Well, this has been a far longer journey than I anticipated. It's been so long that I doubt any of my original readers are still here, but if you are, thank you for sticking with me. And for anyone who made it this far, whether you read the story all at once or even just skimmed the good bits, thank you. I'm not as active in the fanfiction community as I used to be, but my readers still mean the world to me. So thank you all, and I hope this epilogue does justice to the A-Team Spoby prompt I received all those years ago.
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The next week was a never-ending series of revelations, decisions, and repercussions. It wasn't until exactly a week after Wren was taken away that the entire group was together again – Spencer, Aria, Hanna, Emily, and even Caleb and Toby. They were at Spencer's house, which was easily the biggest, although she'd been surprised when everyone had accepted her invitation. Meeting up had originally been Aria's idea, but Spencer had been quick to jump on board. She hadn't really talked to her friends in a week, and she was desperate to know where she stood with them.
Once they were all there, Spencer cleared her throat. She knew that she should be leading this meeting, given her part in everything that had gone down during the confrontation with Wren, but she didn't know where to start. Her friends all knew what she'd done, and even though nobody said anything, she could still see the hurt in their eyes.
Toby, meanwhile, watched the proceedings with a quiet kind of curiosity. He and Spencer had spoken in-depth about what had happened, and after a lot of tears and more confessions, they came to an understanding. What was done was done, and they couldn't do anything about it now. They were going to move forward, and they were going to do it together.
"I take it you all heard about Wren," she said, and her words were met with various sounds of agreement.
"I still can't believe he faked all of his credentials," Aria said quietly. She'd ignored Spencer's calls all week, but had then called her last night out of the blue. Spencer had been caught off-guard, expecting a confrontation and instead being met with an invitation, but she hadn't wanted to turn the chance down.
"And that Ali knew about it." Hanna rolled her eyes, apparently fed up with the amount of secrets Ali had kept from them.
"Which is what ended up getting her killed," Emily finished. They'd all heard the story by now, since Wren had confessed everything a couple of days ago, but it was still taking a while to sink in.
Spencer crossed her arms, her gaze drifting between her friends. None of them met her eyes, but they didn't deliberately look away either. Baby steps, she reminded herself for the hundredth time today. "And she told him that one of us knew about it, but he killed her anyway and went after us."
"All of us," Aria added, "because he didn't know which one knew about it."
Hanna snorted. "Even though none of us actually knew anything. Typical Ali."
Toby stayed silent while the girls talked about Wren's motives; he'd heard the story too, and he'd talked to Spencer about it as soon as they found out, and he had nothing more to say. It had never really mattered to him what the A-Team's motive was. He had wanted in, and he'd got it – and had then had a hand in their destruction. He didn't regret what he'd done, exactly, but as he was sitting here he thought that he didn't even hate the girls anymore. He wasn't fond of them, really, but he'd had his revenge. He was willing to let bygones be bygones. Despite what Mona seemed to think, the girls had suffered enough.
Once they'd said all they could about Wren and the depths of his hatred, the girls fell silent. Then Spencer took a deep breath and turned to the boys. "Would you guys mind waiting in the kitchen? I just need to…"
She didn't finish her sentence, but they understood and were on their feet at once.
"Of course," Toby said, quickly kissing her cheek as he followed Caleb out to the kitchen. They knew that the girls needed to talk things through, and that they needed to do it alone.
This was the first time Spencer had been alone with just her friends since before what happened with Wren, and she was acutely aware of the fact that they were all looking at her. But to her great relief, Aria spoke before she had to come up with something to say.
"I don't agree with what you did," she said bluntly. "It was selfish, and stupid, and I'm not sure I can ever forgive you for it."
Spencer felt her heart sink; she'd known this was coming, but somehow she still wasn't prepared for it.
"You should have come to us," Hanna said. There was less anger in her voice than there had been in Aria's, but she still sounded hurt. Spencer didn't blame her.
"We could have helped," Emily added. Of the three girls, she seemed the most willing to forgive, but Spencer knew it was only because of her fierce loyalty – it didn't matter whether Spencer actually deserved her forgiveness, or even her friendship.
"I know." Spencer bit her lip, trying to think of how to explain it all. Every step of the way she had questioned her decisions, but she had always felt she was making the necessary choices. But now, having to justify herself to her friends, she wasn't so sure she'd done the right thing after all. It didn't seem to matter that she'd been trying to protect them, or that she had never really wanted to hurt them. The fact was that she had hurt them, and even if they forgave her for that, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. "I wish I could make it up to you guys, but I know I can't," she went on. She paused, still not sure what she wanted to say but knowing she needed to keep talking. "I know I screwed up, and I am so, so sorry for that. I shouldn't have gone behind your backs, I shouldn't have joined the A-Team… I shouldn't have let any of this happen."
