A/N: Hey there! My first Emison fanfic, I've dabbled in Jori, Rizzles, Fimogen, and Maxoline before so I have some experience writing these kinds of things, I would love if you would check those out too if you are part of any of those fandoms. I love Emison and I'm really hoping for endgame. This story is my take on what would have happened the morning after 5x06 where Emily stayed up all night watching over Alison. It is a little rough cause I wanted to get it up before the new episode, but please review/comment to let me know what you think. Who knows I might just continue it if enough people seem to take to it. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

*Set in 5X06 the morning after Emily stayed up all night watching over Alison to make sure she's safe.*

It had been a long night, long day, hell a long two years. Alison had been attacked by A, or part of the A Team, they weren't really sure who, earlier that day. Emily had come over to convince Ali to not leave Rosewood again. She was gonna kill Hanna for trying to help her escape. She came in to notice A standing over Ali. She didn't wait a second before reacting, trying to take down A, but was unfortunately unsuccessful. She embraced Alison in her arms, who in turn clung right back. They stayed like that for what felt like hours, seeking comfort in each other's arms.

Anybody would say Emily showed up in the nick of time to save Alison from her inevitable death, but Emily thought otherwise. It all seemed too sudden, after all the years of torment A would show up out of the blue and kill Ali? It didn't make much sense. But that thought didn't keep Emily from thinking she was safe. And that's why she was awake at 4am, not sleeping a moment since Ali went to bed. Even though she strongly believed A was only trying to scare her with that attack, she wasn't naive enough to think it was over. Ali didn't want to be alone tonight, and Emily didn't blame her, she doesn't think she would ever want to be alone if she'd experienced everything Ali has been through. She tucked her in hours ago, yet she remained on top of the covers, never even fully laying down, in fear that sleep would overtake her and she wouldn't be able to watch over Alison.

She stayed up all night replaying all the day's events, the past week, the past month; everything leading up to Alison's death all the way through her return and then some. When did everything become so crazy? It was a question that came to her mind often when she was searching for answers, and she had yet to pinpoint a moment where everything went wrong. It, along with other questions, racked her brain giving her plenty to think about over the next few hours before Alison woke up.

The Next Morning:

Alison rolled over slowly, stretching lightly; she didn't expect to see Emily, still in her shirt and jeans from the night before sitting atop the covers. She was cross legged in the middle of the bed staring at the window. She didn't even react when Ali sat up next to her. Ali gently placed her hand on Emily's upper arm, immediately noticing the tiredness on Emily's face, "Em, did you get any sleep last night?"

It took a moment for Emily's brain to register what Alison just said. She was quiet for a second before answering without her gaze straying from the window, "A might have just woken up from her nap, so I'm not settling down for mine." Her voice was scratchy and deep from her lack of sleep.

"Em, you have to sleep." Her hand slowly moved from Emily's arm across her back, ultimately resting in the small of her back. "Come on why don't you rest now?" Ali asked concerned. She tried to gently coax Emily into lying down.

Emily turned around to look at Alison for the first time that morning. Ali could see the amount of hurt, and worry that was conflicting Emily in her eyes. Emily quietly asked, "How will I know you won't get on a train and never come back?"

Ali instantly felt terrible, finally understanding why Emily stayed up all night. She was so scared Ali would leave again. Ali got up from the bed for a moment to go grab a book and her new diary from her purse, placing them on the bedside table before sitting against the headboard, "Here…" Alison took Emily's hand in hers and squeezed it tight, "that way you know I'm not going anywhere" she nodded at Emily motioning for her to lie down, "I promise I'll wake you up if anything seems out of the ordinary." Emily hesitated, "Please?" Ali added almost pleadingly.

Emily gave in and finally settled down under the covers, lying on her side facing Alison, hands still intact. Only a few minutes later sleep overtook her. Thankful Emily was finally getting some much needed rest; Alison grabbed her diary of the table. She wrote for a couple hours, everything from the moment she came back to Rosewood was cleverly recorded under the guise of little mini fairytales, much like the diary the girls found when they were still searching for Alison. She contemplated the past week, returning to school, Mona, the explosion, the A attack from the day before.

But what she couldn't get out of her mind was the girl sleeping right next to her. How safe she felt around her, how she was the only one who saw the goodness in her before the incident, how no matter how hard she tried to push her away she would always stand her ground. Looking back she now knew she always had a natural connection with her, but ignored it. It wasn't until she 'died' that she really began to evaluate her life and her feelings. She knew that being here with her was all she wanted.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Emily stirred in her sleep rolling onto her back, in turn pulling their conjoined hands onto her stomach. The position contorted Ali's arm uncomfortably, so she lied down on her side facing Emily. She studied Emily's resting face, even when she was asleep Ali could still see the pain in her features, furrowed brow, eyes shut tight, the muscles around her mouth tense. Ali couldn't help it; she reached out to brush a stray hair behind Emily's ear. Emily's face relaxed at the touch, and Ali began to slowly run her thumb across her cheek.

Eventually the contact caused Emily to wake up. Ali quickly pulled her hand away, her face began to flush, she muttered a quiet apology, "S-sorry, I..."

Emily gave her a look that said 'it's ok'

Ali smiled relieved and lightly squeezed their intertwined hands. Emily had forgotten they were still holding hands and pulled away quickly sitting up in bed. She turned her back toward Alison as she checked her phone.

Unbeknown to Emily, Ali is hurt by Emily's rejection and is visibly upset; she also sits up in bed and cautiously questions, "Em? Are we ever gonna talk about the other night?"

