Hello everyone! I'm adding this note several months after I started writing this story. While there are many similarities to the show, I began writing this before 3B started and before Malcolm was officially introduced to the plot. Any similarities are 100% coincidental. (And there are many coincidences...as you'll find out.) Follow me on Twitter at sleepnthehrding!

This is my first fanfic! It was originally a one-shot, but now it's clearly not. After a lot of spoilers were revealed about Ezria in 3B, I got excited about all of the possibilities involving Maggie, Malcolm, Aria, and Ezra. (I know, I'm insane, right?) But, don't worry, it's 100% Ezria.

As soon as Ezra found out he had a son, Aria knew their relationship would change forever. She'd have to share Ezra's heart with a child, a child that wasn't even hers and had the nose and hair of another woman. Is this what she wanted? To be a stepmother at 17? But for Ezra to be happy, it was her only choice—to replace movie nights filled with kisses, with preparing for spelling tests and coloring outside the lines on Sunday nights. That, or walking away completely. The pain of that decision would stay with her for years, but as it stood, she wasn't sure what other options she had.

She was sitting on her bed on a Friday night—at home, which didn't really feel like home anymore. Before the Malcolm news, she had been slowly, and unofficially, moving in with Ezra. A string of make out sessions on the couch turned into sleepovers on the bed and drawers full of Aria's clothes. Ella wasn't completely aware that her daughter's underwear resided in Ezra's laundry, as she was not living with Aria anymore. Byron knew Aria wasn't home often, but he didn't want to imagine where she could be. To Byron, Aria was having frequent sleepovers with Spencer, studying for tests over pizza and movie marathons. Or at least that's what he tried to convince himself of. Nope, she wasn't spending her nights in her 25-year-old boyfriend's arms, waking up in nothing but a tangle of sheets. Ignorance is bliss, and that's the way he liked it.

Aria paced back and forth in her room, her iPhone tightly grasped by her sweaty palms. She finally took a deep breath and dialed, sitting on the edge of her bed, practicing what she was about to say in her head.

"Hey honey, what's up?" Ella answered.

This was dangerous.

"Hi mom. I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner tonight?" She choked out in record speed. She stood up and continued to pace. "We haven't really spent a lot of time together recently, and—"

"You're willing to give up a Friday night with Ezra and your friends to spend time with me?" She joked, but soon realized that there was more behind this question. "What's the matter, Aria?"

Aria was silent, struggling to decide her next words. The only sounds Ella could decipher were the quiet sobs beginning to sneak out from Aria's throat. As soon as she heard the sound of her mother's voice, she became a small child again, desperate for the comforting embrace that would assure her that everything would be okay.

"Can I..." she breathed in between sobs, "can I sleep over tonight?"

"Of course honey. Why don't I pick you up? And then we'll fix whatever this is," she said with certainty. "I promise. No more crying, okay? Or at least until I come get you, then I have an open shoulder with your name on it. Bring some movies."

Ella was relieved that her daughter was finally ready to open up to her. She wasn't sure what this was about; she was hoping she'd come forward about who had been bullying her for the past couple of years. Aria had never really discussed her relationship with Ezra. Ella knew they had their ups and downs, but other than one quick and embarrassing sex talk, Aria went on with her life and relationship without a word, knowing that her parents were uncomfortable with the situation.

Ella looked over to Zack who had started to take ingredients out of the cabinets for their Friday night dinner.

"Zack, I'm sorry, but we need to reschedule this. Aria needs me."

"I understand," Zack walked over to Ella and gave her a quick kiss. "Your children are your priority."

Aria sat next to Ella on her black leather couch in her small, but cozy apartment, making small talk about nothing related to 'A' or Ezra. Ella was becoming impatient, her curiosity far too powerful to sit through this nonsense.

"Aria, I know you didn't come here to talk to me about what book you're reading. Or the weather."

"I guess not, " she looked down at her feet. "I found something out recently that's really affecting my relationship with Ezra. I thought I could handle it without your help, but now I don't think I can. I'm stuck. I don't know what to do, or how to react. I know you don't like to talk about him, but..."

Ella listened but was not ready for where this was going, preparing for the worst, preparing to hear something she didn't want to hear, not now, not while her daughter was still a teenager.

"..Ezra's a father."

And just like that, after three words, panic set in. "And by father, you don't mean that this child is currently living in your womb, correct?"

Aria gasped. "No, mom, I'm not pregnant!" Aria's eyes shot wide open, her eyebrows raised, her cheeks turning red. "This child is living in Delaware with Ezra's high school girlfriend. He just found out about a month ago, and it has turned both of our lives upside down."

"You nearly just gave me a heart attack," Ella let out the breath she'd been holding. "I don't know what I would do if you were pregnant with your ex-teacher's baby."

"I'm sorry. The thing is, mom, I wouldn't even mind if I got pregnant right now, because Ezra and Maggie have a connection that Ezra and I won't have for at least another four or five years."

"You don't mean that," Ella said in a serious tone. "And try six or seven years, if and when you two get married."

