Quinn sighed quietly while her eyes rested on her toes that squirmed around beneath her purple fuzzy socks. She ignored the quiet audio emitted from the t.v. across from her. After just three days of being grounded, she was already bored of the seemingly endless reruns of catfish. She furrowed her brow at Paloma who quickly joined her on the couch before clicking the television off.

"Hey, I was watching that," the girl scoffed.

Paloma said nothing and instead scooted closer to Quinn, the redhead scrunched her legs up as a result.

"What are you doing? I thought you were heading over to Ava's," Quinn pointed out.

"I was," Paloma replied, "I am. But I wanted to talk to you first."

"Don't worry, I know the deal. I know I'm grounded," she sighed. "I'm not leaving the house and I won't have Charlie over, I promise."

Paloma chuckled quietly, "That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about. I want you to know that I only said what I said and did what I did because, you know, I care about you so much. And...you scared me. But, I think Ava was right, I was being a little too hard on you. It's been a few days and you've done everything that I've asked, we've all made mistakes and I think you realize yours. Right?"

"Yeah," Quinn assured.

"Okay, good. Then...you're officially no longer grounded," she handed Quinn her cellphone and gave her a small smile.

"What?" the teenager grinned. "Really? Thanks." Her elated expression faltered ever so slightly once she noticed her sister staring at her. The redhead's eyes squinted in suspicion. "Not that I'm complaining, but...why exactly are you doing this? What changed your mind?"

Paloma shrugged, "Like I said, I thought about it and I figured that Ava was right."

" ...Okay," Quinn slowly nodded. "Well, thanks. I guess I'm gonna call Charlie. I'm assuming you apologized to Ava yesterday and you two are probably about to get down and dirty, which is something I'm hoping you'll do at her house instead of scaring me again," she laughed.

Paloma playfully rolled her nut brown eyes. "That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I actually haven't talked to Ava for a few days, and I didn't go to work yesterday or today."

Quinn furrowed her eye brows and spoke, "What? Why not, where'd you go?"

"Well...wait. First I want you to promise me you're not gonna get mad," Paloma bit her lip.

"What?" Quinn chuckled, "I can't promise anything."

"Well, I can't tell you unless you promise."

"Jesus, what'd you do?" the redhead pondered.

Paloma simply raised her eye brows.

"Okay, fine, I promise," Quinn reluctantly agreed. "Now, where'd you go?"

"Alright..." the brunette rubbed the back of her neck, "Yesterday when I was out, after I dropped you off at school, I really was on my way to work but...I got a call."

"Okay..."

"It was from Dr. Phelps," she admitted while trying to gauge Quinn's emotions. "He asked me to come to is office to talk for a few minutes."

Quinn felt her heart immediately skip a beat at the sound of Dr. Phelps' name. She prayed that it didn't mean what she thought it did. "What was it that he wanted to talk to you about?" she struggled to keep her voice steady.

"...You," Paloma stated quietly.

"What the hell did he say?" Quinn demanded. "What did he tell you?"

"You said that you wouldn't get mad," the woman sighed, "You promised, remember?"

The teenager clenched her teeth and nodded her head.

"He told me what you said the other day in your session," Paloma admitted. "He told me about what's apparently been bothering you."

"I can't believe this shit," Quinn sighed. She quickly got up from the couch and made her way into the kitchen, Paloma following closely behind.

"I'm not telling you this to make you angry. I just want to talk about it."

"Well, I don't!" the girl snapped. "God, he swore that he wouldn't say anything, he said that no matter what I said, it wouldn't leave the room. I should've known he was lying."

"No, he only told me because...what happened was..." Paloma struggled to find the right words. "He couldn't not tell me because if something happened later on, if you did something like that in the future and he didn't say anything, then it'd be on him. He has to say something about anyone that could possibly cause harm to themselves or others."

"I'm not...a danger. Not to others and especially not to myself. I told him and I'll tell you, I wouldn't do that again. That's why I didn't want you to know. I'm such an idiot," she growled while rubbing her forehead.

"No, you're not," Paloma soothed. "I'm the one that should apologize. You only tried that because I wasn't there for you and-."

