A/N: This chapter is for leighB26 - not because of any specific request, but because she has been a delight and an encouragement. I started out writing for myself, but now I sort of feel like I'm writing for you :) No pressure, right? I hope you enjoy.

The room was cool and quiet and there was a muskiness surrounding them. The alarm had just quieted after signaling the fact that it was now ten thirty in the morning, and Aria was sure Ezra had slept right through the noise. To be fair, they'd gotten up much earlier and he had more than earned his sleep. Aria didn't realize it was possible to contort ones legs in so many ways…but somehow they'd managed. After months of feeling tired and sick on an almost constant basis, she was finally gaining back some of her energy.

But, energy gained lead to energy lost. Walking was going to be a feat today…a price she was willing to pay if it meant seeing that look in Ezra's eyes even just one more time.

She rolled over so that she was lying on her side and watched him as he slept. He let out a barely audible laugh. She'd never get over the fact that Hardy hadn't been making that up. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Ezra really laughed in his sleep. After all the times she'd spent the night with him, and it had never happened, she'd ridden it off as a possibility.

That was, until she'd been up at all hours of the night, unable to sleep because of "morning sickness" (which in reality was all-the-time sickness, and especially middle-of-the-night sickness) with nothing to do but watch him. She'd grown quite fond of these moments…when she was awake and he was still sleeping. Watching him sleep was something no one else got the privilege of doing.

When the slight laughter subsided, it was always followed by a whisper of a smile. Aria reached out and gently ran her fingers through this hair, memorizing the way his eyes softened in sleep the second she made contact with his scalp. She wondered what it was he was dreaming of. Slowly, she let her hand trail over his skin, feeling the muscles in his shoulders, his arms. She didn't want to wake him up, but she needed to. He had a Skype appointment with Jillian in an hour and she needed to get ready to meet Spencer for lunch. As much as she wanted to lay in bed with him all day, that wasn't a reality she'd get to enjoy.

When her hand finally reached his chest, she spread her fingers until they were splayed through the wiry hairs that covered his skin. Twisting them gently, just enough to draw him out of his slumber, she inched closer and began to plant kiss after kiss up his arm to his neck. By the time she reached his ear, he was stirring the tiniest bit.

"Good morning," she whispered, her voice heavy.

"Mmm," Ezra mumbled, turning his head so that he was looking at her. "Good morning."

She smiled as she watched him wake up, and kissed the tip of his nose.

"Time to wake up," she said. "Get that lazy butt moving."

"I have been anything but lazy this morning."

"While that is a fair point, it does not change the fact that you only have an hour before Jillian will expect to see you face to face."

He grunted in response, not overly excited about what she'd said. "What are your plans for the day? Remind me how you got out of this Skype call?"

"She's just going over the general marketing plan," Aria said, sticking out her tongue, "and I've got that brunch with the girls today. She told me it didn't matter if I missed this one."

"Well, I'll be jealous that you're out drinking mimosas instead of listening to a boring marketing plan. I thought you all were doing dinner. What changed?"

"Spencer got in early – technically we are still doing dinner and drinks, we've just added brunch…lunch…whatever."

"Why are you saying technically? Are you not going out with them later? Spencer isn't staying in town long, is she?"

"I don't know; I can't go out…pregnant."

Ezra rolled his eyes. "Of course you can, you just can't drink alcohol. That doesn't mean you can't go out to dinner. It's not like you all were going to go clubbing or anyway."

"Well," Aria trailed off, still playing with his chest hair, "I don't know how much fun I'll be regardless of what we do. Virgin mimosas at brunch, which pretty much means I'll be drinking a glass of orange juice…and a glass of grape juice at dinner instead of wine. See what I'm saying? You get shipped straight out on the Mom-train as soon as you get knocked up."

"Like I said before, at least you don't have to sit and listen to a boring marketing plan."

"I happen to find the idea of a marketing plan for a book that we wrote very exciting." A hazy look crossed her eyes and Ezra's attention dipped to her lips. He leaned in close but she spoke before he could capture her lips. "If you want, we can trade," she offered. "You can tell the girls you're pregnant and I can talk to Jillian about book tours and promos…"

"As much as I'd love to hear the sarcastic comment Hanna would surely make if I told her I was pregnant, I think we'd better stick to the original plan. I wouldn't look good with a pregnant belly anyway."

