A/N – Hi, all! This timeline's a little skewed, but that's what happens when I just dive into a story without an overall plan… :/ Emily's timeline has a bit of catching up to do with Paige's. Sorry for the confusion!

Also, these "Could this be" titles are getting more and more contrived! But I'm committed to them! :)

Thanks for sticking with the story so far! 3

Emily pushed the eggs around her plate with her fork. She had her head to the side, resting her cheek against her palm. A few sighs escaped from her lips sporadically. She was startled to attention when Abby rubbed her wrist with her knuckles.

"You okay, Hon?"

Emily looked up at her with a faint smile and a nod that was just as faint. She was clearly not okay, but that response was good enough for Abby, who tepidly gave her arm a rub before pulling her hand away. Emily stifled another sigh - this time, exhaling it heavily through her nostrils. Paige would have asked what was wrong, she thought. Even though Paige might not have wanted to discuss the problem, Emily knew that she wouldn't let it go when she knew that Emily was uncomfortable.

And, just as surely as she knew that Paige would have asked, she knew that Abby wouldn't. Abby was predictable. They were in a routine. Some might even have called it a rut.

Emily knew that, in a few minutes, the clock in the living room would start chiming at a quarter till the hour, and Abby would gasp as if she'd had no idea that it was coming, leap to her feet, lean over the table to kiss her on the forehead, and exclaim, "I've got to jet!" Every morning, it was the same. And, every morning, Abby reacted as if it were happening for the first time.

A few ticks later, everything happened just as Emily had known that it would; just as she'd predicted. Chime. Leap. Kiss. Jet. Emily's shoulders slumped. And then, something different happened.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Emily turned towards Abby, who, breaking pattern, had paused in the kitchen doorway to ask that question. Brushing her hair aside, and with as genuine a smile as she could muster, she nodded. "I may just stay home today."

Abby gave her a wink. "You probably should," she asserted. "You look really tired."

Emily nodded again. Abby came over and hugged her where she sat. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

Emily picked up her plate, scraped its contents into the garbage can, and set it on the counter. She cleared Abby's plate and put their dishes in the dishwasher.

Ordinarily, after Abby left, Emily took a shower and got dressed for work. This morning, after the shower, she pulled her robe on and lay down on the bed.

She couldn't go to work. It had been three days, with the weekend and the holiday, since she showed Paige around the Philadelphia office. And, even though hardly anyone in the Rosewood office knew that she and Paige had once been more than just teammates in high school (and those few who did know logically assumed that they were over, since Emily was with Abby), Emily still felt like a failure for not being enough of a reason for Paige to come back. She thought that everyone would look at her with cruel pity, knowing how much of a loser she was.

She couldn't sleep, either. Her thoughts wouldn't let her. She seemed to be so devoid of control over her life. She used to be a fighter. Back in high school, she fought hard to be the captain of the swim team. At Pepperdine, she fought hard to get a spot on the team as a walk-on, before she quit and went to Danby. Was that when she stopped fighting? Was that when Paige started controlling her life? It seemed like a tidy point of delineation between her old life and her knew. After Paige rejected her, her life became like a boat adrift on the ocean, at the mercy of the waves. She had lost her anchor.

Emily was restless. Her body was tense. She got up and walked over to the dresser and picked out something to help her relieve the tension. She knew that she shouldn't let herself think about Paige as her thighs clenched around the toy. She didn't feel right about it. But she didn't feel anything when she thought about Abby.

It took some time for the awkwardness between Paige and Aeryn to fade after the incident in the car, but, eventually, she and Paige were able to hang out as friends, with no fears or expectations about where things might lead. Paige enjoyed having a friend; it kind of reminded her of being back in Rosewood and hanging out with Caleb. It wasn't the same, but it was certainly more successful than any of her attempts to be "just friends" with Emily.

"Just friends" with Aeryn became even easier once Aeryn started dating again. Paige had known Terry forever. They'd started out in the same firm after college and, somehow, managed to keep in touch through their various career changes over the years. She didn't fix the two of them up, but it helped that Aeryn was dating one of her friends. Their friendship helped Terry, too. Under other circumstances, he might have been insecure or jealous if his girlfriend spent as much time with her ex as Aeryn did with Paige, but he knew Paige well enough to know that he had nothing to worry about.

In another sense, things became more difficult for Paige after Aeryn and Terry got together. Before, if Paige had an event to go to, she could always count on Aeryn to go with her. That was still true, but, once Aeryn started dating, Paige felt guilty taking her along, knowing that she'd rather be with Terry. She didn't want to be someone's pity plus-one. Nor did she want to be a third wheel; the single woman who was always there crashing their good time. Gradually, and a bit reluctantly, she started seeing less and less of her two friends.

And, even more gradually, something unexpected happened. Paige began to appreciate the joys of being single. She didn't have to be accountable for anyone's happiness but her own. She didn't have to worry whether someone else having a good time; didn't have to be anyone's nurse on a bad day; didn't have to make sure that anyone was fed or entertained or sexually fulfilled. She was satisfied, for the first time in a long time, having discovered that she was enough for herself. One Sunday morning, when she strolled into her building at 3:00 AM, all dressed up and a little tipsy from a late Saturday night, her doorman remarked, "That must have been one hell of a date!" She turned around and waved her finger at him, explaining with a smile that she didn't need to have a date to have a good time. She mentally pumped her fist as she walked away, excited by the realization that she wasn't lying. She loved the single life.