Chapter 29:

The Ice Kept Getting Thinner

"Are you sure I can't buy you something? A coffee? One of the muffins they have up there…?" Caleb asked for probably the thirteenth time since Hanna had first sat down in the vacant chair beside him.

She smiled and shook her head, "Nah, I'm good." She replied, pushing a lock of hair out of her face.

It was oddly calming talking to him, Hanna decided. Like nothing had happened between them in the first place. Nothing…yet everything.

"I heard that Spencer fell into some trouble. Is she alright?" Caleb asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Hanna nodded, closing her eyes tight to block out the memory that threatened to return to her mind. "Yeah. She's better. She had some stitches, but she's back to perfect health again."

"That's good." Caleb answered, a gentle smile on his face.

He looked good, Hanna thought. Happy.

Like he had grown up a couple decades in a few short weeks.

Had Hanna grown at all? Was she still that same girl to him?

Of course she was. She always would be. No matter how old she got, how much she worked to change herself, when it came back down to Caleb…she would always be that fashion-conscious blonde girl who talked about Justin Bieber that one day in detention when they had their first real conversation.

She looked up from her lap and met his gaze, and suddenly their superficial conversation melted away, like the icy snow outside. She peered into his soft brown eyes, their unguarded gaze, and it felt as though the last few months hadn't even happened. Like they were back to their old high school selves, breaking into phones and being promiscuous in Spencer's lake house…

The memories returned to Hanna like whiplash, burning behind her eyes and threatening to pull her down under.

She cleared her throat, shaking her head and blinking a few times to bring herself back to into the moment. "You know, word on the street is that she's going to pop the question to Toby on New Years." She said with a coy smile.

Caleb burst into a fit of laughter, "What? She's proposing to him?" He asked, clearly having a field day with the idea, "Oh God, I should just go over and take his man card right now…"

"What?! I think it's sweet!" Hanna said, playfully smacking his shoulder, "And very Spencer-esque! She's always wanted to one-up him on the romance; now, she can."

"Yeah, but isn't a proposal like the last romantic thing that a guy gets to do before they're of equal partnership?" Caleb asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I guess." Hanna shrugged. "But it's what Spencer wants to do."

"No…something tells me that you had something to do with this, Hanna Marin. This has you written all over it."

"Well…maybe I started the idea, but Spencer loved it anyway!" She insisted, wagging her finger at him in order to prove her point.

Caleb laughed again, "I guess some things never change." He said softly. His voice trailed off and he got a meaningful look in his eyes, followed by a soft smile, as if a memory had distracted him for a moment. When he looked up at her again, she smiled back, and then peered out the window.

"So…how have you been?" She asked him casually, as if the question wasn't killing her to ask it.

"Fine." Caleb replied carefully, turning his empty coffee up around in his hands.

"I'm uh…" She cleared her throat, "Kind of surprised to see you back here in Rosewood."

"Hanna, I'm not leaving just yet." He answered, catching her drift.

"Oh." She said, her eyes still not moving from the window. She feared that if she looked back at him, her wall of strength would crumble to bits and she'd break down on her knees and beg him to stay. "When are you leaving, then?"

"Some time after the new year." He shrugged, as if the answer wasn't the last thing she wanted to hear, "The semester doesn't start up until mid January. So I still have time to pack up my stuff."

"But you're transferred already?" The question came out blunter than Hanna intended.

Caleb was silent for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah. All the paperwork is filled out."

His words made the lump in her throat freeze. She cleared the throat, attempting to even her voice. "I see. Well…I'm happy for you." She said finally, gathering the strength to look him in the eye. He was quiet for a moment, and his eyes narrowed as they searched hers, seeking for answers behind her words. She stood her ground, and when he could find none, he finally replied.

"Thanks." He said evenly. "That means a lot…coming from you."

She nodded, her face still a mask of cool, calm, effort. "You're welcome. It'll be…nice for you to see your mom again. And see her more often."

"Yeah." Caleb replied.

Suddenly, Hanna felt as though she was back in her foyer, in the doorway of her house, shedding a few tears as Caleb said his goodbyes for the first time to her, just before leaving to visit his mother in Montecito. They had both been so young then…

"I have one very good reason to come back…You."

The memory rushed back to Hanna at full speed, and she was powerless to stop it. She looked away in an attempt to control the tears that she knew were coming on. She faked an eyelash in her eye and began to scrub at her face, desperate the hide what she knew was coming.

"Uhm, yeah. Yeah, so did you get your mom anything fun for Christmas?" She asked lamely, frantic to keep up conversation and push the bad thoughts away.

Get it together, Hanna, she scolded herself, What happened to being strong? You have Will now. Why are you freaking out like this?

But of course she knew the reason. It didn't matter how strong she was. Or how weak she could get. No matter what happened, some things would never change.

