Remember Me

Aria drove home with the radio blaring, trying to block out any thoughts or scenarios that popped into her head. Her mind was reeling over what had just happened with the police. She was now being forced to come forward about things she never intended to admit. She never wanted anyone to know she was raped, besides Ezra, the girls and her family, and now there was going to be a trial. And worst of all, it was all going to be open to public consumption and ridicule.

She pulled into her spot in the driveway, and quickly walked up the pathway to the front door, straining her ears for sounds of her parents or Mike inside.

The house was eerily quiet as she stepped across the threshold, and she couldn't hear any traces of her family.

Aria glanced down at her watch; it clearly read 6:00 pm. As she looked up, she noticed a small yellow post-it on the kitchen counter.

"Out to dinner with dad + Mike, be back soon.

Xoxo, Mom"

Aria groaned as her eyes searched the empty home, and she felt a sense of panic erupt from within her as she realized just how alone and vulnerable she was right now in this moment. Her fingers hovered over the touch screen of her iPhone as she contemplated calling Ezra or the girls and inviting them over. But she knew the girls were still angry with her for what she had said to Spencer, and she couldn't blame them for that. She had been out of line, but she just didn't know what to do anymore. She was feeling lost, and so alone in this mess that had become her life.

"Maybe if I hadn't gone out that night, none of this would've ever happened," Aria murmured to herself as she ran her fingers over the cool surface of the kitchen counter.

Her hands gently fluttered over her stomach as a gentle kick pulled her from her self-reflective state, and into reality.

"Are you hungry, little baby?" Aria whispered to her abdomen, feeling slightly ridiculous since there was no outward sign of a pregnancy due to her ever-present flat stomach.

She opened the stainless steel fridge to reveal Chinese takeout from the other night, and against her first impulse to put down the food and throw up the salad she had for lunch, she grabbed a fork from the drawer next to her hip and began to eat the cold noodle and vegetable medley.

Aria dropped the cardboard container of noodles as she heard a key jingle in the front door. Her heart began to race as panic and fear consumed her being. She scanned the room quickly, her eyes settling on a large steak knife as she grabbed it from its holder on the counter, and dove behind the island for cover.

She peered around the side of the island, straining her eyes to see into the dark hallway. A shadowy figure stood in the front hall, looking left and right, before quickly closing and locking the door behind him.

"Aria?" the figure called out, the voice instantly becoming recognizable to her.

"Ezra?" Aria asked, as she jumped up from behind the island, still wielding her large and extremely sharp knife.

"What the hell?!" Ezra yelled, raising his voice as his eyes landed on the huge knife in her right hand.

Aria looked down at the knife before looking back up at Ezra, who was standing with his hands raised in front of him in utter surrender and terror.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Aria breathed as she threw the knife down on the counter in front of her, "I thought….I just thought you were an intruder," she said sheepishly, looking down at the floor.

Ezra chuckled, walking over to the embarrassed and pint sized brunette in front of him.

"I don't blame you, Ar," he said with a hearty laugh, pulling her into a tight embrace.

For the first time in what felt like the longest time, Aria and Ezra were at ease with one another, and it was a noticeable change for both of them.

"Aria!" Ezra exclaimed, with is hands up in the air in exasperation, "I can't help but feel as though you're being dishonest with me!"

"I'm not being dishonest," Aria insisted, crossing her arms over her chest and averting her eyes from Ezra's intrusive gaze, "I just don't want to talk about it, like I already said repeatedly."

"It's not an option anymore, Aria. It's not just something I'm worried about – everyone can tell just by taking one glance at you that you're not eating. You haven't been since…since it happened."

Aria rolled her eyes and finally let her gaze meet his, "You might as well just say it, Ezra. Everyone also knows that I was raped. Would you like to say it with me? RAPE."

Ezra exhaled sharply as he turned away and put his back to Aria. His hands were clenched into fists, and his palms were sweating in a mix of both frustration and nervousness over how to even communicate with her anymore. This wasn't the way they used to be. They used to be able to talk about anything, and although it may not have been of this magnitude, all their issues so far had been fairly significant.

