As the blue-eyed man walked through the house, 5 year old in his arms, he carefully placed the brunette in her bed but made sure not to wake her sleeping form. He tucked her in, folding the frozen duvet around her and gently kissed her forehead. Then, he continued to turn the lamp off and made his way to the door. Before closing it, however, whispered, "Goodnight Lexi."
After silently closing the door, he wondered to the door opposite to check in on his barely 1 year old son, Blake. To his delight, the baby was deep in dream world. As he exited and stood in the well-designed hallway, in between the two doors, he couldn't have felt more proud and happy if he tried.
Soon after, he caught sight of the double doors at the end of the hallway, smiling sadly at himself as he knew what they held. He approached them warily and eventually edged them open, stepping inside and leaving the door a crack open for Lexi in the morning. As he turned and looked at the back of his wife, who hadn't even noticed his presence, he couldn't help but go and massage her shoulders as she worked.
"Hey…what do you say you come to bed?" He tried to pry her away.
"Toby you know I would love to but this client wants this done in 2 days," she explained, not even looking at him.
"Spence, I love how you love your job so much but you need a rest."
"I can rest when I'm retired," Spencer reasoned, smirking.
"Spencer I'm serious," he knew she couldn't refuse his plead.
"Toby don't do that to me," she finally looked up at him.
"Spencer please just come to bed," he continued, ignoring her. Her only response was a sigh, although Toby couldn't help but notice the way she stopped working at his plead.
"Is Alexis asleep?" The brunette tried to change the subject.
"Yes, don't try change the subject," Toby smiled at her.
"What about Blake?" She continued.
"Him too, Spencer come to bed," he repeated.
"Fine, since you're obviously not giving in," she obliged, closing her laptop and standing to face her husband.
"Thank you," Toby whispered sincerely as he gently kissed her. As he pulled back he noticed something different about his brunette wife. "Sweetheart are you feeling okay?" He continued, lifting his hand to smooth her ghostly white face.
"Yeah, I feel fine. I'm just a little tired," Spencer whispered back, although he didn't buy it. Toby knew her well enough to identify any lie she attempted to tell him.
"Are you sure? You feel quite warm," he asked again, the back of his hand stroking her forehead to analyse her temperature.
"Toby I will be fine, I probably just need to sleep," Spencer did her best to convince him. Before he could reply she walked towards their on suite saying, "I'm going to go get ready for bed." The key word in her sentence was will, that's how he knew she wasn't okay. Toby knew she couldn't stand to lie to him so saying that didn't really count, did it?
All he could do was stand and watch, knowing not to interfere with her and just try comfort his wife without making any obvious effort. She would know what he was doing if he was dumb enough to do that. So he sat in bed and waited for his beauty to join him, something he does most nights however never this early. He was ready for bed hours ago, as Lexi insisted on getting ready for bed together and being identical to her mother automatically meant he couldn't refuse her of anything.
Spencer eventually joined him, wearing one of his shirts and some grey joggers, which he thought was weird. She always complained she couldn't sleep with joggers on, even in the cold months, she said she got too hot. That's why Toby picked up on it so quickly, for early June this is one of the hottest months of the year so why was she wearing them?
As she climbed in next to him he decided to risk the question, "So what's up with these?" touching her thigh. When she only looked at him as a response he explained, "You never wear sweats to bed."
Silent for a moment, she finally whispered, "I'm cold." Toby knew then that something definitely wasn't right. He felt like he was in a sauna and he was only wearing his boxers, after removing his plaid bottoms.
"Come here," Toby opened his arms for her to crawl into, which she immediately accepted. As they lay there, in the near darkness with only a bedside lamp as a light source, Toby could tell that sleep would soon overcome her. After coming to the realization, he slowly moved both of their bodies down the bed into a laying position, Spencer's head placed on his chest and her slender legs wrapped around his. He kissed her hair as he turned off the light bedside him and then proceeded to rub her back in soothing circles, something Spencer loved, until he was sure she was asleep and then finally let himself drift off.
As the morning sun rose, Toby felt a light pull on his arm, the source obviously trying to gain his attention. As he opened his eyes, he was met with Alexis standing next to his side of the bed, awaiting their daily morning cuddle. It was one of his favourite times of the day as it was sometimes the only chance his daughter saw her mother. Although today, Toby knew would be different.
As she tried to climb up on the bed, Toby stopped her, "Baby can we just cuddle me and you today out on the sofa?" he asked her quietly.
"Why?" Her curious mind questioned almost immediately.
"Mommy isn't feeling too good so we should let her rest, is that okay?" He explained, and the 5 year old easily nodded and stood waiting for her father.
