It wasn't at first sight

by ByAllegra

What happens when Hanna loses her dog and Caleb finds it? This is a HALEB AU story. Hanna will have to deal with the asshole who kept her dog for a year. Caleb will have to deal with the beautiful but crazy girl who doesn't stop yelling at him, and who also happens to be the actual owner of "his" dog. Of course it won't be long until they change their minds and fall for each other.

46. Chapter 46

Sunday afternoon.

Hanna and Caleb are in Hanna's basement, where they've spent most of their weekend. Hanna has been working diligently on her dresses, managing to finish her two first models the day before and now working on a new one. Having many designs ready on her sketchbook has saved her a lot of time allowing her to only focus on bringing them to life. Meanwhile, Caleb has been multitasking, splitting his time between developing Hanna's website and working on the business plan for the startup he plans to start with Toby.

Hanna is sitting at the working table, using her sewing machine, while Caleb is sitting at her desk, working on his laptop.

Hanna's precise movements have become sluggish now after so many hours of hard work, so when she attempts to guide the fabric through the machine for what feels like the hundredth time, she accidentally brushes her finger against the moving needle. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She starts swearing as a sharp pain shoots through her finger.

Caleb looks at her right away. "You okay?"

Hanna "Yeah… I just got my stupid finger poked." She says while staring at her finger, a tiny drop of blood welling up where the needle pierced her skin. "Could you hand me a Band-Aid? They should be in one of the drawers." She asks him before taking her finger into her mouth to suck away the blood.

Caleb looks into a couple of drawers and finds them. He gets up from his chair and approaches her. "Let me see." He says while taking her hand and he applies the Band-Aid on her finger himself.

Hanna "What an amateur... I haven't poked my finger like that since my freshman year in college."

Caleb smiles at her. "I think we both need a break. How about taking Chocolate to the park? We could use some fresh air." He suggests, placing his hands on her shoulders and giving her a gentle massage.

Hanna "I don't know, Caleb… I really need to make some more progress here…"

Caleb "Come on, I'm tired, my back hurts… just an hour?"

Hanna "Okay, let's go." She finally stands up from her seat. "You don't have to be here working with me, you know that right? I won't be able to start selling my dresses for a few weeks, so I won't need the website right away." She says as they head for the stairs.

Caleb "Yeah, I know. It's just that I won't have much time in the coming weeks with The Radley and meetings with Toby."

Hanna "Then don't waste your time on my website. I could find someone to-"

Caleb "It's not a waste of time." He interrupts her. "I want to do it. It's the only way you'll let me help you, since you wouldn't accept my money. Besides, it won't take too much longer. The domain name is ready, and I've already chosen a good e-commerce platform with payment processing. The platform has templates too, but we will need to customize it later when your branding is ready. Anyway, it's going well so far."

Hanna "You know I didn't understand half the things you just said." She smiles at him while grabbing Chocolate's leash. "What would I do without you?" she approaches him and kisses him on the lips. "Hey, Chocolate!" She calls for the dog. "Wanna go for a walk?"

/

That Monday.

Caleb is at his office with two other employees from the Radley Hotel. Ashley has designated them for training by Caleb on how to use the security system he has set up, in order for them to be able to access the security camera records along with some other tools once he is gone.

It's almost lunchtime, so he gives the guys a break and takes the opportunity to text Hanna: "Hey, Han. Are you coming over for lunch?"

He knows Hanna is more likely to stay home and keep working on her dresses, but he takes the shot anyway.

A couple of minutes later, he receives a voice message from Hanna: "Hey, you!" She greets him happily, and he can hear her sewing machine in the background. "I can't, babe… our lunches together will have to wait for a while. Toby texted me, though. He said you two were meeting up at your place after you finished work. He asked me to be there too. He said he wanted to talk to us about something. Anyway, I'll see you then, baby."

Caleb finds it a little strange that Toby asked Hanna to join their meeting since they were planning on discussing things about their new business, and there wouldn't be a reason for Hanna to be there as well. However, he assumes it must be about something else and texts her back: "Okay, Han. See you there."

Hanna texts him back right away: "Wouldn't kill you to use some cute emoji. I'll just pretend you put a red heart in that message." She teases him.

