A/N: Thank you for all the amazing reviews! To all those who wished for more of Caleb smoking; I have to agree and thus, there is some more of that in this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think and if anyone has any wonderfully dark ideas to come into the future!

"The thing, this terrible thing, didn't just happen to you. It happened to everyone who cares about you but it didn't just stop there, it happened to the whole town – even women across the country. Lots of people's lives have been changed, not just yours." - Chevy Stevens

Caleb slowly moved to sit down, lighting his cigarette with a small sigh; he was exhausted, more than he ever thought possible. He had Hanna back with him but he was terrified of losing her all over again, and so, when she would fall asleep in his arms, he would open his eyes and stare at her. His arms would wrap tightly around her and he would take in the fact that she was there, and she was with him. Even when she would pull herself from what she thought to be his sleeping arms, he would watch her with half-open eyes as she walked over to the closet. He could barely sleep for fear that he would wake up and she would be back with the person who had tortured her.

But then he remembered what the police had told him, the crime scene photographs he had accidentally seen when he hacked into the police computer database to see if he could get a glimpse of what his girlfriend had gotten through. The person who was responsible for the past three years of complete pain, the person who had hurt his girlfriend in ways he could only imagine, who had stolen her from him, was gone. She was never going to come back, because he had seen the way in which the girls had left him and he couldn't help but wonder if Hanna had played a part in the way in which Charlotte ended up.

He shook his head at the thought, he didn't care if she had been the person to cause that large wound, he didn't care if she had done awful things in there because after the things he had seen, and the things he had been told by Toby, he wouldn't blame her. His thoughts were disturbed when Ashley opened the door and stepped outside, with his immediate thought going to how Hanna shouldn't be left alone in the house. The panic must have been obvious on his face because Ashley gave a small shake of her head, "She's just in the kitchen... staring down at a piece of toast.." With a frown, she sat across from the man, her eyes glancing towards the glass doors that separated them from where Hanna was sitting as Caleb took a drag of his cigarette.

"You shouldn't smoke..." She spoke, their eyes meeting for just a second before he nodded towards the glass of wine in her hand, "You shouldn't drink," He counter argued with a small smirk on his face before he lifted the cigarette back to his lips, inhaling the smoke that somehow made everything a little better, if it was at all possible. His heart was breaking, but his bad habits helped him deal with that. Finally, Ashley moved a little closer to him, her voice getting quieter, "I think... maybe, you should stay here... I know you have your own apartment and I know... but I think you should stay here with her, with me... with us. I don't know how to do this alone, Caleb and..."

There were tears in her eyes, and Caleb moved out to grip onto Ashley's hand with a smile on his face, "I've already given up the lease on my apartment, I'm going to be with the two of you every single step of that way. No matter what it takes..." He could see the relief on the mother's face and she gave his hand a small squeeze before their heads looked up at the sound of the door opening. His eyes met with Hanna's as Ashley stood up and pressed her lips to the side of her daughter's head, "I'm going to run you a bath," She told the blonde, who only nodded her head and took another step outside, a little closer to Caleb.

He hated how she hesitated when it came to moving towards him, and he loathed how he did the same for fear of scaring her. It had been a month since she had gotten home and things hadn't improved; she went to therapy but she still hadn't spoken a word. She spent most of her time drawing or writing, or staring into space, leaving Caleb to wonder what she was thinking about. The most affection she had shown him was when she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, allowing herself just a moment of comfort before she thought he was asleep and she would pull away to the only place he supposed she could feel safe – the closet.

She surprised him though, when she moved a little closer to him and, without a word, as he had expected, her tiny body moved to sit on his lap. He didn't hesitate to move his cigarette from one hand to the other so he could wrap an arm around her; his lips pressed against her hair and then he mentioned to the half smoked cigarette, "Do you want me to put it out?" He asked, biting down on his lip when she shook her head and instead, moved her face to snuggle into his neck as her eyes closed. He could see the curiosity in his eyes as he took just one more drag and then put it out in the ashtray Ashley had so kindly put out there for him when she realised his habit wasn't going to disappear the moment Hanna returned to him.

