He's halfway out the door for the third time that night, thinking she's finally asleep and he's going to make it this time, when a little voice pipes up from across the room: "Uncle Nick?"
He closes his eyes, holds in a sigh. He flips the light back on and turns around to find her sitting up in bed giving him the most innocent little smile he's ever seen. "Yes?"
"Will you tell me a bedtime story?"
This time he lets the sigh out. "Lili," he says slowly, patiently, "I've already read you two."
"I don't want you to read me a story," she says, wrinkling her nose. It reminds him of his brother. "I want you to tell me a story. One I haven't heard before. I already know how all the books end."
He blinks. "What kind of story?"
She shrugs, leaning back against her pile of fluffy pillows. "I don't know. Something exciting."
"Something exciting will just keep you awake."
"Something romantic, then."
He snorts. "You're four."
"And a half," she huffs, reaching up to tuck her long dark curls behind her ears. He chuckles.
"Of course. But it's bedtime now, okay? No more stories for tonight."
She crosses her arms, pokes her lower lip out. "Please?" She draws the word out so long she's out of breath by the end.
"Lili," he says exasperatedly, "I don't know any stories. Especially not romantic ones."
She shrugs again. "Make one up. That's what Uncle Joe does. Aunt Taylor, too."
He feels the corners of his lips twitch up. "So this is a regular occurrence, huh?"
She smiles innocently. "I really like stories."
He takes a deep breath and then blows it out. "Alright, kid. I'll tell you one more story and then you absolutely have to go to sleep. If your parents find out I let you stay awake this late they're going to kill me."
"I'll go to sleep after, I promise."
She holds up her tiny pinky and he smiles at her as he links his with hers.
"Okay." He sits down beside her on her bed again, shifts around a little to get more comfortable. It's quiet for a few minutes.
"At least tell me where to start."
She taps her tiny chin. "With a princess," she declares after a moment. "That's how the best stories always start."
"Okay, I can do that," he says, almost more to himself than her. "Once upon a time, there was a princess."
He pauses after that, stuck again.
"Maybe she falls in love," his niece offers helpfully. "With a prince."
He nods slowly. He's never been a great storyteller, not unless the story was told through music. "And one day she fell in love with a prince."
Lili nods encouragingly, but he just gives her a helpless look.
"I don't know how to do this," he groans.
"Yeah, you do," she insists, grabbing a stuffed panda bear from the pile of animals near her and snuggling up to it. "You make up songs. Making up stories is almost the same thing. Just think about what you think about when you write a song."
He reflects on that briefly, focusing absentmindedly on Lili's bright pink bedroom walls. And after a moment, he smiles.
"Can I start over?" he asks, and she nods, tucking her panda bear under her chin and looking up at him intently.
"Once upon a time, there was a princess," he starts again, more confidently. "A beautiful, kind, smart princess with a heart of gold. And one day...she met a prince."
He looks up at the ceiling, smiling slightly. "The prince had never seen anyone so beautiful before," he goes on, "and the more he talked to the princess, the more he liked her. He asked her if she would be his girlfriend, and she said yes."
He pauses to glance down, and Lili smiles at him encouragingly. She now has a stuffed bunny resting on her chest beside the panda.
"So the prince and the princess became boyfriend and girlfriend." He leans his head down and rests his cheek against his niece's soft curls. "The prince had never been so happy. He loved the princess and her sweet heart of gold so, so much. And the princess loved him too, and for a while they thought they were going to live happily ever after."
He takes a deep breath. "But then...they broke up. The prince was heartbroken, so heartbroken he didn't think he would never be happy again. And the princess was upset, too. For a long time they were both just very, very sad."
"If they were so sad, why didn't they get back together?" Lili asks him, from underneath her panda and bunny and now a tiger, as well. He smiles a little, "I really don't know. Because they were dumb, I guess."
She laughs, and he thinks for a moment before he goes on. "So for a very long time the prince and the princess were kind of mean to each other. They tried everything they could to make each other jealous. They pretended to be mad at each other. But a few times, they actually tried to get back together. But they could never make it work for very long."
He swallows hard. "It was a couple years later that they got back together again and they were really happy for a little while. The prince was so thrilled to have his princess back, and he loved her so much. But then..." He takes a deep breath, wonders why on Earth he's doing this. "Then she broke his heart all over again."
"Why'd she do that?" Lili demands, eyes wide. She's now struggling to hold six different stuffed animals in her arms.
He smiles sadly at her. "Because she'd fallen in love with someone else."
Her big brown eyes widen even more. "Another prince?"
He thinks for a moment, and then shakes his head. "No, not a prince...a dragon. A big, mean, fire-breathing dragon.
"She fell in love with a dragon?" she asks, scandalized, giggling just a little. He laughs. "I know, right? What was she thinking?"
Lili giggles harder into her little hands and he swallows.
"And even though the dragon was big and mean, she still loved him. And the prince's heart hurt very badly because he still loved the princess a lot."
"What happened?" She presses. When he looks down at her she's practically disappeared under a pile of stuffed animals. "Did you fight the dragon?"
He grins, raises an eyebrow. "Hey, who said anything about me?"
She just giggles again and snuggles up against his side.
"For a long time the prince tried hard to be happy for the princess, because he knew she was happy." He keeps his eyes focused on the wall directly in front of him. "But it was hard, because he missed his princess so very, very much. And then one day, just a few months before the princess and the dragon were supposed to get married, the prince and the princess saw each other again at a party...er, at a ball."
"Romantic," Lili says with a grin. He rolls his eyes.
