Home Sweet Home [PLL]

A is for Answers

The girls had fallen into an uncomfortable silence, the only sound being the clacking coming from Newton's cradle which Spencer was playing with. The other four were busy glaring at Noel, their surprise visitor

"Spencer!" Aria snapped after a while 

"What?"

She gestured to the Newton's cradle and Spencer finally stopped it so it fell silent again. But then Noel's phone rang so they all watched him answer it  "Yeah...."  He nodded and hung up before turning to the girls "Stay here. I'll be right back." 

He walked out of the room and Aria let out a sigh "I cannot believe we let Noel bring us here."

"Do we think she's even coming?" Hanna asked 

"I don't know, when I saw it was him instead of Ali, I thought for sure this was a trap." Spencer said 

"Probably is and we're just sitting here like geese." Hanna sighed 

"Ducks." Spencer corrected 

"What?" 

"You sit like lame ducks. Not geese." She explained 

"OK, well, whatever, they both quack." Hanna shrugged 

"Geese honk." Spencer said 

"Why would Ali trust Noel Kahn?" Emily asked 

"Because he has secrets, too." That was Ali's voice. She had walked into the room and the girls all stood up 

"I want to hug you and slap you at the same time." Lily whispered 

Ali smiled and closed the door so they were alone "I could use a hug." Lily walked towards her and finally got to hug her best friend again. When they pulled apart, Ali went on to hug each of the other girls except Spencer who looked nervous "I'm glad you're here, Spencer." 

"Why?" She asked "I'm the one you can't trust." 

"I need your help." Ali said "Now that the cops know that I'm not the one they buried, they're gonna start looking again. And until I know who A is, I can't come home." 

"Ali, we think your mum's the one who stole the game from Mona." Hanna said "We think she's A."

"You don't seem surprised." Emily said to her 

"It's complicated, Em." Ali sighed "I've never figured out the right way to tell you what you need to know. I've never been able to say the words out loud." 

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Spencer suggested 

"I'm ready to tell you guys everything." Ali said "As long as Lily is too." They all looked at the brunette who nodded "But if we can't figure it out tonight, I'm gonna have to disappear again. And this time it's gonna be for good."

The five girls sat back down on the sofas around them and Spencer swallowed "So if you want me here to help you figure out who A is, you must not think I'm the one who hurt you." 

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Spencer." Alison said "It was a crazy night and it all starts in Hilton Head. A had been threatening me since that Halloween. I thought a weekend away with Ian would give me a reprieve."

Ali explained to them how during their weekend away Melissa had come to find Ian because she was angry he was with her. And while they were arguing she had gone through Ian's laptop to find all his videos, and she had downloaded them all onto a USB before running away

"I went there to get away from A, but when I left, I had what I needed to shut A down." Ali explained "Those videos changed the game. Jenna was at the top of my list. She had every reason to hate me. She always had her little dog Garrett to do her dirty work."