Chapter 21:

Aria opened her eyes and almost screamed. There was a face, inches away from her own, staring at her with big, brown eyes.

"Malcolm! Oh my God, you scared me!" Aria said, picking the little boy up and sitting him on her lap. She was in Ezra's apartment, as the hospital had let her leave the evening before, but telling her she had to stay in bed for at least three more days.

"Sorry!" the little boy giggled. "I missed you." he said, hugging her.

"I missed you too." Aria smiled. Malcolm was the sweetest little boy. Maggie had done an amazing job raising him, he was the most loving little boy she had ever met and as much of a gentleman as Ezra.

"Guess what! Daddy said I can help him take care of you! We even made you breakfast!" Malcolm said, running over to the kitchen table and grabbing a tray. He slowly walked over to her, balancing the tray in his little hands, and handing it to her. The tray had toasted bagel with cream cheese on it and a glass of orange juice.

"Thanks, sweetie! That was so nice of you!" Aria said, ruffling his hair.

"You're welcome! After you finish breakfast, we can play with my toy cars! I brought the pink one just for you!" Malcolm said, eagerly.

"Great! By the way, where is your daddy?" Aria asked, looking around.

"He's taking a shower. He said that when he's done he's going to make me hot chocolate and he's going to make coffee for you." Malcolm said.

"Awesome. Let's eat!" Aria said, breaking her bagel in half and giving the other half to Malcolm. The two of them ate breakfast while they talked about Malcolm's cars.

LATER:

Ezra came out of the shower to find the two people he loved the most talking and laughing. He smiled to himself as he watched them talking, totally oblivious to the fact that they were being watched. Finally, Malcolm looked up and noticed his father watching them.

"DADDY! Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!" Malcolm said, running towards his father and jumping up and down.

"What, buddy?" Ezra smiled.

"Aria said she'll play cars with us!" Malcolm said, eagerly.

"Thats great, buddy! But before we play, someone needs to go brush their teeth." Ezra said, laughing when Malcolm groaned. Ezra gave Malcolm a nudge towards the bathroom. When Malcolm sped off, Ezra sat down next to Aria and gave her a kiss. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better. I'm really glad Malcolm's here, I've been so bored lately, especially while you were working, so now I can play with him while you finish up your work." Aria said.

"Oh good, because I wasn't sure if you were ready to see an energetic little boy just yet. You must really be getting better, especially since you haven't had coffee yet." Ezra said, laughing.

"Speaking of coffee..." Aria said, smiling.

"Yes, ma'am!" Ezra saluted her, and went to make her a fresh cup.

"Great! Man, I love having my own personal slave. Later, you can do my laundry, and make my lunch." Aria teased, as Ezra mock glared at her.

"Just wait till you're better missy!" Ezra threatened, playfully.

"Hmm...maybe I should 'accidently' fall down the stairs..." Aria pretended to think about it.

"Oh, you don't need to 'accidently' fall, I could always just 'accidently' push you." Ezra said.

Aria glared at him playfully, and he bent down and kissed her. Aria wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.

"EWW!" They heard a voice behind then, and turned around to see Malcolm, staring at them, grossed out. Aria blushed and Ezra mumbled something about coffee, quickly going into the kitchen, Malcolm following close behind.

LATER:

Ezra had taken Malcolm to the park so that Aria could rest for a little while. She lay in her bed, thinking. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, swimming around her thoughts, just out of reach. She decided to call Spencer.

"Hey, Spence. I need your help with something" Aria said, when Spencer picked up.

"Sure, what's up?" Spencer asked.

"Something's been nagging at me and I've been trying to figure out what it is, but I just can't figure it out. It feels like its important but I just don't know what it is." Aria said. Surely Spencer, who was always figuring stuff out, had experienced this before.

"I know the feeling, trust me. Here's what I do. Just try to remember when you first started noticing the feeling and think back to what you were doing before it started. Maybe something you read something, or someone said something, and your brain registered it but it doesn't go with something else you've read or heard." Spencer explained.

"That makes sense...Thanks, Spencer, I'll try it out."Aria said.

After she hung up, Aria sat there, thinking back, remembering the nagging feeling had started when Mike had left her hospital room a few days ago. She thought about everything she said, and suddenly realized something didn't make sense. Hadn't Mike said that he'd missed 5 lacrosse practices? He had been gone for a month and a half, there where two practices per week, so he should have missed 12 practices. Either he was really bad at math, or he had been in Rosewood for longer than he said.

Aria pulled out her phone and dialled her mom's number. Ella answered on the third ring.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Ella asked.

"I'm a lot better, thanks to Ezra and the girls." Aria replied.

"Good, I'm glad they're helping, especially since you and your brother refused to let your father and I come back early." Ella said.

"Actually, I saw Mike a few days ago. He came to visit me in the hospital. When did he get back?" Aria asked, trying to be casual about it.

Ella thought for a moment. "I think he would've gotten back to Rosewood about a little over 3 weeks ago. Why?"

Aria felt the blood drain out of her face, but she kept her voice steady."Oh, no reason. He just seems really busy catching up on school and stuff so I was just wondering how much he'd missed." she lied. "Listen, I have to go. Ezra's going to be back any minute and I promised I would get some rest while he was gone."

"Okay, sweetie. Get well soon! Love you!" Ella said.

"Love you too, mom. Bye!" Aria said, hanging up the phone. She texted her brother:

We need to talk.

Hope you liked the chapter! Unfortunately, I'm swamped with homework so I may not be able to update for abt a week. I'll try my best, though :)