I fell backwards into the queen sized bed and felt myself sink into the soft mattress. I will applaud whoever chose this bed for child me since it has to be one of the more comfortable mattresses I have been on. Alex gave a little laugh at my actions as he tossed the rag in his hand on me, "You can't be tired. There's still dust in this room."

"You shouldn't have let it get dusty." I replied as I tossed the rag back to him.

Luke walked back into the room with three bottles of water in his hands. He handed one to Alex before flopping back onto the bed beside me and handing a bottle of water to me, "No fighting, you two."

I rolled my eyes, "We're not fighting. Alex just won't tell me how old he really is."

I propped myself up on my elbows as I opened the cold bottle of water and sipping it. I heard Alex chuckle and I looked up at him to see him trying to get dust off of an old teddy bear that looked like it had been well loved, "I told you my age doesn't matter."

"I'm just curious, though. You look like you could be my older brother instead of parent." I replied as I fell back down onto the bed.

Alex gave a shrug, "My family has good genes, I guess."

"She didn't believe I'm thirty-four. So just tell her your age, Alex."

"I'm one hundred forty-two." Alex said, making me choke on my water.

I sat up to look at him. He won't tell me his age and he just blurts out some impossible age while looking like he doesn't care as he dusts my bookshelf, "We both know that's not your age."

Alex shrugged as he gave me a little smile, "Fine then, thirty,"

I rolled my eyes. He doesn't even look like he's twenty-two, so how is he thirty? I lied my head back on the bed, "If you hand me an ID and it says you are over twenty-one, I'm going to believe it is a fake ID. You can't be thirty."

I heard chuckles from both Alex and Luke. I looked over at Luke as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Alex grabbed my wrists and pulled me up before looking down at me. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, showing me his driver's license inside it. I looked down at the driver's license. It was new, according to the date on it. I looked at Alex's birthday. It read May 17, 1988. There's no way he can make someone fake his driver's license. And if he can, it won't look this real. I looked up at Alex, a little shocked he was telling me the truth, "How?"

"I told you my family has good genes." Alex said as he put his wallet back in his back pocket. I looked at the picture of Dad and me on the night stand as Alex went back to the bookshelf. Dad looked so young, he must have had me when he was young. I looked over to Luke to see him sitting up and looking at me. He moved his eyes to Alex as Alex made a deep sigh, "You know, Vincent had you when he was a teenager. He would have turned thirty-three this year."

I looked away from the picture, looking to Alex, "He was a teenager when I was born? How old was he? Why did he live here?"

Alex nodded, "He was seventeen, and Brooke, your mother, was sixteen. He lived with me because my parents took him in when his parents kicked him out. They weren't happy you were made out of wedlock and because of that, after Vincent's death when they were contacted to be your guardians they said they wanted you to go into an adoption center because you weren't related to them."

My own grandparents didn't care about me. They kicked my dad out of their house because he got my mom pregnant. They didn't even want me after he vanished. Did they even care their son was murdered?

Luke wrapped his arm around my shoulders as he scooted closer to me, "Vincent's parents were very old fashioned, Avery. After he impregnated Brooke, they took him out of their lives. They didn't care what happened to him, or to you."

I couldn't help but lean my head on Luke's shoulder and lean into his embrace more. My own grandparents didn't care I existed. Are they still alive today? Do they ever think about me? Do they think about their son? Did they regret what they had done? It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact my grandparents didn't love me. It was hard to imagine a parent could ever disown their own child. Alex appeared in front of us, taking my hands in his, "What matters is that Vincent loved you, and that we love you."

"But my grandparents didn't. They abandoned their son. And my mom abandoned me." I replied as I felt a tugging at my heart. I had thought I was abandoned by my mom because the Kennedy's never said anything about her and what Luke had told me earlier was correct. How could parents act like their child didn't exist and go on living just fine? Alex sighed as he sat down on the other side of me, wrapping his arm around my lower back, "You gained us in their place and we love you more than they ever could have, Avery."

"Avery?" A new voice said.

I looked up to see the most attractive guy I had ever seen before. He had long dark brown hair that went a little bit past his dark blue eyes, had a black hoop on the left side of his nose, and had small gauges in his earlobes. He stood in my doorway with a grey t-shirt and black skinny jeans, a backpack strap over his right shoulder. I felt my heart skip a few beats as his dark blue eyes held mine with such happiness. Was this guy Kellin? Before I could ask he was in front of me, pulling me to my feet, and wrapping me into a tight hug. I wanted to fight him because I didn't know who he was, but my body said otherwise. It liked being in his comforting embrace. He pulled away after a minute, a huge smile on his face, "Why didn't either of you tell me she was coming today?"

