(Author's Note: Yes, I realize that there are a few of these floating around. Stories about what people think might happen with Ezra and Aria in about a month and a half when our favorite show comes back on for its final 10 episodes. So this is me throwing mine into the mix. Except this isn't even remotely what I think will happen. Based on what I've seen so far with the Ezra/Aria story line this season, I get the feeling that the writers are going to make me really mad at Ezra before we get any sort of resolution of this ridiculous Nicole story line. Frankly, this whole story line is pissing me off because I just feel like it's completely pointless and it's the writers creating drama for the sake of creating drama. Anyway, this is more what I want to happen. First, I want to see Aria completely go off on Ezra. Because I'm sorry; I love Ezra, I do, but that was a dick move. Telling his fiancée that he wanted her to be waiting at home for him and then letting her find out on live TV that he hadn't even gotten on his plane because the FBI had found his long-lost girlfriend rather than paying her the common courtesy of a phone call or even a text message. Second, I want an epic reunion scene where he tells her all over again how much he loves her and how much she means to him and asks her to marry him again. Anyway, the thought crossed my mind today after watching the promo for the final 10 episodes that even though there's probably no way in hell I'm going to get what I want from my favorite couple on this show [the only relationship I really care about on this show at all, honestly], there was no reason I couldn't write it. So here it is. Eventually from both of their points of view. I do not own the small scene in the beginning of Aria's side of this story that you probably recognize. And, naysayers, before you jump down my throat, go watch it again. When Aria rewinds the news clip, Ezra DOES NOT kiss Nicole. If you listen to what the newscaster is saying during the part where Aria thought she saw the kiss when she first watched it, after she rewinds it and plays it again, he's holding her face but their mouths are at least a foot apart during the same part of the newscaster's dialogue.)

Chapter One
Lay Down a List of What Is Wrong

Aria

"I understand your concern, but I am not authorized to give out that information to anyone…" the lady at the airline was saying.

"I'm his fiancée!" I told her for the fifteenth time.

"…other than to a spouse or family member," she continued, like I hadn't even said anything. "I can transfer to our manager Lisa Ridenour, but…"

And then I lowered the phone. Because now I saw exactly why Ezra hadn't gotten home yet. He hadn't gotten home because he'd never gotten on the plane at all. They'd found Nicole. And he was there to greet her as she ran out of the jungle. Of course. I understood that, but why hadn't he called to tell me? He'd asked me to be home waiting for him. Couldn't he call or even text to tell me what was going on?

Wait…had he actually just kissed her on live television? Really? I was frozen in shock for a moment, processing everything. Thinking of a life without him. Now that Nicole was alive, it was all too obvious now that I was no more important to him than the scum on the bottom of his shoe. I would always take a backseat to her. Maybe I'd meant this much to him once. Oh, who was I kidding? No, I hadn't. He'd written an entire novel about his love for her. And like an idiot, I'd helped him write it. What had he written for me? A poem. A stupid freaking poem that made no sense. When we'd first met. Since we'd gotten more serious, nothing.

This all flashed through my mind in an instant before I realized that maybe I'd been imagining things. Yes, it was definitely him up on that television screen. But had he really kissed her or was I just being paranoid? I rewound the news and played it again. Okay, no, he hadn't kissed her. That was something at least.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn't enough. Not even close. He had asked me to marry him. To share my life with him. And I'd given up everything for him. Everything. I'd given up my job, my life in Boston, my sanity, and my relationship with a safe and stable guy who thought the world of me. I'd even put aside all of my fears and jealousy and insecurities to cash in the airline tickets we'd bought to go to Tuscany to get married so he could go to Columbia and get the closure he needed. I'd done that because I cared more about him than I cared about myself. He knew how much this was killing me, sitting here at home waiting. Not even knowing what I was waiting for. And he'd asked me to be here at home waiting for him when he'd thought he was coming home earlier today. Clearly he'd found out about Nicole somehow. Through a phone call or text message or something. But apparently I wasn't important enough to him for him to bother to pay me the same courtesy the FBI had paid him.

