Emily begins a new relationship, but still struggles with her past. Meanwhile, Paige is settling in to life at Stanford, but is surprised by a call from Hanna.

A/N: Since I've been a bit slack recently and haven't written anything, I thought I'd publish here a story I wrote a while ago. It's a six-parter and I'm just going to post the whole thing. It's kind of relevant now - it's about Emily and Paige having broken up and Paige has moved to Standford. It forks from cannon after the end of season 4, so the Paily reconciliation in 5A hasn't happened in this story, and the Emison relationship takes a different path. It's set about a year after Paige has left for college. It also has a few new characters, given the setting.

This is one of my favourites that I've written, so I hope you like it.

It happened quickly. Emily needed a lab partner, and paired up with Lakhsmi, who she knew from her Genetics class. Emily couldn't claim this was entirely due to luck. The two of them always sat up the front of class, and asked most of the questions, and Emily was already sick of working with freeloaders, despite still only being in her first year. She needed someone she could be confident in, and Lakhsmi was the obvious candidate.

But if Emily was being completely honest with herself, there was another reason. Lakhsmi was striking looking, statuesque and full-figured. She had short, black, spiky hair, with deep brown eyes, smooth dark brown skin and a luminous smile. Emily almost felt guilty that Lakhsmi had made such an impression on her before they had even spoken, but when Emily did finally introduce herself she quickly forgot this. Lakhsmi was instantly amiable, with no sense of distance between them. They just clicked.

As Emily got to know Lakhsmi better, she began to feel a sense of possibility.

Stanford was everything Paige had hoped it would be. It was hard work, of course, but Paige loved that. She threw herself into both her study and her swimming.

She was lonely, but she had expected that, and she did make friends. In a way, it was refreshing to be somewhere no one knew her. As much as the events in Rosewood had dominated her life for so long, to the rest of the world she was a minor player, rarely mentioned in the news reports.

But then, by the time the media were interested in the events, Paige was just the ex-girlfriend of one of the victims, long since removed from the action. It felt wrong to be thankful for this, but Paige knew she was.

Paige could see the conflict in Emily's eyes. Emily was struggling with what she was saying. Afterwards Paige could never decide if it made it better or worse that Emily still loved her when she ended their relationship, but the pain Paige saw on Emily's face that day never left her.

"Paige, I am sorry about what you went through, I really am," she said. "But Alison's life is at stake here, and you used me to get back at her. I promised Alison I would protect her and now I've betrayed her."

"That wasn't what I was trying to do," insisted Paige.

"So what were you trying to do?" Emily demanded. "Scare her away? Let her know she isn't safe in Rosewood? Because that's what you've done."

"I just wanted to get you away from all of this," Paige explained.

"And if that means A can find Alison then so be it," Emily suggested.

"No!" Paige exclaimed, shocked at what she was being accused of.

"Well that's what you said the other night," Emily reminded her.

"I didn't mean that," Paige responded, but she had little else to say. Emily was looking at her, and seeing someone else, someone Paige almost became, and now was in Emily's eyes.

"I had no idea you were still so scarred," Emily said, her voice almost a whisper now, but all the sadder for it. "Paige, if I could help you I would, but I can't put anyone else in danger because of you. You have to do this on your own."

"Emily, please," Paige begged, but she knew it was too late.

"It's over, Paige," Emily said. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Paige answered, and it was done.

"Good morning, Emily."

The voice came from behind Emily, but she recognized it instantly.

"Hey," Emily replied as Lakhsmi appeared beside her.

"Are you heading towards one of our campus's many fine dining establishments?" Lakhsmi asked.

"Yes," Emily replied. "I was just going to get some sushi."

"Would you like some company then?" Lakhsmi asked.

"That would be lovely," Emily replied.

It had been a busy morning, and Emily was happy to have some company. Together they pushed through the throngs of students to the sushi bar, which Emily had discovered early on as having the least unpleasant food available on campus. Unfortunately the price for this was a long queue, and in that queue they now took their place.

"So, has my studious friend been busy?" Lakhsmi asked.

"Today's my worst day," Emily replied. "Four solid hours of classes."

"You look tired," Lakhsmi observed.

"That's my own fault," Emily explained. "I was on the phone with my old friends back in Rosewood all night last night, then I remembered I had a test today."

"Oh dear," Lakhsmi responded. "That would explain those dark circles under your eyes."

"I know," said Emily. "I must look terrible."

"You could never look terrible, Emily," Lakhsmi assured her. "Did you make it through the test? And more importantly are your friends all well? They must be missing you."

"I did fine in the test," Emily replied. "And my friends are good. It's hard though, the four of us were so close. I wish I could be back there with them."

They reached the front of the queue, and ordered their meals. After some searching, they found a table, and sat down to eat.

"Emily, I want to ask you a question," Lakhsmi informed her, "but I will understand if you don't want to answer it."

Emily hesitated a little. She had butterflies in her stomach now. Possibilities went through her head, but she tried not to anticipate.

"OK," she responded.

