kbg17223: Awesome! Hope you had fun in NY!! I want to go there sooo bad... and hey, you were in Jesse's home state! ;) Anyway... thanks so much for the info... I looked it up but it was too far for me to go... maybe he'll come closer to where I live this year sometime... I agree, not enough publicity... dumb agents... lol! Anyhow... Yes, Ava is finding out soon... this chapter to be exact! Lol! Hope you enjoy it:D Btw, I so love talking to you... do you have an account here? Well, whatever about that (I was thinking we could PM but if you have email we could email. If you're allowed mine is dreamer1590 hotmail . com) Yep, he's 20 now... I know I was freaking out! Lol!! I know... I was uh... shall I say, "disapointed" in him for doing that but I forgave him to being the die hard that I am! Lol! Shutting up now, enjoy the chapter and I hope to hear from you soon, Krissy:D

oNly hizzZ times INFINITY: two words: thank you!! Lol! But really, thanks so much for saying that! It means the world:D You shall soon see what happens to Jerry because of all of this... I won't even hint at whether he gets in trouble or not. ;) Aren't I evil...?? MHAHAHA!! Lol!! OMG! You do?? I know, I totally do the same thing!! I mean, it was a really good song but it's so hard for me to believe that he sounded like that then!! (course, he was 13, eh? Lol!) Yes, we do love him:D Much amore back at ya! ;) Enjoy this ch!

froggy2045: Hm what? Lol! Sorry, I just dk what that meant really! Lol! Assuming you liked the chapter, thank you:) Hope you like this one:D

Sweet-Romantic: Thank you! As I just told only hizz "We shall soon see what becomes of Jerry Brown." :D yes, we ALL still love him!!! Enjoy this ch!

kandykane33: Thank you and thank you!! I'm so glad to see that you're still reading this story!! How are doing lately? Haven't heard from you in a while, drop me an email sometime, huh? Talk to you soon and I hope you likey this chapter:D

ChrissyD: lol! Yeah, I guess you're right but... when you don't want to believe something or think that it's virtually impossible you tend to ignore hint, hint, nudge, nudge things you know? So anywayz, that's my take on it... course, I did write it! Lolz! I found it to be the only person he would tell actually... I didn't see Bradin telling Susannah or even Ava... I figured it should be another guy and telling Johnny just didn't seem to fit so, naturally, it was Jay:D Glad you're happy about it! Lol! I went around singing happy birthday to him all day on the 9th and driving my brother and friends crazy with it! Lol! 4 years? My god, that has been a while!! I can't believe I was 12 & 13 when Summerland was first on!!?!??! Whoa... Well, moving on, hope you like this chapter:D

Varinia: Thank you!! I'm so glad you loved that I incorporated both of the characters feelings cause sometimes when I'm doing that I wonder if anybody really cares.. Knowing you do will keep me doing it though:D Hope you love this one too:D

Read!!!!!

Chapter XXIV

The Truth Is Not Easy

"Wow! I didn't know they could get special effects so good!" Jerry Brown's deep laugh rumbled through the Gregory home from where he sat on the living room couch with Johnny and Ava watching a movie. Jay had been up in Bradin's room with him since 6:20ish that morning. It was noon now.

Bradin had told Jay the whole story, from the beginning all the way up to that very moment, including all his nightmares and how much he missed his parent. He had told him everything, everything except the fact that Jerry had raped Nikki. That's was Nikki's business, Bradin had promised her he'd never tell and he wasn't going to break that promise. Telling Jay everything was both, time consuming, and hard, emotionally, for Bradin. But he did it, and it felt so much better to not have to hide it al from Jay anymore. He also couldn't believe just how comforting and understanding Jay was about the whole thing. He never once judged him in any way, for which, Bradin was grateful.

Jerry had just arrived about 15 minutes before and they had put the movie on because things were still very awkward between Johnny and Ava and Ava was trying to take her mind off of Bradin.

"Oh my God... Damn it, Jay, he's here!" Bradin murmured to the man in his early thirties, who was still sitting on his bed with him.

"Who's here-" Jay stopped short as Jerry's laugh boomed through the house again. "Oh." Jay said in a deep, no-the-hell-he-better-not-be-in-this-house, voice. "Hang on, Brae... rather, why don't you come down with me for a minute while I give Jerry a piece of my mind?"

"No, Jay, look. You're gonna have to..." Bradin gulped, "to catch him in the act... otherwise nothing will be different..."

"What!? No, there is no way that am I letting that bastard do another thing to you." Jay put down his foot.

"Jay, listen to me, he doesn't have to do anything to me... all he has to do is be in my room trying to do something..."

"Yeah, but... what if he-"

"He won't get a chance, Jay. See, it's not just you. I'm not about to let him do anything to me again... I've just had it, had it, with him and what he's done to me! How he tore my life apart! And that's why I want a witness of what he's done to me... I want to get him sent away!" Bradin interrupted Jay.

Jay sat silently for a full 30 seconds before finally looking up and directly into Bradin's eyes while saying, "Alright. I understand that."

