A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! The usual triggers apply but there is heavy (but not graphic) reference to self-harm in this chapter, towards the end, so please be wary if this is a trigger for you. And for all those people waiting for Haleb – here it is! Let me know what you think in the reviews; the next chapter is the last where I will be following the series canon-wise, so let me know if there's something you want to see or anything you desperately want to happen.

"We lay there with our bodies touching, and as I shook, a powerful knowledge took hold. He had done this thing to me and I had lived. That was all. I was still breathing. I heard his heart. I smelled his breath. The dark earth around us smelled like what it was, moist dirt where animals lived their daily lives. I could have yelled for hours." - Alice Sebold.

Spencer stared down at Emily's phone and shook her head, "Went to New York for a business meeting, be back in a few days." Her nose scrunched up in confusion and she looked at the two other women in the room, "Isn't Hanna a Journalist for New York Magazine?" She finally asked, her frown deepening when Aria nodded her head. Hanna didn't talk much about her personal or her work life but the little they did know, didn't add up to her being called to work for a meeting so last minute.

Emily walked up behind her, "Yeah, she used to write for their fashion section but she seems to do more freelance work for crime stories. She mentioned something to me once about going to night school to study Criminology but when I asked her about it, she kind of shut down. Like she was embarrassed or something, I guess..." She sighed and ran her fingers through her long hair, taking her phone from Spencer's fingers as she looked down. "Do we really believe she's in New York?"

"I guess... I mean, I've been fired, maybe they called her there to do it to her face. I can't imagine she's had the time or the energy to write many articles lately." Spencer spoke, moving towards the table she so often saw Hanna working at, flicking through the papers of research she had there – there were a few sketches, but hidden beneath were articles of rape cases, some bits highlighted with notes jotted down beside some of it. She gulped, "Maybe she's telling the truth, but maybe she's gone to find her rapist." She held up one of the articles that Hanna had circled, one of the most recent dated just two weeks prior and Aria grabbed it from her to take a closer look, tears in her eyes as she bit down on her lip.

"Why would she go now? She's the one convinced that Noel is A.D and we're so close to nailing him."

"Because all we have is a bunch of circumstantial evidence and if anyone knows how that feels... it's Hanna." She pointed at one of the articles Hanna had highlighted, the headline reading that a suspect had been released for lack of evidence.

"Right, which is why we need her here where we can keep her safe, and so we can find something more concrete." Spencer could hear the desperation in Aria's voice as she spoke, and she could see the tears in her eyes that she was struggling to hold back. She looked behind her at Emily, who was just staring down at her phone before she let out a sigh, "Okay, I'm gonna call her and tell her to come back."


When her phone rang once again, Hanna just looked down at it, seeing Emily's name flashing up before she shook her head and took a deep, shaking breath. Her hands shook slightly, but she quickly looked away, focusing on removing the duct tape, a hammer and a camera from the large bag she had placed on the table.

Her blue eyes fell to a close, and she tried to focus on her breathing, her fingers digging into the palm of her hand in an attempt to bring herself back to reality. Please, stop... please, no. Her eyes snapped open and she grabbed the camera once again, moving to place it on the stand as she forced the tears back. She wasn't going to cry over Noel, or over that thing, not when she was supposed to be focusing on ending the hell Noel Kahn was putting them through.

Slowly, she moved to sit down on the chair she had placed in the middle of the room, staring into the camera before she cleared her throat. "My name is Hanna Marin and if you find this video before I finish what I need to do, something went terribly wrong." She paused, "Please give this to the police." With a determination she had not felt in so long, she moved to a stand and turned off the camera, trying to convince herself that she was doing the right thing. But then, even if it was the wrong thing to do, maybe it was right for her.


Her foot pressed against the brake of the car, at a distance as she kept her blue eyes on Noel Kahn. He had gotten in the car just half an hour before and she had been following him since, only for him to pull up just to dump a garbage bag, glancing around him as he did. The blonde slipped her cap on further down to cover her eyes, waiting for him to pull away before she got out of her car and made a run for the dumpster, barely taking the time to look around as she yanked it out and opened it up, searching through the garbage and the take out boxes before her fingers clasped around the familiar feeling of a phone.

Quickly, she pulled it out and bit down on her lip, pressing it to turn on as her eyes gazed over the broken phone, a flash of Sara's face coming up on the screen before it shut back down. This was it, the evidence she had needed and wanted to get Noel alone, to get him to confess to everything he had done to them, to her. She couldn't help the smirk on her face as she took a small, plastic bag from her pocket and slipped the phone inside – she had no idea she would have gotten so lucky so soon, but Noel was careless, it seemed.


It was just half an hour after that, she set her plan in motion – meeting with the creepy man in his parked car, with barely any people around them wasn't the safest move she had ever made but she needed those pills more than she needed to consider her own safety. She tried not to think about the people who had sat in the car before her, the awful men and boys who wanted to take advantage of some girl – a stranger, or someone they knew. The more she thought of the rapists who had sat where she had sat, the more she had to gulp down the nauseated feeling that rose in her throat. "Never sold these to a chick before."