"You're right. I don't mean that." Aria sighed. "But Ezra's been spending so much time with Maggie and Malcolm—that's his name. He's seven. I'm not even eleven years older than this kid. I was still playing with dolls when he was born. It's been kind of a reality check..." she trailed off.

"I don't even know what to think, Aria. This could happen to you, too."

"I know, and I promise you, it won't. But what about college? He's not going to follow me wherever I go now that he knows he has a kid. And I miss him, all of the time, and I still see him a couple of times a week. I miss having breakfast with him, watching movies with him, seeing him whenever I want. Now I have to worry about a kid looking at us when we kiss...or catching us when, you know...I can't handle a long distance relationship when I go to college, and what if he develops feelings for Maggie again and he forgets about me and—"

"Calm down, Aria. Let me think for a second."

Ella stared at Aria, a stern look on her face that could only be followed by disappointment. Ella was angry, not at Aria, but at herself for allowing this relationship to continue when Byron told her it was a bad idea. Aria was heartbroken. Nearly a year later, Aria was struggling to hold on, but Ella wasn't sure why. Why can't she find a nice boy who's ready to take on the world? Who still dreams of the many possibilities the future could bring, and isn't tied down by bills, reality—and a child. What's so appealing about Ezra Fitz?

"As your mother, Aria, I think you've gotten yourself into an adult relationship that you're not ready for, that you were never ready for, to be honest. And now, a big obstacle has presented itself that was inevitable to pop up eventually, anyway. If not a child, something else. He's eight years older than you."

Aria sunk down into the couch, crossing her arms and cringing at the sound of her mother's voice. She was a 12-year-old girl again, not a mature woman who used to share a bed with her boyfriend most of the week.

"Ezra's in a completely different place in his life right now, and you still have college to look forward to and a ton of opportunities that might be harder to go after with a boyfriend who wants to settle down with a family."

Aria felt defeated. Everything she fought for in her relationship had crumbled down around her in a matter of seconds. Every word, every kiss, every time they made love...started to mean nothing but a weak attempt at true love, a true love that she wasn't even sure deserved the word "true" anymore.

"Thanks, mom," Aria mumbled. But she wasn't really thankful. How could she live without Ezra? The first tear began to make its way down her cheek, and she looked away, embarrassed and ready to hear the "I told you so" that had the weight of over a year's worth of stubbornness.

"Aria, I just want to be honest with you. I love you and cannot imagine how I'd feel if I didn't tell you the truth," she admitted. "I would never forgive myself if I didn't warn you about how this relationship could turn out. I want to see you succeed, and be happy. As much as you'd like to deny it, I may know a few more things than you do about this—only because I've lived in this world twice as long," she finished, before holding her daughter in her arms and rubbing her hands up and down her back to comfort her.

Aria cried into her mother's sweater for ten minutes, each tear more painful for both Aria and Ella, before getting up and walking towards the bathroom to change into her pajamas.

"Aria..."

"Mom, right now, all I want to do is change, get into bed, and fall asleep to a stupid chick flick about a girl much luckier than I feel right now."

"Wait, Aria," Ella stood up and pulled Aria back to the couch. "I told you how I felt as a mother, but let me tell you how I feel as a friend," Ella gave her a sympathetic, hopeful smile. "The best friend that you have right now, even if you don't believe it."

"You just told me how you feel, you don't need to rub it in any further. You were right last year."

"As your mother, I am obligated to protect you from 'what ifs.' As your friend and a fellow believer in soul mates, I have a different responsibility."

"I thought you've always secretly wanted me to break up with Ezra."

"Yes, as your mother, I'm uncomfortable that my baby girl is having sleepovers with a grown man," she laughed. Aria raised her eyebrows, shocked that her mother was acknowledging her sex life again. "But you and Ezra have fought for so long to make this work, and only a man who truly loves you would sacrifice as much as Ezra has sacrificed to be with you. I'd be lucky to have him as my son-in-law."

"You're not making this easier, mom. Mixed signals here."

"What I'm trying to say is, there are a lot of 'what ifs.' There always will be. That's life. But if you think that Ezra is your soul mate, like I know you do, then what else can you do? You're meant to be together, and if you're meant to be together, then you have no choice but to do whatever possible to make this work."

"Are you sure? Because this could become a seriously screwed up situation. You'd be a step grandmother," Aria managed to smile.

Ella laughed. "As your boyfriend, Ezra has the same responsibility I do as your mother."

"Reminding me that our relationship sucks?"

"Nope," she said. "As your soul mate, he loves you more than he loves himself, and won't let you be anything less than the best Aria you can be. You can make it through this, as long as he's your soul mate."

Aria leaned over to give her mother a long hug, as she began to cry again—but this time, tears of happiness and relief. Her mother was always right, which is why she knew talking to her could be dangerous. Once her mother told her she needed to end her relationship with Ezra, it would become real. She couldn't deny the inevitable.

"Mom, would you mind if..."

"I don't like any of the movies you brought, anyway," Ella pretended to complain. "Go ahead."

Aria didn't expect to leave her mother's house with a smile, as she got in the car and drove over to her soul mate's apartment to have a discussion—a real, adult discussion, about their future together, with or without a stepchild.