He would always be her weakness.

Caleb seemed disappointed that she had said something – or maybe just that she had said something that lacked importance – but he answered, "Yeah, I'd been saving up for that Tiffany necklace for her, remember?"

"Oh yeah, of course." Hanna shook her head. "Are you going to give it to her when you get there?" She asked.

"Just stop it, Hanna." He said softly, under his breath.

"Stop what?" She asked.

"Pretending like everything that happened between us never happened at all."

She looked up at him and he stared straight into her eyes, not once breaking concentration.

"It's real." He went on slowly. "It happened. You don't have to avoid it and pretend it doesn't exist."

He was right. It did exist. It condensed the air around them and threatened the crush them under its weight.

She looked at him for a moment longer, wondering what she could say. What would be the right thing to say. The old Hanna would have rolled her eyes, snorted, and pulled out some snappy line about how it was his fault that they were this messed up to begin with.

But she was not the old Hanna. And he clearly wasn't the old Caleb.

"I'll see you around, Caleb." She said finally, offering a tight smile and shouldering her bag. She got up and walked stiffly towards the door, feeling his eyes burn holes into her back. But she kept her posture and her pace, moving for the exit. Pushing the door open, she made her way down the street, back towards to the curb where her car was parked. When she opened the door, she got inside, and set her purse on the passenger's seat. Letting her forehead fall against the steering wheel, Hanna let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and began to cry.

"Whoa, stick those karats in your soup, Mrs. Smith!" Aria exclaimed, fanning herself with her hand as if the very existence of Spencer's engagement ring was too hot to handle.

Spencer laughed and pulled her hand back, holding up her ringed finger into the light. "It does sort of have a twinkle to it, doesn't it?" She replied, basking in the glory of it.

Emily wolf-whistled, "That is one big rock you got there, Spence." She marveled.

Spencer turned towards her, "Well, I'm shocked that it surprises you – after all, you have known about this for God knows how long…"

"Hey, I knew that Toby was planning to pop the question! If you had done it first, it would have messed up the whole traditional mumbo-jumbo!" Emily defended herself. Next to her, Samara giggled and took another sip of her mocha. Spencer noticed that Emily was sporting the beanie that Samara had given her for the holidays.

"Oh, and I'm sure you're the one who convinced him not to take the job interview too?" Spencer replied snidely, only half-joking.

"What?" Toby asked, incredulous, "You knew about that?"

"Oopsies." Spencer sat back in her chair and busily applied herself to her coffee.

The two of them had met up with Emily, Samara, and Aria over coffee that morning. Thankfully, their local coffee shop stayed open during the mornings of holidays, having the full knowledge that the caffeine-dependent college students of Rosewood would be more than willing to pay for their products.

Sadly, Ezra had been roped into having breakfast with his brother, Wes, who had come to town for the sole purpose of getting away from Diane Fitzgerald – their crazy mother. So, Aria had quickly made arrangements to meet them.

Hanna, on the other hand, had sent a quick, short text to the group, informing them that a prior engagement had reared its ugly head and she was unable to attend. Spencer had made a mental note to speak to her about it later.

"How did you find out?" Toby pushed further.

"Gee, is that a new head-scarf, Aria…?"

"Spencer." He said sternly.

"Your boss told me." She said finally, just to get him off her back.

"Well, you didn't think I was actually taking it, did you?"

"Well, it was a great opportunity for you!"

"Why didn't you tell me you knew?"

"Because I didn't want to influence your decision!"

"Well, if you can't tell by now, the boy's head-over-heels in love with you, so it was really never a serious question about him leaving you or not." Aria intervened, clearly fed up with this conversation. "Now, please, can you both just smooch it up and act like the happy engaged couple you are? Because this is really dampening the 'love is eternal' thing you've got going here."

Toby chuckled and Spencer grinned, her nose crinkling as he pressed a quick kiss to her temple, his arm thrown loosely around her shoulders.

"Now tell me." Samara said seriously, "When's the big day?"

"Well, after Aria's of course. But we haven't exactly had time to piece together the details. I mean, just twelve hours ago, I was still a bachelorette."

"Uhm, I seem to recall you being in a completely monogamous relationship for the past four years…" Toby said, feigning confusion.

"Shut up, you know what I mean." Spencer said, playfully elbowing him in the ribs. He dropped another kiss on the side of her face, seemingly unable to stop himself from constantly touching her in some way.

Aria smiled and cocked her head to the side, "Aww, look at you two! You're like a married couple already!"

The five of them laughed and Emily held up her coffee cup, "I think that this calls for a toast."

"Naturally." Samara agreed, raising her cup as well.

Emily cleared her throat and faked seriousness as the other three held up their cups as well, "To Spencer and Toby – or as they are more affectionately called by some: "Spoby." May they have many happy, loving years ahead of them, starting with this wonderful engagement. Bring forth for them times of love and hope for the future. Help them continue to cherish each other and for us, as friends, to help them every step of the way."

