"And you're sure this goes to Ava's apartment?"

Quinn followed Charlie's lead by dunking a French fry into her milkshake. She tossed it into her mouth, not giving the chocolate syrup a chance to drip from the fry's golden-brown shell. An unadorned nod followed.

"That's what the lady said."

It hadn't been more than a few hours after Quinn and Sandra's—less than pleasant—encounter that the teenage couple found themselves at the diner, perplexed quite completely by a simple piece of metal with jagged teeth.

Charlie raised the key up, urging the sunshine to illuminate its body, as he scrutinized it intently. After an extended period of silence, he cut his losses and returned the key to the girl's palm, realizing he was coming up just as empty-handed as she was.

"Why does she still have her old place anyway? She moved in with you guys months ago."

Quinn pocketed the key and sighed, "Her lease had a few more months before it was up so, even though she started living with us, her apartment still belongs to her. At least that's what she said."

Though she was starting to believe that taking Ava's words at face value just might've become dangerous territory.

She traced the outline of her glass and watched as her milkshake melted before her very eyes. Before now, she hadn't thought it'd be possible for her to grow tired of its sugary taste, though, if nothing else, the situation taught her that the right concoction of unease and discontentment had the power to destroy the appetite of a bear fresh out of Winter hibernation.

Charlie didn't offer a response, but Quinn welcomed the brief moment of quiet to think. She watched the condensation-produced droplets as they dripped from her glass and raced to the table, instantly forming a wide, wet ring on its surface.

"Ava wouldn't do that." The girl couldn't mask the uncertainty in her voice if she tried. "...Would she?"

Charlie leaned forward in the booth, attempting to accumulate the words that poured out through the redhead's hushed tone. "Do what?"

"You know," Quinn whined. After twiddling her thumbs, she returned her troubled eyes to his delicate ones. "Don't make me say it."

"Would Ava, the woman that drools every time your sister walks into a room, mess around with someone else?"

Charlie's humorous response nearly made Quinn crack a smile, he made it all seem so easy. A part of her felt ridiculous for even thinking Ava would ever be capable of such a horrible thing, still, the voice in her head wouldn't allow her to put her worries to rest.

"Either way...I gotta tell Paloma."

The boy's dark brows instantly spiked, painting his astonishment. "T-tell Paloma? You really think that's the route to go on this one? You know she'll completely freak out."

Quinn dusted the crumbs from her fingertips and scoffed, "Of course she will! Who wouldn't? But what the hell else am I supposed to do?"

"Return the key to Ava like the woman asked?"

Quinn teetered softly, "You really are the king of bad ideas today, Charles."

"We don't even know this woman. Don't you think it's possible that Ava has other people in her life—friends—that you guys don't know about?"

She dismissed his assumption with the fleeting wave of her hand. "Any time she or Paloma leaves the house unless it's for work or to go shopping, it's to hang out with mutual friends. Mutual," she reiterated. "There's no way Ava has secret friends that my sister doesn't know about. Besides, even if Ava did have others in her life if this woman was just a friend, why hide her?"

Still unconvinced, Charlie shrugged. "Whose to say that she hid her? Maybe Paloma does know about her and they just didn't fill you in." His lazy smile urged Quinn to roll her eyes. "Most couples reserve some information for themselves, you know."

"You didn't see this 'Sandra' lady, alright?" Her growing distaste for the name hadn't gone unnoticed by her boyfriend. "She was, to be candid, smokin' hot, really tan, sickeningly fit, and no more than ten seconds older than either of us."

Charlie chuckled at the girl's less than humble exaggeration which made Quinn eventually relent, "Okay, maybe she was a little older than that. But she'd definitely be considered good looking to pretty much any being with the gift of sight."

"Since when is that a crime?"

In a purely dramatic fashion, Quinn dropped her jaw and widened her eyes. "Have you met my sister? There isn't a chance in hell she wouldn't be suspicious of Ava having 'friendships' with women that looked like that. Plus, Sandra was pretty keen on knowing whether or not Ava and I were a thing which I promptly cleared up because you know...ew."

"Which tells me that Ava's 'friend', has no clue that she and Paloma are not only dating, but living together which raises a few dozen red flags in itself," she affirmed. "Not only that but, for whatever reason, that woman doesn't like Paloma all that much. As a matter of fact, I'd go out on a limb  and say she hates her."

Charlie leaned back in his seat, soaking in his girlfriend's fast-paced rant."Why would Ava associate with anyone that doesn't like Paloma?"

