Finding Your Feet:

Carly tried her best to hide back a yawn the following morning, as she leant her back against the desk that was situated in her fathers office and was busy waiting for her report to print out. The same report that was due in today for Tanner to read over and for Carly to hopefully impress her enough, to make her Lieutenant aware that she made the right decision about keeping the younger woman on her team after the past week's incidents.

The yawn that had tried to escape her mouth on several occasions was simply no use this time. She was feeling fairly tired and like she could do with another few hours of sleep. However that was impossible for her to carry out when she had to wake up earlier than usual that morning, so she could go over to her Dad's to print out the report since she didn't have a printer in her apartment and still be in on time for work that started at 9 am sharp.

If she would have gone to bed earlier, she probably would have not been feeling so sleepy and exhausted. The main reason why she had gone to bed a little later than her usual schedule and what she had originally planned was all because of the long two hour video chat she ended up having with Jason.

Throughout the video call the pair had gotten to know more about each other, they got to know more about what they both got up to in the three year gap that they happened to be apart. He told her all about what happened when he took off from college and went travelling which interested her highly as she never would have considered him the adventurous type before. On the other hand, she explained to him all about her college years and the memories she made with the girl's she got close to.

Jason loved seeing how happy she was to reminisce about her time spent at college and the new friends she had made. He was pleased that she had an amazing college experience and did it in a different way to most college students who would go there only to party. Jason could tell that the memories she did make were ones that had helped her become the person she was today, instead of the one that he had remembered from back in the day when she was last in Rosewood.

From his point of view he could still see parts of Carly Monroe that he remembered from that year of when they grew closer. She was still the same girl deep down. Still the same girl he wanted to have around, still the same girl he wanted to keep safe and make happy even by the simplest of things. And whilst she was still the same girl, he still felt those exact same feelings that he did back then.

He hated knowing that there was this barrier in between them right now, that couldn't be destroyed because it could damage either of them in different ways all over again. Jason wasn't sure he was ready to take that chance yet of messing up her life again after the last time and what consequence it had to make her leave town so suddenly, without even a goodbye.

But for Carly, she loved speaking to Jason again and being able to share with him just exactly how she was feeling, as well as tell him all about the past three years of her life. Of course, she missed out all the messy parts of her recovery and only included the positive times that she experienced living in New York. But being able to communicate with him, without anyone telling her not to or stopping her felt so good. She was so happy that for once she was being able to just be her.

She was so grateful that she was getting the chance to be in contact with him, even if it wasn't in person and it was still a long way from getting anywhere to what they use to be. In reality, they probably would never be what they use to be. She had grown up a huge amount. She wasn't seventeen any more and even if she did feel like it when she was talking to Jason, she sure as hell did not act like seventeen year old Carly any more. The new Carly was a lot more mature and aware of her actions. She knew what she was doing, even if it didn't seem like it sometimes.

The sound of her Dad's voice broke her out of her yawning and the thoughts that had been circling in her head whilst she waited for the printing "Hey Kiddo. How's it going in here?" John asked his daughter as he came into his study to check on her.

"It's alright," She answered him with a light smile as the printing finally finished and she went to take the papers out of the machine "Thank you again for letting me use this."

"It's no trouble. I don't mind having my daughter come to visit me in the morning when I have been up all night working. It makes a nice change from just coming home to an empty house and going straight to bed." John said with a slight sadness to his voice.

Carly couldn't help but feel guilty about hearing her Dad say that, when she knew if she didn't go half the things she went through in her past then she would also be living in the house she grew up in with her Dad, instead of living in her own apartment in the centre of town. Carly and her Dad agreed it was best if she had her own space, for a new fresh start, rather than being reminded of her past by living in her old house.

"You know I would come stay a couple day's a week if you wanted me to." Carly suggested as she spun round on her feet to face him and grabbed a paper-clip off the side to join her papers together.

"No it's fine. You don't want to be living with your old Dad at this age. You want to have some independence and your own space." He smiled back at her reassuringly.

"But it does get kind of lonely." She told him with a slight pout on her face.

"Are you still working on Brooke coming to live with you?" John asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"Yes," Carly sighed as she slipped her papers inside a see through folder and placed it into her tote bag "It's still a work in progress. I hate not having any friends my age here. I feel like a loner."

"What about Detective Holbrook or anyone on the force? Haven't you made friends with them?" Her father questioned her with raised eyebrows and Carly couldn't help but roll her eyes at the mention of Detective Holbrook again.

She knew her Dad was implying that if she got closer to Holbrook, there would be the possibility of a relationship between the two and John would be able to finally see his daughter move on from Jason. However John had no idea Carly had already ventured down that road and had decided it was a no go.

"No not really," She answered honestly "Most of them are male. Either twice my age or just out of school and going into the cop training programme. I miss just having a girl best friend. Someone I can talk to about girl stuff, you know?"

"I wouldn't know actually." John laughed as Carly shook her head again with a light laugh under her breath.

Carly was right. She really did miss having a girl best friend in Rosewood. Someone she could talk to about her troubles at work, someone she could trust with her big secrets, someone she could go to about fashion advice or boy advice, someone she could sit in front of the couch and watch movies with whilst stuffing their face with pizza.

