Author's Note: I know the Ezria scenes may be a bit random, but believe me when I say that Mr Fitz will be playing a very important role in the climax of this fanfic. I'm glad you guys liked my oneshot Homecoming. Unfortunately, it will stay a oneshot as I want to devote my time to recapping season 3B with my girlfriend on our Tumblr (follow us at thebedpotatoes) and to writing Marianas. So... enjoy this chapter!


Hanna's phone went off. She knew she ought to read the text message, but she couldn't shake the way that Emily was looking at her.

"Aren't you going to get your phone?" asked Emily.

"It's probably just Mona," said Hanna, waving it off.

"I don't know. It may be important." Emily stood up and took Hanna's phone.

Hanna lunged across the room. "No! Don't read that!" she cried out.

"Five messages and one photo from Ali," said Emily. She scanned the screen. "Hanna, why are you talking to Ali about Paige and Caleb?"

"For the record, she talked to me first," said Hanna. "Now give me my phone back."

Emily tucked the phone into the pocket of her hoodie. "I'm going to tell Spencer and Aria to come over." She started reaching for her own phone. "We need to talk about this."

"No!" exclaimed Hanna. "If we're gonna talk about this, I'd like to keep it between us."

Emily considered it. "Okay," she said finally. She sat down on her bed. "I'm still keeping your phone for the moment. But talk."

Hanna explained how Alison approached her in history class, asking if there was anything fishy going on about Paige and her boyfriend. "I was sure that nothing was going on but Ali kept bugging me about it that I got paranoid myself," she told Emily.

"We know very well that Ali has that effect on people," said Emily. "She played you, Hanna."

Hanna looked down, avoiding Emily's eye. "I suppose she did," she said. "I can't believe it. She was gone for a year, then she comes back and just picks up where she left off. And it worked!"

"I know."

"I have to apologise to Caleb, don't I?" asked Hanna.

Emily nodded. "And to Paige," she added. "No one likes being wrongly accused."

"Okay," said Hanna.

"And I'm going to talk to Ali," said Emily.

Hanna's eyes widened. "What? What do you mean you're going to talk to Ali?" she asked.

"It's a long overdue conversation, but I want to tell her that she can't push us around anymore." Emily's face was grim and determined.

"God, who are you and what have you done to Emily Fields?" Hanna managed a smile. "Did they beat you with a Hastings stick or something?"

"You're my best friend. No one messes with you without me getting angry about it," said Emily. She put her hand in her pocket and tossed Hanna her phone. "Delete Ali's number, block it if you have to," she told her.


Emily didn't have an afternoon practice, so she signed out at reception to go to town after her classes finished. Samara had texted her earlier that day, asking if she was up for a coffee at the Rear Window Brew. She hadn't seen her girlfriend in a few days because of their busy schedules, so Emily took the opportunity to unwind with her.

"I'm waiting for our orders to arrive," Samara told her as she sat down at the corner table. "Mocha latte, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one," said Emily. "Did you want to get anything else? I could get a slice of pie or cake or something."

"No, the coffee's fine. I'm still full from lunch," said Samara. She smiled and took Emily's hands in her own. "How have you been, Em?" she asked.

"Busy with training and school," said Emily. "Whoever said it was a good idea to take two AP, two Honors and work to stay on the starting lineup for the swim team is crazy."

"That person sounds like Spencer," joked Samara.

Emily laughed. "No, Spencer treats me like her baby sister. If I let on that I was getting so tired that I've been taking power naps, she would tuck me in and talk to my advisor about dropping a class or something," she said. "And you? How have you been?"

"My schedule's packed!" said Samara. "I've got Green Group meetings and GSA meetings. I'm helping out at the soup kitchen on Saturdays and the farmers' market on Sundays. Oh, and I'm on the joint Rosewood-Sheridan committee for the Halloween dance." She grinned at Emily. "And of course, there's schoolwork and my pretty girlfriend," she added.

"Just when I thought you were beginning to forget me," said Emily.

"Never," said Samara. A waitress set down their drinks in front of them. "You're coming to the dance with me, right?"

"Of course I am," said Emily. "How's the prep for that going?"

"Great, so far," said Samara. "Jenna Marshall is on the committee and she's a bit of a robotic control freak," she chuckled, "but otherwise, stuff gets done, so who am I to complain?"

"It's on a Saturday, right?" Samara nodded. "Do you think you can sneak me into your dorm after the party?" Emily asked.

"You want to?" Samara frowned. "Won't you get in trouble again?"

