Author's Note:TellingNewStories, you are completely right. No one should ever feel like that, but people make people think and feel that way (sometimes even themselves)- like they should be "over it" by a certain time. That's exactly how Derrick acted with KC about Jaxon. I've known people that have been abused or lost someone that still haven't moved on completely, and that's okay. You can't put a timeline on things like that, and you can't expect people to forget what happened-which is something Farkle always understood with KC. As I put in the last chapter and in "Right By Your Side", KC is still affected by what she's been through. She always will be, at least in some sort of way, especially because of her Complex-PTSD (PTSD caused and continued by more than one traumatic event [Anthony's Abuse, Cancer, Jaxon's Death, Derrick's Abuse]).

Also, yes, it is the same timeline as in the crossover, both are canon with my series fics.

Auggie's POV

Ava and I were sitting outside our middle school, wearing our graduation gowns.

"We're officially high schoolers," Ava said.

"I know," I said. We smiled at each other, but her smile slowly faded. "What's wrong?"

She looked at me. She took a hold of my hand, looking at it. Her blue eyes shined as she looked back at me.

"My therapist diagnosed me with PTSD last week," she said. She rubbed her thumb on the back of my hand. She looked back at it. "That's why it still affects me… We thought I didn't have it…but it doesn't always develop right away."

"I love you," I told her.

"I know…" she said. She didn't sound sure of herself. "You shouldn't."

I straightened up.

"Don't do that," I told her. "Not again. Please." She looked away from me. I placed my hand on her cheek and softly turned her head back toward me. She looked in my eyes. "You're everything to me, Ava. I love you; I always will. I know you love me. I should love you and you should love me. We belong together. There's a reason God brought us together, and I'm never letting that go."

Before I could react she hugged me around the waist. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her.

"You two lovebirds ready for the party?" My mom asked us.

We parted.

"Yeah," Ava said with a smile.

We stood up. I extended my hand to her. We interlocked our fingers and walked with my mom to her car.

Ava's POV

When we got to the arcade, Auggie immediately went to the basketball shooting game. I went to the hunting game. KC went there too.

"Hey, Ava," she greeted me. We both grabbed the fake shotguns.

"Hey," I answered.

"Congrats on graduating," she told me, happily. "I mean, it's only from eighth grade, but it's still a milestone."

"Yeah," I said. "We're starting Freshman year in a few months."

"Yeah," KC said. We shot at the fake deer.

"You stopped after Freshman year, right?" I inquired. "To raise L.A.?"

"Yeah," she answered me. "I didn't really have much of a choice. I wasn't going to be able to juggle school while raising a baby."

"Was that a lot to process?" I questioned.

"Yeah, of course," she told me. "Jaxon and I were so ready to be parents. After he died, I became really uncertain of that. I became very self-conscious. I was 15 years old. I didn't think I could do it alone…and I was right. I had to have a little help from Brad and Rachel; then when we came here, I had to force myself to accept my mom's help."

We kept playing.

After a bit, I said, "I was diagnosed with PTSD last week."

She stopped "shooting" and looked at me.

"No matter how it makes you think or feel…try to not let it control you," she said. "It took me some time to reach that point."

I nodded in understanding.

We started playing again.

"Do you own a gun?" I asked. "Sorry, I don't know why I even asked that."

"Yeah, I do," she said. "A handgun. I'll only use it if necessary- if Farkle isn't home and I, Brooklyn, and/or Aaron are in danger. If Farkle's home, he'll be the only one to touch it. We keep it in a safe by our bed so that Aaron can't get to it."

"So, what's some symptoms that you realized about after you were diagnosed?" I asked. "With PTSD, I mean."

"Well, I had suicidal thoughts when I was barely nine," she answered. "Even though I was an 'A' and 'B' student, I didn't think I would ever graduate high school. One reason is that I thought I wasn't smart enough, but I also just believed I was going to die before I'd ever get the chance. That symptom is called a feeling of impending doom."

"You did, though," I commented as we kept playing. "You graduated with all A's."

"I never thought I'd get there," KC said with a smile. "I never thought I'd be able to have kids because of the cancer and treatments. I never thought I'd find someone after Jaxon died. I never thought I'd see my family again. I never thought I'd escape my father's abuse or Derrick's." We stopped playing and looked at each other. She smiled. "My mind, the PTSD, told me all of the odds were against me. I beat those odds, those limits."

"You still get symptoms, though, right?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I still get flashbacks. Sometimes I'm taken back to the abuse like I'm living it all again. And sometimes something triggers what I was feeling during the abuse. That's called an emotional flashback."

"Can you give an example?"

"Well, I guess you're old enough for me to mention this," she said. "When Farkle and I were in our second year of our relationship, awhile after the subway crash, we started kissing and fell onto the couch. Farkle could feel himself about to fall, and tried to grab the couch cushion but accidentally grabbed my hip. The feelings I felt when Derrick was…I felt everything again. The panic. The fear. The feeling of no escape. I had a panic attack because of it. Farkle started to blame himself, but it was not his fault, it never will be."

"How often do they happen?"

"They don't really have a pattern," she told me. "They're random. Sometimes, I'll go months without having one, then I'll have two in a week."

I looked over at Auggie who was shooting basketballs with Noah.

"Do you think it could get too much for him?" I asked.

"Does his Lupus get too much for you?"

I could tell she was looking at him too.

"No," I said.

"You love each other, Ava," she told me. "If two people actually love each other, nothing will be too much because they'll battle whatever comes their way together."

I smiled at her.

"Thanks, KC," I said.

"Always," she said.

We both watched as Brooklyn walked to KC while Farkle walked behind her.