A/N: Ahh! Second to last chapter. So sad =( Thanks to all who reviewed. Do it again!

For the rest of the weekend and a few days after Aria was barely there. She eventually started eating, but not without dropping a few pounds, (shedding more by the day) and she moved around – from her bedroom window, to the bathroom and shower, back to her room, on her bed, in her desk chair, on the floor. Her uncle Greg had gone home after a couple days of taking care of the two girls needing to get back to his family. Jason had stopped by as much as he could – staying for hours, while also trying to make sure Ella and Mike were doing okay.

It worried Jason how un-Aria his girlfriend was being. For now, she was an empty shell. When he was over there, most of the time she cried but sometimes she'd curl up next to him and just lay there. It concerned him more and more with her silence but then one day she broke it. "I'm tired of feeling empty" was what she said to him. He gave her strong encouraging words after that and reported to Ella that she finally talked.

Soon after then, the day after the next to be exact, Aria got up and dressed for school. It was the randomest thing and surprised her family. She didn't say much and she ate very little, but she went to school nonetheless.

When she got there, Mike hesitantly went his own way saying 'you know where to find me if you need anything.' She walked down the halls and to her locker. Weird stares were being passed around all aimed at her, but she didn't care. She was too focused on everything else. It was weird to think that Holden was no longer there and it was even worse to think that he would no longer pop up and say hello to her or chase her down in the hallway to tell her about when his next tournament was that she should come watch. She was trying to be strong, to stop crying and falling apart but being at school, where Holden once was was to much all too soon.

"Hey," Jason said gently catching her by the shoulders in the hallways. The gossip around the halls that Aria Montgomery spread like wildfire and he was on the hunt to find her. Noticing tears in her eyes he held her close so she could get time to compose herself. . "You can do this," he whispered to her encouragingly.

Feeling her take in some deep breaths, he was glad that she was here. She was getting better and trying to work through her emotions. Maybe soon she would be back to her old self

"Aria?" her friends exclaimed surprised. Quickly coming over to her, Aria wiped her tears from Jason and murmured a quiet thank you. "Thank god," Hanna said pulling her into a hug. Hanna was clearly relieved but Jason noticed Aria still lost. Her eyes were red and empty. It was like she was only half here.

"Hey Han," she said pulling back slightly. Both Spencer and Emily eloped her in hugs then, making Jason feel out of place. "Should we walk you to class?" they offered.

"Its right here," Aria said showing them Mr. Fitz's door. Holden used to be in this class but she tried not to think about it. Hearing the bell rang, she said goodbye to all four of them and went to take her seat.

"Aria," Ezra said surprised. Glancing up at him, she nodded slowly and went back to gazing at her desk.

"Okay, um…" Ezra said clearing his throat. "Now I know for the past few days we've been learning about some of Shakespeare's plays and how he incorporates tragedies into them. And I know they can get boring and pretty dry." Everyone in the class agreed, by either nodding their head or voicing their agreement. "And recently," we lost a classmate of ours. Holden Strauss," he announced keeping a careful eye on Aria.

Aria tried not to flinch when she heard his name, and it took everything in her not to. "He was a friend, classmate, son, and probably a lot more," Ezra continued. He was hoping that this paper would help her move on. Writing was a skill she was definitely blessed with and maybe he could turn it into an outlet for her. "Who knew Holden? Did you all know who he was?" People raised their hands, and even nodded pointing to his desk. Aria ignored it all. She tried to talk to herself in her head and distract herself from what was going on. Was Ezra trying to rip the shred of sanity and stability she had just achieved after holing herself up in her bedroom for the weekend? "To go along with what we are learning, I'm assigning a paper about Holden. Even if you didn't know him you can write about tragedy or Shakespeare or touch base from something about your lives," Ezra announced to the class.

Swallowing hard, Aria tried as hard as she could to sit there. "This paper doesn't have to be sad or depressing, it just has to be your own. I want to hear from your perspective on what you think is a tragedy or about Holden. There are so many different viewpoints on what he was and a variety of you, I'm sure, knew him in different ways."

