After Caleb had scraped the blood from the knife carefully in to a vial, not commenting on Hanna's little Dexter moment, he and Hanna made their way to a nearby lab that they'd found online. They'd even made contact with a tech who had no problems speeding up results for a little…incentive.
"You know…this isn't how I pictured us spending our time together once we'd gotten, you know…back together" Caleb said thoughtfully. "Kidnapping and slicing up somebody didn't come in to it all…or using a Q-tip to de-blood a knife…"
"We're on the right track Caleb. I know it. Noel Khan has been behind all of this." Hanna said, voice determined.
"I know Han, I'm just saying" he said teasingly. Hanna cracked a smile.
"I feel like I'm in a TV show…one of those crime ones you know?"
"Oh yeah. I know the feeling. I've had that feeling since we made ourselves at home in that motel room. The crime show has changed multiple times though." Caleb said as they walked in to the lab.
They looked around the quiet waiting room. "We're right on time" Caleb said as he checked his watch.
"Over there" Hanna said motioning to a guy in a white lab coat, that was standing off to the side and out of the way, trying to look unobtrusive. Hanna made eye contact with him, and a look passed between them. Are you the guy? Yeah, I'm the guy.
Hanna started to march over until Caleb tugged her arm. She adjusted her pace and did her best to saunter off nonchalantly. "We really need to work on your spy skills Han." Caleb whispered to her as they approached the lab tech.
"Are you Doctor McBribe?" Hanna said.
"I am if you keep your voice down" He said hushing her, as Caleb tried to stifle a laugh. Hanna's been watching way too much Grey's Anatomy.
"What?!" Hanna hissed, turning to Caleb.
"Oh nothing. I just can't believe you forgot his name and came up with that."
"Well it works on Grey's Anatomy" Hanna said haughtily to Caleb's slowly shaking head before turning back to the tech. She pulled the small vial from her bag and held it out to him. He looked at it for a moment, before taking it from her.
"So, what's the rush? If you don't mind me asking. Trying to prove somebodies your baby daddy?" He asked conspiratorially, "I live for these stories" he said looking over at Caleb expectantly. Caleb held is hands up.
"Don't look at me. This is all her" Hanna nudged him in the ribs. "What? It is? It's your idea" Hanna rolled her eyes, and Caleb chuckled. Something on the screen behind the tech caught his eye and leaving Hanna to run her show, he found himself wandering over to check out what was playing on it. Hanna turned back to the man.
"Yeah…something like that" She said, trying to sound confident. The tech gave her a look. "Nothing illegal. Pinkie swear!" Hanna blurted. She handed him the packet of money before she could dig a deeper hole. He took it from her, opening it quickly to leaf through and check the agreed amount was there. He looked back up.
"I can get you the results by tomorrow" he said, tucking the envelope in to his pocket before nodding his head and turning to leave, Hanna mustered up a smile and watched him go before breathing a sigh of relief. In a few hours...they'd know. She wandered over to Caleb, who was staring up at something.
"What are you watching?" she asked curiously.
"You" he said calmly. Too calmly. Hanna followed his gaze up to the screen to see…herself. She was being reported as a missing person. "We're out of time" Caleb said grimly. "Everyone's going to be looking for you and for Noel. We need to get out of here" Caleb said, taking her hand and walking quickly but calmly out of the lab. Caleb kept quiet until they where in the car on the way back to their seedy motel room.
"You know what we have to do now right? This just got even more complicated. With the cops looking for you and Noel, we need help." Caleb said matter of factly. He was trying not to be offended that no-one was worried he'd been kidnapped along with Noel. On the one hand...as if he'd let that happen. On the other...it could have happened. Everyone seemed to think he'd gone off after Hanna to try and find her and was out there doing...whatever.
"I know…I just didn't want to have to drag anyone else in to this" Hanna said quietly. Caleb looked over at her. She might not have been thinking entirely when she snatched Noel, but her heart was in the right place. She wanted to protect her friends and him, she wanted to make sure Noel couldn't hurt them again. He understood, but they'd dug a pretty big hole and they wouldn't be able to get out of it themselves.
"Oh so you don't mind dragging me in to everything?" Caleb said teasingly, trying to lighten the mood but Hanna didn't smile. "Han. I'm joking. You can drag me anywhere, you know that right? She feels the same way too" Caleb said reassuringly. Hanna nodded and looked out of the window, not willing to be comforted right then.
Hanna watched Caleb check the bandages on Noel's leg, ears trained on what was playing as a backdrop to the scene. Thanks to him they had a direct feed to the cops frequency and they could hear everything that was going on. A blessing and a curse. It was putting Hanna more and more on edge but at the same time...they needed to know what was going on and they where well aware of that.
