It's been just over a week. Avery's discharge date is getting closer so she's in a meeting with Dr Braun and Owen.

'So, we're a few days away from your discharge. Now, your progress has been amazing. You've opened up a lot more.' Dr Braun starts off. 'That being said, I've gotten funding for you to have a team of three part-time support workers.'

'Support workers?' Avery asks, confused.

'They'll help you with taking your meds, going out, coming to therapy, things like that.' Dr Braun explains.

'I don't really want people hovering over me all the time again.' Avery shakes her head.

'The funding is only for twelve hours. Eight in the morning to eight at night. They won't be hovering over you. If you want your space, they'll give you your space. You'll still be able to do everything you want to do. You have full capacity so unless it's something that will put you or someone else in danger, they legally cannot stop you. If they do try and stop and it's completely safe, let me know and I'll speak to them.'

'For what it's worth,' Owen speaks up and Avery looks at him, 'I think it's a good idea. I know you didn't like the "Avery watch" last time but this will be different. They'll just be there to help when you need it.'

'Will I get to pick them? The support workers?' Avery questions.

'The agency sent over resumes of people who are able to take the job. They wanted you to have a look through them and pick who you'd like.' Dr Braun nods.  'There's only ten but the agency already narrowed it down in a professional sense, basically, you won't find someone in there who only has experience of working with people with personality disorder, for example, because that wouldn't help you.' She slides over a folder. 'Have a look through them with your dad but I'll need an answer in the morning.'

'Okay.' Avery nods, picking up the folder.

'Room two is free for the rest of the day so after this meeting, you can go in there and look through them without being disturbed.' Dr Braun informs them. 'Onto the next thing, as you know we've been pursuing a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Throughout your sessions here and going by what your psychiatric files say, I feel confident enough to diagnose you with bipolar.'

'So, what does that mean going forward?' Avery questions. 'More medication?'

'Unfortunately, yes.' Dr Braun nods. 'We'll start you on Lithium as a starting point as well as therapy but we'll go through all of that in more detail during your discharge meeting.' She adds. 'For now, I just want you to focus on going through the resumes so you don't get overwhelmed with a lot of information.' Avery nods and Dr Braun stands up. 'I'll take you both through to room two now, come back to me when you're ready, if I'm not in my office, get one of the nurses to page me.'

'We will.' Owen nods.

.

It's been a couple of hours. After going through the resumes, Avery, with input from Owen, has picked her team of support workers and is happy with them.

'Of course, you would pick three support workers who like reading.' Owen laughs, shaking his head.

'What?' Avery shrugs. 'That's pretty much all I do. I'll be able to talk their ears off instead of yours, or T.K's, or Carlos', or-'

'Okay, I get it.' Owen laughs, cutting her off. 'You're certain these are the three you want?' He asks, pointing to the three sheets they've taken out of the folder.

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'If I keep thinking about it, I'll second guess myself and pick someone I probably won't get along with.' She continues. 'I'm happy with who I've got. The current funding isn't for that long anyways.'

'Then let's go tell Dr Braun.' Owen smiles and nods.

.

It's the day that Avery is being discharged. Owen has arrived at Safe Haven to help Avery pack. A nurse leads him to her room. He sees Avery folding some clothes and putting them into her suitcase which is on the bed.

'Avery.' The nurse states. Avery turns around and smiles.

'Hey, dad.' She grins.

'Thank you.' Owen thanks the nurse. The nurse nods and walks off and Owen walks up to Avery.

'Hey.' He smiles as he brings her in for a hug. 'How much you got left to do?'

'I've only just started on my clothes. Then there's my toiletries, the books, the arts stuff I've done.' Avery replies. Alongside reading, Avery had also done a lot of crafts as a form of art therapy. 'It shouldn't take long.' They both turn to the bed and carry on with the packing.

'I know I've said this a million times in the past two months, but I'm really proud of you, Ave.' Owen states after a few moments. 'You've come really far.'

