Chapter Twenty

"I must say that you knowing my father was quite the surprise," Darren aka Officer Appleton told Spencer as they returned to the police stations, no with a full stomach, and coffee charged bodies.

"I guess it really is a small world after all." Spencer smiled slightly. Spencer felt like she had been in the same predicaments that she was the last time she saw the old man. She was haunted by A, and here she is again; obsessing over it. But, this time things would be different. They were already different, she went to the police, and although sometimes, she felt as if she couldn't totally trust police officers due to past experiences, she felt she could trust Darren. Especially, since he was the byproduct of Noah Appleton.

"I'm sure those results are in by now." Darren told her, inhaling a deep breath of air, "Now, Spencer, I don't want you getting your hopes up. Sometimes, people have ways of blocking IP addresses. It's not always right, things can go wrong—" Darren tried to warn her.

"No, just, it's fine. Please, just go. I can handle it."

Darren took in a breath, "Okay." With that he was around the corner, and out of sight; in the back office of the police station. Spencer had to admit, her nerves were settling down, a bit. Maybe it was just a prank, but with her history, even a prank like this seemed jail time worthy.

She waited and waited, checking her watch every five seconds, until he came back with a few papers in hand and her cell phone in the other. Her heart dropped in that instant, this was it. "Did you get any information? Can you give me an address? What did the I.P. address read?" Spencer asked.

"Well, we didn't get much."He shot her a sympathetic look, "But, we got an I.P. address." He told her, handing over two papers that had a list of all her texts in the last forty eight hours and the I.P. addresses that followed. "here's where you'll want to be looking," he pointed to the anonymous text, "and that's the number right there. We could try calling it right now?" He suggested.

Taking the papers back, and giving officer Appleton a hesitant look, she nodded. "Yeah, I think that, that will maybe, do us some good." Spencer said before she began typing away the strange number on her phone. "It's not leading me to anyone I know," Spencer pointed out, mindlessly.

"Here, want me to make the call?" Officer Appleton asked, noticing the hesitant look in her eyes, and her apprehensive thumbs hover over the 'send' button.

"What?" Spencer shot her head up at him, "No, no it's fine." She said, trying to convince herself she could do this on her own. She wasn't some helpless twenty two year old, she's probably been through more than this guy and his entire team, combined. With a press of her thumb, she was on her way to stop this horrible reoccurring night mare.

"It's night ringing," She said after a second, of listening to a dead silent line. She glanced at her phone to reassure herself that she had not accidently hung up. "Why isn't it ringing?" She asked Darren, with a hard stare, and furrowed eyebrows.

"Let me see," Darren told her, taking the phone away, and holding it up to his own ear—as if she was lying about how the line was silent. Annoying. "Yeah, no one is on the other line." He sighed, stating what she already knew. He handed the phone back over to her, "They probably disabled incoming calls. Looks like we aren't working with an amateur, after all."

"So, what do you suggest I do?" She asked, taking the her phone back, and hanging up the call.

He stood there for a minute, pondering on his advice, he was about to throw at her. "Spencer, look I understand that you want to find out who this person is—I want you to, too. I like you, I don't want to see you getting into any sticky situations, but as much as I want you to know who this, and as much as you do—that's not going to help us figure out who this is." He went on. Spencer looked at him with a hard stare, where was he going with this? "I think you should just wait it out for awhile. If you get any more texts, you can come back here. But, for right now…there isn't much we can do. Not without more information, I mean I'll keep a look out, but…" his voice trailed.

"Darren!" She exclaimed in aggravation, "You just said a minute ago, this isn't an amateur! Am I just supposed to hide in my closet, until I get another text so you can do your job!" Spencer yelled. She sensed the bystanders looking at her with odd expressions glued to their faces, but she didn't really care, although Darren did.

Pulling her over to the side, he told her "Spencer, look, like I told you I do want to help, but we just have to wait this out. Promise me you won't do anything…alone, you and I both know, that's not safe."

She looked at him with a huff, "I won't do anything." She promised after a second of much intense icon.

With a smile , he patted her shoulder in encouragement, "We'll find this guy, don't worry. If anything happens, you can call me, here give me your phone." He told her.

Spencer did as she was told. After a minute, he gave it back to her. "I have to get back to work, but you should go home, spend some time with your son. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday while it lasts." He parted with her, before once again, returning to the back of the police department.

Spencer stepped on the back of her heel, and exited the police department, with no intention of keeping her promise. Screw waiting, she was going to find this person, on her own.

Like she has ever listened to people's advice anyways…

"He's so adorable." Aria cooed at the swaddled up four week old in her hands. "I wish I could have been here." She muttered under her breath, still looking at the peaceful baby in her arms.

