Family Tree:Noah and Hannah spending time with their cousins

"No! That's not how you do it!"

"I saw my mommy doing it. I know how to do it." Hannah replies, placing both knees on the Kepner's wooden porch and sitting down on them.

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

She waits, looks at her youngest cousin and, with a confident nods, Hannah goes on. "I think so."

"He seems fine to me!"

"Shut up, Marissa. He isn't!" Noah retorts, turning to his older cousin, with his big blue eyes and a frown. "He's sick, can't you see?"

Marissa, their seven year old cousin approaches them, glancing with an annoyed stare back at Noah. Then, delicately touching her white flowered skirt, she looks over at the rest of the children, holding her straight and shiny red hair to keep it from falling on her face. "What happened to him?"

"Noah kicked him."

"Hey! I didn't do it on purpose." Noah quickly defends himself up against his sister. Sure, he tripped on the cat when he was playing hide and seek with his sister and cousins at grandpa's. It's summertime and they just got here. Coming to Moline is the best time in the world. They can hang in the farm with all the animals and freedom to run and play.

"We need to open him up?"

Hannah places one hand on the stripped orange cat, feeling his stomach. Then, she looks up at Jacob, her youngest cousin, and with the most serious glance, she finally makes the decision. "Yes. But we got to put him to sleep first."

"Are you sure you know how auntie April does it?" Marissa asks.

"I know!" Hannah simply nods her little head, making her brown curls bounce with the movement. She didn't exactly see mom doing a surgery, but they talked about it not too long ago. She also loves to play doctor and being around the hospital and her parent's friends helps too. Plus she knows the basics, and her imagination will do the rest. "We need gloves, and a scalpel and…"

"Then we can open him up and fix him inside!" Noah exclaims, throwing a fist into the air and standing up, way too excited to cut the poor cat in half.

"Open what up now?" April's voice comes from behind them. She looks at her son, crossing her arms and wondering what the fuss is all about.

"The cat."

"We're doing surgery on the cat, mommy." Noah replies, pointing out to the poor little thing wrapped in her daughter's hands.

"What? Why?"

"Hannah's doing it." Noah goes on, enthusiastically. "She's the doctor, just like you."

April smiles, trying not to laugh or show a worried face either. This is serious and they could've killed the animal if she didn't show up just in time. "And what makes you think the cat needs surgery, missy?" She asks, turning to her daughter.

"Noah kicked him and he's hurt." Hannah explains, completely convinced this the best thing they could do to help the animal. "We're gonna fix him up just like you do to people."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, honey."

"Why not?"

Because Hannah's imagination is fertile, but very dangerous sometimes. But before she can reply, she little girl stands up, holding the cat and walks over at her mother.

"I wanna be just like you, mama. And he's hurt. Look."

April stares down at the cat, who seems obviously fine. Shaking her head and laughing, she takes it from Hannah's arms and gives in to the children's fantasy. Play pretend can be fun if they don't end up killing the animal after all. "Alright, but first we need to check him up to see if he's got wounds." She says, kneeling down next to her son. No, she isn't going to open the cat, but she can definitely entertain them. "The first thing we do when we get a patient is…"

"The ABCs?"

She looks at Hannah, surprised. Proud of her own child, April smiles, amazed with the way Hannah observes and learns things, remembering their conversation the other day. "Yes, honey… the ABCs." She goes on, with all four attentive children watching her carefully as she starts taking care of the cat. "We need to keep the patient alive, or the cat in this case, so…"

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Requested by everythingkepner