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Liv had been making summer plans to go to a show in London with her best friend, Roxie Archer, and as the day of the show grew closer, so did her excitement. A week before the show, Liv had asked for permission to go to the show with Roxie. Her dad, of course, said yes without even thinking about it. Her mother, however, had said no and sternly overrode her father's yes. They'd discussed it with her father finally agreeing that it was a bad idea. Especially since they wouldn't have anyone chaperoning them. Liv was supremely mad, especially because she'd already purchased her ticket. She begged her mother but she stayed firm with her denial. The day of the show, Liv decided to sneak out to go see the show. She stole her dad's keys so that she could get back into the apartment at night after the show, then she packed a quick bag to change into her concert outfit when she got there. Dad was napping on the couch before work and Benji was playing in his room, so Olivia quickly slipped the front door. She silently closed the door, then smiled and hopped in the elevator, excited to met up with Roxie.

Over the next week, Olivia spent the entire time her mother was home in her room, refusing to even speak to her. When it came to meal time, Liv ate sitting on her bed in her room. But she spent the days when her mother was at work out in the living room with her father. Ollie had apologized to Liv for her being grounded but told her that he couldn't override her mother's punishment. That didn't last long though, as he allowed her to watch television with him. He even let her play her guitar, as long as she put it back before her mother got home. On this afternoon in particular, Liv had been able to get her hands on her brother's tablet and send a message to one of her Muggle friends. They were going to hang out and Liv could hopefully borrow their phone to text Roxie. Peeking out of her room, she saw her father sprawled out on the couch, already several beers deep into his binge for the day. The teen sidled out of her room. "Hey daddy," Liv said in her sweetest voice. Ollie turned to his daughter and smiled. "'Sup there Punky?" Olivia smiled. She loved her father's nickname for her. "My friend Benson wanted to hang out and you know I don't get to see her much while I'm at school..." Benson was one of her best friends in Muggle school. Ollie rubbed his eyes and frowned a little. His little Punk wanted to go out and break Lizzie's punishment. "C'mon Punk, you know your mom would say no." Liv pouted and said, "I know... but daddy... I don't get to see her ever!" Ollie sighed and shrugged, then looked at the clock on the tele. "Fine, but be back before 1600. You know mom will be mad." Liv looked at the clock, then back to her father. "Can I get my phone back to make sure I'm home on time." Ollie nodded and recovered Liv's phone from the safe.

Olivia smiled and kissed her father's cheek, tucking her phone into her purse. "Thanks daddy!" She stepped into her trainers, then ran out to go meet her friend. Once she got to the elevator, she pulled her phone out and turned it back on. She had about thirty or so messages from Roxie and dozens from other people. She quickly typed out a message to Roxie letting her know she'd gotten grounded and had her phone taken away, but she had it back now. Another message was sent off to Benson to let her know Liv was on the way. A couple pictures of her fit were snapped and Liv sent one to Roxie with the caption 'Finally free'. Liv had fun with Benson, getting cappuccinos from Starbucks and wandering out the mall with her Muggle bestie. Checking her phone, Liv saw that it was almost 1530 so she said she had to run back home to get there before her mother got home. They hugged and the goth teen caught a bus back to the complex. She rode the elevator up, thinking that she'd gotten away with breaking her punishment. Dad wouldn't tell ever so she was in the clear.

Approaching the apartment, however, she heard her mother's voice. "What do you mean you let her go out?!" her mother was yelling. She heard her father stumble out a response but it was cut off. "Oliver, you agreed to keep up the punishment. It's not effective if one parent just lets her do whatever!" Liv crept closer to the door that was still slightly ajar. "Come on now Lizzie," Ollie started before hiccuping. "Jesus Christ Oliver, you're heavily intoxicated! You need to go to work tonight." Liv winced. "And now she's who knows where?! I grounded her because she was out almost to midnight by herself! In London, Ollie. Jesus!" Oliver stumbled over the words before saying, "She just went out with Bennie... remember that sweet girl?" Just when Liv thought it couldn't get worse, her mother said, "Oliver Thomas, you don't even know where she went! This is the last straw! I'm sick of you undermining my authority. I want you out! Right now! I can't stand to look at you right now." She stomped off to the bedroom and slammed the door. Olivia hurried into the apartment and saw her father laying on the couch with a larger mountain of cans around him. He glanced at Olivia and shrugged. "Sorry Punkie," he said quietly. He nodded towards her room and the teen hurried in, hiding her phone so her mother didn't take it again. A little while later, Liv heard the front door open, then close hard again. She started crying, knowing that her mom had thrown her dad out and it was her fault.

Liv had come back from school with the expectation that her parents' stupid fight would be over and that they'd be back together. Little did she know, her parents had begun divorce proceedings. So, when she got off the train, only her mother was there to meet her. And when they got back to the flat, only her mother and not her father were there. A quick talk with Benji confirmed that dad had not returned to the flat since they fought last year. That had caused Liv to get angry and curse out her mother, leading to another grounding. This time, dad wasn't there to let her out of it either. So Liv was laying in her room, bored and angry. At least Elizabeth had let her keep her phone so she had something to do. She was listening to music with headphones on when her phone chimed, interrupting the music. Idly, Liv picked up the phone and saw it was a text message. Clicking on the message, she saw it was from her father. The teen excitedly clicked the on the notification and read the message: Is your mother around? Why would dad care if Elizabeth was around so she texted back, No, why?

