Avery sat down on the chair, taking her bag off her shoulder and placing it beside her. She was situated in the corner of the hotel restaurant, and she was about to tell her brother the biggest news of her life.
"Hey Zac, it's Avie... well obviously... I'm downstairs in the hotel restaurant... can you come meet me? Come alone too, please."
Zac and Isaac
Zac started at hearing Avery's voice in his head at an unexpected moment. He shook the sensation and stood.
"I'm just going to pop downstairs," he told Isaac. "Go cruising for chicks. Maybe try a little breakdancing..."
Isaac raised an eyebrow.
"Okay," he said. "Have fun. Be back before dark and try not to get any mud on your shoes."
"Aww Dad."
Isaac shook his head, rolled his eyes and went back to what he was going. Grinning, Zac headed down the hall to the elevator and made his way down to the bottom floor of the hotel where the restaurant was. At the entrance, Zac peered inside, cranning his neck to see where his little sister was.
Avery
"In the corner."
Avery checked her reflection for a moment in the silver top of the salt dispenser. The dark circles under her eyes hadn't yet disappeared, and her hair was tied back loosely in a pony tail. She was worryingly thin and gaunt, except for the tiniest bump on her belly.
Zac
Zac made his way inside and spotted the corner in question.
"Hey," he said, sitting down in the seat next to her. "What bring you here?"
Avery
"You, actually," Avery's voice was slightly hoarse from the long hours of talking and crying over the past few days.
She slid a menu across the table at him.
"Thanks for coming to meet me."
Zac
"That's okay," Zac replied, picking up the menu.
He scanned the dishes.
"So, you cam all this way to see little o' me? I'm flattered. Although I suppose now that they have that amplifier in Dublin it's not exactly a long trip, huh?"
Avery
"Yeah, it's handy now that they're popping up everywhere..."
Avery perused the menu, deciding on something light and simple to soothe her stomach.
Zac
"Yes," Zac agreed. "Now if only Ike and Tay would let us use them on tour instead of touring the human way..."
He put the menu down, having decided what he wanted.
Avery
"Are you two ready to order?" A waitress appeared at their table, smiling brightly.
"Um, yeah," Avery replied, glancing down at the menu again. She placed her order and then waited for Zac to place his.
Zac
Zac gave the waitress his order. After she had moved away from the table, Zac looked at his sister curiously.
"So," he asked. "What's this about?"
Avery
"I needed to talk to you because I think you'd understand and I trust you with this," Avery began.
She fiddled absently with the napkin dispenser.
"But you have to like... not yell. Even in your head."
Zac
Zac raised his eyebrows.
"Well," he said. "I promise I won't yell verbally, and that I'll try really, really hard not to yell in my head either. But the fact that you asking me not to yell, even in my head, suggests that it's something I might yell at so I'll try to clamp down on my mental volume if I do want to yell."
Avery
Avery bit her lip.
"I know it was irresponsible, but it was an accident, and we are going over our options and I know that I will get through this in the end..."
She wiped her nose.
Zac
Zac quriked an eyebrow at her.
"Okay, whatcha do?" he asked.
Avery
"I um... I got pregnant."
Avery almost winced, waiting for the reaction.
Zac
Zac paused, blinked, tilted his head on the side and regarded her.
"You're what? 14? I was 17 when B'E and Tom were born, so you have me beat by three years. So, yeah. Mom and Dad'll probably freak. They'll probably see a repeat of me - sorry about that, by the way."
Zac found himself to be strangely calm about all of this.
"I don't have to beat anyone up for you do I? JD knows and he's hanging around?"
Avery
Avery bit her lip.
"Um... well... he doesn't know because... it's not his."
She looked down at her hands, feeling strangely disconnected from everything.
"But T... the father knows, and he's going to support me."
Zac
Zac looked at her, then buried his head in his hands and groaned.
"Don't turn into me, Aves," he advised. "Or into Julie either, for that matter. She might only have six kids to my twelve, but trust me, she's far worse than I am."
Avery
"I'm not planning to!" Avery said, half offended.
"I was sorta thinking about... you know... aborting... but... I don't know."
