Silence is the worst thing (Emison)

Chapter 25

Chapter 25
"Alison DiLaurentis, please report to the Principles Office."
The PA system was just that little bit too loud as it announced it message throughout the halls and grounds of Rosewood High.
"Fucking hell." Alison sighed to herself in frustration as many heads turned in her direction.
"Do you want us to come?" Hanna volunteered as Alison stood from their usual lunch table.
"No that's okay. Stay and enjoy your lunch." Alison turned away from her friends before they could say another word and headed back towards the school building. She had been outside for lunch for less than five minutes and she was already finding herself walking back down the dark smelly halls of the school.
"She seems really low lately." Aria turned back to face Spencer and Hanna who still had their heads facing Alison's direction.
"It's understandable. She's been taking care of Emily, trying to study for finals and work at The Brew all at once; I don't know how she's doing it. I'm barely surviving and all I have to do is study." Spencer sipped at her coffee constantly, filling her body with the energy she needed to help fill her head with information.
"I don't know why she's working so much. I thought she had money?" Aria asked.
"She did but I don't know what happened to it and I don't think it's my place to ask." Hanna looked up from her phone; she had been talking to Emily occasionally throughout the week.
With Alison constantly working Emily was home alone a lot and it worried her.
"Have you noticed how tired she looks?" Spencer continued. "It looks like she hasn't slept the last two weeks."
"She probably hasn't." Aria mumbled.
"Did she say if Emily was still having those nightmares?" Spencer had been worried about Emily's nightmares, Alison had told them that the brunette had been dreaming about Jason every night for the last couple of weeks and they hadn't been going away.
"Yeah, I don't know how she's going to cope when she finds out about Jason being back."
"She still doesn't know?" Aria looked between Spencer and Hanna mildly surprised.
"Ali hasn't had the heart to tell her, she doesn't think she'll cope." Hanna answered after a few moments of silence.
Alison knocked on the Principles door before entering, Mr. Tamborelli was sitting at his desk with his laptop opened and the phone to his ear, he quickly finished the conversation with the person on the other end before hanging up, giving Alison his full attention.
"Ah, Miss DiLaurentis, please come in and take a seat." He said politely as Alison lingered in the doorway.
She did as she was told and sat her bag on her lap.
"Why did you need to see me Sir?" Alison held back a yawn before rubbing her eyes subconsciously.
"It has come to a few of the facility member's attention that you have been struggling a little with your work." He waited for Alison to respond but she felt she really had nothing to say.
"Am... am I in trouble, Mr. Tamborelli?"
"Goodness no Alison, a few teachers have come to me worried though. I wanted to make sure you were okay." He looked down at his computer before looking back at Alison, his eyes displaying something she couldn't pinpoint.
"I'm okay."
"Alison-"
"With all due respect sir, my marks haven't faulted, I'm still a straight A student and I haven't missed that many class." Alison felt exhausted and she hadn't even done anything that day yet, it was coming to the end of the week which meant she had some time off work. She had only been working a couple of weeks but it was exhausting, especially if she had to work straight after school.
"I'm aware Alison; in fact I'm very impressed with all the work you've accomplished the last few months. Especially your biology assessment you did with Miss Fields, I was privileged enough to read it."
"I'm confused, why am I here then?" Alison played with her fingers as she watched Mr. Tamborelli look between his computer and her again; her curiosity grew when his eyes scrunched slightly at whatever was on his screen.
"I know that there isn't really a good relationship between you and your family at the moment and I know you're aware that it has raised a few issues with your school fees but Alison you shouldn't have to pay for such an education." Mr. Tamborelli looked at Alison sympathetically and watched her process his words.
"Mr. Tamborelli, respectfully this is only a public school. I can afford it."
"So that's why you've been working every day after school at The Brew then?"
"It's a job, a lot of people my age have jobs and Ezra Fitz was kind enough to give me one." Alison was thankful for the fact that Ezra had given her the job, considering he had only just re-opened the place after buying it from the old owners, it seems high school education wasn't his calling.
Alison observed the principle, he was holding back something and she knew there was another reason to why she was here.
