**Chapter 15**

***Aria's POV***

I got home, dropping my purse onto my bed, I plopped down next to it exhausted from the day. I could still smell Jason's cologne on my skin, left over from his jacket. It held a certain warmth to it, that kept the cold that plagued me at bay, even if only a little. My phone chirped loudly, eliciting a groan that I barely had a minute to relax before being called.

-Hanna: Aria, can you meet me over at Emily's that way we can all drive over together.-

-Aria: Yeah, I'm on my way.-

I sat up, pulling my laptop and camera from my purse, feeling how much weight that took away from the bag. I slung it over my shoulder, before walking back down the stairs and grabbing my car keys.

"Where are you going?" My dad asked, walking out of the living room to see me in the entry way.

"Hanna set up an appointment with Dr. Sullivan for us all." I told him, watching his face shift from concern to surprise.

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

I hopped in my car, making the short drive over to Emily's where Hanna was talking to Emily on the sidewalk, both had their arms crossed and seemed to be arguing as I pulled up. I climbed out of the car, grabbing my purse as I went.

"Good you got the text." Hanna said, turning to face my car.

"Yeah, listen." I said, needing to tell them about the Andrew thing, they deserved to know that he really was Charles.

"Now all we need is Spencer." Hanna continued on, ignoring what I was saying.

"No, guys, listen. Andrew was adopted I got it confirmed." I said, causing both of them to look at me in surprise.

"Confirmed? How?" Emily questioned.

"Ezra helped me." I said dismissively.

"Wait, did you tell Ezra about Charles?" Hanna questioned.

Why were they focusing on the little things like that, when they should be focusing on the news that Andrew was adopted and therefore Charles for certain?

"No, of course not. The thing is, we know for sure. Andrew could be older than we think he is. Which means that he could have been the kid in the videos." I continued on.

"So before he was a Campbell, Andrew was a DiLaurentis." Hanna stated, giving a nod.

"We need to tell Spencer." Emily piped in, looking between us.

"Yeah, we can meet her at Sullivan's office. We need to talk about stuff." Hanna decided, beginning to move towards her car. "We'll text Spencer to meet us there."

I was still anxious about talking about everything with them, but I couldn't refuse when they all were already gathered to talk about it. I climbed into the back seat of her car, wanting a little bit of time to collect myself before I had to come clean about everything that I had done. I wrapped my arms around my torso, trying to preserve what little warmth I had. I suddenly missed Jason's jacket and the warmth it had provided, that and his hugs.

I must have been lost in my thoughts, as suddenly we were outside of Sullivan's office. I took a deep breath as Emily and Hanna climbed out of the car. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to imagine that maybe they wouldn't hate me after this, but knowing that they undoubtedly would. I followed after them, climbing the stairs into Sullivan's office suite. We sat in the waiting room, while Hanna checked in with Sullivan and let her know that we were here. I tapped my nails on the back of my phone, nerves clawing at my chest.

"It's so good to see you all again." Dr. Sullivan said, giving a warm smile to all of us. It almost made me feel better, but still it couldn't calm my racing heart. "I've cleared some time for you. Is Spencer going to be coming?"

"We're not sure." I commented, half hoping that she wouldn't come because then I wouldn't have to own up to what I had done.

"She'll be here." Hanna responded calmly, as though everything was going according to plan.

Suddenly Dr. Sullivan's phone began ringing. She looked down at the caller id before looking at us. "I need to take this and then we'll go ahead and start. It'll just be a minute."

She disappeared into her office, closing the door behind her. My heart beat sped up more, that we were really going to do this. I rubbed my hands against my arms, trying to warm myself with friction. I wondered if the others had the same problem with perpetual cold that I did. They didn't seem to be fidgeting the way that I was, so maybe they weren't as nervous as I was about this.

"What are we supposed to tell her?" Emily questioned, avoiding looking at either of us directly.

"It's not about telling her." Hanna replied, looking first at Emily and then at me. "It's about telling each other."

I stiffened in my seat, suddenly afraid that Hanna already knew everything and was waiting for us all to be together to tell them that it was me. My panicky gaze flew over to Emily who was still avoiding looking at us, I worried about how she would react. Wondered if she would ever be able to look at me again.

"Somethings it's better not to talk about." Emily commented, turning back to watch the door to Sullivan's office.

"Really, Em, how have you been sleeping?" Hanna practically snapped in response.

"Guys, we shouldn't do this without Spencer." I interjected, wanting to bring the tension in the room back down.

"She'll be here." Hanna repeated the assurance that she had given Dr. Sullivan.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked her.

"We need to talk." Spencer said as soon as she walked in the room.

"That's why we're here." Emily said quietly.

I glanced over at her; she was sitting sullenly against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. Spencer shook her head at Emily, glancing around at Hanna and me before looking cautiously at the door to Sullivan's office.

