Chapter 12


The next morning, Hanna and Caleb were still asleep when the paperboy passed by the old Victorian house on his early morning route in Valley Lane and dropped off his papers on the porches of the houses next door.

They were missing out on the early birds that had started chirping in the trees all around.

And they still slept when the first rays of sunlight started streaming in through the fogged-up windows on that last day of February.

It wasn't before Caleb's phone buzzed - reminding him of an important business lunch that day - that the two lovers in the improvised tent stirred. Caleb rose to turn off the alarm and once he sat, he wiped the sleepiness out of the corners of his eyes with the heel of his hand.

Next to him, facing away and almost completely hidden beneath a messy heap of hair, Hanna's head peaked out from under the sleeping bag, looking peaceful and beautiful as ever. Caleb looked upon her sleeping figure. Did she look different this morning? Yesterday morning she had been Hanna, his wife and best friend, when she had woken up. But now she was so much more. Somewhere inside that sleeping bag, undistinguishable from where he was sitting, the rest of her body was hidden, which meant that somewhere close there was also this new human being, securely protected in the depths of her womb. She was carrying his child. The thought was still so unfathomable and so scary, yet the best piece of news he could have ever imagined getting in his life.

Did he look any different today now that he knew he was going to be a father in… what? Seven… eight… months? He got up, surprised that his cracking ankles didn't wake Hanna, and walked over to the old mirror above the fireplace. The reflection showed twenty-five-year old Caleb Rivers with a light stubble in his face... Was that what a good father would look like? Was he carrying enough love in his heart for both Hanna and their child… for the rest of their lives? Or was there some kind of genetic disposition for men to abandon their family if they had experienced that same level of misfortune in their own childhood?

He stepped closer to the wall and stared at his image in the mirror for long moments. "No!" he suddenly whispered, shaking his head fervently to get rid of all those negative thoughts. "You are not going to end up like your father and by god, you're definitely not going to act like your mother! You are going to make it better and be the best dad there could possibly be. Because you are going to have to keep up with a wife who's most likely the best mother out there."

Inadvertently, his voice had become louder, thus waking Hanna in the process. She rose from her makeshift bed and silently watched him deliver the monologue to himself in the mirror, feeling deeply touched by his words. "So long as you feed me ice chips and support my back during delivery, I don't see any problems in that department."

Caleb looked sideways, his face sporting a lopsided sneer. "Hey, you're up. And you heard me talking to myself."

"Well… I liked what I heard. Liked it very much." She smiled and gave his almost naked body the onceover, feeling bold. "I mean I liked it nearly as much as I like what I'm seeing right now. Good morning!"

"Good morning! How are you feeling this morning? You… with… our baby… in there?" Caleb nodded in the direction of her stomach as he came closer, then bent down to her. The couple shared a sweet kiss.

"Fine, I think. Well, my back is a little sore. I'm really not used to sleeping on the floor anymore," Hanna said, kneading her neck muscles.

"I can give you one of my infamous Rivers backrubs tonight," Caleb said, his voice sounding hoarse and enticing.

"Why can't you give me that infamous backrub right now?" she asked innocently and tried pulling him down to the floor again.

"Sorry! You wore me out last night. No can do without coffee or breakfast." Caleb lifted her arm, which had previously wound its way around his neck, and stood.

Feigning defeat, Hanna let go of him and laid back down. "I think there's some cold pizza leftovers in the kitchen."

"Perfect." Without hesitating, he left the room. He was back in no time carrying a small plate with one single baby pizza on it. "There was only one left. Here, you can have it."

"You're willing to share that last pizza with me?" she asked with mock surprise.

"I'd share anything with you," he said softly as he held out the plate for her. "Unless it's tacos. Then we'd have to haggle."

"You can have it. I'm not even that hungry," Hanna countered.

"But you need the energy more than me. Remember our little owl in there?" His free hand touched her uncovered and still flat tummy.

"Owl?" Hanna frowned.

