Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Pretty Little Liars franchise.

You got something I need

In this world full of people, there's one killing need

When she had planned what it would be like when Erin went into labor, how everything would go, Hanna imagined herself driving the girl to the hospital, not Aria. She imagined her being the one holding Erin's hand as she pulled through the harsh bouts of contractions, not Aria. And she certainly didn't imagine Erin giving birth to such a dark haired baby, despite the fact she herself was what some would call "ginger".

Everything about the birth was all in slow motion, the way the baby just sort of...slid out. Although in reality it couldn't have been quicker; she arrived after a mere three hours of labor and ten contractions.

Erin had chosen not to hold her baby, so she wouldn't become attached. Instead, the nurse handed the small infant, squawking and squirming, to a dumbfounded Aria who began to cry the second she was put in her arms. The tiny swaddled person in her arms continued to cry out, figuring out just how her strong lungs worked. Aria's eyes were a mix of panic and adoration as she tried to hush the baby. Naturally, instinct kicked in and she began rocking slowly and cooing. Soon the nurses had prepped the scale and took the infant from her.

Hanna circled around the crowd of nurses who tended to Erin and made her way over to where her friend stood over the exam table cooing at the baby. She whimpered and smiled at Aria, who beamed back at her when she noticed her stare.

"She's so beautiful." The dark haired woman whispered, reaching one hand to wipe tears from her eyes.

Hanna nodded. "You looked good with her," she commented. For what it was worth, Aria took to the baby like a real mommy. "Are you sure you're waiting for this?"

Aria paused and looked out the window to see Ezra who was holding Cooper on his shoulders while Caleb seemed to be explaining everything that was going on from the open window. Suddenly it hit Aria that everything was coming together. She whispered barely audibly, "It all seems so essential now."

Almost instantly, she became overcome with excitement.

"You ok?" Hanna nudged her, breaking her out of thought.

"Oh, totally!" Her friend assured her. "Can you excuse for a second?"

Hanna nodded. Once Aria had exited, she turned around to where Erin had been resting to find that she had already been wheeled to another separate room.

Dr. McCall was standing in the corner of the room by where the bed used to sit. "Where's Erin?" Hanna quietly asked.

He looked up and smiled sadly. "We wheeled her back to recovery. She's going to stay there overnight and we'll discharge her in the morning."

"Well where is she gonna go?"

"I'm sorry, but that's confidential information."

"She's homeless," Hanna stated. "What's more public than that?"

The doctor scoffed as he slid Erin's file back into the folder and hung it on the door for one of the nurses to pick up. "If she needed somewhere to stay, the hospital could easily set her up with a living situation. But for now, she hasn't mentioned any need for help."

Hanna stared at the man in disbelief as he left the room without another word. What a douche? Turning back to the orderly who was cleaning up, she mumbled, "Next time I get pregnant, it's going to be a home birth."

Hanna couldn't believe it. Erin, to her knowledge, had nowhere else to go, and she knew that for a fact.

Knowing the only way she could get to the bottom of the situation, Hanna set off in the direction of the rehabilitation ward.

After making a pit stop at the vending machines for a snack and some coffee, she finally made it to Erin's floor. When she came upon the room, the door was open only slightly. Listening closely, Hanna heard could hear a conversation happening on the other side of the threshold. Sneaking up to the room, she knocked quietly.

Erin paused and called out, "It's open,"

Hanna sighed and pushed the door further open and walked in to find Aria sitting in the large lounger by Erin's bedside. "Am I interrupting something?" The blonde inquired.

"Actually, we were just chatting. You're welcome to join us," Aria offered, scooting over in the chair.

She obliged and sat in the small spot that wasn't taken by the tiny woman's behind.

The two women looked to Erin awkwardly expectant of her to say something.

The redhead cleared her throat and did her best to sit up on her mound of pillows. "Aria and I have something to tell you," she began.

Hanna eyed the both of them and willed them to continue, though deep in her own mind she was bewildered as to what this announcement could entail.

Aria let out a deep breath, smiling. "Well, Erin has asked if Ezra and I would adopt the baby."

A grin broke out onto Hanna's face and she felt the figurative bricks which weighed her shoulders down suddenly poof into nothing but relief.

"You're not mad?" Erin confirmed.

She shook her head and with a laugh replied, "How can I be mad?" Her gaze darted to Aria's. "Are you going to really do this?"

The raven haired beauty nodded, eyes watery with tears of content and excitement.

"And what did Ezra have to say about all this?" Hanna mused in a sort of disbelief. Her surprise overshadowed her excitement because she honestly hasn't seen this coming.

"He was hoping I would ask." She finished. "So are you going to be happy for me or not?"

Hanna immediately wrapped her arms around the small woman's torso. After a few seconds of rejoicing the news, she pulled away again and looked pointedly at Aria.

"This isn't just another impulsive decision, right?" She questioned.

