"Meredith, sweetie? Are you ready? We have to pick up Amelia from gymnastics" Carolyn said as she walked to the living room where Meredith was laying down on the couch with her stuffies, having some sort of conversation with them

"I'm ready" Meredith slowly nodded her head and pushed herself into a sitting position, got out of the couch and grabbed her crutches

"Let's go" Carolyn smiled and helped the girl climb into the car and buckled her in, accidentally touching Meredith's hips and the girl quietly winced and looked away. "I'm sorry, honey" Carolyn kissed Meredith's forehead, closed the door and got in herself

Meredith held her stuffed Puppy in her hands as she looked outside of the window. She felt the car slow down and hoped she could stay in the car while waiting for Amelia

"Mer, honey. We need to get inside for a minute, I have to talk to Amelia's teacher" Carolyn got out and helped Meredith out of the car. Carolyn lifted Meredith into her arms despite her back starting to sometimes hurt since Meredith was 8 but luckily she looked as if she was still 5

Meredith clutched Puppy in her arms and buried her head in the crook of Carolyn's neck as they got inside

"Hey guys! Are you here for the young kids' classes?" A young blonde woman walked towards them

"No, we're here to pick up my other daughter" Carolyn replied and felt Meredith grab tighter onto Carolyn's shirt

"Oh okay. She's always welcome to try out as well" The woman smiled

"Thanks for the offer" Carolyn shook the woman off and rubbed Meredith's back softly. The girl was having a very good day so far and yesterday had been okay as well. They even managed to play some board games and ended up swinging in the backyard. Carolyn was hoping the good days would just stay as long as possible

"Mommy! Mer!" Amelia came running towards them with another girl. A girl with light brown hair was bouncing after Amelia and Carolyn couldn't resist to chuckle a bit

"Hi Amy, how was it?" Carolyn asked

"It was so much fun! Mommy, can Ella stay tonight? Please?"

"Mommy!" Ella smiled as she saw her mother walking towards them

"Let's ask Ella's mommy first, Amy" Carolyn brushed her hand over Amelia's head "Mer, would you like that? You three can play the whole evening"

"Yeah" Meredith breathed and was carefully looking at Ella, a small smile formed on her lips

"Mommy! Can I please stay with Amelia tonight?" Ella jumped as she asked her mother

"Please! Pretty pretty please?" Amelia asked Ella's mother

"Does that work out for your mommy?" She asks Amelia before turning to Carolyn, Meredith hiding again

"That definitely works out for us, right Mer?" Carolyn asked to warm up the girl and felt her nod a little bit

"Okay then that's okay for me" The woman smiled "Luckily we packed you clean clothes for after practice" Ella's mom chuckled and kissed the top of the girl's head "Promise me to behave and include Amelia's little sister while playing, okay?"

"Mer isn't younger than me!" Amelia pointed out with a smile "She's 8 too! We're almost 9!"

"Oh- I'm sorry-" Ella's mom looked at Carolyn

"No worries" Carolyn nodded while rubbing Meredith's back

"Mommy, can we go home now?!" Amelia jumped up and down

"Okay girls" Carolyn laughed "Ella, can you say goodbye to your mommy? And while you grab your bags, Ella's mommy and I will switch out phone numbers"

A few hours later the girls were playing in the playroom. Meredith was sitting down on the chair as Amelia and Ella kept running around the room

"Someone who wants to play soccer with us?" The boys asked as they walked into the playroom

"Yes! We wanna play!" Amelia screamed and jumped up "Come on, Mer. Come on, Ella!" She ran around the table, accidentally running into Meredith's chair, causing the girl to bump into the table

"Aww" Meredith quietly winced but Amelia ran off with Ella, too excited to notice what happened

"Mer!" Derek gasped and ran towards her

"It's fine" She quietly muttered "Thank you"

"Do you wanna come outside with us as well? I think you did a good job cheering for us, do you wanna do it again, please?" Derek asked as he really wanted to include her

"Kay" Meredith nodded and Derek grabbed her crutches from the floor, helping her stand up

"Wait-" Mark helped as well

"Thanks Markie" She whispered as the three of them slowly made their way outside

"Come on! Let's start playing!" Amelia started kicking the ball

"Wait a minute, Amy!" Derek yelled as he followed Meredith to the sideline and helped her sit down on the couch "Are you comfortable like this?" He asked as he placed a pillow behind her back

"Yeah" Meredith smiled softly "Thank you, Derek"

"You're welcome. Mark and I will make sure to win but then you need to be the best cheerleader ever!" Derek smiled

"Promise" Meredith nodded her head and giggled slightly

"What's wrong with your sister? Why can't she play soccer?" Ella asked Amelia

"Oh-" Amelia didn't really know how to explain this "She can't walk very good" Amelia shrugged and ran off after Mark who was running with the ball

