Chapter One

The Notice (Part I)

Aria Fitz found herself fussing over her baby boy Harper while she rushed up to the doors of her daughter Elisa's preschool. She was supposed to pick up the little brunette and take her to her dance class and then go shopping, all after a long day of working in the stuffy office. It didn't help that Harper was currently wailing to no avail. Aria hushed the baby as she climbed the stairs and was instantly greeted with the smell of crayons and little kids' feet.

"Mommy!" A tiny little girl with a thick, dark braid called out. A smile found itself on the very tired Aria and she reached out a hand to smooth down the girl's hair.

"Hi baby," she cooed, admiring her daughter's beauty. Elisa had inherited the best of her parents, thick dark hair from her mother and bright, jewel like blue eyes from her father. "Go grab your jacket and let's go." Elisa complied and raced off to find her dark jacket on the coat rack across the room. Aria then turned her attention back to Harper, who had miraculously calmed down, and adjusted the baby on her hip. She kissed his little cheek and he giggled, probably the most beautiful sound Aria had ever heard.

Elisa reappeared, jacket thrown over her arm and smiled brightly, "Ready!" she piped up before leading her mother back out of the preschool and into the busy city of Pittsburgh.

Aria followed, Harper still on her hip, as her daughter waltzed up to the old silver Honda CRV. Elisa hopped into her car seat, while Aria adjusted the baby and helped the two buckle in. She then took to the front seat and began the ten minute drive to Elisa's dance studio.

Once they parked on the street the little girl jumped out of her seat and scooped up a purple duffle bag almost as big as the four year old. Aria quickly hopped out of the car and picked Harper up, once again placing the child on her hip. She then helped Elisa out and guided her towards the dance studio. Aria dropped Elisa off at the check in and then carried Harper back out to the car.

After placing the baby in the car seat, the brunette looked at her phone briefly. She had about thirty new emails and decided they could wait till later.

An hour and a half later, Aria arrived at the small three bedroom house she had lived in since Harper's birth, with a car filled to the brim with various groceries. She parked the car and sighed heavily, before turning back and seeing her baby boy fast asleep. She smiled softly then turned the car off and closed her eyes, enjoying the silence that followed.

Eventually, Aria peeled herself out of the car and picked up the baby who started crying immediately. She rocked him slowly, until his cries subsided. Then she carried the boy into the house and set him down in a play pen. Knowing the groceries were still in the hatch of her car, she trudged to the garage and began carrying in the green reusable bags. It took her a while, and when she finally was done she began the tedious job of putting away groceries.

Nearly ten minutes later, and two thirds of the way into the grocery job, she heard the front door open and stream of giggles coming from Elisa. Aria smiled to herself and continued on, moving to the boxed goods. Ezra Fitz's feet moved across the floor and over to the play pen, where he picked up baby Harper and planted a kiss on the top of his head. Harper smiled and laughed, reaching out to grab Ezra's curly hair. Elisa had run to her room to put away her dance bag, and Ezra put down the beautiful boy to head into the kitchen.

He walked in and saw Aria's tiny figure hunched down, stuffing a box of goldfish into the bottom of their pantry. He chuckled and leaned against the wall, waiting for her petite frame to notice him. When she finally turned around, a giant smile plastered itself onto her round face. He leaned down to kiss her softly and she sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. Ezra's hands instinctively found themselves on her tiny waist as he whispered, "I love you."

Aria smiled again and softly repeated the words, "I love you." She kissed his cheek and then untangled herself from him and turned back to putting away what was left of the groceries. He simply chuckled and joined in on the task.

A few hours later, after the small family had sat down to eat a nice dinner prepared by Aria, the couple was tucking in their daughter. Elisa was laying in her lavender bed listening to her dad read a simple story. Her eyelids fluttered to stay open as the story continued on, and Aria smoothed down her daughter's hair in a simple yet loving gesture. When Ezra had finished reading, he kissed Elisa on the forehead and stood up, opening the door for his wife. She repeated the gesture, and exited her daughter's room into the small hallway. They had put Harper in his crib an hour ago, and he was now fast asleep. Sighing, Aria made her way to the bedroom, Ezra right behind her.

"I'm so tired," the brunette said sleepily, as she moved to the bed and slipped under the covers. She quickly glanced at her phone and realized that she still had those thirty some emails. Sighing she opened them up and began skimming over the subjects, deleting spam as she went along. Ezra was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, when Aria came across an email titled, "Rosewood High Class of 2014 Ten Year Reunion".

Aria groaned and dropped her head on the pillows. She most definitely did not want to go back to Rosewood and see all of her classmates from high school. She has had enough trouble getting over the whole 'tormented in high school' thing and didn't really want to face all of that again. Ezra mumbled something from the bathroom, but Aria ignored him, her attention was now on the date for the reunion, two weeks from now! How was she only getting the notice now?

"What happened babe?" Ezra asked as he reentered the bedroom.

Aria simply held up her phone and showed him the email. He clucked his tongue and cracked a joke about calling up Byron and Ella, which lead to a very nasty look from a very tired Aria. He just shrugged and climbed into the queen sized bed. "Hey, I don't think we'd want to share a hotel room with those two munchkins anyways. It's only a what, five hour drive to Philly from here anyways." His subtle hints that they would not by flying or getting a hotel, left Aria with a small worry knot.

She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but they had been struggling. Student loans, a mortgage, and feeding a four person household was rough. Especially going off of a community college professor and a children's book editor salary. Everything is going to be okay, she thought silently. Her dark eyes found Ezra's blue ones and she exhaled slowly, trying to let all of her worries leave with the breath.

The next morning, a Saturday, Aria called Byron. She simply asked if she, Ezra, and the kids could stay for a long weekend so Aria could attend her reunion. Byron was thrilled, he didn't get to see the little ones that often. Next, Aria called Ella and told her that they would be staying at Byron's. Ella was ecstatic, she loved her grandchildren! Ezra called off work at the college for the few days and Aria did the same, they were all set to go to Rosewood in two weeks.

In the back of her mind though, Aria was wondering about Spencer, Hanna, and Emily. She hadn't been with all three of them since the summer after freshmen year of college. Of course, they all kind of kept in touch. She had attended all of their weddings, and even went to see Spencer after she had Tucker. Of course the girls attended her wedding, and they were all friends on social media, but they hadn't really be 'friends' since senior year.

It would be something. From the limited knowledge of the girls' current lives, Aria was pretty sure they were all doing better than her. Spencer was a big shot lawyer and Toby was an architect or something, Hanna was an up and coming fashion designer and Caleb was still being a computer guy, and Emily and Paige were Olympians! It would be funny, seeing Spencer in an expensive dress with pearls, or Hanna in a Marin original, or Emily and Paige with gold medals. And here Aria was. She had married her high school English teacher, moved five hours away and got a degree in English just so she could edit children's books.

This reunion was going to be terrible.

A/N: Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm so happy people are interested in what I'm writing! I hope you liked his chapter, and please leave a review letting me know what you think. I'll post the next chapter in three days or as soon as I get eight reviews. Thanks again (: