No One's POV
"This is getting too weird," Spencer said in disbelief as she walked back and forth in Hanna and Emily's shared home office.
"Weird?!" Hanna exclaimed, "I'd say this was all some crazy plan from the beginning. It's not a coincidence what happened, this was always meant to happen. That's what it seems like and it wasn't for this stuff I found, we wouldn't have stood a chance with finding out what was really going on."
The lawyer rubbed her temples and stretched her neck before turning her attention to Hanna, "how did you know that Caleb kept an exact copy of the work he was doing in the floorboard under his dresser?"
"At home or on the road, he does the same thing. Caleb was on the run a lot of his life, and he's gotten brought in for the things he does on the computer, so he came up with a plan to have to working laptops, one to work on and another to encrypt the files and keep them safe, that way in case he was arrested, the police would confiscate his things, but he'd still have his work saved."
"He didn't mention anything when he was in California?"
"About doing this kind of work," Hanna shook her head, "no."
Spencer nodded and continued to walk.
"How are we supposed to tell Em?" Hanna sighed worriedly and noticed how the headache started to return immediately.
"We have to tell the cops first. I know you don't think you can trust Toby, but I promise you can."
Hanna got up off the bed and put her hands up, "no, hell no, even if i decide to trust Toby, these men ARE the cops, we open our mouths and I might as well be ki- it'll hurt Caleb. We go public and this man has every reason to do what he will to Caleb."
"Okay, okay, so we don't say anything."
"Thank you," Hanna said with some relief, "I think we should first, find out everyone's names and do what they do in the TV shows."
"And what's that?"
"Get a board and build the case, the crime, the people involved and our plan."
"You watch Crime TV?" Spencer asked, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.
"Make fun of me later but I think I'd be able to think better if we just laid everything out just like they do, and you're the lawyer, you should be used to doing stuff like that to organize all the shit you have to go through just to build a case."
"Alright detective, then we'll need a lot more than this if we want to make things right and get Emily and Caleb back."
"How are we going to get more?"
Spencer knitted her brows and swallowed, "you need to make a visit to your friend and I need to get on Alison DiLaurentis' visitors list."
x-x-x-x
Emily woke up the next morning with an impending fear of facing Alison, but she was saved when she woke to shower and found that the bunk across from her was empty, just a pillow and standard blanket thrown across it, barely a sag left in the 'mattress' from the weight of the blonde's body.
Em sighed and swung her legs out of her 'bed,' placing her hands on her knees to aid her in standing.
Today was going to be a long day she thought, and she had no idea how much of an understatement that truly was.
x-x-x-x
Alison's POV
I was beyond tired after last night but somehow my body willed me to wake up earlier than early and escape the stuffy confines of my bunk. It was cold at night here and there was ample space in my sleeping quarters, the only reason I found it so stuffy had brown hair and soft brown eyes.
The water I was currently under was so cold it somewhat distracted me from thinking about everything I had told Emily, I felt in my gut I could trust her but me trusting someone always found a way to blow back up in my face, it was just a matter of time before Emily thought I was crazy, before Josh decided he had enough of protecting me then left, it was always just a matter of time. And try as I might to think that it was different with Emily, I woke up still wondering if I made the right choice.
The last thing Emily wanted to know was the name of the man who helped me, but the look in her eyes told me she might already know. She might already know and somehow that scared me, it struck an inexplicable fear in me.
What if she did know the name of the man who had helped me? What if she knew him personally? What would that mean? And if she did know, why isn't she saying anything? I didn't have answers but there was an uncomfortable settlement of nerves in my stomach.
When I felt I used up my five minutes of allotted shower time, I quickly turned the water off and dried my body with the towel before wrapping it around my body. When I walked out of the stall, no one else was around and I sighed in relief, I didn't feel like being around anyone, too on edge to trust myself if someone decided to mess with me.
I knew worrying and getting inside my own head was unhealthy, especially for me but what else was I supposed to do? Staring at myself in the mirror as I applied lotion to my skin, I willed the thoughts to go away, but in my mind I could hear Micheal's voice, I could hear Josh, and I could even hear my parents again, all telling me things, yelling, screaming at me, what to do, who to be, what life to live and how but in the midst of all of that I can hear Emily now too, whispering below the screams somewhere in the distance to let go, to breathe, to trust her and I try to hold on to her voice because it's soothing, it's calm, it's the first time I feel comforted. Josh has been a great friend but even he tried to make me into someone I was not.
