Hi all :) Hope you're having a good week so far! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it's always appreciated. I have said this before but I'm really interested to see what you guys think about the story and the direction it's going. Thank you for those who are always consistent and giving me their feedback.
So I hope you guys like this chapter, nothing of huge significance but it's an important back story for Paige for something that may or may not pop up later in the story. Also starting from the next chapter a few things are going to happen, it's going to start getting interesting in Rosewood and the secondary storyline is going to start so please be patient with me and hang on after this chapter. I will even have it up in a day or two if you guys are kind and review.
Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. I'm nervous about this one too. Please review! I would appreciate it!
3 months had passed since Paige and Emily's first date and things were going very well for the two girls. They were starting to settle into a relationship after Paige
asked Emily to be her girlfriend after they had been out on a few more dates and had gotten to know each other that little bit more. They had gotten into a routine
of staying over each other's houses and the first time Emily entered Paige's house she was amazed at how large it was but she was more so impressed with what
was inside her house. Paige had a photo of herself with the president who she met when she returned home from London and memorabilia that people had given
her from the London Olympics. Paige's spread in women's health fell through due to Samara but as far as Paige was concerned, she didn't care all that much about
it. She had been helping the Sharks swim team to achieving the best results they had achieved in a long time and they were well on their way to making the state
meet.
Today Paige decided she would go meet Emily for lunch, things had been busy for the both of them so she thought she would go in and surprise her girlfriend with
lunch so she picked up a rose on the way to Emily's office and she arrived to Veronica's law firm with a cheesy smile on her face to match. She held the rose in one
hand and kept the other in her pocket as she approached the receptionist.
"Paige" She said with a small smile and Paige continued to grin
"Hey" Paige replied politely to the girl
She had been into the office a few times to see Veronica before and she had gone in and seen Emily a few times so people were familiar with her in the office but it
had become common knowledge around town that Paige and Emily were in a relationship and news travels very quickly in a small town.
"Here to see Emily or Veronica?" She asked eyeing the rose in her hand "Judging by that, I'm going to say Emily"
"Yeah, is she at her desk right now?" Paige asked "She wasn't expecting me so I don't know her schedule today"
"She should be, go on in and have a look" She nodded "It's a nice rose by the way"
"Thanks" Paige chuckled shyly before she made her way through the office
She could never get used to Veronica's law firm, it was such a big and busy place filled with people who always seemed to be on the go and Emily was no different.
Paige approached the row of desks located near Veronica's office where she found Emily sitting at her desk with the phone to her ear on a call.
Paige waved mouthing 'hello' to her, placing the rose on her desk and Emily looked up with a bright smile as she tried to concentrate and carry on the conversation
she was having over the phone. After skipping a quick beat she said goodbye to her client, hanging up the phone as quickly as she could manage.
"I wasn't expecting you" Emily smiled as she stood to kiss Paige quickly
"I thought I would drop in" Paige shrugged "Maybe see if you had eaten lunch yet?
"It just so happens that I haven't" Emily replied playfully
"Well can I interest you in a lunch date?" Paige asked hopefully "I will sweeten the deal and pay"
"Sounds great" Emily said reaching down under her desk to get her bag "I need to get out, this office is driving me crazy today. There's too much going on"
"You love it though" Paige replied as she took Emily's hand gently, lacing her fingers with her olive skinned beauty
"I do" Emily nodded as she skeptically looked at Paige "Most days"
They settled in at a café across the road once they had ordered their food, sitting down outside, Emily pulled her chair over so she could be closer to Paige which
made the other girl smile at the gesture.
"I thought you were at school all day today" Emily said, glancing down at her food so she could unwrap her lunch
"Well I was going to stay there but I thought I could get out of there for a half an hour before I go back" Paige shrugged with a small smile "I needed a bit of a
break too"
"Do the girls have training this afternoon?" Emily asked as they began eating their lunch
"Yeah, they're being worked really hard" Paige noted "Actually I was looking at the records at the last meet; someone broke your 100m freestyle record"
"Hey that was standing for a while" Emily shrugged before she joked "I imagine someone's going to break your Olympic records one day"
"Ouch, that stings Fields" Paige laughed quietly "So what are the plans for the weekend?"
