AN: So I had this thought in my head since the elevator. I'm pretty sure every person who ever liked Emily and Daniel had some thought about them during and after that scene. Once the characters animosity of each other wasn't the main focus of a scene we got to see that positive chemistry again. I had this idea for a little ficlet (aka one shot) in my head and it stayed in my head even as they were leading us to Daniel's death. This works with the majority of the last episode, just imagine him a few seconds slower. Distracting Kate with his arrival at the door, falling back with a bullet wound on the porch, buying Emily a few more minutes in agony on the floor as Kate went after Daniel, only to be stopped by Jack.

I failed at making it a one-shot, but the story isn't fully fleshed out. It is more composed of brief scenes between Daniel and Emily. They will jump in time and occasionally have others others in them, but hopefully they won't be confusing. My tenses refused to behave in the first scene, I like past, they really wanted to be present. They eventually followed my leave, but for some reason the first part doesn't seem right without them being in the present tense so I left them. Sorry to all that will bug. You can stop now before you go on. :-P

Thanks for reading and if you make it to the end give a little review so I can finish parts 2 and 3.

With Time

It's late as Emily heads to the front door. Exhausted at the thought of another late night arrival. The past few weeks haven't exactly left her comfortable with the thought of unexpected visitors. She's already stowed a gun in her sling, a weapon hasn't been out of her reach since Nolan joined her in the emergency room. She's uncomfortable at the thought of being without one ever again.

She sighs as she opens the door for Daniel, "Not tonight Daniel." The idea of fighting anyone, anyhow, is a level of debilitation she can't fathom after two decades of battling the world.

"Don't worry dear, I'm not really in the mood either." The sling on his right arm is a mirror image of hers. Hers isn't needed, she can handle the pain from the dislocation, but it's a handy place to hide a gun and she has a better chance of one upping her enemy if they think she's weak.

His smug attitude is almost reassuring. It's either that or the fact that she is pretty sure he won't be trying to kill her, again, since he just tried to save her. She doesn't want to think about that though and almost instantly the unease returns. "It's late. What do you want Daniel?"

"Well Margaux just took a flight to Paris, my business is a bust again, you and my mother are trying to destroy each other and you're living in my house while I'm living in a hotel I can't afford."

She suddenly notices the bag by his feet, another clue that she was done. Rats eventually die from stress when they are shocked at random intervals without anyone to fight. She had kept herself alive by fighting others. "No way in Hell."

"Now now Amanda, I did just save your life," he picks up the overpriced duffel and walks through the doorway, the sling on her arm now a deficit as she debates exposing the gun she has stashed.

"I told you to run, I don't owe you any favors."

"I know that feeling, kind of like keeping the fact that you're Amanda Clarke to myself." His bag drops by the stairs.

"You shot me and left me to die in the water."

"Which you blamed on Lydia and considering your decades long obsession with my family. I've got to say, I don't think police are going to take you on your word if you suddenly blame that on me."

Emily forces herself to take a breath as he heads further into her house, leaving her with no choice, but to follow him, since avoidance has never been an option. "How much do you want?"

"Well for starters the cost of that little party last year."

"Fine, I'll have it set up tomorrow."

"Sounds wonderful dear." He frowns at the empty ice bucket at the bar. "Where's the staff?"

"I don't have them here all the time."

"You mean you can't risk having them here all the time." Daniel poured the Scotch into the tumbler despite the lack of ice.

"Do you need money now? I'll call the hotel-" Emily pulled the cell out of her back pocket.

"You can call them, but the only place I'm going is upstairs to bed."

"You're not staying here."

"I know you don't really get normal human interactions, but that bag I carried in implies otherwise."

"I agreed to give you the money."

"And I appreciate that."

"What do you want?" The fight within her was rising.

"Can you give me back those three years?"

"I can increase the likelihood of you surviving the next three if you leave. Aren't you supposed to be fighting for Margaux? Isn't she pregnant?" Just saying the words left a bitter taste in her mouth. He would have a child while he had made it so she never would. "It's been three days. How badly could you have fucked it up this time?"

His lips quickly lifted in a bittersweet smile. "Margaux wants the boy I was. You know who I am?" Daniel lifted his glass to her, "I'm the guy who shot his wife on their wedding day."

"Do you want me to say that we're even?" Emily shook her head in disbelief and annoyance.

