hey, hey! Surprise :) I know it's been forever and a day, but I've just been so busy (I've barely even been on twitter).

Anyways, I met a little boy in foster care that my aunt is fostering and I bonded with him very well. I was in foster care myself, so yeah. Anyway, I got the news the other day that my family is going to adopt him! :) he's happy because he's getting a forever family. With an older brother and sister. He loves them and grew attached to them, so I'm happy their adopting him.

A secret about Rydel comes out. (I know, I know, so many secrets, but their important to the story line I outlined ages ago).

Enjoy.


The front door slammed and Laura looked up from her homework to see a very pissed off Ross.

"Ross? What-"

"I'm done, I'm so fucking done." He said, storming passed her and into their room. She followed him and watched him pace back and forth, his fingers in his hair, before he took a deep breath. She waited a few moments for him to calm down and then took his hand. She sat down on the bed with him and gently rubbed it.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Rydel, she and I got into a fight and she's.. she-" He shook his head, taking a deep breath. "I get she's upset about finding out she was adopted but she can't just act like it's the end of the fucking world."

"Ross," Laura said his name in a way that made it seem like she wasn't going to take his shit. He looked at her, "you need to go easy on her."

"Why?" He almost yelled. "She's fucking her life up!"

She wasn't sure why he said that, but still, she chose to ignore it for the time being. "Remember when I found out my dad was alive and at first he was such a douche to me, but then I heard he was sick and he was hospitalized?"

He nodded.

"Did you give up on me then?"

He shook his head.

"And if you remember, we fought like crazy."

He nodded again.

"Rydel is your sister, you two are the closest siblings I have ever met in my life. Don't give up on her. Help her. Be there for her. That's what she needs right now." Laura rubbed his back as he put his head in his hands and shook it.

He remembered how high she was when he saw her that afternoon and realized that Laura had a point. He couldn't turn his back on his sister. She needed him, especially now.

He nodded, "you're right." He said quietly.

Laura put her head on his shoulder. "Take some time to rest, but later, try and call her or go and visit her. Don't make her feel like she's alone."

He nodded again and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Thanks, for you know, being here."

She smiled, "you're welcome."

"Um, random question, where is Charlie?"

"Oh, you didn't hear did you? He and Ryland are like BFFs now, he's with him at some skate park or movie. I forget." Laura responded.

"Baby brain?" Ross asked and Laura nodded, pouting adorably.

"It's driving me crazy!"

Ross laughed. "It won't last long, hopefully."

"Yeah, hopefully." She pouted more.

He just laughed again and kissed her.

"You'll be fine."

"For your sake, I hope so."


Rydel sat by herself in her room, Rocky and Riker had left about five minutes after Ross did and Ellington stayed around until he got a phone call from his mother about something happening with his family. He didn't really say much about it and left, without a word.

Which meant that he was pissed off with her too.

Meanwhile, Rydel was left by herself to think. She thought about Ross and their relationship and hoped that it wasn't over. Then, she thought about Ellington and wondered the same thing. But after a few minutes of thinking about those two things, she thought about her father and whether or not she wanted to meet him.

After about an hour of thinking about it, she realized, she wasn't ready to.

And after that, she realized that no matter what happened in her life, the abuse, finding about her birth father (that she even had one), and the cheating bullshit with her father and mother, she realized that her mother, was always there for her. She never left her side.

And as pissed off as she was with her, she realized that her mother was the best person she knew. That wasn't ever going to change.

Tears came to her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling and thought for another few moments. She was a songwriter, a deep thinker, and creative as hell. Even when she was super high, she knew that.

Getting up, she went over to her desk, and pulled out a notebook. Opening it too a new, blank page, she grabbed a hot pink pen and then, she began to write.

As upset as everyone was with her, she knew she could make it right. And instead of turning to drugs, she was going to try something different.

At least that was a step forward and not backwards.


Rocky sat out in front of the house, playing his guitar as he came up with a tune for a new song. He had his songbook right beside him as he stopped and wrote some things down and then wrote some more.

"Rocky."

He looked up from his guitar, taken out of his zone, to see his father was standing in front of him. He glared at him.

