wasn't a huge fan of Halloween.

Her social anxiety wasn't great to begin with, and she definitely didn't do well with the whole "scary mysterious costumes" thing. The masks, the weird capes, children hollering? Count her out.

The girl was enthralled to discover that Mark would be working on Halloween, and by the time he got off, trick-or-treating would be long over. Naomi had to study for her college midterms, which meant the nanny couldn't take them trick-or-treating either. It was perfect. Daisy had been so excited to miss out.

So she was very upset to discover that Mark had arranged for the girls to go trick-or-treating with Meredith and her kid.

Meredith seemed nice enough, but Daisy had only met her a handful of times before. She was scared that conversation would lull, and the awkwardness would fill every interaction.

"We're really okay." Daisy had tried to reason with Mark. "We didn't go trick-or-treating last year, or...or the year before. We're used to it, I promise we're okay just staying home."

Oh how Daisy longed to just stay home.

"Halloween is the best time of the year. You'll have fun." Mark was not very open to hearing her out. Was he not aware that Daisy really didn't want to go out at all?

Maybe it was a bit selfish on her part though, because Calypso was counting down the seconds until trick-or-treating. She was so excited, and she had even gotten a costume and everything. She couldn't wait to spend time with her big sister, and she definitely couldn't wait for the candy.

Daisy was sat on the couch, waiting impatiently as she kept her gaze out the window. The sun was still out, but it would be setting soon. It was getting darker and darker over the city of Seattle.

Calypso wasn't quite as calm and collected as her older sister though. She was glued to the front door, peeking through the peephole as she stood on a chair since she was far too short to look through the hole on her own.

Calypso had decided to go as a princess this year, and she couldn't have been more excited about it. Maybe Daisy did almost ruin her Halloween by pointing out that princesses don't wear arm slings. But in Daisy's eyes, she was only doing her job. Being a sister is all about humbling your sibling.

"They're here!" Calypso gasped excitedly as she tore her eyes away from the door to look at her sister. She trained her eyes back through the hole. "Daisy, they're...oh, nevermind. That's not them."

Daisy groaned, pulling herself off the couch as she walked over to Calypso. "Get down from the chair. We don't need you in another arm sling."

Calypso frowned. "But...but what if I miss them? What if they come when I'm not looking?"

"They'll knock, Caly." Daisy laughed softly, hoisting her little sister down from the chair.

"Dais." Calypso whined, not wanting to be torn away from her spot at the door.

Daisy wasn't hearing it though. She scooped the chair up, returning it to its rightful spot at the kitchen table.

Calypso was the most dramatic kid ever, and that was made very evident when she groaned loudly and laid herself down on the living room rug, laid out like a starfish with her eyes glued to the ceiling. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Daisy examined Calypso, her eyes narrowing as she focused on the girl's unruly curls. "Did you brush your hair?"

"There's no time." Calypso groaned dramatically, Daisy only sighing. There was all the time in the world, Calypso had been standing on guard at the door for half an hour. All they were doing was waiting, there was too much time.

Daisy walked over to Calypso, helping the small girl up and leading her down the hallway by her good arm.

"But I want candy." Calypso whined loudly.

They were beyond logic at this point, and Daisy figured that attempting to reason with the girl anymore would only cause them to continue to run in circles. Daisy said nothing as she led Calypso to her bedroom, sitting her down on her desk chair and getting her hairbrush.

"My hair looks fine." Calypso mumbled in protest, a frown set on her face.

"Your hair does not." Daisy countered, attempting to detangle the curls.

Daisy remembered not caring about how her hair looked when she was Calypso's age, so she understood the girl's annoyance.

But the kid's hair really was in tangles. Daisy swore that Calypso had the prettiest hair ever— caramel in color and curls all the way down. It was beautiful...but only when she brushed it. When she didn't, her hair resembled that of a bird's nest.

Daisy brushed through the hair gently, Calypso emitting a tiny pained groan every now and then when Daisy brushed too hard.

When Daisy had been younger, there was a purple hairbrush she had used. Little pink flowers dotted the handle, and Daisy used to think it was the prettiest hairbrush in the entire world. Mom used to run it through her hair, something that she could recall so vividly.

