Suddenly

Hannah

Once the panic attack receded and the kind woman left, Grace was left with a choice. She wasn't sure of where to go from there.

Did she get a hotel for the night?

Did she go to Hannah's first?

Or Mamrie?

She thought about the idea of a hotel. It seemed appealing, but then again it would be a public place, with very public cameras and records. Her brain thought of her husband moving heaven and earth to find her in a few days. The more out of sight she stayed the better.

"What do you think, Aylie? Who should we try first? Mamrie or Hannah?"

The little girl looked up at her in confusion. "Annie?" She tried the word on her tongue. Her face lit up when her mother smiled at her.

"Hannah?" Grace questioned, liking the version of the name that her baby had came up with. "We can try her first, if either of them is in town, I'm sure it would be her."

After some fumbling with the address, and spending almost thirty minutes going in the wrong direction, via an incompetent UBER driver, the two of them arrived in front of Hannah's modest house around midnight.

Grace paid the impatient Uber driver and gathered her two small bags and baby.

"Okay Aylie, Mom's not sure how this is going to go." Grace walked slowly towards the blue front door. Her breath caught in her throat.

The lights were off in the house and everything was deathly silent. Grace began to rethink her idea of a hotel when a motion censored light when off and bathed the two of them in a bright glow. A dog began to bark wildly inside the house. She knew that bark.

Before she could make a break for it, the front door opened, revealing a sleepy, disheveled Hannah.

"What the fuck?" The shorter girl mumbled sleepily, she was sure her brain was playing tricks on her again.

"Hi, Hannah."

There was a silence that seemed to go on forever.

"G-Grace?" Hannah stuttered. "What are you, is that? Why are you here?" Her words were more of a mumbled mess, her blue eyes had begun to fill with tears. This was not what she had been expecting.

Ayla's whimper from her mother's arms snapped her to attention. "Come in! Please, it's nearly midnight!" She stepped away from the door.

Just as they made a move, a massive ball of fur pounced from the shadows.

"Goose!" Grace and Hannah yelled at the same time.

The bulldog made no notice of the exclamation. She bounded in circles around her former owner. Happy to see her after all this time.

Grace couldn't contain her feelings anymore. She dropped her bags and sank to the floor. Ayla clutched her nervously as she reached her hand forward to the giant animal.

"Oh Gooser!" Grace cried. "Aylie, it's Goose!"

The hyper dog gave the tiny child a wet lick across her cheek, causing her to squeal with excitement.

Hannah and Grace were both pleasantly surprised to see the dog be gentle with the little girl. It was quite different than they had imagined from the usually over anxious dog.

"Okay Goose!" Hannah pulled the dog away from Grace and the baby, she had so many questions and was over the distraction.

After letting the lumbering animal outside, she returned to find Grace and the tiny little girl still standing nervously in front of the door. Her heart clenched as she saw her former best friend ready to make a break for it. She couldn't let that happen again.

"Please don't run," her voice broke with emotion.

Grace's face reddened at being called out. Honestly, she had nearly fled. It was all almost too much. The fear and anxiety were beginning  settle inside her chest. She was once again questioning her decisions.

Hannah's light touch on her forearm brought her back to reality.

"Grace, I need you to let me help."

That broke the dam.

Grace was suddenly sobbing. She clutched her confused child to her chest as Hannah wrapped her arms around her.

Damn Hannah for always knowing what Grace needed to hear.

She needed someone to tell her to stay. To say, even if it was without knowing the whole situation, that they would help her fight this monster that was her husband.

"Grace, honey, I need you to calm down just a little bit and let me take the baby, you're scaring her." The short blonde spoke gently, as if she were speaking to a feral animal.

The taller woman glanced at her daughter through tear filled eyes, the child peered up at her with misty eyes. She didn't understand why her mommy was crying, it frightened her, but she didn't want to act out and get in trouble like she did around her daddy.

Hannah carefully pulled the little girl from her mother, at first there was resistance, but after a mumbled "It's okay, Aylie," from Grace, the child calmed.

With the girl safely in her grasp, Hannah led Grace over to the grey couch. While the hysterics were now gone, Grace had become very tired from her outburst. She allowed herself to sit and be soothed gently by Hannah as she began to drift to sleep, thankful to finally feel safe.

Once the blonde was asleep, Hannah was able to fully assess the situation. She peered down at the little girl in her arms. The child stared back with the same inquisitive brown eyes as her mother.

"Hi," Hannah said awkwardly. She really didn't know much of how to speak to a child, especially this child. "I'm, umm, Hannah."

Ayla cocked her little head to the side as the woman spoke to her. She was not afraid, just curious of the whole situation. "Annie?" She tried to repeat the woman's word.

Her face lit up when the woman's lit up. Then she watched her face drop. "I don't know your name." She paused, trying to remember the name she had heard Grace call the little girl. Everything had been so tense and crazy she hadn't really paid attention. "Allie?"

The baby once again cocked her little head in confusion.

"So, not Allie, okay." She was suddenly at a loss for 'A' names.

The three of them sat in silence for a long time. Grace rested peacefully, and Ayla had begun to slowly drift off in Hannah's arms. Hannah, on the other hand, was wide awake. She still couldn't fully wrap her mind around the events of the night.

She glanced over at the clock.

1:37 AM

It was way too late to be calling Mamrie at this hour, but she needed someone else there when Grace finally woke up and was ready to talk.

She had spent the last couple years feeling many emotions toward her former best friend. Anger, hurt, disappointment. Hannah wasn't sure how all of it would come out when Grace began to tell her side of the story.

She needed Mamrie.