Never Let Me Go
A Pretty Little Liars FanFiction
Chapter 2: State Of Grace
Author: yourxwonderwallx
A/N: So, for those of you who didn't notice the quote at the end of the first chapter and a lot of you probably didn't it's from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episode in season 2 called Bad Eggs. Yes, I know it makes me a nerd for remembering that quote exactly but anyhow on with the story. Oh yeah, it would be nice if reviews were left. I'm not demanding them in order for me to update but it would be nice if some were left every now and then.
A/N 2: Oh yeah with the 3 month time jump lets say that this story is now in the beginning of May
Aria skidded into first period five minutes after the bell rang. She had decided to put her hair up in a bun with tendrils hanging down to frame her face. She smelled like sex and Ezra, she was just hoping her mother wouldn't notice.
She quickly sat down and opened her notebook taking notes on what her mother had written on the board. Ella then proceeded to hand out an assignment and Aria spent the better part of the period working on it. Once the bell rand she was the first one out of her seat and she ran straight to the bathroom.
"Aria?" She heard Spencer call running in behind her with Emily and Hanna following.
"What's up?" She asked as she adjusted her jacket and fixed her hair.
"Why were you late?" Hanna asked.
"You're normally early when you stay with Ezra." Emily said and Aria blushed.
"We got preoccupied." She said, her eyes darting directly to the ground. "More than once." She added causing Hanna and Emily to fake gag and Spencer to gently nudge her in the shoulder.
"So did you tell him about New York?" Spencer asked and Aria nodded, a smile creeping on her face.
"He's coming with me." She said and once the words left her mouth she was smiling more than she ever thought she could. "By August I'll be free." She said and she was ready to jump up and down with excitement. "We'll both be free." She said, feeling a wave of relief wash over her.
"We found more pictures of your Ali's affair with that married man." Spencer blurted and Aria's eyes went wide. "I think you're going to want to see them." She added and pulled out her phone, handing it to Aria.
Her eyes grew wide when she saw it was clearly her father cuddling up to Alison and kissing her. "So do you think he could've killed Ali?" Aria asked and the girls slowly nodded their heads.
"It makes sense. She got angry with him having that affair and they got into an argument when it ended." Hanna said and Aria felt tears welling in her eyes.
"So, do we think my dad is A?" Aria asked. Her mind started working overtime. She couldn't help but think how her father had been the one to show up after her mom after Ian attacked Spencer at the church and he was the one that called Aria to tell her Hanna was in an accident and then there was the fact that he didn't react the way she thought when she and Ezra told her parents about their relationship. She was also the only one who hadn't been physically attacked by A at all in any form. She hadn't received the brunt of A's wrath. "He's got to be A. He's got to be." Aria muttered as they left the bathroom when the warning bell rang. "He's got to have someone at this school working with him though." Aria added walking down the hall. The girls went their separate ways. Aria and Emily to chem, Hanna to history and Spencer to AP Russian lit.
Aria's day flew by and she'd spent her lunch hour discussing options with her parents and the representative from NYU. Her eyes widened in response to the idea of emancipation. She tried to keep her mouth shut as they discussed the reasons for doing it though all she wanted to do was smile. Once the meeting was over she thanked the woman for coming down and she and her parents continued to talk while Aria decided to skip the rest of her classes that day.
It was becoming unreasonable her desire for him. Ever since that night she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She felt more connected to him than ever and she relished that fact. She knew he was teaching freshman English so she decided to crash his course just for the sake of seeing him in action.
She snuck into his class with ease though she could tell he knew something was up. She watched as he turned around his smile brighter than when he walked into the room. She knew she'd been busted. "All right let's pick up where we last left off. I believe we were discussing Shakespeare's 116th sonnet. Do I have a volunteer to read it out loud?" He asked and no hands went up. "How about an A on the next pop quiz?" He asked causing every hand in the room to stir to life though he saw her sitting there with wide eyes and he decided to call on her.
"Go on." He said leaning against the podium.
"Let me not unto the marriage of true minds admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
She finished with her cheeks to color of cherries and a smile so wide she was sure of cheeks were going to start hurting, the entire class was stunned silent. "So can anyone tell me what this means?" He asked and again Aria's hand went up.
"I think it's about love in the most pure and simple form. I think it also shows that love knows no bounds meaning that sexual orientation, or age need apply because when it's real nothing can stop it. I also think that it's about never giving up even when the odds are against you and that even in the darkest storms it never falters. Shakespeare also states at the end that if he was wrong that he will take back all he's written and he goes as far as to say that no man has ever truly loved." She said, with the class still silent.
