AUTHORS NOTE: Hey guys! thank you so, so much for these amazing reviews and all the PM's I've been receiving and even bigger thanks for sticking with the story! Im glad you're all enjoying the story as much as i enjoy writing it! You have all responded so well to Jess.. she makes me smile! leave a comment good or bad it makes my day reading them! also if you do choose to comment Let me know… are you team JAIGE or team PAILY?!

This is my longest chapter yet. I sometimes get a little bored of writing the Emily build up but this is the last chapter with her in Rosewood you'll be glad to know ;) Also Caleb and Paige have a really great friendship in my story something i wish they would have pursued on PLL.

The song for this chapter is: BACK TO DECEMBER- TAYLOR SWIFT. Listen and tell me what you think :)

Love as always,

RB

Emily

"Mom, please go away" Emily mumbled inaudibly into her pillow as Pam knocked on her bedroom door, assuming to try for the hundredth time to get Emily out of bed.

It had been a week since her argument with Hanna and she had not heard from her since. Spencer called a few times trying to act as a mediator in order to get the girls talking again but it was of no use. Hanna was a pretty stubborn character but it had never caused a rift this big between the two. Not before Sara anyway. Yes, they were still best friends but things hadn't been so smooth since Emily and Sara got together, Hanna became more and more distant, they didn't meet up as much and certainly not when Emily's girlfriend was around. In fact all of the girls shared there suspicions about Sara, even going as far as thinking she could be A, but that was all put to rest when Andrew was arrested and charged even after pleading not guilty. At least Spencer and Aria let it go. Hanna still didn't trust the girl, more so when she started working with Caleb.

"Honey, that was your Grandmother on the phone…she just got back from Kentucky and needs picking up from the airport.." There was a long silence as Emily sighed deeply into her pillow, she knew exactly where this was heading.

"Emily.." Pam gasped as she opened the door. Emily's room was trashed, her iPod was smashed to pieces leaving behind a huge dent in the wall, there was tissues and clothes everywhere and Pam swore she could smell a hint of alcohol.

"I'll pick her up, just let me get changed" Emily grunted still reluctant to move from her position.

Looking at her daughter in one of the worst states she had seen her Pam knew they were both in no position to discuss anything at that moment. Instead she stepped over the mess, bit back her trembling lip and shut the door behind her.

"Hi, you have reached the voicemail of Hanna Marin, please leave a message."

"For fucksake!" Emily slammed her phone onto the dashboard of her car and raked her fingers through her hair.

She felt lost without her best friend and this was a time when she really needed her. Sara had practically disappeared off the face of the earth and she was having to deal with the Paige situation which had drained her completely ever since she had looked through the box of her things. In particular the hoody which she was now wearing. She didn't understand why she had it on, all she knew is that she felt safe with it wrapped around her. It's was like Paige was with her somehow, like she could even hear her voice telling her 'everything was going to be ok and that she loved her.' But Paige wasn't there and that realisation made Emily's heart sink.

The drive to Pennsylvania airport was tedious. But through the tears and consequential road rage Emily finally arrived, plastering on a fake smile as she made her way to arrivals. Emily was happy to see her Grandmother although she was not looking forward to her 1001 questions on how swimming and in particular Paige were doing. Both of which she did not have anymore.

Pushing through the crowd Emily scanned the arrivals board looking for the flight number. There was nothing, no information whatsoever about a flight from Kentucky. The only flights that had landed were from Texas and San francisco. Emily's heart began to race as she thought back to how concerned her mother was.

"Surely she wouldn't" Emily muttered out loud.

Pam was always Paige's number one fan, it seemed as if her mother thought she was the resolution to all Emily's problems. Anytime something went wrong Pam's first words would be "Call Paige" or "Maybe you could visit Paige" but that all stopped when Sara came into the picture.

Surely her own Mother wouldn't set her up like this. A mixture of fear and excitement filled Emily's head as she wondered what she'd say if Paige was there to meet her, if her mother had asked her to come back and fix her, perhaps even to work things out.

She searched frantically through her bag trying to look for her lipstick and pocket mirror. There was a possibility Paige was about to step off that plane and Emily had to remind her of what she left behind. Before she could begin applying the make-up she was interrupted by a hand placed on her shoulder. The lipstick fell to the floor as quickly as her heart dropped. Tears began to stain her was frozen in place. It wasn't until then that she realised her body had been waiting 2 years for this moment. Her Paige was there.

"You came back" She uttered through now slowly falling tears. She was still not ready to turn and face the person behind her.

"Of course i did sweetheart"

A wave of pain crashed through Emily's stomach as a familiar voice rang through her ears. She turned around and was engulfed into a tight embrace.

"Dad?" she muttered quietly, finally raising her arms to return the gesture.

