chapter eleven
moments later
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Adalind's arm was locked with Aria's as the girls watched as Hanna was loaded into an ambulance and they watched it drive away as well. "We have to get to the hospital, are you guys okay to drive?" Spencer asked. "Yeah, I guess so." Emily answered. "Okay come on." Spencer said before they headed back to Adalind's car, who was gonna drive them to the hospital.

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"Hanna's mom is with Hanna's doctor right now." Adalind told her mom as she stood near the girls, they were all on the phone to their parents. "Do they know who did it?" Lorelai Barlowe asked her daughter. "No, they don't," Adalind answered. "Why were you guys even in the parking lot anyway?" her mother asked. "We were at Mona's party when we got the text from Hanna, so we were going to the parking lot to meet her and that's when she was hit." Adalind explained as she caught sight of Hanna's mom and Lucas walking towards them. "Hi, Hanna's mom coming over, I'll talk to you once I get home." Adalind said before hanging up.

"Is she okay, Mrs. Marin?" Aria asked her as she approached them. "She is going to be alright." Ashley answered. "She, uh... she has a broken leg, and a broken ankle, bruised ribs and, uh, they might have to remove her spleen and..." she trailed off as Adalind let out a shaky breath.  "What happened?" she asked them and the girls shared a look before Adalind decided to answer. "Hanna was coming across the parking lot and this, this car just out of nowhere." Adalind told her shakily.

"Well, the police found the car, they said it was stolen from the campground parking lot." Mrs. Marin told them. "Did they catch the driver?" Emily asked. "No, not yet." Mrs. Marin answered. "Well, the cops should be looking for Toby Cavanaugh." Spencer told her. "It wasn't Toby Cavanaugh, the police picked him up last night." Mrs. Marin told them, making Emily's eyes widen. "What?" she asked, shocked.

"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." Mrs. Marin explained before she let out a sigh. "Oh you girls should go home, I will call you when Hanna can have visitors." She told them and the girls nodded. "Just let Hanna know that we were here." Aria asked her. "I will when she wakes up." Mrs. Marin assured her and the girls before walking away.

"Toby isn't 'A'." Emily remarked once Mrs. Marin was out of earshot. "Well, Hanna knows who is, that's why 'A' tried to kill her." Spencer responded. "You think they're just trying to scare us?" Adalind asked. "Well, it worked." Aria said. "This was never about scaring us, that was just a bonus and this started with murder, we were crazy to think that it wouldn't end up like this." Spencer said. "So should we tell the cops?" Emily asked.

"Tell them what?" Aria asked in a whisper. "Everything." Emily responded. "Which is what exactly?" Adalind asked. "So what do we do?" Aria asked. "Well, we talk to Hanna before we do anything." Spencer replied. "Is Hanna safe here?" Aria asked. "Yeah," Spencer responded after a moment. "I mean nothing will happen to her while her mom is with her." Spencer added before they decided to head out, going separate ways.

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After getting home, Adalind went straight to her room. She shut her door quietly with a sigh, as she didn't want to wake her parents who had gone to sleep not long after the call in the hospital. Adalind sat on her bed, completely exhausted from the nights' events, she was about to get up and change when her phone rang, making her pull it out of her 'camp mona' zip up hoodie. Jason. Adalind sighed before answering. "Hey," she greeted tiredly.

"Hey, you okay? You hung kind of quickly before?" Jason asked and Adalind let out a shaky breath before laying on her bed, phone between her ear and shoulder. "Yeah, sorry about that." She apologized. "It's okay, how's the glamping going?" he asked. "It's not going." she told him. "What?" he asked, confused as he heard Adalind sigh. "I'm home now and Hanna's in the hospital." she explained shakily. "What happened?" he asked her, concerned. "Someone hit her with a car," she answered as she sat up on her bed.

"Do they know who did it?" he asked and Adalind shook her head, even if he couldn't see her. "No." she answered. "I hope she's okay, Addie." Jason offered and Adalind smiled. "She should be," she told him. "Can you stay on the phone with me?" Adalind asked and Jason smiled. "Yeah I will." he responded and soon enough Adalind fell asleep, Jason stayed on the phone as she slept and he didn't hang up till early morning but he sent a text for when she woke up.