"That's true," Aria said giving him a quick kiss before rolling off him.

She laid on her back for a moment playing with her engagement ring.

"How do you think I look with a pregnant belly?" she asked, pulling up the tank that was covering her.

She let her hands trail over the slight bulge that was there. She honestly wasn't very big at all – not yet at least – but her naturally small frame did make what was there stick out without any shadow of a doubt. Not even bloating could be used as an excuse at this point. She was still small, but past the point of hiding.

Ezra reached out and held his hand to her belly. His hand was warm and the second it made contact with her naked skin, she swore she felt a fluttering – though she couldn't be sure if it'd come from her belly or her heart.

"Did you feel anything just now?" she asked, sitting up just a little, propping her back against the pillows. She poked and prodded just the slightest bit. "Was that you, baby?" she asked, her voice getting pinched, as if she were talking to a puppy…or a baby. She looked to Ezra, trying to read his reaction. "I thought I felt the baby move," she said, still feeling for something else.

"If they were moving, I missed it," he said, sounding a little let down.

"I don't know that they were…" Aria said, switching to gentle strokes rather than the subtle jabs. "The doctor said I'd barely be able to feel it at first anyway. Who knows…"

"I'm sure you'll be able to tell for sure when it does happen," Ezra said. "You'll just have to be feeling for it now that you think they're gettin' busy down there."

Aria scoffed. "Let's please not make jokes about our baby 'gettin' busy'."

"That's not what I meant," he immediately corrected, trying to ease out whatever quick offense he'd caused. "He or she is simply making more room. I was just teasing."

"Do you think we made the right call, not finding out the gender? Sometimes I wish I knew if it was a boy or a girl. What do you want?"

He shifted the pillow beneath his head until he was hugging it to his cheeks, looking at her from his side. "Hmm…" he let it trail on for a moment, looking between her eyes. "A little girl," he said. "A little tiny baby girl, half you, half me, all love and high maintenance –"

"Hey!" she said, playfully swatting at him.

"You know, we can always ask for them to tell us next time we go in for a check up. We've got an appointment on Monday."

"I know we could…I do want to be surprised though. It's more fun that way."

"It definitely makes it exciting. What do you want?"

Aria didn't have to think about her response. She'd known from the moment she found out she was pregnant that she would be happy no matter what – as long as the baby was healthy, she would be happy – but somewhere in the back of her head or her heart, she'd always been infatuated with the idea of Ezra having a daughter. When she thought of their baby being a girl, she didn't immediately think of taking her shopping or doing their nails together, having special mommy-daughter time. Instead what she thought of was watching Ezra struggle through fixing a pony tail, or heaven forbid trying to braid a dark mass of curly hair. She thought of him tucking their daughter in at night, a little girl in a pink night gown snuggled up at his side, an open book in their laps, and both of them so exhausted they've fallen asleep before the pre-bed routine even has a chance to start.

As she lay there next to him in their own bed, letting these images warm every inch of her, she smiled at the man who would soon be her husband, and who was already the father or her pride and joy.

"I'll be happy no matter what," she said, almost as a disclaimer, "but I'm really hoping we have a girl too."

Ezra moved his hand across the width of her belly so that he was gripping her hip and her to him, capturing her lips and raking his tongue along the roof of her mouth. "I love you," he said into her.

"How do you still have morning breath?" she asked when he pulled away. His face fell a faction of an inch.

"I brushed my teeth the first time you woke me up, but that was hours ago. You can't hold that against me."

"I guess that's fair," she said. She leaned in and stuck her nose right up against his, then whispered, "I'll try to look past it."

"You better; you don't smell so great yourself."

Aria scoffed but Ezra pulled her in with renewed vigor, forcing them both to look past any lingering morning breath.

The two stayed like that, locked in each other's arms for the better part of ten minutes before duty called and Aria had to pull away in order to make it to the bathroom before her bladder betrayed her.

Once they were both up, it was hard to ignore the guilt that would come with sneaking back into bed. As much as they'd both like to pretend like they were sick and stay home all day, holed up in their little apartment with nothing but the other to keep them occupied, there was a lot riding on the day ahead.

