I am SO SORRY for the delay! Thanksgiving break basically consumed me and all my time... and I've been catching up on school. Anyway, my last chapter wasn't my best, I'm sorry. I am still learning my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. One of those strengths is waiting until I have a complete idea of what I want out of a chapter, so I know that I've written to my best abilities.
Anyway, this chapter has a little more Ezria than most, so I hope it's good enough. I haven't written them in a while.
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Pretty Little Liars franchise.
-:- you really got a hold on me -:-
"But why is Cupid so famous?"
"Coop, for the last time... Cupid was a saint who set people in true love up with one another."
"But that scary lady on tv with the gigantic mouth does that, but there's no holiday for her!" Cooper retorted.
Hanna sighed as she continued to scrub the bathtub. "Honey, momma wants to get her cleaning done before Nana Claudia gets here. Can you go get your dad to help you with your worksheet?"
Cooper sighed, nodded and raced out of the guest bathroom.
Hanna sat back on her knees and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. She had been slammed with cleaning the already clean house for her mother-in-law's arrival. Claudia had never seen any of the new house, apart from when Hanna would email her pictures of decor and housewarming gifts.
It was the Friday before Valentines Day on Sunday, and the family was expecting company the following Monday. Hanna had been busying herself with cleaning all week long, barely stopping to do much more than sleeping or eating. Whenever she had finished one room in the house, she would go back and find something wrong with the previous room, and have to start all over again.
As she exited, she came upon one of her son's toys in the hallway. She nearly stepped on it, but noticed it before. Picking it up, she scowled. "Coop, please stop leaving your toys everywhere. I'm trying to clean!"
The five-year-old wandered out of his playroom and cowered, bending down to collect his army men. "I'm sorry, mommy." He murmured.
Caleb came from around the corner with a mug of coffee, still in his pajamas. "Han, it's seven in the morning. How long have you been up?"
She flickered her eyes at him guiltily and casually whispered, "I got up at four thirty."
"Four thirty? Hanna, you need to sleep. It's been like this for like, three or four days straight." His eyes bugged out as he scolded her. He reached to lay the back of his hand on her forehead. "Babe, you're burning up. Get in bed, please."
She glared back. "What? No, there's too much to do. Everything is out of its place, I need to clean it up before your mother arrives."
Caleb set his mug on the hall table and took the sponge and cleaning solution from her firm grasp, almost having to yank it just to get her to let go. "Come with me,"
He took her by the shoulders and walked her slowly down to the end of the hall. Stopping as they came upon their bedroom. He gave her a soft shove forward and followed her inside. "Okay. It's time to sleep,"
She tried to protest, but couldn't find her words.
"No, you are sick, and you're not acting yourself. Since when do you clean? Sleep is what you need, so sleep is what you will get."
"What about Cooper?" She whimpered.
"Relax. I'll drop him off at school and get Aria or someone to pick him up. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."
She made a move to sit up, "But I really feel fine,"
Caleb pushed her slowly back down by her shoulders and pulled the blanket over her body as she made no attempt to hide her shiver. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her sweltering forehead.
"Call me when you wake up, okay?"
"I will." She nodded back, yawning.
"Caleb, what's up?" Ashley asked when she answered her cell phone an hour later.
Caleb settled the phone between his ear and shoulder as he worked diligently at his desk. "Hanna's sick. She's been prepping our house all week because my mom is coming, as I guess it all caught up to her."
"Oh, poor baby." She replied, seeming to be busying herself with something.
"Anyway, can you maybe go over there around lunch and check up on her? She was in bed when I left an hour ago, but she was pretty adamant about staying up and about."
"Okay, well what's happening with Cooper?"
"Melissa is taking him and Tay to see a movie after school, and I'll pick him up on my way home."
"Alright, I'll make sure to stop by and see Hanna. Thanks for calling, Caleb."
"Yep, and thanks to you. I'll see you around, bye." He hung up.
At around noon, Hanna's eyes fluttered open and she flinched as the bright daylight pierced her eyes.
"Rise and shine, baby."
