Okay so a) sorry this took so long to update! Life got away from me, and so did this story. It was supposed to be something of a two-parter but it keeps growing in my mind. b) this is officially an AU now I guess. Obviously this doesn't follow Caleb's actual return to the show. I am getting some inspiration from the recent episodes though!

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Stay tuned for the next one (hopefully sooner than this one!)

She saw him sitting at the back, by the stairs. She'd just walked into the Brew, and scanned the place before she'd even ordered anything. He was doing something on his laptop, and doing that thing with his lip that he always did when he was trying to concentrate. If it wasn't for his shorter hair it would look like nothing had changed. She felt a pang in her gut, knowing exactly how much had changed since he left.

She liked the hair. She didn't say anything when he came to the hospital, because everything was felt surreal at the time, but it looked good on him. She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss his longer hair though, because she definitely made good use of it when they were together. But she wasn't about to let that slip. To anyone.

She turned to the counter to order a coffee and then moved towards the back of the cafe. She held tightly onto her bag. She couldn't afford to let anything happen to it, not tonight. He was still preoccupied with whatever he's doing on his laptop, so he didn't even see her coming.

"I can only stay for a bit. I promised my mom I'd have dinner with her and Ted," she said, the words coming out way too fast. She had a feeling her mouth wasn't going to listening to her head much tonight.

"Hey -" he started before he even looked at her. But he stopped when he finally lifted his gaze to her.

"What?" She asked, slightly weirded out by the way he was staring at her. She dropped herself into the chair opposite him and stared back.

He shook his head, blinking a couple times. "You, uh, you just look different. You changed your style."

"I do that a lot, Caleb," she sighed, "In ninth grade I wore these weird hippie skirts."

Truth is, she did change her style. But she was so tired of explaining it to everyone who saw her. Why couldn't people let her wear what she wanted without making it a big deal?

He opened his mouth, but seemed to decide against saying anything so she just looks at him pointedly. "Besides, I'm not the only one who got a haircut."

His lips curled into a quick smile. "Okay, let's call it even in the change department." He was looking at her more fondly now and she couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Deal. What are you even doing?" She asked, eyeing his laptop.

Caleb groaned, "Studying. Hackett says I can come back to Rosewood High, but he wants me to take some make up work to prove that I actually went to school in Ravenswood."

"Lame."

"Tell me about it," he says, making a face before he smiles at her, "Thanks for calling though, I could use the break."

She wasn't sure what to say to that, but she was saved by the waitress bringing her coffee to the table. She smiled in thanks and took the opportunity to take a breath and remember why she called him in the first place.

"How 'bout you tell me what happened in Ravenswood? Are you really done with that place?"

Caleb sighed, taking a gulp of his own coffee. "I'm still kind of not sure what happened in Ravenswood," he quirked his lips and tried to sound light. But she could tell that whatever happened had been serious. "I'm not planning to go back there any time soon."

"And what about Miranda?" She hadn't planned to ask about Miranda so soon, but her mouth had already decided it was running the show tonight.

"Miranda's gone too. Sort of."

"So she's still dead?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Caleb nodded, "Believe me, that's not even the craziest part."

She took a sip of her coffee, letting the hot liquid coat her throat. She hoped it would make everything else easier to swallow. She looked up at him, "Tell me."

"Hanna -"

She just looked at him pointedly, and waited. She wanted answers and she was planning to get them. He should know that feeling. He sighed again, and nodded slightly, "To stop the pact... the curse, we had to work with some other spirits that were trapped in Ravenswood like Miranda. One of them was called Caleb Rivers. He looked - looks like me too. Exactly like me actually."

"You have a ghost?" Hanna frowned.

"Yeah," Caleb said, exhaling slowly like he didn't want to continue. "That Caleb was in love with some old version of Miranda and when he and Miranda met they hit it off."

Hanna inhaled so sharply, glad she hadn't drunk any more of her coffee because it made me choke a little. "So Miranda and this Caleb guy are together? Can ghosts even date?"

"I guess," he shrugged. She had to admit, he looked uncomfortable with the idea and it helped her get her head around the whole thing.

"Does that make you like soul mates or something?"

He paused, but looked at her with that expression on his face. The one that he had at the hospital.

"Look, maybe Miranda was meant to be with some version of me. But I know it never felt like that for me. I wasn't meant to be with her. Ever." His voice shook a little on the last sentence and she knew he was being serious.

"I believe you," she replied, nodding slightly. The air around them was tense, and neither of them was sure what to say so they sat in silence for a while.

The silence was finally broken by her phone beeping in her bag. "It's probably my mom, she's picking me up," she said as she dug around for her phone in her bag. She was right, her mom had texted her saying she'd be outside The Brew in 20 minutes. But she also had two other messages she hadn't read.

Spencer: Come over when you can. Emily found more info. Make sure you bring the thumb drive.

Travis: Breakfast tomorrow before school? I miss u! 3

She inhaled a little too sharply, again, and when she looked up Caleb was looking at her funnily.

"Just my mom," she forced a smile at him and shoved the phone back in her bag. The thumb drive was safely in the side pocket of her bag.

Caleb nodded, biting his lip for a moment. "So are you going to tell me what's been happening around here?"

"Oh, nothing much. It's been pretty boring actually."

His lips quirked again, "Why don't I believe you?"

She shrugged, her own lips curled at the ends. "Maybe all the ghosts have gotten to your head."

"Okay. So none of your friends came back from the dead?" He asked, leaning forward a little to stare at her.

She rolled her eyes; not at all surprised that he knew about Alison. It was all Rosewood had been talking about for weeks. She was actually kind of surprised it had taken him this long to bring it up. "It's complicated right now."

