SECRET LOVE, hotchniss

1.

- 1988 -

"Emily, I won't speak about this any further, please just get ready, we're leaving in 1 hour. You will be in attendance and on your best behaviour. There are many important people attending tonight that can open a lot of doors for you and your future. So please-" Elizabeth sighed, gesturing her arm in the direction of Emily's room "Get ready."

Emily huffed as she entered her bedroom and slammed the door behind her, furious that once again she was being forced to attend another one of her mothers Embassy Gala's. She had turned 18 over a month ago and for some reason in her mind she had assumed, clearly incorrectly, that that meant she would have some control over which events she would attend. And if Emily truly had her way, that would be a big fat zero.

They had been arguing over Emily's attendance all week. Elizabeth focussed on future prospects and connections for herself and Emily, but most importantly the appearance of a "big happy family". Emily would be attending, with a smile on her face, eagerly greeting and conversing with those deemed of high importance, and it would therefor reflect onto Elizabeth and how well she had balanced her career as an ambassador and a mother. There was no room for mistakes, no room for any teenage rebellious behaviours, and certainly no room for Elizabeth to look like a failure.

As Emily stepped further inside her room she turned to face the closed door and stuck up both middle fingers at her mother who she knew had not yet stepped away from the other side. This was something she had been doing since she was a young teen, a small release of anger and rebellion that she wasn't quite brave enough to do infront of her mother, but it felt like a small win all the same.

Sighing, Emily resigned to the fact that she would be attending and playing happy family, and jumped in the shower. She had been applying for schools all over the place, in her mind the further away the better. Hopefully she would be accepted into one in a tiny town, in the middle of nowhere, with no airports making the journey to visit too far for her mother to even consider. However in all honesty Emily thought the chances of her mother visiting her at a school just down the street was pretty far fetched. As long as it was a school far enough away that she would have to move out, that was enough.

She wanted to escape this life of politics. Growing up as an Ambassadors daughter meant moving, a LOT. Her father had left when she was 7 because he couldn't handle this life either, however whenever Elizabeth was probed on her husband she just stated that he was out of town on business. Emily learned from an early age that telling people her father had left was not an option, it didn't fit into the narrative Elizabeth wanted portrayed regarding her family.

While a small part of Emily always wished he had taken her with him so that she too could have escaped this life, she also knew that he had never once tried to make contact with her. He didn't want ANY part of this life. Including her.

Emily dried herself off and began going through her closet looking for a dress to wear to the Gala. She was 18 now, and although she hated to admit it, her mother was right. There were going to be a lot of very important people in attendance, people who could help her escape this life and put in good words with schools if she needed them too. Her grades we impeccable, there was no other choice for them to be. But Emily wasn't even sure what she wanted to study yet, so having people in high places on her side incase she needed them was not a bad thing.

She decided she needed to look elegant, but not showy. She pulled out a few options, two blue and one green. She liked them, they were floor length and beautifully crafted. But they weren't what she was looking for. She wanted to look like an adult. No. A woman. She needed classy and elegant, but womanly. She kept flicking through the racks until she came across a black dress that she didn't recognise. It must have been her mothers and had gotten mixed in with her clothes during one of the 8 million moves they had made. It was mid calf length, form fitting, and had a square neckline. The straps were dainty golden chains with Swarovski diamonds dotted throughout them, looking like tiny water droplets. She couldn't imagine her mother wearing this, it must have been from her "younger years" as her she put it.