A/N: I was going to wait to post this because of the fact that I want to write a follow-up to it, and I don't know if the follow-up is just going to be one chapter, or several. Even so… I had to share it.

I was trying to write 40 Days, and since what I was writing involves research and I had no internet connection, my brain started to roam. This oneshot brings up a lot of thoughts I have about this season. It touches on how I would like things to go to some degree, but it's a loose interpretation. (And FYI, for those of you who follow me on tumblr, or even if you don't: I'm still not watching this part of the season until it's over. TOO MUCH ANGST! :P) There may be a short follow-up chapter after this. I haven't decided yet.

Thoughts/reviews appreciated.

WARNING: Sexual implications (and further) lie ahead. Read at your own risk.

S.O.S. On My Bedroom Floor

Aria held her left arm close to her body as she walked out of the interview room at the Rosewood Police Station. She was exhausted, dirty, and sore. She wanted nothing more than to get out of the building and go home and take a shower.

"Aria!"

Even though her mother's voice was filled with a mix of excitement and concern, Aria didn't have the energy, much less the want to return the sentiment. As Ella wrapped her arms around Aria, she simply leaned into the gesture. Byron was standing next to them, and placed a hand on Aria's back, rubbing small circles.

Aria looked up at the TV for a brief moment; the news was replaying footage of her being found, over and over again while they discussed the disaster that had been capturing and taking down 'A'. She closed her eyes.

Aria kicked the ground, trying to get free of her restraints. The last things she had remembered was being at the DeLaurentis home, trying once more to get in touch with Ezra. The last time they had spoken, they had argued about her parents, and she was trying to call and apologize. He'd only just picked up when it seemed like her memory went blank.

The ache in her skull suggested that someone had knocked her out.

As she sat there, she tugged roughly on her arms. They were tied behind her, bound closely to the back of the chair she was sitting in. The rope was digging harshly at her wrists.

"Where the hell are you," she yelled. "If you're going to hurt me, at least have the decency to do it to my face!"

Aria opened her eyes as her parents finally released her a few moments later. The last thirty-eight hours had been the most exhausting in her life. She hadn't slept since leaving home the previous morning, and for most of that time, she'd been running on hyper vigilance.

"Why don't we get you home," Ella offered softly. "The doctor said you could use the rest."

Aria looked up at her parents for a moment. In her exhausted memory, the two hours she'd spent at the doctors office earlier in the evening felt like a blur. They'd run every conceivable test on her, whether it was running X-Rays or taking blood from her, to doing a full body examination. They hadn't spared a single spot on or within her.

Fortunately, she had no broken bones. Her arms were badly bruised and cut up from the ropes they had been bound by, and a lot of her muscles were strained, but other than a badly sprained left wrist, she had otherwise turned out alright.

Aria growled lowly under her breath. She'd been sitting in that damn chair long enough to watch the sun set over the window of whosever basement she was tied up in. while it wasn't large, it was big enough to tell her that at least more than an hour had passed.

"I'm getting bored," she taunted. "You're not a very good stalker to be leaving me sitting here like this."

"Stalker?"

Aria's blood ran cold at the voice. An icy shiver ran down her spine, even though she couldn't really move.

"How is this stalking? You came to me, remember?"

'A' walked around her chair, and then walked directly in front of her, blocking the light from the window. A moment later, something clicked, and a light turned on above her. Aria looked up to see a small string dangling next to an exposed light bulb.

Jason.

"What….You're-"

"A?" He asked in a menacing voice. "You know, when Ali went missing, I really did think that she had just pulled one of her tricks. But Ali always came home eventually. No, I knew it was one of you girls, and when my parents packed the place up, I found a lot of things Ali hid from people. Including her journal."

"Journal," Aria questioned. Her voice shook.

Jason nodded. He walked out of her line of sight, across the room. "Oh yeah. With probably every secret you and your girlfriends ever told her. Along with the fact that apparently you girls had a problem with telling the truth. Hanna with knowing about her dad's affair. Spencer and her kisses with Melissa's boyfriends. You and yourdad's affair."

