Chapter Text
Alexa looked down at the piece of paper in front of her, a red colouring pencil in her right hand, she didn't mind it so much—it was calming. Adjusting to everything hadn't been the easiest for the girl, in theory it had all seemed simplistic given her time already spent there, but everything was always harder than it looked.
There were things that she had since become accustomed to long ago, such as things involving Lottie and Daisy, she didn't mind it when it was them. The same didn't apply when it was time for her to do things on her own, she didn't particularly enjoy 'playing', if her efforts could even be called that.
Colouring wasn't quite so bad though, it took concentration and effort. It seemed like a good compromise for everyone, so most of her days were spent with an array of colouring pencils, different shades of each colour splayed on the coffee table.
She had become quite fond of the red pencil, having to go to Lottie several times a day, asking her to resharpen the pencil for her. Maybe it had been slightly annoying at first, how she wasn't granted the privilege to even sharpen her own pencils, but she quickly got over it.
"Here's some apple juice for my little artist." Lottie came behind the girl, a sippy cup being placed to the side of the colouring page.
Alexa looked up to the blonde, "thank you."
The pencil in her hand was carelessly dropped, rolling for a moment before it stopped on the side. Alexa reached over to grab the sippy cup, taking a drink of the apple juice. She wasn't thirsty per se, but it was better than being reminded to do so.
She took a few sips before an idea came into her head, she looked over at Lottie who was now seated. "Mama?" She questioned, placing the cup down.
Lottie didn't even have to look over to the girl, given her gaze hadn't left in the first place. "Is the apple juice okay? do you want something else instead sweetie?", Lottie seemed like she was about to get up, Alexa quickly shook her head.
"Will I ever get to uh- go outside?"
Logically, she knew she didn't have to be scared, she wouldn't be yelled at for that, yet she couldn't help the small stomach ache that formed.
"I know you love mommies garden, but you were just out there again a few days ago, silly." Lottie pointed out, chuckling slightly.
Alexa recalled the moment well, it had just been her and Daisy. The sun had glared down upon the two, the girl was never fond of the sun particularly, but it was with the newfound light that she'd been able to see Daisy's freckles. The sun bringing them out for the girl to marvel at, it had been worth the annoying ordeal of having sun screen put on.
The girl shook her head again, "not the yard."
It took Lottie a moment for her brain to catch up, her face softened, she patted the spot on the couch next to her.
Getting up from her makeshift seat on the rug, Alexa shuffled to the couch, melting once her body was pressed against the woman's. "Of course you'll get to go outside, you've been outside before sweetie, haven't you?"
It was true, once at the restaurant followed by the diner.
The girl had to think of her way to proceed, there didn't seem to be a way to approach this situation in her usual manner. Alexa found it easy to act oblivious, along with preferring it, it felt nice to pretend not to care. It'd been a while since she'd had such a tiresome conversation like this, it only made her stomach ache worse.
"What about other places?"
"What other places do you want to go to?"
Noting how Alexa's body was tensing up, Lottie began to stroke the girls back, easing the girl back into comfort. "I don't know." Alexa mumbled, resting her head on the blondes shoulder, "I'm sorry for asking."
"You're allowed to ask questions when it's about your life Alexa, those questions may not always be answered in the way you want, but they'll be answered, love."
No verbal response was given, however she could feel the girls head nodding against her shoulder. She took her hand off Alexa's back, inciting a small whine from the girls lips, which was soon brought to hush when Lottie looped her arm around the girl's shoulder, pulling her in closer.
"We don't plan on keeping you trapped here, regardless of how much you like Rapunzel. It's not going to be easy though, new situations are scary, and you wouldn't like so many scary situations at once, right?"
She'd barely even thought about that aspect, the scary parts of it. Alexa thought about how she'd been seen like..this, she recalled how her cheeks burned at the restaurant; when she'd been handed a kids menu.
Embarrassment in the house had died down long ago, it was nothing more than her routine. "Would people laugh at me in public?" The words slipped from her mouth.
