Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's just been really busy. That and the fact that I was just lazy, I mean come on it is SUMMER!

So thanks to all of you who are reading and following and mostly reviewing this story. I know most of you want Aria and Ezra to just be one happy family. But the fact that A is still lurking around the air and Aria doesn't want her family to get hurt is the reason why she is pushing Ezra away. Should be a great star on her end...

But I do promise, things will work out.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Ezra's POV:

It's been a whole week since I have last seen or talked to Aria. My mind has been going crazy just thinking about what she's doing and how our son is developing. I know that Raymond had a doctor's appointment on Monday and that was only because my brother ran into Aria.

As hours ticked by I couldn't help but look at the clock every now and then. Hoping, or more like praying, that the weekend would come faster than I had planned. For some reason, I just had this urge to scream and shout from every rooftop.

"Alright, so please finish up your math and reading problems. We will have a quiz tomorrow," I announced to my student as I gave them the five minute warning, something I had done since I started teaching, just so they could get their things ready at the end of the day.

Once all of my students were out the door I grabbed my phone from my pocket and sat down on my chair. I looked up Aria's number and tried to call for the 100th something time this week. But like always she didn't answer; it went directly to voice mail.

"Aria, please talk to me. I miss you so much. I miss our son, please," I sighed into the phone. "I love you, please," and just like that it beeped. I tossed my phone onto the desk and rubbed my face.

I didn't know what to do anymore. My life was falling apart and for once I didn't have the answers on how to put it back together.

"Ezra," I heard my name and looked up with a wry smile. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," I answered honestly. "What can I do for you?"

Jenny gave me a tender look. "Do you want to talk about it?" She walked into my classroom and leaned on my desk.

I nodded my head. "I do, but what happen to that I don't care business?"

She started to laugh. "I said I didn't want to pry, but if you want to share I have a couple of hours. How about we go get a bite to eat?"

I gave her a genuine smile. "I would actually love that," I said standing from my place and started to pack up for the day. "How about the Grille?"

"Sure, I will meet you there," she patted my shoulder and walked out of the room.

Aria's POV:

I closed my eyes for the tenth time today. All this drama and bickering going on between my parents and now Ezra and I was starting to take its toll on me. My brother came over after school and offered to stay with Raymond so I could get out for a few hours.

My friends were already engaged in prior things so I ended up putting on some jogging clothes and headed out for a light walk. I was determined to shed some of this baby fat as fast as I could. As I headed out of the apartment, I looked around my surroundings and just smiled. It has been a while since I have seen the outside world. The last time I even stepped foot out that door was when I had taken Raymond to his first doctor's appointment.

"Aria." I heard my name and turned around to see Jason walking up from behind me. "How are you? I was just coming over to see the little guy," He held up a welcome bag and smiled.

"Thanks, I'm fine. Mike is watching Raymond for a few hours just so I could get out of the apartment. But if you want you can go on up," I told him.

He nodded his head. "That's okay, but if you want some company maybe we can grab an early dinner?"

I smiled. "I'm actually trying to shed a few pounds," I motioned to my body.

"You look fine to me, besides when was the last time you had takeout?" He arched an eyebrow. "We all know that your mom loves to cook."

I let out a giggle. "The Grille?"

He nodded. "Now you're thinking and if you wanna walk. We can,"

"That would be great." I bit my lip and took his offered arm.

We walked the four blocks down to the Grille and found seats upfront. He pulled back my chair and I sat down, then he walked over to his side, and pulled out his chair. The hostess came over and handed us a couple of menus but truth be told I had already known what I wanted for the last four blocks.

"I'll just have a Caesar salad and a bowl of chowder," I told her and she smiled looking at Jason. He then put in his order and took a sip of his water. "What have you been up too?" I asked.

He smiled. "Just working on that house; I'm planning on selling it."

I nodded. "Well it is such a big house and it's just you. Like even when your mom comes to town she stays at a hotel." I rolled my eyes. "Are you planning on staying in town?"

Jason shrugged. "I think so, maybe a little two bedroom house. And your right, I don't need all that space, but sometimes I just like to sit in the backyard and think of old times."

I smiled and let out a little giggle. "You mean all those heavy parties and girls," I joked.

"Well, not that. Just those moments when I saw you."

