I have returned once again with yet another chapter.
In this one, we learn about Hanna's fate
And we see Caleb's first encounter with his little daughter.
Things are changing and it will be fast, so brace yourselves.
Please Review.
Thank you dearly for choosing to read this fanfiction.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of those characters. All rights go to I. Marlene King and Freeform.
"The doctor said that he will alert us, the moment he has any news on Hanna…" she said, her voice breaking as she rushed in Toby's strong arms that held onto her.
"And…the…baby?" asked Caleb, stuttering.
"The doctor told me to come here and get you. Do you want to meet her?" he nodded slowly and started following Spencer and Toby towards the Maternity Ward.
A doctor, stranger to Caleb stood in the suite Ashley booked the same day, so they could be alone and not be bothered. In a small cradle next to the empty hospital, layed a small creature, wrapped around a pink blanket. So it was a daughter after all.
"Mr. Rivers, congratulations on your daughter's birth. And I just need to talk to you about Mrs. Hanna Marin. She is currently still on surgery. After the labor was finished and we were ready to stitch her something really unusual happened. Mrs. Marin was still bleeding uncontrollably and we realized that somehow a part of her placenta was stuck inside her uterus and now they are trying to remove it. But, the problem is that if the placenta is not removed in time, she will…bleed to death…" Caleb putted his hand in front of his mouth, feeling shocked and his eyes teared again.
"I know that this is really hard for you, but we will do our best to save her. You also need to know that, if she survives, this particular injury is going to be a really big problem if you wish to have another child, because it will be really hard for her to conceive." The doctor said and passed his hand through his grey hair.
"I don't care about any of these, I just want Hanna, and my daughter well and nothing else will matter. And also, I don't think that we will be having another child any time soon." Caleb said and sighed. "Can you please leave me with my daughter now? And let me know the moment you hear anything from the surgery."
"I will Mr. Rivers. Until I see you again, goodbye." He started walking towards the cradle, the moment the doctor exited, leaving him, his daughter, Spencer and Toby alone in the hospital suite.
He saw the small baby wrapped with the pink blanket in there, sleeping softly and soundlessly. He moved his hands and putted the small baby in his hands, bringing it to his chest and letting it snuggle there. The baby peeled its lids open and looked at Caleb with its chestnut eyes, just like his.
"Hey, princess, I am your daddy." He stroked her small cheek, with his index finger and the baby slowly wrapped its small arm around it, catching him off guard. He smiled at her and his eyes turned glassy again, admiring the small miracle in his arms. The miracle that him and Hanna had made and the one she was not there to admire and cherish. Spencer moved closer to him, observing the baby over his shoulder.
"Want to hold her?" he asked and she nodded immediately, wiping the tears that had formed in her eyes away. She placed his daughter in Spencer's slender arms as Ashley, Ted and everyone else walked inside the suite, admiring the baby.
Ashley was the last one to hold her after everyone else had as she sobbed and kissed the little one's head.
"How beautiful you are, my beautiful little angel. You are the most beautiful little girl, just like your mommy when she was a baby. She is going to love you so much when she will see you. You look like her. A little angel. Grandma loves you."
After everyone returned to the waiting room, Caleb sat in the couch with his daughter in his arms, waiting for an answer, and rocking her back and forth to calm her down. Somehow the newborn sensed the lack of her mother's presence and expressed it in cries. They stayed like this for a while, until the doctor came inside, causing Caleb to open his eyes.
"What happened? Is Hanna okay…?" he asked as he stood up, worried. The doctor smiled at him and Caleb smiled, a smile full of pure joy.
"Mrs. Marin is okay and at the moment she is being brought here. The surgery was successful and the placenta was removed from her uterus completely. Her stitches are completed and her anesthesia is going to wear off in a couple of hours."
He heard the sound of wheels getting louder as the bed was placed inside the room, revealing Hanna lying there, with her eyes shut softly. Her porcelain skin was now white as a sheet and her closed eyes were bruised in a light purple shade. He moved, with their daughter in his arms and sat in the chair next to her, holding her slender and delicate hand with his one while he supported the baby with the other.
