A/N: Holy hell, I still can't believe I hit 200 reviews. What did I do to deserve you guys? And if you're reading, but too shy to review, *waves* I want you to know I appreciate you!

Also, quick note, I have been getting lots of feedback/questions on Em's fate. I won't pull a Marlene and be like "you're gonna have to wait and see" but I'm also not gonna tell you exactly what happens. What I will tell you is that it's an emotional rollercoaster with many unexpected twists and crazy loop-de-loops. I started this story with this epic plan in motion to torture my friends who got me to do this in the first place. The angst, ooooh the angst. But the ride will be worth it. Damn, that was actually a very Marlene thing to say. Oh, well, if you can't beat 'em…


Chapter 29:

The Blame Game

The police station was buzzing with activity. Before they had even walked into the precinct they could see that it was crawling with reporters and special law departments from all over the state. Tanner had called in the big guns. The cop who had led them out there stood on the stairs with his eyes on them. They stood across the street staring at the building. The structure had an eerie presence to it, like a monster waiting to ingest them. It was weird that a nonliving thing could be so intimidating. Ali stopped, unable to find the courage to walk across the street with her friends.

Aria noticed she'd halted and she turned to face her. She reached out and nudged Spencer and Spencer stopped walking, too. They turned back to go get her. Hanna, Caleb, and Ezra followed.

"Ali, what's wrong?" Aria asked.

"I don't know if I want to do this." Ali's throat tightened.

All she could think about was the last time she'd been scrutinized by the police. They had underestimated A then. What if they were repeating old mistakes? She'd gone to prison for a murder she hadn't committed once. She didn't want it to happen again. She hadn't been there for very long, but she still had nightmares about what had happened to her behind bars. The heckling. The beatings. The constant fear that every corner she turned might be her last.

"Hey, we're here for you," Aria assured her.

"Yeah, and if it's any consolation, we'll probably end up sharing a cell with you, so you won't be alone." Hanna shrugged.

"Do me a favor. Never give inspirational speeches to children." Spencer looked at Hanna with a scowl.

"I'm not a killer. I would have never hurt Charlotte. And Sara...I'm not sorry that she's dead, and honestly, I wish I had gotten in a few punches, but…I didn't kill her."

"We know." Aria touched her hand.

"God knows I wanted to. After what she did to Emily…" She was fuming just thinking about it. Sara could have killed her coming after her in the hospital. "It's one thing that she was following her around like a perverted Peeping Thomasina, but to go after her when she was unconscious and vulnerable, it just…it freaks me out to think about it."

"What are you talking about?" Hanna's brow scrunched in confusion.

"She showed up in the hospital when Emily was recovering," Ali replied.

"Sara went after Emily in the hospital?" Spencer's fingers curled into her palm. Her fists tightened.

"She didn't tell you?" Ali asked.

"I guess we've all been a little preoccupied with the whole dollhouse thing with Alexander Drake." Aria nervously played with her fingers.

"I can't believe that bitch messed with Emily like that. If she wasn't dead, I so would kill her right now." Hanna snapped.

"Maybe you should refrain from talking about murdering a girl who was actually murdered." Ezra suggested. "We are fifty feet away from a police station after all."

"I was being hypotheatrical." Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Hypothetical, Hanna." Spencer corrected her. "The word is hypothetical. And you're not even using it correctly."

"Your brain really never does shut off, does it?" Hanna stared back at her.

"It's a good thing it doesn't. I'm about to have to go in there and turn my law knowledge up to critical mass." Spencer pinched her eyebrows together and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "God, when my mother's competition gets wind of this her entire campaign is going to go down in flames."

"That's what you're worried about?" Hanna asked curiously.

"It's kind of important! We're not the center of the universe, you know. Our actions affect our loved ones."

"Hey, don't bite my head off. I'm just saying…we're about to have our asses Shawshank-ed."

"Guys, this isn't helping." Aria butt in. She had noticed that Ali had gotten really quiet again. "We get that this is hard for you, Ali. But you don't have to be afraid. We've got your back."

Ali nodded, giving Aria an appreciative smile. They walked into the station. Despite all the chaos, it was clear that Tanner had planned on them getting there fairly quickly. As soon as the girls walked through the door they were promptly apprehended by most of the cops in the room. Caleb puffed up in defense when one of the officers put his hand around Hanna's arm. He completely disregarded the advice he'd given to Emily about not smarting off to the police.

"Hey, hands off, Miami Vice. I don't know what you learned in Rent-a-cop school, but you can't just get all grab-ass on someone just because you've got a big ego and a little night stick."

"Excuse me?" The officer glowered at him.

"You got a warrant?" Caleb snapped.

"Caleb, could you not, please?" Hanna reprimanded him. "I'd really like it if our first dance wasn't Jailhouse Rock themed."

"I kind of like Elvis," Ezra jutted his lip out in thought.

"Not helping." Aria shot him a glance.

"Sorry." Ezra smiled awkwardly. He looked like a five-year-old that had been scolded.

"Look, I'm just trying to direct you where to go." The cop looked at Hanna and then sneered at Caleb.

"Well, you can do that without putting your hands on my fiancée." Caleb didn't back down.

"I'm going to need you two gentlemen to take a seat." Another officer stepped in. He faced the girls. "We need you ladies to come with us."

They took the girls down a restricted hallway and then told them to leave their belongings at the desk. Then they were led into the same room Tanner had brought them in to show them the video of Sara's testimony. Five minutes went by. Then ten. They started to get antsy. Ali heard a siren in the distance and it unnerved her. Another five minutes went by, the girls completely clueless to the fact that at that very moment Emily was fighting for her life.

"Is this some sort of police tactic? Make us sweat it out or something?" Hanna asked.

"They're trying to stir us up. Anxious people are more likely to slip up." Spencer nodded.

"Great, no pressure," Ali muttered. She was beyond anxious.

"It's going to be fine. Just let me lead, okay?" Spencer asked.

