A/N: Hi! So I've written a bunch of Grey's Anatomy fic on here, but this is my first venture into PLL. I was struck at one point by the fact that we never actually learn how the girls met each other, so I decided to give my take on it. Each chapter will document the meeting of two of the girls.

First up, Spanna.

Friday, June 15th, 2001.

All around her, Spencer could feel the jovial atmosphere of the carnival.

There were booths covered in stuffed animals to be won, rides with flashing lights eliciting screams and laughter from the children who rode them, food stands that had her mouth watering at the smell of popcorn-

And Melissa was dragging her past it all. Past the games, the rides, the food, straight toward a large tented area along the fringe of the fair ground.

"I don't want to see the clown show!"

Spencer's protests fell on deaf ears as Melissa tightened her grip on her wrist and kept going. They were past almost everything now, and she wanted nothing more than to pull out of Melissa's wrist and run off on her own.

This was the first year that Spencer would be old enough to ride all of the rides. She'd had her mother measure her everyday for a week just to make absolutely sure she was right. This year she wouldn't have to be stuck on the ferris wheel- she could ride even the ride that spun in circles so fast you stuck to the wall even when the floor dropped out from beneath you. It was all she had thought about since the flyers for the carnival had gone up weeks before.

But her mother was working late, and her father was on a business trip, which meant-

"Mom told you to do what I say," Melissa reminded Spencer as they entered the tent full of young children and parents. On a makeshift stage stood a clown performing some sort of magic trick with scarves he was pulling out of his sleeves. Despite her audible whining, Melissa pushed Spencer down to sit on a bench toward the back of the audience. As if it weren't bad enough that she had to stay and watch the clown, she could barely even see him.

"Why can't we go on the rides?" Spencer asked, turning her head to look at Melissa with such anger her long, dark ponytail swung around and hit her in the face.

"Because I told my friends I would meet them here, and I don't need you tagging along. Just sit and watch the show until I come back."

Melissa put her hands on Spencer's shoulders, twisting her so she faced the stage. But the moment she let go, Spencer turned back to her sister and grabbed her hand in both of her own.

"Please don't leave me," Spencer begged. She tried to hold back the hot tears welling up in her eyes. She was angry that Melissa was leaving her, sure, but it was also getting dark out. What if Melissa forgot about her? What if she left Spencer in the tent and the clown took her instead and she never got to come home?

"Look," Melissa sighed, crouching down to Spencer's level, "I'll come back and we can ride the ferris wheel-"

"I want to ride the spinny ride that-"

"Fine, whatever, we can ride that. When I come back. So just stay here and watch the show and wait for me, okay?"

It was hard to believe Melissa when she was about to abandon her, but she tucked her dark bangs out of her face, her dark eyes meeting Spencer's, and Spencer finally nodded. But as soon as Melissa stood up to leave, she panicked again, grabbing a handful of her sister's white polo shirt to stop her from walking away.

"Wait, I'm hungry!"

Melissa wouldn't just leave her hungry, would she?

She rolled her eyes,

"I'll buy you a hot dog when I get back."

"I don't like-"

"Whatever! I'll buy you something you like, just leave me alone and stay here."

And just like that, Melissa was gone. She slipped out the back of the tent unnoticed by any of the adults around them, and Spencer was officially, completely alone.

For a moment she considered crying. Just bursting into the loud screaming sobs she could feel in her stomach to get the attention of someone who could help her. But then what if they kidnapped her instead? She was by herself now, anyone could just come up and steal her away. So instead, Spencer decided to draw as little attention to herself as possible. She turned back to the stage, scooting over a little on the bench so she could at least kind of see the now juggling clown.

Everything would be fine. Melissa would come back, and they would ride the spinny ride, and everything would be fine.

"Your baby sitter isn't very good."

Spencer refused to turn her head at the sound of the voice just down the bench from her, but out of the corner of her eye she could see that the girl looked about her age with long, blonde hair.

When Spencer didn't say anything, the girl scooted closer, leaning to try and get in Spencer's line of vision.

