Chapter 2

I don't own PLL

Ezra's POV

I was jolted from my slumber by Aria's piercing scream. My eyes shoot open in panic the moment I realize Aria isn't lying in my arms. Aria was sitting up in bed clutching the comforter to her chest with tears streaming down her chest. I don't hesitate a moment to sit up, scoot back against the pillows and lightly tug on her arm to gesture for her to my welcoming arms. Aria sniffs while quickly climbing into my lap and clinging to my body.

"What happened sweetie?"

"Horrible nightmare; A killed you and made me watch, then they killed me right after." She whimpers into my neck.

Suddenly her bedroom door flew open to revel a panic stricken Ella and Byron. Ella flips on the light and hurries over to the bed, where as Byron froze in place when his eyes land on his daughter's shirtless boyfriend in her bed with her in my arms.

"Is she okay? What happened, Aria?" Ella worries.

"She had a very vivid, horrible nightmare." I explain for Aria since she is in sobs.

"Is there anything I can get for you honey?" She asks, Aria just shakes her head and hides it in the crook of my neck.

"Actually, do you have any hot chocolate in the house? I usually make that for her with a lot of little marshmallows when she's been either upset or has a bad dream. It always seems to soothe her." I ask Ella while trying to discretely pull the comforter up over Aria and I so Byron won't see what we are both wearing- or what we aren't wearing.

"Of course, I'll be right back. Byron, come downstairs with me." Ella says to help cut the awkward tension in the room coming from him.

"It's okay sweetheart, you are safe. No one is ever going to harm you again. I promise I will do everything humanly possible to keep you safe." I whisper into her ear once her parents walk out of the door.

"How? A could come after me when I'm not with you." Her voice is hoarse and low from the crying.

"Well frankly I don't plan on ever letting you out of my sight! I'll kick anyone's ass that comes near you. How does that sound?"

"You promise?" She smiles up at me and sniffles a few times to stop the tears from falling.

"Yes, I promise baby." I gently wipe her tears then softly kiss her.

Aria grabs the comforter and pulls it up around us after she shivered from the loss of warmth.

"You know my dad probably wants to kill you right now if he saw you didn't have a shirt on and were only wearing boxers. Don't even get me started on if he realizes this is your shirt I am wearing."

I smile when I feel Aria starting to relax in my arms. I run my fingers through her hair constantly as she snuggled into me and sighs in comfort. Before long Ella returns to the room with a mug of hot chocolate and marshmallows for Aria.

"Thank you." Aria says to Ella when she hands Aria the warm mug.

"Is there anything else you need, honey?"

"No thank you. The coco is perfect, I don't need anything else." Aria shakes her head to Ella.

"If you need anything at all just come and get me. Goodnight you two." Ella kisses Aria's forehead before her and Byron walk back out the door, turning off the light and softly shutting the door behind them.

"How's the hot chocolate?" I ask in her ear as I tuck her hair behind her ear causing her to smile faintly.

"It's perfect. Want a sip?" She hands me the mug to take a delicious sip of the wonderful liquid.

"Well this puts my hot chocolate to shame!" I mock horror.

"Oh I love yours too honey." Aria tries not to giggle and kisses my lips to reassure me.

"You're just saying that so I don't feel bad about my coco making." I playfully pout knowing the teasing will make her laugh and help forget about her nightmare.

Aria let out a little giggle after finishing off her drink. She slowly moved her head closer to whisper softly into my ear. "You got a little chocolate mustache; let me get that for you." Her hot breath makes me shiver with anticipation. Aria slowly licks off the chocolate then kissed across my upper lip as if to make sure it was all gone.

"There you go babe all clean, and very taste if I say so myself." Aria grins at me before moving to lie back down on the bed.

"Ready to go back to sleep?" I ask as I slide down on her soft silky sheets and turn on my side to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah, the hot chocolate really helped. Thank you, babe." Aria let out a little yawn and her eyes drifted shut. I pull her closer into my body while still being cautions of her wrist. After kissing her forehead I let myself fall back into a deep sleep.

Aria's POV

The following morning Mike came into my room to inform Ezra and me breakfast was ready. After he left the room we got out of bed and got dressed. I simply slipped on a pair of cozy pajama pants on under Ezra's shirt where as Ezra changed back into his clothes from last night. After we were dressed I laced my fingers in his then lead us out the door, but before we got too far down the hall he spun me around and wrapped me in his arms.

"Wait." He says suddenly and holds me close.

"What? What's wrong?" I fur my eyebrows.

"Nothing, I just wanted to do this before we are in a very tense room with your dad."

Ezra ran his fingers through my hair to lightly grip the back of my head to tilt my head up so he could kiss me deeply. I moan in pleasure into his mouth, wrapping my arms around his neck and lean my body into his. At a loss of breath we slowly break apart. Ezra caresses my cheek when I slowly come down off the tops of my toes and stare him in the eye.

"I love you." He whispers softly.

"I love you. Let's go get this over with so I can move on from last night as soon as possible." I tug on his hand.

Ezra leads me down the stairs and directly into the kitchen. Dad and Mike were already sitting down while mom was finishing putting food on her plate. Ezra and I put our desired food on our plates while everyone greeted each other good morning. Byron's jaw clenched when he noticed my attire but I didn't give him a second glance. Ezra sat down next to me at the table then reached for my hand under the table. I smiled at our hands resting in my lap.

