Summary: Naomi-centric; post 2x19. "Naomi glows, wherever she goes. She shimmers in the Beverley Hills sunlight, and when Liam looks at his girlfriend, she fades."

A/N: So it's kinda sad when you find yourself stopping liking a certain couple. What's worse is still liking a certain couple, but knowing that your favourite character deserves so much better writing. In a lot of ways, I think Naomi is to 90210 as Brooke was to One Tree Hill; both end up not getting the guy, but they also get the best character story overall, in my opinion, and this is coming from an LP girl. I could say I hope 90210 gets enough seasons for Liam to be redeemed in regards to how he's treated Naomi recently, but hey, it's another case of if he cheats on you once, he'll do it again – normally I don't like a couple that has cheated, but LN have the chemistry. And that's more than what we can say for Annie with Liam...or Annie with anyone for that matter. (: (Except the adorable head-lean during 2x18! Naomi is even enough to make Annie bearable at times haha.)

"I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle.
But if you can't handle me at my worst,
then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

- Marilyn Monroe

Still, She Shines

When the Queen is dethroned, there isn't a lot you can say is cemented in permanence.

Naomi Clark; picking up garbage, head held lower than usual, avoiding her usual outbursts of opinion; saying sorry.

Then, she knows her land better than anyone else does. She knows that opinions can switch in a matter of seconds, that everyone's head has hanged lower at some point with shame of a secret, that one minute your picking up someone else's garbage before you go home to a million-dollar mansion.

The looks slice straight through her, her armour has truly cracked for the first time. Being betrayed by her sister hurt her, but with Jen, it was almost to be expected – the lying, the cheating, all of it. And then, oddly, at times, she thought that if it hadn't been for Jen and her crazy, Liam wouldn't have really matured at all. Wouldn't have pined for her (because she seen it, she seen his eyes with a longing she didn't think a guy like him could ever know), wouldn't have changed, wouldn't have given his heart to her (and then take it back when she made a mistake. It's not like Liam has ever made one of those before.)

She concludes that it's because everyone else, especially during high school, falls for the first time. Falls in love, falls short of their dreams, falls out of love, falls out friendship, or fall so far out of life itself, but no-one expects royalty to fall, and that's exactly what Naomi is to this place. There has never been a king that's been enough to keep up with her, whether it's in love or hate, but she has always remained Queen.

When Liam walked right past her, looking but not acknowledging, she knew in that moment that it was over.

She had forgiven him, and he couldn't bring himself to forgive her back.

There's nothing people like to watch more than a car crash; lives ruined, tragedy, and then, when the dust settles, glorious redemption, a second chance; life continues.

Naomi Clark earnestly apologises for the first time in her life. She has never truly known remorse before this experience, but in a cheesy, metaphorical way, this is her re-birth. To say it's been a tiring year would be an understatement, but she's come out, bloody and bruised, betrayed, but still wearing the crown. Her golden curls were always one onto itself.

And she couldn't have fathomed this, but she's glad to have let Annie back into the fold again. The brunette really has matured this time around. There's a sense of sadness that envelopes Annie though, and Naomi, ever the analyst, can't exactly figure it out. It could be a boy, could be family, but it's probably a secret, she thinks, because everyone here has more than their fair share of those.

Naomi is well aware that she's still in tentative territory here, though. Annie has betrayed her before, but then Naomi has too, and they find their common ground. After Naomi confides in her, they begin spending time together, and it's reminiscent of the days when Naomi lived in her house.

One night, when they're in Annie's bedroom (not ready to venture out to the world just yet), Annie asks her a pressing question.

"You forgave him for what he did with Jen. He should be with you, Naomi. Are you going to fight for it?"

Naomi gives Annie a potent look, and she can't tell if Annie's being a bitch or being genuinely concerned for her friend. Given everything that has happened; she chooses to believe the latter.

It does strike her, however, that Annie should already know the answer to this, if she ever truly knew Naomi at all, she would have known that no-one fights, and wins, better.

"I'm going to fight for it, Annie."

Naomi knows there are a few meanings for that one sentence. But fighting for Liam isn't so important anymore. It's fighting for herself, the way she always has.

Naomi loves Liam, she really, so truly does. He hurt her and then he healed her, and he's here. He comes to her door, they make-up, and she says "I love you."

When he says "Me too," she knows he doesn't, because she's heard that tone of voice before, reluctant, unenthusiastic, contrived (Ethan circa a year ago), and she's not so sure that there is anything to fight for.

Nobody misses the way that Liam seems to be giving Naomi and Annie more rides to school (Naomi out of obligation, Annie because he's making eyes at her), and from the very inception of the love triangle, Silver picks her side.

