Title: Change My Needs
Author: emily64cooper
Rating: T
Characters/Pairing: Aria/Ezra
Summary: But the sound he hears most clearly, one he immediately knows he'll never be able to forget, is the hitch of her breath before she breaks down. Coda to 2x12.
Author's Note: Takes place during 2x12, Over My Dead Body, when Aria uses her phonecall at the police station. Takes place as if it were written when the episode aired, so is ignorant to anything learned in seasons 3-5.

"This is a call from the Rosewood county police department. For security reasons, this call may be recorded".

Ezra's brow furrows, and as he has whenever the police have been involved in the past year, he grows instantly concerned. Continuing his relationship with Aria had been a huge risk, but for her, he had always been willing. Of course, that wouldn't mean much if he were put in jail. Could someone have found out about him and Aria? Is she okay?

As the line transfers into the station, he hears everything in hypersensitivity; he hears garbled voices all mingled together, with a few words like "deceased" and "homicide" instantly popping out at him. He hears rushed heavy feet in the background, the click of a stapler, the rustle of papers. But the sound he hears most clearly, one he immediately knows he'll never be able to forget, is the hitch of her breath before she breaks down. "Aria?" he questions, his level of concern immediately kicking into overdrive, "Aria, what's wrong?" He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he hears her speak.

"I've made a terrible mistake and I need you." She's barely able to choke the words out before she's overcome by tears.

"It's okay, Aria, shh, it'll be okay." He does his best to comfort her over the phone, saying anything and everything to get her to calm down while simultaneously searching for his shoes and keys. This is the woman he loves and she needs him. There is no power in heaven or earth that could prevent him from getting to her.

He makes it to the station in record time. He bursts through the double doors, barely able to stop at security, he's so desperate to get to her. His mind is blank. All he can think about is getting to her, saving her from whatever evil has befallen her.

"Hey Franklin," the guard, who is taking forever to sign Ezra in , calls to an officer, "did the Montgomery girl's parents get here yet?"

Ezra actually physically takes a step back. Fuck. Her parents. When he'd heard her scared, thick with tears voice, he'd instantly forgotten about all of their real-world problems. At the mention of her parents, they all come flooding back. He's suddenly torn; should he continue into the station or turn around? But then he remembers: she needs him, and so he has to continue.

He rounds the corner, and finds the officer he's been directed to and asks about Aria. As she points him in the right direction, he looks up and finds himself practically face to face with Ella Montgomery. Okay. This is it. He's going to have to tell her. Right now. Here in this police station. Where Byron would probably have him arrested. "Ella," he says, by way of greeting.

She gives him a cool, level look. "I know why you're here."

He breaths a small sigh of relief and nods. Of course she knows why he's here. Why else would he be here, if not for Aria? Now he just needs to get her to understand his side of their story. "You just need to understand that, that I-"

"Stop," she says sharply. "This is a very small town. People see things. And they talk," she says, accentuating the word "talk".

Ezra knows that there have been rumors, from time to time, that he's in a relationship with a student (*former student, he reminds himself), but as far as he knew, nobody ever took them seriously. Maybe that wasn't the case.

"I actually thought you were an outstanding teacher". Her voice is so full of disappointment, it reminds him of when he was young and his mother actually cared to be disappointed in him. He sees very clearly now where Aria gets her intense capacity for trust from. Thinking of her traits ground him, reminding him exactly why he is here, having this discussion.

"I'm in love with her," he says. It's the best way he can think to convey to Ella why he must be here, why he must be allowed to see her daughter tonight, yet the second the words are out of his mouth, he regrets them. This is, after all, a lot for Ella to process, and this declaration of his unyielding love for her teenager and his former student cannot be making this easier on her.

Ella takes a shaky breath, and again, Ezra finds himself looking for traces of the woman he loves within her mother. "I'm gonna give you one chance to walk away from this," she starts. He's ready to argue, to explain their love story and how many chances they've both had to walk away, how they were both physically unable to part. Instead, he wisely holds his tongue, letting her finish. "…not because you deserve it, but because this is the last thing we need to deal with right now. And when you go, you need to keep going, because if Spencer's parents find out about this, they will ruin you".

Well. That is… not at all what he expected. Ella thinks he's with Spencer? Why would she even think that? He knows that he should correct her, that's what he and Aria agreed on, and that in the long run it will make things easier—hell, they're already at the police station, if Byron had him arrested, it would even make the officer's job easier—but he can't. He chokes.

He doesn't dare ask to see Aria or her friends, so instead he sits down on the bench behind him and waits. Aria should at least know that he came when she needed him, so he wants to make sure she sees him. A little while later, all four girls are released to their parents. He and Aria make eye contact as she hugs her father and she flashes him the most brilliant smile he's ever seen.

So maybe it wasn't the smartest idea for him to come here tonight. And maybe he should have just told Ella about him and Aria. But she had needed him. How could he not be there for her? He would give anything for her, do anything for her, he knew it in his bones. And if he could make her smile like that again? Well, that was worth everything.