Accidental Punch:

After grabbing her order from the barrister at the counter of the Brew, she wondered over to the back couch and took a seat down on it. Carefully, she laid her latte and usual grilled cheese sandwich down onto the coffee table in front of her, before she slid her bag off her arm and placed it down beside her on the couch.

A light sigh escaped her lips as she found herself checking her phone again. Still there was no messages. Not from anyone. Not from Jason. She hadn't heard from him since she started her shift earlier on that morning. She presumed he was working and it was understandable that if he was busy he wouldn't be able to get to his phone. But she just wanted to be able to talk to him to just calm the nerves she felt in her stomach about what she had found out earlier.

He relaxed her and made he feel safe, even if it was only through her cell phone screen on a call or text, or on her laptop screen talking on video chat. When she was talking to him, all of her troubles and problems just subsided for the time, she was able to focus on the moment instead of worrying about the future.

And then there was Spencer. She still hadn't heard back from the teenager. She had left her another two voice mails and a few texts but there was still nothing from her. Carly began to dread that the worst had already happened but she doubted it since Holbrook had been given such a wide time gap. Maybe there was still a chance she wouldn't be arrested after all?

Trying to push her nerves to the side, she began to tuck into her lunch and people watched like she normally did. When she had finished the last mouthful of her sandwich, she grabbed her phone again and was disappointed to see no messages, calls or voice mails from no-one.

Where the hell was Spencer?

Clicking on her call list, she clicked on Spencer again and dialled her number, just hoping that this time she would pick up and Carly could warn her about what was going to happen. It was totally contradicting everything she had promised herself not to do but she had to look out for Melissa and looking out for Melissa also meant protecting Spencer for her. It was crazy but when it is about the people you care about, sometimes you would do anything to help or even save them.

When the dialling finished, there was a short silence on the other end, a spark of relief washed over her when she realised that Spencer might have actually picked up her calls this time. However, her luck was cut short when the sound of the phone company playing the automatic voice mail message filled her ear drum and another frustrated sigh escaped her all over again.

Groaning quietly to herself, she tossed her phone down on the couch beside her and ran her fingers over her face in annoyance. She couldn't believe how stressful all of this was and she was only a recently new trainee. What was she going to be like in a high authority?

But her doubts about her career were all because she was assigned to the Alison DiLaurentis case. She believed if she had been involved with another case, then she wouldn't have had this problem. She wouldn't be stuck in the middle of everything and figuring out whether she was more willing to break the rules of the station or break the trust of the ones she cared about?

It was a constant battle and a dilemma for her. Every day was getting harder. But also everyday was also a learning curve. It was also teaching her a lot about the new town that she had left for three years, the people she had once known and trying to get to know the new them, as well as learning just how the police department worked, the successes they made and improvements they needed to make.

A famaliar beeping and vibrating pulled her out of her thoughts, releasing that it was in fact her cell phone now ringing and her opportunity to speak to Spencer was actually now happening.

Quickly picking it up without even bothering to look at the caller ID, she greeted the person on the other end of the line "Hello?"

"Hey Carls!" She heard her Dad greet back in a cheery tone.

"Dad?" Carly asked in surprise that it was him to have been the one to call her.

It wasn't that she was disappointed. She loved her Dad and catching up with him. She wished she could have spent more time with him but with his crazy schedule, it was hard to do that. But she had been so optimistic it was Spencer calling her.

"Hey kiddo," John replied back totally unaware of her confusion "How have you been?"

"I've been good," She told him with a small smile "What about you?"

"I've been ok too," He answered "I haven't heard from you since the other morning. How was the report? Did Tanner like it?"

"I'm yet to receive any feedback. Everything is kind of crazy down at the station." She informed him as he sighed.

"Ah that's not good! I bet you've been working hard then." He chuckled unaware what Carly had really been doing.

"Oh yeah." She joined in the laughter even though it was a lot more forced than planned.

