Part 2: Chapter 1

A/N:

I'm back (insert devil emoji here). Prepared to make up for the insane lack of emison on the show.

x-x-x

"Dinner's ready!"

Alison doesn't hear a reply, only soft music coming from their bedroom. She frowns knowing Emily is getting some work done in the bedroom. A light bulb goes off in her head as she thinks of the perfect way to help her girl unwind. Clothes start coming off in the kitchen and the blonde smirks proudly as she strips herself of everything but her cute, dark red cheeky panties and keeps her apron on.

"Babe!" she calls out in a husky voice as she practically skips to the bedroom, a wicked grin on her face.

Emily is one lucky girl, Alison thinks. Not only did Ali make her a delicious stir fry for dinner, but she tastes as good as the food she cooks.

"Em!" Alison calls as she pushes the halfway open door all the way and she stops short in the doorway, a smile across her face as Emily jumps up in her seat at her desk, clearly just asleep seconds ago.

"Ali!" she exclaims in surprise, her sleepy eyes widening as she rubs the side of her face tiredly. "What are you wearing?"

"Practically nothing," Alison purrs as she saunters over to the brunette.

"Aren't you supposed to be cooking right now?"

"I finished already, I called you and got no response but I guess somebody was dozing off," Alison says in a cute voice as she kisses Emily chastely, her hands tangling in her hair as she presses herself tightly against Em.

"I'm sorry," the brunette replies sheepishly as she looks at the pile of papers on her desk next to her laptop. "I'm just exhausted."

"Poor baby," Alison teases as she wiggles in Emily's lap but the brunette is too tired to even play, she just drops and rests her head against Alison's chest and sighs.

"What'd you make for dinner?"

"Really? Your hot girlfriend is wearing nothing but an apron and panties and you're concerned what's for dinner?"

"Hot girlfriend? Where?" Emily teases and the non amused look that Ali shoots her is enough to make Emily apologize by kissing her and sliding her hands down to her ass, gripping the smooth skin tightly. The blonde moans into the kiss before she pulls back with a pout.

"Fine. I can feel how tired you are, we can do this later."

"Whatever you made smells delicious," Emily offers as Alison hops off her lap and goes back out to the kitchen, making sure to walk so that her ass looks fantastic on the way out. And it does, Emily's eyes are glued to it as she follows.

"Well I know stir fry is your go-to easy comfort food," Alison says with a smile as she picks her jeans up off the floor and wiggles back into them.

"You don't have to get dressed again," Emily almost whines as she sits down at the table and Alison throws her head back and laughs, her blonde hair bouncing as she shakes her head.

"I told you, later," Ali smirks as she takes her apron off and slips a thin shirt back on. The blonde brings over two plates with food on them and sits down in the seat next to Emily, grinning kindly at her girlfriend.

"How did I get so lucky?" Emily murmurs thoughtfully as she looks lovingly at the blonde and slips her hand into her hair, kissing her softly. "You bring me lunch, make me dinner, keep me sane-"

"I'm the lucky one," Alison smiles. "Don't forget all the good things you've done for me."

"Anytime," Emily whispers before kissing her again and Alison sighs happily.

"You gotta eat though, I worry about you," Alison nudges Emily's food towards her when they break apart.

"Me? I'm fine."

"You overwork yourself," Ali notes gently. "With all the stress from Darren and moving and transitioning, I don't think you've recovered yet."

"Maybe we never fully recover from things like that," Emily mumbles and it doesn't even catch her attention how dark her statement is- her brain is practically fried right now.

"Maybe not, but maybe we will- I think we're doing our best," Alison offers hopefully. "Now eat."

x-x-x

"Can I talk to you?"

Ali stands in the doorway of the Marin house the next morning, and Hanna nods enthusiastically, moving aside for the blonde to come inside.

"Where's Emily?"

"She had to go to her office for a bit, said she forgot to do a few things yesterday," Alison says while biting her lip and her eyes flash with disappointment.

"Damn, even on a Saturday," Hanna shakes her head.

"It's not ideal, but she said she'd be done by the afternoon," Alison points out- mostly to reassure herself.

"So, are we talking about how you secretly return my huge girl crush on you or-"

"You wish," Alison scoffs playfully with a twinkle in her eye. "One day, Marin."

She pauses as she tries to think of how to explain the situation.

"It's about my family."

Hanna nods understandingly, the two of them before have bonded over shitty parents- Hanna's father and Alison's parents were not particularly outstanding people. The two of them migrate to the porch out back.

"What about them?"

"Well, they tried to contact me recently. They called me two days ago, and I didn't tell Emily because she's been so stressed at work. I didn't even answer my phone but they left a voicemail."

