"Your favourite patients back,"
Billie O'Connell's home life isn't always what you'd expect. Her parents fight and want to split up every other day. She hates it there, she hates the shouting and hates the feeling of her home. After finding a loop h...
I walked up to the glass door of the hospital's childcare. I could see Billie in the middle of the room talking to a little boy. "Excuse me, Miss Billie, can you do my shoe up, please?" I overheard him ask her after tapping her on the leg. She smiled and kneeled down on the carpeted floor to help him.
"Ready, watch me. I'll show you how to do it yourself. You take one shoelace and make a bunny ear like this. Then you do it with the other one. Now you loop them around each other, making the ear go under the loop, and there!"
After finding a new job at another hospital, I thought it would be really good for Billie to get a job here as well. She can be around me all the time but also do something that she's passionate about to help with her recovery. Once Billie finished with the boy's shoelace, she stood up and noticed me. She grinned. "Hey Bil, time to go home now." I smiled softly, so she walked over to another staff member and told them she was leaving.
She grabbed her stuff and headed over to me, rushing into my arms. "How was your day?" I asked her as we started to walk down the corridor. "Good," she mumbled into my scrubs. "I did have to clean up a huge trail of dog poop that a kid's shoe dragged through the carpet, though."
"At least it's not a child's this time," I said, making her grimace. I laughed and hugged her side. "What about you?" Billie asked me. "Hm, well, I helped a little girl before her surgery to fix her broken elbow. She was quite a sweet little thing. She reminded me of you, which made me miss you, but you're here now, so it's all good."
Billie smiled. "You don't like that little girl more than me, though, right?" she pouted. "No, never in a million years," I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Billie rubbed her eyes. "You're making me feel small and sleepy now," she said, playfully pushing me away. I pulled her back to me. "I love small and sleepy you, though," I said, chuckling. "How about we get takeout tonight? I can't be bothered trying to find something in the fridge to make up. Does that sound good?" I asked Billie. She nodded. "Can we get pizza?" she asked in a gentle voice I know all too well.
I smiled softly. "Of course, angel."
We drove back to our new apartment because of our new jobs and the fact that Billie will want her own space at some points, even if she mostly wants to sleep in my bed. It's not fancier, just one more room and a few miles away from the hospital.
"Take your shoes off before jumping in my bed, little girl!" I called after Billie as I placed my keys on the counter. I walked into the room to find Billie cuddled in the blankets, her shoe-clad feet sticking out of the duvet. "Billie, what did I just say? I don't want to clean the sheets again from your dirty shoes," I sighed. "They're not touching the bed, Mommy," the girl said matter-of-factly.
I rolled my eyes and slid her dirty Air Forces off, kicking them to the corner. She quickly brought her feet into the bed and sat up. She held her hands out to me. "Cuddle?"
I climbed into the bed as well and welcomed Billie cuddling into my side. "Hi," she cheesed, looking up at me. "Hi, baby girl. What pizza do you want?" I asked, getting my phone out. "Pepperoni! I want pepperoni!" she cheered. "Okay, okay, let me order it," I said, calming her down and placing an order on Uber Eats.
I ordered myself a supreme since I like olives and a loaf of garlic bread. I'm not expecting we will eat it all, but leftovers are really good to take to work. "Okay, it should be ready in about 45 minutes. What do you want to do while we wait?" I asked the girl hugging my side. "Can we draw?" she asked.
"Sure, let me go get some paper and pencils," I said, hopping out of bed and rummaging through the house trying to find some. I eventually came back with the pencils and paper so we could get started. "What do you want to draw?" I asked her. "I want to draw a bunny. Can you draw a kitty?" she said. "Sure," I shrugged.
Billie began sketching, her little tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she concentrated. "Look, Mommy! Bunny!" she exclaimed once she had finished. "Wow, Billie! That's so good!" I praised. She may be in the headspace of a toddler, but she sure doesn't lose her artistic skill.
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"See yours mama?" Billie asked peering over at my paper.
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"Kitty so cute!!" she squealed. "Thanks baby," I smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She slumped back into me, "I wanna kitty," she frowned. "One day Bil, one day." I giggled hugging her tightly.