"So what," Aria argued. "What does that have to do with this?"

Jason walked back in front of her and smiled. "I told you. Ali always came home before. And I knew it was one of you girls. It wasn't hard to figure out your secrets and ways of getting around your parents, the four of you. Alison was very detailed with what she left behind for someone to find. It seems that Mr. Fitz character isn't the first teacher you've tongued."

Aria shuddered. "How dare you-"

Jason backhanded her. "Shut up."

He opened the journal he was holding in his hands, and flipped to a dog-eared page.

"January 10th, 2007

Aria told me the most interesting story today, about Mr. Henderson. Personally, I think she's put her own twist on it. It's not like she makes her view of older men a secret. That girl is so quickly headed for trouble…"

Aria fumed with anger as she glared at Jason. "He tried to force himself on me! I'd think even you would remember the cast he put my arm in that year!"

Jason nodded maliciously. "I do. And Alison has a reason for that too."

He turned several pages to a later date.

"February 11th, 2007

The girls and I spent a lot of this evening in the ER tonight. Mr. Henderson seems to have broken Aria's arm. She says he tried to get in her pants.

Doubtful. She probably teased him too much, and drove him over the edge. Sometimes you've got to teach a girl a lesson."

Aria shook her head. "Your sister was cruel. She twisted stories for her own personal gain. Even you must know that, Jason."

He nodded, tossing the journal aside. "You're right. I know Ali liked to twist stories and play games with people But I also know that she wouldn't just disappear off the planet without leaving some sort of a trace that someone was trying to hurt her. She's not that stupid. Unless it was someone who would've taken her completely by surprise. Someone she never would have even suspected."

"And you so quickly jumped to the conclusion that its me?" Aria yelled.

"Au contraire," Jason countered. "I considered Emily first. After all, she did pretty much proclaim undying love for Alison. But that just didn't seem right. Even if she was pissed at her, Emily is too passive to commit murder. Then I thought it might be Spencer. After all, she isthe only one who really ever stood up to Ali. But then, why would Spencer take Ali out when all she really had to do was chew her out? We all know Spencer Hastings wouldn't take Ali's crap, regardless. Ali made stupid choices too."

"So it must be me," Aria concluded sarcastically.

Jason nodded. "The good girl. The one who never got angry with Ali. The one who never said anything."

"Are you serious!" Aria screamed. Jason hit her once more.

"Scream again, and you won't say another word."

"Ali frustrated me and sure, she pissed me off sometimes, but I never would have done that to her. Ali was my friend. One of my best friends."

Jason tilted his head at her. "A convenient story, don't you think? After all, you arethe one who jetted off to Iceland for a year right after Ali went missing."

"Because my dad-"

Jason shook his head at her. He walked over to her and covered her mouth with his hand. "I know what your sorry excuse for a father did with his student. I really don't care. What I care about is knowing why you killed my sister."

"I didn't!" Aria spat.

Jason shoved her backwards.

Aria settled gingerly into a chair in the waiting room of the station. The cops wanted to ask her parents a few questions before they left, and there was paperwork to be signed and filed before she could leave as well.

She winced as she leaned back against the chair's back. It was covered with cloth and cushioning, but Jason had been less than gentle with her.

When she looked back up at the TV again, they were still talking about her. Hanna and Spencer flashed across the screen a moment later, pushing cameras away from them as they walked off in a different direction.

Aria came to, with her hands tied to the wall she was slumped up against. She groaned as she forced herself to stand up straight. How Jason had managed to get her hands and arms tied with her standing up straight was beyond her own understanding. All she knew was that her body was sore. How much time had passed?

"Glad to see you're awake."

She looked around the darkened room. By the little that she could make out the shadows of, she knew that it was probably well into the night. She didn't know how long it had been down, but she knew that it was more than a few minutes by the fact that he had moved her.

"Let me go," she pleaded. "My parents-"

"Are going to know what it's like for my parents to keep living without their child every day if you don't start giving me some answers," Jason replied.

