Sixteen. For all of Sasha and Candi-Rose's hyping it up, Jody's world didn't shift upon the clock striking midnight. As per usual, Tyler texted her on the dot, and a couple of Snapchat friends followed but, in all honesty, they could've written the same things they had last year or the year before and she wouldn't have noticed. That wasn't to say that she was ungrateful or unhappy. It was just that sixteen was so frustratingly close to driving and adulthood, the milestones she was really interested in (rather than the one Sasha kept alluding to), and therefore more bitter than sweet. Even the realisation that she was now old enough to leave care didn't strike her as a momentous change; how could it, when the two most recent care-leavers had decided to go well after turning seventeen?

As such, she found herself feeling wholly underwhelmed as she stood in the middle of the lounge, trying to enjoy the party the household had put on for her. Trying being the keyword; it was hard to enjoy anything with Candi-Rose and Floss squabbling right next to her, and Sasha attempting to break it up. She sighed, looking over at Tyler on the other side of the room, where he was catching up with Charlie and Ryan. She had half a mind to go up and join him, even though she'd already caught up with the pair earlier, but didn't want to be the girl who ditched her friends, especially one she didn't see all that often, for a boy. Even if those friends were being a right pain in the arse, and that boy was her best friend.

"Take some tips from Jody!"

She turned her head back towards the girls at the mention of her name. Floss strutted past her all high and mighty, heading towards the table of cake, of course, and Sasha stopped Candi-Rose from going after her.

"It's not funny!" Candi-Rose wailed at Sasha, who was smiling in a manner that could only be described as insolent.

"Wait, what happened?" Jody asked. She'd pretty much blocked the argument out, having had enough of her housemates being at each other's throats since the beginning of the summer holidays.

It'd only been a week.

"Now that you and Tyler are old news, Floss is after me instead! She won't shut up about me and Bird!"

She caught Sasha wagging her brows and had to suppress a grin of her own. "What's she said?"

"That I should move into Ryan's old room. Why share with Chloe when I can have my own?"

"Well, she's right, isn't she? She moved into Sasha's old room after Ella left, and Jay moved into Tyler's. Why shouldn't you?"

Three empty rooms. It almost felt sad. Four people had moved out since the beginning of the year and despite Ella quickly replacing Sasha the year before, there hadn't been a single new resident to fill up even one of the vacant rooms. Sadder still was how she couldn't happily accept the obvious: that the rooms were still empty because there were fewer care kids to go around, at least in Pottiswood.

Candi-Rose stomped. "No! She specifically said Ryan's room! She thinks I should move there so that I can be closer to Bird! Run into him in the hallways in the morning and fall asleep to his heartbeat through the wall at night..."

Sasha erupted into laughter, but Jody merely blinked in shock. Heartbeat through the wall? As a shipper, Floss was romantic, but not that romantic. Or stupid. How did Candi-Rose manage to come up with such nonsense?

"Err, I don't think that's what she meant."

"Yes, it was. She's so annoying. I told her that I like Hayden, so if she's going to annoy me about anyone, it should be him..." Candi-Rose made a miserable little noise, looking down at her painted nails. "Why Bird?"

Somehow, Sasha managed to stop laughing long enough to ask who Hayden was. "Hayden Christensen? Now, he was fit, but have you seen him now?"

Candi-Rose glared at Sasha. "Not that Hayden. Hayden Mullion. I met him when I went to St Matilda's with Jay and—" She suddenly stopped, momentarily pursing her lips. "Anyway, we've been texting since then. We're practically dating."

"Good for you."

Jody couldn't help but think that karma was biting Candi-Rose in the arse. It was almost poetic; when Jody was fourteen, Candi-Rose had forced her to acknowledge that she had a crush on her best friend, and now that Candi-Rose was that same age, Floss seemed to be doing the same thing. Considering Bird's genuine and painfully obvious crush on her, Jody couldn't see this ending too well. Floss had to be stopped before she ended up doing some real damage.

"Look, Candi. You should just ignore Floss. You know you and Bird are just friends, so why should it bother you?" Candi-Rose immediately hushed her, her eyes flying to where Bird was sat in front of the TV. Jody shook her head—the girl had had no problem practically screaming his name earlier. "And if you can't ignore her, then tease her back. She'll eventually stop."

"But about who? She doesn't like anyone."

Jody found her eyes drawn to Floss who had now been joined at the table by Jay. They seemed to be fighting over what was left of her birthday cake. Typical. "She doesn't have to." She nodded at the pair, and Candi-Rose followed her line of sight. "And if that doesn't work: Ross."

