A/N: You might have noticed that the word count for this chapter isn't the normal Shakespearean length. Long story short, this chapter was originally 16k words and WAY too long, so in the editing process I decided to split it so you don't drown in word soup.

That being said, don't fret, because more words WILL be coming at you very soon. I plan to get Chapter 22 out pretty damn quick. Like…the next 24 hours quick. So read up. And look for another update this weekend. As always, thanks for your support. Your reviews make me smile.

Chapter 21:

Frenemies

Hanna had an outfit for everything, including stealth. Alison was impressed with her casual dress-down. She somehow made stalking look sexy. Alison wondered why she hadn't seen how pretty Hanna was before now. Maybe she had been jealous of her. Maybe she'd been attracted to her, but had been frustrated about it. Maybe if she had kissed Hanna instead of kicking her around they would have been better friends.

She never would have dreamed that she'd be in a car with Hanna behind the wheel, especially not her car, but here they were. It had been a really intense twenty-four hours. Alison was still trying to process everything. Emily had been so kind and understanding about everything. She had been her rock. The girl was a force of nature in every way possible. Alison was convinced she was superhuman.

Hanna glanced over and saw Alison lost in the screen of her phone. She had been tracking the twins' location. Hanna suspected that it was a power grab...that she was trying to channel all of her focus on her anger rather than to think about the fact that someone had taken advantage of her last night.

Alison reached up and rubbed her right eye. Even with the foundation she'd applied, Hanna could still see the dark circles underneath her eyes. Alison really had looked pitiful when Emily dragged her into the house. Hanna hadn't known what to expect when she got Emily's call. She just assumed that Alison had run off to party her troubles away like she had in the past.

When she found out the truth she felt bad for jumping to the wrong conclusion. She didn't exactly have a lot of love for Alison, but she hated that someone had drugged her. It was fucked up. And even though they weren't close...she wanted the person responsible to pay for it. So if Alison thought that the twins were involved and that it would lead them to answers she was ready to jump into the fight in solidarity with her.

"How's the hangover?" Hanna asked as she turned down the street.

"It's mostly rage now." Alison opened Mindy's Instagram.

There was a new picture of the two of them with Noel. He was sandwiched in the middle with a huge grin on his face. He always had been full of himself. They were all squeezed in together, smiling. They were still at the bakery. Every time she looked at a picture of the twins she felt like putting her fist through their faces. She knew they were up to something. She hated that they were ever friends in the first place. They were toxic.

"So the ibuprofen worked?"

"My headache is gone. I'm motivated by pure hatred at this point. My blood is full of vengeance." Alison unconsciously started grinding her teeth.

"Okay. Creepy."

"Can't you go any faster? They're not going to stay at the bakery forever."

"Calm down, Fast and the Furious. We're almost there."

A message popped up on Alison's screen. It was Emily checking in on her.

I hope Hanna is taking good care of you. How are you feeling?

Alison's rage dissipated a bit. Emily was such a sweetheart. Alison could be having the worst day in the world and all it would take to make it better was one thought of her girlfriend. It's how she knew she was in love. Because the girl consumed every part of her soul.

I have locked the babysitter in the closet and am now running wild in the house.

Glad you're feeling better. Don't be too hard on Hanna. It takes way too long to break in a new best friend. Be nice, Ali.

Alison glanced over at the blonde in the driver's seat. She had no idea how Emily and Hanna had become such close friends. Then again, she had no idea how she'd ended up madly in love with Emily in a matter of months. Emily just had that pull to her. She was that person who made people feel like they'd known one another forever. She made people feel special.

Ugh, fiiine. I'll be a good girl.

Good. Save the naughty Ali for me.

She'd followed it up with a wink emoji. Alison grinned, her cheeks hot. She quickly retorted.

You going to spank me if I'm bad?

"You talking to Emily?" Hanna saw her texting out of the corner of her eye.

"Huh?"

When she looked up Hanna saw the expression on her face. Her cheeks were bright red. She looked like a child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh, God, are you two sexting?" She cringed.

Alison stared at Hanna in surprise. Her perception was on point.

"She's just checking on me," Alison lied.

"Yeah, sure." Hanna didn't buy it. She grinned.

The rest of the drive was quiet. When they got to town they parked in an alley adjacent to the bakery. They were hidden, but they could still see what was going on. Alison squirmed in the passenger seat.

"Would you stop fidgeting?" Hanna looked over at her. "God, I swear you're worse than a child."

"I have a psychopath after my girlfriend and her baby, and I was drugged last night. I've earned the right to be a little antsy."

Hanna paused for a beat and then nodded.

"Fair enough. Continue." She took a sip of her coffee.

"That's like your third cup, isn't it? Your blood has got to be like 80% caffeine at this point."

"I've developed a tolerance over the years." Hanna shrugged. "Perks of having a barista boyfriend." She put the cup in the cup-holder. "You know, the funny thing is I used to hate coffee."