"Only if you're saying something funny.", Lottie's attempt to joke annoyed Alexa, who stared daggers at the coffee table. Her first instinct was to snap at Lottie, with one deep breath in, she redirected her feelings, knowing her anger was being deflected.
The girl's bottom lip was taken in between her teeth for a moment, a split second before she resumed her unintentional frown. "Okay mama." She murmured, leaning her head on the woman's shoulder, deciding to give up on the conversation right now, it was all too much for her.
Noting the girls newfound silence, Lottie looked over to see Alexa's eyelids turn heavy. "Come on Lexie, time to lay down." She spoke softly, Alexa's eyes sprang open for a moment, but she didn't do struggle as she was adjusted. The girl had wanted to protest, to say that she wasn't tired, but she couldn't even deny it herself.
Her hair was moved from under her, before her head was laid to rest on the blondes lap. Alexa wasn't awake for much longer, her body going lax on the couch, her head becoming deadweight in the lap.
"Sweet dreams, sweetheart." Lottie whispered.
~~~
"Is it morning already?" Alexa sleepily spoke—disgruntled. She had opened her eyes to see the familiar wallpaper of her room, leading her to surmise that she had somehow managed to sleep until morning.
She could hear laughter, which she guessed came from the same person whose fingers were carding through her hair, that being the reason she woke up in the first place.
After closing her eyes again, she reopened them, bringing a hand up to wipe the sleep from them. Alexa looked to see Lottie, "it's not morning yet, but it's not afternoon either." She enlightened her, continuing to play with the girl's hair.
Alexa's eyebrows furrowed together, her half awake brain working overtime to try figure out what was meant.
"It's the evening, Lex." Lottie said, speaking with a half teasing tone. Alexa shifted, leading the blonde to pull her hand away, she sat up in the bed. Her mouth felt dry, Alexa ran her tongue across her lips, whilst she got her bearings again. Her face suddenly scrunched up, "what?" Lottie questioned.
"You left me." Alexa accused, looking less than pleased.
Now it was Lottie's turn to be confused, "you didn't stay with me whilst I was sleeping, you put me in my room." She whined.
The blonde couldn't help but break into a smile, attempting to cover it by pretending to scratch her nose, whilst she gained composure. It wasn't that she enjoyed the girls misery, not at all, but Alexa's behaviour in contrast to the way she acted a month ago was like day and night. For Alexa to actually want her presence, instead of mildly tolerating her.
"I'm sorry sweetie." Lottie apologised, but she didn't sound sorry to the girl.
Choosing not to dwell on the insincere tone, Alexa nodded, "you're forgiven mama." She excused. She craned her head to look out the window, seeing a golden hue in the sky, through the gap in the curtains. "How long did I sleep?" She yawned, not bothering to bring a hand to cover her mouth.
"A few hours, you did wake up for a second when I brought you upstairs?"
"I did?"
"Oh you sure did sweetie, sleepy you had some things to say." Lottie lightly mocked, a blush creeped onto the girls cheeks, looking down into her lap to avoid Lottie's stare.
She shook her head, "mama stop." Alexa protested, "I wanna go see mommy now." She changed the subject. Lottie nodded, straightening herself back up, she extended her hand to the girl.
Alexa accepted the hand, standing up beside Lottie, however she didn't let her hand go. They had almost gotten out of the room when the girl halted, Lottie turned around questiongly, Alexa tugged her hand away, "I forgot Chase." She hurried over to the bed. Chase was hastily grabbed, before she went back to holding Lottie's hand.
The pair made their way downstairs, going into the dining room to find it empty, before making their way to the family room. The girl soon lost her grasp, running over to Daisy, planting herself in the woman's lap.
"I've missed you so much." Alexa told her, her head against the woman's collarbone, with a hand wrapped across the back of the woman's neck.
Daisy nodded, "i've missed you too, sweetheart." She replied to the girl, smiling down at her.
"You should've woken me up." The girl complained, pulling her head away to look at Daisy, "then I wouldn't have had to miss you so much."
