She felt her eyes slowly open as a loud crack of thunder shook the house. The room was almost completely dark, with the exception of one of those nightlight plug-in air freshener things Izzie insisted on putting in each room of the house.

It took her a minute to realize where she was. The den. Why was she in the den?

She lifted her head and winced as the crick in her neck became apparent.

Damn desk.

She wiped the drool that formed in the corner of her mouth and let her arms fall limp in her lap. She hated waking up; it took way too much effort. Sleeping was a much better alternative. But sleeping on the desk? Why was…

As another roll of thunder boomed throughout the house, Meredith remembered why she had been asleep in the den. She remembered because of the cries coming from the room across the hall.

After hurling herself away from the desk and out of the den, Meredith rushed in to see Leah weeping on the couch and Beth kneeling on the floor, trying to comfort her sister.

"What happened?" Meredith asked on instinct as she turned on a lamp and knelt beside Beth.

"She doesn't like storms," Beth said just as another thunderclap boomed. "Neither do I!" Beth wrapped both arms around Meredith and buried her face against her.

Leah too reached out, wanting to be sheltered from the storm. She enfolded her small arms around Meredith's neck and fell into her lap, not even giving the option of saying no.

Meredith didn't really know what to do. She was literally surrounded by kids. She never had to deal with this before. She was never afraid of thunder, or storms. She actually enjoyed them. That was one thing she loved about Seattle.

Storms, to her, were not something you fear.

There was only one time she could recall ever being scared by a thunderstorm. She was three years old and woke up in the middle of the night to the wind howling through the gap in her doorframe. She was too scared to get out of her bed, but she was too scared to stay there. Once she finally got enough courage, she made her way into her parent's room but was sent back without either of them even opening their eyes.

After that night, Meredith learned to find comfort in the storms, and in the rain.

"It won't hurt you," she finally said to the girls.

Beth pulled her head away only enough to see Meredith's face.

"The thunder, I mean…" Meredith continued.

She realized Leah would be too little to understand really what she was really saying, but she felt a comfort in at least helping Beth, who could at some point help her younger sister.

"But it's loud." Beth hid her face sheepishly.

"I know," Meredith said, "but it has to be. It wouldn't be thunder… otherwise." She finished with half a smile at her obvious non-joke. Beth, however, was not amused.

"I don't like it." Beth covered her ears as the thunder sounded again. "Make it stop," she whined.

Meredith closed her eyes and sighed. Maybe the comfort thing was working very well on them, but she tried her best to stay calm at the child's irrational concept of the storm, and her fear behind it.

Beth winced and clutched her hands tighter against her ears as the storm grew outside.

"Don't you have storms at home?" Meredith asked her.

"I don't like them there either!" She hid her face in Meredith's neck again and swung her arm forward, elbowing Meredith in the face, sending all three of them backwards onto the ground.

"Ow," Meredith muttered as she sat back up. She brought her hand to the corner of her mouth, checking for blood, and was thankful that none was found.

Leah wailed at the sudden impact and climbed fully onto of Meredith, gripping for dear life.

Meredith worked her way back into a sitting position, pried the kids off of her, and tried to take a deep cleansing breath.

She may have learned not to fear storms, but she was never taught not to fear children.

"What's that noise?" she asked herself as she heard a faint beeping sound in the distance.

"The thunder!" Beth shirked.

"No, it's not the thunder…" Meredith chided.

Crap. Cell phone.

"Hang on guys," she told them as she stood to retrieve her phone.

Unfortunately, the girls took her in a literal sense and Beth gripped on to her hand, Leah hugged her leg.

Whatever, Meredith sighed and walked… wobbled rather, to the front door where she left her bag.

2 missed calls, 1 new voicemail.

Without looking to see who called, she pushed the voicemail button.

"Mer, It's me…"

As soon as she heard his voice, she knew what was coming.

"I'm going to be here a while longer." He sighed. "The pileup was worse than they anticipated and the OR's are backing up fast. I know when you hear this you're going to freak out, but you have to stay calm, just… keep calm. And I know you're mad, probably furious, and I know I'm in sever trouble- I get that. I'll be home as soon as I can, I promise. Okay, I have to go… I'll try and call later if I can. I lo-"

Meredith clicked her phone shut. She had heard enough.