"Well I needed to speak to you about that" Emily said leaning over to place a hand on Paige's leg
"I have a feeling this could be bad?" Paige said flinching slightly at Emily's words
"Why would it be bad?" Emily asked with a small smile
"Because when you say something like that, sounds like it's bad news" Paige replied still unsure of what was going on
"Well I've probably been speaking too much about you around my parents because they really want to meet you" Emily said quietly "And if you don't want to, if
you're not ready for that then that is fine. We could do something else this weekend, I just thought I would put it to you and see what you said. No pressure"
"Your parents?" Paige croaked softly
"You okay?" Emily asked awkwardly "You kind of drained of all colour, I said no pressure"
"No Em I would really love to meet them but I just hope they like me" Paige replied shaking her head "What if they don't like me? What if I say something wrong?
It's important that they like me"
"You're not going to say anything wrong, you're just meeting them Paige. It's not like you're asking for their permission to marry me or anything" Emily chuckled
quietly
"I know that but…I mean we both agree that we want this to last a while, us…and what happens if they don't like me?" Paige asked shaking her head "I know how
important they are to you, if they don't like me then we have no chance"
"Exactly, which is why you're going to be perfect. You always are so you have nothing to worry about" Emily said rubbing Paige's leg reassuringly "How could
anyone not like you anyway?"
"Thanks" Paige responded as she tucked some loose hair behind her ear before she continued bravely "Okay, when are they free?"
"You sure?" Emily asked ducking her head to meet Paige's averted eyes
"I'm sure" Paige said a little more encouraged to the idea
"Actually they have been wanting to meet you for a while but I thought I would leave it for a little bit" Emily admitted nodding
"So now they think I'm avoiding them?" Paige asked, her eyes widening with concern "Great"
"Paige, it's okay" Emily laughed "You're cute when you get all worried"
"I just want to make a good impression. What should I wear? What will we be doing? Should we be going in separate cars? Do I need to bring anything?" Paige
began asking very quickly
"Okay, we're going to start by taking a deep breath" Emily said with wide eyes as she reached over to grab Paige's hand to stop her speaking
"No, I just talk a lot when I get nervous" Paige shook her head "And by a lot i mean heaps"
"Paige, you met the president…I think you'll be okay with my parents" Emily replied with a concerned look on her face "Let's put this into perspective"
"I want to impress them more than anyone" Paige replied shyly after pausing for a moment
"I told you that you're cute" Emily said proudly as she leaned over to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek softly. Paige's eyes closed as Emily's lips made contact with her
cheek but slowly opened them again once Emily had pulled away
"So this weekend, meeting your parents?" Paige asked as she let out a deep breath "I can do that"
"Yeah, you can do it" Emily nodded "I'll find out a time that works with them and I'll let you know"
"Sounds good to me" Paige nodded in agreement as she tried to convince herself she would be fine
"What about your parents?" Emily asked simply "You haven't really spoken too much about them…or at all really"
"What about them?" Paige asked furrowing her eyebrows, her tone already defensive at the first question about them
"Do I get to meet them?" Emily asked a little more cautiously noting Paige's change in her voice
"You want to meet them?" Paige replied shaking her head "Why?"
"You're meeting mine" Emily shrugged harmlessly "I just noticed that you don't really speak about your parents, that's all"
"It's a long, complicated story" Paige replied with a sigh "Can we talk about it another time?"
"Is everything okay?" Emily asked, her voice laced with concern at the sudden mood change in Paige
"Everything is fine, it has been for a while" Paige said shortly as she looked away from Emily for a moment "I kind of just want to focus on meeting your parents
first"
"Okay" Emily nodded, deciding to give up getting any kind of explanation of Paige's family for now but she made a note to ask her about it later "Another time
then"
They finished up with lunch and Paige headed back to Rosewood high to finish off her work, she was in her own head about the conversation she had just had with
Emily and she wasn't sure what to do about it.
So she decided that she would do the one thing she knew how to do when she was confused.
Go bug Spencer about it.
She changed her direction and made a beeline to Spencer's office, where she saw her friend sitting at her desk while she completed paperwork.