This assignment was killing Aria. After Ezra went over the formatting and requirements of the assignment, Aria stood up from her seat, swiftly took her books from her desk and bolted out of the classroom. She walked quickly down the halls before anyone could catch her and tell her to come back. She couldn't be here anymore, she couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough to handle this yet. The gossiping, her friends, Ezra, this paper. It suffocated her more than she thought it would and she wanted to go back to emptiness.

"Hey," Jason claimed when Aria ran into him as he walked back into the school. His concern was immediate when he saw her ready to burst into tears. Leading her back outside, he steadied her in front of him so he could listen to what was going on.

"I need to go, I have to go," she hiccupped.

"What happened Aria?" Jason asked.

"I-I can't. I can't do this. I can't b-be here."

"Why?" he asked. "You were doing great." She shook her head and let tears run down her cheeks. The paper was too much. She couldn't do it, she couldn't write about her friend.

"I'm going to kill that man!" Hanna exclaimed, bursting through the front doors of the school.

"Hanna?" Jason wondered, with Aria still at arm's length with him.

"Aria," she sighed, wrapping her into a hug.

"What is it?" Jason wondered watching their expressions.

"Mr. Fitz assigned the class a paper about Holden," Emily said quietly. Going mad, Jason's hands balled into fists and he went to march back into the school.

"Jason no. Jason!" Spencer called as she blocked the doors with her body. "Stop. Stop!" she yelled to him. "Look at Aria, look at her," she commanded. Turning to Aria, he saw her leaning over the brick, barely keeping a hold of herself as Hanna tried to comfort her. "She needs you right now," Spencer said strongly. "Do not go inside that school and leave Aria like this."

Deflating, Jason turned back to Aria and took her in his arms. "I got you," he sighed. Glancing to Spencer, he gave a silent thank you. "I'm going to take her home. Can some tell Mike? And possibly get her car?"

"I got it," Emily volunteered. "Give me your keys Aria," she said gently. Digging them from her purse, Aria handed them to Emily.

"I'll get Mike," Hanna said with sympathy for her friend.

"Kill Fitz for me would you?" Jason asked Spencer as he and Aria passed her.

"With pleasure," she muttered back ready to give him an earful.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Spencer asked stomping into his classroom during passing time. She was fuming at the assignment he heard he gave out. Was he insane?

"Excuse me?" Ezra asked completely startled by her presence.

"That stupid paper you gave out to the class – are you that much of a son of a bitch?

"Hey watch it!" he said trying to act all teacher like. Completely unfazed, Spencer waited with her arms crossed for an explanation. "I thought that it would help Aria move past him."

"Move past him? Are you serious?"

Ezra furrowed his eyebrows.

"Holden Strauss was Aria's best friend. They met when they were infants. You really expect Aria to get over him like that – especially with some stupid paper about him and tragedies?"

"She's an amazing writer. I think that if she tried it could be an outlet for her," he explained.

"You're really that big of an idiot aren't you?" she asked observing him.

Again, he was stupefied at the insults Spencer was giving him. This time, he waited for an explanation.

"Geez Mr. Fitz. Aria has barely kept herself together these past few days. You have no idea how much it took for her to get up and come to school today!" Ezra suddenly felt guilty. "And how your talking all 'writing will hear your soul' and crap. She's hardly talking or eating. Because of your paper…you…ugh!" she said watching her English teacher fall apart.

"What did I do Spencer?" he asked her as she went to leave.

"She had Jason take her home," The Hastings said not trying to get too bitter. "I wouldn't expect her in class tomorrow." On that note, Spencer left his room and went to catch up with her friends.

"Hey," Caleb said catching her in the halls when she went on the search for Toby instead.

"What?" Spencer snapped.

"Get Hanna and Emily and come with me now," he instructed, ignoring her violent anger. His seriousness scared Spencer and she quickly gathered her friends. Meeting Caleb in the empty courtyard outside after the bell rang he pulled out a piece of paper. "This was what Aria's last text message said." It was from 'A'.

