Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

thirty eight

"Hey, I need a favour," Meredith walked into Mallie and Amelia's kitchen two weeks later, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

Amelia didn't look up from the neuro scans she was studying, while Mallie looked up from the website she was ordering toys for the twins on.

"Are we the new frat house?" Mallie said.

"I had so many years of it. This is your turn, now," Meredith said.

"Fair. What's the favour?" Amelia said.

"I got a call from Dr. David Hamilton asking me to go to the MAYO clinic and see a library dedicated to my mother being opened. I'll only be gone for a few days, but Maggie and Winston are taking their honey moon and the kids asked to stay with you guys," Meredith said.

"When is it?" Amelia said.

"Next Monday to Friday. I'll take them to school, catch my flight in the morning and be back to pick them up Friday night," Meredith said.

"Yeah, that's cool. Are we staying here or in your house?" Amelia said.

"Whatever is easiest for you guys," Meredith said.

"We'll figure it out," Mallie said.

"Thank you. Now, I better get back. I told them not to kill each other in the five minutes asking you would take me," Meredith said.

"Bye," Mallie and Amelia said.

"Wait, where are the twins?" she asked.

"Carina took them out for a playdate," Mallie said.

"You guys have gotten close to her lately. It's cute," Meredith said.

"I think the twins are giving her baby fever and Maya doesn't want kids. Can't wait for that conversation to happen," Mallie muttered.

Meredith chuckled.

"I didn't want kids and now look at me. But, mentioning my kids, I should get back before they do anything stupid," Meredith said.

"There's fresh churros in the fridge if you want to take some for them," Amelia said.

Meredith grabbed them with a grin.

"Love you both, bye," Meredith said.

"Love you," Mallie and Amelia said, returning to their different laptops as Meredith left.

Mallie and Dean stood at a fair in a Seattle Park, watching stilt walkers walk between them and Jack.

"It's unnatural, man," Dean said.

"Can't be any weirder than an undies bike race," Jack said.

"It definitely is," Mallie said.

"How's your program going?" Jack said.

"It's not our program. It's for all of us. A program within the fire department to respond to nonviolent emergencies with a team of nonviolent first responders. No cops, no guns. Just a team of first responders trained to de-escalate any situation," Dean said.

"I-I don't need a sales pitch," Jack said.

"They're trained-" Dean said.

"You've been talking about it for months. I'm on board," Jack said.

"Then why do you keep calling it our program?" Dean asked.

"'Cause you're paying for it," Jack said.

"Not for long. We're only funding the pilot program with the settlement money, but once the city sees how many lives it saves, it's got to fund it with at least the same enthusiasm as... stilt walkers. Anyway, what's up with you, bro? I know how you are when you're on board with something, and this isn't it," Dean said.