A/N: And the triple chapter ends long... Review please! =)

P.S. Sorry for any spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. I've been trying to get a Beta and proofread my chapters but neither people have gotten back to me and I can only read the story after writing it so many times. My apologies!

The day flew by for Aria since she only had a half of day of school. She had met her brother at the time they planned and she dropped him off at his therapist. It was quite easy and she didn't feel worried. Mike needed to talk to someone and she knew better than anyone else it truly helped. Although her and Jason didn't always talk, he was there for her, and that was enough. Aria could only guess that concept was the same for her brother. Even though she couldn't always help him, somebody could.

Pulling into the driveway, Aria put the car in park and grabbed her things. It was going to be another battle between her mom's bedroom door and her. Aria could only hope that Ella had somehow decided to come downstairs and help herself since her kids weren't home, but she knew it was a long stretch.

Unlocking the door, she stepped in the house and then almost screamed when she saw the back of a figure on the couch.

"Mom?" Aria asked cautiously. Her mother seemed to be just sitting there, wrapped up in a blanket. The TV wasn't on, there was no music; it was just silence and that scared her.

"Mom?" she asked again stepping towards her.

"What are you doing home Aria?" her mother asked her.

"I had to drop Mike off at his therapy so I decided to come home and check on you. Are you okay?"

"Go back to school Aria," her mother said with no emotion.

"Mom?" Aria asked again as she crept carefully towards her. On the coffee table was a long chef's knife and it seemed her mother was staring blankly at it. Confused for a second, she peered at Ella and found her pale. It was obvious she hadn't eaten and she had been crying profusely. But it wasn't just that that caught Aria's eye. It was the fact that he mother had one of her wrists right side up and was rubbing it with the other hand. Putting the two and two together, Aria paled and bent to move the knife away.

"Don't," her mother said sharply. Taken aback, Aria withdrew her distance from her mother and the knife and stood to face the two.

There was silence for what seemed the longest time and finally Aria couldn't take it any longer. "Mom, what were you going to do?" Fear evident in her voice and she couldn't go over all the possibilities of what could have happened if she wasn't here.

"It was just a thought," Ella told her daughter sadly. "It wasn't going to happen."

"It sure looked like it," Aria snapped. Anger was starting to fuel her veins and she couldn't help but get mad at the older woman. She was just going to leave her children like this?

"You don't know anything," Ella snapped back at her daughter with furry.

"I know what I did to you," Aria whispered with guilt, "but you can't leave us like this. You can't leave Mike and I."

Ella's eyes filled with tears and she looked away from the knife on the table to wipe them away.

"It hurts," she sniffled with a sob coming on. Helpless on what to do, Aria took a careful step forward. After getting no harsh response from her mother, she opened her arms and took Ella in her arms. Her mother cried in pain for a while. The two wrapped themselves together on the couch and held each other in sorrow. It would take a while for each of the women to bounce back, but there was hope that they could.

"Don't give up on us," Aria whispered again. "You're strong mom, I know you. Please don't leave us like this."

"I loved him," Ella responded so softly that Aria had a hard time hearing her. "I met him when I was so young and all this time…I just couldn't give up on him. I loved him – I still do."

"I know," Aria responded sadly. "I know."

Ella's daughter continued to rock the two of them back and forth. It wasn't until Ella finally fell asleep that Aria slipped away from the couch and took the knife from the coffee table. Putting it back in its spot in the kitchen, Aria wondered if it was best to keep the chef's knives here. What if Aria wasn't around again and her mother did do something drastic? Her and Mike couldn't afford to lose their mother, they just couldn't.

Her thoughts were snapped from her as Mike came through the front door, noisy as could be. "Hey! I-"

"Shh!" Aria said putting a finger to her lips. Pointing over to the couch, she mouthed the words 'mom' and then gave the action motions of sleeping. Surprised, her brother went silent and was careful on the noise he was making. Softly shutting the front door, he put his bag down and stepped closer to Aria. "How is she?"

Before she could even respond Mike was asking more questions. "She came downstairs, that's an improvement right? I mean she's here. Did you talk to her?" Opening her mouth again, her brother seemed to spill more questions for her. "Did she say if she was okay? Is she feeling better? Any word from dad?"

Deciding they couldn't talk about it all right here, she took her brother by the shoulder and brought him to the porch swing back outside. The two sat there for a while, trying to gather everything.

"When I came home she was sitting on the couch," Aria told him. Unsure of what exactly to tell him, she decided to edit some parts. "Mom mostly cried but she did talk a little bit. It's hard for her because her and dad were together for so long. She misses him and it's going to take some time."

"But we are going to be okay right?" he asked her. "I mean I know you said we would always have each other, I just…"

"Yea," Aria nodded plastering on a fake show of positivity. She knew what Mike meant. Even though they had each other, there was nothing like their mom. No one could really fill that spot – not even Aria. "I think we need to give her some more time and space, but I think she'll come around soon enough."