Aria shook her head. Tears started to build up on the rims of her eyelids. "I don't know what happened to her, Jason. I wish I did. I wish every day that I could bring Ali back because even as frustrating as she was, she was such a great friend. Probably the best I ever had."

"Until you met that rapist you call a boyfriend."

"Ezra is not a rapist!"

Aria slammed back against the wall as Jason dodged at her, gripping both of her forearms roughly and tightly. His face was looming just an inch away from her own. His expression was one of a crazed person.

"I told you not to scream or yell anymore."

"Then let me go," Aria begged him.

Jason shook his head at her. He tilted his head down, taking several deep breaths. Aria shuddered at how close he was to her.

"You know, it would be a lot harder to break you, but somehow in the midst of all of this, I let myself think you were pretty. Beautiful, even. And somewhere inside, I started to think maybe there was a chance with you. Maybe you weren't the one who killed Ali. But then I saw you with that guy. You're nothing but a tease, Aria. But I have ways of making you talk if you want to make it out of here in one piece, with everything still… intact."

As he spoke, Jason ran his hands up and down her sides. He pushed his hand up her skirt slightly with his continuously rough hands, only to pull them away when he was finished taunting her.

"Why don't you think on that for a while."

Aria pushed up out of her chair and walked over to the receptionist counter. "Are they going to be much longer," she asked wearily.

The receptionist looked up at her. Aria could tell as soon as the woman saw her, that she already knew who she was. "I'm sorry, dear. They wanted to ask your parents some questions about Mr. DeLaurentis, and they were going to have them sign the discharge papers as well. It could be a bit longer. I'm sure Detective Wilden will be along in a few minutes."

Aria sighed and whimpered softly. She turned away from the woman and walked towards the hallway a few feet away. Barely a foot inside the hallway was the women's bathroom. Aria pushed the door open as she pulled her phone from her bag. She jumped back when she realized she'd bumped into someone.

"S-sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't apologize," the brunette girl in front of her said. She looked familiar, but Aria couldn't put her finger on it. The large sunglasses covering her eyes didn't give much away, either. "Seems like you're a real hero," she said.

Aria shrugged, scrolling through her phone. "Yeah, I guess. Whatever. He's a crazed lunatic."

"Yeah," the girl replied. "You probably saved someone else's live besides your own, though. Who knows who he would've hurt, given the chance. Maybe even someone in his own family."

Aria was too busy trying to find Ezra's number among her contacts to look up and reply.

"Be safe, Aria."

The girl walked out after that comment, leaving Aria standing there. It wasn't until almost a full minute later that it phased Aria who might've been standing right in front of her.

Night was not her friend. With each passing hour, her body ached more and more from standing and being bound the way she was. Even though she could move her legs, her arms were tied in the 'Y' sign on either side of her head, from her wrists to her shoulders. There was very little she could do to move. Hell, she couldn't even scratch her nose.

When morning came, she was no further along in an idea to get Jason off her case as she had been the night before. She also had no idea how she was going to get free of her restraints.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there. Every sound she heard though, registered as possible danger. She knew that when Jason came back, he was likely to hurt her.

Aria walked back into the waiting room of the police station and looked around. No sign of her parents. No sign of Detective Wilden. She huffed and walked back over to her chair and sat down. She held her arms close to her torso as she sat there, and rocked gently back and forth. Jason may not have done much beyond rough her up, but that wasn't for lack of trying.

He left her standing there for well over twelve hours. Aria was so drained by the time he returned, her eyes were barely able to focus. They were twitching quite a bit and she was struggling to keep them open. She was mentally kicking herself for not sleeping when he had left the night before, even though she had had no idea when he'd be back.

When he finally did return, he didn't look happy. The malicious look he'd had on his face the day before was back, and he looked ready to hurt her.

"Are you ready to talk?" He growled as he walked towards her.

"I swear, Jason. I don't know anything." She looked him clear in the eyes as she spoke, praying he would take her at face value.

He stepped up in front of her and placed his hands on her hips. "Tell the truth, Aria."

