(A/N:) I am incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of the reviews and comments I've received from the last chapter! Thank you all so much! As a thank you, I decided to update rather quickly, so enjoy!

14.

"What would you, uh, like to discuss?" Aria asked naively.

Ezra gaped at her a little, but he wasn't surprised that she was feigning innocence and confusion. "Aria, what happened last night-"

"It didn't happen," Aria blurted in interruption. "I-I mean, it did, but… Ezra, we work together and like you said, I'm married. It's not right. I know it felt like it, believe me, I felt it too, but it's not right."

"That's not really what I wanted to discuss," Ezra stated. Aria nodded slowly and he explained, "You never answered the question."

Aria feigned bewilderment again. "What question?" she asked softly.

Ezra stared at her long and hard before leaning against his desk in front of her. When she had left him on the curb and hadn't answered if she loved him or not, Ezra felt unsettled ever since. He desperately needed to know the answer. Fiddling with his tie, he stammered, "Do you still love me?" Aria instantly gulped and snapped her head up from the floor. "L-last night, you started to say something, but then the cab pulled up."

"Maybe that was for the best," Aria sighed. "Ezra, I… everything is getting too complicated and I think we need to just push our feelings aside and focus on our jobs."

Ezra winced a little; it was a complete role reversal. Years and years ago, he was the one pressing her to bury all the emotions they had for one another for work, but now it was her. And he had to admit, he wasn't crazy about it. No wonder he and Aria never did that in past situations, it hurt too much.

"Aria, I-I don't know if I can do that," Ezra murmured truthfully as he sank into the chair beside her. "I… my feelings didn't change overnight. You know how I feel about you."

She nodded curtly and sighed while thinking about how Ezra was, in fact, still in love with her. "I know. But, it's not like we can do anything about that. I think we should ignore the fact we still have feelings for each other and try our hardest- "

"What feelings?" Ezra interrupt, a little bit of butterflies in his stomach. Did she just confirm that she, in fact, did have feelings for him?

Aria blushed, not realizing she had blurted that she still had feelings for him as well. "I, uh, I… Ezra, come on. I know you used to be kind of oblivious, but you should be able to realize I have feelings for you. Don't be so shocked." Ezra just nodded slowly and closed his agape mouth. "After all, I'm the one who kissed you last night," she added in a mumble.

Ezra thought about her lips on his and how amazing that felt. All this time later, and still nothing compared to her kisses. They put him in a veritable trance each and every time. He smiled a tiny bit, but his lips curled back down as he realized she hadn't said she loved him, too. Sure, her admitting to having romantic feelings for him was a step in that direction, but it didn't equal her saying that she was still in love with him, too.

"So, uh, where does this leave us?" Ezra asked a bit sadly.

"Well," Aria started with a heavy sigh, "lots of coworkers have flings. And what we did last night, that didn't even count as a fling… I'd just say we're two people who work together. Nothing more, nothing less."

Ezra frowned and tried to start disagreeing, "But Aria-"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she interrupted, snapping her head up and meeting his ocean blue eyes for the first time since she stepped into his office.

He clenched his jaw while his Adam's apple bobbed before he relented, "Fine. We don't have to talk about that. But there's something else I need to ask, too.

"What, Ezra?" Aria asked in a whiny, plaintive tone.

Ezra stared at her for a few seconds, internally trying to decide whether to bring up the mark on her cheek or not. He wanted to know the truth of what happened almost as much as he didn't. "Aria, what… what happened to y-your cheek?"

Aria's jaw dropped and her heart rate sped up before she snapped, "That's none of your business, Ezra."

He gulped and put his hand on her knee, hoping to calm her a bit. It managed to work a little and she gazed over at him. "I-it's not what you think," Aria fibbed, deciding against telling him the truth. "Last night when I got home, I, uh, I was drunk and all the lights were off in the house a-and I, uh, I just tripped. I cut my cheek on the, um, table."

Ezra wrinkled his forehead and he sighed, "Aria, you can tell me anything… and you can also tell me the truth."

She opened her mouth to snap at him again and insist that she had told the truth, but she also reflected on his statement. There was once a time when she literally told him everything. She told him about her dad, about Jenna, about her friends and how he never judged her and just offered support, not counting the fact he had often used her truth-tellings for research…

But Aria also thought about how telling someone how awful John was and how he had been the one to hurt her might be a major stress reliever. Yet the words couldn't come out. She didn't want to talk about John hitting her. Hell, she never really wanted to talk about John period. "I told you the truth, Ezra," Aria responded finally as she got up and prepared to leave this dreadful "urgent meeting."

Ezra looked at her skeptically and got up from the chair before standing in front of her. He bit the inside of his cheek as he tilted her chin up gently, examining the mark on her cheek. It was clear that no sort of table could have done that.

Feeling incredibly vulnerable as he cupped her face, Aria stared at his lips. They were parted slightly and she thought of how all it would take to kiss him would be to just stand up on her tiptoes. She gulped and almost did it, but he dropped his hand and leaned back against the desk. "I'll let you get back to work," Ezra dismissed, trying not to hold her stare.

"Yeah…" Aria mumbled, walking away and running a hand through her hair. "I'll see you later, Mr. Fitz."

(A/N:) I know this wasn't the greatest chapter and I'll admit, it's kinda filler. But nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it!

What do y'all think will happen next? Leave your thoughts and predictions in a review!

I'll probably update on Friday or sometime over the weekend :)

-Mandy (and remember to follow me on twitter for updates on this story and spoilers! MandaPanda2228)