"Son of a…" She looked down at the quivering girls, still attached, and silently cursed to herself.

Meredith pressed the pressure point on her temple, trying to take away the headache that was forming. Apparently watching children all day was not exactly a stress-free experience.

"Wait," Meredith said suddenly looking around, "where are your brothers?"

As if on cue, a loud slamming noise, followed by a swarm of giggles, erupted from the kitchen.

"Never mind," Meredith mumbled. As she stood, both Beth and Leah latched on, and the three of them went to the kitchen.

"What is going on in here?"

The light from the open refrigerator was just bright enough to cast a glow on the small boys and their disastrous mess on the floor below them.

"I was trying to get away," one of them said.

"What are you talking about?" Meredith asked as she flipped on the light switch. "And what are you wearing?"

They both had the same look on their faces: humor and guilt, surrounded by a chocolate mustache from the icecream they had been eating. One was dressed in a black and white stripped shirt and had black marks on his face, almost like war paint. The other boy had on a navy blue uniform with a small plastic badge on the right chest, topped off with a matching hat, of course.

"We playing cops and robbers!" The policeman said, holding up yet another toy badge.

"Right," Meredith nodded, "and the mess?"

Five pairs of eyes landed on the floor below them. Numerous items from the refrigerator were piled on the floor in a heap. A few perfectly fine, a few smushed and slightly broken.

"We couldn't see," the bandit began, "it was dark."

"So we opened the fridge," the cop continued.

"And we saw the ice cream."

Meredith shook her head. "But what does that have…" She stopped herself as the oblivious became obvious: the location of the ice cream in the freezer. "You couldn't reach it."

"I told Matty I would climb and get it." The robber clarified.

"And I told him not to," The officer… er... Matthew… said.

Meredith couldn't help but think of how mature Matthew seemed on the matter, not wanting his brother to get hurt.

"'Cause I wanted to get it," Matthew giggled.

And never mind…

"And then the shelf fell." Robbie went on.

"And it was really funny."

"And then you came in."

Now that she was caught up to speed, Meredith just looked on. She stared at the mess. Then at the boys. At the back of the eyelids, then at the mess again. She ran the hand that wasn't holding Leah through her hair and closed her eyes again. This kid thing was not something she signed up for.

"Go play," she told them quietly, and they ran from the room.

Meredith sat Leah down on the island and grabbed a wet sponge from the sink. As she chucked it to the ground and got on her knees, her thoughts went over her head. She was annoyed at the messiness of children. She was annoyed at their illogical fears. She was annoyed at Derek's abandonment. Mostly though, she was annoyed at herself for falling asleep, allowing the kids to get all hopped up on sugar and clingy and wild.

No, actually, she was annoyed at Derek the most.

"Stupid brain man," she muttered as she scrubbed what appeared to be tomato sauce from the floor. "Stupid… Idiotic…" She blew a puff of air at her bangs and looked at the remaining children. "Do you know what imprudent means?" Beth shook her head. "Good. Because your uncle is the most imprudent, irresponsible, foolish, brainless, most stupid man to leave me in charge alone."

Beth smiled a toothy grin. "I know what stupid means."

"Did I say stupid?" Meredith casually asked as she picked up a half exploded syrup bottle.

"Un huh." Her smile grew wider.

Meredith paused her cleaning for a moment and thought about her comment. "No, stupid was the right word." She grabbed the last few unsalvageable items and threw them in the trash. "I cannot believe he's left me here to deal with all of this," she muttered. "I can't deal with this. This is just… Why is it so quiet in here?" Meredith leaned her back against the counter and stared at the kids.

Beth shrugged; Leah didn't move a muscle.

"Kids aren't quiet when they play. You guys aren't quiet when you play, right?"

Beth let out a small giggle. "Only when we've done something bad."

Another roll of thunder shook the house and Beth's hands muffed her ears.

As the thunder dissipated, Meredith heard exactly what she didn't want to…

Silence.

"Oh crap."

Meredith grabbed Leah and ran from the room, Beth right on her tail. "Robbie, Matthew?" she called as she rounded the corner towards the living room.

