Some days sucked. No other way to put it. It was one day before Labor Day weekend and Grey-Sloan was overrun with idiots trying to send this summer off with a bang. I'd treated more burns, lacerations, and other preventable accidents that required my specialty than I ever wanted to. I'd made more trips down to the ER today than I had in the past week combined.
It was also an insanely busy surgery day for myself and my partners. Yes, it was true. If you work in a hospital you know that surgeons try to cram everything in right before a holiday weekend. We in the Plastic Surgery department were no different. Between us all I think our department had added an abdominoplasty, blepharoplasty, a few breast augmentations, several skin flaps, a breast reduction, a breast reconstruction, and a cleft lip repair to the roster today.
I had spent most of the morning repairing the cleft lip of a little guy I'd been following since birth. It was one of the most extensive cleft lip and palates that I'd seen in my career. He'd come through his Nasoalveolar molding procedure great and today had been no different. At 2 months older than Ayla, his Dad had been trying to convince me that they'd make a fine couple someday. While he was a handsome little dude, and no doubt had a bright future in front of him, I politely declined the offer. Ayla wasn't getting married. Ever.
So that was my day. From the OR to the ER and back again. I sent my last patient to PACU at 10:30PM and then had to rush to the ER to answer a page from Owen concerning a facial laceration on a kid that needed Plastics closure. First off, what the hell was a kid this age doing awake at this hour to even get a facial laceration? Maybe I had a lot to learn, but geez, put your damn kids to bed!
To add to my day, I'll mention that I am on call tonight for our group. Not only did it mean I was the surgeon on call for any issues that popped up with every patient belonging to our practice, it also meant I was the one summoned when anything Plastics related rolled into the ER. I really can't complain. I want to, but I can't. Ayla was now 8 weeks old and this was the first night I had taken call since before she was born. The other guys in my department had been generous enough to take me off the call rotation for that length of time.
So, numerous procedures performed today...numerous patients in the hospital under our service...and I was on call until 7AM this morning. What could possibly go wrong?
That'd be a rhetorical.
I was just arriving home a little after midnight. My day had started at 6:15AM. If my calculations are correct, that was an 18 hour day. I'm really getting too old for this. I can hear some of the Attendings older than I am telling me to wait another 10 years, but I mean it...18 hour days whip my ass now where they used to be an adrenaline rush when I first started out.
I did not expect to see April awake when I walked in the apartment. We'd talked a few hours ago and she had told me then that she and Ayla were headed to bed. "Hey you..." I said slightly confused.
"Hey," she smiled. She was standing at the dining room table folding clean laundry while Ayla sat in her swing wide awake. The baby looked like she'd had a full nights sleep and had no intention of taking a nap anytime soon. "We went to bed, slept for two hours, she woke to nurse and now we're wide awake. Will not go back to sleep. I have no idea what this is all about."
I may have just worked an 18 hour day, but I completely admit it is nothing compared to the 24 hour days April pulls as a Mom. No sick days, no bathroom or lunch breaks sans baby anyway, this little lady called the shots every hour of every day. "Were you waiting up to see me?" I asked as I stopped her swing and got her out. I kissed her little face and hugged her to me, "I've missed you today..."
"How was Harrison's surgery?" Ayla's suitor. Harrison was a well known guy in the Avery household.
"It went really well," I replied. "He did great during surgery. No complications. I rounded on him before leaving and he was already eating with his syringe feeder, seemed happy as always...his Dad was trying to betroth him to Ayla again." He really was a cute baby, I just wasn't giving him my blessing where Ayla was concerned.
"That's so great," April laughed. She walked to where I stood and kissed Ayla's cheek. "We will not let your Daddy chase good boys away. No we will not!" Ayla smiled and cooed at April. Total mess, this one. Sometimes I spent a half hour making a complete fool of myself trying to get a coo or smile out of her. April walks over, says one thing, and she starts right in. Women...
"What do you have tomorrow?" She asked. "Or, well...today, I guess."
"Nothing on the surgery schedule. I have to round on my post ops. I have a couple pre op appointments after lunch," I explained. Hopefully a much lighter day following the one I'd just had. "You remember I'm on call until 7AM."
"I do," she replied. "Why don't you go ahead and go to bed. I know you're exhausted." I was, but I needed to spend some time with my girls more than I needed sleep.
I sat down at the table with Ayla. "I'm actually kind of hungry. I grabbed a bag of chips between rounds, but that was it in the way of dinner."
