1.11

•

"Moments Later"

Halle let rip a blood-curdling scream. She had woken up in the ambulance to see Hanna laid unconscious next to her. A jolt of pain shot up her chest. And then another. And then another. She had never been in such tremendous agony. She was screaming. Halle cried out for her mother, for her father — for Hanna.

She let out another scream.

She was sat on the edge of a hospital bed while a doctor checked her over. Nobody was telling Halle anything. They wouldn't tell her about Hanna. Halle thought her friend was dead. Halle just didn't know.

"Halle, I need you to focus on you right now," the doctor had said to her.

"My friend," she cried. "My friend. Her name is Hanna Marin. I need—Is she okay?"

"Halle, I need you to breathe. Stay calm," advised the doctor. "I need you to tell me where it hurts."

The doctor pressed a gloved-hand to Halle's stomach and Halle let out piercing cry. Her body wretched. She was in so much pain, her screeches resembled that of a wounded animal. She felt her whole body was on fire. The doctor touched her again and a wail came from Halle as she almost toppled down off the bed.

The woman turned to the nurse in the room. "We need to do an x-ray now and then an ultrasound for any internal bleeding."

While Halle was going down in one lift, her parents arrived in another. Nick and Luisa Brewster stormed into the emergency room in a state of complete panic. Nick went straight to the front desk to talk to someone, but Luisa had seen the girls.

"Emily!" she called out. Luisa ran to hug the still-shaking girl. "What happened? A car hit them?" she asked in confusion. She pulled back to look at them all. Luisa was still in shock, what had happened to her girl?

"We— It happened so quick," Emily sobbed. "I don't— Hanna wasn't breathing."

"And there was blood. So much blood, I'm sorry," Aria said, crying. "I tried to stop it."

"It's okay," Luisa comforted. Her hand reached out and stroked Aria's hair, the way she did her own daughter's. "It wasn't your fault, you did all you could do, you can't blame yourselves."

Nick came over, his wife's eyes instantly on him in the heightened state she was in. "They've taken her down for an x-ray — just," he told her. He turned to the girls. "What happened?"

"We got a text off Hanna," Spencer said, "saying to meet her in the parking lot. Halle got there first."

"You weren't together?" Nick asked them impulsively.

Emily confessed to her friend's parents, "she had gone to see Toby."

Alarmed, Luisa's eyes were plunging out. "Cavanaugh?"

"Why?" asked Nick. "Why was Halle with Toby Cavanaugh?"

"I don't— I don't know," Emily cried softly, head down as she lied.

"The car came from behind them. It was just speeding for them," Aria told them. "Hanna tried to push Halle out of the way, but it clipped her. Halle flew across the lot, hit her head against another car. They don't know who was driving," she said, offering them what she could.

"Mr and Mrs Brewster?" A nurse had come to collect them. "Doctor Jones wants to speak with you."

"Okay." Luisa brushed herself down. She looked to her daughter's friends. "You girls call your parents. We'll keep you updated."

The girls did call their parents, but they didn't plan on going home. Instead, they stayed in the waiting room, even after Halle's dad had told them Halle was okay and they should head home. Bu they didn't know anything about Hanna yet. "Hanna's mom is with the doctor. Halle is awake, her parents got here a while ago," Emily said to her mother through the phone. "She's pretty banged up... I'm okay... They don't know who was driving the car."

Aria, too, was on the phone to her mother. "We were at Mona's party and Hanna got a text. So we were going to the parking lot to meet her. Halle got there first, and that's then they got hit."

"Yeah, they were unconscious," Spencer told her boyfriend, Alex. "We couldn't talk to them. Halle's dad came out a little while ago and said she couldn't have any visitors yet. That's why we wanna wait, maybe they'll let us see one of them soon or something." Spencer saw Ashley Marin approaching, a large bag tucked securely under her arm.  "Um, let me call you back when I know something. Bye, Alex."

All the girls ended their calls and stood up to hear what Hanna's mother had to say. "Is she okay, Mrs Marin?" asked Aria.

