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“What the hell are you doing?”
Alex’s head shot up hearing the hissed question, he knew the voice off by heart, but seeing April was a relief, still he had to be fast. He quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her into the supply closet he was hiding in. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving the two in the near dark of the supply closet. “Shut up, Apes, you’re gonna draw attention to it.”
“Good! Why do you have OCCF drugs?! You know what they can do to Littles?”
“No, Hunt, I didn’t go to medical school, this is just a field day for me, what’s a hospital?” he deadpanned, deliberately sounding more confused and stupid with the more words he had to say. He couldn’t see her, but he knew that she had her eyes narrowed at him. “I have a cold,” he pointed out to her, “these are good cold meds, do I need to draw you a picture too?”
“You can draw me a picture of where your brain’s supposed to be! There’s a reason there’s different medications for Littles than Neutrals and Caregivers! These are going to make you drop hard!”
“Yeah, they will,” he agreed, “in about five hours, y’know once my shift is done? And as I’m stuck here with you and friggin’ Hardbourne breathing down our necks while we’re both starting with fucking step which Jack clearly gave us!”
April was quiet for a few moments. “What if your shift overruns?” She asked him quietly.
“Then I’ll take another dose, I’ll crash even harder, but I’m meant to drop over the next couple of days anyway, and you know what my parents are like if I’m sick, they’ll insist that I’m off until I’m better anyway, and I’ll be dropped most of the time anyway ‘cause I’ll be feeling like shit. What’s the harm in being alert and powering through until then?” He knew that he has her when she was silent, he could tell she was shifting her weight from foot to foot…. Yeah, he had her. “There’s enough doses in here for you to have one too, two if we get busy.”
Silence.
Then…
“Hand it over.”
Alex popped a pill out for himself before passing it over to his cousin, he couldn’t dry swallow, even on pills he was allowed to take, but he’d get some water. He smiled as he watched April swallow one.
“I’ll keep hold of them, if we need to take more I’ll give you one… this is only because it’s been busy and we’re stuck with Hardbourne.”
Meredith ignored the smiles and greetings of ‘I thought you just worked a double’, from the nurses, techs, and anyone else as she stormed past the beds in the OR into a private examination room. Bailey was there, along with Hardbourne, both people she had known for years, Hardbourne had been a first year attending when she and Bailey had been interns together, now both of them were co heads of general medicine, allowing both to follow what they both loved most about medicine, Bailey was able to perform surgeries while also conducting research which she had found a love of when they were residents, while it allowed Meredith to help in the clinic, perform pro-bono surgeries: it allowed both of them to be mothers too.
Something which she was never more grateful for than right now.
The examination bed had both April and Alex sitting on it, both changed into gowns, and both fully dropped, looking miserable, snot running down their faces, physically shrunk like they always did, physically Alex was the height of a five year old, while April was the height of an eight year old…. But she also knew that behind that were two kids, Alex no older than two, April no older than four, Alex was at the very youngest Littles were before they would just be constant-regressors. They’d had to get a particular fostering license when they’d applied to foster him.
It made it harder to feel as mad as she did at her son and her niece, seeing them sitting like that, Alex’s knees pulled up to his chest, Bailey trying to comfort both of them, but Alex wasn’t letting her touch him.
His eyes met hers and immediately his arms were up and out towards her, wiggling to try and get off of the cot but Bailey stopped him from throwing himself down.
“Mama…” Alex sniffled, holding his arms out to her.
Meredith didn’t need to wait a second longer, she closed the gap, picking Alex up, cuddling him close, letting him hide his face against her as she hugged April to her too. Hunt, Derek, and Mark were all at a conference in Illinois, but between herself, Addie, and Megan they had assured their husbands and Owen that they could look after their boys and April, and that this was a good opportunity for the three of them.
Well now Megan was in surgery, Addison was looking after Jackson who had strep, and Meredith had worked a double, only seeing Alex in passing when he’d come in for his shift with April earlier… But now, according to Bailey, her kid had taken a drug he knew far better to take for his classification, because he decided to stay on shift with strep when as a doctor of any classification he shouldn’t be without being on antibiotics for at least a day.
He was in so much trouble when he was big, so much trouble. But right now she was playing single parent, so she wasn’t about to do the whole consequences, not until he was better, and more importantly not until she wasn’t having to use screens as a co-parent.
“I called ahead to get them both some antibiotics, I got them delivered here, that way you don’t have to hope not to get Farwell in the pharmacy questioning you about April,” Bailey told her, smiling down at April as she brushed a tear from the little girl’s cheek. “I didn’t know where any of her drop clothes were…”
“I’ve got some for emergencies at mine.”
“They also both had accidents when they dropped hard,” Bailey told her, “I cleaned them up a little, but they could do with a bath, I just about managed to get them both into pull ups.”
“I’m too big!”