"Alison, I have been informed that Noel Kahn has been found." Alison's breath was caught in her throat as Mr. Tamborelli revealed the real reason to her presence in his office.
"The police were going to come here and ask you to identify him, as a formality, but I insisted they waited until the weekend."
"Thank you." It was the only thing Alison could manage to say for several minutes because she knew that the police would be asking Emily to do the same thing. Her mind closed off from Mr Tamborelli and went straight to her girlfriend, she felt worried and stressed but she wasn't sure why. Noel after all was caught and behind bars, it was one less person to worry about. "Is that all?"
"Yes, you can go." Mr Tamborelli sighed in defeat, he felt as though Alison was struggling more than she let on. "Alison?" He called as she went to open the door.
"Yes?"
"If you need someone to talk to, anyone, you can talk to me or there's the guidance counsellor." His voice was warm and weirdly lifting and she did feel slightly better.
"Thank you, Sir." Alison's eyes may have been on her Principles but her thoughts were elsewhere, it was rare that there was a moment she wasn't thinking about Emily anyway.
"Hey Ali, can we talk?" Hanna asked when she leaned next to Alison's locker after school; the blonde had just opened the door and began putting away her books when she nodded.
"What's up?" She yawned.
"I just wanted to ask... if Emily knows about Jason yet." Hanna paused and thought about her words carefully, when Alison was tired she was easily provoked.
"No, I haven't told her, she's been really busy with therapy the last two weeks and I didn't want to interrupt that." Alison grabbed her bag when she had finished with her books and closed her locker door, giving Hanna her attention.
"I think you should tell her Ali. She deserves to know." Hanna was trying to be more matter-of-fact than bossy but it wasn't coming across that way to Alison.
"I know that Hanna, don't you think I know that? It's just hard; she doesn't leave the house enough as it is."
"I know, I just think she should know." Ali thought about Hanna's words and she was right, Emily did deserve to know, it was just heartbreaking to watch her endure so much and put further stress on her.
"I have to go to work but I'll tell her after, okay?" Alison said genuinely.
"You promise?" Hanna smiled softly.
"I promise."
"You pinkie promise?" Hanna raised her hand to Alison while lifting her pinkie finger, wiggling it quickly.
"What are we? Five years old?" She asked sarcastically but Hanna merely continued to wiggle her finger until she complied, Alison sighed in defeat and raised her finger to met Hanna's. "I pinkie promise."
"Good." Hanna had a triumphant smile slapped across her face and it caused Alison to roll her eyes.
"I have to go or I'm gonna be late for work." Alison turned and headed down the hall and out of the school with Hanna by her side.
"So is she still having the nightmares?"
"Yeah." She sighed; she didn't really feel like talking about Emily's nightmares. They had gotten to the point where Emily was screaming so loud in her sleep she would wake up her parent's down the hall, she was running out of ideas and what was worse is she felt she was failing her girlfriend.
"Ali you're doing really well." Hanna sensed Alison's insecurities and patted her shoulder supportively.
"Thanks."
It had been four hours into her shift when Ezra approached Alison who had a tray full of used coffee mugs and dirty dishes.
"Ali, do you need a break?"
"No it's okay; I'm finishing in two hours I'll be alright." Alison knew Ezra knew she was lying, she had been yawning for most of her shift and she was slightly worried she was going to frighten away all the customers.
"At least go have a drink or something." Ezra insisted. Alison smiled and decided she was thirsty so walking out to the back room she placed the tray into the sink and grabbed a drink of water.
When she walked out again she noticed Hanna, Spencer and Aria waiting at the counter, it had been a slow afternoon and evening that she had decided to focus her attention on cleaning.
"Hey guys." Alison smiled, feeling her spirits lift at seeing her friends. "The usual?"
"Actually we've got something for you." Spencer smiled cheekily before walking to the door of The Brew. A few stray customers were sitting at random tables but didn't require Alison's attention so she was happy to be with her friends for as long as she could be.
Spencer looked over at Hanna and Aria who both had smiles on their faces as well, causing Alison to become even more curious as to what their plan was.
