A/N – I must admit I had a really, really hard time writing this. After writing the first two chapters of 'Solving the Cancer Enigma' and being at a conference basically devoted to cancer research, it was hard to get back into this story. I knew where I wanted it to go but wasn't sure how to get there… So please be patient with me and keep giving me feedback!

Not the owner of Skins…

Chapter 7

Naomi's POV

Startled, my shoes dropped from my hand at the sight of Emily sitting on my bed. Most of her mascara was smudged on her cheeks and some had formed little black marks on her hands. She hadn't changed her clothes yet, meaning she was sitting on my bed in shorts and bikini top. Her hands had been folded in her lap but had now started fidgeting and she broke our staring contest by turning her gaze down to her hands. As if noticing it for the first time, she started rubbing some of the dried up mascara from the back of her right hand. I remained standing, leaned against the door and waited for her to speak because I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one doing the talking. After a couple of minutes of silence, Emily occasionally wiping away a few mascara-stained tears from her face, she finally spoke.

"I… I wanted to see if you were alright.", she said, still staring down at her fidgeting hands. I snorted.

"Do I look alright to you?", I asked with a sneer. Emily still wasn't looking at me, so technically, she probably hadn't seen the cut on my swollen lip or the throbbing bruise across my cheek. She winced at the tone of my voice and I felt a little guilty. After all, she wasn't the one throwing the physical punches but the hurt Emily had caused me was worse than the marks on my face. I quickly let go of the guilt, set my jaw and fell silent again. It took Emily a minute or two to collect herself but she finally raised her head and regarded me through wet eyes. Her gaze drifted from the cut on my lip to the red mark on my cheekbone before her body started to shake as she let out small sobs.

"I'm so, so sorry…", she managed to get out between sobs. My heart was literally burning a hole in my chest at the sight of Emily crying. It took a lot of strength for me to not simply run to her side and cradle her in my arms. Holding on to my anger was the only thing keeping me nailed to the floor.

"What the fuck is her problem?", I asked, crossing my arms in a defensive stance. "Anger-management issues or something?" I cringed a little myself at the bile in my voice. "And what exactly are you apologizing for anyway?", I asked, sneering. "That your sister beat me or that you allowed her to?"

"I… You don't understand", Emily started, "she's just looking out for me…". I interrupted her before she could explain further.

"By jumping me and, from what I can tell, giving you a good slap-around as well?" I pointed at her cheek, shook my head disapprovingly and raised my voice, "you call that looking out for you?"

Horrified, Emily moved a protective hand up to her reddened, slightly bruised cheek. She looked even more vulnerable than she had before and I felt my composure faltering again. She was beautiful even when devastated, makeup smeared all over her face, eyes red from shedding tears for hours on end. I was hurt, sure, but seeing her like this broke my heart. I was insanely attracted to the sexy and confident Emily but I also cared deeply for the shy, intelligent, sensitive Emily. I was about to surrender to my bleeding heart when Emily sniffled and dried some remaining tears from her cheeks, having taken control of the sobbing. She sighed deeply and suddenly rose from the bed with determination, facing me.

"She's my sister."

"She's a bitch."

She sighed and closed her eyes briefly before setting her jaw. "She's still my sister. I came to see if you were alright and to apologize. I'm truly, truly sorry about what happened and I can assure you, it won't happen again." She gave me a somewhat defiant stare and I was shocked at her sudden change in demeanor. Gone was the sobbing mess and before me stood the, once again, confident Emily Fitch. This time it felt less sexy though and more like a challenge. I wasn't sure if she was actually apologizing for Katie's punches, her own cowardice or driving me to the brink of insanity with her teasing touch earlier. All I knew was that this schizophrenic behavior was genuinely pissing me off.

