Already Ghosts
By Lanie
Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars, Toby, or Spencer.
A/N: Rated M for sexual content.
She sat on the bench outside a cafe in Paris, brushing the crumbs of stale tea biscuits from apron. Her first shift had ended and it was time to start her second. She picked up her phone and dialed a number.
"Anything?" Brisk and to-the-point. She listened for a moment and then hung up without uttering another word. She had made promising connections here but they had begun to run dry. She hadn't heard anything new in days. It was almost time to move on.
But not yet.
She untied her apron and pulled a gray hoodie over her plain white tank top, tucking a short dark hair behind her ear. She glanced briefly at her reflection in the cafe window. Who was she?
She was Katherine Brodeur, citizen of Paris. Before that she had been Lauren Whitman of Tennesse. Tanya Brocavitch from London England. She was an expert at drugstore dye-jobs but she was beginning to forget the natural shade of her hair.
She hadn't seen Spencer Hastings in three years. As far as she was concerned, Spencer Hastings didn't exist anymore.
Katherine's hairstyle was an inverted bob that fell just above her shoulders. She rimmed her eyes in black and wore combat boots on her feet. Her jeans were ripped and stained. She ran into the street and hailed a cab within seconds. Katherine knew how to run this city. There was nothing here that was out of her reach. She smiled at the cabdriver and the French words rolled of her tongue, the perfect Parisian native. Katherine Brodeur had been born and raised on the other side of town and she never faltered. She couldn't afford to.
She paid the cabdriver and walked briskly up the fire escape to her two-room apartment. It was getting late and she didn't want to risk a confrontation with the wrong side of town tonight. She found the key in the decaying flower box and let herself in to the dingy place where she spent her nights.
It was so much different from how she'd grown up - the Hastings residence was spacious and expensive and always the picture of perfect. Part of her ached at those memories because that was her family and she missed them dearly, even despite their abundant number of problems.
But she wasn't a Hastings anymore.
She grabbed an energy drink from her refrigerator and pulled her laptop out from under the couch cushion, setting it on the kitchen table. It was time to get to work. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, an expert at searching and covering her tracks, emailing contacts and combing for ideas. Hours went by with nothing to show for it, but this was her routine. She couldn't stop, not now. Not when Toby was still out there, searching.
He'd been gone for six months - the longest he'd ever been away. She couldn't think about it. She had to trust in the fact that he'd come back to her. If not, she might lose the last bit of herself she clung to.
"I'll be back, Spence. I promise."
And then:
"Stay out of trouble. Don't do anything that could draw attention to yourself. Work and home, Katherine. Promise me just work and home."
She couldn't focus on the fact that she hadn't kept her side of the promise. He couldn't have just expected her to sit around and wait for him to find the cocksucker, whoever it was, on his own. She was no longer a fragile doll to be protected - she was going to find the person behind the mask of horror even if it killed her. She owed it to Aria, her best friend, the tiny girl who had fallen three stories off of a rooftop because of the prick who had been terrorizing them since they were 16. The last time she'd seen Aria, she was in a coma. It had been the final straw. Toby had snapped under the pressure of A, desperate to protect Spencer. And Spencer herself had needed revenge.
As long as there was a search, there was hope for Aria. Hope for a future with Toby without a lifelong chase - months apart, aching with worry.
She would find this bitch and she would kill her.
Spencer was on her feet in an instant when she heard a knock on the window, terror and adrenaline both streaming through her veins. Her hand scraped the underside of the table, searching for the handgun. She grabbed it, ripped it from the mess of duct tape, and spun around. That's when she saw his eyes - the deep, familiar ocean blue peering out from beneath a black hood.
Toby.
The gun clattered to the table and she was across the room in seconds, fingers scratching at the latches on the door, desperate. As the door crashed open she flung herself into his arms, charging at his mouth. He responded instantly, his hands on her back as he held her up, touching her with those hands she wanted, she needed. Her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling his face against hers, scratching for contact. She moaned as he pushed his way into the apartment, pulling the door shut with one arm and throwing her against it.
Every inch of her was blazing. She had never felt this way with anyone else in her life. No one else kissed her the way he did, the way he was, holding her against the door with his strong arms.
Her hands found the zipper of his jeans and she struggled to unfasten the clasps. She could feel his hardness through the denim, his eyes dark as he hauled her sweater and her tank top over her head in one swift movement, revealing her bare chest. He stared down at her breasts, clutching one tightly in his hand. Her eyes rolled back with pleasure and she slipped her fingers down his boxers, wrapping her hand around him as he touched her. She stifled his moan with her lips, her tongue, searching desperately. Her other hand was holding his face firmly against hers like she was afraid he might disappear at any moment.