"No, you shouldn't have," Hanna said curtly, and for once no one stepped in to tell her to be tactful.
"I just need you guys to understand that I was doing what I thought was right," she continued as if Hanna hadn't spoken. "I don't need you to forgive me, but I just… I need you to understand."
The girls shared a look, and Spencer tried to interpret the silence. And before they even said it, she realized: they'd talked about all this. She may not have spoken to any of them for a week, but they'd clearly been in contact with each other. And they'd talked about her. She had no right to feel hurt, but she did feel a little uneasy. What if they'd already decided that they didn't want to see her again? Was she about to lose all her friends in one go?
"We get it," Aria said, speaking for the others as if they'd already nominated her as their representative. Spencer wondered how much they'd talked about this. "We're not happy, but we get it." She paused, glanced at Emily and Hanna, and then turned back to Spencer. "And we're willing to give you a chance."
"You… are?" Spencer managed to breathe out through her shock. She hadn't expected this. She'd braced herself for the worst, but here was a scenario that was better than she'd even hoped for. "Really?"
"Yes." Aria's voice was firm, but there was something softer behind it, something almost friendly. "You're still our friend, even though…" She trailed off, shook her head slightly, and then gave Spencer something like a smile. "We've all been through a lot, but I'm not one to give up so easily."
"Neither am I," Emily said. She gave Spencer an actual smile, soft, encouraging, enough to make Spencer smile in response.
"You're our friend," Hanna said after a moment's hesitation, "and that's how it's going to stay."
And in that moment, Spencer knew it was going to be okay. It would be a long journey, but she and her friends would be okay. They may never get back to where they were before, but that was okay too. They were still friends, and that was what mattered.
Long after Aria, Emily, and Hanna left, Toby was still there. He and Spencer were sitting on the sofa, not talking, just holding hands. There was some kind of sitcom playing on the television, but neither of them were paying much attention to it. After a while Spencer turned it off and faced Toby, their hands still intertwined and a worried look on her face.
"We're going to be okay, right?" she asked.
Toby didn't answer right away. He knew Spencer needed reassurance, that she was still seeking stability after all that had happened, and he knew he was the one who was supposed to give it to her. What he didn't know was how. It seemed like Spencer and her friends were on speaking terms at least, although they still had a long way to go before they were anything like they were before. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand he wanted Spencer to be happy, and if that meant being with her friends then he should be in favor of that. But on the other hand, being with her friends meant that she felt farther away from him.
"We're going to be fine," he said at last, bringing Spencer's hand up to his mouth and kissing it gently. A pale pink blush spread across her cheeks, exactly the way it had the first time he'd done it, so long ago – a lifetime ago.
"And you still love me, don't you?" she pressed. There was a glint of uncertainty in her eyes.
"I still love you," Toby said, his mouth inches away from her hand. He lowered it and met her eyes. "I will always love you."
Spencer smiled slightly, leaning back against the sofa again. "Good," she murmured. "Good."
Knowing it wasn't enough, Toby squeezed her hand gently and kept talking. "In fact, after you graduate, we're going to get a little apartment in New York," he went on. Spencer's smile grew, her eyes brightening.
"Really?" she asked, amused.
"Really." Toby smiled back, squeezing her hand again. "I'm going to join a construction crew, and you're going to go to college. You'll major in something like Philosophy or Art History, just because you can." He paused as Spencer laughed, and his heart swelled as he realized that despite everything, he could at least still make his girlfriend laugh.
"Tell me more," Spencer said, resting her head against his shoulder.
Toby stroked her hair, thinking. "We'll get a dog," he said decisively. "I'll want something big, like a mastiff or a Dalmatian, but you'll want a terrier. We'll compromise and get a spaniel."
Spencer snickered. "Go on," she said, curling into him. "What else does our future hold?"
Still stroking her hair, Toby smiled. "Well, we're going to spend Christmas with your family," he said, and Spencer pulled a face. "But we're going to wish we were home alone. Our apartment will be two bedrooms – one for us and a guest room, so the girls can stay whenever they want. The spaniel will sleep on the bed with us, and I'll always have dinner waiting for you when you get home from college…"
He kept talking, his soft voice and gentle words putting Spencer at ease as he painted a picture of their future. And as they lay there together, Spencer nuzzling into him and Toby wrapping his arm around her, they both realized that this was what they wanted. The past was gone, and they'd done what they'd done. It was time to move on. And for the first time in a long time, Spencer allowed herself to think that she really could have the kind of happy future Toby was imagining.
Because as she lay there next to the man she loved, with the worst behind her and her friends still by her side, Spencer couldn't help but think that anything was possible.
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Thanks again, everyone, and I'll see you all around.