So, I busted out this prompt and it came way easier than I thought it would. SO I thought, why not post it? :)
Hello! Remember me? I was the one that asked for your story, Haunted Memories. It was quite good, and I thank you for writing it! Now, I'm afraid I must come to you again. 'Tis a dark time for Spoby shippers everywhere. My PLL OTP is sinking beneath the waters, and I need something fluffy. So, anyway, I've had this one little image in my head, and now that it's there, it's not going away. Just imagine this; Toby and Spencer are separated by bars. Toby is in his police-officer uniform. Spencer is in the usual bright orange prison clothes. Even though the're separated by the bars of a jail cell, they are kissing. I don't know how Spencer ended up there. That's for you to decide if you write this. Maybe she does get arrested earlier in Season 5? I don't know
It is clear through the promo pictures that Hanna ends up in jail, and I'm assuming Alison takes the plea bargain for some reason or another. I'm just pretending, for the prompt's sake, that it's Spencer instead of Hanna. I took a few liberties here, because I can't see Spencer possibly doing well in prision, considering her parents.
Thanks for the prompt, Twinkletoes626! I hope you like it even though I changed a few things.
I will ALWAYS take prompts guys, and most of the time I will write them.
TPOV
He had to be calm. That's all he knew. If he showed any kind of emotion it would get back to Tanner that her newbie cop went on an emotional rampage, and either he would never be able to do this again or he would be out of a job. Neither of those options were especially tempting, especially right now.
"What inmate are you here to see again?" The correctional officer asked him.
It didn't feel right to say her name in this context. It didn't even feel right to utter his favorite four syllables in the presence of these people, in this place. "Spencer Hastings."
The woman nodded, a long hair on her chin shifting with the moment. It wasn't like him to judge people, but his mind was too overworked to consider niceties. "She's in conference room one."
He didn't respond as he turned on his heal and walked away. Silence characterized his anguish. When he was upset he got silent, and it worked in this scenario. For the first time he was giving off the emotionless cop persona that his usual work was missing. Although, the fact that feelings were the enemy was essentially the Rosewood Police Department's greatest challenge. Maybe he had only been a cop for a matter of weeks, but he felt that passion was an essential ingredient in upholding the law. Apathy led to complacency. And complacency was only a short jaunt toward corruption.
His exterior needed to be calm, but his insides were in turmoil. He wanted to cry and scream and kill. He wanted to do everything that he couldn't do. As he stalked through the dimly lit hallways he allowed his mind to wonder for the first time.
Was this his fault?
He was being aloof to keep her safe, to keep her out of Tanner's cross hair. It wasn't because he didn't love her as much in that moment as he always had. Their relationship had been forged in fire. They were unbreakable in the long run. He knew that, and he was sure that Spencer knew that deep down inside. He couldn't stop loving her anymore than he could stop breath, and he knew that she felt the same way. Spencer's loyalty was never something that he questioned.
But he knew her. He sometimes thought that he knew her better than he knew himself. Yet he was continuously making the worst possible decision when it came to her. He knew that when she felt alone, when she felt like she had no one on her side, she got desperate. And when Spencer got desperate she got irrational and illogical. She made the most drastic decisions possible without thinking of the consequences to herself.
All along he told himself that this time it was different. This time he was on the right side of the law. This time his presence was still within Spencer's reach, or so he lied to himself. He hadn't made himself available to her in weeks. He put a hand on the cool concrete wall and closed his eyes. Ignored phone calls... broken dates... hostile accidental encounters. It was all in the name of protecting her... protecting her from A, protecting her from Tanner. And maybe he could justify it if if had worked, but once again he had failed. Nothing he did would ever be enough to protect her.
And now the glaring similarities to his impulsive career change and his time with Mona couldn't be denied, even to himself. Both times he threw caution to the wind. Both times he told himself that if he could just keep her safe, if he could end this for her, the pain she felt would be worth it. And both times he left her more broken than she had started.
This was undeniably his fault.
He hadn't been there that day in the woods, but he could imagine it. Every single one of her anguished steps danced through his mind like a movie of is own creations. The cold probably seeped through her jacket, but he doubted that she felt it. Spencer had always been so singular in her focus, and after seeing what she believed to be his body her only thoughts were with catching up to Mona. The branches scratching her soft skin, the leaves getting stuck in her hair, the tears freezing on her colored cheeks. He could see it all so clearly, like he had been there.
If there was one thing that he knew for sure it was that Spencer had infinitely more strength than he did because if he found her body he wouldn't have been able to go on. She was all that he had left.
But that was what made being a cop, what made playing as A, so easy. He still wasn't sure that Spencer realized what she did for him. Before he met her it was like he was drowning, but it wasn't a solo affair. It was like thousands of anonymous, and some not-so-anonymous, hands held him below the surface. The words killer scrawled across his locker, the looks of fear in the eyes of children who saw him, the way people crossed the street so they didn't walk next to him, the shouted death threats... the way his mother told him she'd never leave him, the feel of Jenna's hands trailing down his body, the way his dad cast him aside like garbage when he found a new and better family. There was only so much he could take before he gave up the fight... before he let the hands win. And when Spencer came into his life he was as near to that breaking point as he ever cared to be again. But she grabbed his hand, the first person ever to try to save him, and pulled him out of the water.