"She is going to be alright." Mrs Marin shook as she spoke. "She, um... She has a broken leg and a broken ankle, bruised ribs and, uh, they might have to remove her spleen. Have you heard anything about Halle yet?"

"Her dad came out, she had to go for an x-ray and ultrasound scan," Emily said. "She's okay though. Two broken ribs, a broken thumb and her face is pretty banged up. She had to have stitches in her head. Her face took a bad hit, but he said she was going okay."

"Okay, that's something." Mrs Marin looked to the three in front of her. "What happened?"

"Hanna was coming across the parking lot with Halle and this car just came out of nowhere," Aria explained.

"Well, the police found the car," Mrs Marin told them. "They said it was stolen from the camp ground lot."

"Did they catch the driver?" Emily asked.

"No, not yet," answered Mrs Marin.

"The cops should be looking for Toby Cavanaugh," said Spencer firmly, arms crossed over her chest.

"It wasn't Toby Cavanaugh," Mrs Marin informed them. "The police picked him up last night."

"What?" Emily was confused.

"One of the officers told me they found him hiding in town and they were bringing him into the station when they got the call about Hanna and Halle." Mrs Marin said, "I heard that Halle had just left Toby before the cops came. Is that true?"

"She went to meet him, yeah," Emily said.

"But we don't know why," Aria added.

Mrs Marin sighed. "You girls should go home. I will call you when Hanna can have visitors."

"Just let Hanna know that we were here," Aria said.

"I will, when she wakes up," said Mrs Marin. She gave them a small smile and then turned around, walking away.

Emily turned back to her friends. "Toby isn't A."

"Is that why Halle went to speak to him?" Spencer asked her, annoyed.   "Because you—"

"She wanted to speak to him herself," Emily defended.

"She would've been with us if you didn't tell her where Toby was," fumed Spencer, "we'd have one less friend in the hospital."

"That isn't my fault! I didn't hit her — A did!" Emily exclaimed at her.

"Well, Hanna knows who A is. That's why A tried to kill her. Halle was just collateral," Spencer said.  

"She was in A's way," Aria said.

"You think they're just trying to scare us?" Emily asked them.

"Well, it worked," fretted Aria.

"This was never about scaring us, that was just a bonus," Spencer insisted. "And this started truth murder, we were crazy to think it wouldn't end up like this."

Emily asked, "so should we tell the cops?"

"Tell then what?" Aria questioned in panic.

"Everything," said Emily firmly.

"We don't know everything," Spencer snapped.

"So, what do we do?" asked Aria.

"Well, we talk to Hanna and Halle before we do anything," Spencer stated.

Worried, Aria gulped. "Are they safe here?"

"If Hanna told Halle..." Emily filled with dread.

"Yeah, they're safe," Spencer tried to reassure. "Maybe nothing will happen to them while their parents are with them."

•

Hours later, Halle wheeled her drip into Hanna's hospital room. Halle's entire stomach was tightly bound with bandages, she had eleven stitches in her head, and she used the thumb-cast to hook around the stand on her mobile-IV. She crunched on a red apple as she walked in — her appetite was soaring.

"Hey, my hospital homie." Halle took one look at Hanna's hoisted up cast, from mid-thigh to toes. "Lord, you look rough. What happened to you?" She joked, "a car hit you or something?"

Mrs Marin gave her a look. "Halle."

"Hi, Mrs M," Halle greeted her with a smile.

"I'm glad to see you're up," said Mrs Marin sincerely.

"Yeah, a couple broken ribs ain't gonna stop me, cheerleader mentality and all. Messed up my money-maker, though," Halle said, referring to her face. It made Hanna laugh. Halle looked to the blonde. "Cool cast, can I sign it yet?"

"Why are you so chipper?" Hanna asked, amused.

"Does it not hurt?" asked Emily, concerned for her friend.

"Oh, like a bitch," Halle swore. "But I'm so doped up right now, I can only just feel it." She spared a look to Hanna's mom and held her hands up, "completely legal, Mrs M, promise. The doctor gave it me and everything."

