Okay guys, I'd like to sincerely thank all of you who stuck with me throughout the ridiculously long hiatus', the bad chapters and the terrible spelling.

The story is coming to an end, but I think I really like the PLL fiction world, so I'll hopefully be back!

A massive shout out to all my reviewers, without whom I never would've been motivated enough to finish this story, or probably come up with the half the ideas!

Special shoutouts:

Sgdp1261: You were my first reviewer, and you stuck by me throughout the whole story, and always gave positive feedback, so thank you so much!

Lala-Pll-Time: Also there from chapter one, and were always so encouraging! Thank you!

Forever Courage: Thank you for all the support and kind words!

xXWishXYouXWereXHereXx: Your review was full of great ideas, and very much appreciated!

miniprocrastinator: You're latest reviews made me smile! I wish that was the way I broke my laptop, but unfortunately it was far less interesting! Your review is partly responsible for this latest chapter, so thanks for the motivation! Oh and I hoped I solved your query about the raining quote at the end of chapter 10 :)

UngluckLiebhaber: You encouraged me to keep writing the way I was, and your comments were very much appreciated so thank you very much for support!

MagicInMe123: Your story was one of the main reasons I started writing, so really thanks for everything!

Tascar19: Your continuing support and reviews meant a lot, and I could always count on you to keep me going!

justapllfangirl: As soon as you started reading this, you were always giving me positive feedback, so thanks for the support!

IvannaB: You always gave me that kick up the butt I needed to actually wirte, so I owe you for that!

ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: Love the name! Your reviews were always detailed, and posed a lot of good question which helped me when writing the next chapters, so thanks so much!.

To all my other anonymous reviewers out there, your comments and encouragement meant the world and I wish I could thank you personally!

If I've missed anyone I'm extremely sorry! Send me an angry PM and I'll update the chapter! :)

So thanks once again, and on with the story.

As usual, all mistakes are mine!

"Toby, what happened?" Hannah demanded as she pushed passed him, dropping her umbrella outside the door.

"She's upstairs," He answered, avoiding the actual question.

Hannah was too distracted to realise the fact that he didn't actually answer her, she sprinted past him and up the stairs, desperate to see her friend.

Emily however remained, looking at Toby,

Staring at the lost and confused looks in his eyes.

"What the hell happened Toby?" Emily asked, desperately seeking some form of answers.

"I.. I don't know," He answered in a confused tone, "She just showed up, she was drenched, she had blood dripping down her face, she just… she just looked broken, you should've seen her Em."

Emily looks at him, not entirely sure what she's searching for.

"I don't think I want too," She replies absent minded, staring up the stairs, which Hannah previously ascended.

A mental battle taking place in her mind.

Part of her wanting nothing more than to run up, and see her friend.

The rest not wanting to have to see the damage Aria had sustained.

"Go Emily," Toby insisted, breaking her out of her trance, "She needs you, she needs all of you."

And Emily knew he was right.

She just wished he wasn't.

Because she knew Aria need her,

She just didn't know how to help.

Spencer heard her friends arrive, it's pretty hard not to hear Hannah.

So she heard her blonde friend's demands of her boyfriend.

She heard her ascending the stairs.

And she knew she had to stop her before she got to Aria.

So she slipped out of her room, as Aria was getting into some of her clothes. Intercepting Hannah before she could bust through the door.

"Hannah, stop!" Spencer said sternly, pulling the door closed behind her, giving Aria a little privacy.

"Where is she?" Hannah demanding, making a move to slip past Spencer, only to be blocked by the taller girl.

"You need to calm down!"

"I want to see her!"

"You're need to calm down before you go in there!" Spencer demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Calm down?" Hannah questioned incredulously "Clam down? I'm gonna kill her!"

"I think someone already had a pretty good go at that tonight," Spencer shot back, defending her smaller friend.

Hannah sighed rubbing her hands over a face, before making eye contact with Spencer.

"She promised us Spence, she looked us in the eye and swore to us that she'd stop," Hannah said desperately "How are you not majorly pissed off right now?"

