Ezra eventually calms me down and asks Aria to drive my car home from how upset I am. That's when he gets us both to our feet and helps me into the passenger's seat. They do a quick chit chat that I can slightly hear while sitting inside the car. She's thanking him for helping and grateful that he's still around for me when the rest of them left, while he tells her that he'd always be there for me whenever needed, which is his way of saying you're welcome. Then the talking stops and the door opens, that's when she hops into the car and drives me home.

I don't say a word, just quiet the entire ride because my wheels are turning and I'm afraid I'll say something I shouldn't. The only sound is the music from the radio set in the background to help us both relax until we get back to my place and his car pulls up behind mine. He no longer lives in the building next to my store but he still lives close by, at The Brew to be more specific because with owning the coffee shop it means he also owns the apartment that came with it upstairs. The place that once used to be Toby's home became vacant when he decided to move out and Ezra ended up taking it over whenever he and Nicole (girlfriend) would come back from their travels and needed the rest.

I stumble out of the car right away and my intention is to go to my apartment and rip it apart, but before I can even step towards the alleyway for the stairs Ezra grabs onto my arm and instead asks me to hang with him. He wants us to get some coffee and then insists that I stay at his place and get some rest upstairs until Aria comes home because she's going to meet up with the others at The Radley Hotel for some drinks. I know this is his way of watching over me, and at this point I am so emotionally drained that I don't even argue, because it's either being bitter by myself, or being bitter with a friend.

Aria gives me back my keys and a hug for good measure. She knows I'm upset but she also knows that my anger isn't at her so she's safe from my outburst. Then she says her goodbyes to Ezra before getting into her own car and heads off to the hotel. I was supposed to drop her off in case she couldn't get home from drinking with the girls, but that obviously didn't work out as planned. So once she's settled and gone he ushers me inside the coffee shop, ordering our food and drinks and we go upstairs to his place. I know that he could tell that I wouldn't have lasted sitting downstairs with my emotions on high alert.

Despite the TV being on, the silence between us is almost deafening. He doesn't seem to have the right words to tell me and I don't have the right words for him. The right words not only for what happened today, but in general. I've seen him as often as he would allow me to since he found out that Nicole went missing overseas and each of those times he's never talked much about what he felt and I never wanted to pry it out of him.

Then eventually he shifts himself to look at me, tucking in his foot under his leg. "You know Mona didn't mean any harm by what she did, right?"

I press my lips together, still sipping on my coffee and eyes glued to the TV. "Doesn't feel like it."

"Why?" His question is genuine, because he doesn't know the extent of my conversation with her.

"Because I knew weeks ago that this is what Alison wanted." I look at him now, "She personally came to me randomly to ask if I'd help. Mona already knew that and once that letter summoned her to the hearing too we had a plan to tell our side and keep CeCe away." My eyes are angry a bit now, "She lied."

"Maybe something happened?" he says gently, his hand resting on the back of his couch now. "Someone got to her, forced her into it."

"The way she said it made it seem clear that she changed her own mind at the last minute after everyone else went."

He sighs gently, nodding instead of arguing. "That seems bad but…"

"It doesn't seem bad, Ezra. It is bad. We had a slim chance to give our side a winning shot to begin with and she put a dent in those odds when she switched her approach."

His sad eyes on me make me feel bad, because I know he's trying to help but what happened today is not remotely close to being okay. "Just try to keep in mind that Mona is one of the people who will always be there for you and she made a human mistake, okay? Don't hate her forever."

"Hate is too strong of a word when someone is my friend."

"But it's close enough when she betrayed your trust." He says matter of factly, because he knows my mindset well. "You guys will get through it though."

My phone rings as he's talking and I slowly pull it out of my pocket while I have my eyes still on him, so that he knows I'm listening and even nod at him because I know he's right. I might be mad at her now but she's been by my side all these years, especially when the girls weren't. Then I shift my eyes down to my phone, seeing a text from Aria.

"Alison won." she says.

I press my lips together, my hands tightening hard to my phone. "She's free." I stare up at him now with visible anger in my eyes, "Our chances dropped to zero."

His face drops, watching me with worry. "There's no way."

I half laugh, setting my phone onto the coffee table now. "Anything is possible when Alison is the one on the other end."

"I don't understand how this happened."

