Note to myboygeorge: This one is for you, and I think you know why ;)

Note to everybody else: Get ready to laugh :D

Kate's Point of View

Despite LJ's hardheadedness, she was out cold before she could even get to five and once the paramedics got her secured in the ambulance, I drove behind in my police cruiser. I used my badge to get into the Emergency Room, but I became too much of an anxious mama, so I was banished to the corridor and told to go to the waiting room. On my way there, I checked my phone on a whim and saw that I had three new texts.

The first one was from Jenny: Just talked to Holly and gave her your number. She'll be around sometime in the evening. Be on the lookout for Holly Prince-Corbeau.

I sent her a reply and opened the next one, and it was from Alexis: Dad just told us about LJ. We're coming ASAP. See you soon.

The last text came from Castle: We're in the waiting room in the children's ward because LJ is being brought here later. Alexis just came with Toby and Abby. Where are you?

I replied quickly: I'm down by the ER. See you in a bit.

I put away my phone and boarded the elevator, hitting the button that would take me up to the children's ward. When I was shown to the waiting room, I was immediately greeted by Jameson.

"Hey, sport!" I picked him up and gave him a kiss. "How are you doing?"

He looked at me with wide eyes. "Illy in hops'al! No like!"

"She got hurt."

"Sad." He paused, thinking. "Hug? Kissies?"

"When she's feeling better, I promise."

Jameson didn't have anything against that, so he snuggled closer to me when I sat down in a chair next to Castle. I greeted my husband with a quick kiss and when I saw he was holding the twins, I took them in my lap, too.

"Is it hard to hold all three of them at once?" Alexis asked, rubbing her baby bump. "Holding three small kids is definitely something that I'm going to have to get used to in six months."

"It's hard at first, but you get used to it." I looked around. "No Ashley?"

She shook her head. "He got tied up with work and is with Melissa and Flora, doing a wedding in Tribeca."

She seemed sad that her husband couldn't here right now, so she moved across the room to where Toby and Abby were ogling at the clownfish in the nearby fish tank before I could say anything, so I turned to my own husband.

"The last I saw of LJ, she was in the ER."

"Did they kick you out, or something?"

"I was in 'hysterical mama' mode."

"I don't blame you, Kate; no parent is of sound mind when one of their kids is hurt."

I winced as a sudden childhood memory came rushing back. "Rick, when I was LJ's age, I broke my wrist after a fall off a jungle gym. My wrist got so swelled up that they had to keep me in the hospital overnight."

"To wait for the swelling to go down?"

"Exactly. I don't remember everything that happened, but now I'm wondering…" my voice trailed off.

"What if that happens now?" he supplied.

"Yes. What will we do?"

"We'll wait on Lily nonstop and hold her when she cries because even though she'll be on pain meds, I'm sure she's going to be miserable."

A new thought suddenly occurred to me. "What does Lily do when she's feverish?"

"She talks nonsense because the fever makes her hallucinate. Sometimes she sleepwalks."

I raised my eyebrows at him because he was clearly remembering the last time LJ had been sick and was laughing a little.

"And what does she do when just about any kind of medicine is in her system?"

The smile slid off his face. "The same thing… oh, God…"

"We're in for a crazy ride, Kitten…"

Castle just shook his head and resigned himself to thumbing through a parenting magazine because he didn't have anything else to do. We were eventually joined by Martha, Serenity, Amaya, and even dad and baby Keiko. It was close to an hour before we got any news, but I was happy when the Doctor Morgan came to the waiting room to update us, but I became concerned when she pulled Castle and I to the side, away from the others.

"LJ's arm is too swollen right now to even see where the trauma is, so her arm is in a sling right now. We need to keep her overnight."

A knot of dread formed in the pit of my stomach. "Does she want us?"

"She was not in the best of moods when I left, but I'm sure she'd love to see her parents. I'll show you the way, but I strongly advise that just the two of you come for a visit right now."

"Is she really that upset?"

"I'm afraid so, Mrs Castle."

I glanced back at the others and back at the Doctor Morgan. "What about them? What about my other kids?"

"Except for Doctor Beckett, they all have to come back at six when visiting hours begin."

Castle and I nodded in understanding and quickly sorted things out. Alexis happily volunteered to camp out at the loft to keep an eye on Jameson and the twins so that Castle and I could both stay with LJ, and Martha and Serenity immediately said that they'd tag along to help out.

Doctor Morgan showed us to LJ's room and then left us to our own devices. LJ was by herself, propped up in her bed with lots of pillows. She was out of her school uniform and in a hospital gown. Her left arm was in the sling and she looked like she had been crying.

"Hey, Baby Bird." I greeted her as we came over to her bed. "Daddy and I are here now. Is it okay if we sit?"

