NOTE AT END

Alison wrote her name on the chalk board, it wouldn't be long until her English class arrived for the first lesson of the day. As she finished the last letter with a flourish she heard a sudden commotion behind her. She turned to see Emily come barreling through the door, breathless with fear in her eyes.

"He's coming!" She panted out, her voice filled with stress.

Alison stood frozen in place, she tried to speak, but it was as though her vocal chords had been removed.

"Alison, he's coming!" Emily shouted this time, "Do something!"

She tried to move towards Emily, but nothing happened. She was a living statue, unable to do anything but watch.

"Please Alison! I need you to do something!"

"In there!"

She heard her father's voice before she saw him, he strode into the room with conviction, flanked by his usual set of burly henchmen.

"Ali!" Emily screamed at her with pleading eyes.

"Take her away." Her father ordered calmly.

"Please." Emily was crying now.

Two of her fathers men grabbed her by the arms and all but carried her out of the door. She wanted to shout out, to stop it, to do anything. She knew she should be doing something, but nothing happened. She just stood there, a silent witness to what was happening in front of her.

"You're such a disappointment." Her father threw over his shoulder at her as he followed them out.

Then she was alone again, the silence suddenly broken by a loud scream. It pierced her ears and the tone of pain in it hurt her heart. It took her several moments to realise that the noise was coming from her own mouth. Try as she might, she couldn't stop the noise. Just as she couldn't make a sound before, now she had no ability to stop it. She had no control over her own body. Somewhere in the distance a dog joined in, and they both howled their misery. She felt her face grow wet, assuming they were tears she moved her hand up to wipe them and met a strange sensation. It felt like a tongue. Startled awake, she jolted up to find Pepe standing on her bed, looking at her with concern.

"It was just a dream, Pepe." She said to sooth herself as much as her faithful friend. Reaching up to scratch him between the ears.

She sighed as she flopped back onto her pillow. She'd had a variation of the same dream every night this week. The setting was always different, but the outcome was always the same. She reached over to her phone to turn the alarm off, no point in trying to get back to sleep now. She had no desire to return to dreamland, nothing good ever awaited her there anymore. It didn't take a well trained psychologist to decipher the dreams that she'd been having, but she found it easier to just ignore them. She had no interest in delving into the feelings swimming around in her subconscious, it would do her no good. As if it wasn't hard enough that Emily invaded all of her waking thoughts, she now haunted all of her dreams too. They hadn't had any contact since the day she had drunk dialled her. Not that Alison didn't want to call her every day since, but after how things had been left, she didn't even know what she would say. Emily wanted something that Alison just couldn't give, there was no point in covering the same ground over and over. After today she was undoubtedly sure that the woman she once called her girlfriend was never going to speak to again anyway. With that thought she got out of bed, deciding to use the extra time she now had this morning to go over her notes for today's interview.

"Wow, awake in the morning and sober. Have I walked into an alternate universe?" Martha quipped as she entered the kitchen.

Alison looked up from her laptop and pulled a face at her.

"Is it a special occasion?" Martha continued to mock.

"Yeah, it's the day you become unemployed." Alison didn't even look up this time, she wasn't in the mood for Martha's humour today.

"Ah, so today's the day." Martha replied as she looked over Alison's shoulder to see her notes, "Have you learned your script by heart? Should I submit you for consideration to the Academy?"

Alison finally snapped, "Martha I do not need your shit today okay!"

"And I haven't needed your shit for the last twenty five years, but I've put up with it anyway." She didn't even sound upset at Alison's outburst.

"Well there's nothing stopping you retiring." Alison muttered angrily.

Martha laughed a hearty laugh and Alison looked up at her with confusion, she didn't understand the joke.

"What's so funny?" Alison asked with narrowed eyes.

Martha took a seat next to her at the table and looked at her with a serious expression, "Alison, have you ever wondered why I haven't retired yet?"

Alison just stared at her blankly, she'd always just assumed it was a combination of money and pride.

"I remember the day you were born," Martha looked off into the distance with a smile on her face, as though she was reliving the day, "Even from that first day I knew you were going to be a handful, but I wouldn't have changed anything about you. I loved you from the moment I first saw those big blue eyes of yours. Everybody did, people were just automatically drawn to you. Your mother hated it, she started competing with you from the moment you came into the world. A mother whose only emotion toward her own child was jealousy. It beggars belief, but that was the case. I never trusted her with you, your father may as well have not even acknowledged you existed. Too busy as always. Now as you know, I never had children of my own, it just wasn't in the stars for us. You were always mine in my heart though, I made a promise that I wouldn't leave your side until there was somebody in your life that actually loved you as you deserved to be loved. Somebody that would actually care for you. Your parents put a dog collar on you as soon as you were born and they just clip the leash onto it and pull you in whatever direction they want whenever it suits them, and you've always let them. That's all their children are to them, pets, play things, publicity. You can manipulate and strike fear into anyone, you learned from the best, but with them you always sit, stay and roll over. I've never understood it, but I've never been able to stop it."

She could see the tears in Martha's eyes, reaching over she took one of the housekeepers hands in her own. Martha took a breath and continued.

"Then seven months ago, everything changed. You changed. For the first time in your life you seemed genuinely happy. I watched over those months and the relief I felt, oh Alison, I can't even begin to describe it."

"Martha, please don't." Alison tried to remove her hand and get up, but the other woman's hand just gripped tighter and pulled her back down.

"You know I actually told Bob that I was going to retire in the new year? I told him, Bob, this is it. I've fulfilled that promise."

Alison felt herself welling up.

"Now I'll never tell you what to do Alison, I won't ever try to control you like they do. I just want to make sure you've truly thought about the decision you're about to make. I honestly thought it wouldn't have gone this far, that's why I haven't said anything until now. I can't bite my tongue anymore though, you don't keep sleeping with a dirty pillow if you're at peace with a decision this big."

Alison's head shot up, wide eyed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to wash it." Martha almost chuckled, "But just answer me this, do you love her?"

