A/N: I have to excuse as to why it took me so long to update other than sometimes inspiration disappears and reappears suddenly.

I hope you're all still reading and reviewing right along with me; if so, I love ya, darlings.


Chapter 12 - Hope

The two drove in a comfortable silence on the way to their next stop. Spencer tried unsuccessfully twice beforehand to get Toby to say where they were going, but he told her it was a surprise, refusing to give her even the smallest of hints. From there, they settled into silence, the only sound between them being the radio playing softly. It was peaceful, a sense of comfort washing over Spencer as they drove quietly, leaving her with the feeling that they had done this hundreds of times before.

Before Spencer realized it, she was instinctively reaching over to the radio, scanning the stations for something new. "Sorry," Spencer said sheepishly when she noticed Toby glancing over at her as she realized what she was doing.

Toby shook his head. "No worries; you usually picked the music anyways," he murmured, smiling over at her. Watching her fiddle with his radio filled Toby with a bittersweet feeling; he had seen her do it, controlling the music almost every time they drove together, and just as before, she reached out to do something she knew deep down was familiar to her, but without knowing why it was so familiar to her. It was like she was there, and yet, not at all.

"Here," Toby spoke after a few minutes, reaching over to press the CD button on his radio, switching over to his music from the radio.

The CD started up almost immediately, and Spencer leaned back in her seat, her eyes closing as she smiled. "I love this song," she murmured a moment later.

"I know," he responded. "Since you always picked the music, and my stereo system is too outdated for iPods or any MP3 players, really, I started burning CDs again for the truck, and I usually burned them with you and your favorite songs in mind." His tone was nonchalant, but they both knew just how much that little gesture meant to both of them.

Spencer didn't say anything; she glanced over at him, offering a touched smile before allowing herself to get lost in the music once more. They continued to drive in silence as Spencer listened to the CD playing, noting that almost each song that played was a personal favorite of hers, some of them so unknown that she didn't think anybody else she knew would know the songs.

But Toby knew them; he knew them enough to know that they were her favorites-yet another little thing he knew about her- and somehow, that didn't surprise Spencer. Not anymore.

Toby pulled over on the side of the road a few minutes later, killing the engine and unbuckling himself from his head. "Uh, is this the next stop on our date?" Spencer asked, confused as she slowly unbuckled herself as well.

Toby grinned. "Follow me, Hastings," he replied, grabbing a flashlight from the door before jumping out of the truck to meet Spencer on the other side. He took a hold of her hand as he began to lead her up a dirt path.

"Is this the part of the date where you try to kill me?" joked Spencer before realizing that up until a few weeks ago, she wasn't completely sure that Toby wasn't planning on killing her. "Sorry, bad joke," she quickly added. She laughed despite herself when she felt Toby's body shake slightly with laughter beside her.

Still, Toby grinned, shaking his head. "You'll see; it'll be worth it," he replied, continuing to lead her up the path.

They reached the top rather quickly, and from the moment they could see the top of the hill, Spencer could see the lights shining above it. Curious, she let go of Toby's hand and headed towards the edge of the hill. From there, she could oversee the entire town of Rosewood, all the lights that lit up the town even late at night. She was immediately taken back at the sight in front of her.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Toby murmured, walking up behind her as he shut his flashlight off, no longer needing it with the lights from Rosewood illuminating around them.

"It's…it's stunning," she replied, at a loss for words. She could only manage to stare out in front of her in awe, amazed at how easily she could see everything from just this one spot. She glanced up at Toby. "Is this one of our spots as well?" she asked.

Toby nodded. "The first time we ended up here as after a long, hellish day for both of us. I had such a long day with all this bullshit at work, and your dad still didn't want me around you, so we planned to meet up, away from everyone and everything." Toby paused for a moment, closing his eyes as the previous memory came back to him. "Just being here together, alone-it felt like we were miles away from everything that was going on in town; that nothing else mattered when we were out here."

