Chapter 9
The Long Way Around
Aria didn't tell her parents anything while she was home, and she stayed true to her word, only asking Ezra to stay for one night. When he ultimately returned to New York, she continued to stay in the hotel even though she'd promised her mom she would come back to the apartment and spend the holiday with all of them. As much as she wanted to be surrounded by her family full time, she needed the space to figure out what she wanted to do. The hard part was, no matter how long she sat and thought about it, she still didn't know.
The day after Boxing Day, she packed up her things into her car, checked out of her hotel, and headed back into town to meet her mother for one last coffee before she headed back to New York. Unless Ella made a trip up to visit, they probably wouldn't see each other again until Easter or Spring Break, barring anything else that would send one of them in the other's direction.
She pulled up to The Brew and let her car idle for a moment outside the building, trying to psych herself up for the conversation she was about to sit through. She definitely wasn't ready to tell her mother that she was pregnant yet, given that she hadn't even seen a doctor yet. She and Ezra had agreed to go to the clinic after she got back to New York for a blood test confirmation; but even so, she could only imagine Ella's reaction if she were to tell her that she'd failed to have safe sex with a man she'd only been in a relationship with for little more than a month. In fact, she was pretty positive that when Ella did find out, she was going to kill Aria.
When she spotted her mother giving her an odd look, Aria finally turned her car off and got out, walked into the cafe.
"Something on your mind," Ella asked as she led her daughter towards a table.
Aria shrugged. "Nothing. Everything. So yeah, I guess."
They sat down at a table towards the back and Aria shrugged off her coat, glancing out the window. Ella started talking about something to do with Mike, but she could hardly pay attention. She was too caught up in her own thought process to realize when Zack brought over their drinks, let alone when her mother stopped talking because she'd asked her a question.
"Aria. Aria?" Ella drawled. "Aria Rose?"
After more than a few minutes of silence, Ella reaches across the table and touches her daughter's bicep, causing Aria to jump. Ella drops back into her seat, lifting her hands in surrender.
"What's going on?" Ella asked her.
Aria gulped and shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind."
"Is it-"
"I don't really want to talk about it right now," Aria said before Ella could ask her anything. She didn't want to be asked a question she'd have to lie to. But then really, she didn't want to answer any questions at all. "What was your question about Mike?"
Ella repeated herself, and Aria did her best to make small talk, shifting the conversation to the subject of her father. It was always a sure-fire way to keep Ella talking for a while, while simultaneously not really requiring Aria to put up much of an opinion if she didn't want to. Thus, after an hour of letting her mom ramble on about this and that, she mentioned that she needed to head out, and Ella apologized about monopolizing the conversation before hugging her and seeing her off.
.,.
Ezra rubbed his eyes as he leaned back from his computer, glancing down at the time. He'd been working since he'd returned from his parents place, long after the sun had gone down. He'd barely seen Aria, since she'd gone to lay down shortly after getting back home, and she hadn't woken up since.
As it was, they hadn't really spoken since Christmas day, and he hadn't pushed it. He knew that her finding out that she was pregnant was a heavy bit of knowledge to take on and swallow. He was certainly questioning all of it himself on his end, but either way, he wasn't the one who was facing the physical and more imminent changes in the coming weeks and months the way she was. While he was more than willing to do whatever she wanted and needed, he knew that there was so much more going on in her head about what she would have to do.
He closed the lid of his laptop and settled it on the coffee table in front of him, standing from the couch. A groan escaped him as his knees popped, and he bent them a few times before moving around the table, walking into the bedroom. He spotted Aria on the bed, her face lit by the screen of her phone.
"I didn't know you were awake," he murmured.
She shrugged, yawning. After a moment, she responded, "I've just been laying here."
Ezra nodded as he began to remove his clothes.
"Did you finish the book yet?" Aria asked.
"Finish what? I missed the end of that," he replied.
"The book."
Ezra nodded. "I think so. I might do a bit of editing yet before I send it in, but for all intents and purposes, there's nothing left in my notes or outline that I have to address."
"What does that mean for the next few weeks," Aria asked.
Ezra pulled back the blankets on his side of the bed and sat down, turning on the nightstand light.
"I'll do as much editing over break as I can," he responded. "And then probably get all the publisher's editing done by the end of the month if it all comes together right. All that aside, they'll probably push for a late spring release so I can do a book tour right before or right when school lets out, and I'll probably already be working on the third book by then."
Aria nodded, digesting the information. Once Ezra was laying down, she moved over and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her hands around his bicep as she snuggled into him.
