A/N: As always, a gracious thank you for all the amazing reviews. It's the weekend, and I officially have no work so I shall be updating as much as I possibly can. I hope you enjoy this chapter, which finally has a little Hanna and Emily time!

It's always great to hear people's views on the story, and I absolutely love people giving me ideas for where they would like to see the story go further. I will be sticking to canon as much as realistically possible given the particular plot of this story but if you have a particular scene you would love to see for example, or anything at all, I shall always do my best to show every reader how much I appreciate the fact you have taken the time to read this story that has been in my head for far too long.

"If people could see me the way I see myself – if they could live in my memories – would anyone love me?" - John Green

Hanna wrapped her arms around herself as she paced the floor of Aria's room, that burning feeling in her chest increasing with each second. "When do you have to go in?" Emily asked her, as she looked up at the blonde who couldn't stay still, "Five... He already grilled my mom." Hanna shook her head in disbelief, not able to believe this was happening to her again – another murder, another time she was in the frame. How did it keep happening? "Don't forget this is Lorenzo not Wilden, he's not hell bent on making Ali's friends look like-"

Hanna cut the other woman off quickly, letting out a bitter laugh, "Friends? Have you heard from Ali since that dinner?" Her eyes moved over to Aria, pointing at her, "Have you?" At their silence, she had her answer and she just shrugged her shoulders, yanking on her baggy hooded sweatshirt as her hands shook. "Alison is not looking to make anymore friendship bracelets."

"I thought you said Lucas was going to help, are you worried he's not going to come through?"

"I'm worried about everything, Emily - my mom losing her job, my boss firing me, my son getting caught up in this entire fucking mess, Spencer hating me, Caleb hating me even more than he already is, going to jail! Everything!" She pressed her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, considering her previously diagnosed anxiety, being back in Rosewood was making it a thousand times worse. Everything ran through her brain at a million miles an hour, as she thought about what was going to happen in the worst case scenarios – only, every moment was a worst case scenario when it came to Rosewood. The entire place was cursed.

"God, I hate that I'm in this place and being forced to lie like I'm in eleventh grade all over again." With that, she finally sat down, ignoring the look Emily and Aria gave each other as she shook her leg, and bit down on her lip. Luckily, Aria was soon distracted by a Skype call from her boyfriend, but she could feel Emily's eyes on her, and it was only serving to make her feel even more uncomfortable than she previously had.

Hanna didn't have time to focus on that though, her head snapping up as Aria spoke, waiting until she hung up as she raised a brow, "Why are you worried about his book? Those are words, who cares about the stuff he makes up? Why don't you ask him for the truth about the night Charlotte was killed?" It was the only explanation; Ezra must have done it, because Hanna didn't know anyone else who would be in any frame of mind to actually go out of their way to murder someone else. All she knew was that she didn't do it, and neither did any of her best friends. It was Rosewood, there was an extremely limited suspect list but, as seemed to be the way everything went in Rosewood, there were always four people at the top of every single suspect list – Hanna, Spencer, Emily and Aria.

Aria didn't reply, distracted by the sound of a phone going off as Hanna frowned, "What was that?" Emily's body tensed and she quickly stood up as she grabbed her phone, "Timer... on my phone. My mom asked me to meet her." Hanna's brow raised and she looked Emily up and down, wondering why an earth she would need to put a timer on her phone for something so menial. Her eyes followed Emily suspiciously as she rushed out of the room, but she shook it off so she could look at the other big problem in her life right then.

"What are you going to say to the police if they call you in? Are you going to tell them that you met up with Fitz?"

"No, I was asleep the whole time, remember?" The blonde just shook her head and rolled her eyes, making her excuses to leave before she ended up saying or doing something she would end up regretting. Maybe they had all gotten so used to lying, it was just something they did. Sometimes though, Hanna just wished the lying would stop, and they wouldn't keep going around in the circle that was Rosewood.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts, she almost missed the open bathroom door, and the reflection of her best friend doing something Hanna was entirely certain she was never supposed to see. Her eyes watered, and slowly, she looked away, flinching when she heard the door slam shut the moment she did. At least one of her best friends didn't have the perfect life Hanna had thought she did, and it hurt her to even think about because it was one good thing she had clung onto – the fact that, despite everything, there was some happiness in the world for the three people who needed and deserved it the most. Hanna never got to find her own happiness, she wasn't sure if she ever would but she had wanted them to be able to.

