Hey there lovelies! So this is just something that's been on my mind for a pretty long time now. It's pretty much just behind the scenes of the last Spoby scene in 1x20. I've probably watched it at least a billion & one times so far, but haven't we all? ;) And every time, I've always wondered what went on between them that the camera's didn't show. Like when Toby got to her house, how the topic of Hanna got brought up, etc. So this is my take on it! Also written here is the actual scene went on there, because I just think it might very well be the most romantic scene I've ever seen in my whole entire life. :))))
Also, I want to thank Tracey (aka Pheonix9648) SO SO SO SO SO much for all the help you've given me with this. You're just such a flawless writer & it means SO much to me that you were able to first of all, inspire me to write this story, but to also give me advice and guidance with it. You're amazing. :)
Anyways... On with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars or the song "Sea of Love" by Cat Power.
It was a beautiful fall night; the birds were chirping, crisp leaves were falling to the ground, the wind was swirling around in the air. Honestly, if her life wasn't such a complete mess, Spencer Hastings probably would've been spending her night worshiping the weather outside. She would've been on cloud nine, considering the fall was her absolute favorite time of year. But unfortunately that wasn't the case, and she was spending her night home alone, plopped down on her tan-colored sofa. Her mind kept wandering to the fact that she was a person of interest. The Spencer Hastings is a person of interest in her best friend's murder. She just couldn't wrap her mind around it, how someone could believe she was capable of murder. But nonetheless, here she was, scared out her mind, that she would end up locked up in some cold, cramped, jail cell. And Spencer Hastings was never scared.
With the police having searched her room only hours before, she couldn't even feel safe inside her own house. And especially since no one else was home, Spencer jumped at every single little noise she heard. Even if it was just the whistling of the wind. Suddenly, the amber haired girl couldn't take it anymore. She needed to be with someone. But not just anybody... She needed to be with Toby.
She wasn't really sure where the two stood right now, considering the kiss they shared outside the motel the other morning, but she just knew she needed him. So she reached her arm out and grabbed her cell phone from the couch cushion beside her. Spencer scrolled though her contacts with her bony thumb, until she reached her final destination. Toby Cavanaugh.
She punched in a quick text."Hey. Can you come over?"
She didn't even need to wait all of twenty seconds for him to reply.
"Of course. I'll be there in 10, is that okay?"
Grinning down at her phone, she answered him. "Yeah, that's totally fine."
Spencer paced back and forth in her dully lit living room, anxious for the arrival of the gorgeous blue-eyed man. She actually shocked herself at how much she longed for him to be right there, beside her.
Turns out, though, she didn't have to wait long because a few moments later, she heard a familiar knock knock knock on her back door. Giddily walking over towards it, she turned the door handle on the door, and invited Toby inside. "Toby", she breathed. "Hey. Thanks for coming over."
Smirking, he replied, "No, thank you. You saved me from spending my evening chauffeuring Jenna around to God-knows-where." Spencer sighed, knowing just how much that bitch had hurt the amazing man standing in front of her.
Deciding to change the subject, she asked him, "Do you want some coffee?"
"Oh, yeah, sure.", Toby grinned. "That'd be great."
Taking his hand, Spencer led the way to her kitchen to pour the coffee. It was silent for a bit, but that's what made what they had so special. They could already feel so comfortable around each other even without words.
When the coffee finished flowing into the white mug, Spencer slid it across the island to where Toby was currently standing. She smiled at him, and he gladly returned the gesture. "Thank you."
After he took his first sip, Spencer could easily see he didn't really care for it based on the look that overtook his face. But yet he still continued to drink it. Wow, Spencer thought. How much more amazing can this guy get?
"Aren't you going to have some?" Toby questioned, snapping her back into reality.
"Oh, yeah, I actually have a cup right over there." She tilted her head towards the coffee table in her living room, which was currently sitting in front of the couch. "I made some earlier."
Toby smiled his dimpled smile, but he didn't press further on the matter. "Hey, do you maybe wanna take this over there? It's definitely a lot more cozy than this kitchen."
His grinning widening, Toby answered her. "Sure."