"You hated coffee?" Alison uttered with a laugh. She couldn't imagine Hanna Marin without her accessory coffee cup in her hand.

If a Hanna doll was ever made she would come complete with a to-go java.

"After I met Caleb I couldn't stay away from The Brew. I always felt like an asshole just sitting there and flirting with him and never ordering anything, so I started ordering a regular brew and choking it down." Hanna casually glanced at her nails, frowning at a chip in the paint. "He could tell I didn't like it, so he kept trying to change it up. I finally admitted that I just wasn't a coffee fan and he took that as a challenge. He said he'd find me the perfect blend. And he did."

Alison had never known that about the two of them. It was kind of cute.

"He's really putting a lot on the line for us." Alison shifted in the passenger's seat.

"He is." Hanna nodded.

Alison had never considered what it must be like to be in Hanna's or Caleb's shoes. She wondered if the tables were turned if she'd have the decency to help them if they needed it.

"It's not like he's a stranger to taking risks. He started his side hustle up again after he got out of juvie. It's nothing fancy. He just sells burners and helps kids break their parental locks on their phones and creates spoof apps that their parents can't find so if they want to talk to their friends about something private they can. It's important to him that kids have a safety net."

"Because he never did." Alison glanced at the floorboard solemnly.

"He doesn't like to talk about it. But yeah. Things would have been a lot easier for him if he had a confidant."

It was hard for Alison to comprehend Caleb's upbringing. Her family had been shitty, but at least she'd never gone without the necessities. She always had what she needed and more. It humbled her a bit…thinking about the working class.

It made her think about a conversation she'd had with Emily about being kind to everyone. The night she'd told Alison about her pregnancy they'd gone to grab a bite to eat. Alison had been rude to the girl who took their order. She remembered Emily knocking her down a peg for being snotty and entitled. She'd told Alison, "That could be me in a year."

She'd seen Emily work hard for everything she had. It made Alison appreciate the value of things. Her priorities had shifted. Emily had certainly changed her world view. She'd made her look beyond herself.

Alison used to look down on people like Caleb. Now she understood there was more to life than money and power. She understood that things like love and friendship were worth more than anything money could buy.

"Do you ever worry about him getting caught?" Alison questioned.

"I knew what I was getting into when we started going out. I mean, we did meet in the police station."

"Seriously?" Alison snorted. "What exactly did you get busted for? Wearing a skirt that was too short and being mistaken for a prostitute?"

"I would never hone in on your territory. Your street corner is safe." Hanna grinned. "I actually got taken in for shoplifting."

"Oh." It surprised Alison. Hanna's mom made decent money. Stealing was beneath her. "Why were you shoplifting?"

"I liked the rush. It made me feel like I had some control in my life." There was a quiet sadness in her voice. She looked down and picked at her chipped nail. "It was kind of a rough time for me. I'd just found out that my dad started a whole new family without me. Perfect wife. Perfect stepford stepdaughter. They live their stupid perfect little lives out on the beach. He had the nerve to send us a Christmas card with his new family."

"What a dick." Alison could sympathize with feeling like an unwanted child. She understood what it was like to have absentee parents.

"It was like the ultimate 'fuck you'. Between that and you teasing me about my weight at school…"

Alison looked away, her cheeks hot and red. She was ashamed of the way she'd treated Hanna. She was ashamed of the way she'd treated everyone.

"I never should have done that. I never should have started that whole 'Hefty Hanna' thing."

Hanna flinched when she heard Alison's old nickname for her. It had really done a number on her when they were younger.

"Whatever. It's in the past." But Alison could tell that it still bothered her.

"It's not though." Alison traced her finger against the center console nervously. "I didn't realize that the things I said and did…I didn't realize that it would break people…or that it would stay with them for the rest of their lives. I get it now. I think about what this person is doing to Emily. I know she thought it was me last night. And I realized…it could have been me. I was like that. It's not that far of a leap to make."

"I thought it was you, too." Hanna admitted. "For a little while. Ever since you two started going out I've been worried you would hurt Emily the same way you hurt everyone else." Hanna's eyes darted down. She chewed on her lip nervously. "Your bullying really did get out of hand. I know sometimes I'm hard on you. But it's only because I've seen what you've done in the past. You know...Mona...she...she wanted to kill herself at one point because of all that stuff you said about her being a loser. She started to believe it. She thought she was worthless. She planned it out and everything."

"What?" Alison straightened up in her seat.

She felt sick to her stomach. It was a horrifying thought. And what was even more horrifying is that she wasn't sure that she would have cared back then. Had she really been so self-absorbed that no one else's life mattered? She probably wouldn't have batted an eye. She wouldn't have seen that she'd done anything wrong. But now...now all she could feel was a tidal wave of remorse. She had the urge to hug Mona the next time she saw her. She wanted her to know that she was glad she was alive. She wanted her to know that she belonged in the world.

