Disclaimer: Who has two thumbs and doesn't own the rights to these characters? This gal!

Author's Notes: This chapter contains spoilers up to Season 3, Episode 8, "".

Thank you, everyone, for the faves/follows and reviews. Much appreciated! Comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome. Enjoy!

Author's Notes Part Deux: My original novel, 'The Surrender, Guardian Book 1,' is available for purchase at all fine booksellers (and probably some seedy ones too). Download links can be found at teriasmcklay dot com. If you purchase, I would love -and be forever grateful- if you could do me the solid of writing a review.

~888~

Paige dropped her backpack on the floor, accepting a hug and kiss from her mother.

"You're sure that you're okay on your own?" It was the 9th time she had been asked that question since her Aunt had called early this morning, asking for her parents to come to Scranton for a few days.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I feel better, I might even go to school this afternoon."

"Oh, Paige, just rest today. You can go back tomorrow," her mom argued softly, looking to her dad for support.

"I already missed three days." The five day conference had gone from Wednesday to Sunday with a brief breakfast Monday morning before they all shoved off.

"You can miss one more day," her father said as he put her suitcase down in the foyer. "You've got your Aunt's number and you're certain you're okay with us leaving you?"

"I'm fine, I feel perfect." That wasn't totally true but nothing short of that would get them out the door. She hugged her mom one last time, pushing her toward the open door.

"Call if you need anything," her dad said, taking her into a one armed hug and dropping a kiss on the top of her head before following after her mom. A quick beep of the car horn and they were gone.

Paige hauled her gear downstairs, glad to have the chance to wash the car ride off her. She stood under the hot spray of her shower, mind finally clear enough to wander, now that the drugs were out of her system. Her biggest issue with what happened was that she didn't know why she had been drugged. She didn't remember anyone trying to take advantage, although that obviously wasn't totally reliable.

Her only other thought was 'A', who had prompted her to drink. Aside from embarrassing herself in front of Emily she had no idea what the end game for that would be. She hadn't done anything or had anything done to her, she just acted like an ass and a good chunk of her night was a black hole.

Paige stopped mid rinse when realization slapped her upside the head. A drunken Emily on her porch, an out of it Emily at Spencer's house, and total memory loss the day after.

"Son of a bitch." She hadn't been the intended target, Emily had. 'That Night' she thought Emily had just over beveraged while drinking with the girls, but it wasn't booze. It was drugs.

Paige hadn't put her drink down, the damn flask had been spiked. Only one person came to mind. 'A'.

Paige closed her eyes, Emily had left her place shortly after midnight and she had seen her at Spencer's nearly two hours later. That was a lot of time to get into trouble. Especially in Rosewood.

How would 'A' have gotten to the flask? Emily hadn't been back more than a day. Unless... unless it had been someone close to her.

One of the girls.

Hannah came to mind, she had been Mona's friend after all, but she didn't seem to have the chops or the attention span to be 'A'. Aria wasn't more than a brief consideration either, unless there was some malicious persona hidden beneath all the cheetah print and silverware jewellery.

Spencer though... Paige had wondered last year if Hastings might have some part in the 'A' game. The girl had the brains and stamina for a long term game and Paige knew full well that she could hold a grudge. But why Emily? Hastings doted on her more than any of the others. Maybe it was some imagined slight, hell maybe Spencer was jealous of someone. It wouldn't be the first time Paige had flirted with the thought that Spencer had a thing for Em.

Paige shut the water off. It didn't matter how hot the spray was, she was ice cold. A quick dry and she was at her desk, making notes. How often had Spencer been within shooting distance of Emily and the others?

Sure, Mona had fessed up to being the original 'A', but there was no way she had been able to pull off all those stunts on her own. Mona had systematically tortured half of Rosewood for chrissakes, unless the crazy bitch had figured out how to clone herself, someone had to be helping her. A scheme that organized definitely took manpower.

