Chapter 9
Aria's pov
Alex was unpacking her things upstairs, since Spencer wouldn't let her spend any money on a hotel. As I tried looking through the channels to see what else to put on for the time being, Spencer took the remote and I looked over at her.
"What happened when Ezra came by?" Spencer asked.
"He brought up divorce papers; and I'm not going to fight him on it. He's in a serious relationship now, and still hurt from my betrayal. But then he told me that he meant wanting me to be the one he spends the rest of his life with and now I'm confused… about everything." I said.
Toby walked over sat down next to me. As I opened my bottle of water, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I looked at him. Alex came back downstairs and I was glad that we could go back to talking about Alex and Spencer instead of my obviously failed relationship with Ezra.
"Your fiancée is over there if you're searching for snuggles, Tobias." I pointed out to him, pointing to Spencer.
"I'm well aware, but you seem sad and desperate." He said.
"Did he just call his sister desperate?" Alex asked, and I held back a laugh.
"Not in that way, but he has before." Spencer told her.
As I leaned back into the couch, I rested my head on Toby's shoulder. Everything between me and Ezra… it's so confusing. He says he wants to be with me forever, but he's dating Nicole. If he was giving me mixed signals when we first started seeing each other, then these mixed signals are going to be even worse.
"Alex, if Cece knew about you… how come she never mentioned anything?" Toby asked.
"They told her I got hit by a car and died on impact. She figured it would've been useless to tell you about a twin that you could never meet. Well, I don't remember much after I left the house that night. But I do remember that after an hour or so, I came across this police officer Colin O'Neal. He and his family took such great care of me, and I'll always be grateful for them." Alex said.
"Did Colin adopt you?" I asked, she shook her head.
"They wanted to, due to financial problems and lack of space… they couldn't. But even though I had refused to tell them anything … I think they knew. But even though they couldn't adopt me, Colin and his wife Erin promised to keep in touch with me. Even after I was adopted by my parents, and moved to England." She continued.
How could Mr. and Mrs. Dilaurentis actually treat Alex the way they had? Mrs. D felt bad enough about wronging her sister enough to take her child in, but then treat the child like crap? I don't believe she felt bad, I bet it was because Peter loved Mary instead of her and she just wanted what Mary had. But Alex was only a child and anything could have happened when she ran off. Despite never even knowing each other or about the other, Spencer and Alex are together now… the way it should have been for all these years.
…
The next day
I screamed in pain as another contraction hit, and I looked over to see Alison holding my hand instead of Ezra. As she gave me a sickening sweet smile, I realized it wasn't the typical delivery room at the hospital but the shed.
"What the hell are you doing here and where's Ezra?" I yelled, unable to stop pushing.
"Oh, don't you remember when I showed you that he stopped the search for you? It was too hard for the boys, and no one really cared anyway." Alison said.
Staring at her, I screamed as I felt another contraction hit. How could Ezra not care about me or our baby? I leaned back as the contraction went away and Mona looked up from at edge of the bed. What the hell is happening? No one cared that I was missing and Ezra even stopped the search for me? Didn't he care even a little bit about me anymore?
"You forgot to tell her about our deal with Fitz. We're going to bring him the baby tonight, then we're going to kill you." Mona piped up.
Another contraction hit and I screamed; knowing that as soon as my baby is born, and I'll be dead. Are they planning on terrorizing my children about this? My child is going to grow up…. And without –
I bolted up from my nightmare, I felt the nausea and quickly hurried to the bathroom. I could hear someone headed this way, but I couldn't tell who it was by their footsteps. The door slowly opened and I knew it was Caitlyn by the fact she quickly kneeled down next to my and pulled my hair back. Four years of sorority parties, I've learned to know who's holding my hair back when my face is in the toilet.
"God. I. Hate. This. Part." I managed between heave.
"I know, but it's always worth it in the end." She reminded me as I finished and flushed the toilet.
"Remember how I told you about the day I went into labor with Oliver? Well, I had a nightmare that was back there… apparently for my entire pregnancy. Part of me knew that it was a dream, but I couldn't get myself to wake up. No one cared if I went miss-." I said until she cut me off
"Dream or reality, do not ever think no one would care. I know things with Ezra right now are rocky, but he wouldn't stop looking for you. Dream Alison was just trying to upset you, don't let her win." She told me.
Neither of us said anything as I washed my hands, and we made our way down to the kitchen. Coffee sounds so good right about now… but with how I reacted to coffee when I was pregnant with Oliver, I'm not taking any chances.