"She reached out to some guy to buy some drugs. She's wickedly smart. She knew exactly how much would kill her. She calculated the dose. If I hadn't gone over to her house with muffins that morning..." Hanna's face twisted in pain. "I talked her out of it. But I'll never forget the look on her face."

"I...I didn't know."

"No one knows." Hanna slowly faced her. "No one knows any of this, because none of us talk about it. But I'm thinking that maybe we should. Because it makes it more real. Maybe people need to understand how their actions affect other people. Maybe part of the problem is we don't talk. I mean, I can't speak for Mona. I don't know whether or not she'd want you to know this. So please don't tell her."

"I promise." Alison nodded, swallowing a knot in her throat. There was a long period of silence. "Hanna, you never tried to hurt yourself, did you?"

Hanna sighed. She looked conflicted about answering.

"Not in the same sense. But I..." she swallowed hard. "I did end up in a psych ward for a month one summer because I developed an eating disorder."

Alison felt a wave of regret washing over her. The remorse was like an angry sea dragging her under the surface and pulling her in several different directions. She wished she could go back and take a completely different path.

"Jesus. Hanna, I'm so sorry..." She reached out and touched her arm. "If I could go back I never would have done those things..."

"I know," Hanna slowly lifted her eyes. "Why were you so mean?"

Alison could see the vulnerable little chubby girl she used to tease. She could see the pain she'd caused. She had never considered the consequences of her actions. She had never considered that something as simple as a snide comment could stick with someone forever or twist their sense of self-worth into such a feeling of emptiness.

"I'm still trying to figure that out." Alison admitted. "It's like I told you before…part of it was because my parents were never there. And when they were there they treated me more like a prop than their daughter. And it made me mad when I saw other people happy. When I realized that I could manipulate people's feelings I realized how powerful it made me feel."

She pulled her hand away from the center console and glanced at Hanna, who seemed intrigued in hearing what she had to say.

"Some of it probably stems from trying to figure myself out, too. Like…when I first started liking girls I was so confused. I never hated myself or anything. I just…didn't know how to express my feelings. I don't know that I've ever understood how healthy relationships work. I've been cat-called by my brother's friends since I was like eight. It was intimidating, but it also made me feel good about myself at the same time."

"Your brother's friends are really shitty people, Ali. You didn't deserve that."

"Yeah…"

Alison plopped back against the seat and laid her head against the headrest. She had never really taken the time to reflect about it. Maybe it was easier talking to Hanna about it than it was for her to face it herself.

"It kind of shaped me, I guess. I liked feeling good. I liked being on top. So it's about control…maybe? I don't know. All I know is that I think about all the awful things I've done and then I think about how I'd feel if someone treated Emily's daughter like that…" Her face felt like it was on fire. She pictured a tiny vulnerable little girl. And she pictured people like Ian. And Wilden. And herself. Her hands started to shake. "It makes me feel sick. If anyone ever hurt Emily or the baby the way I hurt you and Mona and Mike…" Alison clenched her jaw. "I'd take a baseball bat to their skull. Forget cute little meetcutes in the police precinct over shoplifting and hacking. I'd be behind bars for real. Because I'd kill them."

Hanna pursed her lips and lifted her brows, a subtle look of approval on her face.

"I don't doubt that," she replied.

The car was quiet for a few minutes. Alison stared at her phone. She was starting to understand just how awful it was to be on the other end of a bully. She was starting to get a taste of her own medicine.

It was terrifying that someone had infiltrated her privacy. It made her skin crawl to think about how much worse things could have been. A chill crept up her spine. Goosebumps popped up all over her body. She had been unconscious with a psychopath. She could have been hurt. She could have been killed.

"How are you doing?" Hanna didn't miss her tension.

"I'm a little bored, actually." Alison frowned, looking out the window. "I thought this stakeout would be more productive."

"Like 90% of a stakeout is sitting and waiting…" Hanna laughed when she saw the 'how do you even know that?' look on Alison's face. "I've been the lookout for Caleb a time or two while he runs his side hustle. But you missed the point entirely. I want to know how you are doing. I mean…last night. That's…" Hanna shook her head. "It's just super invasive and violating."

"I'm mostly just pissed off at myself. I mean…yeah, I'd like to throw some punches at who did it, but I'm also not blind to the fact that I was stupidly reckless."

"We're all stupidly reckless sometimes. That doesn't make what happened to you okay." Hanna had a pensive look on her face. "The shit with Wilden. The shit with Ian. The shit that happened last night…you know none of that is on you, right? People don't have the right to mess with other people's lives just because they're acting stupidly reckless."

Hanna's bout of kindness surprised Alison. Her confusion must have been written all over her face, because Hanna bit her lip and then added,

"I had an experience once, too," she explained. "People don't know how common it really is. And it's not always in-your-face."

"What happened?"

