A/N- Happy Monday! I hope everyone's week has been great and I hope this week is too. Thank you to Guest for the lovely review and those who have followed this story so far.
Disclaimer- Same as always. I don't own the show or the characters from the show. This does come from my imagination. I don't profit from this.
Third POV:
Emily is startled awake from her restless sleep by a door slamming shut. She holds her breath and thinks she's back in the cellar. Emily looks around and releases a thankful sigh. She's in Nolan's apartment, and they are all in jail. Emily sits up carefully and puts the stuffed bunny on the table next to her. Before she can lean over toward her crutches, the door is opened slowly. She freezes and relaxes when a little head of blonde curls peaks around the door.
"Come in Arrayah." Emily laughs. Arrayah skips in and hugs her Mommy.
"I'm happy you're home Mommy! Nolan kept his promise about you being home before Christmas! Look, no cast!" Arrayah cheers, overjoyed at seeing her Mommy home from the hospital and not having the heavy plaster incasing her arm.
"I'm happy to be here with you Ray-Bear, and I'm so glad you got your cast off. Speaking of Christmas, what would you like for Santa to bring you?" Emily asks, pushing back the stray curls that just won't stay back.
"I wanted you for Christmas, Mommy. I've missed you and just wanted to see you." Arrayah shyly says, unaware how her words affected Emily. Emily pulls Arrayah in for another hug, "Did I hurt your feelings, Mommy?"
"No, I'm just lucky to have you as my baby." Emily hugs her closer and wipes a single stray tear and changes the subject, "So how was Uncle Aiden's?"
Arrayah's face lights up, "It was really fun! He took me to this place where I could draw and look at paintings after we got my cast cut off. They were really pretty, and I want to make some that look like them and have them hang in those really big rooms!"
"I bet they were! When you paint them, promise to show them to me first?" Emily asks, holding both of Arrayah's hands and swishing them.
"Yah! I have a lot of drawings to show you! A lot of them are in a box in the living room; wanna see them?"
"I would love to. Can you help Mommy with her crutches?" Emily asks. Arrayah leans the crutches closer to the bed and Emily stands up and hops beside Arrayah to the living room. Nolan and Aiden stop talking when they hear Emily's distinctive steps.
"Emily, did she wake you?" Nolan asks, concerned that she didn't get enough sleep. Arrayah looks up at Emily for an answer.
"No, I woke up just before she got here." Emily lies, but keeps her composure, "Arrayah wants to show me her drawings."
"Okay, Aiden, would you like to stay for dinner?" Nolan asks. Emily tunes them out while she sits on the couch and Arrayah slides the box off the coffee table and into her arms. She sits on the opposite end of the couch with her box in the middle, which is just a colorful shoebox with stickers and glitter on it. She removes the lid and pulls out the drawings she's done since she's been with Nolan.
"This is you, this is me. We are at the beach with a dog, like the one you had when you were little." Arrayah explains pointing out each detail.
"How do you know I had a dog?" Emily asks, picking up the paper and examining the drawing.
"Nolan told me, and showed me pictures of you when you was little." Arrayah says, stopping the shuffling of her drawings, "Why, did he lie?"
"No, he didn't lie; I just didn't know he showed you." Emily reassures, "You draw really good, Raya, can you show me more?" Arrayah is more than glad to show her and explains each drawing with descriptions only a kid could come up with. While Emily's distracted by Arrayah, Nolan and Aiden prepare dinner.
"How's she doing?" Aiden mutters as he puts the rice in the boiling water.
"I think… okay, maybe. You know how she can be, and now what happened to her, it may be harder for her to open up." Nolan says, matching the voice level Aiden used.
"Well, if anyone can open her up it's you. You got Arrayah to open up, Emily just needs some time."
"Arrayah needed someone who cared, and I was probably the first male that ever made her feel safe. Emily's been through the ringer, before this whole thing happened." Nolan replies, frustration leaking from his voice as he stirs the chicken in the pan, "We'll be lucky if she gets close to returning to her old self."