They took shifts, sitting next to Hanna and each of them holding the baby and rocking it to keep it calm. Two hours had passed and Hanna still wasn't awake. They fed the baby with a bottle and Caleb helped to put it to sleep.
"Ca…leb…? What…Is…going…o…n?" she stuttered, sitting up and touching her stomach, seeing that she didn't have her bump anymore. She started crying and looked at Caleb confused and scared.
"What happened? Where is our baby, Caleb? Did I…Did I let it die? Why am I not pregnant anymore? Why?" Caleb smiled at her and stood up, walking towards the cradle and putting the baby in his arms. He sat next to her again, showing her their daughter.
"This is why, Han. Want to hold her?" he asked and she nodded with teary eyes as he passed the baby in her arms. Hanna looked like she was sick, her eyes hollow and lips white-like the rest of her body.
She looked at her daughter, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. Eyes just like Caleb's, so warm and welcoming and soft pink lips. She was so fragile and delicate and felt that, if she held her too tight she would break in a million pieces. She couldn't describe it, but in a way, it was both her and Caleb in one sole person. The most gorgeous baby she had ever seen and would ever see in her whole life. Time stopped for a little and the moment froze forever in her memory.
"Hey little peanut, I am your mommy. I am sure daddy took care of you while I was asleep, because he loves you more than anything. I am so blessed you are here and healthy, my beautiful baby girl." Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks as she kissed her daughters head and she wrapped her hand around her slender finger. It was love at first sight. Pure, unconditional love.
"Caleb, she is…just beautiful." She whispered and Caleb looked at her and smiled, tears in his own eyes too.
"So how do we call her?" Caleb asked, stroking Hanna's cheek softly with his thumb, like he always did.
"I say that we pay homage to Spencer, who was the first to know about little peanut here and name her Taylor. What do you think?" she said and looked at Caleb.
"A boy's name. I love it, Han. Can I pick her middle name?" he asked, with uncertainty in his voice. She nodded enthusiastically and smiled.
"Olivia. Like Olivia Matheson from Ravenwood. She would have been proud of me right now." He sighed and rubbed his daughter's head. He hadn't seen The Five for nine months and he could say that he missed them a lot. They were really important to him, and he could even say, as important as the girls were for Hanna. And a little daughter had always been Olivia's dream.
"Olivia it is. I love it…" she said and smiled at him tiredly. At that moment the doctor walked inside and smiled at the sight of them with their daughter.
"Mrs. Marin, I see you are finally awake! Very nice. So, how are you feeling?" he asked, smiling warmly at her.
"Empty." Hanna said and earned a small chuckle from the doctor.
"Well, thank god, your little daughter was born perfectly healthy and was not affected by your condition. We believe that your body was so strong and showed so much resistance, that it absorbed all the complications and brought you to the state you were in. It was a difficult surgery, but thankfully your body responded to our treatment very well." The doctor said and looked at his notes, skeptic. "So, now about your daughter. What name do we write down for little baby Marin here?" Caleb looked at the doctor with a nervous face.
"It's Rivers. Taylor Olivia Rivers." Hanna said and Caleb smiled at her, grateful.
"Very well. A nurse will return in half an hour to check up on you. Goodbye." He said and smiled at them, before exiting the hospital suite.
"She looks just like you, Caleb." Hanna said and smiled at him. He smiled at her sadly and sighed.
"Hanna, what happened to you is all my fault and…I am so sorry. I never intended to hurt you, not even indirectly. But I did, last night."
"I didn't mean what I told you last night, Caleb. I was just upset and hormonal and I was in pain." She said softly, with fear growing at the pit of her stomach, subconsciously knowing what he was about to say.
"No! You don't get it! I didn't think about anyone but myself that night. I knew that you were nine months pregnant and I just kept drinking. I didn't care. For anything. I am still not okay and you don't get it. You don't accept it, because you only want to be with me." He said, causing Hanna's eyes to water.