Hanna grumbled and sat up in the bed, cursing the woman who stood at the door.
"Mom, what are you doing here? God, you scared me."
Ashley shot a glare back and shifted her weight. "It's noon. Caleb told me to come check up on you... Make sure you haven't escaped."
"Why would I escape my own house?" She mumbled, laying back down and pulling the comforter over her head.
"Oh no you don't!" Ashley acted faster and yanked the blanket back down the bed. "Get up before you fall into a narcoleptic stupor."
"What the Hell is that? Do I seem like the woman who would?"
"No. But you're also not the girl who spends 48 hours cleaning every inch of her house." The red haired woman began folding the blanket in her arms.
Hanna rubbed her eyes and pulled her knees to her chest. "I haven't been myself lately, mom. If you hadn't noticed, I've had a lot going on." She mumbled, referring to the past months' events, particularly her miscarriage.
Her mother sat on the bottom corner of the king frame and sighed. "I know, baby. And it really has taken a toll on the bright woman I know you still are. It's going to take time to get her back - I know that." Ashley reached for the box of kleenex on the bedside table and tossed it on the bed in front of her daughter. "Right now, lets focus on you disturbingly snotty nose."
She chuckled, taking the box from below her feet and took a few tissues out, blowing daintily at her nose and holding the wad up for Ashley to see. "Better?" She asked.
Ashley nodded and held up the trash a second before realizing it was already full. She dropped it steadily back down. "Oh, God. Hanna, you threw up?"
"Oh yeah," Hanna quickly had forgotten momentarily about purging her stomach of the little bit of whatever she had eaten for dinner the previous night, into the bin. "Sorry?"
"So stomach bug? Alright, we're going to get through this." Her mother began talking quietly to herself as she thought up a plan to treat Hanna's illness. "I've got it," she referred to the basket her daughter was now trying to clean out.
"I can't leave this room. Coop could catch this, and there's too much going on." Hanna began panicking alongside Ashley. She ran her hands tiredly over her face again.
"Han, relax. I'll call Aria and ask if she and Ezra can keep him overnight while you fight off the worst of this."
She couldn't believe this. Claudia and Stephen would be arriving in nothing short of 48 hours and she was sick as a dog.
"I never get sick. How is this happening now?" She whimpered and tucked herself back into the bedding. "Will you make me soup?"
"You're twenty-two years old. Make your own soup."
"Please?" She formed her lips into a puppy dog pout. "I like your soup when I'm sick the best."
"Oh my God. Yes, fine, I'll go make some soup for you. Only because I know how sick you are and there's no one else in this house to do it for me." Ashley replied before turning around and leaving the bedroom.
Later on at the Rosewood Cinnaplex, a petite brunette woman met a confused Cooper in the lobby after the animation movie finished. "Why isn't mommy picking me up, where is she?"
"At home," Aria said as she fastened the buttons on the little boy's winter coat. She then rewrapped the red scarf around his neck and plopped his beanie over his head. "She is sick. So your daddy asked me and Uncle Ezra to bring you home to our house."
"Oh," said the boy quietly.
"What's the matter, Cooper? You wouldn't totally hate spending the night at our house tonight, I hope."
He shook his head. "I do wanna, I promise. But I brought home mommy's valentine today. I wanted to show her."
Aria grasped the child's hand in her own and squeezed it. "I know, bud. But she's very sick and she doesn't want you to catch it."
The pair walked out into the chilled, brisk winter and down the street toward the Fitz residence.
"Mommy takes care of me when I'm sick, but who's gonna take care of her?" He asked as they climbed up on a sidewalk after hurrying across an intersection.
"Well, your daddy is going to be there. I'm sure he will take care of her. And right now, Nana Ashley is there with your momma." She explained.
Cooper stopped for a minute on the sidewalk to think. "Is my mommy dying?" He asked, staring up at Aria.
"No, she's not going to die." She replied with a chuckle. "She just has the stomach bug."
"Cool," he whispered. "What's that?"
Aria reached down and ran her fingers over his soft hair that peeked out from the beanie. "You remember last summer when you threw up in the middle of the night?"