Spencer looked between her two friends, Halle taking a huge bite from her apple. She asked, "do either of you remember what happened?"

"Uh, yeah, I remember." Hanna glanced to her mother — it seemingly obvious Ashley Marin wasn't wanted there.   "Um, Mom, you've been here the whole time. So you wanna take a break?"

"My mom's getting coffee is you wanna start the 'my-daughter-was-run-over' club," Halle said playfully, snorting after her own joke.

Mrs Marin chose to ignore Halle's attempt at witty humour. She sucked in a breath and asked her daughter, "are you sure?"

"Yeah," Hanna nodded.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours," Mrs Marin told her daughter, and then she got up and left, clutching her bag.

Aria quickly got up after and shut the door the moment they were alone. Halle moved closer and perched herself on the end of Hanna's bed, wincing a little when she did. They all then looked at Hanna, impatiently waiting, and Hanna did not disappoint.

"Noel Kahn is A."

Emily was perplexed. "What? Are you serious?"

"Uh, yeah," Hanna said. She was nervous as she noted Aria's quietness. "I saw him in the woods, and he left an A-message."

"You saw him leave a message?" Spencer asked.

"He wrote something on the back of a car window," Hanna told them.

"What car? What did he write?" Emily asked.

Hanna's eyes shifted to Aria, who already knew. "'I see you'," said Aria.

"How do you know?" Halle asked, taking another bite of her apple.

"I was in the car," Aria confessed to them.

"And you didn't see?" Halle asked, munching away. "How did you miss that?"

"Who's car was it?" Emily asked.

Aria was silent. Nerves ate at her the way she did at her lip. She saw the awaiting looks from her friends, and Aria knew she couldn't lie her way out of this way. "...Ezra Fitz."

Halle's brows furrowed. "Fitz? As in...?"

"Mr Fitz?" Spencer questioned.

Emily's eyes were wide. "Aria?"

Halle turned to the blonde in the hospital bed.   "Hanna?"

Hanna nodded. "It was Mr Fitz."

Emily stood up out of her chair. "You and Mr Fitz."

"You met him there?" Spencer asked.

"The call you got from the party, that was from him?" asked Emily, but she already knew the answer.

It was confirmed by Aria though. "I couldn't tell," she said.

"Wow—" Halle wore a large smirk and said, "this is amazing."

"I couldn't tell anyone," Aria defended. "I promised Ezra."

"Ezra?" Spencer stood up. "Hold it. This is something that's been going on? You and a teacher?" she questioned.

"This is amazing," Halle claimed, enjoying watching it all unfold.

"I didn't just get into his car last night. Who do you think I am?" Aria hissed.

"The last one to have pursued a teacher," Halle chuckled. "She may even be ahead of you kissing all your sister's boyfriends," she said as she looked to Spencer.

Spencer glowered, "not helping."

"How long have you been seeing him?" Emily asked the petite girl.

Aria was quiet. "... Since right before school started."

"Oh, my god," Spencer screeched. "Since Labor Day?"

Halle looked to the ceiling, ever so amused. "Lord, thank you."

"Okay, so you don't have a boyfriend in Iceland?" Hanna asked.

"No, I did." Aria sighed, she didn't. "Yeah, but it's not like that."

"Like what? You getting it on with sweater-vest Fitz?" Halle quipped.

"I'm not—"

"You were seeing a teacher when I fixed you up with Noel?" asked Hanna, and Aria nodded — too ashamed to speak. "Oh, my god, I fixed you up with Noel!" Hanna snapped her head to face Halle. "You have to break up with Eric."

Halle paused, a piece of apple in her mouth. "Uh, why?"

"He's Noel's brother," Hanna said.

"Your point is invalid. That's like saying every sibling of psychopath is also one — shaky evidence, Han," Halle said. She turned to look at Aria. "Why'd you get in Fitz's car last night?"

"Well, he, um, he called me and..." Aria stopped. She saw all the looks she was been given. "Oh, don't look at me like that."

Spencer scoffed at the whole thing while Hanna's hand went to her head. Hanna groaned, "aha, my head hurts just as much as my leg now."

