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“Alright my little Willow tree” I coo softly as I tuck the edges of the bedding tightly around her. “You’re all tucked in now, are you all ready for bed?”
Cutely, Willow takes this question very seriously as she glances around her to check that everything is in order, and she’s about to nod yes when suddenly a concerned expression comes upon her.
“Blankie mama!” She exclaims, frantically looking around her to find the beloved item.
‘Blankie’ comes around with Willow everywhere, from the time that she was a wee little baby and my mother had just gifted it to her, to now, where no other item could possibly bring as much comfort, I’ve practically never seen Willow without it.
I frown, “where did you last leave it baby?”
A hiccup escapes her as she shrugs, tears surely to follow if we don’t find blankie fast.
I sigh, before quickly standing up and making my way over towards Willow’s bedroom door, “Peeta!” I call gently out to him.
“Hmm?” Comes his quick response, soon followed by his footsteps as he approaches.
“Have you seen blankie?” I ask quickly in follow up, eager to get this show on the road, with minimal waterworks.
Similarly to my own reaction Peeta frowns, but then something comes to him and he looks to Willow with a slightly more hopeful look. “You had it in the bathroom with you before your bath right, did you take it with you when you left?”
Willow pouts thoughtfully before hesitantly shaking her head.
“I’ll check” Peeta quickly offers with a nod.
As he goes I work to get Willow settled into bed again, fixing up the sheets Willow managed to ruffle in her haste of searching.
I try to reason with her that if we don’t end up finding blankie that she could try a different comfort item instead; that goes down about as well as you’d expect, but thankfully it’s only a few minutes later when Peeta re-emerges.
“Special delivery for Willow Rose Mellark” he announces as he enters, coming straight over to Willow to hand her her ‘delivery’
She chuckles before quickly exclaiming “blankie!”
“Alright love bug” I smile softly, trying to reel in her energy again, “are you all ready for bed?”
She nods slowly, a yawn escaping her as she sinks further into her bed, this time with blankie tightly secured in her arms.
***
Just like any other morning, I find myself awake bright and early baking in our kitchen.
It’s my day off today, so there’s no real reason for me to be up this early, yet still, here I am.
I find myself humming as my body absentmindedly does the movements it’s done fairly consistently for thirty years or so now.
I’ve just turned around from putting my first batch of bread in the oven, when I notice a little figure watching me, a familiar pink blanket covering most of her body.
Already It appears Willow will take after her mothers quiet tread.
“Morning hunny buns” I smile softly over towards her, “did you sleep alright?”
She nods slowly, shuffling over towards one of the seats at the counter, rubbing blankie against her eyes as she does.
“What do you want for breakfast baby?”
“Pancakes” she quickly mumbles in response, yawning as she rests her head on the counter.
I smile, nodding in response to her answer, “okay Love, you know you can go back to bed if you’re still tired, dada won’t mind”
She shakes her head, “watch dada” she mumbles in reply again.
“Okay” I nod, going back to what I was doing, though adding an extra bowl for pancakes.
Willow remains seated for most of our time together, rubbing her blanket across her lips and face in her self soothing way.
Then after waking up a little more she joins me in cooking, mixing batter and kneading dough with a little help from me.
All the while Blankie stays with her, tied around her neck almost as if it were a cape, making her ‘super Willow’ just like one of the characters in her story books.
***
Mr dinosaur laughs evilly, “You’ll have to cross the lake of doom if you want to save your princess”
“No!” Not the lake of doom!” Bunny cries, watching the lava filled lake with fear.
“Help me!” Princess cries, held tightly by Mr dinosaur.
“You’ll never save her!” He exclaims, moving further away from the lake.
But the bad guys never win, and bunny the best superhero of them all always wins.
She hops from rock to rock, so close to falling into the lake of doom so many times, but just making it each time.