'Thanks.' Avery smiles slightly, not looking at him. He can tell that something's bothering her but decides to not push on it and wait. 'I'm going to be okay, right?' She turns and looks at her dad. 'I'm going to be okay?'

'You're going to be okay.' Owen nods, putting a hand on her shoulder. 'You've got a whole support network waiting for you.' He adds. 'Me, T.K., Carlos, the 126, Jason, Sharon, Megan.' Upon hearing Megan's name, Avery looks away. 'We've got your back and we'll always be there for you, no matter what.' Avery steps forward and wraps her arms around him.

'Thank you.' She says quietly as Owen envelopes her in his arms.

'I'm your dad, Avery.' Owen replies, rubbing her back. 'You don't need to thank me.'

.

Two hours later. It's official. Avery has been discharged from Safe Haven. After a short meeting with Dr Braun about what's next for Avery including when the support workers will start and therapy three times a week, Avery and Owen walk out of the facility and to the car. As Avery gets into the passenger seat and buckles in, Owen puts her suitcase in the trunk. Once its in, he walks around the car, gets in and also puts his seatbelt on.

'You ready to head home?' He asks his daughter.

'As much as I'd love to go home and get in my own bed,' Avery starts, 'can we go somewhere else first?'

'Sure.' Owen nods. 'Where do you want to go?'

'Can we go see Megan?' She asks hopeful.

'Of course.' Owen smiles. 'T.K. told me that you said she's the first person you wanted to see. I just didn't know whether you wanted to go home for a bit first.'

'No.' Avery shakes her head. 'I want to go see Megan. Is she at home?'

'She is.' Owen nods. 'I asked Jason before I came and picked you up. I let him know we might be going to see Megan but told him not to tell her anything.'

'Okay.' Avery nods. Owen starts driving as Avery looks out of the window, nervously biting her nail.

'She wants to see you too, Ave.' Owen reassures her.

'What if she's angry?' Avery asks, looking at him.

'She's not.' Owen assures her. 'I spoke to her yesterday. She also asked me when she could see you. I told her it was up to you and she was okay with that.'

Twenty minutes later, at Megan's, Megan and Jason are sitting on the sofa watching a movie when there's a knock at the door. Megan looks at Jason, confused.

'You should get that.' Jason tries to hide his smile.

'Why?' Megan asks, confused as she stands up. 'What did you buy?'

'Nothing.' Jason shrugs. 'But trust me, you'll like this more.' He adds, standing up. He follows Megan to the door and watches as she unlocks it and opens it. Avery is standing on the other side, nervously fiddling with her fingers. When Owen pulled up, she asked him to wait in the car. Jason walks to Megan's side and kisses her cheek. 'I'm going to give you two some space.'

'Okay.' Megan whispers not taking her eyes off of Avery. Jason steps out of the house and quickly pulls Avery in for a hug.

'I'll come see you later.' He whispers in her ear. Avery nods before he steps back and walks off. There's a few moments of silence before Avery speaks.

'I don't know if-,' she starts but before she can say anything more, Megan closes the gap bewteen them and hugs her. That does it. The two girls break down. 'I'm sorry.' Avery sobs. 'I'm so sorry for what I said.'

'It's okay.' Megan replies, through her own tears. 'I promise you, it's okay.' The two girls part and wipe their tears. 'Do you want to come in?' Avery looks behind her at Owen's car and sees him nod before turning back to Megan.

'Sure.' Avery nods, smiling slightly. Avery steps over the threshold, into the hallway and Megan closes the door behind her.

'Let's go sit in the front room.' Megan states. Avery nods and they both walk to the front room and sit down on the sofa and sit in silence. 'I was so worried about you.' Megan breaks the awkward silence after a minute. 'Not knowing where you were, how you were, then when you were back and refusing to see me I was worried that it was the end of our friendship.' Avery looks down, biting her lip. 'I'm not blaming you, God, I would never blame you for that. T.K. and Carlos told me why you didn't want to see me whilst you were in Safe Haven and I can respect that. I'm just-,' she takes a deep breath, 'I'm just glad you came to see me.'

