It was the first of the month. Spencer hated the first of the month. That day meant another page to rip off the calender.

Another month that Toby wasn't there. This made eight.

Spencer was proud of him, of course, but that didn't stop her from missing her husband. She'd admit there were some good things that had come out of his deployment overseas. Spencer and Emily had become impossibly closer. Having had dealt with this herself with her father, Emily was able to emphasize with her best friend and Pam Fields had no problem showing Spencer the ropes of being an Army Wife.

And Emily was certainly qualified to teach Rose Avery Cavanaugh how to be the perfect little Army Brat. Spencer just wished her friend would leave the "brat" part as more of a title than a behavior. The two year old was spoiled enough, being a Hastings and having all her surrogate Aunts and Uncles around.

Spencer sighed. Another month down. Who knows how many more to go. Unfortunately, she couldn't just sit and wallow all day. There were way too many things for the young wife and mother to get done. Work, shopping, play dates, lunches- the list went on and on.

Venturing up the stairs to her daughter's room, Spencer made a mental list of what had to be done immediately, what could wait, whose phone calls to return, etc.

Today is going to suck, she thought to herself, entering the purple room and kneeling beside the toddler bed.

"Rosie," Spencer cooed to her sleeping daughter. The tiny brunette had inherited more than just her endless blue eyes from her father. Rose was not a morning person.

"No." The only, muffled reply Rose managed drew a chuckle from her mother. No had been Rose's favorite word from the minute she learned it.

"Come on, Rose. Time to get up. You want to go see Uncle Jason, don't you? And Aunty Em's got a surprise for us tonight..."

That piqued her interest. "'Prise?"

Spencer nodded. "I don't know what it is, but Aunty Han says it's a big surprise."

Big. Surprise. Who knew those were the magic words, but they apparently were. Spencer could barely get Rose dressed and ready fast enough for the toddler's taste.

All through grocery shopping, whenever Rosie tried to escape her seat and climb out, all Spencer had to do was remind her of the "big 'prise."

And she had to admit, ever she was intrigued. Everyone except Spencer had been privy to tonight's festivities at the Field-McCullers home. All her own mother would tell her was that they'd been planning it for a few weeks, but nothing was set in stone until tonight.

So, after a rushed play date for Rosie and Spencer's godson, three year old Hayden Rivers (Hanna needed to be at Emily's, after all), the Cavanaugh's rushed home to get ready.

Spencer sat her redressed daughter on the dining room table and pulled a picture frame off the shelf behind her.

"Rosie, who's this?"

The two year old couldn't have smiled bigger has placed her palm over the sole face behind the glass and cried out.

"Daddy!"

Spencer didn't know whether to cry or smile. This was the worst and best part of her day. Every night, showing Rose a picture of Toby and making sure she never forgot who he was. That had been Toby's biggest fear when they found out she was pregnant four months into their marriage shortly before Toby's first deployment. That his daughter wouldn't remember him. Not that Spencer would ever let that happen, but a child's memory was like a sieve. Information slipped through like water and things and people they didn't see regularly were what slipped through the cracks. So, every night, Rosie pointed to her father in a picture.

"Good job, baby." Spencer high fived her daughter and packed up her bags. "Ready for the surprise?"

"'Prise!" Leaping into her mother's arms, the little girl pointed toward the front door. Apparently making sure her mother still knew how to exit the house.

There should be reserved parking for guests of honor.

At least Spencer thought so. Who gives someone a surprise and then does their level best to make sure there's no way for them to get to it? Her friends, apparently.

Spencer recognized most of the vehicles in and around Emily's driveway, so at least she knew who the chew out later for making her late for Rose's and her own surprise.

She saw cars, trucks and vans all belonging to friends and family. However, there was one car in particular that she couldn't place.

Shrugging it off, Spencer parked around the corner and unloaded the bags and child, walking them toward Emily and Paige's modest house.

The voices of loved one's carried through the cracked windows as Spencer gently pulled a toddling Rose up the walkway, smiling when she saw her favorite sibling exit the house, pulling the storm door shut tight behind him.

"Hey guys." Jason DiLaurentis smiled at his younger sister and niece.

"Unca Jay!" Rose jerked her hand out of Spencer's and ran to her uncle, barely making it up the first step before she almost fell flat on her face, caught at the last second by Jason.

"Munchkin, careful!" He chuckled hugging his niece close and allowing her to cuddle into his chest as he took Spencer's bags and attempted a side hug and kiss on the cheek.

"I've been sent to make sure you don't peek."

Spencer laughed, lifting her hand for him to take and closing her eyes.

"Nope. Sorry Spence. I'm under strict orders and the threat of castration to cover your eyes myself." Sometime, Spencer really hated that smirk she sometime recognized in her own mirrors. This was one of those times.

She sighed and walked up the porch stopping in front of Jason, her back to her brother. He chuckled and used his free hand to obscure her vision.

"I've got a child in one arm and a sister in the other, someone open the door!"

Not the best thought out plan, huh, bro? Spencer though wryly to herself, smiling that damn smirk she was hating moments before.

She heard some laughter and an opening door and thanked her lucky stars they had chose a house she was as familiar with as her own. Spencer felt someone she quickly determined to be Paige grasp one of her hands and who she thought might be Aria take the other, guiding her inside.

Step over the doorway, four steps straight, she felt herself being turned left, another six steps straight, stop.

"Ready?" A voice that could only belong to the one and only Hanna Rivers asked.

"Yes, please. Jason's hand is sweating on my face and it's disgusting."

Raucous laughter filled her ears and she heard an unintelligible whisper behind her before feeling a sharp pinch to her right arm. The hand responsible was much to small to belong to her aforementioned brother, so Spencer quickly deduced that in his evil mission to turn Rose against her, Jason had convinced her daughter to do it for him.

"Okay, Jason, let her go!" A voice commanded giddily. Emily's voice.

The sudden return of all things light momentarily blinded Spencer, but as her eyes adjusted the blurry figure of a man not three feet in front of her took the form of her husband.

Throwing her hands over her mouth in a gasp, Spencer froze in shock. Tears of joy streamed down her face as she heard her child scream for her Daddy.

The smiling man in front of her reached for her daughter first and hugged the toddler close before quickly pulling her to him, as well.

"Toby!" Spencer finally spoke as she lifted her arms around his neck in choke hold, pressing herself as close to him as possible.

Her husband chuckled as his tears began to mix with her own and he dropped countless kisses to her and their daughter's faces.

"Miss me?"