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Derek's out of bed and sprinting down the hallway before he's even awake enough to register that the noise he heard was a scream. A squeak of mattress springs behind him is enough for him to know Spencer's right behind him, and he tucks that away in the back of his mind as he pushes the door at the end of the hall open.
Emma's hunched in the middle of her bed with all her blankets and sheets rucked up protectively around her, and her dark eyes are huge and bright with tears in the soft glow of the night light.
"Hey, princess," he says quietly as he eases down onto the edge of the bed. She's in his lap almost instantly, one hand twisting in the front of his shirt and the other lifted to her face so that she can suck on her thumb. It's a bad habit and he and Spencer have spent the last few months battling to get her to stop, but he can't find it in himself to reprimand her for it right now. "You want to tell me what scared you?"
She shakes her head, bumping her unraveling braids against his chest, and presses even closer against him. If it's possible for a heart to crack wide open, Derek's fairly positive that his just did. He palms the back of her head, which still feels so impossibly small in his hand, and ducks down to kiss her nose.
"If you don't tell me what's wrong, how am I supposed to make it better?"
Emma shrugs and peeks up at him. Her cheeks are still damp, but the corners of her mouth tip up in a tentative, wobbly smile.
"I think this calls for a midnight snack." Derek looks up at the door, where Spencer is leaning and watching the two of them with a fond, sleepy expression. Derek arches an eyebrow at him, because didn't they just have a long talk with Emma a couple days ago about healthy eating practices, but Spencer just shrugs and adds, "There's still some of the pie we had for dessert left over in the fridge."
"You are such a pushover," Derek says as he stands, careful to balance Emma on his hip. Spencer rolls his eyes; they both know that Spencer isn't the reason they had to explain to Emma that no, she really couldn't have chocolate cake for breakfast, no matter what daddy let her do when papa was out of town. Derek makes a face at Emma and asks, "Isn't papa a pushover?"
Emma's thumb falls out of her mouth when she giggles, and Derek tickles her as he follows Spencer down the hallway to the kitchen, all of her fears left behind in the shape of the shadows on her bedroom wall.