Author's Notes: I'm adrift at the moment but I'm trying to get the S3-related stories out of the way so I can get back to the happier stories.

I hope there's enough in this chapter to… I hesitate to say 'enjoy' since it's not a happy chapter for either Maeve or Otis.

I've taken some of my own memories of a heartbroken depression and placed them on Otis as best I could – I was tired all the time for months.

I've also dealt with my mistake from the first chapter as best I could.

For those giving up hope, an alternative title for this story could be 'Working My Way Back To You, Love'.

It's not finished yet.

Chapter Three

How's Your Life Today, Love?

Maeve emerged from her caravan and walked towards Aimee's car without ever once glancing in the direction of the caravan she had until relatively recently found so comforting.

She got into the car, flopped back and stared straight ahead. "Morning, Aimes," she said flatly.

"How's your life today, love?" Aimee asked, gently.

"Still fucked," Maeve said.

"Is he bothering you?" Aimee asked, indicating the other caravan with her head.

"No," Maeve said. "He steers clear of me as much as possible. Doesn't say anything."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Maeve murmured, flatly.

"You don't miss him, do you?" Aimee asked, surprised.

"I miss… the environment. Having breakfast with people before going to school. That was… it feels like I'm back where I was a year ago."

"Well, I'm still glad you didn't have sex with him," Aimee said.

"Not for want of me trying," Maeve muttered. "Explains why he wouldn't even let me kiss him. At least he wasn't a total prick."

"Do you think he would have ever told you if Eric hadn't let it slip?"

"I don't know. If he was feeling guilty enough to push me back even when I was throwing myself at him, maybe. I don't care anymore."

She sighed, frowned and glanced at Aimee.

"Why aren't we moving?" Maeve asked.

"I thought you were taking a minute before you got Goat."

"Oh, shit," Maeve said, remembering.

She opened the car door and got out, opened the rear door and took Goat from her carrier.

"Sorry, Goat," she murmured, snuggling her as she closed the rear door then, sitting back in the front seat, dragged the front door closed. "My brain is shot."

Aimee gazed at her sympathetically then started the car. As she began driving out of the caravan park, she said, "You should go and talk to him. Otis. Not Isaac," she clarified.

"No," Maeve murmured.

"It's been a month. That's enough time. Talk to him. Ask him what can be done to fix things."

"That would be breaking his boundaries. He respected mine."

"He told you he loved you."

"And I ignored him."

"Because you never knew."

"He didn't know that."

"If you talk, you might be able to work this out. But you'll never work it out if you don't even try."

Maeve mumbled something.

"What?" Aimee asked.

"Maybe I'm afraid of what he's going to say."

"Why would you be afraid?"

"I fucked up his only two relationships. I think he's just over me," Maeve sighed, hoping the quaver in her voice was not too noticeable.

Eric and Adam sat on the grass beside the path leading to the main building. Eric kept glancing at Otis lying on his side a short distance from them, head resting on his hands, eyes closed.

"It was really weird," Adam said. "He just sat there in his car looking at me."

"He didn't come in to talk to you?" Eric asked.

"No," Adam said. "Probably needing reminding of what I disappointment I am."

"I think he's feeling guilty," Otis said.

"What?" Adam asked, frowning.

Otis sighed, sat up, stared at the grass.

"I think your dad's feeling guilty," Otis said, flatly. "He… he wants to re-establish a connection but he doesn't know how. The hurt he caused you… that's… Oh, what do I know?" he concluded, frustrated with himself.

"You know a lot, Otis," Eric said, quietly.

"You've said some good things," Adam said.

"I don't have any real relationship with my dad. What the fuck do I know about what your dad's thinking?" Otis asked and flopped back onto the ground, closing his eyes and covering them with one arm.

"I don't like seeing you like this, Otis," Eric said, concerned, then continued, hopefully, "Are you coming bowling with us tonight?"

"I don't think so," Otis murmured.

"You cannot mope in your room forever, OT," Eric said.

"Don't call me that," Otis murmured.

"Sorry," Eric said, very apologetically and surprised with himself. "Habit."

"I'm not in the mood."

"It's been a month. You have never moped like this, Otis," Eric said. "I'm worried about you, man."

"I just need time," Otis murmured.

"What do you do in your room?" Adam asked, looking directly at Otis.

"Stuff," Otis shrugged.

"What sort of stuff?" Adam asked, ignoring Eric's look.

"Play my music, play Zelda, homework. I recategorized my music collection."

"Is that healthy?"

"It's my way of processing."

"Have you processed anything?"

However much he tried to conceal it, both Adam and Eric noticed Otis flinch.