My face softened. "Jason."

"It's okay Aria," He cut me off, "I know how you feel, so we're just friends."

I bit my lip as our food come to the table. Jason and I shared eye contact the whole time our hostess placed our food in front of us. After that we ate in silence and I kind of enjoyed our time together.

"This was nice," I told him as he pulled out my chair.

He nodded and looked me in the eyes, "I agree." He pushed the chair back in and I gave him a hug. "What was that for?"

"Everything. Even though we only made small talk, that's exactly what I needed. Thank you!"

We both started to head for the door but stopped when I froze. Ezra stood there with some women, who looked way older than him. He looked between Jason and I, and I couldn't help but feel like I betrayed him.

"Why don't we just go?" I told Jason giving him a little push as I tried to get away.

"I've been trying to call you," Ezra said stepping in front of us and glaring Jason down.

"I know; I've heard your messages," I told him looked him in the eyes. "We were just leaving."

"Why haven't you called me back?" He demanded. "Because you're on a date with Jason?"

That's when I started to get really upset. I grabbed Jason by his shirt and pushed Ezra out of the way. He had no part in saying who I can or can't see especially because it was friendly.

Jason and I walked away from the Grille; I didn't even turn around to notice that Ezra was walking right behind us until Jason came to a complete stop and turned around. My mind was spinning and I felt as if I was on some kind of drama show, something that the town square people were having a blast to see.

"I believe us walking out on you was a clue for you to stay away," Jason hissed.

"This doesn't concern you. I am here for Aria. Now if you would just move aside I believe Aria and I have some unfinished business." He glared him down and I just shook my head.

"Why won't you just leave me alone? Ezra we are over, there is nothing that you can say that would make me come back to-"

"I will tell you the truth," Ezra cut me off, "I will tell you everything you want to know."

I pressed my lips together and shook my head.

"Please, Aria, just give me an hour to explain. I promise I won't hold anything back."

Ezra's POV:

Walking into the Grille I thought the universe was sending me a sign to see Aria there right before me. That was until I saw Jason with Aria and I just let my jealous actions take over me.

As we stood there in front of the book store, I pleaded with Aria in each and every way I could just to get her attention. What seemed like forever but was only a mere few minutes Aria agreed to meet with me tomorrow afternoon. I thanked her and watched as she and Jason went on their way. At this point I was feeling guiltier for keeping something this huge from her. I felt a hand on my lower back and turned my head to see Jenny; I let out a breath and stuck my hands in my pockets.

"Everything will work out," She cooed. "And if you want to leave, I will understand."

I nodded. "Thank you, I think this is enough drama for one afternoon. Maybe we can do this some other time?"

She nodded. "Of course, you know, my husband and I would love to have you over for dinner, if you want?"

I smiled. "Sure, we will talk tomorrow. I really should be getting home; I'm kind of afraid to leave my brother there by himself for too long," I lied. The fact is I just wanted to make sure he was out of the apartment before Aria had gotten there tomorrow

For the past week I have been pleading with him, telling him that I was okay and that he should just go home. But the stubborn and caring side of him, just argued with me and told me he was staying.

"Of course, take care, Ezra. I promise, at the end everything will work out. Just be open and tell her what you have to say. But always make sure you listen to her."

Aria's POV:

The next morning I had gotten up for Raymond just like I have been for the last week since he had gotten home. My mother had this meeting in New York and she offered to drive back up with my grandmother. Even though my grandmother had refused to even leave, she knew that she had to get back to work sooner or later. But she made me promise to think about her offer of staying with her.

Over the last week I haven't even had one text Message from A. It's like this group of people had just fallen off the face of the earth. Not that I was complaining but it just had gotten me a little more on my guard. Because for some reason this was the longest I had gone without a threat from him/her or it, whatever they are calling themselves these days.

"Mike," I pushed him awake. "Get ready for school," I told him walking out of my mother's room.

Mike had stayed the night; he didn't want me home alone. Byron had even asked me to stay over while my mother was gone but what use would that do? He still doesn't respect my decisions and still wants me to give up my child.

"Mike," I yelled again.

"I'm up," He grumbled. "You yell like mom, can you stop?" He wiped his eyes with a smirk.

"I love you too, Mike."

