Oh man. It's been FOREVER since I posted. But WOHOOO! Another installment! AND time for another game of "spot the reference from the show." This one is a little bit harder. I'm sorry I've been so bad about updating; school is really killing me. But I hope you enjoy! And leave me a comment if you got the reference.
Spencer didn't look up when she heard the tell-tale creak of an old wheel chair approaching from down the hall; she kept her face buried in her hands. "Spence?" a soft, familiar voice whispered carefully. "You okay?" But Spencer said nothing, the shame on her shoulders to heavy to shake loose. She only moved when she felt a tiny, frail hand press lightly on her shoulder.
"I'm okay," Spencer said, unearthing her face to look at Aria. "Why are you in the chair?"
"They won't discharge anyone unless they leave in the chair," Aria explained. "And truth be told, I'm not standing up too well. That, and the fact that I haven't been awake for more than a half hour at a time since the surgery."
"Yeah, whenever I visit you, you seem to be-"
"You've been visiting me?"
Spencer looked at her quizically. "Almost every day. You don't remember?"
"Spencer, they had me on so many drugs that I couldn't remember my own name." There was an awkward pause in the conversation as a gurney rolled by, and neither girl said anything for a moment. Finally, Aria placed a hand on Spencer's knee and said, "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Spencer shook her head as she furiously wiped tears away. "What's there to talk about? I almost killed her."
Aria sighed and looked into the window of Hanna's ICU room. Hanna was sleeping soundly on her hospital bed, Ashley Marin by her side. "Hey, she'll be okay," said Aria gently. "Hanna's a fighter."
Spencer bit her lip, trying not to cry even harder. "It's my fault," she whispered. "Aria, I told her about. . . " Spencer trailed off and simply put a hand on her stomach. "I knew that I shouldn't, A told me I shouldn't. But I did, and. . . then this happened."
Aria sighed again, trying to think of the right thing to say. "I know you didn't mean for this to happen. So does she. It's not your fault that this happened."
Spencer shook her head slowly. "No, it is. It's my fault because-"
"What. The. FUCK?" a voice exclaimed from behind the girls. Both quickly turned their heads around quickly to see an extremely distraught Ezra barreling towards them.
"Ezra?" they both exclaimed at once. Spencer hadn't spoken to him since before Aria had been admitted. Wren assured had that Ezra visited her every day, and she was too embarrassed to talk about Aria with him. So, she avoided him entirely.
Ezra stopped when he was just a feet from the girls, his hands shaking while tightly clenched in fists. He didn't take his eyes off Aria. "I don't hear from you for weeks," he spat out, still staring at Aria in her wheel chair. "I text you, you don't respond. I call you, you don't respond. I go to Spencer's house to find you and its EMPTY. You don't show up to school; you aren't around town. You're just fucking GONE."
"Ezra-" Aria squeaked, but he cut her off.
"And THEN, today I an anonymous text that you are being released from the hospital after you were SHOT!" he cried, he voice cracking on the last few words.
"An anonymous text?" whispered Spencer, unable to breath. Did A really text Ezra?
Ezra's head finally jerked away from staring at Aria and he stepped towards was towering over her and shaking with anger as he approached her. "Why didn't you call me?" he growled.
"I- I thought you knew."
"REALLY?" he exploded. "Because I haven't been here ONCE, and you haven't talked to me in weeks. How could you keep this from me?"
"It wasn't intentional," Spencer whimpered, trying to catch Aria's eyes, but she was too busy staring fearfully at Ezra. Spencer had NEVER seen Ezra so furious, so scared. She had kept him from the one he loved, and she hated herself for it. "I wasn't trying to keep her from you."
"Like hell you weren't!" With that, he stepped over to Aria and picked her up from the wheel chair. She was so small and tight that he could scoop her up in his arms easily. Aria wasn't able to protest; she just clung to his body in fear and confusion.
"How could you keep us apart?" he whispered, turning to Spencer. "I love her." With that, he angrily paced down the hall, still holding Aria in his arms.
Spencer collapsed back down onto her chair, her mind spinning. What the hell just happened? How can Ezra PHYSICALLY separate the two of them? Spencer cared way too much about Aria to stay away.
