Guest: Thank you.

Ness: I'm glad you enjoyed it.

saii79 : Glad to be able to offer you a bit of nostalgia with this one. :) I'm still pretty new to the fandom, so I guess I'm coming at the pairing like the rest of you would have back when it first started. Also, I fixed the tagging. I think.

Dpacheco Thank you. This one's a bit longer, I hope you enjoy.

summersantos2009 Thank you.

xawier321 I'm glad you're liking it.

Mslspatz I aim to please. :) Definitely some good things to come.

And now, on to the story.

Chapter Three

Emily woke some time later to sunlight and stillness. She was alone in the bed and she honestly didn't know if she wa relieved or dissapointed by that fact. The light of day made the events of last night feel a little bit like a dream. Her memory was already a little hazy, the details slowly starting to slip away as she came awake and she didn't want to lose the warm, pleasant feeling that had enevloped her as she'd fallen back asleep wrapped up in Paige's arms. It would have been nice to wake up next to Paige, to get a chance to experience that feeling one last time. But she knew that if they had woken up still wrapped around each other, unbearable awkwardness would have ensued as they fumbled and stumbled around each other, trying to extract themselves from the situation. So maybe the small bit of distances afforded by waking up separately would spare them some of that awkwardness. Because it would undoubtedly be awkard.

Deciding that it would be better to face it now than put it off Emily rolled onto her back and cast her gaze around the room, expecting to find Paige sitting at the table or on the other bed, or even for the door to the bathroom to be closed as she got ready for the day. When it became apparent that the room was empty she let out a sigh and pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard as she tried to figure out if she should be worried or not over the fact that Paige had left.

She told herself that Paige's absence could be completely unrelated to last night, she could be getting breakfast or talking to Coach or doing any number of things that didn't imply she'd panicked about their cuddling. However the tight knot in her stomach undermined her logical reasoning.

She was debating whether or not to pull out her phone and reach out to the other girl when the door swung open and Paige eased inside. She shut the door softly behind her and took a few steps into the room, coming to a stop when her eyes landed on Emily sitting up in bed.

"Well,good morning, sleeping beauty," Paige said, offering her a grin.

Emily self-consciously ran a hand through her sleep mussed hair and glanced at the clock on table between the beds.

"Oh, please. It's barely 7:00."

"Yeah, and I've already had a workout in the fitness room, which really isn't much more than a treadmill in a closet, by the way, but whatever."

"You went down for a workout? You should have woken me. I would have come with you."

"Oh, I tried. You sleep like the dead."

Emily offered up a sheepish grin. "Yeah. Sorry." Her friends had made similiar observations, and her Mom had once told her that when she was three she'd literally slept through a tornado that had touched down in the next yard when they were visiting relatives in Oklahoma.

"And, I brought back breakfast," Paige continued, tossing a brown paper bag that Emily hadn't realized she'd been holding onto the bed in front of her. "It's not much, just some fruit and a bagel. But trust me when I tell you that while the hotel says they offer a hot breakfast, it's not food that you actually want to eat." She pulled a face, making Emily laugh lightly.

"That's fine. I can't really eat much before a meet anyway," Emily said, reaching for the bag and pulling it onto her lap. "Thank you."

"No problem." Paige slid onto the end of the bed and settled crosslegged, pulling her own breakfast bag open.

"So I was thinking that tomorrow I'd go for a run instead," Paige said. "There's a small park down the block, I'm sure I can convince coach to let me make use of it. Would you like to come with me?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah. That'd be nice." She preferred to have a light workout before a meet, usually a run but it was hard sometimes on away meets.

"So, we'll set the alarm tonight. How many snooze options do you think we'll need to get you conscious?"

Emily just rolled her eyes and unwrapped her bagel.

"Are you ready for today's heats?" Paige asked around a bite of her apple. "I've seen the times you'll be up against. Looks like you've got some pretty stiff competition."

Emily snorted. She knew Paige was talking about herself. They were competing against each other in a couple of races today and, as always, their times were very closely matched. "Oh, please," she scoffed. "Piece of cake."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Oh yeah, I could win my races with both hands tied behind my back."

"Those sound like fighting words to me," Paige said, a grin forming on her lips. "Care to put a little wager on it?"

"Betting against a teammate, McCullers? I'm dissapointed in you."

"I'm sure you'll live. So?"

"So, what did you have in mind?"

"Uh, well..."Now that Emily had agreed, Paige appeared to be caught out for an answer. "Okay, how about this. Loser buys dinner when we go out tonight."

Emily nodded, that sounded harmless enough.

"But, the winner gets to pick what they eat."

Emily winced, remembering some of the more disgusting seafood options on the hotel's menu but nodded. "You're on."

Paige nodded as well, then stuck her hand out. Emily reached out and shook it firmly, trying to ignore the tingle that ran up her arm at the contact. And the twinge of dissapointment when Paige released her grip, letting her hand fall away and returning to her breakfast.

Emily resumed eating as well, but kept shooting quick glances down the bed towards Paige. Were they really not going to talk about last night? Or better yet, were they really not going to talk about the last three months? And about how after freezing her out for all that time, Paige was suddenly acting like that had never happened and like they were friends? Why now? What had suddenly changed? Yesterday morning Paige hadn't even looked at her as they'd filed onto the bus. Last week she'd walked by her in the hallway with barely even a nod of her head. But now they were going to go running together and making bets over races like old times?

She wanted to just go with it, to accept whatever revelation that Paige had come to and let this camraderie or friendship, or whatever it was that was developing between them continue but she just couldn't let go of how much it had stung being pushed aside, treated like she was nothing, when she had come out and Paige's homophobia had kicked in.

