09. The Kahn Game

Daniella walked down the corridor of her high school, she turned the corner that will lead to her locker, only to end up bumping straight into someone, causing her textbook and that person's papers to all fall to the floor.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry" Daniella quickly apologised, bending down and proceeding to help pick up the papers, not even looking to see who she bumped into it.

"It's all good".

Hearing the familiar voice, Daniella finally lifted her head up and her eyes went wide in shock when she realised she had bumped into Jason.

"Jason".

Jason gave Daniella a small smile, "Hey" he greeted, handing Daniella's textbook over to her.

"Hey" Daniella whispered, taking her textbook from Jason's hand and giving him his papers, in the process their fingertips touched causing both Jason and Daniella to look down at their hands then at each other.

"Jason, Dani".

Caleb calling out their name broke the two ex lovers from their small trance, and they quickly stood up just as Caleb walked over to them, immediately the Rivers boy gave Jason a questioning look, in response Jason lightly shook his head, letting Caleb know him and Daniella weren't back together.

Caleb nodded his head in understanding and then turned to Daniella, who suddenly found her AP Russian history textbook really interesting.

"Hey, have you seen Spencer?" Caleb asked Daniella.

Daniella lifted her head up and looked at Caleb, "Uh no, I don't think she's coming to school today".

"Right" Caleb whispered, he pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket, "Can you give her this when you do see her?".

Daniella took the piece of paper from Caleb's hand, "What's this?" she asked, slightly confused.

"It's the new log in for Maya's website" Caleb informed.

Daniella looked at Caleb, her eyes slightly widening when she realised he said that infront of Jason.

Jason, who had seen Daniella's facial expression, shook his head in disbelief, "Don't bother thinking of a lie to cover this up, Caleb already told me everything".

"Really?" Daniella asked Caleb.

Caleb shrugged in response, "I figured someone had to start telling the truth".

Daniella shook her head, "I can't do this right now" she said, before walking away from the two boys, knowing if she stayed their taunts wouldn't stop.

Jason watched Daniella's retreating figure, "We still doing it?" he asked Caleb, while his eyes stayed on Daniella, who had now walked over to Hanna.

"Definitely" Caleb confirmed, his eyes on Hanna.

"Hey" Hanna greeted, seeing her best friend walk over to her, "You okay? I saw you talking to Jason".

"Caleb told Jason whatever he knows about Maya's website" Daniella informed.

Hanna let out an annoyed sigh, "Of course he did".

"Hanna, I'm scared" Daniella admitted, "What if A--".

"No" Hanna interrupted, "Don't go there Dani, A won't do anything to Caleb and Jason, A wanted our relationships to end, and they did, so now A has no reason to go after Jason or Caleb".

"It does if they start looking for answers" Daniella pointed out.

Hanna opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, the beeping of both her and Daniella's phone caught their attention.

"Oh my god" a shocked Hanna whispered, reading the text both her and Daniella had just gotten.

A terrified Daniella looked at her best friend, "This is exactly what I was afraid of".

***

"The Apple Rose Grille at closing time, go alone or Jason and Caleb pay, A" Spencer read out, sitting outside in the courtyard with Hanna and Daniella, "What's at the Grille?".

"I don't know, A's takeout?" Hanna said.

"When did you two get this?" a curious Spencer asked.

"This morning" Daniella informed, "Right after I finished talking to Jason and Caleb".

"Do you think it was because of Mona and Noel?" Spencer asked.

"I don't think so" Daniella said, "I mean, if A was just targeting Jason, then maybe yeah, but Hanna had nothing to do with Noel and Mona staying at Radley, that was all me, why would A target Caleb for that?".

Spencer let out a defeated sigh, not having answers as to what A was up to this time, "Hey, has Wren said anything about how Noel and Mona are doing?" she asked Daniella.

"No" Daniella replied, suddenly remembering Wren kissing her, "We haven't talked since the meeting", truth was Wren had been calling Daniella but Daniella had been avoiding him, her love life was already too complicated, she didn't want to add another angle to it.

Spencer nodded her head in understanding, "You two can't go, it's not safe".

"Spencer, if it were Toby being threatened--".

"Then I would hope that you would tell me the same thing" Spencer interrupted Hanna, "Look, I've already lost one person this week, and when Toby comes back to Rosewood, if he comes back, I am just praying that it is in one piece, okay? So please promise me that you two will not go".

