Quick note: A very good point of reference for this chapter would be chapter 2 of "Falling Apart," and possibly the one-shot "Like Oil and Water."
A huge thanks to all who've reviewed so far!
Ding dong! Ding Dong!
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Frankie yelled exasperatedly as she sprinted into the foyer from the kitchen before skidding to halt right in front of the ornate front doors with skill that only experience could provide. After pausing for a few moments to catch her breath and regain her composure, she fixed on a bright smile, opened the door and instinctively began to greet warmly,
"Welcome to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends! I'm Frankie, how can I…help…y-you…"
The caretaker took one look into the stern, spectacled gaze of her visitor, and immediately went temporarily mute with agonizing shock so strong, for a brief moment she felt like she was about to faint right then and then in a heap. As immeasurable horror set in, her brilliant emerald eyes bugged almost right from her skull, the smile on her face vanished from existence as her jaw dropped, and her skin rapidly paled to the color of bleached flour. Had any observer taken one glance at the panic-stricken redhead, he or she might've thought Lucifer himself was standing on Foster's front porch.
Of course, the middle-aged Caucasian woman was quite far from the Prince of Darkness, but even then, the tight bun tying up her black hair, the familiar matching blue skirt and jacket combo, and the cold, no-nonsense expression was all thought it took for recognition to strike Frankie like a log to the stomach, causing her to go frozen with fright as a wave of terrible memories flooded over her with the force of a mighty tsunami.
"..Good morning, Miss Foster. My name is Melinda Corningston; I'm with Social Services…"
"What do you want?"
"…Now as well all know, due to the passing of the boy's mother and brother here…"
"…Mac shall be placed in the care and protection of a local orphanage until he is adopted by a suitable family…"
"…NO! No, you won't-"
"I do believe they're no need for us to reintroduce ourselves. Is there, Miss Foster?" the woman asked flatly, snapping abruptly Frankie out of her flashback.
After what felt like an eternity of struggle, the caretaker finally managed to wrench enough control of her paralyzed vocal cords to gasp softly as she pointed with a visibly trembling hand,
"It's…i-it'syou…y-you're the s-social worker who…w-who took away Mac w-when…a-after the car accident, y-you're the one at the p-police station who…you took h-him away to try and put him in an orph-"
"Yes, and to little avail, as I see here." The woman interrupted, forcing Frankie to wince uncontrollably; the obvious displeasure in her tone was unmistakable. "And as a quick reminder Miss Foster, I'd prefer that you address me properly as Miss Corningston, not 'you.' Is that clear?"
Frankie, breathing in shallow gasps, nodded dumbly as she strove like mad to figure out what blatantly horrid things were afoot. As past experience had taught her, she never had any reason to be joyous at the sight of any social worker, especially one who she already shared some less-than-memorable experiences with. No doubt about it, she'd have to be an idiot to not realize something was seriously wrong.
"W-what are you doing here?" she inquired in a hoarse whisper as her stomach began to twist up painfully into knots.
"After my agency received a phone call from your charge's school this morning, it seemed must prudent that I would be the best to handle this particular situation, as I've had the most experience with you and the child, though limited as it is."
"Excuse me?" Frankie murmured stupidly in a barely audible murmur.
After stifling what suspiciously appeared to be a smirk of satisfaction that threatened to sneak across her face, Miss Corningston cleared her throat and announced the absolute unthinkable.
"I'm investigating a report of possible child abuse."
"…There just has to be some misunderstanding." Mr. Herriman stated steadfastly for the umpteenth time. "I know that the principal is bound by law to report any suspicious behavior, and we're all quite aware that you have nothing but Master Mac's welfare in mind, but-"
"The report I received seemed to hold all clear signs of abuse; the unexcused injuries, a guardian who's had a history of being woefully inept at controlling her own temper-"
"Unexcused?" Madame Foster repeated incredulously at the social worker. "You just told us that the boy's teacher took him aside later, and the story Mac gave matches what Frankie told you to the very last detail!"
"That's hardly enough reason for me to call off the investigation." Miss Corningston replied unnaturally calmly, unmoved by the passionate fury in the old woman's tone. "In all my years of work, I've found that it's quite common practice in households with clear-cut cases of physical abuse for the parents to make up a story for the child to tell others if anyone else attempted to inquire about their injuries, such as the always popular door-related excuses. Do you have any idea how many times I've had a traumatized child tell me that their dreadful facial bruises were supposedly all because someone 'accidentally' shut the-"
Before she could continue justifying her suspicions, Mr. Herriman, unable to listen to the hideous accusations any further, abruptly motioned her to be silent as he pounded a tightly clenched fist upon his desk.
