When they got to the emergency room, it was just after two-thirty in the morning. Melissa and Hanna helped Spencer get out of the car and into the hospital. As soon as Spencer got checked in, she was shown to a room.
"Get undressed and put this on." A nurse said, handing Spencer a hospital gown.
"Thanks." Spencer said as she took the gown from the woman.
Emily and Melissa helped Spencer to sit down on the bed.
"I'm gonna go call mom and dad." Melissa said. "I'll be right back."
Spencer sat on the bed and pulled her t-shirt off. She then slid her shorts off and let them drop to the floor.
"This, my friends, is why you should always wear underwear." Spencer laughed. "You never know when you might end up in the hospital."
"How can you laugh, right now, Spence?" Aria asked. "You almost died."
"If I don't laugh, I'm gonna cry and I'd prefer not to do the latter." Spencer said as she slipped the gown over her shoulders.
Emily walked over to the bed and gently ran her fingers through Spencer's hair.
"How's your knee?" Emily asked.
"It hurts a lot, but you know you guys can go home and get some sleep. I'll be okay."
"There's no way we're going anywhere, Spence." Hanna said. "We're here for the night."
A few minutes later, Melissa reentered the room.
"When are mom and dad gonna be here?" Spencer asked.
"They're just leaving Philadelphia now, it's gonna be about an hour and a half."
"Are the cops here?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah. But since you're a minor, they can't get in here to talk to you until either mom or dad is here with you. There are some reporters out there too, who want to talk to you, but the hospital's not letting anyone else in here unless mom and dad are here."
"Good. I don't want to talk to anyone, right now."
"It's okay. You don't have to." Melissa said walking over to Spencer and placing her hand on her shoulder.
"Melissa?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay? I'm really sorry..."
"Don't apologize. I should be apologizing to you. He was a bastard. I'm so sorry, if I'd just listened to you, you wouldn't be in here." Melissa said, running her fingers through Spencer's hair.
"It's okay. Even if Ian did kill me, there's no way the police would have believed it was a suicide."
"What do you mean?" Hanna asked.
"Ian was going to shoot me in the left side of the head…I'm right handed, why would anyone shoot themself in the opposite side of the head? And it's highly unlikely that anyone would use their non-dominant hand, the cops definitely would have been suspicious."
"I'm just glad you're all right." Emily said as she sat down on the bed and took Spencer's hand, still trying to fathom everything that had happened.
A few minutes later, a young brunette woman, probably in her mid-twenties in black scrubs entered the room, looking down at a clipboard. When she looked up, she made eye-contact with Spencer.
"Hi Spencer. My name's Holly, I'll be your nurse." She said in a cheerful tone. "I'm gonna check your vital signs, okay?"
"Sure."
Emily started to get up off of the bed to get out of the nurse's way.
"You're okay, hun, you don't have to move." Holly said, pulling a stool up to Spencer's bed and sitting down.
Emily smiled, sat back down and absently ran her fingers over Spencer's shin, as the nurse tightened the blood pressure cuff around Spencer's arm.
"Blood pressure's a little low, but normal." Holly said. "I'll just get your heart rate."
Spencer turned her arm over as Holly gently placed two of her fingers on her wrist.
"You've got a very relaxed pulse, you must be an athlete."
"I am, actually. I play field hockey."
"That's good, hopefully we can get this knee fixed up for you then." Holly smiled and stood up. "The doctor will be in to see you, shortly."
"Thanks." Spencer smiled weakly, as the nurse left the room.
After about twenty more minutes of waiting, a tall middle-aged, dark haired man in a long white coat entered the room. He picked up Spencer's medical chart and walked over to the bed.
"Hi, Spencer. I'm Dr. Parker. How are you doing?"
"I've been better." Spencer said, sarcastically.
The doctor chuckled. "I guess so...let's take a look at that knee."
Spencer straightened her posture in bed as the doctor felt all over her knee.