"Aria, I'm begging you not to treat me like this," Ezra said softly, "All I've tried to do is help you and to be there for you…and it's not fair for you to react like this."

"I'm not trying to react in any type of way, Ezra. But I won't let you insist that I have an eating disorder just because a doctor that we met for 5 seconds said so. You're not here every night and every second of the day. How would you possibly know what's going on with me?"

"All I want to do is be with you all the time and know exactly what is going on with you, but it's like you don't want to fully let me in. I am willing to help you work through any problem – whether it is your pregnancy, your rape, or your eating disorder…any and all of it! But you have to let me. I cannot force you to take my help, Aria! I don't want to lose you, and I don't want to lose this baby."

"I know, I'm sorry," Aria murmured to herself, "I didn't mean to yell at you like that, or at Spencer earlier. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with you," Ezra said gently as he cupped her face in his hand, "You are just working through some things right now, and there is no right way to go about this. We are all trying to be as understanding as possible, but you have to do the same for all of us. Deal?"

Aria nodded, pushing her face into his warm and comforting palm, "Deal."

"That also means no more secrets. If everything is out in the open, I think you'll heal a lot more quickly. I mean it, Aria. If you ever get the urge to make yourself sick again, let us know. I know Hanna dealt with something similar in the past, and I would follow you through any obstacle life throws at you," Ezra smiled gently at Aria, who was looking down at the tiled floor beneath them.

"No more secrets," she said with a grin, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I promise."

"Aria?" Ezra called out from his spot on her large couch in the living room of the Montgomery house, "Are you almost done in there? I'm dying to know how this movie ends!"

"Be out in a second!" Aria yelled from behind the bathroom door.

She was holding the pewter razor in sweaty hands, contemplating what to do. She had promised Ezra total honesty following her doctor's appointment, but she had left out the fact that she had started cutting, so the honesty had ended before it had even begun.

She twirled the sharp piece of metal between her index fingers, unsure of what she wanted to do next. It would be so much easier to put the razor back in the drawer beneath the sink, and to just move on from these isolated incidents of self-harm. But then what? Aria couldn't go on pretending she was thrilled to be carrying this child for 9 months - this child whose father was not even known, and whose life was going to be spent as being labeled the rape baby.

Aria shook her head ferociously; she knew it didn't have to be this way. However, she still felt the sharp edge of the razor cutting into her forearm, and she knew that no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, this is who she had become. She wasn't the same girl who was ready to start high school at Rosewood Day back in August. No, now she was an expectant mother, a rape victim, a bulimic, someone who self-harmed, and a testimony on a trial against her history teacher and her boyfriend's old college roommate. She was so far from whom she used to be, that when she looked in the mirror, she wasn't sure of whose reflection she was seeing.

"Aria?" Ezra shouted again, breaking Aria's train of reflective thought, and tearing her eyes away from the person she was staring at in the mirror.

"Coming!" Aria yelled, wiping the razor blade and placing it back where she found it.

Aria quickly washed off the cut, wincing as the warm water hit the fresh wound, before placing a bandage on it and rolling her long sleeve down to cover any evidence.

She swung open the door with a smile plastered on her face, and snuggled in next to Ezra on the warm couch.

"Okay," Aria said as she pressed the play button on the remote, "time to find out who was able to correctly identify the psycho killer in this movie – you or me!"

As the scene played out across the screen, Aria frowned in disappointment.

Ezra let out a cheer and small fist pump before turning to Aria, "Oh, don't worry, babe. It's not your fault that I'm so observant. Maybe you'll win our game next time."

Aria continued to pout, glaring at him from out of the corner of her eye.

Ezra chuckled, pulling her body closer to where he was sitting.

Aria's hand brushed against his inner thigh unexpectedly, and Ezra cleared his throat in surprise. As wrong as he knew it was, Ezra could feel himself responding to her touch, and it didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

Ezra shook his head and said firmly, "Aria, we can't go there."

"Why not, Ezra? It's been forever, especially for you. You can't tell me you don't miss it," Aria said with a raised brow.

"Of course I miss it, but we just can't jump back into it," Ezra said firmly, begging his erection to comply with his words.