"You need to get on whatever I'm on." Halle claimed proudly, "I'm so high right now, I don't care that Little Lolita is screwing our teacher."

"I'm not screwing him," Aria argued back.

"Hmm, sure."

"What meds are you on?" Emily asked in concern.

"Pretty heavy ones, but two broken ribs will do that to you," Halle answered.

Spencer was confused to how her friends could get so sidetracked. She focused on Hanna and asked seriously, "what exactly did you see?"

"Well, I saw Aria go into a parked car," Hanna spared a look to Aria and then continued, "and then I saw someone in a black hoodie write something on the back of the car window. And when he turned around, it was Noel," she told them.

Emily turned to look at Halle. "Hanna's right," she said. "You've got to be careful of Eric. Being close to Eric means Noel's close to you."

"Noel would never hurt me, we're friends," Halle said, something she never thought she'd ever have defend.

"No, it can't be Noel," Aria agreed with Halle.

"Aria, I saw what I saw," Hanna said.

"And A tried to kill her for it," Spencer firmly added.

"Okay." Aria gave in. She had to believe what Hanna was telling her. "But none of us saw who was driving the car," she offered.

"No, I was too busy being hit by it," Halle retorted, and then there was a knocking at the door

"Ah, if that's someone with painkillers, just let them in," Hanna whined.

Aria moved back to the door and pulled it open. Her body went ridged from what the girls saw of the petite girl. "Noel," she said, and the others felt their stomachs drop.

Noel spoke, "I just heard about Halle and Hanna. Thought I'd try and visit. I went to see Halle first, but her mom said she was here."

"Hanna just fell asleep," Aria claimed. "We were just getting ready to leave."

"Is Halle in there?" Noel said, "Eric's on his way in from the city. Said I'd give him an update when I see her."

"Um... she's..."

"I'm here." Halle had come out of the hospital room, too, and saved Aria from her rambling. She plastered on a smile, wheeled her IV out in front of her, and shut the door. "Hey, Noel."

"Cool wheels," he joked with her, and he got a slight smile in return. He asked her, "how you feeling?"

"Not much, high on painkillers," Halle replied.

"Um, well, this is for you," Noel said, and he held up a hamper. Inside were a collection of chocolates, a couple pieces of fruit, a small heart-balloon and a teddy holding a sunflower. "There wasn't any tulips," he said. "Otherwise I would have gone with them."

Halle found herself smiling and she took the hamper from him. "Thanks, Noel."

"What happened?" he asked.

Aria cut in, "don't you know?"

Noel gave her a shrug. "I heard it was a hit and run."

"Who told you that?" Aria asked him.

"Sean," he answered. "Is Hanna gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, we hope so," Halle said.

"This is insane. I can't believe you and Hanna were hit by a car," Noel said.

"It's more believable when it's you that's been hit," Halle countered.

"Well, um, I'll take this in for you," Aria said, and she plucked the other hamper Noel brought with him from out of his hands.

Noel nodded, and then he saw Halle go to retreat back into the room with Aria. He stropped them. "Aren't you leaving?" He gave her smile. "Thought you were on your way to your room, since Hanna's asleep."

"Yeah, I am." Halle, caught out, let out a laugh. "Whoops, painkillers, hey?"

"I'll walk you," Noel offered. "I promised Eric I'd keep you company until he got here." He smiled again and reached for the hamper. "I'll take that for you."

Halle let him take it from her. "Thanks." She turned to Aria. "I'll call you in a bit."

"Yeah," Aria nodded.

Noel was going to follow Halle as she started walking towards the lift, but he stopped. He called out Aria's name . "We need to talk," he said.

"I know," Aria said quietly.

"You'll call me?" he asked.

"Sure, yeah," she replied. Noel sent her a small smile and then went to join Halle while she waited for the lift. This time, Aria was the one who called for Noel's attention. "Noel." He looked to Aria and she asked him, "where were you last night?"

"Hanging with Sean, why?"

"Um—No, I was just wondering," Aria claimed, and she watched Halle and Noel enter the lift together.

