Hi Everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update! I've been going back and forth between this story and the prequel "You're My Home" that I'm writing with my friend HAS5245. We actually have news about the "You're my Home" book! It is going to move over to our profile "station19lovers". We encourage you to check in out when we repost it! The Home Team will stay on this account! As always please, please review and follow. I want to hear all of your wonderful opinions!
-D.H. Caldwell
"Hi baby girl", Andy smiled as she brushed Amelia's hair out of her eyes. "Thank you, you guys, for keeping her safe", she whispered, as she looked up at the ceiling.
"How's my brave little princess?" Jack asked as Amelia looked up at them with eyes wide in fear when she realized where she was.
"When's siguree?" she asked, still unsure of how to pronounce the word. Andy laughed as she combed her fingers through Amelia's hair, thankful that her little girl was awake. Amelia was groggy and tired, but otherwise alright. That was the only thing that mattered in that moment.
"You already had it sweetheart, you're all done. No more", Jack answered. "And you were super brave"
"Like Mommy and Daddy", Amelia smiled sleepily "Can I have cuddles now? Please?", she asked, only for Andy to smile sadly, knowing she had to deny such a small request. Andy noticed tears forming in Amelia's eyes, the little girl looking between both parents in frustration. Andy felt like her heart was in a million pieces on the ground.
"I wish we could baby, but the doctor said we can't. Daddy and I don't want to hurt you", Andy answered truthfully. "But we'll stay right next to you. Promise.", she smiled, sadly as she turned to Jack. He looked just as angry as she did, hating seeing Lia so sad.
"Andy, this is killing me. Look at her, she looks terrified to even be here", he expressed angrily. Hannigan didn't know shit. "Screw it, we're going to lay with our little girl if we want to lay with her. Screw what Hannigan says", he muttered, frustratedly, sending a quick text to Maya in the process. "Lia's awake. Bring the boys up"
Miranda walked in right as both of them were poised to climb in next to Amelia. "I was walking up here to see how we were doing, and I heard someone talking. How are we feeling Lia?"
"Not good", Amelia answered, wincing as she tried to move over.
"I wouldn't try that yet. You're going to be in pain for a little while sweetheart, but we can give you medicine to help with that", Miranda explained. Amelia looked at her in confusion. Medicine meant nothing to her. All she wanted was for one or both parents to lay with her. Being in such a big place surrounded by all the different machines and strange people scared the living daylights out of her.
Amelia finally got up the courage to ask the question that she wanted answered since she woke up. "Why can't I have cuddles Aunt Bailey?", she asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. That question broke both Andy and Jack. They wanted nothing more than to be able to climb into the bed and hold her. Andy smiled sadly, holding back tears as she combed through Amelia's hair with her fingers again and kissed her forehead. Jack couldn't take any more of seeing Amelia upset, and decided to confront Miranda herself instead of the intern.
"Yeah, any idea why?" he asked as he looked over at Miranda. "Miranda, you know we love you, but why did Hannigan tell us that you would recommend that we don't give Amelia cuddles?"
"He did what now?" Miranda asked. "As long as she's not in pain, you guys can lay with her for as long as you want. Kids on the Peds floor need their parents"
"So, it's fine?" Andy asked as Miranda smiled.
"Yes, it's fine. When I get my hands on Hannigan he's going to be in a world of trouble", Miranda answered, secretly planning out what she was going to say to Hannigan when she saw him. Miranda was checking Amelia's blood pressure and lungs when Helm and Hannigan came running in.
"When I tell you to page me when she wakes up, you page me Hannigan. How long has she been awake?" Helm asked, standing next to Miranda. Miranda updated her on Amelia's vitals and assured her that it had only been around five minutes. Helm listened patiently to all of Miranda's updates, all the while glaring at Hannigan, making it known just how upset she was.
"Look, I didn't know she was awake. I was going to come back in thirty minutes to handle her post-op, I thought the anesthesia would take a while to wear off", Hannigan excused, defending himself. He looked flustered when Miranda turned to him, glaring. He wondered how she could stare at someone and not even blink; he was getting the signature Bailey death glare that all the residents, attendings, department heads and the like talked about.
"Do I look happy to you?" Miranda asked as Hannigan thought long and hard. "You're taking too long, so I'll tell you. My answer is no, I am not happy with you. I am not happy with you because you told my VIP patient's family that they couldn't lay with their little girl, a three-year-old little girl with a very big fear of hospitals.", Miranda seethed, turning to Helm, giving her the same glare. "And you, you put him on this case knowing the history he had with the family?", she asked.
