Homecoming

Quinn Montgomery was waiting patiently at the airport, checking her phone again for the time. She was excited that her sister was coming back, but also anxious. Her parents had taken her younger siblings Aria and Mike over to Iceland last year. Quinn would have gone with them, but she had started nursing school at Hollis so she stayed in Rosewood.

Her father had recently gotten an extended job offer over in Europe and had accepted it. Her mom and brother were willing to stay, but Aria was ready to come home. Their parents decided that Aria could move back to Rosewood to live with Quinn in her two bedroom apartment she rented near campus. Quinn was happy that her younger sister was coming home, but she was also nervous about being a guardian. Some days, she was surprised she could even take care of herself.

"Quinn!" she heard a familiar voice calling. The brunette turned to see her sixteen year old sister hurrying over to her.

"Hey!" Quinn smiled, meeting Aria halfway to hug her. "You're here, finally." Aria laughed.

"My flight was delayed," she explained, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

The girls had the same, thick and long brown hair. Aria had their mother's brown eyes though while Quinn had their father's blue ones. They had the same slim frame, though Quinn was slightly taller than her younger sister. While Aria had more of a daring, alternative style, Quinn dressed more like the girl next door. Today, Quinn was wearing a deep blue sundress with thin straps. Aria was wearing a boldly colored top with a skirt and lace leggings.

"Figures," Quinn shrugged. "Come on, let's go get your bags."

The girls went to baggage claim, getting Aria's two large suitcases. Earlier in the week movers brought some boxes Aria had sent from Iceland to Quinn's apartment. After the airport, Quinn took Aria straight to her apartment to allow her time to unpack. The building was a walk up and Quinn's apartment was on the second floor.

When you walked into the apartment the living room was to the left and the dining room was to the right. The dining room was small, enough space for a table and four chairs. There was a small doorway that lead from there into the kitchen. If you walked straight from the entrance you would come to a T. At the center of the T was the bathroom. On the left was Quinn's bedroom and the right was Aria's new room. Aria was unpacking her second suitcase when Quinn knocked on the door frame.

"Get ready," Quinn told her. "We're going to Joe's."

"That's a bar," Aria reminded her. While Quinn had recently turned twenty one, Aria was still sixteen.

"It's a bar and grill," Quinn rolled her eyes playfully, tossing one of her old IDs on Aria's bed. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Aria gave in, leaving to go to Joe's with her sister. Though Quinn had given Aria her ID just to be safe, she went up to the bar to order them drinks while Aria waited at their booth for their dinner. Just then, Quinn noticed that her sister had caught someone's attention.

He was a younger man and Quinn was convinced she had seen him around campus before. In any case, the guy had his back to her so she didn't hesitate from giving Aria a thumbs up from the bar before downing her drink. She then started slowly on the second drink, not wanting to go back to the table and interrupt Aria's flirting. Instead, she turned to a guy at the bar and started talking to him to occupy herself. Feeling her phone vibrating in the pocket of her dress, she took it out to read the text she got; it was from an unknown number.

You should keep a better eye on your sister
Maybe you're not cut out for this guardian thing -A

Quinn quickly looked around the bar for her sister, seeing that she was no longer at the booth with that guy. She excused herself from the bar, going over to the bathroom to see if her sister was in there. Finding the women's bathroom empty, she left quickly and prepared to call Aria. As she was exiting the ladies' room though, she saw Aria leaving the men's room with the guy she had been talking to.

"Oh," Aria said awkwardly. "Um..."

"It's," Quinn started to say, but stopped. "I'm gonna go back to the bar, get another drink."

"Ok," Aria nodded quickly. As Quinn was walking away she could hear the guy apologizing to Aria and giving her his number before leaving. Quinn grabbed two more cranberry and vodkas from the bar before returning to the booth with her sister; their food finally arrived.

"So he was cute," Quinn said, brushing off their previous awkward encounter. "What's his name?"

"Ezra," Aria answered, eating a french fry. "He just graduated Hollis."

"Ooo older boy," Quinn teased her; Aria blushed. "Look, I'm not going to go all..." She paused to think about it. "Mom on you." Aria laughed. "I just want to know where you're at and what you're up to." She smiled at her sister. "I was sixteen once." She thought about it. "Hell, I'm still only twenty one." Aria laughed again.

"Thanks for letting me come stay with you Quinn," Aria told her.

"What are sisters for?" Quinn asked, clinking her drink against Aria's.

The girls continued to catch up and talk about the first day of school the following day. Aria ended up having to drive home, but she didn't mind. Once Aria was in her room for the night, Quinn grabbed her phone from the night stand. She swore she would never talk to him again, but after the text she got earlier she knew he was the only one that she could trust. She took a deep breath as she selected his name from her contact list, dialing his number. As she expected, he didn't answer and forced her to leave a voice mail.