"Miss Corningston, good Lord!" he exclaimed in utter appall. "Are you honestly telling us that you sincerely believe that Miss Frances actually hit the boy, then conjured up some frightfully pathetic excuse for him to use if anyone dared ask about his wound?"
"All I'm saying is that the facts I'm working with give me very little reason to believe otherwise." the social worker answered in the same, disturbingly emotionless manner as she sat upright and primly in her armchair. "Considering Miss Foster's temper problems, it would hardly be unfeasible to suspect her of occasionally losing control to the point where no one, not even the child, is safe from-"
"You can't possibly be serious-" Mr. Herriman started to reply before his creator burst out shouting fiercely as she brandished her cane high in the air,
"You're wrong! My granddaughter would never in a million years even think of-" Madame Foster valiantly tried to defend her flesh and blood before she was cut off.
"Are you really so sure? You'd have to be blind to not realize that she has serious anger management issues-"
"We're quite aware that in certain situations Miss Frances has difficulty with self-control, thank you very much," Mr. Herriman countered with a defiant glare, "But I'm telling you, this is nothing but a terribly, terribly horrendous misunderstanding; the administrators at Master Mac's school overreacted completely with their dreadfully erroneous assumptions. Miss Frances would never-"
"I d-didn't hit him."
As soon as the quavering objection interrupted the epic debate, Madame Foster and her creation glanced together in genuine surprise at the young woman who had emitted the whispered utterance. Ever since the social worker had shown up, Foster's resident caretaker had been so badly stunned by the severity of the charges brought against her she had been able to do little than stand mutely to the side, almost numb with disbelief.
However, now as she sat in her seat, it appeared that the initial shock was finally starting to wear off a bit as she licked dry lips, took a hard swallow, and said a little louder,
"I-I…I didn't hit him…I would never hurt him-"
Miss Corningston didn't even pass a hasty glance her way, and merely rolled her eyes as she replied rather condescendingly,
"Miss Foster, you'll have to do much better than that if you want to convince me that-"
"You think I'm lying?" Frankie snapped as the unmistakably scornful remark made short work of stirring up her infamous temper. "You seriously think that when I get too angry, I actually have nothing better to do than take it out on Mac?"
"Well I have yet to hear anything I could accept as the honest truth, if that's what you're asking." Came the frosty reply.
"I swear, I didn't hit him! I would never do anything like that, it was only an accident, that's all!" Frankie cried, gazing pleadingly into her accuser's eyes. "You have to trust me, I-"
"Trust?" Miss Corningston repeated skeptically. "You're asking me to actually trust you?"
"What the hell do you think I'm asking for?" Frankie hissed as the blood began to boil in her veins.
Almost instantly in near synchronization, Madame Foster and her equally alarmed creation both realized that the fuming caretaker was well on her way to wrecking massive damage to her dangerously fragile integrity.
"Miss Frances, please! Watch your mouth-" Mr. Herriman frantically reprimanded as Madame Foster reached over to pat her raging grandchild's hand.
"Frankie dear,please, you must-"
"No, don't." Miss Corningston ordered them as her icy blue eyes stared straight into the growing fires raging in Frankie's pupils. "Do you really wish to know why I find it nearly impossible for me to believe you, Miss Foster? In case you've forgotten, the first time we met, I was forced to leave as quickly as I possibly could while several police officers were struggling to restrain you. I've seen what you can become as soon as you lose control of yourself, I know what you're capable of. If you were able to resist nearly half a precinct's worth of officers, then how hard could it be for the stress of raising a child on your own to get so much to bear that you can't help every now and then but-"
"I would never intentionally hurt him!" Frankie growled in insistence. "I'm not going to deny that I lost it in the police station that day, but that was all because you were taking my little brother away-"
"No, I was doing my duty and taking a newly-orphaned little boy someplace safe where he could get the care he needed until he could be placed in another home, with a real family." Her spectacled foe corrected with a fierce glare. With fury skyrocketing by the second, Frankie curled her lips into a ferocious snarl and shot back,
"No, you tried to take him away from his real family-"
"Oh, so I was supposed to believe that an eight-year-old would be better off with some girl, clearly barely out of college, not even related to him in any way possible, who then nearly went crazed with hysteria the moment she didn't have her way?"
