The Perfect Emma

Chapter Forty-Nine

Emma Mabel

Emma winced occasionally as Gray pulled the glass out of her hand. However, she wasn't going to complain. She was thankful. He helped her get out of a pinch with her husband - ex-husband.

Of course, she was still going to continuously beat herself up over the fact that she can't manage to stand up for herself in situations like that. Yelling and anger in general always sent Emma back into dark, scary places in the basement. She missed her fiery self that was more than happy to start an argument and stand up for herself.

However, things were different. She was different.

For one, she lived with Grayson now instead of Arthur. In relation to living with Grayson, Emma needed to figure out how permanent the situation actually is. Would she need to be looking into getting her own apartment? She'll be damned if she continues to swap back and forth on who sleeps in the bed. Not to mention, she wasn't very interested in sleeping in a couch for the rest of her life either.

Perhaps she could talk with Grayson about it later - the idea of getting her own bed. The apartment they were currently in was relatively small so she doubted that getting her own bed here was an option. On top of that, though Emma loved living with him, she also couldn't picture him moving into a new two bedroom apartment just to continue living with her.

It also isn't helpful that she currently doesn't have a job teaching - which he understands. At least, she's fairly certain he does. She's not exactly in the best mindset at the moment to start teaching young children.

God... she left her third class in the middle of the school year. Emma can't imagine how much that might have traumatized her students - depending upon what the school district decided to tell her class.

She better have had a good substitute that came in to take her position. Perhaps the opening was still available and she could have her old job back.

...But her old job also meant working next to Lily.

Emma shook her head. That was still a while from now and she didn't want to think all too much about that. When her hands were finished being patched up by the cop-doctor, Emma squeezed them into a fist to test out the bandage. "Thank you," She said happily while standing up onto her feet.

Grayson nodded his head, accepting the thanks while pushing himself into his own chair at the table. He leaned back in the chair and watched as Emma stepped over to the plastic bag. She brought the bag up onto the table and pulled out the fluffy blue blanket, pushing it towards him. "So..." Emma started out slowly with a slight grin. "I went shopping today, too, and I grabbed this for you. I know you had a rough day yesterday - and, today too by the looks of it. I saw the blanket in the store and I figured you might like it."

Blinking his eyes, Gray glanced between the blanket and Emma with a soft smile on his lips. He reached his hand out to the blanket and began to run his fingers through the ultimate fluffiness. "That's really thoughtful of you, Emma." He said with a smile. Grayson reached out his other hand and began to tear off the cardboard that was holding the blanket folded up. He released the blanket as a whole and wrapped it around his shoulders happily. "I love it. Thank you."

Emma grinned and leaned forward to pet the blanket as well as his arm underneath. "You're welcome. Plus, it just looked far too soft to ignore." She said with a soft laugh.

Shifting her body slightly, Emma leaned down to the suitcase she brought in as well. She began to pull open the suitcase and Grayson leaned over slightly to look at it with his own curiosity. "Is that from...?" He asked, trailing off.

"It's some of my stuff from Arthur's house." Emma said. She didn't even think twice about calling the house Arthur's house and not her own. "Since you showed me some of your own pictures, I figured..." Emma shrugged as she leaned down to grab a picture frame.

"Oh?" Gray said with growing curiosity.

Emma lifted herself up onto the chair and set a picture frame flat on the table. Then, she began to point. "This is a picture of my family. They all live out in the countryside in Arizona - but they're good people." Emma explained.

Considering the fact Emma saw her family about a week ago, Grayson had somewhat of an idea on what her family looked like. However, when she saw her family, she drove out to them. Gray didn't meet her family himself.

Emma pointed to the picture and began to shift her finger along, pausing in front of each person to explain who they are. Occasionally, as Emma moved, she would pause and laugh to explain a funny story that popped into her head involving the person that she was pointing to. If it wasn't a funny story then Emma would begin to describe the person and how they acted.

"Your family sounds wonderful," Grayson murmured softly while watching Emma. He gave her a soft smile before shifting his attention back down to the picture frame.

"I know. I love them. One of the things I missed the most in the basement." Emma admitted while picking up and placing the picture frame back in the suitcase. There wasn't enough room in Grayson's house for her to start hanging up her own personal belongings. Besides, she didn't want to take over his space completely - though she had been living here for an extended amount of time.

Grayson noticed she was putting it away. "You're not going to place it up somewhere?" He questioned with confusion as she zipped back up the suitcase.

Emma froze slightly, quickly coming up with an excuse. "I'll find some place later," She brushed off with a shrug and a smile. Emma leaned down and carefully picked up the suitcase, being mindful of her scratched up hands, and began to drag it over towards Grayson's bedroom. His closet was already extremely full - since she already took up half of it with her own clothes.

She was merely adding to the pile of crap as she pushed the suitcase inside. Emma shoved the closet door closed and made her way back out into the main room.

"I'm cooking dinner today," Emma declared as she stepped past Grayson towards the counter in the kitchen. "There is no stopping me." Emma stated confidently, opening up the fridge. Grayson merely chuckled as Emma began to pull out an assortment of ingredients that she would use to make dinner. "How do you feel about homemade mac and cheese?"

"How do I feel?" Grayson questioned, repeating her words. "Well, I'm starting to feel hungry." He joked as he pushed himself up to his feet. Emma began to work her way around the kitchen with a smile, shaking her head slightly. "Need any help?" He offered.

Emma glanced back at him as she began to open a box full of noodles and shook her head. "I don't think so," She said, furrowing her eyebrows in thought. "Why don't you find something good to put on the television. That can be how you're helpful." Emma said with a playful grin.

Grayson merely shook his head and chuckled softly as he nodded his head. "Aye captain." He joked while leaving the kitchen and heading over to the couch.

Smiling, Emma turned her attention back to the task at hand. She immediately dived into cooking the pasta and preparing the sauce. In addition, she also started to warm up some bread to have on the side.

After spending a significant amount of time cooking and preparing the meal, Emma placed it on the kitchen table and called out for Grayson. Gray wandered into the kitchen soon after and sat himself down, Emma sitting down across from him.

The pair immediately began to eat and Gray hummed in satisfaction at the food. "Delicious," He murmured happily, continuing to eat.

Emma's smile widened into a grin as she felt more satisfied that Grayson enjoyed the dinner she cooked. She always enjoyed cooking a good meal for those she cares about. "Hey Grayson?"

"Hmm?" Gray hummed out while shoving another bite of pasta into his mouth, looking up at her.

"I don't think I've said this yet, but I want to." Emma pushed around the pasta on her plate with her fork and smiled over at him. "Thank you for saving my life."