Chapter 82*

Jason's POV*

I had no idea how long Aria was going to be at the hospital, which made planning the rest of my night a bit difficult. After making sure that Spencer and the girls made it back to their car okay, I had gone towards my own parking garage. I could just go home, but had thought maybe stopping by the store ahead of time wouldn't be a bad idea.

I doubted that Aria would think to eat anything after her trip to the hospital. The idea of her in the back of the ambulance sending my heart dropping into my stomach. She had looked so small. So fragile. Like she would fall over from a stiff breeze. My leather jacket felt too heavy in my hands, like it no longer belonged to me. I hadn't even intended to wear it tonight, worried that the stress of the evening would leave Aria shaking in her boots. Which she had been, but her own leather jacket with skull detailing had kept some of it contained. And I had felt like maybe bringing it had been overstepping, like I was anticipating needs that weren't there.

Shaking that thought from my head, I refocused instead of heading straight back home, I detoured into the supermarket to get a pint of Chunky Monkey icecream and a frozen veggie pizza. I knew that it wouldn't be much, but it would at least make sure that she ate something. And would keep well if she didn't end up eating it tonight. Though I figured once she had gotten warmed up, she would at least be happy to have the icecream.

Jason: Have you had dinner yet?

I sent the message, hoping that she would respond. Which I knew right now was a bit of a stretch, hospitals weren't known for being the most texting friendly places. Still, it would maybe let me know how she was doing. Or just where in the process of getting checked out at the hospital she was at. I hoped that they didn't want to keep her overnight. But the possibility was there, the memory of how she had just collapsed came surging back into my brain any time that I wasn't focusing on something else. Even her waking up, and trying to walk to the ambulance hadn't been enough to reassure me, or clear the way that she nearly collapsed doing so. And being away from Spencer, and the other girls, I wasn't focused on taking care of them anymore. I realized with a jolt of awareness that I was pulled up outside of my house, the drive home a complete blur. I waved at the cops, pretending that everything was normal, and grabbed the bag of frozen food from the front seat.

The porchlight was on, and I had just managed to open the door and step into the entry way when I heard the slam of something heavy against the floor. I almost flinched at the noise, the familiar sound bringing back memories of my parents fighting over the years. My dad slamming a book or chair around in frustration, sometimes slamming his hand against something. I had never been able to shake the fear that it would be directed at me, just like it was unsettling to hear my mom crack a plate, or slam a picture frame, her anger always accompanied by the breaking of glass.

"Jason, you're home." he sounded startled to see me, his face still blotched red with fury.

"Is something going on?" I couldn't help but feel like my defenses were up, had the police called? Or had there been another break in the case? The gallery had been bad enough, I didn't know that I wanted to hear any other bad news tonight.

"Tanner called, your sister is down at the station." he bit out, grabbing the blazer that was hanging by the front door, despite the hour he always made sure to look put together before leaving the house, and his keys from the hook next to the door.

"Is she okay? What happened?" I wasn't sure how Charles could have managed to do any more tonight, but suddenly worried that the reason Tanner had rushed from the gallery, leaving before she had finished taking statements, was because something had happened to Ali. And I had been too caught up in things with Aria and Spencer to worry about her. Or even ask why she hadn't been there tonight. I could kick myself for being so distracted, there was just a lot to juggle right now.

"She broke into the evidence room at the police station." his voice was tight, barely containing the fury roiling off him.

"What? Why would she do that?" I couldn't contain my shock, that had to be the stupidest thing that she had done. Normally when she did shit like that it didn't directly involve the police. At least not until later. Ali had always been reckless, and didn't back down from danger. But she also had an incredible sense of self-preservation.

"I'm about to find out." he promised, slamming the door after him.

The silence that filled the house after he left, once the sound of his engine roaring had faded down the street was unsettling. I was torn between putting the food in the freezer waiting for Aria to let me know that she got home, or just going straight to her house. Checking my phone left me hanging, no new messages. I texted Spencer, making sure that she had made it home.

I tossed the food in the freezer and opened the fridge, looking at what drinks were inside. Anger pooled up at me at the sight of a six pack of beer, resting to the side of the fridge, an imported brand in green glass. Even in the light of the fridge, the bottles looked like they were glistening, tempting me to sit back and take the edge off. I slammed the fridge door shut, turning instead to the coffee machine, where there was still some cold coffee from earlier today in the carafe. Most of the time, it didn't bother me that my dad brought alcohol into the house, today though I was stressed enough to want to grab one. Not deal with the stress and strain of the evening. My hand twitched, reaching towards my phone. I could call my sponsor, explain what had happened tonight. Why I wanted to lapse again. But I knew that I could handle it. My priorities weren't on forgetting what was happening, as much as that idea always lingered in the back of my head. There were things that I needed to focus on first. And I knew that I had a better control on my sobriety than the last couple months had made me feel. I didn't normally feel the need to disappear quite so much. My phone sounded in my pocket, and I grabbed it, hoping it would take my mind off of things.

