Molly drank the last few sips of her orange soda as the car pulled into the parking stall behind the store. She was surprised to see James waiting by the back door with Libby by his side, anxiously clutching his hand. Molly nervously waited as Emilia exited the car, feeling a bit safer when she heard the click of the rear doors unlocking. She scurried out of the car, standing sheepishly waiting for directions. With a flick of her hand Ms. Richardson gave Molly all the instructions she needed. Quietly and with her head down Molly approached her friends.

"I'm… I'm so sorry. I can't begin to explain how terrible I feel about what I…" Molly began to explain before being stopped by a hug from Libby.

"You two go inside. I want to talk to my mom for a moment." James told the girls, "I'll be in a few minutes."

Libby whisked Molly inside, closing the back door and then heading immediately for the rear stairs, taking Molly by the hand.

"I'm so sorry Libby. I can't believe what a difficult position I must have put..."

"Just come upstairs. We can talk in a moment. There's a bath waiting upstairs and I don't really enjoy it when it gets cold. Besides, James wants some privacy for whatever he has to talk to his mother about."

"Oh, alright. I guess I'll just wait in the living room then until you are…"

"No, the bath is for both of us. Ms. Richardson said you were going to need one and James thinks I should join you… and I think both of them are right. Besides, you have a head injury so we probably shouldn't leave you alone just yet."

Molly was silent for a moment, processing what Libby said.

"Yeah, sorry… I guess I do kind of need some freshening up."

"I'm surprised Ms. Richardson let you back into her car." Libby said with a soft laugh.

"She made me lay down on a towel that she get from the trunk. I guess I can't blame her. I was just glad she let me back in." Molly said, forcing a jovial tone into her voice.

"Did you really pee yourself?" Libby asked softly, knowing from experience how embarrassing that could be.

"I didn't even realize it was happening until she said something about it and even then I couldn't stop myself." Molly admitted meekly.

"Don't worry Molly," Leah said in a maternal voice as Molly and Libby crested the top step, "I'm going to do some laundry so both of you can just put everything you have on right now in the clothes hamper and I'll go in your room in a moment to collect it. You two can go and soak in the tub. I made sure to put bubble bath in it so it should be extra cozy."

"Thank you Ms. S." Molly said softly, her cheeks blushing.

After the bedroom door was closed behind them, the two took turns getting undressed and averting their gaze until both were secure in the bathtub and submerged up to their necks in the bubbles. Quickly beginning to feel less disgusting, Molly prepared to begin apologizing again but was surprised when Libby spoke first.

"I'm sorry I hit you in the head with the book. It wasn't a very nice thing to do." Libby told her friend.

"It's okay, I suppose I deserved it." Molly sheepishly admitted.

"Yes, you did!" Libby said firmly, taking Molly by surprise as Libby was normally fairly timid, "You 100% deserved it. I'm sorry that I hit you and I'm sorry that I told on you but you 100% deserved both of those things. I know you think that you were trying to help me but I didn't ask for that kind of help and you had to know that I didn't want that kind of help even before I told you that point blank. This was just like my bat mitzvah all over again! You have to stop doing things for me that you think I want and only do things for me that I actually want!"

"I… totally deserve that. I really want you to know that what I did, I did because I thought it was what was best for both of us… But I understand and accept that I was wrong; it wasn't what you wanted and you should decide what is best for you. I hope that you can forgive me."

Libby sighed, "Of course I forgive you silly! If I didn't forgive you then you wouldn't be here!"

"What… what do you mean?"

"I don't know what you did that made Ms. Richardson decide to give you a second chance but that decision wasn't just between the two of you. She called James after whatever happened between you and her and explained her conditions for bringing you back home and both James and I were allowed to decline."

"But you two didn't decline, right? This isn't just one big trick or a dream?"

"No silly, of course we didn't decline. There was no way we were going to let you rot in that place if we had the ability to prevent it. James finally told me about the things he knows and suspects about his mother. Even if I hated you I don't think I could stand the idea of you in there. Molly, she's killed people and not in self-defense and not even just after Progress Day. She's a successful medical researcher in part because she tests things on people long before her medication and devices are ready to be tested on human subjects. She has a secret lab in the basement of her old home and would do experiments on people that she kidnapped, keeping people confined down there and disposing of them once she was done with them. Now that so many of us aren't legally considered people any more she doesn't even have to hide her actions in her basement lab because she has ample supply of test subjects that have no right to say no. James told me about a report he once found that she had accidently left out about a reprograming chamber that she and her lab assistants built to break people's minds. It's a small room with no windows and a door that completely seals preventing any light or sound from entering the room. All that's in there is a blanket to sleep on, a hole for doing… you know… a bucket that gets filled with just enough food and water to keep you alive and hidden speakers that they use to randomly broadcast messages into the room. It's a mixture of people saying what they want you to believe using A.I. created sound clips that mimic people you know. And you just stay there in the dark, randomly hearing people you know and love telling you terrible things until you believe it's true."

Molly's body trembled under the water wondering if that was the 'treatment' Ms. Richardson had been planning for her.

"Look, neither one of us is particularly happy about our new living arrangement be we aren't going to let her torture you. We both care about you even when we're upset with you." Libby said, touching Molly's shoulder supportively.

"New living arrangement?" Molly asked hesitantly.

"Ms. Richardson told us about what you two talked about. She doesn't want you to break down and try to escape again so… she would only agree to bring you home if we… made you a part of our relationship." Libby said with a bit of a defeated tone, "We aren't really sure how things are going to work yet but I am going to be James' wife and you will be his new girlfriend… and mine. James and I don't really know how a three person relationship should work but the three of us can figure it out as we go. If you are okay with this that is?"