"I didn't know he had history. Someone casually forgot to mention that", she defended herself as she turned to Hannigan. Hannigan looked like he wanted to disappear into the wall. How could he have screwed this up? Helm snapped him out of his thoughts and shame by pointing at the open door. "Get out of the room Hannigan, you're off the case", Helm scolded
Hannigan slunk back towards the door, turning around to make one last push at the last minute to stay on the case. Why should he get kicked off, it wasn't like he killed the patient? "What? Amelia Gibson is my patient. You can't kick me off the case", he argued, smug smile and all.
Helm smirked before waving him out the door. "Oh, but I can, because I'm the attending and you're the intern. You're on scut, now get out of my face and go to the pit. Hopefully you can't screw anything else up there", Helm added as Hannigan threw his hands in the air and left the room.
"I'm so sorry about that. You guys do whatever it takes to make little Lia feel comfortable here", Helm smiled, fist bumping Amelia before she left the room. "I'll be back to round on her later", she assured both parents on her way out the door. Right as Helm was leaving, Maya walked back in with the boys, everyone's lunch, and a brightly colored pink and neon green duffel bag with 'AJHG' embroidered into the front pocket, slung over her shoulder.
"LIA!" Rowan and DJ screamed at the same time as they ran over to her and stood at the edge of her bed.
"I brought you Mommy's tulips. I picked them myself and the lady downstairs gave me a super cool vase" DJ explained as he showed Amelia the vase of brightly colored tulips sitting on her side table with a hand drawn card in the cardholder.
"And I brought your favorite doll from home", Rowan answered as Maya handed him the duffel bag. He opened it and pulled out one of Amelia's baby dolls, the one with the marker lines on its face and melted toes and fingers that Andy had managed to salvage from Jenna's house. Amelia thanked Rowan a million times over as he pulled out two of her favorite dresses for her doll and a pair of pajamas for the doll. "I know which ones you always play with, so I found them for you" he grinned as DJ chimed in not letting Rowan steal the show.
"I missed you the most Lia. Even more than Rowan" DJ expressed, wanting to one up his brother.
"No way, I missed you more than DJ", Rowan added as they went to go hug her, only to be stopped by Andy.
"Be gentle please" Andy reminded them both as Rowan and DJ hugged Amelia as gently as they could and kissed either cheek, causing her to giggle.
"Thank you, Rowan. Thank you, DJ", Amelia thanked, eyeing the pink and purple colored card embedded in the tulips. Maya, seeing that she was looking at the card, handed it to her before sitting down to the edge of her bed.
"You know your Aunt Maya doesn't do the cutsy talk like Mommy and Daddy, so tell me the truth, how are you feeling?" Maya asked. Amelia tapped her chin, thinking long and hard about her answer.
"Crummy", Amelia answered as Maya looked at both parents
Maya couldn't hep but laugh. That was a new word for Amelia. "I've never heard her say that before. Who taught her that?"
Andy laughed as she pointed to Jack. "Don't look at me. Look at him. She's been saying it since I got here", she stated as Jack chuckled
"That's my creation. We have crummy and the crummiest, so if she's feeling crummy, she's feeling a little better. And that deserves a special new toy to play with while you're here", he smiled as he pulled a Playdoh OR set out of a bag and put it on the table. Amelia's little eyes lit up as she reached her little hands out for the box. "Amelia Joy, don't try to sit up yet. Do you want to look at the box?" he asked as Amelia nodded. "Magic word?"
"Please?" Amelia asked as he handed her the box. The last thing he needed was her sitting up and crying in pain.
Maya looked at him in confusion, "She can't read yet, what's she going to do with the box?"
"Look at the pictures. And yes, she can read. A few words. Not many, but a few", Andy chimed in as Rowan ran over to get his new drone. He raced back to the bed and held it out to show her.
"Look at this Lia! Now I can take pictures of the treehouse and all of us together", Rowan smiled as she eyed the box with three-year-old curiosity.
"That is Rowan's toy Lia Mia, you're still wayyy too young for that". Andy reminded her, knowing what was coming next. Amelia simply shrugged her shoulders and went back to looking at her playdoh box.
"No thanks. I'll play with playdoh", Amelia smiled as both boys sat on either side of her.
