"Oh God... oh God, oh God, oh God!"

Stephanie repeated to herself under her breath, her heart still pounding in her chest as she ran up to the centre of the bridge and latched onto the railing to get a better look at the water below. A quick glance at the small pile of belongings that had been left on the side of the bridge allowed her to notice Mary's small, golden wedding ring sat at the very top right beside her folded up glasses, which only further confirmed Stephanie's fear that the gorilla's fall into the water was not an accident.

A large, whitish-blue patch of bubbles and foam was still visible on the surface from where Mary had landed, and squinting just hard enough, Stephanie spotted what appeared to be her silhouette sinking to the bottom of the otherwise empty canal. And so, having stripped down to her black tank top and leggings - with her jacket, beanie hat, skirt and shoes leaving a messily strewn trail behind her - Stephanie climbed up over the railing and launched herself off in a swift, graceful dive.

Time seemed to slow down for her as she straightened her body and closed her eyes, only hearing the sounds of her own rapid breaths until she was enveloped in the cold, dark depths of the water below. The forceful pressure of the current pushed hard against the wolf as she descended through the murky, silent abyss, but her keen senses and a sudden burst of determination pushed her forward with just as much passionate ferocity.

After spending what seemed like forever fighting her way to the bottom, Stephanie finally found Mary there. The gorilla didn't seem to have sustained any physical injuries - though it was too dark to tell for certain - but hitting the water had knocked her completely unconscious, and she was now lying limp, her body only barely floating off the ground. Taking a quick moment to study her form, Stephanie noticed Mary's left foot was snagged on one of the rocks, so she quickly swam over to pry it free, then turned her attention back to moving her entire body back up to the surface.

When her attempts at pulling on her midsection and the collar of her shirt both proved fruitless - due to both the gorilla's much heavier weight and the still crushing pressure of the water they were both submerged in - Stephanie managed to force Mary's body upwards, giving herself room to shuffle behind her. She then wrapped her arms around the gorilla's torso, stopping just under her armpits, and summoning all the strength she had left, began forcing herself and her friend back towards the surface.

With her arms literally tied, Stephanie only had her legs to propel herself and Mary upwards, which only made the weight and forces crushing and pulling them down even more of a struggle. Although the natural size difference between a wolf and gorilla would have made this situation difficult for Stephanie to endure either way, being informed that she was dangerously underweight less than an hour prior made this feel like even more of an uphill battle, but it was still one she had every intention of fighting and winning.

Her almost empty lungs burned for air and her usually perfect vision slowly became distorted, to the point where the blurred, reddish sunlight waiting on the other side of the water's dark blue ceiling was now the only thing she could make out in the vast darkness that surrounded her. But for just this brief moment, that was all that Stephanie needed, the light at the end of the tunnel for her to reach, and all that mattered was that she - and more importantly, the unconscious gorilla she was carrying - made it up there.

And so, after being completely submerged for the better part of two minutes - which certainly felt a lot longer - Stephanie finally broke up through the surface!

She immediately let out a loud gasp for air, then took a few more quick desperate breaths to get her lungs filled again. The weight of the other body in her arms still pulled her down to her neckline in the water, and having to keep Mary's still limply-hanging head above the surface made things even tougher. But after taking a quick moment to manoeuvre around - with the fear of drowning now being far less of a threat, albeit still not an impossibility - Stephanie finally managed to get into a good position, and began forcefully kicking her legs again to move them both towards the bank at the right side of the canal.

"Alright... alright, almost there... almost there... GAH!" Stephanie groaned breathlessly to herself as she pulled with all her strain and strength, finally pulling Mary's body away from the water and lying the gorilla down on the smooth, concrete ground of the canal bank. "Ugh... okay... okay okay okay, let's go..."

Though the wolf felt like she was only seconds away from fainting with exhaustion herself, she was still dead focused on her unconscious friend laying there beside her. She remained knelt down as she gently turned Mary onto her back, then placed both her hands in the middle of the gorilla's chest and pressed down with all the power she had left to muster.

"Come on... come on, that's it..." She wheezed painfully while she continued compressing, her already drenched face becoming even more wet with the sweat beading from her forehead and the small tears forming in her eyes. "Come on, Mary, don't do this to me... come on... COME ON, MARY!"