Instead he'd left me at his loft waiting with a romantic candlelit dinner to try to cheer him up like an idiot. Getting worried sick that his plane had crashed or that A.D. had somehow intercepted the taxi he'd said he would take home and killed him. Calling every hospital from here to Philadelphia to see if he was in the emergency room or, God forbid, the morgue. Calling the airline, trying to keep back tears while I was talking to some bimbo who was so hung up on airline policy that she couldn't tell a worried fiancée whether or not the man she was about to marry had boarded an airplane. He'd let me find out he was alive and still in Columbia on the news. That was how important I was to him. He hadn't even bothered to pick up the phone to call or text me. It was all too clear to me now where I stood in the grand scheme of things. Oh, I was fine. I was a great backup rather than having to spend the rest of his life alone. But once the girl he had traveled the world with and experienced new and different things with had returned, I was back to being his former student who he'd been stupid enough to get romantically involved with. I was a consolation prize and nothing more. I saw that now.

In tears at this point, I went into the bedroom and emptied out the dresser drawer he'd cleared out for me. I took every stitch of clothing out of the drawer, every pair of shoes out of the closet, everything. And, sobbing hysterically, I grabbed my wedding dress out of the back of the closet. The dress I would never wear. Then I went into the bathroom and got all of my products out of the shower and medicine cabinet. I threw everything in a garbage bag, because I didn't have a suitcase here anymore. Not that wasn't packed. Right. I needed to grab my packed suitcase from the trip to Italy that would never happen.

And then I went and got a piece of paper out of the printer and grabbed a big, black Sharpie. I wanted to make sure he saw this. Barely able to see through my tears, I wrote one sentence on the page.

I hope you two are happy together.

I put the piece of paper on the pillow on what had been my side of the bed. And then, with shaking hands, I took my engagement ring off and put it on the paper.

I'd never been so relieved when I got the call from the girls telling me that they had new evidence pointing to A.D. and that we needed to go follow the trail of breadcrumbs that we'd been left. Because I honestly hadn't thought past getting every last item I owned out of Ezra's loft. I didn't know where to go. What to do. I didn't know how to do this. I didn't know how to not be engaged to him anymore. Part of me knew it was ridiculous. Because we'd only been engaged for a week and a half. And we'd only been back together for a grand total of three weeks. But just like that, instantly, he'd become my whole world again.

I wasn't even really paying attention to what happened in that creepy old house that night. Not until I heard the gunshot. Not until I saw Spencer lying there bleeding on the floor. And heard Mary Drake saying that she was Spencer's birth mother. What in the hell? I couldn't…I just couldn't deal with this. I couldn't deal with one of my best friends lying here dying. I couldn't deal with my fiancé not even bothering to call me to break up with me. I just…I wished I had been the one who had been shot. Because I didn't even want to be alive anymore. I'd never been this miserable in my life.

As my friends and I sat crying in the waiting room, waiting for news, my phone rang. I checked, and who else would it be? Of course it was Ezra. The nerve. What, was he calling to rub it in now? What an asshole. I declined the call. He called back not even thirty seconds later. I declined it again. And he just called back again. And I declined it again.

"Aria, you know you're going to have to talk to him at some point, right?" Hanna said quietly.

"Some point is not now," I told her as I declined a fourth call. "I have more important things to deal with now. Like not knowing what the hell is happening with Spencer."

This time my phone buzzed with a text. I sighed as I checked it.

Aria, please call me. Please.

I shook my head.

"Aria, at least text him back," Emily said.

"Why?" I countered. "He couldn't be bothered to call or text me when he found out Nicole was alive. So why should I text him now? I'm going to let him sweat."

"What good is that going to do?" Alison countered. "You know you're only putting off the inevitable."

"I'm in the hospital waiting to hear if one of my best friends is alive or dead," I snapped. "Despite what he thinks, he's not the center of the damn universe."

Emily's phone rang a minute later and she stood up and walked away to answer it. She came back a minute later, but didn't say anything. She didn't have to, though. Because not ten minutes later, who walked into the waiting room but Ezra?

"Emily, tell me you didn't have anything to do with this," I said slowly. "Tell me that wasn't him on the phone a few minutes ago."

"If you're not going to be an adult and face him on your own, someone has to do it for you," she said sternly. "After everything you two have been through, you owe him this much. Just talk to the man. I'm not trying to tell you what to do about your relationship, but if it really is over, you need to tell him face-to-face."

