Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars in any way, shape, or form.
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and Aria was lounging on the couch in her mother's apartment, boxes scattered around them. Even though her wedding to Zack probably wouldn't happen for another six months to a year, Ella had already started packing up her non-essential stuff. She was just too excited to wait. Today they weren't packing though; they were flipping through bridal magazines, marking pretty dresses and cute wedding favors. "Hey mom?" Aria looked up at her mother overtop of the magazine she was reading.
"Yeah?" Ella responded absentmindedly, flipping another page.
"Well, you know, Ezra and I are back together now, and I know it's been weird with you and Dad and him, but I was thinking, well, Ezra and I were thinking, that, you know, maybe you guys would like to get together for a meal maybe sometime?" Aria had planned on that coming out a lot more coherently than it did, but still, she looked expectantly at her mother, who had put down the magazine and started to pay attention as soon as Ezra's name was mentioned.
"I'm sorry, what?" Aria had rambled so much that Ella wasn't quite sure what she was asking.
"Ezra and I were hoping you and Dad would come over for dinner sometime."
"Oh." Ella had a thoughtful look on her face. It wasn't so much that she disapproved of Ezra anymore, he had certainly proven his love for her daughter; after all he had taken a bullet for her. It was just that their relationship was a lot easier to accept when she wasn't in the same room with him, looking at her 17 year old daughter holding the hand of a 25 year old man. That wasn't even touching on the idea of spending an extended period of time with her ex-husband.
"I know it's probably not exactly something you've been dying to do, but it would mean a lot to us. We want to involve each other more in all aspects of our lives. We're having a double date with Spencer and Toby next week and we're going to see some superhero movie with his brother when it comes out. So, all that leaves is a Montgomery family dinner."
Ella still seemed skeptical, "Does he even know how to cook?"
Aria rolled her eyes and giggled a little. "Yes. Or atleast, a little. I'll help him." When Ella didn't respond Aria added, "Mike can come too. You can even bring Zack if you want. We need to get to know him better, too, so it can be like a 'welcome to the family' mixer for him and Ezra."
Ella should have stopped being surprised by how permanent a part of Aria's life Ezra was a long time ago, but it still surprised her a little when her daughter referred to him as a member of the family. Perhaps she was right, they should get to know him better. "So, when are we doing this thing?" she asked with a small smile on her face.
Two Saturdays later Ella, Mike, Byron, and Zack all stood outside apartment 3B, all a little tense and nervous. Mike was the only one who had actually been on board for the dinner, but now that his dad and soon-to-be stepdad were there together, even he was feeling awkward.
"It's five 'til. Should we wait? We said we'd be here at six." Zack asked, since no one was making a move to knock on the door.
"I, for one, would like to put this off as long as possible," Byron said, still not thrilled with what they were doing.
"You guys are being ridiculous, let's just knock." Mike chided the older men, but still made no move to knock on the door himself.
"Fine. It's always got to be the woman." Ella took a deep breath and then knocked on the door.
Through the door they could hear some shuffling around and Aria saying "I got it, babe" to which Ezra responded with, "Is it six already?" Finally the door swung open.
"Hi guys!" Aria greeted them. "Come on in." The group slowly shuffled through the door. Ezra was bent down checking something in the oven, but quickly threw his oven mitts on the counter and strode towards his guests.
"Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery," he said shaking their hands. "It's nice to see you, Mike. And you must be Zack. I don't think we've met before."
"No, but I've heard a lot about you." Zack shook his hand and looked Ezra over. He wasn't used to seeing Aria with such an older man like the rest of the family seemed to be.
"Good things I hope. Hey, congratulations, by the way. Aria's been keeping me up to date with all the wedding stuff." Ezra wasn't doing much more than exchanging pleasantries, but it took some pressure off of everyone's shoulders.
"I can take your coats and stuff," Aria spoke up. She was dressed in a knee length, dark blue lace dress and black heels with an apron tied around her waist. Ezra was dressed in one of his teaching vests and it was clear that the two were trying very hard to make this a nice, special evening, although the image of them "playing house" wasn't helping her parents relax much. But still, they all removed their coats and laid them on Aria's arms.
"There isn't much to show, but I can give you a little tour of the place," Ezra offered. "Obviously, this is the kitchen." He waved his hand to the left. "And this way is the living room."
"Looks a little different since last time I was here," Byron said.
Ezra flinched a little, both at the memory Byron's visit when he forbid him from seeing Aria, and because of the reason why things had been rearranged.
"Well, ya know, there was a bit of a mess in here, so we decided it was time to do some redecorating," Ezra filled Byron in. As Aria walked to join the group she gave Ezra a sad smile, knowing that the "mess" was when she had basically destroyed the place after finding out he had been writing a book about Alison. The rest of the group noticed the exchange between them, but didn't say anything.
"This is beautiful," Ella commented, picking up a painted vase from the desk. "Where did you get it?"
"Thank you. Aria actually made that for me in her pottery class." Ezra beamed with pride, happy to be showing off his girlfriend's work.
"You said you didn't get to bring any of your stuff home," Ella looked at Aria pointedly.