Aria and Hanna both nodded. Ali was too lost in her own world to reply. She looked at her watch. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and sucked on it. Something kept needling her brain – a strange sensation she didn't like.

"Something isn't right. Emily should be here by now." Ali paced nervously. "Has anyone heard from her?"

"They took our phones." Spencer reminded Ali.

The door opened, and for a second Ali thought that Emily was going to breeze in and tell her she'd been worried for nothing. But instead, she looked up and saw Tanner's cold eyes looking into hers.

"Hello again, ladies." She walked into the room. Her demeanor was much more rigid than it had been yesterday. "I trust you all know why you're here."

"Because you like to play with us like cat toys," Hanna muttered.

Spencer whipped her head to the side to look at Hanna. Two seconds. She hadn't lasted two seconds before she'd smarted off to Tanner.

"What did we say about me doing the talking?" Spencer growled through her teeth.

Hanna rolled her eyes and then pinched her forefinger and thumb together and brought them to her lips, sweeping them across it like she was zipping her mouth shut. She turned her fingers up when she got to the corner of her mouth and gave Spencer a smarmy smile.

Ali stared at her. The girl always did have a flair for the dramatic. That's one of the things Ali liked about her.

"I have been racking my brain trying to understand what it is about you girls getting together that just makes the bodies start piling up," Tanner said, a condescending tone in her voice.

"Listen, we came in willingly," Spencer reminded her. "If this is just going to be another crusade against us then you're wasting your time because we…"

"Miss Hastings, I'm just doing my job here." Tanner cut Spencer off. "I now have two murders to solve, and everything I have keeps circling back to you girls." She looked at each girl before taking a seat. "I understand that Miss Fields is on her way in with Officer Cavanaugh. But I'd like to go ahead and get started. As you can imagine, I'm very busy, so let's just get right to it. As you are aware, Sara Harvey has been murdered."

She pulled several photographs out of an envelope and laid them across the table. There were several different angles of the crime scene sprayed with blood splatter. The girls cringed.

"Sara was attacked at knifepoint and stabbed several times. A security camera in a parking garage captured a portion of the attack." She pulled out another photo. "Does the suspect's car look familiar to you, Miss DiLaurentis?" She pushed the photo over towards Ali.

Of course the suspect's car was identical to Ali's. She tried to feign indifference, looking at Tanner with a steely gaze.

"Do I look like a used car salesman?" she replied in a monotonous tone.

"Ali." Spencer whispered harshly.

Ali cut her eyes at Spencer with a look that clearly said 'she started it'. Spencer retorted with a silent 'well, I'm finishing it!' Ali continued to glare at Spencer, her eyes practically screaming 'I am so damn done with this.'

"So, I suppose it's just a coincidence that the suspect's car is the same make and model as yours?" Tanner tapped her fingers against the desk.

"A lot of people have that car." Ali retorted, trying not to get angry. She glanced at her watch. Where the hell was Emily? She looked at Tanner again. "My car was parked outside my house all day yesterday while I was sitting here at the station with you."

"True." Tanner nodded. She pursed her lips before she continued, "But the attack on Miss Harvey didn't happen yesterday. The time stamp on the video places the attack three days ago."

"Wait a second. You led us to believe that she was completely fine yesterday." Spencer frowned.

"As far as I knew, she was. That interview was given the day before she was killed. We had no reason to believe that she was in any danger."

"You guys are doing a real bang up job with the police-work in this town." Hanna snorted sarcastically.

Spencer shot her a look, clearly telling her to shut her mouth. At this point, the only intelligent person in the room was Aria. She'd yet to say a word.

"Miss Harvey never indicated that she felt unsafe," Tanner explained. "One of my officers got a call about the security footage with the attack on it last night. And after sweeping the crime scene we found blood evidence that indicated there was a significant struggle."

She went through the details, shoving the evidence in their faces. Spencer cut Tanner off at nearly every turn. Ali barely heard anything they were saying. She couldn't get over the fact that Emily still wasn't there.

"Sara and Charlotte clearly had some sort of bond. I think she knew who murdered Charlotte. And I think she was killed because of it," Tanner's voice brought Ali back into reality.

"Calls for speculation." Spencer quickly spit.

"This is not a courtroom, Miss Hastings. I'm not accusing anyone of anything…"

"Yet." Spencer added.

"We get it," Ali said. "There's lots of evidence. So why are you telling us this?"

"I thought it was obvious. I am giving you a chance to tell your side of the story before my side becomes the only side." Tanner folded her hands together and leaned against the table.

"You're trying to help us?" Spencer asked with a caustic laugh.

"I'm not blind to the fact that you girls have been through a lot. The amount of tragedy that you've suffered is unthinkable. But I also know that trouble has a way of roping you in. What I'm trying to do here is rein this in before it spins out any more than it already has." She looked at Ali, who was completely oblivious to what she was saying.

Ali was staring at her watch, mindlessly rubbing the tips of her fingers against the table. The more time that went by, the more she started to fall apart. There was a weird aching feeling in her stomach. Her chest felt tight. She felt like a piece of her was missing.

"Do you have somewhere you need to be, Miss DiLaurentis?" Tanner asked sharply.

Ali shook off her nerves and looked up at Tanner, but before she could respond they were interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

"Lieutenant Tanner?" The door cracked and Lorenzo popped his head.

"I'm in the middle of something here, Officer Calderon." Tanner stared coolly at him, clearly perturbed at the intrusion.

"I know. I'm sorry to interrupt. Cavanaugh is on the phone for you."

Ali's head jerked up. Her heart leaped into her throat. She grabbed the sides of her chair and tightly wrapped her fingers around the cool metal handles, squeezing so hard she was hurting her bones. Her heart was beating so fast her chest felt like it was vibrating. She tried to get a read on Lorenzo's face, but his expression was completely neutral.

"Tell him I will call him back." Tanner bit through her teeth, trying to keep her tone polite and even. Everyone in the room could hear how irritated she was.

