Title: In The Aftermath
Summary: After Spencer's arrest and Mona's death, the girls realize that the only way to end it all is to jump in headfirst and do the one thing they've been unable to for so long: tell the truth, and hope that something goes right. How hard will it be to deal with the aftermath? Spencer/spoby centric, but includes all main characters/couples.

Author's note: Hi guys! Sorry for the wait, school and work, you know. But here is chapter three! Please let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Thanks! Enjoy!

-Jen

Chapter Three

When Spencer wakes up the next morning, she doesn't move from Toby's arms, or the bed. She pretends to be asleep still, even as the others wake up and slip out of the den. She can smell coffee coming from the kitchen as Hanna and Caleb leave the room together, leaving her and Toby alone. "You sleep ok?" Toby murmurs softly as soon as the door shuts, his hand stroking her hair.

"Mm, better than I thought I would," she replies. "I don't want to get up. I just wanna lay here with you all day." Finally moving, she only shifts so that they're spooning, Toby's arms around her from behind, their legs tangled together around his cast.

"I know," He replies, pressing his lips against the back of her neck. "Me too."

They lay there in silence for a while comfortably, before Spencer speaks. "Do you really think this is going to end it?" She whispers, afraid to ask the question.

"I have to believe it, Spence," Toby says, "I have to believe that there's some end in sight after all of this. That the truth will actually set us free from this...that it'll set you free. I...I can't watch you deal with this anymore. I've tried everything I could to end this for you, and none of it worked, and the thought of seeing this all tear you apart even more kills me. I just want it to be over for you, Spencer. So you can finish high school, and go on to college, and start your life without this crap hanging over you. I want you to be happy, and feel safe. I want you to be safe."

Moving in his arms, she turns to face him, reaching up and resting her hand against his cheek. Spencer rubs her thumb gently across his skin, feeling the stubble underneath it, her eyes on his. "You make me happy," She murmurs softly. "You make me feel safe."

"And I'm glad that I make you happy, and make you feel safe, Spence," Toby whispers, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and out of her face. "But I want you to actually be safe. I want to be able to do normal things without being afraid that A is going to ruin it. I want to be able to take you to your prom," He whispers. "No matter how lame you think it'll be," Toby says before she argues, and Spencer smiles a little. "I still want to take you. I want to take you to your prom, and slow dance with you, and get corny prom pictures to compare to our wedding photos later on. I want to watch you have honest to God carefree fun, let loose. I want...I want you to be able to go to college and not be afraid of A following you wherever you go. I want to marry you, Spencer, and have babies one day. I want to be able to do all this stuff without being afraid of this unknown person coming after you, after the people you love."

Spencer's not sure what to say, and so she says nothing, just looking at him for a moment, her hand moving to rest against his torso. Toby's hands move to cup her face, leaning in to rest his forehead against hers, eyes locked with hers. "I've watched you go through so much pain, and anguish over the past few years. Some of it...some of it was because of me," He says, forcing the words out as his throat feels tight, his chest aches. He'd never forgive himself for the pain he'd caused her. "And so holding onto the fact that this could end it all...I have to, baby. I just need to believe it's going to be all over. I have to believe that the truth will set us all free."

The truth will set you free. That was one of the sayings that Alison used to mock. 'You're always better off with a really good lie,' she'd said. "Look where that got us," Spencer whispers softly.

"Hm?" Toby asks, his hand now absently stroking his hair.

"Nothing," Spencer whispers, shaking her head. "I just hope you're right. I hope that it's over because I just...I want all of that. All that you said," She murmurs. "I can't take this anymore, and I...I can't go to jail," Spencer says, shaking her head again. "I can't."

"You won't," He says firmly. "Just hold onto that, Spence. Believe this will all be over, and the truth will come out. You didn't do anything to hurt anyone."

"I know that, Toby," Spencer says, "I know, but I think Alison did, and I think this was part of her plan the whole time. This plan that she's clearly been orchestrating for a while, and it's genius when you think of it," She points out, bitter. "Turn your four best friends into a bunch of liars, and no one will believe them when you set it up to ruin their lives. You get to play your game and do the deed, then push it off on them. I feel so stupid," she sighs, her voice breaking. "For ever giving into her, for ever being pulled in, in the first place. I was so desperate to be accepted how I was, to be liked, for friends, that I didn't even realize how toxic she was. I did this to myself," Spencer says, crying now.

"No," Toby says firmly, "No, Spencer, you listen to me. Alison is clearly a sociopath, she is incapable of feeling anything, but she's very good at acting and manipulation. You were twelve years old, and Alison was offering you a ready made group of friends. Most people would have taken it, like you said...she had a lot of power over everyone in that school."

