(A/N:) Second chapter here we go! Enjoy :)

2.

Aria

"John, I told you yesterday! I told you that I had the interview and wouldn't be able to take the kids, so you said you would handle it!"

It was now Tuesday morning and Aria was frantically in a hurry to get to her extremely early business meeting. Last night, after receiving an email with the requested time, she had asked her husband to handle taking the kids to school. Now, the kids had to be there in twenty minutes and Aria needed to get ready.

"It won't matter if you're late, just take the kids," John suggested, grabbing his coffee mug. Aria knew from experience that once he picked up the coffee she made him in the morning, he would be out the door in thirty seconds.

Aria let out a puff of angry breath from her nose and snatched the cup from his hand. "No! You haven't driven the kids to school since Chloe was in fifth grade! You can handle it this one time!"

"It won't be one time if you get the job," John pointed out. "What will we do then?"

She knew it. She knew he didn't want her going back to work. She had been out of a job for almost a year and the house was noticeably cleaner, the dinners she cooked had been prepared earlier, and life was easier. Easier for John.

But it was in no way easier for Aria. Cleaning, cooking, housewife-ing… it wasn't for her. It wasn't the life she wanted. Why couldn't he understand that? Why couldn't he just look at things from her perspective for once?

"We'll figure it out," Aria barked. In anger, she poured the coffee down the drain and unplugged the brewer. "There's a Starbucks in the shopping center right next to the kids' school. Pick a coffee up there and then go to work."

He looked at her, astonished, as she stomped away. "Aria!" he yelled from behind her, but she kept walking up the stairs. She knocked on Chloe's door insistently before her daughter finally opened up, still not in her full uniform.

"Chloe, hurry up. You're going with your dad today, so you need to be ready sooner."

Before her daughter could argue, Aria closed the door and headed to her next child, who was just walking out of the bedroom. "Same goes for you, too."

As she started heading to her room, John stopped her and tapped her shoulder. "I have to get to work too, you know?"

Aria looked at him incredulously and wondered why no one in her life ever put her happiness before their own. She didn't mean to sound selfish, but it made her feel impeccably unloved. Love was when you put someone before yourself, and as of lately, no one did. With John, it was all about John. She hadn't talked to the girls in forever. And her parents, they were always busy.

Ezra had been the only person who ever really put her before everything. He left jobs for her, risked his career for her, put her before his possible child… everything he did – well, most things he did – were for her utter happiness. And Aria would bet her ass that Ezra would've taken the kids to school.

Shaking him from her thoughts, Aria sighed. "John, it would mean so much to me if you took them. I really want this job and I won't get it if I'm late on the first day. I need this job. You've been at that office for years. They won't care if you're late. So, please, just do this. For me?"

John huffed before relenting. "Fine, but if they aren't ready in the next five minutes, you take them."

Aria nodded as she walked away and decided not to start a fight about how much he talked about her children as if they were some heavy burden. One battle at a time.

She knocked on Chloe's door again before entering without acceptance. "Chloe, come on, you've gotta get going."

"Why can't you take us?" her daughter asked, clearly annoyed with the rush.

Aria clenched her jaw. "I told all of you last night that I had a job lined up for me. I've got to get ready for it and can't take you two today."

Chloe turned back to doing her hair, which was perfectly fine without any styling. Aria sighed, "Honey, your hair looks fine. It doesn't need all the product and time."

"Oh my God, will you quit rushing me?!" Chloe screeched.

Aria was taken aback by her daughter's tone and she tilted her head at Chloe. "Do not use that tone with me."

"Just leave!"

She obeyed, simply because she needed to go check on Matt. As she stalked away, Aria put it on her mental to-do list to talk to Chloe about respect because that occurrence was certainly anything but.

Eventually, Aria practically shoved her children down the stairs towards an impatient, foot-tapping John. They grabbed their back packs as John took his keys off the hook near the door. The three headed outside and before the door closed, John sarcastically told Aria, "Your welcome for me taking them."

Aria gaped at the words. Yeah, she was a mother, but he was a father. She was not the only one supposed to take care of them. Snarling her lip in wrath, she stomped up towards the stairs to get ready, attempting to forget the whole morning.