As Aria ascended the stairs to the Radley, she thought back to one of the last times she'd gotten together with the girls for brunch. It had been just shortly before Ali's family drama had died down, before they'd been released from their near-decade's worth of A-related tortures, and just before everyone had split up once again so that they could all return to their past lives. They'd been celebrating friendship, and Aria's recent engagement.

Now, just months later, they had new reason to celebrate. It was just…the rest of them didn't know that yet. When Spencer had called Aria and mentioned that she'd be in town to visit her mom and had suggested everyone get together for dinner, Aria had jumped on board. It was the perfect way to get them all together. It was important to her that she tell them all at once, and that she tell them in person. Too many things had been said over text that couldn't be trusted, and a phone call, while more personal than a text, still lacked a certain…je ne sais quoi.

Just before she went to pull the giant front door, which would send her full-force into whatever whirlwind awaited, Aria took a moment to assess her appearance in the reflection. Ezra had helped her decide what to wear today, and bless his heart, he'd done his best to boost her spirits as they'd searched through the closet.

The weather was growing cooler which meant that she was finally able to wear draping scarves and loose-fitted sweaters. However, it wasn't so cold that a giant knit pullover was acceptable at all times. She'd been able to get away with it off and on, but for this specific outing…it just wasn't going to fit the bill. She needed something that would hide the belly until she was able to tell the girls, but she didn't want it to be obvious that she even had something to hide to begin with. Spencer was always perceptive, no matter the situation. Emily and Hanna had their own moments, but Aria was more confident that she'd be able to slide this past them than she was Spencer. Though she hadn't seen Spencer in weeks, they talked often enough that Aria was pretty sure the other half of Team Sparia knew something was up.

Soon enough, it wouldn't matter what she suspected – she'd know for sure. Then, the only thing left for her to do would be pass judgment. Either she'd conclude that Aria and Ezra were ready for a baby, or they weren't. It wasn't Spencer's place to decide either way, but that wouldn't stop her from making her opinions known.

The small woman that stared back at Aria in the reflection on the glass looked as pulled together as ever, and it gave Aria sense of ease to know that from the outside, the feeling of unease she'd been carrying around wasn't as obvious as it felt.

She had basic black leggings on, the maternity waist hardly a maternity waist at all, which made her feel significantly more confident. Ezra had picked out her top which was flowy and hung well at the chest so that it didn't hug too tightly against her midsection. She'd added the maroon scarf for good measure, hoping that the extra focal point at her neck would detract from the focal point at her waist. All insecurities aside, she felt good, and she felt like she looked good.

She took a deep breath as she pulled open the door and stepped inside, reminding herself that she really was excited to tell them. She just felt guilty that she'd waited so long. If she could make it through telling Ella and Byron, this was going to be a piece of cake. She wasn't even going to think about the fact that they'd yet to tell the Fitzgerald's. That was a conversation she was gladly pushing to the very back of her mind. That ball was in Ezra's court. Not hers.

The sound of Aria's boots clicked through the lobby as she made her way over to the restaurant. There was a hostess standing at the entrance, and Aria flashed the woman a kind smile before saying hello.

"Welcome to The Radley," the woman said.

"Hi, thanks, I'm meeting a group of friends…the reservation might be under Hastings, or Marin…it's a party of five..."

"Of course, they're in the back corner," the young woman said, a smile spreading ear to ear. "Allow me to walk you over."

"I'm good, thanks, really," Aria said, trying to cut her off. She didn't need an escort; she'd been there a million times.

"Oh, no, I insist."

Aria rolled her eyes but followed the hostess anyway. As she trailed awkwardly behind her, she shifted her handbag from one arm to the other, trying to find a comfortable position before realizing that the purse had nothing to do with her discomfort.

Hanna saw her approaching first and she was on her feet before Aria even reached the table. Emily and Ali gave her kind smiles, but didn't leap from their seats the way Hanna did. Aria was silently thankful for that.

"Aria," Hanna gushed, "I feel like I haven't seen you in years; how are you?" The blonde reached both arms out and pulled Aria into a warm hug. Just before she pulled her in, Aria moved her purse so that it was sort of awkwardly between them.

She'd avoided a lot of physical contact over the past month. At this point, it was habit to continue avoiding close proximity.

