Apologies for the terribly long wait! But here is the next chapter of this story! Thank you very much for your reviews and please let me know what you think!

Thank you once again for your patience!


"She looked up. 'What I can't figure out is why the good things always end.'

'Everything ends.'

'Not some things. Not the bad things. They never go away.'

'Yes, they do. If you let them, they go away. Not as fast as we'd like sometimes, but they end too. What doesn't end is the way we feel about each other. Even when you're all grown up and somewhere else, you can remember what a good time we had together. Even when you're in the middle of bad things and they never seem to be changing, you can remember me. And I'll remember you." - Torey L Hayden


Hanna's hands shook as she gripped onto the chair, looking out at the court room that was filled with people – some she knew, but most were strangers. The blonde took a deep breath and tried her best to hold her head high, to look the lawyer in the eyes and try and remember everything she had gone over with Caleb's defence lawyer, and Spencer. She needed to be as strong as she possibly could if she wanted Caleb to be allowed to come home with her in the near future. Slowly, her blue eyes gazed over to where the man sat, offering him the smallest of smiles before she watched the lawyer Noel's parents had hired to make Caleb suffer more than he already had.

"I'll make this quick, I know this isn't going to be easy for you." She nodded her head in response, as she bit down on her bottom lip. She had only started to talk in the aftermath of being kidnapped again and it was still a working progress, she was still trying to get used to the sound of her own voice and her throat ached increasingly with every word that fell from her lips. Talking to Spencer a few days before, talking about how she needed to be in that court room, the things she needed to say, the way she should behave to give Caleb a better chance, it was the most she had spoken in a long time and Hanna had found after five minutes, it physically hurt to speak. She wanted to say as little as she possibly could in the moments that didn't matter, so she could say everything that needed to be said in response to the things that did matter. "We've already discussed the part Noel had to play in your kidnapping, both the first and the second time, there is no denying that he was guilty of the crimes in which he was accused so I'm not going to ask you to go over every single second."

Relief washed over her, that had been the one thing she had been most afraid of but, as Spencer had testified the day before, she had been informed by her best friend that the prosecution were not denying the fact Noel Kahn was a cold-hearted criminal. He had done things that simply could not be forgiven but they were arguing that despite this, despite all of the things he had done, the people he had made suffer, he was a victim who deserved to have the chance to sit where Caleb was sitting right then. Spencer had also warned her of the other side of their argument – how Noel had been an emotionally disturbed young man who suffered after the death of one of his closest friends, a death that had been caused by Spencer and Hanna who he subsequently kidnapped.

The man who was being so gentle to her, who tried to speak to her softly and kindly was also the person who was trying to justify the fact she and her friend had been kidnapped. Hanna knew she couldn't fall into his trap, he wanted her to trust him and then, she was entirely certain, he was going to try and break her. "But I am going to ask you about the events that led up to the moment Caleb Rivers shot and killed Noel Kahn. Can you tell us in your own words about what happened?"

Hanna took a deep breath, her eyes searching the room for those of Spencer's who was now sitting in the court room following her own testimony. Hanna needed the support of her best friend, not wanting to mess this up – after all, if Caleb hadn't shot Noel there and then, she wouldn't have a living, breathing best friend. "Um, Noel made us watch videos of ourselves when we were... the first time we were taken and I-I," She cleared her throat, it stung already, a painful reminder of all those years she had gone through hell and had found the one way to cope that had given her some form of control. That was gone, and Hanna was reminded of the fact she was talking to a room full of strangers about something that was so deeply personal, and something she had yet to come to terms with because her entire life was so focused on getting Caleb out of there and back home where he belonged.

"He raped me, I was unconscious when it happened and I don't know how many times..." She would never know, she supposed and she had no idea if that was a good thing or not. "But he showed me and then there was all this other footage, reminding us of those three years we spent down there and then... it stopped. And suddenly he was in the room with us and there was this look in his eyes. He asked if... if we enjoyed the show..." She trailed off in an attempt to stop the tears that so longed to fall down her face. "I didn't know what to do, he was going to kill us and I just... I thought maybe if I could do something then Spencer would be able to get away and someone would be able to find out what he had done and who he was. But... he never fed us when we were there and I was so tired and I could barely stand without my body just wanting to collapse so I attacked him but he was able to punch me before Spencer could leave."

