33 - The Anniversary (P2)

"Bonjour, je m'appelle Léo et je serai votre serveur ce soir. Voulez-vous commander?" asked a waiter in a tuxedo with a heavy accent, holding a serving tray and a napkin around his forearm.

At his question regarding what they wanted to order, Emily took one more look at her menu. She truly didn't know at least half of these dishes. She glanced at Alison who seemed to be making some final decisions about her course. Emily didn't want to embarrass Alison by seeming like a complete loser who didn't know French even though she had been taking French class with Alison for the past year, although she knew the blonde would never look at her like that.

Still, Emily had acknowledged long ago a quality in herself that she wasn't sure she liked, and that was - she always wanted to look like she knew what she was doing. It applied not only now, but in swimming, too. Or at least, when she started to swim.

In her first six months of being in the Rosewood Sharks, since she was the youngest one in their team, she'd acted as though she genuinely had a clue what she was doing, even though she hardly did. That was how she'd learned quicker, by forcing herself to blossom in the team to meet the coach's high expectation. But it was significantly different now on the team - now, she was one of the best swimmers on there, gunning for team anchor in the upcoming year, in fact.

"Em?" Alison called out to her once again, this time a little more loudly, after the brunette didn't respond the first time. Emily's eyes were distant and the dimple over her eyebrow was showing. Alison wondered what her girlfriend was thinking so deeply about. The brunette seriously needed to stop over-thinking things.

Emily snapped out of her daze softly and turned to Alison who had a raised eyebrow. "Yeah?"

Alison just nodded her head towards waiter who was waiting patiently, not batting a single eyelash at the two.

"Oh, right," Emily fixed herself quickly. Idiot, she scolded herself as she shook her head gently. "Um, C-Coq au vin," Emily ordered slowly and hesitantly, squinting her eyes at the menu in the purpose of not messing up her order's name. She'd probably pronounced it wrong, but the waiter just politely nodded and scribbled it down quickly, then turned to Alison expectantly.

"Je prendrai la même chose," Alison decided spontaneously to order the same thing as she watched a flustered Emily shifting in her seat.

"Génial. Profitez de votre soirée, mesdames," he finished, telling them to enjoy their evening as he gathered their menus and returned to the inside of the restaurant.

Emily watched the view of Paris in the nighttime to her left at ease, turning to Alison when Léo left the table. "What the hell did I just order?" she asked with a half-chuckle.

"Relax, you ordered chicken that's cooked in wine with a few other things. It's a very popular dish in France," Alison reassured her safetly, reaching out to grab her hand on the table.

Emily smiled at the contact before remembering she had a follow-up question. "And you?" the brunette asked.

Only Emily, always worrying about other people, Alison mused.

"The same," Alison replied with a grin. She turned to her right to look out at the millions of small lights flashing from afar. She and Emily were sitting so high up, and the restaurant's balcony was providing them with the best possible breeze, making the night almost perfect.

Almost.

They hadn't given their gifts to each other yet.

"This restaurant is really great, Ali," Emily commented on the three-story restaurant they were seated in. The blonde had intentionally booked their reservations there, knowing the respectable place had 3 Michelin stars. She wanted Emily to have the best dining experience of her life in this place. Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little, but she really wanted Emily to remember this night.

Little did she knew, Emily had no intention of ever forgetting it.

"It is, isn't it?" Alison nodded as she answered mirthfully. She watched as Emily turned to look her instead of the view.

"Alison?"

"Yes?" Alison was taken aback from the serious tone the brunette's voice had turned to.

"We probably have a while until they bring out our courses, so... I have something for you," Emily started with a hopeful look.

"Oh, yeah?" came Alison's mischievous response. "Me too."

Emily looked a little surprised which Alison didn't understand as to why. Did she seriously think she was the only one who came bearing gifts?

"Really?" Emily asked in awe and the blonde nodded with a small grin. "Well, c-can I start?" the brunette requested shyly.

"Sure," she answered dismissively, even though she was barely containing her excitement. What could this gift be?

