"MAMA!" The shrill scream broke the silence of the night. "Mama, Mama, Mama," it became a teary chant as the little voice shrieked, waking the family with her need.
May flew from her own bed in an attempt to get to the child before everyone was up. She stopped for neither robe nor slippers as she went, nearly tripping over a yawning Jemma, rubbing her eyes in the hallway.
She brushed by the older girl softly telling her to go back to bed and hoping her sons would sleep through the chaos. She noticed Phil, directing Jemma back to bed, out of the corner of her eye as she turned into her baby's room. His hair stuck out in crazy peaks as he stood in pajama pants and T-shirt and gave her a weak smile. He'd followed her, shuffling into the hallway. She sighed when she heard the door open behind her.
"What's going on?" Her eldest son asked around a yawn.
"She's going off again," the younger one added rubbing a hand through his curly hair.
'Great, they're all up,' she groaned to her self as she stepped into the small room at the end of the hall.
"Mama…mama," the little girl now sobbed, stretching her arms out to May as she reached the bed. "Mama," she cried into her neck as May scooped her up and the child wrapped her self around the woman.
May kissed her head repeatedly as she cooed, "It's okay baby, you're okay. Mama's here. Shhhhh…shhhh." She held the tiny girl close rocking her side to side, one arm supporting her bottom, the other pressed against the back of her head. The child trembled and continued her mantra, despite being comforted.
Melinda groaned softly. The child was soaked through, so was the bedding and now she too was wet, but there was no way she could peel the little girl away to change either of them. She looked up and recognized the silhouette leaning on the doorframe.
"They're all back in bed." He yawned, pushing himself upright and moving toward her. "Trip and Jemma are already asleep, but Fitz…"
"He'll be awake for hours." She finished for him.
The little girl's crying had quieted into shaky sobs. Only Melinda and Phil could hear her soft cries of 'mama' repeated over and over into her mother's neck.
"Let me change her. You get cleaned up." He reached to take the child but she wrapped her self tighter into her mother, her sobs growing louder again.
Melinda shook her head pressing the little head closer to her and rocking a bit more rapidly while adding a subtle bounce as well. "Not yet," she whispered. "Go see if you can calm Fitz. We'll be okay." She nodded toward the door.
"Mel, it's two-thirty, you've got to sleep too." Phil pleased in a hoarse whisper again reaching to take the child.
"I will," she smiled, "I will." She turned from him shushing the little girl and kissing her head.
The man frowned but turned and stepped back across the room into the darkness of the hallway. Melinda continued the bouncy rocking, comforting her baby as she paced back and forth across the room.
Phil carefully pushed open the door to the boys' room, knowing his younger son would be just inside. He was not wrong. The small boy stepped back and tried looking around his father's form across the hallway into the room opposite his.
"Come on, Fitz, back to bed. It's pretty early, little guy." He gently put his arm around the boy's shoulders and walked him back to the lower bunk. Phil held back the blanket and waited for the child to climb under then tucked it around him.
Fitz pulled his arms out from beneath and folded his hands over his chest. He stared at Phil, eyes shining in the dark room. Coulson knelt down on the floor next to the bed and rested his elbows there. "She'll be okay, Fitz, I promise."
"Why does she do that?" The little boy asked, genuinely concerned. "Did someone hurt her? Make her scared like that?" He waited for the answer Phil didn't really have so he continued. "Maybe she shouldn't sleep in that room all alone. Maybe she needs company." He nodded, agreeing with himself.
"We tried that, Fitz, you remember. We tried having her sleep with Jemma, like you share a room with Trip, but Jemma wasn't getting any sleep." Phil reminded him.
"Maybe I could sleep in her room with her. I could put a couple blankets on the floor and…"
Phil smiled and ran his hand through the boy's hair. "It's nice that you're concerned and want to help. You're a great big brother wanting to protect her."
Fitz frowned and shook his head a bit. "She scares me when she screams like that." He whispered into the blanket.
Phil stifled a laugh. "Scares me, too," he admitted with a little smile. Fitz tried but failed to smile back.
"Mom's got things under control now, it'll be okay. We're working on a solution, buddy. It just takes time, you know that." He patted the child's hands. "How 'bout you try to get back to sleep, at least close your eyes til the sun comes up, huh? Try?"
"I'll try." The boy frowned, closing his eyes but remained on his back with his arms resting across his chest.
Phil patted his shoulder wishing the little boy would allow a bit more show of affection, but that was another thing they were working on, another thing that was taking time. He rose and walked back to the hallway closing the door with a soft click.
Melinda had quieted the little girl completely but was still unable to pry her away from the tight hold she had. She did manage to shift the child to her hip and use a free arm to open the drawer on the small chest and pull out a fresh pair of panties and a clean set of PJ's for her. She walked down the hall still bouncing her youngest, her baby. She rested her cheek against the child's and murmured soft sounds of comfort as she went. As usual in this now more or less nightly ritual, the child relaxed, almost asleep by the time her mother reached the large bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom.
Once there she flicked on the soft light and gently pried the little girl from her neck. There'd be no bathing, that would wake her completely, a quick wash, just as quick a change and then back into bed. Hopefully, everyone would sleep the rest of the night.
