Hey everyone so this is the last chapter. There will be a short Spoby epilogue up in a couple of days and that's it. I'm done. This is my first multi-chapter fic and I couldn't have done it without all of your encouragement. Between reviews, follows, favorites and just taking the time to read (3400+ views). Thank you so much. This chapter is dedicated to all of you.
Spencer folded the clothes neatly into the bag, her movements sure but careful. She couldn't get out of there fast enough and the last thing she wanted was to give anyone an excuse to keep her in longer.
"You planning a jailbreak?"
She grinned as she spun around. Toby stood in the doorway, still in uniform. He must have come straight from the station. "I'm digging a tunnel, crawling down the air vent and sneaking a ride in the laundry truck."
He smirked as he came towards her. "You know that as a law enforcement officer I'm obliged to stop you."
"I'm willing to offer an incentive for you to help me."
"You really think you can buy your way out of this with money?" His hands slid over her hips and she immediately felt steadier. She had seen him just the day before but the feeling of him holding her never got old.
"I was thinking of persuading you by other means," she purred, playfully stealing his cap before meeting his lips in a searing kiss. They only separated when air became in short supply.
"That's definitely the way to bribe a guy, Spence." He looked down at her with those hypnotizing blue eyes. "Your parents are signing the paperwork. Ready to get out of here?"
She nodded gleefully turning back to gather up the last of her things. "How was your first day back? You were careful right?" The doctors had only just cleared him and he was already back at work. She knew he needed the money and the distraction but it worried her that he might over do it.
"I'm desk-bound for the next three weeks Spencer. The doctors said I was completely fine. You're the one who's supposed to go home on bed rest."
She clucked her tongue in annoyance. She'd done nothing but rest in this freaking hospital for the last two weeks and it was driving her crazy. Their friends had all been discharged one-by-one and she was the last one left.
"Hey," Toby squeezed her lightly, "A's gone Spencer, and it's finally over. You have your life back. You just need to take it easy so that you can actually live it. Instead of landing yourself back in here again because you overdid it."
She busied herself with the buttons on his shirt. As much as she was worried about him getting hurt again, he felt the same about her. After all the only reason she had made it to the hospital was because of Toby. He'd found her on the roof after she'd passed out. The Epi-Pen she'd taken the only thing keeping her alive after the additional beating and the exertion and shock.
She blocked out the memories and returned to her packing. "Well if I plan on using that life to go to college and earning a living I still need to actually graduate." God knew what her grades were like at this point. She'd be lucky if she could manage straight B's and who got anywhere with that?
Toby tugged the textbook from her hand. "School's important. But there was another thing I was thinking of." Before she could ask what he meant his lips brushed hers. She smiled pulling him closer, joining their lips again and again.
"Huhhmm," a cough and a knock on the door broke them apart. Jason stood in the entryway, studiously examining the wall tiles to his right.
Toby telepathically read her silent request, "I'll go find your parents, and get you discharged before you start getting impatient and just leave." Spencer smiles in gratitude as he slides by her and then by Jason leaving her alone with her brother.
"How are you?" She hasn't seen him since he left the night he'd warned her about their father.
"I should be asking you that." Jason's eyes have bags under them, his hair is unkempt and his clothes are rumpled. He hasn't slept in a while. His family has been torn apart once more.
Jason sighed and lowered himself onto the bed. "I knew someone wanted me dead. Now I know why."
"Did you know?"
"About Courtney?" Jason shook his head. "I heard my parents fighting about it one night. But I was pretty messed up back then and using a lot. I was high for most of the time. It never really registered. Guess that's another thing I'll never be able to fix."
"It's another thing we have in common." Something to share regret over.
"You're possibly the least guilty person of all of our relatives Spencer." Least guilty. That's accurate. She's definitely not blameless. "Don't let the past ruin your future." Spencer silently repeats it back to him. Their families have always had a lot in common. A strong self-destructive streak being a large part.
"I'm leaving town." Spencer thinks she should be more surprised at his announcement and yet it isn't really a surprise at all. "I'm not planning on coming back."
He gives her a smile that's anything but. "I just wanted to see how you were before I left."