Her hand moved to gently press against her cheek when she was reminded of the pains he had felt radiating through it when his fist had made that contact with her face. The words she had just spoken was just the easy part, but the words that were going to follow was part of the lie she had created with Alison and Spencer to ensure that Caleb's innocence would go unquestioned. She was unconscious when he shot Noel, she hadn't known what had happened until the two women had sat her down and explained that the charges were entirely true. But just because Caleb had done what they said he did, just because Noel wasn't a threat to them in the moment he had been shot, it didn't mean that Caleb was guilty or that he deserved to go to prison for the rest of his life for murdering someone who had done so much damage.

"I blacked out, it must have only been for a few seconds and when I opened my eyes again, Alison and Caleb were there. Noel had his arm wrapped around Spencer and the knife was pressed to her throat, I could see the blood dripping down onto her top and Caleb had the gun pointed at him. But then Noel dug the knife in further, he didn't say anything, but Caleb asked him to drop the knife and to let Spencer walk away but he just wouldn't let go. He held her tighter and I thought she was going to die, we all did... he was going to kill her. But then he shot him... a-and... Caleb isn't a killer, he cried when it happened, he was devastated. He wasn't happy about taking another persons life..."

Each word felt like she had swallowed a razor blade, as she croaked out each one and then pressed her hand to her throat in an attempt to regain what little use of her voice she had left. She needed to be able to continue, for Caleb, for Spencer, for Mona... for herself.

"Why did your boyfriend have the gun in the first place?"The man stepped a little closer to the stand, causing Hanna to immediately tense up as her hands moved towards her thighs and she dug her nails into the skin there to regain any sense of composure she possibly could.

"He was coming to save us, he knew how dangerous Noel was and he wanted to protect us and himself. If he hadn't brought the gun, Spencer would be dead and I probably would as well." Her voice feigned a confidence she didn't feel in that moment, but she looked towards Caleb and nodded her head a little to let him know that she was okay. Or as close to okay as she possibly could be considering everything they had all been through. She gulped when the lawyer spoke again, but the words barely registered in her mind, and the way he was looking over at the jury, it seemed as though he was mostly talking to them anyway – bringing a gun showed intent, as though Caleb knew he was going to have to use it to get them out of there. Wasn't there other options? Why did he have to shoot him in the manner he did? Wouldn't it have made much more sense for him to shoot him in the leg, or the arm, or perhaps not shot him at all and done what he should have done. Called the police, waited for them to do their jobs and then instead of him having to stand there and prosecute Caleb Rivers for a senseless murder, he would be standing there with Noel Kahn being the defendant who would finally have to face the crimes he committed.

It all came down to that simple matter – if Caleb knew where Hanna and Spencer was being held, why did he go in there with a weapon, without calling the police? But Hanna tore her eyes from her boyfriend to look at the man who could have been somewhat of a friend if it were Noel sitting in the chair Caleb currently occupied, "I don't know what Caleb was thinking in that moment but I know there have been plenty of moments in my lifetime where I should have called the police and I didn't because I was scared of what would happen if I did. It's so easy for you to stand there and say what he should have done and what would have been the best thing for him to do and I'm sure he agrees with you but in that moment, he made a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life but in that moment, it was the right thing to do. If we had been in that room any longer with Noel on our own, I have no doubt Spencer and I wouldn't be in this court room to see Noel face any of his crimes. He was going to kill us, and Caleb saved our lives. Did he do it the right way? Perhaps not. But did he do the right thing? Yes."

When he announced that he had no further questions, Hanna couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of relief at the slight defeat in his eyes before he sat back down and the blonde watched instead as Caleb's lawyer moved towards her. He greeted her warmly, his voice gentle as he approached her, wary of his steps because Hanna was prone to flinching or tensing up if anyone made a sudden movement. Sometimes, she questioned whether she could be called a rape victim in it's very essence – as she had said to her mother a few months prior, was she truly a victim if she didn't remember it happened? - but then there were moments, those darker, more terrifying moments when she felt as though she had been raped. Flashes of him on top of her would cause her to stumble back and flinch away from the person nearest to her and she had no idea if she was actually remembering what had happened or if her imagination was running wild with the small bits it already knew.

"I know this must be hard for you – coming back after three years to find Caleb waiting for you, having never given up... only for him to be arrested for protecting you a few months later. I know you already went over the events of what happened that led to Noel Kahn's death, so I'm going to ask you to tell me how you feel now that he's gone."

