The Aftermath.
FAIR WARNING- It's a pretty emotional chapter.
This is for every single person who left me reviews telling me they are on the edge of their seat, waiting anxiously for an update (and to the hilarious guest who thinks I don't have school, nice try :3 I'm finishing up my last year of college- some of you guys are so damn funny I swear). I skipped class today so I had a bit of time to write, and so this is what I just wrote in the last few hours!
There was an oh-so-kind reviewer who decided to point out, again, that I should "do my research" before writing about strip clubs and things I don't know, but I'm not sure what more research you want than it being based off true events that happened in my life...
(And lol to the guest who defended the story and used the term "strip club guru" 3 )
Anyway not to put them on blast but please don't come at me with pitchforks if any of this chapter is slightly factually incorrect- I'm just doin' my best, chuggin' along as I write in my spare time between classes and work and interning and producing two short films- sorry if there's a mistake! Just go with it, PLL is full of ridiculous things. :p
Enjoy!
x-x-x
It all happens too fast- Wilden gets a surge of rage and throws Emily off of him, and she falls on her back as her only weapon clatters to the ground a distance away from her. She tries to recover and sees him grab a knife of his own off the table, and he lunges forward right at her, so she throws herself to the side, rolling towards where her knife is. It's just out of arm's length and she reaches for it- but she feels his rough hand grab her and pull her forearm, yanking her towards him as he struggles with her and climbs on top of her, straddling her waist as he fights with her to keep her still. And then he raises his blade up, and Emily's heart almost stops.
She hears Alison in the background screaming her name in a way she never wanted to hear- sheer terror.
In the next two seconds there are a series of hurried footsteps, and all Emily sees is a blur of blonde hair as a body knocks Wilden off Emily, and he goes reeling to the side with the blonde falling on top across Emily's midsection, face down. The brunette watches in panic, starting to yell, as Wilden's eyes turn black with anger and he gets up and lunges, plunging the knife into the lower back of the body on top of her.
There's an ear piercing scream and Emily cringes as she watches the blonde's face come up with a twisted look of pain as she cries out. Emily watches as if in slow motion as Wilden pulls the knife out, twisting it on the way out, and blindly brings it down again, missing Emily and driving it into the back of the girl on top of her.
Then there's a loud gunshot, and Emily watches in horror as Wilden suddenly crumples, falls forward onto his knife in the girl's back, and lies on top of her, dead.
Emily begins to scream in total shock and terror as blood covers her and she realizes she's lying under at least one dead body.
"Spencer! Help!" she shrieks and she hears Hanna scream and the two friends run and pull Wilden's body off of the blonde and Emily, throwing him carelessly to the side. There's a white noise in her ears and she can barely hear anything else as she focuses on the ceiling, feeling dizzy.
"Get her off me," Emily cries desperately, slipping into a state of pure panic. "She needs help, we need to go get her help now-"
Hanna cringes, unable to look at the knife deep in her back and Spencer closes her eyes as she pulls it out, grimacing the entire time.
Emily can't process what's going on right now as her panicked crying increases, her heart pounding out of her ribcage, and the two girls pick the blonde up gently and turn her over on her back. The brunette sits up, her clothes completely drenched with blood that's not her own- and she knows that this moment is going to haunt her for the rest of her life as she sees the blonde, lifeless.
"No! No, God no!"
They hear Alison screaming at the top of her lungs, sobbing from where she's still chained- and the look of total despair on her face is heartbreaking.
"Cece! God damn it Cece!" she yells over and over again, her voice hoarse and strained with intensity.
"Cece wake up!" Alison's body is wracking with sobs and her wrists begin to bleed as she frantically tries to pull away from the pole she's stuck to, unable to go be next to her best friend, the only person who took her in when she had absolutely nobody.
"Emily do something!" Alison begs as she screams, and the brunette looks at her through pained eyes and feels her heart slowly break as she sees her girlfriend in a total state of helpless misery. Hanna's on the phone with 911, but Emily can hardly focus on anything, suddenly feeling faint.
Something feels weird, feels off. She looks down at her abdomen's side and sees a deep slit- and she realizes not all the blood on her is Cece's.
"Emily, please," Alison pleads helplessly as she looks at the brunette who is touching her wound, pulling her hand away from it and staring at the blood. "Emily?"
The brunette looks up at her, in a numb state with her confused eyes. She realizes that while Wilden had been struggling as he tried to pin her down, he had sliced her side open- and she hadn't felt a thing because of the adrenaline.
