A/N: Trigger warning – mentions of rape and violence in this chapter! Thank you for the reviews and apologies for the slightly longer than usual wait, this chapter did take a while longer for various reasons but here it is! Please review and let me know what you think, as I love reading them! Ideas are always gratefully accepted as well! Words cannot describe how excited I am to be able to write up episode eight of season seven for this story. Also, Hanna's going to start dealing with her demons in the next few chapters and so will Caleb; one of which will be Hanna finally telling Ashley everything that has happened.
Disclaimer: The characters and the show belongs to Pretty Little Liars, I own nothing other than the storyline of this story.
"I'm afraid of opening up, only I'm not sure which frightens me most, letting you in or the monsters out." - Beau Taplin
Hanna sat there as she stared at her phone waiting for a response, she could feel people surrounding her, she could just about hear them chatting on about something to do with Alison but she wasn't interested. She just needed a reply, she just needed to know what the hell she had just done, would they take the bait? "None of you should be alone until this is over." She heard Ezra say, but she bit down on her lip and shook her head, "She's typing."
If you're lying, I'll shoot all of you.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, almost mumbling about how the use of the emoji was unnecessary but she was distracted by the sound of her friend speaking, "Hanna are you sure you wanna do this?"
"First it was Aria and then it was Ali. Whoever's next could end up lying in a casket instead of a hospital bed." Her mind was already made up, she had to do this to protect her best friends, her son and herself, she couldn't keep risking their lives for the sake of an angry person who wanted to make their lives hell over something they had never done. "And we all decided this is the right thing to do."
Spencer just sighed, "Okay but we can undecide... it's not to late." Hanna nodded her head but her eyes moved to the person who was sat next to her and she gave him a small smile, "Yeah, well, I trust Caleb." It wasn't the entire truth but she knew him well enough to know he would protect her from a known danger. She still hated him for thinking the worst of her all those years ago, she was still aware of the wall she had placed between them but it didn't matter because she knew he would protect her. Just as he would have done two years ago had he known she was going to be attacked on her way home one night. Quickly, she text back; It's the truth, I'll call the cops.
"She's sending another text." She mumbled, her heart dropping when she read the words in front of her. It was everything they had predicted but she had still hoped this person was wanting to do the right thing once they found Charlotte's killer. At least then they wouldn't be in any immediate danger; this is between you and me. She gulped, and nodded her head when someone said what she was thinking aloud – Sara Harvey had taken the bait, so she sent another message before she had the chance to actually change her mind; I need one more day.
Ezra read the message over her shoulder, and she stared down at the words on her phone, "It'll be your last." Didn't this person care that she had a son to raise? Didn't this person think beyond their own revenge to think about anything other than killing her for a crime she hadn't even committed? Then again, she remembered, wouldn't she want revenge if someone killed Henry, or Caleb, or any of her best friends? Would she be able to see beyond that red mist or would she be just as dangerous as the person she had just put herself in the path of? Before she could get too caught up in her own terrified thoughts, Hanna decided she had to go see Henry and her mother. If this new A was watching her, then Hanna could at least put on a show for her – pretend to say goodbye to the people she loved the most.
Caleb had been left to go over the plan in Hanna's apartment, his eyes staring down at the photographs and the plans in front of him as he shook his head. He couldn't believe he was letting the love of his life go through with something that could potentially be so dangerous; she had Henry to think about, any one of the girls could have put themselves forward for this and yet, there she was. He bit down harshly on his lip as he tried not to think about the anger he had directed at the other girls for not doing what he needed them to do – they should have volunteered. He should have volunteered. "Hey," Emily walked into the apartment and broke him from his thoughts, before he greeted her back and then frowned as he looked back down at the table.
"Where's Hanna?" She asked, "Oh, she's at the Radley – she went to make it look like she was saying her last goodbye to her mom and Henry." His voice was bitter, and he knew by the tension in Emily's shoulders that she had picked up on it. She didn't comment on it though, she only ran her fingers through her hair and sat next to him, "Oh... I left the generator in the van."
