Carolyn and Christopher are sound asleep in bed when they are all of a sudden woken up by Amelia running in.
"Mommy! Daddy! Guess what!!!" Amelia yells excitedly.
Carolyn opens her eyes and looks sleepily at her daughter who has jumped onto their bed. "What is it sweetie?"
"It's field trip day!!! We get to see all of the cute animals today Mommy!" Amelia says loudly.
Carolyn all of a sudden remembers signing a field trip permission form a few months ago giving Amelia permission to go on the field trip. They never had to sign one for Meredith as she was still living with her mom and did not yet have her diagnosis.
"That's going to be fun Amelia! You're going to have a great day! But sweetie, it's very early. Why don't you go back to sleep for a few hours and we'll wake you when it's time to get up?" Christopher said softly to his daughter. "Is Mer still sleeping?"
"Okay! And yeah! She's sound asleep, hugging her puppy!" Amelia runs back to her room and goes back to sleep.
"Christopher, what are we going to do about Meredith? That's going to be a lot of walking for her. I don't know if she can handle it." Carolyn says worriedly.
"I think she'll be okay. Plus I remember you signed up to be a chaperone so at least you will be there also and can help her with anything. Plus she's going to love seeing all the animals." Christopher says, reassuring his wife.
"Yeah, hopefully it will be okay. I don't want to make her not go but I'm just really worried about her having to walk that much. I know her braces really hurt her along with her now having difficulty with walking in general."
"She's going to be just fine. She's going to have a great time. Let's go back to bed for a little while." Christopher says.
They go back to sleep for a few more hours before their alarm wakes them up for the day.
"Morning." Christopher says, giving his wife a kiss good morning.
"Morning, I'm going to go make us some coffee."
Carolyn makes the coffee and they drink it in bed before they get ready for the day. Soon it's time to wake the kids up and get them ready
Carolyn walks into the girls room and sees Amelia already awake. "Why am I not surprised you're already awake Miss Amelia?" Carolyn chuckles.
Amelia giggles. "Mommy! I'm just so excited to see all of the animals!"
"You're going to have so much fun today baby girl." Carolyn gives Amelia a hug. "I'm gonna wake Mer up now."
Carolyn goes over to Meredith's bed and gently rubs the tiny girl's shoulder. "Wake up sweetie. It's time to wake up, Mer.
Meredith slowly opens her eyes. She starts wheezing now that she's awake.
"Oh sweetie, is your asthma bad this morning?" Carolyn asks softly.
Meredith nods and coughs. "Hard to breathe." Meredith whispers.
"Mommy, she's been making that sound during the night too!" Amelia says.
"Amy, next time you hear her doing that, come get either me or Daddy okay?"
Amelia nods.
"Mer, we're going to do a breathing treatment and then we'll get ready for your field trip today. Are you excited to go to the zoo?"
Meredith nods and wheezes more. "Baby... animals?" She asks in between coughs.
"Maybe!"
Carolyn gets the nebulizer and starts Meredith's treatment. Carolyn holds it to her face as she's too weak to hold it herself.
"Mommy, is Mer okay?" Amelia asks worriedly.
"Yeah, she's fine Amy. She just needs to do a breathing treatment and then she'll be good to go. Right Mer?"
Meredith nods.
A few minutes later her treatment finishes and Carolyn pulls it off of her face. "Good job sweetie. Let's get you ready for the day now! What do you want to wear today?"
"Lion King outfit!" Meredith says excitedly.
"Good choice! Are you excited to see lions today?"
"Yeah! I hope there will be baby lions!!!" Meredith says.
"We'll see!" Carolyn finishes helping Meredith and they go downstairs where Amelia is bouncing off the walls with energy.
"Mom, how is she this awake?" Derek asks, rubbing his eyes.
"She's very excited for her field trip today. She came into our room early this morning also." Carolyn chuckles.
"Mommy! Is it time to go yet??" Amelia asks excitedly. "Mer! You're good now! Ready to see animals?"
"Yeah! I wanna see baby animals!" Meredith says excitedly.
"Okay girls, put your shoes on and then we'll go."
Amelia quickly puts on her shoes and waits for Carolyn to finish helping Meredith with hers. "Come on!!!"
Carolyn notices Meredith rubbing her hip. "Is your hip hurting Meredith?"
Meredith nods. "My legs hurt too."
"Okay let's get you some Tylenol and see if that will help you." Carolyn quickly pours Meredith some medicine and she swallows it and makes a gross face.
