A/N: To those who are wondering, Lucas and Peyton end up being together. The main focus of the story is Ava, so all the relationships are the same :)

Enjoy!

"Don't get that all over your clothes. Your mom will kill me." Nathan warned his little sister before he handed her an ice cream cone.

They had a little time to waste before the cheer competition started and Ava was getting a little antsy, so he thought some ice cream would occupy her time.

"Thank you!"

"As a matter of fact—" He cut himself off turning back to the vendor. "Can I have a bowl, please?"

"Sure thing." The man shot him a knowing smile and handed him a bowl with a spoon.

"Thanks." Nathan accepted the items and dumped the cone into the bowl making Ava's eyes well up with tears. "What's the problem?"

"You broke my cone…." Ava pouted.

"Gimme a break. Do you want to throw it out?" Nathan really didn't have enough patience for this and he didn't think he wanted to. "Huh?"

"No!"

"Then stop it." He took her hand and pulled her through the crowds as she cried silently, sniffling the whole way. "Ava, I swear….."

Ava didn't say anything in response, she just stayed quiet as he lead her to their seats. She was so emotional that she didn't even find it odd that both her brothers were sitting together.

"What's wrong with her?" Lucas asked when he saw his sister's teary face, making room for them to sit.

"She's upset because I put her ice cream in a bowl." Nathan shrugged. "I don't know."

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows and stuck his hand on Ava's forehead. There was no doubt that Ava was a sensitive kid, but she didn't tend to cry over something as simple as whether or not her ice cream was on a cone or in a bowl.

"You feel kind of warm." He pushed her hair out of her face.

Nathan's eyes widened as he watched his siblings interact, kicking himself for not realizing that Ava might not have been feeling very well. This was just something else on the long list of things he didn't know about his own sister.

"The ice cream might help cool you off." Lucas motioned for her to eat. "Did you say 'thank you'?"

"Uh huh." Ava nodded, having a little trouble scooping out a spoonful with her non-dominant hand. "Help, please?"

"Give it here." Nathan took the cold treat from her and scooped some of it onto the spoon, holding it out for her.

When Ava asked for help, she didn't necessarily mean that he had to feed her, but since she wasn't feeling too well, she wasn't going to discourage him from doing it.

"I'd say between the two of us, she's gonna be pretty spoiled." Lucas chuckled.

"Want some?" Ava held what was left of the cone out for the blonde.

"No, thanks. You enjoy it."

"Nathan?"

"Gimme a bite." The brunette crunched down on it just as the Bear Creek Warriors finished their cheerleading routine.

Now that she was in a better mood, Ava took the time to really look at her brothers. Not only were they sitting together, they were actually getting along.

This was a long time coming and she was so excited to witness it, but she knew that they had a long way to go before they ended up in a good place.

But for now, Ava was going to enjoy her ice cream and live in the moment.

Living in the moment was the best decision that Ava could've made.

The cheer competition was fun and Brooke even won a trophy for best choreography. For something she thought was going to be a pretty boring weekend, Ava ended up having a bit of fun.

She even noticed that her mom was hitting it off with Peyton's father. It was a little odd to her because she always pictured her mother with Keith, but if this is what made her happy…..

Besides, she liked Peyton and it would be fun to have her for a sister.

Unfortunately, that week pretty much ended all of Ava's fun. Every morning, she woke up feeling crabby and miserable, but she couldn't quite figure out why. She never said anything about it and she never complained, but the feeling was getting worse and worse as the days rolled by.

"Ava?" Her teacher called to get her attention.

Ava's chin rested in the palm of her good hand as she stared off into space, facing away from her teacher.

She was usually a very good student and she didn't have a problem paying attention unless she was super excited about something, so the woman grew concerned when the little girl didn't answer her.

"Ava." Carter leaned over and nudged his friend. "Ms. Ann is calling you."

"Hm?" Ava turned to him with a bit of a groan.

Her head felt heavy and every light in the room was way too bright for her liking. She could feel the sweat dripping down her back which made her undershirt stick to her skin.

Ms. Ann put down the book she had been reading to the class and walked over to Ava, her heels clicking as she did so. Taking a look at the child, she could see that Ava's face was flushed and clammy. "I'm going to call your mother to come pick you up."

"…No." Ava shook her head.

"Ava, you're not in trouble, sweetheart. You're very sick and I want you to go home and get some rest. Now put your head down and catch some sleep before she gets here."

Ava woke up to muffled voices, but her eyes remained closed. She tried to make out what was being said, but right now, it sounded like she was underwater.

"Mr. Scott, I didn't expect to see you today." Ms. Ann smiled at the man, shaking his hand. "I'm Ann, Ava's teacher."

"Nice to meet you." Dan shook her hand. "She's told me a lot about you."

"I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, but I really do feel that you should take Ava home. She's a pleasure to have in my class, so I knew something was very wrong with her behavior today. She always wants to learn and she loves reading time, so her not paying attention alarmed me."

"Thank you for letting me know."

"Of course."

Dan looked over at his daughter and immediately understood where her teacher's concern was coming from. The little girl was asleep with her head resting on her cast. Her mouth was open slightly which indicated that she might be suffering from congestion. Her cheeks were pink and a few curls stuck to the back of her neck from sweat.

"Ava?" He gently shook her shoulder to wake her up. "C'mon, Baby. Let's go home."

"Mama….?" Ava tried to ask where Karen was.

"She's tied up at work so she asked me to come get you. You're coming home with me." Dan explained.

Ava sat up and blinked lazily, feeling so uncomfortable she thought she might cry.

Dan could see that she was in no position to get up and walk anywhere, so he put her bag over his shoulder and swung her up onto his hip, pressing her head against his shoulder. "Thanks again." He addressed her teacher.