"Are you alright," he asked. Aria nodded. She tilted her head up to look at him.
"Just tired."
He waited a beat, considering whether he even had the right to ask such a question before he spoke again.
"What'd you decide about your family," he asked.
Aria was quiet. She didn't move, and her expression didn't change, but she didn't give an answer. Ezra wasn't entirely sure if that meant she was unfazed by his question, or if she was so offended that she was furious.
After more than a minute, she finally cleared her throat, adjusted her head, and spoke.
"I don't know. All I can do is take it one day at a time. Hopefully one day soon, I'll feel capable of telling them," she replied. "I just don't want to do it right now."
Ezra nodded. What more could he ask of her?
.,.
Four Months Later
Ezra stared nervously at his phone as he considered what he'd just done. He'd done nothing but consider and reconsider his actions over the past two hours. Was he right to go around Aria? Should he have waited for her? Or was he right to leave her out of it all? He didn't know anymore. But how was he supposed to?
His phone started to ring, and he quickly answered the video chat, knowing it was the front desk.
"Somebody by the name of Ella Montgomery is here to see you," the doorman asked. Ezra nodded.
"Send her up," he replied.
In the previous few months, he had moved Aria into his place after they'd decided that they were going to need more than the sorry excuse for an apartment after she decided she definitely wanted to keep the baby. They had certainly discussed continuing to live separately so they weren't rushing their relationship, regardless of the fact that whether it was currently or years before, they were always comfortable in each others' company. Still, he never wanted her to feel like she had to give up her freedom just because they were having a baby. But seemed that the more the pregnancy progressed, the more she was relying him, and while he didn't mind it, it was hard to get from Manhattan to Brooklyn as quickly as she wanted at 2 AM when she had a bad nightmare. So when Spencer and Aria went in on the crib Aria had picked out, they finally made the decision to move Aria and all of her and the baby's things into Ezra's apartment.
Ezra stood and walked to the kitchen, suddenly feeling the need to busy himself. He felt like he should be offering Ella a drink when she walked in, but he was also pretty sure that he if was in her position, he'd probably need a stiff drink, and he didn't really have any alcohol on hand.
The light over the door began to flicker a moment later and he strode over to it, sucking in a deep breath as he turned the knob and opened the door. Ella stood on the other side of it, looking a mixture of angry and confused. Ezra stepped aside, offering her entrance.
"Where's Aria," she asked.
"She's asleep right now," he replied. "It took a while to get her to calm down, so I haven't been in by her since I first texted you."
Ella nodded. She looked around for a moment and then huffed, obviously upset, but not leaving. She sat down on the arm of the couch behind her, crossing her arms.
"Why didn't you call sooner? Better yet, why didn't she call me?" Ella pressed.
Ezra shook his head. "She was scared, and I didn't want to push her," he replied. "I figured eventually she'd call, or make a trip home, and then Easter and spring break came and went, and I didn't know how to ask her if she was going to make a trip home without sounding like an asshole. I've spent this whole time trying not to push her into doing anything she doesn't want to do."
"So do your parents know," Ella asked, her attitude softening some.
Ezra inhaled a deep breath. "They know about the pregnancy because they live here, and my brother can't keep anything to himself, and they know we had the amnio. But they don't know the results."
Ella sat quietly for a moment, taking in all of the information she'd been given. After a long minute, she glanced back up at Ezra.
"You haven't told Byron, have you?" She asked.
Ezra gaped at her. "I'm going around her for her well-being. I'm not flat-out stupid."
Ella chuckled, but she nodded nonetheless. She then became silent again, and the two of them stood there for a few minutes while Ezra let her settle with all she'd been informed with over the past few hours.
Her eyes became glassy, but she forced a smile on her face when she finally looked back up at him, wiping away the tears before they could fall.
"Have you considered calling your parents yet," Ella asked. "Or, I suppose I should ask if they're even supporting this situation."
Ezra cleared his throat nervously, scratching his chin with his thumb. "Um, I mean kind-of. My mom was pretty pissed at first because it was so unplanned, but I think she's coming around. She was really excited this week for the gender, but I don't know how she's going to do with this." Ezra paused for a moment, sighed. "I don't know how to tell my father. He didn't come back around until after the car accident, and he's been excited since day one…."
Ella nodded, and pressed her lips together as she stood up straight.
"Well, first and foremost, I'd like to talk to my daughter."
Ezra nodded. He gestured towards an alcove around the doorway where he'd let her in. "Around there, to your left."