"Paloma, I don't want to talk about it. We shouldn't ever talk about this, you weren't even supposed to know."

"I told you that you could tell me."

"I didn't want you to know. I wish you didn't know and I wish I didn't tell Dr. Phelps. I don't care what the hell you say, I'm not gonna go back to him ever again, he completely lied to me. To my face," Quinn hissed.

"He had to tell me. He even said that he doesn't think you would do something like that again, but he had to tell me."

"You're right, I wouldn't," Quinn assured in a hushed tone. "It was three years ago. It'd never happen again. And anyway, is that what this whole not grounded thing was about? Because you felt bad for me?"

"No," the woman quickly asserted, "I just don't want to be too hard on you."

Paloma and Quinn listened to the silence that lingered between them. The teenager fiddled with the loose string that stuck out from her oversized light gray sweatshirt before piercing through the quiet. "...I haven't been having the nightmares lately."

"I've noticed," Paloma smiled, "and I'm so glad."

"...You don't have anything to worry about, okay? I wouldn't do that, I won't...leave you," she promised with a shrug.

Paloma pulled Quinn into a hug, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her tightly as she spoke quietly, "I know. And... I know that you felt like you couldn't tell me because sometimes I freak out, but, I'm gonna work on that, okay? I want you to be able to talk to me, I'm gonna stop over reacting like I did the other day with the drinking thing. I want you to be able tell me stuff, no matter what it is."

Quinn slowly pulled away and nodded her head, "Yeah, okay," she shrugged. "Well, I'm gonna go call Charlie."

"Alright, and I'm going to run over to Ava's. There's money on the table for you to order pizza for dinner and I should be back home later tonight, but if I'm not, make sure you keep the doors locked and don't let anyone in. Especially not Charlie," Paloma explained with a pointed look. "You can't have him over when I'm not here."

"I know, I know," the girl uttered before dashing up the staircase.

Paloma grabbed her car keys and giggled, "Bye!"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Paloma grimaced slightly at Ava's direct question that blurted out of her mouth almost immediately after she opened her apartment door. Despite the anger displayed in her girlfriend's eyes, Paloma couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked when she was pissed. However, instead of voicing her thought and making Ava even angrier, she opted for a more appropriate response, "I came to see you."

She no longer had to wonder whether or not she was in hot water with her girlfriend, the redhead's response said it all, "You came to see me?" Ava repeated with an unamused expression.

"Yeah," Paloma affirmed. "And I didn't come empty handed. I hope you haven't eaten already." She held up a brown bag with a white label marked Esteban's. "I brought dinner."

Ava simply rolled her eyes before attempting to push the door closed, but Paloma's foot stopped her.

"Wait, wait, wait," Paloma begged. "I know you're mad."

"You're damn right I'm mad!" Ava yelled. "Paloma I haven't heard anything from you in days. You haven't even shown up to work since last week. Like what the hell? You basically just ghosted me out of nowhere."

"I know, but I can explain, that's why I came by. Can I just please come in?"

Ava sighed heavily, her eyes remaining fixed on the floor. "...You've got five minutes to give me a decent excuse before I kick you out on your ass."

"Sounds a little harsh," Paloma chuckled, her smile diminished once she saw the seriousness in Ava's eyes. "Okay, five minutes," she repeated before stepping inside, "that's reasonable."

Ava snatched the bag from Paloma and quickly began to remove its contents. She swiftly removed the wrapper from a hot quesadilla and bit into its soft, warm shell. The brunette couldn't help but smile at the sour cream that clung to the corners of Ava's mouth in the cutest way.

"Your time is winding down," Ava said with a mouth full of food.

"Right," Paloma nodded. "Look, Ava, I didn't mean to ghost you-."

"But you did," Ava interrupted.

"I was planing to see you at work, like I told you, but then something came up."

"Like what?" the redhead immediately challenged.

"I got a call from Quinn's therapist and he wanted me to come in to talk to him, that's why I missed work, that's why I didn't see you."

"So, what, you were there for forty eight hours straight?" Ava scoffed.

"No, after I went there, I just kinda got caught up in my own head and I couldn't think clearly. I didn't want to go to work like that."

