A/N: S'up PLL, fam? I know what you're thinking, "God, THIS chick with ANOTHER Emison fic?" You're probably sick of me by now. You can thank my friends for continuously whispering sweet Emison nothings in my ears and begging for more content.

Actually, the truth is, initially I wasn't going to post this fic. I started this short story before "The Perfectionists" aired with the idea that I'd work with my own version of Emison's story and fill in the major plot points as the show went on. But as much as I tried (and as much as I really want to) I am having a lot of trouble getting into the show (I really REALLY want to support Sasha and Janel, and I'm a huge fan of Sofia and Sydney, and Eli seems like an awesome dude, but it's not clicking for me like I want it to, so I've only seen the Pilot and a few minutes of episode 2). That leaves it virtually wide open in terms of what's going on in Beacon Heights. When I wrote this I had my own idea from the previews and promos of how I thought shit was going to go down. It was all pure speculation when I was writing this.

I was also hesitant to post because I figured that many other writers were going to be tackling this and the last thing I wanted to do was write something that's already being told in an original way or step on anyone's toes. But I have had A LOT of people requesting my take on Emison in PLL: TP and since I already have a semi-complete story I thought I'd share. It's not all rainbows and unicorns, but I ultimately believe in Happily Ever After...most days, at least.

It's raw and unedited. I also have "In Her Eyes" going and am working on the editing process for my AU Dark Emison story as well. So updates on this fic are going to be sporadic. And more than likely slow and short. It may end up just being a few one-shots. I haven't decided yet. But I do have an end written. Rating may change later.


Prologue:

"I feel like I'm losing you, Ali."

"I have to do this, Emily."


Chapter 1:

The Perfect Storm

The sweat on her palm was making it difficult for her to hold the phone. Even harder was looking back at her wife's face on the screen. The brunette had a sullen look on her face, eyes tired and worn from a long day of trying to comfort their daughters, who missed their mother.

Alison hadn't been as communicative the past few days, and Emily was starting to worry that something was wrong. Of course something was wrong. Alison had picked up to move all the way across the country. And they had two small children who didn't understand why now they could only see mommy through fractured images on a screen instead of having her there to read bedtime stories in their room with their other mom.

Alison had been talking about wanting to get her Master's Degree for a while, so when she got a job alert for an opening at a prestigious college in a small town on the west coast she was intrigued. It seemed to be everything she'd been wanting and more. The strange thing was…she hadn't signed up for job alerts in that particular area.

Still, it seemed like a great opportunity. She read up on Beacon Heights University and went through the benefits package. It offered a lot more than she'd seen at other universities. It also offered her a chance to be somewhere where no one knew her as the girl who came back from the dead. The girl who was nearly killed by her own sister. The girl who was tortured by her own husband. A girl who skirted murder charges more than once. It offered her a fresh start. New faces. A new her.

But it also meant she'd have to make the choice to uproot her family or leave them behind. Both options made her feel horrible. The twins were just starting preschool. They were happy and stable. And they had family in Rosewood. Emily's mom spent every weekend with them. They had dinners with Alison's brother every Sunday.

They had friends in Rosewood. They had a life. The idea of taking them somewhere foreign at one of the most important developmental stages of their lives left a bad taste in her mouth. Leaving them was an even more difficult choice. Because she didn't really know who she was without her family. And she knew the girls would miss her.

She had talked it over with Emily. There had been some resistance at first. Emily had always had a deep-rooted fear that Alison would leave her. They'd spent their teenage years on a tumultuous merry-go-round of love, suspicion, and betrayal. They eventually grew past that, but there would always be the residual knee-jerk reactions based on fears.

But the love they had for one another surpassed all of that. It was a biological inherent need, a pull like nothing else in the world. They had problems, but no relationship was perfect. The perfect life with the family and the white picket fence was no more real than the American Dream. Couples waded through crap all the time, but the people who were truly right for one another pushed back. They didn't let their struggles take them down. And Alison and Emily had vowed for better or worse.

Distance was hard. And they were already on rocky footing. But despite that, Emily could see how much Alison wanted it. She knew Alison was ready for a new stage in her life, and she wanted to help her see it through. Because in the end they always found their way back to one another. Plus, technology made it easier to stay in touch.

But neither one of them knew that the technology at Beacon Heights was going to be dangerous. Deadly. And it was going to test them in ways they'd never been tested before.

Alison had only been gone for two weeks, but something in her had drastically changed. Emily could hear it in her voice when they talked. And she could see the stress on her face during their family video chats.

