Chapter Text
“Derek Shepherd?”
Bailey raises his hand, “Here”. This happens with every single new teacher. Derek is his first name but no one has ever called him anything but Bailey. All that hearing his first name does is make him think about his dad. So every new class is just a chance to be reminded of his dead dad. It always leads to him having to have an awkward conversation with a teacher that he doesn’t really know asking if they could please call him Bailey because no one ever calls him Derek. It’s only a month into the school year so he’s had to have a lot of these awkward conversations and he hasn’t been able to talk to every teacher about it yet, he knows he’s had the time but he kind of avoids the conversion because it’s so awkward to have. He wonders why his parents didn’t just make his first name Bailey in the first place and make Derek the middle name if they were never going to call him Derek at all.
Bailey doodles in his notebook as he listens to the teacher describe what they’re going to be working on for the next few weeks. They’re going to be working on a family tree project which doesn’t sound that bad at first. The part that makes Bailey a little nervous is that they have to write stories about their family. Things like how their parents met, the births of siblings, stories about dead family members. Bailey knows that along with having a dead dad there's plenty of stories about his family that aren’t good ones. He’s worried about how much he’s going to have to tell and that he’s not going to enough to tell if he doesn’t tell about the bad parts.
Bailey’s already halfway to the cafeteria for lunch when he realizes that he forgot to tell the teacher to call him Bailey because he was distracted by thinking about the project. So he’s going to have to have that awkward conversation another day.
Bailey’s alone for lunch. He used to eat with his older sister but now she’s not in the same school as him because in middle school. His little sister is at the same school as him but she’s only in the second grade so they don’t eat lunch at the same time. He doesn’t really have friends. He’s always been a bit of a weird kid. His obsession with medicine isn’t normal and the other kids don’t really understand what he talks about. They also pick on him for wearing things for girls. His mom says that those kids are stupid, that there’s nothing wrong with him for wearing those things, that they just don’t understand what he’s talking about because Bailey is s smart, that they don’t understand medicine like he does because they’re not smart enough to understand. It helps him feel better about not having friends but it doesn’t make the kids stop picking on him or want to be his friend. So every day during lunch he finds a quiet corner of the lunchroom to eat alone and read some kind of book that his room says is way higher than his grade level.
He makes through the rest of the day without any issue. School isn’t really hard for him at all. Today is a day that his mom isn’t working during the afternoon so she can actually get him and his sisters from school. She can’t do it all the time but Bailey doesn’t mind. He knows how busy she is and she tries so hard to be able to be there as much as possible when she’s a single parent and a surgeon. On days when she picks him up, he’s supposed to find Ellis so they wait in the pick-up line together. He’s able to find her pretty quickly. Ellis is usually extremely quiet and shy at school but she immediately looks happy when she sees him. She gives him a big smile that shows off her missing front teeth and runs up to him “Bailey...hi”.
Bailey takes her hand, it’s sticky but he pretends that it doesn’t bother him. “Hi”.
“Is Mommy getting us today?”
“Yes”.
“Good...I like when Mommy gets us”.
“Me too”.
Bailey leads Ellis out to the pick-up line. He knows the other kids might think it’s dumb for him to hold his sister’s hand but he doesn’t care. School is hard for Ellis because she’s shy around people that she doesn’t really know and doesn’t speak at school and that makes it hard for her to get to know people. So he wants to make her happy after school. He’s the only person that he really knows at school so it’s his job to make her feel safer.
Mom gets there pretty quickly. Bailey helps Ellis do her car seat buckles so Mom doesn’t have to.
“So how was school today?” Mom asks. She leaves the pick-up line as quickly as possible so she can get to Zola’s school to pick her up.
Ellis just says “Fine” and focuses on reading a book. She’s not usually very talkative about school.
Bailey is more talkative about school. “We have a new project in English”.
“What’s it about?”
“We have to do a family tree..and write about family stories”.
“Sounds exciting”.
“Yeah…”. Bailey doesn’t really think he sounds excited.
Mom notices his lack of excitement. “Do you not like the idea?”
“Will I have to talk about Dad dying?”
Mom gets quiet for a moment. “No...I don’t they’ll make you do that”.
“Okay”.
“...That’s up to you to share”.
