A/N welcome back! Don't hate me but I'm taking this in a direction that is going to be a little more spontaneous and dark. Stick with it though.

Previously: "So that girl on the phone, Hanna. I remember you talking about a Hanna who was friends with Emily. I wouldn't be jumping to conclusions if I thought that was the same one, would I?" Paige couldn't look her in the eye but she knew what was about to happen. "Paige what happened, who is going to the hospital?" "Emily" Paige whispered. "Emily is the one going to the hospital."

St. Mary's Hospital

"What do we have?"

"Female, late teens, oxygen deprivation." As the EMT's swerved the gurney through hallways following the doctor, the rest of the girls filed in behind. The doctor stopped at a station in the E.R. and directed the EMT's on where to go.

"Any arrest en route?" The EMT's shook their head. "We will take it from here." The EMT's left the room and gave just enough space for the three girls. The doctor then directed her questions at them. "Is she allergic to any medicines?"

"The last time she was in the hospital she didn't have any issues with anything." The doctor turned to one of the nurses, "Until we know for sure, no penicillin or latex. Sterile gloves and let's hook her up to an IV." She returned her attention back to the girls and began questioning the events of the evening. Before she could get started a cop entered requesting the three girls to come with him. All three were hesitant and looked back at the doctor for help.

"Officer if I am going to treat this patient right I am going to need all three of them for just a bit." The man left and the girls were much more relieved.

"Okay this is how this is going to go. Your friend here is not in any more immediate danger but I need to know exactly what happened. Whatever you tell me will not be told to that man outside but I need to make sure I'm covering all my bases. Do you understand?"

Hanna was the first to speak up, "Yes ma'am." The other two nodded as well. "Okay now that we have the covered what happened."

"We don't actually know."

"Girls I thought I was clear. I only care about treating your friend not the police. You can tell me."

Spencer spoke up, "Ma'am you don't understand, we honestly don't know. We got there after she was already like this. Pa…this girl had done CPR and here we are." Spencer almost slipped and said Paige but wasn't sure if mentioning her by name would help further anything that was happening.

"okay so someone gave her CPR which means she was at least not breathing. That is a good start. How can I get in contact with this girl?" As she was speaking the nurse came in and was setting up an IV and the proper machines.

"Looking at these marks on her throat, I would say she was choked. They are very high which makes me think she was pushed in the air while this was happening." The girls thought that was what happened but none of them could be one hundred percent sure. "Girls it is very important that I find out the rest of this information and her medical history. Can one of you come with me to get in touch with her parents, while the others go talk to the police? Besides observation and running an IV there is not much more I or this hospital can do. We will be running some brain scans because any instance of oxygen deprivation has potential to cause brain damage." The girls nodded and Spencer went along with the doctor while Hanna and Aria were escorted to an empty waiting room.

"please have a seat." The two girls were directed to a large pink sofa in the middle of the room while the officer took the matching sofa in front of them. "I am officer Dan Patrick. I'm a local cop up here but from what I understand you are from down in Rosewood, correct?" They nodded. "We will be sending for someone to correspond with us there but for right now this happened on our turf so we are going to handle it. Do you feel that you need a lawyer present while we are discussing this." Hanna looked at Aria and they shared a similar questioning look. Spencer would have opted for a lawyer but that is because her mom was on speed dial. In this situation, they hadn't done anything wrong so they didn't feel like they needed the protection.

"No Sir, we're just talking, right?" Hanna sounded like a small child.

"That's right, we are just talking. So let's start from the beginning. I was given all the names you gave the EMT but can I have them repeated so I can put a face to everyone."

"I'm Hanna, this is Aria, the other girl with the doctor is Spencer, and the girl who is the room is Emily."

"Okay Hanna, do you mind taking me through the night as much as you can remember." Before she could start there was a knock at the door. One of the officers looked somewhat panicked and Officer Patrick excused himself.

"Hanna what are we going to tell him?"

"We didn't see Emily for half the night."

"But we know who she was with at least." Aria didn't look convinced.

"Do we tell him about Paige?" Hanna wasn't sure what they should do but whatever they told the cop had to be verifiable.

"Here's what we'll do. We know she was with Paige but I don't think they were anywhere public because we found them in that cart. As long as no one saw them in there, Emily might as well have been by herself or with us. I say we tell him she wanted to take a rest in the cart, we came back an hour later and she said that she forgot her purse somewhere and went to go find it. That's when the creepy guy took her to the back. We tried following her but got caught behind and ended up getting there right on time." Hanna finished her monologue looking outside to make sure the officer was still occupied.

"Hanna that is almost too convincing." The officer started to come back in the room and Hanna knew she was going to have to roll with whatever story worked.

"Ladies, something has happened at the precinct but I need you to remain calm." Without any other explanation he pulled out a photograph. "Do you know who this young man is?" The boy in the photograph was about 17 with shaggy blonde hair parted in four different direction, a crooked nose, and large brown eyes. His shirt was wrinkled and his acne was only out matched by the layer of freckles on his face. At first glance nothing clicked for either of them and they nodded their head no. "please look again." Aria took it in her hand and began looking more closely.

