"I don't want you to move in with Spencer."

Emily looked up from her coffee, startled by the sudden statement. She found Hanna staring at her seriously from across the counter. "What? Hanna, you know I can't stay at Ali's…"

"No, that's not what I mean." Hanna stated with a shake of her head. "I just don't want you to move in with Spencer."

If anything Emily only looked more confused. "I don't understand."

"Move in with me." Hanna propositioned, leaning across the counter. "It'll be just like the last time."

"Oh…I-I don't know Han, with everything that's going on with your mom, I don't want to impose."

"Nothing's going on with my mom." Hanna was quick to wave Emily's concerns off. "The charges were dropped, remember?"

"I know but you both probably need to spend time alone together." Emily argued feebly. "I'm just going to get in the way."

"Of course you won't." Hanna said with a roll of her eyes. "You know my mom loves you, she practically wanted to adopt you the last time you stayed with us."

Emily couldn't help but smile at that, recalling her many interactions with Ashley Marin. "Still, I think I should just stay with Spencer."

"Come on Em, please?" Hanna practically begged. "I want you there, I need you there."

Emily's brow furrowed in concern. "Is something wrong?"

Hanna sighed softly. "Emily."

"Hanna, if there's something wrong you can tell me." Emily stated gently. She reached out and gripped Hanna's hand. "You know that."

"I know. Nothing is wrong though, it's just that a lot has happened recently and I want my best friend to be close to me, is that suddenly a crime?"

"Of course not." Emily gave Hanna's hand a light squeeze before letting go. "Okay, I'll stay with you. But we have to ask your mom first."

Hanna perked up slightly in response to the unspoken agreement. "I already did, she said it's fine."

"I should have known." Emily shook her head in amusement. "Fine, I'll get my stuff from Ali's house and I'll come over to your house tonight."

"Tonight?" Hanna echoed, slightly disappointed. "What's wrong with doing it right now?"

Emily laughed as Hanna walked around the table. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I just don't want you in that house any longer than you have to be okay?" Hanna grabbed Emily's hand and tugged her from the stool she was sitting on. "Come on, let's go get your stuff, it's getting late anyway."

"So I was thinking that if we can somehow monitor A's lair we should be able to keep track of him."

Hanna rolled her eyes at Spencer's inability to focus on anything other than the A situation. "Yeah, that's great Spence but I…"

"Which means that we'll be able to stay one step ahead and we won't be as vulnerable to whatever A has to throw at us next."

"Spencer…"

"I don't know about you but I think it's a good thing that for once we're going to be one step ahead of A rather than two steps behind him."

"Right. Spen…"

"I mean we already know he's a guy which is more than we knew before so we're making progress…"

"Spencer!"

"All we have to do is catch someone walking into the lair and we'll know…"

Hanna released an exasperated sigh and promptly hung up. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Aria's name and quickly pressed dial before lifting the phone back to her ear. She listened intently to the dial tone for a moment before Aria picked up.

"Hey Han!" Aria giggled softly into the phone. "Did you just hang up on Spencer?"

"Yeah, she wouldn't let me get a word in." Hanna answered distractedly. "Aria…"

"You should see her face right now, she's just staring at her phone. It's amazing."

"Aria!" Hanna snapped impatiently. "Could you listen to me for one second please?"

"Yeah, sorry," Aria's voice grew slightly more sombre. "What's up?"

"I need some advice." Hanna said, shifting on her bed. She glanced towards the doorway to make sure that Emily wasn't approaching, "The romantic kind."

"Okay, shoot." Aria answered curiously. "I'm listening. Actually, wait a minute Hanna…"

Hanna sighed to herself as the line went quiet. She waited for a couple of moments before Aria returned.

"Spencer wants me to put you on speaker."

"Okay, fine." Hanna said quickly. "But hurry up, Emily is in the bathroom and she's going to be back any second now."

"You're on speaker, go ahead." Aria assured her.

"How do I find out if someone is into me?" Hanna blurted out, casting another glance at the door. "Without them realizing what I'm trying to do?"

"Um…why wouldn't you want them to know?" Spencer asked curiously. "Don't you usually just let someone know that you're into them if you are?"

"It's complicated." Hanna answered, her eyes fixated on the door.

"How is it complicated?" Aria cut in.

"I'm already friends with them. I don't want to screw that up." Hanna admitted nervously. "If they don't feel the same way everything will be weird and awkward and…will you just answer the question?"

"Give them the test."

"The test?" Hanna and Spencer echoed in unison.

"You know…test them. To make sure they like you. There's a list of tests."

"Aria, what are you talking about?" Hanna asked, obviously confused. "What's on the list?"

"I'll send it to you."

"Okay." Hanna was slightly unsure but she figured she may as well give it a shot.