"What do you want?"

"To talk," Mark said, as he moved to sit down beside him. Rocky just moved his guitar out of the way and scooted over so there was a significant amount of space in between them.

"Talk about what? I hate you. What part of that don't you get?"

"I do get that, but I know that you and I have always been the closest, with the hockey and movies and everything else." Mark pointed out.

Rocky just nodded, realizing he had a point, as annoying as it was.

"I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"I did a lot of thinking in that cell-"

"Sure about that?" Rocky interrupted, "because when I came to visit, you acted like you didn't give a shit."

"I didn't." Mark told him, "but after, I began to think. I know I made some mistakes-"

"You act like they were little mistakes!" Rocky interrupted again, "you cheated on my mother, you hit my brother, you sexually abused my sister. How the fuck am I supposed to get over that and just forgive and forget? Are you fucking crazy?"

"I understand you're upset, but you have to understand that-"

"No. There's no excuse. You can't get yourself out of this one," Rocky said. "I don't give a shit what you're going to tell me. I want nothing to do with you."

"There's a reason why I had my lawyer call you and nobody else," Mark said quietly.

Rocky didn't say anything.

"I'm on parole, yes, but if Rydel or Ross testifies against me, that's it, I'm going to jail. I need them to back off."

"Wow, dude, you're even more fucked up and twisted than I thought," Rocky began to clean up his songbook and guitar mess and stood up.

"I need you to talk to them."

"Fuck that." Rocky answered, "I support them. I'm on their side, not yours. No matter how much they piss me off I will never not be on their side. So, nice try."

"I heard the fight," Mark said, "Rydel came home high and they both admitted that they had done drugs before. Did you know that until about an hour ago?" Rocky shook his head. "We'll, I did. And I agreed to keep it a secret."

"What?"

"While we were on the Loud Tour, they snuck off. Ross going through one of his mood swings and Rydel feeling shitty because of her knee injury from dancing. They made some friends and they came back high as kites and with a baggy. I heard Ross whisper something to her and hide it in his pocket. Then, during… I would say three of the sound checks, they hadn't shown up until about halfway through them, remember?" Rocky nodded, "they were doing the drugs. They somehow got more and kept it going until something happened and they both decided it was in their best interests to stop."

"And you know this how?"

"They told me about it. They broke down in front of me and admitted to what they did."

"Okay, great, but what does that have to do with-"

"Rydel was high when she and I were alone, she imagined everything that happened." Mark cut him off.

"What?" Rocky yelled, "that's the biggest loud of bullshit I've ever heard!"

"Is it? When you're on drugs, you hallucinate. I'm innocent. With her anyways, with your mother and Ross, I'm not, but with her I am."

"And so what, you're telling me that treating her like shit even from when she was a child, that's made up too?"

Mark nodded. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"You admitted to it." Rocky pointed out. "You can't just back way from that. You're fucking joking if you think that."

"She's crazy, Rocky. When are you and the others going to see that?" Mark asked and Rocky just stared at him, his words causing chills. After a few moments he just shook his head.

"No, you're wrong and you're sick. You're the crazy one." Rocky turned and with that, opened the front door.

"You're going to come back to me and tell me I'm right. Mark my words."

Rocky just ignored him and went inside the house, leaning against the door, he stared at the ground for a few seconds before getting off and walking into his room.


Ellington had closed his eyes for a total of about five minutes, when his phone went off. He opened them and leaned over to grab his phone, reading the message from his girlfriend.

I did something. Something good. I think.

He was immediately curious, so he quickly responded back.

Like what?

I wrote a letter to my father.

That piqued his interest even more, so he sat up, wide awake now and stared at his phone.

He must have taken a little too much time to respond because soon, he had another message.

I want you to read it before I send it.

He was down with that. Anything to help her.

Okay, I'm on my way.

He got out of bed, put his shoes on, grabbed his jacket and shouted out to his parents that he was going to Rydel's. He then opened the door and after closing and locking it, stopped short.

"Kelly?"

