A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay, I've been getting really bad migraines, like I told you guys and then I've been struggling to write, I've not really been in the mood, which means that I think once I've done the finale episode, I'll be finishing this fic before I ended up ruining it!
So this is a quick chapter, it's way shorter than the others I know, and I haven't edited it, but I wanted to give you guys something because I've been so sucky at updating and I owe you so many chapters! I'll be writing the other chapters ASAP if you can just bear with me!
It was dark by the time Hanna and Caleb finally arrived at the place that would be home for the next couple days, seedy and uninviting as it was. They piled in through the door, dumping their things on the floor and Hanna immediately started to carefully and methodically tape up the windows with newspaper, making sure no-one could see in. It was like she was in some kind of movie. She felt tense, on edge, she wasn't sure if it was being away from familiar surroundings, or what she was planning on doing. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She was going to get the evidence on Noel…she was out of the apartment.
Everything in her wanted to flee back to the safety of the apartment, but she was determined to stick to her new path. This was something she needed to do to help everyone...to keep Caleb safe. Caleb's presence helped hugely, the sense of safety he gave her, calming her when she felt most like freaking out, just by being there. Once she'd taped the windows thorougly, she turned to the bed, where Caleb was lounging with his laptop, tapping away at something, probably something to do with the code he and Mona still had yet to crack.
She took the opportunity to study him, study the look of concentration that wrinkled his brow, the way he was stretched out comfortably on the bed, strong arms and firm abs…she found herself staring a bit too long and realised she was being a total creeper. Hanna hastily looked away, gaze tracking to their bags at the foot of the bed. She should have known he'd be on to her. That she wouldn't be able to sneak away from him. He'd probably been awake the moment she'd left the bed. She should have known that he'd insist on coming, it was so incredibly stupid of her to think she could get away without him. She should have made an excuse to get him to stay somewhere else, or left before she'd made the call. But she'd been too scared to go off too far on her own. Sure she was making progress but not enough to shake Caleb.
In truth, if he wasn't there, she wasn't sure how well she'd manage. If she'd have been able to make it out here...she'd probably be freaking out being here all by herself, especially once it got dark. The dark would always be something she struggled with, like some kind of scared little kid who needed a night light to sleep. She felt pathetic for that..for her reliance on Caleb but then everyone has to lean on someone right? She was sure she'd heard that somewhere, but even so, it did little to make her feel better. She wanted to be the old her, the near fearless Hanna. Not this scared mess. Caleb didn't care whether she was the old Hanna or the new. He...he loved her anyway. No matter what. She returned her gaze to him.
Even after everything that happened between the two of them…he really did still love her. The thought warmed her as much as it sent a chill of fear through her. She wanted to keep him safe, but she'd caved easily enough at him coming along because she'd been scared. She'd needed him with her. She always needed him with her. She wasn't really sticking to her whole 'keep Caleb away and safe' plan. No matter how much she tried to keep Caleb away…she couldn't follow it through and she hated herself for it because she knew if he got hurt it would be her fault.
"You know I can feel you staring at me right?" his voice floated over from the bed and she sighed as she gave in and did what she'd been wanting to do for the past ten minutes. She wandered over to the bed, crawled across it and snuggled her head on to Caleb's chest, closing her eyes and gripping him tightly. She felt him twist slightly, and heard the sound of the laptop being put on to a surface, then she felt his hand stroke her hair for a moment or two, his other arm coming around her waist, before she drifted in to a dreamless sleep.
The morning dawned harsh and bright, and Hanna was filled with nerves. Today was their first day of surveillance, or it would be after Hanna dealt with something. She needed supplies, which meant a trip to the store, a trip that couldn't be explained away and she'd had to tell Caleb her plan, or the part of the plan she'd been hoping to keep from him for as long as possible. I should have thought about this harder, then I could have packed it all myself.
"Seriously? You're channeling Mona right now, and frankly…I'm terrified." Caleb stated, raising the hammer to eye level with a raised eyebrow. Hanna hadn't been able to find everything she needed in the apartment, but she'd managed to find a suitable weapon, although Lord knew what Lucas needed a hammer for, she could have sworn he had people for that these days.
"We need evidence okay. Following him around won't be enough, sure we might find something but we need a confession. There's only one way to get that. We make him talk. To do that we need to be prepared for anything."
"Aw. I love it when you go all Girl Scout preparedness on me, " he leaned in and kissed her forehead. "The hammer wielding, Mona-esque part is freaking me out though" he whispered playfully and Hanna frowned. Caleb sighed.