It made sense. 'A' had only kicked back into gear when Emily returned from Haiti. The entire summer had been quiet while the foursome were apart and Emily's first night back -at Spencer's house no less- she had ended up drugged enough to forget her entire night. Something wasn't right in the house of Hastings and if Paige had to tear the other girl down, brick by brick, to figure out what it was, so be it.

Paige talked herself in circles for most of the afternoon, finally giving up the exercise as fruitless when her stomach rumbled its discontent. She wasn't going to solve the 'A' mystery in a day. She made a small lunch in deference to her somewhat balky stomach, and set out for the garage to keep her hands busy. She had stewed enough.

Her bike was her salvation, the beat up frame hanging from its hook. She had put a lot of miles on it since its last service, giving it a proper tune up would kill most of her afternoon. Paige brought the bike to the backyard, the toolkit tucked under her arm, and flipped it over on to the handle bars.

Her tires were first, pressure tested and her rear one pumped up. As she went about her checklist, Paige found herself relaxing, the intricate tasks of checking brake lies and resetting her chain keeping her mind on the task at hand rather than contemplating how her sanity kept throwing itself against a brick wall.

She had just finished setting her chain in place and wiping her hands when she heard the back gate rustle. She stood, body releasing its tension as Emily walked in, waving her hello.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"I rang but no one answered."

"My folks are in Scranton."

"I haven't seen you at school."

"I missed the last few days."

"Are you okay?"

"I felt pretty bad for awhile but I'm better now," she assured, hoping her nearly healed forehead would serve as proof of the truth.

"Okay, we have to talk about this." Emily's hangdog look confirmed what Paige had already suspected, the girl was feeling guilty, no doubt because she realized her flask had caused the trouble.

"No, we don't," Paige denied, standing from her crouch. The deeper Emily delved into this, the more likely she was to come up with what had happened 'That Night' and Paige really didn't have the energy to deal with that right now.

"You got sick because you drank from my flask. I have to explain how that happened or at least try to explain."

"We can forget about the whole thing, honestly, Em."

"You deserve to know the truth. Can we go someplace and talk?"

"I can't today," Paige deflected, hoping Emily didn't ask for a reason, she didn't have one to give. Emily, seeming to sense that she was at the limit of Paige's good graces, nodded in acceptance.

"Tomorrow? After school? Please."

Paige let out a sigh. Damned, stubborn ass. "Okay." A day would give her time to think it through. Figure out what to say, how to say it. She knew what was coming, Emily wanted to confess and if the girl was truthful with her, Paige had no choice but to be truthful in return, as much as the thought scared her.

"Okay." Emily nodded, evidently satisfied she had got what she came for. She walked away without goodbye and Paige let out a sigh. One day, one day she would have a nice normal relationship with a nice, normal girl and these days of drama would be a distant dream.

Emily looked over her shoulder just as she pushed open the gate. "I'll see you at practice in the morning?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." Emily's answering smile was reason alone to go to practice. One day she wouldn't swoon every time Emily looked at her. One day.

~888~

Tuesday morning found her back at the pool, Paige peeling off her track suit as she fielded questions from her teammates about how she felt.

"McCullers," Morgan broke in, eyes zeroed in on Paige, "how nice of you to grace us with your presence."

Paige rolled her eyes as she tugged her swim cap out of her locker, giving a slight shake of her head to Emily who looked geared for a fight at Morgan's comment. Getting into a pissing match wouldn't do anybody any favours.

"Thanks, Coach. Glad to be back." Paige kept her eyes on Emily as she spoke, hoping she understood that she was okay with taking whatever Morgan dished out. She had expected as much and was actually surprised Morgan hadn't hauled her into the office for an official dressing down. The county meet was in two weeks, the unofficial start to the swim meets, and if she had any hope of keeping her slot, Paige was going to have to put the hammer down to secure it.