“You can still use the potty if you can,” Meredith assured her niece, “but if you have an accident that’s okay, you’re very dropped right now and you’re poorly, it’s okay if you need a little assurance.” April pouted and frowned at her, but she didn’t argue any further. Meredith wasn’t surprised at that, she knew that she wore pullups at night when she was fully dropped, and if she was ill Owen had her in them until she was better, it was something they’d talked about one time at a bbq, that was good at least she wouldn’t have to call them immediately, she could actually focus on the kids before dealing with Derek and Owen freaking out.
“I can call her dad,” Bailey volunteered, “so you don’t have to explain everything, I can threaten him not to bug you for at least a couple of hours.”
“Do you think you can actually get them to not bug me? Owen and Derek, I mean.”
Miranda raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, “I’m probably one of the few who actually can. I’ll lay on how much they’ll be messing up and making you peeved if they call you before you call them…. I’d silence your phone though, just to be sure, but if they do, you-”
“I’ll let you know,” Meredith assured her with a smile, “I know you like to scare my husband and Hunt.”
For the first time Miranda actually genuinely smiled, “Of course, it’s just a shame that McDreamy never really gets scared by me.”
Meredith let out a snort of a laugh, memories of her and Derek on and off dating when she was an intern and he was an attending fresh to Seattle, where Cristina and Miranda both had a begrudging respect for Derek, but were also protective over her during several complicated misunderstandings including one with Derek’s sister and Addison, not knowing that Addison had been happily dating Mark for a year at that point… They’d had her back, but Miranda and Derek had always gotten on against her will. “Because he’s your bestie,” she teased.
She felt Alex whine against her, and suddenly she was no longer years in the past but in the present, ten years after they were interns. She turned her head to press a kiss to his brown curls. “It’s okay, bambino, we’re going to go home, you and your cousin are going to have a bath and I’ll make you some food.”
“T’ouble?”
Meredith sighed softly, he was so hard to stay mad at, but she was still his parent at the end of the day. “You’re going to be grounded when you’re all better,” she told him, “daddy and I will talk about it when he’s home from his work trip. For now,” she looked down at April with a small smile, making sure that she knew that she was included, “we’re all going to go home, I’m going to look after both of you.”
She finally looked over at Hardbourne. He was an older surgeon, one who was known for being particularly hard on interns, one who had been so against their pilot program of having Littles be able to train and work here… she narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be watching them?”
“They should be able to watch themselves.”
Meredith felt her blood pounding in her veins, what had happened was Alex and April’s choice, she knew that, but she also knew exactly what Hardbourne was like, how he constantly pushed the limits of ineptitude, and how he shouldn’t have been in a position of power over April and Alex, he should have been looking after any and all doctors under him, and he should have been keeping patients health safe too. “How about patients who could end up going into surgery with step which they got from them because you weren’t doing your job?”
“I was doing my job, if they can’t-”
“Meredith!” Bailey shouted, but she was glaring at Hardbourne, “We’re going to deal with all of this with the chief, you look after the kids. Let me know how they are once they’re settled.”
Meredith had to fight to take her eyes off of the older doctor, she felt and heard Alex whimpering against her, she hadn’t meant to raise her voice, she knew that he hated it, she felt April’s little hand in hers, when she looked down she saw a very April like expression on her face, no matter her headspace she hated to feel like she caused an issue, or like she was stuck between things.
She looked back at Miranda, locking eyes with the shorter woman, she could see a fire in her dark brown eyes, “You’ve got this?”
“I got this. Their meds are on the side table.”
“I taught both of you, just because-”
“Let’s go,” Bailey told him firmly, the fact that she was in charge of an entire surgical department, with Meredith, and easily outranked him, seemed to suddenly dawn on him, as he slammed out of the room, leaving a trail of nurses complaining about being shoved into behind him.
Meredith undid April’s straps first, the two had been whinging in the back of her suv as they drove to the house, neither happy as the full force of strep hit them, it was insane to think that the medicine she took when she had a flu had dropped them so hard and made them feel so run down.
“Can I have your keys, Auntie Mer?”
“I’m going to carry you in, honey,” Meredith told her kindly, moving onto Alex to undo his straps, “you don’t have any shoes with you, I don’t want your feet getting hurt.” Alex held his arms out to her, not even trying to undo his own straps he just wanted his mom, not even trying to squirm or wiggle.
“I can run fast, then the stones can’t touch my feet and I can jump onto the porch-”
“No honey,” she sent her a quick smile, her voice soft but firm, “I’m going to carry you, it’s okay to need help, remember, like your daddy tells you?” She watched her frown and reluctantly nod her head, she knew that Owen was still working on that with her.
She managed to get the two littles into the house, one on each hip, she put April down to unlock the door and let her walk in on her own. She led both of them up the stairs, undoing the gate behind her knowing that neither of them could with the biodetector locks. She ducked into Alex’s nursery, Owen had dropped around a few of April’s things, so she gave her a job of finding a pair of pajamas to wear along with a pull up. She waited until April was doing so to look for what she was going to put Alex in. She only rooted a little until she found a pair of footie one piece pajamas, white but covered with blue and orange monsters, then grabbed one of his usual thick diapers. She managed to pull his head away from her to be able to see his face. “You’re not feeling very well, are you, baby?”
