April 10th, 2022

"I don't know what to wear," Alison sighed, discarding the blue blouse she had on. Emily was sitting on the bed, waiting for Alison to be ready so that they could go out. Sunday wasn't an ideal night to go out, but Emily had worked on Saturday. She studied Alison's frame, which was definitely larger since her bump had grown. Emily still thought she looked amazing, and there was something especially attractive about her growing stomach. The problem was that because Alison's bump was growing, her clothes were not made to be stretched that far. Everything was soon unable to fit her, and even though Alison passed off with wearing baggy clothes around the house, it made finding something nice to wear out especially hard.

"Nothing fits anymore," Alison huffed, standing in front of Emily wearing only a tank top and panties. Emily couldn't help but stare when Alison's back was turned, or feel a hot sensation in her lower abdomen. "Even my bras are starting to get too small, I used to think there were big before I was pregnant...but this is just a nightmare. I'm starting to get stretch marks on my stomach too."

Emily sprung to her feet upon Alison speaking negatively of her body, and quickly walked towards her and the pile of clothes that surrounded her. She placed both her hands on Alison's forearms to make sure Alison would look right at her.

"Hey," Emily said, her voice growing firm, yet still gentle. "Every carrying mother gets like this, your body is just naturally doing this because you're pregnant. Once you have the little prince, I'll get you on my exercise and diet routine. I hope you like fruit smoothies."

Alison smiled, a blush creeping on her cheeks as she looked at the ground. Emily smiled back at Alison, taking in the sight of her full face of makeup. Alison never really wore makeup, and if she did she wore foundation and mascara only. Now her lips had a shiny layer of lip gloss on them, and Emily had learned she was a pro at blending eyeshadow.

"Thanks Em," Alison said, letting out a sigh. "I just...I just get insecure about it."

Emily rubbed Alison's arms, "Don't be. You are as gorgeous as when I knew you in high school. Here, let me help you find something you can wear out and tomorrow I'm sure Hanna would love to help you get maternity clothes."

"Would she? I barely know her, and I feel bad-"

"She'd love to, just text her and ask," Emily said, waving her off. She opened her drawer and began to dig through it. "But, for now here."

She tossed Alison an article of clothing without warning, and Alison caught it in her hands. She held it up in front of her, realizing the importance of the jacket in her arms. It was a cotton navy blue sweatshirt, specifically for Rosewood's Varsity Swim Team of 2012. Alison remembered everyone on the swim team getting one, after making it all of the way to nationals. Not only did they get this personalized sweatshirt, but a water bottle, a rain jacket, and a pair of sweatpants.

Alison turned the sweatshirt over, and saw in white lettering Emily's last name plastered on the back. Her eyes travelled down the back of the sweatshirt, and at the bottom was white letters that said "CAPTAIN."

"Your varsity captain sweatshirt?" Alison asked, turning it back over. Her thumb rubbed over the cotton fabric, tracing the letters of the word "varsity."

"Yeah, it should be a bit looser than any of my other sweatshirts. My mom accidentally ordered a size too high at the time, so this should give your bump some more room," Emily said, shrugging. For someone who wasn't shy anymore, Alison could see her returning to her early high school years upon this interaction.

Alison smiled, and pulled the sweatshirt over her head. It was warm, and was a bit looser around the stomach. Alison looked in the mirror as she pulled her blonde locks out of the hood, noticing that you could still see her bump. The sweatshirt fit comfortably at least, and Alison smiled at herself in the mirror.

"It's perfect," Alison said, turning back to Emily. "We're representing you."

Emily smiled sheepishly, and looked at the ground, "It should work for now. I'm glad you like it."

"Em, you used to wear this sweatshirt all the time in high school, I remember," Alison said, walking up to Emily. "This was like your prized possession."

"I can lend it to someone who needs it," Emily shrugged, as she admired how attractive Alison looked wearing her sweatshirt. There was just something about seeing Alison wearing her sweatshirt, it made her look fantastic. "Besides, you look better in it anyway."

Alison smiled back, "Well, don't expect to be getting this back. Ever. Now come on, let's go to dinner."