"He says it's important." Lorenzo pushed.

Ali whimpered. There was a reason Emily wasn't here. Something had happened. She felt it. The room suddenly felt like it was closing in on her.

Tanner frowned, and then excused herself. As soon as the door shut Ali pushed her chair back and jumped to her feet.

"Oh, God." She was seconds away from having a full meltdown. "I can't be here. I don't want to be here. It's…" She sucked in a gasp of air. "I can't breathe in here."

The girls quickly gathered around her, confused by her sudden panic.

"What's the matter?" Someone's hand skimmed her arm.

She looked up. It was Aria.

"Something is really wrong." Ali didn't recognize her own voice. "I…I have to get out of here. I need to find Emily."

"She's with Toby." Spencer tried to soothe her anxiety.

"Why would he be on the phone and not here at the station with her?" Ali's tone was curt, but not angry. It was laced with fear.

"Maybe he's got a lead or something." Hanna suggested. "Or maybe they're still looking for her meds."

Ali looked at her friends. They had no idea. They had no idea why she was suddenly so on edge. Her erratic behavior was probably so confusing for them. She wished Emily was here with them. Emily always knew what to say or do to calm her down. Ali pushed her back against the wall and buried her face into her hands. She slid down the length of the wall until she was sitting on the ground, knees up to her chest.

"Are you okay?" Hanna asked in uncertainty.

"No." Ali admitted. Nothing was okay. She felt like she would never be okay again.

"What's going on, Ali?" Spencer asked. "You and Emily are both acting really weird."

"She isn't…" Ali cried, her voice strained, "…her heart's not…" She sucked her lips in between her teeth and bit down, her chin trembling. "She's getting worse. I might – we might," She looked up at her friends, feeling small and weak, "actually lose her."

"What do you mean?" Hanna's eyes were as large as saucers. She saw the panic on Ali's face, and suddenly, she felt that same terror. Emily was her best friend. It scared her to think about Emily dying.

"I…" Ali took a deep breath, trying to center herself. She didn't know how to center herself without Emily in the room. "The doctor says surgery is her only option."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

"Well, we knew that was a possibility," Aria said, her voice was calm, but her hands were shaking.

"Yeah, just because she has to have surgery…that doesn't mean…" Hanna stuttered.

"There's more to it." Spencer shared a look with Ali. "Isn't there?" She pressed her for information.

Spencer knew there was more. The way that Emily had looked at her after she'd questioned her about her change of heart in going after A had unsettled Spencer. And the way that Ali was acting now confirmed her worst fears. Ali slowly raised her chin, looking up at her friends. Her eyes were glassy. She looked haunted.

"Ali, what is it?" Aria kneeled down in front of her, putting her hands on Ali's knees.

"Talk to us." Spencer bent down and rubbed her arm.

Their kindness was enough to push Ali over the edge. She'd been a shell of herself since she'd woken up this morning. She had no idea how Emily had been able to remain so calm about everything. She felt like she was falling through a black hole, every atom in her body slowly being ripped to shreds, piece by piece. Ali lowered her head and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"She's – she's going to be okay, right?" Hanna's breathing quickened, her mind flashing to sitting in Emily's hospital room the morning after she'd nearly died. She'd been pretending to read a magazine, but really…she'd been watching Emily out of the corner of her eye, waiting for her to wake up so she could yell at her for scaring her so badly. "Ali?" Hanna leaned down next to Aria. She put her hand on top of Ali's.

"She only has a thirty percent chance of making it through the surgery."

"What?" Aria squeaked out a surprised gasp.

Spencer tilted her head to the side and pressed her index and middle finger against her temple and her thumb against her cheek and let out a sigh. She'd been expecting something like this ever since she'd had that unspoken exchange with Emily in Ali's living room, but it still hit her pretty hard. Hanna's mouth dropped open, and for once the opinionated blonde was speechless. The room was silent. The girls all looked at one another trying to process the news. How had things gotten this bad this fast?

Ali wiped her face with the backs of her hands and tried to explain the situation to them. She pushed herself up to her feet and walked the length of the room several times as she stuttered through the words she had barely begun to process herself. She fidgeted with her hands to try and keep her mind busy so she wouldn't burst into tears again. She knew she needed to keep it together. The last thing she needed was for the police to see her have an emotional outburst. They'd probably mark her as unstable and that would give them more of a reason to suspect her of being a murderer.

When she finished explaining everything she finally forced herself to make eye contact with her friends. Every single one of them had a frozen look of shock on their faces, even Spencer…who had known that Emily was holding on to something. There was a momentary lapse of silence, interrupted by Aria letting out a shaky breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.

"She's really that bad off?" Aria asked.

"I don't understand. Two weeks ago we were having mimosas and joking about how she and Caleb have the same taste in women." Blonde and ballsy. "We even talked about maybe getting everyone together and taking a cruise to the Caribbean." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "How did this happen?"

"She's been saying it all along. Heart problems are unpredictable." Ali shook her head and put her hands up in a show of helpless surrender. "I guess I just thought…" she sighed. "I don't know what I thought." She looked away, trying to fix her gaze on anything other than her friends. She could barely handle her own emotions, much less theirs. "I didn't expect it to get this bad this quickly."

"I don't accept this." Spencer ran her fingers through her uncombed hair. "There has to be something someone can do."

"There's not." Ali's voice quaked. "This is all we've got."

The door creaked open and Tanner walked back into the room. Her face was tight, her eyes trained on Ali.

"Girls, I'm afraid something has come up," she said. "Officer Cavanaugh just informed me that he and Emily were involved in a hit and run collision."

Ali felt her legs going numb. She had flashes of kids screaming on the bus, being thrown out of her seat, somehow landing sideways on a pile of yoga mats. The smell of gasoline. The hissing of the dying engine that she'd been terrified would explode after the crash. That eerie moment of silence when you were sure you were dead. Then she imagined Emily going through the same thing. It was a hundred times worse. She completely understood why Emily collapsed in shock hearing the news about the bus wreck.