"I can make something up about how my parents are in town and they want me to stay with them over the weekend," said Emily. She gave Samara a look. "You know it'll be fun."

Samara relaxed. "All right, you can come stay over. But you gotta tell me beforehand that all that admin stuff is sorted and they won't find any loopholes," she said. She wagged a finger at Emily. "I don't want to be an enabler!"

"You're not an enabler, Samara. You're the drug," Emily told her.


Hanna raised a tentative fist to knock on Caleb's door. His roommate Lucas opened the door, camera around his neck and laptop in the crook of his arm.

"Hey Hanna," he said, smiling nervously.

"Is Caleb in?" she asked.

"Yeah. He's locked in though, working on some computer studies stuff." Lucas smiled at Hanna, more confidently this time. "But for you, I'm sure he can spare the time."

"Oh, Lucas," said Hanna, shaking her head.

"I'm going to a computer suite to sort out some stuff, so you two will have some privacy," said Lucas. From any other guy, that would have sounded vaguely suggestive, but coming out from his mouth, it was just respectful.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll see you later," said Hanna. She stepped aside to let Lucas through.

Caleb was sitting at his desk, squinting at lines of code at his laptop screen. He had his headphones in. Hanna spied a hint of a video game logo on the olive green t-shirt he was wearing under an open button-down. He was such an adorable hacker boy. Hanna hoped that after this, he was still her adorable hacker boy.

Hanna tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, eyes wide and pulled his headphones off. "Hey! What's going on?" he asked.

"Can you spare a minute from your Wall Street hackathon?"

"I wasn't hacking anyone, but yeah, I guess," said Caleb. "What's going on, Han?" He left his desk to sit on his bed, and patted the space next to him as an invitation to Hanna, who obliged.

"Ali was the one who brought up seeing you and Paige together. She asked if she's got her eye on you," Hanna started to explain, "I said no and I believed myself then, but Ali was persistent. I'm sorry that I got paranoid."

Caleb was confused. "Wait, you and Alison are talking again?" he asked Hanna.

"She kind of just backed me into a corner about it," she said. "And somehow she managed to get a hold of my number. And she'd spot you and Paige and would take photos with all sorts of captions to taunt me."

"Tell her to go join a club or something. She has too much time on her hands."

"Emily made me delete and block her number," said Hanna. "I'm sorry, Caleb. I didn't mean for her to get put ideas in my head that way. She's just sneaky."

Caleb ran fingers through his hair. "She's sneaky, all right. She took photos of me and Paige? That's just creepy," he said. He wrapped an arm around Hanna. "Just don't let her do that to you again. We're not fourteen anymore. I've gone through puberty. I can give her a piece of my mind now."

"Please, you look so rough and tumble but you wouldn't hurt a fly," said Hanna. "Not even one that buzzes loudly in your ear and drives you nuts."

Caleb laughed. "You're right," he conceded. "I wouldn't."

"So we're good?" asked Hanna hopefully.

"Yeah, we're good," said Caleb, slowly nodding. He kissed Hanna's temple. "I've got to get back to my project," he said. "Do you mind staying here and watching me work or something romantic like that?" he asked.

"Well, as much as I find that sexy, I've got more apologising to do," said Hanna, standing up and rearranging her skirt where it bunched up around her legs. "Do you know where Paige is? She wasn't in the library and she wasn't in her room."

"Check the pools."

Hanna gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll call you later," she said. "See you at dinner time."


Emily returned from her coffee date with Samara early, as Samara was called back to Sheridan to sort out a problem with the Green Group fundraiser. Since Spencer had a prefect meeting, Aria had a fit of inspiration and is holding herself hostage in the art studios until dinner and Hanna was nowhere to be found, she decided to spend the rest of her afternoon in the quad, doing homework with Toby.

Emily was doing a problem sheet for Honors Calculus while Toby was writing miniscule margin notes in a copy of On the Road with a very short pencil.

"Are you going to the Halloween dance?" Emily asked Toby.

Toby looked up from his book. "Probably not," he said. "Dances aren't my thing. Neither is dressing up."

"Why not?" asked Emily, pulling a pouty face. "You could go as one of the Beat poets." She nodded at the small headshot of Jack Kerouac on the back cover of Toby's book. "Tatty shirt, messy mop of hair, chewed up pencil." She paused. "Wait, that's not much different from the real Toby," she teased.

"You've got a smart mouth on you, Emily," said Toby.

