Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. I'm obsessed with over-planning and making my story lines too complex. I've turned this into a bit of a cross-over with How I Met Your Mother (I imagine the Skellar to look kind of like McClaren's). There's no smut in this chapter, but I want to develop the story line and build up suspense around the Jaria 'ship.

******8 Months Later*******

During the Thursday morning staff meeting at Umbrella Publishing, Aria learned her boss had given Ezra an advance for a follow-up to his book. As luck would have it, she and Liam were going to have the opportunity to work with him.

"Isn't that the company that published Ezra's book?" Jason had asked with pain in his eyes. If only you knew the truth about him, she thought.

"Wow, looks like we're in for a ride, how 'bout it Montgomery?" Liam asked, grinning from ear-to-ear as they walked out of the meeting.

"Uh, yeah, it's gonna be crazy," she replied absentmindedly, working with a fucking monster she added in her head.

"I know, the guy's a fucking genius, I can't wait to work with him personally" Mr. Green replied with gusto. "Want to grab coffee or a beer after work and start to hash out a plan for working with Fitz? I don't want to look foolish during our first meeting."

If they were going to be discussing Ezra, she figured she'd need more than coffee. "I guess beer would be good, let's go to the Skelllar," Aria suggested.

When the work day ended Aria texted Spencer to let her know she'd be home late, and then hopped onto the train with Liam to head downtown.

Spencer glanced down at Aria's text briefly before her friend's face popped up on the screen along with her unique ringtone.

"Hey Han, how's it going?" Spencer asked.

"Oh, well, there's highs and lows. I just got in the third quarter earnings report and we did much better than anyone thought. I'm meeting up with Lucas and our Japanese investor Mr. Soto at the Radley in about 15 minutes," Hanna talked distractedly through her high news before segueing into the low. "Have you heard anything from Emily or Alison recently?"

Spencer had to stop and think. Her school schedule was jam-packed and she barely had any time for Caleb, let alone Aria, both of whom she lived with. "No Han, my work load is overwhelming this semester and I'm in the middle of applying for internships which will very much decide my success as a lawyer," Spencer said without meaning to sound snide. "Is everything OK?" she asked a little bit softer.

"Well Ali called me this morning in tears," Hanna began. "She and Emily got into a huge argument this morning. She kicked Emily out and won't let her see their kids."

"What the fuck?" Spencer was astonished. "Why the hell would she do that?"

"Emily's been lost ever since she returned from California for Charlotte's trial," Hanna said. "She's got a pretty bad reputation for sleeping around, and Ali caught her with some blonde chick last weekend. Emily's had a revolving door of mistresses for quite some time and that was the nail in the coffin."

"Oh my god," Spencer replied in shock. "Where's Emily now?"

"From what I've-Oh shit Spence, here comes Lucas and Mr. Soto," Hanna interrupted herself. "I need to go but I wanted to let you know what's going on back here. Aria is impossible to get a hold of too, by the way. Can you fill her in when you get a chance?"

Oh boy Spencer thought to herself, before finishing up the email she was in the middle of when she was interrupted by Aria and then Hanna. It hadn't yet occurred to her that she had very few details about the bomb she was supposed to fill her friend in on.

When they got to the Skellar, Aria claimed a table in the corner while Liam got them each a beer from the bar. While waiting for Liam, Aria closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, meditating briefly before putting up her shields for the conversation that was about to come. Liam knew Aria had Ezra for a teacher, but that was about the extent of his knowledge of their relationship.

"Here you go Montgomery," Liam broke her thoughts when he put an ice-cold lager in front of his new partner. Liam was genuinely looking forward to getting to work on this project. In his opinion Ezra was a genius, and in addition to her first-hand knowledge of the author, his work partner was gorgeous.

Aria looked up at Liam and smiled. Although she dreaded working with Ezra, there was no better coworker to be paired with than Liam. Hopefully not all good-looking writers were as awful as Ezra. She hated to admit that she had a crush on Liam – not just because of Jason – but because he was a coworker. Jillian frowned upon inter-office relationships because it was distracting. If only she knew the extent of my relationship with Ezra… Aria thought.