No answer.

"Come on guys!"

"Aunt Meredith."

Meredith turned quick in her tracks at the sound of her name, causing Beth to run right into her side.

The boys were sitting on the steps, peering through the rails.

"What are you two doing?" Meredith asked as she moved closer.

One boy stifled a giggle by throwing his hand over his mouth.

"I'm stuck," the other one replied.

"What do you mean you're stuck?" Meredith asked.

The boy lifted his arm and jingled the shiny metal handcuff that was clasped around his wrist while the other one was attached to a rail of the banister.

"Are you kidding me?!" Meredith yelled. She handed Leah over to Beth and ran halfway up the steps to where the boys were sitting. "Robbie, why are you handcuffed to the banister?"

"He's Robbie," the cop said as he pointed to his brother with his free hand.

Meredith lowered herself to their level. "Robbie, why is there a cop handcuffed to the banister?"

Robbie giggled again. "'Cause he lost!"

Meredith smirked at the boy. "Don't you guys have a key or something?" She asked as she tried to free Matthew's wrist.

"We use to," Matthew told her, "but we lost it a while ago."

Meredith sighed. "You can't slip it out?"

Matthew held the cuff with his free hand and attempted to pull his right wrist from it.

It didn't work.

Matthew dropped both hands, but his frustration grew and he began tugging harder before giving up once more. "Nope."

"Okay," Meredith rose to her feet. "I'm going to go see if there's… um, something that ah, some kind of stuff that can help get you... out." She turned to head down the stairs. "Okay, I'll be right back, don't move." She paused for a second once it registered what she said. "You know what I mean…"

Robbie giggled and fell over on his captured brother.

"You staying here or coming with me?" Meredith asked Beth as she passed her and Leah on the way back to the kitchen.

The storm roared once again and Beth nodded, rushing to catch up with Meredith's pace.

What the heck am I suppose to do?

"I need… ah, something… slippery? Something greasy, right?" Meredith glanced at Beth as she opened the refrigerator doors.

Beth shrugged, "I don't know. I guess."

"Well we have…. Nothing."

"Butter?" Beth suggested.

Meredith grabbed the tub and opened it. "No. It's empty." She rummaged through the fridge a bit more. "Seriously? There is seriously nothing in here."

"Dish soap." Meredith's epiphany hit her and she quickly rushed over to the sink. "It's soap, it's slippery right? It'll work… Right?

"Sure." Beth shrugged.

Meredith dashed back to the staircase; slightly dizzy from constant running around she was doing.

"We're going to try this, okay?" she told Matthew.

"What's that? Why's it green?" he responded.

"Calm down, it's just soap. That's all" Meredith soothed him. "Okay, I'm going to put some on your wrist, when I do I want you to try and pull it through, alright?"

Matthew nodded and held out his wrist.

Meredith squeezed the soap bottle, coating his wrist. "Okay, go ahead."

Matthew did as he was told, but nothing happened. The soap bubbled slightly and dripped into a puddle on the step.

"Oh my gosh, that looks soooo gross!" Robbie snickered as he leaned for a better look.

Meredith tried her best not to roll her eyes and decided she needed Robbie away so she could actually help Matthew get out.

"Robbie, why don't you-" she was interrupted before she could tell him, however, when she was met with an unpleasant wetness as Matthew sneezed on her.

"Sorry," the boy said as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

Meredith backed away slowly, grimacing ever so slightly. "Yeah," was all she could say. Using her thumb, she wiped some of the… moisture… away from her cheek. "Okay," she said as she stood up. "I'm going to, um, wash my face, and I'll see if there's something that ah, something else that'll work." She turned to head down the stairs. "Robbie, why don't you come down here with your sisters."

Robbie didn't say a word as he got up and ran down the stairs.

"Aunt Meredith."

She turned again at the sound of her name. "What is it?"

Matthew's brows were squished together making him appear as if he were about to blow. "I have to pee."

"You what?" Meredith almost choked out.

"I said I have to-"

"No, damn it, I mean… I heard you, it's just-"

"Damn it!"

Meredith almost got whiplash from how hard her neck turned away.

