A/N: This story started as my attempt to correct some continuity errors in the most recent episode of Pretty Little Liars. I didn't expect this story to be as long as it is initially, and in the interest of publishing it before the finale airs, I am splitting it into two parts. This is part one. Part two will be released tomorrow as soon as possible, and certainly before the finale. - James
"What now?" Hannah asked.
"We go home. We rest. We hope that this really is the end of the game," Spencer answered. "Go on, enjoy your honeymoon," she joked.
Hannah gaped at Caleb and he shrugged.
The morning after the game had died was strikingly serene. The girls locked the door to cabin one of the lost woods resort and vowed to never look back. Of course, freedom was not what the future held for any of them. In that moment, though, they all silently agreed to pretend.
Spencer drove Emily and Alison home; Emily sat next to her and struggled to keep her eyes open, and Ali was asleep in the back seat.
"Em, just sleep. I'll be fine."
Emily refused to close her eyes as they drove back into town. The bright sun was fragmented as it filtered through the lush trees.
When Emily refused, Spencer sighed and resigned to her drowsy company. "What do you think of the Adirondacks?"
"What about them?"
"The style, I mean the cabins and shiplap and wood chairs?"
"And stuffed bears."
"I'm serious," Spencer spoke more to the road in front of her than to Emily. "Maybe we shouldn't sell the Lost Woods after all. Maybe we could make something of it, Ali and me."
"If that's what she wants….You'll have to move the game board out first."
"Yeah," Spencer said biting her lip, and then she laughed. She laughed hysterically, a tear-spilling, breath-catching laugh, the kind of laugh that comes when relieved uncertainty is catalyzed by deep tiredness.
After staring at her in disbelief for a moment, Emily bit back a smile, but it blossomed none-the-less and suddenly they were both heaving with laughter.
Alison woke up to the unfamiliar sound of happiness and watched them in the rear-view mirror.
"What's so funny?"
Emily stopped laughing and turned around. Alison looked beautiful, she thought, in the rare moments of peace that only existed between when she was asleep and awake.
"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to wake you up."
"It's fine, Em."
Spencer had stopped laughing and smiled at Ali through the mirror. "We're almost home anyway."
They passed the "Welcome to Rosewood" sign as Spencer spoke.
"Are you guys gonna tell me what was so funny?"
"The game board," Spencer answered after a single reminiscent chuckle, "we just left it there. What are we supposed to do with it? We can't just throw it in the trash. Maybe it will just be a bonus feature for the tenants of cabin one."
Alison didn't laugh.
"I guess you had to be there."
After an uncomfortable silence, Emily explained her reasons for laughing. "And Spencer actually thinks we would stay in Rosewood to raise our family," she smiled and shook her head for emphasis. "Funny."
Spencer's face fell and she swallowed hard before focusing all of her attention on the road.
Alison's expression darkened. "Why is that funny? So what if we do stay in Rosewood?"
"Alison, it's not safe here."
Her tone sharpened. "You don't always have to have the final say on what's best for me…or us. Rosewood was never the problem. I already tried to tell you that when I ran away my problems just followed me."
Emily took a breath and was preparing to respond when Spencer grabbed their attention. "Guys, look."
They both looked up to see that they had arrived home and two red fire trucks bordered their porch.
"My point exactly," Emily said as she frantically climbed out of the car.
Alison rolled her eyes and followed shortly behind.
Spencer watched them approach a fireman who wore only a t-shirt and the bottom of his suit. As she shut off the car and basked in the silence for one more second, she saw Emily cross her arms and furrow her brow. Alison slipped her arm in the crook of Emily's elbow and looked only at her, ignoring the fireman completely.
Once Emily appeared to have stopped asking questions and begun to nod reluctantly, Spencer left the car and approached them, the deep voice of the fireman cutting through the morning haze.
"Em, what is it?" she interrupted.
Emily bit her cheek and turned abruptly. Ali's hand fell from her arm. "A gas leak. The detector didn't go off, but they were concerned when the gas was running for so long in the middle of summer."
"We found the leak by the fireplace, and the gas levels were unsafe when we arrived. It should have dissipated enough by now, but we are measuring it once more." The fireman continued to speak to the side of Emily's head. Alison finally directed her attention to him if not for anything but politeness.