She knew that Brooke was still so focused on building her career up in New York and the chances of her coming to Rosewood to live and work were very slim. She just wished that she could do best friend type things with Brooke again. It really was boring not having anyone like Brooke in Rosewood.

There was Melissa. But she was always getting out of town and running away from her problems. Carly still wasn't sure if she could even trust her 100% yet. Melissa also hated Jason with a passion and she could no way in hell tell her about what she had been up to with Jason behind closed doors.

Just like Melissa was unaware of Jason and Carly's slow involvement with one another, John was also out of the know about the times she had met up with Melissa since being back and how they had sort of rekindled their friendship.

Carly wanted John to trust her again. She wanted that so badly. She felt like if she took the first step and told her about Melissa. He would understand just how serious she was about making things right for her this time in town. Maybe he wasn't ready to know about Jason just yet, when Carly herself didn't have any idea where things were headed. But if she was honest with him about Melissa then maybe it would show him that she really had changed.

"Dad..." Carly spoke grabbing his attention and breaking the silence in the room "I was thinking there is something I need to tell you. Something about someone I have actually gotten close to."

"Go on." He pressed his face instantly going serious.

And Carly knew that just by the sudden change of expression on his face that he was expecting the worst from her. He always did these days when it came to her getting closer to other people or letting her make her own choices in life.

It wasn't only his expression that changed. But instead of feeling tired, Carly suddenly felt so nervous opening up to her Dad and she was already fearing the bad reaction that he would portray once he found out his daughter with communicating with someone from her past.

"I don't want you to freak out. Promise me you won't freak out?" Carly begged him with desperate eyes as John shook his head clearly not in the mood for this. He just wanted to know now.

"Just tell me, Carly."

"You have to promise me, Dad."

"I'm not promising you anything Carly," John told her straight as he crossed his arms clearly not in the mood for this delay "Now tell me."

"Fine," Carly huffed as she tucked her hair behind her ear and took a deep breath "I've been talking to Melissa Hastings again. Look I know she was one of the many you told me I had to stay away from. But she only wanted and still does want what's best for me."

"Melissa? Melissa Hastings?" John repeated surprised that Carly would want anything to do with the Hastings family after what had gone on the past few years.

"Yes Dad. Melissa Hastings." Carly confirmed with an eye roll, already knowing where this was headed.

"Why? Tell me why Carly?" John demanded with annoyance about how calm she was about it all.

"Because she is one of the few that really looked out for me back then. She was nothing but good to me. She always made sure I was safe and tried to get me out of trouble. I was friends with her a long time before I got involved with the wrong crowd, Dad. You know I was! Melissa is still someone I feel I can rely on through the hard times. She still cares about me and we want to make our friendship work again. Please Dad. You have to understand that she was one of the good ones. Not the bad. I swear to you." Carly explained to her Dad in a desperate tone.

She wanted him to believe her so bad and she hated how whiny she sounded. But it was so hard to get through to him sometimes because he was so convinced everyone from her past was no good for her. That they had ruined her. But that was far from the truth. She had ruined herself by her behaviour and actions. It was never their fault.

"Carly," John sighed as he shook his head and walked past her to the other side of the study they were in trying to calm his anger "I thought we had a deal."

"We do," Carly assured him as she also took a few steps over to him "that hasn't changed. But you have to let me do what's right for me."

"And that means being friends with Melissa?" John asked unsure he liked his daughters decision.

The Hastings were always caught up in the gossip of the town due to the youngest daughter Spencer being wrapped up in the Alison DiLaurentis kidnapping story and Melissa having experienced the death of two previous ex-boyfriends. John was not sure he liked the idea of his daughter being associated with someone who was heavily involved with the negative press of Rosewood.

"That means having friends I can actually rely on and go to for support who don't live miles away in another state or having to rely on my Dad who is always working. It means putting my trust in an old friend that was always looking out for me and still wants to make something of our friendship," She tried to reason with him and tell him how it really was all whilst he stared at the ground unreadable "Please Dad. Just trust me."

"I do trust you, Carls," John sighed as he brought his head up to look at his daughter "I just don't trust anyone else."

"Well if you only trust me, then trust me on that I am making the right decision."

"How many times have you seen her?" John asked still unsure and wanting to know more.

"Only three or four times, she's been over to the apartment and we've also been out for lunch together." She informed him with a slight smile.

"And do you plan on seeing her any more?"

"To be honest, probably not as she's just gone back to London. The only communication I'll have with her now is by text." Carly replied.

"I see," John nodded as he took a long hard look at his daughter and let out a large sigh "I know you want friends in this town again, Carly. I can imagine being your age and being so alone is hard. I get that. I know you want Brooke to move here and be with you, as well as have me around more. But that's not going to happen right now. So I suppose I'll just have to get use to the idea of you and Melissa being friends again."

"Are you serious?" Carly gasped unsure that she was even hearing her Dad right, as she was pretty sure they were only minutes away from falling into an argument over this but she had no idea he would actually be ok with it.

"Yes," John replied with a light smile "I can see how happy you are knowing you do have friends, friends that actually helped you and want what's best for you."

