I'm so sorry this has been so long, I honestly forgot all about this fic! I don't know if people are still reading but if there are I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Ten

Three weeks later and Aria and Ezra were still going steady. They had got themselves into a daily routine; Aria and Nathan would visit Ezra in the morning before he left for school and they would all eat breakfast together, then Ezra would drop them both off at Laurel's photography studio (where Aria was now doing a paid internship) and come pick them up at 4:15pm. From there they'd go to The Brew, where Ezra would do an hour of tutoring Aria in English. After that they would usually go back to Ezra's apartment, sometimes staying for dinner but more often than not having to go home at 6:30pm so as not to raise suspicion from her parents, who were still oblivious to the whole thing. Although they very nearly kissed in the park all those weeks ago, they thought it was best to keep their relationship on the down low until Byron and Ella found out. Aria was getting rather tired of having to pretend Ezra was nothing more than her English tutor in public, and for being pretty much constrained to the four walls of his apartment. There were so many things she wanted to do with him; visit more art galleries, go to museums, see shows, take trips to bookstores- more than anything, she just wanted to be able to hold his hand. Which was why, today, she was telling her parents.

Aria decided to wait a little at dinner before dropping the news, making polite conversation and being a generally perfect daughter to sweeten them up a little. Nathan was happily babbling away in his high chair, proudly clutching his sippy bottle which he could now hold all by himself. Between bites of her own dinner Aria would spoon some pureed sweet potato baby food into his mouth, laughing as he made appreciative gurgling noises at the food. After Nathan finished eating Mike (who ate with the speed of light) offered to play with him in the living room until Aria was ready to give him a bath, so Aria took this as the opportunity to break the news. Swirling some spaghetti round her fork, she began.

"So, I was wondering if I could invite someone to dinner this Friday." She said casually, subtly gaging her parents reactions.

"Of course, one of the girls?" Ella inquired. Aria shook her head, pausing slightly before continuing.

"No, actually it's someone I've been seeing." She said slowly. "Romantically." She added, in case that wasn't clear. From the look on her parents' faces, however, it was very clear. Byron looked mildly constipated, whilst Ella's forehead gained a dozen creases.

"Do we know this boy?" Byron asked uncomfortably, praying to God that she wouldn't say it was Noel. Aria bit her lip, not really knowing how to go about this question. In the end she decided she might as well bite the bullet and go for it.

"Mom does. He, um, he teaches at Rosewood High. It's Ezra. Ezra Fitz." She said in the most confident voice she could muster.

The silence was deadly for a few moments, with both Byron and Ella's mouths hanging open slightly. Surprisingly, it was Byron who spoke first.

"How did this even happen?" He asked, his tone indiscernible. Aria gulped.

"We met a few months back and kept bumping into each other and eventually made friends. We've only been dating for about a month but it's been going really well so I would love you guys to get to know him." She pleaded, whilst still trying to sound mature. Ella looked to Byron, concern painted on her face.

"Sweetie, Ezra is a lot older than you." She said carefully. Aria shook her head.

"Only ten years, that's not that much. Emily's dad is twelve years older than her mom." She argued. Ella exhaled and rubbed her forehead, trying to wrap her brain around this.

"And is… is he aware of your… circumstances?" Byron asked in an awkward way.

"You mean Nathan? Of course, Ezra's great with him." She insisted. Byron spluttered a little, uncomfortable with the idea that this strange man had been around his grandson.

"Aria, honey, are you sure his intentions are… pure?" Ella asked gently, but that didn't stop Aria from looking as if she'd been slapped in the face.

"Mom, you know Ezra. You know what a good person he is." She stared Ella down, wanting her to feel guilty for ever suggesting such a thing. Ella darted her tongue out to lick her lips- Ezra was a good man. He was always kind and polite and a great teacher to the class… The class that Aria would have been in.

"Don't you think you're a little young to be getting into a relationship?" Byron questioned. Aria raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Dad, relationships aren't exactly new territory for me. I have a seven month old son who could attest to that." She had to fight rolling her eyes, knowing she couldn't get too sassy if she wanted her parents on her side.

