Ava slept in on Monday morning after being up late, crying her eyes out because of the nightmare she'd had the night before. She'd slept in her own bed though, so that was a win.

Jay was already at work by the time she came out of her room, and Hailey was downstairs doing an at home work out. Ava stopped halfway down the stairs when Hailey heard her.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Do you need to he changed or are you ready to eat?" Hailey asked, stopping her workout to go get her sister.

"Needa change," Ava yawned, reaching up to be held. Hailey took her back to her room and got her sorted then went and set her up with her breakfast so she could finish her workout.

When Hailey finished, she joined Ava and they talked through their day.

"We need to go to the store, then you have your session, and after that we might meet Jay for lunch. After lunch, we'll come home for your nap, and after your nap, we're going to go see a place where you'll be able to learn and play with other kids when I go back to work in a couple weeks." Ava froze at the end.

"Not stayin with you at home?" She was scared. Did this mean her dad could take her?

"Just while I'm at work, baby. It'll be fun and safe, but if you don't like it, we'll do something different," Hailey sensed Ava's spike in anxiety and felt bad, but they had to start talking about it soon or the sudden change was bound to scare the girl.

"But what if he comes?" Ava asked, stuffing her thumb in her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

"Oh, honey. No, he won't come. I'm going to make sure they know what happened and that he isn't allowed to come inside. They'll call me if he does try, but there is no reason he'd know where you are, Aves," Hailey pulled her sister into her lap and rocked her until the shaking stopped.

"Pwomise I'll be safe?" Ava asked quietly.

"I promise, sweet girl. Just give it a try, okay. And it's not for a couple more weeks," Hailey kissed her head and Ava nodded, holding her bunny close.

She wasn't sure about it, but Hailey asked her to try, so she would. But until then, she didn't really want to be away from Hailey, or Jay when he was home.

"We goin to the stowe now?"

"Yup. We need food for this week. Let's go get changed," Hailey set Ava on the floor and they both went upstairs to get dressed, brush their teeth, and do their hair. Hailey's hair went into a ponytail, Ava just wanted a sparkly headband in her hair.

After a run to target for food and supplies Hailey needed to really work on Ava not needing to wear protection during the day, the two girls went and dropped everything at home and put it away, then Hailey took

Ava to her session with her therapist.

The little girl was a tired mess when it was over, clinging to her big sister as she cried, but she wanted to go see Jay, so they went to lunch at Panera and Ava immediately latched on to Jay.

"Hey, munchkin. How are you doing?" He asked, kissing her head before giving Hailey a kiss.

Ava shrugged, not in the mood to talk much. They exchanged worried looks. Ava hadn't been this quiet since she first came to live with them over a month ago.

"Her session was pretty rough, and we talked about what we're doing later, she may just be worried," Hailey frowned, reaching over to rub Ava's back.

"Are you worried, Aves?" Jay asked gently.

Ava nodded and whimpered, fidgeting. She was trying not to cry again. Jay swayed with her while Hailey ordered their food. He could tell Ava was crying a little.

"We love you and we're going to keep you safe, Aves. I promise. You're okay, you're safe," he repeated this mantra until she calmed down again, but she didn't lift her head up.

"Do you feel okay?" He asked, hoping she wasn't coming down with something.

"M seepy," she mumbled into his neck and he nodded, following Hailey to get their drinks.

Ava perked up a little with her sandwich and macaroni, and she was delighted that Hailey got her lemonade, which was a special treat. They talked as they ate, then after lunch, Hailey got Ava home and down for a much needed nap.

The toddler woke up a little perkier from her nap, but still wasn't her normal self. She rubbed her eyes and went to find Hailey, carrying her bunny the whole way in her hand with the brace on it.

"How was your nap?" Hailey asked once Ava found her in her room.

"Good. Stiww seepy though," Ava grumbled, making a mad face. Hailey picked her up and tickled her, making her laugh.

"Do you feel okay?" Hailey asked, checking for a fever. Ava's skin felt normal.

"Just seepy, Haiwey. And hungwy, can I have a snack? And I needa go potty," Ava gave Hailey a pointed look, raising her eyebrows.

"Okay, you go potty, I'll get a snack," Hailey set the girl down and watched as she put her bunny down and ran to the bathroom. Hailey hoped that with Ava actually using the bathroom more often the last couple days meant that getting her out of pull ups during the day would be easier.

The older blonde went and got Ava some goldfish and raspberries then went back upstairs. Ava was trying to get her brace off to wash her hands, but was struggling, so Hailey helped her. Once her hands were clean, Ava went and sat on the love seat at the foot of the bed and started eating.

Hailey finished getting ready then sat with Ava while she finished her snack. Then she cleaned the little girl up, put her in a yellow dress and some sandals, and they left to meet Jay at the daycare/preschool they found.

