A/N: Yeay! Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites so far! Let me know how this chapter is!

Time did heal the wounds for Aria. After talking with her mother about being too much of a parent, and getting back on the right footing with Jason, things with her three friends fell into place. Aria didn't feel like it was too overwhelming anymore or had to worry about 'A'. She was realizing what her life was really starting to be like without blackmailers stalking the heck out of her.

"So the winter ball is coming up," Spencer noted as they all sat down for lunch at school.

"Are you guys going?" Emily wondered.

"Caleb will probably be in California with his mom," Hanna grumbled.

"I'm sure he wouldn't do that considering how much he knows you live for these school dances," Spencer stated.

"You could always ask him," Aria shrugged.

"Are you going?" Emily wondered. Aria sat there and thought about it for a second. The last school dance she thought she was going to 'A' had screwed up, somehow tampering with her cell phone and calls making her think that Jason stood her up when in reality he just had to leave for a business trip. So did she really want to try again? There was no more 'A'…

"Maybe," Aria decided on, thinking to herself that she needed to give it more thought.

"I thought you would be a for sure yes," Spencer commented.

"I don't know," she said, "I haven't even asked Jason if he wants to go."

"Aria, if you wanted the moon I think he would try and buy it for you," Spencer stated.

"What I think she means is that if you wanted to go, he would," Emily answered without the edge in her tone.

"Thank you," she chuckled.

"Do you want to go?" Aria asked Emily.

"I was thinking about asking Samara," Emily replied shoving around her food. "It would be our first school dance together as a couple."

"Ooo," Hanna said with a smirk.

"But I don't want to go if you guys don't," Emily added quickly.

"Nothing like putting the pressure on us Em," Spencer grumbled.

"Sorry," Emily said sliding down her seat.

"Who were you thinking of taking Spence?" Aria asked.

"Probably Toby, but he isn't one for school dances," she answered.

"I'm sure he would go with you," Emily spoke up. "Need I remind you how stuck like glue he is to you?"

"I second that," Hanna added.

"So you should just ask him," Emily pushed.

"You really want to go to this thing bad don't you Em?" Aria asked picking up on the vibe she was sending out.

"I like Samara – a lot. Probably more than I have for anyone in a while."

"…even Maya?" Spencer hesitantly asked.

"No one can really replace Maya," Emily answered shiftily, "but she comes close to it. Samara understands what its like to have that first you know? I just…I want her to come to a school dance with me and show her off to everyone."

"That's sweet Em," Aria smiled.

"Just let me know if you guys do end up going okay? I wouldn't want her and I to be the only ones there."

Rolling her eyes, Spencer spoke up saying something against that comment when Jason caught Aria's eye. He was talking to some faculty member, occasionally glancing at her. Popping up an eyebrow to him she silently wondered why he was staring. Did they need to have a talk again? Like she wasn't some fragile doll? The way he was staring at her though, made something warm and fuzzy tingle up her spine. It wasn't so much that he was checking on her, more like checking her out.

Giving a grin when his other coworker was trying to regain Jason's focus to their conversation, Aria turned back to her friends and finished eating.

"So are you working today Em?" Hanna wondered.

"Yup, I'm still trying to learn the difference between a macchiato and cappuccino," she grumbled with an eye roll.

"Well expect me for a visit. My dad's back in town," Hanna sighed.

"Uh oh, why is that?" Spencer asked.

"Yea, I thought he wasn't speaking to you after the whole 'A' thing…" Aria added.

"He wasn't," she said, "but I guess he's trying to work things out again. I have a feeling Isabel left him for good and he's trying to get back with my mom but I don't know. I'm supposed to stay out of it and be on my best behavior," she muttered.

"You're welcome to come over my place," Aria offered.

"Thanks," Hanna smiled. "I could go for one of you mom's home cooked meals."

"Don't you have work?" Spencer wondered.

"Till 6. I'm still home for dinner though."

Hearing the bell ring, all four of them cleaned up their lunch. "The day needs to be over," Spencer groaned to Aria. "In a hurry to see someone Spence?" Aria wondered with a smile. Toby had decided to get his GED online and start working instead. Giving Aria a small shove, the two smiled to themselves as they left the cafeteria.

School was school and work was a bit better. Emily had been busy all day learning about the different types of drinks while Aria was down the block learning about some new equipment Laurel had bought them.

"Christmas is a great time for pictures," Laurel claimed as she held up one of their new cameras. 'You know, you should take some of this stuff home and practice it. You have a great eye for the simple things."

Blushing, Aria held up one of the lenses that attached to the cameras and inspected it. "This stuff is really expensive. I don't know if I really trust myself with it."

