Aria turned in her sleep, waking up around 6:30 in the morning, to arms hugging her close. Confused for a second, her eyes fluttered open and she saw a sleeping Jason beside her. Smiling slightly she inhaled his scent deeply before sitting up to check her phone. Having no messages, she laid back down and hugged him. Hopefully Spencer wasn't up yet.

"I thought you weren't an early riser," Jason groaned, flipping onto his side with her.

"I'm not," Aria yawned, "but I needed to make sure Spencer isn't up yet."

"By checking your phone?" he groaned still trying to wake up.

"Hanna would have texted me," Aria explained tiredly. Falling back asleep easily, the two woke up again to Aria's phone buzzing.

"Ugh," she groaned, prying herself from Jason's arm to check her phone.

He could be next ;) – A

Shooting up in fright, Aria reread the text message again before frantically getting her bearings.

"Ar? Aria!" Jason said trying to calm her down before she hurt herself. Pushing him away, she slid from the bed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Hey, what's going on?" Jason asked her making a move to get out of bed too. She jumped 10 feet high as her cell phone rang again. As the constant buzz continued, Jason went searching through the tangled sheets for the phone.

"Its Hanna," he said looking at the caller ID. Shakily walking over to him, she sat on the bed and answered it. "Morning sunshine, Emily and I are making breakfast before doom and gloom gets up, did you want anything special?"

Feeling light kisses on her shoulder, Aria peered over to Jason who was holding her around the waist trying to calm her down.

"Aria?" Emily asked through the phone. She must have been put on speaker.

"I-…" The girls really needed a code word, Aria decided. She couldn't say anything about 'A' without Jason catching on, but she didn't want to leave.

"Meet me at my locker at school today okay?" she requested shakily.

Emily immediately picked up on Aria's tone of voice. "What happened?"

"Just meet me there before school," Aria repeated.

"Did you want me to bring over your clothes?" Hanna asked.

"Umm…yes," Aria decided. Glancing to Jason, he sat there watching her carefully.

"Okay, I'll be over in a few," Hanna stated as Aria went to hang up.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?" Jason asked referring to her freak attack and cryptic call.

"Bad dream," Aria blurted out, lying before she even knew it.

"Bad dream," he repeated, knowing that she had been lying, "You checked your phone Aria. I'm not an idiot."

Swallowing hard, Aria glancing down at her lap and tried to think of something better. "What is going on with you? What are you and your friends hiding?" Staying silent, Aria wished none of this was happening. All she wanted was Jason to hold her right now. "More importantly, why wont you tell me anything Aria?" he pushed.

"Jason," she whispered, trying hard not to cry.

"Aria, what is going on?" he pleaded. She was really starting to worry him.

Opening her mouth, Aria faced the decision again to tell Jason the truth. Did she want to involve him more than he already was? Or was she not supposed to since 'A' had just texted her practically warning her not to?

Before she could fully decide, a hard knock was on the door, which made Aria scurry from the bed. "Its Hanna with my clothes."

Unknowing what to do since he just partially laid there watching her, Aria turned and walked out of the bedroom to go see her friend.

"Hey what's going on?" Hanna asked as soon as Aria opened the door. Turning back and finding nothing, Aria pushed them outside and shut the door.

"'A' texted me again," Aria shuttered. "It said 'he could be next'."

"He as in Jason?" Hanna wondered. Aria shrunk in her place, cowering in fear. "I don't know."

Tears began pooling in Aria's eyes now too. "He's catching on faster too Han. He's starting to ask questions I can't answer without telling him about 'A'."

"Aria, under no circumstances are you to tell him about 'A'. Do you understand?" Hanna asked very forcefully. "I will not let what happened to me, Emily and Toby now happen to you or Jason. 'A' is not going to win this game Aria."

"What else am I supposed to do Hanna?" Arai asked exasperated. "If I can't tell Jason the truth what can I do? I'm not going to lie to him Han. He is the only person I can't lie to. I won't – I won't destroy our relationship like that."

"Then keep dodging the question," Hanna shrugged, "spend less time with him if that means he will stop asking questions. Aria, we can't afford to have another accident on our hands."