"Surely you weren't expecting someone better than your old man?" Wayne chuckled, pulling away momentarily to place a kiss to the top of his daughters head.

"No, no of course not, I'm just… its been so long." She crashed into her fathers chest once again trying to wipe any signs of tears into his Army jacket.

Emily pulled away only to be held onto by Wayne at arms reach as he examined her face. He looked worried for a moment but it was immediately replaced with a smile as Emily snuggled into his arm and the two began walking to the car.

Aside from the obvious small talk about how college was and how her mom was coping the car journey was awkward to say the least. Unlike Pam, Wayne wasn't one to force a conversation Emily wasn't ready to talk about. She knew Wayne would have been updated on the Sara situation and how she had been recently acting but it wasn't brought up. However she knew something far more painful was about to be.

"Who were you hoping for" Wayne gently spoke not taking his eyes away from the road.

"You know I'm a daddies girl who do you think" Emily chuckled nervously avoiding the examination Wayne was now giving her.

Silence again. Emily switched on the radio to try rid the tension but wasn't prepared for what she heard.

So this is me swallowing my pride,

Standing in front of you saying, "I'm sorry for that night,"

And I go back to December all the time.

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you.

Wishing I'd realised what I had when you were mine.

I'd go back to December, turn around and make it all right.

I go back to December all the time.

Emily quickly turned the radio back off with a sigh. She rubbed her eyes trying not to think of who the song made her think of.

"I thought you liked Taylor Lorder" Wayne asked confused with the girls obvious discomfort.

"Dad for start its Taylor Lautner, he's the werewolf guy. This is Taylor Swift"

"Ah, well close enough"

Emily just shook her head as they both began to chuckle lightly. Thing's always felt better when her Dad was around, maybe it was because she hadn't seen him in 7 months, but more than that he was a nice distraction from everything that was going wrong at the moment.

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"Okay, i love you too, we will be about a half hour" Wayne pocketed his phone after a long conversation with Pam reassuring her that they would be back safely and soon.

"What?" Wayne looked over confused at a smiling Emily.

"Do you miss mom?" Emily asked glancing between her dad and the road.

"Of course, I miss you both more than anything." He smiled to himself before continuing.

"I know things have been hard for you right now Emily.. And I'm not pushing you into discussing anything with me"

"But..?" Emily grunted propping her head in the hand that was resting on the window.

"You know after 32 years of marriage there isn't a single day that goes by that i don't think of your Mother and smile"

Emily turned to look at her dad who was now averting his gaze to a spot outside the window.

"I think in life you get one person who just makes you…..Well, you. Once you find them it doesn't matter if 1000 things go wrong you know at the end of the day you still have them to go home to and that just makes everything ok. Im not saying that person can't be Sara… but i'm pretty sure she wouldn't be getting off a plane from San Francisco"

Emily almost swerved off the road hearing her dads words. He had only been with her a couple of hours and had already sussed her out. She opened her mouth looking for the right words to say, maybe try to even deny it but it was no use. He knew Paige was the person she was hoping to get off that plane.

Wayne didn't wait for the car to stop moving before jumping out the door as they pulled up to the house. He bolted up the drive to a sobbing Pam who was immediately lifted into the air and swung around. Emily was quickly added to the hug as she approached them both.

"Lets go out for dinner just the 3 of us!" Wayne suggested finally letting the two go from his firm grip.

"Honey that sounds wonderful but i think it should just be the 2 of us.. Emily has some grovelling to do"

Emily brows furrowed in confusion at her Moms comment. She looked back towards her car and noticed the familiar 4x4 parked across the street. With one final hug she ran upstairs and slammed through her bedroom door.

"Fuck!" Caleb screeched as the door collided with him on the other side.

"Oh my god, Caleb i'm so, so sorry" Emily panicked trying to look for any signs of injury.

"He's fine" Hanna Piped up from the other side of the room barely flinching at her boyfriends screams of pain as she placed a final shirt back into Emily's closet.

"Anyway it should really be me you're apologising…" Before she could continue Emily lunged forward towards Hanna pulling her in for the tightest hug imaginable.

"I've missed you so so much" She whispered into the girls ear as she placed a relieved kiss to the blondes cheek.

"Uhhh….little help over here"

The two pulled away smiling at one another as they looked over to Caleb still clutching his forehead with his hands.

"Jesus christ go get some Ice and while your at it grab me a soda.. Em, you want anything?"

Emily chuckled inwardly, her best friend was back. Now everything was going to be ok. Wasn't it?

After being filled in with the Sara situation, Caleb having to try reel in his girlfriends excitement at the news of the girls breaking up, the three sat down to watch a movie.

"So you just haven't heard from her since?" Hanna asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Nope, i even tried to ring her mom but it just said that the number was non-existent" Emily answered staring down at her hands in her lap.

