Back with chapter 2! Thanks so much for the reviews, I really appreciate them! I'm glad you guys are liking it so far. I will be trying to update this story as often as possible!

I usually respond to all the reviews i get but i can't do that for guest reviewers so for the 4 guest reviewers, much appreciated! :)

Happy Friday everyone! (Friday here right now anyway)

Friday night was a good night for Paige, the sharks had won their meet in the afternoon and after the meet Paige caught up with Spencer and Aria and told them all

about her meeting with Emily.

"So you thought that she had a kid?" Spencer asked chuckling

"Well I don't know" Paige shrugged "She brought a kid with her so I assumed Braxton was hers"

"Did it occur to you that Braxton looks nothing like Emily?" Spencer asked with a smug look on her face that only Spencer Hastings could pull off

"Well no but I wasn't really thinking about that" Paige protested

"And what were you thinking about?" Aria poked playfully

"Not much was functioning up here when I saw her" Paige said pointing to her brain "I kind of just froze and muttered whatever I could manage"

"You could have just asked" Spencer replied

"I didn't know that you knew" Paige shook her head

"Everyone knows everything here" Aria said looking to Spencer "It's hard to keep a secret in Rosewood"

"I'll remember that" Paige chuckled

"Hey I'm having a bonfire tomorrow night out at the lake house, come" Spencer said

"Not…not really my scene, I don't know many people anyway" Paige hesitated as she scratched her head lightly

"You're coming, it'll be a way you can get to know people" Aria replied

"I don't know" Paige shook her head

Saturday had been a pretty tame day for Paige, she went out for her usual run which was longer than she had intended but she felt good and had gotten carried away

with her distance which made her afternoon swim a little difficult but she managed. She was beginning to settle into her house and it was starting to feel like she was

at home.

She was sitting at home, watching TV when her phone vibrated, it was a text from Spencer

Get off your couch and come to the lake house – Spencer

How did you know I was on my couch? – Paige

I know you – Spencer

The thing about Paige was that even though she was pretty famous and even though she had received media training to no end, she hated it and she was never good

at meeting new people and making new friends. She was as shy as the day she left Rosewood as a young teen so Spencer knew she had to take her out of her

comfort zone in order for her to grow and settle back into Rosewood.

She decided she would take a risk and go to the lake house so she raced upstairs to change into a simple flannel, jeans and beanie, taking a jacket if need be for later

in the night. When she arrived at Spencers cabin just outside Rosewood, she already saw quite a few cars there and she could hear music playing and laughter. Paige

took a deep breath and she began making her way into the house. Her hands playing with each other awkwardly as she walked into the cabin, not seeing anyone she

was familiar with but seeing strangers looking right back at her.

There were a few people getting drinks and sitting on the couch inside the cabin, who she greeted politely but shyly with a small smile and continued straight on

through. She removed her shoes as her feet touched the sand out the back of the cabin, the laughter and talking got louder as she reached the large group of people

who were sitting around the fire happily.

"Paige!" Aria greeted happily as she saw her friend arrive

"Hey Aria" Paige greeted the shorter girl with a smile

"Find the place okay?" Aria asked

"Yeah, fine" Paige said nodding as she looked around at the group

"Everyone this is Paige" Aria announced and Paige received a group hello from everyone sitting around the fire "Spence is around here somewhere"

"That's cool, I'll just sit down somewhere" Paige said looking around for an available spot "You know, do the whole making new friends thing"

"I'll be here if you need me" Aria chuckled

Paige went to a free spot next to the fire and grabbed herself a cup but decided to stick with water, she wasn't one to drink and she never had been thanks to her

background in professional sports, she thought it would be better for her to steer clear from alcohol even though she was retired.

"You're drinking the heavy stuff" She heard a newly family voice say with a smile evident in her voice

Paige looked up to see Emily standing next to her with a small smirk on her face

"Emily" Paige said surprised as she eyed the girl next to her

"Mind if I join you?" Emily asked

"Of course" Paige nodded quickly, shuffling over to make room for Emily to sit next to her

"We bumped into each other sooner than I thought" Emily said taking the seat next to Paige

"What are you doing here?" Paige asked curiously

"I went to High School with Spencer" Emily shrugged "Work for her mom too"

"So we must have just missed each other" Paige nodded "I left before high school"

"I was wondering about that" Emily replied "I was also wondering if I would see you here, I'm glad you came"

"Yeah" Paige nodded with a small smile "I figured I should start being social in Rosewood now that I'm back…I wasn't going to come but I wasn't doing anything so…"

"Why are you back?" Emily asked leaning forward slightly "If you don't mind me asking"

