Procrastination station today, friends. I mean honestly- avoiding working on her Mary Todd Lincoln presentation, party of one? Oh yeah, that's me. So instead I'm here because obviously that's a better choice. :P Anyway, that doesn't matter. Senioritis has fully set in and I've mentally checked out on this semester (commencement weekend is so close...). So hopefully this lovely Sunday is finding you well, because for me? Eh.

Surprise- the chapter title is from "Light A Roman Candle With Me" by Fun. See, I do know other songs! :D

your heart isn't breaking and mine isn't making a sound

And so the time comes for the Cavanaugh family to pack up their things and leave the Big Apple to return to Rosewood. May wanes into June and then July as they return to the town where everything began- their lives, their tormenting, their love. To say everyone's glad to see them is an understatement. Spencer's family is glad to be able to see Grace more often and insists they come over for weekly visits. The girls are glad their ringleader has come back to town for more reasons than one. Rosewood is exactly the same as when they'd left it; small, warm and a bit damaged, but mostly okay. For a few weeks, Spencer wonders if the A texts will start again. They don't and she doesn't think about them again.

The town might still be the same, but so much has happened since they'd left. Hanna's boutique is easily the most successful business, now, and she, Caleb and McKenzie are the talk of the town. Emily's swim team had made nationals for three years in a row and she and Paige got double trouble when they adopted a set of fifteen-month-old fraternal twins in August. And Aria found herself pregnant and unmarried, which she and Jason covered up by getting eloped before anyone knew about the child. By September, she's ready to pop and Spencer's absolutely thrilled that Grace will have another cousin to play with.

Speaking of Grace, at twenty months old, her vocabulary has expanded exponentially and her motor skills have grown more finely tuned. Toby and Spencer are actually able to have somewhat stilted conversations with her now. The former had been able to secure his past job upon their return and Spencer in fact ran into Dr. Sullivan who insisted she come work for her practice. It seems as though they're finally getting back into a certain groove again and even though Rosewood isn't exactly where they would like to stay the rest of their lives, they're pretty happy for now.

And then, one late September night, they get a visitor they certainly never expected.

It's bath time and Grace hates bath time; she downright detests it and there's nothing more trying than attempting to get her clean. But they'd had spaghetti for dinner and she is a mess. There's sauce in places that honestly Toby and Spencer can't even imagine how she got them there. So as Spencer is stripping off Grace's clothing and adding them to a pile of dirty laundry in the next room, muttering in irritation as she does so because Grace has already pitched a fit, Toby is loading the dishwasher. He's filling the sink with hot water and soap when the doorbell rings and Grace begins fussing even louder. Toby calls out that he'll get the door but he's not even sure Spencer's heard it. When he unlocks the deadbolt and swings the door open, he does a double take.

It's Alison DiLaurentis and there was a time when Toby thought that if he never saw Alison again, it would be too soon. As she stands before him now, he realizes that time still hasn't passed. "Hi Toby. Lovely evening we're having, isn't it?"

"Alison," He exhales finally and she smirks in that way that she's always done.

"I brought a present for the baby," She says, reaching into her bag and retrieving a teddy bear. "I guess she's not a baby anymore, is she? How old is she now?"

"Almost two," Toby answers, still staring dumbfounded.

Alison rolls her eyes. "Well are you going to let me in or are you going to make me stand out here all night?"

He steps aside and she crosses the threshold as he shuts the door behind her. Grace is still wailing in the kitchen and Alison asks, "Jeez, what are you doing to her?"

"She doesn't like bath time," Toby comments, ripping off a paper towel and beginning to clean Grace's face.

"Can't say I blame her," Alison grins, bending over the baby. "It's always more fun to get dirty, isn't it Grace?"

Spencer enters again, a bit flustered, asking, "Toby, where are the-"

The question dies on her lips as she notices their company and Alison stands tall, saying, "Hello, Spencer."

The brunette in question has been rendered speechless; a state not easily acquired. Toby lifts their spaghetti-clad daughter into his arms and suggests, "Why don't I give her a bath so you two can talk?"

Spencer manages to snap out of it for a moment to ask, "I can't find the stack of clean towels I literally just pulled from the dryer."

"Relax," He tells her. "I already folded them and put them away."

Her face melts a bit in gratitude. "You're a lifesaver."

He smiles, kisses her forehead and heads up the stairs to take on the nightly daunting task. Alison comments, "I don't know why I wondered what it would be like to visit you two. You guys acted like you were married before you were married. It's only increased, I'm afraid."

