I couldn't wait. I wanted to get this chapter up because it might just be my favorite one. Enjoy! And again, REVIEW!

Spencer drove down the roads of Rosewood late at night all the way down to the high school in the center of town. Apparently, all this time, Alison had been hiding out in the janitors closet in the basement of Rosewood High. The move was so incredibly risky that it was brilliant. Spencer was amazed that she had never figured it out, or at least had never seen her at one point or another. But she guessed that after being in hiding for so long, you get better and better at not being seen.

Aria was in the front seat, nervously wringing her hands, while Hanna and Emily were in the back seat. They had laid out everything that they were going to do before they got in the car, so now they were sitting in an awkward silence as Spencer pulled onto the street where Rosewood High was located.

Emily finally took a deep breath and leaned forward so that her head was right in between the two front seats. "Remember, approach her like a rattle snake. Don't be too quick, unless she jumps you. And if she does, or if anything like that happens, just scream. We'll be positioned near the basement door, and we'll come running. Got it?"

"You guys don't need to come running," Aria said softly. "I'm stronger than I look, and faster! I can take her if I try hard enough, I just need to be able to talk to her and make a compromise-"

"Just say you've got it," Hanna said impatiently. Aria was so stubborn sometimes. Hanna knew she just wanted to protect them, but they wanted to protect her just as much.

Aria sighed and nodded her head. "Yeah, I got it. But..."

"What?" Emily asked curiously.

Aria turned around to look at her. "She's planning on killing you all. I don't think you should be anywhere near her. Mona says she has a gun!"

"We're not leaving you in that building unprotected, Aria!" Hanna said. "She could use that gun on you!"

"Fine," Aria huffed. "Forget I mentioned it."

Hanna reached forward into the front seat and grabbed Aria's hand. "We won't let her hurt you, okay? We'll be fine, and you'll be fine."

Spencer halted to a stop about a block from the school. "Alright, guys. Get out."

Hanna and Emily proceeded to get out of the car, and Aria started to join them, Spencer grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the car. "Not you."

"Spence, c'mon," Aria whined. "We have to go! I don't feel comfortable leaving Hanna and Em alone in that school."

"I'm not worried about them," Spencer said firmly. "They aren't the one who is going to be face to face with the girl who is responsible for our suffering these past two years!"

"We can't just sit around and let her continue with this," Aria said. "This is the only way that we can take her down."

Spencer sighed and leaned back against her seat. "I know, you're right. Just..." she rolled her head over and looked at Aria. "Be careful, okay?"

Aria noticed the worry in Spencer's eyes, and reached over to envelope her best friend in a big, meaningful hug. "I will. I promise."

Spencer hugged back, and then snuck a kiss onto the top of Aria's head before she proceeded to get out of the car. Once Aria was gone, Spencer let the tears fall. She pressed her forehead to the steering wheel and let out several hiccupy sobs as she cried. She didn't want to break down in front of her friends, but she had a terrible feeling about this. She knew that Alison was supposedly not going after Aria on purpose, but what if she changed her mind the minute Aria walked down those steps? It was too much. Spencer was worried sick.

Spencer pulled away from the steering wheel and sat back in her seat, taking deep breaths. She took a minute to compose herself before finally exiting the car and walking into the school building. She was halfway across the parking lot before someone grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the nearest tree.

Spencer tried to scream, but the person placed a hand over her mouth. She realized that her attacker's touch was gentler than it should have been, and she spun around to see a familiar pair of baby blue eyes, under a jet-black hood, staring back at her.

Toby.

"Don't scream, please," he whispered desperately. "If she knows you're here-"

"What are you doing here?!" Spencer said through his hands. The sound was muffled, so he let go.

"I found out more about her plan," he explained, "and I wanted to come back to figure something out. I want to be able to help you guys as much as I can. But you shouldn't be here! How'd you even find out this is where she's stationed?"

"Toby, we've already got it figured out," Spencer said. "Mona told us everything. We're about to ambush her right now!"

"Wait..." Toby's face went even paler than usual. "Ambush her?"

"Yeah..." Spencer clarified, eying him suspiciously. "She's planning on killing all of us to cause Aria to feel so horrible that she'll kill herself. So Aria is going to ambush her to try to reason with her and stop all of this from happening."

"No!" Toby took his palm and slapped it to his face. "That's exactly what she wants!"

"What... What are you talking about?" Spencer whispered, but Toby had his head in his hands and was whispering to himself how he didn't understand how this could be happening. Spencer pulled his hands away. "Toby. Answer me. What is going on?"

Toby looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "She wanted to get Aria alone so that she could kill her. Whatever she told Mona must've been a setup!"

Spencer felt like she was going to throw up. "No... no I have to go stop her."

"Spencer it might be too late-"

"I don't care!" Spencer shouted, but then lowered her voice once she realized where they were. "Aria came after me when she thought it was too late. She saved my life in that fire. And she saved my life when A tried to kill me in that sauna. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her, and I need to do the same for her now. She never gave up on me, and I will never give up on her. I have to go!"