Without another word, Candi-Rose made off like a woman on a mission, and Jody turned to Sasha with a roll of her eyes. Their friend had a penchant for making mountains out of molehills, which was exactly why she was such an easy target for Floss.

"Imagine those two as sisters-in-law," Sasha said. "They'd drive each other up the wall."

"Floss and Jay would kill each other first."

"Probably... Is it just me or did she make way too big of a deal? Candi-Rose, I mean. She seemed pretty adamant about not liking Bird but she didn't actually say that she didn't."

Jody frowned. She hadn't noticed but now that she thought about it, Sasha was right. Bird had had a crush on Candi-Rose for a while now and everyone knew it, but she'd never stopped to consider that it wasn't entirely one-sided, at least not after Hayden's entry. Speaking of Hayden, where did that leave him if there really was something going on between Bird and Candi-Rose? As another unassuming Brandon? She sure hoped not. Ashdene Ridge didn't need a re-hash of that sordid love triangle. Most importantly, it didn't need another secret relationship.

"Honestly, it's better if she doesn't," she said, digging her hands into her pockets. "A relationship in this place would never work."

Alex and Charlie had learnt that the hard way, when, on the night of Jody's prom, they'd been discovered by Mike and May-Li. It'd seemed absurd that they should be found out so close to Charlie leaving when they'd managed to hide their relationship for God knew how long, but perhaps they'd become complacent for which they'd had to pay the price. It'd come down to either Charlie leaving earlier than planned or Alex moving into another children's home, and although they'd opted for the former, they'd ended up breaking up anyway. No one knew why, and despite her curiosity, Jody hadn't had the heart to ask after witnessing Charlie's forlorn disappointment at Alex not attending the party.

Maybe secrets had no place in relationships, whether the relationship itself was a secret or there were secrets within it. Sasha was a prime example: she was finally single after finding out that Josh had lied about how his relationship with Mollie had ended. As Jody had suspected at the time, Josh had mercilessly dumped Mollie to make way for Sasha rather than mutually breaking up with her. She'd initially felt a little guilty for not telling Sasha about her suspicions earlier, especially since Sasha and Josh's relationship had got quite serious, but had figured that it had been Sasha's mistake to make and that hopefully, she'd learnt something from it.

"Speaking of relationships," Sasha began, raising a sly brow. "You know what sixteen means, don't you?"

Oh. This again.

"Ugh. Shut up."

.:. QK .:.

By the time Sasha tired of needling Jody about the great deed she thought the birthday girl was looking forward to, said birthday girl had already had enough of the new Bird/Candi-Rose drama playing out in the lounge. She loved her friends but there was only so much she could take before she imploded, so when Tyler had whisked her away into the garden and asked her if she wanted to escape for a bit, she'd leapt at the chance.

She'd told him to wait, going off to find either Mike or May-Li so she could tell them she was popping out. Only, once she was standing in the office, she wished she hadn't. Apparently, May-Li shared some of Sasha's ideas about hitting the sixteen-year mark, because as soon as Jody had mentioned Tyler, she'd decided to give Jody the talk all over again. She kept stressing the importance of safe sex in particular, perhaps worried that her current charge would follow in the footsteps of another certain girl who'd briefly been in her care last year and had since got pregnant in front of the whole nation. It was strange to think that Ella, barely an adult, was due a mere month after Luke's girlfriend (who was due next month, on the 21st) but then again, Millie wasn't exactly much of a grown-up either. What a pair of mothers they'd make.

"Okay, I get it," Jody said, about ninety-nine per cent sure that May-Li had been about to go over contraceptives again. "But, May-Li, me and Tyler are taking it slow. Like, really slow. I mean, look how long it took us to get together. Just cos I'm sixteen now, doesn't mean we're suddenly gonna rush it." May-Li closed her mouth and clasped her hands together, her lips stretching into a somewhat reserved smile. It almost looked like a sad one. Jody blinked rapidly. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

May-Li shook her head, her eyes shining. "I'm just thinking about how far you've come, that's all. I'm really proud of you, you know."

"Really?... Why?"

"You've learnt how to express yourself so much better; you've become more respectful in dealing with your emotions, and not just to other people, but to yourself. It shows in the way you carry yourself, and the others look up to you because of it. You've grown up so much these last couple of years."

Jody felt a weird lump in her throat and a strange shift beneath her feet, even though she was pretty sure that the earth wasn't moving. "You're not just saying that because it's my birthday?"

