4 years later
A/N: Okay, so this chapter has quite a bit of fluff and my attempt at humor but it's as long as it is because it has information that will be important later on….so pay attention. I know there's a lot of people out there who hate Paige, soo this may not be the fanfic for you because she is not going to be the "villain" in this story. However, I'm going to try to not make her a major, major, character except in this chapter, but she is Emily's friend and Hannah's friend and a big part of the town so she will have a role. Hannah's chapter will be up next Thursday…hopefully. So, I hope you enjoy and if you have any critiques, please share. Enjoy!
Emily
As Emily read the message on her cell phone she rubbed the 3yr sober chip that was always tucked nicely in her jeans pocket. "You we're always the weakest of the four, don't start thinking your strong now because I'm stronger than ever and I will win" –A. Emily hadn't felt this weak in a very long time, but when she read this it became hard to even breathe. "A" was back and all of her old vulnerabilities flooded back to her.
Her phone rang and she jumped; she looked at the caller, rolling her eye she pushed the "ignore" button. Emily looked around the Café and a since of pride overwhelmed her, she than took her hand off the chip and continued to work. At the end of her senior year Emily informed her parents that she did not want to go to college, this did not go over well. Her parents were angry and insisted that she at least go to Hollis College. She told them that she did not know what she wanted to do but she knew college was not the answer for her, at least not at that time. Emily had just experienced the worst events in her life and the last thing she was thinking about was college. With no direction and a whole lot of anger she had for what "A" had turned her life into; alcohol became her way to cope with everything. When she drank the pain and anger she felt became num and everything seemed to not matter as much anymore.
Had it not been for Hannah and Paige she would still be an unfocused drunk with no future. Through much persuasion, a whole lot of yelling, and even more tears, they convinced her that she had a problem and needed to go to rehab. Unfortunately, this took a toll on Paige and Emily's relationship and as hard as it was to admit, she knew Paige deserved more than Emily could give her. They still maintain a great friendship and they still loved each other, they are just not in love with each other anymore. Rehab helped Emily deal with the issues she was trying to num and even though it was extremely hard, it was what she needed. Before rehab Emily felt like everything she was feeling was small in comparison to what everyone else was dealing with. When she lost Toby as a friend she felt hurt and betrayed but Spencer was hurting more so she held her feelings in. When her dad was killed in Iraq she hurt more than words could describe, but her mother was hurting more so she held her pain in. That unforgettable night at the lake she lost people close to her but the others were hurting worse, so she held it all in.
When Ella and Zack got married and moved to Paris a whole new opportunity opened up for Emily that months prior seem like an unimaginable dream. Zack informed her that he was selling The Brew and would lower the price greatly if she would consider buying it. After getting out of rehab and having to beg for her job back, Emily worked extra hard at the Brew and even expressed interest in running a business. Zack took her under his wing and taught her everything he knew. When Zack gave her the offer to buy The Brew she gladly accepted. With her parents blessing, she used the money they had been saving for her college to buy it. Since owning The Brew, Emily has added a live music night and also remodeled a bit to make the place her own. She change the name to The Purple Heart in honor of her father's passing.
Emily's phone rang again, before she had a chance to look at who it was her baker, Jahiem, yelled from the kitchen.
"Answer it! You cannot avoid an angry woman, two and a half ex-wives has taught me this much," he said with his Jamaican accent.
Jahiem walked to the front counter where Emily was and peered over her shoulder.
"Two and a half ex-wives, Jahiem?" Emily questioned looking up at him.
"Oh yes, my second wife, she was tiny little thing, but meaner than a rabid dog she was." Jahiem said seriously. "The smaller the women the meaner they are, they have no room for all the anger now do they!" He said with a chuckle.
Emily shook her head, "Well, I have no tiny women angry at me yet, so I think I'm good" Emily said laughing. "Anyway, it's just Paige," She said before answering the phone.
"Oh yes, just Paige, that one was never angry," He said sarcastically walking back into the kitchen. Emily rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Paige what's up?" Emily said casually.
"Nothing much, just starving for one of Jahiem's awesome biscotti's, you busy right now?" Paige asked.
"Nope. Its three o'clock on a Tuesday, the only people here are me, Jahiem, and a table of senior citizens." Emily said in a blasé tone. Business was usually good, but at certain times of the day it got really slow. This is when Paige, Hannah, and occasionally Aria would stop by and check in on her. She knows what they are doing even if they wouldn't admit to it. They are overly-protective and fear she will have a bad day and start drinking again. However, it's not like this couldn't happen, or didn't already almost happen. Emily knows that she is an alcoholic and every day will be a struggle to remain sober but this time "A" will not cause her to fall.
