A/N: So I know you all are wondering who took Ali's stuff... and we'll get there, but not yet ;) Also I know I said I wasn't updating until Sunday night but... i'm early :P

Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!

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P.S... my FF glitched out when I finished rereading this and then went back and undid my edits and i'm really tired so I apologize for any mistakes.

"So you're just going to wait down here while I go talk to Han?" I asked, looking at Alison. She nodded.

"Yep. Don't worry, I'll just be in the kitchen," she stated, and I nodded. The assurance, however, didn't make me feel any less worried. After everything that had happened, and after Alison admitted her feelings to me, I felt like I had to protect her even more. Like she wanted, she was mine now, and I had to protect her, right?

Not that I hadn't always protected her— I had. But now, it felt like if I didn't, I would hate myself for longer than eternity.

I went upstairs, though, pushing away my worries. I would leave Hanna's door open, that way I could hear downstairs if anything was happening.

When I got to Hanna's door, I knocked lightly. "Han? Are you in there?"

"Em?" Hanna called.

"Yeah, it's me," I answered.

There was a hesitation on the other side of the door, and then Hanna asked, "Is Alison with you?"

"No," I answered, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Come in."

I opened the door and stepped into her room, leaving the door open. I saw her sitting up on her bed, dressed in pajamas. It looked like she hadn't gotten out of bed all day. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just dandy, thank you," Hanna snapped sarcastically.

I blinked, surprised at the harsh tone. "Well, A took all of Ali's journals. The ones that aren't coded."

"Ugh, I don't want to talk about Alison," Hanna snapped, putting her hand on her forehead as she scowled at the wall. I carefully stepped closer to her bed.

"Are you mad at her?" I asked.

"Aren't you?" Hanna asked back.

I shook my head slowly. "Where did this come from? You've been fine around her so far."

"Yeah well I've always been pretty good at pretending to like her," Hanna grumbled. I pursed my lips, because I knew what she meant.

"She's trying to be a different person, Hanna," I insisted. "A better one."

"It doesn't matter. Turning into a better person doesn't change how she treated us before. It doesn't change the fact that every time Ali says something, we're all suddenly supposed to agree with her. If she's really changed, I'd love to see her give up her role as group leader," Hanna growled.

I shook my head. "Hanna, she's not in that role anymore."

"Isn't she?" Hanna argued. "Everyone is so concerned about following Ali's lie of a story, and keeping Ali safe."

"I thought you were on board with all of that?" I snapped. "Hanna, we were all tortured by A, but A nearly killed Ali!"

"No, A nearly killed all of us!" Hanna exclaimed. "The difference is, when we survived, we didn't go running into hiding!"

I took a deep breath. "Is that why you changed your hair when she got back? And started dressing like that, and drinking all the time?"

Hanna glared at me. "Everything is not always about Alison, Emily! I know your world has no other purpose than to serve her, but some of us actually do things without having any cause from Alison."

Now, I was incredibly pissed off. "What the hell, Hanna? I don't serve Alison!"

"Have you seen yourself around her, Em?" Hanna demanded. "She has you like putty in her hands!"

"I thought you were okay with what's going on between me and Alison," I stated, trying not to sound like I was about to blow up with anger.

"I was, until I started realizing that Alison probably isn't trying to change. She's just acting like it, and one day, when she has all of us fooled, she spin a three sixty and take up her spot as resident head bitch and puppeteer!" Hanna yelled. I pursed my lips, figuring that Alison could probably hear Hanna from downstairs.

"Okay, fine. You have a problem with Alison being back. Fine. But the girls are worried about you drinking so much and skipping school. And you said that doesn't have to do with Alison, so maybe you can just try to stop whatever is getting you to want to drink. We're all worried about you," I stated. Hanna rolled her eyes and looked away from me. "I guess I'll go now."

I left Hanna's room, closing the door behind me, and went downstairs. "Ali?" I called as I got downstairs. I walked around into the kitchen, and saw Alison sitting on one of the barstools and staring at the counter. I was pretty sure that I saw tears glistening in her eyes. "You heard some of that?"

