Hello my lovely readers. Thank you so much for 17 reviews on the last chapter, I really appreciate every single one.
Also, if any of you have any oneshot ideas that you'd like written let me know. To the person who requested seeing Claudia, I was halfway through writing this when I saw your review and decided to weave her in, so enjoy!
In other news, I'm not sure how many of you are following spoilers for 6B. I won't say too much in case any of you aren't, but I'm not happy at all. In my mind, until Marlene sorts her shit out Haleb will be living vicariously through this story, not stupid 6B. If anybody else is freaking out PM me so that we can share our pain together :(
Twenty Eight
Caleb was freaking out. Hanna's birthday was in exactly 2 days and he'd just been told that one of her main presents wouldn't be available until the following week. To add to the stress of it all, he was currently away at a tech conference in California and struggling to comprehend planning any type of surprise from over 2000 miles away. Grabbing his iPhone, he sat down on the hotel bed and called Hanna's phone to FaceTime, knowing just seeing her face would calm him down.
He waited a few moments for it to ring and connect before he was greeted with the sight of Logan's chin. "Hey goober," He greeted, grinning as Logan held the camera super close to his face.
He heard Hanna in the background telling him to hold the phone further away before Logan replied, "Hi Daddy," Holding the phone at least far enough away so that Caleb could see his whole face.
"Have you had a good day?" He asked, catching glimpses of his and Hanna's bed as Logan moved the phone around.
"You wanna tell Daddy about what you did at preschool and going to the shop?" He heard Hanna encourage, somewhere off-screen.
"Daddy we went to Mommy's shop and I saw Aunty Spenny and we looked at a picture of a bean,"
"A bean?" Caleb asked confused, laughing as Logan nodded excitedly, "Did you have fun at preschool too?" He nodded again, getting distracted by a button on a cushion, "What are you doing now?" Caleb said, trying to get his attention back.
"Cuddlin' with Mommy and Mimi," The little boy said nonchalantly, lying back against something that looked distinctly like Hanna's top.
"You know how to make Daddy super jealous," Caleb sighed as Logan moved the phone slightly and Mila and Hanna came into view, Hanna lying back against the pillows with Mila on her chest, nursing. "Hey baby,"
"Are you talking to me or bug?" Hanna smiled at the camera, taking the phone from Logan and holding it in front of her with one hand as the other cradled Mila against her chest.
"Both,"
"We miss you," Hanna pouted, letting Logan steal the phone back as he tried to show Caleb his new book.
"Logi, not so close to your face," Caleb laughed, pretty much just getting a view of Logan's nose and eyes. He heard Hanna tell him to be careful as he settled back down against her side.
"Daddy," Logan began, "Why aren't you here?" He whined, waving The Tiger Who Came to Tea in front of his face.
"Cos Daddy's working, goober,"
"I want to read my book with you," Logan said, his eyes welling up with tears and his bottom lip wobbling, before he threw the phone down and buried his head in Hanna's side.
Caleb stared at the picture of the ceiling for a few moments until Hanna grabbed the phone. "I better put them to bed," She said as Caleb looked at her concerned. "I'll call you back?"
"Yeah, of course," Caleb agreed, swallowing a lump in his throat, wishing he could be there with them. "Give them both a kiss from me,"
"Lo, say night night to Daddy," Hanna instructed, moving her phone to get Logan to say bye.
"Night night," He spluttered, taking the phone from Hanna again as big fat crocodile tears ran down his cheeks.
"Night Logi, love you," He tried to soothe before Hanna cut the call off.
He collapsed back on the bed in anger, wishing he was back in Rosewood. Grabbing his phone again, he dialed Spencer's number, hoping she'd pick up – whilst Hanna was occupied he could at least try and sort out her birthday present.
"Hey Caleb, aren't you in California?" She greeted him as she answered the phone.
"I need a huge favour," He said, getting straight to the point.
"Oooookay, how can I help?"
"You know the photographer that your Mom employees to take all her official photos?"
"Who? Amber?"