The dark haired girl looked up at him. She sheepishly waved at him. "Hi, Ellington."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came by, to see you." She said and that was when Ellington noticed the tears in her eyes.

"What happened?" He asked gently.

"I um, I.." She looked down at her hands, which he noticed were shaking, then back up at him. "I can't talk about it."

"But why-"

"You were my best friend. Probably still are. I lost that and right now, I need you." She said, her voice breaking.

He couldn't just turn her down. So, he nodded. "Okay, um, okay. I'll uh… just give me a second."

She nodded and he took out his phone, he sent a quick text to Rydel, 'something came up. I'll come by later and read your letter, that okay?'

He knew she was probably dying to know what happened, but the text he got back assured him that everything was okay, at least for the time being.

Okay.

He really hoped nothing happened with her in the amount of time it took to help Kelly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them and turned to face Kelly again.

"Alright, come in." He said.


Rydel tapped her fingers on the counter in the kitchen. She watched as Riker helped himself to some of the macaroni she had just cooked. He walked over to her and sat down beside her.

"Sup?"

"You're welcome. I just made that," She said and he looked down at his food, then back at her.

"Thanks." He paused. "Sup?" He asked again.

"Nothing. Ellington was supposed to come over, but now he isn't so I'm just… sitting here, I guess." Rydel sighed, putting her hand on her chin. She looked at him. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

"Huh?" He asked through a mouthful of macaroni. "Ow, shit. That's hot." Rydel fought the strong urge to roll her eyes.

"Why aren't you mad at me?" She repeated. "Everyone else is."

"Remind me again, why I would be mad at you," Riker said as he took a sip of the ice cold water that was in front of him.

"Because of what happened with Ross…" She trailed off. "You're really not mad?"

He shrugged, "we all make mistakes."

"But you-you're the one that gets mad so much more often and so much more easily than everyone else." She pointed out. "No offense." She added. She thought about it for a moment, "well, Ross is worse, but still, you see my point." Riker nodded.

"Look, whatever happened with you and Ross all that time ago, with the drugs. It happened. We can't change that. Apparently he's moved on, but you haven't or you did and you relapsed, whatever. You're going through a tough time right now with finding out that the man you thought was your father wasn't really your father. I get it. So, instead of giving you a hard time, I chose to be on your side." He put his hand on her shoulder, she looked at it and then at him, "I'm here for you, Rydel. Whenever you need me." He gave her a small smile. "Remember what you told me when I broke down about what a shitty brother I have been?"

She nodded her head, smiling a bit, "yeah, that you once told someone you couldn't be there best friend because I was your best friend."

Riker nodded, "exactly. That's not changing. No matter how much we piss each other off."

Her smile dropped, "even now, knowing that I'm only half related to you?"

Riker shook his head, "it doesn't change anything. We grew up together, Rydel. As far as I'm concerned, you are my sister. Not half. Full. I don't give a shit about that adoption crap. Yeah it's a part of our lives, but still, it doesn't mean that it changes anything or makes you less of a member of this family."

"Wow, Riker. Thanks." She smiled, "I feel a lot better."

He smiled at her, "there it is, your famous Rydel Smile." He grinned. "Glad I could help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get more of this amazing and addictive macaroni."

Rydel laughed, "you do that. I'm gonna go to Ellington's and see if he's okay. He's not answering any of my messages."

Riker nodded, "alright, have fun."


"UNO! I win!" Ross cheered as he put down his last card. He looked up at Laura, Ryland and Charlie. "What up?"

"Okay, Barney." Ryland rolled his eyes. "You may have one this round, but next, your ass is mine."

Charlie leaned over to Laura, "are they always this competitive?"

Laura nodded, "you have no idea. Ross is the most competitive person I've ever met. He hates losing." She blinked, "and coming in second place."

"Heard that!" Ross said and Laura laughed.

"Thanks for letting us come over, the tension was crazy thick back at mom's," Ryland said as he put another card down. "Rydel still isn't speaking to mom."

"She's not?" Ross asked him.

Ryland shook his head, "it's like they're at war. Rydel won't even look at her when they're in the same room together."

Ross shrugged, "sucks for them, I guess."

