This is set five years after 3x12. A was caught and disappeared and the liars went their separate ways. When one A escapes from jail, the liars must once again come together. Everything is AU after 3x12
I know this vague, but I will make things clear in the first chapter.
As people who read my Grey's Anatomy fics can tell you, I suck at updating, I promise I will eventually finish this story.
Read and review.
….
Aria Fitz stood at her kitchen sink washing the dishes from dinner.
Her husband, Ezra, sat at the table grading papers next to their son, Malcolm, who was working on his homework.
Her daughter, Lily, sat on the kitchen counter playing with a dish cloth.
Shortly before Aria graduated from high school, Maggie had been killed in a car accident and Malcolm had come to live with them.
A month after Aria had graduated from high school, she and Ezra had gotten married. Soon after, the three of them moved to California, so Aria could attend UC-Berkeley. Ezra had gotten a job teaching high school English in the local school district.
Aria had studied to become an elementary school teacher, discovering that she actually really enjoyed it. She was in the middle of her first year as a first grade teacher in the same school district as Ezra.
Towards the beginning of her junior year, Aria had discovered she was pregnant. She was still able to complete her degree on time. Lily was now about one and a half.
Aria looked at the picture of her and her friends that was hanging on their wall. It had been taken the day of graduation.
Spencer had been seven months pregnant with Toby's baby. Spencer had been happy on that day, for the first time since they had found out about Toby and he had been sent to jail. Spencer had gone to UPenn and now had a beautiful four year old daughter, Grace. Her parents and Melissa helped her with Grace and she was now in law school.
Hannah had moved to New York to attend design school. Caleb had gone with her to study something with computers, Aria could never quite remember what. They were now engaged and lived in New York together. Hannah was starting her own clothing line and Caleb worked at a computer programming firm.
Emily had attending Auburn University on a full swimming scholarship. She had majored in psychology and now lived in Boston, working as a therapist for troubled teenagers. She had broken up with Paige several years ago, but was happily dating again.
It was hard living far away from all of her friends, but they got together at least twice a year. She wouldn't trade her life now for anything.
Ezra walked over to the sink, placing his coffee mug in the sink.
He wrapped his arms around Aria and kissed her on the neck.
"I'm busy," Aria said with a giggle, continuing to wash dishes.
Ezra groaned and then pulled away.
He turned to walk away with a sullen look on his face, before turning around and putting soap suds into Aria's hair.
"Ezra!" Aria shrieked with a laugh.
"Got you," He grinned, going to sit back down.
He high fived Malcolm.
Aria rolled her eyes.
Their doorbell rang.
"I got it!" Aria yelled, picking Lilly up and walking towards the front door.
"Let's go see who's here." She told Lilly, tickling her.
The smile on her face immediately faded when she opened the door.
"Spence?" She whispered.
Spencer stood in front of her with bloodshot eyes and a pale face. She wore a large duffel bag and a backpack. Grace was asleep. Her arms were wrapped around Spencer's neck and her legs dangled at her waist.
"I didn't know where else to go," Spencer whispered tearfully.
"EZRA!" Aria yelled, pulling Spencer into her house.
Ezra ran to the front of the house, Malcolm at his heels.
"What's going on? Are you okay?" Ezra yelled frantically. He glanced at Spencer.
"Malcolm, how about you take your sister and Grace upstairs to your playroom and put a movie in?" Ezra asked his son. Malcolm nodded. He was old enough to know something was wrong, but knew better than to ask.
Spencer gently woke Grace up and Aria handed Lilly over to Malcolm. The three children went upstairs.
After the kids disappeared, Spencer's face crumpled and she began to cry. Aria wrapped her arms around her, trying to comfort her much taller friend.
"Let's go sit down." Ezra said.
Aria nodded and lead her friend into the kitchen, sitting down with her at the table. Ezra joined them.
Aria wrapped her hands around Spencer's. Aria's style hadn't changed much in five years, it had just gotten a little more age and job appropriate. Her fingernails were currently painted navy blue.
"It's Toby… He escaped from jail. I didn't know what to do. He's going to come after us, I just know it." Spencer said.
"What? When?" Aria asked her.
"Last night," Spencer replied. "I was worried and this morning I thought I saw him, so I grabbed some stuff and caught the first flight here."
Aria didn't bother to ask why Spencer had gone to her house instead of their other friends. She was farther away and the two of them had always been closer, just like Emily and Hanna had always been closer.
"Are the police looking for him?" Ezra asked her, growing tense. He hated Toby for hurting the girls. Toby had almost killed Aria.
"Yeah, I think so, but you know how helpful they are," Spencer said with an eye roll.
"I'm going to see if I can get in touch with someone from the FBI, Toby's too dangerous to be out for long." Ezra said, getting up. He kissed the top of Aria's head before walking to their bedroom to make his call.
"I can't let him get to me. I can't hurt like that again." Spencer said with a sob. "I can't let him hurt Grace."
"He won't. I promise." Aria said, gently tracing the puckered scar on her thigh.
She remembered the day she got it like yesterday.
Aria awoke in a dim room; her vision was fuzzy at first. She didn't remember much. A had told Ezra about Malcolm and Ezra had kicked her out. Aria had run outside into the cold December weather, blinking back tears. She should have told Ezra. This could really be the end of them. She remembered smelling something sweet and now she was here.
Her leg stung, and her mouth was gagged. Moving around, she could tell that she was tied to a chair.
She felt something warm dripping down her leg. She looked down and saw a deep gash in her leg. She was covered in her blood and there was a large puddle of it on the floor. She thought that what had happened on the train had been A trying to hurt her, but clearly that had just been a trial run.
Mona came into focus.
"Oh, good. You're awake." Mona said, tracing Aria's cheek with the tip of her knife. Behind her, Aria could make out another hooded figure.
"Go keep watch," Mona hissed. The other person scurried off.
"Poor little Aria. No one here to hear you scream." Mona said with a laugh.
Aria tried to scream, but the gag prevented her.
"It's okay, sweetie. Soon you'll lose too much blood and you'll go numb, then you'll go unconscious, then you'll join your little friend Alison." Mona said with a laugh.
After what seemed like hours, Mona got a phone call. "They found us? Dammit, let's run." Mona said.
"Toodles," She said with a menacing grin before blowing Aria a kiss and disappearing.
Aria could feel herself growing weaker and it was a chore to keep her eyes open.
She saw the other hooded figure come back into focus.
He looked at her and pressed a finger to his lips before following Mona.
Seconds later Ezra and her friends ran into the room.
"I'm… I'm sorry," Aria whispered after Ezra removed her gag and began to remove her handcuffs and the rope tying her to chair. Emily was on the phone with 911 and Hanna was calling Aria's parents
"It's okay, just hold on. I love you," Ezra gently kissed her before returning to his job.
Aria looked up and saw Spencer. Her other friends walked over after hanging up their phones.
"I saw A," Aria said, gasping for breath. "It was… Toby." She whispered and everything went black.
Shortly after, the police had arrested Toby and had gotten to admit the other members of the A Team: Garrett and Jenna, just who the girls had expected.
The three were found guilty in Alison's murder and went to jail.
About a week after the incident Spencer had discovered she was pregnant.
"He won't hurt us again." Aria said sternly, squeezing Spencer's hands before getting up to call Hanna and Emily.
….
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