"I'm the last person you should ask about love." Alison scoffed.

"Maybe, but you're the only one that can answer the question. You know Emily loves you. Maybe you've known all along and that scares you. When you're scared you tend to do terrible things, make bad decisions."

"What I did was terrible, I am terrible. That's why you can't ask me that about Emily."

"You find it so hard to be honest with yourself. I guess you don't have a lot of practice with that."

"Not really. People don't like the truth, the truth is slippery. Can't depend on it."

"Try it, just for a minute," Martha said softly, her eyes searching Alison's.

Alison could feel Martha searching her soul, looking for the answers hidden there. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"I know how I feel when she looks at me. I've never felt that with anyone before. It's like she sees who you really are. Maybe that's the scariest part. You look at her, you look at her eyes, and you want to be worth the effort. You want to be the person she sees."

She opened her eyes to see Martha beaming at her, "Right then," she got up from her chair, "I best be getting on with those floors."

"But I didn't answer your question." Alison called after her in confusion.

Martha stopped in the doorway and turned to look back at her, "But you didn't lie to me either. Seven months ago, you would have flown to Paris rather than answer that question, but I think you're making this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. It's simple, you either love her or you don't and it ain't nobody's business but the two of yours."

Alison was about to speak again, but she was interrupted by the door.

"That'll be your 'glam squad' coming to paint you and primp you ready for the circus." Martha didn't even try to keep the judgment out of her voice, "I'll go let them and their forty cases in."

Just like that, the moment was over.

The pavement pounded underneath Emily's feet as she ran. There was something about the steady rhythm that calmed her, she had always enjoyed running. It was something her and her dad used to do together whenever he was home, being outside and watching the world fly past her made her feel closer to him somehow. She checked her watch as she slowed up outside Hanna's apartment and was pleased to find she had beaten her previous record. She was back to her peak fitness, something that was going to be very important if she was going to get the new job that she wanted. Her mother had bumped into her old principal in town and he'd informed her that the position of swim coach was opening up at her old high school. She'd immediately put Emily's name forward and now she was just waiting for a call to see if she'd got an interview. She felt hopeful for the first time in a month, she finally had something to look forward to, a goal. Although she'd questioned whether she wanted to leave New York and go back to her hometown, she'd quickly come to the decision that there was nothing left for her in the city anymore. She couldn't walk past a building without finding some kind of memory of Alison hidden in its walls, she needed to move on, move forward. It was her dream job, in the town that she knew and loved. She'd be closer to her mother and it wasn't like her friends didn't travel to visit each other anyway. She'd spent enough time wishing and hoping that Alison was going to come through and be the person she wanted her to be. It was time to start living again.

"Em, is that you?" She heard Hanna shout from the living room as she entered the apartment.

She didn't have chance to reply before Hanna came into view, "So?"

"So?" Emily questioned back.

"Have they called you yet to tell you that you've got it?" Hanna stated as though it was obvious what she was asking before.

"No, I haven't heard from them yet," she shook her head and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, "and if they do call it'll just be to say I've got an interview. They're not just going to give me it."

"Bullshit," Hanna scoffed as she followed her in, "You're the star swimmer of Rosewood, of course they'll give you it. That's probably why you haven't heard anything yet, they're probably still too busy jumping for joy that you've applied."

"Oh yeah," Emily rolled her eyes, "that's the reason."

"I'm telling you, it's in the bag. I'm that confident I've already got a bottle of prosecco chilling."

"No champagne?" Emily feigned hurt.

"I'm happy for you, but I'm not made of money." Hanna stuck her tongue out as she left the room.

Emily got her phone out again to check she hadn't missed any calls, nothing. Sighing, she decided it had been too long and she probably wasn't even going to hear anything. Better to be cautious than disappointed. God knows, optimism had fucked her over thus far.

Alison was made up and ready to go. If only they'd just let her go and get it over with, but the press coach that her father had hired to prep her for the interview wanted to go over everything one final time. Her father had basically given her a script, which she was told in no uncertain terms she should digress from. It had been drilled into her that these were all the right things to say and as long as she did as she was told, everything would be fine.

"So, what's the first thing you're going to do when they raise the issue?"

This was the third time he'd asked her that question and every time Alison got more and more irritated that Emily didn't even have a name anymore. She was just 'the issue'.

"Laugh." She replied, with no emotion. She'd decided that if she was going to make it though this, then emotionless was going to be the way forward.

"Can you demonstrate?" He leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees, she could see he was getting annoyed with her.

"No." Was all she gave him back, not backing down from his gaze and giving him one of her patented stares.

"We need to make sure that it's right." He rubbed his temples and averted his eyes, which Alison saw as a victory.

"Well unless I receive a brain injury on the way, I'm pretty sure I remember how to laugh."

"It can't just be any laugh, it has to be the right laugh." He tried to stress his point.

"Ha. Ha. Ha."

"Okay, let's just move on shall we." He cleared his throat nervously, "Now they're going to ask…"

"I know what they're going to ask!" Alison snapped, "We've been over it a million times, so let's just go, so they can actually ask me!"

"Is everything alright in here?" Martha asked as she stepped through the door. Alison had suspected she was on the other side listening intently.

"Everything is fine, thank you." The press coach's voice sounded anything but, as he waved Martha away.

"I wasn't asking you." She dismissed him with a wave of her own hand and looked directly at Alison.

"Everything is fine." Alison repeated, though it sounded compelling to everyone else, she knew that Martha wasn't convinced.

"That's a hell of a crystal ball you've been staring into if it's giving you all the questions and answers." Martha turned her attention to the press coach.

"Well," He cleared his throat, clearly not enjoying Martha's scrutinising gaze, "we've sent the approved questions ahead of time so Alison won't be blindsided. There's really no need to worry about her."

"If only somebody would." Martha muttered as she turned back to Alison, "It's never too late."

Alison just replied with a tight lipped smile.

"Shout me if you need me." She said as she went to leave the room again.

"I doubt that will be necessary." The increasingly frustrated man replied.