Opening the door Spencer revealed Emily sitting in her wheelchair, smiling happily with a bunch of orchids in her lap, Alison's favourite flower.
"Surprise." Emily murmured softly as Alison walked over quickly to greet her girlfriend excitedly.
"Emmy! You're out of the house." Alison exclaimed happily while kneeling in front of her.
"I thought the best way I could get out of the house was to see my girl at work." Emily smiled and handed Alison the orchids, softly she smiled and watched Alison's face light up and it instantly made her feel ecstatic. "And I've got another surprise for you."
"What is it?" Alison's smile grew as Emily kissed her cheek softly.
"Why don't you put the flowers down on the counter and then close your eyes." Alison raised her eyebrows curiously before complying. She stood from the floor and walked over to the counter, watching Spencer, Aria and Hanna carefully. All three girls had smiles stuck on their faces as Alison put the flowers down and before turning she noticed a few of the customers had moved from their own conversations to look on what was going on. Ignoring them she turned around to face Emily who also had a cheeky smile across her lips.
"Close your eyes Miss DiLaurentis." She commanded and Alison giggled before again complying.
Emily looked over at Spencer who waved her hand in front of the blonde's face, making sure she wasn't sneaking a peek. Quietly Spencer gave Emily the thumbs up and moved towards her.
"I've got it." Emily whispered to her friends as they went to help her out of the wheelchair. As quickly and quietly as she could Emily slowly moved her legs out from the holds of the chair and slowly stood.
Her legs hurt slightly but with the therapy she was improving rapidly, however there was still a long way to go.
Alison waited as patiently as she could, playing with her fingers to subside the urge to open her eyes.
Emily slowly made her way to the blonde that was almost jumping up and down in anticipation, as she watched her all the thoughts of pain disappeared and were replaced with excitement for Alison's reaction. When she finally made it in front of the blonde Emily reached for her fiddling hands and brought them to her lips, kissing them gently.
"Open your eyes." Alison heard Emily whisper and within seconds her eyes shot open to find Emily standing in front of her, smiling happily. "Surprise."
"Em! You're walking!" Alison felt tears well in her eyes from happiness as she quickly embraced the brunette, causing her to wobble.
"A little." Emily laughed.
"Sorry." She giggled with excitement.
Spencer, Aria and Hanna all felt tears slowly form in their eyes as well as they watched Alison hold Emily's cheeks before leading into a chaste kiss.
"I'm so proud of you." Alison murmured. The doors of The Brew opened and closed but no one bothered to see who entered as they were all too interested in the scene in front of them.
"What a sweet display." A voice came from the door that both Emily and Alison recognised immediately. Turning away from their embrace Emily found the eyes of Jason DiLaurentis staring into her as he stood a few feet away.
Spencer, Aria and Hanna all looked at him, their minds mentally swearing at him for ruining such a beautiful moment.
"Jason you need to leave." Hanna moved over to him first, keeping him as far from Emily as she could.
"I have a right to be here." He crossed his arms and smiled up at Emily who had gone silent at his presence. Spencer and Aria soon joined Hanna in making the wall between him and the other two girls. Alison's arms went around Emily as she slowly helped her to the wheelchair; it was becoming obvious that standing for that long was hurting her.
"I see you're making great progress Emily."
"Don't you talk to her." Alison grinded her teeth as she made her way in front of her friends, indicated them to go stand by Emily. "What are you doing here?" She questioned as Hanna, Spencer and Aria stood by Emily protectively.
"I wanted coffee." Jason continued to smile as Alison crossed her own arms across her chest.
"You're not going to get it here, so I suggest you leave."
"That's not very good customer service, Ali."
"Alison." She corrected him. The tension grew in the air as Jason continued to look over at Emily, her eyes were filled with tears but she hadn't let them fall. She was so surprised that Jason was out of prison that she couldn't even think of words to project.
"My bad, Alison. Hello Emily." He moved his head to get a full view of the brunette who had been struggling to hold back her tears. "I heard Noel got caught. That's always good. As one goes in, the other comes out, isn't that funny?"
