Seasons of Love

by Forever without him

When Alison DiLaurentis is thrust into a world of choices between obligation & loyalty she makes an impossible decision. After spending three years without Emily Fields, she sets out to prove to the brunette that she's worth loving. As looming threats from their past emerge and an unexpected tragedy unfolds, they learn to lean on one another. Canon-Divergent. Rating may change.

32. Stormy Weather

A/N: Typically there is not this much of a gap between chapters, but my life can be fickle sometimes. I seem to be living through a lot of unprecedented historic times lately, and frankly...it's messed with me. In just the last month where I live there were several mass shootings (including a school shooting not too far away where kids were killed), a hurricane hit my city/state (still cleaning up), and a BioLab caught on fire and released toxic chlorine gas into the air. So my 2024 Bingo Card is full.

I promise I'm trying my best.

I see all your comments. I wish I could reply to guest reviews so those of you who were reaching out know I was listening. This fandom is still very near and dear to my heart. I suspect it always will be. Thanks for always being patient.

Recap: The girls just can't catch a break. Alison and Emily thought it was bad that their Valentine's Day was interrupted when they got a body part in the mail. But then they got a text about a body being burned near Emily's house. In addition to that...the FBI is involved. Jason and Toby are nowhere to be found. They are getting cryptic information from Professor Pedo. There is some kind of DNA craziness happening, lots of money in a mysterious bank account, and minions everywhere.

But on the plus side they have each other. And Hanna Banana is engaged.

---

Chapter 31:

Stormy Weather

Two days after they got the text message they were still stuck waiting in limbo. No news had come out of Rosewood. And they still hadn't heard from Toby or Jason.

The image of the charred and burning corpse was seared into Emily's brain. She had seen a lot of messed up things in her life, but that dead body was not something she'd ever forget.

Everyone was filled with a longing sense of dread. Jason's boss hadn't heard from him in over a week. And Toby had missed a brunch with Emily's mother, which was unlike him.

Spencer was terrified that someone had gone after Toby. None of the girls could fathom losing him. He'd always been careful, but they had lived in Rosewood long enough to know that nothing could stop Charlotte DiLaurentis when she set her mind to something.

Alison was upset because Jason was missing, too. She had been telling him for months that their sister couldn't be trusted. She knew that her pleas fell on deaf ears and she was afraid that her warnings had been too late to save him. He had been in her life since they day she was born. They hadn't always been at each other's throats. They had an entire history, complicated as it was.

She feared for Toby as well. She hadn't always gotten along with him, but she cared about him. He'd always been good to Emily and Pam, and that meant a lot to her. Aside from that, they'd done a lot of healing since she had broken down in front of him after Wayne Fields died. He'd held Alison in his arms and she'd never felt safer.

On top of the boys being missing, Emily was on edge because she couldn't drop everything to go and comfort her mom. The older woman had gone through a lot the past several months and Emily was worried about her.

She'd sounded so exhausted and fragile when they last spoke.

Emily had never thought of her parents as elderly. Her mother wasn't that old. But age wasn't the only factor that played into the stressors of getting older. Her father had heart problems. She had watched him scale a building when she was in high school. He'd done it when she thought she was in danger because of the A-mess. Afterwards he had collapsed because of his heart. It had terrified her because he had been one of the healthiest people she knew.

It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that her mother had some underlying issue and all it could take to trigger it was Charlotte's vendetta.

When Caleb told her about the body that had been found her first thought was about her mother.

Hearing her voice afterwards had been equal parts relief and guilt. The fact that her mother was dealing with reigning chaos 3000 miles away really bothered her.

The call had been nothing like the one Emily had received after her father died.

This time her mother had seemed unnaturally calm.

"Mom…" Before she had a chance to finish speaking her mother had cut in.

"Em, I'm afraid I have some bad news. Something terrible has happened. I just got done speaking with the police. They…" Her tone had shifted, allowing some of her emotions to slip through. Her voice cracked when she spoke again, "They found a body near the house."

The images that Emily had locked away after Maya's body had been recovered had flooded her mind.

"They don't know who it is."

"Are you okay?" Emily wasn't sure what else to say.

She certainly couldn't tell her mom that she'd seen a picture of the body being burned.

"I'm trying to process everything. The police said the yard is still an active crime scene. I don't think I'll be going home any time in the next few days. Ashley and Ted have offered to let me stay in their guest bedroom."

"I think that's probably a good idea."

"Ashley is talking to Veronica. I think Veronica is planning to advise me on how to navigate this since the body…" She stopped talking briefly to consider how cold that term truly sounded, "…since this person was found on our property. It was far enough away that the security cameras didn't capture anything."

"Did the police give any indication that they know who it is?" Emily asked.

"No." Her mom sighed. "And I can't imagine who would have been there at that hour. Ashley and Ella were with me. And Toby usually calls before he visits, and he doesn't come by that early."

That's when it hit Emily that Toby liked to do early morning patrols. He had been checking on all of their mothers since he found out what was going on.

"I should probably call and let him know about this. He'll be worried if he drives by and sees all those police cars. We're supposed to go to brunch tomorrow, but I didn't hear back about a time yet. Have you spoken to him lately?"

Emily felt her mouth go dry.

"No. You haven't talked to him either?" Emily asked.

"No."

"I know Spencer spoke to him recently." But he hadn't picked up her calls since they'd last talked.

"This is so tragic. Who would do such a thing?" Her mother asked in quiet disbelief.

"I don't know, mom. I really don't. I'm sorry I'm not there." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm sorry it happened again."

There was a pause and then a breath of realization on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, baby. I know how this must make you feel."

It was Maya all over again.

It was as if whoever was killed at her house was done so in order to torture her. But in the process the person responsible was torturing her mother, too.

"I'm okay." Emily lied.

She was trying to be okay, but that didn't mean that she was actually okay. And her mom knew that.

"No you're not. I can hear it in your voice."

"Because I'm worried about you." She wanted to tell her mom to skip town, but at least in Rosewood she had people looking out for her.

"I'm fine. I'm more concerned about you." There was a break in the call and some background noise. "I have to take care of some things, but promise me that you'll let your friends help you if you're struggling."

"Promise me the same thing." Emily replied.

"I love you."

"Love you, too, mom."

The conversation had replayed in her mind since she had hung up the phone. Her mother had texted a few updates, but nothing that gave them insight on the case.

She felt helpless. Being on the opposite coast had given her the independence and serenity that she'd craved when she left Rosewood, but it had come at a cost. She wanted to hug her mother…to lay eyes on her just to make sure she was okay.

She was afraid of what the future looked like now that her dad was gone. She had promised him that she would take care of her mom while he was away. Now he was never coming back. And sometimes that kept her up at night.

Then she remembered that her mother wasn't a some delicate little flower. Just months ago she had come to the door armed with a pistol. Alison said she'd never been more terrified of the fastidious baker and tea-maker than she was that day. Emily's mom was tough. It didn't completely alleviate the guilt, but it made her feel better about her mom being so far away.

She knew that her girlfriend understood the complexity of being far away from family. Alison had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want anything to do with her family anymore, but that didn't mean she was immune to the same fears and insecurities.

The blonde had been a mess since they'd gotten the picture of the body. There had been no love lost between Alison and Jason, but that didn't mean she wasn't worried about him. Despite everything he'd done…despite the fact that he'd stayed for Charlotte, Alison still loved him. She had been an emotional wreck because he wasn't responding to her.

Spencer had been trying to use her privileges to see what she could find out about the body.

Caleb was lending a hand by looking through records he could access. And he had Hanna's help. Since he'd arrived in Malibu they hadn't left each other's side. They should have been planning their wedding and their honeymoon. Instead they were dealing with the aftermath of a murder.

"I'd say this is a bad omen of things to come for Caleb and me, but this is pretty typical in our lives. I think I'd be worried if things were normal," Hanna had said the last time Emily and Alison spoke to her.

Aria had been checking in since she made it safely back to Boston. Even though she was six hours way away from Rosewood she still didn't feel safe. She had been glued to her fiancé and their dog since she'd gotten home. Thankfully Liam and Argos were going with her on the book tour.

She couldn't wait to put more distance between Rosewood and the life she was building with Liam.

She'd mentioned it in the group chat that morning,

Checking flights already. As far as I'm concerned, the dark side of the moon isn't far enough away from her.

Pink Floyd, had been Spencer's response.

Who? Hanna had chimed in.

Emily had practically been able to see Spencer staring at Hanna in disbelief when she'd replied,

It's a band. Don't tell me you've never heard of Pink Floyd. 'Dark Side of the Moon'?

Pink's last name isn't Floyd. Is 'Dark Side of the Moon' a new album or something?

Never mind.

Spence, any luck on the home front? Emily asked.

On my way there now. At the airport.

Of course she'd hopped on the first plane out there. It seemed like a bad idea. Walking directly into a trap.

You're actually physically going to Rosewood? Why? The alarm in Aria's reaction was palpable.

She was talking about getting away from Rosewood, so hearing that one of her best friends was going back was not ideal. She added,

There is a killer roaming around. Don't go there! Go back to Malibu and wait with everyone else. You'll be safer there.

We're not safe no matter where we go. I think you know that. I can't just sit around while Toby and Jason are missing.

And you could be next!

Emily and Alison had let them argue about Spencer's plans as the day went on. They had other things to worry about.

They had been called in by the FBI to answer more questions. They were back in the hot seat even though they hadn't been anywhere near the murder.

While Spencer and Aria bickered about her safety, Alison and Emily were dealing with an arrogant FBI agent who had it out for them.

Emily tapped her foot against the floor, regretting everything that had led up to Linda Tanner being back in their lives. She was angry at the circumstances that had them sitting in a small interview room being treated like criminals again.

She was doing her best to not give away the fact that she was burning with the desire to launch herself into the sun rather than being there. She glared at the agent, sorry that she'd ever called her for help in the first place.

Alison stirred next to her. The heat in her cheeks was visible. The fire in her eyes was even hotter.

Tanner placed her hands flat on the table.

"I'm going to need you to cut the bullshit." Gone was the façade that Tanner had been putting on weeks ago. "You know more than you're saying." She slid the images of the charred remains across the table, forcing them to look. "You always know more than you're saying. And sooner or later we're going to know what you know. They're still working on a positive ID, but I have no doubt in my mind that you have something to do with this."

Emily changed her mind about launching herself into the sun and toyed with the idea of launching the FBI agent into the sun instead.

"You can't be serious." Alison met Tanner's glare with a matching glower of her own.

The blonde had learned to dance with the devil when she was a child. She wasn't afraid of Linda Tanner. Not anymore.

"Alison." The calming voice warning her to settle down was not Emily, but their level-headed lawyer, Jerica Park-Lewis. The older woman faced Tanner. "Agent Tanner, if you don't want to conduct this interview properly then I have no problem making a call to the base in Quantico and having a chat with your boss."

"That won't be necessary." Furey chimed in. "Apologies, but this is a sensitive matter and it seems to revolve around Miss Fields and Miss DiLaurentis. We're not questioning criminality here. The person who did this is still at large. We just want to stop this before it gets any worse."