Caleb smiles and replies to her with three red heart emojis.

Hanna: "That's much better."

/

That evening, Caleb arrives home after a long day at work. Teaching those guys how to use the system has left him with a headache, and his day is far from over. He heads to the living room, ready to flop down on the couch, but he finds Hanna sitting there.

Hanna smiles right away when she sees him. "Hey, you cutie."

Caleb smiles back and goes to lie down on the couch. He rests his head on Hanna's lap.

Hanna "How was your day?" She starts caressing his hair gently.

Caleb "Long." He sighs and closes his eyes, her touch feels so good. "Your mom asked me to train these guys on how to use the system… and I'll just say it would be easier to teach you how to play poker."

Hanna laughs and smacks his shoulder. "Hey!"

Caleb smiles with his eyes still shut. "What does Toby want to talk to us about?"

Hanna "I've got no idea. I was hoping you would fill me in." She pauses in her gentle caresses of his hair to reach for her phone, her other hand resting on his chest.

Caleb "I guess we'll just have to wait for him." He takes her hand from his chest and places it back on his head. "Don't stop."

Hanna smiles tenderly and puts her phone away. She continues to softly caress both his hair and his face.

Caleb "How was your day?"

Hanna "Exhausting... but I'm a bit ahead of what I planned, so it's good."

Caleb "Okay, just don't exhaust yourself too much."

Hanna "It's just these first weeks until I have enough dresses ready… I'll take it easy then."

The doorbell rings interrupting their warm conversation. Caleb stands up and goes to answer the door. He comes back a few seconds later, followed by Toby. Caleb goes to sit down on the couch next to Hanna.

Toby "Hey, Han!" He greets her while sitting in a chair.

Hanna "Hey!" She smiles kindly.

Caleb "So, what did you want to talk to us about?" he goes straight to the point since his day has been long enough already.

Toby "Something came up." He starts to explain, but Hanna cuts him off before he can continue.

Hanna "Please don't tell me you messed up, and now those gang guys are after you two. I just started working on my dresses, and I don't want to have to change my name and move to the other side of the country."

Toby "No, Han. Of course not." He clarifies quickly and continues. "It turns out that when this genius guy sitting right next to you hacked that information, he didn't just get the exact data we needed to ambush and put an end to this gang, there was also information about some other linked organizations that provided them with resources."

Toby takes out his phone, searches for a particular picture in his gallery, and then approaches Hanna to show it to her. "Do you recognize this guy?"

Hanna frowns and nods, but doesn't say a word.

Caleb "Who is that?" He asks while taking a look as well.

Toby "George Andrew Miller."

Hanna swallows hard upon hearing his name.

Caleb doesn't immediately understand, but it only takes him a few seconds to connect the dots. "Is he…?"

Toby "Jordan's friend, George. His father's campaign manager… and also the son of a bitch responsible of Hanna's and Chocolate's kidnapping."

Caleb grabs Toby's phone from his hand to get a better look at the guy he has despised so much over the last couple of months.

Toby "Harris told me this morning that they had found a connection to a guy named George from New York, who happened to be closely associated with one of the presidential candidates. I suspected it was the same George, so I asked him to send me a picture, and Han just confirmed it." He explains to Caleb.

Caleb "So, what does this mean?"

Toby "This is the lead to start investigating him for whatever he is responsible for, corruption, money laundering, anything that connects him to this gang. I don't think he had anything to do with what was going on in Rosewood, but he's definitely involved in their operations in New York. Harris told me they were sharing all the information with the New York PD."

Caleb hands Toby's phone back to him.

Toby "This means he might never pay for what he did to Hanna, but he's surely going down for this."

Hanna "He won't. He has so many connections, powerful people who could protect him and make everything go away. People like him never go down."

Caleb "I don't think he could get away with it this time, Han... Jordan's father will let go of him before letting him stain his campaign with things like corruption or money laundering. He will probably just throw him under the bus rather than risking his candidacy over such a loser."

Hanna "What if Jordan's father is just as guilty as him? He'll surely cover it all up."

Toby "They didn't find any connections to Frank Hobart. Harris would have told me. Do you think he could be involved too?" He asks Hanna.

