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House Guests
"QUINN!" Melissa screamed, slamming her hands against the door. Jason knew that they weren't going to be able to ignore her forever. Having Quinn step out of the way, he opened the door and let Quinn hide behind it. Melissa, understandably, looked a mess. Her husband had been missing for days, having someone claim that he was dead. And, to top it off, Melissa recently found out that she was pregnant.
"Where is she?" Melissa demanded of Jason, tears streaming down her face.
"Not here," Jason told her calmly. He could hear someone next door at the Hastings house and figured it was someone coming over to get Melissa. He had been hoping to avoid any kind of confrontation with Melissa since the incident on Saturday. Even though, after everything Quinn told him, he honestly hoped the worst for Ian, it didn't make it any easier to see one of their old friends who was also Ian's new wife.
"Don't lie!" she shouted at him. "I saw her come back here with CeCe!" She wiped off her face. "Where. Is. She." She attempted to step inside but Jason kept her out. He spotted Peter Hastings and Garrett coming up his front walk. He wasn't sure exactly, but given Melissa's behavior and Garrett's presence, he had a pretty good idea of what happened.
"Melissa, you should go home," Jason encouraged her gently. He had never really liked Melissa either, he had always thought that she was really stuck up. The only reason any of them ever hung out with her was because of Ian. Given that she had married a killer, maybe even unknowingly, he felt sorry for her.
"You can't keep hiding from me Quinn!" Melissa yelled into the house in threatening, looking back to Jason. Thankfully, Peter and Garrett were just coming up the porch steps now to get her. "You're protecting a killer!"
"It sounds like you were too," Jason finally snapped at her, not appreciating that she had just shown up at his house to threaten his girlfriend. He wasn't going to let her do that. Melissa went to smack Jason, but Peter caught her and pulled her back, telling her that he was taking her home. She protested as she broke into more tears, but didn't fight as he lead her off the stairs, with Peter turning back to give Jason an apologetic look; he didn't care for Ian either at this point. Jason waved it off as Peter lead Melissa home, Garrett remaining on the porch.
"What happened Reynolds?" Jason asked.
"Is Quinn here?" Garrett asked.
"I sent her upstairs," Jason lied, noticing Quinn had sunk down on the floor as she leaned back against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Could you get her?"
"I'll tell her whatever you need me to," Jason said, not letting Garrett inside either. "What's going on?"
"They found Ian," Garrett finally admitted. "In his car, a few miles from the fairgrounds." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Even though they all knew what Ian did, it was still hard to admit that one of their best friends from high school was now dead.
"She was just defending herself," Jason immediately told Garrett, ready to fight him on it if he planned on taking Quinn in for this.
"I'm not here to arrest Quinn," Garrett held up a hand. "We were looking through Ian's office, after the allegations that he killed Alison. We, uh, we found a note, a confession really."
"About killing Ali?" Jason asked with raised eye brows and Garrett nodded. "Why would he..."
"The theory is he was going to kill himself, before he decided to pin it on you and kill Quinn," Garrett explained. "There were plenty of people that saw him follow her into that fun house." He shrugged. "We all know it was self defense. And, given what he did..."
"No one cares anyway," Jason finished for him and Garrett nodded. "Well, um, thanks for coming by and telling me. I'll be sure to tell Quinn." Garrett nodded.
"You know you can trust me Jason," Garrett reminded him. "I'm not going to let anything happen to her either." Jason laughed a little. "That's funny to you?"
"Given that you're the one she told about the videos?" Jason asked. "And then Ian suddenly finds out that she has them? Yeah, I think that's funny." He shook his head, shutting the door without a goodbye. Quinn remained seated on the floor and Jason sat next to her, reaching over and taking her hand.
"I actually killed someone," Quinn said softly and Jason squeezed her hand.
"The guy that killed my sister," Jason assured her. "And who was going to kill you." He kissed her head. "It's all right Quinn."
Quinn was at her mother's house a few days later. Ella hadn't been hired to start until next week and Mike was at school, Jason at work. Quinn had taken the day off classes again, at Ella's suggestion but she didn't disagree. Today was Ian's funeral, with Aria being the only Montgomery in attendance as she went to support Spencer. Ella had given Veronica and Peter her condolences but the feelings between the three of them were about the same; no one cared what happened to Ian, the Hastings were only sympathetic to Melissa's depression. Quinn was laying on the couch where her mother was seated, running her hand over her daughter's hair. It always comforted Quinn when she was little.