"Yeah, her," Caleb said, "She took some photos of Lo and Mimi for Hanna's birthday but she called me to say she's had a really big job come in and she can't produce them until next week."
"But Hanna's birthday's on Saturday,"
"I know," He exclaimed, "Is there any chance you can call in a favour?"
Spencer grabbed a pen and jotted down the details, "Of course, of course," She said, "I can't believe she'd do that, she knows you're family friends,"
"Thanks Spence, I owe you one,"
"No problem, I'll see you when you get back," She said before he hung up. As he waited for Hanna to call him back, he began to pack up his stuff so he could get out of there first thing in the morning. His phone didn't ring for another 40 minutes and he was beginning to get anxious about not hearing from her; he just wanted to make sure everything was okay.
His phone finally buzzed and he moved swiftly to answer it, "Hey," He greeted again as she came onto the screen.
She smiled at him as she plonked herself down on the sofa, her hair fanning out behind her, "Hey, sorry, Lo was pretty upset, it took a while to get him to sleep,"
"He okay now?" Caleb asked, becoming increasingly concerned.
Hanna sighed and closed her eyes tiredly, "Yeah, he just didn't have a nap today," Hanna explained, rubbing a hand across her head, "We went down to the shop after preschool and Spence came in to show off her ultrasound picture and then he spent the whole afternoon playing with her,"
Caleb laughed, "Okay, the bean picture makes a lot more sense now,"
"He was so cute with it," Hanna grinned, "You look tired," She said softly, taking in his appearance. "Are you working too hard out there?"
He shot her a small smile, "No, I've just been busy fitting in seeing my Mom around the conference," He said, "And you know I can't sleep without you," He added, halfway between joking and being serious. She half smiled at him in return – she'd hardly slept herself since he'd been away but she didn't want him to know that. "You wanna see the sea?"
Hanna nodded as he walked over to his balcony and flipped the camera round. "We need to take Lo to the beach," Hanna commented as she took in the picturesque scene.
"Yeah," Caleb agreed, "He would absolutely love it here," He added, flipping the camera back around to face him as he sat down in the chair outside. "So, is there anything you want from Cali for your birthday?"
Hanna sighed, her heart beating faster as she thought about him being back, "Just you,"
He grinned at her, "I'll be back tomorrow,"
"I can't wait." She grinned back, "You're gonna text me your flight details right? And I'll meet you at the airport?"
"Yep, I'll text you them tomorrow," He said, standing up to move back inside. "I better go, I'm meeting my Mom for dinner,"
"Say hi from me, tell her she really needs to come visit soon," Hanna said, "I love you," She added, blowing kisses at the screen.
"Love you too," Caleb responded before he hung up.
Hanna felt so mad. She'd called Caleb three times, text him seven and tried to FaceTime him twice and he still wasn't responding. Having dropped Logan off at preschool for the day, Hanna was left to silently fume in her shop whilst Mila slept and customers slowly trickled in. Her full-time shop assistant, Morgan, could tell she was annoyed and made no comment when Hanna asked her to watch Mila whilst she grabbed an iced-coffee from the Brew.
As she came back, she decided she'd try Caleb's number one final time before she caved and called his Mom to find out where the hell he was. Sucking on her straw aggressively as she pushed through the shop door with her shoulder, her phone to her ear as it started to ring.
"Hello," Caleb answered. Hanna's head whipped up – the voice that was coming down the phone was also standing directly in front of her near the register. "Miss me?" He asked, opening his arms for her as she dumped her coffee on the side and ran into him, placing an urgent kiss on his lips.
She pulled away and whacked him in the arm, "Don't you dare do that again,"
"Surprise you?" Caleb asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he tenderly rubbed his arm where she'd hit him.
"Not reply to me,"
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, "Can you shut up and kiss me," He asked, smiling into their kiss, as she readily obliged. They stood there in the middle of the shop floor, making out and making up for lost time, both of them trying to forget about being apart for almost a week.
"Okay you two, break it up, you're scaring the customers away," Morgan said, shuffling around the two as she brought out some new stock from the back.
