Chapter 1
People said that time heals all wounds, but sometimes, no matter how much time was given for the wound, the biggest scar still remained. And that scar could be so permanent. Over three weeks of torture— that was an event that four teenage girls could never forget. It would forever sit in their minds. It would scar them for their entire lives. Maybe in twenty years, they would be sitting with their partners and their children, but in the back of their minds, the time they spent in captivity would still be there. No one could blame them, though. How was it possible to forget something of such a great magnitude? It wasn't easy, if it was even possible at all.
So, they would sit in silence for long periods of time. They would stare for hours, and they would think about what happened when they were in captivity. They would think about how they had to torture each other. The sound of each other's screams was enough to make their worlds crumble. No one wanted to hurt the ones they loved the most, but when they were in captivity, that was what they were forced to do. And what they kept on thinking about was the monster that made them hurt each other this way. He had a name. None of them knew if this name was just an alias, or if it was his real name, but that was the name they referred to him as. He was the one that scarred them permanently. This monster's name was Charles DiLaurentis, and he was the worst thing that ever happened to the lives of these four teenage girls.
Up the stairs of the expensive Victorian home came a blue-eyed boy with a heart of gold. He felt himself falling apart when he saw these four girls that he cared about so deeply in such a catatonic state most of the time. The girl he loved the most in the entire world had the most blank look in her chocolate colored eyes, and that pained him more than anything he had ever experienced. He slipped inside of her bedroom, and saw her sitting on her bed. She was staring at the wall blankly, but he knew what she was thinking about. She was thinking about the time that she spent in captivity. All he knew to do was to try and be there for her while she recovered from the trauma of the event. So, that's what he tried his best to do. He seated himself down on her bed, trying not to startle her. She was easily startled. He had always had the habit of sneaking up behind her to give her a kiss or a hug. He liked surprising her. But she was so fragile that he knew if he did that to her, she wouldn't be able to handle it. Gently, he touched her arm. She tensed up at his touch, but she did not freak out too horribly, which he was glad for.
"Hey," he greeted warmly, stroking her arm now. "Your mom told me you were up here. I took some time off of work so I could be with you."
She smiled. Her smile made him smile, too. To his luck, she was in a better mood than she had been in a while. She slowly leaned in to give him a short kiss on the lips, and that gesture was one he appreciated a lot. He wrapped his arms around her, but made sure his grip was gentle. He still felt like he was overstepping his boundaries if he touched her too harshly, or if he said the wrong thing. He was afraid he would upset her.
"You don't have to be so gentle all the time, you know," she reminded him, and raised her eyebrows. "Not that I don't appreciate you not going to work, because your company is overdue, but I would much rather have you catch that sick bastard than spend time with me. I want that psychotic bitch behind bars. We've spent too long without justice. I need it now."
"And you're going to get it," he told her, cupping her cheeks with a smile. "Spencer, the PD is still working hard to identify the guy that has been doing this to you—"
"It's Andrew Campbell. You said it yourself," she concluded.
"Look, I know what I said, but this wouldn't be the first time that someone has looked so guilty of something. I'm starting to believe that it's not just a coincidence that all this evidence pointing to Andrew Campbell showed up now. The police department doesn't know the kind of bitch that A is. A doesn't lose the game that easily," he reminded. "Don't lose hope, okay? We're going to find out who the person really is, and nothing bad is going to happen to you. I won't let A hurt you ever again."
She felt like crying, but she forced herself to stay strong. She was Spencer Hastings. She was supposed to be strong. What she did allow herself to do was lean on her boyfriend's chest, holding him as close to her body as possible. He made her feel safe. He was her stable rock. As a feminist, she completely believed that no woman needed a man to keep her safe and protect her, but somehow, whenever she was in his arms, she felt much safer than when she was alone. Besides, there was nothing wrong about feeling safe with a guy that was trained to use a gun and beat bad guys up, was there?
"It has to be Andrew," she said.
"That's what we all thought, okay? But there are plenty of holes in the theory, and I don't want to tell you that it is definitely him. I know that's what I thought before, but we've all believed the wrong thing at some point," he told her, sighing. "I wish I could tell you for sure who it is, but I don't even know. All I can tell you is that I love you, and I will do everything in my power to make sure this guy is caught, locked up, and never lays another finger on you again in his damn life."
Xxx
"I didn't do it! I didn't do it!"
