Title: What You Can Handle
Author: ShadowOfMoonlight
Disclaimer: I own neither a part of Summerland nor its cast. I never have and probably never will.
Summary: When Ava, Susanna, and Jay are ruled unfit guardians by the court of law, Bradin, Niki, and Derrick are forced to move in with their grandfather's brother and his wife in Ohio. Can they adapt to getting torn apart from the people they love yet again?
A/N: The little bold numbers indicate that there's an Author's Note at the end of the chapter for you to read that refers back to that specific part.
A/N 2: It's rated "T" for language and themes.

PREVIOUSLY:

"You are being summoned by the Juvenile Court of California to respond to the petitions being brought against you. The prosecution states that the three children in question are receiving improper care are should be removed from their guardians and placed with more suitable caretakers."

"I find Ava Gregory…unsuitable for parenthood. The children will be placed in the custody of Andrew Munin, great uncle to the questioned…"

"Is it true," the lawyer's voice was deathly quiet, like a snake, "that your other roommate Jay Robertson physically abused the oldest child while in a drunken rage?"

Bradin thought, Does Jay see a boy with a broken arm, a surf dream ruined, an ugly black eye, and bruises all over?

Last day. Tomorrow we leave… for Ohio, the land of snow. To live with our grandfather's brother--our 'great uncle'. Hope we survive… God, I hope we survive…

Chapter Two- Beginning of the Last Day

It was their last breakfast together as a family. It was held in Johnny's new restaurant. It was supposed to be beautiful and special and memorable. It was supposed to be wonderful, glorious, a departing good-bye that would be spectacular. But reality interfered yet again, and it was horrible. The silence was poisonous, and they were all being infected. It was chilling, the quiet, and compressing, making it hard to breathe.

Bradin dared to look up, glancing around quickly from person to person before returning his eyes to staring at his place. Johnny, Jay, Susanna, Ava, Niki, Derrick… they were all there. It was supposed to be just the 'inner' family, but now Bradin was sure that Ava regretted that decision.

He shook his head slightly, clearing his mind, focusing on the delicious pancakes in front of him. Or rather, he remembered that they used to be delicious. Now they just turned to ash in his mouth, tasted like cardboard. Chewing was difficult and swallowing was practically impossible. And it was even more difficult to eat with one hand, his other arm being most inconveniently in a sling. Jay refused to look at him; instead, his head was ducked down at his plate. Perhaps he too was being smothered by the quiet, or perhaps he was scared to face the occasional glaring look that was directed his way.

"So," a voice challenged the silence, a voice of a mere child. Of course it was Derrick that wanted the covering, deadly silence to end. "It won't be so bad, right? We'll still get to visit and everythin' and the judge wouldn't have placed us w-with dad's uncle unless he was a good person, right?"

Bradin glanced at his aunt, then returned his eyes to his plate as the smothering quiet returned.

"No, Derrick, the judge knew what he was doing," his sister said comfortingly, breaking the spell again. But her words had the opposite effect, and she clasped a hand over her mouth. "Ohmygod, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, like, you guys were unfit parents or something 'cause of course that's ridiculous I just meant that the judge wouldn't place us with someone bad I'm sorry I'm-"

"Niki, Niki, it's okay," said the reassuring voice of Susanna, and Bradin realized with a pang that he would miss her more than he had originally thought. He hadn't thought that she was a huge part of his life, but after hearing her voice, the boy changed his mind.

"I'm done." Bradin himself was shocked as the two vicious words emitted from his mouth, and was even more surprised when he stood, threw his napkin on his plate, and walked out quickly.

He walked through the busy streets of Playa Linda, a lag in his step as he studied the throngs of people. How could they be so calm, so peaceful… how could they laugh like that, be so happy, when his entire world was falling apart? How could they be so cruel as not to notice, not to care? Their lack of knowledge wasn't his fault… they should know!

Bradin headed to the beach, running his good hand through his blonde hair as he kicked his sandals off, picking them up with one hand. He stopped in his tracks and glared out at the ocean. If only he hadn't gotten attached… stupid, stupid it was, getting reattached, just to move again… of course that's what must happen, of course…

The teen shook his head, clearing his depressed thoughts. He ran his foot through a patch of dry sand, sifting the miniscule particles through his toes. Walking backwards, he fell to the ground in a sitting position. He winced sharply as he gasped at the jerking move; he'd have to remember that it was painful to drop the ground with bruises!

Bradin was startled as his cell phone rang. Taking it out, he saw the number and was tempted not to answer… but to hear her voice, one more time… it would be worth it.

"Hey, Sarah," he said with a sigh.

"Bradin, I heard you were leaving." God, how he missed her voice. Bradin could almost picture her standing over him, like that day when he had met her… with a start, he realized he was in the exact same location.