Carly grinned back at her Dad, shocked and so happy that he was finally allowing her to make her own choices, as well as be able to be friends with who she wanted. It was great that in the end he had reacted well to the news and she could be honest with him. She hated keeping secrets from him, but she just didn't want to ruin her relationship with him by letting him know that she might have broken the 'supposed rules' he had set for her to follow. It was the start of a great change.

"Thank you so much, Dad." Carly wondered over to him and threw her arms around his middle, pulling him into a big embrace which he instantly returned by wrapping his own arms around her body and holding her into him.

After a few moments, the father and daughter pulled away from each other. Carly grinned up at him once more and planted a light kiss on his cheek, before she went over to grab her bag off the desk chair and hooked it over her shoulder.

"I should probably head to work," She told him as she adjusted the strap on her arm "Thank you for understanding and letting me use your printer."

"It's no trouble, Carls," John smiled back at her "I'll let you get going. Have a good day at work."

"Thank you," She returned the smile as she headed to the exit of the study so she could make her way out of the house and make her way to work in her car "I'll text you later tonight. Have a good sleep."

Jumping out her car around twenty minutes later, the butterflies she had try to suppress from when she had first woken up that morning were unfortunately for Carly soon returning. They had slightly gone away when she had been at her Dad's and was busy printing out her report, the report being one of the reasons why she had been feeling nervous, but also because she knew that Tanner would be keeping a close eye on her now after what happened last week.

There was no room for mistakes. There was no room for messing up now. There was no more excuses for her to make to try get Tanner back on her side. This was it now. She knew she had to decided whether or not she was really going to follow through with the rules completely, such as staying away from Melissa and Aria. That also included cutting off ties with Jason which Tanner thankfully had no idea about.

But part of her knew that she wasn't that much of a horrible person to just randomly stop talking to any of them, especially Jason who she had grown closer to within the past few days and had been texting him already that morning, as well as Aria who Carly wanted to try protect at all costs during this case.

She just knew she had to be careful when it came to communicating with the people she cared about. She knew it was taking a massive risk going against the rules and what Tanner wanted from her.

Some could even consider her crazy for even staying in contact with them after how much her job had been put on the line the past few days. For someone who had so much passion and goals to progress in the field of work she was interested in, it was the completely wrong move and was jeopardising everything she had worked hard for since her childhood.

Yet however bizarre it sounded. Carly would risk everything to be with Jason. She would also make sure that Aria was protected at all costs. She couldn't see the innocent girl she once knew so well go down to a crime that she wasn't even guilty of or just got dragged up in. Also she couldn't let Melissa get washed up in the mess also. She owed a lot to Melissa.

Shaking her head at her thoughts, she closed the drivers side door of her car up and adjusted her bag strap on her arm. Locking up her car without dropping the coffee cup she had in her hand, she began to make her way up the front path and steps towards the entrance of the station.

Once she was inside the building, she wondered over to the office that she shared with Holbrook that was currently closed and the lights were off inside, suggesting that Holbrook was yet to arrive or out of the office. She felt like she had hardly seen him recently and knew that she would be seeing him a lot less since she was going to be living her shifts in the station for some time.

Pressing her hand down on handle of the office door, she carefully pushed it open and wondered inside. Thankfully, the lights in the office happened to be censored so once she was most of the way inside the lights switched on and lit up the office.

She laid her bag and her coffee mug down onto the desk in front of her, whilst she pulled off her leather jacket and her eyes flickered up to the clock on the centre of one of the walls. It was just a few minutes until 9 am, when Tanner would be expecting Carly in her office with her finished report.

She quickly hooked her jacket over her chair and placed her bag down onto her seat, before she picked up her coffee and took a large swig out of the substance, then proceed towards the trash can in the room to get rid of the coffee that she knew she wouldn't finish in time and didn't want to leave lying around whilst she was out of the room.

Grabbing her report out of her bag, she slowly began her journey out of the office and towards Tanner's. Her heart was already beginning to pick up speed with every step she took across the marble floor. The faces and figures in the foyer of the station were like a blur to her, as she kept her eyes focused on Tanner's office door and the realisation that this report better impress Tanner or she was pretty sure she would probably end up out for good.

Raising her hand up into her fist, she knocked lightly on the door and grabbed Tanner's attention almost immediately, like Tanner had been waiting for her closely. Seeing Carly stood through the gaps upon the blind through the window on the door, Tanner raised her own hand up and ushered Carly into her office.

Taking a deep breath and pressing her hand down onto the door handle, she gently pushed it open and took a slow step inside the office "Good morning Lieutenant Tanner." She greeted in the best possible cheery tone she could, pushing her nerves aside for the time being and focusing on what was important.

"Good morning Carly." The older woman greeted back in a less cheery tone, due to being exhausted from working on the case into the late hours with very little sleep.

"I finished the report you wanted." Carly informed her as she closed the door behind herself and came towards Tanner's desk more.

"Brilliant," Tanner smiled at her as Carly passed it over across the desk and into the Lieutenant's hand's "I'll have to give it a read later and email you the feedback, since I've got so much to do today for the case."

"Of course," Carly nodded with a light smile "I understand."

"If it is anything like your other work, then I am expecting amazing results from this." Tanner said as she saved the report in the air before she placed it on top of a pile of folders.

