Chapter 4
A/N: Hey guys, I'm back at it again. I just wanted to clear something up before you start reading this chapter. I assume if you've clicked on this, you've read or at least seen the description. It perfectly explains that it is about Mary and Spencer. So to those of you commenting that I should have less Mary and more of the ships, go ahead and reread the description again. If you have a problem with what I write, don't read my stories. Anyway, for those of you sticking around... ENJOY!
Alison's eyes peeked open a little at first, then all at once, and a dull scheme of color and bright light met her. When she sat up and looked around, she realized she had been asleep in Emily's arms. Unfortunately not in a bed, in a hospital waiting room chair, but she'd take what she could get.
She looked across from her and saw Hanna still sound asleep, snoring away, and a nurse still watching them with displeasure. She also saw Aria, furiously texting someone she assumed to be Ezra. Then she looked next to her and saw her mermaid, fast asleep, with a smile on her face. All was right with the world when she saw that bright and beautiful smile.
She stood up and walked over to Aria, "How's the Nicole situation?"
"Not great. Ezra's trying to deny a lot of things, that I wish he would just admit to." Aria said with a sigh, "Like kissing Nicole on national television. I get why he did it, it was overwhelming, a thrill in the moment, but the fact that he's denying it?"
Alison sat back in the chair, thinking for a moment, "If I were you, I would just put my phone down and give him the silent treatment. The fact that he's not here, giving you support during all of this, means you shouldn't waste your breath. Let him go run off and be happy with Nicole if that's what he really wants to do." She smirked to herself for a moment, "You could do so much better anyway."
"Like your brother?" Aria questioned, causing Alison to nearly spit out the water she had just gone to swallow.
"I didn't realize you two, liked each other like that." Alison replied vaguely, unwilling to bring up the rather awkward family dinner the two had with Mary and Jason. It just seemed like an easily avoided topic.
"We kind of slept together." Aria admitted sheepishly.
"How do two people 'kind of sleep together'?" Alison questioned, raising her eyebrows at her friend.
Aria shifted in her chair, uncomfortable talking about the past between her and Jason. "Have you heard from Mary?" She offered, changing the subject.
"You changed the topic to Mary? You must really want to avoid relationship talk." Alison chuckled to herself, and Aria shot her a look.
"It's not that, even though I can't stand the woman, I still think Veronica was kind of harsh." Aria explained, thinking back to the fight which had ensued, and the ugly ending in which Veronica had Mary forcibly removed from the hospital.
"I haven't heard from her in hours. She's probably at home crying her eyes out, and emptying my liquor cabinets." She said, joking at first but then realizing what she said had a cold hint of truth to it.
"I don't think anyone's ever told her she has a drinking problem." Alison said, turning to a more serious side of this. Whenever her aunt was feeling upset, she turned to alcohol instead of actual help. Granted, Mary had never received any real help from anyone, doctors and nurses only ever shoved pills down her throat to cure her depression. That was another thing Alison vowed she would do, get her aunt real help, from real doctors, and not the people at Welby or Radley. She deserved that, if anything, she deserved to finally be happy again.
"I'm sure she's fine, I wouldn't worry." Aria said reassuring her, as though she could detect the hint of uncertainty Alison was feeling.
"Ali?" Came Emily's groggy voice into the conversation. She sat up and stretched her arms and legs out, before letting out a yawn. Hanna was woken up by this, and proceeded to hit Emily in the face with her jacket, which she had been using as a blanket.
"Not cool, Han." Emily said, letting out another huge yawn.
"What's 'not cool' is you waking me up!" Hanna groaned back, she obviously had not gotten as great a sleep as any of the others. She sounded just as alert and cranky as she had the hours before they fell asleep.
"You guys, we really should talk about this whole mess. I mean, now that Mary is gone we can finally get to theorizing on this." Aria said, interrupting the play fight about to ensue between the two restless women.
"Theorize on what? Noel is dead." Hanna said groggily, now sitting up from the position she had just been in.
"What about Jenna?" Aria retorted.
"Hopefully she's as far as Timbuktu by now." Hanna snorted.
