Chapter Fourteen: The Perfect Combination

There, the flashback shows two of the reasons why Spencer gave Jace up for adoption. Speaking of Jace, Spencer did not know how she was going to handle him and the party Hanna was throwing. Of course, Spencer was allowing Hanna to throw the party with Toby's approval over the matter. She wasn't going to be the contributing factor in why her best friend lost her job, but at the same time Spencer was hoping to ditch Jace on Toby during the party. But, that plan backfired on Spencer since Daddy finds out about Jace.

This couldn't get any worse and it hasn't even started yet. Spencer's brain was over stressed and her energy level was dipping downwards with her blood sugar empty of much needed sugar. Even though Hanna had claimed she was going to take care of everything Spencer knew Hanna wasn't going to be true to her word. This of course turned out to be true as Hanna had Aria and Spencer buzzing around like personal worker bees.

"Hey! That's for the guests!" Hanna declared as she caught Spencer in the act of nibbling on one of the tiny chocolate chip cookies Hanna had placed out with the deserts.

"Han, my blood sugar is running low," Spencer informed her blonde friend while popping the rest of the tiny cookie in her mouth to feed her demanding stomach.

Hanna smacked Spencer's hand that was reaching for another small delight on the dessert platter. Hanna narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Well then eat something that guests are mostly to not eat." Hanna handed Spencer a single orange baby carrot before hurrying off to attend to the work that needed to be done.

"A carrot?" Spencer questioned as Aria entered the kitchen to grab a drink of water.

Aria shrugged sipping from her water bottle. "You'd be surprised. Even though fashion people like to keep their figure the first thing that they gobbled down is the desserts. At one of the parties I went to we were there for ten minutes before the desserts ran out."

"You've been to one of these parties before?"

Aria nodded her head drooping her shoulders. "It's to draw in more customers really. Each worker is allowed to invite one friend and that friend can bring a date. Hanna invites me every time. Now since she's hosting this one she is allowed as many friends as she wants, so you are invited too. Hanna says it's to support her, but usually she ditches you as soon as you get there."

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Sounds like Hanna," Spencer muttered while snatching up a mini red velvet cupcake and licked off the cream cheese icing.

Later on in the day they finished up all the work that needed to be done to prepare the house for the party. All the food was prepared and placed fashionably as well. At the end of their completion Hanna looked around the room they were in with curiosity in her blue eyes noticing something she hadn't noticed before. "Where's Jace?"

"Oh, he's spending the night over at Mrs. Fields's house," Spencer answered.

Hanna's eyes popped out. "What? He's not going to be at the party?"

"No."

"He has to be! He is like curb appeal," Hanna stated. "Also I promised my boss she'd get to meet him."

Spencer glanced over at Hanna. "You did what?"

Spencer gazed at herself in the bathroom mirror tilting her head side to side letting her brown waves tumble over each shoulder. Her fingers grazed the soft blood red fabric of the dress she was wearing knowing that this was only the second time she had ever worn it. It was simple with halter straps and clung to her lightly showing off her wonderful figure. Spencer focused in on her face looking for flaws in her makeup, but the light makeup was done to perfection along with no strand of hair being out of place. Satisfied with her reflection Spencer exited the bathroom.

Descending down the staircase Spencer saw two people at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her to arrive. Toby had cleaned up well with sleek black dress pants and a light blue dress shirt that brought out the small hints of the light blue in his oceanic eyes. Even little Jace was dressed up in fancier wear. Spencer grimaced lightly when she saw Jace in Toby's arms, but continued down the stairs with a suppressed smile to hide the grimace. At the bottom of the staircase Toby pressed his soft lips to her cheek then moved them to her ear whispering, "You looking stunning."

Spencer felt a rush of blood flow up to her cheeks. Even the small compliments Toby gave her made her blush like a teenage girl. "Thank you. You clean up nice," Spencer commented as they started their way to the company that was now in their house. Toby smiled and followed alongside Spencer.

