A/N: It only took me 732 years to get back to you. Sorry for the delay. These next two (final) chapters were originally one large pot of word soup. But there was too much to digest in one sitting and I didn't want to give anyone indigestion.
Seriously though, there are a lot of complexities that I kept hammering (and hammering and hammering and hammering) out. I just couldn't seem to get the final chapter right (the inner critic was mean). What you're seeing is a product that has been rewritten at least a dozen times. If not more.
The good news is that since it was originally a larger chapter the final chapter will be coming out rather quickly after this one has been posted. Probably a matter of days.
Now, where were we...
Previously on the Beacon Heights shitshow, our Liars and Perfectionists were running around like chickens with their heads cut off from a darkness in the shadows, creepy spying cameras, shifty Hotchkiss drama, Ava got in a bar fight, Emily got stabbed...by her own wife, Mona is smart as hell, someone tried to frame Caitlin and Dylan, the truth about Claire's past came to light, and Alison's dad is a dick...who tried to kill e'ryone.
Chapter 12:
Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies
Alison stared at the cup of water that the detectives had brought to her. She hadn't been arrested, but she didn't trust that the police weren't planning something nefarious. So when they brought her the water as "a courtesy" she just scowled angrily at the cup, like it had wronged her in some way. Or that it might wrong her.
She hadn't touched it, though she was parched. She knew from experience that you should never touch anything the police brought during an interrogation. It could be used to collect DNA, though the idea that they didn't already have her DNA was laughable. She'd been accosted and arrested by police dozens of times in her life. She'd come back from the dead. Her DNA was everywhere. Including, apparently, in Taylor Hotchkiss.
Her DNA felt personal to her. It was hers. After she'd watched her maniac father gunned down by the woman he sexually assaulted she didn't want anyone else to have that piece of her. She wasn't going to give the cops any of her DNA.
Not today, bitches.
She still wasn't sure why Dana Booker had been so hell-bent on pinning Nolan's murder on them, but Alison was ready to square up with the Not-so-good Detective. She wasn't going to let anyone in Beacon Heights push her around. Not after what she'd been through. Not after what her wife and her students had been through. Not after the way Booker had waltzed around and trampled on them.
Alison could take care of herself, but she was not going to settle for the police bullying the people she cared about. She wasn't going to stand for it. They had unleashed something they weren't going to be able to contain.
They can fuck around and find out today.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a throbbing sensation in her temple. She reached up and rubbed her aching head. She touched her fingers against the prickly stitches she'd gotten, a byproduct of her father hitting her with his gun.
That was still strange to think about.
My father. Hit me. With a gun. He hurt Emily. He shot Claire.
She wished she was back in the hospital. She'd had to have four stitches, but she didn't have a concussion. Her shoulder hurt like hell from where the butt of the gun had struck her, but the X-Ray didn't show any broken bones. She'd gotten out of the fight miraculously only slightly injured.
Emily had been treated for a head injury that required two stitches. She had bruising on her throat from where Ken had choked her…
Fuck him. He deserves to rot in hell…
The brunette also had bad smoke inhalation and required heavy oxygen therapy. Unlike Alison she did have a minor concussion, but it wasn't anything the doctor felt like keeping her for. They took a look at the old gash in Emily's side, curiously asking about who had sutured her up. Apparently they'd told her the person doing the stitching had done a halfway decent job. Alison had been smug about that.
"What would your military father think of me now?" she'd asked, because Emily had originally wanted to stitch herself up. Alison had insisted otherwise.
She wished Emily was next to her now. She needed her wife, especially given what had happened with her dad. She was hurting in a way that only Emily knew how to heal.
She was exhausted, deflated in a lot of ways. But in a weird way she felt like a burden had been lifted off of her shoulders.
She'd never been close with her father. He'd put up a wall around himself, only allowing her in at certain times. There were moments she thought maybe he really did love her. He had been in tears after he found out she was alive after she'd been missing for a year. He'd pampered her and loved her after she returned from the dead.
But she knew the other side of Kenneth DiLaurentis. The temperamental side. The same man who had cried over her return from the dead had turned around and shunned her for her "lifestyle" when she came out.
In many ways he was the reason she had been so afraid to come out, the reason she wrestled with her internalized homophobia for so long. He would make snide remarks about gay couples and he'd sent Charlotte away because of her body dysmorphia. He had condemned sinners, but he was the worst sinner of all.
Despite how much she hated him, it was still weird that he was gone. She wouldn't exist without the bastard. She was only alive because he'd given her life.
A shitty life.
At least until she met Emily.
She felt a plethora of emotions. Despair, in knowing what he'd done. Relief, because it was over. Guilt, for not seeing what a monster he was. Anger. She felt a lot of anger.
He'd raped Claire. He'd tried to frame Caitlin, Dylan, and Ava. He'd tried to kill Emily.
But he was still her father. Despite everything that he'd done she was grieving for him. And she felt horrible for grieving. He was a monster. Who grieved for monsters?
She'd spent most of her life desperately searching for family to make up for the lack of family she had at home. She'd plucked people out of the shadows in high school, certain that manipulation and control were a form of love. That's all she'd ever known as a child.
It was only after she'd seen that her parents had turned her sister into a monster that she realized her family was beyond complicated. They weren't normal.
She'd been searching for so long that she didn't even realize that she'd had family the entire time. In Emily. In her friends. She'd been too blind to see it then.
But she knew it now. The only people who truly mattered to her were the people she had chosen. Her wife. Her friends. She would protect them no matter the cost.
