Ashley Marin woke up to a silent house. She groggily made her way out of bed and to the kitchen and started to make a pot of coffee. Once it was ready she poured herself a cup. She then headed up the stairs and got dressed in a simple blouse and a pair of trousers. She put on a pair of black shoes and grabbed her purse and car keys and headed out of her house. Once she was outside she noticed Tom was making his way to the front door, his phone in his hand.

-"I was just about to call you. I spoke to Caleb. He and Hanna have arrived safely to California. He told her the truth and Hanna was not pleased to hear it. Are you going somewhere? Do you need a ride?"

-"I was on my way to Veronica's house. I wanted to talk to her and set a course of action to protect Hanna and Spencer." Tom nodded his head and led Ashley to his car. He opened the door silently for her and then he went to the driver's side and got in.

-"How are you holding up, Ash?" He gave his ex-wife a glance before starting the car and driving away from the house. Ashley set her head against the car seat and stared ahead at the road.

-"I'm mad as hell. When I get my hands on whoever is behind the torture my child has been going through these past few months I'm gonna skin that person alive. I'm also concerned about Hanna. The girls took a great risk telling us the truth."

-"I contacted one of my private investigator companies late last night. I told them that Hanna has a stalker and asked them to try and figure who that person is. I'm with you on this one. Once we learn who the culprit is I'm going to make him or her pay for hurting my baby girl." Tom's hand tightened on the steering wheel as he parked the car in front of the Hastings house.

The pair made their way to the front door and Ashley knocked on it. A disheveled Peter opened the door. He silently let them, closed the door, and then invited them over to the kitchen table. Veronica was there going through some files. She raised her head and smiled weakly at them.

-"We've been trying to come up with a way to protect our girls from the explosion that would follow once the rest of the girls figure out that we've been told the truth. I would have suggested telling the police the truth about this mess, but given how they have handled things so far, I'm not so sure that's a good idea." Veronica gave a frustrated sigh. Peter rubbed his head and stared at his estranged wife.

-"I think that, for now, the best way to deal with everything is to go on pretending we don't know what's going on. That way we can all just try to learn more about this current situation and actually gather proof that our children are innocent." Ashley tapped with her fingers on the table. She stared out the window towards the DiLaurentis family's backyard.

-"Are you sure that's a good idea? You look ready to kill someone right now. And pretending nothing is going on will be hard on all of us." Tom looked at her as Peter grabbed another cup of coffee.

-"Actually I think Ashley and Veronica are right. I'm not pleased about the way things are going either, but I'll be damned if anyone thinks I'm going to let that girl and her family destroy my own. I don't want the girls to pay for someone else's mistakes."

-"Then I guess we're all in agreement about what to do next. We gather information and we keep this a secret for now, which means nobody confronts Allison about any of this. And if anyone asks why we are suddenly having these meetings, we can just say Ashley and I have been trying to help you sort things out with your marriage since it's quite obvious that you two have been having problems. No one will expect anything if we stick to that story." .

Peter and Veronica exchanged a look, clearly debating how reliable such an excuse really was. Ashley then cleared her throat raising herself up from her seat at the table.

-" I really wish we could talk some more about this, but I need to get to work and Tom is my ride so we'll be on our way now. But we'll keep in touch about this, ok?" The Marins then made their way outside the house escorted by Veronica. She waited until their car left the driveway before she closed the door.

-"Peter, I really think you need to discuss things over with Jason. He might be able to help us. I know neither of us treated him fairly so far, but he really seems to care about Spencer. He might also be needing your help as well so just this once don't walk out on him, ok?"

Peter nodded his head in approval before heading up the stairs and into the guest bedroom. He got dressed and ready for work, heading to his office, while Veronica told him she would work from home that day.

-"Ashley will you be alright? You still seem pretty shaken up about this." Tom had parked his car outside of Ashley's office and turned his head to her. She closed her eyes for a moment and then turned her head to face him.

-"I'll be fine. I have to be.There's too much at stake for me to not get this done right. Have you told Isobel about what's going on? She won't take it easy knowing that Hanna's got herself into trouble."

-"I didn't tell her anything actually. I'm not taking chances with Hanna's life. If... When the truth comes out I'll deal with it then. I'll deal with Isobel's reactions then. You did a great job raising Hanna. In hindsight I should've told her more often how proud I am to be her father."

-"We both did a great job, Tom. Hanna takes a lot from you as well. Her ambition to never give up and her desire to protect her friends and family, the way she tries to help those in need, those are traits she learned from you." Ashley gave him a small smile before grabbing her purse and opening her car door.

-"Ashley? Do you think that if it had been us going through the same situation as Hanna that we would've stayed together? I sometimes feel like we failed a lot more than just our marriage. I feel we let Hanna down as well."

-"I don't know how to answer that question. Maybe yes or maybe no. That's why I admire the young woman our daughter is today. She took what's best from us both and she moved on to creating her own life. I'll see you around."

Ashley got out of the car and closed the door, walking to her office's entrance while Tom's eyes followed her until she entered the building. He then started the car and drove to his own office, his mind being plagued by all the unanswered questions he had about the young woman his baby girl was. About everything she went through in the past couple of months.

As he stepped inside his office, Tom admitted to himself that one of the main reasons why Hanna had managed to go through it all was probably Caleb's presence in her life. That boy really brought out the best in his daughter. Sighing Tom took a seat at his desk, getting ready for another day full of paperwork.