Ali looked up at me and sniffed, holding back her tears. "Let's just go," she muttered. She was up and headed to the front door in seconds, and I sighed as I followed her out the door and down to my car. When I started driving back to my place, Ali wondered, "What the hell do I have to do to prove to you guys that I'm different now?"

"You don't have to prove anything to me," I said quietly. I understood completely where Hanna was coming from when she said that Alison could be pretending to be different, but I had a hard time believing it after I read Alison's journal about me. No one was sick enough to write that all made up. Plus, it even made sense why Alison would've said some of the stuff she said to me. She was scared of what she might be feeling, and accepting I knew from first hand that accepting that you might be into girls is a hard process. Everyone deals with it differently. Alison dealt with it by lashing out, like she dealt with other things.

"Maybe not," Ali stated, "but what about the other girls? Especially Hanna. I was horrible to her, maybe even worse than I was to you. I always got down on her for eating so much, and the one time that I pretended to be a caring friend, I showed her how to throw up."

I glanced at Alison to look at her expression. Honestly, she looked distraught.

"How do you apologize for something like that?" she asked, and now it sounded like she was going to cry.

"Well, maybe you can try first just talking to her. You haven't really offered up a simple apology to her since you got back," I pointed out. Ali sighed.

"You're right. I've acknowledged the fact that I was a horrible friend to you guys, but I never told any of the other girls that I was sorry," Alison muttered with a sigh.

"Well, I'd offer to take you back there to apologize, but I think that if you show up to talk to her right now, she'll maybe assault you or something. She's… in a bad place at the moment," I said, frowning.

"Yeah. I'll talk to her tomorrow at school," Ali decided, sighing. "We should watch a movie when we get back to your place."

"Okay," I agreed, my heart rate picking up a little bit. It didn't take long to get back to my house, and when we did, we gave my mother a quick greeting and then headed upstairs. I let Ali pick the movie, and once again, she picked a cheesy romantic movie over the horror movies.

So we flipped off the lights, put on the movie and climbed under my covers to watch. As we laid there, I realized that Ali and I were like six inches apart, and we didn't have to be. She must have been thinking the same thing, because as soon as I reached for her hand, she grabbed it in her own. Then we both simultaneously pulled each other close.

I pulled Alison against me, and she laid her head on my chest to watch the movie. I wondered if she could feel how fast my heart was racing as I ran my fingers through her golden hair. How had this happened? How was I so lucky that Alison actually loved me the way I loved her?

Toward the end of the movie, when the couple onscreen started their oh-so cheesy and predictable kiss, Alison suddenly lifted her head from my chest and pressed her lips to mine. I reflexively kissed her back. I gently prodded at her lips with my tongue, and she parted them to allow it to mesh with hers. I took control of the kiss with my tongue, and gently pushed her to roll off of me so that I was more above her.

As our kiss significantly deepened, I suddenly felt Alison's leg wrap over mine, our thighs touching. My skin burned under her touch as she pulled me on top of her. She dug her fingers into my lower back, and I let my thigh slip in between hers. I brought it up a little so that it was pressing onto her center, and she moaned slightly into my lips.

I knew that this couldn't go on much further, because my mom was right downstairs. She might be alright with me being gay and dating girls, but having sex in the house was totally not allowed in my house. That's why, grudgingly, I pulled myself away from the gorgeous blonde and propped myself up on my shoulder next to her. Both of us had forgotten about the movie playing by now.

Ali's eyes opened, and her pupils were already huge, which made me feel proud of myself. "Damn it," she groaned. "Now I need a cold shower."

I bit my lip as I pictured Alison in the shower, and then I found myself feeling like I needed a cold shower as well. I looked down at my Alison. "I like this," I told her.

A shy smile immediately appeared on her face, and she answered with, "I like this, too." She added, "A lot," in a breathy whisper. I leaned down a little and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

"I like being able to do that," I admitted.

Alison nodded in agreement, and then she curled into me. I smiled as I wrapped her in my arms. Despite the movie still being on, and the fact that it wasn't all that late, I found myself drifting off to sleep.

AAA

When I saw that Emily had fallen asleep, I slipped out of her embrace and took a cold shower and got ready for bed. Then, I turned off the TV and crawled back into bed with her. This time, I wrapped my arms around her and fell asleep with ease.

