(re-uploading because there were some issues with notifications - which should be fixed now)

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'What happened?' Judd asks.

'I took a bunch of pills and walked into the middle of the highway.' Avery replies, not making eye contact. 'I was hit by a truck. I had a concussion, broke my leg and fractured my pelvis.'

'Does your dad and T.K. know?' Judd questions.

'No, they don't.' They hear T.K. say. They look up and see T.K. He sits the other side of Avery.

'But my mom said that she told you.' Avery looks at him confused.

'No,' T.K. shakes his head, 'we never heard anything.'

'Why would mom hide something like that from you and dad?' Avery questions. 'I almost died, I-I-' she then stops and takes a deep breath. 'What did you mean when you said that I didn't know the full story?' Before T.K. can answer, they're called for their flight.

'Look, we'll talk about it with dad when we get home.' T.K. says. 'I promise.' The three of them then stand up and make their way to board the plane.

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Three hours later, T.K., Avery and Judd have arrived back in Austin. They all stand outside. Whilst Avery has her eyes fixated on her phone with her earphones in, T.K. and Judd talk.

'Thanks for coming with me.' T.K. thanks Judd.

'No problem.' Judd nods. 'Are you going to speak to her about what she told us?'

'Yeah.' T.K. sighs and nods. 'I'm going to wait until she's ready to talk to dad about it though. That's her story to tell, not mine.' He looks at his little sister. 'I had no idea she was feeling like that. Whenever we were on facetime, she was always smiling. I didn't - I didn't see how forced it was.'

'T.K., you weren't to know.' Judd puts his hand on his shoulder. 'Teenagers are amazing at hiding how they're truly feeling. When you two get some time alone, talk to her. She needs to know that you're always there for her. She may already know it, but she needs to hear it come from you.'

'Yeah.' T.K. says quietly. 'I better get her home.' They both join Avery and she takes her earphones out. 'You ready?'

'Yeah.' Avery nods.

'Dad is at work so we'll talk with him later.' T.K. informs her.

'I better get home to Grace.' Judd states. He looks at Avery. 'No more running away.'

'Can't promise that.' Avery laughs. T.K. shoots her a glare. 'What?' He continues to glare at her. 'It was joke.'

'I'll see you guys tomorrow.' Judd laughs before walking away.

'That wasn't funny.' T.K. raises his eyebrow at Avery. 'You had us all worried sick. Dad wasn't sleeping. He was sat by the phone waiting for a call off Carlos or anyone, saying that you're safe.' The smile fades from Avery's face.

'Really?' She asks quietly.

'Yeah.' T.K. nods. 'Come on. Let's go home.'

.

When they get home, Avery walks straight through to the front room and sits on the sofa with her legs crossed.

'I'm going to order some pizza.' T.K. says from behind her. 'What do you want?'

'I'm not hungry.' Avery says quietly. T.K. walks around to her and sits beside her.

'You need to eat something, Ave. You haven't eaten anything since this morning.' T.K. tells her.

'I'll have something later.' Avery mumbles. 'I'm not in the mood to eat right now.'

'Ave-' T.K. starts to say but Avery takes her phone out of her pocket, puts her earphones in and starts playing her music. Sighing, T.K. stands up and walks away.

.

It has been a few hours. Owen is just arriving home from work. He walks through the front door and T.K. walks up to him.

'She's in the front room.' T.K. informs him.

'Thank god.' Owen sighs with relief.

'We need to tell her the truth.' T.K. tells him. 'About Shianne. She deserves to know.'

'I can't.' Owen shakes his head. 'It hasn't even been a month. She needs time to process what happened.'

'The longer you leave it, the more times she'll try and run away, the farther you two will drift.' T.K. states. 'She needs to know the truth before you can start rebuilding your relationship with her.' Owen stays silent for a few minutes. 'Dad, you need her to trust you.'

'Fine.' Owen nods. 'Let's go.' They both walk through to the front room. Avery is sat in the same position she was when she and T.K. got home. Owen sits in the armchair whilst T.K. sits next to his sister. They sit in silence for a few minutes until Avery sighs and takes her earphones out.

'You can spare me the lecture.' She says.

'I'm not going to give you a lecture.' Owen shakes his head. 'We need to talk to you about your mom.'

'What about my mom?' Avery asks. T.K. and Owen look at each other. 'Is this the "whole story"?'

'Yes.' T.K. nods as he looks at Avery.

'When you were little, your mom would always let me see you. I'd take you and T.K. to the park, to the movies. After I had taken you to the 9/11 memorial in 2011, she got angry. She said that you were too young to know what is what about, too young to be there. That's when she started to stop letting me see you.'

