Nick and Jackie's eyes flew open as thunder cracked loudly outside their bedroom window.
"Wow that's loud." Jackie said.
"Yeah no kidding." Nick responded.
They tried to go back to sleep but just as they were starting to drift off again a lightning strike lit up their room.
They just laid awake for a few minutes and then they heard a whimper.
"What's wrong sweet girl?" Jackie asked as she sat up and noticed Johnna standing in the doorway.
"Mama." She said before dashing to Jackie's side of the bed.
"Come on up." Jackie said with a smile as she patted the bed.
Johnna happily accepted her mother's invitation. Soon the sound of thunder again came piercing from outside. Johnna dashed under the blanket, as if that would save her.
"Oh that's the problem, you're scared of the storm." Jackie sympathized with the little girl.
Jackie herself was terrified of thunderstorms as a child, she outgrew her fear though and now she actually kind of liked them.
"It's ok Johnna, thunderstorms won't hurt you, they just make a lot of noise." Jackie told her as she peeked her head under the blanket.
Johnna didn't appear to believe a word of that because she just stayed under the blanket.
Pretty soon Nick and Jackie heard the sounds of little footsteps in the hallway.
Seconds later Houston came dashing into their room with tears streaming down his face.
"You're scared too little buddy?" Jackie said as she leaned over and picked him up.
Houston snuggled up to Jackie in her lap.
Jackie smiled and patted his head.
"It's ok kiddo." Jackie assured him.
Houston saw the blanket move and he crawled off of Jackie's lap to investigate. He lifted the blanket and crawled under himself.
Johnna giggled with delight, seemingly thrilled to have a playmate under the blanket.
Another loud boom of thunder cracked and both of the kids screamed under the blanket.
"It's ok guys." Jackie said as she peeked her head under the blanket again.
"Aww Nicky look at this." She told him.
Nick too peeked his head under the blanket and saw Houston and Johnna's arms wrapped tightly around each other, as if trying to protect and comfort each other.
"That's so nice you guys." He told his kids.
"Storm loud mama." Nick and Jackie heard from their doorway.
Jasmine was standing their with a scowl on her face. She didn't appear scared of the storm in the slightest, she just seemed annoyed that it was keeping her awake.
"It is loud isn't it?" Jackie asked as she stifled a laugh.
The look on Jasmine's face made her look like an annoyed teen instead of a small child.
Houston let out a playful squeal from under the blanket. Jasmine went over to see what all the racket was about.
"Funny." She giggled as she lifted up the blanket and saw her two siblings under there.
She crawled under herself, eager to join the fun.
"I have a feeling we are not going to get anymore sleep tonight." Nick mumbled to Jackie.
"You're probably right." Jackie agreed with a laugh.
Once again the noise of thunder cracked, making Johnna and Houston scream.
"It ok." Jasmine said comfortingly to her little brother and sister.
Nick and Jackie looked over at one another and smiled.
"She'd make a great nurse, she's always wanting to take care of people." Jackie told Nick.
Nick nodded in agreement.
Pretty soon the sound of Karlie's cries filled the room.
"Her scared mama." Jasmine informed Jackie as she poked her head out from under the blanket momentarily.
"You think she's scared of the storm too?" Jackie asked her little girl.
"Yeah." Jasmine said before rejoining Houston and Johnna under the blanket.
"I'll get the baby." Nick told Jackie.
Karlie had already quit crying when Nick brought her into the master bedroom. As he sat down on the bed with her she was all smiles.
"You're not scared, you just didn't want to miss all the fun, isn't that right Karlie?" Nick asked his baby girl.
She grinned at him.
Nick laughed.
"Hi Kari." Jasmine said as she poked her head out from under the blanket.
Karlie squealed happily as she flapped her little arms in an excited motion.
"Her funny." Jasmine giggled before she crawled back under the blanket.
Jasmine, Houston, and Johnna took turns popping their heads out from under the blanket to make their baby sister squeal and giggle, that is until another thunder noise boomed in the room.
Houston and Johnna stayed under the blanket, no longer wanting to poke their heads out to play with Karlie.
Jasmine crawled under the blanket to try once again to soothe her little brother and sister.
"It ok no scared." She told them.
"Hey guys, I have an idea that will block out the noise, let's listen to music." Jackie said as she got up and grabbed the stereo remote.
She turned the stereo on and started playfully dancing around the room.
Karlie joined in on the fun immediately, she flapped her little arms and wiggled around like crazy in Nick's lap.
Jasmine joined in too and before long everyone in the family was dancing around. After about ten or fifteen minutes the storm let up, the lightning and thunder stopped.
Jackie let the kids wind down for a few minutes and then she and Nick tucked all of them back into bed
After all the kids were back in bed Nick and Jackie tiredly crawled back into their own beds.
They were exhausted but luckily for them tomorrow was Sunday so they wouldn't have to get up early.
One thing about it, the storm sure made for an interesting night.
The End!