A/N: I kind of backed myself into a corner with that last chapter lol. Things are going to get better in this one, though. I don't like it when Ava's sad :(

Chapter Six:

"Hey."

Ava's eyes fluttered open when she felt a pillow land on her stomach. Once the bright light of the morning sun hit her, she squinted and tried to shield herself from it. It was making her head pound up against her skull.

A groan escaped her throat when Peyton plopped down on the couch she was laying on. Which was enough to confuse her.

Where was she?

"It's almost noon. You've been sleeping for a while."

It was almost noon?

Ava slowly sat up and looked at her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was and how she got there.

Okay, so she was at Brooke's. Why was she at Brooke's?

Oh no.

As soon as she asked herself that question, the memory of the night before came flooding right back to her.

A lot had happened. Too much happened.

The killer headache she was suffering from proved it.

"Here." And as if Peyton had been reading her mind, she handed Ava a couple of painkillers and a glass of water. "You need it."

"Thanks." Ava's voice croaked from all the screaming and crying of the night before. "Where's Brooke?"

"At work, she asked me to look after you." The blonde explained as the teen popped the pills. "But the real question is, where are you?"

"Huh?"

"Brooke and I both know you were drunk last night." She didn't waste any time beating around the bush. "Word on the street is you had a fight with Lucas and ran here, but that's not all, is it?"

Ava averted her attention to the half-drunk glass of water in her hands and studied the way the liquid sloshed around its borders whenever she moved.

"You're struggling, kid."

"I'm not struggling. I'm fine. That was a one time thing."

For someone who was desperate for someone to see her pain, Ava sure was annoyed when Peyton pointed it out.

"Ava, look who you're talking to." Peyton gave her an unimpressed look. "If anyone can understand what you're going through, it's me. I'm not here to judge you. I just want to help."

"Maybe I don't want your help." Ava's head tilted, a nasty attitude lacing her tone.

"That right there, tells me you do." But Peyton wasn't turned off by it. "So come on, Ava. Talk to me. Whatever you tell me, stays right here, between you and me."

A heavy breath left Ava's mouth as she thought about what to do. She didn't know why she was resisting this so much. Peyton had always looked out for her best interest. It wasn't like she was trying to make fun of her or even worse, trying to find an excuse to chew her out.

Peyton Sawyer was one of the strongest people she knew. Between her father's absence, finding her biological mother, the school shooting, and that creepy Derek guy attacking her twice, she had been through a whole lot.

Ava knew that she was right. She did understand and she could help. All she had to do, was let her in.

"Where do I start?"

"How about, from the beginning?"

That seemed simple enough.

Though her nerves were spiking, Ava knew that she needed to do this. She needed to tell somebody. She hated to admit it even to herself, but she was sliding down a slippery slope and if she didn't get her act together, she was going to end up becoming someone that nobody recognized.

And that was nothing to be proud of.

"I went to see my dad and I never told Lucas or Nathan, but they found out when they went to the hearing yesterday."

"Why'd you go see him?" Peyton asked gently, hoping to coax and answer out of her.

"I don't know. He's still my dad." The fourteen year old shrugged. "And everyone has something or someone. Lucas has Lindsay, Nathan has Haley and they both have Jamie. Mom has Lily and Andy...I don't know, sometimes I feel like I don't belong anymore. It's scary, because what if one day, they start feeling the same way?"

"Honey, no one is ever gonna feel that way about you." Peyton bit back tears. "They love you. I'm sure it's killing them just knowing that you're hurting like this. How did your talk with your dad go?"

"Better than I thought it would." Ava admitted. "He told me that even though he could never take back what he did, he was sorry. He told me he loved me. I believe him. It doesn't change anything, but I believe him." She huffed a breath of air that blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I get why Lucas was mad. Dan's never been there for him, not like he was for me. He has every right to be angry. If I were him, I would be, too."

"Is that what the fight was about?"

"Part of." Ava nodded. "The other part was about me and Q. He had no idea we were dating. He doesn't really like Q and again, not his fault. It's not like Q gave him the greatest first impression."

"I don't think that's it, Honey."

"Then what is it?"

"He would've flipped out no matter who you were dating." Peyton smiled. "He loves you. He doesn't want to see you get hurt. When you get hurt, he gets hurt, and so does Nathan."

"He yelled at me." Ava gnawed her bottom lip. "He never yells at me."