It's already worse. Alison thought to herself, her phone burning a hole in her pocket.

She thought that she'd come to terms with her brother choosing Charlotte, but she had come to realize over the past 48 hours that she couldn't even begin to process what losing Jason would do to her.

He was a prick. They hated each other, yet there had been times where he had genuinely cared for her.

He had hugged her and told her it was going to be okay when her parents fought.

He had held her hand when he picked her up from school when her parents couldn't be bothered to.

He had climbed into her bed and kept her nightmares at bay when she was little.

Family secrets had turned them against each other. And Jason had destroyed what little hope they had when his perverted club had violated her and her friends.

After finding out about Charlotte they had temporarily mended fences, but once again…family secrets tore them apart.

Charlotte tore them apart when she forced them to choose.

But that didn't mean she wanted him dead.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she turned away and faked a cough to try and play it off.

It worked on the Federal Agents and on the lawyer, but not on Emily. She could see the blonde wrestling with her emotions, so she silently reached out and squeezed her hand under the table.

Emily's compassion made it more difficult for Alison to hold the tears in. She didn't want to cry, so she focused all of her attention on the FBI agents who were staring at her like she was at fault for everything that was happening.

They hadn't told Tanner and Furey that Jason and Toby were missing, though she was considering it because they could use their resources to track them down. Then again, they had Spencer. She was already in Rosewood by now. She'd have answers just as quickly…and she'd be more discreet.

"Perhaps you can shed some light on why this body was in your yard, Miss Fields." Tanner had toned her aggression down to a dull roar.

"I have no idea."

Jerica had told the girls to stick to the basics. "I don't know" was a lawyer's best friend.

"You can understand why we're concerned. It's odd that this victim showed up right outside your back door." Tanner tapped her fingertips against the tabletop. "The same back door where Sara Harvey was arrested. Perhaps the perpetrator is known to you. Perhaps they were looking for one of you, or both of you…or perhaps they were trying to send you a message."

"My clients have solid alibis. You know they've been in Malibu this entire time." Jerica argued.

"But they have contacts back east. Isn't that right, Miss. DiLaurentis?"

"You think we have a hit-man on speed dial?" The blonde spit sarcastically. "Sure, because we live a life of crime and stealth."

Jerica didn't even bother with subtlety as she reprimanded Alison.

"Enough." She warned.

She had told them that Tanner was likely going to try and get a rise out of them. And Alison was fueling the fire.

Tanner poured gasoline on that fire, because she knew she had Alison right where she wanted her.

"Are you telling me that you don't have people back in Rosewood?"

"Aside from some students I crossed paths with while working at Rosewood High I didn't really spend time with anyone."

"What about your brother?" Tanner could tell she'd hit a sore spot by the way Alison squared her jaw.

"What about him?" Talking about him was just another reminder that he wasn't answering her calls.

"He still visits your sister, doesn't he?"

"So?"

"So, if what you're insinuating is true and she's somehow responsible for this murder...she would have needed help."

"My brother can be a piece of shit sometimes, but he's not a murderer." Alison frowned.

"How can you possibly know that? Have you spoken with him since the body was found?" Tanner asked. "We can't seem to get in touch with him."

Neither can I. Alison bit her tongue.

She clamped her hands into fists and clenched her jaw so hard that Emily could hear her teeth grinding together.

"Agent Tanner, you told us to come to you if we needed help." Emily tried to draw the attention off of her fiery girlfriend. "You said things would be different this time. You promised that you weren't going to turn this into a baseless accusation session."

"I'm sorry, I can't ignore your proximity to this." To her credit she did sound apologetic.

"Proximity?" Jerica huffed out a sardonic laugh. "You were the one in Pennsylvania when it happened."

Tanner balked at the accusation. Emily and Alison had to bite back their surprise. They knew Jerica was a shark, but she had straight up mauled Tanner in front of them without even blinking.

"I was investigating what happened to Miss Harvey." For some reason, the agent felt the need to clarify.

"From my notes it looks like Sara Harvey was killed in police custody." Jerica looked up from her notepad, but everyone in the room knew she'd memorized everything. She was doing it just for show. "In fact, she was killed while waiting to speak to the FBI."

"I don't think I appreciate what you're insinuating." Tanner narrowed her eyes.

"I don't appreciate you continuously dragging my clients in here when they've been perfectly clear that they don't know anything more." Jerica flipped her notebook closed. "If all you have to go on is past biases and 'proximity' then I'm afraid we're done here. They had no motive. They had no means. And they had no opportunity. At best, all you have is circumstantial evidence and speculation on your part."

"Be that as it may, their history speaks for itself…"

"Tanner." Furey shot her a look that came across as annoyance. "I want this solved as much as you do, but this isn't the way to do it."

Tanner's nostrils flared. Alison saw her fingers flick against the table. She looked like she wanted to smack her partner.

"May I speak with you in the hall?" She rose to her feet.

He stood next to her.

"Excuse us." He addressed them with a polite nod.

She stormed out and he followed.

"What was that about?" Emily kept her voice low.

"I'm not sure, but I think that was genuine. He seemed irritated." Jerica jotted something down. "She has a very short fuse."

"Tell me about it." Alison agreed. "Why is she so obsessed with us? This is harassment."

"It's because they have nothing else to go on." Jerica smoothed the top of her notepad. "I'm not concerned."

"You don't know her like we know her." Alison stared at the door, waiting for the angry agent to blow back in like a hurricane.

"I have a pretty good read on her." Jerica countered. "She's angry because she can't wrap this up with a neat little bow. She knows she has no reason to keep dragging you in. She has no viable suspects. And she knows she can't keep pushing the issue."

"We gave her Charlotte. She's killed before." Alison was fuming. "They have her confessing to murdering my mother on tape. At the very least she should be behind bars."

Jerica glanced at Emily. There was a quizzical look in her eyes, like she knew Emily was the one who had gotten that confession…like she knew they were keeping it from her. But she didn't say anything. She turned her attention back to Alison.

"Charlotte never gave a formal statement about your mother. She likely walked it back. And since she's under psychiatric evaluation Agent Tanner doesn't seem to think she's capable of running something as complex as a murder-revenge plot from Welby."

"What about you? What do you think?" Alison asked.

The lawyer didn't hesitate in her response.

"Judging by what Spencer initially told me and getting all of the information from the rest of you I think Charlotte is a very dangerous person. But it's not my job to find the person responsible. It's my job to advocate for you and to make sure you maintain your innocence."

Emily tried not to shrink in on herself. They were keeping so much hidden from Jerica. The file that Ezra had put together. The threat they'd received with the photo of the burning body. The mystery bank account. The DNA results. The fact that Charlotte wasn't alone when Jessica was murdered. There was a minefield of information and she knew it was ripe to explode.

But Jerica was right about one thing: it wasn't on her to find out who was behind everything.

It was on them.

The cops certainly weren't going to figure it out. In fact, Tanner seemed all too giddy to try and pin it on them. Again.

Emily imagined the agent would take far too much delight in perp-walking them through the streets of California before throwing them in a cell. The station was intimidating enough. She certainly didn't want to see the inside of a prison.

The light above the table flickered and she automatically reached up to shield her eyes. The quiet buzzing sound the electricity emitted felt like it was vibrating through her veins.

Her eyes darted to the four solid walls that suddenly felt like they were closing in on her.

She sucked in a breath through her nose and put her hands on the table.

There was a painful fluttering sensation in her chest, her ribs squeezing the life out of her lungs.

The walls were moving again.

The room was getting smaller.

The electricity flickered and a buzzing sound filled the air.

Alison and Jerica disappeared.

The table where she was resting her hands was gone.

A loud buzzer cut into the darkness.

An emotionless drone prompted her,

"Choose…"

Her body ached.

Her head was pounding.

She could barely move.

She didn't even try to lift her hand.

Pictures of her best friends looked up at her, haunting her.

She couldn't.

She wouldn't.

Electricity surged through her body.

She clamped her teeth down and they cut into her tongue.

Seconds later she heard the screaming from a distance.

"Don't hurt them." Her voice was dry, like sandpaper.

She tried to lift her head up, but her chin dropped and she let out an exhausted breath.

There was a commotion behind her.

Loud buzzers screamed in the air.

The lights dimmed and were replaced by red flashing strobes.

She didn't hear their captor sneak up behind her.

There was a thick black bag over her head.

"Can't…breathe…" She wheezed.

That seemed to be the goal…to knock her unconscious…or kill her.

She jerked her hands against the restraints on the table, but they didn't budge.

Something pierced her neck, sending a burning pain into her temples.

Her body spasmed violently and then she went limp.

The concept of time was lost, but she was awake and felt her body moving.

The bag had stayed tied over her head as someone hauled her through the underground labyrinth.

She had been unable to move. Unable to scream. Unable to tell her captor to go to hell.

Then she heard it…voices.

"How much did you give her?"

The bag muffled the sound and her ears were still ringing from the attack, but she thought maybe there was someone else in the hallway.

"What did you do? She's barely breathing! You weren't supposed to…"

The lack of oxygen finally hit Emily. Her senses went dull.

She fought against death.

She couldn't die.

Not until she got her friends out.

Not until she saw her parents again.

Not until she told Alison the truth about how she felt.

She struggled for what felt like eternity.

When she finally opened her eyes the sack that had been covering her face was gone.

She was still in the darkness, cramped in a small area she couldn't see.

It only took her a few seconds to register the smell of the mildew and the lasting aroma of dirty water.

She was back in the water well.

"No…" She whispered.

Her voice echoed in the large open chamber above her.

There was a noise to her right and then something brushed against her leg.

Emily almost swung a wild fist into the abyss, but then she heard a quiet sniffle.

"Who's there?" The brunette asked.

"Emily? Is that you?"

"Mona?"

"You're not supposed to call me that. They'll punish you." Mona's voice carried all around them.

"Are you okay?" Emily reached out, trying to find her.

The space they were in was larger than the previous water well she'd nearly died in.

Her palm landed on Mona's forearm. She instinctively pulled Mona into her so she could embrace her in a hug. The motion sent a shooting pain down her limbs, which were still semi-numb from whatever she'd been drugged with.

"Mona, are you okay?" Emily repeated.

Mona started rocking side to side, humming under her breath.

Then she started to sing.

"If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise…" She sang under her breath.

The abrasive snarky Mona Vanderwaal that Emily knew had been turned into a shell of herself. She was internalizing, which wasn't good. Mona spiraled when she took on too much.

"Hey, we're going to be okay. We're going to…"

Mona cut her off by pushing her index finger against Emily's lips.

She continued singing, louder and deeper this time,

"If you go down in the woods today, you'd better go in disguise." Mona pulled back, sitting against the wall of cement that encircled them. "For every bear that ever there was…" She raked her fingernails against the stone, "…will gather there for certain because…"

She dropped her hand and lowered her voice,

"Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic."

"What has A done to you?" Emily whispered.