"This isn't jumping back into it, Ezra. It's been weeks since I was raped and even longer since we've had sex. Why are you so against this? Is it because I was raped, or because I'm pregnant and it's not your baby?"

Aria had moved away from where she had been poised over Ezra's body, and now was sitting a considerable amount of distance away from him.

"Aria, that's not it at all. I just don't want you rushing back into this and regretting taking things too fast. It might just make everything worse," Ezra pleaded, trying to get Aria to understand.

It wasn't that he wasn't attracted to her anymore – that was impossible, regardless of the circumstances, and it was evident from his situation that his level of attraction to her was not an issue.

"Plus, your parents and Mike could be home any minute. I don't think them walking in on us fucking in the living room is going to make them very happy," Ezra said.

"We could at least fool around a bit," Aria said angrily, "I just feel like every time we get close to doing something, you back out of it. This isn't a relationship if we can't ever have sex or be intimate with one another."

"Aria, our relationship is not defined by how many times a day we have se-"

Ezra was cut off by the presence of headlights in the driveway, and the sound of Ella, Byron and Mike walking up the front porch steps.

"We're home!" Ella called out, stepping into the front hall and noticing Aria and Ezra in an awkward silence.

"Did we interrupt something?" Byron asked slowly, feeling the tension in the air.

"Nope, you didn't interrupt anything," Aria said flatly, getting up from her spot on the couch and walking up the staircase to her room. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ezra."

Ella, Byron and Mike all turned to Ezra for an explanation.

"What's the matter with her now?" Mike complained, rolling his eyes in the process.

"It's nothing," Ezra said with a small smile, getting up and grabbing his coat from where it hung beside the door. "I'd better be going, but it was nice seeing you all."

Ezra began to close the front door behind him when Ella ran after him.

"Ezra, wait. If you two have some unfinished business that we interrupted, why don't you two just finish whatever it is back at your apartment? Normally I would not be one for letting my daughter go to her older boyfriend's apartment for mysterious reasons on a school night, but I think conventional thinking has been thrown out the window at this point."

Ezra looked at her suspiciously with his head cocked to the side, "Are you sure about that, Ella?"

Ella smiled reassuringly, "Yes, now go get her before I change my mind. I only ask that you make sure she does something productive with herself tomorrow."

"Oh," Ezra said absentmindedly; "I forgot that she was suspended from school while the investigation goes on."

"Yes, well I heard about the suggestion that you take a day off, too. And while I understand how you don't want to incriminate yourself by missing a day amid all these rumors, I don't think it would be the worst thing for you and Aria to spend a day together in your apartment working things out and talking. But it's just a suggestion, not an order," Ella said nonchalantly and rather maternally.

She nodded her head towards the stairway, and Ezra complied, walking up it slowly, wondering what it was he would say to Aria not only once he got up to her room, but also once they were back at his apartment. He knew that she was furious with him for pushing her away, but he wanted her to heal before they just moved on from what had happened. He didn't know what was the best thing for her, but he was thinking maybe it wasn't just jumping back into bed.

He knocked twice on the cracked open door, and saw Aria sitting on her bed.

"Can I come in?" Ezra asked quietly, opening the door as he did so.

Aria shrugged and pulled a sweatshirt over the tank top she was wearing, "I guess so."

"Your mother suggested that you spend the night at my apartment so that we can talk," Ezra said, sitting on the bed next to her.

"Well, I guess my parents would be happy to know that these days all we do is talk," Aria said sarcastically.

"Aria," Ezra said softly, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her right ear, "It's not that I don't want to do more than talk with you, but I just don't want you using this as an excuse to bury your feelings. Especially with the police building a case and trying to identify the other guy involved, I don't want you feeling like you can just use sex as an excuse not to talk whenever we're together."

"That's not what it's about," Aria said angrily, tears brimming in her eyes, "I just want to feel like something is still normal with us. Before all this happened, barely a day would go by without us messing around, and now this is the longest we've ever gone without it. I'm just afraid that if we don't just get it over with, then it's going to get in the way of us fixing our relationship."

"Come on, Aria. Let's talk about this back at my place," Ezra said, standing up from the bed and offering her his hands.

