Stay There, I'm Coming to Get You--Vandermarin
Mona glared at Spencer.
“You honestly think I killed Charlotte?” she asked angrily, putting the slip of paper on the table. Spencer shrugged.
“I think you’re a suspect, and we need to discuss the suspects,” she said. Mona shook her head.
“And you honestly think that I would let Hanna put herself in danger if I was the killer? You know what, Hanna doesn’t have time for this! Majority rules, and the majority says Alison!” she argued, deciding to ignore Spencer’s continued distrust of her.
“Look, I hate to say it, but Mona’s right. We need to focus on finding Hanna,” Caleb agreed. Mona almost smiled at the disdain in her voice.
“We can’t just turn over Alison!” Emily argued. Mona groaned. This was going nowhere.
“Fine. You guys argue. I’m going to find my friend,” she snapped, storming out of Spencer’s house. She drove to the Radley, fuming the entire time.
She couldn’t believe this. It was bad enough that Hanna had formulated this stupid plan without even telling her, but then Caleb couldn’t even do his job right. Now Hanna was missing, and if they didn’t hurry and find Charlotte’s real killer, Hanna would pay for it. She kept thinking back to the moment in the church when she’d seen Hanna’s ‘body’. She’d felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs.
Her cell phone rang, and she frowned at the unfamiliar number. Normally she’d ignore an unknown number, but with the current situation she decided to answer it. Thank goodness she did.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Mona?” a small voice responded. Mona felt her heart soar.
“Hanna? Hanna where are you?” she asked frantically. She heard Hanna take a shaky breath.
“I-I don’t know. I’m in some building. A barn? I don’t know,” she repeated. Mona nodded absentmindedly, already typing away on her laptop.
“I’m tracing your signal, okay?” she said. Hanna didn’t respond. A loud ping alerted Mona to the laptop. She had a location.
“Stay there. I’m coming to get you,” Mona said.
---
A half hour later, Mona pulled up to an old abandoned barn. Pulling out her taser and a flashlight, she started walking to the door. It took some effort, but she managed to get the door open.
“Hanna?” she called softly, shining the flashlight around the room. It seemed to be empty, but finally the light landed on a small form curled up.
“Hanna!” she exclaimed, rushing over to her. Hanna lifted her head weakly.
“You came,” she said, her voice cracking. Mona’s heart broke.
“Of course I did. Now let’s get out of here. We can talk in the car,” she said. She put an arm around the blonde and helped her up, anger coursing through her at the sight of burns on Hanna’s body.
“I have a blanket in the back,” she said when they reached the car. Hanna nodded blankly and allowed Mona to wrap the blanket around her and help her into the passenger seat.
Neither woman spoke for several minutes.
“How’d you find me?” Hanna asked. Mona glanced at her.
“I traced the cell you used to call me,” she said. Hanna frowned, a small wrinkle creasing between her eyebrows.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t call you,” she said. Now Mona frowned.
“Yes, you did,” she said slowly.
“No, that was just a dream. Spencer was there, only it was high school Spencer. She gave me a phone and told me to call you. But when I opened my eyes, she was gone, and there wasn’t a phone. I guess it wasn’t a dream,” Hanna said, her voice fading. Mona’s eyebrows furrowed together.
“I was with Spencer right before you called me,” she said. Hanna rolled her eyes.
“Well I wasn’t really suggesting Spencer was there,” she said sarcastically.
“It’s weird though. Someone had to have been there to give you a phone and then take it, because you definitely called me. And it was definitely you on the phone,” Mona wondered aloud.
“Why did I think it was Spencer?” Hanna asked. Mona shrugged.
“I guess she’s who you wanted to see in the moment. Or maybe it was someone who looked a bit like Spencer and you saw her. Hell, it could have been someone wearing a mask,” she said. Hanna nodded slowly.
“Why did she tell me to call you?” she asked. Mona sighed. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been wondering that since hearing Hanna’s voice on the other end of the phone. Despite the strides toward friendship they’d made in the past, things had been rocky since their return to Rosewood. Hanna had a million people to call. Why would she choose her?
“I don’t know,” Mona answered honestly. Hanna was quiet for a minute.
“I think I know,” she said quietly. Mona glanced at her, allowing herself to imagine, just for a second, that Hanna had called her because she was feeling the same things Mona had been feeling since high school.
“Why?” she finally asked.
“You could track the phone and figure out where I was,” Hanna explained. Mona frowned.
“So could Caleb,” she pointed out. Hanna nodded.
“Yeah, but he’d tell Spencer and everyone else. You came alone,” she said. Mona let her words sink in. It was true. If Hanna had called Caleb, he would have told everyone else and they would have all rushed to find Hanna, which would have been overwhelming.
“Speaking of which, I should probably let them know you’re safe,” she mused, considering not informing them. It would serve them right for sitting around fighting instead of looking for Hanna.
“Where are you taking me?” Hanna asked. Mona paused. They were almost back to Rosewood and she hadn’t even considered where she was driving to.
“Where do you want to go?” she asked, expecting her to say Spencer’s or her mother’s or back to Lucas’s loft.
“Are you staying at your mom’s house?” Hanna asked, distracting Mona. She shook her head.
“No, I’m at the Radley. Why?”
“Can I go home with you?” she asked hopefully. Mona fought the urge to grin. Out of everything Hanna might have said, she wouldn’t have expected this.
“Of course you can,” she said. Hanna offered her a small smile.
The rest of the ride back to town was silent, but it was a comfortable silence. When they finally returned to the Radley, Mona led Hanna up to her room and offered her a pair of pajamas. The blonde accepted gratefully.
“Can I get you anything? Water, tea, Advil?” she offered.
“I really just want to go to sleep,” Hanna admitted. In the light of the hotel room, Mona could see the dark circles under Hanna’s eyes. She looked exhausted.
“You can take the bed,” she said. Hanna shook her head.
“I don’t to be alone. Please,” she said, hoping Mona would catch her meaning. She did. Mona swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the heat pooling in her belly. She tried to tell herself she was being silly. She and Hanna had shared a bed plenty of times before, and she’d always been able to push away her attraction.
“Unless you don’t want to,” Hanna said quickly. Mona shook her head.
“No, don’t be silly. Come on, let’s go to bed,” she said, leading Hanna into the bedroom.
They both crawled into the bed, being careful at first not to touch. The second Mona turned off the lights, though, Hanna scooted closer. Mona gasped.
“Sorry,” Hanna mumbled.
“No, you’re fine. You just have cold feet,” Mona lied. Hanna laughed, seeming to believe the lie.
“Thanks for letting me stay here,” she said. Mona smiled genuinely.
“You’re always welcome here,” she promised. Hanna sighed and closed her eyes, hoping sleep would come to her.
Sleep evaded Mona, but it was still the best night she’d had in years.