I don't own PLL and am receiving nothing from this other than being creative. This is my first PLL fic so I hope you like it.

Looking over her shoulder every other minute, Spencer walked briskly through the night to get to Mr. Fitz's apartment. Aria was staying with Ezra and Spencer was her cover story for this particular night. Hanna, Emily, and Spencer took turns being her alibi for over a year and in return, she helped them with whatever they needed, whether it was getting alcohol, needing their own alibi, or arranging secret meetings with someone special. Spencer had been trying to contact Aria all evening but had not received any answer. She didn't really want to interrupt anything was been going on, but this couldn't wait.

She approached the apartment building where Aria was supposed to be and rang the buzzer to Mr. Fitz's apartment. Almost instantly she was buzzed in and Spencer hurried inside. She stepped into the empty elevator and was at the apartment door in no time. She knocked quietly and the door sprang open, "I thought you weren't going to…" Her former English teacher trailed off. "Miss Hastings, what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Aria. I need to speak with her." Spencer wasted no time.

The man at the door put on a confused face, "I'm sorry. I haven't seen Miss Montgomery since school last week. Why would you come here to look? I can give you her mother's number if you'd like. Maybe she's there."

Spencer rolled her eyes and stepped into the apartment uninvited, "Please Mr. Fitz, where do you think Aria says she's staying when she comes here. I'm her alibi tonight, but something came up and she's not answering my texts or calls. I didn't want to interrupt but this is important."

A look of dread washed over his pale face, "She isn't here. She was supposed to be here two hours ago. It never occurred to me that something was wrong. She's been late before, but are you telling me you don't know where she is?"

"Oh my god," Spencer was dialing Hanna's number as Ezra Fitz grabbed his cell phone and dialed Aria's number. "Hanna. I didn't mean to wake you up. Have you heard from Aria? No. It was alibi night at my place. I thought maybe… Ok. Call Em and ask her. Let me know as soon as you get off the phone."

Ezra was starting to panic, "She didn't answer her phone. It rang but she didn't answer."

"I'm sure everything is ok. I'm sure she's at Emily's house. She probably forgot she was coming to my house and then fell asleep at Em's house. She does that sometimes." Spencer lied. She was sure something was terribly wrong, but she didn't want to voice her fears.

They unusual pair sat in silence until Spencer's phone rang. "Emily? No. She's not with you. You haven't heard from her all night? Ok. I'm heading over to her house to see if maybe she's there. Ok. Your room, 30 minutes. Bye." She stood and headed for the door, "I'm going to check her house. Maybe her parents grounded her."

"I'm going with you." Ezra stood and grabbed his coat from the closet.

Spencer shook her head, "I'm sure she is fine. I will call you as soon as I know something."

"No. I need to go with you. I can't sit here one more minute. I'll drive." He was out the door and at the elevator before Spencer could get her bearings.

Sighing heavily, she climbed into the occupied elevator, "This is a bad idea."

Pulling up in front of a house a block from Aria's family home, Ezra parked the car and allowed Spencer to get out and walk quietly up to the door. It was locked of course. Her next plan of action was to scale the tree outside Aria's bedroom window. It wasn't something she had done in over a year, but it was as easy as ever. She peered inside her friend's room and, after allowing her eyes to adjust, noticed the room was occupied. After another few seconds however, she realized it was not Aria, or anyone that lived in her home for that matter.

Spencer slid down the tree as fast as she could and sprinted for Ezra's car. "There was someone in her room."

"Who was it? Was she in there?" Ezra questioned.

Spencer was still trying to catch her breath, "I don't know who it was. It looked like a man, but I didn't see Aria anywhere. I don't know if they saw me. I'm calling her mom." Spencer dialed and waited. Six rings later and a sleepy Ella Montgomery answered the phone.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Mrs. Montgomery, its Spencer. Is Aria there?" Spencer spoke loudly so the woman on the other end didn't fall asleep.

Ella was awake instantly though, "No. She said she was staying at your house."

"I know," Spencer was trying to sound calm, "She never showed up and hasn't answered any of my calls or texts. I've had Em and Hanna trying too and nothing. I contacted you as soon as I figured out something was wrong."

Ella jumped out of bed and started getting dressed, "I'm calling the police Spencer. Will you come over?"

"Yeah. I'll be over in a few minutes. Just going to call the girls." Spencer hung up and instructed Ezra how to get to Emily's house. He stayed in the car while Spencer headed straight for Emily's room.

Hanna was already there and they both looked worried, "Well?"

"No one knows where she is. Mr. Fitz is in the car. He's panicked. I have to go over to Aria's house. There was a man in her room when I looked in through the window. I called her mom and told her she was missing. She's calling the police right now and I said I'd be over there as soon as I could."

Hanna gasped loudly, "There was a man in her room? Oh my god, what do we do?"

"I haven't told you guys the worst part." Spencer was almost in tears.

Her two companions exchanged worried looks, "What?"

Spencer held out her cell phone for the other girls to read. Shaking the girls rose to their feet, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder. –A'

A/N: Thank you all for reading. I'd appreciate your reviews. I have a few chapters written, but it's still in one large chunk. So a question I'd like you to answer as you review is: Would you like shorter chapters more often or longer chapters? Will have more up shortly.