Disclaimer: Still don't own it

Mike was doing his best not to make eye contact with his sister.

As they sat across from one another just outside Mona's hospital room, the young man did his best to utterly ignore Aria.

Aria on the other hand kept staring at him in order to at least try to get him to talk to her after all of these years. A part of her was angry that he was still acting like a jerk for what happened; though even she had to admit that she was at fault to some degree. When she had learned from Spencer that he was working with the State Police, she had angrily confronted her parents for not saying anything; though they were unawares as well. As far as they knew, Mike was still with the military in some capacity and was just as upset as she was. According to her parents, Mike would only come home to either sleep or shower; never speaking a word to them otherwise. As long as he occasionally checked in, there really wasn't anything they could do.

When Hanna called and told Aria to turn on the news, she had been astounded to learn that not only was Mona back in town, but that she was working with Mike and Spencer. Both women had been angry with their friend for not mentioning that one important detail; especially since the subject of Mona had been a thorn in their side for years. While the girls had gotten over their anger for their former nemesis, there had been that constant worry that she might return someday for revenge; payback for sending her to jail because of Charles. Both Hanna and Aria were furious at Spencer and she was going to give her friend a piece of her mind when she next saw her. Hanna had briefly caught of glimpse of the FBI Agent before she fled the hospital so she wasn't able to chew Spencer out. Aria was going to be a little more persistent though since there was to be no secrets between them.

Presently, Hanna was inside talking to their former ally; friend being a little bit of a stretch. Even when Mona had yet to be found out as the first A, she was really more of her blonde's friend than A to her. After Mona had been kicked off the A-Team, she was still just an occasional ally; though one kept at arm's length due to their history. Though Aria wanted to go inside and try to make peace with Mona, she decided that family needed to come first. Mike was her brother and in truth, it was she that hurt him first when she convinced him that Mona had been working with Charles; based on Alison's faulty premise. If she could attempt to make peace with him first, then there was a good chance that Mona would soon follow. It helped that the woman would be spending a couple of days in the hospital so Aria had a little bit of time; though she still had her daughter to check in with.

"You can't avoid talking to me forever; this needs to end," Aria said in frustration to her brother as he avoided all eye contact with her. He was pretending to look at his phone; a trick Aria knew all too well with the young man.

"Not everything is about you Aria," Mike simply stated sarcastically, causing his sister to fume though she made sure it didn't show.

"No it isn't; but it's not all about you as well. It's about ten years of unresolved issues between all of us; which needs to end. We're family Mike and we need each other despite what you believe," the young woman said to her brother in a tone that reminded him of their mother; which made sense since Aria was a mother now herself.

"Family would have never had betrayed me like that; lied to me about someone I cared about and forced her away. Mona and I would have been together now if it weren't for your lies but now I have to deal with her resentment; which you and your friend's caused," the young man angrily said to the woman across from him. He was starting to get flustered and refused to let Aria get to him like he was the child.

"First off, it was Alison that told the lie and like you, I believed her lie as well. Second, you have to remember the Hell I went through with the Dollhouse and my need to make anyone pay for it," Aria defended, feeling slightly annoyed at being accused like that.

"Mona went through that Hell as well; even longer than you guys. She was forced to act like Alison and punished by being stuck in a literal hole in the ground if she resisted. The problem is that you had forgotten that when you and your friends accused Mona of working with that psycho," Mike practically yelled at his sister as years of anger and resentment came bursting out all of a sudden.

"I know and so does everyone else. You are not the only one with regrets Mike and I wish I could take it all back. But I can't do that so all I can now do is just try and make it better which I want to do," stated the young woman and one could hear the regret in her voice; which to Mike sounded genuine.

"Well you need to get Mona to forgive you; then I might," he simply said and the young woman just sighed but nodded; not looking forward to having to do that. That was when Spencer and Ezra appeared which caused Aria to be distracted.

"You lied to me," Aria angrily said as she got up and marched right up to Spencer; who looked a worried while Ezra just stood back. He had seen wife get this angry before and knew when to just not get involved.

