Hi Everyone! Here is the second chapter! I hope you all like it! I'm thinking one or two more chapters for this one, but I haven't written them yet so I'm not sure. As always, please review! If you have anything you want to happen, let me know and I'll see what works!

Aria looked down at their joined hands, unsure of what her answer would be. He had rejected her just as she began to open back up to him. Taking a deep breath, she raised her gaze to once again fall upon Ezra's beautiful blue eyes ready to give her answer…

"Okay," she said, "I'll listen. You deserve at least that much."

Ezra wasn't going to waste the opportunity Aria gave him. She may not have completely opened the door to her heart, but she had at least cracked a window. It's more than he should hope for anyway.

"Can we sit," Ezra spoke as he motioned to the couch, " I feel like we both might be more comfortable… this isn't exactly a conversation about the weather."

Before Aria could object, he led her gently over to the couch. They sat facing each other but not close enough to touch. Ezra had let go of Aria's hands, afraid to push his luck to far. He also remembered that the last time they had been on a couch together it didn't exactly go well.

"The other night when we were together, I didn't push you away because I didn't want you, Aria. I have never not wanted you Aria and I'm pretty sure you're all I'll ever want, " Ezra began with sincerity warming his eyes.

"I wasn't saying no to you, I was saying no to us being intimate again so soon, before we really understand what is going on between us. You said the other day that we were just friends and that what happened last week shouldn't have happened. And, in retrospect I agree. It was too soon and I think we were both on the same page." Ezra stared at Aria looking for any sign of understanding. Was anything he was saying sinking in?

Without any real signs from Aria, Ezra continued. " I understand that I hurt you immensely. What I did was nothing short of unforgivable. I'm shocked you even let me see you after everything I've done. But, that being said, it's too hard…." Ezra hesitated, clearly hurt himself at the difficult circumstances. "It's too hard to be that close to you and then to have you go back to acting like we are just friends the next morning. It's too confusing and it hurts too much."

With that last statement, Aria's mood quickly changed. Her attitude quickly shifted from an open one to one of annoyance and anger. "You're hurt?" Aria raised her voice at Ezra, " You're the one who betrayed me and lied to me for years!"

"I know, I know that, Aria, " Ezra spoke softly, trying to calm her while searching the rooms around them for any sign of her family. "I'm trying to say that I think our "slips" aren't benefiting either of us. It makes what we have…what we had" he corrected, " seem cheap".

"Cheap? Are you saying I'm cheap? " Aria retorted, looking Ezra straight in the eye.

"No, No. Of course I'm not saying that Aria." Ezra replied, baffled that she thought that was even a possibility. "But, us sleeping together when there's no commitment, when we both aren't on the same page…. It feels different… We have always felt right together, don't get me wrong. That is the one truth that has kept me sane through everything was knowing how right we felt together. But, I'm not sure you were taking it as seriously as it should have been. Sex with us has never been meaningless…. And I've been trying to give you space, but then we get caught up in the normalcy of us being together and it's confusing."

Ezra was struggling with exactly what to say. Trying to convey his feelings without upsetting Aria any further was a difficult task and Ezra wasn't sure it was working. Taking a deep breath and nervously rubbing the palms of his hands on his lap, he began once again.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you Aria and I want to be with you, but I need to know where you stand. The other day after picking up the box from The Brew you were upset. I know you said you were angry that I spoke to Ali, but I know it was more than that. Why were you so upset, Aria? Please tell me. I need to know what's going on with you. Talk to me, please" Ezra begged, reaching out to Aria and taking her hands in his once again.

Aria remained silent for a few minutes, staring at their joined hands. She had been meaning to talk to Ezra since she shared her feelings with Ella the other night. Maybe this is what Ella had in mind when she invited Ezra over to dinner. At the thought of Ella's scheming, Aria let a small smirk grace her face for a half of a second.

"I've been trying to figure out a way to tell you what's been going on with me," Aria began tentatively, " but with everything that's going on, I couldn't exactly find the right time. I mean you were still recovering and everything with Ali and the girls…."

"Aria, you know you can talk to me anytime. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," he spoke while rubbing small circles with his thumb on her hand as comforting gesture.

"Yeah, you're here now, Ezra! But, I almost lost you!" Aria replied, her tone returning to one of anger but also pain. Taking a moment, Aria calmed back down and began speaking again.

"I've been trying to figure out what I'm feeling, Ezra, but it's not all black and white. A lot has happened and I can't just forget all of that. Ezra, you turned my world upside down. When I found out about everything, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Nothing seemed like it would ever be okay again…Then, things changed after that night when I almost lost you… It's been difficult to get a hold on my feelings, every day I don't want to forget what has happened… But, then we have moments like the other day where we're baking pies and I forget. For a moment, I forget all the bad that's happened and we're just us, just Aria and Ezra. In those moments, everything's perfect. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've been trying, trying to trust you again. It's hard Ezra, I don't want to be made a fool again Ezra."

"You don't have to worry about that!" Ezra responded instantly. "I love you and I promise I will never hurt you like that again. I've made horrible mistakes, but you aren't one of them, Aria. Believe it or not, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I don't want to lose you."

"Okay," she responded after a moment with a slight smile on her face.

"Okay?" Ezra questioned with a small furrow in his brow, unsure of what Aria meant.

"You once told me that you have never regretted being with me and I want you to know that through everything, I don't regret us. Sure, it's been hard and we've made horrible mistakes, but we still can't help but love each other…." She trailed off.

Ezra stared hopefully into her eyes with the pregnant pause eagerly waiting for her to finish her thought.

"Maybe it's a curse?" she mused, " Or, maybe we're mean to live this sad tragic love affair… Either way I know that we're supposed to be together."

"So, where does that leave us now? Today?" Ezra questioned, wanting to make sure that he was perfectly clear as to what Aria was saying.

Aria smiled at his hopefulness. Taking a moment, she pulled one of her hands from Ezra's and brushed away the stray piece of hair that always fell onto his forehead.

"Do you remember what else you told me that day? The day we spoke in your classroom and I was wearing…"

"You were wearing your leopard print sweater with a magenta top," Ezra replied instantaneously, interrupting Aria mid sentence.

"Right," Aria nodded reassuringly, "do you remember what else you said to me that day when we weren't sure what the future held for us?"

"We move forward together," Ezra spoke hopefully, a small tear falling from the corner of his eye.

"Exactly," Aria replied, her smile growing, "we move forward together."

At that moment, Aria and Ezra moved towards each other as if there was a magnet drawing them together and kissed. Though it was a short and chaste kiss due to their presence in the Montgomery living room, it was filled with such raw emotion and passion that anyone would know the two were deeply in love with each other.

"Together," Ezra repeated as they pulled apart.

"Together," Aria responded reassuringly.

After staring lovingly into each others eyes for a few moments, content in each other's arms, the two lovers were brought back to reality with the sound of a pan dropping in the kitchen. "Dammit!" Ella yelled in frustration, making her presence known to both Aria and Ezra.

"Mom?" Aria called, " do you need some help in there?"

"No, honey, I'm fine!" she replied, a few more bangs of pots and pans echoed through the house coupled with a few more curse words.

"I'm just going to go check on my Mom," Aria said as she turned back to face Ezra and rose from the couch.

"Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea," Ezra laughing at the thought of Ella making all that noise in the kitchen. Clearly things weren't going as planned for her today. But then again, the day wasn't going as Ezra had planned either... it was much, much better.

Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it! Reviews always appreciated!