I smiled at him and picked up Raymond. I changed his diaper and warmed up a bottle for him.

Mike walked into the bathroom and came out ten minutes later with his hair slicked back and a new attitude. He gave his nephew a kiss to the head and walked into the kitchen.

"Are you going to see him today?" Mike asked making himself a bowl of cereal.

"I'm sure he's just making an excuse to see his son."

Mike laughed. "Well, at some point you're going to need to see him. Aria, Ezra is the father. It doesn't matter how you look at it."

I knew Mike had a point but if only he knew the half the story I'm sure he would agree on how I was handling things. Once Raymond was done I burped him and then laid him back down in his crib. Mike waved goodbye half hour later and then he was out the door.

Time was passing slowly. Raymond was behaving beautifully; when he wasn't sleeping he was lying quietly in his infant seat. I found myself on the couch trying to catch up on my homework. It's my senior year and I didn't feel like falling behind. I wanted to graduate with my class. I wanted to be able to tell my son someday that mommy made it and you were the one that helped. During lunch I had heated up some of the pasta that my mom had made and sat down on the couch once again trying to make sense of these stupid math questions.

My friends called to check up on me and wished that I was there with them. I told them I will be next week and that I was able to find a sitter, well it wasn't me it was my grandmother. She's hiring someone to watch Raymond while I am at school and she told me to quit my job.

It's funny how you listen to your grandparents more than your actually parents. If it wasn't for my grandmother, I didn't know what I was going to do. Rosewood Day doesn't even have child care and now I am starting to think that's stupid. But it's not every day that someone at Rosewood is having a baby. I think out of the four years I have been there I am the first one to break the record.

Raymond woke up a few hours later and I did the usual; I changed and fed him. But this time Raymond didn't go back to sleep right away. He held onto my finger and his mouth turned up into what looked like a little smile as I tickled his feet. I never expected to feel such overwhelming love to him. He's such a tiny, perfect being. He is every ounce of Ezra. Sometimes I would catch myself just staring at him, just so I could get a glimpse of Ezra through him. His jaw, his nose, his ears, even his eyes looked exactly like Ezra. I think the only thing Raymond had that's like me is his hair and that kind of sucked, because I love Ezra's curls. I love running my fingers through his hair and playing around with his curls.

When Raymond had fallen asleep I let out a yawn and placed him on my bed. I put him towards the wall and lay down beside him. After a few minutes of just taking him all in I found myself slowly drifting off to sleep.

Ezra's POV:

I had gotten my brother out of the house and that was only because I had promised to tell Aria everything and the only way I was going to do that is if he left for a few hours. Well that was two hours ago and Aria still isn't here. She had promised to be here and that we would talk. I didn't know what could possibly be taking so long.

I called Aria a few times but she didn't answer. I even called Ella and she told me that Aria should be home. And when I told her that Aria's not answering that only set Ella into a state of panic but I told her that I would just drive on over and see what's going on. So now I am standing at the door knocking as hard as I could. After a long while a disheveled Aria finally answered the door.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a frog voice. I took her into me and held her as tight as I could. "Ezra, what's wrong?"

I sucked in a breath as I just held her close to me. "I was so worried; please don't do that to me again."

She pushed me away a little and looked me in the eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's almost nine, were you sleeping?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry."

She turned around and ran into the bedroom. I followed and watched her place pillows around the bed. "I just dozed off."

"How is he?" I asked looking at our son, lying there peacefully.

"You want to hold him?"

I nodded. "But I will wait, let him sleep," I smiled at Aria. "I was so worried about you, when you didn't call or anything I panicked. I thought the worse."

"Ezra, I'm fine," Aria told me pulling her hair into a bun. "Thank you for checking on me. I can't believe we even slept this long," she giggled. "This is the first time Raymond hasn't woken me up after a few hours," She yawned.

Aria walked past me and into the living room. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped it over her legs before she looked back up at me. I rubbed my neck because I knew this moment was coming. It was only the matter of forming words and trying to get it to come out.

"So," I mumbled. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

So next chapter will be the reveal (I think) I wrote it but it was a while back and I kind of forgot what I had written... Anyways, when it comes back from my editor I will post it...

Big thanks to Sarale who has been a major help with this story... I hope everything is okay, I haven't heard from her in a while.