"Hanna imagine him with braces and his head shaved." Hanna took the picture and stared at it with the new image in mind. "Is that Jacob Mackey?" They both looked at each other. "That's what I thought too. He doesn't have the braces and his hair is longer but I don't think I could forget his nose or those freckles."

"Are you 100% sure?" The officer seemed in a hurry. He ushered in the other officer. "Look in the system for a Jacob Mackey that matches this description and put out an APB."

"Sir what is happening?"

"our suspect in this case escaped custody after booking. We got this photograph and then during the shift change he got out. There was no camera evidence or anything he just disappeared. We didn't have an ID for him yet and his prints are taking longer to run. Until this is figured out, we will have a detail on your friend's room and with you at all times. After we get this sorted we will get your full statement." Officer Patrick left them to their thoughts.

"What in the world is Jacob Mackey doing attacking Emily? Last time I checked, they moved to a different high school like Freshman year."

"Hanna do you remember why he left?"

"Didn't he get thrown into the trash can by the football team a few times or something?"

"Yeah, but think back a little bit more, why did he get thrown into the trash cans?"

Hanna tried remembering back to freshman year but she honestly struggled remembering last week. " I don't know he spilt something on one of the meat heads."

"No, Alison thought he was looking at her more than he should be."

"Alison did that? She was only a freshman who did she know?"

Flashback

"Hey Aria are we still on for tomorrow? Don't be a little bitch and cancel again." Allison scooted her way in between Aria and her locker. "Yes we are on for tomorrow." Aria began moving her out of the way to put things in her locker. Allison was staring at something behind and Aria turned to look. Standing at the water fountain was a scrawny kid with a buzz cut and braces staring at them. She knew him from one of her classes but she couldn't remember his name. "Every day that kid stares at me. It creeps me the hell out. I swear if I ever get some leverage in this place he will be the first to go." Aria shut her locker and they began walking past where he was standing. "Come on Ali, you should be happy he is in awe of you. Looking never hurt anybody."

"I don't care if it's innocent, it's creepy." Just as they were about to hit English class. One of the football players who was a friend of Jason's walked by. "hey Kent!" Allison grabbed him by the arm as he was walking by. "Can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you could do me the tiniest little favor." She put her fingers together to show how small it was going to be.

"And why would I be doing you a favor?" She got her signature smirk on her face and cat like grin. "Well I know that UPenn has a no drug policy and I would hate for someone to find out what you like to do at my house on the weekends." His face turned white and he tensed up. "Well, aren't you a little angel" he said through gritted teeth. "I would love to do you a favor, anything for good ol Jason's sister."

"I'm glad you see things my way. See that kid over there, with the freckles and the braces." Everyone turned to look at the kid putting books into his locker. "Well he has been giving me a hard time, like in the stalker kind of way and I was wondering if you and your friends could maybe handle it?" She twirled her hair and smiled.

"And the mar..." he lowered his voice "the party stuff goes away."

"It'll be our little secret." He nodded his head and walked away. "Ali what are they going to do to him?"

"Aria don't be such a baby, this is high school if people are put in their place then there would be no ruling order. Or do you need to be put in your place?" Aria shook her head. "I didn't think so. God I love when people think they are safe…" a wicked smile formed across her face, "it's when their most vulnerable".

Aria finished telling Hanna what she remembered and they reveled in the fact that Alison was so mean and manipulative. "So, Alison ruined his life?"

"I guess so. I remember a few days after that conversation he showed up to class with a broken nose. It still hasn't healed. That's why I remember him, I felt so bad I didn't do anything. Then one day he just left all together."

"Don't tell Spencer I'm saying this but you don't think he joined the A team do you?" They had been yelling at Spencer all night and now it had become a real possibility.

"I don't know but he was wearing the same clothes that A has before, he targeted one of us, and now he magically escaped. If that doesn't scream A I don't know what does."

"But we haven't got any messages."

"Just wait, I can feel the storm coming." As she spoke a ring came from her pocket. "You have to be kidding me." However, it wasn't their phone but the one they picked up on the train. It was a message from Aunt Jess saying "we're here, west wing, radiology".

West End of the Hospital

"Paige you have about five seconds to sit still or I will sedate you." Paige did not want the x-rays or to be in that hospital. "I texted those girls and they should be bringing the phone up whenever they can."

"I cannot be here when they get here. I don't have answers or anything. I need to be somewhere else. Get the phone, say thanks, whatever but leave me out of it." Michael was struggling to get her to lay flat to x-ray her shoulder. "Kiddo you will have less time to hide if you keep squirming." He positioned her and took himself and Jess behind the screen. The images were quickly taken and he repositioned the lens to Paige's ribs and went back to take the shots.

