Here it is, and again, I'm so sorry for not updating yesterday like I said I was.

I hate saying something and then not following through with it. I had a family emergency so I wasn't around my laptop or anything for hours yesterday. Anyway, enjoy this one. Riker is officially awesome :]


Ross walked up to the front of his mother's house, pausing a moment, before he knocked on the door. No one answered, so he tried again, a few more times until it finally opened and he saw Riker on the other side.

"Oh… uh, hey." Riker awkwardly said as he looked at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to Rydel, is she here?"

Riker shook his head, "I'm the only one home, no clue where Rydel is, but I'm betting she's most likely with Ratliff since she never came home last night, Rocky went off with Vanessa earlier and mom and Ryland are out."

"Oh, uh… okay."

"I'm actually about to leave too," Riker said as he looked up, nodding his head. Ross heard the sound of a car pull up and turned around to see it was his father. "I didn't know you were actually gonna be here and—"

"You're seriously going to spend time with him?" Ross demanded, turning his head to face him. Riker stepped back, surprised.

"Dude, I haven't spoken to you in like a week, you can't get mad over something I'm doing just because you have issues with dad."

Ross was about to say something rude, but studied him for a few moments instead, "you have no idea, do you?"

"No idea about… what?" Riker asked, giving him a clueless look, which answered all the questions Ross was wondering about.

"Nevermind, I'm gonna go. I have to be at the studio like now, so see ya." Ross turned around and was halfway to his car when Riker caught up to him. He touched his shoulder and Ross turned around.

"What is it?" Riker asked him. "What could dad have possibly done now?" He didn't sound so… annoyed, more curious, if Ross was to be honest.

Ross slowly backed up towards his car, "talk to Rydel." He said and with that, he got into his car and started it. Riker shook his head and then caught up him, tapping on the window.

"You can't just leave me hanging like that and besides, you and I have to talk."

"I can't right now. I have to go to work, because I have a job. It's not my place to say what's up with Rydel, so go talk to her. I gotta go," Ross started to roll the window up and Riker's mouth dropped open as he pulled away from the curb and drove off.

Just as he pulled away from Riker, Ross heard the beeping of a horn and knew his father was impatient, waiting for Riker to be done with him.

Well, he thought, once we're done with you, you won't be so impatient anymore.


"Wow, you saw your father and didn't even attack him?" Laura asked, holding her phone in between her ear and her shoulder as she reached for a banana, she began to unpeel it as Ross spoke to her on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I was surprised myself," Ross answered, "Riker didn't know anything and it's not my place to say so… I had to let it go."

"Yeah, what else could you have done without pissing Rydel off?"

Ross agreed, "I'll try and get in touch with her later, but see if you can in the meantime? I've got to go back to work."

"Okay," Laura held the phone in her hand. "Have fun, love you."

"Love you too." And with that, she hung up the phone. She tapped her finger against the back of it for a few moments before she opened it again and found Rydel's number. She pressed call and then put it on her ear.

"Hello?" A deep voice answered, startling her. "I know it's you Laura, and before you freak out, it's Ratliff."

"Yeah, I knew that… caller ID and I know what you sound like… is Rydel around?"

"Yeah, she's in the shower though."

"I'm surprised you're not with her…" Laura trailed off, "but anyway," She recovered smoothly, "tell her to call me back when she gets the chance."

"Will do."

"Thanks, bye, Ratliff."

"Talk to you later, Laura." And with that she hung up the phone. She contemplated on what to do next now that she basically had nothing to do and decided that visiting her mother was probably a good idea.


"This is nice, you know… two friends, just hanging out and being… friendly." Vanessa smiled at Rocky who rolled his eyes.

"Yes, we're friends. Don't get too cocky with that title or anything," He said back and she burst into laughter.

"How weird is it," Vanessa began, getting more comfortable on the bench she sat on. "That your brother and my sister are having a baby? I always thought I'd be much older when I became an aunt."

"Yeah, same… but you know, as an uncle," Rocky clarified, "but hey, they're happy right? And really excited about this new change."

"Laura hates change, you know. That's probably why when her father came back, she didn't want to talk to him, or when Ross came back, she was just happy in her own little bubble and of course he comes in and bursts it, so that's partly why she was so angry at him, but… anyway, I think she's handling this new change, pretty well."

"Yeah, she is." Rocky agreed, it was silent for a few moments, both of them looking at their hands or their feet, when Rocky looked up at the same time she did.

