CHAPTER TWELVE

Aria woke up and felt something prodding her arm. Her eyes twitched open slowly and she realized she was in the hospital. She hated hospitals and she couldn't help but think of visiting Hanna after she was hit by A's car, visiting Emily when A stressed her out so much she got an ulcer, and dawning candy striper outfits to search the morgue. Rosewood Hospital brought bad memories.

"Aria?" someone called beside her. "You woke up."

She turned her head in time to see Ezra leaping from the uncomfortable hospital side chair. She scrunched her eyebrows together and then a wave of panic washed over her. She held her stomach and screamed, "What happened?! Is the baby okay?! Ezra, tell me what happened now!"

Ezra sat on the foot of the bed and patted her knee, "It's okay. The doctor is coming in in a second. Our baby's fine."

Ezra knew he probably shouldn't have said "our baby," but Aria didn't say anything about it. Aria nodded slightly and got her breathing back on track. Ezra watched her as the sound of beeping from the heart monitor filled the room.

"You scared me," Ezra said quietly.

Aria stretched her hand out and Ezra held it in both of his. She smiled at him genuinely, as a sort of apology. Ezra smiled back, but was interrupted when the room-dividing curtain was pulled open. Aria's doctor stepped inside and quickly apologized. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Ezra shook his head, "No, not at all."

The doctor nodded and turned to Aria. "How are you feeling, mommy? Any cramps or back pain?"

Aria shrugged up one of her shoulders and answered, "My back hurts, but no cramps."

"Okay, well we did a few blood tests, and everything's fine. You fainted and bled because, during the second trimester, your blood vessels are expanding. It's normal to have dizziness and some spotting."

Aria glanced between Ezra and her doctor. "But, I fainted…and it was more than spotting."

"It's not that common for either, but I've seen both things happen due to blood vessel expansions. But, after looking through your tests, everything is in order. Just make sure to keep your diet maintained."

Aria nodded and the doctor smiled. "You did good bringing her in," she said, pointing at Ezra. "You'll make a great father."

Ezra grinned, cheeks turning red at the compliment. "Uh, thank you."

Once the doctor stepped out, Ezra looked back at Aria. She was smiling and said, "You will be a good father."

Ezra responded, "And you will be a good mother."

Aria bit her lip, trying to prevent a massive smile at the compliment. "So when can I get out of here? I hate this hospital."

Ezra chuckled, "They said you could leave once you woke up. I'll go check you out now."

Aria nodded as Ezra left the room. After a few minutes, a nurse came in and unhooked Aria from all the machines she was connected to. Aria sat up and rubbed her back as she grabbed her purse from the floor. While she was bent over, she heard someone with a very recognizable voice call her name.

"Aria?" someone asked.

Aria scrunched her eye brows and sat up slowly. Once she was all the way up, she was face to face with someone she hadn't seen in years. Aria opened her mouth finally and said, "Wren?"

"Aria, how are you?" he asked, setting down his clipboard.

Aria shrugged, "I'm good, how are you?"

Wren smiled politely and replied, "I'm okay. Can't complain."

Aria nodded and grinned. He had always been really cute. She mentally kicked herself and hated hormones. She stopped bobbing her head when she saw Ezra round the corner. Ezra glanced between Aria and the attractive man and got suspicious.

Aria noticed and put her hand on Ezra's arm kindly. "Ezra, this is Wren. Wren, this is Ezra. He's um, a good friend of Spencer's."

Ezra nodded and told the man hello. Wren did the same and noticed Aria's baby bump for the first time in the conversation. Wren's eyes went wide, "Oh, I didn't know you were pregnant."

"Yeah," Aria smiled. "Four and a half months to go."

Wren cocked his head. He knew that Aria was gay from his reconnecting with Melissa every now and then. He also knew that Spencer was her partner. Wren stared at Ezra, trying to figure out where he was in the picture. Had Spencer and Aria ended things? Was Aria already with a new guy? And pregnant by said guy?

Wren decided to be bold and asked, "How's Spencer? I mean, are you still…"

Aria waved her hand slightly and explained, "Oh, she's great! We are still together. Ezra's just a… friend." Ezra flinched and hoped it wasn't too noticeable. Just a friend? He wasn't just a friend last night.

Wren scrunched his eyebrows together, but quickly recovered. "Well, I need to continue my rounds. I just saw your name and thought I'd pop in. Um, good luck with the baby. And tell Spencer I say hello."

"I will. Thanks, Wren."

Once Wren left, Aria bit her lip and warily turned to Ezra. Ezra was staring at her, no glaring, no wide eyes, no hurt expression. Just a stare. Ezra finally scoffed and said, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Aria opened her mouth a few times as if she were a fish out of water. "Alright, let's go."

Ezra walked out of the room with Aria on his tail. She wondered when he became such a big baby. What, did he expect her to tell Wren, "Oh, I'm cheating on Spencer with our sperm donor!" But, she also didn't want to fight anymore. Aria just wanted them to be okay.

The ride back from the hospital had been silent except for when Aria asked if they could stop at a deli. All he did was pull over at a local sandwich shop and get out of the car and go inside the store. Aria had rolled her eyes, but he didn't notice at all.

Now, they were done with lunch, and back at Aria's. They sat together on the couch watching an old rerun, sitting far apart. And Aria could've sworn that Ezra inched away with every commercial break.

Finally, she groaned, trying to grab Ezra's attention. But, he didn't move at all. She groaned once more, way more dramatic than before, and Ezra turned to her. He spoke up and Aria wasn't expecting what he said.

