Chapter 33 - few days later

Maya and I were sitting in Ezra's room, having a Twilight marathon. I had told Maya she didn't have to watch me like a hawk when she strolled in, two seconds after Ezra left to go get my pain medication. But Ezra doesn't like leaving me on my own, even for a few minutes and it's easier to have Maya come over since we don't have to hide our relationship from her. No one knows the truth about what happened the other night, not even who it was and I know that everyone will go ballistic the second they know who it was. Ezra knows I'm lying about it being a random person, but he's making it clear he wants me to tell him on my own time.

"Is there anything you remember about your attacker?" Maya asked and I shook my head, should've seen this coming.

"Aria, it's just me here. You can tell me. I understand if you're not ready… but Ezra and I both know it wasn't a random person." She said and I realized she saw my hesitation.

"It was Josh." I said, unable to look at her as his name came out.

"Ezra needs to know this Ar." She whispered.

"I know and I will, it's just….I just need to figure out how I'm supposed to tell him." I told her.

Ezra's pov

Standing on the stairs, I tried to hold back my anger towards Josh. Neither Aria or Maya must have heard me yet since they're watching the Twilight movies, but I don't want Aria to know that I know yet. She clearly isn't ready to tell me. I quietly snuck back down the stairs and headed towards the front door. The last thing Aria needs is to get stressed out from telling me about Josh, she's probably already stressed out from him already.

"I'm back, Ar." I called out, walking upstairs and into the bedroom.

"You missed out on most of Twilight and Bella's birthday party in New Moon." Aria told me as Maya checked her phone.

"And I am off, I'll see you later Aria. Let me know if I can do anything." She said, turning to me and I nodded.

"Thanks Maya." I responded and she gave me a small smile before walking out of the room.

Not wasting another second, I sat on the bed next to Aria and kissed the side of her head. She paused the movie then turned to face me, pressing her lips to mine. Just as I brushed some hair behind her ear, her stomach grumbled. Slowly pulling away, I hoped that she wouldn't figure out that I had overheard her and Maya. The last thing she needs is to get stressed out from feeling pressured to tell me about Josh attacking her.

"You need food. What do you have a taste for?" I asked.

"I don't care." She said softly.

"We could order a pizza, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Indian, or I could get takeout from either Rive Gauche or The Grille?" I suggested, something flashed in her eyes at the last option, but I pretended not to notice.

"Maybe the Grille, they wouldn't take as long as the other places." She said softly.

"You got it, what would you like from there?" I asked.

"Fettuccine alfredo and some sweet potato fries." She told me.

"I'll be back, stay put." I whispered, giving her a soft kiss.

"Okay." She managed against my lips.

It was obvious that she didn't want me to leave again but she needs food and The Grille doesn't do delivery. As we pulled apart, I caressed her cheek and pressed my lips to hers once more. She slipped her tongue into my mouth and wrapped her arms around my neck, which I knew was an attempt to keep me from leaving.

"Be back as soon as I can. I love you." I told her as we pulled apart again.

"Love you too." She said softly.

"Call me if you need anything." I told her.

…..

Standing next to the dumpster, I stared at the back door of The Grille. Turns out that Chloe had gone to Josh's place the night they broke up and heard some rude things he had said to Aria. At least I had gotten dessert from the bakery before I got here because if I had just come here first, I'd be in jail for assaulting Josh. All of a sudden, the back door opened and Josh walked out with a couple bags of trash. Which I know is how Chloe got Josh back here. He's lucky if I don't make him leave in a body bag because of what he said to Aria.

"I know it was you who attacked Aria." I said, walking out from the shadows.

Aria's pov

Glancing at Ezra's alarm clock, I saw that it's been nearly an hour and a half since he left. It doesn't take this long at The Grille, not even when it's busy. Grabbing my phone to call him, I heard the front door open and sighed in relief that he was finally back.

"Babe?" Ezra called out.

"Where you left me." I called back.

In two seconds, he walked into the room. But he was walking in a strange way, but I couldn't figure it out. He set the bag of food and the paper plates onto his dresser and quickly pulled out our dinner. I watched as he separated our meals, not looking up and it seemed like he was forcing himself to focus on the food. What happened while he was out?