The blonde male had been repeating the same words over and over again for quite a while. The officers were getting sick of hearing those words again and again. Those words were not getting him anywhere. Nobody was looking for another trial in Rosewood. There had been enough of those, so it would have really helped if Andrew Campbell was able to cooperate. He should have known that repeating the same words didn't make him look any less guilty.
"It sickens me," Lt. Tanner began, shaking her head as she sipped her cup of coffee, "...it sickens me that he stands there and continues to deny what he's done to four innocent teenage girls."
Xxx
There was one good thing about what happened in the dollhouse, not that Aria, or any of the girls for that matter, believed that being in the dollhouse was a great experience. But Aria did know that it finally made the police department realize what was happening with A. If it did not happen— if they were never kidnapped and held captive in the dollhouse— Lt. Tanner and the police department, minus Toby, of course, would have no clue that they were facing such horrible things. The entire town would still think they were pathological liars that had been doing nothing but making up lies since Alison's disappearance. They would think that the five girls murdered Mona Vanderwaal, and were the root cause of all the other deaths in the town. They would have still been thought of as the bad guys, and they never would have gained support in finding Charles. Hell, they never would have even known that Charles DiLaurentis was a real person if they hadn't gone to the dollhouse, which allowed Spencer to use her brainiac abilities to unscramble letter blocks to reveal Charles's name.
She still hated every moment of being in the dollhouse, though. It wasn't as if she appreciated the experience of being kidnapped. Maybe it was more of a thankfulness that Charles overstepped his limits. He had gone beyond what a normal person should ever do by simply beginning to blackmail the girls in the first place, but he made a serious mistake by kidnapping the girls. He brought the whole town into it. The only problem was that even though they had the police department fighting for them, it still seemed like A was a step ahead of them. She wanted it to be Andrew so badly. Actually, she needed it to be Andrew. Not only did she need closure on everything that was happening, but she also told yet another lie to the police.
She told them that she had seen Andrew Campbell's face in the dollhouse. That was a lie. They never unmasked Charles. They were never able to do that. He kept his coward mask on, and the girls didn't have a certainty that it was Andrew. Sure, there was lots of evidence that he was the guy they had been looking for, but it wasn't enough. It would never be enough until they unmasked Charles by themselves. She still couldn't believe she made the mistake of lying against. Since when did lying ever do them any good? It caused more problems— it allowed A to get dirt on them. It allowed their credibility to the police department to sink like the Titanic.
Finally, the girls had gained back their credibility. The police department saw what the girls had been through in the kidnapping. They saw what this psychotic person was doing to them. They saw the monster that these innocent teenage girls had to face. And with that, finally, the girls were in the clear. Not in a sense that they were safe from the monster, but because they finally had the support. They weren't the girls crying wolf any longer. People knew about what they went through. People didn't think they were crazy. People would actually believe what they said. But Aria screwed that up with another lie. She wanted to take it back, but she couldn't. She lied to the police!
But she felt like she had to. She felt like the police department would never get the sufficient evidence they needed to arrest Andrew's sick ass. Part of her believed that she had to say it to finally get the proof— the witness— that Andrew was the guy doing this. The evidence the police department needed to arrest him... but the only issue was that it wasn't real. And Aria was beginning to believe that the reason nobody could find the evidence needed to make a clear arrest about Andrew being the kidnapper, as well as Charles, was because maybe he wasn't. Maybe it was all in her head, and she just supported it so strongly because she wanted the pain to end. Seeing him behind bars would mean it was the end of the game for good. No more A. She wanted that so badly, but the idea of Andrew being the one felt wrong. It felt worse by the second, and all she wanted to do was take back her lie.
"Aria?"
Her hazel eyes shot up to lock with the eyes of the curly dark haired man standing in her bedroom. She tried not to think about the dollhouse for a second, and she tried to focus on him. She didn't want those sick images in her head, anyways.
"Ezra, what are you doing here?" she asked.
He sighed, and immediately stepped up to her and pulled her in for a hug. She hugged him back, even though she was still afraid. She wasn't afraid of him, but she was afraid that she would lose him.
"I had to see you," he told her, swallowing hard. "I just had to see you, okay? I know you're not alright, and I know I can't fix this for you, but I want to be there for you. I want to do everything I can to make you happy."
"You already are," she said. "You already are making me happy. There's nothing you have to prove."
"Can I get you anything at all?" he asked. "You name it, and I'll get it for you."