April put the shirt she was folding down and walked into the kitchen. "Well, seeing as how you don't eat leftovers..." We'd been married several years now but I would never live that down.
"Sandwich? Cereal?" I had to suggest something.
"Turkey or Ham?" She asked. I guess I was eating a sandwich. "I think that's all we have in the way of sandwich meat..."
"Turkey is fine," I said. "Do we still have that thing this weekend at Mom and Richard's?"
"It's a Labor Day cookout and yes, we do." Mom and Richard had recently bought a home in one of the suburbs of Seattle and had been looking for an excuse to have everyone over. This gave them, well Mom, actually...a perfect excuse to throw some over the top party. She didn't do anything halfway.
I noticed Ayla starting to suck on her hand. I guess she figured if April was preparing food in there it was her turn to eat again too. "Hey you might want to hurry that along in there. Not for my benefit. I think she's getting hungry again."
"Already?!" Apparently it had been one of those days around here.
I knew enough to know she was definitely thinking it was time for her next meal. "Yep, pretty sure she's going to be ready to eat soon. If you have any milk in the fridge I'll feed her." It was worth a suggestion. I didn't get to do it often.
April put my plate of food in front of me and a bottle of water. "These chips ok?"
"Perfect," I smiled. "Thank you."
"You need to eat," she said. "I'll feed her."
I could perform complex procedures in the OR, surely I could eat with one hand while holding Ayla and her bottle in the other. "I can do both. I never get to feed her." Yeah, I guess I was sort of pouting about it.
"Ok..." April gave in. She went to the kitchen to grab the bottle and warm it up. Ayla was sucking on her hand louder. Her way of telling us to hurry it up with the food. I gently bounced her in my arm to hopefully keep the peace until her bottle arrived.
"Anyway," April said from the kitchen. "The cookout is Sunday. Your Mom apparently volunteered you to help Richard grill." No doubt she did. The women in my family never really asked me anything, they just told me what needed to be done. The women being my Mother, wife, and I swore at times my infant daughter. "They invited most everyone, though I am not sure who will be able to come."
I quickly ate my food while trying to keep Ayla pacified. As long as I gently bounced my arm, I avoided any major meltdowns. Multitasking at its finest right here. No wonder April was back to being as tiny as before she got pregnant if this is how she had to eat all of her meals.
"She may not take this from you since she knows I'm around. I only heated an ounce just incase she throws one of her fits." Ayla might only be 8 weeks old, but she was no dummy. Sometimes she tolerated bottles if she knew April was near, other times...no way. It made times with her when April really wasn't around interesting if she decided to go on one of her bottle boycotts.
I took the bottle from April and gave it to Ayla. She immediately opened her little mouth to take the nipple in and started sucking. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief she turned her head to the side and started crying. She knew and was not happy. I don't even know why I tried to pull a fast one over on her. Never works out. "Ayla," I soothed. "This is the same stuff, baby girl."
"She did the same thing for your Mom earlier today." I might have known Mom had found her way over here and why was April talking?!
"April," I said as I tried to get Ayla to take the bottle with no success. You can't fight with a 2 month old. Don't even try. "You talking while standing right next to us isn't helping! She knows you are right there."
She walked back into the kitchen knowing full well Ayla wasn't going to give in. This child might look like me, but she was so much April's daughter that it was comical. If she didn't like something, you knew it. If she wanted something, she was relentless until she got it. Strong-willed doesn't begin to cover it. I tried a few more minutes until she was so pissed that there was no turning it around. I had given it my best shot and absolutely lost the fight. "Ok...ok, you can have Mommy. She's right over there."
I handed a screaming, pissed off baby over to April and went back to my food. April sat down across from me at the table. I watched as she cradled Ayla in her arms and rocked back and forth where she sat. Almost instantly...complete silence. I was convinced she was the damn baby whisperer or something. She had a gift I clearly did not have. Or well, she has boobs. It's probably the boobs. April quickly got Ayla latched on and she started eating like she hadn't just thrown the fit of the century 5 seconds earlier.
"You know it's not you," April said sweetly. "I swear she knows if I am anywhere near her. I was in the shower when your Mom was trying to feed her today and she never went for it."
She would be worried about my feelings in all this. That was just April. If it were anyone else, I probably would be offended that my own daughter preferred them over me...but not April. I loved how much Ayla loved her. Seeing her as a Mom was one of my favorite things. She was just good at it, completely natural from day one, so I could never be jealous or get my feelings hurt over Ayla wanting her Mom.
