Chapter Six: A Secret Revealed

The next morning Michaela got dressed for the day ahead, she put on jeans and a tee shirt, put her hair in a side braid and she dressed Shay for school. She dressed Shay in a cute little dress for school and put her hair in two braids, she let her look herself over in the full body mirror in the bathroom as she looked herself over, both Marin women liking the outfits they are wearing. "We look nice," Shay says and begins to walk downstairs, Michaela walking behind her. "I think so," she tells her daughter as they walk past the living room into the kitchen where Ashley is pouring coffee and Hanna is sitting at the table, eating toast. "What do you want for breakfast, Shay?" she asks her daughter, who sits down at the table with her aunt. "Can I get some yogurt?" she asks her mother, who walks to the fridge and grabs two yogurts and two spoons from the drawer next to the sink, she sits down at the table and hands her daughter the yogurt who opens it by herself and begins to eat it carefully. "Have you considered the job some more?" Ashley asks, after sitting down at the last empty spot at the kitchen table. Michaela takes a bite of yogurt and look at her mother. "I'd love to do it…." She begins to say, when she thinks about working with Ian, she wants to vomit but when she thinks about Ezra, she feels butterflies. "I'm debating it," she adds. Her mother looks at her and gives her, her thoughts. "You loved drama when you were in school, I think it would be a great opportunity for you," she informs her, then takes a sip of her coffee. "Are you going to be ok if I leave you home alone for a while?" Michaela asks her sister, who's sitting in the wheelchair at the table. "I can set you up in the room or living room before I go," she adds. Michaela wants to take care of something, while she has some free time today. Hanna looks at her sister. "Set me up down here, so I can get to the fridge while your gone," she tells her. "Gotcha," Michaela tells her, Ashley wonders what she's going to do. "Where are you going?" she questions her daughter, who takes another bite and swallows. "I just need to go talk to Melissa," she says, without giving away too much information in front of her sister and daughter, they don't need to know the full reason for the visit with Melissa.

Michaela doesn't think her sister and child need to know she was going to go tell Melissa about her affair, or even about her disgusting husband. She thinks Melissa has the right to know what happened and why she began to push her away the last few months of high school. So after breakfast, Ashley left for work, Michaela set Hanna up in the living room and left with Shay to bring her to school, she has her backpack and lunch bag in her hands as she walked into the elementary school ready for the day. "Have a good day," Michaela tells her, Shay turns around and waves to her. After watching her child enter the school, she pulled away from the school and headed to the Hastings household, there were no cars in the driveway, so she pulled up into it and parked her car. After turning off the engine, grabbing the keys out, she opens her car door, exits, and walks to the front door, closing the car behind her. When she walks by the door, she rings the doorbell, waits a few minutes and there's no answer. She remembered that Melissa is staying in the barn from the other night so she walks around to the backyard and to the barn door, she loved this barn when her and Melissa would hang out with the boys before the party happened.

She knocked on the barn door and waited, Melissa opened the door and sees her friend standing there. "Chaela," she says, and then invites her in. "Come in," she opens the door and she walk in looking around at the new renovations, it's so much nicer than it was before. Now it was more like a guest house, a place to live. "Wow, it looks nice," Michaela says looking everything over while walking around, Melissa shut the door behind her and walked behind her. "Thanks," she begins to say. "It was about time for an update," she adds and looks at her friend. "So, where's Shay?" Melissa ask her, wondering where Michaela's mini me was. "School," she says trying to start with small talk, but feels like she needs to get right to it. "There's something I need to tell you and I think your going to hate me, probably for life," she begins to say. Melissa looks at her friend curious to know what she's about to tell her, she takes a moment. "I had an affair with your father," she tells Melissa who's getting upset but holding in all her composure. "An affair," she begins to say. "When did this happen? Is he… her father?" she asks when she comes to realization of what she could say. "I'm not sure, I was dating Jason at the same time and there was something else…." She wants to tell her about the Ian and Garrett thing, but Melissa begins to pace around her. "I saw the kiss, but I thought it was just that, just a kiss," Melissa says pissed off, "but you were fucking my father," she walks closer to Michaela and slaps her. "When?" Michaela holds her anger in and lets the slap slide, she deserved it. "You saw us that night?" she asks her friend, who has stopped pacing and stood in place looking at her. "Yeah," she informs her. Michaela looks at her, ready to tell her. "That was our first kiss, we started a relationship the next day," she lets her know and walks closer to her. "It was never supposed to be any thing serious, we talked about it, and it ended when I left," she says, hoping her friend will understand and listen to her.

