Archive of Our Own

The rain outside created a gentle pitter-patter melody as the fat drops of water beat down on the glass window pains of each of the rooms in the huge house. That combined with the gentle swaying of the branches from the trees outside, lulled each of the littles curled under their blankets deeper and deeper into their sleep. They had been put to bed after a long, long day of playing with each other and being taken care of by their caregivers.

The storm that had been so kind only moments prior took a turn for the worse, however, as a huge crack of thunder echoed through the otherwise quiet neighborhood and home. Each of the littles jerked awake when the loud sound finally reached them. The panicked cries that they let out were enough to wake both of the caregivers up despite them having been asleep as well. 

Allison flung her door open and then turned slightly to the side as a bit of motion caught her attention. She was trying to figure out which of the rooms she should go in first since she could hear crying from behind almost every single one of them. "Thank God you're awake too," she let out a breath when she saw that Sloane had risen from her sleep.

"Five and Klaus are the ones that are going to be the most upset over the noise. It's too close to gunshots," Sloane explained. She had already launched into her caregiver-mode, so she wasn't even taking time to exchange pleasantries. "After that I think Diego and Lila because of their time with the commission, then Luther and Ben."

"Right. I'll get Klaus if you get Five," Allison nodded in agreement. 

Both of them rushed off so that they could do as they had promised. The hallway was set up with four bedrooms on either side of the hallway and then one on the very end, opposite of where the stairs led to the other floor of the house. Each of the rooms was set up the same, with a desk, bed, rug, and a couple of other small things to make whoever was staying in them more comfortable. This floor was pretty exclusively used for when Allison’s family came over for their long regression sessions with her real master bedroom upstairs, along with her daughter’s.

Allison slipped into Klaus' room and then felt her heart break in her chest as she saw where the little was. He had slipped off of his bed while grasping onto the blanket he had been put to bed with. It was grasped in his tattooed hands so tightly that his knuckles had turned completely white. He was whimpering and trying to keep the blanket over his head despite the fact that it wasn't remotely near the ground due to it being tucked underneath the mattress still.

"Hey baby boy," she cooed as she walked over to him. She carefully walked around the lump of regressed little so that she could drag the window down and shut it. The smell of the rain and dampened earth was still stuck in the room but the sound of thunder and falling raindrops was immediately hushed. All of her movements were very well calculated as she approached the bundle on the floor. She sat down with her legs crossed and then reached a hand out, placing it onto Klaus' shoulder one finger at a time so that he could pull away if he needed to. "I know you're scared, but you're safe here. Big sis is right here, you're safe," she soothed.

"Not back there?" he asked as he peaked out from where the blanket was poorly covering his face. She was about to reassure him when another crack of thunder shook the frame of the house. The crying from the other littles increased, which caused her heart to squeeze desperately in her chest. She wanted to be in seven places all at once so that she could reassure them all that they were okay and there was nothing to worry about. It seemed like the longer that the storm went on the worse it got. "NO! Dave!" he shouted. "Please, Daddy!"

"Oh, little one," she whispered. She reached out so that her hand was running up and down his back in an attempt to soothe him. She knew very little about her brother's dead boyfriend, but she did know that Dave had also been Klaus' caregiver during the time that had given him all this trauma. "I can't get Dave for you, but I'm here. Do you want to come sit on my lap until you feel better?" she offered, giving her thigh an appealing pat.

Klaus let out a little whine of displeasure. His eyes were flickering around the room as he tried to come to terms with where he was and who was around him. He released the blanket so that his knuckles were no longer holding to it so tightly the circulation was being cut off to his fingers. Tears welled in his huge green eyes until they began to race down his face, collecting on his chin and mixing with the snot running out of his nose. Allison turned to the nightstand where the lamp was so that she could turn it on and grab some tissues. Just as she finished doing so, Klaus decided he wanted to be in her lap like she had offered earlier. 