"What's going on here?" All heads turned towards Ezra who had emerged from the back room to see why it had gotten so quiet.
"Hi Mr. Fitz, I see High School education wasn't your thing." Jason finally moved his eyes away from Emily and towards his old English teacher. Emily finally relaxed and moved her gaze to Alison who was deliberately looking away from her, regretting the fact that she hadn't told her sooner.
"Jason, I'd like you to leave." Ezra walked over and stood next to Alison, giving her some support as she stood in front of her brother.
"You can't make me."
"No I can't but I'm sure your parole officer will do the job just fine." Jason's smiled disappeared quickly as Ezra reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"Fine, you guys are no fun anyway." He turned away in defeat and then looked back towards Emily, who was still struggling to hold back her tears. "Oh and Emily, just thought I'd inform you that Alison has known I've been out for two weeks, some food for thought."
"Leave." Ezra almost yelled.
"Goodbye Emily." Jason winked and then disappeared out the door leaving an atmosphere of complete awkwardness behind him.
"Take me home." Emily murmured to Hanna quietly.
"Em-" She began.
"Please just take me home." Emily interrupted her friend and wiped away a tear that had finally slipped from her eyes. Hanna looked between Spencer and Aria who shrugged their shoulders in defeat and walked towards the door.
"Emily..." Alison began as she watched Hanna wheel the brunette to the door. "I'm sorry; I was going to tell you. I swear."
"Let's go." Emily said, ignoring the apology. Hanna looked over at Alison with an I-told-you-so look before exiting The Brew. Spencer and Aria remained behind to support Alison but she felt she didn't deserve it.
"Thank you." She directed to Ezra as she held back the tears in her eyes. She walked out to the back room and ignored the eyes that followed her.
"Ali, it's not your fault." Spencer murmured as she followed her.
"It is Spence; I should have told her the moment I knew."
"You were protecting her." Aria tried to convince her friend the truth but she knew it would be a lost cause at this point.
"Yeah and look what happened, she practically hates me."
"She can't hate you, Ali. She loves you way too much for that." Spencer insisted as she brought the teary blonde into a comforting hug.
"Alison, are you alright?" Ezra asked as he entered the room, Alison nodded into Spencers shoulder before letting the taller brunette go. "You can go home; I think I'm going to shut up early anyway."
"I can wait back and help you clean up." She offered as he walked over to Aria.
"That's okay Ali, I'll cover for you. You go and see Emily." Aria looked up at Ezra with a smile and moved into his arm that he had wrapped around her.
Alison decided not to argue with the petite brunette and instead looked over to Spencer.
"Go on." Spencer smiled and Alison quickly went for her bag and left the kitchen without another word.
Speed walking to Emily's car Alison pulled the keys from her bag and went to unlock the vehicle when she was greeted by a voice in the alley.
"Alison." Jason's voice echoed as she quickly turned to find him standing in the shadows.
"What do you want Jason?" She tried to sound strong but he saw right through it.
"It seems Emily didn't know of my release, did it slip your mind? Or are you just too much of a coward to tell her the truth?"
"It's none of your business." Jason emerged from the darkness and smiled towards the scared Alison.
"I guess not. Whose car is that? You weren't happy with the one dad gave you?"
"Again Jason, it's not your business." Opening the door she threw her bag in and went to get in when Jason pushed her against the car and held her tightly in place. "Get off me!"
"If you know what's good for you Alison, you'll stay away from Emily." His voice was low and dark.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She felt Jason's warning was more of a threat to Emily than it was to her and it made her shyness disappear and be replaced with protectiveness.
"She ruined my life-"
"No Jason! You ruined your life!" Alison tried to push against her brother but it was no use, he was always significantly stronger than her. His hand gripped around her sore shoulder and caused pain to shoot up it.
In a final attempt to get away she kicked his leg and moved into the car before quickly starting the engine and escaping. Looking in the rear view mirror she watched Jason stand and look towards her before turning away. Letting out a large sigh she didn't know she was holding Alison made her way to Emily's, hoping Jason was just bluffing.