Halle stood next to him, praying it would just be silent. She didn't want to lie to Noel; he was her longest friend, second to Alison. Yet, as soon as the doors shut on them, Noel spoke. "I called Eric the moment I found out," he said. "He was out with Liz from his study group when I called. He said he'd get the the first train this morning, asked me to be here for you."

"Liz?" Halle questioned, small.

"She's a nobody, Hal, she's got nothing on you," Noel reassured her. "I really shouldn't have said anything to you."

"Well, she had Eric while I was getting hit by a car," she remarked.

"What happened? For real." Noel wanted the truth, "I wanna know."

"I don't know what else to tell you." Halle gave a half-hearted shrug. "Hanna text us to meet her at the parking lot, I just got there before the others. We were crossing when the car came from behind us. We turned and Hanna pushed me out of the way, but it still clipped me. Sent me flying, I hit my head, and apparently, there was blood. A lot of it. The next thing I remember is... I'm waking up in the ambulance."

"Hal, you got hit by a frigging car, there's gotta be more," Noel insisted.

"Well, if there is, I don't know it," she snapped. "Do you?"

"Me? Why would I know anything?" Noel asked her, seemingly confused.

"Nothing." Halle shook her head. "Ignore me. I'm just on a lot of painkillers, I'm barely making any sense." The lift doors dinged open and Noel helped her out. His touches were soft and cautious, as though he was far too afraid of her hurting her. A memory came to Halle's mind — of her and Noel, before she said yes to being his brother's girlfriend.

Halle and Noel were always close. They hung out most weekends, outside of school. Only this time, it was different. Usually, they'd be with other people or if they were alone, they usually just grabbed dinner anywhere. This time, they were in the city, and in a nice restaurant, too. Halle didn't quite get why until right before dessert came and Noel made an abrupt confession to her.

"I like you."

Halle stopped what she saying before and stared at him. "What?"

"I like you," Noel told her again. "I like you, and I wanna know if there's a chance you like me back."

"Noel, where is this coming from?" Halle asked him. He wasn't joking with her. Noel was serious — that was why he invited her out to dinner, in a nice restaurant in the city.

"I've had crush on you since the third grade and we're good friends. We get on, don't we?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course we do, but—"

"But..." Noel felt a blow to the stomach.

"But," she repeated. "It's because we're good friends."

Noel tried his best to hide his disappointment. "Right. Gotcha you." But it was clear, he was still hurt.

"Noel," she said softly. She tried to reach for his hand across the table but he stopped her.

"Don't. Don't do that, not right now." Noel said, "I wasn't expecting much. This is pretty much how I expected it to go. I just— There was just one part of me that thought maybe, just maybe, you'd feel the same way, but you don't. You're just one of those girls that makes you think you stand a chance but you actually don't, like Alison." He accused, "you led me on."

Halle was mortified; she had never done such a thing. "Noel, I never—"

"And the worst thing is, I know my brother's interested and you're probably gonna give him the time of day when he gets back from college. Because Halle Brewster, ladies and gents, doesn't settle," Noel dryly mocked. He said, "Eric's ahead of me, set with his internship at the DA office, and that's what you want. You want plans."

"Noel—"

But Noel wouldn't let her speak. "He'll cheat on you. He'll ruin you goddamn life, Hal," he raved at her. "But you won't care. You'll turn a blind-eye to it because he has what you need and it's comfortable. You can see where his life is going, you can't with mine."

"Noel, you know that isn't true," Halle tried to reassure.

"Then, why won't you give me a chance?" Noel asked her desperately, "why won't you pick me instead of him?"

Halle decided this wouldn't be a time she would lie. She knew that Noel was right in what he was saying. It was true, and Halle gave him a truthful answer. "Because you're not what I want." It pained her to say it, but she did. "I care about you so much, Noel, I do, but you're the risky option."

"Just take a chance. Pick me," he begged.

"I can't risk it, I can't. I'm sorry." She reached for him hand again and this time, he didn't move it away.