"Damn it!" Robbie yelled again.

And then it occurred to her what she had just done.

"Damn it!"

Her eyes bugged out from her head. "Shit."

"Shit!" Robbie copied.

"No! No, Robbie, don't-"

"Shit!"

"Robbie!" Meredith shrieked. She bolted down the stairs and landed on her knees in front of him, but he had already taken off, screaming his newly learnt word. "Robbie, come back here!" Meredith yelled after him.

"Aunt Meredithhhh!"

She looked back to Matthew who was crossing his legs tightly and tugging at the handcuffs yet again.

"Shhhit!!" Robbie screamed as he ran by.

Meredith stood back on her feet and ran her hands through her hair. "I am so going to kill him," she said to herself. She took a deep breath and dove in. "Robbie!" she called again but got nothing in response. "Okay, Matthew, I'm going to have you out in a minute, alright? Just hang on for a minute." Meredith nodded and Matthew mirrored her. "Robbie!" she growled as she saw Robbie run by again, swearing away. When she turned to speak to the girls, they were both missing, too.

"Aunt Meredith!" Matthew bellowed again.

"I'm going, I'll be right back. RIGHT back."

Having decided to catch Robbie and find the girls later, Meredith rushed through the kitchen and into the laundry room, making a small detour first to get a wet towel to wipe her face.

Meredith threw the towel into the washing machine, closed the lid, climbed on top of it, and began to root around on the shelves overhead. "Come on, where is it…" She pulled down a gray tackle type box and grabbed the object she had been looking for from it. "Ah ha! I knew I had you somewhere."

She rushed back to the staircase, gripping her gadget tightly with both hands. "Okay, Matthew. You ready?" she asked as she raised a small handsaw away from her body, the metal reflecting for the overhead light and bouncing onto the small boy's face.

"You're going to cut my hand off!" Matthew shouted in complete terror.

Meredith's nose scrunched up at the confusion. "What are you talking about- I'm not going to cut your hand, I'm cutting the rail."

"No you're not, you're going to cut my hand!"

"Matthew! You have to pee and your hand is not getting out of those cuffs anytime soon. This is the only thing I can think of that'll be quick. I'm not going to cut your hand off, I promise. Okay?"

Matthew didn't say a word but nodded. He pulled his wrist tighter against his body as Meredith placed the handsaw against the rail. After six and a half passes he was free from the railing but continued to sit there looking at her.

"Run," Meredith instructed and Matthew took off up the stairs to the bathroom, the handcuff still dangling from his wrist.

Meredith looked at the rail that was now in two. The top half was barely hanging on and bottom half was in the palm of her hand. She placed the chunk of wood and the handsaw on the table in the hall and made a mental note, deciding to start a list for Derek to fix.

Refrigerator shelf?

Check.

Banister rail?

Check.

Lord knows what else there'll be…

Sewing your nephew's limbs back on?

Check.

"Robbie!" Meredith yelled. She went into the living room, only to find Beth coloring at the coffee table and Leah crawling around on the couch behind her, but Robbie was nowhere around. "Where's your brother?"

No one moved, no one responded.

"Beth." She looked up. "Where is your brother?"

"He's behind you."

Just as she turned around, Matthew entered the room. "No, I mean your other brother. Matthew, you're the cop. Where's your bandit, where's Robbie?"

"Here!" Robbie yelled as he jumped out from nowhere and locked Meredith's right wrist into Matthew's empty cuff.

She stared in shock. Literally in shock. Words could not be formed, movement was not an option. All she could do was stare at the handcuffs mounted on their wrists.

"Robbie," she finally choked out, "what did you do?"

Robbie's hand flew to his forehead as he laughed hysterically. Then he ran away.

"Robbie!" Meredith yelled as she took off after him, only falling short when the weight on her wrist caused her to crash backwards onto the floor with Matthew coming down on top of her. "Robbie!" she growled, the disdain evident in her voice. "Up. Get up," she directed Matthew.

After a few attempts, and several fumbles, Meredith and Matthew were once again standing on solid ground.

"Let's play a game!" Matthew said, going towards a mess of something piled on the floor- and dragging Meredith with him.