Emily's POV

I had gone to Naomi's room on a whim. After saying goodnight to Cook, I had started towards my own room but somehow my feet had led me here instead. I stood outside for the longest time before plucking up the courage to knock on the door. I knocked several times, each time a little louder but there was no answer. Going to sleep without apologizing was out of the question and I took a chance and cracked the door open, peeking inside. It was dark but there was no visible silhouette on the bed so I went inside and closed the door behind me. I sat there, on her bed in the dark, bawling until I thought I was going to pass out from dehydration. I had developed a bad headache from a mixture of dehydration, alcohol consumption and the intense emotional stress this evening had produced. I had been the happiest I think I have ever been tonight, only to be humiliated, slapped and verbally assaulted, all thanks to my dear twin sister. Well not the part about the happiest I have ever been, that part had Naomi written all over it.

Now I was standing in her room, looking like a hot mess, not really knowing why I was there. She was clearly not going to accept my apology and she was very angry, not that I could blame her. I hated seeing her beautiful eyes regard me with such aversion but I had brought this on myself. There was no need to prolong the suffering and I accepted defeat. I said what I came to say and not having really prepared a speech, I could think of nothing to excuse Katie's behavior, at least not anything I was willing to share. Naomi deserved better and I damn well knew I didn't deserve Naomi. I sighed and motioned toward the door, which Naomi was leaning against, effectively blocking it.

She regarded me suspiciously and perhaps a little surprised. "What, that's it? Your sister beats me up, you stand by watching and you come here and say you're sorry and everything is supposed to be alright?"

"You don't understand", I started, shaking my head, "She's my sister, I owe her…"

"You owe her?", Naomi asked in disbelief at what she was hearing, her voice building once again. "What could you possibly owe her to justify this? For hitting you? For beating me? For being a total, utter nightmare to the both of us?" She looked aghast and shook her head, "I thought you were better, Emily, thought you were stronger than this." She sighed exasperated, "you can't let people walk all over you. I don't care if you don't come to my rescue but you should at least stand up for yourself."

I didn't know what to say but I felt tears forming and needed to leave before they came rushing out. As if on cue, Naomi sighed and capitulated, before turning around and opening the door. She ushered me out without a word and slammed it shut behind me. I ran down the stairs and towards my own room as quickly as I possibly could, tears once again streaming down my face, dragging the rest of my mascara with it in the process. I was crying because I knew Naomi was right and because Katie had once again asserted her dominance over me through humiliation. I cried for Naomi's bruises and for the pain I had caused her but more than anything, I cried because the thought of Naomi's cerulean eyes regarding me with such contempt was burning a hole through my gut.

Naomi's POV

Okay, so slamming the door was perhaps a bit of an overreaction but I was angry. I felt proud for holding my ground and letting her know that whatever power Katie might have over her, it didn't transfer to. Why Emily let Katie treat her like a doormat was a mystery to me and it wasn't a very attractive quality to be honest. Regardless of kinship, nothing justified disrespecting and hurting people the way Katie had done. I was appalled at the realization that she had also hit Emily. Her own sister, for what, kissing a girl?

Why had Katie reacted so violently? I couldn't help but think there might be more to the story than simply her being a huge bitch and homophobe. Honestly, had she never kissed a girl herself, even if only during a drunken stupor? All we were doing was sharing a seemingly innocent kiss and yet Katie had thrown herself at me, fists pumping in a blur. There was no way Katie could have known that Emily's hands had been making me lose my mind in built up sexual frustration just seconds earlier. So why had she reacted that strongly? I sighed and threw myself dramatically onto my bed and buried my face in the pillow, screaming into it, allowing it to damper the sound.

I kept seeing Emily's tear-streaked face, those wonderfully dark eyes ripped with shame and pain. She really had been sorry, I knew that but I felt like she was a different person now, a weaker one. One side of Emily was shy, timid and always conceding to her sister but the other, the one she had revealed to me, was strong, confident and, above all, sexy. Really, really sexy. Even now, she had found the strength to stand and challenge me when I referred to her sister as a bitch. I realized that the root of my disappointment was that I expected her to stand up to Katie just because I was involved. This, of course was complete illogical. Why on earth would I expect Emily to take the side of someone she had known for less than a week? Denounce her twin sister for fuck's sake?

I let out another scream into the pillow, pressing it hard against my face. Under normal circumstances, I would have told the both of them to go stick it somewhere. Emily had hurt me, Katie had hurt me, and it should be simple really – fuck 'em. So why can't I let this go? I knew the answer to that though, as the image of Emily's sorrow filled eyes haunted me. Despite a substantial amount of time having passed and the recent bruises to my face, my body still remembered Emily's intense, all-consuming touch.