Hanna "I don't know, Toby. I only know Jordan would never get involved in such things. I would stake my life on it. But I'm not sure about Mr. Hobart... it's not like I know something in particular, I just think he could be capable of it."

Toby nods. "Anything else you remember about George? Maybe something suspicious or any odd habits he used to have? Any details that could help the police follow a lead?"

Hanna slides her hand down Caleb's arm and once she reaches the palm of his hand, she interlaces their fingers. She takes some time to recollect her days with Jordan and his closest circle. She can't believe how she could stay in such a chaotic lifestyle for so long. It must have been her grief over losing Chocolate that kept her so numb, causing her to cling to anything that kept her busy and away from Rosewood.

Hanna "George lived in New York, just like me and Jordan, and in the last few months, the three of us spent some time in D.C. as well, at Jordan's father's place because of his campaign. But it didn't matter where we were, New York or D.C., he always made trips to Boston every so often. He would spend a couple of days there and then come back. I remember I asked Jordan if he had family there, but he said he didn't. So I don't know what his business there was, but I'm sure he must have had his own place there as well. If you ever get a warrant to search his place in New York, you should also look for his address in Boston and get a warrant for it too. Maybe it's not even under his name."

Toby "That's actually pretty useful, Han. Anything else?"

Hanna shakes her head no. "No, I didn't know much about George. Everything about him seemed off, so I just stayed away from him."

Toby "Okay, thank you."

Hanna "Well guys, you have some work to do with your new business." She forces a smile and stands up from the couch, letting go of Caleb's hand. "I'll leave you to it, and I'll go back to working on mine. See you around, Toby."

Toby "See you, Han!"

Hanna goes to the front door and Caleb follows her there.

Caleb "You should be happy, Han… this could be pretty good."

Hanna looks at him. "I know… I just don't want to get my hopes up."

Caleb "You okay, though?"

Hanna "Yeah… I'm fine."

Caleb stares at her, waiting for a more honest answer.

Hanna "This stirs up some old memories I'd rather not revisit, you know? But I'm okay, really."

Caleb nods and opens the door for her.

Hanna "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Not at lunchtime." She smiles a little. "After work."

Caleb rests his hand on her lower back and pulls her closer to give her a tender kiss on her lips. "See you tomorrow, baby."

Hanna "See you." She kisses him one more time and then leaves.

/

It's around 10 p.m. when Ashley goes downstairs to the basement carrying a bowl of salad. She finds Hanna sitting at her worktable, hand-embroidering a dress.

Ashley "I brought you some food, honey." She places the bowl on the table next to her.

Hanna "Thanks, mom." She says without taking her eyes off the dress.

Ashley "Did you spend the whole day down here?"

Hanna "I went to Caleb's for a little while earlier." She is too focused on her embroidery.

Ashley "Still, you are working too many hours, sweetie. You should take it easier."

Hanna "I like doing this, Mom… and it's only for a while until the business takes off."

Ashley "Okay, don't stay up too late." She kisses Hanna's temple and leaves.

An hour later, Hanna finally abandons her task. Not because she wanted to, but her eyes are just so fatigued that she can't continue. She wasn't planning to work that late anyway, it was just her way to keep her mind busy and away from everything Toby told her that evening. She goes to her bedroom and finds Chocolate waiting for her on the bed.

Hanna "Hey, you little giant buddy." She smiles at him while starting to change into her nightie.

Then she heads to the bathroom and returns a few minutes later, all set for bed. However, her mind has other plans for her, and insomnia takes over. After tossing and turning for about an hour, she decides to text Caleb.

Hanna: "You awake?"

Caleb smiles upon receiving her text. It finds him very awake. He hasn't even tried to go to sleep yet, even though it's almost midnight and he has to work the following day. Seeing the picture of George that evening simply shocked him. He finally put a face to the guy who hurt the person he loves the most. That reignited some of the rage that he was beginning to put behind him.

Recalling their earlier text conversation that day, he responds with three red heart emojis, a simple way to let her know he's awake too.

Hanna smiles widely when she gets that text. She is quick to reply: "You are such an idiot." She adds a red heart too and sends it. Then she sends him another text right away: "I know it's pretty late, but can I come over? I can't sleep."

