thanks so much for the reviews and follow! really glad that you liked the update. of course now that things have been "settled" someone has to stir things up again...hope you like this!

Turn For the Worst

Things were quiet. And that, more than anything, made Quinn painfully nervous. The girls went to school, like everything was fine. Jason and Quinn went to work and planned their wedding, everything normal there. Quinn's parents were doing ok, Mike was adjusting well given the recent events with Aria. Aria was in Radley and she was never getting out, only allowed visits from family so not even another A could see her. Darren was being transferred to a state prison while he waited for his trial, out of Rosewood for good. Everything was fine.

"Baby," Jason mumbled, turning over that night to find the light on Quinn's side of the bed on. She was up with her knees bent, her tablet resting against her legs as she was sliding her finger up as she was reading something. "Go back to sleep."

"I'm not tired," Quinn mumbled, scanning the article. It was about Darren, how he was going on trial for the murders of 'fellow police officer' Garrett Reynolds and 'classmate's sister' Alison DiLaurentis.

"You're obsessing," Jason observed, his eyes still closed but he knew what she was looking at.

"I am not," Quinn protested, still reading. "I'm just..." She thought of a lie. "Looking at the pictures of the flower arrangements your mom sent me, before lunch tomorrow."

"Mhmm," Jason said as he turned back on to his side to face away from the light. "You're going to have to be a better liar than that when you tell her how much you like them."

"You suck," Quinn told him, closing out of the article. It didn't tell her anything that she didn't know.

It was just like Garrett told Jason, Darren came back to the house that night to pick a fight with Jason when he ran into Alison who started to harass him about Aria. Then, when Garrett figured it out, he killed him too. His gun matched the one that killed Garrett, the blood on his clothes that he gave to Aria was Garrett's. And, he was the one that had Alison's body. Darren was looking at life in prison.

Still unable to sleep, Quinn clicked through the various apps on her tablet. She checked her email and saw that she had a new one from Spencer. Worried at first, she remembered Spencer was going to email her a copy of her college admissions essay to read over and give comments. Other than that, there was nothing. No mysterious messages, texts, emails. No pictures turning up on her doorstep, no phone calls in the middle of the night. Everything was all right, but she was still nervous. After all, things had been quiet for five months before Alison's grave was dug up. At this point, it had only been one month.

"What did you think of the pictures I sent you, from the florist?" Jessica asked Quinn the next day at lunch. She was at the grille with her mother and Jason's mom, talking about things for the wedding. Her mom had been looking into invitations, which Quinn liked a lot. They went with the color scheme of the wedding and they looked nice. Jessica, however, kept picking out things that didn't match out with what Quinn already had planned.

"The roses were really nice," Quinn said politely. "It's just, um..." She didn't want to offend her future mother in law, not that Mrs. DiLaurentis didn't have enough on her plate already with the divorce and burying her daughter for the second time. She seemed to be throwing all her energy into this wedding, trying to take her mind off things.

"The, um," Quinn continued to hesitate. Why did Jessica have to look at her like that, so hopeful and excited to help plan? "I just thought that the lilies looked better...with the blue...in the wedding."

"Oh, of course," Jessica nodded. "I can see what other arrangements they have." She smiled. "Maybe hydrangeas."

"Or, the lilies," Ella told Jessica, knowing her daughter was just being nice. Before Jessica responded, her phone started ringing.

"Oh, excuse me," Jessica said, grabbing her phone and excusing herself from the table.

"I went through the same thing with your grandmother," Ella told Quinn, looking at her menu; Quinn fought off a laugh, smiling at the memory of her father's over bearing mother. "Just need to make sure they know what you want." Quinn nodded, looking at her own menu.

"How's dad?" Quinn asked, not hearing from Byron for a few days, or Mike for that matter.

"He's good," Ella nodded. "Busy at Hollis, they gave him an extra class on Thursday nights."

"Wow," Quinn nodded. "What, um, about Mike?" She hesitated as she asked, knowing Ella was taking him the day before to see Aria.

"He's ok honey," Ella smiled at her. "He's working through it, just like the rest of us."