"I've known Lucas for a while now and I've known Nathan even longer. I ran into both of them last night. One right after the other. Do you know that for all the years I've known those two knuckleheads, I have never seen them cry?"

"Never?"

"Not even once." Peyton's head moved side to side to indicate the negative. "But they did last night. When you ran off like that, in the state you were in, they were worried sick about you. They looked all over town for you and they only slightly relaxed when Brooke called and told them you were here. They don't hate you, Ava."

"I made a lot of mistakes."

"And you'll work it out. I'm sure it's nothing you can't come back from."

"Peyton, I stole alcohol from Nathan and I got drunk." Now that Ava was confessing, she figured she'd go all the way.

"You're not the first teenager to do something like that. Nathan has plenty of stories to back me up. All you have to do is talk to him."

"And I almost did something I wasn't ready for."

"Ava, there's nothing that you can say or do, to get those two boys to stop loving you." Peyton assure her. "But you really need to look and ask yourself, with all the pain and all the heartache you're feeling right now, will it be worth it to keep heading down this road? This whole, bottling things up? I've been there. It doesn't get you anywhere. All you're doing is hurting yourself. No one is a mind reader. When you feel like this, you have to speak up and tell someone. Isn't that family is for? To give you a hand to hold and a shoulder to lean on when you need it the most? They're offering you their shoulders and their hands, Ava. Are you gonna take them?"

"You okay?" Maddie asked her best friend as they entered the gym for cheer practice.

"Yeah." Ava nodded, putting her bags down on the bleachers. "Thanks, by the way. I was a complete mess that night and I really appreciate you listening to my blubbering."

"Hey, it's no big deal." Maddie nudged her. "I'm here for you, you know that. And anyway, you've listened to just as many blubbering sessions from me as I have from you. So, we're pretty balanced out."

"Yeah, aren't we a pair?"

"Have you talked to Luke? Or Nathan yet?" Maddie subtly nodded her head towards Lucas, who was coaching the basketball team.

Ava hadn't spoken to either of her brothers since that awful day. She couldn't face them. Between screaming at Lucas and stealing from Nathan, she didn't think she could ever make up for what she's done.

But she was constantly thinking back to her conversation with Peyton. The more she thought about it, the more she came to the simple conclusion that Peyton was right.

She wasn't doing herself any favors by crawling into her shell.

"No." Ava denied. "Nathan is at our house and I've pretty much been avoiding it. I really messed up this time."

"It isn't anything you can't come back from." Maddie looked at the bright side and Ava wondered if she and Peyton were in cahoots, because that was the exact same thing the older girl had said to her. "And the longer you wait, the worse it'll get."

"Hey, Maddie." Q jogged over to the two, throwing a sweaty arm over Ava's shoulder.

Maddie noticed that Ava had looked a little startled by his close proximity and wondered what could possibly be going on between those two. They were so good together and they were so into each other.

Ava wasn't getting away with not talking about this. Not for long.

"Hey, Q. Hard practice?"

"Harder than usual." Q breathed out. "I don't know, for the past few days, Lucas hasn't been himself."

"You didn't tell him?" Maddie raised an eyebrow at her best friend, noting the guilty look on her face, pretty much confirming her suspicions.

"I haven't seen Ava outside of class since a few days ago. Tell me what?"

"Ava?" Maddie gave her a hard look. "What happened?"

"I got into a fight with Lucas and I got out of control...I don't know what happened." Ava began to explain to her boyfriend. "We never fight like that...He was yelling at me, I was screaming at him and it got crazy. So I left."

"And that's when you found me?" Q assumed, putting two and two together.

It all made sense now; the erratic behavior, the impulsiveness, the drinking.

"After I stole that bottle of Vodka from my brother's stash."

"Havana-Rose Scott!" Maddie glared, catching the confused eyes of some of the players on the court. She didn't want to make a scene, so she lowered her voice a little. "You stole from your brother? And since when do you drink? Lucas and Nathan are gonna kill you! Do they even know?"

Ava shook her head, having been successfully scolded. If there was anyone outside of the family that wasn't afraid to call her out, it was Maddie.

"She doesn't know?" Q asked.

"Know what?" Maddie put her hands on her hips, something she picked up from her own mother.

"This wasn't the first time."

