Chapter 69*

Jason's POV*

My arms felt empty as she returned to her seat, the reassurance that I always got from holding her close slipping away. She was still in sight though, which had to be enough. It broke my heart how distraught she had looked, barely able to voice what she needed from me. That I had to drag it out of her, seeing the moment when I told her I couldn't guarantee always being there for her on her face made me want to take it back. But as much as I wanted to promise her everything under the sun, I knew it wasn't possible. That I would only let her down that way. I never wanted to see her lose trust in me.

But I could do this for her. Go with her to an appointment, whatever that ended up entailing. I made sure my face didn't show any emotion but care and concern. I had meant it when I said I wouldn't judge her. It was a situation that I had no experience in, and would never be able to fully understand. No matter what choice she made, I would be there to support her. So long as she let me stand next to her, I would be there. I already knew what it was like not to be able to do that.

"What time do you want me to pick you up Tuesday?" I turned the conversation back to logistics, hoping that might settle her a little more, reassure her that I was there and all it took for me to be there was to know.

While it appeared that some of the anxiety had left her, the impromptu cuddle seemingly helping with that, I didn't want her having to linger on it if it wouldn't help anything at the moment. You didn't need to look around to know that in Rosewood someone was always watching you. It had been the thing that I appreciated the most when leaving for college, not being so under a microscope as you were in a small town. Even being the family fuck up wasn't enough to let me ignore the constant gossip in town.

"11:30?" she asked, having clearly considered the timing of things.

"I can do that, I can even bring coffee if you want." I had no idea where exactly we were going, and given the surveillance we were under between Charles and the police, I didn't really want to look up the address in advance.

"That'd be great." she replied with a smile, before her face turned considering, teeth catching on her lip in thought. "Did you get the tracker taken off your car?"

That brought me up short, I had forgotten completely about the way that Spencer and Hanna had tracked me when we had gone to try and meet Charles at the arcade. The fight with Ali after they had revealed that had sort of taken all my attention. And then I had taken off, abandoning my car in the outskirts of Philly, where if they had gone looking they wouldn't have found a trace of me, except maybe if they had managed to find my phone and keys. It made me wonder if there was a chance that Charles had put other tracking things into place, once it wasn't possible for him to monitor the girls movements anymore. I swallowed down the disgust at that. The knowledge that he had cut into them and placed a tracker under their skin was disturbing to say the least. That he could violate them all in that way. I couldn't react to that right now, it would only end up hurting Aria.

"I haven't. I had forgotten about it, to be honest." I admitted, annoyed with my own forgetfulness. "I'll have to get Spencer to take that off."

She gave a shrug, almost like she had accepted the monitoring. Which pissed me off on her behalf, she shouldn't have to deal with that. But until Charles was locked up, taken away from all his tech and partners, that wouldn't happen. It must have been suffocating, having this drag on and on, even after it had supposedly been over when Mona had been put in Radley so long ago.

"So when is the contest happening?" I changed the subject, hoping to get us both thinking about something happier.

A small smile spread across her pink lips, that little step towards happiness and normalcy beautiful to see. Especially when I could see the remnants of tear tracks on her face still, that she had done her best to wipe away. But I could still spot a few spots of shining salt on her face.

"Friday night. They're doing an exhibit of the finalists work at a gallery downtown Philly." she explained, the light having come back into her eyes as she spoke.

"What time? I mean, I do get to come to this, right?" I asked, letting my mouth quirk in a smirk.

"The doors open at 6:30, and yes, you can come." her head tilted slightly forward, like she was trying to hide a blush, but I could see it.

"Of course, I'm going to be there." I promised, not caring whatever else came up, I was going to keep it.

Her phone chirped as the waiter dropped off the check, so I managed to get my card tucked into the folder while she checked the message. I kept an eye on her face, making sure it wasn't something from Charles, or some other sort of bad news. Her shoulders hadn't tightened when the chirp sounded, which was potentially progress. Maybe he hadn't been taunting her as much recently. Which I tried to think was a good thing. Though it had bothered me that I hadn't heard anything since the arcade. I hadn't always been one of his targets, so it made sense for me to not get as many messages, but other than the videos that he had left for Ali, I didn't think anyone had received anything from him. Had telling the police his name put him on the defensive somehow?

"Everything good?" I asked, when she put her phone away, not wanting to overstep but worried all the same.

"Yeah, just my mom letting me know she's picking Mike up from practice today, so I don't need to." she dismissed, she eyed the bill folder as the waiter dropped it back off and I signed. "Ready to go?"

I slid my card back into my wallet, appreciating that it wasn't an argument around who was paying anymore. It really did make more sense for me to buy more often, since I was working and she wasn't. She still bought breakfast some mornings, but it wasn't as often anymore. It had just become part of the routine, a habit that we didn't need to think about, or discuss.

