002 ╱ blood is the new black
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

TE'A AND the other girls─ minus Hanna sit in Mrs Montgomery's class while said teacher teaches her lesson while handing out papers.

"The author goes to great lengths to establish Hedda Gabler as a strong, proud woman, someone who could never live with the threat of being blackmailed," Mrs Montgomery voices while walking past Te'a and Aria's desks.

"But Hedda was pushed to take a desperate action. And while she may have seen it as brave, we see it as tragic. What might really be tragic is if some of you don't start taking some notes," Mrs Montgomery exclaims seeing none of the students writing anything down eventually releasing loud annoyed sighs.

"Sorry. Senior year is not all about skipping classes and dancing for the security cameras at Walmart. That's what your weekends are for. You might also want to research some of his other plays and see how they were received at that time..." Mrs Montgomery states while Te'a flinches hearing Emily's loud gasp behind her.

"Emily, is everything all right?" Mrs Montgomery questions noticing the girls panicked breathing.

"C-can I be excused?" Emily asks struggling to breathe while packing away her belongings.

Te'a, Spencer and Aria rush after Emily taking note of their best friend's clearly stressed figure, "Emily?" Hanna quizzes frowning at the sight of Emily rushing past her into the bathroom.

"What's going on?" Hanna asks looking at the others, "We don't know. Just come on." Spencer states rushing into the bathroom where Emily's washing her hands.

"Em, what's the matter? Talk to us." Te'a gently suggests being handed something, "What is that?" Hanna inquires terrified.

"Are those teeth?" Te'a asks mortified while Hanna passes them to Spencer who looks at them trying to figure out if they're real.

"Can we please just get rid of it?" Emily wonders disgusted, "Are they Alison's?" Aria quizzes, "Oh my god. I can't breathe." Emily pants stressed.

"It wasn't enough to steal her bones, now we're gonna get pieces of her delivered to us?" Aria questions angrily.

"Guys, there probably aren't even human." Spencer states looking at the necklace curiously.

"No. They're totally human!" Hanna exclaims looking at the Hastings brunette, "How do you know?" Spencer questions confused.

"Because I worked at a dentist's office, Spencer." Hanna mutters in a duh tone, "For two days, answering phones." Spencer utters.

"Yeah, and there were teeth everywhere. Even the friggin' bathroom key was shaped like a cuspid." Hanna exclaims in response hearing girls outside in the corridor coming towards the girls bathroom.

The five girls rush into one of the stalls incase prying eyes comes into the bathroom.

"Guys, real or not, this A is working overtime to frame us. First the call to Emily from Spencer's phone, then the cemetery photo, and now─" Aria voices being interrupted by Emily.

"It's all my fault." Said girl guiltily mumbles, "Em, stop." Hanna says.

"No. That whole night is like a black hole. I still can't figure out how I got to Ali's grave." Emily explains tearfully looking at the other girls.

"We need to give this to the police." Aria suggests grabbing a hold of the necklace holding it in-front of Te'a face receiving a grimace from the blonde.

"We can't. We already lied to them about the lake house." Spencer responds looking at Aria.

"Yeah. That was a huge mistake. We keep digging ourselves in deeper. Burning those photos was one thing─ these are teeth. Okay?" Aria demands holding up the necklace again.

"Okay please stop dangling them directly in my face." Te'a voices pushing them a far distance away from her face.

"We should at least tell our parents. Or at least Mr Lowe. I mean his a cop!" Aria exclaims receiving a look of disbelief off the man's daughter stood beside her.

"Tell them what? We have no idea what this A knows. Are you ready to explain every lie we've ever told since Ali died?" Spencer questions.

"Guys, you don't have to protect me, okay? I can take the blame for all of this." Emily voices, "Emily, stop." Aria bluntly demands looking at Emily.

"Yeah. You're not in this by yourself." Spencer firmly states, "But if you could remember something else from that black hole besides an old car, that'd be nice." Hanna shrugs.

"Hanna." Aria says in disbelief looking at the blonde Marin girl, "What? I'm just saying, it'd be helpful." Hanna states shrugging once again.