She forced a smile, and shrugged her shoulders, "Glad I could be your first." She muttered, jumping slightly when her phone rang, flashing up with Emily's name again. For the first time, she decided to answer it, causing the young man next to her to go silent, watching her carefully, "Emily, I got your messages. No, I'm in a meeting... I can't talk now. I'll call you later." She lied so easily, hanging up as she took a deep breath and made eye contact for just a second, before she looked away to pull the money from her bag.

"Now, look... a little bit goes a long way. One of those should knock him out for hours." The exchange was quick, the pills in her hand, the money in his and she just nodded, "Good to know." She whispered, not giving him another look before she stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind her. She felt the need to shower, to scrub at her skin until she was sure the remains of the disgusting men who had sat in that seat before, she could barely breathe, ignoring the looks of those around her when she ran towards her car and opened the door as quickly as she could manage before she dived inside and locked it.

The way her heart thumped against her chest, the way she was struggling to get air into her lungs, Hanna knew the beginnings of a panic attack better than most and she blindly moved to touch the steering wheel, her hand slamming down against the hard object as she let out an anguished sob, until her forehead made gentle contact with the wheel and her eyes fell to a close, the tears starting to flow.

She could smell him, his body pressed up against hers, the knife pressed against her throat as his spare hand wandered over her body. He smelt like old cigarettes and cheap vodka, mixed with the undeniable smell of body odour. Their eyes met for a second, before his fist clenched and she felt a burning pain on her cheek. She took it as a hint to keep her eyes closed, and she squeezed them tight shut before she shook her head, "Please, please don't do this to me... please..." She knew her words were pointless, she could feel his hand fumbling against her thighs, she could feel him pressed against her in the most sickening manner.

She opened her eyes and, with trembling hands, moved to open her bag, finding her Valium bottle with a sigh of relief before she popped two of the pills and tried to remind herself where she was. Being in the vicinity of a man who was so willing to sell what was known as a date rape drug couldn't set her back, she had to focus on the plan. She knew what she was getting herself into when she had made the decision to do this without the help of her best friends or Caleb.

It only took her a moment to regain her sense of where she was, focusing on the present, as she started the engine and counted in her head in an attempt to keep her heart beating at a normal pace. "It's going to be okay," She finally muttered to herself, "You got this."

The moment she got back to the safety of the old motel room, she locked the door behind her and sank down to the floor, grabbing her phone from her bag along with Sara's smashed phone. Got Sara's phone with your prints on it. You want it back, be at Bowa's Pub. 8pm. She typed out quickly, pressing send before she could convince herself otherwise. Once she had managed to regain control of the way her entire body shook, she slowly moved to stand up, grabbing the hammer and the pills, smashing them both up. Maybe one would be enough to knock him out for hours, but she wasn't taking any chances – not with the person who tortured her and made her feel as unsafe as she had two years before. She was broken, that much she was aware but that made her the best person to do the job. Sure, she had a huge someone to lose if it all went wrong but at least he would be safe.


Aria looked down at the thumb drive she held in her hand; Spencer and Emily had gotten back from Noel Kahn's cabin just a few moments before and had returned with the kind of evidence that terrified her. She took a deep breath and finally made eye contact with Spencer, "Have you looked at any of the other folders?"

The woman was quick to shake her head, knowing that to look at what her friends had been through in there, especially as there was stuff there that none of them had spoken about, would have been a breach of their privacy. Charlotte, Noel and now the police would know but those they loved the most could be kept safe from the things they had done in there, the things they had been forced to do. Aria was more than sure there were a few things she didn't want anyone to see, especially not her best friends. "No, you... you can if you want."

"No." She was quick to respond, putting the small item on the table in front of her as she quickly, adamantly shook her head, "I don't wanna see any of that footage, ever."

"Yeah, well, the only people who need to see it are the police."

It would have been a good plan, had a certain blonde not been missing for over twenty-four hours now, "Well, we can't give it to them without Hanna, we all need to be together for this." Her words were not to be argued with, meeting Spencer's eyes as she watched the other woman's shoulders slump and a shaky breath being released when she realised this was not something they could do without the fourth member of their group, but still, she tried, "Yes, in theory but we have no idea when she's going to be back."

"Or where she is." Emily interrupted them as she walked down the stairs to Lucas' apartment and looked at her two best friends, "I just phoned New York Magazine, told them I was looking for Hanna, made up something about Henry and they said there was no meeting. She's got an article due in a few days but that's it, no reason for her to skip out on Rosewood..." The stress, and the fear was evident in her dark eyes and she stared hopelessly down at her phone.

"Where the hell is she then?" Both women moved to stand up, suddenly more terrified than they had been moments before when they could calm their over active imaginations down with the thought that Hanna was safe. She was in New York, she was working, she had important things to do beside chasing Noel Kahn down. "She wanted to turn Noel in last night and we didn't listen to her."

"Okay, but if she was going to go to the police on her own, she would have done that already." Spencer tried to reason, looking between the two girls as she sighed, and she could see each of them searching for the answers that they hoped would be true.