"Yes Mom," Hanna teased, moving to help her as Caleb perched himself on the edge of the register and watched her do her thing. She tried to move past him to grab a dress that somebody had returned but he caught her waist and pulled her in-between his legs, pressing a meaningful kiss to her lips before she broke away, laughing at him. "You wanna get out of here and go for lunch?" She asked, resting her hands on his waist, "Friday's are always quiet and Morgan will be okay looking after everything here,"
"Yeah, you weren't even supposed to be here today," Morgan agreed, flitting past them.
"Sure," Caleb agreed, looking down at her, rubbing his hands down her arms. "But I need to go home and ditch my stuff first," He said, nodding towards the duffel bag he'd dumped near a mannequin.
"Can you not just bring it with you? I'm hungry," Hanna whined, watching as he moved over towards Mila's stroller where she slept.
"I really don't wanna take it with me,"
"Then leave it here," She suggested, watching as he gently stroked the sleeping baby's cheek, desperate to hold her but knowing he shouldn't wake her up. "We can come back and get it,"
"Babe, I really just wanna go home, dump my stuff and grab a quick shower,"
Hanna held her hands up in defeat, "Alright, we'll go home first," She said, doing a lap of the shop to make sure she had everything she came with before they left Morgan to it and departed to spend the rest of the day together.
As Caleb pulled their Audi Q7 into their driveway, Hanna's mouth dropped open. She turned her head to look at Caleb questioningly as he shut off the engine, "Surprise," He said, grinning at her before he watched her jump out the car and greet his Mom with a warm hug.
"Claudia!" She exclaimed as Caleb grabbed his bag from the back of the car. "What are you doing here?"
"It's your birthday, honey," Claudia replied, pulling her in for another hug. "When Caleb asked me to come, I wasn't going to say no,"
Caleb walked over and pressed a kiss against her forehead as she smiled up at him gratefully. "Let me go dump my stuff, then we can all go out for lunch," He suggested, "Mimi's still asleep," He added, nodding his head towards the car before disappearing inside.
"Oh I just wanna hold her already," Claudia cooed, walking over towards the car to peer inside the back window.
"Don't worry," Hanna reassured as Caleb reappeared and they all got back into the car, "She'll be awake and crying for food soon," She said, her hand resting on Caleb's thigh as he drove them back into downtown Rosewood.
Sure enough, the group had only just sat down outside and ordered their lunch when Mila began to cry from her car seat. Caleb jumped up, eager to cuddle his baby girl who he hadn't held in almost a week. "Hey bug," He hushed, unfastening her and pulling her into his arms, pressing kisses against her head before cradling her against his chest. "Okay," He began, sitting back down, "She has grown way too much since I've been away. Tell me I didn't miss anything?" He asked Hanna as she rifled through the diaper bag for one of Mila's bottles.
"Just a whiny baby who's been missing her Daddy," She replied, grabbing a waiter's attention before giving them a bottle to heat up as Mila spluttered, but calmed slightly in Caleb's arms.
"Can I hold her?" Claudia asked from her seat next to Caleb. "She's gotten so big since the last time I saw her," She said, taking Mila from Caleb as he reluctantly handed her over.
"When you were last here, she was 1 day old," Caleb laughed, rubbing her tiny foot. The waiter finally came back over with a bottle of warm milk for the whimpering baby, Hanna testing it on her wrist before handing it over to Claudia to feed her.
"And she was a preemie," Hanna added unhappily. Caleb sensed her distress and reached his hand across the table to place it on top of hers, rubbing his thumb soothingly. They both hated to think back to the events leading up to Mila's birth; Hanna bedridden with the flu and no energy or appetite, going into labour a month early and being rushed to the hospital where she was forced to deliver Mila almost immediately.
"Well she's doing pretty good now," Claudia reassured, holding the bottle to Mila's mouth as she sucked hungrily.
"She's so close to rolling over," Caleb grinned proudly, "I was convinced she was gonna do it whilst I was away." Hanna smiled tightly at him, interlacing their fingers – she hated the thought of him missing any of their babies' firsts.
