The silence is deafening for a moment or two, and then Alpha Roman stands up, nodding his head.

"Alpha Wilcott, if you could get that paperwork done, I'll have it approved within the hour," he says quietly, putting his hand out for a hand shake.

York shakes it firmly, nodding also.

"I'll get it done and sent over," he responds in a similarly soft and gentle tone, standing up from where he was sitting.

Avery watches this exchange, standing up too.

"I can be on your territory tomorrow," she states stiffly, "thank you."

Roman lets out a laugh, shaking his head.

"Don't be silly, Wilcott. I'll wait for you, my guards are almost here. I would have been with them, but I got out to stretch my legs, and then got attacked by someone," he teases gently, trying to get a smile out of her.

She gives him a small smile, drinking the rest of her water before putting the glass into the sink.

"I'll need an hour maybe to pack, if that's okay," she says, and then shakes her head like a dog with water in it's ears does.

She vanishes up the stairs, moving swiftly and silently.

"Is she okay?" Roman asks quietly, "because I can't take her if she'll lash out randomly and kill someone in my pack."

York stares at him, slightly shocked.

"No, she wouldn't kill anyone. Maim them a little, but not unprovoked," he tries to reassure him. "She is okay, though. She had a really bad day, it's always like that when it's cloudy."

Roman emits a small laugh, shaking his head.

"It's never cloudy where my pack is," he finally gets out, after a minute or two of staring at York in disbelief.

"It's nice to meet you - I've only ever heard of you once or twice, which is good - it means you're a good Alpha," Roman adds, nodding at York.

"Oh, well I've heard plenty about you, mostly good," York smiles weakly, feeling extremely awkward now.

Upstairs, Avery hurries around her room, scooping lots of clothing out of her chest of drawers.

They've said it's only for a week, but you can never be too prepared, she supposes, as she packs twenty-four pairs of underwear. Adding the same amount of socks, she nods in satisfaction, moving on to jeans.

She's waiting for her wolf to pipe up and ask her what's going on, but it hasn't happened yet.

She's full of her own questions. She knows that her dad was trying to be helpful, but she can't believe he didn't speak to her about this before he did it. He was normally on her side totally, and he always said he understood that she didn't really want anyone, as it would just be a reminder of what she couldn't have properly.

Apparently, it would seem he didn't understand.

It was clear he was doing what he thought was best, but, she wondered, when has his best ever worked for her.

Getting away from her pack could be good, she reasoned. The West was supposed to be sunny, which would be nice. It was getting colder here, which meant she'd probably have more bad days than good in the upcoming months.

A working vacation, she nods. There might be a beach there, she hadn't been to a beach in years - not that she really wanted to, she hated sand and sun.

Anywhere other than here is a vacation, Sonya snorts.

With that thought in her head, she packs all the sunscreen she can find in her room, adding three bikinis into the first case.

A knock on the door brings her out of her packing frenzy, and she looks up quickly, walking to the door and opening it to see a short woman holding a bag.

"Oh, hello," she smiles, desperately trying to recall the woman's name. She had detailed her to border patrol herself. Elizabeth? Emily? Emmy?

It was definitely Emmy.

"Hello, Deputy. Here are the boots you requested we find and return to you," she smiles, handing the bag over to Avery.

Avery beams at her, the return of her beloved boots brightening her day up.

"Thank you so much," she calls after the guard, holding in a squeal.

She packs the boots, even though she's going to a much sunnier climate. They were finally comfortable, and she wasn't missing out on that.

Throwing in as many dresses as she can find, she walks to the bathroom to collect her box of razors, and her hair and skin products.

She's pretty good at this packing thing, if you consider over-packing to be good.

It only takes her half an hour to pack enough clothes for almost a month, and once she's done, she does a once over of the room, throwing in her phone chargers, and running down to her office to grab her laptop and any important files she needs.

She crams the files in on top of her dresses, flattening them out and making sure none of the papers are crushed.

Once she's totally finished packing her bags, she leaves them in the hallway, before sprinting off to the orphanage quickly.

She bangs on the door, and once her aunt answers, she yanks her into a tight hug.

Faye is surprised, and tries to step back until she realises who it is, and then she wraps her arms around her niece.

"I know you didn't want to tell me, I'm the one who pushed, and I'm sorry for getting angry and running out," Avery mumbles, squeezing her aunt tightly, "I'm going to the West for a week or two, for training. My mum is really, really pissed off at dad, so you might have to help York do some damage control."

Faye raises an eyebrow, but doesn't question anything she was told, kissing her niece's cheek.

"You're certainly dressed for the West, I don't know how you didn't catch frostbite," she scolds, looking at the shorts and t-shirt her niece has on, "it's 9pm, you should be in your pyjamas at this time of night."

Avery giggles at her aunt, shaking her head at her old-fashioned ways.

"I have to go, I love you," she calls, taking off in a run back to her house.

As soon as she gets in the door, York is waiting for her, looking very confused, until he realises she was with Faye.

"I just have to change, and I'll be ready to go," she smiles, hopping up the stairs.

"Do you want me to get mom and dad so you can say goodbye?" He calls after her, raising a brow.

"Mum, yes. I'll speak to dad when I get to the West, I need to cool off before I speak to him, I don't want to be unnecessarily mean," she mind links him, walking into her bedroom and quickly getting changed into her fluffiest jumper and pyjama bottoms, which she purposely didn't pack.

Grabbing her handbag, she puts her feet into her blue trainers, and hurries back down the stairs, jumping from the fourth last one to the floor happily.

Marie greets her, sweeping her into a hug and a squeeze.

"You take care of yourself over there," she whispers, and then moves to the mind link, "Don't get yourself in too much trouble."

"I love you, mom," Avery giggles, squirming out of her tight grip, and hurrying to join Alpha Roman in the black sedan awaiting her.