"Spencer, are you ready?" Emily called quietly as she tapped lightly on the bedroom door. She waited for a beat but upon receiving no answer she opened the door and stepped inside. She wasn't surprised to find Spencer sitting on her bed, wrapped in a towel. "Visiting hours start in twenty minutes Spence."

Spencer shrugged silently, her gaze focused on the far wall.

Emily exhaled slowly, trying to be as patient as she possibly could under the circumstances. She walked over to Spencer and moved to kneel on the bed behind her. She carefully raked her fingers through Spencer's slightly tangled hair and found that it was mostly dry, indicating that she'd been out of the shower for a while. "Do you mind?"

Spencer shook her head and lifted the hand that was clutching her hairbrush.

Emily took it and silently began to brush through Spencer's hair, being careful not to tug too much. It wasn't the first time she'd done this with Spencer so she was aware that Spencer's hair tended to get quite knotted after it was washed because Spencer was always thorough, if not vigorous. She inhaled deeply through her nose, the scent of the strawberry vanilla conditioner Spencer used invading her nostrils.

"I don't think I should go." Spencer finally spoke after a few minutes, toying with the hem of the towel she'd wrapped around herself.

Emily paused in her light movements but quickly kept going. She couldn't say that she hadn't expected this. Spencer had already voiced concerns which Emily had tried her utmost to soothe. "Paige needs you there."

"Paige doesn't even know me." Spencer stated, turning slightly towards Emily. "I don't remember what my relationship with her was like at that age Em, what if she's right back to hating me? What if the past year means nothing?"

"Right now it does mean nothing to her." Emily said, setting the hairbrush aside for the moment. "We just have to help her remember."

"You're right." Spencer nodded reluctantly, though she still looked worried.

"It'll be okay." Emily lightly cupped Spencer's face in her hands and pressed a reassuring kiss to her lips, "She'll remember, she has to."

Spencer smiled weakly and turned away, trying to steel herself for what lay ahead.

XXX

"Spencer!" Paige looked immediately relieved when Spencer walked into the room with Emily trailing a couple of feet behind her, fiddling with something in her hands. "What are you doing here?"

"We um…we came to visit you." Spencer answered; slightly shocked by the enthusiastic answer she'd received.

"Come to finish me off so I can't kick your ass on the field?" Paige joked, a grin tugging at her lips.

Spencer laughed softly and shook her head. "You were never able to kick my ass, even when you cheated."

"Wait, you knew each other back then?" Emily asked, drawing Paige's attention towards her for the first time. Paige stiffened immediately but neither Spencer nor Emily seemed to notice.

"I told you, we played field hockey together for a while." Spencer answered casually. "We weren't at each other's throats all of the time, just most of the time."

"That's good to know." Emily smirked, though her own nerves were tangible. She turned her attention back to Paige but faltered slightly when she found Paige staring at her suspiciously. Nevertheless she pressed on, inching forward. "I bought you some red grapes from the store down the hall, I remember you saying that you don't like the green ones."

"What are you doing here Fields?" Paige asked in a steely voice, her fingers digging into her palms. "Here to do Ali's dirty work for her?"

Emily blinked at Paige in surprise, taken aback by the tone of her voice. Paige hadn't talked to her like that since they'd competed for anchor position. "What?"

"Ali!" Paige repeated angrily. "Did she send you here as a way of mocking me?"

"Paige, I don't understand."

"Alison sent you to…"

"Paige." Spencer interrupted, quickly stepping towards Paige. She placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "Calm down, Emily isn't here because of Alison."

Paige glanced briefly towards Spencer before she looked back to Emily. She softened at the sight of Emily swallowing back tears. She wasn't quite sure how she'd managed to cause the tears or why Emily cared enough to cry about what she thought of her but the fact that she had caused a sickening feeling of guilt to form in her stomach, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's okay." Emily smiled weakly but she turned away, hurriedly brushing at the tears on her cheeks.