"Right, because nothing spells trap like one of us buying a machine that could deliver nine thousand five hundred watts." He mumbled, before he scoffed, wishing he had told this new person who was torturing his ex-girlfriend and her friends that it was him who had done it. Only, he hadn't even been in town when it happened – would he even be believed? Emily explained to him how far she had driven, and how she hadn't been followed and he just shrugged his shoulders, pretending as though he was focusing on what was in front of him. "How do you know how to build an electric fence?"
"I Googled how to build an electric fence." His answers were short, his tone was angry, but he didn't look at Emily to see her reaction. He could just sense the awkwardness between them, but neither of them were going to comment on it because they both knew what should have and what could have happened. Only Emily was missing one vital piece of information that only he and Spencer held the knowledge to and he had almost forgotten that for a moment. He gulped back those darker thoughts when Emily spoke again and he shook his head, "No, it'll knock her on her ass and it'll keep her there until one of us picks her up."
"I know I shouldn't be saying this but this whole thing just reeks of irony..." Hanna walked in silently, biting down on her lip as she caught the end of Caleb and Emily's conversation; her tears when she had said goodbye to Henry had been completely real because leaving him behind was always the hardest thing in the world. She had already told her mom to look after him, she had already said goodbye, causing Ashley to give her a weird look when she came back for a second goodbye. Sara Harvey may have been watching them through, in the reception of the the hotel that she was staying in, the chances were high.
"You should totally say it," Her voice was almost numb, blocking herself off to all feelings that she may or may not have had to what she was about to do, "If we're right about Sara Harvey, she deserves more than a few volts."
Later that night, when they were entirely certain that no one was watching them,the plan had to be put into place. It meant being alone with Caleb, even for a little while, something she wasn't sure she was entirely comfortable with. Her eyes watched him as he explained everything to her, she could see the protectiveness in his eyes, and the passion on his face as he spoke about the fence he had designed himself. The fence that was purely designed to protect her, and expose the person who had been torturing them. Henry would be safe when it was all over and that was all that mattered to Hanna. "We're ready for them, Hanna."
She remained silent but nodded her head as she smiled, before he spoke again, "Hey, will you hand me the Phillips, it's the one with-" She cut him off and handed it to him, "The star tip, I know." She just gave a nod of her head when he thanked her, "So, did you make a decision yet?" Her nose scrunched up in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Lucas' offer." She had almost forgotten about that,, with everything going on, that had been the last thing on her mind. "Oh, right, um.. yeah, I mean there's still al lot to think about. It's not all about me." She had to think about Henry as well, and right then, she mostly needed to focus on keeping him the hell out of this new A's line of sight. "If this fence is always electric, what are the motion senses for?"
"Uh, they'll trigger the lights and the camera, that way if A-Moji realises this is a set up, then worst case scenario is we'll have a photograph of her." She let out a laugh, and shook her head, as Caleb looked behind him, his cheeks turning red, "What's so funny? Do I have plumbers crack or something?"
She raised a brow and looked behind him, flashing his torch at his back, "No, your crack is covered." She joked, with a small smirk on her face, "I just... we didn't know what to call this sicko and I think you just named it." The brunette just smiled at her, throwing a small wink her way before he focused on the task at hand – it was easy between them, everything had always been so easy for them and it made things even more difficult for her wall to stay up. She could feel it crumbling with every moment she spent with him and she hated it.
The day flew by, quicker than she had wanted it to – her friends thought she was brave, they had repeated it to her a thousand times but the only thing that kept her walking up to that room that night was her son and the fact she needed to protect everyone she loved. Her eyes glanced around the room, and she took a deep breath; this would be the room it ended in. Maybe she could finally leave Rosewood behind once and for all. "Are you okay?" Caleb finally asked her, as he hammered at the window, boarding it up so she would feel a little safer in there. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She shrugged her shoulders and bit down on her bottom lip as she ran her fingers through her hair, "Hanna, you're gonna be safe in here, I promise."
The blonde sat there a little while later, on the edge of the bed as she nervously bit down on her nails, her leg shook as she waited for it to be over, although the entire setting up part of it seemed to be taking a lot longer than she had ever expected, "Do you need anything?" Aria hovered, the only one of her friends who had turned up to help with this entire sorry situation.
