Chapter Sixteen- Then and Now
Looking down at the brown mixture of caffeine that was suppose to keep him wide awake, Lucas tried to find the strength to finish up his second cup he had ordered while Jake was still with him but found that he had other things on his mind than to worry about a stupid cup of coffee and making sure he got his money's worth. There was only one thing on his mind and he'd be stupid to think that she wasn't, he had sent her a text earlier that he was afraid that she got mad at because it had to do with Kaleb, more than anything he wanted to talk to her and figure out what Kaleb's deal was. He had to admit to himself once Jake had left him alone to process all the information that maybe he wanted there to be something wrong with Kaleb because then it would mean that he himself was the only fit for Hanna. Pulling his cell phone out he went to his photos and began to scroll through the many pictures of Hanna that was established on his phone, with each picture he felt like he was reliving every moment they shared together, every moment that he now realized was a moment that he swore would be the reason he'd love her forever. Just as he continued on his pity party he looked up to see Maya coming towards him nearly out of breath. Maya usually wasn't one to run so he found it quite amusing that she was huffing and puffing like a fat girl, maybe it was those cheese fries he thought to himself.
"I think you can't take the cheese fries anymore. Not everyone can recover from them" Lucas laughed but found that Maya didn't find it funny, the more he looked the more he realized that she seemed a bit odd like she was scared or something
"Luke, we have to go to the hospital" Maya told him as he looked over to see Emily sitting in her car with the engine still running
"What's wrong?" Lucas asked before his cell phone began to ring. Switching off of his photo screen and onto his incoming calls he soon saw that it was Alton calling "It's Hanna, isn't it?" he asked feeling like the life was drained out of him
"We don't know much because we just…we have to go" Maya told him before he quickly took off with Maya following close behind as he quickly got into Emily's car
Racing down the hallway with tubes going in and out of her, the doctors screamed out a bunch of medical speak that he did his best to comprehend but just found his brain turning into a pile of mush. Hanna's father did all he could to stay calm as the doctors shielded him off giving him the usual answer of "we'll let you know as soon as possible". Standing back for a minute, Alton looked on at the man crumble as if he had been hit by a boulder. Unable to watch the scene any longer Alton walked over towards him and rested his hand on his shoulder hoping that it would provide some comfort. Sliding down the wall as he felt the weight of the world just make him fall to his knees, Alton was there every step of the way as he looked over to see the young man sitting beside him on the floor.
"She has to be all right" Hanna's father said as he just shook his head demanding that his daughter be all right "No, she has to be fine. Hanna just took her tests to try and get into college…she's doing good, so she needs to be okay" he said just as Spencer came running into the hospital still dressed in her tennis outfit. Getting up from the floor he walked over as far as he could so that he was still close to Hanna's father as Spencer ran over to him
"What happened?" Spencer asked as Alton massaged his head in frustration as he looked back over at Hanna's father before looking back at Spencer
"I came…I came over to drop off my notes for History. Hanna likes using my notes and she needed them…I rang the doorbell a few times and I got no response. Kept ringing and no response, so I call her cell phone and nothing as well. I peak through the glass of the door and I saw her laying on the floor…" Alton said remembering the moment vividly of finding Hanna before Spencer quickly pulled him into a hug knowing that he was probably pulling on memories of Toby
"It's okay. Everything will be fine" Spencer whispered to him "Everything is going to be fine" she said looking him dead in the eyes before Lucas, Emily, Aria, and Maya ran into the waiting room
"Where is she?" Lucas asked as he walked over to Alton "Where is Hanna?" he then asked
"Luke, we don't know yet" Alton said pulling away from Spencer's embrace
"What do you mean you don't know? Al, where is she?" Lucas asked again not taking ignorance as an answer "Tell me where she is!" he demanded
"The doctors are examining her" Alton replied "We'll know more when they're done" he said as Lucas began to pace the floor
"What did it look like to you? I mean was there blood or anything serious?" Lucas asked
"There wasn't any blood, I think she may have just fallen down the staircase" Alton said "Her phone was smashed up pretty good so that could be what happened" he said
"She fell?….what did Kaleb say what happened? I mean was she trying to text as she was coming down or something?" Lucas asked
"He wasn't there when I got there. I came towards three o'clock" Alton said
"Wait, I thought Kaleb was staying the weekend with her?" Emily asked
"He wasn't there when I got there, Hanna was alone" Alton said "I called emergency then I saw her dad's car and I ran over to tell him" he said
"Kaleb must've left early then to head back to the school" Aria concluded by Hanna's boyfriends absence
"Should we call him?" Spencer asked
"No" Lucas quickly replied "Let's just wait and see about Hanna first" he said
"He would want to know" Aria said
"We should just find out about Hanna first then alert the rest if need be" Maya quickly replied knowing that Lucas wanted to be there for Hanna and at was probably the best person to be by her side if need be. Coming to a final conclusion they all turned to look back at Hanna's father who was such a nervous wreck as he awaited news.