"I can see how someone could get away from everything up here," Spencer whispered. She backed up, taking a seat on a nearby boulder, her eyes still transfixed on the setting in front of her. Toby took a seat by her, and for a moment, Spencer allowed herself to try and imagine the memory Toby just played out for her. She felt Toby's arm slowly, almost hesitantly wrap around her, and Spencer took it as an invite to gently rest her head against him. It had been the closet she could remember being to him, and she could faintly smell his musky scent. It seemed all new to her as much as she could remember, yet his smell, the warmth of his body-it brought back an unknown familiar feeling. Like in his truck, she felt a comfortable feeling wash over being this close to him, and though she couldn't place why it all seemed so familiar to her when she couldn't remember anything, it still felt right. In the curve of his body with her head resting against him, she felt like this is where she belonged.

They stayed like that for a while. Time seemed to slow between them as Spencer felt like she could fall asleep right then and there, wrapped up in him. "I think I could stay here forever," she murmured softly to him, closing her eyes.

Beside her, Toby smiled. "Well, I did have one more stop planned for us, but it can wait for another time; we can stay here for now."

Spencer lifted her head. "You had one more stop planned?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, but it's not a big deal," Toby replied, waving his hand. "I mean, I wasn't even sure if I should take you there since I wasn't sure if you'd want to, and I-"

"Where is it?" Spencer asked, cutting him off.

Toby took a deep breath. "It's my loft. I don't want you thinking that we have to go there, or that it means anything," Toby added quickly, understanding what an invite to his place could sound like. "It's just that we also have some memories there, and some-actually, a lot-of your stuff is there, and I thought maybe you'd want to see it. But we don't have to, really."

Spencer paused for a moment. "I'd love to see your loft," she finally replied in a whisper, giving Toby a small smile.

Toby was taken back for a moment before returning the grin. "Okay, let's uh, let's go then."


"Popcorn's ready!" Hanna announced, striding into the room, a large bowl of popcorn in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. "Of course it's the one with less butter on it," Hanna added with an eye roll; she really didn't see the point of popcorn if it didn't have movie butter on it.

"Less butter is healthier," Emily noted.

"Yeah, as if you need to be any healthier, Em," Hanna replied, rolling her eyes once more. "Anyways, did you guys pick a movie?" she asked.

"We're thinking the Breakfast Club?" Aria replied, holding up the DVD case.

"So The Notebook was out voted then?" Hanna asked, pouting as she slid onto the couch next to Emily, but turned on the DVD player anyways, deciding the next best option besides the Notebook was the Breakfast Club after all.

The three settled in as the movie began to play, but it wasn't long before the movie, instead, acted as background sound as the trio added commentary throughout the movie (mostly on the everlasting question: Was Judd Nelson's character, Bender, attractive?), occasionally getting off topic as they discussed their current lives.

"Aria!" Hanna protested suddenly, causing Aria to jump slightly as she looked up from her cell phone in her lap. "I thought we agreed-no phones tonight! No boyfriends-or girlfriends!"

"I was just gonna text Spencer to see how she was doing!" exclaimed Aria, throwing her hands up slightly to claim innocence. "I just wanted to make sure she's doing okay."

"I'm sure she's fine," responded Emily. "This is Spencer we're talking about, and besides, she's only out with Toby. If something went wrong, he would've brought her home immediately." Emily reached across the couch to the individual chair that Aria sat in order to grab her phone off her lap, succeeding in doing so before Aria could react to stop her. "And since I know that you know that," Emily continued, taking a look at Aria's phone. "who could you possibly be texting when we put the 'no significant other' rule into effect."

"Nobody important," Aria mumbled, reaching for her phone and frowning when Emily moved it away from her grasp.

Emily laughed, prepared to bust Aria texting Ezra when she agreed she wouldn't during the movie, only for a confounded frown as a new text popped up on Aria's screen. "Why is Jason texting you?" she asked.

"What!?" exclaimed Hanna, immediately looking over Emily's shoulder to glance at Aria's phone before looking up at Aria for an explanation, a slightly look of glee in her eyes at the new development.

"It's no big deal or anything," Aria responded, waving off her friends as she reached for the phone in Emily's hand. "He just alternates between telling me how Spencer is, and asking when he hasn't seen her, and occasionally checking in to see how I'm doing; it's not a big deal."

