Here's a quick update for ya'll!

Avery and Nate

Nate walks in to his apartment, seeing Avery sitting at the table, her back to him. He makes his way over towards her. Hearing someone walk towards the table, Avery quickly shoves the picture she is looking at into her folder. She wipes at her eyes, finishing just as Nate reaches her. Nate looks down at her, knowing something is up when he sees how tense her shoulders are.

"Hey Nate," Avery says, not expecting to see Nat and looking at him in surprise, "I didn't know anyone else was here."

"I just got back," Nate replies, noticing her red eyes. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Avery replies as she sends him a forced smile.

"What were you looking at?" Nate asks, nodding at the picture half hanging out of the folder before looking back over at her.

"Uh…nothing," Avery says quickly as she shoves the picture further into the folder, "I should go."

With that, Avery grabs her books and stands up, trying to make a quick escape. In her haste, Avery trips over the chair leg and her books go flying across the floor. Sprawled across the floor herself Avery glances around seeing the mess. In a rush, she shoves herself to her knees.

"Crap," Avery mutters, quickly gathering up her belongings. Nate walks over and helps her, putting the books and folders into a pile. He notices the picture lying on the floor and he picks it up, flipping it over and looking at it. Avery looks up and her gaze takes in the object in Nate's hand. Nate looks up at her and catches her watching him.

"Is this your mom?" Nate asks while holding up the picture.

"Uh…yeah," Avery replies, hoping he doesn't ask any more questions. Nate nods his head, looking back down at the picture.

"You know, sometimes it helps to talk about things," Nate points out, looking over at Avery again and fixing her with a look. Avery snorts.

"Right, 'cause that'll bring her back," she replies scornfully, staring at a spot on the floor. Nate glances back down at the picture.

"No, you're right," Nate replies with a nod of his head, looking back up at her, not giving the picture back. He doesn't want her to leave just yet and he knows once she has it back, she'll take off. "But, bottling everything up inside won't help either. You end up going downhill. Fast."

"And you're such a professional at dealing with this," Avery says defensively, not wanting to talk about any of this. Nate regards her for a moment before continuing.

"I had a son," Nate replies, trying not to get lost in his own despair. Avery's head shoots over to him, not expecting this response. "He had cancer, like your mother."

Avery forces a swallow, watching Nate stare at a spot over her shoulder. She isn't sure if she wants to know what had happened, so instead waits to see what Nate will say. Avery forces a swallow and her gaze moves down to the picture in Nate's hand once again. Finally, Nate begins to speak again.

"The company I worked for refused to pay for him to have an experimental procedure and he…uh…he, uh…well, it was one of the reasons why I was so involved in your mom's case," Nate continues, forcing himself to look over at Avery. Looking up from the picture, Avery meets Nate's gaze.

"Watching someone go through that? It can break your soul. Especially when saving them comes this close," Nate continues, holding up his pointer and thumb a half an inch apart, "But burying it and keeping all that pain festering underneath? It'll destroy what you have with the people you still have left. Take my word for it."

Nate hands her the picture and stands up. Avery takes it from him and looks at it for a moment. She stands up, eyes never leaving the picture. Taking a deep breath and forcing a swallow Avery decides to speak up.

"We were best friends," Avery says quietly and she can feel her eyes begin to water again. Nate looks over at her, not sure if he has heard her correctly. "And then when I was ten, she got sick. I found myself growing up a lot faster than most. I had to take care of her. I kept up on the house and my schoolwork too. But she would always make sure I had time for myself."

Avery smiles to herself. Memories begin to filter to the front of her mind. Happy memories that she feels herself begin to desperately grasp at and pull them further forward. One memory in particular fights it's way to the forefront and Avery snorts in amusement.

"She…uh…made me take martial arts. Said if my dad ever found out his daughter didn't know how to take care of herself he'd be pissed," Avery says with a ghost of a smile. "And, even though he wasn't around, she never once spoke badly about him."

"He would've been there if he knew," Nate says, trying to assure Avery, keeping his eyes on her. Tears begin to pool in her eyes and he can see her fighting desperately to not let them fall.

"Yeah," Avery replies with a nod of head. "She…uh…"

"She what?" Nate prods when she doesn't continue and his eyes fix on her.

"I never told anyone this," Avery says, looking up at Nate and catching his gaze. "Grate said she didn't die of cancer."

"What?" Nate asks, furrowing his eyebrows and shaking his head minutely.

"When he kidnapped me. He said she didn't die of cancer," Avery repeats before she forces a swallow, "He said he killed her 'cause he couldn't have her going to the police."

Nate watches for a minute, seeing her barely winning the fight to keep the tears at bay. He is slightly confused as to why she is telling him this. Then, it hits him. His face softening, Nate lets out a sigh and holds Avery's gaze.

"She could've still been alive," he says softly, his eyes softening as well, "She could've still had time to get better."

Avery nods her head, a tear escaping and trailing down her cheek. Her gaze shifts down to the picture in her hands. The emotion swells up and Avery shuts her eyes to it. Taking a deep breath Avery tries to shove the emotion back down.

"Have you told Eliot this?" Nate asks, raising his eyebrows. Avery shakes her head and finally opens her eyes back up and looks over at Nate. Nate puts a hand on her shoulder and looks in her eyes. "As much as it's going to hurt, you need to talk to your dad about all this. Don't do what I did and ruin the one good thing you've got going for you."

Avery takes a deep breath and nods her head, wiping her eyes once more. She puts the picture back in her folder and picks up the stack of books. As she stands back up Avery looks over at Nate and catches his gaze.

"Thanks, Nate," Avery says, giving him a sad, but genuine, smile which Nate returns. He turns as he watches Avery exit the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

Please review and let me know what ya'll think! J