-A Note: Thank you so very much for the influx of reviews! I love it so much! Here's the next chapter. :) It's short but sweet! I really hope you enjoy.
Emily realizes the moment Paige disappears out the door that she is making the single greatest mistake of her life. Paige just said that she, Emily Fields, is perfect for her. That's all Emily needs to know Paige still loves her and that solider hadn't moved on with Alex, like Emily had thought. No, the new girl had just been an attempt to move on, a distraction... a substitute.
Her eyes were cast downward when Emily confronts her.
"Now it's your turn..." Paige glances up to look up at her, taken aback by the comment as Emily stands there her arms folded across herself as if to protect herself should the answer hurt. She glances down and to the side when she asks, "Shana?" Realizing what Emily's talking about, Paige closes her eyes knowing she may have accidentally hurt her girlfriend by not being completely truthful.
"Em..."
"No, we can't be half honest," Emily states, cutting the girl off with a shake of her head, "I saw the way you two looked at each other." Paige looks at her, wide-eyed and opened mouthed, not sure how Emily could believe that girl still meant anything to her. She lets out a silent breath, dropping her shoulders and looking down.
"We dated," she finally confesses, briefly looking up at Emily. "This summer while you were working in Haiti, three weeks." Emily shakes her head again, realizing the truth is finally out, a hint of jealousy running through her. Did they still have feelings for each other?
"If it was over, why would you lie about it," she questions bringing her gaze up to the girl in front of her.
"Cause I didn't want to hurt you," Paige retorts immediately. "Emily, believe me..." She begins to walk towards her girlfriend, her entire body releasing the tension she had from holding on to this secret. "It's over," she continues, shrugging her shoulders, urging Emily to believe her but Emily had been looking down not sure if she believed what the girl was saying. When Paige is only a foot from her she looks up and into the girls eyes seeing nothing but sincerity and love. "She was a substitute at a time when I never thought I'd get the real thing." Emily's face is still twisted from being upset that the truth was being held from her. "I love YOU," Paige says stressing the last word before leaning in for a short, loving kiss trying to convey to Emily that she means every word. When Paige leans back and looks into Emily's eyes, she sees the girl's face lighten; a smile creeping onto her face before the dark-haired girl pulls her girlfriend in to kiss her again, happy and content the truth is out and that the girl she now holds in her arms loves her as well.
Emily can't believe how stupid she's been for waiting this long, for almost being without Paige for the rest of her life. She can't believe she's misread the signs and the connections between them. Why didn't she just pick her in the first place? Emily's never loved anyone more than she loves Paige. They were made for each other. Paige fits her like a glove. Her very soul is home when she's in the strong, loving arms of Paige McCullers. How did she ever think that a few years would change that? She doesn't know the answers to these questions, perhaps she never will, but she knows now that she will only ever be truly happy with Paige. Not wanting to wait a second more, Emily heads for the door to run after the love of her life, until she remembers the reason she's even here in the first place: There's another girl who loves her down the hall; another girl that Emily now has to go break up with minutes before they are supposed to get married. She slides her back down the door, her dress bunching around her ankles. This was not going to be easy. Breaking Stephanie's heart is exactly the reason why it took Emily so long to admit to herself how badly she is still in love with Paige. But, knowing that if she waits any longer Paige might walk out of the building and disappear forever this time gives Emily the strength to get up and walk down the hall to tell Stephanie she can't marry her.
There's only about fifteen minutes left until the ceremony is about to start when Emily slips into the room where Stephanie is getting ready. She looks beautiful in her all white suit with the shirt underneath a very light, almost unnoticeable, shade of pink. She looks nervous and excited as she paces back and forth across the room with a very large smile on her face. Emily feels horrible that she's about to break the girl's heart especially since it seems that's all she can do lately. She knows she doesn't deserve the love either of the girls has for her, especially after all she's put them through, but her heart has finally made up its mind and there's no fighting that.
"Steph?" Emily asks gently not wanting to scare the pacing girl who turns around at the sound of the voice.
