The brunette proudly held Alison, her arms wrapped around her stomach. "You did so good Ali, so good. I'm proud of you, I hope you know that." Emily whispered quietly, hoping that it would comfort her just a little to hear her voice. Emily simply let Alison cry it out, she let the blonde rid herself of her emotions, knowing it had taken a lot for her to say all of those words when it came to her mother. "You're okay, I'm here. I've got you love. I just, I love you. You're stronger than you look. You did amazing. And I know your mom loves you, she did this upon panic, it's harsh Ali, I know, and I'm not taking sides.. I'm just..." She stroked her waist softly, knowing that soon she'd be showing.
"I...I can't forget what she did. It's still a part of my nightmares. But I miss her too. I don't know how to be a teenage girl without a mother. It's really hard, Em...to have a dad who's so wrapped up in his work, a brother who's so drunk half the time he can't remember anything, and then to lose my mom..." Alison let her tears spill out, not caring that she was practically having a meltdown at her mother's tombstone and in front of Emily at that. "You're lucky to have parents who adore you, Em. That's why I won't let you walk away from them just to stand by me. And I love you too. So much." Alison finally regained her composure, letting Emily wipe away the last of her tears. "Can we just go home? I don't want to be here anymore."
"Alison, you need to understand by being with you, it's a choice. They're my parents, they'll be upset, but they love me and I love them, and even if they don't want me with you, they can't stop me from loving you, from spending time with you.. I hope you know that. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to love you and not mind what they say. I'm not walking away from them, I'm starting my own life, I'm making my own decisions..." Emily finally stopped talking and pulled away, caressing her cheek. "I'll drive you home." She took Alison's hand and looked at the blonde. "Do you at last feel a bit better after this, or did I make it worse?"
"Emily, when did you get so grown up? I still remember when you ran to me and your biggest fears were things like whether or not I'd approve of your fashion choices. You've changed so much, but in all the best ways. I'm really proud of you. And I hope that your life decisions will always include me in some way. I love you so much." Alison smiled brightly and rubbed over Emily's knuckles with her thumb. "Well at first I felt a lot worse. You know I hate to feel vulnerable and here, with all those thoughts swirling around my mind and the overwhelming emotions, I felt so weak. But I never got the chance to say goodbye to her because of the investigation so I'm glad you gave me that chance. Goodbyes are the only perfect things we get. Isn't that what you said before?"
"Goodbyes hurt, but in time, they feel so good." Emily nodded and squeezed Alison's hand. She headed outside and took a breath of fresh air. With Alison by her side, Emily felt free, she felt beyond happy, even if things were going to get hard, and very soon. She walked them both to the car and let Alison breathe for a moment before opening her mouth. "Are you going to be okay tonight alone?" She placed a hand over her knee, gently stroking it, lifting it up to her thigh; without any dirty intentions. She gave her knee a tight squeeze and batted her eyelashes once, not breaking her gaze from Alison's eyes; as she slid the keys in the ignition, she turned to face Alison, waiting for her to speak.
Alison didn't say anymore. She was exhausted and all the emotions had taken a toll on the little energy she had. When they were finally outside again, Alison breathed in the fresh air, the peaceful night relaxing her. It felt so good to have Emily around again, to have the brunette care for her and to simply touch her even in the innocent ways. She knew that there was still a long way to go to earn Emily's forgiveness but for now, she was truly happy. Alison blinked a few times and shook her head. "I haven't dreamt of her in a long time because I pushed away the thoughts but if I dream of her burying me again, I don't want to be alone. Don't leave, Emmy. Please." Alison looked at Emily, allowing her to see the fear in her icy blue eyes.
Emily nodded and bit at her lip gently. She removed her hand from Alison's knee, not breaking eye contact with her. "How about we sleep at your house. I wouldn't mind being away from my parents, they're being overly nice and to be honest it creeps me out." Emily laughed it out, pulling out of the parking lot. She headed to the DiLaurentis house and parked in the lot once she got there, taking a breath, closing her eyes, wondering if she should in fact stay the night or not. She opened her door for the last time during the night. She waited for Alison on the porch and once she joined her, she picked her up, opening the door to her house, placing her on her feet once she got inside. "Do you want to go to bed right now?"
