Caleb came back home to Hanna the next day, after dinner time.
Ashley had accepted to make him stay in the guest room until he could find a place. She was happy to hear that her daughter was back with him. As Hanna had said, she liked Caleb and, most of all, she trusted him.
Caleb had just finished his first day of work at the Brew and now he was entering from the back door in Hanna's house. As Hanna heard the 'click' of the door, she jumped off the couch and met him halfway.
"Hey." he smiled, kissing her quickly.
"Hey! So? How did it go?" she asked excitedly.
"Good, I guess. It was weird at first, giving coffee at all of those people who I kinda know, and seeing them looking at me being like 'What the hell are you doing here?', but... It's not the first time I work in a coffee shop, so I managed to make myself comfortable with all of that." he shrugged.
"I should have stopped there today. It would have been cool seeing you behind the counter ready to give me coffee." she chuckled.
Caleb rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Can I make a sandwich?" he asked then.
"You're home here, do whatever you want."
Caleb smiled at her and pressed another soft kiss on her lips before moving to the kitchen, and Hanna followed him, sitting on one of the barstools.
"Where's your mom?" he asked, rummaging into the fridge.
"She went out with Ted and some other people of the church."
"She's been really religious lately." Caleb smirked, starting to make his sandwich, sitting next to her.
"Trust me, my mom is anything but religious."
Caleb chuckled at that.
"Caleb?" she asked after a few seconds.
"Huh?" he mumbled, chewing the first bite of his sandwich.
"I need to know what Alison told you yesterday."
Caleb sighed.
"It doesn't matter, Hanna." he replied then.
"Well, it does to me. She's being a bitch with me and the girls those last few days, we kind of feel we can't trust her, and I absolutely don't want her to bother you too. She can't do it. I want to know what she told you."
"I know how to protect myself, okay? Don't worry about that. Besides, she really doesn't scare me, at all. She just said some bullshit, it's really not important."
"Just tell me, Caleb!" she raised her voice.
Caleb looked up at her. She looked totally serious and about to get angry. The kind of angry Hanna who Caleb knew very well. He took a deep breath and placed his sandwich back on the dish, turning his barstool to look into her eyes.
"Okay. She stopped me in the hallway, at school. I had just finished my exams. At first, she just asked how they went and some school stuff, like how was hard for her to be back after all of that time, and then..." he started, eventually dropping his gaze to the floor.
"Then what?"
"She just brought up your name and then she started telling me things happened when you were... Um..."
"Fat?" she finished for him.
"C'mon, Han you weren't fat!"
"I was. You can't know!"
Caleb sighed.
"She told me you kissed Mike Montgomery and that it was your first kiss, she told me about your eating disorder and a lot of things more, but I already knew all of them. She was probably hoping I didn't, but instead I did. Maybe she wanted us to fight, I don't know. I just told her to mind her own business and then I was about to leave, but... She asked me something." he continued.
Hanna fought hard not to cry. Coming back to those days was always hard to her. And Caleb knew that, which was probably why he didn't want to tell her what Ali told him.
"What was that?" she managed to ask.
"She asked me if I was proud of you. She used other words, but—"
"Tell me what she said exactly!" Hanna cut him off.
Caleb sighed and waited a few seconds before replying.
"'Are you proud of a person who used to eat eight cupcakes a day, be fat, make out with random losers and threw up in public toilets?' That's what she said."
Hanna let a few tears stream down her cheeks. Caleb reached out and wiped them away.
"Hey, don't cry. She doesn't deserve your tears, Han. Of course I'm proud of you, and I told her." he whispered gently.
"Well, she might have said bad words, but it's all true. She's right, you have no reason to be proud of me."
Caleb shook his head quickly and grabbed both of her hands in his.
"No, no, no. Don't do this. Don't let her words hurt you, Han. Don't let her break you down. Please. Look, I didn't want to tell you what she said because I knew you were going to feel this way, and I didn't want you to. I... I have a thousand reasons to be proud of who you are. I really don't care about what Alison thinks or says. And you shouldn't care either. Why she has to be so important in our lives? Hanna, I told you, I can't forbid you to be friends with her, but, seriously, a person like her really doesn't deserve a person like you to call 'friend'. I hate that she has such a power on you. Hanna, I'm serious, you have to stop caring so much about her thoughts, okay? She's no one. She has no right to make you suffer with just a word. Actually, nobody has. You're a wonderful person, did you hear me? I know it. I have a past way worse than yours, Alison has a past way worse than yours. She should be ashamed of what she did, not you. She should be the one not to have reasons to be proud of herself. Not you, Hanna. You gave me a home, twice. You forgave me, twice. You taught me what love is. You saved me. And... I really don't know what I did to deserve you, because you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so lucky to have you in my life." he gently told her.
Hanna looked down and took a few deep breaths, as Caleb traced random patterns with his thumbs over the back of her hands.