The chained blonde follows Emily's gaze down to her side and her eyes widen as they see the injury.
"Emily- no!" Alison shrieks as she watches her girlfriend fall backwards on one arm in pain as she holds her side.
There's only so much Alison can take- and she reached her breaking point long ago. She feels Hanna's arms around her, holding her head against her chest as she tries to soothe the blonde, but all Alison can see is Cece lying there, lifeless, and Emily squirming on the floor in agony. Grief is flooding her entire being, and she can't breathe properly- she feels like she's suffocating.
When the police come, and somebody finally manages to release her, she flies to Cece's side in an instant, flinging herself against her and begging her to wake up. All eyes are on her as she cries into Cece's shoulder and her fists grab at Cece's bloody shirt in dread at the blatant truth- her older sister, as she's come to know Cece as, isn't going to open her eyes ever again. It's a painful, tragic sight for everyone in the room as Alison's body shakes visibly in anguish.
Eventually, officers have to rip her away from Cece and restrain her as they carry the body away. The blonde yells in protest and tries to pull away, tries to get to Cece, to no avail. Suddenly, she feels dizzy, and she simply falls over as her body shuts down and she faints.
x-x-x
The room is eerily silent, save the beeping of a monitor. Alison's dead eyes stay open, watching her girlfriend sleep. There is no strength left inside her- she can't cry, can't scream, can't be happy to be alive with her girlfriend right now.
She glances down at her thigh and sees the bandage there- the gash is sure to form a nasty scar later.
Alison doesn't feel sad. She doesn't feel anything. All she wants is for her girlfriend to wake up so she can take her and go home.
Eventually, later, when Emily's eyes flutter open, she sees Alison staring at her- and the sight shocks her. All she sees is this empty, dull look- her eyes have loss their glossy vibrant color. She wants to hug her, wants to kiss her and tell her how scared she was and how she loves her so much- but she can't bring herself to say anything as she looks at the broken girl in front of her.
"Ali," she says hoarsely as her voice cracks and the blonde's expression doesn't change.
"Do you feel okay to go home?" Ali asks, her voice flat and expressionless. She looks like she's in a trance.
Emily looks down at her side frowning and sees stitches. There's pain, but she's sure medicine will take care of everything.
She nods slowly- she can't express the amount of relief she has seeing Alison alive, but this state she's in is concerning, though Emily's not sure why she expected anything better than this. Her mind hasn't processed all the events fully yet. All she knows is that she's alive, Ali's alive, and Cece is dead, along with that bastard. And she just can't process that.
"I'll go get the doctor," the blonde says getting up but Emily reaches out and grabs her hand.
"Wait," Emily says her voice trembling. "Ali."
She doesn't say anything more, they just look at each other. There's too much to speak about, so they don't speak at all. Their eyes do all the talking. They both might be alive, but they are worlds away from being stable again.
Alison gives her a forced close lip smile as she gently pulls her hand away and goes to get the doctor so she can get the hell out of that hospital.
Emily doesn't quite understand- but there's nothing she can do.
x-x-x
When they're at home, Alison goes straight to their bed room and strips down into her underwear. She looks at herself in the mirror, disgusted. The blonde shakes her head and peels the rest off, totally naked and staring in the mirror with a long, hard look.
"The girls are sleeping outside," Emily says as she shuts the bedroom door and locks it. She's startled to see her girlfriend walk out of the bathroom, totally bare.
She doesn't stare for too long, but she sees bruises all over Alison- one on her ribcage/side, on her cheek, the bandage around her thigh- her girlfriend looked like a beat up rag doll.
"I'm going to sleep," Ali says dully as she crawls into bed under the covers. "Are you coming?"
Emily wordlessly nods and strips down too, not wanting the blonde to feel vulnerable or anything like that. She doesn't know how to behave, she has no idea what happened to Alison- they haven't talked, haven't even said I love you to each other.
Alison looks at Emily, her eyes wandering up an down the brunette, but they aren't appreciating or admiring, just blank. It sends frightening shivers down Emily's spine to see her so deprived of life. She climbs into bed, next to the blonde, and reaches to her bedside table to turn the lamp off.
But tiny fingers wrap around her wrist, and she turns to see Alison staring at her.
"Can you leave the light on tonight?"