Sitting by her bedside holding her hand, Lucas did his best to remain awake but the night had began to get to him and with the day he had it was only bound to. Earlier the doctors had diagnosed Hanna with a sprained arm and a concussion, which meant she had to get her head wrapped up and knowing Hanna she wasn't going to find that the least bit attractive. The doctors weren't eager to release her just yet so they wanted to keep her until they ran a few more tests to see the severity of the concussion due to the fall that she took. Hanna's mother and father had been in and out of the room along with the rest of the gang, but Lucas was determined to be by her side whether it be into the late hours of the night. Beginning to stir awake, Hanna gripped on to Lucas's hand causing him to turn all of his attention towards her as she began to wake up.
"Lucas" Hanna said in a weak voice
"Yeah, it's me" Lucas said pulling his chair closer to her bedside
"My head hurts…really bad. I feel like I'm having twenty hang overs all at the same time" Hanna complained
"That's because you fell down the stairs. You have a concussion so that's normal, and you sprained your arm so don't try to hit me anytime soon" Lucas smiled at her
"I wasn't planning to" Hanna laughed weakly "Everything hurts" she said
"Well it should for a bit but the nurse is suppose to bring you some pain killers to help that out a bit" Lucas said
"I'm going to need them soon" Hanna said as both Lucas and her eyes looked down at their intertwined hands "I felt you here this whole time, it was strange but I felt your hand holding mine" she said
"My hands are pretty memorable, they tend to get sweaty… you always use to say that about me" Lucas smiled "You should know that I was gonna be right here" he said softly
"Never doubted it for a second" Hanna smiled "But here's the question…I fell apparently but you're the one who looks like hell" she said
"You drive me crazy, what can I say you have the effect on me" Lucas laughed "I don't think we need any more tests because your clearly fine" he smiled at her
"No, no. I like the jello and the pudding" Hanna said as Lucas just laughed to himself "I tried buy jello and pudding at the store but they don't taste the same like the hospitals" she said
"I knew you'd say that so I went down to the cafeteria and swiped you some" Lucas said showing her the pile of jello and puddings he had acquired on her tray "But you have to do one thing for me?" he asked her
"What?" Hanna asked as she tore her eyes away from the skyscraping jello and pudding towers
"You have to get some rest, and I'm talking the close your eyes kind of rest. Then you'll get one jello and a pudding" Lucas said
"That's blackmail" Hanna protested
"You're a stubborn woman, I had to fight dirty" Lucas smiled
"Can I have two instead of one of each?" Hanna asked trying to bargain her way into more
"We'll discuss it" Lucas smiled as Hanna's eyelids began to droop heavily as he knew it wouldn't be long until she drifted off into sleep
"You would have made a great father" Hanna said as she began to drift off to sleep as Lucas began to caress the side of her face while she rested her head against the palm of his hand
"Yeah, you would have made a great mother" Lucas replied softly as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead before he lay his head on the spare space that was next to the crook of her neck before falling asleep. Feeling his presence next to him, she began to rest her face against his as if it were second nature to him.
The stiffness of the bed suddenly began to get to her as her once peaceful sleep seemed to be disturbed by the hardness of the bed. Squirming in her sleep she didn't want to open her eyes because she still wanted to sleep but knew if she moved too much that it would irritate her sprained arm. Finding the warmthness of his lips against hers due to how close she had moved in unexpectedly, she opened one eye to see that Lucas was fast sleep. Looking on at how peaceful he looked as he slept she soon got back to the fact that their lips were nearly centimeters apart. Feeling her looking at him, Lucas eyes opened his eyes slowly to see her staring back at him with one eye opened. Leaning forward he captured his lips with his, at first she felt like she was a firework exploding with sparks like it always was whenever they would kiss. Caught up in the intensity she felt as he kissed her she finally was able to regain sense of things to realize that this was wrong.
"We shouldn't" Hanna said breaking the kiss but managed to forget how close they still were "I'm with Kaleb" she said as he looked at her wanting to reveal all and was about to before Hanna's mother and father walked in.