"You must understand why we're a little… dubious, though?" Ella reasoned.

"I do, I understand, which is why I want you to meet him and see how wonderful he is before you pass any judgements. Please?" She begged, her eyes wide and lips pouted. Aria looked from Byron, to Ella, back to Byron and then to Ella again. After what felt like an eternity, Ella sighed.

"Okay. He can come to dinner this Friday." She relented.
"But he's not staying the night." Byron quickly added. "And he's not allowed upstairs."

Aria nodded enthusiastically, a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you, thank you so much." She gushed. Ella had to restrain herself from smiling too.

"You're welcome, now go run Nathan's bath."

Aria giggled as Nathan splashed about happily in the water, gripping her shampoo bottle and playing with it as if it were a toy.

"Honey, shampoo is for cleaning, not playing! That's what duckie's for!" She said in a baby voice, swapping the bottle for a rubber duck that Ezra had bought him a week ago. It was supposed to look like William Shakespeare, who was a bit beyond Nathan's literary range, but he loved it anyway. Just as Aria was about to put some baby shampoo into Nathan's hair, her phone rang, her ID saying it was Noel. Sighing, she picked up the phone.
"Hello?" She greeted as civilly as she could. Since the pizza parlour incident Aria hadn't even bothered asking Noel to take Nathan, not wanting to have to communicate with him. Of course, Noel never offered or requested Nathan, so they were going on over three weeks without seeing each other.

"I need Nathan tomorrow night." He said, not bothering to say 'hi'. Aria pursed her lips suspiciously.

"Why?" She questioned. Not once in the entire seven months of Nathan's existence had Noel asked to look after him.

"My grandparents are coming from Virginia. They want to see him. Can you drop him at mine after school?" He asked impatiently.

"I've got work till 4:30 and then I'm going to The Brew with Ezra. It'll probably make more sense for you to pick Nathan up from there." She said, slightly distracted at Nathan putting the duck's head in his mouth. Noel groaned.

"You're still with Mr Fitz?" He asked rhetorically. "Whatever, I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that he hung up.

"Charming." Aria muttered, finally shampooing Nathan's small tufts of brown hair. Looking at her son, she wished he didn't look so much like his dad. From his glinting eyes to his upturned mouth to his dark hair, everything about him screamed 'Noel'. People always commented on their likeness, and the only person who seemed to see similarity between Nathan and Aria was Ezra. He said that they had the same wide, enchanting eyes and plump pouty lips. Thinking of Ezra, a smile crept up on Aria's lips. If Noel was going to have Nathan tomorrow, that meant they had a night to themselves, and now that her parents knew about him they could do whatever they wanted…

As Nathan slept soundly in his cot, Aria flipped through the photos she had gotten developed at work earlier, pausing on one she took of a pregnant woman smoking at a bus stop. Laurel loved the photo and said it was 'hauntingly provocative' but she couldn't publish it as Aria didn't get the woman's permission. Aria was considering giving it to Spencer when her phone rang. Hoping to God it wasn't Noel ringing to retract his offer, she quickly picked up so that Nathan wouldn't be woken by the ringing.

"Hello?" She said in a whisper.

"Hi, it's Ezra. Sorry, is this a bad time?" He asked. A smile broke out on Aria's face at the sound of his voice as she stood to leave Nathan's room.

"No, not at all, I just didn't want to wake Nathan." She said, louder now. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see how you were, and was wondering whether you decided to tell your parents in the end." He explained, and Aria was pretty sure she could hear The Fray playing in the background.

"I'm good. Really good, actually. I told my parents and they were surprisingly chilled about it." She gushed.

"That's great! Does this mean I can hold your hand in Rosewood?" He asked, his smile creeping through his voice. Aria's heart flipped.

"I guess it does…" She mused quietly. "Will you hold it tomorrow? Say, half seven, outside the Barbican theatre?" She added teasingly.

