Hello everybody! Thank you so much for the reviews you left on the last chapter. You've all been so wonderful and lovely and I just can't thank you enough for your support :)

Some of you may call this chapter filler - I call it necessary. I couldn't just have them jump back into their relationship exactly as they'd left off.

And I'd just like to reiterate that this story has now completely deviated from what happened to me.

I still don't own skins.

Chapter 22: Rebuilding

Emily and I went back to bed after she finished telling me about John. Actually, I'd half-carried her back to bed since she wouldn't stop crying. I put her on her old side of the bed and didn't get in beside her right away. I wasn't sure that I wanted to. I felt scared and overwhelmed by Emily's sudden presence in my life and with the knowledge of what happened to her. She didn't look like the same Emily anymore. I undid her pants for her and took them off, leaving her in black underwear and a tank top. Her hip bones protruded and her collarbones showed and her arms were so skinny. Her hair was black and looked as though it hadn't been washed in a few days and her face was pale.

I didn't recognize the woman I loved, but as she cried and grabbed my hand and asked me to lay with her, I knew I couldn't say no to her. So I climbed in next to her and kissed her forehead and made a promise to myself that I would bring Emily back. That I'd make her happy again. I was already so happy that she was back and unharmed – though, of course, my own happiness was currently being overshadowed by the concern I had for the woman I held in my arms as she cried.

"I missed you so much, Naoms," she said once she had stopped crying so much. My shirt had been soaked through with her tears and was likely see-through by this point, but I didn't care. I was still comfortable around Emily even though she'd been gone for so long. "I thought about you every day. You were the last thing I'd think about before I'd fall asleep because I thought if I thought about you last before I fell asleep, I'd dream about you. And sometimes I did. Dream about you."

She nodded against me and grabbed onto my singlet tightly. "But those dreams were nothing like the real you. I couldn't really smell you or really touch you or really hear you."

I nodded against her, understanding exactly how she'd felt. Emily sighed and fell asleep against me. I followed suit soon after.

I woke up to Emily tracing over my face gently, staring at me in awe.

"Hi," she whispered, taking her hand away from my face and letting me wake up. I stretched and rubbed my eyes, looking down at my hands which were now covered in black eye makeup.

"Hi," I said as I scrubbed my hands against each other. "I must look like a raccoon. Or Taylor Momsen."

Emily smiled and nodded before lying on her back and stretching her arms out across the bed. "Where's Effy and Katie?"

"Off for a couple's weekend. They went to...Enmore? It's by Taunton."

Emily nodded and I could feel her stare at me as I got out of bed and walked over to my bathroom and started to wash my face. Emily followed me in and bumped my hip with hers, making me wince. She was too skinny and her bones knocking against me like that hurt. She apologized and started brushing her teeth.

"I'm going to order some food in, anything special you want?" I asked as I finished up brushing my own teeth. Emily shrugged, and at that moment I decided to order enough chinese food to feed at least five people. I needed to fatten her up at least a little bit before Katie got back here.

I was reluctant to leave Emily alone, even for a moment just to go and order the chinese food. I wanted to be around her all the time, make sure she felt happy and safe all the time. But I also didn't want to scare her off or make her feel uncomfortable or as though I didn't trust her to be alone. I'd never pictured myself as the clingy type but suddenly that was exactly who I'd become. I had to keep reminding myself that Emily was fine, that she was the same Emily she was before she left. That nothing really changed. That, if anything, Emily would be better now that she'd confronted John and put him behind bars. But I was scared that this transformation Emily had gone through to find John would stick and I was scared that I'd never really get her back and that she'd get worse.

I ordered the chinese food and sat at the dining room table, waiting for Emily to come out of the bathroom. I put my head down against the table and closed my eyes and remembered Emily before she left, tried to remember if she'd ever acted oddly around me, if there were any clues as to what she'd gone through.

"Naoms," Emily placed a hand against my back, between my shoulder blades. I raised my head to look at her and saw that she was smiling and it made me feel warm inside. She looked like my old Emily.

"You haven't really changed that much," she whispered as she sat next to me. "Still worrying about me, I see."

I nodded and forced a smile. She grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly.

"I'm still Emily. I still like all the same things I used to like. And I'm still in love with you. I left knowing that I'd come back one day, and hopefully we'd be able to start our life together. I still want that. I still want you."

She looked down at our intertwined hands and looked up at me, seeming unsure. "You...do you still want me?"

I nodded quickly and leaned over to kiss her. And when I kissed her, she tasted the same as she used to. And her lips felt as soft as they used to. And she sighed against me just like she used to.

And then her black hair and her skinny hips didn't seem so bad. Because I loved her and wanted her desperately still. She was still my Emily. And I was still in love with her.

And I knew we'd make it.

The Chinese food came and we sat on the couch and watched a re-run of River Dance. I don't know why. But I did know those fuckers could dance.

"Look how in sync they are!" Emily exclaimed as she stole the container of chow mein from me.

I smiled over at her and watched her eat as though she hadn't eaten properly in months, which I suppose was possible. We didn't exactly eat properly while we were stuck in Paris and I knew Emily would often forget at least one meal a day. The way she was eating reminded me of how quickly she'd eaten her fish and chips we'd bought when we first got into London from Paris. I smiled at the memory.

It was the second time that day that I was reminded that really, nothing had changed. I snuggled into Emily's side and she tried to feed me chow mein and I just felt normal and comfortable.

The months that Emily had spent searching for John would eventually become a small bump in our relationship that would make us stronger. Eventually, I'd forget about how much my heart hurt when I'd think of her, or how much I missed her. But I knew that we, Emily and I, would never really change. We'd probably be on this same couch six months from now, one year from now, maybe even five years from now.

Emily leaned down and kissed me, her tongue seeking out mine. She tasted like chinese food. And I smiled and told her I loved her and she told me she loved me back.

So, there we go. Only a few chapters left after this - I'm predicting about five more chapters, and have been toying with the idea of a sequel, but I'm not too sure about that.

Please let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review :)