"Fine, we'll go get the stuff. But I'm telling you, this is the kind of thing they flag. Screams murder" he murmured, his eyes taking on a far off look as he was briefly lost in a memory. And that was it.
He'd agreed surprisingly easily, and Hanna figured it was because he didn't want to argue with her. Maybe he even knew she was right. Or more likely it was because he'd do anything for her and didn't want to waste time. Whatever. Either way, they'd gone to the store and they'd gotten everything they could think of. Rope, tape, anything they might need to restrain someone. There was one more thing they'd need but Hanna couldn't do anything about it yet. Caleb had some surprising contacts and he'd set up a meeting but it wasn't until later that afternoon. She had to be patient.
The girls had tried to call her a couple times, she wasn't sure why. Mona had said she'd cover for them and make up some excuse, so she ignored the calls and focused on what she and Caleb where about to do. She didn't have time to play twenty questions with her friends and if she got Spencer on the phone...she'd be on to her in seconds. Hanna paced the length of the room, they'd returned there after their early morning trip to the store and Caleb was unpacking everything and setting up the camera. She was twitchy, how could she not be. So many things could go wrong. Noel was freaking AD, there was a high chance this wouldn't end well, and she'd dragged Caleb right in to it. She was warring with herself, on the one hand she needed him with her…on the other…she'd dragged him in to danger and he could end up hurt because of her…again. The thing she never wanted to happen. She couldn't help mentally berating herself for her moment of weakness that had brought him with her.
As she paced, her thoughts whirled. Hanna needed a backup plan. If anything happened to her or Caleb or both of them..Noel couldn't be allowed to get away with it. He had to pay for what he'd done. To her. To all of them. She eyed the camera resting on the table and an idea started to form. But she couldn't implement it with Caleb there so she had to bide her time.
Her opportunity came not too long after. "Han, are you gonna be okay if I go and grab us some breakfast? Can't stalk and kidnap people on an empty stomach" he grinned and she forced a smile and pushed down the stab of fear the thought of being alone sent through her. She needed him out of the room. She had to put on her big girl panties right now.
"Sure, sounds good. I'll be fine" She said, managing to keep her voice steady. He looked at her suspiciously for a moment or two before grabbing the keys to the rental car, and hurrying out the door. She figured he was going to break some kind of record, trying to get there, get the food and get back so she wouldn't be alone for long. No matter what she said, he knew she was afraid of being left alone. He probably knew she was up to something. But her growling stomach had most likely decided him. He would make sure he wasn't long. She didn't have much time.
Hanna hastily set the camera up, positioning it to make sure it was perfect before she hit record, and rushed around to take her seat in front of the lens. She swallowed. She needed to do this. He couldn't get away with it. Not anymore. His parents wouldn't be able to buy his way out of this.
"My name is Hanna Marin, and I'm here with Caleb Rivers. If you find this video before we finish what we need to do, something went terribly wrong." She paused, taking a shaky breath. "Please give this to the police." After swallowing hard at the thought of something happening to Caleb..because of her, she proceeded to lay out everything for the camera. What happened to her in the barn, everything AD had done so far, and her suspicions about Noel, leaving out what happened with Archer Dunhill. He wasn't the goal here. She spoke carefully, forcing calm as she laid out the evidence against him, and her goal to find some solid proof that he was the one behind everything.
Once she'd finished she walked back to the camera and shut it off, feeling like a weight had been lifted, at least momentarily. Moments later, Caleb returned, food in hand and Hanna swallowed down guilt that she was keeping this from him. She knew he'd understand, but while he'd agreed to her plan, she knew he was worried for her safety, and shoving her insurance in case anything happened to her, in to his face wasn't going to make him feel any better. It'd make him worry more and it might even change his mind, if he wanted to, he could drag her ass back home and she couldn't let that happen. So she smiled at him, and ate the food he'd brought, with more enthusiasm than she'd shown in days. She had the feeling she was freaking him out a little with her sudden change and she noted to herself to stop overdoing it, to act...the new normal. Once they'd finished eating she sat back, and looked at Caleb. He smiled at her and she returned it. Everything was going to be fine…she wasn't alone. She had Caleb to help her. She could do this. "Let's go find Noel" she said grimly.
Caleb was bored. He and Hanna had been following Noel for hours after he'd emerged from his abode with a trash bag, and his ass hurt from sitting in the uncomfortable rental car. So far, he was one of the most boring people to follow that Caleb had come across, and he'd tailed a few people in his time, sure he had a suspicious trash bag with him, but all he appeared to be doing was taking it for a romantic drive round the damn place. He let out a yawn and turned his head to look at Hanna.