Caleb: "Yes, please. Neither can I."

Hanna: "Be right there."

She hurries out of her bed to get dressed again, but then she spots a hoodie she borrowed from Caleb on the chair beside her bed. She decides to throw it over her nightie instead of putting on her regular clothes. Then she slips into a pair of sneakers and she's ready to leave.

/

The sweet smell of popcorn fills Hanna's nostrils as soon as she enters Caleb's front door. She follows that delicious scent to the living room, where she finds Caleb sitting on the couch with a blanket, and of course, a bowl of popcorn.

Caleb "Wanna watch a movie?" he smiles.

Hanna smiles back.

Caleb "What are you wearing?" He asks, amused, while observing her in just his hoodie. "Or not wearing." He corrects himself.

Hanna chuckles. "I was already in bed and didn't feel like getting dressed again." She replies, taking off her sneakers.

Then she approaches him, and he lifts the blanket for her to cuddle with him under it. Chocolate is the only one feeling sleepy, so he lies down on the rug next to them, ready to go back to sleep.

Hanna and Caleb find a cute and cozy position on the couch while watching the movie. Caleb stretches out comfortably, and Hanna snuggles up beside him. She tucks her legs under the blanket, rests her head on his chest, and drapes her arm over his waist. Caleb lovingly wraps his arm around her shoulders, drawing her in close. They intertwine their legs and occasionally hold hands, enjoying their intimacy and the movie together.

The credits start showing on the TV screen, and both of them are still wide awake.

Caleb "Wanna watch another one?" he suggests while caressing the palm of her hand.

Hanna "We should go to bed and try to get some sleep, babe…"

Caleb "I'm not sleepy."

Hanna "I know, neither am I. But we can't stay up all night."

Caleb doesn't answer.

Hanna "What's keeping you up though?" She asks because she knows pretty well what's keeping her up, but she isn't quite sure about Caleb's reason.

Hanna raises her head from his chest to look at him, but she doesn't get any answer, Caleb just purses his lips.

Hanna "Is it about what Toby told us today? I thought you were happy about it, you told me I should be."

Caleb "I know, it's not that." He answers now. "I'm glad there's a chance that son of a bitch ends up in jail, or at least for his career to be over. It's what he deserves. It just bothers me that he will still think that he got away with what he did to you. I can't get his face out of my mind since I saw his picture today... that stupid cocky smirk on his face. It reignited the anger I felt when we found out he was behind what happened to you."

Hanna "We've already discussed it so many times, Caleb. I really don't care if he thinks he got away with it. I just wanted to put it behind me and move on, and that's what I did. And it worked."

Caleb "It didn't, Han... you ended up having panic attacks. You can try to move on, but it keeps coming back. Look at us right now, talking about it all over again." He sighs. "I've had nightmares myself."

Hanna "You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

Caleb "It was just for a few days, and then they went away."

Hanna stares at him.

Caleb "I'll never forget that image of you lying on the ground when I found you. I thought you were dead. Can you imagine it? Just think of how much you freaked out when you saw me wearing a bulletproof vest. I found you cold and unconscious in the middle of the woods."

Hanna "I'm sorry, I guess I never really stopped to think about how tough all of that must have been for you."

Caleb "I'm okay now, Han. Seeing his picture just made me angry again, that's all. That's what's keeping me awake tonight, just the killer instinct that took me over."

Hanna smiles a little. "Killer instinct? You wouldn't hurt a fly."

Caleb "Well, I'd certainly beat the crap out of him if I ever meet him."

Hanna "You won't, because he's gonna end up in jail. I knew karma would catch up with him sooner or later, but I never imagined it could be something so big like this. And it was thanks to you. It seems like you always manage to fix everything that's going wrong in my life."

Caleb "I could say exactly the same thing about you, Han."

Hanna gives him another half-smile. "So your nightmares are really over?"

Caleb nods. "Yeah, they started right after you got released from the hospital and only lasted for a few nights."

Hanna "You should have told me."

Caleb "You already had enough on your plate, Han. And waking up and having you there with me, safe and sound, was enough to make me feel better."

