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hour 1
three nurses - one of which yakko and wakko gave an enthusiastic greeting to - entered the spacious tower. the eldest nurse, a human woman with green eyes and long curly hair, had dragged the large duffel bag up the ladder and it had been the workout she did not need nor want. she definitely didn’t get paid enough for this. house calls weren’t ideal for this sort of thing.
the other human woman - younger, with short dark hair and a butterfly tattoo on her neck - was perplexed at the sight before her. there was no living room, or any room. just a rollercoaster in motion with the three toons screaming in delight. they had only paused to say hello to the third nurse, the toon woman in charge of this operation.
“don’t worry,” she said to the humans, “they know very well what’s happening today.”
“they have a weird way of showing it,” said michelle, the curly haired nurse.
“they’re kids,” nurse lainey reminded her.
“yeah, and that’s why i never got into pediatrics.”
heloise silently agreed with that notion before stepping towards the coaster. “yoo-hoo! kids!”
it wasn’t even her voice that got their attention. michelle set down the duffel bag with a loud clunk, causing the warners to turn their heads as their cart approached a loop. the cart flipped upside down and off the tracks with a loud bang! but the warners were still giggling under the debris.
“and they’re willingly letting all this go?” lainey wondered.
“one last joyride, i suppose,” heloise said. then she raised her voice in pitch again. “it’s time to get started! boys?”
the sound of her voice seemed to be enough for yakko and wakko. they came out from under the small pile of rubble, hearts in their eyes. their sister dot clawed her way out and folded her arms as she marched to the couch.
after more disruptions that consisted of stand up acts and musical numbers, the main room of the water tower was back to its living room setting. michelle, thoroughly annoyed by the antics, began taking things out of the duffel bag.
the bag was much bigger on the inside. three large metal poles came out with ease, along with rags, bandages, silver bowls, and a big plastic case that held the units of human blood.
“i feel like i’m on an episode of general hospital,” dot said, bouncing in her seat.
but before she could do a funny little soap opera bit, michelle approached her with a stethoscope. “i need to do a quick check up.”
“you won’t hear anything, hun. no organs,” dot told her with a bat of her lashes.
“oh yeah, are we getting organs with this thing?” yakko asked. “and wakko already has a stomach, so is he getting an extra one?”
“it’s a very rare complication,” lainey told him. “toons with appetites are more likely to have-“
“i gave them pamphlets with all the information,” heloise said curtly. very different from the tone she used on the kids.
just then, wakko let out a belch. “about that…”
lainey shot the blonde nurse a look. “they’re allowed to ask questions regardless.” then she turned back to the kids and explained the process.
first, they would be getting nutrients through an IV. that would only take half an hour, and it should be comfortable. after that, they would begin to receive the blood, and the transfusion would take up to four hours. that was going to be veryuncomfortable.
“and we cannot stop once we’ve started,” lainey warned.
“goodnight everybody!” yakko said with a kiss.
“i’m serious.”
“and i’m seriously bored of this. let’s just get on with it.”
lainey looked at her two colleagues, hoping for some backup. heloise was at the duffel bag, digging through it. michelle decided to step forward and spoke in a slow, condescending tone:
“you three will not be the same after this procedure. understand?”
“yes!” the warners replied while shaking their heads.
michelle pursed her lips and silently turned away. she was going to hog all the ibuprofen today, she just knew it.
“you guys will still have your main personality traits,” lainey explained. “dot is still cute, yakko still yaks-“
“and wakko packs away the snacks~!” the kids sang.
“exactly. but you will start to feel other things too. physically and emotionally.”
“and how exactly are we going to feel?” dot asked.
“like a human,” michelle piped up again. “we feel a whole range of things all at once. you guys have a counselor to go to after, right?”
it was heloise’s turn to butt in. “yes. he will be here later.”
the warners perked up at that.
“scratchy’s coming?” wakko asked, beaming.
“your costar?” lainey asked, skeptical but still polite.
“former costar,” heloise corrected.