"Teddy and I want to have a double date sometime again with you and Liam," Silver mentions one morning as they make their way to English. "Come on, it's been weeks and you know how much fun we had that night."

"I thought that was a one-time thing," Naomi replies, "that it was, and I quote 'A bad Seth-Summer-Ryan-Marissa scene.'" Silver can't help but laugh at the fact that Naomi still revisits her OC DVD box sets.

"Naomi..." she trails off, indecisively, uncharacteristically.

"Silver, what's wrong, is it you and Teddy? You can tell me anything, you know that."

"It's not me and eddy I'm worried about Nai. It's Annie and Liam." Silver nods her head in their direction, and their eyes never tear from one another's. "We can't have a repeat of what she did with Ethan."

"She knows she has something to prove this time," Naomi says, "So let's just wait and see if she can prove herself."

Let the games begin. (As if they ever stopped.)

Naomi wants to rebuke Liam for wanting to include Annie in so much. When they['re supposed to be on dates, the night always ends up in some group hang where everyone and their mother is practically invited and Annie just doesn't seem that relatable anymore.

"You said it was okay for her to be our friend again, and everything that's happened," Liam offers as an explanation, "She shouldn't feel left out."

Yet she so very should feel left out, thinks Naomi. This relationship wasn't supposed to include her.

So they do go out on that double-date that very night, and Liam is more than distracted. He's texting, changing the subject of every conversation Naomi begins with him, and he can hardly bring himself to make eye-contact. Silver gives Naomi some sympathetic looks from the other side of their table, and that is when enough is enough.

Naomi would like to be able to blame this all on him, and undoubtedly, most of the responsibility lies on Liam's cheating shoulders, but Naomi wanted it to continue, wanted him to be able to redeem himself. She has been here before; this time the situation will be rectified the way she chooses things to go.

Liam deposits her home. "I'm sorry for being so distracted tonight." He says like he's not sorry at all.

"Don't worry about it. Don't worry about anything. You and I? We're going to be alright." Naomi says, kissing his cheek, hoping he can feel the vengeance radiate from her.

When she reaches her bedroom door she decides to call Ethan. They have these random phone calls, usually once every week, since he has moved away. They're not quite sure why, but she is the only person he has remained in contact with ever since. She doesn't tell Silver, because she knows that she is happy again anyway, and maybe not all of them would make it out of high school alive, but at least someone had to be happy.

"Hey."

"Hey Naomi," he greets brightly. "What's up?"

Naomi feels tears form, and she can't speak for a moment before Ethan asks her if she's alright.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay."

"You don't sound like it, Naomi. What's wrong?"

"Hah," she can't help but let a bitter laugh escape, "My boyfriend is cheating on me. With Annie Wilson."

There's the strongest silence between this connection they share. She can see Ethan's regret in his eyes. It's evident through his tone.

"What do you need me to do?" He asks – it's not rhetorical, he's being serious. He's states away, but he'd come home for her, to help her.

"Nothing. I just need to ask you something." He voice is cracked, like her head, like her heart. Her heart that she's not sure will mend, not this time.

"Anything," he replies.

"What does she have? I'm not being bitter here, Ethan," she says, and she means it, "but everyone loves her. Loves her more than me –

"That's not true." Ethan responds seriously. "That isn't true. If it was, you wouldn't be the one I choose to call, after all this time. In the end, you were the only one I chose, Naomi. Not Annie, not Silver. I chose to stay in touch with you because I loved you first. As friends, I still do. I regret cheating on you, Naomi, and I hurt you, but in the end, it was still you."

She doesn't know how to respond to that. There haven't been a lot of times when Ethan is earnest like that, but he is now.

"Oh." is all she says, and they laugh down their phones for ages.

"And for the record," he says, "If I was home, I would beat him up for you. Just saying, is all."

She grins. She thinks Ethan's friendship means more to her than Liam ever has.

"Thank you, Ward."

"I'll see you during summer, Clark."

"Silver will be overjoyed. And I'm not being sarcastic about that. You will come home to win her back, right?"

"That's the plan." He replies, optimism shining through.

Beating up Liam, Naomi finding a sizzling summer fling, Silver and Ethan reunited, sounds like a plan alright.

Instinct leads her here the night like the night that led her back into his arms. Ivy's text was merely a catalyst. Naomi is sure she would have went over anyway to demand an answer from him, and she muses that things really aren't all that different now, she's still looking for her answers.

And damn anything that dares to stand as an obstacle.