She needed to tell her about the Ian thing. "Leave now," Melissa is pissed, and she understands but Michaela stands her ground and has to tell her about what happened at that party. "No," Michaela says and looks at her, she is getting emotional. "Do you remember that party that Ian threw? You and him were fighting, the next day you said you assumed I left early," she says trying to see if Melissa remembers. She tries to recollect her thoughts about that party. "The one Ian threw senior year? What about it?" she asks her former friend, who she once cared for but now is feeling anger at. "Listen Melissa, I'm not in love with your father anymore that was just some situation I got myself into and it's over, it's been over, but I need you to listen because what I need to tell you might change how you look at your shitty husband," she says, trying to calm her down a little to listen, she walks closer to her. "That night at Ian's party, I was drugged and raped by Ian and Garrett, they took advantage of me," she says pissed off. Melissa looks upset and also like she doesn't want to listen to her. "I started pushing you away after that because I couldn't be around him," she tells her. "You were always around him," she cries. "You don't know how much I missed my best friend, how much I needed you, I wanted to tell you when it happened but I also wanted to just forget about it," she walks by Melissa, who is crying a little. "How do I know your not lying? You've always hated Ian," Melissa says feeling empathy for her. "I couldn't stand him after that night," she pours her heart out to her friend, who is listening with all intent. "I liked him before, I dated him briefly, but after… but when he raped me, I couldn't look at him or Garrett, I couldn't stand to be around them," she tells her. "How am I supposed to believe you?" Melissa ask her friend; who she isn't sure she should listen to. Michaela turns towards the door, ready to leave, she does not care if Melissa doesn't believe her, she knows what happened and has to live with it. "I know what happened, they know what they did, they have to live with it," Michaela says and walks out of the door, leaving Melissa in shock of what she just learned. She does not know how to feel about what she learned about what happened that night. She remembered Ian and Garrett being gone for a good moment of time, before Ian found her and helped her in the bathroom. Melissa is considering confronting Ian, but would he actually admit to it, most likely not.

After seeing Melissa and telling her everything that she needed to know, Michaela headed to the high school and walked to principal Newman's office. She knocked on the door and waited for a response. "Come in," Grace says inviting her into her office and Michaela opens the door and enters the room. "Michaela, good to see you again," she tells her, as she pauses what she was doing, and watches Michaela close the door behind her as she enters and looks at her. "I would love to take the job," she says with confidence and knows what she will have to deal with working with Ian but hopefully Karma will work out for her. "That's amazing, let me show your classroom, it's in a new location from when you were here," Grace says standing up and walking towards the door. Michaela opens it and exits the room, Grace leading the way down the hall and around the corner, near Ezra's classroom. Grace opens the empty classroom, which has no desk except a desk for a teacher. It has a little stage in the middle of the room and chairs for students to sit. It's empty of decorations except for a few basic things. "This is nice, wasn't this the art classroom?" Michaela ask trying to remember which class this was, Grace looks at her. "Yes, it was," she says and then looks at her. "You can make it your own with decorations and other fun stuff, this can be fun," she informs her. "When do I start?" Michaela asks, ready to start a new chapter in her life. Newman remembers the day and tells her. "Monday, I can put out a sign up sheet for drama club and you can come and make the room your own until then," she tells her just as the bell rings, releasing students from their classrooms. "Thanks, I love the sound of that," she says and looks down the hall to students coming out of Ezra's room. "Also, there's some paperwork you need to fill out," Grace says, looking at her. "Can I meet you back in your office?" Michaela ask, looking at her. Mrs. Newman smiles as she walks away. "I'll see you soon," she says and walks back to her office. Michaela walks to Ezra's empty classroom, and to his desk. "Hey," he says when he notices her, she walks closer to his desk and sits down on it. "So, remember that job I told you about?" she asks him, he looks at her. "Yeah, did you take it?" he asks her, and she smiles. "I did, I'll be working down the hall from you," she says, and he gets excited. They've been texting and talking since she gave him her number the other day. She just hasn't brought up her being a mother yet, she never really knew how to do that. He looks at her, coming up with an idea. "How about you come over tonight, I'll make you dinner," he says inviting her over to his place. She likes the offer and thinks about it. "I love that plan," she begins to say and thinks about Shay, would her mother mind watching her again. "What time should I be there?" she asks him. "Six thirty, I'll text you my address," he tells her, as other students walk into the room for the next class to begin. "Well, Mr. Fitz," she says standing up and stepping back. "I'll see you tonight," they both smile as she leaves the classroom. She turns around and walks down the hall, to the principal's office to work on her paperwork. She sees Ian standing at the end of the hall, talking to Garrett, who was dressed in a police officer uniform, before they can see her, she turns into her future classroom. Her heart is pounding hard and she can't breathe, she's beginning to hyperventilate, she leans against the wall and starts taking deep breaths, until she feels relaxed. She's wondering why Garrett was here and when did he start working for the police.