"Are they okay?" Spencer's voice had a slight tone of hysteria in it.

"I don't know any of the details. But I do know that Emily was taken to the emergency room. Officer Cavanaugh is with her."

Ali felt Hanna's palm against her forearm. Aria took Ali's hand and held it tightly.

"Now, I know what you girls mean to one another, and despite my affinity to be firm…"

"Bitchy," Hanna uttered under her breath. Spencer elbowed her, warning her not to piss Tanner off. Thankfully, Tanner hadn't heard her.

"…when it comes to my dedication to the justice system, due to the nature of this situation I'm going to postpone this interview. I've arranged for a police escort to take you to the hospital."

She quickly led them out of the room. Minutes later they were on their way to the hospital, Ali silently praying that Emily was okay…that she'd just been taken in because it was standard protocol for someone with health issues to be thoroughly checked out after a wreck. She tried calling Toby, but the call went straight to voicemail.

At the hospital, Toby was pacing the length of the waiting room, stopping occasionally only to run his fingers against the itchy butterfly bandages across the slit in his forehead. The paramedic that had been hassling him to let him patch his head up had cleaned it up in the ambulance while asking him questions about Emily's health. She hadn't been lucid enough to tell the paramedics anything. She'd barely been able to breathe, much less talk. Toby told them everything he knew.

The ambulance ride felt like it had taken forever. He'd watched Emily rapidly decline in minutes. She'd gone from making her typical corny 'Emily' puns to barely being able to move in the blink of an eye. By the time they'd loaded her into the ambulance he could see that she was in agony, though she'd been very stoic about it up until it got to be too much for her to suppress. Her body had started shaking as she'd tried to fight through her discomfort. She'd begged him to call Ali. He'd told her he was trying to get in touch with her. He'd taken her hand and she'd wrapped her fingers around it weakly. He could see her tensing up every time she'd tried to take a breath.

"Can't you give her something for the pain?" Toby had asked the paramedic harshly.

"Not without knowing the extent of her injuries."

The man had somehow remained calm and rational in his response. Toby knew from experience what it was like dealing with emotionally distraught family members. He'd tried not to let his emotions get the better of him. It wouldn't make the paramedics' jobs any easier.

"Emily, can you talk to me? Tell me what hurts. Is it your chest?" The paramedic had attempted to determine the cause of her pain.

"It's…everything," she'd managed to huff out. "I…I…"

The paramedic had started palpating her to see where her pain was coming from. He'd gently pushed her abdomen.

"If I hit anything that's tender just squeeze your friend's hand, okay?"

Emily had nodded weakly in response, her words completely failing her. He'd checked her belly for points of tenderness, but all it did was make it harder for Emily to catch her breath.

Toby hated seeing her in pain. He hated that she bore the brunt of A's attack. The girl had been through so much trauma already. It wasn't fair that life kept kicking the crap out of her. Why was it always the kindest people who suffered the most? And Emily took it all in stride, too. Never once losing her sense of humor about things. She'd gotten that endurance from her father. Wayne Fields was the kind of man who, after he cracked a tooth, went around bragging about how he couldn't wait to wear his new crown and joked about buying a scepter to go along with it. His daughter was the same. She buried her pain for the sake of the people around her.

Toby had watched Emily go to a place beyond pain in the ambulance. She'd clenched her jaw and slammed her eyes shut when she couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes had flickered back open only long enough to drowsily request one thing. She'd barely been able to get the words out and he'd barely heard her because her voice had been broken and muffled by the oxygen mask. But he'd somehow picked up on what she'd said amidst all the chaos.

"Tell – tell my mom and Ali I love them." Her voice had sounded strained and distant.

"I'll do you one better. I'll hold on to that message and let you deliver it to them yourself." Toby had replied.

"Toby, I can't…I can't…"

He hadn't known at the time that she was trying to tell him that she couldn't breathe. He saw her chest tighten. She'd opened her mouth like she was trying to take a breath, but nothing happened. Her eyes were screaming, brimming with emotion. Her eyes had suddenly snapped shut and she'd gripped the blanket on the stretcher, twisting and turning it, knotting it up between her fingers. She'd squeezed Toby's hand with an intense amount of pressure.

The machines measuring her vitals had started beeping and her body stiffened. Her blood pressure had spiked. Her oxygen levels had dropped. She'd started gasping for air, only she wasn't actually taking in the oxygen. He'd watched as the color drained from her cheeks. He could hear her choked wheezing from underneath the mask. The paramedics had leaped into action.

"She's hypoxic."

"I'll grab an intubation kit."

The paramedic who had been palpating Emily leaned over her and calmly addressed her.

"Emily, you're going to be alright. We're going to take care of you, okay?"

Her hand had continued to tighten around Toby's and her body tensed up. Her body had jerked so violently that her back arched off of the stretcher. She'd fallen flat against the cot and started thrashing around.

"She's seizing!" The first paramedic had exclaimed.

"What's happening? What's going on?" Toby had asked.

"She's not getting enough oxygen." He'd answered Toby and then faced his partner. "We need the diazepam."

Toby's arm was shaking because of Emily's hold on his hand. He knew her tight grasp was nothing more than her muscles contracting, but he'd gently squeezed back. Her fingernails were involuntarily digging into his skin, but instead of trying to pull out of her grasp he'd put his other hand on top of their joined hands.

"Hang in there, Em. We're almost there." He wasn't sure if she could hear him, but he'd wanted her to know he was there.

The paramedics gave her an injection of an anticonvulsant to stop the seizure and then had intubated her, somehow managing to get a tube in her throat to help her breathe despite the fact that they were speeding down the road taking corners so fast it felt like the ambulance was skidding along on two wheels. Toby was impressed with how skilled they were, including the driver who got them to the hospital like he was a star from The Fast and the Furious.

