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Chapter Sixteen: Epilogue

And just like that, peace was once again filled into their lives. All the puzzle pieces of the questioning and sometimes confusing puzzle had come together to form a beautiful picture. As cliché as it sounded life was once again perfect. Spencer and Toby had grown even closer together and deeper in love with a little boy to share their love with. And as fate would have it, everything did in fact happen for a reason.

A simple life was all Spencer ever wanted. She wanted to get married to Toby and be a successful lawyer, but a simple life was no longer an option after Spencer had gotten a life changing pink plus sign. A baby was stored in her stomach changing every plan Spencer once had for the future. She tried to abort it, but the tender heart Spencer had forced her to bolt out of the suffocating room she was in when she went to get the abortion. Then Spencer made the decision to disappear with only her best friend, Emily, knowing her secret and who was also there to support Spencer through the whole process. Though, Emily didn't agree with Spencer's hasty decisions, she had a secret agenda. After Spencer had given birth and left the hospital Emily had her great-aunt take baby Jason from the hospital and take care of him until Emily could convince Maya to let them adopt. Soon after Emily succeeded in convincing Maya they were at an orphanage where Emily's great aunt had dropped off baby Jason the night before. Now baby Jace (the name Emily had nicknamed him) could have the family he would've had without his family knowing he was Spencer and Toby's child.

But, worry started to fill Emily one day. She felt something bad was going to happen to her and that Jace would never know who his mother or father were. So to get the worry out of her system she wrote a letter to Spencer and hid it in Jace's blue baby blanket, because for some reason she was drawn to it for a hiding place. A few months later Emily and Maya died in a car crash. The will of Emily's brought back Spencer and that's where the story of Spencer and Toby's path back to love starts.

Spencer and Toby were deemed legal guardians of Jace and Spencer doesn't want to accept the responsibility of taking care of a child, but Toby convinced her to stay a week and give it a try. Now within the week Spencer met the obstacle known as Lily Peterson, Toby's girlfriend. At first Spencer had no liking towards Lily since, of course, Lily was Toby's girlfriend and Spencer still had feelings for Toby. But as time went on Spencer became friends with Lily. Throughout the week Spencer became comfortable in Rosewood being friends with Lily, being in Toby's presence, and even though Spencer seemed hesitant towards Jace, she began to like Jace. So at the end of the week Spencer decided to stay in Rosewood and accept her responsibility.

Though, when she went back to New York to sell her condo and resign from her job, Spencer admitted to Roy, her business partner, that the main reason she was staying in Rosewood was because she was still in love with Toby. Then the very next day Lily surprised Spencer with breakfast in bed and offered to help unpack Spencer's suitcases. Seeing that Spencer had no public wear they go out for a day of shopping. Spencer's old best friends, Hanna and Aria, see Spencer shopping with Lily and stalk her a bit before confronting her for answers. After running away from the situation Spencer hid at home and hung out with Jace starting to like him and enjoy his company. After a few days Spencer became friends with her old best friends again and then Toby kissed her. Whoa, talk about having everything happen at once. But, since Spencer became close with Lily she immediately confessed to Lily then flew off to New York for her court case. Lily and Toby had lunch and Lily discussed a couple of things with Toby explaining some things as well before freeing Toby from their relationship. Giving him some advice, Lily told Toby not to let Spencer go again. Toby took Lily's words of wisdom to heart and surprised Spencer when she came home with a spontaneous kiss.

Now back together with Toby, Spencer thought her life could go back to being simple and perfect, but of course, it could not. Life gave Spencer a smack in the face shortly after the reuniting. During a thunderstorm one night Jace woke up crying. Both Toby and Spencer ran to go comfort him. Toby instructed Spencer to go grab Jace's blue baby blanket and bring it to him. When Spencer grabbed the blanket a letter fell out. What the letter contained was the most shocking new Spencer had read: Jace was her son. Suddenly Spencer's life took another three sixty twist. The next day Spencer was thrown into her first flashback that had haunted her for ages. Spencer had never liked children, but when she tried to change her mind the Taylor incident happened. She attempted to hold her baby niece, but every time Taylor was in her arms the newborn would wail loudly.