"No, I talked to Jason. He told me about Charles." Spencer said with a small, knowing smile.

"So Ali lied to you?" I questioned.

"How come Jason knew and Ali didn't?" Hanna asked, trying to find a different option.

"He didn't. He knew a Charlie."

"So Charlie grew up to be Charles?" Emily clarified. Spencer shook her head again.

"Charlie was Jason's imaginary friend."

"Imaginary? What like Mr. Biscuit?" Hanna asked, causing us all to look at her. "It's a long story."

"Jason told you this?" I questioned, wondering for half a moment why he had opened up to Spencer about it, but not to me. I pushed away the thought, realizing that I hadn't even brought up Charles when I was with Jason this afternoon.

"So get this, one day Mr. DiLaurentis went to Jason and told him that Charlie needed to go away, and Jason never saw Charlie again." Spencer continued.

"Wait a minute." I said, suddenly very confused. "If Jason's dad knew that Charlie was Jason's imaginary friend, why not just tell Ali that?"

"Yeah, why not?" Spencer prodded in response, egging us on to figure out her discovery.

"Wait, so those home movies are Jason and Charlie?" Hanna clarified.

"There's nothing imaginary about Charles." Emily responded.

"Hanna's right, we need to tell Sullivan everything." I announced, standing up and getting ready to walk into the office.

There was a ringing and Emily pulled her phone out. She gave a sigh before looking back at us. "It's Sarah. I gave her one of Caleb's phones."

"Can you please send that to voicemail?" Spencer asked impatiently.

"I can't, it's a face chat request." Emily replied, hitting the answer button. "Wait."

We all gathered around the phone, seeing the video connect and there was an image of a sleeping Sarah on Emily's bed. I frowned at the sight, she was obviously deep asleep and so it wasn't her that was sending the message.

"If that's Sarah, who's sending this?" Hanna voiced the question we were all thinking.

Suddenly the screen changed, reading a message from A. I felt my breathing stop, that this was the first A message that we had received since we had escaped. Some small part of me had hoped that we were safe from the torment, but the renewed message showed that we weren't safe anymore. Suddenly I wanted nothing more than to be safe in my shower at home, the steam and hot water protecting me against the cold world and everything out there. I needed a locked door to keep the world out. I shakily let out a breath, hoping that breathing would calm the panic rising in my chest. Tears were forming in my eyes and I squeezed them shut in an attempt to hide my breakdown from my friends.

The timer on the phone began counting down and we all rushed to leave the room, all thoughts about talking about what had happened to Sullivan gone in the wake of making sure that Sarah was safe. The poor girl had suffered enough, she was dragged into our mess and held hostage for two years, all because she looked like Ali. We ran out the door and piled into Hanna's car, she drove like a speed demon, racing to Emily's. Haphazardly she slammed on the brakes in the driveway, still parked on the sidewalk. I shot out of the car, slamming the door behind me as I ran for the door. The others running alongside me, Emily got the door open and we raced up the stairs. I wasn't sure if I was hoping that Charles was upstairs so we would know for sure who he was, or if I was hoping he was gone, leaving Sarah safe asleep.

Emily was the first through the door, running over to the bed and pulling the sheets away as she called for Sarah to wake up. She ripped the sheet back as we pushed through the door, gathering around the bed, where instead of Sarah several pillows were arranged to look like her.

"Where is she?" Emily turned to look at us, her voice filled with panic.

I felt my heart plummet, Charles had taken her and I couldn't help but think that he would come and take all of us once more soon. My body started shaking and I could barely breathe, my arms wrapped around my torso. I couldn't take it again, I couldn't go back there. I was about to break down into a full on panic attack when I heard footsteps behind me.

"What's going on?" Sarah questioned as she walked into the room, wrapped in a bathrobe and rubbing at the towel wrapped around her hair.

Emily rushed past, silently wrapping her arms around Sarah. I rubbed at my arms in the awkward quiet that filled the room. Hanna and Spencer both looked awkwardly at the hugging girls before looking at me.

"We'll let you talk." Spencer announced, patting her hand on Emily's shoulder.

Emily pulled back from Sarah, who looked confused about what was going on. Emily gave a reassuring smile while we walked out of her room, heading down the stairs. We took seats around the Field's living room; I curled up in one of the chairs. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart. I really needed those anti-anxiety pills now. We sat in silence for a while, waiting as Emily talked to Sarah.

"Sarah probably thinks we're insane." Hanna broke the silence from her chair.

"Emily will explain it to her." Spencer dismissed, pacing slightly.

"What with what's on the phone?"

"No, there's no need to scare her with that."

"Wait, so if Charles is Andrew, and Andrew is in jail. Who made the call?" Hanna questioned.