"A whisky and a diet would be nice." Aria frowned, looking more helpless than Hanna had meant to make her feel, "I brought water..." Hanna just shook her head in response, glad when Ezra interrupted them to take Aria out of the room. Only, that meant leaving her alone with Caleb, so she wasn't sure which was better,"You're really brave, you know that?" He spoke, filling the silence as he walked over to her and she just let out a small, bitter laugh, "Someone had to be the bait."
"It didn't have to be you. It shouldn't have been you." Her eyes met with his, before she looked down at her trembling hand, "You said I have nothing to worry about." She whispered, making Caleb quickly shake his head as he moved to sit next to her and grabbed her hand, he ignored the way she flinched at the contact and she tried not to think about how that was her instinctual reaction to the slightest touch. "You don't, there is no way Sara Harvey is going to get in here."
"Are you sure?"
"Have I ever let you-" He trailed off, and his hand dropped when he realised he couldn't finish that sentence anymore. He had let her down before. He wasn't able to sit there and ask her if he had ever let her down before because he had done so in the worst way possible. Tears were in his eyes, matching her own as she bit down on her lip, and her eyes stared down at her lap, letting the tears fall onto her jeans. "I've let you down, too." She mumbled, but Caleb only shook his head and looked at her with a confused expression on his face, causing her to gulp.
"The night... that it happened... we had an argument, do you remember? I mean, we argued a lot..." She trailed off, "We argued so much but that night, you were angry at me because I was trying to skip out on the trip and you said you would go without me. And I said that was okay, that if you had to do that, then you had to do that..." The tears fell, and she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down, "I walked out and I went to work as though nothing had happened but I couldn't stop thinking about you. I didn't want to break up, I didn't want you to go to Europe without me, so I... I planned out this whole stupid surprise. I grabbed our favourite take-out, our favourite bottle of wine, and I even went to buy some sexy underwear, I just wanted to do something romantic, you know? I text you asking what time you would be home, you sent a snappy reply back and it gave me about an hour to set everything up. It was going to be perfect..."
Caleb opened his mouth to reply but Hanna shook her head to stop him, "You know, maybe if I had just decided to let you be angry for that night, then we could have sorted it out another night. Or if I had gone home two hours earlier, or decided just to walk in on you when I knew you would be there. If I had just decided to go at a different time, instead of happily walking down the street with that stupid bottle of wine, in those pathetic lace panties..." Caleb was shaking his head, his cheeks were flushed red and she had no idea if he was angry at her, or at himself, or at the person who hurt her. "I-I let you down, I should have... if it had to happen, I should have told you. I should have gone straight home, I should have let you call the police, I shouldn't have done all of it behind your back and then laid next to you in the bed like nothing happened. I shouldn't have caused arguments for the sake of causing arguments because I was hurting and I didn't want you to see."
Hanna let out a broken sob, "If I had just... decided to come home a few minutes earlier, or a few minutes later then thongs might be so different now." And Caleb was finally allowed to speak, his hand moving to her cheek to wipe at the tears that fell down her face, "You're right but... you didn't let me down, Hanna. You going through that..." He trailed off, he couldn't bring himself to say the word attacked, or raped because it conjured up images that broke his heart. "... you didn't let me down. You didn't let anyone down."
Tears fell down his own face and Hanna looked up at him, leaning her face into the touch of his hand as she allowed herself to take comfort in his company for just a second, "I never stopped loving you." She whispered, her heart thumped against her chest as she admitted it.
"I never will." The words fell from his lips before he could stop them, but before she could reply, he shut them both up by pressing their lips together. His hand moved to run through her hair, he made sure to keep his movements gentle, glad when her lips started to move against his. It wasn't a passionate, desperate kiss but it conveyed everything he couldn't say to her right then. His thumb rubbed against her cheek gently, wiping away the tears that had fallen before the sound of the door opening made them both jump back. "I think we're ready." It was announced and he just stood up and took a deep breath, not taking his eyes from Hanna, "Are you sure you want to do this?" He finally said, ignoring the other two in the room, his frown deepening when she nodded her head and took out her phone; I'm at the Lost Woods Resort. Alone.
"It's done."