"You were supposed to move in a week ago anyway. I'm sure dad won't mind you staying." Alison responded, knowing she'd feel a lot better to fall asleep with Emily and wake up to see her in the morning. "I'll even make you breakfast in the morning if you want." The blonde offered sweetly, wanting to show her appreciation for everything Emily had done and was still doing for her. It meant so much to her, but Alison wasn't so good at conveying that in words. Alison climbed out of the car when they reached her house and joined Emily on the porch. When the brunette picked her up, she held on tight until she was set down on her feet again. "Woah, Em...what was that for?" Alison asked, laughing softly. "And we can put on a movie in my room until we fall asleep. Is that okay?"
"You better get used to it, I want to take care of you." Emily added, a small smile forming over her lips. She looked around the house; nothing had changed in the week that they had been separated. "We can do whatever you'd like, you're the boss tonight, how does that sound?" Emily locked the door behind them and headed upstairs to the blonde's room, taking off her jacket and hanging it up on the chair where her vanity was. As soon as Alison came upstairs, Emily closed her bedroom door and then opened the television, quickly turning on Netflix to find a decent movie to watch throughout the night.
"I think I can get used to that fairly easily." Alison winked playfully. "I think that sounds like a perfect night." The blonde smiled brightly and headed upstairs, following Emily into her own bedroom. Alison laid down on her bed and let Emily look through the Netflix movie list, knowing the brunette would choose something she loved. "Em? I hate to bother you with anything else but last week when I couldn't sleep or eat, dad started making me this vanilla tea. It kind of helps me relax and go to bed. Would you mind making me some? I'd go downstairs and do it myself but I'm really exhausted." The blonde gave Emily her cute puppy dog eyes. She knew she should've spoken up sooner but with all that had been going on, she'd gotten distracted and forgot.
"You don't even have to give me those puppy dog eyes, Ali. Of course I'll go make you some tea." Emily spoke softly, planting a soft kiss over Alison's head. She walked out of the bedroom and walk down the stairs, heading into the kitchen. She went through a couple of drawers, finally finding some vanilla tea. "Hm, smells good." She thought to herself before boiling some water and preparing Alison's favorite mug. Once all was done, she went back upstairs to join Alison who seemed to be quite cozy laying in the middle of her bed. "Here you are." She set it over on the night desk beside Alison, sitting down beside her afterwards.
"Thanks Emmy, you're the best." Alison kissed Emily's cheek and let her go down to make her tea. She got up slowly and changed into her pajamas. Afterwards, she grabbed her old scrapbook. She'd made one in school years ago but then she'd made a second one with just pictures of her and Emily. When she came back, the blonde had added all their recent pictures. She turned the pages carefully looking over all their old memories. When Emily came back, Alison shut her scrapbook and smiled at the brunette. "Thanks, Em." She sat up a little and scooted over to make room for Emily on the bed.
"What was that..?" Emily only asked when Alison hurried to shut the yearbook. The brunette tilted her head to the side and bit at her lip. "I saw a photo of me.." She added, smiling sweetly. Emily sat down beside Alison and looked over at the TV, ,noticing that the blonde had decided to put on a horror movie. She kept her eyes on Alison, wondering what she'd answer to her question, if she'd show her the yearbook or not. Emily never really kept anything like that, only keeping the yearly yearbooks that her mom would make her buy, other than that, she wasn't big on keeping school memories.
Alison smiled brightly and slid the book into Emily's lap. "It's a scrapbook, actually. I made it back in seventh grade. I have one of all of us but this one is just you and me. It's got all the pictures we ever took together from when we first met up until now. Here, look." The blonde opened it up to the first page and showed Emily. She let the brunette flip through the pages at her own leisure, hoping she'd like that the blonde had saved all their memories in a scrapbook. It had taken Alison a lot of time and effort, as she'd decorated each page and written captions or things that she wanted to remember that went with the memories.