"How did it go?" Wayne asked as Emily and Hanna made their way inside, the older Fields had been waiting for everyone to come home since that afternoon when they had organised the surprise, they were excited for the result.
Emily struggled from her wheelchair and slowly headed for the stairs.
"I've got it." She mumbled when Hanna tried to help her. When she headed upstairs and out of sight Wayne and Pam looked at Hanna curiously.
"What's going on?" Pam asked first.
"We had a run in with Jason." She rubbed her arm innocently as Pam and Wayne's eyes widen in horror. Within seconds Pam was running up the stairs to join Emily, making sure her daughter was okay.
"He's out?" Wayne looked from the stairs to Hanna, who swallowed deeply.
"Yes." She hated that she had to break the news to Emily's parents.
"I wasn't aware, when did that happen?"
"A couple of weeks ago." Before Wayne could continue his twenty questions there was a knock at the door, which Hanna was grateful for.
"Alison? Why didn't you just come in?" Wayne asked curiously as he let Alison inside.
"I left my keys upstairs."
"Oh, well Emily is in her room." Alison looked upstairs and towards Hanna who had a displeased expression across her face, Wayne felt the stickiness of an awkward atmosphere develop as the two blonde's looked between each other. "I was going to make a cup of tea, would either of you want one?"
Both girls shook their heads and watched as Wayne hurried out of the room, his thought's occupied with Jason and the odd situation he just experienced.
"I told you that you should have told her." Hanna crossed her arms first before looking up the stairs and back to Alison.
"You knew I was going to after work."
"You've had two weeks to tell her."
"That's not fair Hanna." Alison too crossed her arms.
"No, what's not fair is how Emily found out."
"Don't you think I know that? I'm not doing this with you now; I need to talk to her." Alison turned towards the stairs but Hanna interrupted her.
"Don't screw this up Ali. She's important to me too." Hanna opened the front door and turned before exiting, she gave Alison a strange smile that resembled support and warning in one go. "I'm not mad, I just want both of you happy and you can't do that with lies."
With that Hanna was gone and left Alison with her confusing words and smiles.
Deciding she'd deal with Hanna later she headed up the stairs and down the hall to Emily's room, knocking on the door she could hear faint crying and it broke her heart.
"Come in." She heard Pam call. Entering Alison found Pam rubbing Emily's back as she cried into her pillow.
"Em..." Alison began but she couldn't find any words.
"Go away Alison." She whispered softly, it was heartbreaking to hear such words leave Emily's lips but she understood them.
"I'm not leaving Emily." Alison walked into the room and stood next to the bed, Pam was watching her every move.
Sniffing slightly Emily turned over to see Alison looking sympathetically down at her.
"You knew. You knew and you didn't tell me." Her eyes were red and wet; it was so heartbreaking to witness. Pam kissed Emily's head and stood from the bed, deciding that she didn't want to interject on what was going on.
"Emily, your father and I will be outside cooking dinner on the barbeque if you need us." She looked at Alison carefully before leaving, shutting the door behind her.
"I'm sorry, I am, I was going to tell you tonight after work, ask Hanna."
"You should have told me the moment you knew." Emily turned away from Alison and let more tears fall from her eyes. Sitting on the bed Alison's hand went to her hip but she merely moved away from the touch and pulled her legs to her chest, sobbing harder.
"I didn't want to do that to you, I thought... I thought with everything that had happened you wouldn't be able to cope."
"That wasn't your call to make Alison."
Alison stood from the bed and walked around to meet Emily's eyes, kneeling down she reached for Emily's free hand. Thinking at first that she might move away Alison was mildly surprised when she didn't, she took that as a chance to get the brunette to open up.
"Ali." She whispered as she brought Emily's hand to her lips, kissing it very gently. Emily's eyes were still teary and wet and over the last two weeks she had been able to remove the bandage that had once covered a good percentage of her face. What was once a large bandage, was now a large scar going from above her eyebrow to under her cheek that was held together with several stitches.