Mary's eyes opened wide as her body finally convulsed back to life again, and a violent eruption of water burst out of her lungs. Stephanie let out a long sigh of fatigue and relief, being too tired and overwhelmed to even speak, then shuffled backwards as the gorilla turned onto her side to cough the rest of the water out of her lungs.

Once she'd coughed up the rest of the water, Mary was still slightly breathless as she sat back up to take in her surroundings, barely even noticing the exhausted wolf that was slumped down beside her. "Wait, but how... h-how did...? Stephanie, what... w-what are you doing here...?"

"Oh, Mary!" Stephanie's face was even more soaked with relieved tears as she suddenly launched herself at Mary, tightly wrapping her arms around the gorilla's neck while she planted several clumsy kisses all over her face. "God... honey, I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Okay, but I... I..." Mary looked over to the bridge to their right, squinting a little to see her pile of belongings still sat on the railing, then bit her bottom lip as she turned back to her rescuer. "You... y-y-you saw me...?"

Stephanie hesitated, then nodded. "Uh-huh... yeah, I saw ya jump, Mary..."

Mary said nothing, simply hunching over wit her knees tucked into her chest as she put her hands to her face.

"Look, I gotta say, I was actually in a real great mood today, I really don't appreciate jumpin' into a freezin' cold canal..." Stephanie let out a playful chuckle, though she immediately regretted it when she heard the gorilla beside her sobbing and hyperventilating. "Aw no... no no no, honey I was just kidding!"

"N-no, I... I just... I..." Mary choked as she wiped away the strains of mascara from around her reddened eyes, though it did nothing to stop the tears that were still streaming down her face. "I just can't do this anymore!"

Stephanie was taken slightly off-guard when Mary suddenly buried her face in her shoulder, but after a moment she softly stroked the back of the gorilla's head while he's gently shushed her. She remained silent for at least a minute, though it was gradually clicking together in the wolf's head what had actually driven Mary to jump off the bridge.

"This uh..." She finally spoke up, clearing her throat as a slightly calmer Mary pried herself out of the embrace. "Was this about Graham Griswold...?"

"What?!" Mary snapped her head around, taking on a slightly more intense tone that seemed to mix furious and terrified. "How did you know about that?!"

"N-nothing, honest!" Stephanie raised both her hands in surrender, shuffling back a few inches in case her words provoked an even more volatile reaction. "I just, I... ugh... w-we saw ya at the funeral... y'know, me and Porsha."

"You did...?" Mary's expression sank even more when Stephanie nodded, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh God..."

"Look, Mary, I dunno how the hell ya got involved with that psycho, but if ya owed money or something, I can get whatever ya -"

"Money...?" Mary scoffed in a dismissive but fairly neutral tone as she wiped her face. "No, it... it's nothing to do with that, Stephanie, it... it's complicated."

"Well, they ya gotta uncomplicate it!" Stephanie still sounded concerned despite her growing impatience, which only made the gorilla beside her even more stressed. "God! Mary, it's bad enough that ya just tried to drown yourself, but I'm tryin' to help ya here! Alright, and I can't do that if you're not gonna tell me what's -"

"HE'S MY DAD!"

Mary's outburst had taken all of the air out of the small area they were sat on, and they both remained frozen - Mary being red in the face while Stephanie stared wide-eyed - for a good minute or two after this until she spoke up again.

"Well, he... h-he was my Dad. Y'know, before he... y-yeah..." Mary rubbed her arm, letting out a rather bitter chuckle. "Yeah, I um... I did tell you before that I don't talk to him, didn't I...?"

"Uh... y-yeah, I guess ya did, but... but y'know, your Dad being the Calatonia Kingpin woulda been pretty useful to know too..." Stephanie itched the back of her neck as she glanced down at the gorilla's arm and midsection, which after a brief moment of study only made her heart sink even more. "Oh God..."

Mary's dampened fur and unkempt shirt exposed at least a dozen scars and marks all over her arms and stomach. They looked fairly consistent in both shape and severity, and seemed to have been primarily inflicted by a belt or something similar, which already told Stephanie almost everything she needed to know about Mary's relationship with her recently deceased father.

"He did that to you, didn't he...?" She said softly, prompting Mary - after a moment of hesitation - to nod. Stephanie herself held back her words for another moment or two, before she finally spoke up again. "And your Mom...?"

