A broken promise

chapter 5

Next day

Avery woke up feeling terrible, all she wanted to do was  go back to sleep and forget about the pain. 
Elijah was downstairs making breakfast, Avery usually would enter the kitchen around this time so he was concerned when she didn't come. He finished off breakfast and plated it up, then he went to go get her.

He knocked on the door but got no answer. Something was wrong.
"Avery can I come in" he asked, not knowing whether to just go in. "Yeah" it was muffled probably due to the door but he didn't care. He walked straight in, not even bothering about anything else.

Avery was curled up in bed, the duvet almost covering her face which if it was any other situation he would find cute but not now.
He sat down on the side of her bed, she looked at him with teary eyes "please can I stay in bed today" she asked feeling nervous. She knew Elijah wouldn't hurt her but he was big on education. "What's wrong sweetheart" Elijah asked knowing Avery would always want to go to school.
"I just feel awful. I guess the stuff that happened in the past months is starting to effect me." She tried to explain. Elijah considered her reply, of course he was going to let her stay off school but he didn't know whether to consult a doctor. In the end he decided he would make an appointment today. "do you think you can manage breakfast" he asked which she nodded too, although she was unsure she didn't want to disappoint Elijah. "Great. I don't know whether you want to be alone or not or maybe you want a bit of both" Elijah said not knowing if he should leave his daughter for a bit, no matter how reluctant he was about it. "Don't you have to work" she asked. "It's fine I'm the boss I can work whenever I want. You're more important than work"  Elijah was not a fan of repeating himself but he would make an acception until Avery finally realized just how important she was.

The day past slower than expected, Elijah had called both a doctor and a therapist. He had been noting down some of her symptoms for a while now and he had come to the conclusion it might be PTSD. The doctor had confirmed that this was a strong possibility when he called. He knew Avery would be resistant to talk to a therapist but if it helped her he was willing to  make her go, at least to 1 session.

He wanted his daughter to be okay but he knew that it would take a while.

Avery had been napping on the sofa, Elijah was sat next to her, her head was leaned against his shoulder as she slept and he worked.
He was in the middle of a report when the door bell rung. He cursed not liking the fact that Avery stirred. She needed rest and whoever was here woke her. Avery looked at him and he sighed "I'll go get it try go back to sleep ok" she nodded in response and after he got up, Avery repositioned herself and closed her eyes.

I was pissed and  was already plotting a murder for the person who woke Avery up. I opened the door and to my suprise Gabby stood there, all thoughts of murder went away. Gabby never came to the house uninvited, no matter how good friends we were. "What happened" i asked, concerned for the woman i considered a close friend. "Can't I come see you now Elijah" she asked which only made my worry grow, she usually only called me Eli or some other awful nickname.
"You can but you never do. So what's wrong"  she looks at me with uncertainty "I don't know if I can continue doing gang work" she told me and I nod "Completely" I ask and she nods "I suppose if you really needed me I could but I just don't have the energy to do it anymore" she tells me and I bring her into a hug "that's fine, you should have told me sooner" I hear her sigh with relief. "Is it ok if I still stay at the gang house until I find an apartment" she asks and I nod "of course Gabbi, you can continue living there for all I care." I saw that once I have her the reassurance, her nerves dissapeared.
"Hi Gabbi"
We both turn and see Avery stood at the doorway. I quickly release Gabbi who pretty much jumped away from me. "Are you coming inside Gabbi" she asked which suprised me, Especially due to what happened with Jess.
"Err I don't want to interrupt your time with your dad" I couldn't help but smile at this. Jess always wanted my time.  "But Eliiii is going to make grilled cheese"  she says making me remember I promised her I'd make her a grilled cheese earlier.  "That's dad to you" I say but of course I wasn't being completely serious as I still didn't think I deserved to be called dad. "You two are so cute. I'll only stay if that's okay with both of you"  she says and I nod "its Avery's choice" I say not wanting to bring another women into Avery's life even if Gabbi is just a friend. "Of course she can come"

Time skip

I smile as I listen to both Gabbi and Avery take the piss out of me. I was making us a late lunch and so the two of them were sat on the kitchen island, I wasn't going to make the mistake of leaving my daughter alone again.
But then again Jess was always nice when I was around, i should have known but Avery never told me but then it wasn't her fault. It was mine.
I decided to see how Gabbi was with Avery left alone, before I let her into Avery's life.

"....So that's how your dad ended up falling into nettles"
I couldn't help but roll my eyes, I may not have heard what Gabbi had said but I knew what story she told Avery. "I hope you didn't leave out the part where you fell in the river moments after" I add and Gabbi looks at me like I had just given her the worst insult and Avery was laughing.

I smiled knowing I made her laugh. I would say anything and do anything for her to be happy.

"She was laughing at my fall, and then she slipped and fell herself. It was fun explaining that to our parents" I give a short summary of what happened.

Gabbi looked down in embarrasment which made me chuckle. "You may not work for me anymore but you're never getting rid of me" I whisper as I set a plate of grilled cheese in front of her. I turn to Avery "here you are sweetheart" I kiss her forehead as I set it down.

"I'll be back in 10 maybe 15 minutes. I just need to put some paperwork away and put my laptop in my office" 

Avery's smile disappears which almost made me want to cancel my plan. "Don't worry everything is going to be okay" I say and walk out.

I didn't need to do anything with paperwork, I had to watch how Avery and Gabbi act around each other. I had purposely left my phone in the kitchen, I didn't have visual but I had audio.

I had considered cameras when buying this place  but I knew how Avery felt about them so they were only outside and in my office.

I turned my laptop on and connected it up to my phone. I had started to develop more than just friendly feelings for Gabbi but I would give her up in a heartbeat for Avery.

Avery comes first. Always.

Ok it's been a while but here it is.
The next chapter will be Avery and Gabbi alone.

What does everyone think about what's going to happen.