"Remind me why I had to get up this early again." Hanna groaned, her voice slightly muffled due to the fact that her forehead was pressed against Spencer's kitchen table. "This is an inhuman hour."

For once Emily couldn't bring herself to disagree with Hanna and she nodded in Spencer's direction.

"We're brainstorming." Spencer answered with a roll of her eyes.

"And we just had to do this in the middle of the night?" Emily asked expectantly.

"It's not the middle of the night, it's almost seven AM." Spencer disagreed, taking a sip of her coffee. "And it's better that we start early."

"Better for who?" Hanna asked crankily.

"Better for everyone."

"Speak for yourself."

"Where is Aria?" Emily asked, trying to avoid an argument between Spencer and Hanna. "Isn't she coming?"

"She sent me a text saying she'd be a little bit late." Spencer shrugged, shifting her gaze back to her notes. "She overslept."

"Lucky her." Hanna grumbled, "I had my own personal alarm clock in the form of Spencer freaking Hastings."

"Drink some coffee Han, you'll feel better."

"You can shove your coffee u…"

The back door opened suddenly and Emily breathed a sigh of relief when Hanna trailed off in favour of looking up to see who it was.

"Morning guys," Aria greeted brightly as she closed the door behind her. She walked into the room, pulling her coat off as she approached.

"Ugh, chipper people are so annoying." Hanna muttered.

"Thanks Hanna." Aria said, shooting the blonde a confused glance.

"Ignore her Aria, she's just grumpy." Emily stated, giving Hanna a light nudge.

"Here's your coffee, though it's probably lukewarm by now." Spencer said, sliding a cup of coffee towards Aria. "And this…" she brandished a small paper bag sporting the brew's logo, seemingly out of nowhere, "Is also for you."

Aria looked confused but nevertheless she took the paper bag from Spencer and peeked inside it. What she saw brought a grin to her lips. "You went all the way to the brew to buy me a danish?"

Spencer shrugged as if it were nothing. "I went out for a run pretty early this morning and I passed the brew. If I were you I'd hurry up and eat it, Hanna already tried to steal it…twice."

Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Thank you." Aria moved forward to give Spencer a one armed hug. When she pulled back she pressed a lingering kiss to Spencer's cheek before backing away.

Hanna and Emily shared a look, unnoticed by Spencer and Aria who were too busy grinning bashfully at each other.

"Alright then!" Emily awkwardly announced. "I think we should get this over with so I can go and meet Paige for breakfast."

"I'm just going to freshen up." Aria said, motioning towards the stairs. "I'll be right back." Without another word she moved past Spencer, her hand briefly skimming across the taller girls shoulder.

"Oh my…God." Hanna muttered, staring after Aria.

"What?" Spencer frowned at Hanna's shocked statement. "What's wrong?"

"She is so into you, are you dense?"

"Hanna!" Emily exclaimed, swatting Hanna on the shoulder. "Shut up."

"What?" Spencer looked between Hanna and Emily in confusion. "What's going on? Who is into me?"

"Aria!" Hanna exclaimed in response.

"Hanna." Emily warned through gritted teeth.

"What?"

"Stop it, Aria's our friend, we shouldn't be telling the person she likes that she likes them."

"Do I have to remind you that Spencer is also our friend so we kind of do? Besides they'd be adorable together and you know it."

Emily opened her mouth to protest but she was cut off by Spencer. "Wait, wait, wait…I don't understand what's happening right now."

"Aria likes you in a 'more than friends' kind of way." Hanna answered simply.

"What? She does not!"

"Yeah she does, tell her Em." Hanna looked to Emily expectantly.

Emily heaved a heavy sigh but answered anyway. "She does."

"Aria?" Spencer exclaimed.

"Yes, Aria." Hanna leaned forward, apparently having forgotten all about being tired. "When was the last time you saw Aria kiss me or Emily on the cheek like that? Or touch us like that when she's about to leave a room? That's some serious flirtation right there Spence, even if neither of you realise it."