She's not begging, not demanding, just asking with no expression. Emily nods and shuffles under the covers, unsure of how Alison wants to sleep.
Apparently, Alison doesn't want to sleep. Emily closes her eyes but quickly opens them back up at the feeling of cold fingers running up her thigh, nails dragging up teasingly.
"Alison what are you doimmf-"
Her words are muffed as the blonde presses her lips to Emily's, shushing her, and the brunette doesn't like this feeling- like Alison's hollow, and not really there.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Alison asks in a low voice but it's not husky or seductive, just hoarse and broken. She brings her hand to Emily's center as the brunette exhales loudly, gasping as Ali runs her cold fingers through her folds.
Emily knows this is so incredibly wrong. Ali's best friend, practically her older sister, just died not even 24 hours ago and suddenly Alison is trying to jump Emily's bones.
"I don't think you want this right now," Emily says gently, trying to grab her hand down there. Alison scowls at her.
"I do, I want this," she insists strongly, eyes daring Emily to challenge her. It frightens the brunette, but she stands her ground.
"Please just trust me," Emily pleads softly, guiding Alison's hand up to her chest instead and placing it over her beating heart.
Alison's demeanor softens and she ever so slowly moves her fingers against the soft skin, letting the touch and rhythmic beating of Emily's heart relax her. Her features relax and her body seems to release tension as her muscles slack.
Emily scoots closer, and then closes her eyes as she lightly holds Alison's hand on her chest. The blonde, ever so slowly, over a matter of minutes, shuffles closer and tucks her head in the crook of Emily's shoulder. Emily tilts her head and kisses Alison's head softly, lingering for a few moments.
Neither of them fall asleep for a very long time, but they're comforted by each others' presence at least, and it's enough for them tonight.
x-x-x
Emily sits uncomfortably at her kitchen table with a bowl of cereal the next morning. Alison doesn't even pick at her toast, doesn't touch it. There's a thick silence in the room, and a cough interrupts them. The brunette looks to see Hanna leaning against the counter and frowns at her. She holds up her hands defensively.
The brunette watches as Alison doesn't move a muscle, her right arm on the table with her elbow propping her arm up to hold her head as she stares at the table top.
"Do you guys mind going down to the station and seeing what needs taken care of?" Emily asks quietly of her awkwardly standing friends.
"Yes, of course, let's go," Aria says quickly jumping at the chance to get out of that apartment and let the two work things out.
"Call us if you need anything," Spencer tells Emily in a hushed voice and the brunette nods.
The three leave, and Ali remains in the same position, still staring down.
"Are you going to eat?" Emily asks in her most patient voice, trying to be as gentle as possible.
Alison doesn't answer for at least a minute, and the silence kills Emily.
"Maybe later," is all she replies as she pushes her chair back and stands up, looking at Emily as if waiting for her to speak, so the brunette clears her throat.
"Where are you going?"
"To shower."
Emily watches her go into the bedroom, and the blonde turns to see Emily's eyes on her, and she leaves both the bathroom door and bedroom door open. The brunette curses under her breath, not knowing whether she should be coaxing Alison to try and recover, or to let her stay in this blank state for now.
She sighs and grabs a book off her table and sits on the couch, attempting to read and not being able to. When the shower turns off, it's only a few minutes before Alison appears and sits at the opposite end of her couch, dressed with her damp hair air drying.
"Feel better?" Emily tries to ask and the blonde just looks at the ground as she shakes her head.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No!" Alison responds immediately, her head never turning to look at Emily but her shoulders are slumped over.
Emily nods and puts the book down. She stands up and is interrupted by the blonde.
"Where are you going?" though her voice is blank, she sees a trace of fear lingering in Ali's eyes.
"I'm just going to freshen up," Emily tells her quietly. Alison stands up and follows her into the bedroom, sitting down on the bed cross legged just watching. Emily notes that though the blonde isn't letting on, she doesn't want to be alone. She had followed Emily to the kitchen this morning, staying a few feet away from her at all times, but still Emily saw her eyes watching, making sure she was in sight. When she had sat down, Alison had sat down.
The silence is so awkward and painful that Emily truly doesn't know what she's going to do if this is going to last a long time.
And sure enough, when she walks out to grab her book from the living room, Alison slides off the bed and follows her, like a mindless body. Emily pauses after she grabs it, wanting to go back into her room, but Alison stands a few feet behind her, lingering and looking at the walls. It takes all her will power to not just go and hug Alison and tell her all the things she's been holding back since she found her. But she knows it is definitely not the time for that.
