The Difference Between Us // Emison AU

Chp. 17

"Hanna! Your eggs are ready!" Emily called from downstairs.

Hanna Marin opened her eyes and stretched after finding herself in the beautiful brunette's bed after a long night together.

In the corner of the room, she caught sight of one of Alison Dilaurentis' bags. After slowly moving herself from the bed to the floor, she made her way over to it and grimaced at the name tag.

It had been there for a couple of months. It had been there since Emily and Alison broke off their partnership and Alison had yet to return to the art store to acquire it.

And it stood there as a painful reminder to Emily. If there was anyone on the planet who could read Emily better than Emily could, it was Hanna. And she knew after what happened with Alison, Emily was completely and utterly heartbroken.

But the youngest Fields held her head high and soon moved from being a mainstream painter for the Dilaurentis Corporation to doing art designs on pages for Hanna and her fashion company which was not nearly as big as Alison's, but big enough to pay Emily the same amount she was receiving before.

Jason Dilaurentis helped when he could, but for the most part, he had confided in Hanna about his feelings towards his sister Alison and his past life.

Hanna sat out on the balcony of the art shop one evening with a wine glass in her hand and watched as cabs raced back and forth. Emily was working late downstairs on some project she believed Hanna would love.

The two of them together still made a good team despite Alison's previous relationship with her Emily.

In her mind, she had only wished she could have saved Emily from ever getting involved with Alison Dilaurentis in the first place. If she had never left America though, she wouldn't have succeeded as far as she had in the fashion world. It was one of her biggest achievements and one of her biggest regrets, for Emily was her everything.

"Mind if I come in?" A soft voice spoke.

Hanna turned her head to see Jason with his long flowing blonde hair carefully perched next to the door of Emily's bedroom where Hanna had been staying.

Hanna smiled and waved him in. "You in the mood for a drink? I could use a handsome man to save me from drinking this whole bottle by myself."

Jason strolled through the room to the open balcony where the blonde was holding up an extra wine glass. Jason shook his head. "No thank you. I don't drink."

Hanna shrugged. "More for me then. I'm not complaining."

For a couple of minutes they just sat there and enjoyed each other's company before Jason sighed. "You've been so good to Emily. And I never got a chance to thank you."

Hanna tilted her head to the right a little in confusion. "Thank you?"

Jason chuckled lightly. "After what Alison did, I know Emily took it pretty harsh. But you did her a favor. I warned her months ago not to get involved with my sister and our family. They're money hungry enemies, not friends." 

Hanna began to play with the cuffs on her pajamas. "To be fair, I understand being upset with Alison after what she said to your best friend. But... you speak so low of your family."

"That's because they're not much of a family," Jason finished.

Hanna couldn't answer. She knew that saying anything at all would be wrong, but she also knew that she could sympathize with Jason's situation.

Hanna turned towards him and looked him dead in the eyes. "Now, I'm usually a pretty tough girl. I put on my big girl pants and I go to work and I do what has to get done because that's just who I am. So you're only going to hear this once.

"I grew up in a household where I had basically no money. And it wasn't like that at first. It wasn't like that when my dad used to live with us. But he cheated on my mom and he left us without even really saying goodbye.

"My step sister, Kate, she is actually a lot like Alison. And you're a lot like me. Kate was and continues to be favored by my father even though I'm his real daughter. And Alison is continuously favored over you," Hanna said.

Jason squinted. "I don't really understand where this is leading. How does this exactly compare us?"

"Because we both understand what it's like to have difficult fathers and difficult bitchy sisters. And we both love Emily and want the absolute best for her because she deserves nothing less than that," Hanna said after a couple of silent moments.

Jason looked down at his torn boots and scratched the back of his neck. "Alison took advantage of her. And Emily being Emily looked for the best in her. But that's the thing with Ali... there's not much good. I think she tries to be good. But it doesn't usually ever win out."

They remained silent for a few more minutes before Hanna had begun to yawn. "And if you could go back and do everything over again, what would you do?"

Jason thought for a couple of seconds and wrung his hands which were weathered and cracked from his many years of street artwork. "I would've kept Alison as far away from Emily as the universe allows."

After a couple more moments of street watching and the sounds of cars driving quickly by, Jason stood up and stretched his long legs and arms. "Goodnight Hanna. Sleep well."

"You too," Hanna whispered with a tired smile.

As she lay in bed, the scent of Emily filled her nose. It was a smell she hadn't experienced in a very long time.

She knew it was wrong that her and Emily had been sleeping together. But to Hanna, that's really all it seemed like to Emily. It was as if there were no emotions attached, no feelings. Just sex.

Just hot, orgasmic sex.

And Emily's parents could tell too that their daughter had been hiding her emotions as of late. Neither of them really knew what to say or do to console their daughter into feeling better over the heartbreak of losing Alison Dilaurentis.

It was as if the shock of the blonde considering Emily a money opportunity instead of a friend had yet to subside, even if it was four and a half months later.

Hanna stared at Alison's bag some more and felt a sudden hatred ripple through her. She wanted to take that bag and burn it.

But as she realized that it would get her nowhere, she decided to get dressed and drop the bag back off at Dilaurentis tower so that Emily would not have to constantly be painfully reminded of Alison's forgotten belongings. 

It was time that Emily Fields had moved on from the heartbreak that was Alison Dilaurentis.

And Hanna was determined to make it happen.

No matter what.