"Okay, I promise" Hanna said, Spencer then looked at Daniella who simply gave her a nod, but once Spencer's eyes went off them and towards Emily and Paige who had just entered the courtyard, both Hanna and Daniella looked at each other with a similar look, they were definitely going.

"Wow" Spencer whispered, still looking at Emily and Paige's smiling faces, "I haven't seen her smile like that since Maya".

"So I take it we're still not gonna tell her about getting into Maya's website" Hanna said.

Daniella sighed, "We're eventually going to have to tell her, but let's just wait a bit, she deserves a few moments of happiness before we drag her back into this Maya mess".

"You know, Aria thinks it's a sign that we didn't get ahold of them that night" Hanna informed, "Like the universe just wants her to be happy".

"Think the universe is a finicky little bastard" Spencer retorted.

"Hey" Emily greeted, walking over to her friends, halting their conversation.

"Hey" Spencer greeted, "Hi, Paige".

"Hey" Paige greeted.

"How's it going?" Emily asked.

"It's going good" Daniella replied, smiling at her best friend.

"Yeah, it's great" Hanna said, nodding her head awkwardly, Spencer doing the same thing.

"Great" Emily said, sensing that there was something going on that her friends weren't telling her, "Um, okay, see you later".

***

Hanna and Daniella stood in the Marin's kitchen, both the girls impatiently looking towards the clock.

"It's nearly time" Daniella said, her eyes stuck on the Marin's clock.

"We should leave now" Hanna said, "We can't be late".

Daniella nodded her head in agreement and with that the two girls grabbed their purses and got ready to walk out, but before they could Ashley Marin, Hanna's mom entered the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" a confused Ashley asked Hanna, "I was just about to make dinner, and Dani, you're welcome to join us".

"Oh, I'm okay Mrs. Marin" Daniella assured.

"Yeah me and Dani are going to the Grille, we have plans" Hanna informed.

"I bought stuff for chicken parmesan" Ashley told the two girls while opening the fridge,

"You did?" a slightly confused Hanna asked.

"I wanted to make us dinner" Ashely replied, taking the things she needed out of the fridge.

"Okay, you only cook when you have to tell me something" Hanna said.

"No I don't" Ashley defended, in return Hanna gave her mother a pointed look, causing Ashley to let out a defeated sigh.

"If you want I can leave" Daniella suggested, thinking it was because of her Ashley wasn't telling Hanna whatever she wanted to say.

"No Dani, stay" Ashley said, "You'll eventually find out about this anyways".

"Find out about what?" a confused Hanna asked.

Ashley walked closer to her daughter, "The police came by this morning with a court order, but I don't want you to worry, Spencer's mom is on it, and she's assured me that you're gonna be fine, but I just wanted to tell you".

Hanna nodded her head, "Okay" she said, trying to show her mother that she wasn't affected by all this but both her and Daniella knew that Hanna was terrified of whatever laid ahead of her.

Ashley gave her daughter a smile, "Go ahead then you two, enjoy the night".

"Yeah, thanks mom" Hanna said, as her and Daniella walked out the Marin house.

***

An anxious Daniella stood outside the Apple Rose Grille with her best friend Hanna.

"What time is it?" an equally anxious Hanna asked.

Daniella looked down at her phone, "Exactly the time the Grille closes".

"So where is A?" an impatient Hanna asked.

"I don't think we're meeting A here, Han" Daniella said, "I think we're about to be set up by another one of A's traps".

Hanna sighed, "Do you think it's going to be bad?".

"Isn't it always?" Daniella asked.

Before Hanna and Daniella could continue their conversation, someone honking their car caught their attention, looking towards the car that had just stopped infront of them, Daniella's eyes widened when she realised it was Jason's car, the passenger window was rolled down and Daniella realised it wasn't just Jason in the car, Caleb was also there.

"Caleb, Jason, what are you both doing here?" an extremely worried Hanna asked, neither of the girls wanting A to see Caleb and Jason here, "You two have to leave".

"Hanna, Dani, get in the car" Caleb demanded.

"No!" Daniella snapped, "You two are insane, you can't be here right now, leave, please!".

"Dani, that text was sent from us" Jason revealed.

"What?" a shocked Hanna asked.

"We're A" Caleb said, "Get in".

***

After dropping Hanna and Caleb off at the Marin's house, Jason parked his car infront of his house.

Daniella, who had stayed quiet the whole car ride and kept her eyes down on her fingers, finally looked up and frowned seeing the Dilaurentis house.

