There were very few times in life when Adam was glad that he was stuck in the lab. When it was snowing and there was an outdoor crime scene, when he hadn't had any sleep the night before and could inconspicuously doze in front of a computer, and when the crime scene involved sewage. Lindsay had glared at him from across the lab as she gathered her kit, as he smirked in victory, having just convinced Jo that he couldn't possibly add a new crime scene to his list of things he had to get done. In the end, Jo, Danny, and Lindsay had suited up for the challenge while Adam and Hawkes stayed back.

Scooting his chair back from the desk, he stood and went back to the original fingerprint lift, checking again for the ridge detail he'd noticed before. There seemed to be scarring on the print, and he stared at it for a few moments, wondering what could have caused it. Hoping the prints were in the system, he finished up with that task and locked the prints away, moving away to work on some trace while the computer ran the prints through the databases.

His phone started ringing and he managed to get to it before the call stopped, but also before he could decipher who the number belonged to.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Ross?"

"Yes."

"This is Carolyn Kahn-"

"The kids principal. What happened?"

"We had um… a bit of trouble with Averylin this morning."

"Trouble? What kind? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She and another student were arguing in class and Avery became very upset. Her teacher says that she started yelling and crying and couldn't calm down."

"Did she hurt anyone?"

"No, not at all. Her teacher attempted to calm her down but Avery locked herself in the coat closet and won't come out. The rest of the class was sent to recess and they'll be out of the classroom doing other things for the next hour or two. We need you to come down here."

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Can you let her know I'm on the way?"

"I will."

They said goodbye and Adam hung up the phone, securing the evidence as quickly as he could before flagging down Hawkes and explaining the situation. He was shooed out of the lab and he took the elevator down to the parking garage, hopping in the car and calling Lindsay.

"If you're calling to gloat that you're not here-"

"Babe, something's up with Avery."

"What?"

He sighed and gave her a brief overview of the conversation and when he was done, listened to the silence on the other end of the line.

"I'll come home as soon as we finish up here. Hopefully I won't be much longer."

"Okay. Don't worry too much, I think she'll be fine."

"Alright. Let me know."

They hung up and he started the car, navigating the traffic through town to the school. They hardly ever had to come here during the day, once or twice to pick up a sick kid, but never for something like this, not since Colton was Avery's age. He parked the car and sat for just a moment, afraid of what state he would find his daughter in. He was almost certain about what had caused her distress, but it would be difficult to get the specifics out of her. Her stubbornness was cute most of the time, but right now he wished that she hadn't inherited that particular trait from Lindsay.

After checking in at the office, he was led to her classroom and shown the closet where she'd barricaded herself. He knocked gently and heard her raw voice telling him to go away.

"Avery, it's daddy."

"It is? Really?"

"Yeah. Want to open the door for me?"

"No, I do not."

"Any reason why?"

"Are you really daddy?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Somebody with a voice changer, like what you an' mama told us 'bout."

"Okay, what can I do to prove that I'm daddy?"

"Tell me what I said to you when you tucked me in last night."

"You told me that you loved me more than most and when you grew up you hoped I could still be your daddy."

There was a moment of quiet before the door creaked open, revealing Avery sitting on the floor of the coat closet, her face red and streaked with old tears. He crouched down in front of her and held one hand out, waiting a moment before she took it to pull her into his arms.

"Would you like to tell me what happened now, or do you want to wait until we get home?"

"Home," she said softly, sliding her arms around his neck. "I want my home."

"Okay."

He stood up with her in his arms and gathered her backpack and lunch box from the teacher, who remained quiet, not knowing what she should say.

"Where is mama?" Avery asked, once they were in the car.

"She's out in the field," he replied. The kids had a general idea of what that meant, but neither Adam nor Lindsay wanted to bring to light how many dead bodies they actually saw in a day.

"When will she come home?"

"I don't know for sure."

"We gotta go back to the lab?"

"No, we're going home."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Am I in trouble?"

"For what?"

"Cussin'."

"You were cussing?"

"Yes. I said a lot of bad things today. I feel awful."