"Well, someone else I know wasn't enough of an adult to realize that he had people at home who were worried sick about him," I said, looking right at him as I was talking. Tears started to form in my eyes again. "And wasn't enough of an adult to realize that he owed his fiancée a phone call when he knew he wouldn't be getting on an airplane to come home."

Ezra didn't say anything, but he looked like…I didn't even know what he looked like. I'd never seen this look on his face before.

"Guys, let's give them some privacy," Hanna said quietly. "They've got a lot to talk about."

"No, don't—" I tried, but they all got up and walked away without another word.

I didn't really want to be alone with Ezra right now. I didn't trust myself. I didn't know if I would be able to stand my ground and keep my dignity intact. Because what I wanted more than anything else right now was a hug from him. For him to tell me that everything was going to be alright, that Spencer was going to be fine, that somehow things would work themselves out. But I couldn't let that happen. I just…I couldn't.

"Aria, listen—" Ezra started as he sat down next to me.

Oh, now I was supposed to listen to him? That was rich.

"No, you listen, Ezra!" I cut him off. "And you listen good. Do you have any idea what I have been through in the last forty-eight hours? Any clue? I've been through thinking Hanna had been kidnapped by the latest in a long line of faceless monsters who have tortured us over the years. I've been through you telling me that you wanted me to be waiting at home for you when you got off of your flight, which you were supposed to be on over twenty-four hours ago. I've been through being sick worrying that your plane had crashed, or that the person who was torturing me and my friends had somehow intercepted the cab you had taken home from the airport and hurt or killed you. I've been through calling every hospital from here to Philadelphia trying to see if you were in the emergency room or the morgue. I've been through calling the airline to see if you had even made it on to your flight at all and having them tell me nothing. Nothing. Did you know that they can't release information about their passengers to anyone other than a spouse or immediate family member? And since I'm neither, they couldn't tell me a damned thing. Oh, and then, while I was on the phone arguing with this woman trying to get her to turn into a human being instead of a robot and realize that there was a real person who was worried sick about the man she loved on the other end of her phone, I got to see on live television that they'd found Nicole. Because you couldn't even pay the woman you were about to marry the common courtesy of a phone call or even a text message to tell her that yourself. You let me find out on the damned news. I gave up my entire life for you, and you couldn't even be bothered to call me and tell me they'd found her and you weren't coming home. Oh, and to top it all off, I've been through watching one of my best friends get shot and almost bleed out lying on the floor in front of me. And I've been sitting here for hours without any word at all. I have no idea if Spencer is alive or dead. So forgive me if I can't be happy for you that the woman you really love is alive and well and that you're going to get your happily ever after. Because my entire world just fell apart."

Ezra was quiet for a minute or so before he spoke again.

"Aria," he said softly, touching my arm.

"Don't you dare touch me," I said through my tears, my voice shaking.

He looked heartbroken as he lowered his hand.

"Will you please let me talk for a minute?" he asked quietly.

"You have sixty seconds," I said, my voice still shaking. "Starting now."

"I'm such an ass," he said, tears coming to his eyes. "I wasn't even thinking. I got that call literally two minutes after we disconnected from the video chat. Honestly, I still had a while before my flight. I thought I'd still be able to make my flight back home. I didn't think it would take so long. So I went back to the office, thinking that Nicole would already be there. That I'd be able to see she was alive, say what I needed to say, and come back home. But when I got there, they told me that they were still in the middle of the jungle with the search party. That they hadn't even gotten out yet. I pulled out my phone to call you, but there was no service in the building. The entire time we were in the Jeep on the way to meet the search party, I kept checking my phone, praying that there would be service so I could call you or at least text you. But there was none the entire way there."

"Right," I scoffed.

"I swear to God, Aria," Ezra said, his voice breaking. "I'm telling you the truth. I wanted to call you. I wanted that more than anything. I was thrilled that they'd found Nicole alive, but you were always the first person I was thinking of. And then everything happened so fast once I got there. I barely registered that there were news cameras as I was getting out of the Jeep before she was running out of the woods. Of course I hugged her, regardless of the fact that we were on live television. How could I not? And for a second, I forgot that you were sitting at home watching the news with bated breath. I didn't realize until a couple of minutes later that you'd probably seen that and thought that I hadn't cared enough to call. I felt like such an idiot. Nicole immediately saw that something was wrong and asked what it was. Cameras were still on us, and I just told her I'd tell her later. So they took her back to the office to get her statement. I went with them, and I was still checking my phone the entire time for service. Nothing. I even restarted it a few times just to make sure."

