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“Hey Dee,” Helo said when she opened the hatch, bouncing Hera in his arms. “I have a request.”
Despite expecting Lee this late in the evening, Dee smiled, relaxed in her off-duty sweatpants. “Yeah?”
He paused, and Hera gurgled comfortably as she sucked on her hand. “Would you mind watching Hera tonight?”
Dee blinked.
“I know, there’s a daycare,” Helo sighed, a few weary lines appearing on his face. “But Sharon—since we got her back—” He winced, and Dee felt it.
She took a deep breath and glanced back at the algae dinner she’d laid out. If Lee had plans for them tonight and hadn’t told her, she’d probably kill herself later, but she couldn’t say no to a friend. “Sure, no problem,” she said with a nod.
Helo’s face relaxed into a huge grin, and he leaned down to pass the baby over to her, all chubby cheeks and bright eyes in her little grey jumpsuit. “She’s been really good, otherwise I wouldn’t ask this,” he said. “We won’t stay out too late, I promise.”
Dee couldn’t help but smile at the little girl who gazed up from in her arms. It was a long time since she’d done anything that felt this homey. “No, it’s fine,” she murmured, not breaking her gaze. “Go have fun.”
“Thank you so much,” Helo said, reaching out to ruffle Hera’s hair. “Okay precious, see you later.”
“Wave bye to Daddy,” Dee said with a small smile as Hera looked over her shoulder at Helo walking down the corridor. Then, settling the surprisingly-heavy child on her hip, she shut the hatch. “Well, won’t this be fun.”
The first thing she did was clear an area for Hera to sit in. For the first year of their marriage, Lee had been such a neat-freak that Dee had always known where everything was in their quarters. Then, week by week after “the dance”, little bits had started finding random homes. Spare cubits on the table, a jacket on the back of the chair, a book left at the foot of the bed. As he’d been more than usually attentive to her, it had taken Dee a while to notice. But when she was looking for a pin she’d dropped and found a dirty sock under his side of the bed...well, that was something else.
Given how it proved her wedding-day prophecies all wrong, though, Dee didn’t mind so much when she had to pick up an armful of discarded clothes and crumpled papers before spreading out a blanket for Hera. Lee relaxing that much meant only good for the world.
“Okay, so I don’t have any toys,” she informed the little girl as she set her down, biting the side of her lip. “But don’t worry, we’ll—”
There was another knock on the hatch.
Dee frowned as she moved quickly over to open it. A quiet wail met her ears as she looked up into the face of Sam Anders, a blonde child clinging to his neck. “Hey Dee,” he said, one hand patting Kacey in an attempt at comfort.
“Hey, is something wrong?” she asked, indicating the kid with a nod. Poor thing hadn’t had any less traumatic a life than Hera.
“Don’ go,” cried Kacey, muffled against his shoulder, and Sam grimaced. “Um, Kacey won’t stay at the daycare,” he said, looking worried. “And Kara and I, we told Karl and Sharon that we’d meet with them tonight—”
Dee nodded, suddenly understanding. “You need someone to watch her?”
“Someone we trust,” Sam said, with a tight look. Dee didn’t see any of the Thrace-Anders’ that often, given their different circles, but she knew plenty enough to discern that well-justified paranoia.
“No, don’t worry,” Dee said, not taking a moment to think.
“Thank you,” Sam murmured with weary relief. He reached up to pry Kacey carefully loose from his neck, the little girl still whimpering. “Come on, baby, Aunt Dee’s going to watch you.”
“Mama come back?” Kacey asked through a sniffle, as Sam frowned and cradled her in one arm to brush her hair out of her face.
“After bedtime, ‘kay?” Sam said, looking her in the eye. “You be good while we’re gone.”
Kacey’s breath hitched and her lip wobbled. Dee saw the conflict in Sam’s eyes, and remembered too many evenings as a teenager desperate for a job that had gone like this. No worries here. Stepping in, she reached up to take Kacey from Sam’s arms. “She’ll quiet down soon,” Dee said under her breath, as Kacey started weeping again.
“Gods, I hate this.” Sam still looked down at his crying daughter.
