A/N: Hey guys! Still looking for some suggestions about some things you'd like to see before we conclude our adventure. Lemme know! And please review - it's good karma!

CHAPTER 20

Six days. He had enough time to pull it off, but it would take a considerable amount of work. He was feeling an obscene level of anxiety now as he considered the implications of his plan. Hanna had immediately supported the idea, brimming with excitement, babbling away about the fine-tuning of details.

It had all become quite a lot to fathom. As Hanna and Holmes finished setting up dinner, Toby excused himself for fresh air. He sat on the front steps of the apartment building, a cigarette in hand, soaking in the last light of the day. The frigid night air did not bother him in the slightest – it was cold like this that reminded him that he was alive, and that he was strong. The pins-and-needles feeling of the brisk cold was unpleasant, but served as an anchor in reality. He leaned back against one of the pillars of the porch, exhaling the drag he had taken.

He had started smoking at basic. A lot of his military comrades partook, despite the impact on their physical fitness. Once released, he and Holmes had made a pact to quit together. However, he still caved occasionally during intense times of stress. Whether the effects were mind over matter or not – it provided him solace when he needed it most.

"Hey, stranger!"

The voice brought Toby back to reality. He saw now that a taxicab was driving away, Emily and Aria heaving duffel bags up the front steps of the building. He could not help but grin when he looked upon Emily, the girl who had been his best friend for so long. She had been there for him when no one else would give him the time of day. If not for her vote of confidence, he would perhaps have never even gotten to know Spencer.

"Long time, no see," he agreed happily. He rose to hug them both, lingering longer with Emily. He had missed her dearly.

"What's that?" Emily asked incredulously, pointing towards the nearly finished cigarette that Toby had set aside on the porch steps. Aria's eyes followed her gesture. He grimaced slightly in response.

"Where's Spencer?" Aria interrupted purposefully, attempting to forego the tension of the situation. Toby absent-mindedly pointed towards the door. She smiled softly in gratitude as she made her way into the building.

"Toby," Emily chastised gently, taking a seat next to him.

"It's okay, I'm finished," Toby insisted, putting the cigarette out on the ground and tossing the butt towards the street. This did not seem to satisfy Emily.

"When did you start that?"

"During training," he offered. "I only have one every once in a while now…when things get a little crazy."

Emily looked upon him sympathetically, affectionately brushing some stray ash from his shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"Not good," he answered immediately. He wasn't sure what it was about Emily in particular that made him spit out the truth in such rapid succession. She had always had that effect on him. "Not only did one of my roommates take advantage of the girl I love, but now I only have six days to make sure she's okay."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked quietly, a gust of wind catching her hair.

"I'm going to Afghanistan," he stated bluntly. She was silent for a moment.

"That's…big news," she provided at last. He nodded distantly.

"And there's nothing I can do about it."

Emily scooted closer to him, taking his hand supportively in her own. "You know…Toby…you don't have to have control over everything, all the time."

This simple statement reverberated within Toby poignantly. She was right – things that were not within his control were the things that hurt him the most. Cody…the deployment…all of it. It was as though the very notion of knowing that these things were not within his power to change was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"If I had known all of this would happen – that Spencer and I would meet again, I mean – I never would have volunteered."

"But everything happens for a reason," Emily murmured. "And you have to make the best of it."

"I know," he consented. "It just doesn't make it any easier."

Emily slipped an arm around his back, cradling her head in his shoulder. They sat like that for a few moments, just enjoying one another's company. Only when the front door flew open did either of them stir.

"Hey, what are you guys doing out here?" It was Spencer. The smile on her face was confirmation that she was pleased with her surprise.

"Just catching up a bit," Emily offered, standing to wrap Spencer in a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm getting there," Spencer chuckled softly. Emily pulled back, glancing pointedly at Toby.

"I'll meet you two upstairs, okay?" With that, she had grabbed hold of her bag and made her way over the threshold.

Toby stood to appraise Spencer, feeling a warmth in his heart as he considered her glowing face. She grasped both of his hands in her own, standing up on her tiptoes to plant a short kiss on his lips.

"It's so good to have them here," she decided, resting her cheek against his chest. He stroked her back lovingly, planting a kiss atop her head.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

She craned her head back to look at him, bewildered. "What's the matter?"

Well, that was a loaded question. How could he even begin to answer something like that without splintering Spencer's heart? He had needed to show strength when she could not, so as to give her hope and certainty for their future. If he revealed that he, too, was frightened, she would break.

He forced a grin. "Nothing at all," he replied. "It's just important to me that you're happy."

She smiled softly, intertwining her fingers into his. "Thanks." He squeezed her hand in response.

"We better get inside," she said suddenly. "Holmes was hoovering that spaghetti like he hadn't eaten in days. There won't be any left for us!"

Toby chuckled with her as they made their way back up to the apartment.

Dinner had been a spectacularly fun event, but the girls would be lying if they said they weren't at least slightly anxious for the boys to leave. What with preparing for college and all, it had been nearly two months since they had had the opportunity to have a true girl's night, and the presence of testosterone seemed to present something of a barrier.

Toby had pulled Spencer into the hallway to give her a loving, affectionate kiss good night. He promised to call her first thing in the morning. She had grinned in reply, finding that the absence of his arms made her feel immediately vulnerable. She had to admit, however, that she was looking forward to girl talk.

They now sat at the kitchen table, engaging in a gossipy game of Spades. Spencer was partnered with Hanna, and was winning – as usual. She kept a neat score board on a piece of notebook paper, buffing her fingernails on the collar of her shirt.

"That's 98 to 67," she announced, accepting Hanna's low five.

"We're never going to catch up, you know," Aria said to Emily disdainfully.