'Mom always said you didn't want to see me. She'd say that you were too busy with work.' Avery states.

'Let's him finish, Ave.' T.K. says.

'She started to minimise the contact I could have with you both over the phone and in person. She didn't want me involved all the time. Eventually, she cut off all contact. She didn't tell me anything when it came to you. I know that you kept contact with T.K but-'

'I didn't keep contact with you because mom said you didn't want to know.' Avery looks down. 'She'd say that you wouldn't answer, that you'd blocked my number, that you didn't care about me.'

'Avery, I have always cared about you. I always will.' Owen reassures her. 'I didn't even know you'd moved to L.A. until T.K. told me.' Tears are starting to fall from her eyes.

'So mom- mom lied to me?' Avery looks back up and Owen simply nods. 'I don't believe you.' Owen looks at T.K. who stands up and walks out of the room. He returns a few minutes later with a folder. He sits back down and hands the folder to Avery. 'What's this?' She opens the folder and starts flipping through it.

'That's all of the text messages, emails and letters between me and your mom.' Owen replies. 'I thought it would be best if I kept track of everything.'

'Some of these messages, of things I've said, they're not true.' Avery furrows her eyebrows. 'Like this one - "she doesn't want to see you" - I was always asking to see you. And this one - "she can't come and see you, she's at hockey camp" - I can't play hockey to save my life.'

'I know.' Owen nods.

'So mom really lied to me?' Avery asks. Again, Owen nods. 'Then why didn't you try and come and get me? Why didn't you try and get custody?'

'I did, Ave.' Owen says. 'I filed so many custody papers but your mom kept winning. I tried, I really did.' Avery slams the folder shut.

'Well, you obviously didn't try hard enough!' Avery shouts as she stands up.

'Avery-' Owen starts but she ignores him and runs up to her room.

.

It has been a few weeks. Avery and Owen have been working on the father-daughter relationship but it's taking some time. Avery has gotten close with the team at the 126 as well Carlos and Grace. She told Owen about her tattoo, it's safe to say that he wasn't very happy but, surprisingly, it didn't end in an argument. It's the day that Avery gets her cast removed. She's sat on the edge of her bed putting her shoes on when T.K. appears in the doorway.

'So, I heard you finally told dad about the tattoo last night.' He says. Avery looks up and him.

'Yeah.' She laughs softly. 'I figured it'd be best to tell him instead of him finding out when the cast comes off.'

'Good call.' T.K. nods laughing. 'All I heard last night was dad shout "you got a tattoo?!" and that was it.' He adds. 'No argument?'

'No argument.' Avery shakes her head. 'Dad just said that I was stupid for getting it but he also said that he was proud of me for having the balls to go behind my mom's back.'

'You've been bad-mouthing your mom a lot lately.' T.K. says concerned as he leans against the doorframe.

'Yeah, well,' Avery sighs standing up, 'she's a bitch.' She sees that T.K. has an eyebrow raised. 'T.K, she purposefully stopped me from seeing you and dad. She's the reason I have a bad relationship with dad.'

'I know.' T.K. nods. 'But bad-mouthing her isn't going to change anything.'

'Maybe not.' Avery responds. 'But it sure as hell is helping.' She puts her jacket on before standing in the mirror and straightening out her outfit. She holds her left arm out in front of her and stares at her cast. 'I can't wait to get rid of this.' She drops her arm and looks at the time on her phone. 'T-minus 1 hour.'

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An hour later, Avery, T.K. and Owen are sat in one of the orthopaedic clinic rooms. A nurse walks in with a trolley containing the equipment needed to remove Avery's cast.

'Hi, Avery.' She smiles. 'I'm Sarah, one of the nurses. I'm going to be removing your cast after that, we'll have to get an X-ray of your arm to make sure it's all healed and then you'll be seen by one of our doctors.'

'Sounds good.' Avery nods. The nurse starts to remove her cast. Once she's removed it, she cleans her arm revealing the tattoo. She nervously looks at T.K. and Owen.

'That's actually quite nice.' T.K. admires the tattoo. 'What's your next one going to be.'

'Don't encourage her!' Owen nudges T.K., 'but I have to agree, it is actually quite nice.'

'X-ray will be expecting you, it's just down the hall.' Sarah informs them.

'Thank you.' Owen nods. Sarah smiles and walks out of the room.

Forty minutes later, Avery, Owen and T.K. are walking out of the hospital. Avery's arm has fully healed but has to do some physiotherapy exercises for a couple of weeks as well as having to wait another few weeks before doing any sports with it. The three of them get into the car and make their way home.