A jostling noise drew her from her thoughts. She looked over and saw the door handle moving. The door cracked open an inch and then slowly opened the rest of the way. Alison had hoped to see Emily standing there, but instead she saw Dana Booker staring back at her.
Alison curled her lip up into a snarl.
The detective pulled the door closed behind her.
"Hello, Mrs. DiLaurentis." Booker clutched a file folder in one hand and a disposable coffee cup in the other.
"DiLaurentis-Fields." Alison corrected her, growling through her teeth.
"Right. My mistake." The woman sauntered across the floor like she owned the place. Alison felt like decking her in her overly-brightened teeth.
The blonde knew damn well it wasn't a mistake. Booker knew exactly how to get under her skin. Her sister Linda Tanner was the same way. Booker had it out for her because her older sister had it out for her, too.
"You know you can't hold us here, right?" Alison crossed her arms across her chest, refusing to touch anything, refusing to give them any evidence they could use against her. Cops were shifty like that, especially this cop.
"I have a house that's still burning and a dead body that's been recovered from the fire." Booker slapped a file down on the table angrily.
Alison knew better than to shout back, "A FIRE THAT HE STARTED!"
She knew better than to say anything until she had a lawyer present. She did not have the best history with the police. What had happened in Rosewood when she was a teenager was national news. It was supposed to be protected under the statute that she was a minor and the records were supposed to be sealed, but given her infamous return from the dead, the trial was synonymous with her name. She was well known in the legal and justice circuit.
Her thoughts immediately went to the others involved in what had ensued over the past several days.
She had been grateful to Claire for telling the kids not to say anything and was relieved to know that Caitlin knew law well enough to keep Dylan and Ava protected until her moms showed up. Alison knew Caitlin's mother would make sure they had great representation. Her moms should be proud. That girl was as sharp as a whip.
The police had everyone in separate rooms. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since she'd been accosted by the cops at the hospital. She hoped that the kids were okay.
Emily and Alison were experts when it came to not breaking down around police. Caitlin, Dylan, and Ava seemed savvy enough to know not to say anything. Plus, Claire had warned them not to. She was the only one not at the station. She was still being treated for the gunshot wound she'd gotten protecting Alison and Emily. And killing Ken.
She killed my father.
Her rapist.
She had finally confronted her rapist. And he got what he deserved.
He was my father.
But he was a monster.
Such conflicting emotions.
Alison stared at Booker from across the table. She wasn't going to be baited. She wasn't going to be toyed with. She knew all she had to do was buy some time.
She had put a call into Spencer before the police arrived.
She'd told her everything.
"Don't say a word." Spencer's warning echoed in her head.
That wouldn't be a problem. Alison was excellent at keeping secrets. Plus, she knew it was only a matter of time before the truth came out. The police would soon find out that Kenneth DiLaurentis was a madman who had tried to kill them. Claire would verify the rape. She would offer DNA evidence that her kids had discovered themselves to prove that Ken shared markers with Taylor, who still hadn't come into the spotlight. Her students would verify that Ken started the fire and tried to kill them. The ballistics on the bullet removed from Claire's shoulder would prove that it had come from Ken's gun. And Alison and Emily would back each other up, sharing the events that had happened in Nolan's cabin after the others had escaped.
In essence, there was nothing to worry about.
Then again, Alison didn't trust the cops.
There was also still the matter of the body that had been found burned in their car outside of Rosewood.
Emily was a person of interest.
"I want to see my wife." Alison looked coldly at the woman in front of her.
Booker tilted her head, a subtle smirk on her face.
Fuck you. She knew exactly what Booker was doing. Trying to get under her skin. It wouldn't work.
"Mrs. DiLaurentis, you're no stranger to police procedures. You know it's customary to be questioned separately."
If I had a dick I'd tell her to suck it.
"Your procedure can kiss my ass. I'm not speaking with anyone until I have my lawyer present. And my wife won't either." Emily was a steel trap. She was loyal to a fault.
"Then I suppose we're all just going to have to wait." Booker gritted her teeth. She was annoyed.
Good.
"You can't hold me. I know my rights." Alison scooted the chair away from the table. "Where are the kids? Where is Mona? You can't hold any of us."
"Ah, yes, Mona." Booker had a shit-eating grin on her face. She tapped her fingers against the table top, the beat of a drum. "She's in the next room over telling us some very interesting things about your escapades around the Beacon Heights campus."
"No she's not." Alison replied coldly. "Because there is nothing to talk about."
Alison knew it was a tactic to trick her into talking. She wasn't going to buy it.
"Your wife is claiming the same thing that Miss Vanderwaal is claiming…"
Alison actually laughed out loud at that.
Emily "I didn't want to say anything before I talked to you guys first" Fields fessing up to the cops? No way in hell.
Not that there was anything to tell.
She wasn't sure about Caitlin, Dylan, and Ava. Caitlin was pragmatic, and one of her mothers was a lawyer. She wouldn't say a word. Dylan wouldn't do anything to implicate the people he cared about.
Ava on the other hand…
Ava was hurting. Ava was heartbroken.
Ava could break.
Alison felt a tugging ache in her chest when she thought of when she'd last seen Ava, crying at the rubble of Nolan's cabin. She had watched her history with him go down in flames. Her trinkets, momentos, memories.
She hoped Ava was holding up okay. She hoped the police weren't being assholes to her. She felt a surge of maternal feelings. Caitlin and Dylan were all Ava had. She was certain that Caitlin's mom would take care of Ava, too.
Alison opened her mouth to ask about Ava, but was interrupted by a loud argument breaking out outside the door.
