A/N: Let there be an update. And fireworks? I don't know. But there is indeed an update. Thanks for your wonderful reviews.

Chapter 24

Spencer sat on the smooth park bench and remembered her childhood while she waited. The benches in Ohio were always made of wood, not plastic and as a child Spencer would sit and swing her legs over the side, waiting for the day her feet would finally touch the ground. She would pick at the peeling paint with glee, mostly because it disappointed her mother. Those were days when little things brought her so much happiness.

Now it seemed the little things were what brought her pain. It was like a splinter. Small, almost unnoticeable to most onlookers, but Spencer could feel it under her skin. It caused her discomfort, it caused her pain. And she just wanted to pull it out.

Sitting straight on the bench, feet planted firmly on the ground Spencer fought against the bitterness and humid afternoon air until finally a car pulled up. The girl who got out was graceful, every movement full of purpose, she was nothing if self assured. Spencer envied that, she always had. But any warm feelings towards the other female ended there.

"Madison."

"I'm not here for some dirty tryst, Spencer, so get talking or I get walking."

"Oh, you're so clever," Spencer drawled out slowly. She could hear her own sarcasm dripping from her mouth and she mentally cringed.

Madison's response was to shake her keys in the air. It gave a very clear message: She would have no problem leaving before Spencer got any answers.

Biting back her last bit of pride, Spencer just asked what she really wanted to know, the question that made her call Madison in the first place. "Why?"

Madison stared back, her eyes cold.

"I'm sorry, do I need to clarify? I guess you do ruin lives as often as you bed hop. Gotten any new and exciting STDs lately?" Spencer growled out before she could stop herself. Being nice to Madison, even if there was a good reason for needing to do so, left a nasty taste in her mouth. It didn't feel natural.

With a tight grin Madison turned on her heels and flashed Spencer the finger over her shoulder as she returned to her car.

"No, no, I'm sorry. Please Madison. I'm sorry," Spencer's voice was painfully pleading. But she still didn't get up from the bench. She wouldn't run after someone like Madison, not even for Ashley. That was letting girls like Madison win. Her hands gripped the bench almost painfully.

Madison froze at her car door. Her fingers nails tapped against the door handle for a moment before she turned back and strode confidently right up to where Spencer sat. She stared down at the blonde, a cruel smile on her lips.

"Don't you think you had the right to know?" she demanded of the blonde.

Her question struck Spencer as harshly as if she had been slapped. She wanted to deny it, she wanted to fight, she wanted to be able to lash out. But she couldn't if Madison actually made sense. She couldn't fight it if she actually agreed.

"I'll take your silence as confirmation," Madison continued.

Spencer's eyes rolled in her head, Someone took their smart pills with breakfast, she managed to only say to herself.

"But why do you care? Ashley should have told me, but come on Madison, what's it to you? You've been trying to break us up even before we began going out. I won't believe this is anything but another attack. So, I want to know why."

"Where is your soul mate anyway?" Madison asked instead. "Usually you two present such a united lesbianic front." As the word lesbianic, Madison gave spirit fingers.

"My relationship with Ashley is really none of your business," Spencer began again.

"And yet here I am," Madison interrupted.

"So just answer the fucking question, bitch!" Spencer finished.

The bitterness behind Spencer's language seemed to even throw Madison off for a moment. She took a step back and broke the eye contact. When she looked back her face was softer. It seemed they would continue to keep each other on their toes.

"I will deny all of this until my dying day. And if you think I've been riding you now, if you ever tell anyone I said any of this I will make your life a living hell. You will never know another moment of peace," the older girl warned.

"I get it, Madison. Consider me warned. I just want answers."

Gesturing for Spencer to move over, Madison took a seat next to her on the bench. "Ashley Davies broke my heart. It's what she does. She makes you feel things you never expected or wanted. She revels in that power. And then she uses it to break you. It's a power trip, Spencer. You, me, Aiden. All of them."

Spencer shook her head. "No. I'm sorry you got her, but Ashley and I aren't like that. We're in love. She wouldn't hurt me like that."

Madison opened her arms wide and made a show of looking around. "She's not here. I'd say that's a big sign that she did hurt you like that."

Spencer couldn't help but concede the point for a moment. It felt easy to blame Ashley for the way she was feeling. But then she remembered who she was talking to.

"No! You hurt me. You did this…you…" Spencer trailed off as she ran out of steam.

"I only made her tell you the truth. The truth she should have told you to begin with. She didn't want you to know because she didn't want you to see the connection. You and I aren't that different, Spencer." Madison's voice was soft and comforting and Spencer could feel herself being lulled in.

The Latina continued, "The best thing about Ashley is how she makes you feel safe and cared about. But in Ashley's world it's always easy to have that illusion ripped away. And then you feel even more raw than you did before her."