Hanna took a moment to think about her answer carefully, she didn't want to let Caleb down, she knew he wanted more than anything to come home to her. He couldn't protect her from behind bars and she couldn't start to move on with her life without him, as long as he was gone, she was stuck in an awful limbo that consumed her. "Mostly relief, I know that if he was in this court room right now, I would have to go over every single awful moment, from the first and the second time... everything he did to me and my friends would be questioned and with him gone, I'm relieved I don't have to go through that. None of us do." She sighed, "It would have been nice to get justice though, but with him completely gone, it's nice not to worry anymore. I managed to sleep without the light on for the first time in so long the other day, I'm starting to sleep in my bed instead of huddled in my closet... I'm not scared all the time. I was getting exhausted of being terrified that something else was going to happen to me or someone I loved, we've lived in this... fear since we were fifteen years old and I just... I'm glad it's over."

"And do you still love Caleb?"

This question was easy to answer, and Hanna gave a small smile as she wiped at the tears that had fallen down her face, "More than ever. He made a mistake that day, not phoning the police first.. bringing a gun, but it was a mistake made with the best of intentions. After everything we've been through, he, our friends, our families... they all suffered too and unfortunately, Caleb developed a distrust of law enforcement and I don't blame him because I felt it, too. No one believed him when we first went missing, he believed nobody looked hard enough, he thought more could have been done, that we never should have been arrested in the first place and put in the position where we could be taken. He had a few run ins with the law after... whilst I was missing... but everything he did was through grief, confusion and fear. He's not a bad person, I've loved him for so long and I still can't believe he waited for me, he could have given up and moved on but he believed so much that I would be okay and that I would come home to him. He waited and he believed for that long and then it was about to be taken away from him again, can anyone blame him for the decisions he made that day?"

The lawyer smiled at her, and then looked over at the jury, and Hanna knew she had done well. She was being strong which was all Caleb needed right then from her. "So, would you say that in the moment Caleb Rivers went into that room and saw Noel Kahn standing there with you on the floor, and Spencer held against him with a weapon to her neck... do you think in that moment he could be described as temporarily insane?"

"Objection your honour, this witness is not an expert-"

"I'm trying to gather her personal opinion on the matter, I am in no way stating she is an expert but as one of our only witnesses to the crime.." The judge waved him off, "I'll allow it but the jury should be aware that this is not the opinion of a psychologist."

Hanna waited for the nod of the head from the man before she started to talk, "I believe so, yes. He wasn't thinking straight, three years of hell put him in that room and even before that, he had to suffer for years alongside my friends and I because of what Charlotte and Noel put us through. If I thought I was going to lose him after everything that has happened, I know I wouldn't be able to make the best decisions either."

"Thank you, Hanna." She felt her shoulders relax when he moved back towards his seat with the announcement that he had no more questions for the woman before she was allowed to step down. Quickly, she wrapped an arm around herself when she walked past the table her boyfriend was sitting at, resisting the urge to run towards him and wrap her arms tightly around the man so she could tell him that everything was going to be okay. Whether he spent ten years, five years or one year in prison, she would be waiting for him as he had done for her.


Caleb had insisted on taking the stand so he could defend himself and his actions that day. He had heard experts speak on his behalf, he had heard Hanna's, Alison's and Spencer's words – knowing Hanna's towards the end were completely made up considering she had been knocked out cold when he had arrived at the scene – it was his turn to try and fight for himself. Once he sat down, he looked over to where his parents were, it was the first time he had seen them together since he was a child, but there they sat, their shoulders touching and their eyes completely focused on him. Maybe his mother hadn't been the best one in the world and maybe neither of them had made the right decision when it came to his childhood but they had been there as an endless support over the past four years. Even more so when he had been arrested, both of them had been quick in temporarily moving closer to Rosewood, staying at the Radley at a reduced rate thanks to his second mother, Ashley Marin. He had no idea what he would have done without the family that had gathered to be his crutch since the day they had heard of his arrest.

He gathered the strength he needed in the eyes of Claudia; although she had left him when he was just five years old, she was there for him right then when he needed her the most. He was at his most vulnerable in that moment and there she was, alongside Jamie who had been another stable feature in Caleb's life since the day he had found out the man was his father. Jamie had been a victim of the entire A drama as well, not physically but they had managed to plant the seed of doubt in Caleb's head and he had almost pushed the man away. Jamie and Claudia knew what it was like to make mistakes, they understood what it was to make an error in judgement and he needed that understanding from his parents to help get him through it.

