DISCLAIMER: I, sadly, do not own PLL.

Hi Guys!

First of all - a huge THANK YOU to each and everyone of you for making the time to read and/or review the first chapter. Thank you so much for following the story. I can't even express my gratitude and I feel like I don't even deserve this!

And I am SO sorry. I know it took me forever to update. I have to admit – the chapter has been ready for quite some time now. But… I was just freaking out that it's not good enough, and I prolonged the publication out of pure insecurity. There, I said it.

Anywho. Please read, review, fav, do whatever pleases you! Enjoy!

"Right, so let's get started," Spencer said, and handed Emily a sheet of paper she had taken out of her bag. After scanning it quickly, Emily understood. In front of her was their, well – Spencer's - outline of the whole action, including a detailed layout of the DiLaurentis house, Kenneth DiLaurentis's work schedule, and a map with the list of places in which Ali could be possibly seen (along with the specific location of the barn Paige was talking about).

"Wow, you gave it some serious thought, didn't you?" Emily said, a hint of accusation seeping through her voice.

The girls discussed the matter in details. Three of them were talking, that is, and one was unusually quiet, with only a very loud whirlwind of thoughts inside her head.

They agreed Emily should try to be not only their eyes, but also their ears, whenever possible, and every potential outcome was taken into consideration. Every, except - it seemed to Emily – the one in which Alison was not A.

Hanna didn't want to even hear about it, and Spencer was almost as defensive as the rebellious blonde. Aria, in turn, didn't want to oppose, so she was merely shooting Emily sympathetic glances every now and then.

They decided it would be best if Emily wore a new set of clothes – one in which she had never been seen before. It was a grey hooded jacket with some loose black trousers - nothing special, in fact an outfit average enough to go unnoticed. At one point, they even considered Em wearing a mask, but quickly decided against it, figuring they couldn't possibly engage themselves in any A-like actions (which sounded so damn painful to Emily now, considering just who their main "A" suspect was.)

They decided to observe Alison the whole school day and meet after classes to start their "A mission", as Hanna called it, much to Emily's distaste. They went to Spencer's, knowing it would be relatively effortless to observe the DiLaurentis house and Alison's actions from there. It almost felt like yet another sleepover.

Almost.

As far as the DiLaurentis household was concerned, nothing special happened. Ali was presumably texting somebody. She was also on her phone two times, but the calls were rather short. Spencer regretted not having thought of planting a listening device at Ali's, which caused Emily to groan and mumble something under her breath, because couldn't they see that absolutelynothing was happening?

It was only sometime around midnight when things began to change. The girls were half asleep on Spencer's bed, not exactly fulfilling their night watch very well, but Aria woke up for a moment and noticed some movement.

"Guys, wake up! Something's going on!" she half-shouted and the girls all jumped out of bed, clearly panicked.

"Gee, Aria, not so frigging loud," Hanna demanded groggily rubbing her eyes, but looked out of the window nonetheless.

Indeed, something was going on. Alison flang on a black hoodie, took a large torch from the desk and soon the girls saw her sneaking out of the house, carefully looking around with every step.

Hanna sounded almost proud of herself. "See! I told you!"

"We're not sure of anything yet, Han," Spencer nearly snapped, fully aware that such cheerful allegations were the last thing Emily needed right now. "Em, it's time," she added, and Emily took a deep, shaky breath and ran out of the Hastings house as fast as she could, not even bothering to reply to their "Text us whenever you can!", "Remember our code!" and a quieter "Be careful, Em!"

This was it. She felt adrenaline rush in her bloodstream as she started following the hooded blonde, stepping quietly on the granite sidewalk, trying to inhale and exhale slowly to calm herself, and the most painful thing about it was – she had no idea what she was going to find out. She wasn't even sure if she wantedto. Because, for one - hell knew what she was about to experience. But also… no, who was she kidding - mainly because she felt, somewhere deep inside, that it was a very, very wrong thing to do. Or rather – that theywere very wrong about this whole thing. And with every breath Emily took, the walls around her heart were closing up, and the closer she was to knowledge, the more suffocated she felt.

The walk wasn't long, and the goosebumps and an uneasy knotting in the gut of her stomach made Emily realize where Alison – where they – were headed.

Shady Pines Cemetery

She kept her distance as she observed the blonde find a particular gravestone and kneel near it. The realization of what was going on kept creeping down her whole body, sending shivers down her spine and seriously - how could she, what kind of a person was she, following somebody to such a place, consciously and deliberately?

Trying to silence her own distressful thoughts, Emily hid in the nearby bushes as quietly as possible. She knew she could not run away just yet, .

"Mother…" the kneeling figure started, her voice breaking slightly.

"Mother. I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday. I promise I will be visiting you everyday now, as always." She sighed softly and cleared her throat. "I just…I couldn't yesterday."

"See… Emily doesn't trust me anymore. I know. I know, I deserve it. But I did it all to protect her. Protect them."

Emily felt a lump in her throat and blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall. The chilly and oxygen sparse air and the silence surrounding them enabled her to hear the words that Alison was uttering, and there was no way she could un-hear them now.

"I just wish all of this was over and I could tell her everything. And I just…", Alison paused, inhaling sharply.

"I just wish she knew she's my whole world."

"Mo –", she hesitated. "Mom, please help me."

The last words were almost inaudible, but Emily could have sworn she'd heard them resonate loud in her ears, in her brain, sinking in to her very core. Paralyzed, she felt warm trickles streaming down her cheeks, and she didn't want to stop them now, she just didn't. The only thing she wanted to do was hold Alison tight, like she was the only person left in the world, hold her and never, ever let go.

She knew it was time for her to pull out, she did, she knew she shouldn't be listening to this very personal confession, but she had this strange feeling that she needed to be close to Alison in that moment, even if in hiding, just to see if she was safe. But seriously, what had they been thinking? What had she agreed to do? She was suddenly so angry, no – she was livid - for doubting the girl who'd been buried alive by her own mother, who had forgiven this very mother and was confessing to her right now, who had risked everything to save each and every one of them more times than she could count, who…

Her thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt movement. It was Alison, shifting uneasily and looking around, as if in an attempt to find an intruder.

"Hello?" Emily heard her call out in a shaky voice.

It seemed she regained her composure only seconds after, because she stood up and clenched her jaw before speaking. "If that's you, you can come out now and finish what you had started. I'm not scared anymore," Alison stated, not one crack in her voice.

No, no, no. No.

Alison had apparently noticed her in the bushes and now started walking in her direction, torch in her hand. There was no turning back. None whatsoever.