A/N: This story is going to stretch my writing skills, I can feel it already ~ Meowser Clancy.
"I want to be there for her," Scott began, but LeTrai was already cutting him off.
"That's not happening, Scott, I know for a fact that there's something between you and Mackenzie Clancy and you're just too close to Ned for that to happen," LeTrai said stubbornly. "I do not need you thinking that you're going to be her hero. That's not how this works."
"I never said it was," Scott began, again getting cut off.
"I get it, okay?" LeTrai said softly. "My sister was a victim of domestic abuse once. I asked to be put on the case. The chief said no. Do you want to know why? Because the instant I saw her fiance I punched his lights out. And it was bad enough that I did that but if I'd been in uniform when that happened, let alone on the job, there would have been trouble like nobody's business. And Scott, I know that Mackenzie is...special to you. And I know that even you won't be able to keep a level head."
Scott bit his lip, knowing that that was true. "Let me at least be there while she gives her statement to you and Blair," he begged. "She knows me. She needs a familiar face there."
"Scott, she knows both me and Detective Blair; I've been the chief since Ned started and Detective Blair has always helped out her mother," LeTrai said. "In all of Melinda Gordon's various messes." A frown creased his face as if he thought about the relationship between Melinda and Blair just a minute too long. As if realizing how little it made sense. "And her sister is in there right now. I don't think you need to be there."
"Please," Scott said simply.
"I don't need you hearing what he did to her," LeTrai said. "I don't need that, Scott."
"I won't interrupt any of it, I'll stay back," Scott said. "I'll stand behind the glass. Mack...she already told me what he did to her. I know that...she needs as much help, as many minds on this, as she can get."
LeTrai sighed, throwing up his hands. "Go ahead," he said, giving in, and walked into the room.
Scott listened as Blair and LeTrai carefully brought Mackenzie out of her shell, telling her that, in this room, they'd call body parts by what they were; no euphemisms. That she needn't be ashamed of any detail. That nothing was too small. That she could tell them all she needed them to know.
"I need you to be as descriptive as you can be as to what happened the first time and you can be more vague about the rest," Detective Blair said.
Mackenzie looked over at Katie, talking softly with her in words that Scott couldn't catch.
LeTrai carefully pushed the recorder closer and Mack, inhaling, started to speak louder.
Scott felt his heart freeze as she detailed the months leading up to it; working hard for Preston Jennings, trying her best to be attentive to his needs as a teacher. And how that all just changed one day in October. She told of being pushed over a desk, degraded, being made to feel like she was no longer a person, just his sex toy; how what she wore got turned into a signal for Preston that it was okay.
How Preston made excuses, told her he was sorry, begged her to come back. How Mack, out of the goodness of her heart, had listened to him. After all, you were supposed to give second chances.
How he'd done it again, and again, until Scott realized that he was crying listening to this, hating so much that something so precious to Mackenzie, an act that should be so beautiful had been turned, twisted, pulled into something wretched. Something to be feared and remember on dark nights, to wake up from nightmares only to realize that the real nightmare was waking up.
He buried his face in his hands, as it became almost too much to take in. As Mackenzie's voice broke and he could just sense Katie taking her hand and squeezing it, and LeTrai's voice was getting softer and Detective Blair took over questioning again because no one was getting through this unaffected.
And then they were leaving. Mackenzie was crying, and Katie needed help to go find the bathroom with her crutches, but Mack wasn't ready to go out and see anyone yet, so Scott found himself stepping from the shadows.
And she saw him there. "You heard it all?" She asked, voice raw, and he nodded.
A crooked, broken smile appeared on her face. "Well, now I don't have to tell you," she said.
He reached out and took her hand. "I wish I'd been there," he said, voicing the regret, the thought that had been niggling all along, a self-condemning line about how if he'd been with Mackenzie, maybe she wouldn't have been afraid to speak up. Maybe Preston wouldn't have raped a cop's girlfriend because he would have been too afraid that Scott would notice.
And maybe he would have done it anyway. Because he was twisted and insane.