Alison recognized her voice immediately. Seconds later the door opened and a familiar face walked in with a determined look in her eyes. There was a cop scrambling behind her. He growled in irritation,
"I'm sorry. She says she's a lawyer…"
"Spencer Hastings." Dana Booker stood up, recognizing her immediately.
It wasn't just that Spencer was a face in politics or that her mother was a State Senator. It was that Booker knew all about the children from Rosewood and what had become of them. Linda kept her updated over the years.
"I don't believe you're within legal perimeters to question someone who has asked for a lawyer, and detaining someone who has not been arrested constitutes as…"
"I don't believe you have a license to practice here." Booker cut her off.
"No, but I've got a call in to one of my friends from law school." Spencer handed her a piece of paper. "And I'm here in the interim speaking on her behalf."
Booker looked enraged by whatever was on the document in front of her. Spencer had essentially cut off her balls…if she had balls.
"If you'll excuse me I'd like to speak to my client alone." Spencer sized the detective up. Alison had to stifle a laugh.
Booker read through the paper that gave Spencer the right to throw her out of her own interrogation room.
She glared angrily at the young lawyer and then walked off in a huff, slamming the door behind her.
"Well, that was professional." Alison uttered sarcastically under her breath.
Spencer turned her attention away from the door and towards Alison. They stared at one another for a few seconds.
Spencer looked like she had something to say. And Alison knew exactly what it was.
"Just say it." The blonde rolled her eyes.
"I told you this was going to happen." There it was, gloating about being right. Alison knew she'd say I told you so.
Spencer glanced at the cut on her head. Alison had been knocked unconscious so many times it was a wonder she didn't have brain damage.
"You okay?" Her lanky cousin moved towards her.
"Bit of a headache and my shoulder hurts like hell, but yeah." She rubbed the bruise on her shoulder where the butt of the gun had hit her. "How the hell did you get here so fast?"
Alison marveled at seeing her cousin standing in front of her. It had only been six hours.
"I was in LA on a speaking tour." Spencer strode over to the table.
"Are you a lawyer or a politician?" Alison mused.
"One can be both." Spencer took a seat next to her cousin. It was still strange for them to think about the fact that they were related. "You haven't said anything, have you?"
Alison scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Please, I'm not an amateur."
"Emily?" Spencer asked.
"Doubtful. Emily doesn't break. She never did back in Rosewood. I doubt she will now."
Alison loved how loyal her wife was. It was the brunette's loyalty that had attracted Alison to Emily all those years ago. Back in Rosewood Alison had used Emily's loyalty against her. She still felt guilty about it. Emily was always so sweet and protective. Now, she admired the quality. She respected the brunette.
"They won't let me see her." Alison frowned and folded her arms over her chest like an angry child.
"They'll bring her in soon. I already put in the request. And they don't want to piss me off." Spencer flipped some hair out of her face. "I threatened to sue the entire county into bankruptcy."
And she would, too.
Alison barked out a laugh.
"Nice." A huge grin washed across her face. "Spencer Hastings says jump…"
"They ask how high." Spencer nodded. "Though technically it's Spencer Hastings-Cavanaugh. But that doesn't breed the same amount of fear."
"I keep forgetting. I can't believe you ran off and eloped with your House-building Jesus-carpenter husband." Husband. Toby Cavanaugh was Spencer's husband.
"Eloping seemed like the safest best given our track record with weddings…" Spencer gave her a calculated look.
Spencer had been kidnapped at Aria's wedding. And Alex had also tried to kidnap Grace.
"Yeah. I get it." Alison nodded. "Still weird that you two are married."
"I should have made him take my last name." Spencer mulled it over. "He probably would have done it. Toby Hastings." Spencer was speaking to herself now. "Has a ring to it."
Alison laughed at her, but then she caught a glimpse of her doppelganger in the reflection of the two way glass across the room. And she remembered where she was and why she was there.
He's dead. Her father was really dead. Was she supposed to mourn for a rapist psychopath? She didn't know the proper way to act.
Spencer gently touched her shoulder.
"How are you?" She looked at her with an overwhelming amount of compassion.
Spencer understood fucked up families. She was the product of one.
"I'm…" Alison opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She closed her jaw and paused in thought. "I don't know how I am."
"I get it. It's understandable. I mean, my dad never tried to kill me, but my twin sister did. And you were there for me then. I'm here for you now." She squeezed Alison's hand.
They had come a long way from the two headstrong high school girls constantly clashing with one another.
Alison gave Spencer an appreciative smile.
"Have you heard anything about Caitlin, Dylan, and Ava?" Alison questioned.
"Caitlin's moms are here." Her look was one of respect. The girl's mothers would take care of the kids. "They have plenty of defense."
"What about Mona?"
"Mona is Mona's own lawyer." Spencer rubbed her eyes. She looked exhausted. "The cops are going to need their own lawyers after she's finished with them."
Alison pictured Mona in the small interrogation room picking apart every word that was said to her. The cops would be cowering in the corner when she was through with them.
"How did this happen, Ali? How did you find yourself here again?" Spencer trailed her fingertips across the gash in Alison's head. "I thought these days were behind us."
Alison took a bit of offense to her statement.
"It's not my fault that my family is fucked up." She jerked away from Spencer's touch.
"I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it like that." Spencer had always been short and to the point. Sometimes she said things that came out wrong.
"I thought coming here would be different." Alison quieted her voice. She reflected upon the choices she'd made. The sacrifices she'd made, leaving her wife and children in search of something she'd had all along.
No more running.