This question made Mary freeze up on the spot, and she stared off into space for a good few seconds, just as she had done the first time Stephanie had asked her about her mother. But this time she snapped herself out of it long enough to nod again.

"I was probably around the age my Johnny was when she... when... ugh..." She put a hand to her face, holding back even more tears. "She was always going on about us going somewhere else, and that just made him lose it and he... he just... I'm sorry, I just -!"

"No no, it's okay..." Stephanie took Mary's hand, giving a small, reassuring smile. While the wolf had no intention of making this situation about herself, she couldn't deny that the gorilla's story was hitting very close to home. "Y'know, I... I kinda went through something like that when I left Porsha's Dad back in Redshore. We were lucky to make it out, really..."

"Really...?" Mary sniffled a bit, hunching forward again. "Stephanie, I'm not trying to act like I had it worse or anything, I just -"

"No no, I get it, Mary..." Stephanie cut in, though she felt herself freezing up a bit when some even more unsettling memories starting coming back to the surface. "Besides, I um... well, it wasn't exactly much better when I was a kid, either."

"Hmm..." Mary nodded. "Well, not knowing your real parents is probably hard, but if they were anything like my Dad was, then maybe -"

"No no, I... well yeah, but... but that's not what I meant, Mary..." Stephanie tucked her own knees into her chest as she looked out at the canal they'd just escaped from. "Remember when I talked about acting out as a kid? Y'know, a couple months back?"

"Um... oh yeah. That uh... the thing with you putting the firework in the bloke's trousers or something?"

"Oh God, yeah..." Stephanie chortled, wiping her slightly misty eyes. "Well, the thing is, uh... there actually was a reason for doin' that."

Stephanie glanced over to Mary, noticing that the gorilla had now sat back up and was looking at her directly, the expression on her face almost serving as a demand to know more. Having already dug herself in what she'd said so far, Stephanie rolled her eyes with a sigh before finally coming out with it.

"It's like I said before, I... I was probably around ten when I got took in by the McBrides." She said. "They already had a couple kids, and they were both great, and... and the Mom was just amazing, but... b-but the Dad, he..."

Mary bit her bottom lip and looked away for a moment, seemingly because she'd already guessed what Stephanie was about to say. But after a moment, she looked back to the wolf and gave her a reassuring nod, prompting Stephanie to continue.

"He used to come into my room at night..." She said, holding back tears as she fumbled her hands together. "Y'know, his... h-his wife and his kids were all sleepin' and stuff, and... and he'd come in, wake me up, and... and he'd... yeah..."

"Oh, darling..." Mary gently clasped onto Stephanie's hand, the dynamic almost completely flipping from where it had been moments prior. The gorilla wasn't entirely sure if this was the right time for levity, but she ultimately decided to go for it. "He really did deserve that firework up his backside, didn't he?"

"It was actually a firecracker, but yeah..." Stephanie said as they both chuckled, before wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "But yeah, it... it's good to finally be able to talk about it. Y'know, with uh... with somebody who'll understand."

Mary nodded, sniffling a bit as she looked away again.

"I've thought about it... talking, I mean..." She said after a few moments of contemplative. "Y'know, Marcus, he... he used to work for my Dad when we first met. He knows what were going on. He's asked a couple times since the funeral, but I just... no, I... I can't put him and Johnny through any of that."

"Oh, but ya could put 'em through this...?!" Stephanie snarked as she gestured upwards, pointing towards the bridge Mary had just jumped off of. "God, even I couldn't bear losin' ya, Mary! How did ya think your family was gonna cope?!"

"Well, I dunno, they... they're..." Mary couldn't think of an answer, so she sighed and lowered her head again. "Yeah, you... you're probably right."

"Of course I am!" Stephanie said, placing a comforting hand on the gorilla's shoulder. "Ya might not have had the best start in life, Mary, but look where ya are now! You've a husband who loves you, you got a wonderful little kid, ya... trust me, Mary, stuff like that's too good to throw away."

"I know, I know, I just..." Mary wiped her eyes again, now whimpering a little. "I just... I just thought... I thought everything he did would just go away when he died, but it... but it's still there..."