"You tore him right out of my arms!" Frankie involuntarily howled.
"And you snapped almost immediately! How could I have possibly even considered allowing you to even temporarily look after the child when I had the chance to watch you descend into a wild fury the second-"
"Did you expect her to passively sit there and watch as you forcibly took Master Mac away?" Mr. Herriman suddenly broke in. "How can you possibly accuse Miss Frances of neglect or ill-treatment? If anything, that terrible incident should have made it clear to even the most dimwitted individual that Miss Frances obviously loves the child dearly! Miss Corningston, these charges are nothing short of absolutely absurd! Believe me, as long as Master Mac has been in Miss Frances' care, she's treated him with nothing but excellent care and affection; I have never seen her so much as lay one finger on him out of rage!"
At first, the woman was caught off guard, not expecting such fervent defense from the figment. Only after a moment though, she quickly recomposed herself and swiftly matched him tit for tat.
"How on earth can I know if anything that you say is true? Mr. Herriman, if anything, it's much more difficult for me to trust you at all!"
"Excuse me?" he replied incredulously, unable to conceive that someone would dare call his integrity into question. The social worker narrowed her eyes as she glared accusingly.
"Since we've last met, you've successfully gone back on everything you've promised me. Right after Mac's mother perished, I remember quite clearly that we both agreed it would be for the best if the child was placed in one of the local orphanages, as dictated by law. Then, shortly after Miss Foster's hysterical outbreak, the police department informed me, to my relief at the time, that you had given them your word that she would not be allowed to know where the child was taken to-"
"I was completely wrong to agree with you at all in the first place." Mr. Herriman admitted flatly without so much as a trace of remorse for his betrayal. "I was forced to learn the hard way that the assumptions I had made that day were totally erroneous-"
"You honestly believe he's better off with Miss Foster? Her?" came the genuinely incredulous reply. "Actually taking care of a child…"
She paused to leaf through her files before asking incredulously after glancing at what looked like a medical form, "…And one who had until recently, an undiagnosed heart condition, at that? Good Lord, this file reads almost like a horror story-"
"He had a heart condition." Frankie snarled in correction, but to little avail as her protest was ignored completely as Miss Corningston continued on.
"Mr. Herriman, I can't even begin to describe the immense horror I felt when I learned only weeks later that Miss Foster had not only successfully located, but actually adopted the child." She said, speaking with such sound disproval, it was if the very idea was a veritable crime against humanity. "A dangerously ill-tempered girl with complete charge of a little boy? I didn't even want to think about it, especially when I learned of the little 'escapade' she had shortly before the official adoption-"
"Mac tried to flee that orphanage because he didn't want to be placed with any other family." Madame Foster countered sharply, glaring daggers. "He wanted to be here with his family, and my granddaughter risked her very life to make sure that-"
"If anything, she was the entire cause of that mess by obviously influencing the child and making him believe he'd somehow be better off with her in the first place, not to mention the fact that she managed to show us all just how unthinkably reckless she can be." Came the cold reply, to which Mr. Herriman rolled his eyes in disbelief at what he was hearing.
"Dear God…" he groaned as she continued on as if she were talking about the travesty of the century.
"When I learned that they both ended up hospitalized after that mess, I…oh mercy, why I never took any initiative to look into this case before I received the report this morning, I have no idea. I knew this wasn't going to work, I knew Miss Foster wouldn't be able to handle-"
"You only thought what was going to happen, and you know what?" Frankie objected vehemently. "You're wrong!"
"All you have is the testimony of your family to back you up, Miss Foster." Miss Corningston shot back. "Remember, I've seen what you're capable of when you're out of control, plus I have the sworn word of a few of my colleagues about how viciously you behaved when they visited you at home-"
"Those idiots kept bothering us because none of them was reading Mac's goddamn file right!" Frankie exploded as she stood up, bristling with torrid rage. "Did those numbskulls tell you that? Huh? You people kept thinking Mac lived in a foster home, not Foster's Home-"
"Miss Frances,please!" Mr. Herriman yelped in panic.
"Frankie, settle down!" Madame Foster chimed in, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. By this point, the young woman was so overwhelmed with fury she couldn't hear anything except the clamor of her own roaring.
