It's been a week and it's the day that Megan is returning to Austin. Avery is just finishing up a physiotherapy session. She's still been using the crutches to help her get around but she's ben using them less and less.

'So, Avery,' The physio, Leigha, starts, 'how would you feel if I said I think you're ready to stop using the crutches completely?'

'Erm...' Avery wrings her hands. 'Nervous.'

'You've done really well. Considering the amount of trauma you've gone through, it's a really good sign. You've been doing physio every other day and it's evident that you've been doing the exercises at home too.' Leigha tells her. 'You can walk for more than half an hour without havig to stop, yes, you're still having a little trouble but you've shown that you know when to stop when it gets too much. You'll still have to do a little bit of physiotherapy, but maybe just do home exercises and we'll have fortnightly appointments. How does that sound?' Leigha continues.

'That sounds good.' Avery nods.

'Great.' Leigha smiles. 'Would you like me to call your dad later and explain what we've just talked about?'

'No it's okay.' Avery shakes her head. 'He's downstairs waiting for me. Thank you so much Leigha.'

'All part of the job.' Leigha nods. 'And Avery, remember, despite me saying that you're ready to not use the crutches at all, it's okay to ask for help or use the crutches again if you're really struggling.'

'Thank you.' Avery smiles and nods before leaving the physiotherapy unit. She takes her time making her way down to the hospital cafeteria. When Owen sees her, he smiles and stands up.

'No crutches?' He asks.

'Leigha said I was ready to stop using them.' Avery explains. 'It feels weird.'

'It would do.' Owen laughs slightly. 'Do you know when Megan is landing?'

'She text me just before physio started that they were boarding. I checked the arrival times for the airport. She'll be here in about 4ish hours.' Avery replies. 'Are we meeting T.K. and Carlos there or all going together?'

'We're all going to go together. We're going to head over to their place for a bit.' Owen informs her. He sees the smirk spread across her face. 'No,' he sighs, 'you cannot climb up the fire escape and scare them.'

'But daaaadddd.' Avery whines.

'Avery,' Owen raises an eyebrow, 'you still have to take it easy. The cardiothoracic doctor said, just yesterday, that you can't do any heavy lifting or tough exercise for a while. You need to give your aorta some proper time to heal.' They both start walking out of the hospital.

'Ugh.' Avery scoffs. 'I just want to get back to being able to prank Carlos and T.K. It's been soooo boring.' Owen just laughs and shakes his head. 'Oohh, what if when we get there, I hide and when they ask you where I am, you tell them I took a funny turn and had to be admitted?'

'I am not doing that.' Owen shakes his head. 'That's cruel.'

'Fine.' Avery sighs. They reach the car and get in. 'I know.' Avery smiles smuggly. She gets her phone out, quickly turns her caller ID off and dials T.K. number as she gets a whistle out of her pocket.

'What are you - where did you even get that whistle?' Owen asks confused.

'Shh.' Avery hushes him.

'Hello?' T.K. answers cautiously. Avery brings the whistle to her mouth and blows on it as hard as she can. 'Ow!' Avery hears the sound of T.K's phone dropping to the ground. 'Avery!' He scolds his sister after a few moments.

'Come on! How'd you know it was me?!'

'Who else would call me on no caller ID and blow a whistle down the phone?'

'In my defense, I was gonna climb up your fire escape and scare you when me and dad get there but dad won't let me.' Avery defends herself. 'So I went with the whistle.'

'The things you come up honestly scare me sometimes.' T.K. laughs slightly. 'What's next? Pretending to fall off the fire escape?' He realises what he's just said. 'Wait - ignore I sa-'

'Good idea! Byeeee.' Avery sing-songs before hanging up. 'So,' She looks at Owen.

'No.' Owen simply states.

'What? You don't even know what I was going to say.' Avery asks innocently.

'You are not pretending that you fell off the fire escape.' He tells her.

'I wasn't going to say that.' Avery shakes her head and Owen raises an eyebrow. 'I was going to ask if we could go and-' she tries to come up with something, 'yeah, I was going to say that.' She admits in defeat when she can't think of anything to say.

'I thought you were working on this dark humor with your therapist?' Owen asks.

'We were.' Avery nods. 'Until they saw it helped me cope and decided it's best to just leave it be.' She shrugs.

'Well, maybe try not to implicate your poor brother in these dark jokes.' Owen tells her as he starts driving. 'You're gonna end up giving both him and Carlos a heart attack with all these stunts.'

'I went years without winding T.K. up. I'm just playing catch-up.' Avery says, fiddling with her fingers.