"I don't know why the hell you keep thinking I'm talking to you." Martha shot over her shoulder as she left.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a look at the photos, so you know what you're going to be faced with?" He reached into a folder on his lap.

"Look, I'm ready. Can we just go?" Alison asked as she stood up, it wasn't really a question. She was done, she needed to get this over with. If he made any protests as she left the room, she didn't hear them.

"Carter is ready and waiting outside for you whenever you're wanting to leave." Martha was right outside the door where Alison had assumed she had been, "He's got that great big oaf with him."

Alison just nodded. This was it, this was moment she'd been dreading for a month. In a couple of minutes she would be on her way to seal her fate. She was interrupted from her anxious thoughts by the buzz of her phone. It was a message from her mother, and she felt her eyes get wet the moment she took in the words.

Martha noticed immediately, "Alison dear, what's wrong?"

Alison just shook her head and took a deep breath, this wasn't worth having to have her make up redone. Refusing that as an answer Martha just took the phone out of her hand and read the message herself.

"Don't fuck it up xoxo" She read out loud and then handed the phone back to Alison with a chuckle, "Well look at that, me and your mother finally agree on something."

It almost made Alison laugh, but there was no humour in any part of the situation she had found herself in.

"I've spoken to Carter and told him, you just have to say the word and he…"

Alison interrupted her, "I'll see you tomorrow, Martha."

She didn't need her making her second guess her decision right now, emotionless, that was how it had to be.

She opened the door and saw Carter stood with her door open, Stone beside him with a hard look on his face. Taking a breath she descended the stairs, it seemed to take so much longer than usual. Carter nodded to her as she reached him, a sad look in his eyes.

"The word, Carter!" Martha shouted out to him from the top step.

He just nodded back at her.

"What's the word?" Stone asked Carter with authority.

"The bird is the word." Martha smiled as she stuck her middle finger up at him, before soundly slamming the door.

She heard Carter laugh quietly to himself as he shut the car door after her and Alison felt immense affection for both of them.

As the car pulled away to deliver her to her dreaded destination, she allowed herself to get lost in her own thoughts. Turning to look at the empty seat beside her, remembering how much better she had felt on the days that Emily was sat in it. How much more enjoyable her journeys had been when the funny brunette was sat there laughing and cracking jokes, usually at her expense. She shook her head as if to remove the memories and looked ahead. Carter and Stone were sat in silence in the front. Catching Carter's eyes watching her in the mirror, she was taken back to the night that she had finally called Emily her girlfriend. The night where, as Carter put it, she had finally given her patronus a chance. It had been one of the best nights of her life. All of her happiest memories included Emily in some way. Deciding to stare out of the window in the hope that watching the world go by would distract her instead, she was confused to see that they weren't where she thought they would be. She furrowed her brow as they passed the place she had gone for brunch with Emily and her friends. Their friends, that's what they had been. She'd finally had friends. Not followers, not subscribers, not fans, but actual friends. She realised at once what diversion Carter had taken them on, subtlety apparently wasn't his strong point, he slowed the car as they drove past the apartment that Emily shared with Hanna. She knew he was trying to catch her eye in the mirror, waiting for any kind of indication that he should stop. She didn't give him it though, she just plastered a look of indifference to her face and avoided his watchful eyes. If Stone was aware that they'd taken a detour, he didn't show it. Realising that Alison wasn't going to tell him to pull over, Carter sped up again and sighed. She admired both his and Martha's efforts, but it was too late to stop it now. This was the best thing for everyone. She could get back to the life she was meant to have and Emily could get on with hers. She deserved more than Alison could ever give her.

Emily put her face up the stream of water, trying to relax and let the stress leave her body. She used to love her time in the shower, it gave her time to think and unwind. However thinking wasn't something she enjoyed doing at the moment, in fact it had become a dangerous pastime. Her thoughts would always inevitably lead to Alison and that was never a good thing at the moment. Right on cue the blonde popped into her head, as did the memories that they had shared in the shower together. She groaned, maybe she should look into that eternal sunshine movie thing. Life would certainly be easier, she was pretty sure they'd never bump into each other again, it's not as though they had the same social circles. There was a loud bang and she nearly slipped as she spun toward it, seeing Hanna barreling through the door.

"Answer it!" She screamed, while jumping up and down and thrusting Emily's phone in the direction of the shower.

Emily responded with a look that, she could only presume, was usually described as a deer in headlights.

"You can unlock it from the outside." She responded to Emily's current look of bewilderment, "Now answer the damn phone, it's them!" Hanna continued the thrusting.

Emily tried to quickly gather herself, turning off the water and stepping out to take the phone. She took a breath and answered.

"Hello?"

Hanna squealed and clapped her hands, earning her a pointed look.

"Yes, this is she."

"Yeah it is!" Hanna all but shouted.

"I'm sorry, just a moment." Emily removed the phone from her ear and put her hand over the speaker, "Can you not?"

Hanna motioned as though she was zipping her mouth shut and stood solemnly.

"Thanks."

She received a thumbs up, as she put the phone back to her ear.

"Sorry about that…yes…yes…I understand."

She could see Hanna's frustration at only being able to hear one side of the conversation.

"I appreciate that. Thank you for calling…no, thank you…you have a good day too, bye."

She hung up the phone and Hanna practically burst, "Well?!"

"I got it." She smiled at her best friend.

"You got it?!"

"I got it!" Emily couldn't help the smile that had spread across her face.

"You got it!" Hanna flung herself at Emily and hugged her with all her might.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but how about we save this part until I'm less wet and not naked?" Emily laughed.

"Good plan." Hanna pulled away and whooped as she left the bathroom, before running back in and hugging Emily again.

"Still wet and naked."

"I don't care, I'm just really happy for you." The giddy blonde let her go and skipped out of the door again.

Things were finally looking up, Emily sighed and grinned. Wrapping a towel around herself and heading to her room. She dried off and threw on some clean clothes, before going to the living room.

"Celebration time!" Hanna sang, with a bottle of prosecco and two glasses in hand, running over to hug her again.

