A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

"Ella! I'm not going to sit here and watch Mike turn into my brother!" Byron yelled to his wife.

"Mike is not your brother!" she shouted back fully exasperated.

"I see the signs Ella," he said loud enough for Aria to hear it from her room. After a long afternoon of sitting with her brother just babbling on, she went back to her room, curled herself on the bed and listened to her parents fight. Dinner had been forgotten about and everything seemed so unsafe.

"What do you want me to do Byron?" Ella shouted.

"He needs help! He needs to get out of bed! Make him go to school!"

"You don't think I see he needs help too? Byron he's not all there! If we make him go to school he's not going to do anything! He just sits there!"

The fighting continued and tears streamed down Aria's face. She tucked her legs closer to her body, setting her chin further on top her knees. She didn't know what to do. Switching from the real world to her own, Aria sat there blankly. She needed to get out of this house and figure out what to do – she wanted to, but she was afraid.

"Byron!" Ella called. Aria heard the door slam hard against the downstairs doorframe and she knew her father had stormed off. Wiping her tears when she heard her mother begin to walk up the stairs, she got up from her bed and went to stand in her doorway.

"Your brother in his room?" Ella asked.

"He's on the computer," she answered. It was the most progress he had made since Aria had talked to him last (this afternoon). Surprised, Ella and Aria walked to go see him.

"Mike," Aria called getting no response from her presence.

"Mike," Ella called out a bit fiercer. "Get off the computer."

Ignoring the both of them, Mike continued to chat whoever was online.

"Mike, you've have enough," Ella said walking over to her son and shutting his screen.

"No!" he protested as Ella tried to take it away.

"Let go!" Ella said back.

"No!" he replied again. As Aria helplessly observed the two play tug of war, she watched as her mother went stumbling back with the computer in her hands and ran into a piece of wood furniture of Mike's, hurting her side and wrist at the same time.

"Mom!" Aria called. Ella looked like she wanted to cry. Startled, Mike ran into his bathroom and locked the door. All was silent and Ella drew in some shaky breaths. "Don't tell your father about this," she said. "Please Aria, just don't."

Ella then took the laptop, passing her daughter and went into her own bedroom. Stunned was not the word Aria looked like. Things went from bad to worse in a matter of seconds and she worried. Aria needed to fix this, she was a fixer.

Grabbing her bag from her bedroom, Aria took off from her house and went to Lucky Leon's hoping it would cheer her up.

"Taking a study break?" Jason's voice asked as he pulled up in his car beside her as she walked back towards her house in the dark.

"More like a sugar break," she forcefully smiled holding up her bag of cookies and cupcakes. Watching as Jason put his car in park in the middle of the street, he got out and walked over to Aria.

"Sounds like a better night than I've been having. Someone broke into my shed today."

"Well, it couldn't have been Mike. He hasn't really moved from his bed or his room since the beginning of the week," Aria answered, furrowing her eyebrows. Who would have done that to Jason?

"Hey, I didn't go there," he said glancing at her fallen face. Aria nodded. "But you know, I was going to call. I wanted to make sure you were holding up okay." Jason thought back to this morning when he saw her hovering over the kitchen table trying not to fall to pieces.

She nodded; trying to get rid of the emotions in her voice she broke their gaze, "just have a lot going on." Jason studied her for a second before finally going out on a limb. "Truth is…I do really care about your brother. But I also care about you," he said gesturing with his hands. Aria was frozen in place, with her heart hammering while watching him.

"I wanted to tell you but with everything going on…" he trailed off while stepping closer to her. "I wasn't sure if you would feel the same way."

Right…left…right. Each step she faintly heard as they kept eye contact with each other. It wasn't until Jason's lips touched her that all of her worries disappeared. She felt safe and warm. She enjoyed his touch against hers.

"I do," Aria whispered when they pulled away a bit, "feel the same." Jason stared at her then, a bright smile appearing on his gorgeous face.

"At least I think I do. My emotions have been kind of crazy lately," Aria admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed for saying what she just said.