"Are your parents paying her?"

Spencer glanced around, nervous that someone would overhear the little girl next to her, but they all seemed absorbed in their own families and in the show in front of them.

"They should find you a new babysitter," the blonde girl continued, unfazed by Spencer's silence, "She shouldn't just leave-"

"She didn't leave!"

Now Spencer turned to the girl, finally looking her in her big blue eyes as she continued in an angry whisper,

"She's my sister, and she's coming back."

The little blonde girl laughed, and Spencer could feel her face getting hot as she whipped her head back to the stage, her ponytail nearly hitting her new companion in the face. Her fingers wrapped around of the edge of the bench, squeezing tight as she told herself over and over in her head that Melissa was coming back for her, and they would ride the rides, and-

"It's okay, my mom ditched me too."

Her mom left her?

Melissa leaving her was one thing, but Spencer couldn't imagine her mother leaving her alone like this. Her mother didn't even like her playing in the yard on her own where she couldn't see her.

"Well she's over there," the little girl said, sensing Spencer's disbelief, "But she won't get off her phone. It's been a really long time."

Spencer turned to look where the blonde girl had gestured, and sure enough there was a woman about her mother's age standing by the edge of the tent talking on a phone. So she hadn't left, she was still there… but her back was completely turned on them. In the few moments Spencer observed her, she never once glanced back to make sure her daughter was still there.

"We should go to the rides by ourselves."

That shocked Spencer out of her daze, her dark eyes widening as she looked at the blonde girl in disbelief.

"We can't leave!"

"Why not? Your sister left you here and my mom doesn't care."

"My sister is coming back!"

"Yeah when it's time to go home."

Spencer ignored the hot tears that sprung into her eyes. It was true, and she knew it, that Melissa would turn up ten minutes before their mom came to pick them up and buy her something to eat just so she wouldn't complain about being hungry and make their mother suspicious.

If she stayed and waited for Melissa, she wouldn't get to do anything except sit and watch the stupid clown all night.

"I don't even know you," Spencer said finally. But the little blonde girl just stuck out her hand and gave a big toothless smile- her two front teeth were missing.

"I'm Hanna."

After a moment's hesitation, Spencer shook Hanna's outstretched hand,

"I'm Spencer."

Hanna gave a nod, her face taking on a devious look as her smile dropped into a smirk,

"Now you know me, and I know you, so let's go."

"But my sister-"

"We'll beat her back."

"I don't even have any tickets for the rides."

That stopped Hanna in her tracks, and Spencer gave a small sigh of relief. She hadn't realized it until now, but her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest. It would be wrong to leave, she would get in so much trouble. Not just with Melissa, but with her parents, maybe even with the police because you weren't allowed to run away. Spencer knew that, she knew that you weren't allowed to run off on your own no matter what.

She also knew that you weren't allowed to steal, but that didn't stop Hanna from sneakily pulling a row of tickets out of the back pocket of the woman in front of them. Before Spencer could protest, Hanna grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bench, tugging her out the back of the tent.

"We're going to get in trouble!" Spencer cried as Hanna kept going toward the midway, "You can't do that!"

Hanna sighed, stopping in her tracks and putting her hands on her hips. Despite the fact that she was dressed in a bright pink blouse and a little white skort, she still managed to look intimidating- at least to Spencer.

"If you want to go back and watch that baby show then go," Hanna said, "but I think you want to ride the rides."

"I do want to ride the rides! But I don't want to get in trouble."

"Look," Hanna grabbed one of Spencer's hands in her own, lacing their fingers together, "We're not gonna get in trouble. I'll get us back in time okay?"

Just beyond where they stood the midway was alight with the flashing lights that Spencer had been dreaming of for weeks. She could hear the laughs and screams of other kids on the rides again, and she so desperately wanted to join them.

And she wasn't alone now. She had Hanna with her, and maybe she didn't know Hanna, but she seemed to know what she was doing. After all, she had managed to steal those tickets without anyone seeing her. If she could do that, she could probably get them back to the tent before anyone even noticed they were gone.

"Okay."