"Caleb and I were at dinner one night and the place was really packed. This guy kept looking at me and smiling. He was a total creepo. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came out he was walking through the crowd. He brushed his hand against my ass when he walked by. Caleb saw. He punched him. He was going to beat the shit out of him, but the guy threatened to press charges and I didn't want Caleb going back to juvie."

Alison peered at her in surprise.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything before. I kind of froze when I saw Ian acting like a jackass at the party. I had a flashback to the restaurant."

"Is that why Caleb wouldn't let Mike beat Ian's ass?"

"Caleb looks out for his friends." Hanna nodded. "Sometimes at his own expense."

"Yeah, Emily is the same way." Alison bit her lip. She thought about the scabs she'd seen on Emily's hands this morning. She said she'd gotten them from boxing, but Alison wasn't sure she believed her. "Did she seem like she was okay to you back at the house?"

"Emily always seems like she's okay. It's part of her personality."

"A lot of that is an act." Alison could feel it in their touch. She knew there was a lot that Emily wasn't saying.

"I know." Hanna nodded. "But with people like Emily and Caleb I've found that the path of least resistance is the best way to go. The harder you push the faster they pull away."

"It makes me so angry that someone is doing this to her." Alison scowled through the front windshield.

Hanna perked up because she saw movement. It was the twins.

"Maybe you can work some of your aggression out on them."

Cindy and Mindy sauntered out of the bakery. Noel was nowhere to be seen. They walked eerily in sync.

"Bitches on the move." Alison jutted her chin up towards the twins.

They watched them cross the street and walk over to a vacant lot with an empty building for lease. Sometimes kids snuck inside to drink or get freaky with each other, but considering they were going inside together Alison assumed that's not what they were doing…unless they were in some weird familial sex cult…

Alison shook her head and shoved the image out of her mind. She glanced at Hanna, who looked equally disturbed.

"Come on." Alison reached for the door handle.

Hanna followed her lead. They tried to be inconspicuous as they crossed the street. They went around to the side of the building to look through the windows. The girls were talking to someone in the shadows.

They had to wait a few minutes to get a better view. The person in the darkness stepped forward. Alison and Hanna stumbled back from the window when they saw his face.

Wilden.

Alison let out an instinctive snarl. She sneered as she turned to storm towards the side door. She was ready to give all three of them a piece of her mind.

Hanna grabbed Alison's arm and shushed her before she could do something stupid. She pointed to the window.

"We'll learn more if they don't know we're here. We can follow them and beat them up afterwards."

Alison knew she was right. So she stood at the window and watched the twins giggle and laugh and chat with him. Alison felt her stomach churning.

Why the hell were they meeting with him? Why wasn't he behind bars? How was the police force not all over him? How was he meeting with underage girls again?

"Do you think it's been him all along?" Hanna asked. "You think they have something to do with it?"

"I don't know what they're up to, but with him it's never good." She rubbed her forehead with her palm.

"Why him?" Hanna whispered. "Why them?"

"Probably because they're the only people in town who hate me more than you do."

Alison said it with such conviction that it made Hanna stop and stare. She looked disappointed, which was weird for Hanna, because she didn't know that Alison actually cared.

Hanna touched her arm softly, forcing Alison to look at her.

"I don't hate you, Alison," she said. "I'm just…mildly annoyed by your presence." It made Alison laugh. "But like…if something happened to you I'd be sad. Not cry over your coffin sad or anything, but I'd get misty-eyed when Amazing Grace played."

"God, I never realized you were so morbid." Alison chuckled under her breath.

"Like you would cry at my funeral?" Hanna lifted a brow in curiosity.

"I might." She saw Hanna glare at her. "Okay, yeah, it wouldn't be worth ruining my mascara."

They saw the twins moving towards the door. Wilden started slinking in the opposite direction. Hanna and Alison ducked underneath the window. They heard the door close and Cindy and Mindy chatting. They weren't close enough to hear what they were saying.

Hanna cautiously lifted her head and peeked in the window. Her eyes widened.

"Shit." Hanna grabbed Alison's arm. "Shitshitshit." She uttered. "He's coming this way."

She pulled Alison towards the back of the building. Seconds later they heard the side door open. Alison tripped over her feet and tumbled to the ground, taking Hanna with her. It was cold and hard from the frost. It made Alison regret that she wasn't wearing layers. It was ironic that she'd bitched at Emily not to go out in the cold, and now she was sitting outside freezing her ass off.

They heard footsteps approaching, and they thought they'd been caught. But after a few seconds the crunching of the shoes against the cold ground went in the opposite direction.

Hanna crawled towards the edge of the building. She didn't hear anything, so she took a quick peek. The coast was clear. She breathed a sigh of relief. She turned around and she realized that the blonde hadn't moved.

"You okay?" Hanna asked.

"Just a little frostbite." Alison dusted herself off.

"Not what I meant." She glanced towards where Wilden had disappeared.