Bailey’s quiet for the rest of the drive. Even when they get Zola and her and Mom and Ellis are talking about Mom’s day at work. He can’t stop thinking about his dad. He wishes he could remember him but he really doesn’t. He wasn’t even two years old when his ad died so he’s really too little to remember. He thinks he should ask Zola later. She was a little older so she might remember a little more.
When Bailey gets home he decides he’ll have a snack before he talks to Zola. So he makes a peanut butter sandwich and puts chocolate chips on it. He thinks it’s better than peanut butter and jelly even if everyone else thinks it’s weird. He also gets himself a glass of milk.
Once he’s finished eating he goes into Zola’s room and sits on her bed. She’s doing her homework so she seems a little annoyed to be seeing him, “Bailey, what do you want?”
“What was Dad like?”
Zola puts down her pencil. She goes to sit on the bed next to him, “You want to talk about Dad?”
“I don’t really remember anything about him”.
Zola gets a weird look on her face. She’s thinking, trying to remember. “He was...a really good dad...he was funny...and he played with us”.
“Okay”.
“He...really loved Mom...I remember that...and that she was different after he died”.
“How was she different?”
“She just...wasn’t as happy anymore...she lost her soulmate and it changed her”.
“Do you think she’s still different”?
“Yeah...she still misses him...I think she always will”.
Bailey fidgets with the string of his hoodie, “Do you miss him?”
“Of course...he’s my dad, don’t you miss him?”
Bailey doesn’t know exactly how to answer that question. “I don’t remember enough to miss him...but I miss having a dad because I don’t know that it’s like”.
Zola hugs him. She’s been getting taller lately so it’s a noodle armed hug. Bailey doesn’t care about that. Zola sounds sad when she speaks again about a minute later, “Honestly I don’t really know either”.
“You don’t remember that much do you”?
“Bailey...I was four...it’s been eight years...I don’t really remember”.
Bailey isn’t sure he should ask this next question, he thinks he’ll probably regret it but he just wants to know, “How did he die?”
“You know how he died...it was a car crash”.
“...I know...but what killed him?”
Zola squeezes him a little tighter, “I don’t know...we didn’t get to see him before he died...I know he didn’t die right away because we went to the hospital”.
“I don’t remember that”.
“I do...a little...I remember Mom telling us that he died...so I guess he was alive when we came but he died really soon after”.
“Is it bad that I want to know?”
“No...I don’t think it is”.
“I don’t know if I should ask Mom”.
“It could make her sad...maybe don’t”.
“I won’t”.
He sits with Zola in silence for a little bit. He doesn’t know what else to say and neither does she. After a bit, she gets up and goes back to her work and he gets up so he can go to his room and do his homework.
When he’s lying in bed trying to sleep that night he can’t stop thinking about how he wants to know why Dad died because of the car accident. He doesn’t even know why he wants to know. He doesn’t know almost anything about his dad so maybe that’s why. He doesn’t ask his mom because he doesn’t want to make her sad. He thinks that maybe he should ask her things. She might miss talking about Dad. Because he’s been dead for so long no one probably does talk about him. Aunt Amelia does sometimes but not a lot. Aunt Maggie didn’t really know him but she did talk about him a little before she got sick. The only person he can really ask is Mom.
Bailey lies in bed a bit longer before he gets up. It’s not that late so Mom should still be awake. He goes into her room. She’s still awake with the lights on. She’s reading a book but she puts it down when she sees him, “Hey Bailey...what are you doing up?”
“I wanted to talk about something”.
“Okay”.
Bailey climbs into the bed. He snuggles into his mom’s side, “How did Dad die?”
“Bailey...you know that he was in a car accident...what are you asking?”
“I mean..why did the car crash kill him? I don’t know why I want to know...sorry”.
Mom pulls him closer to her, “No, it’s okay for you to ask...we can talk about it”.
“Okay”.
“Do know what a brain bleed is right?”
Bailey holds on to his mom’s shirt, “It can happen when you hit your head”.
“That’s right”.
“So when it happens you’ll need a neurosurgeon...so they can cut a hole in your skull to fix it”.
“That’s right too”.
“Did Dad have one?”
“Yes...he did”
“Why didn’t a neurosurgeon fix it?”
“They didn’t realize it was bleeding in time”
“Did he die from too much bleeding?”
“No..when the brain is hurt...it swells and if it swells too much it can make the brain die…”.
“Zola says Dad was alive when we went to the hospital...did his brain...die while we were there?”