Zac
"I wasn't suggesting that you were planning to. I wasn't planning to either, but it was a pretty easy trap for me to fall into," Zac replied. "If you do decide to abort, well... I don't like the idea myself. Besides, I think you'll end up hating yourself if you do. There's something about creating that little life, and when you hold her in your arms for the first time, all the labour you went through seems so worth it..."
Zac looked off wistfully, thinking of Elektra, then he shook himself and an embarrassed expression appeared on his face.
"Sorry."
Avery
Avery bit her tongue to refrain from saying 'Well, it's my body, not yours, f**k off.'
She was vaguely aware she was getting angrier towards her family as she got older.
"Like I said, I don't know what I'm going to do yet. But I'm going to discuss it with JD and Talan and then we'll make a decision together, because it's not just up to me."
Zac
Zac nodded.
"This is true," he said. "Desiree thought about aborting too. It was only because I was willing to look after Dee Dee that she went through with it. The pregnancy, that is."
He reached over to take her hand.
"Look, whatever you decide, I'm here for you okay? Abortion, adoption, keeping, whatever. And if you decide that JD or Talan need beating up, I'll do that too," there was a smile on Zac face as he said this, as if he didn't really expect to be beating anyone up, but he genuinely meant every word.
Avery
Avery managed a weak smile.
"I haven't told anyone else yet," she said quietly.
Zac
Zac nodded.
"If you need some moral support when the time comes, I'm there," he offered.
Avery
"Thank you," Avery replied softly, and meaning it.
"But, I think... I got myself into this situation, I have to face up to it myself."
Zac
Zac gave her hand a squeeze.
"Yep," he said cheerfully. "But you don't have to do it alone. Of course, if you want to do it alone, that's fine too. Just that you do have to do it alone."
Avery
Avery looked up as their food and drinks were brought over to the table.
"Thanks," she told the waitress, but half meaning it to Zac.
"So, what do you think I should do?"
Zac
Zac shrugged.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I kept all my kids, but then, I was older than you when B'E and Tom were born and Julie lived so far away I couldn't have helped out as much as I wanted to. And Saku was like, three, when I got him. So by the time I got Dee Dee in my care I was well and truly mentally psyched up for the responsibilities. It's a drain on your pocket and your social life tends to go down the sink. I think it's worth it myself, but you? I don't know. You're the only one who can decide whether you're prepared to be a mother."
Avery
Avery looked down at her drink, thinking over what Zac had said.
"I just don't know, like I can think of so many reasons not to... but a lot of reasons to do it as well."
Zac
"It's like that," Zac agreed.
He stabbed at his food with his fork and chewed a bite before continuing:
"I wish I had some black and white answers for you, Aves, but fact is, I don't have any. It's your body and your baby, and how can I or anyone else tell you what you should do with it? We're not the ones who have to live with the consequences."
Avery
Well, she doubted she'd actually find herself regretting an abortion, but then that Christian upbringing kicked in and reminded her that she probably would feel guilty about it.
Dilemma.
Avery shrugged. "I don't know at this point. I have two months to decide about abortion."
Zac
"This is true," Zac nodded. "And if after that time you decide you're not ready to be a mother, adoption is still an option.
He cut up some more of his food into bite sized pieces as he ate another mouthful.
Avery
"Do you think they'll kick me out?" Avery asked softly.
She took a sip of her drink.
Zac
"What?" Zac said, surprised. "No, of course not. They never kicked me out when they found out about Julie. Why would they kick you out?"
Avery
"I'm younger than you were. And it's one thing to get someone pregnant by accident, and it's another to be the pregnant one."
Avery shrugged.
"I've made a lot of mistakes lately, I just don't know if this is one they can forgive me for."
Zac
"Dude, I have twelve kids," Zac said. "If they can forgive that of me, I'm sure they can forgive it of you."
He paused and considered a moment before continuing softly:
"Is it really Mom and Dad's forgiveness you're worried about getting? Or your own?"
Avery
"I'm not really angry at myself," Avery confessed.
She wasn't quite sure how to explain to her brother that she was more angry that it would probably ruin her figure.
Although, that was probably hormones.
But even if her family didn't agree with the Avery she'd been lately, it was the right thing for her to do. Because she knew that it had been the only way for her to truly deal with her life.