"You guys are awake" Hanna's mother said as she walked over towards the other side of Hanna's bed while Lucas and Hanna slowly pulled away from each other "You guys were asleep earlier when we came in so we just decided to let you sleep longer" she said
"Yeah, those pills finally kicked in" Hanna smiled weakly as she looked on at Lucas to see that he was putting his jacket on "Where are you going?" she turned to ask him
"I'm just going to get something to eat downstairs at the cafeteria, I'll be back" Lucas told her
"If you want I could go get you a burger or something?" Hanna's father asked him
"No, I should stretch my legs out. Hanna might be tired of seeing me there all the time, I'll spare her for an hour or so" Lucas laughed
"I called your mom all ready and updated her. You should still check in" Hanna's mother told Lucas
"Okay. Do you want anything back?" Lucas asked
"No, but thank you Lucas" Hanna's mother said before Lucas pulled out his wallet and left the room
Stepping off the elevator, Lucas made his way inside the cafeteria and grabbed a tray to pick out what he wanted. Going through his cell phone as he skimmed around for another batch of pudding and jello, Lucas noticed that Alton had called him earlier. Once he went up to pay for his items he swore the cashier looked at him strangely because it had been the same lady that had checked him out when he came down the first time with an arm full of puddings and jello, and now he was getting another batch…he had to be the talked about subject in the lunch room he thought. Sitting down at a table to enjoy his food he pulled up Alton's number.
"Hello" Alton answered
"Hey, I just got your call. What's up?" Lucas asked
"How is Hanna?" Alton asked
"Good. There doing more tests but she should be fine" Lucas answered his friend as he let out a sigh "Have you talked to Jake about the latest?" he then asked
"Yeah, he filled me in. Creepy, huh?" Alton asked "I didn't even know Toby had any other family besides his mom and dad, then I always thought his mom died" he said
"Well things are turning for the strange, and I have some twisted feeling in the pit of my stomach that Kaleb had something to do with Hanna's fall" Lucas said
"That'd be a stretch. I mean he may be connected to Toby, but why hurt Hanna?" Alton asked
"Why would Toby go crazy and try to hold us hostage at sea? Nothing seems right anymore, everything feels a bit off" Lucas said
"Maybe, Hanna got my message and Kaleb saw it…got mad and they argued causing Hanna not to pay attention so she falls down the stairs. Kaleb panics and runs off because we all knew he was suppose to leave that day" Lucas suggested
"You've clearly thought about this" Alton said realizing how put together his guess was
"It's Hanna, if this was Spencer wouldn't you be racking your brain trying to figure it all out?" Lucas asked
"I did. I tried to figure this all out but Spencer told me not to" Alton said
"What do you mean?" Lucas asked
"The night of Jenna's accident, Spencer and Alison were spotted arguing at the scene. I confronted Spencer about it and she told me to drop it because I'd be opening up wounds that don't need to be opened. She even went after Jake to make sure I'd drop it" Alton said
"Well I don't care about opening wounds because I'm not just going to accept that Hanna got careless and fell down her staircase. There is something off about Kaleb" Lucas said
"So what do we do? What's the plan?" Alton asked
"We get answers, starting with Kaleb" Lucas said
"When do we start? I mean I highly doubt that you want to leave Hanna's side" Alton asked
"Try and see if Jake can pull up any more information on Kaleb. Do some digging yourself if you have to" Lucas instructed him
"All right" Alton agreed "Just take care of Hanna, I'll take care of things" he said
"Thanks" Lucas said before he ended the call
After finishing up his food down in the cafeteria he had done his best to hang around downstairs so she would have time with her parents. Calling to check in with his mother it was clear that his mother was concerned about her but her worries were put to ease once he told her that things looked pretty good and that she'd be fine, which she all ready knew but hearing her more than once only made it real. He couldn't help but let his mind wander from time to time over what could have possibly happened that would cause Hanna to tumble down the staircase, as many times as he's been over at her house and the many things Hanna's tried to do at once, he's never known Hanna to be that careless. A part of him thought he was zeroing in on Kaleb because he was the person that stood in between Hanna and him, but he knew he had to keep a level head because accusations were the very thing that lead to Toby's demise. The secrets Kaleb kept were the things that just troubled him, and if he could just figure him out then maybe he'd get use to the fact that this was the guy Hanna was with…the guy he had to ultimately had to accept as Hanna's new love. Unable to stay away any longer fearing what else might creep into his head that he'd over analyze in the end, Lucas made his way back into Hanna's room to see she was sitting up trying to watch something on television but her face soon lit up when she saw Lucas come in.