Hanna smiles again. It took Caleb long enough to open up to her about the awful situation they went through, but she is glad he finally did. Now she thinks they are ready to put it behind for good. "Wanna go try to sleep now?" She reaches for his face, gently caressing his cheek. "I'll give you some kisses until your anger goes away and you get sleepy."

Caleb "Only kisses?" He asks, his lips just a breath away from hers.

Hanna "Why? Do you have something else in mind?"

Caleb takes his hand to her face as well and nods, closing the gap between their mouths in a kiss.

/

Hanna tilts her head back, pressing it harder against the pillow, her lips parting as she breathes out his name. Her eyes remain shut as her expression relaxes, her chest rising and falling as she catches her breath.

Caleb emerges from under the sheets and lies on his side, a proud smile on his face, as he rests his arm over her stomach. "So?" He casually asks while tracing her hipbone with his thumb.

Hanna opens her eyes and only shoots him a smile as response.

Caleb leans in and presses his mouth against hers, his lips capturing her bottom lip as he starts an intense kiss. Hanna finds his mouth particularly warm after its recent activity as she kisses him back. His demanding kiss clearly demonstrates his need for more. But he pulls away and rests his head back on the pillow after a few seconds.

Hanna "You always know exactly what to do... I don't even want to know where you got so much experience." She playfully says as she takes her hand to his shoulder and pushes him gently, making him lie on his back.

Caleb "Well, I don't even want to know who was the sucker that made you think you didn't like it… although I have a clear idea of who it may have been."

Hanna laughs as she gets on top of him. "It wasn't my last ex, if that's what you're thinking." She avoids mentioning Jordan's name not to ruin the atmosphere. "He was just too boring and selfish to even try it."

Caleb "Good." He takes his hands to her back and runs them down until he reaches her ass. "That's not a picture I want in my mind." He adds, aware that if it wasn't Jordan, it must have been some other guy, but he decides to push that thought away and just focus on his moment with Hanna.

Hanna takes her hands to his shoulders. "You're the only one allowed to do that to me." She says, fully aware of the impact her words will have on him, and then she finally makes that one movement that connects their bodies.

/

Caleb's alarm jolts them awake in the morning.

Hanna "Ugh!" She buries her head under a pillow.

Caleb reaches for his phone and turns the annoying sound off.

Hanna "I can't believe it's morning already. I wanna cry."

They have barely managed to get a few hours of sleep during the night. After their bout of insomnia, they kept themselves busy for a while before finally going to sleep.

Chocolate shows up in the bedroom after hearing the alarm. He is fresh as a daisy after another good night's sleep. He approaches Hanna's side of the bed and starts licking her arm, since her face is still buried under her pillow.

Caleb "Stay. Get some more sleep." He tells Hanna while sitting up. He reaches out to pet Chocolate's head, who has approached his side of the bed now.

Hanna "Tell my mom you'll take the day off, let's go back to sleep."

Caleb "I can't, Han. I have to go to work. I need to finish my job at The Radley already." He gets up from the bed. "Let's go, Chocolate! Let's go get your breakfast." He takes the dog with him, allowing Hanna to go back to sleep.

That brief interaction is the only one Hanna and Caleb have that day because their jobs keep them busy. Hanna returns to her house after a couple of more hours of sleep in Caleb's comfy bed to continue working on her dresses. Caleb meets up with Toby again after leaving The Radley Hotel, and later exhaustion catches up with him, leading him to skip dinner and head to bed early.

/

On Wednesday evening, Hanna decides that it's been long enough since she last saw Caleb. After finishing another of her dresses, she heads to The Radley to surprise him after work.

She runs into Ashley at The Radley entrance.

Ashley smiles at her daughter. "Hey, honey! It's nice to see you out of the house."

Hanna "Hey, mom."

Ashley "Are you here to see Caleb?"

Hanna "Yeah. Has he left already?" She realizes she probably should have texted him before just showing up.

Ashley "No, quite the opposite. He might take a little longer. I just introduced him to a potential client for his new business. They're in his office." She explains.

Hanna "Oh, okay. I'll just wait for him then."

Ashley "Okay, honey. See you at home." She shoots her another kind smile before leaving.

Hanna enters the hotel and decides to sit at the bar. She orders a cocktail and looks for her phone in her purse to text Caleb.