The pizzeria they settled on what tucked away on the corner of a street in Brooklyn. Since it was later at night, it was relatively silent. Manhattan was usually one of the only boroughs that was still noisy, even at 3am. This pizzeria was surrounded by apartment buildings, and only a few people were walking along the streets. Emily had drove, and it took them a few minutes to find a parking spot about two blocks away.

Emily opened the door for Ali, glad that the people inside had casual attire on as well. What started off as an idea to have a fancy dinner, turned out to be them going to a pizzeria after Alison admitted she'd be embarrassed by how out of place she'd look in a high school swim sweatshirt. Emily, who was wearing black leather pants and a jean jacket decided to change out of it and dress down. That way, she and Alison would be wearing generally the same clothes. Now, she wore a light colored jeans and a maroon wool sweater.

"God, how often do we eat pizza?" Alison joked, as they sat down at a table for two.

"Too much, but are you complaining? Do you want to go get some sushi?" Emily asked, pointing towards the exit.

"No!" Alison said, reaching for Emily to prevent her from leaving. "I mean, we haven't had brick oven pizza since we've been here…"

Emily smiled, and fake swooned, "This is why I married you. Your love for pizza, as much as mine."

Alison rolled her eyes, and Emily admired the glimmer of high school Alison in her face. They didn't have much time for banter, when their waitress came over to take their drink order. She looked a little younger than the duo, with a short pixie cut and tattoos up her arms. Emily always wanted a tattoo, but had been too chicken to get one.

"Hey! I'm Ruby, are you guys ready to get some drinks yet? Or should I come back?" Ruby asked.

"I think we're ready. I'll have a rum and Coke," Emily said, not taking her eyes off Alison.

"I'm good with just water," Alison said, smiling politely as she looked up at Ruby.

Just water? Wait…

"Actually, take the rum out of the Coke and just make it a Coke," Emily said, remembering that Alison could not have any alcohol whatsoever. Emily just wanted to make it easier for her.

"Oh! Ok, if you're sure," Ruby said, surprised by Emily's change in order. "I'll go and get the drinks for you. Just take a look over the menu while I do that."

Alison watched Ruby walk away, her eyes quickly falling back to Emily. Her mouth was open slightly, but Emily could see she was smiling. "You know just because I can't drink, doesn't mean you can't."

Emily shrugged, "Pregnancy is a pain. I don't want to rub it in your face that I can drink, so I just won't until this baby is born."

"Really?" Alison asked, her voice dry. "You're going to be one of those co-parents."

"Would you rather me temptingly drink my rum and coke in front of you?" Emily asked, pushing her hair over her shoulder. When Alison didn't respond, Emily gave her a cocky half-smile, "I didn't think so."

Emily appreciated the constant banter and conversation that she and Alison were able to have. Not only was it refreshing, but they had started off living together in awkward conversation and interactions where they both were unsure of where they stood. To Emily, Alison was definitely gorgeous. Not only that, but she had always had a thing for Alison in high school. She didn't want to be selfish however, Alison had just gotten out of a very serious relationship a little over a month ago. She wasn't even sure if Alison returned those feelings, despite their flirtatious interactions in high school. Also, she wasn't sure how long they were going to keep up the act of being married. Maybe, they'd stop once they were sure Alison's ex wouldn't bother her, but Emily was sure she'd still want to be in her baby's life. It was all unknown, and neither seemed to want to talk about it.

Emily continued to stay lost in thought until they both had ordered their pizza, and gotten their drinks. Emily stirred the Coke in her glass with a black straw, staring at the dark colored liquid. She sipped it lightly, and looked up at Alison with the straw still between her lips.

"Having fun there?" Alison asked, picking up her glass of water to take a sip. "You picked a good place."

"Brick oven pizza is the best," Emily shrugged. "And we deserve the best of the best. Is my sweatshirt keeping you warm?"

"Yes, it's perfect," Alison said, looking down at the lettering on her chest. "Kind of makes me wish I did more sports in high school."

"Well, you can always tell people you were a varsity swim captain in high school. They'll never know," Emily said, pointedly.

"You know there's probably something else we should think about," Alison began. "I know that it's still like four-ish months away, but we need to think about furnishing a nursery for the baby boy."