"Can we please just get rid of that?" Emily inquires visibly uncomfortable with the necklace Aria's currently holding.

"We can't toss this. This is evidence." Aria utters holding up the said item.

"Look, I'll put it in my locker until we figure out what to do." Spencer suggests.

"Like your locker is safe from A? Just give it to me." Hanna frustratedly states trying to grab the necklace.

"No. I'll put it in my purse." Aria responds before the necklace is dropped into the toilet bowl making Te'a grimace at the thought of retrieving the item.

"Hanna." Aria voices with frustration, "Aria, babe. That was just as much you're doing as it was Hanna's. Just saying." Te'a voices looking from Hanna to Aria.

"I will get it." Spencer mutters rolling up the sleeves of her sweatshirt, "No, wait! You can't just dive in there. These things have sensors." Aria mutters.

"Excuse me?" Spencer quizzes clearly confused, "You just have to be really careful." Aria says.

"Well, if you would like to." Spencer offers gesturing to the necklace in the water of the toilet bowl, "No." Aria mumbles shaking her head.

Spencer reaches into the toilet to retrieve the item only for the sensors to flush the toilet on command of the bell signalling lunch making all five girls sigh knowing they might've lost possible evidence.

✹

NOW GATHERED in the courtyard to eat their lunch, "I can't believe we've lost it." Spencer mutters, "It wasn't like we were gonna hand it over to the cops." Hanna voices.

"I wanted to. We could have found out who sent it to us. There were fingerprints on that necklace." Aria says looking at Hanna, "Yeah, mine." Emily voices flatly.

Te'a types a message on her phone wanting to make sure how something─ someone is doing in New York and wishing she was still there.

"Hanna, you have to go back to Radley." Spencer states, "What?" Hanna quizzes, "You need to make Mona talk." Spencer demands.

"Spencer's right. Mona has never been working alone, and she's probably still giving people orders." Aria says, "Find out who else has seen her." Emily suggests.

"You guys─ except for T... just ripped me a new one last week for visiting her. Now you want me to go back there with cupcakes?" Hanna questions in disbelief looking at Te'a panicked face reading something on her phone.

"If we want answers, maybe we should be focusing on Garrett." Emily states.

"I will go back to Garrett, if you will work on Mona. Will you go today? After school?" Spencer wonders looking at Hanna who scoffs getting up from the table gently placing her hand on Te'a shoulder telling her that she's walking away from them.

"I need to get this. Sorry." Te'a voices quickly answering her phone while getting up from the table, "A set back? What do you mean? Do I need to come back?" Te'a questions stressed.

"No. No. He's alright now. He just went into shock and the nurses took him for some emergency scans. You're doing the right thing, hun. Focus on school and I'll keep watching your son for you." Nancy─ Te'a's aunt demands.

"Okay. Thanks Aunt Nance." Te'a responds before answering the FaceTime call from said woman looking at Rudy through the screen taped up to all of the equipment.

"I feel awful being away from him, Nance. I should be there." Te'a mumbles wiping away a tear that's ran down her cheek.

"Does anyone know about him?" Nancy questions tilting her head through the phone screen.

"Other than Jason of course." Nancy adds knowing that Te'a told Jason about their son.

"Um, no. No one knows about him." Te'a responds answering her aunt's question.

"I tell you what... I'm gonna speak to the doctors and see if I can organise him to be transferred to Rosewood Hospital so you can be close with him─ as well as he be close with his mother because I'm sure he'll need to start being breastfed soon." Nancy suggests.

"Yes please." Te'a sniffles nodding her head, "Alright, hun. I'll do that for you and let you know what the doctors say. He might not be well enough to travel just because of how early you gave birth. Just warning you." Nancy says.

"I know. Thanks Nance. I hope to see you soon." Te'a mumbles, "I need to call your father. Let's see if I can annoy my brother-in-law for a while." Nancy chuckles.