There was silence, then,

"My mom used to sing it to me when I was little. It…it plays in my room here. Over and over." Mona's voice cracked. "I don't understand what it's supposed to mean. I think maybe we're the bears. 'For every bear there ever was.' Us. 'Will gather there for certain because…' Because A knows they have us. We're the chess pieces. A is the player. A is the person in the darkness in disguise. And we're the bears." She stuttered. "We're the bears." She repeated with a murmur.

"And the picnic? It's not like this place has a 5-star-hotel menu. We barely get fed."

"Only when we don't listen." Mona replied. "We have to listen."

"I can't. I can't do what's being asked of me. This person…" Or persons…she wasn't sure, "…they're hurting the others. I won't play that game. Do you even know what this monster has done to Hanna? To Spencer and Aria?"

The bucket A left for Hanna to purge her food. Her gaunt pale face and the look of shame in her sad blue eyes. It was meant to make her feel disgusted with herself.

The scalding shower that had burned Spencer. Her skin red and irritated, the life drained from her normally vivacious soul. Her punishment had been designed to take control away from her, to strip her of her confidence. To make her feel small like her family had done for so many years.

The nonconsensual acts to Aria's appearance that had violated her personal space. She'd had her choices taken away from her, so she would feel small and out of control. It had silenced her voice entirely.

Mona being stripped her of her identity…being tortured psychologically. She had been through so much before they'd gotten there. The monster responsible had reached into her psyche and damaged her sense of self, made her feel as though she was a nobody. She'd been crafted into 'Loser Mona' once again.

Even Emily herself…the drowning when she had the skills to swim. Nearly dying because of a fatal tomb that had been constructed for her. It had instilled a sense of panic in her that was always there.

"This person is playing on our worst fears."

"That was me, once upon a time," Mona said. "Your worst fears. All that time being A…" She sighed. "I think this is where I deserve to be."

Emily knew that Mona had been dealing with the sick and twisted games for months before they'd been brought there. Their kidnapper had probably done irreparable harm to her.

"Mona, you don't deserve this. No one deserves this."

Mona didn't reply. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, hugging herself.

"You've been here longer than we have," Emily said gently. "I can't even imagine what you've been through."

Mona let out something that sounded like a quiet sob, burying her face in her knees.

"I'm sorry." Mona cut through the silence in the air. "I never should have tried to play the game again. I never should have planned to frame Alison. I didn't mean for it to end up like this."

Emily had spent a lot of time blaming her for descending upon their lives and sowing complete chaos. Mona had caused them a lot of harm. But she didn't blame her for what they were going through in the bunker. Her actions might have put things in motion, but the person Emily had been directing all her anger at was the one pulling the strings.

Mona was a victim, too. Whoever was running the game had reached into her delicate fragmented mind and had scrambled everything up. Mona was lost down a path that she was struggling to come back from.

"We don't blame you." Emily reached out and touched her arm. "It's not your fault."

Mona went silent again.

"I know you're scared, but we have to work together if we're going to survive this." Emily looked up, but all she saw was a pipeline full of darkness. There was a faint light up at the very top, way out of reach. "In your time here have you ever seen the person doing this? Or…is there more than one person doing this? Is it two people? A group of people?"

She had questioned how one person could torture five people. How could someone so effortlessly render them unconscious and move them around like they were mere dolls? Who had the money to even afford the upkeep of a place like this?

And the drugs…where had the drugs come from?

She rubbed her temples, trying to fight off the nausea that had been slowly creeping up on her as the medication wore off.

She thought she'd heard voices…plural…before she'd been dumped in the pit with Mona.

"It doesn't matter." Mona replied to her question in a strange tone.

"Of course it matters. We…"

"No." The smaller girl cut her off sharply. "You don't understand. We aren't getting out of here. We're never getting out of here! All we can do is survive. And we have to play the game if we want to live."

She started rocking in the corner.

"What game?"

But Mona was lost in her mind again.

"Play to live. Play to live." She repeated. "Play to live."

There was a noise somewhere above them. Emily saw Mona jump and hug herself tighter.

"I'm not giving up on us, Mona."

"Play to live…"

The light above them buzzed loudly and then went out, leaving them cowering in the darkness.

Light blinded her as she blinked and stared at the flickering bulbs above her. Beads of sweat slid down the back of her neck as she fought back the memory. She was visibly shaking. Her hands were vibrating so intensely that her fingers were tapping against the table.

"Emily, are you alright?"

Emily jerked her head to the side and saw Jerica peering at her with a look of concern.

Alison, who was angled towards the lawyer, turned around and saw the panicked look in her eyes.

"Emily?" Alison recognized the fear in her eyes.

Emily exhaled a shaky breath.

Alison reached for her hand.

"Breathe, Em." She turned to explain to the lawyer, "She's having a panic attack…"

Jerica had already sprung into action. She was on her feet pounding on the door trying to call the FBI agents back into the room.

"What's wrong?" Furey walked in.

The light from the hallway shined a path to an escape route. Emily felt a weight lift off of her chest when she saw that escape.

"I'm fine." She managed, squeezing Alison's hand. "I just…" She glanced at Furey and Jerica. "Claustrophobia."

She knew how bad it would look if Tanner saw her falling apart. She'd probably weaponize it…use it as a way to say she was guilty of something.

To her surprise Tanner rushed in ready to offer assistance.

"Do we need medical?" She asked as she waltzed in behind her partner.

Emily was sweating, her body still trembling.

"No."

"Are you sure?" Alison was talking to Emily, but her angry gaze was fixed on the woman who had put them in the tiny interview room. "Your heart is still racing."

She could feel Emily's rapid pulse wildly beating against her wrist.

"Yeah, my heart does that when something triggers the torture I went through in the bunker." Emily followed Alison's angry glare, tracking her own eyeline to Tanner.

Tanner's face blanched. She was partly responsible that they'd ended up there in the first place. She put on a tough act, but Emily could tell she still felt guilty for her part in it.

"You didn't take us serious back then." Alison practically growled at the Fed. "And look what happened."

Her eyes flickered to Emily, checking on her.

Emily nodded to let her know she was okay.

Alison turned her fury back to Linda Tanner.

"Charlotte destroyed our lives." Alison reached for Emily's hand. "And I know she's the one behind this. You didn't listen to us last time and it nearly got my friends killed. Who knows what will happen if you don't listen to us today?"

"Miss DiLaurentis, I'm sympathetic, but we have to go on evidence presented to us and we don't have a case against your sister. We have another body to contend with and Charlotte couldn't have been responsible."

Alison leaped to her feet. She looked like she was about to strangle the older woman.

Before she could open her mouth, Jerica stepped in between them,

"We're done here."

"I agree." Furey followed the lawyer's lead, edging in front of his partner. "You're free to go. Tanner, anything else to add?"

He looked at her like he was daring her to object.

"We'll call you if we have any more follow up questions." Tanner composed herself. "Just don't leave the state."

Furey nodded and then motioned towards the door.

He led the way out of the station while Tanner broke away from them to talk to the local cops.

When they walked outside the fresh spring air washed over Emily, filling her lungs and giving her some semblance of her balance back.

"Call us if anything comes up." Furey gave the girls an apologetic look.

Emily saw a softness in his eyes before he turned and walked back into the building.

He had a purpose in his gait.

Jerica had been right about him. He was the rational cool-headed half to Tanner's temperamental half.

Furey found that temperamental half waiting for him when he got back inside.

"What the hell was that?" Tanner asked when he walked into the small make-shift office the local PD had set up for them. "You're supposed to back me up!"

"You pushed them too far." Furey grabbed a chair and pulled it closer to the table where her laptop was set up. "What is it with you and these girls?"

Tanner ignored him. She reached for a stack of folders.

"Going in to this I warned you that I wasn't going to sit by and let you attack them. They're still practically kids, Linda."

"Legally they're adults." She lifted her eyes and flicked her gaze towards his. "They know right from wrong."

"And what is it that you think they've done wrong here?" He didn't understand her abrasive attitude towards Alison and Emily.

There was a fine line between commitment and obsession. It was a narrow path separating sanity from insanity. He'd walked it for decades. She had, too. But there was something different about this case that veered more towards obsession. He didn't understand why.

"Why are you so quick to believe the worst of people?" he asked.

"Why are you so quick to give people the benefit of the doubt?" She countered.

"A lifetime of experiences and an alarming rate of innocent people having the book thrown at them." He reached for a file. "Those girls went through hell in high school."

She lowered the file she was scouring.

"You think I don't know that?" She snapped. "I was the lead on that case. I tried to help them. I told them from the start to be honest with me…and they weren't!"

"Ah, so that's what this is about." Furey nodded. "Throwing yourself a little self-pity party. Shall I turn on the music and order the drinks so it can be a real fiesta?"

If looks could kill, Marco Furey would have dropped dead in front of her.

"Deep down you don't want to disappoint them again. But the way you're going about this is not helping."

"Are you going to sit there and give me a speech about how I'm in the wrong?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

He cracked a sarcastic smile.

"If I told you every time you were in the wrong we wouldn't have any time to solve cases." He arched his brow. "Listen, I'm on your side. But that doesn't mean I can't check you when you're losing sight of the case," he plopped a file on to the desk. "You're good at your job, but you're not immune to past biases. You've got tunnel vision."

She huffed out an annoyed breath, her expression changing from contempt to something that looked like admiration.

"We don't even have an ID on this body yet and you're sure that they're guilty. You really think a couple of college kids are the head of some crime ring?" He asked.

"Maybe." She didn't want to accept that she was getting nowhere with the case.

"You don't believe that." He scoffed. "Who's the liar now?"

"You're annoying, do you know that?" She rolled her eyes.

"I am a man of many talents." He had a big shit-eating grin on his face.

"Starting to question why the Bureau paired us."

"Because I'm a magnificent bastard and everyone knows it."

She snorted out a laugh.

"And here I thought you weren't an arrogant tool like the rest of the men on the task force."

"Happy to disappoint."

"Alright, if we're going to solve this then let's start with the people in their inner circle that we haven't talked to yet. What do we make of Jason DiLarentis?" Tanner pored through her files. "He was in trouble with the law before, but his parents bought him out of jail time and had his records expunged."

"What makes you think he's a suspect?" Furey asked.

"The way Alison reacted when I brought him up. She seemed on edge when we were talking about him." She read her notes. "He still visits Charlotte. And he and Alison are always at odds with each other."

"What would his motive be?" Furey grabbed the slim file they had on Jason.

"His mother's death. His father's temper. One sister coming back from the dead and another turning out to be a childhood friend that his parents were gaslighting him about. Take your pick. He's textbook material for someone snapping."

"The two murders were very different though. We don't even know if we're dealing with the same person. Harvey was killed in police custody. And a stabbing is an intimate kill. Not to mention that someone took a trophy in the form of her ear. This new body was burned to a crisp right before sunrise. If we take away the association with Fields and DiLaurentis…how do the murders connect at all?"

"I don't know." She grumbled in irritation.

"There is too much that doesn't fit. I don't know that Jason DiLaurentis is capable of this."

