The intensity of A's message hadn't so much as dulled since Emily had gotten it. She was released from the hospital, returned to her family, and cleared to start attending group therapy sessions, yet the A message still consumed her mind. A wanted her to tell the police that Mike Montgomery, Aria's brother, had been one of her four attackers and if she didn't, well, A was willing to run Hanna over again or worse.

What Emily didn't get was why Aria and Hanna? Why were they being dragged down into all of this? Why not Paige since she was gay too and the cops understood this as a hate crime? Everybody knew that Mike was cool and had accepted Emily just like all of her friends. In fact, Emily's parents and Paige's father were the only ones who were uneasy about the whole lesbian thing. Why hadn't A picked a better and more believable target than Mike?

Emily knew part of it was to tear the girls apart. They were weaker on their own than they were together, but still, it didn't seem like A to randomly throw a mixture of people into her/his torture pot.

Emily was contemplating all of this when a knock came at her bedroom door.

"Sweetie?" Emily recognized the honey-smooth voice as that of her mother.

"Come in." The brunette swimmer replied. Her door creaked open and Pam Fields stuck her head in. "How are you feeling?" She wondered. Emily shrugged, holding up the brace around her wrist.

"Same."

"Emotionally, I mean?" Emily paused. She hadn't really gotten into that area of her mind. She was still somewhat in shock and just generally jumpy about every little thing. She hadn't had time to process what she was actually feeling.

"I don't know, Mom, can we talk about this later?"

"I actually don't think so, honey. The police want a final statement and they need you to identify...your...attackers...since you cancelled yesterday. They know you need time to really think, but apparently, a week and a half is the holding period." Mrs. Fields shared, approaching her daughter closer and wanting to hug her, but knowing it wouldn't be right considering how she felt about physical contact.

"Hmm, well I got lured to an empty street, attacked, and left for dead. Statement over." Emily snapped, but then she realized how awful her mother and father must feel about the whole thing. They were her parents and they couldn't even protect her. "I'm sorry, Mom." Emily apologized.

"It's okay, sweetie...do you remember any other details about the attackers? You've done a great job so far at giving the police information," Not true. Emily left out the letterman jacket names because Ben had gotten her all paranoid about telling. It's probably a good thing she did seeing as A might run a car through Hanna's house if she had told. "but anything else at all?" Mrs. Fields finished.

Mike. Mike. It was Mike. Emily's phone screamed at her and so did her conscience, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She couldn't hurt Aria's family like that.

"Nothing I can remember right now." Emily assured her mother, quickly changing the subject. "Did the girls come by?"

"Yeah, while you were sleeping. I told them to come back for dinner. They saved your life, so I feel they have a right to one Fields' dinner." Mrs. Fields smiled and so did Emily. For once, a genuinely happy smile. Her mother thought everything was over, but it was far from it. There was identification, trials, A. Emily shuddered. "You okay?" Mrs. Fields jumped. Emily nodded.

"Just tired, Mom. Wake me up at dinner?


"Okay, but what about the fact that someone pretending to be Paige lured Emily to that street?" Spencer raise her voice, staring disapprovingly at her petite best friend.

"It's what A would do, Spence. We both saw how much Paige loves Em. There's no way she was involved." Aria defended, folding her arms.

"Well, is it no coincidence that Paige popped up right as Emily left? Maybe she was ensuring an alibi."

"Or maybe she wanted to surprise her girlfriend at work!"

"Why are you defending her?!" Spencer was now doming over Aria, giving her a look that only mothers gave their children when they were misbehaving.

"Okay, you need to tone it down. You're towering over me and it's kinda scary. I'm tiny, remember?" Aria said, honestly.

"I'm sorry, okay? I just- I don't buy that Paige had nothing to do with this." Spencer shrugged, turning from Aria and rubbing her temples. "Y'know, most 18 year olds are worrying about student loans and gas. We're worrying about a crazy psycho-stalker. When did high school become a lifetime channel movie?" Spencer laughed.

"We can thank Alison." Aria added, shaking her head and leaning against the counter. "Maybe A wants us to turn against Paige."

