Just my take on how Hanna and Caleb could have found out they were having a baby, preluding the final scene in 720 where Hanna tells the girls, despite promising Caleb she wouldn't.
I hope I did it justice. Enjoy below...
Totes and Tests
Hanna Rivers sighed tiredly to herself as she rifled through her purse for her keys. Her new Louis V tote had been a belated birthday present from her Dad and whilst it was of course beautiful, it was also big enough to house stacks of receipts and gum and general crap that naturally seemed to congregate her purse.
"Seriously?" She muttered to herself, dropping down onto the floor so that she could pull it apart even more. Why was this stupid bag so annoying? She was just about to give up and start crying when the door swung open and Caleb revealed himself, staring down at her knowingly. "What?" She shrugged, standing up and casually making her way into their apartment as if nothing had happened.
"Hanna," He said, looking at her pointedly as she dumped her bag on the side. "I heard you rustling around outside for 5 minutes."
"And?"
"Can you please take out a different purse next time?" He pleaded with her, "I know your Dad bought it for you but if you lose your keys in there one more time—"
"You'll what?" She goaded him, heading straight for the kitchen to make herself a cup of herbal tea.
"I'll throw it into the trash can along with every other bag you own," He growled in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
She shrieked in surprise before raising an eyebrow, a grin on her face as she tilted her head back to look at him, "You wouldn't," She twisted herself in his arms, wrapping her hands around his neck as he looked down at her knowingly.
"Don't test me."
"You're mean," She pouted up at him, letting him steal a gentle kiss before he released her to boil the kettle. "Besides, I just need to wear it for the rest of the week and then I won't feel bad about shoving it back in box under the bed," She told him, reaching for a cup from the kitchen cabinet. "Why do I end up feeling guilty about my Dad's own guilt present?" She asked, leaning against the countertop as she watched him sit back down in front of his laptop.
"Because you have a heart and he doesn't?"
Hanna snorted, "He has a heart," She told him, folding her arms across her chest, "It's just driven by his wallet."
He didn't respond, clearly focused on the screen in front of him, so she left him to it, heading into their bedroom to kick off her shoes and put her jacket away. Her day had been stressful, meeting with potential new investors for her clothing line. Her designs had started to take off thanks to a little promo from some of Mona's friends in high-up places and now she was starting to get some bespoke requests that were getting a lot of social media coverage. Somehow people were hearing about her and it made her business seem like a pretty good investment - they weren't going to offer anywhere near as much as Lucas had, but it was definitely a great opportunity.
Still though, it had made for a few late nights recently and a lot of stress.
She tried to push it all to the back of her mind as she traipsed back out to the kitchen to finish making her cup of tea. She just wanted to spend tonight with her husband, eating dinner at a normal time for a change and talking about something that didn't involve clothes.
"What are you working on?" She called to Caleb, pouring the boiling water over her teabag and watching as the liquid turned a dark red colour; she'd been craving Cranberry and Raspberry tea all day.
"The software needed a new security patch update and I was just running it through the test system to make sure it was good to go," He pressed a few buttons and looked up from his screen as she made her way over to him slowly, wrapping her arm around his neck as she settled herself on his lap.
"Should I leave you to it?" She murmured, taking a sip of her hot drink.
"No," He wrapped his arms around her waist, "I'll be done in a minute," He added, kissing her shoulder tenderly before he focused back on the screen, his arms still keeping her close as he typed away.
She watched him silently, staring at the code that was running across the screen as she zoned out completely - she had a lot of things on her mind, namely sore boobs and a period that was due yesterday.
"I think I'm pregnant."
He stopped what he was doing, his arms tightening around her as he looked up at her seriously. "Yeah?" He asked tenderly.
"Yeah," She nodded, her fingers playing with the tendrils of hair on his neck as their eyes pooled into each other's. "My boobs hurt," She told him softly, "And I think I'm late."
He smiled slightly, bringing a hand up to cup her hair, "You wanna take a test?" He murmured, leaning his lips up to gently connect with hers.
Her eyes dipped down as her hand trailed to his chest, needing to feel his body with her fingers as she leant against him, "No," She said honestly, shaking her head.
He moved his legs slightly, pulling her closer, "If it's negative, we'll just keep trying."
"I know," She conceded, dropping her forehead to rest on his, "I guess I just want this now."
He smiled at her, "You know it takes 9 months for the baby to come right?"
"10 actually," She playfully thumped him before standing up and taking her almost empty cup to the kitchen. He watched her go, trying to see if he noticed anything different about her. He knew she'd been more tired than normal, but he'd put that down to all the late nights and early mornings she'd been putting in for the talks with the investors.
"So are you gonna take one?" He asked again, quietly closing the lid to his laptop. The new security patch could wait until the morning; this suddenly seemed infinitely more important. "Han?" He probed her as she silently rifled through her bag.
"I bought one earlier," She told him, rolling her eyes as she pulled out the keys that had eluded her earlier. "It's in here somewhere."
He stood and moved towards her, grabbing her tote from underneath her and simply tuning it upside down, shaking it until everything fell out. "Caleb!" She screeched as crap covered the side table.
"Use it as a diaper bag or something," He shook his head, grabbing the box with ClearBlue written on it, flipping it over to scan the back for instructions.
"What do I need to do?" She asked him nervously, doing her best to shove her stuff back into her bag.
"Do you want to pee in a cup or on a stick?"