Practice went by quickly enough, though Paige supposed that was because Morgan drilled her into the ground. She barely had the energy to put one foot in front of the other as she walked into the locker room, taking a seat to find her clothes before she forced herself to get changed. She lifted an arm to open her locker, letting out a low curse as her shoulder tweaked. Apparently she hit it pretty hard when she crashed at the party. One a days hadn't bothered it much but Morgan's ball busting had definitely put more strain on it than it should have taken.

"Gimme your hand," Emily said, dropping her gear bag beside Paige. She obliged, lifting her arm up high enough for Emily to take control and work her shoulder through familiar exercises. "You landed on this shoulder when you went down at the party, did the doctor check it out?"

"Nah, didn't bother me until now. It just felt a little bruised."

"Well I can feel the knot in here," Emily said, pushing down on a spot beneath Paige's shoulder that nearly sent her into a full body spasm. "Want me to try and work it out?"

"It's okay, I can go for a massage tonight."

"If you leave it that long your whole arm is going to seize. Sit still for a sec."

Bowing to the inevitable, Paige held her arm aloft, allowing Emily to stretch it over to the other side, exposing her oblique and the deeper part of her lats. If the freshmen thought anything of their two lesbian captains handing out massages in the locker room, none of them said anything. Vicky simply slid an ice pack across the bench to Paige before returning to blow drying her hair.

"Son of a bitch," she cursed as Emily dug a knuckle into the knot, evidently giving up on her previous technique of working around the muscle and in. There was a moment of sharp pain before she felt the muscle loosen, a few more minutes of pressure and Paige felt like she could make it through the day without wanting to cry. Paige circled her arm, taking it through all her ranges of motion, satisfied with only a light twinge. "That feels amazing, thanks."

"Anytime." Emily briefly squeezed her shoulders before moving on to her locker to change.

Paige was glad that they could be this, that despite all the drama that surrounded them, they were still rock solid teammates, through and through. They were running late now so Paige was forced to rush through the last of her routine, settling for tying her hair back rather than attempt to wrangle it into order.

"We're still on for tonight, right?"

"Yeah, how about a run? Morgan's at that teacher's lecture today so there's no afternoon practice."

"Sounds like a plan. See you in English?"

"See you."

Emily took off, Vicky looking after her before turning to Paige, a smirk firmly in place. "Doth my ears deceive me or are you and your co-captain finally gaining some traction?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Paige said, turning from Vicky to get dressed, trying to hide her sudden blush from her teammate.

"Right, I mean, locker room massages, movies, spending your every waking moment together, totally legit."

"We do not spend every waking moment together. I've barely even seen her outside of school."

"Uh huh." Vicky side eyed her in the mirror as she applied her lip gloss. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you don't have the wicked hots for Emily or that all that drama between you two last year wasn't some roller coaster romance that crashed and burned."

Paige was certain she was capable of speech but it seemed to completely elude her as she stared dumb founded at her teammate.

"Breathe, Paige, it's not news to anyone. Chill."

"You... you guys knew?"

Vicky's eye roll indicated exactly what she thought of that question as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. "Paige, people three towns over felt the wave of sexual tension that was sitting in the pool. We thought it was good for you, you totally unclenched. You're a totally different person from a year ago."

"I can't believe you knew."

"I can't believe you didn't. Seriously, you two fought like cats and dogs and it took three years to figure it out? That must have been a damn deep closet, did you see Narnia while you were hanging out in there?"

"Just the edge of the forest," Paige snarked back, though there was no venom in her voice. All the worrying, all the fear, all the bullshit, for nothing.

"Well, that's old news now, and you two are certainly getting along. Maybe you should try again?"

At that idea Paige shook her head, the Emily ship had sailed long ago. "She's still got some issues, with what happened to Maya and I have college to worry about. The timing isn't right."

"If you sit and wait for the right time you're going to be on the bench for the rest of your life." Vicky tossed the last of her makeup in her bag, giving a final look in the mirror before she threw her bag over her shoulder. "Just think about it. Do you really want to regret missing your chance because you were scared?" Vicky didn't wait for an answer, heading out and leaving Paige to her own thoughts.

