Ella POV

I took each step slowly as I allowed my thoughts to take over. Aria and Mr. Fitz. Byron and I had spent all night in bed discussing their relationship. Needless to say, Ezra did not come out on the good side of that conversation. Not only on Byron's part, but mine as well. I mean, he was my colleague, my friend. I thought I could trust him. Sure he treats Aria well, but I needed to think about the rest of my family and this relationship will only tear it apart. It was different when they were in hiding. I didn't have to worry about it affecting anyone besides themselves.

I got to the top of the stairs when I heard Aria scoff. "Since when have I had a dress code, Dad?" she asked him.

I stepped into view as Byron responded, "Since we became aware of who you might be dressing for, so change your clothes." I opened my mouth to object when I saw Aria turn to me with raised eyebrows.

"Um," I said quietly. Aria faced her father and shrugged.

"Okay, well, what am I supposed to wear, a down parka?"

I saw Byron was about to respond to the snarky comment when I decided to interrupt. "Byron, I-I've got this." I pushed Aria lightly toward her bedroom which she begrudgingly stalked into. I gave Byron a look of steel as I followed her. I heard him huff once before I closed the door. I walked quickly to her closet while she removed her boots. "If I were you, I'd pick and choose my battles." I grabbed a random shirt and tossed it on the bed.

"Since when did wearing knee-high's become a battle?" she grumbled upset.

"Today is not the day to question your father," I stated before walking to the door.

"Why? He of all people coming down on me for an inappropriate relationship?" she asked unbelievingly. I stopped and spun to face her.

"Aria," I said loudly. The boom of my voice echoed throughout the room. Immediately, her face softened.

"I'm sorry," she whispered sympathetically. I looked away unable to look in her eyes. This was killing her. She stood and released a breath. "I just thought that maybe at least you would've-"

"That I would what?" I questioned. I need to take a stand on this. I needed to side with my husband no matter how wrong I think he is. "That ii would give my teenage daughter and Mr. Fitz my blessing?" I gritted out. "Your father and I are in agreement here because we were lied to for a really long time by you and by a colleague," I explained pointing at her.

"I didn't tell you guys because I was scared that you would react…react like this," she trailed off.

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah, well, evidently you know us a lot better than we know you, but that's going to change 'cause you're going to be spending a lot more time with your family and a lot less time with your friends."

"What does Ezra have to do with my friends?"

"And you're going to be cutting him off completely and that means not even saying goodbye, is that clear?" I could hear my voice rising with each word. Aria released a breath. The look in her eye showed nothing but sadness and shame, shame that I was her mother. I stared at her with the same icy look I gave Ezra at the police station.

She swallowed. "Do you like him?" I smiled for a moment before shaking my head.

"What?"

"Do you like him?" she asked more forcefully.

"I did," I settled on. We both remained quiet. I looked at her saddened eyes before slowly turning and opening her door before stepping out softly. I closed it behind me and leaned my back against the door. Was I doing the right thing? I could hear her huffing on the other side of the door as she changed.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Byron leaning against the doorjamb. "Is she changing?" he asked angrily.

I released a sigh. "Yes."

He shook his head. "Now I understand why he picked her out of the crowd of girls at the school. Did you see what she was wearing? It barely covered-"

"Byron!" I interrupted loudly. He clenched his jaw and looked down. "Not right now. You have to get to Hollis and Aria and I need to get to Rosewood. Please, just…just leave it alone for this morning, okay?" Byron pursed his lips but nodded. We heard the clinking of heels against the stairs. Byron straightened before rounding the island and walking out the door slamming it behind him.

"Was that Dad?" Aria asked behind me. I spun to her and stared.

I nodded my head in the direction of the front door. "Come on, let's get to school."

Aria gave a ruthless smile. "Uh, Mom, I have a car…"

I shrugged. "You're riding with me," I deadpanned. She stared at me in disbelief. She shook her head but followed me to my car.

"Emily…" I called after her. She turned to me before she made it out into the hallway. "What else do I not know about my daughter?" That was another thing that bothered me. If she was able to keep something like this away from me for this long, what else was she keeping from me?

Emily opened and closed her mouth. "I don't know what you mean," she answered. I looked down. She seemed genuine.

"It wasn't fair of me to ask that. Sorry," I mumbled. She was about to turn when she changed her mind.

"Aria's the same person she's always been. Someone you can be proud of." In that moment I realized that she knew. And if she knew, so did Spencer and Hanna. "Nothing's changed." She smiled before walking out. I sighed. Was I doing the right thing? I shook my head. All I was doing was repeating myself. This is what's best for our family. I pinched the bridge of my nose before returning to my grading.

I was at home that evening going through our bathroom cabinet when I heard a sigh from the door. I looked over and saw Byron hastily throw his back against the doorjamb. I clenched my jaw. Guess what he wants to talk about!

"I went to talk to Ezra," he stated. I jerked my head to him in shock.

"What? Why?" I questioned him. The anger inside of me was to its boiling point.

"To tell him to stay away from our daughter. I threatened to call the police." I stared at him in shock before turning my attention back to the cabinet. Where were those damn pills? "I mean, he actually stood there in front of me justifying his behavior." He faced me. "You should have been there."