Without even knocking Paige pushed the door completely open so she could walk in, only to close the door and lock it behind her before sitting down in front of her
desk.
"Well come on in" Spencer joked as she looked up from her paper work to her bothered looking friend sitting in front of her
"She wants to know about my parents" Paige said without even bothering to say hello "She wants to meet my parents"
"Well that is natural, I would be worried if she didn't want to" Spencer replied nodding
"Well she asked if I wanted to meet her parents this weekend" Paige explained as she leaned forward in her chair "And I'm so excited to meet them but they sound
like the perfect family and I don't even know how to explain my situation with her. I don't even know where to start"
"First of all; that's great about you meeting her parents, they're great and you'll get along" Spencer said with a smile "And her family is not perfect, no one is
perfect. I bet if you told her that she would say the exact same thing"
"Okay, maybe not perfect but close to compared to mine" Paige shook her head "I mean even yours is close to perfect compared to mine and you guys are
dysfunctional at the best of times"
"Hey" Spencer said faking distain "I'll have you know we consider you as a part of that dysfunctional family so you're in part the problem then. I mean in the office
at home they have trophies of mine and Melissa's and then they have a framed memorabilia piece of yours so I think you're probably the favourite. Mom hasn't
stopped talking about you since you got back, I'm starting to plan a long holiday for you so she stops because it's starting to get old"
"What do I do Spence?" Paige asked shrugging off Spencer's jokes with a very confused tone
"You just tell her the truth" Spencer offered seriously as she sensed Paige's mood "You tell her that you don't speak to them because they tried to exploit you. Tell
her the truth"
"So I tell her that my parents left me with my grandparents one day and then never came back because they didn't want me anymore but came back when I was
scouted and getting sponsored after I started winning so they could ask me for money?" Paige asked perplexed "I mean it sounds like I'm making it all up"
"But you're not" Spencer explained with a quiet sigh "That's what happened and sadly that's your life"
"I hate remembering that" Paige said rubbing her eyes in frustration "I mean why was I so dumb to give them that money?"
"Paige, they're your parents, you helped them even when you didn't need to" Spencer said shaking her head with a sad smile "You did nothing wrong, you were
just being kind"
"I'm just glad you guys were there" Paige said shaking her head and she chuckled darkly "I don't know what I would have done"
"You would have been fine, you're our family though" Spencer nodded "Are you nervous about meeting her parents?"
"Of course I am" Paige replied nodding quickly "I mean I just want them to like me, they're obviously really important to her and I really want to make it work with
her"
"They'll love you" Spencer nodded again "Don't worry"
"I'm nervous to tell her about my parents too, I didn't even tell Holly about them" Paige admitted
"Well she was too conceded to ask" Spencer muttered rolling her eyes
"I just feel like it's different with Emily" Paige shrugged "Ignoring your snipy
"I'm sure it is" Spencer said "You two have been so happy ever since you got together, it was about time too. Aria and I were thinking about teaming up with
Hanna and making it happen"
"Glad it didn't come to that" Paige joked "Thank you for listening to that"
"Any time" Spencer shrugged
"I guess I should work up the courage to tell Em about all this" Paige replied "Before she starts to think that I don't want her to meet them for no good reason"
"I guess so" Spencer agreed
Paige made her way out to her office in the gym faculty area, her desk was an organised mess with paper spread out all over it but she knew where everything was
so it was easy for her to find what she needed. She picked up her phone as she clicked on Emily's name to call before placing her phone to her ear.
"Miss me already?" Emily asked jokingly as she answered
"Hey" Paige grinned as her girlfriend spoke, speaking to her just seemed to make problems move to the back of her mind "I might but that isn't why I called"
"Well what can I help you with Miss McCullers?" Emily asked, a smile on her face was also evident in her tone
"What are your plans tonight?" Paige asked "I know you mentioned that you might be going out to a work dinner but I was wondering if you could skip that and I
could make you dinner?"
"What's the catch?" Emily joked
"No catch. I know I kind of brushed you off earlier so I kind of wanted to tell you a bit about my family, it's not that I don't want you to meet them…" Paige trailed
off quietly
"I know" Emily responded calmly "It's okay Paige"
"Come to my house tonight?" Paige asked again "Whenever you finish work tonight"
"Okay, sounds great" Emily replied "Want me to bring anything?"
