Thank you for all the feedback thus far! You guys are incredible. Last chapter was my least reviewed to date, which is disheartening, but I understand it wasn't a very interesting chapter. I really, really would appreciate any kind of feedback you have as long as it is respectful.

This is where things start getting mixed up. I introduce episode 1x09 in this episode, even though it's morphed in with 1x12. Just so you understand. So, for the sake of the story, Hanna has to write the SATs with her cast on :p I had to chop it in two because of how lengthy I made it. For those who follow me on twitter, that big moment you've been anticipating happens NEXT chapter ;)

I do not own Pretty Little Liars.

Hanna was finally released from the hospital three weeks later.

Spencer and the other girls were the ones to get her home since her mom was working late. They knew that private hospital rooms were pretty expensive so they all understood and stepped up to help out their best friend, eager to get her home and back into her regular life.

Although Hanna complained about sitting in the backseat of Spencer's SUV with her leg propped up, the other three knew she was very grateful to be heading home finally.

They unfolded her wheelchair and helped her into once they arrived at the Marin manor.

Hanna wheeled herself inside with a little assistance as Emily, Spencer and Aria carried in some of Hanna's things from the hospital.

Seeing Hanna picking at the sticker on her cast, Aria was confused. "Why are you taking that off?"

"I'm not. I'm trying to keep it on. Believe me, I don't want to see the autograph under it."

Spencer placed the box in her hands on the kitchen table. "Well we can get you another sticker."

"Yeah, this time maybe you should try something mellower… like 'Save the Planet'." Aria suggested, sending Spencer a look. She had, after all, been the one who had the idea in the first place and picked it out at the hospital gift shop. The sticker read 'Humpty Dumpty didn't fall, he was pushed!'.

"There were not a lot of choices. It was either Humpty Dumpty or 'Jesus is coming, look busy'." she replied, remembering the, in her opinion, easy decision.

Hanna was too busy wincing at the words underneath to pay any attention to their argument. "Oh god, it's still there."

Spencer crouched down beside her, placing her hand over the sticker to hold it down. "Hanna, don't. Don't look at that. Just look around you. Because you're safe. You're home. And you're alive." she told her seriously. She knew Hanna was scared and frankly she knew she had every right to, but she didn't want her to live in fear. They were here for her through everything and they would stand strong against A as a group of four.

"I thought I was safe in my hospital bed too." Hanna muttered. She looked to Aria, suddenly going on a tangent. "What's going on with Noel Kahn? Is he A? Have you talked to him?"

"No, I avoid him. I keep telling him I'm busy… Busy freaking out every time I look at him." Aria said, crossing her arms in an instinctive protective stance.

"Yeah, try being run over by him." Hanna retorted.

Emily seemed to think it was a good time to change the subject. She picked up the stuffed bear from the box she had brought inside. "Who got you this panda? Sean?"

"Lucas." Hanna corrected.

"Aw, it's sweet."

Hanna chose not to comment. "Anyone else starving or is it just me?"

Spencer remembered what Ashley Marin had said on the phone earlier that morning when they discussed Hanna's return home. "Your mom said she left a special dinner for you in the fridge."

Hanna scrunched up her nose. "Pass. I want a pop tart." They all looked at her funny. "What? I've been on hospital food for three weeks. I want to eat something that doesn't look like it's already been chewed."

"Okay, well why don't you eat while we go get the rest of your stuff." Aria suggested.

The other two followed her back out to the car.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Emily asked, looking to Spencer since she tended to be the most logical.

Spencer nodded. "It's going to take time. But Hanna's strong. And she knows we're all in this together and we can get through anything." she said surely, convincing them as much as herself.

"I wonder if Hanna wants us to set her up downstairs on the couch? I can't imagine how hard it'll be to get her up those stairs… but I know she's been missing her bed." Aria said, biting her lip. She walked further into the house. "Hanna? Hey, so if you're going to stay down here tonight—"

Hanna was clutching a lasagna box in her lap and there were spilled boxes everywhere. She looked up. "Yeah! Yeah, down here is good." she said quickly, sounding guilty.

Spencer was surprised at the state of the kitchen. "What happened?"

"Nothing! Just uh knocked a few boxes down." she explained, sounding almost nervous.

"Well—" Spencer began, bending down to pick some up, but Hanna cut her off.

"No, no, no, you don't have to clean. Uh you can go. Seriously, my mom is going to be here soon."

Okay, now she was really acting weird.

"Wait, so now you want us to leave?" Aria asked, clearly as confused as the other two.