"I can't take back all the things that I've done. I can't erase the things I know I'm capable of. Margaux deserves better than the lie."

"Daniel," she attempted to soften her voice.

"I get it Amanda. I get everything that you did," he took a sip. "Hell I've got to be honest, I'm even impressed by it."

"What do you want?"

"Things you can't give me. I'll settle for you using you like you used me. A means to an end. I need to build my life back up and you're the stepping stone to doing it."

"And I'm going to agree to that why?"

"Think of how crazy it will drive my mother having us back together," he gave her another smile.

"Your mother is the reason we're both having problems pulling our pants on in the morning," she shot back at him.

"Another benefit to us living together. If-"

"Daniel!" Emily snapped.

"If I'm living here my mother is a hell of a lot less likely to send killers after you." The accusations had started the moments their parents rushed to them. Daniel hadn't been at all surprised to hear her accuse his mother, shamed, but not surprised.

"This isn't your fight."

He let out a brief laugh, "You made me part of this the moment you decided to use me to go after my parents. Only now I know the details and I'm choosing the winning side."

"So you're here because you think I'm going to win? I-" Emily was about to promise to not go after him.

"I think you should win. So why not help each other?" He shrugged.

"I think the alcohol has finally rotted your brain."

"Amanda-"

"Will you stop calling me that!"

"I've had it with the lies!"

"You want to move back in!"

"This is the means to an end. I get my life back, you get Victoria out of yours. I need some small modicum of truth in my life so I might still be able to recognize it when this is all over," he turned away and went to pour another drink. "I called Charlotte, I called my sister-our sister in rehab to see if she tried to kill you." He had watched his mother smoothly transfer the guilt of the incident onto Charlotte, tears in her eyes as she told David she was worried that this would happen once more, how Charlotte had tried to kill Emily in the fire.

"You shouldn't have involved her," Emily's eyes grew wide in anger. "She-"

"Give me some credit. I called to let her know I was fine."

"You cannot let your mother know where Charlotte-"

"Why would I ever-"

The doorbell rang.

"Who the hell is it now?" Emily cursed as she turned out of the room. She forced a facade of composure on her face as she opened it for Ben. "Ben," she smiled.

"I just wanted to come by and check on you. Jack-"

"Southampton PD really earns their paycheck don't they?" Daniel walks into the foyer.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you had company-"

"I'm not company," Daniel walks over, "I moved back in today."

"I-"

"I'm like you, I'm not okay with Emily being out here on her own. In fact, I'm not sure I'll be letting her out of my sight anytime soon."

"Is this what you want Emily?" Ben looking at her in confusion.

"The other night was a wake up call for Daniel and I."

"I thought I was going to lose her," Daniel wrapped his left arm around her.

"And I thought she was going to put a bullet through your head," Emily's eyes were wide as she smiled at him.

"And no one gets to do that except for Emily. So take three. Third time's a charm, right?" He pulled her a little closer.

"Okay, so if you're sure you're okay. I can still take a quick walk around-"

"We're fine, but thank you for stopping by. You might want to tell your partner I'm living here again as well."

"Thank you so much Ben."

"Night," Ben nodded as he turned around.

"What is he Dudley Do Right?" Daniel's arm disengaged the moment the door shut before Emily had a chance to shake him off.

"That is what a nice guy looks like."

"Or a gold digger trying to get in the wealthy socialite's pants."

Emily took a breath, "I'm going to bed."

"I'm going in search of ice."

"Oh by the way Daniel," Emily pauses on the stairs looking down at her ex husband. "Since we're doing this whole honesty thing, you're an alcoholic."

"I wouldn't have survived this long if I wasn't," he said lifting his glass in the air in a cheers as he walked towards the kitchen.

-o-o-o-

"So if everything hadn't happened how it happened you would have been my sister."

Daniel is up annoyingly early the next day, drinking a cup of coffee and studying her as she reads the paper. She focuses her breathing and refuses to react. She almost wished that she had kept the sling on, so it wouldn't quite be so easy to react.

"That would have been really awkward."

She remains silent.

"I'm not entirely sure this revenge plot against everyone is justified. You didn't have to grow up with my mom as a mother. You would probably be even scarier. She probably did you a favor."

-o-o-o-

There is no greeting as Daniel picks up his phone, "Daniel why is your car at Emily's and why has it been there all night according to David?"

