Mikey just dropped his head back down and shook it back and forth helplessly…

"How did we get here?" he whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Angus asked, straining to hear what he had to say.

"Nothing" Mikey replied. Then he sat up straighter in his chair, wiped his eyes and said, "I’d like to go see Tina?"

Angus looked over at Dylan, and they both nodded in silent agreement…Maybe Mikey needed to see just what his father had done to her? – Maybe seeing the state his stepmom was in would give him the courage to speak up, and prevent this from happening again?

"OK" Dylan said, moving toward the door, "We’ll take you to see her."

The 15 minute drive to the hospital felt like an eternity to Mikey…He wanted to see Tina with his own eyes, to see that she was alive. But he was also scared too…He knew in his heart that she didn’t blame him, but he felt guilty for never stepping in…For never having the courage to try and stop his dad… There was also a small part of him that felt relieved that it wasn’t him that his father went after like that, and Mikey hated that part of himself…He was extremely ashamed of it…

When they got to the hospital, Mikey slowly got out of the car. He looked up at the many floors of this massive concrete building, with its constant staff and security around the clock and couldn’t help thinking….."Not even this place can protect her from him!"

When they finally were outside Tina’s room, Mikey stopped.

"Can I please go in and see her alone?" he asked.

"I don’t think….." Angus started to say.

But Dylan cut him off. "Sure.." she said, "We’ll wait out here for a few minutes."

Mikey looked at her gratefully, then let himself into Tina’s room. The sight before him made his knees go weak…

He hardly recognized the broken, bloody, bandaged woman laying in the bed as his step-mom…

Tina had heard the door open, and her stomach lurched. She was certain it was Henry…Sure he had come back to warn her not to speak to anyone about what happened…

But when she cracked her eyes open and saw that it was Mikey, she was so relieved that she actually chuckled a little, sending waves of pain through her whole body… Still, she was happy to see her step-son and smiled at him.