Wow. Thank you so much for the reviews. You guys are rocking :)

This is a dialogue heavy chapter, but it is really the starting point for this web of a story I have mapped out. Time to find out why Spencer was alone in the woods!


A peel of laughter rang out from across the room and Toby couldn't help but join her. While nothing about the last few hours had been particularly funny to him, he knew she was trying to shake off the gloom that was threatening to drag her under. Too bad he was going to make her confess it all before she had a chance to burry it.

"Honestly, Toby! I'm wearing two pairs of socks, I'm drowning in a set of your sweats, and you can't possibly own another blanket. Just come to bed!"

He shook his head. "I'm pretty sure there's another old quilt somewhere …maybe I should double check the closet?"

Spencer's famed eye roll melted him at the core. "I'm going to wake up in an hour with a heatstroke. Is that what you want?"

"Yes, then I'd have surefire proof that you're warm enough. Maybe a third pair of socks would help…"

A pillow sailed toward him with pinpointed accuracy, but he skillfully dodged it. "Fine, fine, I'm coming! Hold on, woman." He turned around to double check the locks at the front of the loft, switching off the last of the lights on his way back to his feisty girlfriend. Yet upon his return, Spencer laid stock still with glassy eyes glued to the ceiling. He had been gone for less than thirty seconds, but her entire demeanor had dimmed in his absence.

"Spence? What is it?" He slipped into the sheets and propped an arm under his head as he studied her.

Her coffee-tinted eyes continued to trace the beams above. "I was supposed to be studying tonight."

"I know. I was sternly instructed to make alternative plans, remember?"

A grin twisted its way over her mouth at his intended shot of humor. "And I appreciated your cooperation. But…" His heart plummeted as her eyes grew darker and her voice thinned. "As per usual, I was interrupted."

He absently ran a hand through her drying hair. "Let me guess. Text message?"

"Yeah, but surprisingly not from -A. It was Em asking if I knew Melissa was back in town. She swore up and down that she saw my sister in a rental car coming down the interstate between Philly and Rosewood."

Toby's hand froze. "Melissa? I thought she was interning in London or something."

"Yeah. Or something." Her cynicism wasn't lost on him. "Emily wasn't sure if Melissa flew home to visit or something and she didn't want to blow it out of proportion, so she texted me to see if I knew she was here…if it was a family thing, or someone's birthday…or if it was something else."

He waited in silence, knowing that she needed to work at her own pace on this one.

"I called my mom, asked her if she'd talked to Melissa lately. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary, Melissa says London is wonderful and she'll try to make it home for my graduation in May. In May!" Spencer pressed her palms to her eyes. "For once I wish I could just believe one thing that comes out of that conniving mouth of hers."

"She's here then? You saw her?"

A mirthless chuckle sounded from behind the veil of her hands. "Yep. In the freaking flesh. I baited her— locked up, faked a trip to Aria's house, parked my car and everything. But then I cut through a bunch of backyards and slipped back in through the side door. I knew if I waited her out for long enough, she'd slink into the barn when she assumed no one would be home."

"That's a bold move, just dropping in like that." His arm collapsed over her flat abdomen, pulling her nearer.

"That's my sister. Insatiable sense of entitlement from the time she hit pre-K." Her hands fell away from her face as she nuzzled her legs into a web with his.

He watched her attentively, afraid of the heavy toll the evening had taken on her frame of mind. "And how did this stakeout move from the house to the woods?"

"Well she waited till dusk to slip out, and then went off on foot toward the DiLaurentis house. I didn't want to lose her, but I wasn't sure if she was meeting someone there or if she was headed to wherever she stashed the car…"

"What, you thought she flew back from Europe to join Mrs. D's sowing circle?" He smirked at her with narrow eyes, but inwardly he was steeling himself for the worst.

Spencer swatted at his side impatiently. "No, but we know someone was bunking in that basement—CeCe, Ali, or someone else with an affinity for the red trench look. But either way, a lot has gone down in that house…and in that yard. So I threw on some dark clothes and took off down the sidewalk, knowing she would stick to the back way. Sure enough, I could hear her whispering to someone on the other side of that godforsaken gazebo."

Swallowing slowly, Toby tried to shut out his irksome protective impulse; it had already happened, so there was no sense blowing up on her now. "You didn't see who she was with?"

"No, definitely a female voice, but it was too muffled. Melissa, on the other hand, was just peeved enough to raise her voice a few times. I still couldn't make out much of what was being said, so I decided to switch gears and make better use of my situation."

He arched a suspicious brow. "Meaning?"

A devious grin painted itself across her face. "Meaning I took a peek around and found a rental car parked on the side street."

It was his turn to cover his eyes with a frightful hand. "Please, please, don't say you got in the trunk or crouched in the backseat."

"Oh, come on Tobes, you know I'm slyer than that." She pried his hand away and held it in both of hers. "The trunk was unlocked, but I didn't climb in—I hid my iPod under a loose part of the carpet."

His confusion must have been scribbled plainly in his eyes, because she quickly jumped back in when he didn't respond. "I have an app that tracks lost devices. As soon as Melissa and her little cohort took off again, I could follow their route on my phone."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too smart for your own good?"

He inwardly smiled at the brightness that flashed in the depths of her chocolate orbs. "Yes, and I've never thought that expression made any sense. Of course it's for my own good."

"Hmm. I tend to disagree." He left a delicate kiss on her upturned nose.

"I'm choosing to ignore you. So as soon as they left, I called a cab—"

"A cab?" His eyes widened in horror. "Spencer, we live in Rosewood. We don't have cabs, we have one ratty, flea-infested, sorry excuse for a taxi company that's run out of a seedy halfway house! Why didn't you call me or at least one of the girls?"

She was quiet for a long moment before replying. "Because I was determined to go and I wasn't about to spend 15 minutes convincing you or anyone else that it was a good idea."

"It wasn't a good idea! How many more disasters will you weather before you learn that lesson!?"

He instantly regretted the harshness in his tone. Her face stiffened as she sat up against the headboard and distanced herself from his hold. "This is more than A to me, okay, this is my family. I shouldn't have to justify that to you."

"I'm sorry, Spence. I get that, I really do." He mirrored her position, sitting up and angling his body toward hers. "It's just…sometimes I wish you weren't quite so fearless. It could have been a trap. I don't like the idea of you being out there alone…again. Not when you don't have to be."

Her posture softened and she brushed her fingers reassuringly across his cheek. "You're right. I know you are. I'm just too stubborn to admit it usually."

"Don't I know it?" He scattered a few kisses over the crown of her head. "Alright, please continue. I'll try to be quieter."

She cocked a mischievous eyebrow. "We'll see how long that lasts. The 'ratty, flea-infested' cab came in less than five minutes and I told my toothless chauffer to head west toward the old train station…I'm pretty sure he thought I was out of my mind, but I told him I'd pay double the rate if he'd speed."

"Spencer!"

"Ah, ah, ah, you said you'd be quiet!" She put a fingertip to his lips with a triumphant grin. "Money talks, Cavanaugh. The GPS tracker had stopped moving by the time we hit the city limits, so I had him drop me off on the outskirts of that trailer park where Mona's RV used to be. By the time I pushed through a half mile of foliage and found them, there were two more people in the mix."

His hand circled her wrist and drew it to his chest, his fingers intertwining with hers. "Two? Please say you recognized them."

A defeated exhale blew out of her. "Only one of them…they were all huddled close together and it was so dark out there…"

"AND? You're killing me here, Spence!" His hand squeezed hers reflexively.

"I doubt you'll be surprised…"


Slight cliffhanger! Keep the reviews coming or -A will be after you...

but not really.