"And you?" And they said together.

"Wait, you first," Rocky offered.

"I don't know what to think," Vanessa said honestly. "I'm happy for Laura and Ross, don't get me wrong, I'm just… sad that it happened so early. Like, they have so much time ahead of them to have a child, but at the same time, they're so excited about it and there's like no way I wont love this child."

Rocky agreed, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm excited too, but I know that if there are any two people on this planet who can handle having a child right now, it's Ross and Laura for sure."

Vanessa smiled, "true."

It was comfortably silent between them again.

"So.." Rocky trailed off.

Vanessa smiled, "so…"

"This is nice, you know hanging out…not being cockblocks to our siblings for once…"

Vanessa giggled, "it is pretty sad how we keep doing that."

"Yeah, I feel like karma's going to come back and bit us in the ass someday. And they're going to be the ones doing it."

"It's possible. I mean, Laura hasn't really done anything… yet. Surprisingly, she's usually so innocent and whenever I had friends over, she kept her distance pretty well."

"Yeah, Ross…" Rocky trailed off as he came to a realization, "wait a minute, Ross never did! Anytime I had a girl over, he would always knock at the exact moment something was going to happen… it was sad actually."

Vanessa just laughed and shook her head amused, "so it runs in the family then."

"Apparently," Rocky grumbled and Vanessa burst into laughter so hard she fell over, her head on his lap and looked up at him. "Oh hey, how's it going… down there."

"Just perfect." She answered and then giggled more, causing Rocky to laugh a bit himself.


Rydel walked out of the Ratliff's bathroom, all freshly showered, her hair in a high ponytail as she walked into her boyfriend's room. He was sitting on the chair by his desk, his eyes on his laptop, when he heard the door open and turned to see her.

"Hey, Rye."

"Hey," She said quietly, putting the towel she used on his bed, she walked over to him. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, Ross sent me some lyrics to a new song and I'm just trying to figure out the beat and the chords we could use behind it. Times like these, I wish Rocky was here. He's a genius with that shit."

Rydel smiled, "yeah, he really is. But so are you, I think you could do it, if you tried hard enough."

Ratliff studied her for a few moments, she didn't seem like she was upset or anything about the night before. She seemed like she was okay, actually. And though he knew they needed to talk about everything, he figured distracting her from her own head was something he could do too.

"Want to help me figure it out?"

Rydel's eyes widened slightly, "um, I'm not good at that. I normally just add in the keyboard when I have to, as you know since you've seen me do it a million times, I've never really done anything else, except maybe help write a song a few times."

"Well, then, Rye, today is your lucky day, because I am going to teach you how to do it. You deserve a chance to come up with the song too you know. You're just as much a part of the band as you and your keyboard."

Rydel blinked, "that didn't make sense."

"Rye, it's me. You know what I mean." Ratliff waved his hand in the air and she giggled. He grabbed her hand, being careful enough to make sure her wrist hadn't gotten caught and pulled her on to his lap. She sat down and then he turned the chair so that they were both facing his laptop.

After a while of Ratliff teaching her what to do and the two of them coming up with something that sounded good together, she leaned her back against him and sighed happily.

"You smell really good," Ratliff told her and she gave him a look, not even bothering to hide the smile that was on her face.

"You smell like you need a shower," She shot back.

"That because I do," Ratliff answered and then leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "Don't judge me though."

"I wouldn't even dream of it," She said as she put her hand on his cheek and pulled him towards her, kissing him gently. "But really," She pulled away, wrinkling her nose for effect, "you probably should go shower."

He rolled his eyes and was about to say something when his eye caught her wrist. He noted that she didn't even try to hide it anymore, though she still wore the millions of bracelets she always did. Maybe there was a reason for that, he realized. He kept eye contact with her as he gently put his hand on her wrist and took a few of the bracelets off. He then lightly ran his finger over the cuts and then lifted it to his mouth, kissing it.

Rydel watched him, mesmerized by everything that he was doing, her eyes filling with tears when he just kissed her wrist.

"I love you, Rye, okay?" Ratliff whispered, making eye contact with her again. "I don't want you to ever feel like you have to hide anything from me okay?" She bit her lip and nodded. "You don't have to tell me what's going on, but when you're ready, I'll be right here to listen. I promise."

She nodded again and then tearfully pulled him closer, kissing him deeply, her lips pressing against his gently for a few seconds, before she broke it and then hid her face in his shoulder, her arms wrapping around his waist.