Emily has an internal flashback to the last time they had a sleepover. She had initiated the kiss, but Alison deepened it, and before she knew it Alison was on top of her ready to take things to the next level, but Emily had stopped it. She didn't want to rush whatever it was that they had, so instead they spent the rest of the night wrapped up in each other's arms, stealing a kiss every now and then, but never addressing what exactly they were doing. So when Alison asked to stay over last night she hesitated, she was too angry and upset to deal with any kind of romantic feelings. It wasn't until Alison promised they would just sleep, that she let her guard down and accepted.

Emily turned around to face Ali but remained quiet. She wasn't ready for this conversation, but she knew Ali wasn't going to let it go without a fight.

Ali took Emily's silence as her cue to continue, it was now or never, "I know you're confused and probably pissed," Emily rolled her eyes at that statement, more like understatement she thought, "and I completely understand that, believe me I do. But we can't keep up this hot and cold thing forever." Ali waited holding her breath for Emily's response.

Emily sat there looking forward, but still able to see Ali out of her peripheral vision, "Alison, I just…" she refused to make eye contact, and her voice got really small, "When?" And that was it, yet Ali knew exactly what that one word meant, 'When as in when did things change? When did you begin to have these feelings?' She knew when they were to finally have this conversation that this would be the question that would make or break their relationship; that this was probably the only thing Emily cared about. All those times she made Emily believe her feelings weren't returned, that she would never love her the way Emily wanted.

Alison knew this question was coming, and she actually had an answer, "The night my mom…." She hesitated, she could feel the tears beginning to well up in her eyes, "my mom burred me."

Emily shook her head trying to ward off the tears that were welling in her own eyes.

Alison, trying hard to fight the tears elaborated, "I kept thinking about you." Emily turned to look at her waiting for more. "I was afraid, not just for myself, but for you. I knew I was going to die, but all I could think about was you, how my death would affect you, how a part of you would die with me."

Emily became outraged, she got off the bed starting to pace with her arms crossed over her chest. She knew Alison meant well, but she just couldn't believe how damn arrogant she sounded. "You're wrong Ali. Part of me didn't die with you," she stared daggers at Alison, "All of me died that day!" The tears that had been edging the corner of her eyes began to fall, "and to know you were alive this whole time…" she became defensive again, "two years Ali! Two years!" The tears flowing faster, "Two years ago I lost my best friend, the love of my life. But more importantly, two years ago I lost myself."

Alison hung her head, not expecting this outburst from Emily. She was right though and she knew it, Emily was a whole new person. She noticed that the moment she came back, she stronger, smarter, much more comfortable and confident in herself.

I spent the last two years mourning your death and trying to build a new life without you, a new self. I'm not that lovesick little puppy you used to know, I've changed, we all have," she alludes to the other girls, "I know you've been to hell and back, and I'm not trying to belittle that at all believe me, but you have no idea what I've been through, what you put me through."

After Alison's 'death' Emily didn't know what to do, everything she knew changed and she had no idea if she could overcome it all. She struggled, but she eventually arose out of the depression a better and stronger person than she had ever been, but having Ali back in Rosewood changed that. She could see aspects of that older Emily coming back, she didn't want to be that person again, and Alison was making that really difficult because it's Alison, the love she thought she lost forever. How could she ignore the second chance that had been given to her?

The tears are flowing fast and Emily didn't even bother to try to wipe them away. She was still pacing, angry, but it was silent for a while, neither girl knowing what to say, until Alison quietly began, "If I could go back, things would be different, I would go straight to the police instead of running away, I would—"

Emily interrupted her with more bite to her voice than ever before, "But you can't do that can you?—"

But Ali wouldn't let her take the lead again; it was her turn and cut her off as Emily had just done to her, answering with just as much ferocity, "No I can't! But what I can do," her voice softened, "what I'm trying to do, is to show you I've changed too. I'm not the mean bully I used to be."

Emily scoffed sarcastically, "well you've done a great job of convincing me" alluding to the Mona video.

Ali hung her head in defeat, tears flowing hard. Checkmate.

It was quiet again. Emily stood still, she looked at Alison, really seeing her for the first time this whole argument. Ali sat on the edge of the bed head low, she was furiously wiping away the tears that were falling, trying to hide them but epically failing. It was obvious she didn't want Emily to see her like this. She was broken, truly hurt and Emily saw it. Emily instantly felt bad; she made her way to the bed to sit next to Alison.

Ali was surprised and confused by Emily's sudden proximity, and just stared at her, afraid to move.

Emily's voice became very soft and comforting, "I'm not going to say I do or don't still have feelings for you, because I honestly have no idea what I'm feeling these days. But this," she motioned between them, "isn't going to fix itself overnight. You just have to be patient."

"I know." Ali replied so quietly it was barely audible, her head hung again.

Emily reached up and gently grabbed Ali's face with one of her hands. She wiped away the tears with her thumb.

Ali squeezed her eyes shut tight, as if she was trying to remember every second of this moment and how it felt, not knowing if and when it would happen again. She leaned into Emily's touch sighing quietly.

After what wasn't nearly long enough a time, Ali opened her eyes muttered a faint "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"The tears beginning to fall again and chocking her voice.

Emily rested her head against Ali's forehead whispering, "I know." Ali's eyes say it all, and Emily knows she's telling the truth. Emily leaned forward to place a quick soft kiss on top of Ali's lips, pulling away slowly. And even though things have changed, they knew that this was as great as it had ever been, if not much better.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it but I wanted to share it with you. Please review/comment to let me know your thoughts!