Disclaimer: I still own nothing, so just borrowing and playing. I'll put them back, honest.
So, someone else might have jumped on the challenge bandwagon. Bee, hope it is everything you were after!
Enjoy!
Scott was sitting cross-legged on his bed, flicking through a comic when a noise drew his attention. He looked up, listening hard. One glance at the clock told him the noise must be his parents putting his two year old brother to bed. Unlike John - who still took ten attempts to get him to stay put - Virgil seemed to go to sleep without any fuss. Even at such a young age, the fuss came when it was time to wake up again. But for the last few nights, Virgil's bedtimes had turned into tears and tantrums. Scott slipped off his bed and moved quietly across his room, opening his door a little so he could hear what was going on.
"No, Daddy! Scary! Don't wanna, it might eat me!"
"Virg, there is nothing there, sweetheart. Daddy has looked, he's scared off any monsters. I promise, baby, you're safe."
"Mommy…" Virgil's sentence was lost as he cried harder and Scott stuck his head out of the door. Virgil was clinging to their mother for all he was worth, his head buried in her shoulder to avoid looking into his room. His dad was standing in Virgil's doorway and Scott had a feeling he had just done the promised check to make sure there was nothing under his brother's bed. It had been the same for the last week; the little boy was paranoid something was under his bed and that it was going to come out in the night and get him. His parents had sworn nothing was there and Scott himself had spent an evening sitting on his brother's bed to keep Virgil calm until he had also been sent to bed.
He didn't know what had started this, but whatever it was made him wish he could turn back time. Virgil normally listened to him when he said that something was safe. In Scott's mind, it just showed him how scared his brother was if even their dad crawling around on the floor wasn't enough to calm him down. Scott edged out of the door and down the hallway, resting his hand on Virgil's leg and peering anxiously up at him.
"You okay, Virgie?" he asked quietly, causing his mother to smile down at him as Virgil twisted in her grip to look at his brother.
"Gonna get me, Scotty…" he mumbled, the exhaustion obvious as his words slurred and he didn't seem to have the energy to hold his head up, instead resting it in on their mother's shoulder.
"No, it's not. Daddy scared them all off, didn't you, Dad?" Scott looked up at his dad as Jeff stepped out of the room, his hand coming to rest on Scott's shoulder.
"Of course I did. There is nothing there, Virgil. No monsters, no scary things, just lots of dust…"
"Jeff," Scott was sure that if his mother had a free hand, she would have smacked him for that one.
"But…"
"Come on, young man, I think it is time you got some sleep." There was a no nonsense tone to his mother's voice and Scott was glad that Virgil simply sniffed. His brother had worn himself out. Their mother didn't wait for him to protest however, but simply carried him in and set about getting him into bed. Scott made to follow, but his father's hand tightened on his shoulder.
"Come on, son. Why don't you show me what you have been doing at school and let your mom sort out Virgil?"
"But…"
"Scott."
Scott knew he wasn't being given a choice. With one last look into Virgil's room, he allowed himself to be steered towards his own. Virgil was soon pushed from his mind as he started to tell his father about everything that he had been up to. There wasn't often he got to be able to just talk to him like this without one of the younger ones wanting attention at the same time. Not that Scott minded, but it was nice to have his dad to himself for a bit.
He was telling his father anything and everything that he could think of when his mother appeared in his doorway, a soft smile on her face at the conversation going on within. While Scott knew there was a lot of his parent's interaction that went over his head, he did catch the meaningful looks that happened as his dad glanced around at the movement. He knew it meant that Virgil had gone to sleep and the battle was over for another evening. But Scott felt a wide grin spread across his face as Jeff gave no hint that he was about to move even though he had successfully distracted his son. Instead, he just gently prompted Scott to continue and the six year old needed no further encouraging than that.
His father only finally stood up when Scott had accidentally let a yawn or two slip into their conversation. He hadn't meant to, but he knew that it had been coming up to his bedtime for some time now. Determined to steer his father's mind away from that, he had just continued to talk, not noticing the knowing smile on the man's face when he started interrupting his own words with his yawns. As he stood up, his mother appeared in the doorway again, almost as if they had both been thinking the same thing and the thought travelled from one end of the house to the other. Scott broke off mid-sentence, his mind mulling over his thoughts and making it wonder if it was actually possible for his parents to have a link.
"Bed time, Scott," his mother said gently and Scott slipped off the end of the bed where he had been sitting for a while. He wrapped his arms around his dad's waist until the man bent down and allowed Scott to give him a proper hug. He loved the weekends. Not because there was no school, but because it meant his dad was around properly rather than just whispering a good night into the room when Scott was already in bed. He grinned as the hug was returned and decided that was a good enough reason to go to sleep without a fuss.