"What are you doing here?" Spencer asks. "The last anybody heard from you, you were in Japan, or something."

"Yeah, I was. And before that I was in Greece and Italy and Switzerland. And Egypt, too, but you couldn't pay me to go back there again," Alison says. "You don't know what it's like to have to hide for three years, Spencer. I wasn't allowed to live and now that I can, I want to see everything. I want to know what I've been missing."

"So you're back," Spencer notes. "For good, then?"

"No," Alison shakes her head. "I'll probably never stay anywhere permanently. Where's the fun in that?"

"O-Okay…"

Alison laughs. "Wow. I've never made Spencer Hastings speechless before. I kind of like this side of you. It's good to know it exists. You can't be all fire and passion all the time, can you?"

"I guess I just don't understand why you're here," Spencer crosses her arms over her chest. "You made it very clear when you came back after… everything that I wasn't your favorite person."

"Oh Spencer, you were never my favorite person," Alison rolls her eyes. "Don't tell me you didn't know that."

Spencer frowns. "I knew it. I never knew why you were friends with me in the first place."

"Spencer, please. Don't undermine yourself," Alison chastises. "You and I are basically the same person. We're two sides of the same coin. We're leaders and we're fearless and we're strong. You know that and so do I. The difference between us-"

Spencer scoffs. "As if there's only one."

"The difference between us is that you used your powers for good and I didn't," Alison continues, ignoring her interruption. "Your biggest vice is that giant heart of yours. You love too strongly; you care too much. And me? That was never my issue. You were a force to be reckoned with and that's why we clashed so much. That's why you were never my favorite, but that's why I left you in charge."

"And it's why you're here now?" Spencer wonders.

Alison smirks. "You're the last one on my list. Well, I haven't visited Aria either, but she's married to my brother and that just makes me want to vomit. I haven't heard anything that disgusting since I learned that Emily was with Pigskin… and you were with Creepy Cavanaugh."

"Don't call him that," Spencer sneers. "Don't call either of them those things, Ali."

"I'm sorry," Alison tells her but Spencer still can't tell a lie from the truth with her. "Old habits, you know? Things are going well, though? He seems like he makes quite the husband."

"He does," Spencer finds herself smiling despite her previous anger. "He's perfect. Everything's perfect."

"I'm envious," Alison admits. "I think I've always been envious of you. When I left, you girls made names for yourselves and you all fell in love and that made you different people. I wish I had that. You guys really came into your own and you didn't even need me to do it."

"No, we didn't," Spencer agrees. "But you're the one that brought us together."

Alison smiles and a buzzer goes off in the adjoining room. Spencer says, "Stay here. I'll be right back."

But never the one to be told what to do, Alison sets off throughout the house the moment Spencer's left her alone. She steps over Grace's toys in the living room and marvels at the cozy-looking furniture. She notes that dishes are still sitting in the sink even though the dishwasher is whirling away. Climbing the stairs, Alison explores the upper level of their home, stopping in the hallway to admire the framed photographs of the happy family she's imposing on. There are photos of Toby and Spencer in various stages of their relationship and several of Grace from birth to now. Alison finds herself smiling; this is what real love looks like. She's not sure she's ever truly experienced it.

From down the hall, there's a hushed, whispering voice and Alison creeps towards it. The room at the end of the hall is Grace's; she can tell most obviously by the crib but also the adornments on the door and the decals spelling out the baby's name on the wall. Toby's cradling his daughter in his arms, a blanket draped over her, as he rocks her slowly in a beautifully crafted rocking chair that Alison wonders if he made himself. Grace is sound asleep, a thumb in her mouth, and her hair still damp from the bath she hadn't wanted earlier. Alison comes to stand in the doorway to better hear whatever Toby's saying to his little girl.

"When the evening shadows and the stars appear," He murmurs, rocking ever so gently. "And there's no one there to dry your tears. I could hold you for a million years. To make you feel my love."

"Bob Dylan?" Alison comments. "Really? That's what you're going with?"

Toby shushes her, standing carefully and making his way towards the crib. "She likes it."

"But a love song?" Alison teases. "That's kind of creepy, don't you think?"

Toby shakes his head and turns off the light, exiting the room and shutting the door behind him. There are footsteps on the stairs and Spencer's in the hallway in minutes. "I thought I told you to stay put?"