"What's happening at the Barbican?" Ezra asked with a hint of excitement.

"A modern retelling of the Greek tragedy Oresteia. Apparently it's incredible." She said, getting a review for it up on her phone.

"Oresteia? Is that age appropriate?" Ezra asked warily. Aria felt a little offended.

"I'm nearly seventeen, Ezra, I think I can deal with a little fictional murder." She argued as she rolled her eyes.

"No, no, I meant for Nathan." Ezra hastily explained. One thing Ezra learnt about Aria in the short time that they had been together was that she hated being treated like a child. It was, in fact, the cause of their first almost fight. Ezra was poking fun at Aria for not understanding a piece on the news about tax, which Aria took to mean as him calling her immature, leading her to almost storm out before he managed to convince her he was joking.

"Oh." Aria sighed, relieved. A small smirk played on her features. "That shouldn't be a problem, as Nathan won't be with us. Noel's taking him for the night."

The next day, Aria and Ezra took great pleasure in sitting hand in hand at The Brew whilst they discussed Emily Brontë's presentation of the female experience in Wuthering Heights. Nathan sat in a high chair provided by the cafe, and was messily eating a banana that Aria had mashed up with a spoon for him. Just as Aria was making an interesting point about how Cathy is punished for her sexuality by death, Noel walked over to the table, his head down as if scared people would spot him.

"Pick him up at midday tomorrow, okay?" Noel said bluntly, before grimacing at Nathan's messy face. "Have you got a napkin or something? His face is disgusting."
"Hey, Noel, it's great to see you too." Aria said dryly, fishing for a wet wipe in her purse before handing it to Noel. "You can drop him off at mine at four pm. I'm busy until then."

"Doing what, screwing my English teacher?" He sneered as if Ezra wasn't sitting a foot away from him. Ezra was at a loss on whether to intervene, having a feeling that Aria wouldn't appreciate it. He found it very hard to listen to his girl being talked to like that, though Aria didn't look as put off.

"Maybe, if we feel like it." She shrugged, making Ezra and Noel looking at her with shock.

"Aria." Ezra said gently, warning her not to say something she could regret. Noel had a strange smirk on his face, halfway between smug and insulted.

"When did you become such a slut?" He asked cruelly. This clearly got to Aria, as her previously confident face fell, and she looked down to the floor in embarrassment. Now Ezra had to intervene.

"Mr Kahn, I'd think about what I was saying if I were you." He warned, holding Noel's steely glaze. Noel let out an empty, rueful chuckle, holding his hands up.

"Hey, man, I never said it was a bad thing. I just wish she was more like that when we were together." Noel winked. A shiver ran down Ezra's spine.

"Take Nathan and leave, Noel." Ezra ordered. "You don't deserve him." He muttered under his breath as he watched Noel clumsily lift Nathan out of the high chair. Noel didn't seem to hear, but Aria clearly did, as she gently nudged his arm.

"Leave it." Aria whispered. "He's not worth it, and it could get you in trouble."

Once Noel gathered all of Nathan's things, he turned to Ezra, a cold look in his eye.

"You're sick." Noel accused, and then turned to Aria, leaning in so close that she could smell the spearmint gum he was always chewing. "And you…" He said, pausing for dramatic effect before pulling back, shaking his head and laughing. Nathan was crying in his stroller, reaching his arms out in Aria's direction and making protestation noises as Noel started to push him away. Aria tried her hardest to keep her composure and gave a small wave to Nathan, blowing him a kiss.
"I love you, Nathy." She murmured, but he had already left the Brew. Ezra shifted his chair round to be right next to Aria, holding her close and stroking her back in comfort.

"You know," She said quietly. "I can never sleep when Noel has him. I spend all night tossing and turning and just praying that he's being looked after. It's funny, I yearn for a night off but when I get one I spend the whole time wishing it was over."

Ezra kissed the top of her head, feeling that he wouldn't be able to give any words of wisdom seeing as he had never been in the situation. He felt his shirt dampen, signalling that Aria was crying.

