Spencer got back home later that day. A few moments in, her sister got called into work and her mom was volunteering to drive her in and pick up food on the way back. Dad was still in Wisconsin on a business trip and Melissa's new boyfriend, Adam, was visiting friends. Spencer was all alone. She shifted around the kitchen getting dinner ready, knowing full well her mom and sister wouldn't be home for hours and then she sat in her room, with her arm propped up by several pilfered pillows, eating and watching tv.

She looked over at the rocking chair Toby made her when they were dating. She remembered sitting there with him but she also remembered sitting there with Paige, rocking back and forth until they fell asleep in each other's arms. Suddenly she felt like starting a bonfire with that chair. Why did she have to sit on it with the people she let herself get closest with? It used to bring her comfort but now the only thing it brings her is pain. With her good hand she texted Aria to see if she was busy the next day. She was going to need help putting the chair in the attic and company when she went out to shop for window seats. She always wanted one of those and she shouldn't have to go without just because Emily had one first. It wasn't some sort of faux pas to imitate one's friends like that, was it?

This had nothing to do with Paige, she tried to convince herself. So what if she'd told her she liked window-seats and she'd always loved lounging with Emily on hers. It wasn't as if installing a window-seat would suddenly bring her back. And besides, she let Paige go, so Paige is going to either leave town or get back together with Emily. Either way she'll stop being tortured by her and her friends and that's the real goal: Paige's happiness. She would do anything to preserve that, including break her own heart. She knew all along that any happiness Paige gave her was borrowed from Emily and one day she'd have to give it back. She just didn't know how hard it would be to give up.

Emily held her tongue as she tucked the girls in. She knew the game she was playing was dangerous but it was the only thing keeping her from doing herself in. It's not that she couldn't live without Paige, it's that she didn't want to. A life without Paige wasn't a life she wanted to be living. Even if she had everything: perfect house, perfect kids, perfect wife, perfect job, etc, she still wouldn't be half as happy as she would be with Paige. She would trade it all for another moment with her.

That's why this situation was impossible. She truly loved her, more than anything in this world, but she had kids now and they were her world. Everything she did had to be for them. This was the price she had to pay for motherhood. Her heart for their lives. That was the cost. Not at all a fair price but one she had to keep paying because she made a promise to her father that she would be somebody he'd be proud of and when she saw him up in heaven, she intended to look him in the eye. Paige understood and that's what made it that much harder. Because she knew she was her soulmate.

She finished tucking the kids in and waved them goodbye, then, alone, in the darkness of her room she let her mind wander as it usually did, to what it would be like if Paige were here. She screwed her eyes shut and imagined the mattress dipping as she got into bed. She could almost hear the springs squealing in anticipation. She would turn towards her and brush the hair out of her face before kissing her goodnight and they would fall asleep together, their hearts and minds and souls in complete sync. She'd wake up in the morning to warm coffee by her bed because Paige always took care of her in the mornings, and the kids would be downstairs eating waffles by the time she got up, and laughing and having fun.

She'd kiss her good morning and give her a hug and they'd dance and make breakfast together. Morning drop offs with Paige in the car, singing along to songs at the top of her lungs to make the children laugh. They'd kiss each other goodbye at the start of the work-day and she'd walk into school with a smile. Grocery shopping, cooking dinner, would all be done as a family and at the end of the day, Paige and her would cuddle up and watch the children play together before picking them up, tucking them in and getting ready to do everything again the next day. It would be Idyllic.

She felt tears fill her eyes as Alison crawled into bed beside her instead, and turned her face away to avoid the stench of alcohol filling up the room. Alison barely registered the movement, too lost in her own stupor to care. She rolled away from Emily and passed out as Emily screwed her eyes shut, and tried to hold on to the memory of Paige's face. She had to tell her soon. She couldn't keep living like this. The children seem to like her well enough, and even if they didn't, she had to do this because when she was with Alison she felt like she was dying.

Paige affixed the goggles to her face and took a deep, steadying breath. She counted herself in and dove into the pool at the Rosewood leisure center. It was a small gym in the mall but it was big enough to include a pool and the cost -while exorbitant- allowed the place to remain open all day and all of the night. Money was not an issue for her; it never had been. Her father made it clear that she didn't need to work, he would cover any and all expenses and when she was ready she could either take the business on or sell and have enough money to support herself for life but she insisted on making her own way through life. She prided herself on her independence. Which is why she needed to be here right now.

These feelings of helplessness and weakness in general kept her from sleeping. She would close her eyes and see Emily's wounded expression when she turned her down or Spencer's teary face when she said her goodbyes. She was tormented by both but unable to help them both so the only thing she could do was stop by this gym and stay up all night beating her frustration out on this punching bag or swimming away from her troubles. She wished things could be simple just once in her life. That Spencer would stop sacrificing herself and come after her. That Emily would just choose Alison and stop torturing her by baiting her with the idea that they could ever possibly be wished she had the strength to walk away from both women and find her own place in the world but like a sick addiction, she couldn't just get up and go. She needed to see this through. She needed to figure this out for all three of them.

A mysterious figure approaches Paige in the middle of the mall parking lot after she has worked out her frustration for the night. A voice asks her to help them light their 'fag'. Before she can reach into her bag, she hears a thud as a sudden weight comes down on the back of her head just before the world goes dark.

Alison is gone the next morning before breakfast.