A/N: So, this IS a PLL story with an Ezria plot base and it's AU mostly, post-3A. Certain elements stuck, but given that I don't ship Maggie/Malcom/Ezra at all, this will obviously not include them beyond the introduction. Also, I'm pulling certain thematic traits from Suits in terms of Hardy and his life. You do NOT have to have seen Suits to follow the story. That is all.

Also, I know very little about what it takes to become hired as a teacher and all that. I have a vague recollection of stuff that went on when I was in high school when a new teacher had to be hired, but it was different than a regular high school, so…yeah. So please don't grill me if I have any of that wrong. That said…read on if you choose!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars, Suits, or any of the other references made in this story to TV shows. The only thing I do own, is Scarlette (who may or may not be visually inspired by Emma Stone), and the plot.

Empty Silence

Chapter 1

You And I

Ezra stared at his computer screen with a frustrated expression as he watched the cursor blink over and over. He had new chapters due in a matter of days, but at the moment, his writing wasn't getting anywhere. He pushed away from his computer screen a moment later and raised his eyebrows as the door opened. A smile pulled across his face as Scarlette walked into the room. She'd been working with him for nearly six years as a T.A., and then more recently as a full-time teacher. She was one of the few people that he enjoyed speaking with, because she actually treated him like a human. How that had become so rare in the past few years was beyond him.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Clarkson is having a fit over the detention shift change and-"

"Wait," Ezra said, lifting a hand to her. "What?"

Scarlette blushed, tucking her hands behind her back, pushing the skirt down on the red summer dress she was wearing. "Sorry. Speaking too fast again?"

Ezra nodded, pushing down the lid to his laptop. "Good news for you though; I'm not getting a single word written. What's wrong?"

"David is having a fit because we moved the schedule around," Scarlette explained as she walked over to one of the desks in the front of the room and leaned against it. "He's trying to make this whole argument that we're being insubordinate to the principal."

Ezra laughed and leaned back in his chair, stretching. "He won't get anywhere. He throws a fit every few months and the most it gets him is three days of what he wants."

"Then why the hell doesn't he retire already?" Scarlette asked.

Ezra laughed again. "I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say 'hell'."

Scarlette glared at him. Ezra only smirked in response.

"Look, he's not going to retire because his wife just passed away and he's lonely," Ezra explained. "He's a good teacher, and the kids like him. He's a dick when things get moved around, but if you got to know him, he wouldn't have a fit."

Scarlette raised her eyebrows at him. "When did you two get so close?"

Ezra huffed. "When I actually explained to him that I wasn't being an ignorant jerk and he realized I was serious, he changed."

"You've been working with him for six years," Scarlette pointed out.

Ezra shrugged, picking up his phone off the desk to check the time. He stood up a moment later and grabbed his phone off of the desk, tucking it into his pocket. "Look, sometimes it takes people a while to come around. And last I checked, there's not a single person in this school besides me-and now you-who know about his life outside of this world. And when you and I first met, that seemed to mean a lot to you."

Scarlette sighed; her shoulders dropping as she frowned slightly. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget, even when we're talking."

Ezra nodded. "I know. I do it too sometimes. Anyway, we've got forty minutes to get over to that taco truck on 104th, or we're going to miss any chance at decent food."

Scarlette chuckled at him, standing up and waving her arm towards the door. Ezra walked around his desk and followed her out of the room, closing the door behind himself. They walked down the hall and turned into another before he stopped at a doorway while Scarlette walked into the room. She grabbed a sweater off the chair and then walked back over to Ezra, pulling it on.

"So how long are you actually going to stay here once this book is done?" Scarlette asked as they walked towards the exit at the end of the hall. "It is your second, after all."

Ezra shook his head at her, rolling his eyes. "I don't work here because I need the money. I work here because I like teaching. I always have."

Scarlette shook her head, pushing the door open a little too roughly as they reached the exit. She turned to face him as she walked out the door. "Ezra, you force yourself to do double the work everyone does and you don't-"

"I do just as much work as everyone else and not a bit more," he argued. "And I'm not having this fight with you anymore. Now we can go get some food together, or I can go on my own. But either way, I'm not talking about my choices anymore," he said, gesticulating as he spoke.

Scarlette huffed, and Ezra began to walk down the sidewalk without her. After a few moments, she rolled her eyes and ran after him until she was caught up to him. She slipped her arm through his and sighed as he looked down at her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know I'm being an idiot. But I can-"

Ezra pushed her hand down before she could lift it. "No."

