Aria Rapture's 100 Baby Challenge: 33- Only If For A Night

Lilia and Raven

Albatross and Avocet

Harlequin, Starling and Verreaux.

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"I don't understand why you're insisting that we go to your place when we always hang out at mine."

Aria was slightly suspicious of Carter's intentions, but she trusted him. He pulled up in front of his new house and she jumped down out of the side of the Hummer before he could try and help her out like he always did.

He scowled at her and she grinned.

"I'm not going to die jumping a foot to the ground, Carter. If you don't want me to risk it, buy a different car. This thing is bad for the environment anyway."

Aria had given him the same spiel since she found out he had the Hummer. She hadn't convinced him thus far, but she still had faith that someday she might.

"I like my car, Aria."

He mumbled, watching her walk up to the door.

Aria turned the handle and threw it open, walking inside and stopping in her tracks. Mila and Willow were seated in Carter's living room. Aria's face instantly went blank and she turned to exit and bumped straight into Carter's chest.

"Let me out, Carter."

She snapped, balling her fists at her sides.

He shook his head.

"No. You need to listen. Finally."

Aria glared at him, speechless. She turned to face the other two and the looks on their faces made her want to scream. They looked like they felt sorry for her. They stood, their expressions sliding into uneasiness.

"What exactly do you expect me to say to the three of you? You're basically backing me into a corner. I can't exactly say that I won't let this go with the three of you in my fucking face now can I?"

Aria sneered, fixating her gaze on the ground.

"I can't believe you would push me into this, Carter."

She mumbled, speaking to the floor.

His entire demeanor changed at her words.

"This happens to be the only way your stubborn ass would fucking listen."

He glanced up at Mila, whose arms were tightly wrapped around her chest.

"Aria, what happened to her was rape. You might not know what it's fucking like to go through something like this, but you're basically telling Mila that you don't care that she did."

All three girls' eyes snapped towards him, an uncomfortable silence filling the room like quicksand. Aria could feel Willow and Mila's stares finding and burning into her. She had never told him. They didn't know that.

Aria quickly spoke before the puzzle pieces could click into place in Carter's head.

"What do you mean it was rape?"

Her voice faltered and she could feel her throat constrict. She was beginning to feel the walls she had built up around her to keep Mila out, cave in. She looked into the eyes of her sister and could see every ounce of hurt and betrayal laced through her irises.

"Aria.. You never let me explain. You wouldn't know, cause you didn't listen."

Mila's expression softened and she bit her lip.

Aria's heart tumbled and she looked away, nausea pulling at her.

"Aria, you're my sister. You're my best friend. You out of everyone should believe me."

She glanced at Carter and then stepped forward, placing her hands on Aria's upper arms.

"I would never lie to you, Aria. Levi hurt me. He betrayed me. And you. I didn't know it was him in the room with me. I thought it was Thomas. Please, Aria. You have to believe me."

Willow came over to the two of them, putting a hand on Aria's shoulder.

"We will always love you, Ar. Someday you are going to have to trust that we are the only ones who are going to be honest with you. Mila isn't lying to you."

She looked over at Carter, who stood in the hallway, his eyes masked with a far away look.

"Carter saw everything. He was with Mila after this happened. He might not be the one to tell you this, but I will. You're being stupid, and you're being stubborn. Mila would never lie about something like this. I have been friends with the three of you for years. She isn't a liar."

Willow's words rang true and Aria knew it. She could hear birds singing in the trees outside and the soft wooshing of cars passing. Her apology seemed stuck in her esophagus and she tried to say something, but instead, she started crying.

Aria looked up into the eyes of her step sister, and for the first time in weeks, she saw the light and life inside of them. She could feel the accusations in her chest slipping away. Mila was telling the truth and she should have known that. If anyone would want to hurt her, it would be Levi.

She put her head in her hands and sank to the floor, crying like a child. Crying like the mess of a human being that she was, that she felt she would always be.

"I'm sorry."

She finally managed to push the muffled words out between tears.

Mila knelt next to her and pulled her into her chest.

"I know you are. I love you, Aria. I just wanted you to know I would never hurt you like that.. Never in a million fucking years would I do something so heartless to someone I care about."

Willow sat next to them and put a hand on Aria's knee.

"If you would have answered our calls, you would know this. You should know what it's like to hurt like this-"

Mila cut her off with an alarmed look, but Carter was no where to be seen when Willow turned her head in the direction of where he had been.

She widened her eyes apologetically.

