Hi everyone! I think you'll like this chapter! I worked really hard on it! Thank you to loveizzymellark for her idea! And thank you to all my reviewers and readers!

I must say though, I'm kinda let down with the slowness of reviews in the past couple of days. Please, if you have a few minutes to spare after reading a chapter, review! I'd love to hear what you think. I'm not going to do the "I want 20 reviews before I post the next chapter" thing because I honestly don't think I can last that long without posting, but please, if you have time to review, do so! they really make my day!

Disclaimer: Clara, Issac, Violette, and Marie belong to me. The rest belong to Sara Shepard and ABC Family

Read, Enjoy, and Review :D

Chapter 26-

Aria POV:

"Violette?"

"Marie?"

Both Clara and my voice clashed together in our questions, as Ezra nodded his head to us, and put a finger up to his lips, signalling quiet. He started to pace around the room, and found a small pad, in which he scribbled a few things down.

"Yes. Thank you so much for inviting us. We'll see you at 6," he finished, hanging up the phone with a smile.

"So?"

"Violette thought it would be nice for us all to come over, seeing as Clara and Marie have become close. Then again, I think she just wants to pry into how you're teaching our and her daughter," he said laughing and wrapped his arms around my waist. Luckily, Clara had become once again distracted by the movie playing in front of her, so Ezra suck a kiss onto my lips. Surely, if Clara had been watching, she's make a face, and tell us "Kid in the room!" We both settled back to our original places on the bed. I nestled my head against Ezra's chest, and I sighed in contentment. On the screen, the scene began to unfold, with Harold Hill marching around the gymnasium. There was a moment when he popped up behind the piano to spy on Marian (the librarian) and Clara shouted "Look! He's being sneaky!" Ezra and I both giggled, and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

"Aria?"

I heard my name being called, it grew from a distance to right by my ear. I felt lips press against my neck and then they moved their way up to my lips. My eyes snapped open to meet with Ezra's electric blue ones. I twined my hands in his hair, pulling myself closer. His hands wandered underneath my shirt, and I felt his hot breath on my collarbone, causing me to shiver in pleasure.

"Ezra," I moaned, sitting up. "I'd love to continue this, but its," I said hesitating to look at the clock, "4:45. I have to take a shower," I said scooting off the bed. I felt a hand pull me back, and Ezra looked at me, and I could see the lust growing in his ocean-like eyes.

"We could continue this...in the shower," he said smiling coyly.

"But Clara?"

"Don't worry, she's already to go. She's sitting in her room playing with her dolls. I don't think she'll notice." With a giggle, I ran off towards the direction of the bathroom with Ezra following in suit. We got in, and he locked the door, and turned on the water. Before I knew it, I was undressed and my back was pressed against the cold tile, with Ezra's lips against mine.

After the bit of shower fun, I emerged with a blush creeping over my face. I quickly dried off my hair and slipped on a red floral dress with a black belt around the waist. Wanting to seem demure and mother-like in front of Violette, I choose a simple pair of black pumps, and to add my own Aria spin to it I paired the dress and shoes with a multi chain necklace with bows and such adorning the chain. (all outfits on website)

Ezra quickly filed out from the bathroom by the time I was done dressing. I gave him a quick kiss as we switched locations. I did my hair as I normally did it, and put on some of my makeup. When I came out, Ezra had "suited up". (like what Barney says on "How I Met Your Mother"...anyone here who watches it lol) He looked gorgeous as always in a white button down, and black dress pants. I looked closer at the tie he had on, which looked familiar, and it turned out to be the one I gave to him to wear on out first official date.

"You still have it," I said nostalgically, running my hands over the small space of soft fabric.

"Of course I do. When I left Rosewood, it was one of the only few pieces I had of you to hold onto," he said removing my hand from the tie, and grasping it in his own. "Believe it or not, I wore this tie every day for my first week in Boston," he said laughing at the memory. I looked up into his eyes for a moment, and seemed to get lost in them. His lips were brought down to my own, and we met in a passionate kiss, and stayed that way for a few moments until a small voice came from the doorway: "Why do I always walk in on these?"

I laughed and gathered Clara up in my arms and kissed her nose.