Reading it, all three girls went wide-eyed and understood why Aria had been even a bigger mess than a normal person. She was dealing with guilt – and lots of it.

Jason helped Aria into his car and drove her to the park. Even though it was freezing out and wet with snow, he wanted her to get out and away from four walls.

"Come on," he instructed, going around the passenger side to get her. She followed his lead, not asking very many questions about what they were doing here.

"I miss him," she muttered out when they sat together on the swings. Aria glanced away, thinking again it was her fault.

"Ar," Jason said gently, bringing her swing closer to his. "I may not have know Holden too well, but I don't think he would have wanted this for you."

Aria didn't say anything to his words. No, Holden probably wouldn't have wanted her to be like this, but he didn't want to die either. He didn't know he was taking placebo pills and about to kill himself. He didn't know that 'A' was after Aria and willing to do anything to hurt her. No, Holden probably wished Aria happiness, but she wasn't going to take it. This was her fault and it was going to stay that way.

When the wind started to blow and the snow picked up again, Jason took them back to his house. He cuddled Aria up with a blanket while he made them hot chocolate and curled next to her when he came back. She glanced at the inside of her mug for a while, not taking a sip. "Its all my fault," she whispered. Aria had been talking so soft; it was almost like she was talking to her self. Jason actually had to lean forward to hear her and he was wondering if he heard right.

"I should have stopped him."

Jason's eyebrows furrowed and he reached over to set their cups down on the table. "What is your fault? Stop what?"

"His fighting," Aria said now playing with her hands. "I knew about it Jason. I let him do it…I-"

"Aria," Jason said cutting in to stop her. "Both of us knew about it. If you want to try and blame someone else, blame me too. Don't think you are the only one who had a hand in that secret."

Tears flooding her eyes, she gazed up at her boyfriend, "its all my fault."

"No, its not," he replied stubbornly, bringing her to sit on his lap. "You used to tell me Holden was stubborn and sneaky." Nodding, Aria remembered that. She was trying to tell Jason all about her friend and the traits she picked up from him. Slipping out in the middle of the night was her specialty when she was a friend with Ali – a trick Holden taught her how to do when they were young. "I think that with what I know about him from you, even if you tried to stop him from doing what he loved, he wouldn't have let you. He would have found a way to compete anyways," Jason said.

Aria kept her head against his solid chest and wondered if his words were true. Holden did say something like that to her once. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember that day. They were in the café sharing secrets about each other and he said this quote. It was unique and stuck out to her because it was right – he was right. "I could die whether I'm doing what I love or I'm at home playing apples to apples with my parents. I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life sitting in front of a TV. Especially when there's a decent chance its gonna be shorter than everyone else's."

The words came back to her and Aria's eyes opened with a flutter. Her heart was warming to the memories she had with him. Listening to his voice in her head comforted her and she tried not to think about never getting to hear it again.

Maybe Jason was right, maybe she couldn't have even stopped it if she tried. Holden was just as stubborn as her – sometimes more when he had the upper hand in a situation.

"Sometimes what people believe is best for you is not really what's best for you," her head added, remembering some more words from Holden. He said that phrase often, especially when she looked worried after finished a tournament.

Her thoughts were soon looking up until it circled the pills again. She had to remember that it wasn't his decision that got him killed, but 'A'. Messing with his pills is what killed him. They could have worked – they did work – and 'A' switched them because of Aria. How stupid was she to think she could overcome 'A'; to copy a bunch of blackmailed information onto a bunch of separate jump drives and hide them. Like 'A' wouldn't find out or steal them from her and her friends; like 'A' wouldn't do something drastic to get them back or to stop the four of them. They were such fools – Aria was such a fool – and it got her friend killed in the process.

"You don't understand," she said feeling worse about it now. If only Jason knew the truth. He wouldn't be sitting her with her. He would be disgusted.

"What do you mean?" he wondered.

