Disclaimer: I own nothing except the mistakes.
AN: I apologize for the lateness, I started a new job so that took priority. Thank you for the views, reviews, favs and follows.
When Paige walked out of the prison's gates, she found a fuming Hanna waiting for her in the car.
"What took you so long?" She asked as she started the car and pulled away.
Paige glanced over at her, and then clicked her seatbelt into place. "I wanted to see if there was anything she might let slip about who might be carrying on with the game while she's locked up."
"Did you? Get anything I mean?" Hanna's eyes flirted between Paige and the road.
"Yeah," Paige breathed, rubbing her forehead, "She told me where I can find a guy named Hank Mahone. Apparently he can prove that it wasn't her at Mona's house."
Hanna chewed on her lip, the skin between her eyebrows crinkling as she thought. "But we already know she wasn't here."
"I know, but it would be worth checking out right?"
Hanna nodded, "Hey Paige?" When Paige hummed to show that she was listening, Hanna continued, "We haven't been to the bag in a long time, think you have some time today? Before we tell the girls and get caught up in everything again."
Paige couldn't help but chuckle, "I didn't think you'd want to go back after the time in the gym, but sure."
After a quick stop at the Marin household, and the trunk of Paige's car they were off to school. The Stanford coaches had organized with the Rosewood High swim coach and the principal to give Paige a set of keys for the natorium and the gym, in case she wanted to do extra work outs.
Paige let them in, and they headed straight to the locker room, they kept the conversation light while they changed, talking about the colleges Hanna had gotten into and which one she was leaning towards going to. When they were done, they headed towards the gym. Paige wrapped Hanna's hands in boxing tape, and then held hers out for the blonde to do. Once that was done they went through a few warm up exercises, Paige focused more than usual on her shoulder, her physical therapist had told her to take it easy, and she wasn't up for taking any chances.
She helped Hanna lace up the gloves and got behind the bag.
"I hope you haven't forgotten everything from before." Paige teased as she braced the bag with her good shoulder.
Hanna grinned and landed a wicked punch to the bag. "I said it's been a while since we've been at the bag. Not since I've been to the bag."
Paige chuckled, "Okay. Show me what you've been getting up to."
Hanna smirked and brought her hands up to protect her face, from her first punch, her feet were constantly moving as she punched, ducked and side stepped. She had missed the feeling of letting her frustrations out on the bag. When Alison came back to Rosewood, Hanna needed an outlet and Paige had provided the perfect solution. she preferred boxing over any other exercise, she loved the way it made her feel, faster, stronger. It also helped her focus. As she lost herself in her motions, she couldn't help but wonder why Alison had given them Cyrus' location, was he the one she had working for her on the outside? But then what part did Holbrook play? Were they all in it together?
"Hanna!" Paige called for the third time, finally breaking her from her thoughts.
Hanna shook her head, and dropped her arm, taking a step back from the bag. "What?"
"Take it easy." Paige stepped back, rolling her shoulders. While Hanna had gotten lost in her thoughts, her swings had become wilder and harder. "What's on your mind?"
Hanna shook her head and walked over to the bench that lined one of the walls. Paige followed after grabbing Hanna's water bottle from her bag. They hadn't felt right about leaving their bags in the locker room as it would be an easy target for A. She sat next to Hanna and undid the laces of the gloves, handing her the bottle once her hands were free.
Hanna took the bottle with a thankful nod and drank half of it in one go. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Hanna's eyes drifted to Paige's shoulder.
"It's okay, nothing an ice pack won't fix. Are you okay?"
Hanna stared at the bottle in her hands, "I'm just...I'm tired of living like this. I'm tired of not having a normal life. I want to spend time with Caleb just doing what every other couple does before I leave for college. I want to spend time with my friends without worrying that A might frame us for murder."
Paige rubbed her back sympathetically, "You'll have that Han, we're doing everything we can to find A, and now that we have someone who can give us some answers, we're closer to stopping all of this."
"At what cost?"
After their break, they decided to cool off for a bit in the pool, Paige wanted to check out the range she had on her shoulder and started down the lane in an easy freestyle, not confident enough in her shoulder to try the butterfly. They had been in for approximately fifteen minutes when the door to the natorium opened and the girls walked in.
"You went to see Alison. Why?" Spencer demanded as she strode to the edge of the pool, Emily and Aria in tow.