"And dad?" Mike wondered after a few pauses of silence.

"I haven't heard from him, have you?" the big sister wondered.

"No," Mike said shaking his head, "I kind of wish I did, but then on the other hand I'm not sure what I would even say. I just feel like punching the guy."

"Well then lets hope we don't run into him…" Aria mumbled. The comment earned a small chuckle from her brother's lips and they hugged each other before standing up again.

"Can I go sleep over Brian's? I know mom doesn't let us on school nights…well she lets you, but anyways, I want some time away from here if that's okay."

"Yea," Aria said with a hint of sadness. She wasn't sure if she could deal with her mother like this all alone. "Just make sure you have everything for tomorrow and no ditching school tomorrow yes?"

"Would never even dream of it," was Mike's snarky response back. Rolling her eyes, the two went inside the house. It was Aria's automatic response to check the kitchen knives to make sure none of them were missing, and she was beyond glad that when she snuck a glance, all of them were still there accounted for.

Mike ran off upstairs to pack a bag while Aria stood in the hall unsure of what to do. She wanted to proof her household and rid the place of anything that could give her mother an upper hand to taking her own life, but she was afraid to leave the kitchen knives from her sight. Her mom could wake up at any time and she wasn't sure if she would even hear it when she did.

"I'm off," Mike whispered, passing her in the hall with his backpack.

"You sure you have everything?" Aria asked him again softly by the front door.

"Positive," he said. Giving her a wave, he practically ran from the house and to his friend's down the street.

It was around 4 o'clock when Aria decided to dial Jason. Her mother had been asleep for over 2 hours now and she was etching to search the house of dangerous things. Slipping out to the back porch again, she kept a careful eye on the inside where her mother was and waited for her boyfriend to pick up her call.

"Hey," he chirped, answering on the last ring.

"Hey, are you busy right now?" she wondered biting her lip as she sounded hopeful.

"I'm sure I could steal some time away for you. Where are you?"

"At home. Look, could you come over as soon as you can? My mom is awake – she was downstairs when I came home from school and…" Taking a deep breath, Aria let out the true words she felt she was unable to speak, "I found her with a knife."

"Is she okay?" he asked concerned. There was some shuffling in the background and Aria assumed he was now rushing to her.

"Yea, she was just sitting on the couch staring at the thing on the table. I don't know what she was going to do but I don't know. I want to clear the house of all those kinds of things but I don't want to leave my mom unattended while I go through her room and stuff. Does that make sense? And I–…"

"I'm on my way," Jason cut in before she could say more. Murmuring a quick thanks, the two cut the line from each other. Just as Aria was about to step back in the house, her phone rang again.

"Aria, where are you?" Emily nagged at her.

Confused what her friend was talking about for a second, she then suddenly remembered their plans from this morning. "Oh crap," she responded smacking her forehead. "Em, I am so sorry. Look, something came up with my mom. I'll have to tell you guys later but I can't come to dinner tonight. I can't leave her."

"Is she okay?" her friend pried.

"Yea," Aria sighed with a long breath. "I just don't want to leave her alone tonight. I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow okay?"

"Yea, okay," Emily sighed. Giving her apologies one last time, Aria hung up the phone and went back in the house. It was only a minute or two before there was a light tap on the front door and Aria opened it to see Jason.

"Hi," she murmured quietly to him as she stood near the wooden door.

"Hey," he said with his workbag on one of his shoulders and hands tucked in his dark wash jeans. Somehow landing themselves in an awkward yet romantic moment, Jason stepped through the doorway, put his bag down on the ground and grabbed Aria into a hug after she shut the door.

It was a simple action really, and Aria was waiting for him to hold her, but at the same time his movements came unexpected. His actions took her by surprise and made that small feeling of strength she was holding onto disappear. She seemed to clutch onto him for dear life, tugging at his shirt to draw closer to her. After what she experienced today with her mother, it became too real for the poor teenager to handle.

"I got you," he murmured into her ear. He held her close with his strong arms and steady body. Aria was always going to be safe with him and for as long as he possibly could; he was going to ward off every bad thing that happens to this girl.

"You're safe, you're okay," he kept repeating over and over again. There were a few tears that slipped from her eyes but not as many as he thought. They seemed to run into these moments too often now and this time it had been the worst. He was so concerned for his girl and again, there wasn't much he could do.

Pulling back now, the two still held onto each other while moving to look into each other's eyes. Aria's was shiny and fresh with tears while Jason's were reflected with concern and love for her.

"Thank you for being here," she whispered to him as she moved a hair from his face.

"For you – anything," he murmured back, putting his forehead against hers.

