Emily Fields sat in between two of her best friends, Hanna Marin and Aria Montgomery. Her other best friend, Spencer Hastings, was on the other side of Aria. The FBI had called them into the office once again to talk about Ali's murder.
All four of the girls were sending each other why do they still need to talk to us? Toby got arrested. looks. They also all looked worried, but that was something they were all growing accustomed to. They could never fully relax anywhere. Whether it was at school with the threat of the FBI needing them or the threat of A everywhere else. They were always completely trapped, it seemed.
The female FBI agent walked in, her partner right behind her. "Sorry to keep you girls waiting. We think you should be some of the first people to know this information, Toby Cavanaugh is innocent." The woman said.
All the girls were silent. How could that be true? They had been so sure that Toby was guilty. How had he been found innocent?
"But… but the jacket. It was Toby's… And they found his blood on it…" Hanna said weakly.
"I know this is a lot to process for you, girls. I know you want some kind of closure for your friend, and we're working hard to get it. But, as of now, Toby is innocent."
"But… how?" Spencer asked. She had been the one that was the most sure about Toby being Alison's creepy killer. How was he not.
"He was found innocent because of the tape we had showed you ladies earlier. Apparently there was more to it than we thought."
Emily felt her stomach drop. Toby had told her the truth. He had trusted her enough to find her and tell her the truth, answer all his questions, and what does she do? She betrayed that trust by getting him arrested. The guilt was already beginning to weigh heavily on her.
"Why do you need us, then? If you know Toby's not the guy." Aria asked and Emily's guilt increased. Why had she done what she had? She was pretty sure she hated herself.
"Like I said, there was more to this video than we had originally showed you. Only when we were questioning Toby Cavanaugh did we take a look at everything we needed to see for this investigation."
The girls looked at each other confusedly. What could be on that tape that was so important? Emily didn't want to see it. She wanted to believe she had done the right thing by turning Toby in and not going to hear him out. If she saw the evidence of his honesty and her betrayal, she didn't think she could handle it.
Hanna saw the look on Emily's face and gave her friend's hand a comforting squeeze. She knew this wasn't going to be easy for any of them to see, let alone Emily who had betrayed one of her friends only to find out he wasn't the killer they all thought he was.
Emily gave her friend a grateful smile and squeezed her hand back. Afterwards, neither let go because of the small comfort the other one gave them.
"We need to know if you girls can identify the person on the tape with Alison. I know this might be hard to see again but, we're working on not having to come back to you young ladies all the time. We know how emotional all this has been for you." The Agent said.
You don't know the half of it. Emily thought pathetically and looked at her friends. She saw Aria and Spencer were also holding hands and held her free one out to Aria. She took it and the girls braced themselves for what they were about to see.
The Detective turned the tape on and there was Alison in all her glory, wearing the yellow dress she went missing in and Toby's jacket, sitting on the kissing rock.
She slid the jacket off her shoulders before smiling coyly at the camera. "Want to see more?" The camera didn't respond. "I know you want to kiss me." She was smiling playfully now, almost daring the camera to respond. "If the girls knew I was with you right now they'd freak out. I wish they were more mature. But they're not." The person holding the camera was still silent. "I know you want to kiss me."
And just like that, Ali had taken the camera from the person. The camera spun for a second before it landed on the person she was talking to. The girls gasped and tightened their grips on each other's hands. "Come closer." The person said and the detective paused the video.
"Can you identify the man on the video?" The detective's male partner asked.
"It's-it's Ian. My sister's ex boyfriend. You don't think he did it, do you?" Spencer asked. All the girls were in shock. Ian was the guy Alison was with? Could Ian really have killed her? Why would he? It didn't make any sense.
"We can't say as of now. But you saw the tape, you know there's a good chance that he did." The detective's male partner said
"Thank you, girls. That'll be all." The detective said and the girls let go of each others hands and stood, walking out of the room in a daze.
"Ali was with… Ian?" Hanna said confusedly when they were in the hallway. "How is that possible? Spence, didn't she say all the time that she wanted you to come clean to Marissa about your relationship with him?"Spencer nodded. "Little did I know it was just because she wanted him for herself. How could I be so stupid?"
"You're not stupid, Spence. Ali had us all fooled." Aria said, trying to comfort her friend.
Emily remained silent. The guilt she had felt at the beginning had doubled since seeing the video. Now that there was tangible proof that she was a bad person and had betrayed one of her friend's -someone who really got her and let her be herself- trust, she didn't know what to do with herself. How could she be so stupid and selfish?
All of the girls walked out of the school, each wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Emily's head was filled with guilt. Hanna's was filled with disbelief. Aria's full of questions. While Spencer's was filled with a little of all. Guilt for so easily blaming Toby and (possibly) trying to reconnect her sister with Ali's killer. Disbelief because this was someone she used to care about, someone she had dated. And questions for who Ali's killer really was.
I don't know where this came from really. But it kind of bothered me that the FBI lady didn't play the tape all the way through so they would know that Toby was innocent. Grrr-ness. So, I decided to write this. Did I do okay? Let me know!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars. I only own the plot.