"Why don't you go get your blanket and I'll meet you on the sofa," Toby explained as he knew he had to try and untangle himself from the brunette next to him.
After she padded out the room, he carefully started removing himself from Spencer, mentally thanking God that she was such a deep sleeper. He felt her head, checking her temperature, from where he was stood next to their king sized bed. Toby couldn't help but worry at her temperature, the only thing that pleased him was the fact she was sleeping.
"What would you like for breakfast then Lex?" He asked as he walked into the room where his daughter was curled up on the sofa, watching Frozen again. He wondered if she'll ever get bored of it.
"Daddy what about our cuddle?" She questioned sadly, obviously believing it was not in his plans.
"Who says we can't do both at once?" Toby states, knowing she would be surprised by his suggestion. Both Spencer and Toby usually didn't let her eat anywhere but the table, wanting to teach her good manners from a young age. The only time that rule was broken was when they first bought Blake home and Spencer breastfed him on the sofa and got a glare from Alexis along with, "Mommy Blake has to eat at the dinner table." Obviously Spencer, and Toby for that matter, laughed at her statement but she wouldn't give in so they had to ultimately let her eat there too. The then 4 year old did have a point.
"Pancakes," Alexis announced, her little face lighting up at the thought.
"Pancakes it is then," he replied, not being able to stop a smirk from forming at his daughter.
As he cooked he couldn't help but think of Spencer. He knew she wouldn't want to take any time off work, especially in her busiest month, but she rarely got sick and when she did it was never just an average cold. Therefore he knew it would get worse and he didn't want her stressed but how did he get her to stay home? And Spencer knew it would get worse, he could tell that she knew. But that fact wouldn't stop her from working. The only time that she's taken off since being married to him was when the babies were born and that was only for 3 months.
"Here you go monkey," Toby handed her a plate full of pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate syrup, a rare treat.
"Thank you," she said as he opened his arms for her to lean into him with his own plate full on calories.
They sat there, watching frozen, as Toby caught sight of the clock. "Alright, time to go get ready for school," he told her, knowing she would be less than willing.
"Do I have to?" She asked after a long, overdramatic sigh.
"Yes, come on auntie Aria will be here soon," Toby reminded her.
Eventually she obeyed and got ready. It surprised both Spencer and Toby when she learned how to pick her own clothes, to Spencer's standard, and manage her own hair at the age of 3.
"Hey Aria, how you doing?" Toby asked the petite brunette as she walked into the house.
"I'm good, where's Spencer?" She thought out loud as they both knew Spencer usually dealt with Alexis in the morning.
"I don't know, she had a fever last night. But you know Spencer, she wouldn't admit it. So I let her sleep in and I'm going to try and convince her to stay home."
"Oh god, I pray for you Toby. I remember last time she had a cold," saying cold sarcastically, "she ended up in the hospital."
"Yeah I know, I'm about to call Melissa to ask her to take Blake."
"Toby I can take him-"she started but was cut off.
"No Aria, I can't ask you to do that. It's fine, honestly, I'm sure Melissa can do it."
"Okay, well if she can't then give me a call."
Soon enough, the house was empty except from him and Spencer. To his delight, she was still fast asleep so he sat on the sofa, trying to do some work.
Toby was still in the carpentry business, in fact he owned his own business. It made it so he could easily work from home and take care of Lexi and Blake. Whereas Spencer's interior design business, required her to be in the office and viewing people's homes almost all day.
"Toby," he heard her weak voice traveling down the stairs. Worried, he naturally ran to her location, halfway down the stairs. She looked weak and tired, obviously struggling.
"Spence you should go back to bed and rest," he encouraged lightly, helping her down the rest of the stairs.
"Toby, I'm fine," she profusely stated when at the bottom, making him let go from where he was holding on to her for support. He could only sigh and follow her, secretly awaiting to support her if she needed.
When she got to fridge his chance came as she grabbed on to the counter for support, obviously about to fall.
"Woah, okay." He quickly took her in his arms, holding her upright. "Spence, you alright?" Toby asked after a moment.
"Yeah, I just need to sit down," Spencer replied slowly. He took her words in and guided her to the couch where he sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her perfectly.
"Where's Blake?" She questioned almost immediately, knowing he was usually awake hours ago.
"With Melissa. Don't worry about that right now okay? You need to rest Spencer."
"Toby I know but I can't, there's too much to do," she stated to him like it was obvious, rubbing her head.
"Then I will call your assistant and get her to assign your tasks to other people in the office because I'm not letting you work or leave the house until you're feeling better." She knew he meant business by his tone.
All she did was sigh.