If there was one thing that Mel and Lindsay spoiled their little girl with, it was letting her sleep in the bed with them when she had nightmares, which was often. It was almost every night that one of them woke up to JR pulling herself up onto the bed to sleep with them and neither one of them could say no to her because if they did, she would wake up screaming and crying and that was the worst thing to hear as a mother.
Michael often had nightmares. Most of the time he wouldn't remember what they were about. Sometimes he would even wake up with urine stained sheets, so he would get out of bed, make his way to his mother's room and then crawl into bed with her. She never seemed to mind and he always felt better when he would sleep with her.
When Mel and Lindsay decided they would come to visit their pseudo family in Pittsburgh for the week, Brian insisted they come out for a night of clubbing, for old time's sake. So they left JR and Gus with Debbie and Carl. Debbie, who was biologically JR's grandmother and considered herself to be Gus' grandmother because both Mel and Lindsay's parents weren't in the picture, was more than happy to spend time with her grandchildren. Because Mel and Lindsay dropped the kids off so late, it was already JR's bed time, so Deb put her down fairly quickly. About an hour later, Debbie, Carl and Gus went to bed. It wasn't more than a half hour later that JR woke up from one of her nightmares. Much like her biological father, she woke up with urine stained sheets. Granted, she still wore pull-ups to bed because she was only two-and-a-half years old, but it was still uncomfortable. She was terrified, though, so she didn't really mind. Her first instinct was to get out of bed and make her way into her grandparent's room, even in a urine stained frenzy, her stuffed bunny, which was given to her by her father, in hand. Before leaving the room, she found her pacifier and stuck it into her mouth.
Michael frantically shot up in bed in a urine filled pull-up, which he still had to wear because of his nightmares, sweat pouring from his forehead. He sighed in relief when he realized that it was just a nightmare, that whatever he had been dreaming about wasn't real. Getting out of his bed, he figured he would sleep with his mother, yet again. He grabbed his stuffed bunny and made his way to the master bedroom. He and his mother had tried everything to stop his nightmares, but nothing seemed to work. His doctor said that he would eventually grow out of it and both of them hoped the doctor was right because neither one of them liked it. Debbie hated seeing her little boy in so much fear when she put him to bed and Michael hated waking up every night, fear coursing through his entire body.
When JR found the master bedroom, she walked straight to the bed and pulled herself up. Both her grandparents were sleeping so she sat down on the bed for a few minutes, playing with the button for an eye that her grandmother had sewed on when it's original eye fell off. She then pulled her stuffed animal close to her body and climbed over her grandmother, who was sleeping on her side, so she could lay in between Debbie and Carl. Debbie's eyes fluttered open when she felt someone climb over her. Mel and Lindsay had told her about the nightmares and it was nothing new to her, having dealt with it when Michael was that age.
Once Michael was in the master bedroom, he crawled into the bed he knew his mother was sleeping in. He then moved around in the bed so he was cuddling with her. Before he had left, he grabbed his pacifier, so once he was comfortably nuzzled into her body, he put it into his mouth. Debbie's eyes fluttered opened when she felt her two-and-a-half year old cuddle into her body.
Carl, being a man, didn't wake up with the sudden movement of another body in the bed, but a sleepy smile tugged at the corners of Debbie's mouth. The last time she had a tiny body sleeping with her in bed was her son when he was JR's age.
"Did you have a nightmare, sweetie?" she asked quietly as she wrapped an arm around JR's little body and pulled her in close. JR happily obliged and cuddled with her grandmother when she was pulled close, nuzzling Debbie's chest happily.
Feeling the warmth of another body cuddling into her own, Debbie's eyes fluttered opened. She figured it was Michael, having grown use to him sleeping with her. When her vision came into focus and she saw Michael's small body and jet black hair, a smile appeared on her face. She knew that the longer she let this go on, the harder it'll be to break the habit, but this was her little boy.
"Did you have another nightmare, baby?"
JR didn't have to answer the question for Debbie to know that she had another nightmare. She could tell from the fear induced middle-of-the-night cuddling. The first thing she noticed, however, was that the pull-up her granddaughter was wearing was wet.
"You're wet, sweetie," Debbie noted casually. "Lets get you into something dry," she added as she moved around in the bed so she could go grab a dry pull up.
Michael just looked up at his mother, pacifier in mouth and nodded his head before nuzzling his nose into her swollen chest. Noting the wet pull-up Michael was wearing, Debbie softly kissed the top of his head.
"Lets get you into something that's dry," she said as she bundled her son into her embrace and made her way to his room.
When JR noticed Debbie moving around the bed and get out of it, her pacifier dropped out of her mouth quickly.