"No I didn't; I just didn't say anything," Spencer defended to her friend as she tried to remain calm and as neutral as possible. Though she was in damage control mode, she had to keep a steady demeanor in front of her friends to weather their anger.

"I talked to you several weeks ago and we both talked about Mona," Aria countered, her anger rising once again.

"And I was telling the truth; I only just began working with Mona on a joint case. I can't say any more than that," said the FBI Agent in an official matter; hoping that the press didn't know the details of the murders. Even if the details of how the victims were found out by them, the A connection was only known to a select few and Spencer had no intention of revealing it to the other girls.

"Well you should have said something to us; I understand why Mike hasn't said anything but you know how much we wanted to resolve this thing with Mona so that we can finally move on with our lives," stated the young woman as she simply glared at her friend. Ezra had taken a spot next to Mike while the guards at the door were watching in interest. When it was decided that Mona needed some people watching the door, the NSA insisted on being the ones to do it.

"I know that and I understand; but you have to realize that we are dealing with a pretty brutal case right now and that takes the higher priority," Spencer chided, trying to make a point.

"What case? Why would you guys be working with the NSA?" inquired the young mother as she looked slightly confused. Ezra had speculated in the car coming over here that it was probably because of terrorism; though the news did not say.

"I really can't say more than it is dealing with some serial killings; nothing to do with anyone," lied the young agent as she eyed Mike, who then slightly nodded. The last thing anyone wanted to do was to bring back the A Drama for those who managed to escape it years ago.

Inside the room, Mona was doing her best to simply put on a blank face while Hanna was telling her how her life was going.

Spencer, being the coward that she was, had hightailed it out of there without even mentioning that the blonde was in the hospital. So when Hanna appeared at the door, the young NSA Agent had been completely caught by surprise. Since she was still stuck to the bed because of her injuries, Mona couldn't really flee like she had wanted to. Her boss had given the young woman a gentle smirk as he left the two of them alone, which Mona wanted to meet with a glare but couldn't bring herself to do. It had been simply tempting to simply order Hanna to get out since she really didn't want to see her; but given the blonde's demeanor, the order was obviously not going to be obeyed. So Mona had no choice but to listen to the blonde as she prattled on and on.

"So I was thinking that we have to have you over sometime; I just mastered my mother's recipe for lasagna and you need to try it," offered Hanna as she sat next to the bed in a cheerful manner.

"I wasn't aware that you cook now," stated the bed-ridden woman as her eye started to become sore again. She had been tempted to press the morphine button to help relieve the pain but Mona needed to remain lucid.

"I do it as a hobby when I am not running my business. There are certain parts of the year when things are slow so I do what I can to stay busy," answered the blonde as she sat back and smiled; happy that Mona was at least being civil so far.

"As an Interior Designer," said Mona, more as a statement than a question. The blonde nodded, not surprised that Mona already knew about her life since she left Rosewood.

"Yep; Caleb still has his job with that cyber security firm so we are living comfortably in New York. You'll have to come and visit sometime; maybe even hit the clubs with us though we don't do it that often," informed Hanna, remembering that she still needed to call Caleb. He had originally planned to come with her though he had work he still had to do at home; telling her that he would join her tomorrow.

"I don't think that is a good idea; especially with our history," stated the NSA Agent as she laid back and sighed. While it was interesting that she was talking to Hanna after all of these years, Mona was feeling anxious and wanted to get back to work.

"Which is why I want to move on from this; all of us girls do. I am truly sorry for what happened back then Mona and there is not a day that goes by that I don't regret it. But I want to be your friend again and hope you can forgive me," the blonde said gently to the bed-ridden young woman; pouring her heart into what she just said. Mona looked at her and then sighed again, groaning as well.

"It's going to take a lot more than some speech for me to forgive you; but I am willing to try in order to move on. Alison can still go to hell though," said Mona with an emphasis on what she said about Alison. While she was willing to get past her past grievances with the Core Four, Mona would never forgive the Alison for what had happened.

"Thank you; I will then start by doing your house. I imagine that you haven't had a whole lot of time to decorate it since you have been back?" inquired Hanna as she pulled out her phone to check her messages. She was currently dressed in a pair of jeans and white t-shirt; a little more casual than what she normally wore but didn't see the point of overdressing for a hospital.