Aria cried silent tears into the fabric of Mila's shirt and her shoulders shook.

"I'm such an idiot.. How can I ever make up for this?"

Her words were slurred and shaky, but Mila understood. She pressed a kiss to the top of her head and hugged her closer.

"Aria, it's okay. I forgive you. I will always be here for you no matter how stubborn you are."

Aria was about to say something when she was cut off by a slamming door.

The sound of an engine roaring to life and tires screeching reached the girls' ears and they all three exchanged puzzled glances. What the hell was that all about?

----

Aria pushed through the door, Dylan losing his balance and placing a hand against the wall to regain it.

"I heard your brother is back in town." Aria said, looking around the room.

Dylan shut the door, turning back to face her. His arms crossed in front of his chest and he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe he is. Why would you care?"

"I heard from Danielle that the two of you were here.. Staying together. Why? Why would you even bother coming back?" She put her hand on her hip, putting her weight on one foot.

"I came back for my own reasons.. And I'm not sure why Levi is here. He wanted to come with me.. Again, why does it matter? And why are you here?"

Aria didn't answer, crossing the foyer and entering his living room. She sat on the couch and turned her head to look at him.

He sighed and crossed the room, sitting by her.

She immediately scooted as close as she could, her hand on his knee.

Dylan stared at her. "Is that really why you're here? To piss him off?"

Aria pressed closer, her lips next to his. "I didn't say that."

It took him a second, she had gotten really good at clouding his mind. "Aria, you don't have to.."

She kissed him. And he returned it. He never was good at telling her no.

"You know what's going to happen if we do this right?" She continued kissing him, climbing on his lap.

"He is never going to forgive you." Dylan mumbled. Aria smiled, her head spinning.

"I really don't care anymore."

----

A knock from the door pulled Aria out the reverie she was in. Her decision to go and see Dylan was purely based on the fact that when she found out Levi was back in Riverview. In her eyes, he didn't belong here. She believed he should never have returned..

After everything he had done, he needed to stay the hell away from her town.

She stood and approached the door, an odd feeling settling in her chest when she noticed bright, glowing skin and coppery hair on the other side. She slid the door open in confusion, raising an eyebrow at her vampiric best friend.

"Hey, Willow. Why are you he-" She cut off a the look on Willow's face. She looked worried, with a mix of what looked like anger. She clutched a stack of papers to her chest and bit her lip, glancing over her shoulder. Aria stepped aside so Willow could enter, still slightly perturbed.

"There's something you need to see, Aria." She held the small gathering of papers in front of her, a few blowing in the tiny breeze that came in from the now shutting door.

Aria nodded, pointing at the living room.

She followed Willow as she scanned the new room, Aria had recently moved to a bigger house, planning on finishing out her challenge in this new place. Willow sat on her new sofa, setting the documents on her coffee table. She picked up the first section, neatly stapled at the top, and handed it to Aria.

She looked down in confusion, scanning the first few sentences, when her stomach dropped and she went back to the beginning, to read more slowly.

She finished the first paragraph and looked up at Willow in bewilderment.

"This.. can't be true."

Willow nodded. "Every word of it. It's all over the internet. I don't know why none of you thought of googling her before. Man, Carter really is a terrible cop."

Aria scowled, only she was allowed to say that.

"That's not even everything Aria. I'm not one hundred percent you're going to WANT to hear this, but you NEED to."

Willow sighed and Aria sat the papers back on the stack, looking up at her as Willow launched into the story.

"Well, first of all, Rene Shadows isn't even her real name. I don't know why Carter didn't think of looking for a Rene with your mothers maiden name, which is exactly what I did.

Anyway, Rene Horton came up with a LOT of data. And I mean a lot. Aria, she was in and out of mental institutions her entire childhood for various things. She was on the news!"

(the lighting on this picture was WAY messed up, I apologize for the over-editing to try and make it brighter >.<)

Willow calmed her voice, which had started to get a tinge of anger to it, and Aria leaned forward, hanging on her speech. Mental institutes?

"She wasn't even raised in Appaloosa Plains, she lived in Twinbrook with her real father. She had two siblings, not yours because they were her fathers, that were younger then her by quite a few years.

Anyway, when she was seven, her younger brother drowned. He was only two."

Willow looked at Aria, biting her lip.

"Rene claimed it was an accident, but the police suspected that she had done it. When the investigators showed up after the 911 call, Rene was covered in water and completely drained of emotion. She told them he had just fallen in the pool and she wasn't able to save him.