Paige looked to Spencer for help, obviously unsure as to what to do in the situation she suddenly found herself in.

"She'll be fine." Spencer whispered, though she looked fairly worried herself. She waited until Emily looked up at her before she held out her hand.

Emily exhaled slowly before walking closer, gripping Spencer's hand.

Spencer could feel Emily's hand shaking slightly within her own and acting solely on instinct she lifted it to her lips and pressed a light kiss to her knuckles. Emily's eyes widened in surprise at the action and they both looked towards Paige at the same time. She looked curious, if somewhat pained by the action.

Clearing her throat, Paige shifted further up the bed, crossing her legs beneath the covers. "I hope you don't mind me asking but are you two…?" she motioned between them, leaving her question hanging.

"Um…sort of." Spencer answered, mentally kicking herself for outing them. It just came naturally for her to be affectionate with Emily in front of Paige and she hadn't thought twice about it. "It's complicated."

"It's not that complicated." Emily chimed in, not wanting to give Paige the wrong impression. "We are dating, it's just…not what you think."

"Sounds complicated," Paige said, her lips turning up into a sad smile for barely a fraction of a second. "Doesn't Ali have a problem with it?"

Emily and Spencer glanced at each other warily.

"What?" Paige asked, noticing the look. "What did I say?"

"Paige, there's a lot you don't remember." Emily asked, perching on the bed. "I thought your mom might have explained some of it to you when she dropped by yesterday."

"She didn't really say much." Paige mumbled, fiddling with the itchy hospital blanket. "She didn't stay for long either, she said something about work."

"Do you want us to tell you some things?" Spencer asked, releasing Emily's hand. She stepped back slightly to drag a chair close to the bed. "The doctor says we shouldn't tell you too much right away but it's okay for us to tell you a couple of things."

Paige nodded, eyeing the grapes Emily was still holding onto. "Can I have those? Hospital food is disgusting."

"Of course." Emily smiled, handing the bag of grapes over.

"Thanks." Paige said, opening the bag.

"First of all Ali doesn't dictate what we can and can't do anymore." Spencer started quietly, her eyes flicking briefly to Emily before she refocused on Paige. "She's changed, kind of."

Paige rolled her eyes. "I'll believe that when I see it. Which will hopefully be never."

Emily chuckled softly at the statement and shook her head. "She's living in L.A now, we don't see her much."

"Where are we?" Paige asked, realizing that she had no idea where in the country she actually was.

"New York." Spencer answered. "This is where you live."

"Right, because I'm 19 apparently." Paige stated quietly. "That's going to take some getting used to. Do you know where I live exactly?"

"You live with us." Emily answered awkwardly. "We sort of share an apartment."

"So we're friends?" Paige asked, obviously surprised by the news. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Emily managed a small smile. "We moved in together when we moved out of Rosewood."

"Oh." Paige looked confused. "Why?"

"Because we thought it would be better for all of us financially." Spencer said quickly. "And like Emily said, we're friends. It works well."

"Oh." Paige popped a grape into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "This is kind of giving me a headache."

"We should let you sleep." Spencer said, standing up from her seat. "The doctor says you need to get plenty of rest rest."

"Okay."

"We'll come back tomorrow." Emily promised as she followed Spencer's lead, getting to her feet. "Do you want us to bring anything?"

"Some clothes maybe?" Paige requested tentatively. "Maybe some decent food if you can smuggle it past my nurse."

"Sure." Emily moved forward and pressed her lips briefly to Paige's forehead. "If you need anything give us a call. We've given the nurse our number."

Paige could only nod in response, shocked by Emily's action as she watched the girl in question back off.

"We'll be back tomorrow." Spencer echoed Emily's earlier statement before she too dropped a kiss on the top of Paige's head. "Don't give your nurse too much trouble, she has the pain meds."

Paige smiled faintly and watched as Emily and Spencer left the room hand in hand.

THE END.