“Next time make Kara do it,” Dee said as she shooed him away and curled Kacey close to her chest.
“No kidding,” Sam agreed before disappearing down the hall.
Again, Dee shut the hatch. As it clicked closed, though, she realized what she’d done. “Oh Kacey, don’t worry,” she said, rubbing the little girl’s back as she rocked over to where Hera looked up with curious eyes. “And oh, Lee, you’d better be back soon.”
Kacey had a toy tucked in one hand and, when Dee finally got the waterworks to end, she played with it on the blanket. Dee took the moment to go see if they had something the kids could eat later for a snack, but as soon as her back was turned, there was a loud cry from Kacey.
“Mine,” Hera protested, her first word of the night, the Viper now in her hands.
Kacey reached over to yank at the toy, and Dee had to run back before tug of war left one or both of them in weeping. “Hera,” she warned, dislodging the toy from the dark-haired child’s grasp. Then Kacey pushed her tumbling backwards, where she burst into stunned tears. “Kacey!”
Those blue eyes weren’t innocent when they looked up at Dee, and she frowned, remembering that they were two-years-old, and good gods, she had nothing to keep them entertained. “No one gets the toy,” she ordered, taking the Viper with her. At least they tried the sullen trick instead of the crying to protest this time.
There was another knock at the hatch, and wearily, Dee wondered who could possibly be visiting now. When she opened it to see Lee, she paused in surprise. Then—noting the baby-shaped bundle in his arms and the wash of confusion over his face, she grasped why he hadn’t opened it himself.
“Oh no...” she murmured.
“I was down on the deck,” he said, mouth twisting as he looked down at the chubby baby he was shuffling awkwardly. “Cally was desperate for a babysitter, and I don’t know how it happened—somehow I was just standing there, holding him, and she was gone.”
Normally, Dee would have given teasing looks at the pure oblivion on Lee’s face as he tentatively held onto the infant that Cally (of course it had been Cally) had tricked onto him. But not tonight. “Lee, this isn’t a good night,” she started, glancing back at the toddlers who were now climbing up onto her and Lee’s bed.
“I know,” Lee said, staring at her. “Dee—they need me down on the deck for a few more hours. I’m going to have to miss dinner, and I don’t know what else to do with Nicky.”
Dee was at a loss for words as Lee leaned in, handing her the swaddled baby. “Lee—” she started, still speechless with the level of the situation.
“I promise, I’ll be back when it’s all done,” he said, giving her a soft quick kiss. “I’m sorry for loading this on you; I honestly don’t know how it happened.”
Dee wanted to call out ‘Wait—’ as he turned to leave without even entering their quarters, but he was gone in a few seconds, and she was left standing in the hatchway with yet another baby. The little one stared back at her as she noticed the bottle of formula tucked into his blanket along with a few fresh diapers. She’d kept up on her prayers, she thought, so why were the gods punishing her like this?
“Don’t panic,” she told herself out loud, taking a deep breath as she shut the hatch. “You can handle this.”
Yes, maybe there was no way she could track down three sets of parents off duty. Yes, maybe she had no idea how to take care of two toddlers and an infant at once. Yes, maybe Lee was inadvertently abandoning her. But she didn’t have a cool head for nothing, and the thought of the CIC brought a solution straight to mind. Tightening her jaw with determination, she walked to the phone.
“CIC, this is Gaeta.”
“Felix?” Dee asked, unloading the things that had come with baby Nicky as she held the phone to her shoulder with her chin. “Can you take tonight off? I really need you.”
“Oh!” His voice was worried, urgent. Dee decided not to correct any false assumptions he’d probably just made. ”Don’t worry, I’ll be right there. Hoshi can take my shift.”
As she hung up the phone, Dee breathed a sigh of relief. Now, things might work out.
The knock came to the hatch in what seemed like only seconds later. Hera and Kacey were burrowing themselves under the covers, pretending to be—well, Dee could hardly guess, but at least they weren’t fighting or crying. She bounced Nicky in her arms as she went to the hatch.
“What is it, what’s wrong?” Felix asked quickly as soon as he saw her face. Then he saw Nicky. “Dee?”
