~ 9 ~

Spencer's alarm blared signaling the sun would be rising in a matter of minutes. She rolled over across the bed and slammed it to quiet the noise while silently cursing herself for not having turned it off before. She opened her eyes and looked at the window which was basically pitch black. This was her one day per week to sleep in and she had managed to self-sabotage it.

Worse yet, she was now wide awake with no chance of falling back asleep. She sat up, propping herself against her pillows and grabbed the TV remote but the early morning motion made her feel sick to her stomach. She swallowed the vile taste in her mouth and rubbed her hand over her stomach trying to ease her early morning aches.

She clicked the television on just in time to catch the end of a televised sermon. She rolled her eyes at the dismal entertainment options she faced and crawled out of bed in search of some sustenance. She pulled a robe over herself and tiptoed toward the fridge.

Through the tiny window she could see her mother's car parked in the driveway. Since Spencer had changed career paths and invested all of her savings in a brand new business, she had moved into her parents' barn to save money. She had not had a chance to renovate it since Melissa occupied the place, and memories of the friction between the sisters stared her in the face on a daily basis.

Although they had not been pleased with Spencer's idea to abandon her chosen field, her parents had been somewhat supportive to the move. Initially they were ecstatic to have her around more but that didn't keep them from taking off most weekend, especially now that they were both retired.

Spencer smiled at the sight of her mother's car. Even though they hardly saw each other despite being only paces away, it gave her comfort to know that her parents were close by. Then she turned back to the kitchenette and realized what she wanted couldn't be found in her tiny makeshift apartment.

She threw on a loose t-shirt and a pair of shorts before picking up her bag and heading down the street to The Brew. She opened the door setting off the familiar chime and looked inside to find the place only barely fit for customers. Knowing she was probably their first customer of the day, Spencer sunk into a velvet chair and suddenly felt her stomach turning over with serious hunger pains. Finally, Emily popped her head out of the kitchen and smiled at her.

"Hey," Emily gave her a huge smile. "You're up early for a Sunday."

"I accidentally set my alarm," Spencer said as her stomach grumbled once again.

"Large black coming up," Emily told her, "and maybe an egg croissant."

"You're the best," Spencer said sitting on a bar stool.

Emily disappeared into the kitchen once more to make Spencer's breakfast. She laid the food out on the grill and grabbed a warm plate from the dishwasher. Then she grabbed a few pieces of fruit and chopped them up quickly placing them nicely in a bowl. As she was waiting for the food to cook, her phone beeped. She pulled it out of her apron and looked at a text from an unknown number: You can't keep it a secret much longer. Confess or face the consequences -A.

"Fuck," Emily breather dropping the phone in her pocket.

She thought pranks like these were over but realized there would probably never be an end to it. She read the text one more time and smirked at the ambiguity of it all. This was clearly a copycat. The A that had tortured them for years was far more clever than this.

Emily gathered the food onto a plate for Spencer and then grabbed her a coffee trying to forget the text, but finding it quite difficult. She definitely had a secret but so did everyone else. In fact, she was probably keeping a dozen secrets. However, there was one that would manifest itself slowly in a matter of months, and maybe the new A was right. It was definitely time to share it.

She headed back to the dining room and placed the plates in front of Spencer. Who smiled brightly before picking up a fork and shoveling fruit into her mouth.

"This is amazing," Spencer said spewing bits of food everywhere.

"I guess you were hungry," Emily teased her.

"Starved," Spencer told her as she washed down her eggs with coffee.

Emily giggled as her friend nearly broke a world record for fastest eating. Then her thoughts drifted back to the cryptic text. It was definitely time to tell her friends but she needed to tell them together and in the perfect place.

"Hey Spencer," she said as the hungry brunette cleaned her plate, "are you free tonight?"

"Yeah," Spencer shrugged.

"I'm closing the place early tonight," Emily told her. "I was thinking of having the girls over."

"That's an excellent idea," Spencer told her. "I will one hundred percent be needing a glass of chardonnay tonight."

"I'll put you down as a yes," Emily laughed as Spencer skipped out of the cafe.