She knew that Alison had a legitimate reason to be bothered by seeing Wilden. Alison put on a brave facade, but Hanna had seen the broken look on her face the day Emily punched Wilden in the cafeteria. Wilden had hurt her in ways that couldn't be seen by the naked eye.

"You know, I didn't think he'd get a life sentence or anything, but I was hoping he'd at least see some consequences for his actions." Alison stuck her lip out, scowling in no general direction. "He shouldn't be free to walk around."

"Maybe he won't be much longer." Hanna pulled her phone out of her sleeve.

Alison had to do a double take. Hanna pulled up a shaky video of the twins meeting a sexual predator who was supposed to be on probation.

"Hanna Marin, I could kiss you." Alison grabbed the phone.

"Please don't." Hanna slowly reached for the phone back. She looked at the video. "Maybe if we figure out what Cindy and Mindy are up to we'll get answers as to whether or not they're involved in what's going on with you and Em."

They carefully crept around the building, peering out to make sure that no one was waiting to spring a trap on them. They saw Wilden step off of the curb and climb into the back seat of a dark grey car down the street. There was movement from the other side of the car, but an illegally parked van was obscuring the other side of the vehicle.

A gust of wind whizzed through the air and Alison saw the faint flutter of something that made her skin prickle.

A red coat.

Someone else climbed into the car with Wilden. It was hard to see from a distance, but it looked like someone was in the front seat, too.

Alison saw Hanna snap a picture. The urge to kiss her returned. At least one of them was thinking clearly.

The car started to pull away. Alison grabbed Hanna's arm and they rushed back towards their car. They thought if they were quick enough they could find a way to tail them. But by the time they scrambled into Alison's car, Wilden and his posse were long gone.

"Damn it!" Alison angrily slammed her hands against the dashboard.

"Easy. You wouldn't want to break a nail," Hanna said.

"Why are you so calm?" Alison asked in frustration.

Hanna had a grin on her face that made Alison want to slap her.

"Because my boyfriend knows how to hack traffic cams. Now that we know what the car looks like and which direction it was going it's only a matter of time before we find it on CCTV."

"Oh." Alison felt the surge of anger dissipating. She'd been so riled up that she hadn't even considered that. "You're surprisingly good at this."

"Annoys you a little bit, doesn't it?" Hanna chuckled.

"Annoys me a lot." Alison corrected her.

"Look, I know you're freaked out about this, but you've got to pull it together." Hanna faced Alison.

"I'm sorry, but do you have a psycho after you?" Alison retorted.

"Of course you have a reason to be on edge. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that it's about more than that. This is about Emily. And her baby. I get that you're scared. And I get that you've been through a lot. I can't even imagine…" She trailed off, "I know I'd freak out if I'd been drugged, too. But Emily is going through a lot, too. And she needs you right now. She needs you more than you need whatever coping mechanisms are in your repertoire. You are way smarter than you've been acting."

Hanna was right. And Alison hated that she was right. She frowned at her, but then her face softened. Hanna was trying to look out for her girlfriend. That struck a chord in her.

"You really care about her, don't you?" Alison questioned.

"When we were little she was one of the only people in my life who made me feel special. I never forgot how kind she was to me. She's just a genuinely good person."

"Yeah. I get that."

"You two work on a level that I don't get, but I'm not blind to it. It's clear you love her. And she's crazy about you. And the only way you're going to get through this is by working through it together."

Alison pressed her lips together, peering at Hanna with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Do you think I'm good enough for her?"

"What I think isn't really relevant."

"It's a yes or no question, Hanna." She wanted a truly unbiased opinion. She knew that Hanna wouldn't hold back.

"Of course you are. Don't be an idiot." Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me what you think I want to hear just for Emily's sake." Alison argued.

"Oh, believe me, I'm not filtering anything. I mean it. It's just that you're so busy trying to fix things and make things perfect that you haven't realized that things don't have to be perfect. You're so busy looking at yourself that you don't see the way that Emily looks at you. You need to stop focusing on what you think you're doing wrong and focus on what you're doing right."

Alison blinked in surprise. She'd never really seen if from that viewpoint. Hanna was right. She'd been working on trying to please Emily since she'd rolled into town. She'd never once stopped to consider that maybe Emily loved her for her, and that as long as she tried to be her best self…that would never change.

"You ever consider a career in counseling?" Alison questioned.

"God, no." Hanna scoffed. "I don't have the tact. Or the patience. I wouldn't last a day before telling someone to cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it."

"Sometimes tough love is the best love." Alison shrugged.

"And sometimes people are just depraved sociopathic narcissists sneaking around in warehouses and meeting underage girls." Hanna glanced at the photo on her phone.

"Can you see anything?" Alison questioned.

"License plate is blocked by that stupid van." Hanna frowned. "I can't tell if it's an Uber or not."

"Did you see the girl?" Alison asked.

"What girl?"

"The girl in the red coat. The one who got in the car after Wilden."