When the two stepped foot into the living room, Spencer and Toby realized just how frigid the Hastings' manor was becoming. A chill went down Spencer's spine, and she let out a shiver. This sure didn't go unnoticed by Toby, because he immediately began to peel off his jacket.
"No, no. Please. You need it just as much as I do, Toby. This house is turning into one of those Alaskan ice cabins you see in those documentaries about, like, Big Foot... or something." Toby gave her a look. "Honestly, I'm fine."
Still not convinced, he tried another option. "If you won't take my jacket, will you at least let me start up a fire?" He transferred his gaze for a moment from her, to the fireplace a few feet in front of them.
"Uh..." To be honest, Spencer really loved the idea of actually having a fire ignited in that old thing. Don't get her wrong, Spencer's parents loved the idea of having a fireplace in their house, but when it came to actually using it.? Who had the time? Well now, Spencer and Toby did. And plus, Spencer was finding it really hard to say no to that face lately. When he looked at her with those piercing sapphire eyes, she just... She couldn't refuse. "Okay."
Toby grinned. "Alright, so where's your lighter?"
"It's back in the kitchen. Here, I'll go get it. It's it one of those hidden compartments in one of the drawers." Spencer started walking towards that way. "Make yourself at home," she called out when she reached the kitchen.
Toby sat down on the floor, close to where the warmth of the fire would be. Honestly, he was getting pretty chilled, too. When Spencer came back into the living room, she was holding a lighter. "I got it."
Crouching down, she began to use the device. She pushed down on the top of it with her thumb to ignite the flame. "Do you need any help?"
"Nahh, my father taught me how to do this when I was like, twelve. I think that was actually the last time we even used this thing." She chuckled as she finished up. After taking a quick look at Toby, who was currently sitting on the ground, Spencer swiftly walked back to the kitchen to return the lighter back to its rightful place.
While she was doing that, though, Toby had been able to stand up, pick up Spencer's coffee mug off the table, and bring it back to where he previously sat. "Wow, thank you." Spencer grinned as she joined him on the floor.
He handed her the cup. "It's no problem."
"So, is there a reason we're currently seated on my living room floor, or..."
Toby chortled. "Yeah. Um, there is actually." His face suddenly turned sorrowful. "Back when my mom was still here, we always used to sit on my living room floor. We would have a movie night, just the two of us, every Friday night." He sighed. "I remember no matter what my week held, I could always look forward to that. But then after she passed away..." Spencer looked at him wistfully. It pained her to see him so upset. "It just hasn't been the same. And I haven't been able to bring myself to actually sit on a living room floor like this again. As stupid as it probably sounds, it just hurt too much. But being here, with you, I really found the strength to do that. And you said 'make yourself at home' so... I did." What he really wanted to say was, you make me feel at home. But, he refrained; He didn't want to come across as being to forward, especially since he basically just poured his heart out to her.
"Thank you. For telling me that." Spencer gave him a weary smile.
After a moment of silence passed through the room, Toby decided to speak. "Spencer, I have to ask you something."
"Anything."
He inhaled. "Jenna... She's been acting pretty weird lately. Weirder than usual. Do you by any chance know why?"
"I do, actually." Spencer bit her lower lip. "Hanna's convinced that Caleb's been handing off information to her. As far as I know, Hanna doesn't know exactly what kind, but she has her suspicions that it's information about her. At first she didn't believe it was true, that Caleb could do anything to hurt her, but then she saw the very necklace she found in Caleb's bag this morning... On Jenna's neck. Later I saw her take it off and put it into her laptop, just like you would do to a flash drive. We think Caleb's been spying on her for Jenna." Spencer sighed. Just adds to this mess we call life. "Poor Hanna."
"I'm sorry," Toby admitted.
Spencer turned her head so it was facing Toby. "Why? You didn't do anything." It was true. So why was he apologizing?
He shook his head. "I'm part of what happened to her." Turning to face her as well, he added, "What's happening to all of you."
"It's the other way around, Toby." Guilt coursed through her veins. "What happened to you."
That was the full truth. If there was anything Spencer Hastings regretted most in her life, it would be her earlier hatred of Toby Cavanaugh. He never did anything to deserve that. He never deserved to get sent to away reform school... to have people call him a murderer... to have people cross the street when they saw him coming up towards them. He never did anything worthy of any of that.