In between third and fourth period Noel walked up behind Aria and put his arm around her neck while they walked to their next classes, Aria smiles when she feels his embrace. "Hey, beautiful," Noel says and makes her smile bigger. "What are your plans for the night?" he asks her, she thinks about what she was going to do when she remembers a test they have tomorrow in chemistry. "I have to study, test tomorrow," she says, he looks at her. "Well, can I borrow your presence for an hour or so after school, I was thinking some ice cream or frozen yogurt?" he asks, and she considers it. She looks at him and has an idea. "If we do that, you have to study with me after," she says, she's been enjoying talking to him, getting to know him better, she's hating herself for this because she keeps thinking about the possibility of Noel being A, and tormenting her and her friends. He removes his arm around her and agrees to studying. "Deal," he says, and they stop walking, Aria's in front of her next class, Noel leans in and kisses her cheek. "I'll see you after school," he says and walks to his next class as Aria walks in and heads to her seat, she shared this class with Emily, and she saw Noel kiss her friend. "Ms. Aria, did Noel just kiss you?" Emily ask her friend, who is still blushing. Emily then notices something else. "Aria, do you really like him?" she asks, she looks at her friend as the second bell rings, just as the teacher that everyone calls Squidward because of his resemblance to the SpongeBob character talks and says. "Alright class start passing up last nights homework," he says and distracts Emily enough for them to dig through their papers and grab the homework. Aria looks at her friend, for a brief second. "I'm just playing the part I was given," she says and goes back to focusing on the class.

Michaela picked up Shay from school and headed home with her daughter in tow, when she arrived home, she announced their presence in the house. Hanna watching daytime TV, while laying on the couch with her broken leg up on a pillow. "We're home," Shay says after her mother does. "Hey, cutie," Hanna says when Shay rushes by her, taking off her bag and sitting on the ground next to her. "What are we watching?" she asks her aunt, who has on Judge Judy. "We're watching Judge Judy," Hanna tells her, while Michaela walks towards the kitchen. "One episode and then homework, ok sweetie," she says when she stops by the doorway to the kitchen. "Ok, mommy," Shay says, while Hanna looks at her sister. "Can you bring me a water?" she asks her, "And some snacks," Shay says while Michaela walks towards the fridge to grab two waters and snacks. She brings them to Hanna and Shay, as she watches them bond, she thinks about growing up with Hanna and them hanging out. "I miss when you would crawl in my bed at night," she begins to tell her sister as she sat down across from her on the loveseat. "It was mostly when mom and dad -were fighting," Hanna adds. "So, have you done anything yet to find her b-i-o-d-a-d?" Hanna asks her sister wondering if she's done anything yet, spelling it out so that Shay doesn't know what she's saying but what Hanna doesn't know is that she does know how to spell. "Why is she asking about my bio dad?" Shay turns to ask her mother. Shay looks at her mother, then at Hanna. "I'm in first grade, I know how to spell," she says and attacks the cookies her mother brought her to snack on. "She knows, some of the situation," she begins to tell her. "And It's still in the early process," she finishes telling her sister. "What time does mom usually come home, I need to ask her something," she says getting comfortable. "Usually 6," Hanna says, "she called me and said she's bringing dinner home," she adds, as Michaela looks her over. "I have to ask you a question, darling sister, I have a date tonight and I would like for you to watch her for like an hour or so, I can set her up before I leave, to make it easy until mom gets here," Michaela asks her sister, not trying to ambush her with the question. "Who's your mystery date?" her curious sister asks. Michaela unsure if she would care or not, waits a second. "I'll be fine with her by the way," she adds as Michaela takes a deep breath. "Your teacher, Mr. Fitz. Is that ok with you?" she asks hoping that Hanna doesn't care much about her going to dinner with him. She smiles and looks at her sister. "That's fine," she tells her, letting her be happy.