"I love you too," She whispered. "And I promise, when I'm ready, I'll tell you."


"I don't understand what your brother's problem with me is," Mark was saying to Riker as they drove down the highway towards a diner, where Riker had agreed to meet Serena for the first time.

Riker had noticed the moment he got into the car, that something about his father was very, very off. Doubling with the fact that Ross had been so angry when he saw him and that Rydel hadn't even come home the night before and with the way she'd been acting, he knew something was definitely up.

"He's angry, dad, I don't know how else to say it." Riker told him. "I don't blame him really. After all, you did cheat on mom and then got the woman you cheated on her with pregnant, and you also announced you were getting married too, so…" He trailed off, then decided to see if he could get a reaction out of his father. "And if I remember correctly, because I was there and saw it, you slapped Ross because he stood up for himself and then we find out that you've been abusing Rydel. If I was Ross, and we all know how he's like, I'd probably be pissed at you too."

Mark clenched the steering wheel tighter and Riker had noticed it was when he mentioned Rydel's abuse.

"But you're not?" Mark asked him, not even making eye contact with him.

"I don't know, maybe, yeah. But I'm willing to give you a chance, because right now, no one gives a shit about you, and as harsh as that is, it's the truth." Riker answered, noticing his father's jaw clench. "Why do you think they're so pissed at you? And more importantly, why wouldn't Rydel even look at you when you told us you got Serena pregnant?"

"I don't—I don't know." Mark answered, "how would I know? She's a girl, she's hormonal and crazy."

"No, I don't think she's the crazy one," Riker commented, knowing he was getting himself into trouble. "And 'she's a girl' isn't a good enough excuse." He stared at his father and noticed he wasn't driving the car as straight as he was once before. "I think you know exactly, what's up."

"I don't, Riker, I wish I did, but I don't." Suddenly Mark was okay again, the car driving straighter and Riker sighed, annoyed.

"Stop lying! Okay? That's all you've done for the past two years. I know you know something and I do have the power to go to Rydel and ask her what's up and I'm more likely to believe her because she's done nothing but tell me the truth for the last few years of our lives. So, tell me what you know, now or I'm out."

It was tensely silent for a few moments and Riker suddenly wished he wasn't in the car with him. He knew what his father was like, if he'd been abusing two of his siblings for as long as he had, what's to say he wouldn't do it to Riker either? He put his hand in his pocket, ready to grab his phone and call one of his siblings if he had to, if anything were to happen.

Mark put his hand on Riker's thigh and that's when Riker realized something really fucked up was going on in his father's mind.

"Nothing happened, Riker, okay? I promise."

Riker still didn't believe him, but if it meant his father wouldn't touch him anymore, then he knew it was better to just agree.

"Okay," He finally managed to say, his voice hoarse. "Fine."

Mark removed his hand after a few moments and Riker moved away from him just slightly. All he wanted to do at that moment was go home, but knowing that if he even suggested the thought and that Mark would probably blow up on him, he kept it to himself.

Pulling out his phone, he brought up Ross' number and sent out a quick message, praying he didn't ignore it.


Laura slowly walked up to her old home, a bit nervous because she had decided on the way over that she was going to tell her mother she was pregnant. She still had a key, so he unlocked the front door, knowing her mother didn't mind at all, and stepped inside, softly shutting the door behind her.

"Mom?" She called throughout the house, "where are you? I know you're home because I saw your car parked in the driveway." She kept walking through the house, checking the places she knew her mother would be, but coming up empty handed.

She heard the sound of laughing at the moment and figured her mother was upstairs. She went up the stairs, slowly until she got to the top and just to do it, she opened the door to her old room, not expecting to see what she saw on the bed.

"Oh my god!" She quickly closed the door, her heart beating fast as she tried to get the image of her mother and some guy out of her mind. Her hands covered her face just as the door opened and her mother came out of it, looking just as shock as she felt.

"Laura? What are you doing here?"

"I came by to talk to you and oh my god! Why are you having sex with some dude in my bed? My like… ew!" Laura stepped a few feet away, the look of disgust still on her face. "I can't believe you would do that!"

"I'm sorry, Laura, this isn't how you were supposed to find out," Ellen apologized tightening the robe she wore around her waist more. "But since you're here and it's too late to change it—" The door opened behind her and Laura saw a very unfamiliar man standing behind her. "Laura I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, James. James, this is my younger daughter, Laura."