"She's just smart," I smiled. Also, who could really blame her? If given the choice between a boob or a cold bottle nipple...it was a no brainer. "Speaking of showers, I probably need to do that and get to bed." I got up from the table, gave April and Ayla a quick kiss, and headed to our bedroom.
I turned the shower on so it could heat up and tossed my phone and pager on the counter in the bathroom. I just needed a couple good hours of sleep. I silently hoped Ayla would sense that and actually go to sleep herself. We never knew with her. She seemed pretty wired, but miracles do happen. Not often, but every once in a while. I needed one tonight.
No sooner than I'd stepped in the shower and under the water, I heard my pager go off. You have GOT to be kidding me. I swear I was being watched and the universe was having a hell of a time messing with me. I heard the bathroom door open and saw April, who was still feeding Ayla, come in to see who was paging me.
"It's 3rd floor," she informed me. None of my patients were on 3rd, so I knew it had to be a patient of one of the other guys. "Want me to call real quick while you finish up?"
"Sure." That was the beauty of being married to another surgeon. She could probably handle the page herself without informing me at all, but lawyers love that kind of stuff. I didn't feel like dealing with any of them.
"This is Dr. Kepner calling for Dr. Avery. He just received a page from this number." I watched through the glass to see if her reaction was my cue to leap out of the shower, throw scrubs on, and run out the door. "Hey Linda, this is Dr. Kepner calling for Dr. Avery..." I loved how nurses would page a doctor and then walk off from the desk. They knew we should be calling back momentarily, so don't walk off. Unless you are pumping a chest, stand by the damn phone after you've paged. I need sleep.
"She's great!" April smiled. "Yes! No...no...you are so sweet! She's 8 weeks..." Was she kidding me right now? "She does! She does look just like her Daddy. I know..." she laughed. 1:00 in the morning and my wife was having social hour with a nurse who paged. See, this right here is a prime example of April at work.
I knocked on the shower door to get her attention. If the patient had been in mortal danger when this nurse paged me, he or she was probably dead now. I hate to be crass, but may as well keep it real. I glared at her when she looked over at me. "Oh I know," she laughed. Carrying on as if she hadn't noticed me at all. "I know, we're going to have to get him a phone with more memory..."
"April!" They were probably loading the poor soul into a body bag by now. Funeral home on the way. However, as long as my wife got caught up with all the nurses she hadn't gotten to chat with in 2 months...it was all good. No worries.
She turned to me as if I was being unreasonable. Seriously. Turned to me and looked as if it was obvious that I was overreacting. "Jackson, Dan's breast augmentation from today is complaining of itching. No hives, no difficulty breathing, just mild itching and she wants something for it. No allergies."
That is what they were paging me for at 1AM? I really don't know why I was surprised. I sighed, "Benadryl 25mg IV every 6 hours as needed." Not the most generous of solutions, but Dan would be rounding shortly and he could deal with it.
"Did you get that?" April asked her, going right back to her conversation. "I know it. Always in the middle of the night! Oh ok...sure! Good talking with you too!" She looked over at me, "Another nurse just told her to keep you on the line. I'll see what she needs."
"Look, you..." Before I could finish she was already talking again. I rested my head against the shower door as I listened to her start in with the next nurse. Did she seriously know all of them?
"We're great! She is. Awww, thank you!" April smiled. I guess she could tell by the look I was throwing her way that I was over it. "So what's going on?" Never again. She was never calling the hospital for me ever again.
"Chad's skin flap from earlier today. The flap to the infected hip arthroplasty incision..."
I nodded. I knew who she was talking about. "What's up?" I asked, finishing up in the shower and getting out. I grabbed a towel and dried off as April listened.
"Chronic hypertension, didn't take her Norvasc yesterday and it's not due again until 9AM. Blood pressure was 169/93 and she has nothing ordered PRN for it..."
I took the phone from April. I started rattling off an order not even giving the poor woman a chance to get a word in. "This is Dr. Avery. Let's do 10mg of Apresoline IV as needed every 4 hours. If that doesn't get it down within 30 minutes to an hour give me a call back, but I think that plus starting her Norvasc back in the morning will take care of it. Is her pain controlled?"
"It is," the nurse replied. "She hasn't complained of any pain with what I have given her. So 10mg of Apresoline IV as needed every 4 hours."
"Yes, 10mg Apresoline IV as needed every 4 hours," I replied confirming she'd heard the order correctly. She thanked me. We were done. Quick and easy. Problem solved. I ended the call and looked down at April from where I stood right in front of her. "Really, babe? Really."
