Hey!

So this is a random idea I had. One day I was just like, Holy shit that's a brilliant idea and thus this story came to be. I hope y'all like it because I don't want to have killed my Spoby feels for nothing!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pretty Little Liars or any of the characters, just the plot :)

Now, on with the story!

Prologue:

It was a dark and stormy night in Philadelphia, PA. There was a particularly loud crash of thunder as Spencer Cavanaugh, formerly Hastings, walked down the stairs of her house after putting her daughter to bed. She was a woman of purpose, and right now, her purpose was getting away from this house. As she was about to turn the door handle and walk out to her already packed car, she heard a noise behind her.

"Spencer?" She heard Toby ask from the couch. She hadn't seen him as she was heading out.

"Damn it." She thought. So much for sneaking off and leaving him with nothing but a note and a few pictures. Pictures from every little thing the two of them had done in the past six years. Starting with their wedding day, to their honeymoon, ending with not too long ago with the picture of their annual end-of-summer picnic with Aria, Hanna, Alison, Emily, and the rest of the gang.

"Toby! I didn't… I didn't think you'd still be down here." She stuttered. Always a problem when faced with pressure. It was all planned out. She'd put Renee to bed, quietly walk downstairs, and get in her car.

"And I didn't think I'd be seeing you walk outside in this weather." He noticed the hurt in her eyes, "Spence? What's wrong?"

This was it, her moment of truth… Unless she didn't want it to end like this. But at this point, her options were slim. She could either lie, and not be able to get on with her life, or tell the truth, and risk making things worse for everyone.

"I'm leaving, Toby." Those three words were the hardest ones she'd ever said in her life.

"You're… What?"

"I'm leaving. I've had enough. I've been planning this for days." She felt the tears burning in her eyes.

"Spencer…"

"No, Toby! You don't understand!" She was about to lose it. "And you never will. Tell Renee I love her." She paused with her hand on the door knob, "Goodbye, Toby."

A few moments passed. Toby heard a car door slam, and the sound of that same car's engine roaring to life. The car slowly pulled out of their driveway, with Spencer sobbing behind the wheel. As she drove, she only had one thought.

"I'm never looking back."

After driving almost all night, she finally arrived where she was going. The house where she'd spent her childhood, the awful teenage years, where she'd had countless sleepovers, movie nights, and other bonding time with the girls, a few special moments that she didn't want to think about, but it was home. And this time, she was here to stay.

When she stepped out of the car, a light went on in her parent's bedroom. She walked up to the front door to be greeted by her mother. Even though she'd just seen her mother a few weeks prior, Veronica Hastings was ever the same woman she was while Spencer was in high school.

"Spencer? What are you doing here so late?" She asked as she walked inside.

In that moment, Spencer did something she hadn't done in years. Or, at least not since that dreadful night years ago when she discovered Toby was A…

She broke down and cried in her mother's arms.

"I couldn't do it anymore…" She sobbed.

"Couldn't do what, Spencer?" Her mother asked.

"Any of it. I'm not… I'm not fit to be a wife, or a mother."

"Spencer, stop talking crazy. You're doing a wonderful job."

"But I can't handle the pressure! I have to make sure everything's perfect all the time, make sure Renee doesn't get hurt, make sure she's cared for, deal with my own job, and then somehow manage to make sure that I get dinner on the table every night."

"Spencer, honey, I'll let you know that I struggled too the first few years when it was just your father, Melissa and I. But if returning home in the middle of the night is what makes you happiest, I'll allow it… For now."

Spencer vaguely nodded, as she stared at her mother. How was it that this was possibly the same woman who had helped to prove so many court cases, raised two children, and now had three grandchildren?

"Of course, Mom. I love you." With that, Spencer got up from the couch where she was sitting next to her mother, and walked upstairs to her old bedroom. It was still the same as she had left it, and she knew nothing was going to change now.