Emily's beautiful smile took over her face as she fumbled with her purse on the ground and then handed Alison a black, rectangular box. She waited kindly as Alison took it from her, briefly meeting her eyes, and then opened it quickly, the anticipation and impatientness to find what Emily had bought her eating at her from the inside.

"Emily," Alison's eyes widened as she gasped and pulled put a gold charm bracelet. She observed it up close, sharing quietly, "It's beautiful."

Emily's heart swelled at the sight of Alison admiring the gift.

"Is this real gold? It must've cost you a fortune," Alison continued, not stopping her awe-filled eyes from staring and her fingers from playing with the little charms. The charms were all personalized to Emily's request. A mermaid-shaped charm, an Eiffel Tower shaped charm, a small heart with their initials engraved on it, and a few more charms of things only the two of them could understand, sort of like an inside joke.

"This is our first anniversary, Ali. I wanted to make it count," Emily said in a hushed tone, her eyes staring at the blonde's face warmly.

When she had been at the mall with Hanna, she had no idea what to get her girlfriend. Thank god her blonde best friend had offered to go into that small jewelry store that Emily ended up buying the bracelet from.

"Em, that's... Thank you," Alison stated calmly as she made a move to stand up. Emily mimicked her action, gave the blonde the best view of herself.

She was wearing a gold dress she had packed along for the trip when Alison wasn't looking, Alison's favorite color, of course. Well, technically, her favorite was yellow, but Emily found that horrid color to be only attractive on Alison and no one else.

That dress had been sitting in her closet for the longest time and she'd been wanting to wear it, so when she packed it for Paris, she figured she would find what to do with it on one of the days in the magnificent city, and she ended up doing just that.

Alison on the other hand, had returned the favor since she was wearing a dress in Emily's favorite color - navy blue. She liked that color a lot herself, too, and when she found that dress with the help of Aria and Spencer at the mall after she'd left Emily gaping in that lingerie store dressing room, she knew the brunette would love it.

Alison leaned in and kissed Emily on the lips, investing as much love and appreciation as she could into it.

They pulled away shortly after with matching smiles and Alison returned to her seat. She held out the bracelet across the table, extending her hand to Emily.

"Will you put it on for me, Em?"

Emily instantly blushed at the nostalgic line. She'd heard it when Alison had asked her to clasp the friendship bracelet onto her wrist - Alison had made them all friendship bracelets somewhere at the beginning of their sprouting friendship with the other girls. The blonde had sent a flirtatious smile Emily's way when she'd done that, thus causing the brunette's stomach to topple over, and the brunette counted that day as one of the first times she'd ever begun acknowledging the fact that she had some unusual feelings.

Now, Emily reached out, flustered, and clasped the bracelet around Alison's wrist, intentionally avoiding the blonde's sinister smirk at the memory.

"Em," Alison touched Emily's forearm softly before the brunette pulled away further. "Thank you. Really," she said in the most thankful and serious tone she could pull off. The love practically radiated from Alison's blue eyes to Emily and the brunette nodded in understanding with a gentle smile.

"Well, I brought you something too," Alison pulled away, missing the touch suddenly, and turned to her own purse.

She handed the specially-decorated bag to Emily and smiled nervously as she felt her heart pumping faster and slower at the same time, which didn't even feel bizarre anymore. It always happened when she was around Emily.

"What is it? Feels heavy," Emily commented as she explored the bag, finding a wrapped rectangular object. She looked at Alison for a second, whose eyes were filled with expectation and anxiety all at once.

"Open it and find out," Alison answered simply, not finding any strength in herself to describe any longer than those five words.

Emily did as she was told, opening the wrapper to find the present she had no idea she would be getting.

She pulled out a scrapbook, where, on the cover was stated in beautiful cursive letters, "Emily and Alison's Storyline". She quickly opened the first page, finding a beautiful picture of the two of them which they took sometime before the trip.

"Do you like it?" Alison asked hesitantly. Emily had been staring at the very first picture for a few seconds and the blonde was getting slightly worried that she had brought along a bad gift.