James smiled at her and held his hand out to shake hers, but Laura just shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm not shaking your hand." She apologized and then looked at her mother, "Why are you having sex in my room?"

"It's not your room anymore," Ellen reminded her, "you moved out, remember?"

"Don't you have a room? Like why is it so necessary to have sex in your younger daughter's room, the very same room I used to play with Barbies in!"

"Laura, don't freak out, okay?" Ellen tried to calm her down, but Laura just shook off her attempt to comfort her.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled at her and Ellen stepped back in shock.

"Laura!"

"Look, I know this is uncomfortable for you, but—"

Laura held her hand up, "it's only been like three months mom, how could you move on that quickly?" Her eyes were tear-filled as she looked at her mother.

"Laura, I wasn't with your father two months ago, he had a wife, remember? And it's been years since I've been with anyone as you know. I'm not doing anything I shouldn't be doing and if you can't handle it then—"

"I have to go," Laura interrupted her, turning to walk down the stairs. She wasn't ready for her mother to be in a relationship and thought she knew it was very bratty and selfish of her, she couldn't help it. She was used to her mother being single and happy with just her and Vanessa. Now it was all changing and she wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"Laura, talk to me, right now." Ellen ordered, going after her. Laura paused at the doorway, only to see James at the top of the stairs. She looked at him and then back at her mother.

"Have fun fucking your boyfriend in my room, which to me is so sick by the way. I have to go run some errands. Nice visit though, as always, mom." She stepped outside the door when she remembered the whole reason why she was there in the first place. "Oh and mom? I came by to tell you something, I'm pregnant. Yeah, so… have a great rest of your day." And with that, Laura left the house, slamming the front door hard behind her not caring in the least that she probably just humiliated and pissed off her mother all in one second.


"Alright, Ross, take a break. That's good enough for now. We'll be back in twenty minutes or so."

Ross nodded at Kevin and just then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

He pulled it out, to see he had a few messages from Riker, which normally he would've ignored, but seeing as there were a little over five of them, he knew something was up and opened them to read each one.

Dude, something's up with dad. He's hiding something I can see it. He just touched me and gave me a very weird smile, so, I think you're right about this. Come over later, so we can talk.

I really don't want to be alone with him right now. Fuck dude.

And a few more mentioning how uncomfortable he was with him. Ross shook his head and then making a quick decision, pressed call and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" It sounded busy in the background of wherever Riker was.

"Hey," Ross said, "I uh, got your messages."

"Oh thank god, dude. Seriously, there's something weird going on and… I think we need to get to the bottom of it. He's hiding something."

Ross already knew what it was, but since it wasn't in his place to tell his brother what was going on, he just decided to ask him why he figured that out.

"Because whenever I mentioned Rydel's name, he'd tense up and act all strange about it. As far as I know, he just hit her right, so… why would he be so on edge about all of that?"

"I don't know…" Ross trailed off. "We'd have to talk to Rydel. She's the only other person who'd know."

"Yeah." Riker agreed and it was silent, with the exception of Riker's busy background.

"Where are you anyway?"

"I'm at a sketchy diner about an hour away from LA," Riker answered and Ross sighed, knowing that the good brother inside of him had to come out.

"Stay there, I'll come pick you up okay?" Ross finally said and Riker didn't say anything for a few moments. "If you're that uncomfortable with dad then I'm going to get you, just… try to stay out of trouble with him okay? You know what he's capable of."

"Yeah, okay. Will do." Riker agreed and Ross nodded, hanging up the phone. He wondered if Kevin would let him leave early if he said there was a family emergency, which was really the truth.

He stood up and walked of the sound booth and over to where Kevin was.

"Hey, Kevin? I know this is a lot to ask since we've got a tight deadline here with the songs, but I've got a family emergency, is it okay if I leave a little early?"

Kevin looked at him in concern, "is everything okay?"

"I…I honestly don't know, but I have to leave to figure that out."

Kevin nodded, seeing the distress on his face, "Laura's okay?"

"Yeah, Laura's fine."

"Okay, go ahead, I'll see what I can do about the deadline. And see you and Laura here on Monday."

"Yeah, you will. Thank you." Ross gave him a grateful smile which then flashed back to worry and with that he was off, sending a quick message to the one person (other than Laura) he knew would keep him sane and calm during the short road trip.


"You are so lucky I'm not working today."