"Sorry I'm late, it took a bit longer than I thought. But I also got some cupcakes from the bakery in case you wanted some dessert." He said and I saw his eye in the mirror.

"What the hell happened to your eye?" I asked, getting out of bed and rushing over towards him

"You need to get back in bed and rest." He said worriedly, trying to usher me back into bed.

"Not until you tell me what happened!" I told him, crossing my arms and he sighed.

"I overheard you and Maya earlier. Chloe also overheard some of the things he said to you the night you two broke up." He explained and I felt a lump in my throat.

"There was no way in hell that I was going to let him get away with physically hurting or saying those things to you." He added and I bursted out crying.

"What if he killed you? He- He could have ta-taken you from me!" I cried and he wiped my tears.

"Nothing is ever going to take me from you." He whispered.

He gently caressed my cheek and wiped away the fresh tears that had rolled down my face. Staring into my eyes, he lifted my chin with a finger and brushed his lips against mine. I cupped his face as he wrapped an arm around my waist. As he started to deepen the kiss, I started slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Tossing his shirt aside, he pulled me closer to him before leading me towards the bed.

…..

Ezra kissed my forehead as I snuggled up to him, caressing his chest. His black eye doesn't look too bad, maybe he could get away with just some concealer. As sweet as it was for him to defend me, I hate the fact that he got hurt again. Looking up at him, he brushed some hair behind my ear.

"Come home." He whispered and I brushed my lips against his.

"Okay." I whispered as we pulled apart.

"We still have to decide which room to make the nursery, there's Oliver's old room and the guest room. I doubt we want to put the nursery in the spare room downstairs." He said and I nodded.

"Probably better to just use Oliver's old room, it's still the closest to our room." I pointed out.

"But should we put the twins in the same crib until they're too big to share or just get another crib?." He asked.

"Probably easier to have them share a crib, that way we save at least a little bit from not buying two cribs." I responded.

He kissed my forehead and caressed my cheek with his thumb. I looked up at Ezra, he gave me a small smile as I cupped his face and he brushed his lips against mine. He slipped his tongue into my mouth and carefully pulled me closer to him. Wrapping my leg over his waist, I felt him smirk into the kiss before he quickly pulled me on top of his lap. Just as he started running his hands up and down my thighs, his phone beeped and we pulled apart. All of a sudden, I felt a huge need to pee as Ezra silenced his phone and pressed his lips to the crook of my neck.

"Whoever it was, they can wait." Ezra murmured.

"Mhm…. no, you should check it because now I really have to pee." I said, receiving a chuckle.

"While you do that, I'm going to go heat up this food because you need to eat." He responded.

Getting out of bed, I quickly grabbed Ezra's yellow t-shirt and pulled it over my head as he pulled his pajama pants on and made his way downstairs with the food. I nearly ran to the bathroom, unable to hold it in any longer, and made it to the toilet in time. Seeing one of my pregnancy magazines in the holder that Ezra got when we first moved in, I picked it up and flipped through it. There's so much planning to do for the twins, at least it's easier now that I'm moving back in and we don't have to plan out a nursery for the house and the loft now.

"I forgot that Frankie asked me to watch his new cat while he goes out of town for his sister's wedding. He was gonna bring the cat over here, if that's okay with you?" Ezra asked, appearing in the doorway.

"Yeah, that's fine. There's no reason why the plan should change babe." I told him.

Why don't I remember Frankie ever telling me about his sister or even that he has one? And I know that Ezra and I will get married again, but it does suck waiting for the topic to come up and it doesn't really go with our plan to take things slow this time. Although, we don't have to get married right away or even in a year…. but I also don't know Ezra's thoughts on it. Flushing the toilet, I walked to the sink and started washing my hands as Ezra came back in.

"Babe, if you're trying to play 'guess who' you have to make sure the other person doesn't see you first." I giggled as Ezra gently covered my eyes.

"Come on, I'm sure you're hungry." He whispered.

"As long as you tell me where we're going." I giggled.

"We're going to eat." He murmured, kissing my earlobe.

He didn't say anything as he carefully led me out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. All of a sudden, he uncovered my eyes to see that he had set up a picnic for us. Our food was set up on his red buffalo checkered blanket with two red plastic cups and a new bottle white sparkling grape juice.

"After you." He said, helping me sit down.