"And there's a good chance it always will be..." Stephanie said. "Mary, all those guys, they... y'know, Mr. McBride, Griswold, and Ji... uh... P-Porsha's dad, they... they're no different. Sure, the names might change, but they're all the same..."

Mary looked back to the wolf, then nodded silently.

"And they hurt us..." Stephanie continued. "They hurt us real bad. But jumpin' off bridges like that ain't gonna fix any of it. Alright, we gotta be more than just victims, Mary, we have to be! Y'know, it's not just for Johnny and Porsha, but... but for us too. Ooh!"

Stephanie was taken slightly off guard when Mary grabbed a hold of her again and pulled her into a hug, though after a moment or two she slowly returned the embrace.

"Hmm... you're gonna be okay, Mary..." She whispered quietly, stroking the back of the gorilla's head while they both looked out at the water in front of them. "We're gonna be okay..."

"Ah-ha, there she is!"

Marcus' booming voice made Mary jolt up a bit as she and Johnny entered the garage shop, while her husband got out from under the black pick-up truck he'd been fixing up.

"Bloody hell, you're drenched to the skin, love..." He said, before looking over to the rain that was coming down outside the window. "Only thought it were a bit of a drizzle."

"Hmm? Oh yeah, it is now..." Mary chuckled, hanging up her only slightly damp jacket and scarf, then lifted up her son so he could put his on the hook beside it. "Was bloody bucketing it down earlier, though..."

After putting Johnny back down on the floor, Mary still held onto her son while she knelt down a little, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead before she finally let him go.

Johnny tilted his head, studying the rather uncertain expression on her face. "Y'alright, Mum...?"

"Oh yes, darling. Hmm... never better..." Mary answered back, gently holding onto his hands. "Thing is, Johnny, you um... your Dad and me just have to have a quick chat, so uh... I reckon it's gonna be be a bit boring, so how about you go and listen to your music for a bit, eh...? I'll call you when we're having dinner."

"Oh... uh... y-yeah, okay..."

Johnny took a few steps back, exchanging a brief glance with his equally confused father, then finally took off to his room. Mary remained knelt down until she made sure he'd closed the door behind him, then stood back up with a small sigh.

"So you went and picked him up today, then...?" Marcus asked after a brief silence, prompting Mary to nod. "But y'know, if you still weren't feeling great, love, you could have just asked me or -"

"No no, it's alright, I... it was better me going." Mary made her way over to the old red couch and sat down keeping her eyes fixated on the ring on her finger. "Besides, I think he knows I've been acting a bit off the last couple weeks."

"Nah, come on..." Marcus sat beside her, gently placing his hand over her own. "Johnny don't hold nothin' against ya, Mary..."

"Hmm... I know..." Mary sat up, then straightened her glasses. "Marcus, darling, I... I, um..."

"Yeah...?" He said, an uncertain but still encouraging look on his face. "What is it, Mary...?"

Mary hesitated for just around a minute, then finally let out a long exhale. "I want to talk about my Dad, Marcus."

"You do? Oh, brill..." Marcus relaxed as he let out a small, relieved chuckle, though he quickly realised his choice of words. "I mean, not brill as in good, but... but um... yeah, y'know what I mean, love."

Her husband's reaction was already a pleasant surprise as it was, but rather than get her hopes up, Mary quickly asked for one more bit of clarity. "So you um... so you're alright hearing me talk about it...?"

"Yeah, course I am! Why wouldn't I be...?" Marcus said, keeping his grip on his wife's hand. "I'm all ears, Mary."

"Ah, well... good. Yeah, alright..."

And so the conversation finally unfolded, and Mary came out with everything that had been on her mind for all those years. For the better part of an hour the couple were so busy talking and listening to each other that they hadn't even noticed the door to their son's room moving slightly ajar, or the nine-year-old poking his head out of it to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Johnny wasn't entirely sure what his parents were talking about, though he'd pieced together a somewhat vague idea, yet he still felt a small but very proud smile tugging at his lips as he watched his mother pouring her heart out. He'd had a strange feeling in his stomach for weeks, and it had been especially bad for most of that day, but as he watched and listened it was slowly fading away, and a new feeling took its place.

It was mostly feeling of relief, a little bit of happiness too despite what he was hearing. But above all else, this feeling was telling the young gorilla that the worst truly had passed, and things could and would only get better from here.