02. The Goodbye Look

The five girls stood in the old greenhouse, looking at their surroundings in fear after hearing the wind constantly slam the front door.

"Why do I feel like everything just got ten times worse" Daniella whispered, feeling goosebumps down her arm.

"I can't believe this, Ian's dead" Emily protested.

"No, zombies don't text" Hanna argued, "Okay, he is alive somewhere".

Aria looked at a panicking Spencer in concern, "Spence".

"I have to get this phone home before Melissa realises that it's gone" Spencer simply said, she turned to leave but Emily's voice stopped her.

"Okay, you put it back and then what do we do?!" Emily yelled.

"Should we maybe call the cops?" Daniella suggested.

"Oh, yeah, because that always works out so well for us" Hanna replied.

"Why is Ian text Melissa?" a confused Aria asked.

"And why is Melissa answering him?" Hanna added.

"Is she?" Emily asked, "I mean, we don't know how long this has been going on".

Daniella turned to Spencer, "I hate asking you to do this, but you're the only who can get Melissa to tell you what Ian told her, and what the hell he wants from her" she said.

"And where he is" Emily added.

The rocks falling on the roof of the greenhouse freaked the already freaked girls out even more.

"Let's get out of here!" Spencer yelled.

The girls nodded in agreement and quickly rushed out the greenhouse.

"Let's finish this in the morning" Hanna said, as the girls walked towards Spencer's house, "I'm cold, damp and scared, we can talk at school.

"No, we can't talk at school, remember?" Aria reminded, "The five of us are supposed to be having separate time".

"Doctor's orders" Emily said.

"Hate the doctor" Daniella mumbled.

"So what are we supposed to do?" A frustrated Hanna asked, "Not talk to each other? We're in the same classes".

"We just have to play it cool" Spencer said, as the girls arrived infront of her house.

The girls attention went towards the Dilaurentis house when they heard a noise, where they saw Jason shoving things in the bin, seeing the Dilaurentis boy, immediately made it hard for Daniella to breathe, the whole time she was in the greenhouse she was wondering if she had really bumped into Jason or was he just a figment of her imagination, but seeing him again, made her realise he was real, very real.

"It's Jason" Spencer realised, the girls look at the Dilaurentis boy in shock.

"Did he move back in?" Hanna asked, she turned to Daniella, "Did you know about this?".

"How was I supposed to know about this Hanna?" Daniella asked, "I mean, Jason told me he's going to move back but he never said when, I thought he was lying".

"What is all that?" Spencer asked, gesturing to the things Jason was throwing out.

"That's all that stuff that those people left on my curb when Ali went missing, those tributes" Aria realised.

"Maya said her family kept those things when they moved in" Emily recalled, "They didn't have the heart to throw them out".

"Apparently Jason's moved on" Spencer taunted.

"And that's such a bad thing, because?" Daniella asked, not liking the suspicious looks her friends were giving Jason.

"Forget that Dani, I want to know what's he doing back in that house?" A confused Hanna said, as Jason walked back into his house.

***

Next morning, the girls lined up together at lunch, talking about A managing to wipe Emily's hard drive.

"All of the videos are gone?" A shocked Daniella asked.

"Totally gone" Emily replied.

"That was our only evidence" Aria reminded.

"Well, we don't have it anymore" Emily said.

"Has Ian sent Melissa anymore messages?" Hanna asked Spencer.

"I don't know, she's not leaving her phone sitting around" Spencer replied.

"What about Jason?" Emily asked, "Why is he back? And what is he doing in that house?".

"Okay, why are we suddenly suspecting Jason?" Daniella asked, "The guy hasn't even been in town Em, give him a break".

"Dani's right, maybe he's just looking for closure or something" Spencer said.

"Okay, new rule, no one can say the word closure" Hanna snapped, "Ever".

"Dr. Sullivan says it all the time" Emily reminded.

"I rest my case" Hanna said.

After filling their lunch trays up, Aria and Daniella found themselves a table and sat, out of all the girls they were the only ones allowed to stay together, it was the only way their parents could get Daniella to agree on staying away from her friends. Hanna placed her tray on the same table, making her friends look at her in confusion.

"Han" Aria warned.

"What?" Hanna asked confused.

