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Matthew woke up to the blankets quickly being tugged off of him. It was dark in the room, but he could see the little round face and the dark brown curls. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was three am. Matthew would have to be up for work in less than four hours, but he didn’t mind. Seeing his children could never bother him no matter the hour.
“Beverly, you should be in bed.”
Her big eyes shined in the moonlight and he found himself smiling.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
The bottom lip began to quiver, and he pulled the blanket back and moved to give her enough space to climb in with them. As he pushed up against Will, he felt his round belly press into his back. Will stirred and he felt a lazy arm slip around his waist, Will pulling himself as close as his pregnant belly would allow.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
Beverley climbed in beside him, snugging into his side and pulling at his pajamas. They had become necessary after the children became old enough to walk.
“Maybe.”
Matthew put his arm around her, brushing his fingers through her messy curls. He knew holding her would make her relax, and soon she would be back asleep.
“Did you know your daddy used to have nightmares too?”
She shook her head no, and Matthew kept stroking her hair, and trying to make her feel safe. They normally didn’t talk much about the past because they first mated in prison. So stories of Matthew calming Will down to make him feel better fell by the wayside.
“What did you do?”
Matthew gave the g rated story, leaving out how he would cover Will with kisses and properly calm his omega.
“I would just hold him like this, and I would remind him that I was there to protect him, and he would be asleep in no time.”
Matthew heard Will snort behind him, but he didn’t say anything, he trusted Matthew to calm down their daughter by now.
He didn’t stop the gentle pets until she stopped fidgeting. Matthew let his hand stop on her head, feeling how still she was. When he wasn’t sure if she was asleep he whispered into her hair.
“Are you feeling better?”
When she didn’t answer he rolled back against Will, still keeping an arm around Beverly so that she wouldn’t wake again.
“She sleeping?”
Will’s whisper was foggy with sleep, and he lipped at Matthew’s ear.
“Yes.”
Matthew tried to keep his voice low, not wanting to wake her up again now that she was sleeping.
“At least one is.”
Will groaned, and pushed up the back of Matthew’s pajamas before uncovering his belly so it rested against his back with nothing between them. At first he didn’t understand what Will was doing until he felt the gentle bump against his back as the baby moved.
Matthew felt warmth in his chest at his family surrounding him, but he couldn’t help teasing Will.
“You want me to sleep with a foot in my back?”
“Shut up.”
Will’s laugh was soft in his ear, but when Beverly moved again they both couldn’t hold back more muffled laughter.
“You’re going to wake her up.”
Matthew’s scold didn’t sounds like one; it was laced with the laughter that he couldn’t push down. There was another slide of a limb though Will’s belly and the laughter died into a happy sigh.
He took one last peek at the clock before closing his eyes. It was always worth being tired to get a few extra seconds with his family.