"Daddy? Do you think Mer will have a good day today? I don't want her to hurt any at school." Amelia frowned.
"I hope so! She's having a good morning so far sweetie. Don't worry too much, she will be just fine. Finish eating your cereal sweetie. We need to leave for school soon." Christopher says to his daughter.
"But I just want her to be okay and not hurt. I'm going to go check on her!" Amelia pushes her cereal aside and stands up.
"Amy, you need to finish your breakfast. You can go see her when you're done. She'll probably be down soon anyways. Your mom is helping her get ready."
"But-"
"No buts Amy. Finish eating."
Amelia frowns and continues eating her breakfast. She frequently looks towards the stairs to see if her mom and Meredith are coming downstairs yet.
"Can I be done? Please?" Amelia asks after taking only a few more bites. "I wanna go check on Mer!"
"No Amelia, you need to finish your cereal."
"Daddy! I wanna make sure she's okay!" Amelia whines.
"Amy, you need to eat. Mer is just fine, I promise sweetie."
Amelia sighs and takes another bite.
"Christopher? Can you come help me bring Mer downstairs please?" Carolyn calls out.
"Sure, be right there!" He calls back. "Keep eating Amy. Meredith will be right down."
"Okay Daddy." Amelia says.
Christopher leaves the table and heads upstairs.
Meredith is sitting on the closed toilet lid while Carolyn is finishing up her hair. "Hi Daddy!" She smiles.
"Hi sweetie! Are you all ready for school?" He asks.
Meredith shrugs. "I dunno."
"What's wrong sweetie? You don't need to be scared. Amelia will be with you all day since you two are in the same class." Christopher says.
"They're gonna laugh at me." She whispers.
"I promise you that no one is going to laugh at you Mer!" He says.
"That's what I've been telling her all morning." Carolyn says. "Okay! Your hair is all done Miss Meredith! What do you think?" She helps her stand up and steadies her in front of the mirror.
Meredith gasps. "I love it! Thank you Mommy!"
"Your mommy did such a good job on your hair!" Christopher says. "Did your mommy do your tube feeding for you yet?"
Meredith nods. "And she did my asthma treatment too."
Christopher smiles. "Awesome! Are you all ready to go downstairs yet? Amelia is waiting for you. She's finishing up her breakfast."
Meredith nods. "I wanna see Amy!"
"Okay, let's get you downstairs then!" He picks her up and carries her downstairs. "Amy, are you ready to go yet? Derek, Mark, are you two ready for school?"
"We're ready Dad!" Derek says. "Hi Meredith!"
"Hi Derek!" Meredith says. She has her puppy in her arms.
"Mer, you need to leave your puppy here while you're at school." Christopher says to her.
Meredith's lower lip wobbles. "Why? I need Puppy!"
"Puppy needs to stay home and watch over everything while you're at school. He'll be waiting for you as soon as you get home."
Meredith's eyes fill with tears. "B-but he'll be lonely. Puppy needs me! I need Puppy! Please Daddy!"
Christopher sighed. "Okay, fine. But when he stays in your backpack at school okay?"
"Okay!" Meredith says with a big smile.
Christopher drives the kids to school and after saying goodbye to the boys walks Amelia and Meredith to their classroom.
Meredith slowly walks behind them with her crutches. She anxiously looks around at all of the other children.
Amelia talks a mile a minute on the walk towards her classroom. "Daddy! I'm so excited Mer's back at school today!!! It's gonna be great! We can sit together and play at recess together!" Amelia looks and sees Meredith is a bit behind them. "Mer!" She runs back to her. "Come on buddy! I'm so excited you're back! This is going to be so much fun!"
Meredith gives Amelia a tiny smile even though she's extremely nervous. "Yeah!"
"I heard mommy saying that you're having a good day today Mer!" Amelia says.
"Yeah." Meredith whispers, suddenly feeling more nervous as they've arrived at their classroom.
Christopher chats with their teacher quickly about Meredith's needs and then says goodbye to the girls and gives each a kiss on the forehead.
Meredith is reluctant for him to leave. "Daddy?" She says softly.
"Yeah Mer?" He says, kneeling down in front of her.
"What if my good day turns into a bad day?" She asks nervously.
"I hope that doesn't happen but if it does you can tell your teacher or Amelia can tell her for you and your teacher will give your mom and I a call. And then we would come pick you up. But maybe it'll stay a good day sweetie."
"Okay." Meredith whispers.
—————
Lunch time rolls around and Meredith is feeling embarrassed because of her tube feed. Her teacher sent her to the nurse's office so that she could be fed through her tube. She doesn't like being separated from Amelia but her teacher made Amelia eat in the cafeteria.
"But I want to eat with my sister! She needs me!" Amelia insists.
"She needs to be in the nurse's office, Amelia. Her being fed through her tube feed is a medical procedure and she needs to be away from your classmates." The teacher says.