"Well that was easy enough", Andy whispered to Jack as he put an arm around her and watched the boys talk to Amelia.
"Can we play with you?" DJ asked as Rowan took the box and started taking the pieces out.
"Yeah can we?" Rowan asked as Andy stopped them. "Oh, come on Mom, why not?" Rowan asked with impatience as Jack gave him a look.
"I want her to rest for a little while. Maybe tomorrow", Andy answered much to the boys' disappointment.
Amelia looked at her brothers sadly. She wanted to play too with them and wondered why she couldn't. It wasn't like she was tired or anything. She was wide awake and wanted to spend time with them. She looked at Jack, knowing that once she looked at him with the sad eyes, that he would give up and agree, as he was prone to doing. "Please Daddy?" she asked as Jack looked over at Andy for help, knowing full well that Amelia was playing him.
"No Amelia. Honey, you just woke up and Mommy wants you to rest before you do anything. Tell, you what, you and I can open this later tonight", Jack answered standing firm as Andy nodded in approval. He could say no to whatever he wanted at work, but he found it very difficult when it came to his three-year-old little girl giving him the 'please' look. "This must be so scary for her" he thought to himself as he ran his fingers through his hair and silently reminded himself to stand firm. He shook his head at Amelia as she pouted, more out of confusion than anything. She had never been denied an opportunity to play with her brothers before.
"Mommy said I gots to sleep too? Why?" Amelia asked
"Yeah, why?" DJ chimed in as Andy shushed him. Somewhere during the conversation with Amelia, the boys had gone to sit over by Andy and silently ate their lunch as Andy talked with Maya.
"Finish your lunch DJ", Andy reminded him as she glanced over at the boys. DJ shrugged and went back to enjoying his sandwich.
"Because, Mommy and I want you to get better. And you need a lot of sleep to get better Lia. Do you want to be able to go swimming at Aunt Maya's wedding party?" he asked as Amelia gave him her full attention the minute he mentioned the word 'swimming'.
There were three things that Amelia loved. Her family, her toys, and swimming. Jack knew that even a mention of the pool would get her to forget all about playing and go to sleep. He was correct. "I do! I'll go to sleep right now", she answered as she closed her eyes.
"Are we still going to watch the fireworks on Uncle Jackson's boat? After Aunt Maya's party?" Rowan asked as Jack chuckled and walked over to him and DJ.
"How did you guys guess?" he asked, standing in front of the boys.
"Mommy said we would!", DJ answered as Andy leaned over to him.
"What happened to "I won't tell Daddy, you told us?" she asked as DJ shrugged his shoulders. Maya reached over and messed up his hair.
"Actually, your Aunt Carina and I are coming with you guys" Maya answered much to Rowan and DJ's delight. She had all three kids wrapped around her finger after giving Amelia ice cream for breakfast and showing them the Deadpool movie. It had been almost a month since they watched it and they still bugged Andy to watch it again with her vehemently refusing each time. "Is that okay with you guys?" Maya asked
"You bet! Aunt Maya's coming Mommy!" DJ yelled, unaware of his volume as Andy shushed him.
"No yelling in the hospital DJ, use your indoor voice", she reminded him as he immediately lowered his voice. Andy looked over at Jack and mouthed "Tell them" with a large smile crossing her face. She was excited to see the boys' reaction to the vacation that Andy and Jack had spent a week planning out.
"About what?" he asked
"About our trip", Andy smiled, talking just loudly enough for the boys to hopefully catch onto the conversation. Neither Rowan or DJ were interested and were instead focused on talking to each other about the summer camp they were going to in two weeks.
"Right, you know, since everyone's here, maybe I'll tell everyone about the super exciting news now", Jack announced loudly, immediately catching the boys' attention. "Oh, so now you guys are interested", he chuckled as Andy smiled at him. "Here's the news, we're going on our very first family vacation", Jack revealed as the boys ran over and hugged him. Andy took a picture of their reaction, the excitement and smiles that filled both of their faces were worth the multiple calls to the travel agent and the arguments both parents had gotten into about whether to take a plane or an RV.
"Where are we going?" Rowan asked, immediately thinking of all the interesting places they could go. He crossed his fingers next to him, hoping they were going somewhere exciting and different like Disneyland or San Francisco. However, to him any vacation was sure to be interesting as neither of the Gibson kids been on one before.