Hanna shook her head.

"I couldn't see anything over the van. Are you sure someone else got in the car?"

"Positive." The red coat couldn't be a coincidence. "I think it's Courtney. I think she's here. We have to warn Emily."

"Courtney…that's her ex's sister, right? The one all the way back in Texas?" Hanna reminded her of the distance. "What would she be doing here? And how would she even be here? I don't think many high-schoolers are free to just hop from state to state during the school year."

"I know, but I just have this feeling. I can smell a bitch from a mile away."

"There are tons of bitches right here in town. It was probably Cindy or Mindy."

"Hanna, you're supposed to be a fashion guru. Did you not look at what they were wearing? Neither one of them had on a red coat."

"You're right." Hanna pointed to a little boutique.

Through the large glass window they could see the twat twins browsing the items. Alison frowned. She knew the boutique well. It was very pricey, and Cindy and Mindy had always been bargain bin barbies. Their parents didn't make enough for fancy designer things.

"I've never seen them shop there in my life." Alison pinched her brow in thought. "Their parents aren't exactly rolling in dough."

"They're getting big bucks from somewhere. Not even I can find a sale in tres bourgeois boutique." Hanna leaned forward and angled her phone to take a picture. "Wonder if they're getting a payoff from someone."

"I bet that someone is Wilden." Alison huffed in disgust. She could just picture him being some perverted sugar daddy. And the twins would love that.

"With what money? He wasn't exactly rich to begin with. And bail isn't cheap. Any assets he has would likely be frozen at this point." Hanna curled her lips down. "Something doesn't add up here."

"Let's take this as an opportunity to have a nice little chat with them." Alison leaned forward in her seat, glaring daggers at Cindy and Mindy.

"I say we take this an opportunity to put the fear of Alison DiLaurentis in them." Hanna turned to her with a sneaky grin on her face.

Alison smiled back. Emily forcing her to spend the day with Hanna was shaping up to be a great idea. Teaming up with the scrappy blonde might have been the best thing that she didn't know could have happened.

They made their way over to the shop without drawing attention to themselves. They followed a group of twenty-somethings in and then hid behind a rack of dresses, pretending to look at them so they wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Cindy and Mindy weren't holding back. They were picking up items left and right, as if they had an unlimited amount of funds. They walked back to a large private dressing room. Alison was familiar with it. It was never monitored.

She motioned for Hanna to follow her. They walked back to the secluded area. They waited behind an area where people could put items they weren't interested in buying.

"I feel like a serial killer," Hanna whispered.

"Let me do the heavy lifting. You just be the serial getaway driver."

Cindy and Mindy walked to the private room and opened the door with a key. Mindy stepped in first, juggling an armful of clothing. Cindy was walking in behind her when Alison and Hanna made their move.

Cindy spun around just as Alison and Hanna pushed their way through the door. Cindy's face blanched. She reached up and tried to shove Alison away, but Alison dodged her. Cindy tried to hit her. Alison grabbed her wrist and twisted it, just like she'd learned in self-defense with Aria.

Mindy froze, her eyes darting between her sister, Alison, and Hanna.

"Fancy meeting you here." Alison looked at Cindy accusingly.

"What are you doing here?" Cindy sneered at her, ripping her wrist free from the blonde's grasp.

She tried to strike her again, but Alison slammed her up against the side of the dressing room and held her in place. She pressed her arm against Cindy's clavicle.

"Ow! You're hurting me!"

Cindy and Mindy both looked towards the door. Hanna pushed it shut and reached up and turned the lock. She crossed her arms across her chest and stood in front of it like a bouncer in front of a raging wild club.

Mindy looked at Hanna, trying to calculate if she could get past her and out the door to run for help. Hanna saw the expression on her face.

"Oh, I wish you would." Hanna challenged. "Try me. Go ahead. See what happens. I'll rip those fork earrings out of your head and use them to stab your eyes out."

"Get off of me." Cindy struggled. She tried to step on Alison's foot with her heel, but Alison yanked her hair and kicked her shin. Cindy yelped.

"You lied to me." Alison felt a fierce ferocity charging through her veins.

"What are you talking about?" Cindy snorted.

"Wilden." She saw Cindy's face flinch when she said his name. It enraged her. "What is he up to? Is he the one who set up the trap at the dance for us?"

"What? No!"

"Why are you and Thing 2 over there meeting up with him in the dark?" Alison demanded. "What are you three planning? If you hurt Emily I swear I'll end you…"

"We've left you alone just like we said we would." Cindy pushed back against Alison. She sneered angrily at her. "You're the one who is going around ruining lives. That stupid little stunt you pulled having the RA e-mail our parents about the drugs and sex in the fraternity got us grounded for like…ever."

"You put my girlfriend in the hospital. You're lucky I didn't do the same to you." Alison curled her fingers into a fist.

"We told you that was an accident." Cindy snapped.