"This is my fault?" Daisy enquired, Alexa nodded making an 'mhm' sound. "How so, sweetie?" She further questioned, running a hand down the girls skirt, noting how it had gotten crumpled during her nap. Lottie had debated changing the girl into pyjamas, it had reached hour two of the girls nap and she hadn't showed any signs of waking up, she gave up when the girl had begun to whine in her sleep though.
Shooing the woman's hand from her skirt, Alexa smoothed it down herself. "You're the one who left my sleeping mommy." She informed her, "if you had woken me up earlier, then I wouldn't have spent so much time apart from you."
"Oh but you were oh so sleepy." Daisy justified, her gaze turned more concerned. "Did you have trouble sleeping last night?" The question was brought upon the girl, leading her to quietly sigh.
She looked down at her sleeve, fiddling with it. "I slept fine." She answered, truthfully speaking. There had been nights when she'd struggled to fall back asleep, after waking up momentarily in the night, but there had been becoming few and fewer. "Plus it's not like there'd be anything to do at night anyways, it'd be boring not to sleep." Alexa shrugged.
Lottie laughed, however Daisy didn't find it quite so funny. "You could always talk to Chase." Lottie said, getting an unamused look from the girl.
"Chase can't even talk." Alexa pointed out—rather defensively. She was surprised when Chase was taken from her hand, she reached to take it back from Lottie, who only moved away. "Mama give him back." Alexa told her, leaning over to try to grab him.
To her dismay, when she had stood up to grab him, Lottie had raised the stuffed animal into the air. "What's that Chase?" Lottie said, "she's hurt your feelings? Alexa he said that you've hurt his feelings."
"I'm sorry Chase, now give him back...please." Alexa demanded, quickly adding please once she received a questioning look from the blonde.
The woman didn't budge, Alexa stood on her tip toes, still failing to reach him. "Mommy please tell mama to give him back, Chase is mine." Alexa urged, mustering up her best pleading look, even pouting at the woman.
"Lottie, Chase is hers." Daisy repeated, eyes glimmering with amusem*nt. "Look at that face, how can you say no to that face?" She laughed, gesturing to the girl.
All attempts to persuade fell on deaf ears, Alexa gave up on attempting to get him from Lottie, instead devising another plan. She leaned over, whispering into Daisy's ear. As she pulled away, the two stared at each other for a moment, before Daisy finally nodded.
Lottie had watched the pair's interaction inquisitively, to which she saw as Daisy got up. The blonde hadn't been able to put the stuffed dog out of Daisy's reach, meaning it was easily grabbed from her hand. "Well now you've ruined all the fun." Lottie said, but the girl couldn't care less.
She reached out to take the dog from Daisy, however the woman held onto the dog. "Say you love me, and you can have him back." The brunette bargained, holding onto Chase tightly.
"But that wasn't the deal!" Alexa complained, not even bothering to try to reach her stuffed animal.
"What was the deal then?" Lottie piped in, curious to the deal.
She didn't receive an answer, instead Alexa begrudgingly gave in, "fine, I love you mommy." She was happy to finally get Chase back. "Even if you're a meanie sometimes." Alexa whispered afterwards.
There was contentment for a moment, until Lottie rubbed her temple, groaning quietly. "Everything okay, Lot?" Daisy enquired, furrowing her brows in concern.
Lottie pulled her hand away, "just a headache I think, I'll take some Tylenol, it'll be fine." She reassured, waving off any worry. Some painkillers and she'd be fine, or so she surmised at least.
~~~
Turns out that the headache hadn't gone away, and it had been accompanied by its friends: a sore throat, exhaustion, a runny nose and a low grade fever. She had attempted to ignore it the first day, however when her fever spiked, she had no choice but to resign herself to bed.
By proxy, all responsibilities fell onto Daisy, along with the task of taking care of Lottie. The blonde hadn't even been able to protest, given her dizziness when she attempted to stand, she merely had to allow Daisy to dote on her.
Daisy hadn't been faring well with everything, taking care of Alexa was simple, but with everything else piled on, she was beginning to feel overwhelmed.
"Mommy?" Alexa questioned, becoming bored of the tv show in front of her, choosing to tune out the high pitched voices. She laid back on the couch, waiting for a response.