Scott threaded his fingers through hers, pressing their palms together. "I can't change what happened," he breathed. "But I would really like to help you through this because...because I should have let you help all those years ago. And I cannot let myself make that same mistake." I can't lose you again.
Mackenzie just nodded, her lips pressed together like she was suppressing tears. Like she wanted to speak but it was too hard to find the words. She finally stepped forward, surprising him by throwing her arms around his neck.
"I haven't cried yet," she said. "Not really. And I just really need this."
And then, caught by Scott's arms, she did, letting everything out.
Katie exited the bathroom, looking drawn, and then taken aback when she saw Scott standing there, holding a sobbing Mack.
"Oh, baby," she whispered, running forward or as quickly as she could with a broken ankle, throwing her arms around both of them. "Oh, Kenz, just let it out."
And together the three of them cried.
LeTrai surprised them with ice cream. After Mackenzie finished crying, still tasting the tears in her mouth, after a female cop had given them some kleenex and she'd gone to the bathroom to wipe her eyes, LeTrai was waiting there.
"I had the rookie go and get these cones," he said. "It's just McDonald's but you should probably eat something and sugar is a mood booster."
"It can be," Scott said, and Mackenzie snuck a peek at him, eating his cone slowly, not quite looking at anyone anymore, about to draw back into his shell.
"Well, it's quick," LeTrai said a bit exasperatedly. "Just because you workout more than I do and have a healthier diet doesn't mean you need to rub it in."
"You're doing fine," Katie joked, patting LeTrai's shoulder. "Every police chief needs a bit of a paunch."
"Oh god, I'm going to go run six miles now," LeTrai joked. "But seriously, I have to go." His eyes softened. "Take care, Mack. We'll get him for you. I promise."
"We will," Scott agreed, finishing his ice cream and dumping an empty cone in the trash. He smiled at her again, mouth a bit tense but eyes warm. "I should get back to work too. Do you guys want a ride home?"
"We're fine," Katie nodded. "But thanks."
She wound her arm through Mackenzie's; Mack could feel herself leaning into the embrace. She needed this. She didn't know where she'd be right now if not for all the comforting arms that had reached out to her.
The world was a cruel place. But there were still good people in it and she almost started to cry again from how good it felt to finally be able to remember that. To believe it.
Melinda was watching anxiously, wondering what was taking her daughters so long to get home from the hospital.
Katie had told her, in quite simple terms, that they didn't need to be picked up. That Asher and Willow needed to be watched and Katie felt guilty enough that she had barely seen her kids in the past two weeks, and that it had largely fallen on her mother to watch them.
As if Melinda minded that. As if she would ever mind that.
Asher came to the door with her. "Is my mommy coming home today?" He asked. "Why isn't she here yet?"
"I don't know, Ash," Melinda whispered, placing her hand on his head, ruffling his hair. "Katie texted that they were leaving the hospital but that was hours ago."
She leaned to pick up the almost five-year-old, grunting a little. He was getting so darn big. Jim would have no problem picking him up, even now, but Melinda was just starting to struggle.
As they watched, Katie's car, familiar to them both, pulled into the driveway. Melinda let out a choked breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Oh, thank god," she whispered, setting Asher down again and letting him run out the door the instant that Katie had the car in park.
"Mommy!" He gasped, as Katie saw her son and threw the door open, running to meet him despite her injury and wincing regrettably, but fell on her knees before him to scoop him up.
"Ash, oh Asher," she whispered. "I missed you so much, baby."
Melinda hurried outside herself, wanting to see her own baby: Mackenzie, who was getting out of the car much more slowly, looking at Katie and Asher's tender reunion and rubbing her stomach.
She was going to be a mom, Melinda remembered. Mackenzie was going to be a mother. She already was. She and Chase.
She frowned, admitting to herself that she didn't really like Chase; wondering if that was why Mackenzie still wasn't enthusiastic over the news. Wondering if they both wished another man was the father, a tall black-haired man whose eyes were silver and who'd always just been there in Kenz's life. Melinda should have tried harder to set them up all those years ago after Scott and Ned were involved in that hostage situation.
