From here on, you will see that some things were just bound to happen - in one Haleb universe or another...

Ready?

CHAPTER 5

~ 10:54 PM ~ Trocadéro, Paris ~

The old subway wagon rattled into Trocadéro station and came to a screeching halt. Caleb grabbed Hanna's hand, and together they jumped onto the platform. He briefly studied a sign on the wall, then pointed to a staircase to their right. "Ok, that way."

Three flights of stairs later, both panting heavily, they reached the surface, and stepped out into the night light next to a giant roundabout. Caleb saw the illuminated iron-cast structure first, and instantly laid his arm over her shoulder in order to pull her closer, thus keeping her in position with her back turned towards the view that he had been planning to surprise her with. Opting to heighten the suspense, he placed his hand over her eyes.

However, after the way in which he had kept his mouth shut about what he had in store for her all throughout the half-hour ride, and after remembering that she was currently in dangerous territory, having snuck out of her host family's house in the dark and in a foreign city, Hanna's need for suspense had been more than saturated. With a hammering heart, she tried to ease his hand off of her face, but to no avail. "Caleb!" She whined in frustration.

"What? I told you we're going sightseeing." He said to her while turning his head around in different directions.

"Yeah, I know but I'm not seeing anything." Hanna pouted as she surrendered herself to his command and control.

Caleb ignored her complaint and it wasn't long before he found what he'd been looking for. A large street clock read 10:56 PM. He smiled, knowing that they had made it just in time. Then, with his hand still covering her eyes, he gently nudged her forward, leading her further along the sidewalk and across a few streets.

"Caleb, where are we?" She asked with an air of desperation in her voice. She stumbled as her hips awkwardly bumped into Caleb's again; they were walking in very close proximity as his arm was still resting on her shoulders.

"Just a minute," He tried stalling her as they crossed the large plaza at the Palais de Chaillot. He finally came to a halt as they reached the end of the plaza, a kind of esplanade which was a little elevated. Steps on either side led down to a lower level, where there were several paths, and a meadow with a large fountain in its center.

Placing his free hand on her elbow, he gently positioned her at the stone railing for a better view. From there, she was able to look out at the fountainand had a clear view straight across to the Eiffel Tower. "Okay Han, you ready?"

"For what?" She retorted; her patience was rapidly dwindling.

"This," He removed his hand, clearing her view just in time for the eleven o'clock light show, which soon turned the Eiffel Tower into a sea of rhythmically blinking and glistening lights.

Hanna exhaled audibly. "Oh, no!" Was all she managed to say. She stood, admiring the stunning view, with her hands covering her mouth.

Enjoying both the light show and Hanna's childlike joy concerning it, Caleb stood back, and brought his arms around her from behind, engulfing her in a tight hug.

When a few minutes later, the light show was over, Hanna finally got a chance to take in her surroundings. They were definitely not the only couple huddling together in order to enjoy the romantic moment. Funny, she thought; she hadn't even seen the crowd around her. During the few minutes in which she had gotten to lean back into Caleb's chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, watching the light spectacle unfold before her eyes, there had been only her and him.

How did this sketchy, long-haired guy, with ratty clothes, get to be this observant and considerate when it came to fulfilling her innermost wishes? She had always thought of Paris as being the most romantic city in the world.

This was precisely why.

She had never experienced anything as beautiful and as memorable as this before. She used to think that she would have to wait to be all grown-up and married in order to see the Eiffel Tower at night, preferably during her own honeymoon. But now... now she was here at the age of sixteen, with a guy who she never would have considered going on a date with in the first place, much less allow him to kidnap her in the middle of the night in order to travel across Paris on the subway, without knowing where they were headed. Hanna was having trouble wrapping her head around all of it.

Over the past four weeks, she had gotten to know a new Caleb Rivers, had gotten to know more about his situation... step by infinitesimal step, he had captured her heart with his loyalty and kindness, despite all of the hardship that he'd had to endure throughout his life. Having heard about his childhood, growing up as a foster kid in so many different families – some of them nice, some of them not so much – she really didn't know who had taught him to be such a kind and caring person.

She smiled at the thought of the progress that they'd made in their relationship; from hardly being able to be around each other without bickering, their status had evolved into friendship, and then finally, she had realized that there was even more between them. Of course, it had helped that he was a great kisser, too. During the four weeks since they had started dating, her curiosity as to what else – other than kissing – he might be good at, had been piqued.

She turned around in his arms, smiling giddily, and looked up to find him smiling back at her.

"So, are you glad that you snuck out to come here with me?" Caleb tried testing the waters, though he knew by the look on her face that it had been a redundant question. He was struggling to fight the nervousness that was rising within him.