"My point exactly. I'm pretty sure Ava would kill anyone that talked crap about my sister, but this 'Sandra' person is apparently the exception considering she had a key to her place! Put that together and you've got—"

"Speculation," Charlie interrupted. A pointed look directed towards the other teenager followed. "I still think you may be reading into this a little too much."

Brown eyes darted to green. "If by speculation you mean jealous side piece, then yes...speculation."

"It may not be what it looks like."

Quinn condescendingly raised an eyebrow—an act that prompted Charlie to press on, "I know it looks bad and...it sounds bad," he mumbled, "but this is Ava. Do you genuinely think she'd do something like that?"

This induced a minor grin on Quinn's part. Leave it to Charlie to search every nook and cranny for any possible logical explanation to appease the dilemma.

"Besides," he continued, "some people don't want outsiders getting involved in their relationship, no matter what's going on."

"Well, Paloma isn't a person, she's my sister which means there's a code," was Quinn's prompt rebuttal. "What if something's going on and I don't say anything and she gets hurt?"

The scenario in itself coaxed a head-aching frown onto the youngest Sullivan's features. Though she could say that, for once, the blood of the situation wasn't on her hands, even the thought of terminating yet another one of Paloma's smooth sailing relationships caused Quinn's stomach to churn.

"If she wasn't involved, I'd stay out of it, no doubt, but that's not the case."

While bearing the title of 'sister' in the Sullivan household came with many perks, breaking the news to Paloma definitely wasn't one of them. Quinn slouched down into the worn cushions of the booth and pressed her elbows against the table's firm surface.

The quiet chased off their conversation as they reluctantly partook in their meal, all the while a level of unease hung above each of them.

"I mean, if I did something like that, was seeing someone else on the side without you knowing, wouldn't you want someone to tell you?" Quinn queried.

At this, Charlie smirked. He finished chewing his food before offering a simple response, "You'd never do that."

Quinn dipped her finger into her glass, taking a drop of her chilled treat along with her and abruptly painting the tip of the boy's nose with it.

"Only you would be that cocky in a hypothetical situation."

Charlie didn't bother to wipe it clean. Instead, he did away with his smug grin and looked at the girl earnestly. "Have you considered asking Ava, talking to her about it first? That way, maybe you can get some answers without causing unnecessary drama, you know? I mean, this is Ava we're talking about. She's never given you a reason not to trust her, right?"

Despite the ambivalence the dilemma struck within Quinn's core, Charlie's question inspired a definite answer out of her, "Yeah, that's right...I trust her."

Charlie strained his tongue, eventually, he managed to lick the remains of the sticky milkshake from the peak of his nose. As if on cue, Quinn giggled at his endeavor.

Pleased at the lightheartedness that returned to the girl's spirit, Charlie wasted no time in offering a reply, "Then, there goes your answer."

It had taken a week, but that conversation was how Quinn found herself in the passenger seat of Ava's car at ten am on a Saturday.

She traced her fingertips over the ridges of the key that she couldn't bring herself to return to her fellow redhead nor leave behind in the top drawer of her dresser—the space that had quickly turned into its discrete hiding place.

Her hair spilled over her shoulders as the morning breeze rushed in and caressed the apples of her cheeks, coating a faintly pink tint over her delicate flesh.

Welcoming it, she stuck her hand out the window, urging the wind to weave its way throughout the spaces between her digits and tickle the palm of her hand before the rain that threatened to leap from the dark clouds made its debut.

For her sister's sake, Quinn longed to gather the remaining pieces necessary to complete the puzzle that Sandra left behind, but as the days ticked by, she was starting to believe that, like flying without wings, uncovering answers was virtually impossible.

"So, what's up?"

Quinn's eyes abruptly snapped to Ava's. As subtly as she could, she crammed the key deeper into her pocket then reluctantly glanced back in Ava's general direction.

Her heartbeat only regulated once the woman refocused her attention on the road, depicting her ongoing oblivion to the object that claimed Quinn's attention for far longer than she cared to admit.

"What do you mean?" She cringed at her own failed attempt at nonchalance and hoped that Ava had been none the wiser.

However, the way Ava cut her tongue on her teeth and chuckled softly told Quinn that her hopefulness was fruitless.

"I mean that not once since I've known you have you ever willingly gone with me to shop for groceries and on a Saturday morning nonetheless."

It was true. It had only taken one two hour stretch of organic grocery shopping with the thirty-year-old ginger for Quinn to learn a rather difficult lesson—though she held the title as one of the most enjoyable people Quinn had ever met, food shopping with Ava was the single handily quickest way for any sane person to absolutely lose their mind.

"Figured you could use the company."

Ava grinned. "Can't argue with that. I would've gotten Paloma to tag along but, well, we both know she gets pretty violent when her sleep gets interrupted."