"I'm great," she said with sincerity. "I've missed you guys. What's new?"

Hanna eased off of the smaller girl and took her seat, ignoring her question for the moment. Instead, she directed her attention to the hostess.

"Could we get two sangrias? We're just waiting on one more person."

"I'll have your server bring them by the next time he comes over," she said.

"Oh, no, I'm good," Aria said, flashing the hostess a tight-lipped smile as she moved away, getting ready to take her seat. "I'm going to stick with water for now."

"Oh, come on," Hanna encouraged. "Have one. What else have you got to do today? We're letting loose, I think we deserve it."

Aria looked awkwardly between Hanna and the hostess. "We'll just take the one," she said, "and a water, please."

When hostess walked off, Aria caught Emily making an awkward face at Ali. Aria's face flushed.

"Come on, guys, don't make it a big deal. It's eleven thirty, I haven't had anything to eat yet today, I don't feel like drinking yet." She didn't know why she was implying that she'd feel like drinking later. All she needed to do was wait until Spencer showed up, then she could tell them. "So, Hanna, what's new with you? Have you gotten your big break yet?"

"Well I've only been back for a few weeks…Right now I'm focusing on getting my foot in the door again but I don't even know if we'll be there next month. Did I tell you we're thinking of moving to California?"

"What?" Emily said from across the table.

"Nothing's set in stone yet, we're just thinking about it. Caleb's never loved New York."

The table was large and round, just about the same as every other table at the Radley, and Aria had to squeeze around Hanna to reach one of the two open seats between her and Ali which she assumed were for herself and Spencer.

"Ali, Emily, long time no see," Aria said, winking at both of them. Being that they all three still lived in Rosewood, she ran into them on occasion, however, it had still been a while since they'd gotten together with the explicit intent of enjoying each other's company. "How did that interview go, Em?"

"You had an interview? Where were you interviewing? I thought you liked it here… My mom loves you."

"Yeah," Emily said. "There was a management position that opened up last week; it's still within the bar, nothing crazy. I haven't heard back yet."

"She's too worried about not having a degree," Ali pitched in, squashing Emily's negative tone. "I told her they wouldn't care if she had a degree as long as she was able to prove that she could handle the work load."

Judging by the look that passed between the pair, Aria sensed that this might have been a heated topic at one point or another, and that maybe that was still the case. "Well I'm sure you'll hear back soon," she offered. "They'd be crazy not to hire you. You should have Ezra give you a reference. Better yet, come back and work at The Brew. I'll talk to him about giving you a raise."

Emily chuckled, but didn't look overly thrilled about the idea.

"No offense to either of you, but the only way I'd come back to The Brew is if I owned the place."

"None taken," Aria said. "I'm surprised every day when Sabrina walks through that door."

"Well that's different, she's the manager," Hanna cut in.

"She said she talked to you the other day," Emily said, doing her best to sneak the comment in without raising a stink. "Does that mean you two are getting along a little better now?"

Aria's face scrunched up just a bit near her eyes. "We're trying to play it civilly," she said, "one day at a time."

Hanna reached forward and picked up a glass that was filled with sangria and brought it to her lips. "It's not like you have anything to worry about," she said. "She bakes for the other team."

Emily shot her a look and Aria cleared her throat.

"What?"

"Poor taste, Hanna." Emily looked like she was scolding a five year old who'd just tried to reach for his third cookie after Mommy said no.

"I'm just saying, Aria doesn't need to worry about her making a move on Ezra when she's not even interested in men as a whole. Speaking of lady friends, where is Spencer? I thought the whole reason we got together early was because she was getting in sooner than she'd planned."

"I got a text from her as I pulled in. She should be here in a few minutes," Aria said. "She had to drop something off at the post office first."

They heard her footsteps before they saw her face.

"Speak of the devil," Hanna said.

"I am so sorry I'm late," Spencer said as she rounded the corner. "I didn't have enough stamps so I had to wait and buy more. I don't know why they wanted the proposal snail mailed. Do we live I the digital age or not?"

"My guess is the people you work for forget computers even exist," Ali said.

Spencer pushed her way past Hanna and took the seat between her and Aria. "That's true," she said. Once she was situated, she reached over and pulled Aria in for a hug.