"What do you mean?" Spencer stood up straight as if they had just solved who Jack the Ripper really was.

"I mean isn't it just like A to have us turn against Paige? We turn against Paige, Em turns against us, and then we're powerless to whatever A wants us to do." Aria rationalized. For a moment, Spencer was speechless.

"Get your keys." Spencer finally requested.

"Why?"

"We're going to track down a phone number."


"Against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that can be…"

The voice startled Emily awake and she shot up from her bed, looking around the room in her blurred vision. Everything seemed to double and she rubbed her eyes at the sight of a figure with long, blonde hair hazing in and out of her vision. Immediately, though, Emily put two and two together.

"Alison?" Emily reached her hand out and saw the figure rush to her side.

"Shhh, lie down." The figure which suddenly came into focus as Alison said. Emily's eyes widened.

"You're...alive...but- how?" Emily's breaths had become labored and came out in short puffs. Alison only laughed of course.

"Don't exhaust yourself, Em." That's all Alison said and Emily was speechless, her breath catching in her throat as her heart raced like rushing ocean waves. "Look what they did to you." Alison had deep sorrow in her eyes as she gently caressed each of the three visible injuries on Emily's face; the cut across her cheek, the black eye, the split lip. Emily didn't shy away from this physical contact like she did with everyone else. This was Alison. This was different. "I can't believe they hurt my girl like that. They won't get away with it you know." Alison said with a flare of anger in her voice.

"Ali...do you know who did this to me?"

"Yes."

This was it. The moment Emily was waiting for. The identities of her attackers.

"Who? Alison, tell me who did this?" Emily excitedly asked, but Alison's face only contorted in pain.

"I can't."

"A wants me to tell the police that Aria's brother hurt me. If you tell me, we can help Aria's family. I can't hurt her."

"It hurts sometimes, more than we can bear. If we could live without Passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace." Alison quoted somebody Emily didn't recognize and confusion quickly overcame Emily. "I can't tell you." Alison finished. She smiled weakly at the injured girl, leaned down, and pressed her lips firmly together with Emily's who immediately responded.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Alison pulled away from the kiss, staring at the door.

"I have to go, Emily."

"Go, but you just got here!"

"Emily? Can I come in?" Hanna's voice chimed.

"I'm sorry, I love you."

Knock, Knock. Open.

Hanna appeared at the door, staring at Emily who was looking at her with an expression of deep contemplation.

"You okay?" Hanna wondered. "Sorry if I woke you. I know we were supposed to wait until dinner to come over, but I wanted to make sure you were alright." Emily knew she had to keep what happened with Ali a secret so she smiled at Hanna and patted her bed for the blonde to come sit. "Seriously, are you okay? You look like a ghost just saw you."

Emily couldn't help but chuckle at some of Hanna's comments. She didn't correct the girl, though. She just grinned. A grin that quickly fell and that Hanna noticed.

"What is it, Em? What's wrong?"

"If...if you're dating somebody and you have a...a dream about someone else-"

"Did you have a wet dream about me?" Hanna interrupted. "Cause, really, I'm flattered and I've been seeing it coming, but-"

"What? No!" Emily shook her head, but let out a small giggle despite her want to be angry. "Wait, what do you mean you've seen it coming!?" Hanna shrugged with a smile while Emily rolled her eyes.

"You came up with Hannily, not me. Jussayin." Hanna laughed.

"That was eighth grade. Ugh, Hanna!...Anyways, if you, theoretically, had a dream about...being with someone else...does that mean you shouldn't be with the person you're with?" Emily finished, not looking Hanna in the eye.

"Is this about Alison?" Dammit. How did Hanna always know these things? "Look, Emily, Paige understands what happened with her and she gets that you can't show her any physical affection right now. None of us blame you. I think you just might be missing her more than you think."

The answer wasn't one Emily was expecting, but it did make her feel better. Even though she was almost certain she had cheated on Paige and really kissed Alison, she didn't need to think about that on top of everything else that she had to think about.

"Thanks, Hanna." Emily simply replied.