"Hanna Marin, white female. Blonde. Mid-twenties, is now considered a missing person" a scratchy voice was saying as she made her way round the table to stand by the window. She peered out, half expecting to see a squad of cop cars screaming in to the lot. She'd been on edge ever since they'd been at the lab….since she'd seen the news reports and realised she might have made a huge mistake. Done the stupidest thing she'd ever done. Mona never would have made that kind of error, walking in to a public place like that….no disguise, just right there in plain sight where anyone could see and identify her. Caleb's right, I really suck at this. He doesn't know what to do next, I don't know what to do next…..I just….I just wanted to help. Hanna sighed in frustration, looking over at Noel sharply as he groaned at Caleb tugging on his bandages.
"Possibly adducted by one Noel Khan. White male, also mid twenties. He should be considered dangerous and possibly armed" the scratchy voice said and Caleb snorted.
"Yeah…he's real dangerous alright. He's been out like a baby for hours, tied to a freaking chair" Caleb said, shaking his head. Hanna watched as he stepped back, keeping an eye on Noel as he let out another groan. They where mostly sure he wasn't faking it. They had left him while they went to the lab, and he was still there. He hadn't even moved an inch. Hanna sighed again, and reached for her phone, quickly typing in a number that she knew by heart.
"I need your help" Hanna said desperately. "And I need you to come alone" She hoped she couldn't hear the despair in her voice. She hoped she sounded in control. It didn't really matter, she would come either way. Whether Hanna sounded like she had everything under control, or whether Hanna was panicking, she had Hanna's back and she'd be more than willing to help them out of this mess.
It wasn't long after she made the call before there was a knock at the door. Caleb peered out the window through the tiny gap in the newspaper pages. "It's her" he confirmed. Hanna rushed to the door and pulled it open to reveal Mona. Mona took one look at Hanna's face and immediately said "What did you do?!" Hanna didn't answer, she just stepped back in to the room fidgeting nervously, Mona following and shutting the door behind her. "Han?" Mona asked when Hanna didn't say a word and wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Don't freak out" Hanna said quietly, and Mona looked at her in confusion with a little bit of worry thrown in there.
"Look to your right" Caleb said, helpfully. Mona spun towards his voice, and then her eyes settled on Noel Khan. Out cold. Tied to a chair. She cocked her head.
"We're sorry to rope you in like this, but when we saw the news we didn't know what to do. We need more time, he's not talking but the cops are going to be looking for us everywhere and….and…"
"Um, next time you might want to call me before, you abduct someone and go on the run. It just makes my life a little easier" Mona looked accusingly at Caleb.
"Hey! I didn't know she was doing this. I am an innocent party! I went to the shower and came back to, hey Caleb, hope you don't mind but Noel Khan's tied up in my trunk unconscious. Surprise!"
"That's not how it happened!" Hanna defended slapping his arm. Mona hushed them both.
"It doesn't matter how it happened, it happened. I thought you where just going after him to follow him, try to get some evidence to use against him…to make him confess."
"I was! Once we found the phone he dumped, we tried to drug him so we could get him to lower his inhibitions and talk...to confess at the bar, and bring him back here and get him to talk if it still wasn't working. I mean...I would have had to get him to drink all the drugs before we could do that...and maybe we wouldn't have had to bring him back here then...but then we wouldn't have been able to leave him at the bar..." Hanna rambled defensively.
"Han...focus" Caleb prompted.
"You did not just try to make that sound logical" Mona said staring at her.
"It's not my fault he wouldn't drink his stupid roofied beer." Hanna grumbled. Mona looked at Caleb, who just raised his eyebrows at her.
"He saw through it, took the phone by force." Mona raised an eyebrow, you couldn't stop him? she seemed to be asking. Caleb looked meaningfully at Hanna who was hugging herself and chewing on a nail. Mona nodded in understanding before heaving a sigh.
"Okay. Plan failed. Hanna went dark side bludgeoned and kidnapped Noel. Can't say he didn't have it coming. We'll deal. Somehow. The girls stopped buying my excuses with the more of their own digging they did. And when they realised Caleb wasn't at the apartment, they knew Hanna wasn't either. I couldn't do anything. They thought Noel had kidnapped you after you went after him or something."
"And what did they think I was doing?" Caleb said exasperatedly.
"Oh they think you've been driving around crying and trying to find Hanna this entire time using your hacker skills. Or that Noel did you in to get to Hanna. Or that you died heroically trying to keep her from Noel. It varies depending on their mood" Mona said helpfully. "Hanna's the bigger priority to them, so they focused on her."
