My apologies in advance for how heavy this chapter is.

Alison stands inside by the door of The Brew, a local coffee shop Emily says she worked at in high school. The sun set long ago, and the blonde shivers briefly though the warmth of the shop is wonderful.

She watches Emily, completely enchanted. Alison can't distract herself from how gorgeous Emily looks. Her beautiful brown hair hangs over her shoulder in loose curls and her lips curve up into a smile as she talks to her former boss. For the hundredth time, Alison wonders how the brunette doesn't realize how beautiful she is.

Her eyes linger up and down the brunette and she sighs. Alison hopes someday (hopefully soon) her feeling of inadequacy will disappear, and she'll see in herself what Emily already does.

Emily walks over holding two coffee cups. "White mocha made with 1% and light whip?" she asks sweetly.

"You remembered," Alison says with a grin as she takes the coffee and gives Emily a quick kiss. "Are you ever going to let me take you out and spoil you?"

"Sure," Emily says nonchalantly but the blonde can tell she's secretly enthused at the suggestion.

"When we get back, I know some really cool, more secretive spots in the city that I'll show you," Alison promises and Emily's smile turns shy as her cheeks blush. The blonde knows she will never tire of that adorable face. She can't describe how lovely it feels to look at someone and feel like one day she could call them home, because she hasn't had a home in years.

"That sounds really nice."

"You know what sounds nice?" Alison asks as she leans in close to Emily. The brunette stands still, afraid to move as her breath gets caught in her throat. "A little tension relief before dinner with your parents."

x

Emily's mouth falls open as a silent scream comes out while Alison's fingers curl inside her and her head falls down on Alison's shoulder as she bites. The blonde stifles her own moan as she lets Emily slowly come down from her high, her chest heaving heavily.

"Did we really just hook up in the backseat of your car?" Alison asks, catching her breath as she comes down from her own high and nuzzles against Emily.

"You couldn't wait," Emily reminds her, leaning back, and Alison gently hits her arm, jokingly.

"Shh, don't blame this on me or I'm not putting out for a long time."

"Yeah okay," Emily says with a cheeky smile and Alison kisses her, holding her cheeks and smiling happily.

"Think we look presentable enough to go to dinner?" Ali asks, suddenly self-conscious as she sits up straight and smoothes her dress out. She's never had to do this whole impressing parents thing before, and she doesn't like it one bit.

"We didn't get that into it," Emily teases and Alison laughs at her.

"Oh really? If that's you not getting into it then you've gotta show me the real deal later," Alison purrs as she runs her hand down Emily's leg and the brunette grabs it before it can slip under her dress.

"We need to get to dinner before my mom spends it lecturing me about being punctual," Emily groans.

"Oh god she's one of those people?"

"Unfortunately."

The two of them make their way to The Grille and take a few minutes to do some last minute touch ups in the car before exiting. As soon as they enter the restaurant, they walk past the host and into the dining area to find Emily's already seated parents.

As they walk up to the table, Alison freezes as she sees a taller brunette standing at the table talking to the older Fields.

"Spencer!" Emily exclaims happily and Ali feels her stomach lurch unpleasantly at the way Spencer smiles at Emily, and then ever so slightly grimaces at the sight of Alison.

"Hey Em! I was grabbing dinner with Toby, he just got back in town this morning. You know nothing says home like going to The Grille," Spencer jokes.

"How is he?" Emily asks sitting down and she looks at Alison who has forgotten how to move but quickly sits down clumsily when Emily looks at her questioningly.

"He's good, he's running his own contracting company now, and it's doing really well!"

"That's great Spencer," Pam chips in admiringly.

"Thank you! So at least I won't have to worry about financial struggles with him through law school," Spencer says with a smile and Alison rolls her eyes internally at the way Pam is clearly fawning over Spencer's good fortune. And of course Spencer is going to law school, she thinks. Like mother like daughter.

"That's wonderful. Spencer have you met Alison yet?" Wayne asks.