Toby and Spencer looked at each other as Emily offered up her kind words, and Toby kissed the tip of Spencer's nose, causing her eyes to crinkle in a grin. When Emily finished, the five of them clanked their cups together, and Aria cried out in the midst of it, "To Spoby!"

"You know I think that Romeo would have lived longer if he would have done some research on Juliet's supposed death. You know, rather than freaked the hell out immediately and hurried to Verona to off himself." Spencer observed, popping another piece of popcorn in her mouth.

"What? Do I hear the infamous Spencer Hastings criticizing the famous works of Shakespeare?" Toby asked in faux surprise.

"Well, I'm just saying! He was kind of stupid for doing something like that."

"Didn't you always call it romantic…?"

"Well, yeah. But it doesn't mean that something that's romantic is always smart."

The two of them were cuddled together on Toby's sofa, their feet intertwined as they were propped up on the coffee table, watching the final scene of Leonardo DiCaprio's version of their favorite love story. As a holiday tradition, they would engage in some snappy wordplay and suchlike while watching it, before indulging in some classic Christmas movies, like It's A Wonderful Life, and Annie. Truthfully, it was Spencer's favorite part of the holiday. After saying countless holiday greetings to her friends and family, she finally got to crash with Toby on the couch. Have him all to herself…

Even more now that they were an engaged couple.

Spencer was mildly sad (read: jumping for absolute joy) that her parents were spending the holidays in Spencer's aunt's beach house on Nantucket, so they were therefore unable to receive the joyful news.

It wasn't that Spencer was ashamed to marry Toby…it was just that she knew how sensitive her parents were to the idea of marriage at such a young age. After Melissa, who had gone out and eloped with a man who ended up dying a month after the ceremony, they got the dear-in-headlights look when anyone in the family even brought up the topic of marriage. She was still in the process of searching for a way to convey her feelings calmly to her parents: how much she wanted this. How much she knew that Toby was the one for her. How she didn't want to wait any longer to make it official.

She had gone to college. She had been exposed to other men, like her mother had encouraged her to. But all roads led back to who truly had her heart: Toby. Spencer knew that he always would. That he was her forever.

And honestly, she didn't even care how much she sounded like the moody, overly dramatic Bella Swan. She was ready to scream to the world her feelings. She wasn't afraid for people to know of their love.

Which is why she needed to find a way to come across to her parents in a mature, adult, less-desperate way.

Toby kissed the top of her head, "Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you the doors of breath, Seal with a righteous kiss." He quoted low in her ear in sync with Leo's solid lines. She giggled into the popcorn bowl.

"We're well on our way to being Romeo and Juliet, now that we've got the marriage part in motion…" She said.

"Well, let's hope we don't go all the way…" Toby said cautiously. "Because I can think of some great ways to be collapsed over you, but under the context of being dead isn't one of them."

Spencer laughed and elbowed him. "You know what I mean."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Ah, right on schedule." Spencer checked her watch. Earlier, she had texted Melissa to stop by with Taylor and exchange holiday greetings. She disentangled herself from Toby and shuffled across the carpet in her slippers. Opening the door, she smiled, expecting to see her sister and her lovely niece waiting on the other side, wearing expressions of Christmas cheer. Instead, as she pulled the door away, she saw only Melissa standing there, illuminated by the ghostly light of the apartment hallway. She wore a grave expression on her face, and her arms were crossed tightly. Her eyebrows were knit, and she looked nearly desperate.

"Hey." Spencer said cautiously, her face contorting in suspicion.

"I have something to tell you." Melissa replied quickly, refusing to beat around the bush.

"I do too." Spencer answered, smiling once more.

"You first." Melissa said softly.

"No, you."

"We'll say it together."

"Alright, at the count of three." Spencer said, gleeful despite her sister's odd disposition. "One, two, three…" She counted off.

"I'm getting married!" She said, holding out her left hand to showcase the ring.

"Wren's gone." Melissa said coldly at the same time.

Realization slowly permeated Spencer's face, and her hand dropped back by her side. The two of them stared at each other for a long moment, and Spencer watched as a single tear dropped down her sister's face.

It was the first time she'd seen her cry over Wren since Spencer's junior year in high school.

And she feared that it wouldn't be the last.

how do you guys feel about the haleb chit-chat? kinda icy, huh? ;) they'll get a whole lot of interaction in these future chapters, but Will is set to be returning to rosewood sooner than later... ;)

it looks like spoby is happy for now. but this is rosewood, after all... and who knows that better than us tormented spoby shippers?

keep the reviews coming! i love all of your lovely thoughts! if i can get over 295, ill update before the weekend ends! :)

live. love. spoby.

AJ ;)