Emily knew what she had to do. She just didn't know how to go about doing it. Should she invite Paige for coffee, telling her that they needed to talk? That sounded way too formal. Should she bring it up in casual conversation? How would that even work? Should she climb back into Paige's bed? God, how good that sounded. It just seemed that it would be easier to talk to Paige with Paige's arms around her, letting her know that she was safe and accepted.

Paige said that she was always going to be there for her. She just had to trust that. The only thing was, she could feel Paige pulling away. Maybe it was her imagination, but Paige just seemed distant, somehow. Not cold; it felt as if Paige didn't feel safe around her. Paige had made them promise each other that they would talk things over if it ever started to get awkward. Maybe that's the way that she should approach Paige: It's awkward, so we need to talk.

Paige was trying her best to act normal around Emily, but she knew that Emily could sense that something was up. Things that had always felt natural were starting to feel weird. There were times when Paige would have grabbed Emily's hand, but she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to let go. She didn't dare risk giving Emily the hugs that she had never thought twice about before, for fear that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from kissing Emily and telling her all of the inappropriate thoughts that she found herself having. Emily had opened herself to up to Paige and shared her deepest fears with her. How would Emily ever be able to trust her again if she found out that Paige was taking advantage of her at her most vulnerable point, and creeping on her like some hormone-fueled schoolboy? And Paige really wanted to know what was going on with Maya, but she couldn't ask for fear that Emily would see her for what she was: A vulture, circling for the scraps from Emily's failed relationship.

She had to do something. They couldn't go through the rest of the year this way.

Meanwhile, Paige and Sean had quietly broken up after having slowly drifted apart from each other. Paige was relieved to see on facebook that he had found someone and moved on. She and Sean remained friends. She wondered whether or not they had ever been anything more than friends, if they were being honest.

One night after dinner, things came to a head. They were studying in their room when Emily broke the silence. "Paige?" Paige looked up. Emily had turned around in her chair and was facing her. "I kind of need to talk to you about something, but I'm not sure how." Oh, shit, Paige thought. She knows. Do I apologize? Do I let her let me down gently? Paige tried to hide the panic that she was feeling as Emily continued. "Maya and I have been going through a lot, lately, and I really just wanted to talk to someone about it, but…"

"Emily, you can talk to me about it. You can talk to me about anything!"

"I know that you say that, Paige. But it's just been weird between us ever since the last time."

"Oh, Em, I'm so sorry about that…"

"No," Emily interrupted. "It's not your fault. You were just trying to be there for me, and I didn't mean to take advantage of the situation. I swear, Paige, I wasn't trying to…"

Emily trailed off. Paige was baffled. She thinks that she was the one who took advantage of the situation? Paige closed her eyes. She had to tell Emily everything. But she couldn't look at her while she did it. After a moment, she began speaking, slowly and deliberately. "Emily. I meant what I said. I want to be there for you. I know that you're going through a lot of stuff, and we're out here away from our family and friends…"

And I want to protect you, Paige wished that she could say. I want to take you in my arms and make everything better.

Emily scooted her chair closer to Paige's and risked putting a hand on her forearm, to get Paige to open her eyes and continue. Paige was startled at the touch. That was the only reason that she pulled back, but she opened her eyes just in time to see Emily look away sadly as she pulled her arm back. I can't even touch her anymore.

Paige gave Emily a sincere look as she grabbed the hand that had been extended to her and held it in both of hers. "Look, I know that I've been acting weird, but I promise you that it's not your fault." Emily stared, disbelieving, deep into Paige's eyes, trying her best to figure out how it could possibly not be her fault.

"You don't have to say that, Paige. I mean, I know that you accept me, so I know that it's not a gay thing. Like, if I were a guy and I did that, it would be just as much over the line."

Paige could feel herself starting to break. Before she knew it, she was sobbing uncontrollably, and she didn't know why. Emily led her to Paige's bed and sat there, holding her as she wept and wept. "I'm sorry," Paige finally said.

"Sorry for what?" Emily still had no grasp of what was troubling Paige.

"I'm sorry about your relationship with Maya, and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to be there for you, and I'm sorry that I don't know how to fix things, and I'm sorry that you can't even talk to me about it without it being weird, because I'm falling for you."

Paige gasped as soon as that slipped out. Emily gasped, too. Paige grabbed her phone and her shoes and dashed for the door. "I'm sorry, Emily! I'm just – I'm so sorry." Before Emily could stop her, she was down the hall, heading off to God knows where.

