Content warning: abuse references.

"Lizzy honey… we need to talk. Why don't you take a seat?"

The teenager eyed her parents warily. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong honey, we just need to talk to you," repeated Ellie.

"About what?"

Pete and Ellie looked at each other.

"Why don't you take a seat?" said Pete.

Lizzy frowned but compiled, sitting down on her bed. She'd been tiding up her room when her parents had come in, with serious looks on their faces.

Ellie took out her desk chair and sat down in front of her while Pete leaned next to her.

"So, you know we love you, right?" said Ellie.

Lizzy nodded slowly.

"And you know that all we want is for you to be happy, right? To be the best version of yourself," added Pete.

"Guys, you're scaring me. Just cut to the chase," said Lizzy.

Pete and Ellie glanced at each other again, silently deciding on the best way to broach the subject.

"Well, recently there've been some… events, which have made us think about how to ensure that all of you kids are happy… and healthy… in all aspects," said Ellie.

Lizzy's frowned deepened.

"We've been talking and doing some research…" started Pete.

"…and we came across a counselling programme that we think will be very beneficial to all of you," Ellie finished.

"What?" blurted Lizzy.

"We think it will help you to… deal with stuff from your past and help you to move forward," added Pete.

"Is this some kind of joke?" asked Lizzy.

"What? No, sweetheart, it's not a joke," said Pete.

Lizzy took in a breath, gathering her thoughts. "Is this because of that time, in the bathroom, a few months ago?" she glanced at Ellie.

Her mother pursed her lips.

"Mom, I told you I'm fine! I don't need therapy! Why won't you trust me!?"

"We do trust you, honey, but just as we want you to be healthy physically, we want you to be healthy emotionally, too," answered Ellie.

"So what, you think I'm damaged goods? Is that it?"

"No kid," intervened Pete. "No one's saying that."

"We're doing this because we love you, all of you, and we want you all to thrive," said Ellie.

"All of us? You want to put Lita in therapy? She's 7, for crying out loud! She doesn't need to see a shrink!" Lizzy stood up in anger.

"No honey, it's not a shrink," said Ellie, standing up to face Lizzy. "It's a counselling programme designed for children with trauma."

"Lita doesn't have any trauma!" yelled Lizzy. "She's fine!"

"Oh yeah? Well explain to us why on earth she's got an unhealthy obsession with potato chips!" exclaimed Pete.

"Because she's a little kid! Little kids do stupid things!"

"No, it's because of something more and you know it," said Pete.

Ellie put a hand on his arm to calm him down.

Lizzy fell silent.

"You think we didn't consider it was just a silly thing? We hoped it was," said Pete. "But then your brother told me all about how it's the only thing you could eat sometimes, and we realized if we want Lita to deal with her obsession then we have to put her in counselling, just like Juan."

"What? Juan doesn't even like potato chips!" the teenager tried to argue.

"It's for his nightmares," said Ellie, sadly.

"He doesn't have them anymore, he's fine!"

"No, honey, he's not," said Ellie. "He, uhm…" she cleared her throat. "He had a nightmare the other day."

"Okay but so what, it was just one! He's doing better! He doesn't need therapy!" Lizzy begged.

Ellie and Pete looked at each other, worried looks on their faces.

"What?" asked Lizzy, eyeing her parents.

"Lizzy… this wasn't like any of his previous nightmares," said Pete.

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't you sit back down?" asked her father.

Lizzy eyed him, unwilling to sit down again.

Pete gave her an encouraging nod, and the seriousness of his face finally convinced Lizzy.

"Honey, do you know who… uhm… do you know who Mario is? Or was? In your life?" asked her mother.

Lizzy fell silent as she tried to remember. "Uhm… one of mom's boyfriends, I think. Why?"

Her parents fell silent as they took a deep breath.

"We didn't know whether to tell you or not, but we think that, uhm… that you deserve to know."

"Know what?" asked Lizzy.

Ellie sat down while she tried to get her words together.

"Know what!?" repeated the teenager.

"A couple nights ago Juan was having a bad nightmare," started Ellie, her voice shaky. "He wouldn't respond to my voice, so I shook him awake. But this time, instead of calming down, he almost had a panic attack. He was crying so hard…" she had to stop to take a breath. "…and when I asked him what was wrong, he told me… he, he told me he had been… dreaming that Mario was… beating him, again, like he used to do." Ellie's voice broke at the end.

"What? No, that can't be right." Lizzy shook her head.

"Lizzy. We talked with him. He told us Mario used to beat him, to… to try to turn him into a man. To make him grow up," explained Pete.

Lizzy was in shock. "No. No because I would have known," her voice was shaky. "I would have stopped it."

"He said Mario used to hit him when you weren't around and Carla was… unconscious."

"No, no he didn't. No because why wouldn't… why wouldn't he tell me? Why wouldn't he come to me?" her eyes filled with tears.

"He said Mario told him that if he told anyone, he would hit him harder," said Pete.

