"Maybe t-there is no point," Tatum whispered back, swallowing hard. "Maybe that means y-you just shouldn't do it at all if it's pointless," she added. Until the last month or so, Tatum had never really used violence to deal with her emotions. How many fist fights and shoving matches had she gotten in lately? More in the last few weeks than her entire life combined before that point. Physical altercations just weren't her style. She wanted them to stop, and she kind of wished they would stop for Mackenzie too. Though she knew it wouldn't; the blonde needed the physical, needed that outlet, as much as it hurt her.

It was unfamiliar to Tatum that someone could have such a relationship with their mother. She had never known her own mother, beyond pictures and stories, and although she and her step-mother didn't always see eye-to-eye.. well, she wasn't afraid of her. Irritated by her sometimes, but not afraid of her. She'd never laid a hand on her, or any of her siblings. Neither had their father. It had shocked her to see Kate strike Mack, as if she were the one being slapped instead. She couldn't understand how a mother could treat their own child that way. Was it because Kate knew Mack was gay? Would that be enough to change her own mother's ways, if she found out? Maybe that would be enough to get her slapped, too. Tatum felt her stomach drop at the thought.

Trying not to think about that, or let herself crack, she tightened her arms around Mackenzie as the girl sobbed. "I-I promise," Tatum whispered back quickly, turning her head a bit to kiss the side of the blonde's head as she assured her. It broke the redhead's heart to hear her friend begging her and crying like that, and although she had just sworn away violence, she felt it rising in her. She wanted so bad to hurt the people who had hurt the girl in her arms. They had no right.

"I promise she w-won't touch you again, okay? Let's just go, we're-- w-we should just go, okay? Come on," she suggested quietly, sniffling a bit herself. She really wanted to go away from the hospital right then. If Mack agreed, she'd make them disappear in a heartbeat. She didn't think she could face Kate or Hunter again, not after the way Mackenzie was shaking in her arms, clinging to her so sadly. It was a struggle not to cry, and at least if they got back to the Rover, they could just let it all out in private, the both of them.

Tatum was about to speak again, confirm that she was dead serious about escaping if Mack would get behind her, when she heard the hospital door opening quietly behind them. She tensed her arms around the blonde girl, and turned her head a bit, looking back to see who it was. She hoped, if anyone, it would be Kia. But it was Hunter, her head down a little as she ducked out of the room. Spotting the two of them, the tall blonde straightened up, her arms hanging at her side and hands shoving into her pockets. "Hey," she began slowly, mostly waiting to see what the pair would do.