Chapter Ten.

Two days later, Allison and Joe returned home with Ariel, Bridget and Marie.

Hannah was asleep, so Allison had a chance to chat with Lee before her niece was awake.

"How are you?" Allison asked.

"I'm okay," Lee nodded. In all honesty, he was confused, realizing that he had been staring at Hannah had caused him to question everything in the past two days.

"And how is Hannah?" Allison looked a little bit worried, but at the same time, hopeful.

"She's good, actually," Lee almost smiled, "She's slept for over five hours every night you've been gone, she's been eating, her fever's gone… she had a dream about… well, about him. Said he kept calling her Claire."

"Claire." Allison repeated. "Did Devalos have anything for you?"

"I called him and told him about it, he hasn't found anything on anybody named Claire yet, but he's still looking," Lee said, sighing.

"Lee," Allison suddenly had an urge to tell him about the dream she'd had about him and Hannah, but then thought better of it, "Never mind."

Hannah sat up, rubbing her eyes. She'd had yet another dream, and she was starting to understand why her mother drank as much as she did, because Hannah was finally starting to comprehend exactly how annoying (and exhausting) having these dreams over and over were.

"Oh, hi, Sugar Bear, I didn't think you were awake," Allison said coming over to the hide-a-bed,

"I just woke up." Hannah mumbled drowsily, "When did you get home?"

"About an hour ago." Allison replied, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," Hannah smiled faintly.

"Did Lee take care of you?" Allison asked, searching for a reaction on her niece's face.

Hannah nodded, "Yeah, he did."

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Baby Girl," Allison touched her niece's dark brown hair. "You had me worried about you for a little while there."

"Don't worry about me, Aunt Allison, I'm a trooper," Hannah joked weakly, grinning.

"I know you are," Allison smiled, and pressed a kiss to Hannah's forehead, "Lee said you had a dream?"

Hannah nodded, "He keeps calling me Claire."

Allison nodded, "Well, I'm sure Devalos will be able to find something to point us towards him. We're going to get him, Hannah."

Hannah nodded, "Yeah. I believe you, Aunt Allison."

"Good," Allison smiled, and then said, "Ariel and the girls will be in soon to see you. Can you handle it?"

"I can always handle my three favorite cousins." Hannah said, smiling faintly.

Allison smiled again, and said, "You're a good girl, Hannah." Before leaving the addition, and making her way to the kitchen.

Lee was sitting in the addition alone, flipping through case files of every woman and child ever murdered with the name Claire, and it was starting to give him a migraine.

"Hey." Suddenly Hannah was in front of him. She looked healthier than she had in weeks, with a healthy flush to her porcelain skin, an almost smile on her face.

"Hey. What's up?"

"I, um," She hesitated, "I have something for you."

Lee looked at her, confused. "Okay?"

Hannah cleared her throat before passing him a folder, "This is for you." She said this as though it needed to be clarified.

Lee looked down and saw that it had her name printed clearly on the front, he flipped it open and found the drawing that Hannah had done of him the first day he had been assigned to protect her.

It was perfect. It looked as though she had taken a black and white photograph of him and put it on a big piece of paper.

"Wow, Hannah…" Lee was speechless.

"Professor Everett gave it to me in that big pile of stuff she brought over the other day," Hannah said in a slightly shy tone, which surprised him, "I thought you might want to have it, or at least look at it." She paused before looking at him, biting her lip, "Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Lee repeated, "Hannah, I love it. Thank you." This was the most honest he'd been with her, without being sarcastic or moody in, well, ever.

Hannah actually, genuinely smiled, "You're welcome." She paused again, "I'm glad you like it." She was on her way out of the room, before she stopped and turned, "Lee?"

"Yeah?"

She looked thoughtful, before saying, "Thank you."

"For what, Hannah?" Lee was confused once more.

"Um, you know," Hannah shrugged, "Everything, I guess. I mean, like, protecting me, and looking after me when I was sick…" She looked at him, "Just… thanks."

"You're welcome." Lee said.

Hannah smiled faintly, "You get the hide-a-bed to yourself tonight," She informed him, "I'm going to spend the night in Ariel's room."

Lee wasn't sure how he felt about this. He and Hannah had been sharing the hide-a-bed for the past week almost… it would be strange to not have her right beside him, but he smiled, "I'll see you in the morning, Hannah."

"Good night," She said in a soft voice, before turning and walking down the hallway, her long ponytail swaying behind her.

Everyone was up early the next morning to get the girls ready for school. Hannah was going back to class for the first time also, so the entire family, and Lee were rushing to make sure they had everything.

Things seemed to be going without a hitch until Ariel raced out of her bedroom and towards Lee, "There's something you gotta see."

"Can't it wait, Ariel? I kind of have to take Hannah to her class." Lee said.

"No." Ariel said this word with such force that Lee looked at her quizzically, "This has to do with Hannah. You have to come with me."

"Okay," Lee nodded, and followed Ariel into her bedroom.

Hannah was sitting at the computer desk that had been set up in Ariel's room just recently, her head in her hands.

"Hannah?" Lee's voice was full of concern.

Hannah's head whipped around, and she looked at him with tear-filled blue eyes, "Lee." Her voice was breaking, and Lee realized that she was shaking.

"What happened?" Lee asked.

Hannah pushed her chair away from the computer desk, and pointed to the open window on the monitor. "My friend from Jersey sent me the link, says she just happened upon it."

Lee walked over to the desk, and actually felt his heart stop for a moment. It was a website dedicated to Hannah. There were several dozen photos of her, and, Lee realized with horror, some of them were from the day before.

"Hannah," Lee's voice was surprisingly gentle, "You aren't leaving this house today."

Hannah didn't argue for once. She nodded and sat on Ariel's bed, next to her younger cousin, as Lee pulled out his cell phone and called Devalos.

"How could this happen?" Allison continued to repeat this until Lee was certain that she had made a recording of it, it had been said so many times, "He's been… he's been following her, stalking her."

Lee had those lines running in his head, over and over, not just because of Allison, but because he was blaming himself. How could he have let this happen? How could he not have noticed that there was someone following he and Hannah?

Lee excused himself from the table, and made his way to what was supposed to be Hannah's bedroom. It remained unfinished, but Joe swore he'd have it done before Christmas.

Hannah was pressed up against a wall, her legs hugged against her chest, her blue eyes were staring at the ceiling.

Lee didn't say anything as he sat next to her. "I'm sorry." He stated.

"Shut up," Hannah looked at him, "Lee, this is so not your fault. You can't help the fact that he's a psycho who's obsessed with me, that would be the fault of his genetic make-up, wouldn't it? So, do us all a favor, and shut up, and stop blaming yourself."

Lee almost smiled at Hannah's bluntness, and he said, "Why should I believe you?"

"Dear God, are you serious?" Hannah rolled her eyes, "Lee Scanlon, you're an idiot, but I still manage to believe you every time you swear to me that you're gonna protect me, that you're gonna get this guy." She looked at him, "So, try not to be an idiot, for once, and believe me, okay?"

Lee had to smile at this, "Okay, Hannah."