viii.

"I'm never talking to him again." Mike suddenly says, and Aria winces,

She had a feeling that this moment would come, the moment when she had to be the mature older sibling and remind her younger sibling that regardless of what their father did, he's still their dad, and they still are family. She's been dreading this moment, this conversation, and now that she hasn't spent any time thinking about it, she's completely unprepared.

"You don't mean that, Mike. Dad made a mistake, but he's still family. You still love him."

Mike looks her straight in the eyes, and asks, "Are you saying that because you really think that, or because you think you have to say that?"

Aria's silence is answer enough.

ix.

Ezra sighs as he marks another problem wrong on the quiz.

"What's wrong?" Jackie asks.

"Oh, there's a student of mine who's having some. . .family issues. She normally does very well, but with the problems at home. . .her grades have been slipping."

Sitting down next to him, Jackie seems to think over what he said for a few seconds, "You're talking about the Montgomery family, right?"

He freezes up, and she starts talking about the different rumors she's heard about exactly what happened, which is fortunate because he has a few moments to pull himself together and attempt to keep himself from freaking out at his fiancee mentioning the family of the student he keeps dreaming about.

. . .sometimes he realizes how much of a creep he probably is, and he wonders if everything in his life is leading up to a nervous breakdown and a nationwide scandal.

(The real question is who would they cast to play him in the Lifetime movie based on the incident.)

x.

Aria is up and halfway through getting ready for school, when it suddenly hits her that she hasn't had one of those fairy tale dreams in a long time - nearly a week, actually. There'd never quite been a set timetable for when they happened (or, really, she hadn't taken the time to figure out if there was one) but it was often enough that a week without the dreams was strange.

Did it mean something? She had spent time around Ezra those two different times - had the dreams stopped because (maybe) because of that?

Then Mike suddenly yells something about being late, and she figures she'll think about it more later as she finishes getting ready and rushes out the door.

xi.

It's the end of the day, and he's tired, so Ezra pulls together his stuff as quickly as he can, planning on heading home.

But as he steps out of the school, he notices that Aria is still there - not just Aria, but her brother, too.

After staring for a moment, and considering whether or not it would be a good idea to step in, he finally walks over.

"What are you two still doing here?"

Aria sighs, "Mom was supposed to give us a ride home, but. . .I think she forgot."

Ezra frowns and looks over at Mike, who has a look of controlled rage on his face. He can't imagine how angry he is, with all the stuff that's going on. Frankly, the rage and anger he's seen in Mike ever since the situation with his parents blew up makes him worry.

"I. . .could give you two a ride home?"

They both turn to look at him when he says that, surprised looks on their faces.

"Really? Mike asks.

"Sure." He shrugs, trying to play it cool, "I mean - I can't just leave you two waiting in the parking lot, right? That wouldn't be very responsible."

xii.

The car ride is much less awkward than she thought it would be - Mike and Mr. Fitz talk a lot, and she occasionally would say something, though only just enough to not be the only person not talking. The stuff they talk about isn't anything particularly deep or thought provoking - it's all about some action movie that came out a few months before - but she can tell that Mike enjoys the conversation.

He pulls up at their house, and Mike has to do some homework ("Really?" Mr. Fitz asks. "Nah." Mike answers, "A computer game, but I figured since you're a teacher and all I shouldn't say that.") so he heads in the house, leaving her and Mr. Fitz standing outside the house.

After a silence which goes on just a little too long, he speaks.

"So, uh. How's. . .everything?"

"It's - better. Kind of." After pausing for a moment, considering whether or not she should say what she's thinking, she says, "I'm still mad at my dad. I - I don't want to be. I can't be - because Mike hates him right now and I can't agree with him, but after what he did -"

"It's okay to be angry at him." He says.

"But - "

"It's not your job." He places a hand on her should and continues, "Yes, you need to look out for your brother, but you should lie about your own thoughts and feelings while trying to do that. I'm pretty sure he'll see right through that, anyways."

Aria nods, "Yeah. . ."

Another pause goes by, when he suddenly blurts out, "If you're having trouble with school, I can help you." Her staring response seems to make him panic, "I mean - it's just - I noticed that you haven't been doing that well on stuff lately and I figured - "

"That would be great, Mr. Fitz." She smiles, grateful for the offered help.

"Hey, we're out of school." He smiles back, "It's Ezra."

"Fine. Thanks, Ezra."

They talk for a little longer before she heads into the house.

She passes by Mike, who suddenly turns to her.

"Mr. Fitz is pretty cool." He says, with the closest thing to a smile that she's seen in a while.

"He is pretty awesome."