Hush Little Baby- Scarecrow and Mrs. King
(Dis)claimer- Eric is mine! He's all mine!
The cute little fiend that lives in my mind is all mine! I just know that all
of the disclaimers start out with what isn't ours, so I thought I'd start this
one out with whom I can claim, and I can definitely claim Eric. Everyone else
however, I will have to pay to the piper, because they aren't mine. Rats. Toys,
all toys, I'll put them back when I'm done.
G.I.- I concocted this in my little warped
mind (my dad wants me to get my head out of the clouds, I knew there was a
reason I didn't listen to him)… One night, Eric awakes, it's short. I just want
to warn you not to jump the gun.
In the beginning…
"Mm."
Lee moaned as he rolled over in bed hearing the cry of his son down the hall. "Amanda."
Lee said feeling too tired to get up and take care of him. Reaching his hand
out he realized Amanda wasn't in the bed, after a brief panic he remembered she
wouldn't be. "Oh yeah." Lee said to himself as he threw the quilt off of his
legs and stumbled his way down the hall.
Lee
opened the door to the nursery and rubbed his face before he approached the
crib. Looking down at his seven-month-old son, Lee sighed. "What's the matter
Sport?" Lee asked as he lifted him into his arms. Holding Eric up on his
shoulders normally helped ease him, and Amanda had told Lee that Eric just
liked to know what was going on. "You want to see what we're up to huh?" Lee
asked as he ran circles around Eric's back.
"We're
all sleeping, I can assure you. That's what you should be doing little man."
Lee continued as he started a small, soothing bounce for Eric's pleasure and
began to walk out of the room. "See, let's go check on those brothers of yours."
Lee
walked down the hall to Philip and Jamie's room. Slowly opening the door,
hoping he wouldn't wake them up, he peeked his head in, glancing up toward the
top bunk he saw that it was empty, and that Jamie had a flash light resting
next to a piece of paper that he was writing on in the bottom bunk. Opening the
door fully now he walked in. "Jamie, what are you doing?" Lee asked as he
walked over to the bed and kneeled down.
"I'm
writing a letter to Mom." Jamie answered as he glanced up and saw his baby
brother. "I know I can't mail it or anything, but...." Jamie trailed off.
"Yeah."
Lee sighed and ruffled Jamie's hair with his free hand. "Don't stay up too late
though, kay?"
"I
won't, I just want to finish this. Why's Eric up, he normally sleeps through
the whole night." Jamie asked sitting his pencil down for a brief moment.
"He
probably knew you two were up. Where's Philip?" Lee asked as he stood and
started for the door.
"He
went downstairs, that's all I know." Jamie said before returning to his letter.
"Okay.
Get some sleep." Lee said before leaving the room. "Let's go see what the other
one's up to. Shall we?" Lee began his journey downstairs and saw that the
kitchen light was on. Philip sat at the kitchen table reading a note and eating
a sandwich. "What ya got there Chief?"
"Nothing."
Philip said taking the note and hiding it in his lap before he could feel 'caught'.
"It's nothing. What are you doing up?" Philip quickly changed the subject.
"Eric
was awake, so I told him we'd see that everyone else was sleeping, but I was
wrong. We're all awake," Lee glanced over to the clock on the oven, "at 12:23
no less." Lee ran a tired hand through his hair. "Come on, what was that paper."
"Promise
you won't think of me as a baby?" Philip asked lifting his gaze from the
sandwich to Lee.
"You
know I'd never think of you that way." Lee continued his circular motions on
Eric's back.
"I
couldn't sleep cause I kind of miss Mom. Nothing against you or anything, I
just, she's different." Philip said lifting the note back onto the table. "This
is the note that she wrote to me and Jamie before she left last week."
Lee
smiled. He had seen the note on the counter when he got home, it had been there
until around seven that night and had some how disappeared. He'd had a feeling
that one of the boys had taken it but he wasn't sure and didn't want to
pressure them. Besides, he reminded himself, he had received his own note, that
had stayed in his breast pocket in his jacket all week. "I miss her too." Lee
hoped that would make Philip feel better.
Lee
stood and placed a reassuring hand on Philip's shoulder before walking
upstairs. "It'll be okay." Lee told him before leaving the kitchen. "Don't stay
up too late." Lee reminded him as he ascended up the stairs.
As
Lee walked back into Eric's nursery he had to smile, this was the first time
Amanda had been gone from them for more than a night. And this wasn't even an
assignment. He knew that her going on this woman's retreat was going to be
difficult for all of them, but he'd never imagined just how difficult. Thank
God she was returning in a few days, he doubted he'd be able to handle the
three boys alone much longer. Having a newfound respect for single parents he
laid the sleeping Eric back into his crib.
"Night
Sport." Lee said rubbing the tiny little chest that rose and fell steadily. Lee
had a fleeting thought and smiled. "That was why you woke up tonight wasn't it,
you miss Mommy too don't you." Lee asked softly. "Well, don't you worry, she'll
be back soon, and then Daddy's going to have a retreat of his own."
With
a small laugh Lee left the room; pausing in the doorway he glanced around the
room to make sure all was right. With a comforting assurance that everything
was fine he left the nursery to return back to his bed. Amanda had been gone
for a week, and every night had been harder to get through. He thought he'd
known just how much he needed her in his life, but now, he was positive that
even what he thought he'd known had been a far cry from how much he really
needed her.
The
house hadn't gone into mass chaos, but it was definitely Amanda that had kept
the family running smoothly. Plus he reminded himself as he reached his hand
over to rest on her pillow, he was get really sick of eating fast food.
The end.