"You look cute, Baby," I said motioning to her dress which was a twofer; the top was white with a few ruffles down the front, and the skirt was a pink floral.

"Thanks," she said brightly. "Auntie Vera bought it for me," she said proudly. I walked over with Clara on my hip to open the curtains to look at the city for a moment. I felt to hands at my waist and saw Ezra behind me with a smile on his face. The three of us stayed like that for at least a minute or so, and I looked at Clara.

"Well, Pumpkin, it looks like it's raining. You ready to go?"

At Clara's insistence, Ezra and I pulled out our umbrella's and we walked to the Bernet's in the perpetual rain of New York. Not that I minded, of course. Ezra and I walked hand in hand while Clara rested on his hip. She was originally walked on her own, but after she decided to jump in a puddle, her shoes got all wet and didn't want to walk anymore.

"So, what's with this one and the rain," Ezra asked. "It's new."

"Her mom's been teaching her a few things," I said smiling at Clara, who had her cheek rested on Ezra's shoulder.

"Do you remember, that time back in Rosewood, in the rain, and we were in your car," I promted to Ezra, causing a huge smile to break out upon his face.

"That's one of my favorite moments," he said giving my hand a squeeze. I could remember the day perfectly. I had just come out of a coffee shop, while a torrential downpour started to occur. Ezra's little silver Toyota pulled up, and I had eagerly climbed in, and well...a passionate round of kissing ensued.

"Ezra! Aria! Thank you so much for coming," exclaimed Violette. She opened the door, her red hair looking immaculate, and wearing a light pink, almost taupe colored dress which accented her hair color nicely.

"Thank you so much for having us," I said shaking her hand, but she pulled me in for a hug.

"Well don't just stand there out in the rain! Come on in," she said leading us through the foyer and into a kitchen that looked straight out of "Homes and Gardens". I had a feeling Spencer would love it.

"Hi Mrs. Bernet," said Clara who hopped down from Ezra's arms. "Where's Marie?"

"She's in the den watching some television. You remember where it was, right," asked Violette about to show Clara where it was until Clara nodded her head an took off in the right direction.

"She's quite the intelligent one, isn't she? I mean, coming from a college professor and a teacher, she'd most likely be, right," babbled Violette.

"Erm, sure, I guess," I said positively.

"I'm sorry. I'm just nervous. It's out first time, you know, hanging out as parents. Marie has taken a great liking to Clara, so I was hoping that you 2 and my husband and myself could end up being good friends as well," she babbled.

I gave Ezra a small unnoticeable (except for him) nudge in the side. Talk about someone being forward!

"It's really no issue at all Violette. Don't worry. Aria and I would like to get to know you and you're husband better too," said Ezra, smiling. Then, as if on cue, a tall attractive man (although nothing could compare to my Ezra) with brown hair who looked to be in his early 30's emerged from the foyer hall.

"You must be Ezra and Aria," he said shaking out hands. "I'm Issac, Marie's father. I guess you've already meet Violette," he laughed putting his arm around Violette's waist.

"Marie! Could you come here for a second," called Violette. Marie and Clara came rushing into the room. "Be friendly and say hello to Clara's parents," urged Violette.

"Hi Mr. Fitz," said Marie brightly at Ezra. "Hi Ms. Montgomery," she said cheerily at me. "It's so cool that you get to teach Clara. Mommy why can't you teach me?"

Violette only laughed. "Hi Marie. Please when we're not in school call me Aria," I said warmly and the two girls rushed back to the den.

Dinner had gone well. Violette had cooked Pasta with Pesto Sauce, and Ezra and I snuck a few glances at each other, as if to remember when he and I sat on his apartment floor eating pesto leftovers.

The girls were no upstairs in Marie's room watching a movie, while the adults were in the den, lounging around and drinking the Bernet's perfectly aged wine.

"So, how did you two meet," asked Violette. She had already talked the night away about herself and Issac and thought it only fair to ask about Ezra and I.

"We met when I was starting college. There's a six year age difference between us, but that never seemed to matter," I said looking at Ezra lovingly. "It was like, an immediate spark, and we've been together ever since." Ok, so this wasn't our real story, but I wasn't about to tell new friends the actual chaos of our relationship.

After inquiring more, Violette whipped out the baby scrapbooks and we started talking about the children.