"Did Mr. Biscuit ever make any threatening phone calls?" I replied sarcastically.

"Leave Mr. Biscuit out of this." She rebutted.

Suddenly the front door opened and Mrs. Fields walked in. Hanna greeted her and she stopped, obviously shocked to see the three of us in her living room.

"Where's Emily?" She questioned, looking between us for her daughter.

"She's upstairs with Sarah." Spencer informed her.

Mrs. Fields visibly relaxed at that, giving a sigh of relief and mumbling affirmations. I frowned at the way that she was acting, sure we had been gone but with Andrew in custody shouldn't she be less paranoid.

"What's wrong?" Hanna voiced the concern.

Mrs. Fields looked back at the stairs before turning to us, her expression torn between talking and staying silent. I wondered just what it was that she knew that was scaring her like this, it certainly didn't make me feel better.

"This isn't official." She announced, walking into the living room further so that she could better talk to us. "I was just at the police station, visiting, and they're going to release Andrew Campbell."

"Wait, release him?" Hanna panicked.

"Did he make bail?" Spencer questioned, stopping her pacing and turning her full attention on Mrs. Fields.

"He doesn't need to make bail. They're dropping the charges." She explained.

"What? Why are they dropping the charges?" Spencer immediately asked.

"Well," I could see her wavering on how much she should tell us, but must have realized that not telling us would only scare us more. "There's no case. He had an alibi for the weekend that Mona was abducted. And his appendix was being removed when Sarah Harvey was kidnapped. But the nail in the coffin was they had a DNA test come back, he wasn't the one down in the silo."

"DNA?" Hanna questioned, while Spencer and I both stayed quiet.

"Apparently whoever did this left some DNA in the silo, they're sure that it was his and it cleared Andrew." She explained briefly, I wondered whether or not her cop buddies had actually told her where the DNA had come from or if they had kept it vague. "That means that the person who did this is still out there, and you girls need to take precautions."

"Wait, when was Andrew released?" I asked, jumping on his freedom and the video being timed together.

"Well, he hasn't been yet. They still need to process him and they're waiting for his family to come and pick him up. So it'll be a few hours." Mrs. Fields continued, giving us a worried smile. "You girls should call your parents and check in, let them know what's happening."

With that she left the room. I felt like I had just been sucker punched by the news that he was being released, that we were back to square one where we knew nothing but that there was someone out to get us. Spencer whirled around looking at me in confusion.

"Why did you ask when Andrew was released?"

"Because, if he was released already then that could have been him who made that call." I replied.

"Well, he wasn't so now what?" Hanna responded.

I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair, not sure what we would do now that Andrew wasn't Charles. To some extent I felt a little better, that it hadn't been someone I trusted that had tortured us. But still I couldn't help but wish that it had been him, then we would be safe right now. My phone rang, breaking the silence and I looked down, seeing that it was the number from the Rosewood Police Station. I hit the accept button, holding the phone up to my ear as the others looked at me strangely.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Ms. Montgomery?" I heard the detective's voice come through on the phone, confirming what Mrs. Fields had told us.

"Yes?" I affirmed.

"We got the DNA test back." She paused. "It wasn't Andrew Campbell. I'm sorry. He's being processed now and will be released in the next couple hours. We have squad cars coming out to your houses now."

I couldn't talk into the phone, didn't want to accept the fact that we weren't safe anymore. That we hadn't been safe all this time. She listened to my silence for a moment before continuing, obviously realizing that I wasn't up to responding right away.

"We're going to keep you safe, Aria. All of you. He won't be able to hurt you again." The detective reassured me. "Still, it would be best if you were home before he is released. Or at least with the other girls."

"Thank you, detective." I managed to get out, knowing that I needed to respond to her.

"I'm sorry, Aria." She said after a moment of silence.

I hung up the phone, staring at it in my hands before turning my gaze back to Hanna and Spencer. They were still looking at me in confusion and I knew that I needed to tell them what was going on.

"That was the detective, she was calling to let me know that the DNA test had come back. They're going to send out squad cars to patrol our houses again, but she thinks that we should either be home or with each other when he is released."

"Why did she call you and not us?" Hanna asked after a moment.

I swallowed, not really wanting to admit the truth to them about why she called me and not them. I couldn't even talk to them about the punishments, how could I talk to them about the nightly visits. Still, I didn't want to lie to them.

"The DNA they found. It was semen. They found it on some of the clothes from my room." I told Hanna shakily, hoping that it would at least keep her from asking more questions.

I watched her face scrunch up in disgust that they had found semen, she mouthed an eww at that. Spencer looked sharply at me, probably annoyed that I hadn't told her exactly what type of DNA they had found. I think she was about to ask me why I hadn't told her about that before when Emily came running down the stairs.

"We need to see Alison."

**End Chapter**