Ella nodded, and then stepped past him into the five-by-five square that led to either the bathroom or the bedroom. She gently turned the knob to the bedroom door, easily hearing her daughter's soft snoring.
She stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the sight of Aria. She would've never guessed when she'd last seen her that this would be what she would see the next time they met up. Even so, it was quite a sight to see her daughter clearly already becoming a mother in her own right.
Ella took another deep breath and then stepped into the room and eased the door shut behind her. The click of the jam in the door as it closed completely caused Aria to stir, and Ella watched as her daughter groaned, glanced towards the clock, and then covered her eyes once more.
Ella walked across the room quietly.
"Not now, Ezra," Aria rasped tearfully.
Ella perched on the side of the bed next to her and wrapped her fingers over Aria's free hand, squeezing it gently. "Aria, it's mom."
Aria yanked her hand down off of her eyes and looked up at Ella with an expression of both pain and surprise for only a few seconds before she shot forward into her mother's arms and began sobbing. Ella wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter, rocking her gently back and forth as she tried to calm her and also keep herself calm. Even so, it was the first moment since Ezra had sent the first text message that morning that she had the time to really feel the weight of the moment, and she began to cry as well.
For a while, the only noise that filled the room were their cries. But eventually, they both began to grow tired and sore from the expressive act, and Aria finally released her hold on her mother. Ella smiled as she was finally able to see Aria's face, and wiped the tears from her daughter's cheeks before kissing her forehead. Aria hugged her once more, and Ella rocked her for a few moments.
"Did Ezra call you," Aria asked softly, when she'd found her voice.
Ella nodded. She brushed hair out of Aria's face so that she could see her. "But I'm glad he did."
Aria inhaled a shaky breath, but gnawing on her bottom lip, she nodded. "Me too." She looked down at her hands, picking at her fingernails. "I know I should've been the one to call, but I didn't know how; and the more time went by, the harder it got to tell myself I needed tell you guys."
"So, worst case scenario," Ella asked.
Aria chuckled. "I show up with a tiny baby and yell surprise?"
Ella laughed as well, but shook her head. "Okay, but no." She gently pushed Aria up so she could look at her face-to-face. "You never have to hide something from me. Even if I get mad in the moment, I'll get over it because I will always love you."
A small laugh escaped Aria, but she nodded nonetheless.
"Can you learn to love Ezra," she asked a moment later.
Ella sighed, giving her daughter a skeptical look.
"Well, I guess I'm gonna have to learn, aren't I?" She asked. "One thing's for sure though; let me wait and see how he handles this one," Ella commented as she placed her hand on Aria's stomach. Aria covered Ella's hand with her own, and after a moment, they both felt a small tap. They smiled at each other again tearfully, and Ella hugged her daughter once more.
Aria began crying again, and Ella shushed her quietly, trying to calm her again.
"It's going to be okay," she told Aria. "We'll figure it out, one day at a time."
"I just don't understand what I did," Aria sobbed.
Ella pushed her back once more, taking hold of her face again. "Look at me," she insisted. When Aria wouldn't do so, she repeated the statement more intently, until finally, she looked up. "You did not do this. Ezra didn't do this. It's a genetic anomaly carried in the genes, randomly occurring. You couldn't have known."
"I don't know how to do this, though," Aria cried. "I mean I didn't know how to before, but now…" She shook her head, sniffling.
"Listen," Ella insisted. "It's going to be hard, and it'll probably be scary, but you'll figure it out. Plus, you'll have plenty of help. And you know if you need me, I'll be right here."
Aria shook her head, and her chin trembled once more as she looked down at her swollen stomach. She breathed in a deep breath past the ache in her throat and tightened her arm around her body, thinking of her baby.
"I just don't know what to do," she said after a minute, looking back up at Ella.
Ella shifted on the bed so that she was seated beside Aria, and wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Well, first you're going to calm down and remember that stress isn't good for you or the baby. After that, you're going to wash your face, and then we're going to buckle down and learn the basics-and I mean just the basics-of all of this. You do that as long as it takes until you feel like you can handle more, and if you need me here, I'll be here the whole way. Okay?"
Aria stared at her mother nervously for a moment, obviously feeling that it was easier said than done, but after a long minute she nodded.
"Alright,"Ella stated. She moved off the bed and offered Aria a hand. "Up, then."
Aria took her mother's hand and scooted off the bed, walked to the door. She stepped out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, and Ella walked back into the living room of the apartment where Ezra was typing away furiously. He glanced up when she came to stand in front of him.
"Will you be staying,"he asked. "I can show you to the guest room-"
"I didn't bring anything with me," Ella replied.