In Hanna's defense, Aria had always had a thing for acting on impulse both of emotion and adrenaline. Though each of the liars definitely danced to the beat of their own drummer, Aria was always more drastic with such terms. There was the time in the second grade when she nearly burnt down her dad's shed playing with Ella's craft candles unsupervised, the pink streaks in 7th grade, and not to be forgotten, the three days in her junior year that she changed her major to study Mammalogy after watching "Free Willy" while she babysat Malcolm.

"Oh, come on!" Aria guffawed, playfully shoving her friend. "Trust me. Ezra and I have been talking about starting our family, and when I met Erin, I felt like a door opened that was meant for us to explore."

Erin, who had been listening intently, was close to tears again. She squeezed Aria's hand which she had been holding. "I knew there was a couple somewhere in this world who were meant for my child, and I think that you and Ezra are the one."

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Hanna squealed.

Later on, Aria and Ezra had gone downstairs to the hospital offices to start the adoption process. It was nearing seven in the morning so Caleb had taken Cooper to Ashley's before heading home to work.

Hanna decided to stay with Erin until she was healed 100% and to make sure she had somewhere to go.

"Knock, knock!" She chirped, entering the girl's room.

Erin was still asleep with her back to Hanna, facing the window. "Five more minutes," she whined.

The blond sighed and set the grande lattes on the bedside table and turned off the god awful reality show that blared from the television. "I brought you Starbucks, so you owe me a little face time."

The redhead slowly rolled over to face her visitor. "I just gave birth. I am exhausted and I need a nap."

Hanna scoffed and sat in the lounger, sipping the heavy brew. "Wait until you really have kids, this will be every morning but ten times worse...with snotty kids crawling all over you and shoving action figures up your nose."

"Okay!" Erin surrendered. "I'm awake. What do you want?"

"Well," she began. "Dr. McCall said that you are only permitted to stay here for 24 hours if you're healthy, which you are so..."

Erin sighed frustratedly. "I'm not moving in with you. You have already given me so much and I really didn't deserve any of it. You don't have to keep saving me."

"PS, I paid the hospital bill." The older woman whispered discreetly.

"What? Hanna! I told you I didn't need anymore help! You were supposed to charge them to my asshole of a stepdad."

"Don't worry," she assured her. "I paid for about a third of it and charge the rest to him. Not including the special bill for the private room."

"I didn't know you were such a badass!"

"I was the Head Bitch in high school, there are plenty of tricks up my sleeve. Tricks I'm sure you haven't even thought of." She replied, tossing her golden tresses over her shoulder.

Erin twiddled her thumbs awkwardly, contemplating speaking. "I know you're wondering, so I will say that I called my best friend up in Philly this morning and she has an open couch." Hanna eyed the girl for a second, before she continued. "Don't worry, she's a student at UPenn. I'm going to see about some jobs up there so I can save for college..."

"I don't think you can do that!" Hanna interrupted her.

"I don't really have any other options, I mean the scholarship fell through months ago..."

"Yeah," she interrupted again, ruffling the girl's feathers a little. "But that was before you knew Hanna Rivers. And let me tell you, when there's a Rivers there's a way... That came out incredibly cheesy." Hanna frowned.

Erin giggled along then cleared her throat. "What kind of connections?"

"Well... Have I told you about my best friend Spencer? Tall, ridiculously smart, married to the Greek god?" Erin shook her head. Oddly enough the only friend of Hanna's she was introduced to was Aria. She had heard stories about the other two friends but never actually met either of them.

After the awkward pause passed, Hanna excitedly continued. "Spencer's older sister Melissa's boyfriend's godfather's sister works in the admissions office at UPenn. I was able to get her email and we've been messaging back and forth since basically the night we met..."

Erin laughed at the way the woman hadn't taken a breath the whole time she was explaining. "Hanna can you please just get to the point?" She asked.

"Right!" Hanna nodded furiously. "Long story short, she saw your transcripts and has offered you a partial scholarship."

"Oh, my God!"

"I know it's not the full ride you had at Vassar, but it's UPenn and even Spencer struggled to get accepted so I guess it's just as smartypants as anywhere else."

Before she could continue her speech, the redhead had enveloped her in a bear hug.

"So you're ok with this?"

"Hanna! Of course!" She said into her shoulder. "You're amazing, thank you."

"I know,"

I am so sorry for taking so long to update! As I've said in previous authors notes, I was in a funk. Imagine this: spring of your senior year, A's and B's in every class...except one. It's a class I have to pass in order to graduate, and so far it's not working out. Hopefully I will pass but it's going to mean lots of work for me...and not so many updates for this story. I'm sorry! I will try to get back on track with it, and in some ways I have. Point is, school before fanfiction. I'm sure you'd understand.

Anyway, I hope this chapter was up to par with what I owe you thanks to my absence. Please leave a review and tell me what you think! I'd love to hear your thoughts :)