"Ok, you ready?" Layla asks. Taylor nods her head and Layla begins to take the stitches out. "I'm apologizing right now, I am so sorry if I hurt you." She says and Taylor smiles.

"You won't hurt me more than I already am, plus it's healed really fast." She says and closes her eyes as she feels a slight pain.

"Ok, I'm done. Just gonna clean it and then bandage it back up." She says putting the stitches into a bag and then dropping the scissors and tweezers in as well. "Ok, sit up slowly, I'm gonna put the wrap all the way around your ribs." She says and begins wrapping her. Taylor takes in a breath as she feels it tighten.

"You trying to suffocate me?" She asks as she begins to pull her shirt down.

"You're fine you big baby." She says and stands up. She holds her hand out for Taylor. She takes it and moves to loosen the wrap.

"You guys done?" They hear Leland's voice.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about puking," Layla says opening the bathroom door. He looks at her with a glare.

"I wouldn't have puked." He says and she raises her eyebrow.

"You wanna throw the stitches away?" She asks holding out the bag to him. He looks at the bag and pales.

"No..I'm good." He says turning around quickly. The two girls laugh and walk out of the bathroom.

"Everything all good?" Austin asks. Taylor smiles and nods her head.

"Ok, Jack and Analyze you guys are in the truck for the first fifteen hours, but then who are you guys switching with?" Leland asks looking over at the now couple.

Analyze looks over at the group and whispers to Jack. "Austin and Taylor, you guys fine with it?" Jack asks. Austin looks up at him with a strange look before nodding his head. He looks at Taylor and she shrugs.

"That's fine," Austin says and Leland looks at them confused.

"But Taylor you aren't driving." He says and she rolls her eyes.

"I can drive just fine."

"I'll only let her drive the last hour or so," Austin says and Taylor turns to glare at him.

"Alright, fine. Let's get going before we're late." He says shaking his head and grabbing a bag. The group exits the hotel and Leland returns the keys before walking out the doors.

Taylor smiles as she and Layla talk about random things. Austin goes into the passenger seat as Leland gets into the driver side. "Since when do you wanna sit up here?" He asks turning the car on.

"I wanna talk to you once everyone goes to sleep." He says quietly. Leland nods his head and pulls out.

Austin continues to look back at Taylor, she's quieter now and is keeping to herself. He frowns wishing she'd be comfortable being herself around everyone. He watches when she talks with Layla, a small smile on her face, but once Layla's not looking it's gone.

She grabs her headphones wanting to block everyone out, but when she finds her phone it's still dead. She lets it fall into her lap with a sigh. She looks over at Julia and Layla. They both have bright smiles on their faces, and Chloe and Carson are playing some board game. She looks up to the front of her car and sees Austin looking at her. She smiles towards him and he gives her a small one back. He lifts up his phone in offering. She gives him a real smile and nods her head.

Taylor leans over Layla to grab his phone and to give him hers to charge. "Thanks." She says and he nods his head. She puts her headphones in and listens to his playlists.

***

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Leland asks glancing over at Austin.

"Taylor. What kind of help have you guys tried?" He asks and Leland sighs.

"She won't go and get help. She used to be on medication, but it made her sick and she wasn't her. She acted as if nothing matter to her like she was just roaming around the earth. We then tried to get her to talk to a counselor, but she said no. We've tried support groups, and then she says that she's fine and doesn't want random people knowing what she's going through. We tried to tell her it helps when others understand, but she refuses. The more we try the more she tries to hide things from us, so Layla and I just try to be there for her. I know it's not the best thing, never really pushing her to talk or be outgoing, but she is my baby sister and if she needs help with this, I will help her." He says with emotion in his voice and eyes glazed over.

"She forces a smile a lot." He says and Leland looks over at him.

"She used to smile all the time. You never really saw her without one." He says with a sad smile on his face.

"What happened?" He asks and Leland laughs, not a fun laugh sounds more like a pissed off type of laugh.

"I don't know. She woke up one night because of a nightmare, then the anxiety came. She's never liked attention on her though, she's always been like that." He says a soft smile on his lips.

