Meredith's POV
"Meredith Grey, will you marry me?" I hear Nathan say.
"Of course!" I say, I take his hand and he stands. I passionately kiss him and he kisses back. He slides the ring onto my finger and I hear clapping.
I turn around to see Bailey, Ellis, and Zola holding Lexie in the doorway.
"Look guys, mommy and daddy are going to get married!" Zola says. Ellis claps, and Bailey runs up to is and guys Nathan.
"Daddy! This is gonna be so good! Can we build a tree house?"
"Sure bud. How about we look at different kind on the computer tomorrow?" Nathan says to B.
"Yay! I can't wait daddy!" B says and gives Nathan a huge hug.
"How about we go make some homemade pasta, and watch whatever movie you guys want to?" I suggest.
"That sounds like fun! Can we watch Moana?" Zola asks.
"No! I wanna watch Cars!" Bailey shouts. Ellis just giggles to her siblings fighting.
"How about we watch Moana and then Cars. That way, both of you get to see the movie you want, and we have more time to eat. We can even make movie theatre style popcorn for whatever movie is second, but only if everyone finishes their dinner before the end of the first movie." I say trying to compromise.
They agtee, we make dinner, watch the movies and make popcorn.
I look at the clock after Cars is finished, and I see that it's 8h30pm.
"Alright kids. Off to bed. Pjs, brush teeth, and daddy and I will be in soon to read to you and tuck you in." I say. Ellis and Alexandra are already in bed, so it's just Bailey and Zola we have to tuck in.
"Can daddy read to me tonight mommy?" Bailey asks.
"Sure B. Just tell daddy what story you want him to read." I tell him.
"Daddy! Can you read mommys book, make way for ducklings? Pleeaaasseeee?" Bailey asks down the hall.
"Of course bud. Let's go get settled." Nathan says and they go into Bailey's room.
"Mom? Can I read alone tonight?" Zola asks.
"Uh sure. Just nothing from mommy and daddy's book shelves okay? Either a picture book or a small chapter book." I say.
My little girl really is growing up. She's in kindergarten. How did the time pass so quickly? I stand outside her room, leaning against the wall.
Nathan walks out fo Bailey's room a few minutes later, and looks quizzically at me.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"Zola is reading all by herself. It just hit me that she's growing up. She's in kindergarten this year. In five years, she'll be 10, in 5th grade, and Alexandra will be starting kindergarten, Bailey will be in fourth grade, Ellis will be in second. Time passes too quickly. I wish sometimes it would all just slow down. I want to keep my babies safe and protected from the scary adult world. My mother used to tell me, the carousel never stops turning. You can't get off. I now know what she means. Time passes too quickly and you can't slow down time." I rant. I lean from the wall into Nathan's chest.
"Come here. Let's go to bed. We can tell Zo to stop reading in 30 minutes." He says. We go to bed, and I almost immediately fall asleep.
Nathan's POV
Meredith falls into bed and falls fast asleep within minutes.
I check my phone for work emails, pages, and scroll through Facebook for a while (I'm sorry if Facebook is super outdated, I was informed today that teens don't really use Facebook anymore)
I look to the corner of my phone and see that 35 minutes have passed.
I get up and walk to Zola's room. I look in to see her fast asleep, the light on, and her face on top of the book.
I smile and pick her up and turn her the other way, slipping her under the covers. I dog ear the page and place it on the night stand, and pull the covers up. I kiss her hesd, and turn off the lamp.
"Is Zo asleep?" Meredith mumbles.
"Yeah. She fell asleep on her book." I say.
"Cute. Night babe." She says and snuggles into me. We fall asleep like this.
"Daddy! Can we look at tree houses now?" I hear a screeching loudly in my ear.
"Bailey, shh. Mommy is still sleeping, but we me get up and make breakfast then we can look at pictures okay?" I say, slowly sneaking out from under Meredith's arm.
We go downstairs and I see Zola reading the book she fell asleep on last night, and Ellis sitting next to her, watching Chuggington on the iPad, and Lexie is in a bouncer in front of Zola.
"Morning Zo, El. Sleep well?" I ask.
"Yup! Zo put twains on for me daddy! Look!" Ellis says in her toddler language.
"Wow El! That's awesome." I say.
"Hey dad. I tried to change Lexie this morning. She wet herself in her sleep, and I couldn't figure out how to put diaper on, so I taped it. The flappy things weren't working." Zola says.
"Well, she's dry, and that's all that matters. Great job Zo." I say. "Who's up for waffles?"
"Me!" Zola and Bailey shout.
"Alright, come help me make the batter!" I say.
"Daddy, my stomach hurts. A lot." Zola says.
"How long has it hurt?" I ask.
"Last night and today. Right here." She says and points to where her appendix is.
"Oh Zo." I say. "Lets wake up mommy and take you to the hospital. Try to stay calm and not move."
I carry her out to the car, strap her in, strap the kids in, and go back inside.
I see Meredith sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking a cup of coffee and talking on her phone.
Meredith's POV
"Yeah, he's amazing Cris. He's great with the kids, I'm really happy about this."I say, talking to my best friend.
"Yeah, hold on. I'll talk to you at the hospital." I say and hang up the phone.
"What's up babe?" I ask.
"Zola has severe pain in her lower right part of her stomach. I think she has appendicitis." Nathan says.
"Shit. Yeah, where are the kids?" I ask.
"Already in the car. You have your work bag?" He asks.
"Yeah, it's always packed and ready to go." I say jumping up and grabbing my coat and we run to the car and drive to the hospital.
Nathan drops me and Zola off at the Pit and drives around to the parking lot to take the other kids up to day care.
"What do we got." April says.
"Page Alex. We need ultrasound and blood tests asap. We need to check for appendicitis." I say, setting Zola on a bed in trauma room 2.
"Hey Mer, what's up?" Alex says, putting gloves on.
"Uncle Alex!" Zola says.
"Hey Zozo, I hear your tummy hurts?"
"Yeah. Right here." And points directly to where her appendix is.
"I'm gonna take this magic wand, put some jelly on it and put it on your tummy, okay?" Alex says.
They do the ultrasound, confirm it's the appendix and take her up for surgery.
"Mommy!" Zola cries.
"Zo baby, I'm right here. Uncle Alex is going to take out your appendix, which you don't need, and he's gonna make you feel all better. Okay? I'll be right by your side when you wake up." I say.
"Hug mommy. I'm scared." Zola whispers in my ear.
"Its okay honey. You're going to take a nap, and wake up feeling much better." I say, rubbing her back before the shoo me out if the OR.