Sighing, I noted the red in my eyes and rubbed at them, deciding maybe I needed to get some fresh air for once.
Getting dressed was a little more difficult than I anticipated, Emily would stir occasionally and I would pause, readying myself to run if needed. Funny, because I said I was tired of all the running and here I find someone who seems to genuinely care and want to listen and I still want to tell myself to run.
No One's POV
Alison found herself getting dressed fast, not caring to spend the extra time really untangling her long golden tresses and instead throwing it up in a messy bun and making her way towards the double doors near the rec center that lead outside.
She passed the usual guards who had already taken note that she was usually up 30 minutes to an hour earlier than the call time. It wasn't an issue and she walked passed each of the guards, no questions asked, noting that she hadn't seen Joshua since they last spoke in the maintenance closet.
When the blonde was finally outside, she sighed and took a deep breath, reveling in the feel of the cool crisp air piercing her lungs. She hadn't stepped a foot outside in a long time, temporarily forgetting how nice it felt to be out in the open, so nice that she found herself skipping breakfast and instead walking along the entire length of the open area, all along the fence, through the 'garden' and finally around the dirt running track that was somewhat maintained.
It wasn't until she started to feel sweat form along her brow and other start to go outside as well that she realized how long she had actually been outside, almost startled when it was Reyes to call her from her almost sleepwalking like trance.
"Alison!" His voice was distant, getting a little louder as he approached quickly.
She turned and only acknowledged him with her eyes, turning her back back to him and continued to walk.
"Alison," he huffed gently, stopping mid jog beside her, "we need you in the visitor's area."
Ali scoffed, "ha, I've never been there since I was thrown in this hell hole, so I think you either hit your head really hard you have the wrong information."
She took another step but was stopped when Josh reached out and grabbed her arm, waiting until her eyes were locked on his, looking briefly around at the people around him, the other inmates, "Alison there's a lawyer here to see you."
"A lawyer," she asked incredulously, "I never had a lawyer."
"She's not yours." He said with a serious undertone.
"Then who-," she was stopped yet again.
"She's Emily's lawyer, I recognize her from the court hearing, she's hear to see you."
Alison chewed her lip and looked around, afraid of what she felt like was coming undone in front of her and all around her.
"Why does she want to see me?"
"I don't know but I heard from Melendez that she's saying she wants to take your case."
Ali's mind was racing, "I was with Em last night, I told her everything, well almost everything, do you-," she paused with her eyes wide, "shit, do you think Emily told her?"
"No," Reyes shook his head, "I've had eyes on Emily all day, she looks a little distraught but I don't think she told her lawyer, she wouldn't have time unless there's a smuggled telephone hidden somewhere we don't know about.
"Shit." Ali began to pace with her hands thrown up by her head, stopping for her fingers to interlock and rest atop her hair.
"Alison, tell me what you think is going on?"
"I don't know, Emily was asking me about what the guy's name was who helped me get the things I needed to leave Michael, I'm not sure, I can't be, but I think she might know him."
"What," Joshua was standing with eyes wide, "you mean you think they're connected?"
"Somehow," Ali nodded, "yes I do."
"Well, you don't have to see whoever comes to visit you, but this lawyer is pretty persistent, I think she might be able to pull some strings to get to you, if not she might tell Emily about whatever it is she wants to tell you."
"So I don't have a choice?"
"Well, how much do you like Emily? She's great, I know, I've met her, but think about what this could mean, she's just one person."
Ali continued to pace, chewing on her lip before sighing, "she's not just one person, I know it, it may be too soon to tell but I think she feels about me the way I've started to feel about her. There's something between us, I can tell, and it's not just what's happening now."
"Alison-," Josh warned.
"She's worth it, I can be myself and she doesn't look at me the way everyone else does, I can't put it into something concrete, I can't make the right words, but I know." She spoke with conviction, thoughts of the brunette's face flooding her vision, and she actually fought the butterflies in her stomach so she didn't say the three words she knew were too soon to speak.
"You know you just met her right?"
