Emily and Paige spend the weekend together at Stanford.
A/N: At this point I have to confess that this story was my way of coping with 4x23. Anyway, the long awaited reunion...
"Oh my God, Em, it's you," Paige said as she hugged Emily.
Emily was quiet, but was hugging Paige back, her hands gripping at Paige's shoulders. For some time they just held each other, tightly and ardently.
Eventually Paige pulled back a little so she could look at Emily, but without letting go, their hands holding each other's forearms. Emily was crying.
"Hey, Em, it's OK," Paige whispered.
Emily just nodded.
"Thank you so much for coming, it's like… wow," Paige added.
"You don't mind?" Emily asked.
"Oh, Em, this is wonderful," Paige replied. "I'm so happy to see you again."
"You definitely look like you are," Emily said, quietly, but smiling now. Paige tried to think back to when she had last seen that smile. However long it was, it was too long.
"I guess I kind of gave it away," Paige admitted.
"To be honest I wasn't sure you would be," Emily said. "So thank you."
Paige looked at Emily for a moment longer before turning to Hanna and Caleb. Caleb was smiling, but Hanna was beaming, clearly proud of herself.
"Em spent the whole flight asking us if we thought you'd want to see her," Hanna said. "We almost had to drag her off the plane so she didn't go straight back to Philly."
"Hanna!" Emily exclaimed.
"Hey, I put this together, so I get to say what I like," Hanna protested.
"So was this all a setup?" Paige asked.
"I really do have an interview on Monday, then we're going to see my mom," Caleb explained. "But Hanna saw an opportunity."
"And this way I got to see the big reunion," Hanna explained. "That was a pretty special moment."
"I had no idea," Paige said.
"That was the plan," Hanna replied.
Paige wanted to hug Hanna and Caleb as well, but couldn't bring herself to let go of Emily, so she held on to Emily with one hand and hugged Hanna then Caleb with the other.
"Now, you two have some catching up to do," Hanna said. "So we'd better go to our hotel."
"Sure, I can give you a lift," Paige offered.
"We've got a hire car booked," Caleb replied.
"We only got you out here so we could see the reunion," Hanna added.
"You don't need anything?" Paige asked.
"No!" insisted Hanna. "You two go and get reacquainted."
Paige led Emily into the dorm room.
It was compact, with a single bed, an armchair and a desk. On the desk was a laptop, buried underneath a pile of paper. Paige had a couple of her old posters from home on the walls, and her skateboard in the corner.
"This is it," she said. "Small, but comfy."
"Yeah," Emily responded. "Like the one on the computer."
"Yeah," Paige agreed.
Emily had expected to feel melancholy coming here, like the room would be a reminder of what they could have had, but it was nothing like that. The little things Paige had brought from Rosewood made the room her own. It reminded Emily of Paige, and she couldn't be sad about that.
They put Emily's small suitcase and bag in the corner, then both sat down. Paige on the foot of the bed and Emily on the chair at the desk.
"Paige, I made a terrible mistake," Emily began. "I thought I needed…"
Emily hesitated. She wasn't sure how Paige would take it, or whether she should even mention Alison.
"You thought you needed to be with Alison?" Paige suggested.
Emily nodded.
"I was so stupid," she muttered.
"No you weren't, Em," Paige protested.
"That's nice of you, but I was," Emily insisted. "She used me, just like you said she would."
"I'm sorry," Paige said.
"You don't have to apologize for being right," Emily replied.
"No, I mean, I'm sorry you went through all that," Paige clarified.
Emily just smiled. That was Paige, feeling bad at the situation Emily had put herself in by leaving her.
Emily still sometimes thought of what it must have been like for Paige, driving across the country alone where she had pictured a romantic journey together. She felt awful at what she had done to Paige, but she could see that Paige felt no bitterness.
"If I could wave a magic wand and live in a world where I never left you, I would, in a heartbeat," Emily said. "But everything that's happened, and everything I've learned from it, is part of me now. I just want to make things better."
The room was silent for a moment.
Emily was nervous. She was sweating a little, and there were butterflies in her stomach, but every moment she spent with Paige made her feel more confident. She was feeling good about herself in a way she hadn't for so long. She wanted to say this, to open herself up to Paige.