Sitting next to Claudia was Hanna, and every so often, Caleb was comforted by the way Claudia would glance at the young woman next to her, moving her hand to brush Hanna's hair back behind her ear or whisper something to her that would make Hanna relax just a little. And then next to the blonde was the red head who had been there for him since he had started dating her daughter all those years ago. Knowing she was there to support Hanna was all he needed to know that even if this didn't go in his favour, even if he were to spend the rest of his life in prison, Ashley would be there for Hanna and hopefully, convince her that she would need to move on with her life because Caleb didn't want to be responsible for Hanna never being able to move forward.

When the prosecution stepped towards him, asking another question, he took a deep breath and tried to remind himself that he had to stay calm. He couldn't get angry, even if the person in front of him was insisting he was a murderer, even if he was screaming at him to admit what he had done was done with intent. "You found out where Hanna was and you decided that you were going to murder Noel Kahn no matter what! You didn't make a phone call to the police, you got an unlicensed weapon and made your way straight to where you knew he would be and then you shot him point blank in the head knowing there would be no chance of survival!"

Caleb only shook his head, "I did what I thought I had to. I can't sit here and pretend as though I know exactly what was going through my head that day, I was in a haze... I focused on getting Hanna and Spencer back alive and that was all I cared about. I needed to get them out of there and I needed for them to be safe. I took the gun to threaten him, that was all I was going to do... I was going to point it at him and take the girls with me before we phoned the police." His voice was calm, his words careful before he shook his head, "Then Alison told me that he had raped Hanna when she was gone the first time... and that's when everything changed. I had the gun in my hand and I remember moving towards the room I knew they were and I could hear him talking and then there he was, Hanna was on the floor and he had a knife pressed to Spencer's throat and I could see blood. I could see the fear in her eyes and I... I hated him. I hated him more than I have ever hated anyone, but I didn't intend to kill him that day. I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to go through this, I wanted him to end up in prison for the rest of his life for everything he did and every person he had made suffer but instead, he's gone and I have to live with that for the rest of my life."

His voice cracked and the tears fell, and instead of wiping them away, he just looked up at the man with a small shrug of his shoulders, "I am sorry for what I did but I am glad that Hanna and our friends don't have to suffer anymore."

"So their suffering was more important than the life of a young man?"

"And his life was more important than their suffering?" He shot back, with a raised brow, "He wasn't just any young man, he was a stalker, a kidnapper, a rapist, a sadist... he got off on the way he made those girls suffer. Maybe his life was important to the people who loved him but there was a lot of people who suffered at his hands and those people were important too."

And so it went on. Every single time he could feel himself cracking as he was screamed at, accused and berated, his eyes would move over to where Ashley, Hanna and his parents sat and he would tell himself that if they could be strong for him, then he could be strong as well. He wanted to go home to them, he needed to be home. He needed to fight for his right to be at home where he belonged because Hanna deserved that in the very least. He had spent so long fighting for her, he had almost forgotten how to fight for himself but in that moment, he knew how important it was.


"The jury is back."

Hanna repeated the words in her head as her mother drove her back to the court house, her hands shaking as she tried to tell herself that the fact they were only out for one day could only mean something good. Maybe they saw Caleb for what he was – a good person who just loved his girlfriend and his friends. A person who made a mistake that he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

The moment she was sitting in the same place she had been for the entire trial, her hand gripped onto Claudia's and then her own mothers as she took a deep, shaking breath. Her eyes focused on the man who stood up with a sheet of paper in his hands. He fumbled slightly with his glasses when the judge addressed him, announcing they had made a decision by which they all agreed before the judge nodded her head before she read out the first of the charges, "On the count of murder in the first degree, how do you find the defendant?"

Hanna gripped onto both of the women a little tighter as they all tensed and watched with baited breath in the hopes that this would be the day Caleb would come home with them. Slowly, Hanna moved her blue eyes to the back of Caleb's head as she watched him, wanting to feel the safety of his arms wrapped around her once again. Eventually, her eyes closed and she tried to focus on the words that would be falling from the fumbling man's mouth, the piece of paper in his hands holding the fate of her lover.