"I want to look at everything." She looked up in determination. "I don't want this to end up like last time."

She peered out the window through the blinds.

She could no longer see the girls and the lawyer.

They had turned out of view of the station and were walking across the parking lot.

Alison was in lockstep next to the brunette. She looked over her shoulder at the police station in the distance and muttered angrily about Tanner's incompetence.

Emily was still trying to shake off her anxiety attack. She didn't have the presence of mind to be angry yet. She was glad that Jerica had been there to pull them out of the situation.

"Thank you for what you did in there." Emily glanced at Jerica.

The lawyer's eyes softened, a grim look of pity mixed with maternal anger emitting from her expression. They had seen the same look on her face right after Emily's panic attack.

It reminded the girls that she had a young daughter of her own. According to Spencer, Jerica's daughter Caitlin was wickedly intelligent and extremely fierce.

"She's a better intern than I am," is how Spencer had put it.

Lawyers weren't supposed to get emotionally involved with their clients, but sometimes when a motherly gene was activated it couldn't be stopped…and an angry mother was not someone people wanted to mess with.

"Spencer gave me the cliff notes about the bunker." Jerica looked at them like they were her kids, like she wanted to destroy Charlotte for what she'd done. "When I heard about what happened to you all I knew I needed to help. All I could think about was my daughter. Before she came to DC to intern she was being stalked. Some professor at her school started a psychology project that turned into a dangerous game."

"We have to play the game to live." Mona's words rang in Emily's ears.

"My daughter and her friends ended up at the mercy of someone very much like Charlotte. Caitlin called me in when she realized their lives were in danger. The police caught the person responsible. It turns out the Dean running the school had a mentally ill daughter who was behind the attacks. Caitlin and her friends survived, but I can still see the trauma in my daughter's eyes. It was exactly what I saw back there in that interview room."

"It's usually not that bad." Emily waved it off.

Alison shot her an incredulous look, her brow knotted up in a way that exposed her lie.

"It's not your fault." Jerica's words echoed what Emily had said to Mona in The Dollhouse. "I meant what I said in there. I believe you. And I do think Charlotte is dangerous. The problem is that they don't seem to realize it…and I can't force them to do anything." She looked back over her shoulder at the station in the distance. "Veronica Hastings said something to me before I came out here. 'You take care of my girls and I'll take care of yours.'."

Emily and Alison glanced at one another. It meant a lot to them to have Veronica in their corner.

"Spencer knew you needed help. Veronica was familiar with what my daughter went through and she was very supportive of me coming out here. So if you don't trust me, trust Spencer and Veronica."

"We trust you." Emily smiled softly.

"Good. Don't let Linda Tanner rattle you. I deal with people like her all the time. I know you've been let down by lawyers in the past, but I'm not going to let it happen again."

Jerica's phone rang from inside her leather satchel.

"I've got to take this. Are you two good here?" She reached for the device, but she didn't pick it up until she heard their confirmation.

"We're good." Emily nodded.

"Park-Lewis." She answered, turning towards where her rental car was parked.

Emily and Alison walked up to the rainbow van that Alison had come to love. It wasn't just an extension of the brunette's personality. It represented all the good she did for the world.

The colors of the rainbow were a stark juxtaposition of Alison's mood.

She stared at the police station in the distance, silently cursing Linda Tanner. Then she silently cursed her sister and Sara and everyone else in the world who was trying to hurt them.

Emily watched curiously as Alison put a hex on everyone she hated. She concentrated on the fury in her deep blue eyes. The way her tendons and muscles clenched around her neck. The rise and fall of her chest.

Alison exhaled a sharp breath that came with a string of muttered cuss words. She was a raging torrent of emotions. The fact that Tanner had dragged them in and upset her girlfriend infuriated her.

How dare that woman upset MY girl?

Emily reached out and gently placed her palm on Alison's arm.

"Who does she think she is? We should sue her." Her cheeks were red, her skin hot to the touch. "Maybe I could turn my fans against her…"

"Alison…" Emily tried to calm her down…to no avail.

"She's as bad as Charlotte. Dragging us in here and stuffing us in that room? Acting like it's our fault?" She ranted, "She knew exactly what she was doing. How is any of this legal? She probably intentionally pushed your buttons. She knows what you went through in the bunker. She deliberately put you in that little room so she could trigger your memories."

"We don't know that. I don't know that she could predict a panic attack. I can't even predict when I'm going to have one. They didn't leave me in there to suffer. They came in as soon as Jerica called for them."

"Furey came in. Had it just been her she probably would have locked the door and threw away the key."

"The important thing is that I'm okay. I just needed a little space to move around. It wasn't really that bad."

"The fact that she was breathing the same air as you is that bad." Alison countered. "You had a panic attack because of her."

"The room triggered the panic attack. Not her. And I'm fine."

"She's still a bitch and I still hate her." The blonde growled.

There was a storm in her eyes. Rain and thunder and wind. Rage. Incomprehensible pain.

Emily took a step towards her and touched her cheek. Alison leaned into her palm and closed her eyes.

"As much as I hate Tanner, she's just trying to do her job." Emily kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, well she sucks at it." Alison's eyes flickered open. "And I don't appreciate her upsetting you."

"You heard Jerica. Don't let her get to you." Emily reached up, gently stroking her palm against her hair.

Alison swallowed her anger and her deep protective rage and peered at the girl standing in front of her, the girl who had always been her rock…her sanity in an uncertain world.

She cupped Emily's cheeks. She could still see remnants of darkness in her eyes…the same darkness she'd seen in the small room they'd just been in.

My poor Mermaid.

"Seeing all that pain in your eyes…" She had to take a deep breath to stop herself from going off on a tangent again, "…I feel so helpless. Just like I did back in Rosewood. I hate that I can't fix it. I hate what Charlotte did to you. I hate that she did it because of me."

"She hurt you, too." Emily replied softly. Charlotte's wrath was like a black hole that nothing could escape. "You seem to forget that when you take all the blame on yourself."

"I know." Alison sighed. "Because of her I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It feels like every time we get even a sliver of happiness she finds a way to ruin it. And I'm tired of it."

The exhaustion in her voice was charged with emotion, her body quivering in rage. She was torn between her anger and her fear.

"It won't always be like this." The brunette skimmed her thumb lightly against the back of Alison's neck, gently twisting her fingers into her hair.

"I am so angry." Alison's voice came out low and husky, like honey-whiskey. Her hands trembled, her vulnerability on full display. "I'm scared of how angry I am. It feeds the darkest part of me." She peered into Emily's eyes. "I'm afraid I'll fall back into the same patterns from my past. My temper got me in a lot of trouble when I was younger. I don't want to be that girl again."

"This isn't the same." Emily's palm gently landed on her cheek.

"You'll keep me from going over the deep end, right?" Alison laid a warm hand on Emily's forearm.

"I'm a Lifeguard." Emily smiled. "Saving people is what I do. Besides..." She swayed slightly and Alison followed her motion, "I love you in all your angry glory."

"Get ready to see me go full tornado levels of destruction. I'm not going to hold back anymore. I might not be able to do anything when Tanner hurts you…but if Charlotte tries to hurt you again she's going to find out exactly what I am capable of when it comes to protecting you." Alison laid her palm against Emily's heart.

"It's not going to come to that." Emily leaned down, her forehead meeting Alison's. "We're going to be fine."

She felt Alison's body shudder with the release of everything she'd been holding inside. For Alison, forcing a show of strength was easier than allowing people to see the hurt and the pain. She'd been using her anger to her advantage in the interview with the FBI, but underneath her façade she was dealing with the aftermath of the death in Rosewood.

She was terrified that something had happened to someone they cared about. There was a sense of grief in the air even though there was nothing confirmed yet. The weight of a loss that hadn't happened yet was deep and heavy inside of her…inside of both of them.

Emily held Alison's gaze, taking in her vulnerabilities and her strengths she held in her heart. Alison could feel her soul, like it was holding her and keeping her from falling apart.

Her lips hovered lightly over Emily's lips…a feather of a kiss. Her heart was racing, but in a good way now. It responded to Emily the way it had always responded to her.

Emily cradled her cheeks and kissed her. It was gentle, but full of passion.

"I love you." Alison murmured into the kiss.

Emily smiled and pecked her lips before pulling away.

"I love you, too." She opened the door to the van for Alison.

Alison couldn't help but grin at her chivalry.

After Emily shut the door she walked around to the driver's side and climbed in.

Emily fumbled with the keys and Alison noticed her hands were still shaking. She felt her veins boiling in anger again, but she tamped it down.

"Do you want to talk about what you saw?" Alison reached over and picked up the keys from her lap.

"What I saw?" When Emily turned to meet her gaze she realized what Alison was talking about. "Oh."

"It's been a while since you had one that bad."

Emily was quiet for several seconds. Alison worried that she'd brought it up in the wrong way, but then she felt Emily's hand on hers.

"It was the lights." Emily chewed on her lip. "Sometimes flickering lights shove me right back into the bunker. Charlotte used it as a sensory torture device. Along with the alarms that went off."

Alison's lips twitched, an angry rant on the tip of her tongue. The confession wasn't anything she didn't already know, but it was still a very bitter pill for her to swallow.

"I've told you about the games she would force us to play. The ones where she wanted us to choose who would get tortured."

"You refused to play." And because of that Charlotte had been extremely hard on her.

"I refused a lot. Doesn't matter though, because she still found a way to hurt us in the end." She reached for her sunglasses.

Alison wasn't sure if the motion was meant as a way for her to conceal her eyes from the sun or a way for her to hide the truth of the devastation from her.

"One time after I refused I got shot up with some kind of drugs that paralyzed and disoriented me. It was really strange. I couldn't move and I was barely coherent. I think I was awake. I'm not sure."

She thought she'd heard two voices.

"I lost time. I don't remember how I got from the room I was being held in to the bottom of this pit of darkness with Mona. I just remember everything hurting."

A red flash of rage washed over Alison's eyesight,

It is on sight for Charlotte the next time I see her.

It was incomprehensible that Charlotte had tried to break down the bravest woman Alison knew. Emily Fields. Resilient 'never-back-down' Emily Fields. Rescuer of damsels in distress in the ocean and safe haven for kids with no place to go.

"I was so mixed up I thought I heard someone mentioning the dose was too high. I don't know if it was her voice. I feel like there were two people there. She couldn't have moved me on her own."

Just like my mom, Alison thought.

Lifting dead weight wasn't easy. They knew Charlotte had help. They just had to figure out who would have joined her in her madness.

"I woke up next to Mona. She was…" Emily's voice cracked. "I don't know that I have the words to describe how broken her spirit was in that pit. She kept singing some creepy nursery rhyme and talking about playing the game to live. She wasn't making any sense. She was so far gone. I felt sorry for her."

Alison had a hard time feeling any sympathy for Mona because of their tumultuous relationship, but Emily painted such a vivid picture that she understood the complex feelings Emily had.

