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:

"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?

"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?"

Chapter Three- Middle of the Last Day

Derrick sat on his bedside, a forlorn look on his face as he gazed aimlessly forward, not really seeing anything. His arms were crossed, but not in anger; he was trying to bring warmth to his body, trying to hug himself. Everyone wanted to hug him, to touch him, to make him feel better… but he didn't want that. He wanted a hug, yes, a hug that felt like it would hold him until the end of time… he wanted his parents' hug. Aunt Ava was a replacement, but she wasn't the same… no one could ever be the same, and he didn't want fakes. So he'd stick with no one at all, no one but himself.

"Derrick?" a female voice from the doorway asked timidly, and the young boy looked up to see Martha. "I came by earlier but you weren't here… your aunt let me in, told me you were up here." She came and sat by his side. "Oh, Derrick, I'm going to miss you…"

The young boy refused to look at her, opting to glare at the floor. But he could still feel the warmth of her body, a centimeter away from his own. His eyes were dry, but he was cold, so cold…

"Derrick, talk to me," she said softly, in a mature, gentle voice that ignored her young years. "Derrick…"

And the boy couldn't resist the ability to warm himself up again, and he leaned against her, allowing her to cradle him as if he was a small baby. Running a hand through his hair, Martha whispered, "It's okay, Derrick, it'll be okay, I promise… I promise…"

He buried his head into her shoulder. "It won't be, it won't be, Martha, it won't be okay…"

"Shhh, Derrick," she responded, putting a finger to his lips to quiet him. And she held him as he suffered in silence, tears refusing to appear. But her words echoed to him over and over, I promise… I promise…

You're a liar, Martha, Derrick thought viciously, body tensing slightly. It won't be okay.

"Okay, you've been staring at that same spot on that same wall for almost-" the woman consulted her watch "-fifteen minutes. It's unhealthy, especially if you don't blink."

Ava Gregory glanced at her business partner and best friend. "Oh, Susanna," she sighed helplessly. "I can't lose them."

Johnny came and stood by Susanna's side, and surprise flashed in Ava's eyes as he smiled softly at her. They both came and sat on either side of Ava, settling themselves on the large bench; they were in their backyard, on the picnic table. "You have to be strong," whispered Susanna, "for them… you can cry after they leave."

"But for now… for now, don't scare them any further than they're already frightened," Johnny continued. "Ava, look at me." When she refused, he took her chin gently in his hand, forcing her to stare him in the eye. "Ava Gregory, I've known you since we were in college. You get through things. You'll get through this. The pain won't go away; it's not supposed to. But it will lessen. You get up in the morning, and you live your life, and you go to bed, and then you wake up the next morning and do the same thing again. It gets easier… trust me, Ava."

A tear leaked over the edge of the woman's eyes, and Johnny wiped it away. "No, none of that, not now…"

"It won' ge' eas'er," called a voice from behind them, and all three turned to see an Australian that they knew well.

"Jay…" Susanna began, but the man shook his head.

"No, Susanna, don' ev'n try. Don' ev'n-" And the three adults on the table could clearly hear the slur of Jay's words; it was obvious that he had been drinking yet again, and the large bottle clutched in his hand was a clue.

"Jay, c'mon man, let's get you cleaned up," Johnny said, standing up slowly.

The man swung the beer bottle around. "Hopeless, Johnny, he's gonna go 'n I'm neve' gonna get ta 'pologize cause he's gonna be gone and-"

"Jay." Johnny's voice was firm, so steady and warm that Ava wanted that tone directed at her, but it wouldn't be like that… of course not. "Jay, come sit down over here."

The ex-surfer shook his head. "No, man, no… gonna go, go do somethin', dunno what…" But Jay just stood there like a lost little kid in a gigantic supermarket.

"You can always talk to him, you know that, Jay," Susanna whispered, her dark features ashen.

"No, no, can't," the drunk man shook his head for emphasis. "Drunk now. Had ta get drunk t'day 'cause I couldn't bear it if I had ta watch 'im go, watch 'em all go. Can't tell 'im when I'm drunk, what kind 'o parent would I be if I 'pologized when I wa' drunk? No, no…" With that, Jay turned abruptly into the one-room shack he called his home.

The three at the picnic table were in a silence similar to the one they had been in that morning, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

"Hey, Lucas. Look, dude, I'm sorry for punching you, it really wasn't cool of me. And I'm going to Ohio tonight, leaving on the plane, I'll get there real early tomorrow morning. I'm sure you've heard of the court case with my Aunt Ava; I think everyone in Playa Linda has. Could you tell the rest of the surf team for me? And tell Tanner that his little 'problem' is gone. Thanks, man," Bradin finished, closing his cell phone as he completed his message on his friend's voicemail.

Still sitting stiffly on the water's edge, he watched the waves and decided that he wanted to surf, if only for one last time, just to feel the water pulsing under him like some kind of final good-bye, because God knew that there weren't going to be any waves in Ohio… Sure, there was Lake Erie, but his great uncle didn't live near there. Instead, Andrew Munin lived in some suburb about an hour away from Cleveland, about a half-hour away from some place called Euclid. A city called Mentor (1).

