Well, obviously I didn't update last time when I said I would, and for that I apologize. I'm not going to offer any excuses and you're probably not interested in explanations, so for now, three things:
1) Thanks for the reviews last chapter, as always.
2) For the next month there will probably be twice-weekly updates, if I can manage it.
3) Enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to review!
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Waking up the morning after her first A-Team mission was like slowly swimming her way to the surface of a murky lake. Spencer woke up with Toby's arms around her like a protective barrier, and for a few minutes she let herself just lie there, warm in his embrace, and she let herself believe that it would always be like this. The clock ticked over to 7.30, and her perfect moment came to an end. Careful not to wake him up, she disentangled herself from his arms and got to her feet. She thought about waking him, but he looked more peaceful than she could remember seeing him ever since she first told him about A.
She rested her hand on his cheek for a moment, and he didn't stir. Reluctantly she turned her attention to the day ahead, but as she went through her daily routine she felt like she was merely going through the motions. She was halfway through her bowl of cereal before she realized she'd intended to make toast; she added too much sugar to her coffee and shuddered every time she took a mouthful. Still stuck in this daze, waiting for the events of yesterday to catch up with her, she collected her books from where they lay scattered around her room and wrote a quick note to Toby, leaving it on the counter beside her bed.
Satisfied that everything was in order, she left her own private sanctuary, wishing more than anything that she could just stay here all day, and headed to school. She stopped at a Starbucks on the way to get more coffee – no sugar, so the bitter taste would be enough to wake her up even if the caffeine took a while to hit. By the time she got to school her friends were already in the courtyard, deep in conversation.
They stopped talking abruptly as she approached, and she tightened her grip on her coffee cup, a thousand thoughts flashing through her mind: they had seen her in the black hoodie last night; they knew what she'd done to Meredith's apartment; they knew she was working for Mona and were going to confront her about it. But they relaxed as they realized it was her, and made no move to stop her as she took up the spare seat, completing the circle.
"What's up?" she asked when they didn't pick up the conversation immediately.
Aria surveyed the courtyard. After ascertaining that it was empty, she turned back to her friends. "Where were you last night?"
Spencer's heart slammed to a stop. The blood rushing in her ears made it hard to tell what Aria's tone was. She didn't sound angry, but could she be suspicious? Hurt? "I was with Toby," she said, a half-truth.
"We tried calling you," Hanna said, and Spencer felt herself relax.
Hanna didn't sound angry either, and it sounded more like she was going to fill her in than yell at her. Spencer traced an abstract pattern on her coffee cup, reminding herself to breathe. She'd known it was going to be hard; from the very moment Mona had asked her to join the A-Team, she'd been worried about how she was going to keep this from her friends.
She'd thought it would be worse if they were onto her – not only would she have to deal with their reaction to the betrayal, but she would have to cope with the A-Team's retaliation – but now she was rethinking that idea. It wasn't as simple as she'd thought to be able to slide so easily under their radar, to have them trust her so completely that they would never suspect her. It made it easier to do her job, but it did nothing to clear up the lines of her loyalty in her mind – lines which, she knew, she would have to cross at some point.
"We were busy," Spencer said evasively. The others seemed to catch her drift and let the subject drop. "So what did I miss?" she asked, still tracing the patterns on her cup, breathing in and out with each swirl.
"We think A is up to something," Emily said nervously.
"Why?" Spencer asked, looking at each of her friends in turn and being careful not to let herself jump to conclusions. "What happened?"
Aria and Emily exchanged a glance, and then the smaller of the two said, "My dad called me this morning. He wanted to talk to me about something to do with Meredith."
"What makes you think this was A?"
"From what he told me, Meredith called him to ask if he knew what had happened to her apartment."
"Something happened to her apartment?" Spencer asked, taking a casual sip of coffee in an attempt to feign ignorance.
"Yeah." Aria leaned forward, clasping her hands on the table. She had, Spencer noticed, two defense mechanisms when it came to dealing with A's attacks. The first, and more frequent, was to become agitated, her voice rising in pitch and her words tumbling over each other so that the others had to replay it at half the speed in their heads just to understand what she was saying. The second, which she seemed to be opting for now, was to become distant, each word chosen carefully and her manner taking on the characteristics of a doe who didn't know whether the approaching person was a hiker or a hunter. "I didn't get the whole story, but somebody broke into her apartment and messed it up. Somehow she got it into my head that I was the one behind it, so my dad wants to talk to me about it."
"Why does she think you're behind it anyway?" Hanna asked.
Aria shrugged, looking lost. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Spencer ducked her head slightly, trying not to give herself away. She supposed she should be pleased – her first A-Team mission had gone exactly as planned, and had produced the intended effects. What's more, her friends had no idea she was the one behind it. That should be cause for celebration, but she knew it was more complicated than that. Every time the A-Team triumphed, the girls were the ones who suffered; every time the girls got one step closer, the A-Team was sure to up their game. And every time either side advanced, Spencer was caught in the middle.
"That's not all," Emily went. "My work called, and said that they needed to talk to me about some missing plans. I was the last one there, so they think I might have misplaced them."
Spencer blinked. "Are you sure that was A's doing? Maybe you did just misplace them."
"No," Emily said, a little defensively. "I know how important those plans are, so I'm always careful to put them away and make sure they're there every night. There's no way I would have lost them."
Hanna frowned. "And we're sure no one else moved them?"
"Like I said, I was the last one there. The box was there when I left, and apparently it was gone when they opened this morning."
"So A took it?" Aria suggested. "But why?"
"To mess with me," Emily replied. "To get me fired. I don't know."
"It makes sense," Hanna said slowly. "A has always wanted to control us, right? To keep us completely under their thumb. What better way to show that that to get into every single corner of our life?"
"So they're doing this just because they can," Aria mused. "Just to show us that he – she – they – is capable of hitting us in places we didn't even know we were vulnerable."
They let that sink in for a moment, and Spencer felt her heart sinking. She was starting to realize just how in over her head she was. She was behind the stunt at Meredith's apartment, which meant that Toby was most likely to blame for Emily's missing plans. And now he was soundly sleeping in her bed, and she was here dealing with the consequences.
"You're awfully quiet," Emily said. "What're you thinking, Spence?"
She opened her mouth and then closed it again, realizing that this was one of the very few times when she didn't have the right words. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I just have a lot on my mind."
Aria gave her a sympathetic look. "No matter what way you look at it, this situation sucks. But as long as we're in this together, we'll be okay."
"Yeah," Spencer agreed half-heartedly, feeling a flicker of unease. "I'm sure we will be."
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So Spencer's keeping her cool... sort of. How long do you think she'll be able to keep this up?
See you guys later in the week, with a chapter on how Toby reacts to The Morning After.