Why was Tanner acting so friendly towards her after what happened last week,? When she had been so close to throwing the trainee detective out of the station.

"Let's hope so." Carly laughed lightly and somewhat awkwardly, hoping that she had done enough.

"I got my assistant to leave you a list of jobs to carry out for the day and obviously you'll be on call to help her out whenever needed as we arranged at the end of last week," and there it was, the reminder of what happened Tanner told her "Detective Holbrook is out on assignment again, so it will only be yourself in the office today."

"Ok," Carly nodded before Tanner looked down at a sheet of paper in front of her, like she was completely forgetting that Carly was stood in the room with her "If that's everything then, I guess I'll get to work."

Just as Carly had spun around on her feet and was about to leave the office, so that she could go to her own one and focus on her work for the day, Tanner called her back and made her turn back round to face her boss.

"There is one thing, Miss Monroe." The Lieutenant said with a slight sly tone in her voice which could only worry Carly about what was to come.

"What is it?" She asked with a questionable look on her face as her nerves crept back again.

"Who do you think killed Bethany Young?" Tanner questioned as she glanced up from the paper and back at her trainee detective who could only frown in response to the question in surprise and uncertainty was this some kind of test? "Do you think it was one of the girls? Do you think it was Spencer, Aria, Alison, Hanna or Emily?"

For a few moments, all Carly could do was remain silent. She couldn't believe Tanner was really asking her to answer this question. Of course, she unfortunately knew who actually killed her and she hated the fact that she happened to be in the know. She wished so bad that she didn't know. She wished so bad that these two cases didn't have to be linked. Her whole career could be over if Tanner found out that Carly knew who killed Bethany Young, the same night Alison went missing and Carly had to leave town so abruptly.

However it was like Tanner was testing to see where Carly's loyalty's lied. If they were with the actual case and solving it, or did they lie instead with protecting the girls. It was a test that Carly wasn't even sure she knew the answers to, purely because she was still so unsure about where her own loyalties lied. She wanted to become a successful detective and wanted to impress Tanner so much that she would get qualified quicker, to do her job properly and solve crimes for the sake of the victims. But she still wanted to protect the girls she once new, especially Aria. The balance was so hard. She wouldn't let the girl's go down for a crime they didn't even commit.

"Um, I-i-i think that I can see the connections and why you would suggest the girls being a theory of killing Bethany Young. But from the way I see it and have gathered from the information I've collected from the case, that there is no way that the girl's could have managed to kill a random girl they didn't even know coincidently the same night Alison was kidnapped. It just doesn't make sense to me. They had no idea who this Bethany Young was for starters. They have no motive to kill some girl who escaped Radley. They were just four innocent teenagers in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's how I see it, Lieutenant Tanner."

Tanner gave her a long hard look that was enough to make Carly's throat go tight and dry at. This certainty did have to be some test. She hoped that she had done enough to pass. Honestly she believed that the girls were not capable of murder, there was no way that they could have been and for it to be the same night that Alison had supposedly gone missing, was too much of a coincidence for it to be even true. Even though she had heard Aria and Spencer talking yesterday about some big secret and how it was self-defence, Carly had ignored the idea of them actually having killed someone at all, it certaintly couldn't have been Bethany because Carly already knew who did. Yet it was too easy for Tanner to pin point it on being the five teenagers.

"I'll make a note of that," Tanner said after a while and just as the phone in her office began to ring "Thank you for your time, Miss Monroe. I look forward to reading your report."

"Thank you." Carly replied back, before she made her way out of the office so Tanner could answer her call and Carly could get the hell away from the awkwardness that kept lingering whenever she was around her boss.

She hoped that the awkwardness would soon go away. She hoped the report would be enough to make Tanner see that she had made the right decision by keeping Carly on the force. She hoped that she would even take Carly's opinion on the killer of Bethany in to consideration because she could not see the girl's or Aria go down for a murder. She hoped that Tanner or any of the other cops or detectives never even considered the actual 'killer' a suspect.

She couldn't see her friend go down for committing a crime that happened to be an accident and an act of protection on their part. Carly had to make sure that she was on high alert with anything relating to Bethany Young's murder, as well as making sure that if she was ever asked to tell her opinion again that she was extra careful.

In this circumstance, Carly was pretty sure she knew where her loyalties laid and that was with protecting the people she cared about.

Her shift that day at the station seemed to go by fairly normally. It didn't zoom by yet it didn't drag either. Carly was somewhat thankful for that, as she knew if it had dragged by she would be in a cloud of worries and anxious thoughts that would eat her up, making her appear on edge and nervous for the rest of the day. Instead, she was able to keep busy by completing the tasks that had been set for her that day and helping out on the front of the desk.

When lunch time had come around, Carly had made her way to the Brew for her usual grilled sandwich, some form of cake choice and a nice coffee lunch choice to keep her going for the rest of the day. During her lunch break, she had actually ended up talking to Jason for most of it, who was actually taking his own break for the day after spending the morning showing tenants around properties in Philly.

Things between them since last night, had been more than perfect actually which was quite surprising and a little scary at the same time. Carly couldn't believe how quickly things were moving between them and knew that the reason was because that they had so much history together. They had never ended on bad terms which made it in some ways a hell lot easier to just carry on from where they left off.

