"Who's moving to New York?"

"We are. If that's still your dream."

To say that Hanna's life was not what she expected after high school would be an understatement. When Caleb had offered her a life in New York, away from Rosewood and the drama of –A, she had gladly accepted. Ever since she had fallen madly in love with Caleb, Hanna had pictured what their future would be like. She would get into The Fashion Institute in New York City, then get a killer internship with a top designer, and eventually start her own fashion line. Of course, she and Caleb would be married in the most extravagant wedding ever, and have the most gorgeous children. When they left Rosewood that summer, Hanna was ready to take on the world. Looking back now, she wished she had realized just how naïve she had been. The perfect life that she thought she would have, was starting to crumble beneath her.

Hanna walked down the steps of the East Side studio of top designer Dominic Salcedo, who she was currently interning for. She was totally exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to cuddle with her baby girl – who was waiting at home for her – and then go straight to bed. As she hailed a taxi to take her to back to her and Caleb's Tribeca apartment, she began to wonder what would be awaiting her when she walked through the door. It seemed like lately, all Hanna and Caleb did was fight; that was, of course, if they even had the time to see each other. Between Caleb's long hours at the office and Hanna trying to make her mark on the fashion world, they only just had enough time to make sure that their daughter was taken care of, and then they were off again. Stella Renee Rivers was born not long after Hanna had completed her third year of school; she certainly wasn't planned, but Caleb and Hanna were overjoyed at the newest addition to their family. Hanna had taken a year off of school to take care of Stella, but now that she had started working, Hanna was finding it very difficult to balance her career with motherhood. Caleb had taken to parenting like a pro, and his little girl had him wrapped around her finger. Stella may have looked exactly like a mini Hanna, but her personality, no doubt, was just like her father's.

Hanna was brought out of her thoughts as the car pulled up to her apartment. As she glanced up at the building, she could just make out Caleb's figure in the window, pacing back and forth across the living room. It was just past eight at night, which meant that Caleb was trying to put Stella to bed. The key word was 'trying'. For the past month or so, Stella had been getting increasingly attached to Hanna, and would only go to sleep when her mother would rock her. The terrible twos had definitely begun. Hanna made her way into the apartment to relieve Caleb of the crying toddler – just one look at him and Hanna could tell that he was just as exhausted as she was. Caleb handed Stella to Hanna before he walked back towards the bedroom without muttering a single word.

After half an hour, Hanna had finally gotten Stella to sleep. She made her way back into the living room and began to tidy up the array of baby toys that adorned the main area. When they had first moved into their New York apartment, it had seemed like the perfect size space for a young couple starting their life together. Once they'd added a two-year-old to the mix, the rooms had begun to feel overcrowded. Though, she couldn't blame all the mess on the baby; fashion magazines, fabric swatches, and clothing racks were also scattered throughout the living room. The spare bedroom, which had once been used as Hanna's studio, was now a nursery.

Hanna continued to straighten the room up before she came across an envelope, which she had tucked away on the top row of the bookshelf. The letter had been delivered a few weeks ago, but she had yet to tell Caleb. The return address read Pennsylvania State Court of Common Pleas, and Hanna knew exactly what it was about. The last time that she had spoken to her mother, Ashley had told her that Alison had been petitioning the courts for a while now in an attempt to get Charlotte released. Caleb wasn't exactly shy when it came to his feelings about Alison, and Hanna knew that he would not be pleased to know what Alison was asking of her and the other girls. She couldn't put off telling him any longer though, and had a feeling that this night was not going to end well.

Caleb stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist – he had hoped that the shower would wash away all of the stress from that day. He had already been running on next to no sleep thanks to Stella; she was becoming very independent, and liked to play by her own rules, much like he did. He and Hanna were going to be in big trouble when she became a teenager. Stella's latest endeavor, which accounted for his lack of sleep, was climbing out of her crib every morning. She would make her way into her parent's bedroom, and proceed to wake them up. She was definitely an early bird, another trait that she got from Caleb, yet even he didn't want to be awake at the crack of dawn.

The day had seemed to go even more downhill when he had arrived at work. Once of the main servers in his office had crashed, creating a security breach and causing a major headache. His anticipated lunch plans with Hanna had been foiled by this chaos as well. They had made a promise to each other to meet for lunch at least once a week, just to be able to spend some time together. That proposal had only lasted three weeks before either he or Hanna had constantly ended up having to cancel. By the time he had gotten home that evening, Hanna had already taken off to the fashion show, and he was greeted by their elderly neighbor, Agnes, as he walked through the door. Whenever Hanna and Caleb's schedules happened to overlap, Agnes was always happy to watch Stella until one of them returned. Normally, Stella enjoyed Agnes' company, but today was not one of those days.

By the time Hanna had arrived home that evening, Caleb was surprised that Stella had any tears left to cry. He handed his daughter off to Hanna before he walked into the bedroom. He had learned from past experiences that, on nights like these, it was best to wait for the calm after the storm, or rather Stella, before attempting to start a conversation. Though lately, conversations were being avoided all together. No matter how they started, one way or another, they always ended in a fight; sometimes they would begin over the simplest thing. It's like they were walking around on eggshells, knowing that one of them would soon crack.

Walking out of the bathroom, Caleb found Hanna climbing onto her side of the bed. Attempting to break the silence in the room, Caleb spoke. "Did Bug get to sleep ok?"

Hanna didn't even meet his eyes as she replied, "Do you think I'm incapable of putting our daughter to bed?"

"Hanna, knock it off. You know that's not what I meant," Caleb rolled his eyes.

"Then yes. She went to sleep just fine," She huffed, "Now, can I go to sleep too, or is there something else you need to discuss with me?"