"Absolutely," Hanna said without having to think twice. This was so much better than a sightseeing tour in a double-decker bus, surrounded by more than a dozen other students and their teacher. Even if she got caught sneaking back inside, she would gladly accept any kind of punishment, any stern lecture, any embarrassing naming and shaming. Being able to share this moment with Caleb was worth all of the trouble in the world.

She raised her arms, and slung them around his neck, bringing their bodies together in total alignment before they shared a series of passionate kisses.

Suddenly, they were ripped from their love bubble by a group of women, hooting and cheering on a bride amongst them in the background.

"Do you wanna go for a walk?" Caleb asked Hanna in order to get away from the crowds around them. When his plea was met by a silent nod from her, he intertwined his fingers with hers, and slowly started walking towards the steps. They descended to the large meadow that spread beneath the esplanade, and strolled silently along the paths leading to the rectangular fountain. They watched the hustle and bustle of the people hurrying past them to the Eiffel Tower in order to climb it before it would close its doors for the day.

Hanna, meanwhile, was content right where she was, with her boyfriend right by her side. However, she had noticed that Caleb seemed a little bit distracted, like he had been brooding over some things that he didn't want to let her in on. She didn't want to ruin the moment, so she tried a different approach in order to cut the tension. She stopped walking, and turned around to play with the fringes of some badge on his worn-out leather jacket. "Think we can sneak out again tomorrow and climb to the top of the tower? I wanna see Paris at night. It must be such a beautiful view up there." She turned her head around, and longingly looked up to where the tower 'touched' the sky.

Caleb pulled her closer. "Can't complain about the beautiful view that I've got in front of me right now," He murmured against her temple, taking in the scent of her hair as he closed his eyes.

It was like she hadn't even heard him. Or maybe, she had just ignored the compliment that she'd been given. "Do you think we're gonna have to climb like a thousand stairs? Or do they have an elevator? Gosh, imagine getting stuck in an elevator at night time. That must be so romantic."

In his mind, Caleb imagined an elevator full of people, all breaking into a sweat at the thought of dangling hundreds of feet above Paris, with limited opportunities for an elevator maintenance technician to free them from their confinement. Not that romantic, he thought, glad that Hanna wasn't able to see the momentarily slightly repulsed expression on his face.

After a long moment, Hanna finally turned her head back around, and looked at him expectantly. "So… Can we?"

It was then that he realized that it hadn't been one of her teases. She actually meant it. "When you look at me like you are right now, you can have whatever you want from me." He leaned over and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead.

Caleb took in the look of pure delight on Hanna's face and knew that this was it, this was the perfect time to tell her. It just felt right.

On the spur of the moment, he started talking. "I remember the first time I ever saw you, strutting your way through the school halls with that girl, Mona. You were gesturing heavily and smiling… a little bit like you are now. I also remember that you were wearing a white mini skirt, a flowing blouse with a floral pattern on it, a super short jean jacket, and those sexy white high heels that accentuated your long sun-tanned legs. I remember thinking, wow, she's hot, but she looks like a spoilt princess." He laughed when Hanna smacked his arm lightly.

"I am not a princess," She retorted, pouting.

"Well, I know that now, but I didn't then. Anyway, you strolled straight past me without giving me so much as a second look, so I wasn't sure if you'd even noticed me," He shrugged.

"I was strongly advised to avoid you," Hanna informed him, also thinking back to her first time seeing the new student at Rosewood High, and how everybody had been telling her crazy stories about his sketchy behavior.

"And yet you're here. In my arms," Caleb chuckled.

"I was never one to obey the rules," She stated, matter-of-factly.

"Wow, wow. Why am I getting the feeling that you don't even need me in order to earn your bad girl stripes?" He raised an eyebrow in gest.

They shared a laugh together as they continued walking along by the fountain. Caleb had put his arm back around her shoulder, pulling her close into his side. Hanna was holding him by his waist, and her hand was lying flat on his stomach.

"Anyway, thinking back to that time, I never imagined that we would be where we are now."

"What are you saying?" She whispered as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I'm saying, we're here… in Paris… one of the most romantic places in the world, so you keep telling me. And we're… we're together… you know… as boyfriend and girlfriend," He said, squeezing her upper arm in order to release some of the tension that had arisen in his body. "I knew pretty much from the day that you asked me for help with Emily's phone that I… you know… that I liked you. But the more time we spent with each other in detention, at the swim meet, or later at your house… the more I realized just how important you really were, are, to me."

"Well, you're important to me too, Caleb," Hanna cut in.

He smiled weakly and stopped walking, yet again. Then he turned, and stepped sideways, positioning himself in front of her in order to look into her curious eyes. He pulled her closer by wrapping his arms around her. "Let me finish, ok?"

Upon hearing his soft voice, Hanna nodded silently, and slipped her arms around his waist, warming herself up underneath his leather jacket. She looked up at his dark, almost black eyes, and was met by an unfamiliar expression. It was full of… seriousness, mixed with something else… desire?