DJ recalled a homework assignment he had done before summer started where Mrs. Rogers had asked the class to draw a picture a place they hoped to go during the summer. He secretly hoped they were going to New York City to see the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum or Universal in Florida to see the Fear Factor exhibit. Those were shows he got into on YouTube that displayed all sorts of things that you would have to see to believe and strange dares respectively. "Yeah Dad, where are we going?" DJ finally asked, echoing Rowan's question.
Before anyone could answer, Amelia yawned and turned to Maya, "What's vacashun?" she asked as Maya chuckled.
"Vacation Lia", she corrected. "It's when you guys go someplace super fun and Aunt Maya finds someone to cover two weeks of Mommy and Daddy's shifts" she answered as Andy looked at her unamused by the explanation. Maya was still chuckling when she looked at Andy's face. She stopped as Andy arched her eyebrows at her in warning.
"Aunt Maya's partially right, vacation is when we all go someplace really fun all together, and we spend the week doing fun activities as a family" Andy smiled as she watched the boys pester Jack to tell them where they were going.
Rowan groaned, ready to hear where they were going, "Come on Dad, tell us already".
Jack laughed, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. We're going to Coney Island. In New York"
"Never heard of it. What is that?", Rowan asked
Jack chuckled and messed up Rowans hair. "It's an island next to New York City" he smiled as Rowan sighed, wondering what interesting things could possibly be on an island off one of the biggest cities in the country. "Don't act like you won't love it Ro. It's one big carnival with a ton of rides and games to play. There's even a beach there and a boardwalk, and an arcade. You guys will absolutely love it" Jack assured. "We'll even visit New York too"
Rowan's eyes lit up when Jack listed all of the wonderful things to do at Coney Island. This vacation was going to be better than he thought. "I've never been to a carnival before", Rowan smiled, just thinking about what it would be like.
"Hey Dad, if we're going to New York, can we go to the Ripley's museum? I heard they have a whole preserved decapitated human head", DJ questioned as Andy and Jack exchanged looks.
"I don't think so little man, Amelia's way too young for that. Wait, I thought I told you that you couldn't watch Fear Factor reruns anymore?" Andy questioned arching an eyebrow.
DJ simply shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Ugh, Mommy, it's not called Fear Factor, its Ripley's Believe it or Not and they have museums everywhere. And Daddy said I could watch Fear Factor if I cleaned my room"
"Did he now?" Andy asked as she glared at Jack. Jack chuckled nervously as shrugged his shoulders.
"It was a reward, relax Andy. And I filtered out the dangerous episodes and kept just the weird", Jack assured her as she shook her head and sighed.
"When's vacashun? Are we going now?" Amelia asked, sleepily as Jack kissed her on the forehead.
"No Lia bug, we're going when you're all better", he smiled as she looked at him seriously
"But I'm all better now", Amelia answered impatiently, as Jack laughed and smirked at Andy. "Hey, I'm better", Amelia stated even louder, thinking that no one heard her. To try and prove herself, she moved over, wincing as she did. Andy smirked at Maya as she put her arm in front of Amelia to stop her. Amelia had an uncanny resemblance to Maya whenever she tried to get out of being sick, with even the serious expression to match.
"She looks like you trying to embrace the pain", Andy laughed as Maya rolled her eyes.
"Because she knows what will get her ahead in life", Maya chuckled, only for Jack to interrupt them
"Getting ahead in life? Maya, she's only three", Jack chuckled as Amelia tried to move again towards the edge of the bed, determined to prove that she was fine. Andy stopped her before she could go any further. Maya was sitting there trying not to laugh, watching the little exchange play out between Amelia, Andy, and Jack. Andy scolded Amelia for moving, only for the little girl to bury herself in her pillows and crossed her arms, letting out a long yawn as she did so. "What the hell are you teaching my kid? She looks like she's going to go full Bishop Monster on us", Jack chuckled as Maya leaned over and smacked him with one of the homemade, 'Get Well', cards stacked on Amelia's table.
Andy shuddered at the comparison of Amelia to Maya, she may have the hair, but the personality definitely wasn't a match. "Stop it, Lia's not a Bishop. She's a true Herrera, trying to get out of being sick just like her Mommy does", Andy chuckled while looking over at Amelia who by now could barely keep her eyes open with the pain meds kicking in. Andy and Jack silently hoped that she would at least stay awake long enough to see Marsha. They were relieved when they heard a knock at the door, less than a minute later, and saw Marsha standing there with a new stuffed monkey and a handful of balloons.
