A/N: I realize that if I had any kind of self restraint, I'd keep this chapter to myself for a little while longer...maybe make you wonder what's going on for a week or so. But...I got it written today and this is our last week of PLL for a while, so I figured it might be a nice little treat to get two postings back to back. Just don't get used to it.

Special thanks to everyone who has ever left a review, but especially those who left one after the last chapter; you played a huge part in getting me to write a chapter today.

The waiting room was cold and sterile and dark. Spencer was curled up in one of the chairs, her hair a mess, her face shallow and unmoving. She had her knees pulled against her chest and her hands were shoved there between them, folded, one thumb picking lightly at the cuticle of the other. She was deep in thought, and she still wasn't sure if she'd make it through the night without getting sick.

She looked up to the clock on the wall. The hands read four-thirty but it felt later. The sky outside was pitch black with night but there was an eerie haziness to it as well. The promise of rain was palpable.

Rolling her head back, she felt one tiny pop. All she could think about was Aria and what was happening down the hall. For the hundredth time, she heard Ezra's groggy voice run through her mind. There had been a layer of panic from the moment he'd answered. She'd used her own phone rather than Aria's thinking it would somehow make him worry less. Oh, how wrong she'd been.

Now, as she sat all alone, wondering what was going on, dreaming up all the different possibilities, she put herself in his shoes and imagined what it must feel like to be in a similar position. Having to drive to the hospital to meet your pregnant fiancé who you thought was safely asleep at a friend's house.

She felt like she was going to be sick.

Spencer threw both of her legs off the chair and rushed over to the trashcan. As she was passing the hall, she caught a glance at the nurse's station and spotted Ezra. He was on his way down, his features somber. Everything about him looked tired, and it wasn't just because he'd been woken up from his sleep. The need to vomit was amplified at the thought of getting an update but Spencer squelched it down and stayed where she was standing, folding her arms in at her chest.

It was the first time Ezra had left Aria's side since they'd gotten there, the first time he, or anyone for that matter, had come to update Spencer since they'd gotten there, which was approximately three hours ago. She had no idea what was going on. Seeing him walking toward her now either meant something good, or it meant…

"How is she?" Spencer said once he was close enough that he could hear her.

He ran a hand through his hair. It was curly and unkempt, just as heavy with sleep as the rest of his body. He had thrown his clothes on in a hurry, and he'd left the loft in his house shoes. The t-shirt he was wearing had a rip in the underarm, and the zip-up hoodie he'd tossed on over it wasn't nice enough to make up for it. As he stood before Spencer, he played with his cell phone, letting it slide between his fingers as he pushed it off his chest, turned it, pushed it off again.

He took in a deep sigh and walked right past Spencer, knowing she'd follow, and took a heavy seat in one of the waiting room chairs. He waited for her to plop down beside him before he opened his mouth. He shoved his phone in the pocket of his hoodie and rubbed his eyes with both his hands.

"She's healthy," he said, speaking slowly. "She…and Aria," he took in a deep breath and Spencer could see the relief, the happiness, the tired but tangible elation pass through him, "are both healthy and doing just fine." He let out a light laugh followed by the threat of more crying and Spencer's heart nearly broke in two.

Her eyes welled with new tears and the corners of her mouth began to quiver. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a choked sob. The weight of three hour's waiting escaped through that one breath. Ezra reached out and sat an arm across her shoulders, bringing her into his side. Spencer sank into him, her shoulders shaking as she cried from relief.

"She went into preterm labor…the contractions were far enough apart that they were able to stop them. Thank you, so much, for being there for her tonight," he said.

Spencer let him hold her as she let the news spread through her, calming and quieting every inch of her body that had been overrun by terrible thoughts of a miscarriage, premature birth, or other messy complications.

"God, don't thank me," she said finally. "She should have been with you."

"This would have happened tonight regardless of who she was with, regardless of where she was sleeping. She was severely dehydrated, probably from all the morning sickness and the fact that she refuses to stop drinking coffee. Which…by the way, we've got to fix. Keep her on a strict H2O diet when she's with you, okay? Juices are fine, but no soda, no coffee."