"I don't think we should sit together" Spencer whispered.

"No, we always sit together" Hanna protested.

"We have to make it look like we're going along with this" Spencer said.

"No, looking like we're doing it is the same thing as doing it" Hanna argued, "It means we're wrong, and we're not wrong, we're right".

"Are we sure we are?" Daniella asked, stabbing her food, "The truth is, there is a lot we don't know about".

"How can we be sure if we're even right?" Emily asked.

"That's even more reason to stick together" Hanna replied.

Emily and Spencer looked at each other, then walked the opposite directions, letting Hanna know they couldn't sit together, not today at least.

"Why do you two get to sit together?" Hanna complained.

"Twins" Aria and Daniella said stimuteanously.

"Okay, never do that again, that was creepy" Hanna said, grabbing her tray of food and walking away, while Aria and Daniella laughed.

While the sisters were eating their lunch, suddenly both their phones beeped at the same time.

Look at you,
all alone in a crowd.
I win!
Xoxo - A

***

"So much for not seeing each other" Daniella said to Spencer, meeting her outside her house.

"I couldn't do this without you" Spencer defended.

"And what exactly are we doing?" Daniella asked, slightly confused as the two girls started walking towards the Dilaurentis house.

"We are finding out why Jason's back in town" Spencer replied.

"You could have done that yourself, I don't get why you dragged me along" Daniella complained.

"Because we all know that the last time Jason was here, he made it clear he still had feelings for" Spencer reminded, "I'm hoping if he doesn't tell me, he will tell you".

"Are the cookies to welcome him into the neighborhood or to scare him off?" Daniella asked, gesturing towards the plate of cookies in her best friend's hand.

"Depends on his answer" Spencer replied, as the two girls walked up the Dilaurentis porch.

"Here goes everything" Daniella whispered, ringing the doorbell.

Hearing growling, caused both Daniella and Spencer to turn around and see a dog digging in the Dilaurentis bushes.

"Hey, what you doin', buddy?" Spencer asked, just as the front door opened and a furious Jason came out of the house.

"Get out of here!" Jason yelled, throwing a newspaper towards the dog to scare it off, he then turned to the two startled girls, "Hello Spencer, Dani".

"Jason" Daniella greeted, giving the boy infront of her a small nod, for some reason, the Jason standing infront of her seemed different then the Jason she last saw.

"Sorry, I saw that you were back I thought I'd try to beat the welcome wagon" Spencer said, forwarding the plate of cookies towards Jason.

"Ah, thanks" Jason said, taking the cookies from Spencer, "That's great".

"Are your parents coming back?" Spencer asked, after Jason had dropped the cookies inside.

"No" Jason replied, "And it's just gonna be me for the time being", Jason then turned to Daniella, "I heard what happened, are you and your friends okay?".

"You know you could just ask her, right?" Daniella said, pointing to Spencer.

"But I'm asking you, Dani" Jason retorted, "Are you okay?".

"I'm a work in progress" Daniella replied truthfully.

"So you know what's been going on?" Spencer asked.

"Just what I get from the news" Jason replied, "The cops in this town don't really talk to me, I'm the brother of a murder victim, but mostly, they see me as a big pain in the ass, I ask too many questions".

"Is that why you're back?" Spencer asked curiously, "The questions?".

Jason glanced at Daniella, who suddenly found the floor very interesting, "That and some other things" he replied.

"Maybe we can help" Spencer offered.

Jason looked between Spencer and Daniella, "Okay" he said, his gaze settling on the Montgomery gaze, who finally looked up at him, "The bell tower".

"What about it?" Spencer asked.

"I heard you guys told the police that Ian confessed to killing Ali" Jason replied, "Is that what happened?".

"That's being referred to as our version of events" Spencer said, "The police think Ian ran away but not because of your sister".

"Did he confess?" Jason asked again.

"Yeah, I think he did" Spencer replied after a moment of silence.

Jason stared at Spencer, "You think he did?" he asked.

"Well, he wanted people to believe that I killed her" Spencer revealed.

"And how did you do it, according to Ian?" Jason asked, looking at Spencer suspiciously, while Daniella narrowed her eyes at him.