"We have a lot to catch up on," Spencer said. There was a certain light in her eyes that made Aria wonder what it was she thought was going on. All the different possibilities started to roll around in her head. Including the possibility that she was making it all up and Spencer wasn't suspicious of anything.

As she was pulling away from Spencer's embrace, her short hair feel forward, exposing a section of her neck. Hanna tsk'ed and bit her lip.

"Aria, is that a hickey," Hanna asked, giving Aria a look, raising her eyebrows. Aria's hand darted to her neck.

"No," she said quickly.

Spencer reached out and brushed Aria's hair back and immediately burst out laughing. "Okay," she said, her voice deep with sarcasm. "Try again, because that's definitely a hickey. You're engaged, you know. It's okay if you and Ezra get it on."

"God, Spence," said Aria. "Even so, that doesn't mean we have to talk about it."

"Well, I think it's hot," Hanna said. "Do you two role play?" Aria couldn't tell if she was trying to make her feel uncomfortable or if she was just being Hanna. Unfortunately, it was probably both.

"All right, Han, that's enough. Aria doesn't want to talk about her and Ezra's sex life, and to be honest, I don't want to hear about it. He was our teacher." Emily's face was visibly paling as she talked, and Aria was grateful that she'd tried to intervene.

Spencer leaned back with one elbow over the back of her chair and gave Aria a teasing look. "Who needs to role play when you've had the real thing, right Ar?"

Alison, who had been rather quiet up until this point, burst out laughing and quickly tried to cover her mouth. Aria shot her a challenging look but eventually the corner of her lip turned up.

"Okay, shut up guys," she said quietly. "So we get on well, what's it to you?"

"We're just teasing," Spencer said.

Just as Aria was about to open her mouth taking advantage of the topic of sex in hopes that it would be a good Segway to the topic of babies, their waiter came over, placing a sangria in front of Spencer and a water in front of Aria. He was taking orders and the table was still alight with laughter; Aria had a feeling that it would come right back to pithy conversation as soon as he was gone, but she was disappointed she'd missed such a perfect opening.

Sex with Ezra…what better way to ease in the fact that she was carrying his child?

By the time the waiter got to her, she'd narrowed her selections down to three options. She hadn't thought she was very hungry until hearing what the other girls ordered. Suddenly Ali's omelet and Emily's waffles sounded good too. But so did a hamburger. She hadn't had a hamburger since the night Ezra had proposed, but that didn't mean she hadn't wanted one.

"Do you need another minute?" the waiter asked, letting the pencil in his hand relax a little on the notepad. He redirected his attention to Spencer. "How about we skip to you and I come back," he offered.

"Sure, I'll have the… eggs benedict, and…a fruit cup. And a coffee, please," Spencer said.

The waiter took note before moving on to Hanna. "And you?"

Hanna looked to Aria before speaking, checking to see if she was close to ready. "I'll have the summer salad, and…I'd like to add grilled chicken to it."

"Okay," Aria said, looking to the waiter, knowing her time was up. "Don't judge me," she said, even though she knew exactly what would come next. "I'm going get a Belgian waffle with a side of scrambled eggs and bacon, and let's do… sour dough toast, and a smoothie. No, hold the sour dough. Yeah, that should do it." She bit her lip and avoided eye contact with the rest of the table as she handed the menu back to the waiter.

"Would you like the spinach or mixed berry smoothie?"

"Spinach," Aria said quietly. "No berries, please." She picked up her water and leaned back in her chair, sipping from the glass as she waited for someone to say something.

Emily was tucking her hair behind her ear while looking helplessly at Ali, trying to figure out what she could say that would fill the awkward silence. Spencer was picking at one of her nails, and Hanna was playing with the wrapper of her straw.

"Come on," Aria said finally. "I didn't order that much. Did I?"

"Aria, you're fine," Hanna said. She looked up and her eyes caught Ali's without really meaning to. As she spoke her next words, they struck the other blonde a little harder than was really intended. "You eat what you want; the waffles here are great. They're huge, but they're great. You can take your leftovers home. As long as you don't sneak off to the bathroom afterward, I'm not worried."

Aria laughed and sat her water back down. "Well don't count on that not happening," she said. She bit her lip the second the words left her mouth. The words held one meaning for her, but to an unknowing table, they held a very different meaning.