"Was I wrong mom?" Quinn asked quietly.
"No," Ella told her. "No, not at all honey." She was going to go on, but there was a knock at the door. Silently promising herself if it was another cop or reporter she was going to slam the door in their face, Ella got up to answer it. She was surprised, however, to see that it was her estranged husband.
"Byron," she said in surprise, letting him in. "We weren't expecting you until the weekend."
"I got an earlier flight," he explained as he noticed Quinn sitting up now. "Hi sweetheart."
"Hey dad," Quinn said as he came over to sit with her. She didn't have it in her right now to be mean to him like she had been. And, in any case, the secret was out and Ella had thrown him out of the house. Why keep punishing him? "Did you need the keys?" Since he wasn't going to be staying at the house and the lease wasn't up on Quinn's apartment, he was going to be staying there.
"I'm not really worried about that right now," Byron told her, looking his daughter over. Over the course of a few days, her cuts and bruises had started to fade. It was evident that the emotional scars were still there though.
"Dad," Quinn whimpered, her eyes filling up with tears as he pulled her in to hug her.
"Did you talk to Quinn yet?" Emily asked Aria after the funeral was over, the crowd starting to thin out. "About the video?" The night before, the girls got another A message, telling them to go to the cemetery. That was when they saw the rest of the video, the one that made them think that Ian had killed Alison. It showed her getting up, kissing Ian goodbye, and walking away unharmed. By now, they had also figured out that the suicide note that Ian left was actually written by A as it was comprised of messages that A had previously sent them.
"Are you kidding?" Aria laughed a little, keeping her voice low. "She's already a wreck as it is. Better she doesn't know Ian might not have even killed Alison."
"Besides, we don't even know that it wasn't still Ian," Spencer pointed out logically. "Who's to say Ian didn't wait for Alison in the woods somewhere?"
"I guess," Emily nodded in agreement. "But, the note..."
"Is that Jason?" Hanna asked, nodding over to a bench that was a few yards away from the funeral. It was him, he had left work to check out the funeral, to get closure for himself. It was hard to believe, that his best friend had murdered his sister and tried to kill his girlfriend. Aria told her friends that she would be right back, going over to see what Jason was doing.
"Hey," he nodded quietly at her.
"Does my sister know you're here?" Aria asked him and he raised his eye brows at her.
"I'm not going to keep it from her, if that's what you're asking," Jason informed her and Aria was quiet; maybe she shouldn't keep snapping on him about her sister, at least not right now. "Just needed some closure, that's all."
"I know what you mean," Aria agreed, sitting with him. "I'm just glad it's all over." She knew that was a lie, they were still getting messages from A and it was looking like Ian might even be innocent.
"Me too," Jason nodded, fiddling with something in his hands. Aria hadn't noticed it before, but it was a piece of paper.
"What is that?" Aria asked curiously.
"Ah," Jason hesitated, not intending for her to see it. "Keep this between us?"
"Sure," Aria said, though she wasn't sure what it could be. What would Jason want to keep between the two of them, to not share with her sister? She realized what it was when he handed her the note. An A message reading I know what you did.
"I thought," Jason confessed. "That...I might have done something, to Ali." He sighed. "When I was drunk, I could fly off the handle. And we had been fighting that whole summer..." Aria remembered that, and now she understood more knowing that Ali had been blackmailing Jason and Quinn. "But, with Ian's confession, now I know." He shook his head. "Must have been a sick joke by that A person."
"You didn't want my sister to think you were a killer?" Aria asked suspiciously and Jason nodded. "Um...wow...ok." She looked Jason over. "Why not tell her about it now?"
"She'll just get upset," Jason tried to explain. "If she found out I hid something like that from her." Aria nodded in understanding; her sister didn't need anything else on her plate right now.
Two weeks went by and things, very slowly, tried to make their way back to normal. At least, as normal as they could be. After all, Byron had officially moved out and was living in a somewhat crappy apartment building that was truly meant for college students. Quinn still wasn't having the best time trying to get to sleep at night and felt like everyone was still staring at her everywhere that she went. It didn't help that her sister was edgy around her for some unknown reason, her mother still hovering. At least Mike was trying to act normally around her. There were some good things though.
