Toby Cavanaugh

Toby Cavanaugh is Jenna's older step-brother. Alison and her friends believed that Toby used to spy from his tree house window into Alison's window. One time, Alison and her friends tried to get revenge at Toby, but ended up blinding his stepsister, Jenna Marshall. The girls refer to the incident as "The Jenna Thing." Toby maintians his innocence in Alison's murder, and Spencer even dates Toby. Toby has a tattoo commemorating September 1, the day he ended his relationship with Jenna. In earlier episodes, Toby had been one of the suspects to be "A."

Season 1
In To Kill a Mocking Girl, Toby reappears at Rosewood High after a mysterious, yearlong absence – leaving the girls to wonder whether he had anything to do with Alison’s disappearance, or if he is "A."

In the next episode, Toby becomes Emily's lab partner, much to Emily's dismay. Toby notices when Emily slams her lab book shut, though he doesn't know that it is because of the photos planted there.

Eventually, Emily and Toby start becoming friends. Their surprising friendship grows even stronger when Toby decides to make Emily a mix tape, complete with a comic book-like sketch of Emily, much to the dismay of a suspicious Jenna.

Emily and Toby schedule to meet, but when Emily arrives at the café, she sees Spencer and Hanna. Too embarrassed to socialize with Toby in front of them, she reluctantly blows him off. Later, the waitress hands Emily the mixed CD Toby has left for her, leaving Hanna to believe Maya made it for her and encourages Emily not to bullied by pursuing a non-conventional relationship. However, Emily takes the hint regarding Toby. Later the next day, an upset Toby tries to ignore Emily when she comes to sit with him, but gives in when she presents him with a mixed CD of her own.

In There's No Place Like Homecoming, Toby surprises Emily with tickets to the dance. She’s nervous to accept because of what her friends may think, but is starting to like him.

Later, the girls discover Toby’s tattoo – "9/01 Free at Last," presumably memorializing the date Alison disappeared. At the dance, the PLLs are anxious that Emily is not safe with Toby. Hanna retrieved what turns out to be Toby's medical file from the psychiatrist revealing troubling information. Toby whisks Emily away to the Chem Lab to confide in her privately about his big secret. The girls send Emily a text message claiming that Toby killed Alison, making her more and more unsettled. As Toby tries to explain, she pushes him into the cabinet of beakers, injuring him badly before hurting herself as she runs away and trips on the train of her dress, hitting the hard floor and falling unconscious. At the beginning of the next episode, Toby drops an unconscious Emily off at the emergency room and driving away.

When Emily gets back from the hospital, Aria, Hanna and Spencer mistake Emily’s wounds for an attack by Toby, and quickly inform her of his sordid past with stepsister Jenna to keep her from contacting him again. Later, Jenna visits Emily asking her to bring her Toby's file. The girls, sans Emily, head toward the shed to hide Toby’s file that Hanna stole, but in a panic, Aria decides to throw it in the river instead, and it seems "A" picks it up later.

A day later, Emily discovers cops in front of the Cavanaugh house, with a shaken Jenna in tears – just as she receives a text from "A": "Thanks for getting Toby out of my way." She sees a smashed up motorcycle, but is too afraid to ask if Toby is alive.

In Keep Your Friends Close, a new piece of evidence (a bloody sweater in Toby's possession that Alison was wearing in the video of the night she got killed) leads the police to officially announce that Toby is wanted for the murder of Alison DiLaurentis, though Emily, Spencer, Aria and Hanna have their doubts that they’ve nabbed the right suspect.

Just as Emily arrives in her car to Mona’s party, Toby pops his head up from the backseat and tells a freaked out Emily he needs to finish telling her what he started at homecoming. With the two alone in the woods, he professes his innocence and claims that he met Alison the night of her death and gave her his sweater when she got cold. Then, apparently, she joined another guy in a car, who Toby did not recognize, and the last time Toby remembers seeing Alison, she was alive. He also explains that the tattoo commemorating September 1 was celebrating his freedom from Jenna, not Alison. He asks Emily to meet him later and not tell anyone she has seen him. Later, Toby is discovered by the police and arrested when they find him hanging around the church.

In Salt Meets Wound, Toby is released from jail due to insufficient evidence, but with one caveat: an ankle monitor, keeping him all too close to step-sister, Jenna, who confesses that she turned him into the cops, not the girls.

Toby's return to school in Know Your Frenemies is met with nasty remarks from students in the hallways as he is flanked by police officers in the building. And things get even worse for him later when the town reacts to the accusations against him.

In Je Suis Une Amie, Spencer takes a sudden interest in tutoring Toby, who is still under house arrest. She goes to Toby's home, who is surprised to see Spencer of all people standing on his porch. Spencer gives Toby a French translation of "Catcher in the Rye," having seen him reading the book once before. She explains that the best way to learn another language is to read a book you have already read, but in that other language. She has even devised a schedule for him to catch up. Toby is reluctant at first to accept the offer, but eventually he accepts.