"Emily!" someone called out. Emily's and Toby's heads searched for the source of the voice. It was Spencer Hastings, arms laden with binders, her hair strewn about her face. "I need a hand!" she yelled as she approached them.

Emily stood up. "What's up, Spence?" she asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Toby slouching in his seat as an attempt to seemingly shield his lanky frame behind his paperback.

"These are annual plans and proposals by just some of the school's clubs," said Spencer, shaking her armful of binders. "Assigned reading, you see. Do you wanna take the first couple? I'm struggling here."

Emily plucked some binders from Spencer's arms. Spencer sighed with relief from the reduced weight. "The Artists Collective," she read the label on the top binder. She turned to Toby. "Hey, this is your kinda thing. All grungy clothing and splattered paint and broody gazes, right?" she joked.

Toby didn't say anything. He was absorbed in his book, gripping his pencil tight in his hand.

"Toby," said Emily.

He looked up. "Yeah?" He read the cover on the binder Emily was showing him. "Oh, I've heard of them. Cool band," he said quickly.

"They're not a band!" said Emily. She exhaled. "Okay, you're not listening. I gotta go. I'm going to carry these up to Spencer's room, all right?"

"Okay," said Toby, not looking up from his book. "See you later."

Emily started walking to Thompson Hall, Spencer following after her. "Dude," Spencer said to Toby, "cool pencil!"


Paige climbed out of the pool while taking deep breaths of the aquatic center's circulated warm air, which smelled heavily of chlorine, not that Paige noticed much anymore. Seated on the bench where she had put down her gym bag was Hanna Marin. "You looking for Emily?" she asked her.

"No." Hanna stood up and handed Paige her towel. "I get why everyone's making a big deal out of you swimming now," she told Paige. "You're like, part fish. Like Emily."

Paige managed a small laugh. "Thanks, but Emily's still the star," she said awkwardly.

"I never understood that," said Hanna. "The star of the team crap. Real stars out in space clump together. That's why we have constellations and galaxies."

"Well, Emily's just Betelgeuse, then," said Paige. "She shines the brightest." She watched Hanna's quizzical look. "Betelgeuse is the star in the constellation Orion's armpit," she explained.

"Probably to emphasise his serious BO," said Hanna. They both laughed.

Paige wrapped the towel around her shoulders. "I'm guessing you're not here to talk about Emily," she said slowly.

"You're right," said Hanna. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being downright awful to you. I just let things get to me so easily."

"Yeah, it's okay," said Paige. "At my old high school, I wasn't really the one girls to get jealous of, so this was a weird experience for me. Although, it's not something I'd want to repeat again."

"I bet," said Hanna. "I hope you don't hate me. Emily and Caleb have said a lot of nice things about you, so if you're friends with them I don't want you to think they have a psycho roommate-slash-girlfriend."

Paige shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I don't hate you," she told Hanna. "Caleb and Emily have talked you up to me as well."

Hanna raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," said Paige. She smiled at Hanna. "And I believe them."


After dinner, Emily knocked on Alison's door. Jenna was the one who answered it. "Emily," she said, smirking. "How can I help you?"

"Is Alison here?" she asked.

"No, she's catching up on Jersey Shore in the lounge," replied Jenna.

"That can't be. I checked this floor's lounge and she wasn't there," said Emily.

Jenna shrugged. "Then I wouldn't know," she said. "Would you like me to pass on the message?"

"I'm going to keep looking for her, but if she comes back here, tell her that I want to talk to her."

The other girl raised an eyebrow. "Has she been messing with your girlfriends again, Emily?"

"No, but it's none of your business anyway," snapped Emily. "I'm off. Thanks for offering to pass on the message."

As she started to walk away, Jenna called out after her, "And they say you're the sweet one!"

Emily ignored her and sped up her pace. She decided to search the whole building for Alison. Finally, she bumped into her on the corridor of the top floor. The blonde looked much younger in her patterned pajama bottoms and oversized hoodie. "Alison," said Emily evenly.

"Hey, Em!" said Alison, cheerfully.

"What are you doing up here?" asked Emily.

"Some girls on the lounge on my floor popped a DVD in, so I couldn't watch Jersey Shore over there. I had to find a free lounge, so here I am," said Alison. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you."

Alison looked interested. "Looking for me, huh?"

"I want to talk to you about what you did to Hanna."

Alison waved it off. "I was only doing her a favour. Nobody likes homewreckers," she said.