Eventually though, it got lonely. Mom brushing Daisy's hair had become something so special that Daisy didn't even want to so much as look at the brush after Mom had died. She didn't take care of herself, and Dad wasn't very good at doing hair. She wasn't able to mirror the braids that the other girls in her class had. Daisy merely went to school each day with her hair the way it was as that purple comb sat alone on her dresser.

Daisy wondered what ever happened to it. When Octavia had first come to pick up the girls, she told Daisy not to bother packing her brush considering Social Services would provide her with a new one. Daisy abandoned her hair brush the way that her parents had died and abandoned her.

What happened to that brush? Did they throw it out? Was it sitting alone in the landfill?

"Daisy?" Calypso interrupted Daisy's extensive thinking. Her big eyes met Daisy's as she looked at Daisy through the mirror, Daisy continuing to brush her hair from behind. "You're...you're not dressed up. You don't have a costume."

Daisy took a moment to examine herself. She figured that the hoodie and leggings that she was adorned in didn't exactly meet Halloween costume criteria.

Calypso sounded genuinely upset, as if her older sister not having a Halloween costume was the most heart-breaking thing that she could possibly come up with. Daisy had to get creative with her response.

"Of course I have a costume." Daisy spoke, Calypso's brows furrowing in confusion. "I'm going as a, uh...a teenager."

"A teenager." Calypso repeated, her face stone hard. Daisy wasn't quite sure if Calypso liked that response or not, her expression was harrowing.

But eventually she broke out into that all too familiar grin.

"A teenager." Calypso nodded as she smiled. "Daisy's a teenager."

"Calypso's a princess." Daisy spoke right back, Calypso's smile widening even more. Daisy was seriously convinced that Calypso's smile was the greatest thing that she had ever seen, and she never wanted to see her baby sister stop smiling like that.

The small moment between the two girls was interrupted when the doorbell to the apartment rang, and Calypso hopped out of her seat so quickly that Daisy flinched back at the sudden movement.

Calypso was gone before Daisy could even speak, and she couldn't help but groan at that. Daisy still had a whole list of rules to go over with Calypso before their night out.

She walked out of her room and headed towards the front door, waiting to begin her spiel about manners and caution and not eating too much candy.

But before Daisy could even get a word out, she noticed that Calypso had actually already opened the door for their expected guests.

Meredith was stood in the doorway with her daughter on her hip as well as a man that Daisy had never seen before glued to her side. She held a bright orange pumpkin bucket in her hand, looking as ready as ever for Halloween.

Or...maybe not as ready as ever. She looked quite unenthusiastic, and Daisy didn't blame her. She wasn't a big fan of Halloween either.

Calypso smiled widely, pointing up to the toddler's dress. "Zola's a princess too."

"That she is." Meredith chuckled lightly,

looking down at her wristwatch. "Candy's going to be all gone if we don't go now."

Calypso most certainly didn't want that, and she wasted no time in quickly exiting the apartment.

Daisy wasn't quite as excited, and her actions were slow as she shut the apartment door behind her. Of course, no one really seemed to notice. The group continued on without her, leaving Daisy in the dust as if she was nonexistent.

But Daisy didn't care, that's how it always is in every setting. She's always in the back, always the forgotten one.

It went like that for quite some time. Meredith and Calypso and that random man walked on ahead while Daisy stayed in the back. That didn't change until the group had reached their first door.

Calypso was eager to receive candy, and that was evident in the way that she knocked eagerly at the random front door with her pumpkin bucket in hand.

The man turned to look at Daisy expectantly in a way that spooked Daisy. His expression made her think she had done something wrong, and she wasn't quite sure what it was. She had remained silent their entire trip thus far, what could she possibly have done?

"You're not gonna go get candy?" The man questioned.

"Oh, right." Meredith nodded, holding out one of those tiny pumpkin buckets that Calypso was holding. "We brought one for you too."

Daisy only shook her head. "I'm too old for trick-or-treating."

"Too old?" The man's face wrinkled in confusion. "Aren't you like...ten?"

Daisy frowned at that, trying not to take offense. "Thirteen."

