Aria's father certainly hadn't been happy to let her have a sleepover with her older lover. Aria had really hoped for him to change his mind regarding their developing relationship, but it had become clear he wouldn't after a little while… so she no longer tried to reason with him. However, Ella had managed to reason with him that night – convince him that for now they needed to set their own doubts and opposed opinions aside for their daughter's sake, let her stay with Ezra if it made her feel safer than sleeping in her bed alone. So she had gone home with him.

She lay in his warm arms, heard his heart beat rhythmically against her ear, having laid her head upon Ezra's bare chest, could feel his warm breath blow across her cheek, yet it didn't keep the nightmares away. Aria's hazel eyes shot open, her gaze moving aside… She only barely managed not to scream, Ezra's face having morphed into Garrett Reynolds' for just one second. She could feel her racing heart pound, thrumming in her ears when she did. She exhaled very shakily. Emily had accepted Paige's invitation to stay at hers, and Mrs. Marin hadn't made a fuss when Hanna mentioned she would like if Caleb could stay. After all, Mrs. Marin had had her own Halloween scares… Undoubtedly Spencer had managed to smuggle Toby in, too.

Aria slowly lowered her head into her hands. She wondered whether they had nightmares, too. They had never really talked about that, but Aria had suffered from them since Alison's sudden disappearance. However, ever since A, the nightmares had merely intensified… She could rarely sleep without one…

She lifted her head once more, hands falling upon the covers. She maneuvered onto her knees and calmly felt her way to the opposite end. Maybe she would sleep better if she laid right beside his feet instead? She sighed. With Ezra, she felt relatively safe, but since A had entered their lives – A who always seemed to know everything, who was always multiple steps ahead – Aria Montgomery had learned not to take 'safety' for granted, nor an untroubled mind.

Actually, only when Ezra made mad love to her could she feel worriless now even if only for a moment. He had an intrinsic ability to make Aria truly lose her mind. Unfortunately, they weren't intimate often, what with both their busy schedules and separate lives. It wasn't really their age difference, rather the responsibilities tied to their respective ages that really made everything difficult. Her eyes not-quite-so-randomly fell upon his figure, lined against the darkness. She pondered whether she should wake him, but decided against it in the end. It wouldn't be fair; he needed to work come morn.

Her breathing sounded loud in quiet darkness. From the corner of her eyes, Aria noticed how Ezra reached over to find her but couldn't. Even in his sleep he had remembered that she was supposed to be there beside him, so when he discovered she wasn't… She could hear the rustle of the sheets, felt more than saw him sitting up in bed, her name falling from his lips. He sounded too awake for such ridiculous hour.

"I'm here," she whispered, carrying across the distance between them.

"Why are you over there?" he whispered. She could hear the worry laced into his soft words, felt an intense flare of love. He sighed; he knew suddenly why, remembering how Aria had sat in his arms the night prior, telling him what had happened that night between sobs. He could imagine it. After all, she was only seventeen years old and had gotten locked in some crate with a dead body… Anyone would have nightmares. Anyone would have flashbacks. "Aria, come here?" he whispered – he felt the bed buoy gently under Aria's light weight as she padded back to him, finding him, holding onto him tightly.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too," Ezra answered, fleetingly kissing Aria's hair. "If you would like to sleep in the bed alone, I'll move to the couch?" he suggested.

"No," Aria immediately said, head shaking. "I need to feel you close." A silence fell between both lovers after that – a silence that was not uncomfortable yet weird; in which Aria's hand trailed Ezra's bare chest. She initially wasn't aware that it travelled lower. However, when she realized it, she wasn't unhappy with where her hand lay. She consciously let her fingertips trail the edge of Ezra's PJ bottoms, her palm 'accidentally' brushing a little bit lower.

"Babe, don't do that," Ezra murmured to her ear. However, when she just continued, he moved his hand down to hers to stop the torture that was being delivered to him. "Please stop. I'm already hard for you," he managed. Oh, the tone of his voice. She grew bolder then, taking advantage of the fact that he had released her hand again… purposefully lowering her hand, cupping him. "Aria…" he breathed. However, she had no intention to stop, even though she knew that's what he really meant but hadn't managed to tell her. In fact, it made Aria feel… powerful maybe to know she was doing all this to him in that moment.

"I need to feel you," she whispered. She wanted to forget; wanted him inside her now… "Please make love to me now; drive me mad with desire…" she begged; she knew that he could not deny her when she did that.

"I don't believe that this is…" he began.

"Oh shush," she interrupted, gently laying her finger across his lips as she moved her leg across his middle and raised herself, straddling him. She could feel the hard-on evidence of his arousal, and heard him hiss as she gently moved her hips back and forth… always 'accidentally' brushing against it with her sex. Oh, the tent in his PJ bottoms grew even more now…

He groaned as he felt Aria fold herself down to kiss his chest gently, hair maddeningly tickling his bare flesh. Two hands rose to still her moving hips. "Who drives who mad?" Ezra breathed into her ear when they did. "Do you have any idea what you are doing to me, woman?"

"Prove it," Aria dared.

"You're so naughty…" Ezra teased.

"We haven't… in ages," Aria whispered before she finally let her lips touch his in the right moment, as nimble fingers edged into the temple of Ezra's hair… She had just won, she knew. The blood thrummed in their ears and drowned away reality. To Aria, it felt like she had come home after a long travel, momentarily letting her forget about the exhaustion she felt. She knew that it would return come morn, but wasn't it worth it now?

Slowly, Ezra's lips began moving across Aria's softer ones, coaxing them to part, to let him in already and… He moaned into her mouth, she into his as loud. He squeezed her sides, bucked into her wantonly. Aria Montgomery had become a drug, whom Ezra wanted any hour of day and could not resist no matter what. The fact that he knew how she wanted him in return was his downfall.

Two firm hands inched their way across Aria's sides, the hem of her top being pushed higher with them and stopping below the swelling of full, firm breasts. A thumb slipped underneath the fabric and gently brushed the edge of Aria's bare breast, then higher to her left nipple… which hardened under his sole touch. Oh dear.

In response, Aria threw her head back in delight and bucked into Ezra's erect flesh. He groaned; the last bit of his mighty restraint finally crumbled. With very little effort, he rolled them over…