"OK, but let's not overdo it." Emily wasn't sure she could deal with a hangover while packing her life up.

"You're right, I'll boil the kettle and we can drink tea and have a knitting party instead. That's how most people celebrate right?" She replied as she pulled away, that stupid Hanna grin plastered on her lovable face.

"I'm going to miss you so much." Emily got a wave of emotion as it sank in that she would be leaving, she couldn't help the tears that came.

"Nope, you put them tears away missy." Hanna chastised as she turned away to pour them both a glass, she turned back to hand Emily hers and she saw that she was crying now too, "But you better."

"To new beginnings and missing each other." Emily raised her glass.

"I'll drink to that." Hanna smiled as they clinked glasses and drank, "So when do you leave?"

"Well they want me to start Monday, so I suppose I should have left yesterday. God knows how I'm going to move all my stuff and get sorted in time."

"Well at least you don't have to worry about where you're going to live." Hanna shrugged.

"I know, I'm not sure I really want to move back in with my mom long term though." It wasn't that she didn't love spending time with her, but she could be a little overbearing to live with. She also knew that she'd make her talk about the whole Alison thing and she just wanted to move past it.

"I didn't mean with your mom, you have a house remember? I mean for all her faults and how it ended, you've got to appreciate that. Most people walk away with a t shirt and couple of mix tapes at best…"

Emily just stared at her.

"Too soon?"

"Little bit, yeah."

"My bad." Hanna averted her eyes and sipped her drink.

The show was prerecorded, so while it wouldn't be broadcast until much later that night, the filming took place in the afternoon. As such, Alison wasn't at all surprised to find crowds of people outside the studio, all hoping for a selfie or an autograph. While she would usually spend a little bit of time giving a few lucky people what they wanted, today she had no inclination or energy to want to. Being Alison DiLaurentis could be exhausting at the best of times, but today she thought it might actually break her.

"Let's go." Stone stated assertively from the front of the car.

"I just need a minute." Alison replied, she was feeling incredibly overwhelmed. She dealt with bigger crowds than this frequently and it wasn't as though she'd never been interviewed before, but today for some reason she felt anxiety about it that she'd never felt before. A nagging voice in her head told her she knew exactly why she felt that way, but she shut it up before the thought could gain traction.

"We don't have time, it already took us longer to get here than I thought it would." He replied in a tone that suggested he was in charge.

"She said she needed a minute and unless you've forgotten, she's the boss. So if she says she needs a minute she gets it. If she says she needs an hour, she gets it. If she asks me to drive away now, well, I'm sure you're catching on."

Alison had never heard Carter speak so firmly. She looked up to find the two men staring at each other intently, it didn't look like either one was going to back down. Knowing that she had to get out of the car at some point and that if she sat there any longer she might not even manage that, she decided to quickly diffuse the mounting tension.

"No it's fine, lets get this over with. Don't want to keep them waiting." She attempted a smile, but she couldn't quite manage to accomplish it.

It was like neither of the men had heard her though, they stayed locked in their silent battle.

"Well I suppose I'll just be letting myself out then." She snapped, moving to open her door.

This finally got their attention, as they turned away from each other to exit the vehicle. Carter opened her door moments later, she took a deep breath and stepped out, being greeted by shouts and screams. Flashes were going off in every direction, but she just calmly put her sunglasses on and ignored every single one of them. She detached herself from the entire situation. She used to enjoy the attention, the adoring fans, the feeling of being worshiped by these strangers. Today she felt nothing, it meant nothing. So instead of revelling in her own importance like she usually would, she just silently followed Stone to the entrance. She barely even acknowledged the angry protests of the autograph and selfie hunters that she bypassed along the way. The shouts from members of the press asking about the photographs that had been released that morning fell on deaf ears.

Once they'd entered the building she was immediately swarmed by the shows staff, they didn't have long until they needed to start the taping and she was quickly ushered through to a dressing room and told someone would come to get her shortly.

"You can wait outside." She said to Stone, who was hovering like an angry wasp.

"My orders are not to take my eyes off you." He replied, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Are you planning on sitting next to me for the interview too?" She scoffed.

"No, I can watch it from here, they have a live feed to the screen over there." He pointed while leaning back and putting his feet up on the coffee table in front of him, "I'm just going to grab some popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show." He had a smug look on his face, he knew he was privy to what was really going on and he was clearly loving every minute of it.

Alison could feel the anger bubbling up inside of her, she walked over to the other side of the room and poured herself a glass of water. She was taking a sip when a runner came in.

"Your introduction is about to start if you're ready." She spoke with a voice laced with nerves.

"No I'm not fucking ready." Alison snapped at her, "I need a drink, but this goddam water is warm and tastes like shit!"

"I..I'm sorry Miss DiLaurentis." The young woman was clearly taken off guard.

"So you should be, this is meant to be a reputable show and you're giving your guests warm dirty water?" She was looking at the runner with contempt, hands on her hips in her dominating power stance.

Taken aback and struggling to know what to say the runner looked to Stone as if for some kind of help or support, but he just smirked, obviously enjoying the return of the old Alison.

"What the fuck are you looking at him for? Are you always this incompetent? Do you treat all of your guests with this level of disrespect?"

The woman was visibly shaking now and looked like she might cry.

"You'll be lucky if you still have a job after today." Alison pushed past her and headed toward the studio.

Her heart was racing as she left the dressing room, anxiety had gripped her and she felt intense anger. She paused and leaned against the wall a moment, shutting her eyes and taking a breath. She needed to get it together, she needed to be okay on that stage. As she calmed down she felt the guilt kick in, she had absolutely no right to treat the runner that way. The way she spoke to her was out of order, she needed to go back and apologise. In her mind, she saw Emily's brown eyes looking at her in disappointment. That silent look she gave when she wanted Alison to know that what she'd done wasn't alright. She was Alison's moral compass when her own failed her, which was often. She opened her eyes and shook her head. She had behaved like the old Alison, but one thing was certain. The old Alison wouldn't have given that runner a second thought.

