Okay, some things to know. 1) This takes place before/during season three. 2) Spencer and Alex were both taken in by the Hastings, but Alex was put in Radley by them when the two were five. 3) Charlotte doesn't steal the game from Mona. 4) Very obvious, but Alex is not British or A.D. (and is very OOC). 5) Spoby is still endgame (ALWAYS!). 6) Charlotte may or may not have hit Alison (still deciding). 7) Mary Drake escaped from Radley on her own (no selling babies). 8) Alex doesn't know that Charlotte is her and Spencer's sister. 9) Charlotte knows about Spencer and Alex. 10) The real -A is someone you'd never expect...

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Alexandra Hastings hadn't meant to hurt her twin sister.

That's all she could think about in the confines of her room. She had been trapped in this horrible place for twelve years. All because of something she had done when she was but five years old. Her parents hadn't been to see her once. At first, she hadn't understood, but now she did. They didn't want her. One mark on their perfect record and they did everything in their power to get rid of it. And she loathed them for it. She could feel the hatred burning within her heart. But she could never hate Spencer. She loved Spencer and deeply regretted what happened all those years ago.

It had been a complete accident.

She remembered chasing Spencer. They were playing a game - tag she thought it was called. They were having so much fun, she could still hear Spencer's laughter. Their older sister - something like Melissa? she couldn't quite recall - had been watching them. She remembered that Melissa was bossy and not very nice to either of them, especially Alex, but they didn't let it deter them.

Either way, they had only been playing around. But she had tripped and fell into Spencer. Alex was alright, but Spencer... oh god Spencer. Her sister had hit her head against the hard, wooden fence. Her blood had spread everywhere in under a minute. Alex simply gaped at her. How was it that their innocent fun had changed so drastically so quickly?

Melissa's eyes widened and she just stared at them. "DAD!" she finally screeched, running towards the house. And that's when everything went to hell.

Before Alex knew it, she was shut up in Radley Sanitarium (Melissa had told their parents that she had pushed Spencer into the fence on purpose, the lying bitch), possibly the worst place in the world. It was horrible and she hated in here. She needed to get out. She wanted nothing more than to be with her sister, but to do that she needed to escape. But one (kind of) good thing came out of this; she found out the truth about her and Spencer.

As it turned out, Veronica Hastings was not their biological mother. A woman named Mary Drake was. Oddly enough, Mary Drake happened to be the twin sister (it seemed to run in the family) of Jessica DiLaurentis, the mother of Alison DiLaurentis. Alex didn't remember much about the blond girl her age, except the fact that she was an absolute bitch to her and her sister when they were kids.

She doubted Spencer knew this. She also doubted the Spencer remembered her. Peter, Veronica, and even Melissa would have probably convinced her that she was nothing more than an imaginary friend. In fact, it was almost certain. She would deal with her so-called "family" later. She just wanted to get to her sister. She needed to get to her sister.

It didn't matter what - or who - she had to go through to get to her.

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"Spencer. Spencer, wake up."

Spencer Hastings groaned and opened her eyes to the voice calling her name. She blinked and soon realized that she was looking into brown pools identical to her own. No, she had to be dreaming, this couldn't be real. Then, the face (her face) smiled at her and she knew she wasn't dreaming. She opened her mouth to alert her parents that someone was in her room.

The girl with her face quickly covered her mouth. "Please don't scream, Spencer," she begged. "I promise I won't hurt you." Spencer's angry reply was muffled by her hand. "I'll let go when you promise not to scream."

Spencer finally nodded and the girl did as promised. "Who are you?" she hissed. Her very logical brain deduced that this was some kind of trick, maybe one by Jenna or another one of their enemies. There couldn't be any other explanation.

The girl gave her a loving smile. "My name is Alex Hastings," she told her. "I'm your sister."

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"How could you not tell me?!" Spencer was, for lack of a better word, pissed. She was pissed at her parents and pissed at Melissa (who she knew remembered). "Don't you think I have the right to know about my own twin sister?"

Said sister was currently eating a bowl of cereal quietly. "That's not even the tip of the iceberg, sis," she spoke finally. She looked more or less nonchalant about the whole thing, but inside she was almost as upset as Spencer.

Peter was livid. "Get out," he spat at Alex, rage dripping from his voice. "Get out of my house and never come back."

Spencer looked appalled at her father's words. "Dad!" she shouted. "That's my sister!"

Veronica sighed. "Peter, calm down," she half-ordered half-pleaded. "Spencer, we were going to tell you-"

"When?" snapped Spencer. "That's the thing, Mom, I don't think you would have. This family keeps so many damn secrets that I shouldn't even be surprised by things like this anymore."

Seeing her sister upset made Alex even more upset with their parents. "Tell her," she demanded, glaring at the two older Hastings. "Tell her the truth, tell her why I was locked away. Tell her why she's always felt like the outcast."

"Alexandra, stop talking," ordered Veronica, her voice stern.

"No, I don't think I will, 'Mommy Dearest,'" replied Alex. "Oh wait, I can't even call you that." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Because you're not even our real mother."

"What?"

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Spencer couldn't believe what had transpired over that last few hours. First she finds out she has a twin and then said twin reveals that her life has been nothing but lies. No wonder she always felt like an outsider, no wonder her parents treated her different from Melissa. It had all been a ruse, a plot. She (and Alex, she reminded herself bitterly) had been born in Radley, the place where Alex was imprisoned for most of her life. How could they do that to their own daughter?