"You know, even though we got out of The Dollhouse…sometimes I feel like I'm still there in that darkness. It strikes at the strangest times. I was sure that when I went to Welby I wouldn't be able to handle seeing her. But I did. I saw her for what she was…and then she confessed. I want to say I was surprised, but I knew she must have had something to do with what happened to your mom. I think I knew in my gut she was the kind of monster who was capable of that."

"I know my mom was a bitch, but I miss her." Alison admitted. There was a beat and then, "Do you think we should tell Jerica the truth about how you got Charlotte's confession?"

She'd believed Jerica when she told them she'd fight for them. She trusted her because Veronica Hastings…and more importantly Spencer…trusted her.

"I'm pretty sure she already knows it was me. Did you see the look she gave me when we were talking about your mom's death?" Emily turned the ignition switch and started the van. "I'm guessing that isn't something that takes precedence since the FBI's primary case seems to be who is currently killing people in Rosewood. Charlotte might be able to taunt us from Welby, but she seems to be stuck there. Or at least the FBI thinks so."

"Tanner is too dense to realize that my mom's murder ties directly into this. Charlotte admitted to that, so we know she's not above killing people." Alison didn't bother hiding her disdain for her sister. "What if her motive is related to Mary Drake being institutionalized? Everything Eddie told us has merit. Like Ezra's cabin getting ransacked and the Radley records. My mom clearly destroyed Mary Drake's file after the Theodore Kim transfer that never happened."

"We could mention it to Jerica, but without Ezra to confirm it I don't know how she could follow up on it. And from what Eddie said, Ezra didn't seem keen on a follow up." Emily tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. "We might be better off telling her about the security guard at Welby since he has a direct line to Charlotte."

"A direct line that we can't prove." Alison frowned.

"So I guess we keep working on getting something we can prove." Emily's eyes were on the road, but the circuits in her brain were firing on all cylinders.

"Brainstorming session?" Alison suggested.

"Yeah."

They traded theories back and forth on the way back to the condo.

Most of their suggestions were things they'd already looked in to, but were worth a second look.

Alison took notes, and when they got home they added everything to a small cork board they had set up to try and make sense of everything.

James and his involvement.

Who is James Bristow? Why go after Sara Harvey? Why help Charlotte? For money? Sex? Something else?

The incomplete Radley files on Mary Drake.

What was Jessica trying to hide by getting rid of her file? When was Charlotte born? Why was the pregnancy not documented?

Theodore Kim.

Why was the name on a transfer to Radley years after Teddy died? Can't trace death certificate. Grave in Rosewood. Family doesn't have an online footprint. Who are the Kims? Where are they now?

Sara Harvey

Who funded her murder? Who gained the most by silencing her forever? How was the killing carried out while she was in custody? Was James involved in her murder?

The 36 million dollar trust foundation funded by Ezra's father.

Ezra's father had an appetite for expensive women. Serial cheater. Money came from bank account not tied to his wife's accounts. Money funneled into a charity for 15 years. Why? Need more info on the trust foundation it went in to.

The DNA profiles.

DNA markers indicate that Fitz's father had a child out of wedlock. Result of his affairs? Who is the mother? Does Ezra have a half-brother or half-sister? Does he know who it is? Suggested to Toby the person driving the car that nearly hit him was his 'brother', but it wasn't Wes. DNA testing was done before Wes was born and when Ezra would have been about two years old. How old is the unknown sibling?

And the newest addition,

The burned body.

WHO IS IT?

Emily didn't want to think about the fact that someone had been burned to death right outside her house. She didn't want to think about the fact that it might be Jason or Toby.

"I wish we knew who Ezra's dad was paying off and if it's related to the DNA profiles." Alison was standing in front of the board resting a capped marker against her lips as she read over everything they had so far. "I wonder if DNA records are something Caleb could track. He was able to pull Ezra's flight information to and from Europe and his dad's finances. Plus…his history of being a foster kid and his situation with his parents opened the door for his curiosity about DNA."

They hadn't told Caleb about Eddie's visit because they didn't want Hanna and Aria to find out where Eddie had gotten his information. They were worried if Caleb looked into it that Hanna would find out the truth about it.

"We don't have to tell him where we got the information. We can just tell him we stumbled upon it." Alison circled the phrase DNA Profiles on the board.

"It feels dangerous to keep pulling him in. He won't be in Malibu forever. When they go back to New York they could be targets. It's not that far from Rosewood. Aria was freaking out this morning about the murderer running loose for a very valid reason. And Hanna and Caleb are even closer to Rosewood than she is."

"Caleb would stop if he thought it was dangerous though…wouldn't he?"

"Doubtful. He took a bullet for me in the lighthouse when Nate tried to kill me." Emily walked up to the board and tapped a marker against one of the DNA results they'd tacked on to the board. "Maybe there is something we missed."

There were a lot of complex numbers and graphs, but nothing that had identifying information. They had a date from when the DNA was run on the unknown profile, but the date didn't tell them how old the person was when they'd had it done. Whoever it was could have been an infant when it was run, or they could have been 20 years old. So anyone between the ages of 25 and 45, though Emily was betting on the person being younger considering there was 36 million dollars floating around that had accumulated for 15 years. Potentially for a minor until they turned 18.

Emily grabbed a piece of red yarn and tacked one end to the unknown DNA and the other end to the bank statement that showed the first payment into a charity trust fund.

She stared at it.

"Ezra's dad was paying someone off." Alison walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder. "Fifteen years worth of secrets."

She moved another piece of red yarn from the bank statement to a photo of Ezra's father.

"We know it's not Teddy, but maybe it has to do with Teddy." Emily picked up yet another piece of yarn and pinned it next to the elder Fitz's picture and tacked the other end next to a post-it note that had Theodore Kim written on it.

They hadn't been able to find any news stories about Teddy's death. It was mentioned a few times, but there were no details. All they had was an obituary that was painfully scarce.

"And that ties back into Radley with the patient's name that set my mom off…albeit years later." Alison looked at the redacted files they had gotten from Eddie. "All roads lead back to Radley. To Mary and Charlotte."

They stood back and looked at the crime-board that they had pieced together, and Emily realized she was right. Everything was centered around a half-blooded Fitz sibling, Radley, and Theodore Kim.

Ezra's father seemed to be at the center of everything. And whatever had happened at Radley had jump-started Charlotte's reign of terror.

"Well…" Emily took a look at their handiwork, "…obviously the sensible thing to do is get bloodwork done on every single person in Rosewood to see if we can find a match that way. Shouldn't be too hard."

The brunette grinned half-heartedly at her impossible suggestion.

"With my luck we'll uncover another one of my secret siblings." Alison shuddered at the thought. "Wouldn't that be rich? If I had another family member out to get me? The DiLaurentis-Drake lineage produces some really bang-up children."

Emily slid her index fingers into the belt loops on Alison's skirt and pulled her against her body. She offered the same comforting gaze that Alison had given her after her panic attack.

"I know one DiLaurentis who turned out perfect." She kissed the tip of her nose before Alison could object.

Alison smiled. Emily looked at her like she was the sun and the moon and the stars all rolled into one. The whole world fell away when she was with Emily.

"Are you flirting with me?" Alison moved her hands up and clasped them at the back of Emily's neck.

"You tell me." Emily leaned forward and captured her lips.

She slipped her hands underneath the blonde's top. The tips of her fingers were like fire against Alison's skin.

Alison felt her breath on her neck where her jawbone met her ear. The brunette took her time, trailing her lips against her jaw line. By the time her lips met Alison's again the blonde was hungry with desire.

She groaned and adjusted her head so she could kiss Emily with greater intensity. Her hands found Emily's neck.

They were moving towards the couch when a chirping phone interrupted them.

Alison's body went rigid.

When Emily pulled back Alison looked at her apologetically. She spun around and reached for her phone.

She had several notifications from her socials, but that's not what she was looking for.

"Still nothing?" Emily peered over her shoulder.

"I wish he would call me back." She'd done everything in her power to get in touch with her brother. "You'd think after he pulled that disappearing stunt on me last year for work that he would at least send me a text telling me he's not dead. He has to know about the body by now."

If it's not him…

The image of the burning corpse flashed through her mind, causing a visceral reaction. She ran her fingers through her hair and glanced up at the ceiling.

Immediate guilt flooded her senses. Her brother had been complicit in child porn. He'd invaded their sense of security. He'd pursued Aria when she was a minor…which was just as bad as what Ezra had done to her. He'd been awful to her friends.

How could you mourn someone like that? How could you hurt for someone who was more than the sum of their mistakes…but the mistakes were unforgivable?

What she felt was something akin to remorse for things that he had done, even though she had no hand in them.

"After everything he did…" She shook her head. "He should have faced some kind of consequences for the NAT Club, but not this…" She choked up. "I can't get that picture A sent us out of my head. I don't know what I'm going to do if it's him. If he's…"

"He's not." Emily sounded confident, but Alison knew she was just trying to make her feel better. "It's not him."

Her voice had the tiniest bit of a warble in it. Alison knew it was because she was trying to deny the fact that it could be Toby, too.

"Then why won't he call me back?" She looked at her phone, willing it to ring…for her brother to be on the other end. "I don't know why I even bother with him."

"Because he's still your brother."

"I still love that big stupid idiot. And I know it probably sounds weird considering how much we hate each other, but love can be a real monster sometimes. It's a gift and a curse. It's hard to explain."

"You don't have to explain anything. I understand." Emily pulled her in for a hug, holding her long enough for Alison to melt into the shape of her body.

Alison was content in her arms. She would love nothing more than to stay there forever. Her whole world was contained in Emily's embrace.

"Have you ever heard of Pema Chödrön?" Emily asked.

The question was seemingly out of the blue, but Alison knew there was a reason for it. There was always a reason with Emily, so she hugged her tighter and buried her face in her chest waiting for the inevitable words of wisdom Emily was going to bestow on her.

"She's a Tibetan Buddhist who has written a bunch of books. Samara and Zoe love her. They have this magnet on their fridge with one of her quotes. 'Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others'."

Alison felt the words like a warm blanket on her skin. An overwhelming swell of emotions expanded within her.

"We run into situations all the time at the Alliance where kids have an array of complex emotions when it comes to their loved ones. It's a core part of healing. Not every action garners compassion, but there is a very human element to seeing someone else's pain and understanding it." Emily combed her fingers through Alison's hair. "You love your brother because you two went through hell when you were kids…even though you didn't know it at the time. You have compassion for him even though he did terrible things…because you know what it's like to be in pain. And you know his pain." She kissed the fine hair on top of her head. "Just like I know your pain."

Alison squeezed her harder, hugging her more intensely. It was just like Emily to make the world feel balanced again.

When she finally pulled back her cheeks were moist. She reached up to wipe them clean, smearing her make-up.

"God damn it. Now my contour is messed up because of him."

"When he finally calls I will ream him out properly for that." Emily threatened.

She did the impossible. She made Alison laugh.

"He wasn't always such a jerk. He was a sweet little boy once. He was a good big brother when we were younger."

A hazy memory was edging itself into the forefront of her mind. It was how she preferred to remember her brother, but she'd pushed it away years ago. Only now that she might be facing losing him did she allow herself to let go.