"Probably because I spent the night here."

"And why did you do that?"

"I am a grown man Mother and that is absolutely none of your business. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Daniel picked up his spoon once more and returned to eating the cereal Emily had made prepared for after the guilt of watching him try to pour cereal had been too much for her that and she would have had to clean up his mess.

"Your mother?"

"Our parents are checking up on us. They'll probably be up here soon."

Emily picked the newspaper back up.

"You would have been my sister-wife."

"No I wouldn't have." Emily refused to make eye contact.

"Yea your dad would have probably killed me before that happened."

"Don't think he would have beat me to it."

-o-o-o-

"I thought you weren't going to have contact with me?" Emily spoke to her father after exchanging fake greetings with Victoria.

"I think it's completely understandable as to why David would accompany me to see my son. So what exactly is going on here?"

"I moved back in last night."

"You what?!" Victoria couldn't hide the shrill tone in her voice.

It caused David's head to sharply turn towards her, "Victoria."

"I'm sorry, David, but you were not around before. This has ended badly, twice."

"Someone tried to kill Amanda four days ago. I don't think it's the best thing for her to be living in this house unprotected."

Emily watched Victoria's swallow over the use of her real name. "Amanda," emphasis was placed upon her name, "is more than capable of looking after herself."

"The other night-"

"The other night you were shot and would have been killed if Jack Porter hadn't rescued you both. Perhaps we should see if he would like to move in."

"Jack is not moving into this house," Daniel's gaze on his mother grew serious.

"What am I missing about Jack?" David looked on in confusion.

"Nothing," Daniel and Amanda snapped in unison.

Victoria smiled.

"Look at it this way Mother. I might not be much help in a fight, but if they're busy killing me, it'll give Amanda a chance to get away."

David nodded after a moment in agreement.

"That is not funny," Victoria looked at her son with a solemn expression.

"Am I laughing?" Daniel asked her. "So let's just hope no one goes after her again."

"Daniel-"

"I am the only person in this town with a familial claim on Emily Thorne in this town, so until that changes I'm the one living here."

"So is anything going on between you two?" David questioned.

"Not at all," Emily answered her father.

"Then why did Margaux say you broke up with her?" Victoria inquired.

"I appreciate you trying to talk Margaux into believing that I was still that little boy deep down, but I haven't been in a very long time. I have done more things that have disgusted me in my life than good. That boy is gone."

"Oh Daniel, don't say that."

"I am going to try to be a decent man for my child, but I can't begin that with a lie to his mother." Before his mother could say anything else, Daniel turned to David, "I'm the one that shot Emily last year."

"You," David's eyes filled with rage.

"I was drunk and I found out that our entire life was a lie. The thing was even that was a lie. Emily was never even real. I loved her and she didn't exist. She was made up for me to love, so she could go after my family and if I knew that," Daniel nodded, "I probably would have helped her. But Amanda has a thing against people helping her, she told me to run the other night when someone was going to kill her. Plus side, she and Emily have that in common, so at least there was one truth in three years. So the thing is she gets my help now, even if she doesn't want it."

"We should go Victoria," David took her arm as she began to protest. "Watch her," he told Daniel.

"Daddy likes me," Daniel smirked at her as she shut the door after their parents.

"Your mother killed Aiden." Emily informed Daniel as she walked out of the room.

-o-o-o-

She found him in her room as she walked out from her shower, holding the picture Jack had given her. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Ouch," Daniel said noticing her exposed flesh. The plush white towel a stark contrast to her healing bruises.

"My room?"

"You and Jack make so much more sense now."

"Can you put that down?"

"How'd he take it? Finding out everything was a lie? He at least got a real kid out of it."

"Leave Jack-"

"Out of it? Too late for that. How did he take finding out that he waited two decades for you and then married the wrong girl?"

"She was the right girl. They loved each other, they had Carl."

"Trust me when I say this, but finding out the girl of your dreams, isn't at all her. Isn't made better by anything you tell yourself."

"Why are you in my room?" Emily pulled the towel tighter.

"Let's go to the club, get dinner. Be seen together."

"Fine," she shook her head.

-o-o-o-

"I should warn you," Daniel said as they walked into the club together, "we're pretty sure Louise tried to kill Margaux so she could have me."

"Someone was willing to kill to get you? What would she get out of that?"