"I'm so goddamn sick and tired of this grade-A bullshit!" Frankie involuntarily shrieked as she quivered with unbridled anger from head to toe. "You march in here, acting all high and mighty because you think you're here to save the day, but you know what? If you think I'm just going to sit here and let you act like you have so much as one fucking idea about who the hell I really am, then-"
"Miss Foster, if you can't show me that you have an ounce of self-restraint, I'll be forced to conclude that Mac would be in immediate danger if he were to stay in this house with you so much as one more night!" Miss Corningston stood up and threatened boldly, completely unfazed by the girl's awesome display of wrath. "I promise, if you don't stop right now, I'll take the child with me the moment he walks in through the front door! Is that clear?"
With these magic words, she silenced the raving redhead completely. Although nothing enraged her more than the charges being brought against her, the terrible anger coursing through her hardly matched her fear that she would actually end the day losing what was most precious to her. As the fury was spooked clean out of her, Frankie clamped her mouth shut and sat herself down without a single word of protest. Much to the caretaker's dismay however, she noticed that the social worker seemed to be slightly disappointed that she had managed to calm herself so quickly, as if she had desperately been craving the justification she needed to take Mac.
As she briefly glanced straight into the gaze of the enemy however, the horrific truth suddenly became all too clear. That wasn't disappointment she read on the social worker's expression, but deep, deep frustration, as if it pained her to acknowledge that for the time being, the child would remain at Foster's. Frankie could see it in her eyes; the woman devoutly believed with all her heart that Mac wasn't safe here.
Once this terrible realization sunk in that she was genuinely being viewed as nothing more than the vilest of criminals by the one agency who could legally dismantle her family, Frankie again found herself mute and almost petrified with shock.
"I can clearly see that I'm not going to get anywhere if I stay here any longer, so I'll be blunt." Mrs. Corningston announced after she had recomposed herself. "While I haven't been given sufficient evidence to believe that Mac's injuries were the result of just an accident…"
The others held their breaths until she continued with a sigh, "Because this black eye is the only incident I have a report of so far, neither have I enough proof to conclude that the boy is currently living in an unsafe household, so there's no need to call in the police or anyone else…yet."
Frankie bit down so furiously upon her lip, she almost drew blood.
"Mind you though, this is only the beginning of our investigation; we'll be keeping on eye on things here to make sure for ourselves rather this is little more than an isolated incident. Someone will be promptly assigned to your case, and will begin to come to observe you shortly. And if they see that our suspicions about Miss Foster are indeed correct…"
She silenced-herself in mid-sentence once the indescribable terror written all over Frankie's expression told her that the young woman knew perfectly well what ramifications were to follow if she were to be branded as an unfit guardian. With her work done, the social worker gathered her things together and made a beeline out of Mr. Herriman's office, and paused only to give them a polite nod before she headed towards the front door and vanished from sight.
For what seemed like an eternity, the office was cloaked in a dead quiet, as everyone struggled to comprehend the unthinkable turn of events of only the last hour. The deafening silence though was finally broken when Madame Foster hopped down from her chair and hobbled to her speechless granddaughter, who was so shaken by the encounter she was trembling noticeably.
"Frankie?" she inquired gently as she took one of the twenty-three-year-old's quaking hands into her wrinkled palm. "Are you all right?"
Almost immediately the room began echoing with the heartbreaking bawling of a devastated young woman.
It had all happened so fast, Wilt's head was spinning. One minute, he and Eduardo were simply playing video games in the TV room, when suddenly an unusually frantic-sounding Mr. Herriman suddenly ordered over the loud-speaker that the lanky imaginary friend was to come right to his office as soon as humanly possible. After attempting to reassure his fretful bullish companion that he wasn't in trouble for anything, or as far as he knew, he obediently sprinted off.
Upon arrival, he found a most upsetting spectacle, with Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman trying desperately to calm down an absolutely inconsolable Frankie, with little to show for their efforts. The poor girl was a complete wreck, sitting curled up in a tight little ball, hugging her legs as she kept her tear-streaked features buried in her knees as she filled the room with the clamor of sobbing so intense her entire body shook.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for Wilt to realize why he was needed, and within moments he had thrown his good arm around his adoptive "kid" in a tight embrace and was whispering reassurances to the redhead as Madame Foster filled him in on the shocking details of what had occurred just minutes before.