Spencer had a feeling Hanna had been spooked by something and now was trying to act like things weren't bothering her at all. But she had every reason to be freaked out. "You don't have to put on a brave face for us. If being alone is freaking you out, we can absolutely stay—"

"No, no, I'm just… fuzzy and I think it's this pain medication. Yeah, I need a nap."

"Okay, can we help you to the couch?" Emily asked.

"No, you've done enough. Seriously guys, go." Hanna said, sounding a little more normal now. "We're still on for studying for the SATs tomorrow night, right?"

"Yeah, my house." Spencer agreed, looking to the others for confirmation and they nodded.

"Okay… call me?" Emily suggested to Hanna, Aria and Spencer joining in.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, me too, any time."

Emily and Aria headed towards the front door. Spencer was still eying the lasagna box in Hanna's lap. "You know you have to boil that first, right?"

She honestly wouldn't be surprised if Hanna had forgotten that step. She was, after all, the girl who couldn't believe you had to add eggs and milk to a pancake mix. 'Isn't it supposed to be ready to go? That's why you buy it premade!'

"Yeah." she said, her face breaking into a smile, possibly remembering the same incident where she and Spencer had cracked up over it so long they had collapsed on the floor in giggles.

It was nice to see a genuine smile on her friend's face. Spencer smiled a little, leaning down to maternally kiss the top of the blonde's head before following the other two out of the door.

After dropping off Aria and Emily, Spencer sat in front of Emily's house in her car and looked towards the Cavanaugh residence. She wished she could see Toby sitting on his porch, working away at his motorcycle, but she knew where he really was sitting—inside a jail cell. If only she had believed in him sooner, none of this would have happened. They may have even been able to go to homecoming together.

You have Alex. Don't forget about sweet, adorable, charming Alex. Things have been so good between you two lately. Don't let daydreams of the past get in the way of that. Toby probably doesn't even want you that way anymore, especially after everything that's happened. the mean voice in her head told her.

She knew it had a point. And honestly, things between she and Alex had been good lately… really good. He had been so supportive through the whole Hanna-getting-hit-by-a-car thing and most guys would have ran the other way after that. Lately, their goodbyes were taking longer and their hellos had transformed from single kisses to exchanging plenty. She really couldn't help herself from smiling around him and that meant something to her. It really was time she let Toby go and just focus on helping him out rather than winning him back. Her old feelings shouldn't run her life.

Still, she wanted to talk to him, if not just about how he was holding up and if there was anything she could do to help, so she called the number she saved on her phone again.

"Rosewood Juvenile Detention Center." a gruff voice greeted on the other end of the phone.

Spencer pulled out her best business tone, channeling her mother. "Hi, I need to speak with Toby Cavanaugh."

"On what grounds?"

Spencer hadn't thought of a clever answer. Last time she pretended to be his DA, but it turned out he was currently in a meeting with his male DA at the time so that quickly backfired. She knew Jenna must be visiting so they'd know it wasn't her on the phone. Who else could she pretend to be?

"I'm his… cousin." she invented.

"I don't have any cousins on my list. Toby Cavanaugh is not to speak to anyone outside of his immediate family or his legal team. Goodbye."

"Wait! Wait!" she shouted, and, when she didn't hear the dial tone, she continued. "I'm not really his cousin. I'm his ex-girlfriend. And I'm pregnant. And he's the father. I need to speak to him. This is a time-sensitive issue, please!"

The man on the other end of the line hesitated. "Look honey, I'm sorry this guy got you into trouble. But he's bad news. You're better off without him. And so is the kid. Good luck."

And this time she heard him hang-up.

Spencer sighed, holding her head. What was she supposed to do to help Toby if she didn't even know how to help him?

She drove home to bury her head in books. The SATs were two days away. She needed to let things go until at least after that.

The girls met up the night before the big exam to have one final cram session. Hanna had made it over, despite her leg, and it was Emily that never ended up making it. They hadn't heard from her, but they weren't too worried. They knew she had swim practice.

It was storming out though, which made them a little uneasy, but they knew how strict her mom could be. She probably had forbidden her from leaving the house once she made it home from practice. Often times, her mom had taken away her phone for some weird parenting reason or another, so they reasoned out her not texting them too.

Now that it was the day of the test, Spencer's mom had picked up Hanna and Aria and took the three girls to school since the weather was too bad for her to let Spencer drive herself. It was all over the radio—there was a huge storm coming.

"Do you think they'll cancel the SATs?!" Hanna gushed excitedly, clearly very hopeful.