"My mother."

"So she's certifiable."

"I would avoid steam rooms and dark alleys."

"Well if it isn't the Hamptons own Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton," Nolan said approaching them. She had called Nolan last night after retreating to her room.

"Hardly," Emily rolled her eyes and accepted Nolan's kiss on her cheek.

"Daniel," Nolan said taking his hand, "I wish I could say I was glad to see you. Remind me again what the definition of insanity is? Oh that's right doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to go differently."

"Good to see you too Nolan," Daniel smirked.

"Danny," Louise smiled as she walking over, "I just had to come over and say hi. Lovely to see you again Emily."

"You too."

"And how are you both feeling? I heard about that awful ordeal the other night."

"I'm sore and scratchy, but I'll live. Em is a walking bruise."

"I thought you were fine?" Nolan gave her an annoyed look.

"I am," she confirmed.

"She went off a balcony," Daniel pointed out.

"Why is he here still?" Nolan questioned.

"He thinks I need a babysitter," Emily's head tilted to the side and she gave perturbed smile.

"Danny are you somewhere you aren't wanted?" Louise southern drawl teased.

"I didn't want to get married. Fair's fair."

"You did ask me twice," Emily gave him an obnoxious smile.

"Don't worry folks, I promise it won't be happening a third time. Now if you don't mind," Daniel's hand went to Emily's waist and they said their goodbyes.

"This is never going to work," Emily's voice was soft as they walked past a sea of faces trying to not obviously stare.

"It already is. I am an idiot and you are gorgeous. This happens at least three times a season in the Hamptons. You are also filthy rich."

"So is Louise."

"I've survived you twice, I can handle a third time. The whole mother thing," Daniel shuddered.

Emily laughed softly.

"They believe us already," he said with a smile leaning into her. "Thank you," Daniel said as the arrived at their table.

As they settled into their seats and were left alone with their menus, she once more asked, "Why did you come in after me?"

"You're going to have to buy me a drink first sweetheart."

-o-o-o-

"Are you ignoring my phone calls for a reason?" Jack asked as Emily finally picked up.

"I was at dinner, it would have been rude."

"With Daniel Grayson."

"I was."

"Ben said you're living with him again. Nolan's hasn't been returning my texts."

"He's busy with the club."

"No he doesn't want to lie for you."

"Jack," Emily sighed and paused in taking off her earrings.

"What's going on?"

"I honestly have no idea. I think Daniel is having a midlife crisis or something."

"He's younger than me."

"I don't know Margaux is pregnant and the next thing I know he's rushing into my house trying to save me."

"Yea I heard she left."

"I think Daniel told her to leave."

"So you just let him move back in?"

"He threatened to out me as Amanda Clarke."

"There has to be more to this than that."

Emily sighed and sat on the side of her bed, "Nothing that I believe."

"What did he say?"

"A lot of BS. Like Victoria will be less likely to send people after me to kill me if he's here."

"That's probably true."

"But why would he do that?!" Emily's voice lifted in frustration.

"He didn't tell you anything else?"

"Something about being on the winning side for once, that I deserve to win and not Victoria. It was a lot of BS. He's after something and I don't know what." Emily sighed again. "Look Jack, I've had a long day."

"Okay. Goodnight. Be careful Emily."

"Of course. Night."

-o-o-o-

He calls her Amanda constantly.

It's slowly driving her insane.

She hasn't been Amanda in so long.

When her father says it, it's like a warm memory.

When Daniel says it, it's a reminder of all she's done.

Emily was a shell. A hard, thick shell. Things slid off it, barely cracked the surface.

Amanda is that broken child before Nolan.

That sweet child before her father was taken away from her.

Amanda was never supposed to be who she has become.

Hearing it constantly is making Emily think about that girl, truly think about her.

Imagine that she would have grown up in Southampton, married Jack far too young and set out on adventures with him.

She could have done that anyhow. She could have come back with the money Nolan gave her and whisked Jack away. He would have gone. Amanda would still be alive. Declan would still be alive. Aiden...

Her father would be alive anyway.

She wonders what different choices she would have made if she had known that. If she could have let him fight his own battles and focused on finding peace in her life instead of revenge.

When Jack stops by with Carl, she sits with him for an hour as he sleeps in her arms.

She wonders why she hadn't chosen love over revenge. She wonders what that says about her.