“Felix, you have to come in quick,” Dee said, stepping out of the way. Though frowning, he didn’t ask why. Dee shut the hatch, and somehow knew that there was no way he’d leave now. “I’ve got three kids on my hands now, and I haven’t babysat in years, and Lee won’t be back until late.”
“Oh gods,” Felix murmured, as Kacey and Hera popped out from under the covers, giggling at their own hijinks.
“I know, I’m insane,” Dee said, waving her free hand. “It just...happened.”
“Dee, you’re supposed to be smarter than this,” Felix pointed out with one raised eyebrow, jaw still gaping slightly in realization of the scenario. “You can’t do this.”
“That’s why I called you, idiot,” she pointed out. “I can’t make it through tonight on my own...surely you can help a little.”
With a groan, Felix rubbed at his face with one hand. “Three of them?”
Dee sighed out a “Yes.”
“I’m going to need a drink,” he muttered, staring once again at the two toddlers.
“Not around the children!” Dee protested sharply.
He grimaced, but then stripped out of his duty blues’ jacket. “Fine, okay, let’s do this.”
Dee breathed out and felt in control again. They could do this. These were just kids, and they only barely outnumbered them. Piece of cake.
“So, what kids’ toys did they come with?”
Remembering the Viper model on the table, Dee winced. Piece of tough cake, more likely. Gods help them all.
*
Felix Gaeta was no stranger to children, as Dee knew very well. All he had to do was rub his hands together and take a deep breath for his mind to switch over, descend as it were, into a world that was far too simple to not be tempting.
“Do you have crayons?” he asked straight away.
Dee gave him a sharp eye.
“Pencils,” he carried on, ignoring her snark.
She plopped Nicky in his arms to go digging for some, and he took the opportunity to glance over at the slightly more dangerous tiny beings. Hera’s head was poking out from under the bed, and then she yelped and looked further underneath into the shadows. “Ka-ceeeey!”
“Hi girls.” Felix squatted down while holding Nicky, who ravenously chewed his thumb.
Hera frowned at him. Kacey scooted up next to her with a nonchalant look, the light to her dark.
“I’m Uncle Felix, and I’m going to be helping Aunt Dee tonight,” he informed them, putting out his hand. “Shake?”
“Washed?” Kacey asked, eyeing his palm.
“Fresh and clean,” Felix answered, offering her his winning smile. Then Nicky babbled and arched his back, and Felix had to jerk out his arms to keep the babe from falling. Kacey turned to crawl back under the bed again, while Hera still eyed Felix slowly as he readjusted the squirmy infant in his arms.
“Shoes!” came Kacey’s squeal from under the bed.
“What was that?” Dee asked from behind them all. “Oh no, Lee keeps his dress boots polished, they can’t—”
Felix poked his head down. “Kids, out,” he said in his patented authoritarian tone. Hera slowly scooted out behind him, but he had to reach under and practically drag Kacey out by her ankle. She kicked his wrist for good measure. “Come on, we’ll do something else.”
“Toys?” asked Hera, looking longingly towards the Viper on the table.
“No,” Felix said slowly, beckoning them to follow. “Drawing.”
Kacey scrunched her face as Hera tipped hers to the side.
“Dee, pencils?” Felix asked under his breath.
“Three, but I don’t have paper,” she answered, frowning.
“Do any of the books have endpages?” he asked. She gave him a scandalized look. “You’re treating them like collectibles?”
“I’m sure I have some old orders they can scribble on,” she said, and reached for the pile of random things she’d put on the edge of the couch.
“Okay girls, let’s clear up the table,” Felix said brightly, waving his free hand at the dishes and pocketing the Viper toy before they noticed. Given that the plateware was plastic, he knew Dee wouldn’t mind too much.
Dee brought the paper over, then, and placed one piece at two of the seats. She also brought cushions for the toddlers to sit on.
“Draw what?” Kacey asked, after Dee had helped her into the chair.