As Mrs. Montgomery slept for another hour, Aria rid the kitchen of sharp utensils, harmful cleaning supplies, and even some of the aerosol cooking things. Whatever Aria could get her hands on that she thought her mother could possibly use to kill herself with, she took it and stuffed it into a bag to hide in Mike's closet. After doing that, Jason stayed downstairs to watch Ella while Aria went and cleaned out her mother's bedroom. The muffin still lay on the ground in the doorway as Aria went it. The room was dark; all the blinds were down and the bed sheets askew. As Aria made her way through the scary mess of clothes on the floor and wreckage all around, she picked up more things that could be hazardous to her mother. Her razor from the shower, her hairspray, some pills in the medicine cabinet, bottle of nail polish remover, nail clippers, and even some scarves (so her mother couldn't hang herself) were all taken from her room and bathroom. From there, the pictures of her dad were removed, along with some of his extra belongings he didn't end up taking.

The process was hurtful for Aria to do, and she couldn't believe she was doing it, but it had to be done. She wasn't going to allow her mother to do such crazy and drastic things when she was around. For her and her brother's sake, they needed her mother. Ella Montgomery was a strong woman; she just needed a little help seeing that through.

It wasn't just her mother's sudden wish for death that had her crying also, but getting rid of her dad's things and seeing how much had changed in the past few days and trying to move on. It was hard, especially for Aria because she felt like it was her fault.

"Got everything?" Jason wondered as she came back downstairs. They decided to take some of her mom's things to his house.

"Yea," she smiled sadly. Handing him the things, they went to wrap each other in each other's arms again when they suddenly heard a sound coming from the couch. Taking in a deep breath, Aria put on her mask and went to check on Ella.

"Mom?" Aria called softly.

"Honey, what's going on?" Ella responded groggily.

Puzzled for a second, she sat by her mom's feet while Jason stood watching in the kitchen. "You fell asleep remember?"

"Oh," was all her mother let out when she sat up. Ella touched her face, probably because it was tight from all the dried tears, and ran a hand through her long hair. Seemingly pulling herself together a bit, she glanced back over her shoulder and found Jason. Startled for a second, she turned back to both him and Aria.

"What is really going on here?" Ella wondered to her daughter. Aria was stunned on how motherly her mom was being right now. Did she not just go through the whole knife ordeal?

"Mom, do you remember what happened today?" Aria wondered.

Going silent for a second, Ella thought over it and then became wide eyed. Quickly remembering Jason was here, the woman was fairly silent about it. "Aria, I am fine. I'm sorry if I scared you today. Nothing like that will happen again. Now why don't you go out with Jason and do something? You didn't have to wait around here for me."

Hesitantly, Aria looked from her mom to her boyfriend. Jason seemed to be just as puzzled as she was and Aria was stuck on what to really do. "Mom, Jason and I don't mind staying here…"

"I know, but you don't have to. Go out and have some fun," Ella waved off. Getting up from the couch, her mother folded the blanket and set it back down on the couch. Walking towards the kitchen, she gave Jason a friendly smile and then went to pull out the teapot. Confused about some things, Ella inspected all around and found many items missing.

"Aria, what happened to the knives?"

Blankly bewildered on how to answer that, Aria glanced at Jason helpless and swiftly turned back to her mom.

"Uh…I well…"

"And where is Mike?" Ella questioned, now thinking about it.

"He's at a friends," Aria pointed out, glad that she could use this to cover the previous question. "I know you don't really like him sleeping over his friends but I thought he could use a break. He said he would be at school on time and get all of his homework done too."

Getting antsy by her mother's silence, Aria twisted her fingers in her hands, "plus, he said he would check in with me every now in then so I knew he wouldn't be in any trouble. Please say this is okay mom." So Aria gave a small lie, but it wasn't like her brother was irresponsible. By now, he was more responsible than either of their parents. He was cautious and caring. If he got into any trouble, Aria was sure he would call her.

The teakettle began to whistle which broke the two from their conversation.

"It's fine Aria," her mother responded as she grabbed the pot. "I'm not mad, I was just worried about him."

Pouring her tea in her cup, she turned back to her daughter and Jason. "But you two should still go out," she supplied.

"You're sure?" Aria wondered. She was waiting for some hidden message or some reason her mother would want her out of the house. Not only that, but how the heck did everything change so quickly? It was faster than a 180.

"Yes," her mother pushed. It was easy to tell that Ella wanted to say more so Jason took his cue to step out.

"I have to make a call, so I will be outside for a bit. Come get me when you are ready to go?" Jason asked her with a certain meaning in his eyes. He was concerned about her well being, trying to ask her if stepping out was the best thing.

"Sure, thanks," Aria smiled to him. She relayed that it was okay. She was confused, that's all, but she was going to figure it out.