She nodded, feeling tears in her eyes. "I am. Please, Jason."

"Please what," he enticed her. "Please make you talk? I've tried. Maybe I should do what you did to me and my family, Aria. Maybe I should take something from you."

"No," she cried, shaking her head.

Jason nodded. "Yes. Maybe I should take the one thing that I know you so desperately want to give to that teacher of yours."

He moved his hands down to her skirt, and ran his hands under it, rubbing the outsides of her thighs. Aria shuddered.

"Stop," she begged him. Her voice was raw with fear. "Don't do this."

"Why did you kill Ali," he countered.

"I didn't!" Aria sobbed.

Jason shook his head, clucking his tongue against the roof of his mouth in a disapproving manner. "C'mon Aria. Don't keep lying to yourself. I don't want to hurt you."

She glared at him. "I don't know what happened to Ali, and if you won't listen to that, then there's nothing else I can do to stop you."

Jason clenched his jaw and gripped her hips tightly in his hands.

"Except maybe this," Aria said quickly. She swung her leg forward. Jason clamped his thighs together and caught it before she could get him.

"Stupid girl," he snarled.

Jason shoved her leg back down and knelt down on one knee. In the darkness, Aria couldn't see what he was doing, but she felt some kind of metal wrap around her left ankle. A moment later, the same kind of metal wrapped around her right. She tried to move them, but only succeeded in nearly losing her balance.

"What are you doing," she questioned fearfully.

"Taking what's mine," Jason seethed as he stood back up. He wrapped one hand around her neck and gripped her pinned right wrist against the wall. He pressed his body up against hers and ground their hips together.

Aria shook her head, suddenly finding a fresh wave of determination. She yanked hard on her rope restraints. Even though they burned like hell, she slowly began to make progress with her left arm.

He squeezed her throat tighter and twisted her wrist roughly. Aria yelped and coughed. Jason released her throat a moment later and moved his hands down towards her skirt.

"Don't," she begged again.

He looked up at her with cold eyes. He looked back down a moment later and began pulling on the zipper keeping the garment on her waist. When he had it all the way down, the loosened fabric dropped off her hips and fell until it couldn't anymore because of her spread legs.

Jason reached between them and hooked a finger into her panties while his other hand ran up the inside of her shirt and cupped one of her breasts. He teased the nipple as he pushed her panties aside and pressed his fingers up against her clit.

"Stop, stop, stop! STOP!"

Aria screamed at the top of her lungs, and Jason removed his fingers from inside of her, only to bring his hand up to punch her already bruised left cheek.

"Shut. Up."

The door had been kicked open a moment later by Detective Wilden, and seconds later, Jason was tackled to the floor while detective Wilden unchained her and made an EMT bring her a blanket.

Nothing was said between the two of them in those few seconds, or in the hours that followed with Aria at the hospital.

He had only checked the DeLaurentis house on Spencer's insistent 'gut feeling' that there was something that wasn't right about Jason. Finding Aria there was the last thing he had expected.

Detective Wilden walked out of the interview room with Aria's parents. He'd spent the better part of the last few hours apologizing profusely for ever insinuating Aria had anything to do with Alison's death. With her statement, the Rosewood PD had set a new course of action that rested prominently on investigating Jason.

Aria looked over as the officer placed a clipboard stacked with paperwork on the receptionist's counter and murmured something to her. He turned back a moment later and repeated another apology, giving Aria an honest look of sorrow. His regret of how much he had overlooked was clear.

Detective Wilden walked away a few seconds later, back into his office. Aria's gaze shifted to her parents, and they began to walk towards her. She furrowed her brow when the stopped suddenly after having only walked a few feet, and not the entire stretch of to the waiting room.

"Ezra," Ella said softly.

Aria whipped her head around at the sound of her love's name.

There he stood, in the door way, much like he had just two months earlier. In the same black jacket. His shirt was unbuttoned, just like it had been that night, but instead of blue, it was crimson. He wore a black t-shirt under it.

