Conversation erupted as applause ceased and Aria Montgomery stepped down from the podium. In her hand she held a glossy new copy of a book entitled Prey, her own face plastered along the back and her name in bold letters on the front. The first eager-faced intern that approached her was immediately handed the book. A memoir detailing a time in her life she had wanted to forget was not what Aria had ever imagined as her first book-first best seller-but it was what the publishing agencies had wanted so she'd, regretfully, taken the deal.

"Miss Montgomery," Chloe, the event coordinator for the New York book talk called over to the 26 year old from across the room. "Book signing will be begin as scheduled in fifteen minutes. In the meantime, take a break."

Aria nodded once with a small smile, making her way towards the alley exit for some air. "Wait!" A second intern, this one with short blonde hair towering over most of the crew at 6'3, gently grabbed her arm. Once the writer had turned around, his face glowed red with sheepishness and embarrassment, immediately dropping his grip. "I'm-I'm sorry. It's just, a man is here asking for you. He says it's important."

For a moment, a few memories laced together in the back of Aria's mind from the days of torment she'd survived. Aria shook her head to clear it and followed the young man's gaze towards the entrance to the green room. She didn't know who she was expecting, but the well-kept, dark haired man in the doorframe was the last person she would ever expect.

Wesley Fitzgerald shared a half smile and pulled a hand from a pocket, offering up a bit of a wave. "Long time no see."

"Wes," Aria greeted. "This is…"

"Unexpected. Surprising. Given how we left things," he finished for her.

Aria forced the smallest laugh, trying to pretend that Ezra wasn't the only thing on her mind right then. "Um, what brings you here?"

The ease on Wes's face faded and he gestured back towards the green room behind him. "Let's sit."

Panic threw Aria's stomach down the trash chute. Scenarios played through her mind like a movie and she was suddenly convinced she was going to throw up. The past year had been too quiet and, given her life, quiet always came in the brewing of a storm. Sinking much too fast into the first chair Aria could find, she couldn't even wait until Wes found a chair himself. "Is Ezra okay?"

Wes's silence only confirmed her fears that something was not right. "When was the last time you saw my brother?"

"Um," Aria's voice shook. "Almost two years ago. When CeCe died."

"So you know he's been drinking. A lot." Wes stopped, but all he got in lieu of an affirmation was the smallest form of a nod. "It's gotten worse. A lot worse, actually, and he won't get help."

"But, he's alive?" Aria's voice squeezed out, tiny and afraid.

Wes shrugged, "If you can call shutting yourself away in an apartment and not leaving unless you run out of alcohol a life."

Aria sighed, her stomach still turned, but she regained nearly all of her composure. "Why are you coming to me with this? We broke up years ago."

"He's killing himself, Aria. No one can get through to him, but I thought maybe you.."

"Wes," Aria blinked a few times and broke contact with Wes, hoping he wouldn't see the tears brimming in her eyes. "Seven years ago, I would have been able to help. But, Ezra and I… we're strangers now. There's nothing I can do."

Leaning over his knees, Wes pleaded, "Please, Aria. You're his last hope."

"I have to-," Aria jumped up. "The book signing is soon and I need to go get ready. I'm sorry." Without even a second look at Wes, she hurried from the room, leaving Wes alone and disappointed.

Upon Aria's insistence, the book signing was bumped up a few minutes. She'd hoped that it wouldn't only serve as a getaway excuse, but also a distraction from the worries chasing around her mind. She cycled through the arsenal of common greetings that had become more familiar than the back of her hand the past few weeks. But the ease of the book signing proved to do just the opposite.

She found herself shuffling through memories, good and bad. The time the two of them had put paper bags over their heads, late nights watching movies or reading books with take out scattered around them, dates long since passed. But all of a sudden flashes of Ezra being shot, them breaking up, the fights when news of their relationship broke out began to sneak in.

A surge of energy raced through her, starting from her gut and shocking her feet so unexpectedly, Aria jumped from her seat. "I'm sorry." The words stumbled from her mouth, not really directed at anyone in particular. Clambering out from behind the table, Aria nearly ran back towards the greenroom. She came to a sudden stop when she found the room void of Wes or anyone else for that matter.

Behind her, Chloe nearly smacked into Aria. "Miss Montgomery, is everything okay?"

Aria spun around, sighing. Her eyes landed on nothing in particular as she tried to figure out what, exactly, she was doing. "I… need to go. Something came up."

"What about the book signing? You still have a line of people!" Chloe was obviously growing more and more aggravated with this entire interaction.
"I'll come back next week. My dime."

Chloe nearly groaned, glancing at the confused line of fans. "Are you sure? This will only take another hour or so."

Aria grabbed her purse out of the green room and shook her head, "I have to go."

Curtains drawn, and lights off save for a lone desk light in the corner, Ezra poured himself another glass of Jack Daniels from his bottle. His movements were shaky and unmanageable and, had he needed to talk, his words would have come out slurred. It didn't matter to him, though. All that mattered was that the burning rock in his chest was lightened to resemble nothing.