She nodded but started crying. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"For what? Auntie Jenny told us what happened, and it wasn't your fault. We believe you?"

"None of what happened was your fault." Castle reiterated.

"It kinda is, though. I gotta tell the truth."

"We're listening."

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I challenged Dallas on the table 'cause I remembered something mommy said once."

Castle and I exchanged nervous looks because LJ has to be in a very dark place to mention Meredith.

"What did she say?"

"That you hafta face your bullies, no matter what."

"Why did she tell you that?" Castle asked. "When did she tell you that?"

Surprisingly, LJ remembered. "She tolded me after this guy came to visit us in California."

"Did this guy do something?"

"He hit mommy when they were fighting, and after that, mommy had lots of bruises and tolded me that the babies were in her tummy. We cuddled in her bed and she said to always face your bullies. What?"

Castle and I had both gone very quiet, mostly because from what we had gathered when we first met LJ, she'd been slightly abused and couldn't stand to be in the same room with Meredith. What LJ was telling us now sounded like the only good memory she has of her bio-mother.

"Nothing, Lily Joy." I soothed. "We're glad you told us."

(Beside me, Castle was nodding in agreement)

"That's good 'cause I'm super hungry! I lefted my lunchbox at home 'cause Jamie spilled his orange juice on me!" She burst into frustrated tears. "The doctors didn't give me the kind of medicine that makes goofy yet 'cause it'll make me sleepy, so they gave me something else, but it keeps making me cry! I don't wanna be sleepy or cry 'cause I'm starving!"

Castle was immediately on his feet. "Okay, Lily—I'll go get you something from the cafeteria. Does a burger with fries and a milkshake sound good?"

"Please can it be a chocolate milkshake?"

"Of course!" he kissed LJ on the top of her head and headed towards the door. "I'll be right back!"

When he was gone, I sat next to LJ, careful not to jostle her injury and when she made herself comfortable, she leaned against me and asked if we could watch cartoons for awhile.

That's exactly what we did.

Several hours later, 7:15 PM

We got LJ to sleep again after she ate because she was put on the correct medication. She slept, but we knew the painkillers were making her goofy because she woke up twice during her nap, both times talking in her sleep about having to direct a little choir of magical camel fairy babies. Under the full effect of the painkillers, she complained about not being able to order enough choir stands from her catalog because she'd misplaced it.

(The funny thing about LJ's hallucinations is that she'll have full conversations and not remember anything later)

The first time she told us about her lack of music stands, I suggested that she look inside a hollow log since she had informed us that she was in a sunny meadow, and the second time, Castle played along and 'found' her music equipment catalog and handed it to her. This gesture satisfied LJ and she fell asleep again, conveniently waking up when visiting hours began.

LJ received many visitors, but the most surprising were Caitlan and Kai. We were surprised to see them, but Caitlan—who is now fourteen weeks pregnant with twins—told us that she'd heard about what happened from Madison, who'd heard it from Jenny and apparently, Kai had been nearby and insisted that they bring LJ a present to cheer her up.

LJ was extremely flattered by the idea and let him come up on her bed as long as he promised to be careful. Kai promised, and you could tell from the his constant giggles and turning red that the three-year-old was enamored with LJ, even though she's two years older than him.

"I gotted a present for you, LJ!" he showed her a gift bag he'd brought with him. "Wanna open it?"

"How about you hold the bag still since I only have one good arm?"

"Okay! I do that!"

Kai held it still while LJ reached in and retrieved a fluffy stuffed camel toy, neon purple in color.

"Oooo! He's so cute and cuddly, Kai!" LJ squealed, giving her new toy a one-armed squeeze. "What's his name?"

"Your stufficamel's name Humphrey."

"What's a stufficamel?"

Kai held up his own stuffed camel. "It mean 'stuffed camel' in German."

LJ was impressed by this. "Wow, that's really cool!"

Kai giggled but gave a huge yawn at the same time. "I sleepy LJ…"

Caitlan got up from her chair and approached the bed. "And now it's time for you to say goodbye, little man. We need to go home and get you ready for bed!"

The little boy was too sleepy to argue and looked over at LJ. "Please to have a kiss?"

"Come closer, silly! I can't reach you all the way over there!"
Kai crawled over and giggled again when LJ gave him a peck on the cheek. (He also turned bright red) When he was leaving with his mother, LJ called after him.

"Thanks for the camel, Kai!"

Much to LJ's dismay, her medication started to wear off after their visit and her doctor increased the dosage, meaning that she got extremely goofy from her medicine again. It also meant that she was hallucinating about her camel fairy babies again, except that this time, they all had names. (Keep in mind that LJ was fully awake but under the influence of strong painkillers) Along with Humphrey the neon purple camel, there was also Christina, Gretchen, Beyoncé, Idina, Melanie, Rivers, Brian and Steven.

