"Hey, honey!" Mr. Edwards called as he walked through the door.

Clare took a deep breath and looked at Eli, hoping he would provide some reassurance. "Hi, Dad," she finally said.

"Oh, there you are!" Mr. Edwards said, walking into the kitchen. "...Oh, Eli! Hi," he awkwardly said, not liking the fact that his daughter was home alone with her boyfriend. "What are you doing here?"

Eli looked at Clare, who nodded, before he spoke up. "Actually, Clare and I... wanted to talk to you about something."

"Um. Okay?" Mr. Edwards replied, confused and terrified that this was going to be an 'Hi-Dad-I'm-pregnant' conversation.

"Lately, Clare's been... dealing with some issues. We... we thought it'd be best to tell you."

"I see," Mr. Edwards said, sitting down with the two. "And what is this issue, Clare?" He asked, watching his daughter look at Eli in panic. He turned his attention to Eli, now realizing that Clare didn't want to explain.

"See, ever since Vegas Night-"

Mr. Edwards cut Eli off. "That dance before winter break? The one where all of those problems occurred?" He asked, remembering the trouble that Clare had gotten into.

"Y-yeah. That one... and, well, ever since then, Clare and I think that she developed some sort of... disorder," Eli said, searching Clare's dad for a reaction.

"A disorder?" Mr. Edwards asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"W-well, when Fitz was... doing that thing to scare us, and stuff, see, it must have triggered something in Clare. She... she's been, like... Well, I think that she has OCD, or something."

Mr. Edwards chuckled. "Everyone is going to think they have some sort of OCD, you two."

"N-no, Mr. Edwards. Um... I mean, it's, like, extreme," Eli said. He looked over at Clare, who was looking down in shame.

"Oh? Well, then what do you mean by extreme?"

"I'm... I'm like, becoming a huge control freak," Clare said quietly.

Mr. Edwards smiled. "Clare, you've always been a little bit... domineering when it comes down to it."

"No, not like this!" Clare said, her voice rising. "I had a meltdown earlier because my binder wasn't in perfect order. Not because I wanted everything to be in place, but because... because I could control it! I can't control things anymore, Dad! I couldn't control the whole Fitz thing, I couldn't control the divorce, but I can control small things! And those small things have to be controlled by me now, or I go on a rampage!" By the end of this, tears were running down her cheeks.

Eli took Clare's hand to try and calm her down, then looked up at Mr. Edwards.

"Why... why haven't you told me this before, Clare?" Mr. Edwards asked.

Clare looked down at her hand, intertwined with Eli's, and shrugged. "I hoped it would go away," she said quietly.

"Things don't just go away, Clare-Bear," Mr. Edwards replied with a sigh.

"I know," Clare said, irritated.

Eli could sense the tension between Mr. Edwards and his daughter, so he attempted to break it up. "So, um, Clare and I wanted to tell you and... and Mrs. Edwards, and we think that... Clare should see a therapist or something before it gets worse."

Mr. Edwards nodded. "I... I can ask around tomorrow. Thank you for helping Clare with this, Eli."

Eli smirked. "Anything for her." He squeezed her hand.

REALLY short chapter, sorry! I don't have any sort of familiarity with OCD or anything like it, so this is gonna be really weird for me to write about. I don't know how long this story'll be. But you should leave reviews cuzzz I like them and I need someone to cheer me up!