Aria

The next moment Aria awoke with a small groan, oddly feeling someone's arms wrapped loosely around her. With a small frown forming on her still tear and make-up stained face, slowly Aria looked up, trying not to disturb the sleeping person with his arms around her. A small, almost inaudible gasp escaped her lips as she saw the sleep - and very cute - sleeping form of none other than Ezra Fitz. That was when she remembered everything that had happened the night before; Ezra revealing that her dad threatened him to leave Rosewood, Ezra kissing her, her getting mugged, Ezra coming to her rescue then her cuddling up to him and telling him she still loved him. Was all of that one big misunderstanding? A mistake? Aria still had feelings for Ezra, ones that had only just properly shown themselves when she saw him again after 6 years. But could she immediately jump back into a relationship with him after their troubled past?

Aria needed time to think but she also needed to clean herself up, so in order not to disturb Ezra she gradually moved his arms away from her body. Ezra had always been a deep sleeper so he didn't wake while Aria did this, but once she was stood up from the sofa her body felt slightly lost and not as warm as before. Shaking away the feeling, she quietly headed to her bedroom and quickly grabbed clothes, stealing glances back at Ezra to make sure he hadn't woken up. While his light, almost soundless snores echoed around the compact room, Aria headed into the bathroom locking the door behind her.

For the first time since yesterday, she took a proper look at herself in the mirror. The first word that came to her mind when she saw herself was obviously 'mess'; her mascara and eyeliner had smeared into a black smudge underneath her eyes, her foundation had disappeared in some places but not in others making her skin look very patchy, her hair laid in an untidy array of knots on top of her head and her lipgloss had smeared over the sides of mouth, leaving a sparkly speck of goo. Quickly, she took a make-up wipe and started rubbing at her face before jumping in the shower and trying to wash the scared, nervous feeling that was still pounding in her body the night before. The mugger had her keys to her house, which meant that her first job today would be to change her locks. Actually... that would be the second job since she first had to deal with Ezra. As she thought this, Aria sighed deeply. What could she do?

During her time in the shower she hadn't come up with much of an answer and she was running out of time, fast. Purposely moving slowly, she dressed and spent a lot of time doing her make-up to perfection, using the time she didn't usually have. Summer. Aria had practically forgotten all about her. What kind of horrible mother am I? She thought to herself, almost hitting herself for forgetting her own daughter. But Aria would have to change the locks before Summer came home since there was still the danger of the mugger returning to her apartment... The worried thoughts were beginning to cloud Aria's full mind, giving her a throbbing headache. So much had happened yesterday that it had created a whole new whirlwind of problems that she was going to have to deal with on her own.

Checking herself in the mirror for the fourth time, Aria knew she couldn't delay speaking to Ezra any longer. Letting out yet another deep sigh of frustration, she unlocked the door and stepped out of the bathroom wearing a floral pair of leggings, a plain yellow top that matched and pretty earrings that Hannah had bought her for her birthday. Her hair was perfectly curled into soft waves and she had spent so much time on her looks that she looked practically perfect. Instantly Aria saw Ezra leaning over the counter making two cups of coffee for them both, he hadn't noticed her appearance yet, so for a moment she stared at him and wondered what she was going to say. What could she say without breaking his heart again? She'd already put him through enough.

" Hey," Aria announced herself after a few moments, just as Ezra had finished making the cups of coffee. With a cheery smile on his face, he turned around meeting Aria's worried green eyes.

" Hey," Ezra greeted her, grabbing the mug of coffee he made for her and walking steadily up to her. " I made coffee."

" Oh, thanks," Aria said smiling brightly up at him, Ezra handed her the coffee that was in her favourite mug and Aria quickly took a gulp of it - even though it burnt her tongue. Though caffeine wasn't the cure for her worries, she definitely needed it.

" So er... Are you ok?" Ezra asked slightly awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. But Aria spotted the worry that flashed in his eyes while he said this and she immediately felt bad for everything she'd done to him yesterday. It was like she was playing him... Which was the last thing she wanted to do.

" Um, I'm fine... I guess," Aria replied, suddenly finding the floor a very interesting place to look. " Look Ezra, I want to thank you for everything you do for me yesterday. It was unfair of me to ask you to do that after what happened... I should have just called one of the girls,"

" Aria it's fine. After everything Mona put you through with the whole 'A' business 6 years ago, I'm not surprised you were scared and I was the one who called in the first place so... yeh it's fine," Ezra replied, meeting her eyes again. The worry and love that was projected so clearly in his face made it so much harder for Aria to let him down, again.

" Look, I think last night I kind of gave you the wrong impression about... well, us. It was really stupid of me and I'm really sorry but I don't think I'm ready to jump back into a relationship when there's so much I've only just found out..." Aria tried to explain everything the best she could and luckily the sadness that washed over Ezra was only visible for a second or two before it was replaced by a smile.

" It's fine Aria. It's so much to take in that I didn't expect you to understand in the matter of a day," Ezra said, shaking his head softly. " But I'm determined to make things right with you again Aria and if that means taking things slow then I'm fine with that... if you want to of course..." Aria's eyes slightly widened as he said this and her mind went blank. Her mouth opened to speak but nothing came out and she stood there staring into space for a few moments. How could she answer? She still loved Ezra of course... but could they really manage to steal back what they had 6 years ago? Or would it just go wrong like it had done the last time? Things were different this time, Aria had Summer. Questions would no doubt arise about Summer if she got back together with Ezra and she knew that would be a very awkward conversation. But wasn't it worth it all to get back the love that she had lost and never got back after 6 years of her life?