No, she didn't want to miss her chance because she was scared but she had put herself on the line for Emily before and come up empty handed. Trying the same thing over again and expecting different results was more or less the definition of crazy. Besides, Paige wasn't about to push her friend when Emily had already drawn a line in the sand between them. A drugged up kiss didn't change that.

Her greatest grace now would be for Paige to give up that last piece of hope that things would work out between them. All that did was keep her from moving on with her life. No, despite Vicky's advice, Paige needed to accept reality and abandon the idea that she and Emily would ever be together.

But wouldn't it be nice?

~888~

The bell rang, freeing them from their last class. Paige had tried to come up with a plausible excuse for avoiding Emily and their post party dissection. Not to be. Emily stood with her, walking out the door shoulder to shoulder.

"Please tell me you didn't do your run at lunch so I won't feel bad when you smoke me." Emily said as they walked, the other girl looking to Paige with comically pleading eyes.

"You can think that if it makes you feel better, Fields." Paige retorted. This was good, banter was easy, kept things light, drama free. She could banter her way through a five mile run in her sleep.

They used the pool locker room to change, Paige pointedly turning away as she switched into her third change of clothes for the day. They would have to double back at the end of their run to grab their books but it was better than strapping them to their backs to take on the run.

"What route do you want to take?"

"I thought the one behind the school, through the woods," Paige said. "Get away from all the pedestrians down here. Besides, running through downtown at this hour is like sucking on a tailpipe."

In deference to her companion who didn't put in as many miles weekly, Paige kept her pace slower than normal, barely breaking a sweat as they ran a warm up mile. When ankles were loose enough to take the uneven terrain of the forest path, Paige led them into the woods.

Once she was certain Emily wasn't going to stroke out on her, Paige picked up her pace. If she kept them running hard enough, she'd wind Emily to the point of being unable to talk. By the second mile, she had picked up her pace considerably, Emily matching it but with difficulty. By mile three, Emily was audibly struggling and Paige set that as the pace in her mind. She didn't expect Emily to gas out completely, the other girl calling out her name as Paige rounded a corner.

"Paige!"

She stopped, turning to face her friend who had doubled over in attempt to catch her breath. She would give her a second to recover and move on. Emily had other plans, opening the dreaded conversation with an unexpected volley.

"The drug that made you sick. It didn't come from anybody at the party, it was in my flask. You know that don't you?"

"I guess I figured that out," Paige admitted slowly, wondering how much to reveal of what she knew. No one had ever known she had been targeted by the original 'A' and it wasn't information she was about to start throwing around now.

"When I gave it to you, I didn't know it. I swear, I would never do that to you."

As if Paige could ever think she would. "But somebody did that to you," she countered, trying to draw the other girl out. If Emily would just ask for help, she'd be there for her. But she couldn't fight an enemy she didn't know. If Emily knew who the new 'A' was, she had to speak up.

"Yeah, someone did it to me."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know when it happened?" Paige was a hundred percent sure she knew but she needed to hear it from her friend.

"It was the night that somebody dug up Ali's grave. I drank from the flask and I... lost time. I was at Spencer's and then I wasn't at Spencer's. I'm trying to find out what happened to me." Emily's face, a tale of abject panic, broke Paige's heart.

Paige hadn't known how troubled her friend was about the missing night. Emily had never mentioned it and Paige assumed her friend passed it off as too much drinking. That obviously wasn't the case and if she could, Paige had to at least put this piece to rest. Reluctantly, she spoke.

"You were with me." As always, she would sacrifice her friendship for Emily's peace of mind. She loved her, she would do whatever was needed to help. "Part of that night, you were with me."

The question was unspoken but obvious as Emily stared at her, willing her to continue.

"It was about eleven o'clock I think, my folks were out."

Emily's disbelieving stare felt like a punch to the gut.

