**lightly edited**
It was going on noon time. Mostly everybody was awake, except for Elizabeth. For some reason, she decided that she wanted to stay up really late. She stayed up until three in the morning, most likely playing with her dolls, or playing on her iPad. She missed breakfast, and by now, was about to miss lunch.
"Do you know where Elizabeth is?" William asked, not to anyone in particular, but to whoever was listening. Michael walked over to grab one of the sandwiches that were done being made.
"As far as I know, she is still sleeping." Michael answered, which made William sigh. He really didn't understand why she stayed up so late. She was lucky it was the summer
"Do you want to go wake her up? I'm busy, making these stupid sandwiches." He mumbled the last part under his breath, because he hated sandwiches. He had no particular reason why. Lea usually made sandwiches, because she didn't mind, but she had to take an emergency trip with her mom to see her aunt, who was in the hospital.
Michael put his plate down on the counter, and went up the stairs to get his sleeping sister up. he walked into her room, and opened the curtains, which made her move a little.
"Get up you, idiot!" Michael yelled at his sister, which wasn't very nice.d. If his father heard that, he might get a punishment..
"Ten more minutes." Elizabeth whined, as if she hasn't slept in until noon. Michael crossed his arms at the statement.
"It's noon time, Liz." She almost fell off of the bed in shock. She scrambled to grab some clothes that looked decent and pointed at the door, signaling for Michael to get out. He walked downstairs to eat his sandwich, which was gone, and Chris was eating.
"Hey! That's my sandwich!" Michael accused, which caused Chris to look at him confused.
"Dad said that I could have it." Michael turned to his father, who was leaning against the counter, drinking tea, not surprisingly.
"Why did you give him my sandwich?"
"I didn't. I told him it was okay for him to eat it, does it have your name on it?" Michael sighed, and took the slightly newer sandwich that was on the counter.
"Are you going to eat, Father?" Michael asked his father, who shook his head in reply.
"I ordered something, so maybe."
"Did you make Lizzie a sandwich?" Chris joined the conversation, asking about his sister, who still hasn't come downstairs.
"No. She didn't come down in time, so if she wants to eat something she can make it herself." William shrugged, this being kind of a punishment for sleeping in so late. He also knew how much she hated doing things for herself.
"Isn't that kind of mean?" Chris whined, things like that made him upset, even though he had nothing to do with it.
"It's not mean if you don't think it is. If anything, it's fair, she should've listened when I told her to go to bed." Michael chuckled, knowing very well how many times that his father told her to go to bed. Eventually he just gave up, and told her that there would be consequences. Which she ignored, being to absorbed into whatever she was doing on her iPad, that is, until William unplugged the internet.
Footsteps could be heard stomping down the stairs.
"Good morning, sunshine." William said sarcastically, and Elizabeth stomped into kitchen, which was very rare for her usually cheerful self. Elizabeth just scowled at her father, which made him smile back, just to annoy her.
"Where's my sandwich?!" She asked, being grumpy. Michael laughed at her, and she looked at him, which made him just a little uncomfortable, since she was never like this.
"In the fridge." Elizabeth walked over to the fridge, and rummaged around looking for it.
"It's not here." She stated, which everyone already knew that it wasn't.
"Yes, it is. You just have to put it together, yourself." Elizabeth looked at her father, who was still drinking his tea. He looked at her, which made her even more annoyed.
"Couldn't you just make it? I really don't want to."
"I don't want to make it either. I would've, if you got up on time and came down before I put everything away. If you want to eat something, you can make it yourself." Elizabeth contemplated what she wanted to do, it was either make a sandwich, annoy him to do it, or make him order something so neither of them had to.
William looked at his phone.
"What an inconvenience, they're running late." He put his phone away, and looked at his children. Michael and Chris were finishing their sandwiches, and Elizabeth was looking angrily at the two boys, who were given food, that they didn't have to make themselves. There was a knock at the front door.
"Finally." William mumbled, as he went to go get his food. Elizabeth perked up, thinking that it was for her. She sat down in one of the stools, that were placed around the island in the middle of the large kitchen.
"Liz, you know that's not for you, right?" Michael pointed out, to which she fell off the stool and started crying.
"Look what I have to deal with, why do all of my children act so spoiled?" He said, dropping the food, still wrapped, on her head. She looked up at her father, who gave her a nasty look.