"In a cup?" She suggested, taking the box from his. "I feel like it would be easier for guys to aim at this thing," She muttered, lifting her head up as Caleb headed over to one of the kitchen cupboards.
"You're probably way more accurate," He reassured her, reappearing with a red solo cup in his hand. "It's the only plastic one we have," He smiled as she looked indignantly at him. "And besides, we might not need it for a few months now."
"You're an idiot," She murmured affectionately, wrapping her arms around his waist as she looked up at him.
"Want me to come in with you?" He asked tenderly, brushing her hair behind her ear as his other hand held her back.
She shook her head and sighed, "I can't pee in front of someone else. I get stage fright."
"Well just pee in the cup and then bring it out here, alright?" He wanted to do this with her, every step of the way.
She nodded and took the plastic from him, heading off to their bathroom to do as he'd said. She squeezed her eyes shut as she sat on the toilet, waiting for the need to go to come. She really wanted this - she wanted it more than she'd wanted anything else. And that scared her, terrified her. She knew they'd only been properly trying for 6 months, with and without her stupid ovulation app that seemed to do no good, but if the test was negative, she didn't know what she'd do. Is this how she'd feel once a month for the foreseeable future?
She went about her business before she made her way back into the open plan living area, finding Caleb leaning on the kitchen island on his elbows, the box for the test open in front of him as he with dutifully read the instructions. "Done it?" He asked when he spotted her, standing up a little straighter.
She nodded, placing the cup down in front of him. "This is new kinds of intimate," She muttered, feeling better when he pulled her in front of him and cocooned her against the countertop.
"You better get used to it," He smiled, his hand stroking her waist as he dropped a kiss on her neck. "So, we've got to put it in for 20 seconds and then take it out." She nodded, reaching for the plastic stick and taking the cap off as he pulled his phone out of his pocket for a timer. "Ready?" He asked, hitting go when she placed it in.
They both stared at the increasing numbers on his phone, Hanna making sure they hit 20 exactly when she pulled the test out. "Now what?"
"Put the lid back on," Caleb told her, "If there's a little countdown on the screen, that means it's working."
"There's like a measurer thingy," She muttered, holding the test close to her face as she squinted at the screen.
She held it up for Caleb, watching him check the instructions before he nodded. "That's it," He said, kissing her ear as she placed it down, "Now we just wait 3 minutes for it to be done."
"Just?"
He smiled, separating from her to move towards the fridge to grab a bottle of water, "It feels pretty quick to find out if you're having a baby or not."
"I guess."
"You know if it's a no," He placed his water on the side and pulled her back into his arms, "We'll just keep trying," He whispered, stroking her jaw with his fingers. "These things can take a lot of practice."
She nodded, sighing slightly as she played with the neckline of his t-shirt, "I didn't think it would be this hard to make a baby."
"That's why people invented ovulation apps."
"Stop," She couldn't fight the smile that spread across her face; he always knew what to say to make her relax, "I know you hate it but it helped me figure out my cycle when I came off birth control."
"I don't hate it," He grinned, "I just missed being able to stick it on you whenever I wanted."
"On me or in me?"
"In you," He tilted his head, his voice dropping a notch, "Definitely in you."
She leaned up to kiss him, their lips caressing each other's tenderly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He was just about to push his tongue into her mouth when the timer on his phone started beeping, breaking them apart.
"Now I don't want to look," She breathed, staring up into his eyes.
"Together?"
She nodded, feeling butterflies in her stomach as he pressed his mouth against her forehead before turning her around. She reached forward for the test, holding it up in front of them as she leant back against his chest and he held a protective arm around her middle.
"Pregnant," She uttered, bringing a hand to her mouth as it dropped open in slight disbelief.
"Pregnant," Caleb repeated, taking the test from her hand and bringing it closer to his eyes, just to make sure, "It definitely says pregnant."
"I'm pregnant," She whispered to herself, "We made a baby."
"We did," Caleb laughed, turning her around and picking her up to prop her on the countertop, "We're having a baby," He grinned up at her as he stood in between her legs and proceeded to place a hard kiss on her lips.
"I can't believe it," She smiled straight back at him when they separated, keeping him close. "We did it."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
He kissed her again, pouring everything he felt for her, for their unborn child into it, "We need to book an appointment," He eventually said, his hands stroking her thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
She nodded in agreement, "I'll call tomorrow." She said, unable to resist pushing her lips on his again, "Should we tell my Mom? After the appointment I mean."
He paused for a moment, rubbing his lips together as he deliberated what they should do. "I think we should wait," He suggested softly, his hand running up to her waist, "I want us to know that everything's okay before we start telling people."
She got it - they'd waited this long to get pregnant, they didn't want to have to tell people only for the worst to happen. "I'll just have to stop asking the girls if they want to meet up so I have an excuse to order more herbal tea."
He laughed, "They're so going to figure it out," He shook his head knowingly before he pulled her close again, "But for now it can be our secret," His voice dropped again as she let her forehead rest on his again, "Promise?"
"I promise," She nodded slightly, "Just us," She added before they were kissing all over again, harder than they had done before as something in them switched. Maybe this was the horniness she'd read about, Hanna thought to herself as he picked her up and began to carry her towards their bedroom, his intentions clear.
But as he laid her down on their bed, the bed where together they'd tried so hard to create the beginnings of their family, all that existed in that moment was them.
Just Hanna, just Caleb, celebrating everything that was the start of a new life.
They'd made a baby.
Review?