"You actually expect me to believe that, in the middle of a huge city, there wasn't any cell phone service?" I spat. "I'll buy in the middle of the jungle, but you're telling me there wasn't a bar of service anywhere in Bogotá? Really?"

"There wasn't," he said. "I found out when we got back to the office that there was a power outage in the whole city. Knocked out all the cell towers. They were running on generators at the FBI office. It's a third world country. Apparently that's a regular occurrence there. And I asked, but they wouldn't let me use a phone in the office to call you."

"Whatever," I said, still sobbing. I was hearing him, sort of, but none of this was anything that sounded remotely like an apology. Nothing that made me think he felt any remorse for putting me through hell.

"Look, as soon as they were done talking to Nicole, her parents wanted to see her. But I was the only person she wanted to talk to. And I knew she and I needed to talk before I could come home. What I wasn't expecting was for her to tell me she still loved me and I was the only person she thought of for the entire time she was in the jungle. She was apologizing over and over again for not getting in that Jeep with me," Ezra told me, tears streaming down his face at this point.

"I get it, Ezra," I told him. "I helped you write that book, remember? I know how you feel about her. I know I can't compete with that. And I'm not going to try to."

"Look, I know my minute is long past up, but will you please let me finish?" he pleaded.

I just shrugged my shoulders. He was going to keep talking no matter what I said anyway.

"It broke my heart hearing that," Ezra continued. "Because I knew I was about to break hers even worse. I told her that I didn't blame her for not leaving with me. That none of what happened was her fault. And then I told her that I'd grieved for her and moved on. And that I was engaged to someone I'd never stopped loving. The person she was always trying to compete with. You."

"What?" I asked, not quite processing what he'd just said.

"You heard me. I never stopped loving you, Aria. And it was always a huge problem between me and Nicole. Because she was always telling me she couldn't compete with you. No matter what, even if this hadn't happened, even if she hadn't been kidnapped, it would only have been a matter of time once you came back into my life. You're the most incredible person I've ever known, Aria. You're braver than I'll ever be and you put everyone else's happiness before your own. You cashed in our tickets to go get married because you cared more about me getting closure than you cared about what you wanted. I don't know anyone else who would do that. Not just for me, but for anyone."

"Look, Ezra, I appreciate you telling me this, but it's not as easy as that. You never once called me or texted me or used the Wi-Fi in the airport to email me or even send me a Facebook message. And now you expect to come home and say a few nice things and have everything be better?" I said, still more upset than I'd ever been in my life.

"I didn't use the airport Wi-Fi because I didn't have time to," he told me. "When I got to the airport, I booked the first flight out of there. Which I literally had time to rush through security and run to the terminal for. There was nothing I wanted more than to get back home to you. I knew you'd be upset with me after seeing the news, but I had no idea how upset. You have no idea what it felt like to walk in the door and find all of your stuff gone and that note and your engagement ring on the pillow. I realized then that it was going to take a lot more work than I thought to make this right. And I'll do whatever it takes, for however long it takes. Because you are the only person I can imagine spending my life with. I don't know how to do this without you. I don't know how not to be with you. I am so sorry I wasn't here for you while you and your friends were going through whatever it was that lead to Hanna disappearing and Spencer getting shot. If you'd told me, I would have been on the first plane out of there, regardless of whether I thought there was a chance they would find Nicole."

I just stared at Ezra like a deer in headlights. I was still in shock. I couldn't think. I couldn't form words.

"Look, I know you're hurt and upset right now, but will you please let me give you a hug?" he asked me softly. "Please?"

I couldn't do this anymore. Because I was right there with him. I didn't know how to do this either. I didn't know how not to love him. It wasn't possible. As upset as I was, I had never stopped loving him. I nodded.

"Come here," he whispered, awkwardly pulling me into his arms over the armrest on these plastic waiting room seats.

