This is chaos but we'll get through together

Wanting mama

Cathy waves goodbye to Anne and gets ready to head home. They'd left Elizabeth with the others because if she came then Anne wouldn't want to leave. She had volunteered to do the shopping too so would be out for a while.

***

Anna was stuck on the couch. Kitty was asleep on her. So was Elizabeth who was hiccuping softly. She'd pretty much cried until she fell asleep. Jane walks in and bites back a laugh as she gently picks Elizabeth up so she could move at least a little bit. She wakes up at this, looks around and immediately starts sobbing and crying out for Anne.
"Shh. Shh it's okay. It's okay mama will be home soon" Jane walks around the room bouncing Elizabeth on her hip and making shushing sounds. Eventually Cathy comes home and Jane does a swap. Shopping for a crying child.

***

"Hey. Why done we go watch a movie huh? You and me bubba" Cathy says softly, wiping Elizabeth's eyes with her thumb and kissing her forehead.
"What about Mae?"
"We can watch her!" Kitty says excitedly and Anna nods.
"Yeah"
"That settles it then. If you have any problems just ask Catherine. She's experienced"

***

Anna sits up at the same time as Kitty. They'd been discussing having a child of their own lately and watching Mae would be great practice. She was currently asleep in her room and her baby monitor was on the coffee table.

***

Cathy sits down with Elizabeth on her lap. They had snacks and were watching a bunch of Disney movies. Elizabeth's favourite.
"Mommy. Gotta go potty"
"Okay bubba. Let's go" Cathy pauses the movie and carries Elizabeth to the bathroom so she can use the potty. The potty training was going very well. There were accidents sometimes but that couldn't be helped.
"All done!" She looks over as Elizabeth stands on her tip toes to flush the toilet.
"Great job Lizzie! Can you put the froggy seat away and wash your hands?" Elizabeth nods and puts the seat thing they'd gotten to stop her falling into the toilet and then goes and pulls out the matching stool, standing on it and washing her hands, singing a song she'd learned about washing hands. Once she's done washing and drying them Cathy picks her up and brings her to the kitchen so she could get a reward.
"Now I think using the toilet like a big girl deserves a special treat" Cathy says, taking down the box of little gifts she and Anne had gotten as rewards for using the toilet so she'd understand that it was a good thing. It was a psychology thing. (Fun fact this is called operant conditioning, a way of learning via reward and punishment, other known as positive and negative reinforcement) she roots around happily and pulls out some new pyjamas.
"They got frogs!"
"Yeah! Wanna wear them to watch the movie bubba?" Cathy asks and she nods.
"Yeah! Mommy look! I froggie! Ribbit ribbit!" Cathy chuckles as Elizabeth bounces around the room like a frog before hugging her legs.
"Call mama now?"
"Just one more hour. Just enough time for a bath and getting into your cool new pyjamas!" Cathy says and Elizabeth whines in protest.
"Come on you" Cathy chuckles, putting the box away and picking Elizabeth up.

After the bath

Anne looks at her phone just as she gets a call. It was Cathy. She answers and smiles when she sees Cathy and Elizabeth's faces.
"Mama! I went potty and got froggie pjs!"
"That's so cool bubba! You're getting so grown up now" she says and Elizabeth pouts.
"No wanna grow up"
"Even if you do you're still gonna be my little baby. Always"
"Okay mama"
"So Cathy has everything been okay?"
"There's been some tears. But she's all cheered up now and Mae is being looked after by Anna and Kitty. So me and Lizzie are watching a movie together" Cathy says and Anne smiles.
"Well at least she's not too upset. I just hope the month goes by fast"
"Mama when you gonna be home?"
"In a few weeks okay bubba?"
"Why not now?" She asks, tearing up.
"It's some stuff for work. But when I'm back guess what?"
"What?"
"We get to go on holiday!"
"Yay! I gonna do lots and lots of swimming!"
"Yeah you are! And it's gonna be so much fun!" They talk for a while and then Anne has to go.

***

The second the phone is hung up Elizabeth starts crying.
"Want mama back!"
"I know bubba. But she'll be back soon" Cathy says, hugging her and putting back on another movie. Elizabeth just cuddles up to her sobbing.

***

Kitty smiles as she watches Anna feed Mae. She looked so happy.
"So when we have a kid which one of us will be the one to well...to actually have it?" Anna asks suddenly and Kitty smiles a bit.
"I'll do it" she says and Anna nods.
"Okay. So what do we do now? She's done eating"
"I got this" she says, burping Mae.
"You're a natural babe" Anna says and Kitty smiles.
"Jane showed me how to do it"
"So how are we telling the others?"
"We'll figure it out"

A few weeks later

"Mommy when mama back?" Cathy looks at the calendar and smiles.
"Very very soon"
"I want mama"
"So you don't want to go on a super secret special mission then?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah. It's gonna be super cool!" Cathy smiles as Elizabeth nods and holds her arms up.
"Okay then. Let's go" she picks her up and grabs bo before carrying her to the car and putting her into her car seat. The others hop in and Elizabeth falls asleep on their way to the airport. She carries her in and then they wait. Anne comes after about an hour and takes Elizabeth into her arms.
"We've all missed you so much" Cathy says, kissing her and smiling as the others hug her, being careful not to wake Elizabeth.
"Let's go get food!" Anne says, waking Elizabeth who shrieks excitedly and hugs her.
"Mama! Mama mama mama!"