February 29th 2020

The graveyard did not bring up happy memories for any of the girls. Too much had happened here; from seeing the video of Ian and Alison at the Kissing Rock, from Emily standing over what was thought to be Alison's grave in the middle of the night.

They all had to be here, though. For Aria.

Bouncing Grace on her hip, Alison let out a sigh. Both she and Emily hated bringing their daughters here, but they had no choice. Pam was in Philly for the day, and plus, it was probably time to take them to see Wayne's and Jessica's graves.

Besides Alison, Emily and the twins, only Hanna and Aria were there. The six of them walked along the path between rows of gravestones, all huddled together under a ceiling of black umbrellas that shielded them from the March rain.


November 28th 2019

Thanksgiving. They were going to eat at Emily's and Alison's, and Spencer had asked to bring Mona. At first, she was sure that her cousin was going to say no. But she'd been surprised; Em and Ali said they'd be delighted to have her, especially since Hanna and Caleb wouldn't be able to make it.

The two women didn't have much of a plan. For now, the idea was for Mona to distract Ezra and Aria, while Spencer used the time to go through his bag.

So there she was, digging through her best friend's husband's jacket pocket, searching for anything, anything at all that could help her and Mona's case.

Carefully, Spencer pulled out all the objects she could find, laying them out in front of her. Mona would soon start a conversation about Ezra's and Aria's favorite writers, meaning that they would be occupied long enough for the brunette to be able to take her time.

There was his wallet. A pair of black leather gloves. His keys. A pocket knife That was it. Spencer took out her phone, capturing every detail of each object in a photo. She opened his wallet, took a picture of the inside, too. There wasn't anything other than the usual in there. A few credit cards. Cash. His I.D. The only thing that stood out was a white slip of paper, neatly folded in half. Cautiously, Spencer opened it.

1/10 was written in neat print.


February 29th 2020

The four women and two girls stood silently in front of the grave.

Hanna comfortingly laid her hand on Aria's shoulder while the smaller girl slowly began to shake.

After a few deep breaths, she finally asked, "Why are we here?"

Funnily enough, no-one could answer her.


November 28th. 2019

Dinner was amazing. Shortly before they had all sat down, Spencer had grabbed Mona to show her the note.

"1/10? What could that mean?" the petite brunette had asked.

"It could be code. Or a date. Did anything significant happen in January 2010?" Spencer replied.

"I don't know." With a sigh, Mona had stuffed the wallet back into the pocket. "Let's worry about that after dinner."

Emily and Alison were beaming about their joint efforts. Only a second later, did the guests find out that there was another reason for their smile.

"We have decided a date for the wedding," Alison announced proudly.

"It will be on January 10th," Emily continued. "We'll have a beautiful winter wedding!"

While Aria and Ezra exploded in a bunch of congratulations and that is so great!'s, Spencer and Mona stared at each other in horror.

They didn't need to say anything to know that they were thinking the same thing.

He is going to ruin the wedding.


February 29th 2020

"I am happy that we decided to come here leap day," Aria whispered. "Because I will remember leap day as the day I visited his grave for the first time. And then I will have to come back, because I couldn't stand not to come, knowing that I came that day exactly the year before."

Emily and Alison glanced at each other, realizing that their friend was starting to ramble.

"And leap year only comes around once every four years. So I'll only think about his grave once every four years." The petite brunette paused. "Once every four years. I can handle that."

It doesn't work that way, Honey, Alison thought, this scene reminding her of Archer Dunhill. Except, Alison had even felt bad about keeping her distance from his grave.

Carefully, Aria took a step forwards, resting her fingers on the carving in the gravestone.

Ezra Fitz. August 21st 1988 - January 11th 2020. That was it. No words, no beloved husband, no dearly missed. His parents had been too ashamed to write a message, Aria had been too shaken up by the betrayal.

Silently, Alison wondered whether she would need to order a tombstone for Spencer, as well.


December 6th 2019

"Mona, what is going on?"

Spencer checked the clock. 5:49 AM. Of course, Spencer had already been up, just about to leave for a morning run, when suddenly the phone had rung.

"Calm down, Mona!" the brunette had spoken into her phone, waiting for the panic on the other end of the line to quiet down. "No tell me, where are you and what happened?"

She could hear the other girl take a deep breath. "I'm at home. I got an A-message."

"I'm on my way," Spencer told her as she stepped out of the door.

Ten minutes later, Spencer sat on a stool in Mona's apartment, staring at a doormat lying on the kitchen counter in front of them.

The message was printed in red letters on it.

Happy St. Nicholas Day. Back off. I've made you loser Mona before, and I will do it again. -A

"He is going to frame me," Mona whispered from the stool next to hers, the fear written across her face surprising Spencer. Her fists clenched as she realized that Ezra was using Mona's greatest fear, and her motive to become the original A, against her. "He is going to make them hate me, he is going to make me lose my only friends. He will make me lose you."

"You will never lose me," Spencer reassured the other girl, resting her hand on her shoulder.

"A is talented at driving people apart," the smaller of the two retorted, looking up at her with large eyes, so beautiful that Spencer had no clue how she had never noticed them before.

Spencer leaned over, so that their faces almost touched. "This A is sloppy. Otherwise we wouldn't have figured him out by now. And." They were even closer now. "I will always stand up for you. Like I should have in high school."

Mona reached out her hand, pulling Spencer's head towards hers, so that their lips collided in the most magical way. Only then did she realize how long she's been waiting for this.


February 29th 2020

Alison stifled a groan as she recognized a familiar figure leaning on a tree a little distance away, unnoticed by the other girls.

"Excuse me for a moment," the blonde whispered into her wife's ear as she slowly separated herself from the group.

"Mona," she hissed. "What the heck are you doing here?"

The other girl just shrugged, which annoyed Alison even more.

"The guy literally held a knife to your throat," the teacher continued pressing, addressing a faint scar on the Hawaiian's neck. "There is a reason we didn't invite you to come. Are you trying to make this difficult for Aria?"

There was a moment of silence, until Mona said,"I just wanted to see it. He is dead because of me."

"You're not the one who killed him," Alison replied.

"I might as well have been."