"You drink?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, Ava." Maddie ran a hand of frustration over her face. "You have to tell them. I knew you were hurting, but I didn't know it was this bad. You need them."

She did need them. She just had to stop being so stubborn and open up her mouth to speak to them.

"I'm fine, Maddie."

"No, Ava." She shook her head. "You're not, and you're just gonna get worse if you don't tell somebody about this."

Ava knew that she was right. She wasn't going to argue against her. But how was she going to talk to them about this? They were going to wring her neck once they found out what she's been doing. If she stopped on her own, then nobody would have to know.

It would be some funny little joke she could bring up after she turned twenty-one.

"Hey, look, Ava." Q hated to interrupt, but it had been a week since he and Ava spoke last and they really needed to clear the air. "We need to talk."

The dreaded four words that put fear in anyone's stomach. Ava was no exception. She knew he was going to want to talk about what happened between them that night.

She couldn't believe she flew off the handle the way she did, and she wouldn't blame him if he just called it quits right then and there.

"Go ahead." Maddie waved her away. "I'll call you later, and you better answer me, Ava."

"I will, I promise." Ava assured her, allowing Q to lead her out of the gym and into the hallway where they had more privacy from prying eyes and sharp ears.

"Look, about that night..."

"I'm sorry." Ava shook her head, looking down at the sleeves her jean jacket. She was the one who had made a mistake. She needed to take responsibility for it. "I was upset and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to feel better and I thought that what I was doing would help me. I never had the intention of using you or forcing you into anything. I hope I didn't make you feel that way. I was too into my own problems to notice. I'm so sorry."

"Ava, look at me." Q tilted her head up. "I'm not mad. I knew something was wrong, that's why I stopped you. If I let you go through with it, I would've been the one taking advantage of you. You weren't thinking straight. I know you weren't using me. I just hope that next time, you'll know you can talk to me about whatever's bothering you."

"I...thank you." Ava spoke sincerely. There weren't many guys like Q around. He was so understanding and so patient. She was grateful for that. So grateful, she didn't know what else to say. "Thank you."

"Lucas, told me what went down between you two." Skills opened up a conversation.

"Is everyone gonna talk to me about this?" Ava scoffed bitterly, walking alongside him as he pushed a cart full of party items with Jamie inside, holding onto a ship's wheel to pretend that he was controlling what direction the cart was going. "It happened and it's over. There's nothing left to say about it."

Except it wasn't and there was. The clock was ticking and Ava still needed to swallow her pride and clear the air.

The longer she waited, the harder this was going to be on everyone involved.

Lucas and Lindsay's bachelor/bachelorette parties were that night, and Ava was roped into accompanying Skills and Jamie to buy all sorts of silly things to celebrate.

Apparently, the parties were now combined in an effort to get Nathan and Haley to start talking again.

The two had a huge fight a few days before. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but they had been so distracted by each other, that they failed to notice Jamie by the pool. The kid had been playing with his ball and it rolled into the water, so naturally, he wanted to get it back.

But Jamie didn't know how to swim and he nearly drowned.

That was Haley's breaking point. As soon as Jamie was safe and out of the water, she told Nathan that she wanted a divorce.

The whole situation was very messy. Ava wanted what was best for the three of them. She just hoped that what was best, wasn't a divorce.

"I was just gonna say, that he's just as messed up about this as you are." Skills placated. "Look, I don't know the details, but this is your brother we're talking about. He loves you. There's nothing he wouldn't do for you. So, do him a favor, talk to him."

"I will…..eventually." Ava agreed. "I promise, I just can't right now. I need to clear my head."

"You've been clearing your head for a week, Shorty. It's time."

Ava just sighed and shoved her hands into the pockets of her blue sherpa.

She'd talk to Lucas when she was ready. She had to think of a good enough apology to give him for everything she had dumped on him.

"Okay, wacky string." Skills began to read off the list he and Jamie made. "Ten cans, Jam Master J."

"Is Daddy gonna be at the party?" The four year old asked. He didn't understand the concept of a divorce and she didn't understand why his father wasn't home.

He just wanted everything to go back to the way they were.

"Yup" Ava confirmed.

"And Mommy, too?"

"Yeah." Skills nodded. "But look, you can't tell Mommy or Daddy, okay?"

"This is top secret mission. They can't know about it." Ava held out her pinky finger.

