A/N: I've been in a Spencer and Alex mood. This is kind of a companion story to The New English Teacher. It's Spencer's and Alex's relationship, around the time of The New English Teacher. I'm hoping to get around to also doing Hanna and Emily in this time frame too.

One

Spencer Hastings did a shot. "If a Hastings has a shot, she takes a shot."

"You're personal drinking game," Alex laughed, sipping his beer.

"They piss me off. They completely piss me off. They have no right to judge you. No right Alex. They act like you're scum. You've done more work than they'll ever do," Spencer said, "You've earned your rank in society."

"Spencer your father will always have a certain opinion of me. Your sister and her husband will have a certain opinion of me. Your mother will always like me. You'll always love me," he stated, kissing her cheek.

She poured another shot. "To parents and siblings who can't grow up." She tapped glasses with Alex. She tossed back the shot.

Alex laughed. "You're like your mother."

"It's not a side car. It's Patrone."

Alex took the bottle. "You've had enough."

"Probably," she stated, "I can't believe Aria's coming home. I can't believe the businesses are on their feet. It just seems so surreal. She's a teacher. I'm a business manager."

She looked around their home. It was monument to who they were as individuals, as a couple. She kissed her boyfriend. "I love you."

Alex went to the kitchen. "I have something for you." He pulled something out of a cabinet.

"Baby?" she asked.

He sat a jewelry box on the counter, and opened it. "I saw this yesterday and it reminded me of you."

She picked up the bracelet. It was silver, delicate, and strikingly beautiful. "Alex oh my god it's beautiful."

He came around the bar, and pulled her to her feet. He dipped her. "I love you."

Spencer smiled. "How did I get you?" she asked, kissing him gently.

"I was intoxicated by your very presence. I don't know Spence," he teased, kissing her neck, "I know that I love you, and that I can't live without you."

She blushed. The familiar stupid grin plastered to her face. Alex could read her. At the start he couldn't get a grip on her, but after the storm their Junior year, it had been smooth sailing. He'd learned to tread water, with her. She was different than her friends. She was driven, more OCD about things. "I'm in shock."

"Why?"

She leaned up against him. He was her rock, the open door, the one person no matter what happened she could run to. "It's just Aria coming home. It'll be weird having the four of us back together. It'll be missing something. We're missing something. She'll be missing something."

"Ezra?" Alex said, referring to Mr. Fitz.

"Yeah. Ezra. I can't believe she's wound herself into his apartment building. Reality comes back to bite her on the ass," Spencer giggled.

Alex laughed. "Was that nice?"

"My shot. I'm done. Just don't get me started on my business partners. We can't come to an agreement then my parents," she said.

Alex laughed. "Oh my girl. My angel."

Spencer took a seat at her desk. Hanna came in. "You're late."

"My shower took longer than usual." Spencer smiled. "A lot longer than usual."

"Go Alex. Aria's coming home tonight!" Hanna jumped up and down a few times. "I can't wait." Hanna sat down across from Spencer. "I have a ton of new designs." Hanna was the fashion end of Marin Hastings and Fields Designs.

"What are they going to cost me?" Spencer asked. She ran the business itself, the accounting, the management.

"I'll get the costs to you by lunch, for the fabric, and everything," Hanna promised, "On to new subjects. Emily is out getting the wine for Aria's homecoming, and other celebratory things."

Spencer booted up her work laptop. "I can't believe she's coming home. We had to come to her remember?"

"Kylee called me after she left," Hanna said.

The three that stayed home had grown to love Aria's three roommates. Spencer bit her lip. "Okay. So we give her time to unpack then we party."

"Spencer Hastings!" Hanna fake gasped.

"I'm actually surprised I'm not hung over. Shots last night. Parental dinner with my lovely wonderful boyfriend," Spencer explained, "Alex brought out the Patrone."

"Smart boy." Hanna laughed.

"Dumb boy. He bought me a bracelet." Spencer held out her wrist.

Hanna gasped. "Oh my god. It's beautiful."

Spencer blushed. "He knows how to pick out jewelry."

Alex finished the salad. He looked up. Spencer was in the kitchen. She was home until Emily and Hanna came over to pick her up at nine to meet Aria. "I missed you," she said, going to him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her to him. She held onto his shoulders. "What's for dinner?" she asked.

"Well I'm hoping something that resembles food. It's something I'm trying out at the restaurant. I don't know how it's going to work out though," he confessed.

She looked at him. "Alex I love you but I don't love your experiments." She'd eaten a lot of Alex's odd experiments over the past few years. Some of them were immediate meals that were tossed and pizza was ordered.

"You love my experiments," he pouted.

"I love some of your experiments. Others well there have been some pizza nights," she said, "I loved that thing last week."

"Yeah the Chef's favorite." Alex winked.

She rolled her eyes. Alex brought out her best side; then again he brought out her worst sometimes too. They'd had some serious fights, over the years, but they had never gone to bed mad at each other. Alex knew how to get her to stop being pissed off about things.

She kissed his chin. "You're wonderful."

He spun her out and back into him. "I try so hard."

"Show off," she grumbled.

"Go shower, by then dinner will be done," he whispered.

She headed up the stairs. "Hey any word from Aria?" he called. She stopped, made eye contact, and shook her head.

Alex went back to the kitchen, and checked the food that was in the oven. It wasn't an experiment, per say it was an old experiment with a new twist. He checked his watch, before pulling it out of the oven. He arranged the meal on the plates perfectly, and drizzled the sauce on the stove over it he garnished it with mint.

Spencer sighed, when she came down stairs. If it wasn't already official Alex was the best boyfriend on the planet. She sat at the table across from him. "Hey, my favorite," she said.

He laughed. "Yeah. I needed to butter you up, because I know you're not coming home tonight."

"It's been a long time," she said.

"Send my love," he replied.

"I will." She leaned over the table and kissed him. "Why do I need to be buttered up Alex?" She started to twist the bracelet around her wrist.

"Because I need help on the books for the restaurant," he stated, "I fell behind because of everything with your sister's wedding and keeping you sane. Now I need help."

She smiled. "Have the stuff on my desk by eight am tomorrow. I'll take the day off and handle it."

"Thank you so much. You're my hero," he said, kissing her forehead.

"How bad are they?"

"They're bad. Not horrible but you might want to take a few more days off," Alex said.

"You're useless without me. Just admit it," she teased.

"I am useless without the love of my life the woman I can make happy Spencer Hastings."

Everything was right in Spencer's world and it was about to get better with Aria home. Something told her either A) something would ruin it or B) it'd get perfect. She came around the table and sat on Alex's lap. She couldn't wait to see what was around the corner.