One-shot request from fallforhale on Tumblr - hope no one minds it turned into a two-shot. I'm posting the first half while I continue to work on the second.

She had seven missed calls by the time she left the hospital—all from Ezra—and she wasn't going to return any of them. She wasn't even sure she was going to go home.

There were so many things going through her head, she could hardly keep any of them straight. It was all she could do to not throw up from the sheer amount of stress she'd been through in the past forty-eight hours. Thankfully they'd been able to get cell service a little outside the abandoned school and the ambulance had come quickly. By some miracle, the paramedics were able to keep Spencer stable until they reached the hospital, but she'd had to go alone, and it killed all of them to watch her get carted off all alone. There was no way any of the girls would have left her side had they not been required to stay and give their statements before going to the hospital, but they'd all been under so much scrutiny lately that there was no way around it. It was well into the night before they were free to go, and by the time they reached the hospital, Spencer was in surgery and they were left with nothing to do but wait.

On top of all of this, Aria was still trying to process everything that was going on in her personal life.

The girls knew Ezra had gone to Colombia when he'd heard about the hostages being found. She'd updated them when he told her Nicole wasn't one of them, and she'd refused Spencer's offer to stay at the Hastings the night before because Ezra had asked her to be home when he got back from the trip.

What she hadn't mentioned to anyone was that he'd never come home that night or that she'd spent hours worrying, trying to track down his flight, figure out whether or not it had ever taken off, if it had landed, or if he'd even boarded. She couldn't bring herself to admit out loud what had actually happened. Or at least, what she guessed had happened

Nicole was alive and Ezra had stayed in Colombia. For how long, she had no idea. She was confident that his intentions had not been to hurt her, but regardless...he had. At some point between their video chat and that evening, he had made the decision not to board the plane, not to call and let her know he would not be arriving home that night…not even to inform her that there was a possibility Nicole was alive after all.

No call…no text…just silence.

Not to mention the hurt she'd felt when she watched the way he reacted to seeing Nicole. Not that it was unwarranted. She knew what it felt like to find out someone was alive after mourning them. She wasn't heartless. That didn't make it sting any less.

Aria could feel Emily's eyes on the back of her head as they descended the stairs outside the hospital. She felt like the missed calls and unheard voicemails were burning a hole through her pocket and she was sure Emily could see it.

In reality, all Emily could see was the far-off look in Aria's eyes. She knew enough of what Aria had been going through lately to know that there was something eating away at her. Spencer and Aria were incredibly close, and adding all of this onto what Aria already had going on was probably putting her over the edge. Emily was familiar with the feeling of being alone, and she imagined Aria was feeling something very close to that in this moment.

"You know, Spencer's going to be all right," Emily said as she came up behind her. "You heard what the doctor said; a few more hours in surgery and she'll be fine. Go home, take a shower, change your clothes, check in with Ezra, then you can come back and sit with her all day if you want."

Aria looked at Emily with a grim smile. "Thanks, Em."

"I didn't get to ask before…how was your night with Ezra? Is he doing okay?"

Aria nodded her head, not intending to go into any detail.

For some reason, she felt the need to keep his integrity intact, even though his lack of consideration had hurt her incredibly, she didn't want to paint him in a bad light—she still wanted everyone else to think the best of him, and she was still trying to reason away in her own mind why he might have handled the situation the way that he had. She didn't really want a lot of other opinions clouding her own heart. However, as she stood and watched the way Emily was looking at her, she reasoned that it was okay to share; at least with one person. After all, of all the girls, Emily had been the most in tune with what had been going on in Aria's life outside of A.D. Plus she had her own ties to Nicole and may appreciate the update.

Aria sucked in both her lips, wetting them with her tongue before saying anything. She wanted to choose her words wisely.

"Actually," she started. "He was supposed to come home last night…" she trailed off, all the sadness she'd held in her heart sinking out through the cluster of tears that were stacking up in the back of her throat. She didn't expect what she was feeling to start seeping through when she opened her mouth. Her voice was thick and she felt all the worry and heartache she'd been holding back start to come forward. "But, he didn't," she went on. She shrugged her shoulders and looked past Emily, reeling in her emotions. She cleared her throat a little. "They, uh, they found Nicole. She's alive."

Emily's hand shot to cover her mouth. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But you haven't—"

"No, I had to watch it on the news yesterday. I haven't heard from him. Well, that's a lie. I have a million missed calls and a few messages. I haven't listened to any of them."

They stood for a moment, both lost a little in thought. Their lives were never dull, but as soon as anyone was able to take one step forward, they had to take two steps back. Aria felt self conscious under Emily's gaze. She knew she was being petty by ignoring Ezra, but right now…she wanted to allow herself the pettiness.

"I should probably get home," Aria said. "You're right, I do want to get back here. I don't want Spencer coming out of surgery all alone."