"I spent a lot of time running from things. You probably know that better than most." She looked at her cousin. "I thought I came here to become a better version of myself, but the truth is that's a lie. I didn't feel good enough. For Emily. For my girls…"
"Ali…" Spencer softly put her hand on top of Alison's. It was rare that the wily lawyer showed any ounce of affection towards the blonde. It made Alison tear up.
"I guess trouble follows where I go." She sighed.
"Hey, that's not true. What your dad did…" Spencer hesitated. Was it okay to refer to that psychopath as Alison's dad? He was her dad, but he was also a monster, and Spencer couldn't imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes. She'd had her fair share of daddy issues, or as she liked to call them "men are fucking assholes and it shouldn't be called daddy issues, because it's never the child's fault" issues.
"He was going to kill me, Spencer. My father was going to kill me." She choked out.
"Hey, if anyone understands psychopathic family members, it's me." Spencer tried to relieve the tension.
Alison pursed her lips, trying to figure out whether she should tell Spencer that her twin sister was dead.
Mona hadn't said it in so many words, but she'd hinted at it.
Mona was good at evading the truth, but she was also good at getting the truth out there without saying a word.
One exchange was all Alison needed to know the truth.
"Ali, there is NO WAY Alex Drake is ever coming back, okay?" Mona had stared at her, a hard look on her face.
"Oh…"
Before Alison could tell Spencer about Alex, they were interrupted by the sounds of footfalls.
"Ugh, I thought I got rid of that pushy little…" Spencer stopped mid-sentence when the door opened and Emily walked into the room, escorted by an officer.
The brunette looked annoyed by his presence. But her expression changed the second she walked into the room.
It took a moment for Emily to process Spencer being there.
"Spencer?" Emily gasped with a smile when she saw her. "Hey! I can't believe you're here."
She raced towards the girls. Spencer and Alison stood up as the officer who had been walking with Emily turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.
"You send out the SOS. We show. That's how it's always been." Spencer opened her arms and invited Emily in for a hug.
"We?" Emily and Alison asked at the same time.
"Hanna's flight lands in an hour. Aria is still in the air, but she'll be here in a few hours." Spencer glanced at her phone.
Emily and Alison looked at each other. A passionate expression was exchanged. Emily had always been her rock. The lighthouse in the dark angry sea.
The brunette had risked her life to protect her in Beacon Heights.
"Hey, you." Emily extended her hand, taking Alison's in hers.
"Hey, you." Alison mirrored back.
"They weren't too rough on you, were they?" Emily pushed some hair out of Alison's face, her eyes lingering on the gash on her head. "We can sue for interrogation tactics."
"I'll add that to the list." Spencer nodded, texting someone on her phone, presumably the lawyer friend who had given her permission to be her proxy.
"They threatened me with hard time, but I didn't budge." Alison puffed her chest out to try and look tough.
To Emily, it looked cute as hell.
"My little scrapper." The brunette's response almost sounded condescending.
"Need I remind you that I stabbed you?" Alison challenged.
"You what?" Spencer jerked her head in Alison's direction.
"Shanked. Initiation into the prison gang." Emily shrugged.
"What the hell happened here?" Spencer's jaw went slack. "And I thought Rosewood was insane. At least none of us ever tried to kill each other."
"That's not true. Mona did hit Hanna with a car." Emily pointed out. "And tried to throw you over a cliff."
Alison looked at Emily.
"Yeah, and locked you in a barn with carbon monoxide…" Alison reminisced. She sucked in a playful gasp, "Is that why you were brain damaged enough to think coming out here was a good idea?"
"Can we slow down and talk about the you tried to kill your wife thing?" Spencer looked between the two bickering women.
"I wasn't trying to kill her. I didn't know it was her. She was slinking around in the shadows following me." Alison defended herself.
Spencer turned to Emily.
"Do you have a death wish?"
Emily flippantly flicked her wrist like it was no big deal. Like getting stabbed was as simple as getting a paper cut.
"My God, how much trauma did we go through that this actually seems normal?" Spencer scratched her head.
"How'd you make out with the cops grilling you?" Alison questioned.
She already knew the answer to the question.
The brunette never broke. Ever. She was the loyal one, through and through. Even back in Rosewood she had never once turned on any of her friends. That's more than Alison could say for herself and for the other girls.
"They tried to bullshit me. Telling me that everyone else was talking. Didn't work." Emily glanced at the untouched water on the table and then looked back at her wife.
"Yeah, they tried the same tactic on me. But you can't pry a guilty verdict out of someone who is innocent." Alison sat back against the table.
You won't get my fingerprints, but here, have my ass-print.
"Cops do it all the time. It's a pretty common tactic." Spencer looked at her phone, checking another message.
Alison thought about how all of them had been falsely imprisoned back in Rosewood for a murder they didn't commit.
"Well, let's hope this doesn't go before a jury then." Alison grimaced.
"A jury is something I might be looking at." Emily bit her lip. "They still want me as a suspect in the Pennsylvania murder."
The body in their car.
"Not for much longer." Spencer assured her. "All I need to know is where you were."
"It doesn't matter. There weren't any witnesses to place me where I say I was. I paid in cash for everything and wore a disguise."
"Facts will back you up. I've been thinking about it since I started reading about it on the plane…" Of course Spencer had read up about the murder back in Pennsylvania on the plane, "It was Ken's DNA." Spencer nodded towards Alison. "Given he was very alive in that house and trying to kill you…" She saw Alison flinch and she softened her tone. "The point is that he was here. The DNA back in Pennsylvania was faked. I can easily find something to tie it back to him. That's my jurisdiction, Em. I've got you."