Although somewhat expecting it, the way she saw Ethan and Annie make-out like it was their last chance in that classroom, she opens his shed door without warning to find the same girl in his arms.

Instead of feeling devastated (she hides so, so well) she looks upon them like the crap they are, with a superior half-smirk on her face.

"Naomi," Annie begins, "I'm –

"Don't say a thing." Her tone is so calm, so authoritative.

Liam's eyes look like they are about to break into shards of glass and lay there forever on the floor. She should be the one crying, probably, but instead it's Annie and Liam who have tears all of their own.

"I knew. The other girl always knows," Naomi says, seeing straight through Liam. "It's just a matter of choosing to see things."

Annie approaches Naomi nervously, and Naomi wants to hit her, but she doesn't. The looks she's shooting Annie are enough to deliver the same sting. "I didn't intend for this to happen Naomi –

"Yeah you didn't intend it with my last boyfriend either," Naomi replies, spitting venom. "But you know what they say about those who forget the past. Get out."

"Naomi I am so –

"Get out!" She commands her. "You should know," Naomi says, clutching Annie's arm tightly as she makes her way out, she wants to break it off, "That this was your last chance. You had this chance, and this is the cheating bastard you threw it away for. This is exactly where we got back together," and Naomi chokes up for five seconds, but five seconds is all she will allow, "so you can remember that he got together with you in sacred space."

Annie looks at Naomi with realization, and Naomi lets her go, forever.

Tonight Liam had expected a few beers, texts from his girlfriend after the date, and Annie in his arms.

He wasn't expecting Naomi in full force.

"I thought we had something. I really did." She says, slicing through the silence.

"We did...we do –

"Hah! What I saw right now proves we never did."

Liam flinches at the words, he cannot breathe.

She tucks a curl behind her ear coolly, composed.

"I was waiting for you to tell me. Waiting for you to mature, waiting for you..."

"Naomi, it's you I want. It's just with my dad back and crap happening, Annie understood –

"Right. Sure, No, I get it. She soothes your inner torture, or what-the-fuck-ever. Because I don't know what it's like to have divorced parents, to have a mother who stays with a husband who has openly be cheating on her, a sister who betrays you. Liam, you couldn't have talked to me at all, because I'm just Naomi, just the girl who thinks she can have it all and shop her life away, a girl with no real soul."

"I should have getting through this alone, not with Annie." He says.

"You were not alone!" Naomi shouts, the boy is front of her is so painfully blind. "I was always there! You walked right past me at school without acknowledging me, when you cheated on me, for the first time, I gave you the time of day! I talked to you!" She picks up something that resembles a small plank of wood and she throws it at him, he dodges it.

Tears plop to the floor, they belong to Liam, as he feels the full magnitude of what he has just done crush him. He honestly has no idea what he was doing, no doubt being with Naomi was hard, but Annie seemed easier.

"You were willing to send that guy down –

"You judged me. After sleeping with my wackjob sister and cheating on me, you're still judging me."

"I'm sorry."

"That doesn't mean anything to me. Nothing, I feel nothing. I did the right thing in the end. That's more than what you can say."

Naomi has seen Liam check other girls out, flirt, be loving and committed, seen him hurting, but never as much as he has been hurting in this moment.

Liam has seen Naomi vulnerable, sad, happy, lustful, but never as fiery and as strong as right now. Her green eyes are full of fire, a fire that's only there to make him burn.

Yet everything about her is so painfully perfect; her face; her lips, her hair. And he tarnished it.

"I love you. I'm in love with you, Naomi." He says, hoping she can feel how desperate she is.

"It's not enough." Part of her wishes that it was. But it's not; it never will be. "You said you loved me and you took it back the moment I fell below your oh-so high standards of morality."

His blue locks with her green and it clashes, it's a life shifting moment – he knows because he knew he was having one of those when they first saw each other.

Liam looks pleadingly at Naomi for the hundredth time, and his eyes will never be enough to unlock her again. Naomi slaps him harsher than she did Ethan all that time ago; Liam clatters to his knee and has the nerve to wrap his arms around her waist in the process. She eventually strangles herself free, and this time, she really is free. Free of Annie, free of Liam, free of this.

She drives away crying firstly of sadness and remorse, she thought that this was what love felt like. She did. Then the tears turn to those of joy, sweet relief that it's over. Annie can have him. Naomi looks forward to casting them out of the kingdom like the traitors they are.

She ends up with Adrianna at the end of the night who calls Silver and the three of them mourn for her, then it turns to something of celebration, because Naomi has come out of this stronger than anyone.

"We were her friends again and she threw it away for a guy," Adrianna states, disgusted.