"Okay, calm down now. Breathe. I'm here..." he whispered.
It took a few minutes, but then Hanna reached out and hugged Caleb. She was still weakly crying, but she seemed calmer than before. He hugged her back, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and placing his chin on top of her head.
"It's okay, princess... I know who you are and I love you for exactly who you are..." he whispered again, before kissing a random spot through her hair, inhaling her shampoo.
That earned a smile from Hanna's lips, even though Caleb couldn't see it.
"What about we go for a walk?" he suggested when he felt Hanna relaxed enough.
She slowly pulled away from the hug and looked up at him, this time clearly showing her bright smile.
"I'd love to." she replied.
"Good. Put a jacket on, I don't want you to be cold."
"Okay."
"So... Where are we going?" Hanna asked, walking by Caleb's side.
"We're almost there." he replied, squeezing her hand while walking.
After a few minutes, Hanna realized where Caleb had taken her and furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"We're at school? What the hell?" she snapped confused.
Caleb let out a slight chuckle.
"Look, I would have really liked to take you out for a fancy dinner, but you know that at the moment I'm saving money for an apartment..." he said then.
"Okay, but... What are we gonna do here?"
"Just trust me." he replied simply.
Hanna smiled and nodded, as Caleb approached the building. He started opened the locked door with a strange item. Hanna could only figure it was made of steel.
"Isn't there an alarm or something?" Hanna asked, nervously looking around herself.
"I lived here. I know how to not be noticed. It's okay, just relax."
And with that, the door opened and Caleb smirked at her.
"After you." he announced, inviting her inside.
Hanna entered and waited for Caleb to join her. Then, he closed the door behind him and took her hand.
"Let's go." he said, rushing through the hallway.
They made their way to the pool. Hanna felt surprised, but even more when Caleb stripped down everything he had on until he was clad only in his boxers.
"W-what are you doing?" she stuttered, confused.
"What do you think I'm doing?"
"Are you really gonna jump in?"
"Of course I am. And you are too." he raised his eyebrows at her.
"What? Absolutely not."
Caleb reached out and closed an hand around her wrist, pulling her close to him and kissing her lips. As soon as she started kissing back, he pulled away and backed toward the pool.
"Please?" he whispered before jumping in the pool.
Hanna looked around herself again, as to make sure no one was going to 'join' them. Then, she finally decided to strip in only her underwear and bra. Caleb riemerged from the pool and gave her an approval look along with a smirk, roaming an hand through his wet hair.
"It's not cold, I promise... Come on." he said then, nodding his head.
Hanna smiled.
"You could tell me to take the swimsuit with me, though..." she joked.
Then she finally decided to jump in the pool with him. Screw the flawless make up, screw the perfect fixed hair, screw everything. Caleb immediately pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately in the middle of the pool, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
"Why did you take me here?" Hanna asked when they pulled away for air.
"Well... When I lived here in school I used to come to this pool to swim when I was nervous. It helped me to calm down, sort of a outburst, you know. I hope it can have the same effect on you. Besides, I wanted to do something crazy with you."
Hanna smiled at him and nodded.
"I'm sorry for earlier..." she whispered then, tightening her grip around his neck.
"What do you mean?" he asked, gently moving a few strands of her wet hair away from her forehead.
"I yelled at you with no reason. And you were absolutely right. I'm sorry if I acted that way, it's just that..."
Caleb interrupted her.
"It's okay, princess. You don't have to be sorry. Let's just not talk about it anymore, okay? We're here to relax, and that's what we're going to do."
Hanna made a small smile and pecked Caleb on the lips before distangle herself from his arms to go underwater. He leaned by the pool wall and watched Hanna Marin, the queen of fashion, getting herself wet and swim in the school pool with Caleb Rivers, the hacker, in a late afternoon.
He smiled. Hanna Marin was so much more than the queen of fashion and high heels or the young girl who used to obey to everything Alison DiLaurentis told her just because of her insecurities. He knew it. And he loved her.
A/N: Hi guys :) So you finally know what happened with Ali and Caleb. I think that Hanna's insecurities are a little neglected on the show, especially since Ali's return, so I tried to focus on that here. Hope you enjoyed it, let me know! I just wanted Caleb to comfort her because I totally think that's something he would do, even though the impressive lack of Haleb in this part of the season :( thank you all for the reviews by the way! You guys rock ;) So, I wanted to ask you if there's something that you want to see next in this story, since it's coming to an end. Feel free to write it in a review so I can try to write the perfect ending for everyone of you who followed this story ;) So... I'll be waiting for your suggestions :D Then, when I'll finish my current stories, I'm gonna start publishing the sequel of "The Mall", since I already have the first few chapters ready and which I'm excited for y'all to read :) Just be a little patient! Also, I have some one-shots in store for you guys, obviously all Haleb. Thanks for reading :) Have a nice day! xx -Atramea.