Her face crawled back into his mind and before it got too far, Ezra downed the last of the glass in one gulp and leaned forward to pour another. Before he could lift the opened bottle off the coffee table, a quiet knock echoed throughout the otherwise silent apartment. His eyes bounced towards the door and then back over to the bottle. The knock was ignored and another drink poured.

A minute or so later, the knock rang out again, this time louder as though whoever was on the other side of the door had gained confidence. "Ezra, please."

Ezra's hand stopped halfway to lifting the glass to his mouth. That voice, he could never forget it. Bringing the liquor with him, Ezra slowly made his way towards the door and opened it slightly.

"Aria."

"Hi, Ezra."

The door, which Ezra had apparently been using to hold himself up against, began to swing out even more and he stumbled over. Aria lunged forward, grabbing him and holding him up. "Oh my god," she cried. "Let's get you onto the couch."

"No, no," Ezra began to shake his head a little, trying to push her away. "You shouldn't come in. It's a tad messy."

Aria let him fall from her support to the couch as she muttered, "Just like you're a tad drunk?"

A laugh so boisterous it caught Aria off guard and hung in the air, sticking out like a sore thumb, rolled easily out of Ezra. "You have always had the best sense of humor." He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip.

"Let's maybe lay off the Jack Daniels for a little, okay?" Aria nervously pulled the glass out of his hands and set it on the table, taking the opportunity to look around the apartment. Old takeout boxes laid scattered, piles of clothing stayed where they had been dropped and paper bags overflowing with trash sat in various locations. "You weren't kidding."

"I think it's been an adequate 'little bit'." Ezra reached forward towards his drink again, picking it up. "Don't worry, I'll pick up after this drink."

Aria sighed with exasperation, "Okay." She grabbed the drink out of his hand and put it down again, this time on the opposite side of the table. "I'll clean. You're not standing up anytime soon. You can, however, drink some water." Aria threw her purse onto the couch and walked into the kitchen, opening all the cupboards she could find. Each proved to be empty. Finally, she resigned to an empty to-go soda cup, rinsing it out first.

"Hmmmm," Ezra leaned back against the couch. "I'll take a water and Jack. Hold the water."

"I'll hold the Jack." Aria handed him the cup and began to clean. Thirty minutes in, the place wasn't squeaky clean, but the trash was compiled, clothes in a laundry bin and some air freshener was sprayed. After throwing together whatever she found in the fridge and making it resemble a sandwich, Aria sat onto the couch next to Ezra and handed the plate over.

"So what's life like as a bestselling author?" Ezra took a bite of the sandwich and successfully poured half the contents onto the plate. He laughed a little and picked up a slice of cucumber.

Aria shook her head, "It's just a stupid memoir. Besides, you know."

Ezra scoffed, "One shot wonder."

"When was the last time you wrote?" Aria asked, picking up a piece of lettuce from the couch cushion between the two of them.

"I don't." Ezra lifted the to-go cup and, from her side of the couch, Aria noticed the brown liquid sloshing around with his careless hand rather than the clear water she'd put in.

"Ezra!" Aria searched for the bottle of Jack, only to find it empty. Enraged, she aggressively pulled the cup from Ezra's hand.

Anger flashed over his face, "Give it to me, Aria. I need it."

Aria stood up, keeping the cup out of arm's length, "What you need is help. You're sick."

"I'm fine." Ezra snapped, "And even if I wasn't, it's not your business."

"Yes, Ezra, it is."

"You left me, Aria!" Ezra's yell hit so loud, Aria swore she could feel the walls shake. His next words were barely a whisper, "You left me."

Putting the cup back down, Aria sighed, "I know South America was hard for you, but-"

Ezra let out a cruel laugh, almost mocking, "South America wasn't a walk in the park, but you're wrong if you think that's what this is about."

"Then by all means," Aria cried, "Please, explain it to me."

"Why should I?!"

"Why-," Aria stopped herself, appalled. "Because I love you, Ezra. I'll always love you. We've been through too much together."

Silence took over the room, an old clock ticked in the background. Ezra looked Aria up and down with a kind of distaste she'd never seen-especially from him. She ached with pain. "Why did you leave?" Ezra hissed.

"You know why I left, Ezra," Aria nearly whimpered. "This place, this town, everything. I had to get away from it all. I had to start over again."

"And you couldn't do that with me?" Ezra's eyes screamed pain, tears growing in the pockets. "I was apart of everything you wanted to forget?"

Aria sank onto the coffee table, her knees touched his but neither made a move to change that, "I'm not proud of the way I chose to heal, Ezra, but I'm not going to apologize for it, either." Ezra held out his hands in agreement and then reached around the girl he once loved to pick up the cup. As a tear finally escaped, Aria made no objections towards Ezra's downing the last of his drink. "Please, isn't you. I barely recognize you. It kills me to see you like this."

"It kills me to see you." Ezra's voice was cold, he grabbed the empty bottle and stood up, slowly and unsteadily making his way into the kitchen. His depth perception proved to leave much to be desired and the bottle fell from his hand to the island, shattering upon impact. At the same time, Ezra lost his balance and caught himself by landing a hand on top of the broken glass. A slew of cuss words flew from his mouth and he held up a bloodied palm.

