Because you loved me

8

It wasn't that Princess Floyd didn't love the queen. It wasn't that she preferred Drake, necessarily. Princess Floyd was just simply afraid of anyone leaving her. She was afraid that if she lost sight of someone she loved, and went to bed... maybe she'd wake up, and they'd forget about her. She was afraid of being left behind.

"Zoey, stop." Meredith said as she rolled the wheelchair toward the door. "Stop yelling..." She said as the little girl continued to cry, banging her fists into the door.

"DD! DD, come back! Come back, DD!" She exclaimed as she pulled on the doorknob, unable to reach the bolt at the top that Derek had been sure to lock when he left.

"Zoey, please... please, stop..." Meredith said as she wheeled her chair close to her daughter, who swung her arm around as Meredith reached for her, slamming her fist into her mother's face. Meredith grabbed her mouth, and reached out for the little girl's arm, taking it firmly in her hand.

"LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME! I WANT DD! I DON'T WANT YOU!" She screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks, her face red from anger.

"Zoey, that is enough... he's not going to come back until tomorrow... just calm down..." She said, trying to sooth the girl, moving her tongue around in her mouth, she could taste blood from the cut on her lip, Zoey pulled from Meredith's grip, slapping her hand and Meredith gripped her again, pulling her toward her.

"I don't want to live with you! I don't want to live with you! I love DD! I love DD more!" She exclaimed as she finally yanked her hand from Meredith's grasp and ran across the apartment toward Meredith's bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

In her fear, the princess had been known to say things that she didn't mean, do things that she wouldn't normally do.

Meredith could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, and though she was trying her best to remain unaffected by the little girl's tirade, she was finding it harder and harder to admit to herself that this night was going to be anything but an epic failure.

Meredith rolled her wheelchair across the floor to her bedroom, grateful that there were no locks on the doors, she pushed her way into the room, and watched the little girl sitting on the bed, pushing buttons on the phone. "Zoey, put the phone down..." Meredith said as she rolled to the bed and reached her hands out. "Zoey, please?" Meredith whispered.

"No!" Zoey shouted. "I don't need you, I need DD. I need him cuz I want to go home to my house, to my room. This isn't my house, this isn't my room, it's yours, it's all yours!" Zoey exclaimed.

"Zoey, hang up the phone, now." Meredith said as she tried to stand up, leaning her hands on the bed, she tried to reach out, standing weakly on the floor, she almost got to it and the little girl leaped up and pushed her mother's shoulder. Immediately, Meredith lost her balance. She wanted to shout, but there was no use, who would hear her anyway? She tried to grab the table, the bed sheets, anything she could. She tipped backwards, the sheets grasped in her hand as she fell backwards onto the floor, hard and unceremoniously, slamming her head into the ground, she blacked out.

Suddenly, there was silence, and Zoey's jaw had dropped when she saw her mother fall backwards, and now as she sit on the bed, her mother no longer in sight, she didn't hear a sound. "Mommy?" She whispered, expecting to hear Meredith, to see Meredith, and when she didn't, she began to panic. "Mommy?" She said again, rolling onto her tummy. "Mommy?" She said, crawling to the edge, she instantly saw her mother lying on her back, motionless. "Mommy!" She screamed as she leapt from the bed to her mother's side, tears streaming down her face as she knelt beside her mother, gripping her arm as she shook her. "Mommy! Mommy, wake up! Wake up, Mama! Wake up! Wake up, Mama!" She sobbed as she buried her face in her mother's chest, shaking her, calling her, crying. "Please, Mama... Please wake up..." She sobbed, when she suddenly felt a hand on her head, carefully running fingers through the soft tendrils of hair. "Mommy, you're awake..." She sobbed, watching Meredith look into her eyes. "I'm sorry..." She cried. "I'm so sorry..."