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It's the next day and a Saturday. Avery wakes up at 10 am and makes her way downstairs. As she's sat at the counter eating some breakfast, she gets a text from T.K. She picks her phone up from the counter and reads it.

From: T.K.

To: Avery

Dad and I are on shift. Once you're up and have gotten something to eat. Come by the station.

She quickly taps out a reply and sends it.

From: Avery

To: T.K.

Kk. I'll be there in about two hours

She puts her phone back down and finishes off her breakfast. Once she's done, she walks back upstairs. She has a quick wash and brushes her teeth before getting changed into a grey knitted sweater, black skinny jeans and white sneakers.

She brushes her hair and decides to leave it down before moving on to doing her usual everyday make-up look. Once she's ready, she packs her bag with her wallet, IPad and Apple Pen, her make-up wipes, some tissues and her book. She slips her phone in her pocket, picks her keys up from her bedside table and leaves.

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Avery decides to take the long way to the 126. She stops by the 7-Eleven to get some soda and a chocolate bar on the way. As she's walking through the park a few blocks from the station, she notices a group of men attempting to rob a lady who appears to be in her 70s. She quickly takes a picture of the event for the police and starts running towards them.

'Hey!' Avery shouts. The men quickly drop everything and run away. The woman drops to the floor. When she reaches the woman, she sets her bag down on the floor and kneels down beside the woman. She notices that the woman is whimpering and has a split lip. 'Ma'am it's okay, I'm going to call 9-1-1.' She helps the woman sits up.

'It's okay, I don't-' The woman starts to say.

'Ma'am,' Avery interrupts her, 'you were assaulted. You need an ambulance.' She raises her an eyebrow.

'I'll have an ambulance if you stop calling me ma'am.' The woman replies. 'My name's Hilary. Hilary Miller.'

'Okay, Hilary.' Avery nods. 'I'm Avery.' She takes the tissues out of her bag and hands them to Hilary. 'Put this on your lip.' The woman takes it and does so as Avery gets her phone out and dials 9-1-1.'

'9-1-1, what's your emergency?' The 9-1-1 operator, who happens to be Grace, answers. Avery instantly recognises the voice.

'Grace, it's Avery.' Avery states.

'Avery?' Grace asks concerned. 'Are you okay? What happened?'

'I'm fine.' Avery assures her. 'I need police and an ambulance to the park a few blocks from the 126. I don't know the name of it, it's the smaller one, the-'

'I know which one you're on about.' Grace nods as she types in the location. 'What happened?' She asks again.

'I witnessed a mugging and assault. The offenders ran off, the victim has a split lip. I'm not sure if she has any other injuries.' Avery explains. Grace goes silent for a minute as she dispatches police and medical aid.

'Okay.' Grace responds. 'I've dispatched Officer Reyes to your location. 126 are just finishing up on a call so they'll be with you shortly.'

'Thanks.' Avery smiles. 'And Grace, radio my dad and tell me he doesn't need to come. I know you told him I was involved.'

'I don't think he'll listen to me.' Grace says causing Avery to groan. Grace laughs. 'He's only looking out for you.'

'I know.' Avery replies. 'I'll clear the line now so you can go back to helping people.' She laughs. 'Bye.'

'Bye.' Grace says before Avery hangs up. She puts her phone back in her bag.

'Let's get you sat on this bench behind you.' Avery tells the woman. She helps the woman stand up and Hilary sits on the bench. Avery quickly picks up Hilary's belongings and places them on the bench before sitting next to the woman.

'You seemed awfully friendly with that dispatcher.' Hilary points out.

'She's married to one of my dad's co-workers. And my brother's for that matter.' Avery tells her.

'What do your brother and dad do?' Hilary queries.

'My dad is the captain of Fire Station 126 and my brother is a firefighter at the 126.' Avery answers.

'You're not from around here, are you? Pretty much every Austin native knows this park.' Hilary asks.

'No.' Avery laughs as she shakes her head. 'I was born in New York, my mom and I moved to LA when I was twelve and then a month ago I moved here to live with my dad and brother.'

'What about your mom?' Hilary questions. Avery doesn't say anything leading Hilary to figure out what happened. 'I'm sorry.' Hilary sympathises. 'What happened?'

'Freak accident.' Avery tells her. 'We were in the car when we swerved down into a quarry. I got away lucky, my mom was killed on impact.'

'I'm so sorry.' Hilary says once more. Before anything more can be said, Avery spots Carlos walking towards them.

