Aria heard a soft knock at the front door as she made her way leisurely down the stairs. It was Thanksgiving Day and she was dressed in yet another Aria outfit ready for her family meal. The Montgomery's had decided to have a family Thanksgiving. Just the four of them as Ella was still recovering from her break up with Zach. That fact in mind, Aria made her way to the front door, haphazardly swatting away a stray piece of hair that had fallen in her face. Slightly puzzled as to who was visiting on a holiday, she took a deep breath to compose herself and opened the door. Standing in front of her was the last person she expected: Ezra Fitz.

Juggling two pies, Ezra awkwardly stood on the porch juggling the pair of pies he and Aria had made just two days before. "Hi," Ezra finally said breaking the silence.

Still baffled by Ezra's presence at her home, Aria struggled to form words. " What… what are you doing here?" Aria spoke quickly and quietly, clearly trying to keep her family, especially Byron from discovering Ezra's presence.

"Well," Ezra gulped, "Ella invited me."

"What do you mean my Mom invited you," Aria spat, simultaneously irritated at both Ella and Ezra.

"I mean I ran into her yesterday at the market and she found out I didn't have any plans, so she invited me".

"She had no right to do that," Aria interrupted. "I can't believe this," she scoffed, not know how to handle this awkward situation. Her and Ezra had been taking baby steps lately, just hanging out as friends. Ella knew that Aria wasn't sure what she wanted when it came to Ezra, but evidently Ella had other ideas. What Ella didn't know was that Ezra and Aria had gotten into a fight the other night and currently weren't on the best of terms.

"Look, Aria, can I just come in for a minute. I want to talk to you…. And these pies are getting a little heavy, " Ezra muttered while feebly attempting to adjust his hold on the pie in his left hand.

With a huff of exacerbation, Aria stepped aside ushering Ezra into their living room. Not the most welcoming invitation, but Ezra was grasping at straws at this point. Aria had been ignoring his texts and calls since the events of the other night and he couldn't take it anymore. Ezra gestured to the couch, but Aria held her position, she wasn't going to give him an inch.

"About the other night…" he started, fully aware that Aria did not want to have this conversation, "I want to make perfectly clear what I meant."

"I don't think you have anything to explain, you were very CLEAR the other night," Aria retorted.

- Two days ago -

Aria brushed her hands together, getting the last remnants of flour off of them having just set the timer for the pies she and Ezra baked together. Removing her apron and placing it on the hook by the fridge, are made her way to join Ezra on the couch.

"Why don't we watch a movie?" He suggested.

"Hmmm, I don't know if I'm into a movie tonight. I think I would just drift off," Aria mused.

" Okay, well what would you like to do then?"

"Can we just sit here for a minute? Baking those pies was stressful".

"HA!" Ezra laughed, "Of course".

Aria made herself more comfortable, slowly edging towards Ezra's body on the couch. Within a minute, she was snuggled up to his side, staying silent as she had suggested leaving Ezra frozen and completely bewildered. She had made it clear a few days ago that they were just friends and nothing more. So, why was she acting as if they were still together and nothing had ever changed?

The sat in silence for a few more minutes until Aria began moving again, tilting her face up off Ezra's toned chest and bringing her face up to meet his. Carefully but decidedly, Aria brushed her lips against Ezra's.

Too shocked to react once again, Ezra just went with it, allowing Aria to continue her exploration. After granting her access to his mouth and deepening their kiss, Aria moved her body to cover his. She was now effectively sitting on his lap as their makeout session was quickly escalating. As Aria reached for Ezra's shirt and began pulling it up, Ezra finally realized what was happening and moved to stop her.

"Aria, wait" he struggled to say in between kisses. Aria continued disregarding his words and started grinding into him slightly, eliciting a moan from Ezra. "Aria, wait," he tried again, " please…. Listen to me". Finally with no other choice Ezra broke away from Aria's assault on his neck, grabbed her arms and gently moved her off of him.

Completely shocked at Ezra's actions, tears soon appeared in Aria's eyes and began to spill down her cheeks. She moved to the furthest part of the couch quickly not quite sure what had just occurred.

"Aria," Ezra began gently, not meaning to have upset her with his actions. "Its just… I can't… I don't want…." he struggled to get out the words not sure exactly how to broach the subject of their relationship. Ezra didn't want to have meaningless sex with Aria again. For him it was never meaningless and the back and forth between being together for a fling and being just friends was torture to him. She meant too much to him to just be sex. It wasn't fair, not to him, not to her and definitely not their relationship, or what was left of it at that point.

That was it for Aria. Ezra had just rejected her and wasn't even capable of providing her with an explanation. At this point, she didn't even need one. Aria jumped off the couch and frantically began gathering her things around the apartment. Ezra had humiliated her once again and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of watching her completely fall apart. She finally reached the door and rushed out, not even bothering to acknowledge Ezra who was calling out her name repeatedly, begging her to stay.

With the slam of a door, she was gone and Ezra was left alone once again in apartment 3B. He truly hadn't meant to hurt her feelings, but she didn't even give him a chance to explain. Angry at himself and pissed at Aria's taking off without a second thought, Ezra made his way to bed for what was sure to be another sleepless night.

When Ezra had finally settled into bed, the timer for the pies he had completely forgotten about went off. "Dammit!" He yelled as he rolled out of bed, stumbling through the dark to the oven. Pulling the pies out, he threw them on the counter and switched the oven off.

The night didn't end up like a normal pie night for Aria and Ezra, but Ezra did realize one thing. The pies came out perfectly. Something he and Aria had made together came out okay… maybe he's crazy, but Ezra took this as a sign that maybe he and Aria would be ok too.

- End Flashback -

"Aria, you left before I could even explain why I stopped us! Just a few seconds and you were gone! What was I supposed to do?" he looked at her, his eyes begging for an answer. When she remained quiet, her eyes once again glimmering and threatening for tears to fall, Ezra realized how much he had truly hurt her. Taking a hesitant step towards Aria, he boldly reached for her hands.

Gazing deeply into her eye's and with as much conviction as he could muster, Ezra spoke, "I love you Aria. I didn't mean to hurt you the other night. Will you please hear me out?"

Aria looked down at their joined hands, unsure of what her answer would be. He had rejected her just as she began to open back up to him. Taking a deep breath, she raised her gaze to once again fall upon Ezra's beautiful blue eyes ready to give her answer…