Emily sat in The Brew with her laptop propped upon her table. She was working on a poster design for swim tryouts, and was having trouble making the words centered on the page.

"How's the muffin?" a voice asked.

Emily looked up to see Sabrina, the manager for The Brew, with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh it's amazing," Emily complimented. "Did you bake them?"

Sabrina beamed. "I did." Then she moved to see what Emily was working on. "Rosewood swim tryouts?"

Emily nodded. "Uh yeah, I'm the new coach so, I get all the fun duties that come with it."

"I'm surprised," Sabrina revealed.

"Surprised?" Emily wondered.

"That you would take a job here in Rosewood," Sabrina explained. "Figured you wouldn't want anything tying you to this place."

Emily let her eyes fall from Sabrina's at the comment.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to hit a nerve."

Emily shook her head. "And I'm sorry that it still does."

"What I meant is it's brave..." Sabrina defended. "That you came back and took a job, after everything."

Emily smiled. "I guess you can call it that. I just need money."

Sabrina laughed and Emily found herself admiring her. There had always been this hunch about Sabrina, but she had never found out...

Then Alison walked through the door, which pulled Emily out of her moment with Sabrina.

Emily and Ali locked eyes but Emily was determined not to let her ruin this moment for her.

"But I'm just curious..." Emily flirted. "If I had applied to work here again, would you have hired me?"

Sabrina blushed and Emily found herself smiling. She didn't need an answer to know what Sabrina would say.

Then Alison walked up to the table. "Hey, Em."

Sabrina left Emily as Ali sat across from her.

"What was that about?" Alison asked.

Emily played dumb. "What was what about?"

"That." Alison signaled to Sabrina who was talking to another customer. "I saw that look on her face."

Emily eyed Alison from behind her laptop. "I was just saying hey to an old friend."

Alison faked a smirk. "Just a friend?"

Emily couldn't read Ali. "Well, maybe a little more. I'm not sure yet."

Ali felt the familiar sense of threat, but didn't understand why. At least Sabrina was a lot cuter than Paige, in her opinion, anyway.

Emily refocused back to her project as Ali set down a stack of essays. Looks like she was joining Emily.

"You went to school today?" Emily asked.

"God no," Alison answered. "I just couldn't stay in that house any longer."

Emily just nodded as she returned to her poster-making.

They sat and worked in silence for about twenty minutes before Emily finally finished. Then she leaned back into her chair and stretched her arms above her head.

Alison peaked up from under her hair. "What are you working on?"

"Swim tryout posters," Emily answered. She turned her computer towards Ali. "What do you think?"

Alison studied it and smiled. "Em, it's awesome."

"You think?" Emily grinned. "I took a marketing design class at Pepperdine and loved it. I think I might take another at Hollis."

Alison just studied Emily in curiosity. "Why would you go back to school? Are you planning for a graduate program?"

Emily's heart sank to her knees. She had been caught in a lie. But she wasn't ready to come clean yet, was she?

"Uh, y-yeah," she stuttered. "I'm thinking about it."

Alison didn't buy it.

"Why are you lying?" Alison asked.

"I'm not?" Emily defended.

"Yes, you are."

"Alison."

"Emily."

"I'm not lying," Emily said. "I am thinking about graduate school."

"Maybe," Alison teased. "But you're still not telling me something."

It was no use. Emily knew that Alison wouldn't pry, but she might ask around, and Emily really didn't need that.

Emily looked around. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to say anything to anyone."

Alison leaned in. "Em, you know secrets are my thing, right?"

Okay, she had a point there, Emily thought.

"I never graduated from Pepperdine," she admitted. "I plan on enrolling at Hollis next semester to eventually finish my degree."

"Wait so that picture your mom has of you in the cap and gown... is fake?" Alison asked.

Emily nodded. "Yeah." Then she paused. "Wait, how did you see that picture?"

Alison looked down. "Um, I may have visited her once or twice."

For some reason this made Emily's heart somersault right out of her chest. But why? It wasn't unusual, right?

Emily looked down as she felt her face heat up. "That was sweet."

"Yeah," Alison said. "I had visited her when your dad..."

The conversation halted at the mentioning. Emily tried to tell herself it shouldn't hurt this bad anymore.

Alison continued. "Your mom had been really worried about you, and I was really worried about her."

Emily's heart was heavy again. The death of her father had shaped her into a new person, and she wasn't sure if she liked it. She knew Alison could see that.

"It was hard," Emily admitted.

Suddenly Emily was transported four years into the past, and the memory of her father's funeral resurfacing.

"Em," her mother said. "That was a beautiful speech you gave."

Emily didn't want to tell her that it was the hardest thing she's ever had to do. Though, she was sure her mom knew that already.

The church music seemed to drown everything out and bring her back to the masses her and her father had attended together. She still couldn't believe he was gone. That she would never be able to come home and see him sitting in the den with his mother. That she would never get to spend another Christmas with him. That she would never hear 'Emmy' come out of his mouth ever again.

Tears involuntarily rolled down her cheek but she quickly wiped them away. Yet, no matter how much she wiped, they never stopped falling.

The service ended and everyone was led to the cemetery to lower Wayne Fields' body. Emily could literally feel her heart break as his coffin disappeared into the ground. Her mom hung onto her.

After he was lowered and a prayer was said, everyone began to head out. Yet, Emily couldn't move her feet.

"Em," her mom coaxed.

"I'll meet you in the car," Emily forced. "I just need a second."

Emily listened to her mom walk away.

Her eyes closed as she felt the pain rip through her veins. She had never felt so horrible. She had never felt so alone.

