"Hanna!"
His voice sounds so far, so faded.
"Hanna! God, Hanna, please wake up!"
She can hear it, but it still sounds so distant... So unreachable.
Is she dying or what?
Well, maybe. But she's not dead yet. Because she can feel his arms engulfing her tiny, cold, aching body.
"Hanna... Hanna, please..."
His tone is way softer now. He's not screaming anymore, he's sort of whispering. And sobbing, to be honest. Because he's crying, softly, but he is.
He can't accept all of that. He won't accept it. He has just found her back, she has just found him back, they have just found their way back to each other after years. This can't be happening right now. And he's blaming himself too, because he was stupid not to check the damn floor of that motel room. Hanna is lying unconscious in his arms because of him, he knows that.
"Hey... You can't do this to me, you hear me? Stay strong, okay? The ambulance is already on its way, it's coming for you. You... You just have to stay with me, okay? Just that, Han. Please, stay with me..."
She can hear him. But she can't do much to make him know that. She literally can't move. However, now that she can feel him that close to her, she actually thinks she won't die.
Because no matter how long it takes, he always comes for her. And he's always, always on time.
"Everything's gonna be alright, I promise. I promise on my life. I love you, okay?"
Hell no, she definitely won't die. She owes the love of his life an 'I love you' back.
She doesn't know how she went totally unconscious after that. She doesn't remember basically anything after the feeling of Caleb holding and speaking to her in the middle of nowhere. What she knows is that she's waking up now, and even though the pain hasn't gone, at least she's not cold anymore. Slowly, her eyes adjust to the light of the room, and she uses a minute or so to remember how to use her body. Only then, she finally makes up the figure of her mom sitting on a chair next to what looks like her hospital bed, and she decides to speak... Try to, at least.
"Mom?"
Her own voice sounds horrible, she immediately thinks, as soon as she hears it. It came out raspy and throaty, not to mention that it could been just barely heard. And her mom looks like she's sleeping, so of course she doesn't hear her. But Hanna doesn't give up, she never does. So this time she takes a breath and tries to speak louder, and maybe she actually does.
"Mom?"
That's when Ashley Marin opens her eyes and wakes up, immediately focusing her attention on her daughter.
"Hanna? Oh, sweetie, how are you feeling?" she asks concerned, coming closer to her and holding both of her hands.
"Well, I've been better."
Ashley half-smiles, caressing Hanna's cheek.
"Mom, what happened?" the blonde asks again.
Ashley sighs deeply before replying.
"We don't know exactly... You were found unconscious at the church. The doctors said you've been hit on the head by something heavy, that's how you passed out. But other than that... We don't know. But I swear to God, we'll take whoever did this to you, okay?"
Hanna nods weakly.
"Caleb... Caleb found me, right?" she asks then.
Her mom nods.
"You remember that?" she asks then.
"Not exactly, but... Well... Ugh, you know, now it's not really the best time to explain things, mom."
Ashley genuinely smiles and nods in understanding.
"Where is he now?" Hanna asks.
"He's outside with your friends. The doctors told us that just one person could stay here with you since you need space and rest, honey. So your friends decided to let me in, although they didn't go away."
"Can I see him? Just... Just for a minute, mom. Please." Hanna blurts out.
Ashley is kind of surprised by that.
"Jordan should be here any minute, he took the first flight available." the redhead adds quickly, but Hanna replies immediately.
"Mom, I... I want Caleb, not Jordan."
And even if Ashley doesn't know it yet, that sentence couldn't be more true.
"Okay." the woman breathes out then, standing up from the chair.
"Mom?" Hanna calls from the bed as Ashley makes its way to the door.
"Yeah?" her mom says as she turns around.
"Thank you."
And that's a 'thank you' for a lot of things: for being there, for not asking any questions, for respecting her will, for never leaving her alone. Ashley knows that Hanna will make everything clear to her and to everyone, but she also knows that she has to respect her time.
In fact, Ashley smiles and nods before finally leaving her room.