"No it's fine" Paige shrugged "It's nothing interesting really, I just decided that I wanted to come back for a bit where I could just relax and be normal for a while. I just

wanted to take a small swimming job while I took a little break. I want to move again eventually to take up coaching professionally but I figured I deserved a bit of a

break"

"Water is a break?" Emily asked pointing to her cup

"I don't drink, personal choice" Paige said simply as she looked down to her cup with a sheepish smile

"Well you're better than all us" Emily joked "I think it's good"

"I don't judge" Paige replied "I mean, I'm a little jealous"

"How so?" Emily asked as she scooted a little closer to Paige to accommodate someone joining the circle of people

"Well everyone just seems to be able to have fun effortlessly" Paige looked around at the people her age laughing and having a great time and she paused for a

moment before she continued "I'm not good with new people, I can't just make friends like people our age are supposed to"

"You seem fine to me" Emily smiled

"I'm having a good day then" Paige laughed quietly to herself

"You seem like a pretty confident person to me" Emily said nodding

"Well I'm not" Paige shook her head looking towards the fire before she looked to Emily again "No amount of media training and personal relations courses could get

me as confident as I would like to be, I was always scared I was going to say something wrong or offend someone accidently"

"So how do you deal with strangers who come up to you and speak to you?" Emily asked curiously

"I try and be as outgoing as possible" Paige shrugged " Besides, now days I have to remind myself that it's okay now to really just enjoy myself. I mean not that I

didn't enjoy myself before but…"

"It's okay; I think I understand what you're trying to say" Emily replied patiently "You just aren't used to being able to let your hair down?"

"Exactly" Paige said with a small smile "Thanks"

"It's okay, I mean maybe it's time to learn that" Emily suggested with a shrug "You have time to do that now, isn't that the whole point of retiring?"

"I know how to have fun, just before I kind of had to think about the consequences" Paige responded "I mean I still do now with sponsors and stuff like that but not

so much"

"I happen to think you'd be very fun" Emily smiled, placing her hand on Paige's shoulder for a moment before placing her hand back in her lap

Paige smiled, feeling a blush creeping up on her cheeks so she looked down to her cup again and then back at Emily who almost impossibly looked even more beautiful

with the flames reflection dancing on her face

"So why did you decide to retire?" Emily continued the conversation "I mean I know you have your injury and everything"

"Well there were a few different reasons" Paige nodded "The injury was the main reason but I'm not getting any younger for one"

"You're my age though right? 25?" Emily asked raising her eyebrow

"Yeah but when it comes to a sport like swimming, that's coming to the end of your peak in your career, depending on who you are of course" Paige shrugged "I've had

a shoulder reconstruction on both shoulders and my right one required further surgery after the Olympics because I tore a muscle during my final. It's a very long way

back from that and besides, the next Olympics is in 4 years, I'd be 29 and I don't think that I would have lasted that long. All that training certainly takes a physical toll

as you get older but because I've been doing it since high school, it's a mental thing too. Plus there's always someone younger coming up to beat you and I think I

could still compete and do well, I think it's best if I leave it now to some younger girls coming through"

"Your last race, the 100m freestyle final was pretty amazing" Emily admitted with a grin

"You watched it?" Paige asked raising her eyebrows

"I think everyone here did" Emily said "Rosewood was going crazy"

"Ah right, hometown girl comes good" Paige nodded with a smile "Of course"

"You know, I did some swimming in high school so I follow the sport a bit too" Emily said playfully

"I thought that you would have done some kind of sport or swimming at some stage, you have an athlete's body" Paige mentioned quietly but paused when she

realized what she said and what it sounded like

She mentally slapped herself on the forehead for having a typical McCullers foot in mouth moment

"Anyway, you have to go through a lot to come back from that and I think that I have done as well as I can" Paige said very quickly before Emily could catch onto

Paige's embarrassment

"9 Olympic golds and a silver, of course the town is going to go crazy, the whole country went crazy" Emily said "Not to mention all of the other things you've won"

"You been reading my profile?" Paige joked giving Emily a small nudge

"It's common knowledge around here" Emily shook her head with a grin

"It's difficult coming back and everyone knows things about you when you know nothing about them" Paige admitted honestly

"Well they might think they know who you are but they probably don't" Emily shook her head "I mean you aren't what I was expecting"

"Well what exactly were you expecting?" Paige asked

"I don't know, not you though" Emily said honestly "I certainly didn't think you'd be as shy as you are"

"I'll take that as a compliment?" Paige asked unsure

"Oh it is" Emily laughed "Don't worry about that"

"So I've had enough talking about me, I really hate talking about me" Paige said shaking her head "What about you Emily Fields, what do you do?"