"Well, at least you'd still be in my life, hey? My brother's girlfriend." Noel tried him best to smile and joke, but Halle could see his upset. He was in pain, rejected and embarrassed. "Still keep you close, and who knows? He'll probably end up marrying you and then I get to watch you marry him. But at least I still have you in my life." His jaw clenched. "Frigging great. Can't imagine it ending any other way."

"Noel, I'm sorry," Halle said.

He shook his head and said. "Don't apologise for what you want. I got the truth. Let's just leave it there. Let's not ruin dessert, it's your favourite part."

The memory still hurt Halle. She wondered if it did with Noel. She wondered if the feelings he had for her ever went away. Halle couldn't imagine living with them and seeing his own brother with the girl he liked — the pain would be unimaginable.

"Hey, baby." And there was Eric, stood outside her hospital room, a bouquet of daisies in his hands. He most likely got them from the shop on the bottom floor, but so did Noel with his hamper — it didn't feel the same. Halle moved closer, with Noel traipsing behind her. Eric placed a kiss on her cheek. "I was so worried," he said. "I sent Noel check up on you. Didn't think you'd be out of bed already."

"I went to see Hanna," Halle said. "Noel brought me back down."

"Good. Told him I wanted him to look out for you," Eric said. He sent a smile to his brother. "You coming in for a bit?" he asked.

Noel glanced down at Halle, guilt seemingly behind her dark eyes now as she looked back at the boy. Noel shook his head. "No. You have your time with your girl." He gave the hamper to his brother. "Call you later, Hal."

Halle moved to him and, like always, Noel bent down a little to let her place a kiss to his cheek. Only this time, it was so much more tragic. It felt dirty and left a bruise that both were going to be carrying on their hearts for a while. "I'll call you," she said, and then Noel left.

Eric took charge. He ushered his girlfriend inside. "You need to stay in bed," he said. "Stop worrying about Hanna. You got hit, too."

"She's got a cast as long as the Mississippi river," Halle countered, while she shuffled herself into bed.

"And the doctors are looking after her, you need to look after yourself," Eric told her. He laid the flowers down on the end of a chair while he tucked her into bed, pulling up the sheets over her legs.

During it, Halle asked, "who's Liz?"

Eric halted his movements for a moment, looked up at her, and then he resumed what he was doing. "Noel had to get her name in, didn't he?"

"Who is she?" Halle asked.

"She's in my politics lecture, the professor put her in my study group," he explained. "That's what we were doing when I got the call. I was studying — with the whole group, not just here. Nothing like last year has happened again, I promise you." Eric glanced up and his eyes saw the vase full with beautiful pink tulips. He gestured to them. "Who are they from?"

Halle's eyes moved to the tulips. "Oh, Jason," she told him, smiling small. "I think his mother insisted on sending something when she heard."

"You said Jason, not Mrs DiLaurentis." Eric cleared his throat and then put on a smile for his girlfriend. "Well, I've put in an order for the largest bouquet of red roses you'll ever see. They arrive later. I just didn't want to show up with nothing," he said.

Halle gave him a sweet smile. "Your flowers are beautiful, Eric, thank you." She pursed her lips and Eric lent down to give her a kiss. They were both the jealous type, both reassuring the other not to worry when it really was something the other should worry about.

Eric should at least worry about Jason.

Shouldn't he?

•

Her ears had picked up on something. It woke her up from her drugged sleep. Halle blinked her eyes open and saw something. Somebody. A Blonde. It couldn't be, or could it? Halle tried sitting up. She was in rather a confused state, but still she asked.

"Ali?"

The blonde turned her head away from the medical chart pinned up on the wall. She held a finger to her lips. "Shh, don't give me away, Hal. I'm still holding your secrets, remember?" Alison chuckled softly and then faced Halle straight on, at the end of the bed. "Did you miss me?"

"Don't you already know that? You knew everything before," Halle said.

