Happy Birthday--Spanna
Sitting alone in her hotel room, Hanna couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this guilty. She’d felt guilty when she’d danced with Lucas to get back her mother’s stolen money. She’d felt guilty when she’d accused Paige of being A, only for her to be kidnapped by a different threat. She’d felt guilty when she’d stopped visiting her mother in Rosewood, forcing her to come to New York instead. But being away on a business trip in California on her wife’s thirtieth birthday made her feel guiltier than anything ever before.
Spencer had been more than understanding, of course. They both had frequent business trips, and they knew how it worked. If your boss said that you were going across the county for the weekend, you were going across the country for the weekend. At least, you did if you wanted to keep your job. They both knew this, but it didn’t stop Hanna from feeling bad. She remembered when she’d turned thirty a couple of months ago. Spencer had planned a fancy dinner at Hanna’s favorite restaurant, they’d gone to a movie that Hanna had been looking forward to seeing, and then they shared a bottle of champagne and lost themselves in each other for the rest of the night. She’d been planning to do the same for Spencer’s birthday, and she felt terrible that she couldn’t.
The clock ticked eight o’clock California time and Hanna pressed number one on her speed dial. It rang several times before there was an answer.
“Hello?” Spencer asked groggily.
“Were you asleep?” Hanna asked, surprised. Spencer usually stayed up working into the wee hours of the night, and Hanna couldn’t imagine that she’d gone to bed this early.
“Mmhmm. I fell asleep on the couch reading my latest case file,” she admitted. Hanna rolled her eyes. It was such a Spencer thing to fall asleep on the couch instead of moving to the bed when she started feeling tired.
“Is everything okay? Why are you calling so late?” Spencer asked, concern creeping into her voice.
“Oh! Happy birthday!” she exclaimed, wishing she’d opened with that. She knew what a worrier Spencer was, and a late night call was certainly something that set her off. She could practically hear Spencer checking her watch.
“I didn’t even realize it was midnight already. I feel like I only drifted off a couple of minutes ago,” Spencer said. Hanna laughed.
“How long have you been asleep, babe?” she asked.
“I might have fallen asleep around eight or nine. Don’t laugh! I can hear you laughing! I had a really long day at work, and I had a glass of wine to relax, and I fell right asleep,” she explained.
“I’m not laughing! You deserve to go to sleep early, especially the night before your birthday. What are you doing tomorrow?” she asked, hoping Spencer had made plans with someone else.
“I’m having lunch with Aria and then Emily’s going to bring over a cake. I’m not supposed to know about that, though,” she said. Hanna rolled her eyes.
“How do you know about it?” she asked. She could picture Spencer shrugging guiltily.
“I have my ways. And it was kind of a giveaway when Emily tried to discreetly prod me about what my favorite kind of cake was,” she admitted. Hanna laughed, glad that her wife wouldn’t be completely alone on her birthday. After quickly telling Spencer about the meeting she’d had that day, and listening to Spencer complain about the other lawyer at her firm, the two women said their goodnights and hung up the phone.
Hanna still felt guilty, but she knew just how she could make it all up to Spencer when she returned home. (Five inch heels and nothing else.)