Disclaimed.


New Jersey

The rest of the week went by swimmingly – well as swimmingly as still having to go to the precinct and seeing Kennedy sulk in the records room every time Ava passed by to go up to the homicide floor.

Only none of that mattered now. All that mattered was the fact that in less than 2 hours Ava was done with community service and done seeing Kennedy all together – well unless they passed each other in the halls at school, but Ava was careful in avoiding her.


She met her mom as she was exiting the elevator.

"Hey babes what's the rush?"

"Oh nothing mom, just looking forward to some freedom this weekend."

Her mom let out a small laugh before saying, "I understand. I need to run these files down to Greg before we go. Do you mind?"

"Yeah what's a few more minutes when I've been here for six months," Ava quipped back.

Kate gave her a light shove on the shoulder before passing by her and entering the elevator. "You act like you were never able to leave. Go see your uncle, he's been in a mood lately. I bet I'll be back before he will tell you what's wrong."

"Deal," Ava said as she watched the elevator doors close.

She strutted over to her uncle's desk where he sat angrily typing on his keyboard.

"Hello detective, you look quite horrible today " she teased.

He just grunted at her and went back to typing.

"Come on uncle Javi, tell princess Ava what's wrong," she quipped at him trying to refocus the mood. "Are you upset because you won't see my beautiful face everyday? I can send you selfies if that'll make you feel better."

"I'm fine," was all that he responded with.

Ava scooted her chair closer to him and said, "Listen here grump, I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm actually showing some compassion for once so don't take this for granted."

He gave her a quizzical look, but still didn't diverge whatever was bothering him.

"Alright, I have a bet going on with my mom right that kind of focuses on you telling me why you've been grumpy today. So how about you tell me what's wrong and I tell you what kind of bonus you'll be getting this year."

"I'm old."

"What?" his response caught her by surprise.

"I'm old. That's what's wrong," he said. "I'm old and I'm divorced and I don't have any kids and what if my time is up? What if I don't meet the right girl before I'm able to have kids. All of my friends have kids or grandkids. What if I die alone like an old spinster with like eight cats?"

Ava just gave a face of pure shock. This was totally not the way she saw this conversation heading.

Her uncle must of noticed because he quickly said, "Oh god this is not a conversation I should be having with you kid. You're 17 and you're my boss' daughter. Sorry."

Ava regained her composure before telling him that it was okay and that she didn't mind that he was having a midlife crisis in front of her. "You know if you want to feel young again I have a couple friends who would love to date a detective," she teased.

"Ha ha very funny, but I'm going to decline," he said and then went back to typing.

"Your loss," she said with a smile while she scooted her chair back to it's place at the side of his desk.

They both sat there as he worked until she noticed her mom get off the elevator. Ava took the opportunity to make eye contact with her and mouth the words 'he's old' to her mother.

She got a smile from her before she entered her office to talk to another detective.

Ava took the last minutes she had at the precinct to make sure her weekend plans still involved a trip to New Jersey.

"Hey uncle Javi do you know if my phone is still sitting in Hoboken?"

"Last I check, yeah why? I thought your dad go you a new phone already?"

"Oh yeah my burner phone," she joked as she pulled the device out of her pocket. "Works great if I want to commit a murder, but it's not really helping with my street cred. Besides I have very important information on my old phone that I need."

"Business or pleasure," he joked.

She followed his playful attitude, glad that he was able to forget that he was old for a minute. "A little of both if you must know," she said.

"You know you should,'t-"

"Ava your dad's waiting outside, let's go," her mom interrupted. "Bye Espo!"

"Coming," Ava said as she leaned in and kissed her uncle on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll use protection," she joked before following her mom into the elevator. "And you're not old!"


That Friday night consisted of a family dinner to celebrate Ava's 'completion of rebellion' as her father liked to joke.

The situation felt like a lie though, seeing that Ava was about to break her parents trust again just to get her phone back.