"It wasn't entirely her fault," Spencer sighed, before explaining to Hannah all about the text message Aria had received from –A. By the time she'd finished explaining everything, Emily had made her way up the stairs and was now standing next to Hannah.

"How is she? Really?" Emily asked, wanting nothing more than to burst into the room and see her friend.

"She's um… She's broken," Spencer said reluctantly, as though she'd only just realised it.

As though saying it out loud made it all true.

"She still should've told us!" Hannah pressed, not letting it go "We could've helped her!"

"I know!" Spencer shoots back, "I know! I know we could've helped her, I know she should've come to us okay? But I also know she didn't!"

"Spence…" Emily tried to cut her off.

"She didn't," Spencer said in a broken tone, "And we didn't do anything to help her."

"What…" Emily begins to question, slightly offended.

"There's nothing we could've done, she didn't want us to know!" Spencer continued quickly, noticing the hurt look in Emily's eyes, "She did it to protect us, and we can tell her she was wrong and that she shouldn't have done it, but we couldn't of stopped her."

"So what do we do?" Emily asked with a sigh.

"We tell her that we get it, that we understand, that it's okay." Spencer answers with a sigh, hoping desperately her friends will agree.

"But I don't understand," Hannah replied, ignorance in her voice. "I have no idea what the hell she was thinking!"

"Tell her anyway," Spencer shoots back "Tell her that it's okay, that you forgive her. She's spent the last few months on her own, looking after herself, looking out for us; and I know she went about it the wrong way Han, she knows that; but just… tell her anyway."

Spencer could see the reluctance in her blonde's friend's eyes.

"We couldn't help her before Hannah, we couldn't do anything! But this, this is something can do, and we owe her at least that! Please?" She begs desperately.

Hannah looks at Spencer, silently nodding, running her hand through her hair. Reluctantly agreeing before moving to follow the girls through the bedroom door.

When they finally entered the room, Aria was sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing a pair of Spencer's pyjama bottoms and a tank top; staring blankly out the window.

"How you feeling Ar?" Spencer questioned from a distance, not wanting to startle the girl.

Aria turned to face her friends, and immediately caught the anger lingering behind Hannah's eyes.

"I'm so sorry Han, I'm really sorry!" And at the desperation in the smaller girls' voice, all of Hannah's anger quickly evaporated as she moved to envelope the girl in a tight a hug.

"It's okay Aria, it's okay," She whispered as she held onto her friend, "I understand."

And Hannah's still not sure whether that was a lie or not.

But as she feels the smaller girl physically relax in her arms, she's glad she said it either way.

"Alright, let's have a look at you," Spencer said, reluctantly stepping forward to break up the moment; giving a thankful smile to Hannah as she catches her eye.

"Spence…"

"Aria, don't even think about," Spencer cuts her off, before she can even being to utter the two words that have been stone walling them for the last few weeks.

Aria opens her mouth to argue, but closes it quickly enough.

Because she's had enough of the lies.

Enough of the secrets.

And as much as she wants to say it;

She's not 'fine'.

And her friends know that.

So there's no point in lying.

That chapter is over (at least for now).

So she sit's back up on the bed, not bothering to hide the winces as she does.

"Anything in particular I should be worried about?" Spencer questions, going all doctor mode as she approaches Aria.

The smaller girl simply shakes her head, honestly not sure what hurts the most.

"Well that's helpful," Spencer replies sarcastically, but with a smile in her tone, "Well I guess we'll start from the top."

Before Spencer can start poking at prodding Emily makes her way over to the bed and sits down beside Aria in an attempt to provide some form of emotional support.

"Okay, so I'm guessing some form of concussion, considering how your head is looking," Spencer starts, "Can you open your mouth?"

"Say what now?" Emily questions at the request, and despite the situation, Hannah has to stifle a laugh from her position behind Spencer.

"She had blood dripping out of it before, and I need to make sure it's just from somewhere in her mouth, rather than internal injuries, because otherwise we're going straight to the hospital!" Spencer answers back. Aria is quick to oblige to the request, as soon as the threat of the hospital is brought up (the last thing she wants is more questions).