After their 4th pint, Liam decided to put an end to their work and instead put the moves on Aria. He gently picked up her small hands, causing her to drop her pencil and raise her furrowed eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't intend to work everything out tonight, Aria," Liam said jokingly. He had to admire the tenacity with which she approached the book. It was almost as if she had something to prove to her former teacher – that she would be respected as a colleague and not belittled as a former student.

"Sorry," Aria replied shaking her head as she quickly retracted her hands from Liam's grasp. "I'm just really nervous about working with Ezra on this."

"No need to apologize," Liam responded with a wink, hoping he hadn't put her off when he grabbed her hands. "You need to come off as a professional rather than a former student, I get it."

"It's not that simple," Aria said as she attempted to take a deep breath. While she had been focusing on plowing through the first draft notes and trying to find the most objective way to word her questions and comments for the asshole author she was stuck working with, she did not notice her old anxiety gradually pushing on her chest. Once Liam broke her concentration she came back to the moment and started hyperventilating.

"Hey," Liam said gently, observing the petite brunette's obvious distress. "I was just kidding about needing to prove yourself to Fitz, I'm sure he'll be professional. Besides, you have me," Liam grinned as he pointed to himself. "I'm a third party and will make sure the revisions stay objective and Fitz doesn't belittle you. There's nothing to be concerned about."

Aria knew he was wrong. She took a big gulp of her beer and prepared herself to give Liam a glance into how complicated her relationship was with her former teacher and subsequent rapist. "I actually dated Ezra for over a year when I was in high school," she began.

Now it was Liam's turn to raise his eyebrows in surprise. Aria watched his jaw drop and Liam's speechlessness screamed volumes at her.

"I met him at a bar the weekend before my junior year of school started," Aria continued defensively. "It was right after we got back from a year in Iceland and I was not ready to face the town one of my best friends disappeared from. Ezra started talking to me, we had a few drinks together, and then practically had sex in the bathroom. He pretended to be surprised the next Monday morning when we saw each other in my AP English class. We both knew it was wrong but we were drawn to each other. I fell in love with him, even after I found out he was just using me to get information about a book he was writing about my friend that disappeared. He knew who I was in the bar, and took advantage of the situation. I ended up forgiving him but when I left for college I told him it was over," Aria rushed all that into one breath as she wouldn't have been able to get it all out any other way.

"Wow," Liam responded when Aria paused. "What a creep. Ostinato was not about some missing high school girl though – what ever happened to the book he was writing while he strung you along?"

Aria could hardly believe he processed all that. "Oh, well apparently he burned it after I found out about it, but that's not the worst part," Aria's breath was shaky, and her eyes a bit glassed over when she looked back up at Liam.

Liam moved his chair to Aria's side of the table to put a comforting, friendly arm around her. "It's ok Aria, I'm here as a friend and professional colleague. You can tell me anything, or nothing, whatever you are comfortable with. That will help me plan my approach to working with him."

Aria leaned her head against his arm as he gently rubbed her back. He was surely not ready for the bomb she was about to drop "During my junior year at SCAD, Ezra showed up drunk on my doorstep," Aria began hyperventilating again, "a-and raped me." Tears fell down like rain as she buried her face in Liam's shoulder. As hard as it was to get out the basics, Aria knew there was no way she could go into the details she had with Spencer.

"Aria, oh my god," Spencer said concerned when she approached her friend crying in Liam's arms, "what happened?"

"Spence, what are you doing here?" Aria perked up a bit when she heard her friend's voice and turned to look at the taller girl through her tears.

"Uh, it's Thursday, girls' night," Spencer replied with a confused expression that turned to anger when she saw Fitz's name on the top of her page of notes. "What the fuck is that?"

"We were assigned to work with Ezra on his second book at our staff meeting today and decided to have a beer to discuss how to approach the topic," Liam began. "Aria just filled me in on their history and now I understand why she thought beer would be a better option than coffee. My opinion of the asshole just went straight to hell. Stay here with Aria, I'm going to buy us all another round."

Spencer sat down where Liam was and put her arm around Aria, and felt her distressed partner-in-crime relax a bit. "At least you don't have to work with him one-on-one," she said soothingly. "Liam's a great guy and this will give you a reason to spend more time with him." Though Aria never came out and said it Spencer could tell she had a bit of a thing for her coworker.