By the time they got her to the hospital the tremors had stopped. They'd rushed her in to the ER for further treatment. Toby had stayed with her, occasionally getting glances from doctors and nurses letting him know he should wait in the lobby. Only one doctor had stopped assessing her long enough to try and kick him out of the room.

"I'm not going anywhere. She's my sister," he'd said without skipping a beat. To him, it wasn't really a lie. Emily had been more like a sister to him than his actual stepsister, Jenna.

No one tried to argue with him. They'd just concentrated on Emily. They'd quickly found that the reason she couldn't breathe was because there was swelling in her chest, so they'd whisked her away to relieve the pressure.

This left Toby with nothing to do but wait and worry. He'd tried to get ahold of Ali. He'd called her three times. He'd tried Aria and Spencer, too. He knew Tanner, and he knew she'd probably confiscated their phones during the questioning. When none of them answered he'd tried calling Caleb and then he'd tried the station, but the lines were still busy. He'd dialed and dialed until his battery died. Then he'd used the phone at the front desk. When he did finally manage to get through to the station he'd been more than a little heated. He'd been curt with Lorenzo, telling him to get Tanner's ass on the phone ASAP. If she didn't release the girls he was going to lay in to her, going directly for her jugular. In fact, he was so worked up he'd decided he might do that anyway.

Much to his surprise, after he'd told her what was going on, Tanner had consented to his request to let the girls go. She'd told him she'd put off the rest of her questioning so they could get to the hospital. She had even offered a police escort to get them there faster. Toby knew that she'd done that more for herself than the girls. She wanted someone to keep an eye on her suspects. But the important thing was that they would get there soon.

He dreaded seeing the looks on their faces. He remembered how distressed they'd been the last time they'd come here with Emily. He wandered around the ER, lost in thought. He was kicking himself for not doing a better job of looking out for Emily. He kept thinking of all the things he should have done differently. He should have seen the truck coming sooner. He should have come out of his shock quicker. He should have known that Emily was hurt even though she appeared okay. He'd learned from experience that sometimes adrenaline had a way of making people feel fine when they weren't. He should have been able to rip his seatbelt in half the instant A had come for Emily. Where the hell had his strength been? He had mentally gone through a list of "I should haves" before he realized he was putting the blame on himself when he should be placing the blame on the person who was truly responsible. A had nearly killed them. And Emily had faced off with the psychopath alone.

"This never should have happened, Em," he muttered to himself. "I'm so sorry."

He leaned his arm against the wall and put his forehead against the back of his wrist. He felt his anger surfacing. He let out a frustrated grunt and pulled back. If he had gotten free two minutes sooner he would have had the bastard. This would be over. Instead, Emily was hurt, and a maniacal criminal was running free. He pulled his arm back and then slammed his fist against the wall. Then he pulled back and hit it again, drawing blood on two of his knuckles.

"Officer, could you please not abuse our building? I mean, I'm a Pink Floyd fan, too, but we don't need another hole in the wall." A nurse walked up behind him. "Besides, the wall-punching is reserved strictly for doctors who have had a bad day."

He immediately felt bad. He'd just been imagining that the wall was A's face, and it felt good to punch something.

"Sorry." He turned around with a sheepish look on his face.

He recognized her immediately. She'd been one of the nurses who had taken care of Emily when she was recovering from her cardiac arrest.

"Joyce. Hey."

"Officer Cavanaugh?" Familiarity registered on her face. "Ooh, ouch. What happened?" She pointed to his head.

"Head on collision."

"Yeah. Literally."

Toby felt his mouth twist into a weak smile. No wonder Joyce had been Emily's favorite nurse. They'd probably traded corny jokes like pros.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked.

"I don't know yet." He looked down the hallway. "Emily was with me. She got hit pretty hard in the chest."

"Oh no." Joyce's face dropped, her eyes softening in a mixture of sympathy and concern. Toby didn't like the grim look on her face. It was a look that clearly said that she had seen way too many negative outcomes in Emily's situation.

"I know you're probably busy, but is there any way you can get an update for me? I haven't heard anything in a while and I'm worried."

"Yeah. Of course." She nodded. She held up several individually wrapped medical materials. "I need to run these suture kits upstairs really quick, but then I'll see if I can find anything out."

"Thanks."

"No problem. In the meantime, you might want to have someone clean you up." She glanced at his bloody knuckles. "Typically, it's frowned upon to let our patients bleed all over our floors."

"I will try to keep the bloody finger-painting to a minimum." He nodded, trying to force out a smile. It came out as more of a grimace.

"Hey, she's a tough kid." Joyce tried to reassure him.

"She is." More than Joyce would ever know.

He thanked Joyce again and then went into the bathroom to clean his hand up. He didn't want to bother any nurses, especially given that he'd done it to himself. He ran cold water over his knuckles. The bleeding stopped and he flexed his hand a few times before gently tapping a paper towel over it to dry the injuries. He walked back into the hallway.

"Toby!"

He turned around and saw Spencer racing towards him, the rest of the girls not far behind. Caleb and Ezra were bringing up the rear. Spencer rushed into his arms, hugging him tightly. She expelled a sharp breath and pulled back, wiping at her face to catch the tears that were falling down her cheeks. She ran her fingers over the cut on his head.

"I'm okay." Toby gave her a reassuring rub on her back.

Ali was right behind her, her eyes darting around the ER frantically. Her normally rosy cheeks were pale. She had a crestfallen look on her face.

"What happened? Where's Emily?" She looked at Toby, moisture pooling in the corner of her eyes.

"Take a breath." Toby tried to defuse the situation. "Calm down."

"Toby, where is she?" Ali asked impatiently.

"She had some swelling in her chest and she couldn't breathe, so they had to take her into surgery…"

"Surgery?" Ali cried, her voice a loud shriek echoing in the hallway.

She looked at her friends, her face tinged with a desperate trepidation as her arms flung out away from her sides, seeking some kind of balance. Aria and Hanna both shot their hands out at the same time to grab her.

