If Then Now
A chain of events accumulating to the ultimate fate of several characters that all crossed paths with Hanna Marin
This is really AU and is a oneshot
Warning: Contains mentions of Domestic Violence and character death
Without darkness there is no light. Moving across country towards the light was the only way Hanna could escape he darkness that was her home. She always wondered as a girl why other people her age hated the dark , she always saw it was a time of mystery and a time to anticipate a bright day ahead. The dark was nothing to be afraid of , that was what she thought until she married her husband Charles.
Her story began far before her and Charles decided to get married though, it started in 1961 when she met Caleb Rivers. The long haired guitarist and singer who was traveling across country with his band called Ravenswood which was all the rage among her peers after they played a gig at the local park. Hanna who was 15 at the time was enamored with the 21 year old singer who was taken with her right back. They had a short lived affair in which he thought she was 18 for a weekend and they spent time together with her showing him around town and him showing her his van. If there was one regret Hanna never had it was losing her virginity to the boy who would eventually sky rocket to fame before they met again at a time that she did not experience yet in her journey.
"Don't forget abut me , because I will be back in town someday. I promise." Caleb said to Hanna the day they said goodbye to eachother.
Shortly after Ravenswood left town there were whispers of a girl who followed the band across country getting married to the son of local hero Daniel Cavanaugh. Spencer Dilaurentis was not what anyone expected when they heard the news. She was only 17 and decided to follow the band . No one knew why , all they knew was what she told people and that was that her prior home didn't matter , only her current one did. Many suspected it was that she was a gold digger and that Spencer was only after the Cavanaughs money but Hanna could tell that whatever reason was Spencers business alone.
"My brother in law slept with me." Spencer said to Hanna one night years after they had met and befriended each other. That was all that Spencer said when Hanna asked if Spencer ever thought about going back home. Hanna would never know the full story that one night Spencers brother in law Wren came home drunk and forced himself on her causing Spencer to run away from home because she was ashamed.
Hanna Marin didn't pay attention to the gossip at the time in high school though . Despite the enigma that was Spencer , Hanna's world never changed. She attended the local dances with her best friend Emily Fields who was the best swimmer her small town had ever scene. The two girls would sneak off to college parties together where Emily would meet with her special friend Paige that Hanna would catch grasping Emilys hand a few seconds longer than needed. Hanna didn't care though who made her best friend happy though , as long as her friend was happy. One day after school Emily told Hanna that she was going to start competiting to be in the next Olympics.
"I think its time the world comes to see that it doesn't matter the gender of who you love . I am going to be one of the first openly gay Olympic medalists. " Emily said to Hanna that night. Hanna hugged her best friend and told her that she was proud to call Emily her best friend. Hanna was sure that she hugged Emily so tight that Emily broke her arm or something. The morning after when Hanna was awoken to her mother to come downstairs to talk she only suspected that her parent were going to announce a vacation. Not that Emily Fields was found in the town lake . No one in town knew why or what happened. Some suspected her death had to do with her friendship with Toby Cavanaugh , and that his wife Spencer drowned Emily after discovering the two were so close , others thought it was an accident that Emily Fields hit her head while swimming late at night. Hanna would find out years later from an old friend that Paige admitted to killing Emily to her husband on her deathbed after she overdosed on drugs.
Hanna didn't know what she would be doing with her life after she lost Emily , the two were inseparable and then there was only Hanna. One day out of the blue Mona Vanderwaal invited Hanna to come with her to a party the next town over. Hanna accepted and soon Hanna found herself with Mona almost all the time. The two girls looked at colleges together and would go on trips together. She was one of the best friends Hanna would ever have apart from Emily and a few other people. After much deliberation the two girls decided to attend the local college together. The summer before college Hanna began dating a gas station attendant. Mona was not a big fan of Travis and told Hanna that she could do a lot better than him.
"You're pretty , smart , funny , loyal , plus an amazing friend. Don't settle for the first guy who buys you flowers." Those were all the words that Hanna needed to hear to help make her decision. Shortly before beginning college Hanna and Travis broke up . Mona and Hanna didn't even remember him by the time the first semester was finished. The two girls were roommates with Aria Montgomery who was from a couple towns away. Aria's father was a professor at the college and her mother owned an art gallery that her grandmother built. Mona proceeded to date Arias younger by a year brother Mike who would eventually proposed to Mona a couple years later. Mike was eventually offered to play professional baseball so Mona and him left for Arizona a week after sophomore year of college was complete. Hanna would see Mona again some day at a cruise 18 odd years down the road. Mona would tell Hanna that her daughter was a child prodigy and that Mona's purpose in life was to have her daughter who years later would find a cure for diabetes.