Spencer stared at Hanna, apparently speechless.

"Don't look so shocked." Hanna said with a roll of her eyes. "It's not like you don't feel the same way right?"

"I…"

"Feel the same way about what?" Aria asked, re-entering the room.

"Uh…notes!" Spencer exclaimed quickly. "Hanna was just saying that…Emily doesn't like reading a lot of notes."

"Obviously they would hate to study one on one with you then." Aria grinned, taking a seat next to Spencer at the table. She reached for coffee and Danish and tugged them close, feeling the need for sugar and caffeine.

"One on one, huh?" Hanna smirked.

Emily not so subtly elbowed Hanna, earning herself a glare from the blonde.

XXX

Spencer narrowed her eyes at the TV screen, doing her very best to focus on the movie she was watching. Aria's fingers making small circles on her thigh wasn't helping matters though, neither was the fact that Aria was practically huddled against her. The fingers on her leg were slowly creeping further and further up and Spencer could feel her palms beginning to sweat.

"Are you okay?" the movement of Aria's fingers stopped for a moment and Spencer released a breath she didn't know she was holding. "You seem tense."

"It's nothing." Spencer responded distractedly. "I'm just trying to figure out who the killer is."

"Typical." Aria chuckled. Seemingly accepting the answer she turned back to the movie again.

Spencer allowed herself to relax slightly but it wasn't long before Aria's fingers were moving again and her attention was once again taken away from the movie. Spencer exhaled slowly, trying to force herself to concentrate but her efforts were futile. Finally she reached for the remote and pressed pause.

"Spencer?" Aria glanced at Spencer questioningly. "What's wrong?"

"I need to talk to you about something." Spencer turned on the couch to face Aria.

"Okay?" Aria looked mildly worried as she moved to mimic Spencer's position. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No…yes." Spencer bit her lip unsurely. "Not really, it's just…Hanna and Emily have somehow gotten this ridiculous idea in their heads."

"Okay…what about?" Aria pressed expectantly.

"About us." Spencer chuckled nervously, "They seem to think that you have a thing for me."

Aria looked briefly surprised by the revelation before her expression sobered.

"It's pretty crazy, right?"

"No…not really." Aria shook her head and averted her gaze from Spencer's. "I didn't want to tell you because I know you could never return my feelings but…Hanna and Emily are right, Spence."

"Oh…"

Aria swallowed heavily, a lump forming in her throat at the lack of reaction. She stood up from the couch and backed up slightly. "I'm sorry, I'll just leave…"

"No, wait." Spencer reached out and grabbed Aria's hand, tugging her back down on the couch. "Just…give me a minute to process this."

Aria nodded and glanced down at their hands as they fell into silence. It didn't escape her notice that Spencer hadn't let go. Her gaze remained fixed there for a moment before she noticed Spencer shuffling closer slightly, lifting their hands to rest neatly in her lap.

"Aria."

Aria looked up reluctantly, her eyes wide and nervous. Her breath caught in her throat when Spencer reached out and gently cupped her face.

"Aria…" Spencer whispered, leaning closer.

Unable to bring herself to speak Aria made a soft noise from the back of her throat, more of a squeak than anything else.

"Breathe." Spencer commanded gently before her lips covered Aria's. She allowed herself to linger for a brief moment before she pulled back by a fraction. "You were wrong."

"What?" Aria finally managed to speak, beyond confused by the statement.

"When you said there's no way I could ever return your feelings." Spencer elaborated softly. "You were wrong."

"Please tell me you're not messing with me." Aria breathed out, giving the hand in her own a nervous squeeze.

Spencer shifted close and kissed Aria again, being much less careful than the first time. Her hand moved to the back of Aria's head to draw her closer. Unlike the first time Aria returned this kiss this time, her lips moving lightly against Spencer's.

"Does that answer your question?" Spencer asked, pulling back again.

"Yes." Aria smiled widely and let go of Spencer's hands in favour of moving her own hands to the back of Spencer's neck to pull her in for another kiss.

THE END.