Lately, Alison hadn't been picking up her calls and when they texted the conversations just consisted of short curt replies. She seemed irritable and snippy, and Emily had no idea why.

So she'd finally confronted her about it while they'd been Facetiming that night. Alison had read the girls one of their favorite bedtime stories. She'd watched with an amused smile as Grace fought her sleep. She couldn't help but feel a warmth in her heart when she saw Lily watching her eagerly, smiling at her the whole time.

Once the girls had settled Emily had taken the call into more private quarters. Alison knew the conversation was coming, so she tried to make some lame excuse about how she needed to go because she was drowning in paperwork. But Emily wasn't going to let her off that easily.

"Not this time, Ali," Emily cut her off before Alison could tell her she had to go.

She'd just found out that Alison wasn't flying home for the weekend. And she'd had to break it to the girls today. Grace had cried. Lily had thrown a tantrum that ended with a new crack in the wall from the end of a toilet plunger. And Emily was just exhausted.

"Em, I've got papers to grade and I…"

"We have to talk about this." Emily's face was stern.

"It's just growing pains. We'll find our footing." Alison assured her.

"I don't know how that's possible if we don't communicate." Emily frowned.

Communication was the whole problem. Alison didn't want to communicate with Emily about Beacon Heights. She didn't want anyone there knowing they were communicating at all. Not with everything that was going on.

"Look, I knew this was going to be hard, but I didn't expect you to shut me out completely." Emily sighed.

Emily rubbed her forehead with her index finger. She did that a lot when she was stressed. Alison could tell she was fighting a headache.

"I'm not…"

"Don't." Emily's voice broke. "Don't lie to me. I know when you're lying to me. Cut the bullshit. What's really going on?"

"Things are just…" Alison glanced at the ceiling, fighting back tears. Keeping her in the dark was killing her, "…more complicated than I was expecting."

"Okay, so talk to me." Emily said, her tone split between compassion and irritation.

Alison thought about everything that had happened since she'd stepped foot out of the cab and into her university housing. Mona's presence. Nolan's murder. The freaky-ass "coincidence" that Nolan's dead sister looked exactly like her. Campus security acting like a second-rate NSA affiliate. The children she'd sworn to protect. The odd happenstances that kept happening. The weird messages on the walls. The 24-hour Big Brother security that was constantly watching her.

How could she tell her that the reason she'd been avoiding her was because she was trying to protect her? From the investigation. From prying eyes. From the person who had murdered Nolan. From whoever the hell was on the other end of the cameras watching her every move. For all she knew they hacked into phone calls and spied on their video chats. It made her uncomfortable. She wanted Emily and her daughters as far away from it all as possible. And that meant less communication. Because less communication meant less that could be used against her if this situation got any more heated.

"Alison?" Emily asked impatiently.

Alison opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a sigh. She lowered her head, a strange sense of defeat washing over her. She knew what she had to do.

"What do you want me to say?" She shrugged indifferently, staring directly into the camera on her phone.

If anyone was watching she needed to make it believable. She needed to make it seem like the distance was going to destroy them. She didn't need anyone using her love for her family against her. She'd come here to do a job. And she intended to do it without pulling Emily and her children into it.

The problem was, Emily was going to buy into it, too. When Alison shut down, Emily got frustrated, and rightfully so. It had taken them years to build up their trust. Years of damages that had to be repaired. And every time Alison pulled away Emily understandably panicked a little bit.

Alison hadn't told her anything that had happened since she'd arrived in town. Once she found out she was being watched she'd fallen back into old habits - protecting her loved ones at all costs. Even if that meant they ended up hating her. Though she knew that Emily could never hate her. Not after everything they'd been through together. She was a little worried about Grace and Lily though. Her parents had been distant when she was growing up. She didn't want her little girls to hate her for not being there.

She was already thinking of ways she could reach out to her family without Beacon Guard knowing. It had to be old school. Technology was out. If she could just get a letter to Emily…try to explain…

But that wouldn't work. Because that would still mean her family was at risk. And for all she knew the security on campus read the mail, too. She had planned for a lot of things moving out to Beacon Heights, but she had not planned for this. So she was going to have to do what she did best: adapt. She'd learned how to survive back in high school when she was on the run. It would be like riding a bike.

"I'm starting to think this was a huge mistake." Emily shook her head, clearly frustrated. "I feel like we're going backwards here."