May-Li looked confused. "No. What makes you think that?"

"I don't feel respectful. I made Luke's girlfriend cry the last time I saw her. She's pregnant, for God's sake."

Not her finest moment. In fact, her actions that day had seen her banned from Luke's place by her brother himself, at least until the baby was born. She should've held her tongue, she really should've. What was one more insult from Millie? But no, she'd been unable to keep her anger to herself, to lock it away until she could get to the gym later and let it out properly, and now she was back to meeting up with Luke in random places like they were having some sort of illicit affair. Grown-up indeed.

"Oh, Jody. Being respectful doesn't mean bottling your anger up and pretending that everything's okay for the sake of others."

She swallowed deeply. "It doesn't?"

"No. That wouldn't be healthy." May-Li rose from her seat behind her desk, coming to stand in front of Jody and place a hand on her shoulder. "It means finding that balance between respecting yourself and your own feelings, and whoever it is that's made you angry and their feelings."

Millie and respect? Hah!

"Some people don't deserve respect."

To her surprise, May-Li didn't immediately shoot her comment down with disapproval, but tipped her head from side to side, as if mulling things over. "But if we don't show them any, then how are we any better than them? A little bit of respect doesn't hurt anyone."

A couple of years ago, Jody would've disagreed, her male-like ego too fragile for her to just stand there and let someone get away with being rude to her. But maybe she didn't have to. Maybe there was a way to get through conversations with people like Millie without to stooping to their level while also maintaining her own dignity at the same time. Luke wasn't going to be leaving Millie anytime soon, at least not until his child was old enough to be separated from his/her mother, so she'd have ample opportunity to talk to Millie again and finally put her in her place. After all, she'd done the same to Piper.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, her voice hoarse. The lump in her throat seemed to grow.

"And speaking of respect, I'm especially proud of how you respected the rules and waited until Tyler left to start dating him. I know it can't have been easy... I could tell you weren't exactly being truthful that time I called you into the office and asked you about him, but I'm glad I trusted you."

And with that, the dam inside her burst. May-Li was proud of her, glad that she'd trusted her; her own mother never had been, and never had done. Where May-Li praised her for the choices she'd made, choices she'd allowed Jody to make, Denise had only berated her for not going along with what she and Kingsley wanted.

It occurred to her then that Sasha and Candi-Rose weren't the only ones who'd expected her to feel special today. Deep down, she'd bought in to the idea too, but the keen absence of her mother, or rather a mother's kind words and advice, had hindered her.

"Thanks, May-Li," she whispered, before gently breaking up the hug the older woman had swept her up into and wiping at her eyes. "I should get going. I bet Tyler's wondering where I am."

.:. QK .:.

Making sure her eyes were completely dry, Jody walked up to the porch, looking around for Tyler. Not seeing him anywhere on the driveway or front garden, she stepped out towards the footpath, just in case he was waiting further out. He wasn't. Wondering if he'd gone back inside either because of the blazing heat or sheer boredom, she turned around to go and check when she heard her name.

Spinning around, she spotted her brother round the corner into the driveway. For once, he looked like less of a misery guts, dressed in a colourful safari shirt and cargo shorts. He even had a stylish pair of sunglasses tucked into his shirt pocket.

"Happy birthday," he said, going in for a quick hug. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of his cologne, mumbling a thanks. "So, how's it going?"

She raised an eyebrow. How's it going? He hadn't spoken like that since... well, since before Millie. What was going on here? He couldn't have left her already, not when she was so close to having the baby.

"Alright. I'm about to go somewhere with Tyler, actually."

Normally, she kept her love life out of their conversations because she didn't want to be teased or receive any unsolicited advice, but she was eager to get away from him. May-Li thought her mature, and maybe she was, compared to her fourteen year old self, but she couldn't help but hold Luke's banning her from his place against him. After everything they'd been through, it didn't seem right that he could just see her whenever he wanted to yet put Millie before her the rest of the time.

"Cool. Listen, I—"

There was a honk from behind Luke, who quickly looked over his shoulder; Jody peered past him, noticing for the first time that there was a vaguely familiar car parked across the road, blocking a neighbour's driveway. She suddenly had a flashback to Kingsley and his mates driving around their old neighbourhood and causing trouble, and looked back at her brother in fear. Had he fallen in with bad company too?

"Who is that?" she asked in a clipped tone. "I know that car... Is it Millie's brother's or something?"

She never thought she'd see the day where she regarded someone associated with Millie as the lesser of two evils. What had the world come to?

