Hanging In The Balance:
The start of Carly's shift hadn't started off too well. She had been feeling on edge and apprehensive for the events of the day to unfold. Carly couldn't stop thinking about whether or not Jason was going to call in, report the information he knew and if Tanner would act upon it.
She had tried to keep her attention focused on the tasks she had been set for the day, which included report typing, filing away files, going over some evidence and building her own theories behind them. Strangely all her theories just came back to Alison and Carly began to wonder if that was just by coincidence or because she was really onto something here.
Carly felt so bad for having such a bad feeling toward's Alison like she always had for years of torture from her and Cece. She wished things wouldn't have to be like when she was dating her brother. But it was how things were and Carly had to put her job first in the circumstance.
If she believed Alison was guilty and needed to get Tanner off Spencer's back, then Carly would do her very best as a trainee detective, but also as a friend to Spencer to get the girl off the radar and Alison on it instead.
Carly always believed getting justice for the victims and this would be a successful way to bring it, one full of truth and making the guilty ones suffer for their actions. Alison deserved that for all the horrible things she had done over the years to not only her, but many others so.
It was around two hours until her shift for the day was over and still there had been nothing on anything to do with new information that was suppose to come for Jason circling around the office.
Carly was beginning to grow increasingly concerned and every time Tanner emerged out of her office, her eyes would be on the Lieutenant watching what she was doing and if there was any signs of progress from Jason's actions.
It wasn't until Tanner came back inside the building from outside, that Carly could that Tanner was now heading her actual way. Instead of wanting to look like a weirdo for watching her, Carly refocused her attention on the nearly finished report on her laptop screen and began to look busy.
Shen she heard a light tap at the door, Carly slowly turned her head to look over at it just as the Lieutenant stepped inside with her usual tight lip smile on her face. Carly's hand's dropped from the laptop keyboard and fell into her lap, the nerves growing in the pit of her stomach to find out what Tanner was wanting to see her for.
Dread came over her immediately wondering if she had somehow found out about her and Jason, she had gone over to his house and had integrated him, making him let slip that they were romantically involved with each other again.
But Carly could't think like that, especially when times were tense, she had to keep optimistic and instead wonder if they were considering Alison being a suspect in the murder of Mona still.
She sure hoped Jason had followed through with his plans.
"Hello, Carly," Tanner greeted her, wondering over to the desk she was sitting and then taking a seat in where Holbrook usually sat, "I hope I'm not bothering you, but this won't take too long."
"What can I help you with, Lieutenant Tanner?" Carly asked her politely, looking over at her at the end of the table and trying to hide her nerves.
"Well, I got a call earlier on today," Tanner informed her, the trainee's eyes widening a little at this and her stomach dropped, hoping this was caller was Jason, "some new information came in about Alison DiLaurentis. I'm bringing the witness in shortly for some questioning."
"Oh," Carly pretended to act surprised, she was slightly relieved that Jason had managed to follow through with it all, that was if it was even him of course, "What information is this?"
"According to the witness, they know of Alison's where about's the night Mona Vanderwall was murdered." Tanner explained to her.
Carly's relief was growing more and more, but then came the anxiety of Jason turning up here and them having to act like they didn't even know each other. That was going to be harder than sending his little sister down for murder of another teen.
"That is interesting." Carly commented, sitting up slightly and appearing enthused by this news.
When inside she was going insane about the outcomes of all of this.
"I thought so too," Tanner agreed, before she slowly began to get up from her seat, "I'd like you to join me for the questioning."
"Really?" Carly couldn't believe it, of all the questionings Tanner wanted her to be involved with, it had to be with a potential Jason, "Are you sure?"
"Of course, you've been getting involved lots recently," Tanner explained to her, her reasoning for wanting the girl involved, "I want you to try take lead on this one. I think you're ready."
Was this seriously happening right now?
Tanner wanted her involved in a questioning and not just be on the side lines, it was actually leading it and being the one to discuss the questions with the witness. Carly was freaking out inside, trying to hold it together on the out, but god this just a recipe for disaster.
When Carly went silent and was trying to process her thoughts, Tanner's eyebrows furrowed together as to why her trainee was acting this way, she thought she would be thrilled and jump at the chance, yet Carly was behaving the opposite.
"If that is obviously want you want, Miss Monroe," Tanner continued on, causing Carly to snap out of her worries, "I believe you are ready to take lead. I can guide you through it and jump in where appropriate, but I'd really like to see you lead."
"Of course it's what I want," Carly assured her, shaking her head slightly with nerves, "sorry, it's just such a shock to me."
Did Tanner know that Carly knew it was Jason coming in that evening?