“shouldn’t the psych consult be an impartial-“
“it’s the studio’s orders,” heloise impatiently told her. “we need to get started.”
the kids gladly held their arms out for the needles, their tails swishing in excitement. dot was the only one who took the needle like a regular person. she turned her head away and exhaled when lainey instructed her. yakko was particularly excited that heloise was handling his IV, and made a joke that went along the lines of “hurt me, parental figure.” wakko nearly kicked michelle in the shin when he got stuck, receiving a glare from the nurse.
“sorry, you hit a reflex,” he sheepishly said.
other than that, the first half hour went smoothly. the kids still moved up, down, around the tower, dragging their IV stands with them. they nearly got into a sword fight with said stands, had michelle not stepped in to stop them.
lainey had seen things like this before; this wasn’t her first unveiling. but most toons she had dealt with were pretty aware of the circumstances and still chose to take it easy. most toons would go buckwild the week prior as, how heloise put it, “one last joyride” so that the only focus would be the unveiling when the time came. it was common for child toons to not fully grasp what was going to happen, and maybe the reality of that is what gave lainey that odd pit in her stomach.
plenty of child toons were drawn without parental figures. the warners didn’t even have a relationship with their animator, if their show had any truth to it. technically, heloise was supposed to advocate for them today but to be blunt, she was doing a shitty job.
all three of them settled on the couch when it was time for the blood transfusion. the dark red units replaced the clear empty nutrient bags, and the kids were still enthralled by the whole thing. once the blood was running through the narrow tubes, they were betting on who would get it into their systems first.
dot came out victorious.
“tingly,” she said as she wiggled her arm.
hour 2
“how are we feeling?” lainey asked.
the kids remained on the couch, still perky but far less hyper. yakko and wakko were watching duck soup on the TV while dot flipped through a magazine. they all still quipped and annoyed the crap out of michelle and heloise, but the energy levels were declining.
“my arm is warm,” wakko said as he waved his left limb. however, he winced almost immediately. “ow!”
“where does it hurt?” lainey asked, approaching the toon and squatting down in front of where he sat.
“at the needle,” he replied, sounding more confused than anything. he was even receiving concerned looks from his siblings, who quit their tasks at the first sign of pain. then he grabbed his own arm and tugged. “why can’t i remove it?”
michelle, always the charmer, decided to step in. “that’s an unveiling effect. your body is solidifying. you won’t be able to remove parts of yourself for laughs anymore.”
wakko only gazed at his arm, still having that confused expression on his face. yakko and dot exchanged their own looks before turning their eyes on lainey.
“are we all losing that ability?” yakko asked.
“it’s hard to say,” the nurse replied. “there’s a big list of effects, some are permanent and some are temporary. it’s really a gamble of which toon experiences what effects.”
that was the first time the warners were stunned into silence. the two younger ones looked at the eldest, silently asking for a solution.
“ᵘᵘᵘᵘʰʰʰʰʰ maybe we should read those pamphlets,” yakko said after a moment.
“oh, hang on, i’ve got them,” wakko said. then he hit the center of his chest with his fist. a small burp - much smaller than the one he let out earlier, came out of him. “huh?” he inhaled and another soft burp came out of him.
this wasn’t the first time lainey had seen a toon lose themselves in real time, but she still got up and turned away. it was just a little harder watching child toons go through this. she took a couple of breaths to center herself and then went back to the warners.
“it’s normal! it means the procedure is working,” she reassured.
“but am i ever gonna burp like i did before?” wakko asked. the uncertainty and concern was evident in his tone.
“if you drink a lot of soda, maybe?”
“well... is yakko gonna stop yakking? is dot gonna be ugly?”
dot gasped. “don’t you start!”
before she could even try to remind them of what she told them earlier, lainey felt a hand on her shoulder.
heloise was grinning plainly at her. “may we speak outside?”
“right now?” lainey asked in disbelief. did this lady not see how scared their patients were?
