But I will fight for you, be sure that I will fight, until we're the special two once again. And we will only need each other, we'll bleed together, our hands will not be taught to hold another's, when we're the special two. And we could only see each other, we'll breathe together, these arms will not be taught to need another when we're the special two. [...] So is it better to tell and hurt or lie to save their face? Well, I guess the answer is don't do it in the first place. I know I'm not deserving of your trust from you right now, but if by chance you change your mind you know I will not let you down 'cause we were the special two, and we'll be again.

Spencer pulled her Highlander smoothly into the Hastings driveway; the bag from the Apple Rose Grille on the passenger's seat, her mind a million miles away. She had thought of nothing but those piercing, blue eyes since walking away from them. They still had that effect on her even after what she knew.

Or what she thought she knew.

It had occurred to her many times, but she had always pushed the idea from her mind. Maybe he had been telling the truth when he said he loved her; when he said that he'd gotten in over his head.

His eyes were soft and sad the night her told her. Their gaze was hard at the Grille, but she still thought she saw that sadness in them. She was so deep in thought that she nearly hit her head on the SUV's roof when her phone began to ring.

"Hi Mom."

"Spencer, why have you been sitting in the driveway for the past five minutes?," Veronica quipped.

Spencer looked at her watch, it had been at least double that since she got home. She felt bad that she had let the food get cold, but she couldn't stop thinking about the way Toby looked at her.

"I'm sorry. I was... I'll be right in," she replied.

She decided she needed to see him one more time, if he would let her. He could tell her his side of the story and she would determine where to go from there. It had been a miserable past few months. She was finally ready to admit that to herself. To allow the pain of losing her everything sink in without bringing her to the point of being numb.

As she reached over to grab her family's meal, her phone chimed. Rolling her eyes and expecting another inquisition from her mother, she picked it up. She couldn't figure out which emotion was most appropriate when she discovered who the real sender was.

I know I have no right to ask you this, but it's worth a shot. I'm staying in a room at the Rosewood Motel. If you're willing to listen to what I have to say, please come. - Toby

Her heart began to race as she thought about the implications of the message. She was planning to send him one; he had beat her to it. Always. Of course, she knew there was always the possibility that this was just another 'A' trap, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

She rushed into the house, startling her parents who were impatiently waiting at the table with their nightly glasses of wine.

"I'm.. I have to go to Hanna's," she sputtered. "Just put my food in the fridge."

Spinning on her heels, away from the confusion on her parents faces, and without waiting for a reply; she headed back out the door to make her way to the motel.


Toby paced back and forth across the thin carpet of his motel room. The motel room. Their motel room. He hadn't expected it to be available, but chose to take it as a sign that she would come when it was. Granted, he had not heard back from her since he sent his plea, but he had all night to find out.

He brought nothing with him except the clothes he was wearing, so he had nothing to entertain his racing mind while the minutes ticked slowly on. He figured he wouldn't have been able to concentrate on anything, anyway. His brain was too busy creating different scenarios of how Spencer would react to him... if she showed up.

She might slap him. He was sort of surprised she hadn't as soon as she found out. Perhaps she would just cry. He wasn't sure he was fully ready to witness the girl he loved at her breaking point, if there was ever a time when he would be. She hadn't really let go when she first found out. His heart ached whenever he imagined how badly he had truly hurt her.

But maybe, just maybe, she would listen. Give him a real chance to explain. A real chance to prove that everything they had been through together wasn't a lie. That he loved her. And maybe one day she could trust him again.

A soft knock on the door startled him and he felt his lungs constrict as if all the oxygen had been pulled from the room. He made his way to open it, wondering if it could possibly be her and as the door swung inward, the oxygen returned.


Her hair fell over her shoulders just as it had that afternoon outside the Grille and her lips were pursed in true Spencer fashion as she waited for him to invite her in.

"Hi," he breathed. "How did you know where to find me? You never answered."

Without a word, she looked at the number on the door and then back at him before stepping around his tall frame to make her way inside. She didn't have to say anything for him to know what she meant.

"Toby...," she began quietly as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Can you just... hear me out first?," he interjected, making his way over to stand in front of her. "I know you have things you want to say, but just let me tell you my side first."

She nodded. She knew that she was there to give him a chance, but he didn't, so she decided to let him explain before awarding him that knowledge. If she wasn't satisfied, she would leave. And that would be the end.