'I want to apologise.' Avery replies. 'For what I said.'

'Avery, I already told you, it's okay.' Megan reassures her.

'Please, I have to do this.' Avery pleads. Megan nods and motions for her to continue. 'What I said was way out of line. There's no excuse for it. Yes, I was ill. I was off my meds. I had little to no control but I should've just walked away. I hurt your feelings. I did something I hate people doing to me. I used your past against you.'

'I'll admit, it did hurt my feelings. A lot. In the moment I was so fucking pissed off which is why I walked out myself. I knew you weren't yourself and I didn't want to make matters worse.' Megan responds. 'But best friends fight. They fall out and they make up.' She adds. 'It took a couple of days for me to calm down but Ave, I forgave you pretty much straight away and when I saw your necklace on my door handle I was so fucking freaked out.'

'I thought you wouldn't want me to keep it after what I said.' Avery looks down. Megan stands up, walks out of the room and returns a few moments later with something in her hand. The necklace.

'Here.' Megan hands it to her. 'I want you to have it back.' Avery looks back up and gently takes the necklace. 'It will take a lot more than one little sentence to ruin what we have. We're both fucked up in the head. That's why we're friends.' They both laugh as Avery puts the necklace. 'Right back where it belongs,' Megan smiles slightly, 'and we're not friends. You're like a sister to me.'

'Soul sisters.' Avery smiles.

'Soul sisters.' Megan nods before they share a hug. 'So,' Megan continues as they part, 'stupid question, but how was Safe Haven?'

'It was a lot. It was tough, speaking about everything that has contributed to my mental health going south and all that shit.' Avery responds. 'It helped though. A lot. I was formally diagnosed with bipolar so thats been added to the list of my mental health conditions.'

'That's good though, right?' Megan asks.

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'It means they're able to properly treat the psychosis and mania I've been experiencing and hopefully prevent it.' She adds. 'I also met someone there, she helped me a lot.' Megan notices the blush creeping up Avery's cheeks.

'You like her.' Megan nudges Avery with her shoulder.

'I guess.' Avery shrugs. 'Her name's Charlotte. She was discharged last week. Speaking of which I've got to text her. We were having a competition to see who could read the most books between her being discharged and me being discharged. Whoever loses has to buy coffee for the other.' Avery gets her phone out and starts typing in Charlotte's number, which she has memorised.

'No wonder you like her.' Megan laughs slightly. 'She's a reader.' Avery chuckles and shakes her head as she types out the message.

To: Charlotte

Heyy! It's Ave, I was discharged about an hour ago. I read 5 books.

Avery sets her phone down and nervously bites her nail as she waits for a reply.

'Out of curiosity, how many books did you read?' Megan queries.

'Five.' Avery tells her. 'Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, Thieves Gambit by Kayvion Lewis, Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou, Triple Duty Bodyguards by Lily Gold and The Anti-Hero by Sara Cate.' She lists off the books she read. 'I was in it to win it.' Her phone chimes and she quickly picks it up.

From: Charlotte

YOU'RE FREEE!!! And damn it. I read two. Callie has me doing all sorts. Guess I owe you a coffee. How does Coffee and Bean tomorrow at 10am sound?

A grin spreads across Avery's face.

'I take it you won?' Megan laughs.

'Of course I did.' Avery dramatically flips her hair. 'She wants to go for coffee tomorrow at ten.'

'You mean take you to coffee.' Megan raises an eyebrow.

'Semantics.' Avery swats her hand.

'What are you going to say?'

'I have to have support workers for a short period of time and one of them starts tomorrow.' Avery rubs her eyebrow. 'However, if I want to go, they can't stop me.' She looks down at her phone, re-reading the message. 'I'm gonna say yes.'

To: Charlotte

Sounds good! See you there :)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Avery has been discharged! I'm not gonna lie, I may have cried a little while writing the reunion between Megan and Avery lmao. 

Where do you things will go between Avery and Charlotte?

Let me know what you think!