Violet's POV

I hummed softly to myself as I helped Crystal hang up the last of the tinsel around the house.  It was almost time for the guests to arrive and I wasn't having total panic attack.  Yet.

"I know Colton wants you to socialize and all that," Crystal was saying, "But if you start feeling anxious or uncomfortable I put your iPod in your room so you can listen to music for a bit.  I know you're not supposed to have it, but this is Christmas.  Besides, you deserve a break from all the crap he's put on you."

I managed a slight smile, "Thanks Crystal."

The doorbell rang.  The butterflies in my stomach started to slowly take over.  Fuck.

"Merry Christmas!  It's so good to see you again!" Crystal hugged an older woman.  I just stood by the tree in the hall hoping no one would notice me.

"It's good to see you too, Mom," Crystal said, "There's someone I want you to meet."  She gestured to me.

"This is Violet.  She was Colton and Anna's daughter."

"Hello Violet," She said, "You can call me Nan."

"Hi," I mumbled.

"Violet is kind of shy," Crystal must have sensed my discomfort and guided her mother's attention away from me, "I need some help with the stuff in the kitchen."

Some more people came in the door.  One of them was a guy that looked a lot like Sam.  Wait, I think that is Sam.

"Violet?  What the fuck are you doing here?" Yep.  Definitely Sam.

"Colton and Crystal are my parents," I told him, "I live here."

"Colton is my uncle," Sam said, "If you're his daughter, how come I haven't seen you at any other family events?  Wait, you're Anna's kid, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"Okay, that sort of makes sense.  You look like her.  So, why weren't you living here before?" He asked me.

"It's a long story."

"Well unless you want to deal with all this Christmas bullshit, then we have plenty of time."

Jinx's POV

"Jinx, I have a present for you!"  Aunt Lilly excitedly said and put a medium sized package in my hands.

"You didn't have to get me anything," I said.  We were already pretty tight on money.  Yesterday I didn't even eat dinner because we needed to save food to get us through the week.

I opened the box.  It was the Pierce The Veil sweatshirt I had been had been wanting for a while. 

"Do you like it?" She asked me.

"Yeah.  I love it.  Thanks Lilly."

She beamed, "I knew you'd like it.  Besides, I think that panic at the party sweatshirt you always wear needs a break."  I smiled, she always gets the band names wrong.  But I'll give her credit for trying.

"Do we have a meeting with the caseworkers today?" I asked her.  They'd been requesting meetings a lot lately.  Usually they just have a yearly checkup and leave us alone the rest of the time. 

"Not today.  We have one tomorrow, though."

The caseworkers have been requesting a lot of meetings lately.  They've never done this before. 

Gerard's POV

I anxiously paced in front of the door.  Violet is coming to visit today!  I can't wait to see her.

"Hello sunshine," I wrapped Violet in a hug.  She looked a lot skinnier than when I last saw her.

"Hi Dad," She said softly and a flicker of a smile appeared on her face.  I could tell that something wasn't right.  The Violet I knew wasn't quiet and reserved like this. 

I placed a kiss on the top her head.  "You've been doing okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm doing fine.  How's everyone else here?"

"VIOLET!  VIOLET!  VIOLET!"  Bandit ran in the kitchen and hugged Violet, "I missed you!"

Violet laughed, "I missed you too, Bee."

"Mommy got a  gingerbread house," Bandit said, "Will you make it with me?"

"Of course!" Violet said Bandit dragged her into the kitchen so they could get started.

"Hey Gerard," Crystal was standing in the doorway.  I didn't even notice her there.  "I need to talk to you about Violet."

We sat in the den so that the girls couldn't overhear us.  "Is Violet doing okay?" I asked her. 

"I'm don't know," Crystal said, "She doesn't really talk to us, or anyone really.  I've never seen her actually smile, she doesn't eat anything ever, and I hear her cry herself to sleep on most nights.  I don't really know much about kids, but that doesn't seem like normal behavior for a 13 year old."

My little girl is suffering.  This can't be happening.  Oh God, what if she relapsed?

"You know she's had a history with depression and anorexia, right?" I asked her.

Crystal looked horrified, "No, I didn't know that.  Colton hasn't told me anything about her past."

"Has she been wearing long sleeves a lot lately?"  Please let the answer be no.  Please, please, please...

"Now that I think about it, yes she has been wearing sweatshirts a lot."

"O-okay," My voice was shaky, "Violet also self harmed for a long period of time.  On both of her wrists she has scars from that.   When she left us she had been 6 months clean."

"Oh my God," Crystal said, "You don't think..."

"I do, Crystal."  It broke my heart to say those words.