"What time does Logan usually finish pre-school?" Claudia asked as their food arrived. She handed Mila back to Caleb and placed the now empty bottle on the table before digging into her food.
"It kind of varies," Hanna replied, taking a bite of her Caesar salad as Caleb held Mila against his shoulder, rubbing her back to try and alleviate any trapped gas. "Fridays he's just started staying til 3, but Monday and Thursday he'll only stay til about 12," She explained, watching as Caleb kept one hand on Mila's back to support her and used the other to dig into his food.
"He loves it," Caleb said, "It's helped his development so much, like now he'll come home and be spewing off about how he's played with Jack and painted with Beau,"
Claudia smiled as she heard her son talk about his family with so much love and adoration. "And how's he getting on having a little sister?" She asked, taking a sip of her wine.
Hanna stood and leant over the table to grab Mila from Caleb so that he could actually eat some of his lunch, "He's so in love with her," She grinned, nuzzling the baby before sitting Mila on her lap with a hand on her stomach so that she could look at Caleb and Claudia, "When they're together it's literally too cute. He'll be telling her some crazy story and she's just staring and smiling at him like he's the best thing in the world," She said, smoothing down some of Mila's hair as she stared at Caleb across from her. "Kind of like she's doing right now," Hanna laughed, pressing a kiss against her head as she broke out into a huge smile, shoving her hand in her mouth and looking at her Daddy like he was the best thing she'd ever seen.
Hanna woke to gentle nibbles against her neck, a hand unfastening the top button on the shirt she was wearing before it delved inside to grope her breast. "Happy birthday," A voice whispered in her ear before the lips became occupied again with the tender skin on her neck.
"Remind me to have birthday sex at midnight every year," She murmured, thinking back to their activities just over 7 hours earlier, groaning slightly as Caleb changed from biting to obnoxious sucking. He definitely wanted to leave a mark.
"Forget about midnight," He whispered, pulling back to admire the dark mark he'd left, rolling her onto her back and resting his forehead on hers. They stared at each other, Caleb's hand running up from inside her top to caress her cheek before he nudged her nose with his and fluttered his eyes shut, gently kissing her. She returned the kiss eagerly, her hands running down his naked chest to boxers where she blindly tugged to try and rid him of them. "You look pretty good for 28," He smirked, his hands running down to her flat stomach.
"Mommy," A voice called on the other side of the closed door, feet clearly jumping up and down as he tried to reach the door handle. Both of them stilled, Caleb sighing and pressing a final kiss against her lips before going to open their bedroom door.
He couldn't really blame their almost three-year-old – all Caleb had done the evening before was hype him up for Hanna's birthday and how special the day was. He opened the door and laughed, Logan running past him in his pyjamas with a balloon clutched tightly in his hand. Claudia had clearly been up with him to remind him of what day it was. "Happy birfday Momma!" Logan yelled, launching himself at the bed, scrambling over to Hanna and throwing himself at her.
Hanna gasped and pulled him close, "Thank you baby," She said, giving him a kiss before sat on her stomach and shoved the balloon string in her face. "Is this for me?" She asked, looking up at the dinosaur shaped balloon. Logan nodded, rolling down to lay next to her, giggling as the balloon bounced around in the air. "I love it, but I think you're gonna have to look after it for me," Hanna said, snuggling him. "Can you keep it really safe?"
Logan nodded solemnly, taking the balloon back from Hanna, "I will Mommy," He said, curling into her as she pressed kisses against his hair.
"I think my Mom's cooking breakfast," Caleb said as he came over to them having thrown on some sweats. Hanna pushed herself out of bed and wrapped her arms around him, looking up at him deliriously happy as he stroked her hair out of her face. "You hungry?" He asked.
Hanna nodded, "I should change, your Mom would not appreciate this," She smirked, tugging the bottom of his shirt as it began to ride up and reveal her black lace panties.