"Emily, what are you doing here? We're not supposed to see each other for another fifteen minutes." Stephanie still wears a smile assuming her fiancé was just too excited and couldn't keep from seeing her but her face begins to drop when she realizes Emily looks troubled instead of happy. "What's wrong beautiful? She says reaching out to embrace the girl but Emily ducks out of the way of the girl's advancing arms. The short-haired girl's face wrinkles in confusion and hurt as she turns around to face Emily. Before she can ask her anything else, Emily speaks up.
"I'm so sorry Stephanie, I can't..." She begins choking on her words as Stephanie's face begins to show sadness and anger. The girl shakes her head and puts up her index finger telling Emily to stop.
"No… just… don't finish that sentence," she says firmly as she turns her back to Emily, closing her eyes and covering her mouth with her hand out of shock and hurt. "This can't be happening." The girl turns back to face Emily and sees the disappointment Emily has with herself in those deep brown eyes. "Why Emily? Why are you doing this right now, ten minutes before we are supposed to say 'I do'?" Walking over to the wall, she leans her back against it in utter defeat, before sliding down to sit on the floor with her head in her hands.
"Steph, I never meant to hurt you like this. That was never my plan," Emily responds, sitting down next to the defeated looking girl. She rests the back of her head against the wall behind her, rolling it to the side to look at Stephanie as the girl begins to shake with tears.
"I knew... I knew it was only a matter of time till you went back to her," Stephanie begins, laying her head back as well, revealing the tears rolling down her face. "She's your soul mate. She's your one..." She looks down as she plays with her fingers nervously. Stephanie can't help but curse herself for believing she had a chance. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe you'd actually choose me in the end." Guilt cuts through Emily at the thought that Stephanie believes any of this was her fault.
"No, look, you're amazing and I care about you so much," Emily states, lightly touching the other's hand. "I didn't know I could love again, I didn't know if I'd ever even live again but then I found you..."
"But..." Stephanie interrupts opening her eyes and looking at Emily, "I'm not the one who has your heart."
"No," the dark haired girl confirms softly, shaking her head and look down, "I never got it back, it's always been hers." She looks back up at Stephanie as tears stream down both of their faces. Stephanie nods as she grabs Emily's hand with both of hers giving them a small squeeze.
"You better go after her then." Stephanie stands up and helps Emily to her feet. She can't be around Emily anymore, not right now; her heart is breaking. She also knows that there's no use standing between two hearts that finally made up their mind. She knows there's no hope for an object within the path of two hearts destined for each other. She looks into Emily's eyes one last time before cupping the girl's cheek with her hand. "Goodbye Emily," she says weakly before giving the dark-haired girl one last kiss on the forehead. She lets her lips linger there for only a second before pulling away but Emily can feel the soft tremble of the girl's lips and wetness of her cheeks. A second later the feeling is gone as Stephanie pulls away, walking past Emily and out the door.
Spencer sits in a chair in the large room where the ceremony will be held, balancing conflicting emotions. She's happy for the couple but she knows Paige is hurting badly. The solider had being sitting next to her for a while but when there were only a couple minutes left, she had gotten up and left, the whole situation being too much for her. If she were being honest, Spencer was surprised that Paige had even lasted that long, knowing that if she were in Paige's shoes she wouldn't have come at all.
Merely a couple moments after Paige leaves and only minutes before the ceremony is to begin, Spencer senses movement walking down the side of the room from the area where the two girls were getting ready. It's odd to her since they did not rehearse anyone walking that way; they were supposed to come from the back of the room. Her mouth drops open and her eyes widen as she takes in the sight of Stephanie heading out in the wrong direction, unbuttoning the top few buttons of her shirt and rolling up her sleeves, looking utterly defeated and worn. Spencer stands up slowly, her mouth opening further as she begins to realize what's happening. Not even a second later, as if on cue, Emily bounds into the room as fast as her dress and heels will allow her, causing the other two girls sitting next to Spencer to sit up in their chairs with extremely confused expressions. Spencer connects eyes with Emily who pauses for a second until Spencer points down the aisle to the main door which Paige took her leave out of a few minutes before. She knows it's not Stephanie that Emily is running after and she hopes with every fiber of her being that the girl isn't too late. It may have only been a couple minutes since Paige left, you can never predict how fast and how far a person can run away when they think their whole world is crumbling at their feet.