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The next morning the girls were in Hanna's hospital room, "Does it hurt?" Emily asked Hanna as they all sat around her. "Yeah, kind of." Hanna answered. "You remember what happened?" Spencer asked hesitantly, since Hanna's mom was still in the room. "Uh, yeah I remember." Hanna answered and it was silent after that, other than the monitor beeping. "Um, mom, you've been here the whole time, do you wanna take a break?" Hanna asked.

"Are you sure?" she asked and Hanna nodded. "Yeah." she answered. "I'll be back in a couple hours." Mrs. Marin told her before she got up and left the girls alone and once she was out of the room, Aria got up and shut the door to give them extra privacy. "Noel Kahn is 'A'." Hanna told them. "What? Are you serious?" Emily asked, shocked. "Yeah, I saw him in the woods and he left an 'A' message." Hanna responded. "You saw him leave a message?" Spencer asked.

"He wrote something on the back of a car window." Hanna explained. "What car? What did he write?" Emily asked and Hanna glanced at Aria, making Adalind look at her as well. "I see you." Aria responded. "How do you know that?" Spencer asked and Adalind sighed, already having a feeling. "I was in the car." Aria admitted. "Whose car was it?" Emily asked her.

Aria hesitated before answering. "Ezra Fitz." Aria confessed, making Adalind close her eyes with a sigh. "Mr. Fitz?" Spencer asked, shocked. "Aria." Emily said. "Hanna?" Spencer asked once Aria wouldn't answer and Hanna glanced at Aria. "It was Mr. Fitz." Hanna confirmed. "You and Mr. Fitz?" Emily asked Aria, who nodded.

"Why don't you look surprised?" Emily asked Adalind. "You knew? Didn't you?" she asked again. "Not exactly." Adalind answered. It was the truth, Adalind knew there was something but she didn't know what was happening with them. "You met him there?" Spencer asked Aria. "That call you got at the party. That was from him?" Emily asked her. "I couldn't tell." Aria told them. "I couldn't tell anyone, I promised Ezra." she added

"Ezra, whoa, hold it," Spencer said as she stood up. "This is something that's been going on?" Spencer asked as Adalind sighed and rested her head in her hands. "You and a teacher?" Spencer asked. "I didn't just get into his car last night." Aria remarked. "Who do you think I am?" she asked. "How long have you been seeing him?" Emily asked. Aria sighed. "Umm...since right before school started." Aria answered. "Oh my god, since Labor day?" Spencer asked her and she nodded. "So you don't have a boyfriend in Iceland?" Hanna asked her.

"No, I-I did." Aria answered hastily. "But, it's not like that." she added. "And you were seeing a teacher when I fixed you up with Noel?" Hanna asked and Aria hesitated before nodding. "Oh, my god, I fixed you up with Noel." Hanna whispered to herself. "You couldn't have known Han." Adalind said, trying to comfort her. "And why did you get in his car last night?" Spencer asked Aria, referring to Mr. Fitz.

"Well, he, um, called me and..." Aria started but noticed the look she was getting from Spencer. "Oh, don't look at me like that." she told her. "Oh, my head hurts just as much as my leg now." Hanna breathed out, making Adalind snicker at her trying to break the tension. "What exactly did you see Han?" Adalind asked. "Well, I saw Aria go into a parked car and then I thought I saw someone in a black hoodie write something on the back of the car window and when he turned around, It was Noel." Hanna explained.

Aria let out a small laugh, in disbelief. "No, It can't be noel." she denied. "Aria." Adalind spoke softly. "Aria, I saw what I saw." Hanna told her. "And 'A' tried to kill her for it." Spencer remarked. "Maybe we shouldn't mention that." Adalind muttered . "Okay, but I mean, none of us saw who was driving the car." Aria said as someone knocked on Hanna's hospital room door, making them look over at it. "Oh, if that's someone with painkillers just let them in." Hanna spoke tiredly as Aria went to open the door.