Hanna takes a deep breath. She doesn't know what to tell Caleb. She's not sure how to act around him either. They did have their moment earlier that night, sure, but the ring on her left hand confirms that she's still an engaged woman and for what she knows, he has something going on too...with her bestfriend, who's most likely outside her room as well.
But the only thing she knows is that she wants to see him.
And just as she thinks that, he finally enters the room, a worried expression on his face and his clothes dirty.
"Hanna..." he breathes out, running to her bed.
Before she knows, he's hugging her, and she immediately feels better.
"You okay?" he whispers again, still holding her.
"I am now." she spontaneously replies, and he can't stop the smile that's rising on his face.
He pulls away slightly and fixes a few loose strands of her hair, gently moving them behind her ears as he sat down on the chair previously occupied by her mom. She searches for his hand and he gladly offers it to her, who takes it and gives it a light squeeze.
"I know you rescued me." she whispers, smiling.
He chuckles and shakes his head before replying.
"I did nothing. Just found you and called 911."
"And you call it 'nothing'?"
He chuckles again, looking down at their joined hands.
"Thank you." she adds, and he shakes his head again.
"Don't thank me, Han. It's okay. The important thing is that you're safe now."
"I'd be dead if it wasn't for you, Caleb."
He bits his lip and looks up at her.
"I'm sorry." he whispers then, and his eyes are suddenly watery.
Hanna furrows an eyebrow in confusion.
"Hey... You're sorry for what?" she asks.
He shakes his head.
"I should have checked the floor before promising you were safe. And I... I should have waited for you...that night." he murmurs.
Hanna feels her heart crack at the memory, and it cracks even more seeing him blaming himself just like she's been blaming herself for the past few years.
"It wasn't your fault. I messed up everything for my stupid job... I left the apartment first that night. I took you for granted, I was a selfish idiot." she replies, trying to hold back her tears.
"But I didn't wait for you, I didn't even give you the chance to contact me... Things should have just gone differently. We could've avoided so much pain."
"I know." she just nods.
They stay silent for a little, then Hanna catches sight of her own engagement ring and realization hits her.
"You know, we... We haven't really talked about... What we did..." she stutters, embarassed.
Caleb sighs.
"Well... Actually, I talked with Spencer earlier." he says then.
Hanna doesn't know whether it's better that he did it without her or not.
"What... What exactly did you tell her?" she asks hesitantly.
"I... I told her the truth. Look, yesterday she... She told me that she loved me. But I couldn't say it back to her, and then I realized that even if at first I thought we could work, actually I was taking my life to the wrong way. I didn't feel the same, that's why I couldn't tell her that I loved her. Because I've always loved you. I only fell in love with one person in my whole life, and I still love this person... You. I will never be able to stop loving you, Hanna. My heart has always belonged to you. Look... I don't know what you want to do now. About us, your wedding, Spencer... Honestly, I don't know. I know that you love me, and I also know what happened between us just a few hours ago, but... I just want you to decide what you really want, with no pressure. I just want you to do what truly makes you happy. I know you feel sorry for Spencer, and I do too, but I don't want to pretend things with her, nor keep deceiving her. She doesn't deserve it. She might be pissed off at us for a while, but she'll get over that. I'm sure that she doesn't really love me like that, and soon she'll realize it, she's smart enough. Look, I'm sorry that this whole mess happened, and I told you, I really wish things were different right now. I'm so, so sorry that this isn't the situation that you would have deserved. But we're in this situation now, and I'm telling you... I don't regret making love to you earlier, not even a little bit, despite this whole situation. I know we probably hurt other people doing that, but we've suffered for too long in the first place and I'm sure we'll both deal with the consequences of our actions, we're not kids anymore and we know we have to take our responsabilities. But now that I also know what happened that damn night in New York, I couldn't be more sure that what I want is a life with you. And tonight the thought of losing you just made it all even clearer. I can't live without you, I can't keep taking my life to some random directions before realizing that they're all wrong. Because my life can only go one way...yours. I've always been a very complicated person, I never really liked people in general and I lived with a broken heart because of my past until I met you. You changed my life in so many wonderful ways and you made me know things about me that I didn't even know. You turned the little dark corner that my life was into an endless space full of so many amazing colors that I didn't even know existed. And you did it simply being you, letting me slowly know you, all of your beautiful little things. And if today I'm the man I am, it's also because of you. Because you taught me the meaning of the word 'love' and made me a better person. And a person like me, who hadn't had many beautiful things from life before you, could never get over a person who has given him this much. I don't know, maybe I'm being ridicolous, but... What I'm trying to say is that... You're my life, Hanna. I mean it. And whatever you decide, I'll respect your choice. But remember that I'll always be there for you. You're the only direction my life can take, and... This time I won't make the mistake of not waiting for you."
