Thank you so much for all of your reviews. A certain gender won by a lot over the other gender. The one that won is the sex of the baby. The first and middle name of the baby is dedicated to Ezriafan17, Holly, Kasey, and nightmares,and,dreamers.

Ezra's POV

As the hours passed by, I still struggled to get a grip on the reality of what was happening. I was told that Aria could go into labor at any moment. I was told that if our baby were born now, he or she would only have a ten percent chance of living. That is what scared me the most. Even though Aria and I were still young, we knew that we could work this all out. Ever since she dropped the news to me that she was pregnant, I have never been happier. Although our lives were moving at a much faster pace than we originally had planned, we both were excited for this baby. But then again, when has anything in my life that involves Aria ever turned out as planned? We never expected to connect with each other the way that we have. We never expected to fall in love so hard with each other. We never expected to end up having a secret relationship with each other while I worked at Rosewood. And while I was in college, studying for my English Literature major, I never in my wildest dreams expected that I would end up falling this hard in love for one of my future students.

I never fully understood the whole, forbidden love concept, until I saw Aria sitting in my first period English class on my first day at Rosewood. And since then, so much has happened to the two of us. Look where we are now. Sitting in a hospital, waiting for Aria to give birth to our premature baby. I felt fresh, hot, tears escape my eyes, as I thought about Aria and our baby. It was just too early and we could easily lose the baby. As much as I did not want to face that reality, I knew that I had to because it was a very true possibility. And there was nothing I could do about it, except have faith that fate will settle in and make everything all right in the end.

Why did this have to happen? I had heard some stories in the past, about premature babies who were perfectly fine after birth. And the ones that had some complications usually became healthy again after a week or two in the hospital. However, that thought did not help relieve my anxiety at all, because there was one very big and important difference between those babies, and mine and Aria's baby: time. Aria is only twenty-six weeks along in her pregnancy. All the stories I have heard were about women who were thirty-two or more weeks along.

I finally realized the immense importance of time; how much control that one simple thing had on our baby's life. How that one simple thing was going to change Aria's life and mine forever, for better or for worse. The fate of our baby depended on time. The baby couldn't be born now, they just couldn't. More tears escaped my eyes as I thought about it. There was no possible way that the baby could be born now and still be healthy. There were just too many things that could go wrong. The doctors were trying to prolong our baby staying inside of Aria for as long as possible, but there was really only so much that they could do. Our baby's lungs were not fully developed at this point, so I knew that if our baby were born now, he or she would have trouble breathing.

Despite all of the depressing thoughts running through my head, I had to admit, I could not wait to hold my little son or daughter in my arms. Part me and part Aria. I secretly wished that we would have a girl. I had no way to explain all of the feelings that enveloped me whenever I spent time with Maria, before I knew the truth about her. Besides the initial cruelness of keeping my daughter away from me, I have to confess, that I was happy that Jackie told me about her, instead of keeping her from me forever. But in the end, it all turned out to be a lie. A cruel, twisted, messed up, lie.

"Ezra!" I heard an all too familiar voice exclaim. I looked up to see none other than my old college friend, Hardy, walking towards me.

Aria's POV

I woke up the next morning with the most painful cramps I have ever had in my life. I groaned as I opened my eyes. I immediately looked around the room in search of Ezra, but the only person I saw was my mother.

"Ezra's outside." Her motherly instinct must have made her easily realize that I was looking for Ezra. "He's talking to one of his friends. I think he said his name is… Hardy?" She said uncertainly.

"Hardy's here?" I laughed. However, laughing was a very bad move on my part because another shot of pain radiated throughout my body.

"You know him?" She raised her eyebrows at me.

"I met him a while ago." I confessed. I shifted my body to more comfortable position in the bed. Moving did not help at all. I whimpered in pain because my body was hurting so badly. Tears quickly escaped my eyes and started falling rapidly down my cheeks, as the pain got worse.

Ella immediately noticed and pressed a button beside my bed to call for a doctor. The pain was quickly escalating and becoming unbearable. A doctor burst into the room a moment later and started asking questions, but not before introducing herself as Dr. White.