"I don't know. They spend so much time planning for these things… they're a big deal. They won't push it ahead unless they absolutely have to." Spencer replied surely.

"Well I'm not leaving until I know for sure this test is happening. I don't want to be driving around in this weather more than I have to and I want to be sure that you girls will be safe." Veronica Hastings said stoutly as she got out of the car.

"Mom, it's fine. I'll text you when we find out."

"Spencer, I want to talk to whoever is in charge myself." she argued, pushing through the front doors while Spencer chased after her and Aria assisted Hanna.

Once inside, Spencer went to her locker, not giving up on shooing her mom away. "You don't have to come inside, Mom, if it were cancelled no one would be here."

But her mother had already ran off to talk to the nearest adult. She couldn't help but roll her eyes in annoyance. Would her parents ever listen to her?

"You didn't say Alex was taking the test here too." Aria noted, seeing the familiar curly-haired boy down the hall.

Spencer leaned desolately against her locker, groaning. "Why do you think I wanted my mom to drop us off and leave?"

Alex came over. "Hey."

Spencer's smile crossed her face before she could stop herself. He always looked so pleased to see her. "Hi." she replied coyly, gladly kissing him in greeting.

He held her closer and she completely forgot about her friends standing only a couple feet away and she kissed him back enthusiastically. They had developed a nice rhythm between them now and it was very easy to get distracted when his lips were on hers.

"Spence. Spence!" Aria whispered, swatting at her arm, and Spencer pulled back quickly when she noticed her mother coming back over.

"No one here can make a decision to make their life. It's absurd." Mrs. Hastings ranted irritably.

"Um, Mom, this is Alex Santiago. Alex, this is my mother. Alex that I went to homecoming with." she added when her mom's face remained inquisitive as she caught sight of him.

"Oh, of course. From the club." she stammered.

"Yeah." he said, looking awkward now.

"It just… it took me a moment to… put it together. So you're Alex." her mom said, nodding like a bobble-head on a dirt road.

Spencer detected a nervous tone to her mother's voice, not something common in the Hastings family and especially not from her mom who was apparently like a rabid Rottweiler in a courtroom.

Alex was acting strange too. "Listen, I need to check in." he said to Spencer and turned to leave, saying a final farewell to her mom. "Um… Nice seeing you. Uh, meeting you."

Okay. There was definitely something weird going on. They clearly knew each other in some uncomfortable way.

The lady Spencer's mom had chased down earlier approached them. "Test is on today. Rosewood students, you register in the library."

"Half the school isn't even here yet." Hanna complained.

"We saw a huge tree down on Saw Mill Road and they've already closed off York Street." Mrs. Hastings added.

"That wasn't because of a tree. York Street has been closed since last night." a familiar voice cut in. The test woman quickly exited the conversation.

What the hell was Detective Wilden doing here? He approached them.

"Why?"

He looked to the girls now. "Somebody decided to pay a visit to Alison DiLaurentis' memorial and destroy it. Shattered the tiles, broke the bench."

Aria's eyes went huge. "What?"

"When did this happen?" Spencer demanded.

"We had to cordon off the area given its an ongoing murder investigation." Wilden explained.

Veronica looked as though her feathers were ruffled. She adjusted her purse strap on her arm. "Well maybe you can spare them the details. They're about to take their SATs."

"Right. Good luck on the test, ladies." he told them; although, by his tone of voice, you'd swear he was trying to distract them on purpose.

Too fed up with the way this day was already going, Spencer didn't even say goodbye to her mom. "We should probably get to the library." she said to the other two and they followed her down the hall.

The three of them had found a table near the back of the library. Spencer was pleased that this is where they would be stationed since it meant it was easier to cram more studying in. But of course, the girls' thoughts were still a little wrapped up in what Wilden had said.

"I can't believe it was trashed. Just when you thought that A would give it a rest." Aria said desolately.

"It's like A had to kill Alison all over again." Spencer said, her eyes focused on her trigonometry problems.

"A? What do you mean, A? I thought we decided A and Ali's killer could be two different people?" Hanna said in confusion.

Spencer shrugged. "Well, I hear more from Alison now than when she was alive."

"Spencer, have you heard from Toby at all? Has Emily? A was happy that Toby was out of the picture and that has to mean something."

Spencer shook her head. "I've tried to call but he's not allowed to take my calls. Who do you think is responsible for that one?" she said irritably, figuring his step-sister had concocted that little plan and spun it to her parents that it would help Toby in the long run. In truth, Spencer may be able to help prove his innocence if she could just get a few more answers.

