Hanna quietly snuck into her mother's office and pulled up the security program that captured all of the footage from the night that Charlotte was killed. She thought she had heard someone slip out of the hotel room, shortly after she closed her eyes but never got up to check.
Maybe she was being paranoid, but she had to know. She may have just imagined it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Aria was hiding something. At the end of the day, Hanna knew it was risky, but she knew the security footage would reveal the truth. Aria hadn't mentioned anything that morning when they learned of Charlotte's death, but she also fled fairly quickly and disappeared for a few hours.
Hanna queued the program up to the night in question and fast forwarded the lobby footage until she saw Aria getting off the elevator and meeting with Ezra.
Of course, Hanna should have known. Who else would Aria risk everything for? Even if they were high school—well, one of them was in high school— sweethearts. Hanna understood though how far someone would go to protect someone they once loved.
Aria and Ezra both left the hotel shortly after 2 AM and Aria finally returned, alone, just after 3 AM. The coroner put the time of death between 3:30-5 AM, so Aria was in the clear, so what was she hiding?
Regardless, Aria hadn't mentioned this late night meeting to the other girls or to the police when they were questioned, so there was something that she didn't want anyone to know. Without thinking, Hanna hit delete on the screen and erased the entire security feed from midnight until noon the next day, before signing out of the program, locking the office, and returning home as if nothing had happened.
The next morning Hanna decided that she needed to talk to Aria about what was on the tape. She texted Spencer and Emily to meet her at Aria's house, but Spencer never responded or showed up. Hanna and Emily sat on the window seat awkwardly next to each other. Hanna broached the subject of her late night rendezvous with Ezra, surprising both Emily and Aria.
Aria eventually confessed to meeting with Ezra that night, not that she could deny it at that point. Hanna and Emily listened to her story and she said how he had just gone home afterwards and could in no way be responsible, but that she would talk to him about it. Hanna remained suspicious, but the conversation was cut short when Liam, Aria's boyfriend, Facetimed her.
Emily's phone went off and she excused herself from the room. Hanna waited until Aria finished with Liam before pushing the issue further. Eventually, she made Aria promise to go to see Ezra that afternoon. Happy that she got what she came for, Hanna decided to leave and try to check-in on Spencer who hadn't responded to any texts since the night before.
As Hanna walked out of Aria's bedroom and down the hall to the stairs, she noticed that the bathroom door was partially open. She wasn't trying to pry, but she saw Emily in the bathroom. Hanna was briefly distracted by Emily's exposed skin, but she quickly focused when she noticed that she was injecting a syringe into her upper thigh. And suddenly everything Hanna thought she knew came crashing down around her. A million fears ran through her mind.
Was Emily sick? What was going on? Why hadn't she told her?
She was overwhelmed by the sudden wave of emotion that coursed through her. She wasn't prepared to lose Emily. She was only starting to become a part of her life again and she couldn't ignore how great that felt. She cared strongly for Emily and needed her in her life.
As Emily finished the injection, she turned towards the sink and bumped into the door handle, causing the door to close the rest of the way and effectively snapping Hanna from her rambling thoughts. Hanna didn't know what to do, but she knew she had to talk to Emily. She knew couldn't leave without knowing what was going on, so she went downstairs and waited for Emily. She was so preoccupied with her racing thoughts, that she didn't notice how badly her hands were shaking.
A few minutes later, Emily came down the stairs to find Hanna sitting in the living room with a concerned looked. Hanna pushed herself from her chair and moved toward Emily trying to contain the tremble in her voice.
"Hey… Are you getting out of here" Hanna asked, willing the tears that were close to forming, from filling her eyes and trying to keep her resolve.
"Yeah... That was just my coach, he needed something." Emily lied.
"Emily, I saw you in the bathroom…" Hanna replied sounding hurt by Emily's lie.
"Uh, I don't what you mean" Emily stood there for a second, unsure of what else to say. She crossed her arms across her chest and avoided Hanna's eyes.
"Em, it's me." Hanna said softly, trying to convey in one look how much Emily meant to her. After a long pause, Hanna exhaled deeply and asked the question she was terrified might be true. "Are you sick?"
"No, I'm broke." Emily eventually confessed, knowing that she had to tell Hanna the truth. She hated admitting this to Hanna.
"What about the sponsorships and the Olympics?" Hanna asked, clearly confused.
"It's not real, none of it." Emily responded softly. She was looking at Hanna now, knowing she couldn't keep running from this conversation.
"What's going on?" Hanna asked, not wanting to believe that Emily had been lying to all of them for years.
"The last couple years have just been a lot harder than I made the sound. After my dad died, I lost my scholarship, dropped out of school, and lost my spot on the Olympic team. Without the sponsorships, I blew through my father's money. That's why when one of the other bartenders told me about it…" Emily trailed off, not sure how to have this conversation with anyone. Especially, not Hanna.
"Told you about what?" Hanna interrupted, still trying to take in everything Emily was telling her.
"Donating my eggs." Emily explained, barely being able to look at Hanna as she said the words.
"Wait, that's what the injections are for?" Hanna asked quietly.
"You have to take a lot of hormones before the procedure" Emily replied softly.
"Em, you don't have to do this. I'll lend you the money." Hanna offered, trying to ignore the empty pit that was forming in her stomach. There was something else about this that was bothering her, but she couldn't put a finger on it. For some reason, she thought suddenly about her kitchen table, before Emily spoke again.
"No, it's ok. I want to. For the first time in forever, I actually feel good about a choice I made. I'm going to help two people start a family." Emily tried to describe her reasoning to Hanna, knowing she needed to rationalize the situation.
Hanna sat for a second before responded. She offered Emily a sad and knowing smile. It was hard to think about how bad Emily's life must have gotten to get to this point, and how she had no idea. There was a time that she knew everything about Emily's life. Feeling the pain of the love lost between them, Hanna finally released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She reached for Emily's hand, taking it in her own and finally said, "I just wish you would have told me sooner…"
"I didn't know how." Emily whispered, almost inaudibly. She looked down at her own lap, embarrassed at her confession and from the warm feeling spreading across her body by the even the most innocent of comfort that Hanna was offering her.
Hanna squeezed Emily's hand ever so slightly to urge Emily to look up at her, "Well whoever they are, they are the luckiest couple in the world. "
Emily blushed at Hanna's words, and forced herself to smile shyly at Hanna, which Hanna returned along with, for the first time since they had reunited, an open gaze to how she was really feeling. In those few seconds together, both girls thought of the relationship, the love they once shared, and how they had so often talked about starting a family of their own one day.
While neither would admit it, they also both secretly wondered to themselves how they let this be their story. Emily had been feeling that way for quite some time, but Hanna hadn't let herself think of it since that last summer together.