"We'll talk about it when mama gets home."

Avery lay on her bed, still and staring at the ceiling. No one had sent her there, but she'd retreated to her own space as soon as they'd arrived home from school. At first she'd wanted to tell her daddy everything about how she was feeling, but she knew already that he was sad and she didn't want to make it worse. She needed someone to talk to, someone who wasn't so sad already. She needed Sarah.

The bed dipped as Thomas jumped up, having used the tiny set of stairs that Adam had made for her. Avery smiled slightly as Thomas sniffed her, then licked her face.

"Oh Thomas. My heart is so heavy."

The dog lay down next to her, as if awaiting an explanation.

"I don't know how to not feel sad. I just wanted a sister."

She hiccupped and wiped her nose with the back of her hand as the door swung open.

"Hey sissy."

"Hi Ben."

"You don't have to tell me anything," he assured. "But I wanted to come and give you a hug, if that's okay."

"That is fine."

He crossed the room and sat on the side of the bed, leaning over to hug her as best he could. She hugged him back but pulled away after a moment, feeling guilty over the mornings indiscretions.

"Did you eat lunch?"

"Daddy bringed up my lunchbox," she said, pointing to where it still sat on her dresser. "But I did not feel like taking care of myself."

"Well maybe you could eat a little. I bet your head hurts from crying and food would help."

"Maybe."

"Can I ask you just one question?"

"Yeah."

"Was this because anyone was being mean to you or picking on you?"

"No, it was not."

"Okay. You let me know if you need me."

"I will."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and left the room, cloaking it again in darkness. Avery glanced out the window and could see the snow starting to fall. She wished that she could get up and play in it, but on the other hand, she had very little desire to do anything but lay quietly.

"Averylin, it's mama, can I come in?"

"Yes. And daddy."

The door opened and they stepped inside, closing the door behind them. Lindsay turned a lamp on low and they both sat down on the bed with Avery, who was furiously scrubbing at her eyes.

"Are you ready to talk to us honey?"

"You promise you will not get sad?"

They glanced at each other and Lindsay nodded slowly, reaching over for Avery's hand.

"You can tell us anything, you know that."

"Today in my I was talking to a girl that sits by me. And she was talking about sisters and she has four of them and I said that I got a sister but she does not live with us. And the girl asked me how come, so I told her about it. And she asked me when Rebecca would live with us and how come she doesn't now, and then she said that maybe she wasn't supposed to be my sister. And she was not being mean, not at all, just curious. But I got so mad at her. And I yelled a lot and I said the D word some and maybe the H, and my teacher tried to help me calm down but I didn't want anyone to help me. So I hided in the closet to have a cry. Because I did not want to upset more kids or get much more embarrassed. And I held the door closed, but my teacher did not try to get in, she just talked kind to me until daddy came. And that is my story."

She sighed loudly and sat up, playing with her hands while they were all quiet.

"I know it was wrong to say those bad words," she started. "And I will apologize to that girl and to my teacher. I am also sorry for hiding in the closet and having a flip-out moment. I needed to calm down my emotions."

"Avery, you are allowed to feel sad and upset and confused and angry about all of this. Daddy and I both feel that way."

"Yeah, and even as adults we don't always do the right things in those situations. It's okay sweetheart."

"It is?"

"Yes, it is. We all should be doing our best to be happy, but more importantly we need to be healthy, and that means not bottling up the sadness inside. Sometimes you have to let it out."

"Well I letted it out in a big way," Avery confessed, still feeling ashamed as new tears rolled down her cheeks. "I feel like we was all going to get a great gift and then some big mean person stoled it away from us."

"We feel the same way honey."

She started to cry softly, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"And poor Becca! We all got each other and she gots no one! No one at all! It hurts me so much, that my sister has no love. She is just all alone. And those people don't want her to have any love or any family or any sister! How come she has to be alone? It's not fair!"

She broke into sobs, falling back onto her pillows and pulling the blanket over her head. Her whole body turned red as she cried it out, kicking her legs against the mattress in frustration. It wasn't a tantrum, but it was sending her out of control the same way and she rolled away from their calming hands.

