Mack couldn’t help but smile slightly at the use of the pet name, they had become more and more frequent lately. She liked it a lot, it made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flutter. Right now it was the most comforting thing she had ever heard, and as the redhead reassured her that she was here for her even if it wasn’t her first choice of Friday night entertainment helped tone down the feeling of panic in her chest. Just hearing the redhead’s voice helped, in the end they could just go back to the parking lot at CCI and curl up. She wouldn’t have to say anything if she didn’t want to, and if she did the girl would be there to listen quietly. It went a long way in her book to have anyone who was willing to stick around and deal with the disaster that was her family. She’d have to remember to thank Tatum profusely later when things had blown over.

She heard the redhead shifting in her seat and jumped slightly as the girl squeezed her shoulder. She was all kinds of jittery, but relaxed into the girl’s touch after her initial shock had worn off. Tatum believed she could do this, it was worth more than all the money in the world to hear that from the redhead. She uncurled slowly from the ball that she had been in and smiled weakly at the other girl.

“Us against the world, right?” she asked, reaching up and squeezing the girl’s hand, pulling it gently from her shoulder and tangling their fingers together as she waited for Tatum to finish her joint. She knew getting out of the car was going to be a problem, now that she had her lifeline, she really didn’t want to detach from it. Maybe she would just climb over the center consol and go out Tatum’s door. That sounded like a good plan.

She felt warmer already, with the redhead's reassurance and the girl's hand in hers. She had stopped shaking, although she still felt a little weak. She ran her thumb over the back of Tatum's hand absentmindedly as she composed herself. She took a deep breath and glanced over at Tatum.

“I’m ready when you are,” She said, her grip tightening slightly on the girl’s hand unintentionally. She was worried, worried about the state of her mother, worried about what would happen next, worried about Hunter showing up. She knew that it would comfort her mother immensely to see the tall blonde girl, and in all honesty Hunter was pretty much one of the family. She was still livid with the bitch though, and wasn’t sure if she could control her anger if Hunter decided to be a dick about the whole thing. “Or, I guess as ready as I’ll ever be.”