Her and Jason were getting back into their rhythm, being close and couple like as they had been before the break up. Now that they were out, they didn't have to hide anymore which was great. Quinn spent a lot of nights over at the house with Jason, helping him with painting and rearranging. The nights she didn't stay over there, he usually found himself staying at the Montgomery house with her. The night before, Jason had taken her out on their first real date since they got back together and she had stayed over with him.
Since Jason was the only one living there, he picked out whichever room he wanted, which turned out to be the master room his parents used to have. After all, it was technically his house now. And, he didn't want to be back in his old room, it brought too much back about that summer, especially since it was right across the hall from Ali's old room. He avoided that part of the house for now. That morning, he started to slowly wake up, thinking that he heard someone downstairs but he brushed it off as his imagination as he moved over closer to Quinn, putting his arm over her. As the door to the room opened, however, both of them jumped awake at the sound of that as well as a woman's voice.
"Oh my God!" the woman gasped as both Jason and Quinn jolted awake, Quinn scrambling to pull the sheets over herself.
"Mom?!" Jason snapped at the sight of her with her suitcase. He didn't remember her saying that she was coming, but then he remembered the fashion show was that week and she was coming to stay at the house, without his father.
"I'm sorry," Jessica blushed, turning her head away. "I just-"
"Mom!" Jason cut her off and she hurried out the door, shutting it quickly behind her. Jason groaned, falling onto his back against the pillows, looking over at Quinn who was bright red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I forgot she was coming."
Jason and Quinn both got up and got ready for work and classes. Heading downstairs now, Quinn moving a little more slowly because she wasn't too anxious about seeing Jason's mom, they heard Jessica in the kitchen. It both sounded and smelled like she was cooking. Getting into the kitchen now, she turned and smiled at them as she moved the last of the pancakes over to a plate.
"Breakfast?" Jessica smiled at the two of them, acting like nothing happened.
"I have to go to class," Quinn said, trying to leave but Jason caught her by the strap of her bag, pulling her back and shaking his head. If he had to deal with this right now, so did she.
"In an hour," he reminded her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about before," Jessica continued as if she just remembered what happened earlier, which Quinn felt was going to be the most life scarring part of her day. She knew that Mrs. DiLaurentis hadn't always liked her very much. She wasn't the nice girl that Jessica hoped would turn her son around, Quinn got herself into plenty of trouble too. "It was just a reflex, going into that room." She smiled at them a little. "But, obviously, it's Jason's house now. And, you're the couple, not me."
"Mom," Jason stopped her, partly because she didn't need to go on about this and partly because he was confused.
"I didn't want to spring this on you yet," Jessica sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "But, um, your father and I have decided to separate."
This is quite the morning, Quinn thought to herself as she glanced over at Jason who didn't look at that surprised. After all, his parents had been having a lot of problems since Alison's disappearance, and then especially after they found her body.
"I'm really sorry Mrs. D," Quinn said quickly.
"Oh, sweetie," Jessica smiled warmly at her. "You know you can call me Jessica." She turned and grabbed the plate of food. "Come on, let's all sit down."
"Mom," Jason said as they all went over to the table to have a seat. "Are you coming back to Rosewood?"
"Not yet," she shook her head. "I'm still not ready for that." She gave him a small smile. "You don't have to worry about me moving back in here with you."
"That's not what I meant," Jason said as Quinn felt herself blushing again.
"Oh, Quinn, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Jessica brushed it off, biting into her pancakes. "I know it's certainly not the first time you've slept over here."
"Mom," Jason complained.
"Yeah, I might hit traffic on the way to Hollis," Quinn said at the same time, getting up from the table and grabbing her bag. "I'll, uh, see you all later." Quinn left the house quickly, grateful that she didn't have to spend another minute at that awkward breakfast. As she got into her car, she felt her phone vibrating in her bag. After turning her car on, she pulled her phone out to see what it was.
Quite the awkward morning, huh?
Maybe we can turn your afternoon around
Attached was a picture of Aria and Ezra with a red X through it. What did A want her to do? Then, there was a second message.