“No...he was already brain dead...but he had machines breathing for him...but they got turned off because he wasn’t going to wake up”.
“So he was already dead?”
“Yes...he was, the machines were keeping his heart beating and keeping him breathing but he wasn’t really alive...so when they were turned off his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing”.
“Okay”.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m sad…”.
Mom squeezes him very tightly and pulls him into her lap, “This is a sad thing to talk about”.
Bailey sniffles, “I don’t remember him...how did I forget?”
“You weren’t even quite two when he died...you were only a baby...people don’t really remember things from being a baby”.
“I wish I did”.
“I wish you did too”.
“What would he think of me?”
Mom kisses the top of his head, “He would think you’re a very smart boy and he’d be very proud of that”.
Bailey’s crying a little bit now, “Would he think it’s weird I paint my nails and wear things for girls?”
“No..he’d be okay with that”.
“Okay…”.
“He would just...he loved you so much and he’d keep loving you for who you are”.
Bailey curls up in Mom’s lap. “I think it would to nice to have a dad...is it?”
“My dad...wasn’t really around when I was a kid...I don’t know what it’s really like”.
“That’s sad…”.
“It is a little sad...but it’s okay, it was a long time ago and you don’t have to worry about me”.
“I don’t know almost anything about Dad...will you tell me things?”
“I will”.
“Okay”.
“What do you want to know about him?”
“What was he like as a surgeon?”
Mom smiles, “Oh...he was an amazing neurosurgeon”.
“Did you ever operate with him?”
“I did..while I was a resident”.
“Was it cool?”
“Yes...it was...cool, he was very talented and so good with his hands and it was amazing to watch”
“Did he save a lot of people?”
“He did...he used to do what he called hopeless case neurosurgery...where he tried to save people that no one else would try to help”.
“Did he save them?”
“Not all the time...but sometimes he did”.
“That’s really cool”.
“Before surgery….he used to say...it’s a beautiful day to save lives...or a beautiful night if it was night time”.
“I want to be a surgeon too”.
“I know you do…”.
“I think I want to say...what Dad used to say...why did he say it?”
“For good luck”.
“I want good luck before I try and save a life...so I’ll say what he said”.
Mom has a soft, sad smile, “I think he would like that”.
“Good”, Bailey tries and fails to hold back a yawn.
“You’re tired...you need to go to sleep”.
“Can I stay with you?”
“Of course you can”.
Mom turns off the light and Bailey curls up with her. He feels safe and loved with her. She does the work of two parents for him and his sisters. She’s so busy but she’s there as much as she can be. She does everything she can to be there for him and his sisters. He knows that she loves them more than anything. So he’s able to fall asleep quickly when he’s curled up with her.
He’s woken up early by her alarm. Mom apologies, “I’m sorry you got woken up...I have to go to work very early today...Alex will come and get you all ready for school”.
Bailey yawns, “Okay...can I go back to sleep?”
“Yes...Alex will be here before you have to leave”.
“Okay…”.
Bailey manages to fall back asleep. He’s shaken awake a bit later by Alex, “Okay kiddo...time to get up and go to school”.
Bailey sits up and rubs his eyes, “Okay...I’ll get ready”.
Bailey has to decide if he wants to dress to avoid teasing or dress how he wants. He wishes he could wear a skirt at school but he knows that the other kids would murder him for it. He can’t really go further than jewelry or girl socks and shoes. The other kids wouldn’t ever let it go if he wore a skirt or dress or anything too girly. The light blue polish on his nails is chipped and he doesn’t know if he’ll bother fixing it, it’s just another thing that kids will pick on him for. Today Bailey dresses in a way that will let him avoid teasing.
Bailey decides that today he’ll tell his language arts teacher to please call him Bailey. He’s already told his other teachers to do it so she’s the only one left. Maybe he can ask her about how many stories about his family he needs for the assignment and if he needs to specify if people in his family tree are dead or not.
He waits till everyone else has left the classroom to talk to the teacher. She notices he’s staying and asks him about it, “Why aren’t you going to your next class Derek?’
“...Can you...call me Bailey? I go by my middle name...no one calls me Derek”.
The teacher nods, “I can call you Bailey, is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Yeah...how many stories do we have to tell about our family”.
“Just...a story about your family...why they’re the way they are...about family traditions and any stories you know about dead family members”.
“Do I have to talk about my dad dying?"
The teacher looks like she didn’t expect that question, “You can...say as much as you're comfortable with sharing with the class about your dad”.
