This is chaos but we'll get through together

Family

When Elizabeth wakes up she hears a baby crying.
"Mama? Mommy?"
"Hey bubba. You feeling better?" She looks up at her mama and nods just as a doctor walks in.
"Well well. Look who's wide awake. How are you feeling?" He says, smiling at her.
"Wanna go home"
"You can tomorrow. I came to check in and to take away the IV. I think you're well enough to eat and drink by yourself now" he says, taking the IV out. It hurt a lot and Elizabeth starts crying, pulling her hand away.

***

Anne instinctively lifts Elizabeth into her arms the second she starts to cry and holds her close.
"Shh bubba. It's okay. Want me to kiss it better?" She coos and Elizabeth nods, letting Anne gently kiss her hand and put a green frog patterned plaster on it while the doctor walks out.
"Where mommy go?"
"Mommy's here too bubba. There's someone we'd like you to meet" Anne says, carrying Elizabeth over to where Cathy was sitting with Mae and sits beside her, Elizabeth on her lap.
"Lizzie this is Mae"
"Baby sissy?"
"Yeah bubba! That's right. Baby sister" Anne says and Cathy smiles.
"Yay! Baby sissy" Elizabeth giggles, clapping her hands.
"Shes taking this well" Cathy chuckles and Anne nods, kissing the top of Elizabeth's head.
"Well then. Why don't we get some food? I bet this little one is hungry" she says, standing and picking Elizabeth up, wrapping her favourite blanket around her.
"Bobo" Elizabeth mumbles and Anne quickly grabs the stuffed frog, handing it to her.
"There now. Here's Bobo!" She coos, handing Elizabeth the stuffed frog and she smiles, cuddling it.
"Now. Let's get food" Anne says, carrying Elizabeth down to the cafeteria.
"Mama too loud" she whines, burrowing her head into the crook of Anne's neck.
"Shh. It's okay bubba. Want to go back to the room and ask a nurse to bring us food?" Anne feels her nod and turns around, starting off towards the room again. Lizzie sniffles snd sucks her thumb. Anne would usually gently push her hand down and remind her that big girls don't suck their thumbs. But she decides to forego it seeing as she was so down and worn out. They ask a doctor for the food and it's brought up. Anne sits Elizabeth on her bed and gets her food set up and then sits beside her to eat while Cathy feeds Mae with a bottle and some formula she'd gotten in the shop by the maternity wing. They'd talked about enrolling Elizabeth in classes. Jane and Catherine were enrolling Edward and Mary in stuff too. They'd all do theatre and 2 other things and Elizabeth seemed interested in ballet and cello. Mary wanted to do tennis and dance. And Edward wanted soccer and karate. So that was settled. They were going to be getting all the stuff for the activities once Elizabeth was better.
"There we go. Fed and burped" Cathy comes and sits with them, Mae in her arms.
"Small" Elizabeth says and Cathy chuckles.
"Yeah Lizzie. She is small isn't she?"
"Me too?"
"Yeah! You're small too Lizzie! But also big"
"Middle!" Anne laughs at this and kisses the top of Elizabeth's head.

Time skip

Everyone was excited. They'd come home and all the attention was on Mae and Elizabeth.
"Anna be gentle with Elizabeth! She's just out of hospital!" Jane calls as Anna runs around the house with Elizabeth on her back. She was giggling and clinging to Anna as she does one more lap of the house and then sits her down on the couch with Jane before running off to who knows where.

A few days later

"You're not family to them. You never will be. They're all connected. You're the odd one out. The ugly duckling" Anna curls up on her bed reading the message again. It was an unknown number. She didn't know who sent it. She just knew it hurt. She quickly puts her phone away when she hears her door open.
"Anna? Hey what's wrong duckie?" Catherine comes and sits beside her, gently placing a hand on her head.
"My stomach hurts" in a sense it was true. She'd gotten food poisoning.
"Oh I know. But it'll be better soon" she says softly as Jane comes in with Kitty and a tray of food.

***

Jane knew something was up. But right now she was on babysitting duty. Anne and Cathy we're going on a date. Mae was put to sleep already and Lizzie was running riot with a pot on her head, the lid in one hand and a in the other, a foam sword.
"Lizzie! Come on. Bath time" she chuckles, scooping the toddler up mid dash.
"Bath!" Jane plucks the pot off her head and puts it in the kitchen, setting the lid and spoon beside it before walking upstairs with Elizabeth who just happily sits in her arms, putting a finger to her mouth as they pass Anna's room. After her bath Jane brings her in to say goodnight and finds Anna sitting looking at texts. She sees them over her shoulder and puts Elizabeth down.
"Anna. Why didn't you tell us?" Anna jumps and drops her phone.
"I..I let myself believe they were true. That I'm not family" at this Elizabeth climbs on the bed and hugs Anna. Anne had asked her to be Elizabeth's godmother to which she'd gladly agreed.
"You're family Anna. God mama!" Jane nods and sits down.
"She's right. And you're kitty's girlfriend. And Lina sees you as a daughter. Cathy sees you as a sister and I...well it's corny but I see you as a daughter too. And Anne sees you as a sister too. You are family Anna. You're important to us" she says as kitty comes in with a pile of blankets and snacks.
"Okay who's harder to keep an eye on? The toddler or kitty?" Anna jokes as kitty hugs her while Elizabeth giggles and darts off. Jane just laughs and goes after her, leaving kitty to comfort Anna. Family was crazy but she wouldn't change hers for the world.