It was only an hour later Caleb found himself staring at the spot he had left Hanna. His heart dropped, his eyes scanned the room hoping she was just hiding somewhere. She had been raped and he had left her alone, she had been kidnapped two years after that because he had left her alone. His fingers gripped at his short hair, his breathing was rapid as he repeated her name over and over again. He felt as though someone had torn out his heart and stomped on it, "I let her down." He finally whispered, although he wasn't sure the other two had heard him. Moments before, they had been running around the woods, thinking they were going to catch the person who was trying to make their lives hell and now, Caleb was standing there with tears running down his face, looking at the empty motel room he had left her in to be kidnapped. "I promised her I would protect her and Henry and I let them both down."
In the distance, he could hear Aria on the phone to Spencer but he didn't care, he had to find where Hanna had gone, he had to know how this new A had gotten to her despite his best attempts. It was only when Ezra dropped to his knees and lifted up a floorboard that he realised he had left something out. "I should have checked the floors." He stared down at the hole, and he shook his head; his head hurt from crying, his eyes were red and his hands shook.
"Caleb, who would have thought to do that?" His response was obvious, and he screamed in Ezra's face the name of the person who would think that, and the person who had thought about it. The floorboards, A had come up through the floor and Hanna must have been terrified. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, imagining a scared Hanna being dragged away from there, helpless, alone.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Arms wrapped around him and he recognised them as Spencer's, causing him to pull away quickly as he frowned the moment his eyes met with those of Mona's, "Why the hell did you bring her here?!" He was more than aware of the flinch that followed, but it didn't break his heart in the same way it had when Hanna flinched from him. He didn't care if his friends were scared right then, he didn't care if they hated him, he just wanted Hanna back.
"I followed them." Mona just shrugged her shoulders and looked around the room, seemingly putting two and two together as the realisation appeared in her eyes and she felt the fear creeping over her as well. Hanna was her best friend, despite what everyone thought and how much time had passed and right then, she was frightened for the safety of her best friend. Everyone's eyes moved to the small laptop in Ezra's hands but Caleb couldn't take his eyes from Mona, wondering what she was doing there and if she was going to be of any help to them. "How can that even be possible?" He heard, and his eyes moved to the screen to be faced with someone had had thought was dead. Maybe ghosts were real after all and Ravenswood hadn't been one awful nightmare.
For a few moments, they had thought about doing the right thing. They were stood outside the police station, Caleb growing increasingly frustrated with each second that passed. Even for a moment, they were going to do the right thing but they were never able to. A.D, as they so dutifully named themselves, chose that moment to message them, and his eyes read the words until the sound of a bell chimed behind them; a lie for a lie, an eye for an eye. The bell tolls for Hanna – A.D
He ran faster than he ever had before, and he felt the panic rising in him, the tears were falling before he even knew what was going to happen. He had this sense of doom that ran over him; a fear that almost paralysed him. What was he going to do if he had killed Hanna? Once they got into the church, Spencer was the first scream he heard, and his eyes glanced above him – he would have sensed if she was dead, he was certain of it. He should have known, he loved her so much and he always thought it was enough to know when she was hurting. He had proved himself wrong before, when she had been laying in bed next to him silently sobbing because some man had ruined every bit of trust and safety she had, a stranger had ripped that from her and yet, he hadn't noticed.
So maybe, despite how much he loved her, he wouldn't be able to sense if she was dead.
"Hanna!" He finally screamed, as he ran up the stairs towards her, "Hanna!" Numerous screams could be heard behind him but he didn't care, Hanna was the only person he cared about, she was the only person he could see right then. "Toby!" He sobbed, as he took hold of Hanna and pulled her back towards him, carefully laying her on the floor as he whimpered her name, brushing his fingers through her hair and then running his fingers over her face. "No, no... wait..." He pulled at her face, at the mask, and he felt the tears stop almost instantly – she wasn't dead, she was still out there and he still had a chance. "It's a mask, it's a mask... oh my god." The relief was like nothing he could have ever describe, as he sat back and rested his head in his hands as he closed his eyes. She wasn't dead.
"It isn't Hanna." That only left one question that was voiced by Spencer, where the hell was she if she wasn't there? And then Emily's hand moved to a piece of string he hadn't even noticed, and the voice that came from the doll kind of answered his question, "You have twenty-four hours to give me Charlotte's real killer or Hanna dies. Tick tock bitches."