He changed, letting his mother move around the room and tidy up some toys from earlier (Scott was still blaming John for leaving them out!) while he went and brushed his teeth. On his way back, Scott found himself hovering outside Virgil's room, wondering if he had imagined the small noise that had come from within. Before he could think about investigating, his mother called him softly back to his own room and Scott convinced himself that his parents would soon know if something was wrong with his brother or not.
Adamant that because his dad was home, it meant everything had to be okay, Scott was reasonably happy to climb into bed and let his mom tuck him in. But as soon as she softly drew the door shut behind her and switched off the light, he sat up again, listening hard. His parents made everything better, Scott knew that. But he also knew that sometimes, grown-ups were really stupid about things. Monsters under the bed were one of those things, and Scott was worried about his brother. He sat in the dark for a few moments, but when he could hear nothing from Virgil's room, he sighed and snuggled back down again.
Maybe they had been right this time after all?
Like any child his age, Scott fell asleep almost instantly. It was hard work being six, especially when he had spent the day helping his mom look after his brothers. He didn't know how his parents did it, and decided that some sort of superpower must be tied in with their ability to send messages across the house. That was his last thought before he fell asleep.
But only about half an hour later and Scott opened his eyes. He didn't know what had made him awaken, but he only just about bit back a yelp at seeing a pair of eyes watching him in the darkness. He fumbled for his lamp, and the illumination of the room revealed Virgil clutching onto the edge of his bed and watching his brother intently.
"What are you doing up?" Scott hissed, knowing they weren't supposed to get up once they had gone to bed. Virgil reached forward until he found Scott's hand and proceeded to drag his brother out of bed.
"Monster back." He declared, pulling his brother from his room and towards his own. Scott stumbled along, wondering if he should call for their father. But then he remembered how he had looked earlier and there had been no monster. Maybe it was one that their father couldn't see and only Scott could? At least, perhaps that was what Virgil believed?
"It's 'kay, Virg. There is no monster, Dad scared it off."
"It's there." Virgil pouted, clearly not believing anything Scott said.
"It's not. Nothing can come in since Mom and Dad are downstairs. Nothing will get us. Nothing can get in."
"It's there!" Scott knew that tone. He knew there was no way Virgil was going to go back to bed – or let him go back to bed – until Scott proved for once and all there was nothing under the bed that was a threat to his brother.
"How about a deal?" Scott said softly, and Virgil looked suspicious as he glanced between his brother and the bed. Scott pressed on.
"If I have a look, and there is nothing there, will you promise to try and go back to sleep?"
"But there is something there," Virgil whined and Scott folded his arms in an imitation of his father. A quick glance towards the bed showed that there didn't seem to be anything that had suddenly materialised since Virgil had been put to bed. Scott knew there was nothing there, now he just had to get Virgil to believe it.
"That's not the deal. If I look and there is nothing, you'll go to sleep?" Virgil chewed on his lip for a moment, clearly believing that Scott was about to trick him in some way. After a moment, he glanced towards the bed and almost visibly shuddered.
"'kay…" he muttered doubtfully and Scott grinned. He was sure he had won. All it would take would be one glance under the bed just to show his brother had an active imagination, then he would be allowed to go back to bed without his parents ever finding out that either of them had been up. Already feeling satisfied, Scott bent down.
He knew there was nothing under there. But it seemed that words alone would not do the trick, so he forced himself to crawl closer to the bed in order to make a show of giving it a good search. For the few moments that took, it would be worth it when Virgil had to uphold his end of the deal and go to bed. Scott was almost under the bed, consciously aware that Virgil had stepped closer.
"Nope. Nothing under-ahh!"
Scott had no idea what happened.
In one second, he was looking under Virgil's bed for pretend monsters, knowing full well there would be nothing there.
And in the next, something black had streaked towards his face from somewhere under the bed. Scott threw himself backwards, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the underneath of the furniture as he tried to scramble out as fast as he could, his heart thudding fast in his chest. Whatever it was seemed to follow him out and Scott almost threw himself across the floor. Monsters under the bed weren't supposed to exist, this was not supposed to have happened…
His breath coming in short, frantic gasps as he moved backwards from the bed, it took Scott a moment to remember that Virgil was standing closer to the bed than he now was. He sat up suddenly, intending to grab his brother and run for their father. He could only soothe, he didn't know how to scare of monsters that weren't supposed to exist, especially not when he had no idea where the thing had gone.
"Virgil!" Scott didn't mean to yelp, but the thing was near his brother. After a moment, Scott blinked. It wasn't just near Virgil, it was squirming in his brother's arms.
