-Hey! I was so happy to see that I had readers, and to get my first review so I figured I'd go ahead and post chapter 2. I just finished writing it and hope you all enjoy learning Ashley's secret!

Ashley Marin sat at her desk, leaned in as close as possible. Her stomach tightened with every email she flipped through. Each from a different person. Each made her feel worse and worse. This was unlike the read head. Sure she had used the internet for relationships before but what drove her to this she had no idea. It felt right, and wrong. She was lying to her daughter. "ugh!" she sounded before hitting the delete on her account, sending each flirty Email to the trash.

"Excuse me?" A small voice came from the door across the room from Ashley's desk. "I have an interview for an internship...they sent me back...here" Shelby spoke looking around the room as though trying to decipher if the man up front had pointed her in the right direction or not. 'Great, as if I'm not awkward enough lets add being lost to the equation' the tall young woman thought to herself. Ms. Marin found herself staring at the young girl with a bright smile.

"Shelby?" she asked, having remembered the folder placed on her desk earlier that day for an internship. It wasn't often one could find an attractive young girl looking to intern at a bank so it had to be her.

"Yeah!" The young woman said happily, relieved to know that not only was she not lost but she came to the right place first. "Its nice to meet you" she smiled standing hunched slightly at the door.

"Please come in" The older woman told her. As she made her way to the guest seat on the other side of Ashley's desk, the red head felt her eyes scanning over her. She was cute. Very cute. Her style reminded her some what of her daughter Hanna, and perhaps a bit of Emily too. Who was still living with them, so she got a god sense of Em's clothing and fast. "You look very nice" Ashley complimented.

Shelby blushed instantly. It was one of the things she hated about herself the most. She couldn't just blush. No her whole body would turn red to the tips of her fingers. "Thank you" she smiled downward. At that they began the interview.

Aria and Hanna sat in the kitchen at the Marin house hold. They spoke about the appearance of the new girl Shelby. Obviously, Aria was weary but no where near as Hanna. She would never say it but the blonde had her own suspicions. Suddenly Mona's cousin shows up out of no where, interning for her mother, who was acting pretty strange herself. Something didn't fly with this at all. "Han I'm sure your mom had no idea that Shelby was Mona's cousin." The goth thought, after all she herself didn't know so it was much less likely for one of their parents to be the wiser. "I mean what...do you think your mom has something to do with A?" Aria asked. Not truly believing it.

Hanna stood up fast "No! My mom would never do that to me. Or you...or Spencer and Emily. None of us." she defended her mother.

"Okay, so then what are you worried about?" Aria wondered. Hanna walked over to the counter and leaned over it. what was she worried about. A lot of things. These days A gave her little if nothing at all to not worry about.

The it girl ran her fingers through her hair and held her hand up in an 'I don't know' type manor. "Her, I guess. So what if my mom isn't exactly A it doesn't mean she can't end up a victim. She almost did once before. Remember?" she said referring to the incident where her mother could have landed in federal prison thanks to A. Aria nodded and stood circling the counter to her friend and wrapping her up in a hug. Just then Spencer and Emily walked in with two large paper bags with Chinese writing all over them.

Spencer slowed her step and placed the bag on the counter. Her eyes poured with concern for the hug her and Em just walked in on. "Is everything okay?" Spence asked crossing her arms to avoid the chill blowing directly from the A.C. Hanna opened her mouth to speak but Aria quickly interfered.

"Nothing. Just a lot of things going through our heads about Mona's cousin." She told the others. Spencer smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah I think we all were a little taken off guard. What I can't figure out is why would A care if we got along with her or not unless she has something up her sleeve." Spencer theorized. perhaps being a conspiracy theorist was more of a career option for her than she realized. Spence tapped her finger twice on the counter before beginning to open up the bag.

Emily remained silent as she too began to go through the bag. The others exchanged theories and possibilities. Each painting Shelby out to be a bad guy. Hanna noticed Emily's silence through their talk. "Earth to Em" She shouted. Emily looked from her food up at the three.

"I hear you" She told Hanna quite quickly.

"What are you thinking then? You are kind of staring at your kung pow like its the last of it on earth." Aria said looking down at Em's food that was hardly touched.

"You okay?" Spencer took the calmer approach.

"Yes" she looked down "No" she changed her mind. "I just don't feel like we should be judging anyone. As much as I hate to say it, and I do hate to say it. A is right. We all know what it is like to be on the outside looking in." Emily defended.

Hanna could barely believe her ears "You aren't serious right? what? now we are going to start taking social advice from A? that's like taking Fashion advice from the homeless guy outside of mall!" Aria paid no mind to the comparison. Spencer noticed the oddity of it but quickly ignored it.

Emily looked at the blonde intently, every so often stealing glances at the other two. "Well think of it this way. We judged Toby because he lived with Jenna, We judged Nole because he tried to frame Mr. Fitz!" Aria rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Then Melissa, I think we are so sick of it that now we are just looking for someone to blame." Em continued to defend.