"Yeah, he or she seems to be keeping you awake at nights. So from now on and until we find out if it's a boy or a girl, it's little Owlie to me."

A knock on the door interrupted their fun quarrel, causing them to look at each other, surprised. "Who even knows we're here?" Caleb asked while scrambling to find his pants and shirt in the disheveled arrangement of pillows, sleeping bags and strewn clothes on the floor.

"Oh, only Henry," Hanna mused, "Or Rhonda. Or Annie."

Caleb got a frightened look and gazed down at his not-so-decent attire. "Oh god, do you think Detective Annie is here to check up on us?"

Hanna thought of the walkie-talkie that had been turned off since the night before. "Well…," she started as her mind came to that very same conclusion, "there's a fairly good chance that she came to check if it's you and not Henry who stayed with me for a sleepover."

"She what?" He asked, seemingly confused, but then he finally found his denims and put them on while continuing to peruse the room for his missing shirt.

Knock number two cut in before Hanna could explain.

"Ugh, never mind." He quickly reached for Hanna's pink t-shirt for lack of other possibilities to cover his naked upper body and walked to the front door. There, he stopped in order to pull the garment down over his head. It was a tight fit and only went to his navel. "Fuck," he murmured to himself before he opened the door at long last.

Their visitor looked back over their shoulder, and for a split second, Caleb had trouble telling if the person in front of him, sporting really short brown hair and a pair of khaki cargo pants, was a woman or a man. "Oh, hi!" a revealing, high-pitched voice eventually ended his confusion.

"Hi!" Caleb greeted back in a friendly manner. He didn't know the woman but he wanted to make a good impression for their first ever visitor in their new home. Though, the look on her face as she ogled him in that pink t-shirt with its funny print 'Does this shirt make me look pregnant?' had him doubting whether she would be getting that of him.

"I'm sorry, is this a bad time? I can come back later," she said, smiling. "I'm Lauren, Annie's mom. From next door?"

"Oh, right," Caleb smiled back. "No, it's alright. I'm Caleb, your soon-to-be neighbor. Nice to meet you," he introduced himself and extended his right hand to her.

Lauren awkwardly maneuvered the plastic container she was holding and shook hands with him. "Nice to meet you, too. And welcome to the neighborhood!"

"Thanks!" he replied. Noticing her gaze stay on his chest a little too long for his liking, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by what he was wearing. Great. She probably thinks I'm a cross-dresser, was what went through his mind.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Caleb cleared his throat which brought Lauren back to the reason why she had come over in the first place. "Well, when Annie told me that you two would be spending the night in Cecile's house, I figured you probably wouldn't have anything to eat. So I thought I'd bring you some breakfast burritos." The white box was opened right under his nose, its contents smelling deliciously. "Plus, I came to get Annie's walkie-talkie back. She'd lent it to your wife, I guess, last night."

"Oh," Caleb let slip, lacking understanding. "Well, then… come on in." He stepped aside and let her pass, hoping however that she was polite enough to wait in the hallway in case Hanna wasn't properly dressed yet. When he had closed the door behind her, he turned around and saw Lauren's back disappear through the kitchen door, apparently familiar with the house's interior. Making a beeline for the living room to check on Hanna, he found it empty. Two female voices coming from the kitchen told him that the two women seemed to have met in there. He quickly piled up the chaotic remainders of their campsite and threw a blanket over.

Upon entering the kitchen, he found them chatting and laughing as if they had been acquainted for years. But above all, he found his wife looking gorgeous in a pair of dark-blue jeans and a loosely fitting black shirt – his black shirt.

Lauren exchanged glances between the married couple, blushing as she caught on to what must have been going on between them before she came over. The food container was standing on the kitchen counter, untouched. She picked it up and removed the lid. "You guys have got to be hungry, huh?"

The smell of fried meat filled the air. Hanna immediately tried to suppress the nausea that was building inside of her, but to no avail. She felt like she was about to gag and started running for the hallway with one hand pressed to her mouth.