"Well, that's what you get for breaking up team Sparia—and running off right after gradation to marry Fitzy boy." Spencer remarked with a smirk, as her eyes fell upon her son, once again. Aria looked up at her with an innocent expression. She was about to say something, but Spencer stopped her. "I'm just kidding. How was that? You have been so engrossed with Noah, that you haven't said one word about it. I want to know everything—well not everything, defiantly not as much as Hanna shares" She shuddered remembering all the details Hanna scarred her with. "but, how was it?! Was it beautiful? Did he do some epic romantic poem, did you guys recount the memories of your insane relationship? I imagine something like 'After all we've been through, our love has prevailed, because true love, can be tarnished, but never destroyed' or something like that, whatever, you're the poet of the group." Spencer rambled on.

Aria took in a sharp breath looking at the baby in her hands once again, she bobbed him up and down, which conjured a smile on the newborn's face. His smile was contagious, not long after, Aria was smiling too. She should be happy right? She married the love of her love, in the city of love, for god sakes, but she couldn't stop thinking of what did 'tarnish' their relationship. Spencer knew a lot, but she didn't know the whole story. The part of the story that seemed like the end, but wasn't. It still stung—knowing he had lied to her for a year, went behind her back, and almost killed her best friend. It hurt a lot. It took all her power to forgive him, but she was starting to realize, that she was still upset with him. When he asked her to elope, she thought maybe, it would be a fresh slate. They could forget about all the lies, and start clean. Except when she was standing there—listening to his vows, she felt more depressed, than happy. It was her wedding day, the supposed happiest day of her life, but she couldn't help but wonder, if it was all just a mistake. She was a romantic; she believed that true love could conquer all, but what if Ezra wasn't her true love? What if she made a mistake, after all, would someone who truly loves you, do such horrible things to your loved ones? Sure, he was trying to save her, but wasn't there another way than almost killing one of the most important people in her life?

"Aria?" Spencer said, with a familiar worry in her voice, "what's wrong?"

"What?" Aria blinked up at her, "Oh, sorry, I just, I'm a little out of it. Jet lag." She shrugged.

Spencer nodded with understanding. "If you wanted to go home, and get some rest, you can just come back later; but remember, if you don't, I'll find you, pin you down, and make you tell me everything!" Spencer warned playfully.

Aria feigned a laugh, "I promise. I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Good, now, give me back my baby; he needs a nap of his own."

Spencer ended up in a coffee shop, in the corner of town; it was the old coffee shop that everyone used to come to, before the one down the street opened. She spent most of her time here, when she first moved here. There was something about this place, possibly the aroma, but it felt familiar. While most of her familiarities were bad ones, this felt like a good one. It almost reminded her of the brew back in Rosewood; she had many good memories there, but they were all canceled out by the horrible ones. Everything in Rosewood, was really just a bad memory. She lived there her whole life, and even though she only met Alison in third grade; she feels like Alison was always there. That there was always an A. Whether it was her parents, Melissa, Alison, there was always someone pushing her to the cliff, letting her hang there for dear life, until someone would come help her back up. Usually, it was Aria, or Hanna, or Emily, and then there was Toby; who seemed to only help her back up, so he could push her down again. Sometimes she wanted to let go of that branch that she held on so tightly too, what was the point of coming back up, only to fall down again once more? But, for some reason she didn't. She held on to that branch, every time she fell, she didn't give up. She prevailed through all the –A's in her life, and was stronger because of it. But, sometimes, she wishes that she wasn't as strong. That she didn't have to go through all those things, and she could simply be like everyone else; crying at spilled milk. It would be a lot easier. In a way, this coffee shop let her be that person. She could pretend that she was just another normal person, getting a coffee. It was a calm sanctuary where she could forget all the evil dwelling her past.

But, today, she tainted the sanctuary. She brought the papers, and was on a hunt to figure out whom this new 'A' was and what they wanted. She wasn't that annoying girl, who cried over spilled milk, and waited for her prince charming to come and rescue her. No, she was Spencer Hastings and she wasn't going to let anyone push her down that cliff, again.

She scanned her eyes down the list of I.P. addresses, and the numbers paired with them. Mostly everyone had the same I.P. address on the list. Except the unfamiliar number, that this 'A' had texted her on. It's not like she many texts, most were from Hanna, Larson, Emily, and there were a few from Toby; none of which were from the same I.P. address. Spencer sighed, although no evidence pointed to Toby, she was still wary of him. She didn't want it to be him, but out of all of the suspects, it seemed to be him—considering he was her only suspect, that is. Spencer groaned rubbing her temples in frustration.

Her phone rang for a few seconds, before she even looked at the caller I.D. It wasn't who she expected it to be, that's for sure. She thought it would be Toby. He has already called her twice in the last hour—both of which, she ignored. Apprehensively, she picked up her phone. "Hey." Spencer greeted, trying her best to sound gleeful.

