In this story Ezra and Aria are the same age (16/17ish) and Ezra was never Aria's teacher and they never knew each other. Other than that the story is set 6 months after 3x13. Sorry for any mistakes and I don't own the show or the characters.

"So Ezra, do you understand why you're here?" The psychiatrist asked

Did he understand why he was now an inpatient on a psych ward? Ezra had had a lot going on. His parents had disowned him after he left home to make his own way; he was struggling to get a job, his ex girlfriend Jackie had dumped him to be with another guy and not to mention the depression he felt everyday had all led to a sense of hopelessness. Hopelessness so bad it had taken him to a very dark place mentally.

"Because I tried to kill myself" Ezra replied avoiding the psychiatrist's gaze

"Right" The psychiatrist said looking concerned "Do you know why you attempted suicide?"

"Because I didn't feel hope anymore" Ezra said looking up

The psychiatrist nodded and said "Ok, well I'll take you to your room now so you can get settled in and then I'll see you tomorrow to see how you're doing."

"Ok" He said.

Soon Ezra was in his new room for the duration of his stay in the hospital. There were a bed, a wardrobe, a bedside table and an en-suite bathroom.

There was a knock on the door and a man in his early 30s came in.

"Hello Ezra" He smiled, "My names Alex and I am the head nurse here. I have brought you your timetable and wanted to welcome you. I know all of this must seem quite scary now but hopefully we can help you here and I'm sure you'll feel a lot more settled in soon."

"Thank you" Ezra said

"As you can see on the timetable now is dinner time so you can come along with everyone if you want"

"Ok" He answered suddenly feeling quite hungry

Ezra and Alex walked down to the food hall. Alex seemed really nice, he was very cheerful and funny and he made Ezra feel at ease.

They walked into the hall and he could see lots of teenagers eating and chatting. There was one girl who was sitting on her own and Alex led him over to her.

"Ezra this is Aria" Alex said. The girl looked up and smiled at him. "I'm sure she'll look after you won't you Aria"

"Sure" Said Aria "Have a seat"

"Thanks" Ezra said and smiled back at her

"Ok, well I have work to do so I'll leave you two to it" Alex said and walked off

The food was chicken pie and it was actually nicer than the food Ezra had had in the hospital when he was being treated for his injuries.

"So" Aria said "What are you in for?"

Ezra felt uncomfortable and it must if showed because Aria said "Sorry sometimes I'm a bit blunt, you don't have to answer if you want."

"No it's ok" Ezra replied, "Well I tried to kill myself."

"Oh" Aria said "Are you like depressed then?"

"Yeah I guess probably" Ezra said, never thinking of the overwhelming sadness he felt as an actual illness like depression but thinking about it, it made sense. "So why are you here?"

"I'm schizophrenic" Aria answered "And before you judge me I am not going to go all psycho and try and kill you or anything like that it just means I have an illness that likes to mess with me" She said suddenly defensive

"Don't worry I'm not going to judge you, I was just surprised"

"Oh sorry" She smiled "I'm just tired of saying the "s" word and having everyone suddenly wanting nothing to do with me"

"Is that why you were sitting on your own?"

Aria looked uncomfortable and Ezra could see a sadness in her deep hazel eyes.

"Sorry, I guess I can be pretty blunt sometimes too"

Aria laughed and said "We need to stop apologizing to each other. And I was on my own partly because some people judge and partly because sometimes it's better not to let people get to close"

Ezra nodded, after his parents disowning him and Jackie breaking his heart he understood what the female meant.

Ezra and Aria sat and talked through dinner and then there was free time until bed so they sat in the common room and watched tv and chatted.

Lights out was at 10:00 so when it got close to that time they walked to Ezra's room and said goodbye.

That night Ezra lay in his bed, for once not thinking about all the bad stuff he had going on but instead about Aria. She was intriguing, she was obviously smart and kind but there was something about her that was damaged inside.

Thank you for reading I hope you like it. I've written the next few chapters but suggestions are welcome. Please review!