Thank you all so much for each and every one of the reviews you have posted for this story. The love for this story is overwhelming. Oh and in response to one review I did not name Jake after the Twilight character played by the Taylor Lautner, in all honesty I simply chose a name at random. I really hope you enjoy this chapter, it is all Aria/ Ezra. I apoligize in an advance for any typos.

Disclaimer- I do not own Pretty Little Liars.

Here is chapter five.

Aria pulled her car into the familiar parking lot and after getting Jake out of the car struggled to carry him up the set of stairs leading to her apartment door. As her room number came into view so did something else. It was a shadow. Well, actually it was a person she just wasn't quite sure who the unfamiliar person was. As she came closer the mysterious man turned around and made his presence known.

It was Ezra.

"We need to talk Aria."

With Jake in her arms Aria moved closer and closer to the doorway where Ezra was currently standing. She struggled to fetch her keys from her purse while still carrying Jake on her left side, but after a few moments she finally managed to find the right key. Seconds later she stood face to face with the man she had loved for so long yet she had up and left so long ago.

"So you're ready to talk now?"

Ezra winced at the tone in Aria's but continued to stand his ground. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well four years ago you weren't ready to talk. Hell Ezra you weren't ready to talk four hours ago, when you "found out about Jake."

Ezra scratched the top of his head in confusion. He wasn't the least bit aware of what Aria was speaking of. "Aria, I am so lost right now it's unreal. But do you really think we should be doing this out here where everyone can hear us. " Ezra glanced over in Jake's direction before continuing his statement. "Where he can hear us. "

"Ezra, he is three. He doesn't know what we're talking about. Oh and "he" has a name." She said as she finally forced the key into the hole and opened the door to her apartment. For a quick moment she considered leaving Ezra standing outside but she knew they had things to discuss, so rather than slamming the door in his face she motioned for him to enter the small apartment. "Spencer is running some errands. Now is as good a time as any for us to talk."

Ezra softly nodded and followed Aria into the apartment careful to shut the door behind him. Aria sat Jake on the ground and watched as he ran into his bedroom and quickly found some random toy to play with. As Aria made her way into the kitchen all Ezra could do was stand in amazement as he watch the small boy disappear into his room.

"I have a son." He spoke softly under his breath at a volume that was inaudible to Aria.

"You want something to drink?" Aria asked as she poured several ice cubes into a plastic cup and sat it on the counter.

"No thank you, I just want to talk."

Five minutes later both Aria and Ezra were situated across from one another, Aria seated on an oversized recliner while Ezra was seated on the leather sofa. "You want to talk, then let's talk. How come you never once called after I left that message four years ago and how come you've never had anything to do with Jake?" Aria spoke rather loudly as she looked Ezra straight in the eye. "Oh and how come you acted so shocked this afternoon when Ms. Suzy said Jake's name."

"Okay Aria, I can answer all of your questions in one statement. I had no idea Jake even existed."

Aria gasped as she took in the words that left Ezra's lips. It was true he had no idea. So in reality he wasn't the bad guy in the situation. What was she going to say now?

"Y..you h…had no idea?' Aria stuttered in disbelief.

"Nope none at all." Ezra whispered turning his head in the direction of Jake's room. He quickly spotted the small boy and watched as Jake sat on the carpet busy ramming cars together and providing sound effects to go with it. "If I had known Aria I swear I would have been there every step of the way,"

"B..but I sent a message. Messages don't usually just get lost in translation. Something had to have happened. "

Ezra let out a deep breath and considered for a moment the words Aria had said. Something had to have happened. "Something must have happened because I never got this message you claim to have sent. Why didn't you come back and tell me? Oh no is that why you left?"

"I was scared Ezra and had I stayed in Rosewood it would have been front page news. Can't you imagine the nasty headline now? And no Jake isn't the reason I left, but he is the reason I stayed gone."

Ezra sighed and fell back into the sofa. "When did you send this message?"

Aria counted on her fingers for several minutes trying to remember the exact date the infamous call had taken place. Well, it had actually never taken place. The room was completely quiet with the exception of Jake's small voice in the background. Then Aria finally spoke up "August 23rd, It was August 23rd." She spoke in confirmation.

Ezra rubbed his hand across his face as he thought back to the date she had mentioned. At the moment he couldn't recall what had taken place that day that would keep him from getting a phone call. And even if something did keep him away he would have found the message when he got home. Then it hit him. He knew exactly what had kept him from getting that message. Actually it was not what, it was who. "Gretchen" he spoke softly. "I know exactly who did this.

"What are you talking about? Who the hell is Gretchen and what the hell did she do?"

The anger was now very evident of Ezra's face, but he calmed down enough to explain to Aria what exactly he meant. "Gretchen is my evil bitch of a sister. That summer she dropped out of college and begged me to let her move in. Of course being me I let her. And it was the worst move I could have made. "Ezra stood up and continued. " She has always been the bad seed of the family. Even as kids my brother James and I got blamed for everything she did. She's awful Aria and this is just the kind of thing she would do to hurt me. But in her mind she will believe she did me a favor."

Aria scooted up in her chair and arched her eyebrow as she watched Ezra pace back in forth in front of her eyes. "I'm confused, what exactly did she do?"

"She was always home before me. I must have had a teacher work day."

"Not helping here."

Ezra finally came to a stop in front of Aria's chair and froze in place as he looked deep into Aria's eyes. "She deleted the message."

"S…she what?" Aria mumbled in disbelief.

"She deleted the message. And because of her I missed out on three years of my son's life. I'll kill her."

Aria stood up directly in front of Ezra and grabbed his arms tight. "Whoa, whoa how about we don't do any killing today."

Ezra took a deep breath and took a seat back on the sofa in an attempt to calm his self. As the realization came to his mind of all that he had missed in recent years he quickly dropped his head into his hands. "How could she?" he whispered repeatedly.

Aria watched in disbelief as the man she had loved for so many years sat nearly in tears. She couldn't believe the events that had transpired in just a single day. First she finds out her classroom is directly across from Ezra's, a shock in itself, then Ezra finds out about Jake, and now this. She couldn't take much more. It was all becoming too much to handle.

Then unexpectedly Ezra stood up and walked over to her. Tears were threatening to escape his dark colored eyes. "I'm so sorry Aria."

Aria took a deep breath before responding. "Me too Ezra. And I'm so sorry about what your sister did to you. We can talk about it more later on and I would imagine that you have a phone call to make, but right now would you like to formally meet your son?"

Ezra let out a soft gasp and is eyes went wide as he took yet another look into Jake's small bedroom. "Really? After everything that's happened you're okay with me meeting him?"

"Are you kidding me Ezra you've been not so subtly sneaking glances in Jake's direction since you got here, and you look like you are chomping at the bit to meet him."

Thank you Aria, I would love to meet Jake."

Aria smiled as she took notice of the look that appeared on Ezra's face. It was no longer a look of anger or malice, but instead a look of happiness and anticipation.

"Jake, can you come here for a minute? There is someone mommy wants you to meet."

There is chapter five. I am aware that it probably stinks but I really wanted to get a chapter up for you guys because you guys totally deserve it. If you happened to like the chapter please review. In the next chapter Ezra meets Jake and has a long overdue conversation with Gretchen.