TM: #228 - 3AM
3AM
Eight, he predicted, once Dora's breathing became normal and he knew she had woken up. He would be able to count to eight at best and then all pretense of ignoring the situation would fall to pieces.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Sev--
"It's your turn, isn't it?" Dora asked, her voice laced with hope and thick with sleep.
"No," Remus murmured, sounding every bit as tired as his wife. He let her stay where she was, though. Smiling a little, he pressed a kiss to her temple as he climbed out of bed and then padded barefoot across the room, out the door, and down the hall to the nursery.
Lifting his squalling son from his crib, Remus cradled the baby close and bounced him lightly in his arms. "Hallo, Teddy," he murmured, his lips brushing over the little wisps of currently magenta hair at the top of the boy's head. "I know you can't tell time yet but nevertheless I feel I must inform you that three in the morning is a very inconvenient time for you to wake your mother and me up," Remus said very seriously, as if he expected Teddy to understand exactly what he was being told. "You see, we have lots of things to do to make the world a safe place for you and it's much easier to accomplish these things when we've had a decent night's sleep. Surely you understand."
Almost the first moment Remus had started talking, Teddy began to calm down. It didn't really matter what Remus was saying. He could have pulled out a dictionary, opened it to a random page and read to Teddy from that. There was something about the quality of Remus' voice that almost never failed to soothe him. Barely fifteen minutes of wandering conversation later and Teddy was fast asleep.
When Remus got back into bed, Dora made a vague ‘mrf' sound that he took to be a grunt of thanks. "You're welcome," he said as he snuggled close, wrapped an arm around her middle and kissed the back of her neck. It was, he supposed, the least he could do to make up for being himself. He kept that to himself, though. It was an old argument and three o'clock in the morning wasn't the best time to get into it.
390 words
Eight, he predicted, once Dora's breathing became normal and he knew she had woken up. He would be able to count to eight at best and then all pretense of ignoring the situation would fall to pieces.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Sev--
"It's your turn, isn't it?" Dora asked, her voice laced with hope and thick with sleep.
"No," Remus murmured, sounding every bit as tired as his wife. He let her stay where she was, though. Smiling a little, he pressed a kiss to her temple as he climbed out of bed and then padded barefoot across the room, out the door, and down the hall to the nursery.
Lifting his squalling son from his crib, Remus cradled the baby close and bounced him lightly in his arms. "Hallo, Teddy," he murmured, his lips brushing over the little wisps of currently magenta hair at the top of the boy's head. "I know you can't tell time yet but nevertheless I feel I must inform you that three in the morning is a very inconvenient time for you to wake your mother and me up," Remus said very seriously, as if he expected Teddy to understand exactly what he was being told. "You see, we have lots of things to do to make the world a safe place for you and it's much easier to accomplish these things when we've had a decent night's sleep. Surely you understand."
Almost the first moment Remus had started talking, Teddy began to calm down. It didn't really matter what Remus was saying. He could have pulled out a dictionary, opened it to a random page and read to Teddy from that. There was something about the quality of Remus' voice that almost never failed to soothe him. Barely fifteen minutes of wandering conversation later and Teddy was fast asleep.
When Remus got back into bed, Dora made a vague ‘mrf' sound that he took to be a grunt of thanks. "You're welcome," he said as he snuggled close, wrapped an arm around her middle and kissed the back of her neck. It was, he supposed, the least he could do to make up for being himself. He kept that to himself, though. It was an old argument and three o'clock in the morning wasn't the best time to get into it.
390 words