"There you are. I was beginning to think you left" Hanna said as she turned the television off to turn her attention to him
"Where are your parents?" Lucas asked as she sat on the space she allotted for him on the bed beside her
"My mom wanted to stay but I had to literally make her go back to work, and my dad he's outside" Hanna said "He stayed in here a little while after my mom left but it was just awkward" she said "What have you been up to?" she then asked before he pulled out a jello to hand over to her
"You spoil me rotten" Hanna smiled as she quickly opened the jello and began to eat
"I'm sorry about earlier, I just got caught up in the moment and I wanted to kiss you…I was worried to death about you" Lucas said
"It's okay. I probably would have done the same thing if it were you in this bed" Hanna sighed
"That's not normal. We're suppose to be best friends yet we want to kiss each other" Lucas laughed "I mean kissing you is something that never faded with me, but I'm surprised about you" he said
"What? Kissing me, I thought that faded when you didn't want to get back together. I know we had our slip up, but I thought that was something that just faded along with time?" Hanna asked him
"Yeah, well a lot of things lately have thrown me off kilter, but I think we've always made sense to me" Lucas said as he tucked a strand of hair away from her face as she just looked at him confused
"What does that mean?" Hanna asked softly
"It means that no matter how hard I tried or how mad I was at you, shaking you was something I couldn't do" Lucas said
"Okay, Luke…your gonna have to explain this to me as in break it down because it could be the drugs bringing things into perspective and I refuse to let drugs help me comprehend anything your saying because it sounds like your having second thoughts on….second thoughts on us" Hanna said as a moment of silence came between them while Hanna just sat anxiously trying to figure out where this was coming from "It's the pain killers, huh?" she asked
"No, its not. In Jamestown…I just started to realize that I'm not quite over you as I thought" Lucas said as Hanna's face showed nothing but shock "Before you answer…just hear me out" he told her
"Hear you out? Luke, you just said that your still in love with me" Hanna said
"I'm fully aware of what I said, but I also know what you said. That's all I've been thinking about ever since we came back from Jamestown…I've even dreamed about it" Lucas said
"Us?" Hanna asked
"About the baby" Lucas said as Hanna just stared at him "I overheard you and Emily talking about it. I know you weren't really pregnant but you thought you might be so I just thought….hey, what would life be if you were and we had a kid" he told her
"I'm sorry" Hanna replied as tears welled up in her eyes
"No, don't be. I mean we weren't ready, we still aren't. I just really wish we could turn back the clock and undo the mistakes we've made because in my dream we were happy, extremely happy to the point where it was sickening" Lucas said "And I woke up and just kept asking myself why aren't we that couple now? Why aren't we together now?" he said
"Lucas, I'm with Kaleb" Hanna replied
"I know who your with, but I also know what we meant to each other and what we still mean to each other" Lucas said
"Yes, but we're best friends…" Hanna said before Lucas cut her off
"We're not…we're still more and you know it" Lucas replied "Do you ever think about it? Do you ever think about what it would have been like if you were pregnant?" he said
"I try not to. Luke, I cheated on you with the guy you suspected all along. You were on the fast track of going off to college and I was just wanted to be the queen bee again, what type of life could we have offered a kid?" Hanna asked
"So we're bringing up Noel? Wow, I thought that was my thing" Lucas replied
"Well I've come to realize that Noel was just the symbolism of our problems to come and a clear cut reason as to why we couldn't have a child" Hanna said as Lucas sighed in frustration "I know that this was probably hard for you to tell me but I just think we're better off as friends, I'm dating Kaleb…" she said before Lucas cut her off
"Kaleb who has got more secrets than you can imagine" Lucas replied
"Now your just trying to be mean. Don't bring Kaleb into you and me, lets just figure this out to where we'll be okay" Hanna said
"How well do you know Kaleb?" Lucas asked
"Well enough" Hanna replied
"So he's just an open book to you, he tells you everything? Tell me about his family? Tell me about his school? Tell me something concrete about Kaleb?" Lucas asked
"Luke, really? We're in full attack mode now?" Hanna asked a little take a back by the way Lucas was acting about Kaleb
"Because Kaleb hasn't been honest with you" Lucas said
"What hasn't he been honest about?" Hanna asked
"Toby" Lucas replied "He wasn't honest about Toby" he said as Hanna began to tense up at the mention of Toby's name fearing what this all meant
"What about Toby?" Hanna asked
"Kaleb is Toby's step brother. Toby's mother had a son with Toby's uncle, who happens to be Kaleb's father. Kaleb isn't a student at Jamestown, in fact he was never a student there" Lucas told her
"How? How did you find this out?" Hanna asked
"I had someone look into him, something he said seemed a little off and I looked into to see it was a lie so I just kept digging" Lucas said "This wasn't because I was jealous or anything…well partially, but I just knew it was a lie when I heard it" he said
"Uh, I know this might come across as rude, but can you step out for a bit? I kind of want to be alone" Hanna asked him as Lucas slowly got out the bed to look back at her
"Yeah, I can go" Lucas replied sadly "Hanna, I love you and it's taken me a while to get back to that, but regardless if we're together or not I'm always going to protect you and Kaleb is a concern to me. I'm not expecting us to get back together, that's not why I told you but if I seem a bit paranoid and not to trusting of the man in your life its because I love you the most and deep down I know you love me" he said.
"Luke" Hanna called out causing him to turn back "I…never mind" she said trying to muster up the courage to say something that would satisfy him.