"So, these...episodes, the day after she's back to being herself for a little while?" He asks trying to make sense of the situation.

"Yeah, most of the time. The doctors aren't sure why, but they think that she holds everything in and then something sets her off causing the episode. Then the next day she doesn't have any bad thoughts and goes to being her joking self. This time was the longest it's lasted. Normally within about six to eight hours she back to being quiet." He says and looks over at Austin. "I think it's because of you."

"I haven't done anything though."

"Yes, you have. She's not used to having anyone else but me and Layla. To have another person care and care in a different way then we do, it makes a difference. She likes talking to you, you make her smile and forget whatever's in her head." He says and Austin takes a deep breath glancing back at her. Her head's against the window with her headphones still in her ears. He smiles as she's still holding onto his phone. "You know she likes you back. You can ask her out." He says and Austin shakes his head.

"Won't that just set her back?" He asks and Leland smiles.

"The only way you can set her back is if you hurt her, and trust me if she gets set back even an inch, I will go after you. She has a lot of people that love her, so I'm warning you once again. Don't hurt my sister." He says in a brotherly voice.

"I don't plan on ever causing her pain."

"I don't care if you aren't planning on it, don't let it happen." Leland warns. Austin nods his head feeling a little afraid of him. "Good, then we can stay friends and I don't have to kill my girlfriend's favorite cousin." He says with a smile.

"I'm her favorite?" He asks and Leland's eyes go wide.

"Sh*t, you didn't hear that." He says causing Austin to laugh.

"Hey, you need to get some sleep. My sister's life is going to be in your hands for seven hours." He says and Austin nods his head.

***

"Austin, wake up." He hears and feels someone pushing him. He opens his eyes and sees Leland pushing his shoulder. He unbuckles himself and sees that Layla is now in the driver's seat. He gets out of the car and walks to the truck. Jack stumbles into the back of the van almost falling on Taylor. 

"Sorry." He says with a yawn and plopping down next to her. She gets up and rolls her neck before getting out of the car. She quickly walks to the truck as the cool breeze goes right through her shirt. She opens the truck door with a squeak and then has to use the top handle to pull herself into the truck.

"Shorty." She hears. She looks up at Austin and gives him a glare.

"No, just his truck is so high up for a normal person to even get in it." She grumbles buckling her seatbelt. He chuckles and shakes his head. He sees Layla pull the van forward and does the same checking behind him to make sure there's no one.

"So, how are you feeling?" He asks taking a quick glance over at her.

"Fine, my side has healed really quick. I'm kinda surprised, I thought I'd have at least another four days with the stitches." She says with a small smile.

"How are you feeling inside?" He asks and she looks over at him confused. She then puts her head in her hands.

"Did I have an episode yesterday?" She asks keeping her head in her hands.

"The day before yesterday."

"Dammit." She says and pushes her hair back while shaking her head. "That's why everyone was acting a little weird and on the boat, you guys kinda blocked me in." She says and shakes her head. "I can't believe I had another one. Was it bad?" She asks looking over at him nervous. "What was I saying?" She asks and he takes a breath.

"Talking about thoughts that never leave your head, bad feelings that you get, that you were afraid of hurting someone, me." He says and keeps looking over at her to see her reactions.

"Did I...try anything?" She asks and he looks over at her confused. "Like...hurt someone or myself?" She asks and he shakes his head.

"What do you mean hurt yourself?" He asks feeling more worry set in his stomach.

"It's nothing." She says and he gives her a look.

"It's not nothing. You shouldn't be keeping everything and trying to block it out. It only makes it worse." He says and she sighs.

"The...voices or thoughts, whatever you want to call them. They make me have...urges to sometimes pick up a knife or walk in front of a car, or one time I tried to drown myself, but I don't remember or realize I'm doing it. Most of the time I just shake my head and tell myself I can't because it would crush my brother." She says and he looks over at her.

"That shouldn't be your only reason as to not wanting to do those things. You should want to live for yourself, not ony someone else." He says and she nods her head.

"I know that, but I just don't care. I mean what do I have to look forward to? Everyone says once you're out of school it's just downhill from there. People are always complaining about what adult life is like, why would I want to be stuck here for that?" She asks and he shakes his head.

