Hey there! It's me again.
Glad you liked the previous chapter, and proud of the ones who guessed Caleb was the one who would help Aria!
Have fun with this one! :)
...
"Here, you check out her phone and the rest of her purse, I will try to track down her bank card to see what she's been up to."
"She doesn't have any weird phone calls on this one, it's just us girls she's contacted and Spencer's mum. There has to be another phone. This one is just Spencer's." Aria sighed, she needed something better than this. She took the purse and began to search for some more stuff.
"All these credit cards are labeled as Spencer Hastings. No leads to a double life. She must have thought about this."
"Wait.", Aria called out. "What's this?", she handed Caleb what looked like a remote control and gaped at him confused.
"I don't know. It seems like some sort of control pad. Hand me the phone over. I'm going to see if I can trace back some locations."
After a few minutes, Caleb spoke again.
"Do you know this address?", he showed her a location in Rosewood that seemed not to far away and Aria regarded at the street name.
"I'm not sure, but the street name sounds familiar... Wait! That's the street where Toby built that house for Spencer in!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! But why would this girl go there every day?"
Caleb shrugged. "We should find out."^
"Okay.", and with that Aria grabbed her coat and her own purse, turning towards the door.
"Wait, Aria. What do we do with this one? We can't just leave her here?"
"Stay.", she told him. "I got this."
"No way! You're not going to check this place out alone!"
"Caleb, I'll be fine okay? I'm just going to have a look. I will take her purse okay? Maybe there is a key or something.", she pushed inside the control pad as well, her own phone and purse in case she needed some money.
"Maybe I should go and you should stay?"
"No.", she replied firmly. "You shouldn't even be involved in this in the first place. Hanna will kill me if she finds out I put you in danger! You've got your - ", she didn't continue. She watched the sleeping girl, hoping she would stay asleep for a while longer.
"Gun?", he carefully asked and she nodded tentatively.
"Yes. Okay. I've got mine, too. Just, don't hurt her, okay? Please." Aria didn't know where this was coming from, but she knew she couldn't handle it if something happened to her before she could talk to her, really talk to her.
"I - ", Aria noticed how lost at words Caleb was, so she just looked at him pleadingly, until he reluctantly gave in. "Okay. I promise to be careful."
Aria, accepting his answer, gave him a small smile, waving a goodbye, and sprinting out of the door towards her car.
It was no lie that she was scared. She didn't know what to expect at the house, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to.
When she finally arrived, it appeared to be normal. She moved further to the property, crossing the front yard and she stood in front of the door for a minute. She rang the bell, waiting if someone was going to answer and when no one responded, she tried to open it, but failed. She fumbled in the girl's purse and was relieved when she did in fact find a set of keys. She breathed out a sigh of relief when one of them fit. Turning around the door knob carefully, she scanned around the room and shouted out "Hello?", but nobody seemed to be home. Roaming through the rooms, she couldn't find anything odd about the place, but once she looked closer she could see that price tags still hung on the furniture and that it all resembled Spencer's house. The furniture, the paintings on the wall, everything.
"Spencer?", she called out, but once again she was welcomed with silence.
After what felt like forever, she finally found something suspicious in the storage room. She hoped her instincts were right, and was a little bit surprised when it was in fact a slide door that opened instantly when Aria pushed it aside.
"Hello?", she shouted out again, but nothing happened. She removed her gun slowly from the retainer around her waist and held it carefully in both hands, not wanting to risk anything. She was creeped out by the long halls and couldn't understand what was happening around her. After turning into different alleys, running through halls and shouting out Spencer's name she was about to give up. She stood in one of the hallways. Her breathing had slowed down a little bit, but she was still exhausted from all the running. She looked at her phone. She had been in this place for over an hour, and she was sure Caleb had probably tried to call her more than a few times, but being under ground there was no chance of having signal. She banged hard on one of the steal walls, letting it vibrate for a minute, and if she wasn't so furious she might have complained about the pain in her hand.
A minute later however, she felt the wall vibrate again. But that wasn't her. She put her hands on the wall, feeling the vibration all over again.
"Hello?", she shouted. "Is someone there?"
The vibration started again, and Aria's eyes went wide. She looked around the room, thinking someone might have come in. Suddenly, the vibration stopped.
"Spencer?" But there was no vibration in reply.
"Is someone there?" Aria felt the vibration again against her sweaty palms, and took a step back. She was sure now that someone was trapped behind the steal walls, but if it wasn't Spencer - who was? Unless? Oh god!, she thought and closed her eyes.