When she makes it, Mr dinosaur looks shocked. “I didn’t think you could do it”
“I’s always win” Bunny smiles, pushing Mr dinosaur into the lava where he’s quickly eaten up by the pink lava.
“You’re my hero!” Princess cries, throwing her arms around bunny.
The two of them skipping away from evil Mr dinosaur.
“Hey bun bun” I smile down at my favourite stuffed animal, leaving princess on my bed next to Gus and Tim, the chosen bed stuffies for this week. “We should colour now”
Racing over to my desk I pull out my art set that daddy bought me for my birthday.
“What should I draw bunny?” I ask curiously as I pick up my favourite pink pencil from the set, slowly I begin to doodle a flower and then of course a bunny per bunny’s request.
“You know what would be even more fun?” Bunny asks after some time.
“What?”
“We should go see if daddy will let us paint with him”
“Yes Bunny that’s a great idea” I quickly smile, picking up bunny and racing off downstairs to go find daddy.
A part of me wants to call out to him, announce my presence before he’s seen me, but mama says I’m not allowed to yell In the house unless it’s an emergency.
Whatever, daddy’s usually pretty easy to find anyway, I can usually find him in one of two places when he’s at home; his art room or the kitchen.
“Daddy?” I test experimentally as I round the corner into our kitchen.
What I find is confusing, both mama and daddy are there, but they don’t look like they normally do. Daddy is on the floor, mama crouched in front of him. Dada’s hands are clutching his hair in a way that looks like it hurts; I know it hurts when mama brushes and pulls on my hair too hard.
Mama looks up at me, she looks scared; why is she scared? Is daddy in trouble?
“Willow” she begins softly, “are you alright bug?”
Am I alright? Hesitantly I nod.
“Mama will be up in a minute, why don’t you go upstairs and mama can help you there when she’s ready?”
I shake my head, “wanted dada” I admit, though my request feels silly now that daddy may be in trouble.
Mama frowns, “he’s a bit busy at the minute, is it really urgent?”
Again I shake my head.
“What’s happening mama?”
Mama looks a little unsure, glancing between us. But eventually she tells me “his head’s hurting”
“Like a headache?” I ask quickly in return, I’ve had those before; they’re no fun, poor daddy.
“A little” mama answers. “But it’s more his brain”
This confuses me, how can a brain be the one to hurt? “What helps dada?” I ask anyway.
“Well talking to him, staying with him” Mama answers.
What helps me when I’m hurting?
Suddenly the thought hits me and I race off back upstairs without another word.
I find blankie right where I left it, with Mr dinosaur still wrapped up in it.
Quickly unfurling him from it I tuck blankie under my arm and race back downstairs to the kitchen where I hold it out towards mama and dada.
“For dada” I announce, just in case it wasn’t clear, which I guess it wasn’t because mama looks confused.
“Your blankie?” She questions.
I nod. “Blankie helps me when I’m hurt, it help dada”
For a brief moment a smile comes to mama’s face, “that’s really thoughtful bug” she tells me, “come on, do you want to sit with dada too, that might help”
Shyly I nod again, slowly coming over to sit next to him.
Once there I try to give dada the blankie but his eyes are still shut, so instead I go to rest it over his knees, which are balled up to his chest.
“Blankie for dada” I whisper. For a moment his eyes pop open, but then he mutters something and they close again.
“Blankie helps hurting” I tell him, “it’s like a hug from mama and dada, or I guess mama and me for you”
This gets him to open his eyes again, and even better a small smile.
“Blankie also helps when sad, or scared. When it’s dark outside and I can’t sleep, Blankie keeps me warm and safe”
I haven’t realised until now how slowly dada has come back to himself, taking his hands out of his hair, opening his eyes and watching me, even pulling me into his arms alongside blankie which he’s begun holding protectively.
“Thanks Willow” he murmurs, “blankie has really helped”
He squeezes me tighter in his arms and I smile up at him, telling him softly “blankie is magic”
“Yes it is” he agrees, “it really is”