Once again thanks for the feedback, you guys are awesome and I'm really glad you like the fic! I've officially run out of tests so unless you guys have any suggestions (which you should feel free to tell me) there's probably only two chapters left of this I think. But anyway…enjoy!

"Hanna. Hanna, wake up! Hanna!"

Hanna groaned as she stirred awake to someone prodding her firmly on the side. "Stop it." She muttered, trying to bat the hand away without opening her eyes. "I'm sleeping."

"Hanna!" Spencer's voice sounded loudly right next to her ear and Hanna jerked back slightly, her eyes flying open. She found Spencer kneeling on the bed next to her, a smug look on her face.

"Damn it, Spencer. What are you trying to do, kill me?"

"No, I'm just trying to wake you up." Spencer answered brightly. "You overslept."

Hanna glanced over at the clock and sighed irritably when she saw that it read '7:24am', "Overslept for what?"

"It's Monday. We have school today, remember?"

Hanna groaned and dropped back down onto the bed. "I forgot about that."

"We all forgot about that." Aria spoke up from her position across the room. "Apart from Spencer, of course. I think she's incapable."

Hanna leaned up on her elbows and glanced over at Emily's bed. "Where is Emily?"

"She went out for her morning run about an hour ago." Spencer informed her. "I would have gone with her but I think she's mad at me for some reason." She narrowed her eyes accusingly at Hanna who all but ignored her, focusing on something else entirely.

"She went without me?"

"Since when do you run?" Aria asked, getting up from Emily's bed. She stretched her stiff muscles only to walk over to Hanna's bed and sit down on the edge, lightly nudging Spencer to the side.

"I went with Emily once."

"Once?" Spencer asked sceptically. "And you're already worrying about her not asking you?"

"Emily knows you don't like to wake up too early." Aria said, shooting Spencer a warning look. "She probably just decided to let you sleep for as long as possible, don't worry."

"No, you should worry." Spencer disagreed. "She seemed upset this morning and I think we all know why."

"Upset?" Hanna glanced between Spencer and Aria in concern. "What do you mean? Why is she upset?"

"Maybe you should ask her when she gets back from her run." Aria suggested, trying a more subtle approach. "I'm sure she didn't tell Spencer what's going on either."

"Well yeah but it doesn't take a genius to work out that she's upset about last night." Spencer cut in.

Aria heaved a sigh. Sometimes it seemed like Spencer had no tact at all. "Still, you should talk to Emily about it. Maybe you just pushed too hard last night."

Hanna nodded thoughtfully and ran a hand through her hair.

Aria glanced briefly at Spencer before she focused her attention on Hanna. "I know these tests were my idea but have you thought about just telling Emily how you feel?" Hanna opened her mouth to protest and Aria held up a hand to silence her. "And before you say anything about not wanting to lose Emily as a friend, I know that's not going to happen. Even if she doesn't feel the same way about you, Emily would never just stop being friends with you."

"I know." Hanna muttered, glancing down at her sheets. "I'd just hate for things to be awkward between us. I don't want to risk it."

"At least think about it." Spencer said encouragingly. "Emily might surprise you."

"I'll think about it." Hanna agreed reluctantly. She shoved the covers back and moved to get out of bed, not wanting to continue with the discussion. "I'm going to shower before Emily gets back."

Spencer and Aria watched as Hanna left the room before Spencer turned to Aria with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Aria asked in response to the look. "You know we can't force her to just tell Emily, even if we think she should. She has to do this in her own way."

"I know." Spencer sighed and shifted slightly on the bed to get more comfortable. "It's just frustrating."

Aria couldn't bring herself to disagree with that.

XXX

Hanna was just heading downstairs after showering and changing for school when she heard the front door open and close. Hearing Emily walk into the kitchen she hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. She waited for a moment before she walked towards the kitchen. She found Emily standing near the open refrigerator, drinking orange juice from the bottle.

"So I'm not the only one in the house who drinks from the bottle. I'll have to tell my mom that."

Emily startled slightly at the sudden statement and quickly lowered the orange juice from her lips. She turned around and gave Hanna a weak smile. "Sorry."

"Don't be; it might keep her from complaining about me doing it." Hanna said, stepping further into the kitchen. She frowned when she noticed the absence of Spencer and Aria. "Where are Spencer and Aria?"

"They went to get breakfast." Emily answered quietly. "They left a note on the fridge." She pushed the fridge door closed to show Hanna the yellow sticky note attached to it.

"I see." Hanna smirked to herself, well aware of what Spencer and Aria were trying to do. At least they'd made themselves scarce. Noticing Emily's gaze drop to the floor Hanna took a step closer. "Em?"

Emily looked up, briefly meeting Hanna's gaze. "I should go and shower before school." She moved to brush past Hanna only for the blonde to catch hold of her wrist.

"Wait." Hanna said, tugging Emily back. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"What?"

Emily tugged her wrist away from Hanna's hold and took a small step back. "Did I do something?" she asked apprehensively. "Something that upset you?"

"No!" Hanna shook her head quickly. "Why would you even think that?"

"After last night…" Emily paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to word what she was about to say. "I kind of felt like you were pushing me away so I thought it was because of something I'd done or…"

"You didn't do anything Em." Hanna said emphatically. "I'm sorry I was acting so weird last night I just…needed to be close to Spencer?" Internally cringing at how that sounded she continued quickly, hoping to rectify the situation. "You know what me and Spencer are like, we fight like cat and dog but whenever the other is away we miss each other like crazy."