Scarlette's brow furrowed, but a moment later, she turned her head back behind them. She tried to see through the people crowded on the street.

"What're you looking at?" Ezra asked as he turned to look at her.

"I thought I heard someone call your name," she replied.

Ezra shrugged. "It's New York. You probably did hear 'Ezra'. It just wasn't for me. Now lets move it."

.,.

There's nothing holding the stars up in the sky

No reason or rhyme to this life

.,.

Aria tugged her bag higher up her shoulder as she stepped out of the office. She was sure that she probably had no chance of getting the only open teaching position, but she was willing to give anything a shot at this point. She'd been out of college for nearly six months, and she absolutely abhorred the idea of ending up back in Rosewood. Aside from all the things that she couldn't stand with her family and all the bad memories, she desperately wanted to be able to make it on her own.

Her phone chimed in her pocket, bringing her attention out of her thoughts. She retrieved it and opened the new text, smiling. The one good thing she had in New York no matter what, was Spencer.

Did it go well? Lunch at Jionni's?

Aria quickly typed back a text before tucking her phone back into her pocket. She hitched her bag higher up her shoulder again and found her way to the exit of the building.

Spencer was the one person she still had on her side in New York. Emily was trying to achieve her dream of swimming in the Olympics, which had her training all over the world with crazy-talented athletes, and Hanna was living in Paris working a fashion internship. Spencer had opted to attend law school at Columbia, keeping her in New York after they had graduated from NYU. She was also working as an intern at one of the firms in Manhattan, and while the money was alright, it definitely wasn't going to keep paying their bills much longer.

She walked in silence, letting the sounds of the city envelope her as her boots slapped against the pavement with each step. Getting to New York had once seemed redundant. After Ezra had taken off to Delaware in search of answers from Maggie, the once promised 'we'll talk' never came to pass. She honestly wasn't sure what she had expected when he had left her standing on that dark street, late one night in mid-November. The one thing she had been sure of was that it wasn't absolute silence.

She could so easily recall the day that she had gone over to the apartment Error: Reference source not found just as she did every day, just to make sure the place looked like someone actually lived in it-Error: Reference source not foundand found everything gone. Any attempt after that to call him, Wes, or even Dianne, was thwarted. Not long after that, phone lines were disconnected. The last morsel of communication had only come a month after that day in the empty apartment, when she found herself tearing up college applications. Everything she had lived for and dreamed about seemed completely out of reach, like it had disappeared entirely. When she had actually seen her phone displaying that Ezra was calling, she was sure that things were going to be better. Anything had to be better than silence.

But instead, it had been Wes on the other line. And as much as she had prayed for answers leading up to that night, none came. He only told her that she'd be better off by just moving on and letting go. And then the phone line was dead, and it seemed her dreams were as well.

She'd continued on with her life, getting along at least marginally better than Emily had after losing Maya, but the depressed slump she fell into was clear. There was no hiding the pain of this loss.

She knew in her heart that if it hadn't been for her friends coming to her house at least four days a week for all of second semester to drag her to school, that she never would've graduated and made it to NYU on time with Spencer. And while it had taken her a while to realize it, she had eventually realized that the only way to move on properly was to let herself feel happiness again.

"Aria!"

She looked up more clearly as she was pulled from her thoughts and smiled as she reached Wakefield Katie, the law firm that Spencer was interning for. She walked over to the small set of steps leading up to the large walkway that led to the front doors of the building and greeted Spencer.

"Hey!" She said as she reached the taller girl. "I thought we were meeting at the restaurant?"

Spencer shrugged. "Hardy's coming around from a meeting in a bit. He asked if we'd wait."

"Sure," Aria said, even though she knew Spencer wasn't really asking for her approval. And it wasn't much like Aria could tell her no to begin with. She knew that Spencer and Hardy had jumped through enough hurdles for her when they had first met. She and Spencer had attended a gala that the Hastings were all invited to, and Hardy had been working as a lowly first-year associate at the time. They'd been introduced by Veronica and hit it off almost immediately. They had started dating, though they kept it on the D/L because Spencer was afraid of jinxing her good luck. She'd been to hell and back trying to make things work with Toby after everything had happened when Alison returned, and it had taken them far too long to realize they were beating a dead horse.