"Han, over these last few weeks, you've shown me more care, understanding and acceptance than anybody in my entire life ever has. I mean, you barely knew me, and yet you let me sleep in your basement, and started including me in your everyday life, not caring about what other people thought or said. I honestly can't tell you how much that means to me," He paused, gathering his thoughts, "I'm a foster kid, who's used to being forgotten, ignored, pushed away, and passed on like an unwanted Christmas sweater. That was the case for so long; it had become sort of, routine for me… normal," He swallowed visibly, "Until we became friends, and everything changed. Everything shifted in an instant."

Hanna looked up at him, noticing how he was holding his breath. She took another step forward, and leaned her head against his chest, thinking that maybe, he needed a hug. Caleb exhaled deeply, and filled his lungs with fresh air again before continuing, "Most of my life, I have felt alone, even when I was with people. That was... until I met you. You make me feel like I'm worth something."

At that, her head shot up. She felt like she was on the verge of crying. This had to be the most beautiful thing that he had ever told her. Or anybody had ever told her, for that matter. She removed her arms from behind his back and lifted them a little higher, clasping them around his neck, thereby pulling his head a little further down towards hers.

"Hanna?" Caleb breathed, pausing meaningfully. "I can't tell you how happy you make me. I feel like I'm a better person whenever I'm with you. You just light everything up, and make my life worth living."

Hanna stayed silent, and simply smiled at him in order to offer some reassurance. She had been at a loss for words, anyway, and was thankful that he was doing all the talking.

"You know what I told you about my current foster parents, and about how I never stay at their house?"

"Uh-huh," Came her mumbled response.

"Yeah, they get my money from child care, and I spend my nights at friends' houses, and we're all keeping our mouths shut about it so that the authorities won't notice," His voice had started to tremble slightly, "It's all because I don't wanna leave Rosewood. I hate my foster family but I can't imagine being shipped off to yet another city or another state. I wanna stay here… because… I just don't ever wanna to lose you… because… I love you."

There, he had said it. As soon as the words had left his mouth, he started searching her eyes for a reaction. Was this too much for one night? Was it too soon? To him, it had felt so natural to tell her; now, relief was washing over him as he realized that he had finally gotten it off of his chest.

It wasn't long before he noticed the gleam in her eyes. Oh no, she wasn't going to cry about this, was she? It would only make him turn into a sobbing mess himself. He studied her face, waiting for her to figure out what she wanted to say in reply.

Hanna wasn't that surprised. Actually, by the way that he had been acting around her over the past few days, the way in which he always smiled at her, she somewhat already knew it. And yet, it still made her insides melt when she heard him say it. Not taking her eyes off of his, she answered almost immediately, "I love you, too, Caleb."

They both smiled as they attempted to grasp the true meaning of the moment. Caleb let his forehead drop down to hers.

"I was about to tell you last night, but…" Hanna tried to explain.

"…But I sent you home to get a good night's sleep before our red eye flight today," He finished the sentence for her, wryly. "I've been meaning to tell you for days, Han. But I waited because… I wanted to tell you here… because where's more romantic than Paris?"

Then, the lone tear that she had been fighting to keep back, rolled down her cheek. He had been meaning to tell her for a while already… She wondered when he had realized, realized that he was in love with her. But before she could carry on thinking about it, something else popped into her head.

"Wait, you planned this? You and me… under the Eiffel Tower? Alone? At night?" With every word she spoke, Hanna's voice turned quieter and quieter. She had never thought that her boyfriend could be this… sappy?

He had been standing so close to her, with nothing in his field of vision other than her glistening blue eyes, so he had to pull back slightly in order to see the elation on her face in its entirety.

"Yeah," He nodded with a smile, kind of proud to have achieved the level of happiness that her face was currently exuding.

In a matter of seconds, she had raised herself onto her tiptoes, and tilted her head up so that she could capture his lips for a series of hungry kisses. The tips of their noses met as their faces shifted, changing positions, the passion increasing with each and every kiss.

Caleb moved his hands to her face, framing it, holding it in place as he slipped his tongue into her mouth and let it graze over her teeth. Hanna willingly allowed him to dive deeper into the crevices of her mouth, while teasing him right back with her own tongue as it playfully nudged against his.

After a long moment, they broke apart and looked at each other, amazed and out of breath.

At some point, Caleb found his voice again. "You know… I had something else planned, too," He whispered.

"You're not gonna propose to me right here, right now, are you?" Hanna asked fearfully; her mind hadn't been able to come up with any other ideas that quickly as to what else he could possibly have in store for her.

Caleb laughed upon hearing her question. "No. No, don't worry." He couldn't help but poke fun at her for actually thinking that he'd ask her to marry him after they had only been dating for a month. "Not tonight, I won't."