"Skye? Baby?" Melinda whispered, lowering her head to try to look into the child's face. "We have to get cleaned up, get out of these wet clothes." She swayed back and forth cooing to the little girl who shook her head and tried to snuggle back into her mother's neck. Melinda softly stopped her, bending slightly back, "come on, baby girl, just let go for a little bit. Mama's going to get you clean and dry and then we'll all cuddle and go back to sleep."
Whimpering softly and relaxing slowly, the little girl released her grip, allowing May to sit her on the marble counter top. She shivered a bit at the cold of it and wobbled in her now sleepy position. Her eyes fluttered shut as a little yawn escaped and her chin bounced to her chest. Melinda sighed and holding the child with one hand, she ran warm water into the sink and dropped a clean washcloth into it. She turned back to the girl whispering words of comfort, picked her up and stood her on the closed toilet lid. She tugged off the wet sleep clothes and dropped them onto the tiled floor. The little girl's teeth chattered in the chill and May used the warm soapy cloth to wipe her down quickly, patted her dry, and then held out the small pink panties for the girl to step into before she pulled the fresh PJ top over the girl's head then held out the bottoms and slipped them up over her hips. Amazingly, Skye accomplished all without ever opening her eyes. May wondered if perhaps the child was sleep walking.
Skye's early morning screams woke them two sometimes three nights a week, but she recovered quickly falling back to sleep as if nothing had happened. She never remembered in the morning. The doctor had diagnosed it as night terrors telling them it was common in children her age. He said since Skye was not feverish or on medication of any kind, it may be caused by some traumatic event in her past. Melinda forced herself not to imagine what event or events that might have been. Then he added it also could be she was over tired, so young Skye took a nap everyday to help, but apparently, it did not. She would grow out of it the doctor assured them. Phil found the term night terrors quite ironic since Skye only seemed terrorized for a moment while it took hours for the rest of the family to recover. That shriek in the dark of the night terrified him. He couldn't imagine what it did to the others.
Skye reached out both arms wriggling her fingers and searching for her source of comfort. May frowned, she still needed to get herself clean and changed and that could not be done holding a very sleepy little girl. Skye took a shaky breath and let out a tiny whine. Before May could react, Phil stepped between them.
"I've got this," he stated taking the tiny girl into his arms. She snuggled into him making soft sleepy sounds, content just to be held. He turned back and kissed his wife over his little daughter's head then walked slowly from the room kissing her softly and mimicking his wife's quiet words of comfort.
May smiled at the man she loved more than she thought possible. Sometimes she wasn't quite sure how she'd been lucky enough to have him love her just as much.
She pulled off the white sateen nightgown Phil had given her for their anniversary a few weeks ago. Frowning at the large jagged wet splotch on the front of it, she hoped it wasn't ruined. She used a fresh washcloth to clean herself and smiled at the sweatpants and tank top Phil must have placed on the towel rack when he took their baby from her. She'd shower in the morning. Emptying the sink she replaced the plug and refilled it then dropped her nightgown and Skye's soiled clothing into the warm soapy water to soak and stepped into her bedroom.
Phil was already snoring softly, Skye cuddled into his side with his arm securely wrapped around her. She smiled at the sight and walked down the hallway into the baby's room. She intended to strip Skye's bed and toss the bedding into the washer to soak as well, but apparently Phil had already taken care of that. She shook her head and smiled again.
She crossed the hall and entered the boys' room. Antoine was (as usual) wrapped like a sausage in his blankets, turned toward the wall and breathing deeply. His oversized young teen feet stuck out, but she knew better than to cover them. She rubbed a hand on his leg, the only thing she could reach on the top bunk then bent down to the smaller boy on the bottom.
Fitz had been watching her. She could see his eyes in the moon light that shone in through the window blinds. She knelt down and smiled at him. "Xiànzài shuìjiào, xiǎo nánrén. Yīqiè dōu jiéshùle." (Sleep now, little man. It's all over.) She spoke quietly to him in Mandarin, as she did with all of the children yet it seemed to calm Fitz a bit more than the others.
He nodded, closed his eyes and rolled onto his side. She rubbed his shoulder, rose and exited the room, stopping in the room across from the boys. Jemma was asleep, on her side with her hands tucked under her cheek. She tucked the covers around the skinny girl and kissed her temple. Jemma did not stir.
As May finally climbed back into her own bed she glanced at the clock on her nightstand. 'Three-forty-five,' she sighed and turned to face the other occupants of her sleep space. Skye immediately rolled away from the warmth of her father's embrace. Snuggling into her mother's side and resting her small hand on May's cheek patting it softly. May took the hand and placed a kiss on her palm. The little girl moved quickly into her mother's embrace.
May took a deep breath, wrapped her arms around her baby, and wondered how in world they had come to this. Six months ago, she and Phil were a hard working couple living the high life in a two-bedroom condo in center city. Six months ago, their only responsibilities were paying the bills and getting up for work every morning. Life had been simple, easy…a bit boring at times…but easy, simple.
Then everything changed….