"It won't happen again, I assure you." Silver says, flinging an arm around Naomi affectionately and kissing her forehead.

This isn't a night of loss. If she's lost anything, ultimately, it's for the best. She's still the Queen in this game, and Annie simply will not win.

Two days later Liam shows up with a love letter, flowers and chocolates and begs Naomi for her forgiveness the way she knew he would.

"I realize now that what I was doing with Annie was the most screwed up thing I've ever done."

"Are you forgetting about what you did with my sister? She's back by the way; be sure to check in for a booty call."

They stand inside the very same garden they did when Liam came to her, needing a place to be, needing a home in her. She'll never be the one to give that to him again.

She shreds the flowers, burns the letter and throws the chocolates literally in his face.

Annie is the next in line for the apology-fest of 2010. They're in the cafeteria when Annie apologises without reservation, "Your friendship means more to me than he ever did."

She slaps her in front of the entire student body, and there are some gasps of shock before Ade breaks out in sinister giggles; Naomi and Silver join her and it isn't long before the whole school laughs at Annie Wilson's expense once again.

It's comforting to know some things refuse to alter.

The two liars were, of course, never going to actually stay true to their word. Liam has his hand in Annie's walking into school now, but instead of prizing them as the golden couple people bitch about them and send them estranged looks, even Dixon is again disappointed in his sister and his friend for doing this again to the same person. They sit together at lunch. One day, Naomi slides next to Annie for the sole revenge of seeing the look on her face when the blonde describes how Liam was to her as a boyfriend.

"You know once he told me he preferred blondes, but look how that played out. I guess you really are attractive Annie, every guy wants to experience the thrill of having a mistress, after all."

"I'm hardly his mistress, Naomi." She replies, as if it's the most obvious answer.

"You were darling, you were. Just like my tramp of a sister." Naomi winks at Liam as he approaches and it actually stops him in his path, as he stands mesmerised at this girl, this girl who can still, after everything, hypnotize him.

Naomi struts away from them and he's still standing, before Annie asks him what he's doing.

Naomi glows, wherever she goes. She shimmers in the Beverley Hills sunlight, and when Liam looks at his girlfriend, she fades.

Liam and Annie only appear happy. In the end they only have each other and it's so much strain to place on a relationship; expecting the same person to be your best friend, lover, confidant. There's a deep seeded blame between them because they both put each other as the reason why they lost Naomi Clark.

Naomi has her fun with different guys. She shamelessly makes out with the hottest guys of West Bev and their rival school, she enjoys scandalising everyone. She drinks, she dances, she's their party girl again and she shimmers when the light hits her hair, she radiates, and Ade and Silver are so happy to have her back.

Liam looks on, knowing that he just couldn't handle her; shimminering, owning the place, glowing, he wasn't enough.

Jen, having sworn revenge, doesn't really succeed. Naomi learned from her older sister; watched her manipulate their parents and just about everyone else, but the mentor always outsmarts their teacher at some point.

Once, Naomi strides past the lockers that Liam is leaning against, fondling Annie's hair. "You ever think about going blonde, babe?" He asks.

His voice is distant as they walk away, but Naomi hears it, hears it and laughs triumphantly with her friends, who laugh with her.

"Remember when I made you sit through every season of the OC with me?" Naomi asks Ethan down the phone, miles away, but always close enough.

"I have Seth Cohen's lines imprinted on my brain forever, Naomi." He recalls lovingly.

"Remember when Anna flies from the opposite side of the country to be there for Seth's prom?" She reminds him nervously, biting her lip and smiling.

"Oh no, you did not just go there."

"Oh I'm not going anywhere. You're coming home, baby boy."

That's exactly what Ethan does. Perhaps it's too sentimental, because they are young, but the sense of loyalty is too strong too ignore. He's going to come home for while, talk to Silver, help Naomi out, and punch out the guy who treated her like this.

Naomi and Silver were shopping when Naomi takes an unexpected route.

"Nai, where are we going?"

"We're picking up Ethan Ward at the airport." She says, eyes with mirth.

"What?"

"Sorry, Silver. Must have slipped my mind."

"You kill me, Nai." She says, slapping her arm more playfully than sternly, "You're the torture of my life, Clarke."

"If that's what it takes to get you back to the love of your life." Naomi states poignantly.

Silver doesn't argue.

Their Prom is so perfect in an unexpected way.

Annie wears green (Naomi thinks it's fitting – she doesn't know that Liam told Annie to wear that same shade of emerald this year), Adrianna wears red and goes with Navid, Silver wears silver (she goes with Dixon, everyone is happy) and Naomi wears gold, and in a twisted way, she's getting her twelve year old fantasy where she and Ethan would end up together.