"Alright, I'll be there in about ten minutes!" Paige said cheerfully. Emily used to think Paige was making up being hungry just to make sure she hadn't fallen off the wagon. Now she thinks Paige is a bottom-less pit that is always hungry and never stops eating.
About six minutes later the bell above the glass door chimed and Paige walked in. Her hair was in a tight bun and she was wearing her black Rosewood Police uniform. Paige had joined the Police academy two years after high school and has been working for the Rosewood Police Department for a year now. Emily saw it as the perfect job for her; she was always protective and just needed some way to channel her anger. After the whole Nate/Lyndon debacle, Paige started taking self-defense classes, which lead her to start boxing, which lead her to Officer Douglas who said she should consider going to the academy. So, in a way, being kidnapped helped Paige find her calling and become a better person.
"Dang Paige, did you have the sirens on all the way over here?" Emily said, surprised at how quick she got there.
"No, just not a lot of traffic today or crime for that matter, I've been doing paper work all day," Paige said with a sigh.
"It's defiantly a slow day in Rosewood," Emily said as she looked around the town from the window. She had a scary suspicion that this was the calm before the storm, and this storms name was hurricane "A". Emily walked over to Paige to give her a hug. This was not out of the norm for them, even though they were not together anymore; they both felt closeness for each other. Emily knew Paige had a dangerous job and since "A" was back she knew her own life has become more dangerous and anything could happen. She never wanted something to happen and have Paige think she didn't care for her.
"Paige is that a gun or are you just happy to see me?" Emily said laughing as she hugged Paige close patting the large, metal, object on the left side of her hip; Emily was trying to lighten the somewhat cryptic mood she felt.
"Neither, ya goof; that's my taser, the guns on the other side," Paige said smiling and shaking her head. As the hug broke Emily could tell by her face that Paige was happy she was making jokes again. This makes her dread having to tell her that "A" is back, but she knew Paige needed to be prepared in case "A" decided to target loved ones again. However, this didn't mean she had to tell Paige right away, maybe it was fear that Paige would do something crazy or maybe it was just having to relive the whole "A" nightmare, but Emily wanted to avoid telling her for as long as possible.
They set down at one of the many empty tables by the large window. "Ok, well, just don't shoot or taser Spencer when she get here," Emily told Paige putting an emphasis on the "or". Paige and Spencer had bad history and sometimes they were able to put it all behind them, like when they went to visit Emily in rehab, or at the funerals. However, any other time they fought like very pissed off cats and dogs. It wasn't that Spencer thought Paige was "A" or that Paige thought Spencer thought she was "A". Emily believed they fought so much because they were so much alike; stubborn, determined, and at times obsessive but generally good-hearted. However, if you told them that they were anything alike they would both look at you like you were crazy.
"Spencer's coming?" Paige asked as she became distracted while looking to her left with a huge smile appearing on her face. Jahiem walked out of the kitchen with a medium sized white plate with a delicious looking pastry placed in the middle.
"Enjoy, my dear," Jahiem said while placing the plate in front of Paige.
"Awe, Jahiem, you would be the only man I would ever marry." Paige said staring at the plate in excitement.
Emily rolled her eyes at Paige's fascination with the biscotti. "Back to you question, yes, Spencer will be in town for a few weeks, so play nice. Oh and the last thing Jahiem needs is a future ex-wife." Emily said the last part loud enough that Jahiem could hear it as he walked back into the kitchen.
"She is tall, it could work out!" Jahiem yelled from the kitchen with a chuckle.
"Yes, she is also gay with a girlfriend, so I think your only chance with her is if you never stopped cooking." Emily yelled back with a laugh. "By the way how is Annie?" Emily asked Paige who was digging in to her dessert aggressively. Annie was a reporter/writer who moved to Rosewood about 5 months after the tragic night at the lake, to do a story on the five "A" team member arrests. She's slim but not skinny, blond hair, green eyes, and a large tattoo running from the top of her left shoulder to right above her elbow. Annie interviewed several people including the four girls and Paige. Emily and the others had been interviewed before and it was always like they were digging for information that the girls didn't have or couldn't talk about. With Annie, she just sat down, and asked them what happened. They didn't tell her everything, but they felt comfortable telling her the difficult things to talk about. Annie seemed sympathetic when she talked to them and seemed to understand their pain. Annie decided to say in Rosewood, because what other town has stories like Rosewood does? Over time, Annie and Paige develop a strong friendship as Emily and Paige's relationship got weaker. When Paige and Emily finally broke up it took Paige a while to move on, but when she did Annie seemed like the perfect person to move on with. Paige and Annie have been living together for a little over a year and Emily is happy for them.
Paige finished her last bite before she answered. "She's good! She is still writing for the newspaper and she is writing for a online journal now, which gives her more creative freedoms and stuff." Paige said as she put another bite into her mouth.
