Author's Note: Ava, is a college freshman living between Horatio and Natalia after they rescued her from her abusive family. I only own Ava. Enjoy!

Ava sensed him behind her and flinched involuntarily, turning to see that he hadn't missed the reaction. "Oh, hey," she said, trying to appear calm.

"Everything alright?" He asked in the even tone that was so much a part of his character.

She had returned to the outline she was working on for her English class in the empty crime lab and answered him as if she thought he was referring to her school work, "Yep. Almost done here."

He nodded slowly and turned his gaze down to the sunglasses in his hands. "Good," he said, "but that's not what I'm talking about."

Still not looking up from her work, she said, "I'm fine. I'm just trying to finish this up before Nat's done for the day."

"My conversation with Natalia earlier would suggest that you are not fine."

She could feel the rage building inside of her and wanted nothing more than to explode, but she focused on the task at hand.

He could tell by the stiffness of her movements that she was angry, and her silence told him that she wanted him to leave, but he stayed. Standing in the doorway, he watched her for ten minutes while she finished her work and methodically returned the lab to its original condition.

Ignoring him had not made him leave. She grabbed her backpack and moved to the door, which he was blocking. Refusing to make eye contact, she attempted to walk around him only to find him sidestep in front of her. "She's probably waiting for me now," she said quietly, still looking anywhere but into his eyes.

"We have to talk," he said. He had noticed a change in her demeanor over the last week but had given her time to either work things out on her own or come to him. She had done neither. He was tired of waiting.

Finally, her eyes met his, "She has no right to talk to you about me."

"She's worried about you. So am I."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself and I know how to find help when I need it."

"She doesn't deserve to be treated the way you've been treating her."

"So you're not here because you're worried about me. You're here to defend her!" She tried to get around him again, but again her attempt was thwarted.

Turning around and crossing the room, she flung her backpack across the table before spinning to face him, her eyes blazing at his. "What do you want from me? Tell me what you'd like me to say and I'll say it."

"What I want, Miss Cooper, is for you to be honest with me when I ask you what's wrong."

She didn't know what to say. If she told him the truth about what was going on, he surely would turn his back on her. She couldn't risk losing him, or Natalia for that matter. They had taken a chance on her two years ago when she had no one and she had blown it. Her only hope now was to keep them from figuring everything out. Her feisty attitude they could handle; they had many times before. But she had to reign it in so they would stop prying. Horatio always found out the truth from her. She couldn't risk that this time. She couldn't risk losing him. Her body was in fight or flight mode. He was preventing her flight, and she was afraid that continuing to fight would antagonize him to the point where he manipulated the truth from her. Freezing was the only option left.

Things had gone too far. He pushed too hard and now she was literally cornered in the room like a caged animal. He had to fix this, back down and give her a way out. The effects of her PTSD appeared less often now, but had not left her for good. Cognitively he knew they may never, but he always hoped. Right now he was angry with himself for triggering them, but sometimes he felt like he needed to jolt her out of whatever funk she had gotten herself into.

He started towards her, but stopped when she pushed herself back as far as the counter would allow. "You know what," he said, all sternness gone from his voice, "why don't you came home with me tonight and we can worry about all this later."

"No," was all she could get out. Her breath was getting out of her control and she was fighting to hide that from him.

"You're starting to panic and you need to breathe," he said, continuing slow steps towards her. They had been through this many times and knew the drill. The problem was that she was angry this time and didn't want his help. He also knew from her therapist, that he was supposed to let her work herself out of this and back off assisting her. He was supposed to be helping her get stronger. But hadn't he caused this reaction by making her feel trapped? Shouldn't he help her out of it now? Torn, Horatio continued to do what came naturally to him. Help people who needed it, even if they didn't want it. He reached out and put his hands on the sides of her face. She pushed back at him in hopes of appearing in control and hiding her fright, but he insisted and held on to her. "Breathe . . . shhhh . . . slowly with me . . . it's ok . . . you got this . . . just in and out."