They mostly stayed by Aria and Ezra during the party since the couple was used to these parties and also for the fact that they were the only ones Spencer and Toby knew at the party. They also knew Hanna and Caleb, but with Hanna being the host she was shuffling around talking to all her coworkers while dragging Caleb along with her. Spencer and Toby stayed together up until the point where Spencer excused herself from him to use the restroom. Migrating away from Aria and Ezra Toby moved on to the kitchen to grab a snack. As he stood in the kitchen Toby set Jace down on a counter that was not filled with food. Once Toby had finished his snack he saw Jace's tiny hand trying to grab a cupcake. Toby held Jace's hand keeping the little boy's hand away from the goodie.

An older woman aging in her forties came past them as Toby was playing peek-a-book with Jace making the small boy giggle. The older woman smiled lightly at them. "You have a very handsome son."

Toby whipped his head around noticing the woman for the first time. "Oh, he's not my son. He is my godson."

"Hmm," The woman shook her head as if she thought a silly thought. "My apologizes then. It's just, he looks a like a perfect combination of the two of you."

"The two of you?" Toby questioned with curiosity in his eyes.

The woman nodded her head. "Indeed, you and that girl that was by your side before."

Toby glanced down at Jace and for the first time in his life he finally saw something he had never seen before. He saw how Jace's blue eyes were the same exact shade of oceanic blue as his were. Jace also had the same hair, detached earlobes, and dimples placed in his cheeks as Toby did. Jace's hair color matched Spencer's mocha brown locks along with having the same cute button nose and lips. It was as if Toby was seeing Jace in a brand new light and Toby could see what the woman was talking about: Jace was the perfect combination of him and Spencer. Then more and more puzzle pieces started to fit into the picture: Spencer's disappearance three years ago, the secret she clung to like her life depended on it, and her hesitation towards Jace. It all made sense now.

Just as Toby connected all the pieces and parts together Spencer came out of the restroom entering back into the kitchen. Toby looked up catching Spencer's eye. The smile fell from Spencer's face as she saw Toby's increased in size pupils. It only took Spencer a mere second to recognize that look before she bolted from the kitchen. Hanna walked into the room right after Spencer had bolted from the room just missing her. Hanna saw both her boss and Jace in the room and could not be more thankful for this perfect timing. Her boss loved kids and Hanna was going to use Jace to her advantage. "Oh, perfect timing. Toby, do you mind if I borrow Jace for a bit?"

"Not at all," Toby said being handing Jace over to Hanna. He ran out the room in order to chase Spencer down.

Hanna gazed in the direction Toby had just taken off in. Confusion filled her. "Did I miss something?"

"Indeed, Miss Marin, you did miss something rather important if I do say so myself," Hanna's boss answered.

Seeing the sliding glass door wide open Toby assumed Spencer's high heels led her out into the backyard. As he exited the house and plunged into the slight darkness of the outside he nearly tripped on something. Examining the ground he saw Spencer had ditched her black high heels to gain more speed. Toby knew one of the reasons Emily and Maya picked out this house was because of the large backyard. He was now scolding the liking for the large backyard; Spencer could be anywhere.

Running about the backyard Toby heard the sound of panting and followed it. He found out the panting belonged to the person he was chasing after. Spencer had her hands on her knees catching her breath she had lost from sprinting on the gazebo steps. Quiet as a mouse Toby snuck up on her making sure there was no way for Spencer to escape. "Spencer." Said person looked up with panic in her brown doe like eyes. She stood up straight and made a move to run away, but Toby had the advantage of trapping her on the gazebo. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Spencer inhaled air in and blew it out still catching her breath as she took a pregnant pause. "I didn't know," Spencer murmured honestly.

Though, Toby did not believe her. "You didn't know?" Toby growled not believing that Spencer would think of him as that much of an idiot.

Spencer visibly flinched at the sound of anger in Toby's voice. She looked side to side knowing that she was trapped and had no means of an escape route. Toby kept a steady gaze on her. "Don't think you're leaving without explaining everything to me."

Spencer admitted to defeat mentally and surrenderd. With a deep breath in and then breathed out Spencer beings the story of how her secret began.