Chapter Text
In hindsight, volunteering to babysit for your bosses was a good idea. Everyone was pitching in to make sure the two hardworking attendings had the time. Abbott arranged shift changes for day shift on Friday and Saturday, Patterson, Shen and Ellis, switching hours to cover.
But they needed a babysitter for one night. Their first thought was Mel, to be frank. But Mel was on a weekend trip to Massachusetts with Becca, having a girls weekend with her sister. Both Robby and Heather knew how close the two were.
"We could do it." Trinity volunteered in the break room, "Me, Dennis, Victoria - we can definitely watch her for the night."
"Uh, are you sure?" Heather asked. Javadi and Whittaker were babies, which could be a good thing but she had seen Santos make a kid cry (it was after a MVC, to be fair, but still).
"How hard could it be?" Santos shrugged.
Trinity was more there to supervise Whitaker and Victoria. They had all been working to the bone that week and hanging out with a toddler, in a very nice house, studying and likely watching a couple of movies should have been easy.
It was 7pm and the day had gone pretty well. There were some tears that afternoon when Heather and Robby left but they put on The Little Mermaid and Amelia was content to sit and munch on her fruit snacks and candy that they laid out whilst the three studied.
The three took naps in the living room, also putting Amelia down. But she had woken up first and saw that her colouring supplies were still out on her play table.
They all woke up, having set a timer. Victoria's eyes widened when she saw Dennis who groggily stood up, and Trinity burst out laughing.
"What?" Dennis asked, looking at the both of them.
"You have a little something on your face." Victoria said, grimacing. She pointed at the mirror above the fireplace.
Dennis groaned, seeing the yellow and orange all over his face. Amelia must have drawn
"Wait, where is she?" Dennis asked.
Amelia was sitting in the front hallway, focusing as she scribbled on the wall.Amelia had not only gotten to Denis’ face but the corridor wall, once a plain canvas of warm grey, had a small mural of squiggles in orange, pinks, blues, yellows.
“How do I get this off my face?” Dennis asked, frowning in the mirror. He tried rubbing but it wasn't coming off.
“I made Dennis pretty!” Amelia squealed happily, standing up. She was covered in marker herself.
“Amelia, can you give me the marker?” Victoria asked sweetly and she shook her head, running into the living room.
Santos scooped her up and took the marker out of her hand, "Gotcha!" She said victoriously.
But the toddler's bottom lip started quivering, her new activity suddenly taken away so abruptly was clearly upsetting.
“No, no, no.” Trinity tried bouncing her but the tears and cries came anyway.
“Trinity!” Victoria hissed. She looked around and picked up one of her teddy bears, holding it out to Amelia who shook her head, "Maybe we shouldn't have let her draw."
“I didn't think she'd use all the markers. Or ours." Trinity said. She could see on the coffee table and floor, markers and highlighters all over the place.
"Soap and water?" Dennis asked. He was still looking in the mirror.
"Forget you face, Huckleberry, we need to cover up the mural." Trinity snapped.
Victoria took her phone out of her pocket, scrolling through her contacts. She pressed Langdon's name, hoping that he would answer.
“Victoria?” Concern laced Frank's tone, when he picked up on the fourth ring, “What's up?”
“Hey, Doctor, uh, Langdon. Sorry to disturb you but I know you're a parent and I was just wondering if you knew how to get marker out of skin? And walls?”
Frank was relieved by the simplicity of the question, but confused. After all, it was not what he expected from one of the students. He expected a mass casualty, “Uh, why?” He asked.
"Just, uh, a mishap with some markers and Google says nail polish remover but we don't know if that's good for a kid's skin."
At his home, Frank looked at his wife, amused as she bought in popcorn, “Babe, how do you get marker out of skin?” He asked.
“Uh, with Tanner or Ava, I used my Bioderma - micellar water.” Abby replied, “Why?”
“No clue,” He shrugged, going back to the phone, relaying the information to Victoria who thanked him, “Is everything okay?”
“Fine! Fine. We are capable doctors and everything is fine here!”
Frank ended the call, throwing an arm over Abby's shoulders as she pressed play on the movie. She looked at her husband amused, “You're not going to go over and help?”
Frank shook his head, leaning back on the couch, “Nah, we have our own circus.”
The marker on Dennis’ face was solved and they planned the next day a quick trip to Ulta to replace Heather's make up remover. They managed to bribe Amelia into the bath with her toy ducks, bath crayons and the soundtrack for The Little Mermaid. Sure, the bath left Victoria and Trinity covered in water too, but the house was coming back together.