Now left in the empty cafe, Emily got to work cleaning up and preparing for the Sunday brunch crowd. She was in the middle of a full-blown milk steaming episode when she let her mind drift to the events from the week before.

It had been a week since Emily found herself lying on the bed on Paige's motel room. Since then they had not seen each other and Emily could only imagine how hurt Paige felt at hearing such a shocking bit of news with absolutely no warning.

Emily felt guilty, more than anything, for having left immediately. She didn't even wait for Paige to react before she ran out the door and hopped into her car. She was probably already back on the road before Paige could even process the words that had come out of Emily's mouth.

Before she could dwell on the events that had transpired any longer, she was interrupted by footsteps creeping up behind her. She turned around swiftly and caught sight of Toby tiptoeing behind her.

"Hey," she smiled at him.

"I have good news," Toby told her. "I got a job in town so I can give back your spare room."

"That's amazing," Emily hugged him. "If I wasn't knocked up right now we would celebrate properly with a bottle of champs."

"That's okay," he hugged her tight. "I'm more of a Sam Adams guy anyway."

"How about I cook up a special lunch," she offered.

"I have to drive into Ravenswood," Toby explained, "for some supplies. I probably won't be back until late."

"Dinner then," Emily smiled. "If you're up for it."

"Dinner it is," Toby replied.

He grabbed his keys and headed out the door leaving Emily to handle her morning employees. She announced that she would be closing up shop early. After delivering the happy news she texted all of her friends inviting them to come by the cafe later.


Hanna was awoken by the shrill chirp of her phone going off. Fighting off the urge to chuck her phone across the room, she finally reached around in the dark and picked it up. Blinking her eyes open, she vaguely recognized Emily's name on the sender line.

"Fu-" Caleb groaned rolling over. "Make it stop."

"Sorry," Hanna cooed.

She shut her phone off and shoved it in the drawer of her nightstand. Then she rolled over and rested her head on Caleb's chest, listening to his heartbeat. Caleb wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead gently.

"Hey," he croaked, "what time is it?"

"Too early," Hanna breathed.

"We should probably get up," Caleb told her. "I want to spend the whole day with you."

"You could spend it with me in bed," she smirked.

"Tempting," he said sliding his hand under her shirt.

"Nope," she moved his hand away. "I meant literally just sleeping in bed."

"Come on," he pleaded kissing her cheek.

"I'm tired babe," she protested, "and I have to be up at the crack of dawn for work tomorrow."

"What if I make it worth your while?" he whispered.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"Breakfast in bed," he said seductively.

"You are playing dirty," she smirked as Caleb ran out of their bedroom.

Left alone, Hanna propped herself up against the pillows and grabbed her phone. She read the text from Emily once again. As much as Hanna loved her friends, she didn't want to spend the afternoon drinking coffee with them. Especially not when she only got to see Caleb a couple days out of the week. She looked at the text once again. Emily never closed the shop early. Before she could send a response, Caleb was standing in the doorway carrying a tray of food.

"Bon appetite," Caleb placed the tray on the edge of the bed.

"Are you trying to butter me up?" she asked taking in the rich scent. "Like, literally? This is full of butter."

"You're eating for two now," Caleb replied.

"Exactly," Hanna took a bite of fruit. "I need to be eating healthy things so I don't set our baby up for obesity and heart disease from the beginning."

"One piece of bacon won't kill you," he laughed.

"Not taking my chances," she told him. Then she grabbed his hand and put on her serious face. "You're gonna hate me..."

"What is it?" he asked concerned.

"Em wants me to come over," Hanna explained. "She's closing the shop early. It sounds serious, she never does that..."

"You should go," Caleb said. "Before you know it, this baby will be here and you'll hardly get a chance to see them anymore."

"You're okay with that?" she asked. "I mean, I hardly get a chance to see you as it is."

"I'm glad you brought that up," Caleb told her.

"Uh oh," Hanna paused, "why do I feel a serious conversation coming on?"

"I was thinking," Caleb said, "now that you've started the company, maybe it would be best if you quit your job in New York."