Hanna: "Hey, baby! I'm here at The Radley. My mom told me you were busy, just wanted to let you know I'll be waiting for you at the bar. Take your time." She adds a red heart to her text before hitting send.

Half an hour passes, and she is a couple of sips away from finishing her drink when she starts to overhear a conversation between the bartenders that catches her attention. It's a quiet Wednesday night, so they aren't very busy.

Female bartender 1 "I've got some bad news for you two, guys." She starts telling her coworkers, another woman in her early thirties, and a guy who appears to be a bit younger, maybe in his twenties. "It's about the security cameras hottie."

Female bartender 2 "Don't tell me he is gay."

Male bartender "Well, if that's the case, you've got my full attention." He smirks suggestively.

Female bartender 1 "I'm sorry to break it to you, guys. But I've heard he is leaving The Radley. He'll only be here for another two weeks or so."

Female bartender 2 "Oh, really?" She says disappointed. "He's the main reason I show up to work every day… well, besides my payment, of course." She clarifies and chuckles.

Male bartender "Yeah… he's such a view… the other day he was sitting right there." He points to the end of the bar. "I can't even tell you how hot he looked frowning while typing on his computer."

Hanna can't help but smile at that comment. She has noticed his cute face when he is too focused on his computer as well.

Female bartender 2 "Well, Jenny from the reception told me he has a girlfriend, apparently she has shown up many times to have lunch with him. She said she is really pretty. So I guess I couldn't stand a chance anyway…" she says while refilling a little bowl of olives.

Hanna smiles again. Good for Jenny pointing it out. She suddenly likes Jenny from reception now.

Male bartender laughs. "Since when a girlfriend is an obstacle for you?"

Female bartender 2 shrugs in response.

Female bartender 1 "I think the boss has a thing for the guy too."

Male bartender "Who? Ashley?"

Female bartender 2 "Yeah, I've noticed it too, they interact way too much."

Hanna has the urge to interrupt that conversation right away, since the picture they just caused in her mind makes her sick.

Hanna "Excuse me, can I have another one of this?"

Male bartender "Of course, another one coming right up."

Hanna "Thanks." She smiles at him.

Luckily for her, her interruption works and they stop talking about Caleb, and her mother, and they just keep talking about their plans for the following weekend.

It only takes Caleb another ten minutes to finish his meeting, so he shows up at the bar shortly after.

Caleb "Hi, guys!" He greets the bartenders, although he barely knows them. He doesn't even know their names. Then he looks at Hanna with a smile on his face. "Hey, you!" He pecks her lips. "What a nice surprise!"

Hanna "Hi, baby!" She wraps an arm around his neck and gives him a proper kiss, knowing the bartenders' eyes must be on them.

Caleb "Let's get going." He says after Hanna finally lets go of his mouth.

Hanna "Wait, I haven't finished my drink yet… have a seat." She instructs him and turns to the bartenders, who, just as she assumed, are staring at them, surprised. "He will have a craft beer." She turns to Caleb. "An IPA, baby?"

Caleb nods while sitting on the stool next to her.

Hanna "An IPA for him, please." She orders his drink.

Female bartender 1 "Coming right up." She forces a smile.

Hanna finds it amusing how awkward they all feel, trying to hide it as they suddenly fall silent and resume their work.

Caleb "I loved that you showed up here. I was missing you already." He reaches out and takes her hand.

Hanna smiles tenderly at his sweet comment. He's so clueless about the whole situation. "Yeah, me too." She presses a sweet kiss against his cheek. "How was your day? My mom said she introduced you to a new client."

Caleb "Yeah, I just had a meeting with the guy. He seemed very interested. He was concerned about the computer security of his company, mostly because one of his employees accidentally infested their internal network."

Hanna "Oh, it sounds… serious."

Caleb "Yeah."

Female bartender 1 "Here is your beer." She places Caleb's drink in front of him.

Caleb "Thanks." He tells her and turns to look at Hanna again. "Anyway, I don't want to bore you with computer stuff… How was your day?" He asks her before tasting his beer.

