Disclaimer: Pretty Little Liars is not mine.

Chapter 2

Eventually, the old woman from behind the desk walked over to the girls. They all jumped up as soon as they saw her coming, linking arms and bracing themselves. "Mr. Fitz is out of surgery. He's in critical condition, but for now he's relatively stable."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Aria's voice was weak and shaky

"I don't know, honey. You'll have to speak to a doctor about that." The woman hesitated a moment, but then added with a small, almost embarrassed, grin, "Would you like to follow me to his room, Mrs. Fitz?"

Hanna jumped in, "Oh, they aren't married."

"Oh. Because only family is allowed to see him right now, so if you're his wife, I can take you back, but if not, you'll have to wait out here." There was a glimmer in the woman's eye that said she didn't break the rules often, but something about Aria had touched her. Aria took a deep breath and then stepped forward. As they walked down the cold, white hallway, the woman put her arm around Aria's shoulder.

Aria wasn't prepared for what she saw when she entered Ezra's room. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but whatever it was, it wasn't this. There were so many tubes hooked up to his frail, pale body that she couldn't count them all. His face was blocked by a tube going to his nose and it seemed like 50 different machines must have been beeping all at once. She stopped as soon as she entered the doorway.

"Are you okay?" the desk woman asked.

"Can I touch him? Will I hurt him?" Aria refused to move her eyes from his body, afraid something might happen the moment she looked away.

"Be gentle, but its fine." Aria still didn't move towards his bed, so the woman decided to give her some privacy. "I'll be at the front desk if you need me."

Aria surveyed the hallway quickly to make sure no one was around. She was suddenly feeling very self-conscious. She tip-toed into the room, scared to disrupt anything. "Hey," she said as she laid her hand gently on top of his. She felt silly talking and hoped no one could hear her, but she had also heard that sometimes people can hear, even when they aren't really conscious, so she was determined to say what she needed to say. "Um… thank you… for saving us, for saving me. That seems so small and so stupid to say right now. I mean, you took a bullet for me and all I can give you in return is "thank you." She watched his face carefully for any sign that he was hearing what she was saying. Nothing, but she continued on anyway. "I forgive you for the book. How could I not? I love you so much and I'm sorry I told you to leave town. I don't ever want you to leave. Please don't leave me." By this point she had tear streaming down her face, so she quit talking and just pulled up a chair so she could sit and hold his hand.

She became frustrated when time passed but no doctors came to check on him. She reminded herself over and over that they had other patients to attend to and that they knew what they were doing, but that didn't stop her from wishing she was a doctor, just so she wouldn't have to feel so useless. Finally she heard footsteps approaching the room and was getting ready to give the doctor a piece of her mind when Diane Fitzgerald's face appeared in the doorway.

"My baby!" She wailed as Ezra came into view. She dropped to her knees by the side of the bed and started to openly weep. Aria stared at the poor woman, feeling horribly uncomfortable and intrusive. She went to leave the room, but Wesley appeared in the doorway.

"Aria!" He took her in a hug as soon as he saw her and the two embraced, tighter than they had intended, trying to draw strength from each other. "How is he?" He said as he moved from Aria to the foot of his brother's bed.

"I don't know. When they brought me in here they said he was stable but in critical condition. I kept waiting for a doctor to come by, but none have…"

Diane stood up straight, pulling herself together and smoothing her hair. "That is unacceptable. I am going back to that front desk and demanding they direct me to the doctor."

"No, mom." Wesley put his hand out to block her way. "You stay here. I'll find the doctor." His mother nodded and immediately the tears started welling in her eyes again. "Walk with me?" Wesley asked, turning towards Aria.

"Um," she looked back at Ezra in the bed, "yeah. My parents should be here any minute. I'll need to talk to them, so…"

They walked in silence down the hallway, but just before they turned the corner into the waiting room Wesley grabbed her arm. "Did you see it? You saw it happen? Did you see the wound? Did he say anything?" He bombarded her with questions and Aria tried to remember them all.

"Um. I kind of saw it. I saw the fight, but none of us knew he had been shot. I walked over to him and when he turned around, there was blood all over his shirt and… I tried to hold him up but he just went down. And it was bad. The wound… it's bad."

Wesley took a deep breath and shook his head. Then he nodded and rounded the corner. Sitting in the waiting room, Aria saw her parents with the other girls. "Mom!" she ran straight into her mother's warm comforting hug and felt her dad's strong hand rubbing her back. "It was so terrible. You can't even imagine it," she whispered into her mom's neck.

Ella held her back at arm length and looked her up and down, trying to get a feel for how she was doing. "How are you holding up?" she asked, but Aria didn't respond. She just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"How's Ezra?" Emily piped up from behind them.

"No change. At least, not that I can tell." She turned back to her parents and continued, "he looks so small and fragile and weak in that bed with all those machines hooked up to him."

"Aria!" Wesley's head peeked around the corner. "I found the doctor. He's gonna come talk to us."

Aria nodded, "I'll be right there." She looked at the group that was packed in the sitting area. "What are you guys gonna do?"

"We have to go to the police station and tell them what happened, but we'll be right back to check on you guys when we're done," Spencer filled her in.

"Then my mom is coming to drive us home," Hanna sounded like she was asking Aria's permission to leave, so Aria nodded in response.

Ella grabbed Aria's hand and told her, "We'll be waiting right here." With that Aria, headed back to Ezra's room.

Please read and review. Especially if anything seems out of character to you, please let me know. I'm really in a writing mood lately, so hopefully the next chapter will be up either tomorrow or Friday.