She hadn't told her Dad about her knock back and the trouble she had got in last week. Carly knew if she did, he wouldn't exactly be pleased with her in the slightest and would force her to lock herself away from the world. It was something she didn't plan on bringing up any time soon and hoped it was going to stay that way. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"So I was thinking, what are you doing tomorrow night?" John moved on from the work conversation quickly and onto the real reason he had called his daughter.

"Tomorrow night?" Carly asked confused.

Why was her Dad asking her what she was doing on a week day night?

"Yeah? It's Thanksgiving."

"Oh Thanksgiving! It totally slipped my mind," She laughed "Nothing! I am doing nothing."

"Well I would like to invite you round for dinner at my place." John informed her.

"Won't you be working?" She asked confused.

Her Dad always worked nights. He was a doctor in the ER department. He hardly ever had evenings free.

"Not this year," He told her and she could just picture the smug look on his face "I managed to wing my boss and get the time off. Told him my daughter was back for the first time in years and I wanted to spend the time with her."

"That's great! Of course I'll be there. I'm not working tomorrow, so I can come round whenever." Carly grinned even though he couldn't see her, but she was pretty pleased right then.

She was finally getting the chance to spend some proper time with him.

"I'll call you in the morning or text you sometime tomorrow. Sorry to cut the conversation short. But I need to get ready for my shift. I'm starting earlier today and not working as late so I can be more awake for you tomorrow."

"Ok, Dad. I can't wait to see you."

"I can't wait to see you either, Carls," He told her in a warm tone "Have a good rest of the day. I love you."

"Love you too, Dad."


Meanwhile, while the trainee detective was busy eating her lunch, drinking her latte and making plans with her Dad. Detective Holbrook was on his way to the DiLaurentis house. Within fifteen minutes, the detective pulled up outside the property and jumped out of his car.

He glanced up at the house, as he closed his car door and began to make his way up to the front porch of the house. Once he reached the front door, he knocked lightly on the wood and took a step back from it, hoping that Alison would be inside.

Within a few seconds, the door opened up to reveal Alison behind it, a confused and surprised look on her face to see him stood there, after what happened yesterday she hoped it would have been the last she saw of the detective for a while.

"Alison, may I come in?" Detective Holbrook asked with a hopeful tone in his voice. He really had to speak to the girl, not only about the case, but something important also.

"Does my Dad need to be here for you to talk to me?" Alison questioned unsure about all of this.

"No. It's no integration. I've just come with some news." He told her leaving out the other part of his reasoning's.

"Ok. I guess you can come in then." She answered as she stepped away from the door and allowed him entrance inside.

Once they were inside, Alison walked behind him, his body and eyes stopping to look at the piano what sat in the front room.

"Do you play?" He asked her referring to the musical object in the room.

"Sorry?" Alison asked him confused at what he meant and came to stand in front of him.

"The Piano." He told her nodding over to it.

"Oh," She paused before continuing to answer his question "Um I loved it as a kid, but I lost interest. I can't remember why."

"I see. Look I shouldn't be here without Lieutenant Tanner, but I just wanted to tell you this in person. But before I get on to that, there was something else I came here for." Holbrook explained to her with a sly look on his face.

"What is it?" Alison asked confused as to what he wanted.

"Tanner has this theory that you and Carly Monroe know each other. So I want to know, if you do know anything about her?" He questioned her before he waited to watch her reaction and see if his and Tanner's theories were true.

"She used to have a thing with my brother." Alison answered honestly, as she crossed her arms over her chest, a malicious smile grew on her lips at the reminder of the girl who had just recently got back from town pretending to be the good girl all over again.

In Alison's eyes it was really a sight to see. Carly had every fooled that she was some good girl who always behaved. But Alison knew the real her. She saw her as the girl who ruined her brother's relationship with one of her best friends. Then had to witness him drink and smoke his life away the night she suddenly left.