"I used to believe that Ezra and I were going to make it in the end. But the fact that he's with Nicole now and I never told him about that night, there is no chance for us ever. We went from blissfully finding out I'm pregnant again, to staying separated and him hating my guts. Now I'm just going to be a single mother, how am I supposed to do it on my own?" I said softly
"Hey, you've been doing it on your own for the past four years and damn you did one hell of a job. But we're in Rosewood now, Ezra is here and he's going to be there for you and the kids." Caitlyn said
"How could he be there for this baby when he was barely there for Oliver?" I cried.
"Because he's not stupid enough to do it again." She told me.
I sighed, looking through the window and watched Ezra talking with Nicole on the front porch. Okay, I almost slept with Hardy and never told him or really planning on it. But he did the same thing about his past relationship with Alison, we worked through it! We're soulmates and he cannot just ignore that, just throw it all away… and for what? My phone indicated that I had an email, I opened my email to see that Carrie Emerson had emailed me with the subject as 'ASAP'. Clicking on the email, I gasped.
'Hello Aria, I hope everything is well with you and little Ollie. I am sending you this email as an invitation, to come to London once more and work alongside me on a novel. You were such a pleasure to work with, and I'd would be thrilled to write this novel with you. Please let me know as soon as you can if you accept my invitation, and please tell little Ollie I say hello. – Sincerely, Carrie Emerson.'
I stared at my phone in shock, Carrie wants to work with me AGAIN and on a novel! How is this real? As much as I would love to, there's no way that I could go. Especially with Spencer and Toby's wedding coming up in a few weeks, things still aren't great between me and Ezra, let alone Oliver is already settled down here. Plus, I'm not going to just up and leave my kids for the summer and I'd be there for most of my pregnancy if not the entire time.
"What is it?" Caitlyn asked.
"Carrie Emerson invited me back to London… to write a novel with her." I said.
"Oh my god, I'm so happy for you!" She squealed.
"Thank Cait, but I'm not going. With the wedding in a few weeks, and the fact things still aren't one hundred percent between me and Ezra. I can't go. Besides, Oliver has barely seen Ezra these past four years, I couldn't just pack him up or just leave him." I told her.
"Let's say you don't go, what if this is a once in a lifetime opportunity?" She asked carefully.
"I already had mine when she chose me to work alongside her last summer. Although coming home has been completely different than what I had thought it would be, I'm not leaving again." I said.
'Dear Ms. Emerson, thank you so much for your invitation to return and work with you once more. You have no idea how much it means to me, that you want to work with me again. But as much as I would love to accept, I must politely decline. My brother is getting married soon, and then there's Oliver. I couldn't just pack him up and take him so far from his father again for however long, nor could I leave him behind. Last summer, it meant everything to me to work with you. Again, thank you so much for the invitation. – yours truly, Aria Fitz.'
Clicking send, I sighed and glanced over at Caitlyn. As much as I would love to work with Carrie on an actual novel, how could I just leave when things are barely okay between me and Ezra? And then Oliver's birthday is coming up after the wedding, it's bad enough Ezra missed one birthday… he can't miss another.
"If we can work out our problems when I learned about his relationship with Alison and the book… we could do it again. He even said that I'm the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and he's the one I want to be with forever too!" I said, looking across the street again.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Caitlyn asked, sipping on her coffee.
"It's only a matter of time before -." I said trailing off as I looked through the window again.
Looking across the street, I saw as Ezra kissed Nicole before getting in his car. Caitlyn walked over to and wrapped her arms around me. How could I fight for him? He's obviously happy with Nicole, he wouldn't have started dating her if he wasn't. Sending me off to New York, he did that for me… for the future of our relationship.
"No… it was just a stupid thought." I said.
Without saying another word, I started heading upstairs. What was I thinking? This is completely different from what we went through years ago, he never almost slept with Alison. He asked Hardy to take care of me… not almost drunkenly hook up with me, then not tell him for two and a half years. Just as I made it to the top of the stairs, there was a knock at the front door and I hurried back down. Opening the door, I held back a gasp as I saw it was Nicole.
AN – Ok, I'm going to have a contest! Send me names you think Ezria and Spoby would name their baby or just some names you like and if I pick the name you sent, I'll give you a shout out! Send in boy names, girls names, anything. Stay tuned for the next chapter – you won't want to miss it.