"Can I come in?", Marsha asked as Andy and Jack motioned for her to walk right in, putting a finger to their lips. Marsha walked in the room, eyes wide with worry, when she saw Amelia. "How's my little trooper?" she whispered as both boys went up to hug her.
"Hanging in there. She's already tried to con us into leaving the hospital", Andy explained, letting out a small laugh, as she tucked back a few loose strands of Amelia's hair with two stray clips she found at the bottom of her purse or the "Abyss", as Jack called it. When they were dating, Andy carried around a simple crossbody with a simple eyeshadow palette and her wallet, not one for taking any extras. However, three kids changed her habits, and now she didn't leave the house without her mammoth Fossil bag slung over her shoulder. Andy now carried everything in there from Crayons to a brush, and even extra earbuds. Jack nicknamed it the "Abyss" because he was pretty sure if he asked for a full meal, she would have it in there. Andy noticed him smirking at her as she fastened the last clip to Amelia's hair.
"You got a full hair salon in there?" he asked, chuckling.
Andy shook her head and fake smiled back at him, "You're funny. No, just a few stray clips that she had in her cubby at school last week. Amelia, stay awake for a few more minutes so I can do this". When she was done, she stepped back to admire her work. It wasn't her best, but it was the best she could do with Amelia half asleep in her arms. Andy let Amelia fall back onto her pillow when she was done and turned back to Marsha. "Yeah, no, Amelia's been Amelia, which is surprising after the scare they had in the OR with her….", Andy explained, only for Marsha to cut her off, ever the worried Gigi.
"A scare in the OR? Oh my, is she alright?" Marsha asked nervously before glaring at Jack. Jack groaned, knowing what was coming next. Marsha had a habit of acting more like his mother, even if they weren't actually related. There were times where he felt like she forgot he and Andy were responsible adults with lives of their own. "And nobody bothered to call Gigi, did they? Did they Jack Gibson?" she scolded. Jack looked over at the boys, expecting them to be laughing at their father being in position where they so often found themselves. He was secretly relieved when he spotted them completely distracted by whatever game they were playing on his phone. "Oh, don't you ignore me young man", Marsha continued.
Jack closed his eyes and exhaled thinking of an answer that wouldn't give off any sort of edge. "I'm sorry Marsh. We just found out ourselves and then she woke up. We meant to tell you. Honest", he explained. Marsha arched an eyebrow at him, not buying his explanation. "Seriously she's fine. The only thing we have to do is make sure she takes her antibiotics for a week and a half. That's it", he assured as he leaned forward and ran his hands down his face.
"Alright….as long as you're sure that's the only thing", Marsha answered, letting the subject go and turning to Amelia. "How is the little princess?" she asked as she bent down and kissed Lia on the cheek.
"Tired", Amelia answered, yawning, as she looked up at Andy with her brown eyes opening and closing. "Can I have cuddles Mommy?", she asked tiredly as Andy climbed in next to her and held her close.
"Yes, baby girl, but only if you go to sleep", Andy answered, kissing her on the head. Cuddled close to Andy, and enveloped by her mother's arms, Amelia let out a final yawn before letting her eyes close, falling fast asleep against the hum of the familiar 'Goodnight Song' sung to her every night without fail. After discovering that Amelia was asleep and needing something to do, Andy started to get up to unpack Amelia's things until Maya stopped her. "I could have done that you know", she stated as Maya unzipped the bag and hung the two PJ shirts in the closet.
Maya nodded as she neatly folded the shorts on a shelf below the shirts, before spinning around to face Andy. She had a knowing look spread across her face. "I know you could have, but with all due respect, it's not my kid that's in the hospital after getting off a red eye flight. Rest with her, I've got it. That's an order captain", Maya chuckled.
"Thank you", Andy exhaled, yawning herself. She didn't have the energy to argue about Maya's willingness to move about the room, doing a job that Andy could have easily done. Maya was right, Andy was exhausted. "I don't know what I would do without you Maya", she smiled, trying to find a comfortable spot in the pillows. Even sick, Amelia still managed to take over 95% of the bed.