"Maybe she's with Mona?" Aria offered, with a hopeful look in her eyes as though that would be the one thing to make the most sense – if Hanna wanted to take Noel down, she would go to Mona who could quite possibly make that happen.

Emily offered another solution, "Or she's with Caleb."


He was fifteen minutes late.

Her eyes glanced over at the clock once again and she let out a sigh, taking a sip on the beer she had bought as she just waited. If he didn't turn up, she had no idea what she was going to do. She needed this more than anything, she needed to put an end to one demon when she didn't even know the name of the other.

Once again, her phone flashed up with another call, Aria's name this time and she shook her head, ignoring it when she saw the one person she was looking for. She hesitated, and watched him walk over to a corner booth, removing the small package from her bag as she looked around and then poured the crushed pills into the one glass, watching as it fizzed up before she mixed it with a straw. Hopefully all she would need to do was convince him to take one large gulp and at least she would be able to drag him the hell out of there and in front of the camera she so desperately needed for him to confess on.


"Hanna is not picking up and I just heard back from Mona, she's not heard from her either." Aria put her phone in her pocket and looked at her other two friends, watching as Spencer hung up her own phone with a look on her face that told Aria everything she needed to know right then.

"She's not with Caleb, either but she did drop by the hotel last night and leave Henry with her mother, and then told Caleb she was going off the grid for a few days." Spencer ran her fingers through her hair, feeling the stress starting to rise with each passing second that Hanna was gone. Emily was the only one who said their fears out loud, "She's going to do something to Noel."

"Like what?" Each of them shrugged and they looked at each other, "Well, whatever it is, she's going to do it alone because she thought that we wouldn't help her." Tears in their eyes, that familiar feeling of guilt creeping up inside of them when they thought of how Hanna really needed their help and once again, they hadn't been there for her. Last time, she hadn't given them the chance, but Emily, more than anyone, felt as though she could have done more. That they should have known somehow, they should have seen through the lies and the forced smiles and the way she was acting to know she had been through something. This time, they could see that there was something going on with her, but they had ignored her concerns, pushed them aside.

"Okay, well we really need to find her before she does something stupid." It was probable that each of them would do something stupid in the past but now, more than ever, the traumatised woman was capable of so much more than they wanted to know. "Caleb's trying to track her down on her phone right now." Spencer muttered, feeling a complete sense of helplessness at the entire situation.

"And in the meantime?"

The brunette hated how they looked at her, as though she was the one who supposed to hold all the answers when she had no idea what to do right then. "In the meantime we go to the police and we tell them everything." She answered, only to roll her eyes when they shot her down – they looked to her for a solution and then fought the one she gave them, she was honestly feeling as though she couldn't win right then.

Emily shook her head quickly, "Tell them what? That Hanna said she was going to be in New York but we think she's here hunting down Noel like it's 'The Hunger Games'?" She practically shouted as she looked between the other two women in the room. "No, I think we wait and see if Caleb finds her." Aria nodded her head in agreement and Spencer just shrugged her shoulders, "Okay. Sure." She muttered, reminding herself not to let them look to her for advice again, not if they were never going to listen to what she wanted and needed to do. The longer the object was in her possession, the highest the likelihood there was of Noel getting it back but without a majority vote, she couldn't go to the police with videos of all five of them down there.


It took a minute for Hanna to grab the two beers and walk over to Noel, reminding herself how confident she needed to look for him to fall for the words she were about to say. With a small smirk on her face, she set the glass down in front of him and slid into the booth, attempting to look as confident as she possibly could, "I'm waiting for someone." He said, as he eyed her up and she raised a brow in response.

"You're waiting for me." Was all she said in response, wondering if she was looking into the eyes of the man who had held a cattle prod against her skin until she screamed and begged for him to stop. Was he the man who forced her to relive the memories she had tried to push back? She gulped back those thoughts and watched the look on his face, sliding the beer a little closer to him, "I know you killed Sara. I knew you'd eventually slip up."

There was a confident, condescending look in his eyes, and he leaned forward ever so slightly, "Oh, you got it all wrong, didn't you hear? Sara fell in the shower." Hanna looked at him, wondering if he honestly thought he was going to get away with it. If people like him truly believed that they were above everything and anything, and there would never be a consequence for the things they did.

"Then why did you have her phone? Why drive all the way down to the city to dump it and then come here to try and get it back?" She had him there, she could tell by the flash of anger in his eyes that he managed to hold back with a clearing of his throat and an uncomfortable shift in his seat. "What do you want, Hanna?"

She took a deep breath, more than ready to go through the plan she had formed in her head, "The police are suspecting that there was foul play, they wanna question me. Sara died in my mom's hotel, they know about her past and that someone took Sara's room key from the concierge desk."

"Well, that doesn't look very good for you."

"Or you. The cell phone was a big screw up but we can both walk away from this clean." She took a sip of her beer, hoping he would do the same but he just kept his eyes focused on her instead, not making a move for the drink in front of him. "After the police talk to me, they'll question other guests."