She was freaking him out with her…Mona-ness. Not to mention the way she'd been acting that morning, normally he'd be glad she was eating but he knew she had next to no appetite these days which meant she was forcing herself to eat to show him she was fine. He knew she wasn't fine. He also knew that while she hadn't wanted to be left alone in the room earlier...she'd also been eager to get him out of there. He knew something was up, he knew when she was lying, but he didn't want to press her on it. He felt like Hanna was fragile right now, and any kind of pressure might make her break. So he'd decided he was just going to roll with whatever Hanna threw at him, because arguing would only stress her out, and waste their time, and possibly end with him or her storming off and he needed to stick close to her.
He didn't like the thought of her going off after Noel alone and that would happen if he started to press her about things. This plan was crazy enough and anything could go wrong. He needed to be there. She needed him if she wanted to pull this off. Noel was a big guy and he might have already hurt Hanna. Caleb would be there to make sure he didn't do it again. As he felt the car coming to a slow stop, he took his eyes off Hanna and turned to look out the windscreen. Noel's car had come to a stop and the asshole himself was getting out, trash bag in hand. He and Hanna watched as he looked around, because that doesn't scream shady, and dumped the bag in a dumpster outside of a random building. He could feel Hanna's eyes boring in to the side of his head and he sighed.
"Okay. Point taken, but for the record, I never said he wasn't suspicious! I just said, maybe his trashcan was full, it happens" Caleb defended. To be fair to him, the bag didn't look all that full, and he didn't have x-ray vision, it could have been anything. Trash that he couldn't fit in an overflowing trashcan, something he didn't want stinking the place out, or maybe even someone's belongings that he needed to return to them. He may be a creep, but that doesn't seem to do him any harm when it comes to his game. Caleb thought. He'd been trying not to get Hanna's hopes up, it was one trash bag, there could be any reason for Noel to be driving around with it.
They watched as Noel strode nonchalantly back to his car and then drove off. After waiting a few minutes to make sure he was out of sight, he and Hanna thew open their doors, and casually walked across the street. Caleb opened the dumpster lid and pulled the bag out, noting that it felt kind of light, before closing the lid and placing it on top. Caleb eyed the bag as Hanna reached for it.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Caleb said. Rooting through Noels trash was going to make this real and they could find anything in there. Or not find anything.
"There has to be something in here Caleb. Why else would he drive all this way just to dump it?! It doesn't make any sense otherwise" Hanna argued.
"Well he could-" he stopped when she gave him the look and held his hands up defensively. He stepped back and watched as Hanna practically ripped open the top of the bag in her haste to search it, all he could see was trash. Used paper plates, cups…he wrinkled his nose. Hanna dived right in and he raised an eyebrow at her.
"What? I can do my own dirty work" Hanna said defensively. He laughed.
"Well, rather you than me, have at it Nancy Drew." he said as he watched her root around in the bag. He could see disappointment begin to etch itself on her face, and he readied himself to deliver a dose of hope, but then she suddenly pulled her arm back. He looked down at her hand to see…a phone. She'd found a phone in his trash. Okay. Nothing too suspect. I mean maybe the guy got a new phone. The screen was smashed but when Hanna fiddled with it…a screensaver could be seen vaguely through the damage as it chimed. Sara Harvey. The photo was of Sara Harvey. He and Hanna looked at each other.
"I love being right" Hanna smirked at him and Caleb had to laugh at her.
"Don't go getting a big head, alright Sherlock?" he quipped and she smiled at him briefly before turning serious.
"This was Sara's phone…which means…"
"Noel might have killed her" Caleb said, trying to be the voice of reason. Just because he had the phone didn't mean he was the one to do the deed, but it didn't look good for the guy.
"No. He did. He's capable of anything Caleb, if it was him…at the barn…" she shuddered and Caleb wrapped a comforting arm around her.
"I know Han. C'mon, let's get back in the car" he threw the trash bag back in the dumpster and they made their way back to the car. Once they where settled back inside it Caleb took possession of the phone and studied it, but there wasn't much he could do with it when the screen was so badly smashed. The more he stared at the shattered screen the more he had to admit that Hanna was right…Noel had to have killed Sarah. Why else would he be disposing of her phone…a phone that was smashed as if she'd been involved in a struggle. Like he'd already observed. Noel was a big guy and it wasn't like a blind girl could do it. Caleb felt a pit open up in his stomach. This just got way more dangerous than I thought it would be.