I turned around and stared at the ceiling, running a finger along the cut on my lip. It didn't really hurt anymore and the bruise on my cheekbone had stopped throbbing. It was still warm and sore though; I noticed as I reached out and pressed the cheek lightly, flinching at the sudden pain. I got up, went to the bathroom and started brushing my teeth while continuing to contemplate why I couldn't let this go. I finished brushing, took two steps toward the bed and hesitated for a fleeting moment before opening my bedroom door and slipping silently down the stairs.

Emily' POV

I was standing next to the bed, staring into the open space above it. When I had returned to my room, I had changed out of the bikini and put on the oversized t-shirt I use as pajamas. I was planning on going to sleep but had only gotten as far as standing next to the bed. Somehow, it felt like it would take a colossal effort to actually lift the duvet and crawl in. I was empty, completely void of emotion and even the small task of getting into bed felt like climbing a mountain. It had taken me quite a while to understand why this was so hard, why I felt like lying down and never waking up again. For the first time in my life, I was absolutely, undeniably heartbroken. After one evening under the cover of a blanket, after two innocent kisses, I was heartbroken because I knew Naomi was lost to me. There were to be no more kisses, my body would never again be set on fire at her soft touch, and the story of would could have been had crashed and burned. I closed my eyes and tried to gather the strength to reach out and lift the comforter. I suddenly heard the door chirr and my eyes flew open.

The room was dark and if the door hadn't creaked, I would never have known it had been opened.

"Emily?" I held my breath at the sweet sound of Naomi's worried whisper. Was she really here or was I delusional from tear-induced dehydration and broken-heart syndrome? She had used quite a different tone of voice during our last conversation. I could almost make out a shadow against the white door as she closed it behind her. The shadow closed the distance between us and I realized the moonlight coming through my window would have revealed my presence. My empty gaze lifted and was met by Naomi's wonderful eyes that once again were stealing all of the light emanating from the moon.

She was standing mere inches from me, regarding me with a concerned expression. Her blonde hair was glistening and the cut on her lip was more evident in the moonlight. In my confused, dazed state I couldn't restrain myself. I raised a hand and my fingers found her lip, tracing it from one side to the other, slightly brushing against the cut. She tensed under my touch but I couldn't be bothered to take notice. I stood on my toes and leaned in to replace my fingers with my lips, placing a gentle kiss on the cut on her lower lip. It wasn't a sensual kiss and I wasn't trying to kiss her, I just needed to make it better, needed her to understand how sorry I was.

I withdrew and looked up at her again. The concerned expression in her beautiful face was still there and I think she was about to speak when I placed my hand on her swollen cheekbone. I felt the warmth radiating from it and finally felt an emotion stir within; anger. Katie had done this and I had let her. I had stood by like a fool, watching and I had let Naomi down. I don't deserve her. Desolate, I quickly let my hand drop from her face and started to turn away, once again feeling tears that I hadn't realized had formed, streaming down my cheeks.

Naomi's soft hand grabbed my arm turned me back to face her as she pulled me into her arms. I almost collapsed, feeling my knees buckle but Naomi held me onto me and kept me standing as I continued to cry on her shoulder. She placed small, comforting kisses on my neck and cheek and finally my forehead, while brushing away wet hair from my face. She started walking me backwards, still locked in her embrace until I felt my legs bump against the bed. She gently pushed me down, placing one hand behind my head as it touched down on the pillow while being careful to not break the embrace. I had stopped crying but exhaustion had left me paralyzed and I didn't respond at all to the fact that Naomi was, for a split second, lying on top of me, on my bed. She moved to lie beside me, her whole body pressing against mine as my head rested on her shoulder. Her arms were wrapped protectively around me as I passed out from emotional and physical exhaustion.

So I got where I wanted to get to and the next chapter is locked in my head, just need to actually get it down on paper! I really, really hope you will keep reading and keep sending those inspiring and motivating reviews my way! They really make me smile and at times, laugh out loud