Her thoughts were cut when a pair of warm lips crushed against hers. She instantly recognized the sweet aroma rising from Emily's body. The brunette was bent across the table, nearly spilling the contents of their water glasses and pretty much everything in-between her and Alison but she didn't care.

She had to finally pull away though, because as much as she wanted to kiss the blonde some more, she was excited about seeing the rest of the scrapbook that Alison had obviously spent a lot of time and effort making.

She sat back in her chair and watched as Alison's eyes fluttered open slowly, as if she was waking up from a dream. Alison opened her eyes to her beloved girlfriend who was smiling sweetly at her, rare dimples showing at the sides of her face.

"Am I gonna get a kiss like that every time you look at a photo? Because if so, I should've added way more pages," Alison teased Emily who instantly blushed at the comment.

Emily just gave her a shy smile and looked down at the personally decorated album. She continued flipping through the pages, when she felt Alison's eyes watching her from behind the scrapbook. Next thing she knew, Alison was dragging her chair to Emily's side of the table, waiting for the brunette to proceed. Emily shook her head playfully, turning back to the album in her lap.

She turned a page and stumbled upon two pictures that crashed a wave of sentimentality she couldn't quite ignore. "Oh, my God. Ali," she released a sound of disbelief and pointed at the pictures.

"These two pictures are such golden oldies from back when we were... Well, I can't exactly say young and innocent because we're still young and... kind of innocent. At least you are," Alison laughed teasingly as Emily hit her playfully on the arm.

"This is from one of the first weeks we'd ever become friends. I remember that day like it was yesterday," Emily reminisced with a meaningful glance at Alison.

"Come on, Spence, we're not gonna destroy it or anything," Hanna feigned a whine playfully. The girls had been trying to convince a hesitant Spencer to get her father's new advanced camera for the past several minutes, all so they could take pictures of themselves.

"I don't know, you guys..." Spencer trailed off uncertainly.

"Yeah, Spence, it even has a tripod and everything. Even really advanced options that I thought only existed in industrial cameras." Aria commented enthusiastically. They were all already well aware of how Aria liked her cameras.

Alison, who was getting rather hot inside the Hastings house since their AC had broken down earlier that day, decided that she was no longer interested in the conversation and stood up to leave for the backyard for some fresh air. A sweet, small voice made her stop in her tracks.

"Ali, w-where are you going?" Emily asked timidly from the couch, feeling the couch grow cold with the lack of the blonde next to her.

"Outside," Alison answered as if it was obvious. "It's really hot in here."

"Yeah, It's like, a hundred degrees in here, Spence," Hanna agreed, standing up to follow their unofficial leader.

The rest of the girls agreed, as well, leaving to head out, but not before a little more persuasion from Aria, making Spencer bring her father's camera finally.

Alison stepped outside, confident and all, with her normal Queen Bee attitude. She sat on the grass for a few seconds, the other girls standing behind her awkwardly, not quite knowing what to do with themselves.

"Well, come on," Alison rolled her eyes and gestured to beside her, before lying down on the cool grass and looking up at the clouds. The girls gathered their bearings fast and somehow ended up lying in a circle, their legs pointing outwards and their heads close to one another.

Later on, they fooled around with the camera while making jokes and chatting animatedly with each other, truly getting to know each other better. Alison would never admit it, but she knew she would never be able to forget that lazy weekend they spent together.

"It was a great day," Alison shook her head, fond of the memories. At that time, she had been more of a dictator rather than a friend and now, she didn't especially like thinking back to that, but that day was an exception.

"I remember when Spencer made Melissa take that first photo, and the second one... I think we used the timer on Mr. Hastings' camera," Emily stated thoughtfully, frowning as she tried to remember the events of that day more clearly.

Alison bit her lip and smiled as Emily fumbled through the pages, careful not to wreck them. Emily caught Alison staring at her out of the corner of her eye, so she turned to the smiling blonde.