I blinked away the tears that had formed in my eyes as I learned my grandparents didn't care I existed and sat back down on the bed. Alex shook his head, "How did you even know she was coming, Kellin?"

"I over heard the two of you talking a couple of weeks ago." Kellin said before leaning down and wrapping his arms around me again, "I missed you so much."

I hesitantly pushed him away. My body didn't want me to but I didn't want to be held by some guy that I don't remember and think is attractive. He's probably like my godbrother or something like that. So in case if he was completely off limits I didn't want to fall for him. My mind told me to run, my body wanted to get back in his embrace. Why did I want to be in his hold when I hated anyone touching me? Kellin looked at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes as another guys voice came into the room.

"Isn't this room off limits?" The new voice said.

Is that why Luke pulled a key from the top of the door frame? They had my room off limits. It must be why everything was so dusty. Were they ashamed after the state took me away so they tried to lock every memory of me away? I wiped at my eyes to stop the tears that wanted to form at the thought they wanted to lock me in the past as Kellin stood up and turned around to the new voice, "Yeah. But Avery is back home, so it's back on limits."

I looked over at Luke, "Why was my room off limits?"

He gave a little shrug as he looked over at me, "We wanted to keep everything the way you left it when I was able to get you back. I didn't imagine that would be twelve years later."

A little smile formed on my face. That was actually really sweet. From what I've heard Luke and Alex love me as much as my dad did, so I don't feel completely weird near them. Kellin turned back to me when he heard me speak. I could still see the sad look on his face which stabbed at my heart. I didn't know why it hurt me to see him sad since I couldn't remember him. Maybe I remembered him deep down. Luke wrapped his arm around me again, "Avery, this is Kellin. And that is his friend Cody."

I nodded at Kellin as a new guy came up beside him, who I assumed to be Cody. Cody had long black hair that went to his mouth and was messy. He had green eyes and a piercing in the lower left of his bottom lip. I had not heard of Cody before, so I didn't think he was from my childhood. I gave a little nod to Cody, "Hi."

Kellin and Cody looked like the guys at my old school that always caused trouble. Everyone called them punks. But with Alex and Luke not being the ages they looked, I bet these two have to be in their mid twenties. Cody gave me a crooked smile, "Hey, Avery."

"Would one of you carry a box or two into the attic?" Alex asked as he stretched and pointed to the cardboard boxes around my room we had used to fill up with my childhood clothes, toys, and books.

"Sure thing, Mr. Fletcher." Cody said as he picked up one of the boxes closest to him and lifted it up. He left my room, leaving the three of us. Kellin wouldn't take his eyes off of me, which made me nervous. Kellin leaned back down in front of me, "Do you not remember me?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, no."

I heard him sigh before standing up and picking up a box. When he left my room, I turned to Luke and leaned into him. He kept his arm around me and rubbed my right arm, "It's not your fault you lost your memories, Avery. Kels doesn't know what happened to you."

"I'll go talk to him." Alex said as he stood up and left Luke and I alone on my bed.

"I wish I could remember."

Luke leaned his head down on top of mine, "I know. I didn't think you would have much memory of us since you were taken away so young. But you can have all of Vincent's pictures and videos. We will answer any question you have."

"Kellin?" A girl's voice said loudly which caused me to jump slightly. I didn't expect there to be anyone else in the house that I hadn't met.

Luke raised his head before yelling, "He took some boxes into the attic. He'll be back down soon, Hayley."

A girl with long light blonde hair and light blue eyes came to my door frame and stopped. She was pretty with sharp features that also seemed very soft. I couldn't help but stare at her in awe. I wished I could look pretty like that. I wished I could wear makeup like that. But I can barely put on eyeliner without stabbing my eye with the pencil a couple of times and having dots on my eyelid, so I don't do makeup.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend over, sorry to interrupt." Hayley said.

I pushed Luke off of me. He's old, so there's no way I could date someone that old. He gave a chuckle at my action as he put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair, "Avery is my goddaughter."

Hayley narrowed her eyes at me for a few seconds before leaning against my door frame, "Oh, sorry."

Luke smiled, "No problem. Avery, this is Hayley."

