"If you don't tell her we will...." the soft whispers of the girls emerged in the room while Charlie slept on the chair beside Hanna's bed. Hanna grew tense as she looked at the written word on her cast.
"We can't tell her, she's already paranoid.. if she knew A was in here". Hanna pushed the blanket over her cast "she'll see it eventually Hanna".
The girl sighed "I'll make sure she doesn't, I'll tell her but right now... let's just keep it between us" the girls all nodded and Hanna smiled.
—
Charlie walked along the sidewalk, her hands tightly grasping onto Hannas bags. She trailed behind the girls as they walked inside. Hanna rolled herself into the kitchen letting out a breath of relief at finally being home.
"I never wanna step foot in a hospital again" Charlie looked at Hanna's cast. "What's with the Humpty Dumpty sticker?" Hanna smiled weakly "Spencer thought it would be funny, it's not really sticking all that well, but it's pretty cool".
Charlie let out a soft hum as she looked at Spencer with a frown. The only response was a shrug of her shoulders. Charlie dropped the conversation right after the gesture, Hanna was hiding something.
"Who got you this panda?" Emily held onto the panda smiling "Lucas". Emily smiled "that was nice of him" Charlie leaned into the counter pressing her hands together.
She spent three long weeks inside a hospital room with Hanna and yet she was still nervous to speak. With the prying eyes of A burning into her flesh she had to keep her guard up whenever she was alone.
Even surrounded by the girls she felt that same sense of paranoia and distrust creeping into her bones. Maybe being here wasn't the best idea.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when Hanna spoke "anyone else starving or is it just me?". Charlie blinked as she looked at Hanna with a weak smile, she was trying her best to be normal.
"Your mom said she left a special dinner for you" Hanna let out a scoff "pass. No, I want a Pop-Tart". Charlie's phone began ringing making her sigh "it's my mom, I'll be right back".
She didn't look at the girls when she walked out of the kitchen she stepped outside and Hanna sighed. "You think she's okay? She's been distance the last few days, it's really weird".
"She's probably just trying to get back to her normal self, just give her some time Han".
Charlie sat down on Hanna's steps her eyes looking around as she held tightly onto her phone. She could hear the girls inside laughing, she couldn't bring herself to get up, she felt frozen.
"Come on Charlotte, you can't be cooped up in your room all day". Charlie huffed as she held onto her stuffed bear "Allison, you know my mom doesn't let me go anywhere, and don't call me Charlotte, I hate when people call me that".
Allison laughed "I'm not most people, come on just sneak out! It'll be one night, a little sleepover with the girls, you never go and I want you there this time... it'll be fun".
Charlie sighed "you know I can't Allison, my mom would ground me so fast if she knew I left". Allison's facial expression turned cold "you'd sneak out to see Hanna, but you won't sneak out to hang out with me? Just because your dad got killed by some homeless guy, doesn't mean you will... your moms just a paranoid bitch, and you're just like her...".
"Get out! Allison get out of my house!" Charlie stood up from her bed letting out a shaky breath as she forced Allison out of her room. "Charlotte, come on it was just a joke, I didn't mean it".
Charlie slammed her door shut "just leave! I don't wanna see you again! Leave Allison!".
Charlie turned when someone touched her shoulder "you okay?" she stood up wiping the dirt off her pants "yeah I'm okay Em, just waiting for my mom, she said she was picking Jack up and she'd be here in like ten minutes".
"Hanna worried about you, I think you should talk with her before you go back home". Emily walked off and Charlie walked back inside the house.
She waved awkwardly at Aria and Spencer when they were heading to leave. "Charlie, I thought you left already" Hanna held tightly onto a box of pasta as she smiled nervously.
"My moms on the way, figured I'd wait in here with you. Keep you company". Hanna nodded as she rolled herself towards the fridge "I was gonna take a nap, but I'll wait till your moms here".
Charlie pressed her hands together "Hanna, you wouldn't lie to me would you?". The air grew silent as Hanna let out a nervous chuckle.
"Of course not, you know I don't lie, especially to you Charlie". Charlie showed Hanna the Humpty Dumpty sticker and the girls eyes widen.
"Slipped off, you didn't even notice... why didn't you tell me A wrote a message on your cast?". Hanna sighed "I was going to tell you... I...".
"I'm assuming the girls know, because you tell them everything. I thought you trusted me, and you know how I feel about A... why didn't you tell me?".
"Because you were finally getting better, I didn't want to mess it all up. I knew the second I showed you my cast you'd go back into a spiral of paranoia. If not telling you helped then that's what I would've done! We had three weeks with nothing from A. I just wanted things to be normal again".
Charlie sighed "I'm not gonna just disappear Hanna, A may have ruined my life but I wouldn't have just....".
Charlie pressed her hands into her hair "you know deep down that the second A shows up again, you'll disappear.. you'll lock yourself in your room... is it so bad that I was worried about that? You said we'd fight A together, so no way in hell am I letting you disappear on me.. I'll go down that black hole of paranoia myself and drag you out".
Charlie was silent, the sound of her mother honking entered the air making her looked at Hannas front door. "I gotta go, my moms here for me".
She went to walk off but was stopped by Hanna grabbing her hand "promise me you won't do this alone, I can't lose you Charlie".
Charlie smiled weakly "I'm sorry Hanna" she walked off and when the door shut Hanna sighed sadly.
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authors notes: A simple chapter for my return of Charlie and Hanna angst. When I write these chapters I watch the episodes beforehand to get an idea of what's going on, this episode made me cringe so many times I just had to cut all of it out. I just couldn't handle the cringe, I used to eat that shit up when I was a little kid, wtf was wrong with me? This show is the definition of cringe, even when I write I can't escape the cringey lines. see you in like two months when I update this story again, I suck at updating.