"You know my last name" Emily sounded surprised with a small smile

"You know mine so I thought it was only fair" Paige joked "Jason may have mentioned it to me, he owns the swimming school"

"I know Jason" Emily replied "Quite well actually"

"This town gets smaller and smaller with every person I speak to" Paige replied looking towards Aria who was clearly looking at them but she averted her gaze as

soon as Paige's eyes met hers "Anyway, so tell me?"

"I've just started at a law firm a few months ago. Actually Spencer's mom's firm" Emily said "I spent almost 7 years to get there so I'm pretty excited about landing the

job"

"You know, I wouldn't have expected you to be a lawyer" Paige nodded "I'll admit, I'm impressed"

"What did you think I would do?" Emily asked

"I don't know" Paige shrugged adjusting her beanie on her head "You just seem…I don't know, too sweet to be a lawyer"

"Well thank you" Emily smiled "Though I might surprise you"

"What made you put yourself through that?" Paige asked "7 years of school"

"Well, I don't know if this is going in too deep too soon but my friend was murdered when I was younger, Alison. I always wanted to make sure that people who do

things like that spend as much time in prison paying for what they've done as possible" Emily answered honestly

"Wow" Paige furrowed her brow, leaning forward closer to Emily once again "I'm sorry about your friend"

"Oh, no that's okay" Emily said "That's how I know Jason"

"What do you mean?" Paige asked with a confused look on her face

"Alison was Jason's sister" Emily replied "Did you not know that?"

"No…actually" Paige shook her head as she crinkled her face slightly on confusion "He didn't tell me"

"Not many people really talk about it" Emily shook her head "I mean some bad things have happened in Rosewood since I have been here but nothing as bad as

Alison. Maybe don't mention it to him unless he does to you, he kind of took it really hard"

"How could he not have?" Paige replied

"That's how I know Spencer and Aria" Emily said glancing over to the other two girls sitting across the bon fire "We were all friends with Alison"

"You three?" Paige asked

"Plus Hanna as well" Emily nodded

"So you were friends in high school" Paige replied as she thought aloud "Why aren't you guys all friends now?"

"We are…we just don't talk to each other that often anymore because we all just got older and we had our own lives" Emily shrugged "I mean I still speak to Spencer

and Aria occasionally and I work for Spencer's mom but an event like that, what happened to Alison, changes you and nothing bad happened between all of us, we

just got older. We all just got busy within our own lives too"

"So you're a lawyer, that's pretty cool" Paige said as she was trying to change the subject of what she thought to be a sore subject for Emily

"Well I'm just the person who does the jobs no one wants to do so far" Emily said

"Well if anyone needs suing from me, I'll call you" Paige said shrugging

"In that case, do you want my number?" Emily asked confidently but faltered when she saw Paige pause "In case you need anything…legally I mean"

"Legally?" Paige asked with a smile "I would love that; I'll give you mine too"

"Great" Emily grinned as she pulled out her phone

They swapped numbers silently and handed their phones back to each other

"So you're bringing Braxton again next Friday?" Paige asked hopefully

"I should be" Emily said nodding "I have that time off on a Friday"

"I really thought that Braxton was yours" Paige said shaking her head

"He doesn't look a thing like me" Emily laughed

"I know" Paige shrugged "Though he does look like both Caleb and Hanna so I guess that makes sense"

"He's a good kid" Emily nodded "But I'm certainly not having kids anytime soon" .

"No" Paige laughed and she shook her head again as she looked at the girl sitting next to her who was smiling brightly back towards her.

Emily walked out from the coffee shop after her regular morning coffee on Sunday after her run, looking across the street she spotted Paige running across the road

with her headphones in, concentrating on the road ahead.

Emily smiled to herself as she watched Paige run before she made her way to her car to go to Hanna's so they could go shopping. When she arrived at Hanna's, the

household was in full swing chaos. Braxton was running around madly in his underwear followed by Caleb, clearly trying to get him to go have a shower and be ready

for the day.

"Hanna's in the kitchen" Caleb called as he rushed past Emily on his quest to grab his son

"Thanks" Emily laughed as she heard Braxton running down a hallway

"There you are" Hanna said reaching out to grab Emily "You're late"

"By 5 minutes" Emily said hugging her best friend as she pointed to her watch behind Hanna's back

"I've got to be quick today, we're taking Braxton to see his Grandma this afternoon" Hanna said enthusiastically as if speaking to Braxton himself "But I needed to look

around for work anyway"

"Yeah, sounds good" Emily agreed

Hanna and Emily quickly drove to the mall, shopping with Hanna was always fun, Emily knew that Hanna had a passion for shopping, it was practically her job and Emily

loved clothes as well so they made a good pair together.

"So how was the bonfire last night?" Hanna asked "I kind of wish we could have gone, a Hastings bonfire is always eventful"

"It was good" Emily said as a smile crept up on her lips "Really good"

"Details" Hanna said looked at a shirt on a display wrack

"Paige was there" Emily said honestly

"What?" Hanna asked, her head snapped to Emily's direction "Look at that big smile! You like her!"