"Are you ready?"

One of the shows producers was peering round the corner at her with a look of trepidation.

Doing her best to remove Emily's watchful eyes from her thoughts, she just nodded her head and gave her best fake smile. She moved toward the stage and listened as the host introduced her to the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is American royalty. Her family probably own this building! She's the star of page 6, the Queen of Instagram and and an education activist to boot! As if that wasn't enough, she's joining us tonight to tell us all about her new venture. The envy of millions, I know I want to be her, give it up for Alison DiLaurentis!"

The audience immediately started applauding and she was given the thumbs up by the producer to walk out. Plastering the fake smile back on she stepped out, waving at the audience as she walked to greet the host. Internally rolling her eyes at how her father could turn one speech at a benefit into her being an "education activist". There were the usual fake hugs and kisses on both cheeks and then she was sat in an armchair and he was behind his desk.

"Alison, can I call you Alison?" The host began his charming idiot routine.

"Of course, Jimmy." The act began.

"Alison, it's great to have you here. It's your first time here."

"Yes, so nice to finally meet you after watching you on TV for so long." All part of the script, she's just like everyone else, she watches television too.

"Actually we've met before! Haha!"

"We have?"

Insert the fake confusion and cue the funny anecdote, it was all going to plan. She was being everything she had been told to be, the audience were laughing in all the right places.

"So I know you're here tonight to talk about your exciting new business venture."

"That's right."

Here it came, this was it. She felt herself physically brace and prayed that it wouldn't be visible to anyone watching.

"But, err, well..haha..some interesting photographs have been making the rounds this morning and I just feel like I've got to ask you about them."

"Please, ask away." Pleasant smile, look of amusement. On the inside she looked anything but smiley and amused.

"Well as I understand it, this is your security, well former security. I've been informed she doesn't actually work for you anymore…"

His voice disappeared into nothingness as the first picture appeared on the monitor. She had been prepared for the photograph that had been taken on New Years in the elevator. When she had been asked if she'd wanted to see the pictures, she had declined. She knew what she had to say, there was no point in dredging up old memories. That photograph had ruined everything and she had no desire to see it again unless she had no choice. She was now regretting that decision though, because the picture that was currently on the screen was not one she had actually seen before, as such, it had taken her completely off guard. She wanted to take her eyes away from it, but she couldn't. It must have been taken on one of the many walks to the dog park with Pepe. She had to give credit to the photographer, because neither one of them knew they were being watched. It had obviously been taken with a long lens, but the people in it and their smiles were unmistakable. As Alison stared at the image, she barely recognised herself. Had she really ever been that happy? She was glowing, the remains of a laugh on her face, one hand on Emily's shoulder, her blue eyes transfixed to brown ones. Emily's hand was at her waist, as though steadying her. She tried to work out how long ago it had been taken, but she couldn't. The only thing she was certain of when looked at that picture, was that the two people in it were not just friends. The way they looked at each, could only be described as…the photo changed. Now it was the New Year picture. She wanted to yell out for them to go back, but she caught herself. Realising that she had missed a chunk of dialogue.

"You ok there? Looked like you spaced out for a moment there."

"Sorry, it's been a really long week trying to get these products out." She had never been so grateful for her ability to lie.

"I'll bet. As I was saying, these are some interesting pictures and there's obviously been a lot of talk about them and there's a lot of theories going round, you want to fill us in?" He turned to look at her and suddenly the entire room seemed to focus in on her.

They were waiting, she had been practicing this all week. It was time to cue the laugh and poke fun at the speculation. They were friends.

"Haha!" She nailed the laugh, "There's nothing really to explain, it's simple…"

Then her words were caught in her throat. She knew what she was supposed to say. She was supposed to tell them that when you work with somebody so closely for so long that friendships are formed. That they were just friends, they got on well and that she was sad when she moved on professionally, but that she wished her all the best and that they were still in touch. She knew that's what she was supposed to say, but it wouldn't come. Martha's words rang in her head instead. It's simple. The photograph was still stuck in her head. Those smiles, that look. She had been so happy in that picture, the kind of happy that people write about or turn into films. She couldn't remember what it felt like to be that happy, or be happy at all. The truth was she was miserable. The truth was, none of this mattered. None of these people mattered, the life that she had so desperately tried to cling onto, the money, the parties, the status. None of it actually mattered, because none of it made her happy. What was the point in any of it? She had made the decisions she had made to save her from difficulty and misery, but that's all she had now anyway. It was simple, she could throw it all away or she could fight for it.

"You were saying?" The host pressed, confused at her abrupt stop.

"It's simple…," she began again and for the first time she could remember, as she looked at the picture that was now ingrained in her mind, it really was.

"Yes.." He prompted once more.

"Yes, it's simple. It's none of your business."

The host was visibly shocked, this was not how this was meant to go. There was some nervous laughter from the audience.

"It's none of your business." She repeated again, before turning and pointing at the audience, "It's not their business either."

"I…haha…errm." He desperately looked to his producer, but Alison was standing up now.

"It's not your business, it's not their business, it's my business. Oh, and Emily's business. It isn't the business of the people that took these pictures, it isn't my fathers business, it most definitely isn't my mothers business. It's our business, nobody else's."

She was pacing the stage now gesturing wildly and the host didn't have a clue how to react, this was not the interview that he'd signed up for. The audience were shocked into silence.

"Actually, you know what?" Alison paused and spun on her heel to look at him again.

"What?" He asked tentatively.

"It's our business and our friends business. They can be involved, because they care, but you know who's business it's not?" She didn't even wait for a reply, "Stone, it's none of his fucking business. It can be Martha's business and Carter's business, I don't even mind talking to my brother about it, but that's it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to leave because I have somewhere I need to be and as much as I'm sure you all think I fucked this interview up there's something that I fucked up much more severely that I need to try and fix."

With that she went to walk off stage, unclipping her microphone pack as she went. She stopped just as she reached the exit.

