Ezra's POV

I lie awake with Aria lying in my arms. It's now 6 in the morning. Aria and I spent all night talking and making love. All the things she told me tonight made me appreciate her even more. I can't believe what her, as well as the girls. She is so strong. All the things she told me about, and all the things she went through, blow my mind. I would never be able to handle that as well as she had. I am so grateful for her. The time, I am determined not to let her go.

I feel Aria shift against my my chest. She lies her head on my so she is looking up into my eyes. I look down at her, unable to believe just how beautiful she is. "Well, I guess I should say good morning. I can't believe we stayed up all night." I let out a small chuckle. "I wish we could just stay here forever." I hear here give a small hum of content.

"I'm going to take a shower. Care to join me?" I start getting up and look down at her, silently pleading for her to say yes. "Well babe, my legs are still a little weak. You sure did wear me out last night." I lean down and start kissing her neck, hoping to persuade her. "Come on. All we will do is shower, I promise." I start tickling her and she squeals and squirms underneath me. "All right all right! I surrender!" She giggles and plants a big kiss on my lips.

I scoop her up in my arms and she squeals again; I feel her bury her head into the crook of my neck, smiling against my skin. I carry her into the bathroom, set her into the tub (given that we were already naked due to our previous activities), and start running the hot water from the shower head. I step into shower and pull Aria up and close to my body.

Reaching behind me, I grab shampoo and start rubbing it in Aria's hair. She looks so stunning. I turn her around and wash her down. Her big eyes are looking into mine. I don't know if I will even get over how beautiful she is. She places her hands on the side on my head and leans up on her tippy toes to kiss me. Slyly, I feel her reach for body wash and washes down both of our bodies. Her hands feel so good on me that I let out a small moan. Aria raises an eyebrow which I know means to control myself.

In order to not get myself even more worked up, we both finish washing ourselves, with several stolen kisses of course, and get out of the shower. I need to go into work, so I start getting dressed. Aria decides to join me. She puts on her jeans from the night before, and starts making her way to the closet. "Wh-what are you doing?" I ask. "Um… I'm just getting one of your shirts to wear. I'm not really in the mood to wear dirty clothes." She turns back towards that closet. "Well-why don't I just get that for you…" my voice trails off as she opens the draw.

She turns back towards me, jaw relaxed. "You still have a draw of my clothes? I have been looking for this scarf for ages!" "Well-I just-um-" I start, looking for words. She raises an eyebrow at me. "I guess I just didn't really find a good time to return it to you. I mean, with everything going on. I just- didn't want to add any stress." I take a pause. "Plus, I just figured in case anything like this ever happened again, it would good to be prepare, ya know."

Aria smirks a little as she turns around and pulls something out of the draw. When she turns back to me, she has the same smirk on her face with the object concealed behind her back. "Like this?" She reveals the object to show a lingerie set: a royal blue lace push up bra with a matching thong. I blush and look down at my feet. Aria take some brave struts towards me. "If I recall correctly," she says with a hint of lust in her voice, "this was one your favorites pieces of mine." By the time she finishes her sentence, she's right in front of me. My breath hitches, not really knowing what to say. Her body relaxes and she breaks her straight face. She lets out a cute giggle and presses her lips against mine. "Don't worry babe, it's fine."

She turns around and waltzes away from me, her hips swaying back and forth. She is absolutely mesmerizing. Once we're dressed, we grab a quick bite to eat and head over to The Brew.

Ella's POV

I look down at my watch and see it reads 8:27. "Shit," I whisper under my breath. I'm going to be late for a coffee date with Ashley and Pam. Veronica, however, was busy with work. We were meeting at The Brew. We figured it would be good for all of us to talk. With all that's been going on, we barely have been able to catch our breaths. Since we are all going through the same thing, we might as well talk about it with each other.

I hussle into my car. As I drive, my wanders to different things, but my thoughts always drift back to Aria. She really hasn't been herself lately. Not to mention that she won't talk about anything; she is just shoving everything under the rug. I don't know what to do. I wanted to give her some space, but now I'm starting to get worried.

I park my car and hurry into The Brew. I look around and spot Pam and Ashley sitting at a table, but something else catches my eye. Aria and Ezra are sitting on the couch together, a laptop on Aria's legs, and Ezra sitting close to her with his arm around her shoulder. But, that's not what I notice the most. She's laughing. Really laughing. I haven't seen as much as a genuine smile since Aria got back from the dollhouse. Aria talks about how fond she is of Ezra, and I guess I haven't really taken a good look at their relationship as such since a couple months ago. Aria looks up at him with glowing eyes and steals a kiss. This surprising me a little, but what surprises me more is that I'm really okay with it. Even happy about it.