However, when Spencer comes by for their session with Toby as scheduled, Toby hands her a book and tells her to leave. Spencer is affronted until she finds a note from Toby inside, written in Braille.

In The New Normal, Spencer informs Toby that she decoded the Braille message he left her: "214," but they are both at a loss. She tells Toby to steal Jenna's cell phone so that they can decipher her messages, but since it is a phone for the blind, they have to give it to Caleb to crack, which he can't.

Spencer and Toby form an unlikely alliance as the two grow increasingly suspicious of Jenna and her ties to a mysterious room at a local motel. Toby is staying at the motel to escape Jenna's abuse, who knows he took her cell phone and touched her snow globe (actually Spencer's doing). While dropping Toby off, Spencer hears flute music coming from room 214 - the braille numbers. When she peeks through the window into the room, she sees a bag from "Neufelds," the same exact bag Ian mysteriously gave Jenna. The housekeeper lets them into the room for a $20, and they find Jenna's glasses on the floor, and the shopping bag in the closet, but empty. Sure that Jenna's staying there, they stake the room out while staying in the room next door, a room whose bathroom door doesn't quite shut all the way.

Being that Spencer's staying overnight was unexpected, she has no pajamas, only the leather jacket and tie get-up she'd been wearing all day, so Toby gives her the shirt he planned to wear, while settling for the bottoms himself. They fall asleep, and Spencer wakes up first, finding herself wrapped around Toby. She disentangles herself and leaves the bed before Toby wakes up, leaving him thinking that they slept far apart from each other. They then hear flute music coming from 214, but when they open the door, they see it was only an audio recording, and they soon realize it‘s just another set up by the nefarious "A." The notorious Neufeld's shopping bag is filled with ice, with a note from A telling them they're ice cold on the chase. It may be a set up, but it definitely brings these two closer. Outside in the parking lot, they share a first kiss.

After Spencer becomes a person of interest in Alison’s murder, she continues an unlikely relationship with Toby, who is all too familiar with the feeling of being wrongly accused and suspected by the police. He coaches Spencer accordingly, urging her to serve the cops coffee in a bold move acknowledging their presence, yet not being afraid.

Later, Toby and Spencer spend comforting time alone, sitting alone in his house discussing running away and what that feels like.

In "Monsters in the End," Spencer and Toby engage in a kiss in front of her mother and her sister.

Season 2
In "It's Alive," Spencer's father keeps Toby from seeing Spencer, but Toby later returns at her house at night, scaring Spencer by not knocking on the door to the point of her brandishing a buthcher's knife, but Toby had only been trying to avoid alerting the rest of her family to his presence. He stays, and the two talk for a while. When he leaves he tells Spencer to lock the doors, and Spencer watches him leave.

In "The Goodbye Look," Toby shows up at school and tells Spencer he is going to get a GED and that he has a job at a construction company. Spencer sits in her car and watches what appears to be Toby being let go. He walks over and says the homeowner saw him and told them they'd fire the company if he wasn't removed. The construction boss did pay Toby the week's salary anyway. That night, Toby comes to Spencer's house asking to hang out.

In "My Name Is Trouble," Toby comes to the school to drop off his GED paperwork and he tells Spencer he has another construction job with Jason. Spencer doesn't really like that, and makes him promise he won't go inside Jason's house because she doesn't trust Jason. He promises and kisses her. Spencer comes to visit Toby at work and tries to get him to quit when Jason goes in the house to get a drink, but he tells her he needs the money. He would get a job out of town if he had transportation, but he can't afford it. Spencer buys Toby the used truck he had his eye on. They confess their love to each other and kiss.

In "Never Letting Go," Toby walks Spencer home. The two can't keep their hands off each other. The two even make out in the Hastings doorway. They kiss again, then say goodnight. Later, at the fashion show, Spencer goes backstage to talk to Toby while he builds the makeup tables. She expresses her frustration with Mona, and he comforts her, making her giggle, and they kiss. Later on, while Spencer is giving out swag bags, Toby comes talk to her and compliment her. Out of nowhere, in walks Mona, who starts barking orders at Spencer. Toby talks her down.

In "Surface Tension," Toby makes a major find in Spencer's backyard - a broken field hockey stick. After he tells Spencer about finding it and the way her father reacts to it, Spencer thinks that the hockey stick may have been what killed Alison. Toby comforts Spencer when they meet on the outskirts of Rosewood, and she says that her father believes the possible murder weapon was a prop set up by her much like Ian's trophy in "The Badass Seed."

