If I owned Pretty Little Liars it would be back already! Thanks to my beta for making my writing legible.
Aria wasn't sure how long she lay there in the middle of the sidewalk, but she soon felt two hands grab her shoulders and shake her slightly
"Aria honey, you need to get out of the cold, it's not good for… for the baby…" Ella Montgomery stuttered over the word. She was still trying to come to grips with the fact her baby was going to have a baby.
At her words Aria slowly started coming out of her grief induced fog. The baby mattered, was important. If for nothing else, she had to be strong for her child.
She shakily stood up, stared at her mom for a second with a completely expressionless face in place and turned around making her way to her car, completely ignoring the shouts from behind her.
Aria didn't know exactly where she was going, but knew she didn't want to see her parents. They would probably be at Ezra's for a while so now would be the perfect time to stop by her, now former, house and start getting her things so she wouldn't have to get it later. As she adjusted her course to head toward her new destination, she couldn't stop herself from wondering how things had gotten so screwed up so fast. She looked at the clock in her car and realized it hadn't even been an hour since everything went down, it seemed like so much longer.
As she pulled up to the house she had lived in for most her life, she couldn't help feeling as though it was a stranger's home. There was none of the comforting warmth that she had always associated with it, no safety, just more disappointment.
As swiftly as she could, she started gathering all of her things from around the house and went up to her room to grab a bag. She placed the handful of items she had gathered and started with her room. When she was done, she had one rolling suitcase, two duffle bags and a back pack. That was most of her stuff and what was left she didn't need or didn't care about. She started hauling all of the bags she had gathered as fast as she could manage down the stairs. She wasn't quick enough though. As she came upon the last step, the door swung open, and her parents met her gaze with shocked expressions on there faces.
"Aria, you can't just take off like that! We were worried sick. We had no idea where you were!" Ella said sternly.
"Oh so now, you care about me?" The venom in Aria's voice took both of them back before.
"Of course we care about you, that iswhywere doing this Aria. You're six years his junior, do you really think actually he cares about you? He is using you and you are going to get hurt. We are protecting you," Ella replied.
"That statement right there, proves you don't know anything about our relationship," Aria said as she moved forward.
"Where do you think your going?" Byron said, speaking for the first time since the scene in Ezra's apartment.
"Home!" she nearly shouted
"You are home," he told her firmly.
"No, home is where the heart is and that's sure as hell isn't here." She pushed her way passed her parents and as she reached to door she turned and said, "I don't want anything to do with you, don't call, don't write, don't visit. You lost me the second you made that phone call."
Aria slammed the door closed leaving Byron and Ella standing in the entry way completely frozen.
As Aria drove down the familiar roads the same thoughts kept repeating in her head. How can they do this? After everything we have been through? We had almost made it. As she pulled up to the apartment she was relieved to see the police were gone.
Sitting in her car she pulled out her phone and messaged the girls to come over as quickly as they could. Once she got an affirmative from all of them she got out of the car, grabbed her things and started walking up the stairs to the apartment. She grabbed the key from under the mat and added it to her key ring.
As soon as she was inside, she went to the bedroom and changed into one of Ezra's shirts. It smelled like him and she really needed that right now.
Aria grabbed her bags and started unloading her things into the apartment. She knew it could wait until morning at least, but it would be a while before the girls got there and she had to keep busy or she would lose her mind
She was about half way done when Emily, Hanna and Spencer knocked on the door. When Aria let them in they took in her tear stained face and demeanour and knew immediately what must have happened to cause her to call them in the middle of the night.
"He's gone. They took him to jail a few hours ago." Aria said softly, her voice on the verge of breaking
Hanna was the first one to react and wrapped her arms around her friend. "It's going to be ok," she told her. Spencer and Emily moved over joined Hanna and Aria in the hug.
"I'll see if I can get my mom to defend him pro bono," Spencer said.
"Really?" Aria breathed with relief. She had been worrying about how they could afford a lawyer with a baby on the way, so this was a huge relief. For the first time since everything happened, she felt a spark of hope.
The rest of the night was spent eating chocolate ice cream and talking about how they were going to fix this.
Once the girls were asleep, Aria went over to the computer and started doing her own research. The first place she looked was the prison website. Johnston Correctional Institution was the closest jail to Rosewood and Aria knew that was where he would most likely be taken. After a half hour she was forced to concede there wasn't a whole lot to find beside the fact it was an all male medium security prison and their visiting schedule.
She then turned her attention to another matter, how to get out of testifying. She knew there had to be a way to prevent it, but was getting frustrated because she wasn't seeing anything. She had almost given up hope when she found it. A smile formed on her face as she read the words on the screen and all she could think was,this just might work.
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