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Surprisingly it wasn’t the honking of cars or the sirens of emergency vehicles that woke Dick up from his peaceful slumber, rather it was the soft rays of light seeping through their window and warming his face that did it. His eyebrows pinched together, and he smacked his lips as he slowly awoke—eyes blinking blearily as he worked to get out of his sleep-induced haze. The air around him was still as if they were stuck in a moment in time, and Dick was worried about breaking it as he turned his head. Thankfully, he wasn’t the one who broke it—his wife was.
“Hi,” she whispered, a lovestruck grin glued to her face. Her eyes were locked onto him, crinkled by her smile, and the first green he saw that morning. Kory’s hair was the first red he saw today as well, with it flowing behind her, long and curly despite the frizz of forgoing a bonnet the night before.
His lips curled up, and he whispered back, “hi, hon.”
The two had been married for a decade now—will be for many more decades to come—and Dick really couldn’t wish for anything more than he already got. A kind, beautiful, intelligent wife who could throw him around, a spitfire daughter who’s just as energetic as he was then, a young son who’s just as sensitive and loving as his mother, and a dog who somehow always ends up on the foot of the bed despite having a luscious space of her own.
As it turns out, he apparently had become a bed at some point, too. His daughter, Mar’i, was sprawled out on top of him, one hand gripping his shirt and another her stuffed Silkie. Her mouth was open as she snored dead asleep, and her curly black hair stuck to her face. In a few short words, his kid was adorable.
He had also hoped she was dreaming of better things than whatever had scared her before.
Despite the howling winds outside and the rain pelting on their window, Dick was slowly dozing off as he was snuggled up under the covers next to Kory. Even with being a bit of a furnace himself, Kory’s body temperature was always a good chunk above his, making for a nicely warmed cocoon for the two of them at night.
Speaking of Kory, his wife was fast asleep, one arm over her head with a bit of drool sneaking out of the corner of her mouth. It honestly was one of his favorite looks, peaceful and entirely herself; he could only hope she thought the same of however he slept.
Just as he was about to drift off, the creaking of a door made his eyes snap open. Dick’s eyes shifted to the noise, immediately catching a short figure illuminated by the nightlights both inside his bedroom and the hallway.
“Mar’i?” he called out quietly, squinting to see her better. His daughter was rubbing her eyes with one hand and holding her stuffed animal by one of its little legs in the other. She was also hovering just off the floor. “Hey, baby, what’s wrong?”
“Daddy?” Mar’i responded. Her voice sounded thick and unsure, both of which had Dick sitting up and holding his arms out to her.
“Come here, baby,” Dick replied, waving her over to him.
Mar’i immediately floated over to him, dropping her full weight onto the bed and on his chest as his head hit his pillow again. He let out a soft groan but didn’t complain, and immediately following that, Dick checked to see if Kory had woken up. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment before relaxing, somehow sleeping through the jostling. Dick turned his attention back on his daughter, rubbing a soothing hand on her back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Mar’i frowned, looking back at him and answering, “had a nightmare. It was really scary.”
Dick frowned back at her, brushing some of Mar’i’s dark curls out of her face. “Well,” he started, “that’s no good, is it? Do you want to tell me what your nightmare was about?” To that, Mar’i shook her head as if to be rid not only of the question but of the scare she had as well. Dick nodded his head, continuing by saying, “that’s okay, you don’t have to. You can sleep with Mommy and Daddy tonight, okay? We’ll keep the bad dreams away. How’s that sound?”
For a moment, Mar’i looked off to the side, considering the offer before nodding with a small smile. She flopped down, rolling a bit to the side between Dick and Kory as he carefully petted her hair. Mar’i squeezed her stuffed toy closer to her as she curled up to go back to sleep.
It took several minutes, but soon Dick watched as her eyes slowly closed and her breathing evened out. With the crisis solved, he closed his own eyes hopefully to join his family in a peaceful sleep.
His eyes shifted from his daughter to his son whose mouth was open with drool coming out in waves, leaving a sizable wet spot next to him. Jake’s legs were sprawled over his sister, his hands clinging onto Kory with his frighteningly realistic elephant stuffed animal currently being used as a makeshift pillow. Kory had one hand gently raking through his hair, which only served to cause Jake to shift closer to his mom.
Jake joined them just a few hours after Mar’i had wandered into their room, though he had been much more distressed than his sister.
A loud crack of thunder startled Dick awake, rain pelting even harsher than before. In the seconds after waking, Dick registered the tiny hands gripping onto his sleep shirt. His son, Jake, was pulling himself up onto the bed, and Dick’s free hand flew to assist his youngest child as he climbed.
Jake’s face was covered in snot and tears, and he let out uneven puffs of air. Suddenly, another flash of lightning and boom of thunder had Jake hiding his face in the crook of his neck letting out a startled cry.