If you want to keep Jason, get rid of Ezra
"What does Mrs. DiLaurentis want to see us for?" Hanna asked. The girls had gathered at the grille that night, waiting for Ali's mom to arrive. She had sent them all a text, asking them to meet her there to talk about something. The other girls shrugged, not really sure what this was about either but they figured it had something to do with the fashion show.
"Have you talked to your sister yet?" Spencer asked impatiently. Ever since Aria told her friends about the note, they were getting even more suspicious of Jason and the part he might have played in Alison's murder. Maybe Ian was innocent all along, of the murder at least, and Jason was the one to blame.
"No," Aria said in annoyance. "Look, guys, there's no way I'm going to be able to just dump this on her." She sighed in frustration. "What would I even say to her?"
"Hey Quinn, your boyfriend might be a psycho that killed his sister?" Hanna offered and Emily nudged her arm, giving her a look for being insensitive.
"We don't know that," Emily offered sympathetically since they all knew that Quinn was having a hard time.
"We know that Ian might not have done it," Spencer jumped in. "We know that Jason got that note, and we know Alison was blackmailing him and your sister that whole summer." Aria had finally admitted all of her sister's secrets to her friends. "Maybe he finally snapped and-"
"Shh!" Aria said, seeing Jessica coming in.
At dinner, the girls and Jessica talked a lot about the fashion show. Jessica wanted them to do a tribute for Alison, the girls wearing dresses that Alison had picked out for the show before she had disappeared. The girls were a little put off by the idea, feeling strange wearing Alison's things, but they knew that it would be a nice thing to do, a tribute for their best friend.
Aria got home that night, being dropped off by Hanna. Her sister's car was there, as well as Jason's, but her mother's wasn't. She remembered over hearing Ella saying that she was seeing Veronica that night, probably to talk about what were to happen if she decided that she wanted to divorce Byron rather than remain separated. Inside, she spotted Mike sitting on the couch with someone, playing video games. Then, she realized that it was Jason.
"Hey," Aria said, barely noticed by either of them.
"Hey," Jason nodded at her, Mike only nodding and barely acknowledged her.
"Is mom at the Hastings?" Aria asked her brother.
"Mmm, yeah," Mike finally nodded after thinking about it for a moment.
"Quinn's upstairs," Jason added, neither of the boys taking their eyes off the tv.
"Uh huh," Aria said, rolling her eyes at the two of them before going upstairs to find her sister in her room, studying. Quinn was curled up against the pillows, textbook in her lap as she highlighted important notes. Hearing her sister coming into the room, she looked up and smiled.
"Hey," Quinn said as her sister sat on the edge of her bed. "How was dinner?"
"Weird," Aria told her. "Mrs. D brought some of Ali's clothes for us...to wear."
"She really is something," Quinn muttered to herself, appreciating some of Jessica's comments from that morning a little less every time she thought about them. When she glanced up from her book, Aria was giving her a confused look. "I can, um, kinda see where's she's coming from though. Ali loved that show."
"She did," Aria agreed. "Is...Jason staying tonight?"
"Ah, I think so," Quinn nodded, going back to studying. "Did you see him and Mike down there?" She laughed a little. "They're so cute."
"I guess," Aria shrugged, not really seeing it. "Can I..."
"I'm really glad Mike has him to hang out with," Quinn continued, not catching that her sister had wanted to say something. "I mean, older sisters aren't the same as talking to another guy. And, you know." Quinn shrugged. "Stuff's been really hard around here lately."
"If you think Jason's a good role model," Aria grumbled, thinking of the note and lie that he had told her sister; she caught Quinn giving her a confused look.
"He's cleaner than I am," Quinn pointed out, a bit annoyed. Who was her sister to judge relationships? Thinking of this made her recall A's text from earlier that day, telling her that she had to break up Aria and Ezra if she wanted to keep Jason safe. She knew what A wanted it to feel like, that she was choosing Jason over Aria, her happiness over her sister's. Was Quinn a bad person for wanting her sister and Ezra apart? She really was only worried about her sister's well being, since student/teacher relationships never ended well.
"Hey," Jason knocked on the door, breaking the awkward silence between the girls. "Me and Mike were going to order pizza, didn't know if you wanted in?"
"I already ate," Aria muttered, getting up from her sister's bed to leave. There was no way she could talk to Quinn about Jason now.