"He doesn't check in to see how we're doing," countered Hanna, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"And that text didn't seem like a simple 'how are you doing'," commented Emily, grinning. "By the way, Han, he agrees with you that Judd Nelson's character is, in fact the best one in the Breakfast Club."

"Hmm," responded Hanna, tapping her finger against her chin. "Now why would he make such a seemingly random statement about the movie we happen to be watching at the exact same moment? Unless, of course, you told him what you were up to tonight," she continued with a wink.

Aria rolled her eyes at the duo, pressing the lock button on the top of her phone to put the phone in sleep mode. "It really isn't a big deal; we're friends. Friends can talk right?"

"Yeah, of course they can," Emily responded, her tone lacking any accusation, though the look on her face said otherwise.

"I'm still with Ezra," Aria replied defensively.

"We never said you weren't," Hanna spoke up, her tone the same as Emily's.

"Can we just get back to the movie?" Aria asked, changing the subject, her eyes focusing once more on the television. "We're missing some of the best parts."

After a few moments, Hanna and Emily followed suit, watching the movie once more, the subject of Aria and Jason dropped for the time being.


"You said we were going to your loft?" spoke Spencer, confused as instead of going to an apartment complex like she had originally assumed, Toby had pulled his truck over in a parking space behind the Brew.

Toby looked at her for a moment before laughing, understanding her confusion. "I live in the loft above the Brew," he explained to her, shutting off his engine.

"Sounds like the idea place to live," Spencer joked before jumping out of Toby's truck. She followed him up the back stairs to his loft, but when he unlocked the door and headed inside, she hesitated for a moment in the doorway.

"So this is where I live," Toby noted awkward, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as he noticed the pause in Spencer's steps. He was starting to think that maybe this wasn't the best idea he had come up with when Spencer continued her way into his loft, her eyes scanning everything in her surroundings.

She walked slowly, cautious and curiously, around his loft, taking note of the amount of photos Toby had of them scattered throughout his living room and pinned to his fridge.

.Spencer continued through his loft, now so lost in curiosity of Toby's loft, she had seemingly forgotten he was even there, and headed down the hallway. The door to the left was slightly ajar, and from a quick peek into the crack, Spencer could make it out as Toby's bedroom. Slowly, she pushed the door open to the dark room, flicking the light switch on the side on as she looked around the room inquisitively.

On his dresser and bed stand were even more photos of the couple, along with other items. A shirt sat folded up on his dresser, and at a closer look, Spencer noticed that it was one of her old, yet favorite, shirts. Her fingers gently ran across the fabric, as she imagined just how her shirt could have ended up at his place. Also on the dresser, Spencer noted, was a box of charcoals, and off to the side of the room, an easel facing the opposite way. There was a bookshelf against the wall full of as many books as there were in Spencer's room, along with a collection of movies in stacks throughout the room.

It was in that moment that Spencer realized that while on their date and all of the other times she's seen Toby since her accident, she learned all about their relationship and memories she could no longer remember, she didn't learn anything about Toby outside of his relationship with her.

"What's your favorite book?" she asked him suddenly, turning around to look back at Toby who was standing in the doorway of his bedroom, his arms crossed and a small smile spread across his lips.

Toby was taken back, momentarily surprised at the sound of her voice before answering. "Uh, it's this one," he replied, stepping away from the doorframe and heading to his bed where he grabbed a book off his night stand and handed it to Spencer. It was Catcher in the Rye, and from the look of the faded cover and the broken in spine, the book looked old, as if it had been read over and over again by its owner.

Spencer ran her fingers down the cover, flipping the book open to find various pages folded slightly in the corner, surely a way to mark his favorite parts. "I love this book, too," she commented in a murmur. "I actually have a copy in-"

"French," Toby finished for her. "I know." He reached into the bottom drawer of the nightstand to pull out a copy of the same book in French. "You gave it to me a long time ago to help me practice French, and I've had it for so long, I think you may have forgotten I had it," he added with a sheepish grin.

"Keep it," she replied, shaking her head when he attempted to hand it back to her. She knew he probably used it more than she ever did. "Do you still learn or speak French?"