Spencer: Not home yet, out with the girls.

It didn't exactly make me feel much better, but at least she wasn't alone. She was more likely to be safe if she was with the others. Though that might have been the worst reasoning. Maybe they had decided to stop and get something to eat on the way home? Otherwise, there was no reason that I should have been able to beat them back to town. Not with my stop at the store.

Instead of waiting for another message, I went upstairs and changed my shirt, ditching the button down and tie and pulling on a hoodie over my undershirt. I could chill on the couch for a while. But as soon as I sat down on the couch, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to just sit and relax. I could grab my laptop, maybe try and focus my brain on work. But it seemed far fetched. The quiet around me not helping anything to keep the images that I had seen on the gallery wall away. With a frustrated sigh, I headed for the office, it was a futile effort, but it would at least be something. Coffee to hand, I opened up the emails that I had left not too long ago earlier tonight. My eyes struggled to focus, as I reviewed meetings and an initiative for a community fridge at the lower income housing complex. Which despite the fact that I really liked the idea of it, it just couldn't hold my attention.

The image of Aria's face, twisted in pain, eyes wide, and body convulsing came back to my mind. I stood up from the desk, hand immediately moving to my phone, checking for a message. It had only been a few minutes. I sunk back down into the seat. Hospitals were never that quick. I knew that. She would be a while. Was probably still busy at the hospital and that's why she hadn't texted me back. I could push down the worry that was slowly rising. I looked over a bid for a new construction contractor, trying to force the words into an order that made any semblance of sense. I ran my hands through my hair, switching out of my work email, to go through the slew of junk mail that I had gotten in the last few days. Mindlessly clicking through page after page of ads, hitting the spam button on most of them. I tried to switch back to work, hoping that the little mindless break would have helped me to focus in on a memo that was set to go out at one of the apartment complexes. But the words kept twisting around. No matter how many times I blinked, or took a drink of stale coffee. Aria hanging from the ceiling, her body a mosaic of bruises and cuts, wounds openening from the stress of being suspended and trailing down thin lines of blood.

I didn't think I could wait any longer. Couldn't keep putting the images from my head.

The restless feeling wasn't leaving, so I grabbed my jacket and the food from the freezer heading over towards Aria's house. Worst case I would be there before her. I tried to keep to the speed limits as I drove over, and mostly managed. At least I didn't get pulled over on the short drive. There weren't any cars outside her house when I got there, aside from the patrol car on the curb. But as I stepped out of the car, I saw the officer moving out.

"Hey, is Aria home?" I asked, wondering why he was coming over towards me.

"Yeah, her mom left a little while ago." he replied, looking like he was anxious about telling me something. "It sounded like they were arguing earlier though."

I frowned, wondering what had happened that had made Ella want to fight with Aria. Especially considering how despondent and fragile Aria had looked when I had left them both in the ambulance earlier. I heard my phone go off again, and I reached into my pocket.

Aria: Home. Come over?

At least that answered the question of if she still wanted me to come over. It bypassed the question about food, which probably meant that she hadn't eaten anything yet. And I was glad that I had the pizza in the bag, it would mean she ate something at least.

Jason: I'm outside.

I responded, already walking up to the porch. Before I could knock, the door swung open and there was Aria. Her hair was soaked, still clinging to the sides of her head, and she was dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and pajama pants. I barely got a look at her face before she moved into me, wrapping her arms around me before I could step through the door. I wrapped one arm around her, not wanting to bring the frozen food too close to her. But I shouldn't have been worried about her being cold. For once instead of shivering with cold, it seemed like she was steaming. Heat radiating off of her, and her visible skin was flushed bright pink. How hot of a shower had she taken? Worrying that the air hadn't managed to cool her wet hair yet. She pulled me in tightly to her, not letting go even as she moved us into the house. And I closed the door behind us, dropping the bag of food on the table next to the door and pulling her close.

"How are you doing?" I asked, lowering my head down towards her and brushing a kiss across the top of her head.