But the wall was the main issue. Soap and water was not working as they hoped. The sponges scraped against the wall, which left scratch marks.
“We gotta call for help.” Santos sighed, running a hand through her hair.
Twenty minutes later, Abbott and Mohan were at the door. Whilst Trinity would usually ask and tease them about why they called Abbott and Samira came with and she was wearing his leather jacket - oh and they were both in casual, but definitely on a date outfits.
“What did you three do?” Samira asked, taking in the sight of the three tired students.
Jack crossed his arm studying the wall. He remembers a little cousin making a mess like this once. It was why those drawing mats were a big thing in his family.
“Uncle Jack! Uncle Jack!” Amelia came running, in her purple footie pyjamas, and he bent down to pick her up, “I made it pretty!”
He nodded, amused “I see that.” He looked at the chaos, “Why isn't she asleep yet?” Jack asked. It was after seven o’clock. He didn't know much about kids but he knew she slept pretty early.
“She won't sleep.” Dennis insisted, “She just runs. Why are toddlers this fast?”
“They have a faster metabolism.” Samira explained briefly, “Do you think they have some paint?” She asked.
"Nah, I helped paint this place. We'll have to to Home Depot." Jack sighed, checking his watch. They had an hour at most.
But then a phone rang. Dennis held up his phone. It was Robby. Everyone looked at each other, panicked but Dennis knew he would have to answer. He put it on speaker and cleared his throat.
“Hey, we're just checking in.” Robby said, “You guys okay?’
“Hey, Robby.” Dennis said nervously, and Santos glared at him, “We're good, you know? Studying. Watching your daughter, you know?”
“That’s good. Is Amelia asleep? Any trouble?” He asked.
“No, no! A perfect angel.” Dennis said, “She's actually asleep now.”
“Yeah, we let her stay with us a little later, sorry.” Santos assured, “You guys have fun. Bye!” she pressed end on the call.
Jack clapped his hands, “Okay. Get this one to sleep.” He ordered, handing Amelia over to Victoria, "I'll head over to Home Depot, I think I remember the shade." He said. He looked over at Samira, apologetic, "Keep an eye on them?"
"From dinner to babysitting duties, you sure know how to show a girl a good time." Samira quipped.
They managed to get a better rhythm the next morning. Well, Amelia made her way into the guest room where Victoria and Trinity were sleeping at six am and was ready to play.
"The park is closed." Trinity muttered, rolling over to shove her face in the pillow. Victoria encouraged her to lie down, hoping she would go back to sleep. They had learned that keeping her close was the key to an orderly household.
They were sitting in the living room, Amelia on Dennis' lap as the three sorted through flashcards. The rule had been someone keeps Amelia on them at all times. Javadi held her whilst breakfast was made, so now it was Dennis' turn.
He kept all of his pens away from her.
They heard the door unlock and the three looked at each other. They made their way into the hallway to see Heather open the door, Robby holding the bags behind her.
“Mommy!” Amelia cheered, running towards Heather who bent down and caught her in a hug.
“Hi baby.” Heather cooed, “Hey guys. Thank you so much.”
“The house is still standing, nice.” Robby remarked, as he placed the bags down next to the stairs, "Thank you for watching her."
The three smiled, “Piece of cake!” Santos said.
"It was a lot of fun." Victoria added.
Robby eyed them all, watching as Javadi looked at her shoes, Santos kept a smile on his face and Dennis was also smiling sheepishly. Nothing too suspicious and they were probably just tired out by his daughter.
“Well, there's no evidence of arson.” Heather remarked, hugging Amelia to her, “Or botulism, so I think they're fine.”
Robby nodded, but he could definitely smell fresh paint in the hall. He would find out later, but right now, he just wanted to hug his little girl and cuddle with Heather on the couch.
"Daddy, I need new colors." Amelia told him as they went into the kitchen, "All gone!"
"All gone?" Robby asked, amused, "What happend to them?" He asked.
He noticed how the three looked at each other before filing out of the house with shouts of 'bye' and a nervous 'happy anniversary' from Dennis.
“Okay, see you guys Monday. Thanks again.” Robby said.
"Remind me never to go into Paeds." Trinity muttered when they all piled into her car.
"Ditto." Victoria said and Dennis nodded in agreement.