Later that summer.

Despite all the frustration on everyone's end and occasional tears shed in preparation, Hanna and Caleb's wedding was beautiful. The wedding party was standing nervously with Caleb and his mother outside the doors leading into the church itself. Toby was patting Caleb's should reassuringly, while Spencer and Aria adjusted each other's hair. I mainly couldn't take my eyes off Paige. She had on a dark grey suit, cut for women. It did pair nicely against my light pink dress. We hadn't seen each other all morning, getting ready separately. When she noticed me, her jaw actually fell open.

"You are so beautiful." She whispered, smiling. I set my bouquet down to adjust her lapels.

"So are you. Ready to walk down the aisle with me?" I teased, letting my hands linger on suit.

"In this capacity? Absolutely." She replied, kissing me just as the music started to indicate Caleb and his mother should hit their point.

"Just remember if this goes off right, we all get a drink after this." Caleb said to us all, a nervous quiver in his voice. He really did want this day to be perfect for Hanna. We all did.

After Caleb and his mom walked, Toby and Spencer went. Then Paige and I linked arms and walked out into the church. And even though it wasn't our families in the pews, it still made my heart flutter to get this taste of declaring our love in public.

"This almost reminds me of a high school dance. Without worrying about getting murdered." Paige added, raising her eyebrows in mock emphasis.

"Dancing with you is like dancing in the mirror alone." I murmured, drawing her close against me.

"Okay I think you lost me a bit…I know it's open bar but you haven't had that much?" Paige asked.

"What I mean is, until I met you, I never knew anybody I felt completely relaxed around. Even my best friends. I always have a guard, no matter how invisible. But you cracked it. I can dance with you like no one is watching." I admitted, feeling silly for saying anything. But Paige didn't look dismissive. She looked at me like she was falling in love again.

"Because it feels right with you. It always has." She whispered, tightening her grip around my hips. I swayed closer to her, resting my head on her shoulder as we swayed. "Even back in freshman year. I had such a thing for you."

I stopped dancing. "Wait you did? How did I not know this?" I thought I knew everything about Paige and I's story. Apparently I didn't even know the start.

"Well uh…it started with Alison writing me a love note actually." I arched an eyebrow in response.

"Okay now I'm really confused." I said, my tone indicating she should explain further.

"She never told you? She wrote me a steamy note, pretending it was you. It said something about how you thought about me when you were with Ben and that I…" She blushed. "Let's just say she was inventive and a master storyteller…as always." We both glanced over at Alison and Lucas. No one could have ever seen that one coming. I hoped she was happy though.

"Why did she do it?"

"To get some concrete blackmail on me. She took the letter I wrote you back. I honestly can't believe you never knew this." Paige said again. I asked her what her letter said.

"That I had noticed you too. That I had been thinking about you as well. And that I always second-guessed my feelings, but apparently you felt the same. " Paige's voice was hoarse as she explained. Her eyes held mine. I took a moment to absorb her words. Then I leaned in and kissed her.

"I do." I whispered when I reluctantly pulled away from her lips. We were still at someone else's wedding and needed to at least try and behave ourselves accordingly. So we continued to sway to the music for a bit. And for a few brief moments, I hoped that we would be dancing at our own wedding someday. In the future, when we were both ready for it.

"Paige?"

"Yeah? What is it?" She whispered, her hot breath against my ear made me shiver. I wanted to ask if she could see it too. How soon she wanted to think about our future. I wanted to ask her if it would be okay to start looking for jobs in California.

"Nothing. I just love you." I said instead, pulling myself against her strong body again.

"I don't know Paige…we are both pretty tipsy right now." I carefully said as we made our way back to our room. Paige had two bottles of beer in hand, having managed to convince the bartender to serve us two last drinks to go. Good on Hanna and Caleb for choosing a reception venue attached to a hotel.

"We have to give it a try. I've never slept with one of the bridesmaids at a wedding before..." She said, bracing an arm against the door and wrestling the keycard out from her pocket.

"Wow. A first time for something. I thought you did away with all those wild and crazy firsts when you were single." I gently chided.

"It wasn't from lack of trying." She mentioned, pressing the door open and then turning to face me, pulling me against her. I groaned at the contact. "But I'm glad I get to share it with you." She whispered, already trailing kisses across my jaw and neck. I gasped when she bit down, and reached up to take off her suit coat after setting the beers on the floor.

"It's a first for me too. Although to be honest I never expected to go home with a groomsman at one of my best friend's weddings." I started pushing her back towards the bed. Tipsy or not, we would find a way to make this work.

Two Years Later.

I unlocked the door to our apartment, hearing the deadbolt click back as I swung the door open. A moment later I heard her call out my name.

"Yeah it's me." I reassured, setting my keys down and starting to shrug off my coat. "Work was busier than I thought it would be. How was your day?" I found her on her laptop, updating her blog.

"It was good. Practice was brutal, but then the office was a breeze." She responded, typing rapidly. I rubbed her shoulders for a bit before leaning over and kissing her cheek.