"Em, I'm sorry. I am so sorry." Alison felt her own tears develop as she realised how much she had hurt and disappointed Emily. After several long minutes of silence had passed Alison decided it was her way of coping, she decided to give the brunette some space and as she stood to walk away Emily's hand gripped tighter around her, stopping her from leaving.
Looking down Alison watched Emily carefully; her eyes were drying and were replaced with an emotion she couldn't pinpoint.
Emily's thoughts were running wildly in her head, she couldn't figure out if she was mad at Alison for not telling her or understanding because it was difficult news to deliver. Her mind was clouded and she still found herself incredibly angry but at the same time she just wanted Alison to hold her and tell everything would be okay.
Pulling Alison on top of her, Emily's arms wrapped around the blonde and held her close before bringing her into a deep kiss filled with a fire of anger and passion. Adrenaline flew through Emily uncontrollably causing her to flip the pair around and have her hovering above the surprised Alison.
"I-" She began but was interrupted by Emily's lips crashing against hers again affectively silencing her. Her hands went instinctively to the brunette's back but were quickly drawn away and held tightly above her head by one of Emily's strong hands.
"Keep them there." Emily ordered through the kissing. After several moments of fighting the urge to snake her hands around Emily's body Alison felt the brunette's other hand go to her shirt, tugging on it hard it caused her to sit up before taking off her shirt and pushing her back down against the bed.
The passion made a moan slip through Alison's lips.
"Don't make a sound." Emily commanded as she made a small trail of kisses down Alison's neck and towards her chest.
Letting her hand slip under the blonde's back Emily quickly un-clipped Alison's bra and threw it to the ground.
When Emily's hands brushed against her chest Alison couldn't control her arms anymore and they flew to embrace the girl above her. As quickly as they made contact Emily pulled them from her put them back above her head, this time holding them there with both hands.
"I said keep them there." She mumbled lustfully.
"Let me touch you." Alison pleaded quietly as she squirmed underneath Emily's hold, aching for the contact.
Emily paused and noticed as Alison's eyes displayed sadness, it was as if she was scared to speak which made her realise how angry she really was.
Slowly lifting her body from Alison's Emily lay back on the bed.
"I'm sorry." Alison whispered as she moved to find her shirt and put it back over her head. Sitting on the bed Alison held her body tightly and waited for Emily to speak.
"No I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." Emily rose from the bed and sat next to Alison, pulling her legs with her, after all that movement her legs were now tired and struggling.
Alison moved her head to Emily's shoulder and intertwined their hands. Within seconds both had calmed down and were rubbing the top of each other's hand.
"It was kind of sexy." Alison muttered shyly as she nuzzled into Emily's neck.
"It was?" Emily wrapped her arm around Alison's side and held her close.
"I do like the gently Emily more though." She kissed the available skin of Emily's shoulder and continued to rub her hand.
"I do too." Slowly Emily snaked her arm underneath Alison's leg and moved her so she was kneeling over her. "I love you, Ali."
"I love you too, Em." Leaning down Alison held Emily's cheeks and kissed her passionately. Slowly she guided the pair backwards against the bed frame and let Alison continue to kneel over her lap. Her hands began the slow journey underneath the blonde's shirt and played with the skin of her waist causing goose bumps to form.
Alison's hands made their own way into Emily's hair and continued to kiss passionately.
"Are you hurting?" Alison questioned as her hands moved down Emily's neck and to her waist.
"A little."
"Will this preoccupy your mind?" Alison lifted her shirt above her head revealing her bare chest once again. Her endeavour to being sexy caused Emily's heart to skip a beat and smile simultaneously.
"It already has." Emily's hands moved to Alison's breasts and her lips moved to her neck. At the contact of Emily's skin Alison tried desperately hard to hold back her moans, so in an attempt to cover them up she kissed the brunette harder.
Emily's hands found their way to the button of Alison's jeans and began unzipping the fly, moments later her fingers began trailing around the outline of the blonde's underwear causing her to squirm in pleasure.
"You're such a tease." Alison's voice was so low it was barely a whisper but it was still loud enough to make Emily's heart skip another beat.
"I know." She giggled before rubbing her hand against the fabric of Alison's jeans, causing a moan to fall from her lips.