"Paige, where do you put all this food, and why are you always so hungry." Emily asked watching Paige eat in amazement.
" I run two miles a day Em, I fight guys that are twice as big as me," Paige said bragging a bit. She then look down with embarrassment and sat in silence.
"What?" Emily asked quickly noticing there was something wrong. "Wait, your not…"
"What?" Paige asked wondering what Emily was suggesting.
"Pregnant?" Emily said slowly with a raised eye brow.
"No! How? No!" Paige said in shock of the mere thought."It just that I don't cook and Annie really doesn't cook, when we moved in together we never realized neither one of us was domestic, I can only handle so much Chinese takeout, Em ." Paige said with a tense laugh.
"Oh, Paige you had me worried." Emily said. "Well, of all the problem you could have, that is a very fixable one."
"Ok, Dr. Fields, fix my relationship," Paige said waiting with her arms crossed.
Emily gestured her index finger for Paige to come closer. Paige did as she was told with a skeptical look.
"Learn how to cook!" Emily said in a blunt tone.
"Gee, Thanks, im glad I didn't have to pay for that advice." Paige said rolling her eyes. "So, back to Spencer, she's going to be in town?"
"Don't start trying to escape now; she's still a few hours away." Emily said checking her watch. "Just try to be nice." She said sternly to Paige.
"Hey, it's not me that starts it, you know that!" Paige said in shock of what Emily was implying.
"You know what's funny; she says the exact same thing when I tell her to behave." Emily said laughing at Paige's angry expression.
Paige rolled her eyes at the suggestion that she and Spencer were alike.
Emily's phone rang and she looked at who was calling and again she pushed the ignore button.
Paige looked at the phone and the looked back up at Emily with a crooked smile like she knew something before she even had to ask.
"Who was that, Em?" Paige asked as Emily just shook her head and smiled.
"Why do I feel like I'm about to get a lecture?" Emily said as she read the expression on Paige.
"I'm not you mother, I'm not going to lecture you." Paige said as she paused. Emily waited for her to finish.
"But-?" Emily asked knowing there was something more.
"But I just think that you are trading in one addiction for another." Paige said quickly fearing Emily's reaction.
Emily laughed. "Ignoring my phone calls is hardly an addiction, Paige."
Paige rolled her eye, knowing Emily knew what she was talking about but was avoiding it. "No, but sleeping with random girls and avoiding their phone calls might be." Paige said pointedly. " I mean seriously, Em, when was the last time you were in a relationship that lasted for more than two weeks?"
"Hey, im twenty-two, I'm having fun and acting my age. You, Aria, and Hannah are the weird ones, who commits themselves to one person in their twenties?" Emily said shaking her head. Emily didn't want a relationship, she wanted to have fun for the first time in her life and that's what she was doing. She knew Paige was protective, but the way she saw it, this was none of Paige's business.
Ironically Emily's phone rang again and this time Paige picked it up off the table before Emily could.
"Paige, don't!" Emily pleaded as Paige picked up the phone.
Paige held her hand up. "It's fine" she said to Emily. As she was about to answer the call Paige saw the text message from "A".
"What's this?" Paige asked looking at the text message.
"I was going to tell you." Emily said not knowing if that was a lie or not. "I got the text a few days ago." She said waiting for a reaction.
Paige's face was a light shade of pink that usually meant she was angry. "Is it the real thing, it could be a prank, couldn't it?" Paige asked, the anger in her voice was mixed with fear.
"It feels like I felt before, I think it's the real thing but just in case Spencer is doing some digging." Emily told Paige who looked like she was about to jump out of her skin.
Paige nodded and stood up out of the booth.
"Where are you going?" Emily asked fearing the answer. Paige had a quick temper and she was never the type to wait around and do nothing. Emily knew Paige could get herself killed even if she was a cop and carried a gun.
"Im going to Radley to get some answers, she knows everything and if she has another pawn out there working for her I'm going to find out who and beat the living—," Paige yelled before being interrupted by Paige.
"Paige stop! You don't know if it just a pawn or if it's the real "A" leader and he or she just never got caught." Emily said interrupting Paige's rage. "This could be really dangerous and you already have a target on your back."
This seemed to make Paige come to her senses. "Well, what do we do then?" Paige asked desperately.
"We let Spencer go to Radley and get some answers, if she can." Emily said still using her calm voice because she was not sure if Paige was completely rational yet. "Anyways, It's her sister, if anyone can talk to her it's Spencer."
Paige knew this was true and left the café to go back to work.
As Emily went back to the counter to continue to work, she started to think of Spencer and how much pain she must have. Both her sister and her first love betrayed her, Emily wanted to make Spencer feel better when she got to Rosewood but how do you take away that kind of pain?