"The girls all let Alison guilt trip them and lied to the judge for her, Mona felt bad for CeCe, me and Ria stuck to our guns and now here's the result." I drink down my coffee now, "Now she's out and the people left in this town will suffer for it."

The worry on his face gets more noticeable. I'm not sure if it's because of how all this was handled badly and this is what happened in return, or because he knows for my sake that this will mess with my mind a lot more than it used to. So he places his hand onto my head slowly, like he's trying not to set me off. "I'm right here."

I have my attention on the TV when he does this, but once I feel his hand on my head I just close my eyes to his touch, taking a deep breath. "I know…" I take another breath and then look at him and give a soft smile, "I miss you."

He gives me his own gentle smile, nodding to my words. "I'm trying my best."

The fact that there's so little words but we both are on the same page of what conversation we're having lets me know that our connection is still there. So we both take our own breaths and silently agree to sit, relax and try not to let the other be occupied with what we're going through as we turn back to the TV at the same time and attempt to be as normal as we can.

...

After a while Ezra pulls out some beers, allowing us to have time to let loose and not think so much. I know this is his way to let both of our minds go numb and be ourselves without the need to force out our feelings, the alcohol would do that for us if we really wanted to talk about anything. For me this could be dangerous because I know from experience that my mouth, or fists even, could be a lot if pushed over the edge and with liquor I can be 10xs worse than sober.

Luckily though my tired mind mellows out with the beer, and after a few rounds of just catching up on good things rather than the bad and some video games to follow I end up down for the count, knocking out on his couch. I must have been here all night because when I wake up I hear my phone ringing and turn to check. I realize that it is now daylight and my phone is on the coffee table beside me while I'm laying on the couch, but I know right away that I'm not in my apartment.

"Oh crap." I say under my breath and rub my eyes from still being sleepy. I didn't mean to fall asleep here but I also am not in the mood to get up and back to reality, because everything that happened the day before comes swarming back.

I ignore the phone while it rings because I'm too tired to interact with anyone right now and instead roll onto my back from my side and stare up at the ceiling of Ezra's living room. I take some deep breaths, even closing my eyes again to relax, but then I hear my phone ringing again and now I groan. I take a few extra seconds before rolling to my side again and stretch over to grab my phone. I see that it's Aria and I realize that since I never came home that it's possible she never did either and is now wondering where I am.

Taking another deep breath of composure I click the answer button and set the phone to my ear, "Hello?" I say a little groggy.

"Did I wake you?" She sounds tired herself.

"Yes, but I needed to get up anyway."

"Sorry." she pauses for a second, "Did you guys get to talk?"

I half smile to myself, "Not really. More like we drank till we fell asleep."

"So you never went home." She says matter of factly. She's always hated that I'd drink my feelings away, but it must not have been too much of surprise considering that Ezra has been doing the same. So putting us together with the same mindset isn't ideal.

"Crashed hard on his couch. I think he is still sleeping because I don't hear him."

She goes quiet again and I know it's not the answer she was hoping for, "Are…are you okay?"

I bite my lip a bit, grabbing my glasses from the table now and sit up. "No, but I'll get over it."

"Mona didn't mean to upset you, Jessie." She says cautiously.

I raise an eyebrow in surprise, "Says the one who has never trusted her."

She half laughs, "Well, you gave her the second chance she needed back then and have trusted her since. She's been there for you and that's enough for me."

I take a soft breath, still not over it but I know I will be. "I know she didn't mean it, but…right now it still hurts."

"I get that." She says softly, "Try to talk to her when you can. You know she loves you too much to not be there for you."

I press my lips together and close my eyes, nodding to myself. "I love her too, but maybe in a couple days I'll be able to. I'll be more calmed down and able to think straight about the fact CeCe is free to do whatever she wants."

She takes a deep breath now, then lets it out slowly. "Listen, Jessie…"

"What happened?" I don't even let her continue that sentence because something is wrong. I can tell.

"Don't freak out, okay?"

"Aria…telling me not to freak out is going to be exactly what I'll do now. What the hell happened."

The pause she has between her second deep breath on this call has me more worried, "CeCe went missing."

My heart sinks into my stomach and now I feel sick, "What do you mean she went missing?"

"Dr. Rollins brought her to Ali's last night to settle in. Everything was fine but…when Ali woke up she was gone."

My head spins a bit, not answering right away because I get lightheaded. I can hear the other girls talking in the background when she stopped speaking, so she's obviously still with them. "They…lost her?"