"But she has her tube feed at home in front of us! I need to be with my sister! I need to make sure she's okay!" Amelia says loudly.
"No Amelia. You need to eat here. You know the rules."
"But-" Amelia stomps her foot on the ground. "I need to be with my sister! She's all alone! It's not fair!" She yells.
"Amelia Shepherd. You need to stop arguing with me and eat your lunch. If you continue arguing with me then I won't let you go to recess later this afternoon. Now go sit down and eat your lunch." The teacher says sternly.
Amelia frowns and gives up and goes to sit down.
After lunch is over Meredith is brought back to her classroom by the nurse. Meredith's pain has been increasing during lunch and continues getting worse. She didn't want to walk as she was in so much pain but the nurse didn't have a wheelchair to push her in and wouldn't carry her.
Meredith cries during the walk back to the classroom due to the increasing pain. "C-can't w-walk." Meredith pants in pain.
"Meredith, we need to get you back to your classroom. Come on now, let's keep walking." The nurse says smiling at her.
"Can't." Meredith mumbles. She tries to take another step but she's in too much pain and just collapses to the ground.
"Meredith!" Amelia yells and runs over to her sister. Amelia had left her classroom to go to the bathroom but really it was just to go find Meredith and make sure she's okay.
"Melia." Meredith whimpers. "Want Mommy."
"Sweetie, can you stand up for me?" The nurse asks, kneeling next to Meredith.
"I hurt." Meredith whimpers and starts sobbing on the cold floor.
"Mer, are you okay?" Amelia asks worriedly.
"I want Mommy and Daddy!" Meredith wails.
The nurse goes to pick up Meredith and Amelia sees and gets worried she'll hurt her more.
"No! Don't touch her! You'll hurt her!" Amelia yells.
The nurse looks at Amelia and frowns. "Sweetie, I can't leave her on the floor in this hallway. She's going to disrupt the other classes with her crying." The nurse tries again to pick up Meredith but Amelia blocks Meredith's body.
"Don't! Leave her alone!!!" Amelia yells.
"Amelia, you need to go back to your classroom right now." The nurse says sternly, fed up with the little girl.
"No! I'm staying with Meredith! She's in pain! She needs me!" Amelia yells.
"Melia..." Meredith sobs. "I hurt! Where's mommy and daddy???"
"Come on sweetie, let's go walk back to my office and we'll call them. Can you stand up for me please?" The nurse asks.
"I can't!!!" Meredith sobs. "Wanna go home!"
Meredith and Amelia's teacher heard the commotion in the hallway and poked her head into the hall. She sees both Meredith and Amelia. "Meredith, what's going on sweetie?"
Meredith doesn't answer as she's in too much pain to talk.
"She's in a lot of pain! She wants our mommy and daddy! She needs them to help!" Amelia says, answering for her sister.
"Okay, I'll call them. Amelia, come back to class now." Their teacher says.
"No! Mer needs me! She's in pain!" Amelia insists.
"Amelia, let Meredith rest. She can sleep in the nurse's office until your parents arrive. You need to come back to the classroom and learn."
"No!" Amelia yells. "Meredith needs me! She's in pain!"
"Want Puppy..." Meredith mumbles.
Amelia runs off and grabs Puppy from Meredith's backpack. "Here's Puppy!!! He'll help you Mer!"
"I just called their parents and they'll be here shortly to pick her up." The nurse says. The nurse all of a sudden scoops Meredith up and Meredith screams in pain. She starts sobbing harder.
"Melia!!!!!!!!!! Owwwwwww!!!!! I hurt!!! Want mommy and daddy!!!" Meredith wails.
"They're coming MerMer!" Amelia says to her sister.
———-
A little while later Carolyn and Christopher rush into the school and go straight to the nurse's office.
"Hi, we're here for Meredith Grey." Christopher says.
"Great, come on back. She's in a lot of pain and won't stop sobbing. I'm not sure how to make her feel better." The nurse sighs.
"It's hard. Nothing really helps her." Christopher says.
They head into the room and see Meredith squirming around in pain on the bed.
"Oh Mer... sweetie." Carolyn says and rushes over to Meredith. "We're going home sweetie." She brushes the hair out of Meredith's face.
"Mommy, I hurt!" Meredith wails loudly.
"I know baby, I know." Carolyn says sadly. "Can I pick you up to bring you to the car?"
Meredith hesitates and then nods. It will hurt so badly but she can't make the walk to the car.
Carolyn picks her up and Meredith's pain increases.
They bring her to the car and she lays on Carolyn's lap during the ride home. She clutches her puppy in her hands.
"Try to sleep baby girl." Carolyn whispers, running her hands through Meredith's hair. "Christopher, I don't think school is going to work for her."
We hope you enjoyed!!!! Thanks to my co-writer _Ktje_