“yes. right now.”
with a sigh, she turned back to the kids. “i’ll be back to answer more of your questions, okay?”
after a full minute of pushing open the large front door, the two nurses were out on the balcony. it was particularly warm outside, and it didn’t help the winded feeling lainey got after that mini workout.
heloise lost the grin immediately. “what exactly are you doing?”
“sorry?”
“are you trying to scare them? make them regret the unveiling before it’s even finished? you know it’s irreversible.”
lainey blinked in surprise, affronted. “how many unveilings have you sat through? oh, that’s right, you just pretend to be a nurse on TV. this isn’t your show, you’re not qualified to handle this.”
“the CEO put me in charge, need i remind you. i’m overseeing this whole thing, and i’m ordering you to stop scaring them. imagine what it’ll do to their first feeling.”
it was frustrating, but true. heloise was in charge, but she wasn’t doing anything except attempt to withhold information from their patients.
“i’m informing them of the side effects of this irreversible procedure,” lainey said, crossly enunciating every word. “they’re required to know what this is going to do to them, especially since they don’t seem to understand what they’re getting into! and their first emotion wholly depends on what they’ve experienced throughout their entire lives, not in the last hour!”
steam was coming out of heloise’s ears as she folded her arms. “they’re kids! toon kids! all they understand is destroying things and making everyone miserable! and it’s not like we can just stop the procedure anyways…”
hour 3
dot had long since set her magazine down on the coffee table, deciding to lay her head on the armrest of the couch. she claimed to have felt a ‘fuzzy’ sensation in her forehead. it made her sluggish, but the feeling in her head was too bothersome for her to sleep it off.
“is this supposed to happen too?” yakko asked as he took his sister’s legs and placed them on his lap.
“yes,” michelle answered from the armchair. she hadn’t even looked up from her phone. “it’s all the blood making its way through your bodies. you two are bound to get some type of bodily aches too.”
yakko and wakko shared alarmed looks. it was getting kind of annoying how uneducated these kids were. they were supposed to know these things already.
michelle let them sit with that as she finally put her phone away. she grabbed a few of the rags from the table and got up to head into the kitchen. earlier, all the rooms in the water tower were constantly changing. from a dark void, to a room with a moose, it was impossible to find a bathroom. at one point it was much easier to just climb down the ladder and go to the cafeteria bathroom.
things settled down at the start of dot’s headache, and the tower resembled something similar to a regular home. but when michelle turned the sink on, a flurry of gold coins came out of the faucet. guess the little ones will have to sit with their upcoming fevers and migraines.
by the time michelle was back in the living room, the boys were lying their heads back, eyes closed. lainey had her hand on yakko’s forehead, and then she pulled a thermometer gun from her scrubs pocket to confirm.
“a hundred point six,” she read from the small digital screen. then she turned to her colleague. “did you get the rags?”
“their sink doesn’t work,” michelle shrugged. “we can’t give them ibuprofen?”
“we can’t give them any medications until after the fifth hour.”
yakko groaned, his brow furrowed. “try the sink again… sorry. funny gags.”
this time, lainey went to the kitchen, and the sink worked for her. she wasted no time in getting the rags on the kids’ foreheads. there was no telling if the coolness of the rags soothed their aches, but it was better than nothing. dot whimpered every so often, and soon she and her siblings were all complaining of full body aches.
zany and well spoken as they were, they were still kids. yakko didn’t look any less miserable than his younger siblings. just reaching to hold his sister’s hand made him wince, given that that was the arm his IV was in.
“i don’t like this,” groaned wakko, who had been fidgeting the most. he curled up in a ball, his tail wrapping around his body, and he buried his face in the couch cushion. he probably wanted to stick his head inside the cushion, literally.