"Don't be ridiculous Han, Jenna seems more of an Alaska type of girl." Aria said, Hanna couldn't help but chuckle. Alison rolled her eyes at her friends, but she secretly loved that they could keep high spirits in such a time.
"Hanna's right though, A could be gone. We haven't gotten a text since Spencer got shot." Emily said, turning to see what Alison thought on the matter.
buzz buzz
"Damn it." Emily swore under her breath. The girls all sighed and looked to their phones.
Careful what you wish for bitches
-A
Alison was about to agree to their misfortune, and then she grew worried. Was it really safe to have sent Mary home, and after the text she had supposedly gotten earlier? The one she said had been 'just an email'. What if she had been lying? What if it was actually an A text and she had been trying to keep the girls safe. Suddenly, Alison regretted not mentioning it earlier.
She began telling the girls of what had happened, and they all quickly realized they were too quick to trust Mary on her word.
"But what could she possibly of gotten a text about, unless she was on the A team?" Aria asked, thinking about what problems Mary could've gotten mixed up in.
"I don't know exactly, but I intend to find out." Alison said, standing up from her seat and almost falling because her feet had fallen asleep.
"Hold up." Emily said, standing up to stop her. "You can't leave now, we need you here."
"I have to Em, you know I do." Alison said, before pulling Emily into her lips. She remembered earlier, when all of this had been only a dream. Now, everything she ever knew and felt was at risk.
Hanna looked between the two, then to Aria, "Looks like my couple is already together." She winked at her friend, who looked exasperated that she was winning.
"You had a significant advantage." Aria hit her friend in the arm, "They were already together when we started the competition."
"Don't hate the player, hate the game." Hanna said with a wink. Aria moved to say something, but Hanna stopped her upon noticing they had a new onlooker.
"Seems that you two have been making yourselves busy while the adults are taking care of things." Veronica said, interrupting the witty banter between the two, and the kiss between the other two. This caused Aria and Hanna to realize why Alison had been so apprehensive earlier. It was because of Veronica, she wore the word 'homophobe' proudly on her sleeve.
The girls turned to see the look of disapproval and disgust on Veronica's face. Hanna suddenly became enraged at the older woman, her friends didn't deserve that judgement.
"Seems that the adults don't know how to act like adults." Hanna shot back suddenly, letting her rage out, "Considering you kicked your problem out instead of facing her." She said referring to Mary.
None of the girls said anything, but Alison and Emily were grateful for the words Hanna offered. Veronica just looked shocked that she was spoken against in such a way. She scoffed and looked to the others, "You're changing the subject, Hanna, this isn't about that-"
"Really? Because I thought the subject, was Mary and Spencer? Unless, it's actually about your problem with Emily and Alison, because I could be mistaken." Hanna spoke up even louder now, preparing to wage full on war with the woman if needed. She couldn't stand or tolerate people that acted like the Hasting's woman did.
Veronica opened her mouth to speak but she stopped when Emily continued the fight. "I saw, how you reacted to Alison coming out. You couldn't even look her in the face." Emily said with rage, looking from Veronica to her girlfriend. "Well guess what Veronica, I love Alison Dilaurentis, and you're just going to have to deal with that."
The woman looked between the two, her mouth wide open. Aria finished her off, now raising her small voice, "Take a hike Veronica, and take your homophobic comments with you."
The woman scoffed, and slipped on her coat. "I'm going home, do call me if Spencer wakes up."
"Don't worry, you'll be last on my list." Alison promised, "Homophobic piece of shit." She said the last part a little quieter.
Hanna stuck her tongue out at the woman as she turned to walk out the hospital doors. Emily just shook her head, "The last stand of Veronica Hastings."
When the waiting room faded to silence, no one knew what to say. In a sense, this was the calm after the storm.
"I think we kind of always knew you and Emily would end up together." Aria admitted finally, looking to Alison who was still grateful beyond words for her friends.
"I still beat you Aria, I got Emily and Alison together before you got Toby and Spencer together." Hanna said, a victorious smile on her face.