"No! No, I hate it. I want my sister! Go get her for me! I want my sister!"

"Avery-"

She covered her face and screamed into her hands, finally letting them both wrap around her.

"Shh, baby it's okay."

"No."

"Deep breaths. In your nose and out your mouth."

"No, I want my Sarah! Please daddy, please. I need Sarah."

"We'll call her as soon as you can breathe normally again."

"I love Becca more than anyone else could ever. And she will never know."

"No, she won't. But we hope that very soon someone finds her, someone who will love her so much and take care of her and help her to have a wonderful life."

"I have never met her but I have the feeling in myself like I miss her. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does."

"This is very hard, mama. Very, very hard."

"I agree."

"Can we please call Sarah now? I just need her."

"Tell you what. I'll give Austin a call and see if Sarah's home from dance class, okay? If she's not, we'll have to wait. Is that okay?"

"That is fine daddy. Thank you."

He bent over and kissed her cheek, wiping a few leftover tears away.

"I'll be right back."

He left the room and Avery snuggled into Lindsay's arms reaching up to play with her hair.

"Mama?"

"Hmm?"

"I do not like this. How I feel. I telled Thomas my heart is heavy but mama it is my whole entire self. I do not want to smile. I do not want to wake up in the mornings. I do not feel like Averylin Grace anymore."

"Can… can you tell me why?"

Avery sighed and tried to find the words. It was so difficult to talk about what was inside of her, not because she was embarrassed or felt like no one was listening but because she didn't know how to describe it.

"Avery is a happy girl," she started. "She does not cry much. She has fun. She plays with other kids. She does not have bad dreams. Avery is not confused about herself and she is not so mad. I do not feel like that Avery anymore."

"Oh baby," Lindsay started, pulling her closer. "I know a little bit about how you feel. And there's nothing wrong with it, nothing at all. Understand?"

"Yes mama."

"That being said, it probably is not fun to feel that way all the time, is it?"

"No. Remember the early morning when you an' daddy taked us to the beach? An' it was so very foggy, an' we could not see the water until we comed up close? And we had to wait for the sun to break the fog? Mama, I feel foggy an' I don't know where that sunshine is."

"I don't either. But I do know one thing. The sun rises every morning. It will come. We just have to figure out how to see through the fog for a bit."

"You promise me it will get better mama?"

"With some time and some hard work and maybe some help, I promise you, it will get better."

"Can we start that hard work tomorrow? First thing?"

Lindsay nodded; they had appointments with a counselor for all of them on Monday afternoon. At first they thought they could deal with it alone, but it was turning out to be a lot harder than they'd anticipated. Unsure if they needed a lot of help or just advice on a direction to go, they'd ultimately decided it was the best course of action for now.

"I just need Sarah," Avery sighed after a moment. "Same way sometimes you need Austin."

"Our best friends understand us in ways other people don't," Lindsay agreed, feeling a sudden need for her friend too.

"Thank you for coming here, Sarah," Avery whispered, holding her friend's hand. "I feel better from seeing you."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Averylin. Would you like to talk about things?"

"I talked to mama a bit. She promised me that it will be better."

"That's good. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Will you have a tea party with me?"

"A tea party?"

"Yes. It is a normal Avery thing to do. I need to do normal Avery things."

"Okay. Want to listen to my fancy dance music?"

"Yes please."

Sarah slid her iPod out of her pocket and settled it onto the dock, choosing a playlist of classical music while Avery gathered her plastic dishes and cups.

"Oh, I like this song," she yawned. "It makes me feel a'phistocated."

"I like it too. It's my newest routine."

"Could you show me a bit?"

Sarah nodded and did a few twirls, as much as she could manage in the small space.

"That is wonderful, Sarah. I love to watch you dance."

"Thank you. I really like to dance, but it's a lot of work to try and be good at it."

Avery nodded and they sat down at the table, drinking water from the bathroom sink and eating the cookies Avery had taken from her lunchbox.

"Well Sarah, today was a bad day."

"I guessed it might have been."