"You know you can talk to me about that right? You can talk to me about anything Aria," he said softly. Breaking their gaze again, Aria went over what happened today in her head. The yelling of her parents, her crying in her room and her mom getting hurt.

"Yea, thanks," Aria said brokenly. Jason's eyes furrowed when he saw that mask go up again. He didn't like that. Brushing a hand across her cheek, he made sure to have her look up at him so he could silently tell her it was okay. He didn't mind if Aria broke down to him. Usually it felt weird to him to comfort a girl like that, but with Aria, its what he wanted. He felt like she shouldn't have to be so strong and brave all by herself all the time. He wanted to help her…because he loved her.

Their moment came to an end soon and Aria knew she had to get home. "Can I drive you?" he asked still holding onto her.

"Yea," Aria smiled, "that would be nice."

Being the gentleman Jason was, he walked over to Aria's sidecar door, opening for her as she slipped inside. Their hands stayed entwined with each other the whole drive home. Instead of words being spoken to fill the silence, the radio played softly into the night. Aria enjoyed this. She liked the peace and safety that came with Jason. He was like her rock.

When they pulled up to her house, the two of them sat there for a while. "I don't want to go in," she admitted absentmindedly.

"You don't have to," he said, "we can go somewhere else."

"I need to check on my mom," she said in a haze.

"Is she okay?" Jason said now concerned. Aria's eyes flickered with a emotion he didn't seem to quite catch in time before it was gone. "Yea, I should go."

Stepping out from the car with her bakery bag, she turned and shut his car door. "Thanks again."

Jason nodded. "Hey Aria," he called. Raising an eyebrow, she gave him her full attention. "Call me if you need anything okay? We can just talk if you ever need to."

Smiling a bit, Aria blushed and nodded. Waving to him she walked inside of her house and found Byron in the kitchen looking confused.

"Where is your mother?" he asked when she put her bag of goodies down.

"Right here," Ella said coming down the steps with wet hair and in her night robe.

"What happened?" Byron asked looking to her wrist with a bag of ice.

Ella briefly looked to her daughter before coming up with an excuse, "nothing, just slipped getting out of the tub."

Hearing the lie hurt Aria more than she imagined. Something wrenched in her heart and she bit her lip hard so she wouldn't accidentally call out the fib.

"Oh okay, maybe we should get you a brace for that tomorrow," Byron suggested.

"Maybe, it will probably be fine," Ella shrugged.

"Well let's see how it feels tomorrow," her father answered, clearly calmer than when he stormed out.

"I'll see you guys in the morning," Aria said, leaving her forgotten bag of goodies on the table as she walked upstairs.

"Night sweetie," her mother called.

"Night kiddo," her dad said after her.

When Aria got to her room, she shut the bedroom door and did her nightly routine. It was almost automatic as she could put herself from autopilot while accomplishing everything before sliding into bed. She laid there for a while, staring at her ceiling. Although she could not hear her mother and father talking, she knew their discussion for tonight would be about Mike again. Snatching her phone from her bedside table, she opened her phone and saw she had a few missed calls and a bunch of text messages from her friends.

Ignoring them all, she scrolled her contacts for Jason and debated on texting or calling him. With a long internal debate, she decided against it and shut her phone.

The next morning was quiet. The Montgomery household carried no shouting, yelling or door slamming. Instead, there was a half made breakfast and more concern for Mike.

"Aria," Ella chirped to her daughter as she walked down the steps fully dressed for the day.

"Aria," Byron said a bit more serious, "we were thinking of taking Mike to a psychologist."

"Okay," Aria said, somewhat wondering why they were telling her this.

"Sweetie, this one we want to take him to is in New Jersey. Now I know it would hard for you to miss school but…"

"Mom, I can just stay here," Aria supplied, packing her bag to get out of the house.

"Are you sure Aria?" Byron asked.

"Positive," Aria reassured. "I'll be fine. If I need anything Hanna's mom is around and so is Spencer's. Don't worry about me it will be fine."

"It's only for a few days," her father added.

"All the more reason I will be fine."

Case closed; that topic of the conversation over.