"What are you the flash or something?" I joked as he sat down next to me.

"Maybe." He said, brushing some hair behind my ear.

"But Chloe did wait a bit to put our order in, so the food was still pretty hot. But you were reading your magazine in there…. So that did give me some time." He teased.

"No more bringing my cousin into your shenanigans." I told him, waving my forkful of fettuccine Alfredo at him.

"Technically, she brought herself into it." He pointed out.

"No more getting yourself into shenanigans." I said.

"Okay." He whispered.

I felt Ezra kiss my shoulder and carefully snuggled up to me. He draped his arm over me and I rested my hand over his, slipping my fingers between his. Taking his free hand, he handed me one of the cups. I giggled as he ran his hand through my hair and turned to face him, brushing my lips against his cheek.

"I would've used the wine glasses but I have no idea where they are." He said.

"Babe, we don't have any wine glasses. You're probably thinking of the ones Ella brought for Thanksgiving, the one year we had to host." I reminded him.

"That would explain why I couldn't find them." He said and I giggled.

The next morning

Ezra squirmed a bit as I applied the concealer onto his black eye. We figured it would be best if we tried our best to keep the boys from finding out about Ezra and Josh's latest fight. Hanna should be here any moment to drop the boys back home, and we're telling them that we're back together plus that I'm moving back in. It feels like time is going slower than it had when we were waiting for the call about Alison.

"Babe stop squirming or I won't be able to cover your black eye. Then Oliver will probably refuse to come near you." I told him.

"But you're putting whatever that is on my eye and it's weird." He complained.

"It's a concealer. Besides, we wouldn't be having this conversation if someone hadn't gone out and played superman." I pointed out, he squirmed again and I closed the concealer.

"Okay, if you behave…." I trailed off.

Before he could react, I brushed my lips against his. It didn't take more than that for him to cup my face and I melted into him. He slipped his tongue into my mouth, making me moan just as I dropped the concealer onto the floor and ran my hands through his hair. As he started laying us down with me on top, we heard a car pull into the driveway. There's no way it's Hanna already dropping off the boys, the car beeped and we quickly pulled apart. Ezra quickly kissed my nose before getting up off the couch and I kicked the concealer under the couch. Glancing at the clock, we both saw that it was the time that Hanna said she'd be here to drop the boys off.

"Even from outside, they still block me from making moves." Ezra complained as he went to let the boys in.

"That's the joy of having kids." I joked as he opened the door.

"Hi mom!" Malcolm said, seeing me

"Hi mom." Oliver mimicked and Malcolm sighed.

"When did I stop being mama?" I asked, confused.

"Since breakfast when he started copying everything I say." Malcolm said annoyed, plopping his bag onto the ground.

"Everything I say." Oliver repeated.

"Aunt Hanna told you to stop it after I told you three times. Stop it already." Malcolm told him.

"Stop it alweady." Oliver mimicked.

"Oliver Scott, stop repeating Malcolm." Ezra told Oliver sternly.

"But I like this game daddy." Oliver whined.

"Your brother does not. And not only has he told you to stop, so did Aunt Hanna and daddy just told you now. Stop it or you're going into time out. Now you two come over here and sit down. Dad and I want to talk to you about something." I said as Ezra sat down next me.

"Mom and I are back together." Ezra told the boys.

"I go tell bubba!" Oliver exclaimed and ran upstairs.

"And I'm moving back in the house… I'm sure he got that part though." I said and Malcolm held back a snicker.

"About time." Malcolm said.

"Malcolm, you're nearing your teenage years and about the age where you might want more privacy. With that being said, would you want to have your own room?" Ezra asked, turning to Malcolm

"We could even renovate the basement to be a bedroom if you wanted." I added.

"No. He might be annoying at times, but I like sharing a room with Ollie. But if he keeps repeating me, I may take you up on the my own room thing." Malcolm told us and it brought me back to when they started sharing a room.

Flashback - January 2014, Winter break

Ezra and I were watching the news while the boys were supposed to be taking a nap. They had kept us up all night last night, Oliver's terrible twos have waited until winter break to hit. He refused to go to sleep and played all night, always finding a new toy to play with and kept getting out of his crib. Malcolm wasn't feeling that well, but luckily he's feeling better today. Oliver had not been happy about not being able to go into Malcolm's room last night, which also might have been part of the reason he refused to sleep with me or Ezra. Anytime we have an overnight visit, Oliver's been going into Malcolm's room and staying there. Just as a commercial came on, there was a thud from upstairs.