"Okay. You do that." Te'a laughs ending the phone call adding some of the pictures Nancy sent her to Rudy's album in her photo running her hand over her baby's face in the photograph.

Te'a walks into another corridor of the high school noticing Hanna walking towards her with a small smile.

"You doing okay?" Te'a asks knowing Hanna will do anything to make her and the others happy.

"Yeah. I just canceled on Caleb. What about you? You look like you've been crying. Did Jason do something?" Hanna questions demanding answers.

"That sucks. And no. No. Nothing like that, Han. Jason and I are still here and there but I do have something I wanna share with you." Te'a explains pulling up a photo from her phone and handing it to Hanna who looks at the photo and melts at the baby on the screen.

"Oh. A baby?" Hanna quizzes confused, "Han. That's Rudy. My son." Te'a explains revealing the truth, "You have a kid?" Hanna questions shocked.

"Yeah. He's my everything. Although I haven't been around much due to him being born at 26 weeks. His being monitored in NYC and Nancy there making sure his safe." Te'a says.

"Oh, wow. Congratulations T-T. Jesus, you bounced back. Look at your body after just having a baby... how many weeks ago." Hanna trails off not knowing how long ago Te'a gave birth.

"He's been on this side of earth 5 weeks on Saturday." Te'a mumbles swallowing due to feeling like an awful mother.

"His adorable T. And again, congratulations. I'm guessing the father is..." Hanna squints trying to guess a name.

"Han, Jason's the father." Te'a smiles, "Thought so. So you two are actually okay and aren't enemies?" Hanna questions seeing a male's hand in the photo Te'a showed her.

"We're friends, yeah." Te'a confirms biting her lip thinking about the man she still loves.

"I gotta go. But congratulations and I can't wait to meet him!" Hanna states rushing off down the hallway leaving to go Radley to visit Mona.

✹

LATER THAT evening, Te'a arrives at Jason's knocking on the door of the house, "Te'a?" Jason questions standing shirtless at the door.

"Oh god. I woke you up didn't I?" Te'a questions with a wince, "It's alright. Come on in." Jason smiles stepping to the side gesturing for the blonde to walk inside.

"I see you still have your motorcycle." Te'a voices thinking about the bike parked outside.

"You use to love it. And to be honest, I grew to love it. It makes me feel free." Jason shrugs noticing Te'a hugging herself while fidgeting with one of the threads on her cardigan.

"Te'a, what's wrong?" Jason questions knowing her anxiety signs, "Rudy's coming home." Te'a states shocking the dirty blonde male.

"He is?" Jason asks, "Yeah. Nancy organised for a transfer and the doctors confirmed. He's on his way home now. Although Jase, he's had some set back and the breathing machine stopped working for a minute─ he's okay though. And our baby is gonna be at Rosewood Hospital for the next few weeks until I can take him home fully." Te'a exclaims wiping away one of her tears thinking about their baby.

"That's good, T." Jason nods smiling at the thought of being around Rudy a lot.

"I just thought and so did my Aunt─ that him being around his parents will make him become stronger and I was feeling like an awful mom for a while there since I'm not there in NYC." Te'a sniffles.

"He's coming home." Jason murmurs bringing the upset blonde into his arms allowing her arms to tightly wrap around his torso.

"Did you want to come to the hospital with me tomorrow to see our son?" Te'a asks looking up at the male.

"Of course." Jason confirms kissing Te'a scalp before noticing the girl dozing off holding onto him.

✹

THE NEXT day, Te'a fiddles with her notebooks walking beside the girls smiling at Hanna who noticed Te'a's a little more bright than she has been since her return to Rosewood.

"It was weird, but we got past it." Emily explains talking about her tutor session with Ezra last night, "Wait, so you're calling him "Ezra," or "Mr. Fitz"?" Hanna asks.

"Neither. It's a lot easier not to call him anything." Emily says, "Oh. That's what your dad does, right, Aria?" Spencer questions.

"Just about. This whole "don't ask, don't tell" thing is not working." Aria responds leading them towards her locker.