“Whatever,” Felix shrugged, sitting across from them and taking a pencil of his own. He propped Nicky up on his knee, one hand on the kid’s chest to keep him from flopping over. “Want to learn math and shock your mommy?” he asked the baby, starting to doodle out some figures.
“Felix, what are you doing?” Dee asked as she stood behind the two girls with her arms crossed.
“Giving you time to plan the next activity,” he said with a pointedly raised eyebrow.
She hummed, but took the point. Felix had taken one glance around the quarters and realized just how impromptu this night was...knowing children, they would be running on a fast and relentless treadmill to keep ahead of boredom this night.
It didn’t help when Dee glanced over the papers a few minutes later, noticed the identical concentric doodlings, and had a freaked-out look all over her face. “Okay, all done,” she said shortly as she gathered the pictures up. Her look to Felix was a ‘sorry to prematurely end this’, but when he saw the identical mandalas on the two very-different girls’ drawings...he had to admit a bit of a shiver.
“You don’t have karaoke music, do you?” he asked
*
After storytelling time was not well met, and after the fifteenth a cappella rendition of “Row Row Row Your Boat” while Dee fed Nicky his bottle, she could sense Felix growing weary. The girls, chewing on the algae bars that Dee had procured, kept watching with big eyes.
“What kind of audience are you?” he asked when they just waggled their legs off the edge of the seats instead of offering applause.
“More!” Hera ordered, kicking out one foot.
“New song,” Felix said, waving his finger pointedly at them. He glanced back at Dee with a wicked look in his eyes. “This is The Song That Never Ends.”
Jumping to her feet, Dee glared up at him. “No.”
“Why?” asked Kacey, looking up from where her algae bar was mostly crumbled in her lap.
“Because...” Dee said, as Felix smirked and didn’t give her any help, “we...” But before she could finish, Nicky grunted in her arms and she heard the noise. Felix flinched.
The girls giggled, Kacey calling, “He farted!” with the kind of bluntness that made it clear exactly who her parents were.
“No, he didn’t,” Dee said to Felix, with a pointed look.
He looked vaguely ill. “Oh joy.”
“You’re helping me,” she ordered him, holding Nicky gingerly as she wondered if she could change this diaper anywhere without it leaving a smell.
“Playtime’s on pause, kids,” Felix told the girls as he walked over to where Dee had put the diapers. She almost protested when he walked back with a wet grey washrag as well, but she supposed the laundry crew could disinfect it.
“Okay,” she told him, setting Nicky on his back on the couch. “I’m going to need you to help, or this is going to be a mess.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Felix murmured, crouching by her side as she got to work.
Breath held, Dee did everything as she remembered, and gods, it was not the sort of memory from home she’d wanted to hang onto. Nicky, bless his heart, gaggled at the ceiling and only absently waved one sock-covered foot. Felix waited patiently for Dee’s discarded offering to take it away, and she was just about to wrap Nicky up in a clean diaper when she heard Felix make a noise suspiciously like a choke.
“Dee!”
She turned around and gasped. The girls, forgotten for just a moment too long, had crawled into the liquor cabinet. Felix quickly stuffed the dirty diaper in the trash can, running for the sink to deal with his hands. “Stop that right now!” he called out warningly.
Dee slipped the diaper on Nicky, hiking him up in her arms. She saw Hera struggling with the top on a bottle of sloshing ambrosia while Kacey watched. But they didn’t get far enough before she made it over there and swiped it from her hands. “Oh good gods no,” she informed them, flustered too much to use a child-worthy tone.
“Got it?” Felix asked, coming back with clean hands.
Dee sighed and handed him the baby so she could clean herself up.
Behind her, she heard Kacey’s annoyed squeal, and Felix’s “Hey!”, and then a piercing, “No pinch, Hera!”
Shaking her head, Dee looked at the clock as she dried her hands. Where was Lee? She had no idea if he was any good with kids—it had never come up—but certainly three heads would be better than two. She sighed. There was no helping that.
“Don’t hit me.” Felix sounded shocked. “Hey. Hey!”
She turned to see Felix trying to lean down without making Nicky cry, as Hera then walloped on Kacey and the little blonde gave as good as she got with what looked like a liberal use of scratching. The high-pitched whining war-cries made Dee bristle as she came over, grabbed each child by an offending arm, and dragged them apart.
