**Chapter 17**

***Jason's POV***

How could we be so far behind in paperwork? It was already after 5pm, I should have been home already. But instead I was filling out forms because I wasn't here this morning. Maybe I should spend a little less time at the school and more time here. I ran my hands through my hair at the thought, Aria was right, this wasn't what I wanted to do. I shouldn't have to put my dreams on the back burner. I knew I needed to stay late to make up for missing the morning's work, and the time I spent out to lunch with Aria definitely contributed to how far behind I was. My gaze fell on my phone, I should let her know that I was going to be running late tonight. I would probably be here until around 7 tonight.

-Jason: Hey, sorry I got held up at work. I'm gonna be running late tonight. Can I pick you up at 8?-

I sent the message, hoping that she would be okay with pushing our outing back a little bit. I grabbed the next file I needed to go through, already frustrated with it. My phone buzzed, letting me know that Aria had texted back. At least I had hoped that it was Aria. I hadn't gotten any more messages from A, they had stopped almost two weeks before Ali had helped rescue the girls. Not wanting to keep Aria waiting if it was her, I checked my phone and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her name pop up.

-Aria: That sounds good. I'll see you then.-

I smiled at her response, glad that she wasn't mad at me for running late. I settled back into the paperwork, planning to work as fast as I could so that I would at least be able to make the 8 o'clock time I had set. I glanced up as I saw my dad walk through the hallway back to his office, talking on his cell phone as he did so. At least he was still here as well.

I thought back to my conversation with Spencer earlier, I had almost forgotten about Charlie. I was so young back then, the memories had been pushed back. A flash of anger went through me at my dad, that maybe he hadn't told me the truth when he said that Charlie was imaginary. Maybe it was just a coincidence though, the name that Spencer brought up.

I finished up the last of the paperwork that needed to be done tonight before grabbing my jacket from the coat hook and heading out to my car. I smiled when I pulled my jacket down, there was the slightest hint of Aria's perfume still lingering on it. I remember wrapping it around her shoulders, how she had been trembling from the cold, her eyes filled with tears. She had looked like she was about to break down. I didn't want to bring it up at all, didn't want to be the reason for her distress. Hopefully tonight would take her mind off of things, I figured I could at least help with that. I paused as I reached my car, surprised that Aria was on my mind so much. It hadn't mattered that she had told me she was unavailable, I was willing to wait and even the small fling with Ashley Marin hadn't driven her from my mind. Maybe I should be paying more attention to Spencer than to Aria. Or even Alison, though I was still nervous when around her. I brushed aside the memory of her judging looks after my near breakdown after the last text from A.

I rushed to get home, seeing that it was after 7 already and I wanted to shower and change before going to pick up Aria. If I didn't hurry, I wouldn't be able to pick her up in time and I didn't want her mad at me about being so late today. My phone buzzed while I was driving and I was tempted to look at it right away, but knew that I needed to wait until I had stopped. Finally pulling into my driveway about 7:15, I grabbed my phone checking the messages while heading into the house.

-Aria: Hey, something came up. I can't do tonight. Reschedule?-

I frowned reading the message, suddenly afraid that she was mad at me for delaying our date. Ali seemed to jump when I walked in through the back door and I stopped in surprise that she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw me.

"What's going on?" I asked, just noticing that she was holding an old photo album in her hands.

"Jason, we need to talk." She was trying to ease me into whatever we were going to talk about.

I walked slowly over to her, taking a seat on the couch next to her. Figuring that if she was using that voice then something must be seriously wrong and I might need to be sitting down. As soon as I had taken a seat, she turned the photo album so that I could look at it. There was a new picture there than there was before. In addition to the individual photo of Ali as a baby, and the solo picture of me beneath it; the new photo had my mom holding Ali and two boys. There was me. And what had to be Charlie.

I felt like I had been sucker punched, all the air had left my lungs. I looked at Alison, looking for confirmation that I was really seeing this. She looked dead serious and I realized that it was true.

"Charlie is real?" I questioned, needing her to tell me the truth.

"Looks that way." She responded, giving a half-hearted smile. "Spencer found the name in the silo, but when I asked dad he said Charles didn't exist."

"So now we wait?" I clarified.

"Now we wait." She parroted back.

I ran my hands through my hair, realizing in horror that the person who had kidnapped my friends might be related to me. Might be my brother. I couldn't believe that Charlie was real, that my father had lied to me all these years. I didn't know exactly what had happened in the silo, what he had done to them.

"Was dad still at the office when you left?" Alison questioned, drawing me from my thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. He was still working when I left." I admitted, looking up from the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked me. "You looked like you were disappointed about something when you came in."

I hadn't realized that she had seen me when I walked in, I had thought she was too preoccupied. I ran my hand through my hair again, not really wanting to talk to Alison about taking Aria to Philadelphia for a gallery opening. Sure that she wouldn't approve, or would make fun of me for going to something like that. If I told her, then she would know exactly what about their disappearance had been bothering me. My mind flashed to the texts again, something that had been happening more and more since I had been spending time with Aria.

"Jason?" She pressed.

"My plans for the night got canceled." I admitted.

"Who were these plans with?" she quirked a brow, giving her signature look.

