A/N: There was a lot of thought and talking about this chapter, so I hope it goes over well! Also, given the announcements that I have been able to read as of late about PLL season 3, I'm working in what I can, because it's easier than trying to dream up some alternate (but just as wonky) world, but there are some made up parts. OH! And by Katelyn and Jordan, I mean Katelyn Tarver and Jordan McCoy. They were on American Juniors with Lucy.

Chapter 7

I Wear A Halo

Lucy straightened her shirt down over her stomach, scrutinizing the now discernable bump. She had been dreading this day for almost three months, since she'd found out she was pregnant. It wasn't that she didn't love Ian or want to have their baby, but with the way it had come on so suddenly made her nervous about how much damage control their reps were going to have to do. They had made an agreement that they were going to publicly admit it via their own twitters, and then look at the offers for interviews that were sure to roll in, before choosing one. There was some talk about one or a few of the girls going on Ellen to promote season three since it was going to be starting in just under a week, and Lucy couldn't help but feel a slight hope that maybe she would be chosen. She wasn't holding her breath, though.

"Your clothes comfortable?"

She looked up to her doorway. Ian was standing there. She shrugged. "The skirt a few sizes larger, so it's alright. Its my shirt that's bugging me. Aria's not pregnant, so why something so form-fitting?"

Ian chuckled, walking over to the couch in her dressing room. He picked up the jean jacket on it and walked over to her. Lucy slipped her arms into the sleeves and pulled it around her body, looking at herself in the mirror again.

"Doesn't help much," she murmured.

Ian chuckled. "Well they're blocking for scenes in the cafeteria and at Ezra's apartment, so I'm sure they're going to be stealth about it."

Lucy giggled, rolling her eyes. "Stealth. This is what I get for offering to let you watch The OC with me."

"My name's Pippins McGee," he teased. Lucy laughed and leaned back against him, pouting at the image reflected in the mirror. She wasn't yet comfortable with the fact that she was now obviously pregnant. Ian ran his hands over her stomach. "Smile. Our daughter is just trying to get comfortable."

Lucy smiled, resting her hands over his as she tilted her head to the side. "What makes you think it's not a boy?"

"I-" Ian suddenly stopped at the sound of something clicking. Holly was standing at the doorway with her phone out.

"What's up with all these pics, mamma bear?" Ian teased. "I thought you weren't Team Lucian?"

Holly stuck her tongue out at Ian. "I'm Team Goose, Boy Wonder. Deal with it."

Lucy looked up at Holly with a pensive expression. "Send me that photo. Maybe I can do something with it today."

Holly nodded. She pushed a few buttons on her iPhone, and a moment later, Lucy's phone chimed with the alert of a new message. She picked it up off the table and saved it to her phone.

"Alright kiddos," Holly said. "We're needed in the Fitz apartment and Patrick is waiting for us. Lets go."

Lucy headed out of the room with Holly and Ian and headed towards set.

The day passed lazily with her being pulled back and forth between set. When she wasn't shooting, she was often resting in her dressing room. By mid-afternoon though, she hadn't said anything beyond her initial twitter post the night before that she and Ian would be announcing something on her newly acquired official website.

She sat down on the couch in her room and settled her laptop on the coffee table in front of her. She loaded it up and then opened her website server. She looked around, slightly confused. After a moment, she looked up at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. She stood up and walked over to the door.

"Cody!"

He smiled at her, tucking his cell phone into his pocket. "Hey, Lucy! What's up?"

"You understand ftp and http and all that crap, right?" She asked. "I'm totally confused."

He nodded, following her back into her dressing room, over to her couch. He sat down next to her and turned her laptop around. "You logged in and everything?"

Lucy nodded. Cody clicked on a few different things and then opened up a new page. "There. You're good to go."

"And I can upload photos with this too?" She asked.

Cody nodded. "Just click this and pick your photo, and then pick your layout, and then when you're finished, post it."

"Okay," Lucy said. She looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks."

Cody nodded. His phone rang in his pocket, and he pulled it out. "I've gotta go up to set. Text me if you need help with anything else."

Lucy nodded and watched as he walked out of the room before she scooted forward on her couch. She ran a hand over her bump and pressed her lips together nervously for a moment before grabbing her laptop and pulling it into her lap. She began to type.