"I wasn't in the hotel when it happened, I went to see a movie." She could see the confidence slowly dissipating as he cleared his throat again and looked at her. Still, she tried to remain as confident as she possibly could, taking another drink of the liquid before she smirkd, "At my place... we watched 'Birdman' right?" He cocked his head to the side, a confused look in his eyes, before Hanna spoke again, "You help me, I help you."

She watched as he took the glass and her heart thumped against her chest, waiting for him to just drink it so she could get the hell out of there and stop talking to him. She needed to take his blood, she needed concrete proof that he was who she thought he was and then it could be over. She could go back to hiding in her New York apartment. But before he could lift the glass to his lips, he put it back down, noticing the eagerness in her body language, "I wanna see the phone."

With a sigh, she took the phone from her bag, and then put it back inside when she saw the recognition on his face, "Cheers." She lifted her glass, "You should have some, it's good."

"Not my thing." He muttered, before he pushed the glass closer to her, "You have it." She could tell that he was onto her, that he knew there was something not quite right with the situation. If she wanted an alibi, she would go to her friends, they had each other's back all the time. There was no reason for her to follow Noel, he had seen right through her plan and it was going to make her life so much more difficult.

"I already have done."

"Just take a sip." She looked down at the liquid, and for a moment, wondered what the effects would be if she did, but reminded herself that there were two crushed up pills in there and if one had the desired effect, she wasn't certain what a small amount would do. When she didn't make a move to take the glass, he nodded his head with that ever annoying smirk on his face and he moved to stand up. He paused, for just a second, before he made a move to grab her bag and the one item she had against him, inside of it. Her own hands moved, taking hold of her bag for herself as she attempted to stop him from grabbing it, before his fingers, with bruising force, grabbed onto her face and forced her to look up at him, "Be careful, Hanna, or you'll end up just like Sara." He whispered, his grip on her jaw tightening as she felt her eyes start to water, his hand burying itself in the bag to take the phone.

She didn't fight him this time, paralysed by fear, only looking away from him when he dropped his hand with a satisfied grin on his face. It wasn't until he was gone that she let a tear fall down her pale cheek and she shook her head, wiping at it quickly, taking her bag from beside her as she took a deep breath. In the matter of a few minutes, she had managed to lose the one piece of leverage against Noel Kahn that she had.

It was all that consumed her thoughts as she made her way back to the motel room she was currently hiding in, hopeless, she kept whispering to herself, wondering if she had been Spencer or Aria, or Emily, would they have lost the one vital piece of evidence they had? She would have laughed, if she hadn't felt so pathetic. It was in the dark, lonely room that she allowed herself to look at her phone, scrolling through all the missed calls she had, smiling when she realised her mother had sent her a photograph of Henry with a smiling, very messy face, reminding her of what she was doing and why she was away from him right then. He deserved to have a normal life, in the very least, he deserved to grow up feeling safe.

Her finger hovered over a voicemail from her best friend before she pressed it onto speaker and allowed Emily's voice to fill the otherwise silent motel room, "Hanna, we know you're planning something. Whatever it is, don't do it. We found out Noel's been staying at his parents cabin and you were right all along. He is dangerous. We're ready to go to the police and tell them everything but we want to do it all together." There was a pause, and then a sigh, "I love you. Please come home." Hanna shook her head and stared at the blank wall in front of her, pressing her phone against her mouth as she tried to think – she could go home and forget this plan and just... go to the police with her friends or she could do what needed to be done and get everything she needed. Going to the police wouldn't be enough, not with the miniscule amount of evidence they currently had. Hanna needed a confession, she needed to hear what he had done to her.

Emily had given her the perfect place to do what she needed to do, grabbing the weapon of choice in her hands as she smirked and ran her fingers over the cold metal. He was going to pay for everything he had put her through, she was going to make sure of it.

When Noel pulled up at his parents cabin almost four hours after she had arrived, she was more than ready to put an end to his reign as A.D. Her fingers clasped around the weapon, her cap thrown on the ground as she had intended for it to be, a smile on her face when she watched him bend down to pick it up. This time, she didn't hesitate, instead she stepped forward from her hiding space and, with as much force as she could muster, slammed the crowbar down onto the back of his head. An overwhelming feeling of satisfaction rushing through her as she watched him fall to the ground, "It's over, bitch."


With two days passing since they had last heard from Hanna, it was time to do something they never thought they would have to do. At some point, there was a massive distrust for the police and a fear of the repercussions for them if they did go to the police. "If we do this, there's no stepping back from it."

"And we risk the police finding out about Archer." Spencer reminded them, looking between all of her friends as she bit down on her bottom lip, causing Caleb to scoff, "You mean finding out that Hanna ran him over and you buried him like a dog!" She could tell that he was stressed, beyond stressed but there was nothing she could say or do to calm him down. He loved Hanna, anyone with eyes could see just how much he loved her but right then, it was going none of them any good.

Ali just shrugged her shoulders, "To quote my dead husband, karma's a bitch."

"It was an accident." Emily tried to reason with her friends, knowing that if the police did find out, it wouldn't matter whether it was an accident or not. They would go to jail, they would lose everything. "And we knew how it looked, we did it to protect Hanna." Spencer whispered, finally meeting Caleb's eyes, her words seemingly relaxing him a little as he shook his head and let out a defeated sigh.

