AUTHOR'S NOTE- It's been 2 weeks :( Sorry. But things have been bad and I have been trying to cope the best I can. This was an important chapter and I couldn't mess it up. This chapter is long because you need an Emily story. What happened to her in the past 2 years? So this chapter gives you that and moves ahead telling you about how Alison settles into Rosewood and meets Emily.

Its divided into 4 parts (all are written and ready to post) and I will post one daily for the next 3 days. This isn't to tease you but so that you have an update steadily over the next few days. Its fun that way. (I've been enjoying Emisonxx posting daily updates of Empty Gold. Check it out.)

Thank you for your love and support. I have tears in my eyes at times when reading reviews. Nothing feels better. This story has so many favs, follows and reviews - I never ever dreamed it would. I hope to hear from you again after reading this. Happy reading :)

SUNDAY - ALMOST

Emily

Emily opened her eyes to find two big blue eyes staring back at her, almost scolding her.

"Its eight," Celine's tone clearly indicated that Emily had obviously done something that had displeased her.

"Good morning to you too, honey," Emily responded with a smirk. She was quite accustomed to the child and her penchant for drama. Emily loved her all the more for it.

"You promised," the child whined. "Its Sunday and you said we could get my new hockey shoes today."

"Its eight like you pointed out. I really don't think the stores would be open, unless you want to break in. I don't know kid but you seem too pretty go to jail," Emily teased, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

Celine plonked herself on the bed almost throwing herself on Emily. "Can we go after breakfast?"

"Sure! If you get off of me and let me get dressed. Where's your Mom?" Emily inquired as she gets herself out of bed and walked towards her closet to pick out something to wear. She settled on a grey skinny jeans and a deep burgundy off shoulder blouse.

"Mommy is on the phone with Hanna," the child replied and then lowered her voice as she went on, "I think they are fighting."

Emily furrowed her eyebrows. This was a regular occurrence every Sunday; one she definitely did not enjoy because she knew the argument was mostly about her.

"Oh well, let me shower and change and we'll get out of here. We can have breakfast at 'La Mexicana'. Some Churro Doughnuts sound good to me." Emily smiled at the child and pecked the top of her head before entering the bathroom for a shower.

Alison

Alison woke up and for a minute had no idea where she was. She then recalled she was at the Independence Inn on the outskirts of Rosewood, where she had spent the night. It was a charming abode and she certainly could not complain about her clean and tasteful room or the quite and relaxed atmosphere of the place last night at dinner. But it was not home!

Alison got up and put on her nightgown, before calling the front desk inquiring about breakfast hours. She then walked over to the window that looked out over the woods on the right and Rosewood on the left.

In the distance was a familiar grey and white pier belonging to the church behind her school, Rosewood Carmel High. It was a school for the kids of Rosewood's elite. The school where Alison was the most popular kid. She got tons of adulation but never any friendship of loyalty. She wondered how her life might have turned out had she attended Rosewood High School on the other side of town. Would Emily, Spencer and Aria have been her friends?

At breakfast Alison glanced through her previous night's journal entry. It wasn't a page of words bleeding with pain or loss or uncertainty. It was a plan for the day ahead. She wanted to waste no more time. Two years was enough!

# Call Meryl and discuss options to work long distance

# Call Grandma's attorney and get details of finances

# Buy a car

# Look for house or apartment

# Call Ezra to have my things sent over

# Call Spencer for Emily's address

Yes, she was definitely not wasting any more time.

Two hours later, Alison had worked out a bargain wherein she would work long distance and have a Skype call every Monday afternoon with Meryl, instead of the Monday morning meetings she attended when in Pasadena. It was to be a one month trial, post which Meryl would decide if she wanted Alison to continue or let her go.

She had spoken to her Grandma's attorney's office and they had emailed her a detailed break up of her assets and investments. She was rich! There wasn't really so much she needed but it felt like a safety blanket. She had known for years that her Grandma had left her everything in a trust that would be transferred to her name when she was 21, but she had never wanted to contact the attorneys then, in case people were still on the lookout for her. But now things were different.

She had also visited a dealer of second hand cars and picked out a very classy, five year old, imperial blue Chevrolet Camaro with the most lushly done up interiors. She could easily have got herself a brand new Porsche but she hadn't really got comfortable with the fact that she was really rich again. Ironically though, she had somehow still ended up with the best looking and most classily done up vehicle at the dealership – Alison still had impeccable taste!

Alison was very pleased with all she had accomplished that morning. She had taken care of half her list in two hours! But all that running around had taken its toll, she felt famished. Across the street from the real estate office that she had parked in front of to inquire about a place for herself was what looked like a family owned pizza place 'Pizzeria Vetri'. Alison decided a little pizza seemed like an excellent idea.

