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I woke up with a start when I realized that there was not a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. I glanced at the clock beside me, that read 9:48. Looking around the void room, I realized that Ezra was gone. I got up from the bed and walked over to Lucy's crib. I peered inside to find out that Lucy was gone. I walked back over to the bed as I spotted a small piece of paper sitting at the edge of it.

Aria, if you wake up before we're back, Lucy and I went downstairs to get us some breakfast. We will see you soon. Love Ezra.

I set the note back down on the bed as I wiped the sleep from my eyes. I walked into the bathroom and splashed some water onto my face before brushing my teeth. I twisted my hair up into a messy bun and tied it up with a rubber band.

I picked up Ezra's jacket from the foot of the bed. The delicious smell of Ezra's cologne filled my nostrils. I sat down at the edge of the bed and closed my eyes, holding his jacket between my hands. I could not believe that Ezra actually agreed to do this with me. He had talked with me about it, like it was not a problem at all that we suddenly skipped town, in order to escape a malicious stalker.

But I knew better than that. It was not working. Even though both of us tried to hide it, it was hurting both of us being away from home. I needed to tell someone about A. Someone who could do something about A. The only problem with that was that A would end up getting back at me for telling someone about them.

I needed to get out of here. I decided to go for a walk, in an effort to clear my head and help me figure out what the hell I was supposed to do about this mess.

I quickly wrote a message on the back of Ezra's note to me, telling Ezra that I was going for a quick walk.

I slid on a pair of jeans and pulled a t-shirt over my head, before sliding my shoes onto my feet, grabbing my room key, and walking out of the hotel room.

As I entered the lobby I looked around for Ezra, but he was nowhere in sight. He was probably still with Lucy in the restaurant.

I knew that there were a some shops a few blocks from the hotel, so I decided I would just take a walk over there. I hailed a taxi and before I knew it, I was thanking him for the ride as I handed him the money. As I started walking down the sidewalk, my mind raced. Here I was, a sixteen-year-old mother, wandering the streets of an unknown town due to a cruel stalker, who refused to leave my friends and me alone. Who out of the people I knew, was so set on ruining my life? As I passed an electronic store that had TV's set up all along the store window, something caught my eye. A news channel had been set on the TV's. Although I could not hear what they were saying, I knew that it had to do with Rosewood, since I could see the Rosewood Grille in the background behind the reporter. The town of Rosewood always had something going on.

I leaned against the brick wall next to the store as I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and started scrolling through my texts. They were all old texts from Ezra, except for one. It was from my old phone number, and it was a forward that I sent to my new phone of the text A sent Emily of Ezra and I kissing. I let out a deep breath. It was so obvious that Ezra and I were the two people in the picture. I clicked on the other picture A sent us. Ezra and I were standing in his classroom and he was holding my hands. I remembered the moment so well. We both had huge smiles on our faces, eager to see the other that night. I had just told Ezra that I would be coming over later that night, and that my parents agreed to me staying the night at his place, or as my parents thought, Spencer's house.

What was going on back in Rosewood? Was my relationship with Ezra the talk of the town? Did everyone know about our past illegal affair?

I quickly dialed Emily's number, and tapped my foot impatiently against the sidewalk as I waited for her to answer.

"Hello?" Emily asked.

"Hey Em, it's Aria." I said, looking around the street as random people quickly walked by me, in a hurry for whatever their destination was.

"Oh my God, Aria, where are you?" She exclaimed.

"I can't tell you that." I sighed.

"A-are you okay? What happened?" She asked frantically.

"Look, Em, I can't tell you what's going on-" I began, but she interrupted me.

"Does it have to do with A?" She asked me quietly.

"I need you to do me a favor. Please." I begged, ignoring her previous question.

"Sure anything." She responded.

I was so thankful that I had a friend like Emily. She was such a sweetheart and she always did whatever she could to help me when I needed her.

"I need you to talk to Garret."

"Why?" She asked, surprised laced all over her voice.

"Because out of the four of us, you know him best. Just ask him how work is, if he has any leads on Alison's killer, and if there's any new interesting cases in and stuff."

Emily was silent for a moment, before quietly speaking. "A case about a teacher and a student? You and Ezra?"

I closed my eyes as I nodded. I quickly realized that Emily could not see me, before I softly answered, "Yeah."

"I'll do it right now." She said, before hanging up.

I slowly brought my phone away from my ear as the call ended. A was ruining everything. My life, my friends, and my relationship with Ezra. Why was A so desperate to make my life a living hell? Why was A just going after me?

Suddenly, the TV's next to me caught my eye, as two separate pictures of Ezra and I came up with the word missing in big letters at the bottom of the screen.

So now we were missing? My parents were most likely the ones who filed us as missing. Of course they would freak out after receiving a note like the one I left them and then not being able to contact me on my phone because it was disconnected. They were parents after all, and it was their job to worry.

My phone rang again and Emily's number lit up on the screen.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Aria?" She asked.

"Yeah, what did he say?" I pressed.

"He didn't say anything having to do with a school but he mentioned that you and Ezra and now missing persons! But he said your names separately, he called you Aria Montgomery and then he called Ezra Mr. Fitz, that old English teacher at Rosewood High." She exclaimed. "He didn't have your names together, meaning that he doesn't know about the two of you being together when he was our teacher! I doubt he even knows about the two of you being together now!"

I let out a sigh. Although this was better news than I expected, it was still very frustrating.