Hanna jumped up the moment she heard a car engine start, the panic rising as she slammed down on the wall, "Is there somebody out there?!" She called out, letting out a broken sob, breathless, "No, please! Please! Open the door, you can't leave me in here, I'm begging you. Please!" She could hear the car pull away and she knew her cries were pointless, but she couldn't give up. She had a son, she had to be there for him, this couldn't be the way he remembered her. When he was older, he would be told of his murdered mother who died because she had murdered someone else. He would never know that it wasn't the truth. "Please..." She sobbed, before she fell to the floor, only then realising that she was dressed in just a vest and her underwear, her fingers moving to run over the scar on her knee. "Please."
When the door opened, she felt hope rise in her, maybe the person who had taken her had changed their minds – realised what a mistake they had made but the water on the floor should have been enough of a warning. She gasped for air when the water hit her completely, freezing cold water that took her breath away and sent her back flying towards the wall behind her as she attempted to get away from it. "Stop, please stop!" She cried out, begging for the masked person to stop whatever it was they had planned – she had been freezing already but this was a whole new kind of cold she had never felt before. And she never wanted to feel again.
She barely heard the buzzing sound, and she could feel bile rising in her throat, scared of what was about to happen. It was dark, she couldn't see what was standing in front of her but she had no doubt that he could see her. She was helpless, she was vulnerable, she was right back in that alley. Flashes of the stranger who had thrown her against the wall and pressed his lips against hers roughly, his hands wandering her body with a knife pressed to her throat, were mixed with the stranger standing in front of her who pressed something to her soaked body and caused an unimaginable pain to coarse through her frightened body. "Stop, stop, please, please stop!" She had repeated the words two years before, and they felt no different than they did right then. Both times she felt as though she was fighting for her life. Her breathing was uneven, and her screams filled the shed she had woken up in hours before.
She supposed creepy looking shacks were just one more thing she could add to her list of places to avoid. Places that would cause her to shake uncontrollably, places that would cause tears to well up in her blue eyes before she could stop them. She begged, over and over again for the pain to stop, before she sank to the ground and closed her eyes. She was going to throw up, she was going to pass out, or something between the two. She just needed it to be over.
When it was over, it was only temporary. She wasn't sure how long it was before she opened her eyes again to sense someone standing over her. There was that buzzing noise again and this time, she almost choked on the freezing cold water that was sprayed over her. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and backed into the corner of the room, the torture started again – physically and mentally. Even though the torture of the person in front of her was enough, everything took her straight back to where she had been two years before. She could hear his voice, she could smell him on her, she could feel him touching her and it only caused her to throw up the empty contents of her stomach after she collapsed to the ground for the second time. It was relentless though, suddenly there was a hand in her hair and she was forced onto her stomach, held onto the ground as the weapon was pressed against her lower back in the most sensitive of spots.
She screamed and snapped out of it; suddenly she wasn't back there with him anymore. She was in the present, she was being shouted at, questioned about who killed Charlotte. Apparently the person who was hurting her right then knew she hadn't done it, but they wanted to know who had. And they thought Hanna knew who had murdered the person who had been her initial torturer. She let out a sob, "I don't know, I don't know, please.. I-I really don't know." The weapon was removed, before it pressed against her shoulder, and then the back of her neck, and then her other shoulder before settling into the middle of her back for another prolonged period of time. It caused her to tense up, her body shaking horrifically as she gasped for air. She couldn't breathe, her face was pressed against the floor of the dirty shed, the electricity ran through her body, mixing with the effects of the cold water.
When her eyes opened again, she looked up in confusion when she was met with Spencer's blurry face – hope rose in her for a moment, until she realised that her best friend looked different. She looked as though she was her seventeen year old self again, before everything got so complicated and Hanna was just Hanna. "Spencer?" She whispered, her throat sore and her voice hoarse from the constant screaming and futile vomiting she had been doing over the past twenty-four hours.
