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Shane always enjoyed babysitting the Pike kids these days. It gave him a delightful glimpse into the possible future with Ilya, raising a family of their own. The added bonus for now was, they could return these gremlins to their keepers after some time.
Tonight, Hayden and Jackie had gone out to see a local indie band that Jackie liked, so Shane and Ilya were staying with the kids. While they were generally good kids, they were still kids, and sometimes Shane found himself grateful that he and Ilya were in such top physical shape, being outnumbered 2-1. Tonight had been an average night, with the usual share of playtime (loudly instigated by Ilya, of course), sibling squabbles to mediate and chaos to manage as he and Ilya had gotten the kids to bed, one by one. As usual, they split up for bedtime preparations, with Shane taking 8-year-old Ruby and Jade and Ilya taking 6 year old Arthur and 4 year old Amber, though they made sure to tuck in and say “goodnight” to everyone.
Once the kids were down, Shane & Ilya collapsed on the couch together.
“That went well.” Ilya said, leaning his head back.
Shane turned and put his head in Ilya’s lap, and immediately Ilya’s fingers began threading through his hair. “Agreed, though I thought for sure Ruby and Jade were going to go ten rounds over those pajamas.”
Ilya chuckled. “Yes, but good call on suggesting they each wear one half as a compromise. It was very diplomatic of you.”
Shane hummed in response.
They knew Hayden & Jackie would still be out for some time, so they found a movie to watch and got comfortable. It wasn’t long before both men were dozing off on the couch
Ilya’s ears suddenly perked up at a sound. He opened one eye and listened carefully while Shane didn’t even so much as twitch. After several moments of silence, Ilya was about to shrug it off when he heard it again: a soft cry, like a cat somewhere in the house. Only, the Pikes didn’t have a cat.
Carefully extricating himself from beside Shane, Ilya made his way down the hall toward the sound. It was coming from Amber’s room. Alarmed, Ilya sped up a little and entered her room. He found her sitting in bed, her eyes huge and fat tears pouring from them, illuminated by the hallway light spilling through the door behind him.
“Hey Маленький (little one), what’s wrong?” Ilya said softly, the deep rumble of his voice like velvet in the quiet as he crossed the room to her.
Amber held her hands up to him, and he folded her in his arms as he sat on her bed. She felt so small to him, so light as she clung to his neck and cried. “Mama….I want Mama!”
Ilya rocked her gently, shushing her and murmuring comfort in both Russian and English. His voice was soothing and after a few moments, Amber's cries quieted to hiccuping sighs and her hold on Ilya’s neck loosened a bit. He took the opportunity to shift her tiny body so she was sitting sideways on his lap, head against his chest, still tucked safely in his arms.
“What happened? Bad dream?” he asked.
Amber nodded. “Monsters” she whispered fearfully. “Where’s Loona?” she said, looking past Ilya to her pillow.
Ilya spotted the stuffed Loon that had become Amber’s favorite and handed it to her. “Right here, here’s Loona.” Amber squeezed the stuffie to her chest and settled back against Ilya’s warmth.
“No need to fear, Маленький (little one). No monsters are going to get you. Not while Uncle Shane and I are here.” Ilya said lovingly. “In fact, that’s why we’re here with you while your Mama and Papa go out. We’re your anti-monster squad!”
Amber giggled softly. “Anti-monster squad. That’s funny, Uncle Ilya!” Holding up Loona, she said “Loona doesn’t like monsters, either. They make her do this-” and she tucked the stuffie between her side and Ilya’s torso, as if to hide.
Ilya smiled, remembering his first introduction to Loons. Shane had laughed so hard at him. That prick.
“Can you believe that I was once afraid of Loona?” Ilya said softly.
Amber giggled again. “Nah-uh! She’s just a bird, Uncle Ilya!”
Ilya laughed. “Yes, that is what your Uncle Shane said, too. But it sounded like a wolf to me when I first heard their sound. It was very scary.”
Amber’s eyes got wide. “You got scared? What did you do?” she asked.
Ilya smiled. “Your Uncle Shane was very brave. He told me that the sound I heard wasn’t a wolf at all, just a silly bird. And then he laughed at me.” he said, clearly sounding overly affronted on the last part.
“Well, that wasn’t very nice!” Amber said, her brow furrowed in a very Hayden-like manner.
“Tell him that!” Ilya said jokingly. “No, actually, it helped chase away the scared feeling. Knowing that he wasn’t scared let me know I didn’t have to be scared, either. And now…” Ilya paused to stroke Loona’s soft back with one finger. “I’m not afraid of Loona anymore.”
Amber yawned. “Well, that’s good. Loona thinks so, too.”
Ilya smiled at her, seeing her sleepy eyes starting to droop a bit. “Indeed. And now, I think it’s time for you to go back to sleep.” He opened his arms to let her crawl back into bed and tucked her back in.
As he left Amber’s room, he nearly ran into Shane, who was listening outside the door the whole time.
“I thought you were still asleep!” Ilya whispered in surprise.
Shane smiled lovingly up at him. “Come tell me a bedtime story, and maybe I will be….”