'I know.' Owen nods. 'Just dial it down a little, okay? At least for a couple of months when you're fully healed. He's been really worried not just because of what happened but because of how it will effect you in the long run. Mentally and physically. He's called me every night to check up on you.'

'Why didn't he say anything to me?' Avery asks quietly but loud enough for Owen to hear.

'Because he knows you don't like it when people worry about you too much, but Ave, we worry about you a lot because we love you and we care about you and we just want you to have the best support network possible.' Owen tells her. There are a few minutes of silence.

'I'll dial down the pranks and jokes.' Avery nods before looking out of the window.

.

Later that day, Megan is arriving back into Austin. Avery, Owen, T.K. and Carlos are waiting in the arrivals area. Jason wanted to be there but has had to work a shift that he couldn't swap. After fifteen minutes of waiting, they see Megan and Mike.

'She's back!' Avery squeals, holding onto T.K. and shaking him. 'Megan!' She squeals, already rushing over, the best she could, to her best friend.

'Ave, be careful!' Owen shouts after her. Avery reaches Megan.

'Hey, Ave! How are you?' Megan asks as she gives Avery the tightest hug she could without hurting either of themselves.

'Getting there. Finally off the crutches. How are you? How was the flight?' Avery asks as T.K., Owen and Carlos join them.

'It was good. A little uncomfortable but it was okay.' Megan states. 'Oh, Carlos, this is my dad, Mike. Mike, this is Carlos, the cop and T.K.'s boyfriend.' Megan introduces the two since they haven't met yet. 'Miss me?' Megan teases, looking at Carlos.

'I don't think I've been happier to see you and Avery back together again.' Carlos smiles, as he carefully hugs her.

'Jason really wanted to be here but he couldn't get his shift swapped. He said to say sorry and that he'd message you.' Avery tells Megan.

'I haven't checked my phone yet, but thanks.' Megan nods.

'So I was thinking we could all go for some food together, I'm sure you two are hungry after the flight.' Owen states looking at Megan and Mike. 'Carlos bought his car and I bought mine.'

'Sounds good.' Megan smiles and nods. She turns to Mike. 'Welcome to Austin.'

.

After a few hours, Avery, Owen, Carlos and T.K. are at the Strand residence. Carlos had driven Megan and Mike to Megan's place after they had had some food. They're all sat in the front room. Whilst T.K., Carlos and Owen are having a conversation, Avery, as usual, has her nose in a book.

'Ave.' T.K. tries to get his sister's attention.

'Yeah, no I don't want a drink thanks.' Avery says, not really listening.

'I didn't offer.' T.K. states slowly. 'Did you hear what I just said?'

'I'm not tired yet, I'll go to bed in a couple of hours.' Avery says, completly spaced out. T.K. exchanges a look with Carlos and Owen before looking back at Avery, he places a hand on a pillow.

'I dog-eared a book page.' T.K. says quickly before holding the pillow in front of his face. 'Please don't throw the book at me.' He peeks out from behind the pillow and sees Avery glaring at him.

'You did what?!' Avery asks him. He hides behind the pillow again until he hears Avery laugh. 'You shoulda seen your face.' It then dawns on him what's just happened.

'Did you pretend to not listen so I would say that to get your attention and then hide behind a pillow?' T.K. questions.

'Yep.' Avery grins, popping the p. 'You did it last week, I wanted to see if you'd do it again.' T.K. just shakes his head. 'So, what'd you want?'

'I was going to ask if you were gonna spend all night with your head in that book or are you actually going to talk to us.' T.K. tells her.

'Ew.' Avery scrucnhes her nose. 'Socialising.' She stands up. 'I'll be in my reading room. Since I probably won't be back down... goodnight.' She hugs each of them before walking up the stairs.

'How'd you know that would work?' Owen laughs. T.K. just raises an eyebrow. 'Right, she was too engrossed in the book.' He chuckles. 'So, why didn't you want her to hear any of this?'

'Because it's a surprise for her.' Carlos replies. 'It's not gonna happen for a while but we need to book some things and wanted to ask your permission first.'

'You two know you can do whatever you want with Avery. You don't need to ask my permission.' Owen reminds them.

'He meant that we want your input but also yes, we want your permission this time around.' T.K. states. He looks at Carlos before looking back at his dad. 'We want your permission this time around because we want to take her abroad.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hewo!! It's been a while since I updated this but it's finally here! Remember that Megan belongs to DharmaWinter ! Be sure to check out Addicted for Megan's perspective!!

Let me know what you think!!

Much love