She really hoped Tanner wasn't aware, otherwise it would mean a lot of explaining to do. But surely Tanner must have remembered that Carly and Jason must have some connection when Alison had teased her about it months back, no doubt Holbrook had also said something in one of their private conversations.
But Tanner was so eager for her to take control of the questioning and be the one to ask Jason questions. Maybe Tanner was trying to examine her instead and watch to see her mess up or show her true role in this whole case.
But Carly knew where she stood in this case. She was a detective inside the office and also outside. But she was also a friend to Spencer, not wanting to see a girl go down for something she didn't do. And a girlfriend to Jason, Alison's brother, not wanting him to suffer anymore of his family's actions.
"Well, it will only be small and probably not last very long," Tanner explained, heading over to the door, wanting to set up the meeting room, "the witness sounded very sure of themselves, so we won't have any problems with this."
"Great, that's good," She smiled at Tanner nervously, before she slowly wondered over to the door with her, "When will they be here?"
"Within the next few minutes," The Lieutenant informed her, standing in the door way, ready to get this meeting underway, "sorry I didn't come to tell you before, it was a last minute decision to have you involved, not that I didn't want you to, Miss Monroe, but it's just the person coming in I'm worried about."
"Why would you be worried?" Carly asked, trying to appear confused, when really she was actually freaking out now.
What the hell did Tanner actually know?
She was sure if Holbrook had dropped her in it, then she would do the exact same to him, but twice as hard.
"I just know that you know people in this on more of a friendly bases since you grew up here," Tanner explained, "I don't you to be put in a hard situation again like with Miss and Mrs Montgomery."
"As I assured you that day and still now, that wouldn't happen again," She promised her and also herself, Carly had to put her work first right now, "I'll remain professional at all times."
"I really hope so," Tanner told, as Carly gave her a small smile, before they heard Tanner's assistant call her from the main area of the foyer, altering her that the witness was now here, "That must be him. Meet me in meeting room 1 in five minutes."
Sheepishly smiling back at her boss, Carly watched as Tanner wondered off and met them in the middle of the foyer beside the front desk. When Tanner stepped out of the way and headed in the direction of another office, the person trailed behind them and she felt her stomach drop when they were revealed.
It was Jason. He had followed through with his plan. He had come here to be honest about Alison. She was proud of him for being brave, but it wasn't enough to ease her about him being here, when still no one was aware they were romantically inclined.
He hadn't spotted her yet, as she began to wonder back over to her desk, although she kept her eyes on him, wanting him to see her so he could feel slightly at ease that she would be about, but not wanting to put him off enough at what he had actually come here for.
When Tanner walked back out and then guided Jason toward's the hall, to head down to the meeting room, Jason's eyes caught with her own and the two of them stared at each other, before he disappeared down the hall leaving Carly alone in her office, trying to remain positive about this whole situation.
It might have seem like a small thing to others, but Carly and Jason being out like this in a really important place was a huge risk. Neither one of them could slip up, even just the slightest look in the wrong way would probably send Tanner filing her own investigation into their relationship. Carly already knew Toby and Spencer were watching her every move for different reasons.
So it didn't help that when Carly turned up to the meeting room a few minutes later to see Toby sat inside the room with Jason and Tanner, waiting for her to arrive and Tanner to set up the tv with a recording they had just got in today for evidence.
Once she was inside the room, Carly closed up the door and wondered over to take a seat opposite where Jason was. Tanner had pulled up a chair in front of where Jason was but to the side, so she could easily control the TV and also probably integrate Jason. Where as, Toby was stood behind Jason, his arms folded seriously and he kept his eyes flickering between Carly and the screen.
If her nerves had been mad the moment she had walked through into the station today, now they were off the scale and she was trying her hardest to keep her anxiety calm in this situation. She couldn't freak out and run out of the room. Tanner would be pissed at her and it would cause more drama she didn't want to deal with.
Once the TV was set up, Tanner took a seat on her chair and got out the remote, ready to hit play on the recordings they had gathered together this morning in their investigation. An investigation Carly had only found out about when she got to work earlier that afternoon and had read the report.
Now she was using the footage she was going to see as something to focus on and distract herself from the fact Jason was sat just inches away from her, the tension rising with every moment that past and Jason was even struggling not to glance over at the girl.
"Before we begin, I just want to introduce me and my team today," Tanner announced, "you know me of course, Lieutenant Tanner," Jason nodded slightly, "this is officer Cavanaugh and trainee Detective Monroe,"
Toby's eyes once again rolled down at Carly, who glanced up at him, wondering why he was so watchful of her. It was slightly driving her insane with his constant bad vibes towards her. She hadn't even done anything wrong. If anything, she'd be more than a help to his girlfriend than before,
"We'll be leading this meeting today, so any questions please do come to us."
