Hey guys! Thanks so much for all your support of my fanfics. It really means a lot to me. I decided to change the plans slightly for this chapter because the original storyline I had planned turned out just bad, but I like the storyline I replaced it with. So sorry for changing the plans on you! As always, thanks for all the support, and review if you want me to continue!

Chapter 8: Don't Worry

"So, how was New York?" Lizzie asked. It was the day Heights had resumed classes after winter break, and Emma was having lunch in the cafeteria with Ava, Lizzie, Lexie, Laura, Izzy and Meg.

"It was New York, what do you think?" Emma asked.

"I can't wait until Nationals are there next year!" Laura said.

"Yeah, that's where they were my parents' junior year," Emma said. She looked over at Ava, noticing her best friend wasn't eating very much. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ava said. "I just had a really big breakfast."

"Okay," Emma said, but as she looked again at her friend, she had a feeling something was up. Ava had only brought a small bag of pretzels to lunch, and looked pretty tired.

"Hey girls." The girls looked up and saw their boyfriends approaching their long table.

"Babe, why aren't you eating?" Ryan asked his girlfriend.

"I told your sister, I had a big breakfast," Ava said.

Ryan looked at Emma, and Emma knew that this was their twin language that all twins had. They both knew that something was up.

x

Emma sat down in the waiting area. She knew seeing her mom in physical therapy would be depressing. Rachel had understood. Usually Finn took Rachel to therapy, but since he was taking Sarah to a dance clinic an hour away and Ryan had swim practice, Emma was the most obvious choice to take her today. She hadn't had time to do her homework earlier because of school and swim practice, so she got out her textbook and began to take notes when out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone familiar walking to the vending machine.

"Ava, what are you doing here?" Emma asked, feeling shocked to see her best friend.

"Emma?" Ava asked, looking shocked. "Why are you here?"

"I gave my mom a ride to physical therapy," Emma said. "My dad had to take Ryan to a baseball clinic, and we don't want my mom driving just yet."

"Ah," Ava said, sitting down.

"Ava, I know you," Emma said. "It's no accident that you weren't eating at lunch and that now you're at the hospital."

"Don't worry," Ava said. "I'm fine. And as you can see, I'm eating now, so you don't need to worry anymore."

"You're my best friend," Emma said. "You're the first person who found out the truth about the bullies in eighth grade. I trust you. It upsets me that you can't trust me."

"Emma, don't worry about me," Ava said.

Emma sighed. This wasn't going anywhere. "If you can't tell me what's going on, please tell someone else, like Ryan. If I learned one thing from the problems with those girls back in middle school, it's that keeping things to yourself makes them worse."

Ava began to walk away. Emma sighed and got out her phone to call Ryan. She knew that he was in swim practice now, but there was a possibility he'd pick up. She needed to tell him that something was wrong with his girlfriend.

Rachel came out of the therapy wing. "Hey, Emma. Thanks for the ride."

"Mom, are you feeling okay today?" Emma asked.

Rachel nodded. "I'm feeling a lot better."

Emma forced a smile. "I'm glad."

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Rachel asked. "You look kind of upset."

If Ava didn't want Emma telling people, she shouldn't tell people. After all, she was already going to tell Ryan she was suspicious. "I just really hate hospitals."

Rachel gave Emma a hug. "I know you do. I'm sorry for making you guys spend so much time here again."

"It's not your fault, Mom," Emma said.

x

Later that evening, Ryan was in his room doing homework when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

Emma walked into Ryan's room. Ryan looked at his sister. "Hey, what's up?"

"Ryan, I need to tell you something," Emma said quietly.

Ryan put his book down. "Okay, what's going on?"

"It's about Ava," Emma sighed.

Ryan immediately felt worried. He was worried enough that Ava wasn't eating much at lunch. "Do you know something I don't know?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't know anything. And that's what worries me. I know something's wrong."

Ryan looked at his sister. "Other than her not eating lunch, what made you think that?"

"Well, when I took Mom to physical therapy today, I saw her in the waiting room," Emma said.

"Oh my God," Ryan said, becoming more and more worried about his girlfriend. "She didn't even say why she was there?"

"She insisted she was fine, but I know she isn't," Emma said. "Come on, no one's fine if they're at the hospital. If she won't tell me what's up, I hope she at least tells you."

Ryan didn't need Emma to tell him anything else. "I'll give her a call."

Emma smiled at her brother. "Ryan, please don't tell her that I told you I saw her at the hospital."

"I promise," Ryan said. What if Ava was sick? He got out his phone and sent her a text message. "Hey."

Ava responded back quickly. "Hey, what's up?"