"What was that?" Ezra asked.

"Something was thrown, or the boys are awake and practicing for WWE." I joked.

Hurrying up the stairs, we skidded to halt when we saw Malcolm and Oliver bringing toys and pillows from the nursery to Malcolm's room. I shared a look with Ezra before we followed them and saw that the room had been divided crookedly in half with toys and pillows.

"What are you two up to?" I asked, and Oliver toddled over to Ezra.

"Dada up!" Oliver said, lifting his arms.

"We're moving Ollie into my room." Malcolm said and I shared a look with Ezra as he scooped Oliver up.

"Alright, but don't move any of the furniture." Ezra told him.

End of Flashback

Snapping out of my flashback, I was wrapped in Ezra's arms and Malcolm was nowhere to be seen. Snuggling into him, I rested my head against his chest and felt him kiss the top of my head. He slowly rubbed my back as I yawned. I've been up since I can't even remember when I woke up to puke, then of course I had to pee after that and the twins wouldn't let me go back to sleep.

"How is it that you're tired and it's only ten in the morning?" Ezra whispered.

"Because these two had me up early as hell. Plus, I couldn't go back to sleep afterwards." I reminded him.

"Why don't we go upstairs and take a nap?" He suggested.

"I like that idea." I said softly.

"Thought you might. Besides, that way you can get some more sleep and I get to have you in my arms." He murmured, brushing some hair out of my eyes.

"I'm in your arms right now." I teased and he jokingly rolled his eyes.

Taking my hand in his, helped me up off the couch. I intertwined our fingers together as he led me upstairs. The boys were playing with a bunch of different trains in their room, which I'm a little shocked there hasn't been an argument already. Ezra let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, kissing the side of my head.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed." He murmured, gently pulling me onto the bed with him as my phone beeped.

'Group night tonight, grab Ezra and come on over. Mom and dad said they'll watch the boys; Aiden will be over there with Lulu. But Alex will be out with Cece.'- Toby

"Ez." I whispered, nudging him a bit.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Game night tonight and I think it's time we tell them." I told Ezra

"It was gonna happen sooner or later, love." He reminded me.

"But why did you nudge me? I was awake." He added.

"Thought you were asleep already." I responded and he chuckled.

He didn't say anything as he took my phone and placed it on my nightstand and pulled me closer to him. I snuggled into his chest as he pressed his lips to the top of my head. We did know that sooner or later that we'd have to tell everyone that we're back together but it never occurred to me how soon any of this would happen.

Everyone was watching me and Toby, since we were the only ones still in the game of Texas hold 'em. Mike had been the first to fold then Emily followed along with Maya and Hanna. Spencer ended up folding at the same time as Ezra, pretty sure they have a silent bet on who will win. Even though Spencer hates it when Toby and I play poker together. Ezra and I haven't told them that we're back together yet and we're pretty sure Maya's just seeing how long it takes us to tell the others.

"I'll see your twenty and raise you thirty." Toby said, tossing a couple chips onto the pile.

"I see you raised thirty and raise you fifty ." I responded, flipping my fifty chip in with the others

"This should be good." Ezra said and Emily laughed.

"This is why you two should never play poker together." Spencer muttered.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom, it'll be years before either of them give in." Maya said getting up.

Just as Maya walked out of the room, Toby picked up one more card. He has never won a game against me in all the years we've known each other, so I have no clue why he thinks tonight could be any different. Especially since any time we've played poker together, I've always had a higher hand than him. He stared at his cards and looked up at me, smirking.

"Flush." Toby said.

"Well, your flush will be going right down the of a kind Cavanaugh." I said and he stared at me in shock.

"Should probably listen to your wife about playing poker with your sister. You have never won a poker match, let alone a round of go fish when you've played me…. tonight was no different." I told him.

"Three hundred bucks AND she gets to rub it in your face." Mike laughed.

"That should help with the nursery a bit." I said and Emily arched an eyebrow at me, shit… I slipped.

