Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, but Christmas is less than 3 months away... *nudge nudge*wink wink*

Summary: "Know you didn't bring me out here to drown, So why am I ten feet under and upside down, Barely surviving has become my purpose, Cause I'm so used to living underneath the surface." (Lyrics by Blyss/Lifehouse - Storm)

So it appears it's a little quiet this weekend, or not as many people are reading this story, which is fine. Lol. It is Halloween though, so I suspect some people are having spooky fun. Thanks for the reviews! This story is coming to it's conclusion. This chapter wasn't the easiest to write and next, already been written, was just as difficult. I hope you enjoy.

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Ten Feet Under

Chapter Eight

The house was too quiet, it was barely five thirty, barely daylight. Emily didn't want to lie to her husband, despite everything, she didn't want to have to do that. It was easier to just come home, pretend she'd slept on the sofa. She went straight into the kitchen and made some tea, needed a drink to warm herself up after an unsettling night on rocks and dirt. The tranquillity of the house was deafening. A space that should have felt comfortable, should have felt nice with such silence, felt instead like a suffocation. The house wasn't a home, it was a representation of a life she didn't want anymore, had never really ever wanted.

"Morning," Bobbie announced, not even noticing the fact she was sat in yesterday's clothes, her eyes looking tired and sleep deprived. She wondered if he ever noticed her, ever realised just how she looked. It wasn't the same as how she did the day they met, she wasn't even that person anymore. Her dreams for her life, her faint feelings for women that she tried to push to one side, but ultimately she'd still felt excited to make new relationships. It was so long ago, felt so long ago. But really it was just ten years, a decade, which in a lifetime was only a small portion of life.

"Bacon sandwich?" she asked reaching into the fridge, he nodded and she started to make his breakfast as she did so many times in a week.

She was ultimately a housewife that worked, it was a role she'd never imagined for herself. At university she'd chosen history, knew there wasn't really many specific jobs relating to the degree, when she dropped out it didn't really matter, her life was already planned.

"I have to go soon," Emily informed him, "Can you make sure the kids get to school and nursery?"

Bobbie let out a deep sigh, placed his mug of steaming hot coffee on the counter with frustration. "It's half term, I thought you took all week off?"

"Oh, I forgot," she mumbled, wondering how it was possible to forget something that was already halfway through.

"I can't take them," he told her. "Yesterday was the only day I could get off. I thought I told you this."

"You did," Emily sighed. "I'll sort it out."

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The drive to the registry office would have been simple, if she didn't have her kids in the car. Lucas kept complaining, wanted to go to the park, the zoo, the cinema; said she'd promised they could go and so far they'd done nothing. She felt guilty, knew she didn't feel it badly enough for a decent mother, for someone who actually wanted to make her children happy. She wondered why she didn't feel that way, tried to remember a time she'd ever really felt that way but couldn't. She was by definition a rubbish parent.

"We'll go to the cinema later, right now I have to speak to someone."

Right on cue that someone turned up. Naomi climbed out of a car, her arm tucked nicely around someone who looked pale, had a hat covering what Emily assumed was a lack of hair. Naomi turned around, a bright smile on her face, her teeth and hair shining from the sunlight. She looked beautiful.

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The steps of the registry office were only feet from the car, she was only leaving them in there for a few minutes; her children, only leaving them long enough to get Naomi back. Emily walked towards the happy couple, a smile planted firmly on her face.

"Congratulations," she announced.

The blue eyes, so familiar, looked at her in horror. Naomi's eyelids so wide it was unnatural.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, turning away from her sick bride.

"We need to sort something out," Emily told her. "Just five minutes. Please."

"Nai?" the other woman asked, her voice as painful looking as her complexion. "Who is she? Are you going to introduce us?"

"Em...ma, Emma this is Claire, my soon to be wife. This is the person from work who rang last night."

The lie looked like it hurt Naomi and for a split second Emily felt guilty. She was breaking apart so many peoples lives, trying to change so much for so many.