He let go of her shoulders but gave her a teasing glance as he leaned away. Spencer chuckled, knowing that Aria's caffeine addiction was both of their faults. She took the sleeve of her jacket and dabbed at her eyes.

"So it's a girl?" she asked.

Ezra smiled and nodded. He was resting one elbow along the arm of the chair and had his chin propped up in his hand, but he was staring across the room and out the window at the night sky. He was lost in thought. Lost deep in thought, and Spencer couldn't imagine the countless number of things running through his mind. He came out of himself a little and leaned back against the chair, but his eyes were still locked on the window.

"As soon as they'd stopped her contractions and were finished running all the tests we asked if they could take a minute to let us know the sex." He trailed off for a second. "I think tonight did a good job of scaring us both into needing a little something extra to hold on to."

Spencer nodded and slumped into her chair too. She couldn't claim to be just as exhausted as Ezra, but she could claim to be close to it. Aria was like a sister to her and after only one day of knowing of it's existence, that baby had already wrapped itself around her pinky finger. She had a huge soft spot for Aria and Ezra, and she'd do anything for their little family. The thought of watching Aria lose her baby—or worse, a possibility that had crept into her mind after about an hour of no news, the thought of losing Aria—neither were thoughts Spencer wanted to find herself thinking again.

"I want you to know that she'll always have a home and someone who loves her, as long as I'm around," Spencer said quietly. "Both of them, really, but specifically the baby. Aria's stronger than anyone I know, but I think she's more worried about impending motherhood than she lets on. I just want you to know that…if anything were to happen, I'm here for the long hull too."

Ezra finally tore his eyes away from the window and looked back at the young woman sitting beside him. He leaned forward so that both his elbows were on his knees and folded his hands there between them, framing his nose with his pointer fingers and letting his chin rest on his thumbs. At first, he'd thought she was talking about Aria, but he quickly realized the 'she' Spencer had been referring to was his daughter.

His daughter. His baby girl.

A new set of tears began to cloud his vision and he didn't do anything but nod, not facing Spencer for fear of losing control in front of her. Even though he'd been in the room or just outside the door the whole time didn't mean his thoughts hadn't been riddled with the same horrible possibilities as Spencer's.

There was silence between them, but as Spencer watched Ezra's back begin to shake, she felt the need to lend her comfort. She reached out and returned his gesture from a few moments ago, placing an arm at his back, and rubbing her hand between his shoulder blades.

"We're a mess," she said, her voice thick with unshed tears and bitter laughter. "How can two such tiny people make this much impact?"

Ezra smiled and leaned back, causing Spencer's hand to slide back into her lap. "I have asked myself that more times than I can count."

They sat in shared silence; each of them wishing this wasn't where their night had ended up, but both glad it hadn't gone further or in a different direction.

"Can I go see her?" Spencer asked finally.

"Yeah," Ezra said. He smoothed over the knees of his flannel pajama bottoms and stood. "I'll walk you back there. I told them you were her sister. Just in case anybody asks."

Spencer nodded and followed him down the hall. When they were standing outside her door, Spencer held out a hand and stopped Ezra from reaching for the handle.

"Wait," she said. He looked at her in confusion.

"You said they're both fine, but…there was a lot of blood. Do they know where that was coming from? Why was she bleeding?"

Ezra retracted his hand. "Lack of fluids aside, they're both doing well. I don't think there was as much blood as it seemed; some spotting is normal throughout a pregnancy, though this did seem like it was a little more than normal. It was probably just a symptom of the preterm labor, but they told us it's nothing to worry about if we're careful these last few months. The doctor said it was all probably just from stress, but she's been put on bed rest in case it turns into anything else."

"God," Spencer said. She parted her lips a little, breathing in and out as she tried not to let herself cry again. She ran a finger under each eye, trying to make herself look pulled together—or at least not like she'd spent the past three hours an uncontrollable mess. "I feel like this is my fault."