"Yeah, she was at Hanna's last night," Spencer says with a smile and Ali forces one too.

"Spencer is quite the character," Alison says with a fake cheery look.

"Oh please, you're very interesting yourself," Spencer quips back with an innocent smile.

"Alison is quite a charming young lady," Wayne agrees and Alison looks at him kindly but she sees Emily eyeing her and Spencer suspiciously.

"Well, I should get back to Toby, it was nice seeing you all! I'll see you two before you guys leave won't I?"

"Hopefully," Emily says and Alison didn't realize that was still on the agenda.

"Awesome! I'll see you later."

Spencer leaves, and Alison releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding. As they all look at the menus, Emily leans over to Alison.

"Ali what was that?" Her voice is hushed and The Grille is loud enough that they can have a private conversation.

"What?" Alison asks playing dumb as her eyes concentrate on the menu.

"You and Spencer," Emily continues. "Why were you guys talking like you're both hiding something? And don't say you weren't, I know Spencer well enough to know when she is."

"What would we be hiding?" Alison asks, avoiding telling the truth or lying.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you," Emily presses. "I could ask Spencer."

"Okay, ask Spencer, I don't know what you're trying to find," Alison says flatly even though inside she's panicking.

"Alison. I can tell you don't like her. It's obvious in your voice, and your body language," Emily goes on, getting frustrated.

"So I don't like her," Alison reacts with a sharper tone than she meant to, her anxiety rising. "Can we just drop it?"
Emily is about to argue back but a waiter approaches the table and interrupts them to take their orders.

"I'll just have soup," Alison says politely when its her turn.

"Soup? Come on Alison a girl like you needs to eat more," Wayne jokes lightheartedly and the blonde smiles sincerely for the first time since they'd entered the restaurant.

"I'm not really hungry," Alison replies and Emily knows something is definitely up because Alison's stomach had been growling in the car.

Emily quirks her eyebrow up at her but proceeds to order a salad first and then chicken in marsala wine.

"I thought you hated that," Pam comments but Emily shrugs it off.

The waiter leaves them be and Pam continues talking about her job, asking Emily about school, and droning on about pointless topics that Alison could care less about, though she pays attention because she cares about Emily.

The conversation is really driven between Pam and Emily, and Alison and Wayne share a look every so often, united in their boredom.

But Alison keeps debating over and over in her head what to do. She's come up with a hundred different ways to explain to Emily about her past, but none of them even remotely sound like a good idea in her mind. Her fear of course is slightly irrational because she's ninety percent sure at this point that Emily will believe her and understand.

"Emily?"

All four heads turn to see Paige standing by the table.

"Seriously? Is there only one restaurant in this town?" Alison mutters under her breath and Wayne chokes back a laugh as Emily throws her a look before facing Paige.

"Hey, now's not really a good time," Emily begins to speak but the scorned ex shrugs.

"It's never going to be a good time is it, with Alison around now?" Paige asks rhetorically as she makes the whole table uncomfortable with her presence. "Well, I'll just catch up with you later. I'm glad your parents took the news really well."

Alison balls her hands into tiny fists and Emily knows what's coming next, before she can even stop it.

"What news?" Pam asks confused and Alison glares daggers at Paige.

"About her being a stripper?"

"A what?!" Wayne snaps as he looks at Emily with a very serious look. "Emily, why would you do that? I have given you all the money you would ever need and paid for your school and-"

"Dad I'm not!" Emily cuts him off with a look of horror at what he was inferring.

"Oh Emily is not the one you have to worry about," Paige says snidely as she walks off.

An awkward silence falls over the table as realization dawns on Pam and Wayne. Alison's cheeks burn red, and even if she wants to deny it, one look at her face would give the truth away.

Nobody really knows what to say for a minute. Alison has gone through some pretty humiliating moments in her life and this just joined the list.

"So…you're not a waitress?" Pam breaks the silence and the blonde grows more uncomfortable as she glances up from her stare at the table to see her very concerned face.