On the other hand, in Holbrook's eyes. He had been hoping that the text he saw yesterday was not what he had assumed it to be. He hoped that it was just them talking casually or he had read the wrong name. But now Alison was confirming the relationship his trainee had with her brother, it was all starting to make real sense to him that the younger woman was hiding something from him and the team.

"Was she around that summer?" Holbrook wanted to know more about Carly's past "The one when you went missing?"

The bitter smile grew more on Alison's face, knowing that the detective was now going to learn the truth about his trainee's past, giving Carly what she truly deserved "Let's just say she got real messed up."


Carly came back from her office doors around half an hour since she left them, her coffee cup from the Brew still tightly in her hand and her mood was still on edge due to the recent events.

She had no idea what to do about the whole Spencer thing and she was unsure if she even wanted to contact Melissa to notify her when Carly was supposed to be looking out for her little sister as promised. But here she was freaking out about her getting arrested and Carly having no power over it at all.

Laying her bag down onto the table, she noticed a bright yellow sticky note attached to the top of her laptop lid, signalling a new set of tasks had been brought to her and that is what she needed to get on with for the rest of the day.

Thank god, she wasn't going to be just sitting around and waiting for Holbrook to come back to give her updates, otherwise her mind would have certainly being going in to overdrive about Spencer. At least this way she had at least some distraction from it all.

Taking a large sip out of the rest of her coffee, she went over to the trash can and tossed the cup inside, before she came back over to her desk and laid her bag down away onto the table, so she could get stuck into her work and also start processing her thoughts elsewhere, other than Spencer being arrested any time soon.

Quickly she read over the sticky note again about what work she had to do, before she wondered over to the filing cabinet in the far side of the room to retrieve some files, to go over a few documents and photocopy them for other usage by other cops on the force.

Just as she had fished out the paperwork from the files, the sound of foot steps and a light tap at the door, broke her attention away from the documents and onto the person who had now entered the room.

"Good afternoon Carly." Lieutenant Tanner greeted the young woman, as Carly looked over at her in the entrance of her office.

What the hell was Tanner doing here? Was she in trouble for something?

"Good afternoon Lieutenant Tanner," Carly chimed back standing up straight and turning her body fully onto Tanner "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No thank you, I was just stopping by to let you know I got the chance to read over your report in my lunch break." The older informed her trainee with a small smile.

"Oh." Carly beamed back surprised.

She had really beginning to think that Tanner had forgotten all about the report Carly had worked her ass over.

"I'm very impressed. It was outstanding. You should be proud of yourself," Linda Tanner told her as Carly felt herself break out into a triumphant grin that her work was being recognised "I have got a question for you though. Do you feel like you're being challenged with the work you are doing now?"

"As in right now? like this week?" Carly asked to clarify and she got that confirmation when Tanner nodded "Um. I mean," She knew she had to be honest because this was her Lieutenant "I understand that after what happened last week, I knew that there would be a consequence for my actions. We both agreed that my progress would be pushed back and I would basically be starting from the lower end of the scale. I mean, I would do whatever it takes to get to where I want to be. So if that means doing the work I am doing now, then so be it."

"But do you feel like you're being challenged?" Tanner asked again, wanting her trainee to just be 100% honest, even though she knew the real answer, she just wanted to hear it from her mouth.

"If I am being honest, then no I don't think I am, Lieutenant Tanner." Carly answered truthfully, her heart beginning to pound with anxiety at how Tanner might have took her honesty.

Was she being way too honest?

"I agree," Tanner nodded as Carly blinked back in response "I think I was maybe a little too harsh on you. You were hardly breaking the law by interrupting my investigations or doing anything wrong by just talking to Aria. But I hope you get now, that this is a serious business, we have to stick by rules, we cannot just share information with our loved ones, it's strictly private and confidential."

"Oh I know that! And I promise you I would never do that. I haven't nor will I ever repeat any information whilst I am on the force." Carly promised her with a tight smile.

It was true. She would never go against the rules whilst she was working on the case or the team. She knew how important it was.

"Good, now we have made that very clear, I have also come to tell you, that starting next week, I would love to ease you back into coming along with me to investigations inside and outside of the station." Tanner told her.

