Melissa Kahn sighed in relief once her flight was finally announced for boarding. Eric Kahn, her husband, held her hand tightly trying to calm her down. The moment Hanna returned to Rosewood and her identity checked out, Veronica had called to inform her of the sudden turn of events and Melissa had bought plane tickets for herself and Eric for the first flight back home.
Melissa and Eric found their seats on the plane and got settled in, Mellissa resting her hand on Eric's knee. Her life had really changed in the past five years. She and Wren Kingston had been in a fairly serious relationship for a while but they ultimately decided to end their relationship for good. After the breakup, Eric and Melissa ran into each other in England and they eventually began a relationship and had been married for the past 3 years and were currently expecting their first child.
-"Honey, you need to calm down. It's not good for you or the baby to be so agitated." Eric rubbed Melissa's back, soothing her.
-"I know. I just can't believe that one of the girls is back, that Spencer is still alive and maybe there's still hope of getting her back. After all this time." Melissa rubbed her belly, feeling her baby kick. The baby would always move around more when Eric was around. "I swear this little one is in love with your voice. She's always kicking me when you're talking."
-"Well I do have a pretty sexy voice if I do say so myself, and you weren't complaining about it when we created her." Eric wiggled his eyebrows at her, making Melissa blush.
-"Eric, you are so not helping." She smiled while Eric placed his hand on top of her belly and rubbed it slightly. As soon as he did so the baby calmed down and stopped kicking. "Is Noel coming to pick us up?"
-"Yeah. He insisted on returning from Los Angeles. He's worried about..."
-"I would be too." Melissa shifted in her seat, trying to get in a more comfortable position. She was anxious about the trip back home and ready to get the flight over with.
The flight attendant finally finished her safety spiel and the pilot announced that they were about to take off. Melissa and Eric braced themselves for their impending return home to Rosewood. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Caleb fixed the tracker inside Hanna's earring before handing it to her. He was slowly going out of his mind with worry, knowing that this was their stupidest plan yet. He was risking losing Hanna to that crazy lunatic a second time and this time he was doing it willingly.
-"Caleb, you need to keep yourself together. I need to know that I can count on you to pull this off." Hanna placed her hand on his after she took the earring. They had returned to his small apartment after talking things through.
-"I don't like any of this. There are so many things that can go wrong with this plan. What if?" Hanna leaned in and kissed him, silencing him. Caleb stared at her, unsure what to say.
-"I'm sorry, Caleb, but you need to understand there's nothing I wouldn't do to keep our daughter safe. Besides, you're the one who kidnapped his girlfriend before, remember? What happened to "I'm going to help you stop A?" I need you to have a little faith in me and believe things will work out."
-"Hanna." Caleb closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He knew she was right.
-"Caleb? Tell me about my dad, about Mac. How exactly did you know each other?" Hanna changed the topic, making Caleb chuckle at her.
-"It's a long story. I told you bits of it while we were dating, but I'm not ready to talk about the rest of it just yet." Caleb relaxed slightly against her body before pressing a small kiss on her forehead.
-"I see." Hanna shook her head before checking her watch. "It's time to go to Alison's house."
-"Let's go." Caleb led her out of the apartment, carefully locking the door behind them.
Noel Kahn threw the remote control on the couch. His lips were pressed together in a thin line. He turned away from the TV, cursing Alison and Hanna for the way they were exposing themselves to A. Noel grabbed his car keys and made his way to the door.
He had just arrived at his parents' house in Rosewood the previous day and was planning on picking up Eric and Melissa from the airport in a matter of hours. But first, he wanted to take a ride in his car to calm himself down. Noel cursed while he made his way to the car. Surely the two women would listen to reason if someone close talked to them.
Noel punched the wheel cursing himself for the millionth time for having lost Hanna when she had run away from his family's place in New York years ago. Noel punched the steering wheel once more before driving away.
A narrowed his eyes, watching the small press conference Alison and Hanna held at the DiLaurentis house. When he had sent Hanna the message about Abby he had not expected for her to actually comply with his request so easily.
And now his doll was playing her part into coming back home just like he predicted. Soon all of his dolls would finally be reunited. And he would make Hanna pay. Pay for escaping, pay for betraying his trust, pay for Abby, pay for everything.
"The authorities were shocked to see former Rosewood resident, Hanna Marin, walk inside the police station yesterday afternoon. Sources close to the police investigation claim that she has provided invaluable intelligence on the whereabouts of the other still missing young women: Mona Vanderwaal, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields. We're now waiting for Alison DiLaurentis to make her first official statement about the case of the missing women."
