Thanks to my beta Kristen! I've had a lot of requests for more Jibbs twins, so they have a starring role in this one.

There are some dark themes in this one, although I personally don't think it's as dark as Shades of Darkness turned out to be. I've tried to stay away from the darkness, but it is there.

For Jess, who requested that Lily take the twins on a trip somewhere to 'help' her sister. Probably not what you intended, but the plot bunnies were being a little evil…

Family Day

Chapter 1: Prologue

The waiting room was as crowded as ever. Plastic chairs were arranged in neat lines, only remaining in their original places because someone smart had thought to attach them to the floor. The few wooden tables that dotted the room were not so fortunate, especially the one that was being moved by the toddler.

The garish colors on the walls were supposed to calm the children down, not hype them up. Mary Abbot had never noticed this happen. As far as she could tell, the paint had only been chosen because blood wiped off it easily, thus saving Janitorial a fortune in time and money.

Not that blood was a usual occurrence in the waiting room. Not this particular one, anyway. She had managed to get a job as a receptionist in the worst possible place – the Immunization Clinic at Bethesda. She had picked it because she had correctly assumed that all the parents would be polite and prepared to wait their turn.

But she hadn't counted on the children. They screamed and ran around, with no one controlling them. They played games under her feet when she had to leave the safety of her desk. The military personnel did not attempt to calm their children down.

It did not help that the children were aware they were going to have needles stuck in their arms. At least the babies were fairly quiet. Even if they did start screaming, anxious mothers hushed them quickly. The few older children were the main troublemakers. They ran around as though they owned the place. The doctors and nurses didn't seem to mind this, judging by the smiles they gave to the children. But it annoyed Mary no end.

She had children of her own. Nice, polite children who had been raised well and knew how to behave. Today's children acted as though they were in charge, not the parents. They expected everything to be done for them the moment they demanded it. And the parents fell over backwards to abide by their offspring's orders. The tables had shifted too far.

Mary let her eyes travel around the waiting room again. There were slightly more babies than usual. Most inoculations occurred before the child was a year old, leaving the waiting room more skewed towards younger children, but other children missed jabs or the mothers forgot to take them along. Naturally, the babies often had other siblings, and parents were very happy to bring along the whole family for a routine immunization. It added to the noise and chaos that surrounded this place.

Not to mention the fact they could wander in without an appointment. It might save her on some paperwork, but it meant that some days were exceptionally busy while others were almost silent. Mary longed for the time when someone higher up realized that appointments were the best way to go and reintroduced them.

"Hey."

Mary whirled around to see Commander Kaye standing close by. She smiled at him as he placed a collection of files on her desk. He was a nice doctor, and the children seemed to like him. She would not begrudge them a little happiness.

"Good morning," she greeted him. "More paperwork."

He laughed. "One of these days, you're going to hear a cry of 'Avalanche!' coming from my office," he joked. "You'll be forced to dig me out from under mountains of paper."

Mary found herself chuckling. "We'll tell the children to take one piece of paper each," she countered. "They will take as many as their arms can carry and we will have you out in no time."

They shared a smile as they looked out over the overflowing waiting room. Kaye sighed. "I guess I should try to get some of these people out," he noted, making a move to leave.

"Of course," she agreed, staring out over the small crowd. She had a horrible feeling it was going to get busier in here soon. Her feelings were well known for being accurate, to the stage where doctors coming on duty would ask her for her opinion. It made life a little easier for everyone if they had some kind of warning before every parent in DC bought their child in and demanded that they be seen immediately.

Her eyes tracked Commander Kaye into the nearest room, a small family following him. One of the nurses stopped by her desk and she forced herself to pay attention.

"Can you ring Janitorial?" Angela asked, sounding exhausted. "Baby Summers just threw up all over Room Four."

"Not again," Mary groaned, reaching for the phone. There was always one child that was ill on her shift. On his last three visits, Baby Summers had managed to throw up everywhere. If he ever reappeared again, she was going to make sure Janitorial were on standby. It would save everyone time.

A frantic scream came from Room Six. High-pitched, desperate. Mary guessed it was a mother. She immediately cut the connection to Janitorial, undoubtedly aggravating the poor man who had just answered the phone, and rang for help. Commander Kaye was in that room…

Angela had started sprinting across the waiting room before Commander Kaye had the chance to yell for help. Doctors came out of neighboring rooms and made for the room in question, nurses appeared out of nowhere and joined in the mad dash. The parents in the waiting area looked nervous and clutched their children closer. The children merely looked bewildered.

The phone continued to ring as people piled into the examination room. Mary watched, detached from the situation around her. Why weren't they picking up the phone?

"Hello?" came the standard greeting.

"I'm calling from the Immunization Clinic," she announced breathlessly, not bothering to introduce herself. "We've got another one."