Hanna's hand moved to his chest, her fingers wrapped around the fabric of his shirt as she bit down on her lip. They didn't have to talk, and she liked the way he didn't force her to communicate what she went through and how she felt. She took a deep, shaking breath and then tilted her head to look up at him, and their eyes met when he looked down at her to run his fingers through her hair. He smelt like cigarette smoke and beer but she didn't mind – it wasn't the Caleb smell she had been used to before she left but they had both changed. She could see a pain and sadness in his eyes that hadn't been there before and she wondered if he could see the same in her own.

Slowly, her fingers danced along his cheekbones, before she lifted her head slightly to press their lips together. It was the first kiss they had shared in over three years, and it was everything he had hoped it would be and so much more. Both of them had imagined the moment for so long, with her fingers pressed gently against his face and their lips slowly moved against each others. He tasted like cigarette smoke and beer as well, but again, Hanna didn't mind. It was different, but everything was different and somehow, it all seemed fitting. When they pulled back, his nose nudged against hers and he had a huge smile on his face, "I love you," He whispered, and she pulled back slightly to show him her hand where she had written 'I love you, too' on there before she had gone out there. With a laugh, Caleb shook his head and pulled her impossibly closer to him as his eyes closed, whilst he rested his head on top of hers and just breathed her in. She was intoxicating, he could barely breathe when she was around him. Despite everything she had been through, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

They stayed that way for half an hour, until Ashley popped her head outside and gave him a huge smile when she saw the way her daughter was holding onto the man who had waited for her. The older Marin had no clue what she would have done without the young man over the past few years, she had been so sick with worry that she had ended up in hospital but he had kept looking, he had kept updating her, he had promised her he wouldn't give up on the person they had both missed so much. "It's cold out... do you want me or Caleb to help you in the bath?" She asked her daughter, who slowly stood up from her place on Caleb's life and looked between the two before she outstretched her hand for Caleb with a small smile.

Ashley didn't miss the surprise, or the relief on his face – it was just a small matter but one Hanna had avoided with him up until that moment. She hid her body as much as she possibly could from the man, but Ashley had seen the full horror that Charlotte had reigned down on her daughter. She had seen the scars that had made her vomit the first time she had stared at what had happened to her daughter's once perfect body. There were burn like scars that covered her upper body, what looked like an old stab wound on her stomach, her ribs jutted out but the most disturbing were the long, angry scars on her wrists because Ashley knew what that had meant. Maybe she was relieved that she didn't have to absent-mindedly count the scars, thinking up ways Hanna could have gotten them. Her imagination was playing havoc, to the point where it left her waking up every single night from the next awful nightmare where she had seen Hanna going through the most hideous things.

With his hand in hers, Caleb led Hanna up towards the bathroom, sharing a look with Ashley that only caused the fear to rise within him. He had been curious, and he had read the hospital reports and the police reports, Toby had met with him once to secretly tell him about some of the 'tools' and the rooms they had found in that place. And since that moment, Caleb's mind had been running wild, panicking whenever he caught a glimpse of the marks that Charlotte had left behind on the love of his life. She was so amazing, she would never hurt anyone and she hadn't deserved to go through anything that she had in the past three years. How he longed to take every second of pain that she had felt, so she would never have to feel it. He would take it one hundred times over so she would feel nothing but all the happiness, the care and the love that she deserved.

Once they had gotten into the bathroom and he had closed the door behind them, her hand dropped from his and he took a deep breath when she slowly pulled her top over her head. The marks on her back made his stomach flip, and he swore he would have murdered Charlotte with his own bare hands had someone not done the job for him. He wanted to thank whichever of the girls who had done what he couldn't. His fists clenched, his nails digging into the palm of her hand as he just stared ahead of him, at the broken girl who stood there looking more vulnerable than he had ever seen her. He had seen Hanna broken before, but this was something else entirely; the girl he knew was shattered beyond belief and Caleb was going to do everything he possibly could to pick up every piece and put her back together as much as he could but he knew he wouldn't be able to do it alone. She'd have to help him, he just didn't know to make her fight for it though.

He didn't even think about his movements as he took a large step to close the distance between them, his fingers moving over a particularly harsh scar that almost covered the entire length of his back, as he swallowed the bile that crept up his throat. For the first time, she didn't flinch from his unexpected touch and instead, she turned to look at him, a nervous look on her face, and a fear in her eyes he never wanted to see, "You're beautiful," He whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead, and then her nose, before he gently kissed her lips with a small smile on his face. There were tears dancing in her eyes, but the shadow of a smile on her lips and the blush on her cheeks was enough to make his heart skip a beat.

