"Lily! Hurry up! We're going to be late," said Aria for the tenth time that morning.

In general, Lily was an angel, polite, caring and everything, but the little girl was also really stubborn and sometimes Aria wished she could change that, especially when Lily had some crazy kid idea that made her late to her job.

"But I wanna wear the yellow dress!" whined Lily.

For the last twenty minutes, Aria had been trying to change the little girl's mind about putting on a summer dress on a rather cold day. But there was almost nothing to do. When she wanted something, Lily fought for it.

"Honey, you can't! It's September, it's cold outside and it's raining! If I let you wear that to kindergarten you'll get sick sweat pea," said Aria, trying to keep her calm.

"But I want to!" she cried.

"Lily it's enough! You have 5 minutes to put on the jeans and t-shirt I chose for you or there will be some consequences. I promise you you can wear your yellow dress when it's warm, but today you'll do as I say!" said Aria rather firmly.

And Lily started crying. Aria hated when this happened. She didn't like to be the cause of the child's cries, but sometimes she had no other choice than to be severe.

"Don't cry Lily," said Aria trying to comfort her, "You'll still be the prettiest girl to me in that pink shirt"

"Do-do you t-think I am p-pretty?" asked Lily with her eyes full of tears.

"Of course Lily! Don't you think you are pretty?" she asked worriedly.

"I d-d-don't know, yesterday t-that mean... mean b-boy said I was ugly," she said sobbing.

"Oh Lily! Why didn't you tell me? You know, there are always mean boys and girls who tell the others some lies. Just try to don't listen to them. They are just trying to make you sad. Try to ignore him. But if he ever says anything else that's mean to you, tell me please. I have to know if something makes you sad okay?" Aria said.

"...Okay," said Lily hesitantly.

"What's the name of this boy Lily?" Aria asked, mentally nothing to address the subject with Emily as soon as possible. She couldn't support that at five years old her little girl was already being harassed.

"It's Charles."

"Okay, I'll tell your teacher to try to make him stop saying mean things to you. Is that all right?"

"Yes, thank you!" said Lily-Ann, who had finally stopped crying.

"Now come on! Get dressed or we're going to be late!" smiled Aria.

Twenty minutes later, Aria was parking her car in front of the kindergarten. As she did so, she immediately spotted a little girl whom she had started to know well from everything Lily told her about her friend. But Aria was really surprised to see who was holding her hand: Spencer.

"Hey Spencer!" said Aria getting out of the car and trying to get the woman's attention.

"Aria! What are you doing here?" asked Spencer clearly confused, "I didn't know you had a kid!" she added.

"Yeah, me neither, I mean, I didn't know you have kid too..." Her words were followed by an awkward silence.

"Yeah...hum, Aria, this is my daughter: Clara," said Spencer awkwardly.

"Yeah, I know her, I mean she's Lily best friend!" added Aria.

"Oh really? So the famous Lily is your daughter!" laughed Spencer.

"Oh! Well, technically she's not my... I mean... How about we talk about this over lunch?" asked Aria, feeling that she was addressing a hard subject.

Spencer, probably sensing Aria's reluctance at addressing the subject in the kindergarten's parking, immediately agreed.

This is how Aria and Spencer found themselves in complete silence at the Brew during their lunch break.

"So...," began Spencer, "Considering that Lily is Clara's age, I bet that you and I share pretty the same story huh?" said Spencer with a nervous laughed. "I was 18 and about to start college, my boyfriend and I had been dating for two years and one mistake later Clara was born. I was lucky that he had already finished school and had a serious job as a cop or I would have had to say goodbye to college and start working to pay for everything a baby needs..." she added.

"Wow, that must have been though," said Aria.

"Yeah well, you probably know how it is too!" said Spencer.

"Actually I don't," said Aria in a whisper.

"Here it is," she thought. "I need to confess to Spencer".

Spencer shot her a dumbfounded look.

"What do you mean Aria?" she asked clearly confused.

"I mean that I am not Lily's mother..." she said in a breath. "Lily's is my niece, but I am her legal guardian... My brother and his wife died in a terrible accident last year," she added with a sob. "I'm sorry, it's still a delicate subject for me... They were c-coming home after a night out, Lily was with a babysitter, there was a drunk driver on the road, he hit their car and... they, they died," Aria let a single tear slide down her cheek.

Spencer put a comforting hand on her shoulder and there was a moment of silence before she spoke:

"Aria, I am really sorry..." she said not really knowing how to react to such heart breaking news, " We haven't known each other for long, but I want you to know that if you ever need anything, even if it's just a shoulder to cry on, I'm here for you." she added. "If you want a night for yourself, or if you need advice with kids, you can always call me, Toby and I will help you with pleasure," she finished.

"Thank you Spencer, I don't think I've ever met anyone as kind as you," Aria said softly.

"So is this why you moved to Rosewood?" asked Spencer hesitantly.

"Yeah, I lived in New-York and I had everything planed, but then Lily's care was given to me, I had a tiny apartment, no backyard, no car. I lived alone," she sighed, "I figured that it wasn't the best context to raise a kid."

"I think you made a good choice Aria. As hard as it must have been, it's probably the best for Lily-Ann." said Spencer in a comforting voice.

"Thank you. It was hard leaving everything behind, but I know that my brother and his wife wouldn't have liked to raise their daughter in a big city. They wanted her to have room to play safely." she said, "God! It's been a year and I still wonder how I am going to do this! Lily isn't stupid! She remembers her parents. I told her that they became angels to watch over her. She believes me, but it doesn't make her miss them any less. Sometimes when she gets mad at me she just yells that her mommy or daddy would let her do what she wants. I never know how to react to that..." she trailed off.

"Everything will be all right one day Aria. I can't pretend that I know what you're going through, because I never lost someone like you did, but I became a mother at 19. I wasn't prepared either. You just need to believe in yourself and accept the fact that you're not perfect and you're for sure going to make mistakes. From what Clara told me, Lily seems to be a great girl, you seem to be doing a fantastic job Aria." said Spencer.

"Thank you Spencer, for taking time to listen to me. You really are a great friend. What about we all go eat somewhere, with the kids, on Friday night? I could meet your famous Toby!" laughed Aria.

"I would love to!" said Spencer with a warm smile.

When Aria left the Brew, she felt like something heavy had been lifted from her shoulders. She had finally told someone about her past and she was glad. Maybe one day she'd finally happy. Of course she would never forget her brother, but it would be great to make peace with what happened.