Monday morning seemed to come quickly for Alison as she ascended the steps of Rosewood High.

Of course, given her circumstances, Hackett had offered her some time off, but Alison declined. The last thing she needed was to stay home another day alone. At least being at work was a decent enough distraction. Plus, now that she was completely broke, work was necessary.

As she paced the halls she allowed the student chatter to fill her ears instead of the white noise in her head. The shouting of overzealous boys and slamming lockers brought her back to a time when everything hadn't been so screwed up. Back before her life had spiraled out of control.

And then she spotted Emily.

She had a stack of posters wedged between her arm and body as she leaned forward and taped one to the wall. The crease in Emily's brow indicated focus as she tried her best not to drop her posters. Her long, dark hair spilled over her shoulders in loose waves and Alison noticed she was wearing her coach jacket, which looked damn good on her.

When Emily finished, she saw Alison approaching her in the hallway and smiled.

"Good morning coach Fields," Alison teased.

Emily felt a flutter in her stomach.

"Miss DiLaurentis," Emily played along.

"How weird is it that we both ended up back here?" Alison asked.

"Too weird," Emily answered. "Considering I always said once I graduated I'd never come back."

"Yet, here you are."

Emily sighed and looked around. "I've hung posters in every hallway, but I still have extra."

"I can pass some out to my students," Alison offered.

"That'd be great."

Emily handed Alison the remaining stack of her posters.

"So how are you feeling?" Emily wondered. "I was worried about you when I left Sunday."

"I'm fine, I just..." Alison hesitated. "I think it just all hit me at once."

Emily frowned. "It usually does."

That's when Paige rounded the corner and Emily saw her approaching her and Alison. Before she could tell Ali bye, Paige was already at her side.

"Em... Alison," Paige greeted.

"Paige," Ali answered with little to no enthusiasm.

Paige looked at Emily. "Do you have a minute? I have to talk to you about the swim calendar."

"Uh well, I was talking to-"

"I'll see you at lunch," Alison told Emily. Then she left the two women in a hurry.

As she paced to her classroom all she could do was try and ignore the fire in her chest. Of all people, why did Paige have to come back to Rosewood? She figured this would be the last place Paige would want to stay. Alison found her presence to be extremely annoying.

When she made it to her classroom she set her papers down and waited patiently for her first hour.

If she could make it through today without wanting to leave the country, then the rest of the week would be fine.

* * *

At lunch Ali tried to beat Paige to the teacher's lounge so that she could claim a seat next to Emily, but failed because one of her students had to ask her a series of questions after the bell.

She got to the lounge only to find Emily and Paige already in conversation, so she ended up heading back to her classroom.

Emily, on the other hand, noticed Alison's absence and grew worried. After Alison's episode yesterday leaving Welby, she found herself needing to check up on her friend.

Emily knocked on Alison's door and heard a faint 'it's open' before letting herself inside.

Emily found Ali at her desk marking papers.

"Why aren't you in the lounge?" she asked.

"I gave a pop quiz and wanted to get ahead on grading," Alison lied. "Figured Paige would keep you company anyway."

There it was. The uncontrollable desire to not only take a jab at Paige, but push Emily away. It was still second nature to Alison. Like an old, bad habit she just couldn't kick.

"Well, she was but I..." Emily paused. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Emily turned to leave after sensing Alison's cynicism, but Ali called her back.

"Wait..." Ali said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Emily turned back around. "Well then how did you mean it? Because every time Paige is around you turn into a completely different person."

"I know," Alison agreed. "I know and I'm sorry. She just... I know she doesn't like me and I'm scared she's gonna get in your head and pull you away."

Emily found herself taken back by Alison's honest comment. She just wished Alison would realize it was her that pushed Emily away, not Paige. She walked closer to her desk.

"Ali," Emily started. "You're one of my best friends." She sat on the edge of the desk. "That's never going to happen."

But it was already happening, no matter how many subtle comments Alison said to Emily. Paige still had feelings for Emily and Emily still liked Paige. A lot. Alison could see it in her eyes when they were together.

And at least Emily knew that Paige was into her. Paige was a sure thing. There was no guessing when it came to that. It's why Alison was losing, and it's why she disliked Paige so much.

But all Alison said was, "Yeah," and continued to give Emily just enough to barely hold on.

Emily tried one more time.

"Would you like me to stay...?"

Alison shook her head. "No it's fine. I'll just be grading these all hour anyway."

Emily sighed in defeat. "Alright. I'll see you later."

Alison forced herself not to look up.