"Yes, but it doesn't feel that way, besides, I have nothing left to lose."
So it was decided, Officer Joshua Reyes escorted Alison DiLaurentis to meet the first visitor who had come to see her since she was convicted of the attempted murder for her ex.
It was weird to walk in the part of the grounds she'd never been in. She was comfortable walking around everywhere else, knowing the ins and outs and enjoying the 'freedom' she had because of it, but following along unfamiliar grey walls unsettled her.
"Alison, you can leave anytime you want, you know that right?"
Ali took a deep breath and walked through all the checkpoints before she came across the Plexiglas window, looking for the visitor's face, swallowing when some woman piqued her eyes and narrowed them, dark brown finding and recognizing blue. It chilled Ali that someone she never met recognized her.
"This'll last 30 minutes to an hour, you haven't done anything out of line and since you haven't been here before, they're giving you extra time if you need it."
Ali nodded absentmindedly and walked her way through the door, ignoring the presiding guard's voice who droned like a broken record, "no touching, no-," yeah, blah blah, she's heard it on all the tv shows, she didn't need to do this to know the rules.
It was awkward walking towards a strange woman and keeping eye contact with her.
"Alison," the lawyer spoke almost disgustedly.
"I'd greet you back, but I'm afraid I have no idea who you are or what you're doing here."
"Please take a seat, and I think you have a faint idea of who I am."
Alison looked at the chair, then at the woman before sighing loudly and lowering herself into the seat.
"Okay, I know you're Emily's lawyer, but what do you want?" The blonde huffed impatiently.
"My name is Spencer Hastings, and yes I am Emily's lawyer and as of two hours ago, I am also Hanna Marin's lawyer."
"Okay," Ali drawled out, "well I don't know who this Hanna Marin woman is, so I think I should leave."
Alison made a move to stand but Spencer reached her foot under the table and hooked her ankle around the leg of the chair, forcing Alison back into her seat, "Caleb Rivers."
It was one name but it still made Ali tense inside, "what? What did you say?"
"Caleb Rivers...you know him?"
Alison looked anywhere but in Spencer's eyes and she rolled her hands along the length of her thighs.
"You don't need to think about lying, because I know you do. Caleb Rivers, he's the one who took some photos for you, you paid him a generous amount of money to do some snooping for a man in the police force in California, who I can only assume is your what? Ex-husband or something? No, because there were no wedding records with your name, so he was just a boyfriend. I know Caleb was helping you and now he's gone."
"I don't understand," Ali was beyond trying to channel her mother and lie right through her teeth, "what does this have to do with me? It was a clean transaction, I paid him in cash so there was no trail and he gave me what I needed, I didn't see him or talk to him after that, so I don't know what you want."
Spencer sighed and put her interlocked fingers on the surface of the table, "Alison, Hanna Marin is Emily's best friend, and she's in here for a crime she didn't even commit, but what's even more interesting is that Hanna is Caleb's fiance, they were waiting for him to come back from his job in California to finally tie the knot, but it seems they won't be doing that now, Caleb has been gone for about a week and a half now."
"Please Ms. Hastings, I had nothing to do with this, how could I, when I got help from Rivers, that was ages ago, I've been in here, there was no way that I had anything to do with any of it."
"I know," Spencer said flatly.
"I didn't even know he was engage- wait what did you say?"
The lawyer shrugged, "I know you didn't have anything to do with it, I looked into who you've called and who's visited you, and your behavior here, there's nothing that ties you to any of it."
"Then why-," Alison started but never had a chance to finish.
"Hanna Marin is also Emily Fields' best friend, I shouldn't be discussing this, but Emily is in here for a crime she didn't commit but admitted that she did."
"What? Why the hell would she do that?"
"She's loyal to a fault, I guess, but I've been working with Hanna and we were able to go back to Caleb's place in California and we found pictures that involve you."
"Yeah, I already told you that I hired him to take pictures of Micheal Richards, that's the man you should be talking to, not me. If Caleb is gone, Micheal might have found out about him helping me somehow and he could've gotten him arrested, you should've checked the station."
"Caleb's not in a station somewhere, he was kidnapped, Hanna has been sent pictures and messages that delete once they'v been read, we know he's been taken."