"Mom," Quinn said, studying her expression. "What's going on?" Ella sighed, setting down her menu.

"It is one hundred percent up to you," Ella assured her right away. "I won't think anything of it if you don't want to."

"Don't want to what?" Quinn asked curiously.

"Aria asked me to send you to see her," Ella sighed. "I told her that it wasn't up to me, but she said she has some things to tell you."

"What kind of things?" Quinn asked in confusion.

"I'm not sure," Ella shook her head. "But, I think...I think that she really is sorry honey, that she's sick."

"I know she's sick," Quinn mumbled, closing her menu, suddenly not hungry anymore.

"It's up to you honey," Ella repeated, resting a hand on her daughter's arm. "Just think about it, all right?"

"You're not actually thinking about it," Spencer accused, like it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. Quinn had gone over to the Hastings' house after school to help Spencer with her paper, the two of them alone in the house. Her parents were gone and Melissa was still staying in the barn with Taylor.

"I don't know," Quinn muttered, handing Spencer her paper. Spencer flipped through it and didn't see a single correction mark. "It's perfect, what did you think it would be?" Quinn asked Spencer as they sat on the couch together.

"Why would you see her?" Spencer prodded.

"Because I'm the only one of us that can get in to see her," Quinn reminded her of the family only rule. "And if she has something to say-"

"It's probably as crazy as she is," Spencer muttered, then looked at Quinn apologetically. "I'm so sorry, I just-"

"No, I know," Quinn nodded, running a hand through her hair. "Trust me, I know it's true. My sister's gone off the deep end." She shook her head. "I can't shake this feeling, that something is going to happen."

"You're paranoid," Spencer said, her voice trying to remain reassuring. "We're all paranoid. We've all been staying together since Darren got arrested." It was true, the three girls had basically been rotating the houses that they all stayed at every night, not wanting to be apart. Sometimes, they even spent the weekend with Quinn and Jason.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Jason asked as they sat in the parking lot of Radley that evening. Not long after she got back from seeing Spencer, Quinn told Jason her plan to go see Aria. He drove her in to the city to see her, not wanting Quinn to make the trip alone.

"You can't," Quinn reminded him. Even if Jason was marrying into the family, he still wasn't family yet. In either case, Aria put him on the list of people she absolutely didn't want to see.

"You don't have to go see her," Jason promised her.

"No," Quinn shook her head, unlocking the door so she could get out. "I do." She kissed Jason quickly before getting out of the car. "I'll be right back." Jason nodded, watching her walk up to the main entrance.

Going inside, she found the building to be freezing, pulling the sleeves of her sweater down over her hands before crossing her arms over herself. Finding the all too familiar nurses' station, she signed in and went back the narrow hall to the room belonging to her sister, the nurse unlocking the door for her.

"Hello Quinn," Aria greeted her, sitting on her bed. She nodded for Quinn to sit in the chair next to the bed and she did.

"What did you want Aria?" Quinn asked her, looking her sister over.

"I just wanted to visit with you," Aria said, sounding a bit offended. She observed Quinn's ring. "I see you're still getting married in a few months."

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, not getting it.

"I know you're mad at me," Aria started to say.

"Mad at you?" Quinn laughed. "Mad at you? Mad doesn't even begin to cover it Aria. I-"

"I know," Aria nodded. "But you need to know the rest of it, what happened that summer with Ali."

"No," Quinn shook her head, standing up quickly. "No, I don't want to hear anymore. I don't want to do this anymore, I can't keep obsessing like this anymore." She glared at her sister. "You're in here because you got obsessed with this, you lost it over this. And I will not end up the same way."

"Quinn-"

"Just leave me alone!" Quinn shouted at her, storming out of the room. She threw her guest tag at the nurses station before running out of the hospital. She couldn't keep doing this, obsessing over the details of that summer or she would end up just like her sister. A was gone and the killer was in jail. And that was all that mattered.