"Okay it looks like you just split the top of your mouth open," Spencer says in relief, before silently cursing herself over being relieved that her friend is hurt.

"Okay, that's gross!" Hannah says, causing chuckles from both Aria and Emily.

Spencer continued her examination, eliciting several whimpers from Aria (the taller girl profusely apologising every time). It took another ten minutes for her to finish up, and by the end of it, Aria looked about ready to collapse.

"Jesus Christ Aria, you did a serious number on yourself," Spencer utter desperately, as her mind continued to real over the countless injuries she'd seen on her friends small frame.

"I'm sorry," Aria replied, refusing to make eye contact.

"No more apologies okay?" Emily answered quickly, lifting the injured girls' head up gently to face her, "It's over okay, no more."

Aria nodded mutely before shutting her eyes and resting her head on Emily's shoulder.

"Alright, I don't think you need a doctor, but I'm going to wake you up every two hours, because of your head, and if you keep coughing we're taking you to the hospital to get your ribs checked out okay?" Spencer concluded, making sure Aria agreed with her terms.

She turned to go get some icepacks from downstairs, but before she could make it out the door, Toby knocked quietly.

"Hey Spencer, I'm going to head home," he said with a sad smile, before handing her two ice packs and some small towels, "I figured you might need these, call me if you need anything okay?"

"Thanks," Spencer replied sincerely before kissing him goodbye, and turning her attention back to Aria.

"You want to lay down Aria?" Spencer asked, even though she could already tell the answer from the smaller girls' body language.

Aria wiped her eyes (wincing slightly as she made contact with her swelling cheek bone), before nodding and moving herself from Emily's shoulder to the pillow. Spencer walked over, wrapping the icepacks in the small towels that Toby had bought up, before placing one on Aria's ribcage.

"Shit," She muttered eyes still closed as she bought one arm up to cover her face, in attempt to mask the pained expression (her friends didn't need to see that).

"Okay where do you want the second one? Hand, knee or face?" Spencer questioned with a slight smile, waving the second icepack in the air.

Aria thought for a while, not entirely sure what hurt the most; eventually deciding to go with the knee (thinking that would be the least irritating when it came to sleep). Once Spencer had situated the icepacks she pulled the covers over her best friend, before turning to Hannah and Emily.

"You guys staying the night?" Spencer questioned, even though she already knew what the reply would be.

"Like you could get rid of us," Hannah scoffed as she pulled a spare mattress out from under the bed.

Spencer just smiled as her two friends made themselves at home, before walking around the other side of the bed, and laying down on top of the covers next to Aria.

"You can go to sleep you know?" She told the smaller girl as she saw her struggling to keep her eyes open, "I'm going to wake you up in a couple of hours anyway."

"Yay, can't wait," Aria replied in a mumbled sarcastic voice, but it was enough to make Spencer smile.

She watched as the smaller girl drifted off to sleep, grabbing her less injured hand softly in her own.

"You're going to be fine Aria?" Spencer whispers to her as she gently stroked the hair out of her best friends face, "You're going to get through this, and we'll be here every step of the way."

And Spencer's still not sure who she's trying to convince,

But she puts on a brave face anyway.

Because she's not sure what's going to happen next,

But she knows it's her turn to stand up.

To be the strong one.

To help Aria the way the smaller girl always helps them.

And she's going to do that.

And no, she can't control what –A is going to throw at them next.

She can't protect her from the world.

But she can protect her from herself.

And right now, in this room;

Nothing else matters.

Because her best friend is wrapped safely in her arms, and her other two best friends are watching on stoically.

And in that moment, nothing can touch them.

Nothing can hurt them.

In that moment,

They're finally in control.

So what do you guys think? Please let me know what you thought of the ending!

I'm thinking about doing a sequel, I'm too sure though.
I have some other ideas, so I might run with one of those instead. If you've got any ideas for stories, please let me know, I'd love your input!

So THANK YOU all so much for you're support through out this story you're all AMAZING, and hopefully see you all soon!