chapter sixty six — what becomes of the broken hearted?
[ season three, episode nineteen ]
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Josie sighed as she entered Richie's house. Hanna had told her what Caleb had, that he, Richie and Paige were hunting down 'A' behind her, Hanna and Emily's backs. She understood why, but she couldn't have him getting hurt. "Hi," she said, entering his room. "Hey, what's up?" he asked, turning in his desk chair, facing her. "Nothing. Actually," she said, moving to sit across from him on his bed. "Hanna called. Caleb told her everything." she said and his face fell and he sighed.

"Look–" he started but she got up and started pacing. "Are you an idiot? Do you have any idea how dangerous what you were doing was?" she asked before stopping, staring at him. "I had to protect you." he said, getting up, and they stood face-to-face. "Yes, I know, but this person, this 'A', they stole Ali's remains and took all the keepsakes and then planted her dead body on the halloween train." she said, listing everything she could think of.

"You could have been hurt. Or worse." she said, and she felt a tear drip down her face, making him reach out and pull her into a hug, and they stood there for a moment. "Promise me you'll stop." she said, pulling back at looking at him. "Jo–" he started, "Promise me." she demanded and he sighed before nodding. "I promise," he said before pulling her back into a hug.

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"Did she show up to A.P English?" Emily asked the girls as they stood around Aria's locker. "Was she even here today?" Josie asked, "I'd think we'd know if Spencer were here. People would be running for cover." Hanna responded. The girls gave Hanna a look. "What?" she asked. "Look, she's hurting, and when people hurt, they lash out, just... give her some space." she said and Josie sighed. "We have, but she's living on planet free fall." Aria responded as she shut her locker and they began walking.

"Have you talked to toby?" Josie asked Emily. "Well, I left him a ton of messages. Think we're going to have to find out what went down from Spencer." she responded. "Maybe I'll get some cupcakes and show up at her house," Emily said. "She doesn't have the flu. She doesn't need rag mags and junk food, she needs to work through this pain, not cover it." Hanna said, as they walked through the hallway.

Aria snorted. "Okay Dr. Hanna. Pretty sure when you and Caleb broke up, you locked yourself in your bedroom for two weeks, and all you ate was eskimo pies." she said, making Josie snicker. "They were skinny cows, and it was four days." Hanna corrected. "Besides, I'm not Spencer. I would ditch school for a hang nail." she added. "Yeah, well, I'm going over there." Emily said, looking at Hanna. "You need to tell her what you remember about the blonde in the red coat." Josie said. "And give her a riddle, she needs to use that part of her brain again." Aria added.

"Yeah, and tell her I think I saw her too." Hanna said, making the girls look at her. "Backup. Saw who?" Aria asked. "When I went into that fake interview, I could have sworn I saw a blonde girl in a red coat, staring at me across the street." Hanna explained before they noticed Emily looking somewhere else, making them turn to see Spencer talking to Andrew Campbell. "No, I practiced by myself!" Spencer exclaimed, not caring if she was making a scene.

"This is a team, Spencer. And you weren't thinking about the team when you didn't show up for practice." Andrew answered. "Were those her words?" Spencer asked, referring to Mona. "Look, am I on this team or not?" she asked. "Not." Andrew answered, looking down before back at her. "We took a vote." he explained and Spencer scoffed. "Well, you can't stop me from going to Lewisburg tonight." Spencer responded. "Look, why don't you just reapply for the spring? Okay Ben's graduating early." Andrew offered.

But Spencer wasn't having it, and walked towards Mona who was sitting at a nearby table. "Hey, Mona. is there anything else that you wanna take away from me?" she asked. The girls shared a look, this wasn't the Spencer they knew. Mona didn't answer, just stared at her before Spencer walked off. "I've got this." Emily said before going after Spencer. 

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After his conversation with Hanna, who had invited his uncle (possible father) Jaime for dinner, he knew Jaime was Josie's father, so as Caleb's mind was spinning, he stood on Josie's front porch. He didn't believe it, but he needed to talk to Josie. He shook his head before ringing the doorbell.

Jennifer Carmen was in the kitchen when the front doorbell rang, making her look up from her laptop, before getting up and answering the door. She opened it to see Caleb Rivers. She breathed in before opening the door fully. "Come in." she said and Caleb walked into the house. "Do you know?" he asked and she knew right away what he was referring to. "I've known for a while, so has Jo," she answered.

"You look like your father, while Josie looks like me. She's my mini me." Jennifer said, and it was silent for a moment. "Her room's third door on the left." she said and Caleb nodded. As he was walking up the stairs, Jennifer stopped him. "Caleb?" she asked and he turned to look at her. "If you ever need a place to stay, we have a guest room. after all, your family." she said and he smiled at her in thanks.

"Thank you Ms. Carmen." he said and she dismissed him. "Call me Jennifer." she said before walking back into the kitchen. Caleb then continued walking up the stairs and finally reached the second level, and he remembered Jennifer saying her room was the third door on the right. He breathed before approaching the door, which was open. Josie was on her bed, working on her laptop when he knocked on the door, making her look up.

"Caleb? what are you doing here?" she asked, "Today, Hanna went to talk to my Uncle Jaime, and she invited him to dinner, to get to know me." he said and her face dropped. "But he isn't my uncle. He's my father, but he's yours as well." he asked and Josie sighed deeply. "How long have you known?" he asked. "A while." she answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "Well, for one, I didn't wanna give 'A' another reason to hurt you. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt." she explained before she sighed. "And because I didn't know if you'd want to know me that way at least. as your sister." she added. "Of course I would. You're my sister. Half or not." he said and she smiled. "Did anyone else know?" he asked. "Only Richie." she answered and he nodded before the newfound siblings shared a smile.

