A/N: Hey, everybody, nice to post for you again. This chapter starts off dealing with Aria's necklace. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted it to look like, and for once, I was successful finding an image on the internet that was perfect. I put the link on my profile page, for anyone who wants to see it. Catch you on the other side.

Chapter 14

Small bells gave a merry jingle as Aria pulled open the door of Cooke's Jewelry. She then had to pull it shut again, because the wind was demanding an open-door policy. Aria couldn't wait for this storm to pass through, already. Thunder rolled across the sky, a rebuke of Aria's feelings. It was becoming a theme in Aria's life. She righted her hat and peeled off her wet coat as a beautiful blonde walked into the front room. "Welcome to Cooke's Jewelry. How can I help you? Wait, Aria, is that you? Oh my god! You're so grown-up!" Aria felt her cheeks heat up.

"Hey, Samara, yeah it's been a long time. Five years, I think. How are you?" Aria smiled warmly at Samara, and returned the hug that she gave her. Samara had been Simone's best friend in high school. She would often come with Simone when she baby-sat Aria and Mike. Samara would bring her jewelry supplies and the three girls would make things while Mike played video games.

"I'm really good. I'm still making jewelry and slowly pushing my parents out the door, so I can have this place to myself. They say they'll officially retire in a few more years, but I think I can speed it up. I'm married now, and stupid happy. Quinn and I are even thinking about starting a family. How are you?" Samara moved back around to the other side of the counter.

"I'm good. I'm in my senior year, still have the same friends, mostly the same interests. I may look older, but I'm pretty much the same old Aria." Samara raised her eyebrows, seemingly doubting Aria's assertion.

"Do you ever hear from Simone?" Samara asked hesitantly. Aria gave her a sad smile.

"Not really, no. She's come home for Christmas a couple of times, but mostly her parents visit her. I think she's still in New York." Aria missed Simone, but Samara clearly missed her more.

"It was so strange, one minute we're bffs and then she decides to go to college in New York, and I never heard from her again. I was worried she'd only cut off contact with me. I'm kind of glad it was everybody, is that horrible?" Aria shook her head.

"No, of course not. It's comforting to know it wasn't personal, I understand. I guess Simone didn't feel like Rosewood was home anymore. But hey, you're stupid happy, remember?" Samara nodded and gave herself a shake. Aria wished she could explain to her what had really happened with Simone. Both of Simone's parents were doctors and both were lykoi. There'd never been any doubt that Simone would be lykoi, too. When she got to eighteen without shifting, it broke her heart. She threw out her plan to go to Hollis and went to New York, instead. She told Aria she couldn't stay in a place where her life was supposed to be when she would never become the person she was supposed to be.

"Well, I know you didn't come here to listen to me blather, what do you need?" Samara slipped into her professional persona. Aria reached around to the back of her neck and unclasped her necklace. She had the tree necklace in her bag, in case she needed it, but she should be fine without a moonstone at this point.

"My chain isn't staying latched, properly. The necklace is really old, so I wanted to get it fixed by professionals." Aria had fiddled with and pulled at the clasp until it was fairly loose. She hated the amount of work that went into lying. She handed the necklace to Samara. Samara took the chain in her hands and examined the clasp.

"Huh, Aria, how old do you think this necklace is?" Aria started, it was a strange question.

"Well, it's a family heirloom, not my family, but I think it's from the 1930s-1940s. Why?" Aria hoped Samara didn't say it couldn't be fixed, if Aria had broken Jason's necklace and couldn't get it fixed…

"I'm sorry to tell you this, hun, but this necklace is nowhere near that old. See the clasp on the chain? It's called a lobster claw. Jewelers didn't start making these until the 1980s." Samara grimaced as she continued to carefully examine the entire necklace. Aria's stomach began to churn, but she kept her cool.

"Oh, well, his mom must have replaced the chain at some point, people do that all the time right?" Aria tried to catch Samara's eye, hoping to be reassured.

"They dooo…ugh, Aria, I'm so sorry. This is none of my business, but whoever gave you this necklace, lied to you. I would feel worse if I didn't tell you the truth. The necklace was made in the mid to late 90's, minimum. The pendant is a Columbine flower." Aria nodded her head and cut Samara off.

"I know, it has a different name in Italy. It's one of the symbols of the family line." Aria was starting to feel flushed and the churning in her stomach was becoming pronounced. Samara shrugged at Aria's information.