"I'll be back later" Lucas replied softly before he left the room. Holding back the tears that were rushing to her all at once in the form of every tangled up emotion possible, Hanna quickly ran her fingers through her hair as she couldn't help but let the tears fall. Letting out a moments worth of tears she forced herself to deal before she reached over to grab the phone.
"Hey, how are you?" Aria answered the phone
"I need you to get Spencer and Emily together. We've got trouble" Hanna told her
Coming outside to catch some fresh air, Lucas began to process the fact that he just practically poured his heart to Hanna. He didn't know what came over him to do that but he felt naked, like the moment had to be then. In his mind he had hoped that when he would tell her that he still loved her that she'd say it back but hearing Kaleb's name come up just made him furious. To have the slightest of inklings that Kaleb wasn't who he said he was and that he managed to still get Hanna infuriated him more than he ever knew. There was never any intention to make Hanna feel like an idiot for being with someone like that but he hoped that she would realize that she needed to be sure about Kaleb. Walking around like a lost puppy he spotted Hanna's father sitting on the curb by himself just looking down at his feet. He had always seen Mr. Marin as arrogant but at this moment he could see that he was just a man concerned about his daughter. Walking towards him, Lucas grabbed a seat next to Mr. Marin which caught him off guard.
"Is she asleep?" Hanna's father asked
"Yeah" Lucas lied "You could have come in, I'm sure Hanna is too sore to be mad at you" he said as Mr. Marin laughed to himself
"I could but then I just feel out of place" Hanna's father said
"What would make you think that? I mean I know what would but why now?" Lucas asked
"Because it just feels like the more I get closer to my daughter it becomes an actual event. With the car accident and now this" Hanna's father said
"But you don't. Hanna is still very much alive" Lucas said
"Yeah, she is. She has you though, I mean its clear that you're the man in her life" Hanna's father said "Some teenage boy has a greater effect on my daughter than I do" he laughed
"Your still her father. I'll never be that to her, I mean I could be the guy that loves her unconditionally the way a father is suppose to but at the end of the day I'm not her father" Lucas said "God, you two are the most stubborn people I know" he sighed
"Hanna stresses you out, huh?" Hanna's father asked him
"She's more like you than you realize, and I wish one of you would just put it out on the table and be honest with each other" Lucas said " My dad recently got checked into rehab, he had a drinking problem. It was hell for a little while being at my house but Hanna was there for me, even when I pushed her away she just kept pushing. Turns out I needed her to be there, in some strange way I needed to know that I wasn't losing my mind in all of this because she was my constant reminder of even when people are at their worst they're still worth loving and fighting for. So yeah, she stressed me out but she brings so much more to my life than I ever thought and I think you two would be good for each other. As much as she can be strong and brave, she still needs her dad" he said
"I thought you hated me. I mean it seems like your supporting a relationship with my daughter" Hanna's father said
"Yeah, because in the end you're the one who will lose out on being in Hanna's life because I tell you as sure as I am that the sky is blue that you have an amazing daughter, who will be great at anything she does with or without college" Lucas replied before his cell phone began to vibrate, not wanting to be rude Lucas motioned to end the call but Hanna's father had stopped him from doing so
"No, take it. I have to go take a shower because I've pretty much been around this hospital all day without one" Hanna's father said as he got up from the curb "I'll see you when I get back?" he asked
"Yes, sir. I will be here" Lucas said before Hanna's father just smiled at him before he made his way over to the parking lot "Hey, what's up?" he answered his phone
"So I've got some great news for you" Jake said excitedly
"Okay, anything that will brighten up my day would be good. Tell me what you got?" Lucas asked
"Well with my superior hacking skills I was able to hack into every facet of Kaleb's life, I mean we're talking the whole enchilada here. I got phone records, transcipts, medical, credit cards, debit cards…anything that can be traced to Kaleb" Jake said
"All right, that sounds very illegal of you. What did you find?" Lucas asked
"Kaleb seems to have frequent contact with a person by the letter A, and a local number as well. A huge lump sum of money was deposited into his account on two separate occasions that are pretty significant" Jake said
"What are the dates on those deposits?" Lucas asked
"August 13, 2007 and January 5, 2008" Jake told him
"By pretty significant, what do you mean?" Lucas asked him
"I mean twenty thousand dollars worth" Jake said "I mean its clear that he didn't have a rich up bringing so I doubt his parents transferred it in to his account, but he got a payday on both of those days" he said
"Is there any way to track where he is now?" Lucas asked
"Well he'd have to make a transaction for me to locate where he is, but I'm sure he'll be spending soon. If you want some real karma on this guy then I can cause some havoc for him" Jake said
"By doing what?" Lucas asked
"Freezing his accounts. Make it impossible for him to spend anything or have access to anything" Jake said as Lucas took a moment to think for a second
Gathering the girls up like instructed, Aria wasted no time getting over to the hospital to hear about the declared trouble that they were in. It had been a while since A had sent her famous messages to horrify the girls but they knew it would only be a matter of time before the messages would return. Closing the door behind her as she was the last to enter the room, Spencer looked around one more time before she took a seat by Hanna's bedside. Looking on at their friend they could tell that she had been crying so whatever it was had to be serious to cause Hanna to be so flustered. Giving Hanna a quick hug, Emily didn't want to let all the attention go to A just yet because it was her duty to be a friend first above everything.