"Parfois, mais seulement avec vous," he replied, beaming.

"Only with me?" Spencer asked, translating what he said with a smile of her own on her face.

"I had no use to know French or to have a tutor in it after I got my GED, but it was the first thing that brought us together, so I wanted to keep learning it along with you."

Spencer smiled, touched. "What's your favorite movie?" she asked next, changing the subject.

Toby raised an eyebrow, but grinned at her anyways. "That's a lot harder," he replied, pausing for a moment to think. "Rebel Without a Cause is definitely up there, but if I'm being completely honest, my favorite movie has to go to Fight Club. Or Sin City. That was a really good one too."

Spencer laughed, somehow not surprised that both of Toby's favorite movies were popular among teenage and adult males. "Did you read the Fight Club book too?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow of her own as she sat down on his bed, almost without a thought.

"Did I read the book?" Toby repeated incuriously, partially offended she'd even asked. He walked towards his book shelf, his eyes scanning it until he found the book, and took it out to show her. "Did I read the book? What kind of question even is that? I read all the graphic novels to go along with Sin City too, just in case you were wondering about that as well." Spencer laughed once more. "What's with the twenty questions, anyways?" Toby asked her.

She shrugged. "I just wanted to learn a little more about you," she murmured to him.

"Okay," Toby responded in a whisper, a small smile slowly spreading across his lips. "What else do you want to know then?"

"Hmm, favorite…color?" she asked him as he sat down beside her on his bed.

"Green," he replied with no hesitation.

"Favorite food?"

"Food is my favorite food," joked Toby, causing Spencer to giggle. "meat, pasta-I'll take it all."

"Good to know," replied Spencer, still giggling. She paused a moment before asking her next question. "Is it true you made the rocking chair that's in my room?"

Toby nodded. "I made it for you as a gift a while back."

Spencer smiled. "It's beautiful," she murmured to him. "Really," she added when she noticed Toby shrug off her compliment, as if it was something he wasn't always use to hearing.

"Thank you," he replied softly.

"What's with the easel?" she asked a moment later, her head nodding towards the corner of the room where it was. "Do you paint too along with building furniture in your spare time?"

Toby nodded once more. "I like to draw, but sometimes I'll paint when I'm feeling it. It's one of my hobbies that help me relax," he replied. "Do you want to see what I've been working on?" he asked a minute later, walking over to his easel.

Spencer nodded, sliding off of Toby's bed to take a look at the canvas. Taped to the corner of the easel above the canvas was a picture of her and Toby with her holding onto Toby's back as they're both grinning ear to ear. Spencer had seen the photo before; it was a copy of the same one inside of a photo frame in her own room. On the easel was a rough sketch of the two of them, almost a spitting image of the photo.

"It's not done yet, of course," Toby quickly spoke, carefully watching Spencer's reaction to the picture. "I mean, I still need to place the finishing touches on the sketch, and then sketch all the shadows, and-"

"It's beautiful," Spencer spoke, interrupting him. "Toby, this…this is amazing," she continued, taken back at just how talented Toby was.

"You think so?" Toby asked her, feeling himself begin to smile.

Spencer nodded as she glanced up at him before turning her whole body to face him. They were quiet for a moment, as a look passes between them, their eyes unable to break contact. She could smell his scent, standing this close to him again, the smell so intoxicating that Spencer suddenly never wanted to not smell the scent.

Suddenly, Toby's eyes were serious. "Spence…" he murmured softly, trailing off. He looked on her face for any hesitation, and when he found none, he leaned down, carefully covering Spencer's lips with his own. He was cautious at first, prepared for Spencer to pull away at any moment, but when Spencer didn't, when he felt her begin to kiss him back, his cupped her face with his hands and slowly deepened the kiss between them. Every emotion he felt in the past few weeks, all of the desire and love he felt for her settled between them as the feeling of her lips against his sent an electric tingle through his body.

It felt familiar, like home to Toby, and deep down, right to Spencer as well, but most of all it filled them both with the same familiar feeling they shared on the day of their first kiss-a feeling of hope and possibility for what the future could bring.