"Thank you." Ezra simply said. "All right I want a paper by the next class 2,500 words or more on this sonnet. Draw from real life examples. That's it for today everyone." He said and the student jumped up and filed out of the lecture hall.
"So did I get an A on the next quiz?" She asked with a sly smile as she walked towards the podium.
"I think you need to a little extra credit." He whispered with a Cheshire grin on his face, pulling her into his arms and kissing her. The kiss was sweet at first but Aria melted into his touch and she ran her tongue along his bottom lip begging for entrance that he happily granted. He pressed her against the white board and her leg wrapped around his waist. She wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him flush against her as the broke apart.
"How about that A?" She asked, a smile spreading across her cheeks. She could help but giggle as he gathered his things and took her hand leading her to his office.
"My parents and I had lunch with the lady from NYU and they are considering emancipation." She blurted as they walked inside.
"I didn't expect that." He said sitting his satchel down.
"Me either." She said in agreement. "You're not going to change your mind are you?" She whispered, her eyes threatening tears.
"Not in a million years." He whispered pulling her close.
"I think now more than ever my dad is A or maybe Meredith but she has no reason to be A so I don't know. God this is making my head hurt." She groaned and Ezra pulled her to the couch and sat down, placing her in his lap, her back towards him.
"I know things are tense right now but you can't get worked up. A will think they have the upper hand if you do." He said, his hands moving to each of her shoulders massaging gently. His fingers gently rubbing away the tension in her shoulders. "Feel good?" He whispered in her ear.
"Don't stop." She said, letting out a soft moan. "Don't ever stop." She said as she felt the tension leaving her body.
She leaned back to him, her back pressed against his chest before she turned around, straddling his thighs and kissed him. "I love you." He moaned as she ground her pelvis to his. "We can't not here." His said breathlessly and moved Aria off of his lap. "As much as I'd love to do that someone could walk in and we have discovered that this door doesn't lock." He said trying to catch his breath.
"Sorry. I got carried away." She said with an innocent undertone and he couldn't help but grin as he pulled her close to him.
"We need to figure out how I'm going to move to New York without your father questioning us." He said suddenly and she nodded.
"Well you have Wes and Addison. Use the excuse of having to move back home to take care of them and explain the situation to the dean. Surely he will understand." Aria said quickly before nestling into his side.
"All right. I'll make an appointment to speak with him tomorrow morning. We need to find out more information on A though and store it in a safe place." He said and she hummed in agreement. "Don't fall asleep. I've got class in half an hour." He said causing her to shove his side.
"I know. I've got to go home and explain why I ditched class anyways." She said, defeated. "But I'll be over later tonight." She said kissing him again before leaving his office. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Jackie's voice coming from the other end of the hallway. She ran back into Ezra's office and left the door cracked motioning for him to be quiet and pulled her phone out edging it close to the door to record the conversation.
"So do we have a plan yet?" Jackie asked as they paused outside the door.
"Yes. I'm waiting on Byron to confirm but it looks like tonight." The other woman said and Aria's eyes went wide when she realized it was Meredith. "I'm going to talk to Byron again to be sure. Get Mona and make the plan is in place." She said.
"Why is Byron doing this to his daughter?" Jackie asked.
"It was my idea to go after Aria. She needs to know she can't frame me for something and get away with it. Byron got his revenge on Alison now it's my turn. I'm going to make Aria suffer like I did." Meredith said.
"Leave Ezra out of this. He didn't ask to be involved." Jackie pleaded.
"You're too far in this to care if he gets hurt. You came to me before you wanted that bitch to suffer. If he gets hurt then he gets hurt." Meredith said and they parted ways. Aria quickly pushed stop on the recorder.
"Nothing is going to happen to me." He whispered pulling her close to him. "I promise." He added before letting her go. She looked up at him through her lashes as he lifted her chin with his finger before placing a kiss on her lips. The kiss quickly grew heated and they pulled away after a few minutes grasping for breath.
Once Aria made it to Spencer's she found that Emily, Hanna, and Caleb were there as well as Toby. "Sorry I'm late. I found something." Aria said and pulled her phone out. She replayed the conversation for the group.
"What did Ezra say?" Emily asked.