"We don't have to go to the show, if you don't want to." He comforted. Aria pulled away from Ezra's chest and took a deep breath, wiping away her tears.

"No, I want to. I'll be okay in a minute, I just… really miss him, you know?" She asked and Ezra nodded, wishing there was something he could do. He thought to how much he missed Aria during the day, and could only imagine that what she was feeling was a hundred times worse. Not wanting to say the wrong thing, Ezra tried to communicate everything he wanted to say in the way he held her, hoping his strong hold says 'It's okay, we're in this together'.

A few hours later, and Aria and Ezra were on their way to the theatre. Hand in hand they strolled, discussing how they thought the director would modernise the ancient Greek legend, pointing out particular aspects that may be difficult. Ezra used his free hand to animatedly illustrate his points, flinging it wildly in the air with a light in his eyes. Aria thought it was adorable, and wondered whether that was what he looked like whilst teaching a class about a book he loved.

"I think what will be really interesting is how they manage to make some of the morals relevant to a contemporary- oh crap." Ezra stopped short in the middle of his sentence, and Aria felt his hand let go of hers. Confused, she followed his gaze until her eyes fell upon a herd of students and a few faculty members of Rosewood High. They were over 10ft away and were queuing for the theatre and therefore had their backs turned to the couple, but that did not stop the panic in Ezra's eyes.

"I guess they must be doing a field trip." Aria shrugged, reaching for his hand again. Ezra flinched and faked a cough, covering his mouth and avoiding the proposed hand hold. Aria frowned at his behaviour whilst Ezra averted eye contact, suddenly finding the floor very fascinating.

"Ezra?" Aria questioned, trying to get him to look her in the eyes. He remained fixated on the pavement.

"Are you thirsty? I'm thirsty. Let's go buy a drink before we go in." He said in a hushed voice as if he didn't want anyone to hear him. Just as Aria was about to point out that they sold drinks at the theatre, she was interrupted.

"Mr Fitz, are you chaperoning the trip too?" A perky voice called out. Aria and Ezra looked to the source, seeing Mona Vanderwall standing with an innocent smile on her face. Ezra scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat.

"No, uhm, I'm here… I'm here with…" He fumbled, looking around almost like he was looking for someone to pretend to be with.

"He's here with me." Aria interrupted bluntly, the hurt and confusion clear in her tone. Ezra gulped involuntarily.

"Oh, Aria, I didn't see you there!" Mona exclaimed, although her statement was most likely untrue, seeing as she was right next to Ezra. "Wow, you're doing a great job losing that baby weight- almost there! Speaking of which, where is Ethan?"

"Nathan." Aria corrected defensively. "And he's with Noel."

"And you're here… with Mr Fitz…" Mona said slowly and unsurely, like the concept highly confused her. "Wait, why are you here with Mr Fitz?"

At this point, Mrs Welch walked over from her place in the queue. Oh great, Ezra thought, this could not get any better.

"Uhh, I'm tutoring her in English. We thought it would be valuable to see some of the literature come to life." Ezra said quickly, ignoring the eye daggers from Aria.

"Mona, please stick with the group." Mrs Welch instructed, before turning her attention to Ezra and Aria. "Ezra, what a lovely surprise!" She exclaimed, stretching her arms out for a hug. Ezra awkwardly leant in and quickly retreated, her strong perfume overwhelming his senses.
"Indeed." He said flatly. Mrs Welch suspiciously eyed Aria, strongly suspecting that the girl had a little crush on her English tutor. How sweet, she thought with a coy smile.

"Aria, it's lovely to see you out and about. How are you doing?" She asked sympathetically, in the same voice that most adults used on Aria these days.
"Fine, thank you." Aria said in a forced sweet voice, before turning to Ezra. "Well, Mr Fitz, we better get in line."