He clambered into her lap so that his head was resting on his right shoulder and his legs were extending over her left thigh. Allison reached up so that her arms were loosely pulled around his waist to hold him close to her. She used one hand to lift the tissues up to his face and mop away the tears and snot. She let out a little croon and began to rock him back and forth to soothe his messy cries while her hand moved in circles on his back. "I'm so sorry that you got scared, sweet one. I promise that you're safe here even if you've just got your big sisters instead of Dave. I'm sure he'd want to be here with you and hold you if he could."

"Miss him," Klaus whined. His voice was high pitched because of his headspace and warbling because of his tears.

"I know that you do, I know. That's gotta hurt so bad, doesn't it?" she asked as she pulled his face back. She made him blow his nose and then dropped them down on the ground to clean up later.

"Uh huh," he nodded. He brought his chipped nails up to his mouth so that he could chew on his fingers. 

Allison caught his wrist and delicately put his hand back down on his legs. "Let's get you a pacifier and see if Sloane has finished calming Five down, yeah? I have to check on some of the other littles too," she kissed his cheek to try and calm him down. He let out a little whine but didn't protest. She was able to move them around so that his legs were wrapped around her waist while his arms were around her neck. He placed his head down on her shoulder.

Meanwhile, across the hall, Sloane slipped into the bedroom to see how the little she had assigned herself was doing. "Hey there, Five," she said, making sure that her voice was calm and comforting.

The aforementioned regressor was standing at the very edge of his bed. He was pulling at the edge of the sheets to check out something on the mattress. Sloane had only seen him get like this once and he had immediately been calmed by Viktor, but she knew that it wasn't an option since they were both in headspace this time around. "Go away," he growled.

"Five, that's not a very nice way to talk to me," she reminded him softly. She let the door click shut behind her as she moved around him to the window. She tugged it down and then turned the lock so that it would be harder to get through it. She knew that Five was a flight risk just as much as everyone else did, though he had only tried to run away twice since she had begun taking care of him.

"Don't have time to be nice," he grumbled. He had gone to bed at the younger range that his hyper-classification had put him at, but now he seemed a bit older. He hadn't been able to get out of his headspace, which was a good sign that he wasn't too badly triggered.

Sloane took a deep breath as she prepared a game plan in her head. She knew that he needed to sit down and have a good panic before he was going to be able to really calm down, but it was a matter of getting him there. She reached down to the ground so that she could pick up the blanket he had already tossed off of the bed. The more she looked at the room the more destroyed she saw it was as he had gone through every drawer and checked the bottom of the chair in front of his desk. "Lovely, you need to tell me what you're looking for," she said softly as she began to fold the blanket. She placed it over her arm as she watched him short circuit.

He brought his fingers up to his mouth and she didn't bother to stop him this time since she could see how upset he was. "Danger. Heard noise, bad noise. Bad," he whimpered. He was kicking his feet towards the ground as his eyes flitted around the room nervously.

"Oh, my dear," she reached her hand out in offering to him. "I know what that noise is. Can we sit down and talk about it?"

Five let out another whimper. He turned back to the bed and tugged the sheet off entirely. Once he had, he forced the mattress up towards the wall. 

"Five, sit down," Sloane said. Her voice was a bit more stern than it had been before but it was still calm and collected. She didn't want to trigger a bigger panic attack out of him by yelling at him, but she was running out of options to calm him down before he hurt himself.

"No!" he shook his head as he turned to her. He had tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to run down his face, and his cheeks were flushed.

Sloane took a step forward. "Five, I need you to calm down and sit with me, okay? What you're feeling right now is anxiety. Kind of like when Viktor breathes too fast, yeah?" she explained. She reached out and placed a hand on his elbow to bring the little away from the bed. 

"Anxiety? But there was a big scary noise," he whimpered out as he looked towards the window. "Is bad?"

"Anxiety isn't bad, and the noise was something that happens all the time with storms," she slowly lowered him down onto the ground. She undid the blanket from where it had been over her arm so that she could wrap it around him once he actually sat down. "Sit in my lap, please?"