"Wha-"

Emily was cut by Alison's lips pressing softly against her own. The soft music from inside the restaurant benefited the mood as Alison's heart-shaped lips moved in a slow rhythm against Emily's.

When Alison pulled away, Emily kept her eyes closed for a few more seconds. Even when she opened them, she blinked a numerous amount of times, making sure she wasn't inside a dream. A fabulous, inspiring, too-good-to-be-true kind of dream.

Alison giggled at Emily's tenderness, grabbing Emily's chin to land one more gentle kiss on the brunette's cheek. She turned back to the book in Emily's lap, waiting for her girlfriend to come down from her high.

Emily finally cleared her throat bashfully and turned to the scrapbook, turning the pages and loving absolutely everything about the considerate gift. She stopped when she found yet another interesting picture.

"This was the first picture Aria took with her first-ever camera," Emily stated in shock. "I remember her being so excited."

Alison nodded with a particular knowing smile. "She was the one who helped me make this scrapbook, by the way. I mean, Spence and Han helped and the guys helped some too by picking the photos out of dozens of others that I had, but Aria's the photographer of the group so she really lent a helping hand." Alison informed the brunette.

Emily felt her heart warming at the fact that this was a group effort between the people she loved. It made her comprehend just how much they all loved her if they grouped together to do something like this. She felt so lucky to have such great people in her life.

She turned another page, smiling at the next photo.

"The picture we took outside the karaoke club," Emily chuckled sweetly at the black and white picture. "I gave you a piggy-back ride all the way to the car."

"I love that picture," Alison replied, resting her head on Emily's shoulder almost instinctively.

"Me too," Emily answered softly. She glanced at Alison's peaceful expression before flipping another page and stumbling upon three photos that had been taken very recently.

"That first one is from that all-black event with the tons of old people we went to," Alison stated, the amusement seeping through her voice.

"The one where you got wasted?" Emily joked.

"Yes," Alison rolled her eyes playfully. "And the second one is the one we took at Champ de Mars."

"Yeah, I'm wearing your sunglasses," Emily said, pointing at the picture.

Alison nodded in approval. "And the third one is the one Aria took of Arc de Triomphe that I told her to make me a copy of. I wanted you to have pictures from everywhere we went in Paris, Em."

Emily felt woeful yet satisfied as the album came to an end. Every fiber of her being was tingling with love for this girl and nothing could ever take that away from her.

Emily closed the book softly, placing it on the table safely. She ducked her head for a moment as she felt Alison's eyes softly urging her to do something. Lifting her head to look at the blonde, she gave her a small smile that meant the world. "You're everything to me, Ali. And this gift is just another reason why."

Alison melted at her words before Emily reached to tuck a blonde strand behind her ear gently. "So beautiful," the brunette whispered as though she was locked within a trance, her eyes tracing over every feature and trait in Alison's face.

The blonde broke out of her own spell for a moment, only to look around at the rest of the balcony. She'd asked to be put in the very corner of the balcony, the reason being that she wanted privacy when she gave the girl her gift, but looking at it now, they were well and truly hidden from other tenants.

She got up from her seat, Emily's eyes tracking her every movement, and straddled Emily's lap, who gasped at the gesture. Her body vibrated as she leaned forward hastily, grabbing her back of Emily's head to pull her close.

Emily instantly responded, deciding she liked this turn of events as she slid her tongue in Alison's mouth, making the blonde, yet again, grow excited at this bold side of her.

Emily felt Alison wrapping her arms around her neck as the blonde eased into the kiss. The brunette's hands glided down to Alison's hips and rested on them softly. The blonde hummed into the kiss, concentrating all of her love into this one amazing person in front of her.

When a clattering noise was sounded somewhere inside the restaurant, Emily lightly broke out of the moment, parting from Alison and kissing the blonde's nose in an almost child-like manner, watching as Alison scrunched up her nose cutely.

"I love you, Emily Fields," Alison sighed, her eyes peeking into Emily's soul.

"I love you, too, Alison DiLaurentis."