"Not really," Alison says quietly looking back down.

"But it doesn't matter," Emily adds defensively, looking warningly at her mother before paying attention to her poor distressed blonde. "Alison is really sweet, and loving, and she really, really cares about me."

The blonde looks up surprised to hear the words coming out of Emily's mouth. She had been afraid that the timid brunette may not have dared to stand up to her mother.

"She's considerate of me, she respects me, she holds doors open for me, she-"

"Babe I think they get it," Alison says softly, appreciating the kind words but too flustered to really want this to continue any longer. She's just so tired of people judging her. "Maybe I should just go wait in the car."

"Ali, it's in the thirties outside," Emily says, refusing to let the blonde go sit in the cold.

"We can just get dinner to go, that might be best," Pam says uncomfortably.

"Pam!" Wayne exclaims, angry at the way his ex wife is staring at the poor blonde and judging her harshly. It was one thing if Emily, his own daughter, is doing lewd things for money, because he knows his daughter is not that type of person. But he knows nothing about this girl, and he's willing to get to know her if Emily is.

Emily glares at her mom too, already knowing this would be her reaction since she has been notoriously conservative Emily's entire life. It took her years to accept Emily's sexuality. The brunette didn't want to think about how long this would take.

"Em, I'll go. I don't like sticking around where I'm not wanted," Alison says taking the keys off the table and standing up quickly. She's walking away in seconds, and Emily doesn't know what to do til she sees her father giving her a look. So she gets up and goes after the blonde who's already exited.

"Ali! Alison wait," Emily calls and the blonde's pace slows down but she doesn't stop.

"Alison, please." Emily catches up, grabs her arm and spins her around. The blonde is caught off guard as Emily throws her arms around her and hugs her tightly, refusing to let go. She lets herself sink into the brunette, her muscles relaxing and her body collapsing.

"Calm down," Emily whispers as she nuzzles her head in the crook between Ali's shoulder and neck. "It's not a big deal."

"It is," Alison argues tiredly. "You don't know what it's like to have everyone looking at you and thinking you're this slut, that I'm not good enough for you or that I'm messing my life up or that I'm someone you should pity. Or worse."

"I don't know what it's like," Emily admits. "But I don't think that about you. I think you're incredible."

"Yeah, well that's the opposite of your mom's thoughts," Alison mumbles but she presses tighter against Emily. The one place she knows she now will always feel safe in is in Emily's embrace.

"She'll come around, she can't stop me from doing anything," Emily reminds her softly.

"But she's your mom, you know? You mean so much to me already Em, and I wish I could just feel like I was good enough. But I can't when all I can think about is how people look at me or what I've done with my life. I warned you, I'm no good for a girl like you."

"You're perfect for a girl like me," Emily reassures her as she presses her lips to her skin and Ali sighs with a soft smile, never tiring of that feeling.

"You should go back inside, you don't see your parents that often," Alison says reluctantly but she knows Emily should at least finish this meal with them.

"Okay, but here," she hands her the hotel key. "Go back and take a hot shower or something, I'm not letting you sit here. I'll make my dad drop me off after. You're okay with driving right?"

"I'll find my way," Alison says and squeezes Emily tightly. The brunette grudgingly lets go and smiles kindly at the blonde.

"We can talk about it later."

"Okay," Alison agrees and kisses her on the cheek before they split up. But she turns around quickly.

"Emily," she calls out stopping the brunette who turns around. "I lo-"

But she stops herself, realizing what she's saying. And she means every word of it, but for some reason it just gets frozen on the tip of her tongue.

"What?" Emily asks, not hearing her.

"Just…thank you."

X

"So tell her you love her, what's the big deal?" Cece asks dryly on the phone as Alison lies on the bed after taking a warm shower.

"It's been a week Cece. I mean we've spent an intensive amount of time with each other but it's still been just a week. She doesn't even know the worst parts of me yet."

"And?"

"And what if that scares her?"