After about ten minutes, she read over what she had typed up and then sent it through. A moment later, she clicked on her twitter tab and began to type in the small message box.

lucyyhale
Annoucement announced lucyyhalecom
ianmharding /3s0dsi

She tweeted the message and then clicked on the tab where her website was loaded. She refreshed it and spotted the message just under the header. She went back to her ftp server and edited the latest news next to the photo of her that was in her header and then went back to her page again and refreshed once more. Next to her photo read Lucy and Ian's big announcement, announced.

She scrolled down the page and began to read the message once more that she'd typed, making sure that she hadn't made any typing errors.

Hey guys. It's Lucy.

There have been a lot of questions since I announced that Ian and I had an announcement to make yesterday. Truth is, I've been putting this off for a few weeks now, waiting for the right time. We've been nervous to bring this news to the fans, but we felt like now was the right time.

As you know, Ian and I have been together for a few months now. There's been a lot that's been said from a lot of different 'sources', and Ian and I want to set the record straight.

We're pregnant. This is big and important news for us to share with you, and we wanted to make sure it was shared at the right time. It won't be affecting my spot on PLL as Aria. As I said, though, I know there are a lot of questions, and we will have answers in the coming days.

As always, we love you and thank you so much for the continued support.

Xoxo, Luce

-
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound
-

Lucy looked up at Ian as she munched on a French fry. "Well, it seems like the general consensus is what we figured. People are excited and confused. And lots of questions, of course."

Ian walked over to her and handed her a glass of water before walking around the bed and sitting down next to her. Jack hopped up onto it after him and scampered over by Lucy. He rested his chin on her shin. She reached down and scratched him behind the ear and then grabbed another fry from her bag and commenced eating.

Ian picked up her phone and read the mentions she had on her feed. "I'm glad. It sure didn't take long for all those publications to jump on the demand for interviews."

He continued reading the messages as Lucy enjoyed her late-night snack. After a while, he scrolled back up to the top of the page and clicked on the new mentions. They flooded in over the next few seconds and the comments were confusing.

lucyyfan2
Can't believe he said that about
lucyyhale she doesn't deserve it

Siberialistening
lucyyhale is NOT a whore!
Can't believe she ever dated him!

Feeling angered but wanting to believe the best in people, avoided Chris's page and first opened up Alex Marshall's twitter. He read the recent messages.

alextmarshall
Headed to Huston tonight! On-stage at 7!

alextmarshall
Saw the news about lucyyhale
and ianmharding congrats
to them and their baby.

Ian bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. There was only one other person who could've said something and he wanted to kill him without even seeing what he had said. But he knew that Lucy would when she saw the messages on her phone, and so he opened the other mans page and began to read. Not surprisingly, he found another argument between Claire and Chris, among other things.

chriszylka
So the whore finally admitted
the bastard's existence. glad I'm not
Ianmharding

claireleahy
chriszylka you're not worthy
of being in his likes. Sorry we ever
even introduced you two.

chriszylka
claireleahy me too. she's
very clearly a whore.

claireleahy
chriszylka funny, you used to say
she was the best. you've really proved
just how much you don't deserve ANY
girl

chriszylka
claireleahy she's worthless, he's
worthless. And they're both pathetic.

claireleahy
chriszylka bet you'd never
say it to their faces.

Ian shook his head, wanting to throw Lucy's phone. Letting out an angered breath, he set the phone down between them and picked his up off the nightstand. He brought up his own twitter and sent through his own message. It frustrated the hell out of him that he even had to be this public with his life, and the fact that it was because of Chris that he was. He had never been so public with his life outside of Pretty Little Liars before and it irritated him to no end that he had to be because of this man.

ianmharding
claireleahy chriszylka ignore him. he's
not worth your time. yfrog/39sle

He sent the message through, and a few seconds later, received the notification that it had been retweeted by Claire. The photo was one from the previous weekend. Since Lucy wasn't going out with her friends to party anymore, they were trying to make more of an effort to make playdates during the day, and the week before, she'd made plans with Callie, Annie, and Claire to have dinner with their boyfriends at her old apartment that she'd shared with Annie. At the end of the night, Callie had snapped a photo of Lucy, Ian, Claire, Annie, and Kurt all sitting together. Lucy and Ian had been sitting in the middle of the couch with her on his lap and Claire and Annie had sat on either side of him, with Kurt sitting next to Claire. They all had their arms wrapped around each other, and Lucy had a hand on each of the girls knees to keep herself from falling over.