"Not everyone's life is like that, and people are complainers. Everyone wants to make their life seem worse than the next person's. They want others to feel bad for them. What do you have to look forward to? How about becoming a great radiologist or having your own place that you did all by yourself. Having your own life with no restrictions, going where ever you want. Or how about having a family? Kids?" He asks trying to get her to think about what good there is out in the world.

"I know I want to be a good radiologist, but it's not something I'm always thinking about. Or having my own place, I almost do, just with my best friend. I am going where I want to, and....I can't have a family...kids." She says with pain in her voice. He looks over at her confused.

"Why not?"

"There's something wrong with me, I'm infertile. I can't have children." She says and feels tears swelling into her eyes. Austin looks over at her and wants to hold her, tell her it's alright, but he can't do that and drive.

"You can always adapt." He says and she nods.

"Yeah, but it's not the same as my own. I mean I'd love them, but it wasn't even my fault for not being able to have kids. I had to go through this surgery because of an issue with my intestines, and something went wrong causing them to end up hurting my ovaries. We didn't know until I had to get a checkup, they told us, and my Mom keeps wanting me to sue the people, but that wouldn't do anything. Not like it would let me have kids, it would have been a lot of money and everyone makes mistakes. I mean I did send the surgeon and the other people that worked on me a letter saying what they'd done, but that I forgave them and hope they make sure on the next patients they are more careful." She says playing with her fingers in her lap. Austin glances over at her and he shakes his head.

"I can't believe you give people so many chances. It's one thing I...." He stops himself and she looks up at him. "Admire about you." He says and she smiles slightly "Taylor, do you mind telling me what goes on in that pretty little head of yours?" He asks. She looks up at him and shakes her head.

"You don't want to know, trust me." She says. He takes his right hand off of the wheel and puts them over her fidgeting ones.

"I do want to know and I do trust you." He says. She looks up at him and takes a breath. She unbuckles herself and sits in the middle. She grabs his hand and grips it tightly.

"When I'm laughing I think about bad things. Like bad things that could happen to them. When we were in the van I kept feeling that if I did something or moved a truck would crash into us and they'd be hurt. I don't like cooking because every time I'm in a kitchen I know where the knives are and I feel that I'll grab one and hurt someone or I feel the urge to hurt myself. I don't like going to sleep because then I do those bad things. I'm trapped when I sleep, I can't wake up from the thoughts, or the nonstop talking. Telling me that I'm a horrible person for the things I think, that if I breathe too many times it's going to cause pain to someone I know. Or that if I stop counting how many times I blink something bad will happen.

They're always there, always having an input on what I do or what I say. I don't like fighting because...because I'm told I like it. I like seeing people get hurt, but I don't, yet my head tries to say otherwise. I don't understand it, it makes me want to just scream. To have them shut up, have them just be quiet for one minute. I just want to have one minute to myself." She says and he feels he needs to do something but doesn't know what. She just told him her worst fears and he can't find words. "I told you you wouldn't want to hear. Now you think I'm an evil person." She says and plays with his fingers.

"Taylor, you aren't a bad person, therefore, I couldn't possibly think you are one. I'm glad you told me, what are you hearing now?" He asks and she looks at him.

"The more and more I talk the more you won't like me. You'll leave me because I'm messed up and nothing can fix me. That if I keep distracting you we are going to end up in a ditch. You will die and blame me because it's my fault, but I'd be happy to see you gone. See these thoughts....they aren't me, yet they defy me. They control me and it pisses me off. I would never wish for me to hurt you or like that you are hurt." She says feeling anger boil inside her.

"Does talking help fight against them?" He asks. She thinks it over before nodding slightly.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" She asks looking at him. He turns his head towards her.

"You aren't crazy, there's just something that isn't right, but you can get past it. You can push past it until it's not even there anymore and I'll be with you to help. I won't leave you to fight this alone." He says and she nods her head. She lays her head on his shoulder and pulls her legs up to her chest. She holds onto his arm and watches as cars come towards them and then pass them. She keeps quiet not wanting to rune the silence and watches as they go further into the darkness.