Her facial features relaxed again. For a moment, she had actually thought…

"So, are you ready for another surprise?" Caleb interrupted her trail of thought.

"Ok. What is it? Where are we going?" Hanna asked, excited to find out where he was about to take her.

"Um, it's not here. We would have to take the…" He lost his trail of thought as his mind flashed forward to what he was able to show her, what he had been planning all afternoon. The thought caused his knees to go weak, and he leaned in to kiss her again. But kissing only made matters worse, and Caleb was struggling to fight the need to release some of the tension that had rapidly built up deep within him. He quickly disconnected their lips, and took her hand, naturally intertwining their fingers together.

They walked all the way back to where they had originally come from. Due to the fact that he still hadn't finished his sentence, Hanna jumped in. "So, how do we get there, the bus? The subway?"

Caleb cringed at the thought of having to hide his arousal in a public, and brightly lit, means of transportation.

"We can either take the subway or a cab," He answered her question, hoping that she'd opt for the latter.

"Well, then… I don't know… Do we have enough money for a cab?" Hanna reasoned, thinking that he was about to take her to the Notre-Dame, maybe, or the Louvre. The city was so full with couples of all ages, strolling through the streets in which turning at a corner meant having a beautiful new view to take in. She wanted them to have a couple of minutes to themselves, just the two of them, before they'd have to call it a day and part ways for an unknown period of time.

"Don't worry about that," He made the decision for them, leading her across the street and back to Trocadéro station, where he remembered having previously seen a couple of cabs waiting for passengers.

They reached the roundabout, and found a cabstand. Caleb opened the door in the back, and let Hanna climb inside first, before getting into the car himself and telling the driver their destination. "Bonsoir! Boulevard Suchet, s'il vous plaît."

Hanna shot him a sideways look, amazed at hearing him speak French for the first time. She had been meaning to ask him where they were heading, but his short exchange with the driver had completely thrown her off course. His arm came reaching out for her and she skidded closer to him, cuddling into his side. As her hand slid across the surface of his plain black sweater, which accentuated his grungy look, she felt his warmth through the soft material.

The baggy, worn out clothes hanging loosely on his slender frame contrasted strongly with the expression in his warm hazel eyes. Rebel meeting softie. It was a perfect blend.

Hanna remembered the first few times that she had crossed paths with Caleb in school, and how he had been homeless at the time, thereby often showing up to class looking and smelling slightly disheveled. Save for his clothes, nothing about the boy sitting next to her in the cab reminded her of the dismissive guy that he had been during their very first conversation. Caleb had since dropped his cool-guy act of never letting anybody get close to him, beyond the carefully erected walls protecting his bruised soul. He hadn't, however, wanted to throw his clothes away, despite Hanna's offer to buy him new ones. She had only offered to take him shopping once, before accepting him for who he was – and what he was wearing – and then falling madly in love with him precisely for those reasons. He was the most honest person that she knew.

She couldn't imagine riding in a taxi through a darkened city with anybody else but him.

The faint smell of his aftershave wafted through her nose as her head came to rest on his shoulder, reminding her once again of the fact that he had shaved off his stubble at some point today; she couldn't help but wonder why. Did Paris bring that out in him? She felt his fingertips at her jawline, slowly tracing the contours of her face before they nudged up to her cheek. God, she'd give anything to make this cab ride last forever, just so that she could spend some more time alone with him.

Caleb brought his face closer to hers and kissed her, picking up where they had previously left off. Soon, they were in a heated embrace, lips suckling softly at one another's, hands roaming over thighs and chests, dipping below sweaters in order to touch as much of the other person as possible.

Moments later, they were both ripped apart by the deep voice of the cab driver, who interrupted the sizzling heat between them. "C'est la Boulevard Suchet. Où voulez vous que je vous dépose?" [This is Boulevard Suchet. Where do you want me to drop you off?]

Caleb jumped slightly, and turned to look out of the side window, as if checking to see whether the man had been right; it had seemed like too short of a trip for them to have arrived at their destination already. He cleared his throat, trying to cover up his embarrassment. "Peut on descendre ici, s'il vous plaît?" [Could you let us out here?]

The cab instantly pulled over to the curb and stopped. Wow, Hanna thought again after hearing his effortless conversation with the cab driver.

And then, as she was getting out of the car, she noticed that they had stopped in a darkened street in a quiet part of the city that seemed so far away from just about every sight she could think of…

to be continued…

A huge shoutout to my loyal readers and reviewers, you're my motivation to keep posting this story. A small part of the chapter was written by my dear friend Sam ( tvfanlife). She's so full of awesome ideas and has a soft spot for all the Haleb fluff out there, just like me! You should all badger her into writing a story of her own, she would be great at it!

Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter... Stay tuned, Zip

Credit to Jenna and Marion for helping out in the English and French departments... ;-)