"What happened?" Aria asked as Hanna wiped away a few tears trying to compose herself
"Yeah, I…I was just caught off guard by some stuff" Hanna said
"Like what?" Emily asked
"Lucas and Kaleb" Hanna sighed "Kaleb isn't exactly what I thought he was" she said
"What does that mean?" Spencer asked
"It means Kaleb is Toby's step brother. Lucas looked into him and found out that Toby's mother married Toby's uncle who happens to be Kaleb's father" Hanna said as the girls looked shocked
"Do you think he knows about everything?" Emily asked
"Who?" Hanna asked
"Who? Who else knows?" Spencer asked
"Kaleb. Do you think he's coming back to exact revenge or something?" Emily asked
"If he was then I would think he would have done so by now" Hanna said
"The messages have stopped ever since Kaleb has come" Aria said
"They stopped a while before Kaleb came as well, but then maybe he was just trying to seek one of us out" Emily said
"So what? I'm the dumb blonde he went for?" Hanna asked
"No, it just means maybe Kaleb did his homework on us. Inside connection to us" Spencer said
"Do you think because of that whole little search Alton was doing about that summer? Maybe Alton asked too many questions and that got Kaleb thinking that the answer lie in Rosewood. Then its clear how we were all connected to Allie" Hanna said
"What if we're just jumping the gun on Kaleb. What if he just has a connection to Toby and that's it…nothing to do with what happened to Jenna or A" Emily said
"Aw! I hate this" Hanna lashed out as tears welled up in her eyes "We can manage as much as we can but we're in over our heads thinking that we can control this. There is always going to be someone…somebody that knows something about what we've done or might do. We've sacrificed too much, I've sacrificed too much because of this A and frankly I'm tired of running and hiding from what happened" she cried
"You mentioned something about Lucas? What did Lucas do?" Emily asked
"Luke knows. Lucas overheard us talking about my possible pregnancy. He's been dealing with it, and even wondered what our lives would have been like if we did have a kid" Hanna cried
"Well that's better than what you anticipated" Aria said
"Yeah, it is. I mean the conversation was an actual mature conversation" Hanna smiled weakly "We've been through so much together to the point where I thought Lucas would hate me forever for what I did to him. I actually started to believe I cheated on him when in all actuality I was forced into doing something I didn't want to do because I was trying to protect him" she said
"Where is all this coming from?" Spencer asked
"I'm saying that…Lucas told me that he still loved me" Hanna said as she looked at her friends to survey their responses
"Do you think it'd be wise to get back together? I mean look what you had to do in order to protect him. I'm happy that he's still in love with you but we've got too many secrets and bringing him into them would put him at risk" Spencer said
"For the love of God Spence! There is only so much we can give up until this A just takes our lives over completely" Emily replied "She's sacrificed" she said
"And so has Al, and I don't want to risk him having to possibly lose his best friend because of our mistakes" Spencer said
"That's classy, play the boyfriend card. At least you get to be with the guy you like while I have to continually lie and protect the group" Hanna fired back angrily "So what? You get to make the decisions for me now. You're the boss of us all now. All answers come from you?" Hanna asked her
"No, Hanna and you know that's not what I'm trying to do" Spencer replied
"That's what it feels like!" Hanna yelled "I've sacrificed, what have you sacrificed. You cheated on a test, big whoop. I've had to endure the fact that I gave up my relationship with a boy that I love so much that it hurts. Sometimes I think I love him more than I love myself and if I had the opportunity to go back and undo what I did with Noel…I would. I would tell Lucas everything because I'm not sure lying is worth it anymore" she said
"So it's a competition now? Who gives up the most deserves the sympathy. I have just as much to lose as you" Spencer said
"It's hard being in a relationship in which your one foot in with the other hanging out" Emily said
"Guys, what are we saying here? I mean it sounds like Emily and Hanna want to just go forth with everything" Aria asked
"And what do you want Aria? What do you want to do?" Emily asked
"I want everything and everyone to be safe. Ezra would lose his job if it ever got out that we were involved" Aria said as both Spencer and Emily looked at her shocked by what she had said "Mr. Fitz and I were together, in a manner that could get him fired and black balled from any job" she said
"Wow, the secrets just keep coming out and by the looks of things it seemed Hanna knew" Spencer said looking over at Hanna