After four solid months of dating, Spencer had finally introduced Hardy to Aria one night in hopes of getting her mind off of the finals she was stressing over. In turn, Aria and Hardy had been forced to explaining how they knew each other, and Spencer spent the better half of the night consoling Aria when she had to explain to Hardy that she and Ezra had split up.

Aria could remember how she had hoped within seconds of realizing it was Hardy standing in front of her, that he knew where Ezra was. She remembered also just as deeply, how much it had cut her to find out that Hardy didn't have a clue where Ezra was or what had happened to him.

After that, Spencer had tried to balance her romantic life with her life at home in the apartment she shared with Aria, but it was nearly impossible at times. It wasn't until two months had passed that Aria finally told Spencer that she didn't have to walk around on eggshells trying to make her relationship work with Hardy.

Things hadn't been easy in the beginning by a long shot. Having Hardy around brought back a lot of memories for Aria and it hurt, but she reminded herself that Ezra had been out of her life for nearly four years at that point.

A black town car pulled up outside the firm and a moment later a dark haired man with honey-colored eyes stepped out of the car, only to turn in his spot on the middle of the block and start talking. Hardy stepped out of the car a few moments later, nodding as he chatted with the clearly older man. Connor Barrett was the closest thing Hardy had to any kind of mentor, and played a lot of rolls for the younger man, from a friend, to an older brother, and sometimes even a father figure.

"What're they talking about?" Aria asked as she let her bag fall off her shoulder so she could dig out her wallet.

"Connor's wife wants to throw us an anniversary party," Spencer said as they began to walk down the steps over to the car.

Aria looked up at her. "Three years next month?"

Spencer nodded. They reached the two men a moment later and Connor smiled at Aria and Spencer.

"Don't forget to pick up those files on the way back," Connor said to Hardy. He looked back at Aria and Spencer. "Always nice to see you, ladies."

He turned and walked away a moment later, and Hardy stepped aside for the girls to get into the car. Aria stepped into it and moved to the farthest spot over in the car, rolling her eyes at the sound of Spencer and Hardy kissing outside of the car.

"Wh- I think that's- Ezra!?"

Aria whipped her head towards the door, feeling her stomach churn at the sound of his name. No one ever said his name around her.

"I guess not," she heard Hardy say a moment later. "We should go before they're out of food."

Spencer slid into the car a moment later and gave Aria a sympathetic look, squeezing her knee lightly. Aria forced a smile on her face, chewing the inside of her cheek in an attempt to both keep herself from crying, and take put the pain in her chest somewhere else.

The drive was short-it was only five blocks over-and they arrived a few minutes later. They slid out of the car and walked around the corner before stopping in a relatively short line.

"I can't believe that we live in Manhattan and eat food out of a taco truck," Aria murmured as she looked around them. Life in New York City never stopped. People were always on the move.

"Connor's sure I'll make partner any day now," Hardy said flatly. Aria knew he'd been hearing that for well over a year now, and it did very little to lift his spirits much anymore. "When that happens? Sushi!"

Spencer and Aria chuckled, and a few moments later they stepped forward and placed their orders. Spencer and Hardy ordered an assortment of tacos to split while Aria ordered a burrito. Afterwards, they walked down the block a ways before coming to a restaurant with outdoor seating. Spencer and Hardy grabbed a table while Aria went in and ordered drinks for them. She returned a few minutes later and they all sat and ate together.

After lunch, Spencer and Hardy headed back to the firm, and Aria turned down an offer for a ride home, choosing to walk instead. The entire truth was that she wasn't exactly counting on getting the job she'd applied for, and she wanted to enjoy as much of New York as possible before she would inevitably have to tell Spencer that she could finally move in with Hardy because she'd be headed back to Rosewood.

After more sulking than she needed, she moved off her seat and began walking back down the block so that she could head home. As she did, she kept her eyes on the ground in front of her, too easily lost in the thoughts passing through her mind. After nearly seven years in New York, she had learned the art of blocking out enough of the noise that she didn't eavesdrop, but taking in enough to know her surroundings.

As she walked past the taco truck that she'd gotten her lunch from just thirty minutes before, a burst of laughter sent her spinning. The laugh was familiar-too familiar in a way-but by the time she'd turned, there was nothing to see. As she searched the crowd of people, she saw nothing familiar.