"This," she said pointing to a picture of Marie being held up on her feet by Issac, "was when Marie took her first steps. I cried," she said putting her hand to her heart. I had wanted to interject with a story about Clara of my own, but I realized I didn't have any, which gave a pang in my chest.

"Do you remember the day she said her first word, honey," said Violette to Issac.

"Do I? Her first word was Daddy. I couldn't have been more proud! What was Clara's first word?"

I was at a loss, and the pang only grew. I started to feel horrible, that here I was sitting on a couch, supposed to be talking about my daughter, but I knew nothing.

"It was Mama," said Ezra, who noticed something was up by the way my face fell a small bit. I thanked him with a silent expression with my eyes.

"You must have been so thrilled," said Violette. "I remember when Marie first said Mama, I was so excited!"

"It was a fantastic moment," I said, my voice faltering a little bit, but it was only audible for Ezra. As the half hour rolled by, I listened to the stories of Marie's first times to Disney World, family vacations, first days of preschool, first weddings, first shopping trip. The guilty pangs in my chest only grew and my silence only wore on. Ezra, finding it unbearable to see me upset finally spoke on my behalf; "Aria, sweetheart. You looked tired." He turned towards Violette and Issac. "Thank you so much for inviting my family for dinner. We had a great time, but Aria seems to be getting tired, right Baby," he said and I nodded, "and its getting late for Clara."

"It's no problem. Thank you so much for coming over tonight," said Violette, getting up and smoothing out her dress.

"We had fun! Please come over again," said Issac, sticking out his hand for both of us to shake. "I'll go get Clara," he said making his way upstairs.

Because of the late hour, we decided to take a taxi back home. It was a quiet ride, Clara was asleep, and I still hadn't said a thing. I still felt the pangs of guilt that I wasn't able to talk about Clara's early childhood. What mother isn't able to recount the story of her daughter's first steps?

'Oh right, a fake one' I thought wryly to myself.

We arrived home quickly, due to having no traffic which was highly unusual for New York. I quickly said my goodnight to Clara and stole away to Ezra's room to get ready for bed. My mood was still somber, even when Ezra came into the room and wrapped his arms around me. I embraced him back but, then went over to to window to look out at the city's lights in the night sky.

"Baby, are you ok," asked Ezra sliding his arms around me once more. "During all the children talk, you immediately became quiet. I've never seen you so reserved or somber.

"Nope, Ezra. Everything's fine," I said, my voice cracking and my hand went up to brush away the tears that were threatening to fall from my eyes.

"No, everything's not," he said whirring me around so that I was facing him. "Aria, I love you more than anything. Please, tell me what's wrong."

At his plea, I burst into sobs that racked my chest.

"Aria, shhhh, Aria, sweetheart. It's ok. What's wrong?" I stayed quiet for a moment, allowing myself to recompose.

"I feel so guilty. Tonight, when we were talking about the kids, I had nothing to say for Clara. Nothing, Ezra. Do you know how that makes me feel? I just wish, there was was someway I could actually be Clara's mother. I wish that I could tell stories of our first family vacation, or the first time she chewed solid food, or the first time I took her shopping. But I can't! I won't be able to tell her stories about when she was a baby if she ever asks me, because I won't know them," I said and the tears started to flow again.

"Shh," said Ezra, stroking my hair. "It'll be alright."

"No it won't," I said stubbornly and marched across the room. "I want to be able to go around and show pictures of Clara when she was small and say 'This was from when she took her first steps' but I can't," I said causing my petite form to be overcome with sobs. Ezra took me back immediately into his arms and kissed the top of my head.

"Is there anything I can do to make it better?"

And that's when the idea hit me.

"I'd like to adopt Clara," I said.

Cliffhanger! Once again, a huge thanks to loveizzymellark! If any one has any ideas on where the next chapter should go, please share!

I'm serious for what I said about reviews earlier though. Thank you to those who have reviewed, but please, if you have a couple extra minutes, tell me what you think! don't be shy if you're new! i'd love to know!

love always

.soprano.

p.s. anyone who likes musicals or is interested in old movies, i highly recommend the music man! it's been one of my favorites and is considerably, what i think is the perfect movie musical!