"Give it a rest Spencer! Yes, I knew and it was yet another secret I had to keep, but these secrets are getting us nowhere but always fearing what comes next. We're seniors in high school, we should be embracing what comes next but instead we're worrying about what comes next because it could mean the end, and I can't live like this anymore" Hanna said
"Well I'll go the grave with mine because I've worked my ass of to get where I am, and I'm not giving that up" Spencer replied
"And I'm tired of lying" Emily said
"I can't do it. I've got too much to lose, I have to protect myself and Ezra not to mention what this would do to my parents, I can't risk it" Aria said
"So we're all at a stand still" Hanna said as the room filled with silence
"What does this mean for us? We're going to be all right, right?" Aria asked
"No, we're not. I thought we were all in this together but it just seems we all have individual agendas, so maybe…maybe we were better off the way were after Alison died" Hanna said "Separated" she said
"No, that's not the answer. We all need to stick together because that's the only way we'll survive" Aria replied
"This is surviving? This feels like being stuck and hoping that you move along with the current" Hanna replied
"Hanna, we're better together than we are apart" Spencer said
"In the next few moments I'm going to have to come up with a really good lie to tell Lucas that I can't be with him, I'm basically going to have to break his heart and tell him that I don't love him anymore just so I can protect him from me, from what we've created. Excuse me if I don't see the togetherness" Hanna replied
"Guys, we can't end like this. We're best friends, we've been through too much to just let it go. We'll fix this like we always do, I'm sure we will get back to normal but we have to stick together" Spencer declared doing her best to prevent the inevitable from happening
"I think this is as far as we go from here. Don't worry I won't tell Lucas" Hanna sighed as each of the girls slowly rose to their feet looking on at each other as if it were the last time they would see each other
"Hanna" Aria turned to say
"Just go" Hanna said turning away so that she didn't have to look at Aria but only revealed the tears that were strolling down her face to her friend. Each of the girls took one final look back at Hanna before they each left the room.
It felt like he had been driving for hours and the road slowly but surely began to wane on him. The images of Hanna still remained in his mind and at times he felt a twinge of sadness for what he had done but not enough to risk everything, to ruin what they had been working towards. Meeting Hanna had always been a plot point to the overall story of getting away with the perfect murder. It was never suppose to end with him taking the blame, that was the last thing that he wanted to happen but it just seemed to go down that way. Swearing to himself he promised to wreak havoc on those that caused the most pain in his life and it came in the form of a queen bee and her descendants. Noticing that he was running low on gas he pulled over at a gas station. Taking a deep breath he quickly got out the car and headed inside the station to pay for his gas.
"Pump Four" Kaleb told the clerk as he handed over his card
"How much?" The clerk asked
"Just let it run until I get a full tank" Kaleb said as he began to walk away
"Your card was declined" The clerk called out as Kaleb turned around
"What?" Kaleb asked
"Your card was declined" The clerk replied before Kaleb walked over with his wallet out ready to hand him another card
"Try this one then" Kaleb sighed in frustration as the clerk took the card to run it and the same beeping sound occurred like once before
"Declined" The clerk told him as Kaleb grabbed his cards and angrily walked outside. Pulling his cell phone out he immediately called to get some answers.
"My cards are declined! I don't want to stay another day in this hick town so I suggest you put some money into my account or else I will not be a happy camper. Fix this!" Kaleb yelled "X. O. A" he then said before he hung up the phone and made his way over towards the car
Looking out at the window she began to have memories flood back to her of what it felt like to look out on the stars, a time when looking at the stars meant more than just an act of self realization. In her heart she knew that she cared for Kaleb, and that he was the guy that she would typically fall for when she became the new and improved Hanna after Alison died, but he heart had been taken long before she met Kaleb. Coming into her room with a cup of coffee in hand, she could see that he was tired and had hardly gotten any sleep since he spent every waking moment at the hospital. Taking a seat beside her bed, he leaned back in his chair trying to get adjusted in his seat as she took a moment to compose herself.