"I pushed her" Spencer replied, "She fell, and it was an accident, Jason I'm sorry, I know that you and Ian were once close--".

"Did he say he killed her?" Jason interrupted.

"That's what he meant" Spencer said, shocked with Jason's attitude.

"That's what he meant" Jason repeated, "That's what you think, did Ian say, I killed Alison?".

"Not those words" Spencer replied.

"Not those words?" Jason asked.

"You heard her" Daniella snapped, standing between Spencer and Jason and glaring at the Dilaurentis boy, "I know where you taking this Jason, and I'm telling you now to stop, we're not making this up".

While staring into Daniella's eyes, "Spencer, I think you should leave" Jason simply said.

"Go Spence, I've got this" Daniella said.

Spencer looked between Jason and Daniella, who were busy staring into each others eyes, and after a moment of hesitation walked away.

Once Spencer was out of ear shot, Daniella poked Jason's chest, "You are an asshole, Jason Dilaurentis!" she snapped, "Do you seriously think me and my friends will lie about this?".

"I never said that, Dani" Jason defended.

"No, but you were implying it" Daniella retorted.

"I'm trying to get the facts straight" Jason defended, "This town has already falsely accused someone of my sister's murder, I don't want it to happen again".

Daniella sighed, "There was a video" she said, "Someone sent me and my friends a video with Ali and Ian, do you remember that summer, Ian was bragging about dating a younger girl but refused to tell her name?", Jason nodded, "That girl was Alison, that's why Ian didn't want to tell you the name, look, whether you want to believe me or not, it's up to you, but I'm not lying, my friends are not lying, we heard what we heard, and we saw what we saw, now excuse me, I have to go".

Daniella walked down the Dilaurentis porch, she turned around one last time, only to see Jason looking right at her.

"Good night, Jason" Daniella whispered.

"Night, Dani" Jason whispered back, keeping an eye on the Montgomery girl till she was out of his eye line.

***

After her talk with Jason, Daniella decided to go back to the Hasting's, not caring that Spencer's parents would see her, Spencer texted her that instead of going home from Jason's, she went to meet Toby but Daniella could just go in, which she planned on doing, but to her shock, once she arrived at the Hasting's front door, she saw the glass on their door shattered almost like someone hit a rock through it, worrying the Montgomery girl immensely.

Daniella opened the door and slowly stepped around the glass and looked around in cautious, "Hello?!" she called out, "Anyone home?!".

Before Daniella could react, someone rushed down the stairs and shoved her into a shelf and immediately took off her".

***

"I've called the police" Spencer informed, coming downstairs, while Daniella sat on the kitchen counter, wrapping a bandage around her hand due to shards of glass piercing it, "Everything looks alright upstairs, are you sure you're okay?".

"My hand is bleeding and my back feels like it's on fire, but other then that I'm fine" Daniella said, struggling to wrap the bandage around her hand.

"Here, let me" Spencer said, taking the bandage from Daniella's hand and wrapping it around her bleeding hand, after making sure there was no more glass stuck in her hand, "The fact that A can just break into our houses, sometimes I think that's the worst part of this".

"Thanks" Daniella said, once Spence had finished wrapping her hand, "Spence, this happened to Emily as well, remember she told us about someone breaking into her garage and stealing some camping gear, according to her mom that's been a lot of break ins all across Rosewood".

"What would A want with camping gear?" Spencer asked confused.

"Your guess is as good as mine" Daniella replied, equally as confused.

"What if it's not A?" Spencer suddenly asked.

"If not A then who?" Daniella asked.

"Somebody who knew what was on Emily's computer" Spencer replied, "Somebody who needs camping gear and survival stuff, somebody who's on the run".

"Are you saying that I just came face to face with Ian?" Daniella asked shocked.

"We thought that A wiped Emily's hard drive because that's the kind of thing that A would do but Ian is the only other person who would want those videos destroyed" Spencer reminded.

"So Ian was in your house, he was upstairs?" Daniella asked, having a hard time wrapping her head around this.

"I don't know" Spencer replied, "Melissa's in the barn, what would he want in the house?".

Daniella looked at Spencer in concern, "What if he wasn't here for Melissa?" she asked, "What if he was here to finish what he started at the bell tower?".