"Well have any of you heard from A? Do you think they're going to back off now that Ali's memorial was trashed? Maybe that's all they really wanted—to humiliate her memory? And if not, maybe they can help us narrow down who Ali's real killer is so we can save Toby—"

"Why are we suddenly trusting A? A made a fake bracelet to mess with us, ran Hanna over with a car, and was the one to frame Toby in the first place!"

The sudden spotting of a familiar dark-skinned beauty halted the conversation.

"Emily. Hey. Where've you been?" Hanna asked.

"And why weren't you at Spencer's last night?" Aria interjected.

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't get out of practice until really late so I just went straight home and crashed." she said, almost a little uneasily, and Spencer had a feeling she was fibbing. "So what did I miss?"

"Well, we studied… They studied and I annoyed them." she corrected with a smirk. "…And Alison's memorial got trashed."

"Yeah, I heard." Emily said grimly.

Aria spotted someone pass by the big window. "What is my mom doing here?"

She got up and exited the library, no doubt to go talk to her.

"Aria hasn't talked to her mom much since she moved out, has she?" Emily said, looking to the other two for confirmation.

Spencer shook her head desolately. "No. It's just been hard on their whole family, getting used to such a change. They don't even know if it's permanent so they're sort of in limbo, not really sure where their loyalties should be. Her dad is the one who stayed home, but he's also the one who cheated in the first place and sent their family spiraling…"

When Aria returned, the woman in charge addressed them all. "The tests will now begin at 10. If this interferes with any plans you made for this afternoon, I suggest you make some calls. If you didn't bring a phone, I am sure this tap-happy gentleman over here would be glad to lend you his."

Spencer noticed amusedly that she was referring to Lucas Gottesman, who Hanna had oddly been getting closer to these days. She wasn't sure how that started, but she remembered being surprised to see them conversing and exchanging a friendly hug at homecoming that time. She made a note to ask Hanna about it later.

She was distracted from the Hanna/Lucas phenomenon when she heard Wilden's voice again. She looked up to see him talking to the lady at the front.

Emily's phone buzzed next to her, but Spencer ignored it, focusing on what Wilden wanted.

"Who would I speak to about getting into the boy's locker room?" he asked quietly.

"I'd have to find a custodian. Do you want to follow me?"

He smiled in that way of his that always seemed to be a smirk. "No, that's all right, I'm going to wait here."

Aria leaned across the table so she could lower her voice. "God, he is freaking me out. Whose locker is he poking into now?"

"He's desperate. Ali's brother is breathing down his neck." Spencer reminded her, remembering how much that had rattled Wilden's cage a few weeks previous. She was sure, even though Jason was working for a short time here, that he wasn't a stranger to calling for updates.

"Yeah, ours too. What if Jason told the police Alison's version of what happened the night of the fire?" Aria asked fearfully.

"If Jason was gonna tell them, he would have a year ago. He knows that story is bogus."

"Then why would he bring it up?" Hanna asked.

"To try to drive a wedge between us. But he's not gonna do that." Spencer said, remembering Jenna trying to do a similar thing.

Jenna was typing on her tiny keyboard when she finally noticed Spencer's presence behind her. She probably picked up on her breathing. Spencer knew that the other senses augment when you lose one. "Hello?"

"It's Spencer."

Spencer could hear her sinister smile rather than see it. "Hello, Spencer."

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course you can."

"It's about the dedication." Spencer said slowly.

"Ali's memorial? You're in charge of that, aren't you?"

She always asked questions as if she already knew the answer. Spencer forgot how much her personality rivaled Alison's.

"I was. Now that Jason's here he's taken over."

"Does Jason look the same? I got the impression he was different. He sounds different."

She didn't miss the pointed auditory conclusion. Jenna was asking just to remind Spencer exactly what they had done to her. She now didn't have eyesight as a way of deducting change in people.

"Yeah, yeah, he is different. He's uh… polished." Spencer decided on, remembering the old Jason DiLaurentis. He used to abuse drugs, alcohol and red solo cups. Nowadays he looked like he was running for mayor and majored in hair gel.

"Polished? You know, when I was talking to him, I got the strangest sensation like Ali was in the room with us." Jenna said, and Spencer knew she was taunting her. Enough of this.

Spencer placed her hand on the table and leaned closer to the other girl. "What are you going to say at the dedication?"

"I was going to speak from my heart."

HA, what heart?