This time, Mona spoke up, "Who is currently our resident girl gone rogue." There was a worry in her eyes that had remained there since she had found out what happened to Hanna, and that there was someone new to torture them. "I'm trying her one last time." Caleb took his phone from his pocket, pressing on speed-dial number one before he held the phone to his ear, doing his best to contain all of his emotions right then but with each time he rang Hanna and every time she ignored it, he was feeling those emotions about to come spilling out right then.

"Let's just ping her cell and go get her." Mona offered a solution, one Caleb knew wouldn't work thanks to the new phone he had given the blonde, "I gave her a new phone, okay? You can't hack it." He wanted to hit himself for giving it to her at the wrong moment, just at the time they really, really needed to find Hanna and know she was safe, know that she was okay.

"Why isn't she picking up?"

Emily rubbed her eyes and shook her head, "Because Noel probably has her locked up in another slaughtering hole." As before, she said the one thing they were all thinking, but none of them wanted to say out loud because that would somehow make it real. When Caleb heard the familiar sound of Hanna's voice mail once again, he resisted the urge to throw his phone against the wall as he let out a frustrated groan. When Mona saw that look on his face she gave a small nod of her head, "Let's just call the cops, okay? Tell them everything you just told us about Jenna and Noel." When there was another momentary pause, Aria was the one who spoke their fears this time, wiping at a tear that fell down her cheek, "Noel is out there somewhere and he might have Hanna."

With that, each of them nodded their head and Spencer dialled those three numbers that caused her hand to tremble. Her eyes closed and she heard the operator speaking on the other end of the phone before she took a deep breath, about to start a whole new circle of events she knew they would never be able to take back, "I think my friend has been abducted."


Hanna stared at the unconscious man, tied to the chair she had managed to drag him onto just moments before. "Wake up, bitch." She said, kicking the side of his leg as she waited for him to open his eyes. When he just let out a groan, but made no other movements, she went over to the table and grabbed a large knife, staring at the reflection in the shiny surface as she looked into her own eyes. Please, let me out, please don't go!

She quickly shook her head and turned back to face Noel, the knife held in a steady hand as she moved towards him. Glaring, she pressed the knife against his cheek and gripped onto his hair to pull his head up, "This is your chance to tell me the truth. Just admit it. Admit you're A.D!" Her voice rose with every word she spoke, the temptation to dig the knife in almost too much before she dropped the knife to his neck and reminded herself of how terrified she had been in that dark alleyway. She wondered if Noel felt anything right then, if he was scared of what she could do to him – if he had the same thoughts she had once had when a blade was pressed to her own throat two years ago.

Please don't do this to me... Hanna blinked back the tears, ignoring the way her hand shook as she dropped the knife further. "Fine." She whispered, when she got no response from the man, "We'll do it my way." The blonde let the knife fall to his thigh, marking the spot she had been scarred, the movement quick, as painful as it had once been for her. She could practically hear the way she had screamed that night, how it was muffled by his hand, the way she felt the blood dripping down her bare thigh and that stinging sensation she tried to focus on when he finally started what he had intended to do when he dragged her own that alley.

The sound of the blood dripping onto the plastic she had placed beneath the chair pulled her from her thoughts as she lifted the knife up and stared at the blood that coated the once shiny surface, not feeling anything as she did. There was no remorse, no regret, no guilt, no fear; for the first time, Hanna felt nothing.


"Hanna Marin, white female, blonde, mid-twenties, now considered a missing person, possibly abducted by one Noel Kahn. White male, also mid-twenties, who should be considered dangerous and possibly armed."

The police scanner echoed through the room once she had returned from the laboratory, having seen her own face on the television screen there which had caused her to almost run back to the motel room she had left an unconscious and bleeding Noel in, half an hour before. They were looking for, they assumed she was missing, that Noel had kidnapped her which meant her mother would be worried, and so would her friends. This wasn't part of the plan, but then she supposed, the plan wasn't mean to take three days.

Her eyes stared at the man who was still tied to the chair, groans falling from his lips now and then as he shifted himself only slightly. Before she could talk herself out of it, she lifted the phone to her ear after she dialled a familiar number, knowing this was the only way she was going to be able to cope with this, "I need your help and I need you to come alone."

Hanna wasn't surprised when barely half an hour later, there was a knock at the door and she was met with the one and only Mona Vandermarin. In another life, they could have been the best of friends, but there was still a wedge between them that Hanna couldn't explain. Despite that, Hanna knew there was no one better equipped at helping her than Mona was – she was fiercely loyal and if Hanna didn't want her to tell anyone, Hanna knew the other woman would keep her mouth shut. Besides, the woman knew what she was doing better than most, nobody could deny that.

"I'm so sorry to rope you in like this but when I saw the news, I didn't know who to call." She finally blurted out, watching as Mona bandaged Noel's leg up once the door was closed, neither of them really saying a word to each other until that moment.