He nodded. "And then I couldn't stop?"
"Exactly. Your mommy threw up, and she's been sick, throwing up all morning and afternoon."
"Poor momma." He sighed as they came upon the front steps of their destination.
Aria closed the door behind them and proceeded to take her coat off. She hung it on the rack by the front door and took Cooper's from him and hung it next to hers.
Cooper turned around and frowned. "Where's Uncle Ezra?"
"Ezra's still at work, honey. He works until almost dinner time." She replied, walking him into the kitchen. She went to the fridge and got out the milk jug and pulled a batch cookies from the oven. "Do you like chocolate chip and raisins?"
"I've never had raisins in my cookies before." Cooper shrugged and held his glass out for Aria to pour his milk into. He took a cookie from the rack and bit into it. After a minute of chewing, he smiled.
"Good?" Aria inquired as she took a sip of milk.
"Yep!" He confirmed, shoving the rest of it into his little mouth.
"Whoa, slow down, C."
He swallowed slowly and took another swig of milk before giving Aria another toothy grin.
"That milk gave you a mustache, little man!" She giggled upon spotting his dairy-lined smile. "Hold on, let me take a picture!"
Cooper waited patiently on the barstool, careful not to smudge or erase the 'stash, for Aria to return with her camera.
"You momma will love this." She commented as she snapped picture after picture. After about the third shot, Cooper began making silly faces and posing for the camera.
About a minute later, Cooper got quiet but giggly. Aria gave him a of both confusion and amusement. "What is it?" She asked.
The five-year old continued to giggle almost fitfully. She turned around and gasped suddenly as Ezra pretended to pose dramatically behind her.
She laughed at her husband's antics and dropped the camera that hung on a strap around her neck. "When did you get home?"
"Just a second ago." He replied, leaning down and pecking her waiting lips.
"Uncle Ezra, you are so funny!" Cooper guffawed at the older man. He kicked his feet and grasped his chest as the laughs continued to roll out of his mouth.
"Thanks, bud." Ezra said, taking a cookie from the tray. He took a bite and raised his eyebrow. "Raisin and chocolate chip?"
"Just trying something new," his wife replied with a blush.
"Babe, you home?" Caleb called out as he kicked off his work shoes.
He walked into the living room, but found no one insight. The kitchen was empty and Ashley's car wasn't in the driveway, so he assumed she had left after he called and said he was on his way home.
As he ventured upstairs and down the hall, the faint whispers of obnoxious reality television could be heard pouring out of the master bedroom.
When he entered, Hanna immediately noticed. She smiled at him and nodded for him to join her on the bed.
"Hey, babe." She greeted Caleb as he climbed into the bed next to her tucked-in frame.
He kissed her cheek instead of her mouth and took her hand. "How are you feeling?"
Hanna shrugged. "It's the stomach flu. How am I supposed to feel, other than nauseous and practically hollow?"
"Touché," Caleb laughed. "How was your day with your mom?"
"Mmm, fine." She murmured. "She made me soup and we watched BRAVO."
He smiled into her hair, stroking it softly as her head came to rest in the crook of his neck. "That sounds like the perfect day for me to be swamped at work."
Hanna then remembered that she hadn't made an effort to ask Caleb about his day.
She nuzzled into his neck and stared up at him. "Well what did you endure all day at work?"
"Same old, same old." He sighed. "Worked with Darren on our new software and then finished tying loose ends with investors and such."
"Sounds very productive." She replied.
"Have you had dinner?"
"Nah. I don't feel much like eating anything right now." She stated obviously.
He chuckled. "Right. So I assume you won't be mad that I already ate."
"At work?"
He nodded. "There was a party on the floor below and the human resources interns brought us the leftovers."
Hanna sat up and then laid herself back down, cuddling into Caleb in a spooning position. "Sounds like I missed out."
"Oh, you most certainly did. Although, I'm not sure how much sushi an ailing woman like you could eat." He teased, laying soft kisses on her neck.
"Auch!" She cringed and leapt off the bed, scurrying into the bathroom. "Why'd you have to mention that?"
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