He glanced towards the door and then back to the window again. "Not safe," he shook his head as he made a jump over to the desk so that he could look at it again.

"Five, come here," Sloane said sternly. "Big sister is taking care of it, so you don't have to worry. Little ones don't need to be scared of anything because they have caregivers to do that for them. Now can you come sit on my lap so that I can help you feel better. Do you trust me?"

"Can we go see Viktor?" he asked as he rocked back and forth. He moved his fingers back up to his face so that he could suck on them and soothe himself.

She nodded. "As soon as you're feeling calm and not scared anymore we can go and see him, okay?"

The reassurance that he was going to get to see his favorite person seemed to be the kick that he needed. "Okay," he conceded before he quickly walked over to her and sat down in her lap with his back against her chest. She threw the blankets over them both and then wrapped her arms around his waist. His arms and hands were still free so he was able to bring them out from under the blanket and play with the ties to have something to do. 

She let him wiggle around until he was comfortable before she started actually helping him calm down. "Take a couple deep breaths with me, okay?" she asked softly, brushing her hand over his arm to remind him that he was being taken care of. He nodded and then leaned his head backwards so that it was resting against her shoulder and collarbone. Sloane took in several exaggerated breaths to that he mimicked her motions until he was no longer as shaky as he had been when he first sat down. "Do you want me to tell you what that sound was?" she asked as she brushed her hand through his hair reassuringly.

"Yes, please," he responded immediately.

"Good job using your nice words, bud," she praised. She was rocking them from left to right in minuscule motions in a way to help him settle. "So there's a storm outside, right? Sometimes, when the storm is getting really charged up with a different kind of charge than the ground, it causes there to be a big flash of lightning. The lightning rushes up from the ground to the cloud so fast that it causes all of the molecules in the air to separate and then slap together really fast. It makes the big noise," she said just as another roll of thunder echoed through the house. Several of the other littles that hadn't been attended to yet began to cry louder than they had been moments before. She bit her lip as she tried to focus on helping Five calm down so that she could get to them faster.

The explanation seemed to settle him down a bit. He wormed his way around underneath the blanket so that he had his arms wrapped tightly around the upper part of her abdomen and his legs around her waist. She let out a small chuckle before she carefully tucked the blanket around him and then stood up. It was a bit of a struggle to get them upright, but once she had she was able to use her powers to keep him from falling. 

When they got out into the hall, she noticed that Allison was walking to the living room downstairs. "Are we not putting them to bed tonight?"

"I think we're going to need a sleepover in the big room with everyone for them to feel safe," she answered. "Once we've got them all down there we can come back up and get pillows and blankets."

"Sounds like a plan," Sloane nodded. "How does that sound to you, bubba? I can get you some warm milk and we can cuddle with V until you fall asleep."

Five thought about it for a moment. He looked up at her from where his head was pressed to her collarbone, looking every bit the mentally three-year-old that he was. She had to resist the urge to lean down and kiss his nose since she knew he didn't like that when he felt like this. "Like it," he yawned. 

She caught up with the other caregiver as they brought the little duo downstairs. Allison placed Klaus down on the couch as she turned on the television and got it to a kid friendly program. She kept the volume low since it was the middle of the night and they were already startling at every sound. Sloane shifted Five so that he was sitting on the couch with the blanket underneath him. "Look, buddy, it's Klaus," she pointed towards the other little. "Do you want to cuddle with him?"

"I guess," he shrugged. He reached towards his brother, who immediately leaned towards Five in return. Their hands clasped together so that all four fingers fit between the space of the thumb and the forefinger. Klaus placed his forehead against the side of Five's head as he let his eyes flutter shut. 

Before they left, Sloane grabbed the pacifier that Five had been using before bed. He had left it on the nightstand when she had told him it was time to go to bed, insisting that he was a big boy and didn't need it. She pressed the malleable plastic to his lips until he opened up and took it into his mouth. "Thank you," he mumbled around it. He moved his legs closer to his chest as he curled into Klaus' side.