Spencer and Daniella both looked at each other in concern, both best friends realising that the danger around them was increasing everyday instead of decreasing.

***

Next day, after school Spencer texted the girls to meet her at the greenhouse.

"It was in the pocket of her raincoat" Spencer informed, gesturing towards the sonography picture in Daniella's hand, "And her raincoat was wet, so were her boots".

"So Melissa lied to you about going out?" Daniella asked, confused as to why the oldest Hastings would lie about that.

"Well, she didn't go far, I checked the driveway" Spencer replied, "And it was dry under the car, so it hadn't been moved all day".

"Who would she wanna show this to?" Aria asked.

"I can only think of one person who would care" Hanna replied.

"Ian" Daniella realised.

"If she didn't take the car, that means he must be close" Emily concluded, as Daniella handed the picture back to Spencer.

"You guys, Hanna's right" Spencer said, "This is the worst time for us to be splitting up, we have got to stick together".

"Yeah, no matter how much lying it takes" Hanna stated.

The girls nodded in agreement and with that the group of five friends proceeded to walk out of the greenhouse.

"What is that?" Emily asked, as the girls past the Dilaurentis front lawn.

The girls stopped to look at what Emily was looking at, only for a bright torch to shine on their faces, causing Daniella's hand to go up and shield her eyes.

"Jason?" Spencer called out.

"Oh" Jason said, stepping out of the shadows, "It's you".

"Yeap, mind lowering the torch" Daniella said.

Jason looked at Daniella, and immediately a concerned look came on his face seeing her bandaged up hand, however before he could ask her any questions, spoke up.

"Um, what are you doing?" Spencer asked confused.

"I've been replanting all day, and I'm putting up a fence" Jason informed, walking closer to the girls.

"A fence?" Hanna asked confused, "Why? For what?".

"Privacy" Jason replied, "Security, there's a lot of curious creeps in the world and one way or another, people are gonna mind their own business, you girls better go home".

While her friends walked away, Daniella stood there staring at Jason, who stared back at her.

"What happened?" Jason finally asked, pointing towards Daniella's hand.

"Nothing" Daniella replied, hiding her hand in her jacket pocket.

"Doesn't look like nothing, Dani" Jason retorted, "And putting it in your jacket pocket isn't going to hide it".

"Why do you care Jason?" Daniella said.

Jason stepped closer to Daniella, leaving a small space between them, "You know why I care Dani".

Daniella shook her head, "No, I don't" she said.

"You and me both know that's a lie" Jason whispered.

While Daniella and Jason stood there, Daniella's friends stood to the side, keeping an eye on her and Jason.

"What is she doing?" Emily asked confused.

"She still has feeling for him, Em" Aria informed.

"When Jason wasn't here, it was easy for Dani to hide her feelings, but with him so near her, she's looking control" Spencer said.

"She has to be careful, Jason can't be trusted, we don't know who he's trying to keep out with that fence" Hanan pointed out.

"Keep out or keep in?" Aria asked.

"We have to keep Dani away from him" Spencer stated.

"You think that's going to be easy?" Aria asked, "Dani loves him, she always has and probably always will, keeping Jason and Dani away from each other is a bad idea".

"It's for her own good Aria" Emily said.

"You guys--".

"Emily and Spencer are right Aria" Hanna interrupted, "Jason is really shady, he could hurt Dani".

Aria sighed and looked back at her sister, who was still talking to Jason, but this time a small smile was on her face, her friends weren't there when Jason and Daniella were in a relationship but she was, Aria was, she had seen how happy Jason made her Daniella, even today, though e friends didn't see it, or maybe they did but chose to ignore it, Aria couldn't ignore the look of concern that came over Jason's face seeing Daniella's hand, truth was, Jason couldn't even bear a single scratch on Daniella, so Aria found it hard that he will the reason as to why her sister would get hurt.

Aria knew no matter what anyone tried, keeping Jason and Daniella away from each other this time, is going to be impossible.

***

Presenting 2x02 of Pretty Little Liars . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on the girls minus Daniella doubting Jason's return to Rosewood?

Thoughts on Daniella and Spencer confronting Jason on his return?

Thoughts on the liars minus Aria wanting to keep Jason and Daniella away from each other?