She knew what had to be done, knew what would have to be said to set the love of her life free.
Ella's phone ringing broke the awkward silence between the after a long, excruciating hour of no one speaking of moving. She placed it to her ear, a small, sympathetic smile on her lips.
"It's Ezra." Ella said in a mumble, holding the phone out to Aria, which she took immediately.
"Ezra?" She whimpered out, trying her absolute hardest not to try. She heard Ezra's voice crack as he spoke, not wanting to show any emotion in his tone; It was too hard to do.
"Hey, baby." It was very rare that they would call each other by pet names, but Ezra wanted to break this to Aria as gently as he could. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Mhm." Was all he got in return. He knew what she was doing, knew that it wouldn't take long for her to break down. "You left me."
"I know, I know I did. I shouldn't of just left you sleeping." He didn't regret it. It was easier that way. "They think I killed him."
"You didn't."
"I know that I didn't, most people know that I didn't. But obviously they have evidence from somewhere." Ezra glanced at the time, knowing that he wouldn't have long.
"I'm sure I can call Mrs Hastings. She's a good lawyer!" Aria started to ramble on then, going on about how it would be easy.
"I need you to listen to me!" Ezra said suddenly, silencing Aria. "I need you to promise me something."
"What is it?"
"Don't wait for me, go and find someone else. Someone better, someone your own age. Don't spend years waiting patiently for me to get out of here, because we both know this isn't going to end well." Aria's stomach dropped there and then, his words hitting her like a ton of bricks. How could she move on? How could Ezra, the love of her freaking life, just ask her to do that? She was getting him out of there.
"Please don't say that, it's like you're not coming home. You are."
There was a deadly silent, a sigh being released from the other side of the phone. "No, I'm not."
"You are, you're coming home. To me."
"Aria..."
"Stop it." Aria pleaded, her mothers heart melting at her words. "You are. We're going to go home. We haven't bought a new apartment yet, or gotten married. We haven't started a family yet. Little Fitz', running around all day. We need to do that." There was nothing sarcastic about her tone, she was being completely serious.
"Maybe we're not supposed to have that happy ending." With a shake her head, Aria finally began to cry, tears rolling from her eyes.
After a few mutters, she heard Ezra groan, sniffling to himself as he said his final words.
"I love you."
"No, no don't leave me." Aria said through sobs, not even bothering to brush the tears from her cheeks. "Please don't leave me."
The line went dead, along with Aria's entire life.

Ezra completed Aria, he knew that much. Both of them together, it was something that couldn't be broken. It was true love, fate and all that.
Obviously this was their time to break apart, before the real heartbreak happened. No, how could he think that? It was absurd! He liked to think that maybe, just maybe he would get the hell out of this place, but with all the evidence that was shoved into his face, it was highly unlikely. Jealousy, they had called it. Jealousy that his brother and girlfriend had been spending time together. Thankfully, they only knew Aria to be Ezra's girlfriend as of the end of her school education, so that was a bonus.
It was strange, thinking about what his life without her would be like. The sound of her pleas as she begged him not to hang up, but he had no choice in the matter. It was either place down the call, or be killed a little more inside. They hadn't spent their life together yet.

The door swinging broke Ezra from his thoughts, his brows shooting up.
"Fitz, you're free to go. Apparently someone else stepped forward and took the blame." One of the officers said. He hadn't been all too kind to the guy, Ezra had considered suing.
With a small smile on his lips, the officer stepped aside, letting Ezra pass him with a grunt.
He was /finally/ going to surprise Aria, walk into her hospital room with a bouquet of flowers. He could see it now, the wide spread grin on her face, as he pressed his lips to her own, muttering out 'I love You's' over and over again.
That's when he caught sight of her walking past him, and he froze. It was most certainly her, limping with the bandage on her leg.
"Aria?" Ezra questioned, but she refused to look at him. She refused to see his face, not so upset. Not for the last time. "Aria!" He yelled a little louder, as two tall women placed the handcuffs on her wrist, and it all made sense.
No.
Oh gosh, no.
She wouldn't.
Ezra charged forward then, trying to get to his girlfriend but she just kept walking, several police officers popping out of nowhere to restrain him.
"No, stop it! It wasn't her!" Ezra shouted at the top of his voice, tears blurring his vision. "She's trying to protect me! Stop!" Nobody stopped, the women kept leading her away, the officers kept holding him back. "Please!"
Aria turned to glance over her shoulder at him, her eyes red with tears. She mouthed out something only Ezra would understand. An I Love You. It was enough to make Ezra lose it completely. She was doing this for him. "Please don't take her away from me!" He cried out between small sobs of terror, not wanting his girl to be ripped away from him. "I need her!"
Ezra finally broke free, only to see the doors to the prison being slammed in his face, and he dropped to his knees in an instant, a hand coming to rest on his shoulder after what felt like a second.
He glanced up, to see Ella in the same state as him, sobbing furiously.
"She didn't do it."