“‘s okay sib,” yakko told him, his voice uncharacteristically low. “try and sleep.”
lainey, michelle, and heloise were looking at them, faces neutral. it didn’t take long for michelle to go back to her arm chair, taking dot’s magazine from the table to read herself. heloise sat on the ottoman from the other chair, watching the kids for one second too long before looking down to pick at her nails.
once again, it was all on lainey. but there was only one lainey and three warners. she looked at dot, who was rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. then at wakko, who was audibly whimpering and curling into himself. finally, lainey met yakko’s tired gaze. he had one hand on each sibling in a small attempt to comfort them, let them know they weren’t alone. lainey couldn’t help but wonder how often he took care of them when he was having his own rough patch.
he nodded towards wakko, so lainey went to him. sometimes the only thing you could do was make the little ones as comfortable as possible. lainey gently nudged for wakko to sit up momentarily, and she sat on the couch. then she opened her arms for him, and he quickly crawled into her lap. he rested his head on her shoulder and sighed, practically melting onto her. lainey heard yakko sigh as well and saw him moving his rag over his eyes.
lainey looked back at heloise once more. the blonde was unreadable. couldn’t she even try to step in and help one of the other two kids? she was staring at them an awful lot. and michelle? like she said at the beginning, she did not specialize in pediatrics, period.
but a little compassion won’t kill you.
wakko was very warm now, his fever was definitely starting, so laney placed the cool side of his rag onto his neck. then, with her free hand, she checked on yakko again.
he hardly moved as lainey lifted the rag from his eyes. his only movement was from his thumb rubbing on dot’s legs.
“could one of you guys get a new rag?” lainey asked her colleagues.
michelle didn’t look up from her magazine. heloise, still silent and stoic, got up to complete the task.
“do you really have to take the kids’ personal items to pass the time?” lainey asked the other nurse.
“what? it’s not like she can read it right now.” michelle shrugged and then she chuckled to herself. “there was this girl i was friends with in middle school and i always took her books out of her backpack and hid them.”
“her textbooks?”
“no, she was always reading these YA novels in class, so i hid those from her all the time. the way she freaked out, oh god you had to be there!” her shoulders shook as she laughed, then she quickly realized she was the only one doing so.
lainey had her eyebrow raised, surprised at the fact that she was surprised to discover this.
“why aren’t you laughing?” michelle asked.
“it’s not funny.”
“please, i bet these kids would laugh.”
the eldest child picked up his head, letting his rag fall from his eyes. “what did that girl ever do to you?”
michelle went pink in the face. then she went back to reading the magazine that wasn’t hers.
hour 4
“it’s okay… ‘s okay sis,” mumbled yakko, but he couldn’t be heard over the sounds of a wailing dot.
she was well past reasoning and comfort. after the migraine went down, she lost it. curled her knees into her chest and just sobbed. claimed something was out to get her, she wasn’t going to make it out alive…? the nurse with the neck tattoo said it was normal, the weight of emotion was coming in.
but yakko still overheard that nurse say how “intense” the first emotion was for a nine year old.
the older, curly haired nurse said that that wouldn’t be the only time dot would feel this kind of thing. dot was so far gone she didn’t even hear it, but yakko did. he really didn’t like that lady, and he really wished he had the energy to ruin her day.
nurse neck tattoo? she was nice. she was just supposed to supply the blood and make sure the warners didn’t die. but she had a wakko on her lap, and he clung to her like a lifeline. he was shivering from the fever. the nurse was still mindful of him holding onto her while trying to console the crying dot.
“you’re such a strong girl! you’re letting yourself feel these things and you’ll be better for it!”
“i don’t want to be strong anymore!” dot screamed in return. “i just want it to sto-o-op!”
no acting lessons made her sound like that. no amount of acting lessons taught her to rock back and forth or frantically fidget or make her tail bristle. it made yakko’s head pound even more, nothing ever sounded so loud and painfully clear before. he couldn’t even move to console her; for one thing, she didn’t want to be touched. another thing, yakko felt pain in his limbs when he did move, and most of it came from where the IV sat in his arm.
he also felt something twisting and aching in his chest, and a cold heavy feeling settled in his throat. it was sucking the air out of him.
oh yeah. he was breathing involuntarily now, and it was very hard to not be extremely aware of it. it was short, quick puffs, and the neck tattoo nurse had to remind him to elongate his breaths.
how do toons do this thing willingly?
well… you willingly agreed to this.