Emily nodded but looked away.

"I didn't mean to make you feel like I was pushing you away." Hanna continued quietly, guilt heavy in her tone. "I never want to do that."

Emily looked back at Hanna and gave her a tiny, nervous smile. "You're not getting sick of me then?"

"No!" Hanna said instantly, the worry on Emily's face only making her feel worse. "Last night wasn't…I could never get sick of you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Feeling awful for putting Emily through what she had last night Hanna moved forward and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry I made you think that; I didn't mean to. You know I love having you here."

Emily laughed softly at the sudden embrace and tried to pull back. "Hanna let go, I'm all sweaty."

Indeed Emily was covered in a light sweat from her morning run but Hanna merely shook her head and tightened the hug. "I don't care."

Emily relaxed into the embrace after a moment and lifted her arms to curl them around Hanna's back. Sighing softly she rested her chin on Hanna's shoulder and closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the hug.

"Now go shower." Hanna turned to press a kiss to the side of Emily's head before pulling back with a teasing grin. "You smell like you ran all the way around Rosewood."

Emily playfully swatted Hanna on the shoulder. "Just for that you're buying me coffee on the way into school."

"I was going to buy your coffee anyway." Hanna pointed out smugly.

"Well in that case you can buy me dinner tonight too." Emily grinned before she turned and walked towards the door.

"Hey, Em!" Hanna called before Emily had a chance to walk out of the room.

Emily stopped and turned back around. "Yeah?"

"The hot and sweaty look? Totally works for you." Hanna winked.

Emily gaped at Hanna in surprise for a moment before shaking her head in amusement. "I'm going to shower, don't leave without me!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Hanna called after Emily, unable to keep the grin from her face. She waited until Emily's footsteps faded away before she spoke under her breath, "On to step four, then."

XXX

Step four: flirtation.

Much to Hanna's annoyance she didn't get to see much of Emily at school at all. Even when lunch finally rolled around, she found out that Emily had scheduled a meeting with her coach. She spent the entire hour of lunch picking at her food while Spencer and Aria gently teased her about being incapable of being away from Emily for more than twenty minutes at a time. Finally the bell for last period rang and Hanna hurried to gather up her stuff, hoping to catch Emily before she left the class. Emily was at the front of the class so Hanna had to hurry to catch up to her as she headed for the door. She almost tripped over in her hurry, earning herself a laugh from another student. She shot the girl a glare and she quickly fell silent.

"Are you okay?" Emily smiled fondly, reaching out to grasp Hanna's arms as if she was going to fall over again.

"I'm fine." Hanna blushed at her own clumsiness. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight."

"Hanna, I live with you." Emily laughed softly as they walked out of the classroom. "We're going to be hanging out whether we like it or not."

"Well if you don't want to…"

"Of course I want to." Emily said with a roll of her eyes. "Besides you owe me dinner tonight, remember?"

"I remember." Hanna practically beamed as she hooked her arm through Emily's. They slowly approached Emily's locker which were thankfully close to the classroom they'd been occupying. "How about the Grille? Will you be my date tonight Miss Fields?"

"I would love to." Emily smiled warmly as they came to a stop next to her locker. Hanna reluctantly released Emily and moved to stand in front of her, "But what about Spencer and Aria?"

"I think they mentioned being busy tonight." Hanna waved the question off. "But what do you say? Will you let me wine and dine you?"

"Okay, I'd be more than happy to accompany you tonight." Emily played along with Hanna's dramatics.

"Great!" Hanna smiled, "I'll pick you up at six?"

"We live in the same house and we both know that I'm going to be driving." Emily shook her head in amusement.

"I'll still pick you up at six." Hanna playfully narrowed her eyes.

"Fine." Emily laughed. "But you better not be late."

"To pick up someone as stunning as you?" Hanna sobered slightly for a moment though her smile stayed firmly in place. "Never."

XXX

Hanna looked up at the sound off footsteps on the stairs. She'd made sure to get there five minutes early just to be sure she was on time. She grinned at the site of Emily bounding down them in blue jeans, a white tank-top and an open, button- down, plaid shirt.

"You're waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs?" Emily grinned when she reached the bottom of the stairs. "If you're not careful I'll start thinking this is a real date." She flushed as soon as the words left her mouth but before she had a chance to take them back Hanna spoke up.

"You look great, Em." Gripped Emily's elbow Hanna leaned close and pressed her lips briefly to Emily's warm cheek before pulling back with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"Of course." Emily answered with a nod. "You know we could have just ordered in and watched a movie, you didn't have to go to any trouble."

"Em, we're going around the corner to the same restaurant we go to at least once a week." Hanna pointed out logically. "It's hardly any trouble, all I'm doing is paying for once. It's not like you haven't done the same hundreds of times."

"Good point." Emily conceded thoughtfully. "Lead the way."

Hanna smiled brightly and slid her hand down Emily's arm to grip her hand before leading her towards the door. If Emily noticed anything odd about Hanna holding her hand she certainly didn't say anything, she merely tightened the grip slightly, allowing Hanna to tug her out of the house.

TBC.