Allison was already heading for the stairs back to where the rest of the littles were fussing. Sloane had to jog to catch up as she darted around the couch and left the duo cuddled together. The storm outside was getting worse as time went on, and the lightning was becoming more and more frequent. Each time the bright flash of light shot through the windows and was followed by the huge rolling clap of thunder, there would be a whole new rise in sound from the distressed regressors. Every time that the caregivers heard the new sobs their hearts would break, especially since they knew that it was going to take a while before they were able to get everyone calmed down.

"Diego or Lila?" Sloane asked when they reached the top of the stairs.

"They were put to bed in the same room, we can just go in at the same time and see who gets who," Allison shook her head. The other woman nodded and then rushed after her. 

When they opened the door, they were met with both littles clutching at each other like a lifeline. Lila's pacifier had fallen from her mouth sometime around the first thunderclap, so her thumb had found its way to her mouth instead. She was laying with her head along Diego's collarbone as the little desperately tried to soothe her. Diego normally regressed down to about three or four while Lila hovered just above eighteen months and never got bigger than two. He had his arms wrapped around her shoulders while he awkwardly moved her back and forth like he had seen the caregivers do when they were taking care of her. His eyes were darting around the room like he was expecting something bad to happen, the same way that Five had been but to a lesser extent. 

Allison went to the window so that she could close it and muffle the noise. Sloane flipped on the light, which illuminated the room in warm natural light. Lila let out a little whimper and turned her head to the side so that it was hidden in the crook of Diego's arm while her eyes adjusted. Sloane then quickly hurried over to the edge of the bed. "Hey there babies. I know that the storm is scary but we're here now, okay? You're safe," she soothed.

"L-Lila's crying," Diego struggled to get out. They knew that his emotions aggravated his stutter, and there was no stronger emotion than fear when in headspace. 

"I know she is bud, but I think she just got scared from the thunder," Allison soothed. She placed a hand on the little's back and began to rub it in soothing circles. His eyes fluttered and he leaned back into the touch like he hadn't been held in years, despite the fact they had snuggled him for nearly ten minutes when putting him to bed. "Can you let me take her?"

"Be ni-nice?" he asked. His eyes snapped open and he glared at them both as soon as the idea of his favorite person being taken away from him was brought up.

Sloane nodded. "Of course," she soothed. "I'm going to take her and rock her to help her fall asleep. Then we can go downstairs and have a snack and a cuddle until you feel better."

Diego looked down at the little in his arms and then back to the caregiver. He slowly maneuvered Lila, who was absolutely refusing to move herself, bringing her closer to Sloane. As soon as the regressed woman was near enough to her, Sloane placed her arms on Lila's back and underneath her knees. The caregiver let out a small grunt as she stood up, but her powers were already in swing like they had been for Five. She was able to minutely control them so that it shifted the weight in her arms enough that she was able to hold it for longer than she would have been without her abilities. She had gotten really good at doing so back when Ben had first been classified, since she and Marcus were the only caregivers out of all their siblings, who were all neutrals.

"There's my pretty girl," she cooed when she saw that Lila's big, wet, brown eyes had opened to look up at the caregiver. She was apparently far too little for words because instead of answering, she just let out a little whine and pressed the right side of her face into Sloane's shoulder. "I know, the storm was pretty scary, huh? Let's get you and Diego downstairs with Five and Klaus. We're going to have a big sleepover together. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Dee," she let out a little whine as she let one of her hands shoot out towards her boyfriend. Their relationship was complicated since they were both littles, but they made it work like many regressors had before them. It was even easier when they realized that their siblings were willing to take care of them so they could get their recommended hours of headspace in.

"I-I'm-I'm here, Li-Lila," he said as he reached out and took her hand. He pressed her knuckles to her cheek and let out a little sigh of reassurance.

Allison chuckled as she helped him out of the bed. She grabbed the blankets that they had been put to bed with since the living room was cold. She also snagged the pacifier that Lila had dropped and stuck it into her pocket. "Come on, lovely," she said softly as she held her hand out towards her regressed brother. Diego hesitantly reached out and then put his hand in hers after releasing Lila. The caregivers did what they had done with Five and Klaus, getting both of the littles down in the living room.