"Paige, I still love you," Emily said. "I know I pushed you away, and I will always regret that, but I never stopped loving you. I thought I'd lost you, but you've been so generous, so forgiving, that you've given me hope."
Emily took a deep breath before continuing. Paige was smiling, looking at her with warmth and compassion. Emily's heart was racing and her eyes were welling up, but it felt so right.
"Paige, will you take me back?" Emily asked.
"Of course," Paige replied. "I love you too, Em. That hasn't changed."
"If you want to take things slowly, I'll understand," Emily added.
"Not really," Paige replied.
"Thank God," Emily said, stepping up out of her chair, grabbing Paige's face with both hands and kissing her, forcefully.
As she did she over-balanced and they fell back onto the bed, laughing a little, but still kissing. Emily pulled Paige in closer, pressing their bodies together. It felt right, like no time had passed. She was kissing the girl she loved again.
They were still kissing when the fire alarm went off.
"Please evacuate the building," announced a loud, pre-recorded voice between the whoops of the alarm.
Paige and Emily did as they were told. Paige knew the way, along the corridor, down the steps and outside to the grassy area opposite the building. Other students were slowly emerging from the dorm to assemble there as well.
"Was there any mention of a drill?" Emily asked.
"No, but this happens sometimes," Paige replied.
"I can't see smoke or anything," Emily observed.
"Nah, probably just a false alarm," Paige said. "It did kind of interrupt things, though."
Emily put her arms around Paige.
"I'm sure we'll be able to resume soon enough," she said.
Just at that moment Paige noticed Aisha out of the corner of her eye, walking across the lawn.
"Hey, there's one of the girls in the swim team," Paige said to Emily. "We're pretty good friends. I'll introduce you."
Paige waved to Aisha, who had noticed her in any case. As she walked over, Aisha looked at Emily, still arm in arm with Paige, then gave Paige a knowing look.
When she arrived, Paige did the introductions.
"Aisha, this is Emily. She's come over from Rosewood," Paige said. "Em, this is Aisha."
"Wait, this is the Emily?" Aisha responded, somewhat stunned.
"Yeah," Paige conformed. "She's over for the weekend."
"It's lovely to meet you," Aisha said to Emily. "I had no idea you were coming."
"I didn't know either," Paige explained. "I was just expecting to see Hanna and Caleb, but Em was there."
"We decided to surprise her," Emily added.
"That's beautiful," Aisha said. "How long are you staying for?"
"I have to go back tomorrow night," Emily explained. "But, well, we had some things to talk about…"
"And some things are better face to face," Paige added.
"You've come all this way, just for the weekend, to see Paige?" Aisha said. "I'm gonna cry."
As they spoke, Aisha noticed another mutual friend.
"Hey, Claire, come over here!" Aisha called. "It's Emily."
"Emily Emily?" Claire responded.
The alarm had stopped, there was now sign of any fire, so now Emily and Paige were heading back inside.
"Is that OK?" Paige asked as they walked down the corridor.
"Of course," Emily replied. "Hanna mentioned you'd asked her and Caleb."
Aisha had invited them all out that night to a local club, where her boyfriend Deon was the DJ. Emily was looking forward to it. She was enjoying meeting Paige's friends, and seeing something of her life here at Stanford. It was reassuring that Paige seemed to be doing so well.
"It's just, I know we don't have much time," Paige said.
"If you don't want to go, we can just hang out," Emily replied.
"No, I just didn't know if you were ready to start meeting everyone," Paige clarified.
"It will be nice," Emily said. "It feels like we're a couple again. I like that."
"It does, doesn't it," Paige responded, smiling and taking Emily's hand.
Emily was surprised how easy it was. After all her fears, and all the sadness of the last year, being with Paige again just felt so natural. This was what a relationship was supposed to feel like.
"Anyway, I've already met a couple of your friends," Emily added.
"I'm sorry everyone's making such a fuss," Paige said. "I may have mentioned you to people."
"Don't worry," Emily replied. "You'll get the same reception if you come to see me at Danby. When you come to see me at Danby, I should say."
They arrived back at Paige's room and went inside.
"So, where were we?" Paige asked.
With that, Emily practically tackled her, and they fell on the bed, kissing passionately.