Her blue eyes met with Emily's the moment she walked into the living room where Hanna had been waiting for her, mentally preparing herself to confront Emily over what she had seen. Would she appreciate it if Emily had seen her popping pills and brought it up with her? "Emily, I saw you in the bathroom." She blurted out, before she had time to talk herself out of it, her eyes filled with desperation and fear for whatever her best friend was doing to herself.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Em, it's me.." Her voice was soft, and a stray tear fell down her cheek as she reached out to take Emily's hand, "A-are you sick?" She was almost scared of the answer, but the question was one of the easiest to ask out of the ones she had turning through her head; was Emily on drugs? Was this how she was coping with her father's death? There were so many options but Hanna wasn't quite ready for the answer she got as Emily slumped down onto the couch with a defeated sigh, "No, I'm broke."

With a frown, she sat down next to her, a look of confusion on her face, "I don't understand, what about the Salk Institute?"

"It's not real, I mean... the place is but I don't have a job there." Hanna wondered how she didn't notice what a mess Emily's life was, because she had been so caught up in her own mess. It was almost ironic how she expected her best friend to spill to her when, if it was the other way around, she was certain to have a panic attack at just the thought of telling Emily about what a mess she had made of her own life, "What's going on?"

Emily's words caused her eyes to cast down, staring at her lap, realising that she wasn't the only one who had it rough since they had put Rosewood behind them. She had been blaming the town for everything that went wrong in her life, but maybe she was wrong, maybe it wasn't Rosewood that was cursed – maybe it was them, "The last couple of years have been a lot harder than I made things sound. I left school and I blew through all of the money my dad left with me. That's why when one of the girls that I bartend with told me about it..."

"Told you about what?"

Emily paused, observing Hanna when she realised who she was talking to – the only one of them who actually had a baby, "Donating my eggs.." She whispered, causing Hanna's nose to scrunch up in her confusion but at least the tears had stopped – Emily wasn't sick, she wasn't on drugs, she wasn't dying, she was just donating eggs. "Wait, that's what the injections are for?"

"You have to take a lot of hormones before the procedure, that's why I'm having it done here." The other woman shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal but Hanna knew otherwise, she could see through the lies now that she knew she was looking at the shadow of the person Emily once was. "Em, you don't have to do this, I'll lend you the money." She was lucky, she was paid a good wage and she barely spent anything – not like she used to, anyway. Long gone were the designer clothes, and the days she had spent hundreds and hundreds on dollars just to look good – Hanna found herself more comfortable in baggy shirts and natural make-up, designed to make sure nobody looked at her twice. She could disappear into a crowd and no one would notice, and that was perfect just the way it was.

"No, no.. it's okay, I want to. I mean... for the first time in forever, I actually feel good about a choice that I've made. I'm going to help two people start a family." Hanna sighed, but nodded her head in understanding, a small smile on her face, "I just wish you had told me sooner." She could have laughed at herself, because she knew if Emily ever found out what had happened to her, this was going to make things ten times worse. Emily would probably wonder why she had confessed her darkest secret right then to Hanna, whilst Hanna kept completely quiet about her own.

Emily smiled at the woman, a small, sad one that never reached her eyes, "I didn't know how," She admitted, and Hanna quickly moved to wrap her arms around her, hiding her face in her shoulder, "I understand." She whispered, knowing it would be the same answer she would give Caleb if he found out and he asked her why she didn't tell him sooner. Now that Spencer knew, Hanna knew it would only be a matter of time before the other people in her life found out. But until then, she wanted them to believe she was happy, she wanted them to think that her only concern was getting the hell out of Rosewood and not doing so in handcuffs.

She held onto Emily a little while longer, picturing what any child of Emily would look like and she knew, more than anything, that he or she would so beautiful – inside and out, just like her best friend was. "Whoever they are, they're the luckiest couple in the world." She finally said, pulling back, her smile watery as she looked at her, her smile only growing when she managed to get a laugh from the woman who had been so close to tears.

Saying goodbye to Emily had been hard, especially when she considered where she was going, exchanging heartfelt conversation with her best friend for the cold, hard seat of a police station interview room. She knew there were about a million and one places she would rather be and listening to the real story of Emily's life over the past five years had been just one of them. She tugged on the sleeves of her sweatshirt as Lorenzo spoke to her, his tone accusatory, pacing as he went over the story she had repeated to him three times already. "Do you mind if I invite someone else to join us?" He didn't wait for her to answer, and she knew the question was rhetorical as he walked to the door and motioned for someone to walk in – Lucas.

His voice was patronising, and Hanna had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she dug her nails into her skin, wishing she could be as far away from there as possible. Lucas was so casual, as though lying just came easily to him, and Hanna knew that it was something that happened to all of those in Rosewood who had been through hell with Charlotte, or Ali, or Mona, or anyone else who treated high school like it was going to be their entire lives. Being a good liar seemed to be the personality trait of everyone she knew in Rosewood.