"Gee thanks." Caleb said in a voice laced with sarcasm. His brain failing to even come up with an appropriately snarky comment to that.
"So what…you've been waiting for him to wake up this entire time?" Mona asked, looking between the two of them and forcing them to get back on track.
"Not exactly" they both said, it was then that Mona noticed the bandage on Noel's leg.
"It's not what it looks like" Hanna said hurriedly. "We needed blood to take to the lab to get tested to see if he's Mary's other kid!"
"And you couldn't just take a swab?"
"Um…well….this seemed easier?" Hanna shrugged.
"You only needed to prick his finger!" Mona pointed out.
"Her hand slipped?" Caleb butted in to the conversation and Mona turned to glare at him before looking up heavenward and taking a breath.
"When do you get the test results?" Mona asked, turning back to Hanna.
"Not til tomorrow" Mona nodded to herself and approached Noel. She looked him over, and then crouched down and started to feel up his legs. Caleb and Hanna looked at each other.
"Um, Mona. What are you doing?" Hanna asked hesitantly. Mona ignored her and carried on feeling him up. "Is this to do with that time you two dated and he-"
"No" Mona cut her off, fiddling with something. Hanna looked at her questioningly, but Mona took her time standing up, brushing herself down and taking a breath. Then she turned to face Hanna and Caleb.
"I was looking for this" She said holding up a thumb drive triumphantly.
"What is that?" Caleb asked, narrowing his eyes at it.
"Seriously? You really haven't spoken to anyone?" Mona said, annoyed, looking between the two of them.
"Um…we've kind of had our hands full?" Hanna offered. Mona rolled her eyes.
"While you two where busy playing house with Noel, the others made a discovery. This. There's footage on here that proves that Noel was working with Charlotte. He was part of the dollhouse"
"What?" Hanna said faintly, Caleb reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist, a silent gesture of support.
"I was worried he'd destroyed it but clearly you knocked him out before he had the chance to" Mona said with what almost sounded like pride in her voice. Hanna and Caleb looked at each other.
"That's what Emily was talking about in her message Han. The proof Spencer found. This video" Caleb said excitedly.
"You don't need the results Hanna, This is more than enough to put Noel behind bars" Mona said, smiling. Hanna chewed her lip. Noel had stolen that back from Spencer, it was obvious, and if he did it once he could do it again, they all knew evidence disappeared all the time when it came to all things A or AD. It didn't even matter if it was at Rosewood PD or not. She didn't trust it...found it hard to trust anyone besides Noel, Mona and the girls. Besides….that was just the dollhouse. What about everything else he'd done? What about what he'd done to her? He'd never admit to it, so what…he'd just get away with it? Get away with everything he'd been doing!? Hanna could feel emotions rising up, choking her.
"No" she got out, shaking her head.
"What do you mean no?" Caleb asked gently, his hand rubbing soothing circles on her back, while Mona looked at her in concern.
"Busting Noel for the dollhouse is like busting a mob boss for tax evasion. It's settling" Hanna said vehemently. She looked at Noel. Allowing herself for the first time to embrace the memories of what he'd done to her. Allowed them to fuel her. "I'm not ready to settle" She said darkly. Caleb and Mona looked at each other uncertainly.
"But Hanna, you can't get any worse than the dollhouse" Mona said without thinking and Caleb winced. He knew Mona didn't mean it how it sounded. For Mona, the worst thing Noel had done wasn't anything AD had done recently. It was the dollhouse. Locking her in there, keeping her in that pit. But Mona was too busy thinking of that, thinking of her own pain an suffering. He watched Mona's face. Saw her wince moments after the words left her mouth. Mona opened her mouth to take it back but Hanna cut her off.
"I have scars on my back that say different" Hanna snapped and Mona looked away. "I want Noel to be held accountable for everything that he did. Every single thing. I'm gonna prove he's AD." She looked at Caleb and Mona, "I need to" she said desperately. "I have to." Caleb and Mona both saw the determination in her eyes. She needed this. She needed Noel to be trapped 100%. No wriggle room. Needed him to pay for what he'd done to her so she could start to really heal. Pay for everything he'd done to everyone so that they could all move on with their lives. The whole kidnapping Noel thing, it might be bringing Hanna back to herself, but that was only so long as she had that to keep her going. Helping her friends to focus on. Once this was over, she'd need to know that he'd paid for every single bit of pain he'd inflicted on her and her friends, because if he didn't it would eat her up inside and destroy her. Mona and Caleb shared a look of understanding then turned back to Hanna.
"We need to stay hidden for ten more hours, please Mona." Hanna said, her voice cracking.
"Hiding's the last thing you're going to do" Mona said, with her signature smirk. Caleb sighed. Here we go...