"I know," Aria replied, "I'm looking forward to working with him but you know Jillian's policy on inter-office dating..." she trailed off. She'd had enough of hiding relationships for 10 lifetimes.

"You snuck around with Fitz for over a year in high school," Spencer said, the words flowing from her mouth without thinking about them, "surely you could date Liam on the D-L." As soon as the words left her mouth Spencer was kicking herself. Why the hell would I say that?

Luckily they were interrupted by the arrival of their drinks as Aria stared at Spencer, in awe of her complete lack of tact.

"So Spencer, how's law school treating you?" Liam asked conversationally, switching to an easier topic.

"Ugghhh it's just fantastic," Spencer's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I spend more time with my books than I spend with Aria and Caleb combined."

"Speaking of Caleb, how's his job going?" Liam replied. "Is he meeting us here?"

"I'm not planning on Caleb being here – did you miss the part about girls' night, Liam?" Spencer asked jokingly. "But you might be able to get him out. It'd be good for him to interact with people rather than the inanimate ones and zeros of the programming world."

References to the ones and zeros of information technology always made Aria chuckle so Spencer used it whenever she could. Her sidekick had an infectious smile and laugh. "Caleb loves his job though, and the pay's fantastic," Spencer continued. "We're thinking of looking for our own apartment so we can get out of Aria's hair."

Aria pouted dramatically. "I'll be so sad and lonely though." Occasionally they all got on each other's nerves but for the most part all were respectful roommates. Aria barely ever even heard their headboard pounding against the wall on the other side of the bathroom.

"Have you guys looked at any places yet? I think there might be a free apartment in my building across town if you're interested," Liam offered.

"Actually we just looked at an apartment upstairs," Spencer told him. "Above the bar – across from Ted's apartment." Liam looked at her quizzically. "Oh you remember Ted, the guy with the red cowboy boots."

The lightbulb went on over Liam's head. "Right, he seems like a cool guy. Won't it be hard to get work done living upstairs from a bar?"

"There're bars all over town, it won't be too distracting living here. It'll actually be quite convenient," Spencer returned. "Turns out Ted's roommate Marshall is a year ahead of me in law school."

"Sasquatch?" Aria asked, perking up thinking about their friends from upstairs. "I love that guy," she chuckled to herself, thinking of all the bad jokes Marshall brought out after a few drinks. The arrival of Spencer lightened her mood as she drowned the memory of Ezra with each sip of her beer. "I wonder where the hell Sophia is, she's usually out by now," Aria turned her attention to her phone as she texted another girls' night regular attendee. Moments later Sophia walked in, followed by Robin and Lilly, friends of the aforementioned Ted and Marshall, though Lilly and Marshall were a bit more than friends.

"Why's he here on girls' night?" Sophia asked, pointing at Liam and giving Aria the hairy eyeball. "Did he forget his dick in his other pants again?" a question that pushed all the girls into fits of laughter.

"No," Aria managed to squeak out in an intoxicated breath. "We were working on a plan of how to attack Ezra's new book." Aria giggled uncontrollably at her own wit.

"Well I can take a hint, I'll see if I can get Caleb out here to balance this estrogen," Liam chuckled. "Where are Ted and Marshall?" he asked Lilly and Robin.

"Oh Ted had to wash his hair and Marshall is working late at the library preparing for some sort of major exam coming up," Lilly said subtly mocking Ted and his feminine side before turning her attention to Spencer. "Just wait until you get Markowski next year. You'd better get on her good side early, she's a fuckin' bear."

With that, Ted walked in and took his usual booth in the middle of the bar, signaling to Wendy the Waitress and then Liam. Liam gathered his notes in his briefcase then picked up his beer and went over to join Ted after confirming Caleb was in fact on his way.

The evening wore on with the usual gusto, the girls drinking and gossiping, Liam and Ted talking about sports or shoes, depending on whose topic was being discussed. Ted was having a bit of an existential crisis regarding his career as an architect, and was nearly off the deep end of his sanity. Eventually Caleb and Marshall filed in and after Barney made his grand entrance, the groups intermingled. Barney's drunk antics had a particularly magnetic quality.