She laughed nervously when the tone of conversation changed, shaking her head quickly as her cheeks flushed a bright shade of red, "Talking. He means talking. We talked until the sun came up." Lorenzo didn't seem to be buying the story, and he spoke to Lucas instead, asking him if he had been drinking alcohol as well, and Hanna felt the panic start to settle in when she thought about how stupid she had been, risking Lucas' future now, as well as her own.

He seemed to have caught them, a smirk on his face as he looked between the two, and Hanna shook her head, not knowing what to say because she really hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't left the hotel room, she hadn't thought about murdering Charlotte and she most definitely hadn't actually murdered her. All she had been thinking about was Henry and getting him the hell out of Rosewood, she would never have left him alone that night so she could do one thing that would ruin, not only her life, but his as well.

She hadn't done anything wrong but as Lorenzo looked at her, waiting for some sort of explanation, she sure as hell felt guilty.

When she was free to go, she could only focus on one thing – getting Ezra to confess to the crime he had committed so she could go back to the way her life had been before. At least that had been a hell of her own choosing, her isolation had been something she wanted, the walls she had built around herself were designed to protect her and her son but she wasn't able to do that from a jail cell. It was that fear that drove her towards Ezra's apartment, her hands shaking as she moved to knock the door, ignoring the way Spencer and Emily tried to get her to calm down.

"Is she already here?" There was no time for small talk, her glare settled on the man in front of her the moment the door was opened and she was on a mission. He would confess and everything would be fine, she could leave, maybe he would be in prison for the rest of his life but what did she care? Sure, she liked him, he was a good friend and a great teacher and Aria had loved him, but if he murdered someone, then he needed to just admit to it to put an end to the torture of everyone else who hadn't been involved.

"Do come in, join the party. Anybody bring torches, pitchforks, anything like that?" His voice was bitter, and it only served to anger her more as she walked inside and glared at him, "You didn't protect Aria, okay? I protected Aria."

Spencer's concern was obvious as she moved behind Hanna, gently placing a hand on her shoulder as she said her name, but Hanna was too focused on the person in front of her. "And we are not going to go down for this because you thought you had to slay the dragon."

"Hanna, please..." Spencer was desperate, she could feel Hanna's body shaking beneath her fingertips; she already knew her best friends secret, she could sense the desperation and the panic, the fear the blonde had that she was going to be arrested for something she truly didn't do. She understood why she was angry, but she was over-emotional, and Spencer felt the need to protect her as best she could. "What?! My mom may go down for this too, he needs to own up to what he did!" Hanna screamed, and the brunette just shook her head and stepped forwards, her body half in front of Hanna's in an attempt to protect her in the only way she knew how. It was Ezra, she knew he would never hurt her but sometimes, Hanna's own worst enemy was herself and the terrible thoughts that ran through her head.

"Hanna, just let me talk." She kept her hand out, keeping her behind her as she looked at her old teacher, "Look, you can sat it was self-defence, Charlotte had a very long history of throwing the first punch, no one would even think to question you." A look of confusion crossed Ezra's face, and then one of betrayal as he stared at the three women in front of them, and then the one behind him, "They can't! You already seem to have all the answers!"

It was Emily's turn, her arms folded, "Ezra,this wasn't some random car that hit her. Somebody planned this to make it look like she jumped." Spencer spoke next, glancing behind her at an emotional Hanna, before she explained about the paper, only for Ezra to quickly shoot her down, a look of disbelief on his face, "Okay, it's time for you to leave."

"Not until you're honest with us."

"Honest? Emily, you're not asking me to change your grade, you are asking me to confess to a murder!" It was a mess, it was all a mess, everyone was screaming, Ezra wasn't admitting to anything and her last hope was slowly disappearing. He had to have done it, it was the only option Hanna had left, her world was falling apart with every given second because she was going to prison for something she didn't do. And Lucas was going to have his entire life ruined, and her best friends would be in the cells right next to her own. This was it, this was how their A story ended and all because someone murdered the person who tortured them for so long.

"She will use this against us until it looks like we planned this and Ezra just carried out our wishes." Emily could sense it, too, Hanna could tell by the way she spoke – she knew something bad was going to happen, a lot worse than anything that had happened before. There was a huge dark cloud of uncertainty above their heads, as they all felt the pressure of being in the spotlight for a crime they had never committed.