"Nonsense," Laurel replied waving her hand at the statement. "You need to get practice with this stuff. Its you and me on the snowy roads girl," she said giving her a nudge. Cracking a smile, Aria agreed and brought Laurel to her window to show her some kids out on the street having a snowball fight.

"Come on," Aria instructed, rushing to put on her coat while grabbing the equipment.

"Hey!" she called to the two boys. "Can I get some pictures of you guys?"

"Sure," they said pausing their game. Now standing away from the war zone while the two kids hid behind cars, snowballs began getting tossed in the air and Aria snapped pictures. It was like her perfect winter wonderland when the snow began picking up again and making everything frosty.

"Hey," Jason said coming up to her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Hey," she replied, taking her face away from the camera for a second to glance up at him.

"What are you up to?" he wondered, watching her snap some pictures of kids in the street.

"Taking pictures of a winter classic," she stated with a smile in her voice. Watching her and the fight go on, Jason waited till she was done to kiss her in the cold weather.

"You ready to go?"

"Let me go check in with Laurel and make sure she doesn't need anything else," Aria replied, checking the camera around her neck to make sure it was okay.

"So, how do they look?" Laurel asked when she came back in the studio.

"Hiya Jason," she added.

"Hey Laurel," he waved, watching the two of them work. Jason stood in the front of the shop watching Aria and Laurel hunched over a camera looking at all of the pictures she took. There were a few murmurs about a great shot and a few about how she liked those.

"You know what kid? We should make a collage of some sort. Start hanging our photos out and around the place."

"I thought you hated that?" Aria asked furrowing her eyebrows.

"I do," she replied leaning over to Aria, "but the visitors love it. I thought it would be a pain lugging out that book of samples we have, well its even worse to answer the same question a thousand times."

"Okay," Aria chuckled, "I'm sure we can put something together soon."

"And maybe do it on a canvas," Laurel stated picturing it all.

"Can we do that?" Aria wondered. Until recently, Laurel had been very old school when it came to photography and her equipment. That's why Aria was so touchy on all the new stuff.

Carrying a sparkle in her eye, Laurel gave a sneaky grin, "we can now."

Chuckling again, Aria fully agreed to the work. It sounded like a lot of fun. "Alright, get out of here you two," Laurel waved at them. "and take the camera," she told Aria when she saw her ready to take it off from around her neck and put it back. Doing as she was told, Aria packed up the expensive device carefully and took it home.

"See you tomorrow kid," Laurel called as the bell on the door rang.

"Bye Laurel," Aria responded as Jason guided her out.

"So it was a good day?" he wondered, picking her up from work so they could go out to dinner together.

"With the new equipment Laurel got from some customer as a thank you – who also wouldn't take back the gift – yes, I would say it was a great day. We got to test out all of the new stuff and play with it."

Jason had to chuckle at Aria's excitement. She was so passionate about some of the arts she was capable of doing that he couldn't help but marvel at her. Aria was so different from any girl he met. She was sweet, kind, spunky, and her own person. He liked that about her. She had a mind of her own and wouldn't always follow along with a group.

"So what about you? How was work?"

"The usual," he said leading them down the street to their favorite café. "But I did hear some news."

"Oh yea?" Aria peered back to him as they made their way inside. "I'm surprised you didn't mention it to me actually – the winter ball? It's coming up this weekend."

Aria went quiet for a second, unsure how to approach the topic. "Did you want to go?" he wondered to her. Biting her lip, Aria thought back to the same conversation she had in her head at lunch. 'A' had messed that up last time…but 'A' wasn't here anymore.

"Aria?" he questioned.

"I don't know – if I want to go," she answered carefully.

"But…dances are your thing. You and the other powerpuff girls always used to go with my sister." Aria rolled her eyes at the words – powerpuff girls – really? She wanted to scoff at that.

"Is this because of last time?"

"In a way," she replied. "I just-…its kind of like walking on thin ice isn't it? I mean last time we practically broke up because of 'A' and the whole miscommunication thing. What if it happens again?"

"It wont," he decided, sounding too confident for his own self. "Jase…"

"'A's gone Aria," he told her strongly, "no one is messing with you anymore. If you decide to go, I'll be there picking you up at 9. There won't be any business trips or crazy ordeals to deal with. And as a matter of fact, I'll be over there early to make sure I'm not late."

"You live 5 minutes away."

"So then I'll be leave my house with an extra ten to spare," he shrugged. Growing a small smile across her face, Aria bit her lip and skimmed the menu.

For the rest of their time together, the subject was dropped and they talked about plenty more. Conversation was always easy between them.

"So…were you serious when you said you would go to the dance?" she wondered as they walked up to her back porch.

"Yea," he nodded glancing over to her. Biting her lip, aria decided to do it. "Then I think we should go – I mean, I would like to go."