"Ezra?", she shouted out. She screamed his name, hoping he would hear her, and suddenly she felt the wall vibrate again and again, hearing muffled voices. Aria was sure, he was probably trying to shout out to her, too. She turned around the room, scanning it for a moment and tried to think of a way to get Ezra out of there.
"I'm getting you out. I'm going to get you out.", she promised weakly.
That's when Aria remembered the control pad. She put the gun back into the retainer and searched in the girl's purse until she finally found it, fumbling with it, and pressing a few buttons. Then she pressed the big red button in the middle, hoping nothing would explode, like it happened in movies. However, she could make out a door opening at the end of the hall, and she ran towards it.
Once the door was open, she gained sight inside of it and was shocked and a little relieved when she saw what looked like a control room in front of her. She started the computer and wished Caleb was there with her, because he was so much better at this stuff then she was. However, she got to open a plan of the house, zooming in and out, until finally she found the hall she was currently in and saw how there were two descriptions on each side of the wall: Cell A, Cell B
Her eyes widened and she clicked on the first one. A small window opened and she could press roll-up and open. She did as stated and turned around, but when she noticed that it was actually the wall in front of it she was about to close it again, when suddenly she heard someone sobbing quietly. She pressed for the other cell to open quickly, feeling relieved when she saw the other wall was now lifting as well. She then sprinted to the other cell, where she heard the sobbing coming from, curious to who was held captive with Ezra, already knowing the answer.
That's when she saw her. Aria didn't notice for a moment how Ezra had shouted out to her, the only thing she saw was Spencer's body slumped down on the floor in front of the single bed, her head resting on her knees buried in her hands, while she was rocking back and forth.
"Aria!", she heard Ezra yell again and she turned around quickly. She saw the chain on his ankle and turned to move quickly inside the opposite, open cell.
When she reached him, his eyes shone with love. Aria smiled, tears welling up in her eyes, and she hugged him close. It was then that Ezra tried to kiss her. However, Aria turned slightly, his lips landing on her cheek instead of her lips and he seemed hurt. She didn't want him to be so disappointed, but she felt overwhelmed with the situation and the previous events were still a heavy weight she carried with her. She sighed apologetically and kissed Ezra's forehead, whipping his sweaty hair and caressing his face, noticing a healing wound on his head and she worried for a second of him being hurt.
Her worries were calmed, when she felt his hand on her cheek, guiding her face so they were now face to face.
"Hi.", she whispered then and even though she was never more grateful and happy to see him, something inside Aria just wouldn't let her get closer to him.
"Hi.", he smiled, and this time he caught her out of guard and succeeded in claiming her lips with his own. Aria let him kiss her for a while, finding comfort in his embrace, and feeling like it was the right thing to do. But somehow images of Alex and Spencer clouded her mind, and she stopped the kiss.
Her eyes grew wide. Spencer. She needed to get Spencer out, too.
"Spencer.", she let out, pecking him out of habit on the lips and searched for the keys in her purse. She was glad when the chains opened and Ezra was free.
Before she could run to Spencer's cell though, Ezra lifted her up and spun her around for a while, obviously happy that he had finally been saved, but the second Aria touched the ground, she raced over to the other cell.
"Spence?" She let herself in, signaling for Ezra to wait outside the cell for her, handing him her gun just in case someone came in and he nodded. Aria was glad he respected her friendship with Spencer enough to know not to intrude.
Spencer still hadn't looked up, nor had she acknowledged Aria's presence and Aria was beginning to worry that something was seriously wrong with her. She knelt before her best friend. Slowly, trying not to scare her, she placed a hand on one of Spencer's that held her head in place. The contact made something inside of Spencer snap and she suddenly moved her hands to look up, looking scared for a second until her eyes met Aria's.
…
"Spencer?", she heard her name being called. She hated how her mind played tricks on her. It sounded so much like Aria's voice, but Spencer knew it was only part of her imaginations. They hadn't stopped and somehow it was always Aria, who would sit with her in her cell, trying to cheer her up, trying to give her hope. She couldn't remember the last time she had a drink, or something to eat, and she felt like more than 24 had passed. Her body felt weak and it shook with exhaustion and dehydration. Spencer knew she needed water and the dark was driving her crazy as well. Suddenly though, she felt a hand reach hers, and it felt so real that she was startled by the touch and jolted up. When she opened her eyes, the brightness of the room made her eyes burn, but it all seemed to vanish when she met eyes with the one person she had been dreaming about.
"Aria?", she breathed out. Her voice raspy, her lips dry, not sure if Aria was really there, or if her mind was still playing tricks on her.