Emily nodded her head. "She won't be alone, Hanna and Caleb are still inside. Ali and I are going to get cleaned up too, and Hanna and Caleb won't leave until someone else is able to take over. We'll go in shifts." Aria looked like she wanted to do anything but go home. "Are you sure you're going to be okay alone? You can come with us, or we can stop by Ezra's after…"

"I'll be fine; thanks though." Aria gave Emily a curt nod along with an equally as curt grimace. She didn't want to be alone, but she also didn't want to be the third wheel to whatever was going on between Ali and Emily. She needed some time to think through what she was feeling, and she needed to figure out what she was going to do when Ezra finally did come home.

When she arrived outside The Brew, she was surprised to see not one, not two, but three police cars. There wasn't an unusual amount of chaos surrounding the building, nor were any of the officers in sight. Instead of going up through the small stairway outside, Aria went in through the coffee shop. She squeezed her way past a crowd at the counter and approached Sabrina with worried eyes.

"What's going on?" she asked, hurriedly.

Sabrina looked up from where she'd been working on an order and when her eyes made contact with Aria's, her body visibly relaxed.

"You better head upstairs," she said.

Aria's heart sank and her eyes got wide. She suddenly wished she'd answered his calls or at the very least listened to the voicemails he'd left. Countless horrible situations were running through her mind as she quickly crossed the room and ascended the stairs leading to the loft. When she reached the landing, there was one officer standing in the hallway speaking into a radio at his shoulder.

"Excuse me," Aria said, rushing up to him. He looked between Aria and the open door. His silence did nothing to steady the pounding in her chest.

Turning, she burst through the entryway and was greeted by the other two officers as well as a face she hadn't expected to see. Of all the things she thought his voicemails might have said, "I'll be home shorty," or anything indicating as much was not what she expected.

She stopped cold and the way he was looking at he…it was like they were in a standoff. The officers around them seemed to disappear into the walls and Aria felt her heart plummet so far into the pit of her stomach she was afraid it might drop down to her feet. She felt cold and shaky and she was caught up in a miserable mixture of confusion, anger, and hurt, but above all…relief.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

She didn't know exactly what she meant by those words but she wasn't sure what else to say. This was his home. He lived here. Where did she really expect him to be? Aside from maybe another country…

"I've been worried sick about you," he said, coming forward, both arms held open. "Where have you been?"

Aria stepped back, her shoulders suddenly growing more rigid. "Excuse me?"

Ezra's eyes narrowed at her tone. He awkwardly let his arms drop to his side and felt his jaw set as he took in her posture, the way she was standing at a distance, the fact that she hadn't made any move to greet him.

The officers who were crowding the space around them were clearly trying to gauge the situation as much as Aria and Ezra. Aria recognized one of them as having been at the Hastings when they were certain Noel was holding Hanna captive, the other had been assigned to her door for the past few days. She turned and was about to say something to one of them, but they chose the same moment to speak.

"Miss Montgomery," said the officer in charge of keeping watch over her. "Have you been in any kind of trouble? Your fiancé was worried when you didn't answer your phone. You understand that the police protection we've been providing here and at the Hastings residence was for your benefit, correct? If there's something serious happening, you shouldn't be sneaking out and flying under the radar. You girls are under close observation as it is…"

Aria's attitude got the better of her and she cut him off. "Thank you," she said, "but we're fine here. I've spent the entire night giving statements and getting poked and prodded by nurses, and if there's anything you should be doing, it's figuring out who shot my best friend." The officer opened his mouth to retort, but Aria cut him off again. "Really, I'm sorry. We made a stupid decision by sneaking past the officers guarding the house, and we paid the price. I've been at the hospital all night—I just came home to get cleaned up and then I'll be headed right back over."

The other two officers who had been standing in the background were at the doorway now, ready to leave. Aria didn't know what the exact protocol was, but she hoped that they'd give her and Ezra some space. She didn't want an audience for the conversation that was about to happen. She took a moment to glance in his direction and the look on his face was priceless. His eyes were wide and he had one hand tucked under his arm, the other bent at his chest, his hand poised across his mouth. Aria hoped he had a whirlwind of thoughts and possibilities racing through his head. She wanted him to wonder what had been going on while he was gone. However selfish the thought might be, she wanted him to dream up what it would have felt like to come home and find that she was the one who had been shot.

"I'd really prefer if you stay here or at least have a police escort," the officer said.

"I'll make sure she stays safe," Ezra said, butting in for the first time.

Aria rolled her eyes.

She parted her lips, ready to speak, but the words she wanted to let loose were not ones she really wanted out in the open. They were too harsh, too true, and she thought it best if she kept that tone for behind closed doors. Plus, anything she was about to say was going to be directed at Ezra rather than the officers. She reeled herself back in and tried again.

"If it's really necessary, someone can wait in a squad car downstairs. I promise to check in when I go to leave."

All three of the officers seemed to look her up and down, or look between her and Ezra. Aria was sure they could feel the tension in the air. It was also likely that they were sizing her up, working through in their minds how little effort it would take to keep one small woman from sneaking past them now that they were expecting it.

Aria couldn't care less about what they thought. She just wanted them to leave.

(to be continued)