Spencer's neck shot around to look at Aria, which didn't help ease her embarrassment or make her apology any easier.

"That's not a funny thing to joke about," Hanna said. "It's serious, and some of us had to deal with the repercussions of an eating disorder for years," she said. Though she was looking at Aria, her eyes darted across the way toward Ali, unable to hold back the reminder of who had encouraged it.

Aria's face dropped and she reached out across the table, taking hold of Hanna's wrist. "I'm sorry, Han," she said. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," Hanna said, brushing it off. She pulled her arm back and threw her bangs out of her eyes. "It's just…not funny. It took me a really long time to get over that."

"Hanna, I am so sorry," Ali said from across the table.

"It's in the past," Hanna said, not letting her finish making apologies or excuses. "Let's leave it there."

"I think that's a good call," Emily chimed in. "Spencer, how are things in Washington?"

"They're good," Spencer said. "By some miracle it didn't take me long to find another job…but I don't like it as much as I liked the other one, and I have even less free time. But, it pays the bills."

"Do you think you'll stay there?" Aria asked. "Do you still want to be in D.C.? Hanna was saying she might move to California."

"Really?" Spencer said, looking to Hanna. "And, uh…Caleb's all right with that?"

Hanna looked awkward for a minute, continuing to play with the straw wrapper. "Yeah," she said, nodding, "it was actually his idea."

"Well good for you guys," Spencer said. "I'm sure Em will be able to show you all the best hangouts."

"I'd love to go back out there," Emily said. "It's so beautiful…you can spend your weekends on the beach, never have to worry about snow, the night life is great…I think you'll like it. Are you sure you're okay leaving New York though? You love New York."

"I want Caleb to be happy too," Hanna said. "I made the mistake of putting myself first once already, and it's not a mistake I want to make again. We need to find a place where we can both be happy."

"Just don't come back to Rosewood," Ali said bitterly. "Nothing ever changes here. It's the same people with the same problems. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I'd moved far, far away."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Aria said. She found herself watching Emily's reaction again, making a mental note to ask her where she and Ali stood. As if on cue, Emily turned with a look of confusion on her face.

"Where else would you want to live?" Emily asked.

Aria watched the look that passed between Emily and Ali. She knew that there was some unresolved tension between them…some feelings that hadn't been hashed out in their entirety.

The first month or so after everyone split up, Aria and Emily had continued to spend a lot of time together. However, as Aria discovered she was pregnant and made the decision to keep that to herself for a while, she'd started distancing herself in a way. The talked in passing and over the phone, but she left face-to-face encounters to chance. Emily hadn't seemed to mind, or even notice, since she had both Ali and Sabrina to keep her company. What Aria couldn't figure out was her relationship to either of the other women. She knew there had been feelings in the past for each of them, but she wasn't sure what latest news was, and she wasn't about to ask when she had her own secrets…and for as much as Aria didn't talk to Emily, she talked to Ali even less.

"I don't know where else I'd want to live," Ali said, her arms folded in front of her, the long cascading blonde hair piled around her shoulders. "Anywhere would be better than here. All this place holds is bad memories."

In a desperate attempt to redirect the conversations, Spencer turned to Aria. "What about you and Ezra. What are your plans for the future? Have you set a definitive date?" Spencer took a break from her barrage of questioning only long enough to sip her sangria. "Do you think you'll move anytime soon or does he want to stay here?"

Aria cleared her throat, placed her hands on either side of her chair, and scooted forward a little, uncrossing her legs and bouncing her knees just slightly. She let a smile creep up over her face as she thought of what she knew to expect for her future. This was it, and she was so excited to tell them that she was afraid her face was going to give it away before she could spit it out.

"Well," she said, "since you asked…we did set a date for the wedding. Right now the plan is next summer; June 23."

"That seems so far away!" Spencer said. "I know you've always talked about a summer wedding, but I really thought you'd go for this fall, or early winter. I feel like you and Ezra have been together forever. You're really going to wait another, what, ten months?"

"They're already practically married," Emily said.

Aria laughed, more out of happy nervousness than Emily's comment. "Well…we have been tossing around the idea of eloping over the next few weeks, something short and sweet to make it official but…in terms of an actual wedding, something's sort of…come up, recently." Aria spoke slowly, easing her way into what she had to say. "If we're going to do a full-blown wedding, ceremony, reception, the works…we want to wait until after the baby," she said.