…shut up.
“only three more hours of this, baby,” nurse neck tattoo said to dot. “you’re halfway done, and then you never have to think about this again.”
and that would be too soon.
yakko felt a hand on his knee, and he opened his eyes just a crack. the familiar silhouette of heloise nerz was squatting down in front of him. no heart eyes or loud obnoxious greeting could come out of him even if he tried. things like that normally happened whether or not he wanted it to. this unveiling really didn’t mess around.
“are you okay?” heloise asked him.
yakko didn’t answer right away, and it took exactly two seconds to realize that he was actively thinking of a witty response. since when did yakko warner have to think about his quips before speaking them?
better question, since when did this lady care for him? sure, yakko was drawn to have eyes for her for the duration of animaniacs, but after that, heloise kept her distance. she was only here because she had to be, right?
his breathing was still shallow as he groggily picked his head up. he opened his mouth to speak, but his attention went to his brother.
wakko sat up rather abruptly in the other nurse’s arms. she rubbed his back soothingly.
“what’s wrong, baby? how you feeling?”
his brows furrowed and he took a breath. then he placed a hand over his stomach and coughed once.
“uh oh-“
wakko coughed again, harder, and this gooey, black liquid shot out of his mouth… and onto heloise’s shoulder and hair.
immediately, the curly haired nurse got up and grabbed one of the bowls from the table and put it in wakko’s lap. he continued coughing up the black goo, retching and whimpering. heloise silently stood up, her mouth pursed into a line, and went in search of the bathroom.
“what’s happening now?” yakko asked, unable to keep his voice steady. he had seen humans vomit before but never was it this gruesome. “another side effect?”
the nurse with the bowls nodded, and she handed another silver bowl to him and dot. “the ink in you is getting replaced with the blood. it has to come out somehow.”
that caused dot to let out another loud wail. yakko still couldn’t breathe in a way that was comfortable. he never wanted to jump out of his own skin so bad before. everything just felt wrong.
is this my first feeling? the feeling of uncertainty and helplessness?
it was awful, having to hear wakko projectile vomit. the tattooed nurse graciously kept him on her lap as she consoled him. but no amount of soothing would help wakko understand.
“i think i’m dying!” he was beginning to sound like dot. shaken, scared. “i’m gonna di- aggh!”
toons that are drawn together, feel together as it seems. yakko felt like he was on his last legs as well, and all he was doing was sitting there with chest pains and funny breath.
his fingers clutched the edges of the bowl, wanting and wishing for this to be over. he didn’t miss the bowl when it was time to lose his own ink, but dot did. landed on heloise’s shoes when she came back from the bathroom.
hour 5
yakko and wakko were curled up together on the couch, sweating so much that the cushions went damp. wakko had been removed from lainey’s lap after claiming that he was hot. but a fan on full blast would have them all shivering and needing blankets, but turning it off would result in them sweating buckets.
the same couldn’t be said for the warner sister. she decided to lay spread eagle on the floor. it was much cooler than sitting next to her sweaty brothers. you’d think she’d have fallen asleep like that, but her eyes were open, blankly staring at the high ceiling.
it was hard to say if any of these kids were able to sleep. michelle informed them that sleeping during the unveiling would be better because the fatigue afterwards was no joke. at least they had this place to ride it out.
“i’ve never seen them so quiet before,” heloise softly said. “i’m almost waiting for them to explode and go back to their normal antics.”
“isn’t it a good thing that they’re getting unveiled?” michelle asked. “the boys probably won’t bother you anymore.”
“they haven’t bothered me in years, believe me,” heloise told her. “i was only passive on TV. i set my boundaries once we were off camera for good. but i guess they were drawn with those intentions.”
just then, there was a knock on the large metal door. heloise tensed, unconsciously preparing for the chorus of “i’ll get it!” but they never came. instead, she went to the door before the other two nurses could, and stepped outside rather than let the guest in.