After Jason left the house, shutting the door behind him, Aria quickly stepped up toward her mother and was quick to ask what was going on.

"I'm sorry I scared you today," Ella sighed, still keeping up the strong look to her. Analyzing her facial and body expressions Aria wondered if she was really safe to go out and if her mom really meant it.

"Aria, would you please stop giving me that look?" her mom chimed to her. Quick to defend herself, Aria stared at her mom. "It's a little hard don't you think? I mean mom, just a few hours ago you are sitting on the couch with a knife! What am I supposed to think?"

Ella sighed, understanding that her daughter was angry and worried about her. And truth be told, Ella wasn't sure where that was going or why she did that. In her bedroom, Ella let that be her time to cry and not let her kids see her weak. She promised herself that when she left the room, she would be a mother again, but things unraveled and somehow she ended up on the couch with a knife. It was harder than expected, and that wasn't supposed to be an excuse, but she didn't want her daughter to worry about her.

Ella went to open her mouth and voice all of this, but she stopped. How could she really explain this to her daughter to try and make her understand? When she woke up again after her nap, realizing she had cried to her daughter and did what she did, she knew she had to suck it up and deal with her issues. She was a strong woman and she was going to have to face all of her demons.

"Sweetie," Ella sighed, moving away from her tea to come hug her daughter. Wrapping Aria in her arms, she kissed her head gently. "I am so sorry about today okay? What that was…what you saw…what we went through today," Ella began to tear up a bit, "I didn't mean for that to happen, and it wont again; I promise you it wont."

Aria snuggled into her mom and hugged her tight. "Your father and I loved each other very much and it was amazing what we shared, but I need to realize that even though this happened, I still have you and Mike. I will never leave you Aria. I shouldn't have displayed myself like that."

Puling back, Aria looked at the tear stricken adult. "Mom–"

"No Aria, let me finish," Ella said wiping her tears. "I am your mother. I am supposed to be looking after you, not the other way around. I get what you did – having Jason come over so you could rid the house of all the materials," Ella noted, "and I'm sorry you had to do that."

Kissing her daughters forehead, Ella smiled at her. "I love you. You are so strong."

Watching as a tear fell from Aria's eyes, her mother wrapped her in her arms again. "I can do this Aria. With or without your father, I can." As they hugged for a few more seconds, Ella finally pulled back and wiped some more of her daughter's tears.

"Now go out and have fun okay? I'll be here when you get back."

Nodding silently, Aria kissed her mom goodbye, grabbed her purse and went out to meet the awaiting Jason.

He was pacing slowly back and forth on the porch, waiting for Aria to come outside. When she did, he was worried. Tears had run down her cheeks and they were in there for a while.

"Come here," he said wrapping her in his arms again.

"Can we please get out of here?" Aria murmured to him.

"Are you sure?" he wondered, confused on why she wanted to leave this place.

"Yea, she'll be okay."

"Alright." Taking her hand, he made sure to grab their things and walked them to his car.

"Did you want to talk about it?" he wondered as they pondered around his house. Jason had a bit of work to get done and Aria seemed like she wanted to be left alone. She created a spot by his window near the kitchen, just staring out at it as he worked. But when he finished, she was still fairly quiet and lost in her own world.

"She seems to be fine now," Aria muttered while still looking out the window.

"Are you?" he wondered. At that, she stayed silent, unsure herself if she was. Glancing towards Jason briefly, she saw that she had his full attention. Playing on her feelings of the heart now, Aria walked over to him where he was on the couch and sat with him.

"I don't know if I can honestly believe that she is okay," Aria confessed. "She just…if you saw her like I did…"

"I believe you Aria," Jason pushed to her as he held her hands, "I don't have a doubt in my mind about anything you say. But…you haven't really told me much about what happened."

Biting her lip, Aria ran over what did happen. How she found her mom like she was…with the knife. Feeling the tears come to her eyes, Aria looked away to try and rid them from spilling.

"Hey," Jason said in a kind, smooth voice. Bringing her to his lap, the two held each other for a while.

"Can we just-…I don't know, talk about something else? Or go do something maybe?"

"Like what?" he asked her, wiping a piece of hair from her eyes.

"There is a fair about 20 minutes away. We could go there for a while."

"And when did you like rollercoasters?" Jason teased her. Aria was never a really big fan of them, especially the big loopy ones, but just the thought of her and Jason at one sounded really nice. As she blushed hard, she hugged herself to him and gave him a jab. "It will be fun!"

"Alright," he smiled looking down at her.

"Did you get everything done that you needed to?" Aria asked, looking at all of his papers and things on the coffee table.

"Pretty much. I have a few more loose ends but nothing that needs to be done right away."

Bringing a smile to her face, Aria kissed his lips. "I love you," she murmured softly.

"Definitely not as much as I love you," he grinned back and kissed her again.