Of course, there was still some areas of their 'relationship' that had never been touched on or needed a bit of work on. But they both knew it would take time and that what they had going on now was far from a perfect fairy tale. At the moment, they were just content with talking to each other and acting like things between them were just carrying on from before.

Sometimes when Carly was alone, she wondered what it would have been like if Jason had actually came with her to New York that year. She wondered if they would have moved into an apartment together and had actually started a proper relationship with each other like they had planned. Also she thought about whether things would have actually worked between them and if they would still be together.

She felt kind of stupid for having those thoughts, especially when she was back at college and couldn't help but think back to him and what was happening in Rosewood. They had stopped for a while, when she had tried to start dating again and when she had gotten even more busy with her college work. But it was like as soon as her dating relationships went sour with guys and when she started looking to start building a life back up in Rosewood, her mind would fall back onto Jason and the thoughts that circled him.

It was like a magnet to her. Sometimes it could make her feel comfortable and content. Other times it would make her feel lonely, upset and hurt that she never got the chance to properly try with him. It made her struggle to sleep more than usual. It made her want to hide away from the world. But other times, she wanted to get on the plane to Rosewood and go be there for him, especially when all the Alison stuff began to happen.

But of course, she couldn't go do that. That's why she was so grateful and was not holding back this time for making things work between her and Jason. It felt like this was her last final chance to start over properly with him and actually get to live her life for herself instead of trying to please everybody around her.

They were far away from being the perfect couple or even being together at all. But as long as she got to talk to him on a daily basis and got to share her experiences with him, as well as him sharing his own. She didn't mind if they were still unsure of where things were headed because as long as she knew he was there for her, what else mattered?

It was a huge risk with regards to her career. But so far, she was just having fun and finding her feet again. What was so wrong with that?

Carly left the station later on that day after she had completed all her tasks for the day and she had stayed a little later than planned due to their being so much work to help Tanner's assistant with. She had also got a chance to complete some of the tasks that Holbrook had sent over to her to do, since he was still out of the office and wouldn't be able to get back to complete them in time.

After the long and hard working day, she couldn't wait to get home and just relax for the rest of the evening. It was beneficial to her moods and it would also help clear any anxious thoughts she did have circling around. Also she was pretty sure some Mr DiLaurentis would want to spend the evening talking to her and she couldn't wait to be able to speak to him again properly.

Jumping into her car, she reversed out of her parking spot outside of the station and onto the road, heading back towards her apartment for the rest of the evening. Within only five minutes of her journey home and only a few yards away from turning down towards her street, the sound of her phone ringing and vibrating in her bag alerted her attention.

Her phone was sat beside her bag against the passenger seat of the car, the screen was lighting up with a number that Carly did not recognise nor did she have her in phone book. An instant wave of panic rushed through her veins as the first suspect of who it could have been flashed through her mind.

If this was -A or Alison trying to mess her around her and cause some sort of reaction with her, Carly was sure enough that this time she was ready to speak her mind. She wasn't going to let herself just be walked over and because of the long day she had experienced, she just wanted there to be no threatening messages or anything of the sort sent her way.

Knowing she couldn't leave the phone ringing nor answer it whilst she was driving, she slowly pulled over her car onto the side of the road and leant across it to answer the call, hoping that whoever this was had a pretty good reason to be calling her so randomly and on an unknown number.

"Hello?" She answered somewhat nervous of who it could have been.

"Hi? Is this Carly?" She heard a familiar female voice question down the other end of the phone and Carly raised her eyebrows up in confusion.

"Who is this?" Carly asked not wanting to give away who she was just yet, in case it was A or Alison, maybe even Eric trying to provoke her.

"It's Spencer." The person on the other end told her and it wasn't until she listened again to the voice that she knew that it really was Spencer on the other end of the call.

But how the hell did Spencer know her number and why she was calling so randomly that evening?

"Spencer," Carly said surprised and cleared her throat awkwardly that she had been so nervous "Hi."

"I know this is probably really unexpected and you're probably wondering why I'm contacting you, but I need your help." Spencer informed her with a slight desperation in her tone.

"Sure," Carly answered almost immediately, always happy to help and if she was in trouble even more so, she felt like she had to for Melissa's sake "What's up?"

"Can you come over?" Spencer asked her simply.

"Right now?"

"Please."

Carly's eyes rolled over to the dashboard in her car, her eyes focusing onto the digital clock in the middle of the dash, knowing that she should have really have been going home to eat some dinner, have a shower and chill for the rest of the night before her early morning shift again at work. She didn't know if she really had the time or should have been even going to the rescue after what happened last week. She was already taking a massive risk by being in contact with Jason.

But she couldn't help but want to go help Spencer for whatever reason it was. It was in her nature to want to help people. It was the whole reason why she had considered a job in the law enforcement, purely so she could help out victims and give them justice. She felt like now Melissa was out of town, that she owed it to her friend to look out for Spencer and if Spencer had gone all this effort to ring her up, ask her to come round and seek her help, then all Carly could do was try her best to help out in the situation.

"I'll be there in ten."

