Two months later and the day had finally come for the Rivers family to move New York.
"Caleb, be careful with that!" Hanna yelled as Caleb picked up a heavy bedside table. He staggered out of the room and carefully made his way down the staircase, Hanna following behind and watching closely. Downstairs, Toby and Ezra were carrying the kitchen table, backing out of the house slowly. They stepped out of the front door and walked towards the huge truck that was parked out on the street. Caleb was right behind them, with Hanna and Emily now following, both holding a chair each.
"Han," Alison called out from inside the foyer. "Where do you want this?" She was holding up a huge boxed-up television. Hanna contemplated putting the TVs inside the truck, but decided it would be to dangerous. After all, she didn't want to arrive in New York and find all of the TVs had broken during the journey.
"Just put them into the car," Hanna called back. She grabbed the keys to the Land Rover and unlocked it, opening the door as she walked past. Ali shuffled along to the car, clearly weighed down. "Do you want some help?"
"No, I'm good," the blond puffed. Hanna sighed. She'd been wanting to help carry the big things, but no-one would let her. The excuse was that pregnant people shouldn't be carrying anything heavy, but right now, Hanna just wanted to help and get everything packed away. Alison shoved the television into the car and clapped her hands together as if she were getting rid of dust. "All done," she said. Both Ali and Hanna made their way back into the house, ready to get more items.
Caleb, Toby and Ezra all headed back inside, through the house and down the stairs that led to the basement. There, they picked up the big couch that sat in front of the TV. Caleb picked up the right side, Toby the left, and Ezra the middle. Combined with their urge to finish loading up the truck, the men's weight made it a lot easier to pick up a rather heavy couch. The problem wasn't picking it up, the problem was trying to get it up the stairs.
"Dude," Toby laughed. "What are we going to do?"
"This won't fit through the door," Ezra said, as if it weren't already obvious.
"Um, Han?" Caleb called as he poked his head around the door, standing on the top step. He had left Toby and Ezra waiting at the bottom to ask his wife for help. He was using the supposed truth that women knew the answer to everything.
"Yeah?" Hanna replied. She was beginning to make lunch for everyone, but stopped. As Caleb explained, she started laughing. "You didn't think that the couch would be to big to fit through the door?"
"Apparently not. Can you just tell me what to do?"
Hanna paused for a moment as she tried to think of a solution. "I don't know. Maybe you could turn it on it's side? If that doesn't work, you're going to have to see if it can come apart."
The brunette nodded and gave Hanna a quick kiss on the cheek as a thank you. He hopped back down the stairs to find both Toby and Ezra measuring parts of the couch.
"What are you guys doing?" Caleb asked, confused.
Ezra straightened up. "We can turn it on it's side." The guys wasted no time and carefully—with only one knock to the light hanging from the ceiling—managed to turn the couch onto its side. Thankfully it fit through the door, but with only inches to spare.
And at seven o'clock that evening, eleven hours after they started, Hanna and Caleb—along with everyone else—had finally finished packing up their house to move to New York City.
"Maddie?" Hanna called out, gazing around the backyard for the toddler. She spotted Madelyn being chased around the end of the yard by Ted, giggling away happily. The blond grinned and started heading towards them, armed with two drinks: a juice carton for Maddie, and a beer for Ted.
"Hanna!" Ted cheered as she reached them. Hanna handed him the drink, and he gave her a thankful smile and nod in return. "Thanks."
"Here you go, bug." Hanna crouched down and carefully gave Maddie the already-opened carton, praying she wouldn't spill it over her brand-new dress from Ralph Lauren. Hanna cringed when she saw a drip fall from the straw to the ground and barely miss Maddie. "Okay, baby," she hastily intervened, grabbing the juice box. "How about we drink this inside?"
In the kitchen, after Madelyn had finished her drink, Hanna felt a hand touch her shoulder. She spun around on her heels only to find her mom standing there, bags and purses strapped to her arms.
"Is it okay if we take Maddie now?" Ashley inquired. Immediately, Maddie started jumping up and down excitedly. She was delighted when she had been told she was staying at Grandma and Grandpa's that night, and had looking forward to it all day.
"Of course!" Hanna replied. "But before you go, can I take her into the living room for a minute?"
Ashley agreed, and the blond quickly took off with her daughter, heading through to the lounge area. There, Maddie started questioning what they were doing, as only two-year-olds did.
"Maddie," Hanna shushed, bringing her finger to Madelyn's lips. The toddler giggled hysterically and tried to dart away, but was caught and pulled onto her mom's lap. Finding it hilariously funny, Maddie curled over, laughing, and just her face made Hanna smile. "Stop wriggling and stand still, baby!"