Ella must have felt her tension during dinner, because once they were home and in bed she asked Ava if going to Jersey was a smart idea.

"Come on A, it's just a phone. What's so important that you need from it?" she said.

Ava was quiet as she laid in bed. Her sister was right, it was just a phone, but it was also hope. The hope that a nice old lady who lived in New Jersey found her phone and it's not some creepy guy taking it hostage. More than anything though it was the girl. That feeling she got, even drunk, about that girl at the party. She needed that hope.

"You don't have nudes on there do you?!" she heard Ella scream and sit up in bed.

"Oh my god, no!" Ava said as she sat up and faced her sister.

Ava watched as Ella relaxed. "Okay, so what is it then?"

"It's about a girl," Ava whispered.

"A girl?"

"Yeah, a girl," she said, and laid back down to pull the covers over her face.

The room was silent for a moment. Ava thought that Ella had given up the the conversation, until she pulled her covers back down and looked at her sister still sitting on her bed facing her.

Ella gave her a sad smile. "Is she cute?"

Ava laughed, "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, " Ella started, "What's her name?"

Oh shit. What was her name? They had only met 'officially' once at the party, but Ava had seen her in the city and other parties before – when she was dating Kennedy.

Ava just stuttered, "Uhh, I don't know."

She was waiting for the blowback from Ella. She was waiting for the 'Beckett' lecture she liked to call it, but all Ella said to her was, "Okay."

"Okay?" Ava said in shock as she sat up again. "That's it? No 'I don't think that's a responsible decision'. Or any 'maybe you should take someone with you'. Just okay?"

"Yeah," Ella said, "Just okay."

Ava sat there for a moment looking at her sister as she settled back into bed. Her look of shock must have been obvious still because Ella started to explain herself.

"Look A, I could say all those things to you, but it wouldn't make any difference in your decision because your mind is already made up," she began again. "You're stubborn, just like mom, but at the same time you're nothing like her – you're dad," she laughed. "You have this huge heart for people, it's your weak point, and I'm not saying that mom doesn't have a huge heart because she does, but you have the heart of a story teller. You're going across state lines to retrieve a phone that you don't know who the hell has for a chance to get back this girl's number. You fell in love with a girl you barely know, and I say love because it has been plastered on your face ever since you started talking about this 'mission' and about this girl."

Ava felt the blood rush to her face and smiled slightly. Was this love? I mean it was the first kind of anything she felt ever since Kennedy.

"So yeah, I'm just going to say okay to you. I'm going to let you go finish your story and find the girl, and I'm going to support you because that's what sisters are for, but I'm also going to make sure uncle Javi has your burner phone GPS on so I can track you," Ella said with a bit of a smirk.

Ava just sat there thinking about what Ella had said. Was it love? She never saw herself as a 'love at first site' type of girl, but maybe she had gone soft. The comparison to her dad threw Ava off as well – she had always been the Beckett type of kid and Ella the Castle. But L was right, she needed to know the story.


The trip to Jersey wasn't set to take that long so Ava didn't set an alarm for the morning, but she was still up at 6 a.m. filled with anxiety. So she ventured down to the kitchen to make some coffee. She was surprised to see her dad sitting at the counter with a french press already prepared.

"Hey dad," she greeted him. "You're up early."

"Hey bird," he said to her as he went to kiss her cheek. "You too. Can't sleep?"

"Just got a bit of the shakes, you?"

"A bit of the Beckett," he said playfully.

That's what she figured. If her dad was awake before 9 a.m. on a weekend it had to deal with her mom either the fiction or nonfiction version of her. But seeing that he wasn't working on Nikki Heat at the moment it had to be the latter.

"What the captain come home last night instead of your wife?" she joked.

"Ever since she got on the go-ahead on this new task force it seems like the captain has taken my wife hostage. It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

Ava just poured her coffee while her dad spoke.

