If you know me, you know I love Ezra. I will be devastated if he dies, but if he does I hope to see some serious Emria bonding. Like this for instance…

"Hey."

Emily looked up from her book, and set it aside when she saw Aria standing in her doorway. A soft, sympathetic smile settled on her face. "Hey. How are you?"

Aria, dressed unusually, but understandably, in a navy Rosewood High hoodie, zipped halfway over a gray t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of beat up looking black boots, tucked her hair behind her unadorned ear and stepped into the room.

"How were you three days after Maya's funeral?" she asked.

"At least you got to go to Ezra's." Emily shot back, speaking before she could think. "I'm sorry, Aria. I shouldn't have said that."

Aria shook her head. "No. It's okay. You're right. It really, really sucks, but at least I got to say good-bye."

Emily had a question on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to ask it. Not yet. It had only been three days since they had buried Ezra, and this was the first time that Emily knew of that any of them had even heard from Aria.

"You look miserable." Emily said bluntly.

Aria knew it was true. She wasn't wearing any make up, her eyes were red and her throat was scratchy from crying, she hadn't eaten much at all the past week, and it had been two days since she had washed her hair or even looked at her razor. She had done well today though, managing to take a quick bath and put on something other than Ezra's t-shirt that she had been living in since the funeral. It still smelled like him. With a sigh she crossed the room and sat down on the window seat, wanting to feel the sun on her skin to remind her that she was still alive.

Emily came over and sat beside her. "Have you talked to Hanna or Spencer yet?"

Aria shook her head once more. "No. I picked up the phone to call all three of you so many times, but I just couldn't do it. Hanna's dealing with all of Caleb's Ravenswood stuff, and Spencer's still dealing with the rehab stuff."

"Yeah, but none of that means anything right now." Emily said. "You're hurting, and they know that. We're all hurting. Ezra was more than a teacher to all of us. You know Han and Spencer would drop everything in a second if you needed them to."

"I know." Aria said. "But I didn't need them to. Not right now anyway. Right now I need you, Em. You're the only one that understands what I'm going through right now, how I feel, how much it hurts to…to…"

Emily wrapped her arms around her friend as the tears slid down her face. There was no need for Aria to finish her sentence. Emily knew exactly what she meant. Emily was the only one of them that understood what it was like when the person you had given your heart to was killed.

"Did he ever say who it was?" she asked.

"No." Aria said, her tears soaking through Emily's t-shirt. "He started to, but I think he realized he wasn't going to make it. The last thing he said was that he loved me."

Emily was disappointed that they still didn't have an answer or anything to go on, but that didn't matter right now. Right now, all that mattered was that one of her best friends had a broken heart and needed her to help ease the pain a little. She pushed the disappointment away and held Aria tight, placing a comforting kiss on her forehead, her own heart breaking a little when Aria wrapped her arms a little tighter and began crying a little harder.