And she let Emily leave again, just like every other time, and would regret it within minutes. But how could she keep pulling Emily away from the one she really wanted? It was selfish of Alison to do that to her friend, especially after everything she had put her through in the past.

Alison knew Emily cared about her, and she cared about Emily, but Emily also cared about Paige, who she had history with. Good and bad history, but at least it wasn't cloudy.

That's the kind of history Emily had with Alison.

Cloudy and unsure. Full of smoke and mirrors and lies.

And Alison knew she would never be able to compete with Paige because she had lost the game a long time ago.

* * *

Emily felt confident in her ability to straighten out her life as she left The Radley. Not only had she scored a job, but she and Ashley Marin worked out a pretty decent schedule as well that wouldn't overwhelm Emily.

Not that Emily couldn't handle it. If anything, bartending would be a good distraction for her.

As she got into her car her phone rang out. She picked it up to see it was Alison.

"Hey," she answered.

"Em," Alison sounded distraught. "Could you come over?"

Emily started her car. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah I just... I'm not feeling well and I really just don't want to be alone," Ali admitted.

Emily couldn't help but break down and start towards Alison's house. She hated how one minute Alison pulled her close and then the next pushed her away. It was a vicious cycle that was managing to mangle Emily's heart.

But telling Alison no had always been difficult for Emily, and she understood Alison was going through a lot. So sacrificing her heart seemed like the right thing to do, at least for now.

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Emily said.

"Thank you."

Then Emily ended the call and sped towards her friend's house. It had been nearly a week since Charlotte and Elliot had been murdered and everything seemed to be getting worse.

The police were still on their backs, Alison was getting more and more emotional, and on top of it all, -A was back with vengeance and wanted them to find the killers.

Of course, no one knew why -A was back or who it could even be, but just seeing that tag on their messages had sent them spiraling back to the past.

Emily parked in front of Ali's house and paced up to her door. She knocked before letting herself in.

Alison was lying on the couch.

"You should really lock your door," Emily suggested.

Alison sat up. "I thought I had."

Emily noticed Alison was more out of it than usual. She took the seat next to her on the couch. But when her eyes landed on the coffee table, she saw something that made her heart flinch.

An unused pregnancy test.

Alison had yet to open it because she was terrified of the answer. She knew she should take it, but if it came out positive... Then what? What the hell would she do?

"Ali..." Emily mumbled. "Why do you have that?"

Emily realized it was a stupid question after she had asked.

Ali just sighed. "You know why."

For a minute the two women just stared at the box. As if this whole mess would disappear if they hoped hard enough.

Then Alison reached for the box.

"I couldn't do this alone and I'm sorry that I called you but you were the only one-"

"No," Emily cut-off. She slipped her hand in Ali's. "I'm glad you called me."

Emily realized it was only half true, but looking at the situation now, she was glad Alison hadn't done this alone. She needed someone.

Both made their way upstairs to Alison's master bedroom where her main bathroom was. Emily sat on the bed and watched Alison disappear behind the door.

Emily's heart was pounding, so she could only imagine what Alison felt like right about now. If she was pregnant, she was pregnant with Elliot's baby. A sad excuse for a man who had played Ali and lied to her about virtually everything. A man who had run away with her sister. A man who was now dead.

Alison came out without the pregnancy test and sat next to Emily.

"How long?" Emily asked.

"Three minutes," Ali answered. Her voice sounded hollow. "I can't believe any of this."

Emily watched Alison through the mirror hanging on the wall. She looked so worn. Like she hadn't slept in days. And had she lost some weight? These were bad signs.

"Hey..." Emily cradled Ali's hand in both of her own. "There are always options. And I'll support your decision regardless of what it is, alright? We all will."

Alison had hoped Emily's presence would make this more bearable, but it wasn't. She was just glad she wasn't alone.

"When I said I wanted to start a family, this isn't how I pictured it," Alison admitted.

Emily decided it was best to remain silent. Nothing she could say would make this better.

That's when Alison's timer went off on her phone, but she didn't move to check the test. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Emily was sure her friend was about to combust into tears.

But Alison stood and marched to the bathroom and returned with the test. She hadn't looked at it. She was terrified. But when she looked at Emily she felt a surge of strength.

Alison held it down to where she and Emily could see, even though she wished she hadn't.

Two pink lines. They already knew what that meant.

"Ali..." Emily started. She didn't know what to say.

Alison dropped her arms and looked up at the ceiling. The tears threatened to spill but Ali already knew why. She understood why she had been so sick. She realized why she had been so emotional.

Because she was pregnant with Elliot's child.