"Should we wake mommy up?"
"No, mommy will be mad."
"But I want to eat."
"Me too."
"Maybe we just should wake up aunt Amy ?"
"Mommy is up!" Meredith said with closed eyes. She had listened to her boys for the last ten minutes. At first they talked about sleeping Ellis, then their toy cars and lastly about breakfast.
Ellis was still sleeping. She had been up at five and Meredith had fed her, changed her diaper and put her back to sleep.
Meredith slowly sat up and opened her eyes. She was met by two pair of green eyes and one pair of blue looking at her. Boys were sitting next to her in bed, still wearing they pajamas and waiting.
"Did we wake you up?" Asked Matt. He wore grey pajama pants and white t- shirt with an elephant.
"No." Meredith lied. Then she saw Chris without a shirt on. "Where is your shirt, Chris?"
"There." He pointed at the bathroom. "I was washing my hands after peeing and I got my shirt wet."
Meredith got out of bed and went to her wardrobe and took about grey sweatpants and shirt. "I will change and then we will have breakfast, alright? Wait for me." Boys nodded and Meredith went to change.
When she opened the bathroom door, she was shocked. The floor was wet, Chris green t-shirt was laying in the middle, her clean clothes were tossed around the room. Some of them were wet. And above all of it – the water tap was still open.
She threw clothes in her hands on the wet floor and fastly closer the tap. "CHRISTOPHER SHEPHERD!" She shouted and soon her son was by her side. "What is this?"
Meredith turned and saw fear in his face. Meredith rarely raised her voice and when she did…
"I…I'm sorry, mommy!" Chris was looking down.
"What exactly happened here, Christopher?"
"I wanted to wash my hands." He started and looked at Meredith. She was standing with hands crossed over her chest. "But I didn't know how to close the water tap. The water came and came, I slipped on the wet floor and grabbed your clothes accidentally. They flew everywhere and I hit my bottom."
"Where?" Meredith forgot about the fload in the bathroom. Right now she wanted to make sure that her boy was alright. Chris showed her his bottom and Meredith saw a red mark on it. There will be a bruise later. "Did you hit something more? Your head?"
She looked into his eyes. "Follow my finger."
"No, only my bottom." Chris said after Meredith made sure that he was alright. "I'm sorry mom for the mess I made."
"It's alright, but why didn't you call for me? I would have come and helped you."
"I didn't want to wake you up." She saw guilt in Chris eyes. She hugged him and told him to go to his brothers who were still sitting in the bed.
Meredith took a deep breath and looked around the room. How can one small human make a mess like this? She grabbed the closest towel and started sweeping water. It will take some time, when she finishes cleaning the mess Chris had made.
"Meredith, dear, is everything alright?" She heard Carolyn from the bedroom. "I heard you screaming. Oh – " Carolyn stopped and Meredith looked up. "What happened?"
"Chris had a little accident, that's all." Meredith put the wet towel in the bath and took another one. "Did we wake you up?"
"No, not at all. I was already up." Carolyn smiled. "Let me help you – "
"No need. I can do it by myself. I don't want to bother you with this. But can you please take boys and get them changed?"
"No problem, dear." Carolyn smiled and left the room. Meredith heard her saying something to boys and then they all left. Meredith took a deep breath as she continued to clean the bathroom. She had to finish cleaning before eight. Derek's surgery was at eleven and she wanted to be there. She had the half an hour to clean that mess.
"I can watch the kids." Liz announced at breakfast.
"And I think that Liz needs a helping hand." Amelia said and looked at Meredith. She was standing with Ellis in her arms.
"Are you both sure? I can call Arizona or – "
Liz stopped her. "There is no need for that. He is going into the surgery and he won't need all of us there." Meredith was glad that Liz didn't mention Derek's name. If kids heard this, Meredith wouldn't know how to explain that to kids. Derek's surgery had risks and there was a chance that he won't wake up. Kids didn't need to get their hopes up and then lose them.
"And I will come home right after he goes into the surgery." Nancy added. Meredith was suprised. "I don't think me being in hospital will be helpful." She looked at Meredih. "And I'm sorry for things I have said before."
Meredith took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Thanks." She whispered and opened them again when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder and met Kath's brown eyes.
"I will be staying home too. I want to explore Derek's famous land and see his old trailer."
"Mmm… trailer." Nancy smiled and looked at Meredith. Meredith smiled in return. Then she remembered about something.
She turned around and gave Ellis to Kath. "Can you please hold her?"
"Is everything alright?" Amelia asked in concern.
"Mommy, did you forget to feed Doc and Max?" Matt asked and Meredith looked at him with a knowing look. Matt knew that his mom forgot to feed their dogs sometimes. She had blamed it on the pregnancy.
"You have dogs?" Nancy asked while Meredith went to the front door. She opened them and met two guards. If she remembers corectly, they names were Spencer and Harry. They were drinking coffee and talking.
"You can go inside if you want to. There are enough food for everyone." Meredith said to them.
"Thank you ma'am, but we don't want to bother you." Harry answered.
"You won't bother me. You are taking care of me and my family, so you are welcomed in there."
"Thank you ma'am." Spencer answered and they both made their way into the house.
"And one more thing." They turned around. "Don't call me ma'am. Just Meredith." Guards nodded and went inside.
"MAX AND DOC!" Meredith shouted. "COME HOME, BOYS!" And in the next moment dogs were jumping on her with their dirty paws.
She laughted and cursed at the same time. "Alright, let's go and wash the mud off, so you can go inside and eat your breakfast."