"Spencer, you've never told me what to do a day in your life. You certainly aren't going to start now," Alison says. "It's about time I head out, anyway. Give Grace my best and maybe we'll meet again someday."

"Why are you acting like we'll never see you again?" Spencer probes, watching the blonde scale the stairs. "It's macabre."

"It's not macabre," Alison smiles, tossing her iconic blonde hair over her shoulders. "It's immortality, my darling."

Spencer groans. "You did not just say that."

Alison laughs and says, "The moment called for it. Goodbye, Spencer, Toby."

They follow her downstairs and lock the door behind her. Toby's about to ask a thousand questions, but Spencer interrupts with, "Well I don't know about you, but I need a drink."

She uncorks a bottle of Riesling and produces two wine glasses even though Toby hasn't said whether or not he'll be joining her. Pouring them each a glass anyway, Spencer hands one to her husband and sips the other while retreating to the couch in the living room. Toby follows suit but he doesn't even have to ask. Spencer opens with, "I don't know why I'm still under the naïve impression that one day I'm going to get an apology from her."

"What did she say to you?" He implores gently and Spencer heaves a sigh.

"Nothing I didn't already know before," Spencer replies. "She didn't explain why she isn't keeping in touch and she's just going to continue traveling the world and making drop-in visits that disrupt our lives."

"Does that bother you?" Toby wonders. "That she's not keeping in touch? I always thought you didn't want her to."

"We were really good friends, once," Spencer says. "I guess part of me has always just assumed that we could put the past behind us one day. I don't know why."

"No, it makes sense," Toby disagrees. "She was one of your best friends. I get it."

"Yeah, when she decided it was convenient for her," She comments bitterly. "Before everything happened, she used to talk about herself like she was already gone. She told me that I needed to carry on, to take her place, when she was gone and I always assumed that meant with the girls. I didn't really think it was ever going to happen; Alison, in case you weren't aware, has a proclivity for the dramatics. It caught me by surprise."

Toby toys with the ends of her hair, nodding, "It caught everyone by surprise."

"But I did what she asked me to. She was always the leader and when she was gone, I guess I sort of adopted that role," Spencer admits. "But I wasn't the dictator she was and the girls and I… We were closer than ever. But when Ali came back… I don't think she was pleased with what I did to her minions. She expected them to fall at her feet again but they didn't; we didn't. We were stronger than her by then and… We didn't let her push us around anymore."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Toby says and Spencer frowns.

"To Ali, it was," She goes on. "I never let her control me, not even before. It's why she treated me the way she did; it's why I was never her first pick but… When she came back, I honestly think she thought I'd turned the girls against her; that I'd somehow morphed them into versions of myself. I don't think that I did; honestly, I don't. Emily and Hanna and Aria… They'd really come into their own but I wouldn't attribute that to me. It's just that… That's the thing about Ali. She always made you feel so important but at the same time… She made you realize the worst things about yourself and she could cut you down with just a look just so you always knew she was in control. And when she came back, I always felt like she regretted leaving me in charge; that somehow, I'd fucked up immensely and she thought that I was a failure."

Tears are burning at her eyes now and she blinks them away. Toby gently removes the wine glass from her hand and takes both her hands into his own. "Spencer, look at me."

She hesitates a moment, likely wanting to bury the raw emotion as she is accustomed to doing, but eventually she obliges. "Toby, it's fine."

"It's not. It's far from fine," He says sincerely. "Alison is manipulative and vindictive and cunning. She knows exactly which buttons to push with you and she knows exactly how to destroy you. But that doesn't mean that she has. You stepped up and you helped your friends through their rough times when you were still going through hell yourself. That's huge; that's everything. It takes a special kind of person to be able to do that and Alison knew that; that is why she left you in charge because she knew you could handle it. And whether she likes it or not, you were there for those girls in ways that she never could be. You were a better leader than she could ever hope to be and you know why?"

"Because you're brave and you're intelligent and you're loyal and you're kind," Toby lists, squeezing her hands a bit. "You're caring and you're loving and you're fiercely dedicated. Alison may have some of these qualities but she doesn't have them all; not like you do. She made the right choice, Spence, and fuck her if she can't see that."

Spencer smirks and Toby chuckles a bit, asking, "What?"

"Nothing," She grins. "You're kind of sexy when you're mad."

"Oh really?" Toby raises his eyebrows, leaning in for a kiss. "Then I'm furious."

Later, Spencer decides she doesn't care what Alison thinks. She has someone who will always believe in her and that's truly all that matters.