"He knows. I recorded this from his office. After the news I got at lunch I had to see him. But whatever is happening is happening tonight." Aria said. She jumped out of her skin when her phone rang. "Hello?" She asked and she rolled her eyes. It was her father telling her to get home. Once she hung up she let the tears fall.
Spencer's phone chimed, as did Aria's, Emily's and Hanna's. Though Aria didn't both to pick hers up.
Tragedy strikes. Rosewood's favorite teacher dies tonight. –A
"What did the bitch have to say?" Aria asked drying her tears and Spencer showed Aria the phone. It took everything inside of her not to strangle Meredith and Jackie right now. She knew they were both teaching late classes at Hollis. "If something happens to him because of me I will never forgive myself." Aria whimpered falling into Spencer's embrace.
"He'll be okay." Emily said gently rubbing circles into her back.
"I need someone to go to him and tell him I had to go home early because of my dad. Tell him to leave and never look back." Aria whispered. "And, tell him B-26." She added in a silent reverie before she left.
She walked in her house feeling as dejected as she looked. She couldn't contact him online, Jackie was probably hacking into his e-mail and she couldn't use her phone. Her parents had blocked his number. She immediately fell on her bed, her body wracked with sobs.
She couldn't stop. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop crying. She looked at her phone and it was a text from Spencer from almost an hour ago telling her they'd split up to follow Meredith and Jackie. She quickly responded and they gave her the address.
Aria was quick to change into black boots, black skinny jeans and a black top before taking the stairs two at a time storming out of her house and into her car. She found her way to the address that Spencer had provided and parked her car a few blocks away.
Aria quickly spotted the girls and ran to them as they watched Ezra's confrontation with who they assumed to be A or someone working for them. "What's he doing here?" She hissed.
"He told us to let him go." Hanna said and Aria found a pair of strong arms around her waist as she tried to lunge forward.
"Let me go." She hissed but Caleb had a strong grip on her.
She gave up trying to break free and settled for listening to their conversation. "I told you to leave town." The man said.
"Why leave?" Ezra asked. "So you can kill Aria?" He taunted. "Her friends?" He asked again. "If you had a problem with Alison DiLaurentis why go after her friends. They didn't know you were sleeping with her." Ezra said and Aria's eyes grew wide. A was her father. She had been right.
"I told you to stay away from my daughter. You didn't listen. You weren't apart of the plan. Now you pay the price for interfering." Byron said lowering his hood and taking out a gun.
He pointed it at Ezra and just like that two bullets were fired into his chest and Byron left him lying there, leaving him for dead. Aria kicked Caleb swiftly before running to him. "You're gonna be okay." She whispered to him, kneeling down next to him.
"I was trying to protect you." He said his breathing slowing down.
"You were supposed to protect yourself." She whispered, laying his head on her knees and leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Just stay awake. Spencer is calling for help. Just keep talking to me." She insisted as his eyes tried to close.
When the ambulance arrived Aria was a mess. They pushed her out of the way loading him onto a gurney to transport him to the nearest hospital which was in Philadelphia. She only hoped he survived. "Miss, I need his name." The EMT asked her.
"It's Tom Radley." She said quickly. Hoping no one would look for him under this name.
"And what's your relationship to the victim?" He asked.
"I'm his wife. Jem." She answered quickly. "Can I ride with him?" She asked and the man only nodded.
"His injury is too severe. You can follow us." He said and she nodded she walked back to her friends, eyes brimming with tears.
"They want me to follow them." She said sullenly.
"Come on Toby can drive Spencer's car back." Hanna said before they piled into Aria's car and followed the ambulance.
Once they arrived Aria was given a mountain of forms to fill out as best as she could. Once she handed them all in she went to sit beside Spencer curling into her side trying and failing not to cry. "It's my fault." She said startling everyone. "I never should've called him when I was at the police station." She added and Spencer started stroking her hair, trying to calm her down.
"He was trying to protect you just like Caleb and Toby have been trying to do for me and Spence." Hanna said and Aria knew she was right but she couldn't help but blame herself. If he died because of her she didn't know if she would be able to forgive herself.
"Family for Tom Radley?" The doctor asked coming out. Aria looked behind the doctors shoulders and dawn was brimming on the horizon. She hadn't sleep, none of them had.
"I'm his wife." She said.
"I'm Dr. Whitson. The bullets ricocheted off of his ribs breaking them and the fragments punctured his right lung. He is going to be unconscious for a day or so and he will have a chest tube for about a week. He's going to be fine. I don't want to alarm you but his heart did stop beating for about two minutes when he arrived from the field. I'm listing his condition as critical but stable." The woman finished. "You husband will be unconscious for a while so I would go home take a shower, get something to eat and come back this afternoon." She said and Aria nodded.
