The rest of the dinner went by smoothly and Aria offered to stay behind to help Brax clear up, hugging Romeo as he left with Casey. She had just finished collecting the dirty plates, when the glass in the front doors shattered and three men entered wearing balaclavas. Flinching as someone grabbed her arm, Aria looked back to find Brax and allowed herself to be pulled behind him out of harm's way.

"Take what you want, but you won't find any money..." Brax told the men calmly.

"You think this is about money," one of the men replied, swinging the baseball bat he was holding and smashing the glasses that Aria had placed on there.

Grabbing her older brothers arm, Aria stepped closer to him and scream as he was torn away from her. Taking a step forward, she quickly found herself held captive by a pair of strong arms and struggled against them to get free.

"Leave her alone," Brax warned, moving towards where Aria was being restrained and doubling over as the bat connected with his gut.

"Brax," Aria shouted in panic as he straightened himself up, thrashing around and pleading for the man to stop as he sent Brax to the ground with a solid punch to the jaw, "Please stop... please."

"Just remember, Braxton," one of the other men said, "Payback is never pretty."

Dropping to her knees beside Brax as soon as she was released, Aria reached out her hand to touch his arm and quickly pulled it back again as he pushed himself to his feet with a groan.

"Are you okay?" Brax asked as he retrieved his phone from his pocket.

"I'm really not the one we should be worrying about right now; your mouth is still bleeding and that hit to your stomach wasn't exactly gentle..." Aria rambled, getting to her feet and moving towards him to check the damage, "Let me check it."

"I'm fine," Brax snapped, pushing her hand away and putting the phone to his ear.

"Okay," Aria mumbled, trying her best to hide the hurt that she felt and heading to the supply cupboard to get a broom.

She had been clearing up the glass for nearly twenty minutes, when Brax finally hung up the phone and joined her. Aria remained silent as she tipped the broken shards into the bin, feeling Brax's eyes on her and fighting the urge to look up at him.

"I'm sorry," Brax stated, breaking the silence, "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It doesn't matter," Aria added, although that was a lie because it did matter... it mattered to her and it hurt being pushed away by someone she loved, "When can we go home?"

"Just got to wait for someone to board up the front window," Brax explained, "I can get Heath to come get you if you don't want to hang around."

"I'll wait."

It was another hour, before someone arrived to temporarily repair the door and Aria could practically hear sleep calling her. Climbing out the Ute as Brax pulled into the driveway, Aria ignored her brothers who were watching something on television and went straight to bed.

Morning seemed to come by way too fast and Aria felt as though she hadn't slept at all, but she knew that she had to get up for school anyway. Lying on her bed for a few more minutes, she forced herself up and got dress before going to the kitchen.

"Morning," Heath greeted as she sat down at the table, causing Aria to frown, "You okay?"

"I wish people would stop asking me that," Aria said, "Why are you up anyway?"

"No reason."

"Brax made you get up to keep an eye on me, didn't he?"

"We're just worried about you."

"There's no need to be, I'm totally fine and would be even better if people stopped treating me like some fragile little kid."

"Ari..." Heath started, falling silent when Aria raised her hand to shut him up and grabbed her bag as she headed towards the door.

"Tell Brax and the others to stop worrying," Aria shouted back over her shoulder, "Love you, bro."

School flew by and Aria found herself with a mountain of homework to get through, but she really wanted to get out in the water first. Getting changed as soon as she got home, she collected her surfboard and made her way down to the beach.

"You coming out?" Xavier asked as she reached him.

"No, I thought I'd just take my board for a walk," Aria joked, causing Xavier to chuckle, "What about you? Have you been out yet?"

"Not yet."

"Need me to hold your hand?"

"I think I'll be alright, but feel free to join me out there if you think you can handle the waves," Xavier responded with a grin, jogging towards the water with Aria on his heels and they paddled out.

Letting Xavier have the first pick of waves, Aria cheered as he rode in and threw her head back laughing when she saw him take a tumble. Spotting a big set forming at the back of the bay, Aria started to paddle and was soon riding one of the bigger waves to the beach. Surfing for about an hour with Xavier, Aria decided that she'd best head home and waved goodbye to Xavier as she left.

Authors Notes: Thank you for the comments and support on this story. I'm trying really hard to show that Aria is sensitive, but that she's also able to handle herself and is a lot stronger than maybe her brothers want to believe.