Looking bewildered, Lauren's gaze followed the trail of blonde hair that disappeared behind the door of the guest bathroom across the hall. "Oh no! You guys aren't vegetarians, are you?"

oOOo Four weeks later oOOo

"Han, relax! Everything's going to be alright. You just sit down and take care of our baby, I'll handle the parental unit overload, okay?" Caleb guided her to the sofa where he gently nudged her down until she sat comfortably between the pillows. "Do you want me to make you some more ginger tea? I could fix you a Thermos bottle to take along to the house later on for when we're showing it to our folks."

"No, no. God, please. I can't possibly have another cup of ginger tea ever again." Hanna cringed with disgust. "Have you ever tasted it?"

"Nope. I think I remember my mom telling me I'm allergic or something," he said and quickly strode into their kitchen, hiding his amused grin.

"Ugh, lucky you." She put her feet up and grabbed her phone, eager to bide her time. "How much longer?"

"Why are you this nervous? They're going to be thrilled. Take my word for it."

"Don't you see it? Telling a parent that you're having a baby is simply admitting to the fact that you had sex. I don't like the idea of them knowing we consummated like bunnies in the past weeks."

Caleb frowned at her, then proceeded to run water over the piled up dishes in the sink. "Is insanity just another side effect of being pregnant or do you seriously think your mom worries about our sex life? Don't you think that ship has sailed a long, long time ago?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Although, I did tell her an awful lot of details about our sex life while whining into a giant-sized tub of Rocky Road ice-cream after you'd decided to stay in Ravenswood," Hanna shrugged and absentmindedly scrolled through her camera roll, missing Caleb's flabbergasted expression across the room.

"Why would you do that?" Caleb asked with a chuckle and started washing the few plates and glasses in the sink. "My dad and I, we never talked about sex. Ever!"

"Well, she made me throw plates against a wall and say out loud all the negative things about you, but instead of helping me build up an anger in order to smash the plates somehow that turned into a sobfest and I wailed about all the things I would miss about you until she took me aside and treated me to a massive load of ice-cream at home."

Caleb checked the plate he was holding in his hands for cracks and dents. When he couldn't find any, he put it back down, watching as it slowly disappeared beneath the frothy surface of the soapy water in the sink. He looked up and stared at her silent frame that was still focusing on the phone's screen before her. She didn't even notice that the clinking and gurgling had stopped. Thinking she was over those ridiculous thoughts, he shook his head, willing away his own awkward musings. "Our mothers are going to freak out because they find out about their first grandchild and not because you and I — a happily married couple might I add — admittedly had sex. Okay, plenty of sex."

"My mom still thinks we've rushed into wedlock head over heels," Hanna fended.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a rush. It's been eight years, give or take a couple of months of insanity on both our parts," he joked before turning more serious. "And why would she even say something like that when she was the one helping us to get married in the first place?"

"In the light of what had been going on she saw the despair we felt in that situation. But in hindsight, she would have preferred for us to share the same address first for a while before we got married."

"And live in sin?" Caleb mocked her. "I can hear Ted go on and on about this."

Hanna shrugged again. "He went after a divorced woman who was once accused of murder. I'm pretty sure he's got some dark secrets of his own or else he wouldn't be that forgiving towards our modern lifestyle."

"Well, then I'm more convinced than ever that neither of them are going to want to know when and where and in which position our baby was made. Save that for girls' night with your friends." Caleb finished the dishes and started preparing ginger slices. He poured hot water over them in a teapot. Then, he took a clean mug from the cabinet and placed the two items on the dining table before proceeding to check on his veggie casserole in the oven.

When he resurfaced from behind the kitchen island, Hanna wasn't in her spot on the couch anymore. He saw her standing in front of the mirror as she was adjusting her wild mane for the umpteenth time that day. Her hand started cradling her stomach, causing a small smile to flicker across his face. She was simply radiant. Life was good.