"I'm pretty good with complicated," he jokes, smiling at her. Then turns more somber. "What happened? Last I heard you thought A was in Ravenswood. Does Alison know who it is? Is- "

"Our lives didn't stop just because you left town, Caleb." She snapped finally. She couldn't take his questions right now. None of this was making sense, so she wasn't about to try and explain it to someone else.

He stopped, and looked apologetic. "I know. I'm sorry. I just – I hate that you got hurt."

"A lot of people got hurt. Besides, I'm fine now. Really."

"Hanna-" He points to the cast on her arm, rested on table.

She took another gulp of her coffee "Look, I wasn't lying about my mom, so I should go wait outside. But it was nice seeing you. I like talking to you." She smiled at him, and meant it, before standing up.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist, the one without the cast. "Hanna. Call me if you need anything. Please." He waited until she nodded to let her go, before smiling at her fondly.

When she walked out of the Brew, somehow the knot in her chest was even bigger than when she walked in.

Caleb watched her walk out, wondering whether this could've have gone any different than it did. He had been surprised, and glad, when Hanna called him asking if he wanted to talk. At least now he knew his suspicions were right: A was still in the picture, somehow. And with Alison back, he could only imagine how crazy the whole thing was for her. He wanted to ask about Alison as soon as she sat down, but he had a hunch, knowing her as well as he did, that she'd shut him out.

A little part of him was glad that he could still read her so well. The text message that was supposedly from her mom was definitely from someone else, judging by her face. Something she was unsure about.

So he'd tried to drag out the conversation as long as he could. And even though they'd barely talked for 20 minutes, he had a feeling that things were okay. Or going to be, at least.

He drained the rest of his coffee and packed up his laptop. He wasn't lying; he had been studying, but now seemed as good a time as any to go get some dinner.

He leaves The Brew and sees Hanna standing at the corner, looking at her phone. For a moment he wanted to go talk to her, but he hesitated, unsure of what he would say.

He'd just started walking in the other direction when he heard a yell, loud and high-pitched. He knew it was Hanna before he even had a chance to think about it. He spun around on his heels to see a black figure trying to wrestle Hanna's bag away from her. She was holding on tightly, but struggling. He didn't even pause for a second before he's sprinting towards them. He grabbed at the guy's black hoodie, pulling him around so he could throw a punch to his face. Or rather his black mask. The guy moved just in front so Caleb didn't hit him as hard as he wanted to but he still recoiled for a split second. He managed to push at Caleb, though, so hard that he landed on the ground, dropping his backpack in the fall. The guy sprinted off past the both of them and turned the next corner. Caleb knew he couldn't catch up to him now, just watched him from the ground.

"Caleb, are you okay?" Hanna asked, leaning over him. Her voice is upset, understandably. .

He just shook his head and pushed himself up. His chest twinges with pain, where the guy pushed him pretty hard. "I'm fine. Are you okay? Why do I have a feeling that wasn't a coincidence?" He asked, bending down to pick up his bag.

Hanna just frowned, looking at where the guy had run off to, "They're getting sloppy. I don't even have the whole thing, Spencer does."

"Have what?"

Her eyes widened as she realised what she'd said. "Oh – just... something we had to pick up for a friend." If he wasn't seriously worried about her, watching her try desperately to backtrack would have been adorable.

"Hanna?"

"Caleb, it's too -"

"Complicated, I know," he nodded solemnly. He did know, kind of. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was just doing the same thing he had done about Ravenswood.

"And I don't want you getting involved again, it's too dangerous." He looked down and found her looking at him seriously.

He matched her gaze, "I'm already involved, Hanna." He meant it. He needed to do whatever he could to make sure she was safe. He would be in this as long as she was. "But it would help if you told me what was going on."

She didn't reply; just bit her lip as she tried to avoid his gaze. They stood side by side, saying nothing for a minute or so. He half expected her to tell him to go, but he wasn't about to go anywhere until her mom came.

Finally he heard her sigh before actually speaking, "I was so sure that everything was perfect. But I didn't get how... toxic it was until after. Like really bad. And now things are supposed to go back to how they were before and it's like everything good that happened since then is just falling apart." Her voice was soft, and she was staring at the ground as she spoke.

He, on the other hand, was staring at her. Every good feeling he had about talking her just vanished into thin air and his heart plummeted into his stomach. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think of any response that could match her.

And then, because life had the worst timing, Ashley's car pulled up next to them with the window rolled down, "Sorry I'm late sweetie, but we gotta go. Hi Caleb!" She called from the car. If she was surprised to see him, she didn't show it.

Hanna mumbled a fast goodbye without looking at him, and he still couldn't put a sentence together as he watched her get into the car and drive off.

He didn't feel so confident anymore.

She watched him in the side mirror, standing on the curb as they drove off and thankfully her mom waited until they rounded the corner to say anything.

"So, you're hanging out with Caleb?" She asked.

Hanna rolled her eyes, "We're not hanging out, we had coffee." And a lot of awkward silences, she thought to herself.

"Did you tell him what happened, in the woods?" her mom asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"Mom, I told you what happened."

Her mom looked over at her with a pointed gaze, "I mean, did you tell him the truth?"

Hanna groaned; her mom hadn't stopped asking her about the woods. And okay, yes, she didn't exactly tell the truth. But the truth was way too complicated. And they were still covering for Alison. Admitting what really happened would open up a whole bottle of new questions that none of them wanted to deal with.

Her mom waited a beat and then spoke again, "Travis called the house earlier. Said he hadn't heard from you, and that he was worried."

The silence in the car echoed the words her mom hadn't spoken. You're dating Travis, remember. He's a good guy. Hanna focused on staring out the window, trying to figure out why everything felt so wrong. And why her heart had sunk so hard when Caleb hadn't responded to her confession. She didn't expect him to leave her hanging again.