"No, Matthew, we have to find your brother," Meredith announced- dragging Matthew back her way.

"Nooo! Game!" he whined and pulled her again.

Meredith let out an aggravated sigh and yanked her wrist, sending Matthew directly in front of her. "Matthew," she said calmly through gritted teeth, "you're kind of connected to me right now. We can't play games, okay, because I have to find your brother."

And wring his neck, she silently added to herself.

"But I want to play games," Matthew told her in a small voice.

Meredith would have actually felt bad for the kid, if he wasn't currently her new accessory, but the fact was they were stuck together. Stuck together.

This was not helping in her liking of kids.

"I'll play a game with you," Robbie said, bouncing into the room as if nothing had happened.

Meredith's arms dropped, her back hunched, and she let out an enervated sigh. "Robbie," she breathed.

"Okay," Matthew said cheerfully and followed his brother, pulling Meredith along behind him.

"Aunt Meredith?"

"Yeah, Beth?" she responded just as she landed on the floor next to the boys.

"Leah's diaper needs to be changed."

"What?" Meredith said in disbelief. "I can- I…" She held up her and Matthew's adjoined wrists. "I'm kind of tied up here."

"But she smells really bad."

"Fine," Meredith sighed. "Come on Matthew."

"No way!" Matthew shrieked.

"It'll take two minutes. Then you... or we I guess… can come back and play your game," she said as she stood up.

"Un un," Matthew tugged her back to the floor. "That's gross!"

Meredith stood again and yanked the boy to his feet. "Yeah, I know, but it has to get done. All you have to do is stand there. Only one hand is cuffed, plug your nose with the other."

Matthew wouldn't budge so Meredith wrapped her arm around him and drug him over to the couch. "Beth, can you at least get her bag for me?" she asked and laid Leah down.

Beth nodded and took off into the hall, returning in moments with the bag in hand.

"Okay," Meredith started as she accepted it from Beth, "What do I do first?"

"You never done this before?" Matthew asked in a nasally voice due to his nose being held.

"Well, not the icky kind." Meredith defended. "I changed her earlier, but it was nothing like- like this."

"Take off the diaper," Beth instructed as she kept her distance at the other end of the couch where Robbie quickly joined her.

Meredith slowly unhinged the sides and pealed it away.

"Ewwww!" Matthew squawked as all four of them pulled away and Leah giggled.

"Nasty!" Robbie chimed in.

"Okay," Meredith choked through gusts of air, "That is not helping."

"Get rid of that thing!" Matthew hollered.

As Meredith went to take away the dirty diaper, Matthew screamed and pulled his arm away, taking Meredith with him.

"Calm down," Meredith told him as she pulled the diaper away.

"Ahh!" Matthew cried again as he jerked his hand again, causing Meredith to almost loose grip on the diaper.

"Matthew," she hissed, "will you calm down?"

"No way, I'm outta here!" Matthew rose to his feet, yanked his arm away with great force, and ran away- making Meredith fall over flat on her back.

But he kept running.

And Meredith stayed put.

"Ow," Meredith groaned and sat up. She looked down at her bruising wrist and saw the handcuff still attached. But Matthew wasn't. "Matthew, how'd you do that?" she called out.

""I dunno," he replied from around the corner of the doorframe.

"Meredith, the smell," Robbie reminded her as he wined and bounced in place.

She quickly finished up with Leah, Beth instructing her along the way, and headed to the nearest trashcan to discard of the unwanted contents.

She washed her hands, pouring half the bottle of soap on her wrist, and realized it was not going to come off. She was stuck.

"At least I'm not stuck to them," she said to herself.

A bellow of hollering and screams and cries erupted from the living room, followed by what sounded like a bucket of Legos being turned over, and more screams.

Meredith sighed.

Maybe she should have found a second set of handcuffs and clapped them both to the railing when she had the chance.

I was going to wait and post this on Thursday for a Grey's treat, but I think you've all waiting long enough. Lol. So it's a Monday treat instead, because we all know Monday's are not that awesome :) I'm glad you all are enjoying the story and thank you everyone for the reviews, I do appreciate it greatly! :) More would be wonderful ;)