Authors Note: I was hoping to get more reviews last chapter but I got people subscribing etc and thank you to arubagirl0926 for your review :)
May 2025:
"So," Kate started. "I think you made good progress last session Avery. What do you think?"
"I guess," she shrugged. "I still don't feel comfortable talking to you though."
Kate smirked because it was exactly what she had told her therapist when she was a teenager. "That's okay. If there's anything you don't feel comfortable discussing, just tell me and we'll talk about something else. The good thing is that you've already taken that first step to recovery by talking to me and you did it on your own terms. So you can do this," she reassured her before taking another look at her notes. "Last session we focused on you as a person. This session I want to go back to the beginning. When did you first skip a meal?"
"I don't remember the actual date," Avery mumbled, thinking back. "My parents had been arguing. Almost every night of the week so I would take my brother out of the apartment. It was hard enough for me to listen to it. I didn't want him to either." She looked up to see Kate nodding in understanding, jotting a few notes down.
"And where would you take him?"
"It varied. Some days it was the park, others it was to the river," she explained. "I used to think that my parents were happy but I don't think they ever were. I think I just noticed it more as I got older."
"Parents do argue sometimes but I'm guessing that these weren't normal arguments?"
Avery shook her head.
"Okay so you would take your brother out. Would you get food?"
"If Caleb hadn't eaten, I'd buy something for him. But most of the time he had already eaten."
"What about you Avery?"
She shook her head again. "I was trying to distract Caleb. I didn't want to eat."
"Were you worried?"
"Sometimes. I'd think about what would happen if my parents broke up. Would we stay in the same apartment? Would we even stay in Tree Hill? I just wanted my family to love each other," she whispered, her voice cracking as the words came out of her mouth. She had never spoken them out loud before.
"Did you feel loved Avery?" the therapist asked, looking at Avery instead of at her notes.
Avery took a moment to think about what Dr Gilbert had asked her. "When they weren't arguing, yeah I felt loved," she concluded. "But I wasn't so sure when they were."
There was a knock on Peyton's office door; she thought it would be Lucas or one of the girls. She had spent the day painting the baby's nursery with Lucas but had to come into the office to sort out a few things.
"Come in," she called and watched as Jake entered carrying what seemed to be two cups of coffee. "Hi."
"Hey. I come bearing gifts," he grinned, lifting up the cups. "Seeing as you've been avoiding me, I thought I'd bring drinks to you, courtesy of the Bistro so now we can catch up here instead." He sat on the couch, placing the cups on the coffee table. Peyton stood from her desk and joined him on the couch.
"For the record, I haven't been avoiding you. I've just been busy," she explained.
"Whatever Sawyer," he dead panned jokingly. "I got you a hot chocolate. I figured caffeine would be a no go for you."
"You thought correctly. Thank you," she took a sip of the drink and she already felt better as it warmed her up. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I don't know. I guess how you've been doing since we last talked."
"I've been great. I've got everything I could ever ask for," she beamed.
"What made you want another baby?"
"We wanted a boy," she shrugged innocently. "What about you anyway? You never told me that you had two sons."
"Well technically, Jonny isn't mine."
"Oh, I just assumed."
"So do most."
"How's your cappuccino?" Jonny asked after sitting in silence since they had got their coffees.
"It's good."
"Great. I guess we should start planning this scene then," he placed his mug on the table in between them and pulled out a notepad.
"Wow, you're serious about this," she said pointing at his black notepad. Jonny didn't usually take notes when they planned a scene.
"Well this isn't just any scene. It's one of the key points of the movie," he reminded her. "The school shooting changed everything. Not just for your parents, but even everyone in this town, so I want to make sure we get it right."
"Okay then," she accepted and also put her coffee down on the table. "I know quite a lot about it. I mean, I've asked my parents. But you've read the book so you know about it too."
"And I've done some research. Is it true that your mum was sat in front of the tragedy section in the library?"
Sawyer laughed at the irony. "No, where the hell did you hear that? It was the Steinbeck section," she informed him, the smirk still on her face.
"It's cool that you have your parents around to ask them about this stuff."
"Your dad would tell you about it if he was there that day." She had learnt quite a lot of information about his family recently from Ella and she couldn't understand why he was such a jerk, his family seemed so normal.
"He's not my dad," he snarked.
"But I thought-"
"Everyone thinks but he's not. He's Lanny's dad but he's just my stepdad. It's no big deal," he shrugged it off and looked back at his notepad, which she took as a signal to drop the subject.
"I hear your allergic to peanuts," she blurted out.
"Who told you that?"
"Lanny. So why did you buy those Reese's?"
"Maybe I wanted to apologise for being a jerk?"
Once she had finished wiping the kitchen sides with a cloth and was satisfied with her now clean kitchen, she followed the hallway up the stairs and heard Julian's voice. He was reading Freddie a story and he tended to get carried away with acting out their voices. She stood in the door way of Freddie's finished bedroom and she loved how it looked. The walls were a light coffee coloured brown apart from one wall. The wall that Freddie's large double bed was pushed up against was painted like a jungle with a blue sky, green grass and a zebra.