Emily nodded, and bit her lip. It would be nice to have someone with experience help with it, but Emily knew that Alison's dad would never and Emily had not talked to her mom in about a month. Maybe it was time to finally talk to her mom, instead of ignore the majority of her calls in fear of confrontation.

"I think we're going to need one of those baby carrier things, that way he can sleep or chill out while we're doing things," Emily said. "Just imagine him curled up on my chest in that thing."

"I'm imagining it now, and it's extremely cute," Alison smiled. Emily smiled back at her, grateful for the easiness of their conversations. It could definitely be worse after all.

They continued to talk until their food arrived, slices of pizza were set down before them. The crust was hard, crunchy from being made in a brick oven. Emily wasn't a huge fan of chewy crust, so eating out of a brick oven made everything better. Emily noticed the pineapple pizza in front of Alison, which she had grown used to her eating. It was just something quirky that Alison liked, at least while she was pregnant. Emily thought it was weird and practically sinful at first, but she soon stopped doing so as it became a regular thing. Emily had gotten the special, which had black olives and a mixtures of chopped peppers sprinkled on top. Emily liked to broaden her pizza horizon, where Alison usually kept to the same thing.

"Want a bite?" Emily asked, holding up a particularly cheesy slice of black olive and pepper pizza.

Alison wrinkled her nose, "You enjoy eating that?"

"Try for me," Emily said, practically whining. "If you do, I'll let you pick the dessert."

"I'll do it, if you try a bite of mine," Alison countered, holding up her pineapple pizza.

Emily recoiled back, not wanting to go anywhere near the pizza. She considered it for a moment, and opened her mouth.

"You're serious?" Alison asked, shocked with Emily's action.

"Do it before I change my mind!" Emily said, and Alison quickly lowered the pizza into her mouth. She felt the crust on her tongue, but also a few pineapple pizza spill off the top and fall into her mouth. She bit down, pulling the bit of pizza away from the slice Alison was holding. She leaned backward, as Alison watched her in shock.

Emily chewed happily, surprised even with herself that she had taken a bite. She had never had any before at all. It wasn't too bad, maybe not bad enough to be made fun of. But, she wasn't sure she'd ever have it again.

"Wow, wild," Alison said, putting down her pizza slice. "Ok, give me yours. I gotta try."

Emily swallowed her bite, and held her slice out for Alison to take a bite. The olives and peppers would give Alison a change in flavor, since pineapple pizza was sweet. This would be bitter for her.

She watched as Alison chewed, wondering if she could broaden Alison's tastebuds.

There was a large crowd in the restaurant by the time they were both done eating. All the people were waiting at the door, desperate to be seated so that they could share some brick oven pizza. As they stood up, Emily remarked that it was a good thing that they came to eat when they did. She signaled for Alison to walk before her, as they headed towards the group of people standing in front of their exit.

It was hard to get out, and rather pushy too. Some people just didn't seem to want to move, too busy talking to realize that two women were trying to leave out the door behind them. Alison reached her hand back, and held it out for Emily so that Emily wouldn't get caught in the crowd. Emily reached for it and held on eagerly, but was more focused on trying to leave.

Holding on tightly to Alison's hand, they walked through the crowd of people and towards the door. Alison had a biting voice, one which she used to use on people in high school. This time it was to sternly excuse she and Emily through them, and after a few times they finally moved over to let them out.

"Way to push through," Emily said to Ailson, letting the door to the pizzeria close behind them. Neither she nor Alison made a move to released their interlocked fingers, and instead fell into a slow walk back towards Emily's car. It was getting colder now, both could see their breath fog up in front of them as they walked hand in hand. Soon, their arms were swinging casually together, and they fell into easy conversation once again.

Alison's other hand was resting on her stomach, tucked into the pocket of Emily's swim sweatshirt she was wearing. Emily glanced at her often, looking at how her blonde hair looked almost white in the street lights, and how Alison couldn't seem to stop smiling.

"You know," Alison began, after about a minute of silent walking. Emily felt Alison's thumb stroke her hand. "I didn't think you or anyone would escape from Rosewood with me."

"Why's that?" Emily asked, slowing down to look at Alison. "It was a bad situation and you needed to-"

Alison shushed Emily softly, and placed a hand on Emily's forearm. "Emily, bad situation or not, we didn't know each other well in high school. We barely even knew each other when we were both teaching together. There has to be more of a reason on why you agreed...hell, you were the one who came up with this idea."