'Avery.' He nods at the young girl once he reaches them. 'Ma'am, I'm Officer Carlos Reyes. Do you know what direction the offenders ran in?'

'I'm not sure.' Hilary shakes her head. 'Avery here saw most of it.'

'Ave?' Carlos looks at Avery.

'They ran down the trail.' Avery points in the direction the offenders ran off in. 'I was able to get a quick picture before I intervened.' She gets her phone out and shows Carlos the picture. 'I know it's not much but-'

'We can work with it.' Carlos nods, cutting her off. 'That's if you want to press charges?' He asks Hilary.

'Of course.' Hilary nods. Before Carlos can continue, the 126 arrive. Michelle, Tim and Nancy tend to the woman as Owen, TK., Judd, Marjan, Mateo and Paul stand back, waiting for Avery.

'I'll take your statement at the hospital.' Carlos tells Hilary. 'Ave, we can do yours now.' He looks back at Owen. 'But you best go speak with your dad first. Just so he knows you're okay.'

'Good idea.' Avey laughs as she stands up.

'Thank you, Avery.' Hilary thanks the young girl.

'No problem.' Avery smiles before walking to Owen and T.K., 'before you say anything, I'm fine.'

'Are you sure?' T.K. asks.

'You're not hurt?' Owen adds.

'Yes and no.' Avery tells them. 'I saw what was happening and stepped in. They ran away as soon as they heard me.'

'At least let Marjan check you over.' Owen states.

'Dad, I'm fine!' Avery assures him. 'I wasn't hurt at all.' She adds. 'I better go and give Carlos my statement.' She walks back to Carlos before Owen or T.K. can say anything else. When she rejoins Carlos she sees that he's staring at T.K. and smiling. She rolls her eyes and clears her throat. 'Stop drooling over my brother so we can get this statement done.' Carlos snaps out of his thoughts and looks at Avery.

'I'm not drooling.' Carlos laughs nervously. He gets his notepad and pen out. 'Start from the beginning.'

.

Fifteen minutes later, Avery has finished giving her statement.

'Can you send me that picture you took?' Carlos asks her.

'I already did.' Avery smiles. 'I sent it to your work email.'

'You know my work email?' Carlos asks confused.

'It's not that hard to figure out.' Avery laughs. She notices that Michelle, Tim and Nancy are loading Hilary into the ambulance. 'Looks like they're ready to head to the hospital.' Carlos looks behind him to the ambulance and then back at Avery.

'Right.' Carlos smiles as he puts his notepad and pen away. 'Thank you.' Avery smiles and Carlos walks off. A few minutes later, Avery returns to the rest of the 126.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Owen asks as soon as she reaches them.

'Yes!' Avery laughs.

'Dad, she's made it clear that she's okay.' T.K. tells Owen. 'Let's get back to the station.' They all walk to the trucks.

'So,' Judd starts as he walks beside Avery, 'that's the tattoo your dad was talking about?' He points to her arm. The tattoo is slightly visible under her sleeve.

'Yeah.' Avery laughs and nods. 'Let me guess he was ranting about how stupid it was to get a tattoo so young and in a foreign country.'

'Yep.' Judd laughs. 'At least it's a decent one and not something inappropriate.'

'That's exactly what I told dad!' Avery says. They reach the trucks, get into their assigned vehicles - Avery gets into the truck T.K. is assigned to - and they make their way back to the station.

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It has been a couple of hours, Avery is sat at the table in the kitchen taking some notes for her history class on her IPad. Matteo is also sat at the table studying for his theory exam.

'Just say it.' Avery sighs.

'Say what?' Mateo asks as he looks up at her.

'I know you have something to say about me and my dad.' Avery states. 'Everyone's had something to say, you're the only one who hasn't said anything yet.'

'I know you've been working on your relationship with him for the past few weeks.' Mateo begins.

'But-' Avery pushes his to continue.

'But you really do need to give him a chance.' Mateo finishes. 'He's talked about you a lot. Even before you got here, all he could talk about, and all T.K. could talk about was you. You need to talk to him. Properly. Sit down, tell him something he doesn't know. You don't want to go into adulthood having a bad relationship with him.' There are a few minutes of silence. 'He's in his office.' Mateo adds before carrying on with his studying. After another few minutes of silence, Avery stands up and walks up to Owen's office.

'Dad?' She knocks on the door and opens it in time to see Owen coughing. She notices that he is pale and sweaty. 'Dad, what's wrong?' Before Owen can reply, he picks up the trashcan and vomits into it.

~~~~~~~~

I was finally able to sit down and write this! Hope you enjoyed!

Let me know what you think!

Much love