Well over an hour later breakfast was eaten, cleaned up, and over. Now everyone sat in the living room with dead silence surrounding us. Ezra and I were sitting undeniably close to each other with Ella and Byron sitting across from us on the other couch, Mike was sitting in the chair next to the couch Ella and Byron were on. I think the coffee table is only thing preventing dad from coming over here to push Ezra and me apart. Mike cleared his throat awkwardly and cast his gaze about the room hoping someone would start talking.

"Okay, so what happened last night Aria?" Ella starts off the conversation.

"As you know we all went to the ghost train yesterday. Well Ezra couldn't go with me so I had wondered around the train by myself. I noticed I was starting to get very drowsy. Before long I guess someone pulled me out of the chair I was in and moved me down to the cargo car. I was in and out of it; I thought it was one of the girls taking me to lay down in one of the private rooms but it wasn't."

I look down at my hands as I start to tremble and think back to what happened. I felt Ezra wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me into his side. His warm arm around me soothed me and helped me continue on before taking a deep breath.

"I must have passed out because when I woke up I was in a cargo box and my wrists were duck taped together as well as having my mouth taped shut. But that wasn't what scared me most. I wasn't in the box alone."

"What do you mean you weren't alone? Who else was in there?" Dad's voice was strained.

"Garrett Reynolds, he was dead." I whisper with tears in my eyes as those horrible images flash through my mind.

"What?!" Everyone in the room yelled out. Ezra tightened his arms around me protectively and held me even closer than we had been.

"After I got the tape off of my mouth I screamed as much as I could but no one was there to help me. Who ever put me in the box returned because they tried to push it out the side of the train. All I remember was hearing the door open and two people arguing. The box kept sliding closer and closer to the side. I- I thought for sure I was going to die." I erupt into sobs in Ezra's shirt.

Ezra shits us so I could curl into his side better. He held me tight as he tries to soothe me and I hear everyone asking questions. As much as I try to answer everyone, I just couldn't. Instead I buried my head in Ezra's chest and griped his shirt. After awhile I finally managed to compose myself and turned my head out of Ezra's chest to look at my parents.

"Honey, how did you get out of that crate?" Mom asks hesitantly, as if trying not to scare me.

"The girls found me right as it was going to fall out of the train. They pulled it back in and pried the crate open then lifted me out." My voice was scratchy from the crying.

"Then they called the police who in turn called us, correct?" Byron spoke up.

I nod my head silently.

"Okay, the one thing I don't get is how does Fitz equal into this? Mom told me last night when they showed up, you were with him. But you said he couldn't make it." Mike questions.

"I was waiting at the ending destination to pick her up so I could surprise Aria. However someone told the people waiting that there was a situation so the train was halted until dealt with. I was terrified something happened to Aria so I jumped into my car and drove the train route until I found it." Ezra explains.

"I can't believe this. Who would want to do such a thing to you?" Ella cries.

"I don't know. I just want to forget all about it. Thinking about it will only keep me upset so I want to move on as soon as possible."

"Well as much as I don't like you, I want to thank you for being there for my baby girl. I'm glad she wasn't waiting by herself for us after the given situation." Byron says stiffly to Ezra.

"My pleasure, Sir. I would literally do anything it takes to keep her safe; Aria means the world to me." Ezra replies to him.

"Mom, can either I go over to Ezra's or can he stay here for a while please?"

Ella looks over at Byron for a minute before turning back to me.

"You may go over there for a while but you need to be back for dinner. I'm sure Ezra is dying to get out of that suit and change into something more comfortable, aren't you?" Ella smiles up at a nervous Ezra.

"Yes I certainly am." He laughs softly.

"Thank you!" I say to my parent's then turn to Ezra. "I am going to go get dressed then I'll be ready."

I hurry up the stairs to get ready before my parents can change their mind. I decide to simply slip on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a hoodie, leaving Ezra's cozy shirt on. Knowing we'll just be laying in bed watching a movie probably I don't bother with makeup. Besides, I'm sure Ezra will ask more questions and the last thing I want is for my makeup to run so it's better to just do without. After slipping on a pair of tennis shoes rather than heels, I head back downstairs to see a nervous looking Ezra talking with my dad and Mike. They all immediately stop talking as soon as they hear me coming down the stairs.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, let's go." Ezra smiles while getting up to walk me to the door. When we get to his car I ask him what my dad was talking with him about.

"Just to have you back by dinner and make sure you are okay." Ezra reaches for my hand as we drive off.

"Oh okay, as long as it was nothing I should be worried about. Thank you for staying over last night; it really meant a lot to me." I lean over to kiss his cheek.

"I'll always be here for you sweetheart." Ezra caresses my thigh.

I smile for one of the first times in the past 24 hours. I get to spend the day with Ezra and forget about everything that happened. All I can do is hope this whole A ghost train situation gets resolved and moved on as soon as possible.

I wanted to thank and give credit to Guest and crayolakid0413 (btw love your username!) for saying in a review they wanted Aria to have a nightmare. I was going to actually write a nightmare but a lot of things came up as well as having to go out of town so I haven't been able to write and I didn't feel it was write to drag out the wait of chapter two. Thank you all for the amazing reviews. 42! That is crazy!

Also I might have another short Ezra fluffy story that maybe a two-shot? I was writing a scene for this story but it didn't feel like it fit right so I am taking it to put in another story because it's too funny not to use. Love talking to you all on twitter too! GilmoreGirls582