"I can keep a secret." Jamie linked his pinky with her, turning his attention to a family of three, playing video games together. "Can we play Rock Band at the party?"

"Good idea, kid." Skills smiled. "Man, you got this party thing down, Hugh Hefner. Come on."

"Are you gonna read for the whole party?" Jamie leaned on the arm rest of the couch Ava was sitting on.

The teen was reading 'Jane Eyre' to occupy herself.

She liked parties well enough, she'd just rather be reading a good book to bide her time. Especially at bachelor and bachelorette parties. All the guest were adults, so it wasn't as if she was going to be able to mingle. She was here for Lucas and Lindsay.

She owed it to the both of them to at least come downstairs and join the festivities for a little bit.

"Maybe." Ava turned a page.

"You're always reading." Her nephew whined. "I wanna play."

"I don't feel like playing." She never bothered looking up from her novel.

"Please, Havana?" He pouted. "You read all the time. Just five minutes?"

"Jamie." She finally pulled the book away from her face and smiled sweetly. "I don't feel like playing right now, I need some time alone. But I promise, when I feel up to it, I'll play all the games you want. Deal?"

"Deal!"

"Knock, knock."

Ava tore her eyes away from the enchanting words on the timeless pages and found Nathan standing in the doorway of her room.

He looked pretty good, all things considered.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." She nodded, setting the book down on her nightstand as he closed the door behind himself and sat down next to her on her bed.

"I don't like what's happening between us, Pidge." Was what he started with. "I mean, we used to be able to talk and now, we're going days without even seeing each other? What happened?"

"I just thought that after you guys found out I went to see Dan, you wouldn't want to see me."

"Why?"

"Luke didn't tell you?"

"Of course he told me." Nathan's eyebrows scrunched. "Why would that change anything between us?"

"I just thought that you'd be too upset to talk to me."

"Ava, how could I be upset with you for doing something that I did, too?"

"You went to see him?" Ava's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, a couple of weeks ago." He nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's still our dad. That's never gonna change."

"Oh."

"Why didn't you tell us how you were feeling?'

"I don't know." Ava began busying herself, playing with the sleeves of her sweater as the conversation took an uncomfortable turn. "You guys seemed really happy and I didn't want to come in and mess it up. The last thing anybody really needs is their kid sister's stupid problems."

"Hey." Nathan's voice was so stern, Ava was forced to look him in the eyes. "Your problems are just as important as ours. They're not stupid. If something is bothering you, you need to come to one of us and talk to us. We're not gonna judge your or laugh at you. You're not a burden on any of us."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Bear? I have something to tell you." Since they were having such a nice conversation, now was as good a time as any to tell him the truth.

"What is it?"

"I stole a bottle of vodka from you." She cringed as she waited for her brother's reaction.

Was he going to yell? Was he upset?

"Ava, I have a curious four year old son living in this house. Do you think that I don't know what's in my cabinets?"

"You knew?" Her eyes widened. "You knew this whole time? Why didn't you say anything?"

"You're a good kid. I knew you'd come to me eventually and tell me the truth." He shrugged. "And I was right."

"You're not mad at me?"

"Oh no, I'm pissed." He laughed humorlessly. "You're grounded for, like, the rest of your life, but I'm glad you told me the truth."

"I saw that coming."

"So how long have you been drinking?"

"How long?"

"Well, yeah. No inexperienced drinker goes straight for the hard stuff. How long have you been drinking?"

"A few here and there...since you guys went off to college."

"Why?"

"I thought it would make me feel better. Really, it doesn't make me feel much of anything."

Sometimes feeling nothing was better than feeling anything at all. At least, that's what Ava used to think.

Feeling nothing was scary. It made her do things that she'd never dream of doing if she were in her right mind.

"Alcohol is never the answer, Ava. You take it, thinking it's gonna help, but it just makes everything worse. It makes you into someone you're not and sometimes it makes you hurt the people you love. Believe me, I tried it. It didn't work, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Then do me a favor. Don't ever do anything like this again. I know that for the past few months we haven't really been listening or paying close attention to your needs and your feelings. We're sorry and we're going to do better. You don't need to turn to alcohol to fill that void. We're gonna be right here for you, I promise."

"Okay. I won't do it again."

"Good. Now, I think there's some cake downstairs, what do you say we go find it and take a couple of slices?"

"Can I stay up here?" Ava asked. "It's too loud downstairs."

