Lucy got changed for training after school with her teammates before hitting the court. She hadn't let on to Ella what was going on despite being asked multiple times if she was ok.

"I'm fine. Trust me Ella. Just hoping to impress the coach again." She said.

"All right. I'll stop asking." Ella said holding her hands up.

The assistant coach ran the session going through a range of drills. Lucy knew she wasn't performing and it was starting to frustrate her.

"WHEELER! FOCUS." The assistant coach yelled.

Ella look at Lucy. "Come on. We know these drills through and through."

"Yeah." Lucy said shaking her head. "Sorry." She said, passing the ball.

The longer training went on the harder Lucy found it to get any baskets, starting to consistently miss and miss passes.

"Wheeler. Get over here!" The coach said coming down the bleachers. "What's going on with you?"

"Sorry coach. I don't know. Just an off day." She lied knowing exactly what was causing her not to perform.

The coach checked his watch before shaking his head. "Go get changed and go home. If you perform like this Thursday, you'll be starting on the bench on Saturday. Got it?"

"Yes sir." She said walking off the court.

"Hey Lucy! What was that about with the coach?" Ella asked catching up with her.

"He just wanted to know if I was ok. Said I had to do better on Thursday or I'll be warming the bench on Saturday."

Ella looked at her surprised. "Don't worry. Everyone has an off day occasionally! I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucy gave her a small smile and wave before going to find Rip. She knew she wasn't her normal self and even more so after training. 'Just got to get through dinner'. She told herself getting in to the truck.

"How did you go?" Rip asked. "Score a few baskets?"

"None. I got in trouble from the coach."

"What for?" Rip asked driving home.

"Because I played so bad! He said I might be warming the bench on the weekend, Dad! Well not those exact words but he said if I did bad on Thursday I would be starting on the bench!"

"Woah, Lu. One bad day is allowed. So you had a bad training session, don't worry about it."

"But what if I'm benched?"

"Then you're benched. And that's ok." Rip tried to tell her. "Lu, I think you've got other things on your mind and that's maybe why you had a bad session. You've had a big weekend so let's take it one day at a time." He said gently taking in to consideration what Beth had mentioned the other night about teenage girls in particular feelings lots of emotions and learning how to work through them.

"Ok." She said with a sniffle. "I want to call Beth now."

"That's fine. We'll be home in twenty."

Lucy dialled Beth's number letting it ring before she answered.

"Hey baby. Can you not find Rip?"

"I'm with him. We're twenty minutes away." She said feeling her chin wobble as she held back tears.

"Ok. What's going on? Why do you sound upset?"

"I didn't have a good day at all! I played bad at basketball and now I'm worried because John might not like me!"

Rip kept his eyes on the road letting Lucy have a moment.

"Don't cry. We will deal with it. Put Rip on." Beth said. She could hear Lucy telling Rip that Beth wanted to talk to him before he answered the phone.

"I'm going to cancel dinner."

"Don't Beth. Just tell him to come a bit later on, to give her a second." He said before hanging up.

"Beth is going to tell her Dad to come a bit later for dinner so you can chill out when you get home."

"Thanks." Lucy said, relaxing in to the passenger seat.

"You go inside. I'll get your bags." Rip said when he parked the truck at home. Lucy slid out of the car before going inside.

"Mom?" She said opening the door looking for Beth.

"I'm here." Beth said from the couch patting the seat next to her.

"Today sucked and it's not even over!" She said sitting down on the couch.

"You gotta tell me if you want me to fix it."

"I just sucked at training and Ella kept asking if I was ok. And I told her I was. And the coach told me off and said he might bench me on Saturday. And now we're having dinner with your dad and what if it goes bad?"

Beth took a second to process all the information Lucy had told her. "You had one bad day. I have bad days all the time. But it doesn't mean it has to keep being bad. The coach well, he knows how good you are, he might be trying to scare you a bit there. One bad training is no reason to be benched. Dad isn't coming for another half hour. It won't go bad, I'm sure of it." Beth tried to reassure Lucy. Not sure if that really was the case.