"Mom, how about I go get you a brace?" Aria asked looking to her mother's swollen and iced wrist.

"Oh no, its okay," she said putting on a brave face.

"I think that's a good idea Ella," Bryon said to his wife. "Are you sure you don't mind Aria?"

"Nope, not at all," Aria said. Grabbing her purse, she told her parents she would be back later and headed for the town's drug store.

It took about 10 minutes to get there and another 15 minutes of looking at the boxes to decide what she was getting. One said the perfect fit while the other brace said for carpel tunnel. There were a few for people with tiny wrists while others that gave 'full coverage'.

"Hurt yourself Aria?" someone asked. Looking up from the box she was holding, she found Jason with a concerned look.

"Uh no…its not for me."

He gave her a look to continue. "My mom…she uhh…she needs it," Aria elaborated, hoping that he wouldn't ask why.

"She hurt herself?" he asked surprised.

Aria tried to respond the best she could but she wasn't sure what she could say without lying, "something like that."

Glancing back down to the box and back to him she gave a raised eyebrow, "so what brings you here?"

"Needed some more band aids," he said reaching behind her for one of the boxes towards her left. "Woodwork gives you a ton of splinters."

Aria smiled at that, even going so far as to chuckle a bit. "So the house is coming along good then?"

"Surprisingly," he said. "You know, you should come over one day and check it out."

"Really?"

"Yea," he smiled to her. Before she could open her mouth again, Aria was being called.

"Hanna?" Aria asked back as her blond friend approached the two.

"What are you doing here?" Hannah wondered. Glancing to Jason, she gave a semi smile looking very forced.

"I'll let you go," Jason said taking his cue. "Call you soon?"

"Sounds great," Aria said with a genuine loving smile. As he passed Hanna with a smile of his own, the girls looked back to each other.

"What are you doing with Jason? Have you read any of our texts or picked up our calls?" Hanna asked quietly yelling at her.

"No I haven't. There are things I've had to deal with at home!"

Aria must have held up the wrist brace box because Hanna immediately looked worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine, its not for me anyways," Aria said shaking her head, "its for my mom."

"Is she okay? What happened?"

Aria's eyebrows furrowed and she looked away, "it's a long story."

"Okay," Hanna said watching her friend.

"So what are you doing here? What did you mean about your messages?"

Hanna waved off the first part and then bit her lip at the second. She stepped closer to Aria and looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Spencer and Emily broke into Jason's shed."

"What?" Aria said loudly.

"Shh!" Hanna said glancing all around. Luckily no one was looking. "Aria, Jason turned the place into a dark room."

"So?" She interjected.

"So they found pictures," Hanna snapped. "There were pictures of you sleeping, along with a bunch of expensive cameras and spy equipment."

"Where are they?" Aria asked, a shiver running down her spine at the creepiness.

"Gone" Hanna said. Aria went to protest but Hanna beat her to it. "Spencer knew you wouldn't believe her so she went back for proof but they were all gone by the time she opened the shed again."

Aria's mind swirled and she cursed everything going on her life. Walking to pay for whatever wrist brace Aria had in her hand, she pulled out some cash and set down the box.

"Now, what's going on with you and Jason?" Hanna asked when they left the store.

"I'm not sure," Aria admitted. It was the truth to say the least. She didn't really know where her or Jason stood. At first he was just Ali's older brother, then he became her friend, but now what was he? Friends don't usually caress the sides of people's cheeks or hair like Jason does with he. And they sure as heck don't usually kiss like they did in front of the park. So what were they?

"I think you need to stay away from him Ari," Hanna warned.

"There has to be an explanation for this," she replied to her best friend.

"Yea, that he's working with 'A'" Hanna mumbled. Shooting the blond a glare, the woman backed off and let Aria do her own thing.

"I need to get back and get this to my mom. Can we just all talk later tomorrow at school?"

Hanna studied her friend, obviously worried. Aria had a lot on her plate, more than usual. "Sure, just be careful in the mean time okay?"

"You sound like Spence," Aria remarked as she got in her car.

"I definitely need to get out more then," Hanna joked as she watched her friend drive away.