Toby suddenly realized why the word surgery had thrown her for such a loop. That whole thirty percent thing. He quickly tried to explain,

"Not surgery surgery. It's a minor procedure. She had some superficial bruising that caused some pressure on her chest. They needed to relieve that pressure. It's not invasive," he assured her.

He didn't dare mention the seizure. Ali already looked like she was on the verge of fainting. Hanna, Aria, and Spencer were just as upset. Even Caleb and Ezra looked out of it.

"Officer Cavanaugh?" Joyce walked up behind him.

Toby turned around to face her, moving to the side. Ali saw her and a slight wave of relief washed over her. Seeing a familiar face that knew Emily's medical history was a strange comfort to her.

"Joyce." Ali stepped forward, a tentative expression on her face. Would the woman remember her? She saw so many people day in and day out.

"Alison," she said with a warm smile on her face. She reached out and took Ali's hands, cupping them gently in hers. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Emily is in good hands."

Of course Joyce was the kind of nurse that remembered her patients and their families. Ali had witnessed how much she cared when she watched her take care of Emily. In a way, she kind of reminded Ali of Emily. She was attentive and warm. She had a calm nature to her. And hearing her say that Emily was in good hands made her believe that everything was okay.

"How is she?" Aria asked from behind Ali.

"She's stable. They're finishing up now."

A collective sigh of relief echoed around them. Everyone breathed a little easier.

"They were able to relieve the pressure in her chest. Fortunately, they didn't have to put in a chest tube," Joyce said. "Once she's in recovery the doctor will come update you."

"Thanks, Joyce." Toby smiled at her in appreciation.

"Any time." And they knew she meant it. Joyce slipped her hands away from Ali's. "If you don't hear anything in the next half hour, ask the front desk to page me. I'll light a fire under them for you."

She had to slip away to get back to work. But her five minute visit meant the world to Emily's friends. Just knowing that someone cared was comforting. They all sat down in the waiting room, somewhat spread out, because there weren't a lot of empty chairs to choose from. Ali stayed with Spencer and Toby. Ezra and Aria sat down a few chairs away from them. Aria curled as close to Ezra as she could, silent tears falling down her face. He held her and rubbed her back while she shivered, trying to come to terms with everything Ali had told her…and everything else that was happening.

Hanna had gone on a coffee run, dragging Caleb along to be her human cup-holder. None of her friends knew that halfway there she had a panic attack over the fact that she'd be getting one less drink because Emily was unconscious. She freaked out in the middle of the hospital hallway. Caleb had to talk her down from it. By the time they got back, Hanna was emotionally exhausted. They passed out the drinks and then sat down across from Aria and Ezra. A few of the people in the waiting room had left, so everyone moved closer together.

Ali put her coffee cup in between her knees, her hands around the top rim, her fingers skimming the thin paper cup as steam rose up into the air. She stared down at it, her mind completely blank. She could vaguely hear Toby talking about the wreck.

"…never saw it coming." She heard Toby say.

She caught a few more phrases. Blindsided. Airbag.

"…it was A."

"What?" Spencer gasped.

Ali felt a flash of anger as she pictured some maniac behind the wheel deliberately trying to run down Emily and Toby. She thought about the airbag hitting Emily and she thought about how much she must have been hurting. And that enraged Ali. She started grinding her teeth, picturing what she was going to do to this person if she ever got her hands on them. She heard more bits and pieces to the story, still in a state of semi-shock. Seatbelt jammed. Tried to get away.

"…and she used the door to knock the jackass down."

Wait, what? What was that last bit? Ali lifted her head up as Toby talked about how Emily had tried to stop A from escaping.

Oh, Em, you stupid brave idiot, you didn't… She closed her eyes with a frown. Of course Emily had put up a fight. That's what she did.

Then she heard something that made her blood run cold. A had pulled Emily out of the car and there had been a struggle and A had hit her in the chest.

"A did what?" Ali snapped. She stared at Toby and he saw something register in her eyes. All at once, her spark was back. "After all that, that psycho attacked her?"

Fury flashed across Ali's face. Everyone could see the intent to kill in her eyes. If they didn't think she was capable of murder before, they certainly did now.

"I didn't see the whole thing. I couldn't get to them. I was trying to cut my way out of my seatbelt," Toby said. "I know she got in a few good licks, but when she cornered A, A used the door as a weapon. Slammed it into her chest to knock her out of the way."

Ali was clenching her jaw so hard she could feel the tension in her temples. Whether it was the impact from the airbag or the door hitting her in the chest, A was the reason Emily had almost died. Again. Ali felt a heated anger surging through her body. She calmly took her coffee cup and sat it down on the small end-table next to her. She stood up.

"Ali?" Aria looked at her unsurely.

They all knew how unpredictable she was when she was pissed. She was like a volcano waking up from a long hibernation. And not just a little volcano that bubbled over, blew out some steam, and oozed a bit of deadly lava. She was Mount Vesuvius ready to destroy Pompeii. None of them wanted to be in the vicinity if she erupted.

"I'm an idiot," she hissed. "I'm an idiot for not seeing this coming. A is targeting her to get back at me for not staying out of it." Ali clenched her fists. "I should have known the bastard would turn it back on her."

She shook her head with a look of disbelief and a dark angry smile on her face. She felt stupid for feeling so blindsided. Without saying another word she started to walk away from her friends. They all looked at one another in alarm. Spencer jumped up and walked after her.

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked, reaching out to grab her arm.

"I don't know." Ali clasped her hands together in a grip so tight that her knuckles blanched. "To cry in a closet…or to hit something. I'll decide on the way."

"I'll come with you." Spencer offered.

"No." Ali shook her head. "I need to be alone right now. I just need a few minutes to myself, Spence."

Spencer nodded in understanding. She walked back over to where Toby was sitting.

"Where's she going?" Hanna asked.

"She's going to punch a wall," Spencer said with certainty.

Toby laughed. Something he had in common with Alison DiLaurentis. He never thought he'd see the day.