Spencer Hastings saved his life. And maybe he never articulated that to her, but she had to know. She had to know how she had saved him, how she continued to save him every single day.
This was all his fault. Maybe if he had been there, maybe if she had entrusted him with whatever stupid plan had landed her here, maybe he could have talked her out of it. Maybe he could have taken her place, because God knew there was nothing he wouldn't do for her. The thought of his small, opinionated girlfriend dealing with the cold and loneliness of a prison stint of any length was almost too much to bare. He didn't have to think about it. He would have taken her place in a heartbeat.
But even more than any of that, he sincerely hoped that they had the foresight to put her in a cell by herself. Her parents were some of Rosewood's most prominent lawyers. They had to have had a hand in the imprisonment of at least half of the women in this facility. As much as he wanted to bust her out, he knew that wasn't advisable. But he could do this. He wouldn't leave here until she was as safe as she could be.
He paused outside the door, unsure of how she was going to react to seeing him. He had been an asshole, it was undeniable. But she had to have seen that he had good intentions, right? She had to know that there was nothing on the planet that could stop his loving her.
So he opened the door, the pronounced creaking announcing his presence before he had the opportunity to do so. Spencer started violently, her red rimmed eyes looking up to meet his. She didn't say anything, she just looked shocked. He took a step forward, feeling nothing but concern and a small amount of happiness. Her presence always did that to him. But when he caught sight of her split lip that all evaporated. It felt like an atomic bomb went off in his head. Everything was literally tinged with an angry shade of red. "Who hurt you?"
Her fingers went up to her lips, almost like she forgot that it was there. "This? It doesn't matter. What are you doing here, Toby?"
"Are you kidding?" He asked more harshly than he meant too. "Where else would I be, Spencer?"
"I don't know, I just thought-"
"Thought what? That suddenly anything had become more important than you?" He stepped forward and cupped her cheek with a trembling hand. Suddenly he didn't give a damn what Tanner thought. What else was she going to do to him? Because Spencer was already in jail, and hurting her was the only thing that they could use against him. He didn't care about himself so much.
She diverted her eyes, brushing away the wetness. "I wasn't sure about much, if I'm being honest."
"Spencer," he breathed, leaning against the table and hugging her sitting frame like he had all those months ago in her kitchen. This time he couldn't present her with an elaborate breakfast, but he could at least reassure her of what he had never doubted. "I have always loved you, Spencer. I wouldn't know how to stop even if I wanted too. I just didn't want you to end up here, but I fucked up like I always do. God, I'm so sorry."
It might have been a few minutes or it might have been a few lifetimes, he wasn't sure. But eventually she wound her arms around his waist. "It wasn't your fault. I think I knew that, inside. I just turn into an irrational mess sometimes."
He snorted, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. "But you're my irrational mess. And I don't want you to ever doubt that. Every single move I make, you're always the first one on my mind. You're always my first priority."
She sucked in a shaky breath and he felt her nod against his chest. "I love you."
It felt so good to hear her say that. It felt like everything was right again. "I love you too, baby. More than anything in the world."
"Five minutes, Cavanaugh."
He chest constricted. It wasn't enough time, but that was always their issue, wasn't it? Time was never on their side. "Listen to me, Spencer," he reluctantly pulled away and framed her face with his hands, wiping away the tears that lingered on her cheeks. "I will figure this out. I'll get you out of here, just trust me."
"You're the only one I trust anymore," she whispered. "But you have to stay safe, okay? I don't want to be free if you aren't there with me."
He nodded, having to choke back his own tears. He screwed up again and again and again. He was never enough to protect her, yet somehow she always forgave him. Somehow she wanted him anyway. "I'll stay safe, and I'll figure everything out. Be careful and keep your head down. Don't give anyone a reason to target you."
She laughed bitterly. "You mean besides my super star lawyer parents? It already got me this," she gestured to her lip. "One of mom's less successful cases recognized me from her office pictures."
He felt his face harden. "I'll take care of that."
She opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the guard at the door. "Alright Cavanaugh, that's it."
He nodded miserably with his eyes on her. "I'm so sorry for everything, Spencer. I never meant to make you doubt my feelings for you."
"You didn't," she shook her head. "I knew what you were doing, I just- I don't know, illogical Spencer came out to play for awhile."
She stood up and squeezed his hand before releasing him and walking toward the guard. "Wait!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her in, kissing her soundly. He tried to convey all of the love and passion he felt for her into that one kiss, because it would have to be enough to sustain them until he could get back. "I love you so much," he whispered again.
"I know you think you're screwing up lately, she matched his tone, "but I've never doubted you, Toby. Not really. You've always been my safe place to land."
His heart soared, those words meaning more now than they had the first time she said them. He felt like he was failing, but maybe he wasn't. If she felt like he wasn't failing then maybe he wasn't. All that mattered was her. "Stay safe," he whispered with his lips just above hers. "Everything will be okay."
It felt like he was leaving his heart behind, and in a way he was. She owned his heart. It was hers from the moment she showed up on his porch, her eyes full of unanswered questions and determination. He hadn't even realized it yet, but she was slowly worming her way into his life... he couldn't give her up now. She was a part of him.
As he approached the desk, prepared to lay down the law with anyone he needed to he thought of his next move. Because with Spencer in this place it only renewed his focus. He would end this.