Alison walked out of the house, followed by Hanna and Jesse. She stepped in front of the cameras while Hanna took a step aside, silently watching the press conference. She spotted Ezra and Caleb standing in the crowd watching and waiting for Alison's speech as well.
-"Five years ago, my friends were kidnapped by a faceless, nameless coward. The same monster who attacked Mona Vanderwaal and framed us for her murder. Recently, Hanna Marin managed to return back home to Rosewood. We now know that Mona and the rest of the girls are alive, but they are in grave danger. I am so thankful to have Hanna back home reunited with her family, but we would do anything to see our friends again. Our friends have always been our rocks, without them we would be lost in the woods, completely alone. If you're listening, please don't hurt them. Please."
Lorenzo, Alison's fiancée stepped in and led Alison back inside the house while the reporters started asking questions to Hanna. Jesse led Hanna away, making sure to keep the reporters from her. The media eventually left the house and soon all the official police cars followed. A heavy silence fell inside the DiLaurentis house as everyone waited for A to make a move.
-"This better work." Ashley Marin muttered while Jesse checked the equipment the police had installed inside the house.
-"Mom, A's been obsessed with getting me and Ali ever since the night Ali went missing. If he or she really believes that we're in this house willing to escape police protection to find the girls then A will contact us." Hanna held her mother's hand, comforting her.
-"And if you're wrong?" Kenneth DiLaurentis narrowed his eyes at Hanna.
-"Dad. This was the best plan we could come up with. We have to poke the bear otherwise it will keep on hibernating." Alison spoke from where she was sitting in the armchair.
-"I know. I just don't like the idea of using my daughter as bait." Ken headed to one of the available chairs and sat in it, his head in his hands.
-"Your daughters will have 24 hour police protection. We will leave nothing to chance. If A can get the opportunity to grab the girls they will. And we'll be ready for it." Lorenzo answered from the doorway. He took a quick glance out the window before going over and hugging Alison.
-"So what do we do now?" Ashley whispered worriedly.
-"We wait and we pray that A makes a move." Jesse finished checking the equipment before nodding her head to Lorenzo and Toby that they were all set to go.
-"Guys, did A force you to sign a welcome home card for Ali?" Aria's voice was quiet. Her question, however, made everyone else exchange an uncomfortable look. "Or for Hanna?"
Charles had given the girls half an hour to eat in their rooms before they returned to rearranging Alison's room, given that Hanna's was already set up.
Spencer gasped, picking up a newspaper from one of the boxes lying on Alison's bed. "Spencer? What's wrong?" The girls turned to look at her.
-"In a sudden turn of events Hanna Marin returned to Rosewood yesterday. The police offered protection to both Miss DiLaurentis and Miss Marin but both girls have declined the offer claiming that they need time to heal and properly bond with their families ..."
-"So Ali and Hanna are both sitting ducks?" Emily whispered while the rest of the girls exchanged looks.
Starting to place the objects from the boxes on the shelves inside the closet the girls made small talk to each other.
-"Cant' believe Ali saved all of these things. This is from the day we went to the lake, remember?" Emily looked through a picture album.
-"Wow. Ali was in rare form that day, remember? She insulted everyone we ever met." Spencer looked at Emily before returning to one of the boxes.
-"You let her call Lucas, Hermie." Mona's voice was sardonic. It was just another subtle way to remind them of her own "looser" Mona nickname.
-"We let her blind Jenna." Came Aria's regretful reply.
-"We are not the same people we were back then." Emily closed the album. "Including Ali and Hanna."
-"Do you need anything? Food? Soda?" Kenneth cleared his throat while Ali shook her head. He then turned his head to look at Hanna. "I was told that you don't remember anything about your past, however, I owe you an apology for something I said years ago. I'm sorry for how I acted."
Hanna narrowed her eyes listening to Ken's words. She quickly figured out what he was talking about.
"Do you have any idea?" An angry Ken made his way to where Hanna and Mona stopped and were talking to each other. "Do you know what your little joke did to my wife? She believed you. You gave her hope. Stay away from my family!" Jason stepped in dragging him away, leaving a shocked Hanna behind as Ken threw another spiteful "How could you?" at her.
-"It is okay I guess. Apology accepted." Just as Hanna finished talking Alison jumped off the couch, staring at the door. The police me grabbed their weapons as footsteps were heard in the hallway.
-"Toby, what the hell?" Jason walked in and ducked once he saw people pointing guns at him. He was carrying a takeout bag as he did so.