"If the body wasn't him, then who was it?" Alison scratched her jaw in thought.
"I don't know, but we'll figure it out." Spencer put her hand on Emily's shoulder.
Emily shot her friend a smile. They had been through hell and back together.
"I've got Barry on it. He's looking into a few things for me."
Barry Maple had always been a good man, and an even better police officer. He'd been the one to help Emily set up the chess game with Mona.
The door to the holding area opened again and Mona walked in, head held high like she owned the place.
She wasn't at all surprised by Spencer's presence.
"Ah, good, the cavalry is here." Mona moved towards the open door, skipping the pleasantries. "Come on, troops, we're moving out."
"We're leaving?" Alison furrowed her brows in confusion. "Just like that?"
"Just like that." Mona raised her hand and snapped sharply on the word that. She gave the blonde a perky smile, like they hadn't almost burned to death hours ago.
"Why? What did you do?" Alison took a tentative step towards her.
"Something brilliant." She flipped her hair.
She didn't have to say anything more, but from a lawyer's standpoint Spencer had to ask,
"Is it legal?"
"Hello to you, too, Spencer." Mona smiled.
Unlike Alison, Spencer still had reservations about trusting Mona. It was because of Mona that she had been kidnapped and imprisoned by her twin sister Alex. Mona had knocked her out and dragged her down to the basement of a house Alex built, knowing good and well the hell they'd been through in Charlotte's dollhouse together.
"You didn't answer my question." Spencer looked at her pointedly.
"I assure you that this is on the up and up. So…" She lifted her hands and inspected her nails, as if she was bored. "Are you coming or what?"
She lowered her hand and walked towards the door, turning around to make sure the others were following.
They looked around, waiting for an officer they'd assumed escorted her there. The hallway was completely empty. Mona led the way.
"I had to be escorted twenty feet by two armed guards, but she's just walking around unsupervised?" Emily laughed.
"Maybe the police realized there was no use putting a detail on her. She's too smart for them." Alison shrugged.
They turned a corner and passed a room with the door slightly open. In it, they could see Caitlin standing between two professionally dressed women.
Her mothers.
Across the table there was an officer, also standing. It looked like the conversation was coming to an end. Though to call it a conversation didn't do it justice.
Caitlin was reaming the cop out, rattling off a bunch of codes and laws. She had finally snapped. Her mothers glanced at one another, as though they'd advised her not to do it. But they weren't going to stop her now that she was going.
"Oh, I like her." Spencer grinned, watching the young girl rip into the officers.
"That's your mother's future intern." Alison pointed out.
"Caitlin Park-Lewis." Spencer was impressed with the way the young girl was handling herself. "As far as I'm concerned she's got the job."
They walked down the hallway, passing the waiting area. They saw Ava and Dylan sitting next to a vending machine. The cops weren't paying any attention to them.
They looked tired. Ava looked broken.
"They've already been released," Mona explained, throwing them a little wave.
Dylan waved back. Ava refused to lift her head and wave back.
"She's hurting." Alison sighed.
"We only have time for one drama at a time." Mona kept walking. "It's not her turn yet. Dylan will take care of her."
Dylan is hurting, too. Alison thought to herself. He'd had feelings for Nolan, too. Watching everything of Nolan's go down in flames couldn't be easy.
Emily saw the look on her wife's face. She wordlessly wrapped her arm around her waist and pulled her into an embrace as they continued to follow Mona's path.
They turned a corner and walked down a long corridor, leading to a large meeting room. The door was slightly ajar. There were quieted voices coming from inside.
When they walked in Dana Booker and Claire Hotchkiss were in the middle of a conversation.
"Claire?" Alison's eyes darted to the sling on her arm. The woman had been shot. "You're supposed to be in the hospital."
"Speak for yourself." Claire pointed to the gash on Alison's head.
"Did they release you?" Emily questioned.
"No." Booker bit through her teeth. "She left. Against medical advice."
Booker stood up and walked to the door, closing it.
"Ladies," Claire motioned with her good arm. "Take a seat."
"Why?" Spencer crossed her arms in front of her chest, narrowing her eyes at the woman. "What is this about?"
Claire didn't seem offended. Instead, she offered Spencer a warm smile.
"You must be Spencer Hastings." She stood to greet the brunette with the distrust in her eyes. "I'm Claire Hotchkiss…"
"I know who you are, Mrs. Hotchkiss." Spencer cut her off.
She was the reason Emily and Alison had been roped into nearly dying again.
"Spence," Emily said softly, putting her palm against Spencer's shoulder. "Go easy on her."
She felt Spencer relaxing underneath her touch.
"I apologize, Mrs. Hotchkiss. I have a tendency to be overly protective of my family." Spencer's tone was still firm, but it had less bite in it.
Emily and Alison smiled at one another.
Family.
"I completely understand, Mrs. Hastings." Claire extended her hand, cringing against her injury as she did so. She shook Spencer's hand and then sat back down. "Mona told us you'd be here."
"She did, did she?" Spencer lifted a curious brow at the short brunette.
Mona the all-knowing.
Emily and Alison sat down next to each other. Alison reached for Emily's hand underneath the table.
Mona sat down next to Claire, leaving Spencer to sit on Mona's other side.
"We're just waiting for one more person and then we can get started." Booker glanced at her watch.
She didn't seem happy to be there at all. She seemed downright pissed off at Claire. Alison deduced it was about her leaving the hospital early, but why would that bother Booker so much?
"I should tell you that I've been granted to be a proxy until their lawyer arrives." Spencer kept her eyes fixed on Claire.
