Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters.
Spoilers: Season 2 and 3 of PLL. If you have not seen the ending of two onwards, please do not read or read at your own discretion. Spoilers for seasons 4 and 6 of Law & Order SVU.
Rated: T to be safe.

Thank you to those who reviewed on the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one. It will be Maya coming home, and seeing everyone.

Notes: Caleb was shot on a Saturday, so two days later would be Monday after school.

Enjoy!

*Two days later – Emily's house*

Two days later and everyone is gathered back at Em's house. The girls didn't go to school as they have been back and forth to the hospital to see Caleb, – who is recovering nicely, – and prepping everything for Maya's return, which should be later today.

Emily is also waiting for her sister, 9-year-old Grace, to get home from school. She needs to tell the younger girl that the woman who she looked up to, who she thought of as the best person in the universe, is not dead.

"She's here!" Aria calls out from where she was the lookout, waiting by the window for Grace's arrival. The little girl runs up the sidewalk and throws open the door.

"Sissy, I'm home!" Grace throws down her backpack and runs to the kitchen to find her older sister.

"Hey, Gracie-bug!" Emily picks her up and spins her around, something Pam has told her not to do as Gracie is a third-grader and much too old for Emily to do so (but, Gracie declared, she will never be "too" old for her daddy or one of the boys to do it).

"How was school?"

"Great!" Gracie takes the bottle of water and apple slices and caramel dip Spencer offers her. "Thanks, Spencie! Sissy, we got our spelling tests back today and I only missed two words! But I got the bonus, super bonus, and super-duper bonus words right!"

Gracie's class gets a list of 10 words each week that is appropriate for a third-grader to spell. Then, when their teacher gives the test, she gives three extra words that are harder than the normal ones. These three words can range anywhere from a fourth grader's word to even one only a sixth- or seventh-grader would know.

"Really? Well, that's great! Do you have your paper? We can put it on the fridge to show mommy when she gets home." Gracie nods eagerly and runs off to get it, coming back and showing Spencer, – who gives her approval, – and then puts it up with a magnetic apple.

After a few more minutes, and once Grace is finished with her snack, Emily decides now would be the best time to tell her about Maya.

The girls go upstairs to give them some privacy while Emily tells Grace to go sit on the couch.

"Gracie," Emily begins gently. "I have something I need to tell you."

Grace looks at her older sister, worried for a moment. "Is everything ok, Sissy?"

"Yes, everything is just fine," Emily pauses, wondering how the hell she is going to explain to her 9-year-old sister that the person who was her best friend, who was like a big sister to Grace, is not actually dead.

"Gracie, do you remember a while, earlier this year, when a lot of bad stuff was happening? Back in April?"

"Yes," Grace nods solemnly. "You, and Spence and Ari and Ali and Hanna found out that Mona Vanderwaal was the one sending you bad messages and trying to hurt you."

"Yes, that is right. And do you remember anything else that happened?"

Silence.

She knows Gracie does remember; she knows the minute the little girl brings forth every moment of that bad night.

"Yes," She whispers. "Auntie Maya went missin'. Then the police… found her. They said she was–… That she was dead."

A tear slips down her baby sister's cheek, and it breaks Emily's heart because they lied, they fucking lied to this little girl, and it's just not fair.

"Yes, that is right," Emily says, then takes a deep breath and steels herself. "Gracie, there is something very important that I need to tell you about that, but first, I am going to ask you a question, to make sure you can understand. Okay?"

Gracie nods.

"Do you remember when mommy let you want Law and Order with me? And you saw Alex get shot?"

"Yes, Sissy. She was shot by a very bad man who was angry with her."

"And do you remember what happened after that? What everyone thought?"

"She wasn't really dead. But she had to pretend to be dead. She had to go into Witness Protection, so the bad man couldn't try to kill her again. But then she came back. When it was safe. She came home again."

Even though she is so very confused, Gracie explains all of this, remembering when Emily explained it to her when they first watched that episode. Grace was very upset because Alex was one of her favorite characters.