"Great." Jason nodded, just wanting to get this over with.
"Let's begin," Tanner said, looking over at Toby and motioning for him to turn off the lights, in which he did as she then pressed play on the recordings, "Earlier on, Mrs Vanderwaal asked us to search the house again, and we found something, what we're unsure of,"
The recordings were showing two girls struggling against one another, like they were fighting with each other and trying to get the other one to stop. Both of them were dressed in all black clothing yet one of them was clearly Mona and the other was a blonde, with long hair and the same physique that resembled someone they all knew,
"but by you coming forward, Mr DiLaurentis, we think we might possibly be on to something," Tanner continued on informing him, "There was three cameras. This is the only relevant one. Mona put them in herself. The batteries ran down months ago, but they were working on thanksgiving."
Tanner's head turned over to look at Carly, urging her to go on and Carly had to put her detective head on, replacing the anxious girlfriend one, instead needing to do her job for today, "Is there anything about the attacker that is any way familiar to you?"
"It could be my sister," Jason responded keeping his eyes on the screen, he'd been a little surprised to hear Carly talk, just as shocked as he was when she walked in there, of course she would be in this meeting with them if she was on the case, "it could be Alison."
"How could it be your sister if Alison was with you and your father when the incident occurred?" Carly pressed further, though she clearly knew where Jason was that night.
"Because she wasn't with us," Jason admitted, slightly guilty for many reasons, "that was a lie."
"You're saying that Alison wasn't with you when Mona Vanderwaal was killed?" Tanner jumped in.
"That's right." Jason confirmed it.
"Thank you, Mr Dilaurentis," Tanner looked over at Toby, who then turned the lights back on and she hopped to her feet, "I will have detective Monroe walk you out."
Carly felt her eyes widen slightly at this, before she slowly climbed to her feet, just like Jason now was and sheepishly looked over at the girl. Tanner brushed past him, before she pulled open the door and ushered him out,
"Good night, Mr DiLaurentis."
Heading out of the door, Jason lead the way back into the main foyer of the station, whilst Tanner, followed by Toby and then Carly wondered behind him.
When they all arrived, Tanner turned to look at Jason, "We'll try keep you informed."
"Thanks," He nodded slightly, before looking over at the door, "Good night."
Coming up behind Jason who was now heading on out, Carly grabbed the door and held it open for him. Once he was outside and stood on the front of the station, before he could head down the steps, Carly grabbed hold of his elbow and pulled him with her.
She brought them over to behind a row of bushes outside the front of the station, it was dark out so no one would be able to see them from where they were. The only ways they would get caught was if someone came out from the front or was heading inside.
But right now, the were safe enough to talk and be them, rather than acting like they didn't even know each other.
"You came." Carly broke the silence between the pair.
"I know, I had to," He responded, keeping his voice low and quiet, not wanting anyone to find out they were there, "Alison came home not long after you left."
"What happened?" She asked, somewhat worried now.
"Not much, she just tried to make me not believe Spencer," Jason told her with a small shrug, "I obviously didn't listen to Alison. But it's also not nice basically giving in your sister to the cops."
"I know," Carly smiled sadly at him, "I get how you must be feeling. None of this is easy."
"I know," He agreed with her, before he moved his hand out and laid it on her shoulder, "you did so well in there."
"You think so?" She beamed, it was so lovely to hear him say that about her.
"Of course," Jason smirked back at her, glad they could still be like this despite everything, "the whole detective role is so sexy on you."
"Jason!" Carly exclaimed in a low whisper, a little colour flushing over her cheeks.
"What?" He smiled back at her innocently.
"Stop it," She giggled helplessly, before she stepped closer to him, "I finish in a few, why don't you go wait back at the apartment for me?"
"I can't, Carls," He declined the offer, causing disappointment to come over her immediately, "I want to be at home tonight in case anything happens. I doubt it will so soon, but I just think it might be weird if I'm no where to be found after tonight."
"No, you're right," Carly nodded slowly, somewhat understanding but also the sadness she still felt it to not have him with her tonight, "I get it."
"I'll see you soon though, yeah?" He asked hopeful, hoping he hadn't upset her too much.
"Of course," She reassured him, "and things will work out with this whole case. I always have to be optimistic and so should you."
"I'll try," Jason suggested, before he slowly lent over and pecked her lips lightly, not wanting to get too carried away or he would beg her to let him reconsider the offer, "Good night, Carls."