-"Why didn't you come in through the front door?" Toby lowered his gun, putting it away.
-"You told me to be discreet, remember? I came through the garage." Jason placed his bag on the table just as Alison's phone started ringing. She showed it to Jesse.
-"Everybody remember to stay absolutely quiet." Alison answered her phone while everyone else tensed, listening to the conversation. Hanna looked to Alison, biting her lip. A song came through the speaker so Alison started talking over it.
-"I know we're the ones you want. Just tell me where you are and I'll find a way to get there. Hanna and I both will, but we need to know that you're not gonna hurt them or anyone else that we love."
The call stopped just as Lorenzo looked at Jesse, shocked. "The caller's in the house." His voice gave everyone shivers as they exchanged looks. Jesse took Alison and Hanna to an empty storage room.
-"Do not open this door to anyone," was all she said before she left them, closing the door behind her. As soon as she did Alison showed Hanna a small window that they could climb through. Hanna went first, helping Ali as well. They both them made their way away from the house, running to the car where Caleb and Ezra were waiting for them.
Toby sweated as the call ended. He knew that it had been Caleb to call and that the cellphone used to make the call was inside the house. As he approached Alison's room he felt thankful that they had talked things through earlier at the Brew. "Show me your hands! Let me see your hands!"
Toby walked in pointing his gun at a dark figure dressed in a black hoodie, sitting in a swing chair. He heard Jesse enter the room behind him before he placed his hands on the swing chair and turned it around.
They were both surprised to see that it was just a dummy. Jesse frowned as she made her way towards it. She heard a phone ringing and picking it up she noticed a text message on the screen, "Fooled ya, didn't I?" Quickly leaving the room, they headed to the storage room where they had left the girls.
-"The girls are missing. Put out an APB. Alison and Hanna need to be on everyone's screen savers from here to Lake Michigan and New York." Jesse walked inside the living room, pissed. She then noticed the strange look on Toby's face.
-"What is it Toby?" Jason noticed it as well.
-"It's that song. My mom used to play it on the piano. It's called "Don't sit under the apple tree."
-"Call it in." Toby left the room while Jesse turned her head to talk to Ashley and Ken. "It's a clue leading us to the Campbell apple farm. The girls probably figured it out and are on their way there without us."
Ashley and Ken exchanged worried looks as the police officer left the house. Jason placed his hand on Ashley's shoulder quietly. "Come on, I'll take you home." She nodded her head, grabbing her coat and purse.
-"It worked. They thought the call was from A." Hanna breathed out as she and Alison climbed into Ezra's car. Both Ezra and Caleb had been waiting impatiently for them to come over. Once they got into Ezra's car, his phone buzzed again.
-"It's Toby. Detective Angell sent everyone to the Campbell apple farm. She also asked Mac Taylor to take over the lead of this case. He is now officially in charge of this investigation. But for now we're in the clear."
-"I wouldn't be so certain. For now we need to get to the kissing rock and fast. My dad's quite good at tracking people down."
-"She's right. We need all the advance we can get to outrun Mac Taylor." Caleb turned his head and gave them each a pair of boots. "I placed a tracking device inside each pair. If something happens we'll be seconds away from you, okay? Just remember you don't have to do this."
-"We're wasting time." Hanna grabbed a pair of boots and proceeded to change her shoes while Alison did the same.
Alison and Hanna arrived at the kissing rock and looked around. Hanna turned her head when she heard a song coming through the forest.
-"Ali? This way." The pair followed the music until they reached a car waiting for them near the kissing rock.
-"I think we're supposed to take the car?" Alison gave Hanna a quick look before reaching for the driver's seat. They fastened the seatbelts and started the car. Soon the GPS started giving them instructions as to what to do next.
-"I texted Paige and Mike about the direction the girls are headed. They are trying to reach us by using Paige's car." Ezra focused on driving while Caleb paid attention to the computer in his lap.
-"I understand. Make sure you don't get too close to the girls. If we can see them, then A can see us."
-"I just hope this isn't a mistake and that Ali and Hanna aren't walking straight into a trap."
-"We're not losing them or anyone else anymore. We all made a promise to get the girls back home and we're gonna keep it. No one is losing to A anymore." Caleb snapped at Ezra despite sharing all of Ezra's concerns and doubts.
So I'm back with a new chapter and the girls are finally on their way to being rescued. Buuut... you know me guys if I insert canon things I also add my different spins to my stories. A special thanks as always goes to my beta who had her hands full with this story over the past few weeks. I hope you guys enjoy it and remember to review.
Nico