"Well, next time call me before you abduct someone and go on the run. It just makes my life a little easier." There was just a momentary pause as Hanna resisted the urge to roll her eyes and nodded her head, "When do you get the test results?"

"Not until tomorrow." With suspicious eyes, she watched as Mona patted the man down, her hands wandering over his legs before she pulled something from his shoe, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for this." The way she spoke made it clear that she thought Hanna should know what she was on about, but Hanna just shrugged her shoulders and scrunched her nose up in confusion, "What is that?"

With a frustrated sigh, Mona looked at her oldest friend, "You seriously haven't spoken to anyone?" Hanna's blue eyes moved over to the unconscious man and she lifted her arms towards him, "I've kind of hand my hands full!"

Mona only looked from the object she held in her hands before she turned to Hanna, not sure how she was going to take the news, "There is footage on here that proves that Noel was working with Charlotte. He was part of the dollhouse." Her words were slow, carefully spoken and she watched for the reaction in friends eyes, not missing the tears that looked as though they were about to fall. "I was kind of worried he destroyed it but you clearly knocked him out before he had the chance to. Look, Hanna, you don't need the rest results, this right here is more than enough to put him behind bars."

"No."

Hanna's response was quick and unexpected and Mona wondered how one word could hold so much weight – she could practically hear the pain and see the struggle her friend was internally struggling with. "What do you mean, no?" She dared to ask, taking a step towards the blonde, tucking the evidence into her pocket as she waited for Hanna to give her a good reason for why she didn't want to go to the police yet.

"Busting Noel for the dollhouse is like busting a mob boss for tax evasion. It's settling. And I'm not ready to settle. I've been settling every single day for the past two years, Mona, telling myself that I did the right thing by not going to the police, settling for the belief that the next woman he raped would but I'm tired of settling. I'm never going to get justice for what he did to me, even if I had gone to the police that night and I need justice this time. I need more."

Mona gulped back the lump in her throat, not able to stop the tears from falling before she quickly wiped them away, "Hanna, you can't get any worse than the dollhouse." Or what happened to her when Henry was conceived that fateful night, she added, in her head as she just looked at the woman in a desperate attempt to understand what was going through her head right then.

At her words, she could practically see something inside Hanna break, the way she stepped back, the anger that flashed in her eyes, "I have scars on my back that say different! I want Noel to be held accountable for everything he did. I'm going to prove he's A.D. I need to." There was vindication, such dedication in her tone that Mona just nodded her head and reached out a hand for her friend to take, hoping she would. "Please, Mona, help me... I just need to stay hidden for ten more hours... please." She sobbed, her hand finally moving into Mona's, hoping she would help her just until she got the results she needed and then she would force Noel to confess to everything he had ever done.

With a small, sad smile, Mona squeezed the hand that was in hers, "That's the last thing you're going to do." She whispered, moving a little closer to the woman so she could brush a piece of hair behind her ear, "I have a plan, do you trust me, Hanna?" At the nod of her head, the shorter of the two brightened a little, pulling back before she went over the plan she had quickly formed in her head, one that would get Hanna off the news, put her in the clear and ensure Noel confessed to whatever he put the other woman through in the twenty-four hours she was gone.

In the five years since they had graduated high school, Hanna Marin had become a good liar. A very good liar. At one point, Mona knew her well enough to see the tell tale signs that her best friend was lying to her about something – Hanna would look away, she would stammer over her words, her cheeks would turn a light shade of pink. There was always something the blonde would do that would give her away but now, if Mona hadn't told her what she needed to say in the first place, she would never have guessed she was lying. "It looks bad, I know... but I just wanted to prove to my friends and to all of you that Noel is the person who's been tormenting us. So, I went to Holly Brook to find the girl he pushed down the stairs, if I could get her to talk then we'd have a credible witness. Unfortunately, I couldn't track her down. I'm just... I'm so sorry that I worried everybody by disappearing like that. I guess... I-I just wasn't thinking."

As she stepped forward, Mona clapped with a look of pride on her face as she smiled at the other woman, "You've gotten really good at this." She commented, but for a second, she wondered if she should be a little more scared that the other woman had gotten so good at lying to the people who knew her best – what else was she hiding from them?

"Do you think the cops will buy it?"

"Definitely, it's your friends you need to worry about, they're harder to fool." At the mention of the four girls that would be hearing this story, Hanna gripped onto her hair, her palms pressing against her forehead as she tried to stop the tears from falling, "God, I hate lying to them."

"You're doing them a favour by not getting them involved." Hanna felt the guilt creeping inside of her, wondering if she had done the right thing by getting Mona to this motel room and asking for her help. "Thank you again, Mona, are you sure you're able to-"

Mona cut her off before she could finish, with a wave of her hand and a smirk on her face, "Don't worry, I got my end covered." She wanted to tell Hanna that she would do anything for her, she would do anything she possibly could to make up for all the pain she had put Hanna and her friends through at the beginning. "So, why don't you run it through for me one more time?"

Hanna nodded her head and took a deep breath, "It looks bad, I know-"


"I'm just so sorry I worried everybody by disappearing like that. I wasn't thinking." Her eyes glanced over at the people in front of her, including the police officer who soaked in all of the information she had just gone through with them. Lying to the police was something she had grown accustomed to over the years but lying to her best friends was the hardest thing in the world, especially when this was something that affected them as well.