After that wonderful memory had bombarded Spencer, Hanna arrived at the house asking if she could hold a party there. Of course, being the good friend Spencer was, she allowed Hanna to have the party there. But, trouble lurked around the corner. When Spencer left to use the bathroom Hanna's boss said something to Toby that made him realize that Jace was his son. And when Spencer returned she caught one look from Toby before bolting. In the end Spencer was trapped on the gazebo and had to spill her story starting from when she found out she was pregnant up until drinking her worries away. Later on Toby found out Spencer was planning on running away again and he confessed his love for her and captured her lips in a kiss. Spencer's crazy roller coaster stopped sending her through dramatic loops and heart stopping drops; it eased up and rolled along the track at a comfortable speed. Her life would never be simple again, but it was peaceful-and that was just perfect.

Spencer smiled sadly at her deceased best friend's grave. In the dark gray stone the words "A daughter, friend, mother, and beloved wife, taken away too soon by a tragic event." Setting down a few red roses at Emily's grave, Spencer stepped back just staring down at the grave for a couple of minutes still trying to accept the fact that her best friend laid underneath her resting in peace. It still didn't seem to be true even after a good amount of months passed by after her death. A breath left her mouth turning into wisps of clouded air frozen by the cold temperatures. "Oh, Em, you didn't deserve this."

Even as happy as Spencer was she could never be fully happy since the only reason she stood where she was today with Toby back in her life and Jace added to it was due to Emily's and Maya's death. Fate was cruel that way. "You should be here with a loving family. I would've eventually moved on from Toby. Why did you have to die?"

Every month on the day Emily and Maya died, Spencer would visit their graves to grieve a little then she'd thank Emily for everything she had done. All the things that happened in Spencer's life to bring her back to her little family was because of Emily and Spencer was ever grateful for it. Toby knew of this and let Spencer have that day of the month to let it all out. He didn't question and he didn't object; he was also grateful for Emily.

"Thank you, Emily," Spencer whispered softly. "Thank you for everything. Without you I wouldn't have the ones I love back in my life. Without you I wouldn't have Jace in my life. God, sometimes I wish I would've just listened to you. You would've still been alive and I could have all the people I love still in my life." Spencer sighed brushing away tears that were falling from her watering eyes. "I love you, Emily. Thank you for everything."

Spencer left the snowy cemetery and hopped back inside her car wearing up her shivering body. She decided to go to The Brew to inhale a coffee in hopes it'd calm her jittering nerves. Strolling in, Spencer was greeted with even a warmer and a friendly atmosphere and the lovely scent of the different blends of coffee mixing together, she breathed in the wonderful scent and sighed happily. Pulling off her gloves, she let the warm air defrost her numbing fingers. She got in line to get her coffee and thanked the worker behind the counter when he handed her steaming cup of joy. As she was looking for a spot to relax in her eyes caught sight of a familiar petit blonde sitting alone on the couch. A warm smile lifted up Spencer's lips as she approached her friend Lily. "Hey Lily!"

The curly blonde looked up from her empty notebook with a curious glint in her eyes, but that went away when she saw Spencer standing before her. "Oh, hey Spencer."

"Can I join?"

"Sure!"

Spencer sat down next to Lily settling into the comfy couch. She took a quick sip of her coffee while eyeballing Lily's empty notebook and the surrounding crumpled up paper balls. "What are you doing burning a hole into the empty notebook."

Lily glanced up again from her heated staring contest with her blank notebook and frown greatly. "I'm still having writer's block and it's been almost a year! I had this simple idea of a love story, but every time I try writing it down the words blur and the next thing I know the idea is lost. It's like I don't have all the facts quite yet; something's missing."