I just let myself melt into his embrace...until he let go. I was confused for a second, but then he stood up and went to kneel in front of me, pulling me down onto my knees in his attempts to get me as close as possible to him. Once again, I melted into his embrace. I didn't care about how ridiculous we probably looked to everyone around us, kneeling here on the floor in the middle of the waiting room.

"I'm so sorry, Aria," Ezra whispered right into my ear. "I should never have let you think for a second that she still meant anything to me."

I pulled back to look at him.

"I know she does, Ezra," I told him. "Don't try to tell me differently. If she didn't mean anything to you, that book we just got done writing wouldn't be at the publisher right now. She obviously means a lot to you. I got a poem. Not even fifty words. She got an entire novel."

He chuckled. "I tried to write about you. I tried for years. Even while we were apart. Even while I was with Nicole. But every time I tried, nothing felt right. Words don't exist to describe my feelings for you."

I chuckled a little too. God, how insecure could I get? Really? Looking back on that day at the airport, he'd been trying to tell me something before he left. But I hadn't let him. Now I had to know.

"The day I dropped you off at the airport, you were going to tell me something," I sniffled.

"And you didn't let me," he finished for me. "I was going to tell you that no matter what happened in Columbia, it wouldn't change anything. I knew why you wouldn't let me tell you that. You didn't want me to feel obligated to honor something I said before I knew one way or the other about her. But you're not an obligation, Aria. You're the woman I plan on spending the rest of my life with. And I should have made you hear that before I left."

I didn't say anything else. I just kept crying. And he just held me for a little while and let me cry, occasionally kissing my head.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered again after about ten minutes. "I love you."

I couldn't fight it anymore. I couldn't fight him. I couldn't fight this.

"I love you too," I said through my tears.

"Will you please come home with me?" he asked.

"I can't," I reminded him. "Spencer—"

"Is still in surgery," he cut me off. "And your friends are still here. I'm sure they'll call you as soon as they know anything. I don't care if you keep your phone glued to your hand the entire time. I understand you're worried about her. But there's something else we still need to talk about, and I don't want to have that conversation in the middle of a hospital waiting room."

I didn't know what else there was to say, really. But I also didn't want to leave him right now. This was the first time since he'd left that I really felt safe.

I nodded. "I'm going to go tell them I'm leaving."

Ezra nodded too. "Okay."

He kissed my forehead softly. I could tell he was purposely avoiding giving me a real kiss. He knew I was still upset, and I was sure he didn't want our first kiss after he got back to be like this. And I didn't want that either. But as much as I was trying, I couldn't completely stop being upset with him. Not yet. I sighed and got up from the floor to walk over to the other side of the waiting room, where my friends were waiting.

"Well?" Hanna asked as I walked up to them.

I sniffled and took a deep breath, trying to will myself to stop crying.

"Look, Ezra and I still have a lot to talk about," I told them. "So we're going to leave for a little bit. I've got my phone on. And I want you guys to call me the second you hear anything. We'll be back as soon as we can."

"Take all the time you need," Emily said. "We'll call if there's any news."

"Okay, thanks," I said, taking another breath. "I'll see you soon."

I turned and walked back over to Ezra, who looked like he was still heartbroken sitting there in the chair. I didn't understand why. Until I realized that the other thing we still had to talk about was…well, us. Yes, we'd both said that we loved each other, but that was far from having a conversation about what was going to happen to us now.

"All good?" he asked me.

I nodded. "They'll call if they hear anything."

Ezra stood up and held out his hand.

"Come on," he said.

I hesitantly took his hand and let him lead me out to his car. We were both silent on the way back to the Brew. I didn't want to be the first to say anything, because I wasn't quite sure what to say really. I still wasn't sure if we could just start up again like nothing had happened. But I'd let him say his piece. Whatever he clearly still had to say. I'd hear him out. And then I'd make my decision.

When we got there, I immediately noticed a ton of lit candles everywhere inside. I had to smile a little. He'd done that for me, probably even before he called.

"You know that's a fire hazard, right?" I chuckled. "Leaving those lit with no one here?"

"That's why I have insurance," he retorted, chuckling too, as he unlocked the door and held it open for me.

I walked in and turned back around to look at him when I heard the door lock behind us. He looked more nervous than I'd ever seen him before. It didn't take a genius to realize why. But I still wasn't going to be the first one to say anything. This was all up to him.