"You're a shady stripper, she found you drugged at work, you're holding secrets about your crazy ex boyfriend, you kinda went overboard fighting with her ex if I remember correctly- and you think saying I love you is what's going to scare her away? Really?"

"Shut up Cece," Alison shoots back.

"TELL HER THE FUCKING TRUTH!"

Alison has to pull the phone away from her ear because of how loud Cece yells.

"I'm sorry, say that again I didn't hear you," Alison says sarcastically.

"If you love her, tell her! If your ex boyfriend was a complete psychopath, fucking tell her!"

"You don't understand Cece-"

"Ali, you're just being dumb."

"I'm not being dumb! I'm fucking scared," Alison lashes out with panic. "I'm scared, I'm fucking terrified because what if I tell her and she doesn't believe me? What if her parents find out? Nobody fucking believed me back then Cece! You're the only person who believes me, you know my own parents don't even believe me! What if it's too much and she can't handle me anymore? What am I supposed to do then Cece? What the fuck do you expect me to do?!"

The blonde takes a deep breath and hears silence on the other end but she hears a shuffling and sees Emily awkwardly standing in the doorway. Her mouth falls open, completely mortified that the brunette heard any of that.

She hangs up on Cece without another word and looks at Emily who looks like she's struggling for words.

"I bitched my mom out. And I brought you dinner," Emily offers softly. "Marsala Wine Chicken and salad and soup."

"I thought that was yours," Alison says confused. She doesn't know what to think when Emily is looking at her with an unreadable expression.

"I hate it, but you ordered it at The Cellar so I knew you liked it," Emily shrugs.

Alison is floored by Emily's kindness, realizing the brunette ordered it after she decided to just get soup.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"None of it, if you didn't want me to," Emily says cautiously as she sits down on the bed next to Alison.

"I didn't," Alison says sighing. "But you did."

"There's still a lot about you I don't know, isn't there?"

"I need time," Alison insists but Emily gives her a look telling her she's not protesting. "I've said it over and over but it's really not easy for me."

"Someone hurt you that bad?" Emily asks softly and Alison nods.

"Can we just forget about it?" Alison asks, a desperate sadness filling her eyes. Emily nods, willing to let it go, but she's not sure how many times she should let it go. Clearly the blonde needs to talk about it, and clearly it's affecting her emotional health to hold it back. And Emily doesn't want to let it go on torturing her for much longer.

And when they kiss before sleeping, all Emily can taste is Alison's anguish on her tongue.

x-x-x

Two days later, Cece strides gracefully across the floor at work in heels and her lingerie as she heads straight for a certain couch where there is a certain blonde stripper.

She rolls her eyes as she sees an essentially naked Alison dragging her hips sensually over a grossly enthusiastic middle aged man, and Cece waits impatiently for the song to end. He slips a few ones into her thong (if it could even be considered that) and Cece is appalled at his cheapness. When Ali seductively smiles at the guy and lets her hands hold his face, Cece can't wait any longer and interrupts the song and pulls her off of him.

"Sorry," Cece says with a cute apologetic smile as Alison glares daggers at her. "She's needed for a quick second off the floor. We'll be right back."

"What the hell are you doing?" Alison growls as Cece pulls her behind into an unused private room.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cece asks, crossing her arms.

"Uh my job, duh," Alison says angrily.

"Yeah, a little too well. That's not like you, you're not the super skank around here, that's my job," Cece says knowingly. "What the fuck is going on? What happened with Emily?"

"Nothing happened-"

"Please, Alison, you mostly make money here by walking around and flirting with people and sitting in their laps and telling them how sorry you are that their wife doesn't do them anymore. You don't go out of your way to get dances, they ask you," Cece argues. "Now you're suddenly sliding up and down guys like poles for dollar bills? Please, at least do it for a twenty. You're being aggressive, and I taught you that to defend yourself so what the fuck is wrong, why are you so pissy?"

"Maybe cause you're fucking preventing me from making money," Alison snaps but Cece stands still, arms crossed. She throws a set of lingerie at Alison who stares at her incredulously.