"I thought I'd find you here."

Spencer looked up to see Alex herself. "Oh, hey Alex," she mumbled, not in the mood to talk.

Alex sat on the swing next to hers. "We used to come here a lot," she said fondly, looking around the playground.

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "We?" This had been her safe place to hide when things at home got to be too much. She didn't know why, but she always felt something whenever she came here.

"When we were little," clarified Alex. "I suppose you wouldn't remember though."

"I used to have an imaginary friend," Spencer blurted. She didn't know why she was saying this now. "I called her Lexy. Then one day Dad told me that she had to go away. Was... was that you?"

Alex looked as though she might cry. "Yeah," she managed to choke out, giving her sister a watery smile. "Yeah, that was something I would only let you call me. And I would call you Spencey. It was like a twin thing between us. We were so close..."

"Why did they send you away?" asked Spencer. "And why did they keep you a secret?"

"We were playing in the yard once," Alex told her. "We were playing tag and I accidentally fell into you. I was fine, but you-" She cut herself off as a strangled sob escaped her mouth. "You bumped your head on the fence. There was blood everywhere. And then Melissa, she ran to tell Dad almost as soon as it happened. She told him that I pushed you into the fence. So, he told Mom and they sent me away to Radley." She took a shuddering breath as she willed the tears from falling. "I swear to you, Spencer. I swear I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It was an accident," said Spencer, her heart aching for her sister. She had only been five, how could she have known? "He had to have known that."

"I'm sure he did." Alex sighed. "But Peter never liked me very much. I think he was looking for an excuse to get rid of me."

Spencer gave her a pained expression. "I'm sorry."

Alex lightly kissed the top of her sister's head, the spot where she had fallen into the fence all those years ago. "Oh, Spence, it's not your fault. You were only five." She smirked. "But I have a proposition for you."

"Which is...?"

Alex got off the swing and extended her hand to Spencer. "How would you like to find our birth mother?"

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"Wait, wait, wait," said Spencer, trying to wrap her head around this. Her twin sister was busying herself with packing their bags. "You're saying that Alison's aunt is our birth mother? So that makes us her cousins?" If Alison was her cousin, that meant that Jason was also her cousin as well as her brother. Could her family be anymore messed up?

Alex nodded. "Yeah, sorry to tell you that we're related to that bitch," she said simply.

Spencer visibly flinched. "Don't-" She inhaled sharply. "Please don't call her that." Alison was one of the worst people she had ever met, but she had still been her best friend. "I know Ali was never nice, but-"

She was cut off by Alex's laughter. "Oh my god, this is rich. You think she's actually dead? Spence, open your eyes."

Spencer squinted at her. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. Though, as she said this, she had a churning feeling in her stomach that it was true. "Alison's dead. We, my friends and I, went to her funeral. We saw them recover her body."

Alex laughed again. "You wanna know a secret? It's not hard to fake your death, especially when there's another blond walking around with the same exact clothes as you."

Spencer's eyes widened. "What?"

Alex leaned in close. "Bethany Young," she said simply. "She was a patient at Radley. The night that Alison DiLaurentis disappeared, two patients escaped and the whole place was put on lockdown. Bethany Young was one of them and Charlotte DiLaurentis was the other."

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Hanna gaped at her friend. "You're kidding me, right?" was all she could manage. The four girls were at Hanna's house and the brunette had just told them everything Alex told her.

Spencer shook her head. "You'll know when I'm kidding," she responded. "I'm not sure if what Alex says is true, but it would make sense that Ali's actually alive. Han, you saw her in the hospital, Em you said she dragged you out of the barn. If the whole town thinks the girl in Ali's grave is her, it makes sense that she would want to stay 'dead' because I'm sure someone tried to kill her that night."

"And what about this Charlotte DiLaurentis?" asked Aria. "If she's related to Ali, why haven't we ever heard of her?"

"Yeah, and why was she in Radley?" added Emily.

Spencer shrugged. "Who knows? Alex says that Charlotte was admitted long before she was, so she didn't know her well. And Charlotte apparently never came back after Ali disappeared, so they never really got a chance to talk. But if Bethany was the one in the grave, that could mean that Charlotte was the one who tried to hurt Ali."

"But why would she hurt her own sister/cousin/other potential relative?" Hanna asked.

"We all know Alison could a pretty horrible person sometimes," Aria pointed out. "Maybe she bullied Charlotte too. And if Charlotte was unhinged, she could have wanted revenge."

"Or maybe Bethany hurt Ali and Charlotte killed Bethany to get revenge," suggested Emily.

Spencer sighed and stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Look, this is all too much to think about, even for me. One problem at a time; I just found out I have a twin sister and that my mother isn't my mother. Just for once I'd like to pretend I have a normal life. I'm going to go meet Toby for lunch. After that, I'll go ask Jason if he knows a Charlotte DiLaurentis. See you guys later."

"See ya Spence," said the three remaining girls in unison.

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I hope you liked it! I wanted to see what would happen if Alex actually loved Spencer even though they had spent so much time apart. I really wish it would have been resolved in the show. Also, things will be sped up considerably now that Alex if here. That being said, please review!