"Hey, I know Linda!" She defended. "She works in the ER, she just got pulled to 3rd tonight because they were short a nurse." I smiled as I listened to her explain herself. She wouldn't be April if she didn't do crap like that. It's why her patients loved her, the staff loved her, hell it's one of the reasons I loved her. Ayla was sound asleep in her arms now, completely oblivious to the excitement of my pager and phone.
I quickly threw some pajama pants on and held my arms out to take Ayla from her. "Give me..."
April smiled as she passed Ayla to me. She always slept on my chest. At this point I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep without her. I held her in one arm as I grabbed my toothbrush and held it out to April so she could put some toothpaste on it. "Do not spit toothpaste on my baby..." she warned.
"Think I can handle that," I said. Next thing I knew I was laughing as I tried to brush my teeth. Couldn't help myself. It started and there was no stopping it. "I mean, was pretty sure the undertaker was showing up to haul Dan's patient away while you caught up with Linda..."
April shoved me playfully from her side of the sink. "You are horrible!"
We finished up in the bathroom and made our way to bed. Finally. I was trying really hard not to keep laughing, but delirium had set in. "Sorry Dan, one of your boob jobs passed on while April caught up with one of the nurses. I never really knew what the problem was before it was too late..."
April picked up a small pillow to throw at me until she remembered that I was the one with Ayla. "Hey," I said, pointing to our sleeping daughter. "I have precious cargo here..."
"You...are...awful," she told me as she turned the lights off and got in bed.
I got in as carefully as I could. Trying not to jostle Ayla too much while I laid down and moved her to my chest. April was lying on her side facing me when she scooted in my direction. She wrapped her arms and legs around my arm and leg closest to her. "What the...you're like an ice cube! Go back to your side with that!"
This had been a turn of events. When she was pregnant with Ayla she was like a furnace who insisted on keeping the place well below freezing. I usually wore a couple pair of socks to bed every night to prevent frostbite. Now she was cuddled up to me to stay warm. Women and their hormones.
"No," she smiled. "You're warm." She rested her head on my pillow and had no plans to move back to her side.
"It's a good thing I don't have issues with personal space," I said to her. "Because I think the two of you forget that I'm not a bed."
She kissed my shoulder. "Well she definitely forgets. And you've never had issues with personal space."
There hadn't been a dull moment in my life since meeting April all those years ago at Mercy West, that was for sure. No one got to me the way she did. It had always been that way. I hadn't always admitted it, but it had been my truth all along. Life with her was fun. She was my best friend. She could make me laugh like no one else could. She also had a knack for pushing buttons of mine that no one else on Earth had ever come close to locating, but still...I loved her more than I ever thought possible.
I turned my head to face her, placing a kiss on her lips and resting my head against hers. "Life would be pretty damn boring without you, you know that?"
"I know that," she smiled. "Glad you know that! You need to go to sleep. I can man your pager till morning," she joked.
I laughed quietly. "So I should probably go ahead and alert the funeral homes here in town then, huh?"
She playfully poked me in the side, "Goodnight Jackson."
The day of Mom and Richard's cookout had arrived. This was no ordinary Labor Day gathering. Take your average cookout and jack it up on steroids...then you'd have a Catherine Webber cookout. There was enough food and drinks to feed an army. Which was good, because I was pretty certain that between the two of them they'd invited the entire hospital.
I'd made it through my first night of call with no casualties or actually having to return to the hospital. I had gone to work on Friday exhausted from lack of sleep the day and night before, but it had been a good day. No doubt the thought of a three day weekend probably took the edge off a bit.
My assignment for today along with Ben had been to help Richard on the grill. Turns out, Richard is incredibly territorial when it comes to his grill and was pretty clear on the fact that he needed no assistance from a couple amateurs. That was cool, I could sit here on the patio and drink a beer while pretending to do my assigned chore. No prob.
"TUCKER!" We heard coming from across the yard. "You get back over here right this instant!" Bailey was marching across the yard on the warpath. Tuck had apparently wandered off farther than he'd been told he could go with Zola and Bailey in tow.
"When I grow up I want to be like Bailey," I laughed. She was out in the yard overseeing the children who were running and playing in a sprinkler Richard had set up. It had been warm enough for this type stuff today and Bailey felt up to the challenge. From where I was sitting it looked about as controlled as trying to herd cats. I was just hoping no one got hurt. I did not feel like going into work because a coworker's kid needed stitches. No thanks.