"Spencer wait!"

Spencer spun around and was met immediately by Toby's lips on hers. She was stunned, but after a second she kissed back. She was still incredibly angry with him for betraying her, but she missed kissing him, and she hoped this wouldn't be the last time that they were in this position.

Eventually he pulled away and looked her in her eyes. "Be careful."

"I will," she whispered, and after one more quick peck on the lips she dashed off into the school.

While Spencer was still outside with Toby, Aria tiptoed down the hallway while running her fingers along the metal locks on the lockers for support. It was dark, and she could barely see where she was going. She needed to find her way over to the entrance to the basement as quickly as possible, no matter how impossible the task.

Suddenly, she walked into something hard, and she was so shocked that she stumbled backward and fell on her butt on the floor. She put her hand to her head and moaned in pain, but when she looked up she had even greater of a headache.

Sitting across from her was Ezra.

"Aria? What-"

He was interrupted by her smacking her hand onto his mouth in panic and looking at him with absolute terror in her eyes.

"Ezra! What the fuck are you doing here?!" she whispered.

He widened his soft blue eyes in surprise, and then slowly unraveled her fingers from around his lips. "I came to see Alison," he whispered back.

"Alison?! Have you lost your mind?!"

"Have you?!" he argued. "I know that's why you're here. Don't try to deny it."

Aria sat back in defeat. She knew he was right. But then something occurred to her.

"How did you find out where Alison was?" she asked. "How did you even find out she was alive?"

"Spencer told me everything, and rightly so!" he added upon seeing her angered expression. "I should've known the real reason behind why you broke up with me."

"Ezra, I told you," she said exasperatedly, "it's not right. You're teaching in the district, and you have Malcolm and Maggie and-"

"You can make up excuses all you want, but I know you were just trying to protect me!"

Aria froze, and looked at the man that she still cared so deeply about. He looked so scared, so hurt. She knew he wanted nothing more than to keep her safe, and she was making it incredibly hard for him.

"Ezra," she said softly, "I don't want to see you get hurt. I can handle this myself."

"You think I want to see you get hurt?" he asked compassionately, and then, after looking around him with alertness, he turned back and leaned in closer. "Spencer told me about what Alison is capable of. And she told me about why she's this way..."

Aria lowered her head. "I'd rather not talk about that."

Ezra lifted her head back up so that she was facing him, and placed her face gently in his hands. "I could've helped you through all of this. You know that's what I'm here for."

"I didn't find out about all of the gory details until after we were broken up," she explained. "And besides, you have other responsibilities now. You can't be thinking about me when you should be thinking about your son."

"I can do both," Ezra said earnestly. "Aria, I'll always be here for you. I want nothing more than to be with you. And it'd be a different story if you didn't want the same, but I can see that you do!"

Aria hung her head. "You're right, I do. I never stopped loving you. That was never the issue. But it's too hard. I can't risk you or Malcolm getting hurt because of me."

"It's not going to be easy," Ezra admitted. "It's going to be really hard. But I wanna do it because I wanna be with you. I want to protect you, and if you'll let me, I'll help you stop Alison. I don't know how, but I'll help you. Because I... I love you, Aria. So much."

Aria just stared at him, and then immediately forgot everything else as they both leaned in and kissed as passionately as they could. She forgot that Alison was after her and her friends. She forgot that she was on her way to ambush Alison and put an end to the torture they had received these past two years. She forgot about all of it as she and Ezra sat there in each other's arms, lips touching and sparks flying. He was here, and she loved him with everything she had and everything she was. Once Aria pulled away, she looked up at Ezra and smiled for the first time in days as he pulled her into a hug.

"I've missed you," she whispered as he rubbed circles along her back, and she felt the tears threaten to spill from her eyes.

He pulled back and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "Not nearly as much as I've missed you."

Suddenly, a gunshot was heard. Aria and Ezra jumped, but after examining themselves, they realized that none of them were hurt.

Aria scrambled to her feet. "Ezra, you need to get out of here!"

"Aria I'm not leaving you."

"Yes you are!" she said forcefully. "You don't understand. Alison is planning on killing everyone I care about. You need to get out of here!"

Before he could protest, Aria dashed down the hall. He was about to go after her when he heard Spencer calling his name.

He turned around to see her running down the hall toward him. "Spencer?"

"Where's Aria?" she asked urgently. "Where did she go?"

"She just ran off," he said with fright evident in his voice. "I tried to stop her, but-"

"Ezra, it's a trap! Alison just wanted to get Aria by herself. She's going to hurt her!"

"No," he whispered, his blood chilling, and just as he whispered it, both he and Spencer heard a blood-curdling scream at the other end of the hall.

Also, little game for you guys: somewhere in this chapter, I've hidden a quote from The Notebook. See if you can find it! Hint: it's a quote from Noah, so chances are it's gonna be from one of the male characters in this story ;) thanks for reading, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!