The next morning, I woke up to a light kiss on my lips. My eyes flickered open to meet Emily's, and she smiled at me. "Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," I answered, giggling. I hadn't really giggled at all in years, and it felt almost refreshing to giggle again. "What time is it?"

"Early enough for us to lay in bed a little while," Emily answered. "How late were you up last night?"

"Only about a half an hour longer than you," I answered, smiling. "I took a shower."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. A confused look came over Emily's face, and she carefully climbed out of bed and opened her bedroom door just enough to see who was there. "Oh, hey, Hanna."

My eyes widened, and I debated whether or not to cover myself with the blankets.

"Hey, Em. I just came over because I was up really early because I couldn't sleep well last night and I wanted to say that I'm really sorry for all of the things I said to you yesterday. It's just that I'm stressed out about Ali being back. I don't know how genuine Ali is being, but it's not my business to butt into whatever you two have going on," Hanna apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Hanna," Emily insisted. "We were both stressed out."

"So can I hang out here until you leave for school?" Hanna asked, pushing the door open wider. Emily opened her mouth to say something, but Hanna had already seen me laying in Emily's bed. Hanna narrowed her eyes. "Never mind, I'll just go over to Caleb's before school or something."

"Wait! Hanna!" I called, sitting up. "I need to talk to you. Please."

Hanna sighed. "I'm going to start getting ready," Emily said, grabbing some random clothes from her closet and then leaving for her bathroom.

Hanna gave me a look that told me to hurry up and talk before she decided that she didn't feel like listening. "Hanna, I realized that I never apologized to you, or any of you girls, really. I'll talk to Aria and Spencer later, but you're here right now, so…"

"Waiting for the apology," Hanna snapped, sounding like she thought I wouldn't end up actually apologizing.

"I am so sorry for what I did to you. You were always struggling with your weight and at the time, it seemed like it wasn't a big deal if I broke you down for it. I still can't believe that I made you throw up. I was a terrible friend, Hanna, especially to you. If I could do it over again, I never would've said anything bad to you about your weight. I know that sounds empty, because I can't really back it up with anything, but I promise you. There are few things I regret more than hurting you like that," I promised, and I just hoped that she saw that I was being completely genuine and truthful right now.

Hanna crossed her arms and looked me up and down. "Were you in my house yesterday when Emily came to talk to me?"

I swallowed thickly and nodded. "Hanna, I don't blame you for being angry with me and for not trusting me. I probably wouldn't trust myself either if I were in your position. I know that an apology isn't proof of anything, but Hanna, for whatever it's worth, I am sorry."

Hanna wet her lips and nodded. "Okay. Like you said, it isn't proof of anything. I definitely won't be able to trust you for a while, Alison. But I do think that you're sorry about what you did to me. So let's just start there."

I nodded, giving her a soft half smile. "That sounds perfect." I stood up and wrapped her in a hug, and she hugged me back, which made me feel a little relieved.

We pulled apart and she gave me a small smile. Maybe one day, we could be just as close as we once were. Maybe even closer, since I wasn't going to be the bitch I used to be.

My phone beeped behind me, and I went to look at the message.

From Blocked ID- You better rehearse a better apology speech than that, or I'm going to start plucking away your friends like feathers. And soon, you'll be all alone and unprotected. –A

I swallowed thickly, wondering what to do about this text. Hanna didn't ask about the text, so I just set my phone back down and pretended as though nothing weird had happened. If I showed that to Hanna, she would probably think that my apology was fake, and it wasn't. That basically narrowed the people I could show the text down to Emily. She was the only one who would understand that I wasn't making up my sorrow.

But I had to do that later, when we were alone.

And suddenly, I felt a lot more isolated. Almost like I had four years ago when A first started to send me messages. I had no one to turn to. Is that was A was trying to do to me right now?

Hanna plopped herself down on Emily's window seat, and I took a shaky breath and headed to the bathroom. I needed to calm down until I could show this to Em.

Hmm hmm... :P

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I don't have time for chatting... I'm really tired... it's 2:30 AM and i've gotta be up at like 7 or 8 AM lol so I'ma go to bed. Goodnight lovelies, or good morning or good day... lol depending on where ya are :P And please review ^.^