“Hey, hey, hey, kiddo,” Dick said, the same hand he used to help Jake up moving to cup the back of his son’s head, “it’s okay; you’re okay.” He felt a sharp shake of a head, and Dick frowned, running his fingers through Jake’s hair—a soothing technique that had yet to fail either him or Kory. Dick’s eyebrows knitted together, and he bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about what to say next. When he found his words, he continued, saying, “The storm woke you up, yeah? They can be scary sometimes, but look at who all is here.”
Jake raised his head, looking at Dick while he sniffled, clinging onto his stuffed toy like the clouds would break through the window and carry it away. Without missing a beat, Dick pointed to Kory:
“Mommy’s here.”
His son’s eyes followed his gesture, and he sniffled again. Dick pointed next to him, where Mar’i laid completely conked out and cuddled up against him. “Mar’i’s here, too,” he said before pointing to himself, “and so’s Daddy. I know it sounds really scary, but nothing’s going to happen with all of us here.”
“Haley,” Jake mumbled out, pointing to the end of the bed where a light-colored dog laid, ears perking up slightly at the sound of her name.
Dick nodded, brushing his son’s hair off of his sweaty forehead, “yeah, Haley’s here, too. See, if the storm tries to be too mean, Haley will scare it away for us.”
Jake shook his head, replying, “no, no. Haley doesn’t scare. Haley’s nice.”
Very seldomly, Dick nodded again, correcting himself, “yes, she’s very nice, maybe instead she’ll bark at it to be nicer to you, then?”
Jake nodded, then plopped a snotty, wet kiss on his cheek, saying, “night, Daddy,” before crawling over both him and Mar’i to his mother’s open side. He curled up against her, and pulled up the sheets as much as he could with Mar’i half on them as she was under them.
“Night, baby,” Dick replied, rubbing at his stomach where his kid had kneed him. This time, it took a bit longer before he fell back asleep.
Looking down at the little rascal that was attached to her, Kory smiled, “how did the little ones end up joining us?”
Dick shrugged, watching as Kory glanced back up at him. “Well, Mar’i here had a nightmare, she ended up joining us a bit after you fell asleep. Jake came in a bit later because the storm got pretty loud and scared him.”
Kory lips formed a little pout, and Dick watched as she went from petting Jake’s hair to Mar’i’s for a moment before she cooed, “our poor babies…” When her hands returned to Jake’s head, their son’s hands clenched into Kory’s shirt and his head nudged closer.
“You, my dear, sleep like a rock,” Dick commented, a playful grin erupting on his face after Kory let out a small, unbridled snort.
She retorted his point quickly, saying, “and Mar’i gets her snoring from you, honey.” And just as though Mar’i was awake and deliberately deciding to rally against him with her mother, his daughter let out a loud, long snore, which made both him and Kory laugh.
“You have work today?” Dick asked as he moved his own free arm (the other was being used as his daughter’s pillow) to rub circles in Mar’i’s back. It was the weekend, but just because he had a conventional work schedule didn’t mean his wife did. She was a model, one that was seemingly always in demand due to her unique looks, personable attitude, and admirable work ethic. He’d gone to a few of her shoots before—Kory was so kind to everyone while maintaining a time-aware professionability.
“Nope, none this weekend,” she answered smoothly, “I was actually thinking we could take the children to the new science museum they opened up.”
“The one just outside the city limits?”
“Mmhm,” Kory confirmed, “what’s it called again? Will Sued’s Science Museum? Isn’t he the one man you showed me who had that one show?”
Dick laughed. “Are you talking about Will Sued the Science Dude?” He sang the last bit in tune with the show, and Dick watched as Kory’s eyes widened and she perked up a bit.
“Yes, that man! How generous of him to create many of these museums around for kids!”
“Well,” Dick started, smiling big, “I know Mar’i will be very interested if they have a gravity exhibit. Jake might be more interested if they have those blocks…what are they called again? Armos?”
“Ooh, if not, we must get some new sets! It has been far too long!” Kory replied.
“You know what else we haven’t done in a while?”
“What?”
“Grabbed pizza and ice cream.”
“Today will be so much fun!” Kory’s smile was shining just as her eyes were. Dick watched as she looked back at their two children, and despite her not saying anything just yet, Dick knew what she was going to suggest.
“The kids could use another little while of sleep,” Dick answered. “The museum isn’t going anywhere, and they won’t be running into our bed some day. We should enjoy it while it lasts.”
Just then, Mar’i snored loudly again, turning in her sleep. Her arm flew to the side, smacking her brother dead on in the face. Jake’s face scrunched up, and both Dick and Kory grimaced as they carefully watched to see if their son would wake up. Luckily, he just turned as well, smacking his sister right on back. Both remained asleep, and the two lovebirds shared another quiet laugh as the sun continued to rise.