"Where does it hurt?" She asked me. I showed her and she looked up at one of the machines I was connected to, that was situated above my bed. She told me that it was supposed to detect contractions, but it was not showing anything. Ella stood next to me, holding my hand. I kept squeezing it every time the pain got worse. Another doctor entered the room a second later and started conversing with Dr. White. Ezra burst in right afterwards, with a tense and worried look on his face.

"Ezra." I whispered. He rushed over to me and took hold of my other hand.

"What's going on?" Ezra asked the doctor's frantically.

"Hmm." Dr. White mused. "You're showing all the signs that you are about to go into labor."

"But the machine is not picking up any contractions." The other doctor chimed as she walked over to me. "I'm Dr. Casey." She introduced herself.

"And?" Ezra asked, nervously. I started crying even harder because the pain was so bad. I knew that this was it. I had never felt pain like this before. I already knew, that without painkillers, contractions and childbirth were a very painful part of life.

Dr. White glanced at me and then looked up at the machine again.

"You know what, I think this baby is coming now." She walked over to the other side of the room and grabbed a medicine bottle from a cabinet.

I silently thanked God that she believed me about the pain I was in. Damn that machine for not telling the truth!

"Painkillers." Dr. White explained, as she handed me two pills. I took them and miraculously, the pain immediately lessened.

Ezra and my mother were both standing beside my bed towards where my head was on the pillow. I looked up at Ezra, who had worry etched all over his face. The look he was giving me, told me that he wished so much that he could just take all the pain away.

"Push." Dr. Casey commanded.

A few moments later, our beautiful daughter was born. Dr. White held her up in front of us and I felt more tears escape my eyes. She was so small, like a newborn puppy. Ezra and I squeezed each other's hand when we saw her. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She had Ezra's luscious curly locks, and my eyes.

"What's her name?" Dr. White asked, still holding our little baby in her arms.

"Lucille Marie Fitz." Ezra and I whispered in sync.

"Lucy for short." Ezra explained. We had decided names for the baby two weeks ago, for either a boy or a girl. I was thankful that we chose a name early, or else there would have been many arguments between my family and friends on what to name our baby.

Dr. White moved closer to Ezra and I, and I held out my arms to take my baby in them, but the doctor moved away.

"We need to examine her." Dr. White explained, as she took Lucy to the other side of the room. I did not know how I felt at that moment, because I had just had my baby, and the doctors took her away from me.

Ezra and I faintly heard her cry as they took our baby away.

"Did you hear that?" Ezra said quietly. "She cried, that means her lungs are developed good."

I really hoped he was right. The doctors we had spoken to yesterday had told me that her lungs would not be fully developed because at this stage in my pregnancy, her lungs were still growing.

They brought Lucy back a moment later and I immediately took her in my arms. She was wrapped in a pink blanket and had a little pink hat on her head. I gasped as soon as the doctor handed her to me. I looked at the doctor in front of me and he was quick to explain.

"The tube in her mouth goes down to her lungs to help her to breathe." He told us. I stroked Lucy's cheek with my thumb and looked up at Ezra. He had a longing look in his eyes and I could tell he wanted to hold her.

"She's two pounds and three ounces and she's fourteen inches long." Dr. White told us.

"She's beautiful." Ella choked out, watching Lucy. I looked up at my mom, whose eyes were also a little wet. Ella left the room for a moment and came back with Mike and Byron walking behind her. They smiled at me, before I looked back over at Ezra and Lucy.

Lucy was so light and the size of a doll. If I really wanted to, I could dress her in doll clothes, just because she would easily fit into them.

"She has your eyes." Ezra whispered, in awe over our baby. Lucy's big brown eyes were fixated on Ezra. I smiled a little as I watched Ezra and Lucy. I knew that Lucy would end up being the biggest Daddy's girl. From the loving look Ezra was giving her right now, I knew that Lucy already had Ezra wrapped around her little finger. I could not get over how small Lucy was; almost the same size as Ezra's hand. I had to admit, that the fact that she was so small scared me a little bit. Ezra's expression suddenly frowned as Lucy started squirming in his arms.