Hanna is crying by now. His whole speech has literally filled her heart, it was so bittersweet but yet so full of love that her heart's literally exploded. She feels a bunch of different emotions right now, but when she looks at him she knows he means every word he just said, and it only feels so good. No one has ever told her things like those, and knowing that it's him telling them, completely honestly, really touches her.
He is the one, but she knew it even before hearing him say those things.
Sure, she feels sorry for Spencer, also thinking that she has said the three words to Caleb, but she doesn't know him like Hanna does... So she can't actually love him, not the way Hanna does.
She knows she will feel sorry for Jordan too, because he's a very good guy, but that's exactly why he doesn't deserve a false marriage. She will tell him the truth just like Caleb did with Spencer. Hanna never hides herself, she has to talk with Jordan and she sure will, also hoping he will find a girl who loves him like he deserves.
But this time, it's her turn to be happy and no one will ruin that.
Through her tears, she smiles at Caleb and squeezes his hand tighter. He returns her smile, a little unsure because he needs her to tell him that what she wants is him before jumping into conclusions.
"I heard you when I was unconscious at the church." she finally says.
Caleb is a little lost. That wasn't exactly the reaction he was expecting from her after all the things he's just told her.
"What... What did you hear?" he asks then, uncertainly.
"Things. Anyway, the only thing you need to know is that... I love you too."
He furrows his eyebrows but smiles. It always melts his heart to hear those three words fall from his favorite lips. And those same lips are suddenly closer to his ones, and she leans in just enough to join then in a meaningful and delicate kiss.
"And... Of course I choose you. I will always choose you." she whispers finally, and he feels like life couldn't be more beautiful.
They smile at each other, then laugh, and then they're once again kissing, mumbling against each other's lips all the 'I love you's they haven't said for years, forgetting for a moment of all the bad things, because tonight they have found back the most beautiful thing in life...
Love.
And boy, had they missed it.
"This time l'll never let you go." he whispers, nudging his nose against hers.
"Don't worry, I'll never let you go either." she smiles at him.
A/N: And that was the final chapter of "Love doesn't just go away" — sorry for the long wait :) I hope you enjoyed it! The first two chapter were almost completely dialogue-less, and it was my choice to write them in that descriptive form, so here I felt like they finally needed to talk. Also, I didn't want to bring Spencer or Jordan directly in here —in fact there's just a little Ashley Marin's cameo, but the only characters of the whole story are Hanna and Caleb— because this is a Haleb story and I kind of didn't want them to be part of the story :P But Hanna and Caleb are both sure of what they want to do, so... ;) Also, I really hope Caleb's speech was good enough, not too cheesy not too forced. I tried to make him say all the things I think he feels for Hanna and the way I think he feels about the whole situation, so... Nothing, I hope it was decent :P And the first part of this chapter is kind of "blurry" because I wanted to write it from Hanna's perspective, since we don't even really know what exactly happened to her at the church :/ So that's it. I hope this short story was nice to read, and I'd like to know it from you guys :) However, stay tuned because I'll be back soon with my new Haleb AU, I have some chapters already written, they just need to be edited, so... Sooner or later you're gonna have them, I promise ;) Thank you as always for all of your kind words, if you want to tell me something else about this final chapter, I'll be glad to read it, so leave me a review :) Have a nice day and remember to stay tuned for the new AU ;) Love you guys! xx -Atramea.