"Yeah, I'm ready." I answered, not actually wanting our time to end, but knowing that we both had other things to do today.

Out of habit, I walked her to her car. More for my peace of mind than hers, since I like seeing her safely tucked back in her car before I left her. The idea that Charles might be watching and waiting for a chance to grab her or any of the others again lingered in the back of my head everytime I said goodbye.

"Thanks for walking me back." she acknowledged with a small smile when we reached her suv.

"Always. You sure I can't talk you into a nap today?" I tried once more, keeping my voice easy so she didn't feel pressured. But I really didn't want to let her go, not with the way that she had broken down and been so scared of my reaction to ask for help earlier. It felt like a critical moment, maybe I was overreacting, but that hesitation scared me.

"Not today, but maybe Tuesday afternoon." she offered, reaching up to wrap her arms around my neck.

I leaned down slightly, letting the embrace last a little longer if she wasn't on the tips of her toes. Once more her perfume swirled around me, the gentle heat of her body sinking into mine everywhere we touched. Then her head turned against my shoulder and I felt her lips press into the skin of my cheek gently. It was a familiar gesture, one that had become so routine that she didn't even seem to think about it anymore. But I smiled at the sensation every time, tightening my arms around her smaller frame and holding tight.

Watching her drive away before walking back to my own car, I wished that she had taken me up on naptime. It would be imposing if I asked her to come over just because I slept better when she was there. When I knew she was safe because as soon as I opened my eyes I could see her. She needed to learn to stand on her own, though it destroyed me to watch her struggle. With a little distance, I felt the surprise sink in that she had asked me to go with her to the appointment. Rather than her mom or one of the girls, who I had expected would be more likely someone that she would turn to. But turning it over in my mind, it became clear.

She hadn't told them she was pregnant.

Even though she had confessed to the other girls what had happened to her while they were kept captive and separated from one another. I hadn't realized that she would hold that back from them. For a terrifying moment, I considered who she would have gone to if I hadn't been there when she had told Charles in an attempt to get him to let her go. Would she have gone alone? Kept it hidden from the others forever? Or at least as long as she could?

The way that she had looked so scared when she asked me to go with her, the desperation and fear so plainly painted across her face, that I would abandon her. Leave her completely alone to deal with this. Without a doubt, she would have tried to struggle through it alone. As soon as I was home and at my computer, I'd move any meetings that I had on Tuesday to another time. I could take a personal day, god knows my dad was taking enough of them from the company with all his meetings with the police.

The list was writing itself in my head, what all I needed to get taken care of today, like calling Spencer and finding out where the tracker was, and maybe getting a jump start on my paperwork for the upcoming week. For a job that I really didn't like being at, I sure had to spend a lot of time there. Time that I would prefer I had available to deal with the things happening in my life.

I had parked at the house on autopilot, not really aware of anything that had happened while I drove. That maybe wasn't the best thing, too close to a blackout for comfort. But it would have to be okay for now, there were other things that I needed to get taken care of.

I nodded to the cop parked on the street out front, barely even annoyed at the continued presence for once. If it brought the police closer to catching Charles, I would put up with it. Especially if it managed to do anything to keep Aria and the girls safe as well, though that part I had a little less faith in considering they hadn't noticed the things left in my house in the last two weeks. Ali's car wasn't here for once, which meant she was either still at the church, maybe volunteering for the social hour after service, or she was over at Lorenzo's again. That last option less than ideal, though he was at least nicer to Ali than most of the other people that lived in town, he was still too old for her in my opinion.

For a moment, I considered heading over to Spencer's to talk to her, but given it was Sunday that didn't seem like such a good idea. Peter Hastings had moved out a few months ago, moving to live in Philly if I remembered correctly. But Veronica wasn't exactly my biggest fan, which I could understand. Instead, I called Spencer, hoping she wasn't too busy with anything right now.

"Hey, what's up?" she answered in a bored tone, so she probably wasn't too busy right now.

"Not much, just had a favor to ask of you." I started, as I headed up the porch steps, this wasn't exactly something that I wanted to ask within hearing range of the cops at the curb.

"Oh? What a coincidence, I have one to ask of you." she shot back.

"Okay, you go first." I had no idea what sort of favor she wanted of me, we had talked a bit before about her coming to a group with me that we hadn't made happen yet.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you might be up to being my running buddy tomorrow morning? I'm trying to get that to be more routine and having someone to go with tends to help."

I closed the door behind me, listening slightly to see if there was the sound of any movement in the house. Mine was the only car out front, but better safe than sorry. "Yeah, I'd be down for that, what time?"