Aria struggled with how to tell him everything. This was it; this was the time she was going to tell Jason about 'A'. There was going to be no more running, lying, or skirting from the truth. She was tired and breaking into pieces. He had to know, he just did…

"There's been something going on – something I haven't been telling you," Aria started with a soft murmur. Shifting around, Jason made sure Aria was face to face with him. This was important – extremely, actually. Something Aria wasn't telling him? That was never good. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he tried to ease her discomfort by running a hand carefully through her hair.

Aria inhaled deeply, trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach. How was she supposed to start?

"The first few days after getting back from Iceland–…around the time when Ali's body was found," she said shakily. She shifted a bit, feeling a bit weird about that too since she was sitting in Jason's lap in a somewhat intimate position. "I uh…" she said clearing her throat.

Don't do it Aria! The small voice exclaimed in the back of her head. Jason will be put in danger! He could be killed! He could end up like Holden!

"Uh…" she said trying to shake away the incessant voice.

Just think if Wren had to treat him. Just think if Wren had to pronounce Holden dead. Just think of Jason's grave next to Ali's.

The last phrase in Aria's head made her back away, moving off of Jason's lap and back onto her own spot on the couch. It was eerie to think about, Jason's grave, but then something else was nagging at her. Wren…

"Aria?" Jason asked slowly.

"Wren," she whispered out. She tried to think of everything – how he could fit into the puzzle. Maybe he was 'A' person 1. But who could be 'A' number 2?

"Aria," Jason repeated, putting a hand on her shoulder. Coming back to reality, Aria knew exactly who it was now. "I uh…I have to go," she said getting up and going to find your shoes.

"Woah, wait a minute," he said getting up to follow her. "What was that all about? You had something to tell me."

"I know," she said robotically, "but I think I have to go. I have to -… I just figured something out. I'll be back," she said now grabbing her jacket.

"Where are you going?" he wondered watching her with a careful eye.

"Spencer's," Aria said wrapping her scarf around her.

"Aria," Jason said trying to pull her back into the real world. Just as they were starting to talk she became dazed and he considered her to still be in that same state as she was trying to leave him.

"I will call you later – or stop by," she said looking up in his eyes and kissing him quickly. Backing away, she opened the front door and peered to Spencer's house. 'A' couldn't get her from here to there could she? Shaking her head, she waved to Jason one last time and hiked through the winter season to the Hastings's house.

"Aria?" Spencer asked when she opened the back door to her house.

"I know who 'A' is," she declared when she came inside.

"What?!" Spencer exclaimed.

"Did I just hear that correctly?" Emily wondered as she sat on the living room couch in Spencer's house.

"Hold on," Hanna declared, getting up from her spot on the couch too. "Aria," she said to her friend, taking her by the shoulders. "We know about 'A's last text and we are here for you. You can't beat yourself up about this for the rest of your life."

"It actually helped me out," she said weakly.

"'A's text said something about identifying Holden's pills. If I wasn't in the medical field or had a heart condition myself I wouldn't know what they looked like either…" she said waiting for them all to catch on. "And since Holden had a familiar idea of what his pills looked like, 'A' would have had to replace them with similar looking ones…"

"Oh my god," Emily announced, getting what Aria was saying first. With her jaw dropped, she glanced over to Spencer who was still processing it all.

"No," Spencer said slowly as she was starting to form an idea. "it couldn't have been…"

"Please, please don't tell me we are talking about Wren…" Hanna declared, saying the name the three of them couldn't say.

"I think so," Aria spoke.

"He has access to medical records," Emily claimed, thinking about the missing page from Ali's death report. "And he has access to pills and Spencer's house," she continued. "The hockey stick could have been planted on the property line by Wren and made it look like someone else or Jason," Aria added.

"And the text to make a move on Wren in front of Toby," Emily winced. Hanna raised her eyebrow at that. "He's clever."

"He got the girl," Aria shrugged trying to lessen the hard facts that were flying at Spencer.

"I dated 'A'," She spoke incredulous, "I kissed and dated our blackmailer."

"Yea," Aria said slowly breaking the news.

"How could we not see this you guys?" Hanna asked.