Emily ran her fingers through Paige's hair as they kissed. She'd missed that. She's missed the feel of Paige's body, her smell, the taste of her mouth, the familiar details that excited Emily. They'd only been together again for a few hours, but they had been in love for years, and it felt like forever.
As they lay together, Paige wrapped her leg around Emily. Emily instinctively moved her thigh between Paige's legs. They kissed harder. Paige was starting to grind against Emily's thigh. Emily moved her hand to Paige's ass.
Emily's heart was racing. She was nervous, but so excited. It felt risky, like it was their first time.
Emily pulled away from the kiss for a moment.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes, please," Paige replied, breathlessly.
Emily kissed Paige's neck, and rolled over a little so she was on top of Paige. She hurriedly pulled up Paige's skirt.
"Em, I love you," Paige whispered.
Emily hadn't felt this way for so long.
"Look, Paige is blushing," Hanna proudly announced.
Paige didn't doubt that she was, though Hanna wouldn't really be able to see it, given the sparse light in the room. Hanna was probably just guessing. She knew Paige.
"Is she always like this?" Aisha asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Paige replied.
"It's true though," Hanna insisted. "I bet they weren't even dressed when we arrived to pick them up. I called Em and I could hear 'Oh shit, oh shit' in the background."
Hanna had enjoyed the car ride over, and now they were inside and had met up with Aisha, Hanna was continuing her quest to embarrass Paige.
"Paige, you should use your alarm," Aisha suggested.
"They weren't sleeping," Hanna explained, "they were…"
"They were fucking, I get it," Aisha interrupted. "It still works. It's easy to lose track of time."
"So how long has Deon been working here?" Emily asked Aisha, changing the subject.
"Only a few months," Aisha replied. "He's been doing parties and stuff for a while, but this is his first regular gig."
"He's good," Emily said.
"Yeah, I think so," Aisha agreed.
The place looked new. It was still early in the evening and it was less then half full, mostly college students. The music was going though, and people were already out dancing.
Paige, Emily, Hanna, Caleb and Aisha were sitting at a table in the corner for now, trying to talk over the music.
"Thank you so much for inviting us," Emily said.
"Hey, I wanted to meet Paige's friends," Aisha replied. "I didn't realize it would be a celebration."
"I hadn't thought of it that way, but it is, isn't it?" Emily responded.
"So are you two officially back together?" Hanna asked.
"We are," Emily confirmed.
"I think that calls for a toast," Caleb suggested. "To Paige and Emily."
Everyone raised their glasses.
"To Paige and Emily."
Paige put her arm around Emily. This morning she didn't know any of this would be happening. She had no idea she would be this happy.
"Guys, I just want to say thank you," she announced. "To Hanna and Caleb for making this happen, to Aisha for helping me through everything and being such a good friend, and of course to Em, for being brave enough to come out here, and for being so special."
She looked into Emily's eyes and saw them welling up with tears.
"Thank you," Emily replied. "For being you."
They had all been dancing for a while, but Emily noticed that Aisha was keeping an eye on Deon. When things seemed less hectic for him, she took them all up to the the side of the mixing desk. Deon came over. He was tall, strongly built and with a broad smile.
"Hey babe," Aisha said. "These are Paige's friends Caleb, Hanna and Emily."
"Great to meet you all," Deon said, reaching out to shake hands with each of them in turn. "Hope you're having a good time."
"We are," Emily said.
"So you're the Emily we've been hearing all about," Deon said.
"I hope so," Emily replied.
"Go back out there and I'll play a song for you guys," Deon suggested.
Soon they were back on the dance floor, and the song changed. Emily had no idea what it was, but it was slower, with a strong beat. Emily put her arms around Paige as the danced, and spent a moment just looking into her eyes.
Emily, Hanna and Caleb were still on the dance floor, so Paige had her first chance to talk to Aisha.
"So, what do you think of Emily?" Paige asked.
"She's nice," Aisha replied. "Really lovely. And if you don't mind my saying so, hot damn. If it doesn't work out, can you give her my number?"
"I thought you were straight," Paige said.
"I was," replied Aisha.
Paige just smiled and shook her head.
"Seriously though," Aisha said. "You've got an amazing girl there. I can see why you held out."