"It's no one's fault, Spencer. You were with her for maybe four, five hours tops? I've been with her the whole time. She's pregnant. These things happen. They're scary as hell, and they don't always turn out like tonight, but they happen." He waited a moment until it looked like she'd gained most of her composure. "Are you ready?"

She swallowed and licked her lips, nodding. "Is there anything I should know before I talk to her?"

"No," Ezra said.

He hadn't spent a lot of one-on-one time with Spencer, but of all of Aria's friends, she seemed to be most in tune with what was best for Aria, she seemed to have genuine, lasting interest in her, and he was glad to know she was there for her without any hesitation. When Aria had come home earlier that day telling him she had made a plan to stay with Spencer that night, he hadn't thought twice about it. He knew Aria needed her friends, but she needed Spencer specifically.

Seeing the other half of that equation now, he realized the same probably went both ways.

"She's probably ready to rest, but I think she was going to wait to sleep until after she talked to you," he added.

This seemed to give Spencer the encouragement she needed. "Okay. Then I'm ready."

Ezra reached out again and pushed the door open. Aria was positioned on the bed in a way that made her look much smaller than she really was. There were IVs hooked up to her, monitors blinking, machines chirping, and the white thermal blanket that covered her topped it all off. She looked exhausted, but she smiled lazily when she saw them.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi, beautiful," Ezra said, stepping forward and taking a seat at her side. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired, but good," she said. "I can't believe how much better I feel already. I didn't even realize what I was feeling wasn't normal." Ezra reached out and laid a hand atop her belly, rubbing it back and forth in a loving gesture. Aria looked lazily between Ezra and Spencer. "Did you tell her?" she asked him. She looked up at Spencer then patted the other side of the bed where there was a sliver of space, just enough for her to take a seat.

"She's going to be a handful, I hope you're ready," Spencer said. She stayed standing.

Aria beamed and let out a deep breath. "She can do whatever she wants as long as she stays healthy."

"I agree, one hundred percent," Ezra echoed. He stretched out so that he was propped up on his side, his head hovering above Aria's knee. "They want you to stay the rest of the night. I'm going to call your mom and dad, let them know what happened, that you're fine, check with the nurses to see if there's anything we should watch for as you sleep…do you need anything? Feeling hungry?"

Aria smiled, but shook her head. "I'm good for now," she said. "When you call Ella, make sure you open by saying everything's fine. Don't lead with the fact that I'm in the hospital—and don't tell her the sex of the baby yet either. I don't think I want anyone else to know for a while."

"Can do," he said. He pushed forward and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. Spencer watched Aria's eyes close as he did so. Her body seemed to physically relax at his touch, and the lazy smile, which had graced her features a moment ago was still plastered there. She thought it would probably be there for the rest of the night and well into tomorrow.

Once the door clicked shut behind Ezra and they were alone in the room, Aria turned to Spencer. "Come up here with me," she said, scooting over so that there was room beside her on the bed.

Now that Ezra was gone, Spencer didn't argue. She adjusted the pillow behind Aria's back and sat herself down on top of the covers.

"You scared the shit out of me," she said.

"I scared the shit out of you? I scared the shit out of me," Aria countered.

"Has anything like this happened before?"

"No, nothing," Aria said. "And I hope this is the last time I'm here until I'm having real contractions. I swear I will drink five gallons of water a day and live in the bathroom if it means I don't have to have another night like tonight." She let her head fall back on the pillows. "Spencer, I really thought I lost her."

"So did I," Spencer said. Tentatively, she reached out and ran her hand along Aria's belly where Ezra's had been before. "Can you feel her move yet?" she asked.

Aria scooted back a little so that she was sitting up more. She tucked the blanket below her belly and lifted the hem of her hospital gown so that just her skin was showing. She lightly tapped her fingers across the top in a fluttery motion and whispered, "anybody in there?" They waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. "I'm supposed to feel movement soon. They said the gestational sac is definitely in the front, so I should be able to feel a lot of movement. I don't think I've felt anything yet, though."

"I'm sure you'll know when you do," Spencer offered.