Aria was being taken away from her. Hanna was in the hospital. Emily hated her. I've lost almost everyone that I care about, she realized. All of them.
Well, almost. I still have Wren. . . or do I?
Spencer's heart sped u. How could Ezra not have known about Aria being hurt? She thought Ezra had been visiting Aria since day one! Wren had told her so!
Wren. . .
It couldn't be.
He lied to her about Ezra visiting Aria.
He lied to her about him and Toby fighting over Ali.
Wren was a liar.
It became clear to her in those moments: Wren was up to no good.
"Spencer!" a worried, familiar voice exclaimed from down the hall. "Is Hanna okay?"
"Wren?" Spencer choked out. She watched him barreling towards her, sweat forming on his brow. A wave of dread filled her creeping up from her toes through her spine. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here, dammit!" He ran over to Spencer and yanked her to her feet by the wrists. "Now tell me that she's okay! Did Toby hurt her?"
Toby? Why would he think that Toby did it? Spencer was shocked by his roughness. "Sh-she's fine," gasped Spencer, gesturing to Hanna sleeping the ICU room. "Wren, calm down." Spencer tried to yank her wrists away from Wren, but he was holding her to tight.
"How can you say she's fine!" cried Wren. "WHAT HAPPENED?"
"Wren," exclaimed Spencer. "Let go. You're hurting me." His grip kept getting tighter, and Spencer felt like she was going to snap. But he didn't let go; he just kept squeezing "Ah, ah, ow, owwwwww- WREN! Let GO of me! Let GO!"
"Where's your pal Toby?" Wren growled. Spencer's heart race shot up ten fold as she saw the furious look in Wren's eye. She had no idea what he was thinking at that moment, only that it was murderous.
She could feel her heart speed up us Wren squeezed her even tighter. She went into fight or flight mode, and she knew the answer was flight. But she just couldn't get free. "Get AWAY from me!" she sobbed, her entire body shaking, writhing in pain and fear.
But suddenly, she saw a flash when a flying fist pounded into Wren's face. He released Spencer's wrists, collapsed to the ground while moaning as he pressed his hands to his face, and went sprawling. Spencer immediately jumped back and pressed her wrists into her belly protectively. She turned to her savior, and her heart melted when she fell into his familiar arms. Nothing had ever felt so right.
"Toby," she whimpered. "Toby."
"Shhh, it's okay," he whispered, wrapping his strong biceps around her back. "You're okay; I've got you."
"You idiot," Wren howled from the floor. "I wasn't attacking her."
Toby wrapped his arms even more tightly around Spencer's body. "Like fucking hell you weren't!" he growled. He started to lead Spencer away from Wren, but Wren sprang up from the ground.
"Spencer, don't touch him-!" Wren started to say, but he was interrupted.
"NO!" cried Spencer. She burst free from Toby's arms and swallowed. "Wren, we're over!" A wave of shock glazed over Wren's face, but Spencer didn't stick around to see it. She slipped her hand into Toby's and started to run, run as fast as she could, run away from Wren.
And when they stopped running, Spencer collapsed into his arms again, knowing everything was just as it she be. She had chosen Toby, the boy she loved, the boy she knew she had to be with. He may or may not be her baby's father, but she knew he was the right choice. She loved him, she knew it, and he loved her with all his heart. When she leaned into his strong, strong chest, everything felt right.
But she was wrong. She may have chosen the right boy, but everything was still wrong, wrong, wrong in the world. She had no idea that the minute she stopped running and fell into Toby's arms, Wren was dialing his phone, angrily punching in the numbers.
"I was expecting your call," a familiar female voice hissed from the other side. Wren could almost picture her twirling her long, dark hair mindlessly as she picked up her phone.
"Were you?" mumbled Wren. "It's over between me and her. I'm in."
"What do you mean by 'in?'"
"You know what I mean, bitch. On the plan. I'm in on the plan. We are going to make her pay."
"You mean Spencer."
"Spencer Hastings is dead to me," growled Wren. "And very soon, she WILL be dead."