"Yeah, you can stay up here, Buddy." Nathan smiled and poked her side. "But I can't promise that I'll be able to save you any cake."

"If you don't, I'll eat those cookies you've been hiding from Jamie."

"Oh yeah?" He challenged.

"Yeah!"

Ava didn't have time to think before Nathan's hands shot out and he began to tickle her. His fingers wiggled against her ribcage and his tight grip didn't allow her a single second of respite.

But Ava didn't mind.

Nathan was so glad to hear her boisterous giggles. He hadn't heard them in far too long. They were going to do better. No one was going to let Ava fall off the deep end.

She was going to fly and she was going to fly high.

"Ava?" Lucas knocked on his sister's door, listening for an answer.

When he didn't get one, he pushed the door open and found her fast asleep on her bed with a book in her hands, resting on her chest.

A good story was always the way to get her to sleep, so her predicament was no surprise to him. It was cute.

Freeing his hands of the cake he had brought up for her, he gently took the book from her and set it down on her nightstand before unfolding a blanket and draping it over her just incase she got cold.

"Sweet dream, Babygirl." He whispered, leaning down to kiss her forehead. But when he tried to leave, she reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Stay, please?" She pleaded, making room for him to lay next to her.

And who was he to say no?

After their argument, he had let her have the space that he felt she needed, but he was beginning to wonder if that had been a mistake.

They've never gone this long without speaking to one another and he hated the distance between them.

"I'm sorry." The two siblings blurted at the very same time, easing the slight tension.

"I'm sorry I jumped down your throat like that." Lucas decided to go first, pushing some hair from her face. "I shouldn't have done that. I should've talked it out with you and let you explain yourself. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry that I went to see Dan and didn't tell you…I'm sorry I went to see him at all."

"Why did you?" Lucas asked calmly. "I'm not upset. I'm just curious."

"Sometimes I think I went because…I missed him." Ava looked into her brother's expressive eyes and saw how hurt he was. Seeing all of that, she realized just how much she had missed him. "I mean I miss the Dan that I hung out with, the one that was nice and loving. But another part of me thinks that I was probably stressed or something and I went to him because I wanted to go to Uncle Keith and I couldn't, so I visited Dan in some stupid attempt to make myself feel better…..which is pretty messed up considering what he did."

"Did it make you feel better?"

"Not one bit." Ava shook her head. "It didn't help at all and you have every right to hate me for that and more."

"Hate you?" Lucas furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't hate you."

"You don't?"

"No, I don't hate you! Where'd you get that from?"

"Well, Dan killed Keith and I went to visit him." Ava listed. "And I blew up at you and said all these mean things to you before leaving. I just sort of thought that's why you weren't talking to me."

"Ava, no!" Lucas ran a hand over his face. "That's not why I wasn't talking to you. I wanted to give you space. You were pretty upset that night and I didn't think you'd be so open to a conversation." He sighed. "As far as Dan goes, you know how I feel about him, but that doesn't change the way I feel about you. I know this isn't easy on you either, I'm not going to make it harder. And I'm glad you said all those things to me."

"Luke, I hurt your feelings, how can you—"

"—I'm glad you said what you said." He held up his hand. "I just wish you would've told me how you were feeling before you got to that point, Babygirl."

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing to me for how you feel." Lucas scooted closer to her. "Why didn't you tell me you were feeling so lonely and left out?"

"I didn't want you to think I was whining or being childish." Ava answered truthfully. "Nathan had the accident and that was hard on him, and you were so sad when you proposed to Peyton and she said no, so I wasn't gonna say anything to you about Lindsay….and Nathan and Haley are figuring some stuff out and they need to look out for Jamie, I wasn't gonna jump in the way of that. You all have your own problems to worry about without me piling new things on."

"We never meant to push you to the side, Ava. We all got too preoccupied with things and we forgot to check in on you."

"No, it's okay."

"It's not okay, Ava. When Mom agreed to let you stay here with us, we promised to take care of you."

"And you have." Ava stressed. "I was just being dramatic."

"Ava, can you tell me how you really feel? Without downplaying it?"

"Luke….."

"For me?"

"I like living here in Tree Hill with you, and Nathan and Haley. But sometimes…..I feel like I don't fit…..not anymore." Ava confessed. "Nathan has Haley and Jamie. You have Lindsay. You're gonna get married and I…..don't know where I fit into all of that— or if I fit at all."