"And if she doesn't, we're still here; we'll help her and make sure she knows she's loved." Aiden strongly says. Even if he and Emily will never be married, he still cares about her.
"Do you need any help?" Emily asks, breaking their attention from dinner to her.
"No, I think we've got this." Nolan says, flipping the chicken over in the pan.
"Are you sure? I think we can prepare a salad, don't you think Ray-Bear?"
"Yah! It isn't too hard!" Arrayah agrees, shooting Nolan a puppy-dog look. Nolan knew he was toast, and couldn't say no to her.
"Okay, the salad stuff is in the fridge." He tells the pair, not looking up from the chicken. Emily is curious of Nolan's behavior, but stays quiet and makes a note to ask him when Arrayah goes to bed. Emily gets a bowl while Arrayah gets the bagged salad and a few vegetables and dressings from the fridge. They make quick work, and Emily helps Arrayah chop some of the vegetables and allows her to drizzle the dressing on the salad. When the chicken and rice are done, they each get a plate, Aiden helping with Arrayah's plate and Nolan helping with Emily's plate. They sit at the bar and have a calm dinner, with Arrayah doing most of the talking. After the dinner plates are cleaned, Aiden heads home with promises to visit. Arrayah has her bath and ends up falling asleep in her Mommy's lap during a movie. Emily wants to carry her, but due to her leg, she can't. Nolan sees her aggravation at not being able to safely carry her daughter, so he gently slides his hands under Arrayah and carries her to his room and tucks her in. Emily follows as silently as possible and kisses her on the forehead.
"Mommy… promise not to leave?" Arrayah asks in a near-sleep state.
"I promise, Raya. Nolan and I are just gonna to go talk." Emily whispers and pats her hair gently.
"Okay, love you." Arrayah yawns and turns over with Bonnie snuggly tucked in her arms.
"Love you too." Emily whispers and leaves the room with Nolan following her. She is the first to sit down and Nolan sits down close to her. They stare at the television, neither really paying attention to it. Emily is the first to break the silence.
"Nolan, what's wrong?" Emily turns her attention away from the television and looks at Nolan, "You've been tense since I woke up. Did I do something wrong?"
Nolan ponders on how to approach the subject, "No, it's not you." Not you completely, "There's some rumors going around that you're here."
"Well, I am here." Emily laughs, trying to lighten his mood, "What's wrong with that?"
"When Arrayah went into the bedroom with you, Aiden informed me of what's going on in the social world. Seems like Danny-Boy is still madly in love with you, and wants to see you." Nolan says bitterly, he had heard the news and immediately felt protective of Emily and Arrayah, "He's hired another set of private I's to find you."
"What do you mean another set?" Emily asks, not liking where this is going. She never had and never will have feelings for Daniel, and she knew that's where her feelings were exact.
"When you went… missing," He uses the word cautiously to gauge her response and still sees her neutral expression, "Daniel lost his mind. He set out probably hundreds of private investigators to look for you, but nothing ever came up. He started drinking and practically became a recluse at Grayson Manor. He only ever came out for Grayson Global things, and even then he looked mopey and lost."
Emily groans and throws her head back, "I really hoped that he would've given that up." She rubs her hands over her face to try and get a clear thought of what to do, "I've got to squash that before it goes too far."
"I can't say I agree more. What do you think we should do?" Nolan asks, a little excited to see the old Emily come out from the buried depths of new Emily's shadows.
Emily mulls over the question and sees only one reasonable answer, "I have to meet up with him at one point, tell him it's over, and to move on."
Nolan doesn't like the idea; he doesn't want Emily anywhere near the Graysons, "Are you sure? We can always fake your death, go live on some deserted island."
Emily smirks and looks at Nolan and her face falls when she realizes he's being serious, "Nolan, I can't, you can't, what about your company, they need you to be there; you love your company."