"Take care."

"Don't feel good, Daddy." Ava whined as the man carried her out of the classroom, picking up her jacket along the way. "M'cold."

"You're burning up, Baby." He rubbed her back, thanking a teacher that held the main door open for him so he wouldn't have to put her down. "I'm sure you have a fever."

"And stuffy." She sniffled.

"And stuffy?" He entertained the conversation even though her temperature was probably at a point where nothing she was going to say would make sense. "What else?"

"Snuggles…." She whimpered as he placed her in her carseat, buckling her up properly even though it made her feel worse.

She hated the way the material of the seat rubbed up against her skin along with the seatbelt that dug into her neck.

"And snuggles." Dan nodded, hopping behind the wheel. "But first, we're gonna get you out of those clothes and into your jammies, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded weakly, remaining silent for the rest of the ride. She blinked lethargically as she watched the trees passing by in a blur of green over the blurry black asphalt.

Time seemed to be moving really weird because before she knew it, the car stopped and Dan was pulling the keys out of the ignition.

She must've been sicker than she thought.

"Arms up." He instructed her, waiting for her to do so before he unbuckled her and lifted her up again.

"Swim?" She questioned weakly when she noticed they were at the beach house.

"Not while you're sick." Dan almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the question. "I promise, when you get better, we can go play on the beach."

"Okay." Ava agreed, glad to be indoors.

She allowed her father to take her upstairs to her room, which was decorated similarly to the one at the main house. He set her down on her bed and rummaged through her drawers before he found a pair of footie pajamas that would keep her nice and warm.

"Alright, let's get those sweaty clothes off of you."

Ava cooperated perfectly as her father undressed her. She could tell that he was trying to be as gentle as possible. But it wasn't helping her any because he was taking too long. As soon as her skin was exposed to the cool air, she shivered, prompting him to hurry up and get her pjs on.

"There you go." He zipped her up, snapping the top button in place. "Nice and cozy, right?"

"Yeah." She rubbed her eyes before latching onto him.

Ava was already an affectionate little girl, but now that she was sick, that increased by tenfold.

"Alright, Baby. I've got some soup for you." Dan set a bowl down in front of Ava as the child laid on the couch in front of the tv.

He was allowing her to watch more tv than usual to get her mind off of her troubles and right now, she was engrossed in an episode of Lizzie McGuire. Anybody could tell she was tired, but she was too stubborn to go to sleep.

"What's this show about?" Dan asked, sitting down by her feet.

"A girl named Lizzie and her friends, Miranda and Gordo." Ava explained. "In this one, Miranda stops eating." She was able to finish her sentence before a sneeze flew from her nose.

"C'mere." Dan felt her forehead. "You're still warm. Eat your soup so I can give you a fever reducer before you take a nap."

"A nap?" Ava wrinkled her nose, shoving a spoonful of soup in her mouth.

"Yes, a nap." Dan playfully rolled his eyes. "You need all the rest you can get."

"I wanna stay up." Ava stuck her bottom lip out and bat her eyelashes.

"No, no, no." Dan shook his head. "You're tired, you're sick, and you need sleep. Eat up."

"Okay, Daddy." Ava coughed before she continued eating. It took a while due to her right arm being in a cast, but she managed to at least eat half the bowl before she decided to call it quits.

She wasn't a big fan of soup and she only ate as much as she did for two reasons; she didn't want to go to sleep and she didn't want to hurt her dad's feelings by not eating any of it.

"All done?" He asked, taking the bowl from her before feeding her a tablespoon of fever reducing medicine.

"Uh huh." She nodded, feeling her eyelids droop again.

"Alright, close your eyes."

Ava allowed her eyes to close momentarily, but when she remembered something important, they shot open again.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't have Lady." Ava's eyes welled up with tears. "I can't sleep without her."

Dan wasn't a new parent, he raised Nathan. But raising boys was much different than raising girls. Watching Ava like this was really hard for the man and he had no idea what to do.

"I need Lady, Daddy!" Ava grew more frantic when the reality that she was lacking her stuffed companion set in. "Please?"

"You can sleep without Lady." Dan assured her, moving to sit on the armchair. "C'mere."

Ava whined, but crawled into his arms, allowing him to cradle her like an infant. "M'not sleepy."

"Ssh."

"Are you asleep?"

"M'awake." Ava answered her brother. Dan had brought her to her room a couple of hours before Nathan arrived, thinking that she was fast asleep, but she was just resting her eyes. "Lady!"

"Here." Nathan handed her the stuffed animal. "Keep better track of your junk. I went all over town looking for this."

"Where'd you find her?"

"In my apartment, Miss 'I Can't Sleep Without It'. Next time, I'll let you cry it out."

Due to the drama with his parents divorce, Nathan decided that instead of splitting his time between the two, it was better to just get himself emancipated and live in his own apartment. Ava, being young, didn't understand the gravity of the situation, she just thought that her brother having his own apartment was cool.

Especially since he gave her a key to get in.

"No!" Ava cried, sitting up in her bed. "What were you doing today?"

"You mean, besides hunting down your security blanket, Linus?" Nathan joked. "The Boy Toy Auction was today. I hung out with Peyton. We had Chinese." He added, knowing it would make her jealous.

"Without me?" She coughed.

"We'll get some when you feel better, okay?" He tapped her nose. "But you have to get some rest."

"I'll go to sleep if you play with me."

"Play, what?" Nathan scoffed. "You can't go anywhere."

"Play cards."

"No, Ava." He shook his head, looking around the room. "But I'll watch a movie with you, okay?"

"Okay." Ava rubbed her eyes.

"But then I have to go. You're not about to get me sick."

"It's okay." Ava smiled cutely. "If you get sick, I'll take care of you."