"An accident that you said you didn't know the details of. But if you're so innocent then why are you sneaking around with Wilden?"

"Because he could get in a lot of trouble if he's seen talking to us…" Cindy sized Alison up, "…thanks to you and your stupid lies."

It was Hanna who called her out on it first. A gust of heated anger puffed out of her nose, like a bull ready to charge.

"Wilden is a sick pedo. And you're an idiot if you're buying his shit that he's innocent." Hanna cut an angry look at Cindy. When she looked away Mindy made a subtle motion towards the door. Hanna spun back towards her. "Don't even think about it or I'll smack the dye job right out of you."

"Since when are you Alison's bitch?" Mindy made a face like she smelled something rotten.

"I'm a free agent. I just like to see her kick your asses." Hanna shrugged it off.

"How exactly is it that you can afford all of this?" Alison motioned to the fancy clothes. "What kind of side hustle does Wilden have you doing?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Cindy rolled her eyes. It pissed Alison off.

All Alison could think about was how most of her night was a complete blank. Someone was messing with her life. With Emily's life. With the baby's life. Jesus, if something happened to the baby...she would go on a fucking murder spree.

"No more games." Alison put pressure against Cindy's chest. "Either you talk or we're taking you to the police. We have proof that you were with Wilden. And whatever he's doing can't be legal. Do you know how much trouble you'll be in?"

"You…" Cindy licked her lips nervously. "You're bluffing. You wouldn't…"

"I think you know me well enough to know I would. So start talking."

Cindy hesitated. She looked scared. But then she straightened up and cleared her throat. She was trying to look like she wasn't intimidated. It was almost laughable.

"You don't scare me, Alison DiLaurentis." Cindy pushed her face into Alison's. "You're nothing but a degenerate stepford reject. Your loser family doesn't even care about you…"

Alison reared back to hit her. But she didn't slap her like she normally would have. This time it was a close-fisted right hook to her jaw.

She jerked her fist back when she felt the sting of the hit, but she took satisfaction in seeing the look on Cindy's face.

"Damn." Hanna laughed, giving Alison a look of approval. She was impressed.

"How about now?" Alison cut into her with a vicious glare as she tightened her hold on Cindy.

"Stop it!" Cindy huffed.

"You're hurting her." Mindy whined.

"I'm giving you one last chance. Tell me what the hell is going on."

"He just…he pays us for odd jobs sometimes." Cindy squirmed underneath Alison's grasp. Alison loosened her hold.

"He what?" Alison's face twisted in disgust.

"Just like…running errands and stuff. God, it's not a big deal. You just made it hell for him to do things in this town…"

"Stop blaming her." Hanna growled in aggravation. Alison DiLaurentis was a lot of things, but she wasn't to blame for people like Wilden.

"What kind of stuff does he have you doing?"

"Nothing that involves you, so don't worry about it."

"That's not an answer." Alison put pressure against her trachea again.

"God, you're such a bitch." Cindy sneered at Alison. "Why do you care? Obsessed much?"

"Just answer the fucking question."

"He still cares about his team. Sometimes he'll have us bring them vitamins and ideas for plays."

"Vitamins?" Alison lifted her brows suspiciously. She didn't believe that for a second. "My God, you are so naïve."

He was peddling steroids. He had probably been Noel's supplier, which is why Noel was so pissed about Wilden being ousted.

"What else?" Alison asked.

"Sometimes we give him rides to places that he doesn't want to be followed to. The press is constantly after him, you know?"

"What press?" Alison scoffed. "The tiny pipsqueak on the yearbook committee at school? No one gives a damn about Darren Wilden."

"He deserves his private life."

"He forfeited that life the second he started harassing underage girls." Alison argued.

She winced at the thought that he was still seen as some sort of hero to some of the people in Rosewood. She couldn't shake the idea that he'd been at the bar...watching her like a sleaze.

"Where was he last night?" Alison questioned.

"We're not his babysitters." Cindy shrugged.

There was a knock at the door. A cheery salesperson's voice carried into the room.

"Everything okay in there?"

Alison and Hanna glared at the twins, ordering them not to say a word.

"Everything is fine!" Mindy's voice almost betrayed her. "We're almost done."

"Find anything you like?" she asked.

"She said we're fine, thanks." Alison replied curtly.

They heard her footsteps retreating. Alison knew it was only a matter of time before she returned. She slowly backed away from Cindy. She stared at her with a steely resolve.

"Are we done here?" Cindy rubbed her neck dramatically, acting as if Alison had ripped a hole in her jugular.

"Where was he the night of the Halloween dance?" Alison asked.

"He had some family thing."

Something about that didn't sit right with Alison, especially given what they knew about Wilden's family. It didn't sound like his dad was very involved in his life and his mom wasn't in town. The DNA profile hadn't yielded them any answers. She felt like they were missing something huge. She felt the wheels in her brain spinning. That whole night had been such a blur. Anyone could have slipped into the school in costume undetected.