"Ok, sure. Well, I can't tell you anything about the age of the stone, but the silver petals are ridged and look almost crinkled. You create that look in metal through a process called fold-forming. And it wasn't even invented until the late 80s. It wasn't shared with other jewelers until the 90s. I feel like I've seen a necklace like this, before. Where did I…" Samara trailed off, but Aria wasn't listening, anyway. Her head was spinning. The necklace was less than 30 years old. Was it possible, at all, that Mrs. Dilaurentis lied to Jason? Did she give Jason a meaningless necklace, so she didn't have to part with something special? Did she think so little of Aria? "Aha! That's where it was. I saw stuff like this at that occult store, back when I was in high school. Simone used to like to go there, sometimes. The lady always had beautiful stuff. Did you still want me to fix it?"

Aria nodded, mutely. The necklace was from Maddie's store. Mrs. Dilaurentis wouldn't be caught dead in Maddie's store. Which meant, in all likelihood, Jason purchased the necklace, himself. Why would he lie to her about that? Why did he pretend it was his mother's? And why had he bought it? It was a very feminine necklace, so it couldn't have been for himself. And if he bought it more than 5 years ago, it certainly wasn't for her. Who was supposed to get her necklace and why didn't he give it to them?

Aria dragged herself through the back door into her warm and blessedly dry kitchen. She had left the jewelry store in such a daze that she forgot to put her coat back on. The wind was too strong to bother with an umbrella and Aria only realized how drenched she was when she was in her car, headed home. Her teeth were chattering as she hung her neglected coat on a hook near the door. She dropped her bags and went straight to the laundry room. She pulled off her dripping wet sweater and water-logged hat. She laid them out over the washer and grabbed a towel to dry her hair.

"Aria? Is that you, Honey?" Aria heard Byron call to her from the direction of his office/den.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm home. Sorry I'm late, but I had an errand to run," Aria called back to him as she finished drying her hair and putting the wet towel next to her sweater and hat.

"That's fine, Sweetie. Can you come into the den, please?" Aria sighed. She had planned to go upstairs, change into sweats, and sleep.

"Coming," Aria replied. She grabbed her hoodie out of the hall closet and slipped it on over her damp singlet. If she had been well rested and thinking clearly, she would have had more warning. There were clues, an unfamiliar car parked at the curb, an extra umbrella dripping on the mat near the back door, and his incredible scent. But none of it registered with Aria until she was only steps away from the den. Her fingers froze as she was fitting the zipper of her hoodie together. She wanted to turn tail and run, but she'd already told Byron she was coming. Why? Why was he here? Why was he talking with her dad? She resigned herself to having to face him and chided the part of her that was jumping up and down with excitement. She pushed open the swinging door and there he was.

Ezra, damn it, Mr. Fitz, jumped up from the sofa and faced Aria as she entered the den. His face lit up with a smile and Aria couldn't stop herself from smiling back. He was so damn beautiful. His curly hair looked damp and mussed, hanging down in front of his forehead. His gorgeous blue eyes widened and his mouth dropped open a little as he took in her appearance. She knew her hair was still wet-looking and drying it with the towel had probably given it a bit of a wild look. His eyes moved down her body and she could feel his gaze becoming more and more heated. He seemed to struggle to move his eyes off her chest and she remembered that she hadn't gotten her hoodie zipped. He licked his lips and Aria breathed in sharply. She wanted him so much, the sexual energy between them was palpable. Aria dug her nails into her palms and bit down hard on the inside of her lower lip. It was all she could do to not launch herself at him. She felt a buzzing energy that resolved into a throbbing between her legs. It wasn't like when she'd removed her moonstone necklace with Jason. That desire had been unfocused, her body had been like a needy child demanding soothing and attention from whoever. This desire was laser-focused on the man in front of her. The rest of the world could burn to the ground, her body wanted Mr., oh to hell with it, Ezra. Her body wanted Ezra, only Ezra. Aria felt her willpower slipping away and it terrified her.

A pair of lips pressed against the side of her head, and Aria jumped. The shock allowed her to finally tear her eyes away from Ezra. She thought she and Ezra had been staring at each other for a long time, but Byron had just walked from behind his desk to greet her. "Hey, Sweetie, how was school?" Aria turned to her dad and smiled. She prayed he didn't pick up on the crazy energy in the room. He was fairly oblivious, usually, so there was at least a chance. She cleared her throat, before attempting to speak.

"Stormy." Aria heard a quiet snort of laughter and, without thinking, turned and looked at Ezra. Thankfully, he was sitting again, and his face was buried in his bag, searching for something. Aria saw him discreetly slip his ring onto his hand while he made a show of pulling out a few papers. That was an excellent idea. "I'm sorry, please excuse me. I'll be right back." Aria flew out of the den and down the hall back to the kitchen. She opened her bag and pulled out the tree of life necklace. She also grabbed a hairbrush, a hair tie, and her compact. She fastened the jewelry around her neck, yanked the brush through her hair a couple times before tying it up in a high ponytail, and checked in her compact mirror that she didn't have raccoon eyes or streaks running down her face. Finally, she zipped up her hoodie and returned to the den.

