Ava was woken up by her little brother Carlos shaking her in panic. The young twelve year old boy had freaked out when he had woken up in their practically empty house and heard the high pitched wailing sounds of his newborn baby sister Mal crying in the small bassinet that hadn't been taken from them yet.

    The young boy had immediately picked up the tiny newborn and gotten up to go find his mom. He knew that Mal was still breastfeeding. She refused to drink formula. He completely panicked when he found that his parents weren't anywhere and the last remaining things they had were gone.

      Carlos didn't even hesitate as he ran to his older sister's room and shook her awake while also trying to keep holding onto the newborn. "Ava! Ava!  Ava! Get up Ava! Come on! Get up!" Carlos cried out while trying to wake his sister up. The young boy had no clue what to do. They were alone and they had nothing.

        Ava just groaned in annoyance refusing to get up. She figured he just wanted to annoy her and wake her up on one of the only few days she could sleep in. Carlos always loved doing that. "Ugh Carlos you're so annoying! Go bother mom and dad! And let me sleep!" Ava told her brother. She still hadn't yet realized that their parents had left.

          They had been struggling with the FBI and other issues for a while now as their father had stolen money from his clients and was being investigated. However nothing major had happened yet and their father had promised them everything would be okay, but now everything was gone including their parents.

            Carlos just ignored Ava's attitude as he shook her again. "Ava please this isn't a joke mom and dad are gone! I'm scared and Mal is hungry, but mom left. We have nothing to feed her!" Carlos cried out to his big sister. He had tried to stay strong, but now he was just so scared and worried. He wanted his parents, but they had just left.

            Ava immediately shot up when she heard the urgency and worry in her little brother's strained voice. "What? What do you mean mom and dad left! Are you sure they didn't just go out or something without telling us! They do that sometimes," Ava told her brother as she was starting to panic too. She was the only one that was considered a legal adult and she had just turned eighteen. She wasn't ready to deal with something like this.

              Not only that, but they had a newborn baby sister that was breastfeeding and if their mom left they were screwed. Carlos just shook his head as he looked at his big sister. "No they left! They took all of our remaining stuff and they left! Ava what do we do?" The young twelve year old told his sister as he was just so scared and freaked out.

               Ava sighed as she looked at Carlos. "Okay let's not panic. We're going to be fine. I won't let anything bad happen to you or Mal. Now let's check the fridge, maybe there's some milk pumped in there," Ava told her little brother as she knew that it was her job as the oldest to look out for her little siblings and she had to be strong for them despite how completely freaked out she was.

            She then grabbed the newborn from Carlos as she went to the fridge hoping that their mother would have pumped some milk for Mal, but she began to panic more when she saw that their mom hadn't. Carlos just looked at Ava the fear very much evident on his freckled face.

"Ava there is none! Mal's going to starve and we're going to lose our baby sister! We can't lose her too! Ava what do we do!" Carlos rambled out as he began to worry more and more.

             Ava just sighed in frustration as Carlos's panicking wasn't helping this situation and it was making things worse. "Carlos stop acting like a scared little boy! You're almost a teenager now! Man up! Mal is not going to die. We're just going to have to get some formula and she's just going to have to drink it since we're out of options here," Ava told her brother in frustration as she grabbed her car keys and her money and headed towards her car.

             Ava sighed in relief when she saw that her car was still there and so was Mal's baby car seat. Ava had always insisted that they leave a car seat in her car as her car was much safer than their parents' car. Ava just quickly placed the crying newborn into the baby car seat buckling her up and Carlos got in next to Mal.

           When they got to the store Ava headed straight towards the baby aisle. She quickly grabbed some formula, a cheap bottle, and a few other supplies that they needed. She then walked straight towards the checkout and sighed in frustration when she realized that Carlos wasn't with her. Carlos had gone by to check out the video games.

             Ava couldn't help but groan as she went to the video games section already knowing that Carlos would be there. She immediately grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the check out. The young adult was not in the mood to be playing around in the store. When they got to the check out Carlos picked up some candy as he looked at Ava. "Ava can I get some," Carlos asked his big sister, making Ava grab the candy from Carlos as she put it right back.

           "Carlos! What is wrong with you! We aren't here to play video games or buy fun stuff! We are here to get some formula, so that our baby sister doesn't starve to death! Since our parents decided to just leave us with nothing! This is barely going to be enough to cover this! Ava scolded her brother immediately causing Carlos to just look down feeling guilty.

              When Ava finished paying she got to the car and immediately opened up the formula and bottle, putting the formula inside the bottle and shaking it. She then handed the bottle to Carlos as she got into the driver's seat. "Here feed her. I have to drive home and we can't wait any longer," Ava told her brother, making Carlos nod as he grabbed the bottle and tried to feed his baby sister.