"There seems to be a lot of inflammation...but I don't feel anything out of place." The doctor said, lifting Spencer's knee upward and feeling underneath it. "Can you try standing up for me?"
Spencer slid off of the bed onto her good leg. She slowly touched her right foot to the ground, tentatively putting some weight on her injured leg. The doctor noticed the instability of the joint and could tell that Spencer was in a lot of pain, by the look on her face.
"It's pretty painful to put weight on your right leg, huh?" He asked.
"Extremely." Spencer replied as she winced in pain.
"Okay. Why don't you go ahead and lay back down." The doctor said, helping Spencer back onto the bed. "I'm going to order an X-ray to make sure nothing is broken. Then, we'll take it from there... someone will be in soon to take you for the test...in the mean time I'll send the nurse in with some pain medication."
"Okay. Thank you."
Spencer found herself finally able to relax once she had received the medication and it had some time to take effect.
"How are you feeling now, Spence?" Aria asked.
"I feel okay. The pain killers are working."
"Can I get you anything?" Hanna asked.
"No. Thanks Hanna, I'm okay."
"You know, you can sleep if you want to, Spence." Emily said.
"It's all right, I'm not tired."
After a while of waiting, someone on the hospital staff, finally came into the room to take Spencer for her X-ray. Although, Spencer was only gone for about fifteen minutes, to Emily it felt like forever. When Spencer was brought back to her room, she was informed that it would probably be at least another hour before her test results were ready. While they waited, Melissa was glad to see that Spencer did fall asleep, by this time it was about four in the morning so even only a little sleep did Spencer a lot of good.
When Spencer woke up, she saw both her mother and father by her bed side.
"M...mom?" Spencer said as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Spencer, honey. Are you okay? Melissa told us everything." Veronica asked as she hugged her daughter.
"Yeah...I'm fine...where's Emily?" Spencer asked sitting up and looking around the room.
"Don't worry. She went with Melissa, Aria and Hanna to get some coffee, they'll be back in a few minutes."
"We're so glad you're all right." Peter said, putting his hand on Spencer's leg. "It's a good think Ian's already dead, otherwise, I'd have killed the bastard myself."
The doctor then came back into the room with the results of Spencer's X-ray. He introduced himself to Spencer's parents and explained that luckily, there were no fractures.
"I'm going to order an MRI to look at her ligaments, as your daughter's knee is still unstable, I worry about a possible tear." The doctor said.
A few minutes after the doctor had left, Melissa, Aria, Emily and Hanna returned.
"Here, Spence, we brought you some coffee." Emily said, setting the cup down on the table beside the bed.
"Thanks, Em."
"Mom, there's a cop outside who wants to talk to you and dad." Melissa said.
Veronica stood up and headed out of the room with her husband, followed closely by Melissa.
"Spence? Did the doctor come back yet?" Emily asked.
"Yeah he just left."
"So...on a scale from one to pretty fucked up, how bad is your leg?" Hanna asked, trying to make light of the situation.
Spencer chuckled. "I don't know yet. I don't have any fractures, but I'm having an MRI to see if I have any torn ligaments."
Spencer was eventually taken for her test and forced to wait yet again for the results. When she was brought back into her room, she found Emily sitting in one of the chairs underneath the TV, fast asleep. Next to Emily, Spencer saw Hanna and Aria squeezed into one chair, also sleeping. They all were awoken by the sound of the door closing behind the nurse who had taken Spencer to her test.
Spencer smiled at her friends. "Seriously guys, why don't you go home and get some sleep." Spencer said. "It's already six a.m."
"We can't leave you..." Hanna said
"You guys have been up all night with me. I'm gonna be fine. I'll let you know when I find out anything."
"You're sure?" Aria asked.
"Yes. It's okay. It's not going to do you guys any good to sit here and wait."
"Okay. I'll call my mom to come get us." Aria said.
