The walk back to Aria's house was a long and silent one. She repeated Spencer's words silently in her head. "Be careful around Jason DiLaurentis" The words sounded so ominous, hearing them again in her head, the way Spencer had paused after she had spoken, looking deep into Aria's eyes. She supposed any clever person would believe Spencer, would trust their best friend over a potential murderer. Though, that was the problem wasn't it? 'Potential'. As far as they knew, Jason hadn't done anything wrong. Hell, he'd been nothing but nice to Aria. Especially with the whole Mike situation...he reassured her, but also gave her room to breathe, which was a rare luxury in Rosewood, where people either avoided you at all costs or they smothered you with concern, tinged with suspicion. Sometimes, a little breathing space was nice, along with genuine concern.

Silently, she crept back into the house, not making any noise as she removed her shoes and placed them softly on the carpet. Next to them were Mike's old, battered running shoes, covered in dried mud. Probably from one of Mike's escapades, Aria thought with a sigh. They were black, with a big red lightening bolt across the side of them, purchased little over a year ago, when Mike was deep in his 'superhero' phase. It seemed strange that something that was once so innocent was now being used to break into people's houses and steal their belongings.

It was amazing how much could change in a year.

Upon arrival in the living room, she found her mother perched nervously on the edge of one of the sofas. She jumped up immediately when she noticed Aria loitering awkwardly in the corner.

"Aria, you're home," Ella Montgomery smiled, giving her daughter a hug. "Sorry to call you away from your studies, but there's something I have to talk to you about,"

Uh oh.

Her arm around her daughter's shoulder, Ella lead them over to the couch and sat them down, tenderly resting one of her hands on her daughter's knees.

"Your father and I know you've had a difficult year, what with Alison, and the problems between me and your dad," She cleared her throat awkwardly. "And this whole situation with Mike recently has shown us just how little we've been paying attention,"

"No, mom, no, that's not your fault..."

"You know what, to a certain extent, I think it is," Ella stated softly, tucking one of Aria's strands of hair behind her ear. "And the events that have happened recently have shown me, especially, that,"

"I told you the fashion show was just some stupid prank, that didn't mean anything!" Aria jumped up nervously from the sofa, staring down at her mom. "There's nothing going on,"

"Aria, I am your mother," Ella's voice took on a more serious tone. "And I can tell when you're nervous, or scared, and quite frankly, you've been on edge for weeks. Everytime you answer your phone you shake a little, as if the thing is about to bite you. You hardly speak to any of your old friends anymore, and the look in your eyes when you saw that someone had tampered with the Alison slideshow..."

"What, mom, what?" Aria almost shouted, her voice becoming somewhat hostile.

"...It was like you were surprised, of course. But as if you had been expecting something like that to happen,"

Aria froze, trying to form some coherent response but all that was coming out of her mouth was jumbled.

"Are you excusing me of something, mom? Are you saying I did that, is that what all this about? Of all the people I thought would accuse me..."

"No, no, Aria, I'm not accusing you of anything," Ella raised her voice slightly, halting her daughter's rant in its tracks. "You're missing the point. But something has been happening these past few months, something that's frightened you. And I think I know what it is...,"

Oh God.

"...Its this whole thing with Ian,"

Aria let out a shaky breath that she hadn't even realized she had been holding.

"I know its scary, sweetheart, that someone we know could have done something like this. Plus, I don't think it helped that none of us believed you, when you all were telling us the truth,"

Aria wasn't quite sure how to respond, so all she gave was a small nod in return. Part of her wanted to confess all, that she was a pawn in someone else's game, that it wasn't Ian she was frightened of, not anymore. That there was someone much more vicious and ruthless out there, someone who had been making her life a misery for months. But the words just couldn't come out, trapped in there by fear, fear that should she or the other girls let anyone know about 'A', the response would most certainly not be pleasant. Besides, her life had become so entangled in secrets, that should the secret about A emerge, no doubt all her other ones would come tumbling out too. And despite how much she wanted to tell her parents about Ezra, the idea of telling her right now, on the living room couch, made the room feel more stifling and claustrophobic than it had before. No, Aria, couldn't tell her now. No.

Whoever said the truth set you free clearly never encountered A.

"So, your dad and I have been discussing it, and we think we need to be more trusting and open with you, to talk to you more,"

"Mom, if you're suggesting we go back to the therapist again..."

"No, and clearly splitting you up was a bad idea. But we do think you need some proper human companionship again, to show you not all of Rosewood's inhabitants are that bad," Her mother gave a nervous laugh. "Which is why your dad and I think its a good idea to reschedule the dinner party,"

"What?" Aria cringed at her mother's words. "But what about Mike, and everything that's happened recently, and..."

"All the more reason to have a nice relaxed evening, with friends, in a comfortable surrounding that you're familiar with,"

"You sound like you're the therapist," Aria grumbled, under her breath.

"Well sometimes," Ella laughed, placing a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "That's what parents are,"

/X/

She really thought she had managed to avoid this.

Yet here she was again, in the same black dress, nervously handing out drinks and appetisers.

"So, Byron, I trust there will be no more unwelcome guests this time around?" Elliot Partha laughed, accepting a drink from his host.

"Oh, trust me, that'll be the last time police will be showing up at our house, I can guarantee that," Byron Montgomery nodded, taking a swig from his glass of wine. If there was one noticeable flaw with her father, in Aria's eyes, despite the whole 'cheating' fiasco, it was his complete inability to accept and deal with a crisis. He had completely swept the whole 'breaking and entering' thing under a rug, as if Mike's promise that he wouldn't do it again would solve everything. But Aria knew most of all that Mike's word didn't mean anything anymore.

They had accumulated more guests this time, with Aria's parents insistence that she needed to be around 'new' people. All that created was more tense situations, with people she didn't know and people she didn't plan on speaking to ever again. She didn't even know how half of these people knew her parents; she had assumed they were all from the university until an awkward encounter with a thirty-ish woman in the hall, who actually lived down the road. That wasn't pleasant.

"Oh I disagree, Elliot!" His wife laughed. "It was plenty excitement last time. What have you planned this time, Byron? A live fire act? A murder where we all have to guess the killer?"

Aria choked slightly at the last part, as everyone else seemed blissfully unaware of her anxieties.

"Nothing like that, just a quiet dinner with friends. Is that too much for a man to ask?" Her dad smiled wryly.

"Well, sometimes in Rosewood, it really is," Elliot laughed. He didn't know just how right he was. "Anyway, Aria, how's life with you?"

Aria opened her mouth to speak, not quite sure how to answer that. She thought 'Sure everything's fine; me and my friends are being stalked by a madman who tried to kill Emily just last week, I've been having a secret affair with my former teacher who is coming to this dinner, and I also have confused feeling about my dead best friend's older brother, who it just so happens is also coming to this dinner party' might be a little too far.

"Aria?" Her mother's stressed voice came out from the kitchen, saving her from her dilemma. "Can you help me with the dishes?"

"I'll be right back," She smiled, turning and hurrying into the kitchen, only to be interrupted by the door bell ringing.

"On second thoughts, can you get that Aria?" Her mother exclaimed, before quickly diving into the oven, to check the chicken wasn't being burnt to a crisp. Aria paused, plastering a fake smile on her face, ready to greet another group of unknown people, and pretend like she was vastly interested in whatever they had to say.

"Good evening, so good of you to come..." She swung open the door, before pausing with realization as she saw who was on the other side, flowers in hand.

"Hello again, Aria,"

A/N: Dot dot dot! Anyhow, hope you enjoy. My apologies for the lack of Jason or Ezra in this chapter, but never the less, they'll be in the next one!