A/N: Maxi-Luca: :))) Don't know if I'll always be able to post the chapters as often as I'd like, though. aliena2012: I'm wordless and truly thankful for your words. Seriously. Like, really seriously.

This chapter is fluff with a touch of A.

On the road to St. Andrews, Spencer's car was speeding up.

It was a nice, sunny Sunday morning, and Spencer had suddenly decided they were going to St. Andrews to spend the day. She'd been thinking about that for a while now. Had wanted to go with Emily ever since they'd started dating, and even before, when she was dating Toby, she'd wanted Emily to go there with them. Obviously, she didn't know why at the time, but now she knew, and seeing Toby a couple of days ago had only increased the yearning. Anyway they needed to get involved in different fun activities now that the summer was starting, especially because in a week they would be flying to Texas to spend some days there, and even though Spencer would go with her at the beginning, then Emily was going to stay there on her own for one more week, and that meant they were going to be separated. Only for one week, actually, but Spencer hated it with all of her being and with all of her soul. Still, she had to be grateful, because Emily had used her swim training to convince her parents that she needed to be back in Rosewood for most of the summer. The Fields didn't really like the idea, but they seemed to comply. She hoped they didn't actually blame her, since she was going to have to live in their Texan house during those days, and she was expecting to shine as a recently polished diamond for them.

Out of the corner of her eye, while she pushed the velocity of her car as much as the legal speed limits permitted her, Spencer looked at Emily. Her eyes were fixed on the road ahead of them, and her usual dreamy appearance was this time underlined by a touch of sleepiness. They'd gotten up early, so she looked like she'd just jumped out of bed. And that made her appear even cuter than she normally was.

Feeling Spencer's stealing glances on her skin coming and going, Emily returned the favor with an added element: her hand. Spencer was wearing overall shorts, her legs were exposed and her knees were asking for it, so Emily reached out her hand and touched her knee, which seemed safer than her thigh, but was still a part of the leg. A nice one, indeed. She'd lately become a little obsessed about Spencer's legs; couldn't really decide which parts of her body were more addictive, and her obsessions changed from week to week. The touch of her hand made Spencer gasp with surprise. She wasn't expecting that, and Emily enjoyed the surprise she caused. But she retrieved her hand, since she wasn't really in the mood for a car accident. It seemed they were in real need of longer and darker moments to spend together and alone, because no matter how much they made out, and how intense it could get, lately every little touch seemed to arouse a pretty extreme response on both of them. Emily wondered if Spencer had gotten to read those articles on lesbian sex; she hadn't mentioned anything to her since that time at her house. Maybe she should ask. Or maybe she should wait and see. Or maybe she should do something and move the action forward a little, although it was a little difficult these days; she'd thought the summer would make it easier, but in truth it was difficult to find those moments and make them last enough to feel safe and… basically that was it: safe. That was the only thing she cared about: feeling safe. From parents. Not even from A; only from parents. They seemed to be everywhere lately. Spencer had a point when she complained about their sexual paranoia; although, on the other hand, they were doing their job effectively, if you came to think of it.

They reached St. Andrews by 11 a.m. Spencer had made a point out of this visit, insisting on how she'd really enjoyed it the first time she'd come with Toby, on how she'd spent part of the trip wishing Emily was there, and on how she'd come back on her own some days later to get her the book she'd given her as a fake birthday present the day they made out in Hanna's room. So Emily was expecting to find some kind of symbolic temple of their then secret and not entirely conscious love, but St. Andrews was a fairly normal, small town, very similar to Rosewood in its essence, although it did have a lot of old bookstores that Spencer adored, as well as a street fair that was held on Sundays when the weather was nice. They agreed they'd visit the streets first, and Emily was delighted to find a lot of stands with different products on sale, from clothing ornaments to wood-carved decorations, where she decided to buy a couple of things for her mom. She was discussing a necklace with Spencer, not sure if she agreed with the choice of color Spencer had made for her, when she heard a familiar voice behind her, high and lively as it ever was.

"Emily! Emily Fields!"

She turned around at the sound of her name, only to find the person who owned the voice. Maya St. Germain.

How was it possible to run into two exes in a couple of days?

"Hey! Maya!" She smiled, and she noticed Spencer turning around too. "What are you doing here?"

