Well after the end of 4A, this is probably out in left field. I found this file after starting it a year ago. I think it's still interesting so I decided to finish and polish it and then post it.This would take place somewhere between episode 2.16 and Ella's conversation with Aria and Ezra in his apartment. Ella knows about Aria and Ezra and is still very against it. It's a little odd because I think Jason and Ezra are the same age, but Byron and Ella have no problem with the idea of Aria dating Jason.
Ella sighed as the bell rang signaling the dismissal to lunch. The students in her classroom hurried out the door to meet their friends. She remembered when she had been as eager as they were to hurry to the lunchroom, but that had been before….
Before Alison had disappeared.
Before they had lived in Iceland.
Before they moved back to Rosewood.
Before Ezra Fitz has started teaching at Rosewood High.
Before the rumors about Ezra dating a student.
Before Alison's body had been discovered.
Before she found out that Byron had cheated on her.
Before she found out that the student dating Ezra was her daughter.
Shaking her head, Ella decided to skip the cafeteria and heat up a cup of soup in the teacher's workroom. As she approached the room, she saw someone slam a laptop closed. Next, she heard something that sounded like crying. Coming into the room, she saw Gwen Welsch.
"Gwen, what happened?" Ella was concerned.
"Brent Skypped me to say Happy Birthday." Gwen's twenty-three year old son was currently stationed in Afghanistan. "We were just about to say goodbye when the emergency alarm went off."
"What does that mean?"
"Something unfriendly is probably coming in at them. Who knows what it is?"
"It must be so difficult for you!"
"There are plenty of other families going through this or something just as bad."
Ella fought back the image of sitting in her living room hearing Ezra and Aria claim to be in love. Gwen was dwelling on life and death problems. "That's right today's your birthday?" Maybe a distraction was in order for both of them, "Is Mark taking you somewhere special tonight?"
"No, he's out of town. Ezra took me to a play last night as an early celebration." Gwen shrugged.
"Was it the one the Rosewood players are performing?" Ella remembered Aria saying she was meeting Holden at the theater. What was her daughter trying to do?
"Yes, Ezra surprised me with tickets for my birthday. I think he had been planning on taking this girl he was dating, but I'm pretty sure she dumped him. I was glad to get out of the house. Besides, Ezra is such a great guy. He's better off without that girl, if she was dumb enough to break up with him."
Ella fought herself from telling Gwen how stupid both Ezra and the girl really were. On the upside, if Ezra was unhappy it would indicate that Aria wasn't sneaking out to see him.
"Oh, I was going to tell you that we ran into Aria and Holden last night."
Or maybe not, Ella kept changing her mind with every comment Gwen made. "Was it before or after the play you saw them?"
She could feel Gwen give her a puzzled look. "I just wondered if Aria and Holden really paid attention to the play."
"I saw them both times, but Ezra got sick in the middle, the poor boy."
"Boy?" Of the many words Ella would use to describe Ezra, "boy" would be one of the last she'd use.
"He was my student teacher last year. He was so young and clearly inexperienced. It was obvious that he had no idea how to iron his clothes." Gwen smiled remembering
"And you were missing Brent?" Ella guessed.
"Ezra reminds me a little of Brent or how Brent would be if he had gone to college." Gwen smiled a little sadly.
Ella shook her head, "But Ezra is much older." She remembered Brent, Ian, and Jason being the three musketeers as little boys, while Ezra had always been her co-worker.
Gwen gave a wistul smile, "Actually, they are the same age to the day."
"I did not realize that." Ella shook her head - that couldn't be. Brent and Jason weren't that much older than Aria and Alison, but Ezra was a teacher.
"We're all getting older, aren't we? Especially me today." Gwen replied.
"I guess so."
"And these kids are growing up so much faster."
"What do you mean?" Ella couldn't help but be suspicious of what her friend would say next.
"Do you remember that picnic we the spring before you moved to Iceland?" Gwen smiled as she remembered.
"Yes, what made you think that?"
"Talking about how quickly kids grow up. I remember the boys trying to avoid the girls and vice versa until that day. It, also, wasn't long before Alison disappeared. I still wonder how her parents are holding up."
"What happened at the picnic?" Ella wanted to find out more about her daughter and the older boys. She remembered hearing Aria and Spencer talk on the phone about Spencer's crush on Ian and Aria's crush on Jason. Knowing the Spencer liked older guys had made it easier to assume, she was the student dating Ezra. Wait, the night she invited Jason and Byron had invited Ezra to join their dinner party - Aria and Ezra were dating. Poor Jason! She had invited him because he told her that he couldn't stop thinking about Aria and if it was okay for him to ask her out, unlike, say, Ezra. Ella groaned and told herself to pay attention to what her friend was saying.
"I caught Aria and Jason kissing that afternoon. She begged me not to tell you or Byron. Alison had dared her to do it. It seemed harmless at the time, so I agreed. But I realized we were going to have to keep a closer eye on the kids. I wish the DeLaurentis' had thought that." Gwen said.
"I don't think any of would have guessed everything that has happened in the past couple of years," Ella was trying to wrap her mind around the new information. "There's the bell I'd better get back to my classroom.
She walked back to her room deep in thought. If Jason and Aria came to her saying they were in love, what would her reaction have been? She would probably been happy for her daughter. He had straightened out his life, was rich, mysterious, and kind, to go along with her daughter's long time crush. Evidently, he and Ezra were the same age. But what did Ezra have? Okay, he was attractive, and she knew he liked the same books and movies as Aria. And the danger was probably a rush. On the other hand, he was her teacher. Of course, Byron had been her TA when they met. But on what was it the third hand now, they had both been adults. It gave her a headache to think about it, but she knew that the thoughts weren't going to go away. She was going to have to think about this.
The bell rang announcing the next period. Ella shook her head. She remembered before the last bell thinking she had problems. Yeah, that had clearly been before now.