"Noel." Aria greeted uneasily, making the girls look up towards the door as Aria looked back at them, shocked. "I just heard about Hanna, thought I'd try to visit." they heard him tell Aria. "She just fell asleep, we're getting ready to leave." Aria explained before looking back inside the room, at the girls who were staring at them before Aria left, closing the door behind her. "I never liked him." Adalind admitted, making Hanna smile.

"Why don't you care about Aria and Mr. Fitz?" Emily asked Adalind, who sighed. "Believe me, I'm not that thrilled that she's dating a teacher. but I can't talk, I dated Jason and he was six years older than me." Adalind admitted and the girls nodded in understanding as Aria walked back in with a gift basket in hand, obviously from Noel. "He lied to me about being there. He-He said he was with Sean." Aria told them. 

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"Are you sure about what you saw in that tree?" Aria asked as they entered her bedroom with takeaway coffee they had gotten on their way to Aria's. "We all saw it, Ari." Adalind told her as she sat down on Aria's bed with her. "Well, I know but... I mean, do you think that maybe Ali just put it up there to see what it might look like?" Aria asked. "No. Ali may have done some psycho things but she would never do anything tacky." Spencer responded. "Anyway, Ian was with Melissa that night so he couldn't be 'A'. Which brings us back to Noel." Emily spoke

"He had means. He had an opportunity, those pictures of Emily and Maya were stolen at Noel's party, right?" Spencer said. "Yeah, I know." Aria sighed. "And Hanna saw him write that message on the back of Mr. Fitz' car." Spencer continued. "Uh, no, just-just slow down." Aria said with a small scoff. "You flipped over to Noel awful fast. Just 12 hours ago, you were so sure that it was Toby. What happened to that theory?" Aria questioned. "A or not, you still need to know what Noel saw. And what he plans to do about it." Adalind said, making Aria sigh, but she knew Adalind was right. 

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Later that night, Adalind met the girls at the hospital to see Hanna. "You told them?" Adalind asked Emily. "Yeah." Emily answered before looking at Adalind and Aria. "How was that?" Aria asked. "Rough." Emily answered. "It's gonna be okay, Em," Adalind said, trying to comfort her. "I don't know what it's gonna be...but it's gonna be different." Emily said and Aria and Adalind nodded. "I guess so." Aria mumbled before the three of them focused back into the conversation about the missing tree.

"So the whole tree?" She asked. "Yup. Lock, stock and bird's nest." Spencer answered her as Adalind stood at the end of Hanna's bed. "Why? Why show something like that and then just take it away?" Hanna asked. "Like 'A' had a split personality." Emily said. "That's great. Homicidal and nuts." Hanna muttered. "We've been thinking," Spencer said, looking at her friends before looking back at Hanna. "Maybe we're dealing with more than one person." Spencer explained their theory.

"'A' and Ali's killer are two separate people?" Hanna asked, as they all nodded. "You are freaking out the invalid.'' Hanna said. "No, think about it." Aria urged. "No, you think about it. I mean, aren't we in enough trouble? I know I am. Just look at me." Hanna said as Aria and Adalind caught something on Hanna's cast. "Han, Han, who wrote this?" Aria asked, gaining the attention of her friends.

"I don't know. People have been in and out all day and so have I." She shrugged as the others looked over, seeing what the two cousins were. "Oh no." Emily gasped. "What? What's on there?" Hanna asked frantically as she sat up. "Sorry about losing my temper. My bad. Love,'A'." Adalind read out, making Hanna freak out as she looked around at her friends. "Who put that on my leg?" Hanna asked. "Who wrote that?" Spencer asked as Spencer stood up. "Did somebody come in here while you were asleep?" Emily asked as she looked towards Hanna. "I don't know. Just get it off, just wipe it off!" Hanna exclaimed in panic. "Han, easy easy," Adalind cooed, trying to calm her down. "Get it off me." Hanna demanded.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
another chapter!! i love addie and jason <3