She didn't answer, just pulled back so that I could see her face. A strange light gleaming in her eyes, as I felt her warm breath against my face. Then with a surge of movement, she grasped the back of my neck and pulled me into a kiss with bruising force. I froze for a moment, taking a second to respond to the way that she pressed into me, closing her eyes and moving her lips against mine. My mouth responded on instinct, opening to brush my tongue against hers as she licked against my lips. One hand threaded through the warm wet hair at the back of her head, keeping us locked together, while the other traced along her waist until it rested at the dip in her lower back. I pulled her into me, soft warm body pressing against mine. Her sigh moved her into me, and though she was pulling me impossibly closer, threatening to consume me, I realized that I needed to step back. My hands moved from around her back to resting at her waist, pulling back enough to detach us, ending the kiss that sent electricity through me.

"Jason?" she asked, her voice coming out breathier than I remembered it sounding, the slightest hint of confusion mixing with her gasping breaths.

"Are you okay?" I asked, standing up to create more distance between our faces, though her hand was still resting at the back of my neck, as though she wanted to pull me down to her again.

Her pupils were blown wide, and she didn't seem to want to move away from me at all. I desperately wanted to move back in towards her, claim her lips, and forget about everything else that wasn't her or us. The way that her lips were still parted, tiny little pants of breath rising up towards me, I wanted to dip my head back down, recapture her lips, and drown in the moment. But I knew that I couldn't do that. Knew that it wouldn't be enough in the long run. She would regret it if I didn't stop things now. And I would lose her forever. Even though I wanted to forget about the rest of the world, that wasn't an option right now. I moved a hand from her waist, instead brushing the wet hair from her face, pushing it back behind her ear so I could see her face clearly.

"Are you okay?" I repeated, maintaining eye contact and searching her face for answers as to how we got here.

Her eyes watered, misting with tears, as she scrunched her face up in upset. The moment from before, where she had confidently moved into me. Made me feel like she wanted me, that she was ready for something more, was gone. It had been brushed aside by the sadness and hurt that had been hiding underneath.

"No," her voice shook, and I realized that she was starting to shake again.

With a sigh, I pulled her back into me, hugging her tightly and trying to stop the trembling that was wracking her body, along with quiet sobs. Rubbing soothing circles into her back, I tried to comfort her, despite not knowing what all had happened. "It's going to be okay. We'll figure it out."

I let her have the few minutes of standing there, wrapped around each other. I knew that she needed support. Especially since that cop out front had said that she had been fighting with her mom. Something had to have happened at the hospital that upset her this much. More than just the gallery, which I worried about since that had been horrible enough. Standing there, I could still taste her on my lips. The memory of kissing her more than a year ago didn't hold up against the intensity of this kiss. Despite the way that I knew she was upset, she had been intense, almost desperate tonight. Combining with her upset was a need that I hadn't felt from her before. Finally, she pulled away from me, wiping at her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

"Have you eaten anything tonight?" I questioned, focusing my attention on what she needed, rather than on the fact that I wanted to talk to her about the kiss. Or bypass the conversation altogether and go back to kissing her.

What Emily had said earlier about Aria really caring about me, came back to my mind. And I knew just how much I cared about her. But was afraid that I would ruin everything if we let that go any further tonight. She wasn't in the place to have an actual conversation with me about it tonight. Once she was calmed down, then we could try and talk about it. But first I wanted to make sure that she was safe. I could wait. I was willing to wait if it meant that I didn't have to lose her.

"No, I haven't." she admitted, voice soft and hesitant. As though she was worried that I was going to be mad at her.

I moved back to the bag that was sitting on the table, holding it out to her in offering. "Pizza or icecream first?"

She took the bag from my hands looking down into the bag and a smile spreading across her face, recognizing the container of icecream. It had been the same one that she picked out Tuesday for comfort food from the store.

"Pizza." she answered, grabbing my hand and leading me into the kitchen.

The contact was casual, a pattern that we had fallen into so comfortably. Her hand was soft and warm, a change from normal where she usually always had cold fingers. She turned on the oven and tossed the icecream into the freezer, before turning to face me.

"Did they say anything at the hospital?" I asked, worried about her health. She did look better than when I had last seen her, steadier on her feet. But that wasn't really saying much, considering she hadn't been able to walk on her own earlier.

"Not really, they made me get an EKG and blood test, but were okay with me coming home tonight." she shrugged, leaning against the counter next to the stove. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I'm alright." I dismissed, not worried about drinking anything, or wanting to make her feel like she had to play hostess to me right now. "So nothing else happened?"