Pulling away from him in shock he had just done that so out in the open, though they were hidden, anyone could have just seen that. They could have looked like they were talking before, but now it was evident they were romantically involved with one another.
Turning away from her, Jason began his journey back down the steps outside the station and over to his car, wanting to head back home to just try relax and finish clearing up the mess of family pictures he had left out earlier.
Leaving Carly nothing else to do than emerge out of her hiding space a few seconds later and head back in, although she was met by officer Cavanaugh's watchful eyes on her again.
Sighing at how annoying that was becoming, Carly avoiding his glare on her and headed back over to her office, wanting to finish off the report, email it across and then go home for the night after the long day today.
When she stepped through into her office, she felt a presence behind her and when she turned around, Carly felt her irritated levels grow, "Toby. What can I do for you?"
"Just want to talk," He informed her, coming through into the office and slowly shutting the door behind himself, "if that's alright?"
"I guess it is now," Carly flashed a brief smile his way, before leaning against the desk and looking over at him, "what do you want to talk about?"
"Just what your game is?" Toby questioned her.
"My game?" Carly couldn't help but laugh lightly at this, was he serious right now? "What game?"
"Good cop during the day, bad cop at night."
Carly scoffed loudly at this, way too amused that Toby seriously thought she was playing a game, but also thought she'd been breaking the rules, "What?"
"Spencer might be too wrapped in all of this to see through you, but I do," He explained to her, "I don't understand where you stand in all of this. Things don't make sense nor do they add up."
"Woah, wait," Carly couldn't believe how he was behaving towards her, he still was acting shady around her and like he didn't trust her, but he had nothing to fear when she really was on his side, inside and outside of the station, "Toby, please. What's brought all this on? Remember when you first started here, we use to talk and actually get along."
"That was before you started helping Spencer out."
"Ok," She shook her head, so confused by him, he really had got the wrong impression of her, "but by helping her I'm not playing a game."
"What are you keeping from her though?" Toby asked.
"Does it matter to the both of you?" Carly shot back, somewhat irritated by this, she didn't really think it was appropriate for Toby to come in here demanding answers about her and her secrets, "Does Spencer want to know what I'm keeping from her?"
"I think she's puzzled by it all and would prefer answers."
"Well wouldn't we all want to know the truth behind everything in this messed up town and case," She was beginning to lose it, Carly hardly ever got angry, but god her levels of tolerence were growing smaller and smaller, "but it's impossible half of the time for us to understand anything. But I'm the least of your worries right now, so you don't need to be worrying about me."
"Don't we?"
"No," Carly assured him, letting out a loud sigh of distress at how Toby just couldn't trust her, "I know the both of you want to know what I know about Holbrook and what my big secrets are. But I've played my part now. Jason's come forward and it's done."
"So something is going on between you and Jason?" Toby pressed, after Spencer had suggested it a number of times to him and also he had noticed the tension between the two in the meeting room earlier on.
"I can't discuss that here," She told him, not wanting to open up about it, since they hadn't told anyone about them, nor did she want to even tell Toby of all people, "and especially not with you."
Turning around, Carly went over to her desk and began to shut down her laptop, wanting to get out of this office and blow off some steam. Toby had really pushed her too far tonight. If the day hadn't already been nerve wracking enough, now she had him coming in here quizzing her like she was guilty of something.
The only thing she was guilty of was getting herself way too involved with everyone else's drama.
Open watching her packing her stuff away, Toby got the message that she wasn't going to give him anymore information that evening. Plus if he grilled her too far, he knew word would get back to Spencer and his girlfriend wouldn't be happy that he had been rooting for answers without her permission.
Spencer didn't want conflict between the two and she wanted to keep Carly on their side, because she saw her as a massive help not as a detective, but as a friend and someone who knew a lot more than they were letting on.
Reopening up the door, Toby gave Carly one last look, hoping she might turn round and give him at least a hint to what she was hiding from them. But when she didn't, he knew there was no chance and instead he left the office to get on with his own work for the rest of the night.
Once Toby had gone, Carly run her fingers over her face in distress and exhaled loudly. She couldn't wait to get into bed tonight and sleep off the horrendous mood she was feeling right now. The only thing that was making that sound less appealing was the fact she'd be lonely tonight.
There would be no Jason and she didn't know if she wanted him to not be there. Part of her wanted to be there for him and in turn him be there for her. They always worked better as a team rather than a part.
Grabbing her bag and jacket, Carly headed out of her office and signed out for the day, before she made her way over to her car and hopped inside of it. Starting up the engine, she pulled away from the road side and began her riskily journey of heading to the DiLaurentis house.