"Get dressed and tell me what's going on, now. I told them you're feeling nauseous."

The two blondes stand in a heated glare until Alison cracks and throws her head back with a groan. She starts to put on the not-quite-so-revealing lingerie that at least partly covers her up.

"Fine, I know all Emily can think about when I'm around her is that I'm keeping some big secret from her, and I don't want to fucking tell her," Alison shouts, releasing her frustration. "I get anxious every time I try to tell her and I just freak out."

"Okay, this is dragging on for way too long for my taste," Cece states firmly. "Either you tell her tonight, or I'll call her in the morning and tell her."

"Don't you fucking dare," Alison hisses, her ice blue eyes flashing angrily as they lock on Cece. "It's too soon."

"It's not too soon, you two are suddenly attached at the hip. And you know I will."

"If you do-"

"If you do, it won't be a problem anymore, and we can all move on with our lives," Cece says nonchalantly. "And you need to be careful, Alison. Wilden came in while you were gone."

"He what?" Alison pales. Her list of bad news couldn't get any worse.

"He was just doing a routinely check on the liquor license and regulations, making sure the place is operating legally, which you know it's not," Cece said dryly. "But you weren't here. So whatever."

"So whatever?! What if I had been here! Cece I don't want to see him ever again," Alison begins to freak out, her voice quivering and her body starting to shake. "The last time I saw him…"

"Alison. Tell Emily. I don't think he's dumb enough to do anything ever again. But you're not over this, just look at you. And you never talked to anyone about this. I do not count. I might be nice to you, but I'm just as fucked up as you are. Emily is good, Alison. She can help, I'm not saying she should treat you like a charity case but she'll know what to do. She will not leave you."

Cece knows she has to spell this out for the traumatized girl who hides her emotions so well normally. All she had done to help Alison was built up her walls and strong defenses, and made her stronger. But even she knew that there were still broken pieces inside. "You deserve more than this pathetic life. I promise you that Emily won't leave you."

X

Emily opens the door half asleep in the middle of the night, pleasantly surprised that Alison is standing there considering she had been distant the whole drive back on Sunday and had been pretty checked out all day today. She had said she wanted to sleep at her own apartment tonight, and Emily wasn't going to deny her that.

A trace of a smile graces her face as she sees Alison in flannel pj pants and a black tank top, clearly ready to sleep.

But she realizes Alison isn't alone, and she sees the taller, snarky blonde standing behind her. She's reminded of a child being dropped off for a sleepover, and the corners of her lips tug upwards into a smile.

"Sorry, I know it's three am, and you were sleeping-" Ali starts to apologize but Cece cuts her off.

"Alison has something to tell you. And don't let her off the hook til she does."

Emily looks between the two with a quirked eyebrow, and steps aside letting Alison come in, noticing how she avoids eye contact.

"Okay cool I did my job. And Emily?"

The brunette looks at Cece questioningly through sleepy eyes.

"Take care of Alison."

Emily manages to smile and nods. Cece smiles back and walks off, pleased with herself.

"I woke you up didn't I?" Alison asks apologetically. "It was Cece's idea-"

"Alison it's fine. If there's something you want to talk about, I want to listen," Emily insists. "Even if it is three in the morning."

The blonde steps closer and kisses Emily lightly, the fluttering feeling soothing her nerves momentarily but the brunette pulls away gently.

"After you talk," she promises, pausing before moving on. "I know something is bothering you. And clearly Cece does too."

"I don't know where to start," Alison mumbles quietly.

"Spencer texted me this morning," Emily informs her. The blonde looks at Emily, wondering why she never mentioned it. "She told me to be careful with you. When I asked her what she meant, she said to ask you. I trust you Alison, I trust you to not hurt me, so I didn't feel a need to ask you right away. But why don't you start with what Spencer's talking about."

"I got involved in a major court case against a police officer. And she knows about it, because her mom was his attorney."

"This is the guy who hurt you?"