She seemed to be asking that same question a lot lately. Well, it was only the second time, but it did feel like a lot in three days. What was this? The second ghost of Christmas past, who was visiting during the summer now? Was the universe trying to say something to them?

Maya approached her and gave her a warm, happy hug. They hadn't seen each other in forever. The last time they'd met had been some days before she kissed Spencer at her house. They had promised to stay in touch, but Emily hadn't really called her after that, and the weeks had passed, and things always got in the way, and really what was the need to call when you could actually spend your time doing more interesting things? Like kissing and touching your best-friend-turned-girlfriend.

"I told you I live kinda close now", Maya explained, as if it didn't really matter. She was wearing her hair curly again and her eyes shone in spices as they always did when she was happy. Which seemed to be most of the time. Except when she was in Juvie Camp and wouldn't pick up her calls. "I love coming here, I didn't know you liked it too!"

She finally seemed to register Spencer's presence by Emily's side, because her eyes moved to the tall, slender figure standing there.

"Hey, Maya." Spencer was the first one to talk when Maya's gaze finally came to rest upon her face. She still held the necklace whose color they were discussing: she was fixed on a very tenuous shade of green, while Emily liked the brown, light wooden-like one.

"Spencer!", Maya happily greeted, but she didn't hug her like she'd hugged Emily, of course. "Did you all come here today?" She looked around, probably expecting to find Hanna and Aria around, or at least Aria. This was the kind of place Aria would also enjoy, and Maya had always had a thing for Aria when it came to Emily's friends.

"No, we came together", Emily said, feeling an inexplicable flush. "Spencer wanted to show me this place."

"There are some really nice bookstores here", Spencer extended the explanation.

"Yeah, there are. I also love those", Maya agreed, warming up to Spencer. She'd always found Spencer an interesting character, although she was usually a little afraid of her stiffness. "So how're things going for you, Em?" She turned to look at Emily again, liveliness and spiciness bursting. She was happy to see her again.

"Pretty good", Emily responded. "I'm good. We're good."

"Yeah, we're good", Spencer added, not sure what they were exactly good about.

"Are you seeing someone now?", Maya asked out of curiosity, and Emily felt the ground move a little under her feet, because she hadn't told Maya about Spencer and her sudden question meant that Spencer was going to know that she hadn't told her about them. There was not a single trace of mischief or of reproach in Maya's voice. She just wanted to know. "Don't tell me you're seeing the girl who tried to drown you again."

Emily got nervous. Not about Maya, precisely, but about Spencer. Maya's theme had been a constant during their back-and-forth tension, previous to their relationship. Spencer had never really considered Maya that important, but still, she'd been her first girlfriend; and then there was Paige's mere existence, which had been mentioned.

She wanted to turn a little to inspect her face, but would it be too obvious if she did it now?

"No, no. That's totally over too", she answered, stuttering over her own words. Wasn't she just lovely when she got nervous and lost all her capacity for articulating meaningful sounds? She certainly hoped Spencer would think so. "We're together."

Maya didn't get it instantly, so Spencer decided to speak too. "Yeah, we're together. Together-together, as in… dating together", she offered as a further explanation, as Maya's eyes opened a little in recognition.

She didn't seem very surprised. A little bit, but not completely surprised.

"Oh, wow, I didn't know", Maya acknowledged, and Spencer looked at her as if she'd already realized that she didn't know at all. "That's great, Em."

"Yeah, I know", Emily rapidly tried to finally cut in. "I should've told you. But we haven't talked in ages and, you know…"

Life got in the way.

The explanation was mainly directed to Spencer, though. She was a little worried about how Spencer was going to take it, considering her past spirit of competition against all previous girlfriends and romantic interests.

"I'm so glad for you two." She looked at Spencer again, now with more interest than before. "Spencer, I didn't know you were into girls."

Maya had always been pretty outspoken, and Emily used to both love and fear that quality. It was funny that, right now, she just wanted her to shut up and disappear from their sight.

"That's because I wasn't", Spencer explained, a little taken aback by the comment but nice nonetheless. "But I am now. Funny."

"Yeah, life's funny like that", Maya agreed, with a look of complicity.

"I forced her into it. With my magical powers of gay-conversion", Emily blurted out, feeling her joke was completely inadequate. Hanna seemed to be dominating her spirit, and she'd gone from being sort of inarticulate to trying to be funny, but she felt she'd only achieved to make an ass of herself.