"We won't need lawyers for this, I assure you. I have as much to lose as they do." There was a sadness in her undertone.
After a few minutes a side door to the meeting room opened up. The same officer that had "arrested" Claire walked inside, hovering protectively over a smaller figure in a black hoodie.
Spencer tensed up when she saw the hoodie. It brought back way too many memories of Rosewood. Mona shot her a sympathetic glance. She wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, but she knew it would be a bridge too far. After all, she had been in the black hoodie back in Rosewood.
The officer turned around and closed the door. He mumbled something into a microphone attached to an earpiece and then gave Claire a nod and walked out.
The figure in the hoodie slowly lowered it.
Bright blonde hair fell out in waves.
No one in the room was surprised to see her, though Spencer was taken aback at seeing her in the flesh for the first time. Alison had told her the truth about Taylor, but it was still strange to see the dead girl brought back to life.
Again.
"Taylor." Emily greeted her warmly.
It made Alison wonder what they'd gone through when they were hiding in the shadows. Emily had protected her. Emily had done the same for her back in Rosewood. It was in her nature. Her wife was a guardian of sorts.
"Only the people in this room, in addition to Dylan Walker, Ava Jalali, and Caitlin-Park Lewis, know the truth about my daughter being alive." Claire gestured for Taylor to take a seat. "I've had this conversation with the three of them already." Taylor took her seat at the table as her mother continued, "Now that the threat to Taylor's life is gone we will be going public with her return to Beacon Heights. Next week."
Alison looked at Taylor and tried to get a sense of how she was feeling. She knew all too well what it felt like being the dead girl who came back to life. Like Taylor, she'd been on the run from someone, too.
Her eyes darted to Mona. The expression on Mona's face was one of remorse. She was clearly thinking the same thing.
Alison's eyes landed on the blonde again. The girl across the table from her looked so different from the determined woman doling out orders and taking risks behind the scenes.
Taylor neatly folded her hands together and put them on the table. She looked vulnerable. Afraid. Anxious. And a plethora of other things Alison had also felt when she returned to Rosewood after being on the run.
Alison hadn't known how to adjust when she got back to Rosewood. The truth was that she always felt like a part of her was still out there in the wind. She convinced herself she'd never run again. She'd planted roots, stubbornly digging in. But she'd never truly settled there, even after her marriage to Emily.
She didn't realize that a piece of her was still out there on the run somewhere. So when she got unsettled she thought she had to set out to find that piece.
What she'd learned from coming to Beacon Heights was that it wasn't about finding that fragmented piece of her life. It was about accepting herself the way she was, accepting the woman who she'd grown to be.
Alison reached across the table and laid her hand on Taylor's hands. The young girl started to pull away, but then stopped, opting to look Alison in the eyes.
These two girls, fathered by the same monster. These two girls, who had both been on the run before. These two girls, brow-beaten by life, but somehow still standing.
"I've been where you've been, Taylor." It's why she was in Oregon in the first place.
Taylor's voice came out shaky,
"I know. I know all about you, Alison. All about Rosewood." Her tone suggested she'd done it for research and not to get to know the sister she didn't have.
"Just so you know, what you're feeling…it's not going to last forever. You won't always feel that dread that is eating at you right now. It gets better." Alison kept her tone soft.
Taylor offered a tiny smile before pulling her hands away.
"I still think this is too soon." Booker interjected. "My sister's case on the east coast is still an ongoing investigation. I'm not certain that Taylor is out of the woods yet. The timeline for Kenneth DiLaurentis…"
Alison flinched at the name. Emily grabbed her hand underneath the table and squeezed it,
"…has some inconsistencies. The timeline doesn't add up. If my sources are correct, he couldn't have been the one who killed Nolan." Now it was Taylor's and Claire's turn to flinch. "If that's the case, Claire, you and Taylor could still be in danger."
Mona watched the interaction curiously. Like Booker, she had some questions about the burned out car and the murder in Pennsylvania. The wheels in her head were turning. She pursed her lips in thought. There were more pieces to this puzzle. And she was slowly starting to solve it.
Alison glanced over and saw that Mona looked like she wanted to say something, but she was holding back.
"Detective Booker, I can't thank you enough for your hard work." Claire's voice came out controlled, commanding, but it had a tiny hint of tenderness in it.
Alison scoffed, thinking about the hell that woman had put them through.
"But unless you can tell me something significant about what happened in Pennsylvania we're moving forward with the plan." Claire put her foot down.
"Yes, what exactly is going on with that case?" The lawyer in Spencer jumped out.
It rattled Booker, rubbing her the wrong way.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss my sister's case with you." Booker shot her a nasty look.
She's protective of her sister. Alison realized.
"You are if it involves my client." Spencer motioned to Emily.
"Then we can set up a later date and time for that discussion." Booker looked like she wanted to reach out and strangle Spencer.
Spencer had that effect on a lot of people.
Booker turned to Claire,
"I am telling you, something about Nolan's death doesn't add up. There are some things…"
"Booker…" Claire frowned. Her voice softened. "Dana…honey…" The expression on her face was almost intimate. "That's enough. It's over. I know how much you care for me…for my family…"
Suddenly, Alison heard Tanner's voice in her head, speaking of being kind to Booker,
"She's still nursing a broken heart over a girl she loves."
"Oh my God." Alison blurted out.
They'd slept together.
Booker saw the look on Alison's face and she knew with one glance that the blonde had figured it out. The detective abruptly stood up and cleared her throat.