Aria fixed her gown and pulled the covers back up, this time bringing them all the way past her belly to her shoulders. "I'm sorry our night was ruined," she said. She turned to face Spencer and drew up the corner of her mouth, passing a look of disappointment.

"Don't be sorry," Spencer said, shifting so they weren't completely nose-to-nose. "I had a great time, and we'll do it again soon. Maybe next time I'll just come to you so Ezra can still be there. I don't think I trust myself to take care of you on my own."

Aria chuckled.

"You were the picture of confidence. Very collected, very calm. Hastings girls perform well under pressure." The words were true but they sat heavily between the two girls. Aria cleared her throat and averted her eyes. There was a question she'd wanted to ask, but she wasn't sure how she'd do when she heard the answer. "How'd he sound when you called?"

They both sobered up quickly and the room seemed to grow thick with the events of the night.

"Like he might have just lost his reason to live," Spencer said quietly.

There wasn't anything that could be said in this moment that would lessen the weight of her words. They both knew it was more than likely true.

"You guys are going to be the best parents," Spencer offered. "She's the luckiest little girl in the world."

Aria stared down at her lap, envisioning the life that was inside her. "I want so much for her already," she said. "How am I supposed to bring another life into this world, knowing all the terrible things that could happen. We were lucky. There were so many times when things could have turned out differently for us. We shouldn't still be alive. Thing shouldn't have ended the way they did."

Outside, rain began to beat down against the building. A large clap of thunder resounded around them just before a flash of lightning brightened the dim corners of the room. The rain picked up between each thunderous boom, and in some way, it seemed to soften the space around them. Aria could sense that Spencer was holding something back again. She was getting to the point where she couldn't keep her eyes open, but this was the fourth or fifth time she'd noticed that there was something being left unsaid, and after tonight, Aria wasn't in the mood to play a game of secrets.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" she asked quietly.

The slight shift that passed through Spencer's eyes gave way to a world of hurt, and Aria almost regretted prying. She noticed in this moment the way Spencer's eyes had dark spots beginning to form beneath them; she looked exhausted—mentally and physically drained. Her hair had a natural curl that she didn't often let the world see. Perhaps that was due to the late hour, but Aria recalled that it had looked that way at brunch that morning too. They were small changes in physical character, but they stood out now that Aria noticed them.

"You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to, but I can tell there's something bothering you," she said, giving Spencer the option to avoid the conversation if she truly needed to.

Spencer cleared her throat and shook her head. The two girls were snuggled into the bed at this point, enjoying the time they had to themselves. After Aria announced her pregnancy that morning, Spencer had intended to share what was weighing on her at some point during their evening…it was just, each time the opportunity came up, she'd managed to find a way around it before gathering the courage to open up to it. Now that Aria was calling her out, she felt it needed to be said.

"Did I ever tell you why Toby and I broke up?" she asked.

Aria was silent for a moment, thinking back to when she'd gotten that phone call…they'd had many conversations about it, but nothing significant stood out. "You said it was just a distance thing. You were living too far apart, and after the short time away from each other you'd started to change…is that not what really happened?"

She didn't move to look at Spencer at all. Instead, she stayed focused on the curtain that was drawn, separating them from the windows that lead to the hallway on the other side. She could feel through Spencer's body language that her attention was focused somewhere further to the right. She was sharing whatever it was that had been sitting on her shoulders, but she was doing it out of an obligation of love or respect rather than a desire for attention. Aria respected this, and she urged herself to hear whatever would come next with open ears.

"We, uh…we had a pregnancy scare," Spencer said, the end up her sentence curling up like a question. "It was freshman year. He'd come to visit during a long weekend a month before and…I never got my period."

Aria's face grew warm as she listened to the words being spoken. She thought back to the conversations they'd had earlier that day, of the way Spencer had reacted at her news during brunch…of the way she'd act anytime Toby and Yvonne were in the same room. Aria's heart broke as she put the puzzle pieces together.