"I have heard of Rosewood," Lakhsmi began. "It was on the news late last year."

Emily's butterflies intensified. All she wanted was to meet someone who had never heard of Rosewood.

"You were one of those girls, weren't you?" Lakhsmi asked. "One of the ones who were being stalked."

"Yes," Emily replied, brusquely.

"I'm sorry," Lakhsmi said. "You're probably sick of being asked about it."

"Yes," Emily confirmed.

Lakhsmi looked at her, and Emily could tell she wanted to apologize again. She had encountered this so many times. Some people, the worst ones, got excited about it, and just wanted to hear all the details. Others looked at her with pity, like Lakhsmi was doing now.

They silently ate their lunches.

When they had finished, Lakhsmi gathered up her things.

"Well," she said. "I will see you in class tomorrow."

"Yes," Emily responded.

"I am sorry," Lakhsmi said.

"I know," Emily replied. "I… I still have trouble talking about it. But I'm not angry or anything."

"Thank you, Emily," Lakhsmi said.

"See you tomorrow," Emily responded.

Caitlin's face appeared on the monitor

"Hey Paige, how's it going?" Caitlin asked.

"Good, good," Paige replied.

"Broken any world records yet?" was Caitlin's next question.

"No, but it's only Thursday," Paige responded, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

"Now what's this Chels tells me about you coming back to Rosewood on your next break?" Caitlin asked.

"It's true," Paige confirmed. "My parents bought me a ticket, and I will be in town for a week."

"OK, so a week sounds like plenty of time," Caitlin observed. "You have to promise…"

"I promise to see you all," Paige assured her. "We're hardly ever in the one place so I wouldn't dream of missing it."

"We miss you, you know?" Caitlin said. "And when you're famous we're going to be there claiming to be your friends, so we need some more recent photos with you to sell to the media."

"If I ever get famous I'll hire you all as my entourage," Paige said.

"OK, can you say that again?" Caitlin asked. "I'm just going to do a screen recording."

"Emily I want to talk," Paige insisted.

Emily was nervous, but she knew she had to show resolve here. Anything else would just drag it all out. She had to keep her distance from Paige.

"What about?" she asked.

"About what I did," Paige responded. "I need you to understand."

Emily didn't doubt Paige, but there was little to understand. Alison hurt Paige, so Paige had tried to hurt Alison.

"It won't change anything, Paige," Emily declared. "I meant it when I said I forgave you, but after what you did I need to stay away from you until Alison is safe."

"Alison is using you," Paige protested. "Can't you see that?"

"OK, if that's what you came here to say then go," Emily demanded, starting to lose her temper now.

"She hasn't changed," Paige retorted. "You've just been sucked in again."

Emily couldn't believe she was hearing this. Paige was trying to blame Alison again.

"She came to me because she needed me," Emily insisted. "It wasn't enough that you almost got her killed, now you're trying to smear her as well."

"No, Em," Paige said. "You're the one who almost got her killed. If you had let the police look for her instead of trying to find her yourself then A would never have found her."

Emily felt like she'd been kicked in the guts. Later, she couldn't even remember what she had said next, she only remembered yelling.

When Emily saw Lakhsmi the next day, it was less awkward than she had expected. Lakhsmi was her usual bubbly self, which made things a lot easier.

As they left, Lakhsmi turned to Emily.

"I was wondering if you were free tonight," she said. "And if you are, would you like to come over? I promise to respect any off limits topics of conversation, but I would like to get to know you better."

"That would be lovely," Emily responded.

She felt nervous. She felt excited. She had to remind herself this wasn't a date.

Paige was in the dining hall when her phone rang. When she looked at it she saw Hanna's name. Her mind raced, but she couldn't think of a reason why Hanna would be calling her. She took the call with some trepidation.

"Hi Hanna," she answered, tentatively.

"Hey Paige," came Hanna's voice over the phone, sounding up beat and cheery. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Paige replied. "I'm a little surprised to be hearing from you."

"I bumped into Chelsea today," Hanna explained. "She said you would be visiting Rosewood in your break and I was wondering if you wanted to meet up."

"Why?" Paige asked.

"Just to catch up," Hanna replied. "Do we need a reason?"

"I know you guys hate me," Paige responded.

"We don't, Paige," Hanna insisted. "That's why I was hoping we could catch up. I know things were a bit tense when you were still in town. We might have said things… shouted a bit…"

"…thrown me out of the Brew onto the footpath," Paige added.

"Yeah, OK, but that was Spencer's idea," Hanna explained. "You were right, though. We were all sucked in by Ali's stories. Even me, which is really annoying."

"So you don't think I tried to get Alison killed?" Paige asked.

"No," Hanna replied. "We were all stupid, and we want to say sorry."

"When you say all…" Paige began.

"Emily won't be in town," Hanna responded. "We weren't sure if you two were up to seeing each other, and we figured you'd probably want to do that in private anyway. Or at least Aria figured that, and it did kind of make sense."