“Okay...thank you”.
“No problem”.
When Bailey gets home he thinks that he should start working on the family tree project. He isn’t going to get to the family stories part of it yet. The family tree part should be easy. Before he puts it on something like a poster board he’ll map it out on scrap paper. The first part of it is easy, he just has to do his parents and them him and his sisters. The next thing he thinks he should do is his parent's siblings. First, he does all four of dad’s sisters, then for Mom, he does Aunt Maggie, then he does Aunt Lexie. He never got to know his Mom’s other sister. She died before he was born and he isn’t really sure how she died. Ellis’s middle name is Alexandra because that was Lexie's name, and also because of Alex. Bailey thinks that Mom might have another half-sister but he doesn’t know her name so he’ll ask her later. He adds his Mom’s parents and then his Dad’s parents, but he doesn’t know the name of Dad’s dad so he’ll have to ask Mom that too. He also isn’t sure if he should put Richard and Grandma Ellis as Maggie’s parents or put Maggie’s adoptive parents down. He doesn’t know the names of Maggie’s adoptive parents though, but he knows that when you get adopted the people that adopt you are your real parents. He’ll ask Mom what he should do about that. He also doesn’t know the name of Lexie’s mom, just that Grandpa Thatcher was her dad. He also thinks he should put his cousins down but he really doesn’t know the name of almost any of his cousins. Bailey realizes that this is harder than he thought it would be. He has a lot of questions for his mom
Bailey gives up on the family tree for the time being. He can work on it and asks his mom the questions later. She’s not home and won’t be till five so Zola’s in charge for the next hour and a half. When Mom is gone longer than a few hours or overnight she’ll have a friend watch them but she’s going to be home before dinner. Bailey knows she doesn’t want to leave them alone but he doesn’t mind. She never leaves them for long and they always have enough food. Bailey puts his unfinished family tree draft in his language arts folder. He decides that he’ll wear the clothes that he wished he could have worn to school today. So he puts on a blue dress, pink cardigan, and some bead bracelets that Ellis made for him. At home no one cares that he likes to dress like a girl sometimes. He used to do it in secret and steal Zola’s clothes, he had been really worried when his mom found out but she hadn’t made a big deal out of it. All she had done was take him to get his own girl clothes because Zola was tired of her clothes going missing.
When Mom gets home Bailey tells her that he’s having trouble with his school work and some of the names on his family tree. Mom asks, “How can I help with that”?
Bailey gets her to sit with him at the kitchen table and takes out his family tree draft, “Can you help me with some names?”
Mom looks at the tree, “Yeah..what names do you need help with?”
“Do you have a sister besides Aunt Lexie and Aunt Maggie?”
“I do...her name is Molly Thompson…”.
Bailey adds Molly to his family tree,“Okay...does she have kids?”
“I know she has a daughter named Laura...I think she has more kids but I don’t know their names”.
Bailey adds Laura to the tree, “What about Laura’s dad?”
“His name is Eric...I think”.
Bailey adds Eric to the tree and thinks that it’s weird that Mom doesn’t know the name of her sister’s husband for sure, and that it’s weird that he didn’t know his aunt’s name, “What’s Molly and Lexie’s mom named?’
“Her name was Susan…”.
Bailey adds Susan to the tree, “What about the names of all my cousins?”
Mom struggles to name all his cousins and seems unsure of them, she also seems unsure of the names of the husbands of all his aunts and who’s the mother of which cousin. She does her best though. Bailey puts all the names down, “Do I put Richard and Grandma Ellis as Aunt Maggie’s parents or her parents?”
“I don’t know...you could just put her as my sister”.
“Wouldn’t it be unfair to leave Richard off?”
“I don’t know...maybe the whole class doesn’t need to know the full story”.
Bailey doesn’t really know what Mom is talking about, “What is the full story”?
“...it’s long...and hard to explain…”.
“I could just say she’s your half-sister and not explain but put Richard on still?”
“Okay...that’s fine..that works”
“Okay...good”.
“I’m sure you’ll do a very good job on your family tree”.
“Yeah...I have to do family stories still but I can do it later...and I have to do the final family tree on a poster board...with pictures and stuff”.
“I will get you the things you need to make it”.
“Okay...thank you for helping”.
Mom kisses his forehead, “I was happy to help you”.
“Will you help me with some stories about our family?”
