Megan Jane Sheppard is a seventeen your old who's had a rough start to life. In and out of care her whole life, she has a complicated relationship with her parents. Emancipated from the system and living alone, Megan is in a spiralling downwards cir...
Two days later, it was Megan and Jason's last day in L.A before they went back to Austin. It was also Angus's birthday so they were going out for lunch with Mike and Angus before they headed to the airport. It was currently 9:30am and Megan was alone in their hotel room. Jason had gone out for a catch up with some old friends whilst Megan had a video chat therapy call with Max, her lead nurse from Safe Space, who was obviously back in Austin. It had been a few weeks since their last call so there was a lot to talk about. "So, how are things? How have you been?" Max asked the teen after they had greeted each other. "Things have been...good, I guess? Everything's settled down a lot since Ave went to the facility. Just getting back to normal ya know?" Megan told him as she fiddled with the ring on her finger. She knew Max well by now and trusted him but she still hated talking therapy. It did help, quite a lot actually, but that didn't mean it was easy for her. "How have you been really though? Have you spoken to Avery at all since we last spoke?" Max asked. The last time they had talked was right after Avery had been found after she went AWOL and Max knew that Megan hadn't seen her since they're argument right before. Megan looked down. "No...she still won't let me see her. Without her permission I can't go to the facility...I almost got arrested for doing that the other week-" As soon as she said it she regretted it. "What?" "Dammit." Megan muttered. She looked at Max. "I went to the facility and when they fused to let me in I refused to leave. Long story short they called the police but luckily it was Carlos that showed up so I didn't get arrested." Megan explained, realising now just how lucky she had actually been. Mac didn't need to say anything but instead, he just gave her 'the look'. "I know, I know, it was stupid. I wasn't thinking." Megan muttered. "How's L.A?" Max asked the teen, changing the subject. "It's good. Nice and warm. It's Angus' birthday today so we're going out for lunch before me and Jason fly back to Austin tonight." Megan explained. Then a silence fell between them for a minute. "What are you thinking about?" Max asked the teen, drawing her out of her silence. Megan took a deep breath before she spoke. "I met up with Deacon, one of the SWAT officers who rescued me and Avery that day. He took me and Jason to the concert hall to walk around it before it gets refitted next month." Megan told him. "And?" "And...it was horrible." Megan said quietly. "But..." Max knew just how to push the teen into talking without going too far. "But it actually really helped. There were a lot of flashbacks of that day...but overall it felt kind of good. Going back there but knowing we made it out alive. It's not been easy, but we're both alive. Me and Ave. That's something I didn't think was goi9ng to be the case for a while after it first started." Megan wiped away a few tears. "Now it's just my mind letting me down. And it makes me angry. Angry that I can't just go back to how things were before. Angry because it took so much away from me and Ave. And now we're both trapped in our minds, months after. It all just makes me feel...broken." Megan said the last bit quietly. "Therapy doesn't mean you're broken Megan, it just means you might need a little help being whole." Max told her seriously. Megan stayed quiet but nodded as she wiped away some tears.
A few hours later, Megan was out with Jason, Mike and Angus. Unfortunately Mario and the others couldn't make it as they were all working but Mike and Angus had been able to sneak away for some lunch before Megan and Jason left later that afternoon. "Happy birthday!" They all toasted to Angus. "I'm so happy you guys could escape for an hour to grab something to eat before we leave." Megan told her uncle and father. "So are we because I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Angus joked. "Hmm, me too." Megan said with a mouthful of food, having just stuffed almost an entire slice of her pizza into her mouth, making the other laugh.
Early hours of the morning, Megan and Jason's flight landed in Austin. The airport was fairly empty for once so they flew through security and bag collections and were headed outside in no time. Even though they had insisted they'd be okay getting a taxi back, Sharon, Jason's mom, had insisted on picking them up herself. "Hi mom." Jason grinned as his mother pulled him in for a hug. "Hi Sharon." Megan smiled, as Sharon then proceeded to pull Megan in for a hug as well. "How was your flight?" Sharon asked them both. "It was good. This one slept pretty much the whole way back." Jason smiled, slinging his arm over Megan's shoulder. She smiled. "Good. Have you both eaten?" Sharon asked, looking at both the teens. "Yes mom, we ate on the plane." Jason laughed a little. "Are you going home dear or back to ours?" Sharon asked Megan. "Ermm..." Megan looked at Jason. "You can come back to ours if you want." Jason smiled happily, it was late, well early and all he wanted to do was curl up into bed as he went back to work the next day. "Thanks." Megan smiled slightly. Jason took their bags and loaded them into the back of the car before he got in the front with his mom as Megan sat in the back. As soon as they made it back to Jason's house, they said goodnight to Sharon before they headed up to Jason's room. Jason didn't even bother unpacking his bag before he flopped into his bed, exhausted. Megan laughed a little and put her phone down on the bedside table before she crawled into the bed, settling down next to him. "Thank you for the trip, it was lovely." She told him quietly as they settled down. "You deserve it." Jason smiled, leaning over to kiss him before he rested back. Within a few minutes Jason was already asleep. Megan smiled as she watched him sleep peacefully. After spending some time on her phone, quietly flicking through social media, she finally felt tired enough to get a little more sleep, having slept on the plane. She put her phone back down on the bedside table before she snuggled against Jason and closed her eyes.
—————————————————— A/N - This is a bit of a filler chapter and I struggled a lot to write it but I wanted to include one of Megan's therapy sessions. Let me know what you think!
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