Alison racked her brain, trying to wrap her mind around everything but failing miserably.
"So what do you want from me?"
"We need to hear your side of the story."
"We?"
Spencer nodded and looked up through the window that was facing Alison's back. Turning around and peering over the tables and other people, Alison laid her eyes on another blonde woman who she was assuming was Hanna and then another inmate, tall with long brown hair, Emily.
"Shit."
x-x-x-x
As soon as Emily laid eyes on Alison in the visitor's room with Spencer Hastings on the other side, she knitted her brows in utter confusion. Nevertheless, she walked beside Hanna and sat hesitantly at a table to the left of Alison and across from Hanna, who sat beside their shared lawyer.
A silence claimed the air around them and it last for any a brief moment before Hanna cleared her throat meaningfully.
"Okay, so the awkward part is over now, we need to get down to business because I don't think we can just sit around not looking at each other, that's not going to get anything solved."
Emily rolled her eyes and looked over her right shoulder, not daring to look to her left for fear of locking eyes with a set of blue ones other than her best friend's, and although she wouldn't meet that gaze, she could feel it boring into the side of her face.
"Okay, so I'm Hanna, you're Alison and to be brutally honest, I'm having a hard time not screaming and blaming you for all of this, I'd shake your hand, but one, that's against the rules," Hanna scoffed, "and two, I'd probably try to hurt you too."
"Hanna," Spencer warned, wearing a fake smile, she knew Alison had the right to leave and kick Spencer off of her visitor's list if she wanted so she'd be the mediator and diffuse the situation if she needed.
"No, it's okay, I'm used to the things around me falling to shit and getting blamed for it, so please, do what you will, I won't try and stop you." Ali's voice sounded tired, Em thought to herself, feeling some pang of guilt after the words she heard from Ali just now resonated with the ones the blonde had shared with her last night.
"No one is blaming you," Emily defended but she didn't move her eyes from a small speck of dust that was settled atop the table in front of her. She didn't mean for her voice to come out so hard either but she was frustrated, seeing Alison sitting there with Spencer confirmed her suspicions and she had spent the last minute wondering if Ali knew who she was from the beginning, why she hadn't said Caleb's name, why she was opening up to her about her past.
Emily sat in thoughts, mainly wondering what she was supposed to believe was genuine or not, maybe she was Alison's pawn and this was all some sick twisted way to get something from here.
"Well, I was actually enjoying myself before this visit, I was getting ready for a run, so guys," Em asked Hanna and Spencer, "if you don't mind."
"Em, what's gotten into you, you haven't even heard why we're here," Hanna looked at Emily and then at Alison who sat nervously beside the blonde's best friend, "okay someone tell me what's going on between you two."
That was the first time Emily looked in Alison's direction with an incredulous look on her face, not too surprised though when Alison returned the look while they both answered too quickly, "nothing."
Spencer raised a brow and raised a suspicious brow at Hanna, "well that sounded...truthful."
"Listen," Hanna sighed, "Em, Alison, I don't know how or why, but we're connected to all of this and I don't know if you know but the man who helped you is my finance, and I have reason to believe that your ex is the one who kidnapped him."
Emily tensed and looked at Ali, a softened expression in her eyes, "Michael?"
"Wait, Emily, you know who he is?" Hanna scooted closer to the edge of her seat, wide eyes begging Em's for answers.
"No," Em shook, "not exactly, Alison just shared with me, um, some things about her uh relationship with him."
Alison dropped her head, the submissiveness in her demeanor a complete 180 from who Em first thought she was yet a completely closer look to just how broken this woman had become because of one coward of man.
"Alison," Spencer said cautiously, "we're not blaming you, I know what Hanna said earlier, but really, we're just trying to get to the bottom of all of this, you have to see where we're coming from."
Alison nodded, her voice low as she answered, "I do see where you're coming from, but I don't think I can help you, I don't want anything else to do with that man, I'll try to help in anyway I can, but I'm safe here."
"Safe?" Hanna looked at Alison and waited for more.
"Alison," she tried when she didn't hear anything else, "why did you hire Caleb?"
"Are you kidding me, I hired him as a PI, he said he could hack Michael's phone and that's what he did, he followed that bastard too and got me the pictures I needed to finally leave him."
"Finally?"