"I just need to deal with this, it won't take more than a few minutes," Naomi whispered to the woman, rested a hand on the base of her spine so carefully.

"Shall I meet you inside?"

"Please," Naomi smiled. "I don't want you getting sick because of this."

The woman smiled at her, told her it was fine. They shared a small kiss, so small that Emily could feel the emotion between them. Naomi might have been ready to leave Claire not long ago, but Claire obviously still felt very much in love.

"You can't do this," Naomi snapped, her fingers clutching Emily's arm so hard that it hurt. "You can't be here today, you can't do this to us. It's not fair. It's too late."

A desire to be with Naomi sent her head into a spin. She couldn't leave without Naomi, she couldn't get through another day without some hope that her life could get better. She wouldn't give up.

"I'm going to change things," she told the blonde with a smile, ignoring the frown looking back at her. "I'm going to leave him, I'm going to do it so we can be together like we always should have been."

Emily reached up, pressed a hand against Naomi's cheek, could feel Naomi's body shaking under her touch.

"Don't," Naomi pulled away, slipped out of Emily's fingers, her voice calm. "Have you done it?"

"Have I done what?"

"Have you left him? Have you ended it?"

"Not yet," she promised, "But I will."

"Did you have the chance between realising we should be together and now?" Naomi asked, her voice maintaining a level of calm.

"Well, yes, but I will tell him the next time I see him. I will."

"In my experience, if you're serious about something you remove all obstacles before getting peoples hopes up."

It confused her, she couldn't quite understand what Naomi was talking about. They were meant to be together, they always had been. She was promising to change everything, but Naomi wasn't accepting it.

"But I love you, I want you," Emily tried.

"Loved, Emily," Naomi mumbled. "You loved me back then, but I'm different now, we're both different now. I doubt that you're ever going to do it Ems, I really don't think you have what it takes to break it off with him."

"But I will," she tried again, feeling excited, an emotion she hadn't had in a long time.

"But you haven't already and that's what matters the most."

"She doesn't make you happy, you don't love her," Emily told her, trying to find another way to get Naomi to agree to stop her wedding, to be with Emily.

"That is none of your business Emily. But for the record love isn't everything. I may not be head over heels for her, but we're happy, we care about each other and that's what matters not false promises and secret meetings."

Naomi's speech was making her feel weak, even more confused. It wasn't supposed to go this way, was supposed to work out. She'd thought it through, she'd made her decision. It was a kick in the teeth and Naomi wasn't even done.

"I really wish I hadn't bumped into you recently Emily, if I'm honest, I just wish we'd never met."

"You don't mean that," Emily cried out, trying to avoid the tears she could feel building up inside.

She pushed them down, always had to stop them because they wouldn't help, wouldn't change a thing that was happening to her, wouldn't make Naomi love her like she wanted. Her legs were growing weak, her heart beating so fast. She wondered if she was having a breakdown, if her heart was finally breaking in two. She felt sad, which seemed strange. She hadn't really felt anything in so long. The floor was the only thing she could look at, wouldn't dare look up through fear of what she would do, how she would react if she saw Naomi's face staring back at her.

"If it's any comfort," Naomi began, her voice laced with tears, "I did love you back then. It took me years to realise it, but I really did love you."

The space in front of her was vacated. Naomi had gone. Emily waited for a while, waited until she was sure Naomi was no longer outside. She could barely move, she could barely speak. Everything she thought was going to happen wasn't. She turned around, looked for her car, wondered why it was halfway down the road. Rolling halfway down the road, moving faster and faster as it picked up speed. She suddenly remembered her children were inside, found herself worried that it wasn't her immediate thought; suddenly felt the fear she suspected most parents felt when they knew their children were in danger. Emily froze, couldn't move, couldn't contemplate what was actually happening until her feet kicked in, sending her down the steps and across the pavement chasing the car, watching in horror as it smashed into a number a parked cars on the side of the road.

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Thoughts? Please.