Standing, Bradin realized that to get his surfboard he'd have to go back to his home…or rather, his ex-home. Either that or go to Jay's shop and get one there, but Bradin really didn't want to face the Australian. With a sigh he headed to the place he had grown accustomed to calling his home. Mentally preparing himself for any tears that might be shedding over his departure, Bradin's face turned stony. He'd say good-bye to them later, all of them. Not now… now was surf-time. That was something he understood, even if he did have a broken arm and it would hurt like hell to ride with all of his bruises.

Aunt Ava, Susanna, and Johnny were at the picnic table when he arrived, but none of them were speaking, and they weren't even looking at each other. Jay's door was closed, and Bradin heard some noise in there. Maybe I should've gone to the surf shop instead…

Susanna spotted him, but only her. The other two were lost in thought somewhere, and for that Bradin was appreciative as he sneaked by. Shaking his head at Susanna to tell her to ignore his presence, he quietly entered Johnny's old room and grabbed onto his surfboard. Susanna knew that he wasn't supposed to surf with a sling, but only her eyes betrayed her feelings. Her meaning was clear: Be careful. Bradin nodded and headed back to the waves. That wasn't too difficult…

He spotted a wave that looked inviting. Paddling out to it, he stood on his surfboard, balancing his weight like Jay had taught him… this was something Jay had taught him, surfing that is… it wasn't right, just wasn't right that the one thing Bradin could do to make him feel alive was the thing that was taught to him by the man who had abused him. And the throbbing, pulsing rhythm… it wasn't there anymore. It wasn't fair.

Bradin didn't ride the wave. Instead, he merely sank back down on his board. He wouldn't surf. Surfing was a gift from Jay, and gifts from anabusing drunk shouldn't be used.

The boy spotted Callie on the beach and his eyes widened slightly, apprehension dawning on his features. Slowly getting out of the water slowly, she made her way over to him. Without even pausing, she threw her arms around the wet boy, sobbing into his shoulder.

Awkwardly Bradin patted her back, dropping his surfboard into the sand. "Callie, I thought you were at your cousin's for the rest of the summer," he said, bafflement easily identified in his voice.

"I had to come back when I heard… Oh, god, Bradin, I'm so sorry…" she said, pulling away from him, wiping the tears in her eyes away.

"Yeah, me too," he said roughly. He couldn't converse with her right now, not now when he was vulnerable, not now when the waves had just rejected him.

Callie reached out, touching the side of his face, her brow furrowed slightly and eyes warm. "You'll be okay, Bradin," she said slowly.

Bradin paused, unsure of how to respond. Finally he decided on, "That's what everyone keeps telling me." But the words came out wrong; they sounded too bitter.

"But you will be." She nodded as if confirming her own words. Suddenly she looked like crying again. "Is it true what he did to you, Bradin?"

The boy looked down at his body. He hadn't even thought about all the bruises that were revealed when he had put on his swim trunks. "Yeah," he said in a resigned sort of way. "Yeah, it's true."

"Oh, Bradin, I'm so sor-"

"Callie!" a female voice came from the rocks above them. Callie looked up.

"That's my cousin… she had some financing thing to do here, that's why I could come, but she only needed an hour… I have to go. You'll call me when you get there, okay?"

Bradin hesitated then nodded, not really promising but not rejecting her offer either.

"I love you, Bradin…" she said, then turned and followed her cousin. Bradin watched her until she was out of site.

"Still about a girl, Kansas?"

The boy turned as he spotted his old mentor Erika. His eyes hardened. "I thought you didn't want to be seen with me," he sneered.

Erika looked slightly abashed. "This is different," she said, a hand raised to block out the sun. "This time I'll never get to see you again. I've been banned from seeing you off at the airport by Jay-dearest, but I don't even think he's going to be there."

"Leave me alone, Erika," Bradin said, his voice hollow, shaking his head as he turned around and headed for the place he still called home, leaving the beautiful girl behind him.

A/N:

1- This is an actual location in Ohio… my best friend lives there, and I thought it a great place for Bradin, Niki, and Derrick to have to live.

Okay. I think this chapter was much better than the last one, not to mention longer. Next chapter will most likely be the final good-byes chapter. Chapter after that you'll be meeting the infamous Andrew Munin! Aren't you excited! And either in that chapter or the chapter after that one you'll meet a major main character, a made-up.

Please review!

RESPONSES:

Caitlin- Yeah, sorry it's taken so long to post this next chapter… hope you enjoy it! Werewolves are People Too- Hints are good! Also, here's your next chapter! hollyfan- I'm flattered you like it! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Smartstar247- LoL, I enjoy writing the emotions… it's one of my favorite parts of writing; I hope I do a good job of that! Here's your update! CrAzY4tHeSuN- LoL aren't we all critics? LoL me more than most, I suppose. Here's your update! Tia92- Yes, yes, I did do my "homework" for this story… :-P Thanks for saying that though, makes it worthwhile to do the work!

POLL RESULTS FROM PREVIOUS CHAPTER: (and yes, I vote in this, so if you actually go and count the votes in the reviews, one will be missing--mine. Just thought I'd say that.)

Gold- 1

Silver- 2

Bronze- 0

Unvoted- 4

…Wow I think that says something about people that vote as opposed to people who don't vote.

POLL QUESTION: Who is your favorite character on Summerland? Pick just one!