She hears him, but shakes her head. Her mind feels so full, like it always does. Like it's on hyperdrive, trying to sort this all out, make sense of everything and find answers like she does with everything. Spencer's so tired mentally, psychologically, emotionally, and physically. She wishes that she could just lay down and sleep for a long time, not wake up until years had passed and this was all over. She'd wake up and A would be a thing of the past, or even better, just a really bad dream. During the bad parts, she'd feel a familiar twinge deep within her, a craving for the drug that had just ruined her more, but had also made her feel like she wasn't sinking into a deep pit within herself, it had given her so much energy. "Please just hold me," Spencer finds herself sobbing, trying to get closer to him. "I just need you to hold me." Toby obliges, sliding his arms down around her waist, pulling her in closer to him, and wrapping her up securely in his arms. He doesn't tell her to stop crying, he doesn't make her feel weak or pathetic. He just holds her, kissing her forehead, whispering that he loved her and letting her cry.

Ten, twenty, thirty minutes pass by, though after some time she stops sobbing, just lays there in his arms, trying to keep calm. A soft knock on the door isn't enough to draw Spencer away from him, and that's how Veronica finds them, curled up together. "Spencer?" She asks, coming into the room. Catching sight of her daughter's red eyes, the tortured look on her face, she frowns. "Sweetie, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Spencer lies, voice hoarse, though she still doesn't get up.

"Ashley and Pam made pancakes for everyone," Veronica says after a moment of debating whether or not to point out that she obviously wasn't fine. "And before you claim you're not hungry, I want you to eat anyways. You need to eat. Please." She's about to say that the police could show up at any time to set up the GPS tracker, but doesn't. She does, however, take a few steps further into the room.

"I know you're not ok," She says quietly. "No one expects you to be. And...I'm going to fix this, Spencer," Veronica says, sitting on the edge of the bed, resting a hand on her back. Spencer shifts, moving her head away from Toby's chest to look at her mother. "I'm going to take care of you, I'm going to be there for you the way I should have been from the start. I've made a lot of mistakes," Veronica says as Spencer sits up, Toby following her movements. "And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I know I can't go back...I can't change what your father and I did, how we treated you, and I will never forgive myself for it. But I will be better, and I will try every day for the rest of my life to make it up to you. I'm going to take care of you," She insists, reaching out to brush her fingers through Spencer's long hair. "I'm going to make this better, I'm going to fix it."

Sitting up, Spencer moves closer to her mom, leaning in to hug her. She doesn't say anything, unsure of what to say. She wasn't going to lie and say that they hadn't hurt her, because they had. But this meant a lot to her, and she wanted her mom to know that she wanted to work together.

"I love you so much," Veronica whispers fiercely. "And I'm going to fix this."

"I love you, too," Spencer tells her mother. "But you didn't do this, mom."

Veronica doesn't say anything, just hugs her tightly. She does feel like she did this, that her and Peter's actions played a part in all of this. If only they'd been more attentive to things other than grades, if only they'd been there, if only she'd noticed. There were so many things they could do over, but do overs didn't exist. All she could do was make things better now, and that was getting the judge to see through this game Alison had pulled her daughter and her friends into.

"Take a few minutes, then come out for breakfast, ok?" Veronica says with a smile. "I'll ask Caleb to come help you, Toby?"

"I can do it," Spencer says, and though Veronica looks skeptical, she nods, and departs. Both she and Toby are quiet after she leaves, as Toby shifts closer to her, finding the damn cast around his leg cumbersome.

He sees a look on Spencer's face and frowns, his hand resting against her back, gently rubbing up and down. "What's wrong?" Toby inquires.

Quiet for a moment longer, Spencer finally turns to look at him. "I've waited so long to hear her say that. But she feels guilty for something not her fault, I don't want her to feel guilty."

Toby looks back at her for a moment, before silently wrapping her in his arms. She's always so concerned about everyone else, wanting to take care of them. "It'll all work out," Toby murmurs.

Spencer nods, making herself listen and believe him, and a silence falls for a few more minutes, until Toby speaks up. "Um...can you help me get to the bathroom?"

Finding the simple question somehow comical, Spencer giggles a little, and then finds herself breaking into laughter. He's unsure why she's laughing, but the smile on her face, the sound of her laughter makes him smile widely, as he tries to commit it to his memory. She nods through the laughing, and leans in, kissing him. "Of course," She says, finally stopping, though she still smiles, getting up and moving around the bed. Spencer helps him to his feet and hands him the crutches that probably Caleb had propped in the corner, sticking close behind him as he hobbles to the bathroom. The easy smile and laughter is gone, but as Spencer waits for him to be done so she can help him to the wheelchair, she feels a tiny bit lighter. She had to listen to him and believe, somehow that this would work, that everything would be ok, no matter how hard it was.

xXxXx

"This tracker needs to have a green light at all times. It gives you the ability to go throughout the perimeter of your parent's property. If it turns orange, you have five seconds to get back within range, once it turns red, the police have been notified."

