Thanks for the people that left reviews for the previous chapter! Please keep them coming! Just so you know, italics= flashback.

~4 years previous~

"It's so weird," Alison sighed, sinking down onto the double bed in the room that used to be hers. "I promised myself I'd never come back into this house. Nothing good ever happened while we lived here and after I found out about my Dad…" her voice trailed off. Spencer took her friend's hand in hers and squeezed it gently.

"We don't have to stay long," she promised. "We can leave right now if you want."

"No." Ali shook her head defiantly, picking up the cardboard box and opening it. "Dad will chuck all this stuff out otherwise." Picking up a photograph of Jason holding a baby and grinning toothily at the camera, her face crumpled and she collapsed into Spencer's waiting embrace. Sobs wracking through her body, the blonde fought to steady her voice. "It's not fair. How come the only family I have left is him." The venomous edge in her voice told Spencer she was talking about her father.

Jason had died from the injuries sustained in a car crash ten days ago. It wasn't his fault; the driver responsible for the collision had been staring at his phone and failed to stop at the lights. That was the part Spencer found most painful. After battling and beating addiction, surviving a falling elevator, and making it through the loss of his sister and mother, he had been killed by an act of carelessness. Ali was right. It wasn't fair.

There were no words that could comfort her grieving friend. Instead, the rested her chin gently on the girl's head, rocking her peacefully and letting her cry all the tears she had been holding in. Ali had always sucked at sharing her true emotions. After about twenty minutes, the sobs subsided, and Spencer tentatively released her from her arms.

"You should have some of this stuff you know," Ali sniffed, rubbing at the mascara under her eyes. "He was your brother too." Spencer shrugged, peering into the box. Inside was a tangle of disjointed childhood memories. A plastic trophy from middle school, a signed school shirt, a baseball cap. She reached inside the box, gently rummaging through the items hoping to find something that would remind her friend of a fond memory. Her fingers connected with something smooth and cool. It was a disc, inside a case which was labelled "N.A.T". Without thinking, Spencer picked up the disc and shoved it inside her bag. It would only upset Alison to remind her of her brother's less than honourable past.

"Spencer why can't we just call 911! They'd be over here straight away!" Toby was torn, hovering at the window as he tried to decide whether to help his girlfriend with what she was doing or keep an eye on the group outside. His police instincts kicking in, he immediately noticed the gun concealed in one of the figures pocket.

"Ali told me not to," Spencer replied stubbornly. "She said it would get us in more trouble and if we're in more trouble that means Adrianne is too." She had grabbed her largest handbag and was stuffing it with objects she thought might be useful. Her laptop, a jumper, a colouring book, her purse. Some food. A blanket.

"And we're right back to doing exactly what Alison tells us to," Toby muttered darkly, before he snapped straight back into action mode. "Spencer we need to hurry up they've got inside." The lift in their building had been broken for years, but they were only on the third floor. Assuming the gang knew which door was theirs, they had mere minutes to escape. Spencer hesitated, her eyes flickering back to the desk.

"Just a second." Jason had something they want. Surely they couldn't be referring to the NAT videos? Spencer was sure her and her friends had combed through most of them, and nothing on them suggested anything incriminating to anybody except –A. And –A had been caught; the game was over. Pushing her rationale to the back of her mind, she tore furiously through the desk, locating the disc behind a bunch of old CDs nobody listened to anymore. Stashing it away in the bag, she zipped it up and ran into the bedroom where her daughter was huddled beneath the covers. Spencer kneeled beside the bed, cupping Adrianne's face in her hands.

"Hey Ady, remember when we went to Nana and Grandads and we all played hide and seek together? We're playing it again. And it's really important we win because if we do, I'll buy us a humongous cake and you get to eat it all, okay?" Adrianne giggled.

"A chocolate one?"

"The biggest chocolate one." Spencer could hear footsteps at the far end of the corridor, her heart jumped into her throat. She scooped Ady into her arms, Toby grabbed the bag from her and the three of them rushed towards the large window looking out onto to the fire escape. Snatching Adrianne from her, Toby pushed Spencer through first before handing her back her daughter.

"Toby!" Spencer could hear fists pounding at the door now, raised voices she didn't recognise. Ignoring the noise behind him, he shouldered the bag and slipped through the window, slamming it behind him.

"Go!" he yelled. Gripping Adrianne tightly to the side of her body away from the drop, Spencer hurried down the fire escape and onto the street. She froze, realising too late that she had no idea where to run to.

"Let's go to the main road, and hail a cab. We'll figure something out." As the family began to half walk half run away from their residential side street, an ear splitting crash echoed down the road and Spencer felt a brief flash of scorching heat against her cheek. Whipping her head around, she felt her knees buckle slightly beneath her as she found the source of the noise.

Flames were leaping out the windows of their apartment, accompanied by curls of choking black smoke twisting their way up into the sky. Clasping tighter to her daughter, whose face was buried in her mother's coat, Spencer fought the compulsion to tear back into their home and salvage every possession they had. Everything they'd worked for. She remembered how proud she and Toby had been when they got the keys to the apartment. Adrianne had been raised there. It had hosted her first bath, her first step, her first word. She felt Toby tugging at her arm, shouting at her to move but she didn't register the words. It was only the sight of a figure in a black hoodie calmly jumping from the fire escape and looking directly at the family that jolted her into action.

They ran. Toby shouted frantically for a cab which screeched to a halt beside them. Practically falling into the back of the taxi, Spencer craned her neck to look out the window. The hooded stranger was standing in the middle of the road behind them, probably taking a note of the registration number.

"Mommy?" The tremor on Adrianne's voice told of her fear. "Did our home burn?"

"Y-yes baby. But it's all good because you and me and Daddy are all fine, and I have your teddy nice and safe in my bag!" Keeping the light tone to her voice was emotionally draining. She was stroking Adrianne's hair almost obsessively, the functioning part of her brain wondering whether it served to soothe her child or comfort herself.

"Who's that coming up behind us then? Ex-boyfriend or something?" the cab driver asked.

"Yeah or something," Toby responded drily. "Can you speed up a little please?"

"Where are we going?" she asked. She had been mentally absent from Toby's conversation with the man.

"To get the truck from the storage unit. I figured if we're really doing this we can't do it via taxi." He reached for his loves hand, planting small kisses on each of her knuckles before encasing it comfortingly in both of his. "Why would they do that Spencer," his voice dropped to a murmur. "We could have been in there. Adrianne could have been in there." Starting at the sound of her name, the couple's daughter moved closer to Spencer, cuddling into her stomach.

"Ali said it was serious," was her flat response. She could feel the lump rising in her throat, and tears burning at the corners of her eyes, but she supressed both. This wasn't the time to cry.

"I thought last time was serious. I thought all we had to worry about now was taxes, and chores and not screwing up this one too much." Spencer chuckled mirthlessly.

"We've had six years of peace. And going by our track record, I think it's a miracle we made it so far." Spencer felt her phone buzz with a text, and she automatically looked down to check it. Toby watched the colour drain from her face, and her teeth bite at the inside of her lip- a sure sign she was scared.

"Spence?" She held up her cell in response. Attached to the message was a photo of a gloved hand holding a snap of the family taken at the Hastings property in Rosewood. Toby was holding Adrianne high in the air, the girl was waving her hands in delight. Spencer was stood with her arms wrapped around her boyfriend's chest, her face a picture of pure delight. The edges of the photo were curled and blackened with fire damage.

How far would you run to protect your family? –A

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