"You had nothing to do with them getting together, they did it on their own. Plus, Spencer is in a coma so you already had an unfair advantage." Aria pointed out, not willing to lose without a fight.
Alison chuckled at the girls' comments and grabbed her belongings from the hospital chair, still preparing to head home. She had to see Mary, she had to know she was okay. She also had to ask her some questions, about Jessica's murder. Mary had information, she intended to find out the truth, finally.
"We're doing this again? Ali, you can't go home, it's not safe yet." Emily protested again, standing up to stop her. The girls had to stick together, now more than ever.
"Nonsense, you three will be fine. I'm just going home to make sure Mary hasn't drank herself into a stupor." Alison tried to reason with her girlfriend, having made up her mind completely.
"You can go, but I'm coming with you." Emily said, slipping on her own coat. "No way I'm letting you be alone, even with a depressed Mary."
"What about Hanna and I? What are we supposed to do here?" Aria interjected, looking to her friend and back to Emily. She wasn't exactly looking forward to sitting in the hospital any longer herself.
"You two should go home as well. Get some rest, take a shower, change your clothes." Emily said. She knew that she wanted to do the same thing, but Alison was more important currently.
"Well, I'm not complaining about that." Hanna said, she grabbed her coffee and headed out the door without another word. A hot shower and some fresh clothes awaited the girl, and she didn't want to wait a minute longer.
"I guess I'll go talk to Ezra." Aria said with a shrug, "I knew it'd have to happen eventually."
She settled on this, and followed Hanna out the door. This left Emily and Alison standing alone in the waiting room. They looked at each other for the moment, the last couple of hours had changed their world completely.
"What now?" Alison asked. Emily wasn't sure if she meant what now for their relationship, or what now for the current situation.
"Well, let's go home and get some answers from Mary." Emily said, taking Alison's hand and walking out of the hospital. She felt proud to be publicly displaying her love for Alison, the love she had always felt.
When they arrived in front of the Dilaurentis house, Alison braced herself for the condition she might find Mary in. She inhaled deeply, and closed her eyes, wishing her life hadn't come to this.
Emily squeezed her hand, "You're going to be fine, Mary is going to be fine, Spencer is going to be fine. We're all going to be okay, eventually, but I'll stand by you through everything."
Alison exhaled at Emily's words, "Thank you, Em. You've always been there for me, and I don't think I've ever said thank you."
Emily laughed, "You've said thank you more times than you know Ali."
With that, the two walked into the house. Instead of finding Mary in a drunken and miserable state, Alison and Emily didn't find Mary at all. She wasn't in the house, at least as far as they could see.
"Aunt Mary? I'm home!" Alison yelled, fear of what might've happened dawning on her.
"Mary, are you here?" Emily shouted through the house. She grew concerned when no response came.
"Stay here, I'll go check the other rooms." Emily decided finally, she wasn't about to let Alison get hurt. She moved into the guest bedroom where Mary had been staying, but found no sign of her. She then checked the basement and attic, but still no Mary.
When she came back to Alison's side, "Maybe she just-" Emily paused, thinking of a possible explanation. "Maybe she went on one of those walks you said she likes."
Alison wasn't convinced, Emily didn't even sound convinced at her own words. Mary wouldn't go out after what had just happened, it wasn't like her. Something was wrong, it had to be, the feeling of fear now coming back to Alison.
"I just hope she's not doing anything stupid, like trying to kill herself." Alison said, immediately regretting the words as soon as she said them. Tears trickled in her eyes, and Emily pulled her into a hug. "I can't lose another family member, I can't lose her too."
"I don't see Mary killing herself, she's smarter than that." Emily sighed, forcing Alison to sit down on the couch. "I think we should just relax and maybe change out of our clothes, and eventually she'll come home." Emily said, still trying to calm Alison while remaining calm herself. It wasn't that hard to believe that something might've happened to Mary, but Emily tried to stay positive. If not to herself, at least to Alison.
"I guess you're right, I should go change." Alison got up to move, but stopped when she heard the front door open. The girls both turned, and saw Mary walking in, tears in her eyes.