They all had genuinely had a good time that night, but it was to be expected. He got along well with Claire and Annie and thought they were great friends for Lucy. They were always there for her, and never judged her poorly, regardless of the choices she decided to make for her life. He knew people who weren't as fair with their friends.

"Why do you look like you want to shoot someone?" Lucy asked as she tossed her empty McDonalds bag onto into the trash.

Ian shook his head, looking up at her. "Same reason as always. Don't worry about it."

Lucy moved to grab her phone, but Ian stopped her. "Why? What'd he say now?"

Ian shook his head at her. "Its nothing you need to worry yourself with right now. It was very mean and in my opinion, he should be ashamed of himself for saying things so cruel."

Lucy stared him down for a few minutes, genuinely curious about what he'd said. She had seen Alex's twitter post earlier in the day when one of her friends had texted her about it, but this was Chris they were talking about. She'd thought that after their conversation that things were said and done once and for all.

"Fine," she said after a few minutes. She grabbed her phone and set it on the nightstand and then grabbed her laptop from the floor and opened her facebook while Ian got up and changed into different clothes.

As expected, there were posts on her wall from friends she hadn't worked with in a while congratulating her on the pregnancy and asking how and when she'd found out and other questions of the like. She replied to messages from Katelyn and Jordan privately to keep it off her wall and then went back to it and began to type with a link to her website.

Lucy Hale: yes, it's true that Ian and I are having a baby.
I've done everything I can to keep it away from the public,
But there's a few interviews coming up later this week and
I'll explain everything after that. Love all of you!

She sent it through and then clicked on the little blue envelope at the top of her page and began to scroll through the messages. After a few moments she stopped and paused. There was a personal message from Alex. While she had appreciated the public congratulations, she hadn't spoken to him in almost a year, since their breakup, and they certainly hadn't had any contact since then, except through fans mentions of them through twitter.

Nervously, she clicked on the message and began to read.

Hey Luce

I thought about this for a few hours before sending it, because I wasn't sure you'd want to hear from me or if you'd even bother to read this. I guess it's good if you're still reading at this point. I know we haven't spoken in a long time, but I just wanted to check in and congratulate you and Ian. I heard about you two officially being together a few weeks back and meant to send you a tweet about it, but I kept putting it off.

I'm glad to hear you're happy especially after what I've seen from that guy you were dating earlier this year. I'll keep my thoughts to myself about what I really think of him, but I'm won't say I'm not glad that you're no longer together. Especially after the things he said today…

Anyhow, just wanted to let you know I'm happy for you. Hope to hear from you soon, even if just to hear how you're doing. I'm sure that baby will be gorgeous like his or her mother when they're born!

-Alex

She stared at her screen for a few minutes after she'd finished reading the message the first time, and reread it to herself, making sure she'd read it correctly. When she was sure she had, she stared at her computer screen, unsure of what to do. Their relationship hadn't ended on the best of terms, and it had hurt when she and Alex had broken up. Even so, she knew that being in a real honest relationship with Ian meant not being hung up on the things that past boyfriends had done to her, and for as bad as she'd felt when she broke up with Alex, she knew that Chris had done worse.

She placed her fingers on the keys and began to type.

Alex,

First off, thank you for being more gracious about the news. I'll admit, there have been some ill replies to the news, but that's to be expected, I suppose. I would agree with you though, that Chris's actions haven't been stellar. To go into detail more than that just isn't worth the time at the moment.

I suppose it would be nice to meet for coffee or something when you get back to LA. We're going onto hiatus in just a few weeks and then I'll be headed to Tenn. for a visit with my family, and then off to Virginia to spend some time with the Harding's. Maybe July?

Still great to hear from you. Hope you're doing well, Alex! Write back and tell me how you're doing. :]

Lucy

-
Am I a lovesick fool or am I giving up
-

Ian stared down at the script on the table in front of him, grateful to have gotten away from set for the afternoon. He'd had an early call time and then been allowed to leave early, though that had been more driven by the fact that he'd been called in for a meeting with his representative. Even so, with such a warm day and little for him to do, he was happy to get away for a while.

