Anonymous: "Could you maybe write the appendix story from Chloe pov. Maybe it will help the writers block"

Hi noni,

OK, so I tried to get inside of Chloe's head a little bit for this. But it's so hard writing from a child's point of view. I know I can improve my "child dialogue" skills, and I find writing their thoughts and feelings a little bit harder than that even. But anyway, I hope you like this. This is also for the anon who asked for some Chloe/Alex. In fact, it's heavy on that….I also feel compelled to tag this AK2, though it's just friendship. (See, slowly I MIGHT get there. I wasn't lying)

Anyway, hope you both like this :) There's actually no Jackson here….

100 Encore, Day 89: "Pinky Swear" (MIMB)

"Daddy!" Chloe screamed as she rolled into the emergency room on a gurney, her mother hysterical at her side. "DADDY!" Her mom could only grab her hand and kiss it, tears streaming down her face. But she knew her daddy was inside.

"Mommy's here. I'm here."

But Chloe knew her mom was scared, and that was scary. "DADDY!"

"Hey Chlo! I know your tummy hurts but your daddy sent me to make it all better OK? I'm gonna take you so close to where he is and he wanted me to tell you he'll see you after. He said 'tell my Chloworm don't be scared. I'll see her so soon.'

Chloe looked at her Uncle Alex, running next to her on the other side of the bed from her mom. She stopped crying for a whole second but turned her head and saw her mom still crying. She burst into tears again.

"Mommy's gonna go now Chlo. We've got it from here." He pushed the elevator button.

"Burst! It burst. Or it's going to Alex…just give her an IV, please just…"

"April, you need to leave now, you're scaring her. I got it, OK? I'm gonna update you regularly. And Jackson. He's two doors down. If it's ruptured I'm going to take it out, like we do every time. That's your course of treatment too. I know it is, you've been lead on this exact procedure. I'm going to do what you would do." He tried to get catch her eyes before the elevator came. But he couldn't, and Chloe was more important.

"I love you Chloe! I'll see you after." Alex was glad she at least managed that before the doors closed.

"You are so brave Chlo! We're gonna go in the room close to your daddy and I'm gonna give you some medicine so you can sleep, then I'm gonna fix you right up and when you wake up you'll see mommy and daddy and later you can eat tons of ice cream. I know it hurts too much to think about right now, but that is gonna be fun later. I'm gonna take care of you. Me and Dr. Deluca." They entered the operating room. "Can you do something for me though? How high can you count?"

"High." she said, through tears.

"Show me how high, Chlo. Count for me…" Alex nodded to his the anesthesiologist to begin administration, then positioned himself over Chloe so she could see his eyes.

"One, two, three, four, five, six seven, eight, nine, ten 'leven, tw…" He stayed there until her eyes closed.

"This is one of ours. She's not just theirs, understand?" he said, as he made the first incision. "I know it's just an appendectomy but this kid laughs as she eats my burnt grilled cheese and tells me it's gross. I read her bedtime stories. She's ours."

"What's goin' on in here?" Alex asked, walking in to Chloe's room as soon as she was settled in after recovery. Both she and April were crying, though they were thankfully less panicked. Ideally, both of them would've been sleeping. April was not capable of being a calming force yet, even though Chloe was going to be fine. "How are you feeling, Chlo? Tell me."

"My t-t-t-ummy hurts…" Chloe looked over at April, who leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Alex eyed her chart, concerned. Her pain meds should've kicked in by now. "Hey April, you have patients to check on?" She shook her head. "Why don't you go handle your schedule for the week with Hunt?"

She blinked. "Because my kid just got out of surgery."

"Can you go outside and see if Jackson will be done soon?"

"No."

"Well will you give me a few minutes alone with my patient?"

"She's three."

"Can I get a few minutes alone with my niece?" April rolled her eyes and mumbled, but did as she was asked.

"Chlo….take a deep breath for me, big girl." He waited until April was out of earshot and then walked toward Chloe, breathing in deeply. She followed suit, through sniffles. "Good girl. Now it's 'real deal' time, OK? No more pretend. We don't pretend with each other, right? I need you to tell me how much your tummy hurts. Too much? Or a little bit?" 'Too much,' was the only thing that would mean trouble at this point, he figured two options were safe.

"Little bit."

Alex smirked at her, smiling. She needed to see an adult smile. " Why were you crying?"