Aria sniffled, hugging herself together tightly.

"Come back to Spencer's," Hanna bargained. "You can help Emily and I cook breakfast."

Aria shook her head and quietly mumbled, "I told Jason I would stay."

"Is he driving you to school?" she wondered.

"No," Aria said shaking her head, "I'll catch a ride with you guys."

Nodding, the blonde hugged her friend and gave her the bag. "Be careful alright?"

Aria forced a smile on her face and moved her head up and down silently saying okay. As Hanna left the porch of the DiLaurentis' house, Aria wiped the rest of her tears and went back inside.

Leaning back against the front door for a few seconds, Aria began hearing some banging from the kitchen. Slowly going to investigate, she peered in the room and found Jason at work on breakfast.

"Hey," Aria croaked. Jason looked to her with sad eyes and then turned back to the pan in his hand. He was upset at her.

"Jason," Aria spoke brokenly. She watched as he made the two of them some pancakes and fruit. It was all so familiar yet this time; they were in a middle of their first fight.

"Please don't be mad at me," she whimpered pathetically. Tears welded up in her eyes again and she stood there playing with her hands pathetically.

"I can't help you if you wont let me in Ar," Jason caved. Neither of them stepped towards each other but they finally made eye contact.

"I can't let you," she whispered out. Barely hearing her, Jason's eyebrows furrowed. He closed their distance, little by little before getting close enough to wipe Aria's tears away.

"Why?"

Aria sniffled some more, glancing away from him. "You love me right?" she asked him.

"What?"

She laughed to herself a bit. Out of all the times to bring up love and the little three words, this was when she was going to do it? Wiping some more tears from her cheek, she determinedly held his gaze.

"Do you love me?"

Pausing, he stayed silent, looking at her like she had grown another head.

"I love you," she tried to say without crumbling to pieces now. "And I'm going to be asking a lot of you – I really need you to trust me. I need you to just…hold me okay? Things are going to seem really strange and maybe crazy. I'll probably get snappy or tell you off but I want you to know I love you. And I need you here – with me. I can't do this without you and even though I can't tell you anything I'm going through right now, I'm asking you to trust me."

"That's a lot to ask Aria."

"I know," she admitted still waiting to hear more from him.

"I'll do it," he said pausing again to brush some hair out of her wet eyes, "but only because I love you too."

Laughing in relief, she beamed like the sun and reached up to take him into a strong lip lock.

Jason seemed to cheer up Aria for the rest of the time they spent together. He was etching to ask her all of the questions that bottled up inside of him, but like he promised Aria, he would just be here for her for now. Until she was ready, he wouldn't try and poke and prod into what was wrong.

"I sang yesterday," Aria stated, picking at some strawberries he had set out for the two of them.

"Yea?" he asked seemingly proud of her as he flipped a pancake.

"It was at that club you took me to on one of our dates."

"Wait…you sang in public?" he asked wide eyed.

"I went there last night with the Hanna, Emily and Spencer. The four of us did some karaoke."

"Why didn't you invite me to this?" he questioned obviously joking yet somewhat serious at the same time.

"It was a girl thing," she laughed.

"It took me forever to hear you sing again and in one night the girls and a bunch of people get to hear you?" he claimed, finding it very unfair.

"First of all, it wasn't forever. I sang for you like…that night," Aria stated, "and they all didn't hear me. We sang together so my voice was non existent anyways."

"But you still got up on stage with a mic on your hand," he stated, forgetting about the pancake to go and press her body against his.

"Yea, I guess I did," she smiled.

"Next time, I'm taking you and we can do a duet."

"Oh no," she blushed. "That was a one time thing."

"You're really not going to sing with me?" he pouted in a funny manner.

"I'll sing for you," she mended, "but not with a crowd or other people around." Kissing his delicious lips, they made out in the kitchen for a while before smelling something burning. "Jase wha-…"

"Shit!" he swore, tearing away from Aria to save the burning pancake in the pan. Bursting with laughter, Aria almost doubled over.