He's half-way to the door when she calls out to him. "I know you don't want to be a Hastings. And I don't blame you. Not even the Hastings want to be Hastings anymore. But do me a favor? Check in every once in a while. I've lost enough people. We both have."
Jason nods. "I'll try. And I'll be careful. Take care of yourself Spencer. Or at least let Toby take care of you, he's a good guy."
She could give a dissertation on why she doesn't need anyone to take care of her. But that's never been an issue for either of them. Instead she settles for a simple agreement. "He is."
He leaves then only to be replaced almost instantly by Toby and her parents. They all pretend not to notice the gaping chasm of distance between the three Hastings. Her mom helps her gather up her belongings, while her dad explains that Toby's taking her home and they'll meet her there later.
"We're meeting the judge with the other girls' parents."
Spencer's confused. "Won't we need to be there for that?"
Her mom shakes her head. "You girls have been through enough. We'll take care of it now OK." Her mother's the determined, fierce lawyer Spencer recognizes more than the maternal, concerned woman she's seen glimpses of and that's actually reassuring. If anyone can conquer the legal battle they still have to fight it's her unrelenting, unwilling, indomitable parents.
It's rather fitting. That success is responsible for recent demons after all.
The ride home is quiet. Spencer's lost in her thoughts and Toby understandingly lets her think.
She walks into her home for the first time in almost three weeks to be greeted by her friends hosting an impromptu gathering.
"We've got pizza, plates, soda, chips, fries, chocolate, napkins, forks, knifes," Aria surveyed the coffee table. "Oh glasses!" She headed for the cabinet only to stop in front of the open door. "You're family has too many tall people in it Spence. They discriminate against short people."
Spencer smirked it was good to just hang out with her friends again. "I'll get the glasses Aria."
"I'll get them," Emily cut in, motioning to sit down.
Spencer rolled her eyes as she let Toby lead her to the armchair at one end of the room and pull her onto his lap. "I'm not an invalid you guys."
"Spence, you were unconscious for like three days and you just got out," Aria commented as she handed out the pizza. "Take it easy for a while."
"Yeah and if you keep fighting we'll have Toby hold you down," Hanna chimed in.
"The doctors said to rest, right?" Caleb grinned amused by the small argument.
"Doctors aren't always right you know."
"Is that why you insisted I see so many of them before you accepted I could be cleared." Amusement danced in Toby's eyes and tone.
Stab wounds were a big deal. And he'd discharged himself to take off after her and gotten into a fight. He'd only just gotten his cast off before that. It wasn't like she didn't have reason to be worried. "Do you know how many medical malpractice suits are filed every year due to incompetence or negligence?"
"I'm sure you could tell me."
"And they recommend getting a second opinion."
"A second opinion sure. But a third and fourth and fifth opinion?" Toby teased. "Especially when you see absolutely no need to listen to one for your own health?"
Spencer crossed her arms firmly. She was fine. If she took a time-out every time she experienced physical injury or emotional trauma she'd never get anything done. She'd be holed up in her room for the rest of her life.
"You know if I didn't know better I'd say you were just mad about being the last one to get discharged."
"Oh my god that's totally it!" Aria gasped as Emily, Hanna and Caleb laughed.
Spencer elbowed her boyfriend but allowed him to draw her against him. As she said the doctors were wrong sometimes. She should have been discharged ages ago. Aria had been the first two days after the fire. Hanna and Emily a day later after their bruises had eased.
Which was ridiculous because her friends had suffered much worse smoke inhalation than her. She'd been on the roof when the fire had really gotten out of hand, in fresh air while her friends had breathed in soot and ash. And the emergency surgery to stop the internal bleeding hadn't been as big a deal as everyone kept saying. Her friends weren't even fully recovered themselves. Caleb's arm was covered in gauze, not yet healed from the burn he'd sustained. Emily was limping slightly due to the gash she had received to her leg and Hanna's shoulder was still stiff from the fight she'd had with Meredith and then the handcuffs she'd worn until she'd been released. So why they weren't still in the hospital or on bed rest made no sense.
"I can't believe I missed it all," Paige complained. Emily squeezed her girlfriend's hand. "You wouldn't have been able to stop any of it. And you only would have been in danger with us too."