Emily knew all too well that she would never get tired of saying that.

XXXXX

"Ali?"

"Yeah?"

"This feels a little weird," Emily said from inside the bathroom.

Alison raised her eyebrow skeptically. "What does?" the blonde replied, taking a seat on the bed. She'd been waiting patiently for the past ten minutes while Emily changed into the 'anniversary surprise' she had bought with the help of Hanna. The blonde didn't mind waiting, but she was afraid Emily was going to feel uncomfortable in the lingerie and she really didn't want that. She only wanted Emily to wear it if she felt certain that she wanted to.

"This... thing," Emily let out, making Alison giggle in amusement.

Alison walked over to the bathroom door. "Babe, I'm coming in, okay?"

She waited for Emily's approval, but when nothing came, she hesitantly turned the knob and opened the door slowly. She peered her head inside the room, "Em- oh, my fucking god."

She didn't blatantly curse that often but at the sight in front of her, it just slipped out easily. There Emily stood, in all her glory, wearing the black lingerie and looking like a greek goddess more than ever. Her body was truly incredible, to the point that at the sight of it in the skimpy piece of clothing, Alison's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. The blonde opened the door fully, noticing how Emily crossed her arms over her chest and looked down shyly.

"Wow," was the only thing that barely escaped from Alison's mouth. Wow. That was it. She didn't know how else to describe it. If there was one thing she'd thought she would never get to see was Emily Fields in lingerie, and now that she has... well, it was simply mesmerizing.

Half-returning to her senses, she walked over to the timid brunette and reached for Emily's hands, uncrossing them and then bringing them around her own waist, pulling their bodies as close as humanly possible. She heard Emily suck in a breath at the sudden contact, the brunette's warm brown eyes meeting Alison's icy blue ones. And just like that, Emily felt a jolt of electricity rush through every cell of her being as she fell in love all over again.

Alison couldn't help herself anymore and leaned forward, kissing Emily's plump lips, washing all of her fears away with a simple touch. Emily kissed back, maybe even harder, as she kept her arms protectively around the blonde's waist. Alison's hands went straight to Emily's soft brown locks, angling the brunette's lips to hers more powerfully.

Alison moaned softly into her mouth as she slowly trailed her hands on the front of the outfit, stopping to squeeze her breasts and successfully getting the brunette to whimper at the action.

Alison then began walking backwards, still keeping her lips connected to Emily's addictive ones. She blindly bumped into the door, making them both giggle in between kisses.

"Ali?" Emily's breathless voice came.

"Yeah, Em?" Alison asked, her voice just as hoarse as Emily's.

"I love you," Emily said truthfully, staring into Alison's blue globes and absentmindedly running her hands up and down Alison's back slowly, giving the blonde pleasant chills. "This is just one month out of plenty."

Emily's voice was so pure, so honest, Alison couldn't help but smile in return. "Yes, it is. I love you, too."

Emily smiled back, before leaning back into the kiss, this time avoiding the door and entering the bedroom. She inwardly lost all of her previous restraint as she shifted to lay Alison on the bed and then crawled on top of her.

Alison grabbed the sides of her face and brought her into a passionate, lingering kiss that made her see fireworks behind her eyes.

Emily backed away after a few moments, sitting straight and pulling Alison's dress off of her. Alison obeyed quickly, first taking off her own dress, then her underwear and finally, Emily's lingerie, and soon enough they were both head-to-toe bare.

Just before they could take the very next step, Alison stopped the girl, holding Emily's chin as she directed the brunette's eyes to hers in seriousness. "Promise me we'll always be like this. All spontaneous and sexy."

Emily merely kissed her cheek with great endearment.

"Always."

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English-French dictionary:

1. Bonjour, je m'appelle Léo et je serai votre serveur ce soir. Voulez-vous commander? = Hello, my name is Léo and I will be your waiter this evening. Would you like to order?

2. Je prendrai la même chose = I'll have the same thing.

3. Génial. Profitez de votre soirée, mesdames. = Great. Enjoy your evening, ladies.