Looking up from the pile of laundry, Daisy glanced over to the girl, before looking down at the unfolded clothes. "Hm?" She answered, picking up one of her shirts, before overlapping the material.
"Can I make a card for mama?" The girl asked, she hung her head off the edge of the couch, staring at Daisy upside down.
Placing the now folded shirt on the pile, Daisy decided that she'd come back to the clothes shortly. "Of course you can sweetie, that's a very nice idea." She told Alexa, watching as the girl smiled at the compliment, "also let's not look upside down, I prefer you upright."
Alexa sat up, swinging her legs off the couch, "can we use glitter again?"
Getting up, Daisy cringed at the idea. "Maybe next time Lexie, mommy doesn't have time to clean up messes today." She offered.
"Pretty please." Alexa pleaded, wanting another chance to use the glitter again, after the meltdown she had last time that ruined it. "I'll be careful mommy, I won't get it anywhere, not even a little piece."
"Alexa I said no, mama will like the card without glitter." Daisy persisted, her attention now being completely on the girl, sending her a stern look.
In response, Alexa brooded, not dwelling on how irritating she was acted. "Why can't I? I don't want a stupid boring card, I want a card with glitter." It was less about the sparkly specks at this point, and was more so just wanting to get her way.
Daisy's eyes narrowed on the girl, "we do not use words like stupid, I said no and that's final."
"Well it's gonna be dumb then! Is that better?" Alexa challenged, keeping her eyes locked onto Daisy's, almost daring the woman to argue with her. It was like a bull waiting to charge, seeing the red flag waved in its face, mocking it with its mere existence.
She wasn't granted an argument moreover, Daisy gently grabbed the girls wrist, taking her over to the corner. "You're going to stand here for twenty minutes, and I don't want to hear one word out of you." She seethed, the girl freezing on the spot.
Any desire to protest had died on the girls lips, now falling mute.
So she remained still beside the corner, her weight shifting from either foot every few minutes, due to her nerves. Alexa really hadn't intended to push so far, getting lost in the moment, it had been a long time since she'd been told off so harshly. Any signs of being a bull had been long gone, now standing like a dog with a tail between its legs.
As the time passed, she felt a twinge in her bladder, making her cringe. She debated getting Daisy's attention, she wasn't going to until she felt a bout of pain briefly. "Mommy." She said, not turning around however.
"Alexa, I don't want to hear it."
The girls mouth fell slightly open, before she shut it once more, unsure of what to do. Alexa had been about to speak, but an alarm cut her off from doing so. She flinched at the loud sound, Daisy scrambled to find her phone, turning off the blaring noise.
It was time to give Lottie more painkillers, Daisy muttered a curse word under her breath, this being the first time in the day she'd been able to have a moment of peace. She got up nonetheless, her eyes flickered to Alexa, she still had another fourteen minutes in timeout.
Leaving the girl there, she went upstairs, but not before getting a fresh glass of water.
Alexa listened as Daisy left the room, she turned around and her suspicions were confirmed, the woman had actually went. She squeezed her legs together, her need only increasing by the moment, she considered whether she should go to the bathroom by herself.
Weeks ago, it would've been a no brainer, yet now she lacked the rebellious spark she once had. Recalling how angry Daisy had sounded, she decided against taking herself to the bathroom, her body becoming stiff in fear of pain.
The minutes ticked by slowly, time seeming to stop when the woman wasn't in her orbit. She didn't bother to face the corner anymore, leaning her head against the wall, desperately waiting for Daisy to return. Unsure of where she went, and how long it would be until she came back, regretting her previous outburst.
She straightened up when Daisy reappeared in the doorway, "I've been gone for five minutes Alexa, and you couldn't even stay in the corner?" She angrily stated.
"I need the bathroom, mommy." Alexa whimpered, the brunette's eyes softened immediately, guilt filling her. With all of her stress, she had taken some of it out on Alexa, having a much shorter fuse than usual.
Daisy closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in, as she reopened them. "I'm sorry Lexie, mommy shouldn't have gotten mad when you tried to tell me, i'll take you to the bathroom now."