She looked at her 'two men' as she called them, lay on the big bed. Freddie was snuggled into Julian whilst he held up the book that he was reading. She could see that it was 'Baby Bear's Day Out.' They had bought it a few days ago when they went on a family shopping trip to the mall.
"Daddy Bear tucked Baby Bear into bed," Julian read. "He kissed his head and said, 'Goodnight Baby Bear.' Baby Bear closed his eyes and whispered, 'Goodnight Daddy,'" Julian finished closing the book and looked down at Freddie, whose eyes were already fluttering as he tried to fight sleep.
Julian gently crept out of the bed, tucking Freddie into the quilts as he snuggled his stuffed animal, Stripes the zebra. When he looked up from Freddie, Julian saw Brooke in the door way so he joined her.
"Goodnight Freddie," he said into the room.
"G'night daddy," Freddie whispered.
Julian and Brooke stared open mouthed at each other. He had never called them mommy or daddy before, it was something that Elaine advised to not allow in case he was to be fostered by someone else. Brooke smiled at Julian, happy tears in her eyes as they closed the bedroom door ever so slightly behind them.
"We'll deal with it in the morning," Julian told her, knowing that they wouldn't be able to let Freddie continue calling him daddy until they knew if they were to adopt him or not. She nodded and led Julian downstairs.
Sawyer laughed heartily at Jonny doing an impression of her dad, rather convincing too. She was surprised to find that she was enjoying time with him. When he wasn't acting like an idiot, he was her kind of person.
"How you liking the blonde hair now?" she smirked knowing that he hated it.
"Let's just say that as soon as we finish, I'm dying over this shit," he pulled at his ever growing blonde hair.
"Good call. I'm probably gonna have to go and get my mom from her office. I have her car. You can come and we can get her to read your notes," she suggested, standing up. Jonny's eyes trailed to the bare skin that always showed when she stood up. Apparently she didn't like wearing t-shirts that covered her tummy completely. He wasn't complaining though.
He followed suit, standing up and leaving the coffee shop, her leading the way.
"Is he asleep?" Chase asked as Alex closed Caleb's bedroom door behind her and joined Chase in their small living room. He was sat on the couch in his sweats and an old t-shirt. Alex stood in front of him, wrapping his hoody round herself. She had to be wearing at least one item of his clothing since he moved back in. Seeing as she was in her own pajamas, she chose his hoody and socks.
"Yeah," she nodded. "He's totally out."
"He falls asleep as fast as you," Chase laughed. It wasn't a secret that Alex could fall asleep wherever you put her and Caleb was exactly the same. "Come sit with me a minute. I want to talk."
She pulled nervously at her sleeves before sitting down next to him. He pulled her legs over his, his hand stroking her knee affectionately.
"What'd ya want to talk about?" she questioned nervously. Apart from Avery's illness, everything had been going so well lately.
"Us. I've moved back in but we never really talked about it or about why I moved out in the first place. We can't just ignore it anymore Lex," he explained seriously he was still stroking her leg, which she found comforting.
"You're right," she sighed. "But before we do, can I just say that I love you being here and I know Avery will when she comes home."
"I'm glad to be back. And I never once wanted to leave but I think time apart did us some good."
"I think so too," she agreed. "I guess I just had all of these feelings that had built up over the years and one day it all got too much."
"I understand. Couples argue but they only end things when they have serious issues. Mia isn't an issue for us. I haven't seen her in years. Sure we send the occasional message just to see how we are, not because I'm still in love with her."
"You're sure? Because if you do, I want you to just tell me now and I'll understand," she lied. If he did say that he no longer loved her then she knew her world would come crashing down around her.
He kissed her reassuringly. "Despite the arguing that we've been doing, my love for you has never changed. It's always been about you Alex."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you and me," he confirmed. "I want us to be the couple we used to be again."
"Me too. So we're back together officially?"
"A hundred percent yes."
Alex pulled herself onto his lap, grinning like a cheshire cat. "I love you Chase Adams."
"I love you too."
Jonny looked round the bar area of Tric; he was impressed by how amazing it was and the fact that Sawyer's family owned it.
"Got any bands playing here soon?" he asked, genuinely interested as music was a big part of his life. He'd heard all about the kinds of bands that had played here over the years and it was definitely a legendary place for the little town.
"Probably not until my mom has the baby," she explained. "So no all ages nights for a little while."
He nodded and followed her into the back where Peyton's office was. Sawyer hesitated at the door after looking through the glass window.
"We'll wait. She seems to be in a meeting," she pointed.
Jonny took a look and felt anger and sickness all at the same time.
"With my dad?" he stuttered.
Authors Note: I know that I'm not getting many reviews at the minute so I'd just like to make sure that I've still get readers. So please just leave me a comment, even if you don't have an account :') I'd love to hear what y'all think.