"Oh and Pam."

"Who's Pam?!" The host exasperatedly asked nobody as she exited, before putting his head on his desk.

Just as she expected Stone was striding towards her as she came off stage.

"What the hell was that?!" She could feel the anger radiating off him.

"I suggest you spruce up that resume of yours." She smirked at him as she went to storm past.

She was stopped by his hand around the top of her arm. He gripped tightly enough that it hurt her.

"Listen to me you spoilt bitch…" He was practically frothing at the mouth.

"Take your hands off her right now."

Carter looked like he was about to punch the larger man, she wasn't sure that Carter would last long in a fight with the security man, but Stone let go.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked the driver.

"Thought you might need a friendly face when you came off." He answered, still glaring at Stone who was now furiously tapping his phone.

"Well, I'm saying the word, Carter."

"Very good, Miss DiLaurentis." He held an arm out, gesturing down the hall, still never taking his eyes off Stone, "After you."

"Thank you, Carter."

He guided her though the crowd outside and they quickly made it to the car and pulled away.

"Where to, Miss DiLaurentis?" Carter asked, staring straight ahead at the road.

"Really?"

He chuckled, "Just wanted to make sure."

Alison suddenly took pause, what if this was a terrible idea. What if this was just her being selfish all over again. She couldn't just turn up on Emily's doorstep and expect all to be forgiven. She had put her through hell and after that interview, she had no doubt that the poor girl was going to be hounded by every photographer in New York.

"Carter, is this an absolutely terrible idea?"

"Well, I can't say how it will go, but I'd say it's the best one you've had in a long time." He smiled at her in the mirror.

"What if…"

"She won't." He interrupted.

"But what if…"

"Then you fight for her." He interrupted again as her phone began to ring.

She knew who it was going to be before she even look at the caller ID. She had assumed that was who Stone was contacting.

"Hello father."

It was impossible to understand exactly what he was saying, it just seemed like a lot of noise.

"Look, I've no idea what you're saying, but I can hazard a guess. So here's the thing, cut me off Dad, I don't care. I quit, I'm done. Do what you want, say what you want, I don't need you."

She hung up and felt like the world already seemed a little brighter.

"So what's the plan?" Carter asked, like the call had never happened.

"I'm going to fight for her."

Carter nodded with approval.

"How long until we're there?"

"Half an hour?"

"Can you hit the Bluetooth button so I can connect to the speakers please?"

Despite Hanna's protests, Emily had only had one glass to celebrate and then insisted that she start packing. So they were now in Emily's room surrounded by a tornado of her belongings.

"I don't know how I'm going to get all this done by tonight." Emily growled, getting irritated by the sheer amount of crap she had accumulated.

"Beats me." Hanna shrugged from her bed, pouring herself yet another glass.

"You know this might actually go quicker if you helped." Emily stated, looking up at her from her spot on the floor.

"I am helping."

"How? How are you helping right now?" Emily threw her hands up.

"One less thing for you to pack." Hanna smiled, waving the nearly empty bottle in her direction, "Caleb can help when he gets home and I'll order us some take out. See I can be helpful."

Emily just rolled her eyes as Hanna picked up her phone and continued to be unhelpful.

"You could at least pretend to be helping, I mean I'm leaving tomorrow and look at all this stuff…"

"Holy fuck." Hanna cut her off.

"I know, it's crazy. How have I managed to end up with so much stuff?"

"No, Twitter is exploding." Hanna said, never taking her eyes off her phone.

"How is that relevant right now?" Emily decided this would be easier without Hanna.

"Alison."

"What?" That got Emily's attention.

"She had that interview today, right?" Hanna was still scrolling on her phone.

"Right." Emily got up now and went to join Hanna on the bed.

"Well apparently she had a total meltdown. People who were at the recording are saying she just started yelling and walked out of the interview." Hanna finally looked at Emily, wide eyed.

"Yelling about what?" Emily stood up again, she suddenly didn't know what to do with herself.

"I don't know, it only happened like twenty minutes ago or something. People are just saying she's gone batshit."

"I…I have to go." Emily grabbed her jacket off the door and went to find her shoes.

"Go where?" Hanna shouted, chasing after her.

"To Alison." Emily replied, pulling her shoes on.

"You don't even know where she is."

"Well I'll go to her house."

"What if she's not there?"

"Then…I don't know, I'll work it out. I'll call her."

"You're not allowed, you'll be in breach of the contract."

"FUCK THE CONTRACT HANNA!" Emily shouted at a shocked looking Hanna, "I'm sorry, I just…I need to make sure she's alright."

"I understand." Hanna said with a soft smile, "Just be careful."

Emily was already out of the door.

She flung open the door to the building entrance and stepped out onto the street. First decision, should she get a cab or just run. Should she be going at all? She had far too much to do and not enough time as it was. She didn't even know what this meltdown was about, would Ali even want to see her? Deciding that she didn't care, that the need to check she was ok was more important, she chose to run it. She was about to break into a sprint when something stopped her. It was a familiar song, one that set her heart racing after her last birthday. She looked around to see where it was coming from, she couldn't tell but it was getting louder. Then a familiar black town car came into view with music blaring out of the rolled down windows.

As the car turned onto Emily's street, Alison had a terrible thought. What if she wasn't even in? She had been tempted to call ahead, but she was worried that either Emily wouldn't answer, or that she would tell her not to come. Grand gestures were all about the unexpected, so she had decided to just go for it. She needn't have worried about the brunette not being home though, because there stood outside her building was the best view Alison could have hoped for.

As the car rolled to a stop, she quickly opened the door and jumped out before she could lose her nerve. To say Emily looked surprised was an understatement.

"I know it's not quite holding a boom box outside your window, but…" Alison smiled shyly, as her brain anxiously tried to tell her all the reasons she shouldn't be doing this.

Emily just continued to stare at her blankly.

"I…" She went to speak again, but then Emily found her voice.

"I heard you turned into a crazy person today."

"Me?" Alison smiled, knowing that her outburst must already be all over the Internet.

