Chapter 69 - Park Visit

                                    

                                          
A/N: Early update! Chapter requested by Pentamonium Thanks for the suggestion, I loved writing this one 
                          
Melissa's POV
                          
The Saturday after Kirstie came home, she decided she wanted to go to the park. She wasn't able to leave her wheel chair to run around yet, but the fresh air would definitely do her good. I decided to make it into a family picnic since Henry was still home. Kirstie also had the idea to invite Skye and Taylor to come with us. She hadn't been at school in a couple of months and she missed her friends. 
                          
Both Taylor and Skye arrived at 10am, and all the kids were ready to go so we could leave straight away. 
                          
"Kirstie!" Taylor yelled as she came into the house.
                          
"Tay tay!" Kirstie called back. Taylor ran over to Kirstie and did her best to give Kirstie a hug. It was a little awkward with Kirstie in her wheelchair, but it was still exceedingly cute. Skye also gave Kirstie a hug when Taylor had let go. 
                          
"Missed you Kirstie." Taylor said.
                          
"Miss you too." Kirstie replied. 
                          
"All better now?" Skye asked. 
                          
"Yeah. Need chair for bit." Kirstie replied. 
                          
We finally left about 10 minutes later and arrived at the park just before half ten. Kevin had insisted on pushing Kirstie the whole way there. We brought Olaf and Pascal along too. Taylor walked and chatted with Kirstie the entire walk. It was the happiest I had seen Kirstie in days. I knew she loved being home with us again, but it was blatant that she had missed her best friend. 
                          
Once we arrived at the park, all the kids ran off and started playing, with the dogs in tow. Kirstie was next to me just watching all of them play. Henry had gone to push Mitch and Skye on the swings since they hadn't worked out how to do it themselves yet. Taylor didn't stay away from Kirstie very long and came running back over. 
                          
"Why not playing?" she asked.
                          
"Darling, Kirstie can't leave that chair for a little while. She needs to get better first." I explained. 
                          
"Oh. Not play at all?" Taylor asked, looking horrified at that thought. 
                          
"She can, but she can only do certain things." 
                          
"Swings?" Taylor suggested. I thought for a moment. We'd have to make sure her back was supported and she couldn't move too much, but it's a park for children. There's obviously swings designed for them. Kirstie was looking at me with hopeful eyes. 
                          
"Yes, we can do that." I said. 
                          
By now, the boys had left the swings so I called Henry over. He wheeled her over to the swings that were safe for her and gently lifted her out of the wheelchair into the swing. He also had the genius idea of putting the cushion she had been resting, behind her. He doubled checked he was happy with the set up and then gently started to push her swing. Being an awesome human, he pushed Taylor's as well. The pair of girls giggled so much the whole time. It was nice to hear proper laughter from Kirstie again. My happy little girl was coming back. 
                          
We managed to find a couple of other things Kirstie and Taylor could do together, so all the kids were playing in the park for about an hour. They eventually got a bit tired, so I set up the picnic blanket on the ground and sorted the food out. Andrew and Casey joined back up with us at this point after running a few errands, bringing some of their own food as well. The dogs came and lay down on the large blanket, tired from running around so much. 
                          
Henry had Kirstie safely on his lap when everyone came over for lunch. She could've stayed in the wheelchair, but we wanted her to feel a bit more included. She was a bit tired, so Henry cut her sandwich into small bites and held them for her. It wasn't long after lunch that the kids wanted to run around again. Kirstie was half-asleep on Henry, so didn't acknowledge the decision to play tag. 
                          
"So she's getting better then?" Andrew asked.
                          
"Yeah she's getting there. She just can't strain her stitches. Hence the wheelchair for a couple of months." Henry explained.
                          
"I'm glad she's out of the hospital." Casey said. 
                          
"Me too." I said.
                          
"Taylor was so upset when she didn't come to school that first day. She was even more upset when Mitch told her that she was in hospital."  Andrew said.
                          
"Yeah, Skye was really sad as well. He knew Mitch was practically distraught, so he comforted him the best he could." Casey said. 
                          
"I can see those four being best friends for life." Henry said. 
                          
"I think you're right." I agreed. 
                          
Taylor and Kevin came running over after a little while. 
                          
"Can Kirstie come and play with us?" Kevin asked. "I can push her wheelchair safely. I don't want her to feel left out from our game of tag." 
                          
"I don't know. She's half-asleep as it is." I said. 
                          
"Mama, play." Kirstie said. 
                          
"You sure baby?" I asked.
                          
"Wanna play." She said.
                          
"Okay then. Be gentle with her." I said to Kevin.
                          
"Of course I will Mum." 
                          
Kevin carefully lifted her out of Henry's lap and put her back in her wheelchair. He made sure she was comfy and safe before he dared he move her. Henry checked it over as well and was happy for Kevin to go ahead. 
                          
"You ready Kitty?" he asked her. 
                          
"Yeah." Kirstie was excited to play with her brothers and her friends. Kevin pushed the wheelchair across to the bit of the park that was concrete. He couldn't push her very well on the grass during tag, so they moved it to the hard surface. 
                          
He was super careful with her the whole time and I could hear all 8 kids laughing. The game of tag was definitely a lot slower than a normal game. They had changed the rules to fit Kirstie's chair and Matt being so little. Olaf and Pascal were also chasing after the kids, with their tongues hanging out of their mouths. The four of us adults watched as our children played together. Racism is taught, you are not born with it. This game of tag was proof of that. The rest of the world just needed to learn to be nicer. 
                          
It was nearing 1pm when the kids came back over, all the little ones were yawning. Even the dogs were yawning. The kids said goodbye to each other, though Taylor was very reluctant to say goodbye to Kirstie. We reassured her that Kirstie would be coming back to school soon, but only for a few hours a day as she got better. 
                          
Once we got home, only Kevin and Avi were able to stay awake to watch a movie. All the other kids fell asleep in the living room and hand a nap. Kirstie had Olaf and Pascal on either side of her, so she was perfectly safe on the floor. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. The kids had worn themselves out at the park, so all 6 of them went to sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. I was super proud of Kevin for making sure his sister felt included. He had absolutely earned the title of "World's best big brother" today.