"Please don't go home tonight," Aria interjected as she walked out of the bathroom. "We can go shopping. Or if you don't mind wearing a worn out gym shirt, I've got half a dozen I stole from Ezra, and I'm sure I've got some shorts that used to be yours around here."
Ella chuckled, obviously unsure but not wanting to let her daughter down. "Alright. You've twisted my arm."
Aria grinned and walked over to her mom and hugged her, snuggling into her after. She mouthed a 'thank you' to Ezra afterward and he just smiled back at her.
"So since I made this long trip, do I at least get to know what I'm going to be a grandmother to," Ella asked. "I mean I'm assuming it's not an elf."
Aria giggled, standing up straight.
"Well, we kind-of agreed that we wouldn't tell anyone until dinner tonight with my parents," Ezra replied nervously. He and Aria exchanged a look, and Aria looked back at her mother, hoping Ella wouldn't explode.
"Do you want to meet Diane and Patrick?" Aria offered.
Ella seemed less than pleased, but after a moment, she nodded.
"Great," Aria stated. She glanced up at Ezra. "Time to go shopping."
.,
Several hours later, when they had circled in and out a number of stores, Aria came away with a dress for herself, as well as one for her mother. She knew that Ella much preferred jeans and a blazer to a formal dress, but she also knew Diane well enough to know the appetizer at dinner would probably be close to seventy-five dollars. Most of the time when she had to attend dinner with Diane, she just wished she was back in Rosewood. Because even if the woman's bark had lessened with age, she knew that she wasn't really the ideal person Diane had ever seen Ezra with. The fact of the matter was, they were never going to be the best of friends.
"Where're you at?" Ezra asked as their subway docked at their stop. Aria glanced up at him and shook her head, smiled.
"Just thinking about a lot of things," she replied.
Ezra took her hand and she reached back for Ella's as they strode out of the subway and headed up out of the terminal back into the city. Aria pulled her hands into her coat and tightened it around herself once they were on the street, trying to keep warm in the late April breeze. People rushed around them fairly quietly, but of course it was New York, so even moving quietly made noise. Of course, then there was the traffic, and the loud radios, and who was she kidding? New York was never quiet.
"Are you coming?" Ezra called out to her. She looked down from where she'd been staring up and spotted him some ten feet ahead of her.
"Huh?"
He laughed. "Are you coming?"
Aria glanced around herself and spotted her mother standing just behind her, obviously wondering what she was doing as well.
"I guess we should get moving," she stated.
"The people behind us seem to think so," Ella replied.
Aria rushed forward and grabbed Ezra's hand when she reached him, burying her face in his jacket for the duration of the trip.
They arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later, and were swiftly led over to a table, seated. The waiter left each of them with a menu-the kind that didn't have prices on it-and Aria cringed. She knew she would hear about that later from her mother.
"Do you think your parents will come together," Aria asked Ezra after a minute. She never paid much attention to the menu.
Ezra shrugged. "Half the time they can't decide one hour from the next if they like each other, let alone day-to-day."
"Are they still together," Ella asked from over Aria's shoulder. Ezra looked up at her, confused, and Aria repeated the question.
"Oh, um, no." He laughed. "They split when I was twelve. Lots of infidelity, and a lot of fighting over money, which I never really got because there's just way too much of it to begin with. But really, it just got worse as the years went on. They got divorced, my mom got sick, my dad became a drunk…"
Ezra paused and Aria gaped at him.
"You never told me about all of that," she commented. "I didn't know any of that."
He shrugged. "They viewed those things as weaknesses. Wes and I used to tell her all the time, surviving cancer is something to celebrate, but she spoke as if it made her dirty. The same with him and his alcoholism."
Ezra cleared his throat after a moment and shook his head. "Either way, they both got better. And then from what I was told, my father was worried he might be sick, and he got in touch with her, and he had to go through some pretty extensive testing and everything ended up being okay, but now they tolerate each other."
"Wowee," Ella muttered as she lifted her glass of wine. She took a long sip from it.
As she returned the glass to the table a moment later, Diane and Patrick finally approached the table, simultaneously apologizing for being late while also apparently bickering over whose fault it was for their lateness.
"Aria darling, so good to see you," Patrick stated as he hugged her. "And you must be her sister."
Aria laughed, gesturing towards Ella. "This is my mom, Ella Montgomery."
Patrick extended a hand to her, and Ella grasped it firmly, greeting him. As he stepped away, Diane stepped in the same space, but the greeting between her and Aria wasn't quite as warm, as Aria just smiled at her instead of hugging her, and then gestured towards her mother again, making introductions once more.