"Well, since we opened up an investigation, you're going to have to sign a written statement." She nodded her head, and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders before she turned back to her friends, "Hanna, you should have called us."

"I know... sorry, again." She almost felt relief when they were distracted by something behind her, her arms folding around herself in an attempt to protect herself and stop the truth from spilling out of her somehow. It wasn't until she turned around and faced the person they were staring at – as hard as it had been to lie to her friends, she knew he was going to be a lot harder to convince. "What's going on?" He asked, suspicious as he stared at the scene in front of him, his glare settling on the blonde despite the relief that ran through him in that moment. Especially when she spoke as though nothing had happened, "Hey, Caleb." She smiled, biting down on her lip when she saw the look on his face.

It took the entire car journey from Spencer's house to Lucas' apartment for Hanna to calm her mother down on the phone, going through the made up story Mona and she had created, asking her if she could just have Henry for another night or two until things calmed down. When she finally hung up, she knew she would finally have to talk to Caleb, which was something she had otherwise successfully avoided since he had walked into the Hastings house barely an hour before. She had spoken to her friends, she had spoken to her mother, even asked her to put Henry on the phone when it looked as though her mother was calm enough to let her go. Now, there was no excuse as she turned to look at the man, "Has she calmed down?"

She only nodded her head in response, "She's gotta put Henry to bed now, so I said I'll see them tomorrow." She mumbled, "Thanks for bringing me home." Now leave, she added in her head, leave before I tell you all the things I don't want you to hear. Instead of him making any sort of move to leave, he stepped forward, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" She could tell just by the way he looked at her that he didn't believe her, she could see the apprehension in his eyes, hear the concern in his voice and she wondered if there was even any point in trying to convince him anything other than what he clearly thought. "Yeah, I told you guys what happened. You were all mistaken, I've apologised for making you worry, I don't know what else you need from me, Caleb."

"I know." He shrugged his shoulders and she almost let out a scream of frustration, "You know? Then why the hell do you keep asking me if I'm okay?"

"I guess I'm just waiting for an answer that I believe."

This time, it was her glare that settled on him and she spoke slowly, to the point, "I'm okay." She ran her fingers through her hair, increasingly frustrated by the second when he just shrugged his shoulders and smirked, looking at her as though he knew her so damn well, "Sorry, I don't buy that."

"Seriously, Caleb? You can go! There's a cop right outside my door and he's not moving. I don't care what you think, what you believe or what you don't believe, I want you to go. You don't know me anymore, Caleb, you don't know who I am!"

"Hanna, the last time I left you in a room alone, A.D took you so I hate to break it to you girl, but you're stuck with me." He stepped forward, "And you seriously think I don't know you? You've not changed that much Hanna, you're still the person I fell in love with when I was sixteen years old."

"Look, I really need you to leave me alone."

"Why? Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

"You know what? You're a real pain in the ass." She slammed her hand down on the table and looked at the man in front of her, "So are you!" Came his quick response, and for each step forward he took, Hanna would take another one back, her arms folded around her in an attempt to protect herself. As though Caleb was someone she needed protecting from.

"Excuse me?"

"Hanna, you don't do dishes until the mould, you eat French fries in bed. Cold. You don't gas up the car until it starts beeping. You won't admit that we're meant to spend the rest of our lives together. You send food back if the waiter breathes on it funny and you know what? There's probably milk in that fridge that's older than me!" There was barely a gap between them by the time he finished speaking and Hanna stared at him in shock, her heart fluttering as she just looked into the dark eyes of the man she loved more than she could put into words, caught up in the words he had spoken that held the most weight.

She didn't have the heart to tell him that she cleaned plates the moment after they had been used now, along with the rest of the apartment because she couldn't stand for anything not to be clean anymore. She still at cold fries in bed, on her more normal days, and what was the point in filling up her car with gas until it actually needed it? The beeping was just a warning, after all. She shook those thoughts off though and instead, dared herself to make eye contact with another person for longer than ten seconds. "W-what did you say?"

"About the milk?" Caleb scoffed, and scratched the back of his head, with a small shrug of his shoulders, knowing exactly what she was referring to but he still felt the small amount of embarrassment that he had just blurted it out in such a way. Whilst she was gone, he had spent time with Henry, he had seen what he could have had and should have had and whilst she should have told him, and she could have told him what really happened that night, he never blamed her. He was only just starting to let go of the guilt he held for everything that happened to her from that night and beyond. She didn't say a word though, she only shook her head as she took a deep, trembling breath and watched as he completely closed the space between them.

"Hanna, I don't want to spend another day without you, or Henry. Ever. For the rest of my life. These past two years, especially knowing what you went through, have been hell and I never want to suffer through that again. We deserve happiness, we deserve each other."