"I'm Kellin's girlfriend." She said as she looked around the room seemingly bored. She didn't have to tell me she was his girlfriend. I could really care less that they are dating. I lied back on my bed, "It's nice to meet you."

"Would you help Avery fit in here? She's been down in Mobile for the past seven years." Luke asked Hayley. I looked over at him, "Thanks for trying to make friends for me."

He chuckled again before looking down at me, "I'm sorry. I'm just worried you won't be happy here."

Cody came back into my room and grabbed another two boxes before leaving, Hayley following him. I sighed as I looked up at Luke, "I'm already happy here. I don't know how, but I feel warmth from you and Alex. I feel like I belong here."

"That's because you do belong here." Luke said before standing up, "I just want you to be as happy as humanly possible."

"Thank you." I replied to him, a smile on my face. I felt at home. I've never felt this comfortable in my life. The only thing I wish I could change about that is I wish my dad was here with me. I sat up, "Is Dad's case closed? Like a cold case?"

I saw Luke nod his head, "Yes."

"Do you miss him?"

Luke looked over at me, "Every day."

"Tell me something else about him."

Luke smiled, "Vince loved storms. The more severe the weather, the more he loved it. He wanted to be a storm chaser because he liked storms so much. He used to take pictures of storms. Matter of fact, he taught me how to use a DSLR, to take pictures of you when he wasn't around."

"What's a DSLR?" I asked as I tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

"Some fancy camera. I remember the D stood for digital. I wasn't ready to get into the whole making pictures in the darkroom thing. He had always loved taking pictures, so he preferred film over digital." Luke said as he picked up one of the boxes from the floor, "I'll be right back."

I nodded as he vanished out of my room. This was the first time I had been alone since this morning. I leaned back on the bed and smiled. I found my family, my real family. I looked over at the picture of my dad and me on my night stand. Hopefully I can be as happy as I looked in that picture here. I already felt happy and at ease. I stood up and went to the fireplace to look at all the pictures on top of it. One picture caught my eyes as I scanned the pictures. There was a tiny me kissing a little boy while we were on swings. I picked up the picture to look at it closer. The little boy had long dark brown hair and I had seen him many times in my dreams. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to look over at Alex, "Who is the boy in this picture?"

He came beside me, taking the picture out of my hand and looking at it before handing it back to me, "That's Kellin."

"Was this my first kiss?"

Alex chuckled, "Yeah."

I smiled as I set the picture frame back down on the top of the fireplace. That's actually really cute. It's kind of odd to know Kellin was my first kiss. He has a girlfriend and is probably like a godbrother or who knows what else. Plus, why would he be interested in me? I'm a boring normal girl who doesn't know who she is. Plus, Hayley is pretty. I turned around to see Alex staring at me, a small smile on his face, "What?"

He shook his head, "You're just as curious as you were when you were little. It's still adorable."

I rolled my eyes. I'm not adorable. I'm bland.

"Yeah, I'd say she is as adorable as everyone has said." Cody said as he came into my room.

I looked at him to see a big smile on his face. I pointed at myself. Did he think I was adorable? How could he think I was adorable? I was bland. Bland, I say! Alex gave another chuckle, "Me, too. But don't catch Luke hearing you say that or he will ban you from the house."

"But this is your house." Cody replied as he walked over to me, his hands in the front pockets of his black skinny jeans.

Alex nodded his head, "Technically, but we're on the deed together. He pays half, I pay half. So he can ban you if you hit on Avery."

"So are you saying any guy that hits on me is banned from the house?" I asked with my eyebrow raised.

Luke walked into the room. His face showed he was a little annoyed, "I will rip out the throat of anyone that even looks at you. I just got you back and I am not going to lose you to anyone any time soon."

Cody held his hands up, "I'm not hitting on her. But you heard what Hayley said. I think if someone was around for a little bit, she wouldn't be so angry."

"Hayley is just a jealous girl. Just because she thinks everyone is out to get Kellin doesn't mean anyone really is. Plus, what can we do? Get someone to fake date Avery? Who would even want to do a couple of fake dates?" Luke said as he sat down on my bed. Cody shrugged, "I'd do it just to make Hayley shut up."

"Hey, don't be talking about me like I'm not here. Why am I supposed to fake date someone?" I asked.

Luke looked up at me, "Because Hayley is pitching a fit to Kellin about a girl living here. She thinks you'll try to take him away from her. I won't let you actually date anyone ASAP. Not when I just got you. Oh! I need to get you put on my phone plan. Let's go do that now to get away from her."