"I don't know, Hanna," Paige said. "I mean, thank you, but I've really tried to forget everything that happened. I don't know if I'm ready."

"Paige, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Spencer Hastings admit she was wrong," Hanna pointed out. "Trust me, you do not want to miss this."

"OK," said Paige. "When do you want to meet?"

Spencer was glaring at Paige, Aria and Hanna just sneaking furtive looks. Paige turned around and began to walk away, but soon she heard brisk footsteps coming towards her.

In a moment Spencer was standing in front of her, blocking her way.

"Spencer, it's over," Paige said. "Once school's finished you won't ever have to see me again."

"Paige, I'm only going to say this once, and if you repeat this to anyone I will deny it," Spencer began. "I think you're right about Alison, but everything you've done has made it worse. You need to stay away from Emily, and stay out of this. Getting Alison killed won't fix things."

It took some time for Paige to process this, and Spencer was just about to walk away before she could react.

"I wasn't trying to put Alison in danger," Paige protested. "I was trying to stop Emily and the rest of you doing the job the police should be doing."

"We know you say that," Spencer replied. "But that's not how it looks to us."

After dinner they sat down in Lakhsmi's dorm room.

"Here is what I was thinking," she began. "I will tell you something about myself, you can tell me something about yourself. No questions. That way you have complete control over what you want to share."

"Sounds good," Emily replied. "You start."

"I am a vegetarian and I don't drink alcohol," Lakhsmi said. "I grew up in a Hindu family, and… I'm not really sure if I am these days, but I've kept up some of the practices. I enjoy it, though."

"That's great," Emily said. "Do you get much pressure from people?"

"A little," Lakshmi replied. "More for not drinking than for being vegetarian. For some reason the former is far more of a problem at college than the latter. But I've learned that anyone who has a problem with me not drinking is someone I don't want in my life anyway."

"Absolutely," Emily agree. "Friends should accept you for who you are. I was so lucky with that."

Lakhsmi looked at her, obviously curious, and Emily realized what she had just said.

"Given that I set the rules, and they included no questions, I won't ask," Lakhsmi said. "I agree though. Friends should accept you for who you are."

For a moment Emily considered just telling her. She trusted Lakhsmi, but it seemed to much of an announcement.

"I…" Emily hesitated, trying to think of something else to say. "I'm a swimmer. I'm hoping to join the swimming program next year. Unfortunately I couldn't join this year as I'm still recovering from a shoulder injury."

"You must be good," Lakhsmi said.

"I'm OK," Emily replied.

"Do I detect a hint of modesty there?" Lakhsmi asked.

"I was out of training for so long, and I'm only getting back into things," Emily explained.

"Were you the best on your team?" Lakhsmi asked, before quickly correcting herself. "I'm so sorry, that's a question, isn't it?"

"It is," Emily said. "But I'll forgive you."

Lakhsmi chuckled a little, and Emily found herself gazing at her face.

"I guess it's my turn then," Lakhsmi said. "I played guitar at school. I also tried violin and oboe, but I was best at guitar. I still have one at home, but I don't play it so often these days."

"That's great," Emily said. "I'm not very musical, so I always admire people who can play an instrument."

"You only say that because you haven't heard me play," Lakhsmi claimed. "I remember one of my aunties once asked my if I played guitar to meet boys, which I thought was very strange at the time. Even more so now. I just wanted to be better than the boys."

Emily's interest was piqued. Even more so now.

"OK…" Emily said, thinking of something else. "My dad is in the army."

"Do you see him much?" Lakhsmi asked. "Oh, I've done it again, haven't I?"

"You have," Emily agreed. "But that's OK. He was in Afghanistan for a while, and it was just mom and me, but he's home now. When he's away and I really miss him, but I still get to see him a lot."

"It sounds like you love your parents," Lakhsmi observed.

"I do," Emily agreed. "We had… a rough patch for a while, but they came around. Your turn."

Lakhsmi thought for a moment.

"When I was little, I wanted a pet elephant," she said. "My parents tried to explain to me why we couldn't have one, but I never believed them. They would take me to the zoo, though, and I would always want to see the elephants. I collected elephant toys, and filled my room with them. I was terrible. If someone got me a present that wasn't an elephant I would just put it away and never play with it."

Emily looked around the room. She saw tiny elephant figurines on shelves, an elephant cross-stitch hanging on the wall, a book about elephants among her textbooks.

"You don't grow out of these things," Lakhsmi explained.

Emily felt comfortable with Lakhsmi, in a way she hadn't with anyone else since she came to Danby. She knew what she wanted to do.

"Would you like me to tell you about Rosewood?" Emily asked.

"You don't have to," Lakhsmi replied. "If it is stressful…"

"I want to," Emily responded. "If you want to hear about it, I want to tell you."

Lakhsmi nodded. Emily thought she looked a little apprehensive. Emily herself felt apprehensive too, but she needed someone else to share this with, someone who knew who Emily was, and where she had come from. And at this moment, Emily wanted Lakhsmi to be that person.