Toby comes back again in "Touched by an 'A'-ngel" to help Spencer go through Ian's things. He discovers that Ian was part of the N.A.T Club. Spencer, who never heard of the club looks through the yearbook to find that Jason and Garrett were part of the same club. Later, Toby and Spencer see Aria and Jason at The Grille. Toby suggests she go inside to talk to Aria, but Spencer knows Aria won't want to listen to what she has to say.

In "I Must Confess," Toby drops Spencer off at school, where she is nervous that Jenna has joined the N.A.T Club. Toby says he can try to find information about it from Jenna, but Spencer says he shouldn't and that it would give Jenna an even stronger motive to break the two up. Toby assures her that it would never happen.

Later in the episode, the two are making out in Toby's truck, when Toby sees a shadow in Jason's house, thus killing the mood. Spencer is fed up, and storms up to the door, but is in shock when her dad comes out of Jason's house. When her dad says that he doesn't have to answer to her, Toby steps in an says that he owes Spencer answers. Spencer acts as a barrier between the two when her dad goes at Toby, and she runs away, making her dad charge at Toby's truck.

In "Over My Dead Body," Toby is at Spencer's house. Apparently, his truck wound up at the mechanic after the brakes stopped working, which alarms Spencer, considering he treats it like his baby. He says that the brake line was cut, and that it probably happened at work. Spencer then gets annoyed when she sees Jason peering through Alison's window, taking the newspaper down from the windows and looking at them, and pulls her curtains together. Toby then asks Spencer if her dad gave her an answer to why he was there that day. She says that he wouldn't tell her, and that she left it at that. Toby then says that she's not the type of person who would easily leave things alone, which leads her to say that he doesn't know her father as well, and to give it a rest.

Later, the two are sitting in Toby's truck, and Spencer admits she lied earlier. He says that he thought they trusted each other. Spencer then says that she can never tell him everything that really happened, which pushes her to tears, as she says that he deserves someone who can be completely honest with him. Before he can say anything, she runs away. Then, when the Liars are at the police station, Toby, while being restrained by police officers, shouts "I love you" multiple times to a passing Spencer, who has a look of sadness on her face.

In "The First Secret," Emily spots Toby unloading a moving van on her way home. Emily approaches him and notes his subdued mood as he fingers a snow globe. He's bummed that his dad has remarried and that the new wife is moving in with her daughter. Emily asks what the daughter is like, and he responds that she gets whatever she wants.

In the winter premiere, "Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares," Toby tries to gift Spencer with a chair that he made. After saying it is beautiful, Spencer tells him that she can't take it. Without completely revealing "A," Spencer says, "I don't want to look over my shoulder and find you there. What I want is for you to forget about me. If you really want to worry about someone, why don't you worry about your sister and that cop boyfriend of hers?" Toby then leaves, visibly upset.

At the Rosewood-Rollins swim meet, Toby tries to get from Emily why Spencer is acting so strangely, but knowing that "A" is probably watching her, Emily tells him that they are still not speaking. Toby tells her that she doesn't want this to ruin their friendship, and Emily tells him it's not a good time for anyone. After the meet, Toby watches the fight between Spencer, Aria, and Hanna and Emily.

Later at Spencer's house, Toby tells her that even if they don't get back together, he doesn't want to see Emily and Spencer fight considering he cares about them both. Spencer then tries to walk away, saying, "What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?" Toby then startles her by saying that she's starting to act like Alison did when she was still alive. Spencer says she can't give him answers now, but things will be different by tomorrow.

In "A Hot Piece of A," Spencer comes over Toby's house to talk to him. Toby still seems sullen, but allows Spencer to talk to him anyway. After Spencer says that shutting him out is killing her, Toby asks, "So you came here to tell me that you can't be here?" They exchange a smile and Toby pulls Spencer in for a kiss. A few scenes later, they take a break from their make-out session when Garrett is arguing on the phone with Jenna. Spencer, clearly more alarmed than Toby, asks why he seems so upset. Toby tells her that their arguing started the night before, that it was supposedly because of her eye surgery, and that Jenna even slammed the door in Garrett's face. What Garrett is saying seems to allude to "A's" activity, however. When Garrett looks over into Toby's car, Spencer quickly ducks, but Toby remains there, making direct eye contact, showing he is not afraid.

Later in the episode, Garrett comes over to the Cavanaughs' house, and Toby is standing there watching him. Garrett asks if anyone was with Jenna when she left, but Toby gives him a somewhat ambiguous answer, only shrugging. As he is questioned further by Garrett, Toby seems to know a lot more about Jenna than Garrett actually does, as Toby knows that she tends to turn on people once she has no use for them anymore. Toby also shows how he still resents Jenna, saying that "maybe she likes [it better in Rosewood], settling scores," which may be an allusion to Jenna taunting the Liars continuously, especially Spencer, most likely due to her relationship with Toby. Garrett seems especially annoyed by this, saying that Jenna is a strong person, and Toby responds by saying, "I never questioned her strength. Only how she uses it."