"I know you've spent the last half hour listening to me talk, but there's so much more I need to say," he said, his voice shaking a little. "Will you hear me out? Please?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'm listening."

Ezra took a deep breath and looked like he was trying to collect his thoughts.

"I can't believe it was less than two weeks ago that I did this the first time," he started. "With everything that's happened since then, it feels like another lifetime ago. And I realize something now. Despite all my careful planning, spending three whole days trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say to you and how I wanted to say it, I still screwed it up. When I got home three hours ago and found every trace of you gone from the loft upstairs, except for a note on the pillow telling me that you hoped I was happy with Nicole with the ring you agreed to wear less than two weeks ago sitting on top of it, I went over everything in my head with a fine-toothed comb and a magnifying glass. I tried to figure out how you could possibly have thought that her being alive would change anything for me. And then I realized exactly why you would have thought that.

"The first time I did this, I told you that I finally felt like I could breathe again when you walked in the door after we'd spent so long apart. That was true. It was also true that I was grieving the loss of someone I cared about very much. Someone who never wanted to hurt anyone, who devoted her life to helping people, and who I looked up to in a lot of ways. Yes, someone I even tried to tell myself I was in love with.

"But the truth is, Aria, that the feeling of not really being able to breathe goes way further back than when Nicole was kidnapped. The first time I remember feeling that way was years earlier. When Charlotte took you and your friends. When I spent every second of three weeks working with Toby, Caleb, and Alison trying to find you. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't catch a breath. I was so sure I'd lost you. And when you ran out of that burning dollhouse and into my arms, for the first time since I'd found out you were gone, I could breathe again. It didn't matter that you'd already broken up with me because you knew you were leaving to go to college. Hell, you'd broken up with me because I'd suggested it. But I didn't care. All I cared about was that you were there with me again.

"It's the second time I felt like that that I need you to understand, though. Because it's the time that really matters. The second time I felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs was when I watched you walk out that door…" he pointed behind him to the door of the business "…after coming here to tell me goodbye on the day you left for Savannah. Because it was you walking out of my life. As soon as you couldn't see, I went upstairs to my loft and cried my eyes out for hours. I honestly didn't know how I was supposed to function without you as a part of my life. It was at that moment that I realized I'd made a huge mistake. I'd tried to be selfless with you and let you go because I thought that was what was best for you. But it wasn't until right then that I realized how much it would hurt. I wasn't really the same after that. Yes, Nicole made the pain more bearable, but she was like…like a rescue inhaler for someone with severe asthma. She helped me to survive being without you, but it wasn't enough. Not by a long shot.

"When you walked back into my loft a few months ago, it was the first time in over five years that I actually could take a full breath. You weren't a rescue inhaler. You cured the asthma completely. And I knew right then and there that I couldn't let you get away again, no matter what. I knew I had so many obstacles to overcome. I knew I had to clean my act up. Because, let's face it, I'd turned into that guy. The town drunk that none of the bars would even serve alcohol to."

I chuckled, remembering that time at the Radley that he'd tried to order a beer and Ashley Marin had come over to tell him that he knew good and well that she couldn't serve him alcohol.

Ezra chuckled too. "I also knew you'd moved on. You'd built a life without me. You had a boyfriend. And as much as it killed me, I knew I couldn't try to come between the two of you. But when I skipped town to try to get some perspective on what was happening right after you got back, after Charlotte was killed, and you thought I'd gone off the rails and tried to cover for me with the publisher by starting to ghost write that novel for me, I realized that there was hope. You still cared about me, at least in some capacity. And I jumped at the opportunity to try to help you get something I knew you wanted…by getting to work closely with you. I hoped and prayed it would work. And it did. It worked like a charm. It brought you back to me. I knew I couldn't take the chance of letting you get away again. I had to ask you to marry me. More than that, I had to convince you to marry me immediately. The idea of eloping was never about avoiding the headache of wedding planning or the family drama. It was because I didn't want to wait a second longer than I absolutely had to wait to marry you. Honestly, I was feeling more than a little insecure about this. About us. It felt too good to be true. And then the FBI knocked on my door right as we were getting ready to leave to start our life together. The life I was so desperate to start as soon as I possibly could. When they told me there was a chance Nicole was alive, I realized I needed the closure. I knew I needed to close that chapter of my life, really close it, before I could start a new one with you.