Emily shrugged vaguely in response. "We never do."

"All right – my deal," Hanna stated, taking the deck of cards. She split them in half and bridged them expertly.

"So – Aria," Spencer began, "how's Jason?"

Aria pulled a distasteful face.

"They broke up," Hanna quipped before Aria could even open her mouth to respond. The three girls stared at her incredulously. "What? I saw it on Facebook!"

Aria rolled her eyes and shrugged. "We were doomed from the start," she rationalized. "After everything that happened with Ezra and my parents…" She trailed off, leaving it to the girls to individually recall the events. After they had come out as a couple, Aria had been forbidden to see him. Ezra, likewise, was uncomfortable maintaining their relationship while his career was on the line. "Well – in any case – Jason was always kind of a rebound."

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked supportively. Aria smiled.

"Yeah. Actually, I ran into Ezra at Starbucks right before school started…We've been kind of talking."

"Good," Hanna offered. "I always liked him better, anyways."

"Now you, Miss Nosy," Spencer began, pointing an accusing finger towards Hanna as she began dealing out the cards. "I have some questions for you, too."

"We live together," Hanna said, deadpan. "What could I possibly have to hide from you?"

"Well, for one," Spencer started, "I'd like to know what's going on with you and Holmes."

Hanna furrowed her brow in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Emily piped in, "that you guys were finishing each other's sentences all night and laughing at inside jokes that the rest of us didn't understand."

"So?" Hanna demanded. She studied each of their disbelieving faces, looking scandalized. "Oh, my God. Are we really going to have the whole 'a boy and girl can be friends without liking each other' talk again?"

"Looks like it," Aria quipped.

"Come on!" she cried. "I told you guys the same thing when you were worried about Lucas."

"And he turned out to be obsessed with you, if I recall," Spencer added sarcastically.

"Which complicated things…yeah…" Hanna agreed. "But with Holmes it's different. I dunno. We spent a lot of time together the past couple of days, what with trying to look out for you…" Spencer felt a pang of guilt when Hanna said this, but knew it was unintentional. "It's like that whole theory that people who go through something stressful together have a special bond."

"Excitation transfer," Spencer clarified automatically, recalling the term in her Psychology book. "I mean – sorry."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, something like that, I guess. Anyway, we just have fun together. That's all."

"That's all for you," Emily muttered. "What's he feeling?"

"The same," Hanna said impatiently. "He's been seeing this girl in his Economics class. He's not interested in me like that."

"I suppose," Spencer said at last. "Besides, now that you mention it, he seems to make fun of you far too often to ever be able to put up with you."

"Thanks – I think," Hanna said uncertainly, knowing that she both won and lost the argument at the same time.

"And you, Em?" Aria inquired. "Last time we talked we didn't really get a chance to discuss your love life."

"Yeah, well," Emily began nonchalantly. "There's not much to say. I joined an LGBTQ support group at my school…I've been meeting a lot of great people, but I want to just focus on college for now."

"LGBTQ?" Hanna asked blankly.

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning," Emily answered. "Basically a club for anybody who identifies as something other than straight."

"They have those?" Hanna demanded, curiosity piqued.

"Something you need to tell us, Han?" Spencer asked hesitantly, only half-joking at her reaction.

"No! Stop!" Hanna declared. "I just…didn't know. That's awesome for you, Em."

Emily smiled softly in response before turning to Spencer. "You're the last one to fill us in," she decided.

Spencer smiled half-heartedly, looking as though she'd rather have a root canal than divulge. "Things with Toby are good…I mean, they're getting there." She cleared her throat. "It's been a rough, unconventional week. And we're about to dive into another turbulent adventure of an entirely different species. But I love him more than I ever imagined I could love another person…And that's gotta count for something, right?"

Emily reached over to pat Spencer's hand supportively. "That counts for everything, Spence."

Hanna was hiding her face behind her playing cards, giggling quietly to herself. Spencer looked across the table at her, annoyed.

"What's so funny?"

"I know something you don't know," Hanna said in a sing-song voice. "I can't tell you though."

"What?" Spencer demanded irritably. "Hanna! You know I hate surprises!"

"That's half the fun," Hanna decided, smirking in Spencer's direction. Spencer's face of stone did not falter. "Oh, lighten up, Spence. If it was something horrific I would tell you. You know that."

Spencer slouched slightly in her chair, sulking. "I hate when you guys do this to me…"

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't have the slightest idea what she's going on about," Aria offered. Hanna leaned over excitedly, as if to whisper it in her ear, but Aria pushed her away laughingly. "And I don't want to know! It'll only piss Spencer off more!"

"Damn straight," Spencer muttered.

"Seriously," Hanna began, "if I thought it would be better to tell you now and like, warn you or something, I would. Just trust me."

Spencer grumbled under her breath as she threw out the Ace of Spades onto the table. The girls all groaned in response as they followed the suit of cards.

"This was my only spade," Emily sighed, throwing out her 2.

Spencer grinned, as if forgetting the entire exchange that had just taken place. "Read it and weep!"

"I'm done with this game," Aria said irritably. "No offense, Spencer, but losing to you gets old after a while."

"Oh, come on!" Spencer cried. "It's not that bad!"

"No, it's boring," Emily agreed. "Let's try something that Aria and I could have a slim chance of winning…"

"Guitar Hero!" Aria cried triumphantly. Emily high fived her in response. Spencer groaned.

"I suck at that game!"

"That's the idea," Aria gloated, grabbing Spencer by the arm and dragging her out of her seat. "Be a good sport, Spence."

Spencer muttered to herself. "Fine. But don't expect me to enjoy it."

The others rolled their eyes good-naturedly before Emily at last responded. "We wouldn't have it any other way, Spence."

CONTINUED