Mary looked at the two curiously, she obviously wasn't expecting to see them in the house when she returned. Alison practically leaped into her aunt's arms, just happy to see that she was alive and well was enough cause for a hug. Mary was surprised at the girl's actions, and cautiously hugged her back.
"Aunt Mary, I was so worried. I thought something horrible happened to you." Alison said, still not wanting to let go of her aunt.
Mary pulled away from the hug, "Don't be silly Alison, I'm fine." Alison was shocked that her aunt was giving her the cold shoulder, she had expected the woman to want a shoulder to cry on, especially now.
Mary was, in fact, touched that her niece cared so much. But, she didn't appreciate the sudden want for hugs and emotion. This was one of her weakest moments, she didn't want the two to see her in such a state.
"Where were you?" Emily asked, also noting the hostility, "We came home, and we couldn't find you."
Mary sighed, "To be completely honest, I was crying in my car for a good hour. Then I went back to the Lost Woods before stopping home." Mary looked at Emily now, "I'm sorry I worried you two."
Alison noticed that Mary seemed significantly less broken up over this than she might've thought. She loved her aunt, and she wanted her to be okay, so she wasn't complaining.
"I came home with Alison because I didn't want her to be alone this close to the accident." Emily explained, looking to Alison who was grateful for her presence.
"You're family now Emily, you don't have to explain yourself." Mary said, as if the conversation was the most ridiculous one she'd ever heard.
Alison moved to go change her clothes, noticing Mary had already changed. She knew how much the older woman despised having any memory of Spencer's accident. She watched as her aunt moved around the kitchen humming, a strange way to deal with grief, yet Alison wouldn't argue.
It was Emily who noticed something odd with this. Mary had moved all of her clothes to this house already, how would she have changed? "Mary, didn't you say you went to the Lost Woods before you stopped home?" She expressed her thought aloud.
"Yes dear, why?" Mary responded, looking to Emily with concern. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. I just, I'm a little on edge still." Emily came up with her excuse quickly. Alison came back from her room after changing and stood next to her girlfriend.
"I'm going to go home. A little sleep might go a long way for me." Emily explained to her girlfriend. "Call me later, and stay safe, okay?"
"I will Em, I love you." She looked from Mary to Emily, and left a shy kiss on her girlfriends lips. Emily pulled her into a hug and whispered softly into her ear, "Something's wrong with her, find out as much as you can."
Emily left her girlfriend in the house, reluctantly, that is. It wasn't her proudest moment, but she hoped Alison would spot the red flags she noticed too. Nothing would've been accomplished if she had stayed with the two.
Alison went and sat down next to her aunt. "Are you okay Aunt Mary? You can tell me honestly, you know you can."
Mary sighed, looking away from Alison for a moment. "I just hate that, Spencer's laying there, and I'm sitting here." After a moment, "I would give anything to trade places with her."
Alison nodded, "I get that. I haven't given birth to my child yet, but I still feel a connection to it, like I would do anything to protect it." Mary's eyes widened at this, Alison immediately regretted bringing it up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit too close to home on that one." Alison said, looking to her broken aunt once again.
"No, it's fine. I just hate, expressing emotion. I always keep everything bottled up, it's easier that way." Mary tried to explain, she never was good at explaining things.
"Like your hatred for Jessica?" Alison began, this sparked another reaction from Mary.
"Yes, like that." She said coldly, looking away now. It was hard to talk about the woman, especially in front of her daughter.
All the time Mary was talking, Alison thought about how much her mother had hurt her aunt. In what ways, she didn't know yet, but she imagined it a horrible fate. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not naming her Jessica anymore." She said, referring to her stomach.
"Do you know if it's a she yet?" Mary asked, still curious about the baby.
"No. Nothing new since I told you five hours ago in the hospital." Alison said with a laugh towards her absent minded aunt.
"You just sounded so sure it was a she.." Mary trailed off, "Why are you changing your mind now? Don't let me affect what you name your child."