"Do you think my bump is starting to show?" Hanna spun around, looking at herself from all the different angles as she tried to make out a difference in her waist measurements.

"Oh no! You're not going to trick me into admitting you've gained any weight or something like that." Caleb sneered and started setting the plates on the table. "I think your mom already knows what's up. This morning when I fixed the printer in her office, she got kind of sentimental and weird."

"She's in love and living with a man again other than my father after more than ten years. That's bound to be weird enough for me."

"No, she was like… hugging me and pinching my cheeks because she was elated after seeing your new profile pic. She said you looked genuinely happy and she thinks that's all because of me."

"Well, you are every mother-in-law's dream." Hanna readjusted her bulky silk tunic to fit over her waistline and returned to her seat.

Caleb counted their cutlery and laid it out on the table. "Get this, she asked me if I had been taking another cooking class because she thinks that your face has gotten a little fuller," he added, chuckling.

"Gee! Thanks, mom!" Hanna rolled her eyes. "And how is that even possible with all the food that I'm not able to keep down these days? I lost three pounds during the past two weeks!"

"Yeah, I noticed that cute ass of yours feels a little less full, and I'm not sure that I like it."

"Do you think I like it? And how come everyone keeps calling it 'morning sickness'? I've been sick ever since Lauren wafted that smell of fried minced meat in my direction. Mornings, days and nights. It should be called 'never-ending sickness' instead. The smell of food that doesn't make me gag still needs to be invented."

"You heard Doctor Friedman; it will get better soon. Just hang in there!" Caleb knelt down next to her and let his warm hand rest on her tummy. "If it makes you feel any better... You look absolutely mesmerizing today, babe!"

Hanna ignored his compliments, wallowing in self-pity. "You said you'd share anything with me. Why can't you share this disgusting round-the-clock nausea with me? Misery loves company!"

"Aw, you know that I would if I could. But all food smell ever does to me is make me hungry for more food. That's why I'm pretty sure I'll be sharing the pregnancy weight gain with you later on."

As if to confirm, Hanna raised her arm to pinch him in the cheek and flinched. "Yeah, I can tell."

"Hey!" He tickled the sensitive skin on her stomach to retaliate. "That's what you get for making me eat all the food that you can't bring yourself to eat these days."

"This is so unfair. My mom never asked me if I had taken any cooking lessons," Hanna pouted, lost in an afterthought.

"Then I guess she likes me more than you," Caleb teased her. His thumb continued to caress her skin underneath her belly button. "l promise the second you tell me that you're feeling better again I'll be there at that stove cooking all your favorite dinners that you're missing out on for now so you can finally start eating for two without regrets. But all I can do now while you're feeling like crap is serve you ginger tea and take care of all the bills and letters that have been piling up here ever since we signed the escrow papers. Deal?"

Hanna was barely able to nod and slowly laid down as another wave of nausea hit her.

Feeling nothing but sympathy for his wife's misery, he kissed her forehead and got up to pour her some of the ginger tea.

There was a knock on the door, prompting Hanna to stand up for a proper welcome. She forced herself to smile as Caleb went to let in both their mothers. "Hi, mom! Hi Ashley!" he said as soon as the two women became visible behind the door.

"Oh my god, you're pregnant!" Claudia Dawson let out as soon as she spotted Hanna, ignoring the welcoming arms of her son whose happy smile instantly died down.

"What? Why? How?" Hanna stood, mouth agape, exchanging glances with her own mother.

"I could smell the ginger as soon as I stepped through the door downstairs. And believe me, Hanna, I've had quite a few gallons of ginger tea in my life," said the mother of three boys. From the depths of her leather purse came a vibrant ringing, gaining in volume until after a few seconds, it became impossible to ignore. Claudia fished out her phone and checked the caller ID. "Excuse me, I have to get this. It's Clay's school principal. For the third time this week," she explained, rolling her eyes before she stepped back out in the hallway.