Daniella turned to Jason, confusion evident on her face, "This isn't my mom's apartment".

"No it isn't" Jason confirmed, getting out of the car.

"Jason, I want to go home!" Daniella stated.

Jason ignored Daniella's words, instead he walked over to her side and opened her door, "Come out".

Daniella crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her ex-boyfriend, "No".

Jason rolled his eyes at Daniella's stubbornness, he then bent down, unclipped Daniella's seatbelt, and proceeded to carry her out of the car.

"Jason!" a shocked Daniella yelled, kicking her legs in the air, trying to get Jason to put her down, "What is wrong with you?!".

"What is wrong with me?" Jason asked, glaring at the oldest Montgomery as he walked them towards the house, Daniella's efforts to get down having no effect on him, "What is wrong with you, Daniella?!".

"I didn't do anything" Daniella defended.

"Really?" Jason asked, reaching his front door and finally putting Daniella down, immediately the Montgomery girl tried to run but Jason, already anticipating that, put his hand on her waist and pulled her against him, "Stop".

Daniella looked at the Dilaurentis boy, "Jason, please, I can't be seen with you, why won't you understand?".

Jason let out a sigh, without saying anything he simply proceeded to take his keys out of his pocket and opened the front door, he then grabbed Daniella's hand and proceeded to take her into the house.

"Sit" Jason demanded, pushing Daniella on to the sofa.

"You can't force me to stay here!" Daniella argued.

"Can't I?" Jason asked, a challenging look in his eyes.

Daniella stood up from the couch and glared at Jason, "You can't!".

"For gods sake, stop being so stubborn!" Jason snapped.

"You are the last person who gets to call me stubborn" Daniella snapped back, trying to walk leave but Jason grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him.

"Stop trying to run away from me" Jason said, as he trapped Daniella's wrist behind her back and the more she struggled the tighter his grip got, their chests now touching, "A isn't going to find us in my house".

"A is everywhere, Jason!" Daniella yelled, "You might think you have all this figured out but you don't know even the half of it".

"Don't I?" Jason asked.

"Congrats Jason, you figured out that there's another A out there but you don't know what the means" Daniella argued, "This A isn't like Mona, it's much more dangerous".

"I don't care about all that" Jason stated, "All I care about is that now you can stop lying to me, no more secrets, we can finally be together again, Dani".

"Being together is not that easy Jason" Daniella retorted, "This new A is the one who dug up Ali's grave and stole her dead body, this new A could be the one who killed Maya because she might have knew something she shouldn't have".

"You should have told me about this new A the moment it appeared" Jason said.

"Don't you think I wanted to?!" Daniella asked, "But A threatened everyone I cared about, it wasn't just our relationship that was in danger, it was my friends, it was my damn family as well, you really think if all of this was in my control I would have let you walk out that stupid door that night?".

Daniella used her free wrist to shove Jason away from her, and this time he stepped away and watched as an overwhelmed Daniella sat on the couch, her head in her hands.

***

Jason sat next to Daniella on the couch, "What about Maya's website that Caleb helped you guys get into?" he asked, "Maybe if we know who killed Maya, we will know who A is".

"We?" Daniella asked, "There is no we in this Jason, you are not getting involved".

"Try and stop me, Dani" Jason challenged, "What if this A is another person you know? Another person you trust? Another Noel!? How are you going to deal with that?".

"I don't know!" Daniella snapped, standing up in frustration, "I know this has been hard for you, but it's been hard for me as well, I did something really stupid Jason because I missed you and I love you and staying away from you is killing me".

Jason stood up and faced Daniella, "Then stop staying away from me, stop pushing me away from you Dani, let me help".

"Jason--".

"I'm not asking for your permission Dani" Jason said, stepping closer to Daniella, "I'm letting you know that now, we're doing things my way, your way is only going to hurt us".

"If we do things your way, then A is going to hurt us" Daniella retorted.

"I can deal with A, Dani" Jason said, cupping Daniella's face in his hands, "What I can't deal with is staying away from you".

Before Daniella could protest or have another argument with Jason, the Dilaurentis boy closed the gap between them and placed his lips on to hers and as much as Daniella knew this was a bad idea, she couldn't stop herself from kissing Jason back.

***

Presenting 3x09 of We Belong Together!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Hanna and Daniella receiving a text from A threatening Caleb and Jason?

Thoughts on Jason and Caleb revealing to the two girls that they had sent the text?

Thoughts on Jason insisting to help Daniella face this new A?