"Ezra, come here," she told him, gesturing so he would walk closer to her.
And he did. He walked closer to her. To his surprise, she grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pressed her lips against his. He felt like the reunion between them was overdue, but he would never have kissed her before, since she was in this state. She ran her hands through the curls of his hair. Their kisses grew deeper and stronger— even more passionate. Her fingers coiled around the hem of his shirt, and she started to pull it over his head. She finally tore her lips apart from his to take his shirt off. Their eyes locked when it was halfway off his torso. She giggled for a moment, and then pulled the shirt completely off of his body, tossing it to the floor. In that brief moment that they locked eyes, he remembered what she just went through. She was vulnerable. She was looking for comfort! How could he take advantage of her poor state and have sex with her? It just wasn't right.
"Aria..." he mumbled, shaking his head. "Aria, no. We can't do this. I'm sorry, but we just can't. You're not ready for this again. I don't want to be the guy that slept with you while you're still hurting."
She raised her eyebrows and reminded, "You told me that you would bring me anything I wanted... and what I want right now is you, Ezra. Come on. We all knew I wasn't going to stay away for long. This was bound to happen again at some point. It wouldn't be the first time we've slipped when we weren't supposed to be together." She winked at him before grabbing his arm and trying to pull him back closer.
"No," he refused, shaking his head. "No, Aria, I can't sleep with you. Before the," he paused to think of a word that wouldn't trigger too much emotion for her, "...event, you didn't want to be with me. You broke up with me, actually. What changed? My morals won't let me do this with you. Not now. Not while you're in this state. It just doesn't feel right."
"So you won't ever sleep with me again?" she challenged, raising her eyebrows. "Wise choice, because I don't know if I'll ever be out of this 'state'. You're either going to have to learn to deal with the new me, or you'll just have to walk away now. And I think it's pretty clear what direction you're going in, if you believe that you can't sleep with me while I'm in this 'state'."
"Hey, look here!" he cried, cupping her cheeks. "I would never walk away from you. Leaving you for good is something I would never do. I've never even thought about leaving you. We don't have to be together for me to care about you. I hope you know that. I don't believe for one second what you're saying about this new you. I don't think I have to learn to deal with the new you. I think you have to learn to try and deal with what happened to you. Maybe it's time you open up. Maybe it's time you talk about it. Whether the person you choose to talk about it is me, your friends, your family— you just have to talk to somebody about it. Okay?"
"Okay," she said, trying not to sob, but the tears came rushing out anyways. "Okay, okay. Okay." She immediately pulled Ezra in for a hug, holding his body so close to hers, and never wanting to let go of him.
Xxx
"You seem to be showing up at all the right places and all the right times to be around me, isn't that so?"
Lorenzo Calderon smiled the sweetest smile he could, and then replied by saying, "A little birdie may have told me where I'd be able to find you. Our talk was... intriguing. I'd like to know more about you, Alison DiLaurentis."
"Oh, you don't wanna know me," she laughed, sitting down at his table in the Apple Rose Grille. "You don't want to know the person I've been, or why I'm infamous in this town. Judging by the fact that I've been arrested already, and also the fact that you're partners with Toby Cavanaugh, a guy who hates my guts, I'm sure you've heard enough about me."
"This feels like déjà vu because you told me these things when I saw you at the Brew," he reminded, raising his eyebrows. "I thought I told you to sit down and have a hamburger. And for the record, Toby hasn't said anything about you, so don't worry. I'm not a guy that's searching for the skeletons in your closet. I may be a police officer, but I'm not investigating you. Maybe I can find the new you."
"Well, I certainly am trying to become a better person now," she said, nodding her head. "After the abduction incident with my friends, the whole town knows about what's been happening. And now, it's like there are no secrets. There's no hiding from the police or my family. Everybody knows everything about what's been happening. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my chest, because there's no need for lying anymore."
"I think it's amazing what you girls have been through," he said, still smiling at her. "If you're trying to become a better person, Alison, then I would like to inform you that I'd like to stick around and be a guy that helps you become a better person."
"Okay, Lorenzo, you've proved that you're a good guy. Will you drop the sweet act already?" she scoffed.
"Hmm, you think this is an act?" Lorenzo asked, raising his eyebrows. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe there's always been a guy out there that really wants to be a sweet guy to you? Or maybe that I'm just a sweet guy in general? Point is, you've gotta get used to people caring about you. Because I do."