A knock at the door brought him out of his thought process, and he dropped his pen into his script before walking over to the door. He opened it without bothering to ask who was standing outside, and immediately wanted to slam the door shut.

"What do you want?" He asked angrily.

Chris stood in front of him with his arms crossed in front of him. "Is Lucy here?"

"No," Ian sneered. "She's not. And I doubt she'd want to speak to you even if she was. So leave."

Chris stared him down, narrowing his eyes at Ian as Ian gave him an icy glare.

"I have no idea what she sees in you," Chris spat. "There's certainly nothing appealing to the eye about you. You're probably a pussy, too."

Ian rolled his eyes at the comment. "I'm closing the door now."

Chris put his hand on the door as Ian was pushing it shut. Ian huffed, opening it back up. "You don'twant to say one more word to me, because I promise you'll become well acquainted with my fist."

"I just gotta know," Chris said. "How drunk did you have to get her to get her to fuck you? I mean I know she's a whore, but I really want to know what it took? Really, how pathetic do you have to be to get into bed with another man's girl?"

"Goodbye, Chris."

"One day that kid is gonna have to hear how much of a slut it's mother is, and what a lowlife it's father is."

He couldn't take the words anymore, and before he really managed to even get a grasp on what he was doing, his knees hit the floor as he drilled his fist into Chris' face. He wanted to kill the man and make him pay for all the cruel things he'd said, but it took everything in him to stop after only a few punches, leaving the older man with a bloody face and a black eye.

"Now get the hell out of here," Ian growled as he shoved the door shut.

-
Who put that rock in your chest, won't you tell me
-

Lucy stared down at Ian's scabbed hand, gently rubbing Neosporin onto the self-inflicted injuries. The fact that he had hurt himself had been an after-thought when he'd hit Chris several days earlier. Telling Lucy had been even worse, because he'd known that when he told her she was going to be upset. Even so, he'd explained to her that he'd let his emotions get the best of him for once.

"I still can't believe you hit him and then went to that interview with me with your hand all bandaged up." Lucy said.

Ian shrugged, watching as she wrapped his hand lightly to keep the wounds clean. They kept cracking every time he curled his fist, so he was hoping some antibiotic ointment would help the healing process along.

"I wanted to kill him, Luce. I wanted to hurt him for the things he was saying, and it took everything in me to not keep going. And if we're talking about surprises, I'm a little surprised that the little son of a-"

"Language," she scolded lightly.

Ian rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Little evil boy hasn't taken to his twitter and made it seem like he's the victim."

"Why would he?" She asked. "That would mean admitting that he provoked you. And anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I've got the advance copy for this week's People and the cut from the Ellen interview yesterday, and you said you wanted to see them."

"I do," Ian said.

"Great."

Lucy got up and walked across the room. She grabbed her iPad from where she'd left it on the dining table and then walked back over to the couch and sat down next to him. She opened up the video first.

"Today I've got with me one of the girls from Pretty Little Liars. You might know a little something about her from her role in Sorority Wars, and she's done various guest spots on other shows, but this one is centered all around her character. We met a few months back at the People's Choice Awards, ladies and gentlemen, Lucy Hale!"

They watched attentively as Lucy walked out from backstage. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt that the set had dressed her in before she'd left work. It was a long t-shirt that fell past her bum, but showed her bump prominently.

Courtesies were exchanged as she walked over to Ellen and then they sat down and began to discuss the show.

"So you guys are coming back for your third season and things have been shaken up a bit. Tell us a little about that," Ellen said.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "It's six months later, and all the girls are dealing with the fallout from finding out who A was. They've all got PTSD, and they're just coming back from different places they spent on summer vacation."

Ellen nodded as well. "And I've heard some talk that your character carries a heavy burden at the beginning of this season as well."

"Yeah!" Lucy said excitedly. "One of our executive producers, Marlene, came to me right after the season started and sat Ian and I down and told us that there was a major story line they wanted to give Aria, because all of the other girls have really had their moment at this point, with Spencer and her fire, and Emily with the- it was drugs in ointment or something? And Hanna got hit by A in the car, and they sat us down and just asked if we were up for this twist and how we would feel about it and we decided to go forward with it. It's been so amazing being offered such a major project."

"Is there anything you can tell us about it?" Ellen asked.

Lucy chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "The best I can say is its something that was shifted from one character to another. Take that in whatever context you want to," she giggled. "But that's all I can say until it happens."