She gave in and followed his directions, pretending that she was doing it of her own free will when they both knew she wasn't. When everything finally slowed and she started to relax, his hands moved down and pulled her into a hug. She fell into it in spite of herself.

They were silent for a few moments while she fought the urge to apologize to him as she usually did when this happened. She was still angry with him, and Natalia, probably with herself most of all, but she kept that buried for now.

With a kiss at the top of her head, he pulled back and spoke, "Come home with me. You and Natalia need a break. We'll pick up dinner on the way and then you can just relax."

She still wanted to fight him. "I can find somewhere to stay if Natalia needs a break."

"No. You're coming with me. And Natalia never said she needed a break. This is all my idea. Grab your stuff."

Seeing no other option, she obeyed.

MMMMMMMMM

She had slid into the backseat of the Hummer to be as far away from him as she could get. She was angry and scared, and did not want him trying to delve into her psyche and pulling out her secrets. She needed to get herself together so his fears would be alleviated.

As they entered the house she kicked off her shoes and hurried towards the stairs, 'I'm taking a shower," she called behind her. While technically she lived at Natalia's, she spent enough time at Horatio's house to feel at home, with her own space and stuff.

"Come down for dinner when you're done." They had picked up Chinese on the way and he was carrying it into the kitchen when he heard her answer back.

"You can start without me," she said, continuing up the stairs.

He quickly closed the distance to the stairs, "Freeze!" When she stopped and turned, he said, "I'll wait. Take your shower and come back down to eat."

Ava took her time in the shower to clear her head and relax her body. When she returned to the first floor a half hour later, she was dressed simply in yoga pants, her wet hair hanging past her shoulders. Horatio looked over from where he sat at the kitchen counter and smiled. She looked better, clean faced and bright eyed. "Feeling better?" He asked.

"Well, Lieutenant, that would imply that I wasn't feeling well earlier and, as you may recall, I was feeling just fine before."

He chuckled at her returned spunk. "Please remember, Miss Cooper, I am a highly trained investigator and your behavior and attitude never go unnoticed." The shower had tamed her mood, but he hadn't forgotten her response earlier and did not want to say or do anything to bring her back to a dark place. While he wanted to know what was going on with her, he was willing to forgo any further interrogations and let the night be a relaxing one. Noticing her start to tense he said, "Eat, now. We can worry about other things later."

MMMMMMMM

Natalia met up with her boss turned parenting partner the next morning in the hallway of the station with a cup of coffee in hand, "Good morning," she said.

"Good Morning, Ma'am," he said, looking up from the latest report he had been reading.

"How was everything last night?" She asked, too anxious to engage in small talk. Not being able to get through to Ava was always upsetting to her, but she was grateful that Horatio usually could. The fight they had, however, was the worst one yet and it had thrown her for a loop. Most of her previous night has been restless.

"Well, she ran the gamut of emotions going from scared to angry to scared to happy."

"Scared?" She hadn't seen that side of Ava in quite a while and hadn't been expecting it.

He nodded slowly, "She flinched when I walked up behind her. Then I had her backed into a corner at one point and she looked like a wounded animal."

"I thought she was past all that."

"Does anyone get past years of abuse? I don't think it's something that's going to go away for good. Whatever is bothering her has brought everything back up."

"Did you get any clues as to what's bothering her?"

"No. I had to lay off. We went home and had a quiet night."

"I really thought that with the support of the two of us, things would be better. When she exploded on me the other night, I realized I was kidding myself," she was trying to keep her emotions under control but feared she was losing the battle.

He took her by the elbow and led her to a more secluded part of the hallway. Speaking softly he said, "Natalia, we are both doing a great job. She lashes out at you because she feels safe with you. She is secure in your love for her. That's a good thing. But there will always be issues. Don't give up on her."

She looked up into his eyes at his last statement, "I would never. It's just hard sometimes." She took in a deep breathe and let it out slowly. "What do we do now?"

"When does she see Dr. Lewis again?"

"Not until Tuesday. Should I call her?"

"You know what? Not yet. Let's all have dinner at my house tonight and take it from there. OK?"