Spencer thought for a moment trying to find a way she could help her struggling friend. A light bulb popped up above her head as an idea came to mind. "Hey, I'm going to New York this weekend for my friend's wedding. He was my business partner before I moved back to Rosewood, but we're pretty close friends and we stay in contact. I could call him up and ask if you could join us."

"Don't you have to be actually invited to a wedding?" Lily asked in confusion.

Spencer waved off Lily's question. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine with it. I'm pretty sure he'll say any friend of mine is a friend of his. You have nothing to worry about. I'll say you my friends and you need a little inspiration for your story and won't be a bother."

Lily cocked her head side to side and sipped on her coffee thinking over Spencer's offer. She shrugged her shoulders thinking what the heck? "If you insist. I think it's a great idea. If he says yes, then it is a yes from me as well."

Spencer grinned. "Great!"

As Roy's family members moved away from the groom and now pronounced husband to the woman of his dreams, Spencer and her guests swooped in to chat with him. Roy grinned happily seeing Spencer. "Hey!" He embraced her and placed a kiss on the side of her head. "It's great seeing you again." He turned his head noting the man standing next to Spencer holding a little boy with brown hair. Roy pointed his finger at them. "You must be Toby."

Toby extended his hand. "That would me. It's good to meet you in person after hearing all about you from Spencer."

"Good things I hope," Roy said raising an eyebrow.

Spencer nudged his shoulder. "Of course."

Roy smiled and reached out his hand to ruffle Jace's hair. "And you must be the little boy I always hear about. Hi, I'm Roy: a friend of your mommy's."

Spencer and Toby both grimaced and Spencer whispered something in Roy's ear. He let a soft oh out and brought his lips back up in a smile. "Hi Jace, I'm Roy."

Jace giggled "Hi!"

Roy looked to Spencer's other side seeing another guest to Spencer's group. The petite blonde smiled light and stuck out her hand. "I'm Lily Peterson, Spencer's extra guest."

Roy narrowed his eyes a little a transferred his finger over to point a Lily shaking it up and down. "So, you're the writer?" Lily nodded her head. "Well, any friend of Spencer's is a friend of mine."

Spencer sent a smirk in Lily's direction as her prediction was right. Lily rolled her eyes at Spencer. "Thank you for letting me come."

"Hope you're having a good time." Roy turned his gaze to the side spotting someone. "Well, I better join up again with the wife. Hope everything else goes well today. Have a good time." They all waved goodbye to Roy and found the table they were seated at waiting for the dinner to be served.

As a certain song drifted through the speakers Spencer Toby turned their head towards each other looking into the other's eye. The song reminded them of a time when they were younger and had danced to the slow music. Lily saw the looks the two were giving each other and figured this song meant something special to them. "Why don't you guys go dance?" Lily spoke up ending the couple's staring.

"No, it's okay," Spencer protested moving Jace into a more comfortable position in her arms.

Lily rolled her eyes and reach her arms for Spencer to give her Jace. "It's fine. I see you guys googling each other. Just go dance, I can take care of Jace."

Toby shrugged his shoulders lightly while standing up and offering a hand to his girlfriend. Spencer gave in finally handing over the young boy to Lily's waiting arms and took Toby's hand. They moved onto the dance floor and pressed themselves close and were soon dancing along with the slow music. Lily's lips quirked up in a smile and she looked down at Jace who was also grinning at his parents dancing.

"You sure they didn't ask you to come just so you could babysit Jace?" a voice questioned behind her.

Lily cocked her head to the side to see the groom of the wedding taking a seat next to her. She giggled softly, but shook her head no. "Actually I offered to watch Jace while they go dance."

"Well, that was very nice of you."

Lily nodded her head while she continued to gaze at Spencer and Toby dancing. They were such a lovely couple even though they had to go through some drama to be together happily. The way they looked at each other was filled with some much love that it made Lily's heart ache. She wanted a love like this: a true love.

