Chapter 19- A Letter From the Grave

"I swear that you don't have to go, I thought we could wait for the fireworks. I thought we could wait for the snow, to was over Georgia and kill the hurt. I thought I could live in your arms and spend every moment I had with you; stay up all night with the stars"

Spencer's phone sounded out from her bedside table; to her it seemed like she'd only been asleep for about 4 hours. As it carried on ringing she lifted herself up as fast as she could with the extra weight she was carrying.

"Um, hello?" She was still half asleep so trying to stifle yawns between words was pretty hard. "Oh Dad; sorry I didn't see the caller I.D. What's up?"

As she listened to what her father had to say she started to shake the body that was lying next to her hoping to wake him up. She jabbed him hard in the sound before he moaned loudly and flicked his eyes open.

"What the hell is this about? It's like 2 in the morning Spence?" He rubbed his eyes as he focused on his shocked looking girlfriend that was sat clutching her phone to her bump. "Spencer baby; what is it?"

"M-my Dad, spoke to the police. They found someone in Jason's old house; we need to get over there so they can talk to us about it." She was already up from the bed and started pulling on the nearest clothes she could find. He couldn't help but watch her as she pulled a thick jumper over her stomach hiding the evidence of the life they had created. Was it possible to love someone so much? Considering that they were still teenagers; most people would say that it was impossible and that they were just infatuated with each other. However Spencer Hastings and Toby Cavanaugh had 'old souls', they knew perfectly well that what they felt for each other wasn't infatuation or lust; it was pure, honest love.

"Spence honey, calm down and come sit" He pushed his hands out into the open space in front of him to invite Spencer into his warmth. Knowing full well that he wasn't going to get to spend time with her properly for another few hours made him want to spend at least this short time with her and their son. She was soon sat on his lap with his arms placed tightly around her waist. "Now please just forget for 2 minutes that all this is going on; it's just me and you right now okay?"

"It's not that easy Toby; you should know that by now." A worried look had taken over her features as she thought about trying to forget what she had spoken to her father about only minutes ago "I just wish all this would go away. What kind of sick person threatens a fucking baby Toby? One that hasn't been born at that. Elijah is going to be born into a world when there's one person or a team of people that tries to hurt him just because he's ours; it's not fair on him." There were tears trying to break over the barriers of her eye lids but she knew that she couldn't let this get her down; despite having extremely unbearable baby hormones.

"Listen to me Spencer; I promise that I will never let anyone that we don't trust near our baby. Our son will be the most loved and the luckiest child in the whole of Rosewood; everyone will protect him with all they have and you know that better than anyone. I mean have you not been there when Hanna, Emily and Aria have gotten into arguments with people about Elijah? They would do absolutely anything for Eli and definitely for you. Those girls are spitfires, just like you. As for Jason, Mike, Ezra and Caleb; you haven't heard everything they talk about when you girls aren't around, I think they're more excited for the arrival than we are. It just proves that as unfair as this situation is concerned; we will get through it and we have the added bonus of having a son that will be the most amazing little boy we have ever met; -A can never take that away from us especially if we do everything in our power to protect him. I would never let anything happen to either of you; without you I'm absolutely nothing Spencer; haven't you learnt that yet?"

"I'm so sorry Toby; I'm an absolute mess. I'm going to be such a terrible mother."

"Don't you dare say that ever again Spencer! You will be the best mother in this town and I'm pretty sure you know that. You have something that they don't have and that is compassion; Elijah will be ridiculously lucky to have you as a mother just like I'm ridiculously lucky to have you as my girlfriend. I still can't believe I get to wake up next to you every morning; despite your miserable morning moods, vile morning breath and inability to talk until you've had coffee. I love you more than anything in the world and our son will think the exact same thing." He pulled her trembling body even further into him, if that was even possible and just held her as she cried. Before Spencer got pregnant Toby had only see her cry a few times but lately it was becoming a regular occurrence. It wasn't like he liked seeing her cry because it absolutely killed him but to know that she trusted him enough to let her walls down whenever she was with him was an absolute blessing to him.

"Toby?" She whispered into his chest.

"What's up baby?"

"We need to go" Toby laughed at the fact that even though she was so upset she was still happy to go and get to the bottom of who was ruining her life.