There were unshed tears in her eyes as she looked at him, before she let out a laugh and shook her head, "Like I said, you're a real pain in the ass." Both of them smiled at each other and Caleb gently nudged his nose against Hanna's as he lent down and pressed their foreheads together, silently asking for permission which was granted when Hanna's lips pressed against his. Her hands cupped his face and she pulled him a little closer to her, as her fingers moved to tangle through his hair and then rested on the back of his neck. It was the kind of kiss filled with love, but also desperation, the kiss that two lovers had suppressed for far too long and Hanna didn't know where to put her hands, wanting to take everything in as much as she possibly could just in case the moment ended sooner than she wanted.

When they finally pulled away, both of them breathless and smiling, his hand slowly moved down to her waist and she bit down on her lip, "I-I can't..." She finally managed to get out, relaxing only when he nodded his head and pulled her into him gently. His hand rubbed at her back gently and Hanna slowly pulled back to look him in the eyes, "I do need to show you something though." When he didn't say anything, only looked at her with a curious look in his eyes, she bit down on her bottom lip and moved to pull her shirt over her head, turning around after a few seconds.

Slowly, his fingers danced along the scars that were scattered over her skin, before she felt his lips pressing against them. Her eyes closed and she took in the moment, felt his lips against her skin and the hands that danced along before they rested on her stomach and she felt her shaking, tense body begin to ease. She relaxed, a small smile on her face when his lips moved towards her ear and he pulled her a little closer, her back pressed against his chest, "You are beautiful, I love you." Slowly, Hanna moved to turn around, pressing her hands against his chest as gave him a soft smile, "I love you."

Her movements were slow, meaningful as her fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, Caleb getting lost in the moment for just a second before he grabbed her hands and shook his head, "Hanna, if you're not ready." Instead, she matched his movement and shook her own head, "I-I think I am, I want..." She trailed off, blushing before she took his hand and stepped backwards, towards the bedroom, "I want to at least try." She could see the nerves in Caleb's eyes, but she could also the love, a look that replaced the lust she had seen in the eyes of the man who had stolen so much from her. Since then, she had barely allowed her mother to touch her, let alone taken any comfort in the touch of another man – especially Caleb.

Once they got to the bedroom, Hanna shut the door behind them and took a deep breath, turning back to look at the man she had lost her virginity to when she was sixteen years old. "We can take it slow, right?" She questioned, her words barely a whisper as he nodded his head and smiled; she could see how nervous he was as well, it was almost like their first time all over again but this time, Hanna was more terrified than she had ever been. Her eyes watched as the man moved back over to her, this time, his fingers taking her arm as he looked at the scars she usually kept covered, his fingers moving along each one as tears started to fall down his face. "Y-you did these?" He finally asked, already knowing the answer before she even nodded her head and his lips pressed to the scarred skin of her wrists, and she felt the wetness of his tears coating her skin before he pulled back.

"Can you stop?" He finally asked her, mentally noting how some of the wounds were fresher than others, "Will you stop?" Hanna bit down on her lip, before she let out a small sigh, "I don't know, Caleb, I've never tried before. But I want to, and that means something, doesn't it?" Her bottom lip trembled and he pulled her towards the bed, pulling her to sit down before he moved next to her. The nerves between the two were obvious, and as Caleb truly took in the woman for all her beauty – and her scars – he knew he would do anything he could to make sure she knew just how loved she was.

When she moved to lay down, his fingers traced along her gentle stretch marks she must have gotten when she was pregnant when Henry and a pang of regret ran through him at all the things he had missed. The stuff he should have been a part of, all the things some stranger he might have bumped into on the street once, had stolen from him in the most cruel of ways. Carefully, he hovered over her and looked her in the eyes, asking her once again, "Are you sure?" When she nodded, he placed her hand on his shoulder and pressed his lips to her nose, "If you feel uncertain, if you want me to stop, or if you have a flashback... tell me or squeeze my shoulder and we'll stop, okay? I won't be mad, I won't be upset, we'll stop and I'll hold you. I don't want you to rush this."

With a small sniff and a nod of her head, Hanna only nodded her head, before she took a deep breath, "Just slow, okay?" He smiled down at her, before he pulled back enough to pull down his pants, his own body shaking as he did. Hanna moved as well, pulling down her own jeans, and Caleb only watched her, knowing she needed to keep as much control right now as she possibly could. And he would let her do anything she possibly could to keep that control. It was awkward, as though it was their first time all over again, both of them trembling slightly as they fumbled with their own clothes. His eyes gazed over the scars on one of Hanna's legs and then the large one that ran across the other thigh, one that was deeper, angrier than the others, but he shook it from his mind right then. Questions could come later, he intended on having the rest of his life to ask her the questions he needed answers and to hear the answers she needed to say.

Instead of speaking, he moved to hover over her once again, pulling the blanket over the two of them before he pressed their lips in a soft, gentle, loving kiss as he felt her relax beneath him. He opened his mouth once the kiss was over, with the intention of asking her if she was sure once again but her hand moved to his shoulder and gently stroked the skin there, causing him to smile, "I love you." He spoke with such conviction, it was enough to pull Hanna from the darker thoughts that were trying to make themselves known, before she repeated the words back to him and pressed her lips to his with a smile on her face.