“Of course I will”.
In bed that night Bailey is left wondering about a lot of things. He wonders why he didn’t ever meet Aunt Molly. He thinks about how he has no idea how Aunt Lexie died, he never thought to ask and he isn’t sure he should because he doesn’t think it’s a good story. He knows that she died right before she became a fifth year resident so she had to be pretty young when she died. He doesn’t know why Grandpa Thatcher and Grandma Ellis got a divorce. He thinks that maybe that Grandma Ellis and Richard had an affair. That could be why Thatcher and Ellis divorced. Mom says she didn’t really have a dad growing up so Thatcher must have left or something and married Susan and had Aunt Lexie and Aunt Molly. The story of his family seems to be a really confusing and messy one.There’s a lot he doesn’t know and he doesn’t know how to ask. He thinks that he might be right about Ellis and Richard having an affair and that must be why Mom didn’t tell him “The Full Story”. Maybe that’s why Ellis put Maggie up for adoption instead of keeping her. His family is full of weird sad mysteries and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever find out the truth behind all of them.
Bailey spends the next week and a half focused on the visual family tree part of his project. He doesn’t have pictures of everyone on the tree so he finds other ways to do a visual representation of those people on his tree. He makes sure to have good pictures of people that he does have pictures of. He includes the birth, and death dates that he knows. He adds stickers of leaves to make the family tree look more like an actual tree. He uses a gold gel pen to draw the lines between the people on the tree and adds details to make it look a little like a tree trunk. He thinks it looks really, really good.
Bailey realizes that after he finishes the family tree project that he’s going to need to start on the family stories project. The part that makes him kind of nervous. He’s got so many questions but he doesn’t think most of the things he wants to know are stories that his mom would even tell him. So he has to think of something that she will tell him so he can get his work done.
One saturday Mom isn’t working so she sits with him on the couch and asks him, “So what stories do you want to talk about for your project”.
Bailey thinks for a moment, “How about how you and Dad adopted Zola?”
“Oh...that’s a good choice...it’s a good story”.
“Yeah”.
“So...the hospital was doing a program to help orphans from Africa..and Zola was one of these orphans...she was about six months olds and she hadn’t had surgery for her spina bifida or hydrocephalus so she wasn’t a healthy baby at the time...but your dad did surgery on her to fix both of those things...and when we both met her...we couldn’t imagine anyone else being her parents”.
“...That is a good story”.
Mom smiles “It is...what else do you want to hear about?”
“How did you and dad meet and what was your wedding like?”
“I don’t think you’re really...old enough for the full story...but..I’ll tell you as much of our love story as you’re ready to hear”.
“Okay”.
“I met your dad...at the hospital and we took a long time to fall in and I took a very long time to trust him...but then I did...and when we got married...we didn’t really have a wedding...we wrote down promises to each other on a post it and that was our wedding...we only got legally married when we adopted Zola”.
“Do you still have the post it?”
“Yes”.
“Could I see it?”
“Of course...I’ll get it”.
Mom gets up and when she comes back she has a post it in a picture frame. She hands it to Bailey, “here you go...be careful with it”.
Bailey recognizes the handwriting of his mother’s signature but not the writing on the post it. He realizes that means it’s his dad’s handwriting. It looks like his handwriting. It’s a trait he shares with his dad. He doesn’t have a lot from his dad besides his first name, not memoires, not even many physical traits,but now he has his dad’s handwriting, “Dad writes like me”.
Meredith looks at the post it, “Oh..you’re right...you write just like him”.
“I don’t have almost anything from him...but I have his handwriting”.
“I didn’t realize that until now..I haven’t seen his handwriting for so long”.
“...If you ever miss it...just look at mine”.
Mom hugs him, “I love you”.
Bailey hugs her tight, “I love you too”.
“Are there any other stories you want to hear?”
“...I have some questions...but I don’t think they’d be good for school”.
“It’s okay for you to ask”.
“What happened to Aunt Lexie?”
“...Oh..”.
Bailey can tell that Mom is upset thinking about it, “Sorry...I shouldn’t have asked”
“No…it’s okay…”.
“Okay…”.
“Your Aunt Lexie...died in a plane crash”.
Bailey remembers something about how Sofia said her dad died in a plane crash, “Is that the same plane crash that killed Sofia’s dad?”
“Yes...it was”.
