Time Goes On
by Chelle

~ CHAPTER 25 ~

We landed in Tulsa late that night and were picked up by Taylor. "Tori's at the house with Zoe, Avery and Mac and everyone else is at the hospital with Karen." Taylor said as he pulled out onto the highway. "How's Ike?" Zac asked. Taylor just shook his head without looking away from the road as he drove onto the interstate. "Not good... he's really not good." Taylor looked in the rear view mirror and asked "How was it? The wedding? I know you have to be exhausted." I just nodded with a slight smile and asked "How's everyone else doing?" Taylor nodded and answered "Well enough I guess. We're all just tired and kinda at a loss about how to help. I mean, there's really nothing we can do so we've just been trying to make sure everyone eats and the little ones stay occupied. We've been taking turns sleeping, babysitting and stuff. I think once Karen is back home, things will get back into a routine and everyone will be a lot better."
We rode in silence the rest of the way back to the Hanson's and went inside. Taylor and Zac brought our bags in as I was tugged on and hugged tightly by the kids. I was amazed that in their minds, everything would be OK. They simply couldn't grasp what had happened and the seriousness of the whole thing. I smiled as Tori and I hugged and she said "Everyone's missed you both. We were all so glad to know that you and Zac would be coming home tonight."
After getting settled in and telling everyone about our trip, mainly to satisfy Zoe, we both took quick showers and changed. As I was putting on clothes in the bathroom, I heard a knock on the door. "Be out in a sec." I yelled as I tugged my shirt over my head. "Mel, it's Tori." I heard from the other side. As I pulled down my shirt, I opened the door. "Tori, is everything OK?" I asked and she nodded and said "Yeah," she continued after closing the door and sitting on the side of the tub. "I just wanted to see if everything was OK with you and..." her voice trailed off as she began to stare at me. "What?" I asked. "Mel, what happened to your face?" I turned quickly to look in the mirror and realized that I didn't have any makeup on. Though the swelling had started going down, the split on my lip and the bruise around my eye and on my cheek, and some of the markings on my neck were clear. "Oh," I said raising my hand to my face. "I just... well, it's..." I tried to think of something that would cause the bruises. Some kind of excuse... It's not like I could have said 'Oh It's OK. Your brother-in-law just smacked me around a bit.' "I was..." I started to answer but Tori stood and crossed her arms "Don't OK. Just don't." She said as she walked out. I stood in the bathroom for a moment, my stomach tight and heart pounding. "And so continues the saga..." I said quietly out loud to myself. I turned and opened my makeup bag to quickly cover what was left of Zac's drunken rage over the trauma that had come over his family.

The next week was spent with everyone alternating babysitting and overnight hospital stays. It was tiring but no one wanted Ike or Karen to be alone and besides, if someone wasn't there to shove food at them every few minutes, they certainly wouldn't have eaten. I'd decided to stay at the Hansons until after the memorial service. None of us slept any more than an hour at a time. It was usually short naps here and there. We were all so tired by the time Karen got to come home by that Thursday. She was still sore but doing well. Everyone was thrown into their own ways of trying to help and I quietly dealt with the added stress of trying to keep makeup touched up. Although, by the looks I'd caught Diana, Ike and Walker giving me at times, I'd figured they'd seen the bruises. It was rare for Zac and I to be left alone and when we were, it seemed like every few minutes or so, one of them was coming into the room asking if everything was OK. Taylor was the first to start the 'checking up on Melissa ritual', which told me one thing - when Tori knows something, Taylor does too. The looks from the family continued on although the bruises were almost gone and the soreness had completely disappeared.
The service was held on that Sunday evening and Angel Noelle Hanson was buried in a small cemetery in Tulsa where the Hanson family had several plots bought. The service was small with only some of the family and a few close friends present. Angel was so beautiful and looked like a normal, healthy baby.
We knew as time went on things would get better and easier but for the time being, it was fairly quiet around the house and it took all we had just to get through the day. Karen hardly talked on the rare occasions she got out of bed and Ike would simply sit and stare into space for hours. They both seemed to mostly be unaware of anything or anyone around them... even each other. Diana and Walker had asked me to stay for a while longer and I'd agreed. Zac had driven me to my house to get some more of my stuff and I had moved into his room. Diana and Walker didn't exactly approve but were too lost in Ike and Karen and how Christmas would be to say much about it. We tried to have as normal of a Christmas and New Year's as possible, but needless to say, although it was somewhat enjoyable, it was far from what anyone had planned. So much had happened and I had somehow, over the time that was passing rather fast now, moved in with the Hanson family in what looked like would be a permanent arrangement. I didn't mind though, I loved them as my own family and wanted to be around them.
As January turned into February, things had started to get back to what most were calling normal. Everyone sorta went into a routine. Ike and Karen slowly came around and started to act their old selves again.
However things wouldn't be normal for long as, unknown to us, the family was once again about to be thrown into another storm. This would be what changed everything - not only the family's lives but mine as well - in a turn of events that no one could have ever predicted, but would turn out to be what I am now convinced was my saving Grace...

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