Ross nodded as his friend got into the car, buckling her seatbelt before she turned to face him.

"So, what are we doing? And why isn't Laura doing this with you?"

"She's pregnant," He explained as he pulled away from the curb. "I really don't want to cause her or the baby more stress than I have to."

Maia turned to face him, giving him a soft smile, "that's actually pretty sweet of you."

"Yeah, well, I try. I'm going to warn you though, it's going to probably get a little crazy because I'm not exactly on speaking terms with my father and Riker either, but since Riker's my brother and didn't really do anything wrong, I'm letting my anger towards him go for now."

"How noble of you," Maia sighed, leaning back in her seat. "You sure Laura will be okay with this?"

"You're one of her best friends, she's cool." Ross gave her a look that told her not to worry. "I just really need a friend right now and you were pretty much the one person I figured I could go to for this, so…yeah."

"And Calum?"

"Yeah, but he told me the other day he was going back to Canada to see his mother for the weekend, so he was out."

Maia nodded, "alright, well… let's try and get your mind off of this… whatever it is."

Ross nodded and reached over to turn up the radio. To his surprise, it was the both of them singing.

"Why on earth do you have the Teen Beach Movie soundtrack?" Maia demanded.

Ross' cheeks turned pink and he quickly turned it down, "Laura loves it and she forced me to listen to it against my will. I also have Austin and Ally here too."

"Of course you do." Maia laughed, "well, don't turn it down! Let's just sing it, for fun."

"Yeah," Ross rolled his eyes, giving her a look, "just for fun."

"Trust me, it will be," Maia assured him and with that, turned it up, singing along and urging Ross to do the same.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this," He muttered and with that began singing along with her, both of them laughing as memories of filming the dance numbers for these songs flooded their brains.


Laura opened the door to the apartment, slamming the door behind her, just as her phone went off with a text. She opened it to see it was Ross.

Hey babe, I went to go get Riker… long story, but uh, Maia's with me. I'm going to see if I can get Ratliff and Rydel over to our apartment, because we all need to talk. I just wanted to let you know.

Laura furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.

If you're driving, probably not the best idea. If Maia can't reach them, I'll be happy to go over to Ratliff's or your mom's and see if I can get her to come over if she's ignoring you or something. She texted back and Ross responded almost instantly.

Alright, thanks. Love you.

She had to smile at that, since it made her smile every time he said it.

Love you too.

She decided since she had a few minutes to herself, she was going to take a shower and try to get the image of her mother having sex out of her mind. Taking a shower, as she remembered, also helped to calm her and get rid of anger as well, because she sure was feeling a lot of it.


Rocky walked into the house, throwing his keys on the table by the front door and went into the living room where he found Rydel and Ratliff were, sitting and watching a movie.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Not much," Ratliff answered, reaching over to pound Rocky's fist. "Where have you been?"

Rocky shrugged nonchalantly, "I was with Vanessa… just chillin'."

"Oh, and?" Rydel asked, looking sort of amused. She smirked a bit at the blush that came on Rocky's cheeks.

"She's pretty fucking awesome, what else do you want me to say?"Rocky responded.

"It's okay dude," Ratliff said, "it's cool to admit you have a crush on a certain Marano sister, Ross did it. It turned out pretty well for him. It's cool if you do too."

Rocky gave him a look, "I dont have a crush on Vanessa. We're just really good friends."

"That's what Ross and Laura said too, at first, remember?" Ratliff shot back. "What's the worse that could happen anyway?"

"I'm not going to think about that," Rocky answered and looked around. "What are you guys up to?"

"We just got home like ten minutes before you," Rydel answered. Her phone went off and she reached over to the table to get it. "Looks like we have to leave again." She sighed.

"Why?" Ratliff asked, as she showed him her text.

"Laura wants us to come over…" She trailed off, looking up at Rocky, "all of us."

"I wonder why," Rocky looked stumped, "but okay, we should probably go over there."

"Uh yeah…" Rydel looked distracted for a moment and then sat up. "Yeah let's go."

"Are you okay?" Rocky asked and she slowly nodded her head.

"I'm fine, let's just go." She said and both Rocky and Ratliff exchanged a look before getting up and leaving with her.


"Okay, I think you have to… yeah, pull in here, that's totally fine too." Maia sighed as Ross pulled his car into a parking spot. He looked at her and then quickly got out of the car. She followed him, closely as he stepped into the dinner and looked around.