“No, no, no,” she ordered.
Hera squirmed, annoyance on her flushed round face—and then Kacey bit Dee’s securing hand. Dee squeaked and withdrew the hand sharply, stunned for a second at the sight and feel of a half-moon of red teeth marks. Kacey shoved at Hera, and then suddenly Felix had yanked the back of Kacey’s blue jacket-top, and Dee took the initiative to snatch up Hera. The toddlers were balls of peevishness.
“That was uncalled for!” Dee said, as Hera went deliberately limp in her arms. “Kacey, we don’t bite people. What do you say?”
Glaring from under baby-serious brows, Kacey pouted her lip. “Hera pinch me.”
“We don’t bite or pinch,” Felix added, shaking his head at Dee with weary disbelief.
“Hera,” Dee said, trying to meet the eyes of the little girl in her arms. Something told her the child wasn’t as verbally advanced as Kacey, and an apology would be right out. “No more pinching?” Hera’s sullen nod was enough.
“Kacey...” Felix said expectantly.
“No bite,” she muttered, slumped to the floor at his feet. Then, lip quivering, “Want Mama.”
“Uh oh,” Felix said, and glancing at Dee, they recognized just what was behind all this.
“Oh, hey,” Dee started, trying to sound soothing. But Hera sniffled in her arms as irritation dissolved into the childish pain it really was. “You’re okay, we’re gonna have fun still.”
Nicky let out a sudden wail in Felix’s arms, and in a desperate move, Dee scooped up Kacey before she could join in with the smallest child. “Ooh, you two are too heavy,” she said, one kid on each small hip. “Come on, come on, no tears. Your moms and dads will be back. We’ll have fun. Come on, don’t cry.”
Hera buried her face in Dee’s upper arm, hugging it, but Kacey just looked up with a tired face. It was barely too early for bed, and Dee knew they couldn’t end the evening on this. With a sudden idea, she walked over and sat all of them down on her and Lee’s broad bed. “Want to hit me with pillows?” she asked with a dance of her eyebrow.
*
No matter how much Felix rocked him, Nicky wouldn’t stop his pained cries, squirming out of his blanket and whatever position Felix tried to hold him in. He could thank the gods he’d never believed in that he’d never had kids, that was for sure. Rubbing the baby’s back, hoping the discomfort was just a result of his feeding, he tried to focus on the slightly-more-happy part of these quarters.
“It’s fun,” Dee was saying brightly, Hera and Kacey sitting before her on the mattress with their tiny legs curled beneath them. With a flash of a smile, she reached for the small white pillows on the bed. Handing one each to the small children, half-dwarfed by the fluffy objects as they were, she beckoned with her hands. “This time it’s okay to hit. Go on, you can do it!”
Nicky flailed in Felix’s arms, and he grimaced as he tried to readjust the infant. “You really are your father’s son, aren’t you,” he grumbled, bouncing him a little before putting him up to his shoulder so his cries went out behind.
Then suddenly Kacey whacked Dee on the side with the pillow.
“Oof!” Dee said exaggeratedly, falling backwards onto the bed with over-drawn dramatics.
The toddlers stared for a moment, and then Kacey giggled hysterically. Hera used both hands to smack the pillow down, and Dee made appropriately protesting sounds as the fight commenced, white pillows making blow after blow. Kacey squealed with each volley, springing up and down on the bed as Dee couldn’t hold back a snicker of her own, even as she tried to “Oof” at each and every strike. Hera climbed up on her abdomen and went straight for the face, and with a laugh, Dee reached up to tickle the wee round belly before her. Hera squeaked, Kacey smacked Dee with the broad side of her pillow, and Felix forgot that Nicky was still wailing for a moment.
“Uncle Felix, help me,” Dee called out teasingly, as Kacey sat on her arm and Hera straddled her stomach.
He just grinned. Then Nicky burped loudly, and he felt a trickle run down his back. “Oh gods,” he moaned.