"You've got this Hanna, you're going to be okay." Her best friend spoke, with a smile on her face, causing Hanna to shake her head, "I think I'm going to die in here." She admitted, her eyes glancing around at the shed she was certain was going to be the last place she ever saw. "No, I won't let that happen."
"But this is a dream, you can't help me... you're not real, Spence."
"Something real is actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact." Spencer spoke in riddles and Hanna scrunched up her nose, "I don't know what you're saying but I'm glad that you're here." Even if Spencer wasn't truly there, it brought her enough comfort to allow her to feel as though, even for those few moments, she wasn't alone.
"A dream is an experience and an experience is real, do you understand?" The blonde frowned, "Maybe..." She trailed off, and then shook her head, "No..." She sighed, and looked at the person in front of her, the one person who had been the most against the plan. She had just assumed Caleb would be able to protect her, she thought nothing could happen to her, that she had already experienced all the bad in the world and surely, because of that, nothing could happen. How quickly she had been proven wrong, bad things truly did happen to people who only seemed to experience the worst things in the past. "I should have listened to you, Spence... I-I think... this A is a lot smarter than the others."
Smarter and harsher. This A liked seeing them in physical pain, whereas Charlotte had enjoyed the mental aspect of it all. She was more interested in the pain that was caused by their own brains, and by what she did to drive them crazy and it almost worked. "You told them the truth, right?" Spencer broke her from her thoughts and she gave a quick nod of her head, "Maybe it's a god thing we don't know who killed Charlotte because I'd tell if I did." She admitted, a guilty look on her face, almost ashamed of herself for even being able to say something so awful. How could she sacrifice herself for someone else? "I'm so scared, Spencer..."
The tears started to fall then, and Spencer's arms were quick to wrap around her sore body, her head resting on hers, "I know, I know..." She murmured, closing her own eyes as Hanna silently cried, "There's no way out."
"If A can come in and out of here, you can too... think about it, Hanna. If there is a way in, there is a way out, right?" Hanna just shrugged her shoulders, pulling away so she could take a look around – the entrance and the exit weren't visible to the naked eye at least. "Say it." Spencer told her, and Hanna repeated her words although she still wasn't completely certain. "You're gonna need your strength for tomorrow, get some sleep."
Her head moved to rest in Spencer's lap and she closed her eyes at the fingers running through her hair, "Will you stay with me?"
Spencer continued to move her fingers through blonde hair as she spoke, "Always." She whispered, before her voice gently sang to her best friend who laid there slightly shaking in her lap. Hanna wasn't sure how much time passed between that dream and the moment she woke up to an empty shed, knowing she had to escape then or never. She didn't know then he would be back, or what would happen next time, she wasn't even sure how much time had passed; was Henry crying for her? Her heart broke at the thought and she quickly stood up, she had to see her son again. She had to make sure he was going to be okay, even if he had an emotional wreck as a mother. She stumbled blindly, her fingers reaching out for the vent she could feel air coming through, and she took another look around, maybe it would be her only means for escape. "If there's a way in, there's a way out."
Caleb walked into Spencer's house with Henry in his arms, having managed to convince Ashley that Hanna wanted him to pick the little boy up. She had been hesitant at first, but eventually, she handed over the small toddler to him with the promise that Hanna would phone her the moment she could. He felt bad, because she had no idea what had happened to her own daughter and for all he knew, the next time he saw the woman he respected so much, and loved as his own mother, would be to tell her how sorry he was that her daughter was dead and it was all his fault. The thought was enough to make him feel sick but he focused on the boy in his arms; once he had dropped off Alison's jacket, he had decided that seeing him would be the one thing that would make Hanna smile. Henry held his finger in his tiny hand as he let out a squeal and Caleb couldn't help the huge grin on his face as he ignored the questions of the people around him about why the hell he had taken off like that. "You got Henry?" Emily finally asked, watching as Caleb sat down and placed the happy, little boy who had no idea what was going on with his mother, on his lap. He nodded his head, "I thought Hanna would want to see him, she should be home soon... have you heard anything?"