Ryan typed another reply. "Are you okay?"

Ava sent a text back. "Of course I am. What makes you think I'm not?"

Ryan had to think now. He couldn't let Ava know that Emma had told him about seeing her at the hospital. "I'm just worried about you because you barely ate lunch and you looked pretty tired today." That should be enough - right?

Ava sent back a text. "Is there something in the Hudson family blood that makes you guys worry a lot?"

Ryan groaned. "We just really care about you. You know that you can always come to me with anything, right?"

Ava sent another text. "I know. I love you."

"I love you, too," Ryan typed back. Hopefully Ava would tell him when she was ready.

x

"So, how was therapy today?" Finn asked Rachel.

Rachel looked at Finn. "It was therapy. I'm just tired of being so helpless, Finn. I should be taking care of you and the kids. Not the other way around. I felt horrible for having Emma take me today."

"Baby, you're so hard on yourself," Finn said, hugging Rachel.

Rachel felt close to tears. "Finn, what if I never fully recover?"

"Rach, you're making progress," Finn said, his heart breaking when he saw the sadness and fear in her face.

"I know," Rachel said. "But my back still hurts and I'm still wearing this dumb brace."

Rachel rarely sat around feeling sorry for herself. This concerned Finn. "Did they say when they think the brace will be off for good?"

"They aren't sure yet," Rachel sighed.

Finn took his wife's hand. "Everything's going to be fine."

"When I took this job, I was so excited about getting to work with the kids when they got to high school," Rachel said. "Now I'm probably not going to work with them for most of their high school careers."

Finn looked into Rachel's eyes. "Look at me, babe. You'll be well in time to start for Nationals."

"I just feel awful for the burden I've placed on you these past few months," Rachel said tearfully.

Finn rubbed Rachel's back. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else. You and the kids are my world."

Rachel gave Finn a kiss.

"Want to watch a musical?" Finn asked.

Rachel smiled. "I'd love that."

"If you ever need to cry, I'm here to hold you," Finn said. "And I promise I'll go to therapy with you next time."

x

Ava wasn't at school the next day, and Emma was getting even more worried. There was Gold Stars practice after school, and Emma hoped Ava would at least be there even though she hadn't been in classes.

"You're worried about Ava, don't you?" Nick asked as they sat down.

Emma nodded. "You know me too well."

"I'm sure she's fine," Nick said.

Emma leaned close to her boyfriend. "After practice, I need to tell you something." She knew Ava didn't want people knowing that Emma had seen her, but Emma always felt bad about keeping secrets from Nick.

"Okay," Nick said. "How about you come to my house after practice?"

Emma smiled. "I'd love that."

Finn came in. "Okay, I got the letter about the theme for Regionals."

The group cheered. "Each of our three songs has to be from a different genre. I talked with Mrs. Hudson and I think this setlist will really show off the talents we have in this group."

"So, who gets the duet?" Ryan asked.

"Well, since Nick and Emma got the duet at Sectionals, I'm going to give you and Ava the duet," Finn said. "I know she's not here today, but you two have proven to be a force to be reckoned with when doing duets."

"What song will they sing?" Emma asked, hoping getting the duet would cheer her best friend up when she found out.

"We were thinking Anyway by Martina McBride," Finn said.

"That's a good song," Ryan said. "Ava likes it."

"What will the group numbers be?" Izzy asked.

"The first one will be one of the songs I had in my first ever show choir competition, You Can't Always Get What You Want by the Rolling Stones," Finn said. "And then for the other group number, we thought we'd use Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof."

Everyone seemed to like the song choices, except Rupert. "You chose bad songs," Rupert snapped.

"Do you have other ideas?" Finn asked.

"Well, Ava's not here, so you shouldn't feature her!" Rupert shouted.

"Ava's one of our best singers!" Ryan said.

"You have to say that, she's your girlfriend," Rupert snapped.

"I've had enough!" Finn said. "Rupert, you need to leave."

"Fine," Rupert snapped. "You clearly don't want me here." He stormed out of the room.

x

After practice, Nick and Emma went to Nick's car to go to Nick's house. "So, what did you want to tell me?" Nick asked.

"I saw Ava at the hospital yesterday," Emma said. "I had to take my mom there for therapy and I ran into her."

"Is she okay?" Nick asked.

"That's the thing, I don't know," Emma said. "I'm worried about her. She's never kept a secret from me before."

"Emma, maybe it's not her," Nick said. "I remember I didn't want people to know about my mom."

Now Emma was more confused. She had to find out what was wrong with her best friend.

Chapter 9 preview: Rachel gets news on her condition, and Emma and Ryan find out what's going on with Ava.