"But I could have been there for you. What happens to Alison now?"
The mood turned somber and pensive at Paige's question. Even after a fortnight they were still processing all of it.
"Jenna and Noel handed in the tape Spencer got. It proves Alison killed Bethany" Toby commented.
Caleb shook his head. "I can't believe Noel Khan and Jenna Marshall actually helped us out. I mean I know Alison was blackmailing them, and wanted them dead to keep them quiet so it was served their own agenda to take her down but still. They're the ones to exonerate Spencer and implicate Alison.
"More like letting Courtney implicate Alison," Spencer muttered but it was still heard by the room.
"You don't believe her Spence?"
Spencer shrugged. "I think either Alison or Courtney killed Bethany. I'm just not sure which one of them it was. Courtney wasn't lying about some of the other stuff." She had been telling the truth about Alison's involvement in both 'The Jenna Thing' and Toby's mom's death. Spencer was sure of it. "But proving which one of them actually did is going to be next to impossible. It's a classic case of 'She said, she said'. My mom thinks her lawyers stand a really good shot at an insanity plea."
Paige scoffed and rolled her eyes. "So once again Alison gets away with something by making up one hell of a story."
Spencer frowned pensively. "She'll still be locked away for a long time just in an institution instead of jail. And it isn't a story this time. I saw it. The D.I.D., Courtney and Alison thing is real. Alison saved my life." She can feel the eyes of the entire room on her with that acknowledgement. "On the rooftop at Radley, Courtney was trying to push me off. She was doing a pretty good job too. I was going over and then suddenly Alison was in control and she pulled me back onto the roof. It was only for a minute but it was Alison. If she hadn't shown up right then, I'd be dead now. It bought me time to get some leverage when Courtney came back to try again."
"She saved you." Emily's eyes are wide and Spencer's sure she can see something resembling that despicable hope. "She did care about us."
"In her own twisted way. That's part of the reason why Courtney came after us, because we tied Alison to Rosewood, to her life."
"What's the other part?" Aria wondered in confusion.
"I knew too much. I saw Bethany's murder I was just too out of it to remember but if I did…"
"You'd be able to put Alison on trial for it," Caleb supplied. "So she made sure that you were on the hook first. That way no one believes you."
She nodded. "Alison or Courtney posing as Alison, put the idea into Holbrook's head. Me being responsible for Bethany and Mona and Ian and A and every other body and incident in Rosewood put her in the free and clear. So she made sure to make me look as guilty as possible. Knew exactly what seeds to plant."
"And who's head to grow them in," Aria added sourly. They all know exactly which older man she's referring to.
"If the plan was to frame you then why hold you for so long in the first place?" Paige asked.
"The N.A.T. tapes." Those sickening videos had gotten them into hot water so many times. She wished she could shred every single copy. "After our investigation at Radley they realized that Mona had Bethany's files. Including references to Alison and Courtney. They took all of Mona's info on us but they also found copies not only of surveillance on us but copies of the N.A.T. videos as well. Ones Alison hadn't gotten. And these videos didn't just have the stuff on us, it had other stuff on them too."
"Like Cape May and Wren and Ali on tape," Caleb deducted.
"Along with the entire N.A.T. club who all have some questionable records by now," Spencer supplied. "They wanted to get them back before I 'confessed'. One of those tapes included Courtney and Alison ranting about each other and Bethany. If we put enough of the pieces together with those tapes and Bethany's files, Alison would have been facing some serious questions."
"So she took out anyone that might know, like Mona." Hanna's voice wavered with her lingering grief.
"And Ian and Garrett and tried to kill Jason and Jenna and set up me and Toby and Melissa. You guys were passed out from those sedatives Ali gave us. But the rest of us were all there that night and could have seen anything. Alison had the videos to use against Ian, Jenna, Garret and Jason until it wasn't enough and she needed to find a more permanent solution."
"And you and Toby could have seen enough to figure it out. Especially with us investigating Radley and the connection to that night," Emily realized. "That's why A kept targeting you two the way they did."