"Using age as an excuse to refrain from trick-or-treating is stupid." He shrugged. "I say go get candy."

Daisy really didn't want to, though. Asking random strangers for candy while holding out a bucket was a bizarre concept to Daisy, one that she was certain would skyrocket her anxiety.

Thankfully though, the candy debacle ended there when Calypso walked back and the front door that she had just been at sealed shut. It was clear that it was time to move on to another door.

The group continued on, Calypso happily walking ahead as she swung the bucket.

Daisy was still trailing behind, of course, but this time she wasn't alone.

"You're not wearing a costume?" The man asked. For someone that Daisy had never met before, he sure was talking to her a lot.

"You're not either." Daisy shrugged as she took in the man's appearance. At least Meredith wore her hospital scrubs and white coat to make it look like she was in costume. The man hadn't even attempted, merely wearing everyday clothes.

"That's true." The man nodded as he laughed.

A silent lull became between the two, and Daisy really hoped that the man would let her walk by herself again and go back to walking beside Meredith.

"We've never met." The man stated, as if that wasn't the most blatantly obvious fact. "I'm Derek."

"Daisy." The girl introduced herself also, Derek nodding at the information. Daisy found herself wondering how Meredith and Derek were connected. "Are you friends with Meredith?"

"Uh...something like that." Derek couldn't help but grin. "She's my wife."

"Oh." Daisy spoke quietly, feeling her cheeks heat up. She felt like an idiot for falsely assuming he was friends with the woman whom he was married to.

Then again...Derek thought that Daisy was ten, so maybe she shouldn't feel too bad. Did she really look like a ten-year-old?

"Mhm. We work together, which...can be a pain, a lot of times." Derek admitted quietly, sparing a glance up at his wife ahead of him to make sure she hadn't heard. "I work with Mark, too."

"You're a doctor?"

"A surgeon." Derek nodded. "A neurosurgeon, I cut into people's brains."

"So...you don't do plastic surgery?" Daisy questioned, thinking of what Mark did for work.

Derek let out a sharp laugh. "Absolutely not. Plastic surgery isn't hard at all, you can tell Mark I said that too. It's like playing with Barbies. Cutting into someone's brain though? Now that requires skill."

"You're being boastful." Meredith scolded from where she was walking. "Quit it."

"I'm not being boastful, I'm just...educating our youth." Derek grinned in a way that told Daisy the man was being boastful and he knew it, he was proud of it.

Daisy watched as Calypso ran to the next door, Meredith right beside her as she helped a waddling Zola reach the door too.

Daisy was observant as she stood waiting for Calypso to get her candy. There was another boy waiting to get candy from the woman at the door. He was wearing some sort of cloak as his costume. But what really peeved Daisy was his untied shoes.

Not so much that they were untied, but the fact that one was untied and one wasn't. It made Daisy nervous, and she could think of about a billion scenarios in which the boy could hurt himself or hurt others. Hurt Calypso.

All Daisy wanted to do was reach over and tie the boy's shoes, but she knew that crossed a certain line. The situation was out of her power, and there was nothing that Daisy hated more than things she couldn't control.

Her tapping set in, her fingers drumming against her thigh as she counted rapidly in groups of fifteen. Why couldn't the boy bother to tie his shoes? Why was he so careless?

"Are...you alright?" Derek questioned, clearly catching onto the girl's anxiousness. She was drumming rapidly, shaking as she looked as nervous as ever.

"That boy, he's...he's not..." Daisy narrowed her eyes, focusing on the shoes. There weren't anything special about them, they were merely white. They lacked color, they didn't draw attention. Daisy doubted anyone else noticed the issue with his shoes.

"Oh, do you know him?" Derek asked. He figured maybe it was a school bully or something, and that was why Daisy was so nervous.

But Daisy shook her head. "No, he's just...his shoes..."

Derek flicked his eyes down to the tennis shoes that the boy was adorned in. "They look nice, what's wrong with them?"

"They're untied." Daisy spoke quickly, her expression twisting into one that held even more panic. "What if he falls and hurts himself? What if he hurts Calypso? What if...what if he trips over his shoes and...and he has to go to the hospital and-"

"I'm sure that won't happen." Derek spoke as he furrowed his eyebrows. He was incredibly confused. The girl was in such a panicked state because of untied shoes?