"Saying?"

"Hey Alison, we're sorry we fucked up so please come see us."

"Really?"

"No, but it was something like that. And then they said something about my sister-"

"The infamous twin?"

"Yeah, they were like 'Courtney will be home for Thanksgiving and we'd love for you to come.'"

"They let people out of mental hospitals for holidays?"

"Apparently she's out for good behavior, or something like that," Alison mutters dejectedly. "Like a trial period."

"What's she like?"

"I'm not sure," Alison frowns. "It's been a long time since I really saw her. We were last in middle school when her mental illness symptoms became noticeable. She used to be narcissistic, slightly bipolar when we were kids. They diagnosed her later with borderline personality disorder."

"Yikes," is all Hanna can reply. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Alison huffs frustrated. "I wanted to talk to Emily about it today but she woke up this morning freaking out about whatever office work she hadn't finished and I don't want to stress her out more."

"How would that stress her out?"

"She knows how I feel about my family," Alison's voice wanders off. "I don't want to lay the stress of introducing them to her on her during her time off from work."

"Do you even want to see them?"

"Not really," Alison admits and she slumps down farther in the chair she's sitting in. "But they're my family, you know? I haven't seen my parents in a few years, or Courtney in god knows how long."

"They abandoned you," Hanna snorts as she shakes her head. "No offense to you. It's just that when my dad chose his new wife and daughter over me, he became dead to me. He might still be my dad, by the laws of science. But he's not my dad."

"I'm sorry," Ali says in a quiet voice. She admires Hanna's brash and bold personality, but she knows she's incapable of such decisions. Her heart isn't that strong.

"I think you should tell Emily," Hanna says in a gentle voice. Ali's blue eyes quickly look towards Hanna. "Or your therapist, maybe tell her first. But I know you. You still care about your family for one reason or another. And you know Emily, she loves the hell out of you. She'd want to help, and to be there."

"She has a million other things to worry about right now-"

"But you're the most important thing to worry about," Hanna reminds her. "You know that.

"Thanksgiving should be spent with Emily's family, or at least her dad," Alison says as she thinks about how Emily dreads holidays with her family too. "He's helped us out a lot with financials."

"He's a good guy," Hanna adds in agreement. "But even if you don't go to your parent's house for Thanksgiving, you should see them soon. We can all go, if you want."

"I'll think about it," Alison agrees with a tight-lipped smile.

"So what are you doing the rest of today?"

"Nothing til Emily gets back," Alison shrugs. Hanna gets a devilish grin on her face.

"I know exactly how you should relax- I know this place that serves brunch and bottomless mimosas."

x-x-x

Emily swears she doesn't mean to be so busy all the time, but she can't help how one task at work piles up on top of another and pretty soon she's drowning in papers and Internet files. She also swears she's going to have wrinkles from all her worrying if she doesn't lower her stress sometime soon. As she glances at the clock and sees it's one, she curses under her breath because she wanted to be done by noon. Luckily, she's on the last document and can be finished for the weekend and home before two, if she hurries.

She sees her phone ringing and answers when Hanna's name pops up on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby," she hears on the other end and is confused as to why Alison is on the phone and sounds so perky.

"Ali? Where's Han?"

"She's taking a shit and my phone's dying so I'm calling you on hers," Emily hears Ali say with Hanna protesting distantly (most likely shouting from the bathroom). "I miss you, are you coming home soon?"

"I'm sorry, I should be home before two," Emily promises. "Are you at Hanna's?"

"Yeah," Ali giggles, completely at ease. The drinks helped take her edge from this morning off. "She took me to brunch and got me drunk on mimosas."

She hears the blonde hiccup and smiles.

"Should I pick you up?"

"Pleeease," Alison begs politely. "Hanna's a little tipsy, she shouldn't drive."

"Bitch I'm more than tipsy," Hanna shouts from a distance and Emily snorts. At least she trusts her blonde best friend to keep her girlfriend safe.

"How'd you guys get back?"

"We took a cab both ways," Alison reassures her. "Come get me!"

"I'm coming," Emily tells her patiently in a soothing voice.

"Not yet, but I'll make you, over and over again," Alison says as her voice drops seductively and the brunette rolls her eyes at how horny her girlfriend is lately. Though she has to admit, she's felt bad for how tired she's been and that their sex life needs more energy.

"Be there soon," Emily promises and hangs up. Thoughts begin to roll around in her head- and she figures maybe there are one or two ways she could do to help spice up their sex life again. God knows Ali will appreciate the gesture. But first, she has to get through this last document. Damn it.