Quinn couldn't tell if Ava truly believed her lame excuse or if she simply chose not to address her suspicions, either way, she was grateful.

Only a moment passed before she got her answer.

"There must be a reason you wanted to get out of the house," Ava maintained. "Last time I checked, you weren't pissed at Paloma. Bored? Unlikely. Survey says: you're summoning my help with something and for good reason considering my advice is pretty much the best money can buy."

This elicited a genuine laugh out of the girl. Joining in on the short-lived hysterics, Ava glanced at her. "You gonna make me pry it out of you?"

Quinn flirted with the idea of lying but, really, she was no fool. Both herself and Paloma were convinced that Ava was born with a lie detector instilled somewhere inside of her body. And time and time again, the woman corroborated their theory.

"Come on, kid. You know it'll stay between us."

For the second time that morning, Ava snapped the girl out of her thoughts. This time she did so by reaching over the console and giving Quinn a playful shove—a gesture that the teenager quickly learned was Ava's favorite way to coax something out of her. And, as usual, it worked.

"Um..." Quinn mustered out.

She dug into her pocket and fished out the copper-coated key. She could hardly believe that an item so small had the power to dominate her thoughts for the course of a week. Even so, the tender look in Ava's eyes gave Quinn hope for a rational remedy for it all.

After a little mental coaxing, she offered up the key to Ava. As a result, the woman took it from Quinn's fingers and weaved it between her own. After, there was only one response, and it hadn't come from Ava.

The sky fell...and it was thunderous. The dark clouds wept in anguish once the weight that it bore grew to be too much. It painted the earth with its chilled droplets of rain and crashed down against the windshield of the car, bathing it quite completely.

It went without saying that both redhead's welcomed the distraction. Quinn raised the window to prevent the water from soaking her any further as Ava initiated the windshield wipers, effectively alluring both pairs of eyes. They looked on in silence, each mesmerized by the wipers' ability to clear the rain and pave the way to the road ahead with such incredible ease.

Breaking the trance, Quinn searched Ava's features but, to her surprise, couldn't quite read her face. Between the painful silence and Ava's indecipherable expression, Quinn's trepidations were in no way appeased.

They were only a few miles out, Ava's food store of choice being another fifteen minutes down the road. The woman entertained the prospect of carrying on, but the rain was relentless and judging by the shrill of its thunderous roar, rather angry as well. With reluctance, she pulled into the empty parking lot, of what was once a local pharmacy, and killed the ignition.

Finally releasing her grip on the steering wheel, Ava offered up a mere, "Where'd you get this?"

Quinn treaded lightly, "There was this woman—"

"How long have you had this?"

The teenager opened her mouth but the words refused to claw its way out of her dry throat. Not long after, the tail of Ava's mahogany mane spun in the air once she whipped her head around to face Quinn and for the first time, the girl witnessed a transformation occur in the lenses of Ava's eyes. Quinn couldn't help but squirm under her unpleasantly stern look that matched her sister's to a T.

The girl always found that she could almost always be soothed by the pitter-patter of the rain, even when it cried in agony like it did that Saturday morning. It was that comfort that granted Quinn the courage to speak, "A woman dropped it off while you and Paloma were gone."

"What, last week?"

"I waited to tell you because...I don't know, the whole situation was weird—is weird," she corrected, "and I-I didn't know how to bring it up."

Ava's answer was nothing if not brusque, "Try, 'here's something that belongs to you', end of discussion."

For the second time that morning, Quinn lost her backbone. The woman's austere look hadn't faltered in the least and Quinn was beginning to think that it never would. Sensing that she wasn't getting any further with Ava, Quinn tried another approached.

"Look, I...care about you. You're family now and after all the stuff you've done for us—for me especially—I figured you at least deserved a chance to explain yourself, explain the situation, whatever it is." Quinn momentarily ceased her rant and summoned the guts to face Ava fully. "So, please, just...put my mind at ease. Tell me that it's not what it looks like."

It was the unsettling stillness—the quiet that followed—that told Quinn her fears had been realized. Though she had considered that very scenario—Ava coming clean through mere silence alone—it hadn't stopped the look of astonishment from climbing its way onto her face.

"It's not," Ava affirmed through clenched teeth, her voice sickeningly low. "Either way, you shouldn't get involved in things you know nothing about. Our relationship is just that—ours. It's between Paloma and I and it's nothing like whatever you're insinuating."

"Well, I could both believe that and adhere to it if my sister actually knew about this 'nothing' that you're referring to."

Ava locked her jaw and willed herself to maintain her composure. "You have no idea what you're talking about, okay?"