"Are you serious?" Carly gasped back in shock.

She was so sure her punishment was going to last longer than only a week. This was such great news and totally the opposite of what Holbrook had suggested earlier.

"Yes! After reading your report and rethinking about everything that happened, I think I could at least give you another shot." Tanner replied back.

"Thank you so much!" Carly thanked her with gratitude as Tanner nodded back at her, before laying the report down onto the desk and leaving the office.

Grinning madly, Carly picked up the report and flicked through it, noticing that Tanner had stuck sticky notes over certain pages, giving her feedback on some areas. Carly couldn't believe that she was actually being given another shot just like that. Her report must have really impressed Tanner enough to bring her back to investigations within the next week.

She was so pleased with herself for standing her ground and not giving up easily. She was glad her hard work was paying off and finally be recognised. Whatever Holbrook had told her earlier, made her doubt what she had even thought about herself, but now she felt like that good book might have existed, since Carly was back in it again after all.


Even though she had been panicked since before lunch about Spencer, Carly was feeling more calm and in a better mood than before, due to Tanner coming in after her lunch and telling her the good news. She finally felt like she was going to be able to get somewhere and her week of pity work was coming to end sooner than she had thought.

For the rest of her shift and for the time that she waited for Holbrook to return back to the station, she had gotten on with the tasks that were left for her, which included filing, researching, photocopying and helping out on the front desk when needed.

Thankfully, time had been going quite quickly that afternoon and it was a little under an hour now until her shift was over for the rest of the day. She had just got up from the front desk after taking a phone call and was on her way back inside her office to check her emails, as well to see if there had been anything from detective Holbrook who she was still waiting for.

When she took a seat down on her desk chair and clicked on her emails, to see no recent ones from the Detective, a bad feeling washed over when she realised that maybe Gabe had forgotten about her. Maybe he wasn't coming back to up date her on the case and she was just going to have to be out of the know for longer than she had intended.

Sighing in frustration, she climbed back up onto her feet and began to tidy away some documents and files that were scattered about on her desk. She hated working in a cluttered environment, to her it was like if she was surrounded by a untidy space, then she wouldn't be able to focus properly and her mind would end up just as messy.

As she started to pick up a few documents and slid them into the correct files, someone entered the office, they had just gotten in from being on investigation that afternoon, when they had been a little longer than intended, due to sitting in their car for half of it, on an old laptop, watching some important information he got given.

But now he was back. He could finally give Carly what she really deserved.

Upon seeing her filing away some paper work, unaware at first that he was actually there and what was to come would honestly surprise greatly, a smug look grew on his face as he stepped inside the office more, trying to grab her attention that he was now here.

Feeling his presents come more into the room, Carly glanced up from her leant over position on the desk and her eyes met with his, his smug look from before vanishing quickly as he tried to hide it from the girl, so she wouldn't suspect a thing.

"You're back." She said facing him with the files in her hand.

As she took a look at him for the first time that afternoon, a sudden tension hit her in the face, for some unknown reason to her, he was giving off this really weird vibe again to her, that somehow made her feel slightly uncomfortable to be back in his space again. It was just like earlier, every time she was around him the past day or so, she just felt like he was up to something or that she had done something wrong to annoy him. She didn't have a clue what it was.

"Yeah I was a little longer than intended, but you've still got time to get back on track with the case, right?" He asked her with hopeful eyes.

He needed his plan to work.

"Yeah my shift doesn't end for just under an hour, so I have got time. I don't mind staying a little while longer if we run over. As long as I'm up to date and don't feel lost any more, then I'm cool with that." Carly explained to him.

"Well you tidy up and I'll go grab a coffee. Then we'll start." He instructed as he laid the file he had been carrying down onto the desk with his laptop now placed on top.

"Great! Thank you for this, I really appreciate it." She tried to ease the tension in the room the best that she could.

