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There are moments in life where you regret every decision you make. Sometimes once a decision is made, you can almost see the future and instantly want to take that decision back. That's the feeling I have been experiencing since last Saturday. No matter how hard I closed my eyes and prayed, that message was still there. Six days later here I was, sitting in a cafe waiting on Drew and my... dad to arrive.

'What the hell am I thinking!'

To say Isaac was shocked was an understatement, but he understood my reasons for this meeting and he knew why I didn't want to take Alena with me. I didn't want to give Alena false hope about a reconciliation if this is something that is not going to work for us. It was safer to keep Alena in the dark for now, until it was safe to bring her out. Can you imagine the world of hurt I'd put her through if I brought her here, made her think that we were going to be a family again and then something takes that away? I can't stand to see how that would break her heart.

Fri, Apr 8, 1:30 PM
Drew:  On our way

"Ugh." I groaned to myself at the sight of Drew's message, it definitely was too late to turn back out now. I had been trying to practice what to say to my dad, but my anger kept getting in the way of my thoughts and interrupting my practice session. Now, here I sat with no idea what to say to this man I haven't seen in eight years.

My eyes kept diverting to the front entrance while my leg bounced up and down uncontrollably. The wait was killing me slowly and making me more anxious. Every time the door would open I would look up in panic, and then relax as soon as I saw that it was a stranger. This time when I looked up, I wasn't overcome by relief that it wasn't Drew and my dad. Instead, my mouth went dry when I saw them enter the cafe, my father following shortly behind Drew as he took the lead towards me.

I could see the panicked look in Drew's eyes, his eyes were practically screaming at me for me to relax and not overreact at this little gathering. I almost rolled my eyes at him and the way his eyes widened at me in warning as he came closer.

"Avery" Drew warned while greeting me.

"Andrew" I retaliated before smirking at him as he chuckled and shook his head in disapproval, before forcing me up from my seat into a bear hug.

"Hi, Avery"

My body stiffened at my fathers greeting, I felt extremely uncomfortable and at this point I definitely did not feel ready to have this conversation. Panic was slowly setting in and I was internally freaking the fuck out.

"Hi." I responded with uncertainty, before sitting back down. I waited patiently as they both sat down directly in front of me. I looked between the two men, trying to decipher who was going to start this conversation because I most definitely wasn't going to. The only reason I was here today was because of Drew. If this man thought for a second I was going to apologise for what happened at the gym, he had another thing coming.

"I'm sor-"

I quickly lifted my hand up to stop him, "If we are going to have this conversation, do NOT start with I'm sorry otherwise I'm walking."

He pressed his lips together immediately after, I could tell he was contemplating what he should say next and how he should say it. He clearly knew he had to tread carefully with this conversation because all it would take was one wrong word and I was gone.

"Ok." Dad responded as he lifted both his hands up in defeat.

"Where's Alena?" Drew asked

"I wasn't about to bring her into this conversation. I haven't decided on what happens after today." I responded, I could see that it wasn't a response that he wanted. He slightly shook his head as he let out a sad sigh.

"What happened to your forearm?" My dad asked. I looked down to see that I had forgotten to bring my sleeves down. I had rolled them up earlier because I was overheating earlier, I shook my head as I mumbled "nothing" before bringing my sleeves down to cover my arms. From the corner of my eye I saw Drew immediately turn his head towards our dad and give him a sharp look. Lucky for me, he didn't press the matter further after that.

I waited patiently as I watched over this man who claims to be my father. I could see that Alena and I both had his eyes, Alena had more features from our dad whereas I was a splitting image of our mother. Come to think about it, I hadn't heard from my mum and I was growing quite concerned, I mentally made a note to message her when I got home. I shook my head in an attempt to focus on the man who was sitting directly across from me. I couldn't afford to get distracted, this was a crucial meeting.

I let out a silent sigh, I knew I had to take the reigns on this conversation and ask the hard questions, "Why did you tell Drew we were dead?"

'Shots fired!'

'Should have eased into the conversation.'

I watched as he clenched his jaw while contemplating his answer, "I was a coward. I didn't want to deal with all the questions that I knew would follow from Drew."

"Gee, thanks dad."

"I'm being honest, okay?!"

Drew crossed his arms and sat back in his seat, obviously annoyed at his fathers comments. We both knew he was only there for moral support for both parties and wasn't going to get involved in the conversation.

"I tried to look for you both. You have to believe me that I did everything I could do to find you girls."

"And how did that go for you? Did you find us?" I asked in a clipped sarcastic tone.

He let out a sigh as he nodded in defeat. He knew where this conversation was heading, "I did."