Her heart sank with self-loathing and she turned back on her way to walk home. She had gone through similar circumstances back when she had still been in high school and Ezra had first gone. The way someone said a word, or the cologne she smelled on a spring afternoon; there was always something that made her look back, as if, when she turned around, he might be right there. It had taken her more than a year to break herself of doing it so regularly, but she had. Still, there were times when she caught herself doing it by accident.

She arrived back home a short while later and dropped her bag near the door before walking into her bedroom and dropping down onto her bed. She closed her eyes for a few moments, letting the stream of sunlight coming through her window warm her body as she rested. After ten minutes had passed and she was sure she wasn't going to fall asleep, she turned over and huffed, staring at the ceiling. Things had to be better than this.

.,.

It will all get better now, at least that's what they say

.,.

Aria jumped as her phone rang next to her ear, waking her from her resting state. She wasn't even sure when exactly she had fallen asleep or how long she'd been out, and she only vaguely recalled pulling her phone from her pocket sometime earlier in the afternoon. As she picked her phone up, she saw that it was the school she'd interviewed at earlier in the afternoon, and she quickly answered the call.

"Hello?" She asked as she brushed a hand through her hair. She looked over at her alarm and sighed. She'd been asleep for well over two hours.

"Ms. Montgomery?" The man on the other end of the line asked. "This is Bailey Wade; the principal at Conover Prep?"

"Yes," Aria replied, moving off her bed. "Was something wrong with my application o-or-"

"No, no," he replied. "I was actually calling to see if you'd be able to travel down here for a second interview today."

Aria's brow furrowed as she looked back over at the clock. Her eyes didn't deceive her; it was actually after four PM. Even so, she didn't hesitate on her answer. "Of course. I can be there in twenty minutes."

"That sounds great," the man replied a few seconds later. "See you then."

Aria ended the call and moved off her bed, quickly stuffing her phone into the pocket of the blazer she was still wearing. She dashed out of the room and into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. Her clothes would manage for a second interview, but her hair was in need of work that she didn't have time for. She exhaled a frustrated sigh and grabbed her hairbrush, running it through her hair a few times. When she was sure it was all gathered in one hand, she pulled it up off her neck into hair tie. It probably wasn't the greatest look, but her hair didn't look messed up anymore.

She rushed out of the room a moment later and ran over to the kitchenette in the apartment and quickly wrote a note to Spencer in case she didn't make it back before her and then she ran over to the door and slipped her feet into her shoes. She picked up her bag a moment later and pulled her keys from it before walking out of the apartment. She locked the door behind herself and rushed over to the elevator. When she found herself tapping her foot while waiting for it, she opted for the stairs instead and found herself in the lobby of the building in record time.

She rushed out onto the street and began walking down it. She crossed over onto another block and made it halfway down the street before she spotted a cab coming. She quickly flagged it down and got in, well aware of how people weren't inept to poaching cabs in New York.

"Conover Prep," She told the man behind the wheel. When he had pulled away from the curb, she exhaled a relieved sigh and pressed the back of her hands to her cheeks, trying to cool herself off. She was sure she probably looked worse now than she had when she woke up, but she couldn't contain her nerves or excitement.

Before long, the cab pulled up outside the school. Aria thanked the driver and paid him before getting out. She straightened her clothes and brushed fingers through the tendrils hanging in front of her face before she took a deep breath. She walked over to the door to the front of the building, repeating the mantra to stay confident in her head as she did. She quickly made her way into the principals office a few moments later, and she was greeted by his secretary.

"I'll get Mr. Wade for you," she said in a chipper voice. Aria thanked the woman and then pulled her phone from her pocket, finally taking the time to check if she'd gotten any other calls or messages while she'd been asleep.

Just after sending a text back to her brother, her name was called, bringing her attention back to the present. She smiled as the man she recognized as Principal Wade walked up to her. He was man who couldn't be more than forty, and his thick accent gave away his Boston upbringing. He was dressed crisply in a dark blue suit with a white dress-shirt beneath it, clearly determined to show that he wasn't lax about his job.

"Ms. Montgomery," he greeted happily as he led her into his office.

"Was there something you needed me to elaborate on?" Aria asked as she walked into the room with him.

"Not quite," he replied, gesturing towards a chair in front of his desk. Aria sat, and watched as Principal Wade rounded the desk, sitting down in his own seat. "We've found ourselves in a tight position here today," he explained. "There were a number of applicants that have come through here today, but only one position was open."

"Was?" Aria questioned.