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Josie and Richie were going to dinner with Hanna and Caleb, who had gotten ready at Josie's house, before heading to Hanna's. Hanna was about to leave, but the noise of her backdoor opening made her look up seeing Josie, Caleb and Richie. Josie sent Hanna a smile and she smiled back before looking at Caleb. "Hey," Caleb greeted, he was dressed in one of Richie's nice shirts he had brought for him from his place, since Caleb didn't own a nice shirt.

"We'll be in the car," Josie said, patting her brother on the arm, she still couldn't believe that secret was out now. "Okay," Hanna said and Josie and Richie walked out Hanna's front door, getting in her car, and they waited for Hanna and Caleb, who weren't long, soon enough they were on their way to the Brew. "I can't believe my best friend and boyfriend are half-siblings." Hanna mused, making Josie laugh. "How do you think we feel Han," Josie said, smiling.

It didn't take long before the four of them were sitting at a table and were waiting for Jaime, who was late. "Do you want me to call him again?" Hanna asked as Josie rested her head on Richie's shoulder. Her whole life her father was almost always late whenever it involved her, and she knew it was because of hesitation, thinking she was better off without him, but she hoped he'd show up. 

"No." Caleb answered. "Maybe he misunderstood, maybe he thought I meant tomorrow, or next friday." Hanna tried to be optimistic. "Han," Josie shook her head. "Hanna, he had a hard enough time being there for me as uncle, even Josie as a father." Caleb  said. "Okay, when I was six, he left me with a babysitter," he started. "I had babysitters. My mom was out all the time." Hanna said.

"Right, but she came back." Caleb said, making Hanna and Josie frown as Richie rubbed Josie's back. "Eventually the sitter called the police. That was such a treat, answering questions in my pajamas, about Uncle Jaime in a squad car." Caleb scoffed.

"Okay, I get that dad messed up, but he's not the same person." Josie said, making Caleb look at her, "really? Tell that to the empty chair." he scoffed and she sighed. "Let's go." Caleb said, moving to get up. "Just wait, five more minutes, please?" Hanna begged and Caleb looked at Josie, which made him sigh before sitting down.

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The four of them shared a plate of food, but still no sign of Jaime. "Can we just get this to go?" Caleb asked, not wanting to be waiting around anymore. "Yeah. I'll get a box." Hanna said, getting up and Richie got up as well. "I'll go get us some drinks to-go," he said to Josie who nodded, resting her chin in her hand as they walked off. "I know our dad is a no-show, but at least you have me, your super amazing half-sister." Josie said, making Caleb smile lightly. "Sister." he corrected and she smiled.

As Richie and Hanna were at the counter, they turned to see Jaime walking in, and he walked up to them. "Where have you been?" Hanna asked as Richie ordered him and Josie an ice chocolate each. "The trip was longer than I thought." Jaime responded and they shared a smile, because it meant Jaime had shown up.

"What do you what?" Richie asked him, nodding  his head to the menu. "Anything decaf." Jaime responded and Richie nodded before Jaime walked over to Josie and Caleb. "We were just about to leave." Caleb informed him. "I wouldn't blame you. Either of you. If you had." Jaime responded, looking between his kids. "Can you stick around for a few more minutes?" he asked and the siblings shared a look before they nodded and he sat in front of them as Richie and Hanna came back.

Hanna handed Jaime's drink to him while Richie had his and Josie's drinks and Hanna put the food back down on the table. "Mm, that looks good." Jaime said, looking at the slice of cake. "They give you a discounts on used cake?" he joked. "It was ours. We had to eat something to soak up all this tea." Hanna explained. "Right." Jaime responded.

"Um, I'd get you a fresh piece, but If I stand up again, It's to pee and I would rather do that in my pants than leave you three alone." Hanna added, and Josie choked on her drink, laughing as well as Richie. Caleb raised his brow at Jaime. "Classy girl." Jaime complimented Caleb. "I'm so proud." Caleb said amused before they shared a laugh.

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Josie and Richie had left Caleb and Jaime could get to know each other, but from Hanna's text she had gotten her dad a job fixing the bell in the church, so he would be around a lot more and Josie was glad about it, but not long later, while Josie and Richie were eating, she had gotten an S.O.S. from Emily. "Emily, what happened? Where's jason?" Aria asked as she, Hanna, Josie and Richie walked into the hallway outside Jason's room.

"Why were you even with him?" Hanna asked. "There's a photo of Ali and Cece and Wilden. It was taken on his boat that summer in Cape May." Emily explained. "Where is it? Show us." Josie asked. "I can't. It disappeared in the accident." Emily responded. "What?" Hanna breathed. "Is Jason okay?" Aria asked as Spencer walked up to them. "Can we see him?" she asked. 

"Uhh... yeah, he's over there but he asked me to get him some more water." Emily said, pointing to his room. "I'll do it." Spencer volunteered, holding her hand out for the cup and Emily gave it to her. And for a second, Spencer just stood there, staring at her, "I'm sorry." she apologised and Emily nodded. "Me too." she responded.

"Excuse me!" a nurse said, walking up to them. "Where's your friend?" she asked, confusing the girls. "What?" Emily asked, "The patient in bed 3, Jason DiLaurentis. Where'd he go?" she asked, and the group shared a look before walking into the room and moving the curtain to see Jason was no longer there.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 | HE KNOWS! THEY KNOW! CALEB AND JOSIE BEST SIBLINGS EVER! | countdown till season three is over: five chapters