"Caleb!" Hanna was outraged.

"I miss you when you're gone," he told her, "and I miss out on my fatherly duties. What if something happens? You're another state away."

"Then maybe you should quit your job and move to New York," she retorted.

"I would," he told her, "but the show is ending anyway. We knew it was a temporary thing."

"Exactly," Hanna said. "It's temporary, and there are only two months left before we wrap. Then I'll be back here permanently just like we planned."

"We decided that before you were pregnant," he told her. "Don't you think that changes everything?"

"I'm pregnant," Hanna said exasperated, "not dying. So far, it hasn't interfered with my work and I only have two months before my contract is up. I'm not going to just give it up."

"I should have known," he told her, "you've always been headstrong."

"Babe," Hanna cupped his cheek in her hand, "we knew going into this it would be hard, but we're almost done and then we can settle into that normal family life you always wanted."

"I'll get started on the white picket fence," he teased her.


For the tenth time that day Spencer was hit by a wave of nausea. She chalked it up to her early morning wake up call, which was also the likely culprit for the unhealthy amount of water weight she had put on.

She took a look at the clock and realized she needed to get going if she was going to meet the girls at The Brew. She threw on a sweatshirt and grabbed her keys as she left the barn, locking up behind her. It was only a short walk to The Brew and Spencer arrived at the door just as Emily was closing up shop. She let herself in the back door and gave Emily a huge smile.

"Hey," Emily ushered her inside.

"Hello hello," Aria said tapping on the front door.

Spencer gave her a smile and walked over to open the door for her, locking it again once Aria was inside.

"Do you know what this is all about?" Aria whispered to her.

"No idea," Spencer shrugged.

"Do you guys want anything?" Emily interrupted.

"Coffee," Aria said eagerly.

"The same," Spencer said.

"Coming right up," Emily smiled as Hanna popped in through the back door. Emily smiled at her, "lock that?"

"Got it," Hanna said grabbing a glass of water and picking up Aria's coffe.

Hanna and Emily brought the drinks to the table where Aria and Spencer were sitting. The four of them got comfortable and finally Hanna turned on her signature charm.

"Okay," she tapped the table, "I don't mean to cut this get together short but I've got a train to catch and a boyfriend to kiss goodbye on said train platform. So, if we could hurry this up..."

"Fine," Emily cleared her throat, "I'm sure you're all wondering..."

"I'm with Hanna," Spencer said, "get to it."

"I'm pregnant," Emily finally blurted out.

She watched as her friends' faces fell in shock. For a moment, she worried they would be upset or unsupportive, but slowly a smile spread across Hanna's face and she pulled Emily in for a hug.

"That's amazing," Hanna whispered to her. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah," Emily nodded.

"So you...?" Spencer tried to find the right words.

"I used a donor," Emily told her. "It's just me."

"You never said anything," Aria breathed as anxiety built up inside of her.

"I didn't want to get my hopes up," Emily explained. "It doesn't always work and..."

"I just didn't know you even wanted kids," Aria's was almost attacking her.

"I'm prepared for this," Emily defended herself. "I know I'm young and...alone...but this is what I want...what I've always wanted."

"You aren't even married," Aria protested.

Hanna shot her a menacing look.

"Aria," Hanna scoffed.

"Sorry," Aria replied. "I don't know what came over me...I was just..."

"It's okay," Emily said. "I know, it's a lot to handle, but this is not an impulsive decision. I want to be a mom and I want to start that part of my life right now."

As Emily gave her speech, tears welled up in Hanna's eyes. She knew what Emily was going through and she couldn't even imagine how difficult it would be to face against all of that opposition that Aria was unjustly throwing her way.

"Hey," Hanna smiled at Emily through her tears, "you're going to be the best mom and when things get tough you'll always have us here."

"Are you sure?" Emily asked. "I don't want a baby ruining all your girls' nights."

"Trust me," Hanna told her, "your baby won't get in the way of my party life at all."

"How do you know?" Emily replied.