"This isn't about us." Alison said, keeping her tone even. "It's about me. I came here for a reason."

"You were the one who said we could make this work." Emily bit the inside of her cheek, tears flooding her eyes. "You left and…"

"You let me leave." Alison bit back, though it was more out of habit than out of spite. "You told me it was okay. You promised to support me."

"I know." Emily didn't argue. She didn't want to fight. She just missed her. "And I know this isn't forever. I just wasn't expecting you to take so much of us with you when you left."

Alison had walked out of Rosewood with a piece of Emily's heart. And she was tired of the distance. Not just the physical distance. Alison had been at an arm's length for a while, and Emily felt like she was slipping away.

"I feel like I'm losing you, Ali."

Alison glanced up at the camera watching this conversation. She hated it. She wanted to take a baseball bat to it. She tilted her head back and bit her lip as she closed her eyes and took a breath. She could feel tears stinging her eyes. She forced herself to look at Emily's image on the screen again. Because what she was doing was important. These kids needed her. But she couldn't tell Emily about it. She gathered her emotions and looked directly into Emily's kind brown eyes.

"I have to do this, Emily."

Emily nodded wordlessly, her lips tight, her tension palpable. Alison clenched her right hand into a tightly bound fist. She hated that she couldn't be there to touch her face, to tell her how much she loved her.

"But you're not losing me," she said. "I swear."

She missed the way she felt…the way she smelled. She'd been in town just long enough that even the things she brought from home were starting to smell more like Beacon Heights and less like Rosewood. She had one of Emily's old t-shirts that Grace had thrown into her luggage so she "wouldn't miss Mama as much". That little girl had been on to something. Alison had secretly slept with the ratty old shirt every night. It was dated and had holes, but it smelled like home.

"Why haven't you been picking up my calls then? You said you weren't going to push me away. You said you weren't going to run." Emily sounded more hurt than accusatory.

Alison knew she was right. She hadn't been present lately. She'd been caught between her new life and her old one.

"I'm not running from you," Alison said with a soft expression on her face.

"But you're running from something." Emily called her out.

"God, would you just trust me, please?" Alison uttered in frustration. "I've earned at least that much, don't you think?"

"You want to talk about trust?" Emily scoffed. "You're keeping secrets from me." Her eyes darkened. "Again."

"It's not like that. There's more to it…"

"That's the point. There's more that you're not telling me." She reached up to wipe her eyes. "I know about the murder, Alison."

Alison felt her blood run cold. Of course it would be all over the news. The town had never had a homicide before. And Emily was savvy when it came to keeping up with the times. The only thing that Alison had on her side was the fact that the investigators were keeping a lot of details about it underwraps since the investigation was still ongoing.

"Why didn't you call me?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. Because it wasn't a big deal…"

"A kid died."

"And it has nothing to do with me." Alison spit the lie out faster than she could talk.

"Are you really safe there?" Emily asked.

Alison tried not to flinch. Because if Emily saw even the slightest bit of hesitation on her face she would be standing on her front porch tomorrow morning.

"People die every day, Emily. It's sad. But life goes on." Her voice came out incredibly confident, despite her not feeling confident at all.

"You really expect me to believe that you're not going to get involved?"

"From what I understand he had a lot of enemies…" Alison glanced at the security system, recording every word she was saying. She felt beads of sweat dripping down the back of her neck. She had to be very careful about what she said next. "He probably just pissed off the wrong frat boy. The police are handling it. I just want to do what I came here to do. I want to learn. I want to teach. I just want to get through this for you and the girls."

Emily nodded, though she didn't look like she believed her.

"We swore this time we would have honesty. You said you were done pushing me away. You asked me to marry you."

"You're the one who said yes." It came out a lot more snarky than she'd intended for it to. She immediately backed off. "I'm sorry. That's…that came out wrong. I'm just…it's been a long day." It had been a long week.

Emily didn't react. Instead she just sighed.

"I made a promise to you," Emily said, peering slightly off-screen.

Alison could still see their room in picture perfect clarity in her mind, so she knew exactly what Emily was looking at. The table next to their bed with a glass statue of the Eiffel tower and a picture of the day the girls had been born.

"Whatever it is that you're doing there," she said, continuing, her eyes slowly drifting back to the screen, "whatever it is that you're looking for, I hope you find it."

"What does that mean?" Alison was taken aback.

