Another Life (emison)

Chapter Four

Alison opened her bedroom door and walked out, stretching and yawning. Last night was the first night that she'd managed to get a decent amount of sleep. Estella was just over a month old and had finally started sleeping through the night, allowing Alison her much-needed rest.

"Morning!" Noel sang from the kitchen.

"Mmmm," Alison mumbled, grabbing the coffee pot and a mug.

"Still having trouble sleeping?" Noel asked with concern. "You know that we're all happy to take over the two am Estella wake up calls, Ali. You need to sleep too."

"S'fine," Alison mumbled, yawning. "She slept through last night. I'm just not used to getting a full night's sleep so I still woke up every two hours."

"Aw, I'm sorry," Noel said sympathetically. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Alison took a sip of her black coffee and let the liquid travel down her throat before answering, "I was going to take her out anyway. She should stay awake long enough to experience the day."

"Ok, great," Noel said, silently breathing a sigh of relief. He dared not mention to Alison that he'd heard her crying herself to sleep on more than one occasion. He wasn't stupid – the anniversary of her leaving was coming up soon and he was pretty sure that Alison was still mourning the loss of her brunette ray of sunshine. Granted, if it were up to him, Emily would never come within fifty feet of Alison ever again, not after what she did to the blonde.

Noel downed his orange juice. "How about you and Estella walk me to work?" he suggested. "It's not too cold for her to be out and you'd get an early start to your day."

"Sure," Alison agreed after a thought. "Give me fifteen to get us ready?"

Noel nodded and watched Alison walk back into her bedroom. He sighed. Alison and Emily were like one entity. Although they weren't together, he had no doubt that one would somehow find the other again. And he was scared shitless of the effect that would have not only on Alison, but on little Estella too.

"Deep in thought so early," Spencer commented as she came out of the room she shared with Toby.

"Hmmm," Noel mused in agreement, his thoughts still on the potential reappearance off the careless brunette dancer.

"You ok, Noel?" Spencer asked, narrowing her eyes in concern.

"I suppose," Noel sighed. "You know what next Thursday is, right?"

Spencer's head dropped. "Yes. Unfortunately, that's a hard one to forget."

"She's been crying," Noel said in a low voice, not wanting Alison to overhear him through the open door.

"I know," Spencer replied, sighing. "I heard her the other night when I got up to make Toby some warm milk."

Noel rolled his eyes. "Spenc, this could be either a really good week or a really bad week. She only goes back to work at the end of the month so we need to keep her busy. I've already got her walking me to work with Estella, but she can't be home all day every day. She needs to get back out into the world."

Spencer nodded. "But Alison has to want to help herself to heal. She won't be able to if she keeps fighting it."

"I think she wants to," Noel said softly, his heart aching for his friend. "She kept so much pain inside her in high school. I think that she trusts us enough to help her deal with it, when the time comes. And I think that time is coming."

Spencer smiled and put a hand on Noel's shoulder. "I'm glad you're here for her, Noel. Lord knows it took a long time for Alison and I to become close, but you two have a special bond and if it hadn't been for you, I'm pretty sure things would've been much worse."