Sugar & Spice

11|the therapist

With the unpleasant surprise of Laura Patterson's visit in the library and Aria's sacrifice to talk in her office the team were more determined than ever to bring her to justice. Peyton seemed to be rather changed after yesterday and looked remorseful when Jane and Aria stepped into the news room during their lunch. Aria's award winning acting skills had soothed the concerns that Laura would catch on to what they were doing and she had the trial to thank for that. It was comical how Laura was giving her advice on how to approach her attacker while she was tormenting Michael in every way she could, but until they had the proof they needed Aria had to keep that sentiment to herself. Micheal seemed to be in good spirits as he shot them a smile when they sat down, but Aria could tell that yesterday had shaken him up good and wouldn't be forgotten any time soon. 

"I assume everyone has been informed about what happened yesterday in the library?" Aria said and looked at Leo with raised eyebrows for him to confirm.

Everyone nodded silently and looked at Michael. They needed him to say that he was okay or give away anything other than the silence he was keeping up with. Jane placed a hand on his back and forced him to engage with the rest.

"Do you think her intention was to intimidate you when she came over?" Jane asked softly to coax him into an answer.

Michael shrugged, "It wouldn't be the first time she did it. What if she's catching on now? I didn't want to ruin anything for us but I wasn't exactly chatty when she arrived." 

"Don't worry about it, she left very quickly," Peyton said and looked at Aria, "thanks to you, of course." 

Aria thought of how Laura had acted so sweet and attentive in her office and given advice left and right, maybe even scarier that some of it were useful. A noticeable factor was the way she spoke of men and her growing disgust for them was so apparent. Aria had begun wondering if something had happened to Laura in the past to make her so hateful of the opposite sex and a part of her was curious to find out what that could be. 

"The reason we're all here today is because we've had luck in getting in contact with one of the boys from the Correctional Facility; his name is Cooper Knight and he is open to talk to us. They posted their phone numbers and I think we should give him call now." Leo said and showed the screen with the email that Cooper had sent.

"This has to prove that something happened at that facility and whatever it was it had to be serious." Keith chimed in and leaned back in his chair.

"Since this was your finding, Peyton, I think you should make the phone call." Leo suggested and heard no objections from the rest, despite Jane's discreet eye roll.

It was obvious that Peyton was nervous about making the call but she didn't want to say anything about it. Her shoulders were raised and her hands were fidgeting all over the place, but she wasn't going to back out either. The rest of them eagerly awaited Cooper to answer the phone and eventually a voice could be heard breathing on the other end. 

"Is this Cooper Knight?" Peyton asked nervously.

"Yes it is, who am I speaking to?" He answered.

"This is Peyton Marshal, I emailed you about your stay at the Correctional Facility in upstate New York--do you have time to talk?"

All of them held their breaths as they awaited Coops response. Aria looked at Michael and could see his wide eyes stare at the phone display as if it could make Cooper answer faster. It was scary to know that Michael's fate could be rested in the hands of another persons willingness to come forward and talk about a potential violation, that had happened to them, and everyone didn't want their past brought into the light.