"Hey, I thought this was about Caleb, not questioning Alison's life." Emily was defending Alison again and all four of them were surprised.
"We need you to identify some of the people in some pictures we found at Caleb's house, we'd also like to hear your side of the story."
"And what story is that?" Alison answered the lawyer.
"Yours," Hanna replied, "I have mine, Em has hers, and you have yours, we need to hear them all to know what the hell is going on."
"My only guess right now is that your ex is angry about the split and took Caleb as a measure of getting back at you, what I don't know is why he's choosing to torment him and send Hanna the threatening texts."
Ali shook her head, she couldn't go back and retell the deepest parts of her past that got her to where she was right then and there, no way. And Emily could sense this, like a cosmic laugh in both of their faces. Alison had just opened old wounds to her and now she was being asked to do it again for two more people, these people she had just barely met and frankly, don't know if she should trust.
"And what's in it for me?" Ali crossed her fingers atop the table and stared Spencer in the eyes.
"We need one thing to complete this puzzle we've been trying to put together and then I can make you a deal."
"Okay," Ali hummed hesitantly, "what's that?"
"Well I know what Hanna knows, I know why Emily is in this hell hole and now I need your story, what you know, what your thoughts are, the story about how you found Caleb and why, and more importantly who this Michael is...Alison, I just need your piece."
x-x-x-x
8 years earlier
"Mom, do I really have to stay so close to home for college? I want to travel and do what I want for a change."
"Alison, you sound ridiculous, what do you think is out there? You think there are things just out there sitting around waiting for you? You think once you get older, that your piece of the world is waiting for you? Well, there isn't, your piece doesn't exist. There's nothing out there with your name on it. No," she continued, "you don't belong out there, we need you here, your brother was a failure because he didn't listen to us and he wanted the same thing, to travel and be a man," Jessica mocked, "and now we don't even know where he is or what he's up to."
"Okay but that's Jason and so what that he messed up, he's okay now, I've been talking to him," Ali admitted a little ashamed.
"I told you we were not going to talk about him, much less to him, the only reason we're doing so right now is to remind you that you're no good out there, it's better if you just stay and listen to us, we can take care of you."
"You don't think I can take care of myself?" Alison asked defensively from the counter as her mother walked around in the kitchen, preparing food for dinner.
"Alison, you'd need to find a man with a stable job and good family background as well as financial stability and at that you'd have to be likable."
Ali was appalled, "but mom, I am likable, I have friends." The young girl spoke up, "college is going to be coming up sooner than we know it-,"
"And you have a list of the applications you can fill out-,"
"But mom-,"
"No butts Alison, you will choose from one of the colleges your father and I chose for you and study what we tell you, end of discussion, you will respect what we tell you or end up homeless for god knows how long, just like that dead beat you still call your brother."
"That 'dead beat' is your son," Alison's voice was raised, anger raging through her.
"Not since he walked out of that door."
"Ugh, you guys are unbelievable!" Ali got up to stalk towards her room when her mother stopped her, her voice razor sharp and ice cold.
"Alison, don't forget that everything you are, your popularity, your lifestyle, your knowledge of the world is due to us, you are our child, everything you are, we made you. Your friends? You don't have any, you have a posse that strives to be like the image we made you into. Family? You have your father and I. You have no hobbies, no special skills, no talents, no real stand out looks about you, you're not as special as you think and you don't even have a boyfriend to tell you the opposite."
Ali stood frozen, stricken with a mix of rage and hurt and she fought the tears that began to well in her eyes, the weight in her chest seemed to have doubled and she clenched her fists, debating whether or not to open her mouth.
Her heart was racing and she felt like screaming made up words for the whole street to hear.
"Oh and don't cry Alison, what have I told you about doing that, plus it's just not attractive."
"Who made you so cold mom?" It was the only thing she could approve of saying without the risk of making the woman upset with her. She didn't wait for a response or even a chance to consider that there was one before she turned on her heels and marched to her room, taking the liberty to slam the door shut, her bedroom window rattling in the background.
Alison's breathing was ragged and she had her palms on either side of her head, resting, along with her forehead, against the shut door, cursing under her breath when she felt two streaks of warmth lick down her face in small streams of salt and water. Strange as it was, the tears on her face was comforting, if she used her imagination she pictured it was a warm, gentle hand of a lover, holding her face endearingly, rubbing the pads of their thumbs against her cheeks.