"I love you, Alison. I don't want to fight. I don't have it in me. Not anymore. After everything we went through, and then after what happened last year with my mom…I'm tired. I'm done with the drama. I promised forever. And I meant that. But I need something from you. I need you to promise me that you won't shut me out. I need to know what's going on with you. We can only make this work if we're both in this. I don't want to lose you again."

"You won't."

"I didn't hear a promise anywhere in that."

"Jesus, Emily. Fine. I promise." Though she had every intention of breaking that promise, because it meant that her family stayed safe.

Alison heard a light knock at the door. She glanced at the clock. It was too late to be one of her students. It was either Detective Booker or Mona. And either way, she didn't want Emily to know anything about the visit. And she sure as hell didn't want Dana Booker to know about her family back in Rosewood, though a quick search would have probably given her all the information she'd ever want. That's why it was so important for Alison to distance herself.

"I've got to go." Alison sighed.

The knob turned and the door started to creak open. Alison felt an internal panic. All the times she'd been attacked back in Rosewood came flashing back to her. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. Her instincts were telling her to run to Emily. But Emily wasn't there. And she didn't want her there. Not in danger. Not again.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her visitor. When she saw Mona waving at her she held up a finger indicating that she was busy, off-screen, so Emily couldn't see it. Mona seemed to gauge the seriousness of the conversation. She shut the door behind her and walked into the kitchen. Alison was thankful for her uncharacteristic brevity. They'd found a weird common ground since she'd arrived in town.

"Kiss the girls goodnight for me." Alison glanced at the photo of her twins she'd just put up a few days ago.

Emily looked like she wanted to say something, but she relented.

"We'll call you in the morning." Emily nodded.

There was a beat of silence, then Alison glanced at the picture of her holding her babies.

"Do they hate me?"

"What?" Emily was caught off-guard. "No. Of course not. Did you see the way their faces lit up when they saw you? They just miss you."

"What about you?" Alison questioned, afraid of the answer.

"Of course I miss you."

"No. Do you hate me?"

"You have to stop asking me that every time we have a disagreement." Emily shook her head. "I don't always agree with your actions, but I signed up for this. I'm here for you, Ali. Whether you want me to be or not."

She yawned. Alison glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight back in Rosewood.

"Get some rest, Em." Alison smiled sweetly. "I love you."

There was a beat, a terrifying moment where Alison wondered if this would be the first time that Emily wouldn't say it back to her. But then Emily glanced at the screen.

"I love you, too." There was the faintest hint of a smile on Emily's face. "We're proud of you, Alison. Just remember that, okay?"

Alison nodded, tears in her eyes. They said their goodbyes and then Alison put the phone down on the mantle, next to the pictures she'd put up of her family. There were several photos of the girls at various ages. She glanced at one from last year. It had been taken on Easter. Emily had taken the picture after they'd changed out of their fancy clothes to get dirty looking for Easter eggs. They were sitting on the front porch in Alison's lap. Alison remembered the exact face Emily had made to get the girls to smile.

She stopped and stared at one of their candid family portraits. Lily and Grace hadn't been more than seven months old. They were in the kitchen. Alison had Lily in her arms and Emily had Grace. Alison remembered that morning. It was the day she'd met up with Pam to ask for her permission to marry Emily. Pam had insisted Alison take her mother's engagement ring for the proposal. Alison picked up the picture, looking at her perfect happy family. Things were a lot simpler back then. She was starting to realize that "perfect" didn't really exist.

"Ali?" She heard Mona's voice.

She'd been so wrapped up in her emotions she'd almost forgotten she'd slipped in. She turned around, picture still in hand. She clutched it for a moment. It made her feel closer to home. Then she cleared her throat and put the frame back up on the mantle. She started to walk towards Mona, but stopped when she reached the small box that fed power to the security camera. She started at the little green light. She opened the panel. Mona's face brightened in alarm. Her voice came out a quiet hiss.

"Alison, you can't just…"

"Watch me." Alison pulled the panel down and disconnected the main fuse. She watched as the little indicator light started blinking red.

"Why did you do that? I highly doubt they're watching your sexploits with your wife." Mona glanced at her.

"You said yourself they're watching everything. I'm not taking that chance." Alison shook her head.

"How is the missus?" Mona walked over to her. She didn't miss the melancholy look on the blonde's face.

Alison had been mopey about Emily since the first night she'd gotten to Beacon Heights. She'd admitted to Mona that they were having trouble trying to find their footing as a family. Mona had been surprised to hear it. She'd known about Emily's love for Alison practically since they were toddlers.