"Not yet, radio silence." He frowned and pressed his face to Henry's head; he reminded him of Hanna, he even smelt like her. The little boy in his arms,a t some point, could have been half his. He had imagined raising a child with Hanna, he should have been the person to help her with Henry instead of letting her do it on her own – even if she could have forgiven him for walking out on her after she had been raped, he wasn't sure she would ever be able to forgive him for letting her get kidnapped. He had made her a promise and had completely broken it, unintentionally but that didn't matter. She could have died, she could be dead and he had no idea what he was going to do in a world without Hanna Marin.
Henry was the first to notice, "Mommy!" Caleb heard, and he looked around in confusion before his eyes settled on the girl who had just walked through the door. Her face was pale, a blanket was wrapped around her body but still, she was shaking and she looked exhausted. Spencer ran over to her first, and slowly led Hanna further into the house, questions were being shot at her but Caleb noticed that Hanna's eyes were only focused on one thing – the little boy in his arms. When she reached out her arms, the blanket dropped and the true extent of what she had gone through over the past twenty-four hours was revealed to those in the room. Quickly, he stood up and moved to place Henry in her outstretched arms, smiling when her eyes lit up and the little boy quickly moved to wrap his arms around her, unaware of everything that had happened. He had to look away from the two of them, the moment between mother and son was enough to bring tears to his eyes – Henry had moved his hands to his mother's cheek, their foreheads pressed together as they just looked at each other. She bumped her nose against his, and rubbed his back as she took in everything about him.
When Hanna's arms began to shake, he gently removed Henry from her arms and looked at her, giving her a small smile that wasn't returned, as he expected. Luckily, Spencer took over, ushering Hanna up the stairs to get Hanna showered and dressed. "No, he's okay with me." He told Aria when she offered to take the toddler from his arms; he moved to sit back down again, whispering to Henry about how his mommy was home and how sorry he was. Henry had no clue what had happened and he never would, but Caleb would still apologise for all the potential loss and pain he could have gone through.
By the time she came back down, her son had fallen asleep in his arms, his little head nestled into his chest and his tiny first curled around his top as Caleb held him as close as he possibly could. He was an amazing little boy, and he held eighteen months of regrets because he never got to know him – he missed his first smile, his first word, the first time he rolled over onto his back and the first time he crawled. Henry wasn't his but he was Hanna's and that was close enough.
His eyes watched as the blonde sat on the couch, not saying a word to anyone, before Spencer filled them in on everything Hanna must have told her upstairs. Mary Drake had driven her there, she didn't know where she had been but her injuries were bad – bad enough to make Spencer visibly paler than she had been when she walked up the stairs half an hour before. "Hanna, are you sure you don't wanna go to the doctor?" She must have asked the question upstairs, because Hanna shook her head with a frown, "I'm sure." She replied, with a small shrug of her shoulders, holding the hot mug of coffee that Spencer had given her, a little closer.
"Hanna... I-I think you should..." He finally spoke, but she didn't glance at him, instead her eyes fell to her lap, "The doctors are gonna ask questions and then I'll have to lie. No doctors, no questions." Her reasoning was good but it didn't make Caleb, or any of the people sitting in that room feel any better. They had seen a glimpse of her injuries, but Spencer had been the only one of them to see them all, and the look on her face was enough to make them all concerned for the person sitting on the couch in front of them. His glare focused on Spencer when she asked about Mary Drake, as though that was the main concern they had right then but Hanna's reply concerned him even more, "Is she real?" Everyone looked at her, and then at each other, "I-I mean, is she really who she says she is?" As it was explained to her, Hanna seemed to have a sudden dawn of realisation, "So it's her. Mary Drake. She's been after us all along. Someone killed her daughter and then she shows up to get even." They all nodded in agreement and she bit down on her lip, "But... she must have been chasing me when I got out... why wouldn't she just run me over instead of bringing me here?"
"Because we gave her what she wanted."
"Charlotte's killer." They were convinced at that point, that Alison had murdered the person she thought to be her sister, apparently they had found the evidence to prove it but Hanna wasn't convinced. She didn't voice those concerns though and instead, handed her mug to Spencer, "Can I have my son, please?" Caleb didn't hesitate, quickly moving to sit next to the woman before he handed the sleeping boy to her with a small smile, "Your mom wasn't too happy about handing him over but I promised her that you would give her a call when you could."
