Lost & Found

The tale of a damaged girl

After spending another hour nervously worrying whether her mother or sister would bring up his wife as the four of them sat in the living room drinking tea and talking, Emma was almost grateful when Aiden said he should be going because he still needed to stop at his parents house to pick up Haven.

After Aiden said goodnight to her mother and sister, Emma walked him out to his truck. She wanted him to know she was happy he came over, but she couldn't really think of the right words to say. All she kept thinking about was the night they spent together and subsequently how she spent the rest of that night breaking down over it.

"Listen, Em..." Aiden started.

"Hmm..." Emma hummed, looking up at him.

"I'm sorry about... about what happened when you were, you know, at my apartment," Aiden said, looking apologetic. Emma's entire body froze. She hadn't expected him to be thinking about it too.

"Oh..." She breathed, looking down at the ground.

"You weren't ready. I shouldn't've..." He began to explain.

"It's okay. Honestly, you have nothing to apologize for. I feel like... like maybe... I don't know," Emma said, unable to even finish the thought.

"What?" Aiden asked, cocking his eyebrow at her.

"Nothing," she said, waving her hand through the air.

"Emmy," Aiden warned, sending her a stern look, causing her to bite back a smile and shake her head.

"You feel like, what?" Aiden asked her.

"I don't know – that it might have been a good thing that it happened," she told him quietly, feeling her stomach turn as she admitted it.

"Yeah?"

"I mean... yeah. At least for me anyway," she said, feeling a bit awkward.

"It was good," Aiden confirmed, nodding his head with a ghost of a smile haunting his lips. Emma couldn't help but smile back at him.

"It was good," she agreed, thinking about how connected she felt to him.

She did her best to not think of Patrick as she thought about the drunken night she slept with Aiden, and surprisingly she was able to ward off his memory for a few unadulterated moments.

"I'm sorry I was so awkward at dinner," Aiden said softly, changing the subject.

"Oh, no. No, I mean, I was awkward. You were great," Emma told him honestly.

"I don't... I'm not... I don't do well when Scarlett is brought up," Aiden stammered and Emma could see the anguish in his eyes.

"I know. I'm so sorry. Piper... you know Piper. She doesn't have a filter and wouldn't know what tact was if it smacked her across the face... which, to be honest, was what I wanted to do to her tonight. You know, smack her across the face," Emma explained. Aiden let out a small laugh and Emma couldn't help but smile back.

"Nah, it's not Piper's fault. It's just... hard," he said quietly, looking out over the neighborhood.

"I know," Emma said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah. You know," Aiden said, looking into her eyes.

Emma bit at her lip watching him watch her and she couldn't help but feel the electricity shoot up her spine as he leaned in. Her breathing shuddered just as his lips pressed to hers and she felt a satiating peace wrap around her. When his mouth moved against hers, she felt like the whole entire world just fell away and it was just the two of them. Like they were the last two people in existence and they were made for each other. Like they were meant to be in that moment, they were meant to be there.