"I don't know," Emily shrugged watching as Spencer came to sit down, "but there are still a few things that don't add up. How did 'A' – Wren," she corrected, "mess with your phone Aria? And what about Mona? How did he get Mona wrapped into all of this? And what about truth day? Wren was only there after you got hurt, not before…"

Aria bit her lip.

"That could be the other 'A'," Hanna suggested. "We did think there were two 'A's after all."

"This is…so messed up," Spencer said still reeling it all in.

"So then the second 'A'? Who is that?"

"That would be me," Mona said with a twisted grin on her face as she walked down from the Hastings' upstairs level.

"Mona?!" Hanna exclaimed in shock. All four of the girls quickly got up and went to back away.

"You shouldn't have figured it out," she tisked to Aria. With Mona walking forward and the girls going backward, they each stood with space in-between them.

"How did you get in here?" Spencer asked swallowing hard.

"Give me some credit," she told Spencer with a bite. "I've been doing this a while."

"Why?" Hanna asked looking broken she lost a friend.

"They took you away from me," Mona snapped at the other girls. "I was your friend first and then they all suddenly come back for Ali and it was like the clique reunited," she said with a sad face to Hanna. "You were so preoccupied with them that you never had time for me anymore."

"But you didn't have to do this," Hanna claimed with her voice raising, "Mona, you ruined my life – you ruined ours!"

"It would have been fine if Aria had just kept her trap shut!" Mona barked back with venom. "If you would have just kept quiet till I could have gotten you alone. We would have convinced you to join – to play with us…"

"What?" Aria asked backing up into the kitchen counter with her friends beside her.

"Stay back," Spencer said pulling out a huge kitchen knife.

"Oh please," Mona said now pulling out a gun from her back. All four of the girls froze, unable to process Mr. Hastings' gun being pointed at them while in a situation where they could die.

"Mona," Hanna said with a lost tone.

"I didn't want it to come to this," she told Hanna before looking at the rest of them. "Aria," she called nodding over to the spot beside her.

"What? No!" Spencer said still trying to hold up her knife.

"Really?" Mona challenged as she clicked the safety off her gun. Shakily, Aria squeezed Spencer's arm and took her first steps toward Mona.

"Aria!" Hanna called in protest.

"You should have just joined us," Mona said as she grabbed Aria's arm and put the gun up to her head. Aria quickly shut her eyes and tried to breath. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening…

"No one should have figured it out. He shouldn't have been watching you walk here!" she protested with anger.

"Who?" Aria cracked out, trying to take Mona's mind off of whatever she was going to do.

"Jason," She sighed. "There have been so many disagreements on how to handle him."

"Handle…him?" Aria asked again, trying not to pay attention to how the cold metal of the barrel of the gun felt against her skin.

"If he wouldn't have watched you walk here this wouldn't have had to happened," Mona snapped again with anger. The gun was pressed harder into Aria' head and she smacked her lips together so she wouldn't cry out. The three friends couldn't do anything but watch. They were helpless and worried for their friend.

"I could have grabbed you, I could have convinced you," she muttered.

"I know Mona," Aria said with tears in her eyes, "I'm sure you could have."

"Spencer?" A voice called after the front door opened.

"Mom?!" Spencer called back in a panic. Mona quickly shifted her and Aria so that when Mrs. Hastings walked into the room she wouldn't be able to do anything. Aria's body was Mona's shield.

"Oh my god," Mrs. Hastings said coming into the situation. While Mona was preoccupied with that, Emily carefully pulled her phone out so that she could possibly dial 911 when she had the chance.

"Mona, put the gun down," Mrs. Hastings said putting the mail down on the floor. Her hands became open and she tried to take a step towards her.

"Don't move," Mona instructed. There was a hint of worry in her voice, like she knew she didn't have full control of the room anymore.

"Just…don't," she repeated. Mrs. Hastings stayed where she was when she saw the gun being pressed into Aria's temple some more.

"What's going on here girls? Did something happen? Did someone do something to you?" Veronica tried to be the peacekeeper to try and calm Mona down enough that maybe she would let go of Aria and put the gun down.

"Oh," Mona cynically laughed, "Please, like someone didn't do something."