The car wheels rolled across the gravel track and the vehicle came to a stop outside the Hastings gates. Turning off the engine, Carly glanced around at the two properties that neighboured one another and what Carly had experienced many memories, inside and out of the two properties, some which were some of the best times of her life and others that she wish she could forget.

On the way over to the Hastings house, Carly's anxiety had began to build due to the ever growing worries in her head. She was freaking out about so much, that she really had to pull it together and sort herself out. Spencer had asked her around for help. It had to be pretty important since she could have gone to any of her friends for her help, yet she choose to the trainee detective to go to out of everyone. For that reason, she had to act strong and like she could actually offer her assistance, because if not she could really embarrass herself.

Also she was having so many negative and panicked thoughts, such as what if this was some trap done by the police or Alison to lure Carly there. What if the cops really wanted to see where her loyalties lied, so made the girl's get involved and was using Spencer being in trouble as a way to get Carly there. On the other hand, what if this was -A or Alison's way of scaring Carly out of Rosewood for good.

She hoped that Spencer wouldn't actually do this to her. Carly considered Spencer a nice girl and she hoped that her impression was actually a good judgement of character. If not, she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to get out of this and was just praying with every fibre in her that it would all work out ok, whatever it was.

Climbing out of her car, she grabbed her phone and shoved her bag down under she seat, before she locked it up and made her way over to the gate to request entrance into the property. After she had buzzed and Spencer had allowed her access, the gates opened up and Carly made her way into the back yard of the Hastings, trying her hardest to push away her feelings and focus on helping out the younger girl, as she had requested her to do so.

Spencer was already waiting for her at the back door entrance, Carly gave her a shy smile as she stepped into the house and made her way through into the kitchen/sitting area of the Hastings house, what had been in not even twenty four hours before, when she had witnessed the Hastings's sisters at each others throats and had to deal with an upset Melissa.

Once Carly was inside the house, Spencer closed the door behind and followed Carly into the kitchen area. Almost immediately, Carly's gaze fell on the envelope on the kitchen island beside a laptop, the envelope that Melissa had in her own per session just last night and Carly could only presume that it what Spencer needed her for.

Spencer joined Carly in the kitchen area of the property, her eyes trailing down to where Carly was looking and it was all Spencer needed to realise that Carly was also in know about what Melissa's big secret was, just by the way she was staring down at the envelope, like it was familiar to her. And of course, it was.

"You're probably wondering why I asked you to come over," Spencer began breaking the silence and both of their gazes off the envelope and onto each other instead "It does have to do with Melissa. She gave me your number, so that I could contact you if I needed to."

Carly nodded now understanding that's how Spencer had ended up with the number. She just hoped the rest of this matter was plain sailing and nothing too dramatic, such as the worst case scenarios she had thought about.

She really did hope that Spencer would be able to cope with all of this and wouldn't make any rash decisions in the heat of the moment.

"She also gave me this." Spencer informed her as she picked up the envelope off the island and opened it up, before she pulled out a cd envelope with a disc inside, that Carly already knew had the tape recording on.

Carly took in an anxious breath, as Spencer held the disc in her hands and stared hard at Carly, like if she did long enough then Carly would break and tell Spencer everything. But it wasn't Carly's place to tell Spencer what was on that recording. The whole point of the tape was so Spencer could watch it and decide what to do with it herself. It was also partly an easy way of Melissa to get out of the situation by not actually verbally saying her big dark secret to her younger sister face to face.

"Do you know what this is?" Spencer asked her even though she clearly already knew the answer to that.

"Yes," Carly answered straight "I do."

"It got sent to me in the mail earlier on today," Spencer explained and Carly already knew what Melissa plan was "And Melissa's just disappeared. Why couldn't she stay here to tell me herself?"

Carly sighed noticing how distressed Spencer was by this and she hated that she happened to be in the middle of all this. To others they might have even thought that Melissa was just leaving Carly with the mess to deal with all by herself, whilst she ran away and tried to pretend whatever happened wasn't real.

"I don't know, Spencer. All I do know is that she wants to tell you the truth and by leaving you that disc is her way of doing that. She's leaving it up to you now to decide whether you're going to watch it and what you're going to do with it. It's in your hands now." Carly tried to explain to her the best possible way she could and also reassure her at the same time that Melissa was being totally honest now.

"But I don't even understand what she did!" Spencer exclaimed with a frustrated sigh.

"That's why you have to watch it," Carly instructed her in a calm manner "You'll understand fully then."

Before Spencer could make a comment back, the sound of Carly's phone ringing and vibrating in her blazer pocket filled the quiet Hastings house. Awkwardly, Carly pulled her phone out and looked down at the caller ID, her eyes widening in horror when she saw it was Jason calling her.

"Uh..." Carly mumbled glancing back up from her phone and over to Spencer "I have to take this outside. This is your chance to finally find out Spencer. Don't waste it."

Not wanting to leave Jason waiting any longer, she headed towards one of the double back door exits of the room they were situated in and went outside to take the call, where she could have some privacy away from Spencer with her phone call with Jason and Spencer could also have the time alone to watch the recording without Carly's watchful eyes.

Carefully she closed the door up and peeped back through the glass, seeing that Spencer had then pulled her laptop over to in front of her and Carly could only presume the teenager was finally going to watch it.