She almost ran forward, throwing her arms around Mackenzie the way Katie had done with Asher, holding her second daughter close, closer, realizing that she was crying.
"Where were you guys?" She finally asked, pulling away with bright eyes. "You texted me forever ago that you guys were getting discharged by your dad and then I didn't hear anything else."
"We stopped by the police station," Mack hedged.
"Ned's not back at work yet," Melinda said, her voice blank, confused. "Right?"
"No," Katie said, straightening.
"Go ahead and find Willow," Kenz told her sister. "I want to tell mom."
Katie nodded and ran inside, holding Asher close.
"What's up, baby?" Melinda wondered.
"Can we sit?" Mackenzie said, already going to the steps leading up the house.
Melinda nodded, her heart heavy, wondering what she was about to be told.
"I only told dad today," Mackenzie said. "And he was probably too busy to tell you or say anything."
"I haven't heard anything from him," Melinda whispered.
"Okay," Mack said. "Okay. Thing is, mom…" Her face worked and Melinda's heart broke, wondering what could be so hard for Mackenzie to tell her; she was her mother.
"The baby, my child, he...she...isn't Chase's," Mackenzie said, forcing the words out.
"Oh," Melinda said. "Oh. Well…"
"Don't, not yet," Mackenzie whimpered. "Oh god. Preston Jennings is, mom."
The words didn't even make sense. Preston was one of the men that Jim had mentored; they were close, if not best friends, and he was married, he had a kid...Lorelai was one of Mack's best friends.
Was there a sleepover at his house? No. She was his TA, Melinda remembered that now.
"Well, I'm confused," she said. "But I don't...I wouldn't judge you for sleeping with a married man. I wouldn't do that, Mack."
"That's not it," Mackenzie whispered. "Though thank you for that. Seriously." Her voice broke again. "He raped me. Multiple times. That's why we went to the station. Preston showed up and daddy punched him after I told him and I knew that I had to report it."
The words weren't sinking in. Melinda was staring at her, her daughter, her little girl, and she couldn't comprehend what she was being told. Her baby had been raped. By a man that both she and Jim considered to be a friend. And this was the first she'd heard of it.
"What happened?" Melinda asked dully. "What did he do to you?"
"I can't say it, I've said it too many times already," Mackenzie said. "Mom, it hurts so bad. It was my anniversary with Chase the first time. I was wearing a short dress because we were going out. And he just...Preston just...and it happened again and I left, but he said he was sorry, it was a mistake, and oh god, I believed him and it happened again."
She was crying. She was crying so hard and Melinda pulled Kenz into her arms, feeling her own body shaking with tremors.
"I said no," Mack whispered, over and over, a mantra. "Mom, I said no."
"It doesn't matter if you said it or not, rape is rape," Melinda managed. "You don't need to justify yourself to me. You didn't want it to happen. Of course, you didn't want it to happen. He's Lorelai's father. He's your dad's friend. Oh my god."
She clutched her daughter to her, burying her face in Mack's blonde hair, smelling disinfectant, and some of her own perfume that she'd given Mack in the hospital.
No. This couldn't have happened. Her baby girl.
No.
How could they not have seen it? All of it, every time? How did Mack slip it past them?
How could this not be Melinda's fault for letting Preston into her daughter's life? For not somehow knowing, for not paying more attention to her daughter?
Hours passed. Melinda had settled Mackenzie into her old bed; she was overwrought and still tired and just needed a nap.
Ned had come and met Katie at the house, driving his whole family home for the first time in a week. There had been hugs and wet eyes all around; Ned seemed to know something about it and he hugged Melinda extra hard.
She remembered how he'd run from the car; he'd been around the past few days but Katie being in the hospital still had made him decide that he wouldn't be much at home for Willow and Asher until Katie was, and they'd kept Willow and Asher at the Clancy home for a few more days.
She remembered how big his smile was when Willow toddled towards him, taking proud steps.
"Daddy!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms up, basically begging to be picked up, and Ned did so, swinging her into his arms as Katie watched, tears in her eyes, and Melinda could easily read her daughter's mind:
There could easily have been a time when this would never have happened again. There could easily have been a time where Asher and Willow would end up being raised by their grandparents.