"What do we do?" She asked me, "I don't want her to do that to herself.  Should I tell anyone?  Colton got her a therapist, so I guess I can bring that up-"

"A therapist?"  Violet doesn't need a therapist.  She just needs someone she can love and trust.  You can't send a kid to therapy and expect them to come out the other side all perfect and happy.  Sometimes therapy doesn't even work for the kid, it just makes it worse.  Violet must be scared out of her fucking mind.

"Yeah, Colton thought that getting her into a therapy program would help.  It hasn't.  For one thing, she refuses to talk at the sessions.  I'm not sure if it's because she's just being stubborn, or if she's scared, or both.  Either way, Colton took away her iPod and said that she could have it back when she talked, but that hasn't happened yet."  Crystal explained.

Was he trying to destroy the little trust she had for him?  I felt the rage flicker inside for me.  He was slowly killing her.  I need to get her out of there.

"Please don't tell Colton about this visit," Crystal told me, "He doesn't want her talking to you guys at all.  But when she's here, I see a different kid.  Before she came to live with us, they showed us a few videos."

I nodded.  I remember taking those.  They had us take some videos of us doing fun family stuff to make sure that Violet was happy in her new house. 

"In those videos I remember seeing a happy, bubbly, 13 year old.  Colton and I couldn't wait to finally have a kid, you know?  But when we visited for the first time I could tell that it wasn't going to work.  She loved you guys so much and I knew that if we took her away she wasn't going to be the same.  I tried to convince Colton out of it, but it didn't work," Crystal sighed, "He never listens to me.  He wanted to have Violet there, so that's what he got."

Violet's POV

"Look at all of the stuff I got for Christmas!"  Bandit excitability dragged me to her room.  The roof for the gingerbread house needed to set for a while, which means there is 20 minutes of time to waste before we can put the candy decorations on.

"Wow Bee, you got a lot of stuff." I said.  The floor of Bandit's bedroom was covered in all sorts of toys.  This must have been a pretty successful Christmas for her.  I didn't really get much.  Just a few band shirts and a couple CDs, not that I was complaining.  I don't want their stuff.

Lindsey popped her head into the room, "Hey Bandit, can I steal Violet for a few minutes?  I promise I'll give her back."

"Okay," Bandit said, "But no longer than 10 minutes.  We have important stuff to do."

Lindsey opened the door to my room.  It was exactly as I left it.  The glow in the dark stars were still on the ceiling, my bookshelf still looked like a mini library, and the drawings Gerard drew for me took up the space above my bed.  Lindsey handed me a vintage-looking model horse about 5 or 6 inches tall that was on my desk.

"Bandit and I were in an antiques shop a few weeks ago.  I saw this and thought of you."  She said.  The horse was a black and white, exactly like Picasso.  It's mane and tail were flowing freely.

"Thanks Mom," I said, "It looks just like Picasso.  I love it.  How is Picasso, anyway?"

"Picasso is great," she said and pulled out her phone, "We got him this adorable blanket so he doesn't get cold.  I took a few pictures."  The pictures were of Picasso in a red and green plaid Christmassy horse blanket.  He looked amazing.

"He looks so cute!  Thanks again for taking care of him." I said.

"No problem.  He's a great horse, and Bandit loves him too."

Crystal's POV

"How was your 'girls day'?" Colton asked us as soon as we came in the door.  I had told Colton that we were going shopping for the day.  If he found out where we really were he would be furious.

"It was good," I said.  Violet nodded.  I knew she didn't trust Colton.  I don't blame her.

"Where did you get that horse?" He asked her.

"We went to an antiques shop," I quickly answered, "Violet really liked it, so I decided to buy it for her."

"Can I go to my room?" Violet asked me. 

"Sure," I said, "If you want any food or whatever feel free to come down and get some, okay?"

Violet mumbled a thank you and went upstairs as quickly as possible.

"Have you ever thought that maybe Violet isn't happy here?  Like, that maybe she doesn't belong here with us?" I asked him.

"Nope," Colton said, "She's just settling in, Crystal.  She'll warm up to us eventually."

"It's been a month.  She still doesn't really talk to us, or do anything with us.  What if-"

"No!" Colton snapped, "I won't consider it.  She's my daughter, she stays here.  End of story."

I started to get frustrated, "Colton!  You never listen to me!  Just here me out for once."

"Crystal," He said slowly, "She is staying here."

Violet's POV

I can still hear them yelling.  I put my hands over my ears and went under the blankets in my bed, but it didn't work.  Their voices still reached my bedroom and tore my heart with every word.  I hate this.  I just want to go back to Gerard and Lindsey.  They never argued.

I just want to go home