Xxx
Hanna Marin had completely redone her bedroom. New wallpaper, new furniture, new everything— it was entirely different. Her mother understood. After everything she and the girls had been through in the dollhouse, it was no surprise that Hanna didn't want to come home to a replica of the room she was held hostage in for weeks. She felt safer when the room was different. There were less flashbacks in her mind of what happened in the dollhouse, since she wasn't looking at the same furniture. But she knew she would have to talk about what happened sooner or later.
"Hanna," the gentle voice of Caleb Rivers spoke as he slowly stepped forward to come closer to her. "I love the new room. And I also sorta, really love you."
She smiled, but she continued staring at the floor. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head lovingly. He didn't need to hear her return the words. He wasn't trying to get her to show him how much she loved him. All he wanted to do was be there with her, and for her. It was about making her happy again. So, he stood there, and he held her. Nothing else mattered but her.
"Caleb," she began, turning around so she was facing him. She took both of his hands in hers, and weakly said, "I'm ready... to talk about what happened while we were gone."
He felt his heart racing. For quite a while, everyone had been trying to find out what happened during the abduction, but none of the girls were ready to speak. He knew pressuring Hanna to talk about it would never be a good thing, so he was thrilled that she came out and became ready to talk about it, all by herself. He was amazed at how strong and brave she was. Not only her, but her other friends, too. Although Alison wasn't in the dollhouse with them, he thought she was brave, too.
"Okay," he said, carefully walking her to her new bed, and then sitting down next to her. "If you're ready to talk, let's talk. I'm here to listen. I'm here with you every step of the way— just always keep that in your mind."
"I know you are, and you're amazing for it," she quietly said, running a hand through Caleb's dark brown hair. "It all began after we were arrested. We were on our way, and we were just sitting there and talking to each other. Then A came... and he took us there. That's when it all began."
"And what happened, Hanna?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her to give her the comfort she needed while she explained. "What happened when you were taken to that place?"
Hanna ran a hand through her own blonde hair before saying, "A lot of things... happened. But the worst— the one none of us can ever forget— was when he used us to torture each other. We were forced to make decisions that we didn't want to make. He gave us control for things we didn't want control over."
Hanna sat in the dark room. Tears were pouring down her cheeks, but the speaker kept repeating that she had to pick one, or she would suffer. She loved them all. Her sweet Emily. Her genius Spencer. Her artistic Aria. How could she pick one of her best friends? How could she choose one that she loved the least? The speaker kept counting down seconds. She was running out of time to make a decision. One of her friends would get hurt, and it would be all her fault. She picked them to suffer.
She had one second left. Out of the impulsiveness in her at that moment, she closed her eyes and slammed her fist down on one of the buttons. She didn't know who she picked, but it hurt all the same. She opened her eyes, and saw which button her fist was planted down on— poor Aria Montgomery. The sound of Aria's scream filled the room, and Hanna could hear it so clearly. It was ringing through her ears. Aria had been shocked, and it was all her fault.
"That sick bastard!" Caleb yelled, turning around and punching the new pillow on her bed as hard as he could. "He emotionally abused you guys into turning on each other? Baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry he made you do that."
"No!" Hanna cried, and the tears came pouring out once again. "He made me pick which one of them I hated the most. I don't hate Aria! I love her so much. I love her just as much as the rest. I felt like I was betraying her. I picked her out of all the others. I caused her that pain. I should have just let him do it to me."
Caleb shook his head and kissed her forehead before whispering, "No, no. You cannot blame yourself for what happened, okay? You love Aria, and she loves you right back. She knows how much you love her. You girls have been through hell and back. It wasn't a betrayal. It was impulse. You love her as much as you love Spencer and Emily. Everybody knows that. It's over now. You never will do anything like that again. I'm not letting him put you in that position ever again."
"I never want to go back to that place," she whispered as she sobbed.
"And you never have to. Ever," he promised, hugging her and stroking her blonde hair. "I swear to you, Hanna Marin, I will never let this happen to you again. I shouldn't have let you out of my sight. They're going to find evidence on Andrew Campbell, and he's going to rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life. Hell, they should send that ass to death row! He's a sick dude, and everyone will know it in a matter of time."