"Well I see you two are working hard out here." I looked up to see my beautiful wife standing next to us. Baby in one arm, a plate full of some kind of meat to be cooked in the other. We'd been caught.
"Moral support," Ben smiled as he toasted his beer in her direction.
April looked at us as if we were the rejects of the party. "You want to take these? They're heavy." I admit, we got here bright and early to help Mom with food and prep work. April started in helping the minute we walked in the door. I decided to nap for a couple hours on the couch with Ayla. What could I say...we managed our time differently.
"No," I smiled. "But I'll take what's in your other arm!"
Richard walked over from where he'd been in front of the grill to relieve April of the full plate of turkey burgers while I took Ayla from her. "How's my girl?" I said to her, immediately getting a smile. "Yeah, how's Daddy's girl? Have you been helping?" Yes, you'll make a fool out of yourself if it gets a grin out of these little people. Trust me.
April reached out to rub Ayla's little head, "Say I have been way more help than my Daddy has been!"
Ben laughed, "Dude, she got you with that one. Good job, April, put it here!" He held up his hand to high five her. As if he ranked any better than I did at this thing. I'd get him in trouble with Bailey later.
"I helped," I defended myself. "I have helped. I hauled all of these tables out here and the chairs. I hung up all this crap Mom insisted she needed put up..."
"Decorations..." April corrected.
"…..I got the baby to take a nice long nap earlier..." They really should be thankful for that. Had I not kept her asleep for 2 ½ hours, April wouldn't have gotten half the stuff done she'd been able to. "I have helped!"
April just looked at me. She was trying hard to remain serious about this, but she was failing miserably. I knew how to get under her skin. "You're right. I don't know what we would have done without you sleeping for almost 3 hours this morning with Ayla when you were supposed to be helping. I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted," I replied smiling at her. "It means a lot that you'd admit you were wrong..." April stood there just shaking her head at me. Sometimes she couldn't even come up with a rebuttal.
"Jackson Avery!" Annnnnnd there was Mom.
"Yes?" I asked. No doubt this was going to be about sitting on my ass while Richard manned the grill. I wasn't messing with his prized possession. No way. He all but pissed on it to mark his territory when Ben and I tried to help.
She came over and took Ayla from me. Baby hog. "Ayla, tell your Daddy if he isn't going to help Chief with the food then he can be the one to sit in the baby pool with you and Ellis!"
Uh uh. Hell no. Not happening.
"Ben isn't doing anything either," I said. Completely throwing him under the bus, but he deserved it.
Ayla smiled at Mom. I'd have a talk with her about this later. "That's right! You tell him you want to go in the pool! Your Mommy brought your swimsuit and everything!" Another grin. Little traitor. Good thing she was cute.
"Yeah," Ben said clapping me on the shoulder. "Sounds like a good job for my man here. You're the Dad with the youngest one here. You get to participate with that age group!" Since when was Ben an expert on children's activity etiquette? Besides, his ass hadn't moved from the chair. Miranda, and now Arizona, were the ones overseeing the older kids.
April smiled. She'd turned on me too. "I think that's a great idea! I just happened to bring your swim shorts..."
"Oh you did, did you?"
"Yeah..." She might try to look and sound innocent, but she was neither.
"Just happened to bring them! You think of everything, sweetheart."
"I really do, honey." No sarcasm in that at all. "Come on," she said, playfully pulling on my arm. "Come on and get changed. Ellis has been standing at the patio door waiting to get in the water like the older kids!"
I took Ayla back from Mom and followed April into the house. Just as April had said, Ellis was standing at the door watching every move the bigger kids made. "Are you ready to go swimming?" April asked her. Her face lit up. Well now I had to get in the pool with them. You can't disappoint a face like that. Dammit.
Meredith picked her up and smiled a knowing smile my way, "Yes, we are so glad that you wanted to swim with the 2 and under crowd. Means none of us had to!" These women were impossible. All of them standing around and I was the one that had to get in the kiddie pool.
I followed April upstairs and into one of the guest rooms where she'd put our stuff. "Really, babe? I have to do this?"
April sighed as she tossed my swim shorts to me. "Jackson, it's not that big of deal. Besides, Ellis doesn't have a Dad to do those things with her. We're all family here and it's you guys that will be..."
I shut her up by walking over and kissing her. I wrapped my arms around her and Ayla and held them to me. "You're probably the best person I know..."
"Probably?" She asked, looking up at me.
