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A Little More Personal

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"It's time we set up an intervention," Manny declared from her perch on top of the basement stairs.

Emma turned around on her bed and looked up her best friend, at a loss as to what she could possibly mean.

"An intervention? For what?"

Manny walked down the steps, her elaborate party shoes click-clacking along the way. "Baby-sitting through the week is one thing, but Em, it's Saturday night."

"Joey's running a contest at the dealership until midnight. He needs me. And paying me double," Emma explained.

"Your parents are gonna be home all night. Can't they watch Angie?" Manny asked, leaning over Emma to riffle through the jewelry box in her lap.

Emma kept her eyes focused on the jumble of necklaces and bracelets in front of her that she had been untangling out of sheer boredom. "Jack has a cold. She could catch it. "

"Em…" Manny whined, pulling a pair of large hoop earrings from the mess.

"Manny," Emma said softly, "it helps. The baby-sitting. Plus, I'm not exactly in a party mood, okay?"

Manny nodded. Emma had gotten a lot better in the past month, anyone could see that. At first Manny had chalked it up to the dreams that she was still having which were apparently becoming less frequent but more detailed if the noises she made were anything to go by. They seemed to embarrass her, so Manny had stopped teasing her about them, but her sullen moods lessened when they began. Other than that, the only thing that seemed to lull her out of her funks was being around Angie. And she could see why. Angela was a great kid and she adored Emma.

At least baby-sitting was more normal than sex dreams.

"Alright," Manny sighed, "but Chante really wanted you to come."

"I'll bake her a cake or something," Emma quipped. She stood up and headed for the stairs.

"Tell Joey and Angie I said hello," Manny called after her, stooping to choose a bracelet to go with her outfit.

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"You're so beautiful."

Emma whimpered in her sleep at the images running through her subconscious mind.

A large, muscled hand crept its way up her thigh.

Joey turned the key in the front door, exhausted but happy at the way the evening had turned out. The lights were off in the living room when he went in, the only illumination coming from the television.

He was about to call for Emma when he heard a sound coming from the direction of the couch. Setting his briefcase down on the hall table, he headed over and a warm smile broke across his face. Emma was curled up on the couch asleep, her face buried in the pillow.

She stirred, rolling over onto her back and arching up slightly. Another soft noise escaped her throat. A quiet, but definite, moan. And then she arched up further before turning back over, giggling.

Understanding washed over him and he felt himself blush. Emma was obviously having a very explicit dream. A chuckle fought it's way from deep inside his chest. It wasn't as if Emma was a little girl anymore, she was 18 years old. This kind of thing was perfectly normal.

"Emma," Joey whispered as he rubbed her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up, "Rise and shine, Sleepyhead."

Joey managed to wake her partially, and in her half-awake state the sight of Joey kneeling over her was attributed to her dream.

"Mmm," she murmured, "Joey."

He started when her hand found its way to his cheek and began stroking it softly. The other rose up to mimic it, skating over his face and she was smiled drowsily.

"Emma," he said again, louder and more forcefully.

That seemed to pull her out of her haze. Her eyes cleared and a deep flush came into her cheeks as she removed her hands from his face as if his skin scorched her palms.

"Oh my, Joey … I am so sorry," she stammered.

He burst into laughter at the mortified expression on her face, which only caused her to blush further and cover her face with her hands.

He pried them away and spoke softly, not wanting to embarrass her further. "Emma, are you okay?"

"No," she mumbled.

Despite his best efforts, Joey only laughed harder. Off Emma's disbelieving look he tried to stop, but couldn't. "Emma, I'm sorry. It's okay, you were asleep."

"Yeah," she muttered.

"So, what were you dreaming about?" he asked with a grin.

By this time, Emma was beet red all over and wouldn't look him in the eye. She mumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'nothing' and 'stupid' but he wasn't sure.

"Come on," he told her, "it's me here, Joey. You can tell me anything."

"Joey, can we just drop it? Please?" she pleaded.

Even though she refused to look him in the eye, or maybe because of it, Joey knew that she was more embarrassed than he'd originally thought. His heart went out to her, and he sympathized. He had been in similar situations more times than he could count, but Emma was never one to let things like this get to her. Life happened and she dealt with it. It was one of the traits she had inherited from Spike.

"Sure," he told her.

Her mortification beginning to subside, Emma finally raised her eyes up to meet his. The humor was still there, now overshadowed by empathy and protectiveness. Her heart lurched in her chest when she realized just how close Joey was to her. At this proximity, she could see every single detail of his face and she gulped at just how near his lips were to her own. If she leaned forward just a fraction …

"Emma?"

She was jolted out of her daydream. When she focused on Joey's face she saw that he looked concerned. "What?"

"Emma, are you feeling okay?" He pressed his hand against her forehead gently. There was nothing behind his touch other than what could be deemed fatherly concern, but with the first brush of skin against skin she was assaulted by images so vivid she was sure they would come across on her face and that Joey would see.

"I asked if you wanted some hot chocolate," he said as he removed his hand from her forehead, placing it against her cheek in his search for fever.

Her nose wrinkled in distaste. "It's summer."

He laughed. "So?"

She shrugged. No one could ever accuse Joey of being typical. "No, thanks," she said. "I better get home."

She stood up, Joey standing along with and again she as struck by his nearness. She took a step backwards, noting the way his eyes widened at her actions, and told him goodbye before all but sprinting towards the door.

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"Are you sure she's doing okay?"

Emma paused at the door leading from the basement to the kitchen. It was late, later than she liked to sleep, but she hadn't slept well the night before, feeling her embarrassment more acutely when she was alone in the darkness of her room.

So she wasn't really that surprised when she heard Joey's voice coming through the wood of her door. Joey and Snake always hung out on Sundays, leaving the kids to Spike and the girls.

"Emma's fine. Better than fine, she's really made a lot of progress in the last few weeks," Snake answered. "Why? Has she done anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, not really," Joey said, "Emma just … doesn't really seem like herself."

She pressed closer to the door, careful to stay away from the opening so as not to give them a glimpse of her behind it.

"But I guess that's to be expected," Joey continued, "with everything she's been through."

"But she always seems to be better when she's on her way to your house" Snake told him, "I guess the baby-sitting helps more than any of us realized it would."

Emma could almost hear the smile in Joey's voice when he answered. "Not just her. When Diane and I broke up Angie was really upset. After Caitlin and everything, she just wasn't herself either. Having Emma around seems to make her feel better. Every night she tells me all the fun they've had that day and what they have planned for the next day. She adores Emma."

"And Emma feels the same way," Snake said. "She practically glows when she gets home at night."

"You know," Snake added a few moments later, halting Emma's procession into the kitchen, "she says some pretty great things about you too."

"Really?" Joey asked and Emma flushed behind the door.

"Yeah, if I didn't know any better, I'd think she was a little taken with you."

Joey laughed, while Emma felt her heart thud against her chest before her stomach dropped. "Emma likes me? Yeah, right. That'll happen."

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