Castle humored LJ again and I started to, but I received a text from an unfamiliar number: Mrs Castle, this is Holly Prince-Corbeau, LJ's reading teacher from school. I've been tied up all day with lesson prep and family things all day, but I'm done and in the main hospital lobby. Where is LJ's room?

I composed a quick text and set my phone down. Castle noticed.

"Did you just get a text?"

"Yeah. It was from LJ's reading teacher, Holly Prince-Corbeau. She promised LJ earlier that she'd come for a visit and she's on her way up right now."

"This will be interesting, seeing as our daughter is fully ensconced in her own version of Alice In Wonderland..."

Holly found the room about five minutes later, and besides her purse, we saw that she was carrying a gift bag.

"I hope it's okay that I brought her a little something." She said nervously. "You heard about what happened with LJ's crayons, right?"

I nodded. "We did."

"Well, her homeroom teacher and I recovered them, but I got her some new crayons and an activity book. I know she's only got one good arm, but—"

"It's okay, Holly." I said gently. "LJ will love it."

I'd heard once from Jenny that a few of her colleagues are big Nikki Heat fans, and that Holly is one of them, so it must've really tripped her up, being in the same room as the inspiration for the character, as well as the character's creator. Holly eased up at my reassurance, and that's when LJ saw her.

"Miss Holly, Miss Holly! You came to see me!"

She sat next to LJ, smiling. "That's right, but I'm sorry it took so long."

LJ shrugged. "Teachers are busy people, just like detectives. My mama is a police captain at her precinct, you know."

"Yeah, I do, and I understand because my mama was a veterinarian. She's retired now, but she was always really busy and travelled a lot."

"Before I met Katie, my mommy travelled lots." LJ was thoughtful. "She tooked me to Hawaii one time and we saw volcanoes. Ever been to Hawaii?"

"When I got married, my husband and I had our honeymoon in Hawaii."

"Miss Holly, what's a vet'narian?"

"A doctor who takes care of sick animals."

"Miss Holly, how many brothers do you have? I have two. What's your daddy's job?"

"I have one brother named Elijah. My papa's name was Oleksandr, and his parents were from the Ukraine, in Europe."

"I think my mama's mama was from some place like that. Is your papa still around?"

"No, I'm afraid. He was a firefighter, but he passed away."

LJ offered her sympathy, despite her state of mind. "Sorry about that…"

Holly smiled. "It's okay, sweetie, but guess what?"

My daughter perked up at this and was delighted to receive a new box of twelve sparkle crayons and a jumbo activity book. We watched as she and Holly colored a picture together and LJ was one hundred percent gone by this time because the painkillers were making her goofier than ever. Holly humored her.

"LJ, can you tell me a story about Humphrey?"

"Me and him were leading a choir of magical camel fairy babies. Please pass the brown crayon."

Holly obliged and continued coloring. "Do the camel fairy babies have names?"

"Christina, Gretchen, Beyoncé, Idina, Melanie, Rivers, Brian and Steven. They're practicing Edelweiss, from The Sound of Music, but they're not now."

"Why's that?"

"They're having a camel roller derby."

"What's a camel roller derby?"

"It's when you put your little camels inside a plastic ball and roll 'em all down a hill. Whoever comes in first wins. There's no second place or third place."

"Who oversees the derby?"

"Holly the Fairy Lady. She looks just like you."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh." LJ set her crayon down while Holly lined up the rest of them on the bed tray. "The picture's all done!"

(It was a generic picture of a coral reef)

"I like pretty fish scenes like this, LJ. Do you?"

"Yep!"

Holly glanced at her watch to see what time it was. "I have to go home to my family now, but I'll see you back at school in a few days!"

LJ gave her a one-armed hug. "Okay, Miss Holly! I'm so happy that you came!"

Holly returned the hug and got to her feet. "And by the way, Dallas and Rio are still moving to California, but I know they definitely got in trouble."

LJ breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

Her teacher left, but less than five minutes later, Alexis called Castle and asked him to come home because she was exhausted from watching her siblings all day (even though she'd had help) and was ready to crash in her old room. Castle promised her that he'd be right there and then hung up and got ready to go. LJ pouted about his departure but quickly got over it when I told her that I was going to stay with her and take tomorrow off so I could be with her as long as she needed to stay in the hospital.

"Mama," she said at one point as we looked through a picture book from a nearby bookshelf. "I had an ultra bad day today, but it's getting better."
I pulled her close to me and she snuggled up instinctively.

"I'm so glad to hear that, Lily Joy. I'm so glad."