"Yes, I should have!" I snapped.

"What, I followed an-an impulse, Ella. Wha-what are you looking for?" he snapped back.

I slammed the cabinet door closed. "An aspirin. How did this family go from this happy Christmas card in Europe to this fractured deceitful mess?" I brushed by him to head to the downstairs bathroom.

"Ella, don't give me that!"

"No, greetings from dysfunction junction. That one can't go to school because he's too depressed," I said pointing to Mike's room, "and this one only goes so she can date her teacher!" I snapped pointing to Aria's room. (Is it just me, or is this line like…one of Ella's best? I think it's hilarious!)

"All right, you know what, that's it. I'm calling the police!" Byron responded.

"No, you're not," I said.

"Why not?" he questioned angrily. Where had he been?

"Because we have a daughter whose reputation will be ruined just as much as his! I mean, she just got done doing community service last week!"

"Ella, I really think-"

"No! Stop! It is hard enough for her to walk through this town. The bell tower and then the shovel. Do you really want to subject your daughter to more police scrutiny?" I questioned him.

"Do you want to see him get away with this?" he asked me.

"Of course not," I responded, "but before we pick up our torches and pitchforks, let's take a moment and figure it out!" Byron stared at me waiting for me to continue. "I want to protect Aria. We raised her to be independent and open-minded and we don't get to be shocked that that is now who she is," I ended tearfully. Byron looked down finally considering my reasoning.

"So, what are we going to do?" he asked with tears in his own eyes.

I licked my lips and shrugged. "We're doing it. We forbade her to see him or talk to him, so let's just wait it out and pray that she…I don't know, forgets about him." Byron nodded once and released a long sigh.

"Did Mike need us to pick him up?" Byron asked as we walked up to The Grille.

"No, Gavin's mom was going to take him home. They were gonna stop and get a pizza." Finally, a nice dinner as a family. Well, minus Mike, of course. Hopefully this one will go as normal as possible. All of a sudden Byron stopped in front of Aria and I. He was looking in the window. I glanced in that direction and saw Ezra staring back us with petrified eyes. I glanced over at Aria to see her staring back at him. Byron spun around.

"You know what? We'll eat somewhere else."

"Byron," I tried. There was no reason we couldn't even be in the same restaurant as him.

"No, there are other restaurants," he deadpanned walking past me. Aria and I stood there. Aria faced me with a look of desperation. "Aria, come on. We're not staying here."

"Mom," she mumbled. The look in her eyes made my heart melt.

'Let's just go somewhere else," I said softly before following Byron. I turned to face Aria when I saw Byron was doing the same. She was frozen staring into the window. I could see Ezra's pained expression as he met her gaze. Tears formed in her eyes as she longed for him.

"Aria!" Byron called. "Aria! Come on, we're walking!" he tried again. Finally, she took a breath and followed us. I refused to look at her. I didn't want to see that look on her face. That look that told me she was in love with him.

"Byron…"

"We will find somewhere." He can work at the same college as the man but he couldn't go anywhere near a restaurant he happened to be at?

"It's a small town, Byron. Where do you want us to go for a bowl of pasta, Delaware?" I asked him sarcastically. This was getting a little ridiculous.

"Listen, if you would let me go to the police, we could eat wherever we wanted to."

"Can we not have that conversation right here on the Times Square?" I asked him. That's when Ron and Holden made their appearance. Ron always liked Aria. He had hopes of her and Holden getting together. Based on the conversation we just had, so did Byron. Aria didn't look too pleased.

"This is not a goodbye call, this is just a please be patient call," I heard Aria whisper on the other side of her door. I chose that moment to knock on her door hoping to interrupt what I hoped was little contact with Ezra. I opened the door and she quickly sat up.

"Hey! What's up?" she asked. She had this pursed look on her face. I seemed to be getting that look a lot these past two days.

"Well, your father and I invited Holden and his family over for dinner Sunday," I said walking in and taking a seat in her chair.

"Oh, great." She sounded less than pleased. She held up her phone and plastered on a fake smile. "I was actually just on the phone with Holden."

"Really?" I questioned.

She nodded. "Yeah," she breathed out looking down.

"Did he call you?" I pried.

"No, I called him." She scratched her arm, a sign of nervousness. "We were just talking about maybe getting together, seeing a movie or something, but if I'm still grounded then…" she trailed off with a shrug.

I pursed my lips knowingly. "Well, let me talk to your dad about it." Maybe if she saw Ezra this one time, she'd say her goodbye and forget about him. I knew in my mind that that was definitely not how that was going to go, but I still tried to convince myself. "If it's Holden, you know, it might be okay." I stood to leave, but not before I caught the knowing look on Aria's face. She was thinking the same thing I was thinking when we bumped into them. Her father is trying to get the two of them together. Of course he was going to tell her she could go.

A/N: Sorry if the chapter seemed a bit rushed, but I'm kind of limited on time. Also, sorry for the really late delay. Luckily, there were no Byron and Ella scenes in 2x16 so I don't have to make those up. Soooo…who else is ready for Monday? I have this feeling that Ella is going to catch them together. And something that really confused me from 2x16 is: Was Ezra happy to see her? He didn't even crack a smile! Haha. Anyway, leave a review!