"Ezra." Aria's voice was so soft, it was almost a whisper. Partly because of the fact that she was so surprised to see him standing there in a public setting in front of her, and partly because of what Jason's abuse had done to her throat and vocal chords from screaming and being choked.

They stared at each other for well over a minute. Dozens of emotions ran through Aria as she stood there. She could feel tears running down her face. For the first time, her parents weren't yelling at him to leave. For the first time she was looking at the man she was so desperately and unalterably in love with, and no one was raising an objection. It phased her that her parents had been forced to wonder if she'd been kidnapped, raped, or even killed, to realize that maybe their own lenses were too sharply focused.

She knew that standing there in those few moments that they had been, her parents had realized how much they had tried to fit a round peg in a square hole. They had so quickly judged the situation between Ezra and Aria, that they never fully gave the two a chance. They had forced the two to suffer for almost a month with little contact, because they refused to listen.

Aria shook her head as she stared at him, letting her tears run freely. She was too tired to move at all as he walked towards her and enveloped her in his arms, holding her head gently against his chest as she cried. She grabbed his clothing by the fistful and clung to him.

"I came as soon as I heard," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

Aria shook her head again. Finding the words was too much in that moment, but the gesture was enough to try and get across that it wasn't his fault she'd been involved in an attempted kidnapping. All she wanted was to stay with him and never let go.

It may have been seconds, or minutes, but eventually Ella an Byron walked over to them. Aria kept her face buried in Ezra's chest, even though he looked up at them.

"I'm not leaving her again. I swore I wouldn't, months ago. And I let this whole situation pressured me into putting space between us. Look what it almost did."

Ella nodded. "We'd like you to join us back at the house, if you wouldn't mind. And, if it's what Aria wants."

Aria lifted her head slowly from where she had buried it between Ezra's jacket and t-shirt. She looked up at him.

"Only if it's what you want," he whispered.

-
I wish didn't hold my breath; wish my heart would leave
I wish I didn't trust my head, when I'm too tired to breathe
-

Aria spent a while in the shower after she got home. Even though she had nothing in the form of energy, she desperately felt the need to get clean. Between Jason holding her captive, the hospital probing her every which way, and sitting in the police station, she felt sick with herself.

When she finally got out, she spotted clothes her mother had placed out for her on the counter. Among them were a pair of thin but soft grey sweatpants, and what looked like one of Ezra's Hollis hoodies.

She quickly pulled the clothes on, zipping the sweater all the way up to the top before she walked to her bedroom and pulled a pair of socks and a cap from her top drawer. She quickly slipped on her socks and then pulled the cap down over her wet hair before heading out of her room.

"Hey."

Aria jumped, even though she recognized her brother's voice.

"Sorry," he whispered. He was standing several feet away from her, in the doorway of his room. "Are you okay?"

Aria shrugged. "What's it to you?"

Mike frowned. "I'm really sorry, Aria. About how things have been. For hitting your boyfriend. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."

Aria stared at him with a monotonous attitude, showing little emotion. "Thanks, I guess."

Mike nodded. "Can…Can I just ask you one thing?"

Aria nodded wearily. "What?"

"He makes you happy? Treats you right? Doesn't try and force you to do anything?"

Aria nodded again. "Ezra's a good guy," she said quietly. "He's no Jason."

"Good," Mike replied. He stood there a moment longer and then turned and closed his door.

Aria proceeded to the stairs. She tiptoed down them, but stopped half-way to listen to the conversation taking place.

"…just want you both to be safe and make smart decisions. This is un-chartered territory for us."

"Believe me." Ezra's voice was slightly softer than Ella's, but Aria could still hear him. "This isn't something we're used to either. Aria and I…We just wanted to be given a chance. We didn't want to be shot down. I love your daughter. I've hurt her enough trying to keep this from exploding in our faces.

And quite honestly, I don't know whether I make the right decisions anymore. I leave, and I hurt her. I stay and we keep this a secret and she gets hurt. We try to be honest and open with you about it, and she almost got…killed."