"You okay, Ali?" He was holding her little hands as she wiggled around in the swing on the playset that was much too big for her.

"I'm not scared," she gripped the plastic-covered chains with her palms.

"He used to worry about me." Alison rubbed her hands together. She could still feel his hand on hers. "He used to care."

The emotions threatened to tear her to pieces, but Emily cupped her cheeks and kept her grounded.

Alison closed her eyes and she could see that day at the park.

They didn't come to the public park very often. She had a small play set at her house. But her mommy had surprised them with a spontaneous trip.

"Don't let go, okay?" Jason helped her bend her fingers around the chains.

"Okay."

"Ready?" The second voice belonged to her brother's towheaded best friend.

She loved Char-Char. She remembered the time they had gone skiing together. She'd been afraid, but Char-Char had held her hand and helped her chase her fears away.

Alison looked around.

It was a pretty day. The sky was blue and filled with large puffy cotton candy clouds.

Alison liked the clouds. Jason and Char-Char had taught her how to look for fun shapes. She'd seen a baby elephant and a fish earlier.

"I'm ready." She smacked her lips and smiled.

Char-Char gently gave her a push and she swayed in the air above the ground.

A rush of excitement surged through her. She kicked her legs and squealed out a laugh. She was going a lot higher than she did at home.

As she soared to new heights she looked around at her surroundings.

She saw a couple of older kids out in a meadow trying to get a kite in the air.

A man tossed a ball for his dog in the fenced off area for animals.

Two kids rode their bikes by the skate park.

A bird stared up at something. Its head twitched, examining something with one eye…then the other.

A group of kids traipsed through a maze to get to the really big slides.

A circle of women and men sat on blankets with babies in their laps doing some kind of baby class.

Six boys ran around on the other side of the field kicking a soccer ball around.

A daring girl not much older than her brother climbed up a tall slide.

She was so busy watching the activity around her that she didn't realize how quickly she was climbing in speed and height. She mindlessly pumped her legs like she'd been taught to do. It helped her momentum.

"Careful. Not too high. She's little." Jason warned his friend.

Alison saw her mother across the park, but her back was turned.

"Mommy!" She called. "Mommy, look how high I can go!"

But her mother didn't hear her…didn't turn around.

"Mommy!" She exclaimed again.

When she went up in the air again she realized her mother was talking to someone.

They were using a lot of hand gestures. It sounded like her mother's voice was raised.

"Slow down, Ali!" Jason exclaimed from behind her. "You don't want to fall."

"I won't fall." But now that Jason had called attention to it…she saw the ground flying by beneath her.

She dug her palms into the plastic chains and stopped pumping her legs. Seconds later she felt Jason's hands on top of hers. He gripped the chains and helped guide the swing to slow it down, digging his feet into the ground to steady them both.

Alison giggled when the swing stopped.

"That was fun!" Her legs felt like Jell-O when she climbed down.

"You went really high." Char-Char kept her from tumbling over. "Higher than me."

"Let's go on the slides." Jason brushed his hands off on his shorts.

A tinny noise that sounded like an out-of-tune song filled the air.

Alison and Char-Char turned towards the noise.

"Ice cream!" Alison pointed to the older woman pushing a cart on one of the paved walkways.

Several kids were rushing over to her.

"Jason, I want ice cream!" She turned to her brother.

"Me too!" Char-Char echoed.

"I don't want any ice cream." He shoved his hands into his pockets and dug around. "Mom gave me some money for snacks though."

He pulled out several crumpled dollar bills and pushed them into Alison's hands.

"You and Char-Char go get ice cream. I'm going to go play on the big slide." Jason looked back at a massive slide that several kids were running towards. "Don't go far. Mom said to stay close."

"Okay." She smiled.

She skipped over to the ice cream cart, waiting patiently for the other kids to order their favorite treats.

When it was her turn she ordered a strawberry ice cream cone with sprinkles. Char-Char got double scoop chocolate-vanilla swirl.

They waved at the nice lady and walked down the path licking the frozen treats.

Alison ran over to a bench where she could see the slides, but before she could sit down an older kid stepped in her path.

"Ohh, sprinkles."

Alison was eclipsed by his shadow. She looked up and saw a little punk-ass kid with rub-on tattoos and a Batman mask that only covered the top half of his face.

He tried to take her ice cream cone away, but Char-Char came rushing towards them.

"That's hers."

The little boy looked at the double scoop in the older girl's hands. He sneered and knocked the cone to the pavement.

Alison turned just in time to see her friend's face twist up in anger.

"That wasn't very nice." Alison frowned.

"Shut up." The tattooed brat shoved Alison, sending her topping backwards.

She lost her grip on her ice cream cone. It fell to the ground with a splat next to the melting chocolate-vanilla swirl.

Her bottom lip quivered.

"Aw, is the baby gonna cry?" His laugh didn't sound like a little boy's laugh should sound. There was something dark and sinister in the way he laughed. "My mom says your mom is poison."

"Is not!" Alison pouted.

"She's a bad lady. And that means you're bad, too." He pushed Alison again.

"Stop it." Char-Char pleaded.

The boy turned towards the older child and pushed her so hard that she fell to the ground. Her knees hit the pavement and her palms scraped against the gravel.

"I'm gonna tell my brother!" Alison shoved the boy from behind.

He spun around.

She saw something glint in his eyes.

He was someone who enjoyed the fear of others. It sent a shiver down her spine.

He didn't say a word. He just picked her up and spun her around, his arms locked around her waist.

She let out a blood-curdling wail and he threw her into the bench. She hit her head on the edge of it and started to cry.

The boy kicked the melting ice cream at her, splattering it all over her favorite shirt.

"Jason!" She cried. "Mommy!"

Seconds later she heard an angry snarl that sounded like an animal rushing towards them.

Her mother hadn't heard her cries, but her brother had.

"Hey!" Jason came barreling towards them. "Leave her alone!"

Before the boy had a chance to react Jason was flying through the air and tackling him.

"You stay away from her!" When he had the boy on the ground he started hitting him.

Alison scooted over to Char-Char. The older child was still sitting on the pavement in a daze.

Jason had busted the other kid's lip and the fight was drawing a crowd.

"You. Don't. Hurt. My. Sister." Jason was emphasizing his words with his fists.

A pair of adult hands finally yanked him off of the bully.

Alison looked up and saw her mother, arms wrapped around his waist. He was still trying to swing at the other boy.

"That's enough." A woman grabbed the little boy off of the ground. "What have I told you about fighting?"

The boy didn't show any indication that he was hurt or upset. He just wiped his bloody lip with the back of his hand.

"He pushed Ali." Jason was like a caged animal ready to attack again.

"We should be going." The boy's mother caught Jessica's gaze of fury.

"Yes, you should." There seemed to be a double meaning in her mother's tone.

Alison had barely blinked and the woman and the mean boy were gone, disappearing through the crowd that had gathered around them.

After they were gone she registered that the boy's mother had been the same woman that her mom had been talking to when she was on the swing. They had seemed like they were mad at each other.

Jason broke free of his mom's hold and was by Alison's side an instant later. He helped her stand up.

Neither one of them thought to see if Char-Char needed help.

The young child stared up at the two siblings and tried not to cry.

"You okay?" Jason repeated the same question he'd asked when she got on the big girl swings.

Alison was still shaking.

Instead of answering, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

He hugged her back.

Alison could still feel the phantom of his embrace. He'd done a lot of shitty things later in his life, but he hadn't started out on that path. He'd done what any big brother would have done that day.

The memory was eerily haunting.

Something about the whole interaction at the park didn't sit right with her.

It had all happened so fast. She felt like she had missed something. She was still missing it.

She tried to concentrate on the details, but they were murky...like silt in a river being stirred into a muddy mess.

She hadn't remembered seeing that bully or his mother before.

Why had he sought her out?

What had he meant about her mom being bad?

That's what I'm missing. She realized.

It seemed almost impossible that the little kid could somehow be related to what was going on now. Her mother had pissed a lot of people off. But why that little boy? Why was he mad at her mom? Who was he? And who was his mother? His mother had been equally angry at her mom.

She didn't see that kid again after the day at the park.

At least…she didn't think she'd seen him. He'd had that mask on that day, concealing his identity.

If anyone's family had a vendetta against the DiLaurentis family it would have been Teddy's family. But Teddy was long dead before that interaction, and his parents had left town after he died. Rumor was that they had been unable to stand the heartache of staying in the house where he'd died.

It couldn't have been James. His mother didn't know their family. And he'd lived in Alabama at the time.

She tried to go back and recapture the memory, but it had already faded away. The more she tried the harder her brain fought.

There had been a fight. A mean kid had bullied her and Charlotte. And Jason saved them.

She couldn't remember the mother, but it could have been anyone in that town who liked to gossip and stir up trouble. Maybe her son had a big mouth and that's all he'd meant when he talked about Alison's mom.

He had probably faded into oblivion and never thought of that day again. She only hoped his mother disciplined the little shit for his behavior.

She'd been upset that day, but Jason had comforted her. She remembered Jason holding her and telling her he would protect her forever, and that's all that mattered. That's what she needed. She needed her brother...back when he was valiant and protective.

"Alison?" Emily gently caressed her cheek, using her thumb to wipe away a clump of mascara.

"He was so different when we were kids. I don't know when he decided to turn on me," Alison blinked blankly. "We grew apart when I started getting older. Maybe part of our distance was on me. I wasn't exactly a model citizen back then."

"Who is a model citizen?" Emily asked. "I've spiraled into self-destructive drinking more than once. Sometimes to the point that I was completely blacked out, so who knows what I could have done?"

"All of that was triggered by grief. And then you did things like going overseas and building homes for the less fortunate." Alison argued. "You're practically perfect. I was sober when I pulled the crap that I pulled."

"You were also a kid." Emily pointed out. "A kid who was gaslit and lied to by her toxic family."

"That's an understatement." Alison laughed harshly. "It's weird when I think about how different things were when I was a kid. We went from playing on the playground to homicide." She rubbed her temples, fighting a migraine. "She was going to kill him," Alison muttered. She looked at Emily, "Charlotte. When she had him and my father as hostages. She was going to kill them. She wouldn't hesitate going after them again…not that she could find my father." She rolled her eyes. "But Jason…"

"Once we figured out that A was behind attacking Mona we thought she'd killed her, too. And she was alive." Emily took a breath to center herself so she didn't do another deep dive into her traumatic time in the bunker. "She's very selective in her murder plots. I still haven't wrapped my head around why she'd want your mother dead other than revenge for her mom being institutionalized, but before that there was only one other murder under her belt. And she thought she was protecting you when she killed Wilden."

Jessica hadn't been Charlotte's only victim. Prior to killing her, Charlotte had killed a corrupt cop. It was hard to feel sorry for that man, though. He had deserved his fate.

Emily would have gone after him herself had she known he had groomed Alison. He'd knowingly had sex with a 14-year-old when he was in his late 20s. Predators like that deserved a death sentence, so Emily wasn't sad that he'd been taken off the face of the Earth.