"I was about to come find you, I was scared you'd torn somebody's head off."

"Well they kind of deserved it, but no, not crazy. I think I might actually be the sanest I've ever been." She couldn't help but laugh to herself.

"I don't know why I thought I had to come and protect you." Emily cocked her head at Alison's happy demeanor.

"You've always protected me, Em." Alison said with complete seriousness, "Ever since I met you I knew I could count on you."

Emily remained rooted to the spot, still looking confused, "So why did you push me away?"

Alison took a step closer to her, "I don't know, but I'm ready to stop."

Emily made no move, so Alison continued walking until she was stood directly in front of her.

"I want to do this." Her eyes never left the soulful brown ones that made her feel so safe.

"What do you mean?" She could see the hope in Emily's eyes and the apprehension that quickly followed.

Just then, the first of the paparazzi arrived. Cameras flashed and they were surrounded in a matter of moments. Alison had been almost certain this would happen. Emily's eyes darted around at the group that had gathered, but Alison never took her eyes off Emily.

"I think we should…" Emily finally moved, trying to guide Alison into the building.

"No," Alison stopped her, "I don't care."

Emily looked even more confused than she had before, "Alison…"

"Over the years I've been in so many failed relationships and then I met you. For the first time in my life I felt true happiness, but I screwed it up. I made excuses as to why it wouldn't work and I even believed some of them, but I was scared and I was wrong. This is the only thing in my life that I know will work and I know the reason why."

They both just stared at each other for a moment, it was like the circus around them had disappeared.

Alison swallowed hard, it was now or never, "Martha tried to get me to say it, but I didn't want to say it to her…"

Emily dipped her head closer to Alison's, "What did Martha…"

"I love you."

There, she'd said it. It was out there and it was the most honest thing she'd ever said.

Emily just stared back at her in shock.

"You told me I needed to start being honest with myself and sort my shit out. You said you want a relationship where people tell people when they love them." She was feeling more vulnerable than she'd ever felt before in her life, hating that she couldn't read Emily's face.

"I'm moving back to Rosewood. I got a job as the swim coach." Emily spluttered out.

"Ok." Alison replied, knowing that her life was about to change completely.

"I'll tell them I can't take it though." Emily tripped over her words, "I can call them…"

"No, you have to take that job. It's your dream job." Alison said firmly, she didn't want Emily ever having to give up anything else for her. From now on it was her turn to make the sacrifices and she'd do it willingly as long as Emily would have her.

"No, Ali. I'm not about to move away from you now." Emily replied incredulously.

"No. I meant, ok, we'll move to Rosewood." Ali smiled shyly up at her.

"Are you sure?" Emily was back to being shocked.

"I love you." Was all Ali said in reply, because it was all the explanation she needed to give and quite frankly, she enjoyed saying it.

"I love you too." Emily grinned before her lips found Alison's.

Ali could vaguely hear the whoops and hollers of the assembled press, but she didn't care. She finally felt like she was home again, safe and secure. Why had she wasted all that time when she could have been feeling like this?

It was the angry voice of Hanna Marin that broke them from their embrace.

"ARE YOU TWO SHITTING ME?"

They broke apart to see Hanna stood at the door with her hands on her hips.

"You couldn't have done this inside? No front row ticket for Hanna, no. Hanna has to find out about what's happening in front of her own apartment, with two of her best friends from strangers on Twitter!"

"Hey." Ali waved timidly at the irate blonde, the last time she had heard from her hadn't exactly been the friendliest.

"Get you asses inside!" She yelled like an angry mother, ushering them in, "Hanna Marin Designs, look me up!" She smiled sweetly at the crowd, before slamming the door.

A lot had happened in the fifteen years since Hanna Marin had slammed that door. As Alison sat in front of her laptop putting the finishing touches to the final book in her series, she pondered a moment on just how different her life was since she'd written the first one. The only famous person in this house was Vivian Darkbloom and nobody even knew that she lived there.

Those first few months had been difficult, it had been a whirlwind move. The press had obviously taken an interest in the major development in her life. Surprisingly though, they'd been incredibly supportive and the hate she was expecting to receive was limited to some internet trolls. A problem easily fixed by deleting her profiles and creating new private ones. The press that had followed soon left, as the close-knit community closed ranks on them and before long they had been forgotten about as they moved on to the next hot thing. It was a novel thing, living with almost total anonymity. She had quickly embraced it and the feeling of being able to walk down the street without people looking twice. If they did stop her, it was to chat about everyday things. There was still the occasional "journalist" looking for a payday, but slowly even they petered out until she just appeared now and then on Buzzfeed, "Where are they now?" lists. Her old life seemed a world away, some days it felt like she'd never lived it at all. While they still kept in touch with Martha and Carter, making the effort to visit each other, updates on everybody else from her past usually came in the form of things she read on websites or in magazines. It was how she'd learned of her father's corporate fraud charges and her parents subsequent divorce. To the best of her knowledge he was still serving time in a federal prison and she had no idea where her mother might be. Her relationship with Jason had grown stronger since they were both out of their parents shadows and she finally felt like she had a big brother. Mona had quickly taken her place as the top society girl, but the pressure was evidently too much, last she heard she was in rehab for "exhaustion".

"Mama?"

She spun in her chair to see Lily stood in her office doorway. While parenting twin girls had never been an easy task, it had become infinitely harder since they'd become teenagers. She didn't remember having this many hormones, but she wouldn't change having her mini Emily's for the world.

"Mom says that breakfast is ready."

Thrilled that the thirteen year old stood in her doorway wasn't doing so because of drama with her sister, she smiled.

"I'll be there in a sec."

Emily was usually in charge of breakfast. The first reason being that she was usually up first for her early morning run, the second was that Alison still didn't trust her wife to make dinner without burning the house down or poisoning the family.

"Did you tell her?" Emily asked Lily as she appeared back in the kitchen.

"Yup, she says she'll be here in a sec." Lily answered, sitting down at the table and opening up a textbook.