"I'll have to covered, bring yourself" Paige said simply "Have a good rest of your day Em"
"Thanks babe" Emily returned "You too"
Paige moved the phone from her ear with a small smile, she knew telling Emily about her family was the right thing to do and she knew she could trust Emily with
that information.
She returned home that afternoon after she finished what she had to do for the day at school, the meet was only 2 days away so the girls had a light session and
would be having a team meeting tomorrow which Paige also had to prepare for. She figured though she would work on that tomorrow and try and deal with
explaining her family situation with Emily. She began cooking dinner, setting the table up nicely and lighting some candles for Emily when she arrived. Once she
had finished setting up, like clockwork, Emily knocked on the door quietly.
They sat down for dinner, discussing some small talk about how the rest of their day was and what case Emily was currently working on. Once they finished eating
Paige decided they could have dessert on the couch watching a movie like they loved to spend their nights with each other. Emily leaned her head on Paige's
shoulder, Paige leaning her head on top of Emily's while she wrapped her arm around Emily's shoulder as she had her bowl on her lap, eating with her right hand.
"This is how every day should end" Emily said looking at the T.V. "Great home cooked meal, trashy T.V. and you, what more could a girl want?"
"I didn't know that you liked trashy T.V." Paige chuckled as she turned her head to press a kiss into Emily's hair
"Guilty pleasure" Emily shrugged with a smile "You can blame Hanna for that; I got into these kinds of shows because she watches them all the time"
"Don't you try and blame your friend for that" Paige joked as she put her bowl down on the coffee table in front of her "So I'm excited to meet your parents on the
weekend"
"I was thinking Saturday for brunch?" Emily asked "Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah, whatever works" Paige agreed "I'll be there"
"I'm thinking that I'll come here and get you" Emily replied with a slight shrug "I think you might be a little too nervous and distracted to drive"
"Thanks" Paige smiled "You're probably right"
"How did you go with your nerves before a race?" Emily asked
"I almost threw up every time" Paige answered honestly with a shrug "Racing is different"
"Yeah, it's worse" Emily said sitting up as she placed her bowl next to Paige's on the table and turned to face Paige, moving her legs over the other girls' while she
shuffled closer to Paige's side
"Well you don't have to go through it so you don't need to worry about it" Paige shook her head
"Did you want to talk about that?" Emily asked "Because you don't have to tell me until you want to but I can tell you kind of want to say something"
"I'll tell you" Paige said shrugging "It's almost embarrassing considering you have a such a great family, you guys are practically perfect"
"We are not perfect Paige" Emily shook her head "Every family has their issues and we have ours but we've managed to work through them"
"Not like mine" Paige replied raising both her eyebrows "I've never really told anyone about this but Aria and Spencer, I didn't even tell Holly about it because I hate
talking about it so much"
"Okay well I appreciate you trusting me" Emily said nodding as she leaned forward, reaching over to cup Paige's cheek in her hand "Nothing you say will leave this
room, I promise"
"I know" Paige spoke softly, just above a whisper as she relished the feeling of Emily's hand on her cheek "I've never really mentioned them because I don't speak
to them, in fact I don't even know where they are"
"Okay" Emily nodded as she moved her hand from Paige's cheek to rest on her knee
"When I was 8 they decided that I was too much work so they went on a trip, which was supposed to be for 2 days and they left my with my grandparents but
they never came back. My grandparents tried contacting them but they wouldn't answer so my grandparents raised me until I was 14 when I was recruited and
went to San Francisco. They both passed away within a year of each other when I was 21 and 22 so I was just getting into the headspace that I really had a shot
at the Olympics so that was a huge hit for me at that point. I had no one left, I had no family" Paige explained with a sad smile
"Paige" Emily said sympathetically as the look on Paige's face was enough to break Emily's heart
"So once I had made a name for myself, winning national titles, gaining sponsorships I became more known and people really started to take note of me and people
other than my coaches started to realize that I had a good chance at Olympic gold. I got a call one day from a woman who was claiming to be my mother, I'm not
sure how she got my number but she did anyway and she said she had heard about my grandparents passing away so she wanted to see me. I decided I would
meet up with her to see if she was for real and it turns out she was. She was excited to see me and she looked like me, I look more like my father though who was
there as well. It was awkward at first but they stuck around for 2 weeks and it was great…it was great until my mom told me that she needed to get surgery on
her hip and she needed to borrow some money for medical bills. When she first told me, alarm bells kind of went off in my head but she was so sad and I really
thought she needed the money so I let her borrow it" Paige croaked quietly "I should have listened to my gut"
"How much money did she ask for?" Emily asked furrowing her eyebrows
"About $5000" Paige replied with a sigh "It's actually pretty humiliating"
"It's not, you were being the kind person you are" Emily said "What happened after that?"