"Yeah. I did that with my mom forever. But she finally came around. By the time I brought Tamara over, they were bonding over arts and crafts." Emily explains with a smile.

"Yeah. I don't think my dad is gonna be scrapbookin' with Ezra anytime soon." Aria says playfully looking at Emily before frowning noticing an envelope placed inside her locker.

"What's that?" Hanna questions while Aria pulls the envelope down from the clip.

Aria looks at the item in the envelope─ an earring in pure horror, "Is that yours?" Spencer curiously asks while Aria looks around their surroundings paranoid, "Ar, what's going on?" Te'a asks nervously.

"Whose is that?" Emily quizzes while Aria begins to tell them about the time she and Alison destroyed her father's office after finding out about his and Meredith's affair.

And that the earring she's currently holding was found in the sofa of her father's office─ and how she also put the item in Alison's grave for a keepsake.

"How come you never told us about that?" Spencer asks, "Why would I? I felt like complete crap by the time I got home, and I made Alison promise to never tell a soul." Aria responds.

"So why is it in your locker? You've been hiding it this whole time?" Te'a questions confused.

"No. No. It's just that you guys─ don't you remember when Ali's mom called us before her funeral and she asked all of us if we each wanted to put something.... a keepsake in her casket?" Aria questions receiving nods and wide eye looks from everyone surrounding her.

"And that's what you put in there?" Hanna quizzes, Aria nods her head with confirmation.

"So real teeth or not, that was definitely stolen from Ali's grave." Spencer states shocked.

HE'S OFFICIALLY HOME
AND THE DOCTORS & NURSES
ARE LOVELY.
─ AUNT NANCY

Te'a smiles reading the text message before quickly messaging Jason letting him know Rudy has arrived and is safely at the hospital with lovely nurses and doctors surrounding him.

I'LL PICK YOU UP AFTER
SCHOOL. WE'LL GO SEE OUR
BOY TOGETHER.
─ JASON

Hanna looks at the huge smile on Te'a face noticing the girl smiling at her phone.

'He's home.' Te'a mouths happily to the Marin girl who lights up at the news.

✹

AFTER SCHOOL, Te'a meets up with Jason in the carpark smiling at him while the two of them drive together to the hospital to see their son.

"I can't believe how good you look for someone who's just give birth a few weeks ago." Jason voices.

"Me neither. But then again, I barely looked pregnant when I was." Te'a shrugs looking over at the handsome male driving the car.

"I forgot to tell you how proud I was of you when you went through all of that during birth. You were so strong." Jason states.

"I didn't feel strong. I felt so incredibly weak and blamed myself for Rudy's health being the way it is." Te'a explains.

"T, we couldn't have known. You were extremely unwell the whole pregnancy and then when you had that accident... being the one who got that phone call─ and being told you didn't have a heartbeat when they were operating on you. T, that shattered me. And now we have a beautiful son and you're still here." Jason states looking at the teary blonde sat in the passenger seat.

Te'a sniffles wiping away her tears and looking at the hospital building.

"Let's go see our son." Te'a utters getting out of the vehicle and walking into the NICU where Rudy is currently being treated still.

Te'a covers her mouth releasing a sob seeing their son here in Rosewood and places her hand through the small holes in the incubator gently stroking her hand over Rudy's tiny one with Jason doing the same on the other side.

"Oh hi. I'm guessing you're Te'a Lowe─ the mother and you must be Jason DiLaurentis─ the father?" The nurse questions.

"Yes." Jason and Te'a simultaneously nod clearing their throats due being choked up at the sight of their baby.

"He's doing a lot better. And look at that. It's almost like he knows you two are here." The nurse─ Daphne smiles noticing Rudy's monitors showing good signs.

"Mama, would you like to hold him?" Daphne questions, "Yes, please." Te'a nods placing her belongings on the small table beside the incubator.

Said girl sits on the chair making herself comfortable while Daphne and a few more nurses gently place Rudy on her chest.

Jason stands beside Te'a looking down at the baby in Te'a arms clutching onto Te'a singlet's straps.