"No!" she said, meaning she didn't want her grandmother to leave the room. Debbie looked at JR's fear ridden face before looking at her husband.
"Let's wake Guppy up, okay? He can protect you," Debbie said. JR nodded her head in agreement, so Debbie sat back down on the bed and leaned over before kissing him affectionately to wake him up.
When Debbie made it to Michael's room, she set him down and grabbed a dry pull-up. Michael knew the drill, so he took the wet one off and put it into the trash before Debbie handed him the dry one. He then put it on before reaching his little arms up so Debbie could pick him up again. Debbie smiled and picked him up, kissing him affectionately on the forehead as she walked back to the master bedroom.
It didn't take long before Debbie could feel her husband kissing her back. She smiled when his eyes opened. When she pulled back, Carl noticed that JR was in the bed with them.
"Did she have a nightmare?" he asked, his already husky voice huskier with sleep.
"Yeah and she didn't want me to leave to get her a dry pull-up. So you're going to protect her while I go get one," she said with a smile and a wink of an eye.
"Well, it's a good thing that's what I'm best at," Carl said, also smiling. Jr, like her grandparents, also smiled when she realized that Carl was awake and okay with "protecting" her. She wasn't sure what she needed to be protected from, but it made her feel safe knowing Carl was there to protect her. She immediately moved around on the bed and nuzzled her body into Carl's. Debbie smiled and exited the room, coming back a few minutes later with a dry pull-up. Carl was softly talking to JR, her big blue eyes, much like her grandmother's eyes, watching him in awe. Debbie walked further into the room and sat down on the bed, smiling the entire time. Feeling the weight difference of Debbie siting on the bed, Carl finished the story he was telling JR and looked over at Debbie, a content smile on his face.
"Lets get you out of that uncomfortable pull-up, sweetie," Debbie said to JR. Carl helped the little girl get out of her pull-up and got out of the bed to throw it in the trash while Debbie helped her into the dry one. Then both grandparents got into the bed so they were lying down, JR relishing in the fact that she was in between the two of them.
Once in her bedroom, Debbie playfully threw Michael onto the bed, getting a giggle in response. Debbie couldn't help but also laugh as she crawled into bed and comfortably laid down next to her son. Michael immediately nuzzled his body into hers as she pulled the comforter over both their bodies. Debbie affectionately wrapped an arm around Michael's small body and kissed the top of his head. With it being so late at night, Michael's eyes started drooping, especially with the added warmth radiating from his mother
"I love you, Mikey," Debbie said softly and soon after, Michael was asleep.
JR immediately took up her previous position and cuddled with her grandmother, nuzzling her nose into her chest. Debbie smiled to herself and kissed the top of her head as she wrapped an arm around her granddaughter.
"I love you, sweetheart," she said quietly and then looked up at her husband, who was smiling as he watched on.
"You're a good grandmother," he said as he leaned over and kissed his wife. Debbie smiled into the kiss.
"I love you," she replied.
"I love you too," Carl replied. Hearing the sound of kissing, JR moved around in her grandmother's embrace so she was facing Carl and pursed her lips, also wanting a kiss. Both grandparents noticed this and kissed her, respectively, on each cheek, getting a giggle from the two-and-a-half year old and with that, everyone quickly fell back asleep.
Now that Michael was cuddling with his mother, he slept the rest of the night, unaffected by his nightmares. Within a few hours, the sun rose and rustling was heard downstairs from Debbie's brother. He was starting to get ready for school. Vic and Debbie had figured out a schedule that worked for them so that Michael didn't have to be sent to day care. Vic would finish out high school while Debbie watched him during the day and then he would watch Michael while Debbie worked the midday shift at the diner. About an hour after the rustling downstairs was heard, Vic walked up the stairs and into the master bedroom, breakfast in hand for his sister and nephew. If there was one thing Vic loved doing, it was cooking, so he always found that he was more relaxed throughout the day if he was able to make breakfast for Debbie and Michael. Being the light sleeper that Debbie was, her eyes fluttered open when she heard Vic carefully put the plate of food down for her and Michael. Vic noticed this and smiled at her.
"'Morning, Sis," he said.
"'Morning," Debbie replied with a smile on her face. "You know you don't have to make us breakfast every morning," she noted.
"I know, but I like to," Vic said.