Slowly, his fingers moved over the circular scar on her chest, his forehead coming to rest on hers; he wanted to know every single story of how she had gotten every scar on her perfect body. He wanted her to tell him what she had gone through and how she had felt, he wanted to know anything and everything there was to know about the past three years but he knew he had to be patient. Just as he went to pull back, Hanna gripped onto his shirt and gave it a gentle tug, her eyes looking into his with a desperation he understood without a word needing to pass between them. She glanced at the bath, and gave his shirt another tug and he smiled, "You want me to join you?" He asked, the huge grin on his face when he nodded would have been embarrassing had it not been for the amount of trust it took for her allow him to sit in the bath with her. A whole month had passed since he had gotten her back but in one day, this was the closest they had been and he hoped it would only be the beginning of this new chapter of their story.

It didn't take him long to get undressed, and he helped her into the bath after wrapping up the cast on her wrist with the plastic bag Ashley had prepared for them. He waited for her to settle down into the warm water before he took a deep breath and sat behind her, his hand moving through her hair to sweep it to one side over her shoulder so he could press his lips to the back of her neck. There was nothing sexual about his body being pressed against hers, but instead, it was something comforting and something he needed to remind him that she was real, and what they had was real enough to withstand everything they had both been through over the past few years.

It was silent but he didn't mind as he just gently took the cloth from the side and gently washed her back, mindful of the wounds that remained there. Every so often, his lips would press gently against her exposed skin and he would feel her shiver beneath him. Once he had washed her hair, his arms wrapped around her and she leaned back, her head resting against his chest. He couldn't stop the way in which his lips pressed against her forehead every few moments, as he just looked down at her with a goofy grin on his face. And they stayed that way until the water was too cold to remain sitting in and he regretfully had to remove his arms from around her, suddenly feeling empty.

He tried not to focus on how impossibly thin she was, or how vulnerable she looked stood in front of him. He didn't say another word to her as he just focused on the task of helping her get into something comfortable – he couldn't help the happiness he felt when she picked one of his shirts to wear – and then he moved the covers back on the bed so she could lay on there. He wondered if there would be a night in the near future where she would remain in his arms all night and he could sleep in the knowledge she was safe with him.

He waited, and watched as she took a notebook from the side, one he had seen her scribbling in furiously more than once. He had been tempted to see what she had written inside but he knew that if he betrayed her trust in such a way, then there was no future for them. He had to be patient, he had to wait for her to tell him everything he needed to know. Once she had gotten into bed and he had tucked the covers over her, her eyes glanced down at the notebook she held in her hands before she handed it to him. He was confused, for just a second before she nodded her head, "Are you sure?" He asked, as he moved to the other side of the bed and slid in, watching as she leaned over to open up to the first page, the first words written on the page caused him to inhale sharply before she snuggled into his side and he took his first glance into the way Hanna thought.

Dear Caleb, these words are just for you... maybe one day I will be able to tell you these things out loud. But for now, you need to know whatever I can tell you by writing it down because I love you and I never want you to forget that. And I'm sorry for everything that you have gone through over the past three years, I wish I could take some of that pain away.

He gulped and glanced at the woman, moving to nudge his nose against her hair as he took a deep breath. He turned the page, inhaling a long, deep breath to prepare himself for whatever he was going to read as Hanna slowly started to fall asleep next to him after she moved her hand onto his chest and snuggled into his side a little more.

Dear Caleb,

I know you must have a lot of questions, and thank you for not asking them. I don't know if I'll ever be able to find my voice again, it's as though there's something stuck in my throat, something I can't get rid of no matter what. I try, I open my mouth to say the words I really want and need to say but it's like I've forgotten. It started over a year ago, perhaps even two years ago – I promise you that before that, I would talk back to A (or Charlotte, I guess, but I don't like to give her a name because... it hurts too much to think of her as a human being). And then in the second year, things changed, I started talking less because I couldn't really think of anything to say. My bite had gone, I stopped fighting. This is going to be hard for you to read and I'm sure you've seen the scars and you've already realised it but... I tried to kill myself.