"Just forget it," Caleb sighed as he moved to the other side of their room, before changing out of his towel and into a pair of lounge pants. He glanced over his shoulder, only to notice that Hanna had changed positions, and was now lying on her side with her back to him. How did things get so messed up between the two of them?

He thought for sure that she had fallen sleep until her voice filled the room, "I'm going back to Rosewood tomorrow."

"You know that I can't just take a day off with no notice," He said, facing away from her again.

Hanna sat up hastily, "No Caleb, you're not listening to me. I am going back to Rosewood, and I'm taking Stella with me."

Caleb turned around, a confused look on his face. "So you're just going to take my daughter away from me?"

"Oh don't be so dramatic, it's only for a couple of weeks," Hanna rubbed her forehead, "I've already talked to Dominic and he's letting me take the time off." She handed him the letter so that he could understand why she needed to go.

"How long have you known about this?" Caleb asked, raising his eyebrows.

"The letter came a few weeks ago. With everything going on, I didn't know how to bring it up," Hanna murmured, looking down at her hands.

"So just because Alison says so, you have to drop everything to help her? You guys aren't in high school anymore, Hanna."

"Don't you think I know that, Caleb?" She shot back, pushing herself up off of the bed. There was no way that she was getting to sleep any time soon. "It's not Alison that's summoning us, it's the courts. Do you think I want to go back and face the tormentor that made our lives a living hell for years?"

"Well apparently you think it beats staying here," He scoffed.

"Oh my gosh, Caleb. Can we just stop this for one minute?" She screamed as tears ran down her face, "Do you see what's happening to us right now? We can't even make it one week without trying to rip each other's heads off. We need a break from each other. If we don't take a moment for ourselves, we might as well get used to being apart forever."

Caleb's voice turned quiet all of a sudden, "Is that what you want?"

Hanna honestly didn't know the answer to Caleb's question. And truth be told, Caleb wasn't even sure which answer he wanted to hear. Both of them stood in silence, avoiding each other's gazes. The sound of Stella's cries provided Hanna with the perfect opportunity to end their discussion, at least for the time being.

"I'll go get her. I think it would probably be best if you slept on the couch tonight," She muttered as she exited the room.

The next day, Hanna was packing her and Stella's bags for their trip back to Rosewood; she was trying to pack as light as possible to avoid the struggle of dealing with a bunch of luggage and a toddler whilst navigating her way through the busy New York train station. Normally, she and Caleb drove down in his Jeep, but since she was traveling alone, she opted to take the train into Philly. She hadn't spoken to Caleb since their spat the night before, and he had already left for work by the time she had woken up. Hanna felt bad for waiting until the last minute to tell him about the letter, but up until a few days ago, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to go back. When she had moved to New York with Caleb, she had thought that she'd left the –A drama behind for good. After the hectic week that they had both had, she knew that the space would be good for her; plus, she really could use a night out with the girls. Sure, she had friends in New York, but none of them knew her as well as the four girls did.

The sound of the taxi horn reminded Hanna that it was time to head out. She walked to the center of the living room to get Stella, who had occupied herself by looking through her animal picture book. Hanna picked up her daughter and placed her on her hip, then grabbed the luggage and Stella's car seat before heading down to the street.

She had just buckled Stella into the back of the car when she heard someone call her name. Hanna turned around to see Caleb jogging towards her.

"I was hoping to make it back here during my lunch break before you left," Caleb reached out and grabbed Hanna's hands, "Look, I am so sorry about last night. I should have never said those things. I was just angry that-"

Hanna pulled her hands away. "Caleb, please don't try to convince me to stay. I told you, this is best for the both of us right now."

"Can I at least take you to the train station?" He pleaded, "It will be a lot easier than taking a taxi."

"No, Caleb. It's easier just to say goodbye here," She shook her head.

"What do you want Hanna?" Caleb sighed – he was starting to find this back-and-forth thing very tiring.

"You know what I want, Caleb," Hanna's voice rose a little, "I want to be in a place where we don't have to ask each other what we want. I want to go back to just, sort of, knowing what the other person wanted."

"Yeah, where was that place exactly?" He scoffed.

"Lady, are we leaving or what?" The cab driver said as he finished loading the luggage, interrupting the couple's conversation.

"Yeah, we're leaving," Hanna confirmed as she turned and walked to the other side of the car, before getting in without looking back at Caleb.

Caleb leaned down to the open door in front of him, where Stella was smiling in her car seat.

"Hey there Bug. You be good for your mommy, ok? And don't let Grandma Ashley spoil you too much," He said as he gave Stella a kiss on her forehead, "I love you princess." Caleb looked up at Hanna, who was clearly avoiding his gaze by staring out the window. "I love you too, Hanna," He sighed as he stood up and closed the taxi door. Caleb watched the vehicle pull away from the curb, leaving him all alone.

Inside the taxi, Hanna wiped away a single tear, which had fallen down her cheek whilst Caleb had been saying goodbye to their daughter. As the car made its way to the train station, Hanna began to doubt whether she would be able to make it through the next few weeks without him.

AN:

To the readers - Thank you for checking out my very first story. I hope to make this a 3 shot so expect more chapter to come. It would mean a lot to me if you left a review of what you though. And if you haven't checked out any of the stories from my ladies below, make sure to head over to their profile and review their stories at well. You won't be disappoint.

I want to give a huge shout to Jen (hannnarivers) for being an awesome beta and for encouraging me to write this story.

Shout also to my girls - Katja (zippizappi), Kat (Halebxxx), Jane (Janethewriter1), Marion, and Sam. You guys have been such an inspiration to me and have been there for me at all times of the night to help me when I got stuck. I love you all 3