Tonight's shenanigans grew particularly epic, during which time Liam grew increasingly protective of Aria, as it was her turn to be hit on by Barney this particular evening. Aria was amused with Barney's over-the-top attention, and he was impressed by her ability to outwit every single one of his awful pick-up lines. The best part of the evening for Aria though was Liam's protectiveness.

After last call, Liam poured Aria into a cab with Caleb and Spencer. "Take care of her for me," Liam asked with an undertone of deeper-than-drunkenness concern for his coworker.

"Of course," Caleb smiled knowingly.

Friday morning came quickly and Aria laid in bed after hitting snooze with the previous night's shenanigans swirling through her mind. The major thing that kept repeating on a loop was how giddy she felt around Liam, then how terrified she was about working with Ezra followed by the dull ache in her heart from Jason's absence. The only contact she'd had with him was a few spotty emails he could send when he managed to get into the nearby town. She always replied right away – to tell him about her job, Spencer moving in with her and that she was doing well in Boston – but that she missed him and couldn't wait to see him when he got back to the US. Jason talked about all the work he was doing, how great it made him feel to bring smiles to the local kids' faces, but he seemed distant. Jason told her he wasn't good with only electronic communication, but lately it seemed he was putting less effort into getting in touch with her at all. Aria feared the worst after the third time he mentioned another charity worker named Nicole. It had been 3 months since the last email from Jason came through.

"Rise and shine, Little Buddy!" Spencer stuck her head into Aria's room to make sure she managed to get up in time for work. "I've got a mug of Spencer-approved coffee waiting for you!"

Spencer-style coffee meant extra-strong. Fantastic, Aria thought with only a hint of sarcasm. Deep down she knew she'd need an entire pot of Spencer's coffee to get through the day, after the long night and impending work with Ezra. Aria threw on a pair of shorts with her sleeping tank top and walked out to the breakfast bar to find an already-dressed Spencer holding her favorite Georgia Peach mug filled with steaming hot coffee.

"You're a life saver, Spence," she said. "I'm going to be really sad if you and Caleb move out. I expect you'll still come over to make me coffee every morning," Aria grinned hopefully.

"Make a girl a coffee and she's awake for a day," Spencer began in her lecture voice. "Teach the girl to make coffee and she'll never have to sleep again!"

Aria rolled her eyes and gave her favorite roomie ever a huge hug, and added a friendly kiss on the check. "Seriously, when you guys move out I'll be devastated."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find another roommate," Spencer began, "what about Sophia? Does she have a roommate?"

"I love Sophia, but I don't think I could live with someone I had to work with every day," Aria replied. "I'm sure I'll be fine. I managed OK before you moved in."

"You barely left the apartment other than to go to work or buy groceries," Spencer said with concern in her voice. She was probably more apprehensive about moving out than Aria was, but she knew Caleb wanted them to have their own space.

"And look at me now, I've made friends, and if you're not here then I'll have all the reason in the world to leave this apartment for reasons other than work and groceries," Aria said proudly. She knew Spencer was making reference to how much of a shut-in Aria had been when she first moved to Boston, in the weeks after Jason had left for Ethiopia.

With that, Caleb emerged dressed for work which indicated it was Aria's turn to use the shower. She showered last because of her tendency to use all of the hot water. Aria downed her coffee and gave Spencer another hug, knowing she'd be gone by the time Aria finished her long, hot shower. "Morning Caleb," Aria offered her best friend's beau. "Have a good day in computer land!"

"Thanks Aria," Caleb returned with a smile. "It's good to see you walking on your own two feet this morning."

Aria arrived at the Umbrella Publishing office at the exact same moment as Liam.

"After you," he said as he opened the door for Aria.

"Thanks," she responded shyly, staring into his eyes briefly before averting her gaze to the floor as she walked through the door juggling her travel coffee cup and briefcase. Occasionally she felt foolish carrying a fancy briefcase, especially when it clashed with her typically-eccentric attire, but it was a gift from Spencer and she never went into work without it. However for the first few days all she had in it was an empty journal, some pencils and a pack of Skittles. Now it was practically radioactive, carrying the draft of Ezra's book.