Aria lept to her feet, wiping away stray tears before running to Ezra's aide. She grabbed his hand and inspected the cut, deeming it minor, and busied herself with cleaning and patching it up. Neither spoke throughout the whole process, both still feeling the sting of the other's recent words. As Aria slid the edge of the medical tape down, Ezra whispered, "Did I tell you why I left for South America?"

"No," Aria shook her head. "I don't think you did."

"I needed out, too." Ezra swallowed, taking his time, maybe looking for the courage to continue. His voice was raspy and hopeless. "You were everywhere. Every street corner, every restaurant. Even years later, people still whispered about us, about you and your friends… I was going crazy. When writing couldn't even help I knew it was time to leave."

"That backfired a little bit. Given everything with, Nicole." Aria's voice trailed off, immediately regretting her word choice.

Ezra pulled a stool out from under the island and sat down, remaining silent and Aria took the chance to busy herself cleaning the glass up. It took her by surprise when Ezra spoke again. "No one bothered asking me why South America sent me so far into the rabbit hole."

"Ezra, you don't need a reason." Aria comforted. "Horrible things happened while you were there and-"

"It sucked, Aria. That's what it was. And yes it, it was traumatizing. But I didn't start… because Nicole disappeared or because of things I'd seen." Ezra looked down at the ground before continuing, "It was you, Aria. Losing Nicole like that was scary, it was shocking, but it was never as hard as losing you. When you were kidnapped, I felt like I died. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't sleep, eat, anything. For weeks, I barely survived I was consumed by worry. When CeCe Drake was arrested I wanted to kill her myself." Suddenly, he looked up, stared Aria directly in the eyes. "Her disappearance did one thing: killed me, because it brought back everything I felt when you were gone. I went into a cave of pain and I just wasn't able to find my way out. Every night, I relive your kidnapping over and over. It sounds horrible, like I never even cared for Nicole…"

"Did you read my book?" Aria gently prodded.

Ezra shook his head. "I wanted to, I bought it, but just… could never bring myself to actually read it."

"I understand," Aria hurried to say. She looked around the apartment until her eyes landed on the familiar red book cover on the desk in the corner. Once she retrieved it, Aria flipped open to a page towards the beginning of the book and, with a moment's hesitation, held the page out to Ezra. "Read that."

Ezra looked down at the page and then chuckled, "I can't see the letters."

Clearing her throat, Aria pulled the book back to her and read aloud. "It's the dedication. Um, 'To B26. I survived because of you.'" She quietly shut the book and left it on the counter. Ezra's eyes grew red with unshed tears, once again avoiding eye contact. "The one question I'm always asked the most at book readings, is 'what happened to Ezra?' 'Did you two ever get back together? Bring some closure?' I always fed them some line about going our separate ways. What I don't tell them is…" Aria's voice cracked and the tears won over. "I'm afraid. Afraid that I already met the one, and let him go."

At this, Ezra looked up from the floor. "You are the love of my life. I know that. I've known it for a long time now." Suddenly, he turned his whole body away from Aria, unable to look at her. "But I'm a mess these days. And you… you deserve so much better."

Aria chewed at her lip for a moment and then pulled out the neighboring stool, taking a seat. "I'm a mess, too, Ezra. Every one of us. We're all just… broken. Hanna created a whole new childhood. Emily moved as far away as possible, rarely even talks to us anymore. Spencer is so closed off she doesn't even have friends or, or a personal life anymore. And me, God knows I haven't slept in years now."

With the tip of his finger, Ezra, as gently as he could given his state, turned Aria's face towards him. "I'm sorry I drank a whole bottle of Jack tonight."

"I'm sorry for every day I didn't call you, even when I knew you were hurting." Aria took in Ezra's dirty, scraggly face. "Are you growing a beard?"

"Emily asked me that once, too. Turns out I just suck at shaving." Ezra smiled, which seemed to be the first genuine smile of the night. "Can I kiss you? Just once before you leave. Can I kiss you one last time?"

Aria sighed and leaned closer, letting his hand slide up the side of her face and into her hair. When their lips touched, a weight Aria didn't know she had been carrying around was lifted off her shoulders. A smile crept over her own face, breaking apart the kiss. "When was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"I miss kissing you everyday," Ezra said, quite bluntly.

Laughing a little, Aria stood up, resting her hand on Ezra's chest like she always used to, more from habit than anything else. "Let's brush your teeth with an entire bottle of toothpaste and then put you into bed and we can discuss that next one tomorrow morning."

Standing up with much difficulty, Ezra wrapped his hand around Aria's arm. "I don't know if I'll be able to say this sober, so I need you to promise me something."

"What?" Aria asked, surprised how flushed she felt at the mere touch of his hand.

"At least be my friend. We don't have to kiss again, but at least be my friend. I don't have many of those these days. And I'm too afraid to go to my first AA meeting alone." Ezra's eyes were drooping closed, and, though he probably didn't fully realize it, his hand had slid down her arm and laced itself into Aria's.

Aria squeezed his hand once. "I'll go to all of them, Ezra. I survived CeCe Drake because of you. There's no way in hell I'll let you fight this battle alone."