"If I knew that you were going to throw a fit, I wouldn't have spent my money on something I wanted just to have to waste it on a spoiled brat like you." William spat at his daughter who was laying on the floor, literally hugging the food, while crying. He walked out of the kitchen, and into the living room, followed by Michael.
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh, Father?" Michael questioned, which he knew could go two ways, maybe three. William didn't stop walking.
"No, I think that she deserved it. She is acting like a complete brat. You need to discipline kids that act like that, or else they won't listen." Michael already knew that you needed to discipline children, but he thought that his father's way of discipline was wrong. He couldn't say that out loud, because he knew what he would do.
"But she's out there crying!" Michael continued to argue. His father stopped walking, but didn't turn around.
"And what do you want me to do about that?" He questioned his son, who was standing behind him.
"Any responsible parent would go out there and comfort her!"
"And how am I supposed to comfort her? I did everything I could. You don't think that I'm a responsible parent?"
"That's not what I-"
"No, you did mean it. If I wasn't responsible, you wouldn't be standing here arguing with me. If I wasn't responsible, then I wouldn't have given her my lunch. Maybe you should just think before you speak, Michael." William continued walking again, leaving Michael in silence. He walked back into the kitchen to see his sister happy and giggling with Chris.
- - -
It was a little bit past one, and Elizabeth was happy again. Everybody was calm, even though William was still annoyed at what happened earlier. Elizabeth ran into the living room, to play with her dolls, and according to her, they were on a "road trip".
"Vroom Vroom..." Elizabeth said sadly, which made William look at her suspiciously.
"What are you doing?"
"My dolls are on a road trip, but they have no car!" That made William sigh, remembering that he bought her a car for her dolls for Christmas.
"Didn't you just get a doll car?"
"I don't know where it went, and I think that it is broken." Elizabeth said truthfully, which made him annoyed. She really didn't take care of her things.
"Can I go play with them in your car?"
"Are you serious?! It's almost 100 degrees outside! Do you want to become fried?"
"Don't you have air conditioner in your car?"
"Do you think I'm made of money?"
"Yes." She responded seriously, which made him sigh. There was no way in hell that he was letting her go and play in the car.
"You're not playing in the car. I can't get arrested until your mother comes back." He said, half joking about getting arrested. Elizabeth frowned at him, hoping he would say yes, but he kept denying.
"Michael?"
"Yes, Father?"
"I'm going to take a nap, could you make sure that Elizabeth doesn't do anything stupid?"
"Sure." William trusted that he would watch her, but doubted that he was going to do anything.
Elizabeth snuck upstairs, to see if her father was sleeping, which he was, and to her surprise, so was Michael. She smiled mischievously as she grabbed her dolls, and went downstairs. She looked around for her father's car keys, which she saw hanging on a hook. It was too high for her to reach, so she jumped up, barely grabbing them. She took them off the hook, and unlocked the car. She left the keys on the little table, which she assumed that her father wouldn't notice.
She walked outside and opened the door, too stupid to leave the door open for air, and closed it. She started playing with her dolls, a couple minutes later, she started to sweat. She wiped her forehead, but continued to play anyway.
Ten minutes later, she started fading in and out of consciousness, which she ignored, not knowing the signs for getting over heated. Suddenly, she passed out. Nobody knew that she was in the car, dying.
- - -
William woke up, five minutes after Elizabeth passed out. He walked past Michael's room, and peeked his head in, and saw him sleeping. He knew he couldn't trust Michael with doing a simple job. So, he went to find Elizabeth, because she was quite the troublemaker. She wasn't in her room, so he checked the living room, then the kitchen. He was about to go back upstairs, but noticed something was off.
His keys were missing from their normal spot, but they were on the little table.
"Dammit, Elizabeth." He mumbled under his breath, and walked outside.
He looked in the car, seeing her slumped over body, in the back seat. He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket, and dialed the ambulance, because he wasn't a doctor, and didn't want to handle this himself.
"911 what's your emergency."
"My daughter got into the car, when I told her not too, and passed out due to the heat."
"Okay, get her out of the car, and put a cold rag or ice pack on her forehead to cool her off. We will be there as soon as possible."
He picked up Elizabeth and laid her down on the couch, and put something cold on her forehead. He walked to the bottom of he stairs, and yelled up at Michael.
"Michael! Get your ass down here!" He heard a loud thump, accompanied with an 'ow', and assumed that he fell out of his bed. Michael came downstairs, and joined his father at the couch.