"No and my kitchen is probably a wreck not to mention what else was trashed by the person who tried to abduct me tonight," said a bitter NSA Agent as she hoped that the late Jonathan Myers didn't go through her room. While her personal effects were under lock and key in the secret safe, she wouldn't doubt if the man had gone through her clothes.

"I'll help you clean things up and get Caleb to help; we have next weekend free so we'll be over," Hanna declared in a tone that left no argument. While Mona was hesitant to let the blonde come over so soon along with Caleb, all she could do was smile and nod.

It was then that Spencer appeared at the door and came inside, shutting it behind her.

"I'm going to get some coffee; be back in a bit," said the blonde with a smile to Mona while turning to quickly glare at Spencer. She then left the room and Spencer sighed, turning to give the bed-ridden woman a dry look.

"Don't give me that look; you are the one she is mad at," said Mona offhandedly. She would have smirk but resisted the urge.

"Only because of you; anyways, we have a few possible leads on finding out where the A Lair is. Toby is going to give you some video files and surveillance tapes so that we can track the deceased's movements while you are still here in the hospital," informed the FBI Agent as she sat down where Hanna had been moments earlier.

"I'll need my laptop; should be still at the house and I might need some of my other things as well. Have you mentioned A to the others?" asked Mona in a serious tone but curious as well.

"No; trying to keep them out of it as much as I can. The only thing they know is that you are working with us on some sort of Serial murders; which isn't too far from the truth," answered the young woman.

"Well I agree; though our Doctor Clark might not make it easy for us. She is probably going to be ticked that I am not in her hands and might retaliate," stated the NSA Agent with a grim look on her face. Given that both she and Charles had their bouts of rage that they often took out on their victims.

"We might have just doomed a possible third abductee; in searching Jonathan Myers apartment, we managed to find out that he recently grabbed another woman though we are only left with the victim's initials," informed Spencer.

"Give me what you found out and I'll write a program that will search out any missing person that matches the initials. It gives me something else to do while we are waiting," Mona said and both women turned to see the door to the room open. A nurse suddenly came in with a vase of flowers in her hands.

"These were left for you at the desk; I thought I would bring them in for you," said the woman as she smiled at the patient; putting them on the table next to the bed. After checking Mona's vitals and changing out her IV bag, she then left the room.

"Are those flowers black?" Spencer asked as she stared at the flowers. They were supposed to be red roses but someone had made them black.

"You have to be kidding me," Mona sarcastically said as she took the small white card that came with the flowers and read it. The bed-ridden woman then narrowed her eyes and was obviously angry on what she just read.

"What is it; who sent the flowers?" inquired the FBI Agent as she noted Mona's obvious angry demeanor. Instead of answering her, the NSA Agent just handed Spencer the card; who then read it and her eyes widened in response.

Guess we both lucked out; hope you recover soon

Kisses –A

"Wow; this is one Hell of a way to mock us," stated Spencer as she gave the card back to Mona; who gave her a dry look.

"She was mocking me, not you. Though this is more of a taunt than anything else," said Mona as she crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash next to the bed.

"Well it still leaves out the answer of how A found out that you were working the case. We have left you off the official reports and none of us had said anything," Spencer said to Mona as she appeared to be confused.

"I've been thinking about that since I want to know how she found out where I lived since I took steps to keep my name off the official paperwork. I think we need to go check the bank accounts of everyone who works at the psychiatric prison in case one of them is on Tabitha Clark's payroll," suggested the NSA Agent as she leaned back.

"I never even considered that possibility since it's hard to believe that our suspect could have done all those things at the facility without at least some help. I think I just might make a trip there tonight after we check the records along with Toby," Spencer said as she pulled out her phone to text her boyfriend on what Mona just came up with.

"Well just make sure you do it soon; A likes to get rid of any loose ends and I don't doubt that some poor smuck at that place is on the list," Mona stated. If she still had been A, then she would have probably done the same thing. There was another visitor that suddenly rushed into the room and Mona groaned.

It was her mother.

Please Read and Review; also a special thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read!