Ava grew anxious when they got there and clung to her bunny as she rapidly sucked her thumb. Hailey got her unbuckled and kissed her head before lifting her up. "Baby, you're shaking. It's going to be okay, I promise," Hailey hugged her little sister closer and swayed for a moment, barely acknowledging Jay when he walked over to them.

"Hey, we need to go in, what's wrong?" He asked, kissing both of their heads.

"She's shaking. Jay, should we do this yet?" Hailey looked up at him, worried.

"I feel it. Ava, can I hold you?" Jay asked, holding his arms out. Ava went to him and clung to him. "We've got you, sweet girl. We're just going to take a look around and then we'll go home and talk about it. We're not leaving you here," he told her and she nodded slowly.

Together, the little family went to get buzzed into the building, and they met the administrator, who showed them around. Ava managed to tell the woman hi, but her shaking hadn't stopped at all. They had her meet her teacher, a young woman named Allison, and Ava seemed to like her enough, but she didn't want to be put down to go explore with the other kids.

"She's adorable," the teacher commented, smiling at them.

"She really is. We love her more than anything. So, have you been informed of Ava's background?" Hailey asked, watching as Jay took Ava around the room.

"A little. I was told she's been abused, but that's it," Allison frowned.

"She has. Um, she's my sister, which was a shock, and our father did some damage. She's been in mine and Jay's custody for almost 5 weeks, official adoption is in the works. I have custody of her though, our mother signed everything over. Ava's very skittish with renew people and very likely hasn't been with other kids before. She has a lot of trauma, a lot of signs of the trauma. She hates yelling and slamming, if there's ever a bad thunderstorm, one of us will probably come get her, she can be extremely quiet and cautious, she has nightmares and night terrors, although those aren't normally as common during her nap. Her wrist will be in the brace for the first week she's here, after that, I'll have it in her backpack. She's very nervous about this, but we hope it will be good for her. Oh, and she has panic attacks sometimes," Hailey listed everything off and the teacher's eyes widened, but she took it all in.

"I'm so sorry she's been through that. It seems she really loves you and Jay though, and that y'all love her. I promise to do everything I can for Ava, and if she ever becomes too overwhelmed, I'll text or call you. Y'all are planning to start with half days, right?"

"Yes, her first week will be half days, then we'll go from there with easing her into full days. She's very anxious about this, she's been quiet and clingy since I mentioned it. I'm hopeful that she'll last through her first week, but I'm not going to be shocked if someone calls me to come get her. Really, if she's crying for more than an hour, or has a panic attack, please call," Hailey insisted.

"I will, I promise. She's not the first anxious kid I've had in my class, but her circumstances are definitely different from most of the other kids."

They kept talking for several more minutes and Jay joined them; they even got Ava to contribute to the conversation at the end and headed home with a still very nervous little girl.

When they got home, Ava went and got her blanket and laid down on the couch, hugging her bunny. She didn't want to go away from Hailey and Jay; it made her nervous and feel sick and she didn't like that. And she certainly didn't want to be with anyone that could be mean to her. Or be with new people.

Jay sat by her and rubbed her back. "What's wrong?" He asked, moving her hair out of the way.

"Don't wanna go. Wanna stay with you and Haiwey, don't wanna be there. Too loud, people be mean," She huffed, eyes filling with tears. "I don't wanna!" And the meltdown began.

Jay scooped her up and swayed with her as Hailey came and rubbed Ava's back. It took 15 minutes for the crying to die down so they could talk to her.

"Aves, we're sorry you don't wanna go. But please just try it, you'll get to learn and read books and play while we work. Your teacher is nice and if anyone is mean, we'll fix it with her help. We can also find something to help it not be too loud if we need to. You just have to tell us so we can help, sweetie. And if you really don't like it, we'll figure something else out. Does that make sense?" Jay asked, hoping the young girl would somehow get it.

"Sowta, but I don't wike it!" Ava cried, pressing her face to Jay's shoulder. This clearly was going to be hard. They hated it, but they had to try.

"Okay, let's just calm down. I'm sorry you don't like it right now, Ava girl, but we have to try. It's not for 13 more days. Until then, it's me and you. We can go do fun things together!" Hailey smiled at her even though she was trying not to cry.

Ava sighed and nodded slowly, seeming to understand that this was going to happen. "Go to the zoo?" She asked around her thumb.

"Yeah, baby. We can go to the zoo," Hailey laughed, smiling when Ava smiled.

Jay bathed Ava while Hailey made dinner, they ate, then they read some books and played candy land before getting Ava down for the night.

"Well, she stopped crying so that's a plus," Hailey threw herself onto the couch.

"Hopefully she'll come around. If not, we regroup. Are you taking her to the zoo tomorrow?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, then Wednesday I'll start working with her on using the toilet more often," Hailey told him, getting up to get ready for bed. She didn't care that it was 7:30, she was tired and wanted to lay in bed with her husband and watch Mike and Molly.