Mary later gave birth to identical twins at Radley Sanitarium, a mental institution where she was frequently a patient. The oldest child, Spencer Hastings, was taken from Mary (much like her first born Charlotte) and placed in the care of Peter and his wife, Veronica. Alex was born minutes after Spencer, and her existence was unknown to Peter and Veronica. Mary, desperate to escape Radley, allowed Doctor Cochran to arrange Alex's adoption in exchange for $500,000 and a resignation from the psychiatric hospital. Alex was later adopted by a wealthy British couple but eventually got stripped of her adoptive name and placed in an orphanage when she started to develop mental health problems. Drake bounced around foster homes and orphanages for a large portion of her childhood and, on her tenth birthday, ran away from the Ambrose Home for Wayward Children. She later obtained a job bartending where she met Wren Kingston, Spencer Hastings' ex-boyfriend. After originally mistaking her for Spencer, Wren and Alex began a romantic relationship. After Wren told Alex about her blood relations to the Hastings and DiLaurentis families, Alex even met her half-sister Charlotte. The two grew extremely close, and after Charlotte was murdered, Alex took over her reign as "A" to find the culprit. Season 6 While never making an actual physical appearance, Alex Drake indirectly appears throughout the sixth season as "A.D" while wearing various disguises to stalk the Liars (Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Emily Fields and Alison DiLaurentis). Season 7 Alex makes her first appearance during the Season 7 premiere, "Tick-Tock, Bitches." After holding Hanna in captivity and torturing her, Alex poses as Spencer to have a conversation with Hanna with the latter assuming the talk to be a dream. Alex’s second appearance comes in "Exes and OMGs" where she looks at a Hastings family photo album. Alex makes three more appearances, all while pretending to be Spencer - In "The DArkest Knight," “Spencer” gives a book to Spencer's ex, Toby, in "In the Eye Abides the Heart," “Spencer” bumps into Ezra Fitz at an airport while she talks to Wren and I n "Choose or Lose," “Spencer” sleeps with Toby. In the season and series finale, "Till Death Do Us Part," a year has passed since A.D. went under the radar after discovering Mona Vanderwaal as Charlotte's killer. Mary Drake receives a visit in prison from Alex posing as Spencer.