Time Is All We Need

Chapter 30

Emily was up late in the middle of the night, near three in the morning. She couldn't sleep no matter what she did. She tried counting sheep, she tried deep breathing techniques, and she had even resorted to trying Alison's bogus lavender essential oil. Still, nothing worked.

She never understood how essential oils came to be a big thing. Sixty dollars for a bottle less than the size of your pinky-finger and the stuff questionably works. It's robbery, dammit.

Alison could always tell, even in her sleep state, that something was up with Emily. She could tell because the bed would be cold, she would roll over and find nothing. She would found the brunette clutching the toilet seat, passed out on the floor, vomit hanging onto her chin. There were many times she found Emily like that; right before she was informed her cancer was back. She really should've known.

She'd been able to tell something was up with Emily for a while now. At first she had drew it up to be pre-wedding jitters. Their big day was now within reach, only being a mere two days away. Over the past few days, she couldn't deny that it was something more than wedding nerves. The brunette was constantly jittery, she was almost completely checked out of the world once she returned home from work. The same routine had been going on for the past week. Emily would come home, plant herself in the living room, and head to bed.

It was almost as if she had turned into a robot. Normally, she was the one cooking dinner or at the very least in charge of their dinner plans. Alison was way too indecisive to make such big decisions. Her normal lovey emotions that spilled before she slipped into unconsciousness for the next eight and a half hours, had completely disappeared.

She knew something was eating at Emily, more than she had initially thought when she found the brunette sitting in front the unlit fireplace, her head in her hands, in the pitch black room. She tip-toed down the stairs, yet the three stairs that always creaked, didn't fail. Although, Emily didn't notice the sound.

"Em," Alison whispered when she had been in reaching distance of the brunette, she had touched her arm too, causing her to jump in surprise. "Sorry, I tried not to scare you." She carefully sat on the lip of the stone fireplace, slipping her arm through Emily's and leaning her head on the brunette's strong shoulder. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," the brunette replied quickly, her cheek resting on the top of Alison's head, a deep sigh passing her lips as her eyes fluttered shut, "I can't sleep."

"No." Alison wasn't going to let it go on any longer. She couldn't stand to see Emily so hung up about something. "You tell me what's going on." She wasn't too firm with her, knowing that never helped ease Emily into talking things out. After she got no answer she softly spoke, "no secrets. Come on, you can talk to me about anything."

"Can I just talk to you as my fiancé? It's work related and I can't..."

"I know, of course." Emily's fingers curled around her palm. They were warm and soft, which was no surprise at all.

Emily finally spilled her guts about work. Her old boss, the previous Chief, well Emily suspected that his son, Seth, was into a bit of trouble. When they had inspected Mrs. Thomas' house just months ago, she knew she had recognized it from somewhere, which was a good sign on the police end of things. Which was the reason she had everything sent to the lab, so they could inspect everything and do it the right way; the way Emily wanted it done. Upon some baggies of various drugs, they found many finger prints. The boots matched the force's brand of boots. She had matched a finger print from the baggie with Seth's. The only problem is, there could be a logical explanation as to why this evidence lead to him; he was part of the crew that backed her up that day. Emily had since cleared the area of police tape, hoping that somehow she could gather more evidence at a later date. She spent many evenings camped out, watching people filter through the house, one of which being Seth.