"We tried to call the homeowner."
"That's me."
"But the number we had on file for you belonged to a phone that is currently in the custody of the Rosewood police department."
"Damn it!" Spencer yelled, "we forgot to collect our belongings from the station." She covered her face with her hand and then let it fall to her hip.
Emily rolled her eyes, sighed, and then turned back to the fireman angrily.
"We were about to call the other number on file, belonging to Jason DiLaurentis, when you pulled up."
Emily was too angry to ask the right questions, and Alison was too concerned with this anger, so Spencer stepped in. "How did this happen?"
He tilted his head and took a moment to formulate the correct phrasing. "Well…the leak was coming from the electric fireplace in the living room. But, there were no kinks or faults in the line or the pipes."
"So…"
"It looks deliberate…, which is why I would like to encourage you to file a report with the police."
"No," Ali responded quickly as she shook her head, "no more police." She wrapped her arms around herself and took a half step back. Emily put her hand flat on her back.
He scowled momentarily. "The line itself was unscrewed. There's a small possibility that it came loose on its own, but it's my professional opinion that someone unscrewed it. Even if that weren't the case, the pilot light for the fireplace was also blown out. There are far too many glitches for this to simply have happened on its own, or even by accident."
Before Alison could respond, another fireman exited the house. He was looking at a yellow meter.
"Levels are good. Safe to go back in."
The fireman looked back to them. "The AMR diagnostics suggest that the gas was running from about 3 a.m. until we arrived at 6. Were either of you in the house at all during that period of time?"
They looked at each other. Emily's eyes widened and she opened her mouth but was unable to speak.
Spencer had texted the other girls about what had happened, and she waited on the porch while Emily and Alison sat just inside the open door of a small van labeled "Rosewood Fire Department." Emily watched as two men hauled a large fan out of the house and maneuvered it around Spencer who glared at them and made no attempt to move. A young fireman with a shirt that read "EMS" on the left shoulder asked Alison and Emily a series of questions. He occasionally referenced an aluminum clipboard to make sure he had asked about all the possible symptoms.
After having a light shined in their eyes, they had both answered "no" to a long list that included dizziness, headaches, and muscle weakness.
"Any tiredness, drowsiness? I know it was the middle of the night but…."
They both looked at each other. "Yeah, drowsiness," Emily answered.
He marked his clipboard. "Okay, what about nausea?"
At the exact moment, Emily said "no," Ali responded "yes," and she could feel Emily's terrified expression boring into her. "But, I've had morning sickness consistently for a while now."
"You're pregnant?"
"Yes. Do you think anything could be wrong with the baby?" Her tone changed from indifference to terror.
"Well, you weren't exposed for long, and from what I can tell you are displaying very few signs of poisoning. I would call your OBGYN tomorrow and make an appointment as soon as possible, just to be sure. I don't think anything is or will be wrong, but you should talk to your doctor."
Alison nodded and put her hand over her stomach.
"Is that it?" Emily asked.
"I think so…." He consulted his clipboard one last time. "Oh! Any hallucinations or vivid dreams?"
This time Ali answered "no" and Emily answered "yes." Alison narrowed her eyes and tilted her head toward Emily, but didn't say a word.
He nodded. "Okay, if those continue then let your doctor know. If you have any other symptoms like headaches then seek medical help immediately. I'll leave this with you." He handed Alison a list of potential symptoms that he had marked-up based on their answers.
They climbed out of the van and the man they had spoken to earlier approached them. "Okay, we capped the leak, but we had to shut the gas off. Will you need a hand turning it back on?"
"No, that's fine," Emily replied. She crossed her arms and looked at her feet.
"Thank you for all of your help," Ali said.
"Not a problem. You're sure you—"
"No, we won't be filing a report."
"Okay," he nodded.
Once the trucks had pulled away Alison glared at Emily. "Please tell me that you actually know how to turn the gas back on and that you weren't just protecting your pride."
She sighed and looked at Alison. "No, I don't know how to turn it back on."
Spencer stood from the porch and approached them.
"We don't need it turned back on," Emily explained.
"What do you mean we don't need it turned on, Emily? Call me high maintenance, but I like to shower with hot water!"
"And you will. Just not here. We don't need the gas turned on because we are not staying here, at least not for a while."