Soon enough, she was out the door herself in a sophisticated-but-not-too-sophisticated blazer and simple, modern Jackie Kennedy looking dress. She missed the days she had worn knee highs and comic book patterned dresses, but what could she do? She was a grown up woman and no grown up woman walked around in platforms, leather, and feather earrings.

In twenty minutes, she stepped inside the elite building and was immediately struck with a good feeling. Aria could picture herself walking into the slightly cold office every day and wanted the position even more than she always had. She wished she had been more career focused in the last few years, loving the feeling of seeing people loving work and mingling at the copy machine. She missed this.

Marching towards the elevator, she walked right past the list of other publishers. If she hadn't moved past it, though, she would've been way more prepared for what was about to happen, or never would have made it to the third floor.

Moments later, the elevator dinged, signaling the arrival to the third floor. Aria and a few others stepped out, going various directions. Aria saw a flyer with the description of her potential job and a room label. She smiled to herself as she stepped to room 317. Walking into the waiting room, she still hadn't noticed the plaque outside the door that read Ezra Fitz.

Ezra

"The applications are in a stack on your desk. Everyone should be here soon, so get ready," his secretary, Charlotte, advised. She was an older woman, who owned around six cats. Ezra smiled at her weakly, trying to be nice, but was really annoyed with the task of finding a new publisher for the firm. Couldn't the task be put on to someone else? Why him? He hated interviewing people, watching them either squirm or be a total kiss ass.

A few minutes later, before Ezra even got to look at the files, his secretary knocked on his door and announced that the applicants 11, 4, and 7 were there. Ezra just nodded and told her to send them in in order.

Number 4, Lisa White, was qualified enough but Ezra couldn't even fathom working with the astoundingly boring woman every day. Soon enough, though, the interview came to an end and Lisa left his office. Ezra pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to prepare himself for the rest of the menial meetings. Sighing, he pressed the buzzer and told Charlotte to send in the next one.

He heard her outside call out number seven and Ezra quickly grabbed the seventh file from the stack. As footsteps approached the door, he opened the folder. The second he read the name on the form, his heart leapt into his throat and his stomach dropped to his feet. No possible way was this happening.

Outside the door, a similar ordeal was happening. Aria had stood up and walked towards the office door, skimming over the name tag on the outside. Ezra Fitz, publisher, was inscribed on a small plaque.

Her heart stopped. Ezra Fitz wasn't that common of a name. She wrenched her hand away from the door knob just thinking that the guy who had smashed her heart into bits – which still had never fully healed – was sitting right behind the door.

The secretary near the door got her attention. "You can go in, Miss. He knows you're coming in."

She mumbled, "He knows." Tears welled up in her eyes as she stepped away, shaking her head. This wasn't happening. She was dreaming. She was having a nightmare.

"Miss, is everything alright?"

Shaking her head more vigorously, Aria stumbled backward. Before she could react, though, the door clicked open. On the other side was Ezra, her Ezra, desperately needing to see if the Aria was outside of it.

As he pulled open the door, she was. Ezra's jaw dropped just at the sight of her. She looked so different. Her hair was shorter, she wasn't wearing anything eccentric, and she looked way more mature. Even though Ezra had thought about her practically every day, he never really thought about how different she would look if he ever saw her again.

As he was watching her, he saw a timid tear drip down her cheek. She was terrified of him. The last she knew, he had used her for personal gain. He had met her out of greed. Despite the letter she read at his apartment, all those feelings of him never loving her flooded Aria's mind as she looked at him.

People around them were confused at the tension before Aria finally muttered, "I have to, I have to go."

Ezra shook his head, "Aria, wait." He gulped down the lump in his throat as he thought about how he never fathomed saying her name to her again.

She just kept walking though. She kept walking past offices through hallways, wondering where the hell the elevator was. Were there this many hallways when she'd walked through minutes ago?

She breathed heavily as she felt the walls closing in around her. It was as if the room was spinning as rapidly as a disco ball and no one helped her. Looking left and right, she let out a confused cry, wanting to leave as soon as possible. Before she could, though, Ezra stood beside her.

"Aria, please, just… come back to my office. Just calm down," he pleaded, out of breath.