"Do you think they'll have anything good on tonight?" Lucas asked her as leaned over to grab the remote control
"Probably not. You know, you don't have to stay tonight. My dad has been circulating around outside so I'm sure I'll be watched" Hanna said
"I'm not leaving you. I mean we've clearly got a long night ahead of us" Lucas said as he took his jacket off so that he could use it as a pillow
"What you said earlier? I want to talk about it, I think we need to clear some things up" Hanna said after she took a moment to compose herself
"You mean about Kaleb?" Lucas asked
"No, about us" Hanna said "I think we need to finally decide" she said
"Decide? I didn't know we both had to decided anything" Lucas laughed
"I'm in love with him" Hanna quickly replied as Lucas just looked at her trying to figure her out "I couldn't help it but I'm in love with Kaleb. You're my first love and that will never change but I'm in love with someone else" she said as she tried to hold back the tears that she was forcing to hold
"Oh, so you love Kaleb now? Your in love with a guy you barely even know…that's insane" Lucas declared
"You can't help who you love, right?" Hanna replied "I want us to still be friends, we've worked too hard to let it go so easily" she said
"No, we've worked to hard to get back to us for you to throw it away on someone you barely even know. We're real, not Kaleb and you" Lucas said
"Say what you want but I love him. I know that we have to work through some things but every couple has to…its all about putting the work in" Hanna said before Lucas just let out a slight laugh as he rose to his feet
"This is crazy. I mean this is really crazy. You love Kaleb?" Lucas asked
"Is it that hard for you to believe?" Hanna asked him angrily "I messed up and you kept hanging it over my head, we're only suppose to be friends…nothing more and we'd be lying to ourselves if we think we could be more" she yelled
"That's a lie! We are more. Has our road been easy? No, but every relationship has their good and bad" Lucas replied
"Which is why I have to give Kaleb the same chance. We've hit the bad but I believe because of our love we will be good again" Hanna said
"Fine. Believe what you may on him, but your not fooling me one bit with this because I know by the way you kissed me and when we made love that you still love me as much as I love you. All your saying are words, but I know your heart and he's not it" Lucas replied as Hanna's hand began to tremble underneath the blanket fearing she wouldn't be able to keep up the act she had to put on "You've got your secrets, and as soon as I figure them out I promise you that I'll love you still the same. You're a fool to think that this isn't real because this is, and you know it" he said before he grabbed his jacket
"Where are you going?" Hanna asked unable to hide the desperation in her voice
"I'm giving you your space, but I'm not going anywhere…not by a long shot" Lucas said before he left the hospital room. Doing her best to hold it together, Hanna just couldn't do it any longer, her day had been one hell after the other and she just couldn't keep the charade up any longer as she just broke down and cried her eyes out. Entering into the room carrying a smoothie in hand for Hanna, her father was caught off guard to see his daughter crying. Seeing her father, Hanna tried to straighten up but it was pointless.
"What's wrong?" Hanna's father asked unsure as to what he should do
"Nothing. Can you just…go. I don't want you to see me like this" Hanna cried as her father just stood there trying to think of what he should do before he just did the only thing he instinctively could think of. Putting the smoothies down on the dresser, he walked over to her side and pulled her into a hug. "No, no. I don't need you to hold me, I didn't need it then and I don't need it now" she refused as she tried to pull away but he held his grip on her
"I know, but I want to" Hanna's father replied as she tried to fight back through the tears but his grip was still tight enough to hold her before she just succumbed to it and allowed her father for at one point in her life to be her father.
Hitting the final switch that cut off all the powers in the station so that it came across completely abandoned, Kaleb stood over the clerks lifeless body as the blood spilled from his gun shot wound. Taking off his gloves, Kaleb grabbed the shot gun and placed up against the counter before he began to walk around messing up the station to make it seem like it was a robbery. Walking down the aisles just trashing the place he soon felt the vibration of his cell phone go off. Tugging on his pants pocket he pulled the phone out and quickly saw that it was Mona calling him. Letting out a slight sigh of annoyance because Mona wasn't exactly his favorite person to pass the time with.
"Yes" Kaleb answered the phone
"Where are you?" Mona asked
"Somewhere. Where are you?" Kaleb asked
"Uh, back in Rosewood. Hearing news that Hanna Marin is in the hospital, did someone get the voices again?" Mona asked "That wasn't a part in the plan" Mona scolded him
"Yeah, well I had to improvise. Her little twit of an ex-boyfriend is on to me" Kaleb said "I believe the words were we have to talk, I have questions about Kaleb" he said
"Well that's your fault for trying to be friends with everyone. Did you hurt Hanna?" Mona asked
"I did what I had to do" Kaleb replied "She's alive isn't she?" he asked
"But you could have killed her, I know you're a little off the deep end but that's a bit much…she is your girlfriend" Mona said
"Not by choice. What is the word on my accounts?" Kaleb asked
"They've been frozen. A tried to do a transaction but nothing" Mona replied
"Frozen. Really?" Kaleb asked angrily
"There's not much we can do" Mona said
"That's okay. I think I've got this one" Kaleb said as he walked over towards the shot gun to grab
"What are you talking about?" Mona asked annoyed
"I'm coming home, I don't think I've got the full tour of Rosewood" Kaleb said before he hung up the phone and loaded the shot gun. Kneeling down he dug in the guys pocket and retrieved a wallet along with keys. Sifting through the wallet he pulled out the credit cards then flung the wallet to the side before he got up and walked out of the station with shot gun in hand. "Heads will roll" he said