Turning her head back round and wondering down the few steps of decking in the Hastings back yard, Carly pressed the 'answer button' and pulled the phone up to her ear "Hello Jason."

"Hey," He replied back cheery which could only make her break out into a smile almost immediately as per usual "Where are you? You promised me a video chat when you got back from work."

"Oh god," She groaned and ran her spare hand over her face guilty "I am so sorry I completely forgot. I have just been so busy with work, I was up so early this morning and I have got a bit held up somewhere. I really am sorry."

It was true. It had totally slipped her mind. She had got hardly any sleep last night, then had to be up early to go to her Dad's, then she had been working all day and now this thing with Spencer. She had completely forgot and felt so guilty about it all.

"No it's fine," Jason assured her even though she still felt bad about all of this "Just don't stand me up."

"I'll try not to, but only if you can promise me that you can wait" Carly joked as they both broke into laughter "Give me an hour or so, then I'll be there. I've just got to go home, have a shower and some dinner, then I'll be with you."

"Deal. I look forward to it." Jason replied and Carly could just imagine his smile down the other side of the phone. She really couldn't wait to see him already.

"Me too," Carly smirked back, as she peered her head over to the back door, where Spencer was still inside the house and hopefully watching the tape, a reminder of why Carly was at the Hastings in the first place "I have to go. But I'll speak to you later."

"Ok sure," He answered "See you."

"See you later." Carly chimed before she pulled the cell phone away from her ear, pressed the 'end' button on the device and turned round on her feet to go see how Spencer was getting on.

She really hoped that Spencer was going to act strong through all of this. She hoped that she wouldn't run off and do something crazy in the moment. In some ways, Carly was counting on Spencer to think this through and remain calm, instead of acting on an impulse. It wasn't just Melissa who would get in trouble, Carly and Peter would also. She couldn't risk losing her job any more then she already had/was.

Going back over to the door, she pressed her hand down onto the handle and glanced through the glass at Spencer. Gently she opened up the door and stepped back into the home just as Spencer had finished watching the tape Melissa had left her.

Carly found her anxiety levels rising, as she closed the door behind herself and came back over to where Spencer was. She really had no idea how this was going to end up and that's what scared her the most, being in the unknown. All she really knew is that she had to hold it together and stand her ground whatever happened.

Joining Spencer back at the kitchen island, Spencer slowly took the disc out of the drive and closed the lid of the laptop down, just as Carly laid her phone down onto the surface in between the two of them.

Spencer gradually glanced up to look at Carly from her once gaze on the laptop "D-d-id you know about this?" Spencer asked her shakily as Carly swallowed away the large lump in her throat "W-w-here you there that n-n-ight?"

"No..." Carly answered quietly with a shake of her head "I only found out a few months later."

"Why didn't you go to the police?" Spencer was quick to question.

"It wasn't my place to," Carly began truthfully trying to ignore Spencer's watchful eyes on her, like Spencer was just waiting for her to lie or mess up, but Carly was way stronger than that and would never lie about this situation to Spencer because of how serious it happened to be "I was living in New York when she told me and I had to promise I had nothing to do with Rosewood any more. To be honest, I hardly know anything about what happened that night."

"Why don't you tell the police about this now since you're working on the force?"

"Because..." Carly lowered her head and let out a large sigh.

She had no idea how to answer that, because really she had no idea what to do about it all. She didn't want any of the girls to go down for a crime they didn't even commit but she also couldn't see Melissa go down either.

Carly had no idea how much longer she was going to be able to manage being on a case that she was so involved in herself.

"You don't know if you should." Spencer answered for her after a few moments of silence.

"Yes"

"I understand that."

"You do?" Carly asked the younger confused as she brought her head up with a frown.

"Yes," Spencer replied as she held the disc higher in her hands "because what the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

Carly's frown was replaced with a sorrow expression and knew she just had to be honest with her advice, rather than taking sides or forcing her to do something "That's up to you Spencer. It's in your hands now."

"You do know Tanner is pinning this on me and my friends, right?" Spencer said with a slightly frustrated tone in her voice.

"Yes, unfortunately I do." Carly confirmed.

She hated knowing that information.

"And this could clear us." Spencer motioned to the disc more.

"Yes. I know."

"But what do I do?" Spencer grumbled as she dropped the disc down onto the island and ran her fingers over her face in distress.

"I can't tell you what to do, Spencer," Carly sighed as Spencer took her fingers away from her face and glanced at Carly worriedly "But I can try to help. If you go to the police with that recording, then Tanner is going to straight away use it. She is going to send Melissa down while your Dad and I will get in serious trouble for being in the know. But if you don't and you hold onto it, you keep the real killer of Bethany Young from the cops, there is that chance that you and your friends might go down instead. But still, there is that other shot that you guys won't based on evidence, which Tanner has very little of. She knows she's running out of time on this case and is pinning it on the easy targets, which is you guys."

"O-ok," Spencer nodded in understanding of her points, even though she still had no clear idea what she was even going to do with the recording but she had something else on her mind also, something she had been meaning to ask Carly for a couple of weeks now "There's something else I need to know."

"What is it?" Carly pressed thinking it had something to do with Melissa.