"And then you told me when I got back from the FBI's office that you'd deleted the call that looked like it was from Nicole. Yes, I was angry. I was angry because it felt like rather than starting a new life together, we were falling back into old patterns. Keeping things from each other when we thought the other person wouldn't like something. Just like I kept the book I was writing from you when you were high school. Logically, I knew why you'd done it. You'd explained yourself. But I just couldn't get past it. I even knew I had no room to be angry with you for it after I'd done something so much worse to you, betrayed your trust in a much worse way, years before. But still, I couldn't get past the fact that you'd kept something that huge from me. And yes, for a split second, I thought to myself that Nicole and I had never had any secrets from each other. That maybe it would be simpler with her.

"It was Emily who made me come back to my senses. She came over here and told me that she was the one who told you to delete that call. That her mother had something similar happen a few months after her father died and that it had only caused her mother pain. That you were trying to spare me the pain of false hope that Nicole might be alive. It was never about you trying to hide the possibility of her being alive from me. It was about you not believing that there was a possibility of it at all and not wanting me to believe it only to have to grieve for her all over again. And then Emily said something that made me think. She told me that even though it felt like the possibility of Nicole being alive changed everything, I couldn't let it. I couldn't let it change the fact that you and I love each other. That I'd asked you to marry me less than a week before.

"I realized almost immediately that she was right. I planned on telling you about that conversation that night when you walked in the door. But then you told me that you'd cashed in our tickets to Italy so I could go to Columbia to be there when the rescue team got back. I could read between the lines. You wanted me to figure out what I really wanted. Who I really wanted. Even if it meant losing me, you cared about my happiness more than you cared about yourself. Like I said at the hospital, I don't know anyone else who would do that. I don't know anyone else who would be that selfless, to let the man who had literally just proposed to her go to another country to find out if the girl he'd dated years before was still alive. That was why I didn't know what to say when you handed me that plane ticket. And that was what made me realize that I'd already made my decision, regardless of what I would find out on that trip to Columbia."

Ezra took a deep breath and pulled a ring box out of his pocket as he walked over to stand right in front of me. The same ring box he'd pulled out almost two weeks ago.

"God, I hope this is the last time I have to do this," he said in a shaking voice as he got down on one knee for the third time in less than two weeks and opened the box to reveal my ring. "Aria Marie Montgomery, I am utterly, completely, and hopelessly in love with you. I have been since the day I met you all those years ago. And I don't ever want to spend another day without you as long as I live. Will you please do me the incredible honor of marrying me?"

…Wow. Just…wow. I didn't know what to say. Except for one thing. The most important thing. I took a deep breath and willed myself to stop crying, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Yes," I said in a raspy voice, barely able to talk after spending God knew how long crying. "Yes, Ezra, I will marry you."

Ezra breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as he slid the ring back on my finger where it belonged and kissed my hand. He stood up, wrapped one arm around my waist, pulled me close against him, and wiped the fresh tears that had started to fall from my cheeks with his other hand. And just as he was about to kiss me, my phone rang. We both chuckled, and he kissed my forehead.

"Answer it," he instructed. "It's okay. I'm worried about her too."

I chuckled again as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and hit the button to accept Emily's call.

"This better be good, Em," I said, still chuckling. It didn't help that Ezra hadn't let go of me and had just kissed my forehead again.

"I take it your talk went well?" she laughed.

"I'll tell you later," I told her. "So what's happening?"

"Spencer's out of surgery," she told me. "She made it through. But she's still asleep and she can't have any visitors until the morning. Which, judging by the sound of your voice, is a good thing. I take it you two worked things out?"

"Look, I'll tell you about it in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Emily chuckled. "We'll see you tomorrow. Now, go enjoy your evening with your fiancé. I assume he asked you again?"

I just laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Emily."

And then I hung up before she could try to drag anything else out of me and turned my phone off. No more interruptions tonight.

"Well?" Ezra asked.

"She's out of surgery. But no visitors until tomorrow. Which means we have the rest of the night to ourselves," I told him.

"Thank God for that," he breathed.

And then his lips were on mine, and within about ten seconds he was picking me up and carrying me upstairs to his loft. Our loft.