But, Aria.. She didn't shed one tear. Not one."

Aria's eyes widened. "Why would they write that in a news report?"

Willow grinned.

"They didn't. I hacked into the police reports and her therapists records. It was incedibly easy.

You wouldn't believe the things this woman has said..

But Aria.. That's not the worst thing.."

Aria remained blank, just looking at her, taking all of this in. How could it get much worse then murder? She nodded, indicating Willow to continue.

"When she left Twinbrook to come here, she saw her therapist one last time."

Willow looked at the stack of papers and sighed.

"All she told her, was that she wanted to get rid of something that was bothering her. Take care of a 'few things' that were standing in the way of her getting her sister to herself. Which means you, Aria.

And in the therapists notes, she seemed to think that she wanted to PERMANENTLY get rid of whatever it was."

Willow's word were coming out faster then ever and she started to twist them slightly in her anxiety.

"Aria.. I can't help but think she means Mila."

It took Aria a second, she thought about Rene's behaviors, her speaking, the way she looked at Mila and spoke about her. She didn't know why she had never picked up on it before, but suddenly it all made perfect sense. Rene wanted Mila out of the way and felt like she didn't deserve to be Aria's sister because she wasnt blood.

Aria's stomach lurched. What the fuck?

She sighed, reaching into her pocket to call Mila, who had been in town for a week or so for a challenge father meet up. Oh, and that tiny little intervention thing that had just happened.

She dialed Mila's number and no one answered.

She called twice more and the same thing.

Then she remembered, her face blanching.

Mila was supposed to be meeting up with Rene today. On the terms of getting to know each other.

In a panic, Aria grabbed her keys and dialed Carter's number.

She needed to get to Rene's. And fast. If all of this was true, who knew what she was capable of.

-----

Carter parked the cruiser next to the curb in front of the house Rene was staying in and looked at Aria. The rain thundered overhead and it was almost hard to see through the downpour. She was anxiously drumming her fingers on her knee the entire drive and now that they had arrived, she instantly put her hand on the door handle and threw it open, getting out as quickly as she could.

Carter hissed and exited the car, making it to her side before she made it three feet.

"Aria, you can NOT go rushing in there. I feel like I should have just done this by myself."

He angrily whispered, his fingers wrapped around the top of her arm.

She glared at him, pulling her arm out of his grip.

"Fine." She snapped back, giving a sarcastic curtsy. "After you, Mr. Officer."

He rolled his eyes, turning and heading towards the front door. As they neared it, they noticed it was already slightly ajar.

A few steps away, Aria's pulse leapt into her throat. There were tiny dark red drops scattered along the wood of the front porch. She could feel the panic increasing in velocity with each and every inch of ground they covered.

Carter reached the door first, pushing it open with his hand on his gun.

He paused for a second, scanning the room.

"Fuck." He mumbled, rushing forward. Aria could tell by the tone of his voice that it was bad. Really bad.

"Aria!" He shouted from the depths of the room. "Call 911. Now!"

Aria crossed the thresh hold, freezing in place. Blood covered the ground in a intricate little pattern it seemed. The coppery smell turned her stomach. In the middle of the mess, Mila lay in a puddle, a line cut neatly across her throat.

Aria couldn't move. She couldn't feel. Time seemed to be immobile as Carter tried to revive her sister.

"Aria, what the FUCK are you doing!? Call 911! NOW!"

Aria dropped to her knees, crawling towards her sister. She sat two feet away and pulled her knees to her chest, unable to breathe properly.

"Is she.. dead?" She whispered, almost inaudible.

"She's going to fucking be if you don't get an ambulance here, NOW, Aria."

Aria reached a trembling hand into her pocket and extracted her phone, dialing the numbers as the tears finally began to fall.

She had never been more scared in her life. Rene seemed so... Sweet. So innocent and honest.. How could someone she was related to do something like this? What had Mila done? Was Rene really so crazy that she felt the need to KILL Mila?

Why? This question echoed over all of the others. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

What was this going to accomplish? Did she honestly have something to gain from this?

What was Aria supposed to do?

What if Mila died?

The sirens blew in from outside as the ambulance arrived and Aria was pushed away by the EMT's as they surrounded Mila, blocking her from view.

Carter looked up at her, his face etched with concern and fear. Mila's blood was all over him and he looked so incredibly worried that it pulled Aria's already nauseated stomach into more knots. The last thing she saw was his face as everything went black.

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Babies 68, 69, 70, and 71

Echo, Dexter, Bella and Kensington