"Yeah, he fucked me over," Alison breathed, her shoulders slumping and her body suddenly exhausted. Emily took her hands into her own and silently brought her to the bedroom to sit down.

"So, I guess, I'll start from when I was in high school," Alison began and Emily shifted the blonde so that she was between her legs and facing her. Alison scooted closer and held onto Emily, letting her legs wrap around the brunette.

"I told you I had three boyfriends. The first two weren't serious. When I was a senior, my brother was back from rehab. He would have been a year out of college by then. Some of his friends from high school stopped by my house to see him, and one of them was this guy named Darren Wilden. He was older, attractive, and a police officer. We just hit it off. I was lost," Alison says trying to hold herself together while pulling back so she could look at the brunette while she talked.

That was a bad idea on it's own because the way Emily looked at her with unwavering support and affection was enough to make Alison tear up.

"My parents were dealing with Courtney at Radley because she was causing problems, and then had to deal with Jason at home. Plus, they worked all the time. Nobody paid attention to me, and Darren came along and gave me all the attention in the world.

We were seeing each other when I was 17, but when I was 18, he convinced me to leave my parent's house and live with him. So I agreed," Alison's wavering voice and glassy eyes had Emily paying sharp attention to Alison's needs in this moment. She let her hands gently rest on Alison's and placed a kiss to her forehead, letting her lips linger.

"I was so fucking stupid," Alison begins to cry as she starts shaking harder, her breathing growing rapid. "My parents told me not to, that I barely knew him. But he was so nice, and he was so kind. He bought me presents all the time and listened to me talk about my family. He never pressured me to have sex or anything. And then it got really, really bad."

"Ali take deep breaths, I know this is hard but I think you need to talk about this, so please breathe," Emily comforts her gently as she hears the blonde's unsteady breaths towards the end of her sentence.

Emily takes Ali's right hand and puts it over her heart, and the motion calms Alison down for a few moments. Her tiny fingers move slowly against Emily's skin, feeling how soft it is and the pounding of Emily's heart.

"He…he became different, when I moved in, he was aggressive a-a-and controlling an-n-nd he'd yell a lot."

Emily braces herself because she knows that though it is going to be excruciatingly painful for her to hear details of Ali's torment, Alison herself having to revisit it is going take a greater toll on the blonde than her.

"He'd lock me in the bed room sometimes so I couldn't leave while he was gone because he wanted me there when he got home," Alison begins to crumble as her crying gets heavier. "Some days he wouldn't let me go to school. I ended up failing, and I never graduated. He'd control my cell phone, keep track of all my texts and calls and my location."

Emily feels powerless, she can't do anything but listen.

"He never really physically hurt me. Once or twice he hit me, but not that hard-"

"Doesn't fucking matter he shouldn't have hit you," Emily says angrily but she stops, letting Alison continue.

"But he would scream at me, blame everything on me. If he had a bad day it was my fault, if a guy from school texted me it was my fault, if I didn't make dinner the way he wanted it was all my fault. I lost all my friends, I barely saw my family, and the worst part is that I kept telling myself that he loved me and that I was doing something wrong."

"Ali," Emily whispers softly letting her hand come up to brush some of the tears off, but they keep falling consistently and Alison can't stop now.

"He'd pin me down on the bed, or to the wall, and he'd always get in my face and yell because he knew it scared me. I could always see the veins in his neck popping out, I was so afraid that he'd just lose control one day and beat me to death.

I was scared, and I had nobody. The one time a really nice guy tried to reach out to me and I texted back, he grabbed me by my hair and asked me if I was always a slut.

I obviously said no but he told me I had two choices: get naked so he could humiliate me and either draw and write crude things on me so he could send pictures to the guy, or take really, really vile pictures with him and still send them. What was I supposed to pick, he told me I had no choice because otherwise he'd get my brother in trouble again for more substance abuse. My parents couldn't afford anymore rehab bills, they were in debt as it was."