Her response came as a phone call from her father. She answered it immediately. "Hey daddy, what's going on?" Dad's response was that he was cooking up a plan to take her down to the shore for a weekend away. Liv was excited by the idea, but then a downer hit her. "But Elizabeth said I'm grounded and can't go out." Her dad laughed but said she shouldn't call her mother by her first name, then said he'd gotten her permission to take her out. Liv should pack a bag with her clothing and wait for him to text her that he was there. "Ooh, can I bring my guitar? I want to get some band practice in." Another laugh from her dad and he responded sure. "Alright, love you daddy. See you soon." Getting off the phone, Liv threw some of her favorite clothes into her backpack, ironically the same backpack she'd used when she ran away last summer, then got her guitar and out it into her case. Then she gathered a few other items and stuffed them into her backpack as well.

The text came that her father was here so Liv shouldered her bag and her guitar case. She knew the instant she opened the front door, her mother's detection charm would go off, but she was at work so it would take her a while to get home. With a shrug, she threw open the door and started down the stairs to the ground floor. Her dad was waiting outside in a really cool old car that she hadn't known he owned. "Hey Punk! Look at you, getting so tall," her dad said from the driver's seat. Liv chuckled and climbed into the passenger seat, throwing her bag and guitar into the back seat. "No bigger than last year," was her response. Before they drove off, her dad asked, "Do you still have your phone on you?" Liv nodded and her dad asked for it. He explained that it was a no phone weekend and when Liv wasn't paying attention, he threw her phone out the window, the device breaking on the ground outside. Then the car took off from the curb.

Olivia had not been wanting to come home because she didn't want to have to deal with her mother for the whole summer. She'd been able to avoid her over winter break by staying with Roxie, but she couldn't stay there all summer... besides, she did want to go and see her Dad. It would be hard seeing him behind bars, but she missed him terribly. Liv didn't talk to her mother at all when they picked her up at the station, or at all during the few days after returning home. Finally the day came when Liv could visit her Daddy at the prison. Elizabeth quietly brought her to the jail where Oliver was being held and let her go in to see him alone. Unbeknownst to Liv, Elizabeth had been visiting Oliver weekly to help keep him sane and to check on his progress. She'd also kept him apprised on the situation with Olivia, so he was well aware of the stress her mother was under. Liv walked into the visiting room with a bunch of other visitors, then smiled when she saw her father. "Daddy!" She ran over and hugged him and the two shared a few moments of hug before separated. "Hey Punky, look at you! I swear every time I see you now you're taller. God, you're 15 now huh?" He smiled bittersweetly and gestured for her to sit. "Tell me everything, but quickly, okay Punk?" So Liv quickly told him about the band, about her songs and her friends, about school, about her mother sending her dozens of annoying letters... When she got to that, Oliver's expression fell and he let out a heavy sigh.

"About that, Olivia, I need to talk to you." Blue eyes looked up at him. He never called her Olivia; it was always Punk or at worst Liv. "You know I'm doing well in here, right? I'm sober finally, probably for the first time in twenty years. I'm working on several GCSE's. And your mother has been helping me. Sure, we got divorced, but Liz has... she's been taking care of me." He sighed heavily again then fixed her with a stern glare. "And you've been being a brat, Olivia. Do you know how much you've made her cry? Not coming home for Christmas? Seriously? Livvie, she loves you. Everything she does is for you and Benji. And honestly, I'm a little ashamed at how you've been treating her." During the tongue lashing, tears had welled in Olivia's eyes, but they freely flowed when he said he was ashamed of her. Liv didn't know her mother had been visiting her dad in jail and helping him like this. "I... I didn't know?" Her father scoffed and said, "Clearly not. You said you didn't even read any of the letters your mother sent. Maybe you should." The visit was ended a little while later and Liv walked back to the car where her mother was waiting. The drive home was quiet.

When they got home, Olivia went up to her room, her father's words echoing in her brain. Had Elizabeth really been doing all that for the man she divorced? Dad had said to read the letters her mother had sent her so she decided to do that. Popping open her trunk, she fished out the pile of letters and started reading. It took a while and Olivia cried a bunch while she read them. Especially the letter her mother sent her for Christmas after she didn't come home. She felt terrible. Clearly she was a brat. She was the problem. Olivia was ugly crying, but not because of what her mother had done... but what she had done. God, she was the worst daughter ever. Liv opened her door and heard her mother talking to Benji in the kitchen. Practically running over to her, Liv simply said, "Mommy," before wrapping her in a hug. Elizabeth was surprised by the sudden gesture from her daughter, but she quickly reacted and wrapped her in a hug. "Olivia? Livvie, what's wrong?" she asked, obviously concerned that her previously not-talking-to-her daughter was suddenly crying and hugged her. "I'm sorry Mom, I'm sorry... I'm such an idiot... a brat... terrible..." Liv blubbered, sobbing and clinging to her mother. Tears sprang to Liz's eyes as well and Benji quickly slid off the stool to come wrap his mom and sister in a hug as well. "It's... it's okay Livvie... Please stop crying... You're going to make me cry." Elizabeth was crying as well and hugging her two babies...

A few hours later, Liv was sitting on the floor of her room with her mother and brother, sharing with them everything. She told her mom about the band and her friends and Liz shared that she saw her play at the Carnivale. She showed them her foils and talked about her clubs. Liv played some of her songs for them. The entire time, Elizabeth had a huge smile on her face. This was the most she'd heard her daughter talk in the last few years and she was cherishing every moment of it. Liz even shared some of her past with Liv, lettering her know that she was also into the same kind of music and that she'd had a past of clubbing and going to rock shows. That thought had shocked Liv. But then she burst into laughter and the three shared some laughs. They ordered pizza and sat on the floor, watching television and joking the whole night. Liv kissed her mother on the cheek before bed and promised to be a better daughter. She even shared she had planned on getting an eyebrow piercing and that she had planned to do that behind her mother's back. In the morning, Liz made an appointment with a local tattoo parlor and both mother and daughter got their eyebrow pierced.