As she set her coffee cup down, Spencer began to wonder what it was like, for him to skip town and fend for himself. Was it worth it? Was he better off out of Rosewood? Spencer decided to ask him.
"What's it like to run away?"
"Cold," he answered almost instantly. Well, of course it would be cold. She snorted.
"Didn't you ever run away?"
Spencer's mind wandered off to back when she younger. Extending her arms out, she replied quietly, "Once. I think I was seven." She gulped. "My sister and I had an argument over something... and my parents took Melissa's side."
Toby, genuinely intrigued, asked her, "What were you fighting about?"
"Some great injustice, I can't remember now." Spencer laughed slightly, remembering how foolish she and her sister had been. "But they sided with her. So I made a... tuna salad sandwich, and I ran away."
Slightly amused thinking about where a seven year old Spencer would run to, Toby smiled. "Where did you go?"
"The movies." They both chuckled.
"It was something animated." Spencer inhaled. "It was a princess, and everybody was singing." Her mind wandered off to that night. She remembered how much she wished somebody would've been there with her. "And I got lonely... And I ate my tuna salad sandwich, and I came home."
"Were your parents worried?" Toby inquired.
Spencer shook her head. "They hadn't even noticed I was gone." Some parents. How could they not bring themselves to pull away from their 'favorite child' enough to realize that they had another daughter too? And that she had run away... How could they just not know? Just picturing this scenario happening in his mind was enough to make Toby's skin crawl. Suddenly, he had an idea.
"Do me a favor?" Spencer flashed a fake smile his way, but Toby didn't believe it for a second.
"What?" She asked quietly.
"If you ever get the urge to run away again, call me first, okay?"
This time a real smile formed on her lips. "Okay."
Returning her grin, Toby hesitantly reached his hand out for her to take. And when Spencer looked down, she was comforted by the knowledge that the spaces between her fingers, were where his fit perfectly.
As the night came to a close, Spencer and Toby stood in the doorway, hands still intertwined. Spencer couldn't believe how at ease she had been feeling ever since Toby arrived. It was as if for the past hour, -A and the police had just disappeared. It was an amazing feeling, really. To feel free. To feel safe.
But it was getting late and Toby needed to start heading home, unless he wanted to face the wrath of Jenna. He definitely didn't want to leave, either, though. Being with Spencer gave him a sense of security and contentment, a feeling he hadn't felt in such along time.
"Are you going to be alright tonight?"
Smiling tenderly, Spencer answered him, "Yeah, I think I actually am."
Honestly, spending her night with Toby had really given her a sense of security as well. She didn't feel as frightened about everything anymore.
Suddenly, lost in her never-ending sea of chocolate jewels, Toby slowly leaned in towards Spencer. Planting a chaste kiss on her lips, butterflies fluttered around in his stomach. And just at the taste of his lips on hers, Spencer's knees wabbled slightly. So she rested her hand on Toby's firm chest for support. Neither of them could deny how unbelievably elated they made each other feel, and to be honest, neither of them wanted to.
As the two gradually pulled away from each other, grins were plastered on both of their faces.
"Goodnight, Spencer," Toby whispered.
Her smile still not leaving her lips, she whispered back, "Goodnight."
And as Toby walked out the back door, his grin still glued to his face and hands in his pockets, Spencer couldn't help but stare.
Truthfully, even with all the awful things in her life that confused the hell out her, there was one thing Spencer Hastings was one hundred percent sure of: She was falling for Toby Cavanaugh. And she was falling hard.
-fin-
So there you have it. :) I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you guys think in the reviews!
And I just have one more thing... A couple other dedicated Spoby shippers and I are trying to start a trend Thursday on twitter, #WeNeedSpoby. We came up with this when we saw that Wrencer something or other was trending on there, and we thought that that's just completely unacceptable. So we decided that we all need to let the writers know just how much Spoby is loved as well. And that they're loved like 100000000x more than Wrencer. So if any of you are interested, PLEASE participate. It would mean SO much. ;)
So until next time... xoxo -Emma-