"I went to have lunch with them the day after I gave them the money and they didn't show up. I thought they were late or something so I waited for about 2
hours before I went back to the hotel that they were staying at. Apparently when I spoke to the concierge they had checked out the night before and the phone
number she gave me to call her was disconnected" Paige recounted with a bitter smile "And I haven't heard from them since. I don't want to hear from them ever
again because as far as I'm concerned, I have no parents. I have no family but my grandparents and the Hastings"
"Paige I'm so sorry that happened to you" Emily said sympathetically, leaning over to place a gentle but lingering kiss on her cheek "Did you do anything legally to
get your money back?"
"It wasn't worth the stress that it put on me as a 22 year old let alone a 22 year old training to be in the Olympic swim squad. I just really don't know how they
slept that night knowing that I had given them money in good faith, because they were my biological parents and they just took off with it" Paige shook her head
with a shrug "It took me a long time to get over that"
"I can't even imagine" Emily replied, leaning her forehead on Paige's temple. Needless to say emily felt helpless in the situation and all she could do was comfort
her girlfriend and let her know she was there for her
"It's okay Em" Paige shook her head
"It's not okay" Emily replied "They're supposed to protect you, they are your parents"
"I know that" Paige nodded briefly "I guess for a while I kind of took a period for me to get back to what I was before. I think half the reason why my shoulder was
so torn was because I pushed myself so much to kind of forget what happened. It was tough, I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it, I had a really tough period of my
life then. I spoke to Spencer about it and the Hastings really helped me out, they even came and stayed with me in San Fran for a week while I was training to
support me. I can't ever thank them enough and I don't think I will ever be able to. Veronica protected me like only a mother can and she made sure nothing like
that could happen again. She made sure that they can't even contact me legally anymore"
"I'm glad that they were there for you" Emily nodded
"Me too" Paige said as she took a deep breath and expelled it slowly "So that is my family, charming bunch the McCullers are. The only reason why I keep my last
name is because that was my grandparents last name as well otherwise I would have changed it. I kind of thought I deserved it for keeping the last name. That's
why you can't really meet them"
"Paige, why would anyone deserve that?" Emily shook her head
"Because no one really paid attention to me until my swimming started to become my life and it became clear that I was really going somewhere with it" Paige
shrugged "That success just brought them out of the shadows"
"You know all that stuff means nothing to me right? If you didn't have the medals and the sponsorships I would still be with you" Emily said firmly
"I know" Paige said with a small smile "You're one of the best things I have though. Maybe even better than my Olympic silver"
"Well what about your gold?" Emily joked
"We'll talk later about that one" Paige replied playfully, feeling Emily cheering her up almost instantly "Thank you for listening to all of that drama"
"Thank you for telling me" Emily shrugged
"Can you stay tonight?" Paige said in a voice that was just above a whisper, Emily had never seen Paige sol vulnerable "I don't think i want you to leave"
"I would love to" Emily nodded
So i know it wasn't my best work nor was it the most interesting chapters but i promise that I will soon make up for that! Next chapter Paige is going to meet Pam and Wayne as well as me trying to get the ball rolling for the rest of the story.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Have a great Friday eve (Thursday)/Friday depending on where you are.
Also, for people who miss Paige on PLL...I feel your pain. Hopefully she's back next week in the finale!
Dani :)