"The prince asked the princess if she would dance with him," he continues. "For old time's sake. And the princess said yes and so they danced, and danced, and danced. They meant to only dance to one song but they ended up staying out on the floor all night. And when they were finally done dancing, they talked. And the prince was feeling especially brave for some reason, and he told the princess that he really missed her."
His breath is shaky. "And to his surprise, she told him that she really missed him too. And he told her he still loved her, and that he was sad she was marrying the dragon instead of him."
Lili's head is the only part of her visible, the rest buried under small fluffy toys. She's watching and listening intently.
"And then," he pauses, gulps, "The princess started to cry."
Absently he picks up a stuffed frog from Lili's collection and starts to fiddle with it, keeping his hands busy.
"And the prince hated to see her cry so he started to tell her he was sorry for upsetting her," he goes on slowly, "But before he could say anything, she grabbed his face and kissed him."
His niece makes an excited little squealing noise, cuddling into his side. A few stuffed animals tumble to the floor at the movement. "Did it break the magic spell?" she asks, and he notices her voice is a little sleepy.
He chuckles, "Yeah, sure. It broke the magic spell and she realized she still loved her prince instead of the big mean dragon."
"What happened then?" Lili's eyes are falling closed.
"The prince and the princess talked for a long time," he says, "And realized they really wanted to try again to get their happily ever after. So the princess broke up with her dragon to be with him."
"Then did the prince fight the dragon?"
He laughs. "Alright, fine. The prince fought the dragon. With, uh, a sword. And he won."
Lili smiles. "You're not great at this fairy tale thing."
"Hey!" he laughs, tickling her and making her giggle, "I'm really trying here, kid."
"Keep going."
He thinks for a moment. "So the prince and the princess got back together. And they were very happy, and they finally felt like they'd gotten things right. The dragon never bothered them again."
He's smiling now, big and bright. Lili's breathing is becoming more even and slow.
"And a few years later, they got married. And they lived happily ever after."
She smiles and says through a yawn, "That was a good story."
He chuckles as he stands up, handing the little stuffed frog back to her, "Thanks. Now remember our deal and go to sleep, okay? Mommy and Daddy will be home when you wake up in the morning."
"Mhmm," she mumbles sleepily, already halfway there. He tucks her blankets tight around her and picks up fallen stuffed animals from the floor. By the time he leans down and kisses her forehead he's sure she's already asleep.
"Goodnight, Lil," he whispers, brushing her curls out of her face. "Sleep tight."
He crosses the room and flips off the light again, stepping halfway out into the hallway.
"Uncle Nick?" comes a very small, very sleepy voice just before he closes the door behind him. He sighs, crosses his arms across his chest.
"Yes?"
His niece opens her eyes only slightly, cuddles up closer to her many stuffed friends. Her voice is barely above a tired whisper.
"I'm really glad you got your happily ever after."
He laughs lightly and gives her a small smile, and says with a playful but pointed tone, "Goodnight, Liliana."
She smiles as she snuggles further into her pillows, closing her eyes again. "G'night, Uncle Nick."
Grinning, he finally steps out of the room and closes the door.
"What a lovely story, Prince Charming."
He jumps, then turns around. His wife is leaning against the wall in the hallway, arms crossed, smirking at him.
He blushes, stepping closer to her to wrap his arms around her. "How much did you hear?"
She laughs, presses her face into his neck. "Oh, I came in sometime around falling in love with a dragon. You know, I don't quite remember any sword fights occurring."
He shrugs, smirking. "Dramatic embellishments. I had to cater to my audience."
She laughs again and gives him a soft, sweet kiss and he smiles into it, lightly twirling a lock of her long dark hair around his finger.
"Well, I finally got the twins back to sleep," she says after they pull apart, "Lili's out, and Kevin and Dani won't be home for a few more hours so I guess we have some free time now."
He smiles, leaning his forehead against hers.
"So what do you think?" She asks after a moment, taking his hands in hers and bringing them down to rest on her stomach, smiling as he rubs gentle circles through her shirt. She doesn't have too much of a bump yet, but they both know it's there. "You think we can handle doing this on our own?"
He thinks for a second and then nods. "Absolutely. You're going to be a great mommy."
She nuzzles her nose against his. "And you're going to be a great daddy," she murmurs.
He doesn't know how long they stand there, just holding each other in the hallway. Eventually though, she pulls away and grins at him.
"Why don't we go downstairs and you can tell me another of your gripping stories," she suggests playfully. "I'd love to hear one from the beginning."
He laughs softly. "You already know all of my stories. They're all about you."
She smiles at him and her eyes shine and he suddenly just wants to kiss her for a million years, but before he can lean in she whispers with a grin, "I love you, my prince."
He chuckles, kisses the tip of her nose. "Not as much as I love you, my princess."
She laughs at his cheesy voice and snuggles as close to him as she can get, tucking her head under his chin, and he kisses her forehead and rubs her back. And then he smiles brightly and suddenly scoops her up bridal-style into his arms, making her yelp in surprise. He laughs when she lightly smacks his chest and sighs happily when she wraps her arms around his neck, and he starts down the hallway and down the stairs, holding his happily ever after in his arms.
So this isn't great (especially the ending ew), but I wanted to write something short and sweet and fluffy, just because I was in a happy mood. And everyone likes short, pointless little oneshots every once in a while, right? Daddy Nick and Uncle Nick are some of my favorite Nicks to write, and I'm so excited that I'll soon be able to model him after real life Uncle Nick. I may or may not have a couple of multi-chapter stories in the works in which Nick is a daddy or an uncle. Hopefully you'll see them soon.
Oh and, for anyone who caught it...happy July 9th.