Spencer felt herself nodding along. That was exactly how she felt. What was wrong with her? She felt Madison's hand on her own, giving her comfort. She couldn't bring herself to brush it off. She was caught in some kind of whirlpool. The spinning made her dizzy and suddenly Madison felt like the only thing she could hold on to.

"You will be okay," the soothing voice continued, saying everything Spencer wanted to hear. "There's life after Ashley, the pain will subside. No one will be able to hurt you like that again…and we can let her know how she made you feel…" With those words Madison's hand relocated to Spencer's thigh.

It was all Spencer needed to break free of her downward spin as her mind connected the pieces together. Jumping up from the bench for the first time since Madison had arrived she shook herself to get rid of the lingering feeling of Madison's touch.

"No! God, no. I'm not going to hurt Ashley because I'm angry, and even more than that I'm not going to do anything with you. Ever. You're heartless!" the blonde raged. Her thoughts were filled with images of Madison trying to put the moves on her. What had she been thinking? How had she allowed Madison to get inside her defenses like that?

Madison didn't even flinch at the change in Spencer's demeanor. The same smirk remained on her face only now Spencer recognized it for what it was. "Payback's a bitch," she said simply.

"You're the bitch! I can't believe I thought you were trying to help me, even for a moment. All this is about is hurting Ashley," Spencer spit out.

Madison actually laughed at that. "Yes, you naïve hick. It is about Ashley. Admit it, it's always about Ashley. When's the last time you ever did anything for yourself? Once you're part of that web you never get out. And so I'm going to get out by hurting her like she hurt me and then I can break free once and for all. You'd be wise to follow me. She's hurt you too."

Spencer just kept shaking her head, her mind being flooded with realizations. "I don't want to hurt Ashley."

"You're still caught under her spell," Madison began.

"No! No, I don't want to hurt her because I love her. And even though she hurt me, that's not how someone who cares about another more than themselves will behave. I actually love her, which is something you can't say. You were just infatuated. You don't know how to love because no one has ever loved you." Spencer almost felt bad for what she was saying. But deep down she believed it and it was time she let it out.

Madison's smirk finally fell as she stood slowly. She grasped Spencer's arms hard her grip tightening steadily as she spoke. "The lines have been drawn. I'll give you one last chance to choose wisely. She will end up breaking your heart, if she hasn't already."

"And the reason she always seems to passionate is because the feelings she still has for you are guilt and sadness. She feels bad for hurting you. Nothing else. And I won't sell myself for you. I won't become you," Spencer charged on even though the grip was becoming unbearable.

Madison finally released her with a shove backwards. "It's your heart," she said as she got back in the car.

Watching her enemy speed away Spencer let go of the breath she had been holding. She watched the car until it was out of her sight and even then she stared for a few more minutes.

"Hey, thanks!" she called out. "I still don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do…" she added quietly. Putting her hand on her pants pocket where her cell phone rested, she willed it to ring and take the decision out of her hands.

---------------------------------------------

Ashley stared at her phone. She didn't know the proper procedure for this kind of fight. When she normally had these problems in a relationship she just ran. No one was worth this kind of confusion and torment. No one until Spencer.

"So am I allowed to call her or do I wait for her to call me? Do I give her space or do I show her that it's her I want more than anything?" she asked out loud to the phone.

The phone rang in response, causing Ashley to fall off her bed in surprise. She desperately grabbed for the phone but after reading her display she simple threw the phone back onto the bed and collapsed onto her floor. Aiden would leave a message.

"You really suck sometimes, Davies," she whispered to herself.

Her phone rang again from the bed and even knowing it would be Aiden Ashley couldn't help but leap from the floor and grab the phone.

Answering it this time she only had two words for the boy, "No Aiden," before she hung up.

"I'm heavily broken," she sang into her pillow as the song began to repeat yet again.

The phone began again causing Ashley to growl and then curse in its general direction.

"What?" she yelled as she flipped it open.

"Wallowing in self pity isn't going to get your girl back," Aiden said patiently.

"It's more self hatred then anything else," Ashley pouted.

"However you're feeling right now, Spencer is feeling ten times worse. And you can't leave her like that," Aiden pointed out.

"It's not my decision though, meathead. This is something she needs to work though herself," Ashley replied, fighting back tears.

"And you need to let her know you will be there for her, no matter what she decides. Either way, you can't disappear now. You need to leave your room. Come out with me, we'll try and figure out your game plan," the boy suggested.

"Promise not to take advantage of me in my fragile state?" Ashley mumbled.

"Would I do that?"

Ashley let her silence answer the question.

"Okay, I promise. I'll be there in twenty," Aiden groaned.

As Ashley hung up the phone she stared at it in the palm of her hand and willed it to ring and take away her sadness.