"You're a distraction," he claimed, moving some hair from his eyes to go back to cooking.

"A good one though," she added, wrapping her arms around him from behind as he stood back near the stove. Not having anything to protest that with, Jason poured the batter into another warm pan and then moved around to wrap his arms around his girl.

One distinct thing Aria remembered after telling her friends about the Jason situation was Emily. "'A' plays mind games now?" she asked incredulous. The phrase stuck with Aria for after meeting with them in the car and hanging with them in school for the rest of the day. Was 'A' really just playing a mind game with her? Was this her jab to Aria? Did she want to do something mentally instead of physically to her?

"I have a date with Maya tonight," Emily claimed at lunch as they all sat down.

"Woah what?" Spencer asked getting back to her normal self. The girl time really helped they all guessed.

"Samara said she didn't think we were going to go anywhere anymore – she couldn't trust me, and Maya just…set everything all up for the two of us."

"So…" Aria said still lost in all of this.

"In with the old and out with the new," Hanna chimed. Glaring at her, Emily sighed and turned back to the more logical ones.

"Give it a go," Spencer tried. Aria gave a look and shrugged with her. "Yea, I don't know what to say to that either Em. Sorry."

Groaning, Emily slid further down in her seat.

Things with 'A' were getting even more and more intense as time passed. It had been a little over two weeks now and things were in havoc. Emily had gone out with Maya and continued to go out with her again and again. Apparently they shared more things in common than Emily imagined and she missed Maya's company. After a few days of being in each other's company, they declared themselves official and made a good pair like always. Everything was great with them for a while too, until they got into a fight and Maya ran away. She literally fled the state and never told anyone where she was going. It worried Emily at first, but it didn't make her fear Maya's safety until she got a text from 'A' making her/him seem somewhat involved in her girlfriend's disappearance. This made Emily become a nervous wreck.

Spencer had been seeing Wren again. She claimed she wasn't actually 'seeing' him, like dating, but they were getting closer. She had slept over his apartment one night after getting drunk over whatever her problems were. She told him a little too much too and it caused Wren to get the wrong idea about them. This soon became news to Toby, who had turned angry, hostile, and jealous towards Spencer. 'A' seemed to have inserted herself in there too, bringing the news to the Cavanaugh, that Spencer was possibly seeing someone while still claiming she was trying to get over Toby. Long story short, it caused Toby to no longer talk to Spencer. She was now an emotional wreck.

Hanna was doing great with Caleb. That was the least of her worries. Instead, her father showed back up into her life and caused some major problems for her. Not only was he having trouble with Isabelle, his fiancée, but at the same time the man was making moves back on Hanna's mom, who seemed to be falling for them too. Hanna was upset to say the least, but poor Caleb had to take the brashness of it all. She had now turned into an angry wreck.

As for Aria, she was dealing with an over curious Jason. He would subtly hint to her or try to ask sly questions to what had been worrying over the week, but she could never answer him. It had turned to be upsetting for both of them. Jason hated the secrets that were starting to appear in their relationship while Aria wanted to tell him but was scared she would lose him. 'A' had continued to tantalize her, threatening Aria that if Jason didn't stop asking questions, she would stop him herself. This made Aria not only fearful and cry like a baby but it made her weak – and she hated that. Jason made sure he was there for her in those times though. He always held her close and promised her it was okay, but he knew until she told him everything, nothing would really be okay. It was bringing a downfall on the couple's relationship and nothing could be done until the truth came out. Aria had now become a paranoid wreck.

By Friday evening, the girls all decided to meet up. Aria skipped her night out with Jason, Hanna ditched her date with her father, Spencer snuck away from an overly romantic and trying Wren, and Emily took time out from investigating Maya's disappearance. They met at Spencer's, holing up in her living room trying to figure out a solution to their problems.

"This is impossible," Aria decided after almost two hours of trying to sort out each other's problems.

"Well Spencer obviously needs to straighten out Wren and let Toby know that nothing is going on between him and her," Hanna pressed. Spencer groaned and put a pillow over her face.

"Fine then Aria needs to either break up with Jason or do something about his serious curiosity complex," Spencer stated.