"It's fine. You need to stay in the know." He replied, as she lightly smiled back at him, before he nodded and left the room to grab a refreshment, leaving Carly to do as he told her and she had already began doing moments before he had turned up.

A few minutes later, Holbrook returned to a clean and tidy office, with a steaming coffee cup in his hand and his trainee detective standing beside her end of the desk, waiting for his return back from his trip to the coffee machine.

As he came into the room, he carefully closed the door behind himself and turned the half-open blind completely shut, before he continued to do the same with the window blind, meaning that now no-one could seen in and they couldn't see out of the office.

Once he had done that, he wondered back over to the desk and sat his coffee cup down onto the surface. His next move was that he grabbed hold of his laptop and opened it up, before lying it back down and starting up the device. Whilst that was loading, Carly's eyes watched him suspiciously, as he moved over to the projector on the other side of the office, where he also turned that on and began to set it up.

"What are you doing?" Carly asked confused by all of his actions in the past minute or so. She thought they were just going to sit down together and read over the files.

"We're going to be watching a few tapes first to help you get up to date, then we'll go over the reports and that in the file after." Holbrook informed her as he kept his back to her, trying to hide the ever growing smirk of mischief. She really had no idea what was really going on.

"Ah I see. Ok." She said quietly back.

Once he had set it all up, he came back over to the laptop and took a side look at her, his eyes and fingers busy getting the disc ready to play on his laptop, so that it would project up onto the screen on the opposite wall to the projector.

"Make yourself comfortable, Miss Monroe."

Smiling awkwardly at his odd behaviour, she took a seat on one of the chairs that were perched under the long desk they shared and was opposite to where the screen was, meaning it would be easy for her to watch if she was face on, rather than from her own chair where she would be looking at it on a slant.

Within a few moments, Holbrook had finished setting everything up and grabbed a remote that was for the projector to use to press play on the video. The screen on the wall lit up black, signalling that the video was ready to play and that Holbrook was fully in control now.

"Are you ready?" Holbrook asked her with that annoying smirk on his lips.

It certainly didn't go unnoticed to Carly this time. Increasing her suspicions about what this guy was playing and why he was acting so odd with her still.

"I'm always ready." She told him smartly, before folding her arms and turning her head to look at the screen instead of him.

Knowing that she might have been ready for the video's start, but certainly not for what was about to play on the screen, he slowly hit play on the remote and wondered over to the light switch beside the door. He carefully dimmed the lights, so it made the video more easy to see, since most of it was filmed in the dark from what he could work out earlier when he had watched it.

Instead of looking at the tape playing on the wall, his eyes instantly wondered over to Carly, wanting to watch her reaction to what she was about to see. This might have been the most cryptic thing he was ever going to do. But if it meant, he could make the girl see sense, make her change whom she was interested in and even make her chances of staying on the force slimmer, then he would do whatever it takes, because he wasn't going to just allow her to come in here and change things for him. He always got what he wanted.

Carly found herself sighing a little when she continued to stare at the black wall, even though Holbrook had pressed play, it was still black and she just wanted to the tape to actually go somewhere, so she could get up to date with the case already and feel like she was back on track. Also she wanted to get out of here soon because he was seriously giving her the creeps with how he was acting.

Around thirty seconds had past, until the tape suddenly went from black to the image of a hallway, it was fairly dark from what she could make out on the screen, but there was a glimmer of light at the end of the hall, what made Carly guess that this tape was from a house or some form of building.

Maybe they had gotten some new information from Radley and this was it? Or maybe this was taken from Alison's on the night of the disappearance? But that certainly did not look how she remembered the the inside of the DiLaurentis' to look. Maybe she had been away that long that she had completely forgotten or maybe it was just too dark she couldn't make it out? Whatever it was. It was starting to creep her out more.

Her eyes continued to fixate on the screen, whilst Holbrook's were kept on hers. The tape progressed further, the sound of someone's footsteps could be heard and it wasn't long before a figure came out of the shadows. Carly felt an uneasy feeling bubble up in her stomach, when the figure revealed themselves on the video and she wasn't sure she was going to like watching the rest of this.