Everyone swallowed hard, wondering what she was going on about. "Alison DiLaurentis ruined my life; she was a horrible bitch who destroyed people and things…well everyone except for them," she said pointing over to the girls who looked panicked. Suddenly, a smirk came over Mona's lips and she tilted her head. "Did you know your daughter was being blackmailed right under your nose?"

Mrs. Hastings looked intrigued and glanced to Spencer who was already looking at her helpless. "Sad really," Mona commented.

"Mona, you need to stop this – put the gun down," Veronica instructed calmly.

"The game's not over!" she barked to the woman. Taking the gun off of Aria, she pointed it at Spencer. "Don't make me do something I might learn to regret later."

"Okay, okay," Veronica said stepping back in her place and no longer trying to persuade Moan into something she didn't want to do. Her own daughter's life was at stake now. "Please, just don't do it Mona."

"All I want is Aria," she instructed.

"You can't have her," Emily spoke up, forgetting about the gun.

"Oh really?" she asked like Emily was stupid. Before she could say anything else, guns were all being cocked and little laser lights were all on Aria and Mona.

"Mona Vanderwall, put your hands up where we can see them and drop the gun," the police called. No longer feeling cocky, Mona looked to all of the women in the room. She was scared, Aria could feel it – Uncertainty filled her bones and as she shifted around with Aria, it was unsure of what the teen would do.

"Drop your weapon and let everyone go," the police called to her again.

"They can't do this," Mona said softly. Realizing Aria was right there; she leaned in and murmured in her ear. "You think the game is over? Just wait – once I'm gone it will be so much worse."

"Mona!" Hanna pleaded.

"I'm sorry Hanna," Mona called over the loud police warnings. Letting Aria go, Mona stepped back and dropped her gun. Immediately after that the police came raiding into the house and Mona was arrested. They dropped her to her knees, patting every inch of her to make sure she didn't have any more weapons and then hauled her to the car.

"Oh my god," Spencer breathed; running to hug her mother after it was all over.

"Aria," Emily called while going over to her. With a big hug, the two let out a shaky breath. "Thank you," Aria whispered. She had seen Emily pull out her phone, but tried not to look or say a word. That was their lifeline and it could have gotten the girl killed.

"Han," Aria called after that. Hanna was still frozen in place with tears in her eyes. Walking over, Hanna embraced the two of them two.

"Its over," Spencer called walking up to them when they finished hugging. Laughing and smiling, the four all hugged each other.

"What happened here?' Jason asked coming in off guard and panicked. Brushing away her tears, Aria quickly launched herself into his arms.

"It's okay now Jason," Veronica replied, coming over to the other three teen girls. Laying her hands on her daughter's shoulders, she kissed her head. She had almost lost Spencer today.

"We're free," Emily claimed softly. Giving a sad smile, Hanna agreed and laid her head on Emily's shoulder.

"Wait…not quite," Spencer said halting the moment.

Pulling away from Jason after hearing that, the four of them looked at each other. "Wren!" they all called together with panicked faces.

"Mom! You have to call the cops on Wren! He's in it too – he did it!"

"Did what?" Veronica asked trying to keep up with Spencer's babble. "He's with Mona, he's part of 'A'! He killed Holden and spiked Emily's sports cream… He took the file from Ali's report and who knows what else!" she exclaimed.

"What? Girls how do you-?"

"Please call!" Spencer begged, cutting off her questions. Nodding, Mrs. Hastings went to go talk to the police.

"I love you," Aria breathed into Jason's chest as she hugged him again. Not only after having a gun to her head and facing the brink of death, she had learned Jason was almost put into jeopardy.

"I love you too," Jason said hesitantly wrapping his arms around Aria as his confusion was heightened. She was grabbing onto him acting like she had almost lost him. What was going on? What was over? Who was 'A'? And what did all of this escalate to?

"Aria," Jason said trying to pull her back to ask her all types of questions.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know," she answered wiping her tears away.

"He's being arrested and brought into custody," Mrs. Hastings called walking back into the house. "Now, does someone want to tell me the whole story?"