His voice was so unemotional. It worried Laura a bit, especially after he had promised he wouldn't give up on Rydel not even an hour ago. She wondered what was up with him.

"Uno!" Ryland pumped his fist in the air. Ross laughed and Laura rolled her eyes, amused. Charlie, meanwhile, was quiet and deep and thought. He put down another card and Ryland glared at him. "Damn you, Charlie. Damn you." He drew four cards and Ross just laughed again.

"Hey, maybe you should give your sister a break," Charlie finally spoke up. Everyone looked at him. "I mean, I'm adopted. I just met my older sister like a few months ago. I kinda see why she's pissed, considering she never knew about it before, but when I found out I had a sister I didn't know about, I was pissed too. I got over it. I decided to have a relationship with her and now we're pretty close. The same thing will happen to her eventually." He shrugged and put down another card. "Just don't be so hard on her."

Laura looked at Ross, amazing that Charlie had spoken up about his adoption. He wasn't one to speak up about his past often, but Laura had to give him props, "he's right, you know."

Ryland nodded, "yeah it must be tough on her finding out her father is another guy she's never even met before."

Now it was Ross' turn to be silent.

"Ross?" Laura said his name softly and Ryland looked up at him. She felt a sharp pain in her side, but ignored it, focusing on her fiancé.

Ross just shook his head, "you guys almost done? This game is taking forever."

And everyone knew that it was a clear attempt at changing the subject to avoid talking about what was on his mind. He always did that and was in fact, very well known for it. Ryland sighed and Laura nodded.

"Almost done." Charlie said and with that, they continued to play the game.


Rocky paced back and forth in his bedroom, thinking over everything that Mark had said and wondered if it was at all, true. He was more inclined to take his sister's side since she had never lied to him before and he trusted her the most. But what Mark had said did make sense. Since it had just come out about Rydel's (and Ross' for that matter) little drug habit three years before and then seeing how she had been acting the last few weeks since finding out about her adoption, it made sense. Maybe Mark was telling the truth after all. Maybe she had been on drugs and had hallucinated everything. Maybe none of it was true after all.

But maybe, what Mark was saying was a lie. He had admitted to the abuse before and he had watched him hit Ross. On top of that, he also cheated on his mother a few times it seemed, so how could he really know he was telling the truth?

"Something on your mind?"

He looked up, breaking away from his thoughts to see Riker was leaning against the door to their shared room, curiously looking at him.

"Um, kind of… yeah." Rocky admitted.

Riker nodded and then walked into the room, he closed the door, knowing that Rocky probably wanted to talk to him about something that he didn't want anyone else to overhear, and then sat down on his bed. "Sup?"

"I saw da-uh, Mark today," Rocky began, "he uh, he came by while I was outside writing a song."

"What did he stop by for?"

Rocky shrugged, "not sure to be honest. But he said he wanted to talk to me because he and I have always been so close and shit, which is weird when I think about it because I thought you were closer to him, but anyways, he told me something kind of fucked up but also kind of interesting and it also makes me want to punch him in the face."

It was silent for about two minutes.

Then, "so what did he tell you?" Riker asked, finally breaking the silence.

"He told me he wants Rydel and Ross to back off and not testify against them. If they do, then he goes to jail." Rocky answered, looking at him. Then he watched as Riker's face suddenly turned a bit redder than before and he stood up, angry.

"What the hell?" Riker snapped, "why would he even dream up the idea that that's a possibility? He belongs in jail!" He was almost yelling and Rocky just let him, silent again. "He's so fucked up, like what the fuck? Why does he not think he doesn't deserve to be in jail? I don't fucking get it!" He was basically repeating himself and that was something, Rocky knew, that he only did when he was super pissed off. But he also knew that if he didn't tell Riker the whole story of what had happened between him and Mark, then it would only get worse.

He sighed, "that's not all he said."

Riker's head snapped towards his, "what else?" His tone was almost demanding and Rocky didn't like it, but he knew that it wasn't brought up by him, but by their father, so he let it slide.

"He says that Rydel hallucinated the abuse." He finally said, tearing his eyes away from a new super, super angry Riker.