"I heard something on the porch. You were sitting on my steps. You were drunk." Paige paused, knowing that now to be untruth. "I thought you were drunk.," she corrected. "Do you remember me taking you in the house?"

"I don't remember."

So much for jarring any memories loose.

"I was holding you up. And then, I wasn't holding you, you were holding me. You kissed me."

The shock on her friend's face didn't do much for her resolve but Paige was determined to see the confession through to the end. "Maybe you thought I was someone else, I think I knew that but I didn't stop you. I didn't want to stop you, it was like a dream." Knowing what she knew now, it was more of a nightmare.

"And then what happened?"

"I let it happen, I think I knew it wasn't me you were kissing but I just got greedy, I guess." Paige admitted, she could have stopped the kiss earlier than she had. "After it ended, I went into the kitchen to get you a glass of water and when I came back, you were gone. I tried to call your phone but you didn't answer"

"Somebody called me at 11."

Paige nodded her confirmation. "At school, I could tell you didn't remember, didn't want to remember."

"I didn't remember, I don't remember. Why wouldn't you have told me this sooner?" Emily's tone smacked of hurt betrayal.

"I convinced myself that what I did was okay, it wasn't. You were there and I just got...greedy. It was bad enough when I thought you were drunk. When I found out about the flask, I felt worse than awful. Please, Emily, you have to understand, I didn't mean..."

Emily turned away and it hit her. After all they had gone through, she had finally done it. Paige had finally broken their friendship.

"Em..." her voice caught in her throat as her friend refused to look at her, shoulders tight, posture defensive. Paige was tempted to sit right there, in the fallen leaves, and cry. God damn her stupid sense of honour, she blamed her father for that. Not wanting to inflict herself on Emily any more than necessary, she took her leave.

As she walked the path back, Paige ran the conversation over again, poking at it to test where she could have changed things, coming up short. Emily had needed to know and that overshadowed Paige's desire to save face, full stop.

Emily was MIA when Paige walked into the school, no surprise there. Paige had walked the long way back to ensure she wouldn't run into her friend, the least she could do considering the circumstances.

The bike ride home was uneventful, save the occasional bout of tears that overtook her as she pedalled. Paige had never been more thankful that her parents were away. She couldn't deal with their questions.

It was a chore to eat, and she eventually settled on a simple shake, forcing it down. She left her homework on the table, untouched, there was no way she would be able to concentrate long enough to get any work done. Instead, she slung a towel over her shoulder and headed for the pool, the sun long since set as she walked across the dark patio. Hopefully a swim would clear her mind.

She dropped the towel and padded over to the edge, staring into the clear water. Things between she and Emily had always been a bit murky. They had been reluctant teammates, nemeses, unexpected friends, girlfriends and everything in between.

Emily had been her rock when she had been at one of the lowest and most confused points in her life. Paige had tried to return the favour when the opportunity presented itself, providing a shoulder for her friend to lean on when things last year had reached their boiling point. The push and pull between them had been constant and no matter where they stood with each other romantically, they had each others backs.

And Paige had ruined it. It was her own fault. She had kept the secret despite knowing full well how secrets destroyed. 'A' had leveraged her into silence, true, but she should have found a way. They were stronger together than apart and Paige had managed to drive a wedge between them and break what she thought was near unbreakable.

Paige stared into the water, hoping a solution would present itself in the crystalline depths. She was surprised when the subject of her thoughts appeared, Emily walking up to her, a too baggy coat draped on her lean frame.

"I'm sorry," Paige led with. Not her best offering but at least she hadn't broken into tears and begged Emily for forgiveness. Yet.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I shouldn't have let it happen. It was wrong. If I ever find out who put that stuff in your flask, I swear, I'll kill them."

Emily shook her head. "Don't say that."

"I mean it." These games had gone on long enough, they deserved to live their lives without constant fear.

"I don't want you to say it, I don't want you to mean it. I want you to listen."

Paige met Emily's gaze, if her friend was going to dress her down for her behaviour, the least she could do was take it like a McCullers. Emily stepped toward her, never breaking her gaze.