What she said hit them each at different moments, and Aria thoroughly enjoyed watching the realization wash over each of them. Ali seemed to be in a state of disbelief, as if she'd misheard, or as if Aria was teasing. She was smiling, but the fact that her eyebrows were wrinkled together gave her uncertainty away. Hanna let out a shrill squeak and threw both of her hands over her mouth at the same time that Emily burst out, "oh my god, Aria!"

Aria bit her lip in an attempt to keep her smile somewhat contained. There was one person who'd yet to let out some type of reaction, and it was the person whose opinion she valued most, next to Ezra and probably Ella.

"Spence," she said slowly, leaning so that her back was toward Ali and she was now facing Spencer straight on. "Say something? I know we've talked a million times, and I wanted to tell you but…"

At the sound of Aria's words, Spencer let out a choked sob and threw herself forward, enveloping her small friend in a huge hug. Aria leaned into Spencer's arms with, pouring every ounce of love an apology she had into that one single gesture.

"You're not kidding, right?" she asked through tears and hair. "You wouldn't tease about something like this?"

"Nope," Aria said with a laugh. "Eleven weeks in the hole."

Spencer pulled back a little and gave Aria a once over. "I couldn't even tell; you're so tiny!"

"Oh, no I'm not," she said. "Want to see how not tiny I've become?" She scooted back and stood, pulling her shirt taught over her midsection. "There is very much a baby in there. I have the receipt for these pants to prove it."

"That was you at the mall the other day, wasn't it?" Emily said. "I thought I saw you and your mom walking around last weekend but I was all the way on the other side of the building and you were coming out of Motherhood so I figured it was just somebody that looked like you." She paused for a minute, thinking about what she was saying. "What were you doing all the way out there? That mall is like, hours away."

Aria didn't get the chance to answer because the waiter was approaching with a tray and half their dishes, followed closely behind by a waitress and another tray.

"Jeez, this makes more sense now," said Hanna, looking at the stack of plates that were piled in front of Aria. "You're eating for two."

"Baby Fitz has a terrible appetite," Aria said. She was overcome with happiness. Being able to openly share what had been going on in her life over the past eleven weeks made her feel like she could conquer the world. And incredible weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "And by terrible I mean that I have wanted to eat everything in sight for days and it only stays down half of the time. Fruit is not our favorite thing. However, we do love grease…and meat. There is no doubt this is Ezra's baby."

"Yeah, I noticed the bacon but I wasn't going to say anything," Spencer said, still wiping away at her tears, a huge grin still plastered across her face. "God, I'm so happy for you. You're going to be the best mom. Are you excited?"

"How is Ezra doing?" Ali asked.

The waiter and waitress were nearly done setting plates down around the table, and Aria did her best to respond through their tangle of arms while still being respectful of their presence.

"We're both extremely excited," Aria said, "thank you," she added as the waiter placed her smoothie down next to her water. "We know the timing isn't ideal, but at the same time…it's been a running joke that we were able to make it this long without getting pregnant, so, in all reality, this is a great time compared to what it could have been."

"Shit, I hadn't even thought of that," Spencer added. "What would your mother have said if you came home pregnant in high school?"

"Nothing – you were the one dating her English teacher," Aria said, sticking out her tongue.

"Ha-ha," Spencer said dryly. "That was not a fun time. I love you, you know I do, but I am not interested in taking the fall for your bad decision making."

"Well relax, she only thought you were the slut for a few days."

"She did not think you were a slut, Aria," Spencer said, tilting her head. "I was joking when I said that."

"I know you were," Aria cut back, "I'm joking too. Relax, it's all good. Ella is really excited about being a grandma."

They were all digging in to their plates and though the conversation did not die down completely, the table did grow quieter. They chatted for a long time about plans regarding the baby and the wedding – did they know the sex yet? Were they going to pick godparents? Was Aria going to take Ezra's last name? What about the baby?

They were all questions Aria had expected, and she was so glad to finally discuss them with her closest friends. When their plates were finally empty, and Aria had what was left of her waffle packed away in a box, Spencer brought up the question of later that evening.