She'd seen the blossoming flower of adoration blooming in Emily long before Alison had turned into a hateful duplicitous bitch. Mona had been in the same Brownie troop as Alison and Emily. Emily had always been shy, but she lit up around Alison. One time the troop had gone on a camping trip together. Mona remembered sitting around the campfire as all the girls were making s'mores and telling stories. Emily's eyes had been trained on Alison the entire night.

"She's upset because she thinks I'm lying." Alison sighed.

They had been together for so long that Emily could see through Alison's bullshit, even if they were thousands of miles apart.

"Aren't you?" Mona questioned with intrigue.

There wasn't any malevolence in her tone. She was simply stating a fact. She knew that there was no way in hell Alison had told Emily what was going on. Because if she had Emily would have been on the next flight out, kids or no kids.

"If I tell her the truth she'll drop everything and run in to try and save me." Alison stared at the photo. There was a longing in her eyes that broke Mona's heart. "I don't want her involved in this. She spent years in Rosewood in danger because of me. I won't do that to her again."

"So, what are you going to do?" Mona questioned curiously. She walked over to observe Alison's pictures. "Emily is not stupid. In fact, she's got more wiles than most people I know. I picked up on that really quickly when I was…" She glanced at Alison, suddenly regretting bringing it up, "…studying the girls in high school…"

Alison rolled her eyes at the word "studying", but she didn't say anything. One thing that the two of them had agreed upon was that they wouldn't bring up past discretions. Mostly because it impeded their investigation. They couldn't work together if they were too busy sniping at one another. Besides, they were both completely different women than they'd been back in high school.

"She's already suspicious. She knows about Nolan's murder." Alison admitted.

"What? It's news back there?" The short brunette looked both irritated and confused. Of course it was news.

"We're in a different state, Mona. Not a different planet," she replied caustically. "Besides, knowing my wife, she probably signed up for every piece of journalistic material she could find on Oregon." She played with her wedding ring. "I told her it was safe out here. That the only thing I'd need to worry about was foggy nights, road-hogging cyclists, and ticks."

She could only imagine how she'd blown her top when she'd read about Nolan's murder.

"I hate lying to her." Her eyes were glistening with tears. "I don't know how long I can keep this up."

"Just stick with me and keep your head down. I'll make sure your name doesn't come up in any of the news coverage."

"No. Not that." She glanced at her wedding ring. She slid it off of her finger.

Mona cocked her head, watching in curiosity. Alison rolled the piece of jewelry between her index finger and her thumb.

"I don't know how much more I can put her through before I destroy her." She rubbed the ring. "I have to keep her away from this." By any means necessary. "She's pissed at me. I know she is. But I'd rather have her angry at me and alive than dead. Keeping her safe is the most important thing to me right now. Her life trumps what I want. I just hope that once the dust settles, she'll understand."

Mona gave her a sympathetic look. It had never been in her nature to coddle people, especially Alison DiLaurentis, but she couldn't help herself as she reached out and put her palm against Alison's wrist. She gently brushed her thumb against her arm.

"Hey, you two have been through a lot." Mona gently held her hand. The motion surprised Alison. She glanced at Mona's hand. "I know I had my fair share of involvement in some of what you guys went through…"

"Some?" Alison raised her brow incredulously.

Mona cut her eyes at her. She was trying to be nice.

"The point is you didn't let it weigh you down. You didn't let it break you then." Mona smiled timidly at her. "I mean, I'm certainly not an expert on love, but I do know one thing. Everyone faces hardships. Relationships don't work like Charles Dickens and Jane Austen would have you believe. It's not like you get married and then you're suddenly happy forever. It takes work. Couples like you and Emily…the people who are truly right for one another, they fight for one another. One of you will always step up for your relationship. And that's what makes you two work."

Alison nodded, starving off her tears. She had needed to hear that more than Mona knew. Because she was starting to doubt herself. Sometimes she still felt inadequate when it came to Emily. She felt like she wasn't good enough for her, despite Emily telling her numerous times that wasn't true. Being away from her was hard. She missed her. She missed her daughters. She missed her family.

"Thank you, Mona." Alison gently pulled her hand back. She ran her fingertips over the frame that held the thing that was most dear to her heart: her family.

"Any time." Mona shrugged with a smile. "Come on. I brought dinner."

"You…what?" Alison had a skeptical look on her face.

"You may have decided to go dark…" Mona pointed to the furious flashing red light on the security system. It wouldn't be long before someone started raising hell about that. "…but the rest of the campus is still online. I didn't want to look suspicious."