"It's time to go." Spencer's grip tightened on Hanna's arm, before Ezra screamed, "Now! Get out!" Each of them flinched, shock lacing their expressions before Spencer pushed Hanna back gently, and took a step back of her own, "Okay, we're going to leave but you need to figure this out before the police do." She spoke, her eyes glancing towards the blonde, her hand moving from her arm to settle on Hanna's back as she walked with her out of the apartment. She longed to whisper some words of comfort to the obviously traumatised girl, wanting to know what was running through her mind right then but she couldn't. Emily was right there and whilst Spencer wanted to share the load with another person, she couldn't betray her like that.

Her eyes met with Emily's for just a second, wondering if she could see the way Hanna's body shook, the way her body tensed and how her eyes were only focused on the floor. Emily seemed caught up in her own thoughts, however, probably ones consumed by her fears driven by Sara Harvey seemingly following her around whilst Hanna was haunted by PTSD she had told Spencer she had been diagnosed with. Hanna had thought it silly, telling Spencer that she thought it was a diagnosis made only for people who had been through truly traumatic events such as a war, or even the dollhouse but Spencer had reassured her that trauma was trauma, whether it be a five second event or a five year event. And right then, the brunette could see just how traumatised the blonde was as she held onto her, wishing she could take the pain away.

Just a few hours later, Spencer found herself walking into the barn, tears falling down her face, exhausted and terrified at the thought of leaving Hanna. She had left the blonde snuggled up in her bed, her arms wrapped around her sleeping son, staring into space. That was how she had left her, promising her that she would be back in the morning to make sure Hanna was okay. She hadn't wanted to leave but Hanna insisted, muttering how she needed to be alone with her son.

She sniffed when she noticed Caleb sitting there, pretending to read a book he had obviously just picked up seconds before, "Hey," She murmured, biting down on her lip when he returned the greeting, his eyes following her as she sat down on the arm of the couch with a sigh, "Were you waiting up for me?"

"No, no, I was reading... The Gardeners Desk Reference..." He laughed at himself and threw the book down with a shake of his head, giving her a small smile as he noticed the drying tears, "Where have you been? Are you okay?" She appreciated the concern in his tone, and she could see why she had managed to fall for the man her best friend was still so clearly in love with. She just gave him a small smile, and shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, I'm just... I met up with Hanna and Emily..." She trailed off there and glanced back up at him, "When you first heard that Charlotte was killed, where did your mind go?"

"You mean, as in, who did it?" He waited for her nod before he continued, "I mean, Sara Harvey was pretty high on that list, why?" Spencer frowned, "I don't think she did it but I do think that she remembers more than she's letting on." She had no idea what had brought on those thoughts right then – she supposed seeing her best friend go through so much internal torture had made her thing of the physical torture they had seen someone else go through. When he spoke, she couldn't believe Hanna hadn't actually mentioned it to him – she supposed that Hanna managed to keep more secrets than she thought she was capable of.

With a sigh, she started to explain, telling Caleb about what she had witnessed, what had happened because of a choice they had made and then the fact that they had just left Sara there. She had put them through so much, whether it was willingly or not, Spencer wasn't entirely certain but she still felt guilty. It wasn't what she had been crying about, but it was still something she thought about, even five years later. "You were given an impossible choice."

"Yeah, I know, that's what I always try and tell myself but what if it's not true? What if all of those years of being stalked and tortured, what if that hardened me? Maybe it happened so slowly that I didn't even notice it happening..." Caleb was quick to dampen those feelings, and she looked at him with such sadness, secretly mourning the loss for both herself and her best friend. They had both missed out on the chance to be with someone so sweet, so caring, so non-judgemental. "Thank you for not judging me."

She moved slowly to sit next to him on the couch, giving him a small smile, "I just wish you hadn't judged yourself." Came his response, and she just scrunched up her nose, a sigh falling from her lips when she admitted something she regretted the moment it fell from her lips, "There's, um, there's something else that I've been judging myself for."

The way she looked at him, the way she said those words, there was no way he could avoid the growing tension between them. It had started in Madrid, and for a moment, he thought it would end that night. Spencer could see him moving closer to her, his tongue darted out against his lip, his hand brushed against her own and their fingers touched, and then, just as he leaned in, and before Spencer could feel herself truly getting caught up in the moment, she yanked herself back. The tall woman stumbled up, and she shook her head, "I can't," She finally whispered, "I'm sorry, Caleb... but I can't."

Slowly, he stood up, not able to wipe the hurt from his face, having been so caught up in everything that was Spencer Hasting's seconds before. "Is it because of Hanna? We broke up, Spencer, we broke up two years ago, she has a son... the last thing on her mind is what I do with my life." She wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her, or himself but she just gave him a sad smile, and nodded her head. A push in the right direction, that was all he needed – she may have had feelings for him but it just was never meant to be. She could see in his eyes when he mentioned Hanna's name and worst of it all, she could hear it in Hanna's voice when she spoke of her past. Just one little push and maybe everything would work out, Caleb would find out what really happened and whilst it would never erase the pain it had caused the two of them, they could find a way to get through it.