"I was going to wait to tell you guys in a couple weeks," Hanna said looking around, "but I guess now is probably as good a time as any."

"Shut up..." Aria's mouth dropped open.

"I'm pregnant too," Hanna said ignoring Aria's comment.

"Thank God!" Emily slammed her hands against the table. "Now I have someone to go with me to prenatal yoga."

"Really?" Hanna scoffed. "That's why you're excited I'm pregnant, not because our kids can be friends, or you'll have someone to relate to..."

"We can totally relate," Emily teased her, "at prenatal yoga."

"Fine," Hanna turned to the other girls who were starting to lose interest. "Sorry, we're done with the baby talk."

"Hey," Emily nudged Spencer, "you've been quiet."

"Just thinking," Spencer replied, trying to convince herself that the weird funk she had been in all day wasn't related to the condition her friends now found themselves in.

"Okay," Hanna said seeing Caleb tapping on the window, "I hate to cut this reunion short, but I've got a train to catch."

"I'll walk out with you," Aria said.

They said their goodbyes and Emily locked up the cafe behind them. Her phone beeped as she returned to the table where Spencer was still sitting. She pulled it out and silently read a new text: Nice try, but it's time to tell Spencer about the secret you've been harboring upstairs – A.

"What's that?" Spencer asked gesturing to the phone.

"An employee," Emily said quickly sitting back down.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked her.

"There's something else I need to tell you," Emily said. "Toby's back in town."

"I know," Spencer gave her a weak smile.

"You knew?" Emily asked. "You're not mad?"

"No," Spencer shook her head. "You and Toby were friends first. We've been through a lot and I'm not sure I'm ready to see him again, and if that's how I feel, he's probably not ready to see me yet either."

"Thanks," Emily told her, "for not taking it personally."

"Like I said," Spencer smiled, "he's been your friend longer than he's been my ex. I could never let our problems stand in the way of your friendship."

"Good," Emily laughed, "just, you know, it's probably best to avoid this place because he's staying in the loft."

"Whatever," Spencer sighed. Then she took a deep breath. "Let's talk about you."

"I think we've explored everything that's going on with me," Emily laughed.

Before they could have an intimate conversation, they were interrupted by keys jangling at the back door. A minute later Toby emerged from the kitchen carrying a bag of groceries.

"Em, I know you can't have wine so..." he said until his gaze landed on Spencer.

"Hey," Spencer waived tentatively.

"I didn't know you would be here," Toby said quickly.

"It's okay," Spencer grabbed her bag. "Obviously you guys have plans together. I've got to get going anyway."

"Bye," Emily hurriedly let Spencer out and locked the door behind her before turning back to Toby. "I thought you said you'd be back late."


Aria arrived at her apartment with a bottle of red stowed away in her purse. She unlocked the door and stepped inside to find Jake sitting up watching television. She put her purse down and poured two glasses of wine which she carried over to the couch.

"Hey," Jake smiled accepting the glass. "What's this for?"

"We're celebrating," she said bitterly. "Everyone is pregnant but me."

"What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"My mom, Emily, even perpetual party girl Hanna is pregnant," Aria explained.

"Babe," Jake put down his glass and wrapped an arm around Aria. "Are you okay?"

"Kind of," she took a sip of her wine. "It's made me realize that maybe I didn't enjoy my youth enough."

"What are you talking about?" he laughed. "You're young."

"But I got married young," she protested, "and I love what we have, but I missed out on so much because we were trying for a baby for so long..."

"I didn't want to pressure you," he said solemnly.

"You didn't," Aria assured him. "I wanted it too, but when we lost the baby it made me think maybe we're not ready. Maybe I need to have a few more drinks and go on some girls' weekends."

"How are you going on a girls' weekend when they're all popping kids out?" Jake asked.

"Don't remind me," Aria downed her wine.

"Come here," Jake said pulling her toward him so she was straddling his lap. "Let's enjoy being DINKs for a while."

"Dinks?" Aria raised an eyebrow."

"Dual income, no kids," Jake clarified.

"I like how that sounds," Aria said giving him a sweet kiss.