Maya chuckled, "Your life would be hell Herrera-Gibson"
Marsha, who had been sitting on the very end of Amelia's bed, looked over uneasily at Jack. Jack was sitting in the chair, tapping his fingers against the side table and bouncing his knee up and down while polishing off what she figured was his fifth coffee of the day. He set the empty cup on the side table and ran his fingers through his hair before Marsha broke him out of whatever thoughts were racing through his mind. "For Pete's sake Jack, you're making me anxious just looking at you", Marsha criticized with concern as she looked at his moderately disheveled appearance, having raced out of the house in the same sweats and Nickelback t-shirt he had worn to bed. "And you look awful, no offense", she added.
"Marsha, stop. I'm fine", Jack huffed, face still hidden by his hands. Marsha's skeptical gaze was fixed on him as he tried, unsuccessfully to persuade her that he was fine. She let out an even "uh-huh", in disbelief as he stood up from the chair. "See, I'm fine" he expressed as Marsha shook her head in disbelief. Marsha turned to Andy, gesturing to Jack with her eyes and mouthing "Can you help me out here?". Marsha figured that if she couldn't convince him to go home, his wife could. Andy could convince him to do most anything, just by looking at him half the time.
Andy sighed nodding at Marsha and turned face Jack, touching the back of his hand and tracing a vein. "Jack, go home, for me. Go take a shower or jump in the pool. You've been filling up on caffeine all morning and I hate to say this, but you smell like puke", she urged gently. "I love you, and I love that you want to stay here, but you need to go home", she added, assuring him that she and Marsha would be just fine with Lia. He stared into her eyes as she wrapped her fingers around his hand. They weren't doubting or angry but concerned as she always was when he did things like this. She reached over and slid her hand down his cheek, bringing her forehead to his. She reminded him yet again to go home with the boys before kissing him softly on the lips.
Before Jack could even make a decision, Rowan brought the two out of their momentary bliss, being the first to speak up. Andy chuckled quietly as she pulled away from the kiss and looked over her shoulder. Rowan had taken his earbuds out and was now wrapping them around the phone, as if he was getting ready to get up and leave. "I heard you mention the pool. Can we go home to go swimming? Lia's sleeping and we're bored", he yawned, trying to look convincing. Seeing what his older brother was up to, DJ tried to do the same thing, patting his open mouth with his hand and stretching. Jack, Andy, and even Maya couldn't help but laugh at their little act. Andy looked over at Jack with pleading eyes, silently begging him to choose to go home. It wasn't like he had any other choice; it was four against one after all.
"Oh, come on Gibson, don't make me drag you out of here by your ear. I'm sure the boys would love to see that. Wouldn't you boys?" Maya asked, smirking as the boys nodded eagerly waiting to see it happen. Jack rolled his eyes and glanced over at Andy who shook her head and smirked, offering little to no support. Now it was five against one.
Jack sighed heavily and stood up, grabbing his keys and his worn leather wallet from the side table. He threw his hands in the air in mock defeat as everyone around him smiled. "Alright, alright. You win. Stop looking at me like that. I'm going", he grumbled defeatedly as both boys rushed to his side and hugged him. "Of course, everyone loves Dad when he listens to Mommy"
"Yay! Now we get to go to the pool!" DJ yelled, jumping up and down excitedly. Andy put a finger to her lips and pointed down at Amelia while Jack reminded him to use his indoor voice. "Oops, I forgot", he excused, shrugging his shoulders in typical DJ fashion.
Jack leaned over and kissed Andy and Amelia while DJ and Rowan hugged and kissed Marsha goodbye. "I'll be back later tonight to switch off with you if you want to stay with the boys. I figured why send the boys to Marsha's apartment when one of us could just stay with them", he chuckled as the boys celebrated their win and discussed what games they were going to play in the pool when they got home. He couldn't disappoint them a second time this week. DJ went back over to him and tugged at his t-shirt impatiently while Rowan stood by the door with his foot against the wall, looking down at something on Jack's phone. Jack smiled as DJ tried to hurry him along. "I better go before they stage a coup. I love you both so much", he smiled as he walked towards the door, DJ gripping his hand.
Andy smiled and whispered over to him, "I love you too, we both do. Now, you go rest. We'll be alright here". Out of the corner of her eye, Andy watched Maya stand up while she was talking to Jack. She picked up her pocketbook and her keys as well before walking over to the door, stopping in front of Amelia's bed before she left. "Where are you off too?", Andy asked.
