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Sleep was elusive.
For hours he sat and mapped out his plan. Danny (if he ever found out) would probably hit him upside the head for being so completely obsessive about it. Finally, with spreadsheets, plans, and lists all done, and a raft of phone calls to make in the morning, he logged out and closed his laptop. It was past midnight, so he made one last patrol of the house, making sure that his newly-acquired family was safe and secure.
In the children’s bedroom he pulled Grace’s discarded covers back around her and lifted the stuffed toy from the floor to tuck it back under the blankets with her. He crossed the room and checked that Matthew was still sleeping. Matthew was a good baby, he’d been sleeping through the night almost from the start or Steve would have had a crib in his room so the others didn’t have disturbed sleep. Reaching into the crib he smoothed the Matthew's downy hair, then leaned against the crib, content to watch the baby as he slept. He ran one hand over the smooth wood of the crib, pleased that his mother’s sentimentality had allowed her to hold onto the crib that he and Mary had both slept in for the first year of their lives. He was oddly glad he could give Matthew some of his own past, as if the crib gave them shared history and made him a true part of Danny’s family.
Satisfied that his children were safely tucked into their beds he moved down the corridor. Standing at Danny’s bedroom door, he leaned one shoulder against the jamb and just watched. Danny’s eyes were closed but he didn’t seem to be sleeping comfortably - he writhed about on the sheets, tossing and turning, his body betraying the mind's agitation. It hurt Steve to watch, but he wasn't sure how he could help, and he didn’t want to make things worse by intruding. He didn’t know how long he stood there, watching Danny’s restless sleep, before he made his way to his own bedroom.
Danny's agitation must have been contagious, because hours later Steve was still wide awake, lying with his sheets twisted about his hips and his face pressed into a pillow. He’d never been a good sleeper - he'd always counted himself lucky to fall exhausted into bed and snatch a couple of hours of sleep before dawn. Even when he did sleep, he was plagued with nightmares that left him drenched in a cold sweat and unwilling to risk closing his eyes again. He accepted it as a legacy of his training and operations - everyone in special forces had bad dreams, it went with the job.
Before he'd gone to Jersey, he would have considered a good night's sleep as a goal forever out of reach but oddly, despite the emotional turmoil the last few weeks had wrought on them all, those few weeks in Danny’s old bedroom had given him some of the best sleep he’d had in years. He attributed that to Danny's presence. Having someone snuggled into his body - another heartbeat beating against his and the soft waffling of breath on his chest - soothed him in a way nothing else did.
He sighed. The night was never really quiet here, with the constant gentle roll of waves onto the beach and the creak of timbers as the house cooled down. He could even hear Grace mumbling to herself as she turned over. Those little sounds usually soothed him, but tonight they were just an undercurrent to the sounds he could hear from Danny’s room. Danny’s sleep was still fitful and broken, and he was muttering unintelligible words as he struggled against whatever demons his brain was conjuring. It worried Steve - Danny hadn't been this bad in Jersey, not even the night after Rachel's funeral. He distinctly remembered the way Danny had snuggled up against him and slept peacefully, barely even moving.
If Steve had slept well next to Danny, and if Danny had slept well next to Steve, and if neither of them could sleep worth a damn in separate rooms … well, the answer was obvious. Giving up his own attempt at sleeping alone, he dragged himself out of bed and padded down the corridor to Danny’s room. He gave a fleeting thought to how his current actions would affect Operation Seduce Danny, but figured that neither of them was going to be much use as a lover while exhausted, and crawled in behind his partner.
As Steve settled his head against the pillow, Danny rolled towards him in his sleep, nestling his head against Steve’s shoulder and relaxing into Steve’s body. Steve relaxed into the mattress, his body stirring as Danny’s body aligned itself along his, but his bone deep weariness overruled even mild arousal and as his arms fell naturally around Danny’s body he drifted into a deep and comfortable sleep.