Maybe After Tomorrow (Hatchetfield)

Chapter 15

"Lexie?"
Shooting up from her position lying half-asleep with her head on Ethan's chest, Lex leapt over to the other side of the room where Hannah was sitting up.
"Hannah?"
"Lexie, where are we?"
"Oh my god, Hannah, you're awake!" Lex threw her arms around Hannah, feeling Ethan's hand on her back a few seconds later.
"Hey, Banana," he said, a little more calmly, smiling at Hannah and keeping his hand on Lex's shoulder.
"What's going on?"
Then they heard a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Ethan said.
Becky quietly opened the door, standing just in front of the doorway. "Oh, Hannah's awake."
"She just woke up," Lex said.
"I was just coming to check. Tim just woke up a few minutes ago as well. We were just gonna go get some food and ... explain the situation if you guys wanna join us. We were gonna have pizza."
Hannah's eyes lit up.
"You wanna do that?" Lex asked her.
She nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay, we'll see you down there in half an hour?"
Lex nodded as Becky left.

"So, we're not allowed to leave?" Tim asked.
"Not for now. But don't worry, this isn't gonna be forever," Tom replied.
"We're gonna make sure we can all get out of here soon. But at least you're free from school for a bit!" Becky said, smiling at Tim and Hannah.
They both laughed and looked a little happier as they ate more of the pizza.
A few minutes later, the door opened and Henry and Ted walked in.
"Ah, Hannah and Tim are up. I did tell you I'm not wrong often, Tom."
"Who are they?" Hannah whispered to Ethan.
"A crazy science professor and ... well ... Ted," he whispered back, making Hannah giggle.
"What was that, young man?" Henry asked, feigning annoyance and putting his hands on his hips.
"Oh, nothing," he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. Then he winked at Hannah, making her giggle again.
Then he looked over to Lex, who didn't even notice because she was so intently watching Hannah. And because her heart was practically melting from seeing Hannah and Ethan together again.
"Have you explained everything yet?" Henry asked.
"As best we could," Tom responded.
Henry nodded slowly.
Then Lex felt Hannah tugging slightly at the sleeve of her shirt.
"I think we're gonna go back upstairs for a bit," she said.
Hannah smiled gratefully at her as the three of them walked back into their room and sat on the bed.
"You okay, Banana?" Lex asked her.
"It's just scary being around all these people I don't know."
"I know, I promise you'll get used to it. We've been here a couple of weeks and it still feels a little strange, but it gets easier."
"I'm sure we'll all get used to the professor's little renditions of musical songs he thinks we don't hear whilst he's cooking eventually," Ethan said, making Lex grin.
"It's also scary being in a house I've never been in before."
"Don't worry." Ethan put his arm around her. "Everything's gonna be okay."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Hannah smiled before asking, "Who else is here?"
"Well, other than us, Mr Houston, Becky and Tim, the professor and Ted, there's just Mr Houston's sister-in-law, Emma. There's also someone else I think you might be happy to see," Lex said.
     "Who?" Hannah asked excitedly.
     "You'll see tomorrow."

"Tom, we should probably explain..." Becky whispered as they walked back into their room.'
"Oh, yeah..."
"I can hear you, you know," Tim said.
Tom and Becky both blushed as they sat down on the bed.
"Okay, maybe trying to whisper when you were right there was a bad idea." Tom laughed uncomfortably.
"So, are you gonna explain?" Tim asked awkwardly.
Tom cleared his throat, "Yeah. Yeah. Tim, this is Becky. She's ... an old friend."
He smiled knowingly, making the two blush even more. "You mean your girlfriend?"
Tom nearly choked whilst Becky just laughed.
"Would that be okay with you?" she asked.
He smiled and nodded, so Tom let out a sigh of relief and looked at Becky, who then stood up.
"I'lll give you guys a second. I've gotta go see Emma anyway."
"Aunt Emma's here?" Tim asked excitedly.
"Yeah," Becky nodded, "She'll be happy to know you're awake."
"What about Uncle Paul?"
"We're not too sure where he is yet," she said.
"Oh." Tim's smile dropped a little.
"But don't worry," Becky kept smiling widely, despite how worried she was, "We're gonna find him."
"I hope we find them soon."
"Me too," Becky said as she left and closed the door.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Is Becky gonna be my new mom?"
It took everything Tom had not to nearly choke again. "It's a little soon for that, Bud. But... Do you like her?"
Tim nodded eagerly.
Tom smiled, relieved. "Good."

"Emma?" Becky knocked on the door.
"Come in," a slightly choked voice replied.
Becky went in and sat down next to her, "You doing okay?"
She nodded.
"You sure? You clearly haven't slept much and you've hardly left your room in days."
"Sorry. I'm just..."
"Hey, don't apologise. I'm just a little worried."
She dried her eye, "I'm just so scared for Paul."
"I know."
"I just... I need them to be okay."
"And I'm sure he will be."
"How can you be sure?"
"Tim woke up. He and Hannah both did. Tom was so scared for Tim, but he's all right."
"Wait... Tim's up?"
"Uh-Huh."
Emma hurriedly stood up and Becky followed her back to the other room.
"Tim?" she said as she opened the door.
"Aunt Emma?"
He ran across the room into her arms.
"We were starting to think you might never wake up." She said it with a laugh, but she, Becky and Tom all knew that it hadn't been quite so funny before.

She sat down for a few minutes so she could catch up with Tim, but then she left to go get a glass of water and go to Bed. Becky was right, she had hardly been sleeping.
But, when she walked into the kitchen, she was overcome with a sudden urge to bleach her eyeballs.
"Professor?"