I think we needed another Ezria scene at the end of 307. I mean, AS IF Ezra was just going to go home without trying to find Aria, or call her or anything. Bitch, please.
Byron Montgomery walked wearily downstairs and into the kitchen. All he wanted now was a good cup of coffee. His day had been long enough without having to comfort his usually calm, but now miserable and sobbing, seventeen-year-old daughter. Well, maybe "calm" wasn't quite the right word to describe Aria's general state, but it had been a long time since he'd seen her so, so broken: slumped on the floor in tears, questioning her actions; and worse, questioning her very self. And so, even though this would have been a golden opportunity to persuade her that dating Ezra Fitz really was a bad idea, to do so meant that he would have had to tell her that all her self-loathing and questioning was right. And, much as he hated her relationship with Ezra, he'd have hated himself even more if he'd done that to her. So instead he'd held her close, and told her that no one could ever be harmed by having her in their life, thereby basically reaffirming her relationship with Ezra. Great. He assumed they'd had some kind of a fight, presumably about the fact that Ezra had had to leave two jobs in order to be with her. But hey, if Ezra was upset about that, he had only himself to blame. If he hadn't insisted on pursuing this immoral relationship with his ex-student, then he would still be a professor. In fact, he'd probably still be teaching high school. But he had no right to take it out on Aria.
As Byron poured his coffee, the front doorbell rang. Glancing at the kitchen clock, he realised that it was nearly 10pm, which was a little late for visitors. He strode into the front hall and saw, through the glass pane in the door, that it was Ezra. He sighed. Of course it was. With Aria crying in her bedroom, who else was it going to be this late at night? He wasn't keen on speaking to Ezra, whom he hadn't seen in months – not since he'd left Hollis, in fact. While Byron knew that Aria was still seeing him, he tried most of the time to pretend Ezra didn't exist. And you couldn't very well do that when the man showed up on your doorstep.
Ezra, for his part, was just as nervous. The last time he'd seen Byron they had had some harsh words, and although Aria assured him that at least her Dad wasn't going to call the police on him anymore, he still didn't exactly want to parade their relationship in front of Byron. But he had to know what had happened to Aria tonight. Almost certain that his mother had said something to make her leave, a tiny part of him couldn't help but worry that something bad had happened to her. What if she'd been kidnapped, or attacked in the bathroom, or something terrible like that? He'd heaved a sigh of relief when he drew up to her house and saw that her car was parked in the driveway. Anger swept through him as he realised that Aria's disappearance definitely had to do with his mother, then. She was never coming near Aria again, that was for sure. Or near him, come to that. He was done with her bullshit, for once and for all.
And so his nervousness at seeing Byron had faded for the moment – that is, until he saw him coming to open the door. He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his, as Byron unlocked the door and opened it, merely standing there and looking at him.
"Hi, Byron," Ezra said, as calmly as he could muster.
"Ezra," Byron nodded, as politely as HE could muster.
"I need to talk to Aria. Is she here?" Ezra asked.
"It's rather late, don't you think?" Byron asked, a little patronizingly.
Ezra fought the urge to reply in kind, and asked instead, "Is she okay? Have you seen her? Is she upset?"
"If she is, then wouldn't you know? After all, it was you she was out with before she came home in tears," Byron replied a little angrily, as he remembered Aria's tear-filled eyes.
"In tears? Jesus, I am going to KILL her," Ezra said, gritting his teeth; then, seeing the look of amazement on Byron's face, he hastily clarified, "Not Aria. My mother. Aria only met her yesterday, and she invited us to one of her...functions tonight, and Aria completely disappeared after they spoke together. I'm guessing my mom had...oh, any number of cruel things to say to make that happen."
"Your mother would really do that?" Byron asked, a little taken aback, trying to conjure a mental picture of someone who would make Aria look as broken as she did tonight.
"Yup. Look, can I come in? It's a bit awkward standing here on the door step."
Byron nodded, realizing he couldn't exactly turn Ezra away now, and opened the door for him.
"Thanks. Look," Ezra continued, "I know you're not happy about my relationship with Aria. But I also know that it comes from a place of love, and that you'd do anything for her if it came down to it. But my mother isn't like that. Everything she does is about control, and appearances. She doesn't care if I'm happy. Honestly, I don't think she'd even recognise if I was happy or not. We barely know each other, these days. But I don't care. It's Aria I care about. And if my mother has hurt her, there's going to be hell to pay. So can I see her? Please?"
Byron stared at him. He could see the anger that someone had hurt Aria, fairly radiating off Ezra. He recognised it because it was the same rage he'd felt towards Ezra when he'd found out he was seeing Aria. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
"I guess so," he said, reluctantly.
Ezra nodded. "Is she in her room?"
"You know where her room is?" Byron asked. There was that anger coming back...