Aria settled down on the stair just above where the wall ended to listen to their conversation. She kept her arms close to her body.

"It's not just her we're worried for, Ezra." Byron's voice surprised her. "This could end badly for either one of you. If you two had sex-"

"We haven't. That's not even in the equation right now."

"Even so,"

Ella countered. "If something went wrong. Signals got crossed. Someone saw the other person cheat, or what looked like cheating."

"It's not just that we don't want Aria to get hurt or end up hurt in a way that's unfixable. This could have irreparable repercussions for you as well."

"I know. I've considered them over and over, and over again. As I've said before, I have tried to walk away from this. I tried to figure out a way to make this better, but for some reason, it's meant to be. I wish circumstances were different and that Aria and I were both in the same age group. I wish the law wasn't stacked against us. But I don't ever wish that I could go back and not have met her that day in the pub. I mean it."

It was silent for a few minutes. Aria strained her ears, wondering if they were talking quieter.

"We can pick this up tomorrow," Ella said finally. "It's late."

Another pause.

"Considering the circumstances, if it's what Aria would like, you can stay," Byron said.

"But that bedroom door stays open," Ella added firmly.

"Of course," Ezra replied.

It was quiet again, and then Aria heard footsteps, but she was too tired to move. She rested against the banister wearily, and watched as Ezra walked over to the doorway and kicked off his shoes. He then turned towards the stairwell and spotted her.

He smirked at her as he climbed the stairs towards her. "Eavesdropping?"

Aria shrugged. She could barely keep her eyes open. "I was coming to get coffee. Couldn't interrupt that conversation."

Ezra leaned down and swept her up into his arms, kissing her forehead as she rested it on his shoulder.

"We still need to tread softly," he said. "And make wise decisions. I love you Aria. I don't want to lose you."

She let out a long sigh as he placed her on her bed. Her down comforter felt amazing against her sore body as he shook it out over her. Aria laid her hands down over the blanket. Her wrists were bare since her mother hadn't been up to cover them after her shower.

She closed her eyes, but followed Ezra's footsteps with her ears. A few moments later, she heard another set of footsteps. Her eyes shot open.

Ella waved as she walked into the room with a handful of gauze and ACE bandages. She walked over to Aria and perched on the edge of the bed.

"I'll be quick," she whispered.

Aria closed her eyes again, though she could feel her mother and Ezra working together to get her wrists bandaged up. After a few minutes, they had finished, and she heard her mother leave the room. She opened her eyes again.

"You're not asleep yet," Ezra asked incredulously. "Aria, you're going to make yourself sick from exhaustion."

"Lay with me," she asked softly as Ezra reached over and shut off the beside table lamp.

"Sure."

Aria shifted over on the bed so that she was farther away from her bedroom door. She opened her eyes a second later. "The windows are locked?"

The bed dipped behind her, and she slid back slightly as Ezra slipped under the blankets next to her, in nothing more than his boxers and t-shirt.

"Every window in the house andthe front and back door," he replied. "You're safe."

Aria shook her head. She rolled over to face him and curled into him. Ezra wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Better?"

"Now it feels safe," she whispered. She shifted her head slightly, until she was in a comfortable position. Mere minutes later, she was asleep. Even as Ezra lay there awake, her parents and Mike moved about the house late into the night, listening and watching for the same things that he was. For a while he was surprised. She made little to no movement as she slept, and the nightmares and crying he expected from what she had been put through, didn't come.

He thought about it for a while, and considered what she had said before she had fallen asleep. That she was safe there. At home? Probably. But he knew what she had really meant was in his arms. Corny as it was, his heart swelled at what it meant. He knew that there wasn't anything better or more important out in the world than what he had sleeping in his arms.

Eventually, not long before the sky started to lighten up, he fell asleep as well, leaving the patrolling to Ella and Byron. They had a long way to go before things would be perfect between all of them, but this was a stepping stone. He knew it was the beginning of what could eventually bring them to all the things that he and Aria wanted with and for each other. It was only a matter of time and patience.