Her mother looks into her eyes, Avery knows she has already said a lot of lies to her. She feels absolutely horrible for that, she loves her mother so much and hates lying to her. If she tells her mother the truth now though, it could shatter the woman. Avery simply does not have the courage or the strength to tell her the truth, but she also doesn't want to lie anymore. It's like the most horrible game of tug of war.

She could feel her heart drifting around, unsure what to decide. The tug of war only getting worse as the minutes ticked on, nearly feeling like hours to the college student. Her mother patiently and stubbornly waits for an answer from her. Avery begins to chew her lower lip, the pressure of everything slowly getting to her. Can she really tell her the truth? Will it be worth it?

Avery takes a deep breath, and lets out a little sigh. She can feel it, she knows deep down in her heart that she simply can't bring herself to upset her mother like this. She decides not to tell her the truth, not give her all this unnecessary stress. This is her burden after all not her mothers nor anyone else's. All she needs is time to think everything over before she can take any action. 'God help me,' she silently begins praying.

"Moma, is someone here? Little Liam heard a voice," a young, tired, tiny voice calls from behind Avery, surprising her. The girl's eyes widen as soon as she hears the voice, an excited shine now in them. To her, his voice is no less than an angel's voice. She turns towards where the voice came from, there in the kitchen doorway is a little five-year-old child, his small palms rubbing his tired eyes, which have turned red from being just woken from his slumber. His dinosaur pajamas also in a disarray along with his mess of hair. Avery's heart basically melts seeing him again.

Little Liam moves his palms from his eyes, his eyes also widening and brightening at the sight in front of him. What did he see that got him so excited that it completely washed away any tiredness from his little body? Well, there's only one person that can get him this excited with simply seeing them and that is, "Avi." He gasps in shock at the sight of his elder sister with his mother.

The girl immediately opens her arms to welcome him and pull him into an embrace. "Come here, little Liam and give your older sister a big, tight hug, she missed you very much!" As soon as the words leave her lips, the little one runs right at her and flies into her arms with an excited giggle.

He wraps his little arms around her and buries his face in her neck. "Little Liam, missed Avi so, so, so muchhhhh. Now Little Liam is not gonna let Avi to go anywhere, ever again," he declares lovingly while giving his elder sister puppy dog eyes as if trying to bore into her soul and make a point.

"Avery," their mother tsks, "Don't forget to answer me just because Liam woke up," her mother scolds while raising an eyebrow.

Avery's grip tightens on her little brother, "Mom, please trust me. He hasn't done anything to me. So don't worry yourself into an early grave okay? I'll be sure to tell you if anything happens. I promise," Avery figures its okay to lie again, especially since her little brother woke up. She can't rely on her mother for everything anymore. She needs to be her own independent woman now. "I simply missed you both very much and I was released from work early today. So I decided to come for a visit to check up on the two of you."

Her mother frowns for a moment, searching her daughter's eyes for anything that will show whether or not she's telling the truth. After a moment she lets out a sigh, "Ok I'll believe you, you better keep to that promise to tell me if something happens though."

"Of course, Mom," Avery smiles softly, 'Thank god, that mom decided to trust me' she thinks to herself.

As the night goes on, both siblings have a lot of fun together. They play a couple games, read some stories, and even have dinner. It's the first time Avery has been able to spend an afternoon with her family in a long while, so she enjoyed it so much. She truly did miss her mother and brother so dearly.

Avery noticed how late it got, so she put her brother to bed for her mother. She gently tucks him in and begins reading a bedtime story to him. As she reads though Liam reaches over and grabs her hand which surprises her. "Little Liam loves Avi so much….please don't stay away so long again…." The little boy pleads.

Avery's eyes soften and she leans down kissing his head, "I won't. I'll be sure to visit again soon, I love you too much to stay away again." Little Liam gives her a heart melting, adorable smile before falling asleep due to being so tired from the exciting afternoon. Avery stands and leaves his room gently closing the door behind her. She walks back to the living room where she talks with her mother for a while to catch up with her. As they talk, Avery grows very tired, suddenly her eyes get watery looking at her mother, "Mom, may I please sleep in your arms again? Like I used to when I was younger."

"Why are you asking, my darling daughter? You know I could never deny that request," she places a kiss on her daughter's head and gently places her head in her lap while caressing her hair. Avery nuzzles into her mother's lap feeling much better than before. "Dear, did you tell him that you are going to stay here?", her mother asks again.

"Yes mom," she lies again, figuring that even if he doesn't know he more than likely won't look for her, so Avery won't get in trouble.

"Alright," her mother relents completely. She continues to pet her daughters hair and soothe her to sleep. When she passes out she gently places a blanket over her daughters body before soon falling asleep herself.

After a long while into the night, Avery's mother was stirred from her sleep by a loud knocking at her door. She frowns hearing it, and glances at a nearby clock. "Who would come here so late?" she murmurs seeing the clock read 2 am. Very carefully, she moves her daughter off her lap and stands. The knocking only gets louder and more prominent making her cringe. She doesn't want that to wake up her children. "I'm coming, I'm coming," She calls before rushing over. She opens the door only to gasp at the sight in front of her, "you." she breathes in shock as a pair of deep blue eyes bore into her very being.

The strikingly handsome young man in front of her simply frowns looking behind the elder woman in front of him, "I'm here for her. Where is she?" he asks in his deep, cold voice of his which even makes the older woman shiver.

"She is sleeping," Avery's mother says softly, taking a small step back.

*****

Editor:- DemonAngel.