"Eww. That's gross." Meredith mumbles.
"I know baby. But hopefully it'll help you." Carolyn says. She helps her walk to the car. Amelia is waiting outside on the grass.
They get in and drive to the school where the bus is waiting to take them to the zoo.
"Mer! Come on! Let's sit in the back with our friends!" Amelia spots their friends in the back of the bus already and grabs Meredith's arm, not thinking, and pulls her.
"Owwwww. Amy! Owww. That hurts." Meredith whimpers.
Amelia lets go of her arm. "I'm sorry! I forgot! Come on! We gotta go sit!"
Meredith sees the long walk to the back of the bus and doesn't think she can make it. She starts walking slowly but falls after taking a few steps due to how narrow the walkway is.
She starts crying immediately and Carolyn rushes to her and picks her up. She brings her to the seat where she has her stuff and sits her down.
"You're okay baby. Did you hurt yourself?"
Meredith shrugs. "I can't walk right." She mutters.
Carolyn sighs. "I know, baby. You're going to be just fine."
Amelia rushes up to them. "Mer! Are you okay?"
Meredith shrugs with tears still in her eyes. She's laying on the seat with her head on Carolyn's lap.
"Come on Mer! Let's go sit in the back! Come on, you gotta sit with me!" Amelia pushes.
"Amy, she's going to sit here. You can sit here too if you want but you need to think of Meredith's needs. She can't make it all the way back there." Carolyn gently says.
"Sorry Meredith. I forgot." She whispers.
"It's 'kay." Meredith says softly.
"Aww poor thing. Is she not feeling well?" One of the teachers asked Carolyn.
"No, she fell trying to get to the back of the bus. She'll be okay though." Carolyn responds.
"She'll feel better when we're there so she can play with her friends. She'll be running before you know it!"
Carolyn scoffs and rubs Meredith's back. Meredith lets out a few whimpers.
The teacher goes back to her reading.
"I know baby, you're okay. I'm right here. I've got you."
After a little while they arrive at the zoo.
"Mer, we're here. Do you want to see all of the animals?" Carolyn asked.
"Wanna see animals. Can't walk though. Gonna fall." Meredith cries.
"I've got you. Do you want to try to use your crutches again?"
"Okay." Meredith whispers.
Carolyn helps Meredith off of the bus and gives her her crutches.
———————
Meredith has been clinging to Carolyn for the entire trip so far.
"Mer! Look! Baby animals!" Amelia yells.
"Baby bears!!!" Meredith yells excitedly. "Come on Carolyn! Let's go see baby bears!!!"
Carolyn chuckles. "I'm coming sweetie." They get up to the front and Meredith is in awe.
"They're so cute!" She yells. "Amy! Amy! Look! They're so little!"
"I love them!" Amy says excitedly. "Mommy! They're so cute!"
After seeing the baby bears they go outside and their class finds a grassy hill. Their friends start playing on it and running up and down it.
"I'm going to go get your lunches ready. Will you two be okay?"
"Yes mommy!" Amelia says. "I'm hungry!"
"Okay, I'll be right back." Carolyn walks away.
"Come on Mer! Let's go play on that hill!" Amelia says. "It looks so much fun!"
Meredith looks at the hill worriedly. "I don't know."
"Meri! Come on! It's gonna be fun!" Amelia runs off to the hill.
Meredith is left alone and sighs. She begins the walk to the hill with her crutches.
She gets to the bottom of it and starts attempting the walk up it.
'One step at a time' She keeps saying to herself.
Halfway. She was halfway.
"Come on Meri!" Amelia giggled.
"Coming" Meredith smiled as she looked up at Amelia but it also caused her to lose her balance and fall down.
"Meredith!" She could hear Carolyn's voice before her already sore body hit the ground and she slid down the hill again.
The girl was laying down, her body was awkwardly stretched as she was still holding onto her crutches, her clothes dirty but all she felt was embarrassment.
Meredith started sobbing. "Carolyn!!!!!!"
The poor girl felt so embarrassed that she couldn't get up the hill that all of her friends were able to get up so easily.
Carolyn quickly rushed over to her. "I'm here! Shhh baby girl. You're okay!" She quickly looked Meredith's body over for injuries but luckily did not find any other than a few scratches.
"What hurts baby?"
"My legs hurt! I can't walk! It's not fair!" Meredith sobs and clings onto Carolyn.
"We're going home sweetie. Shhh, you're okay." Carolyn soothes.
We hope you liked! Thanks to my co-writer _Ktje_