" Yeh... actually that would be great," Aria replied in a steady voice after a few moments, a smile forming on her face as she did so. It was worth giving a try. If things ended badly then she would just have to deal with the consequences later.

" That's great," Ezra responded. It had only taken a few minutes for Aria to finish her cup of coffee, so instead of standing there with nothing to say she headed over to the sink and placed the mug in it.

" So I have to go pick up Summer and then call someone to get the locks changed... so I'll see you on Monday," Aria said, turning back around to face Ezra. Now that she looked at him properly - without all of the anxious questions fluttering around in her mind - she saw that Ezra's hair was slightly messed and needed brushing and he had dark circles under his eyes. But nonetheless he still looked very attractive to Aria, even when he'd just woken up.

" Actually Spencer already called and I told her to bring Summer here and I know someone who changes locks, they're an old friend, so I rang them while you were getting ready and asked them to come round," Ezra replied casually and Aria stood shocked for a moment. Spencer didn't live faraway from Aria, meaning she would probably be here very soon, meaning that Ezra would meet Summer. It was highly likely that Ezra would notice instantly that Summer actually resembled him in a lot of ways... which meant that he would question her about it and that story she did never want to bring up again.

" Oh okay... That's great you've ticked all the jobs off of my checklist for the day," Aria said in a fake bright tone, secretly hoping that Spencer would be very late. But just as she thought that, to her disappointment, there was a knock at the door and there was nobody else it could possibly be. Again feeling very anxious and practically terrified, Aria opened the door where she was greeted by a very cheerful Summer and tired looking Spencer.

" Mummy!" Summer exclaimed in delight, throwing herself from Spencer's arms into Arias. A genuine smile spread across Aria's face as she tucked Summer safely into her arms and kissed her on the forehead.

" Hey sweetie. Mummy's missed you. I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday, so to make up for it I'll make sure to play lots of barbies with you later," Aria promised and Summer's face brightened with delight.

" Yay! You can use my second favourite barbie, she'll called Aria after my mummy," Summer told her excitedly, still not noticing Ezra who was stood silently in the open plan kitchen, not yet fully seeing Summer Montgomery.

" Thank you Spencer so much for having her last night," Aria thanked her best friend who gave her a tired smile in return.

" It's fine, anytime. Are you okay after last night? Mr. Fit- Ezra said you were pretty shaken up," Spencer asked worriedly, taking a quick glance at Ezra who she only just spotted.

" Yeh I'm fine I guess... I just need to get everything sorted out and hope the police find the culprit," Aria replied, hoping Summer wouldn't pick up on the fact that something was wrong. The last thing she wanted to do was explain it all her to her very vulnerable daughter.

" Good. I guess me, you and girls can catch up later then... Have fun," Spencer said, winking at Aria knowingly. Aria rolled her eyes.

" Bye Spence," She muttered to her, closing the door behind her. The room fell silent for a moment and Aria placed Summer back on the ground and Summer caught sight of Ezra for the first time.

" Mummy... who's that man and why is he in my house?" Summer asked, nervously clinging onto her mothers legs. For a few moments Aria stayed silent as she stared at Ezra seeing his very shocked and confused expression when he laid eyes on Summer. It was very hard not to notice Summer's resemblance to Ezra; it was like she was half Aria and half Ezra.

" Summer, this is my very good friend Ezra Fitz. He works at the big school that mummy works at," Aria introduced Summer to Ezra, who was still staring at Summer in complete awe. Shyly, Summer took a slow step away from her mother and looked down at Ezra's feet.

" Hi Ezra," She said in a very quiet voice. Usually Summer wasn't so shy around people but Aria believed it was probably because Ezra was staring at her which would no doubt make her very uncomfortable.

" Hi Summer, it's so great to finally meet you... Aria has told me so much about you," Ezra bluntly lied, glancing at Aria for a second with a confused and almost demanding expression, before turning his complete attention back to Summer who was no smiling brightly up at him.

" Really?" Summer asked.

" Yeh, she told me you were very pretty like those Barbie dolls you play with all the time," Ezra said, smiling as an ecstatic expression formed on Summer's face.

" Thank you mummy!" Summer shouted excitedly up to her mother who just smiled down at her before looking at Ezra worriedly. " Will you come play with me and mummy Ezra?"

" I would love to but I actually have to go... another time?" Ezra said to Summer, not yet fully speaking to Aria. This worried Aria a lot and she began to panic on how she would explain this all to him.

" Yeh!" Summer responded.

" You're leaving?" Aria asked with a slightly hurt expression on her face.

" Yeh um... I'll see you on Monday, Aria," Ezra spoke slowly to her, his eyes barely glancing at her. Aria had already guessed that he would be extremely confused but why was he running away from this when clearly she had things to explain to him?

" We need to talk Ezra..." Aria said quickly, slightly stepping in front of the door to block Ezra's path. Oblivious to everything, Summer just looked between the two of them not truly understanding what was going on.

" Later Aria... I'll see you on Monday," Ezra said with a deep sigh, stealing one final glance at Aria before lightly pushing past her and exiting through the door. The sound of the door shutting echoed around the room and Aria stayed quiet for a moment, hurt flooding through her. Why did things always turn out badly? Why couldn't things just run perfectly for once?

So I know I told you all that this story was getting deleted, but after watching the Season 4 finale yesterday where Ezra very literally took a bullet for Aria and possibly could die, I found my inspiration to write another chapter for you all. So just ignore the thing that I posted the other day... I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review and tell me what you think about the Ezria things going on! Who do you think is the father of Summer?

Thanks for all the support so far! I promise to update as soon as I can but I can't promise one soon, but hopefully this chapter will be enough for you to have faith in the rest of the story! Thank you for reading.

DareToDream x