But it was all better when her big sister promised she did not actually die, and they watched the end of the episode when Alex meets up with Liv and Eliot to say goodbye and tell them she is going into WitSec.

Emily nods, smiling, or at least, trying to.

"Well, it turns out that…" She takes in a deep, deep breath, and says the words that will upright her baby sister's world. "Maya is a lot like Alex."

She sees Gracie furrow her brow, scrunching up her face in that adorable, little kid confused way.

But the thing about Grace is… she is sometimes too smart for her own good. So, after several minutes of thinking about it, Emily sees an onslaught of emotions flicker across her face.

"What–… What do you mean… by… that?"

Emily runs her tongue over her top lip, gathering herself. "I mean that… Maya is not dead. She was not killed. A very bad man, named Lynden James, tried to hurt her. And she and her family had to fake her death. They went into Witness Protection, and that is where they have been for the past six months."

Another deep breath and then, "What I am saying is that… Maya is alive."

It happens in a flash.

The confused look melts into an oh-so-angry one, as the words hit Grace with full-force. She narrows her eyes and Emily is hit with how much she resembles Alison at this moment.

She even gets the Queen Bee's voice right when she says lowly, "Maya is alive?" And then, "You lied to me?"

Emily goes to speak but Gracie is standing up, looking so grown up in this moment, so pissed off, and not at all like a little 9-year-old third grader.

"How dare you!" She screams. "You lied! Why? Why couldn't you tell me this? I–I–…" She deflates, and the words seem to actually settle into her brain, the meaning of them, exactly what her big sister just said, and she crumbles into… into…

She just… sighs, and her bottom lip trembles, and Emily reaches out for her, but she slaps away her hands.

"I hate you!" She screams before turning and running up the stairs, down the hall to her room, and slamming the door.

The girls come down a few moments later, wife-eyed and concerned about all the yelling. Emily tells them that… Gracie took it about as well as she could have managed. She is pissed, but that was expected, because this is a big thing to lie to her about.

A fictional character on a TV show faking her death and going into WitSec is one thing. But to be told that someone who she loved, someone who she thought of as a big sister, was dead, when really… she was just like that fictional character, faking her death for her own safety… That is whole other ordeal.

Gracie stays in her room for the next several hours. Emily gets a call from Samara, who has heard from Jack. Maya and her family are flying home at this moment and should be here within a few hours.

Pam gets home around six. Emily tells her what happened with Gracie, and she goes upstairs to speak with her youngest daughter, comforting her, telling her that it was not on purpose that Ali and Emily kept this secret from her.

She also reminds her that the important thing is that… Maya is alive. She is coming home.

At the end of their conversation, Pam tells her she needs to accept Emily's apology but does not have to forgive her if she feels she cannot just yet. Gracie is free to feel all the emotions she is feeling right now, including anger towards her sister.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/

*Approximately 4 hours later*

It's not until the evening, after dinner and after Gracie has had her bath, that they show up.

Jack brings her by himself while Maya's parents go straight to their old house.

They knock on the door and Maya cannot even begin to describe all the feelings she has in this moment. She is about to come face-to-face with the group of people who she loves more than anyone in the world. The group of people, – her girlfriend – whom she has not seen in 6 months.

The door is opened by Pam, and, while she knows who it is, her heart still stutters at the sight of the girl who she came to think of as her own daughter. Jack takes a few steps away from the two, to give them a little privacy.

"Hi, Pam," She breathes not even bothering to stop the tears.

Pam immediately steps forward, crushing her in a hug. She squeezes just as tightly, reveling in the feeling she was unsure she would get have again. There is rustling directly behind Pam, and then… voices.

Voices of her best friends; of her family.

"Em! She's here!"

This is Aria and as soon as it is said, Maya is pulling away from Pam only to be crushed by said girl, along with Spencer, then Hanna, and then…

They pull away, stepping to the side, allowing her to see the person coming down the stairs. Maya's breath catches in her throat as she looks at her… her girlfriend. They both close the gap at the same time and before she knows it, she is in the arms of the one person she dreamed of seeing again.