"We need never be ashamed of our tears," she quoted quietly into the painted wood, "heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears."
So she wiped at her face and stood up straight again, walking towards her bed, thinking to herself, "I will be someone, someone on my own, someone I can be proud of, someone real, on my own and someone out there will love me for it."
x-x-x-x
"Alison?" Spencer tried again.
"My piece?" Alison whispered.
"What," Hanna asked.
"My piece," she said louder, "you want my piece?"
"Yes Alison, I think if we just hear about what happened that we might be able to-," but before Spencer could finish Alison stood up and slammed her hands down on the cold surface of the metal table, staring the lawyer in the eyes.
"My piece doesn't exist." She swallowed and thought of the hard tone that sounded closely like her mothers that was now in her own voice, before she stood straight, ignoring the eyes of the other inmates and their visitors, walking towards a man at the door, "guard," she called out, "I'm done here, please take me back."
Emily watched the blonde intently as she moved, wanting badly to hold her against her chest and tell her it was okay, even if it wasn't the truth.
"Great," Hanna said with a fear and panic-stricken tremble in her voice, "now what?"
"Emily?" Spencer addressed the other brunette.
"What?"
"Do you think you can talk to her?"
"Um, well I can try, I don't know that's going to go though, guys, she's not going to just open up, I've only known her a few days, but it seems longer and I know she won't come back unless she thinks she can truly trust you both, she's just scared."
"She didn't seem scared," Hanna observed, "she seemed pissed off."
"All I can say is she's been hurt bad by this Michael guy, Han, I want to get Caleb back too, but if Ali is really our only hope, I'm afraid we have to give her some time and a guarantee that this won't come back to hurt her."
"Em you're talking and saying this like-,"
"Like she already told you what happened," Spencer finished connecting the dots for Hanna, "she did didn't she?"
"Emily," Hanna exclaimed, "you have to tell us."
Emily was frozen then, not wanting to lie or tell them what she knew...she did not want to speak on behalf of Alison. It was something so utterly personal and dark and haunting that she couldn't drive herself to open someone else's wounds.
"I can't."
"You can't, or you won't, Emily this is important, who's side are you going to choose?" Hanna barked out a little loudly.
"Don't, Hanna, don't you do that, think about the exact side I am sitting on right now, you know who's side I'm on, don't you dare think that I wouldn't help you, what Ali told me was her story, there was nothing there that would help you find Caleb, and if she does know something then she'll say it."
"And you're so sure because you're bed buddies now? She gives you a little side action and you forget that you have a friend missing, is that it?"
"Really Hanna, that's low. Really you think I'm some lesbian whore? Let me remind you," Em lowered her voice angrily, "I'm in here for you, and I won't tell her fucking story because it's not mine to tell," she finished with a shout.
"Hey," the guard at the door called, "keep it down or I'll have to cut your visit short, last warning."
"You didn't even give us a first one," Hanna snapped.
"That's it, visit is over, please say your goodbye's and leave."
"Fuck," Hanna cursed, running her hands erratically through her hair.
Spencer sat, not doing her mediator's job as the two best friend's argued.
"Bye," Em said dryly without giving her best friend a second glance.
"Wait," it was Spencer, "Emily, please just look at these photos so you have something you can describe to Alison in case you decide to help still.
Em groaned and stopped, peering behind her to wait to look at some photos.
Spencer pulled some out, somewhat blurry but clear enough to provide a description of the people's faces.
A wide eyed Emily stared at the pictures and immediately recognized who the three people in the picture were, "I have to go but whatever you do, don't trust any cops."
It was all she said before she rushed back towards the guard and asked to just be 'thrown' back in, leaving Spencer and Hanna to stare blankly at each other and then down at the pictures, minds racing as to who it was Emily had recognized.
AN: I know I know, it's been too long, what the fuck have I been doing all this time? Stressing to pay for school that's what, holy shit, I'm so close to dropping out...oh but I just got an actual job this week, my first one, ugh...well it's late but I hope you all had a safe and happy holidays, I've missed you all! Love, Lina ps sorry that this is such a short update :(