"One tiny thing." Meredith said as she was about to open the door. "When Derek died I was pregnant so we have a daughter Ellis."
"I'm sorry, what?" Liz exclaimed. "And you never told us?"
"I'm really sorry about that." Meredith said as she walked into her home. Bailey ran towards his mother and engulfed her into a giant hug. "This is your Aunt Liz, she was daddy's sister."
"Hi, Bailey it's good to see you." Liz sweetly said.
"Hi" Bailey shyly said. "Mom can you put me down, I have to go beat Ellis and win."
Meredith obliged and giggled. "Play nice Bailey." Meredith then walked over to the kitchen to start on dinner.
"So you moved out of the house Derek built, I totally understand though." Commented Liz.
"Yeah, it was just too difficult but this place still has some great memories of Derek."
The two women made casual small talk about their families while they cooked dinner. Zola then came into the kitchen and greeted everyone as she sat down at the kitchen table.
"When is Auntie Amelia coming?" Zola questioned.
"Well, she isn't coming tonight she was held up at the hospital." Meredith unconvincingly said.
"But it's Wednesday, she said she would come to dinner tonight!" Zola sighed." When is Auntie Amelia going to come back and live with us." Questioned Zola. Liz look confused, never knowing her sister had such a close relationship to Merediths family that she lived with them at one point.
"Well, Zo we've talked about that she is living with Link now." Meredith responded, trying not to expose too much of Amelia's situation.
"Well can't you ask her to move back in?" Zola sighed.
"I can't do that. I'm sorry Zola, but you have Maggie and me."
"I know, but you guys don't have as many stories about dad. You also don't know how to explain word problems like she does. Also you guys don't make waffles like she does. She just forgot about us."
"She definitely did not forget about you and your siblings, I promise. Hey, how about Liz tells you a story about dad. If that's okay?" Meredith asked for Liz's reassurance not knowing if she would want to talk about her dead brother.
"Of course! Let's see." Liz contemplated for a moment. "At the time your dad was the only kid out of us going to middle school, so he would walk to and from the middle school by himself. Our mother was not too fond of this, but our older sister refused to drive him since she was in high school and because was already driving around our other sister. So Derek would walk everyday, and one day he didn't come home when he usually did. So Amelia and I were home alone for about two hours getting worried until he walked through the door. He seemed odd, not his normal self. We had asked him what was wrong, he then took us to his room and opened up his backpack. There was a tiny yappy puppy. He had found it walking home from school and tried to find the owners but couldn't. We knew our mother wouldn't allow us having a dog, so we kept it a secret for about a week. We would take shifts secretly taking it outside. We would bring dinner scraps upstairs by saying Nancy was sick and wanted to eat upstairs, knowing Nancy was really out with her friends. She eventually found out, because mothers always find out. We did get to keep him though."
"I never heard that story." Meredith giggled picturing her late husband harboring a fugitive dog.
"What did you guys name him?" Zola asked intrigued.
"It was buddy, because he was our buddy." Liz giggled.
"That's cute, I never knew my dad liked dogs."
"Your dad and I had a dog. His name was Doc he was the best dog ever." Meredith reminisced.
"Really? Hey mom can we get a dog." Zola's statement caused all the girls to erupt with laughter.
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"I really thought we had thought of everything. Latex? How did we never consider this?" Link questioned as they stood outside their sons room as he slept.
"I don't know, how did I not realize he was going into anaphylaxis shock? He is only 6 months old I should of been watching him more carefully." Amelia said as tears fell down her face. Link held her face and wiped away the free falling tears.
"This isn't your fault."
"Except it is! I was so excited to get back to work I just wasn't paying attention."
"Amelia, this isn't your fault."
"We have to go through everything in the house and get rid of all the latex."
"Yes, but this isn't your fault Amelia." Link said again trying to convince his girlfriend.
"Can you go home and start throwing out the latex based stuff?"
"Of course, if that'll make you feel better. And this isn't your fault. I'll be back soon." Link reassured her. Maggie then came up to the couple.
"Oh wow they had to intubate him?" Maggie asked as she looked at Scout through the hospital window.
"Yeah he should be ok though. He just need to finish this round of epinephrine, and we'll be able to take him home in the morning." Link told Maggie.
"Ok I'm glad. Do we know what it was caused from?"
"Latex." Amelia numbly said.
"Scout is going to be fine. Look he is such a fighter. Well I'll see you tomorrow." Maggie said as she left.
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"I have never seen an allergic reaction this bad caused from latex." Maggie said as she walked through the door. "I feel so bad for Amelia, she is blaming this all on herself. I mean latex is scary you really don't know what has latex in it unless you really look into it." Maggie continued on as she got herself a plate.
"Oh hi, I'm Maggie." Maggie introduced herself to the stranger at the dinner table.
"Liz"
"Maggie this is Amelia's sister." Meredith said awkwardly.
"Why is Auntie Amelia upset?" Bailey asked
Before Meredith could intervene and hide Amelia's not so secret Maggie had already responded. "Well Scout got sick and Auntie Amelia didn't notice right away. And when your someone's mother it just is upsetting when your kid is sick."
"Is Scout going to be ok?" Bailey asked.
"Yeah he will be." Smiled Maggie.
"What's wrong with him?" Zola asked.
"Well he is allergic to latex. And a lot of things have latex so when he was exposed to those things it made him sick." Maggie responded.
Dinner was dying down. And Maggie was taking the kids upstairs to bed. So it was just Meredith and Liz in the kitchen.
"So, Amelia does have a baby?" Liz asked.
"Umm yeah she does." Meredith said awkwardly. "It's not really my place but I'll try to explain it a little bit. So Owen and Amelia got a divorce and then Owen started fostering this kid and didn't know anything about it so Amelia helped him out. And then they met the kids birth mother and she was a teenage drug addict so Amelia was helping her get clean. In the end the girl went back with her parents and Owen adopted Leo. And Amelia met Link and then a couple of months later got pregnant and they had Scout. I mean there is a lot more to the situation but that's the gist."
"Wow, seems complex." Liz remarked.
"Yeah it is. But Amelia is so happy with this baby and Link. Derek would be really proud." Meredith remarked.
"Seems like she is making good for herself."
really bad ending my apologies.