"You look surprisingly good this morning, considering the shape you left in last night," Liam complimented her with a genuine smile, indicating the comment was not meant to belittle his new partner.

"All thanks to Spencer and her coffee-making skills," she replied as Liam stepped into the hall after her. "And of course for you looking out for me last night. I'm sorry I got so drunk, it was just, well, you know, Ezra."

"Not a problem," he replied as they made their way down to their side-by-side cubicles.

"Oh, good, you're both here!" Jillian exclaimed from the far end of the office. Aria's face dropped when she saw the monster accompanying her boss.

"Hello Aria, it's so good to see you again," Ezra spoke with saccharine sweetness before turning to her partner and deepening his voice threatening, "you must be Liam." Ezra was not happy about the obstacle he faced taking advantage of Aria again; he just couldn't get their night together in Savannah out of his deranged mind.

"Right, good to see you again Ezra," the hair on Liam's back stood up straight hearing Ezra speak almost menacingly to Aria, and it was the second time they met, so Ezra surely remembered him. Jillian hadn't picked up on Ezra's tone in voice, leering gaze at Aria, or condescending greeting of Liam. She was beyond enamored with the man.

"I wasn't expecting to have this meeting so early," Jillian said in reference to Ezra's presence, "but I couldn't turn it down when he got ahold of me this morning. I just gave the assignment to Aria and Liam yesterday," Jillian explained to Ezra, "and we're not really as prepared as I'd like us to be. So this meeting will be fairly brief and general-"

Ezra interrupted. "When Jillian told me she assigned my favorite student to help edit this book I got a bit overzealous and planned an impromptu trip to Boston for a long weekend," he said faking sheepishness.

Goddamn he is a smooth liar Aria thought bitterly as she tried to not make it obvious she was ignoring Ezra's creepy gaze.

"Well let's give Aria and Liam a minute to put their stuff down and gather their thoughts," Jillian said to Ezra. "Meet us in the conference room in 10 minutes," she directed her gaze to Aria and Liam.

After Ezra and Jillian were out of earshot Aria turned to Liam wide-eyed, "I can't believe we have to face that creep already." She looked on the verge of tears.

"Take a deep breath," Liam whispered as he put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm going to be there, and I'm ready to tear the guy's head off already. I can't believe how disrespectful he was just now, and unsurprisingly Jillian didn't notice any of it."

"I know, it's hard to tell whose head is further up his ass – Ezra's or Jillian's," Aria managed to make light of the situation, partially because of Liam's presence but mainly because she was still hungover and furious with how Ezra took advantage of her. "I'm really glad you're here and I don't have to face those two alone," Aria said glancing around to make sure no one else was around before she hugged Liam tightly, deeply breathing in his Ralph Lauren Polo cologne. "It's time to face the music I guess."

Aria and Liam gathered up the notes they'd made the previous night before Aria had her breakdown and told Liam everything about Ezra, and headed down to the conference room. Jillian was pleasantly surprised with how prepared her junior editors were, as well as moderately annoyed at how unresponsive Ezra was to their critique. Obviously the success of his first book had gone straight to his head. After an hour and a half of borderline contentious discussion Jillian decided to end the meeting and schedule a follow-up on Monday, before Ezra headed back to Rosewood with his fiancé and son, Maggie and Malcom.

"Well, his head seems to be a lot fuller of hot air this time around," Jillian confided her disappointment in Ezra to Aria and Liam. "It looks like working with this version of Ezra will be an uphill battle compared to the last book."

Across the Atlantic in Ethiopia, Jason boarded his plane back to New York with Nicole. They considered the idea of getting an apartment together, or rather Nicole had tried to pressure Jason into it, but ultimately decided it would be too soon. There would be a lot of adjustments to be made living back in the U.S. Nicole fully intended on continuing a relationship with Jason, dreamed of a proposal within a few months, but Jason had other intentions. He was planning to surprise Aria when he got back. Though his electronic communications were sparse and distant, he had never been able to stop thinking about her. Things were falling into place with the Carisimi Group's New York office and there was talk about expanding the charity's reach on the East coast. Jason hoped he could lead the expansion into the Boston area, but first he'd have to deal with Nicole.