"Dad said the same."

"Must be because we are right." Beth told her. "Go freshen up and change."

Lucy went upstairs to wash her face and change out of her school clothes.

Downstairs Beth lent against the bench top with a wine in hand while Rip finished cooking the dinner Beth had started. Lucy came downstairs in to the kitchen looking for a snack.

"No. Dinner is nearly ready." Rip told her.

Lucy groaned looking at Beth. "Let me see you." Beth said. Lucy stood in front of her, Beth brushed the hair out of Lucy's face before putting her wine down on the bench. "Come here." Lucy lent in to Beth's chest, listening to her heart beat as Beth wrapped her arms around her.

"You ok now?" She asked before feeling Lucy nod. Beth rested her cheek on Lucy's head. Rip watched the two together before turning down the heat on the stove. The door opened and Lucy moved to pull away from Beth who let her go.

John half opened the door before saying "knock knock."

Lucy looked back at Beth who put a hand on her shoulder, as she lent her back in to Beth's front.

"Come in Sir. I've just finished everything."

John hung his hat on the hook. "I brought these." He said holding up some beers. "And Beth mentioned you like these?" He said to Lucy holding up her favourite soda.

"Thanks." She said quietly.

Rip put the food on the table before grabbing a beer for himself and John before sitting down. Rip sat at the head on his families dining table, Beth to his right and Lucy next to her before John sat on his left.

Rip served himself before reaching for Lucy's plate to serve her dinner. Beth and John serving themselves.

"So how was your day, Lucy?" John asked.

Lucy glanced at Beth briefly before telling John it was ok.

"I heard you play basketball?"

"Yeah. For school."

"Lee and Kayce use to play a bit as kids." John added. Lucy nodded as the conversation stopped.

"How was your day honey?" John asked Beth.

"It was fine. Yours?"

"Busy. Dealing with a few groups and someone broke the fence. Did you fix that Rip?"

"Yes sir." Rip said. The conversation continued about the ranch, where John was most in his element.

"Mom. Are we having dessert tonight?" Lucy asked fixing her knife and fork.

Hearing the word 'Mom' out of Lucy's mouth and directed at Beth got John's attention. He watched their interaction.

"I did buy an apple pie earlier." Beth said taking Lucy's plate.

"Yes! Thanks." She whispered.

John watched Beth genuinely smile. The smile he only ever caught a glimpse of when she was with Rip.

"You get the plates, I'll put the pie in the oven." Beth told Lucy standing.

"Are you finished?" Lucy asked John.

"Yep. Thanks." He said passing his plate. She stacked it on the other two before Rip passed his over.

"Fucking thing." Everyone could hear Beth muttering at the oven trying to change the settings before hitting the door.

"I got it Mom." Lucy said getting down next to Beth. She turned it all off before turning it ago again and the light came on.

"You ok baby?" Beth asked.

"Mmmhm." Lucy nodded standing up. She gave Beth the pie to put in the oven. "Can I have this?" She asked Beth holding up the soda.

Beth nodded passing her a glass.

"I hear you've been feeding the calf." John said turning in his chair to look at Lucy.

"Yes sir." Lucy said unsure how to talk to him. Rip called him sir and figured she probably should too.

"You don't have to call me Sir. You can call me John."

"She's doing good, right Dad?"

"She is Lu." Rip confirmed.

John felt himself struggling. "I saw you had bikes put the front. Do you like riding?"

"Yeah. I'm not allowed to build any bike jumps though. When Dads better we might go riding in the park."

"What about horses?" John asked

"I've been out on them. A few times."

"She's not a bad rider at all." Rip praised. Beth noticed she stood a bit taller hearing the praise from Rip.

Lucy wanted to desperately know why know why she had been given away by John when she was a baby.

Beth served the pie with ice cream, putting an extra scoop on Lucy's. "Here's yours." She told her putting it in her hands.

Lucy's eyes widened before she grabbed a spoon. She sat back in her chair feeling stuffed after eating it as quick as she could. "Can I ask you a question John?"

"You may." He answered.