"I need some water. I'll be right back." The look on her face betrayed her embarrassment. She paced out of the room.
Taylor looked at Claire in shock. Mona followed. Within a few seconds, everyone in the room understood what had just happened.
"You were sleeping with her?" Alison stared at Claire. She hadn't meant to blurt it out, but now it was out there…
"Way to be subtle, honey." Emily pat Alison on the knee and gave her a sarcastic smile.
"Ugh, God mom, really?" Taylor rolled her eyes.
"It was the only way I could find out what she knew." Claire replied flippantly.
"Well, it unfortunately backfired. She was so in love with you that she came at us like a rabid dog." Alison frowned.
She was starting to hate Beacon Heights. It was worse than Rosewood in a lot of ways.
"She was just doing her job." Claire defended her.
"Do you know what kind of psychological shit she was pulling with those kids?" Alison asked.
She thought about how Booker had tried to blackmail Caitlin over her cheating scandal. How she'd threatened Ava's family. She thought about how Booker had tried to use Emily and her children against her. Booker had practically slapped her face when she mentioned Elliott Rollins. She had to know who he was to her. Linda would have told her. She had played very dirty.
"She was impassioned. In love. And that's my fault. I told her to back off, but she's still so hung up on this case she can't let it go." She sighed. "Listen, Alison, I'm tired. I'm sure you are, too. But this is almost over. I will make it up to all of you. I give you my word."
Alison stared at Claire, long and hard. Then she stared at Taylor, the young girl. Her half-sister.
Jesus, there were so many long lost relatives that Alison couldn't keep up anymore. She sighed. She had been in Taylor's shoes before. Powerful mother. Losing a sibling. Faking a death. Running way. Coming back.
Coming back was the hardest part.
Alison felt for Claire, too. She knew what it was like to feel helpless…to feel powerless. She'd done some terrible things when she was spinning out of control. She tried to remember her imperfections to keep things in perspective. But she was still so angry about how things had nearly ended at Nolan's cabin. She thought her wife was dead. Her heart still hadn't settled in her chest.
Her world had cracked when the house exploded. Something inside of her had cracked. And even though Emily was alive...
She stole a look at her to remind herself her wife was okay,
...even though Emily was safe, just the thought of losing her was enough to break something inside of her she couldn't piece back together.
The door to the room opened and Booker was standing there with a half empty bottle of water in her hand.
She calmly sat down. She looked at Alison first.
"I owe you an apology." The detective put the water down on the table. "The lines between my personal life and my work life affected my judgment and I was way out of line. I just want you to know that. And I plan to speak with the kids as well. None of that makes up for my behavior. But I am truly sorry."
Well, that was a start.
"I appreciate that." Alison didn't say she forgave her. Because she didn't. "Claire, do you want to tell us the real reason we're here? Because I doubt it's to share your sex life with us." Alison tapped her foot impatiently.
Mona smirked at the slight. She liked it when Alison got spicy.
"It's about Taylor's reintroduction to Beacon Heights. We've planned a press release and a statement. The official story will be that Taylor was in extreme danger, so we worked in conjunction with an undercover unit to stage her suicide until it was safe for her return." Claire took a deep breath, tears in her eyes. "But then her brother was killed and she came back, though she was in hiding."
As angry as Alison was at the Hotchkiss family for putting her family in this predicament she was reminded that Claire had lost a child. Alison couldn't imagine losing Lily or Grace. She'd probably go mad and tear the world apart.
"We're going to explain that her return gained the attention of the person responsible for killing Nolan." Her throat clenched as she spoke of her deceased son. "He came after her and you were caught in the crossfire."
It was more or less the truth, except for the fact that they'd used Alison as bait to lure Ken out with the intent to kill him. And what's more, Taylor had dragged Emily into it.
"What I need from you is your discretion, as you're fully aware that's not the entire story." Claire put her fingers against her daughter's arm.
"You want us to lie for you?" It was Mona who spoke up first. "I'll be the first not to act like I'm not some kind of hypocrite, because we all sure as hell told our fair share of lies in Rosewood. But this is huge."
"It's not a lie per se. I simply want your assurance that you won't do anything to indicate that there is anything else to know."
"Right." Emily nodded. "So, basically…a lie." She put her arms down against the table.
"Our actions may have brought him here, but he changed the rules when he went after you and the kids. We thought he would come for me and Taylor. We didn't know he would ever want to harm you. What I did to save you from that man…" She spit with vitriol, "…constitutes self-defense. My actions saved your lives."
Alison saw the flash of the muzzle. Claire's gun in the fire.
It was true. Claire had saved them.
So why was she so angry? She couldn't even pinpoint the anger. She wasn't mad at Claire, but she felt an unquenchable rage burning through her. The house exploding. Emily inside of it.
"We never should have been there in the first place!" Alison raised her voice and slammed her palms down against the table, startling everyone in the room.
She had been used as bait and nearly killed. She had seen her father killed before her very eyes. She had almost lost Emily. Lily and Grace almost lost both of their mothers.
Fury washed across her face.
"He never should have been here. Playing vigilante gets people hurt. It gets people killed…"
"Ali…" Emily said softly.
The brunette had seen something in Claire's face. A look of sheer desperation.
Mona caught the look, too.
It was a look that only a mother had when protecting their child.
"We'll do it," Mona said.
"Mona!" Spencer hissed. They could get in serious legal trouble and they all knew it.
Mona brushed Spencer off and shared a knowing look with Emily. If the cops knew the whole story there would be more digging. And Claire didn't want them to dig. She just wanted her son to rest in peace and for her daughter to be able to move on.