"Why didn't you just ask Emily about this instead of calling us?" Spencer inquired curiously. "Isn't she staying with you?"

"I can't tell Emily, that's the point. She's…" Hanna trailed off, realizing that she was saying too much.

"You like Emily?" Spencer interrupted loudly, apparently having figured out what Hanna had inadvertently hinted at. "Since when?"

"I didn't say…"

"You did use gender neutral terms." Aria said, sounding just as surprised as Spencer. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Hanna huffed out a sigh and rolled her eyes skywards. "I didn't know until she almos…" she trailed off, her eyes shifting towards the doorway in time to see the handle turning. "I have to go, Emily is coming. Send me the list Aria!" She quickly lowered the phone and hung up just as the door opened. Emily walked into the room wearing a pair of short shorts and a t-shirt. "Hey!"

"Hey…you closed the door." Emily said as she too shut the door behind her.

"Uh…yeah," Hanna nodded as Emily walked further into the room. "I was…changing."

Emily shot Hanna a puzzled look. "Who were you on the phone to? Spencer?"

"Spencer and Aria." Hanna replied shiftily. "They just wanted to say goodnight."

"Okay." Emily walked over to her own bed and slipped into it, rather tired after the long day they'd had. "Goodnight Hanna."

"Goodnight Em," Hanna responded quietly. She shut the bedside light off and moved to get into bed, turning onto her side. Her phone pinged next to her, the screen displaying a text message from Aria. Deciding to read it tomorrow Hanna closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

Step one: Are they physically attracted to you?

Hanna thoughtfully chewed her bottom lip as she stared at the screen of her phone. Finding out if Emily was attracted to her was a lot easier said than done. She had no idea where to start with the task.

"Hey Hanna, I'm going out for a run." Emily announced, appearing in the doorway. She leaned against the door and shot Hanna a playful smirk. "Do you want to join me?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. She was just about to say no when something occurred to her. "Yeah, sure. Just let me shower and change first."

"You're actually coming with me?" Emily looked surprised by the agreement. "Since when do you run? Do you even own sneakers?"

"Of course I own…" Hanna trailed off, realizing that she did not in fact own anything other than high heels. "Um…you have some I can lend right? We're about the same size."

"Sure." Emily shook her head with a laugh and watched as Hanna stood up from the bed and made to walk out of the room, "Wait…did you say you're taking a shower before you run?"

"Well yeah." Hanna shrugged as if the answer was obvious. She brushed past Emily and called over her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to go out without showering would I?"

"Of course not,"

Hanna grinned at the fondness she detected in Emily's voice. Aware that Emily was watching her walk away she gripped the bottom of her shirt and tugged it over her head before dropping it to the floor. She paused and looked over her shoulder, more to check Emily's reaction than anything else.

Emily was staring at her, her mouth slightly agape and her hand gripping the edge of the bedroom door in a vice like grip. Hanna shot Emily a small smile before she walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. All she had to do was carry out phase two of her plan. Hanna switched the shower on and quickly stripped down. She waited a moment, allowing the water to wash over her body before she moved her hand to the dial. Taking a deep breath she turned the dial all the way to cold. It turned icy almost immediately and she jumped back with a shriek.

"EMILY!"

A long moment passed Hanna heard the loud thud of footsteps approaching the door. Emily burst into the room a few seconds later, a panicked look on her face. She glanced around as if she expected to find someone else in the bathroom with Hanna.

"What?!" Emily turned to Hanna and blushed brightly when she noticed her state of undress. "Um…What happened?"

"The shower is cold." Hanna explained, feigning covering herself up. "I tried to turn the dial but the water is still cold even when it's on the highest temperature."

Emily rolled up her sleeve and reached for the dial in the shower, turning it up to a more acceptable temperature. She positioned her hand under the spray of water and waited for a moment before it warmed up. "It seems fine to me."

Hanna moved her hand so that it was just over Emily's, their fingers lightly touching. "Oh." She glanced at Emily with a warm smile. "Thanks Em. What would I do without you?"

Emily laughed nervously, her gaze briefly ducking to Hanna's exposed body before she looked away again. "Y-you're welcome." She tried to sound calm but her voice came out an octave higher than usual.

Hanna deliberately gripped Emily's hand under the spray. "Is something wrong Em?"

"No." Emily's eyes flicked back to Hanna's glistening body before she pulled her hand away and took a step back. "Everything is fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh…" Emily couldn't help but look Hanna up and down. "I um…" realizing what she was doing she looked away quickly. "I'm going to wait for you in your bedroom…downstairs! I-I'll wait downstairs."

"Okay." Hanna watched as Emily turned and hurried out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She grinned to herself as she stepped back under the now warm spray of water.

"Test one…check."

TBC.