Byron was sitting in the club chair and he and Ezra were talking. Aria went and stood in front of the fireplace and addressed herself to her dad. "Sorry about that. I didn't know that we had company." Aria faced Ezra and deliberately put an awkward smile on her face, the kind that a student would give a teacher in a normal world. "Hi, Mr. Fitz. It's quite a surprise to see you here." Ezra cocked an eyebrow at her and their eyes met. The energy was still there, but it was tamped down, a camp-fire rather than the raging inferno she'd felt before. Ok, it was more like a bonfire, but it was still manageable. Then Aria noticed that Ezra was also putting off a nervous energy. What did he have to be nervous about? She hadn't ambushed him at home.

"Ezra came by to introduce himself and to bring you information about the Advanced Placement program. He said you weren't sure about whether or not you wanted to take the test? Why in the world wouldn't you take the test?" Being a college professor, Byron took education very seriously. Aria closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath. Getting defensive wasn't going to help. Did Ezra get off on putting Aria in stressful situations?

"I'm going to take the test, Byron, don't worry. Mr. Fitz just caught me in a bad moment." Aria started playing with her hands and staring down at them. Her eyes kept flickering up at Ezra, his focus was on her. He started this, he pushed this, so now he had to hear this. "It's been hard. English used to be the class I looked forward to the most. Now I don't even want to go. I don't know if I'm gonna be ignored, or confronted, provoked, or told to go away. I don't feel like myself and I don't want to feel jerked around, anymore."

Aria lifted her head after she finished speaking. She looked directly at Ezra, not with anger or recrimination, and not with lust or longing. She asked a simple question with her eyes. Can you understand how I feel? Ezra's expression was very serious. Aria might have thought he was angry or closing himself off, if not for his eyes. His eyes were deep pools of guilt and regret. They begged for her forgiveness more passionately than words ever could. She could feel how much he wanted to make things better. It was a start.

Byron stood and brought Aria into a protective hug. "Sweetheart, I had no idea that things with the girls were so bad. I'm honestly shocked they haven't begged for your forgiveness after the way they treated you. Do you want Ella or me to step in and call their folks?" Aria shook her head. "Do you want me to howl under their windows so they can't get any sleep?" Aria pushed back from the hug and smirked at her dad while she rolled her eyes. "A couple of dead squirrels on each of their porches would certainly send a message." That one made Aria laugh.

She didn't wait to finish laughing before she retorted, "what message? I'm a psychotic cat, I left presents for you?" Byron grimaced and slowly nodded his head.

"Ah-yeah. That is kind of a cat thing, isn't it? Maybe I should let you handle it. But Aria, you are going to handle it, right? Leaving bad situations unresolved doesn't stop them from hurting, it stops them from ending." Aria gave Byron a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank-you, Father-Fortune-Cookie. I already promised Toby I would call Spencer, tonight."

"Good, I'm proud of you. You know what else sounds good? Fortune cookies; should I ask your mom to swing by Mr. Chung's on her way home?" Byron turned and walked to his phone on its charger, before Aria even replied.

"Mmm, yes please. Don't forget the kung pao." Aria was feeling better, genuinely better. Then Byron threw a curve ball.

"Ezra, would you like to join us for dinner? We always get too much food." Aria's heart stopped, for a second. Spend more time with Ezra? That would be hell, and heaven, at the same time. At least Jason was gone and wouldn't be showing up, unannounced. Ezra looked questioningly at Aria. She smiled at him.

"Yeah, Mr. Fitz, you should stay. We wouldn't want to send you out in the storm without at least feeding you. You know, unless you don't like Chinese food." Ezra's whole face changed when Aria encouraged him to say yes. Everything softened for a moment, like he'd released tension that had been there long enough to alter his features. He seemed to like her teasing, too.

"Aria, I grew up in New York City. Of course, I like Chinese food. And thank-you both. I would love to stay." Ezra looked pointedly at Aria and her stomach flipped. She had the distinct impression he didn't just mean for dinner.

Aww, the emotional roller coaster that is our beloved Ezria. What did you guys think of how Aria confronted Ezra? I'm a sap, I could write an entire scene where they just look into each other's eyes. Hell, I practically already have. Next chapter, Ezra has never had a family to eat take-out Chinese with before. Can he handle Aria's? Will the rest of the family be as oblivious to Ezria's connection as Byron? Will they remember Aria's kung pao? All of these questions and more will be answered, soon I swear. Blessings to all