"WHAT?" He exploded. "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?"

Rocky nodded, "she and Ross had snuck off during the Loud tour as we both know is true since we both saw them do that a lot back then, and he says that one night when they came back, they were really high. He says they brought a baggy with them and do you remember, you were on their asses for being late for three soundchecks in a row?" Riker nodded, his hands on his sides as he just stared at him, "well, it was because they were doing the drugs, then one day, it stopped. He had overheard them talk about how it was best to just stop and probably around that time was when Ross really started taking his medication seriously, so he did it for that, but according to Mark, Rydel hadn't completely stopped."

Riker just took in his words for a moment, "so what, is he saying that Rydel had been on drugs all this time and none of us knew it?"

Rocky shrugged, "I don't know. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense, she's always happy and smiley and giggly-well, she was a lot more back then and-" He stopped speaking suddenly, hit with a realization.

"Rocky?" Riker's tone was a bit less hostile as he looked at his brother, who's face had gone pale all of a sudden.

And Rocky, just realized how much he would be on his sister's side, no matter what.

"He's a fucking liar." Rocky said, blinking he looked at Riker. "I was torn between what to believe, I'll be honest because it makes sense what he said, but he-he's a fucking liar."

"Well, yeah, but continue." Riker said, dropping his hands by his sides.

"Rydel, she said that he had abused her when we were kids, because she would do something like tape over something of his or just by her being in his presence it even pissed him off. She was always laughing and smiling to cover something up and I'm about fifty bazillion percent sure she wasn't on drugs then, unless he forced her to take them to make it seem like it was all a hallucination." Rocky looked up at him. Riker's jaw was set hard and he looked like he was about to punch something. "Do you think it went that far?"

"We don't know how far it went," Riker spoke, his tone low and cold. "She probably blocked it out and whatever he says is going to be a lie anyways but-" And now it was his turn to have a realization. His eyes blinked and widened, "dude, I remember, back then, mom was saying how Rydel was on some kind of medication to help her with her moods and her attention. She-she was on medication back then."

"Was she?" Rocky didn't remember.

Riker nodded, "yeah, remember when we were in school and she kept getting distracted and wouldn't sit still or pay attention? She would move from one thing to another super quick. She couldn't focus to save her life. That was why dancing was so beneficial for her, because it kept her focused. She even had to stop playing the piano because it caused so much problems for her. She wasn't able to remember the notes, she couldn't even remember how to play certain songs and-" He ran his fingers through his hair. "Mom tried to hide it, but I caught it one morning when I came down earlier than I should have for some water and she was giving it to her. I don't remember what it was though."

They just looked at each other and then at the same time, they both threw open the door and yelled, "mom!" Running to her room, they found her, reading over some band stuff and probably looking up outfits for them to wear even though there wasn't news of a tour happening anytime soon.

"Riker? Rocky?" She asked, looking at them, confused.

"We're trying to figure something out," Rocky told her. "Help us out?"

She nodded, "of course, what is it?"

"What was the medication Rydel was on when we were kids? Remember when we were all homeschooled?" Riker asked. "I caught you giving it to her one time, but I don't remember what it was."

Stormie sighed, knowing that she would have to talk to her kids about this sooner or later. She patted her bed and they both sat down, looking at her.

"Do you want a background or just a jump to the end result?"

"Background." Riker said at the same time Rocky said, "end result." They just looked at each other and Riker sighed.

"Just give us the whole story."

"Okay, well, back when you were kids, we, meaning your father and I, noticed how… hyperactive Rydel was. She kept talking a lot, went from one thing to another very quickly, couldn't sit still and was basically causing a lot of problems in the classrooms. So, we took her to a psychologist who did some testing and diagnosed her with ADHD. It was obvious and in basically in our faces. It made sense to me, but to your father, not so much. He just thought she was being a normal child, but once we had the diagnoses in our faces, it really made sense. Anyway, he didn't want you guys to find out, so he basically forced me to keep it a secret-"

"Fucking dick," Rocky muttered. Riker nodded as Stormie continued.