Emily and Caleb were taking a break from dancing, sitting back at their table, though Hanna, Paige and Aisha were still out there, going strong. Emily was wondering if she needed to do more endurance training. If Paige kept this up her swim times would be really coming down.
"I bet you're glad you came," Caleb said.
"I don't know how to thank you guys," Emily replied. "I'd hardly believed this was possible."
"No thanks needed," Caleb responded. "You'd do it for us."
"Have you and Hanna thought any more about what you'll do if you get this job?" Emily asked.
"We're thinking that I'll find a place and settle in, then Hanna will come over to join me," Caleb replied. "She can do her fashion course from here just as easily as from Rosewood."
"That will be so exciting," Emily said.
"It will," Caleb agreed. "I'm sorry you won't get to see Hanna as often."
"We'll still keep in touch," Emily replied. "Just like Paige and I."
"I believe it," Caleb said.
"You two and Paige will practically be neighbors," Emily said. "I know you and Paige were good friends. I'm sorry all our shit got in the way."
"I'd say things are going to work out how they're supposed to," Caleb responded. "We just need to find a way to get you over here as well."
"Maybe one day," Emily said. "You know, until I spoke with Paige again I was worried that she was lonely out here by herself. I'm so pleased to see she's made friends, and now she might have you and Hanna nearby. I mean, obviously I'm ecstatic we're back together, but I'm happy for her that she's made a go of it without me too. Does that sound weird?"
"Not at all," Caleb replied. "She's a strong girl, and you're proud of her."
"That's it," Emily agreed. "I'm proud of her. I'll have to tell her that."
Just then Emily recognized a girl coming over towards them. It was Claire, who they had met earlier that day, only this time she was clearly drunk. Happy, and very drunk.
"Hey, Emily and Emily's friend!" she said by way of greeting. "This is so good you're here. I like both of you. You're cool."
"Thank you. You're nice too," Emily replied, not knowing what else to say.
"This is the happiest I've seen Paige in ever," Claire continued. "She is so stoked you're here. It's really great, you know."
"This is the happiest Emily's been for a while too," Caleb chipped in.
"Aw, that's so sweet," Claire responded. "Isn't love just great? I mean, you could be happy because, you know, you got a really nice doughnut at the doughnut shop, but being in love makes you even happier."
"That's true," Emily agreed. It was hard to argue with that.
"Paige wasn't happy for a while," Claire explained. "She was lonely, you know. And, like, she's gay, but I couldn't really help her because I'm not. Like, if she was a guy maybe I could. I thought maybe Kelly could, because she's gay too, but I don't know, you know? But then you came over, and you guys got back together which is so sweet."
"Yeah," said Emily, turning to Caleb in a vain attempt to hide the fact that she was laughing.
"It was a shame because Paige is really nice," Claire continued. "It would be great if nice people were happy all the time, you know. I bet you're nice too."
"She is," Caleb confirmed.
"Yeah, I thought so," Claire agreed enthusiastically. "I mean, it's good when nice people get together, because sometimes someone who's nice gets together with someone who's not nice, and then the nice person is really nice to the not nice person, but the not nice person isn't nice back because they're not nice. You know?"
Emily winced, even as she kept laughing.
"You and Paige should get married, you know," Claire suggested. "That would be so beautiful."
"Yeah," Caleb agreed. "When's the date?"
Even Paige was getting tired now. She had Emily back out on the dance floor, and as much fun as she was having it was late and she just wanted to be alone with Emily again.
"I wouldn't mind heading off soon," Paige said.
"Me too," Emily agreed. "We'd better find the others."
The club was packed now, so Paige took Emily's hand and followed her through the crowd of moving bodies until they found the others.
Emily spoke with Caleb and Hanna. Paige was barely arm's length away but couldn't hear any of it. After some leaning in and nodding, the four of them headed off.
On the way out they found Aisha.
"We're going now," Paige explained. "We had a great night."
"I'll see you on Monday," Aisha replied. "You're going to have quite a story to tell me."
Paige nodded.
"Thanks again," she said.
"No problem," Aisha said. "I'm so pleased for the two of you."
Aisha gave Paige a hug, then as Paige stepped away Aisha hugged Emily as well. Paige couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could already see a genuine warmth between the two of them. It made her happy.
