13. Pleased to Meet Me

Complete story — includes the ending

Sutton is back and says that someone had tried to kill her on the night of her birthday. Supposedly, Annie Hobbs had followed her that night and saved her from the lake after the suspect fled the scene, taking Sutton back to the motel that she had been staying at and caring for her. Emma believes that Sutton is telling some aspect of the truth, while Ethan and Thayer don't seem to be buying her act. Sutton takes them back to the motel, but Annie has taken off. Sutton is instructed to stay at Ethan's place during the day so that she doesn't run into anybody (since Emma is still pretending to be Sutton at this point because of Sutton's noticeable injury). Nonetheless, Sutton sneaks into the Mercer home to freshen up and play around in her room, but is caught by Kristin. Emma happens to come home and witnesses Sutton disrespecting Kristin, which leads to Emma confronting Sutton about the way she treats the people that care about her. To Emma's surprise, Sutton tells her that after she officially takes her life back, she actually wants Emma to stick around. Meanwhile, Ryan, a proclaimed bad boy who had been kicked out of boarding school returns to Arroyo and seeks Mads' attention, although she is convinced that he never changed. Kristin and Rebecca are planning an annual charity event. When Emma leaves Sutton alone to attend the event, someone breaks into the house, causing Sutton to flee, further puncturing her wound when she hits the window on her way out. She goes to the event to find Emma, Ethan, and Thayer, and as Thayer escorts her away from the party, Kristin finds her and sees her wound. Sutton and Emma later switch places (Emma now officially being herself and Sutton now taking her identity back), seeing as everyone already saw Sutton with a wound. Rebecca encourages Laurel to perform in front of an audience. After the festivities end, Laurel runs into Justin on her way out. He admits that he had been hiding something from her and reluctantly tells her his secret: He says that Ted is responsible for his mother's death, as she was one of his patients. His mother went in for a low-risk appendectomy, but Ted wasn't being careful and was distracted by some news that he had received that night, resulting in her unexpected death. Laurel breaks down after she realizes how much Justin has lied to her and warns him to stay away from her family. Since her charade is now over, Emma leaves during the night, not before seeing Sutton, Ted, and Kristin back together as one happy family.