The dangerously happy laughter coming over from the bed, punctuated by fluffy thumping sounds, finally seemed to affect Nicky. Felix slipped off his top tank, grimacing at the sour milk smell. But Nicky yawned loudly, blinked slowly, and when Felix curled him into the crook of his arm he didn’t stir. Realizing what that meant, Felix breathed in hopefully and started pacing on the other side of the room, praying that the others would be quiet enough.
Dee had grabbed a small pillow of her own by now, tossing half-hearted hits at the warrior children attacking her, all of them giggling so hard that Felix could hardly believe they could still breathe. And then Nicky, finally, closed his eyes. Looking down at his face, Felix smiled a little, noting that when he was not squirming or wailing, he had quite cute cheeks and a pug nose. Kids. Why couldn’t they sleep for fifteen years?
Then—thump. His head shot up to see Hera on the floor, and Dee with her eyes wide. Hera started bawling, and Nicky woke with a cry of his own. Suddenly there was chaos, and he was rushing over to where Dee had gotten on the floor.
“Hera, Hera, are you okay?” Dee asked, hands cautiously trying to help the girl up from where she’d fallen off the bed. “Oh—oh, you hit your head.”
Nicky now howled in Felix’s arms, and Kacey looked about ready to fall apart, even though she still sat on the bed with a pillow in her lap, hair all askew. Hera’s temple bore a red mark, enough to excuse her copious tears. Dee looked worried, and had Felix not been preoccupied with the noisy baby in his arms, he’d have a few concerns of his own.
“Want Daddy,” Kacey finally burst out, eyes welling as she scrubbed the limp curls out of her face.
Weariness shot through Felix’s bones, but with Dee still cradling Hera and murmuring something about an coldpack, he had a duty. Sitting on the bed, he wrapped his arm around Kacey. She pushed him away at first and he grit his teeth, but persevered.
“Make him stop,” she said, covering one ear and looking at Nicky with teary eyes.
“I can’t,” Felix said through a tight jaw. He breathed out raggedly, the children’s tears too much for him, making him wish he’d never heard Dee’s call. Nicky still weeping in his arms, Kacey curled into a ball of tired snuffles, Felix just shut his eyes and blocked everything out. Gods, this had been such a disaster.
The crying didn’t stop. It didn’t stop. The late night last night with Hoshi was haunting him now. If Dee didn’t calm Hera down and help, the noise was going to make him explode.
And then—”What the?” came a new voice from across the room.
Felix’s eyes shot open to see Lee Adama at the door, shock on his face as he stared at the wildly unfamiliar sight of wife with kids. A loyal friend Felix might be, but he recognized a reprieve when he saw one. Standing up, he crossed the room in a few swift steps. “Here, I’m going to lose it if I stay,” he muttered, handing the still-bawling Nicky into Lee’s arms.
“Wait, what?” Lee asked, brow creased as he fumbled not to drop the sudden baby deposit.
“Sorry, I have to get out of here,” Felix answered, shaking his head. He closed the door behind him, on Lee and Dee and the children that should never, ever, be all together like that. And the noise ended.
*
Dee barely had enough focus to register Felix getting out, what with Hera still clinging and dripping hot tears down her arm, and Lee now on the scene.
“What happened?”
“I offered to watch the other kids before you showed up,” Dee said over the cacophony of crying, now almost synchronized between the three exhausted children. There was a lump in her throat that she hadn’t asked for, and a dark headache forming at the back of her eyes. “I had to call Felix in when—” She waved her free hand, feeling her face distort with despair.
“Oh, oh,” Lee said, finally comprehending. He stood frozen with insecurity.
“Can you grab the coldpack?” Dee asked, fighting past a wobble of her voice. It felt so good to see him, no matter what.
“Got it,” he said, pulling it from the kit above the liquor cabinet. Then, with a disoriented stare around the room and at the baby still in his arms, “What do I do?”
Dee nodded to Kacey, curled in on herself all alone on the bed.
Lee paused, looking tense, but then she saw his jaw set and he walked over with firm steps. Sitting down, he started with an awkward, “Hey—Kacey, right?”