Ellen nodded, looking down at her note cards. "Your characters have certainly suffered their fair share of bullying, but you guys have come up with a really clever of making it clear that it's not okay."

Lucy nodded again. "Yeah, I loved that about the show, because this is a really cruel way of not only bullying but stalking and just hurting these girls, and ABC family has really gotten out there on a limb quite a bit lately."

"And you suffered with bullying quite a bit lately too," Ellen added.

Lucy nodded. Her tone shifted somewhat. "There was a lot of stuff being said when I was with my ex, not only about him but about me, and it was really tough reading that, because it's someone behind a computer screen or an a phone, and what can you really do, other than delete it or refuse to read it? And even then its tough. I was getting phone calls from Ian and my other cast mates and even my best friends saying, 'hey, have you seen this' or 'have you head about this'? And it was tough then, but in some ways it's gotten even worse because it's coming from someone I knew and was close with. I just try to remind myself though that there's only so much you can do, and letting yourself get pulled down by it is letting them win, and the best thing you can do is not let that happen."

The interview continued on for a few more minutes before it finally ended. Lucy closed it and opened up the PDF she'd gotten from work with the mock-up layout and article that People was going to be printing. They had even gotten the front cover.

She loaded it up and clicked on the cover page bringing it up. It was a photo of Holly had taken of them in the first season. Ian was standing behind her with her arms wrapped around her, holding her hands. The headline read Liars with child.

She flipped past the headline page and the article came along next. A full page photo of the two of them showed them in Ezra Fitz's apartment. Lucy was in a patterned blue and yellow top and Ian was in a grey shirt. They had their arms wrapped around each other, with his hand resting on her elbow while hers was on his ribs. They were both smiling to the camera. On the top of the page read:

And A Baby Makes Three!

Lucy Hale and Ian Harding open up about their off-screen romance and the baby that brought them together.

The article started on the opposite page and continued on for two more.

People sat down with Lucy and Ian in one of our studios and talked with us about how their relationship has been going, the baby that they're having, and what the future is bringing for them.

People: You've had quite the day already, I've heard?

Lucy Hale: I don't know about him. I was running a lot. That's not easy when you're pregnant.

Ian Harding: It was pretty lazy until I had that scuffle with the knife and lunch.

People: So you two are going on about three months together publicly?

LH: Soon. I think the biggest thing that, well… [looks to Harding]

IH: Yeah, I- People certainly are going to look at us a little funny because we were pregnant before we were public, but things happened a little suddenly, and y'know… you do what you can.

People: So that twitter break up with Chris Zylka was staged?

LH: Yeah. When I first found out I was pregnant I actually had no clue what we were going to do and all I could thing was 'oh my god, we're going to get fired, we're in so much trouble!' And then I talked to Ian and our producers, and they were just like 'no no, you're not being fired. We're a little frustrated and we need to rethink this season, but we're not mad.'

IH: [wipes brow and laughs] Dodged a bullet there.

People: So what really changed things?

LH: You know, we had really strong feelings for each other for a long time, but we avoided getting together on, well, really just trying to be ethical and not cause drama in the workplace. And then when we did, there was some talk with my agent about Chris, who was a friend of a friend, and how if we dated, it could help generate some publicity for him and his career. I was clear with telling them that I was with Ian they asked if we'd be willing to change things up to make it 'look' like we were dating.

People: And how did that go?

LH: Really well, I think. I mean, we got along really well and we were friends, but when it came time to 'break up' because I couldn't stay with him and be pregnant with Ian's baby; it didn't go over well. His twitter has…

IH: He hasn't been great about handling things.

People: So your baby has really brought you two together, then.

IH: Yeah. We were really estranged sometimes in the- I don't want to say odd, but it was weird. Like we were there for each other and loved each other but there was this…

LH: distance.

IH: Yeah. And the baby changed that. I don't know what it was, but he or she helped bring us together and regroup, which was great. We're better than ever, and as corny as it's going to sound, I think Aria and Ezra are all the better for it.

Ian passed her iPad back to her once he was finished reading and nodded. "Good to see they didn't chew up what we said and spit it back in some other context."

"And they're actually printing the lies. Should make for some interesting comments in the next few weeks though," Lucy replied.

Ian shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Who cares what anyone says. It's no one's business but ours and our families."