CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

ARIA

The sunlight streaming through the bedroom window roused Aria from the deep slumber she had finally succumbed to at some point that night. Prying her eyes open, she peered tiredly towards the alarm clock resting on the night stand beside the bed and was surprised to see that she had slept until almost 9 am. Having an infant and five year old often prevented her from sleeping past 7 am, she almost always was able to see the sun rise each morning. Sighing in pleasure, she again closed her eyes and pressed further back into the warm, naked body spooning behind her. She could get used to this.

Her slight movements seemed to pull Ezra from his own sleep. Stirring a bit, he let out his own sigh and pressed his face into the nape of her neck. He pressed a few lazy kisses there before running his hand gently up and down the side of her body, attempting to gage how awake she really was. Aria decided to ease his troubles and moved to flip over onto her back. Turning her stare towards him, she smiled sleepily and reached out to smooth some awry hair away from his eyes.

"Morning," she greeted quietly.

"Hey, you," Ezra responded, mirroring her smile. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, hungry again for the connection they'd shared for most of the previous night.

Pushing against him and separating their mouths, Aria moved away with a laugh. "Your morning breath is not very pleasant. No more kissing until you've brushed your teeth."

Ezra instantly pulled her tight up against him again, pressing a series of kisses all over her face with a laugh. "It's that bad, huh?"

Aria giggled and writhed to get away from him but to no avail, he wasn't letting go any time soon.

"How's it now?" He asked, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. Aria shook her head jovially but didn't make to push him away again.

"Now?" Ezra pressed another kiss to the opposite corner of her mouth before trailing a slow, torturous kiss from the edge of her jaw to the underside of her chin. Aria's breath caught in her throat and she was unable to answer so he took that as a green flag and hungrily pressed his mouth once again against hers. His kisses were long and torturous, causing Aria to writhe in pleasure filled agony. She wanted to be with him, like this, forever.

Ezra, seemingly knowing what she was thinking, moved atop her and trailed his mouth down her jaw to her collar bone, sucking gently at the skin he found there. Aria moaned in pleasure and wound her hands into his hair. Just as Aria was about to pull his face back up to hers, the ringing of a cell phone from her nightstand ripped her from their moment.

"Ignore it," Ezra mumbled against her skin, refusing to lift his head. Aria, however, couldn't do that. She knew he wouldn't want her to, anyway, especially if it was who she thought it was.

"Hello?" Aria answered breathily, not checking the caller ID before picking up the call.

"Momma when are youz comin' home?" Noah asked loudly from the other end. Aria had to pull the phone slightly away from her ear at the volume of his voice, he'd yet to understand that you didn't need to yell to be heard across a telephone. Ezra, hearing the boy's voice, instantly pulled his head up and collapsed again at Aria's side. He released a sigh of frustration and ran a hand tiredly through his hair. Aria couldn't help but to giggle. It seemed like even when they were miles away, their children had a way of interrupting them.

"Hi, Baby," Aria greeted. "Ezra and I are coming home tomorrow. I told you that, remember?"

"But I need you home now!" Noah replied. Aria could hear the tears in his voice and it pulled at her heart strings. Spencer started calling for him from somewhere in the background and before Aria had a chance to answer him, the phone was being passed away.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that," Spencer told her apologetically. "He got a hold of my cell and couldn't wait another second to talk with you."

"It's alright," Aria answered. "How is everything back there? Are the kids doing alright? Ezra and I could come back early if you need us to…"

That statement had Ezra sharply turning his head towards her and shooting her a look that said he clearly disagreed with her remark. A mischievous smile then overtook his face and he ducked beneath the blankets, out of sight. His intentions became all too clear, however, when Aria felt his lips return to her collar bone and slowly start to make their way south. Aria's breath started to thicken and her heart picked up its pace.

"It sounds like Ezra has other plans," Spencer laughed from the other end of the phone. "I'm going to hang up before I hear something that'll scar me for life. Say bye to Mommy, Noah!"

"Bye Momma and Daddy, I wuv you!" Noah called from somewhere in the distance.

Ezra popped his head out of the blanket and took the phone from Aria's hand upon hearing his son's voice once again.

"Bye, Buddy. We love you too and we'll see you in a few days," Ezra said, smiling largely into the phone. He didn't give Spencer a chance to continue the conversation before hanging up the phone and tossing it towards a chair on the other side of the room.

Turning back towards Aria, he smiled and framed her face in his hands, leaning down to languidly press his lips to hers. He pulled back after a few seconds, only allowing their lips to separate by a hair. Aria felt like she couldn't breathe due to the level of sexual tension filling the room at that moment.

Ezra sucked in a large amount of air himself as he ran the back of his hand down Aria's cheek. "Now… where were we?"

EZRA

The weekend, in his opinion, had gone by far too quickly. Before they knew it, it was Sunday afternoon and he and Aria were packing up the car, ready to head back home. He couldn't say he was too terribly sad about it, though. He missed Noah and Lily and he knew that Aria did too.

"Do you think we should leave your friend a thank you note or something?" Aria asked as she walked out to where he was putting the last of their things into the trunk of his car. She passed him his jacket he'd left inside and he shoved it on top of their bags before pressing the door down.

"Nah, I'll call him tomorrow," Ezra answered. He reached out and pulled Aria tight up against him before pressing his lips soundly to hers. When he pulled away moments later, she looked at him questioningly.

"What was that for?"

Ezra smiled and just shrugged before turning and opening the passenger side door for her. "I just wanted one last kiss to remember the weekend by."

Aria giggled and rolled her eyes but didn't comment. She climbed into the vehicle and Ezra quickly followed, eager for once to start their drive back.