Hanna's face lit up as bright as the ferris wheel, and she squeezed Spencer's hand as they kept going toward the midway.

"Let's start with the spinny ride," she said, "I'm finally tall enough to ride it."

The sky got darker and darker, but underneath the glow of the booths around them Spencer and Hanna could hardly tell.

How much time had passed?

Spencer had lost track somewhere after their third ride on the spinny thing. Every time they ran out of tickets Hanna would sneak more, and she even managed to charm a man at one of the food booths into giving them free cotton candy.

Clearly it wasn't her first time pulling a stunt like this.

But Spencer was surprised at how easy it was. She had never done anything like this- never run off on her own, never taken anything that wasn't hers or lied like she had when the man at the funhouse had asked where their parents were and Spencer pointed to a random woman sitting on a bench across the way.

Holding Hanna's hand, their sticky fingers wrapped around each other's, she forgot why she had even been afraid in the first place.

"Can we go back to the spinny ride?" Hanna asked as they made their way through the crowd. It was getting thinner and thinner, but the girls didn't notice.

"I'm gonna get sick if we ride it again."

"What about the bumper cars?"

Spencer took a moment to think about that, but just as she was about to answer she felt a strong hand on her shoulder.

Her blood turned to ice.

At first Hanna didn't notice that anything was wrong, but when she tried to keep walking and Spencer didn't come with her she turned around, and her blue eyes turned to saucers.

If Hanna was afraid, Spencer knew, they were in trouble.

So much trouble.

Before she could react, or even think to react, there was a policeman squatting down in front of them.

But he didn't look angry.

Actually, he even gave them a reassuring smile as he began to speak,

"Hi girls," he said, "Are your names Spencer and Hanna?"

What were they supposed to say? No?

Spencer looked down, staring at her white tennis shoes and willing herself not to cry. She shouldn't have been so stupid. She should have never gone with Hanna. She should have stayed in that tent and watched that clown until her brain melted and Melissa came to get her.

"We got lost," Hanna said. Spencer couldn't bring herself to look at her, but she knew that Hanna must be using the same face she used to get the cotton candy.

"That's okay," the policeman said, "I'm going to bring you back to your parents now, alright? They're very worried about you."

But now Spencer couldn't stop her tears as her heart dropped into her stomach. If her mom was here she was really in big trouble. She would never be allowed to go anywhere again until she was in college, at least. Maybe she wouldn't even be allowed to go to college, maybe she would just have to live at home and stay in high school forever.

"Hey sweetheart," the policeman said, "You must have been really scared, huh?"

Spencer looked up now, and while the policeman's attention was focused on her she could see that Hanna was nodding furiously beside him, trying to tell Spencer to just say yes.

"Yeah," Spencer sniffled through her tears. It was only half a lie, because she really was scared.

Scared of what her mother was going to do when she got to her.

"Well let's go find your mommy."

The policeman scooped Spencer up and balanced her in one arm, taking Hanna by the hand with the other.

Part of Spencer, this new part that she had never felt before, wanted to kick and scream and bite the policeman's shoulder so he would put her down. She wanted to get away from him- to run away and not come back. She wished that she could see Hanna's face now, because she wanted to know how she was feeling. Was she scared of getting in trouble too? She had acted so tough all night, but she didn't say a word that Spencer could hear as the policeman brought them to a roped off area toward the front of the carnival that had been turned into a makeshift security headquarters.

Through her tears Spencer could see a watery outline of her mother, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to see the angry look on her face. She never meant for this to happen, she meant to get back on time, or to never even leave in the first place, or-

"Oh Spencer, sweetheart you're safe!"

Her mother took her from the policeman's arms, and Spencer wrapped her arms around her neck, burying her face in her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Mommy," she cried.

Next to her she could hear Hanna's mother scolding her,

What were you thinking?! You could have been kidnapped Hanna, someone could have taken you!

But Spencer's mother just hugged her to her body, resting her head against Spencer's hair.

"Mom she ran away!"