"Ali-"

"And he told me that he would just forgive me if I picked one," Alison cries bitterly.

"You don't have to say what happened if you don't want to."

"I h-h-ha-ad to scrub that i-i-ink off me, and he wouldn't let me out of the bathroom til it was off."

Alison's entire body is shaking so hard Emily can feel the bed shaking. She doesn't realize she's crying too until Alison's trembling hands come up and feebly wipe a tear away while she keeps sobbing muffled apologies.

"It's okay to cry, and don't apologize, you needed to let this out," Emily consoles her, letting her know she could be weak in front of her.

"He was fucking smart. He never bruised a bone on me, never left a trace of damage, he just yelled, and yelled, and eventually if he even moved toward me I would start shaking."

"Did he rape-"

"Not in the physical sense. And some days he was really nice like when we first met. But he would mentally harass me until I just gave in and tried to behave-"

There's a silence between them, and Alison continues while sniffling and trying not to hyperventilate.

"I couldn't take it anymore- one day I just snapped and had a panic attack: I grabbed a kitchen knife and I stabbed him and ran. But when I tried to tell my parents, and bring it to court, like I knew I should, I got my ass kicked. Somehow he won, because he walked away with no punishment.

There was no evidence of his abuse, none that they could find. The texts with those pictures from my phone to that guy made me sound like a complete slutty freak, so guess how that made me look.

Everyone walked away from that trial thinking I was an irresponsible 18 year old who dropped out of school to sleep with an older guy and sent fucking slutty pictures out because I was crazy. I was so scared, I didn't even stab him hard enough to even severely damage anything. But he brought that up in court. So then I looked like a psycho slut. I was able to walk away because he kindly decided not to press charges for my 'domestic abuse.'"

Emily pulls her close, unable to do anything else. She doesn't know if she's qualified to help Alison, but she knows that ever since the blonde has appeared, she has realized she cares for her more than anyone else she's ever known.

She would never have guessed that Alison had gone through such trauma. The way Alison was sweet with a tough exterior, the way she brushed off the dirty manner of her job, the way she stood up to Paige- it all fooled Emily just like her act fooled everyone else.

"I lost everything. My parents hired a lawyer, so I made their debt worse. They don't believe me to this day and my brother won't speak to me.

I lost my reputation, my chance at school, my fucking sanity. Cece felt bad for me when I met her at work and helped me out a lot. She helped me get a place at her apartment building, taught me to be strong, and taught me how to defend myself because Darren had the nerve to come stalk me whenever I would leave my parent's house after the trial. She stood up to him one day for me- kind of like the way I yelled at your ex.

I started stripping because I didn't know where else to work that I could make money to help my parents. I keep thinking if I help them, maybe they'll forgive me one day-"

"Alison stop. Just stop," Emily whispers as she lets her lips ghost over her cheeks and plant light kisses all over her face. "You did nothing wrong. Some sick fuck hurt you, and you're suffering now. Do not believe for a second it's your fault."

All it takes is one look at Emily's giant, warm brown eyes, and Alison bursts into a fresh bout of tears all over again. And this time, Emily doesn't let go as she holds her tight against her. And when the blonde's sobbing dies down in the early hours of the morning, Emily lies them both down and holds her close.

She lies very still, Alison's head on her slowly rising and falling chest and her body wrapped tightly around Emily's side. The brunette refuses to let the blonde suffer any more than she has to, and as long as Emily is alive she will not let anybody even come close to hurting Alison like that ever again.

So, I don't know how people will take this chapter- it was hard to write because I wanted to, and it's based off of real life issues- it's my way of therapy to write it out like this. But I also know the content is super depressing and really heavy, but at least there's the truth of why Alison is the way she is, why she's a stripper and why she's so poor. It only gets better from here for her.

If you didn't like the chapter, I understand, but after rewriting it four times I knew this was the story I wanted to tell, and I hope some of you still enjoy it. But thank you for always reading, and reviewing- it makes my shitty days a little more bearable. Let me know if you liked it. :3