"How was yours?"

"The usual. Although I am proud to report Felix made some very slight but promising progress in walking with the walker." Although I still practiced sports therapy exclusively and pro bono for Paige as she attempted to get on the U.S. Olympic swim team, I had found my true passion in physical therapy once I moved out to San Francisco.

She turned and looked at me now, her eyes wide with wonder and pride at my words. The news about one of my favorite clients was enough to tear her away from the computer. She rolled her chair back from the desk and pulled me down into her lap. Then she winced a bit and I flushed, slightly embarrassed.

"I haven't gained that much weight since high school have I?" I asked in a small voice.

"Jesus Em of course not! I'm just still sore from practice. Let me remind you as needed…" She slipped one arm under my knees and another around my back. Then she lifted me up against her with a triumphant grin on her face. "That I can do this?" I laughed and playfully smacked her shoulder as she carried me to the bed. She laid me down, soon joining me. It wasn't long after that till we were kissing and her hips started gently moving against mine, my breath starting to catch.

"Knock it off." I murmured. Truthfully I would have blown off dinner anytime. But tonight was special.

"It's just dinner at the same old place. You know they won't mind if we pull a no show with how often we go." Paige whispered against my neck, her hands now wandering down my sides. I gathered up all my strength and shoved her off.

"Don't be rude. Now go get ready." I instructed, smiling at her as she rolled her eyes and began stripping off her clothes on the way to the shower. This gave me the short window of time I needed. I shut the bedroom door and began stringing party lights around the living room. And inflating the kiddie pool I had purchased earlier that week.

When Paige emerged from our bedroom, it took her a second to register the decorations. Then her face twisted in a confused frown.

"What's going on Em?" She asked, glancing up at me. In that moment, she looked so innocent and puzzled I nearly started laughing. Laugh at her expression and my own nervousness. Because everything was about to change for us. Again.

"Remember when we talked about Anna the first time I visited you?" I asked.

"Yes…why are you bringing that up now?" She sounded even more confused. I shook my head and walked over, trying to soothe her by gently stroking her arms.

"Because I know that it made you scared. I realize now that being asked to be married when you weren't ready, made you scared to ask someone in case they weren't ready." She nodded, hanging her head and looking at the floor.

I reached in my pocket, pulling out the ring box.

"I love you Paige. I always have. It isn't always easy for me to understand and express my feelings. But I do know that through everything, you were the one that always got through to me, and helped remind me that I could love and trust someone despite being hurt in the past. So I'm asking you here, while we are alone and you can be honest with me. Would you do me the honor of making me your wife?" I kneeled as I finished my speech. She started to shake her head and smile simultaneously.

"Get up here." She pleaded, pulling me up and kissing me hard. So hard our teeth clacked and we both pulled back, whimpering a bit in pain and laughing at ourselves.

"Is that a yes?" I asked. She looked at me in wonderment.

"Of course." She kissed me again, slowly and deeply this time. I took the ring from the box and placed it on her ring finger. "Em this is beautiful. There's no way we can afford a ring this nice." She sounded incredulous, looking at the diamond.

Then she looked around at the decorations, noticing the kiddie pool.

"We can afford it. And you're worth it. As for the pool…I figured there should be a pool nearby. For old time's sake." I clarified.

"How did you even fill it?" She wrapped her arms around my waist

"The minute you got in the shower I started filling measuring cups of water in the kitchen sink and bringing them over." I bashfully admitted. She just held me tighter, and I could swear I felt the ring, even though my clothes as she held me.

"I'm impressed."

"Yeah well don't be. I'm not exactly sure how we are going to drain it yet."

"Are we going to go for a swim?"

"Sure but let's do it after dinner. I am very hungry. I was nervous." I admitted. I wasn't entirely sure she would say yes.

"You had no reason to be nervous. I've always been yours, and I always will be." She rubbed my back protectively to try and drive her point home. "Now come on…I want to take my future wife to dinner. And then call our parents to tell them the news. And our friends. We will have a lot of calls to make when we get back."

"We will." I agreed, smiling. No one would be surprised; most of them had expected this day would come. She turned off the lights and the waves of the pool cast a beautiful, rippling shadow on the ceiling. Paige took my hand and we walked through the door.

Note: This chapter concludes this story. I want to thank everyone who read this, along with anyone who reviews, favorited, and/or followed it.

When I started this story, I will admit I wanted to: 1) challenge myself to write strictly from Emily's POV and 2) I was frustrated with Emily's character. This clearly did not make for sympathetic combination. But I hoped to show that though Emily was frustrating at the beginning of this story, that her relationship with Alison was mostly to blame. I didn't want to make Alison completely one-dimensional and villainous. Instead I wanted to show that her relationship with Emily would eventually self-destruct without much help. And of course, among other things, to show Paige and Emily are the better match.

Again I thank you for your time and say I hope you enjoyed the journey.