"Hi, how are you doing? I haven't heard from you all day. Did you get my texts?"

"Yeah, um," She sighed, "I've just been busy—with Noah." She lied, falling back into her old habit. But, what was she supposed to say? That she was hunting down a potential tormentor? Explain her whole entire past—Alison, A, Toby—no, she wasn't going to do that.

"Oh," He said. Spencer sensed the disappointment in her voice, which made her feel even guiltier. Of course, the one guy she actually felt something with, just happened to show up when her life decided it was high time the chaos ran in. "Well, I could come over, and we could play hide and go seek or something, maybe watch some Disney movie, and eat popcorn. I don't know, I'll even help you teach him how grammar works, I just want to see you." He declared, out of breath.

Spencer sighed internally, he was just making her feel worse. "I'm sorry, I just, I can't today, I'll talk to you soon." She rushed out, before ending the call, with a heavy sigh. She hated lying. It was the one thing she hated most in the world, but there were times were she was forced to lie; and this was one of them.

"I feel like leaving Noah with my parents was a horrible idea. What if something happens? What if like they get robbed, and they only have time to save one thing, and they decide to go to my dad's valt—I mean Hanna, there is a lot of money in there. You don't get it, and my parents—they're not"

"They're not heartless Spencer!" Hanna exclaimed in disbelief "I'm sure they'll think Noah's worth more than a couple thousand bucks. You need to give them some more credit."

"You're only saying that because they are paying for our apartment." Spencer said flatly, staring at her friend with her signature look of annoyance. "You know there's no reason to suck up while they're not around?"

"I'm not sucking up!" Hanna yelled, glancing her, and shaking her head. "Look, I'm trying to calm your nervs, I'm not your parent's new groupie or anything, I just think that you need to calm the fuck down. And yes I'm going to swear like hell tonight, because I've been keeping all this shit locked up, because you think a baby can pick up what I'm saying."

"They can!" Spencer groaned. "I rather not have his first word be 'Bitch' thank you very much."

"It would be a funny story to tell." Hanna murmured quietly, but loud enough for Spencer to hear.

"Hanna!"

"What?" She glanced at her friend sheepishly, "It would be!"

Spencer shook her head, rolling her eyes, towards the window. With a sigh she began fretting again. "It's just, he's only six weeks old"

"and you've been there every day, every minute, every second, okay, you deserve a break! He'll be fine. Just relax. And I'm sure you'll be home by nine anyways, if you don't remember this is ezria's party; they read for fun, watch prehistoric movie, and are in bed by eight."

"Ezria?" Spencer remarked, glaring at her friend strangely. "Are you drunk? And I do those things too!"

"What? Of course not! It's a combination of their name. Damn, Spence, I thought you were supposed to be smart."

"I know what it is. Why are you saying it? Is it really that hard to say their names?"

"Too much work." Hanna groaned, turning into a parking lot for an apartment building. "God, why the hell did they move all the way out here."

"Hanna it's hardly far, it's less than twenty minutes." Spencer rolled her eyes.

"Whatever! When you have to listen to some nagging asshole the whole time, it seems like a lot longer."

Spencer glared her.

"Look, I'm sorry, it's just. Noah will be fine! We'll stop by for an hour, and then leave. Is that okay?"

"I guess." Spencer sighed.

Spencer stared at the papers. There had to be something she could do. The I.P. address that she had gotten the 'A' text from, it was different. She didn't recognize it. Deciding it was high time to team up with google, she pulled out her phone, and typed in the unfamiliar I.P. address. When Dutchen, Pennsylvania; the small town right outside of Philadelphia popped up her screen, her mind instantly clicked. She only knew two people who lived in Dutchen, and they went by the names of Ezra and Aria.

DUN DUN DUN….ok what do you think? ;)

When I was reading the reviews, I noticed that someone mentioned how I've deleted my stories, well, that is because I am ashamed of some of the crap I have put on here tbh, I mean, I'm actually flattered you noticed~is that weird? Well, besides my hatred for my work, there was also some stuff that was like half finished and I was never going to finish so I decided to delete it so people wouldn't get their hopes up that I'll finish them. I'm sorry if you were looking for something and I erased it L but if you are looking for more of my writing (idk why you are but ily and thanks so much) you can find some stuff from my tumblr, that I haven't uploaded on here and my URL is cavastings c: (shameless self promo)

And also, someone addressed Misplaced Kisses; I'm not going to drop that story, don't worry, I know I haven't updated in like a month, but I just haven't had motivation to write that especially after Tuesday! I can't write anything happy augh! Sorry um I'll try to write another chapter…soon

And last but not least thank you for the awesome lovely always appreciated reviews. J Sorry this chapter was kind of short (for me) and was really crappy; I've had writers block which is why it took me so long to upload, I know where I'm going with this, but I can't write sometimes .