Melinda didn't want to think about that. She pushed forward and hugged Katie again, again and again, because she'd never get over the fact that Katie was alive. That Ned was. That the whole Banks family was alive and well and healthy.
"Hey, Willow, you ready to go home?" Ned asked, taking Asher's hand as Katie started to open her car doors.
"Home?" Willow asked, wonder in her voice. "Yes!"
Ned met Melinda's gaze as they left, a smile on his lips and happy tears in his eyes. They both knew that it would be a long time before either of them forgot this moment.
Lana and Emma were tiptoeing around, not quite asking questions yet. Letting the topic be for now, because Mack was napping and Melinda was walking around in a daze, and they knew that they just had to wait until Jim came home. Until daddy was there and brought a semblance of normal back.
Melinda was sitting on the porch steps when Jim drove up, a mug of tea in her hands, which she promptly set aside and stood up, waiting for him.
His footsteps were slow; his face was drawn and when he reached her he just pulled her into his arms, no questions asked.
And they were just there for each other, breathing each other in, trying to draw comfort but there was little comfort to be had. "Kenz told me," Melinda said. "About Preston."
"I want to kill him," Jim whispered, pulling her even closer. "Punching him wasn't nearly enough."
"I want to take a baseball bat to his head," Melinda hissed. "But then I want to turn it on myself because how the fuck could this have gone on for months without us noticing?"
And then she was crying, furious with herself, with everyone, angry at the whole world for what it had dared to do to her child. When the Clancys were already carrying a little heavier weight because of everything that Katie had gone through; because they could see ghosts and no one quite understood that, and wasn't that enough?
"Oh, Mel," Jim said, kissing the tears away.
"Why didn't she tell us?" Melinda wept. "Why couldn't she?"
"She blamed herself," Jim said. "I hate that, but she did. She does still."
"No, it's not her fault," Melinda said furiously. "God, Jim, it was my fault. Why didn't she tell me?"
"Would you have told?" Jim urged. "Understand her. Would you be able to tell...even me?"
The words hurt them both, imagining it hurt them both and Melinda broke down again. "Fuck, Jim, I wouldn't have had to. You would noticed the instant it happened. I can never forgive myself that I didn't. I'm her mother, Jim... I should've seen this, right?"
"No, no, Mel," Jim soothed. "We can't afford to think like that. Do you think I don't feel the same way? I'm furious. I can't believe that I let Preston into our life, let him know our children, but that's all in the past." He pulled back, hands on her face. "My love, we have to focus on what's present, and what's in the future, for us and for Mack. We have to make the best of this. We weren't there for her then, true, but we can be there for her now." His eyes were wet. "We have to be."
She nodded, her lips trembling again. "Come inside with me," she said. "Up to Mack's room. She's napping in there."
They walked inside, hands tight in each other's, and Melinda saw Lana and Emma, lurking in the hallway. "Come on in here, girls," Melinda whispered. "Come on."
Mackenzie stirred, rolling over and smiling at them when they came in. "Can we tell them?" Melinda asked.
Mack sighed, smile fading. "You should," she whispered. "So they don't hide it if it happens to them."
Mackenzie was more than grateful to her parents for taking over the conversation; god, she'd said these words too many times now.
And now Lana and Emma were on the bed with her, crying with her, mourning with her.
"But now…" Melinda was finishing, after telling Lana and Emma that they should come to her and Jim immediately if anything like this ever happened. "We have something to celebrate. A baby is a baby. Mack is bringing a new life into the world. I think this calls for ice cream."
Mackenzie found another smile rise to her face, as her sisters hugged her tight, and her father went downstairs to get a carton; they all ate straight from it, licking their spoons clean, crying and laughing at the same time.
This was going to be hell. There were going to be terrible moments, Mackenzie knew that.
But god, she finally had her family here with her. Around her. Everywhere. Ready to help her through it all, through everything and as she felt Emma and Lana pressed against her, she had never felt so grateful for her family