"Maybe if you just tried to clear things up—"

Like a boomerang, Ava came back, this time sterner than before, "That's what I'm saying, I don't have to clear things up!"

With an Earth-shattering clap, the thunder reacquainted them with its merciless wrath. Subsequently, it snuffed out the rising tension that was boxed in within the confines of the vehicle, albeit not entirely.

"Look," Ava started up, this time quieter than before, "this isn't kid stuff and it has absolutely nothing to do with you."

Quinn laughed but it lacked even an ounce of humor, "Are you really trying to pull the 'kid' card on me? This involves my sister who—based on your defensive demeanor—is obviously extremely oblivious to whatever it is you've got going on. So, yeah...it does have something to do with me."

To the girl's surprise, Ava didn't jump down her throat, instead, she nodded her head.

"Okay, you know what? Yeah, you're right...I'm sorry." Finally, it had become apparent through Ava's softened physique that the sincere care and compassion that Quinn had always known had returned at last. "You're worried and I get that. You deserve for me to, at the very least, clear things up."

Quinn's nod was languid and wary.

"So, here it is: the woman that gave you this, she's a friend that fell on hard times and needed some help—a place to stay—so I gave her that. After I moved in with you guys, she crashed at my old place for a little while. But now, she apparently got a place of her own so she doesn't need me anymore, which is good considering, by this time next week, my lease will be up. Okay? That's it. I was just helping out a friend."

"If it's that simple," Quinn began, "then why'd you freak out? Why didn't you just say that? To me, just now...to Paloma, before."

Ava slumped down in her seat and combed her fingers through her hair, her eyes fixated on the ceiling. "...Because she'd think there was something else going on."

"Even though there isn't?" Quinn entreated.

"Exactly." Ava looked at the girl, wearing an expression that was entirely earnest. It practically pleaded with Quinn to listen. "I know I probably should've said something sooner, even with the risk of royally pissing Paloma off, but...I didn't. Because Sandra needed my help and, as a friend, I felt like, given that I had the means to do so, I needed to be the one to provide that. And I knew if Paloma found out, she'd never be okay with me with me doing that."

Quinn winced. Every bone in her body wanted to believe Ava but she couldn't shake the ever-growing sick feeling in her belly. "That woman, Sandra...she didn't seem all that much like a friend."

"I would never do anything at all to jeopardize what your sister and I have. Especially not now because now we're finally in the exact same place, we want the same things, and there are plans and goals in place that we wanna reach in preparation for the future. I love her—both of you guys—more than anything. You know that. It might not have been the best decision on my part, I admit that. But, that woman? I helped her out...and now she's gone. That's the extent of it and it's definitely the end of it."

Had the words come from anyone else on the planet, Quinn wouldn't have believed it, but, then again, it was Ava she was talking about. The very individual that, at the drop of a hat, put her own needs aside for months at a time just to see to it that she and her sister were taken care of.

"Are you gonna tell Paloma?" Quinn asked.

The clouds were the only one to offer up any kind of response as it coated the windshield yet again with its woeful tears. Sensing that the teenager expected an answer, Ava gave her just that, "Wasn't planning on it."

"Ava—"

"I know." Ava rested her arms on the steering wheel and allowed her forehead to kiss her upper extremities. She then whined a muffled, "Man, she is going to absolutely lose her shit."

The break in her voice didn't go unheard by Quinn. Ava sat up and ridded the stray strands of hair out of her face the best that she could. The girl couldn't look for long once she noted the reddened tint that painted the entirety of Ava's face and chased away her natural color. Quinn decided that never before had she'd seen anyone have such an intense level of panic and fear in their eyes, let alone Ava.

The unusual demeanor that was about her made an unbearable knot form in the pit of Quinn's stomach. It went without saying that seeing Ava—the very woman that hadn't gone a day since Quinn had known her without making her crack a smile—cry was gut-wrenching, to say the least. Ava had bailed her out more times than the teenager could count and for once, Quinn decided, she could return the favor.

"If you promise me that you really are done helping that woman and that absolutely nothing is going on between you two, or anyone else other than my sister, and you really wouldn't do anything to hurt Paloma then...maybe you wouldn't have to tell her. Maybe...maybe it'd be best if she didn't know."

The woman blinked a few times, willing away the glossiness in her eyes to unblur her vision.

"But only if you promise me," Quinn asserted.

It was then that the thunder's reign came to an abrupt end and the clouds slowed their cries of despair, finally showing the drenched Earth a little mercy.

Ava tilted her head and dried the spare tears that managed to race down her reddened cheeks. With the nod of her head, she cleared her throat and met Quinn's solemn gaze.

"I promise."