Almost

Emily had been dragged through three shoe stores and about five stores selling sports goods. No one seemed to have hockey shoes that were black and white, with the right amount or the right shade of blue in them to please Celine.

In the meantime, the child had picked up a grey and pink oversized sweater, new shoulder pads and a grey hoodie. Emily loved indulging her but hated shopping with her or her mother. Neither had ever bought anything before dragging Emily through every shop in town. All three of them had gone shopping just once and Emily had vowed that was never going to happen again.

"Do you have these with a sky blue pattern? This blue is too dark," Ce inquired of the sales girl in the shoe shop.

"I don't think so. But I do have a sky blue and white one in the earlier range I showed you," she offered giving Celine her most patient smile.

"That's so blue. Emmy, don't you think that is just too blue?" She waited for Emily to agree with her. Had Emily stated that the shoe looked good, Celine would spend the next fifteen minutes convincing her otherwise. So Emily just nodded and smiled at the sales girl sympathetically.

They left the store and continued in their search for that perfect shoe.

"Emmy, I look like Mommy don't I?" Celine inquired while walking alongside Emily on the sidewalk.

"Yes, you do. Quite a lot."

"But I am her daughter. Is it possible to look like someone who isn't family? Like a stranger."

"Hmmm. I suppose so. There are billions of people on the planet and I guess there will be a lot of people who look quite similar. People in different countries or on different continents. People we will never really meet. Why?"

"I met someone yesterday and she looked like Mommy. So much like Mommy!"

Emily felt her heartbeat quicken but she had learnt better than to hope. She should have known better than anyone that it isn't difficult to find a blonde with blue eyes who looked just enough like 'her' to a drunk Emily and yet nothing like 'her' the next morning.

"Ce, you do know that you shouldn't be talking to strangers, right?"

"Umhmm. But she wasn't really a stranger," Celine replied before running off towards the store window of the next shoe store and pointing at a very attractive black and white patterned hockey shoe on display with sky blue laces and fine lines of the same color running along the sides.

"This one," she squealed when Emily caught up.

"Finally!" Emily exclaimed to herself before they entered the store to get the shoes.

Ten minutes later the pair were walking down the street discussing what they wanted for lunch. Celine caught sight of her favorite pizza place down the road and pointed to it. "Pizzaaaaa!"

"Pizza it is," Emily chuckled before being interrupted by her phone ringing in her pocket. She shifted all the bags into her left hand and got out her phone. It was Hanna, probably checking if they were still on for tonight.

As Emily stopped on the curb to talk to Hanna, Celine walked ahead and entered her favorite pizzeria, Pizzeria Vetri. She walked straight to the counter and ordered a slice each of every pizza on display. Emily and she were known for their pizza appetites and old Filippo beamed at her as he heated her order all the while being entertained by Celine as she rambled on about how hungry she was.

As Celine looked around the tables she noticed a familiar head of blonde curls stand up from one of the end tables.

"Alison," the girl shouted out in glee before rushing to the blonde and taking hold of her arm.

Alison was taken aback but smiled broadly when she realized it was the very adorable 'mini her' she had made friends with yesterday. "You gave me a start. Hi Ce."

"You remember me?" The child seemed pleased.

"I did meet you just yesterday evening. I'm not that old. My memory is better than that, you know." Alison teased.

"Join us for pizza."

"I just ate," Alison responded honestly. She was also wary that Cece would create a scene if she found her having a conversation with Celine and so wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. She had to get in touch with Emily first and she was confident that everything would fall into place.

"Oh okay," Celine responded with the disappointment evident on her face. "Will I see you again?"

"I am sure you will. I am moving here. I've got an appointment to go see this guy about a house in five minutes. So I better get going. I promise we'll have pizza together someday." Alison stroked the child's hair affectionately before leaving and making a beeline for the realtor's office. She really was late for the appointment.

Twenty minutes later Alison had picked out two apartments and a house from among those described by Mrs. Marin, a partner at the real estate firm and they were leaving to go see them. Mrs. Marin proposed they take her car and Alison agreed.

As they drove past the corner of the street, Alison looked out the window and caught sight of Celine skipping alongside a tall, lean brunette who seemed to be laughing at whatever the child was saying.

Alison looked on in a daze. Celine wasn't out with Cece! The 'us' Celine had referred to was her and Emily. How could she have been so stupid? Why didn't she just ask Celine about Emily? Anything! The child would have told her Emily was with her. By the time Alison had snapped out of her daze and looked back she couldn't see Emily and Celine anywhere. She had almost found Emily today. Almost.

That's Sunday folks. I'm not teasing, I swear. Monday comes tomorrow. Leave me a line if you liked this and tell me what you expect will happen tomorrow. I'm excited to know what you think will happen. Ciao.