The sound of Melissa's voice stopped Spencer's breath. She hadn't even noticed her there, but of course. Of course she was there. Melissa would lie about the details, probably claim that they had been at the show together when Spencer ran away- but she wasn't lying about the running away. Once their mother got over her initial relief that she was safe, what Melissa was saying would sink in. And once what Melissa was saying sunk in, well….

"That's not true!"

The sound of Hanna's voice caught Spencer off guard, and she lifted her head just in time to see Hanna's mother try to drag her away,

"Hanna," her mother said through gritted teeth, "Hold your tongue, we're leaving."

"Mommy no, she's lying!"

Hanna dug her heels into the ground, not appearing to notice how her mother's grip on her arm was turning her skin white. She pointed an accusatory finger at Melissa as she continued,

"She left Spencer at the show all by herself! We went to look for her because she was scared!"

Melissa's face grew to a deep crimson as suddenly her mother's eyes were on her.

"Melissa?"

"I only left her for a minute! I went to the bathroom and when I came back she was gone, she ran away! I didn't do anything wrong."

To the side, Hanna's mother was telling her that it was sweet how she wanted to help, but next time she needed to tell an adult and not run off on her own. But Hanna wasn't listening, because before Spencer's mother could speak she glared at Melissa and shouted back,

"You left her all night!"

"I'm so sorry," Hanna's mother said quickly, lifting Hanna into her arms because it was clear her daughter had no intention of walking away on her own.

Spencer's mother shook away her apology,

"Don't be," she said, "I'm sorry your daughter got involved."

"Well I'm just glad everything turned out okay," Hanna's mom said through a shaky sigh. She adjusted Hanna in her arms,struggling to hold her probably too big to be carried daughter, "Say goodnight Hanna."

Hanna looked over and caught Spencer's eye, and even though they barely knew each other Spencer understood her perfectly.

"Goodnight," Hanna said, but she really meant good luck.

"Bye," Spencer sniffled back. There were so many other things she wanted to say to this girl who had just led her through the most fun and scary night of her life, but there was no time. In a flash of blonde hair Hanna was gone, carried off in her mother's arms toward the parking lot.

"Mom it's not true, I came right back for her!"

Melissa was still pleading with their mother, and now Spencer found that her heart was beating too fast again as she saw the rage in her sister's eyes. There was no way she was getting out of this. So what if Melissa had left her? Spencer had still run away.

"Spencer," her mother's voice was low and soothing as she looked down at her younger daughter and pushed her dark bangs out of her eyes, "Did your sister leave you alone all night?"

This was it, the moment of truth. In her head Spencer could see Hanna standing next to the policeman egging her on, telling her to just say yes.

Spencer nodded.

"Mom!"

"Melissa, go to the car."

"But she-"

"Now."

With a cry of frustration, Melissa stormed away in the same direction that Hanna and her mother had gone. Meanwhile in her mother's arms Spencer felt frozen. It hadn't really been a lie, had it? Melissa really had left Spencer all night. Or at least she would have if Spencer hadn't left the tent. But Melissa didn't know what she had done, so as far as she knew she really had left Spencer there all night, so was it really a lie?

"I'm so sorry Spence," her mother sighed, placing a kiss to Spencer's forehead before cradling her head to her chest, "I know you were so excited."

"It's okay Mommy."

Spencer closed her eyes, the rocking motion as her mother began to walk to the car lulling her into sleepiness.

"No it's not okay, she shouldn't have left you there. You must be so hungry, I'll make you something to eat when we get home, okay?"

"Okay Mommy."

But Spencer knew she would never make it home awake. Her mind was already starting to get fuzzy, but she kept wondering in the back of her mind about what would happen to Hanna. Would she ever see her again to say thank you?

Moments later, when her breathing slowed not just back to normal, but into the deep rhythm of sleep, those thoughts turned to dreams. Dreams of spinny rides and cotton candy and a little blonde girl with a toothless smile.

A/N: If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! Drop me a review to let me know how you liked it, and I'll try to have the next chapter up soon! Feel free to let me know which pairing you want to see next, and I'll see what I can do ;)