"I just met her and I don't know but she seems really nice. We just talked for over an hour, just the two of us and never once did it get awkward…that hasn't

happened to me for so long" Emily said quietly as she looked around the store to see if anyone could hear Hanna's outburst "And she's really shy which is so cute"

"I knew she was single" Hanna said proudly before pointing at Emily "I told you"

"Well, I get the impression that she is" Emily said shrugging "We swapped numbers"

"Em!" Hanna squealed grabbing Emily's arm tightly

"It's nothing to get excited about" Emily said laughing "I said she could have my number in case she has any legal questions"

"Who cares, she has your number" Hanna shrugged "You two would be so cute, you could go swimming together…you could have a cute little family swim team with

matching swimming caps"

"You're getting very ahead of yourself" Emily said with wide eyes

"Have you texted her?" Hanna asked after a moment of looking through some clothes again to calm herself down

"No, I only saw her yesterday" Emily shook her head

"Too early?" Hanna asked

"You know I don't play games like that" Emily said rolling her eyes "I just don't want to bother her, we talked about enough last night so she's probably sick of me"

"She wouldn't have given you her number if you were bothering her" Hanna pointed out with a shrug

"That's true" Emily said nodding

"What did you guys talk about?" Hanna asked "I was hoping she would be there, I knew she was friends with Spencer and Aria"

"And you didn't tell me?" Emily asked with a slight frown

"Didn't think I needed to, I thought that you were happily single" Hanna said smartly "Come on, elaborate"

"Just about why she retired and why she was back here" Emily said "Then we talked about what I did and I told her about my job"

"She didn't fall asleep, did she?" Hanna asked jokingly

"No Han, she was interested" Emily said shaking her head "Unlike some people, she is a good listener"

"I'm happy for you Em" Hanna said "If you like her then you should go for it"

"I need to make sure she wants the same thing first though and I don't even know if I like her, I have met her three times" Emily said "I was thinking about texting her

tonight. I saw her running this morning, I figured maybe we could run together"

"That's a great idea, you like this girl already, I can see it." Hanna said "Can you keep up with her?"

"I think so" Emily replied nodding

"Then go for it" Hanna said

Paige knocked on Spencer's door, looking around the neat yard with a small smile, she had just finished her run so she decided to stop by the Hastings household on

her way home.

"Hey" Spencer said opening the door

"Hey" Paige replied smiling still "How'd you pull up after last night? You didn't do anything too crazy after you left?"

"Fine" Spencer replied "Toby and I packed up pretty quickly, it wasn't too bad"

"You should have let me help" Paige replied

"It's fine, it didn't take long at all" Spencer waved her off "How was your run?"

"Good thanks, I'm feeling good" Paige replied optimistically

"And your shoulder?" Spencer asked

"You know it's fine" Paige nodding "I wouldn't be running if it wasn't okay"

"So you were speaking to Emily for a while last night" Spencer said with a smirk "Something going on there?"

"Nothing is going on" Paige said quickly "She's just been really nice to me since I got here…she treats me like.."

"A normal person?" Spencer asked finishing her friends' sentence

"Yeah" Paige answered "Basically. Everyone is this town knows all about me, she's been the first person in this town who has actually offered me information about

herself, besides everyone I know already"

"She's a sweet girl" Spencer said nodding "She works for my mom now"

"She told me" Paige replied "But you didn't tell me that you guys were friends in high school"

"I was friends with a lot of people in high school. I've got to go visit my mom tomorrow if you wanted to come into the office with me" Spencer said with a grin "You

could have lunch with my mom, she hasn't seen you much since she's been back"

"No it's okay, I don't want to be weird" Paige replied shaking her head "I'll stick with seeing her on Friday, that'll only be like the 4th time I've talked to her"

"Aria said she saw you guys exchanging numbers, have you called her?" Spencer asked leaning against her door

Paige sighed and ran a hand through her hair with a grin

"You mean you two were spying on me?" Paige asked

"No… well maybe a little" Spencer asked and she sighed "We just want you to have someone finally now that you're not in the spotlight so much and you have no

pressure on you. Someone who isn't going to treat you like the last one"

"Emily is gay right?" Paige asked

"Yes" Spencer nodded "Most definitely. In fact I've met a few girls she has dated"

"And she's single?" Paige asked

"Very much so, she has been for a while" Spencer said nodding

"How I don't know" Paige added "How can that girl be single?"

"Well that's a positive for you" Spencer added "If you think you could be with her then you should go for it"

"I don't even know her" Paige said

"No but you can start to try" Spencer said

Please review! I love hearing your thoughts. Thanks! Dani :)