She wouldn't let him. Not this time.
They stumbled to the floor where they kneeled facing one another, him kicking off the rest of his pants and her yanking at the zipper of her jeans. She pulled his sweater over his head, her hands tracing the strong curve of his shoulders, nails scraping across the skin of his chest. She could feel his hardness pressed against her and she moaned in desperation; she needed him, every inch of her ached to feel him inside of her. She pulled down his boxers as he tore her lace panties off of her, fumbling in desperation. He thrust into her, his boxers still hanging around his knees, his breath hot on her neck.
"Spencer," he moaned into her ear as he entered again. It was the first time she had heard his voice in six months and it flipped a switch somewhere deep inside of her.
Her back hit the cold tile as he thrust again, his hands on her hips, pulling her into him. He threw her legs around his shoulders, thrusting deeper and deeper, making her squirm with pleasure. Tears sprung to her eyes as he thrust harder, tears of pleasure and agonizing relief.
"Where the fuck were you," she said, her nails digging into his knees. Her back arched with pleasure as he thrust harder and then he changed positions, falling forward and hovering over her, just inches from her face. His breath was hot on her skin.
"I have to protect you," he growled as he continued to thrust into her. She kissed him hard then, teeth clashing, nails scratching at his back. Spencer Hastings and Toby Cavanaugh came together right there on the floor of Katherine's apartment in a surge of emotion, Toby clinging to her face as he twitched inside of her.
Spencer wanted to be mad at him for staying away so long without so much as a word. As he hovered on top of her, still inside of her, she wanted to be furious with him. But she couldn't. She loved the way his eyes softened after they were together, like she was the only person in the world that he could see. He stared down at her as their bodies twitched against one another.
"I missed you so much," he said and he touched her cheek gently with his fingertips. She felt her love for him consume her in that moment. Her eyes shone. "I was so worried..."
"I'm right where you left me," she said. Her words were bittersweet but right now it didn't matter. She bit her lip as it began to quiver. "Toby..."
The tears spilled over, pouring down her cheeks as they lay there on the floor. He had her in his arms within seconds, holding her close, picking her up off the floor. He carried her to the bedroom and wrapped her up in the blankets, pulling her into him. They sat there for a while in silence, his arms wrapped around her tightly.
She couldn't remember the last time she had cried. It had been months, she was sure, maybe longer. Katherine Brodeur did not cry - she ran this city like she had been born to do so. But with Toby she was Spencer Hastings again and everything she had learned to shut out came pouring back in like clockwork. Relief, flooding from every corner of her - he was here, in her arms. He was okay.
"Is it time to go now?" she asked finally, running shaky fingertips over his hands. His hands were trembling too. They never stayed in one place when he returned. It was always on to the next city, to the next character, the next life.
"Not tonight," he replied after a pause. "Tonight we can stay here."
The hesitance in Toby's tone didn't go unnoticed, but Spencer couldn't begin to argue. She wasn't ready either. She had just gotten him back and for that moment, they were both safe. She was tougher than she used to be - harder all around, from her boots to her black-rimmed stare, always ready to take down anything in her way. In the back of her mind she knew that it wasn't a good idea to stay. They couldn't know for sure who might have followed Toby back to her.
But she wasn't prepared to let him out of her arms that night.
"Spencer," he said slowly. "Have you stayed out of trouble?" He sounded apprehensive and exhausted at the same time.
She sighed. She could have lied to him. She was an expert at lying and keeping secrets now - flawless in her character portrayals, her made-up stories. But it was Toby and she just couldn't.
"Did you really think I would just sit here, Toby?" she asked slowly. "I couldn't. I know I promised you. But I couldn't."
There was a silence and she could hear him breathing, her ear pressed against his bare chest. "I hoped you would but I think I knew you wouldn't," he admitted finally.
She slowly unraveled the blankets from around her body, exposing her porcelain skin to his gaze. He stared at her, his eyes warm with admiration. She reached out and cupped his face.
"We're in this together, Toby," she said, staring into his eyes. His gaze consumed her. "It's taken three years for me to figure this out, but we can't do this alone." She paused. "I can't."
"You're right," She was almost surprised by his answer. A smiled spread slowly across her lips as he touched her face. "You're the most amazing woman I've ever met."
He was staring into her eyes and her stomach fluttered in the way only he could inspire. He wasn't going to leave again. And together, they would bring down A once and for all.
For the first time in two years she felt whole.