"What's with her?" Jason asked, though part of him already knew.
"I think she's upset about the show," Quinn told him. "Your mom's setting up a tribute for Ali, I think it's just hard for them."
"I can talk to her," Jason offered.
"No," Quinn shook her head. "I think it's a good idea." She gave a sad half smile. "Closure and all."
"Right, closure," Jason agreed, remembering going to the funeral a few weeks before. That was what everyone around here needed, but couldn't seem to find.
That weekend was the fashion show, with most of Rosewood in attendance. Quinn had always hated going to the fashion show. In high school, she only ever went because CeCe was in it and she dragged her there to watch. Then, when Aria and her friends got older, she was always around to support them. Tonight, however, just gave her an awkward feeling. Both of her parents were there, sitting on opposite sides of the room from each other. Of course Jessica was there, giving her disapproving looks when she thought Quinn wasn't looking, smiling when she was. Out of the corner of her eye, Quinn spotted Ezra talking to some of the other faculty; Aria must have invited him. Feeling her phone vibrating in her clutch, she didn't have to check to know who it was, knowing it was A reminding her of what she had to do.
You're good at breaking hearts Quinn
Remember last summer?
"Hey," Quinn said, squeezing Jason's hand to get his attention. They had been talking to Jessica, but she had been called over by Peter to talk about something. Jason was watching them curiously, wondering what was going on between the two of them.
"Hm?"
"I'll be right back," Quinn said, kissing his cheek. "I'll catch up with you at our seats."
"K," Jason shrugged, not wondering where she was going; he didn't know she was still getting texts from A, even after they found Ian. Quinn crossed the room, her heels clicking against the hard floor as she smoothed her hand over the skirt of her little black dress. This was going to be so awkward, but she knew what she had to do. After all, she would do anything to keep Jason safe. And, really, she didn't think that her sister should be together with Ezra. She kept telling herself this as if breaking her sister's heart was going to be any easier.
"Hey," Quinn said, getting Ezra to look over at her. "Can I talk to you?"
"Ah, sure," Ezra nodded, excusing himself from the others and following her off to the side. "You want a drink, or..."
"I'm trying to do that less," Quinn waved him off. He couldn't be nice to her, not right now. And she knew that Jason didn't like it when she drank too much, given that she never seemed to know her stopping point. "I need to talk to you..." She lowered her voice. "About Aria."
"I know she's been upset about this new job," Ezra explained, having trouble with Aria lately and thinking that was what Quinn meant. "I think she's afraid something's going to happen, but I hope she knows what an opportunity this is-"
"She won't," Quinn cut him off. "Because she's a child." She kept her voice quiet. "Ezra, she's sixteen. Ok? And, even when she's eighteen, she's never going to be on the same page as you."
"Why are you telling me this?" Ezra asked in confusion.
"Because she's my sister," Quinn said. "And you're my friend." She knew that was certainly a stretch, but she went with it anyway. "This isn't going to end well, for anyone. And I don't want either of you to get hurt."
"I, um, appreciate your concern Quinn," Ezra said. "But, we're happy with how things are right now."
"You can't be happy having to hide in your apartment," Quinn said back. "I did the sneaking around thing, for about a month, and I hated it."
"Well, that's you," Ezra said, trying to walk away but Quinn stepped in front of him.
"I don't want this to end badly Ezra," Quinn said, her tone changing.
"Are you," Ezra said, hesitating as he studied her. "Threatening me?"
"If you don't take care of this, I'll have my parents do something about it," Quinn said quickly, getting it out. He looked at her in complete shock. "I'm sorry, I just...can't let this keep going on." She shook her head. "I won't live with secrets anymore."
There was an announcement over head, telling everyone to take their seats because the show was about to start. Quinn turned and hurried over to where she was supposed to sit with Ella, Jessica, and Jason. The moms sat together, chatting as they waited for the show to start while Jason sat on the other side of his mother, patiently waiting for Quinn to come fill the empty seat.
"What was that?" Jason asked, having seen her talking with Ezra. He wasn't jealous, but he was a bit concerned as it looked like a serious conversation.
"Um, I'll explain later," Quinn brushed it off as the music started and the show began.
thanks for reading! hope you liked the update, i'd love to hear your thoughts! :)