"Have you talked to your mum?" Adam asked.

"What does mum know about relationships?" Otis muttered, bitterly.

Maeve sat at a table in the canteen, listlessly eating her chips, glancing too often across the room at the table in the far corner where Otis, Eric and Adam sat.

Aimee sat across from her, watching her sympathetically.

"Do you want to come over tonight and eat ice cream and listen to sad songs and watch The Princess Bride?" Aimee asked.

Maeve looked at Aimee, frowning. "What?"

"That's what I always did when I reached a month of being this sad," Aimee said.

"Are you saying I'm a cliché?"

"Probably."

Maeve sighed.

"Have you thought of putting it down in a letter?" Aimee asked. "He sent you a letter after you told him to stay away from you."

"Sometimes apologies aren't enough," Maeve murmured.

"They were for you," Aimee gently reminded her.

"Where would I start?"

"Well, we know what he apologized for. What do you think you need to apologize for?"

"Telling him how I felt about him while he was in a relationship with Ola."

"Yeah, that may not have been my best advice," Aimee admitted, sheepishly.

"I was the one who did it, Aimes. But that made him cut me out of his life. He got so angry. That must have led to him breaking up with Ola. And if I hadn't done that, he wouldn't have said all that shit at his party." She sighed. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I am the most selfish person he knows."

"Maeve Wiley, you take that back."

"I was trying to break him and Ola up from the start."

"What do you mean?"

"At the dance, I told Ola something, hoping it would make her think twice about Otis. I just seemed to push her closer to him."

"What do you mean?"

"She told me she did like him but she kind of wanted to beat me, too. Maybe if I hadn't done that… she wouldn't have been with him. Maybe he would have been with me."

"You can't think like that, babe. He went and asked her to be with him. Nothing to do with you. He probably thought you were still with Jackson."

"God, Jackson," Maeve sighed. "There's another one I fucked up."

"Definitely ice cream tonight."

Maeve rested her head on Aimee's shoulder and sighed. "Do you think Otis thinks I had sex with Isaac?"

"Oh? Never thought of that."

"Maybe that's why he doesn't want to know me."

"Because you had sex while you thought he didn't care about you anymore and was being an arsehole?"

"No, because… maybe he thinks he should have come and told me."

Aimee blinked and began to look guilty.

"Maybe he's feeling guilty? Maybe—"

"I think he did try," Aimee said and bit her lip.

"What do you mean?"

"He came to me and said he had something to tell you about Isaac."

"What? When?"

"After I broke up with Steve," Aimee said, guilty and contrite.

"Oh, Aimes…" Maeve said gently, patting her hand.

"I don't think I was in a good place to have that conversation."

"It's not your fault, Aimee," Maeve said, gently.

"I said some really mean things to him."

"You were really stressed. You needed to vent. He was a good target. We thought."

"I think I'm going to go apologize to him," Aimee said, firmly, her mind made up.

Otis lay on his side on his bed, staring at nothing. When he heard a gentle knock on the door, he glanced at it with dead eyes and said nothing.

"Otis?" came Ola's muffled voice. "Can I come in?"

Otis said nothing.

"Please," Ola almost begged.

"It's unlocked," Otis called, flatly.

He watched with dead eyes as the door opened and Ola stepped through. She stopped in shock as she saw him, then recovered and turned to close the door behind herself. She walked across to his bed and waved her hands.

"Move over," she gently commanded.

With a sigh, Otis shuffled over, still on his side, and allowed Ola to lie down beside him. His dead eyes stared at nothing.

"I know she's your mum," Ola began, "but I am getting really pissed off with Jean."

Otis glanced up at her.

"I don't know if you've noticed - you're barely in the room at breakfast… They're fighting again," Ola said. "I don't know what it's about but they're not sleeping in the same bed. They barely talk."

"I knew it," Otis murmured.

"What?"

"She always makes a mess of things. Including me."

"What do you mean, you?"

"I've fucked up every relationship in my life. I don't have any real relationship with my dad. I'm always arguing with mum. I've hurt everybody I care about because all I've had since I was four was her example."

Ola was silent and Otis lifted his eyes to her.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This was your moment to talk and I'm making it all about me. This has got to be worse for you."

"Does she mean to do it?" Ola asked. "Did she trick my dad?"

"No, mum would never do that."

"But she didn't think this through, did she? The co-habiting thing."

"Obviously not," Otis murmured. "I have been glad you've been here. And Jakob. It feels normal for a change. But I'm sorry it's bad for you."

"You're not so bad as a brother," she smirked. "Now I've trained you."

Otis snorted gently.