"I did, didn't I?" It made Alison smug, proud at her achievements. "But we all have secrets, even you." Alison moved over to the window; the ginormous red rose bouquet had caught her eyes, and then at the end, a simple one of pink tulips. Alison made her way to those, toying with the card slotted in there. She hummed. "Jason really did like you, huh?" She spared a glance to her friend, a playful smile on her lips. "Not surprising, you always did have a certain allure to you. You had both the Kahn brothers eating out of your hand."

"I never wanted that," Halle said strongly. "I never knew Noel cared about me like that."

"I believe you, others won't. Gotta hand it to you though, Halle." Her smile vanished and Alison said, "it really did hurt me to see you with Jason, playing with him like I played you. Guess the medicine isn't so sweet the other way round."

"No." Halle said, "it ain't nice, is it? To be made the fool?"

"He was the fool, and so were you." She put the card back and turned to face her friend. "You may have had Jason believing it was only a game, but not me. You're weak deep down, Hal," Alison pointed coyly at her, "you were starting to like him."

"I ended it That Night," Halle said confidently.

"I know." Alison smiled sweetly. "I told you to."

"You were gonna ruin my life."

"You did mess my brother around, Hal, I couldn't let you get away without teaching you lesson." Alison sighed and then said, "I was gonna ruin you, but I still needed you. You were the first in my group, my right hand, I couldn't have the group without you, especially considering they need you. Their protector. The one who punches her way out instead of finding the key." Alison tilted her head, one hand on her hip, as she spoke. "But, I was gonna get revenge, humiliate you, and those videos were perfect, and in the end, I'd still have my friend."

Halle sat up more. "Videos? What videos?"

"I saw Hanna," Alison said, ignoring Halle's question. "She's still worried about me, after all this time, sweet really."

"What videos, Ali?" Halle asked firmly.

"I was so scared I could lose you both," confessed the pretty blonde.

"Ali," Halle's voice deepened with how serious it got. She was desperate. "The videos."

Alison let out a chuckle, her smile all-knowing. "I've got you worried now. So you should be," she said, "A's got them too."

"A?" Panic set into Halle's body. Her breathing increased rapidly; the heart-rate monitor beeping more frequent now. "Ali, do you know who A is?" she asked, as Alison came closer.

Alison hushed her while she pushed Halle back down into bed carefully. "Shh, get some rest." She pushed down one of the sliders on the IV-bag, the one with the liquid Tramadol in; it would knock Halle out. "You need the sleep, you look like you're not getting any."

"Ali," Halle tried to fight her drowsiness.

"You should get your mom to take you to see Dr Fletcher again, it's more obvious now." Alison pressed a sweet kiss to Halle's head as the brunette fell deeper into a relaxed state of sleep; her eyes shutting slowly. "I missed you, Halle. I missed you all. Sweet dreams."

And her world went black.

Halle shot up in bed, gasping as though she had her air cut off. Her mother sat up, worried, putting down the book she was reading on the foot of the hospital bed. "Halle, honey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Alison." Halle was in a fit of panic, her breathing shallow and quick. "Alison— Alison was here. She was here."

"No," Luisa shook her head and said softly, her hand clasping Halle's one. "No, Alison's dead, sweetheart. It was just a dream, only a dream."

"But it felt so real, mom," Halle said weakly.

"You're on a lot of painkillers right now, you'll be imagining all sorts," Luisa said. "And right now, all thoughts are being taken up by Alison. I spoke to your dad, and we think maybe you should see someone."

"Mom, I don't want to see therapist—"

"No." Luisa cut her daughter off. "We don't want you to see one either, but we want you to have a couple sessions with the guidance counsellor at school and maybe talk to Dr Jones, the one who saw you when you came in. Will you do that? If not for yourself, for your father's sanity," she said.

Halle nodded. "I'll go."

"Thank you." Luisa settled back in the chair, but her eyes caught sight of the tulips. It had hit her back when she came into the room and saw Halle asleep — when Luisa Brewster saw all the roses, it became plainly obvious that Eric never got her daughter her favourite flowers. "The tulips from before, they were from him, weren't they? From Jason?" Luisa said, "you saw Jason that night and not Eric."

"Mom..."