"So obviously, A hasn't sent the pictures in yet… But I got a text from A few days ago, saying that my time was up!" I cried out, frustration laced throughout my voice. "And they were definitely talking about the pictures."

"Well A lied to you to scare you." Emily said.

I remained silent at this. A's plan definitely worked, because they scared the crap out of me. But what if A was just waiting? Waiting for the right time to send in the pictures? The moment she knew would destroy me forever?

"Aria, you guys need to come home." Emily said, after I did not respond to her previous comment.

"Emily, I-I got to go." I said before hanging up the phone.

I hailed a cab back to the hotel and quickly gave the driver directions of where to go.

I knew what I had to do. I could not keep doing this to him. I had to leave. With Lucy… and without Ezra.

As soon as I arrived back to the hotel, I raced up the stairs since I knew that the elevator would take too long. I reached our room and shoved the keycard into it, as the door unlocked for me.

I looked around the room, realizing that Ezra and Lucy still were not back yet. Tears I had been holding back finally started falling down my face as I grabbed my clothes from last night off of the chair next to the desk and threw them into my duffel bag. I quickly entered the bathroom and gathered up all of my stuff, before setting them into the bag. As I zipped it up, I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

I jumped backwards as the door to the room opened up behind me.

"Hey," Ezra said softly, as he walked through the door with Lucy and a small paper bag in his arms. "We brought you some food if you're hungry."

He set Lucy down in the crib, before turning back to face me.

Wordlessly, I looked up at Ezra, my expression full of fear and sadness, and tears falling down my face.

"Aria, honey, what's wrong?" Ezra asked, as he immediately enveloped me in his arms. He wiped away the tears with his thumb as he looked into my eyes, waiting for me to answer. I had to tear my gaze away from him, knowing that if I did not, I would back out of what I had to do. No matter how much it hurt me, I knew that I had to do it. I had to protect him from A.

"Ezra…" I whispered, as more tears fell down my face.

Wordlessly, Ezra crushed my body against his, holding me close to his chest. I wrapped my arms around him, resting into his embrace for a moment, before the reality that I was just making this harder for both of us, caught up to me.

I quickly removed myself from his embrace, shoving his arms off of me.

He looked down at me, confusion written all over his face. "Aria, what's wrong?"

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking. But the fact that I was about to crush him was heart shattering.

"I can't do this to you anymore." I whispered not meeting his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" He asked worriedly.

"I can't be with you anymore." I said in barely a whisper as tears continued falling down my face.

He was silent for a moment, as he comprehended my words. Finally, he looked back at me, hurt all over his face. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"I can't do this anymore." I nodded, as I tightly closed my eyes. I opened them a moment later to see the hurt expression on his face.

I put my hand on his cheek before softly pressing my lips to his for a moment, feeling his hot tears transfer onto my face.

I pulled away, and closed my eyes for a moment.

I had to do this. It was the right thing to do. I could not hurt him anymore.

"Aria." I heard him whisper in a pleading voice.

I shook my head. "I can't. I can't Ezra. Not right now anyway." I slid my purse onto my shoulder and crossed the room. I picked up Lucy, holding her close against my chest.

"Aria, you can't do this!" Ezra cried out, rushing over to me on the other side of the room.

"I have to. I can't keep hurting you like this. I've ruined your life and it weren't for me, you would happy with some amazing girl living a carefree life. Not… taking care of a baby, and escaping town from a stalker who's going after your sixteen-year-old girlfriend." I exclaimed as tears started falling quicker down my cheeks. "I've put you through so much misery by being in a relationship with you. And because I love you, A is going to hurt you. I can't let that happen." I sobbed quietly.

He watched me with tears brimming his own eyes. "Aria, please." He whispered as he grabbed my hands in his.

We stood there in silence for a moment, taking in the truth of the moment, before Ezra spoke again.

"What changed your mind?" He asked quietly, struggling to keep his voice steady, as a lone tear escaped his eyes and slowly trailed down his cheek.

I knew that he was referring to how, before, I let him get involved in this mess. But now, here I was, forcing him to get out of it.

"Reality." I said quietly, as I turned towards the door.

"Aria, we have a daughter! You can't just leave to protect me! I can protect myself!" He cried out as he grabbed the hand that was not holding Lucy against me, once again.

I shook my head. "If A wants to, they will kill you. Because of me." I said quietly. "I've already put you through misery when you didn't deserve it, so why put you through hell too?"

"Aria, don't say that! You've only made my life better!" He cried out, trying to get me to understand.

I shook my head again. "If we're really meant to be, Ezra, then in the future, we will find each other again. But it's killing me right now, knowing that I'm ruining your life by being with you."

I barely was able to comprehend what happened next, but before I knew it, I was in Ezra's arms, and he was forcefully pressing his lips against mine. I stayed still for a moment, not responding to the kiss, knowing that once I did, it would make leaving him ten times harder. As his tongue traced my quivering lower lip, all my defenses fell as I eagerly opened my mouth and crushed half of my body against his, in a way that would not hurt Lucy.

As soon as I realized what I had done, I quickly pulled away from him.

Ezra looked at me, speechless. "Aria, don't. Please." He begged.

I shook my head as I grabbed my bag and turned to the door. "I love you, Ezra." I whispered, before wiping my tears away with my hand and leaving the room. I quickly entered the elevator as I kept telling myself over and over again that I was doing the right thing. That this was for the best. Even though I just crushed three hearts; if Lucy was older, she would have hated me too; I knew that I had to do it. There had been no other choice.

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