"Jenna, what do you want?" Spencer demanded.

"What I want you can't give me. You and your friends are careless. Like I told Emily, you're careless and you break things and you think you're never going to have to pay for them…"

"We are paying for it, Jenna. We're paying for it every day." Spencer told her seriously. If Jenna thought that it didn't eat them up every single time they saw her blindly slapping her stick in the hallways, she was dead wrong.

"How much? Who's counting?" Jenna asked slowly in her sinister manner.

Spencer knew she was right. Feeling guilt over blinding someone versus being actually blind, it was clear who was suffering more. But it wasn't like that was their only burden to bear.

Spencer was not letting Jenna ruin this one. Yes, what they had done was wrong, but it had happened and they couldn't take it back now. This memorial wasn't where Jenna should seek her revenge. It just… wasn't fair.

"Look. You want some kind of satisfaction, I understand that. But what you can't do, what I won't let you do, is to turn this dedication into a club to beat down on us. Okay, we did love her. And what happened was terrible. She deserves this memorial and so do we and you don't have a right to turn it into something else."

"Alison was done with you. Did you know that?" Jenna asked with a sneer. "We talked about it in the hospital. She told me why. She said she was afraid of you. Is that why one of you did what you did?"

Spencer stepped back in surprise.

Wilden's voice brought her out of the memory.

"Sorry about the memorial. I know how hard you girls worked on it. Shocking though, right? Something like that could happen out in the open and nobody saw anything." he said pointedly.

Spencer was not giving him the satisfaction. They may have been guilty of some things, but this time, they really had no idea what really happened to the memorial. "Well everybody here was probably studying for the exam we're about to take so you might wanna look for eyewitnesses somewhere else." she replied with her usual Hastings sass.

"So you were all studying together last night?" Wilden asked.

It was Emily who answered. "Yes. We were all at Spencer's."

Hanna, Spencer and Aria exchanged looks.

"All of you?" he asked, seeming surprised by this deduction.

Aria jumped in. "Yes. All of us."

"Okay." he said, and with that he walked away.

Emily's phone buzzed again. Apparently she had ignored the last message.

It wasn't like Emily to lie. In fact, she was the most honest one out of the group. So why was she suddenly making up a story about last night?

"Emily, what is going on?" Spencer asked.

Aria's voice was a little gentler. "Where were you last night?"

"I told you. I went home." Em said shortly.

"Then why didn't you tell him that?" Spencer asked slowly.

"What happened to all of us sticking together?" Emily snapped, and then stood up to leave the table.

"Where are you going?" Aria said in surprise.

"To the restroom. But if you don't believe me, we can all try and squeeze into one stall." she replied crankily, and stormed off.

The smallest one looked guilty and unsure. "Should one of us go talk to her?"

Hanna shook her head. "No. She'll talk when she's ready."

The three of them went back to their studying.

"Spence, is this right?" Aria asked, pushing her paper over to her.

Spencer read over her math. "You can simplify a little further, but yes." she replied.

Her phone buzzed and Spencer nearly rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to get any studying done like this.

She picked it up and read the message, her eyes going wide at the words.

Define 'desertion'. Seems like you're about to lose Emily. Who's next? –A

She quickly showed it to the other two and they looked around wildly, wondering what on earth A meant this time. What was Emily hiding?

After checking the bathroom to find Emily NOT there, Spencer figured she needed some time alone. She really hoped Emily would come to her and that they hadn't pushed her away. She hadn't meant to upset her, but she really had no idea what she was going through.

Spencer concentrated on sharpening her pencils a little too much, imagining sticking Wilden's big fat head in there. God she was getting tired of him poking his nose in their lives. He clearly had an idea that they were lying about all being together, but it would be Emily who would be punished the worst… depending on what it is that she did.

She suddenly spotted Alex entering the library and approached him. "Alex, hey."

He looked up from his textbook and smiled. "Oh, hey."

"Are you taking the test in here too?"

"If we ever take it. Only eight kids showed up from my school."

She knew his school was small on average, but it definitely wasn't that small.

Seeing that she finally was alone with him, she figured now was a good time to ask. "Um, listen, I don't know what happened between you and my mom at the club. I know she can be kind of a handful, I mean, I've seen her send back a napkin because it had, like, a loose thread—"

Alex forced the smallest of smiles, and cut her off. "I think I should look at my math stuff. I can't talk about this."

She backed off and looked to the carpet. "Okay."

And then he left, leaving her wondering why on earth everyone in her life was suddenly keeping secrets from her.