“miss nerz? what is the problem?” asked doctor otto von scratchansniff. he was surprised by the sudden confrontation.
“i know it’s too late to turn back now,” heloise said, averting her eyes, “but are you sure this is the best path to take?”
otto sighed. “this isn’t what i would have chosen. but it wasn’t my choice to begin with.”
it was true. but he and heloise were still participating in these illicit affairs. the damage was already done.
“the kids aren’t even going to be able to travel when this is over, did you know that?” heloise asked. “they can hardly move.”
“that is why we are moving them. the van is already waiting in VIP parking.” otto pulled a set of keys from his pocket.
heloise scoffed. “so we’re driving the getaway car too? is any of their ink going to be on the studio’s hands?”
“they are threatening my job. i don’t want to lie to the kidses but… the studio is better off without them.”
it’s true but you shouldn’t say it.
otto was about to step past his colleague to go inside the water tower, but she placed a hand on his chest to halt him.
“prepare yourself,” she warned.
but instead of running into the warners first, they got lainey instead. she looked concerned.
“the kids just told me they were moving out after this?” she said. “i wanted to move them to their bedrooms, but they told me all of that was packed away? are these delusions or is there something i should know?”
heloise merely went back to her armchair, letting otto deal with that. she tried not to look at yakko, wakko, and dot. their misery was radiating throughout the room, mostly because this kind of behavior was just unheard of when it came to these kids. she really wished she could produce a functional smartphone from her hammerspace to distract herself, but she never got that skill down.
otto was just too enthusiastic, as if their weren’t sick patients in front of him.“hello kidses! how are we feeling?”
yakko, wakko, and dot let out simultaneous groans in response. none of them moved from their places.
“everything’s going as it should,” michelle said. “we’ll be removing the IVs soon.”
“and those headaches should be going down soon,” lainey told the kids.
otto was fidgety as he talked to the kids. he tangled his fingers together and scratched the back of his head a lot.
“can we go to the circus again?” wakko asked. “a real circus?”
“yes, yes, after you feel better,” otto promised. “there’s so much to do in the human world, you kidses will have fun!”
and he was the psychologist? there had to be a conflict of interest somewhere. lainey made a mental note to ask about it later. for now, it was about the patients. the kids.
she went to dot, who was still laying on the floor.
“why do you lay like that?” otto was asking her. “not very comfortable, is it?”
dot hardly responded, so lainey lied down next to her. the floor was cold despite the increasing stuffiness of the water tower. it was easy to understand why dot chose this position.
“how you doing, sweetie?”
she didn’t say anything for a moment, but her mouth opened. “everything… is not real? i don’t think i’m a toon. or a person.”
“and it makes you feel like you’re in a dream?”
“uh-huh.”
“it’s means you’re almost done here-“ lainey reached for dot’s gloved hand. she found the spot between the thumb and index finger, squeezing firmly.
dot gasped and picked her head up. “what was that?”
“just a little pressure point in your hand. you can squeeze it you feel like you’re out of your own body. did it help?”
“yeah, a little. thanks.”
“and lying on the floor helped me. so thank you.”
it wasn’t a lie. lainey did feel rejuvenated by the time she was back on her feet. she spent some more time sitting between the boys, rubbing their backs when either of them threw up more ink.
she still had that odd feeling in her stomach, but boiled it down to the queasiness of watching other people get sick.
hour 6
the ibuprofen only lasted so long. the medicine was administered through the IV after the blood transfusion was done. after that, the IVs were removed completely. however, none of the kids ate anything before the procedure, much less had an appetite (yes, even wakko - he cried about it for 20 minutes) so they ended up coughing up the medicine. the nurses tried to get them to eat something to no avail.
“you guys function like humans now,” michelle told them. “you gotta take care of yourselves or else you’re gonna continue feeling like crap.”
lainey resisted an eye roll. this lady never worked with kids or toons and it showed.
yakko kept poking at the bandage wrapped around his arm. he was oddly fascinated at the soreness, and michelle non-too-gently told him to cut it out, to which yakko gave a smirk and pulled a saw out from behind his back.
it was… one way to confirm his hammerspace hadn’t been compromised.
