Meant to be.

Little Ari

Addison's POV

My heart stopped slightly as she looked at me, her
eyes opening wide as the dolls in her hands fell to the ground, I just stood there for a moment wanting to let her make the first move, but then tears started to fall from her eyes, I couldn't stay back anymore. I scooped her up moving to the rocking chair we'd added to the nursery, sitting her in my lap.

"Ssh, ssh it's ok," I say rocking her back and forth, gently running my fingers through her hair, "oh baby it's ok your ok," I repeat, letting Arizona take her time to calm down,

Eventually I feel the sobbing stop and she looks up at me her eyes huge and full of fear.
"Baby girl please don't be scared," I coo, smiling,
"Addie?" She asks sitting up a bit more in my lap, and I can tell she's stop regressing
"Yeah my love, let's go out to the lounge, and we can talk." I explain, and she nods but doesn't move, making me smile as I stand lifting her bridal style and moving to the lounge,

"So where do you want to start my love." I ask sitting next to her holding her hand,
"How much did you see?" She asks
"I saw you playing with the dolls," I answer honestly,
"So you saw me regressed?" She asks and I'm glad she brought it up, it means we can talk about it
"Yes I did my love," I answer, "do you want to talk more about your regression, I'm going to guess this probably wasn't the first time?"
She shakes her head,
"It's ok baby, you can tell me anything I won't judge I promise." I coo,
"No I have done it before, a lot actually, well not a lot recently but well um" she starts to answer but gets caught over her words
"Take your time, it's ok" I reply, gently squeezing her hand.
"Ok, well it started not because I didn't have a good childhood but just because I moved so much following my dad around I didn't really get to be a little kid, with my dad away a lot so I had to grow up quickly to help mum out and then Tim died and I used age regression to help, I went back to a time when he was still alive he could protect me, I've done it for years but then I met Elizabeth and she found out about it and..." she starts to explain but stops tears forming in her eyes,
"Your doing well my love keep going." I coo, she takes a deep breath before continuing
"She found out, and at first she was nice about it, but then she started to tease me, and threaten to tell everyone, then she started abusing me while I was little so I stopped, I push it so far down, then when I moved in here and started to heal I started doing it again not often and only when you weren't home, that's why I had the sippy cup already and why I knew stuff like where the store was." She answers looking down.
"Oh my love you should have told me," I said suddenly feeling guilty, I had suggested that Meredith use regression as a coping mechanism, I hadn't even thought it would be a trigger to Arizona
"I... I guess it was so buried deep inside me under so many layers of pain and guilt I didn't feel I could. But it's ok, I've been slipping more since Meredith started regression because all the stuff is here it's easier but I've been doing it when your not home" Arizona answered,
"Well you don't have to hide anymore Ari, ok my little girl, do you want to tell me a bit more specifically about your regression?" I ask pulling her into my lap,
"Well um, I have control over when I slip I can stop it in most situations, and can can easily come out of it if needed but I can't really control what age I drop to, if changes between about 6 and 10 depending on my mood and how I'm feeling that day. So older than Mer, so you don't need to worry about me" she says and I shake my head
"Zona my love, I'm going to worry about you, you don't have to do this alone anymore I'm here ok," I coo hugging her,
"But what about Meredith? I'm meant to be looking after her," she asks looking up at me,
"I'll explain it to her don't worry, when your big you can look after her just like normal but if you slip, then you can just be like a big sister to her," I explain,
"So I really don't have to hide it anymore?" She asks,
"No my love not at all," I coo back, "do you want to slip now?"
She doesn't say anything but nods
"Ok my love," I say, smiling as I see her face soften,
"Addie? Can we play?" She asks.
"Of course we can," I answer lowering her down to the floor, where she runs over to the craft box we got Meredith, not that Meredith used it much, she's a bit too young when she regresses to do craft properly.
As I sit and craft with Ari, I can't help but smile, she adorable like this playing and carefree.
It all makes sense now her extensive knowledge, her understand and care, how well she picked up on Meredith's tiny tells,
"How's it going pumpkin?" I ask smiling at her,
"I'm pumpkin?" She asks looking at me,
"Yes you are pumpkin your Addie's sweet pumpkin." I answer tickling her, her giggles filling the room. I love her giggles,
It amazes me how long these crafts keep her attention she's working on some craft from a book when I hear footsteps behind me.
"Addie? Zona?"

Authors Note

I hope you enjoyed, two chapter in one day.

Sorry they are shorter it just didn't feel right to put them as one chapter, so I split it into two slightly smaller ones

As always, I love seeing your comments and ideas