"Have I ever told you I love you?" He looked into her chocolate coloured eyes and smiled at the amount of love he saw radiating from them.

"I think you may have, but I'm not really sure" She joked as she pressed her lips gently to his own and hopped up off his knee so he could pull some clothes on.

"Dad, Mom; where are you?" Spencer had unlocked the door that was so familiar to her and wandered into the kitchen in search of her parents.

"In here honey, I think it's best if you come in and sit down." Veronica shouted from the family room. Spencer had always thought that specific room was ironically named, they never really spent any time together as a family and if they did it generally wasn't in there. They carried on through the house until they were stood in the door facing her parents that were sat nervously on one of the large sofas.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked curiously, she had never seen her parents like this before and it scared her.

"Sit down you two; this is pretty important." The couple proceeded to do what her parents had told them to do. "Well, we got a phone call from my friend at the police station earlier to tell us what they'd found there. Apparently there was nobody there and there was no evidence that there ever had been."

"W-what? How the hell does that explain the texts? They have always been coming from there" Spencer could feel her throat constricting and air was soon becoming an issue. "Please, tell me you believe me. Please?" Tears were spilling down her cheeks as she was becoming hysteric.

"Sweetheart, I promise that we believe you. But there's something else we need to tell you"

"What?" She gasped at the idea of founding out that there was someone that she trusted that was in on the A-Team.

"They found something in Alison's room and they're not entirely sure what to think of it. They're letters to you, Emily, Aria and Hanna. I don't know if they're from Alison or from –A; they are signed –A but they seem a little too heartfelt to be from someone that wants you all dead." Spencer's Dad spoke in a cautious tone, no one knew how Spencer would react to even the simplest of news lately but she couldn't exactly help it. "I don't know if you want to get the girls over and read the letters together? Oh and Toby there was one for you too."

"Why would Ali leave me a letter? The last thing she ever said to me was threaten..." He was cut off by Spencer digging her elbow into his ribs; he forgot that Spencer's parents knew nothing about the Jenna thing.

"I don't know but I think we should open the letters with the girls, and the guys. They need to know whatever they say. Is it alright if we open these at home? There could be some stuff in here that you don't want to hear." Peter Hastings nodded at his daughters request and bid them farewell as he headed off to bed soon followed by his wife.

"I'll call the Aria and Hanna, you call Emily and Jason?" Spencer headed into the kitchen with her cell phone at hand; knowing full well that certain members of the group wouldn't be appreciative at being woken up at 4am (Hanna) but she knew it had to be done.

"Aria, this is really important. You, Mike and Ezra get over to our apartment like now; Dad found some stuff at the house." Not giving Aria enough information to go off was the only way she would be able to get out of bed because her curiosity would drive her insane.

"Han, are you and Caleb together?... Right, the two of you need to get the hell over to Toby's apartment like right now. I don't care that its 4am this is important so get your ass up and get into your goddamn car."

"Wow, that was brutal" Toby laughed at Spencer hung the phone up on a rather grouchy Hanna. "Jason and Em said they're on their way so we best get back."

"So we're all here Spence; would you like to enlighten us as to why we are?"

"Right yes that would help. Basically my Dad had the police go to Jason's old house and see if there was anyone staying there turns out there was absolutely no trace of anyone being there."

"If there was no trace then what the hell is so important?" Hanna muttered as she tried to get her eyes to focus properly.

"They found something in Ali's room though. There were 5 letters on her bed; all addressed to me, Emily, Aria, Hanna and Toby. We have no idea why she wrote one for Toby but I guess we should find out." She passed the letters to each of their recipients and stared at hers trying to figure out what could be hidden inside the envelope. On the back of the envelope was a small letter scribbled in the corner "-A". The paper looked like it had discoloured slightly which made them think it could have been from Alison not just –A.

"So, I'll go first." Hanna spoke up as she ripped open the paper that was restricted her curiosity. After she unfolded that aging paper she began to read.