There was more to the story than Claire wasn't letting on to. Alison was too caught up in her anger and her grief to see it.
"Emily?" Mona turned to the taller brunette, waiting for her approval.
"Yeah." Emily said softly, nodding. "Claire, Taylor's story is safe with us."
"Emily…" Spencer growled out a warning.
"Spence, I got this." Emily turned, touching Alison's cheek. "This needs to be over. We need this to be over. We have Lily and Grace waiting on us. They need us."
At the mention of her daughters, Alison's face softened.
"I miss my babies." Alison felt a lump forming in her throat.
Her dad was dead.
Her mom was dead.
Her sister was dead.
She wasn't sure if she was crying for them or for her babies.
"I miss them." Tears threatened to spill down her face.
Her family was never really her family. Her family was Emily and her children.
Emily cupped her cheeks and pressed her forehead against Alison's.
"We're going to be okay, Ali." She whispered, pulling back and kissing her forehead.
We have each other.
After a beat, the blonde looked at Claire.
"This never leaves the room." Alison came to Claire's understanding. "We don't know anything."
Spencer let out a grunt of disapproval. When she became a lawyer she took an oath to the law. She had a duty to tell the truth no matter what.
Claire had thought of that when she learned that Alison had called her cousin and told her everything.
"As for you, Mrs. Hastings…" Claire pulled cash out of her pocket. "As you have been designated to act as a proxy, here is an official retainer fee for everyone in this room. You are allowed to keep your oath to the law given we have client-attorney privileges."
Spencer first looked irritated, then impressed with Claire's foresight and ingenuity.
"So, we're all in agreement?" Claire questioned.
Everyone around the table nodded.
Once they'd reached an agreement and got their story straight they had to wait for the police to release them.
It took three hours to finalize the paperwork for their release, which Spencer had argued was ludicrous since they'd been held without probable cause.
Just as they were leaving, the door to the police station flung open. Two women walked side by side. One in heels and designer sunglasses, her blonde hair crimped to perfection. The other walking softly, but firmly. She was a foot shorter than the blonde. Her cropped black hair curved over her cheeks.
Hanna Marin and Aria Montgomery.
They saw Alison and Emily from the other side of the glass wall. Ignoring all signs and directions, Hanna waltzed right over to the door that said "employees only" and ripped it open.
A cop was there to meet her.
"Excuse me, this is for authorized personal only." He pointed to the sign to make a point.
"Yes, I can read. Thank you." Her snappy retort oozing with irritation. "I'm here for my friends."
"Who the hell are you?" He sneered.
"We're family." Hanna looked at Mona and then at Alison and Emily. She looked around the room full of cops. "Which one of you pigs hassled my girls?"
"Hanna, do not antagonize the law officers." Aria grabbed her arm, firmly, but not aggressively.
"Some things never change." Emily rolled her eyes, picking her arm up and pulling Hanna in for a hug. "You came."
"You put out the SOS." Hanna hugged her.
"We'll always show." Aria smiled.
Every single one of them had hopped on a flight out to Oregon to be with them.
Family. Alison thought to herself. Only family did that for one another.
Emily let go of Hanna and embraced Aria.
"Is everyone okay?" Aria questioned.
"We are now." Alison moved in to join the hug, piling on Aria.
Hanna, not one to be left out, wrapped her arms around all of them and then ordered Spencer and Mona over to the group hug.
"I'm good." Spencer signed the last copy of paperwork needed for their release.
"You get your ass over here right now, Hastings!" Aria ordered.
"Spencer Hastings doesn't do group hugs." Spencer shook her head.
"Spencer Hastings-Cavanaugh does." Mona grabbed her arm, a wild look of excitement on her face as she charged towards the hug.
"We're here for you." Aria grabbed Alison's hand.
"Yeah. For whatever you need." Hanna touched Emily's arm.
Turns out what they needed was emotional support in the form of drinking. Hanna also did a very good job of getting the media to get the hell out of their faces. She threw a drink at a journalist who approached Emily when she was trying to pay their tab. Spencer threatened to sue them.
In the days that followed the media started to die down. There was no fanfare. No murder trial. Just a fire and a man who died. Ken became irrelevant.
But they knew it was only a matter of time before the media circus blew up again. Claire Hotchkiss had arranged a press conference that weekend.
By that time Alison had already decided that she was going back to Pennsylvania. She'd already given Claire her resignation. She was going to finish getting her degree at a school closer to home. Closer to the family she never should have left.
She hadn't figured out how to break the news to Mona and her students, though. She'd made the decision in the police station. The whole situation was too much for her. It was tough to think about leaving. She felt like she was abandoning her students when they needed her the most. But she had two little girls of her own who needed her more.
She'd told the other girls before they left to get back to their families. She'd confided in her oldest friends. Seeing Aria, Spencer, and Hanna again, no matter the circumstances, always gave Alison a sense of comfort. A sense of home. A sense of family.
Spending time with them again reminded her of why she'd fought so hard for her students. She was just glad they'd come out the other end. She knew as long as they had each other they would survive.
Just like she would survive with Emily and her family by her side.
They were survivors.
They had walked through hell and burned, then rose from the ashes like a phoenix born anew. Nothing could break them as long as they had each other.
A/N: As this Perfectionists world is slowly coming to an end, would now be a good time to mention that I'm doing another Emison fic? You all interested? It's dark and twisty, but not like you think. To learn more about it you can follow me on Twitter (I finally got an account to share content). Forever Without Him (at ForeverW_outHim). The final chapter will be up in a few days. The epilogue will follow.