Hi! For those who were wondering, because I forgot to mention it in the chapter before, Mike is older than Aria in this story. He was 22 years old, and so was Mona, when they had Lily. And thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate it!

The day after her meeting with Spencer, Aria felt much better than she had felt in a year. She felt happy, even she still felt a tiny bit guilty for allowing herself to feel that way. She had a new job, a new house and now her first real friend who didn't run away at the mention of a child and who, on top of that, offered her help.

It was only eight o'clock and her class was about to start. That day they were going to study one of her favourites: Sense and Sensibility. When she was young Aria always saw herself in the character of Marianne. She believed in love at first sight and thought that people should always follow their hearts. But since losing her brother, Aria's vision of love had drastically changed. she now recognized herself in Elinor, a more rational character. Now that she had a child to take care of, she didn't want to take the chance of falling in love with someone that she didn't know really well. Somehow, however, she felt that her heart was now falling for Ezra, and she didn't know if it was a good thing. She didn't know if it was the rational thing to do.

"Hey!" said Ezra in the doorway.

"Hi Ezra," blushed Aria, feeling as though Ezra had been reading her mind, "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, thank you!" he answered with a warm smile, "Hum... yesterday I came to see you at lunch, to ask if you wanted to go to the Brew with me, but you weren't there... I wanted to know if you already had plans for today?" he asked on a slightly nervous tone.

Aria didn't know what to say. Her inner Marianne wanted to say yes, but the Elinor in her was telling her that maybe going out for lunch with a guy she was starting to like was dangerous, especially considering that the last time they went out, a certain Maggie called three time, probably his girlfriend. She didn't want to fall for the unavailable guy. Then she remembered that she wanted a new life, so she let her sensitive side speak:

"I've got no plans yet, I would love to have lunch with you Ezra," said Aria.

"Great!" said Ezra with a shy smile, "Do you want us to eat here? I have a free period before lunch, I could go and grab something? What would you like?" he asked.

"Yeah, eating here would be great! We could eat in my office if you'd want? And anything would be good for me," she replied.

"Okay! What about thai takeout? Everyone likes it!" suggested Ezra.

"Perfect!" said Aria.

"Good! See you later!" said Ezra before heading away.

"Okay, so I have orange crispy beef and general tao, which one do you want? I forgot to ask about your favourite, so I just picked the most popular dishes," said Ezra a few hours later after arriving with his and Aria's lunch.

"I don't care! I really love both!" replied Aria with a smile.

"What about we share?" suggested Ezra.

"Good!"

They sat at Aria's desk and set their lunch on it in silence. Then Ezra stopped his movements and fixed something on the wall. Curious, Aria followed his glance to find out what was the subject of his sudden stop. Oh! Lily's drawing.

Was it better to tell him now and risk scaring him away, or waiting before she knew him better, a little like how she had done it with Spencer? She heard Elinor in her head, her rational side, telling her to think about the consequences of hiding a child to a guy. If there was any chance that something would ever happen between her and Ezra, it had to be based on honesty, and he had to know everything.

"I see you're looking at Lily's drawing," began Aria, "She's pretty good for a five years old." she added before she sighed. "Lily is my niece, I'm her legal guardian," said Aria in a breath.

"Oh! Wow...Hum... So you are a mother..." rambled Ezra not really knowing what to say.

"Hum... sort of... well... technically no, I've only been her guardian for a year, when my older brother Mike and his wife passed away... and she doesn't call me mom, just auntie Aria." she explained to a shocked Ezra.

Ezra didn't know what to say and he could sense Aria's nervousness at telling him about her personal life. She had a kid. That was a huge responsibility. He was starting to like her, but this might change things. A kid took a lot of time and energy, maybe Aria wouldn't be interested in getting to know him with everything she had to think of. But then he realized that this was her decision to make. He couldn't stop being interested in her just because she had a kid and he thought that it was too much for her. Maybe she'd also love to get to know him, or so he hoped.

"Well, I'm sure you're really good at this. We haven't known each other for long, but I feel like you're a great mom. Clearly she likes you if she took time to draw you something like that." he said. "What is her name again?" he asked.

"Lily-Ann, but almost everyone call her Lily," she answered with a smile.

"That's a really cute name."

Aria nodded.

Both fell into silence and started eating their lunch before Ezra broke it.

"Here it Ezra," he thought, "take a chance."

"Aria," he began, "I was wondering if you would like to go to the movies, or something, with me Saturday night," he asked, clearly nervous.

Aria didn't believe what she was hearing. Was Ezra really asking her out on a date?

"On a date?" asked Aria, shocked.

"No... well, yes, only if you want to?" replied Ezra.

"It doesn't disturb you to know that I have to take care a kid?" Aria asked wondering if it would be a great idea to go on a date with him. Didn't he have a girlfriend? Maggie? She didn't know the truth, maybe she was just a friend, or even his sister. Yeah, Ezra wasn't the type of man who cheated on his girlfriend.

"Of course not Aria! It doesn't change how I see at all!" he said surprised that she'd think such a thing.

"Well then I would love to go on a date with you" she said.