She only nodded her head and rested Henry on her knees, running her fingers over his cheeks, not even glancing up at the knock on the door. When Ezra came back with some flowers, Hanna looked up at them as they read out the note, "Couldn't have done it without you, glad we're on the same team – A.D" Their eyes moved over to Hanna and she quickly looked down with a small shake of her head. Her hell was over, but she had no idea what was coming for Alison and that scared her.
Hanna had managed to convince them that she was going to be okay if she went back to Lucas' apartment, she just wanted to be in her own bed, and she wanted her son to be around his own toys, so at least he could feel a sense of normality. She had barely spoken a word since she had been back, she almost felt numb, and mostly, she wanted to be alone. People hovered over her, her friends looked at her as though she was going to break down at any second. Spencer and Caleb were waiting for it; the nightmares were back, the flashes of him were back – she had gotten to the point where she could close her eyes and she wouldn't see his face every single time, but now she would flash between the two. One had ruined her in every single way possible and the other had torn away any sense of safety she had started to feel.
She had barely let go of her son since she had gotten home, and he was clinging to her just as tight as they he could sense something. Caleb had barely left her side, either, although she had barely said a single word to him, until he cornered her the moment he was able to, "So, are you gonna take Lucas up on his offer?" He asked, and she just shook her head, as though that was the way he decided to break the obvious ice between them. "He's crazy." She told him, with a shrug of her shoulders, "He sees your potential..."
Her eyes rolled, "Potential for what?" She had no idea what the hell her friends seemed to see in her, because she couldn't see it. She was broken, what didn't they understand about that? His answer made her laugh, an angry flare in her eyes, "Don't you get it? None of us are in charge of anything around here. I'm not in charge of anything... I've no control over anything, not even my own damn life, could you honestly see me running a business?!"
"Well, we can fix that... no one's giving up on anybody."
"Then what? Suppose we get through this, where the hell does that leave us? Right back to where we started." She sighed as she walked away from him, placing Henry down in his play pen, so he wouldn't have to feel the tension that was rising through her right then. Caleb moved to follow her, "Well, I suppose that depends on how far back we want to go..."
"Look, Caleb... in that room before all the lights went out and someone pushed me down a hole, I was scared." She shook her head when he moved to open his mouth, stopping him before he could talk, "But you were there, I always felt safe around you, even when we weren't getting along, you made me feel safe. Maybe that's why what happened... happened."
"So we just went back to what we used to be for a minute?"
"Just a minute." Hanna was trying to push him away, he couldn't get involved in her mess even though really, she knew he already was. He could see the look in her eyes, having been pulled aside by Spencer earlier that day who told him to keep an eye on her because she had that 'dollhouse look'. He knew what that meant, he had seen how broken she was before, but since then, she had been through so much more. She had been shattered, but he hadn't even noticed and this time, no matter how hard she pushed, he was going to stay.
"You're lying..." He told her, stepping closer to her, only for her to step back as she shook her head and took a deep breath, "Don't you get it, Caleb? I'm a one woman demolition derby and you should stay the hell away from me. Escape whilst you can."
"And don't you get it, Hanna? I'm not going anywhere. You can hate me as much as you want, and god, I wouldn't blame you... after everything you have gone through and everything I have put you through, you never have to forgive me. I love you, Hanna Marin and..." He bent down to pick Henry up, "I'm going to be here for the two of you, no matter what. Whether we date, or whether we're just best friends for the rest of our lives, I love you so much and this little boy is a part of you, so I love him too..." His other arm wrapped around Hanna and he pulled her close despite her resistance, "You can push me away as much as you want, you can tell me you hate me, you can scream at me, even hit me if you need to but I'm staying. This time, I'm staying. I've left before, Hanna and it's never going to happen again. I'm never going to let you down again."
The guilt swam in his eyes, and she pulled back to take her son with a small sigh, rubbing her eyes as she just shook her head, "I'm fine." She mumbled, "I'm just fine... and you should stay away from me. All of you should." She didn't glance back at him as she headed towards her bedroom, slamming the door behind her before he could see the tears that were falling down her cheeks, "I'm broken." She whispered into the otherwise empty room, before her lips pressed to Henry's forehead, "I'm so sorry, baby boy."
