I didn't expect the girls to have an amazing day, but I didn't expect what I saw when I got home. I sat down with Lily to talk about their day, and I was expecting Ava to come sit beside me. But she just sort of disappeared into our room.

When I asked Lily how their day was. She said it was bad.

"Why was it bad?" I asked.

"She got the wrong ice cream, she made us walk around and we were both sad." Lily told me.

"Did you tell her you didn't want that ice cream?" I asked Lily.

"No... there were people." Lily said.

"Ok, Honey. You can't expect Ava to know what ice cream you want without you telling her." I told Lily.

"I didn't wanna be mean, but I don't know if she's nice." Lily said, tears gathering in her eyes.

"She is nice, baby. When I left yesterday, she was the one who told me it was ok to come back and get you, actually she said that we had to go back and get you. I wanted to take you home, but I didn't know if I could and she's the one who made me. She cares so much about you, Lily. And I think that maybe you made her kind of sad." I said, rubbing Lily's back.

"I don't wanna be a meanie." Lily said, her tears spilling over as she thought about everything.

"I know, baby. Are you just confused? What's going on?" I asked her.

"I don't know. Sometimes I like her but sometimes I'm scared that she's not gonna be nice. I just want to stay with you, Daddy." Lily said to me.

"Ok. Well, I need to go make sure she's ok, Lily. You can come with me, or you can sit here and read for a while." I told her.

"I wanna come with you." Lily told me.

"Ok, let's go." I said, taking my baby's hand.

I walked us to the bedroom and my poor girl was crying.

"Ava, baby, Lily and I wanted to come make sure you're ok." I said softly as I knocked on the door.

"Baby, not right now. I need to change and... uh... brush my hair, I'll be down in a few minutes." She told me, making my heart sink a little.

"I made her sad, she doesn't want to see me anymore?" Lily asked me, her tears falling from her eyes.

"No, My Love. She just needs some time alone to get changed and freshened up." I said, not wanting Lily to be too sad.

"I don't like this." Lily cried.

"What don't you like?" I asked her, carrying her to her room.

"She's mad at me... I was mean, I know I was mean, but it just happened, I don't know why I did that." Lily sobbed, hugging me tightly.

Both my girls were struggling and I was torn. I didn't know who to prioritize in this situation. I knew Lily really didn't mean to do a lot of the things that were upsetting Ava, but she needed to know that I wasn't ok with Ava being hurt.

"Lily... do you remember in primary, when you were in my class and one day, I didn't come to school because I hurt my arm?" I asked her.

Lily looked up at me and nodded, and I took the opportunity to wipe her tears away.

"Well, the day I hurt my arm, I had to go to the hospital, and guess who gave me stitches and wrapped my arm up?" I asked her.

"Was it Ava?" Lily asked me.

"Yup. She was so pretty, but she was afraid that I wasn't going to be very nice to her because in her past, people were very mean." I explained.

"They were mean to her?" Lily asked with a frown.

"Yeah. So she didn't wanna let me in. Some days, she'd talk to me and be kind of happy and other days she'd be angry and upset and she'd push me away. It didn't feel very nice to be pushed away, but it was because she was hurt." I explained. "She was new to the job at the hospital and she was a little nervous."

"She didn't know if she could trust you and maybe she was scared." Lily said.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Yeah... because it's hard to trust people and... and she was in a new place and her life was different." Lily explained, just solidifying the similarity between my girls.

I nodded my head with a smile, kissing my baby on the forehead and brushing her hair away from her face.

"Imagine if you saw a little kitty that was scared and it needed a home and you decided that you were gonna bring him home with you... it wouldn't make you feel nice if he scratched and bit you and if he didn't want to be with you even though you were trying so hard to make him happy and welcome him." I said.

"It wouldn't." Lily agreed with me.

"But you wouldn't be mad at the kitten, right? It's just scared." I said softly.

"Yeah... I wouldn't be mad, but I would want him to trust me." Lily said.

"That's the same with me and Ava... when she said something a little mean to me, I wouldn't be mad at her, it would hurt a little bit, but I wouldn't let it get to me. Because I knew she was a little bit scared to trust me and everything was very new for her." I explained.

Lily nodded.

"And that's why Ava isn't mad at you, baby... she knows that this is a new house and that things changed so much for you. She knows that you're probably a little scared to let her in. She loves you, Ava. She's just trying to make you trust her and she's a little hurt right now because you guys didn't really have the best day, right?" I said gently.

"Yeah. But I don't want her to be hurt." Lily said.

"Why don't you give her a chance then? When she's ready, all three of us can sit together and we can hang out, we can be extra nice to her and make her feel better." I suggested.

"Yeah... but what will make her happy with me again?" Lily asked.

"If you just be the sweet little Lily that I know, she'll feel better. But she is happy with you, even now. Ok?" I asked Lily.