Suddenly the food in her stomach felt heavy and the taste on her tongue turned sour. She choked down a mouthful of banana and tucked the remaining half back into the paperbag.

"Thank you, for breakfast," she said, balling the paper up in her hands as she slid from the bed. "I'm going to go and get ready." She tossed the bag into the wastebasket in the corner, a pretty decent three point shot, she absently noted as she crossed the room to her duffel bag. She felt Paige's eyes on her and tugged self-consciously on her pajama shorts, suddenly aware of how short they were and trying to get them to cover more of her legs. She bent down and picked up her bag, swinging it up onto her shoulder and turned, heading into the bathroom without a backward glance.

The door swung shut behind her and stepped forward, bracing herself against the sink, her fingers curling around its edges until her knuckles turned white and her arms grew shaky with the effort of supporting her weight as she tried to get a handle on her emotions. She didn't understand this sudden burst of anger. Why should she even care if Paige was talking to her or not? They weren't friends. They had never really been friends. Paige could take her new, friendly attitude and just shove it. Just because Emily was attracted to her, didn't mean that she was going to let the other girl jerk her around. She was so tired of the girls she liked playing hot and cold with her, friendly one minute, blowing her off in the next.

And, there it was, she thought, a moment of clarity seeping in through the whirlwind of thoughts.

It was like Ali all over again, Emily was allowing her attraction for another girl to to rule her behaviour towards them, letting them treat her poorly one moment and then smiling back at them the next.

Except, the rational part of her brain pointed out, Paige wasn't anything like Ali. She wasn't using Emily's attraction against her. She likely didn't even know about it. She was probably just extending an olive branch, having realized that it was better to make the best of an awkward situation this weekend than it was to perpetuate it.

Eventually, she felt the wave of anger subside, leaving her feeling drained but a little more clearheaded. Yes, it had sucked when Paige had rejected her after she'd come out. And yes, it would be nice if Paige acknowledged that but holding onto anger or resentment wasn't going to get her anywhere. If she wanted Paige in her life, and she had to admit that she did, she was just going to have to accept the change for what it was and focus on moving forward from there.

With a nod towards her reflection in the mirror, Emily chose to put the situation aside for now, to cautiously accept the show of friendship and see what developed. If things reverted, she'd cut all ties and if they progressed she'd gain a friend.

Feeling lighter and relaxed, Emily turned her focus to getting ready. It didn't take very long. She skipped most of her morning routine, saving the moisturizing of her skin and conditioning of her hair for after the days races, to minimize the damage of the chlorine in the pool. She washed her face and brushed her teeth then pulled on her swimsuit and then a pair of warm ups over it then arranged her hair into a tight ponytail and was good to go.

When she stepped back out into the hotel room Paige had finished her breakfast as well and was now sitting at the head of the bed, flipping through channels on the television.

"You're phone's been ringing since you've been in there," she said, glancing up at Emily briefly before her attention went back to the TV.

"Oh. Thanks." She made a beeline across the room and picked up the device from where it rested on the bedside table. She unlocked it with a swipe of her thumb and checked her missed calls log, six texts and one voicemail. She went to the texts first and scrolled through them, a smile forming on her lips as she read the well-wishes and encouragements from her mom, Toby and her friends. She then went to the voicemail, frowning lightly when she saw that it was an unknown number, before hitting play and bringing the phone up to her ear.

"Hey, Emmy." Her dad's soft, reassuring voice sounded unexpectedly in her ear and she gasped, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. The connection wasn't the greatest, his words sounded somewhat hollow, tinny, but it was unmistakenly his voice and she let it wash over her. She didn't so much as listen to the words as she did the sound of his voice, so when the message had completed she replayed it, actually listening to what he was saying this time.

"Your Mom told me that you have a big meet today," he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to watch you swim. But you know I'm there with you in spirit. I'm proud of you, Babygirl. Good luck out there. I love you."

All too soon the message was over, and Emily hit replay again, not quite ready to give up the sound of his voice.

"Emily? What is it? What's wrong?" Paige's voice, laced with tension, pulled her out of her reverie as the message ended for a third time and she glanced up, startled to find the other girl standing next to her, peering at her with eyes full of concern. She had one hand curled around Emily's waist and the other resting on her shoulder.

It was then that Emily realized that she was crying, tears streaming down her face. Hastily she brought one hand up and wiped them away. "Everything's fine. The message, that was my dad. He called to wish me good luck and I guess I..." she let out a soft, embarrased laugh and shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall apart on you."

"No, hey, it's fine," Paige said, squeezing Emily's waist lightly and rubbing her hand up and down her arm. "Your dad, huh? That's great. He's still overseas, right?"

Emily nodded. "Afghanistan, yeah."

"I'm sorry you missed his call. If I had known-"

"No. It's okay. I mean, I'm sorry I missed it too. It would have been so great to actually talk to him. But, getting the message was nice, too. It's something I can hold on to, you know?" She had a collection of voicemails saved on her phone and played them sometimes when she was missing her dad. This would be another one to add to the collection.

Paige didn't say anything, she simply gathered Emily into her arms and held her tightly. Emily clung to her for a long moment before letting her arms drop and wiping at her face once again, eager to clear the tear tracks and the evidence that she'd been crying but no longer embarrased that Paige had witnessed it.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Paige squeezed her shoulder and nodded once before punching her arm lightly and then stepping away. "Go wash your face, Fields. You look a mess and we've got a meet to get to."

Emily let out a light laugh and shot the other girl a greatful smile before stepping back into the bathroom to do what she'd been told.