"Is 7 too late for you to make it to work on time?" I could hear her making the calculations in her head about how long it likely took me to get ready for work and get there.

"So long as we're not running more than an hour and a half it'll be fine." It would be alright if I was a little late for work, as I never set any meetings before 10am on Monday mornings, there were some benefits to being the boss after all.

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem." she assured. "So what's your favor?"

"Can you take the tracker off my car?" I questioned, appreciating that I was alone in the house right now so I wouldn't have to answer any uncomfortable questions from my dad, or worse have him make me share that there was a tracker with the police. It was hard to tell lately what all he felt was going to be critical to share with the police.

"Oh," she said, falling silent on her end of the phone.

I waited. It was a long enough delay of her thinking that I checked the connection was still going. Finally she continued.

"I guess, it's just it might not be the worst idea that we have a way to keep tabs on your car. In case anything happens." she sounded so hesitant even suggesting it, and I was suddenly glad I'd asked because it didn't seem like they had any intention of pulling it off.

"Look, I get that you're scared, Spence. But I'm not going anywhere." I reassured. "Charles isn't about to kidnap me off the street, pretty sure he would have tried already if that was his plan."

It was something that I had considered after the arcade, if he had wanted to take me somewhere that was a great chance to do it. But instead, he had just tried to grab Aria, not caring if I was there at all. It stung a little, to know that he wasn't really interested in a sibling connection when at the time I wanted to get to know my brother. Looking back now though, I can't say that's a bad thing. It's not like I wanted anything to do with him at this point. Not beyond him getting arrested and put away for a long time. The little that I had learned about him had been enough for me to not want him in my life.

I heard Spencer sigh on the other end of the line before she gave in. "All right, I can pull it off tomorrow morning."

"Thanks, I'll see you then." it wouldn't be right now, but at least it would be off before Tuesday, which was what I was really worried about to be honest. I didn't know if they checked it any time other than when they had followed me to the arcade, but the idea that they could made me uncomfortable.

I grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen, before moving to the home office, it was one that I technically shared with my dad. But he was spending more time in the Philly office, when he wasn't having meetings with the Rosewood police. I think to some extent he was trying to avoid me, everything that had come up in the last few weeks, dredging up the secrets that our family had successfully ignored for the past two decades. It seemed harder for him to be able to face both the past and our current situation.

My laptop was already plugged in to a charger and resting on my desk. So I settled in to get started on the work of the week, and moving any meetings off of Tuesday. I set it as a personal day in my calendar, moving a staff meeting to Wednesday morning instead. Real estate wasn't the most interesting business to be in, but I did like that we could provide affordable housing to people who needed it. Which had been a less lucrative change that I had made when I became more involved after my mom's death, but seemed like the better choice to make. I was working through some of the paperwork for a new property that I was looking at in Philly, when my phone rang.

Pulling it out of my pocket, I couldn't help the moment of confusion and frustration at the caller. It was Lt. Tanner calling, which on a Sunday probably wasn't the best thing to see, but also it made me question my life that somehow I had a police detective in my contacts list. It was a grim reminder of the reality of my life, and a hard disconnect from my life as a teenager. With a sigh, I answered the call.

"Hello?" I asked, not wanting to immediately give away that I knew who was calling, cops, even ones that were nominally working with you were always playing mind games and I wanted to see how she would start this.

"Hello, Mr. DiLaurentis? This is Lieutenant Tanner with the Rosewood Police Department."

I was a little surprised to be called Mr. DiLaurentis over the phone, it could be her trying to get me off guard. It felt like I was still young enough to be called by my first name, at least that's what they usually did.

"Hi, Lt. Tanner. I'm surprised to hear from you today, I wasn't expecting you to be working on a Sunday."

"I'm just going through some paperwork." she dismissed the comment easily. "I was wondering if you would be willing to come in and speak with me tomorrow."

I felt my body freeze, surprised at the ask. And confused at the timing. Something had to have come up that made her want to question me, cause though she was saying 'speak with' I knew that was more what it was going to be.

"Sure, I need to check my calendar. What do you want to talk about?" I fished, hoping to maybe get a little more context.

I opened the calendar back up on my computer, there weren't any meetings after 11am, which had meant to give me the afternoon to work on everything else. But given that I was already working today, I could probably balance that alright.

"Just a few questions to get more context about Charles." she answered.

I knew that wasn't it. At least it wasn't the only thing. She wouldn't be calling on a Sunday if that was the case. I thought about if I would need my lawyer with me tomorrow, but thought it might be a little aggressive. Still, I'd give him a call and see if there was anything to keep in mind.

"I can come in at 1pm." I finally gave a time for a meeting, stress blooming up.

"I'll see you then."

End Chapter*

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