She stared up at him and swallowed the rock size lump in her throat. "Tell me where the elevator is."

"What?" he asked. He had dreamed of being able to talk to her again, try one last time to make amends and make her believe that he did love her. Ezra knew this was that chance, too. "No, no, Aria. Come back to my office, please."

"Why?" she screamed. Workers around them were taking notice of the scene and Ezra stepped closer to her. She shook her head and stepped back. "What, are you writing a sequel or something? Just let me go, please. Tell me where the elevator is and just pretend this never happened, please."

She was now bawling, but Ezra couldn't let her walk away again. Not after this off chance from fate. He reached for her arm gently. "Please, don't cry. It's okay."

"Stay away from me! Stay. Away. From. Me."

"No, not until you're okay," he demanded, not letting the chance slip through his fingertips.

Aria's chest heaved as she tried to move around him in the narrow hallway, but he just blocked her. "Don't do this," she begged. "Don't."

"I need to talk to you," Ezra whispered, slightly shocked by how much hatred and sadness she still had directed at him. Yet he was happy that she wasn't over it. It made him less pathetic since he never had moved on either. "You can leave right after I'm done talking. Just, please, let me speak. Okay?"

Remembering how stubborn Ezra was, she reluctantly nodded. "Fine. Let's go back to your office."

They walked through the halls and back towards his office, applicant 11 and Charlotte staring at them, absolutely bewildered. Ezra just ignored them and guided Aria into his office. She sat down in the chair in front of his desk and Ezra quickly sat down in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, Ezra started off with a question that had been gnawing at him since he ever left Rosewood. "Did you get my letter? I left you a letter in my apartment and I always wondered if you got it."

She instantly knew what he was talking about the second he asked the question, not needing the additional, explanatory sentence. Cautiously, Aria nodded. "Yeah, yeah I did."

He internally smiled at the thought of her going back to 3B after everything, hopefully assuming it had been to work things out or something. Despite it being over ten years, Ezra practically remembered the letter word for word. "Aria, I meant what I said in the letter."

She knew he did. Aria had read the letter countless times. It was pages of the most incredible words she had ever heard and despite how she had wished to forget everything about Ezra (which she found was impossible) Aria could never forget the letter.

"And for what it's worth, I still regret it. I always will. I still think about how I hurt you and how I made you hate me and how horrible I was… it sickens me, what I did. I'd take it back, I'd take the book back, and just keep you. I never wanted to lose you and," his voice cracked and he found it hard to look at her, "and I didn't think I ever would."

In barely a whisper, Aria replied, "I didn't think I ever would either." She felt a tear fall down her face and she added, louder, "But I still think about everything too and it never has gone away. You… you ruined me."

His lip trembled and he looked down at the floor like some sad puppy.

"I had trust issues because of you, I threw myself at strangers for comfort because of you, I… I gave up on practically everything in my life because of how much you hurt me. I'm still not okay! You still get into my head and I don't know how that's even possible because it's been so long, but it is."

Ezra, after a few silent seconds, looked back up at her. "I'm so sorry, Aria. I know you'll never forgive me, I'll never forgive myself, but I am sorry."

She breathed out before whispering, "I know you do, I know… I just can't believe you're in front of me right now."

For the first time, Ezra cracked a bit of a smile and retorted, "The feeling's mutual."

Aria gulped as another silence ensued. Finally, Ezra glanced at the files on his desk before offering, "If you want the job, it's yours." He knew he was being biased, but the thought of seeing Aria every day, he wanted it more than anything.

"Based on what?" Aria questioned suspiciously.

Ezra shrugged. "I know how good of a writer you are and I'm sure you're cut out for the job." He paused before saying, "I completely understand if you don't take it, but if you do, be here on Monday next week. Take some time to decide."

Aria sighed and stood. "I will. Thank you, Mr. Fitz."

(A/N:) Most of you guessed it, but yes, he will be her boss… if she takes the job that is :)

Also, something important that I didn't quite make clear enough is that Ezra never got shot. This is set after 4x23, so 4x24 and on never happened. Hope that clears any confusion you might have had.

And what's the deal with this letter they keep thinking of… hmm…