The Meaning of Family

The First Day without Jay

Ava slept in on Monday morning after being up late, crying her eyes out because of the nightmare she'd had the night before. She'd slept in her own bed though, so that was a win.

Jay was already at work by the time she came out of her room, and Hailey was downstairs doing an at home work out. Ava stopped halfway down the stairs when Hailey heard her.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Do you need to he changed or are you ready to eat?" Hailey asked, stopping her workout to go get her sister.

"Needa change," Ava yawned, reaching up to be held. Hailey took her back to her room and got her sorted then went and set her up with her breakfast so she could finish her workout.

When Hailey finished, she joined Ava and they talked through their day.

"We need to go to the store, then you have your session, and after that we might meet Jay for lunch. After lunch, we'll come home for your nap, and after your nap, we're going to go see a place where you'll be able to learn and play with other kids when I go back to work in a couple weeks." Ava froze at the end.

"Not stayin with you at home?" She was scared. Did this mean her dad could take her?

"Just while I'm at work, baby. It'll be fun and safe, but if you don't like it, we'll do something different," Hailey sensed Ava's spike in anxiety and felt bad, but they had to start talking about it soon or the sudden change was bound to scare the girl.

"But what if he comes?" Ava asked, stuffing her thumb in her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

"Oh, honey. No, he won't come. I'm going to make sure they know what happened and that he isn't allowed to come inside. They'll call me if he does try, but there is no reason he'd know where you are, Aves," Hailey pulled her sister into her lap and rocked her until the shaking stopped.

"Pwomise I'll be safe?" Ava asked quietly.

"I promise, sweet girl. Just give it a try, okay. And it's not for a couple more weeks," Hailey kissed her head and Ava nodded, holding her bunny close.

She wasn't sure about it, but Hailey asked her to try, so she would. But until then, she didn't really want to be away from Hailey, or Jay when he was home.

"We goin to the stowe now?"

"Yup. We need food for this week. Let's go get changed," Hailey set Ava on the floor and they both went upstairs to get dressed, brush their teeth, and do their hair. Hailey's hair went into a ponytail, Ava just wanted a sparkly headband in her hair.

After a run to target for food and supplies Hailey needed to really work on Ava not needing to wear protection during the day, the two girls went and dropped everything at home and put it away, then Hailey took
Ava to her session with her therapist.

The little girl was a tired mess when it was over, clinging to her big sister as she cried, but she wanted to go see Jay, so they went to lunch at Panera and Ava immediately latched on to Jay.

"Hey, munchkin. How are you doing?" He asked, kissing her head before giving Hailey a kiss.

Ava shrugged, not in the mood to talk much. They exchanged worried looks. Ava hadn't been this quiet since she first came to live with them over a month ago.

"Her session was pretty rough, and we talked about what we're doing later, she may just be worried," Hailey frowned, reaching over to rub Ava's back.

"Are you worried, Aves?" Jay asked gently.

Ava nodded and whimpered, fidgeting. She was trying not to cry again. Jay swayed with her while Hailey ordered their food. He could tell Ava was crying a little.