"Ok." Lily said. "C-can we go get her?"

"Let's go try." I said softly, carrying Lily up the stairs yet again.

"Ava, please let us in." I said softly.

"Please?" Lily said.

Ava opened the door. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she looked like she was ready to go out.

"Hi." Lily said, looking up at her.

"Hi, baby." Ava smiled, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

"I wanna read a book with you and Daddy." Lily said softly.

"You do?" Ava asked.

"Yeah." Lily nodded.

"Alright. If that's what you really want." Ava nodded, grabbing her phone and sending a text off.

We all went down to the living room and Lily pulled Ava onto the couch beside her. Lily was sitting between us, but she was so small that I could wrap an arm around Ava and try to make her feel a little better.

"Which one do you want?" Lily asked Ava, giving her two options.

"Hm... I think I want to hear about this little groundhog." Ava said, pointing to one of the books.

"I like this one too." Lily said, resting against Ava.

Ava brushed Lily's hair away from her face and she watched Lily like she was the most precious thing in this universe. But she still looked really sad.

After the book, Lily looked up at Ava and she smiled.

"Did you like the story?" Lily asked.

"I loved it, baby. You're such a good reader!" Ava smiled.

"I'm sorry that I did all that crazy stuff." Lily apologized, her eyes filling with tears.

"Aw, don't be sorry, baby. You're just a little scared to be in this new place, huh?" Ava said softly, kissing Lily's forehead.

"It's a little bit scary. I don't know the house properly, I don't have somewhere nice to stay except Daddy's lap." Lily said.

"Aw, well how about we redesign one of the rooms for you?" Ava asked her.

"Which room?" Lily asked.

"The one on the other side of the hall from yours... it'll be your safe place... you can always go there when you need a little bit of time alone." Ava said to her.

Lily nodded with a smile.

"Will it have stuffies?" Lily asked.

"Yes. It'll have stuffies and books." Ava told her.

"I like that." Lily smiled.

"Good. And if you ever feel overwhelmed, baby. All you have to do is tell me. I know that Daddy is a lot easier to talk to... but if you're with me, you have to tell me so that I can take you somewhere better where we can both relax." Ava told her.

"Ok... but we'll still get ice cream...?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. You could've waited for me in the car and I would've gotten you whatever ice cream you wanted." Ava said.

"Ok." Lily said, hugging Ava and making Ava feel a lot better.

I was really curious about what happened with the ice cream trip that seemed to be so bad for them both. But after we both got some food, which Ava had ordered and after cleaning up a little and ending our day with a short movie, Ava explained.

Lily was asleep in her bed this time, and Ava and I had some time to talk about everything. She told me how difficult Lily was when they went to go get ice cream. She said that it wasn't too bad, she just felt like she sucked at taking care of Lily and she didn't like having everyone look at her the way they were.

I asked her about her idea of redesigning another one of the spare rooms for Lily and she nodded saying she was thinking of turning the room into a library for Lily. I personally loved the idea and I was prepared to build all the bookshelves myself. I gave Ava the job of helping Lily buy all the books she could possibly want. We decided to start that as soon as I was done with school for the year.

Ava cried about not being able to handle Lily all by herself for another two whole days, but I assured her that Lily wouldn't be as bad as she had been on her first day. Ava eventually relaxed about it. The next day, I left my girls together and then I went off to work. I came home late with lots and lots of wood for the bookshelves. I bought a few beanbags and lots and lots of stuffies for my baby.

By the time the summer break began, Lily's library was ready. Ava painted it on the first day of my summer break and then it was finally time to show it to Lily. We had put all of Lily's new books in it and lots of the ones I had in my office as well. The bookshelves were almost full, but she had space for lots more.

When we showed it to her that little smile on her face was priceless. Ava made a little sign for the door that said 'Lily's Library' on it. Lily literally started jumping up and down, telling us we were the best. She gave Ava the biggest hug ever and Ava spun her around. Ava had been doing a great job of making sure Lily's arm was alright, but she suspected that there was something wrong with their diagnosis, because Lily's arm was doing a lot better than what was expected.

She took her into the hospital after we showed her the library and she got some images done again, looking at them herself this time to make sure that nothing was wrong. She also looked at the old images. She discovered that they were in fact mistaken, there was no facture in Lily's arm although it did look like there might be in the first image. So, Lily ditched the little sling and Ava started applying some cream to help with her nasty bruise.

Lily was still a little odd around Ava, but she was getting much better at showing her that she didn't hate her. Ava was feeling a lot better about her abilities to take care of Lily, which I was pleased with. My girls were getting along and I couldn't be happier. The struggle was almost over, and the house was finally ready to accommodate another little member of the family. She had her bedroom and her library and she was one happy little girl.