Scraps of her conversation kept wafting through the open door as Caleb, Hanna and Ashley continued their hellos. "Hanna? Are you…?" Mrs. Marin whispered, barely able to hide her excitement.

Hanna ignored her question, stalling and not liking the idea of having one mother find out sooner than the other. She poked her head through the door crack for a second to look around in the hallway. "Hey, um... Where's Ted?"

"Uh, he had to cancel the house tour to go visit Mrs. Handelman. You know, our worship leader from church? Her husband is on his deathbed and he asked to see him one last time."

"Oh," Hanna said, a little disappointed. From outside, Claudia's loud, indignant admonition could be heard, causing the rest of the party to raise their heads, surprised by the harsh words coming from a woman who would normally exude self-restraint in every possible situation.

"Hanna?" Ashley tried again, but when she saw Hanna's eyes wander over to behind her back, she knew that Claudia's head had reappeared in the doorframe.

"I'm so sorry! A severe case of puberty! Need I say more?" she apologized as she re-entered the apartment.

Caleb scoffed. "Clay's ditching school in his puberty? Is that all? Boy, aren't you glad you missed out on mine?"

What was meant as a joke, brought about an awkward silence. "I'm sorry," he quickly apologized after realizing that that wasn't the right moment to confront his mother with the issue again. With a couple of years having gone by since he'd reconciled with his mother, there was no longer any ill will between them. She had explained her reasons and expressed her remorse about having left him when he was still a little child more than a dozen times. Caleb had forgiven her at some point, but he would never forget it, and so from time to time, a pointed remark slipped out.

"So? Was I right before? Are you two…?" Claudia condoned his assertion, pointing her neatly manicured index finger at Hanna instead, then to Caleb, switching back and forth between them.

"We're having a baby!" The pair exclaimed in unison, beaming at the two older women with glee.

"Hanna! Come here!" A sincere smile playing at her lips, Claudia dropped her shopping bag and pulled Hanna into her arms. "I knew it! I've had a feeling that something was up since the last time I talked to Caleb on the phone and he said you weren't feeling well that day. You're never sick, Hanna!"

Ashley creased her eyebrow, surprised by the fact that Mrs. Dawson, Caleb's formerly vanished mother seemed to know her daughter-in-law so well – not that getting along with in-laws wasn't a good thing she had always wanted Hanna to have anyway.

Hanna exchanged glances with Caleb, who felt obligated to defend himself. "Sorry! Apparently I'm not that great at keeping secrets."

"My baby is having a baby!" Ashley extended her arms and pulled Hanna into a loving embrace, careful not to squeeze her too tightly. "Are you aware that this is turning me into Grandma Marin?" she asked with tears of joy glistening in her eyes. "l can't be a grandmother. My mother's a grandmother. Regina is a grandmother. But me… I'm still too young to be..." Her voice faltered, and she pulled back, her hands resting on her daughter's shoulders to keep her close. Seeing the joy in her face, that wide smile that made her dimples so prominent, she realized she needed to get her act together. "Oh what am I saying? I'll be a young grandmother. I'm really, really happy for you two."

The duo hugged again, then Ashley slowly let go of her and turned around to her son-in-law who simultaneously had been hugging his own mother. "Caleb! Congratulations!"

"Thank you," he said as she pulled him closer. Her warmth engulfed him, and he knew that it was a heartfelt gesture. His mother-in-law had always been one of the very few people he trusted and felt absolutely safe confiding to. And she played her part well... because of course he hadn't been able to keep the news to himself that morning at her office, the pride father-to-be that he was.

"Have you been to the doctor's yet?" Ashley asked, curious to learn more from her daughter.

"Yeah, everything is looking just the way it should be," Hanna told her. "Oh, I have pictures. Do you want to see them?"

"Of course, honey!"

Hanna quickly turned on her heel and went to get them from her purse.

