Summary: "There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again." –Margaret Elizabeth Sangster Well, Margaret had no clue how right she was in the case of Aria and Jason when they return to Rosewood. Sequel to Let Me Be Your Affliction.

Author Note: Hey everyone. Here's a new chapter of R2R. I regret to inform you after this chapter the story will be on a month long hiatus. I sent a few chapters of my new book out to a publisher and she;s interested but I gotta finish it. SO I've got to give it my undivided attention then I'll be back in full swing. I promise. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and support. You're all amazing

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xConcr3t3_Jungl3_5urf3r
presents
Return to Rosewood
Pretty Little Liars Fan-Fiction
by
Thatcher McCallan
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Chapter Three: Ella

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Rosewood hadn't changed a bit in essence but at the same time it had. She used to think it was a world in and of itself and now that she had actually seen the world, it seemed smaller, a drop in the greater existence. A lot had changed over the past year and a half… she had changed a lot in the past year and a half but she was still the same person she'd always been. Just more. So the same rule should apply to her mother and father should be the same forgiving people they've always been, correct?

God, she sure hoped so.

The moment they returned home, they pretty much dropped their bags at Jason's childhood home that he couldn't bring himself to part with and through a bit of convincing, Aria convinced Jason that visiting her parents right away would be best course of action. And standing on the porch with Aria he knew there was no turning back now as Ella opened the door and Aria's heart soared.

Aria: "Mom."

A stunned shock is apparent in every feature, every line of the mother as she turns to look at her long lost daughter. A wild torrent of emotion shined in her eyes that made Jason think of a wild animal cornered and this note should have been taken into account but, from everything he knew about Ella, he figured it was just his protective nature. The gap between the two women vanishes and Aria gasps in surprise as her mother threw her arms around her.

Her return to Rosewood felt foreign until now. The moment her mother wrapped her in a bone crushing, oxygen depriving hug that she truly felt at home. She gives into the hug whole-heartedly causing the edges of his lips to curl up into a smile. She'd missed her family; she'd try to hide it but some nights he'd catch her looking at their picture even shedding tears sometimes. And he knew it wasn't fair of him to ask her to run away but he never had a family that he couldn't live without or parents who actually cared.

But watching them showed just how much she cared… how emotional this experience truly was.

And he'd only gotten a taste. The moment's emotions turned. Every sleepless night wondering what had happened to her daughter, every lost moment, every spiteful belief that she failed as a mother, every moment her heart broke thinking of Aria came out with an impassioned SMACK! The mother's right hand exploded across the daughter's face- the one and only time she smacked her offspring- and immediately a raging pain equivalent to a knife slash followed both emotionally and physically.

Taken off guard by the slap, Aria stumbled backwards on the porch and quite possibly off if it wasn't for Jason reaching out and catching her, balancing the jilted teen. She couldn't understand and judging by the way Ella looked at her, neither could she. Both are too shocked to speak and the only sign of movement was Aria bringing a hand to the handprint pounding in her cheek and Ella bringing her hands to her mouth. And for a moment everyone stands their ground until Ella stumbles over the remorse she felt the moment she felt the collision of her hand with Aria's face.

Ella: "Uh- I'm uh."

Seeing the tears in both Montgomery women's eyes threatening to fall was Jason's call to action. Trying to be the peacekeeper, he moves between them turning his head back and forth throughout his negotiating.

Jason: "Obviously there's a lot of conflicting emotions here, a lot that needs to be discussed like rational adults."

Again controlling the wild torrent that came with a year and a half of grief came out in an explosion of negativity counterproductive to what everyone wanted. A bitter scoff slips through her lips as she spoke more to herself than anyone.

Ella: "She's not an adult." *louder as if trying to speak over the disbelief shining in their eyes.* "She's not an adult. She's a child… my child."

Child. Hearing the word made her think of Logan and how she hopes to God he'll never feel the way about her the way she feels about her own mother this very moment. Shaking her head, Aria gave her mother one last look of disgust before turning heel and walking away to go pick up Logan from the Hastings.

Aria: "And your child has a child she should really be getting back to." *to Jason* "I'll see you back at the house. I gotta walk… clear my head a bit."

With Aria gone Jason found himself standing across from his stunned in-law until her legs turned to jelly- without a doubt due to the bomb being dropped in such an unexpected way- and he found himself springing forward supporting her before she fell. Sighing heavily, Jason knew he was in for one hell of a night.

xXx

As an olive branch of sorts, he reaches out a cup of chamomile tea for her to take but her eyes were in a downcast undoubtedly replaying the emotional downpour of events that'd just transpired. And he couldn't blame her so he reached over her shoulder and placed it down in the line of sight. Then he takes a step back patiently waiting for her to realize it was in front of her and take it before he moved to the other side of the table and plopped down into his seat.

Jason: "You ever hear that saying about how daughters turn into their mothers?"

His question shakes the mother of two from her trance again, dark chocolate eyes moving up and narrowing in on the man that took her daughter away. She didn't want to think like that but looking at him sitting across from her with innocence in his features… she couldn't help it. She hates him for ever pushing her into the situation and it leaked into her tone.

Ella: "I have."
Jason: "Well I never trusted in it 'til you Montgomery women came along. *sees disbelieving look* I'm serious. You've both got this deep love for art and literature. You're all heart and fire…That's why seeing each other blew up the way it did; you're wired the same."

He was trying… she'd give him that much but the way he knew her and her daughter when she knew relatively nothing about him seemed unfair. She was mad at him, mad at the world, and mostly mad at herself but she couldn't see the last part yet. So she focused the backlash on him, the easy target at the time.

Ella: "So it has nothing to do with you stealing her away from us? Of course you wouldn't take any responsibilities."

Trying to get through to this woman- this woman who was as stubborn as the daughter he never beat in an argument- was futile when she was angry like this. And she'd blame herself in time and then the healing could begin but right now couldn't happen. So he stood up, gave her one last look then slammed her with a dose of reality before departing.

Jason: "Look, I know this isn't what you want to hear but there's a lot you don't know about your daughter and you can blame it on us running away or you can own up to the fact you haven't known her since Iceland and fight like hell to know the amazing woman your daughter has become. Because, if you don't, you're going to lose her… really, truly lose her; and if anything Aria's said about you is true then I'm sure that's the last thing you wanted."

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