Daisy so wanted to walk right over and tie the kid's shoes for him. It was making her so nervous, the looming threat of a disaster striking. She had a pit in her stomach, one that wouldn't be resolved unless that boy tied his stupid stupid shoes.

Derek noticed the girl's tapping, and he felt seriously confused. He was still failing to follow what was occurring.

Calypso walked over to Daisy, the biggest smile on her face as a result of having received the biggest chocolate bars that she had ever seen in her life.

But the smile quickly dropped when she saw the state of her sister. "What's wrong?"

Daisy said nothing, only continuing to tap as her eyes were glued on that boy and his shoes. She wondered if something bad would happen. That's why she was tapping and counting to fifteen to try to make up for it. Maybe if she kept counting, everyone would be safe.

Derek looked ready to speak to Daisy again, but Calypso quickly stopped him.

"Don't." She spoke, Derek frowning. Calypso's eyes were full of sadness as she watched the trance her sister was in. "You have to let her finish counting. She goes crazy when she can't count, she thinks something bad is always gonna happen."

Derek raised an eyebrow at that. Whatever was going on sounded immensely psychological, and that was right up his alley. But what was making her act so strange?

Derek looked to see if his wife would be coming to help, but Meredith was still very much busy with Zola as she chatted to the woman handing out candy. Derek hoped she'd come back soon, he didn't like being the adult left in charge to supervise.

That boy with the white shoes left the woman's door, approaching the group as his eyes were trained on the candy that he had just received. Derek noticed that the closer the boys got, the more frantic Daisy's tapping became.

"Hey." Derek called out to the boy when he was in earshot, looking ready to pass the group and meet up with his friends. The boy stopped in his tracks, training his eyes on Derek. "Your shoe is untied."

The boy looked down at his shoe, seeing the laces that were unkempt and untied.

"Thanks." He grinned, reaching down to tie the laces that had caused so much anxiety.

Once the boy had tied his shoes, he went on his way, walking out of everyone's sight.

Daisy let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it in that entire time. Derek was as puzzled as ever, but before he could even comment on the situation, Meredith appeared.

"Let's get going." She yawned, clearly exhausted as she looked down at her watch. "We still have a lot of candy to get."

Calypso happily walked ahead with Meredith and Zola, beginning a conversation with the woman about her profound love for Disney princesses.

Daisy trailed behind as sluggishly as ever. She still seemed a bit cloudy, looking cautious as her eyes constantly darted around their surroundings.

Derek cleared his throat, capturing the anxious teenager's attention. "Do you...always get like that when you're nervous?"

Daisy was slightly embarrassed, and she could feel the heat radiating off of her cheeks. "Not always."

Most of the time, yes.

Pretty much always.

But Daisy didn't want to admit that to Derek. She felt stupid for what had transpired.

Derek nodded slowly, trying to be understanding. He'd seen that behavior a lot in a variety of people. People diagnosed with severe anxiety, or OCD, or...or schizophrenia. Derek hoped it wasn't schizophrenia, but there was definitely some sort of underlying issue.

"Have you ever thought about seeing a psychiatrist?"

There it was again. That push for Daisy to go get seen by a psychiatrist. Derek thought she was crazy too.

This one made her heart sink a bit deeper though.

Mark had pushed her to see the psychiatrist, but what did he know? He was only a plastic surgeon.

Callie had pushed her to see the psychiatrist, but what did she know? She only specialized in orthopedics.

Now Derek was pushing her to see a psychiatrist, but he's actually a brain surgeon. He probably sees crazy people all the time. If he says she's crazy...then she definitely is.

"Maybe." Daisy sighed, finally accepting defeat. Her brain had always been terrible to her, even when she was a little girl. Her thoughts constantly terrorized her. Maybe she was crazy.

The thought though made her upset. Is that how the rest of the world viewed her? An anxious ball of nerves and insanity? Did people in her class mumble about the crazy girl whenever Daisy walked into the classroom?

Daisy frowned, trying to win the harrowing battle her brain had put her in yet again.