"Sorry for being a jerk," Ezra muttered.

Aria raised her eyebrows in a reply. Ezra shrugged and moved back next to her, "I just want to be more than 'just a friend,' Aria."

Aria shook her head, "I know, I'm just not ready to tell people."

"I know, I know," Ezra assured. "I overreacted. But, I am more than a friend, right?"

Aria let out a squeak and exclaimed, "Of course, Ezra."

Their eyes were trapped on each other's and Ezra leaned in a little bit. His face was centimeters away from Aria's and they were both about to clash lips, but something disrupted them. Or someone.

Aria sighed once she heard her phone start to ring. She backed away from Ezra and rested back into the couch before answering the phone without looking at the ID.

"Hello?" Aria asked the other line in annoyance.

"Well, you sound happy to hear from me," Spencer laughed.

Aria slapped her forehead. "Oh, no, I am! I was just… about to fall asleep," she lied.

"I'm sorry," Spencer said in a rush. "But, hey, Wren called me a few minutes ago. He said you were in the hospital. What happened, Aria? Is everything okay?"

Aria's eyes went wide. Damn tattle tale. "Oh, yeah, I'm great! The doctors said everything was normal, but I just got a little worried."

"He said Ezra was with you," Spencer said in a monotone voice.

"Uh, yeah. He took me there, since he was worried too."

"Why didn't anyone call me?" Spencer yelled.

Aria glanced at Ezra, who had heard what Spencer had said. Aria glanced warningly at Ezra before answering, "I was passed out, and we left in such a rush, Ezra forgot his phone. But, really everything's okay here."

Spencer huffed on the other line before saying, "Okay. But if anything else happens, call me. Please?"

Aria smiled even though Spencer couldn't see. "I promise."

"Good. I miss you," Spencer told her sadly.

"I miss you, too, Spencer," Aria responded, feeling guilt punch her in the gut. She turned away from Ezra. "Love you, Spence."

"I love you, too. I'll talk to you soon, alright? Bye," Spencer said back.

"Bye, Spencer."

Aria quickly hung up the phone and tossed it on the table. She let out an exasperated sigh and felt tears drip down her face. Ezra's heart broke seeing her salty tears. He knew he might not be the best person to comfort her right now, but he couldn't let her sit there in her heartache. Especially when he slightly caused it.

He pulled her into his chest and she broke down. He knew she was hormonal, but something told him that this little break down had nothing to do with her pregnancy induced feelings. He knew that this could really be her emotion and frustration.

"Shh," he cooed, kissing her scalp and rubbing her back. She only sobbed harder, causing Ezra to shake his head slightly. He patted her back before pulling away. "Aria, this isn't fair to you," he whispered, wiping her damp cheeks. "You don't deserve this."

Aria started blubbering and Ezra had to look away. "I don't want to do this to you. I don't want to make you unhappy or make you feel like you have to choose this second. You need to take care of yourself right now, and I'm only making things worse."

Aria covered her face and cried into her hands. Ezra pulled her into another embrace and smoothed down her hair. "Aria, I'm gonna take you to Hanna's or Emily's. I don't think this is okay. I think we need to just stay away from each other."

Aria got eerily silent and pulled away. "Do you really think that?"

Ezra gasped inaudibly and wiped her tear-ridden face once more. "Not to add fuel to the fire, but I love you. And you love Spencer. I can't keep my feelings in check and you don't need the stress."

Aria was never good with rash decisions. Especially when it came to relationships. She sucked in a sharp breath and held it while she calculated all possible outcomes. She hated herself for it, but she loved Ezra so much, but she loved Spencer so much as well. She was sick of all the flip flopping. She was sick of having to love both. She was sick of trying to decide.

No…wait. She was sick of all those things, but no. No, she was really sick.

Aria glanced at Ezra quickly before hunching over and puking on the carpet and Ezra's bare feet. She heard Ezra dry-heaving at the feeling of vomit in between his toes, but he recovered and pulled Aria's hair back and rubbed circles along his spine.

She finished and wiped her mouth with her cardigan sleeve. "I'm so sorry, Ezra."

Ezra grabbed a tissue from a Kleenex box that was on the in table and tilted her face toward the light. He shook his head and wiped some left over throw up from her mouth. "You've had a long day, do you want to go lay down?"

Aria shrugged, "I'm not tired."

Ezra sighed and rubbed her leg. "Okay, well, while you contemplate, I'm gonna go clean my feet."

Aria let out a breezy laugh, "I really am sorry about that."

"Yeah, yeah," he teased, walking into the guest bathroom. He cursed inside his head, knowing he would have to clean all that up later.

After the door shut, Aria got up to get a water. She started thinking again about the constant struggle of Spencer and Ezra.

Spencer was just too work centered and that consumed a lot of time. Aria didn't like being a second priority. But with Ezra, she knew she would always be the first priority. But if she got back with Ezra, Spencer, and most likely all her other friends, would be extremely upset. And if Aria got back with Ezra, she knew that there was a big chance they would get married. Aria couldn't begin to imagine how much third degree she would garner at that bomb shell.

Aria thoroughly thought about everything and took a deep breath. A single tear slowly raced down her face, but she knew who to pick. Aria had finally, after almost a decade, decided.

(A/N:) Oooh, Aria finally decided! Who do you think she chose? Sound off in the reviews!

PS, I will post chapter 13 after PLL airs only if you lovely readers get me fifty reviews! That's just two reviews away!