Riker, at the moment, heard the bell and looked up, relieved to find his brother standing at the entrance, Maia beside him. He looked confused by that, but instead interrupted his father mid-sentence and stood up to greet Ros.

"Hey," He said as soon as he reached him.

Ross gave him a nod, "hey, ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah…" Riker looked back at his father, "let's just go, I don't want to be near him right now."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Maia agreed and Ross nodded again, turning to open the door. Just as he did though, a hand on his shoulder stopped him and he slowly turned to see Mark was behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mark asked, "crashing a private lunch."

"How is this even private?" Ross demanded, "you're in a public place." He threw his hands up, annoyed and glared at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." He tried to leave again, but Mark grabbed his wrist, he quickly pushed him off, causing him to stumble against the stools at the counter.

"Oh my god, Mark!" Ross heard and tore his eyes away from his father to see Serena run up to him and help him up.

"Ross," Mark's tone was cold, "you and I need to talk."

Ross shook his head and stepped closer to him, "you and I don't need to do shit. You should just be lucky I didn't punch your fucking face in."

Serena's mouth dropped open at Ross' words.

"Leave us alone. I mean it." Ross told him, his tone cold and dark. "No one gives a shit about you. Not me, not mom, not Ryland, not Rocky and most definitely not Rydel. We want nothing to do with you, don't you get that?"

"Ross you can't speak to your father like that!" Serena was so shocked, but she still tried to play the parent role.

"Be a parent to your child, not to me." Ross told her, his tone respectful and softer. "I have a mother, you don't need to be it."

Serena didn't respond.

"But you," Ross turned back to Mark, "just be lucky your ass isn't in jail."

Mark's eyes widened as he realized that Ross now knew what he tried so hard to hide. He could see it in his face. He quickly turned to Riker, "you're not mad at me are you?"

Riker paused, looking at his father, Serena, Maia and then Ross. He then took a deep breath and slowly backed away from him.

"I'm with Ross now. Put me on the list of people who want nothing to do with you."

Ross turned to Riker, giving him a look of gratitude.

"Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go," Riker told him and motioned for Ross and Maia to follow him.

"You're not leaving that easily," Mark said and grabbed Ross' shoulder, he forced him to turn around, his hand raised to punch him, but before it could hit Ross, a hand stopped him. Mark looked surprised to see it was Riker.

"Touch Ross, Rydel or any of us again, I will call the police myself and have you arrested and put you in jail to fucking rot. Stay away." Riker's tone was dark and he glared at him. Then he shoved him away, just as a waitress came up to them.

"Excuse me, is there a problem here?" She asked.

"No," Ross answered, "we were just leaving."

And with that, he turned around, successfully leaving, Maia and Riker behind him.

Once they were outside, Maia quickly ran up to Ross and hugged him close. He was startled, but soon hugged her back.

"What was that for?" Ross asked when she broke the hug and stepped away from him, careful not to cross over any boundaries.

She shrugged, exchanging a look with Riker.

"You just looked like you needed it."


Laura was staring blankly at the wall, still angry over what she'd found at her mother's house, when the ringing of her phone broke her from her thoughts. She picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Laura, we're here." Rocky said and she nodded, getting up she walked over to the kitchen and pressed a button.

"It's open, come on up."

Rocky hung up and it was about a minute before she heard a knock on her door and opened it to reveal Rocky, Rydel and Ratliff.

"So, what are we doing here?" Rydel asked and Laura shrugged.

"Ross asked me to ask you to come over, he texted me not too long ago, he'll be back soon."

Rydel rolled her eyes, "in that case, I think I should leave." She turned around to go, but Laura's gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked from her shoulder to Laura's face.

"You can't hide from it forever," Laura whispered. "He just wants to help you."

Rydel shook her head, her eyes filling with tears suddenly, "I can't be helped Laura, I don't understand why nobody understands that."

"Yes you can," Laura responded, gently moving her hand to Rydel's. She gently squeezed it. "What you went through, I can't imagine, but… as long as you have the support and the help you need, things will be okay. Trust me."

Rydel wiped a tear that had fallen from her eye and slowly nodded her head. "Okay," She whispered and with that, Laura gave her a gentle smile and led her over to the couch where the boys were in the middle of a conversation.

"You okay, Rye?" Ratliff asked, noticing the tears in her eyes. She nodded her head and sat down beside him, her head on his shoulder. He hugged her and then Laura spoke again.

"Do you guys want any water or anything?"