As I stand there, I realize I must have been looking for them for a while. Thankfully they don't notice; it looks like Ezra is helping Aria with something on her laptop. I make my way over to Ashley and Pam. They, however, did notice my staring. We exchange greetings and I sit down and accept the coffee Pam had gotten for me. I couldn't help but to look over at Aria and Ezra again.

"Don't worry, Ella," Ashley tells me. "I know their relationship may scare you, but I think they really love each other. I know it's not really my place to say, but Hannah says he treats her well. He's helpful to other girls, too." She stops and Pam starts up. "I don't know him all too well, just as Emily's teacher and boss. But when the girls were gone, sometimes I would come in here. He would give me coffee on the house. He would say that 'if I was losing as much sleep as he was, it was the least that he could do.'"

I remember right after Aria got out from the dollhouse, I stopped by Ezra's apartment to thank him for everything he did to help her. He looked really surprised to see me, but was very welcoming. I thanked him for saving my daughter's life and gave him a hug. He just looked at me and told me that he would do anything for Aria.

My face relaxes into a smile. I can tell already it was a smart idea meeting with them. "Thanks," I say. "I like him, I really do. I guess sometimes the mama bear in me comes out. But with everything that has happened, he has really proved himself. I'm glad Aria has him." Pam grabs my hand giving it a light squeeze and smiles.

I am happy that Aria and Ezra are back together, especially since she has mentioned several times how safe he makes her feel. I can't help but wonder if they're having sex. I know it's really none of my business, but I can't help myself. I recall early this month when I called Dr. Sullivan asking for advice with Aria. She said that getting into her old habits and routines would help her a lot. And although I would never admit it to anyone, if that means Aria and Ezra being intimate with each other, then so be it. All I want is for her to be happy.

Aria's POV

I've spent the morning with Ezra. It's been so great spending time with him. I almost forgot how good I felt when I was with him. It's around 9:00 and I'm starting to get a little hungry. "Hey baby, I'm getting something to eat. Do you want anything?" I ask Ezra who is fighting hard to stay awake since he got no sleep last night. All he does and yawns and shakes his head no. I suppress a laugh and lean up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll take that as one coffee." This time, he is the one to laugh and he presses his lips against mine.

I stand up and make my way to the counter when I spot my mom with Hannah's and Emily's moms sitting at a table deep in conversation. "I wonder when they got here," I think to myself. I shrug it off and go to find myself something to eat.

As I'm pouring mine and Ezra's coffee I hear a familiar voice behind me. "I didn't expect to see you here this morning." I turn around to wish my mom and good morning. "Hey! Yeah, Ezra had some work to do so I came in with him. Now, he's working with me on my resume for that art show I was telling you about."

She nods her head and it's silent for a while. "Are you feeling better?" I take long breath and think about the last 12 hours of my life. In such a small amount of time, Ezra has made me feel so much more like myself again. "You know what? I am. I think I'm finally starting to adjust back. And I'm not always stuck in the past, ya know? I'm really starting to have better moods. I've been spending more time with Ezra and I just think things are really starting to look up for me." My mom smiles and nods. "So are you two-like-are you guys…" I stop her there. "Well we haven't really talked about it but, yeah." Which to my surprise, makes her smile even harder.

She takes a deep and slow breath and looks at me with a serious face. "Look, this is something that I should have told you a long time ago, but… Ezra's a great guy. I'm really happy that you have him. I want you to know that I support your relationship with him. He treats you well and I can tell how happy he makes you."

I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mother's mouth. A year and a half ago, I would have never thought this would happen. Then again, I didn't think much of anything that happened recently would either. Not really knowing what to say, I pull her into a tight embrace. I startle her a little, but she hugs me tightly as well and laughs a good, hearty laugh.

"He really does love you, you know." I pull back and look my mom in the eye, still amazed by this notion. "I know," I say softly. "And I love him too." She take both of my hands and holds them in hers to give them both a tight squeeze. "And thanks, Mom. For this. It means a lot to me, really." She pulls me into another firm hug.

"I'll let you get back to your work," she says. And with that, she returns to her table. I can't believe that just happened. Things really are starting to turn around. I grab the coffees and my snack and walk back over to Ezra. I set everything down on the table in front of us, and before Ezra can get to his coffee, I sit in his lap and pull him into a deep and chaste kiss. Ezra looks down at me lovingly. "What was that for," he asks. "Nothing," I shrug. "I just really love you." He flashes a smile at me. He looks so handsome when he smiles. Hell, he looks handsome all the time. He cups my face in his hand and pulls me into another deep kiss. I let my hand wander into his and I just can't help but to think how lucky I am to have him.