"It wasn't the right time," Spencer continued. Her voice was growing thick again, and Aria could tell that there were tears threatening to spill over. "It wasn't a conversation we'd ever had—it never seemed like something we needed to worry about. I called him in a panic when the possibility occurred to me. Don't think me a horrible person, but it was the last thing I wanted. I…I don't think I would have had the baby if it had turned out I really was pregnant. I think he knew that…and I don't think he would have agreed with the decision. He drove all the way out to sit with me while I took a test, and, you know, as we were sitting there, all of these thoughts started swirling around in my head.

"I knew the life Toby wanted, and I knew where I was headed…and I knew in my heart that they weren't going to match up, at least not for a really long time."

There was a heavy pause and Aria took that moment to reach over and pull a tissue out of the box beside her bed. She handed it to Spencer and stayed facing her as Spencer dabbed at the corners of her eyes.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Aria asked.

Spencer turned and gave her friend a watery look, her expression full of love. "I didn't want it to matter enough to say something," she said. "I think I thought if I talked about it, especially if I talked about it with you, that I'd get talked into a life I wasn't ready for."

"Spencer, I would never try to talk you into something you didn't want."

"No, I know," she said. "I guess that's the thing. Deep down, I did want it, but I was afraid of it. I was afraid of what it would mean, of where I'd end up…I wasn't ready."

"It got worse when you found out he was dating Yvonne, didn't it?" Aria's voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, and she was ready when Spencer's shoulders began to shake as tears poured forth. Aria sat up completely and pulled Spencer in to her. They sat like that for several minutes until Spencer was able to stop shaking.

"You're little but you're big, you know it?" Spencer said as she pulled away, wiping at the remaining tears. "I always thought, if only one of us made it out of all that mess, it'd be you."

"You're just as strong as I am," Aria said. "We're just strong in different ways."

"I just miss him," Spencer said quietly. "That's all. I miss what we used to have."

Aria gave Spencer a sympathetic look. "I know what you mean," she said, thinking of the five years she and Ezra spent a world apart. She yawned, water leaking out the corners of her eyes as she did and she leaned back against the bed. Just then, the door opened and Ezra came back through with a few extra blankets in hand.

"Thank you," Spencer whispered to Aria, before reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry I kept you up. You need your sleep."

Ezra kept his distance, not wanting to interrupt what was clearly a private moment. When Spencer eased herself off the bed, he met her eyes and raised his brows, holding out a blanket to her.

"There are two chairs," he said. "It's pouring out and you shouldn't drive home in this. They're not the best beds, but they're better than nothing."

Spencer stepped forward and took the blanket from Ezra's outstretched hand. She looked between them, but by the time her eyes landed on Aria again, she was already fast asleep.

Ezra moved over and took one of the extra blankets, draping it over her body and pulling it up over her belly. Spencer watched from the corner where she was standing at one of the chairs, acting interested in the back of her hands. Ezra bent forward and placed a tender kiss on Aria's pregnant belly before continuing up to place one at her forehead. She expected him to pull away after that and was surprised when he didn't right away. He hovered over her for a minute, closed his eyes and gave the top of her head a kiss as well, staying there against her long enough to breath her in.

Spencer ached to have something like that.

She wasn't sure if what she wanted was a boyfriend, a family, or simply someone to love her as much as Ezra loved Aria…or as much as Aria loved Ezra. She'd had that with Toby. She'd thought she had that with Caleb.

But with some distance, she realized that there'd been something missing from both of them. Ezra and Aria seemed to have a longevity that promised a full life.

Ezra finally pulled away from Aria's sleeping form, and as he turned to grab his own blanket, he caught Spencer's eye.

"Stay," he said quietly, giving her a nod.

But what was really being said was, 'thank you.'

A/N: So it's nothing crazy...probably about what you expected, but hopefully you found it to be satisfactory. Of course I'm not going to have her miscarry...that would be too sad, and this is supposed to be a fic filled with fluff.

What do you think we'll see next chapter? What do you hope we'll see in the future? Pretty soon here I'm going to need to speed up this timeline, or else it'll take us forever to get to the good stuff. How do you feel about the pace? Do you like seeing every-day type things or are you wishing it moved a little faster?

Let me know what you're thinking. I'll try to post again later this week or next. Have a great week.