In "The Blond Leading the Blind," Toby returns, but he believes that he and Spencer are currently together. Spencer, scared by what "A" may do, tells Emily to talk to Toby when he calls Spencer. Emily tries her best not to lie without telling Toby about "A" or how he might be in danger. Toby thinks that Spencer is lying when she says that her father is home, and leaves. The next day, he goes to the Hastings' house to pick up some things that he had left. The scaffolding gives away and Toby falls, breaking his arm. Off-screen, Mrs. Hastings finds him and gets him to the hospital.

At the hospital, Wren introduces himself as Toby's doctor. Still unaware that Wren and Spencer had a relationship, Toby suspects that something strange is happening between the two of them. Later on, Jenna comes to visit Toby. He's clearly uspet that she actually came, but Jenna says that she should be the only person to visit him, as she remarks, "No one cares about you as much as I do." When Toby argues that Spencer cares more, Jenna says he should stay away from her, as she's "haunted." Toby says he'd prefer not to take any advice from her, and Jenna leaves.

Spencer is convinced that there's only one way for Toby to stay safe, and she asks Emily to tell Toby about Wren. Emily ambiguously tells Toby that Spencer was seeing someone else before him, and although it wasn't right, the person was now back and things weren't right again. Before Emily leaves, Toby requests a name of the person. Wren checks up on Toby later, and asks if he can get Toby anything. Toby asks for some answers. Wren, clearly stunned when Toby brings up Spencer, says that when he kissed Spencer, he thought they were over. After Wren says that, Toby says, "I'm just saying, I may have broken my left arm, but my right arm's fine." Later, as Toby is getting ready to go home, he looks back and sees Wren, upset about what happened between him and Spencer. At the very end of the episode, Aria, Spencer, and Emily see Toby in the Hastings' driveway. They all go outside. Emily goes inside his truck, and finds the keys inside and a note to Spencer. Spencer says, "He's gone." The actual meaning is unclear, but may imply that Toby has left Rosewood.

Emily Fields
Toby and Emily appear to have feelings for each other at the beginning of season one. At first Emily is unhappy that Toby is chosen to be her chemistry lab partner, but then she warms up to him, eventually accepting his request to attend homecoming together. When Toby realizes Emily is gay and in love with Maya, he backs off, and the two remain close friends.

Spencer Hastings
Toby and Spencer look like they may be moving beyond friends in the next few episodes to come. Toby is helping Spencer catch Alison's killer so he won't be framed again. Toby and Spencer kissed at the end of "A Person of Interest" after she leaves the motel bedroom. They also engage in flirtation throughout the night in the motel room including sharing a bed while Toby is shirtless. They are in a serious relationship by the end of the first season. Spencer even claims that he is her safe place to land in the season finale, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and that she wants him to stay safe. As Season 2 progresses, the two seem to be growing closer. In "Over My Dead Body," Spencer feels forced to end the relationship due to A's message to "keep Toby safe." She believes A is capable of murder based on the lack of hesitation when Ian was pushed and the kidnapping of Dr. Sullivan. She reluctantly breaks up with him in the same episode and ignores him when he calls out "I love you!" at the police station. In "Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares", Toby is having none of Spencer avoiding him. He shows up at Spencer's house with a chair that he made for her. Although Spencer says that it's beautiful, she rejects him by saying, "What I want from you is to forget about me." Toby then angrily leaves her house. Later in the episode, Toby storms into Spencer's house just as she is going to meet the other girls at the greenhouse. They get into a huge argument, with Toby even saying that "Jenna always believed you [Spencer] were trying to become Ali, but I [Toby] never believed it until the fight you had with Emily." Spencer tries to escape, but Toby doesn't let her. She finally says that she can give him some answers the following day. In "A Hot Piece of A", Spencer talks to Toby, but this meeting goes better, as they even kiss inside of his truck, until Garrett shows up at the Cavanaughs' house. Whether or not Spencer and Toby are back together is unknown, but may not be a couple due to A's threat and Spencer wanting to keep Toby safe.

Trivia

 * Credited as Toby Marshall in the "Pilot."
 * Toby's dad married Jenna's mom.
 * In "The First Secret," it is revealed that Toby's mother passed away about a year prior to the episode. That would mean that she had died around October 2007.

Book Series-TV Series Contrasts

 * In the TV series, Toby is sexually abused by Jenna, while in the book series, it is the other way around.
 * Toby is alive in the TV show, whilst in the book, he commits suicide by overdose in "Flawless," Book Two of the Pretty Little Liars series.