Caleb grinned at her and bit his lip, a hand slipping under the bottom of his shirt to play with the lacey scrap of material on her hip. "No," He murmured, "Don't," His other hand running down her back to squeeze her butt.
Hanna gasped and swatted his hand but laughed, moving over towards their chest of drawers to grab some sweats and a more appropriate top to have breakfast with her mother-in-law in. Logan was still lying back on their bed, watching his balloon as it floated above him. "Lo," Hanna called, tying her hair back in a short pony before taking Caleb's hand in her own, "Let's go see what Nana's cooked for breakfast,"
Later that day, Caleb and Hanna found their house full with friends and family who'd been invited round for an intimate birthday dinner party. Caleb had paid for external caterers to come in and cook for them so that nobody had to spend time worrying about food, but it had meant that Hanna had hardly wanted to leave his side all evening, which made it increasingly difficult for him to talk to Spencer about the picture situation.
"Babe," He said, trying to pull away from her. They were currently stood in their kitchen whilst everyone mingled around them, drinking wine and eating nibbles before they sat down for dinner. "I need to go pee," He tried, having spied Spencer heading down the hallway.
"But I don't want you to go," She pouted, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. Wolf whistles broke them apart and Hanna whipped around to give Toby the middle finger.
"Hanna!" Caleb exclaimed and laughed, "I'll be right back," He assured her, pecking her lips one final time before he pulled her arms from around his neck and left her in the kitchen with their guests. "Spence!" He called, following her outside to her car. "Sorry, Hanna's being clingier than a barnacle," He apologized.
Spencer smiled at him and pulled him round to the boot of her car, opening it up to show him beautifully wrapped presents, which he could only assume were the pictures he'd ordered. "As requested," She said, helping him unload them.
"Thanks so much," He replied, "And thanks for wrapping them," He looked at her questioningly, "Where did you find time to wrap ribbon?"
Spencer snorted, "I didn't. This is what happens when you set my mother on someone,"
"Well they're awesome, Han is gonna freak," He said, leading them inside with all the pictures. He went straight over to the coffee table and placed them down next to the rest of the presents.
"Daddy," Logan huffed, sprinting over to him and almost plowing into the table before Caleb stuck an arm out and caught him, "Can I open the presents?" He asked as Caleb scooped him up and placed him on his hip, laughing at the little boy.
"Logi, they're for Mommy," He said, placing a kiss against his forehead, "But she might let you help her open them,"
Logan sighed and pushed his hair back from his eyes, "When Daddy?"
"When did you get so demanding?" He asked, blowing a raspberry against his neck making Logan erupt in a fit of giggles as he walked back over to Hanna.
"What are those?" She asked having been blatantly watching him for the past 5 minutes.
"Presents Mommy," Logan said, "Can we open them?" He sighed sadly, resting his head on Caleb's shoulders.
"Who can say no to that face?" Emily cooed as she walked over, happily taking Logan from Caleb as he reached for her.
"I seriously worry my child likes your more than me sometimes," Hanna said, following the pair of them over to the sofas where Logan sat contently on Emily's lap.
"Can you believe Ezra and Aria are still away?" Emily changed the subject, not disputing Hanna's claim.
"I preferred my honeymoon," Hanna replied nonchalantly, "Who wants to trek through a jungle for 6 weeks and get mosquito bites when all you're supposed to do is have as much sex as possible and relax on a beach,"
"Agreed," Spencer said, sitting down.
"You went to Paris," Hanna looked confused, "Where's the beach?" She asked, taking a sip of her wine – it was definitely starting to go to her head.
Spencer shot her a look, "I was agreeing with the sex part," She said before Claudia came and sat down with Mila, Ashley and Ted following behind. "Besides, they create a beach on the Seine in the summer,"
Caleb came over with a beer and one final present, which he added to the pile. Hanna stood and forced him to sit in her place before she parked herself on his lap, "Which one first?" She asked, Caleb pointing at one before she began to rip the wrapping paper off her presents one by one.