You have to understand how desperate I was to get out of there and nothing was working. We had hatched up escape plan after escape plan and even with Mona and Spencer on our side, there was no getting out of there. So, I stole a piece of shattered glass and I sat in my room, in the closet, and I decided that I was going to die. I remember hoping that A would dump my body somewhere you could find it, so you and my mom could have some form of closure. I'm so sorry that I gave up like that and I wish I could say it was the first and only time, but I tried again and again. Escape plans weren't working, and neither would my suicidal plans. If A didn't want us to do something, then it never happened, she controlled everything and anything.

That first time, I remember waking up and she was there, there was a cloth over my head and she poured water on me until I couldn't breathe. And she did it over and over again until I learned my lesson – she controlled my life, she controlled everything I thought and everything I did, and I was nothing and I had nothing. I thought about you every single second of every single day and I wished I was strong enough to hold on, but it had been so long and I was so tired of fighting.

I don't know when it happened but I guess one day my body got tired of fighting and everything became a little easier after that. First, I just spoke less, I answered with more grunts, more shrugs of my shoulders, I was less of a bitch and I guess A liked that. She had won and I was giving her exactly what she wanted even though I didn't intend to. And then one morning I woke up and I couldn't speak, I didn't even want to. The girls just accepted it, they had all given up by that point too – except Spencer, she didn't give up the entire time we were in there. She was amazing Caleb, you should have seen her... she almost got us out of there so many times but it was never meant to be.

I don't really know where to start with these letters, so I guess I'm just going to write to you every single time I feel as though I need to and I'll tell you whatever is playing on my mind that day. I guess that kind of works, you won't have an exact idea of what happened when because I have no clue either, and sometimes everything gets mixed up. Once, I remember her forcing Emily to push me, she was screaming at me, giving into whatever A wanted because she had given up too but I don't remember when that happened. I think maybe, if I really think about the memory, and I see the hardened look in Emily's eyes, I think it might have been the third year. She pushed me so hard I fell back and I hit my head. I remember her screaming, maybe that was the second year..

I guess you're just going to get the bits and pieces just like I am. I wish I could tell you everything in the order it was meant to be and I'm sorry that I can't. I wish that I could for my own sake, as well. Everything gets all jumbled in my head, so these letters are probably going to be confusing. I sure as hell won't pass English if I ever get my GED, considering I never even got the chance to graduate high school.

Do you remember getting into a car crash? Was that real? It was my punishment for trying to kill myself the second time. I stole the knife that was used on us in a game before A could take it from us and I just... I stabbed myself right in front of them. Maybe that was the third attempt, I don't know... you've probably seen the scar. None of them was fast enough to stop me and considering I wasn't the only one who had attempted to kill myself, I don't think any of my friends would have denied me the opportunity to die. Charlotte hated me after that, even more than she already did. She showed me a newspaper cutting in the local news about how the boyfriend of missing girl had gotten into a crash one late night. Your brakes had failed, it said... and she told me she had done it. Maybe she did, maybe it was just a coincidence, or maybe she lied to me. Did that happen?I'm sorry if it did, it was my fault, I'm so sorry that you got hurt because of me.

I bet it would be easier to love anyone other than me.

I'm so sorry.

But I love you. And despite every attempt to leave that place, it was never an attempt to leave you. I can't tell you how much being back in your arms means to me, and I'm sorry I can't be better. I'm sorry I'm putting you through so much but I promise, you being here means the world. Thank you for making me feel safe, thank you for waiting...

I'm sorry that you had to wait.

Forever yours,

Hanna

Caleb tilted his head back and slowly moved the book to the side, wiping at the tears that had fallen down his face. "You've nothing to be sorry for," He whispered to the sleeping girl next to him before he moved further down the bed to securely wrap an arm around her, pulling her closer to him as he rubbed her back, "I'd have waited a lifetime if it meant I could hold you in my arms again." He knew she was asleep, but he hoped she could still, somehow, hear him and know that no matter what she told him, and no matter how long it took for her to talk again, he'd never stop loving her. His chest hurt, and his grip tightened when he thought about everything she had gone through; the book was full of pages that would allow him to delve deeper into the mind of Hanna Marin and everything she had gone through but those pages could wait, just so he could hold her close until she moved back to the closet.