The urge to return to normality seemed to heighten the moment that the car pulled off of the dirt drive and the tires hit the pavement of the highway leading back home. He had loved the time away with Aria. Hell, he'd been craving it since the moment he first met her. He couldn't wait, however, to see Noah's bright and smiling face or to hear Lily's innocent baby laughter when they got back home.

His thoughts about what awaited them miles away seemed to erase the time that it took to reach Rosewood's outer limits. Before he knew it, they were passing well known businesses and homes. Ezra turned towards the radio to lower the volume and eased up on the gas, slowing the pace of their car to match the lowered city speed limit. He glanced nervously towards Aria before speaking.

"How- how would you feel about making a quick stop before we get home?" Ezra asked tentatively.

"A stop? Where?" Aria responded with confusion.

He licked his lips and again glanced away from the road for a split second to judge her facial features before continuing.

"I've been doing a lot of research over the past couple of days," Ezra started. "And I think I may have come up with a solution to our housing problem."

Aria scrunched her brows but didn't interrupt him so he continued.

"A house," he clarified. "Now you don't have to like it. We can look at others. But… I think it's perfect. I've talked with the realtor and we could move in this summer."

"Ok…" Aria answered hesitantly. He knew this was a big step, so Ezra didn't want to force her into agreeing to anything. "Let's see it."

He snapped his head towards her to see if he'd heard correctly. "Are you sure?"

Aria smiled broadly and reached for his hand. "I'm sure. Let's go."

From where they were to the location of the house was only a short drive. Aria's phone, not long after she'd agreed to take a look at the place, started beeping with text messages, most likely from Noah or Spencer. She was so deeply engrossed in the phone that she didn't even look up until Ezra pushed the car into park in the driveway and cut the ignition. He watched her nervously and wasn't surprised when she finally looked up and sucked in her breath upon recognizing where they were.

"Ezra…" she whispered.

He swallowed once and reached over again to take her hand. "Like I said, you don't have to say yes. We can find another house. I just thought… it might mean something special for Noah to grow up here."

Aria didn't answer, staring unwavering out towards the house she'd grown up in. He knew, from what she'd told him, that her parents had moved from Rosewood to Iceland soon after Mike had passed away. He'd looked up where they'd lived and found that they were subletting the place to a family so he'd taken a chance and called them up.

"How did you…"

"I talked with your parents, explained who I was of course, and told them about the situation," Ezra started. "They want to help any way they can, Aria. I know they haven't been there for you or for Noah since Mike… but they really do want to help. The family who lived here just moved out about a month ago, so it needs some work but-"

Aria didn't give him a chance to finish before she pushed open her door and headed towards the front door. Ezra quickly followed, digging the key he'd been given from the realtor from his pocket to let them in. Aria walked into the home, almost in a trance, and stared around wide eyed at all of the rooms she'd run and played in as a child. She stood still in the entry way long enough for Ezra to wonder if she'd ever start moving. Before he could interrupt her thoughts, however, she was turning for the stairs and climbing to the second floor. Ezra blindly followed along behind her.

Reaching the second floor landing, Aria turned left and entered the first bedroom. She ran her hands along the wallpaper and collected dust off of the window seal as she moved slowly around the space.

"This was my room," she whispered. "My bed, it used to be up against that wall. My dresser was over there and my desk was here."

Ezra watched as she placed the furniture where it had rested around the room in her mind. He could only imagine what the room looked like through her words but it appeared beautiful. After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and again headed into the hallway. Stopping short at the door directly opposite her old bedroom, she rested her hand nervously on the doorknob. He heard her take in another shaky breath before pushing the door open and walking into the room.

"This was Mike's room," Aria told him through a veil of unshed tears. She walked towards the closet and stopped short, reaching out to gently run her fingers over the notches carved into the wood framing the corner of the wall that jutted out there. "My dad did this. This was Mike's growth chart. I have one in my room too."

Ezra stood nervously behind her, unsure of how to gage her reaction. Was she upset that he brought her here? Was she happy? He didn't know. Just as he was about to speak up, Aria let out a quiet hiccup and turned towards him. He could now clearly see the tears running down her face and he didn't waste any time pulling her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, we shouldn't have come here. It was a silly idea," Ezra apologized, running a hand soothingly down her back. Aria shook her head vehemently in protest against his chest before sucking in a shaky breath and pulling away.

"It wasn't silly," she replied. She wiped away her tears as best as she could and looked up at him, reaching out to caress his jaw. "You are an amazing man, Ezra Fitz… a truly amazing man."

Ezra tentatively smiled down at her and reached out to wipe away one last tear as it trickled down her cheek.

"I love you, so, so much right now," Aria continued. She reached up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his mouth. She took one last deep breath when they broke apart before smiley largely back up at him and taking his hand. "I think this place is perfect. You are perfect. Let's call the realtor tomorrow and tell them yes. This is where we'll raise our family."

Ezra smiled back through the haze of happiness suddenly clouding his mind in that moment and crushed her against him to press his lips once again to hers. This was what he had waited for his entire life: someone to love him enough to overlook the skeletons in either of their closets. Someone that wanted to share his life and wasn't afraid to let him share theirs. Happiness isn't perfect and love isn't without pain, he now knew that. Ezra was finally happy and he couldn't wait to start living the rest of their lives… together.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't express my gratitude enough for the constant support I've received throughout this story. Seeing your reviews keeps me writing, it always has. I know I promised you guys an epilogue, and you will get one, but I wanted to express my deep gratitude for you all before I got to that. I think this chapter perfectly summarizes where I was headed with this story and I hope that everyone enjoyed reading it. Again, I'm writing an epilogue but please review on this final chapter! Thank you!