"Welcome home."

Ava watched as her brother struggled to get into his apartment using his crutches. Once she found out that he was being discharged from the hospital, Lucas couldn't convince her not to join him to bring their brother home.

The nine year old had been watching him like a hawk, never taking her eyes off of him for even a second, afraid he was going to get hurt again.

The older boy sat at the kitchen island, flipping through the mail he missed while he was out, none of which looked promising. "Bill. Bill. Final notice….way final notice."

Ava chewed on her lip, knowing that Nathan would have to find a way to pay those bills.

But would he be able to come up with enough?

"You ever rob a bank, Luke?"

"Hey, you've got friends." Lucas assured him. "We'll help."

"Yeah, that sounds great. All I need is the money for these bills and, uh, a hundred-thousand dollars to pay the hospital."

"Wow, woulda been a lot cheaper if you'd just hit the brakes, huh?" Lucas gave his little brother a look.

Ava looked back and forth between the two, obviously understanding what Lucas was implying because she had thought of it herself.

Did Nathan plan to hit that wall? Or was it really just an accident?

And if Nathan really did plan to hit the wall, what was to stop him from trying to hurt himself again?

"What happened out there, Nathan?"

"You were there." Nathan had a faraway look in his eyes. "You tell me."

"Ava, why don't you head on home?" Lucas didn't want Ava to hear what they were going to talk about.

She was already traumatized enough by what happened and she really didn't need any more nightmare fuel. She didn't sleep enough as it was and this would just make everything worse.

"But you told me I could help."The little girl pouted, panic rising in her throat at the thought of being separated from her brother.

"You did help." Nathan assured her, jumping in when he caught on to what Lucas was doing. "And I know you haven't been sleeping." He shot her a pointed look.

Ava had bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep, but she just had to know that her brother was okay. She wouldn't be able to rest otherwise.

Which meant she couldn't leave now. If something happened to him while she was gone, it would break her.

"Look, if you want, go into my room and lay down." The brunette compromised.

If she wasn't going to go home and grab some kip, then staying at the apartment was an alternative they could all live with.

"Where will you sleep?" She questioned, obviously more concerned about him than she was about herself.

"I'm not going to sleep anytime soon. Go ahead."

"Ava, I'll keep my eyes on him the entire time." Lucas promised.

He was really worried about both of his siblings. Between Nathan's wreck and Ava's newfound separation anxiety, he wasn't sure what to do.

"Okay." Ava rubbed her eyes with a yawn. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Ava, I'm fine. Look." Nathan wiggled, doing a silly little dance in his seat. "Go."

Ava considered it for a second, but ultimately decided that it was better to get some rest. Lucas was with Nathan and if anything happened, he'd be there to help.

She had to admit, she was a little sleepy. She was practically falling out just standing right where she was.

If she didn't go now, she'd probably collapse from pure exhaustion.

"What're you doing in my kitchen?" Nathan asked his sister as she rummaged around the cupboards, kneeling on the counter so she could reach whatever it was she was looking for. It had been days since he came home from the hospital and Ava stopped by at least once a day to see if he had everything he needed. "You're not allowed to use the stove."

"Not unless someone's with me." Ava acknowledged, pouting when Nathan lifted her up and set her on her feet with warning tap. The fact that she had been climbing the counters and using the stove could've gone wrong in all sorts of ways and she knew better. "And you're here. I'm making you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat." The nine year old moved to turn the stove off, only stopping when her brother tapped her hand out of the way and did it himself. With an annoyed huff, she reached for the pot and poured some soup out into a bowl for him. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Nathan took the bowl from her and looked down at the soup, hobbling over to one of the island stools so he could sit down. With a deep breath, he took a spoonful of it and grimaced at the taste.

"Do you like it?" Ava trained those sweet, innocent eyes on him and he almost lied and told her that it was the best soup he ever had.

But the taste was like a truth serum.

"C'mere." He waved her over, lifting her to sit on his lap so he could talk to her. "I really appreciate you making this for me, but, Ava, I can't eat this."

"How come?" Ava had that look on her face that was able to make both her brothers do anything she wanted them to do.

Nathan could only describe it as something close to the sweetest little bunny rabbit in the world mixed with the eyes of a puppy.

And he almost folded.

"You try some." He fed her a spoonful and watched as her face changed.

He figured that if she had some for herself, she'd understand where he was coming from.

"Ick." She wrinkled her nose. He was right, this was awful and she couldn't believe that she had a hand in making such an atrocity. "Sorry."

"For what? It's no big deal."

"I'm supposed to take care of you and I can't even make you soup."

"Ava, you don't have to take care of me." Nathan was starting to see that Lucas' concern was not unfounded and it was time he had a talk with their sister. "Where is this coming from, Buddy?"

"I don't know." Ava shrugged, playing with the collar of his zip-up sweater. She knew how much Nathan loved it, it was his 76ers sweater and the one he wore the most. She often found herself tracing the embroidered emblem whenever she was bored or uncomfortable.

"Ava, are you scared?" Nathan took her hands in one of his own, tipping her chin with his finger to get her to meet his eyes.

Ava opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out, so she just nodded her head.

"You don't have to be scared. I'm fine."

"But you crashed into the wall and then you weren't moving…." Ava's voice wavered. "I thought you were gonna die…."

And like a lightbulb, something in Nathan clicked and fell into place.

His relationship with his parents was complicated. He and Lucas were trying to figure out what kind of brothers they wanted to be, but then still butt heads more often than not. His marriage with Haley was under fire, but Ava needed him.

In his own grief and sadness, he didn't think about how any of this was going to affect her.

"I'm sorry, Ava." Nathan wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. "You never should've had to see that."

"But why did you do it? Haley left, but me and Lucas are still here. We're not gonna leave."

"You're right. I won't do it again." He promised.

"Okay." Ava's voice sounded lighter as if that was all it took to get her to perk up.

"Now let's get rid of this soup, alright? We can order Chinese or something." Nathan made a silly face, making her laugh.

"And sour gummy worms?"

"And sour gummy worms."

A/N: Two chapters to make up for being for so long! I've been really busy as of late, but I haven't forgotten this story and I'm so excited to continue it.