The air was cool outside, and everything felt still. It was so much quieter. They walked to the car in silence, Emily arm in arm with Paige.
Emily had enjoyed herself, but now she just wanted to get home.
As soon as the thought had entered her mind, Emily realized what she had done. It was a dorm room, where she would be staying for just one night. But that small, simple room was where Paige was, so to Emily it was home.
Paige was lying next to Emily, the two of them naked, pressed together in a bed only meant to fit one. It was late morning, but Paige was feeling sleepy now. Emily was awake, but bleary eyed, looking lovingly and contentedly at Paige.
Paige was still coming to terms with what had happened, and what it meant. She and Emily were back together. Something that had seemed impossible until so recently had suddenly become real.
When they had first faced the prospect of a long distance relationship, Paige had been scared. Now she had been apart from Emily, really apart, it didn't seem to matter. She knew it would be lonely at times, but she had no doubt they would make it. How could they not, after making it through all this.
As she pondered all of this, she put her hand on Emily's breast, and absent-mindedly ran the tip of her finger around Emily's nipple.
Emily started giggling.
"Sorry babe, but I'm not sure I've got the energy," Emily said.
"Sorry," Paige said, snatching her hand away.
Emily reached out and took Paige's hand in hers, still chuckling a little.
"It's OK, you just know what that does to me," Emily reminded her.
"Yeah," Paige replied, sheepishly.
"We probably should get something to eat," Emily suggested. "Will they still be serving breakfast?"
"No, but lunch starts soon," Paige replied. "In about half an hour."
"Time to get ready, I suppose," Emily said.
"Yeah," Paige agreed.
Emily gently kissed Paige. Paige closed her eyes, and lost herself in the kiss. Suddenly she didn't care about time, and had nowhere else to be. She opened her mouth and lightly touched her tongue against Emily's lips, and as she did Emily responded in kind, caressing Paige's tongue with her own.
The rest of the day could wait a little longer.
By the time they got down to lunch much of the food had sold out, but there was vegetable stir-fry which looked good, so they both had some of that.
They sat down at the first table they could find.
"Do you like being here?" Emily asked.
"So much," Paige replied. "It's…"
Paige's voice trailed off. Emily could see Paige looked worried.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked.
"I'm not sure if you're OK," Paige explained. "About not making it to Stanford, I mean. I don't want to be telling you all about my life here if it's hurting you."
"No, not at all," Emily assured her. "I'm happy for you. I'm really glad I came, actually. When you tell me about your life here I'll be able to picture it now. I've seen where you're staying, met some of your friends…"
"We can go for a walk around campus this afternoon if you'd like," Paige suggested.
"That would be lovely," Emily said. "Can I see the pool?"
"Of course," Paige replied, though Emily could hear a hesitancy in her voice.
"Paige, we're going to be living on opposite sides of the country," Emily explained. "I want to be as close to you as I can, share everything with you, and that includes your swimming. I want you to be able to tell me about your training, and when you starting winning races, and I want to see where you swim."
"I understand," Paige said. "We've still got a lot of catching up to do."
"We do," Emily agreed. "So please don't ever feel you can't talk to me about anything."
"OK," Paige said. "The same goes for you, Em. I know you've been through a lot, and I want you to know you can talk to me about that. If you like, of course, it's up to you."
"A lot of what I went though after we broke up was to do with Alison," Emily said. "Are you alright hearing about her?"
"Even Alison," Paige assured her.
"It's going to feel strange telling you about how badly Alison treated me," Emily said.
"I'll understand completely," Paige said.
"That's the problem though," Emily said. "If I'd taken what she did to you more seriously I could have avoided a lot of grief."
"It's not that simple, Em," Paige said.
"I know," Emily replied.
"How is she, by the way?" Paige asked.
"Alison?" Emily asked.
"Yeah," Paige confirmed.
"She's great," Emily replied, shaking her head. "She's in New York now, telling her story to anyone who'll listen. She actually sued to get the rights to Ezra's book."
"Seriously?" Paige exclaimed. "I heard that sold by the truckload."
"Yep," Emily confirmed. "At least someone's making money out of all this."