"Anyway, one morning, Riker, you caught me giving her the medication and it worked, for a while. But it could only last so long. Your father, he decided he wanted her off of it and I suggested she start dance classes with you guys. He had said no, thinking about how she would just distract everyone and wouldn't actually get anything out of it. Well, as you guys know, she obviously did. It kept her focused and helped her remember a lot and be less hyperactive because she took it all out in dance class. But one day, I noticed that she was almost zombie like. I didn't think anything of it, thinking she was just tired, but now, since the news coming out of your father abusing her, it began to make sense. It was probably when it all started. Because I took her to dance class against his wishes, he probably started the abuse around then, I would say."

"So, he abused her when she was fucking five years old?" Riker asked and Stormie shook her head.

"I don't know when it started, I'm just estimating it to be around then. But, another thing, I noticed, was that her bottle full of medication kept filling up more and more and one day, she said to me, 'mommy, I don't like how I feel right now.' But I didn't know how to help her. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong or what was going on in her head. Until I finally found out that your father had secretly been giving her medication and had made the dosage higher than it needed to be which then caused her to act differently and feel funny when she as coming down from it."

"What happened when you confronted dad?" Rocky asked, sharing a look with Riker.

"He denied it, of course, until I pointed it out to him. We got into a huge fight one night, I'm not sure where you guys were, probably a dance class at night and then, that was when Riker told us he wanted to move to LA when he was eighteen and why I decided that we should all go together, just for a trial period when you were kids and then permanently when you guys got a little older."

"That was why dad was so absent during the first few months we moved out here," Riker said, nodding his head and understanding.

"Yeah, we were fighting pretty badly around then. And it just kept getting worse, especially when Ross and I went behind his back and auditioned for Austin & Ally. That was around when his problems with Ross started as well, I guess." Riker nodded and Rocky was silent, deep in thought. "Rocky?" Stormie said, her tone quiet.

"So, I was right." Rocky looked up at Riker, "dad did force her to take drugs."

Stormie nodded, "in a sense yes. But he always had a resentment for her, because he had adopted her."

"That would make someone happy, I would think," Riker muttered.

"Yes, but not for your father, because we were still married and I had her with a different man," Stormie said, "it was rough."

"That is so fucked… up." Rocky's tone louder as he stood up. "No wonder she's the way she is. Why did you guys keep so many secrets from us? And why did dad accuse her of lying about the abuse? He's been abusing her since day one! And the fact that he adopted her and didn't want her, that just makes it even worse!"

"Rocky, calm down," Riker said, putting his hand on his shoulders, but Rocky shook his head, brushing him off. "Dude, I'm just as mad as you are, but there's nothing we can do to change the past."

"No there is, and what we're going to do, Riker, you, me, Ross and Ryland, as her brothers is to make sure that that fucking dickhead gets his ass in jail for life and rots in there. I want nothing to do with him. If I ever see him again, I will go to jail myself, for first degree murder." The look on Rocky's face was of pure hatred and not even Riker could argue with him against that. He felt the same way.

"Then let's do it. Let's make sure he stays there forever." Riker said. He looked at his mother.

She nodded, "do whatever you guys can. I'm on your side."

"Good," Riker said, knowing Rocky was too angry to even speak at that moment. "You should be."


Ross was thankful Ryland decided to take Charlie out for a bit. He hadn't had any alone time with Laura for a while and it was starting to bug him in a lot of ways.

As his lips pressed against hers and her hands went into his hair, he felt her bite down on his lower lip, which caused him to groan and her to smile. She then broke the kiss and pulled his shirt over his head, which was then thrown to the side as she went back to kissing him again.

He was just about to take off her shirt, when his phone started to ring. He ignored it the first time and the second and the third, but by the fourth, he knew something must have been up. And it wasn't just something that was attached to his body.

"Dammit," He cursed, breaking away from Laura, he gave her an apologetic look as she pouted. He grabbed his phone and saw that he had four missed calls from Rocky. "Of course," He muttered, showing his screen to Laura, who just rolled her eyes. He was just about to call him back, when Laura's phone started ringing. "That might be him."

