n/a: if I stick to my notes things are going to get wild soon. Just brace yourselves for the next few chapters. I don't know why I'm nothing to say that but anyway it's late and I'm tired and kinda excited 'cause I know where this is going. 

The next morning, nothing woke Idina up. Not the triplets, not Aaron, not an alarm. Rising into a sitting position, she rubbed her eyes and looked around. The area on the bed beside her was empty. She pulled her phone from the counter, only to find that was out of power despite being plugged in. great, the last thing she wanted to worry about was something as trivial as a broken charger. She would have to ask Aaron to get her a new one the next time he did a supply run.

Walking downstairs, she noticed that the house was eerily dark and devoid of electrical humming. When she made it to the main floor, her suspicions were confirmed. Everything was off. Erika and Walker were sitting at the kitchen table with a tub of melting ice-cream and Walker seem to have some on his forehead.

"Hi mom!" he said.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" she asked Erika. It was definitely late in the morning.

"I went in but the power's out there too and the generators can't power everything so they're doing a thing with disco light and alcohol so everyone under twenty-one was sent home."

"Oh," she said, going to the fridge to get her injections.

"We put them in the freezer since the fridge is now room temperature," Erika informed her. "That's why we're eating the ice cream, we needed to make room."

"Thanks," she said as she opened the freezer instead. Her injections were a bit cooler than normal, but as long as they had not warmed up, they should still be fine.

Walker brought her a bowl as she sat down to take the injection. She smiled at him as she stuck the pen to her skin and counted to ten, slowly. As she was putting the garbage away, she realized how devoid her house was of other people. The boys were in their downstairs cots, kinds drowsy but not asleep. Lucinda was not around. There was a third cot, so she knew Lucinda was not an hallucinational side effect of her new medication.

"Where's Aaron?" she asked. "And mom?"

"Aaron took Lucinda to her pediatrician appointment," Walker said. "I think Grandma went shopping."

"Oh," Idina said again as she picked up Zephyr, who was much more awake than Soren.

The baby gurgled and pulled at her hair. She freed her hair, then put him down to go take her pills. When she was done, she came back into the living room since she was supposed to be under observation for twenty minutes after completing her treatment in case something happened. Normally she just cuddled with Aaron and sometimes a baby or three. She would have texted him, taking a picture of the puncture wound, just so he knew she was taking the medication because she wanted him to be completely focused on the doctor and Lucinda, not worrying about whether or not his adult wife was adult enough to medicate herself, but could not. So she asked to borrow Erika's phone.

"Mine's dead," she said.

"Walk?"

"Do I have too?" he whined.

"Yes," Idina said. She normally would have reminded him that she paid for it, but that was the type of thing one shouldn't say in front of Erika, because she subconsciously stops seeing things as hers and instead of theirs and Idina was willing to be a bit more lenient it meant her daughter learnt how to own a gift.

He handed it to her. She quickly took the picture and sent it to Aaron, resisting the urge to bed him to tell her everything before it happened and just ended with the simple request to keep her informed and come home safely.

Going back to the cots, she picked up her ice cream along the way and just stared at the babies. Soren was asleep, but Zephyr was watching her with his vampire's eyes. He yawned, making Idina yawn in turn as keys turned in the door.

She went to the door and was slightly disappointed to see her mother instead of her husband.

"Can I help you with the groceries?" she asked anyway.

"You should be changed by now," Helen scolded as she handed Idina some bags.

"I just got up," Idina informed her. And she was not going to bossed around by anyone but the three helpless infants in her house unless she wanted to be.

Helen took the bags back from here. "Couch now, until we know you're not reacting to the medication."

"Mom..."

"Now Idina."

"Now Idina," Walker mocked.

Erika snickered but tried very hard to hide it.

Idina sighed. As much as she did not want to be bossed around in front of her children, she also wanted to set the example that you are supposed to listen to your mother. Shen went to the couch but picked up her youngest son in an act of defiance. If she going to be stuck there, she may as well have a baby, especially when she had three of them. It seemed silly to be without at least one of them considering how just purely amazing they were and how much she loved every tired, screaming, and messy minute of her time with them.

Laying on her back, she placed Zephyr on her stomach. He was not enterally good at sitting up on his own, so she held him. Not she would have let him go if he were, because then he would probably be strong enough to try and move and fall off. But soon she could tell her baby was tired, so she laid him down on her chest and he was soon fast asleep.

She stroked his cheeks with the back of her index finger as Walker came to sit down on her legs. Sometimes she wondered if she would just explode with love that that would be the blissful end to her existence.

The doorbell rang, waking the boys. Crying the infant in hand, Idina went to answer it as she was the closets with her mother in the kitchen stocking the fridge with Erika.