As the girls waited for Mrs. Montgomery to arrive, Emily couldn't help but think about the photo that A had sent her last night. Her phone then chimed, as if on cue. She opened her text messages, of course the new message was from an unknown sender. Emily noticed that in addition to herself, this message had been sent to another number. Not surprisingly, the other number was that of Emily's mother. Emily opened the message to see the same photo of her and Spencer, in afterglow, from last night. Underneath the photo was a caption that read, "looks like Emily and Spencer know each other better than you thought!"
Hanna, Aria and Spencer watched as a panicked expression quickly crept across Emily's face.
"Em, what's wrong?" Aria asked.
"A just sent that photo to my mom...I can't believe A was watching us while we..." Emily said, disgustedly. "What am I gonna do, Spence? I'm so screwed."
Emily then looked down at her phone, which was ringing in her lap.
"Who is it?" Spencer asked.
"My mom." Emily said, nervously.
Emily slowly raised the phone to her ear. "He...hello?...at the hospital...no, I'm fine, it's Spencer..." Emily said, standing up and walking toward the door. She stepped outside and continued the conversation. When Emily hung up the phone and walked back into the room with a troubled look on her face.
"She's pretty pissed isn't she?" Spencer said, looking at her girlfriend.
"Yeah...she's on her way here now."
"Good thing I'm already in the hospital." Spencer sighed. "Your mom's probably gonna beat me to bloody pulp for ever having fornicated with her daughter."
"You make it sound like we did something wrong. Do you regret ever having slept with me?" Emily said, disappointment in her voice.
"No, Em, that's not at all what I meant. I'm sorry. Come here."
Spencer moved over on the bed to make room for her girlfriend, Emily sat down next to Spencer.
"Em...listen to me..." Spencer said, staring Emily in the eyes. "There isn't a single time that I've ever regretted making love to you, I'm sorry that I made you feel that way."
Spencer placed her hand gently on Emily's thigh. "I love you more than anything in this entire world and there's nothing that your mom could ever say or do to me that would change the way that I feel about you."
"Do you mean that?" Emily asked, placing her hand on top of Spencer's.
"Of course I do. No matter what happens, I will NEVER stop loving you. I'm always gonna be here for you." Spencer said, pressing her forehead against Emily's.
Spencer watched as a few tears began to form in Emily's eyes.
"Don't cry. Everything will be okay. I promise. Really, I'm not afraid of your mom, you shouldn't be either."
"I love you so much." Emily said, as she put her hand behind Spencer's head and gently kissed her.
As Spencer was too focused on Emily, she had forgotten that Aria and Hanna were still in the room. The only thing that caused her to remember was hearing the sound of Aria's phone ping from across the room.
"Hey, Spence, my mom just texted me, she's in the waiting room." Aria said, standing up. "Come on, Han."
"Do you need anything before we leave?" Hanna asked.
"No, I'm fine, really."
"Walk us out, Em?"
"Sure. I'll be right back, okay, Spence?"
"I'll be here."
"Feel better." Aria said, touching Spencer's hand. "Let us know what you find out."
"Thanks, I will."
Emily and Aria left the room, but Hanna didn't immediately follow.
"Spence, honestly, are you okay?"
"No. I'm not. I'm scared to death, Hanna." Spencer said, frailness in her voice.
"Spencer. Ian's dead, he can't hurt you." Hanna said, placing her hand on the brunette's shoulder.
"It's not Ian that I'm afraid of, it's Emily's mom."
"But you just told Emily that..."
"I know, but I couldn't tell her the truth...I have to be strong for her. One of us has to hold it together."
"Spence..." Hanna leaned down and hugged her friend. "It'll be okay. You and Emily love each other, you'll get through this. It'll all blow over soon enough."
"I hope so..."
When Hanna left the room, she walked with Emily and Aria to the waiting room to meet Mrs. Montgomery.
"How is Spencer?" Ella asked.