"Yeah, probably." She agreed and with that, grabbed her phone, seeing that it was Vanessa's name. "It's actually my sister. Hold on. Hello?" She answered.

"Laura, where's Ross?" Vanessa asked her.

"Right next to me, why?" Laura asked, blinking her eyes in confusion. She felt the pain again, from earlier that day, but chose once again to ignore it.

"Rocky's been trying to reach him, it's important." Vanessa said and Laura heard Rocky's voice, faint, but still there in the background. "You have to give him the phone, Rocky's freaking out and from what he told me, it's urgent."

Laura nodded, "okay hold on." Laura held out the phone to Ross, "it's for you."

Ross took the phone from her, "hello? Okay, sure. I'll wait." Ross said to Vanessa and then a moment later, he heard Rocky's voice.

"Dude, why the hell didn't you answer my fucking phone calls?" Rocky asked, his tone not too playful.

"Sorry, I was busy…" Ross trailed off. "What's going on?"

"Look, I get why you're pissed at Rydel right now and that's understandable and all, but dude, Riker and I just found out some fucked up shit and you really need to give her another chance." Rocky said, his tone was frantic and afraid, Ross realized. It made his stomach drop.

"What happened?"

"Well, for one, Mark came by today." Rocky told him. "And another…" He trailed off. "It's best to just do this in person. I'll see you in five minutes." With that Rocky hung up the phone before he could respond. Ross just looked at Laura and handed the phone to her.

"Something's happened." Ross said. "I don't know what it is, but it's not going to be good. I can already tell you that."

Laura nodded, "from the sound of it, I could tell that too." She leaned her head on his shoulder, "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Me too." Ross whispered back and kissed the top of her head, wondering what the hell was going on.


"So, what's up?" Ellington asked, as Kelly took a seat across from him in the living room.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm having family problems." Ellington nodded, remembering back when they dated that they were pretty bad then too. "My mother is trying to come back into my life and on top of that, my boyfriend, who I just moved in with, his talking about proposing and I don't know how to feel about all of this."

Ellington nodded again, he remembered how Kelly was so attached to her father since her mother had walked out on her when she was a kid. Something, he realized, she would have in common with Rydel, now that all of this shit came out. He took a deep breath.

"What does your dad say about your mother?" He asked, deciding to take it one problem at a time.

"He said it's my choice, I can see her if I want, or I can just blow her off. I remember bits and pieces about her, but not a lot." Kelly said. "I'm just scared. I don't know how to feel about it."

"And this is what's coinciding with the proposal?" Ellington asked her. She nodded. He then thought of something, "do you remember when I told you about my biological father?" She nodded again, "well, it's been tough, because I've always wondered about him and with the anniversary of his death, passing, I actually wondered what it would be like if I could meet him and talk to him. But here's thing thing, I'm never going to get that chance. You do, with your mother and if it turns out to be shitty then you don't have to speak to her ever again." Ellington shrugged. "it's not the end of the world, you know? Just try it and give it a chance. As for your boyfriend, just… give him a chance too. I know your messed up from what happened with your mother, I get that, but don't let it get in the way of your happiness, you know?"

Kelly nodded. She smiled, "wow, I missed these talks. You always had a way of making me feel better."

Ellington smiled back, "thanks. It's a part of my charm." He smirked and winked at her and Kelly laughed. She got up to sit down beside him and took his hand in hers.

"I really am happy we had this talk."

Ellington agreed, "well, anyway I can help."

"And sorry, for just showing up the way I did. I didn't mean to surprise you."

He looked at her, "nah, it's cool."

They just stared at each other, not saying a word for a few moments, when she began to lean towards him. Ellington seemed to snap out of it then and with that, stood up, running his fingers through his hair. She looked up at him, surprise, hurt and confusion all in her eyes.

"I uh, just remembered that I have to be somewhere… um, so, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna just go-"

"What the hell?"

He closed his eyes and mentally groaned as he slowly turned around and saw Rydel was standing in the entrance to the living room. He figured his mother or father had let her in. Shitty timing. He thought. He could also see the hurt and surprise on her face and immediately knew he had to fix it.