"That day at Radley. You told me to tell Alison to stop sending you messages, right?" Spencer waited for Carly to nod for her to continue but all Carly could do was pull a puzzled expression at Spencer, not liking where this conversation was already headed "After speaking with Ali and she declined it was her sending the texts, I decided to talk to Melissa about the messages because I knew you two were friends. But that wasn't the only reason why I was so interested. Are you a hundred percent sure you've been receiving texts from Alison?"

"I don't know.." Carly shrugged as she felt her anxiety levels creep up again at the reminder of the texts she had received the past few weeks "I mean, I thought it was Alison, because of how they were signed from this -A person. I could only presume it was her since we've never been on the best of terms for many reasons. It made sense to me that it was her behind it. You don't sound so sure that you know who it is?"

"No..." Spencer began with a shake of her head trying to understand this more "I was sure it wasn't Alison. But, things have changed recently to make me doubt it. But why would A or Alison, or whoever send you anonymous messages?"

Carly folded her arms over her chest and chewed down on her bottom lip nervously "What has Melissa told you exactly?"

Melissa had promised her that she hadn't said a word but why did Carly always have these doubts her friend was telling the truth?

"About you?" Spencer asked as Carly nodded in anticipation "Nothing. I know nothing."

It was true. Spencer knew hardly anything about Carly or her past. All she knew about the girl was that her and Melissa became close the year Alison went missing. Also she knew that she had a close bond with Aria from babysitting her when she was younger. But she had no recollection of why the girl had so many secrets of her own and why she was so afraid of them coming out. It made no sense to her. It also made her wonder why -A would also go after Carly when she had been nothing but a good girl, hadn't she?

Carly breathed a sigh of relief, she really was hoping that Melissa wouldn't share her secrets just like that and at least Carly knew that the trust between the two friends were somewhat still there. Now she knew that she had at least someone from her past that was still just as loyal to her as she was to them.

"Why are your secrets so bad?" Spencer questioned after a few seconds of silence and wanting to know more "Most people in this town have done some pretty terrible things."

"When you're the girl good girl in this town, you'd be surprised what people would think of you when they suddenly know the real you." Carly told her with a timid smile which left Spencer more confused than she already had been.

Before Spencer could get the chance to push further and work out why -A would target Carly as well, the sound of Carly's cell phone vibrating on the kitchen island broke the eye contact the two shared with each other and their eyes trailed down to the device, where a new message had just popped up on the lock screen.

Carly's eyes widened a little when she saw the message appear on the screen from 'Jason DiLaurentis' and she already knew that there was no way she could hide this from Spencer. She knew how smart Spencer was and how great she was for solving things/ It was way too obvious now that Carly had some sort of connection to Jason and he might have been possibly part of her past.

Quickly taking her phone from the island, she slipped her phone inside her pocket and awkwardly faced Spencer again, with slightly flushed cheeks as Spencer questioned her once again with surprise "You know Jason?"

"Yeah I do," Carly tried her hardest to fight off the smile that was ready to form on her lips at the mention of him, she really had to leave now and be done with this conversation since it was already getting slightly to far into her past for her liking "I should probably get going now, I have to make dinner and get myself sorted."

"Of course, yeah," Spencer nodded understandingly as she tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her to dig deeper into her sister's friend's life "Thank you for coming round and helping me."

"It's absloutely fine," Carly assured her as the two girls made their way towards the back door Carly had entered "I hope you figure out what you're going to do."

"Yeah me too." Spencer slightly smiled as she pulled open the door and Carly stepped out.

Turning on her feet to face Spencer, she returned the smile and spoke up once more "If you need someone to talk to about anything at all, then you can talk to me, as a friend."

"Thanks. See you." Spencer bid her farewell, as Carly did the same and began her journey back to her car.

As Spencer watched Carly walk away from the house and head home, she couldn't help but push the Melissa situation to the back of her mind for one moment, as she thought more about Carly and what her past involved.

It had to be something pretty big for -A to just randomly target her like that. It was strange for this to happen to some random girl who just returned from New York only around a month ago. But maybe she did have some big secret that only -A and a few others knew. That's why -A was using it against Carly to get her out of town for good this time.

If Carly was right with what she said, that -A was Alison, then it made sense as to why she would target her. Carly had already confirmed to her a couple of times that she did not get on with Alison back then for reasons that was unknown to her before. But from what she had gathered tonight, she could only presume it had something to do with her her half brother, Jason.

Was Carly's big secret the fact that she has some sort of history with Jason that hardly anyone knew about?

Author note: I am finally back! Sorry I was a little while longer than intended! But I have been busy writing so I hope that it was worth the wait! Because I was such a while, I thought I would share you with a longer than usual part, so I really hope you enjoyed it.

I've also changed the upload day to Wednesday's. So expect a upload every Wednesday!

For those who are wondering when Jason will be back properly, I will give you a clue, he will officially return in Part 30! A little way to go yet but it will be worth it trust me on that!

I really appreciate all the support, special thanks to RHatch89,LiLuLo12, ColdHeartAngel and karma3825 for the reviews on the last part!

Feel free to drop me a comment letting me know what you thought about this past.

Thanks so much for reading,

guiltypleasurexo