There were some new clothes she'd wanted that her Mom and Ted had bought for her; some very expensive candles from Claudia and the boys in Montecito; a finger painting from Logan which she'd absolutely loved and a framed picture with prints of Logan's and Mila's hands and feet – Caleb had obviously spent one afternoon whilst she was at her shop getting them covered in paint and he'd cleaned up so well she'd had no clue.
"Ok," Spencer said from where she'd wedged herself next to Toby, "This one is from us and Em, and the honeymooners," She added, handing Hanna an envelope. She eagerly ripped into it and pulled out 3 airline tickets to Mexico, gasping in shock and looking at Spencer for an explanation as Caleb tried to fight a grin, burying his head against her shoulder.
"What is this?"
"We're going on a little babymoon," Toby began, "And we want you guys to come with us,"
Hanna spun her head round to look at Caleb, "Did you know about this?"
"Of course," He laughed, rubbing her thigh reassuringly.
"I'm coming too," Emily said from beside her, "And Aria and Ezra are trying to get time off as well,"
Caleb squeezed her thigh, knowing his own thoughts were mirroring hers… A family holiday but with infinite babysitting services…
"Guys, this is going to be amazing," She squealed, clapping her hands with glee before getting up to hug Spencer and then Emily.
There were two sets of presents left, and Caleb indicated for Hanna to start with the large rectangular ones he'd brought in with Spencer. "Caleb, did you wrap these?" She asked, taking in the meticulous wrapping as she sat on the floor and indicated for Logan to come and join her.
"God no," He replied, leaning back as he watched Logan rip the purple paper to shreds.
The little boy gasped, "Mommy, it's me!" He said touching the black and white picture of him.
"Caleb," Hanna whispered, choking up as she opened the next one and looked at the picture of Mila sitting up with Logan in front of her resting on his elbows as they smiled at each other.
"Oh honey," Ashley said, her eyes welling up too as Hanna handed her one of the portraits. "These are just beautiful," She added, taking in the rest of the pictures as Logan pulled the wrapping apart.
Hanna pushed herself up from the floor and moved quickly to Caleb, bending over to place a huge kiss on his lips. He pulled away and grabbed her waist to pull her onto his lap again. "You're not supposed to cry on your birthday Han," Emily laughed, watching as Caleb tenderly wiped away a stray tear.
"I can't help it," Hanna laughed too, picking up the final present. "Caleb, seriously, how can this be the last present?" She asked – they always had a tradition of leaving the best til last.
"Just open it," He said, his hand running up to her shoulder and back down her arm reassuringly as the familiar shade of Tiffany blue came into sight.
"Caleb," She warned, her hands shaking as she pulled the lid open. "It's beautiful," Hanna said, taking in the delicate white gold chain with two interlinking circles; one rose gold, the other white gold.
He looked at her tenderly, fingering the rose gold pendant, "You know what it means right?"
She nodded, blinking back tears, "One for Mimi and one for Lo,"
"Let me see," Spencer whined from the side of the room, making everyone laugh. Hanna handed the necklace round for everyone to look at, hoping they'd be occupied enough with it to divert their attention from herself and Caleb. She turned on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck as he looked up at her like she was the most beautiful thing in the world.
"Thank you," She whispered against his lips before kissing him with so much love. Her fingers danced down his cheek, his own moving up to cup her face and hold her head whilst he tried to convey in their kiss that he was only giving her everything she deserved.
He pulled away and grinned at her, "You can thank me later," He smirked, giving her one final kiss. "You know," He said, "They said they can add more to it,"
She laughed and pushed herself off his lap, holding her hands out for him to take, "I only just pushed one of your kids out,"
He interlaced their fingers and started to lead everyone over to their dining table, when they were interrupted by the doorbell. Hanna looked up at him confused, "No one's missing," She said, separating from him to go and answer the front door.
She pulled it open, unsure as to who it could be, only for her mouth to drop open in shock.
"Happy birthday Hanna,"
"Alison…"
Dun dun dun... I've brought Alison back. Who knows where this will go, but they'll be no part 2 to this oneshot! I think it's time for all the liars to go on holiday. Please review x