The boys look handsome, the girls look gorgeous. They're all stunning. They dance, switch partners a few times, laugh and know for the first time who they really love. Even the leftover awkwardness between Dixon, Ethan and Silver seemingly dissolves.

The DJ saves the slowest song for last.

Your walls are up

Too cold to touch it

Your walls are up

Too high to climb

"I want to thank you, Ethan. I called you when I was caught up in the moment, you didn't have to come out here."

He smiles that adorable smile of his, it's enough to warm to heart. "I wanted to. I owe you, after all."

Naomi doesn't miss all the glances he and Silver have been sharing all night. "And you owe it to yourself to tell Silver how you really feel."

"You're right. But she looks happy." He offers.

"Ethan, we all look happy. It's the nature of where we live. Where you used to live," she jibes playfully.

I know it's hard

But I can still hear it beating

So if you flash your heart

I won't mistreat it

I promise

Liam approaches them out of the darkness, the cut below his left eye visible. He was at the Pit, alone, when Ethan saw him there, Naomi tried to hold him back but he punched him, hard. They ran out of the place before they could be caught into the same car Naomi's cheating father had bought her all that time ago, the same car they were in all those times they shared each other's emotion. This time, they're both out to get what they need.

"Can I have this dance?" He asks, imploring Naomi's approval.

Ethan looks down at his first love with an innate sense of protectiveness, but she nods and takes Liam's hands.

From one great love to the next, she simply doesn't decipher all these blurred feelings.

"Annie and I are over. We should have never started. I am sorry, still. I know I've hurt you. But I'm not going anywhere, not until you can see how I truly feel about you."

Naomi nods with understanding. It hurts to look at him, he's that beautiful. Dancing with him brings back several memories, but Naomi's too strong for even nostalgia.

"I have forgiven you. I have loved you. I could never love you again." She says calmly, but it's the most brutal thing he has ever heard.

Our love was lost

In the rubble are all the things

That you've, you've been dreaming of

Keep me in mind

When you're ready

I am here

To take you every time

Ethan sits beside Silver when Dixon is busy getting their drinks.

"Why are you here, Ethan? I know you're not here just for Naomi." Silver says tiredly.

"I came back for you too," he admits, staring into the distance (if he's too close to her face, he'll kiss her – it's that simple.) "I've been missing you two the most."

"Dixon's been really cool about you being here," Silver replies out of nowhere.

"Well considering he moved her two years ago and I've been away for a year, I don't need Dixon's permission." He replies haughtily.

"You're right," Silver concedes (only for him), "You don't."

"I wasn't expecting an epic reunion," Ethan says, averting his gaze to her eyes, "This time, I'm going to give you a proper goodbye."

He sees Silver's eyes gradually well up and it's all too much. She cannot do this; skip through three guys in the space of an academic year, missing Ethan before running to Dixon, Teddy, Dixon again, and Ethan again. She can't be that girl. So before she lets any part of her surrender, she leaves her seat and kisses Ethan's forehead.

"Goodbye." Her voice is muffled with tears.

Naomi and Ethan win Prom Queen and King.

(As if it could be any other way.)

This time, Silver isn't in the car when Naomi drops Ethan off at the airport. Her space is missing; it's nothing new, he's been feeling that emptiness for the longest time.

At the gate, Naomi kisses his cheek, embraces him. "Thank you, Ward. Anytime you need me to fly out to you..." She smiles wickedly.

"I know which number to call. You know, it's the only number I ever really regularly call." He says warmly.

"That's good to know." Naomi says earnestly. "She loves you. I know she's as stubborn as hell about it, about everything, but you understand she feels like she owes Dixon another chance. One day, she's going to wake up and miss you enough to fly out to Montana, you know that?"

"If she's happy...I shouldn't interfere with that."

"She'd be happier with you," Naomi says. "One day, Ethan, one day."

And all they can do, both of them, is wait a lifetime for that day.

Naomi doesn't need Liam or Annie, ultimately. It a complex, intricate, twisted way, they ended up needing her, but the one piece of truth that did spurt from her sister's mouth was that karma's a bitch, babe. She only needs her girls; Adrianna and Silver, and they have always needed her back.

This morning, they link arms with the blonde at the centre (after all, that's always where she has belonged) the way only best friends can, as Liam looks on longingly and Annie is once again at the edge. This time, there will be no reconciliation.

Because the Queen has her loyalist subjects from Beverley Hills to Montana, and surprisingly, that's enough.

A/N: The song during prom was 'Love Lost' by The Temper Trap. Leave our girl a review, please! (: