Just Because-Spanna
She hadn't meant to see the videos. When the three women had decided they were going to hand over the flash drive the next day, with or without Hanna, she hadn't planned on snooping through the other files. But then Aria had pointed out that anything could be on there, including the four of them burying a body. And since Spencer had already seen her own dollhouse videos, maybe she should just make sure there wasn't anything they didn't want the police to see. Spencer was pretty sure Aria and Emily were just using that as an excuse because neither of them wanted to be the ones to do it. Still, as much as she didn't want to see more, she was willing to relive her trauma if it meant keeping Hanna safe and out of jail.
In fact, she would do anything to keep Hanna safe. She wasn't sure exactly when she had started to develop feelings for her friend, but they were there and they were loud. It was becoming increasingly harder to be around her without saying how she felt. But Hanna had been through something terrible, and Spencer didn't want to risk upsetting her. So in part, it was her feelings for Hanna that had led to her discovering these videos.
She'd scanned through Emily, Mona, and Aria's files before opening Hanna's. So far, so good. There wasn't anything that incriminated them, only old footage from the dollhouse. Interestingly, the videos only showed Noel, never Charlotte or Sara. Maybe Sara had been keeping this as leverage against Noel, and he’d stolen it after killing her. But why not destroy it? Shaking her head, Spencer opened the Hanna folder, expecting to see more of the same. Instead, she noticed a few recently added videos. Frowning, she clicked on them. Immediately she wished she hadn't.
Hanna was curled up on the floor of some place, soaking wet and screaming. Someone seemed to be filming this from their phone, so she couldn't see their face. Hanna was begging for them to stop. The person's right hand entered the frame. To Spencer's horror, they were holding a device she recognized as a cattle prod. She had known that she should turn off the video, stop watching the torture her friend was being put through. But something stopped her. So far, there wasn't any proof that Noel Kahn was the person responsible for this. If he would just show his face... It would be the evidence she needed to bring Hanna home. Or maybe that was just an excuse she was giving herself. Maybe it was just like a car wreck, where you want to look away but can't. Either way, she couldn't tear her eyes from the screen as the cattle prod was flicked on and pressed to Hanna's bare skin. The blonde let out a blood curdling scream. Tears sprang to Spencer's eyes as she watched a burn blossom on Hanna's shoulder. She watched as this was repeated again, and again, and again, until she felt like she was going to be sick.
Regret flooded her veins at the thought that Hanna had been dealing with this alone. She'd thought revealing her feelings would cause more distress, so she'd kept them a secret. Unfortunately, that meant she also avoided Hanna. In that moment, Spencer hated herself. Hanna had been forced to go through this alone all because she couldn't deal with a few butterflies in her stomach. And then, when Hanna had needed them most, they'd failed her. The rational part of her knew it wasn't all her fault, Emily and Aria should have done more too, but as the cattle prod was switched to high and pressed into Hanna's chest until she passed out, Spencer blamed only herself.
--
"We're going to find her. Today," Marco said, pulling Spencer out of her thoughts. If she'd thought she hated herself last night, she really hated herself now. She couldn't believe she'd lost the flash drive. Again, the rational part of her brain knew it wasn't her fault. Someone had broken into her house in the middle of the night and stolen it. But the nausea from what she'd seen coupled with her fear for Hanna's safety was driving away her rationality.
"How? How are you going to find her? I don't know if anyone's told you this, but this department is notoriously bad at finding missing girls!" Spencer snapped angrily. She felt a hand on her arm.
"She's just upset," Aria apologized. Marco put his hands up.
"I get it. And she's right. I've read all of your files. I know this department has done wrong by all of you. I'm not going to let that happen again," he said. Spencer bit back a retort, instead choosing to dial Hanna's number again. She wasn't surprised when no one answered. She put her head in her hands, ignoring the outside world. Not for the first time, she wished she could just bury her head in the sand until Hanna was home safe.
"You look like you could use a cup of coffee," a familiar voice said. Spencer looked up. To her surprise, the kitchen was empty except for her and Paige. Emily's ex pushed a cup toward her. Spencer accepted gratefully.
"So have you told her yet?" Paige asked. Spencer nearly choked.
“Told who what?” she asked, feigning ignorance. Paige raised an eyebrow and Spencer sighed.
“How did you know?” she asked. Paige rolled her eyes.
"I recognize that look you have. You should tell her. She has the same look," Paige said, squeezing Spencer's shoulder before rejoining Emily.
--
"Spencer!" Aria yelled a couple hours later. Spencer rushed to the living room and immediately came to a halt. Standing in front of her, seemingly unharmed, was Hanna. She continued to stare in shock as Hanna told her story, and then made a written statement. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Spencer knew Hanna was lying, but in that moment, she didn't care.
"Spence?" Hanna said cautiously, noticing that the brunette hadn't said anything. Spencer crossed the distance between them and pressed her lips to Hanna's. Hanna let out a small gasp of surprise.
"What was that for?" she asked, not minding the unexpected kiss.
"Just because," Spencer said, trying to play it cool despite her growing embarrassment. While she had been planning to tell Hanna how she felt, she hadn't meant to kiss her in front of a room full of people. Luckily, based on Hanna's small smirk, the blonde didn't seem to mind.
--
It was a couple of hours before Hanna was able to ask about what had happened. She'd announced that she was staying with Spencer and had kicked their friends out. Now they were alone, and could finally talk.
"You wanna tell me what happened earlier?" Hanna asked. Spencer raised an eyebrow.
"I told you," she said nonchalantly. Hanna rolled her eyes.
"I don't think you kissed me 'just because'. You don’t do anything ‘just because’," she said. Spencer's eyes flickered down.
"I've... I've wanted to do that for a while. I just wasn't sure how you'd react," she admitted. Hanna's expression softened.
"What made you do it now?" she asked. Spencer bit her lip nervously.
"Em told you about the flash drive?"
Hanna nodded.
"We were going to give it to the police. So Aria suggested we make sure it didn't show us doing anything... Less than legal," she explained. Hanna nodded again.
"Han... There were videos on there... From when AD took you," she whispered. The blood drained from Hanna's face.
"I was so afraid he had you again, and when I saw you I just... I couldn't... So I kissed you," she said. Hanna remained silent. She hadn't wanted her friends to ever know the extent of what Noel had put her through. Now Spencer not only knew, but she'd seen it.
"Please say something," Spencer begged. Hanna swallowed thickly. She didn't know how to feel about Spencer seeing her torture, but she did know how she felt about something else.
She leaned forward and kissed Spencer, catching the brunette off guard.
"What was that for?" Spencer gasped, echoing Hanna's words from before. Hanna grabbed Spencer's hand and began leading her to the bedroom.
"Just because."