Hello everybody! Thank you so much for continuing to read and review this story. This chapter is really quite short but I felt it just fit; some important revelations are made in the chapter and I felt that the focus should be on that rather than other little things. I've been going a little crazy these past few days at uni, and today I walked around so much that I ended up with very sore and blistered feet - lovely! One of the benefits of having such a huge campus. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Sadly I still don't own Skins, but this story is based on true events.

Chapter 6: Suitcase Forts

"Excuse moi, madame, vous ne pouvez pas fumer dans la gare!"

If I had five euros for every time a French officer told me not to smoke in the train station, I'd be a bloody millionaire.

"Excuse moi, monsieur, mais ca c'est la France! Tout le monde fume dans ce pays!" I replied back as I handed Emily a cigarette and the lighter. She smiled at me as the officer frowned. "Il y a beaucoup de stress dans ma vie a le moment et j'ai besoin d'un cigarette."

"I have no clue what you're saying but I like it," Emily whispered beside me, smoke blowing into my face as she spoke. I smiled back at her and the officer shrugged and walked away.

"I told him that this is France and that everybody smokes here," I said as she cuddled into my side. "And then I told him that I had a lot of stress in my life at the moment and that I needed a cigarette."

"I see," she whispered as she put the cigarette to her lips and inhaled. "You know, I'm not usually this super shallow girl who gets turned on when she hears a hot girl speak another language."

"Really?" I asked with a smile on my face as she continued to cuddle up closer to me. "Well I suppose I just bring out the best in you then, Ems."

She laughed and took another drag from her cigarette. It was absolutely freezing in this train station, and we still had another three hours to wait for our train. There was a "first class" designated waiting area, though it definitely didn't seem like it. What it had become was "the only bloody room in the whole train station that had doors that closed and power outlets with maybe a few seats here and there", so naturally everybody was in there. Every single seat was taken and every single power outlet was taken, so Emily and I had formed a fort on the floor using our luggage and some spare coats. We cuddled up together under our fort, staying blissfully warm while everybody else stared at us. I wasn't sure if they stared at us because we were fucking geniuses and built a fort for warmth, or if it was because we looked a bit mad. I didn't really care either way.

We had to leave the closed room and take down our fort when we wanted to have a cigarette though, which was a bit of a bummer really. I liked that fort.

"D'you think your mum will like me?" Emily asked timidly as she snuggled in closer to me. I smiled at her.

"Of course she'll like you!"

She looked down at her shoes, seemingly still unsure about herself. "She won't mind that I'm a girl?"

My heart melted. If Emily was actually concerned about what my mum would think of her, it meant that she was in the exact same place I was – hoping for this to develop into a relationship. I knew I would be worried if I was meeting Emily's mum later tonight; this little tidbit of information could only reassure me of my feelings for her.

"Em, she nearly threw me a fucking party when I came out. She's very open minded and will probably be so bloody excited to meet you. Don't worry," I said as I pulled her in closer and kissed her on the forehead. She nodded against me before stubbing out her cigarette. She waited for me to finish mine before she looked back up at me with unsure eyes.

"I wish I had a mum like yours," she said quietly, letting out a huge sigh. "She...isn't very accepting."

I nodded at her, urging her to continue. I couldn't understand how someone so sweet could have fought through having an un-accepting family when she was coming out. From what I'd seen in Emily, I could tell that she was sensitive and cared about others deeply. I couldn't imagine how much pain her mother's rejection would have put her through.

"The first night we were here, when she called, she asked me if I was rooming with a girl, as though I'd had some kind of control over it. She probably thinks I'll meet some guy with a magic dick who'll cure me or something of the sort. But that's just not who I am," she sighed again and looked down. She sniffled a little bit, and I was quite sure it wasn't from the cold.

"Emily, I'm sorry," I whispered before kissing her gently. She shrugged and laughed uncomfortably, trying to play the situation off as though it was nothing. "Thank you for telling me."

She looked up at me then, her brown eyes open completely to me, showing me every ounce of her vulnerability. "I care about you, Naoms," she said gently, not breaking eye contact with me. "I want you to know this kind of stuff about me."

I could think of nothing to say so I kissed her gently before smiling at her, and dragging her back to the waiting room to rebuild our suitcase fort.

I realized that that was the first time Emily truly opened up to me. She had a few moments the night before, once while we were on the coaches when she told me that she was scared, and the other while we were waiting for the coaches and she basically admitted to having feelings for me. While that was a step forward, it was nowhere near what had just occurred between us. I felt as though I'd only just been allowed to see Emily for who she really is. That Emily trusted me enough to let me in that deep. It was powerful and moving and amazing. Maybe even a little bit scary. But I pushed all those kinds of commitment-phobic thoughts from my head and turned to look at the girl beside me, tossing extra coats over our suitcases to rebuild our fort. I felt myself smile and realized that for the moment, there was no need to feel afraid of being committed to her. For the moment, we were happy and together and stuck in Paris.

And really, that was all that mattered. For the moment, at least.

Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you thought in a review :)