"Bad kitty!" Virgil scolded, trying to hold onto a black cat that was almost as big as him. Scott felt his eyes going wide, simply staring as the cat wriggled free of Virgil's grip and sat by his feet, washing contently. The older brother could only stare as Virgil crouched down, peering at it intently before stroking its head.
"Bad kitty. You scared Scotty," he told it firmly, watching as it simply blinked at him before going back to washing. Scott didn't have the chance to say anything before footsteps came thundering up the stairs and their father almost burst through the door, clearly having heard the noises. Whatever he was about to say died on his lips as he stared at the sight in front of him.
"What is going on?" He managed, but Scott had a feeling that the shocked look on his father's face revealed this was not what he had been expecting to find.
"Scotty found the monster, Daddy. It was there, just like I told you." Virgil announced, standing up and moving to their father, stretching up his arms to the man. He was picked up almost absentmindedly.
"Is… Is that next-door's cat?"
"Jeff? What's going on, why… oh!" Scott watched as his mother appeared, her eyes going wide as she looked at the car.
"Is that Shadow? How did he get in here?" Scott climbed to his feet, trying to look as if he was in control of his racing heart as he backed away from the cat until he could wrap an arm around his father's legs. Not that he was scared; he had come in here to save his brother from the monster under the bed after all. He just hadn't expected there to actually be something under there, not considering his dad had looked earlier. His mother's hand stroked the back of his head reassuringly and Scott found himself shivering slightly as he realised that his brother's room was far cooler than his own.
His mother noticed, and groaned.
"Virg… has Shadow been coming through your window?"
"Na ah, Mommy, he's monster under the bed."
"No, darling. There is no monster. It was just Shadow hiding." Scott watched as his mother looked across the room to Virgil's open window. He knew they had been leaving it open for a few hours after putting Virgil to bed after he had gone through a stage of waking up hot. Scott seemed to remember overhearing a conversation about them shutting it when they came up to bed, but it seemed that it had been enough time for next door's cat to climb across the roof and in through Virgil's window for the last few weeks.
"There was! Scotty had a look and it tried to eat him too!" There was distress in Virgil's voice this time and Scott looked up at the young boy.
"No monster, Virg. It was just Shadow. And he didn't eat me, just wanted to come and say hello." Scott didn't quite understand how Virgil had been so calm when he could see the cat, and yet was adamant that the same creature was the monster under his bed when he was out of sight. Then again, Scott wouldn't like to have something hiding under his bed each night, especially if Virgil hadn't always known what it was.
"So…not going to eat me?" Virgil peered down from his vantage point in his dad's arms, staring at the cat. For his part, the cat simply yawned and continued licking his paw. Virgil shifted his grip so that he could get a better look and Scott pulled back from their father's leg as Jeff bent down. He crouched, putting Virgil on his knee so that he could see the cat better. Scott found that he was edging forward as well, feeling almost a twinge of jealousy as Virgil reached forward and carefully started stroking Shadow again. Scott had never been afraid of cats, but he couldn't deny the slight feeling of trepidation as he looked down at this one.
After just a few moments, Virgil was yawning again, clearly satisfied there was nothing to be scared of. Scott found that he was thinking of his earlier thoughts about his parents reading minds as his father straightened up at the same time his mother held out her hands, taking Scott's youngest brother and balancing him in her arms. Scott watched as his dad scooped up the cat and disappeared down the stairs, the front door opening and shutting in quick succession only a few moments later.
"Silly kitty," Virgil murmured as he was put back to bed. As his mother fussed with the covers, Scott move across and reached up. He could only just reach and it took most of his strength, but he slammed Virgil's window shut. His mother smile at him and Scott watched as she settled his brother down. When Virgil seemed to be dozing off, Scott let her lead him towards his own room.
"Night, Virgie…" he whispered in the doorway before stepping out into the hall. But before he returned to his own room, he couldn't resist sneaking in to check on John, despite his mother's knowing look. Only when he was sure that his other little brother was sleeping soundly did Scott allow himself to be put to bed.
It was one thing checking for monsters just to make sure the younger ones were okay. It was another thing altogether when there actually was a monster. Scott would always go to their rescue, but he more often than not hoped there was nothing there to be rescued from. Despite pretending that he had been fine for the whole thing, Scott found himself checking under his own bed before climbing in. His mother tucked him in and moved towards the door.
"Mommy?" His voice sounded young and vulnerable. "Is the window shut?"
His mother smiled reassuringly at him, made a show of checking the window was shut before bidding him goodnight and leaving. Next time, Scott thought as he snuggled down, she'd have to be the one to do the checking. Nothing ever got past his mom.