"Mommy, I had a bad dream."
Mikaela slowly rolled over in the bed from where she was currently snuggled up againest her husband and looked down at her daughter. She currently had a frightened looked on her small face, and was hugging her teddy bear as if it were her only source of comfort. It probably was until she could get to her mother. Mikaela smiled gently at the little three year old, and picked her up to put her in the bed with her. She set the little girl up on her stomach and looked up at her lovingly. She watched silently as she writhed with the recent images of her horrible dream. She slowly reached up and rubbed the little girl's back in a comforting manner, whispering to her softly. She didn't want to wake up her slumbering husband, but she also wanted to calm the little one down. That was near to impossible to do both.
"Kae, what's going on?" She heard a deep voice beside her say. She looked over only to see that RJ had been woken up by Maddie's cries. The thing that she hadn't wanted to happen exactly did happen. She was just about to answer his question whenever a little voice interuppted her from doing so. "RJ, I had a bad dream," Madeline pouted once more. She slowly crawled in between the two of them and looked up at RJ with the same sad look. She had always been quite the little attention hog, and it wasn't really any surprise that she would want both of their comforts. She liked any attention that she could get and the more the better.
Madeline smiled brightly when RJ scooped her up in a comforting embrace. She looked up at him with her bright hazel eyes, and put her tiny arms around his neck. She was just waiting for all the reassurance and comfort in the world. But, that would be expected from any little girl that was now in the arms of her father figure. "You did?" RJ said, in a comforting tone. Madeline simply nodded, while still looking up to the man. She then began to speak once more, "Mommy checked the room for monsters twice, too." Yes, Madeline was at the current stage of believing in monsters being in her room. She also believed that if you didn't check for them that they would haunt your dreams. Oh, such the joys of being three.
A brief shocked look spread over RJ's face at the mention of Mikaela checking for monsters in Madeline's room. "Well, they must've found some extra hiding places somewhere then." RJ said. Madeline nodded, her bright eyes going wide at the thought of monsters finding other places in her room to hide that her mother couldn't get to. They would haunt her dreams forever now in her own personal opinion. How would she ever be able to sleep? RJ smiled gently, "I tell you what, you can sleep in here with us tonight to be safe from the monsters. Then, I will go in and clear them all out tommorow to make sure they don't bother you any more."
Madeline snuggled down more in between the two of them, obviously satisfied with the idea. She definitely wasn't going to pass up the opportunity of being able to sleep in the bigger bed with the two of her parents. She liked that idea, a lot. "Thanks, daddy," She said, sleepily before closing her big hazel eyes. Soon after those simple words were spoken, RJ and Mikaela exchanged shocked looks. Madeline had never called RJ by daddy before, and always stuck to just RJ. It was actually kind of nice to hear Madeline say that, despite the fact that her actual dad had died a few years back. After the initial shock had worn off, Mikaela let a small smile spread over her face and closed her eyes. Finally, they were an actual family.