Liking to hear that, he stopped the two of them at the door and leaned down to kiss her. Feeling her heart flutter hard when he pulled away, Aria couldn't help but reach up for another kiss. "You sure you want to go?"

"Only if you do," he replied with a whisper, barely touching her lips. Hesitantly nodding again, she forced herself to do this. In order to live again she had to take chances and do the things 'A' once ruined. This was one of them.

"I love you," he murmured kissing her lips again.

"I love you too," she breathed out into the cold night. Staring up at him, they each smiled. Goodbyes were always hard for them, even if it was just for the night. Finally, after a few more minutes of standing on the Montgomery porch, gazing up at each other with romantic eyes, they pulled away and went their separate ways.

"I saw Jason buying you guys' tickets," Emily stated with a happy smile on her face. Now that Aria had decided on going, along with Spencer and Toby, Emily was definitely taking Samara.

"That must have been weird – a faculty member buying winter ball dance tickets," Spencer commented.

The phrase didn't sit well with Aria since it made her think of Ezra and how wrong the relationship looked from the outside perspective. Nudging Spencer, Emily gave a glance to Aria.

"I didn't mean it like that," she quickly added.

"Why didn't you go buy the tickets?" Hanna wondered trying to shift the topic some.

"Jason wanted to buy them with his money. Apparently he's making up for last time."

"At least it shows that he cares about what happened," Emily shrugged.

"Yea, take it as a good thing," Hanna incorporated. "I'm still waiting for Caleb to ask me."

"Did he tell you if he's staying here for the dance or not?" Spencer wondered.

"He's still deciding," she responded with a roll to her eyes. Suddenly, over the loud PA system came Caleb's voice.

"Hanna Marin," it called out. "You have been the love of my life since I moved here into Rosewood." Hanna, along with the rest of the girls glanced to the ceiling, wondering what kind of public display he was about to do and share. "You welcomed me with your snarky comments and brushed me off at the most randomest times in the halls when we first met. But somehow we fell in love because of all of that. I know dances are you thing and I'm sorry I couldn't have asked you sooner." Hanna gave a small shrug to that, almost like she was thinking he was right there.

"But now I am," Caleb said coming up to her table with a simple red rose in his hand. Hanna's eyes went wide and she sat there in her seat stunned. "Hanna Marin," he said popping out two tickets from his back pocket, "will you go to winter ball with me?" Watching a large 1000-watt smile spread across her face, she jumped from her seat and attacked Caleb in excitement and love.

"I'm guessing that was a yes," Emily stated with a small smile watching the two.

"We have to go dress shopping today," Hanna declared with full on excitement a couple of days later.

"We still have a few days Han," Aria stated, shoving things into her locker.

"Aria! We have two days, that barely gives us enough time, especially since you took so long last time."

"Did not," she argued back, shutting the locker door.

"Oh yea, you did," Spencer agreed.

"I'm sure I can get off work today after school," Emily suggested.

"I'm free for a few hours," Spencer shrugged.

Rolling her eyes since she was the only one left, Aria gave in, "I'll text Laurel in class and see if she can give me the day off."

Cheering in excitement, Hanna gave a small squeal. She wanted the day to move faster and finish fast. After Caleb asked her, it sparked this excitement in her. Finally, this dance she would be able to meet him without problems like 'A' arising.

"Okay," Aria said meeting near the front of the school with Hanna. She had texted them saying to grab their things and hurry up. It was shopping time apparently. "Right on time," Hanna chirped, gazing the crowd for the rest of her friends.

"We're here, we're here," Spencer grumbled as they made their way through the masses of people. Hopping into one car, they all drove to their favorite boutique for the day. It didn't take as nearly as long since the shop just got in all their new items. Emily was actually the last one this time, getting fussy about each dress.

"Try this one on," Aria suggested, checking out the racks. She picked out a nice red one, satiny material with a plunge V-neck. It probably came to Emily's knees fitting her figure perfectly.

Stepping out from the dressing room, each friend approved but decided there was something missing. Glancing around, Aria found the perfect thing. She picked out a medium width spiked belt for her to put around her waist.

"I don't know about the belt," Emily commented when Aria came over to put it on her.

"It will look great with some black heels, trust me," she replied, fastening it on her. Stepping back the other two girls looked surprised. It actually looked great on Emily. Checking herself out in the mirror, Emily's eyebrows skyrocketed. She liked it a lot.

"See, my style isn't that bad," Aria proved. Getting a laugh from it all, the girls waited for Emily to change before paying. Spencer had gotten a nice deep purple dress that tightly fitted her figure. It had some loose material flowing down around her shoulder area, which gave it some detail and flare to the dress. She added some tall black gladiator heels to go with it and tied it off with some simple silver jewelry. As for Hanna, she stuck with a lighter topey silk dress, which was strapless and tight to her body. It had a sweetheart neckline and came to about mid thigh. She opted out of jewelry and decided she would keep her hair down nice and long like Caleb liked it. For Aria, she had also picked out a dress that was the same length as Hanna. Differentiating herself from her friend though, Aria picked out something more dazzling. Going with shimmery gold, she found a dress that had thicker spaghetti straps, a scoop neck and a light brown silky lining. She paired the dress with black ankle high heels and bought a few items of jewelry too.