"We are the definition of suspicious." Alison laughed darkly.

"All the more reason to plug your nanny cam back in. The last thing we need is security on our asses about a blackout while we're in the middle of investigating a murder. Fix it." She pointed to the fuse box.

"Fine." Alison huffed dramatically.

"I brought dessert." Mona started walking away.

"Let me guess. Pie?" Alison questioned.

"No. Equally as delicious though." Mona spun around, a glint in her eyes. "Files that might give us a trail to follow on Nolan's murder."

"So then why am I plugging Big Brother Beacon back in then?"

"Because I happen to know how to remotely hack the system and fake a time stamp to make it look like we're just two girls sharing some local take out."

"Of course you do," Alison muttered to herself.

Same old Mona.

She walked over to the box that had been a thorn in her side since she'd arrived in town. She opened the panel and pushed the fuse back into place and then made sure the box was closed and didn't look like it had been tampered with.

She walked by the shelves where she had her books and photos, stopping momentarily to look at a photo of her and Emily on their wedding day.

Emily had gone with a casual sleek dress. She'd insisted that it not be too flashy, because she didn't want to pull focus away from Alison. She'd wanted all of the attention to be on her. They'd picked out a long flowing dress with a beautiful veiled train for her. Vera Wang.

The twins had worn matching pink and white dresses. Grace had spilled pudding on her dress twenty minutes before the ceremony. Lily had dumped all the rose petals out of her basket and had spent most of her time before the wedding making shapes and works of art out of her flowers.

The ceremony had been short and sweet. Alison had never been more nervous in her life. But Emily was calm. She was everything she'd needed her to be and more. Alison had cried tears of joy when she went through her vows, explaining how Emily had been the only thing in her entire life she was certain about. She had been shaking when she'd told her that she'd been afraid of letting her guard down to be loved, because she was afraid that if she did, and she lost her for any reason…she wouldn't survive.

"I assumed it was easier to fantasize about what might have been instead of risking everything and losing it all."

But Emily had been persistent in their love. Because that's who she was. Determined. Fierce. Loyal. She had never given up. Even when Alison ran, Emily found her.

"I spent my entire life looking for something I had in you the entire time. Because you loved me despite my flaws. You believed in us. You made me believe in us. You're my forever."

Forever. They'd promised forever that day.

Emily had been in love with her since the moment they met. Alison had been too blind to see it, and later when she did see it she had been too afraid to accept it. But when she stood in front of the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with on her wedding day those fears were long gone. The lifetime of searching was over.

She'd listened as Emily had gushed about how they were stronger because of everything they'd been through. They had wavered through life and death, and she was sure that they could face anything they encountered head on. Emily had held her hands tightly, her mascara running as she declared her love for Alison that day.

"No matter how many times we were torn apart, we always found a way back to one another. I have struggled a lot with beliefs in my life, but the one thing I've been sure of is us. The foundation that we built our love on might not have been the most traditional one, but because we built it together I know it's going to last."

Emily had opened up her heart and her soul to this woman. She had trusted Alison enough to let her in.

"I see you in a way that you've never been able to see yourself. I know you in ways that I feel in my heart. When I wake up in the morning you are my very first thought. And when we go to bed at night you're the only thing I dream about. You're not just my love. You are my home, Alison. You are my forever."

Forever was a long time. Both of them had meant it when they said it the day they were betrothed. But forever didn't just mean happily ever after. Mona was right. Marriage was work.

Forever meant the good times and the bad. It meant the laughter and the love and the tears and the pain. It meant trudging through the hard times, too. The difficulties. The fights. The hardships. Forever meant the messy times, too.

Alison put her ring down on the mantle and delicately rubbed her thumb across the glass in the frame. She glanced at the security system out of the corner of her eye. She silently warned anyone who was watching that her family was off-limits. She would unleash holy hell if something happened to them.

And as difficult as it was to have Emily questioning where they stood in their relationship, as hard as it was to feel the pain of the distance, Alison was ready to take this step to protect her family. Whoever had killed Nolan Hotchkiss would be out for blood when they realized she was working on exposing them. And she would do whatever she had to do in order to keep her wife and daughters out of it.

Unfortunately, things weren't always that simple. It didn't matter how much she pushed her wife away. Because no matter how far away they were from one another, Emily would always find a way to protect her. Regardless of the consequences. The threat of death had never stopped her before. And once she found out the truth it wouldn't keep her from jumping into the line of fire.