rock me mama like a wagon wheel.

A small smile graced her features when her mom was there next to her, touching her hair. "Yeah, that sounds like shit," she agreed. "Mine was definitely better in comparison," she said with a nod. Claudia leaned her head on Charlotte's shoulder for a moment, and sighed. "I hope you have a better day tomorrow."

Sitting here with Claudia's head on her shoulder, she could've cried. In her older years, her kids had ended up being her weak spot and she knew she didn't have too many years left that Claudia would wanna snuggle. "What are you up to tonight? Wanna watch a movie with your mama?"

Whenever Mason began to question his life choices, there was one person he preferred to go to in order to talk them over. That person was Charlotte. While their relationship when he was younger had been a little rocky at first, as the years had gone on, he'd gotten closer to her. Now, she was the first person he went to about most things. Sure, his dad was great to talk to as well, but Charlotte always did have the best advice.

Charlotte stood by the stove, starting in making making the hot toddy syrup that she typically made around this time. Her parents had passed the tradition down to her so she stood with a silicone spatula in hand, stirring the peppermint candies as they began to melt. She heard the door open and her head turned, waiting to see which face would appear in the doorway.

Jackson nodded his appreciation, running a hand through what remained of his hair as he stood back up. "I'm exhausted and want to get home. Left my keys in my locker. Apparently the hospital isn't so keen for me to get out of here..." As if on cue, his pager started going off in his pocket and he couldn't suppress the groan that left his mouth at the noise. "See what I mean?" he said, taking the pager out to see what was going on. "Can't even get out of this place after a long shift without somebody needing something."

Charlotte couldn't help the smile that touched her lips. She knew all too well how bad a page felt sometimes. There had been nights where she had just gotten home to her family, or just gotten in bed with Cooper and her pager had gone off. "I understand it. When my kids were little, it was always as we got 'em tucked in that I got paged back to the hospital." Thankfully, Cooper didn't get as many late night calls. Being chief of staff had been stressful during the Cooplet's childhood. "Anything you can't shove off on someone else?"

Eyebrows raised a little at the other woman's question, and Elaine sat back in her chair slightly. "First of all," she started with a deep breath, "most of the staff here was hired by the incompetent dinosaur that roamed this office before me. And, he was an absolute goddamn idiot, so he probably looked at the numbskulls as potential when they're really just.. they're idiots." Leaning forward, resting her elbows on her desk, Elaine tilted her head to the side, "I can't exactly get rid of all of the idiots at once, but if you'd like to see the transfers made in the last year from here to the shit hospitals nearby, you can have it, Dr. King." She ended her little tangent with a smirk, because Charlotte's anger did really pique Elaine's interest. Boy, did Elaine love feminine rage, and she wanted nothing more than for Charlotte to keep going. Even if it meant being a punching bag for a few more minutes. Gesturing toward the chairs in front of her desk, Elaine's red lips stayed smirking. "Can I ask which idiots did what this time?"

All of the words that the redhead had said had begun to piece together the story for her. Of course this was all due to a man. Her brows rose and her lips pursed when the woman used her title. She wasn't sure if the woman was placating her or simply just amused at Charlotte's rage. "I took over surgery for Dr. Gordon, and was surprised to find out the the scrub nurse couldn't tell a pair of mayo scissors from a clamp. Thankfully, I can. But what happens in an emergency when you don't have time to do a double take?" She took this seriously. Hell, you had to. They were surgeons and held life in their hands. "I don't know if retraining would help. But that is a danger to patients and a huge lawsuit for this hospital."

"It was.. a day," she said with a small shrug. "Worked on a couple assignments," she added. "Then I had a nap. You know how I love my naps," she told her with a small chuckle. She left out the part where she had done a bit of day drinking that morning and afternoon. "How was yours?" Claudia asked.