Melissa kept thinking about that night, she was drunk but she does remember times when Ian wasn't around. She also fell asleep on his couch, and remembered how before they got back together, they're relationship was strained. She wants to find a way to see if Ian will admit to it or show that he knows something so when he walks into their house, she walks up to him and kisses him hello. "Hey, sweetie," she tells him, he walks to the kitchen area to grab a beer from the fridge. "How was work?" she asks, as he opens it and takes a sip from the bottle. "It was fine," he says and walks to the couch and sits down. "How was your day?" he asks, as Melissa walks by him and sits down on the other end. "Michaela came over," she begins to tell him. She thinks about how to word this, to see if he showed any kind of emotion about what she's going to say. "What did she want?" he asks his wife, curious about why she would be there. "We talked, she admitted to me about the affair with my father," she begins to say. Ian takes a sip of his beer, turns, and gives her his full attention, placing the beer on the coffee table. "She had an affair, like full on relationship?" he gets invested in this. "So is your father, that little girl's dad?" he asks, she looks at him, "Chaela's convinced you're the father," Melissa just says straight forward, Ian looks at her trying not to show any emotion. "She said, I'm the father," he says and grabs his beer and drinks it. "We weren't togeth… when does she think she conceived her?" he asks, Melissa keeps going with her rouse, just making it up as she goes. She knows for a fact that Michaela and Ian were together one summer during junior year, Michaela told her that they hooked up and she preferred being his friend and Melissa went for it. Michaela and Melissa were best friends, and always made the pact to never hook up with someone else's boyfriend, even after they broke up. She never hooked up with Jason, they've only kissed before they found out about their father.

Melissa watches Ian's face, he's showing no emotion but trying to figure out what to say next to try to cover his track a little. "I mean, you two dated when?" Melissa asks, he's not showing much. "You didn't date anyone after me, did you? Or did you two hook up or something?" She sees a look in his eyes, he grabs the beer takes a sip, and then tells her what he's thinking. "I mean, she threw herself on me after getting drunk at my party senior year," he begins to tell her, she knows he's lying. She hates to admit this to herself, but her husband raped her friend and has to be accounted for. She knew Michaela, even if she was drunk she wouldn't throw herself on him. Melissa is starting to get furious; she can't believe he did what he did and is now throwing her under the bus. So, Melissa thinks about it. "So, we need your DNA. If she threw herself on you and you hooked up with her, there's still a chance," she stands up and storms off.

When Spencer got home from school, she walked to the fridge grabbed a bottled water, and walked upstairs, she stopped in her tracks on the top step when she heard Melissa walk in from the back, on her phone. "Well I've been keeping your spencer secret for years; I just need you to help me. Ian is not who we think he is mom. I don't care what you think about her, but we need to do something," she says. "I need to know if my husband or yours, is that little girl's father," Melissa says with an upset tone and hangs up her phone. Spencer is shocked by what she just learned.