"Better a wall than Tanner," Aria said.

"Yeah, no kidding. I thought Ali was going to deck her today." Spencer sighed.

"How did the questioning go?" Caleb asked.

"Our tiny warrior here is the only one who kept her mouth shut." Spencer motioned to Aria. "You are smarter than all of us combined, little big one."

"Smart has nothing to do with it. She scares me into submission," Aria admitted.

"I'm trying to do what I can to get her to lighten up on you girls," Toby said. "I can't promise anything, but she took me seriously when I told her that the wreck wasn't an accident. I asked her to put an APB out on the driver, and considering all I had were an estimated height and weight she seemed pretty receptive to what I was saying. I basically all but told her about A without actually telling her about A."

"That is going to piss A off." Spencer brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit down on her nail.

"Ali was right. All we have left is the truth. A tried to kill Ali on that bus, and that same person almost killed Emily today. This has to stop," Toby said. "Before someone is killed…"

He feared that Emily wouldn't survive the next attack. They all did.

"Has anyone called Pam?" Ezra questioned.

"Damn it. Her mom." Toby gasped, a wave of guilt overtook him. How had he forgotten the first rule of emergencies? Contact the family. "I should have called her mom." He grabbed his phone and stared at the blank screen. "My phone is dead. Does anyone have her number?"

"Emily said something about Pam getting a new phone issued for work. It should be in Emily's phone contacts," Hanna said.

"We couldn't find her phone after the wreck. Does anyone know where in Philly Pam is staying?" Toby questioned.

"I can check with my mom. They get together a couple of times a month for dinner," Aria piped in. "And we should check with Ali, too. She might know how to get in touch with her."

Toby and Spencer set out to find Ali. It was equal parts them wanting to get in touch with Pam and wanting to make sure Ali hadn't gone off the deep end. They were worried she was going to do something destructive, though whether it was going to be destruction of property or destruction to herself, they still weren't sure. As they were walking down the hallway searching for Ali, Spencer took Toby's hand. She glanced down and saw the abrasions on his knuckles.

"Want to tell me what that's about, Muhammad Ali?" Spencer nodded to the bruises forming on his knuckles.

"How do you know it didn't happen in the crash?" Toby asked curiously.

"Because I know what it looks like when someone throws a punch."

Toby stopped walking. He rubbed his forehead and frowned.

"I would give anything to have five minutes alone with the person who is doing this." His fingers curled as he tightened his injured fist. "We wouldn't need the justice system if I got my way."

"Who needs the justice system when we have you?" Spencer smiled. "You always have our backs."

"Wasn't good enough today," he huffed.

"Toby, don't go down this road…"

"A nearly killed her." He frowned at the ground. "This shouldn't have happened." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have let it happen."

"A threw a mack truck at you. What more could you have done? Stopped it with your body? It's not like you're Superman."

"I couldn't get out, Spence," he heaved out a sigh. "I was pinned in my seat. I couldn't get to my weapon. I couldn't call for help. I couldn't reach Emily. I couldn't do a damn thing." He lowered his head and put his face in his palms. "I thought I was going to watch A kill her. And I couldn't do anything to stop it." He rubbed his face. "I became a cop to protect people. And I failed today. I failed Emily and I failed you girls."

"Tobias Cavanaugh…"

"Tobias?" Toby snorted out a shocked laugh. "That's new."

"…I never want to hear you talk like that. You didn't fail anyone." She traced the outline of the gash on his head. A bruise was already forming. He flinched. "What happened out there today didn't just happen to Emily. It happened to you, too. You put yourself in danger for us every single day. When we're facing something you're right there on the front lines with us."

"The whole point of me being on the front lines is so that things like this…" he motioned to the hospital hallway, "…don't happen."

"You can't let this get to you. That's what A wants. We are closing in, and A knows it. We've got them scared, Toby. So now this person is panicking and trying to do everything they can to break us down. Going after Emily hits us all where it hurts, and A knows that. But now that we know she's the target we can protect her. We can't let this person tear us apart. They can only win if we let them. So, we don't let them. We fight back with everything we have. We stick together. A does not get to take us away from each other. A doesn't get to win. WE win."

"Imagine that." Toby smiled. "A Hastings talking about winning."

"It's what we do best." Spencer shrugged. "Now, come on. Let's find our lost puppy and make sure she hasn't destroyed a very expensive piece of medical research equipment while trying to work through her anger."

They didn't have to look for long. They found her in the hospital chapel, of all places. When they walked up next to her they saw that the pew in front of her was damaged. She was holding a cracked piece of wood in her hands from a broken book-holder from the back of the pew. She didn't look remorseful at all. Spencer didn't know how it had ended up broken, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Spencer and Toby shared a knowing look, both having the same thought as they looked at Ali. They had both seen her spiral more than once. After her mom died she hadn't moved from her bed in days. After Charlotte died she basically became catatonic. After Emily had collapsed outside the loft she'd become like a ghost. The life had been completely drained from her. They were concerned that she was heading for another breakdown. They couldn't get a read on her. She sat perfectly still in the pew, eyes straight ahead…unblinking.

"How are you holding up, Ali?" Spencer asked softly as she sat down next to her.

She reacted to Spencer's voice, which was encouraging. She turned to face her, dropping the fractured wood to the floor. At first she didn't say anything. She finally blinked.

"It should have been me," she said.

"What?" Toby frowned.

"Everything that's happening to Emily…she doesn't deserve it. She's never been anything but kind to people. And me? I…I did terrible things. If anyone deserves to be punished it's me. Not her."

Spencer's jaw dropped, unsure of how to react. Toby was the one who broke the weird tension.

"That is such a load of crap." Toby rolled his eyes.

"Toby!" Spencer cried in surprise.

"Ali, neither of you deserves this. If Emily was awake right now she'd lay into your ass for even suggesting it."

Spencer wasn't sure what surprised her the most: the fact that Toby was cussing in a chapel, or the fact that Toby was defending Ali. Ali was equally as stunned. She stared in shock and her face twisted into confusion.