"Well, you're not the only one. All the computers are locked i can't even hack my own hacking system. She was the last person to use them and then she just disappears." Caleb shook his head in frustration.

"Well thats Sara, just full of mystery" Hanna spoke up glancing over to Emily for any sign of a reaction.

"Em' its all going to be ok.. and who knows with you going to Stanford next week Paige might even be up for a little reunion"

Before Hanna could even begin to waggle her eyebrows at her suggestive comment she was interrupted by Caleb choking on his soda.

"Ew! gross go get a towel!" Hanna screamed as she was covered by the splash.

"Your placements at Stanford!" Caleb managed to spew out between coughs.

"Yes, Hanna didn't tell you?" Emily asked confused as she wiped away the soda remains on her face.

Caleb's eyes widened even more as he jumped up and rushed out the room, declaring he'd be right back with a towel.

"Shit, pick up pleeeeeeease" Caleb muttered into his phone which for the 5th time went straight to voicemail.

"Caleb! Hurry the hell up" Hanna shouted from inside the room.

Frustrated Caleb thrusted the phone back into the pocket and grabbed the nearest towel in sight.

The night continued as it always did. Emily and Caleb sat awkwardly avoiding eye contact as Hanna drifted in and out of consciousness waking up momentarily due to her own snores.

Emily knew there was something up with Caleb. Him and Paige were always good friends but he always rooted for them as a couple. She had no idea why he wouldn't hope they'd be in the same state for a chance for them to reconnect. Before she had chance to discuss the matter she was interrupted by Caleb's cell ringing. She watched him gulp inwardly as he silently stood and excused himself from the room.

"DUDE!" He expressed in a hushed but sharp tone.

"Ive been calling you all night, look i need to tell you something..its about E"

"Wait" Paige finally spoke up.

Caleb paused momentarily. He looked through the crack of the door and was relieved to see Emily had left the room presumably to fetch something from the kitchen.

"Me first…i've met someone!"

Caleb's mouth ran dry as he stumbled back to sit on the bottom of the staircase. He ran his hand through his hair as he thought to Emily.

"Caleb are you still there?"

Caleb was stunned. Everything was happening entirely at the wrong time.

"Caleb!"

"Yeh…yeh im still here Paige" He tried to gather his thoughts.

"Jeez i thought you'd be happy" Paige chuckled nervously down the phone.

Caleb shook his head and trying to reign in his hanging mouth.

"Sorry. Thats amazing man, I'm so happy for you." It was the truth. Paige was his best friend and he hated to see her hurt, especially since he couldn't be mad at the person who hurt her.

"Thank's she's really incredible Cal. So what did you have to tell me. Is everything ok, is Hanna ok? Is Emil…."

"Everything's fine, i just wanted to let you know that i spoke to my Mom, she's planning on coming down next week " Caleb winced at the lie squeezing his eyes shut as he heard Paige breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thats great! Glad you're getting on better now.. Hey I've got an incoming call, i'll Skype tomorrow and we will talk more.. love you bro" With that Paige hung up.

Caleb clutched the phone to his chest and exhaled deeply before walking back into the living room.

Hanna was still sleeping when Emily slipped into the kitchen to wash a few dishes. She paused a few times and looked out of the window at the yard that held so many happy memories particularly of her and Paige. They loved to be outside especially at night as they laid on the lawn and watched the stars. Emily could almost feel the warmth of Paige's hand on hers as she let her hands soak in the water.

"Can i help?"

Emily jumped from her thoughts as she looked over to Caleb who was stood arms crossed leaning against the doorway.

"I..I'm almost done" Emily looked back to the dishes as Caleb walked over to grab a towel and began drying the plates.

They stood awkwardly trying not to make eye contact with one another until they both went to speak at the same time. Caleb paused and gestured for Emily to go first.

"I know i hurt her, the whole Alison thing…everything was so messed up But i'm going to make it right. Im sure, more now than ever, that i love her Caleb"

The two glared into each others eyes for a moment, Emily tried to figure out why she saw guilt but she didn't question him. Caleb was the first to break the contact as he picked up another glass from the side and began drying it, inhaling and exhaling a little deeper than before.

"You really messed her up Em. What if she's not the same person she was 2 years ago? What if you get there and you hear something you don't want to hear? Then what Emily?"

Emily was completely caught off guard by the bombardment of questions. She knew herself that if it wasn't for her friendship with Hanna, Caleb would have probably ripped into her a longtime ago about how she had treated Paige.

The silence lasted longer than Caleb carefully folded the towel and with one final look at Emily he threw it onto the side and walked towards the living room door, stopping only to hear Emily finally speak up.

"We're Paige and Emily, no matter what Caleb, were always going to find our way back to each other"

Caleb thought back to how happy Paige sounded and it cut through him like a knife. He looked back over his shoulder his words full of remorse.

"I really hope you're right Emily."