Maya laughed a little with her eyes, but Spencer didn't utter a sound and seemed a little surprised at her words.

However, Emily kept her ever-so-sweet smile on her face, acting as if she wasn't really hating the moment. Which she was.

She totally was.

"You make a really cute couple", Maya concluded, and she sounded perfectly honest. "The two sporty ones. Should've seen it coming."

"I think Em's a little sportier than me", Spencer argued, finding the comment interesting. She had actually never thought of the two of them like that and, as much as she enjoyed sports, she'd always recognized Emily's superiority when it came to them and particularly to swimming.

"You think?" Maya asked. "The way she used to speak about you, I think she thinks the opposite".

Emily thought she thought the situation was thoughtlessly heading to more awkwardness, and she missed Hanna so much, because Hanna, at least, managed to be funny when she said crazy things. "I don't think anything", she said, "except that we obviously make a totally cute couple."

She hoped that would settle it, and the universe finally lent her a hand, because this time Maya did laugh and she felt Spencer relax by her side too.

"So are you seeing someone?" Spencer asked, sounding as if she had now the right to ask.

"Yeah, I am, but she's not here today", Maya answered, looking mainly at Spencer. "I wish she were so I could introduce her to you guys."

"Yeah, that's too bad", Spencer responded, and Emily suddenly felt the terrible fear that this conversation would go on and on forever and that she would have to keep on saying really the most absurd things she'd come up with until she'd be finally left alone with Spencer again.

But, thankfully, she was wrong. Maya had somewhere to go and, even though it took some more weirdness out of all of them to say goodbye and wish everybody the best and promise calls that would probably never be made, the situation was soon over.

When they finally lost sight of Maya, Spencer turned around to face the stand with the necklaces again, the green-shaded one still between her fingers.

"Okay, that was awkward."

Emily turned around too. "I know. How many chances of running into two exes in two days are there in the universe?"

Spencer looked at her briefly as if that wasn't really the most awkward thing of all, but she didn't say that when she opened her mouth. "Three days", she corrected. They'd seen Toby on Thursday. Then she looked back at the necklace. "So which one are you taking?"

Emily decided to take the green one, if only to make Spencer happy. She had the suspicion that she was going to need to make up for this somehow, even though nothing had really happened. She was glad she'd seen Maya. She always liked Maya. She just wasn't glad at all that she'd completely forgotten to tell Maya about dating Spencer, not because of Maya (she'd given that up a long time ago) but because of Spencer. But Spencer seemed to be fine. Still she got the green necklace and they decided to go to the bookstores Spencer was so eager to show her. They walked there slowly, talking about different things, none of them related to Maya or to any other ex. Well, Spencer talked; Emily just listened and closely watched Spencer's features as she explained the different styles of colonial architecture that you could find in Pennsylvania's houses, and then proceeded to explain the different locations of the bookstores she wanted to show her, because one of them was specialized on History books, and had quite an ample selection on old Roman History (did she say Roman or Russian?), and the other one, where she'd gotten the Carson McCullers' 1943 edition for her, was focused on English literature, and had some really pricey, extraordinary stuff, although there was also a section dedicated to French poetry, which you could read in French, if you knew how to speak French, which Spencer knew, although not well enough as to read poetry yet. She explained all these things to her while they walked, and Emily listened patiently, eagerly, more interested in whatever she could get from Spencer than in the information provided itself. After a long, nice walk, they arrived to the first bookstore, the History one, and when they crossed the entrance they entered a world made entirely of wooden bookshelves and books, where the smell of old paper invaded both of their nostrils. Spencer explained how much she loved that smell, and Emily listened, thinking about how much she loved Spencer while she talked, even if she didn't really get to say anything particularly important.

Still, there was something that wasn't quite fine. She let her talk and talk and talk, and in every little thing she said there was nothing personal. There was not a lot of eye contact between them, and that was definitely strange, given their current situation. So, after a while of listening to Spencer's explanations on Roman History (it was Roman, after all) and of studying the different changes and variations of her tones and expressions, Emily reached a conclusion. She'd screwed up. Not big time, because it wasn't that important. But she needed to say something about it before it came back in the form of a Mayan boomerang if they ever got into a fight again.

She reached for Spencer's hand and took it in hers.

"Can you look at me for a second?"