It was Ian. Ian Thomas. Jason's ex best friend. Melissa's dead ex-fiancé.

Ian grabbed hold of the camera, like it had been propped up onto something before and he was now taking a hold of it. Carly knew too well how much time that guy spent with a camera in his hand. But what Carly didn't have any idea of was why Detective Holbrook was showing this to her now? Was it really relevant to how far along they were in the case? She had expected it to the recording from Alison's lie detector the other day.

The camera was then positioned in front of Ian's face, the usual sly and mischievous look was present on his face, like he was up to know good and Carly knew exactly what this recording was used for. The stupid club that Ian, Jason and Garrett were apart of, Melissa somehow even getting involved in at one point, but it was one that she never got herself involved with voluntarily and hated knowing Jason had some form of contribution to. She was glad by the time she got to know him better he had stopped all of that and had nothing to do with it any more.

Swallowing away the lump what had formed in her throat, she unwrapped her arms from around her chest and instead wrapped them around her stomach in comfort from the uneasy feeling she felt in the pit of it. She just wished this tape would get over with and move onto the next one. Was really seeing Ian's face relevant for the case or just an accidental punch in the face about her past?

Suddenly the video began to go fuzzy and the sound was lost, signalling that the part of the recording either was lost or had stopped working at the time, meaning that it had jumped straight to the next clip along, that was increasing her anxiety more and more with every second that past.

The screen now presented a scene of a dimly lit room. The sound of loud thumping and music could be heard in the distance, signalling that some form of party or gathering was going on outside the walls during the night. The tape began to fast forwards itself as someone left the room and it stopped again on the same scene as before.

It wasn't until the door was pushed open, the sound's of loud voices, talking, shouting, laughing, the music and bass booming together with the voices, the newly lit light from the hallway outside came into the room, giving more light to the room that was on the tape, that Carly began to realise what she was actually seeing with her own eyes.

The familiarity of the room and what the contents of the tape actually was hit her like a train coming past on a track at a great speed. She recognised that room so very well. Even if she had been a little tipsy, had downed a couple of shots before she approached the guy and basically seduced him into being with her for that night.

The guy in the video, that Carly once liked and now detested, stepped into the door way of the room, you could see a smaller figure behind him holding onto his hand tightly, he was busy shouting at someone down the hall who was teasing him and the person he was with. It was all happening just moments before everything seemed to have changed for Carly.

She still remembered every single detail of that night when she was reminded of it. Just like now. The memory was hitting her fast. The disgust and shamefulness she felt about her past, including her actions and the choices she made rose to the surface. But despite that, all she could ask herself was why Holbrook was doing this?

How did he have the tape?

Why was he showing her the tape?

What was he trying to do?


Author note: I decided to upload this week since it's Christmas in a few days and I kind of felt like this was my gift to you for being such lovely people!

I really hope you liked this part. Just two more parts now until JASON is back! I hope you're excited and it has been worth the long over due wait. The whole reason I kept it on for so long was because I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, as well as follow the show and when Jason would be in particular episodes. But I will give you guys a teeny tin clue, when Jason returns, everything goes a hell lot faster for the both of them in terms of their relationship.

Also I just wanted to say in response to nico229 review, that I was going to base this story more of Carly's point of view since she is my O/C, but also because Jason isn't a major character in the actual show, so I never know truly how he would feel about certain situations since we don't get to see a lot of him, which obviously is a shame. But for your benefit and anyone else who would like to see more from Jason's side of things, then I will try my very best to do more of Jason's side of things to the best that I can to suit his actual character in the show.

Thank you so much for nico229, , RHatch89 and ArrowTheaQueen for reviewing on the last part. I love reading your reviews, so thanks for sharing them. I can't believe I am 5 away from 100 now! That's insane. Thank you!

Have a good Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you have a great day also!

Thanks so much,

guiltypleasurexo