"I didn't think he had any family. Didn't his aunt die a few years ago?" Alison tried to piece everything together.

"He's pretty private about all that." Cindy's response seemed genuine.

"Who was the girl?" Alison thought about the glimpse of the red coat she'd seen.

The twins looked at one another, perplexed expressions on their matching faces. It looked like real confusion.

"What girl?" Mindy asked.

"The girl in the red coat." Her anger had leveled out into a quiet subdued rage. There was a tone in her voice that told the girls not to test her.

"We don't know anything about that." Mindy walked over to her sister. She wrapped her arm into Cindy's arm, showing Alison they were a united front.

Hanna moved next to Alison, ready to pounce if the twins tried anything. Cindy and Mindy scoffed at her.

"You her guard dog, Marin?" Mindy asked.

Cindy nudged her, trying to get her to shut up. She was still shaken up from Alison's beating.

"No, but I will bite you." Hanna threatened.

"I think your bitch wants her treats now." Mindy glanced at Alison. "But be careful. I hear too many treats makes dogs fat."

Alison saw a flash of red. Seconds later she was on both of the girls, prying them apart. She threw Cindy into the wall so hard that the mirror vibrated. Cindy fell to the ground with a subdued cry.

"What the fuck did you say to her?" Alison snarled.

Alison grabbed Mindy by her shirt collar and spun her around so fast that they both ended up falling to the floor. She sat on top of her, straddling her. Mindy reached up to claw at her face, but Alison smacked her hands away and pinned them to her side.

Cindy got her bearings. She moved to jump on Alison's back, but she was stopped short by Hanna's fist. The uppercut caught her in the gut. As she doubled over Hanna bulldozed her and Cindy groaned and fell back to the ground.

"Apologize." Alison hissed to Mindy. She looked rabid. "Apologize right now."

"Christ, you're insane, Alison." Mindy gawked.

"Mindy, I swear to God..."

"Fine! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed.

"Good girl." Alison patted her cheek harshly.

She shoved Mindy's head against the carpet for good measure and then she stood up and walked over to Hanna. They nodded silently at one another. The twins both shakily rose to their feet.

Alison's prediction of the salesgirl coming back came to fruition a few seconds later. There was a rap on the dressing room door.

"How are things going?"

Alison looked around at the pile of clothing that Mindy had dropped against the bench. She picked up two of the ugliest outfits and handed them to the twins.

"Tell her you want these." She was being petty, because she knew they'd look terrible in them.

Hanna caught on to what she was doing. She tried not to laugh. Cindy and Mindy eyed Alison suspiciously, but then took the outfits she'd picked out and slowly walked towards the door. They waited for Hanna to move.

"Wait…" Alison hesitated as she watched them go. She hated the twin terrors, but she also knew exactly what kind of man that Wilden was, "Listen, Wilden is dangerous. You should stay away from him."

He preyed on people exactly like the two dense bimbos standing in the dressing room. They were vile humans, but they didn't deserve the likes of Wilden. She knew they wouldn't heed her warning, but she had to try.

The twins scurried out of the dressing room as soon as Hanna moved aside. Hanna and Alison slipped out of the boutique just as quietly as they'd slipped in.

"Thanks for the assist." Alison said, rubbing her knuckles as they walked back towards the car.

"My pleasure. It was an honor being your corner woman and seeing you dominate in that arena." Hanna smiled. "You've got a nice right hook."

"Remind me to thank Jake and Aria for that." Alison chuckled. "You weren't so shabby yourself. Caleb teach you some moves?"

"Among other things." Hanna had a smirk on her face.

"Ugh, gross, Marin."

"You were the one sexting in the car earlier." Hanna shrugged.

"Oh, if Emily only knew what we just did..." She trailed off.

"She's going to kill you." Hanna nodded in agreement. "What do you think about what they said?"

"I wish they'd said more," Alison admitted. "But I think we can work with what we've got."

"Let's hope so," Hanna said.

They climbed in the car. Alison was contemplative, trying to take in everything Cindy had told her. She started jotting down notes, trying to draw lines between what was happening to Emily and how Wilden was involved. Her brain was working overtime as she wrote out fragments of what had happened to them.

Messages. The dance. The scaffolding outside the gym. Who drugged Emily at school? Who drugged me at the bar? Same person? Same supplier? How did the phone get in my house? The car. CHECK CAMERAS. Red coat knows Wilden? New York. Was I being followed? Who is Wilden searching for? Is he involved? Noel? Cindy? Mindy? Courtney? Who knows about the baby?

She knew they were missing something huge. And she knew they were running out of time to figure it out. She knew their lives were on the line. What she didn't know is that things had already taken a deadly turn. Things were about to come crashing down in a devastating way.

A/N: Not much Emison content in this one, but I like to try to create well-rounded characters that exist outside of their relationship. Also, writing Hanna and Alison is fun.