"Ganma," Madelyn called, stretching her arms out towards the door.
"No no, we don't need Grandma. I need to tell you something, okay?"
"Okay!" the toddler shrieked.
Hanna took a deep breath and hoped Maddie would behave long enough for her to explain what was going on. It didn't look like it was possible, as she was already distracted by Bear wandering past the door. "Maddie, look at me, honey."
"Bear, Mama. Bear!"
"Yes, it's Bear, I know," Hanna replied, struggling to try and to keep the toddler from running off. "But Bear can wait, okay?"
When it finally looked like Madelyn was going to listen, Hanna began. "Okay, so, you know you're going to Grandma and Grandad's house tonight? And you know that all of our things are in a big, big truck outside?" Maddie nodded, but Hanna knew she had no idea what she meant. It was a long-shot, but Hanna wanted to explain. "Well that's because Mommy and Daddy and you and Bear and Bella are all going to New York tomorrow!"
"New York!"
"Yep, New York! And we're going to live there. So all of our things from this house need to be moved to the new apartment in New York tonight. That's why your staying with Grandpa and Grandma, so Mommy and Daddy can take everything away!"
"New York, New York!" the toddler chanted over and over again. Hanna sighed. It wasn't like a two-year-old was ever going to understand what moving house meant, anyway, so Hanna released Madelyn from her clasp and let her run out of the living room, still chanting, "New York!"
As she slowly arose and followed her daughter back to where everyone was talking, Hanna spotted Maddie being picked up by Ashley. She hurried over, remembering she hadn't said goodbye.
"Hey, bug. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Bye Mommy," the tiny blond replied. She reached over and let Hanna kiss her on the lips, something she only did if she was in a good mood. Then came Caleb. He had seen Hanna and Madelyn reappear from the living room, and came over to, as well, say goodbye. "Bye Daddy!"
"Bye Mom." Hanna embraced in a long hug with Ashley, and clung to her tight. She couldn't quite get her head around the fact she wouldn't be able to see her mom whenever she wanted. Although it was only a three hour drive to Rosewood from New York, it was nothing like the three minute walk there was right now. "I'm going to miss you so much."
Ashley pulled back, flapping her spare hand—the hand that wasn't gripping a very wriggly Maddie—in front of her face. "Stop. I'm going to start crying," she laughed. "I'm going to miss you so much, baby."
Hanna couldn't help but feel emotional. She was now standing in the empty foyer of the house that had welcomed her engaged, that had welcomed her home as a newlywed, that had welcomed her home as a new mother. The blond rested her head on Caleb's shoulder and let out a sigh, but was interrupted when Aria, Ezra, Toby, Spencer, Emily and Alison all suddenly emerged from the kitchen area.
"We should probably get going," Spencer said, almost in a whisper.
Hanna smiled weakly and stepped forwards. "You guys have been amazing today. Thank you so much for all your help," she said as she wrapped her arms around all four of her best friends.
"Have fun in your new apartment!" Aria exclaimed, pulling away from the other girls.
"We're all going to come and see it soon, right?" Emily winked and nudged Hanna with her hip.
"Of course," Hanna replied, grinning. "But only once it's completely sorted and organized. I'm not letting anyone see it if it's a mess."
The others rolled their eyes, but all smiled. "Just don't work too hard, Han," Spencer said, gesturing to the nonexistent bump. "It's bad for the baby."
Now it was Hanna's turn to roll her eyes. That's all she'd been hearing for the whole day. Don't carry that, it's heavy! or You can't carry all of those things, you'll hurt the baby!
"I'm pretty sure Caleb won't let me do anything at all, so you don't have to worry there," Hanna replied. She felt a poke from Caleb behind her, and turned to see him faux-frowning.
"Although, she's right," he said, changing his frown to a realization-smile.
"I'm going to miss you," Spencer said as she hugged the blond one last time. When Hanna pulled away to hug Aria, she grabbed Toby's had and left.
Once everyone else had left, Hanna took a deep breath in and out. She grabbed both of Caleb's hands and stood in front of him, smiling. "This is it," she whispered. "This is the last time we'll ever be inside this house."
Caleb raised his eyebrows and laughed. "It is."
"It doesn't feel real." Hanna gazed around the downstairs of the house and started reminiscing. "Remember when Maddie took her first steps over there?" She nodded to the playroom, a big grin plastered onto her face.
"She fell straight back down," Caleb recalled as he stared inside. It was a space that was once filled with all of his daughter's toys she had ever owned. It was a space that he had spent hours playing dress-up with her.