Nolan realizes now is as good as ever to profess his love, but before he can form a syllable, the silence is broken by Arrayah's wail. Emily is quicker to respond, and is on her crutches and hopping to the room before Nolan can make a coherent thought.
Emily makes it to Arrayah's bedside first, and sits down next to her squirming daughter. She sets her daughter up and pulls her in for a hug. Arrayah wakes up and hugs Emily tightly.
"Mommy, never leave!" Arrayah's pitiful voice breaks Emily's heart in two.
"Shhh, Mommy's not going anywhere. Shhh, that's it, in with the good air, out with bad, shhh." Emily continues whispering encouragements and endearments till she is finally calm again, but her head doesn't leave Emily's chest, "Hey Raya, I'd love to see my favorite pair of blue eyes, do you think you could help?" Arrayah looks up, sniffles and says, "I think Nolan is in the next room, Mommy." Emily bites down on her tongue to suppress her laugh, "I was meaning yours, silly girl." She leans over and kisses her forehead.
"Oh, I thought you liked Nolan's, when you were in the hospital, you stared at him a lot." Arrayah sniffles and wipes her nose with her sleeve, "And I heard my old tutor say on the phone she would love to have a man with Nolan's eyes. Is that why you love him?" Emily looks at her daughter and tries to find an explanation, "I don't know, Raya. I'm kinda confused now." Emily looks toward the door, and sighs in relief that Nolan wasn't in the doorway.
"Why? Does your head hurt?"
"No, it's just a hard thing to explain." Emily tells her, "Speaking of explaining, why were you crying? Was it a bad dream?"
"Yah, you weren't there, and I was all alone except for Dwayne." Arrayah releases a shaky breath, "He told me it was my fault you all were dead. Then the rest of them came out and started hurting me. I got loose and I found you. You were dying and I couldn't help you." Arrayah is crying at this point and Emily brings her in closer.
"That will never happen. They're a locked up and can't hurt you." Emily reassures. They sit like that for a few minutes, and Arrayah's breathing starts to deepen and even out. Emily starts pulling her off, but Arrayah's grip tightens, "Mommy, please stay." Emily doesn't have the heart to say no, and in all honesty, she didn't want to leave Arrayah.
"Okay, I'll stay, sweetie." Emily lays Arrayah a little further away so she could stretch out and prop her leg up. Before she gets comfortable, she gets back up and goes to the living room.
"Hey, Nolan, Arrayah had a nightmare and wants me to stay in there with her. I'm sorry for taking your bed."
"It's okay, Arrayah has been manning down the bed this whole time. Warning, the few times I've had to sleep with her, she's a kicker." Nolan chuckles lightly. Emily looks down shyly, "If you want to, well it's your bed, you can come sleep with us, the bed seems big enough to hold all of us." Nolan looks up and behind him to look at her in the eyes.
"Really, you want me to?" He asks, worried it could trigger something buried deep in her subconscious.
"Well, that couch can't be good for your back." Emily remarks leaning against the door since the crutches were hurting her under arms.
"If you insist, just let me change." He gets up and walks quickly past Emily, digs through a few drawers and goes to the bathroom. By the time she's whispered to Arrayah what was happening and is situated in bed, Nolan is standing in the doorway, in a pair of fleecy sleep pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
"Do you care where I go?" He asks, still tentative over her decision.
"Nah, just pick somewhere." Emily shrugs. Nolan decides to take baby steps by taking the other side of the Arrayah.
"G'night Emily." He whispers over the sleeping child and drapes his long arms across her to rub Emily's arms.
"Good night Nolan." She whispers back and tries to stretch out her arms in the same fashion, but her finger tips barely graze his side. Nolan is glad it's dark, because there is no hiding his contempt smile. He is unaware Emily is in the same boat he's in, with a smile that could warm even the Grinch's heart.
A/N- I kinda feel bad for doing that to Nolan, but everything happens for a reason. As always, I hope everyone has a great week and don't forget to vote!