"But yeah, that's the thing," said Emily. "Paige isn't a homewrecker. And she won't be. I can't believe you'd use Hanna to make some new girl's life harder. You don't even know her."

"Whoa, Emily, the way you're getting protective comes off as you having a thing for Paige!" said Alison. "You must be a sucker for those big brown eyes."

"This isn't about Paige," said Emily. "This is about Hanna."

"Is it really?" said Alison.

"Yes, it is," said Emily firmly. "Look, Ali, you messed with us freshman year. You turned us against each other, made us do things we hated doing... but I'm not letting you get away with that this year."

Alison laughed. "You worshipped me," she spat.

"Yeah, we did," admitted Emily. "Worshipped. Past tense." Ignoring the sneer on Alison's face, Emily turned on her heel and left, heading towards the stairs.


"You're still working in here?"

Aria jumped away from the skirt she was working on at the sound of the voice behind her.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," said Mr Fitz, who stood next to her. "I'm just about to head home but I thought I'd drop by. Your teacher said you were doing some overtime in here."

"I thought you lived on campus," said Aria.

"No, I don't. I live in an apartment in town. It's a studio, but not too cramped. I didn't know what to make for dinner and I didn't want to spring for takeout so I decided to eat in the dining hall with the live-in faculty," he explained.

"That sounds convenient," said Aria.

Mr Fitz smiled. "Yeah, it is quite convenient," he said. He leaned over the piece of fabric. "So, what are you working on?"

Aria touched the hem of the skirt lightly. "It's part of my costume for the Halloween dance," she explained. "It's not finished yet, but it's going to look awesome."

"I'm sure it will," said Mr Fitz. "I'll be there to see it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I signed up to be a teacher chaperone."

"What costume are you going to wear?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you,' Mr Fitz jokes. He shrugged. "Sorry, that's just the way it is."


Emily opened her eyes to the sound of a drawer closing. Paige came into view. She was facing away from Emily, pulling a white t-shirt over her sports bra. That's when Emily realised that she wasn't in her own dorm room.

"Morning, sleepyhead," said Paige, turning around. "It's six-fifteen, you better hustle."

"Coffee?" Emily asked groggily.

"You and I know that's a bad idea before an intense workout, Fields."

Emily sat up in bed and stretched.

"I'm going to brush my teeth," Paige told her. "There's a couple of granola bars and some water on Mona's desk. It's also a bad idea to exercise on an empty stomach." She fished out a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush from her bathroom caddy and left the room.

Emily got out of bed to find the granola bars. She unwrapped one and ate it quickly, not even bothering to enjoy the taste. Granola bars made her mouth dry. She took a swig of water before starting on the second one. She was getting into her running shorts when Paige returned, putting her hair into a ponytail. Emily read the letters on Paige's t-shirt.

"Do you have anything that doesn't have UConn or the Huskies on it?" she asked.

Paige looked down at the navy blue "UCONN" on her t-shirt. "Nope," she said. "Hey, I was a coach's kid. It was the next best thing they had to a mascot without having to get into a dog costume."

"I would pay to see you wear a furry Husky head," said Emily.


Alison was on her way back from breakfast when she spotted a familiar blonde hanging out in the Thompson Hall foyer, holding a paper bag and a tray of coffee. "Hey," she greeted her. "Samara, right?"

Samara smiled. "Yeah, and you're Alison?"

"That's me," said Alison. "What brings you to Rosewood Prep this fine Saturday morning?"

"Well, I wanted to surprise Emily with breakfast," explained Samara. "I texted for her to come downstairs but she's not texting back. Is she in the pool or something? She's not a late sleeper."

Alison remembered catching a glimpse of Emily walking into Paige's room last night. "I don't know," she said coyly. "Have you asked Hanna?" The other girl shook her head. "Oh wait, Hanna wouldn't know."

"Why's that?"

"Emily slept in Paige's room last night," said Alison. "You know, two have been thick as thieves ever since Paige came to Rosewood."

"No, I didn't know that," said Samara.

"Oh?" Alison raised an eyebrow. "They have a sleepover practically every weekend."

Samara tensed. Just then, the doors of Thompson Hall swung open. Emily and Paige entered in their workout gear, sweaty and breathing heavily, but both grinning. The grin on Emily's face only widened more when her eyes fell on Samara. "Hey! What are you doing here?" she asked.

Samara lifted the paper bag. "I brought breakfast. Surprise," she said flatly.

Emily met Alison's eye. The blonde was smiling, eyes glinting maliciously.