"I am so glad you are here, baby," Emily whispers as Maya tightens her grip. "I love you so much." She feels Maya pressing her face against her neck, murmuring a muffled I love you, too before a sound on the stairs behind them causes them to pull away from each other.

Emily moves out of her line of sight and Maya looks to the stairs…

And…

There she is.

The little girl who she nearly loves more than anyone in the entire world, only second to Emily, of course.

Grace stays frozen, on the fourth step up, wide-eyed and trying to convince herself that the last several hours were just a dream and that she is going to wake up any moment. Even when Maya steps forward, her right foot coming to the first step, she still just… doesn't believe it.

Not until Maya is actually speaking, "Gracie…" And reaching out for her, does she realize…

"Maya…?"

"Come here, Ladybug."

The nine-year-old practically jumps into her arms at the sound of her nickname, the one Maya gave, the one only Maya was allowed to call her. Maya picks her up, holding onto her even though Grace is nearly too big for her to pick up.

"This isn't a dream, right, Auntie Maya? You're really here?" Maya's heart breaks as Gracie chokes this out but she is immediately tightening her grip, whispering,

"No, Ladybug, no… It isn't a dream. This is real life, baby. I promise."

The two stay in the embrace for several more minutes. Emily tears her eyes away from the sight of her baby sister and the woman she loves, looking to her left, to see Alison there, her baby blue eyes darkening as they fill tears.

Just as Emily goes to pull Ali into a hug, the blonde chokes, "E-Em… You–… You need to call him." Then, she is breaking down in her best friend's arms.

Emily knows she is right – they need to call one last person. The one who it is pertinent to know about what is going on here, at the Fields' residence, at this moment.

Sniffling, Emily pulls back. She walks into the kitchen, to the table where her phone is currently charging, in a mess of homework sheets from Gracie, Hanna, and Aria, and tangled in the cords of Pam and Spencer's phones, and Gracie's tablet, which are all charging, as well.

She picks up her phone, it is an iPhone, and she has to enter a 4-digit passcode to unlock it. 0901 – Labor Day. The day she and Maya became official. Once it is unlocked, Emily taps the phone icon, and then selects the phone number.

It rings a total of four times, and then…

She hears his voice.

"Hey, Em! What's up?"

She chokes out a sob, trying several times to speak, but failing miserably. In the end, Noel is practically begging her to tell him what is going on.

"No-Noel, I–… I need you to… I need to come over."

He doesn't even question it. The sound of her crying breaks his heart and he is immediately telling her he'll be right over.

He goes to tell his parents, who protest at first but then give in when they see the distraught look on his face, companied by him saying, "It's Em. I don't what happened. She just called and asked me to come over. She could barely speak she was so upset."

They permit him to go then. And he rushes to find a bag, stuffing clothes in it suitable for school tomorrow, along with a toothbrush, He grabs his school bag, as well. He has no idea what is going on, or if he will even need to spend the night, but it is better safe than sorry.

He makes it to the Fields' house in less than 15 minutes. Emily opens the door before he is even all the way up the porch steps, and the look on her face…

God, it breaks him.

He stumbles a bit, feeling the air knocked out of him. Reaching for her, Noel pulls Emily into a hug as she breaks down but only for a second because then…

Then, she is pulling away, and she is sniffling, and taking a deep breath, and saying,

"Noel, I want you to know that we had to do this. It was the only way she would be safe, and I am so, so sorry we could not tell you."

It confuses him. His mind is not processing things clearly at the moment, but he follows her inside, and to the kitchen doorway entrance, and…

She steps out from around the corner. Distantly, the bags in Noel's hands make a thump sound when they slip from his grasp.

He feels like he literally can't breathe.

The girl he is looking at–… There is–… No, it has to be something else, he reasons. A relative. A cousin. It has to be, because…

There is absolutely no way he is standing in Emily Fields' kitchen, looking at…

"M-Maya?"

And there it is! This is going to be an even four chapters. Next one will be Noel and Maya talking, and Emily, Ali, and Maya explaining about her and her family going into Witness Protection. I am not sure when that one will be up, as this story is not a priority at the moment, so I don't really spend much time writing it.

Please review and let me know what you thought! :)