Spencer was currently trying to reach one of the bookshelves to show her whatever famous classic (Emily had already stopped paying attention when she'd decided she needed to talk), but she stopped and returned the look obediently, albeit clearly surprised she'd been interrupted.

"What's wrong?"

Emily pulled her closer. "I'm sorry I didn't tell Maya about us. Are you pissed at me?"

Spencer's eyes opened a little, but she didn't give much away. "No", she responded. "It's fine."

"Then why aren't you looking at me?"

"I'm looking at you", Spencer said in a really low tone, almost as if they were inside the library.

"Just because I asked you to", Emily replied, whispering too. They stared at each other, and Emily wondered if she should really offer an explanation or if she should just let it go.

Finally it was Spencer who gave up, and her features softened a bit. "I'm not pissed, really. It's okay. You haven't talked to her in a long time."

"I wanted to call her and tell her, I just didn't do it because I got distracted thinking about you all the time."

A little smile came to Spencer's lips. "Are you sure that's the only reason?"

"Pretty much, yeah. It is."

She'd really spent most of the last two months thinking only about Spencer, with a very small portion of her brain dedicated to the final exams, to Hanna, Aria, and finally to A.

"You weren't afraid of telling her you were with me?"

"Why would I be afraid of that?" Emily asked, knowing this was where she was directed when she'd decided to scratch under the surface of Spencer's lengthy historical explanations. "You do remember I cut it off with Maya because I liked you, right?"

"Yeah", Spencer remembered perfectly. They had talked about it before. "Don't you think she was a little shocked when we told her?"

"Not really. I think she took it pretty well."

"Maybe she still had hopes."

"I don't think so", Emily responded. "I didn't tell her I was dating you, but I think she got the message that I wasn't interested in getting back together pretty clearly."

"Yeah, maybe", Spencer conceded. "Maybe she was just confused. I mean, you called her and then you stopped calling her."

That touched Emily's bad conscience a little. Only a little. "What do you care anyway?"

"I don't."

It was Emily's cue and she took it: she approached Spencer a little, until both of their breaths came together in the same respiration. The coast was clear inside the bookstore at that precise moment and she took advantage: she leaned in just some millimetres, closing the distance till their lips connected. That was pretty much all it was needed, because Spencer reacted instantly to the contact and she opened her mouth, making the kiss more intimate.

By the time they broke it off, Spencer had totally softened and was again the same person she was with her before running into Maya. So the second ghost of summer had been sent its way to heaven, away from them. Emily would always have a great memory of Maya, but she had no wish whatsoever to replay Maya's theme between them. It'd already been a headache for her when she was struggling with her feelings for Spencer, and she knew she couldn't really be Maya's friend. Or didn't really wish to be Maya's friend at the moment, in any case.

And it wasn't like it was a possibility anyway. It was the past. Now this was the present, and the future, and the time after the future if that even existed.

"So what did you use to say to her about me?" Spencer asked, her fingers now intertwined with Emily's.

She was always curious as to what Emily thought or said about their friendship when they were only friends. Maya's comment had only increased that curiosity.

"That you loved yourself a little competition. I guess that's what she meant by that."

"Hmmmmm. Only that?"

"I don't remember everything I ever told her."

She did remember telling Maya about her friends, and specifically about Spencer's intense competitive spirit, and about how her family had shaped that personality. But she didn't really want to get into that.

"Well, you should have better memory, because I wanna know."

"I probably told her I had a crush on you and I loved you hopelessly and wanted to get in your pants but could never do it because you were the straightest person I ever knew", she teased, laughing at the way Spencer seemed so bemused at her first words until she caught the meaning of it all. "Happy?"

"Unhappy", she answered, frowning a little at her. "You never had a crush on me until, like, three days before you kissed me."

"That's not exactly true."

They kissed again, happy to find out that old bookstores were quite deserted places.

They took another walk to the second bookstore, the literature one. They repeated the same operations: Spencer talked, Emily listened, and they kissed in the corners when no one was around. Then they went out, their new objective to find a nice little place where they could maybe keep kissing without being observed. They were in the process of looking while they talked when a guy approached them from behind. He politely touched Emily's shoulder with his hand, and Emily turned around hoping it wouldn't be Maya again, and innerly cursing the way people tended to get in the way sometimes, when all you wanted to do was shut the world out. But it was a young guy, not Maya. He looked a little older than them, and he was holding a camera in his other hand. With both a smile and an accent Emily didn't recognize, he asked to have his picture taken, and Emily saw then that he belonged to a larger group of guys. Five or six. So she took the camera in her hands and smiled, approaching them. She took a couple of pictures of the group. She wasn't a very good photographer, so she hoped she hadn't screwed the pictures for them, but her main objective was to keep the guys from actually getting closer to Spencer, so she didn't really care how the photos turned out.