"You're an important part of this family, Ava." Lucas spoke firmly, hurt by the fact that Ava had actually been feeling this way for so long, she blew up when she finally hit her breaking point. "A special part. I'm sorry we've been showing you the opposite. But I promise, we're gonna do better to fix this." He pulled her in for a hug and kissed her cheek.

He was being so nice to her and she was lying to him!

Guilt began to creep up on her and she felt she couldn't hold back anymore. He deserved to know the truth.

"Luke?" She rested her head against his shoulder.

"What's up, Babygirl?"

"I have to tell you something." She bit her lip. "But I don't want you to get mad at me."

"Okay." He pulled away from her so that he could look her in the eyes. "I can't promise you that I won't get upset, but I can promise you, that no matter what it is, I'll still love you."

Tears gathered at the corners of Ava's eyes as she figured out just how to say what she needed to say. Her eyes caught her keychain that was sitting on her nightstand and she leaned over to pick it up, fiddling with it until her hands felt the bottle opener.

"I don't just use this for soda." Her bottom lip quivered. "Sometimes, I drink."

As hard as it was, it felt good to be getting this off of her chest.

It was harder to admit it to him, than it was to admit to Nathan.

"I don't do it often...but I drank when you went to college...and I drank that night at Tric." She sniffled, unable to look at him. "And a week ago, I went into Nathan's liquor cabinet and I stole a drink from him."

Ava may have been trying her best not to cry, but Lucas sure wasn't. His baby sister had been so much more worse off than he had thought. She was hurting inside and she didn't know how to deal with that, so she began abusing substances.

His baby sister.

And not one person in the family noticed it. She wasn't wrong to feel like she was all alone.

"I'm sorry." Her voice came out in a whisper.

"No." His voice cracked as he shook his head. "I'm sorry."

He wasn't mad. How could he be? She just opened her heart out to him.

"And after I got it, I went to the Rivercourt and I...Q was there." She took in a shaky breath. "And I tried...I tried to..." She couldn't even finish her sentence, but Lucas understood. "But I didn't. He stopped me. He said he couldn't let me make that mistake. I don't even know why I did it. I just did."

"Come here." Lucas sat up, took her hand and had her stand up in front of him. "I'm sorry." He looked directly into her glossy orbs. "I'm sorry."

"But I was the one that..."

"No. I'm sorry we ever made you feel so upset that you felt like that was the only thing you could do. I'm so sorry. I should've seen it. I should've been there for you...I should've done something."

"It wasn't your fault." Ava reached out and swiped one of his tears away with her thumb. "Nobody's a mind reader."

Lucas couldn't think of anything that he could say, that would make any of this better for either of them. But he was going to do everything in his power to make her understand how much everyone loved her.

She meant the world to him and he thought that it was about time she knew it.

Bonus Scene:

"Hey, why didn't you come on down for the party, Cutie?" Brooke asked when she saw Ava entering her store.

"Didn't feel like partying, I guess." Ava smiled and met her behind the counter.

"What's up?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being there." The teen gave her a hug and kissed her cheek.

"I'm here anytime you need me, Ava-Rose."

"I know." Ava gave her a thumbs up before heading to the door, nearly running into Peyton. "Hi!"

Just the person she wanted to see!

"Hey! You look happy." The blonde commented. She could see Ava's smile reaching her eyes today and she loved it.

Happiness looked good on her. She wore it well.

"I am happy!" Ava bounced.

"So you talked to them. Good."

The girl was so giddy it was hard not to smile at her. "Thanks, Peyton. I have to get home. Grounded."

"Have fun with that."

Ava probably would. Lucas and Nathan's idea of being 'grounded' was to have the teenager spend as much quality time with them as possible.

They played board games, helped her with her homework, watched tv together, cooked, and pretty much did normal sibling stuff.

They had heard her loud and clear when she was screaming for help and they answered the call. Things were getting better. They weren't great, but that would take time.

But for the first time, in a long time, Ava found herself worrying less and less about that pesky void.

It didn't hurt very much anymore.

In fact, sometimes, it didn't hurt at all.

A/N: Miss Ava-Rose is getting better. Everyone is doing their part to help her in their own way. Next chapter is the wedding! I wonder how that one will go horribly wrong?