He forced out a breath. "I told you this, but I'm going to tell you again because... well, because you probably weren't ready to hear it then. You probably didn't hear it then. I don't know if you want to hear it now."

He was standing in front of her and she watched as his hands moved nervously in front of him. One of the hardest parts of this was that after everything 'A' and his or her minions had put the girls through, finding out Toby was part of it meant he was either really lost or a really really good liar. She hoped this speech would impart her some wisdom on how to tell the difference.

"When I first came back to Rosewood, everyone thought I was the scum of the earth. I'd blinded one girl and probably killed another. No one wanted anything to do with me. I felt so awful. I thought a lot about just crashing my bike so I wouldn't have to deal with it day to day. Being the outcast."

He could feel himself sweating and shaking at the same time. Everything was riding on this meeting. If she would just take another chance on him, he would prove himself to her, he would prove that he never wanted to hurt her or her friends.

"One day, Mona approached me. I mean, I didn't even know who she was at first, but when I figured it out... I thought we had something in common. Ali had made both our lives a living hell and I guess she, and some other people, thought you and your friends were part of that. It made them want to show you guys what it felt like to hurt."

Spencer flinched slightly at those words. He wanted so badly to reach out to comfort her, but he didn't. He kept going.

"I thought it would just be a few harmless messages. A spook here or there. I didn't know everything they were planning. I.. Spencer.. I still don't even know who's in charge," he said.

"Mona hit Hanna with her car and I freaked, but I kept it to myself. I wasn't really sure what they would do to me if I tried to get out. Then you showed up at my door. You were... different than I expected. Genuinely scared. Genuinely sorry for the things you said about me. When the team found out you had basically opened up to an enemy, they wanted me to get close to you and I wanted to anyway, but not for their reasons."

She felt her face soften a bit at the memory of meeting with him on his front porch. His shaggy hair and ankle monitor. No bullshit attitude. She'd gotten him to smile before she left. That was when she began to think she had been wrong about him.

"Once I got to know you; once I fell in love with you, I did everything I could to keep you safe. I've done everything I could," he pleaded. "I know it's all hard for you to believe. I know I probably can't ask you to trust me right now, but if there's one thing I need you to know it's that I do love you. I never lied about that."

He hesitantly took a seat on the bed next to her and she moved slightly as if to say it was okay for him to be so close. "One last thing and then I'll let you say or do whatever you came here to do. The night you went to meet Ian at the church, do you remember what I said to you?"

"Yes," she paused," if I needed anything - you would be there for me."

"I was there. I didn't know what was going to happen. I was worried about you. I just watched from a distance, until I heard you screaming. When I ran up into the bell tower and saw what was going on, I didn't know what else to do, so I pushed him. And then I ran, I couldn't let you see it was me."

He studied her face for a moment, her eyes still steeled on his, before continuing.

"When all the commotion was going on outside, I took the body. I didn't think about how bad it would look for you if it was gone. And then, well, you know the rest. They used it for their own little games."

Spencer wasn't sure what she should make of what she heard. She turned her face away from his and let her wheels spin. She'd always wondered who it was that had saved her, but she never really believed it could've been Toby. Not even after he'd revealed his secret to her. This new information took her breath away.

She still felt hesitant to jump into believing his every word, but he looked and sounded so sincere as he was talking to her. She promised herself she'd be cautious. Promised she wouldn't dive in to fast. She loved him. Who ever said, love's not for taking chances?

He tried to figure out what she was thinking in the deafening silence, but it was impossible to penetrate the face of a Hastings in thought. She licked her lips as she turned her face back to his.

"I came here to listen and let you try to explain yourself...," she began. "I did it because when I saw you this afternoon and I had to walk away, the thought of never seeing you again was just as painful as everything else has been. I thought I owed it to myself to hear you out."

While she spoke, one of her hands crept slowly toward one of his and held it gently. He looked down at it in quiet surprise before looking back up at her.

"This doesn't mean that things are the way they were. I can't guarantee you that they ever will be, but I'm going against all the parts of me, screaming that this is wrong because I love you. And I choose to see the good in you. Please. Don't make a fool of me again."

Toby rubbed his thumb lightly across her palm in agreeance, but neither of them said another word. She rose to leave, her hand still entwined in his and he followed her to the door.

She placed her palm against his cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment to relish the feelings that he had missed and opened them again in time to see a smile form across her lips. He nodded as she turned to leave and shut the door in her wake.

On either side there was a sigh, a spark and a knowledge that tomorrow was a new beginning.