"She showed me once. At the Hollis party when I first started," Ezra added, hoping that this clarified that nothing had happened in her room that night. In fact, the only thing that had happened was them breaking up.
Byron sighed. "Fine, go. But leave the door open," he added quickly. Ezra nodded and turned away as he felt himself blushing. He really didn't want to look Byron in the eyes while Byron was picturing him doing god-knows-what with his daughter.
Aria's bedroom door was ajar, and he knocked lightly on it before pushing it open. Aria was sitting on the floor, he chin resting on her knees, staring straight ahead. She wasn't crying, but her cheeks were tear-stained and her eyes red and puffy.
"Hey," Ezra said, softly. His heart was breaking for her. She looked so small and lost.
Aria, who had been expecting her father, found herself jumping to her feet and throwing herself into Ezra's arms without even realising what she was doing.
"Ezra," was all she managed to say before she started sobbing again. Ezra held her tightly, stroking her hair and occasionally kissing the top of her head, as she cried into his chest for a minute or two. Then, as he felt her sobs calm down a little, he drew away gently, and led her over to the bed and sat down beside her.
"What did she say to you?" he demanded, clasping both her hands in his, and looking directly into her eyes.
"How – how did you know?" Aria asked, surprised.
Ezra sighed. "Because, Aria, my mother is not a nice woman. I knew as soon as I couldn't find you that she must have said something to upset you."
"I'm sorry I ran off like that and left you," Aria replied.
Ezra gently stroked the side of Aria's face, moving a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. "I don't care. What matters to me is that you're okay."
"I'm okay," Aria said, unconvincingly.
"No, you're not," Ezra said firmly. "Now tell me what she said to you. Because I'm not leaving here before you do."
Aria looked up at him from beneath her wet lashes and knew that he was serious. And it wasn't that she wanted to keep it from him, it was just that she had no idea how to break it to Ezra just how nasty a piece of work his mother was. Ezra seemed to read her thoughts, because the next thing he said was, "You're not going to be disillusioning me in any way, Aria. Trust me, I've had years to get to know the full extent of my mother's...character. And it's not pretty."
"Cruella De Ville?" Aria asked, with a tiny half-smile.
"Without the coat of Dalmatian puppies," Ezra returned easily. It had taken him years to get past the fact that his mother was what most people would term "a rich bitch", and not take it personally. But it was personal when she hurt Aria, the woman he loved more than anything in the world.
"Well, it started out okay," Aria began, hesitantly. "We were just talking, and she was asking me all these questions about my family, but really personal ones, you know? And then she let on that she'd basically found out everything there is to know about my family, from my Dad's affair to Mike getting arrested, and all that nasty stuff-"
"I'm going to kill her," Ezra said for the second time at night. He was disgusted as he heard Aria's account of his mother's behaviour.
"And then she said that...that I was responsible for ruining everyone's lives, like my mom and Dad getting divorced, and then you..."
"What about me?" Ezra asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer already.
"She said that I'd ruined your life, and that if it wasn't for me you'd still be teaching, and that I'd made you sacrifice everything to be with me," Aria said in a rush. "And then she said that there would be..."compensations" if I left you. I – I think she was trying to blackmail me. Or bribe me, or – I don't know." Aria would down as she saw the anger in Ezra's eyes. They'd gone a dark, dark blue, and his hands, still holding hers, were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white, and the circulation to her own hands was practically cut off.
"Ezra," she said. "Ezra, you're hurting me." She tried to say it calmly, since Ezra looked so angry. He stared at her for a moment, confused, and then looked down and pulled his hands away from hers like they were on fire.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" he asked, worried, the anger gone for the moment.
"I'm fine. Are you?" Aria asked, just as concerned. She'd never seen Ezra look like this.
"I...will be," Ezra replied, after a moment. "Aria...none of that stuff is true; you do know that, right?"
"Of course it's true! You did give everything up for me, Ezra!" Aria cried, breaking down again. "I made you leave Rosewood Day, I got you thrown out of Hollis, I'm the reason you're editing crappy e-zines instead of doing a job that you love-"
"What, and you gave up nothing for me? What about hiding us from everyone you care about, giving up any chance at a normal relationship – remember how that used to worry me?" Ezra demanded. "And then threatening your relationship with your family by coming clean, risking your reputation...Aria, you've given up plenty to be with me. And if I don't tell you every day, it's not because I'm not grateful every day. Because I am. And those things I sacrificed for you? I did them because I wanted to. Because I love you more than anything in the world, and that makes it worth it. I gave up the life I had planned to have the one that's waiting for me, remember? You're my life, Aria. Not a job, not two jobs, not money. Just you."
"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" Aria asked, repeating what Ezra had said to her on one very important night.
"Just a little," Ezra replied, softly wiping away the fresh tears that were starting to flow from her eyes again. He leaned in and kissed her, gently, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, and kissed him more deeply.
[END SCENE, in my world]