The anger started to appear on my face, before he quickly added, "But there is so much more to the story."

"So tell me!" I forced the words out through gritted teeth, an attempt to control my anger.

"Your mother found out that I was filing for full custody. I don't know how she found out but she did. She just picked up and took you both away before I even had a chance to blink. I spent years trying to find you girls, I spent day and night, contacted all my resources but I came up with nothing. You guys just fell off the face off the earth."

I tried to remain calm as I listened to him. I knew this bit of information already to be true. I realised that I was finally getting the information I had been hoping for, for the last eight years. This conversation has been eight years in the making and I was trying not to have an emotional breakdown. So I chose not to interrupt, I waited patiently as he clearly tried to calculate his next steps for this conversation.

"I spent three years looking before giving up. Until roughly a year ago when Michael and Drew were arguing, Michael said that he wished he had a sister closer to his age so that they could both gang up against Drew."

My face had a hint of a smile as I pictured Michael saying these words.

"It made me realise that I should not have given up searching for you girls, so I finally hired a P.I to help locate you both. It took him less than a month to finally find you both, he said it was only by chance because you were in hospital due to an overdose?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I tried not to think about that night and why or how I ended up in hospital. I purposely ignored his question. I could see the disappointed look in his eyes, it was enough to confirm that he knew more about what had happened and why I was in hospital. He had another thug coming if he thought I was going to open this conversation up, because I wasn't. No way in hell.

"You overdosed?! On what?!" Drew demanded in anger.

"It doesn't matter now." I responded as I clenched my jaw.

"No, it doesn't. I confronted your mother, she threatened to move again if I tried to contact you girls. I didn't want to risk losing you both. I forced myself to be content with the fact that I at least knew where you girls were. So I wrote to you, I even used a fake name and everything but you never responded?"

"I didn't even know about these letters!" I quickly responded in defence.

"I figured as much but I still kept writing, in hopes that one day you would find out and respond. Occasionally I would drive up and watch you girls walk to school."

"So when did you stop? When I had a busted lip or when Alena had a bruised jaw and swollen eye?"

I waited as my dad took in my questions, I could see the pained expression on his face but something inside me didn't seem to be fazed by the pain I obviously just caused. I didn't feel bad for telling it like it was.

"Dad? Did you know he was hurting them?" Drew creased his eyebrows in confusion as he waited for a response.

He let out a sigh and closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, "I saw, but I never stopped keeping an eye on you both."

"Keeping an eye on us from far didn't do us any favours! You didn't do anything about it either!"

"I couldn't!"

"Yes you could have! Don't give me that bullshit!"

"Watch your tone!"

"Oh, now you want to be a father right?! Wrong!"

My dad and I were both breathing heavily as we stared at each other, across the table.

It was officially up to Drew to interfere otherwise this conversation was going to blow up and we already had onlookers occasionally glancing over at our table.

"Guys. Let's take it down a bit." Drew whispered, hastily.

I watched as my dad let out a deep breath, "I don't want to fight. Let me make it up to you girls. I would like to make it right"

"Too little too late, Adrian."

"Don't be like that Ave."

I shook my head in anger at Drew's comment, "You have no idea what we went through. We were put through hell and that could have changed at the snap on his fingers but he was a coward!"

"You will never know, because at least you have a family to go home to. We didn't! I raised Alena, not you, not mum and definitely not dad. I did!"

With that said, I grabbed my bag before storming out the front door and straight to my car. Just as I was about to get in, someone stopped me by closing the door. I turned back and saw Drew standing there with a pleading look in his eyes.

I let out an annoyed sigh, "What, Drew?"

"Please don't give up on this." His whispered plea was enough to reach my heart and cause it to ache. I didn't want to make any promises I wasn't sure I wanted to keep, but I also didn't want to disappoint my brother.

"I'll think about it."

He gave me a small smile as he reached over to hug me, kissing me on my forehead before whispering, "Thank you sis."

When he broke our contact anyway, I gave him a kiss on the cheek before he backed away, allowing me to get into my car, he stayed to watch over me as I closed the door.

I drove in complete silence, the thoughts in my head were enough to keep me occupied and entertained. I felt conflicted after that meeting, I wanted to be angry; wanted to stay angry, I wanted to hate him but there was something towards the end of our conversation, making me believe there was more to this than what he was admitting to. If I was going to think about having some kind of relationship with my father, he needed to be honest with me. He has eight years to catch up on and I wasn't about to let him get off the hook. If he was hiding something, I was going go to make it my mission to find out what else he knew.

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A/N: Don't forget to hit that vote button xx

Next Chapter: It's back to school for the gang, starting off with those projects that were due. I wonder what has been written down?