"Most of it was from Toby I think." Ezra added as I winked at Emily.

The second our hands touched, I laced intertwined our fingers. I didn't care about anyone else in the room as I cupped his face with my other and brushed my lips against his. The room had gone quiet and we both were trying to keep ourselves from laughing at everyone else. Pulling away, I winked and we turned to everyone looking at us. Toby quickly turned to Hanna and laughed.

"Told you it would be before her birthday!" Toby exclaimed.

"Damn it, I was already spending your money in my head." Hanna muttered, searching through her purse.

"There was a bet? Maya won't be happy to find out she has no part in it." Ezra said, wrapping his arm around me.

"Yeah, she told us she was five seconds away from starting one." I added as Maya walked in.

"Assholes! No one told me about a bet!" Maya exclaimed.

"Well, you knew before anyone else here." I reminded her as she sat back down.

"I'm just shocked that Toby actually won something in his lifetime." I teased, looking at Toby and he rolled his eyes at me.

"We're going to go start the fire." Mike said.

"Don't let Toby catch on fire." Emily, Spencer and I all said.

"Wow. Thanks for the boost of confidence." Toby said, walking out with Mike laughing behind him.

"I'll make sure Toby doesn't set himself on fire." Ezra promised, kissing my forehead.

"Thank you." Spencer and I both.

He walked out after Mike and Toby, shutting the door behind him. The girls and I sat back at the table, they seemed to still be comprehending the fact that Ezra and I were back together. Now, hopefully I'll be able to avoid being bomb boarded with questions like: How did it happen? Or even how long have we been back together? Or my favorite: why didn't you tell me? Which I know would come from Spencer and Caitlyn once I tell her. Turning towards Hanna, I remembered what Mike told me the other day when we met for lunch.

"Han, Mike told me about Travis's job interview. When is it?" I asked.

"Few days after your birthday, and of course he wants me to take him there." Hanna muttered.

"Like to the airport or to Connecticut?" I questioned.

"To Connecticut. Luckily, my mom is coming as well to help with Aiden saying goodbye and to support me and Travis. Because I'm not sure how long I'll be able to deal with Travis on my own. Pretty sure he's going to try to get back together with me." She explained.

"He had multiple job offers around here, that pays just as good and has great benefits. This offer didn't come up until after I told him about my relationship with Mike and all of a sudden he wants me to move mine and Aiden's life to a whole new state?" Hanna vented.

"But what's Connecticut offering him that one of the other offers around here isn't offering? Maybe they're offering more." I suggested.

"They're not, Travis is just being difficult. He doesn't know anyone in Maine and there's no legit reason for him to move there when Aiden and his dad are here. Aria, what I feel for Mike…. it's more real than anything I ever felt for Sean or Travis. Mike's the one." She told me.

"Tell him." I said, taking her hands in mine.

"I don't want to scare him off, it's still so new." She responded.

"Remember, he had a crush on you for like forever. Nothing is going to scare him off." I told her.

Neither of us said anything as we glanced through the window to see the guys outside. All of a sudden, Spencer and Maya sat back at the table with us and set a bag of chips onto the table along with a jar of salsa. I can't remember the last time we did something like this with just the five of us. But also, my pregnancy brain is choosing today to not remember anything. If Ezra hadn't been there to remind me, the boys would've been left at the house alone with no adult supervision.

"So, you and Fitz huh?" Spencer teased.

"Are there some wedding bells ringing anytime soon? You did catch the bouquet at the wedding." Hanna reminded us.

"Yeah, when are you two getting remarried?" Maya asked.

"Slow down guys, we just got back together and I don't think we'll be getting remarried for a while." I said.

"But you guys love each other." Emily pointed out.

"That doesn't mean get remarried right away, we're taking things slow this time." I told her.

"Are you happy?" Spencer asked, taking my hands in hers.

Glancing back towards Ezra, I couldn't hold back my smile. Even with the obstacles we've gone through the past few months, we really weathered through it to be together again. Frankly, I'd do it all over again but without Josh attacking Ezra if it meant telling him that he's the one I want to be with one more time. As much as I do want to be his wife, I don't want him to feel pressured about it. If I have to wait to get remarry Ezra…. I don't care because he's worth the wait. Even though I would want to just elope again.

"Yeah, I am." I responded.