"I'm surprised she's not wearing them in a little neck pouch for everyone to see wherever she goes," Caleb joked. "She's shown them to the FedEx guy yesterday and the hotdog vendor at IKEA the day before.

"Oh, shut up. Like you haven't taken photos of the ultrasound monitor when we were still at the doctor's office!" her voice traveled all the way from the bedroom.

"Hey! Aren't you glad I'm being super dad already, proudly showing off pictures of what looks like the radar image of a tornado?" Caleb yelled back, justifying his actions.

"You two better soak up these moments because in the blink of an eye, your kid will be born and out of the house, making it big in the fashion business." Ashley tore a silk handkerchief from her purse and dabbed at her wet eyes.

"Mom! You're being uber nostalgic already. Save up some tears! We still have another seven months to go until the birth." Hanna returned with the ultrasound printouts and showed them to her mother.

"Oh, it'll feel like seven seconds. Trust me. Unless you get to have an uncomfortable pregnancy." Ashley unfolded the long strip of thermopaper and glanced at it with glistening eyes. "Oh Hanna! Is this a second bubble? Are you having twins?" she asked while taking a closer look at the sonogram pictures.

"God! No, mom! Just the one. That's my bladder," she explained, pointing at what her mom thought to be another baby.

"So... Did the doctor tell you the due date?"

"November fifth," Hanna answered immediately with a blissful smile as she and Caleb locked eyes with each other. The contact broke when they heard Ashley give a little cough.

"Oh, well that's funny! Isn't that the date of your... of your..." Ashley trailed off as she saw the surprised reaction on their faces. "... anniversary? Your high school dating anniversary, I mean?" she tried to backpedal.

Hanna and Caleb shared another meaningful look, and Hanna, who was facing away from her mother, mouthed "See! She knows!" to her husband.

"Yeah! Wouldn't that be a great date of birth?" she was all smiles for her mother again.

"Yes, but only nine percent of children are born on the exact day of their due date. You were born six days late, you know? Everyone was making fun of how you would take your time to pretty up for the birth. Guess they got that right, didn't they?" Ashley took one final look at the ultrasound picture and then handed her back the prized possession. "Anyway… How are you feeling, baby?"

"I've been feeling sick for a couple of weeks," Hanna told her, adding, "but Caleb's taking really good care of me."

"Yeah, he told me. I mean… I can see and smell that," Ashley said, immediately biting her lip as she felt his reproachful stare on her face. "So… Is the ginger tea helping with your nausea?"

"If only I'd manage to drink it. This stuff is pure evil." Hanna said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I wish there was anything I could do to help you. But I guess that's what us women have to go through. Soon enough you'll be able to feel the flutter of the baby's first movements and it'll all be worthwhile," Ashley said and smiled at her.

"I used to drink gallons of lemon soda when I was pregnant with you because that was what your father would bring me from his gas station grocery runs on his way home from work. But all that did for me was ruin my teeth and make me hate lemons to this day. Well, times have changed… Clearly! Some men take their responsibilities as a father more seriously than others."

An awkward silence arose. Caleb clapped his hands. "So, shall we eat? I made a veggie casserole."

"Perfect!" Claudia spotted the dining table at the back of the living room and strode towards it.

Caleb took their guests' coats and hung them up by the door.

"Did you two join the vegan cult now, too?" his mother said as she sat down at the table. "I remember when I was pregnant with you, there wasn't a day going by without me getting my fix at that Austrian restaurant down the street from where your father and I were living. What was it called? House of Schnitzel or Schnitzel-Haus or something along the lines of it? Of course, your father spent more time looking at the waitresses in their fancy plunging costumes, thinking I didn't notice. Anyway… I was addicted to their parmesan schnitzel. It had the crispiest crust with about a half an inch of cheese on it." She sighed, reminiscing about that time.

However, Hanna, who had been trailing behind her and Ashley, suddenly ran for the bathroom.

"Meat aversion?" Mrs. Dawson grimaced, mouthing 'Sorry!' in Caleb's direction.