"So do we still want to go in to Philly for dinner and drinks, or do you want to do something else since preggers here refuses to drink any alcohol?"'

"Please don't change plans just because of me. I can't even promise I'll be able to stay up as late as you all would want to. I feel like all I do is sleep."

"We all know that's a lie," Hanna said, winking. "Remember, we saw your little token of late night activities."

Aria scoffed. "Who on earth said I got this in the middle of the night?"

"Ohhhhhh," Spencer said, sarcastically half-covering her mouth, "burn, Han. Those two are full on domestic, but you should know better." She looked at Aria and squinted her eyes before lifting her chin a little. "Mid morning, right before you left, a quickie to get the day started on the right foot," she said, her eyes now little slits and the corner of her mouth pulled up in a wicked grin. "I think I've earned the place of both Maid of Honor and God Mother."

"Not fair," Emily said, "you two have been best friends since kindergarten, you can't pull trump cards like that."

"What about me knowing when those two like to get frisky has anything to do with who I was friends with in Kindergarten?"

The waiter came back with their checks and Spencer reached out for Aria's before she had the chance to take it off the table.

"No, Spence," Aria said, reaching for the bill. "I can't let you pay for me; that bill can't be any less than thirty dollars."

"It's my treat. Congratulations, my tiny friend. You're going to have a tiny baby, and I want to treat you both."

Aria's shoulders sank as she looked at Spencer. She had missed her terribly. The aching in her heart at seeing her after all these weeks apart was only growing stronger as she thought of the fact that she'd be leaving again soon. She loved each of her friends dearly, but she and Spencer had a special bond.

"Thank you," she said quietly. The other three girls had stopped paying attention and were tallying out their tips as well.

"You're welcome," Spencer said with a smile. "It's my pleasure."

It was eventually decided that instead of going out that night, they'd reconvene for coffee the next day. Spencer was going to be in town until Sunday evening, and any possibility of the whole group getting together to do anything that night had been squashed after Emily was hijacked by one of the other Radley barkeeps. Emily was doing better financially, but the offer of an extra shift that night was too good to pass up.

Hanna, Ali, and Emily were all parked in one direction, and Spencer and Aria were parked in the other. Spencer and Aria stood on the sidewalk for a moment, watching the other three head off down the road.

"What's up with Em and Ali?" Spencer asked once they were out of earshot.

"I don't really know," Aria said. "I've been wondering the same thing. The early autumn sun was warm on their backs and it was beginning to smell like fall.

"I've got a proposition," Spencer said. "If Ezra can do without you for the night…come over for one last slumber party. Just the two of us…I've missed my best friend. We can gossip and do each others nails and talk about guys…"

"I would love that," Aria said. "I'll bring popcorn, and old movies, you bring the nail polish and face masks?"

"It sounds like a date." Spencer held the strap of her purse, her blouse billowing around her arms in the light wind. She looked to her feet then back up at Aria. "You know, there's no one quite like you in D.C."

"There's no one quite like you in Rosewood." Aria tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Except for right now, of course. Wanna make the most of it?"

"Absolutely."

"Then I'll see you around eight?"

"That sounds perfect," Spencer said. She walked Aria to her car and leaned in the open window as Aria buckled in. The seat belt pressed against her, framing the baby and Spencer was lost for a second in thought. Aria watched as something darted behind Spencer's eyes, thinking that she'd have to watch her later to see if something bigger was troubling her. "I'm really glad you're home for a few days, Spence. I missed you."

Spencer moved her attention back up to Aria's face and Aria could see the glistening of a few tears at the rim of her eyelids. "I've missed you too, Ar. More than you know."

A/N: So I feel like this was sort of a highly anticipated chapter, if only because the girls are finally in it... I'll tell you what, Aria had a lot of people left to tell about this baby! I'm glad that it's (mostly) all out in the open. Hopefully her conversation with them, and the way she announced it was satisfactory enough. I thought of a few gimicky type things but none of them felt natural enough for the story I'd started, so I figured something simple and honest was the best route to take.

What do you think will happen next? I'm feeling some Team Sparia vibes coming on... do we want a little Ezria in between, or should we dive right in to Sparia? I love them both :) for different reasons... Leave a review and let me know what you thought. As always, thanks for taking the time to read this.