After Mona left , Hanna and Aria banded together and tried there best to finish school . The two girls studied hard and made sure that the other one was not distracted by their equally busy social lives. Hanna found herself in a point of her life when she thought that she had been in a good place. One night after finals the girls decided to go out and have some fun. Aria opted to stay home while Hanna went out. Later that night Hanna woke up in a nice apartment next to a guy who she didn't know the name of. Slipping out quietly Hanna made her way home where she encountered her and Arias professor outside their building looking like he had just seen a ghost. When she walked into the room Aria was visibly crying on their couch.
"I'm so stupid. I should have known better than to sleep with my married professor." Aria would say eventually after having her out of wedlock daughter. Hanna would never know that Aria and Mr Fitz had a year long affair instead of a one time fling. That Aria and Mr Fitz were going to run away together after graduation but couldn't after his wife told him that she had cancer. Aria would go on to be whispered about behind her back about how much of a floozy she was for not knowing who her daughters father was. Living together after college Aria worked at the art gallery with her mother while Hanna began working at a day care. Where Aria would meet Jason Dilaurentis who's daughter Alison was in the same group as her daughter Cecelia . Jason and Aria quickly took to each other and before Hanna knew it the two were engaged since Alisons mother left Jason to pursue an acting career that never went anywhere.
Hanna one night during Aria and Jasons wedding met Jason's twin brother Charles who was a successful businessman. The two were immediately attracted to each other and despite her parents protests Hanna Marin became Hanna Dilaurentis only two months after meeting Charles at age 24. The first year of marriage was the easiest in Hanna's opinion. Charles would always be traveling and when he was home he would want nothing to do with anyone else but her. It wasn't until their 17 month anniversary that Charles came home one evening and told Hanna that he would begin working from home that everything would change for them. Everything started off small , Charles would make a small critique about how the kitchen was a tad bit messy or that Hannas hair didn't look neat. Charles would tell Hanna that she was not the beautiful woman that he met a year and a half prior. He started telling Hanna that she wasn't pretty and he thought that they shouldn't have children because she wouldn't be a good mother.
"Hanna , darling you just need to learn how to be able to be a good wife before you can be a good mother. " Charles would say to Hanna when she begged him to consider starting a family. IT then slowly got worse before the marriage spiraled out of control. Charles would throw his dish at Hanna if the meal she made wasn't good enough. He requested that she stopped going out with her friends and that she became a stay at home wife. He didn't start hitting her until after there two year anniversary. Hanna who was fixing up one of Charles' shirts at the time was listening to him scream at her at how much of an embarrassment of a wife she was before slapping her in the face. Hanna then proceeded to go to her parents and tell them but all her mother said was that she needed to try to find a way to please her husband like every housewife does.
Then one day everyone thought Hanna Dilaurentis was gone. The sad truth was that she was stuck in her home locked in. You could only unlock the front door from the outside and while everyone thought she ran away she was still trapped at home. Every night she would cry herself to sleep and think about just killing herself. Charles called her his little doll who he did whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted he would forbid her from eating for days and he would watch her waste away in there home. Hanna was never so afraid of the monsters in the dark in her life. Then one day Charles announced that he was going to be gone for the weekend , Hanna suspected he had found another girl who was more perfect than her. As she roamed aimlessly around her house she looked at the prison around her. Looking at the sealed windows Hanna threw everything she could at them before they broke. Showering herself and getting spare money she knew was hidden Hanna escaped the darkness. She would never see her first husband again , not in the future , never. Charles Dilaurentis was arrested for the murder of several women in several different states.
Hanna would never see her tiny hometown again .She didn't know it yet but she could have prevented the entire chain of events if she had never gotten into Caleb Rivers van. Emily would have never died , Spencer would have never married Toby , Mona and Hanna would have never been friends and Hanna would have traveled with Emily for college outside of the state. Mona and Mike Montgomery would have never met because Mona and Aria would have never been roommates. Aria and Ezra would have not been teacher and student because Hanna was the one who suggested the girls take a course together. Charles and Hanna would have met though , they would have met at a party where Charles would hit on Hanna. Hanna on the other hand would not have been interested in him since she had a husband. In any chain on events it was inevitable. Charles and Hanna were meant to cross paths and even though currently Hanna was afraid of the darkness in her husband the light of her future was on the horizon.
I really don't know why I wrote this,I was really tired and half drunk. I woke up and this was on my laptop so I went with it after heavy editing.