Emily couldn't help but smile. "Wow, you really kept a bunch of these photos..." She kissed the side of Alison's cheek, a hand caressing it afterwards. She then continued to flip through the pages, remembering each and every memory that came with each photo. She moved a hair away from her own face and took a soft breath. "You have up until you proposed to me?" She asked, remembering each picture like they were just been taken yesterday, it was this side of Alison that Emily had never seen before, and truth be told, she thought it was amazing, that the blonde remembered everything and anything, all the memories that they'd shared in so long were in the book.
Alison nodded slowly. "Yeah, I put it in after you said yes. But I didn't know I was going to need the space for a different memory now." The blonde simply meant that she'd now have to replace the proposal with a new one whenever Emily was ready. She looked back at the photo once the brunette had made it to the page. Her hand gently caressed the edges of the photo as she glanced down at it. "That day was so perfect. It was like everything was falling into place." The blonde looked over at Emily, happy to see that the brunette enjoyed her scrapbook as much as she'd hoped. "We were so happy then. But there are still more empty pages to fill. I hope I get lots more memories with you to put in the book."
"You should still be happy now. But I'm making you go to sleep, you look dead tired.." Emily whispered to her. She closed the book gently and put it beside them on the night desk. Emily then stood up and helped Alison slide down the sheets, after; she turned off the lights and lowered the TV volume. She finally went through Alison's drawers, finding short shorts and a tank top to change into. "I'll be back." She flashed her a smile, walking into the washroom, she brushed her teeth with the toothbrush she'd left here, after, she brushed her hair and washed her face, and got changed. Finally, she walked in the bedroom and sat beside Alison. "Sleep, please? I don't want you to be sick."
"I am happy, Em. Because you're here." Alison whispered back before letting out a yawn. The moment Emily mentioned sleep, she realized just how exhausted she was. Alison slipped under the sheets and with Emily's help, she pulled the covers over her body. She lifted her head slightly to look over at Emily. "Hurry back." She whispered softly. "Okay, but you can stay up and watch something. I don't mind." Alison slid down so she was laying in bed instead of sitting up. She grabbed Emily's arms gently and draped them over her own waist. "There, now I can sleep." She smiled satisfactorily and slowly closed her eyes.
"Why don't we do something a little easier.." Emily laughed a little bit and shook her head. She sat up comfortably and brought Alison's head over her chest, wrapping one of her arms around the blonde's shoulders. "There." She smiled, kissing the top of Alison's head softly, nodding in agreement. "I might just put on The Big Bang Theory or something like that. Comedy helps me sleep." She added, smiling. The brunette flipped through the channels until she finally found the program that she wanted to watch. With Alison asleep in her arms, she too became quite tired, she simply fell asleep to the sound of the television, finding peace and happiness in her sleep.
"Hmm? What?" Alison mumbled sleepily. She'd already started to doze off but quickly opened her eyes so her and Emily could both adjust their sleeping positions. The blonde rested her head against Emily's chest and let her eyes flutter shut once Emily had her arms wrapped around her again. It was that embrace that allowed her to feel safe and sleep soundly once again. "Mm, okay Emmy. You make a comfy pillow." Alison mumbled, so exhausted she barely knew what she was saying, much less what Emily had said. As soon as she'd found a comfortable position, Alison quickly fell asleep, not even bothering to fight it as her body really needed the rest.
Emily gently stroked the side of Alison's shoulders until she fell asleep. The brunette had been exhausted as well, and she truly did need the sleep that she had lost during the last few weeks, it was hell to be away from Alison for so long, but now that things were slowly and surely falling back into place, she knew that she could sleep without any signs of struggle. She slept through all the night, the sun shining through the blinds in the room once the clock hit 7 am. Emily moved around just a little bit and turned her back to Alison's face, still sleeping soundly.