"My mommy is scared." Chloe admitted. There was only so long she could watch her mom try and pretend to be fine without getting scared herself.

"That's what I thought." Nuts. April was nuts. Between the cheating incident, the miscarriage, Jackson's ACL, and now this, she was close to certifiable in Alex's opinion. He didn't blame her, she'd had quite the year since June, and it wasn't over yet. He and Jo had watched Chloe throughout it all.

That month after was the worst. April would often ask Alex to just pick her up from daycare for a few hours. She never said it, but Alex knew it was so they could fight; scream, throw things. He gladly did it, for the little girl's sake, even taking her along on date night one night. No kid deserved the scars that came with just hearing those sorts of things. He didn't care what age she was, those things hurt.

The relationship seemed on the mend based on the fact that Alex didn't get any calls anymore. But April was still freaking nuts. Jackson was the only one who knew how to calm her down, of course he had one of his biggest surgeries of the year on the night his daughter's appendix burst.

"But you're not scared, right Chlo? You get to hang out with me all week, and tomorrow we'll get up for a little bit and meet all the new friends you can play with while you're staying here."

"Why I stayin'?"

"Because your appendix popped and exploded in your tummy and I had to take it out and clean you all up and it was really gross, Chlo. I am not going back into there with my tools again, you hear me? That was nasty." Chloe giggled, but Alex raised his eyebrows. "I'm not kidding. So I'm gonna watch you real close until I know you are all better. At least a week, sorry. And I'm gonna make you eat ice cream only for a few days, too."

Alex frowned sympathetically and Chloe smiled, but her mind was on other things. "My mommy be here?"

"Everyday Chlo, I know it."

"My daddy?"

"Yeah Chlo, him too."

"Why I not see my daddy fer a long time?"

"He's in surgery, he'll be here soon. And he had his intern peer into your tummy every twenty minutes to make sure I wasn't lying to him."

Chloe blinked at her uncle, not sure what he meant. But people had been saying "soon" for too long. "I need my daddy now! I need him!"

"You have me, Chlo, what do you need? Relax, I thought we were doing good here."

"You can't fix my mommy. My daddy can."

Truer words had never been spoken, as far as Alex was concerned. Surviving everything they had lately? He'd had his doubts before; but now there was no denying they had a forever kind of love. Karev had never really tried to get into April Kepner's head, especially not after the 'almost' incident. Avery was the only one who could get in there to somehow methodically calm her down. Until then, he could only do damage control, or more accurately, Chloe control.

"You're right, but Chlo? You don't have to worry about mommy, OK? Her tummy is fine. I need you to help me take care of yours, promise?" She yawned, nodding. But Alex knew little girls. "I'm gonna need a pinky swear here I think, Miss Avery."

"What you promise me?"

"That your daddy is coming in here after you nap for me."

Chloe yawned again but held out her pinky, twisting it around her uncle's. "The first part of this promise involves a nap until your dad gets here, think you can do that for me?"

"I don't know, Uncle Alex." Chloe answered honestly. She never pretended with him.

"Why not?"

"I need daddy fer help countin' sheeps."

Alex wrinkled his nose. "What?"

"They don't come in my head, but I close my eyes, he tell me where dey are, real quiet. Under da bed, out da window, they nice…not monsters."

"I think I can do that." It was weird, but she was part Kepner.

"Hafta lay nexta me."

He did as he was told, squeezing in the tiny bed. She closed her eyes and held out her tiny hand for him to hold.

"I see one in the hallway, Chlo…two under the bed…is this how daddy helps?" She nodded and squeezed his hand. "Three is looking through your garbage now, eww…" he whispered.

Chloe giggled, eyes still closed. "What his name?"

"Oh, they have names? Seth…And Sarah is in the corner, dancing…Sully is behind the nurse's station, trying to tell your mom a joke..Spencer is…." But thankfully, he didn't need to come up with something else. Her breathing slowed pretty instantly as she drifted off to sleep.

Alex made sure her covers were tightly around her before he slipped out of the room to make sure Deluca kept Kepner out. He'd worked hard to get Chlo to sleep and had a nagging feeling that whoever stepped in the room next would wake her up. If that was how it had to be, the next person to step into that room would be her daddy. He'd pinky promised, and he never wanted to call backsies on Chloe Avery.