Hanna "You never bore me, baby." She squeezes his hand before letting go of it to grab her glass. "I had a video call with the designer who is taking care of the image of my brand. She will get the tags for my dresses ready for next week, and all the images for the IG account and the website will be ready the other week. And don't worry, I gave her all the specifications you wrote me down. I'll let you know when she sends it all to me so you can finish the website."

Caleb "That's great."

Hanna "Yeah… and I have another meeting with a business attorney tomorrow. He's helping me with all the legwork. Lucas recommended him to me."

Caleb "Who's Lucas?"

Hanna "An old friend from school. He lives in New York, but he comes back here every so often. I'll introduce him to you sometime. I'm sure you two would get along very well. He is just as much of a nerd as you." She jokes.

Caleb laughs.

Hanna "Anyway, enough with work. Let's talk about something else."

Caleb "How's Chocolate?"

Hanna "Missing his daddy."

Caleb smiles. "We'll pick him up on our way to my place."

Hanna smiles back and takes a sip of her drink. "I ran into Mona's mom today." She starts, making some conversation. "Turns out she didn't move to New York." She sighs. "She is at Welby."

Caleb "What's Welby?" He asks intrigued.

Hanna "It's a psychiatric hospital here in Rosewood."

Caleb "Oh."

Hanna "I noticed she was acting off that night we met her at the Grille. I should have talked to her mother earlier. She had stopped taking her meds. What a shitty friend I was to her."

Caleb "She was a shitty friend to you, Hanna. Not the other way around."

Hanna "You don't get it. She did those things because she wasn't okay. She's a very loyal friend when she is doing well. She's been there for me so many times… when my dad left me and my mom, she was there."

Caleb "You were going through a lot yourself, Han. You weren't exactly the one to look after her."

Hanna "Yeah, I know. But still…"

Caleb "She'll get better. She's being taken care of."

Hanna nods. "Her mom told me she isn't allowed to have visitors yet. But I'll go see her when she can." She grabs her glass and finishes her drink.

Caleb "Want another drink?"

Hanna shakes her head no. "That was my second, and I have to drive."

Caleb "Okay, let's get going, then."

He hasn't even finished his drink yet, but he wants to leave already. He takes his wallet out of his pocket to pay for their drinks.

Caleb "Goodnight, guys." He greets the bartenders after one of them returns his credit card, and they nod at him.

Hanna "Did you know you have some admirers there at the bar?" She tells him as they walk away.

Caleb looks at her, confused.

Hanna "The bartenders, they are all crazy about you. All of them."

Caleb "Oh, again with that, Han? We don't even know each other." He tells her, remembering the conversation they had some days ago at her kitchen, when she asked him to stay away from them. He knew she was just kidding, but now he is not sure about it, since she is bringing it up again.

Hanna "I know. I'm not jealous. But I was right after all. I just overheard a conversation between them. They didn't know I was your girlfriend." She takes his hand.

Caleb "Really? What did they say?" He asks as they go outside.

Hanna "Not much, just that you are a hottie and they didn't like that you are leaving The Radley. So I guess I'm not the only one who has admirers out there." She says, recalling the situation with Zeth, Chocolate's walker, who seems to have a crush on her.

Caleb grins. "Well, guess we're both popular around here." He simply says while wrapping his arms around her lower back.

Hanna smiles. "They can check you out and drool over you as much as they want." She wraps her arms around his neck. "But I'm the one who gets to kiss you as much as I want."

Caleb "Can I have one of those kisses now?" He leans down to kiss her softly.

Hanna "Uh huh." She leans in and kisses him back.

Caleb "Where's your car?" He asks when they pull away from their tender kiss.

Hanna "Around the corner. I'll meet you at your place, okay? I'll go get Chocolate on my way." She lets go of him.

Caleb "Sure, baby."

He watches her as she heads to her car and drives away, then he walks towards his own car, his thoughts filled with love and anticipation for their time together. Hanna has become the best part of his days, and now that they are both busier than ever, those moments are all he thinks about during his hectic days.

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Hi, everyone! So, a time jump is happening in the next chapter to move the story forward. I just wanted to check if you're enjoying the new chapters so far. There are many sweet moments between Hanna and Caleb coming, as well as, of course, some more drama. Let me know if you are there and what you think!