Alison slept through the night, the first night since she'd found out she was pregnant that she slept peacefully through the night without any nightmares. She didn't even wake up when the sun shone through her window, nor when Emily shifted beside her. The blonde was truly exhausted and her body was taking advantage of the peace and quiet and for once she was able to sleep in. She rolled over onto her side subconsciously so she was even closer to Emily, her warm breath blowing onto the back of the brunette's neck.
Emily yawned once she shifted sides, her eyes opening up just a little bit. She enjoyed Alison's breath on her neck; giving her goose bumps as soon as she felt it. The brunette took soft breaths, quickly falling back asleep. It wasn't long after that she was sleeping soundly, nothing or no one in the world being able to improve this moment; she felt great, she was happy to have fallen asleep next to the blonde and to be able to wake up next to her as well. Emily slept until the clock hit 10 am, noticing that they'd been sleeping for nearly 11 hours. She turned around, not wanting to startle the blonde who slept peacefully. "Ali?" She whispered out, batting her eyelashes.
Alison shifted slightly in her sleep, her chest now pressing into Emily's back. Even in her subconscious, she could sense the brunette's presence and it made her smile in her sleep. The blonde slept soundly for a few more hours, her body slowly recovering from the regained peaceful rest it needed. She stayed close to Emily, enjoying the morning simply because she could sense that the brunette was beside her. She blinked a few times when she heard the brunette's sleepy voice whisper out her name. Slowly she let her eyes open as she adjusted to the sunlight. "Hmm?" She mumbled out in her own sleepy voice.
"I completely forgot that we have school orientation at 1 today, and it's 11..." Emily whispered to her, quietly sitting up, stretching her body and yawning at the same time; afterwards, rubbing her eyes to adjust to the sunlight slowly. She finally stood up from the bed and leaned into Alison, kissing the side of her cheek. "Are you going to come?" She asked Alison, not wanting to force her to go, however; she knew it would be good for the blonde to get out of the house a little bit, even if for a couple of hours. The brunette walked to Alison's desk and grabbed her brush, taking out the knots from her brown silky hair.
"Ugh...school.." Alison groaned out. She didn't mind going to school so much as the thought of how she'd deal with the comments when she started to show. The blonde slowly sat up and stretched her body. She rubbed her eyes and chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated the idea of school. "Yeah...I guess I'll go. But what am I going to do when I start to show? Everyone is going to start talking and as if I didn't have enough going on with everyone who hates me." Alison sighed softly.
"We'll figure something out, since when do you worry about that kind of stuff?" Emily narrowed her eyebrows and then walked over to where Alison was, she knelt right in front of her and placed her hands over the blonde's knees. "Live in the present." She added, almost sounding like she was philosophically speaking. The brunette chuckled a little bit and bit over her lower lip, placing her hand over the blonde's stomach, trying to comfort her the best way she could. "You'll look great even when you do start showing, I know you'll come up with something, or you can just get pulled out of school or something, who knows. Online courses!" Emily finally shouted it out.
"I don't know. I guess I never realized I had so many enemies. My mom's life was taken because of that. I guess I'm just worried, people will use this against me again. I mean I...we have to protect this baby." Alison leaned in closer to Emily and smiled softly. "You're so positive. It's hard to believe that anything bad will happen when I'm around you. I really love that about you, Em." Alison smirked and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I do look great all the time, don't I?" She winked, channeling some of her old cocky self into her new more caring personality. "I can face it if you're by my side, Killer." She spoke confidently and stood up to look through her closet to see what to wear.
"Come on, I'm by your side right now, I'm not going anywhere." Emily whispered to her, tapping her shoulder. "Oh, uhm. I came here in those clothes last night, could I perhaps borrow some jeans and a sweat shirt or something." She asked politely and then sat at the edge of the bed, waiting for Alison to get something for her; not wanting to shuffle through the blonde's stuff. She finally got up and walked in front of the mirror, powdering her soft skin, once again brushing her brown locks.