"Aria we recorded it. The entire conversation. Ezra told us to so we could use it as evidence." Spencer said and Aria pulled her into an embrace.
"I wanna go to the cops. Now. Not in a month when we have more. Now. We have everything we need to destroy my father." She quipped. She knew the ramifications of turning him in but she had to do it. He almost killed Ezra. He was sleeping with one of her best friends. This was ending today.
They all piled in Spencer's SUV and headed back to Rosewood leaving Caleb and Toby behind to watch out for Ezra. Their first stop was the police station. Once inside they gave Detective Wilden everything they had. They started from the beginning told them about A. They turned their phones in as evidence because they kept every text. They told him about Dr. Sullivan and the night they were arrested. They gave him the pictures of Alison and Byron Montgomery. They played him the recording of Jackie and Meredith. Then last the played the video of Byron shooting Ezra.
"Ms. Montgomery you realize what you're doing right?" Wilden asked and she nodded.
"Ezra was dead for two minutes. Alison is dead. My father killed her. I want him to pay for this." She said sternly.
"Where is Ezra now?"
"He's at a hospital in Philly. I used a pseudonym for him so my father can't find him." She stated. "They also believe I'm his wife." She added.
"You and Ezra Fitz have been seeing one another since he quit Rosewood I assume." Wilden said and Aria felt her breath hitch in her throat.
"Before he started at Rosewood actually. We meet the day before school started." She said, her voice dropping.
"So this is a consensual relationship?" He asked and she nodded. "He's off the hook. You came clean which is what I've wanted. You have the evidence to back up your claims and I know each of you are telling me the truth. I want you all to live your lives. I'm taking this to the DA to get a warrant." He said. "Aria does your father know you know?" He asked her and she shook her head. "Good. I need you to keep it that way." He added and she groaned.
"For how long?" She asked.
"However long it takes. I'm writing each of you a pass for school. Spencer I'm going to go ahead and call your mother to make sure she knows about this conversation." Wilden said handing each of the girls a slip of paper.
They went to school. Though Aria didn't feel safe. She wasn't able to concentrate on the history quiz she had. All she wanted was to be at that hospital with Ezra. She felt Spencer drop something into her pocket as she passed by her. Once Aria sat down in her mother's classroom at the end of the day she pulled out two ID cards. Once for her and Ezra with the names she'd given the hospital.
"Would you like to tell me where you were last night?" Ella asked sitting down at a desk in front of her daughter.
"I was with the girls. I really was. Ezra had something to do." She said dejectedly. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I turned my phone off." She said. She was partially telling the truth. Her phone had actually died and she hadn't charged it.
"Your father said Ezra didn't come into work today." Ella said and Aria immediately looked up. "He said he went to Ezra's and there was no answer." She added.
"Why does he car?" She asked. "He tried to get him fired not long ago." Aria brutally said. "He doesn't give a damn about Ezra and quite frankly I'm starting to wonder if he even gives a damn about me." She hissed.
"Take that back. Your father loves you." She said and Aria just rolled her eyes.
"He sure does a good job of hiding it." She muttered. "Look I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I have homework to do." She said moving to get up but Ella grabbed her arm.
"Why were you at the police station?" She asked.
"We found out some information on Ali's killer. We went to Detective Wilden with it. He's arresting them." She said standing up. She told her mother only what was necessary.
"So this mess is finally over?"
"I think so." She said leaving the classroom. She skipped after lunch again and headed home to change. As she was heading down the stairs her father grabbed her arm.
"Why aren't you in school?" He asked.
"I have an appointment with Dr. Sullivan." She lied. She was on her way to Philadelphia to the hospital to see Ezra.
"Have you talked to him?" Byron asked, disdain and rage in his voice. Aria looked to his eyes and they were dark.
"Nope. You told me I couldn't remember?" She said with a rebellious tone. "Dad, I'm going to be late." She said and his grip on her arm tightened. "Let me go." She said, half screaming.
"I'll take you." He said and she tried not to look alarmed.
"I want you nowhere near me." She hissed yanking her arm out of his grasp. She looked down and there was a bruise all ready starting to form. She jumped when there was a knock at the door. She quickly ran down the stairs.
Once she opened the door she saw to uniform cops and Detective Wilden.