A/N: I know I said that I'm retiring from this fandom, and I am, I'm just going to finish this story first as I already have the ending and I know which way I want the story to go. Thanks for reading guys. And sorry it took so long to get put up, school is really kicking my butt right now and my free time is being taken up with that.

Chapter Ten

"Dougie, you're suffering from post traumatic stress disorder."

"Couldn't you have figured that out a few days after my dad was sent away?"

Jazzie rubbed her forehead and placed her head into her hands as Sam started to cry a little bit. She had noticed that Dougie's behavior was changing drastically; it wasn't something that you could miss. She just wasn't sure what she could do about it.

"Dougie quit being an ass and let the doctor do his job!" Jazzie snapped. "I'm sick and tired of your attitude, you know?"

"Who isn't?" Dougie asked as she crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, setting his jaw. "Even my friends can't stand to be around me right now."

"I'm surprised your girlfriend can." Jazzie replied.

Dougie whipped his head around and glared at her, but Jazzie didn't back down from her older brother. She knew that it was a mean thing to say, especially since she knew that Riley was going through the same thing that they were, but she was dealing with it differently than she and Dougie were, and that made her worried in a different way.

Especially since the night before Riley had given Jazzie an expensive ring that she had gotten for one of her birthdays before. When Jazzie asked why Riley had given it to her, she casually replied 'because I don't need it anymore, and I wanted to give you something for forgetting your birthday.'

Jazzie's birthday had been pretty quiet, but that was only because she hadn't really felt like making a big deal out of it because her mother was as worried about them as it was, she didn't want things to get any worse. Besides, she wanted to look after her brother to make sure that everything was going ok. To make sure that things would go back to the way it was before everything had spiraled out of control.

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that." Dougie said quietly as he let out a breath and turned back to Dr. Peterson.

"Why, is it true?" Jazzie countered.

"Just stop it, please!" Sam suddenly cried, causing Jazzie and Dougie both to fall silent and look at her with sadness written in their eyes. It is obvious that they hated it whenever they angered or upset their mother and the fact that all of this, their abuse, had to happen in the first place have really caused them to hate it even more. She stood up and nodded towards Dr. Peterson. "Thank you for all of your help, Dr. But we just want to go home so we can talk about this…the trial, as a family."

"Right, it's coming up in a few weeks isn't it?" Dr. Peterson nodded and gave a sad smile. "I'm sorry that you guys have to go through this, it really isn't fair. "He motioned towards Jazzie and Dougie. "Especially for them being so young, they have to go and see what a trial is like." He sighed and lowered his arm again. "It really isn't fair."

"I know, and thanks again." Sam replied and moved towards the door. Dougie and Jazzie silently stood up and followed their mother out of the office.

Further down the hallway, they saw Riley and her foster mother, Mrs. Nelson, talking to their own doctor. Riley looked anxious about something as she kept looking at her watch, shoving her hands into her pockets, and looking up and down the hallway repeatedly. Even when she was facing Dougie, as if she was looking right at him, she didn't seem to be able to see him at all.

"Mum, can I-"Sam cut Dougie off.

"Of course you can," Sam replied quietly and let out a small sigh.

Dougie took his gaze away from his girlfriend and then looked over at his mother, his heart starting to hurt when he saw how distraught she had started to look over the past couple of weeks. Usually she had on a brave front, was smiling, and was ready and willing to help Jazzie and Dougie with anything that they needed help with. Now…she looked like she was the one that wanted to be helped.

"Mum, I don't have to go if you don't want me to." Dougie said, finally turning to her, feeling guilty. "I can stay and-"

"No, no, go and have fun," Sam held a hand up, causing Dougie to stop talking and gave him a hug. "I want you to be as happy as possible before this trial has to come around."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

Dougie hesitated before letting go of his mother. He looked over at Jazzie, who didn't say anything, but shook her head and looked away, before shoving his hands into his pockets and shuffling over to Riley and her foster mother. When Dr. Reed saw him coming, he stopped talking and that turned Mrs. Nelson's attention to him and she stared at him with a weird expression on his face. Riley didn't even look at him; she just continued to look at her watch and up and down the hallway.

"Hello Douglas." Mrs. Nelson said coldly.

"Hi Mrs. Nelson," Dougie replied in the same frosty tone, not exactly sure why she didn't like him. He shrugged his shoulders and cleared his throat nervously. "How are you?"

"I'm doing fine," she replied tightly and then looked over at Riley. "But I'm pretty sure that's not what you came over here to ask. But as you can see, the three of us are really busy and-"

"Mom, can I go and hang out with Dougie?" Riley interrupted. Dougie could tell from the look on Riley's face, looking deep in her eyes, that she didn't want Mrs. Nelson to be called her mother, she didn't want her to have anything to do with being a parental unit to her, and she just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "We won't be gone long. We just want to walk around the park and hang out with Tom, Danny, and Harry."

Mrs. Nelson regarded Dougie, obviously looking him up and down, making a face as if she smelled something bad, and then turned to Dr. Reed with a loud sigh.

"I don't think it's a good idea," she started to say and then stopped when she saw the look on Dr. Reed's face. "But it may be a good thing, to get your mind off of all of this. Be home soon though, ok?"

"All right," Riley nodded at her foster mother before grabbing Dougie's arm and leading him over to the elevator. As the two stood outside of it, waiting for it to get to their floor, Riley finally spoke to Dougie. "So I see that you and your sister are getting into an argument." She made a snorting sound. "I thought you loved each other."

"We do," Dougie replied, sounding offended. "We're just getting on each other's nerves right now." He cleared his throat and decided to change the subject. "How are you doing? You know, with the trial coming up and such."

"I'm doing fine." Riley replied casually and reached a hand into her pocket before taking out a box and handing it to Dougie. "Here, I want you to have this."

"What is it?" Dougie asked as he took the box.

Riley gave a wry, sad smile. "You won't know unless you open it, won't you?" she studied his reaction as he opened the box to find numerous colored guitar picks in the box. Seeing the confused look on his face, she rushed to explain. "It's obvious that you don't get how important this is." She cleared her throat. "Well, all of those guitar picks are ones that I have gotten from seeing concerts. Blink 182, Yellowcard, New Found Glory, stuff like that. All those guitar picks have been given to me from the band members, and I want you to have them."

"I couldn't." Dougie replied and closed the box, shaking his head. He tried to give it back, but Riley firmly pushed his hands away. "These are special to you."

"And you're special to me." Riley replied, causing him to blush. "Really, I want you to have them."

"Well, if you're sure."

"I am."

"All right then." Dougie placed the box on his pocket before leaning over and giving Riley a sweet kiss. He pulled away with a frown, vaguely wondering if something was wrong, but she didn't kiss him back like she usually would. This time, she seemed to have just stood there, as if she was trying to make sure that she remembered what he kissed like.

To put it simply, it was weird.

And that thought nagged him all up until the day before the trial when he got one final text from her. It was so simple, and it was only one word. But with that one word, he knew what had happened.

The text read…

GOODBYE