She turns around and smiles weakly at the blonde, walking back to her and taking her hand carefully, leading her back to bed. Wordlessly, Alison crawls under the covers, clearly exhausted, and Emily does the same before she wraps an arm around her, playing with her hair. She feels the petite blonde sigh and eventually Ali moves her head onto Emily's steadily rising and falling chest, her hand clutching her shirt, body pressed against Emily's side. And Emily's little ministrations on her head cause her eyes to shut and she sips into a light sleep while Emily spends the next few hours wondering what the hell to do.
x-x-x
"That's not right!" Alison shouts as she slams her fists down on the table, startling everyone in the office, and Emily even jumps a bit.
"Ms. Drake's remains are to be handled by her aunt and uncle and they wish to donate-"
Alison won't hear it.
"She didn't fucking have any family! I was her family! She was my sister! Her parents died, grandparents left her alone and then they died, and her fucking aunt and uncle didn't do shit for her! She told me once that she wanted to be cremated and spread in the ocean, not fucking picked apart by medical students! They can't have control over this, you filthy fucking-!"
"Alison calm down-"
"Shut up Emily!" she shouts as she turns to her right and glares at her girlfriend who stares at her in shock.
"Ms. DiLaurentis-"
"Forget it, you fucking piece of shit," she rages and storms out of the office, slamming the door so hard that the walls to shake. Emily has never seen her that angry.
"Emily you have to go after her," Hanna nudges and the brunette looks at her like she's crazy.
"You heard her she just yelled at me! She's never yelled at me like that before."
"She's traumatized, Em. You can't take it personally," Aria says gently. "She's hurting, and she needs you. You know this isn't who she actually is."
Emily recalls the way Alison's eyes last night had looked almost vicious when she was trying to seduce her. That wasn't her sweet Alison at all.
"Emily, go, I'll take care of this," Spencer says quietly and the brunette sighs as she gets up and runs out of the court office.
She doesn't know where the blonde would have gone, so she goes in the direction of the exit. Her instincts are right, in the vast, empty foyer of the courthouse she can hear echoes of someone sniffling.
Carefully she pads around until she sees her girlfriend hidden behind a pillar on the floor with her back against the marble and her knees tucked tight under her arms with her head buried in them, her body shaking slightly with every little sniffle.
Emily crouches down on the floor in front of Alison.
"Hey," she says quietly and the blonde's head whips up to see Emily with an ever so tiny smile on her face.
There's a moment of Alison sniffling before Emily gets the wind knocked out of her as she sees a blur of blonde hair fly at her and Alison launches herself right into Emily's arms, causing the brunette to fall backwards, luckily catching herself and Alison.
"I'm sorry," Alison whispers apologetically in Emily's ear as she hugs her tightly in a bone-crushing embrace. "Please don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere," Emily says softly as she lets one hand rub Ali's back in little circles.
"I didn't mean to, back there," she mumbles as she hides her face in Emily's shoulder, inhaling and relaxing a little as she smells the familiar scent that she loves.
"I know," Emily breathes, relieved. Alison clings to her, her grip never letting up.
"I just…I can't…Cece…" Ali tries to speak but can't formulate a proper sentence.
"Cece loved you. If she hadn't done what she did, I'd be dead. And she knew that," Emily says softly as she begins to feel tears building in her own eyes. "She wanted you to be happy."
"She believed me," Alison chokes out her words and Emily feels a pang of anguish knowing that Cece Drake had found Ali when she was at her worse, and had changed her world. It might not have been the best option, but she gave Ali hope and everything she had to offer. She was always looking out for her, no matter what. "Now she's gone."
Emily doesn't know what else to say, she has no words. So she just holds Alison closer, and hopes that it's enough.
x-x-x
A/N:
I loved Cece, but I've had this planned all along, and I tried to really make her likable on purpose. She doesn't end here, she makes little appearances throughout the ending. Rest assured, she gets her due respect.
Also, I'm trying to update every day, if not every other day, cause god I love reading your reactions all the time! I want every chapter to be just as good as the last, that's my goal.
Thank you for all your kind words Kdriz, Tash, Catch 22 (clever name, btw), ZSU20, buttahbenzoteam, and every other guest whom I can't talk to personally :)
THANK YOU as always, I so appreciate every word you guys write! :) thanks for reading xx