              Carlos felt his stomach start to churn more when Mal refused to drink the bottle. Her tiny tongue continuing to push it away as she just kept crying. "Come on Mal you have to drink this. Mommy left us and you need to eat. It's just milk please drink it," Carlos begged his baby sister as she was refusing to drink the formula and she needed to eat.

             "Ava! She won't drink it!" Carlos cried out, making Ava groan. Quickly she pulled into a fast food parking lot and they got out. It was the first place she found. She then ordered some food for herself and Carlos and then they sat down in a booth as she took the bottle from Carlos.

              "Mal you need to drink this. Mom is gone Mal and I'm not losing you too. So just drink it. I don't care if you don't like formula we have nothing else Mal. I'm not going to let you starve," Ava told the infant, shoving the bottle in the baby's mouth. The tears started to make their way down as Mal continued to cry and push it away.

               "Mal why are you doing this to me? Why can't you just be an easy baby?" Ava cried out as she continued to try and feed her the bottle, but Mal just kept pushing it away with her tongue and refusing to drink it.

             Ava was starting to really freak out. She already lost her parents because they had just left and now her not even one month old baby sister was refusing to drink the formula and she didn't know what to do. She didn't think she could handle losing another family member. She had only known Mal for a few weeks, but she loved her so much and she wouldn't be able to handle it if she couldn't get Mal to eat and she lost her.          

      The tears finally broke through falling down her face as she stared into Mal's innocent eyes. Carlos had gone to use the restroom, so it was just her with Mal and she was relieved that Carlos wasn't there to see her sobbing like this.

Carlos was just such a sweet boy and he had such a good heart making him worry constantly. Ava didn't want to worry him. He was just a kid; he didn't deserve to be worried about this situation that was her job as the adult.

       Ava just looked at Mal as she held the bottle up to her deciding to try one last time. She was desperate now. "Come on Mal please. Please just drink this. Mal please. I am begging you right now to just drink this bottle. Mal I'm serious mom isn't here and we have nothing else. Mal please drink this I can't lose you too. I just can't. Come on Mal don't do this to me and Carlos we both love you and we can't lose you too. Please just drink this please," Ava begged out to the tiny newborn while letting tears continue to fall down her face. She just couldn't control it anymore. She was completely desperate at this point.

     Ava stopped crying when the tiny newborn finally didn't push the bottle away and she    sighed in relief when Mal finally drank it. Carlos came back from the restroom and immediately smiled as he ran over to the booth in happiness. "She's drinking it! She's actually drinking it! I can't believe that you actually got her to drink it! Yes! She's going to be okay! I'm so happy and relieved right now!" Carlos exclaimed being so excited and happy that he forgot they were in public.

     Ava couldn't help but laugh a bit as she looked at her excited little brother. She didn't blame him from getting excited she was too, but she knew to keep her excitement inside. They were in public after all .

"Okay pup I know I'm so happy and relieved too, but Carlos we're still in public plus you're scaring her, so please lower your voice," Ava whispered to the young boy while still holding the bottle for Mal who was now looking up at her with her tiny fingers wrapped around Ava's.

Carlos looked down his face blushing red in embarrassment. He realized people were staring at him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to cause a scene I'm just so happy that she's finally eating. I really thought we were going to lose her from her refusing to eat," the young twelve year old told his big sister, making Ava give him a sad smile as she nodded.

     "Yeah I know me too. She really scared me," Ava whispered again as she continued to bottle feed Mal who was still clinging onto her finger. Her tiny body curling up on her and her eyes starting to close.

Ava carefully removed the bottle once Mal's eyes had finally closed trying her best to not disturb her while also trying to keep small talk with Carlos to keep a little sense of normalcy for them while they waited for their food.

Ava could still sense the fear coming from her bother. She knew this was a lot for him. It was a lot for her and she was legally an adult. Carlos was still a child practically.

She wanted to give him some normalcy to make him feel better and less worried since she was worried too, but she didn't want Carlos to be. His job was to let her worry about everything. He was still just a child. He wasn't even a teen yet.

   Finally about thirty minutes later they finished eating and headed back to their house. When they got back Carlos and Ava both froze in panic when they saw all of the FBI cars at their house. "Oh no! FBI! What do we do!" Carlos cried out in panic again as he was freaking out.

Ava closed her eyes taking a deep breath. She was panicking too, but didn't want Carlos to know that. "Relax Carlos everything is going to be fine. I can handle this. Come on just hold Mal for me," Ava told the young twelve year old who just nodded as he gently unbuckled Mal from the baby car seat and followed after his big sister.