Finally, after what felt like a straight ten minutes of fervent consoling, Frankie finally whimpered as she hugged Wilt tightly,
"They c-can't do this, th-they just can't...it's not fair…its j-just not fair…th-they can't do this… …" she moaned despondently. "Oh God, why her? Of everyone social worker in the damn state, why did it have to be-"
"Dear, it's okay." Madame Foster tried to assuage the girl's terror with a weak smile. "All they said was that someone was going to start visiting to observe-"
"A-and who do you think that 'someone' is going to be?" her grandchild snapped. "That h-horrible witch, that's who! She's the one obviously w-working on this case-"
"Well, nothing's set in stone yet; it can still easily work out for the best, then." Mr. Herriman countered optimistically. "If she visits, then she'll be able to clearly that the very idea that you mistreat Master Mac is utterly preposterous, and that this whole matter is nothing more than a false suspicion on their part-"
Despite his reassurances, Frankie only started weeping harder and shaking her head furiously in steadfast denial.
"N-no! No, didn't you hear h-her? Didn't y-you see the l-look in her eyes? She's already convinced I-I'm dangerous! Sh-she already made up her mind! All she n-needs is an excuse to t-take away Mac as soon as she can…s-she's already positive I actually beat him, that m-monster -"
"Frankie, maybe you're just-" Wilt attempted to cut in before she only broke out bemoaning miserably,
"Don't say it's n-not true, b-b-because it is! It is! Sh-she-"
"Frankie, are you okay?"
The second the gentle inquiry rang out from the doorway, the young woman immediately attempted to bottle up her weeping as she turned around in her chair in the direction of the familiar voice with a start. There in the office entrance stood one slightly wet little girl closing up her umbrella as she stood alongside one equally damp little boy, both of whom looked extraordinarily alarmed.
"Mac!" Frankie cried hoarsely before glancing to her wristwatch. "Oh my God, I'm sorry pal, I totally forgot that I promised to pick you up! Are you all right? Is everything okay-"
"Well, the teacher kept taking Mac aside to ask him about his eye, which was kinda weird, but I guess they just wanted to make sure there wasn't a bully loose in the school who was picking on everybody or anything like that, but besides that, it was only like, barely, drizzling outside, it wasn't even like standing in a shower with your clothes on, because-" Goo burst out chattering in reply before Mac interrupted.
"We're fine, really! Don't worry! It's just….when we just walked in…we heard you crying, so…so we just…"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Goo squeaked concernedly. "Frankie what happened? Are you okay? What happened? What's wrong? Frankie, are you okay?"
For the next couple moments, all eyes were upon the caretaker as she wiped at her puffy red eyes, struggling to try and compose herself as she prepared to answer. After being able to do little more than sniffle uncontrollably for a bit, looked right straight at them…and abruptly lost all will to tell the truth.
She was utterly doomed the instant she gazed into Mac's eyes and saw not just her adopted little brother, but the boy who was forced to mature early under the lack of care of an overworked single mother and less-than-loving older brother.
She could see the child who then lost that family at the tender age of eight, and was promptly taken away and deposited in an orphanage where he spent his days so fearing the possibility of being placed with another family he was driven to escape with almost catastrophic consequences, as testified by the nasty scar marring Frankie's side.
She saw the little one who went on from that experience only to very nearly lose his life again, only this time to a heart condition that was fixed only by his older brother, a confused survivor of the car crash that had killed their mother, who tried to take revenge before snapping back to his senses long enough to completely sacrifice his own life.
Frankie saw the child who had experienced so much before even turning ten years old, and despite it all, at the moment his grandest concern was with whatever his torturing his adoptive older sister. Such was Mac, rarely one to put himself before anyone else.
Nearly overwhelmed to the point of nausea by the sickening injustice of it all, the twenty-three-year-old knew right then and there she didn't have the heart to tell him that yet again, his world was to be turned upside-down. Goo's presence and own genuine worry only compounded Frankie's intense reluctance, for how could she bear to tell the little creature she was in danger of losing her one real friend, and not for the first time?
It just wasn't fair, the young woman concluded, that again they had to face when they had none no wrong to anyone. With her heart aching excruciatingly at the mere thought of revealing the terrible truth, without even thinking, Frankie took the very first name she could think of and blurted out,
"Jess died last night."
As Madame Foster, Mr. Herriman, and Wilt gawked dumbly at her as if she had just completely lost her mind, the children just stared unblinkingly in confusion.