"Dearest Hanna,

If you are reading this letter then I am assuming that I am dead. I'm not entirely sure what my aim for this is but I'm going to have a shot at trying to make up for everything so here goes...
Han, if words could sum up just how much you meant to me then I would make it perfectly clear but apparently there aren't enough words for this. I want you to know that despite me making your life a living hell sometimes and making you feel like you weren't worth it; I assure you that you are definitely worth it. You are the bravest, funniest most beautiful girl I have ever met and I assume that you went and took my place in the social ladder. I always hoped that's what you'd do because you deserve it; you deserve to have people look up at you because honestly you are the best role model anyone could ever ask for. I learnt so much from you and you will never know how much I appreciate that.

I am so sorry for everything I left you with; you did not deserve to have to deal with all of this. I know exactly what you're going through with –A because I went through it as well; please do me one final favour Hanna, don't give up. If you ever feel like you're going to give up then just think about the life that you want to lead when you get older and don't let them take that away from you. You deserve to find the perfect guy and have the perfect life because to me that's what you are, perfect.

I love you Han.
My final goodbye, Alison.
xxx"

Hanna was trying her hardest to hold back the tears that threatened to fall once she finished reading the letter. Spencer knew that Hanna was starting to doubt why they were fighting so hard to bring justice to Alison and finally she realised why.

"I guess I'll go next." Aria whispered as she lifted the peeling flap away and unfolded the paper.

"Darling Aria,

If I know you girls well enough then I know that you are all reading these letters together and Hanna has just read hers first. She was always the most impatient one. This is about you though Aria; I want to tell you about all the things I love about you. I love the fact that despite the fact that things got so hard, you always managed to keep a brave face because you couldn't bare the people you love to see you so weak. I bet you're reading this right now checking for correct grammar and everything aren't you? Well I assure you that I am trying my best here just for you. I want you to know that I am truly sorry for making you do that to your father and I expect you being the respectful young lady that you are told him. Then you probably went and apologised to the skank. I know you hated me calling her that but anyone who could hurt my best friend so much deserves it; that shouldn't have happened to your family.

You were always so different and that's what I loved about you. Have you got rid of the pink in your hair? I loved that pink, it was just so you.

Finally, Aria I want to say to you that I am sorry for putting you through this with –A as well, you don't deserve to have every secret you have held over you just because that's what I did to everyone else. You weren't like everyone me, you saw the goodness in everyone else and it was so refreshing in a world where everyone just saw the worst.

I love you Aria.
Goodbye my darling; Alison.
xxx"

"Before Aria starts crying again I'll read mine" Emily joked apprehensively.

"To My Em,
before you all start getting in a huff about Emily being my favourite I just want you to know that wasn't the case; I love you all equally. You were all my girls and I would die for each and every one of you (how ironic). Emily Fields, I want to tell you just how much you inspired me; anyone that could cover up for something so big for so long deserves a god damn medal. You deserve a medal for just being you though; you were the sunshine in my life. Every time I would hear you laugh was like music to my ears (not quite as nice as hearing Aria sing though), the smile that only I saw. I guess you smile like that at someone else now though but I just want you to know that whoever she is, is the luckiest girl in the world. I hope you're happy Emily, I really do.

I guess if everyone else knows about "our little secret" now it means that –A finally outed you. If not then this must be pretty confusing to everyone else in the room. If the case is not the latter then I would like the say that I admire you so much for having the guts to tell everyone, especially with a mother like yours. But please Emily, find a girl that you can love with all of your heart and don't let anyone doubt that. I'm sorry yours was so short but just know that I love you all the same.

I love you Emily.
I'll be seeing you, Alison
xxx"

Spencer stood perfectly still hoping that if she stood quietly enough then everyone would forget that she was there; she knew that Alison wouldn't be as nice with her because she was the only one that ever dared to challenge Alison.

"Spencer, it's your turn" Hanna mumbled "We all had to read ours, now you have to."

"I- I can't."

"Why? Why the hell is it one rule for us and a completely different one for you? What the hell are you so scared of?"

"Hanna, it's alright for you three because you never did anything to piss her off. I pissed her off daily so there is nothing she can say about me that will be nice."

"Oh my god woman! The girl loved you to pieces; it was the fact that she always had an opponent in you that she loved so much. You were the one person that kept her grounded because the rest of us were too scared to tell her what her flaws were but you did that. She had the most to thank you for." Hanna put her hand out to grab her nervous best friend's "We're all going to be here no matter what it says okay? If you want me to I can read it to you."