"Rydel, it's not what you think."

"Oh, so that's not your ex-girlfriend sitting right there on your couch?" She snapped, she gave him a look, "you blew me off so you could hang out with her?"

"Rydel-" He tried again, but she was too worked up. She shook her head as he tried to step closer to her.

"No, you don't get to try and comfort me! I needed you this afternoon! And you blew me off!" She yelled at him.

"She-" He began, but realized that it would look like he took his ex's side over his current girlfriend's. Which, in a way, he did. "Rydel, I'm sorry, but I was just about to leave to come see you."

"Bullshit," She snapped and with that, turned around. That's when Ellington noticed she was holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"Wait, is that-"

She held her hand up, "I'm not talking about it in front of her. But it's okay. I'm not talking about it with you either. Not anymore. Goodbye, Ellington." And with that, she stormed out of the house. He winced as he heard the door slam behind her.

"Wow, apparently, she still hates me," Kelly said. Ellington turned around to face her.

"Can you blame her? You outed her to the entire world about her crush on me. Which I'm pretty sure she told you in confidence. You guys were close at one point, remember that?"

She nodded, "I'm sorry, but it hurt knowing another girl had a crush on my boyfriend of five years. But regardless, you broke up with me soon after that, so I guess what's done is done. I'm not that girl any more."

He nodded, "seems like you've changed." He agreed.

It was silent for a few moments. Until Kelly asked a question that had been bugging her since Rydel walked in.

"So, are you-"

He nodded, "yeah, we're dating. Have been for almost a year. Unless that was a break-up…" He sighed. "Look, I have to go fix this with her. I'm sorry, but you have to leave."

"No, it's fine, I understand." She nodded. "I'm happy for you, by the way. You two always seemed like a better match than you and I did, it just took forever for me to figure that out and I'm sorry."

He shrugged, "what's done is done, like you said. It's cool." He walked her to the door after she had grabbed her things. "Look, a lot of shit is going on with her right now, a lot that I can't talk about, but can you keep what I just told you between us? We're not ready for the world to find out just yet."

She nodded, "yeah, with the news about Ross and Laura, I'm not surprised."

"Cool. Thanks. Um, so I'll see you around," He said and she nodded, hugging him. He noticed the smirk on her face when they pulled away, but didn't say anything about it. "Mom! Dad! I'm leaving!" He shouted and with that, they both walked out. She got in her car and he got into his and with that, he sped off towards Rydel's.


Rocky didn't even bother saying hello to Ross and Laura as he and Vanessa walked into their apartment. He was flipping out and he knew he had to tell Ross, something that was going to be hard, but he agreed to do it since Riker agreed to tell Ryland about it. They needed everyone on Rydel's side as they could get and even though Ross was pissed at her, he knew he would be on her side no matter what.

"What's up, dude?" Ross asked as Vanessa walked over to Laura. She took her hand in hers and squeezed it. Laura looked up at her older sister and noticed that they were red and puffy and teary. What the hell had Rocky told her about?

"What I'm about to tell you, it's really hard for me to say and I know you're going to go postal, but you need to let me finish first." Rocky said and Ross just looked at him.

"You're scaring me."

And with one last deep breath, Rocky told him everything. From Mark visiting him to the talk and realization he had with Riker to finally, the talk with Stormie. And he watched as Ross' face turned red and he let out a loud, "I FUCKING HATE HIM!" and punched the wall behind him. He with drew his hand and everyone saw the hole and the blood, but he didn't care. He didn't give a shit. He was too angry to care.

And Laura watched, all of this happen. She gasped once Rocky revealed the big secret and then she understood why Vanessa was so emotional. Her eyes filled with tears, her hands went to her mouth in disbelief and then after Ross had punched the wall, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side and let out a different gasp, falling to the ground. She looked up, feeling a bit woozy and lightheaded, registering the fact that Ross had come over to her and asked her what was wrong. She couldn't respond and before long, everything went black.


Sorry, so many cliffhangers. But it won't take as long to update! I already wrote half of the next chapter! :)

I hope you like it! Review and tell me your thoughts.

Much love. xx