Dee breathed out, hugging Hera closer and placing the coldpack on her bumped temple. “Shh, shh, it’s okay,” she whispered. As if the support had affected the child as well, Hera’s cries quieted, even as she still made an effort to soak Dee’s shirt with tears.
Lee was distracted by Nicky, trying to find a hold that would calm him and failing, while Kacey stared at him with wetly suspicious eyes. There was a tightness in his stance, and Dee remembered as she stroked Hera’s hair that he hadn’t had a good childhood. She and Felix, they’d been at peace with their parents, and the idea that someday they might be like them. Lee—had no idea what he was doing or even why.
But he was trying, and Dee loved him for it. Her head wasn’t threatening to ache anymore.
“It’s, um, probably your bedtime,” Lee told Kacey. Not the best tactic, Dee could have told him, but with the state of things ‘best’ wasn’t much better than ‘worst’. “Do you...do you usually snuggle or something?”
“Mama,” she heard Kacey mumble brokenly.
“Yeah, I guess I can see that,” Lee answered after a pause. He let out a long sigh, and Dee watched him grab the scattered pillows and place them at the top of the bed again. “So, you, uh, want to give it a try? I’m not Mama, but I don’t bite.”
Dee smiled to herself at seeing Kacey’s odd stare, that Lee didn’t have the context to understand. But the child shuffled up by him. Lee settled back, closing his eyes and resting Nicky on his chest, and looked about ready to fall asleep then and there. Kacey cuddled up at his side, arms wrapped around her chest but looking a little less lost.
A bit of drool ran down Dee’s hand, and glancing down she saw Hera’s head drooping. She hefted her up, grabbed a blanket, and walked over to settle her down on the couch. Kissing her baby-soft forehead, Dee breathed out in relief that part of it was over.
She walked over to the bed. Far from being asleep, Lee was staring at the ceiling, even as Nicky’s snuffling cries rose and fell evenly, and Kacey’s eyelids sunk heavily. “Hey,” she whispered, sitting at Kacey’s feet and resting her hand on Lee’s knee. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“I—Dee—” he said quietly, looking at her from over Nicky. “They didn’t need me on the deck crew tonight.”
She stared at him, a little too worn to think it through.
“I left because I thought it would just be us and Nicky,” Lee said, not meeting her eyes, a grimace on his face. “It was cowardly, but I didn’t know what else I could do. I can’t deal with children, I just can’t.”
Dee nodded and swallowed, stroking his calf as she sat by him. “I guessed that, when you came back” she said, looking into his eyes and seeing too much bitter guilt there. Not that the evening had been easy, but it hadn’t been bad enough for that.
“I’m—sorry.”
“It’s okay, Lee, I don’t expect you to be perfect. I really don’t.”
He closed his eyes for a second.
She smiled, scooting a little closer. “Besides, you got two kids to sleep in a matter of minutes,” she murmured.
“Does that count?” he asked skeptically. “They were exhausted already.”
“I was about ready to break down, so yes, it does count,” she said, reaching out to gently scoop the snoring Nicky from his chest.
Hera slept like a log on the couch. Lee brought up his legs so that Dee could scoot in with Nicky. Kacey stirred and reached out when she lost contact, calming again once her hand found his arm. Lee stared down at her with a strange look in his eyes, as Dee sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. The sharp tension that she’d sensed in his body language started leaving as he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Kacey, and the warmth and familiar smell of him seeped into her. Dee exhaled, calm at last.
Lee awkwardly tucked his arm around her, but softly rubbed her shoulder as they settled down, breathing quietly with the sleeping children.
“Kids,” Dee murmured, Nicky now a pleasantly-still weight in her arms. “You’d think nature would ensure an easier way to keep society going.”
Lee chuckled softly, giving her a little squeeze. “I was thinking that.”
“If I ever lose my mind and agree to babysit them again, though, you won’t mock me?” she asked.
“Why would I mock you?”
“I don’t know, I’m tired,” she said, snuggling in.
“When are their parents coming back?”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Dee said with a yawn. Lee kissed her hair as she thought that they didn’t all have to be parents, as long as they could survive being babysitters.