Spencer sits still on the couch in the living room, her mother sitting on one side and Toby on the other, holding tight to her hand. The tech was in the kitchen, where he was setting up the responder, and the officer sat before her. He's pointing at the monitor that will soon be on her ankle, anchoring her to her house. "Ms. Hastings, I need you to verbally recognize that you understand these instructions." Spencer looks up at the cop, and nods slowly.

"I understand." Her voice comes out hoarse, a lump in her throat, and Toby tightens his hand around hers, pulling it to his lap and wrapping his other hand around hers, gently moving his thumb back and forth against her skin.

The cop nods once. "Good. You're allowed to leave the house to attend court and medical appointments only. You will be subject to random drug testing, and random check ins. You may see a patrol car drive by occasionally, which is also a normal occurrence. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Spencer whispers.

"I'm going to place this around your ankle now, ok?" He asks, holding up the device, his hands visible.

Spencer struggles to swallow the lump in her throat, struggles to talk as the tears sting at her eyes, and she nods, forcing it out, the word sounding like whimper as her voice breaks. "Yes."

Veronica looks down at her lap, taking hold of the hand that Toby didn't have, just as her daughter's boyfriend lets go of her hand to instead wrap his arms around her. The officer leans forward, placing the tracker around her left ankle. He fiddles with it for a moment, securing it in place. It's not tight around her, but it still feels constricting, awful.

Spencer drowns it out as the cop and the tech say a few more words to her parents. Her mom gets up with her dad to see them off, and Spencer turns into Toby's arms, burying her face against his neck.

"It'll be ok, Spence," Hanna speaks up from where she sits at the kitchen table with her mom, Caleb, Emily, Mrs. Fields, and Paige. "We're going to end it."

Veronica and Peter return, and Spencer looks up as her mom puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, honey. Us parents talked," She begins. "Tomorrow, we have an appointment with Judge Russo, Tanner, Holbrook, and the district attorney. We want you to tell them everything you told us, exactly as you told it. If they ask, you'll submit to polygraph tests. You all may wind up on probation or something, for what happened to Jenna and keeping information from the cops, but the truth will be out and they can figure out what the DiLaurentis family is hiding. It's going to be ok, Spencer," She says softly.

"We're all going to stay here again tonight," Ashley says, "And then go to the station in the morning. We're all in this together. We all want what's best for you girls and at this point it's telling the truth and letting everything work out how it will."

"What about Melissa?" Spencer asks.

Veronica looks at Peter, annoyed, before looking back to Spencer. "We're not sure," She finally says. "We're going to tell them what she said, I want you to show them the video. The truth means the whole truth. She's in the UK," She says. "Where your father sent her. So whatever happens, happens."

Spencer nods. "I want to go lay down," She murmurs.

"Ok," Veronica says, patting her back gently. "Good idea."

"Come with me?" Spencer whispers, turning to Toby.

"Of course," He nods. Spencer hands him the crutches, and he struggles up to his feet, slowly moving with her down the hall, to the den where they'd slept the night before. Shutting the door behind them, Spencer sits on the bed, laying down and staring at the ceiling as Toby moves around the bed, and sits down. Propping his crutches on the wall, he leans back, looking over at her. Spencer's laying there, her eyes now on the ankle monitor. "Spence," He says gently, "Don't think about it. That's all that really works. I know it's a lot easier said than done, but you have to try. What can I do to distract you?"

Spencer knows she can't tell him he doesn't understand, because he does. He'd been in this same position, only he didn't have himself, like she did. At that point, he barely had her. She had him, she had her friends, her family. They had a plan. But she couldn't help feel trapped, again. Like this was the end. "Kiss me," She whispers, eyes locking with his. "Make me feel stable again."

Toby looks at her for a long moment, hating that she felt so broken and lost. Reaching up, his hands cup her face and he moved in to kiss her. Their lips meet hot and passionately, Spencer's hands forming fists around Toby's shirt, pulling him closer as their tongues meet each other. She swings her leg over him so she's straddling him, wanting to be closer. They kiss until they both need to breathe, and reluctantly break apart, Spencer's head falling to his shoulder as she gasps for breath. Her heart beats fast in her chest, and underneath her head, she feels his beating, faster than normal. She was alive. She was someone, she was making it through, somehow. Tomorrow it would be over, or on the way to be anyways.

For the moment, she just lays there against Toby, trying not to think. Just there, as she is, for the moment.