Pretty Little Liars: 16 & Pregnant (Sequel)

Broken Homes, Broken Hearts

Two Weeks Later
Ezra's Pov

I walk up the steps and open the front door of my house, my arms filled with the usual case of papers from work along with a bag of groceries I just stopped for. When I step into the foyer, the house is oddly silent, other than the sound of Gatsby's feet against the hardwood floor as he runs over to meet me.

"Hey buddy," I say, setting my things down and giving him a pet "Where is everyone?" Usually Aria and the girls are here when I get home, and if not she always texts to say they'll be out. Maybe they're on a walk I think to myself, although quickly discard the idea when I realize that they would've taken the dog with them.

"Aria?" I call softly as I walk into the kitchen. Still, no answer.

It dawns on me that they could be taking a nap, so I hurry to our bedroom as I'm suddenly filled with anxiousness, taking the stairs two at a time. Pushing the ajar door fully open, I'm met with an empty bed.

Even though I don't want to jump to conclusions, my mind flashes to thinking that A has something to do with this. I hold my phone up to my ear and pace around the room, listening to it ring, and ring, and ring, until finally going to voicemail. I immediately call Aria again, getting the same result as last time.

Willing myself to calm down, I sit on the bed and take a deep breath. Maybe I'm overreacting, just because they aren't home doesn't mean something terrible happened to them. With A in our lives it's easy to assume the worst.

I leave Aria a voicemail, telling myself that if she doesn't call back within one hour, then, and only then, am I allowed to start panicking for real.

Until then, I'm just going to hang out here and try to ignore the weird, weird feeling I have about this.

Two Hours Earlier
Aria's Pov

I throw some of Piper's clothing into her suitcase, not paying much attention to exactly what I'm grabbing. Mine and Stella's bags are already packed, sitting at the top of the stairs waiting to be loaded into the car.

"Okay," I huff, zipping my eldest daughters suitcase up "Come on girls, we have to go now!" Piper and Stella walk out of my bedroom, the sound of the tv still playing their cartoons.

"Go shut that off, okay Piper?" I tell her "We're leaving now."

"But why?" She asks "How come we're going away?"

"I've already told you," I sigh "We have to leave for a bit, for reasons you're a little too young to understand, but I promise you it'll all be okay. Okay?"

"But why do we have to leave without Daddy?" Piper frowns, her innocent, childish voice making my heart pang.

"Come here baby." I crouch down, opening my arms wide "Both of you, I'm gonna tell you something." I hug my daughters close to me, looking into their deep blue eyes, their Dad's eyes.

"My girls," I sigh, tears springing to my eyes "My sweet baby girls. I'm sorry that this is happening, and I'm sorry that I can't really tell you why. But we have to go away for a bit, just you and me. Your Dad is gonna stay here, he'll be here with Gatsby, a-and we're gonna go on a little road trip. You like road trips don't you?" Piper and Stella both nod, although there are tears brimming in my firstborn's eyes.

"I don't wanna leave!" She cries, hugging me tighter. I immediately burst into tears, and at the sound and sight of both of us crying, Stella joins in.

"I know," I say, my voice quivering "I know you don't want to leave. But sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do, and it's hard, and I'm sorry, because I wish it didn't have to be like this. But for the time being, we have to go."

After buckling my teary-eyed children into the car, I walk around to the drivers side door and get in, willing myself not to cry anymore. It pains me so much to have to do this, to have to load my two young daughters into the car and take them away while their father remains at work, unaware of what's happening. But we can't stay here, not anymore.

I don't know how long Ezra has been working for V, but I'm not going to hang around and listen to all the painful details. More importantly, I'm not going keep Stella and Piper in a household that's built primarily on lies. I saw the photos, I saw the proof of what V has been telling me. I just rolled my eyes and brushed it off when I was told that Ezra was keeping something from me, and even when I confronted him about it, he lied directly to my face. I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but I refuse to stand by it. He betrayed our family, something he was supposed to have unconditional love for, and instead snuck behind our backs to do who knows what with our worst enemy—or as it now seems, my worst enemy.

Although I wish it didn't have to turn out this way, Ezra could've changed things. He didn't have to work for V, he didn't have to lie to my face, he didn't have to tear our family apart. But he did do those things, and now I'm left with no choice but to do what's right—what's safe—for my daughters.

I repeat that thought over again in my head as I pull onto the highway, taking Piper, Stella, and I further and further from Rosewood.