"…Jess?" Mac repeated the unfamiliar name curiously.
"Yeah, y'know; short for Jessica." The young woman went on, as she hastily cooked up a story on the spot. "She was a…friend of mine from college…and…and she…fell down a steep flight of stairs in her house, and…a-and I just got the news this afternoon, and…"
Mac needed to hear no more. Before she could go into further detail with her lie, the little boy scampered over, clambered up the side of the chair and onto her lap, and tossed his little arms around her neck in a tight hug, not at all noticing how she winced painfully as he embraced her. She despised lying right to his face, but unfortunately, at the moment it would have literally hurt her so much more to attempt to tell the truth. As Frankie tried to endure her decision to face the lesser of two evils, Goo followed her friend's example and hugged the caretaker's legs.
"Sorry to hear about your friend." Mac murmured somberly. With heart wrenching uncontrollably, Frankie managed to plaster a weak smile onto her face as she stroked the little ones' heads softly.
"It's…it's okay, really…I…I was just torn up when I got the news, but…but I'll get through this…promise, I'll be fine…"
"You sure?" Goo asked. The young woman nodded.
"I'm sure, I just need a little time, that's all. Don't worry about me, I'll be okay. You…y-you guys don't need to hang around here, there's no need for all of us to be upset."
The children however didn't even loosen their hold one bit as Mac inquired skeptically, "You sure you're going to be okay?"
"I'm sure…I'll be fine…just don't tell Bloo, or the others about this either, okay? We don't want them to get upset for no reason too, right?"
"I guess…" Mac murmured hesitantly. "But-"
"Really, everything's going to be just fine. It's all right, the hugs were just what I needed." She fibbed. "Th-thank you…I'll be all right…really…look, how about you guys go g-get your homework started, give me a little time to myself and you get help me get dinner started? How about that?"
"…All right." Mac murmured with a wan grin as his worry was finally assuaged. After adding just one more squeeze, together he and Goo obediently exited the room, with Frankie calling out,
"I'll be all right, really! There's nothing for you to worry about, absolutely nothing…for you…to…"
Once she was sure they were out of earshot, she collapsed limply in her chair with a pained sigh, while the others at first could found themselves unable to anything but gawk dumbly in disbelief at what they had just witnessed.
"…Why didn't you tell him?" Mr. Herriman demanded incredulously. Frankie glared defiantly.
"Do you even remember why he's still with us today?" she hissed. "F-for starters, that's not his heart beating inside of him, it's Terrence's, who survived the car crash that killed his mother and forced Mac to end up in a god-forsaken-"
"Frankie, where are you going right this?" her perplexed grandmother asked. The redhead straightened up and argued steadfastly with the tears welling up in her eyes,
"That little boy has done absolutely nothing wrong his entire life, but he's not even ten years old and already he's had to deal with more pain and trauma then some people deal with in there entire lives. What am I supposed to do to the kid whose already lost his family once? Whose mom was mangled in a car wreck? everything all over again? Does that sound fair to any of you at all? Huh?"
"Dear-" Madame Foster attempted to argue, before Frankie half sobbed, half growled,
"Does it?"
The others couldn't deny that it was painfully clear she was only doing this out of nothing short of love. Nevertheless, Mr. Herriman couldn't help but remind her with a sigh,
"As much as I understand… He and the others will need to know at some point."
"I know, I know." She acknowledged the unfortunate truth reluctantly, "I…I know…"
"Frankie you can't hide this forever." Madame Foster explained. "There's simply no way that-"
"I know, I know! Look, look, I know I couldn't tell him now, but…but…just gimme some time, okay? A lot's happened today, I just…I just need some time to myself, and then I can tell him." She explained, truly unsure of whether she was telling the truth or not.
"Are you positive?" Mr. Herriman demanded.
Frankie nodded weakly as she struggled to recompose herself. As painful as today's ordeal just was, and as indescribably terrified she was of worst come to worst, she knew she wouldn't be doing anyone any good if she allowed herself to go to pieces. If she was to get through this, she had to be strong, for her family…for Mac. After all, she had willingly endured through so much worse before, and everything had turned out all right. Surely they would all easily make it through this ordeal…right?
"I'm…I'm sure…don't worry, you guys are probably right…" she murmured optimistically with a forced smile. "It's just a big misunderstanding, we'll get this all sorted out…everything's going to be just fine…"