"Now that I've betrayed her she could very well be involved in plots to kill people I care about for revenge. She killed my mom. It doesn't matter why. She's capable of killing our flesh and blood." Alison stared at their evidence board. "I just wish I knew how she was doing it. And who she has in her corner."

"Killing your mom was out of character for Charlotte. She liked to torment people…liked seeing us on the brink of death only to bring us back." Emily curled her fingers into her palms to push her pain away. She could feel her nails biting into her skin. "Your mom's death had a different motive than Wilden's. Maybe we should do more digging into Teddy's family. If it was revenge for what happened to Teddy we need to find out how Charlotte learned about what happened to him. We need to know what really happened."

"If Caleb can't find anything then how are we supposed to?" Alison sighed, sitting down against the arm of the sofa. "Charlotte never told me how she figured out that my mom was responsible for Teddy dying. And Teddy was a minor, so everything about the case that hasn't already been destroyed by my mom is sealed. We know nothing about his family except they weren't in Rosewood very long and they left almost immediately after he died."

"They buried him there." Emily turned back towards the board and looked at the meager information they had on Theodore Kim.

"But we have no way of knowing who has visited him. There aren't any cameras in the cemetery. And it's not like people stop to sign a visitor's log."

"Who paid for the headstone? The burial?" Before they knew Teddy was dead Caleb had been looking into a live person using that name.

Emily suddenly wondered if Caleb had considered looking into the cemetery's financial records when he was gathering information on Theodore Kim.

Then again…they didn't need to hack any databases if they knew someone who worked there.

"You think Bud would have records of that?" Alison was thinking on the same wavelength as Emily. "You think he'd share that information with us?"

"I don't throw my dad's name around for clout a lot, but I don't mind using it in this instance." Emily reached for her phone.

She pulled up the number for the cemetery.

It rang twice before Bud answered.

"Emily Fields," he said to her surprise. "Don't freak out. I'm not psychic. We have caller ID. I recognized the number from the last time you called."

"Sorry to keep bothering you…"

"It's not a bother." His voice was gruff, but his tone was kind. "This about that car? Never did figure out who it belonged to, but it's gone."

"It's not about the car." Though it was good to know that a psychopath was driving around with a large vehicle that could potentially be a weapon. "This is about something else. And I hate to even ask…"

"Your dad would kick my ass if I turned his kid away. What do you need?"

It was exactly what Emily thought he would say. She certainly didn't want to put him in any danger, but they had nowhere else to turn.

"How long have you worked there?"

"Twelve years. After I was discharged from the military I wanted something quiet. It's always been peaceful here."

Until we came along making trouble with the chaos that follows us everywhere.

But if Bud was thinking along those lines he didn't say a word.

Teddy had died long before he started working there, so they couldn't ask him if he remembered the story surrounding his death or the funeral procession.

"Do you keep a paper trail of receipts after people purchase plots and headstones? It would have been a long time ago, but we thought we'd ask."

"How long ago?"

"Thirty years…give or take." Emily bit down on her thumbnail.

He clucked his tongue and whistled out a low-pitched tone.

"The gal that worked here before me owned it with her mother. They kept pretty good records, but I don't spend a lot of time in the file room. What's the name?"

Emily glanced at the board.

"Theodore Kim."

"Hold on." She heard rustling on the other end of the phone, then something that sounded like a door opening. "Give me a minute."

Alison looked at Emily eagerly.

Emily put the phone on speaker while they waited.

They heard the metal creak of drawers being opened and paper being sorted through.

"Kim, Theodore." Bud's voice cut through the silence. There was a pause, "Shit, he was just a baby. Sad."

Alison clenched her jaw. A baby that had mysteriously died under her mother's care…or so Charlotte was told. Emily reached out and rubbed her arm.

"Anything you can tell us would be helpful." Emily almost asked him if he was breaking the law by revealing the information, but she didn't want to know.

"Not much in the file, but there is a copy of the receipt of payment for the plot, the service, and the specially made casket."

Because children shouldn't be buried, so caskets have to be specially made. Alison stood up and turned away from Emily.

She wasn't sure what she was feeling. Frustration. Irritation. Anger. It was all aimed at her family. She walked across the living room and into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"It came out to be about $15,000…" Bud continued.

Why does it cost money for people to die? Emily thought to herself.

She couldn't imagine how two grieving parents could bury their child…much less have to think about how to pay for it.

"Looks like a charity foundation took care of all of it." Bud shifted through the papers. "Children's King Stonewall Foundation."

Emily snapped her head towards the board…where that name was already written.

"There's nothing else here. Nothing about family or the actual services. The signature isn't even legible. Worse than a doctor's chicken scratch."

"That's okay." Emily managed a normal tone, hoping it was enough to keep him from asking follow up questions. "I appreciate you looking."

He wasn't the type to pry, so after a moment of silence he cleared his throat and responded.

"Sorry I don't have anything else for you." Another pause. "Got anything else you need help with?"

He'd given her the biggest lead they had so far, but she couldn't tell him that. Not without putting him in danger. Sara had lurked around the graveyard before she died. Charlotte could have other people doing it now. She couldn't take the chance that he was being watched.

"Just take care of yourself."

"You do the same."

Alison walked back into the living room with a tumbler full of ice water just as Emily was saying goodbye to Bud.

"The foundation." Emily put her phone down and looked at Alison. "Children's King Stonewall Foundation. It's the same name as the foundation that Ezra's dad sent money to."

Emily wrote down Teddy. Children's King Stonewall Foundation. Connection to the Fitz family on a post-it and slapped it up on the board next to the bank statement with the same name that Caleb had discovered when looking into Ezra's father.

"So this is connected to the money Ezra's dad paid out." Alison walked up and stood next to Emily.

Emily picked up a stack of the older Fitz's bank statements and started sorting through them.

"Caleb and I both went over these statements and didn't see any transactions other than the monthly payments. There was nothing else on his records." Emily clicked a pen to retract the point and then clicked it again, deep in thought. "We have the information on his account, but we couldn't find anything out about the foundation he paid into. Caleb couldn't get those records because it was overseas."

"Did he ever find out where overseas?" Alison questioned.

"No." Emily mindlessly clicked the pen in her hand. "But we might be able to find out if we had a receipt that connected back to the charity."

Emily looked up, her eyes finding Alison's. They seemed to have the same thought at the same time.

"Didn't some kind of charity pay for the delivery we got on Valentine's Day?" Alison asked.

"Yes." Emily's eyes lit up. "I bet Jerica has that information."

"You think we should ask her? She might find it odd. I really like her. I don't want to put her in a problematic situation."

"This case is a problematic situation." Emily gestured to the board. "I think she's smart enough to know when to ask questions and when to let things go. We saw that when she didn't bring up the fact that I was the one who got Charlotte's confession."

Alison traced her fingers over the letters that Emily had written that spelled out the mystery charity.

"Let's give it a shot."

Emily thought calling would be better than leaving a trail of texts that could later be requested with a warrant.

Jerica was pleasant when she first picked up, but when Emily asked about the foundation that paid for the Valentine's Day Delivery the lawyer seemed curious and skeptical.

Ultimately, she must have decided that it wasn't a huge deal because she found the information.

She asked why they wanted it.

Alison told her they just wanted to see if the name of the company who made the payment sounded familiar.

If they could connect that foundation's money to something that was sent to them directly then they had a proven link to that account and they could get more information.

Jerica gave them the name, which confirmed that it was the same foundation that had paid for the delivery of the package that contained Sara's ear. It had been routed through another charity and paid with funds that couldn't be traced, but the starting point had been through the foundation.

Emily and Alison thanked her and went back to the drawing board.

"This account was created before we were born." Alison looked at the dated paperwork. "It existed before Charlotte tortured us. But whoever has access is using it for that purpose now. And they also used it to pay for Teddy's funeral. Maybe that's when it was opened."

"This is proof that the account is linked to shady bank dealings and that funds have been used to hurt to us. This foundation…" Emily put the word in air quotes, "…could have been used when we lived back in Rosewood, too."

"I wonder what it would take for this to be a legitimate lead for the FBI to follow up on. Would they even care to act on a tip that we provide?" Alison looked at the name of the foundation.

Something about the foundation's title seemed familiar.

"Furey might, but even then…I think in order for them to get admissible and credible evidence they have to talk to someone in the legal system. Get a judge to sign off."

"We have legal contacts. We should call Spencer and loop her in on this. Get her opinion." Alison's hand hovered over her phone.

She stared at the screen, watching new social media alerts as they popped up. It reminded her of how visible her life truly was, even the private aspects. Nothing was safe in the social media age.

Emily grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial for their friend.

The call went to voicemail, so Emily hung up and texted her.

Call ASAP. We found something.

"Should we call Caleb about digging deeper into the trust fund foundation?" Alison asked.

"Not yet. One thing at a time." Emily shook her head. "Let's see what's legal first. We should do this the right way. Then the FBI will have no choice but to follow up. We can't give them anything that would incriminate Caleb. Let's let him focus on his engagement. He and Hanna deserve that."

They had never wanted to involve their friends in the first place, but their friends were stubborn and refused to let them deal with it alone. Neither Emily or Alison could blame them. If the roles were reversed they would do the same thing.

"God, I hope Charlotte's endgame isn't to expose all the illegal stuff we've done." Alison mentally started running through everything they'd done in the last nine months.

Emily and Caleb would bear the brunt of it. Hacking databases and gaming the system for Emily to get in to see Charlotte violated several laws.

"That's why we have to do things the right way. We can't give Charlotte any more fuel." Emily sat down on the couch next to where Alison had perched on the arm. "She won't say anything about my visit because she would be incriminating herself in another crime. She knows the cops would go after her for the murder of your mother. And they'd call me as a witness."

"We don't know what she's capable of if she thinks she can get away with it."

Emily sighed and rubbed her hands against her face, splaying her fingers out as they reached her chin. She felt Alison's hand against the back of her neck, squeezing out the tension that was building there.

"You're really stiff." Alison hadn't missed the brunette's tense posture. "Headache?"

"No. I'm okay." But her answer was less than enthusiastic.

"Maybe we should take a break."

"It's supposed to rain later. I'm just achy from the change in the air pressure." Emily reached up and caught Alison's fingertips that were curled around the side of her neck.

She craned her neck and looked up into the intense blue eyes staring back at her. It wasn't often that she was the one looking up to Alison. She'd always had the height advantage.

Emily crossed her free arm across her chest, reaching for Alison's other hand. She tugged Alison's weight towards her, moving the blonde from the arm of the sofa into her lap. Alison's legs flopped halfway over the arm of the couch. She landed at an angle where she could easily turn her head and kiss the brunette.

The feeling of her lips on Emily's meant a thousand things at once. She was truly a force of nature. She held her steady and anchored her soul.

Emily wrapped her arms around Alison and held her close when their lips parted. She kissed the blonde's temple and hummed against her skin.

Alison smiled.