"But…"

"No. I don't want to hear it. You are not some lightning rod of punishment that attracts being hit. No one deserves pain and abuse. No one." He shook his head. "What's happening to Emily isn't fate or karma or any other kind of extension of the universe being cruel for the sake of being cruel. It's life. It's life being unfair, solely because that's just the way life works. It doesn't matter if you're a model citizen or you skirt the edge of being immoral…the one thing that makes us all the same is that we're not in control. We can't stop bad things from happening any more than we can change the weather or stop the earth from orbiting. And the sooner we stop blaming ourselves for something we have no control over, the sooner we can work to fix the things that we can control."

"I'm just so sick of this." Ali rubbed her eyes.

"We're going to get this freak," Toby said. "And I promise you when we do, I will make them pay for everything."

"Just save me a piece." Ali's voice came out as a menacing growl.

"I hold, you punch?" Toby offered.

"You hold, I throttle." Ali corrected him.

Spencer stared at her boyfriend and best friend in shock. Were Toby Cavanaugh and Alison DiLaurentis actually bonding over something?

"Are you two seriously talking about doling out some Lethal Weapon type vigilante justice in front of little baby Jesus?" Spencer pointed to a ceramic mold of Jesus.

"You want in?" Toby asked.

"Of course. Duh." Spencer nodded. She looked at the broken pew and the busted book-holder. "So, um…what happened here?" Her curiosity finally got the better of her.

"Something I'm probably going to have to say like 50 Hail Marys for." Ali pushed the broken wood with her feet.

"Are you even Catholic?" Spencer asked.

"I'm honestly just surprised that this place didn't burst into flames when I walked in here." Ali looked around at the chapel. She picked up the wood and stared at it. "I'd say that I'm going to hell, but I'm already there."

"This isn't forever." Spencer put her hand on Ali's arm.

Ali flinched. Emily had said the same thing to her when they were fighting the other day. Emily had always been stubbornly protective, even if it was at the extent of her own safety.

"She's had to deal with so much." Ali shook her head with a sigh. "School. Her heart. Her dad. Trying to look out for her mom…"

"We actually need to call her mom. Do you have her new number?" Spencer asked.

Ali felt a new surge of grief roll over her body. Emily's mother was going to be beside herself when she heard about this.

"Emily does. It's in her phone."

"I found mine in the wreckage, but I couldn't find Em's," Toby said. "Did she leave any contact information? The name of the hotel? Anything?"

"I didn't even know she'd left town until Emily told me this morning." Ali shook her head. "I guess we could call her office and find out."

They heard the squeak of a door from behind them and then the chapel brightened as the light from the hallway flooded the room. They turned around and saw Caleb in the doorway.

"We've been looking everywhere for you…"

Ali was the first one to her feet.

"Is it Emily? Is she – "

"She's in recovery." Caleb quickly put Ali's mind at ease. "The doctor wants to talk to us."

Ali's mouth suddenly felt very dry. She nodded. They followed Caleb back into the waiting room. She saw a tall man in scrubs with his surgery cap on standing off to the side writing something on a digital pad. He looked up and saw them approaching. All eyes were on Ali as she took a step towards the doctor, her throat clogged with a knot she couldn't seem to swallow. She looked back at Spencer, her eyes begging for her support. Spencer closed the gap between them and they faced the surgeon.

"I'm Alison DiLaurentis. I'm…Emily's my…we…" She was so nervous she couldn't get her words out right.

"Emily is resting comfortably," the surgeon said, obviously feeling sympathy for her plight.

"She's – she's okay?" Ali asked tentatively.

"Well, yes and no. There were some complications," he replied.

Ali felt like the floor was opening up beneath her. She grabbed Spencer's arm and automatically pulled her closer. Spencer returned her grip with a fierce squeeze.

"What kind of complications?" Ali squeaked.

"The good news is that we were able to relieve the pressure on her chest that was preventing her from being able to breathe. The blunt force trauma caused some superficial bleeding. We were able to relieve that pressure without having to put in a chest tube. But there's another problem we found while we were treating her. We found a microscopic tear in her heart that's going to require a more extensive surgery."

Ali wanted to cry, but she was too busy trying not to pass out.

"We unfortunately couldn't proceed with it, because her blood pressure was too unstable. We've been able to slow the bleeding, but until she's stable she's a high risk for anesthesia. Our hope is that she stabilizes today and we can put her on the books for surgery tomorrow."

"But…she…" Ali looked at Spencer for help.

"She has a heart condition." Spencer understood what Ali was getting it.

"I'm aware of her history." The surgeon nodded. "I've spoken with Doctor Hardy about the surgery he is recommending for her heart, and rather than having to sedate her more than once we've agreed that it would be in her best interest to have the experimental procedure done in conjunction with the surgery to repair the tear." His brow tightened. It made Ali sick to her stomach. "Unfortunately, with this kind of injury, the odds of survival are significantly lower."

Ali's knees locked. Her feet went numb. She was too afraid to ask.

Spencer wasn't.

"By how much?"

"By about half."

Thirty percent was now fifteen percent. Ali felt a range of emotions rushing through her body. Sorrow. Pain. Misery. Heartbreak. And fear. Absolute fear. Pure terror didn't seem to cover it. It was worse. It was like being on a plane spiraling into a deadly descent that you knew was going to end in a fiery disaster.

"Of course, we'll discuss all of this with her when she wakes up," the doctor said. "Ultimately, the decision will be left up to her."

After the doctor finished giving his update he told them that he would let them know as soon as Emily was out of recovery. When he walked away everyone looked at one another. They all knew what Emily's decision would be. She didn't have much of a choice. She was going to have to have the surgery. It was her only option.


A/N: Actual thing my friend said after she got to the end of this chapter: "Okay, calm down, Satan" followed by, "I hope your readers threaten to beat you with a sharp stick." Hang tight for this ride, ladies and gentlemen.