Aria sat on her bed, alone in her room once again. Quinn didn't want to know, didn't want to hear about what happened that summer and what Aria had been working to find out. Quinn was the one she was looking out for, but if she didn't care, why should Aria? Since she had come back, they had started her on a medication to help her sleep. Rather than take them though, Aria had been stocking up on them and keeping them in her pillow case.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened in there?" Jason asked, sitting on the couch with his arm around Quinn's shoulders late that night as they were watching a movie. She had been completely silent on the car ride home and barely said a word once they were at the house.

"I just told her I'm done," Quinn brushed it off. "I'm just tired of all of this Jay, I don't want to be in the middle of it anymore."

"You shouldn't have to be," Jason agreed, pulling her closer and kissing her head. Quinn relaxed, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Quinn didn't get to relax long though as there was someone running up the front steps of the porch, running into the door and making them both jump. There was a rattling at the doorknob before Mike came rushing in, using his own key to get into the house.

"Mike?" Quinn asked in confusion, rushing over to him. Mike was out of breath, having run to her house the entire way from the Montgomery house. He was gasping, his face tear streaked. The door still open, Jason could see Ella and Byron in their car, coming after Mike.

"I'll go talk to them," Jason said, though Quinn was trying to get her brother to focus on her.

"Mike, sweetheart," Quinn said, holding his arms as she tried to get him to look at her, completely distraught. "What's going on, what are you doing here?"

"Th...that doctor came to the house," Mike tried to explain, his voice shaking.

"Wren?" Quinn asked in confusion. She only knew because it wasn't her parents in the car that had raced after Mike, but it was Wren standing in the doorway with Jason. "What's going on?"

"We need to talk," Wren told her gently. "About your sister."

"What?" Quinn snapped, hugging Mike now as he was freaking out. "Did she get out or something?"

"Quinn," Jason said now, getting her to look over at him. "Aria, she..." He wasn't sure what to tell her as she looked at him with raised eye brows, clearly tired of hearing about her sister today. "Earlier tonight, she overdosed." Hearing the word overdose, Mike started freaking out all over, crying into Quinn as she was hugging him; his older sister was gone.

"What?" Quinn managed to whisper.

A few days later, Quinn was at her parents house, numb for days. It wasn't a joke, it wasn't some stunt pulled by A to make them freak out. Aria had actually saved up her sleeping pills so she could over dose on them. Her little sister was gone. And the last thing she said to her was to leave her alone. She just sat on the couch in her black dress, the same one she wore to Alison's funeral, holding hands with Mike.

Her parents were at the door, receiving people as they came in, giving their condolences. Quinn didn't know how they did it, staying so strong through this. Then, looking over at Mike and knowing how she was, she realized why they were doing it. Feeling someone sitting on the arm of the couch next to her, she turned her head and saw Jason.

"Hey," Jason said softly, running a hand over her hair. "How are you holding up?"

"Ok," she nodded quietly. "Thanks Jay."

"The girls are here," Jason told her. Quinn had seen them at the funeral from her seat in the front with her parents, brother, and Jason. The girls sat a few rows back, the three of them together, their eyes sad. Yes, Aria spent years tormenting them. Yes, she had threatened them all at some point and the people they loved. But it wasn't that Aria they mourned, they mourned the loss of their childhood friend that lost her way.

"I can sit with him," Jason said quietly and Quinn nodded, squeezing Mike's hand before letting go. She got up and went into the kitchen, where there were less people gathered around, finding the girls there.

"Hi," Quinn said softly, seeing the three of them.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hi Quinn," Spencer said, hugging her first, then Emily, then Hanna. "How are you?" She shook her head. "God, that was a stupid question. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," Quinn waved them off. "I, um...I'll be ok." She bit her lip. "I think." Her phone that she left on the counter all day started vibrating. "Um," Quinn shook her head quickly, like she was trying to shake this entire thing from her mind. "Can one of you get that? It's probably CeCe...I just wanna go check on Mike again."

"Yeah," Emily nodded and Quinn left, Hanna turning to grab her phone for her. "CeCe?" Hanna shook her head, her mouth opened a little with a gasp. "What is it Hanna?"

"I loved her and you took her from me," Hanna read. "So, now I'm going to take everything from you." She looked at Spencer and Emily. "A."

thanks for reading! :) hope you liked the update, please review! :)