Alison felt ashamed of what she had to admit. She owed her aunt an explanation though, "I was originally naming her because I wanted a memory of Jessica. After our chat in the hospital, I realized all the memories I had of my mother were horrible ones." She sighed, "I don't want to look at my child and see my mother. My biggest fear is that I'm going to turn out to be like my mother, I don't want that."
Mary realized that the young woman was crying now, "You won't turn out to be like her, trust me. You've already got your life somewhat on track, and I won't let anyone derail you."
Alison sniffled, "She made me what I was, that little selfish brat of a teenager. I like to think I've grown, that I've changed, but sometimes I think I'm still that girl."
Mary looked her in the eyes, causing a chill to run down her spine. "I was wrong, when I thought you were the devil spawn. You are the kindest woman I've ever met, and I don't see any of Jessica in you." She put her hand in Alison's, "You are your own person, I wouldn't worry about that."
"Thank you, Aunt Mary." Alison said, wiping her tears. "You really know how to give good advice."
Mary chuckled to herself, "You know, I've been told that before."
"Mary, I have to ask you something, and I need you to answer honestly. I won't be mad, I won't even judge you, I just need an honest answer." Alison said, not sure how she could possibly be asking this. Mary realized her niece was serious, it was the first time she hadn't called her 'Aunt Mary'. "Did you kill my mother?"
This elicited a sound from Mary that was a mixture of a snort and an exasperated sigh. "No, I didn't kill Jessica." This caused Alison to sigh in relief, "To be honest, I thought about doing it for years. All those years I was in London, plotting my revenge." She looked away, a look of regret in her eyes, "Then when I came back, she was already dead. I realized then, my plot for revenge had been petty and childish. I shifted my focus to finding my children, look how far that got me."
"You got an A text." Alison began, moving to get more answers from her aunt, "In the hospital. You told me it was just an email, I know it wasn't that."
"You're right, it wasn't." Mary said cautiously, she still knew she couldn't confess everything.
"So, what was it about?" Alison said, trying to get her to come clean. "You're not- working with AD still?"
Mary felt slightly offended, she thought Alison trusted her more than that. "I can tell you I'm not working with AD, but the text-" she trailed off, deciding what she would do.
Alison was intrigued now, "I don't want to get you in danger, if you can't tell me."
"You remember, I told you that I knew Marion Cavanaugh." Mary started cautiously, looking like she might break at the seams. "I also know who murdered her." She managed to get out finally.
"I do too, it was Bethany. She framed Charlotte for it, Charlotte confessed everything." Alison said, sighing in relief that it's all the text was.
Mary shook her head, still looking grim. "That's not what happened, it's what the two girls were taught to say.
Realization dawned on Alison now, "They were covering for someone, but who?" Mary was now trying desperately to wipe her tears.
"I can't tell you, it'll get us all killed." She tried to explain, "I wish I could've saved Marion, I really do. But it's not too late to save everyone else.." Mary trailed off now.
"Do you know who AD is?" Alison asked, the way Mary was talking, it almost sounded like-
"No, I wish I did." She said, still tearing up, "I'll tell you all I know when it's safe, I promise."
Alison wanted badly to find out more from her aunt, now that she knew more information was to be told. However, she trusted Mary when she said that it wasn't safe yet. She knew she could trust her aunt, and that she would be in the clear in due time.
Mary however, was slightly more concerned than Alison was. She couldn't hide these secrets for long, not with the danger of a higher power looming. Eventually, she would slip up, and then they'd all have to pay, with their lives.
"I'm going to go out on a walk, it helps clear my mind when I'm overly emotional." Mary explained, "Will you be alright here on your own?"
Alison sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine." She felt the opposite however. The whole point of Emily going home was that Mary could watch and take care of her. Now Mary was leaving her to go off to wherever.
Mary bid a final goodbye before walking out the door. She couldn't help but wonder why Alison had let her go, and why she had believed her so quickly. Maybe, just maybe, this whole thing would be easier than she thought.
A/N: I'm sorry that was such a filler chapter, but, it was necessary in order to progress the story. Don't worry, I have a plan ;)