Five nearly jumped up from the couch when he heard the sound behind him. Klaus whirled around so that he could see who was coming up to him as well, but as soon as he saw his brother his face lit up. "Dee!" he shrieked as he reached his arms out to his brother.

Diego took one look back at Lila to make sure that she was okay before he rushed to the couch to get closer to Klaus. He had apparently decided that going around the furniture was too much work and instead placed his hands on the back so that he could launch himself over it. "Ah, ah, ah, around!" Allison said quickly before he had the chance to actually jump. She got a little groan of protest in response, but he listened to her anyway. 

"Scared?" he asked once he got up onto the couch next to Klaus. 

The other little nodded. "Lila sad?"

"Scared," he shook as he spoke. He reached over to her so that he was holding her hand again. Sloane let out a small chuckle when the baby in her arms stirred and looked over to her boyfriend. 

"Come on, pup," the blond murmured to the little she was carrying. She walked over to the recliner next to the couch on the side that Diego was sitting in. She placed Lila down into it and then opened up the footstool so that it was reclining back slightly. "Can you go wash her pacifier, please?" Sloane asked as she took the blankets from Allison.

"Of course," the other caregiver replied. She slipped out of the room to the kitchen where she washed the pacifier off with a bit of water and a tiny bit of soap. When she returned, Sloane had spread Lila's blanket out over her so that she was buried under the fleece. "Open up, buttercup," she sing-songed as she looked down at Lila from behind the recliner.

"Paci," she croaked as she opened her mouth. Her voice was hoarse from the crying earlier, but she wasn't upset anymore now that she was surrounded by light and the people she loved. Allison slipped the soother into her mouth and then petted her hair for just a moment.

The storm was beginning to get even worse. The wind was now howling against the side of the house and getting caught in the trees just a few yards from the house. It pulled at the leaves and caused the branches to creak as they were pushed in a direction that they weren't used to. There were snaps from the trees a few houses over, ones that were older and less healthy than the ones around Allison's home. The cracking of the thunder and the trees caused some whimpers and flinches from the littles in the living room. The caregivers glanced at each other as they deliberated on whether or not one of them should stay downstairs with them or go back up to the rest of the regressors. It was decided for them when they heard a pitiful wail coming from Ben.

"Shit, he's really upset," Sloane muttered once they were back on the staircase. She could hear the hiccuping cries of her name from the little she had been taking care of for the better part of one and a half decades. "I hate to do this, but could you get Luther? Ben is going to be kind of difficult and it might be better if I handle it."

"Okay," she nodded. "Yeah, for sure. I know Luther in headspace enough that I can probably get him calmed down. He shouldn't be too upset either."

They rushed off to the littles that they had been assigned for what was hopefully going to be the last time. Allison knocked on the door to the room that Luther had been sleeping in before she slipped all the way in. "Hey there, big guy," she said.

He was sitting up on the bed while playing with the blanket in his hands. "What's all the noise?" he asked.

Allison felt her heart clench in his chest. She knew that he had a lot of time adapting to being back on earth when he had first been returned from his mission, so storms were still something that he was adjusting to. She sat down on the edge of the bed and offered her hand to him. He quickly reached over and took it, but his eyes were still flitting between the door and the open window. "There's a storm. Can you hear the rain?" she asked.

"Yeah, I hear the rain. Is it going to hurt the house?" he squirmed on the bed so that he was sitting up on his knees and able to look over her shoulder. 

"No, it's not going to hurt the house. And even if it did, it's so big that we'd just find another room to be in until it calmed down," she explained. "We're in a safe place here, Luther. Do you want to go down and sit with some of the others in the living room?"

He thought about it for a minute before he nodded. "Yes, please," he whimpered a little. He blinked his eyes a few times to try and drive out the tears. 