It was a sunny afternoon, with a cool breeze. Campus felt different on a Sunday afternoon. There were still people around, but everything was quieter, more relaxed.
Paige had been showing Emily around, but Emily hadn't wanted to see the sights, she had wanted to see anywhere Paige regularly went. The buildings where she had classes, the pool, the gym, where she went for lunch. Paige could see Emily studying each location, etching it into her mind, so the next time they spoke, whenever Paige told a story Emily would be able to see exactly where it had happened.
Now they were sitting on a bench looking out across a lawn. In a couple of hours Paige would have to take Emily back to the airport and she would leave for Rosewood. That wouldn't be the end though, not this time. They might be living their lives thousands of miles apart, but they would still be together.
"Paige, you know I wish I was here with you," Emily said. "If things had turned out differently maybe I would be. This is all a little bittersweet."
"I know," Paige confirmed.
"That doesn't mean I'm not happy for you, though," Emily added. "You deserve this. You've earned it, and I want to see you make the most of it. Everything I've seen these past couple of days tells me you're doing well, and that's what matters the most to me."
"Thanks, Em," Paige replied.
"I'm proud of you, Paige," Emily said. "I'm proud of how strong you are, of what you've achieved, how you got on with your life even after what must have been devastating. You've made a new life for yourself, and now you've let me be part of that. I couldn't imagine a greater gift."
"Spare a bit of pride for yourself there," Paige suggested. "You kept going after almost losing everything. You've been kicked in the guts so many times, but you keep getting up, and when you do you're still the same kind, caring and sweet girl I first fell in love with. Whatever life I have I would always want to share it with you. I love you."
"I love you too, Paige," Emily said. "More than anything."
Emily leaned over and gently kissed Paige. Paige took Emily's hand as they kissed and held on to her for just a little longer.
Emily didn't have much to pack, but she still liked to fit everything in neatly. Her mother's influence still showed occasionally. Soon everything was ready.
She had one last thing to do before she left. She quickly scanned the room. No, nothing there, as she'd expected.
"Paige, I've got something for you," she said.
"Yeah?" Paige responded, intrigued.
Emily pulled out of her bag the gift, wrapped in tissue paper, and handed it to Paige.
"Thanks, Em," Paige said, as she began to pull the wrapping off.
When Paige had unwrapped it and saw what it was her mouth fell open, but she didn't speak.
"It's the one Aria took of us," Emily explained. "The one she gave me for my birthday. I didn't know if you've have any pictures of us with you, so I made another copy and had it framed for you. I just thought you might like it."
Paige was crying now. She placed the photo by her bed and admired it for a moment, before turning to Emily and hugging her.
"You like it then?" Emily asked.
Paige just hugged her more tightly.
Paige was back with Emily at the airport terminal, the same one Emily had surprised her at just the day before. This time she was saying goodbye, but only for now.
"We're going to do this," Paige declared, reminding herself and Emily of what they were about to embark on. The long-distance relationship which had once filled her with fear was now the challenge they had set for themselves, and one she was determined to meet.
"We are," Emily agreed.
"I'm nervous," Paige said. "But not scared."
"It will be hard," Emily reminded her.
"Nowhere near as hard as what we've been through," Paige responded.
"You're right," Emily agreed. "We'll make it."
"We always will, Em," Paige added. "Always. No matter what happens, we will always find our way back to each other. I think we just belong together."
"Yeah," Emily agreed, smiling. "We do."
Paige and Emily kissed, but were soon interrupted by the announcement that the flight was about to start boarding.
"I'd better go," Emily said.
"I suppose so," Paige conceded.
"I'll call you when I get back," Emily said.
"Great," Paige replied.
"I love you, Paige," Emily said.
"I love you, Em," Paige responded.
They quickly kissed again, then Emily picked up her bags, shot Paige a quick smile and headed towards the gate.
As Paige watched Emily walk away, part of her wanted to run after her, to go with her or ask her to stay, but it wasn't as hard as she had expected. Emily was leaving, but she would come back. Paige had faced all her worst fears, and had made it through. They had both made it through, together.
As Emily went through the gate she turned to Paige and waved. Paige waved back.
This was a new beginning for them. Emily was right, it would be hard, but Paige knew it would work out. They loved each other too much for it to go any other way.