"You need need to stay away from him," Luisa strongly demanded of her daughter. "I should kept you away from that family from the very beginning. They have brought you and our family nothing but misery."

"But they were our friends," Halle tried to defended. "We vacationed together, we spent every every fourth of July with them since I was eight, Mom."

"And that was my first mistake," her mother confessed. "I should have kept you away from Alison, and I failed you then, but I'm not going to now. You stay away from that boy, from that family."

"Alison was my family," Halle argued. "And she always will be. You can't take that away from me. You can't take her away from me. I'm not in here because of the DiLaurentis', Mom."

"No, but you may as well be." Luisa told her daughter, "Alison almost put you in the hospital before. It was her. She came to me, the summer she went missing, and told me that she thought you were bipolar, like your grandmother."

Confused, Halle asked, "when? When did she come to you, Mom? When?"

"After her family came back from Cape May," her mother said. "And she put on the performance of her life, because I would've sworn you were ill by her reaction. She was distraught, and that's why I took you to see Dr Fletcher."

"Because of Ali... because she found the letter..." Halle's eyes snapped up to her mother's face. "I need to tell you something, and you can't be mad. I messed up, Mom — big time."

•

"You told them?"

Halle was shocked by the latest Emily was telling her as they walked towards Hanna's hospital room. Emily said, "yeah, I actually said the words 'I'm gay' aloud."

Happiness filled Halle's heart. "And how did that feel?"

"Like the truth," Emily breathed out.

"And your parents?" Halle questioned.

Emily told her, "they took it pretty rough."

"Hey." Halle slotted her hand next to Emily's and entwined their pinkies together. "It's gonna be okay, Em, I got you."

"Thanks." She smiled, and then Emily said, "I don't know what it's gonna be like, but it's gonna be different."

"I guess it will be, but sometimes, different ain't so bad," Halle offered her.

Emily found herself smiling softly as her friend and commented, "you know, you seem a lot calmer. Usually, you're manic, all over the place."

"My mom had me speak to the doctor and she gave me some anxiety pills to combat my high moods," Halle said. "I haven't feel this relaxed in years. Who knew I was an anxious person, huh?"

"Not me," Emily said, and they both laughed as they entered Hanna's room. Emily smiled at their friends. "Hey, guys."

"Come in, shut the door," Aria said, and Emily did so. The two newcomers joined the others by Hanna's bed; Halle took the chair next to the blonde.

"So the whole tree?" Hanna questioned.

"Yeah, lock, stock, and bird's nest," Spencer remarked.

"Why? Why show something like that and then just take it away?" Hanna asked, her brow furrowed.

"Like A had a split personality," Emily commented.

"Well, that's great. Homicidal and nuts," Hanna muttered sarcastically.

"We're been thinking maybe we're dealing with more than one person," Spencer suggested, motioning to her and Aria.

Halle stopped. "Wait, what? You're kidding, right?"

"A and Ali's killer are two separate people?" Hanna took it in and wanted to scream. "Okay, you are freaking out the invalid."

"No, just think about it," Aria insisted.

"I don't wanna think about it," Halle pushed back, "I don't wanna be part of this anymore!"

"None of us do, Halle," Spencer said.

"Aren't we in enough trouble? I know I am," Hanna said sternly. "Just look at me. I saw Noel, and I got me and Halle hit by a car."

Aria sighed, her eyes diverting down absently to the cast Hanna wore. Her face twitched and her body straightened. "Han— Han, who wrote this?"

Hanna gave a shrug. "I don't know. People have been in and out all day, and so have I."

Emily got up and looked. "Oh, no."

"What?" Hanna dropped her voice, serious. She shot up. "What? What's on there?"

"'Sorry about losing my temper. My bad. Love, A'," Aria read aloud for her.

A gasp left Hanna, "who put that on my leg?"

"Who wrote that?" Spencer asked her.

"Did someone come in here while you were asleep?" asked Emily, worried.

Halle whispered to herself, far too quiet for anyone to hear. "Alison..."

"I don't know!" Hanna screamed frantically. "Just get it off! Just wipe it off! Get it off me!"

•