I rubbed at the back of my neck, feeling nervous about telling her that I'd had plans with Aria. I gave a sigh, realizing that if I didn't tell her, Aria probably would and it would make it seem like a much bigger deal than it was.

"With Aria. We were gonna go to a gallery opening."

"Seriously, you at a gallery opening?" she said and I instantly regretted telling her.

"Doesn't matter, she canceled on me anyway." I told her, standing up and moving to pace behind the couch.

"Jason, she canceled because she was the one who found the picture. I asked them to leave me alone so that I can talk to dad." Alison explained, standing up and coming over to me, putting her hand on my arm.

I looked at her, surprised at her response. It still surprised me how she had changed since she had come back, and especially since she had been released from jail. I half expected her to make fun of me, instead of this consoling me. I didn't even know why I was so upset. I mean it's not like it was a date or anything. I shook my head, knowing that I needed to clear my head and that my dad would be home soon.

"Aria found the photo?" I asked, coming back to that.

"Yeah, it was in the button jar." She told me.

"What exactly did dad tell you about Charlie?"

She turned around, heading back over to the chair she had previously occupied. She ran her hands down her legs, her nervous habit.

"He just said that there was no Charles DiLaurentis in our family."

"Why lie? Why tell me for all these years that Charlie was imaginary?" I couldn't help but ask, unable to understand all the lies piled on top of each other.

"I dunno, we'll just have to ask him." She replied as I heard a car pulling into the driveway.

Dad walked in, putting his suit jacket on the hook and heading towards his office when he stopped at the sight of Alison and me. I turned to face him directly, standing beside Alison's chair.

"We have some questions." I stated, drawing a curious look from him. "And we'd like answers, not lies."

"Don't you talk to me like that. Not after what you did to this family." He snarled, curiosity had quickly turned to anger. I hated when he did this, every time I tried to ask him about something he decided to pick a fight.

"What I did to this family?" I snapped back, feeling my control over my temper waning.

"Stop it." Ali interrupted the beginning of the fight from her chair. "You're not getting out of this by picking a fight with Jason. Not this time."

Dad seemed to look at me for another moment before turning his attention to Alison, obviously unhappy that his normal tactic wouldn't be working this time. I shoved my hands in my pockets, not trusting that I wouldn't hit him if he continued to direct his anger at me.

"I will not be interrogated in my own house, not by you two." He seethed at Alison, barely paying me any attention now that she had started.

"We deserve answers." I put in.

"Who is Charles DiLaurentis?" Alison questioned, standing up from her chair to be on an equal level with him. "And don't tell me he doesn't exist because I know he does."

He stared at her for a moment before I saw his gaze drop down to the table, noticing the photo album on the table for the first time. He must have realized that there was a new photo there and when he saw what it was he deflated, moving over and sitting down on the couch. He stared at the album for a minute, making me concerned that he might rip apart the photo.

"Charles DiLaurentis is your brother." He stated, concentrating on the picture before him.

I sunk into the chair next to me, amazed and relieved that I hadn't just imagined him, that my grip on reality hadn't been so tenuous. I still couldn't believe that they had lied to me for all these years; that they hadn't told us about Charlie before now. I ran my hand through my hair, wondering if Dad ever would have told us about Charlie if Spencer hadn't brought it up.

"Why lie to us? Why not let us know about him before now? Why didn't we know about him?" Alison asked, pressing for answers while I still struggled to comprehend the truth.

Dad gave a sigh, rubbing his hand roughly over his face. He looked between the two of us before rubbing his hands together.

"Charles had to go away when you were both young. Even from an early age we knew he was troubled. There was an incident and we had to have Charlie institutionalized." Dad explained.

"Where?" Alison asked.

"Radley." I looked surprised at him at this, amazed that my brother had been so close all these years and yet we had never gone and visited him. What could have happened for him to be forgotten like that?

"That's so close." I vocalized.

"We moved to Rosewood so that we could be closer." He explained.

"If he was so close, why didn't you tell us about him earlier? Why didn't we get to see him?" Alison pressed.

"We wanted you both to have a normal childhood. Knowing about Charlie and going to visit him would have made that impossible. It would have consumed your lives. We just wanted what was best for you." He attempted to rationalize.

"By making me think I was imagining things? You lied to me for years, made me doubt myself." I snapped, standing up from my chair and turning away from him. I was furious with him, that he had kept this from me; that he had lied about it.

"Were you ever going to tell us?" Alison sneered, her anger beginning to show as well.

"We were going to tell you both when you got older." He said, face turning sad. "But Charlie died when he was 16."

I felt the air leave my lungs, my eyes beginning to sting with tears. My brother, the one that I had been told was imaginary, was dead. I never got to know him and now he was dead and had been for years. I pushed back the hurt I was feeling from being betrayed for so long.

"Where is he buried?" I questioned, wanting to know for sure that he was dead. As well as wanting some place to go and visit him.

"He wasn't, I was in Europe when he died. Your mother had him cremated." He responded.

"Where are his ashes?" Alison asked.

"She spread them out on the lake." He looked between us for a moment before looking down at the photo again. "I'm sorry. To both of you."

I scoffed at that, turning to exit the room. I went upstairs to my room, slamming the door behind me and collapsing down on my bed. I rubbed the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to block out the world around me.

**End Chapter**

Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter posted, folks. I hope you enjoy a little more from Jason's POV.