Aria was giving Ezra the silent treatment all the way through the enormous queue. It seemed to Ezra that everyone in Rosewood had brought their friends, family and dog along to see this show. And of course, they were stood directly behind the jocks, a.k.a the friends of Noel who knew about Aria and Ezra's relationship.

"Slut." One hissed in the disguise of a cough, resulting in a snickering from the rest of the group. Aria remained steely eyed and pretended not to have heard. When Ezra tried to place a hand on her shoulder she shrugged it away.

"Who would have thought; Aria Montgomery sleeping her way into college." Another sneered supposedly quietly, but it was obvious he intended for her to hear. Ezra's hands curled into fists.

"Do you want me to say something?" Ezra asked quietly. Aria refused to look at him, instead staring straight on.
"Is that something an English tutor would do?" She asked harshly, making Ezra want to punch himself in the face.

During the play, as Aria watched the tragedy unfold in front of her, she thought that maybe she was being a little overdramatic about Ezra. Of course he was going to find it uncomfortable at first being affectionate with his student's former classmates in front of them, but she was sure it was just a gut reaction. After all, he did try to comfort her in the queue, right? As the scene where the protagonist killed his daughter began, Aria rested her head on Ezra's shoulder, seeking comfort. As she watched it all she could imagine was being in the character's position and having to do that to Nathan, the mere thought making her want to cry. To her dismay, Ezra instantly jerked it away, looking around for students or colleagues. Aria huffed and turned her body away from Ezra, and decided that as soon as the interval began she would go home. She was enjoying the show, but not enough to put up with Ezra's asshole-ness.

The lights went up and Aria collected her purse before standing. Ezra didn't look too bothered, much to Aria's annoyance.

"Are you going to the restroom?" He asked distractedly, eyeing up Mrs Wallins who he was sure was giving him a dirty look. Aria scowled and crossed her arms.

"No, I'm going home." She said bluntly, swiftly turning round.

"Aria, wait!" He suddenly exclaimed as he stood up and touched her arm.

"What? I don't want to embarrass you further." She glowered. Ezra ran a shaky hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry. I just… you have to understand tha-"

"That what? That you're fine being with me as long as it's behind closed doors? I don't want to be your dirty little secret, Ezra." She ranted.

"Hey, I'm thinking of you too, here. You heard how those boys were talking about you. I don't want people thinking you're a slut." Ezra argued, trying to keep his voice down so as not to attract attention to themselves.

"I don't care what other people think, I care what you think, and it looks like you think our relationship is shameful." Aria did her best at not letting her emotions seep through her voice, but Ezra could tell she was on the verge of tears and he hated himself for it.

"Of course I don't think that." He promised, but Aria didn't seem convinced. "Aria, I'm sorry, I was an asshole."

"Yeah, you were." She agreed with a scowl.

"Don't leave, at least watch the rest of the show." He begged. "I'll leave if you want me to, but don't miss the play because of me."

Aria bit her lip, clearly conflicted. Sighing deeply, she nodded.

"Okay, I'll stay until the end, but I don't know how much longer I can go with you dropping my hand like a hot potato." She grimaced. Ezra held his hand out, and Aria looked at it curiously.

"Hold my hand." He instructed softly. Aria hesitantly reached out to gently place her hand in his. He immediately held it tight, stroking her with his thumb. "Now close your eyes." He said quietly. Aria obeyed, but not before giving him a questioning look. Once her eyes were closed she felt Ezra's soft lips brush against hers tentatively. She opened her eyes, half expecting him to be looking around over his shoulder in case anyone saw them, but instead he was staring straight at her with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." He said in little more than a whisper. Aria looked to the floor and then back at Ezra, and before he knew it her lips were on his, kissing him passionately. Ezra wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in closer, not even thinking about the entire class of his students who were sitting rows in front of them, many of whom were watching closely. Mrs Welch wrinkled her nose in disgust, shh-ing the whooping jocks. Eventually Ezra pulled away, slightly breathless.

"I forgive you." Aria smiled, before spotting something out of the corner of her eye. "But I'll forgive you even more if you go get me one of those ice creams."