."

Squirming under Manny's gaze, she shook her head emphatically. "No way."

"Why not? It's not like it was Craig or something, right?"

'Close, but no cigar.' Emma thought.

"Right?" Manny prodded, starting to get an angry edge to her voice.

"Of course it wasn't Craig," she told her. "If you must know, and apparently you must, it was Toby. And it was hot. Very hot."

"And very gross," Manny replied. "Fine, don't tell me. But I will find out eventually." She was just glad Emma had something on her mind besides food. Maybe she was finally getting over the worst of her disorder.

'Yeah, I'll tell you right after I tell Joey.'

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"Hey, Emma," Joey greeted her warmly that evening when he came home from work. "Ange upstairs?"

"Yeah," she said, "She's on the phone with a friend."

Joey sat down the pizza box he was carrying. "You want to stay for dinner? Snake told me he and Spike were going out tonight."

Emma eyed the pizza box warily. When she looked at it all she could see was fat and grease and salt and it made her sick to her stomach.

Noticing the queasy look that came over her face, Joey opened the refrigerator door quickly, as if he had been planning to. "If you do want to stay, would you mind getting the salad bowl out?"

Salad. She could do salad. There was no grease in tomatoes.

She got the bowl out from the cupboard where she always remembered Joey keeping it and noticed there was still a bright red splotch on it, though not as red as it had been. She laughed.

"What's so funny?" Joey asked, arranging the vegetables on the counter.

She pointed to the mark. "I can't believe it still hasn't come off."

The first time Joey and Spike had let Emma watch Angela by herself, she was eleven and Angie was barely two. Angela was supposed to be down for a nap, but the second Emma went to the bathroom Angela had gotten into her finger paints and covered everything in Joey and Julia's china cabinet.

"Waterproof. Right," Joey chuckled.

In that moment Joey seemed to her like he always had. He was … Joey. Sweet, funny, sort of dorky Uncle Joey. Although she hadn't called him that since she was three. He had been part of her life, part of her family, since she was born and anything else was just her imagination.

The next moment sent her back into the panic inducing state she'd been in for the better part of the last month. While struggling to open the vinegar he pulled on the cap too hard and it flew upwards, sending the contents of the bottle splashing over his shirt. He unbuttoned it quickly and threw it across one of the bar stools in front of his kitchen island. Emma gulped roughly at being alone with Joey in his kitchen with him in just a black undershirt.

"Good thing veggies don't splatter," he joked, unaware that Emma was entranced by his forearms.

"Huh?" she asked and flushed when Joey looked at her quizzically. "Sorry, I was…um, thinking. About something."

He nodded. A year earlier he would have asked what it was, falling easily into the teasing relationship they'd always had. Now he figured Emma was worrying over something that had to do her disorder, so he dropped it. The last thing he wanted was for Emma to be self-conscious around him. Especially since he had a favor to ask her.

"So, Emma," he began, "there's something I need to talk to you about."

Panic seized her at the implications his words could have held. Had he noticed the not so subtle way she had been looking at him the past few weeks?

"I was wondering if you would be willing to continue watching Ange after school starts. I know senior year is a big deal, so if you'd rather not …"

"I'd love to," Emma blurted out. Instantly she regretted just cutting him off that way, and felt a blush creeping up her neck. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

His eyebrows rose at her enthusiasm. "Really?"

Emma's head bobbed up and down rapidly. "I'm not exactly looking for a party-filled senior year. Baby-sitting might be just the thing that keeps me from losing it."

Joey appeared to be running the idea around in his head before answering. He was grateful that she wanted the job, but her reaction was more than a little surprising. Snake had said she was doing much better, but he had seen her reaction to the pizza. He was worried that she was just using baby-sitting as a crutch in her recovery.

Emma sensed his hesitancy and it made her uneasiness skyrocket. She was terrified her bizarre behavior had tipped him off. But she wasn't about to let the opportunity to make some easy money baby-sitting Angela everyday slip away just because she was suffering from a little hormonal glitch.

"Please, Joey?"

He melted under her sad puppy-eyes the same way he had when he had caught her mixing Spike's hair dye in the sink the first time he had been roped into watching her by himself in.

"Okay."

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