"Well, I couldn't really tell you I was giving it to Ezra at the time, so…" Aria laced her fingers through his and Ella tried not to think about how many more times Aria might have been lying to her last year.
Ezra continued on with his tour. "This is the bedroom… kind of. It's more like the second half of the living room, I guess. And down that hallway is the bathroom. That is just about it."
"This is pretty nice, dude. I wish I had had a bachelor pad like this," Zack said, admiring the apartment.
"I hope it's not too much of a bachelor pad. You'd better not be having girls and parties in here when I'm not around," Aria joked. Just then the timer went off and Aria ran to the kitchen. "It's just about done," she said, peeking in the oven, "I hope everyone likes lasagna."
The beginning of the meal had been pretty quiet, with only forced small talk being made by Aria and Ezra while they ate their salads, but once the lasagna was served and everyone, except for Mike and Aria, started drinking their red wine, things loosened up a bit.
"…So then I said, "Only a rhino wouldn't get that" and he still didn't get it!" Everyone laughed as Byron finished telling a story about one of his colleges, except for Mike, who was busy texting under the table.
"Mike, it's rude to text during dinner," Ella whispered to him.
"Who is it?" Aria asked, never missing the chance to embarrass her little brother. "Is it Mona?"
"Mona? Are you dating Mona?" Ezra asked him, surprised.
Mike looked a little flustered to be talking about it, but eventually responded. "I was. She dumped me. Now I'm trying to get her to come to my lacrosse game."
"Ohh, gonna win 'er back with your skill," Aria teased him.
"I didn't know you played lacrosse. I was on my high school team." Ezra told him.
"No way."
"Yeah! We should play sometime. I don't wanna get too rusty," Ezra suggested.
"Definitely," Mike agreed.
"Oh, Aria definitely takes after Byron. They both babble incessantly in their sleep." Dinner was over but everyone was still too full for desert, so they were passing time with stories. Ella was in the middle of a one about Mike and Aria from their childhood. "Let's see, Mike must have been about four so Aria would have been about six. Well, anyway, it was about 2 in the morning and I found him in her bedroom asking her question after question. I didn't understand what was happening at first, but then I heard her answering the questions while she was still asleep. It was like he was using her as a magic 8 ball. 'Am I gonna get the green chair at preschool tomorrow?' 'Ask again later.'" They all laughed at the memory.
"I think I remember that. I did that a lot for a while. It always seemed to work," Mike added in.
"I don't talk in my sleep," Zack said, "but I hold my breath while I sleep like I'm a deep sea diver." Every looked at him like he was crazy but he continued on. "My friends said they would take bets on how long I would hold it when we were kids. I think the longest they said I made it was a minute and 30 seconds. Pretty good for not even knowing I was doing it."
"Ezra laughs in his sleep," Aria jumped in, but realized she shouldn't have when everyone, including Ezra, turned to look at her, surprised that she would so openly talk about sleeping over at the apartment. "Or atleast, that's what his friend Hardy told me," Aria tried to cover her mistake. "Um," she placed a hand on his knee and then got up from her chair, "why don't you tell them the story about your laughing and ruining Hardy's night while I get the desert." She walked to the kitchen quickly, slightly embarrassed.
Ella saw the opportunity to talk to her daughter and followed her to the kitchen. "So, it's going pretty well isn't it?" she said as she took the chocolate domes out of the fridge.
"Yeah," Aria said with a big smile on her face as she got out a spatula to move the domes with. "I wish dad would loosen up a little bit more, but…"
"Well, let's face it. This is more awkward for him than for the rest of us. I think Ezra and Mike have hit it off pretty well though. Zack too."
"I really like Zack, Mom. I don't think I've gotten to spend time like this with him before, but he's great. You guys are gonna be so happy together." Aria gushed to her mom, causing her to have little tears well up in her eyes.
"You did a pretty good job picking one yourself. Ezra is a great addition to the family," Ella responded and watched her daughter's face light up when she called Ezra family.
Eventually the night came to an end. The food was put away, goodbyes were said, and Ella, Mike, Byron, and Zack were headed out the door. "You aren't coming with us honey?" Byron said to Aria.
"I'll be there a little later. We've got some more cleaning to do here and there are a couple other things we need to take care of, but I guess I'll see you a little later tonight," Aria assured him.
As they were walking to the car Byron slowed down to walk by Ella. "So, what'd you think?"
"I thought it was a lovely evening," Ella told him truthfully.
"It didn't worry you at all?" Byron said, a concerned look on his face. "I mean, she seemed so at ease there and they kept talking in the plural, 'we this' and 'we that,' and now she isn't even coming home with us? It's like she's more at home in his apartment than in her actual home."
Ella gave a sad smile and looked at Byron. "We'd better get used to it."
"Why? She is not going to move in here, I'm sorry, I won't allow it," Byron told her, shocked that his wife would suggest letting their daughter live with her ex-English teacher.
"No, of course not," Ella agreed. "But I wouldn't be overly surprised if there was another wedding besides mine not far in our future." The thought left Ella with a smile, while Byron stopped dead in his tracks.
"Married? No." Byron thought. But then he remembered the way they had held hands, laughed, and put the dishes away together. His little girl wasn't so little anymore. He'd just have to accept that.