The same dark, tall guy walked back to her and gave her what wanted to be a seductive smile. He was kind of handsome, from an objective point of view. She offered him the camera back, but he didn't take it.

"Thank you", he said, with the same accent she didn't recognize. Maybe Spencer did. "Can I ask you something else?"

Emily smiled, cursing the world inside her own head again.

"Do you mind if we take a picture with you?", the guy asked. Clearly he was the cheekiest one of the group and had been sent out on a mission. "You're very pretty."

Oh, not that line. It was so lame.

"Thanks", Emily responded. "But I'm not really picture-friendly", she lied.

"We're nice guys", the guy tried, insisting on his charm. "We're not psycho-killers".

She offered another smile. It'd been so long since she'd been hit on by a boy that she'd almost forgotten about the kind of conversation it required. "I'm sure you're great, but I'm in a hurry, sorry." She gave back the camera, this time more decisively.

"And your friend? Maybe she wants to take a picture with us".

Oh, he'd better not go there at all.

"She's not my friend, she's my girlfriend". This time she did sound kind of sharp, hoping that would actually send him away. "And she's not picture-friendly either."

He seemed to take a moment to take the information in.

"Are you sure?"

That was probably the dumbest question she'd ever been asked, but she tried not to show.

"Don't you want to ask her?", he insisted again. Clearly the guy was not getting the idea.

"I don't have to ask her, I know", she said, already feeling rude.

She felt Spencer behind her, and the guy looked over her shoulder to look at her.

"I also hate to have my picture taken, but thank you. And goodbye", Spencer said, a distinctive tone of mock in her voice.

This time the guy seemed to consider trying again, but decided against it and ran off to his friends, who received him in a masculine huff of support spoken in another language she couldn't decipher either. They'd have to try with other girls.

Spencer looked at her mockingly, her eyebrows raised in amusement.

"What was that?"

"They wanted to take a picture with us."

"I mean the mean attitude", Spencer clarified, a half smile on her lips.

Emily considered the comment. "You think I was too rude?" She was already feeling a little guilty about blowing the guy off like that. Maybe she could've used kinder, gentler methods to send them away. But that'd taken more time too.

"You weren't rude", Spencer said. "I'm just not used to you being mean. This is gonna sound bad, but I actually find it really sexy."

Emily smirked. "I'll try to be mean more often then."

"Only to other people, not to me."

"Noted", she laughed. "Especially to guys trying to approach you."

"Yeah, the whole she is my girlfriend, leave her alone thing." Spencer imitated a grave, masculine tone which didn't sound like Emily at all. "But, in case you didn't get it, the guy was trying to approach you. Oh, you're so pretty, come with us". This time she used a high tone of voice which didn't sound at all like the guy either. She seemed to be mixing the tones up on purpose.

"He was gonna try to get you. I couldn't let that happen."

"Whoa, scary", Spencer laughed harder now. "I'm actually enjoying this jealous side of you, you show it so little."

"I better not have to show it a lot", Emily warned, smiling. They started walking again, but Emily stopped for a second. "Do you think I get too defensive with boys?"

Suddenly she thought she didn't have male friends. Only Toby, and that was way over. Maybe she should try to befriend Caleb. She got along well with him, but he wasn't her friend. And there was no way she was going to become Mr. Fitz's friend, either.

"No", Spencer answered her question, a little confused. "Why? Do you feel defensive with them?"

"Only when you're around."

Spencer raised her brows again. "Oh, so it's my fault now?"

"It's always your fault", Emily smirked, and continued her walk, grabbing Spencer's hand.

They spent the rest of the day walking around and stopping in every corner, until they went back to Rosewood when it was starting to get dark. When Emily left the car and got inside the Marins' house, she checked her phone. She had two texts. One was from her mom. The other one was from A.

"First mistake. How cute of you to start like this. I am counting. – A"

Did A talk about Maya or about some other thing?

In any case, it seemed like another bulshitting, annoying text. Maybe A was losing his/her/its mind after all.