“i said out, not off!” michelle snapped as she took the tool away from him.
“i’m too tired to pull out another one anyways,” yakko justified.
“sounds like you’re feeling better,” otto said. “are we ready to move now?”
“we still have to monitor them,” lainey reminded him. “the post unveiling fatigue is going to hit in less than an hour.”
“and we have a place for them to stay and rest.” otto offered a smile.
lainey blinked in surprise. of course. the kids weren’t just going to be abandoned on the streets. “where at?”
“oh... beverly hills?” otto looked to heloise for confirmation, but she merely raised an eyebrow at him. he turned back to lainey. “it’s just that the tower is going to go through renovations starting today, so the kidses need to leave as soon as possible.”
“i see.” lainey nodded. “well, michelle and i have to stay with them no matter where they go. just for a couple more hours.”
otto was tapping his fingers together as he thought to himself. “they are done with the transfusion?”
“yes, but we-”
“is there a way we can contact you if anything should happen?”
“i don’t recommend--”
“yes,” michelle piped up. she reached into her scrubs pocket and pulled out a business card. “they’ll need to stop by the clinic in three weeks for a follow up anyways, so they can call that number to schedule an appointment.”
otto gladly took the card. “thank you. we will be sure to do that.”
the pit in lainey’s stomach made itself known again. she was quiet as she and michelle began to pack up their supplies. honestly, lainey felt a little silly about it. housecall unveilings were common, but not that common. watching children of any kind feel sick and miserable was never exactly pleasant. not to mention, lainey skipped out on every break opportunity because she was busy holding an ill warner on her lap.
otto and heloise were nudging the kids awake, trying to get them up and moving. of course, yakko, wakko, and dot couldn’t make it down the ladder on their own. of course, lainey tried again to get everyone to stay put, to no avail. otto, lainey, and heloise had to carry yakko, wakko, and dot on their backs respectively, as they went down the ladder. michelle begrudgingly stuck with the duffel bag.
“do you want me to carry you on the way out?” lainey asked the middle warner once they were on the ground again.
“he can walk,” heloise said. “er- he needs to walk.”
“if you say so,” yakko grumbled as he slid off of otto’s back. he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
he and his siblings looked weary, swaying back and forth, side to side. lainey’s watch said the next hour was near, and these kids would need to sleep very soon.
“can’t wait to crawl into bed,” dot yawned as she leaned against her eldest brother.
“do we have a bunk bed at the new place?” wakko asked otto.
“mhm, yes. very comfortable. come along now, kidses.”
lainey was about to follow, but michelle reminded her that they parked in the guest lot. otto and heloise were quick to usher the kids in a different direction. there wasn’t a chance to say goodbye or reassure the kids one last time.
“and that’s why i don’t work with children,” michelle said once she and her colleague were out of earshot.
lainey could have asked which part really hit the last nail in the coffin, but the further she strayed from the warner kids, the more she just-
“do you feel weird? i feel weird.”
“i think you’re tired,” michelle replied. “and i’m hungry.”
“i just don’t like how quick those guys were to move the kids. i mean, why couldn’t we have done this at the clinic or their new house if this one was getting renovated? better yet, why not just give them a day or so to rest?”
michelle was giving her a look as they approached the car. “like i said, this is why i don’t work with kids.”
“what does that even mean?”
there was a bit of silence as the two got in the car. lainey relaxed a little as she took a proper seat for the first time all day. maybe she was tired.
“look at yourself,” michelle told her. “we did our job, lain, and that’s all. you’re just a little strung out and tired because nobody wants to see children suffer like that.”
while usually callous and distant, she wasn’t wrong. lainey decided to shake it off. besides, otto had the contact information, and while he and heloise were tactless, they weren’t cruel. lainey would also see the kids again in 3 weeks, so it wasn’t the end of the world. no, she was just tired.