"She's okay." Emily said.
"Are you all right Emily?" Ella asked, noticing the worried expression on Emily's face.
"Yeah...it's just that...I..."
"Someone took a photo of Emily and Spencer in bed together, after they had..." Hanna said, interrupting Emily.
"Hanna." Aria said, turning toward the blonde. "Maybe she didn't want my mom to..."
"It's okay, Aria." Emily said, averting her eyes to the floor as her skin reddened. "Who ever took the picture sent it to my mom...she didn't know that Spencer and I have ever...now she's mad and I don't even know what to say to her...like things aren't bad enough already. I feel so guilty worrying about myself after what happened to Spencer last night."
"Emily, honey, it'll be all right, don't worry." Ella said, placing her hand on Emily's shoulder as she noticed Pam Fields walking toward the hospital doors.
Ella walked away from Aria, Emily and Hanna and walked toward the door.
"Pam. Can we talk for a minute?" Ella said, stepping outside and cutting Pam off before she could get through the doors.
"I need to speak to my daughter."
"Pam, I know why you're upset. Emily told me. She's already extremely embarrassed about the whole thing. Don't be with angry with her."
"How am I supposed to feel? I just found out that my seventeen-year-old is sexually active, via a photograph."
"I understand that you're upset, but how would you feel if someone exposed one of your most private moments like that? You'll only make things worse if you storm in there and yell at her. Take some time, let yourself calm down, then have a rational, adult conversation with Emily about the whole situation."
Pam glanced through one of the large windows into the waiting room, noticing the nervous expression on Emily's face.
"Put yourself in her shoes, the poor kid almost lost her girlfriend last night…she's scared and overwhelmed. As parents, we need to be here to support our kids, not judge them. You can yell at Emily all you want, but you'll only end up straining your relationship with your daughter. There isn't anything you can do to change the fact that she and Spencer have already slept together."
"You're right." Pam sighed as she walked into the hospital to talk to her daughter.
"Emily..." Pam said approaching her daughter.
"Mom...I...just...I..."
"How's Spencer, doing?" Pam asked.
Emily was surprised by her mother's change in mood from when she had spoken to her on the phone. "She's okay." Emily said, avoiding eye contact with her mother. "Can I stay here with her, please?"
"For now, but later, I want you home. We have a lot to talk about."
"Okay." Emily said softly, still avoiding her mother's gaze.
After waiting for what seemed like forever, Spencer's doctor finally returned with the results of her MRI.
"The good news is that, you don't seem to have any serious damage done to your cartilage or ligaments." The doctor said. "It looks like you just have a nasty sprain. Since you're young and involved in athletics, I'm recommending that we set up an appointment with a physical therapist. You're also going to be on crutches for at least the next week or so."
Spencer groaned at the fact that she wouldn't be able to walk on her own, even if it was only for a week.
"Go ahead and get dressed, I'll send the nurse in with a knee brace and we'll go ahead and discharge you."
A few minutes later, Spencer's nurse returned with a knee immobilizer and a pair of crutches. The nurse carefully took Spencer's leg and put the brace on for her. Spencer was glad to be going home, but obviously less than thrilled at her current physical situation.
When Spencer got home, Emily spent the rest of the morning and afternoon with her. Emily sat beside her girlfriend, while Spencer talked to numerous police officers as well as news reporters. Late in the afternoon, Emily received a text message from her mother.
"Who is it?" Spencer asked.
"It's my mom...she wants me home."
"I don't want you to go." Spencer said, taking Emily's hand.
"I don't want to leave you. But my mom needs to have 'a talk' with me."
"About us?"
"Yeah." Emily said, standing up.
Emily leaned down and pressed her lips against Spencer's.
"I'll call you later." Emily said, squeezing Spencer's hand.
"Okay."
Emily turned and went out the door. She walked all the way home, dreading the inevitable conversation she was about to have with her mother.