"No, I would have noticed! I would have seen it!" her voice was high pitched.

"Lizzy…"

"No, no, just… just let me talk to him, please," she begged, her voice trembling. "Let me talk to him and then… and then….he can explain and…"

"Honey…"

"…and I can make it better!" she sobbed. Her voice trailed off as she covered her face with her hands and started crying.

Both Pete and Ellie came over to her, sitting on either side of her and taking her in their arms. While Pete was trying to remain strong for his wife and daughter, Ellie was crying with her, her heart breaking at the sight of her eldest daughter so distraught.

The teenager cried in their arms while her parents rubbed her back and tried to calm her down.

"It's all my fault," sobbed Lizzy after a while.

"No, honey, no," said both parents.

"It is… I should have stopped it… I should have known!" she hiccupped.

"No kid, listen to me," said Pete, taking her face in his hands. "The only one responsible for this is Mario, okay? No one else. Only Mario. This is 100% not your fault, and you should not blame yourself, you hear me?"

"I was - supposed to - protect him…" hiccupped Lizzy.

"No, Lizzy, that was not your job—"

"Yes it was!" she argued.

"No, what happened has nothing to do with you, you hear me?"

"You were just a kid yourself, honey," said Ellie. "You should never have had to protect your siblings like that."

Lizzy turned to Ellie. "I'm a horrible sister," she cried.

"No sweetie, you're an amazing sister, this was not your fault at all, okay? It was not your fault."

Lizzy buried her face into Ellie's chest.

"Mom, it hurts. It hurts so much," she sobbed.

The tears that Pete had been holding finally broke free. Watching his daughter be in so much pain was enough to break his heart into a million pieces.

Both him and Ellie hugged Lizzy close, the three of them crying together.

"Oh sweetheart, I know," said Ellie. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Ellie stroked her hair while she tried to calm her down.

"You shouldn't have to go through this," continued Ellie. "But we're not telling you because we want you to feel bad about it or because we want you to blame yourself. Okay? Not at all."

"Yeah, we're telling you because we believe you have a right to know," added Pete. "And because this isn't something that we can just ignore. We have to do something about it… we are going to do something about it, but we don't want to leave you in the dark."

"But honey, listen, we have to remember neither Juan nor you or Lita are in that situation anymore, okay?"

"Yeah, and we're never going to let any of that happen to him or any of you ever again," added Pete. "He's safe now, you're all safe now."

"So we have to remember that, okay? Can you look at me?" asked Ellie.

Lizzy slowly lifted her head to look at her mother.

Ellie framed her face in her hands. "You're safe. Juan is safe. Lita is safe. What happened then was not your fault. You are an amazing sister. All you've ever wanted is to keep them safe, and they are now. Do you understand?"

Lizzy nodded.

"Good," said both her parents.

They took her in their arms again and the three of them hugged for a while.

When Lizzy had calmed down, Pete turned to her.

"Lizzy, honey, we know you're strong. We know your siblings are strong, and they will come out of this stronger, specially Juan. And we know they're doing really well right now. But we feel it's best if they see a specialist about this, someone that can help them heal from the past. We don't want Lita to develop any disorders as a result of her relationship with food, and we definitely don't want Juan to keep having nightmares like this," said Pete.

"Yeah, and we also think it will benefit you, too. Look, we know you've not harmed yourself again since that night. We know you're doing really well. But I also know from experience how easy it is to fall back into old habits. And we don't want that for you," said Ellie. "Does that make sense?"

Lizzy dropped her gaze. "I don't know if I want to do therapy…" she mumbled.

"Lizzy. Honey. Listen to us. It's a 12-week programme. Nobody has to know. We won't tell anyone, absolutely nobody. Therapy sessions will be after school and won't affect that or your soccer. You don't have to tell anyone. If after 12 weeks you're cleared to stop, then you stop. If you like it and you want to keep going, you keep going. Alright?" asked Ellie.

The teenager eyed her parents while she thought it over in her head. Getting all this information at the same time was very overwhelming.

"Look," said Pete. "Maybe Juan needs more therapy than you or Lita, or maybe Lita will benefit the most, but if you do it and set the example, they'll see it as a good thing instead of something else. You're such a great role model for them, they both look up to you. Knowing you'll also get counselling is bound to make them feel more reassured and not so scared or nervous about it. Does that sound like a good reason to at least try?"

Lizzy took a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess."

Her parents gave her a smile, happy to know she was at least willing to give therapy a try.

"Whatever happens, we hope we've proven to you that no matter what, we're not gonna stop loving you. We're not doing this to punish you in any way. We're doing it because we love you kids and we want you to be well in all areas. And this won't change how we see you, or how much we love you. Okay?" said Ellie.

Lizzy nodded.

Pete and Ellie engulfed her in a hug again.

Despite all the complex emotions that Lizzy was experiencing in that moment, one was truer than the rest: there was no denying that she was loved.