Tanner was about as confused and disorientated right now in his stepmother's embrace as he was when he was plummeting to the ground yesterday. She didn't say a word when coming upstairs to him, only picking him up and nuzzling him against her chest while murmuring “I’m sorry.” Over and over again without any further context.

It's been that way since last night, despite having nothing to do with it she continued acting like she put him in the direct path of danger.

“It’s okay...” Tanner managed to say in the midst of her incessant apologies. It was as blatant of a lie as can be, nothing was okay right now in his corner of the world, he was just somewhat better at hiding his feelings than Ivory who seemed like her dam to an emotional breakdown was ready to burst at any second.

“It’s not okay.” Ivory responded. It was a breath of fresh air for Tanner to hear her say something besides that wasn't an apology for the umpteenth time. “I knew I shouldn't have called Julie; she probably thinks it’s my fault I’m sure of it.” Her face scowled mentioning her name. She shook her head, beginning to run one of her digits through Tanner's head. “ She thinks she knows what’s best.”

Thank God Tanner was down at her chest and not facing her directly because he bore a look of utter confusion. It sounded like she was and wasn't talking to him at the same time. Each statement carried a rhetorical weight to it like she didn't want an answer from him, yet she still yearned for his agreement. “I know what's best and I know you better than anyone. I bet she thinks I'm a bad mother.”

“I’m a good mother aren't I?” She continued, now bringing her stepson up to eye level now asking a direct question.

Now facing each other Tanner quickly changed his befuddled expression to a reserved smile. “Yeah, of course.”

Ivory smiled back, now moving her finger rubbing the entire length of Tanner's back. “Julie wants you to spend a few days over with Blake's family.”

“W-wow.” Tanner gasped mildly. He didn't expect for Julie to be passive about what happened, but she took action way sooner than she thought.

“It’s awful isn't it?”

Unexpected for sure, but awful was being a bit dramatic. “How so?”

“You’re going to be taken away from me Tanner.” Ivory explained as if there was some kind of hidden subtext that wasn't already apparent. Perhaps it is understandable that Ivory would think that way, after all she’d be stumped for answers if she had to think of a time where Tanner spent more than 5-6 hours away from her tops.

“I was very scared yesterday Tanner.” Ivory explained. “When I saw you falling to the ground it was like watching my most prized possession almost break into pieces.” Ivory stopped stroking and cupped her hands together making Tanner fall on his rear and more compact in his seated position. “It happened so fast and I don't know what I would've done if...” Died was the word Ivory was looking for, she still refused to bring herself to say it and instead she continued to clasp her hands almost completely obscuring Tanner's form.

“ I need to protect you Tanner, things are going to be different when you come back, I promise.”

If Tanner had to take a guess he'd say Ivory was actually trying to comfort him and miserably failing at it. Every cryptic word she pontificated accomplished nothing besides unnerving him. Her highly protective nature was nothing to new to him, however yesterday seemed to rattle her further than Tanner could've imagined and now she says things will be different? The only question was if it'd be for better or for worse.

Ivory gave Tanner one last kiss goodbye before turning away, it's taken everything in her power so far not to have a meltdown and seeing him leave from her household was certain to drive her over the edge if she bore witness to it so she opted not to look while Julie took Tanner and his possessions (in reality only his house which contained all his belongings) to her car. At least that went smoother than anticipated, Tanner was afraid someone would have to pin her down for Julie to take him. As expected Ingrid was still out for the count.

Much like the other day when he went to the mall, Tanner rode in the cup holder in the front seat as Julie drove. He supposed it shouldn't have come to any scrutiny that the ride was utterly quiet given Julie's disdain for small talk most of the time, still it wouldn't have killed her to turn the radio so it wouldn't be complete silence.

The fact that Blake only lived 10 minutes away at least spared the drive from being too boring. As Julie parked by the sidewalk and unbuckled she turned to face Tanner.

“I don't want to beat around the bush or anything, so I should ask at least once if there's anything you wanted to say about what happened last night between you and Ingrid?”

“ I love my step-sister. I feel like a deviant for loving my step-sister. She knows I love her. She probably hates me. She nearly killed me. Oh yeah, and I think I may have a fetish. Is there any medication you can prescribe to repress all of that?” Was the extreme cliff notes version in Tanner's mind that he couldn't bring himself to say. What help would it have been anyway, he had as many questions as Julie did.

“ A lot of it is a blur to be honest, one moment I was in her hand, the next I was falling to the ground.” Another hard boiled lie, though not as blatant as he told to Ivory. He remembered almost everything in vivid detail.

A freak she called him, pathetic, always better than him, was that how she really saw him? The naive fool in him wanted to be in denial and write it off as meaningless alcohol induced babble, the cynic in him though knew there was a level of malice and passion in her words that conveyed all of or at least a majority of her bottled up feelings.

The physical abuse was just the icing on the shit cake; shivers went down his spine as he recalled dangling in the air held up by her haphazard grip and later being used a human stress ball. Excruciating pain aside, what terrified him in hindsight was that she showed no intention of stopping. If push had came to shove and no one had intervened the darkest parts of his mind wondered how far things would've went.