"Wonderful to meet you," Diane stated. Ella repeated the sentiment, and Diane and Patrick circled the table, sitting with a chair between them, across from Ezra and Ella respectively.
The waiter arrived to take drink orders for Diane and Patrick, but of course they already knew what they wanted for dinner as well, and the group placed their orders before conversation finally began.
"So how was your day," Diane asked Ezra and Aria.
Ezra glanced at Aria, and it was clear the didn't exactly have a one word answer. Aria shrugged at him, unsure how to proceed.
"It was a bit of a roller coaster," Ezra replied. "Aria was pretty sick this morning so she was having a hard time preparing for the sonogram, and I was up late writing, trying to prepare for this summer."
"Oh no," Patrick chimed in. "I hope they were still able to do the exam."
Aria and Ezra nodded, and Aria stared down at her dress, adjusting it.
"They did," she responded. "They were able to get some good profile shots, and both hands and feet." Aria glanced over at her mother. "Definitely the Montgomery ears. Grandpa will be so excited when he hears."
Ella chuckled, patting Aria's back.
"And you guys said they had the Amniosen….the, the- well, you know what it's called," Diane commented. "That they had those results back."
Aria and Ezra exchanged a look, and Ezra squeezed her hand tightly.
"Is something wrong," Diane asked. "Is the baby okay?"
"Everything came back clear, except for one thing," Aria replied. She glanced up at Ezra, and her bottom lip began to tremble again. She shook her head at him.
Ezra hugged her tightly and glanced up at his mom. "The baby has cystic fibrosis. We won't know the severity of it until birth, but they've assured us that this is not a death sentence, and they did give us some reading material, but Aria was a bit far gone by that point, so we'll be looking into that more in the next few days."
Ezra's parents were quiet for a few moments, and Aria shifted in her seat towards her mom while Ezra reached into the deep pockets of Aria's dress coat and pulled out the envelope with the pictures from the sonogram.
"We do have pictures, if you'd like to see them," Ezra stated softly. When neither of his parents seemed to move, he glanced back and forth between them, and then over at Aria.
"Look, I know how you two are, and how you think this is probably just us being weak, keeping a baby that can't be perfect, but-"
"Ezra, that is not it at all," Ethan signed. Ezra raised his hands in confusion.
"Your mother and I were both carriers," Patrick said aloud after a minute. "When we struggling to conceive Wes, we had a number of tests done, and were informed that we had the chance of having a child with the disease. It's why we ultimately decided to conceive through IVF with him.
"So we knew there was a possibility that you could be a carrier as well, but I don't think we ever expected this outcome," Patrick explained. "But don't think for a moment that that changes how we feel about this kid, right Diane?" He glanced over at her, but Ezra mother was unmoving, still silent.
"Mom?" Ezra called to her. She didn't look up at him.
"Leave her for a moment," Patrick murmured. "I want to see the pictures. You promised you'd tell us what you're having."
Ezra glanced between his parents for a few seconds, unsure of his father's insistence, but opened the envelope anyway. He pulled the pictures out and began to line them up on the table, keeping the one with the gender labeled on it for last.
"Most definitely the Montgomery ears," Ella chuckled as she retrieved one of the photos. She and Patrick both looked over the photos for a few moments, and though it appeared that Diane seemed to be glancing over at them, she still hadn't moved or said anything.
Finally when Ella and Patrick had shared the pictures back and forth, his father glanced up at him and the one he still held in his hands.
"What's that," he asked as he pointed to the photo.
Ezra down at it and smirked. "Oh this? Oh it's not important," he stated sarcastically.
Patrick scowled at him and reached out, snatched the sonogram picture from Ezra's hands. He stared at it for a few seconds before inhaling a deep breath and smiling, becoming tearful. He passed it over to Ella, grasping her hand from across the table as she read it, and they shared in the moment.
"So we're having a girl," Aria said softly as Ella finally looked up at her. Ella smiled at her, tearing up again. She reached out and grabbed Aria's hand, squeezing it tightly as she glanced up at Ezra and smiled at him.
It was then finally, that Diane showed some life again, and she leaned forward, taking the picture from where it rested next to Patrick and Ella's hands with the word 'girl' printed on it. She stared at it quietly for a few moments and then nodded and returned it to the table, and they all awaited her reaction.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly in those few seconds, but it did in-fact pass, and after a few moments, Diane placed her hands over Ella's and Patrick's, smiling tearfully as well.
"So, I suppose it's time to start planning a baby shower."