“Neck hurt mommy,” his bottom lip trembled, his eyes had been red which meant that he must have been rubbing them in the car. “Cuddles?”
“I promise we can have cuddles after you have a bath, baby.”
For once her water loving baby didn’t look excited about it, she knew that it wasn’t about sharing a bath, they’d done it enough with various combinations of the three kids in their family, they had on five separate occasions had the kids trying to turn on and get into bath tubs in their homes, one time when Owen was taking a phone call they’d managed to get bath to fill and bubbles to begin to roll from the tub onto the floor…. All of the kids loved baths.
“Just a quick bath to get you all clean honey. Then we’ll get you all snuggle up on the couch, you, me, and April.”
“An’ ‘mo?”
She kissed his forehead, smiling; the Elmo had been one of the first things they’d bought him, ever since then he’d been inseparable from his ‘best friend’, as Alex dragged him everywhere even having him in his bed at night when he was big, not that she or Derek were allowed to mention that out loud, of course. “Of course you can bring your Elmo, Alex. Let’s check on April, huh?”
April smiled as she sniffled aloud, Meredith could swear that she could hear the snot going straight to her chest, she’d have to make sure that she had tissues handy downstairs. “I chosed these, auntie Mer.”
Meredith smiled, she was much more of a boy mom, she had never been very girly, and she didn’t think she’d be great at being a mother to a girl, but she had to admit that the girls clothes were adorable, she liked being able to microdose having a girl when it came to April. “Oh wow, those are pretty, do you know what the words say?”
April nodded excitedly, “Yeah! My daddy telled me, Love Bug, like daddy calls-ed me! An’ there’s lady bug an’ an dragon flied.”
“Wow, that’s very clever of you to remember that! I’m very proud,” she praised her. She made sure that she had a pull up, then let April ‘check’ Alex’s pajamas, which she approved of, then she had April put them all onto the rocking chair in the nursery, giving her a job always made April happy, before she led the kids into the bathroom.
Two hours later the kids were fully cleaned, in fresh pjs, and Meredith had managed to get both of them to take medicine…. Okay with Alex she just put it in his drink as she knew that was the only way to get him to take it, she also managed to get some mac and cheese into the pair. Now the sound of Sesame Street played low on the tv while April and Alex were cuddled together underneath a blanket, Alex with his Elmo and a hard plastic truck for some reason, April had her soft bodied fairy doll and a pig which was well loved.
Meredith took a few steps away from the couch to pick up her cellphone, smiling as she heard Derek’s voice immediately answer, most of the smile was because she’d missed him having been gone for a few days, but another part of her was relieved that he sounded calm and collected, out of him and Owen he was definitely the one to panic more. She also couldn’t hear the sounds of an airport behind him, which should be a good sign, they only had a day left there anyway.
“Hey,” she copied his greeting.
“How’s our baby?”
“Tired, he’s sleeping right now, cuddled up with April, I’ll send you the photo in a little bit. How’s Owen?”
“Not happy,” Derek sighed, “I don’t blame him, of course, but he’s very confused why April would do this, I have pointed out that despite how sensible and responsible she is, she’s still young and a Little, she’s going to make poor decisions sometimes…. Is Hardbourne still alive?”
“He did this on purpose,” she repeated what she’d texted him. “But yes… Bailey stayed in the room with him so I couldn’t do anything, she might have killed him though, but if she has…”
“We’ll be her alibi, don’t worry.” She could tell from his voice that he was being deadly serious. He sighed again, “Our kid’s so dumb sometimes.”
“Yep…. I don’t get his thought process, but I assume that he didn’t want to have to be picked up from work by his mommy when he was there with Hardbourne, not that I agree with him about it, but I understand it to an extent, I would have done similar, not a drug which isn’t made to be used by any littles, of course…. But still.”
He didn’t disagree, of course, but that was what she expected. “I’m sorry I’m not there to help you with this.”
“You’ll be back tomorrow night anyway, and you know that he’s much harder to look after when he’s getting better and not wanting to do anything while also wanting to do everything, you know?”
“So I’m on ‘driving Alex around to get him to nap’ duty?”
“You always are,” she smiled as she heard Derek laugh on the other side of the phone. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too. A lot. And I really do wish I was there, especially as I had to be the voice of reason and stop Hunt from booking a flight home straight away, the fact that Bailey threatened us helped, naturally, but still… if it had been just me I would have flown home.”
“Even with Bailey threatening you?”
“That’s never really bothered me too much, I mean she’s terrifying, but I’m used to that, and you guys are worth it. Can you ring me later, when Alex is awake, so I can see my baby?”
“I thought he was our baby?” she teased.
“I miss him so much that I’m claiming him entirely.”
Meredith rolled her eyes fondly, she walked back to the couches, making sure the blanket was covering both of the kids, she settled into the armchair, grabbing the throw from the back of it to cover herself with. “Tell me about the conference?” She requested, and listened to him telling her about cutting edge surgeries he’d heard about in a talk that morning, she let her mind drift off, and before she knew it she’d joined her son and niece in the land of nod.