"Back to reality." Hanna muttered as they crossed to the steps. Once they were wrapped in towels, Hanna answered the question. "I wanted her to stop, I'm tired of all of this Spence and she's the one who can stop it."
"What did she say?" Aria asked before Spencer could.
While Hanna explained, Emily moved closer to Paige. "You shouldn't have gone there." She said in just above a whisper, and Paige could hear the anger in her voice. "You're getting so much more involved and A is dangerous."
"I know A is dangerous Emily, but not going to sit back and do nothing I told you, anything to protect you."
"Did you speak to her?"
"Yeah, said we need to find someone called Hank Mahone. She told me where to go to start looking."
"Come on we're going to that bar." Spencer interrupted their conversation.
"Uhm Spence? I need to shower and change first." Hanna stopped Spencer before she could walk away.
Spencer sighed, "Fine. But I'm coming with you or you'll take forever."
They headed to the locker room, the three girls standing guard as Hanna and Paige showered and dressed quickly. Spencer came close to the stalls every few minutes to hurry them up, and by the time Hanna got out of the showers, Paige was dressed, shoving everything including her phone into her gym bag,under the watchfull eyes of drill sergeant Hastings.
They piled into Spencer's SUV and after programming the name of the bar into the navigation system they were off.
Spencer and Aria chatted quietly in the front, Hanna's eyes were glued to her phone, probably texting Caleb, and after a few minutes of silence between the two, Emily sighed and laced their fingers together. Paige turned her arm slightly to make it more comfortable for both of them, and winced at the slight pain that radiated from her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked, concerned after witnessing the wince.
"Just a little stiff." Paige used her free hand to massage her shoulder, "Don't worry, out of practice."
Before Emily could fuss more, the car came to a stop in front of a sketchy looking bar. They all leaned forward to scope it out through the windscreen.
"You sure this is the place?" Spencer glanced at Paige through the rearview mirror.
"Pretty sure."
"Okay then." Spencer took a breath before opening the door and getting out of the car. The other girls followed suit, and once they made sure the car really was locked they headed inside. They glanced around, and then headed to the bar. Spencer asked for Hank Mahone, and the bartender raised an eyebrow, giving the group a once over, before jerking his head in the direction of the pool tables, situated on the one side of the building. They turned almost in synch and glanced in the direction he nodded in. Almost as if it was practice Hank turned and the liars gasped, causing Paige to furrow her brow and nudge Emily for an answer, however before Emily could explain, Spencer hustled them back out the bar, to instead watch Hank from the window.
"Why would Ali want us to meet Cyrus?" Aria questioned, as they stared at him.
Suddenly it clicked for Paige, this was the guy who had been blamed for Alison's kidnapping. She had mentioned him to Hanna, maybe she was worried the guard would have heard his name and reported it, blowing up her whole kidnap story.
She was pulled into the shadows when the door opened and Cyrus strode out, heading in the opposite direction. They watched as he got onto a motor cycle and drove off.
Spencer led the way back to the car and once they were in she spoke, "Do you think we've been looking at the wrong people? Maybe Cyrus is the one who's helping Alison."
"But why would she give him up?" Aria questioned, as Spencer started the car.
"To throw us off her tail? Make him the new A suspect so we can run around in circles?" Emily interjected, she put her head back and closed her eyes, and all these twists and turns really were taking its toll.
Paige had just parked her car when her father strode out onto the porch, she could see he was furious.
"Inside now." He said through clenched teeth. Paige followed him inside, her brows furrowed in confusion. Once the door was closed he rounded on her. "Why are you visiting Alison DiLaurentis in prison?"
"We needed to know why she would do something like this dad, it's no big deal."
"It is a big deal Paige!" He almost shouted, "She's on trial for attempted murder! This is not something you need around you right now, what if Stanford doesn't want to associate themselves with someone who is connected to the DiLaurentis girl?"
Paige could just sense where this was going and chose to end it before it got to her moving away sooner. "Innocent until proven guilty dad, that's how our justice system works." She turned, ignoring as he called her back and headed up the stairs to her room. She shut the door, dropping her gym bag onto the bed before she collapsed on it.
When her phone beeped, she groaned and rolled over to dig through her bag for it. She had a couple missed calls from her dad. She opened the message, sitting up when she read it.
How much are you willing to lose? Time to choose, Stanford or Emily. - A
AN: Thanks again for reading. Let me know what you think.