She fell to her knees and began to sob. At one moment, Emily wondered if this kind of pain could kill you. She had learned in a kinesiology class that there were rare cases of people dying of heart break. That sometimes, when the emotional trauma is so bad, the tendons literally break, and the person experiences heart failure. Could that happen to Emily? After all, she could've inherited heart problems from her father.

That's when she heard someone behind her. The faint scent of vanilla lingered in the air and Emily already knew who it was.

"Emily?" Alison said.

Emily wanted to look at Ali but she couldn't.

She listed to Alison move to her right side and join her in the grass. She was wearing a black dress, like Emily. Had she been at the service?

"You came," Emily said.

Ali sighed. "Of course I came."

Emily couldn't seem to pull her eyes from the coffin.

"You know I'm here for you, Em," Alison said. "Always."

Emily was back in The Brew as she returned from her memory. After the funeral, Emily hadn't reached out to Ali again even when her friend had texted her multiple times. Emily just couldn't bring herself to answer. At that time, she couldn't bring herself to do much of anything.

Looking back now, she wondered if that had hurt Alison.

Alison had watched Emily zone out as her mind brought her elsewhere. She still wondered to this day why Emily had pushed her away after everything they had been through.

When the girls had left for college, it had been hard for her. But when Emily left, before they could talk about anything that had happened between them, it had broken her heart.

The years she had been in hiding had been hard, but she had been around. But she knew when Emily left, she wouldn't come back. Not to Rosewood. And Ali had let her slip away because she had been scared. The death of Emily's father had pretty much severed any ties between them.

And now they were here, miraculously back in Rosewood like they were seventeen again. Except now, it was much more complicated.

Alison had believed she had healed from Emily's absence. That she had grown older and found true love with Elliot. That Emily had been some sort of ongoing phase... but she was slowly concluding that it wasn't true.

She just didn't want to accept it.

"I'm sorry," Alison said, although she wasn't sure what she was apologizing for.

Was it for bringing up Emily's father? Or because she knew letting Emily go had been a mistake? That they had probably missed out on something great?

"What? Why?" Emily asked.

Alison panicked. "For bringing up your dad..." She paused. "I'm sorry."

Emily shook her head. "Don't be."

Emily knew she should talk about it more, because in the long run it made it better, but she had suppressed it so much that it was harder than ever now.

That's when Emily's phone rang next to her. The I.D. said it was the Rosewood PD. She looked back up to Ali.

"I guess it's my turn," Emily said before answering. "Hello?"

"Miss Fields?"

"This is she."

"This is the Rosewood PD. We need you to come down to the precinct for questioning concerning Elliot Rollins and Charlotte DiLaurentis."

Emily looked at Alison. "I can be there in ten minutes."

"Thank you, Miss Fields."

Emily hung up and gathered her things as Alison watched her.

Ali set her pen down. "You agreed to that quickly."

"Yeah well, the faster I act the less suspicious they are about me," Emily informed.

"Em, you had nothing to do with it."

"That's never stopped the police before."

Then she was out the door and on her way to the precinct. She wondered if any of the other girls had been called in for questioning or if she was the first one. If their list was in alphabetical order, that was likely.

Emily made her presence known as she spotted Tanner and another man talking animatedly. Was that another detective?

They approached her.

"Miss Fields," Tanner greeted. "This is state detective Marco Furey. He's helping me with the Rollins-DiLaurentis case."

Furey extended his hand for a proper greeting and Emily accepted.

"I know this case is personal for you," Detective Furey assumed. "But I don't want you to think we're targeting you and your friends specifically. There's a whole list we're going through to find out who did this."

Emily shook her head. "No, I completely understand. It's your job."

She could feel Tanner's beady eyes on her.

"Well, come," Furey said. "I don't want to keep you longer than need be."

Emily followed him into the questioning room that had become familiar to her years ago. She took the seat across from Furey and folded her hands on the table.

"Can you tell me where you were Tuesday night between the hours of ten P.M and midnight?" Furey asked.

"I was at The Radley with my friends," Emily answered.

Furey nodded. "Which friends?"

"Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery and Spencer Hastings."

"Did you and your friends leave Radley that night?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Emily shook her head. "Sorry, yes, we did, just not between those hours. Alison DiLaurentis called me around two A.M. in a panic."

"So you did leave?"

"Yes," Emily reiterated. "We left The Radley around two and went to Ali's house."

Furey leaned back. "So you went to the DiLaurentis household and did what?"

Emily felt more old habits resurface.

"We talked to Ali. Asked her what had happened..." she stalled.

"Alison didn't call us until three-fifteen in the morning," Furey said. "All of you just talked for an hour before filing the report?"

The mood shifted inside the questioning room.

"This no longer feels like just a questioning," Emily stated.

"Miss Fields, I'm just building a story," Furey claimed. "So when I ask your friends to retell what you all did that night, I have something to go off of."

Emily forced herself not to get defensive. She needed to sell this story, and then she would alert the rest of the girls before they were called in.

"We went to Alison's, and then we searched the neighborhood," Emily lied. "We thought that maybe Charlotte had just went wandering, but when we couldn't find her we called the police."

Furey nodded and jotted down some notes.

"I think that's all I need for now," Furey stood. "Thank you, Miss Fields. If I have any more questions, I'll call you."

"Yeah."

Emily stood and followed Furey out of the room. She waited until she was out of Furey and Tanner's view to pull out her cellphone.

But when she looked up she spotted a familiar face that was supposed to be far away from Rosewood.

Emily couldn't help but peer through the glass window.

It was Melissa Hastings.