"What's wrong, Father?" Michael asked, not seeing his passed out sister laying on the couch.
"I don't know...what's wrong?" He replied sarcastically, nodding to the passed out girl on the couch.
"Father I-"
"You literally have no excuse. You fell asleep, and you knew that she would try to do that."
There was a knock on the door, assuming it was the paramedics. William answered, and led them to the little girl.
"So what happened?"
"She wanted to play dolls in the car, to which I told her it was too hot, and that she wasn't allowed. I went upstairs to take a nap, and she thought it was a good idea to take my keys and go in anyway."
"Isn't that your fault, sir" The paramedics pointed out.
"Not at all. I went to rest because I wasn't feeling well, and told my other son to make sure she didn't try that. He fell asleep too."
"Where is their mother?"
"There was a family emergency, and had to travel."
They nodded, and took her in on the stretcher. Michael looked at his father, who stared emotionless at the commotion. He pulled out his phone, and dialed a number.
"Hello?" A woman answered.
"Hi, I just wanted to let you know, that Elizabeth is going to the hospital.
"What did you this time?" The woman sighed.
"It wasn't me this time. She wanted to play dolls in the car, which is extremely hot due to the heat. So I told Michael to watch her while I went to rest, because I wasn't feeling well."
"You know you can't trust Michael with thing like that."
"I know, and he fell asleep. So Elizabeth snuck around, got the keys, and got in the car. Obviously she ignored that she was hot, and eventually passed out."
"How long will she be there?" Lea asked over the phone, concerned for the safety of her child.
"I don't know! But she has been causing problems all day, I personally think that she deserved it."
"If I was there I would slap you."
"Mhmmm." He replied with heavy sarcasm.
"Get off the phone!" He heard somebody yell from the other end.
"I'll talk to you later, bye." William ended the conversation.
"Bye."
- - -
William and his two sons entered the hospital. They walked up to the front desk, the nurse looked up from their computer.
"Hello, how may I help you today?"
"Hi, I'm looking for Elizabeth Afton?"
"Are you her parent or guardian?" The nurse asked him, which was a silly question.
"Yes, I am her father."
"Really? She looks nothing like you!" The nurse said surprised, looking at Chris and Michael, which made William roll his eyes. He showed her his ID, which she nodded.
"She is in room number 1203, which is on the next floor, down the hall, and to the left." The nurse said with a smile, as she watched them go into the elevator, then returning to her work.
- - -
They walked into the room, and Elizabeth was hooked up to an IV, for hydration. She looked much better than she did when they brought her in. Chris walked up to her first, and hugged her, which she hugged back. They were only there for a couple of minutes before the doctor walked in.
"You must be her father." He said as he shook hands with William.
"How is she?"
"She is doing much, much better. I came in, to let you know that she could go home in another hour. There was no serious damage, just serious dehydration. I'll be back soon with the check out papers." The doctor explained to William, who nodded.
"That's very good to hear." The doctor gave a thumbs up, then left the room.
"See what happens when you don't listen?" He said to Elizabeth, who looked away.
He sat down in one of the chairs, and texted Lea, letting her know that Elizabeth was okay.
- - -
The doctor came back in a little over a hour later, but nurses checked in every 20 minutes. He handed William some papers to sign, and fill out information. He handed them back to the doctor who smiled, then gave them the right away to go.
Elizabeth got dressed, and the headed out the door. They got into the car, and William started driving.
"I'm sorry." Elizabeth said, but William didn't reply, because he knew she wasn't. There wasn't much conversation during the car ride.
William pulled into the driveway and exited the car, followed by everyone else.
"Elizabeth go upstairs and rest, I don't want to see you back down here until dinner time." Elizabeth nodded sadly, and went upstairs when the entered the house. William sat down in the couch and rubbed his forehead, out of frustration. Why doesn't she ever listen.
Williams phone dinged, signaling that he received a message. The message was from Lea, saying that she was at the airport, and was getting ready to board the plane. He got a bit annoyed over this, because he would have to be there, probably around two in the morning, to pick her up. He responded to the text, and went upstairs.
He saw Elizabeth, who was laying on her bed sleeping, he went to his room, and laid down, knowing he needed to rest, so he could go pick up Lea from the airport.
~*end*~
2794
/N: Hello. Thank you for reading the story! I hope you enjoyed the story. If there are any mistakes, let me know, and I will fix them. Any questions, also leave them in the comments. So, yeah. Short note today.