"You're like my dad was," Ola said gently. "When Jean kissed your dad he didn't get out of bed for weeks."

"I just need… time alone."

"Why won't you even talk to her?"

"Because we're wrong for each other."

"I told you, when I first saw her, you seemed to have a thing together."

"Ever since I fell in love with Maeve, I've hurt her. I've hurt Eric. I've hurt you. I've hurt Ruby. Who else am I going to hurt?"

"Yourself."

"I deserve it."

"I don't think you do," Ola said, quietly. "I suppose you can't talk to your dad."

"He's cheated on every single woman he's been with. He's an arsehole. Mum… I think because mum's been alone for so long, she got confused… Dad… he just can't help himself. I don't think he even wants to."

Ola sighed. "Do you want to talk to my dad? Him and mum had a good relationship."

"No. He has you to look after. The baby to focus on. Dealing with this mess. He doesn't need to deal with my shit."

Ola sighed, then began, tentatively, "Aimee's with Jean. She asked me if I would check with you whether it was okay for her to come and talk to you."

"Why?"

"She didn't say. Just that it was important to her."

"To her?" Otis asked, surprised.

"Yeah."

Aimee knocked gently on the door to Otis' room, staring at it with hope.

"Otis," she called. "Ola said she talked to you."

"Come in," came Otis' muffled voice through the door.

Aimee opened the door, stepped inside and closed it behind herself. She looked at Otis sitting up on the bed.

"What's up?" he asked, flatly.

Aimee looked around for a place to sit. Otis indicated the bed and she sat on the end, staring at him, concerned.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" Otis asked, frowning.

"You tried to tell me about Isaac, didn't you?"

Otis took a slow deep breath and dropped his head to look at his feet.

"I'm really sorry I said all those things to you," Aimee said.

"You were defending your friend."

"She didn't have sex with Isaac," Aimee blurted. "If that's what you're worried about."

"I know. If I thought-"

"How did you know?"

"You told me."

"I did?" Aimee asked, surprised.

"You said that Isaac was treating her right. He was supporting her. Making her happy. He would never call her selfish. He wasn't a drunken obnoxious shithead. And he wasn't just a filthy rutting sex monster trying to get into her pants. They had a much higher relationship than the animalistic one people like me wanted with her."

"Oh, I forgot about that bit," Aimee said, contritely. "Sorry."

"I was really impressed how passionately you were standing up for her."

"I can be assertive without being mean or cruel. I can be strong without becoming a monster," Aimee said as if by rote.

Otis gave a wan smile. "Mum gave me that book as well."

"I was going through a thing with Steve."

"Maeve said you broke up."

"Yeah, he—"

"You don't have to tell me anything."

Aimee nodded, was quiet for a moment, then said, "We fell asleep while studying and he got an erection. He never touched me or anything. He wasn't even awake when I noticed. I just called him a creep and a pervert and a deviant and—"

"You were going through an extremely stressful time," Otis said, soothingly. "Mum's helping?"

"Yeah. She made me realise it wasn't Steve's fault. That it was just a sign that I needed time to be by myself. Time to heal."

"Uh-hmmm," Otis said, agreeing.

"I just feel bad. Steve thinks he's a piece of shit because of what I said and I don't know how to apologize to him."

"Just apologize."

"I don't think I can talk to him."

"Then write it down and, please, try to understand that there were no bad guys between you two. The only bad guy is that cunt on the bus."

Aimee hitched a breath.

"What?" Otis asked, puzzled by her reaction.

"Maeve said you don't like that word. That you only use it against people you really don't like."

"He hurt you."

Aimee was silent for a moment then said, "I know this might be disrespecting your boundaries but…" She took a folded piece of paper from her pocket. "She wants to apologize. She's been really serious about respecting your boundaries but I told her she should write it down."

She held out the paper to Otis who did not look at it.

"There's nothing for her to apologize for," Otis murmured.

"She thinks there is," Aimee said. "You just told me to write to Steve. If you don't take a look at this it will be really shitty and hyper-critical."

"Hypocritical," Otis murmured and took the piece of paper.

He held the piece of paper then slowly unfolded it and began to read as Aimee studied him intently.

"Tell her I appreciate it," he said when he finished, turning to look at Aimee. "Please. I mean it. But my choices screwed everything up, not hers."

"You could tell her yourself," Aimee said, gently. "You don't even have to see her. Just text her."

"I deleted her number," Otis said.

Aimee gasped in surprise and dismay.

"It's been a month," Otis said. "I think it's time for Maeve and me to move on."

Author's Notes: I'm not completely happy with this but I don't think I can improve it at the moment. I hope it works enough.