***Interlude***

**Spencer's POV**

There was something wrong with Aria.

There was no other way to put it. The dollhouse had broken them all. Spencer had seen that clearly enough when they had all crept from their room like abused animals, waiting for another blow. But while Hanna and Emily were quiet about what had happened during their individual punishments, Aria had shut down on basically everything.

The clues were there. Something had fundamentally broken in the smaller girl. The joy that used to permeate through Aria was gone. It had taken Spencer weeks to notice that Aria was silent. The little humming that she used to do happily as she focused on a task, was gone. Her voice had been softer. And sometimes Spencer heard her stop breathing, but she still shook in her silence.

And that was beyond the hand shaped bruises that had wrapped around Aria's throat when she first left her room and stayed on her skin while they were in the hospital. Bruises that Aria had been desperate to cover up as soon as she could. At first when they unpacked the box in Ali's room, Spencer had thought that the quiet voice Aria was using was that her voicebox was damaged from being strangled. But she had blown up and yelled at the camera before they left that room, so clearly it wasn't just a problem with her throat being crushed. Spencer had brushed the rest of it away while they all focused on getting out of the dollhouse. And the weeks of sleep deprivation and hallucinations had left her doubting her observations at first.

But once they were back home, sleeping in their own homes and able to think beyond surviving to the next day, it had started to be so obvious to Spencer that what had been done to Aria wasn't only psychological. They barely spent any time together, but when they did Aria was distant. Her eyes glossing over as though she was a million miles away. Her too thin cheeks still not having filled back in from clear starvation. And the girl who always reached out to spend time with the others, share ideas and worries, had pulled away. As though she was afraid they would shun her. Which had made sense when they all thought they had harmed the others, through that sick punishment game. But after the air had cleared and the tension had dissipated between the others, Aria had remained withdrawn.

That wasn't the worst though. The worst was what Spencer had just seen in Aria's eyes as she fled Hanna's house. Aria was afraid of them. And not just afraid, but terror had flooded Aria's eyes before they filled with tears. Even in her frustration and anger, Spencer had recognized that Aria was genuinely afraid of them and it had taken the wind from her sails. It was like she had been punched in the gut, seeing one of her best friends and partners worried that she would be hurt by them. Whatever monstrous thing had happened to Aria, had completely shattered her trust, even in the other girls.

"She just left. Didn't even look back." Hanna came into the room, pulling Spencer from her thoughts.

"There's something she isn't telling us." Emily responded, sinking down onto the bed. "I thought we learned that lesson long ago."

Spencer could hear the heartbreak in Emily's voice. That Aria not sharing whatever it was that happened to make her so certain was them stepping back to how things were in the beginning. Which was hard enough back then before the stakes had raised so high.

"Why did she say she can't tell us?" Hanna piped in. "Is there another threat like against Sarah that she isn't telling us about?"
Spencer was silent, turning it over in her head. There was definitely something that she was hiding. And Spencer couldn't help but turn back to the marks on Aria's throat and wrists. She had had bruises wrapping around her wrists, with scabs on the edges. If they weren't smooth in the middle with solid pressure, Spencer almost would have thought they were from her wrists being tied together. But those weren't from any rope or fabric that Spencer could think of. There were so many little things that were standing out about Aria's behavior. It was different from the rest of them in so many ways, though they had all been through hell. She wanted to hit her head against the wall until it finally clicked.

"It has to be about the sperm, right?" Emily pressed.

Then like a lightning bolt it hit. The final domino was placed and tipped all the little clues until it cascaded into a perfect picture. She should have seen it before. The way that Aria flinched around men, how she wouldn't make eye contact. That her body shaked and trembled whenever someone moved around her. And how she acted after that phone call from the detective, picking at her clothing while she tried to find an escape route. How she looked away instead of at them when she spoke. Aria had lied about the semen being found on clothing in her room. Spencer had brushed it away at the time, thinking it had just been that she was uncomfortable being pushed to share. But that hadn't been discomfort. It had been a lie, that Spencer had ignored at the time. Charles had been in the room with Aria. He had put his hands on her. And he had assaulted her.

Either Aria was ashamed of what had happened. Or it was something else that held her tongue. It was the only thing that Spencer could think of that explained Aria's silence. If she was being honest, Spencer realized she probably wouldn't want to talk about it if she was in Aria's place.

"Spencer!" Hanna shouted, bringing her back to the present. "Are you even listening?"

With a shake of her head to push back the thoughts that had been circling in her brain, Spencer nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

"How can we get Aria to tell us what's going on?" this time it was Emily, obviously hopeful that Spencer had some plan.

"We don't." Spencer said flatly.

"What do you mean we don't? If there's another threat out there, we deserve to know about it." Emily's tone was colored with worry.

"As much as we pretend we don't keep secrets from each other, Emily, we do." Spencer started, taking a breath before continuing. "What happened in our rooms in the dollhouse. That's not something any of us talk about. Not even with each other."

The other two stared at Spencer. Obviously shocked that she would give up on the hunt for answers that had started when Aria had received that phone call from the detective when the rest of them hadn't.

"Charles found a way to hurt all of us. To make us turn against each other with that stupid game." she continued. "But we all know there were other things."

Emily looked away, clearly ashamed. But Hanna kept her gaze steady. She had pushed for them to share their truth when they first walked out of the dollhouse and tried to pull away from each other.

"He found a way into our heads. And came up with our personal hells for those weeks separated."

Finally, Hanna looked away, down at her feet. Her eyes unfocused as some memory bloomed for her.

"As much as I want to know what Aria knows. What makes her so sure that there's an A team again. I can't ask that."

Emily turned back, mouth open as though to speak, but no words came out.

"I trust Aria. Just like I trust you both. With my life. So if she can't share that with us right now. Then I just have to trust her. And when she's ready to tell us, I know she will."

With that she grabbed her purse and headed out of the room. Letting the silence fall around her. They didn't need to say anything else tonight. They all needed a chance to settle down. As Spencer walked from the house, she grabbed out her phone.

Spencer: Aria, I'm sorry I pushed.

Spencer: I don't want to hurt you.

Spencer: If you can't talk now, I understand.

Spencer: But when you're ready, I'm here.

Spencer: And if that day never comes…

Spencer: I'll understand.

***End Interlude***

So as you'll probably note, this is an interlude not a full chapter. I hadn't intended to write anything from Spencer's perspective and honestly, I already have several numbered chapters written after this point. But I wanted to share what made Spencer back down from her normal crusade in the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed this.