He appeared to be surprised. "No. He drives a BMW. But maybe you have seen this one, yeah. It'd make sense."

She was about to ask why when she heard a door slam shut and saw that the driver of the Mercedes had pulled his window down. She froze. No way.

"Sorry, Jodes!" Tyler's voice rang out from somewhere behind. "I went inside for a drink. Oh, hi Luke."

Her brother replied casually as Tyler joined them, but looked as if he'd rather be elsewhere. She scowled. She'd been forced to bear his partner's presence on multiple occasions, so it only made sense it'd be the same vice versa. Besides, Tyler was actually pleasant.

"Holy crap! Is that Kingsley?"

"Gray, not Jackson," Jody answered, grabbing Tyler's hand before he could go inside and alert Mike or May-Li. "Luke. What is he doing here? Didn't I tell you I want nothing to do with him?"

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, you didn't. I asked you what to do if he asked for you, but you just told me he wouldn't. Well, he did, and I didn't know what to say."

She shifted her weight from foot to foot, and Tyler laced his fingers through hers, no doubt sensing her anxiety. "No would've been a good start."

"He won't get out of the car, don't worry. I made it pretty clear to him that he has to go through the social if he wants contact."

"But I don't want him to. I don't even want to talk to our Kingsley when he gets out. Anyways, if he doesn't want to talk, why is he here?"

"I still don't have a car and since we're going somewhere anyway, I reckoned he could drop me off here for a couple of minutes. Beats paying for the bus."

"Oh."

There was something insulting about her father waiting around like a taxi driver, albeit an impatient one, when he was parked a couple of feet away from where she lived. She didn't want him to, but couldn't he come over? Or at least holler a greeting from across the road? He was so bloody rude.

"Wait," Tyler said, his eyes on Luke. "You said he asked about Jody. What did he say? Is he going to call the social?"

Jody frowned. She'd totally forgotten to ask. When Luke didn't answer right away, she gave him a look.

"He told me to tell you that he's willing to get to know you if you do a DNA and it comes back positive."

"If?" both Jody and Tyler asked at the same time. Luke nodded sheepishly.

Oh. So Gray didn't want to talk to her beforehand, just in case it turned out to be a waste of time. In case she turned out to be a waste of time. Why had she ever wanted this guy around again? She touched her pendant with her free hand, rolling the heart between her fingers. Who did she want to be?

Jody Jackson, daughter of the criminal Denise Jackson, sister of criminal Kingsley Jackson?

Or Jody Gray, daughter of the deadbeat Kingsley Gray, a man who'd never bothered to look for his children until their mother died?

She traced the 'J' with her finger, and she knew the answer. She smiled at Luke. "You can tell him this..."

A/N: It's been a long time coming but this fic is finally over. This one is a special one to me, mainly because I was just so motivated in the early days; I've never updated so fast. I'm also notorious for not finishing my fics. I almost thought this one would go uncompleted too because the last few chapters were such a grind, but here I am! Here we are.

Please let me know what you think because writing this chapter was really hard and despite all the work I put into it, I am not happy with it. I've definitely written better, which rattles me because my adult (lol, not like that) works should be better than my teen/juvenile ones.

SPOILER ALERT FOR SERIES 8

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Having seen 7B and the 8A premiere, Jody is definitely more mature in this fic than in the show. I think maybe Tyler is too. Honestly, I wish the showrunners had had the sense to finally move in a more positive direction with these two characters—we didn't need to see Tyler's OOC behaviour in 7B or Jody's childish antics in 8A. TBH, Jody wanting May-Li gone is too similar to Carmen/Ryan wanting Mike gone in S4. Charlex fans, I am so sorry if you feel like I broke them up as a personal attack on the ship. Not my intention. I just think that in general, secret relationships are unhealthy and I felt the need to kind of show/justify that. Since Tyler moved out in this well before dating Jody, Charlex had to take the fall; unfortunately, this means I don't think things are going to go too well for Jyler in the show. Teen/kids shows have always broken my ships up and I think Jyler's no exception; I'm expecting them to either break up after (nearly?) being discovered or before Tyler moves out/away (kind of like how Alex let Charlie go in 7B).

Just a quick shoutout to Charlie for reviewing regularly. You've been so wonderfully supportive throughout these last ten months and it's been great! I definitely don't think my earlier updates would've been so frequent if not for you; you really kept me going. Thanks to others too. If you're reading this, this is your last chance to review and tell me what you think, so please do!