"I'm here.", she heard her say and suddenly tiny arms wrapped around her tall, but slim frame and she felt a kind of warmth that was impossible to imagine. She shook in her friends arms. Not believing that it was really Aria who held her and whispered words of comforts into her ear. Her own arms wrapped haltingly around her best friend, feeling the need to touch her. She didn't know how Aria had found them, she didn't know what happened to Alex, or how Aria had managed to save them, but for once her hyperactive brain didn't care. All she cared about, was that she was finally back in her best friend's arms and that she felt safe.
"I'm so glad I found you.", she heard Aria whisper, and it had never felt so good to hear Aria's soft voice. She felt Aria plant a caring kiss on her forehead and sighed out in relief.
"Me too.", she managed to say. She was still shaking in Aria's arms, but felt a small shift, as Aria grabbed the purse that was next to her. Aria must have heard how raspy her voice had sounded. Spencer smiled grateful when Aria handed her the bottle of water, and Spencer was about to drink all of it, when suddenly Aria reached for the bottle, and for just a moment Spencer was scared to be punished, feeling like she did something wrong. Aria must have noticed her tensing up, because Spencer felt Aria's hands rubbing softly down her arms. She looked carefully up into Aria's eyes that resembled nothing but worry and love, and saw how Aria's head tilted slightly into the direction of Ezra. She heard Aria call out his name, and saw him moving towards the cell. Spencer felt Aria's arms tighten around her, when her body began to shake again. Out of the corner of her eye, she observed Aria handing Ezra the bottle.
"We should get her out of here.", he whispered and she saw Aria nod. She was too exhausted to complain, when she felt strong arms lift her up. She knew it wasn't Aria, but she knew Ezra was the only one who could carry her out of this place. She felt a tiny hand wrap around hers then, as they moved across the hall, knowing it was Aria who wanted to give her comfort. She smiled at the thought, smiled at the thought of Aria being there with her. She wanted to say something, she wanted to thank her for saving her, wanted to say so much more, but exhaustion took over and for the first time since she had been locked in, she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
…
"What happened to her?", Aria couldn't move her gaze from her resting best friend. She wondered why Ezra was still so strong, why he wasn't completely shattered and worn out like Spencer, but seemed almost unaffected by all of this.
"There is so much to talk about, Aria. But I don't think now is the time for all of this." Aria heard him sigh, and she decided to leave it like that and wait until Spencer was feeling better again.
They finally reached the car and Ezra placed Aria's sleeping best friend carefully onto the back seats. He turned around to face her then, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her close. He kissed the top of her head, and for a moment she let herself fall into his embrace. "I missed you.", he whispered and a lonely tear fell from Aria's eyes as she remembered the heartbreak and the anger she had been through. "I did too.", she answered, and moved out of his arms. "I'm really glad that you're okay Ezra", she said, kissing his cheek, and moving into the driver's seat, ignoring Ezra's protests when he told her he could drive and Aria could sit with Spencer in the back seat. She wished she could, but she wasn't quite sure which state Ezra was in, so she thought it was safer to drive herself.
They drove in silence, as neither could think of a good way to start a conversation. Aria concluded that Ezra must have noticed something in the way she behaved around him. She didn't want to hurt him. It was the last thing she wanted to do. But so much had happened while he was away. She had tried to move on from him when she thought he wouldn't be coming back. There were things that happened, that he didn't know about. There were feelings and emotions not even she could understand. She couldn't just jump back into place with him. They would talk later, but right in this moment, she would just thank God and the Universe that him and Spencer were safe. After all, that was all that mattered to her.
She continued to drive, checking on Spencer's sleeping form every now and then through her rearview mirror, and letting out a tiny sigh of reveal that she was finally resting. It would only take them a few more minutes to be back at the apartment. She had sent Caleb a message that she would be over soon and had managed to get out Ezra and Spencer. She was relieved when he answered and said that Alex was still sleeping, and she also smirked when he added that even though he could kill for answering just now, he was still proud of her. She continued to smile. She knew things would boil up again once they reached the apartment. There was a lot to talk about, there were decisions to be made and questions to be answered; she would have to call Hanna and Emily, and probably Toby soon and there would be chaos, and disagreements, and probably screaming - But in this moment she tried to forget and focus on the few minutes of peace she had left. Spencer and Ezra were finally save again and her plan had worked. She would figure out the rest later. She just wanted to enjoy the quiet before the storm for just a few minutes longer.
...
Spencer and Ezra are finally saved! But the story is far from over!
The big question now is: What will happen to Alex? What do you think is her reaction going to be when she finally wakes up?
Hope you liked the chapter :)
What do you think will happen next?
Also if you have some Sparia or even Alex/Aria prompts - just message them to me and I will try to come up with something :)
Please leave some words. Much love!