It had been a long day. A long tiring day.

Mona Vanderwall's funeral was over and Hanna Marin had no more tears to cry.

She had been the whole time stuck to her boyfriend's arm, as he had basically dragged her in and then out of the church. She was exhausted. Destroyed. She was like emotionless.

At the end of the day, Caleb walked her home. When they opened the front door, Hanna realized that her mother hadn't come back from work yet, so she looked up at Caleb with puffy eyes.

"I don't want to be alone. Can you please stay here with me until my mom comes back?" she murmured, still hugging his arm.

She really didn't know what she would have done without him.

"Of course." he replied, giving her a small smile that she didn't return, though.

Hanna walked to the couch with him, so she climbed on it with him. Caleb safely wrapped an arm around her shaking body, as she rested her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head and started rubbing her back with his hand, trying to keep her warm and comfort her, even though the second thing was way harder than the first.

Caleb's tie was hooked too tight around his neck. But this wasn't the reason why he felt so smothered. Actually, he felt totally useless. Hanna's life kept being a mess. She had already been through a lot of things, and Mona's death was just the latest of an endless list. He wished he could do something for her, something which could have really helped her, but he really didn't know what. He knew that the only way would have been get rid of -A, but this was like impossible. That's what Hanna and the girls had been trying for years, and he had been trying as well with Toby and other people, but it just never worked.

Caleb also felt guilty because, between all of the bad things happening to Hanna, he had been one of these as well, when he had broken up with her and left for Ravenswood. He was glad he was back now, but he still felt like crap. He knew he had been lucky that Hanna had forgiven him basically straight away, but he just couldn't think about how much pain he had given her. As if she hadn't had enough.

He looked down at her. She had her eyes closed, her face a little messy because of the ruined make-up, her lips were cracked, almost as she was dehydrated. She looked like a mess, but all that Caleb could think is that she was beautiful like an angel. And he obviously also thought she didn't deserved all of that shit.

Why her? She had been through a lot even before -A. Her family was a basical failure, she had had eating disorders, she had been bullied... Why did she have to deal even with this? And the thought that she could have been the one dead made him sick at the stomach.

Caleb sighed deeply and kissed again her forehead.

"I'm so sorry, Hanna..." he whispered.

Was there really nothing that he could do for her? He fucking wished he could.

Hanna was asleep by now. He could still see the tears at the corner of her eyes. Gently, he rubbed his thumb there and wiped them away, shaking his head. She didn't deserve none of this.

He had never liked Mona, at all, but he knew how much she meant to Hanna, despite everything that she had done. Then why Hanna, at the end of the day, had to suffer this way? He kept rubbing her back while she was sleeping. He was lost in his thoughts. He couldn't do anything to make her feel better and this made him feel totally miserable.

Then, the front door opened and Ashley Marin got in the house. She immediately noticed Hanna and Caleb on the couch.

"Hi, Ashley." Caleb said in a whisper not to wake Hanna.

"Hi, Caleb... How is she?"

Caleb shrugged slightly, not sure about how to answer. Ashley nodded.

"Thanks for looking after her today." she smiled at him bitterly.

He smiled back.

"Do you want me to tuck her in upstairs in her room before I go?" he asked then.

"No, don't worry. I'll wake her up in a little, I think I should try to make her eat something, even if I know it won't be easy at all..."

Caleb nodded and kissed the top of Hanna's head one last time before getting up from the couch, not waking her.

"I wish I could do something for her... To make her feel better..." Caleb mumbled, looking down at Hanna.

"You're with her, this means the world to her. You're doing more than you could even imagine, Caleb. Trust me."

Caleb sighed and shook his head.

"It's just that... When I see her this way, I wish I could feel the pain on her behalf... I just wish she was happy... She doesn't deserve all of this... She just doesn't." he continued.

"I know, Caleb. I know how do you feel. She's just gonna need the people she loves around her. Maybe she'll be a bit moody in the next few days, but I guess that's comprehensible. Hopefully she'll get over this too, we both know she's strong. We just have to make her feel that we're here for her."

"Yeah." he sighed then, turning again to Hanna, still weakly asleep on the couch.

He thought that it hurt him too much seeing Hanna so broken. Wasn't there really anything that he could do for her?

She needed a break. A break from -A, from Alison, from Zack, from the alcohol, from the school pressure... From Rosewood. From all the bad things that were happening there.

He suddenly had a thought.

"Go home. You need rest too. Goodnight and thank you again for today, Caleb." Ashley said.

"Uhm... Mrs Marin?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe there's something I can actually do for her... But I need your permission."

A/N: Hi everyone! My new story is here :) So, let's make some things clear: this takes place after 5x12. Let's pretend that Mona's body was found, so there also was a funeral. Now, this first chapter is set after the funeral, when Caleb takes Hanna home after the tough day. So, what do you guys think Caleb wants to do for Hanna? C'mon, you can guess ;) I don't know when I'll be able to update, but I wanted to share the beginning of this new Haleb project with you all. Soon, I'll publish the beginning of my other new story too, which involves Caleb hiding in Hanna's basement once again ;) Don't worry, "The Mall" will be continued as well ;) I'm just excited to share my new ideas with you all and I hope that you guys will like the new storylines. Thanks for reading! Reminder: reviews make my day better :) Love! xx -Atramea.