Ava pursed her lips, "Why didn't you call to let me know or even answer any of my calls? I called you a bunch last night and today and you didn't pick up."

"I know, I was going to, but-."

"I mean, why did you even tell me not to call you?" Ava crossed her arms. "I know that you were upset with me about the whole Quinn drinking situation, but I didn't think you were pissed enough to stop talking to me or to make me leave."

"I wasn't really mad at you, I just..." she shrugged. "Look I would've called but I wanted to talk to you in person."

Ava studied Paloma as the brunette's words from a few days ago echoed through her head,  "We're fine, Ava. I just need some time."  She ran her head through locks while she inhaled deeply, "Wait," she said in a hushed tone. "You're not...are you breaking up with me?"

Paloma immediately shook her head, "No, of course not. But, I realized after I told you to leave the other day, that my sister was right."

"...And what exactly was she right about?"

"She was right about me being a dick towards you. I didn't even notice I was being that way but...I was," Paloma admitted.

"Yeah, you kinda were. You know I care about you more than anyone, but you don't get to take advantage of that and treat me like crap. Not to toot my own horn or whatever, but I think I deserve better than that. You can't just use me and then push me away once you get tired of me."

Paloma sighed at Ava's serious assertion, her mind instantly flashed back to several months ago to her fling with Sandra. She bit her lip once she recalled the all to familiar words that aligned almost perfectly with Ava's, "I don't know why I thought tonight would be any different. You got what you wanted, right...and now I have to leave?"

"You're right. You do deserve better and I was treating you like crap," Paloma agreed. "Honestly, you're too good for me," she chuckled. "I don't even know why you want to be be with me because I'm a pretty good friend, but I can be a really shitty girlfriend. But...look, I'll do better. Anyone could see that you're a catch and I really, really don't want to fuck this up. I'm sorry."

Ava uncrossed her arms once she noticed the remorse in Paloma's face. "Well, aside from you kicking me out of your house the other day, ditching on our plans to see a movie, not answering any of my calls, and not showing up to work...you've actually been a pretty kick ass girlfriend in my opinion," she smirked.

"No, I really haven't," Paloma chuckled. "I was slowly pushing you out of my life. I wasn't really mad at you for the whole Quinn going to that party thing, but...I don't know. With you staying over so much and us carpooling to work, and hanging out and everything..." she sighed, "I'm just not used to being so close to the person I'm seeing or being held accountable for shit. I'm not used to things being so real. I usually only see the same person for a month at the very most. We're not just having sex, but we're actually in a relationship and that kinda spooked me."

"I thought that I was coming on too strong," Ava nodded. "I tried not to but, I don't know, it's like whenever I'm around you, I can't stop. I know how you are, I know that you need space, room to breath. I'm sorry, I'll back off, I don't want to scare you. I get that you're not there yet and that's okay. There's plenty of time to do everything in the future, we have loads of time. I just...I've liked you for so long it's just like, in my head it's nothing new. In my mind we've been dating for two years and now that I finally have you to myself, it just felt a little hard to slow down because I felt like so much time had been wasted already."

Paloma smiled at Ava's words before a smirk crept onto her lips. "Well, if you weren't such a pussy and just asked me out two years ago then maybe things would be different," Paloma joked.

"Shut up," Ava playfully rolled her eyes and nudged the brunette's shoulder.

"So...are we good?" Paloma pondered hopefully.

"Yeah," Ava promised. She wrapped her hand around Paloma's neck and pulled her into a gentle kiss. "So, now that we've cleared the air, let's start over with a clean slate. I'll stop coming in too strong and you'll stop, you know...being a bitch," she smiled broadly.

"Yeah, okay," the brunette snickered.

"Though I must say, I'm really gonna miss the morning sex. It really gave me the energy boost I needed to put in a hard days work," Ava smirked, "And, you know, it's gonna be really hard not waking up next to you in the morning."

"Well, then, I guess we should get it in one more time before that changes," Paloma whispered in a husky tone, her voice an octave lower than normal.

Ava raised her eyebrows at the brunette's boldness, her eyes darkening in desire. "Yeah, we really should," she nodded her head vigorously before swiftly scampering out of her clothing, Paloma following her lead.