Emily shut the door, went over to her bed, and pulled out her phone. She was in tears by the time Hanna picked up.

"Emily? What happened? Did you talk to Paige?"

"Uh huh," Emily sobbed out weakly.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry, Em. Where are you now?"

"I'm sitting on my bed."

"Where's Paige?"

"I don't know. She left."

"Oh, man. Is she coming back? Are you going to have to find a new roommate?"

"I don't know, Hanna!" Emily had raised her voice in frustration, not out of anger. Hanna understood.

"Okay," she said calmly, "Why don't you tell me exactly what happened."

"I don't even know what happened. I told her that we needed to talk, because things were awkward, and I apologized for the boundaries thing." Emily was trying to figure things out as she told Hanna the story. "The next thing I know, she was crying uncontrollably and apologizing for everything. Then she said that she was sorry for falling for me, and she ran out of the room."

"You didn't go after her?"

"I called out to her, but I didn't know what I would say to her. I mean – I still don't know what to say to her."

"Holy shit, Emily!"

"What?"

"You turned her?"

"Jesus, Hanna!"

"No, like, isn't that every gay girl's dream come true, to turn a straight girl?"

"Damn it, Hanna, can you try to be serious for one minute?"

"I'm sorry," Hanna said, but she couldn't help giggling. She settled down and stayed on the phone for the better part of an hour. Most of the conversation consisted of Emily saying, "Hanna" tearily and Hanna saying, "I know." While they were still at it, Emily's phone beeped. She pulled it away from her face to see that it was e-mail from Paige. She reached over to her desk and pulled open her laptop. "Hold on, Hanna, Paige just e-mailed me. 'Subject: I'm sorry. Emily – I'm truly sorry. I want you know that I didn't set out to take advantage of you when you were vulnerable.'" Emily was growing more puzzled the more she read. "'I would never do that. I honestly wanted you to help you figure things out with Maya. I hope that you can trust me again someday and that we can be friends again, on some level. I can find someplace to sleep tonight and for the next couple of days. I hope that you can forgive me. Paige.'"

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

"You've got to tell her to come back. You can't let her spend all night thinking what she's thinking!"

"I know, Hanna," Emily said, more distracted than annoyed. "I'm texting her right now."

"What are you texting her?"

"'Paige, Please come home.' Just keep it simple, right? Oh – and a smiley face, so that she's knows that I'm not mad."

"Yeah, that's good. Good touch."

"Okay – and, send!"

"Now send her a shot of your boobs!"

"Hanna!"

"What? You want her to come back, don't you? Shit, send me a picture of your boobs, and I'll be on the next flight!"

Paige read Emily's text over and over again, trying to tease every nuance of meaning out of it. "Come home" – not "Come back," and not "the room," but "home." And a smiley. That had to be good. Jeez, the only thing better would be if she'd sent me a picture of her boobs!

When Emily heard steps outside the door, she stood up and walked toward it tentatively. She was more than a little scared, but when the door opened and she saw Paige, all that she could do was gather her in for a hug. Paige hugged her back, hesitantly, at first. Emily launched into the speech that she had rehearsed with Hanna. "Thanks for coming home, Paige. Listen, I know that we have to talk about everything, but, right now, the best thing for both of us would be to get some rest. We'll talk it over in the morning, okay?"

Paige nodded meekly, not really looking up. Emily lifted Paige's head and gazed into her eyes. "Okay?" she asked again, and Paige confirmed, "Okay." With her hand still supporting Paige's chin, Emily leaned forward and gave her roommate a slow, chaste, peck on the lips. There was nothing behind it other than "I'm glad that you're safe. Thanks for coming home." A friendly kiss, she told herself. Paige told herself the same thing as she laid her head on Emily's shoulder and relished the feeling of being home.

A/N - I just wanted to take a self-indulgent minute and thank all of you who have taken the time to interact with this story in any way (read, review, follow, or favorite it).

One of the unexpected perks that I found when I began posting here is that I get links to the profiles of people who review, follow, or favorite the story, and I've been creeping about on your favorite story lists. As a result, I've fallen *way* behind in my Paily fanfic reading, and I'm discovering that there are just so many great stories out there.

Which takes me back to my original point: Thanks for spending time with this story! :)