This is also posted on my Tumblr account (Black-wolf066) if interested.

Summary: Alice is a bed hog, plain and simple. KnightRook with a side of Curious Archer.

Words: 679

(((A/N: I've been struggling for a while to write another KnightRook story because everyone on tumblr has been doing SUCH AN AMAZING JOB with the headcanons and one-shots, that I didn't know what else to contribute! But then I remembered an experience I had with my niece and the stories my brother would tell me, and low and behold this idea was born. Hope you enjoy!)))

Bed Hog

The day Alice could walk on her own (and ultimately climb as a result of it), was the day Killian could no longer call the bed he slept on his.

(In hindsight, he should have known this would be the case. Liam had ribbed him enough about his unruly behavior as a child. He shouldn't have been surprised that his own daughter would pick up on the trait as well.)

It started when Alice was two.

It had been early in the morning—far too early for even him—when he had startled awake by the sensation of his blanket being pulled off. The fog of sleep had quickly morphed into alertness, and he had shot half up-right to investigate; squinting through the dark of the room only to be relieved by the sight he was met with. Alice was at the edge of his bed, her little hands using the fabric to leverage herself up to join him. The relief hadn't lasted long, for in the next moment the blanket slipped farther and Killian had just enough time to shoot forward and grab her before it fell and hit the floor.

"Sleep here!" she babbled with a giggle as he righted them on the mattress.

"You have your own bed, little love." He chided gently.

She squirmed in his arms, babbling nonsensical words as she slipped from his grasp and plopped down among the pillows with what he knew was a stubborn pout, even if he couldn't see it.

"Alice," he uttered tiredly.

The responding whine as she borrowed herself deeper, told Killian he had lost the battle before it even had a chance to start. For what Alice lacked in vocabulary at her current age, she more than made up for it in action.

May the gods give him strength for when she could actually form coherent sentences.

"Alright, but only for tonight."

She squealed in delight and with some shifting, they made themselves comfortable under the reclaimed blanket and quickly fell to sleep.

And when first light came, Killian swore he'd never allow her back in his bed again.

He was perched precariously on the edge of the mattress, the blanket all but gone save for a corner wrapped around his ankle. And behind him, with the pilfered blanket, slept Alice sprawl-eagled on the rest of the space with one foot digging painfully into his lower back.

(***)

He didn't keep his promise.

Try as he might, Alice found ways to worm and pout her way into sleeping in his bed and not her own, and each and every time it resulted in similar outcomes. Pilfered blankets and pillows, a growing-weed-of-a-daughter hogging most of the space, and—more likely than not—with a foot shoved into his back or face.

And the older she got, the worse it became, to the point Killian had been rudely awoken when his old bones had rattled hard against the floor of the tower.

With a peek up, he stared at her sleeping form slack jawed; far to shocked that his seven year old had managed to kick him off his own bed, to do much else.

Eventually, with some maneuvering that Alice hardly stirred at, Killian bunkered back down in his spot; only to wake an hour later in the same predicament.

With a sigh, he gave up and moved to the empty, smaller bed across the room.

He woke up with Alice sprawled half on top of him.

(***)

"Tough night, Lass?" Killian asked Robin the moment she plopped down on the bench next to him.

She handed him the spare coffee cup and groaned. "You could say that." she regarded him thoughtfully as he took a sip and asked. "Was Alice always a bed hog?"

Killian snorted into his cup. "Why do you ask?"

"I slept on the floor all night because I couldn't get Alice to move over enough to sleep on the bed." She replied.

"Good luck with that one, love, it doesn't get any better."

Her responding groan had his barking laugh echoing through the park.