A machine suddenly started beeping violently, causing Ezra and I to panic.

"What's going on?" We exclaimed together. I looked nervously at the doctors, my eyes demanding an answer from them, now.

Dr. White took Lucy from Ezra's arms and moved the blanket away from her body. She put her hand lightly against Lucy's chest and said, "Her breathing is getting slower. She cannot stay in this unit. She needs to be incubated and we need to take her to the NICU."

"What is that?" I looked at Ezra, in fear that it was a very bad place.

"The neonatal intensive care unit." She explained. "Or the Special Care Nursery. They specialize in the care of ill or premature newborn infants."

Both Ezra and I had tears pouring down our faces again as they took our baby away from us, for the second time that day. Ezra and I longingly watched the doctors as they left the room with Lucy. Ezra sat down next to me in the bed and he put his arms around me. I buried my head against his chest and sobbed into his now tear stained shirt. I felt his tears fall onto the top of my head. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and he wrapped his around my waist, the best he could, since we were both sitting on the bed. He hugged me harder as gasps begun to escape my lips.

I already had known that not everything would end up going perfect with Lucy's birth, since it was so early, but I did not know that it would end up being like this!

Byron had his arm wrapped around Ella's waist and Ella had her arm wrapped around Mike's shoulders. Ella had tears streaming silently down her face, as she watched Ezra and I.

Byron came over to Ezra and I, and I quickly switched my embrace from Ezra to Byron.

"Daddy." I whispered as he held me in his arms while I buried my head into his collarbone and cried. Ella removed her arm from around Mike's shoulders and went over to Ezra. Ella embraced Ezra in a motherly manner, and Ezra did not protest. Mike sat down in one of the chairs near the windowsill and watched Ezra, Ella, Byron, and I with a pained expression on his face. He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes.

A moment later, a mob of people burst into our room. I lifted my head from Byron's chest to look around the room. He tightened his arms around me as I saw Emily, Hanna, Spencer, Hardy, and to my surprise, Jackie and Maria.

"How's the baby?" Emily questioned.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Hanna interrogated.

"What's their name?" Hardy asked.

"Can she be my sister?" Maria asked innocently.

"Wait!" Spencer exclaimed, her eyes darting back and forth across the room. "Where is the baby? And why are you all crying?"

"Oh my God," Emily's face became as white as a ghost. "Please, Aria, please, do not tell me that the baby was a stillborn." Tears started forming in her eyes as she spoke.

I shook my head in response, but tears continued to fall from my eyes.

"No, no, no." Ezra looked up at them all, causing Ella to remove her arms from around him. "The baby's alive. But she can't breathe on her own..." He said slowly, as if what he was saying was registering with him for the first time. "They took her up to the NICU." Ezra explained. Hardy came over to Ezra and gave him a pat on the back.

"She's a girl?" Spencer asked softly, as she gave me a small smile.

I nodded in response. Spencer came over to me and hugged me tightly.

"What's her name?" Hanna asked, as she set the huge teddy bear in her hands next to my bed.

"Lucille Marie Fitz." I said.

"Fitz?" Hanna shrieked. Her eyes then quickly moved away from my face to my hand, in search of a ring. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as soon as she found one.

"YOU GOT MARRIED AND DIDN'T EVEN TELL US? HOW COULD YOU NOT INVITE ME TO THE WEDDING?" Hanna yelled, throwing her hands into the air, and almost hitting Emily in the face.

Her statement did not even earn a chuckle from Ezra or I, because we were just too depressed. Everyone started laughing, however the laughter in the room quickly subsided as soon as they all realized that Ezra and I were not laughing.

"No, Hanna." I sighed. "It's just a promise ring."

We heard a door open and close and we all looked over to the doorway, to see Dr. White standing there with a clipboard in hand. The room fell silent as everyone turned towards Dr. White. The anxiety and sadness in the room that we were all feeling was so thick, that one could easily cut it with a knife.

"We moved her to the NICU and Lucy is being incubated as we speak. Hopefully her breathing will become regular again."