"Hello?" she asked, slightly groggy and fussy infant in arm. She looked up and saw to CPS officers standing in the doorway.

"Mrs. Menzel?"

"Yes," She said, straightening her posture and waking up in an instant.

"I'm Jackie, and this is Tomas, we are here to do the court manded assessment of your house," the redhaired female officer said with a friendly smile.

"Oh, well, come in," she said, her mind reeling. Were there dirty shirts laying around? Would they go into her room and find the bra that had been tossed to the side of the bed last night? The kitchen was not spotless. She wished she had a warning, but at the same, she knew why there had not been one.

They looked around the open concept main floor, taking in their living, dining, and kitchen in one swoop. Idina was suddenly noticing every little imperfection down to the few areas they had not bothered to toddler-proof yet since it was not like their barely-month old babies could move around all that much. Would it count against them?

Erika had Soren in her arms and was standing by his cot, trying to shush him while Walker was helping, and Helen was still putting groceries away like nothing was going on. She loved her mom. Ever the proper person, only ever doing things on her own clock.

Jackie had them all sit down and started asking them questions while Tomas walked around their house.

"So you have twins?" Jackie asked.

"Triplets," Idina clarified, motioning towards the three baby cots on the other side of the room.

"I thought no one else was in the house."

"My husband's taken my daughter to the pediatrician," Idina informed them. "She was in the NICU for twenty-seven hours when she was born, we have quite a few appointments for her."

Jackie nodded sympathetically and asked if she was breastfeeding or using formula.

"Formula," Idina replied as she heard the freezer close loudly. She turned to see that Tomas had her medication. "Please put that back in the freezer," she asked him. "It will spoil if it gets warm."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Prescription medication," Idina replied.

Tomas put it on the kitchen table and took some of it out and examined it. "Do you have the prescription on you?" he asked.

It was on her phone, which was dead. She told them as such and tried not to get defensive as he opened one of the dosages and did a drug test on in. Then she hoped that they were this because they found drugs in Rivera's house.

"There's some strong stuff in here," he replied.

"It's a trial drug," Idina replied. "That's why I can't breastfeed. It's quite strong."

"Well, it definitely not cocaine," he said, "nor marijuana, but we'll still need a prescription."

Idina wanted to call Carlyle. She was not sure what she legally had told them.

"Walker," Jackie said, "What's that bag?'

He looked up from the game he had been playing on his phone. "It needs to go back in the freezer!" he exclaimed. "It's mommy's medicine, it is helping her get better. It'll get spoiled if it gets warm."

"What type of medicine?" Jackie asked.

"It's got an applicator that's kind of like an EpiPen," Walker said. "and it's supposed to help her brain and the stuff in the fridge stops the pills form making mom sick because the pills are the real medicine and they're two types," he rambled off.

"What pills?"

"Um, there's a white one that looks like post-baby vitamins but isn't and little pink ones."

"Why does your mom take them?"

"' Cause, um," he went quiet, "'cause, um, I was sick and I wanted a blanket from my dad's house and she went to get it but dad was drunk and he smashed her head against a wall and now her brain is hurt."

"Like a concussion?'

"Worse," Idina admitted. "There's some nerve damage, but it's repairable. I have had multiple cognitive assessments done and my ability to be a parent, legal guardian and function as an individual is not compromised. I have the paperwork for that," she added.

"So put it back in the freezer," Walker said with crossed arms. "'Cause if it gets ruined mom won't get better."

"And Aaron did this?"

"No!" everyone exclaimed at once, unsettling the babies and making them start to fuss again.

"My ex," Idina said, "he did."

"We you with him at the time?"

"No, we've been divorced since 2014," she replied. "We are—we were, co-parenting Walker," she explained. "He used to live just about ten minutes away."

"When did this happen?'

"Near the end of November," she admitted.

"And the courts aren't privy to this?'

"It's a private matter," Idina replied. "And with the social media leak from last night, I feel justified in not bringing it up as it has no bearing on this case."

"He's not putting the medicine back in the freezer," Walker said to no one particular. He was so protective of his mother. "It already almost got ruined when the power went out. Erika and I had to eat so much ice cream to make room for it so put it back in the freezer before it spoils," Walker said.

"You ate ice cream for breakfast?"

"No," Erika said. "Aaron made us a proper breakfast, then he left and the power went out and the fridge was starting to heat up so we moved the medication to the freezer and we took out the ice cream because it was around the same shape as the bag and it wasn't going to spoil like a meat product. And Walker wanted some anyway."

"And where were you in all of this?" Jackie asked Idina as Tomas started to pack up the medicine and moved it back into the freezer while Walker glared at him from across the dining room.

"I was asleep," Idina admitted, "the power cut my alarm."