"I know you're not. I'm just not used to being so afraid. It's a weird feeling." Alison picked out a yellow summer dress and a denim jacket to wear over it and grabbed a fresh pair of panties and a new bra. She turned to Emily after hearing her ask for some clothes. "Yeah, of course, Emmy. You know you could've just picked out anything of mine yourself." She looked through her closet and pulled out a pair of jeans she knew would fit Emily perfectly. She then pulled out one of her favorite shirts and handed it to Emily along with a light jacket to go over it. "Will this do?" She asked sweetly, handing the clothes over to the brunette.
Emily looked over the clothes that Alison had picked for her. She nodded, a sweet smile taking over her lips. She took the clothes and walked into the washroom, quickly getting changed and washing her face. As soon as she got out, she walked over to the windowsill and opened the blinds; allowing the bright and pure light to escape through the windows and light up the entire room. Not wanting to straighten or curl her hair, she simply ran a hand through it and pulled out an elastic that had been around her wrist over night; tying up her hair in a nice ponytail. "Hm." She smiled, satisfied. As soon as they were both ready, Emily placed a hand on the doorknob and turned to Alison. "Could we go have breakfast?"
Alison smiled at Emily, glad to see the brunette was in a good mood. She stood up and undressed, slipping on her fresh pair of panties and bra. She put the dress on over her head and slid it down her body. Once she had her dress on, Alison walked into her bathroom and brushed her teeth and washed her face. She then brushed her blonde locks and grabbed a rubber band. The blonde quickly tied her hair in a braid and then walked back out to slip on her denim jacket. She selected a pair of heels that matched and slid her feet into them. Alison checked herself out in the mirror, smiling as she was happy with her appearance. She walked towards her door with Emily and nodded. "Of course we can. Pancakes and coffee here or at The Brew?"
"That's completely up to you, okay?" Emily laughed, following Alison closely, as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairway. "Why don't we just eat here, save some money, it'll take less long here anyways, then we can go to school and get orientation done with anyways." She smiled, walking to the kitchen, trying to not make a sound. Emily looked around and found some pancake mix. "Mm." She turned to Alison. "Want me to make you some pancakes, would your stomach be able to handle that?" She asked sweetly, walking up to the blonde, placing a hand over her waist, gently squeezing it.
"I think that sounds good. I don't really feel like going out just yet anyway. Dad is already off to work so we can enjoy breakfast at home, just us." Alison made her way to the kitchen with the brunette. She hopped up onto the counter and dangled her legs, swinging them back and forth. "Can they be chocolate chip ones?" The blonde licked her lips, already thinking of Emily's pancakes. "You make the best food, Em." She always loved when the brunette would cook for her. Alison smiled back at Emily. "Should I make the coffee?"
"Sure, I'll add chocolate chips for you." Emily looked through the drawers and cabinets in the house, finally finding chocolate chips that Alison would like. As soon as she added some to the batter, she took out a pan and put some oil in it, starting to cook the first one. She then stood between Alison's legs and pinched her thighs gently, winking over at her. "Added, just for you." She whispered to her, staying in between her legs, not daring to move an inch, instead; she simply enjoyed the moment she was having with Alison.
"Thanks, Emmy. You're the best." Alison spoke in an extremely delighted tone. Simple things truly made her happy when it came to all the little details Emily always paid attention to. The brunette knew each and every one of Alison's favorites without Alison ever telling her more than once or twice. The blonde watched Emily carefully, enjoying being so well taken care of. "You make me feel so special." Alison whispered back, surprised by her own words, as they were similar to words Emily often said to her.
Emily couldn't help but lean into Alison just a little bit, the tip of her lips touching the blonde's. She kissed her gently, just lightly, their lips barely touching. As soon as she pulled back, she walked calmly to the stove and prepared the rest of the pancakes, making sure there were enough for the two of them. "Set the table?" She asked Alison, handing her over a small smile as she prepared the plates and brought them to the table once it was prepared. Emily brought her chair beside Alison and sat down, reaching over for the whipped cream to place on her pancakes.