"So how did you and Spencer meet?" Roy asked.

Lily transferred her gaze back over to Roy. "It's actually a funny story, but I'm actually Toby's ex-girlfriend. So we met when Toby introduced me to her when I was still dating him."

Roy's pupils widened. "So you're the ex-girlfriend?"

"Did Spencer mention me before?"

Roy nodded his head. "Yeah, she mentioned you when she came up for her last court case. She said the night before Toby had kissed her, but since you two were such close friends she told you right away. Wait, then what happened while she was in New York?"

"Well, Toby and I had a talk-uh, it was more me explaining thing, but still," Lily sighed. "I didn't love Toby, I loved the idea of him. A nice, strong, and caring man. When Spencer showed up in Rosewood I realized that, but it took a while for me to be able to confess it. But, at the end of our conversation I told Toby he better not let her go this time."

"That's kind of you." Roy sipped out of his champagne glass. "So have you gotten the inspiration you needed?"

Lily moved her lips side to side contemplating what Roy had asked. It was true that she had gotten some inspiration from the wedding getting more details she needed, but there was still something missing. "Almost, but it still feels like something is missing, like the main piece that connects all the other details together."

"I think I know what you mean," Roy said thinking about what Lily had just stated. "For a case you must have all your facts before you can present it, but sometimes you have almost everything you need and you just have this one piece of information that completes the case. Sometimes, when you not even thinking about it, poof-it's there."

Lily nodded her head knowing that exact feeling. She changed her point of view landing her eyes back on the happy couple, who were stealing another dance and suddenly Lily's jumbled mind cleared as she gazed at Spencer and Toby. Like Roy was saying, poof, there it was: the missing piece in Lily's story. It was the characters she could base it off of. "Roy, you are a genius!"

Roy grinned happily. "I've told that many times. Did you find your missing piece?"

"Yes, I think I did." Lily's smiled became a thousand watt smile as her story a=idea began rambling around her head in pure joy.

Roy started getting up out of his seat. "Well, I better find the Mrs. Rockfield and get another dance in. I wish you good luck on your book and if you ever need a publisher I have a friend up here in New York."

"That's be amazing! Thank you Roy."

"You're welcome. Have a good rest of the night." Roy then turned on his heel and went on a search for his new wife.

"You too!" Lily called out. Then she gazed back at the dancing Spencer and Toby who were looking at each other with so much love filling their eyes. Lily mentally slapped herself for not seeing it sooner. She would base her story off of Spencer and Toby's path to true love including every little moment they had together.

I know, it's been a long, long wait (two months and three days, I believe). I apologize for this. I wanted to finish this story before school got started, but then soccer got in the way. Then school started. So, I was juggling soccer and school (not a great idea if you are writing a story). So, once again I apologized for the very, very last update.

I also want to point out that is was originally supposed to be the ending, but due to losing inspiration to write this story it's a very rushed and not well written ending. I apologize for this as well. I'll admit, after school soccer ended and I got back into primer soccer it's less times a week. Truth is I lost inspiration not only for this story, but also for Fanfiction. I've been more into original stories and site hopped over to Wattpad.

So, the original idea for this story was for it to be more of a short story. I wanted to try this since I'm more into lengthy stories. So could you please leave a review on how I did for a short story. Was it the right length? Was there the right amount of details and information? Was the plot clear?

Also I'd like to thank everyone who read, followed, and favorite this story. That really, really means a lot to me, so THANK YOU! Also thank you so much for the reviews! Almost 200 for a short story is amazing! Thank you so much for leaving wonderful reviews.

An early happy holidays to you guys since I probably won't be posting anymore on Fanfiction due to loss of inspiration in the site. But, I still watch Pretty Little Liars with a passion if you ever want to PM, also Ravenswood (I like the spinoff as well).

Thank you guys once again. Love you all :)