~~~
The laundry had been abandoned, falling down the list of priorities. She finally had the girl occupied, leaving her at the dining room table to finish her card, whilst Daisy made lunch. Going in to check on the girl every so often, before resuming to the kitchen.
She enjoyed her temporary break, finally being in her element. She stirred the chicken noodle soup around, she picked up a spoon, getting a small amount of the soup on it. She blew gently on the spoon, however her efforts proving fruitless.
Daisy gasped, the soup burning her tongue. After a second of panic, she rushed over to the sink, spitting out the steaming liquid. Grabbing a cup from the drying rack, she grabbed some water.
After taking a mouthful, she discarded the cup on the counter, she leaned over the sink. It wasn't even dinner yet, and she was already sick of the day.
She trudged along to the stove, switching off the hob, the soup was most definitely finished now. Daisy had been about to grab some bowls, when the doorbell could be heard, "Mommy, somebodies at the door." Alexa called from the dining room.
"I know honey, I'll be a second!" Daisy replied, wiping her hands on her apron. She assumed it would be a delivery, Lottie had a habit of ordering things quite frequently, things that the blonde always exclaimed were a must have. Daisy passed by the girl in the dining room, "just stay here, I'll get it." She told her.
She opened the door, expecting a delivery person, instead she was met with a certain redhead. She stood up straight, taken aback by the sight, "what are you doing here?" She spoke coldly.
Elise rolled her eyes, stepping into the small walkway. "Thanks for the gracious invitation into your home, I would've let myself in but the door was locked." Elise shrugged, ignoring the unamused look on Daisy's face.
"I'm not kidding Elise, what are you doing here?" Daisy stared the woman down.
"Well if you must know, Lottie texted me to come over, she said that you needed help. From what I can see, you clearly do." Elise retorted, the comment making the brunette self conscious. Daisy tucked her hair behind her ear, running a hand through it. "Dais you know I don't judge, you don't need to prove anything to me."
Dropping her hands to her side, Daisy sighed. "Elise I'm fine, I don't need any help, let alone from you." She stubbornly stated, regardless of how much she wished for an extra set of hands.
Elise shook her head, "bitch at me all you want, but I'm not gonna watch as you run yourself ragged. You can either work with me, or against me, but the outcome is still gonna be the same." Elise insisted.
Maybe it was the woman's persuasion, or perhaps she was just tired, but Daisy moved to the side, allowing Elise to get past her.
"You can deal with Lottie, I'll take care of Alexa." Elise told her, "don't even try to argue because you know how weak my immune system is, given how many times I got sick in college, whilst you were miraculously fine."
Daisy nodded, "I still need to serve lunch though, and I have to finish with the laundry- oh and I need to vacuum."
"Don't worry about it Daisy, I can deal with all of that. I know you don't think I do stuff, but I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, I do it everyday."
She wanted to remain mad at Elise, but it was difficult when all of her problems were being solved. Truthfully, there wasn't much to be mad at Elise for; not that she wanted to admit that.
There was another feeling flooding her moreover.
Elise had been about to walk past Daisy, when she noticed the tears welling in her eyes. She backtracked, standing to directly face her. "What's up?" She questioned.
Daisy had wanted to wave her off, but it proved to be meaningless, given the tears in her eyes. "If this was Lottie, she wouldn't need the help, she'd be able to manage it." She began, "I keep thinking that I'm a bad mom, and I know I'm being irrational, but I can't help but think that I should be able to manage all of this."
She was surprised when Elise had hugged her, regardless of the redheads dislike for touch. Daisy accepted the hug, finding comfort in her friend's hold.
When they pulled away, she wiped the tears from her eyes, gaining her composure once more.
"You're right, you are being irrational, Dais." Elise said, "you're not a bad mom, nor a bad anything, you're bound to be stressed and it's normal to need help. We both know that Lottie is a superhuman, and we can't compare herself to us." She joked.
"She is a superhuman." Daisy agreed.
"Now come on, let's hope that your kid hasn't managed to burn the house down, I wouldn't put it past her."