Hanna sat with her legs wide open and her arms stretched out. Her mouth was in an o shape as she nearly burst with excitement. "Babe, she's going to do it!" she squealed to Caleb, who was sitting opposite her. In between them was their eleven month old daughter, who was gripping her dad's hands for dear life.
"You want to let go?" Caleb asked Madelyn, poking his head around hers. Madelyn let out a giggle and dropped her hands to her side. Hanna sucked in her breath as she watched the baby put her right foot out in front of her, followed by her left.
"Oh my God!" Hanna exclaimed. She clapped her hands together as Maddie edged forwards, tottering on her feet. "Come here, baby!"
"Mama!" Madelyn gurgled as she held out her own arms to be caught by Hanna.
"That's right. Come to Mommy," the blond called. Maddie had only taken three more steps when she abruptly stopped and fell onto her butt.
Hanna took her hands from Caleb's grip and rested them on her stomach, looking down at it. She let out a big sigh. "This baby's never going to have that."
"Yes he is," Caleb said quietly, turning around quickly to face his wife. Hanna's face was a face that of someone who was about to cry. Her jaw was trembling, her cheeks were blushing. "He's going to have a playroom that he can take his first steps in, and where he can play with all of his toys. He'll have it all, babe."
Hanna was about to lean in for a hug, when she replayed what her husband had said in her head. "He?"
"We're not having this conversation again." Caleb rolled his eyes. "I was using it hypothetically."
"No, no. I think you're right," Hanna said. She wrapped her arms loosely around the brunette's waist and looked up at him. "I think it's a boy."
Caleb was shellshocked. For the past four months, Hanna had been going on and on about how she thought it was a girl. It wasn't like Hanna to just change her mind randomly. "A boy? Really?"
"Yep." Hanna nodded. "I think it's a boy."
"No you don't. You're lying."
Hanna chuckled to herself and grinned as if she were being cheeky. "I'm not lying, babe. I really do think it's a boy."
Caleb creased his eyes together and stared at his wife's face, trying to see if she was making the face she always made when she was lying. Besides the grin that was plastered to her, there was nothing. "What changed your mind?" he asked slowly, still unconvinced.
The blond shrugged and turned away, heading towards the front door. "I'm not really sure. I just have a feeling."
"Oh yeah? Similar to that feeling you had when you were so adamant it was a girl?" Caleb scoffed as he followed.
"Fine," Hanna waved her hand, "don't believe me." She automatically held out her hand as she walked past the front door to grab the keys to her car, but stopped as she remembered they weren't there. "This is so weird," Hanna murmured as she rooted through her purse and pulled them out. Hanna's house key had already been pulled off and left behind on the kitchen counter, but Caleb had completely forgotten.
"Wait!" he screeched as Hanna stepped outside of the door. The blond turned around, startled. "I need to give the key back."
After waiting for nearly two minutes as Caleb struggled to take the key off of his car keys, Hanna started getting impatient and snatched the keys from him. Within twenty seconds, the house key was off and was being left in the kitchen. Hanna returned to Caleb with a smirk on her face.
"I was about to get it off," muttered Caleb as Hanna sauntered past him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him off of the porch and onto the gravel driveway, where the blond stopped and stared up. It was dark out, but the stars twinkling above illuminated the house.
"Bye bye house," Hanna whispered. "I'll miss you." She turned to her husband, as if she was urging him on to say it too.
Caleb sighed and gave in. "Fine," he groaned. "I'll miss you house." Before Hanna could drone on about how much she was going to miss everything, Caleb grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the jam-packed Land Rover.
"It's so tight in here," the blond moaned as she curled her arms up by her breasts and glanced in the back of the car. Where once Madelyn's carseat had sat, there were now boxes and boxes of household items filling up the space. "Who knew we had so much?"
"I did," Caleb laughed. He shoved the keys into the ignition and started up the engine, the car rumbling into life. As it began slowly rolling down the driveway, Hanna asked, "How is it all going to fit in the apartment?"
"Oh believe me," the brunette replied, "it will fit. That apartment is ginormous."
Almost two and a half hours into the journey, Hanna was resting her head against the cold window and peacefully sleeping. The day had really taken all the energy out of her—well that, and the fact she was a pregnant woman chasing after a toddler for most of the time. As she dozed, Caleb glanced over and smiled. She looked so calm, and it even looked like she had a tiny smile on her face.
A/N - im sorry this chapter is so short, but i wanted to leave the rest of it for the next chapter. thank you all for the reviews you've been leaving!
keep reviewing!