Allison let out a little cooing noise as she moved so that she was kneeling on the edge of the bed and able to hug him better. She wrapped her arms around him as she pressed his head into her shoulder and neck. "Shh, shh, shh, it's okay. You can cry if you're scared, Luther," she murmured against his buzzed blond hair.

He let out a little whimper as he brought his legs up so that they were pressed along her side, his knees stopping just before her armpit. He began to whine as tears slipped down his face. She let out little soothing noises as she rubbed his back in perfect circles to try and help him calm.

Once he had finished crying, she pulled away from him. She got a tissue out and wiped his face like she had when she was helping Klaus. "There, you feel better?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, thank you," he mumbled. "Can we go down with the others?"

"Of course we can!" she chirped. She slipped off of the bed and then offered her hand to him. He got up and then took it. He was holding it with both hands so that he could help himself feel little despite the fact that he was taller than her. They were able to get downstairs before Sloane had even finished settling Ben down, Allison could still hear the shrieks from the little behind the closed door. She got Luther downstairs so that he was sitting on the couch with the other boys. 

Meanwhile, Sloane hurried into Ben's room. She found him huddled underneath the bed with the blanket pushed over his head. He was crying and wiggling around every single time he heard one of the loud noises shrieking into the room. The first thing that she did upon entering, like she had done with the other littles she had checked on, she shut the window to muffle the noise. The regressor let out another loud sob when he heard the 'bang' that was caused by the window being closed too quickly.

"Ben?" she asked as she rushed over to him. She grasped the edge of the blanket in an attempt to pull it off of him. Instead of letting her like he usually did when she got him up in morning, he just clung tighter to the blanket. "Ben, I need you to come out here so that I can talk with you, please."

"NO! Fuck off," he shouted back at her.

She bit back a little gasp. She was able to tell that he was upset from how loud his cries were, but she hadn't expected him to be in that kind of mood. "Ben, those aren't nice words," she scolded gently. Normally she'd be a lot firmer since that's what she normally did when he acted out like this, but she knew that he was just doing this because he was scared.

"Go away, don't need you," he said. His words were barely decipherable because of the way the blanket was wrapped around him. 

"I think that you do and you just don't want to admit it," Sloane said softly. She reached out so that she could place her hand on his back. She rubbed over his shoulder in small circles to try and soothe him, just like she had after the Jennifer Incident when he was still so new and raw to regressing. "Did the storm scare you, little love?"

"No," he lied.

"Then why are you underneath the blanket?" she asked. She heard Luther begin to cry across the hall, but before she had the chance to stand up and peek out at her husband to see how he was doing, there was another round of thunder and Ben whimpered. "You know, it's okay to be scared, Ben," she whispered softly.

He let out a little noise that she knew was a sniffle. His face was going to be an absolute disaster when she finally got him to look at her. "No, gotta be big and brave," he objected.

"Says who?" she asked.

"Says me!" Ben snapped in reply.

"Well, I don't think that you have to be big and brave all the time. I know sometimes you have to be a big boy and be braver than everyone else, but if you were like that all the time what would I do? I wouldn't have a job anymore if you were a big boy," she said. 

He went quiet for a bit and she knew that she had finally gotten to him like she had been trying to since she came in. He wiggled around on the bed until he had removed the blanket from over his head. He peeked out at her and she cringed as she saw just how messy his face was.

She gave him a reassuring smile as she reached out and placed a hand on one side of his face so that she could rub her thumb over his cheekbone. "Hey there. Thank you for taking your head out from underneath the blanket. Can you come sit on my lap so that I can clean off your face?" she asked sweetly.

Ben let out a little noise of discontent as he removed himself from the protective blanket. He moved so that his legs were over hers, but he was sitting next to her. She reached out and then took his hand so that it was resting on top of their legs. With her other hand, she gathered up some tissues and wiped his face off. She didn't even bother to try and tell him to blow since she knew he would fight her on it and it wasn't her priority right now. "Do you feel any better?" she asked softly as she brushed her fingers through his hair.