"I want to be with you Caleb, so much. But I am not doing this only for me. Can you see that I am holding our daughter in my arms? What do you want me to do?" She snapped at him, her voice breaking.
"I don't know if am going to be there for both of you as much as I need to be. I don't know how often I am going to be like yesterday and I don't want to risk any of you seeing me like that, Hanna." He said and looked at his daughter, while Hanna stroked her small cheek.
"And you will do what, Caleb? You will break up with me and leave us? You will let your child grow up without a father? Just like you? You would have the heart to leave Taylor grow up without you? You already lost the pregnancy process and you are willing to lose her upbringing too?" She looked at him with tears in her blue beautiful eyes and sighed.
"I don't know…I don't want to be a bad example for her. She can't grow up with an alcoholic father. What impact will it have on her?"
"And what are you going to do? Run away? Go back to Ravenswood? To your mother? Knowing that you have Taylor growing up in Rosewood without the incredible father that you certainly will be?" He sighed. "I told you before, we can fight this. Together. You think that I should have dumped you and I did, last night. But it didn't mean anything. It was stupid. We have a future together, Caleb. We wouldn't have gone through all of those things we did, just to give on each other like this. We have a child we have to take care of, together. I want to raise Taylor with you, I want to graduate and move to Los Angeles with you and our daughter and go to college and live my whole life with you. And I don't know if you do anymore." Hanna said as sobs washed through her body and Taylor feeling it, broke down in cries too, as if to want her daddy.
"I think she wants her dad." She said and gave him Taylor in his muscular arms. Caleb started rocking her back and forth trying to calm her down.
"I don't know Hanna. I don't want to hurt you again." He said and kissed his daughter's head as she finally stopped crying. Hanna was now desperate, with Caleb's words making it more difficult for her to even look at him. After a few minutes, she finally built up the courage to look at him in the eyes.
"That's what you're doing right now. If you are only going to talk to me about how you want to leave us, you can just go ahead and get out right now. I don't want me and Taylor to be a burden for you. Just…go, Caleb." He did not move, only looked at her, shocked. "Now!" she yelled with her voice shaking.
He putted Taylor back in Hanna's arms and kissed her head.
"Goodbye princess, I will see you in a little while." He sighed and touched Hanna's cheek. "Han…-"
"Stop. Go and come back with an answer. A final answer, Caleb." She said as tears rolled down her cheeks and she sobbed, not being able to stop. He moved away from the bed and walked out of the door, the moment Spencer walked inside the room with confusion visible on her face.
"Han, what happened?" she asked as she rushed to her side.
"It's Caleb…" she said and started crying again, trying to stop so the baby wouldn't start crying again.
"What happened? Why did he leave?" she asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I told him to…He has…to, has…to…decide what...kind of…a life he…wants to…live. With…me and Taylor or-"
"You named her…Taylor?" she stuttered with tears forming in her eyes.
"Well, I know that the most badass woman of all has a boy's name, and I hope my daughter becomes as amazing as you. I really do, Spence." Hanna said as Spencer moved next to her and hugged her and her little godchild.
"You should know that, whatever happens with Caleb, you will always have me." Spencer said and smiled at Hanna.
"Could you imagine that in another life, somewhere…Things could be so different. I mean, we could be so far away from each other, and I could…be engaged to some other guy and…You, I don't know. You could be like, hooking up with Caleb-" Spencer started laughing and looking at Hanna as if she was crazy.
"Me and Caleb? Trust me, Han. That couldn't happen in any life. I assure you." Spencer grinned and kissed Taylor's head before handing her back to Hanna. "Because we would never have this miracle with us."
Hanna smiled at her little daughter now, but it was a sad smile.
"Don't worry Tay, daddy is going to come back one day."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter,
Also I have an important announcement.
I do not think that there are going to be a lot more chapters.
I think up to two or three more chapters until the end of this story.
You will see how it will all turn out.
Please review this chapter, I can't update soon if you don't.
Thank you for all your patience and support.