Charlotte took a seat on the edge of the porch with her youngest girl. She still remembered the days when she would braid her hair and read her bedtime stories. She reached up and pushed a bit of hair behind Claudia's ear. "Had to meet with a lot of people. Mostly just stupid bureaucratic bull. Your day sounds like it was better than mine."

He was almost out of the hospital doors when Jackson realized he'd left his car keys back in his locker. He was pretty sure he'd forget his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders. Letting out a soft sigh, not relishing having to walk all the way back to the locker room to grab his stuff when all he wanted to do was head home, he wasn't paying much attention as he made his way up the stairs when he missed one and nearly fell. Looking around, he spotted someone nearby and his cheeks started to turn pink. "Well, that could have ended a whole lot worse. Think we can keep this embarrassing moment to ourselves?"

Charlotte was in the middle of trying to text Sheldon about Seattle, giving him the rundown on what all of the girls and Mason were up to. She thought that leaving LA would hurt a lot more but as she had found out, her friends could annoy her all the way from LA. She looked up when she heard footsteps and watched as the man almost fell flat on his face. She smirked at his words after. "Happens to all of us once. Your secrets safe with me. Why in such a hurry?''

“Yes, I’m making note of it now,” Elaine spoke monotonously, leaning back in her chair and very much not making any sort of note. One arm crossed against her chest, the other begrudgingly holding her phone to her ear. Eyes flicked up to the figure in her doorway, not really paying any mind to who was there, but rather that the interruption was her saving grace. Sitting up slightly, she nodded, “I’ll actually have to call you back later, Kimberly, I’ve got another situation on my hands.” A fake smile blossomed as the woman on the line continues speaking, and with that Elaine spoke a quick “thanks for reaching out” before practically slamming the phone down onto its dock. Letting out a sigh of relief, Elaine looked back up, “to what do I owe the pleasure of this little visit?”

Charlotte prided herself on being an efficient person. You didn't stay Chief of Staff of a major Los Angeles hospital by being lazy or impotent. So when she had had an idiot in her first surgery here, covering for the urologist since he had an emergency at home, and the idiot scrub nurse hadn't known which instruments were which and it infuriated her. So she stalked toward the chief's office, her scrub cap still on and freshly scrubbed out from surgery. When she got to the door, she started hearing the same kind of tone she had once had during the lovely phone meetings she had to attend much of the time. Although she, unlike this woman, had essentially just told them that her time was better spent actually running the hospital and hung up but that was because they were pretty afraid of her, rightly so. So she stood in front of the desk, arms crossed and a very neutral look on her face. When she was finally acknowledged, she took a step forward. "You wanna tell me why you hired absolute idiots? I thought this was one of the top hospitals in the country."

Mike glanced at the person sitting next to him and then glanced down the hallway at the group of interns that looked more lost than he thought should actually be possible. They'd been at the hospital for the last month and somehow still didn't know how to get from one section of the hospital to another, even with the signs and symbols meant to lead patients and families in the right direction. "Sometimes it's hard to understand and remember how hopeless interns are. And then the new group comes in and I'm reminded all over again."

Charlotte turned her head and chuckled. Sloan was right, the hopeless group of young people were currently arguing about which direction they were supposed to go in. She swore she had seen one of them transport a patient in the wrong direction earlier that day and it had definitely given her something to chuckle at. "They're babies. They're still trying to figure out how to walk much less navigate."

closed for @charlottekingf It was drizzly out, and it was times like these that Claudia was grateful for the coverage their porch had. Sitting on the edge, with her legs crossed, she just watched the rain. Flicking a bit of ash of the end of her cigarette, she offered a small smile as a car pulled into the driveway. "Momma," she greeted, before taking a drag of the cigarette. "How was work?"

Charlotte had had a pretty good day. She had counseled with a couple and they had gotten along really well. In fact, they reminded her of her and Cooper in their younger years. Getting out of the car and seeing her youngest baby on the porch smoking was not as shocking as it had been before but still made a pit in her stomach. "Hi baby, how was your day?"