"No," I laughed. "You are by far the best person I know." She really was. Always thinking of others and seeing the bigger picture. She was absolutely right. It was a little scary how many kids we had in our group growing up without a Father. We did need to step up. Those guys would have done it for our kids.
I quickly changed out of my clothes and into the swim shorts while she was busy changing Ayla into her swimsuit. I walked over to stand next to her. "What is that?!"
"It's a swim diaper," she explained. "If you put a regular one on them it will swell up as soon as it gets in the water and weigh like 10 pounds..." Again, best to not ask questions. I watched as she pulled the swimsuit out of Ayla's bag. The top and the bottom. THE TOP. AND. THE BOTTOM.
"April, what the hell?!"
"What?" She asked as she put the bottoms over Ayla's diaper.
"She's not wearing that!" There was no way. My wife had officially lost it. There was no way Joe and Karen Kepner had ever allowed her to wear a two piece swimsuit growing up. Truth be told, she probably wasn't allowed to wear a swimsuit at all. "She's not wearing a swimsuit that comes in different pieces." I mean you had to set the rules early. Today it was a two piece swimsuit. Tomorrow she's smoking and messing around with boys. Not on my watch.
April laughed. "Jackson, it's a tankini. It's adorable!"
"She's not wearing it." I would barricade the door if need be. "Not happening. You can just get rid of that one. Give it to someone who doesn't mind if their daughter turns out to be a juvenile delinquent..."
April sighed. "Your Daddy is impossible, Ayla. Impossible. Good luck in your teen years, girlfriend." She could call me impossible all she wanted, the important thing was that she took the bottoms off and pulled a one piece swimsuit out of the diaper bag. Just as cute and none of my angel's belly showing.
"Better?" April asked, looking over her shoulder at me.
"Much." I picked Ayla up off the bed and kissed her cheeks. "Are you ready to swim, baby girl?" She'd probably hate it but we all knew it was just for the photo op where April and Mom were concerned.
I held her as April slathered her in sunblock. You marry a redhead, you get real familiar with sunblock. No use in saying anything. Once that was finished we quickly made our way downstairs. "Oh look at you, Ellis!" April said to her. She was decked out in a swimsuit and arm floaties. You never know when you'll need those in about 3 inches of water. Meredith picked her up and followed us outside.
Thankfully, the pool Mom had purchased was big enough for me to actually sit in and stretch out. Which only proves that this was their plan all along. Oh we'll toss Jackson in the kiddie pool, he'll watch the little ones! I can hear them now. I got in and sat down, the sun had warmed the water so it wasn't too bad. I held Ayla in my lap with one arm while I held onto Ellis' hand as Meredith lowered her in the pool. As expected, the paparazzi Mom and April were out in full force with their cameras.
Soon as Ellis got her footing, she was walking around the pool like she owned it. I had to admit, she was pretty cute. I guess it wasn't so bad being the adult to hang out in here so she could have fun like her older siblings. I'm not completely heartless. I held Ayla and gently lowered her little feet into the water. "Not so bad, huh?" I fully expected her to hate it, but she surprised me. "You like that? Pretty soon you'll be able to do cool stuff like Ellis over there..."
Meredith had given Ellis a small cup that she was dipping into the water and then pouring out. Over and over again. Completely mesmerized. She filled it up again with water and headed in our direction. Wasn't exactly sure where this was going. She stopped in front of us and tried to give the cup of water to Ayla. Guess she thought this poor kid needed some kind of entertainment. All she was able to do was sit here with her Dad. I took it from her, "Thank you, Ellis."
She went to touch Ayla when Meredith reached over in the pool to grab her hand. "No no, Ellis! We have to be very gentle with her. She's a baby. Remember how Mommy and Zola taught you to be gentle with the babies..." Ellis looked up at Meredith as if to say hold up lady, I got this. "We have issues with her being a little rough with Zola's dolls," Meredith explained.
Ellis sat down on my other leg and made herself at home. This one was not shy. Guess she figured if that kid is sitting in his lap, then so can I. She reached over and held Ayla's hand. "Baby!" she laughed.
"Yeah, it's a baby," I said to her. "Her name is Ayla."
She continued to hold Ayla's hand. I'll admit, it was sweet. She had the whole gentle with babies thing down. She reached over and softly patted Ayla on the head with her other hand and got a grin in return. If we didn't know any better, these two had decided to become friends.
"Oh April," Meredith said smiling. "I think we're going to be in trouble..."
No we're to it. A Shepherd and an Avery? I was going to be in trouble.