"Can we go see Klaus?" he asked.

Despite the fact that when they met Ben hated the other little with a burning passion, they had grown remarkably close since coming to their new reality. Sloane smiled as she saw that he was feeling well enough to ask for something that he wanted. "Of course we can, little one," she replied. "Do you want to hold my hand while we walk or be held?"

"Can I be held, please?" he asked, his voice was quiet and nervous as he did so.

"Of course you can!" she chirped again. She pressed a kiss to the middle of his forehead after she pushed her shaggy black hair out of the way. Ben moved so that his legs were hanging off of the mattress and his arms were extended towards her. Sloane leaned down and placed her arms around his waist so that her fingers were threaded just underneath his thighs. He lifted his arms up and then wrapped them tightly around her neck so that he didn't have to worry about falling off.

Ben let out little whimpers when he felt the warmth of her body up against his own. Even though she had been taking care of him for years now, he was still so touch starved and nervous that he didn't deserve the comfort that he was getting. "How's everyone doing?" Sloane asked when they finally reached the living room.

"Good, I think. No one is crying and Sesame Street just started," Allison chuckled.

"Klaus!" Ben shouted, his head perking up as soon as he realized where they were. "Wanna sit by Klaus, please," he insisted.

"Good job using your nice words," she praised as she gave him another kiss on the forehead. She walked them over to the couch where Diego was moving so that he was sitting on the floor next to the recliner that Lila was cuddled up on. The changing in positions allowed Sloane to place Ben down on the couch so that he could cuddle up next to Klaus. As soon as he was on the couch, he rolled to the side and wrapped his arms as tightly around Klaus' abdomen as he could. The other little let out a small giggle and then turned back towards him so that they were woven together perfectly.

Sloane walked over to the kitchen that was joined with the living room so that she could help the other caregiver. "Alright, we need milk and juice," she hummed.

"Milk in a bottle for Lila, right? I think she's too small for a sippy cup," Allison commented. She opened the cupboard to the left of the stove and began to pull out the little equipment. 

"I agree. Her eyes are already doing that really cute sleepy thing," Sloane chuckled. Allison pulled out six sippy cups and one bottle, placing them down on the counter.

She began to hum softly to the song that was playing from the TV as she kept an ear out for signs of distress. The storm outside was still howling like it was trying to take the siding off the house and pouring rain. "We're going to get flooded at this point," she commented.

"Mhm," Allison nodded as she peeked out of the window as well. "The best thing that we can do right now is make sure that the littles are feeling okay. I'll call Claire in the morning to see how she is."

They began to work around each other as they got the things they needed for their regressors. "Luther likes apple," she commented when she saw Allison getting the first sippy cup full of orange juice for Klaus.

"Right," she nodded as she got out the other container of juice and filled the sippy cup meant for her tallest brother. 

"Does Five like vanilla in his milk?" she asked as she poured some of the liquid into a cup so that she could heat it up on the stove.

"No, he likes a little bit of nutmeg," Allison shook her head. "Viktor is the one that likes vanilla."

After the words left her mouth both of the caregivers turned to each other with wide eyes. "Shit, we didn't check on Viktor!" Sloane placed a hand over her mouth to try and hide her panic. Guilt flooded through both of the caregivers as they realized that they had left one of their littles to deal with the loud, triggering sounds all on his own. 

"I'll go, you watch them," Allison said as she rushed from the room as quickly as she could. Her heart hammered in her ears as she climbed up the stairs and came to the singular occupied room. "Hey V?" she called. She opened the door and found that she couldn't see him anywhere. 

She took a deep breath to calm herself down so that she could be kinder to the little once she was actually able to find him. She didn't want to be overprotective and cause him to launch into another panic attack, which had already happened twice since they found themselves in the new universe. Allison closed the door and then crossed the space between the door and the window so that she was able to shut it. "Baby boy? Can you come out and say hi? It's just Allison, I promise I'm not going to hurt you," she grasped his backpack and began to search for his noise canceling headphones. They had managed to find ones that just muffled background noise while still letting in direct noises like the TV or talking.