"CeCe Drake made a full statement," Toby said. "She was one of the few people who knew about Alison's diagnosis. She grasped what was happening pretty fast. She swears she signed on to protect Alison and try and keep the rest in line. Any lethal plans against Alison she shifted off against someone else."
"Yeah us!" Aria snapped.
"I think she was trying to help Alison. Whether helping you guys or throwing you under a bus for Ali was better for her agenda was give or take." He carefully considers his next comment. "She was the one to tip me off to Spencer at the marina."
"How did Alison not know about any of this? About Courtney, about doing this to us."
"Her parents wanted her to forget." Spencer gazed at her soda as she sorted out everything she'd learned in the last few weeks. "And Alison didn't want to believe it so she didn't. In news that will shock no one it turns out that a questionable mental history runs in the maternal side of Ali's family." She paused before gathering the courage to continue. "And usually people with D.I.D. or display some of the symptoms Alison does come from homes of abuse." She doesn't need to look up to see Aria's wide eyes or Hanna's frown or Emily's look of horror. "The DiLaurentis' probably have even more skeletons than we know of."
"Poor Alison," Emily murmured.
They all let that truth hang in the air for a moment.
"Mrs D was Mommy Dearest," Aria decided, "but how did Meredith get involved besides meeting the crazy bitch requirement?"
"Alison knew about the affair with your dad, so Courtney knew. Meredith was treated at Radley so Wren was able to get her file. She was obsessed with your dad and saw us in the way." Spencer shrugged. "It didn't take a lot of persuasion."
"And Wren was playing us this whole time." Spencer felt Hanna's anger. "He helped us out and covered for us to get our trust. Acted like our friend and then screwed us first chance he got. Just like he did to Mona."
Spencer nodded in confirmation, her drink becoming very interesting. "He wanted payback for his dad and for Alison lying to him. He was easy for Courtney to recruit. The more we reminded him of the wrongs against him the more determined he got. Melissa realized what he was really after. That's why she got back with him and encouraged him to move back to London. It was a way to keep an eye on him and get Wren away from us." She hesitates and then corrects herself. "To get him away from me."
"And that is why you girls shouldn't trust strange slimy older men with funny accents who seem way too willing to help for no reason," Caleb reprimanded. "They usually have hidden motives."
"You forgot perverted, adulterous creep," Toby added.
"Yes thank you," Caleb gestured in gratitude with his drink. "That too, all warning signs."
Spencer ignored them. She still felt ashamed and guilty. She'd been the first to fall for Wren's ploy. She was the reason he got as close to them as he did. And the memory of him proclaiming to have feelings for her, urging her to run away with him, to help destroy the people she loved, it made her feel dirty.
Toby senses her train of thought and hugs her tightly to him, lowering his voice so that only she can hear. "You couldn't have known the extent of what he was really up to Spencer. And he's going to be under supervision for a very long time. He can't come near you again. I won't let him."
He looks her right in the eye when he says it. She believes him.
"What happens to you guys?" Paige's question vocalizes what their parents are currently trying to do.
"Spencer's off the hook for murder." The affection and relief is dripping from her boyfriend. But Spencer's Spencer and she can't stop herself from focusing on the negative instead of the positive. "We'll likely face community service for 'The Jenna Thing' and for not coming forward about Shana's death."
They glance at Aria at that, checking how she deals with the reference to the girl. "I'm OK, guys. Saving Jenna's life helped, you know, like at least I could save someone. And it's a positive decision to focus on when I'm cataloging all the ways my judgement was defective."
Ezra was publishing his book on Rosewood. Aria hadn't taken the revelation well.
"Alison put the idea in his head Aria. He only suspected I was guilty of everything because of that." Spencer had a lot more she could say but it would just send Aria spiraling more. There wasn't any point.
"Exactly Spence he thought you were guilty because he let Alison convince him even though he knew we suspected her. He chose to listen to Ali instead of trusting my judgement of a friend. After everything we've been through. I don't think I can forgive that. I'm just destined to spend the rest of my life alone."
"I don't think you should write off the next sixty years quite yet Aria."
"So what do we do now?" Hanna recalled the original question.
Emily raises an eyebrow in uncertainty. "Try to move on with our lives I guess. However we can."