Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

Thirty

There were a few beats of silence before Amelia pouted.

"You ruined it!" she said. 

"What?" Mallie laughed.

"I texted Maggie yesterday to get her to help me find an engagement ring so I could propose to you when all of this craziness has calmed down a little bit and I was going to do it all big and special because I wanted to show you how much I love you, but you just ask me in our bed while we feed our sons and it's more beautiful than I could've ever done it and you ruined my surprise!" Amelia said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Mallie laughed again, moving to wrap her arm around Amelia's shoulders. She kissed her forehead.

"Oh, mi vida, you have my heart," Mallie mumbled happily.

Amelia looked up at her.

"You really want to marry me?" she said.

"Of course I do. You're the mother of my children. You're the one who's dragged me out of the darkest parts of my life. You're the one who I want to come home to forever," Mallie said.

Amelia kissed her softly, pulling back to kiss Mallie's cheeks.

"I'm so in love with you. Marrying you would make me so happy," Amelia whispered. Mallie smiled against Amelia's cheek and kissed her again.

"Then that's what we'll do. When Mer wakes up, we'll plan our perfect little wedding," Mallie mumbled.

Amelia smiled, resting her head on Mallie's shoulders.

"This is so not how I pictured my life turning out when I was a kid, but god, this is so much better than I ever could've imagined," Amelia sighed. Mallie kissed her forehead with a grin, looking down at Scout to see him fast asleep.

She pulled the bottle from his lips and put it on the side, lifting him over her other shoulder to burp him.

"Me, too, mi vida. Me, too," Mallie said.

"Zozo?" Mallie knocked on Zola's bedroom door half an hour later.

Zola looked up from her colouring book with a smile.

"Hola, tía Mallie," she said.

"Don't forget me," Amelia wriggled into the room under Mallie's arm, sitting on the end of Zola's bed. Mallie walked over and sat beside Zola, looking at the picture she was colouring in.

"I love the detail," Mallie pointed at the collar of the dog she was colouring in.

"Thank you," Zola smiled. She put the pens and the book on her bedside table. "What is it?" she said.

"What do you mean?" Amelia said.

"You're both in here to talk to me about something. You've both been weird all day, and yesterday. Mallie's friends came to watch us while you two were at work, and then Mallie came back hurt. Is this about what happened?" Zola asked.

"No, this isn't about what happened," Mallie shook her head.

"What did happen?" Zola asked.

"I had a bad job," Mallie said. She pulled up her sleeve to show Zola the dressing over the burn. "We didn't have gear because it was an emergency and I got burnt. I also got a concussion, so that's why my friends had to watch you while Amelia came to work to check on me," Mallie said.

They had chosen not to tell Zola about what happened with Mallie until they could ask Meredith. They knew Zola would find out eventually and she did deserve to know, considering she was black, but they knew this was a conversation they'd need to have while Meredith was there because it was her daughter, at the end of the day.