"Are you not concerned that your children have such easy access to dangerous medication?"

"Walker, Erika, do either of you have any intention of injecting yourself with my medication?"

"No," they both said.

"And where do I keep my pills?"

"In the bathroom in your room locked under the sink because sometimes we use it when we don't want to wake the triplets," Erika said.

Idina turned back to Jackie. "They are both old enough to know not to use my pen."

"That may be," Jackie said, "but what about your triplets?'

"They're not even a month old," Idina informed her. "They can barely sit up on their own, let alone get over the step to the kitchen, open up the fridge, go to the top shelf, and everything else that would be required for them to get access to it."

"They're barely a month old!" Jackie exclaimed. "When were they born?"

"Mommy's birthday," Walker said.

"May 30th," she clarified.

"You mean to tell me barely two weeks after giving birth to triplets where one had a NICU stay, you were out of bed, in court?"

"Yeah," Idina replied, "it's not like I had much choice."

"You could have postponed it a few months, at least," Jackie said in shock.

"No, that's not fair to Erika," Idina replied.

"And you've never once requested an extension either?"

"No, again, it's not fair to Erika," Idina said, suddenly realizing the Rivera's had been the ones requesting an extension not set in motion by the judge.

"And you dealing with a brain injury that requires you to be on harsh trial medication?"

"Yes?"

"And no one noticed something was off?"

"I don't think so," Idina said.

"With three infants under a month?"

"Yep," she said, started to get a bit exasperated with the questioning.

"And the Rivera's claimed they were overwhelmed with a four-year-old and a month old," Jackie pointed out.

Idina blinked. It had never really dawned on her. She had been reluctant to push the whole "look at me being supermom" angle, worried that the judge might think she had too many responsibilities and decide to relieve her of the burden of caring for Erika.

"There's nothing wrong with the bedroom," Tomas said, coming down from the stairs. He then disappeared into the basement, camera in hand.

"Our goal here is to check your house and determine if Erika is living in proper conditions," Jackie said, "As well as look for any unusual tension or mistreatment that might be occurring. It seems, however, that you love all the children under your care very much," she replied. "it's a shame your husband could not be here, but things do happen when we drop by without warning. It's clear that your house is not dangerous," Jackie continued.

Idina felt herself sighing in relief. If CPS was on her side, that had to something. If they were on her side. She was not going to take anything at face value. "I just want what's best for Erika," Idina said. "That's all I've ever wanted for any of my children from day one."

Jackie smiled. "I have a two-year-old," she said. "I can't imagine having three at once and fighting a custody battle with that insane sleep schedule."

"My husband's amazing. He has been forcing me to sleep all night long and doing the majority of the overnight with some help from my mom. And Erika and Walker have been kind enough to help out when they want too," she added.

"It's because they like me best," Walker said. "Everyone likes me best, I'm the coolest. And they're smart because they know I'm the coolest."

Everyone chuckled at him.

"But Soren likes mommy a little bit more, and that's okay because Zephyr's the second coolest," Walker continued. "And Lucinda play favourites but mostly she just wants mommy all to herself which isn't fair. Mommy was my mommy first plus she probably has cooties."

"She does not have cooties Walker," Idina told him.

"Yes she does," Walker argued.

"What about Erika?"

"Erika plays Pokémon and Pokémon is cootie repellent," Walker informed her. "Taylor told me that at basketball practice." Then he turned to the officer. "Erika's cool too," he added.

"Thanks, Walk," Erika said in amusement. "Do you want to take Zephyr then?'

"Yep!" he exclaimed, thanking the baby from her. "And you like me best too, right?"

"Of course," she told him as he grinned from ear to ear.

"See," Idina said, "it's not a problem. I can do all of it with my amazing support system."

Jackie nodded as Tomas came out of the basement. There was more discussion and Idina gave them a more formal tour of the house. After a few hours, everything was deemed proper.

Idina escorted them both to the door not before offering them something to eat and drink. They declined and were off. Idina looked at the time. Aaron should have been back by now, but her adrenaline was high from the last time, so she was a bit too on edge to panic.

She looked at Walker's phone, but it had died as well. She had been an idiot to get rid of the landline. Eventually, it seemed that Erika's laptop was fully charged so she drove down to an open cafe to use their Wi-Fi to send Aaron an email and check the news. The whole region was out. Some major dam had broken and overcharged the power plants. Sitting there while her phone was charged, she checked the traffic. It was bumper to bumper not moving. Maybe Aaron was stuck in it. She hoped he had something for Lucinda. Food, if not, then at least some water. It was sweltering outside, and Erika and Walker had closed all the curtains to try and stop their home from heating up like a sauna, though there had only been so much it would stop.

Aaron, get home soon, she begged as she drove home.