"Hopefully?" I whispered, as tears started forming in my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Ezra quickly sat down next to me on the bed and wrapped his arms tightly around me.

"I'm sorry." She said sympathetically. "But you can visit her later today if you'd like."

Ezra and I nodded in agreement, before the doctor left the room.

A shrill ringing of phones in synchronization suddenly broke the silence. I felt Ezra's body tense against mine at the sound; as he quickly realized whom the message was from, because the sender was able to send the message to four different people at once. We all turned our heads towards Spencer, who slowly lifted her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. I started crying harder, not two seconds later, because I knew exactly who that incoming message was from. I did not even bother retrieving my phone from my purse, but instead buried myself deeper into Ezra's embrace.

"Hold me, please." I whispered desperately to Ezra. He hugged me tightly against his chest and pressed a kiss against my hairline.

"Emily, Hanna, we should go." Spencer said quickly. "We have A problem." She emphasized the single letter. I lifted my head from Ezra's chest to see fear written all over Spencer's face.

"Bye Ezra, bye Aria, we'll see you soon. Hope everything's goes okay." Spencer said quickly, as she gave Ezra and I a hug. Hanna and Emily did the same, before they all quickly fled from the room.

"Is it just me, or was that weird?" Hardy asked no one in particular.

I looked up at Ezra and we shared a knowing look with each other, full of fear. We had to get everyone out of this room soon so we could talk to the girls alone, soon. And I needed my phone, so I could see what that text said. It must have been bad, if it caused all the girls to leave.

"It's getting late, you guys should leave soon." Ezra told Jackie and Hardy.

They all looked over at me and I nodded in agreement with Ezra's request. I glanced at my family. Mike and Byron were submerged in conversation with each other, while my mother was looking at me skeptically.

"Um, okay." Jackie muttered. "We'll see you guys soon. Hope the baby's okay."

I smiled in thanks as she and Maria left the room.

"Aria, can I see your phone? I left mine in the car." Ella asked me.

"Sure." I shrugged, without thinking. Ezra was looking at me with wide eyes, realizing something that I was not. Ella took my phone out of my purse and suddenly the fact that A had just sent me a text and my phone was in my mothers' hands registered in my brain.

"Wait, mom!" I snatched my phone from her hands and quickly erased the message, without even opening it. I had to ask the girls later about what it said.

I handed my phone back to her as innocently as I could. She looked at me suspiciously; obviously knowing that something was up.

I laid back against the pillows of my bed and sighed. I really needed to know what that message said.

"We should get going. Aria needs to rest." Byron came up behind Ella and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Okay." She agreed. Ezra and I took turns getting hugs from my family, and Ella gave me my phone back, before my family left the room.

"That message was from A, wasn't it?" Ezra sat beside me on the bed and took my hands in his.

"Yeah." I said quietly. "I didn't read it though. I deleted it before my mom could see it."

"I think she knows something is going on. Because four phones ringing simultaneously that belong to best friends, just is not normal." He commented.

"I know. But I can't tell them about A. I wasn't even supposed to tell you. I'm actually surprised A hasn't done anything to us yet because I told you about them."

I took a deep breath as I looked into Ezra's eyes. I could tell he was feeling the exact same emotions as I was: uneasiness about A, worry and sadness about Lucy, but a spark of happiness that Lucy was born and alive.

"Do you want to go see Lucy? The doctors said we could." Ezra tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. He moved his hand from my ear to trace the redness all around my eyes; caused from crying so much today and yesterday.

I nodded. I pulled the covers off of me and stood up from the bed. I took his hand in mine.

"Aria?"

I turned towards him questioningly and looked into his eyes. He put two fingers on my chin and lifted it up so my lips could meet his. His lips were so soft against mine. We stood there kissing for a moment, before we finally broke apart. I rested my forehead against his, before whispering, "I love you," to him.

"I love you too, Aria." He took my hand in his once again as he led us out of the room.

"Let's go see our baby."

Well that was an intense chapter, wasn't it? So I made the baby a girl, and I named her Lucy in a reference to Lucy Hale. What did you guys think? Hope you liked it, and PLEASE REVIEW!