Ella often started staring at Meredith, which didn't go unnoticed by Carolyn who had brought some snacks to the kids

"Hey monkey, who's winning?" She took a seat next to Meredith

"Markie and Der" She giggled and leaned against Carolyn, she felt herself getting tired "Go Markie!" She yelled as he started running

"You're doing an amazing job at cheering them on, sweetie!" Carolyn smiled

"Goal!" Meredith and Derek screamed

"Thanks to you, Mer!" Mark smiled and ran over to her "Can I hug you?" He carefully asked

Meredith nodded sheepishly and Mark carefully wrapped his arm around her

Meredith smiled as Mark ran back to where they were playing and kept watching the game until she got tired and Carolyn suggested they'd watch a movie in the living room

"Aww" Meredith winced as Carolyn lifted Meredith in her arms and knew this wasn't good. She had a feeling her good day would be turning into a bad one. She made sure Meredith was comfortable on the couch, stuffing the girl up with a pillow and covering her with a blanket while the little girl's stuffed puppy was in her arms

"I'll go get your meds really quick" Carolyn said and ran off. Amelia and Ella almost immediately following and begging for popcorn "Amy, wait 5 more minutes, please" Carolyn sighed as she was preparing Meredith's meds

Carolyn hurried her way back to the living room where she saw the boys had cuddled around Meredith, cautious of not hurting her. Carolyn couldn't resist to smile slightly at the picture in front of her and inserted the meds into Meredith's port when they heard the front door opening, revealing an exhausted Christopher

"Dad!" The boys smiled

"Hey guys!" He smiled at the three kids on the couch before moving over to his wife and kissing her. He then took a seat on the couch

"Mommy! Mommy! Can we have popcorn now? Please?" Amelia ran into the room again

"Hi monkey! You even brought a friend?" Christopher laughed as he saw the two energetic kids

"Daddy!" Amelia launched herself onto the couch and hugged her father before standing up and jumping over Derek that was next to her dad but the movement made Meredith wince slightly but the girl really tried not to make a scene, she was also a bit held back since they had a stranger at the house

"Aww" Meredith whimpered

Carolyn saw Ella going quiet but also wanted to take care of Meredith

Carolyn and Christopher shared a look and they both knew what they meant

"Come on girls, we're gonna make popcorn" Carolyn said and left the room despite the concern that was rising inside of her

"Hey monkey, are you feeling okay?" Christopher quietly asked as he kneeled down next to her

"Dunno" Meredith whispered

"Let's go upstairs, let's talk about how your day went" He quietly said and lifted her in his arms, the girl wincing in pain again, even a few tears leaving her eyes

He had brought Meredith to his and Carolyn's room where he had made sure she was as comfortable as possible despite the fact that the pain had gotten worse

"I wish I could play with Amy and Ella" Meredith quietly said as she laid down in Christopher's arms

"I'm sorry, sweetheart" Christopher stroke his hand over her hair, not wanting to cause her any more pain

The two laid down in silence for a while until the boys knocked on the door

"Hi dad. Hi Mer. Can we come in?" Mark asked

"Of course" Christopher nodded his head

"We brought you something" Derek smiled as he and his best friend walked in carrying several stuffed animals "Mer, we arranged something for you"

Meredith felt awful, her body was so badly hurting but she didn't want to complain. She could barely turn her head to look at the boys that walked into the room and placed the stuffies down on the bed before they started some sort of puppet show

Meredith was giggling a few times during the boys' little act

"Daddy-" She giggled "Markie and Der are so funny"

"They are," Christopher smiled. "Thanks guys for cheering Meredith up. Love you" Christopher was tearing up

"We're glad you enjoyed, Mer" Derek smiled

"Can we hug you?" Mark asked but saw the girl's eyes widening slightly and she slowly shook her head, she knew it would be too painful as she already felt the blanket already weighting on her body

"It's okay, Mer" Derek smiled and blew her a kiss, Mark did the same

"Thank you" Meredith smiled softly and watched as they left the room

"Maybe you should try to sleep a little, Carolyn will join us later when the other kids are asleep as well but until then I'll be joining you" Christopher explained

"Kay.." Meredith whispered and closed her eyes

Their night didn't go smooth at all, the girl winced at the slightest movement and around 5am she woke up screaming in pain

"Amy, what's happening?" Ella asked as she felt uneasy

"It's okay. Mommy and daddy are with Meredith" Amelia quietly sighs, clutching her stuffed animal tighter to her chest

"Oh-" Ella nodded

"It's normal.." Amelia whispers and both girls got quiet, they both had difficulties falling asleep as they kept hearing Meredith's cries and didn't even seem to get quieter