Aria nodded, taking both of his outstretched hands and pulling herself up from the bed. She packed an overnight bag quickly, and threw on a pair of boots before taking Ezra's hand and following him out of her room, down the stairs, and to the front door.

"Bye, you two," Ella called out from the kitchen. "Aria, I would like you to text me tonight so that I know everything's alright. Okay?"

Aria nodded and waved goodbye to her family as she walked out the front door and got into the passenger seat of Ezra's silver car.

"So," Aria said as they drove in silence and darkness towards Ezra's apartment, "Are we ever allowed to have sex again?"

Ezra turned to face Aria as they approached a stoplight that was turned red.

"Aria," Ezra said with a laugh, "Of course we will eventually, but I just want to make sure you're ready before we do anything again."

"I'm ready," Aria said quickly, "I swear that I am. This is just like the first time we had sex and you made me wait for forever. I was ready then and I'm ready now."

"That was completely different," Ezra said, putting his blinker on and turning into the parking lot for his apartment complex.

"You're right. It was different. I was a virgin then and I'm not one now," Aria said quickly, opening the door to the car and stepping out into the dark and empty parking lot.

Ezra sighed, closing his door and locking the car behind him as he walked towards the front door of the building.

"Please don't sigh like the thought of having sex with me is a chore," Aria said, running after him so that she didn't fall behind.

"That's not it at all and you know it," Ezra replied, quickly taking the stairs up to his floor of the building.

"Then what is it, Ez-," Aria was cut off by Ezra's lips crashing onto hers as he pulled them against the closed door of his apartment.

Aria's brow furrowed in confusion, but she made no move to break her lips away from his.

Ezra's hands ran down her sides, pulling her body flush against his own. Aria could feel something protruding into her stomach, and realized in that moment she was not the only one who had been missing this.

Ezra broke away from their kiss only to unlock his front door, grabbing Aria by the arm and bringing her into the apartment before closing the door behind them and pressing her back up against it.

Aria smiled against his lips, looping her arms around his neck and bringing his face even closer to hers. Ezra gently toyed with the hem of her zip-up sweatshirt, quickly running his hands up her chest to find the zipper. Ezra pushed the unzipped sweatshirt off her shoulders, and realized Aria wasn't wearing a bra beneath the thin camisole she had on. He could clearly see her small and perky breasts through the powder pink color of the revealing fabric, something he hadn't noticed or bothered to notice back at the Montgomery house.

Ezra shrugged his jacket off, and pulled his navy blue t-shirt over his head. He ran his fingers over the front of Aria's thin camisole, smirking as her nipples became harder underneath the fabric.

"Don't tease me," Aria breathed into his ear.

"Why, babe? It's half the fun," Ezra countered, peeling the camisole off her body.

Aria reattached her lips to Ezra's, moaning at the feeling of skin-to-skin contact.

Ezra scooped her up in his arms, carrying her over to the leather couch in what was designated as his living room. He hovered over her, only wearing his dark wash jeans. He took each of her feet in his hands, slowly untying the laces of her leather boots. When he had discarded the boots, his fingers ran down her abdomen and undid the buttons of her black jeans, pulling them off of her small legs. She was lying on his couch in just a pair of black satin underwear, and Ezra was turned on beyond belief. His fingers hooked under her panty line, pulling them down past her knees and spreading her legs open. He lowered himself, bringing his face level with her vagina.

"Ezra, please," Aria pleaded, her eyes closed tightly and her fingers knotted in his hair.

He slowly brought his lips to kiss her vagina, reveling in the moans that escaped her lips from his one simple gesture. He let his tongue lick, taste and explore her as Aria threw her head back in pleasure. Her moans were echoing throughout the small apartment, and Ezra could feel his cock straining against the material of his jeans. Without tearing his lips and tongue away from Aria, he held a finger up to her lips, allowing her to suck on it before placing it inside her wet folds. She bucked her hips towards his lips, begging him for more. He placed another finger in quickly, now certain that she was far past needing any extra lubrication. He added a third finger inside, pumping them in and out of her as he sucked on her clit. His other hand reached up towards her breasts, pinching and rolling her nipples between his fingers.

"Ezra," Aria moaned, her chest heaving.

