"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." – C.G. Jung

There were a multitude of missed calls from Nolan - even a few from Daniel, too - that flashed on Emily's home screen, but she discarded her cell phone to the nearest surface and collapsed on the sofa in the den. She wrapped herself in a blanket and hugged her knees close to her chest. The past twenty-four hours were a blur. She had alienated the people she loved most in the world, attacked an innocent man, in the midst of her own paranoia, and became lonelier than she ever had been as little Amanda Clarke in years of foster care.

"Emily?" Daniel's voice disrupted her thought pattern.

His shadow preceded his entrance and Emily rose, "What's happened?" He promised he would call with an update. Only bad news would have to be delivered in person, and Emily feared the worst, especially given Charlotte's absence. "Where's Charlotte?"

"She's at the hospital. I've told her to call, if there's any update." Daniel answered, and Emily frowned, confused by his presence. "I could be at the hospital, I could pace back and forth, until my shoes wear down but I would rather be here with you." It wasn't the explanation Emily expected. "Because you and I need to decide what happens next; divorce, reconciliation... a broken family, or one ready to put the pieces back together. Whatever we decide, we stick to because our children don't deserve the same instability we were forced into."

"I think, you know where I stand, Daniel. I'm not sorry for what I did; I needed to prove my father's innocence, but I am sorry for the way it's affected you, our family and our children." She exhaled, heavily, "Your mother and sister didn't deserve to die and I never intended any physical harm. I had only foreseen that your parents would be behind bars and I don't apologise for that, Daniel, because their fates would have been easier than the one my father succumbed to."

"Well..." he processed her response. "At least, you're honest."

"And, while I'm desperately sorry for the consequences and I've apologised profusely to you, to Charlotte and Sophia... what I say doesn't seem to matter."

He squinted his eyes, "Where does that leave us?"

"I can't decide that, Daniel," Emily strengthened, unsurprisingly so, since she had always been stronger than him, anyway. "I love you, I love our family. I've turned blue in the face, telling you so. The question remains whether you can love me back, despite everything I've done."

She inched closer to her husband, and Daniel explored her body. She didn't look any different to him. Love and lust remained; his for her, and hers for him. There was still an ache of vulnerability and fear of loss, no longer unexplained, as her hands clutched in anticipation of his answer. No matter her history, no matter her name, she had loved him, mothered his children, slept beside him for nineteen years, comforted and enamoured him. It sounded odd, but Daniel had lost the memory of how it felt not love her, or drown himself in their connection. "Yes," his throat clamped up at the very confession. "Yes, I can," he repeated, for clarification, "Because I don't know how not to love you." Daniel was overwhelmed by the sense that he couldn't escape her, and didn't want to. "I have to believe, there's a way forward."

Emily curled her arms around his back, her body pressed against his chest, "Thank you."

"We're not out the woods yet," he warned, "Sophia's still critical, Charlotte's struggling to accept everything and there's the twins -"

Her forefinger reached his lips to silence and calm him. "We'll work it out," she promised. "If you can really forgive me, we'll be a united front." With every passing second, Emily finally started to believe her family could be reconciled, that she could rectify the chaos she had created, as long as Daniel stayed true to his word. She tested the waters, her lips moving forward, and Daniel's eyes lulled shut, in temptation.

Their spark remained, as powerful as their love. His hands naturally slipped around her waist and coiled her closer to him. It seemed impossible to believe, but the chemistry between them had only intensified since. His lips trailed to her earlobe, which he nibbled, and slowly lowered to her neck. Her nails trailed tenderly through his strands of hair. In the heat of the moment, Daniel provided her the assurance she desperately craved, "I meant what I said before; nothing's changed."

Flashback

The clean-up, after a Grayson Global promotional event, started at Grayson Manor and Emily bustled beyond the staff, toward the master bedroom. Daniel followed behind his wife, his pace slower than her furious one. "Emily!"

"Save it, Daniel. I don't need an explanation!"

Her 'baby blues' had propelled to a new low. "You didn't need to make a scene! She was a business acquaintance."

"Don't you dare patronise me!" Emily spun on her heels, in order to face him, at the point of the stairway. "She had her hands all over you, and you were more than happy to oblige. Go ahead! Sell yourself for a business deal, I'll give you carte blanche to do so but not in our home and in full view of everyone, not in front of our children!" Daniel clasped her hand, as she attempted to start up the stairs, "Humiliation doesn't even begin to describe how I feel!"

"Are you finished?" Daniel snapped, "Charlie and Sophia are upstairs. They didn't witness a thing, not that there was anything to witness in the first place because you have completely distorted the entire situation."

"I'm not an idiot, Daniel, I saw you with my own eyes! If anyone has made a scene, it was you." Emily had promised herself she would never fall into the high-society trap of becoming one of those wives; the ones who plastered a smile on their face and feigned ignorance at their husband's infidelity. She would never gloss over the less shiny points of life. It wasn't Emily Grayson's way, not was it Amanda Clarke's. "Do you deny you had your hands all over her?" Determinedly, Daniel nodded his head and Emily yanked the top of his shirt, "Then, naturally, you can explain the lipstick all over your collar!"

His eyes fluttered to the marble tiles and Emily bolted toward their bedroom. "Em!" Daniel rubbed off the smudge and followed behind her.

"Get out!"

"I didn't touch her," he denied the accusation. "I swear. But, if I had done, I don't think anyone could blame me." His wife didn't need to reply, to convey her rage. "Come on, Em! It's been months!" He pointed out, "A man with a bigger ego than mine might think it's because you weren't attracted to me." Her anger was so attractive to him, and she realised as much, yet his sexual-confrontational nature unnerved Emily.

She feigned confidence, "I know your game, Daniel, I'm not a fool.

A smirk appeared on his lips, "Then, you'll know what comes next..."

Flashforward

Skin on skin, their bodies lay entangled beneath the bedsheets.

"We're inevitable," Daniel remarked, "From the moment we met." Emily's fingers drew patterns across his chest, as he buried his face in her blonde mess of hair. "I became a different man with you, a better man. I wasn't ashamed to be Daniel Grayson with you."

"You returned the favour, even if you didn't know it," Emily confided in her husband. "I haven't been Amanda Clarke for nineteen years, Daniel. I haven't been that lonely little girl, since the day you married me, and I don't ever intend to be her again."