"What?"
"This house has leaks, Ali, and I'm not just talking about the gas line." She turned to Spencer. "Can we stay with you for a little while?"
Spencer nodded. "Of course. As long as you want. I'll see you both soon." She headed back to the barn.
Emily avoided Alison's gaze. Instead, she crossed her arms, clenched her jaw, and glared angrily at the house as if it were a malicious villain.
Alison rounded on her. "What are you talking about?"
Emily dropped her arms and looked at Ali with a softer gaze. "I mean that every night I check the windows and I lock every single one. And the doors, I check all of the doors, Ali, and I lock and deadbolt them. I even read the manual on that ridiculous alarm system and figured out how to arm it every night."
"I know that."
"Every night, Ali, and sometimes during my lunch break, I come home and I check the whole house again and re-lock the door behind me. After you fall asleep, I check them again, every night."
"Em?"
"Alison, I had the locks changed and made absolutely sure that there were only two copies of the key made, and still," she threw her hands in the air and let them fall to her sides with a thump, "someone got in—gets in."
Alison furrowed her brow and squeezed Emily's arm reassuringly.
"Someone moved the game into the house, someone loosened the front window so that Aria could get into the nursery, then someone moved the game upstairs, and then Mona stole the game right from under us, and then someone brought it back while we were knocked out because they had unscrewed a gas line." She took a deep breath once she'd finished. "I don't know how, and I don't know why, but this house is not safe."
"Okay." She grabbed Emily's hand.
Emily didn't expect her to concede so quickly, and she sighed with relief.
"I'm going to go get some of our things from the house, and I will meet you at the barn."
"Okay." She smiled for just a second.
"Do you need anything specific?"
"Not that I can think of."
"Okay." Emily began to walk to the house and then paused and turned back. "Do you have anything that you don't want to be found in the house?" she whispered.
Alison shook her head and Emily nodded.
On her way to gather her and Alison's things Emily noticed that all of the windows had been opened in order to air the house out. She began to close every single one and lock it before she even noticed what she was doing. When she began to shut the kitchen window she realized what was happening and stopped. She didn't need to shut them, it wouldn't matter anyway. She did bother to shut and lock the nursery, though.
Alison refused to sit down while they waited for Emily to arrive at the barn. Instead, she stood by the door anxiously rubbing her hands together while Spencer poured a glass of wine.
Spencer focused on Alison's hands for a moment and realized that she was pushing residual dirt from the grave over her skin, trying to rub it off. She silently took a dishcloth from the drawer, soaked it in warm water and soap and brought it to Ali.
She stood next to her for a moment with the cloth outstretched as an offering. Alison finally noticed it and looked up at Spencer in a silent "thank you." Spencer pushed it toward her and she grabbed it, but as Spencer was about to release her grip on the towel and step away, Alison grabbed her hand and held it, just as Spencer had held Mary's hand the night before.
She looked at Alison and smiled sadly, and then looked down in shame.
"Don't you dare do that," Ali commanded.
She looked up in surprise. "Do what?"
"Look at me like you have anything to apologize for."
"But, Ali, Mary—my mother—"
"No, Spence, do not apologize. Especially not for something that someone else did." She looked Spencer firmly in the eye, steadfast in her refusal. "Your mother did not kill my mother. Mary Drake killed her sister. Two sisters had a terrible relationship, not us. We are their daughters, but we don't have to answer for their mistakes, and we have nothing left to apologize to each other for."
Spencer waited a moment before finally nodding and smiling with relief.
Ali smiled back and squeezed Spencer's hand reassuringly before finally releasing it.
Spencer walked back to the kitchen and sipped her wine as Alison began wiping the dirt from her hands and refocused her attention on the door.
"One more thing, Spence."
She turned to Alison again.
"You're allowed to love her."
"What?"
"You're allowed to love your mother. What she did for you—for us—was selfless." Ali took a breath, checked the door again, and then looked back to Spencer. "And as someone who has had to ask for forgiveness many, many times, I consider what Mary did," she took another deep breath as if making sure she really meant what she was about to say, "a total absolution," she finished as she let the breath go.
Spencer was too stunned to respond so she just nodded slightly and then abruptly turned her head to hide the tear that slid down her cheek.