"Jessie, I can tell you're panicking and we both know what happens, please calm down." she says this lovingly and as gently as she can.

"Are you joking!" Despite her loving tone I still end up yelling in between breaths, the pain in my chest more noticeable but I can't help but to be angry. "For all we know she planned this and is looking for us right now."

"No…don't you dare." she sounds terrified as she says this, "I said don't freak out."

"How do you expect me to not be, Ria?" My eyes zoom around Ezra's apartment now, almost like I'm waiting for her to pop up from behind a curtain.

"Because we need to try and believe that she was released on good terms from the doctors and not based on what we know from her past."

I know she's just trying to relax me but I know what she's saying is bullshit and not something she is confident in. "This…isn't happening." I have to sit down now because the world is spinning around me and my breath is caught in my throat, and thankfully when I hear footsteps it ends up being Ezra coming down the stairs from the loft of his apartment.

"What happened? I heard you yelling." He sounds like he ran out of his room and now I feel bad.

I watch him for a few long seconds with what I'm pretty sure is a scared look on my face, and can barely even get out the words. "Alison can't find her sister."

His face drops in shock, all the tiredness that was lingering is gone. "What?"

"No one knows where CeCe is, Ezra." My voice is practically in a scared tone now with lack of air, my eyes zooming a bit again around the apartment and even past the stairs he's standing on. But I can't keep eye contact for long as I drop my phone and set my hands to my head.

Aria's voice is noticeable from my phone now being on the floor and in seconds Ezra scoops it up, "She's having a panic attack." He tells her before putting my phone onto the table and on speaker so that I can hear her voice again. He knows she's able to sooth me by talking me through my panic while his hands immediately go to my shoulders and bends down in front of me. "You're gonna stay with me until Aria comes to get you, okay?"

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Jessie. Everything is going to be okay."

I half sob through my need for air and slowly nod to both of their words, his hands now on my cheeks to have me look at him. "I…can't do this. Not again."

"You won't have to." He rubs my cheeks gently, his gaze seeping into my eyes. "Because they'll find her and she won't hurt you. She won't hurt any of you."

My eyes are pooling into tears now. I feel like I haven't let my emotions out in so long for really anything since I figured out how not to let the fear take over my life and since then I haven't let myself breakdown. I didn't even allow myself to react the way I should have when Alison came to me asking for that favor. I was terrified then, but my anger had outweighed my need to cry at the time.

"Jessie, you're okay." Aria tells me this again, her calm voice creeping out of my speaker. "Deep breaths. Think of happy thoughts."

I take those deep breaths, remembering that the happy thoughts advice has always been her way to help my mind subside the feelings and bad thoughts I'd always have. "Puppies…"

"Good." She says slowly, "What else?"

"M-Mom and dad."

"Keep going."

"Jeff…" I take a deep breath, "My friends."

"Don't stop."

The tightness in my chest isn't as painful as I continue to say my happy thoughts, her voice replying every time I do. Then Ezra's warming touch also helps me calm down. They may not be together anymore but their team effort is all I needed.

...

An hour has passed and I'm once again glued to the tv in Ezra's place, checking the news stations for any updates on CeCe going missing. As of now there were none, but I kept it on more for some comfort and background noise. Ezra and Aria calmed me down almost immediately after my panic attack kicked in, allowing me to clear my mind a bit and then Aria was at Ezra's door a half hour later. Once she arrived she talked to him for a bit, whispered conversation about how I was holding up, about the situation and then talked normally. While they did this I kept my nose in my phone, searching up social media for updates on there as well. I needed some clarification that if CeCe ran away it wasn't to come get me…get any of us.

"This just in, body found at Rosewood Church." My ears perk up right away to the sound of the woman's voice on the tv, then my eyes follow and land on the screen in front of me, "No information on who the mystery person is, but we have been informed that there is a body."

My eyes shoot to Aria and Ezra now, both of them staring at the screen as well with concerned faces. "You don't think CeCe went and killed someone?" I ask in fear, my heart in my throat now.

Aria shakes her head gently and then looks at me, "No, she wouldn't do something like that so quickly."

"Ria, she's mentally unstable. She's capable of anything."

"This is A we're talking about Jessie. She's smarter than that."

Now the ball in my throat gets bigger, making me want to throw up on how she just naturally said A as if this whole thing never went away.