"What? No!" Aria exclaimed. No matter what, she would be not losing Jason. 'A' would not be winning that satisfactory.

The doorbell rang which none of them heard except for Emily, but the three was drowning her out as they were yelling at each other about what to do with each of their situations.

"You guys!" Emily finally yelled, standing up from her seat. "The doorbell."

Getting up, Spencer made her way to the door while the girls tried to calm down.

"I'm not breaking up with Jason," Aria stated stubbornly.

"And I'm not going to confront my dad about seeing him go upstairs and sleep with my mom," Hanna noted.

"Well then I'm not giving up on trying to find Maya," Emily forced out while sitting back down.

"You guys…" Spencer said coming in with a large box.

"What the heck is that?" Aria asked getting up from her seat now.

All moving towards the large box, Spencer lifted the top and the four found dolls.

"This is creepy," Aria noted.

"Why do they look like us?" Emily asked completely weirded out as she held up a doll that resembled her.

"Look you guys," Hanna said taking her blond haired doll and finding a small necklace with her name on it. Noting that each of the dolls had on their own specific names, the girls picked them up and glanced at them.

Pulling a string on the back of the doll, Aria listened as it spoke in a high-pitched voice. "Your father isn't as innocent as he seems. Show your mother these pictures or watch as you boyfriend suffers the consequences." Inside the box, laying behind her doll were snapshots of Byron and another one of his grad assistance making out in his office and out around downtown.

Emily, doing the same thing as Aria, pulled her string. Listening hard, all four girls heard nothing.

"Is yours broke?" Aria wondered.

"No, look," Spencer said holding up a sheet of paper. Patience is a virtue, one you need to learn Emily – A.

Hanna did hers next then, fearing of what the doll may say. "The wedding is on. Tell Isabel what your father has been up to or your mother will pay."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hanna shouted to the piece of plastic. Grabbing a tape recorder from the box, Emily hesitantly handed them to her. Pressing play, the girls heard both of Hanna's parents having sex. It was quite vocal I may add.

"Ew!" Hanna squealed, dropping the recorder and shuddering.

Spencer went to pull hers, stopping to take in a breath. Her life was about to change. "Show Wren how you used to feel. Make out with him in front of Toby and make sure Toby gets an eyeful."

"Or else?" Spencer asked the doll.

"Spence," Aria said holding up some pictures. There were candid shots of her family in there, mostly her mother and father. Each of them had a red ex over their face like they were about to be assasined.

"I'm guessing that's the or else," Emily stated.

"Well isn't this great," Aria sighed, chucking her doll back in its crate before bending herself over the arm of the couch.

"I can't do this you guys," Spencer said sitting back down. "I can't break Toby's heart like this."

"And like you can make you're 'ready to be step mother' sit and listen to her future husband and his ex wife having vocal sex?" Hanna exclaimed.

"This is going to ruin my parents lives – and Mike –…again," Aria sighed up at the ceiling.

"Why didn't I get anything?" Emily wondered mostly to herself again.

"You're lucky," Spencer groaned.

"Seriously," Hanna chimed in.

Aria put her hands over her face, trying not to cry. Why did life have to be like this?

"You guys, I think im going to go see Jason," she spoke, getting up from her seating position.

"Is that wise?" Emily wondered.

"Like you said, he's already really suspicious," Spencer nodded.

"I can't not," she said with a double negative. "Plus," she sighed, "I need to make sure he's okay too."

Understandment was in the three girls' eyes. So far, 'A' had gotten to everyone they loved except for Jason. This made him more vital to Aria and the girls now.

Grabbing her things, including the pictures of her dad and some girl, she stuffed them in her purse and walked out the door. Hopefully Jason would be home…

A/N: Soo...i'm ahead in writing chapters for this story. I have a ton already written which is why i've been positing two at a time recently. And well, i'm wondering if this is okay with you all. The story is going to end up being epically long because i'm obsessed with this pair and have so many random ideas that pop into my head which makes everything longer. Should I try and cut the chapters down so its not as long or keep going? I dont know what to do. Wah =(