Her breath became even more ragged as he pumped his three fingers inside of her faster, sucking even harder on her already swollen clit.

Aria let out a throaty moan as she came into his mouth, her sweaty body going limp on the leather couch.

Ezra lifted his lips from her, and was crawling towards her lips when a knock on the door interrupted them.

Ezra groaned in frustration, looking between the naked and soaking wet girl splayed in front of him, and the incessant knocking on his apartment door.

He sighed, getting up and walking towards the door, looking out through the peephole to see whom it was.

Through the small peephole, Ezra could see Spencer Hastings standing in the hallway, looking around absentmindedly.

Ezra grabbed his t-shirt from the ground, haphazardly pulling it on before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

"Spencer," Ezra said with a smile, "What brings you here?"

"Hi, Mr. Fitz," Spencer said awkwardly, "I'm sorry to come to your apartment so late, but I was looking for Aria. Is she there?"

Spencer attempted to peek behind Ezra and into his apartment.

Ezra quickly shut the door behind him, causing Spencer to tilt her head at him in confusion.

"Sorry, it's not really a good time," Ezra said sheepishly, shifting his weight.

She noticed that his t-shirt was inside out and backwards, and it suddenly occurred to her why it wasn't such a good time for Aria and Ezra.

"Oh," Spencer said as realization dawned on her face, "You two…you were?"

She raised her eyebrows as if that was the universal symbol for sex.

"Wow, I'm so sorry," Spencer said with a grin as she blushed in embarrassment.

"Ezra?" Aria called out from behind the door, "What's taking you so long? I need you inside of me right now."

Ezra closed his eyes as his face turned a bright shade of red.

"See you tomorrow, Ms. Hastings," Ezra said with a shake of his head as he turned around and opened the door to his apartment.

Spencer tried to suppress a giggle as she replied, "Goodbye, Mr. Fitz."

"Ms. Montgomery, thank you for coming in today. We'll have the results of your paternity test in tomorrow morning. By then we'll know whether or not Marcus McKidd is the father of your child. Thank you for your continued cooperation."

The nurse sounded as though she was reading directly from a script, but nevertheless Aria nodded politely and stumbled back out to her car in a daze. This was finally happening. She would know whether or not Marcus was the father of her baby. Truthfully, she didn't know what she was hoping for. If it's not Marcus', then it's the other man's, and really which is worse? She didn't know, and she didn't want to have to know either. This wasn't at all what she thought high school would be like, and it didn't seem as though any of this would be getting better any time soon.

Aria woke up to the sunlight streaming through the windows of Ezra's apartment. She sat up groggily and rubbed her bleary eyes, searching for some idea of where Ezra was. Her eyes settled upon the digital clock, which read 9:45 AM, before finding the note on the nightstand.

"Morning, beautiful. I went to work today. I'll be back around 5 if you want to wait for me, or if you want to come back later. If not, I'll give you a call tonight.

I love you immensely,

-Ezra

P.S. You have two (important) missed calls on your phone"

Aria quickly grabbed her iPhone from the table and saw her two missed calls: one from her mother whom she had forgotten to call last night, and one from the lab where she had her paternity test done. Aria's hands were sweating as she pressed the callback button for the lab and counted the number of times the phone rang. Once. Twice.

"Hello!" A cheery voice called out into the phone, "What may I help you with today?"

"Hi," Aria said in a distinctly less excited tone, "I'm calling back to hear the results of my paternity test. My name is Aria Montgomery."

"Oh, yes," the woman said, the sound of typing started in the background.

"Marcus McKidd..." the woman began slowly, reading the digital file on the computer in front of her, "is not the father of your baby."

Aria's breath caught in her throat. She didn't know if she was excited or disappointed. Was the known worse than the unknown? If Marcus wasn't the father of her baby, then who the hell was?

A/N:

So…I dropped the ball on this. I didn't update it for a really long time and I'm sorry, but I was busy. Hopefully this super long chapter makes up for it. If I stop updating frequently, it doesn't mean that I've abandoned the story. I will always update everything eventually, but sometimes it might take a while. I hope you enjoyed - please leave a review if you did, or even if you didn't.

Xoxoxoxoxo