“Were you there?”, Bailey doubts that she was, he doesn’t think people really survive plane crashes.
“I was...and so was Dad..and Arizona and Cristina”.
Bailey’s shocked, “How did you even survive?”
“I don’t know...but we spent days in those woods together...and most of us made it out”.
“...Is that how Arizona lost her leg?”
“Yes”.
“I can’t believe you survived that”.
“I know…”.
“...Wow”.
“A few months after the crash...I realized that I was pregnant with you”.
“Oh”.
“...I didn’t think I could really get pregnant..so you were a surprise”.
“A good one?”
“The best one...you and Ellis both were”.
“Okay”, Bailey can’t stop thinking about how his mom survived a plane crash. He knows from the story she’s told him of how he was born that she almost died giving birth to him. He thinks the same thing might have happened with Ellis from what he knows and remembers about her being born. His mom had so many bad things happen to him but she’s somehow still alive after all that. She lost a lot of people and she’s not sad all the time and she can be happy and take care of him and his sisters. His mom is the strongest person he’s ever met. Bailey realizes that he knows what to write the family stories portion of his assignment about.
They’re going to be presenting their assignments in front of their classmates and parents. Because the school is having an open house night so all the grades are going to present projects for parents to come and see them. Bailey knows that Ellis’s class is showing projects they did about a chosen animal. He knows Ellis isn’t looking forward to it and Bailey doesn’t even understand why her teachers are making her do it. Ellis pretty much doesn’t speak at all at school so it’s not like she’ll be able to present a project to everyone. Bailey’s not that nervous about presenting usually but he’s nervous about this one, he wants it to be perfect.
On open house night he gets to see Ellis’s class’s project with Mom and Zola because they’re presenting before his class. Ellis doesn’t end up presenting her’s, she won’t even get up in front of everyone. She does show it to him and Mom after her class is done, “it’s about sea otters”.
Bailey gives her a big smile, hoping to make her feel better about not being able to present, “It’s cool”.
Mom smiles too, “It’s very good”.
Zola joins in on praising her sister, “Your otter drawing is so cute”.
Ellis looks very happy because of the praise from her family, “Thank you”.
They spend a little longer talking about sea otters with Ellis before they have to go so Bailey can get ready to present his project. His last name starting with S means he has to watch a lot of people go before he does. It makes him worry that the thing he wrote for his family story is dum and that people will tease him. The thing he wrote isn’t like anyone else’s so far.
When it’s Bailey’s turn to go the first thing he has to do is present his family tree. That part is the easy part. He just has to say the names of his relatives and how they’re related to him. He also says when they were born and for some of them when they died. Then it’s the harder part, the family story part.
Bailey fiddles with his paper for a moment before speaking, “I have a lot of...shocking...cool stories I could tell about my family but that’s not what I’m going to tell...The person I’m going to tell a story about is my mom, because she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met, my mom met my dad when she was a surgical intern and he was a neurosurgeon, they took a long time to fall in love but then they got married by writing their vows on a post it note...a while after that they adopted my older sister Zola because when they met her...they couldn’t imagine anyone else being her parents, and I can’t imagine anyone else being my older sister, my mom and dad got in a plane crash before I was born and my mom’s sister and one of their friends died, she got pregnant with me after the crash and she almost died giving birth to me, when I was about two years old my dad died in a car crash, nine months after that she had to give birth to my little sister alone. So my mom has been through a lot of bad stuff but she survived it...if I was her I’d just want to be sad forever but she isn’t, she takes care of me and my sisters without another parent to help and she does a really good job of it...and she’s here for everything important even if she’s a really busy surgeon, my mom is the strong and amazing person that keeps my family together.”
Once Bailey finishes he gets clapping from the parents and a few looks from his classmates that say ‘I think you’re a mama’s boy and I will never let you live that down’. He tries to ignore them. He doesn’t care what they think. He loves his mom and he isn’t afraid to say it.
Mom looks very misty-eyed when he sees her after he finishes. She grabs him and gives him the tightest hug, “Did I do a good job?” Bailey asks.
“You did a very...very good job.”
“I wanted to do it about you”.
“Bailey...you..you’re a very good boy and I love you so much.”
Bailey hugs his mom tight, “I love you too.”
Once they’re done at the open house they all get ice cream. Bailey thinks he might get an A on the project. Even if he doesn’t get an A seeing his mom this happy is worth just as much, even if he were to somehow fail.