By the time Ivory and Marcelle arrived his memory was legitimately blurry, his brain was so oxygen deprived and in shock he was pretty much unconscious by the time she dropped him. Logically the fall should have left him gravely injured or even dead. When he came to though he was most definitely alive, very sore albeit, but preferable compared to the worse outcomes. He was in Ivory's hands who was sobbing uncontrollably, holding him tightly to her body. Off in the corner of his eyes he vaguely made out Marcelle helping Ingrid off the floor. The latter was scarcely moving so he assumed she had finally blacked out. The wound was too fresh to ask Ivory how she managed to save him.

“Understandable, try not to let it bother you so much.” Julie said.

“What do you think is going to happen as far as Ingrid is concerned? Tanner figured now was as good a time to ask as any.

“ It wasn't exactly easy to get the point across to your stepmom, but I'll need to get Ingrid's side of things when she comes full circle. Worst case scenario I'll have to limit her interactions with you and counsel her to get to the root cause of what drove her behavior. Nothing too drastic for the time being.”

“ At least Ivory can stop freaking out, she's acting like the feds are gonna bust down the door.” He responded.

“She’s alarmingly possessive of you.” Julie noted.

“ Tell me about it. ” He mumbled.

“ Anyway, lets get this over with.” Julie said inviting Tanner to climb onto her palm.

A single knock on the door was all it took before a rapid torrent of footsteps approach the door and Blake as straightforward as can be stampeded to the door. “Ooh! Mom, Dad! Tanner is here!” She shouted loud with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning believing Santa Claus has arrived.

Tanner didn't even get a 5 seconds to greet Blake before the next rush of footsteps raced to the door with the same intensity as Blake.

“Tanner dear, how are you!?” The matriarch of the family Blair exuberantly asked, having the same lack of volume control as her daughter. There was no question who Blake took after the most in both personality and appearance. Blair’s jet black curly hair descended a fair way past her shoulders and was kept in a ponytail. Needless to mention she was every bit as statuesque as her daughter spare for being half an inch shorter. Both were already in subtle competition, crowding as close as possible in the limited space of the doorway appearing like they were ready to fight over the first turn to hold him.

“ Hey, how are you doing Ms. Blair.” Tanner modestly asked, trying his damnedest not be taken aback by both women trying to squeeze past the other.

“ Just Blair sweetheart, Ms. Blair makes me sound so old!” Blair complained. It was a force of habit that he always called her Ms. Blair out of respect and she always responded in that same way. Though he wouldn't call 38 young, it was far cry from being old. The fact she worked out religiously everyday has left her looking better than most women do in there 20's, every cut in her legs on clear display even with her wearing compression tights, enough musculature in her biceps to put many athletic women to shame, and possibly give many young men a run for their money in bouts of strength. Despite all of that going for her while still retaining her femininity she's been weary of her age since her 30th birthday, she won't be the type to grow old gracefully.

Though not approaching with same tenacity as the previous two the thunder in his steps made it clear he was on his way. The patriarch himself Abel, a sturdy man with short dark brown hair standing at a mighty 6'5. Despite standing behind the two titans of women his mighty stature still allowed him to be visible and capable of peering over the top of their heads. Tanner recalled that he coached a university wrestling team these days, Blake told him back when he competed he was a standout during his collegiate days with Olympic level potential until a back injury stopped his days as a competitor and he turned over to bodybuilding most of the time.

“ Hey Tan-Man, how you doin?” Abel asked using his go to nickname of Tanner, he was much calmer than the other two and possessed a softer voice than expected of a man of his size.

“ I don't want to hold you up on your day for too long, I appreciate you guys for doing this on such short notice.” Julie said expressing her gratitude.

“ Oh it's no trouble, we've wanted to have Tanner over for the longest” Blair said with a small laugh, for as often as Ingrid came over she tried several times to talk Ivory into letting him tag along to no avail.

“ I call dibs on holding him first!” Blake spoke out, stretching her long arm out to Julie.

“ Blake, an adult should handle this!” Blair disputed.

“ I called dibs though.” Blake rebutted as if that was a valid point.

For as usually collected as she was Julie couldn't hide her eyebrow from arching upward at the enthusiastic display from the duo ahead of her, the pair looked more like two sisters going at it rather than a parent and daughter. “ Blair you can go get Tanner's things out of the car, Blake hold Tanner.”

“ W-wait, I change my mind-” Blake sounded like she wanted to switch tasks, but Blair was already on her way to the vehicle.

Julie took the opportunity to talk to Abel who was the much calmer of the bunch and possessed an attention span higher than 10 seconds for a rundown of basic do's and don'ts with Tanner, mainly the common sense stuff that she expected him to know already yet went over anyway for formality's sake.

“ Don't worry so much, we'll take care of him like our own flesh and blood.” Abel smiled.

“ Alright then, he's in your hands, quite literally.” Julie snickered lightly at her pun. “ Tanner try not to be a pain in the ass.” She quipped.

With everything settled Julie held her hand out to Blake's awaiting palms and Tanner scurried on board.“ I make no guarantees.”