Because she was so nervous of this decision going wrong, Carly took the long way to Jason's to psych herself up a little and think how she was going to actually get in without Kenneth or Alison seeing her.
She couldn't quite believe she was doing this and risking so much. But Carly just wanted to be with Jason for the night. She couldn't stand the thought of him sitting at home alone, fretting about what was going to happen to Alison and not having anyone to reassure him that things would be ok.
It was a huge risk and probably one of the worst decisions she could make. But if it all worked out, it would pay off and Jason would feel a lot better knowing she'd done for this for him, as well as having someone there to support him.
Plus she needed a big old rant to him about what Toby had said to her after Jason had left. It still angered her even whilst she was driving that he had been so integrating and had such a bad opinion of her.
In her eyes, she couldn't see what she had done that was so wrong for Toby to act this way towards her. Surely he should be a little kinder and respectful to her, if they did want to find out what she knew and also have her on their side. Because right now, he was surely going the wrong way about it all.
Just like she was by going to the DiLaurentis house.
She hoped that because it was so late into the evening, that with everything going on that maybe Alison would be out and Kenneth busy with trying to distract himself away from his children's dramas, that they wouldn't even realise Carly was going to be there.
Carly was planning on parking where she did earlier that day, keeping her lights down low and her movements quiet. When she got down Jason's road, she was planning on texting him to let him know she was outside and wanted to see him.
At least this way he would be prepared for her visit and would be able to work with her in ensuring she could come in with no one knowing she was there.
As Carly turned the track of the road that lead down to the DiLaurentis, Hastings and other homes down their road, the nerves in the pit of her stomach began to grow once again. The realisation that she was actually doing this hitting her hard.
Why was she always so reckless and irresponsible when it came to Jason?
But it wasn't until she ventured further down the track that she actually realised what a bad mistake she had made planning on coming there that night. Outside the DiLaurentis house, Carly could just about make out the sight of blue flashing lights, signalling to her that some form of emergency vehicles were outside.
It suddenly dawned on her that it had to be the police cars. It had to be Tanner coming to arrest Alison. She was shocked she had moved so fast on the matter, but if they didn't want to waste anymore time than they already had trying to find the murderer, then it made sense.
But why hadn't she been made aware of this? Why didn't she just take the normal route to the DiLaurentis?
Maybe then she would have seen them go past and could have said her all this trouble coming out of here for her to just get caught straight away.
She knew she needed to move out of there fast before they decided to head on back to the station. Quickly she emergency braked, then began to do a U-turn to try go back the way she had come.
Panic was flooding through her body at this point, but it wasn't nothing like the fear she felt seconds after. Once the car was back facing the right way, Carly pressed her foot down on the accelerator and tried to speed off out of there.
Suddenly flashes of bright beaming lights coming from the opposite direction, caused her to squint at the brightness coming from the other vehicle heading her way, it was putting her off the road so much and making it impossible for her to even see where she was going.
Beeping her horn at the rudeness of the other driver wasn't enough for the person to turn down their lights, with every seconds they got closer to Carly, she found herself losing control of the wheel, even more so when the car turned into her lane and was heading straight towards her.
Freaking out about how this was going to end for her, Carly made the decision on swerving out of the way and unfortunately due to her blindness from the bright lights from the other vehicle, sent her and her car flying straight into a tree up ahead.
The contact of the tree and her vehicle, caused her whole body to slam into the steering wheel in front of her, the seat belt tightening around her neck and giving her whiplash, the impact of the crash caused pain to erupt all over her body and the airbag thankfully managed to break her head from being smashed up more than it was.
As her head snapped back up to the head rest, Carly felt her vision begin to blur and the feeling of blood trickling out of the top of her forehead from a cut, caused her to break out into tears as to what just happened. The anxiety regarding the crash suddenly hit her and sent her into a panic attack.
But the panic attack wasn't enough to keep her awake, the shock, the fear and the pain taking over her body. Within seconds, Carly felt her head begin to sway and her vision go dotted, before it wasn't long before her surroundings went quieter and she was plunged into a sea of darkness.
Leaving the girl's limp body sat in the drivers side of the car that was stuck against the tree trunk, the driver of the other car had spun around and drove out of there, leaving Carly alone and the hope of someone coming to rescue her hanging in the balance.
Author note: Hello! Back again this week with another new part. I am honestly loving writing this story so much at the moment, so I really hope you are also enjoying it.
Special big thanks to RHatch89, Elliebelle4444 and HOAfan8509 for reviewing the last part. There's going to be a lot of drama coming up near the trial. I'm so close to writing those parts now and looking forward to sharing more with you guys.
I'd love to hear what you thought about this part.
Thanks so much,
guiltypleasurexo