"Why did you make my parents give me up?" She asked looking him in the eye. Rip looked across at Lucy and Beth did the same, both caught off guard. No one was as caught off guard as John. He didn't expect such a straightforward question to come out of her considering how quiet she had been that night.

"I thought at the time that I was doing the best thing for Beth and for you as well. I made sure you went to what I was told was a good family and when I could I checked up on you and found that you were going to school and getting good grades." He said putting his dessert down. "I can see now I was wrong."

"Best the thing for me?! Are you joking?" She didn't give John a moment to reply. "My life sucked. I went from home to home and then got left. I had to lie to keep a roof on my head and lie to work a job so I could stay alive!"

John sat there just listening. He knew nothing he could say was going to make it better right now.

"You say you knew what I looked like and how I was at school but you ignored me after you asked my name when I came here on a school trip. You're the one who pinpointed me. You're the one who knew that day who I was, weren't you!?"

"I did."

"And you sit there and tell me you're sorry. You weren't sorry enough to change anything!" She finished standing up before going up stairs and slamming her door.

"That went fucking great." Beth said.

Rip stood taking the bowls, putting them in the sink.

"Beth..-"

"No. Don't Beth me. You knew and you did nothing. You saw what you put us through. Why did you not stop it then. She would have been a baby when she came."

"She was 8."

"Eight. Fucking eight years old. She should have never been through any of that shite." Beth said. I don't know how you can ever be ok with what you did to her and us. I don't know if I'll ever be."

"I... Beth."

"Just go." She said turning and going upstairs.

John stood from his place at the table. "Rip. I won't stop trying to fix it."

Rip opened the door, passing his hat. "You should leave us alone for a while Sir. They're going to need time. We all do." He said before closing the door on him.

"Fuck. This was a failure." John muttered before leaving the porch.

Beth knocked on Lucy's door before going in.

"I'm so angry." Lucy said seeing Beth.

"So am I -."

"I heard everything." Lucy said interrupting. "It's just not fair!"

Rip knocked on the door, sticking his head in. "What do you need?"

"For today to be over!" Lucy complained.

"Come down in ten minutes. I'm going to get some things first." Rip said before disappearing.

"What's he doing?"

"I have no idea." Beth told her.

"I think I ruined the dinner."

"I think my Dad managed that himself."

"So you're not angry at me?" Lucy asked.

"No. Not this time." Beth said.

Lucy chuckled. "I think I've dodged the Beth Dutton wrath so far."

"Baby. I hate to break it to you but that display before is exactly what I use to be like."

"I guess I maybe have a temper?"

Beth shook her head. "Just maybe. Come on, we better make sure Rip hasn't done something crazy." Beth said opening the bedroom door. The pair went downstairs to find pillows and blankets laid out and the coffee table off the the side. There were some snacks in bowls and drinks for each off the the side.

"What's this?"

"It's a movie night." Rip said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Cool!" Lucy said jumping for the pillows. Beth looked at her watch.

"She has school tomorrow." Beth said.

"Come on. One day off after everything wouldn't hurt." Rip whispered. "You use to ditch all the time."

"She's not going to be doing that. But I suppose one day won't hurt."

"Budge over Lu." Rip said getting down next to her. Beth on the other side. "You pick the movie."

Lucy scrolled through the options before settling on one. She pulled the blanket up closer to her chin. "Do I have school tomorrow still?"

"You can have tomorrow off. I guess I can stay home but we're doing your maths study still. You can thank Rip for that." Beth told her.

"Thanks Dad!" She said resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're welcome."

Neither Beth or Rip had any interest in watching the movie but rather watched Lucy as she watched the screen.

"You can both stop watching me you know."

"Just thinking how great you are baby." Beth said.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Can I lie down?"

"Go for it."

"Like when you read?"

Beth patted her legs as Lucy contorted herself to fit comfortably. She ran her fingers through Lucy's hair while the movie continued to play. She noticed Rip had shut his eyes with Lucy not far behind.

This was what she had wanted. What she had been missing. What they had needed to make them whole.