"Well today was a success," Emily smiled as they left the store and went to go back in the car.

"And it wasn't my fault we were taking so long," Aria stated. Smiling as the girls laughed, they packed into one car again and headed back to the school to grab their own cars.

"So it was successful?" Jason wondered to Aria over the phone. It was late, about midnight when they finally each got a chance to talk. Jason had some call he needed to make at nine p.m. for with a kid from the center and Aria had homework until late since she put it off for so long.

"Very successful," she stated glancing to her dress that was hanging from her closet door. They somehow got onto the topic of her dress shopping adventure and to her, it turned out very well. "I was actually kind of glad I brought my camera. I got a lot of good shots in."

"You drove?"

"Yea, it was just right down town. My camera was in the car so I brought it in since I was bored."

"I'm sure Laurel will be happy," Jason commented as he laid on his couch at his house, listening to Aria talk. As much as he loved his phone and talking to her when he could, he liked it better when she was right next to him, curling at his side.

"So how was Bryant?" Aria wondered, thinking of his latest kid. This one was just like Jason, getting stoned and drunk all too often. He was about 19, off at Hollis College and flunking out.

"Better," Jason commented thinking about it, "I think I'm talking some sense into him. But its different for everyone you know? They have to realize things for themselves and make the choice to stop."

"What made you stop?" Aria wondered quietly as she thought about it. It was just like one day Jason up and went, disappearing form Rosewood and coming back a whole new person.

"Mostly? You," he answered with honesty. Jason wasn't kidding when he said he had a long time crush on her. "And the other part was just me tired of my lifestyle." Explaining it all to her, Jason tried to remember that hazy life. It felt like forever ago. "I didn't want to be that guy anymore. A part of me was real tired of living how I was. And after we lost Ali, I wanted to be there for you. Life had to go on but I had to clean up first to realize that."

"Which is why you left," she guessed into her darkness of her room.

"I left to see the world and find my own perspective on things. I wanted to be a new person with a fresh start."

"But coming here doesn't give you a fresh start. It gives you…reminders, of everything in your past," she said with difficulty.

"You were here Aria," he confessed. Man, he was wishing she were here with him for this. "You were still here and I still had feelings for you like I do now. I'm serious when I said I had a crush on you. It was pretty big."

"Why?"

He took in a deep breath and imagined her here with him asking these Aria like questions. Sometimes she didn't see herself correctly. "You were kind – sweet almost – when I was around. I mean, you were actually that way towards me even when I was a grump and mean to Ali – to all you guys. I know you still laughed along with whatever my sister said but behind all that I saw you felt something different. And you never really went along with Ali like everyone else would. You were actually somebody in that whole group of powerpuff girls.

"You really have to drop that saying," she told him, finding he suddenly picked it up again and starting to enjoy calling them that a little too much.

"Hey, it totally fits with your little gang. Admit it."

"What? No," Aria chuckled, "and plus there are four of us, and only three girls."

"You don't count remember?"

"Not even as Bubbles? She was my favorite," Aria teased.

Jason rolled his eyes over the phone and couldn't believe he was having this ridiculous conversation with her over the phone. "Bubbles were a scaredy cat. You're pretty brave Ar."

"You've watched powerpuff girls Jason?" Aria asked teasingly again, this time adding a giggle to her words.

Not answering that since he didn't want to admit once or twice he'd watched it with Ali and such, he heard Aria laughing even more.

"I came back to Rosewood deal with things. I had questions and a hazy past I wanted to try and remember. The whole thing with Ali made me want to investigate all about that too, but I forgot how snoopy Rosewood could really be." Jason ran a hand over his face tiredly and continued to talk to her, "but it didn't really matter because you came walking back into my life. It reignited things you know? I finally had a shot to be with you and it felt good."

"I'm glad you came back," she sighed tiredly over the phone. "I couldn't go through any of this without you."

"I love you," he murmured over the phone. Sometimes those words weren't enough to cover how he was really feeling. He felt this tugging at his heart like it wanted to leap out of his chest and go to Aria. He knew she felt the same thing because when she murmured, "I wish you were here," he turned into a puddle of mush.

Listening to her breath over the phone, he knew the exact moment she was asleep. Her breaths evened out and no longer was she tossing or turning. There was only stillness and shallow breaths. Slowly shutting his eyes, Jason fell asleep to the soft noise and added his own soft noises over the phone.