"Meat. Cheese. Coffee. Sweet potatoes. Onions. Broccoli. Parsley. Coconuts. Milk. Pineapples. Sometimes I think she makes up a new aversion every day just to challenge me in cooking a meal for her that doesn't make her gag," he explained.

"Aw, poor thing." Claudia rifled through her purse and handed him a stripe of gum. "Here. Cinnamon flavor. Maybe the gum can help make her feel better!"

He hesitated, but eventually took the gum and started walking over to the bathroom. When he passed Ashley on his way, she held him back. She removed a plastic bracelet from her wrist and handed it to him. "Give this to Hanna. It's a Psi Band."

Caleb stared at the colorful piece of plastic for a long moment, unable to understand its meaning.

"It's helping with nausea. Has to do with acupressure. It's the only thing that's working for me," she added at his bewilderment.

His gaze traveled back to her face, his mind still working overtime as he tried to process her emphasis of the word 'me'. At the sound of Hanna emptying her stomach in the next room, he finally remembered what he was supposed to do and took the bracelet from her.

Wordlessly, he continued his walk to the bathroom and then knocked on the door a few times. "Han, I'm coming in. Okay?" Not waiting for her to answer, he slipped inside and closed the door behind him, leaving Ashley and Claudia alone at the dining table, one of them staring at her plate with quandary while the other one just kept on grinning at a stack of baby pictures on thermopaper, completely unawares.

Hanna sat leaning against the tiled wall, her face ashen. Caleb poured her a glass of water from the tap before handing it to her. He sat down on the floor next to her and started caressing her cheek. "Seems like it's getting worse. I'm so sorry, baby! Do you want me to tell our moms that we're taking a rain check? I'm sure they'd understand."

"No! That's not necessary. I'm feeling better already." Hanna leaned against his shoulder and took another swig of water. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Anything!"

"Could you please remove the garlic cloves from your casserole? It's all I'm smelling out there in the living room and if you don't throw them out, I'll divorce you."

Caleb chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Your wish is my command." He got up and put his hand on the doorknob. "Oh. Before I forget…" He handed Hanna the gum. "Claudia told me to give you this."

"Oh, thanks." She removed the wrapper and put the gum in her mouth, only to spit it out one second later. "Ew! What is this?"

"It's cinnamon flavor."

"It's gross, that's what it is. Is your mom trying to torture me?"

"She meant well, Han," Caleb tried calming her down. Then, a thought crossed his mind. "Has your mom seemed a little… off… lately to you, too?"

"No. Why?"

He kept quiet for a moment as he grabbed the plastic bracelet again that had been sitting on the vanity since he'd joined Hanna in the bathroom. "She wanted me to give you something, too. Something that's supposedly helping against nausea, too, by acupressure."

"I'm ready to try anything!" She took the bracelet and gave it a closer look. "And this is supposed to work?"

Caleb hesitated with his answer. Eventually, he cleared his throat and whispered, "She said the bracelet was the only thing that's helping against her… nausea." His eyes went back and forth between the plastic in her hands and her face, hoping that Hanna would draw the same conclusion.

"Oh my god, do you think she's sick? My mom can't be sick now! She needs to live so she can meet her first grandchild," Hanna whispered back, clearly alarmed.

"Han, I don't think that's what she –" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Hanna hastily stood and bolted through the door.

"Mom?!" she blurted out, causing Mrs. Marin to give a start.

She slowly got up from her chair, and turned around to face Hanna. For a moment she smiled sheepishly, but when she realized that everyone in the room was staring at her in anticipation, her smirk wavered and she felt the need to clear her throat and burst out, "Surprise!"

to be continued…


Wow, it's been almost six months since the last chapter. I just want to let you know that I'm not planning on abandoning this story. It's just so hard to stay motivated with less people reading PLL fanfic these days.

Also, stay tuned for a new one-shot coming soon.

XOXO, Zip