"Jason," she said. "Look, I know it's been awhile. But I got one of those texts again, like when your sister disappeared. Call me back ok? It's important."

The next day Quinn already had piles of textbooks on the table. She was sitting at the table, highlighting one of her reading assignments for that evening when Aria walked in from school. She looked like she was in a panic, her fair face even paler than usual.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Aria kept repeating as she sat across from Quinn.

"What?" Quinn asked curiously, closing her book.

"You know that guy from last night?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, what about him?" Quinn asked. "Did he ask you out?"

"No, he's my English teacher," Aria said, her head falling onto the table.

"No!" Quinn gasped; Aria nodded, her head still down. "Oh my God."

"I know," Aria groaned, sitting up now. "God, why does he have to be so cute and funny and smart-"

"You're not actually thinking of..." Quinn interrupted, then trailed off as she studied her sister's face. "Oh my God, Aria!"

"Don't go all mom on me," Aria reminded her.

"This isn't mom this is..." Quinn stopped, shaking her head. "You can't do that Aria."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one thing, it's illegal."

"Should we go over all of your illegal activities?" Aria snapped. Quinn went to respond, but just then her cell phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Quinn answered, still eyeing her sister suspiciously.

"Quinn? It's Garrett Reynolds." Garrett and Quinn used to be friends in high school. They had lost touch recently; Garrett had recently joined the police force.

"Oh hey," she said, some confusion in her voice. She didn't know why Garrett would be calling her. "What's up?"

"You would have found out anyway, but I wanted it to come from me," Garrett explained. "Earlier this afternoon, they found a body at the old DiLaurentis house." He sighed. "It was Alison."

"Oh my God," Quinn said, letting out a deep breath as she sank back in her chair. "I'll tell Aria. Thanks Garrett." With that, she hung up her phone. Aria was looking at her curiously from across the table.

A few days later was the funeral for Ali. Though she knew that she needed to be there for her sister, she couldn't help but scan the crowd for Jason; she couldn't find him. She did see Ezra there though and she was careful to steer her sister away, finding Aria's friends all sitting in the same pew, three rows back.

"Hi girls," Quinn said quietly as she passed them, taking a seat in the pew before the service started. She always liked Aria's friends and tried to be nice to them. They could get on her nerves at times, like younger siblings and their friends could, but overall she liked them a lot and used to hang out with them sometimes. She hated to think this way, but her least favorite of Aria's friends had always been Alison. As the funeral started, she shook the thought from her mind.

After the service, Quinn walked outside to talk to her sister and her friends. Seeing another one of her friends from high school Darren Wilden, she went over to see what he wanted as he tried to catch her attention. The girls seemed to be watching nervously and she wondered what was going on.

"Hey Darren," she said, a bit uncomfortable. "What do you want?"

"Nice to see you too Quinn," he told her. "I understand your Aria's guardian now?" Quinn nodded. "I don't need anything today, but I will need your sister to be available for questioning."

"Questioning for what?" Quinn asked with raised eye brows.

"We're now investigating Alison's murder," Darren explained. "I'll be in touch."

Quinn made her way back over to the girls, her head spinning. A murder investigation? And they were going to be questioning her sister? She felt like she was going to be sick. She felt that her expression must be reflected in the girls right now as they all looked sick with worry.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked them quietly. She looked around before asking the next question. "Was it Jenna?" Quinn was the only person they trusted to know the Jenna thing. Quinn wasn't like Spencer's older sister Melissa who was so cold to them; they knew that they could trust her with anything.

"Girls," Quinn insisted. "What is it?"

"Can we go home?" Aria asked. "And not talk about this here?"

Quinn nodded, driving all of the girls back to the apartment. They were all silent at first, sitting in a row on the couch. Quinn was patient at first as she waited for them to start, but finally she had to ask.

"What is with you guys?" she asked. "Besides the obvious, there's something else going on." She had known these girls since they were toddlers, she knew when something was bothering them.

"We've all been getting these weird texts," Emily finally confessed. Quinn felt her stomach sink.

"What kind of texts?"

"Anonymous ones," Spencer continued. "But they know all of our secrets, things only Ali would know. They even call themselves A." Quinn didn't ask what the secrets were, respecting the privacy in that. That was why the girls knew they could go to her, because she wouldn't snoop too far into their secrets and she wouldn't tell anyone about the texts.

"Ok, um," Quinn said, not sure what to do. It wasn't like before when she was getting these messages, but now her sister and her friends were too? "Why don't you girls go home, ok? Let me know if you get anymore." She tried to brush it off. "I bet it's just some loser messing with you, all right?"

Quinn waited until the girls were all gone and Aria was in her room before grabbing her phone again. Now that her sister and the girls were involved, this situation had gotten even further out of hand. She dialed Jason one more time, but again he hadn't answered.

"Jason, you have to call me back. It's about the messages." She ran a hand through her hair. "I need you."

thanks for reading and please let me know what you think so far! :)