"I haven't been with anyone since Maya, I haven't even thought about it. At least, I didn't think I was thinking about it... "

And then 'A' drugged her and took away her ability to choose, Paige thought, sickened that she had played even an unwitting role in that night.

"I was drunk that night, and I got lost."

Paige nodded, knowing that was what it had been. Emily hadn't come for her, Paige had just been familiar, safe. Any port in a storm.

"Only..."

She looked up, eyes meeting those of her friend at the unexpected segue.

"I didn't really get lost. I was looking for something, I was looking for somebody." Emily's eyes searched hers, as if asking Paige to understand the meaning beneath the words. "And I came here."

Paige laughed off the confession. Emily did seem to find her when times got tough. Maybe that was destined to be her role in Emily's life. Except, the look Emily was giving her, wasn't that of a friend. She had seen it before. Before Maya's return. Before Samara. Before her window seat confession. She had seen it that night, standing in a dark parking lot when Emily asked her, in the smallest of ways, to be brave.

But... that wasn't right. She didn't get this. She didn't get the girl. She was reading Emily wrong. Paige looked down, shaking her head, hoping Emily would explain herself and put her jack hammering heart out of its misery. A hand under her chin tipped her head up, forcing her to lock eyes with Emily.

"Don't look away."

Lips were on hers, suddenly, Emily wrapping strong hands around Paige's neck to pull her in.

Paige pulled away for a second, eyes meeting Emily's, hoping for confirmation that this was real. Emily's bright smile was her confirmation, before she was pulled into a kiss once more, her fingers wrapping around Emily's wrists, holding the girl in place as her entire world seemed to right itself.

She was home.

Finally.

She didn't know how long they stood there, wrapped together as Emily hugged her, arms clasped tight behind Paige's back as if to keep her in place. Paige loved the feeling but it wasn't necessary, she wasn't going anywhere.

"I can't believe you're here." Paige said into Emily's neck, head pillowed on Emily's shoulder as they stood.

"It's been a long time coming, Paige. I think we finally got the timing right."

Paige lifted her head, eyes meeting Emily's. "It was worth the wait." The comment earned her a kiss, slow and sweet before Emily rested her cheek against Paige's. "We never did finish our workout you know. Care for a swim?"

"You're a piece of work, McCullers. I pour my heart out to you and you want to workout." Emily's smile took the sting out of her words, as did the good natured poke she levelled at Paige's ribs.

"Just want to make sure you can keep up with me, Fields. Besides, the pool is kind of our spot, isn't it? It's where it all started."

"You mean when you dunked me under?" The raised eyebrow and slight smirk showed the question was meant in jest though Paige's gut still clenched at how far she had allowed herself to be pushed.

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

Emily seemed to consider the question. "Depends, how were you planning to make it up to me?"

"Hmm, I think I can come up with something."

"Good, you keep thinking." Emily took a step back to shuck the unfamiliar jacket from her shoulders. Paige meant to ask but was distracted as Emily peeled off her tank top, tossing it onto the lounge chair. "You said your parents were away, right?"

"Uh, yeah? Yes. I meant, yes. In Scranton." She was impressed with having got that much out her mouth, considering how her brain misfired when Emily shimmied out of her jeans and tossed them to the side.

"You coming?" her friend, 'girlfriend?', performed a neat dive into the water, surfacing with a smile. She had seen Emily in pretty much every state of undress but this definitely felt different. While there had been tension, at least on her end, there hadn't been expectation. No, she was allowed to look. Encouraged even, it seemed, as Emily began to make long, slow strokes across the pool.

Shaking herself out of mental paralysis, Paige stripped down to her underwear, a cannonball her heralding call as she jumped into the pool. The splash just about reached Emily who gave her a swim by kiss and continued on. Paige matched her pace, the warm water sluicing off her body as they swam in tandem, for the first time in a long time, completely in sync.