for her

13

I checked on her throughout the night, making sure she was breathing and had a pulse, which ruined my sleep routine, but I didn't plan on going to work anyway.

Around five I called the chief, telling him the whole situation before ending with

"I want them out of the program"

"I'll do what I can- but I want to speak with them first." He finished before we both said goodbye.

I went back into our spare room, seeing her still out cold.

I went downstairs, fixing coffee for the guys who would be waking up shortly.

As I fixed a cup for myself, I saw a tired figure- her small body drowning in my own clothes- slowly appear, rubbing her face.

"Morning" I smiled.

"Morning" she spoke back tiredly

"What woke you? I expected you to sleep a little longer" I mumbled out.

"I have my alarms set to where they'll go off every morning, they went off" she hummed lightly.

"Well, the chief knows what happened- he's aware that you aren't coming in today, I'm still going to watch you a little bit today, incase you have anymore side effects"

"Well if you're going to be with me all day, can we at least get Cleo?" She spoke, tilting her head slightly.

"Of course we can."

We soon left together, her riding quietly in my passenger seat.

We went to the hospital to get the car seat- I still wasn't letting Payton drive due to some dizziness she was experiencing.

She rubbed her temples as I drove, following the directions on her phone.

"Head ache?" I asked.

"Definitely" she mumbled out.

"I can run in and get her, they'll question you like I'm marrying you if you come in, so it's probably best" she spoke, smiling to me as I pulled into the driveway.

"That's fine"

Payton.

I walked straight into their house, seeing Maddie's fiancé eating cereal on the couch.

His eyes met me, scanning me up and down quickly.

"You look like hell" he mumbled.

"I feel like it to, where maddie?" I asked.

"Asleep still, you can get Cleo if you want, but if you still need time to recover you can leave her here, or even stay with us if you want" he spoke- which was an extremely sweet offer.

"I'm gonna fun home and shower, I'm feeling a lot better actually. Thank you for the offer though" I lied, going straight to where I knew they let Cleo sleep.

I picked up her sleeping body, starting to struggle, knowing I wouldn't be able to carry her soon.

"Thank you again, I'll text Maddie and thank her" I spoke as I walked to the door.

"No reason to thank us- we love her."

I went to the backseat, seeing Ashton getting out to open the door for me, which was a nice gesture.
I put Cleo in her car seat, buckling her in before going around the car and getting in the passenger side, buckling myself.

"She looks like you." Ashton smiled to my sleeping sister, making me look to her.

"She's my world"

I gave him directions to my apartment, feeling nervous at the thought of Ashton coming to my shitty apartment compared to his luxurious house.

"Don't judge us" I mumbled out as he pulled into the complex.

"I could never." He mumbled back.

He went to our section, and parked.

We got out, I went to the back to get Cleo.

I picked her up, grunting slightly, grabbing her bag also.

"Let me help" he spoke, quickly taking her bag and my phone from my hand.

"Thank you." I spoke back towards him.

We went to my apartment, I unlocked the door, sighing

"And this is home"

He followed me inside, examining all of my decorations.

"It's not big- it's just enough for the two of us, it's not the nicest- but we're making it until I get off of intern pay" I spoke slowly, letting him follow me into Cleo's room. I put her in her baby bed, which mainly was just railings preventing her from falling off.

"It's cute" he smiled to her picture frames and painting on the walls.

"It's better than what we had before"