Seasons Of Love

The Guard Puppy

A/N - Another thank you to Unhinged R Us for being an amazing group. This chapter was once again based off a request from Thekn1ghtnurs3ry Thank you all for your reads and support! 

No matter how well coordinated Autumn's shift patterns were, there was always something that came along and messed them up. Whether it was Mia calling in to request last minute leave for Charlotte or the latest sickness bug finally reaching the staff it seemed there wasn't a week that went by they weren't scrambling to find cover. Since taking over Reece and Autumn had made sure they had plenty of staff and apprentices to take care of the children that were enrolled, but even with all of their planning they still often found themselves understaffed.

The one situation they'd always been able to avoid, though, was staff covering in the same rooms as their relatives. There wasn't a formal rule against it, but in the past they had dealt with staff members ignoring other children in order to spend more time with "their" kids. So shifts were planned to keep family members out of the same room as much as they possibly could. They knew at some point it was bound to happen though. Now that Rose and Little Carly were attending the setting, it was inevitable that one of their relatives would end up in the room with them; more than likely Winter. No one had any doubts that Winter would be able to handle being in the room with Rosel. He was a professional, he cared about all the children who passed through the door as his own. Everyone knew that he would be fine.

Rose, on the other hand, they worried about. In just over a year at the nursery she already had quite a...reputation. Not a bad one necessarily, but a reputation nonetheless. The teachers always had to keep an eye on Rose, just like her parents did at home. And it became apparent quite quickly that most "baby proofing" was useless; if she wanted to get into something...or out of something, she would find a way. Her first week in the toddler room she was found wandering the halls calling for Autumn and Winter three different times, thankfully she hadn't inherited her mother's quiet voice along with her sneaky nature so she was located very quickly each time.

Aside from being sneaky, she was quite adventurous and absolutely fearless. As soon as she knew how to pull herself up to stand, she learned how to climb. And she would climb anything: playground equipment, counters, book shelves, people, anything. If it could support her weight she would find a way to climb it. That resulted in a lot of accident forms for Autumn and Winter to sign. At first the staff would be worried to tell them about Rose's newest cut or bruise, but after they realized how many the parents had to report in the morning they weren't anxious anymore.

It was just very recently that Rose had started to settle into the nursery routine again. She still wasn't handling it as well as she had as a baby; she clung to her mama every morning, begging her not to leave and she still snuck away to look in the preschool room windows while they were in the garden to see her papa; but better. What helped most when Little Carly moved up to the toddler room. When those two girls were together, Rose would mellow out. It was as if she wanted to set a good example for her younger cousin; like she was just as responsible for her wellbeing as the teachers were. If Carly would cry, Rose would hug her. If Carly fell down, Rose would physically pull a staff member away from whatever they were doing to come help. And if Carly had a bandaid on, Rose would kiss it to make it better. The last thing anyone wanted to do was upset the new calm that girls had in the setting. They hoped when Winter did finally end up in a room with his daughter that she would be old enough to understand why she wasn't getting her papa's full attention.

But before they knew it the day came where there was no other option. Autumn had to schedule Winter to work in toddlers. Winter was almost always scheduled in the preschool room. He was undeniably one of the nursery's best educators; he had years of experience and more training than Reece, Marjorie and Autumn combined; so they put him with the older kids so that he could help prepare them for school. As a room leader, though, he was trained on the procedures of every room just in case he ever needed to cover the other rooms.