"I don't feel I need to forgive myself for any of my actions," she went on. "I feel like I probably should apologise if I have disappointed them, because I can see from their perspective, how they may feel that I was a terrible child. But I did what I had to do, what I wanted to do. And better fun than like... suicide, so really, it could've been worse."
She realised she could be awfully logical. In a crazy way.
"I'm not extremely proud of what I did, but I am sorta proud that I broke out of the mould that I'd been set in. I know I must seem like a horrible person, or not like the girl I'd been raised to be, but... I don't know, Zac, it felt like... it still feels like I'm itching underneath my skin. And who I was, that wasn't me. This girl isn't completely me either, but it's up to me to discover who I'm meant to become. And I have to do it my way. And if no one can accept that, then I don't know, I guess I'd have to cut contact until I work this out."
Zac
Zac raised his eyebrows.
"Aves, you're not a terrible child just because you've gotten yourself pregnant. Careless, maybe, but not terrible," he said with a half smile. "And look, okay I probably can't speak for the rest of the family but you'll never have to cut contact with me, okay?"
Avery
"Maybe I want to do it though," Avery thought to herself.
She managed a smile.
"Thanks. I'm going to make a decision and tell them. I mean, the worst they can do is, you know, cut me off, but that's ok. I'll find a sugar daddy or something."
Zac
Zac laughed.
"Well," he said. "I still don't think you have anything to worry about. But do what you have to do."
Avery
Avery gave a sort of shrug.
"Eh, we'll see how it pans out."
She paused.
"But thank you."
Zac
"No problemo, Dude," Zac replied.
He cleaned off his plate and had a sip of his drink.
"Dessert?"
Avery
Avery made a face and shook her head.
"No, if I have anything else, I know I'm going to spew."
Zac
"Was yours that filling huh?" Zac mused. "Or maybe I'm just a guts?"
He grinned at her as her purused the dessert menu.
Avery
Avery shrugged.
"I just don't eat much anymore. But you order, I can stand to be in your charming company for a bit longer."
Zac
Zac chuckled and when the waitress came over to check on them ordered a price of chocolate cake.
"So, anything else new going on?" he asked her.
Avery
"Not really," Avery said, shrugging.
"Back to the Station for school, I guess. Have missed a week."
Zac
"Wow, and you manage to get away with wagging?" Zac asked.
He raised his eyebrows, impressed.
Avery
Avery shrugged.
"I do a lot of self training these days anyway. And I've gotten a lot of my work done by correspondence, because I've been coming downside a lot."
Zac
Zac nodded.
"Cool," he said.
The waitress arrived with his cake and he thanked her before tucking in.
"Got any new tricks?"
Avery
Avery nodded.
"I've been looking out for people with shields, sitting in on some of the shield forming workshops... by basic telepaths, if I focus, I can actually hear through their shields, just faintly."
She paused, trying to think of an analogy.
"Kind of like when you can hear someone speaking through a wall, it's very muffled, but you can hear something. That's kind of what it's like. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear anything clearly, but I will be able to detect something, and maybe break the shield if I need to."
Zac
Zac nodded with a clearly impressed expression on his face.
"Cool," he said. "It's probably a really good thing there can only be one Grandmaster, eh?"
Avery
Avery smiled.
"Yeah, probably a good thing. I'm just so blown away by how much stronger I'm getting."
Zac
"So," Zac asked with a silly grin. "Any plans for world domination?"
He ate some more cake.
Avery
"Not yet," Avery said.
She stirred her drink with her straw.
"But I'll let you know when I do."
Zac
"Really?" Zac asked, face lighting up. "I thought you were going to give me the 'I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you' line."
He grinned at her.
Avery
"I don't like to warn my victims."
Avery had intended it as a light comment, but she remembered suddenly that she hadn't warned Craig before she'd...
"Anyway..."
Zac
"Ahh, I see, very devious," Zac said.
He scraped his plate of the last of his cake.
Avery
"You know me."
Avery tucked her hair behind her ears.
"Anyway, I should get going."
Zac
"Okay," Zac replied. "Take care of yourself. Don't do anything I wouldn't do and all that jazz."
He grinned winningly at her.
Avery
"Yeah... good luck with the touring," Avery said.
She stood and departed.