I was fishing, trying to figure out what had driven her to kiss me tonight. Wondering if it was related to whatever she and her mom had been fighting about. Had her mom found out about the abortion at the hospital?

"I talked to some FBI agent, he wanted to know who all knew about the abortion before tonight." she was blase, disconnected from it.

I wanted to be closer to her, feel the warmth that was radiating off of her like the oven. But I forced myself to lean back against the opposite counter. Knew it wasn't a good idea to push anything right now. Soon though, I promised myself.

"Agent Reid, yeah?" I wondered if it really was the same agent, if the FBI had only sent one person, seeing as last time they had sent a pair of partners.

"Yep, he thought maybe it was someone who knew ahead of time and could get things set up. But didn't want to make me answer any more questions tonight." she explained with a dismissive shrug. "Which is why I'm going to have to go back and do a full interview with him later."

I could understand that. Considering that he even seemed interested in talking to me, which I knew that I didn't have as much information as the girls did. Given the amount of time that Aria had spent around Charles, it would make sense that they really wanted to hear from her. Not to mention that given the display tonight, it seemed like he was more focused on her than the other girls. Sure, the abortion made sense for him to want to punish her. But seeing the differences in how he had treated her in the bunker, seemingly not interacting with the others to the level he had with Aria. It scared me that he had been focused on Aria to such a degree. And that he still might be.

"He said that he wants to meet with all of the girls, and me." I tried to reassure her, let her know that it wasn't just her that was being singled out.

She shrugged again, and I worried that she was closing herself off from me. I didn't want to see her fall apart. Not when I could do something to help. I knew that tonight had already been hard enough, on all the girls.

Closing the gap between us, I moved to brush the hair that had fallen back over her face out of the way. Her lower lip was stuck out ever so slightly, more of a pout than normal, but it just made her mouth look more appealing. All the thoughts of trying to focus on what was better in the long run were falling away.

"Is that all that's bothering you?" I asked, leaning forward to try and make eye contact, searching for her brown eyes.

She bit her lip, shrugging again. And I wanted to groan at the way that she had closed off. It was so frustrating, because I wanted to help. Wanted to move forward with things, and be there to support her the best that I could. But it didn't seem like I could do it.

"Do you think I'm broken?" her voice came out, wavering and small between us. A tear already sliding down her cheek.

"You're not broken, why would you ask that?" I tried to catch her eyes, but she was looking down, avoiding my gaze.

She shrugged and I wanted to scream. I wanted to shake her, make her look me in the eye and tell me what was going on. Tonight had been a roller coaster of emotions. I had kept trying to push mine to the back. Making sure that she was safe. Taking care of Spencer. Of Hanna and Emily. Even keeping what Ella needed in mind, and putting her before me. Forcing myself to let Aria leave in the ambulance without me.

I needed to breathe, needed to calm down the anger that was burning me up inside. I closed my eyes, I could count, could push back the rising tide of emotion that was threatening to burst out.

"Why else woudn't you want me anymore?" her words were barely above a whisper, mixed with a barely there sob.

I reached for her, tilting her chin up towards me, seeing the way she still tried to avoid looking at me, despite me holding her face towards mine. She looked stressed and hurt. And I wanted to make it better. Wanted to show her that she wasn't broken, that nothing between us had changed. And knowing that this could be the biggest mistake I'd made in a long time, I kissed her.

It wasn't a rough kiss. Her lips were soft and pliant under mine, not responding right away. I needed her to respond to me. If this was the last chance I would have to kiss her. It would be one that I would remember. Her lips parted and I slid my tongue into her mouth, tasting the remainder of her mint toothpaste in her mouth. Feeling her body relax against mine as I moved into her, trying to control the strength that I gripped her side and pulled her towards me, but I knew that I was failing when I felt her gasp against me.

With a gentle movement, I slowly pulled back, letting her warmth linger on my skin as I let her go. Opening my eyes to watch her face, terrified of her reaction. And instantly regretting my actions. I didn't want to be like Charles. Not even a little bit. I didn't want to push her further than she was comfortable. But I hadn't been able to stand the way that she looked so small, listen to the heartbreak in her voice, the doubt there.

My hands finally slipped away from her waist, I knew that I needed to make some space between us. Let her have breathing room. And if she was going to kick me out, I would understand.

Instead, her hand shot out and twisted the fabric of my shirt, clutching the fabric tightly. I looked at her face, she was flushed, lips puffy and pink and eyes wide. I didn't have time to react before she hauled me back into her and pulled me into a fierce kiss.

End Chapter*

So they finally kissed! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think