Bradin smiled, "Good... so now all I need is a plan... But first..." Bradin got a grave look on his face.

"What? What is it?" Jay asked, confused.

Breaking into a huge grin Bradin exclaimed in a laugh, "I'm hungry!!"

"Bradin Westerly-"

"Hey! Don't tell me you're not!" Bradin jumped off his bed and headed towards his door.

"Ok, you got me there, ha, ha!" Jay laughed and followed the teenager out the door and down the hall towards the stairs.

Just as the reached the head of the stairs Bradin turned around and whispered, "Remember, Jay, you know nothing about what he did to me. As far as Jerry's concerned his secret's safe, got it?"

Jay nodded and the two headed downstairs.

"Oh, Bradin! You're up!" Ava exclaimed jumping up off the couch and running over to him and Jay at the foot of the stairs. "What was the matter-"

"Ava, is there any food left for us?" Jay cut her off effectively.

Ava looked from Jay to Bradin but they both just smiled.

Jay motioned for Ava to come into the kitchen with them and she mutely followed.

"What's going on?" Ava asked, very confused, after the kitchen door had been closed.

"Um... Brae?" Jay said turning to the fridge and digging around in it.

"Aunt Ava... I..." Bradin looked at Jay but he was purposefully looking away. Sighing, Bradin turned back to his aunt. "Um... nothing's really going on..."

"My ass there's nothing going on! You tell me what-"

Bradin shook his head for his aunt to shut up as Johnny and Jerry entered the kitchen, both laughing, and sat down at the table.

"Got anything for lunch, Ava?" Johnny asked avoiding any eye contact with the woman.

"Um... Oh, yeah, sure..." Ava also avoided any eye contact as she answered her housemate. At that moment Susannah walked in.

"Hey guys... anything for lunch?" she asked looking around at everybody. Jerry was talking with Johnny, noisily, Jay was standing at the sink, his back turned to the room, Ava was digging around in the fridge and Bradin was sitting on a barstool staring at the wall.

Okay... Susannah thought noticing Ava, Jay and Bradin all seemed to be somewhere else. Walking over to the teenager she tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped,

"Huh!? Oh... oh, hey Susannah..." Bradin mumbled looking at the floor.

"Why didn't you go to school today?" Susannah asked.

"Um... I didn't feel very good this morning..." Bradin lied, still looking at the floor.

"Oh... do you feel any better now?" Susannah pressed.

Good grief, would she leave him alone!? Jay thought to himself.

"Yeah... I guess so..."

"You guess so? Well do you or not?"

"Some! God, would you shut up!?" Bradin snapped, looking up at the woman.

Taken aback by the his outburst, Susannah stepped away and all eyes in the room fell on the teen.

Bradin rolled his eyes to the ceiling and said, "I'm sorry, Susannah... I'm just uh.. not in a very good mood today..."

"It's okay..." Susannah replied, still staring at him.

"Is there like, a sign that says STARE AT ME on my head or something? Or are all of you guys just rude?" Bradin shot everyone a look making them all look back at what they had been doing. Bradin let out his breath and looked back at the floor.

"Well, I'm gonna head down to the shop now! Bradin, since you're not at school, I could sure use your help!" Jay said cheerily.

"Okay." Bradin slid off the stool he was sitting on and started to go out the back door with Jay but Ava stopped them.

"Wait aren't... you uh... forgetting that letter I asked you to mail for me, Bradin?" Ava quickly changed what she was going to say as Jay shot her a look that said, SHUT UP!

"Oh yeah," Bradin went along with his aunt's lie and went into the living room. Jay went out the back door and Ava followed her nephew.

"Bradin, what is going on?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Um... you know what? Can we just talk about this later cause I-"

"No! I would like to be informed of what is going on, right now." Ava interrupted him.

"Fine," Bradin sighed in frustration, "but not here. And after I tell you I get to ask you a question, deal?"

Ava studied her oldest charge's face to try and figure what the question could be but it revealed nothing. "Deal." She agreed finally. They shook hands and Ava poked her head into the kitchen, "I'm going for a walk, Susannah, I'll be back to help with that skirt later, okay?" By "okay" she meant don't ask me any questions.

Susannah raised her eyebrow slightly but said nothing, "Okay" she agreed and smiled as Johnny looked up.

Ava nodded, pulled her head back into the living room and left the house by way of the front door with Bradin.

Once they arrived at Jay's shop and he let them in then locked the door.

"Jay, I thought you were opening up?" Ava was clearly puzzled.

"Uh... I'm trying to give you and your nephew some privacy. I'll be in the back if you need me." With that he turned on his heel and headed into the back.

Ava turned to Bradin and raised her eyebrows.

Bradin sighed then leaned up against a shelf. "Aunt Ava, as much as I don't wanna talk about this I might as well get it over with I guess..." he looked his aunt in the eye then looked intently away from her towards the ceiling and began his horrid story before she could say anything...

There it be, peoples! Please tell me what you think!!! THANK YOU!!!

Anna Christie AKA SecondStarToTheRight15