"I spoke to her," She admitted, wiping at a tear that fell, "I couldn't do this without asking her first and it wasn't ever going to be okay. I can't lose my best friend, even over a guy as perfect as you. I'm so sorry..." She sighed and motioned towards her bedroom, "I really need some time alone, but please, we're still friends, please stay on the couch." With that, Spencer made her way to the bedroom, and closed her eyes – it was the right thing to do but it didn't make it hurt any less.

Hanna wrapped her hands around the warm cup of coffee, walking slowly through Rosewood as she felt the cold air hit her face. Henry had been asleep when she left, her mother promising to keep a listen out for him as Hanna explained she just needed some time on her own. First, she had gone to thank Lucas for everything he had done for her, and he was the first person to ask her if she had anything to do with Charlotte's death, and he believed her, at least she hoped he did. The sound of his keys jangling in her bag told her that he trusted her enough to let her stay in her apartment, at least. She had no idea how much longer she was going to be in Rosewood but staying somewhere she had no memories – good or bad – would be a much needed relief.

Somehow, unconsciously, she had found herself at the park, another place that held so many memories. This time, however, mostly good, perhaps even great because, as she slowly moved to sit down on the swings, she could almost smile as she looked over at the other swing. It was their place, and even if she would never be able to have him hold her in his arms ever again, or sit on the swings and talk about everything and nothing, she'd still have the best parts. She had been so caught up in her thoughts as she gently kicked at the ground, swinging gently, the blonde hadn't heard the creak of the swing next to her, or looked up in time to see she wasn't alone.

A voice broke her thoughts, her head snapping up to see who had intruded hers and Caleb's spot, only to see it was the very person she had been thinking about, "Hey," Was all he had said, and it took Hanna far too long to come up with a response, she bit down on her lip and repeated the word back to him. An awkward silence followed, and Hanna wondered what was going through his mind that had brought him out there, so late at night. She didn't have to think about it much longer, however, his voice was low as he spoke, but she could still hear the anger that coated each word, "You told Spencer that nothing could happen between me and her."

Hanna gulped, refusing to look at him, not sure what she was meant to say. He wasn't asking, he was telling and Hanna knew she couldn't deny that, in all essence, she had told Spencer that. Instead, she settled on, "You have feelings for her?" The frustrated sigh that she heard was like a knife to her heart, and her grip tightened on the swing, "Why can't you just let me move on?"

Her head snapped up, "You can move on, why does it have to be with my best friend?" Her response was quick, bitter, angry, even disgusted because it was Caleb. He could have anyone, he could have fallen for anyone but he had fallen for her best friend, and whilst she couldn't blame him, it was probably the easiest thing in the world to do, it still hurt.

"Oh please, you've barely spoken to her in years. I didn't plan this to hurt you, I didn't think I would ever see you again and I was happy with that. I was absolutely fine with never laying eyes on you again after what you did." Hanna shook her head, silent tears falling down her pale cheeks, her hair covering her face so he wouldn't see. She managed to gather herself enough to speak, but she didn't look up, she couldn't, "Please don't, please don't ruin this one good place."

That was when he stood, and Hanna hoped he would just walk away, so she could try and remember a good moment. Everything was always ruined in the end; even the things she had once thought of as perfect, it was all destroyed. "You don't get to do that, you don't get to cry and beg and try and make me feel guilty for something you've gone. We're adults, Hanna, I can choose who I want to be with and that person should have been given the choice, too. You cheated on me, you let me go the moment you jumped into bed with some loser and then had a baby with him. You don't get to tell anyone that they can or can't feel anything for me. You don't get to play the wounded ex girlfriend because you're the one who made a choice and you didn't choose me."

She still couldn't look at him, the words on the tip of her tongue, but it had been so long. He'd wonder why she hadn't told him before, after two years of having the image of her willingly kissing another guy, making love to someone she worked with, or some random person she met at a bar. Whatever had gone through his head over the past two years as he recounted their relationship and how it came to a horrific end, Hanna didn't know how the truth would make any of that better. So, slowly, she stood up and wiped her eyes, before she looked at him and took a deep breath, "It wasn't a choice. And if it had been, I would have chosen you."

She didn't wait for him to say anything before she walked away, refusing to look behind her, instead, pulling out her phone when the sound of a text rang through the otherwise silent night, I know you know who did it and I'm going to make you talk.