"I would like to ask you for advice."

"Oh. What kind?"

"When you get upset and angry and sad, how do you not lose control of yourself?"

Sarah chewed on her lip while she thought, staring down into the pink plastic cup. Sure, she had gotten upset with her brother and sister before, and despite being the most well-behaved of all the Messer kids, she did have some instances of being sent to her room or arguing with her parents. But nothing like what Avery was going through.

"I don't know. It's not that hard for me. I like to be in control of myself."

"But how do you do that?"

"I think… Averylin, I think we are different kinds of people. I think that you don't hold things in, good things or bad things. I think you let it out. Like how when you're happy and excited you squeal and clap and dance. And that's such a good thing because it makes everyone around you so happy too. Like when you laugh and all the rest of us crack up too because we love how happy you are."

"So then… does my sadness make everyone sad too?"

"No. They might feel sad for you, but not sad themselves. Besides, you don't need to worry about that. You just keep letting things out when you need to."

"But what if I have to let it out at school again?"

"Sometimes if it's not a good time to let it out, you could do some breathing exercises. You imagine a big breath coming all the way up from your toes, through your whole body. And it cleans out all the angry feelings as it goes. And when you breathe it out, all the bad comes with it. It's called a cleansing breath. It's what we do before we go onstage if we're nervous."

Avery nodded and tried it, closing her eyes as she imagined all the confusion flowing out of her. It felt so much better so quickly and she tried it again, feeling a little more like herself.

"That does help me, Sarah. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The continued on with their tea party until Avery checked the time, seeing that it was past time for her to be in bed.

"I should probably go so you can get some sleep. You've had a long day."

Avery nodded and changed into her pajamas while Sarah cleaned up their tea party.

"If you need me, you know how to get me okay?"

"Thanks Sarah. I love you so, so most."

"I love you too. You're my best friend."

"And you are mine."

"Here, you can borrow my music," Sarah said, undocking the iPod and putting the headphones in. "I'll leave it on this playlist. It will help you sleep."

"Okay."

"Would you like me to stay for a bit?"

"Oh that is alright. You don't have to. It's getting late."

"Okay. Tomorrow is Saturday, maybe we'll have a family dinner and we could talk more if you want."

"I would like that. Thanks for being there for me."

"I would always be. Have a good sleep."

"Goodnight Sarah."

Leaning down, she gently pressed a kiss to Avery's forehead and slipped out of the room and down the stairs. Her mom and Lindsay were deep in conversation on the couch, so she ventured into the kitchen, finding Adam cleaning up.

"Hey."

"Hey ballerina."

"Uncle Adam, is Averylin going to be okay? Are all of you going to be okay?"

"We're going to be okay sweetheart."

Sarah nodded and jumped up to sit on the counter, watching as he scrubbed the sink.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You already did, honey. Just being there for Avery makes a lot of things better. It really helps me and Lindsay to know that all you kids are their for your friends."

"This is a really hard thing and I don't really know what advice to give. But just being there helps?"

"Very much."

"Then you can count on us."

He smiled and rinsed his hands off, then hugged her as tightly as he could.

"I love you very much Sarah."

"I love you too Uncle Adam. If you need me for anything just let me know."

"I will. And you remember that Lindsay and I are here for you too, okay? Even if we're having hard times, we still love you and will be there if you need anything."

"Thanks. It's getting late and I still have some homework. You think those ladies are done talking?"

"I don't think they're ever done talking," Adam smiled, carefully swinging her off the counter. "I think they just pause their conversations and pick them up later."

Sarah nodded in agreement as they went out to the living room.

"You ready to head home Sarah Claire?"

"Yeah. Avery's sleeping by now, but she knows to call me if she needs anything."

"Okay. We'd better head home. You good Lin?"

"I'm good. Thanks."

Austin and Sarah left to walk home while Adam joined Lindsay on the couch, pulling her into his arms and kissing her temple.

"Adam, I think we're over our heads here."

"I know. But we're getting help."

"I just hope the kids start getting better. I hate that they feel so bad."

"They'll be okay babe. We won't let them not be."