Hanna was frustrated, first her best friend turns into her worst enemy and now Emily is asking her to not be so judgmental. like she had a choice. "We all saw how you acted around her Em, are you sure this has nothing to do with something else?" Hanna accused. Spencer and Aria froze as the room grew silent. Emily's face became flat as she reached for her bag and stood up and turned to the door.

"Hanna!" Spencer scolded. The blonde looked down, for the first time she felt like Ali. "Emily...wait" Hanna ran up behind her friend. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean that" Em knew she did. 'I didn't mean it' is what people say when they are sorry but don't have anything else to blame it on. She had grown used to it. The blonde's apology was excepted.

Emily walked back over to the counter and sat, even quieter than before. Aria cleared her throat to break the silence "So what are we going to do?" she asked.

Spencer froze a moment then smiled. "We do it Hanna's and Emily's way" The brilliant young woman responded.

"What?" Emily asked looking up from her now cold kung pow.

Hanna smiled looking at Spencer "Keep your friends close and your suspected A's even closer." Spencer nodded compliantly.

"Then its done then" Aria smiled "Lets take this party into the living room. The movie is going to start soon" they began to walk one by one from the room. Hanna reached over and grabbed her drink as her phone began to chirp. She froze then reached to the left of her Dr. Pop to pick it up.

-Trying to replace me? Didn't think you had it in you Han. Careful heavy is the head that wears the crown. -A

Hanna closed her eyes and deleted the message. "Coming Han?" Aria called from the next room.

"Be right there" she yelled back before grabbing her pop and joining the rest.

Ashley reached over the desk and extended her hand to her new intern. "I look forward to working with you Shelby" she said in the most sincere of voices. Shelby blushed again as the touch of the older woman's skin gave her butterflies. Ashley was exactly the type Shelby would fall for, but hardly the type that would fall for Shelby. Older, red headed, smart, sweet. As their hands parted Ms. Marin accidentally knocked over a cup of pens. "Damn it" she whispered under her breath.

Shelby held back her smile. Clumsy? that was it. Ashley was the picture perfect woman. However, she would keep her distance. She had learned this lesson before with a woman in her old work place back in Arizona. She wouldn't let herself fall in love again. But a small crush couldn't hurt. 'right?' she wondered. The young woman got down on the floor with Ashley and began to pick up the pens. "Oh yeah, this is going to be a great place to work" she laughed.

Ashley looked up at her with confused expression. "oh? why is that?" she wondered.

Shelby placed the rest of the pens back in the cup that had been holding them and placed them nicely back on Ms. Marin's desk. "Knocking over pens is the least of my clumsiness" Shelby smiled before waving good bye and exiting. Ashley remained on the floor for a moment. A pen or two still remained in her hand as she watched after Shelby. She tried hard to not admit it to herself but she felt something as she touched that young girls hand. This was getting out of control.

Ashley stood up and walked around her desk. She clicked the mouse on the left and recovered her email. A few more clicks and her computer brought her to the page of the dating site she had been using. . Her fascination with the life style happened when Emily moved in. She started to wonder how being with a woman would feel. Soft, gentle. It took one time for Ashley to be hooked. Ms. Marin never saw it coming. She stared at the page for a moment. 34 messages. 12 requests. 46 winks. The red head closed her eyes and felt her heart beating fast as she pictured Shelby walking out of her office. Shelby wasn't a child. She was in college. 'Is she even gay?' she wondered 'if she isn't does it matter? you can't be on this site anymore...you can't keep lying to Hanna' she told herself.

Ashley gave herself the final budge by using her daughter. The mouse scrolled up to the account setting, then down to the deactivation. "Hanna" she whispered. "no more lies" she said as she hit the tab. Suddenly her account was gone. No more messages, requests, or winks. No more late nights at work. Well, as far as she knows. Ashley smiled at the home page of the website that said "Meet girls today! Sign up here!"

"No thank you" she grinned before shutting down her computer completely. The older woman grabbed her cell phone and texted.

-I can't make it tonight. Or ever actually. I'm sorry. Good luck. -Ash

Ashley felt bad for a moment. blowing someone off that way. But after a few moments the sting began to dissipate. She began one last text.

-Coming home tonight after all, save me some Chinese! -Mom

Hanna's phone chirped in her hand as the other girls laughed at Emma Stone in Easy A, Ironic, the only time they want something to do with the letter A. She looked down startled at first. She opened the message expecting to see something like, don't wait up. Instead there was a much more pleasant surprise. The blonde smiled happily. Aria leaned over and whispered. "What is it?"

Hanna replied happily. "My mom will be home soon."

"See I told you it would be okay" Aria grinned as she laid her head on her best friends shoulder before looking back to the TV screen.

-There is a bunch more coming so I hope that you stick with me for a wicked love triangle and lots of dirty little secrets.