"Hanna, seriously. Let me take you home, okay?"

Emily was really starting to get annoyed. Hanna had decided it would be a good idea to bring a flask of vodka to the costume party and drain it within an hour of arriving. She'd already managed to break a vase and upend a table in the space of about ten minutes, all while drunkenly looking for Caleb.

"I need to-hic-find Caleb," Hanna slurred. Her balance was off, and she swayed from side to side while trying to focus her gaze on Emily.

Emily sighed. Caleb had moved to Ravenswood a week ago, and Hanna had not taken it well. She'd locked herself in her room with gallons of ice cream and depressing music for a full 72 hours. Now, it seemed she'd turned to a more alcoholic mode of dealing with her feelings.

"Hanna, Caleb's gone. He moved away. You know this."

Hanna had started playing with the hem of her dress and seemed not to have heard. The theme of the party was movies, and she'd come to the party dressed as Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's. She looked at Emily with a glazed look in her eyes, obviously having trouble focusing her vision.

"Em, why are there three of you?"

Emily shook her head and took Hanna's hand, leading her towards the door.

"Come on, we better go."

To Emily's surprise, Hanna followed with little resistance. She opened the car door for Hanna and, unlike herself in an intoxicated state, Hanna got in without so much as a word.

The drive to Emily's house was quiet, until Emily heard soft sobs from the passenger seat beside her.

"Hanna-"

"Why would he leave me, Em? I love him so-hic-much."

Emily didn't answer. She didn't know why Caleb had left. He'd been here one day, and the next, neither he nor Hanna had been at school. When she texted Hanna to ask about it, Hanna simply said that Caleb was gone. It wasn't until after swim practice when she brought Hanna cupcakes that Hanna told her where he went. Hanna hadn't known why he left either. He'd shown up at her door, stuff already packed, and told her he had to go. He had told her it was over, and then he was gone. He hadn't contacted Hanna or any of them since he'd left. Emily strongly suspected that A was involved in some way or another.

"I'm sure A has something on him, Han. He's probably just trying to protect you. You know how protective he gets."

Hanna didn't acknowledge Emily's response and pulled out her cell phone, fumbling it in her hands, clearly trying to make a call or send a text.

"I need to talk to him. He'll explain. He has to."

Emily reached over to grab the cell phone, knowing that it was a bad idea for Hanna to talk to Caleb when she was this far gone. It was quite the task, especially since she was still driving and Hanna was hell-bent on talking to him, but she finally gained possession of the phone just as they arrived at her house. She turned off the car, got out, and opened Hanna's car door.

"Come on, Han. We'll get some sleep, and you can call Caleb in the morning, okay?"

Hanna nodded weakly, defeated. She reached out for Emily's shoulders, steadying herself as she got out of the car. Even with the support, she stumbled. Emily caught her, but the momentum had pushed their faces only inches from each other. Hanna looked up at Emily, awe beginning to show itself on her face.

"Wow, Em. You're-hic-really pretty."

"Um, thanks."

Emily set Hanna upright and let go of her, shifting uncomfortably. She tried to lead Hanna into the house while still maintaining a respectable distance between the two of them. It wasn't going well.

Suddenly, Hanna stopped when they were halfway to the house. She eyed Emily quizzically, tilting her head in clear confusion.

"Em? Why are you blue?"

It was a ridiculous question. Emily rolled her eyes and grabbed Hanna's hand, pulling her towards the house. All efforts of maintaining physical distance had been abandoned in the hope of ending this outrageous night as soon as possible. Emily had dressed like one of the Na'vi from Avatar for the party, painting herself blue for the occasion. The fact that Hanna hadn't remembered this was just further motivation to get some liquids in her and get her to bed immediately.

They finally got into the house, and Emily went to the kitchen to get Hanna a glass of water. She filled a glass at the sink, turned around, and almost dropped it out of surprise. Hanna had followed her into the kitchen, and her face suddenly filled Emily's vision.

Hanna's face slowly shifted to the awed look it had had when she'd gotten out of the car. She slowly leaned in, closing her eyes. It wasn't until their lips grazed that Emily realized what her intentions were. She broke the contact and pushed Hanna away gently. Hanna's eyes widened as the implications of what she had just done slowly revealed themselves to her alcohol-ridden brain, and Emily knew she had to handle this as delicately as possible.

"Hanna," she said slowly. "Why did you do that?"

Hanna fidgeted, avoiding Emily's questioning gaze.

"I-I don't know. I mean, Caleb's gone, and you're just really pretty, and here, and I miss…"

Hanna trailed off and looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. She wobbled a bit, reminding Emily of her intoxicated state.

A couple of years ago, Emily would have been celebrating this. After Ali went missing, and Hanna started taking Ali's place in the social hierarchy, Hanna had started taking Ali's place in Emily's heart as well. But they had stopped talking in the wake of Ali's disappearance, and she had been forced to admire her from afar. It was only when Maya came into her life that those feelings had started to dissipate. For much of the time she and Maya were together, though, her feelings for Hanna remained deeply rooted in the back of her mind. She ashamedly thought of how she had still cast longing looks at Hanna, even silently wishing that she could be slow dancing with Hanna in the candlelight while she was doing the same thing with Maya the night before she left. A lot of time had passed since then, and things had changed. Emily's feelings were now firmly focused on Paige, and while she could still appreciate Hanna's aesthetic appeal, the romantic attraction was no longer there. She thought bitterly about why this had to happen now, just when her love life was finally beginning to have some stability.

"Han…..it's fine. Let's get you to bed."

Hanna didn't resist as Emily led her up the stairs to her bedroom. When they got there, she helped Hanna into her bed, tucked her in, and walked towards the door, planning to sleep on the couch downstairs.

"Em," Hanna said, stopping Emily in her tracks. "I'm sorry."

Emily turned back to Hanna and gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's fine, Han. Just get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

With that, Hanna turned over into a sleeping position. It hadn't been three seconds before Emily heard her soft snoring. She turned back towards the door and went downstairs, praying that Hanna wouldn't remember what had happened in the morning, but also silently realizing how much stronger she had become since the time when she would have taken advantage of the situation if the same thing had transpired only two years ago.