"Why are you doing your homework the morning it's due?" Alison questioned Lily, walking over to Emily and kissing her good morning.

"Can't you just say good morning like normal parents?" Grace screwed up her face from the other side of the table as she perfected her mascara, "Anyway Lils is a loser, I'm pretty sure that's not today's homework."

"Yeah, I'm just getting some extra reading in." Lily looked up at her mothers and nodded.

"Good for you, Lils." Emily smiled.

"Thanks Mom." She returned to her book, but not before sticking her tongue out at her twin sister.

"And don't call your sister a loser, Grace. If I hear that again you'll be grounded for a month." Alison added.

"Jeez, Mama. I was just messing, I meant it in a nice way." Grace rolled her eyes.

"Well then say nice things." Alison scolded.

Emily anticipated a full argument breaking out, but Grace just nodded, obviously not wishing to be grounded. While the family lived harmoniously most of the time, Ali and Grace had a tendency to butt heads. Emily and Lily had tried to tell them it was just because they were so similar, but neither of them saw it and so now it was just a source of amusement for Emily and Lily to watch them argue with, what was effectively, themselves.

"Speaking of nice things," Emily interrupted, "As its our anniversary, me and your mama are going out tonight to celebrate. Can we trust that you can look after yourselves and the house for a few hours or do I need to get Grandma round?"

"Grandma can come over if she wants." Lily answered, not looking up from her book.

"Grace?" Ali asked.

"Yeah, you can trust us. We're not kids, but sure. Grandma can come over."

As much as they gave the outward bravado of independent teenage girls, they were still Emily's sweet little girls that loved their grandmother. It made her smile.

"Can we get take out?" Grace asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Sure, I'll leave some money on the side." Emily replied.

Just as Ali answered with, "No, there's pasta and sauce in the fridge you can heat up."

They turned to look at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Thanks Mom, you rock!" Grace grinned triumphantly.

Alison continued to look at her.

"What?" Emily shrugged, "I rock."

"Yes you do." Alison snuggled into her side, "That is not one of the reasons why though."

Emily kissed the top of her head and chuckled. It was strange when she looked back at where they were fifteen years ago and how different things were now. If you'd have told Emily she'd be celebrating her fifteenth wedding anniversary with Alison DiLaurentis and making breakfast for their two children in the same house that had caused an argument all those years ago, she never would have believed you.

"What time is your meeting?" Emily asked.

"We're meeting at The Brew at 12." Alison sighed.

"You sure you want to do this?" Emily put her hands on her wife's shoulders and pulled back so she could look at her.

"Yeah, I think so. I mean the books are hit and if somebody wants to turn them into a television show I'm flattered. I just really hope that they don't fuck it up and ruin it."

"They couldn't possibly, unless they just choose to ignore the story completely and start making it up as they go along, I think it's going to be just fine."

"Mama, you owe $10 to the jar." Lily pointed in the direction of the curse jar that sat on the countertop, still not taking her head out of the book.

"You never know," Grace spoke up with a mouth full of toast, "maybe they'll just do their own thing, create a brand new villain with a dodgy accent and fall down all their own plot holes."

"Oh my god, do you think they will?" Ali gasped at the thought.

"Of course they won't, nobody is that stupid." Emily placated her, "But you don't have to do it if you don't want."

"Well going to the meeting can't hurt, the only downside is that people might find out who Vivian Darkbloom really is once it reaches a wider audience." Ali grimaced.

"Nobody cares who you are, Mama." Lily said in a tone that Emily was pretty sure was meant to be reassuring.

"Not completely true, Tom at school showed me a picture he found of you on google the other day and while I'm now scarred for life after seeing it, lots of the guys at school care who you are." Grace said with narrowed eyes.

"Tom from the swim team?" Emily asked, not managing to hide her anger very well. Even after fifteen years, she still didn't deal with jealousy very well.

"You can't fight teenage boys sweetie." Ali touched her gently on the arm.

"True, but I can make them swim extra laps." Emily answered, before giving her a kiss goodbye, "Come on girls, time to go."

"Do you know what the plans for this weekend are yet?" Alison called after her.

"Hanna and the kids are getting in on Friday night, I think Spencer and Aria are arriving on Saturday morning. So we can just leave all the kids with their grandparents and go for a night on the town."

"Ok, have a good day ladies!" She shouted out of the front door, watching the car pull out of the drive before going back to her office.

She had plenty of time before her meeting to go over her ending one more time. She walked over to the record player, before carefully picking out the well worn sleeve and placing the record on the turntable. As the familiar strains of the song that could still make her heart race began, she sat back at the computer. Glancing over what she had written, she decided that as endings go, it wasn't half bad. She shut the laptop and leaned back in her chair. Life was pretty good.

So that's it, that's my little story. I can only apologise that it's taken so long to complete, I hope that it was worth it for you. To those who are disappointed, I once again apologise. This is my one and only foray into the world of fanfiction. It's been a blast, but alas all good things must come to an end. Before I go though, I would just like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read, giving me your thoughts and joining in on my inane little polls and requests. You're the real MVP's. It's been an interesting experience and I'm glad I did it. It gave me a sense of achievement, a creative outlet, my wpm has improved drastically, seriously my fingers have never felt stronger. Need to get that on the CV. All joking aside though I've had fun and just because I thought, "I could totally do that." I ended up meeting two of the most awesome people I know, it's funny how the world works, but I'm glad it does. So if you're thinking you could do it, you absolutely could. Give it a shot, it's actually pretty fun. If you're thinking you couldn't do it, well yeah, maybe it'll be a complete crock of shit, but maybe it won't be and the world will work.

I'm sure that for some of you there will be unanswered questions in the chapter. Remember that I tried to keep it as true to the style of the show as I could so I wanted to ensure that you were all left a little confused, disappointed and with an overall sense of being rushed. Please direct any questions to my team. I'm sorry about the 30,000 mistakes that are in the chapter by the way, I know they're there somewhere I just can't bloody see them.

I wish every single one of you all the best, have a great life :)