"Okay we are all done with this. I sent the images through the PAX system to Dr. Bolano and he will have answers within the half an hour. Until then, I think you need to be admitted. If I'm right he is going to have to put that shoulder into place and he'll want to do that under sedation." He turned to Jess and motioned for her to come with him. "How bout I take Paige to admission and you meet the girls with the phone. I don't know why she is afraid but I understand and we can make this easier on her." She gave him a peck on the cheek and said ok.

Paige and Michael walked to admissions and began talking to the nurse on call. Jess called Paige's phone to give directions on her location. "hi this is Jess again. I'm second floor radiology but I can come to you." On the other end, she was told to go to the ER waiting lounge. She hung up the phone and walked to catch up to Paige. "Im headed down. I'll come back as soon as I get the package." She winked and walked on.

"Okay because we are looking at a possible surgery and we are waiting on scans we are going to put you in one of our holding rooms. There is more than one person per room but your stay there will only be temporary. Given the condition of your arm, we would like to put you in one of the hospital gowns in anticipation of any further results. Michael will lead you down to room 103 and Dr. Bolano will meet you there." Paige looked at Michael, "Lead the way captain."

Waiting Room

While they were waiting for Jess, and hopefully Paige, Spencer returned to them.

"Hey how did it go? Officer Patrick just told me the suspect escaped."

"Well, we haven't really got to say anything but we know who he is. Do you remember the kid in our freshman science kid with the buzz cut…" Spencer interrupted "and the braces. What was his name, Jacob?" Aria nodded. "We are pretty sure it is him."

"But why?" Aria filled her in on what she had told Hanna and everything started to make sense.

"We are starting to get out numbered."

Spencer and Aria looked at Hanna, "Starting to? We've been out numbered since the day we met Alison, we just didn't know it yet."

"How did it go with the doctor?"

"Emily's mom is on her way, freaking out. They did some tests and ran a scan but they don't think there is any brain damage. Besides the bruises on her neck they think she isn't going to have any other problems. They moved her into a holding room just in case though."

"We'll go there afterwards. We are waiting for Jess to bring us the phone."

"who?"

"Paige's aunt." As Hanna said it they saw a woman walking by looking around lost. She spied into the room and walked in. "You don't happen to be Spencer or Hanna do you?" Hanna stood up and held out her hand, 'Yes Ma'am." Jess shook it. She waited for another few seconds before Aria realized why she was there. She reached by her side and grabbed the phone. "here is that phone. So sorry she lost it."

"well we are just glad to get it back. Such a weird coincidence with her falling over those chairs and all and you guys being around to get her phone." Jess wanted them to talk because she couldn't force anything from Paige. "Yeah well we didn't even really catch who she was we just got a first name from you." Spencer was doing the same thing, digging for information. "Oh my niece is Paige McCullers." The confirmation shouldn't have been such a shock but it still took them all a back a little. "From what she had told me over the last bit of time, she knows you more than you guys are letting on, doesn't she?" Jess was not going to let the conversation drop. "And I'm guessing the reason all of you are here has something to do with Emily Fields."

"She's our friend and she was attacked on the train. That is why all the police are here." Jess wasn't prepared for that. She knew Emily was in the hospital but she thought it was because of an accident. Jess thought it was time to excuse herself but she needed a little bit more information. "I see. And what exactly happened to your friend?"

"We don't know ma'am. Honestly, we only think Paige does." Spencer kicked Hanna for telling too much. "I figured as much. I assume you don't have Paige's new number so let me give it to you. I don't want her getting in trouble with the police because she doesn't say she was there." She got out a pen and paper and began writing down the digits.

"Ma'am if you don't mind me asking, why has Paige been gone? You seem close so you probably know about her and Emily but why has she been gone?"

"I'm not proud of this but it is what her mother asked me to do. Paige hasn't remembered much still and her parents gave me a story and to go with it. She doesn't know why she has amnesia and they won't tell her who any of you are. The whole reason I let her go tonight was so that she could figure it out without me getting her in trouble or me. It was obviously a stupid mistake but her best interest is all I cares about. I don't know what kind of trouble she just got into but I realize it was a mistake for doing this." She walked out of the room as quickly as possible.

"I don't know what in the hell is going on but we need to get to the bottom of this."

As Jess was leaving the door, officer Patrick was coming back in. "Okay, we have secured the hospital and you are safe here. I think now would be the best time to go over what happened. Your friend is fine at the moments and there is an officer on her door."

"Can we go see her before we start?" Hanna was nervous that they had been a part for so long. "Ma'am the quicker we get this done the better for everyone."

"Fine, but can I least know what room she is in."

He lifted up his note pad and looked through his report. "It says she was moved to room 103".

a/n this was not paily at all, I understand. But as you can see, the way I set it up is for some major confrontation. The whole next chapter will probably only focus on just them. I hope you liked the flashback. I always loved how manipulative Ali could be and I hope I captured that.