"He's got a good hold on you there." Daphne smiles noticing the tiny hand wrapping around the strap and his other hand wrapped around Jason's ring finger.

"This should be really good for him. Being in the presence of his parents will make him hoping recover a lot more quickly." Daphne explains writing some notes down.

Eventually leaving Jason and Te'a inside Rudy's room to spend time with their baby without being poked at for a while.

✹

AFTER SPENDING all day and night at the hospital with Rudy.

Te'a walks into the bathroom at the high school since the girls asked her to meet them there since Hanna's got some news about Mona along with Spencer for Garrett and his case.

"That's all she said?" Aria questions, "Isn't that enough?" Hanna asks.

"No. That is not enough. You have to go back to Radley, Han. Alone." Spencer mutters leaning against the bathroom wall beside the sinks.

"It's not so easy. Caleb is all over me." Hanna responds, "I don't need to know that." Spencer grimaces.

"Well, Caleb's not finding dug-up jewelry in his locker. Whose earring did Ali find in my dad's couch?" Aria asks freaked out since last night she spoke with Meredith at the Brew and was shocked to find out that the earring doesn't belong to Meredith at all.

"One question at a time." Spencer responds looking at the panicked brunette.

"Wait, you're not gonna ask your mom why she's suddenly defending Garrett? I mean, seriously, Spencer, what is that?" Hanna inquires angrily.

"He probably told her it's time to lock Jenna up. She was driving that night, guys. I remembered. Clearly." Emily voices looking at the other four leaned against the sinks.

"We believe you, okay?" Te'a soothes looking at Emily, "Honestly, I don't think that you remember anything clearly from that night. When we picked you up you kept calling me 'Arlene.'" Aria states in disbelief.

"Guys, she can see. She's probably on Mona's payroll." Emily says, "Mona does not have any cash. They won't even let her have floss." Hanna responds just as the bell rings signalling for class to start.

"Okay, let's just do this at lunch. I can't be late again." Spencer suggests walking out of the bathroom with the others hot on her heels.

"I'll be right back. I just need to rinse my water bottle." Jenna explains from down the corridor making Spencer push the others back into the restroom panicked.

"Jenna's coming in here. Where's the earring?" Spencer questions looking at Aria who glances at her confused, "What?" Aria asks.

"Give me the earring. I have an idea." Spencer explains holding her hand out to grab the earring Aria's retrieving from her bag on her shoulder.

"What are we doing? Do I get to slap her again?" Hanna excitedly asks while Aria passes Spencer the earring, "Wait what?" Te'a exclaims shocked that she's just hearing about this.

"No!" Spencer shrieks in a low voice placing the earring on the small area above the sinks knowing it'll capture Jenna's attention if she can see.

"Okay, get in the stalls. Go! Go!" Spencer demands pushing the others into two stalls.

Hanna, Spencer and Te'a wash from one and Aria and Emily from another as Jenna walks into the restroom running the water to rinse her water bottle before reaching out for the earring and looking directly at it shocking the five girls stood in the stalls.

"I knew it. That is it. I'm going for way more than a slap." Hanna exclaims walking out from the stalls with the others just as shocked and angry.

"Hanna, stop." Spencer demands, "Stop why?" Hanna snarls irritated, "Don't look at me. I'm ready to hang a sign: 'Bitch can see.'" Aria exclaims looking at Spencer and the others.

"Guys, she doesn't know that we know." Spencer states, "Yeah. She will in a minute." Emily voices just as fuelled up at the others.

"No. We don't let her know that we know. Not yet." Te'a mutters looking at the others.

"We can use this... and we will." Spencer smirks looking at the others finally feeling like they're ahead of something.

─────── ∘°❉°∘ ───────
TO BE CONTINUED...

𝖊𝖑𝖘 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘 ⛧
sorry for the
delay in chapters!
SURPRISE!
rudy's their son.

hope you enjoyed!

DON'T BE A GHOST READER.
VOTE AND COMMENT PLEASE

socials:
tt: hellfiresoulss
pin: hellfiresoulss
insta: hellfire.soulss