"I'm going to head into the station for a few hours while I can. If you would read the group chat, everyone said they were going to come by after shift tonight. They're all sending well wishes for Amelia", Maya stated as she read the messages off one by one, each message making Andy smile a little brighter. Andy loved the way everyone at the station cared about and was involved in her kids' lives from the start. She nearly cried as she read some of them herself; Good Luck Lia. Prue, Dean, and I love you- Vic, Good Luck Lia. I love you and hope you can play soon-Allison Hunt, We all love you sweet girl, feel better- Teddy. With encouraging texts like this, Andy and Jack truly felt like they had a village behind them, like maybe this parenting thing wasn't that bad after all. "I'll see you guys later", Maya smiled, walking towards Jack.
"Thank you, for everything Maya. Really", Jack answered gratefully as he reached out and hugged her. Normally she would make some snarky comment about how his hugs sucked, but after what happened last night, she figured now was neither the time or place and just went with it.
"Don't mention it Gibson. Her toys are in the closet as are her clothes. I brought her bathrobe and that neon pink blanket she always sleeps with", Maya reminded him as she reached for the door handle. She let go when she remembered the other things she wanted to say before leaving. "Oh, before I forget, Carina and I are home tonight, all night. If you guys want to spend tonight with Lia, and Marsha wants the night to rest, the boys can stay with us", Maya suggested as the boys looked at her with wide eyes, lit up like Christmas lights at the thought of staying with one of their favorite Aunts.
"Are you sure?" Andy asked, sitting up against the wall and arching an eyebrow at her best friend.
Marsha echoed Andy's question, "Are you sure Maya honey? I really don't mind watching the boys for the night"
Maya's lips curled into a wide smile, "I'm sure guys. With all the attention Lia's getting, I'll do something special for them. We can go out for ice cream, go to the Ferris Wheel, eat dinner by the space needle at that cool new restaurant, watch movies" Maya suggested as the boys ran over to Andy, bombarding her with a symphony of "Please Moms".
"Come on Mom, can we please stay with Aunt Maya and Aunt Carina so you and Dad can stay with Lia?" Rowan pleaded as Andy pretended to think about it, causing both boys to groan impatiently. "Pleaaaassssseeee? Please Mommy?"
"We'll be super good and have our listening ears on all the time. And I'll never let my room be messy again", DJ offered, only for Andy to chuckle at the room part. It was a nice offer, but she knew he would never be able to keep that promise. That room would be close to looking like those condemned structures they inspected last week in a matter of days. Andy had to think about it, thinking back to the "Deadpool" viewing and the whistle wakeup that occurred the last time Maya babysat. Also, this would be the first time since they adopted them, that the boys were sleeping somewhere other than home. With one of her kids in the hospital, she wasn't sure how much she wanted the boys away from home. However, Maya had a point about them spending time with Lia tonight, and she hadn't exactly done anything too terrible the last time she watched them. Andy silently weighed all the pros and cons before making her final decision.
"Hmmm, ask your father", Andy smiled as they ran over to Jack. He rolled his eyes and looked at her, mouthing "Thank you", as both boys begged him to say yes. Andy couldn't hold back her laughter as she interrupted the boys' attempt to persuade Jack into letting them stay at Maya's. "Alright, you two can go. Remember your bedtime doesn't change. Remember to say please and thank you. Be on your best behavior. I don't want any bad reports", Andy reminded them as they leaned over the bed to hug her.
"Thank you, Mommy! Oh, you're the bestest Mommy in the whole wide world" DJ yelled as Andy pointed at Amelia and reminded him to quiet down.
"Yeah, thanks Mom", Rowan added, still wanting to sound cool, as he kissed both Andy and Amelia. DJ, being too short settled on blowing them a kiss as Maya started for the door.
"I'll come pick them up after I get out of the station around four on the dot. That way there they can have time to swim and pack", Maya told Jack as both boys ran over to hug her. After hugging both of the, she knelt down to their level and messed up their hair, "Boys, I have to go to work for a little bit right now, but I'll see you guys in a few hours. Okay?"
"We'll see you at four Aunt Maya", Rowan smiled as Maya stood up and walked out the door, waving goodbye to everyone as she went.
After Maya had gone, Jack turned to Andy, "I'm going to head out too honey. Rowan and DJ, are you ready?"
"Yup", Rowan answered
"I'm ready", DJ added
"Alright then, let's hustle out of here. Say goodbye to Mommy and Gigi", Jack smiled as he grabbed hold of DJ's hand. DJ and Rowan waved at Andy and Marsha on their way out the door, with the latter blowing them kisses.