"Um, yeah I would like that." The other three girls were finally recovering from the tears that came after reading all of their letters.

"Spencer,
You wonderful, wonderful girl. I hope there isn't a day that goes by that you don't think about how amazing you actually are. I should have told you this more often but I just couldn't muster the courage. If I'm going to be completely honest then I want you to know that you were the only one that I admired completely; you were the only one that wasn't scared to voice your opinion about people because you believed that everyone either needed someone on their side, or someone to bring them back down to earth. You brought be back down to earth nearly every day and you will never know just how much I appreciate that because it's exactly what I needed. I understood that some days I'd be unbearable to be around because what people thought about me was such a big thing. I hope that you have finally managed to sort everything out with your parents and your sister because you deserve to have a family that love and appreciate you.

If you ever doubt that what I am saying here is true then just think of it this way; I could never ever hate you for keeping me in check because after everything we've been through it means we were practically sisters. Actually we were kind of related, vaguely. Well at least I like to think we were. I'd get into an argument with Jason and all I could think about was how much he reminded me of you, the fact that he was so ridiculously stubborn and the way he made it perfectly clear that whatever he was involved in was his business and he was completely loyal to anyone else involved. I have to give you that one Spencer, you were the most loyal friend I could ever ask for; all four of you were but you were the most. If you didn't know about Jason then you do know, but I want you to have someone in your life that won't bail on you when things get tough or won't constantly argue for the attention. He grew up with me so I guess he should be a saint or something. Trust him Spencer; love him like you've known him all your life because I promise you he will be there whenever you need him. I hope Jason is here while you read this because I want him to know that although I was the epitome of a bitch when we were younger; I love him so so much and I'm sorry for everything I've ever put him through. I would have written him his own letter but it would have hurt me far too much.

Finally, I'm guessed something has happened with you and Toby Cavanaugh, if I'm right then the letter that he is about to read (if he hasn't already) should have all the answers you need. I want all of you to have brilliant lives and I know you can't do that with a monster like –A on your back. I hope you have people that are like your family just like you four were to me. I wish I could have met them and got to know them for what you saw them as.

I love you Spencer Hastings. Please be happy.
Goodbye my darling girl, Alison.
xxx"

Spencer's body collapsed on the floor as she cried the most out of the rest of them; as Toby rushed forward to comfort her broken body on the floor he was pushed gently out of the way by Aria in order to let Jason through. His girlfriend's brother knelt down next to her and held her tight before he nodded towards Toby to get him to open his letter.

"Toby Cavanaugh,

This letter I understand will seem like the most farfetched explanation you are ever going to get. I apologise for everything I have ever done to hurt you in the past; I'm sorry for making you take the blame and blackmailing you with everything that Jenna did to you. I know I shouldn't have done that because that was definitely not your fault.

However assuming you are with my girls then I promised you all answers, so here they are.

The reason this person is after you is because after everything happened with Jenna I started threatening more people because I liked the way it felt to be in control of everyone's lives. I like knowing everyone's secrets because it gave me the power. Although one day everything got a bit out of control and I found something out that I shouldn't have known. What I found out could have got me into a whole lot of trouble. I found something out about Noel Kahn and his family; I can't tell you exactly what in this letter but I assure you that there will be another letter telling you everything. I got so close to finding out who –A is but they started threatening me even more; I'm writing this letter at 6:30pm, an hour and a half before I'm meant to be going to Spencer's to see the girls. It's the night that I know I'm going to die and I want you all to know that I would do it all again if it meant that the rest of you didn't have to die for me.

This is to you now Toby; if what I'm thinking will happen is true then please keeps her safe. Keep Spencer away from the danger that I dragged her into and more than anything make sure that she is happy.

Thank you Toby and I am so sorry.
Alison."

Everyone stood in complete and utter shock at everything that Toby had just read.

"She really did know everything didn't she?" Caleb muttered.

AN: Sorry about how long this one was guys, I have some spare time so I thought you might appreciate a long one. Please Please Please review guys, I want to know what you think -Chloe :-)xx