Fear of the Unkown

Nine

Ava's POV

I opened the door to Daniel leaning into the door frame wearing a black tank top and shorts. Behind him were the other boys. He held up my list. "Get dressed in something comfortable and let's go. My mom's taking Mila for the day," he told me.

I went inside and put on a pair of jean shorts with one of Daniel's shirts which was so long it didn't even look like I had pants on anyways. I pulled on a pair of sneakers and went into Mila's room. She was still asleep. I picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket, and carried her downstairs. Daniel smiled when he saw me. We went to their house where Keri gladly took my sleeping daughter. The boys were already in the van. I got in. "What's going on?"

"You'll see," Jonah said as we drove.

Later into the drive, my eyes began to feel heavy from the medication I'd taken before I had left. Jonah looked in the rearview mirror. "You can sleep. We're not there yet."

When I woke up we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere surrounded by different off-road vehicles. We piled into a Jeep Gladiator and headed down the trail. This was something I'd always wanted to do but my dad had always turned it down. Something in me still wanted to fix our relationship.

We stopped in front of a bunch of obstacles. "Who wants to take the wheel?" Daniel asked.

"Can I?" I asked.

Daniel and I switched spots and the boys cheered as I revved the engine. "Hold on boys."

I stepped on the gas and began maneuvering the car over the huge boulders in our path. "Who's car is this?" I asked.

"Jon's. He said we could use it and brought it here," Corbyn replied.

We stopped at the next checkpoint to be met with several people standing around a huge pool of water with a truck in the middle. Jack got out and went over to the group of people. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah," an older man said. "My son's stuck in the middle though. Do you think your car could pull it out?"

Corbyn turned and looked at our car before nodding. "Alright Ava, you think you can tow this guy out?"

I nodded as I started the car up again. I drove into the water and sped through the water until I was in front of the other truck. Corbyn crawled over Zach and hooked the cars up before turning to me. "Let's go."

The rest of the off-roading trip was fun. We arrived at the entrance almost covered in mud and jumped out. Daniel pulled me against him. "The way you handled that car has me falling in love even more," he murmured as he kissed me. "Damn girl."

"Get a room," Jonah laughed as he hosed down the license plate on the front and back.

I laughed as I tried to pull away from Daniel. "I'm all sweaty and muddy."

"I don't care," Daniel whispered as he kissed me again.

Jonah turned the hose on Belle and got the mud off of her. Belle shook and water sprayed all of us. I put her harness back on and put her on the leash.

We got back to the house and I had the boys all come over to my place for a change. Lavender and Mila arrived soon after and went to the yard to keep playing. "Oh shit," I muttered under my breath catching Jack's attention.

"What's up?" Jack asked as I buried my face in my hands. "Do you need something?"

"What if it's genetic?" I muttered.

Jack took my hand and led me to the front porch and had me sit down. "Talk to me. What's up?"

"My mom died from this too. What if Mila has it too? The symptoms didn't show up for me until two years ago," I stuttered. "Jack... I never want Mila to go through this."

Jack gave me an understanding nod as he pulled me into a hug. As a father, he understood the fears of not knowing what could happen to your child. "Tomorrow we can take her to your doctor and maybe get a solid answer."

I nodded as I buried my face in Jack's shoulder. The door opened and we pulled apart. Daniel frowned. "So... Corbyn said we should all get matching tattoos. Does anyone want to give some ideas?"

"Something with a rose," I told him as we walked into the house.

"What she said!" Jonah yelled from God knows where.

Daniel finished sketching out the idea and held it up for us to see. When we'd all agreed on it we headed out to the tattoo parlor. "Ready?" Zach asked.

"Definitely."