"How'd you hear that?" he managed to ask. His throat was constricting painfully as his brow furrowed.

"I have my sources," she said mischievously, and Bradin felt a pang of longing. He didn't love her and probably never would… but she was a friend, even though she had lied to him, manipulated him… she was a connection to his past. "But I wanted to say good-bye to you, because you're going to be changing cell phone numbers… Ms. Gregory's not gonna continue paying the bill for it, you know? And I didn't think you'd remember to tell me your new one number…"

"Yeah…" Bradin said, making a mental note to copy everyone's phone number down that was programmed in his cell phone. He hadn't thought of that.

"So, I just wanted to say hi, and bye, and my two-minute phone call for the day is almost up, so I have to go… they're so strict here, it's pathetic. But I was 'good' so they're letting me call you… Bye, Bradin… I'll miss you."

"Yeah… I'll-I'll miss you to," Bradin faltered, then waiting until she had hung up to do the same. The poor boy stared at the cell phone in his hand, still holding it right in front of his face, trying to picture his ex-girlfriend, wanting to stay on that beach until the end of time…

Back at the table, Niki was beating herself up for her obvious bad choice of words. I'm supposed to be the smart one! she exclaimed to herself. Stupid, stupid mistake…

"Hey, hey, sorry to bother you…" a voice, a timid male voice that Niki knew well, dragged her out of her thoughts like a knife in butter. She looked up and saw the face of her friend Cameron. And next to him… Amber. His gaze wavered as everyone looked at him, looking intimidated. Amber stepped forward.

"Hey, we were wondering if we could take Niki out for the day, you know, since she's, like, leaving tonight," the blonde said rather boldly, causing a unanimous eyebrow-raise around the table. "What'd I say!" she exclaimed, but everyone just shook their heads.

"Yeah, Niki…you can go," Ava said, nodding, the very essence of calm… except for the death-grip on her napkin, she looked almost normal.

The light brown-haired girl nodded, then stood, following her two friends out of there. "Thank you guys so much…I was suffocating in there…" The girl shook her head. "I really don't want to move…"

Cameron swung his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him, tears coming to her eyes in the presence of her two best friends. But that water wouldn't shed, wouldn't overflow. Niki couldn't cry, and she didn't know why.

"Hey, hun, it's okay…" Amber said, awkwardly patting Niki's back. Niki smiled slightly at her.

"Thanks…" She ran a hand through her hair, resting her head against Cameron's shoulder. Niki gave him a half-smile. "Guess you've won Student Council President… Well, I hope you've won… I don't want Carrie to win!"

Amber laughed. "Yeah, that wouldn't be too great. Go Cam!"

The three friends laughed, then quickly became somber. "God, I don't want to go…"

And so began their last day together.

A/N:

Okay. I have a lot of shit going on in my life right now, and I'm sorry this took so long to get up, and I'm sorry it's so short. At this current time in my life, it's really hard for me to concentrate on anything and I get frustrated extremely easily. I'm sorry that this chapter was nowhere near up to par, but whenever I become annoyed with my writing I, in a fit of anger, delete the entire thing and end up having to start all over… It's been really stressing lately. Sorry.

I hope that you review… you guys are my inspiration, and without your reviews I won't have any influence to update… I'm sorry if this wasn't great, but I have to post it before I delete it again… I'm sorry. I'm a real critic of myself.

RESPONSES:

MrsJesseMac13- Thanks for reviewing, here's your update! Goddess-Moose- Yeah, a lot's happened in the past few weeks…you can read reviews at TV-Tome, they're really good! Here's your update! Smartstar247- This story is going to vary POVs, perhaps even going to one or more of the adults if I feel it necessary. Longer chapters I don't know if I can do; I'll try, however. And I do my best on grammar and spacing. Thanks for reviewing! kandykane33- Thanks hun! Here's your update, hope it's not too horrible! Caitlin- Maaaaaaybe…I can't tell you! You'll see if you keep reading the story. Werewolves are People Too- I can't tell you if the uncle is good or bad… you'll meet his character either next chapter or the chapter after, maybe even in the chapter after that…sometime in one of the next three chapters you'll meet him, let's put it that way, depending on how long I feel they should take to say good-bye! And I like Jay too. He just seemed the most plausible… but he's going to try to rectify his mistake…hinthint grullo-cowgirl- Ecstatic you enjoyed it! I write a lot, and this idea became apparent in one of my other stories I was writing, and then I was figuring out how to make it into a different story because it didn't exactly fit in the one I was writing, so then it occurred to me to make it into a fanfiction, and Summerland stood out! Hope you enjoyed it!

POLL QUESTION- Which is your favorite: silver, gold, or bronze?

Please, please review. It means so much to me.