The principal nodded. "There was a passing today. A last-minute open position. We've seen a number of substitutes come through here, but starting that process now would make it a rough road to filling the position down the line. Based on your resume, you'd fit perfectly in the position-if you want it of course."

"What exactly is the position?" Aria asked.

"It's a dual schedule. Early American literature along with Greek Mythology. There's two of each class on the roster, which is four in a day. Are you open to that?" He asked.

Aria quickly nodded. "Y-Yes. Absolutely."

The principal smiled at her. "Great! Why don't I show you where you'll be working," he offered.

Aria pushed up from her seat and followed the man out of the office, and then out of the main offices altogether. He led her down a series of hallways that she tried to commit to memory as he explained what her schedule would be like.

"You'll work in two separate classrooms, but this will be your primary room where you'll teach American Lit," he explained as they reached the first room. The desk had already been cleared of the previous teachers possessions, leaving it empty. "This is where you'll keep anything you want to have in your classroom. There aren't any classes during the third block, early lunch, or the final hour of the day, so you'll have the free time to work if you want to, or leave early if you choose."

He turned and led Aria away a few moments later, walking almost all the way down the hall before he reached another classroom. "And this room you'll share with another teacher." Principal Wade peered around the room for a few moments and then looked back at Aria. "He doesn't appear to be here at the moment. Why don't I show you the teachers lounge?"

Aria nodded, following him through the hallways as he continued to talk. She knew that from what he told her, the rest of the semester was already worked out, but second semester would be open to her own teaching choices if she stayed with the job. The kids were supposedly well mannered, but she knew that she would have to judge that for herself the next day. Of it all though, she was most worried about how she would be received by her fellow teachers.

They arrived at the teachers lounge a few minutes later, and he showed her around for a few moments more before he spotted a lanky blond pouring a cup of coffee for herself.

"Scarlette," he called out to her. She looked up from her coffee and smiled walking over to them.

"Hi," she said happily.

"Scarlette, this is Aria," Principal Wade explained. "She's going to be taking over David's job. I wanted to introduce her to who she'd be sharing a classroom with."

"He was just going over to the Resources department to help Callie Anderson with a paper," Scarlette explained. She turned to Aria. "I'm Scarlette Morgan. I teach Art History. It's five doors down from your classroom."

Aria smiled back at her. "Aria Montgomery. Is this guy I'm sharing a room with nice?"

Scarlette smiled. "He's great. You'll love him. He's amazing with our hearing impaired kids."

Aria looked up a moment later and realized that one of the other teachers had taken the principal's attention. He turned back to them in the same moment.

"Scarlette, do you think you could show Aria around a bit more? I've got an issue with Dawson's Russian literature class."

"Sure," Scarlette replied. She and Aria exited the room a moment later and headed back towards the hallway that housed their classrooms.

"Did you know much about the teacher who's job I'm getting?" Aria asked. "What his teaching was like?"

Scarlette chuckled. "I didn't like him much, but as far as I knew, the students he had did. He was in his seventies, but he had tenure, so he wasn't going anywhere. Still pretty sharp too, for his age."

Aria smiled. They arrived back at her classroom a moment later and Scarlette walked over to the desk. She opened the top drawer and pulled out the notebook resting on top, flipping it open a few pages. She passed it to Aria a moment later.

"Looks like his lesson plans," she explained.

Aria nodded, turning to the pages notated with that weeks information. She looked up at the blackboard a moment later and read it over, trying to take in what the class had been studying. As she did, Scarlette stepped out of the classroom doorway. Aria looked up as she called out 'hey!'.

"Can you?" Scarlette asked, pointing towards something. A moment later she began to gesticulate, and Aria realized she was signing.

"You know I hate it when you sign around students," a voice called back from down the hall. Aria could just barely hear them. Even so, Scarlette signed back to the other person, speaking as she did.

"Sorry, but you can't exactly hear me calling you, and I don't think you can read my lips from twenty feet away." She argued. "Come meet your new partner in crime."

"They already hired someone new?"

Aria's head whipped up at the sound of the voice. A moment later, he stepped into the room and her heart dropped. Distracted, she let the lesson plans fall from her hands, but words were beyond anything she could form, and before she could make any movement at all, Ezra turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

She stormed out after him, but all the words inside her head couldn't find their way out of her mouth in the way she wanted them to-at least not without her losing her new job. After he'd made it down to his classroom, she found herself standing there still, muttering under her breath.

"You son-of-a-bitch."