Falling in love with Emily was easy, effortless. The hard part was letting Emily love her in return. What kept her up at night was the thoughts that told her that she wasn't worthy of that love.

All she had wanted when she was younger was a life of love and stability. Emily gave her both. She gave her pure and unselfish love. Alison didn't want to lose that. That's why the threats and the increasing intensity of Charlotte's attacks scared her. Her sister had taken away everyone she'd ever cared about.

Not Emily.

Never Emily.

Charlotte had waged a war that Alison had every intention of winning. It had been a long time coming. Their lives had been a choreographed dance of destruction for years. She was ready to put an end to it.

The only problem was that Alison had no idea who else she was going up against.

How far was Charlotte's reach? Who did she have on her side? Because whoever she'd teamed up with was clearly a threat.

"You look worried." Emily caressed her cheek with the backs of her knuckles.

Despite all the hard work she put into her jobs, her hands were soft and smooth.

"We're going to figure this out, aren't we?" Alison laid her cheek against Emily's shoulder.

"We're almost there." Emily nodded towards the board they'd created.

She laced her fingers into Alison's and brought their intertwined hands up to her mouth so she could kiss Alison's knuckles.

"But how many more people have to die before we get there?" Alison sighed.

Emily didn't have an answer, so she just hugged her instead.

Seconds later her phone buzzed on the end table.

"Spencer?" Alison asked hopefully.

"Nope…it's Max." Emily peered at her screen, for the first time realizing what time it was. "Crap, I'm late for my shift at the beach."

When her fingers slipped away Alison could still feel them cradled in hers, like a phantom limb. She frowned at Emily's phone, irritated that it had pulled Emily's attention away from her.

Emily looked at the text from Max and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Tides are too high today. They're closing the beach because of the storm. Boo.

He'd emphasized his Boo with a frowny face.

The next part of his message had an image attached. A picture of three overly-dramatic sad faces. Jose and Elena were on either side of him.

Since Jose vetoed my suggestion of skinny dipping in the upcoming monsoon we're going to The Alliance to play a rousing game of 'Truth or Dare' instead.

Emily laughed as another message came in.

Breaking News: I'm being told that no dares can include coming back to the beach and surfing in a Tropical Storm. No trips to Valhalla and no excellent Viking funeral for me. Unless…

No. No 'unless'. Emily replied.

Oh, come on. We all get a little concussed from time to time!

You're the reason we have to put warning labels on everything.

Where is your sense of adventure? You're not even going to ask what I'm plotting?

I feel like it's better if I don't ask. Stay out of trouble.

Never.

"Looks like work is cancelled tonight." Emily shrugged and put her phone down. "Max and the others are going to the Alliance."

Alison breathed a sigh of relief. She was constantly worrying about their friends. People they cared about often ended up in the line of fire.

"At least we know they're safe." Alison peered out the window.

Emily had been right about the weather.

Outside the sky was darkening to a steel grey in the distance. Thick bulbous clouds piled on top of each other, a storm brewing beneath them.

"I bet Hanna's pissed that it's going to rain the entire week she has here with Caleb." Alison turned back towards Emily. "She'll be calling soon."

They'd been talking every day so everyone was in the loop.

"Yeah. Come on." Emily pushed herself off of the couch. She turned around and offered Alison her hand. "I'll make us something for dinner while we wait."

Alison followed her into the kitchen.

Emily opened the fridge and surveyed the very slim options they had to choose from.

"Well, it seems as if we've been robbed." She showed Alison the bare shelves.

In the midst of the chaos, neither of them had time to run to the grocery store. Alison had considered Instacart, but she didn't trust that they wouldn't be delivered another body part…or poisoned food.

"What about the take-out lasagna you nabbed from school?"

Pepperdine had decent food. It wouldn't be the first time they'd eaten a meal scrounged from the dining hall.

"Excellent choice." Emily reached for the leftovers.

"Only choice." Alison pointed out.

They reheated the lasagna and made their way back into the living room just as the rain started pouring from the sky.

Alison sat down and opened her laptop, anticipating Hanna's nightly FaceTime call.

The fashion queen was right on time.

She had a sour look on her face.

"I'm finally settling in at a beachfront room, so of course it starts to storm. It never storms in Malibu!" Hanna frowned into the camera.

"That's a misconception." Aria was on the call with her. "Just because the pacific coast is less likely to be affected by certain weather patterns doesn't mean it never happens."

"Okay, Spencer." Hanna teased.

Spencer was noticeably absent. Aria had obviously taken on the role of their random encyclopedia of knowledge.

"Do we know if Spencer made it to Rosewood?" Emily asked.

"Charlotte probably had someone waiting at the airport to nab her." Aria mumbled. She was not happy that Spencer had gone back. "How did your meeting with Tanner go?"

Emily glanced at Alison, hoping she wouldn't mention the panic attack.

Alison seemed to understand what she was conveying.

"She's still a demon from hell." Alison scowled.

"She's the thing that demons fear." Hanna snorted out a dark laugh. "As my grandmother would say…she could probably get kicked out of hell by the devil."

"How is Grandma Marin?" Emily scooped a forkful of triple cheese lasagna into her mouth.

"She's as feisty as ever. I talked to her this morning. She's looking after Cheese this week. And of course, Cheese loves her. They're total chaos together. I'm kind of concerned we won't have an apartment to go back to."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Alison laughed at the idea of the older woman and the cat ruling New York together.

"At least my cat is in good hands," she sighed. "She won't let anything happen to him. She chased a hawk away from one of her squirrels last week."

"We should let her loose on Tanner." Emily lowered her fork.

"She would decimate her." Hanna's eyes lit up in delight. "She faced off with a giant crocodile once. Didn't even bat an eye."

"Your grandma is awesome. I want to be her when I grow up." Emily grinned.

"Why was she around a crocodile?" Aria's curiosity was piqued.

"She was visiting Florida with some of her friends on a girl's trip." Hanna grinned. "More like a sassy old ladies' trip. Like Golden Girls, but crazier. They were drunk and half-naked from skinny dipping at the resort pool when the crocodile came out of nowhere...because duh, it's Florida..."

Emily spit her water back into her cup. Alison almost choked on her lasagna in laughter.

"Anyway, my no-holds-barred grandmother used her large push-up bra as a slingshot and pelted it with rocks to get it to retreat so they could get to safety. She kept one of the rocks that scared it away. Called it a whole new Crocodile Rock." Hanna looked extremely proud.

"The life she's living is worthy of a documentary." Aria looked like she was seriously considering how to tell that story…if the Marins wanted to.

"That's not even the craziest thing she's done."

Hanna pulled from the depths of her memories, starting from things in her childhood with her dad's mom. It was the only decent thing her father had ever done for her…that she was the granddaughter of a legend. Her grandmother was amazing. Hanna still didn't know why her dad had ended up being such an asshole.

Her grandma had a rich history, so Hanna had plenty of stuff to entertain her friends. She regaled them with tales about her childhood and the comedic genius who had birthed her father.

The stories the girls heard about her antics almost made them forget about the hurricane brewing in their lives.

Almost.

Alison and Emily were getting ready to say goodbye when a sobering call shocked them back into reality.

Emily reached for the phone when she saw Spencer's contact photo on screen.

"Finally." She breathed a sigh of relief and then answered, "Hey Spence, you forget to turn your phone off of airplane mode?"

Spencer didn't offer a quick retort.

She took a sharp breath and when she spoke her words came out shaky.

"I found Toby." She sounded winded, like she was running.

A startled gasp slipped past Emily's lips.

"You found Toby? Is he okay?" Her heart was doing somersaults in her chest.

She put the call on speaker so all of the girls could hear.

Alison reflexively reached out and gripped Emily's knee, her eyes darting between Emily and the computer screen. She saw her own fear reflected back at her from Aria and Hanna on the screen.

"I don't know. He's in the hospital." She choked out.

"What happened?" Emily asked.

"I don't know everything yet. There was an accident at his job site a few days ago." Spencer was fighting for her sanity with every breath. "One of his guys pulled him out and took him to the ER near their build. He was in really rough shape. His phone was destroyed and they didn't have his records at the ER, so no one knew who to call."

"That explains why he hasn't been answering us." Emily had to bite back her tears.

"He isn't in touch with his family anymore." Spencer's voice cracked with emotion. "His boss had someone sort through old paper records and found that he still had me listed as his emergency contact. I guess he never changed it after we broke up. The doctor just got in touch with me."

"What did they say about his condition?" Aria questioned.

Emily jumped at the sound of her voice. She was in such a state of shock that she'd completely forgotten they were still on a video call.

"There was swelling on his brain." Her voice came out quiet and strangled. "They had to put him in a medically induced coma."

"A coma? That sounds bad." Aria pinched her brow together in concern.

"Medically induced coma." Spencer repeated. It was difficult to tell whether she was trying to convince them or herself. "The doctor I spoke with says he's doing better today. They're waking him up."

"How exactly did he get hurt in the first place?" Emily could tell by Spencer's tone that she didn't think it was an accident.

"A section of the house they were working on collapsed. He was the only one inside. His coworkers said there had been no evidence of negligence or any other issues. They think one of the support beams was tampered with shortly before he got there."

"So the wicked witch dropped a house on him? What in The Wizard of Oz insanity that?"

The fact that Spencer didn't correct Hanna and explain to her that the wicked witch wasn't the one who dropped the house in Oz told the girls how rattled she was.

"So he was targeted." Emily tried to keep the conversation on track.

"This definitely wasn't an accident. I doubt he'll remember much, but I'll see what he says. They're weening him off the sedation. The doctor said he was asking for me…" She had tears in her eyes.

Alison quietly listened as Spencer droned on about medical processes.

Picturing Toby laying helpless in a hospital bed was a step away from picturing him in the morgue.

A flood of emotions overwhelmed her. The relief that she felt knowing that Toby was alive was coupled with her anguish knowing that the only person left unaccounted for was Jason.

She was suddenly struck with a sense of what life could have been like for her family if they'd had normal parents or a loving home environment. The vision encompassed "if-only" and "what-if?"

It was similar to regret, but more powerful.

She turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing away the images of Jason being burned alive…of the closed coffin…because what would be left of him?

Jason isn't dead.

It can't be him.

She wouldn't…

Would she?

Her mind was processing too fast for her to comprehend. Grief was a complicated and ugly animal. There was no controlling it. It roared and clawed at her insides like a caged animal.

She could hear everyone talking over one another, but she focused on the rain pelting the window…the wind in the trees…the thick heavy clouds hanging in the sky. A flash of lightning momentarily blinded her. She felt the crack of the thunder in her bones.

The pain howled inside of her while the storm raged outside.

---

A/N: I hope the wildly high word count makes up for the long wait. There is a lot happening with our girls. Between The Dollhouse flashbacks, Alison's childhood memories, and Toby being hurt they are dealing with a lot.

Lots of questions. What's Tanner's deal? How badass is Jerica? What's up with Ezra's dad? Where the hell is Jason? What do we make of the charity foundation paying for Theodore Kim's grave? How does Alison's mom tie into everything? What does Charlotte know?