When she found the pair he always kept in his backpack still laying there, the worry in her increased tenfold. "Viktor? Baby, I need you to come out."

Silence.

She grasped the headphones tightly in her hand for when she was finally able to get to him. She opened up the closet first. It was a four by four space, just big enough for someone Viktor's size to hide in if he was scared. One of the most difficult things about watching him was the way that he hid in places that triggered him whenever he was scared. He'd get impulses to find somewhere dark and quiet where he could see every exit and entrance to make sure no one was coming for him, but after he did that he would almost always start having flashbacks to when he had been locked in the basement.

Allison reached her hand in and felt around blindly, but was unable to come in contact with anything that could have been her baby brother. She shut the closet and then turned to look underneath the desk, but again came back with nothing. The last place in the room was underneath the bed, which was going to be a squeeze even for someone as physically tiny as Viktor. She got down on the ground so that she was laying on her stomach and then turned her head so that she was looking under the bed. "Hey buddy," she said softly. "Can you come out from under there?"

"Scared," he whimpered, but he lisped on the 'r' sound, showing just how truly little he was. "Don't get mad, please?"

"Why would I get mad at you, buddy?" she asked. "I'm sure that you haven't done anything wrong?"

"Made big boom," he sniffled. He had dark tear tracks down his face and his cheeks were red from where he had been scrubbing at his face with his hands. 

"Oh honey," she whispered as she reached out to him. "Did you wake up to the thunder and then accidentally use your powers?"

"Don't wanna get in trouble," he whimpered as he curled himself into a tiny ball underneath the bed. "So loud, hurts!"

He let out a sob that made Allison's heart break in two. It didn't take long after their powers had returned to them in this new world for them to realize just how much Viktor's hearing was affected by it. Even when he had been on the medication he had been able to hear more than others, which is why he had been so naturally gifted when it came to music. Getting his powers back and being a little meant that he had times where he wasn't able to control his ability to pick up on all those little noises that got so overwhelming to hear all the time.

"I know it does, little one, I know," she soothed. "Do you want to put your headphones on and then come cuddle with your big sister?" she asked softly. She made sure that she was speaking quieter and more evenly than she had been before to try and spare his ears as much as she could.

"Okay," he said pitifully. He reached his hand out towards her so that he could take the item. Allison carefully laid his headphones down on his palm and watched as he placed them over his ears.

He had apparently been causing his very own personal Hell, because as soon as the headphones were securely over his ears half of the storm outside completely dissipated. The thunder and lightning continued, but they were a bit off in the distance instead of being right over top of them. The wind was no longer howling and harassing the trees around them, and the rain had returned to the pitter-patter that it had been when they put everyone to bed. 

Viktor wiggled out from under the bed so that he was sitting on his knees in front of her. He toyed with his hands in his lap, refusing to tilt his head up so that he could look at her. "Sorry for making bad," he sniffled.

"You're so little," she whispered to herself as she leaned down and placed a kiss on the crown of his head, next to the headpiece of the headphones. "You don't have to be sorry, V, I know you didn't do it on purpose. Why don't you come downstairs and sit with the others? Five was asking to see you when I came up to check on you."

His head immediately snapped up upon hearing that. It was so endearing, how much the two of them loved each other even after the decades spent apart from each other. "Yeah, wanna see Five!" he giggled. Allison nodded and got them both standing. 

For the last time that night, she went downstairs with a little attached to her arm. Viktor rushed over to his favorite brother as soon as they came down the last step, and the two of them wound around each other just as Klaus and Ben had done when they saw each other. Sippy cups were passed around, and then soon everyone had a pacifier and their favorite comfort items as they fell asleep to the soothing shows playing on the TV. The storm outside was still going strong, though not as strong as it had been while Viktor was adding to it, so they weren't going to put the littles back to bed by themselves. Instead they camped out in the living room, comforted by the feeling of their loved ones close to them.