When it rounded 4:30 in the morning and the alarm on Carl's side of the bed started beeping, the almost retired cop rolled over and turned it off before throwing his feet over the side of the bed and sleepily standing up to get ready for work. Before he did anything, he walked out of the room and proceeded to walk towards the stairs to get some coffee started. But before he could walk down the stairs, he noticed a very sleepy and confused Gus walking out of the room he had been sleeping in. He had heard someone walk down the hall and figured he would see who it was. When he woke up on the blow up mattress in the room he had been sharing with JR, only to find JR not in Michael's old bed, he became confused. When Carl noticed the young boy standing in the door frame, he was both confused and concerned.
"What are you doing up so early, Chief?" Carl asked his grandson.
"JR's not asleep in her bed," Gus replied sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.
"She had another nightmare, so she's sleeping with Grams," Carl said as he rustled Gus' hair. "Why don't you go get in bed with them and sleep for a few more hours," he offered. Gus looked up at his grandfather, sleep still evident in his eyes and nodded his head before walking down the hall into the room Carl just came from, who then proceeded to go downstairs and start his coffee.
Debbie smiled at Vic. She hated the fact that her parents kicked her out when she became pregnant, but she hated it even more that they kicked Vic out just because he was gay. But as fucked up as their parents may be, she was happy to have her brother helping out with raising Michael. He was the best uncle a kid could ask for. He was so attentive to his needs. He was so good with Michael and Debbie always felt like she could trust him with her son.
Looking at his nephew, Vic couldn't help but to laugh. He knew that Michael was plagued with nightmares and he hated it as much as Debbie, but it always made him laugh at how content Michael was whenever he slept with his mother.
"He looks happy," he noted.
"Yeah, he's a mommy's boy," Debbie replied as she too looked at her son. Debbie was comfortably lying on her back and Michael was using her shoulder as a pillow, still nuzzled happily into her body.
The first thing Gus noticed when he walked into the master bedroom was Debbie lying on her back with JR cuddled into her body, her head in the crook of her shoulder. She was in the middle of the bed so without even thinking about it, Gus walked to the bed and crawled in on the opposite side of Debbie. He then moved the covers so they were covering his body. He had just enough room on the edge of the bed to cuddle with his grandmother. He sighed contentedly as he, like his sister, rested his head in the crook of his grandmother's shoulder. Feeling another body on the other side of her, Debbie's eyes fluttered open. Looking down at the six-year-old lying next to her, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"Everything okay, sweetheart?" she asked. Gus looked up at Debbie and gave her a sleepy smile.
"Yeah. I couldn't find JR and Guppy said I can come in here and sleep with you." That's when Debbie looked at the clock on her night stand.
"You'll be able to get a few more hours of sleep, honey," Debbie replied as she affectionately kissed Gus' head. Gus nuzzled the side of Debbie's chest happily with his nose as his breathing started to slow down, sleep taking over again.
"Yeah, that's the understatement of the year," Vic said as he laughed. He was teasing, of course, but he loved poking fun at how much of a mamma's boy his nephew was. Debbie also laughed, careful not to wake Michael up. She then looked at the clock on her night stand.
"You should be getting ready for school. You don't want to miss the bus again," she noted when she realized it was almost time for the bus to come pick Vic up. Vic also looked at the clock. He was almost ready to leave, he just needed to get a few books into his backpack.
"Yeah, I'm almost ready," he said. "I just need to get a few things into my backpack and I'll be ready." That's when he leaned over his sister and softly ruffled his nephew's hair, also careful not to wake him up. "If he's not ready to play hide and seek when I get home, I will not be happy," he said teasingly. Debbie just rolled her eyes and then Vic left the room, leaving for school minutes later.
Debbie watched as Gus fell back asleep, a soft smile on her face. She hadn't expected Gus to come into bed with her, but it was nice having both grandchildren cuddling with her. As she lost her self in thought, Debbie quickly fell back asleep, only to be woken up an hour later when Carl came back into the room, letting her know that he was leaving. But before he woke her up, he found their camera and took a picture of the three of them, all sleeping. He set the camera down on the dresser and then walked to Debbie's side of the bed, where he leaned over and kissed her, waking her up much like she had done hours before. When Carl felt her kiss him back, he pulled away from the kiss and smiled.
"'Morning, beautiful," he said. Debbie smiled at the greeting. "Looks like you have another content kid sleeping with you," he added as he looked at Gus. "And it looks like they have a content grandmother." Debbie couldn't help but to laugh as she also looked at her grandchildren, who were still cuddled into her body.
"Yeah, apparently, his grandfather said it was okay if he could come and sleep with us," Debbie said teasingly, referring to Gus. She was more than happy to have Gus in the bed with her, she just wasn't expecting it. Carl laughed and gave Debbie another kiss.
"I'm off to work, I'll see you later tonight," Carl said when he pulled away from the kiss.
"Okay, I love you," she said.
"I love you too."