"But anyway that's not your problem bird," he continued. "Why the shakes this morning?" he questioned.

Ava just gave a shrug, which only prompted his curiosity more.

"Ohh a mystery of the teenage anxiety, I like it!" he said as his face lit up like it was Christmas morning. "Let's see it's not school that's bothering you, because you don't care about school. So it has to be personal,"

Ava just smiled, "I'm glad we can be honest with one another about my lack of caring for schoolwork."

"Ooh it is personal. A girl perhaps? Not Kennedy I hope," he said.

Ava just shook her head. "No dad, definitely not Kennedy. She is not a problem for this family anymore."

"Well good, that's all I need to know right now," he said. "No need for any spoilers; I'll just wait until I find it making out with my daughter on the couch one day."

"That was one time!"

It did happen only once. Her and Kennedy had been seeing each other for a week when they decided to skip 5th block and go back to her place to 'hang out'. Her dad was suppose to be on a month-long book tour, but decided to come back to surprise her mom for Valentine's day. Little did he know he was about to walk in on his daughter and her then girlfriend making out on the couch. Fun way to introduce everyone.

"Ah yes baby bird, but it now brings a lifetime of embarrassment to you and that is priceless to me," he joked.


She had spent a couple solid hours with her dad before he had to go get Ethan up for his soccer game. So she headed upstairs and got ready for her adventure.

She threw on a pair of black skinny jeans, a grey tshirt and her mom's vintage red leather jacket before tying her hair into a loose braid.

By the time she finished getting ready Ethan and her dad had left for his soccer game and Ella was headed out for another 'study' date with Connor.

She expected to see her mom in her dad's office, but when she looked through the bookcase she noticed that their bedroom door was still shut. So Ava went and knocked on the door before entering her parent's room.

She found her mom still in bed, which was odd because her mom never stayed in bed past 8 a.m. even on vacation.

"Hey babes," her mom greeted her as she patted a spot on the bed next to her to have Ava come and sit.

"Hi mom. Feeling okay?"

"Just a bit of a headache today, but I'll be alright," her mom said as she grabbed Ava's hand and intertwined their fingers and squeezed. They used to play the same game when she was younger. You would squeeze your partners hand in some kind of rhythmic sequence and they would have to copy it. "You heading out for the day?"

Ava squeezed her mom's hand back in the same sequence to start the game before saying, "Yeah, I figured I'd go out for a ride this morning. Fully embrace my freedom while I still have it."

Her mom just smiled slightly and continued playing the game until Ava wasn't paying attention and lost.

"You sure you're okay mom? You know I can stay home if you just want to hang out today."

It was true, she could stay. Her phone had been in Hoboken for a week, what's another day.

"No babes I'm good, just a long night. Go and have fun."

"Alright," Ava said reluctantly. "I love you mom." She leaned over and gave her mom a great big hug.

She pulled away and her mom gave her a sad smile before saying, "I love you too babes. So much."


The ride to New Jersey wasn't bad considering it was a weekend, but then again on the weekends most people were heading into the city instead of out to New Jersey.

Ava pulled into the neighborhood that uncle Javi said her phone had been pinging off. She quickly found 255 3rd Street.

"Alright this isn't creepy," Ava said out loud as she approached the door.

So this could go a couple ways, Ava thought to herself. There could be a crazy guy who found her phone and is now waiting for her to knock so he could kill her or someone could have simply found her phone and decided to keep it for themselves. 'Or I'm thinking too much and I should just knock,' Ava said to herself before doing that exact thing.

"I'll get it grandma!" she heard through the door.

Oh so she was right, it was a nice old lady that found her phone and not some creepy dude. Points her!

Only it wasn't a nice old grandma that answered the door, nor was it some creepy dude. It was literally the last thing Ava expected to answer the door.

"Ava?!"


A/N: Ooh a cliffhanger?

New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

tumblr: kateskillingme (I'll take prompts)