Emily thought for a moment, felt the pressure on her upper arm as Alison picked a string off her jacket, and looked beyond Alison and into the dark street.

"I wanted…" she began, but her voice faltered. She took a deep breath, and forced herself to look at Alison. Right into those crystal blue eyes, and all she saw was comfort and warmth. Emily felt at ease when she looked at them, a feeling no one felt when looking at Alison DiLaurentis in high school. "I wanted a family. Crazy as that sounds, everything has been pretty off since my dad died. I spent a lot of my early twenties trying to figure out what I lost, and what I still needed."

"Go on," Alison said, as Emily's voice faded out.

"I found that here, being here. With you, our baby. I don't know… the circumstances in which we came here was crazy and honestly I always hated New York and it's still not my favorite place to be…" Emily said, looking down at the hand that was holding Alison's. "I'm ready to do that here, to raise our little prince together. Not only is it giving me a chance to find the family I've been missing for almost eight years, but I feel like I'm doing something right. And good, with my time."

The whole time Emily talked, Alison smiled up at her. Emily noticed how long her eyelashes were, how her cheeks were slightly red from the cold or something else, and the faint freckles that adorned her nose. Her lips were turned upward in a smile, pink and with a slight sheen due to the lip gloss.

As if it was both apparent, Emily couldn't help herself. Alison. Since they had gotten to New York, since their reunion, every night Alison had slept in her bed. It was apparent that Emily's school girl crush on Alison had never died. From someone who walked Rosewood's halls with reason and conviction, made everyone cower against the lockers as she passed. Her blue eyes lacking the warmth they gave Emily in this moment covered under designer sunglasses. But, things were very different almost ten years later. Here Alison was, caring and kind and… loving. She was pregnant with Emily's baby, Emily's genes growing inside her every second. Once this baby was born, whatever his name was, she'd be sure that he had two loving mothers.

She was leaning in before she could help it, and quickly realizes that Alison was leaning in to. Emily let her eyes close shut, her breath hitching in her throat as her lips parted and she captured Alison's bottom lip in a soft kiss. Her arms, which were hung at her side moved to Alison's hips. She tugged Alison closer to her body, causing Alison to squeak slightly in surprise as their lips began to move against each other's.

Alison's hands slid up her arms, and ended up placed on Emily's jaw. Alison's hands were slightly cold to the touch, but made Emily's cheeks feel fiery. Emily took in every moment, and felt as if her high school self could finally rest in piece knowing how Alison's lips felt and tasted. It was a feeling she could barely compare to any other kiss she had shared, their was a gentleness to it even though with each passing second their kissing picked up in eagerness. Each kiss lasted a long time, and Emily felt her breath escaping her lungs as if it was being sucked out.

To anyone passing by or looking on, they'd see two wives sharing a kiss. As one they would share everyday, a normal thing. They could be celebrating their upcoming child, the fact they were in love, or just as any other kiss. But no, this was something new for the both of them. Territory neither had stepped into, and was figuring out as they went along.

As they grew more comfortable with the other's movements and the intoxicating smell of the other that filled their nose, their kisses became more frequent. Their mouths desperate to discover more. Emily felt Alison's part slightly, her tongue slightly brushing across Emily's top lip, as if asking for entrance in the most polite of ways. Emily opened her mouth eagerly, her tongue quickly meeting Alison's.

There was no battle between their tongues, no war to see who was most dominant. Their tongues moved naturally together, as they got acquainted Alison's arms moved to wrap around Emily's neck. Emily felt her hands grab tightly to Emily's jacket at the shoulders, and Emily sucked in a breath as she bit down on Alison's lip lightly.

Things were beginning to get too heated for a public street, despite the fact no one was walking by. With the lip bite, Emily pulled away from Alison's mouth. She brought Alison's bottom lip with her slightly, before releasing it. Her eyes were still closed, as she pressed her forehead to Alison's. Both of them breathed heavily into the night, their breath mixing with one another. Emily felt Alison stroke her cheek with the pad of her thumb, cupping it slightly.

"Come on wifey," Alison said softly, a hint of tease in her voice. "Let's get to bed."

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