Rocky, Ratliff and Rydel shook their heads in response and Laura nodded, sitting down beside them, all four of them lost in thought until the door opened a few minutes later and Ross walked through it, Riker and Maia behind him.

Laura quickly stood and walked over to him, giving him a hug as he hugged her back. He rubbed her back for a moment and then they broke the hug.

"Riker," Laura said and smiled at him, "glad to see you're here."

"Yeah, same." Riker smiled back and then walked to where Rydel was, her head still on Ratliff's shoulder. She lifted it then and looked at her older brother. "I need to talk to you."

Rydel motioned for him to go on, silently with a nod of her head.

"But first, I want to apologize to everyone for not believe you and for taking dad's side. That… was pretty fucked up and I can't take back anything that I said to you Ross, meaning the other night and what I said after dad told us about the marriage and the pregnancy." Rydel nodded and everyone else just silently stayed where they were. "Dad's… he's pretty messed up and I noticed that every time I brought you up, Rydel, he tensed. Like, squeeze the shit out of the steering wheel tense. Do you know anything about that?"

Rydel didn't answer for a moment, looking at Ross, who just gave her an encouraging nod, silently telling her that it was her decision to tell everyone what she'd been hiding for so long or not.

Riker put his hand on Rydel's knee, in a comforting, brotherly gesture and she looked at him, "I know he abused you for as long as he did, but is there anything else he might've done?"

"Yeah," Rydel's voice cracked, "he used to um… touch me," She finally said, her voice breaking as she spoke. She lifted a shoulder in a short of shrug, "he made me feel dirty and he made me hate myself." Rydel paused, looking down a moment before she looked back up again; noticing the looks on everyone but Ross and Laura's faces a she spoke. "He would make it so uncomfortable to be in the same room with him, because even when we were all together, he'd find a way to do something and.. I couldn't stop it." She felt the tears stream down her cheeks. "I didn't know how to and I was just so, so scared." She put her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she started crying.

Riker was staring hard at her for a moment, silent, his mouth set in a thin line, before he got up and angrily kicked the coffee table.

"Fucking bastard," He whispered harshly. "I can't believe he would do that."

"Well, he did it. And at this point if you don't believe me then I have nothing more to say to you," Rydel was suddenly up on her feet as well, looking at Riker with an emotion he couldn't recognize. "He'd deny it, over and over, but I wouldn't. I know it happened, I was there."

"No, Rydel, I believe you, a hundred percent." Riker quickly hugged her. "I wont let him near you again."

"Yeah, that fuckhead deserves to rot in jail." Rocky added as Ross nodded agreeing with him.

"We're not going to let him get away with this," Ross assured her, going over to her and Riker, she slowly lifted her head and looked at him. "He hit me, yeah, but he sexually abused you. That's not okay, I don't give a shit who he is. He's your father, father's aren't supposed to treat their children like that."

Rocky agreed, wrapping his arms around her, "we're going to fight him, and we're going to make sure he stays away." He locked eyes with Ross and Riker, "from all of us."

"And we'll help," Maia added, motioning between herself, Ratliff and Laura. "We'll get whoever we have to, to help out, but I have a question and it's probably the most important one."

Rydel nodded, turning to her.

"Do you want to press charges?" She asked.

Rydel paused, looking at everyone in the room for one second each, her eyes moving around until she landed on her boyfriend. He got up and walked over to her, putting his arm around her in a comforting gesture.

That was all the encouragement she needed.

"I want that fucker in jail." She finally said.

"Good," Riker spoke confidently and she turned to him. "Then we'll take that bastard down and expose him for who he is. And then we'll make sure he's behind bars… forever."

And in that moment, every single person in the room felt a closeness they hadn't felt in a long time.

"We're unstoppable, remember?" Ross said and everyone smiled. "Together, we can do anything."

"Including quote the Cheetah Girls, apparently," Rocky commented and Ross rolled his eyes.

"We got your back, Rydel." Laura assured her.

"No one deserves to go through that," Ratliff whispered, hugging her tight, "no one," He whispered into her hair and all Rydel could do was close her eyes and hold him even tighter. "I love you," He whispered.

"I love you more," She whispered back and for the first time in a long time, she finally felt safe.


So anybody meet think that Kristoff and Anna were based off Laura and Ross? I didnt see Austin and Ally in them, I saw Ross and Laura. But yeah, that could just be me. Frozen is a great film and I think y'all should see it!