Xxx
Emily pulled the blanket over the fragile girl's body. She was even more numb than Emily was, and for a good cause. Years in that hell hole? The tan skinned girl could only imagine what it felt like to lose track of time and all reality, forced to do unspeakable things. Charles was even sicker that she had ever thought he was. She set a glass of milk by Sara Harvey's guest bed, just in case she needed it. She wanted to give this girl the life she deserved. Sighing, Emily began to walk out of the guest bedroom, trying to give Sara the peace and quiet she needed.
"Emily?" the fragile voice called from the bed.
She turned around and eagerly said, "Yeah?"
"Don't leave," Sara begged, sitting up in her guest bed. "Don't leave, please. I've been alone in there for too long, and I don't want to be alone again. I need you here."
"Of course!" Emily exclaimed, rushing back over to the bed to sit by her. "Sara, you're never going to be alone again. You have me, you have my mom, and you have my friends. You're going to have tons of friends here. You're a beautiful girl, okay? What happened was not something you deserved. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. But I'm here for you now."
"You were there, too," Sara said, biting her lip. "You were there, but you don't seem broken."
"Believe me, I am," Emily told her, running a hand through her dark hair. "It messed me up pretty badly. But when I look at you, I realize that I had it better than you. I feel horrible thinking about how long you were in there. I know I have every right to be devastated about what happened in there, but you have every right I have times a million. If I'm feeling this bad about it, I can only imagine what you're feeling."
"Well, I do feel like complete crap," Sara whispered. "You can't take me in like a foster girl. I can't be a burden—"
"You're not a burden," Emily promised, her eyes widening. "Don't ever think of yourself as burden! I want you to be here for as long as you need. If it's the rest of your life, then so be it. But you are welcome here, Sara Harvey. Just know that. I know damn well that my mother supports this completely. We have hearts, and they break when we see you. All we want is for you to heal."
"I'm so lucky I met you," she said quietly. "Thank you..."
"It's no problem, really," Emily assured her. "We're going to find your mother."
"She won't answer you if you call about me. But even if you can find her, there's no way she wants me," Sara said, swallowing hard. "Even after everything, she doesn't want to be my mother."
"Don't say that! You don't know that," Emily assured her, contemplating if she was supposed to hug the poor girl or not. "Your mother probably loves you. And if she doesn't take you, then you've still got a home here. This can be your home, Sara. It can be if you want it to be." Emily didn't know if it was the right time to ask, but she blurted out, "What happened with your mother that makes you so sure she doesn't want you back?"
"We were never really close when I was growing up," Sara explained, staring at the window. "I don't want to talk about everything that happened between us, but what pushed her the furthest away was when I told her about myself... I told her that I'm interested in girls. I don't know if it was a phase, but she was horrified. She hates same-sex couples so much. She and my dad hated everything about gay couples. She couldn't even look me in the eyes once I told her. Oh god, I can still remember how horrible it felt. The things she said to me made me believe that I'm a disgrace to this world because of my sexuality. I felt like I deserved to be kidnapped that day."
Emily shook her head and said, "You do not deserve what happened to you! Look, I went through a similar rough patch with my mom, but she came around. She and my dad didn't want me to be gay, but she turned a corner one day, and she supported me. Now she's okay with who I am. She's supported every girlfriend I've had, and every part of the girl I am now. Your mother has probably been devastated that you are gone, and the fact that you told her about your sexuality must be the last thing on her mind. I bet all she wants is her daughter back."
"You think so?" Sara asked nervously. "I didn't know you were—"
"Gay?" Emily laughed, running a hand through her hair. "I used to hate myself for it. I wished that I could take it back and be somebody else, but now I'm okay with who I am. Actually, I'm not just okay with it; I'm proud of who I am. You should be, too. But that's not the important thing. The important thing is that you're here, you're safe, and I'm not going to stop trying until you're happy."
A/N: And there's the first chapter! Everything picks up post 6x02, so I'm just continuing from those storylines. It must seem all over the place with all the characters. Don't worry, things will start looking up. I'm basically doing a writing of season 6, making it the way that I wish I could make it, if I could bend the way they've been writing it. I'll just be continuing to write it as if it's the show. So, we'll keep going with the Charles plot here (I have two ideas for who I'm going to make Charles in the story, I'm deciding now!) There will be plenty to look forward to, I promise. I have HUGE plans for the time jump :) But before the time jump, we have to get through all the A-drama, such as unmasking Charles. There's still time to look forward to. We're going to have prom and graduation, and I have some great storylines that don't have to do with A for that. The romance in this story is going to be very fun.