Chapter 2: Sleepover at the Spartans' House
Linda came with him to see the admiral and his family. Jonathan immediately latched onto John's armor, climbing up to the man's shoulder; though small for his age, the boy was exceptionally agile, to the extent that John considered teaching him acrobatics and how to tumble. The boy's blue eyes were a twin to John's own, when the Spartan had been that age, though no one but his fellow Spartans knew it, and they never mentioned the similarity.
"John, John, you were so cool!" he squealed, giggling and pulling the big man's helmet off – John unlatched it from the inside himself, knowing the boy wouldn't give up until he had the thing.
Jonathan plopped it on over his tiny head, ignoring the sweat that still coated the inside. "Look, Mom, I'm John!" he shrieked from inside the helmet. His dirty-blonde hair stuck out from under the helmet – he disliked cutting it and so it ran down the center of his back – and gave lie to the disguise.
"You imp," John chuckled, running his hand through his sweat-slicked greying hair.
Lucy tapped politely on Linda's armor, as high as she could reach; the giant woman knelt so they were a little closer, though the girl still had to tip her head upwards slightly. "Yes, Lucy?" Linda asked gently.
"You were cooler," the seven-year-old whispered loudly, grinning widely enough to show off her latest loose tooth, which she wiggled incessantly when not speaking. She tossed her head playfully; unlike her five-year-old brother, she wore her blonde hair shorn nearly to the scalp, and hated when it grew out long enough to brush her ears.
All four adults in hearing range chuckled; Jonathan, hearing John laugh at something, pulled the helmet off and nearly dropped it; John caught it quickly. "What's so funny?" Jonathan demanded. He hated be left out of anything.
"Lucy thinks Linda was cooler than me," John replied, tucking his helmet under one arm.
"Nuh uh!" Jonathan shrieked, making John winced slightly as the sound pounded on his eardrums. "Take that back, booger-breath!" He tried to jump at Lucy, who ducked behind Linda; John caught the boy around the middle and tucked him under one arm both to keep him from attacking his sister and from destroying the Spartan's eardrums.
"Now, Jonathan, you know we don't call names," Wendy, Terry's wife, scolded, frowning at the boy. "Apologize to your sister."
"Only when she apologizes to John!" Jonathan yelled back defiantly. Both Spartans wished they could close their ears.
"Jonathan," John said warningly, setting the boy down and crouching. "Lucy said nothing that insulted me. You, however, insulted her."
"She said you weren't cool," Jonathan muttered, so quietly that now John had to concentrate to hear him.
"She said she liked Linda better," John replied. He chose to interpret it that way, anyway; Lucy was the sweetest kid and never disliked anybody. "That doesn't mean she doesn't like me, right, Lucy?" He turned slightly; Lucy leaned out from behind Linda's protective bulk.
"Uh huh," Lucy replied, nodding. "But you're a guy and we girls gotta stick together, right, Linda?" She looked up with hero-worship in her eyes; Linda smiled gently and patted the girl. Lucy's brown eyes lit up.
"We've all got to stick together, Lucy," Linda replied. "John's my brother; I don't love him any less 'cause he's a guy."
"Even if I deserve it sometimes," John agreed, grinning. Linda smirked in reply, then picked Lucy up and stood. John turned back to Jonathan, who watched the exchange sullenly. "Now, can you apologize to Lucy?" he asked quietly.
"Sorry, Lucy," Jonathan said. He knew better than to mutter it; if he did, John would wait patiently for him to repeat himself, louder, and no one would go anywhere until he did.
"Lucy, what do you say?" Linda asked the girl.
"I forgive you," Lucy replied, first to Linda – to make sure she was right - and then to Jonathan.
"And what did we learn from this?" John asked he hoisted the boy back onto his shoulders, standing again.
"That calling Lucy booger-breath isn't nice," Jonathan replied, propping his elbows on the Spartan's head. "But I still think you're cooler."
"I thought you adored Kelly," John said, clipping his helmet to his armor so he could use both hands. Jonathan could hang on but the toddler had an annoying habit of trying to use John as a springboard if the boy saw something interesting, and if the Spartan didn't catch him, he could seriously injure himself.
"She's a girl," Jonathan replied. John could imagine him scrunching up his face. "Girls got cooties."
"You're too young for cooties," Wendy snorted. "Besides, I'm a girl."
"Nuh uh, you're a Mommy."
All four adults laughed again. "I'm not sure whether to be offended or not," Wendy giggled, leaning into her husband.
"Kade, do you have all your supplies?" John asked, looking at the thirteen-year-old. The boy nodded, hoisting a backpack over his shoulder. The Spartan looked at the former admiral and his wife. "Then with your permission, sir," he said playfully, "we'll take the POWs."
"Hey!" Jonathan protested.
"You heard the man," Terry chuckled. "Behave, kids – or John has my express permission to run you around the fields." All three children groaned; John chuckled. "John, we'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for taking them."
"Anytime, sir." John nodded in farewell and headed for the Spartan's Pelican. Linda carried Lucy and the girl's duffle, filled with her things, while John kept an eye on the two boys.
"I'm hungry," Jonathan whined.
"When we get to the house, we'll have dinner," Linda promised. They skirted around the edge of the civilian crowd, trying not to be noticed. The three kids, though, made enough noise that people turned to look, but no one tried to mob them, fortunately. Kelly and Fred must have taken care of the crowd.
"John?" Kade asked, sticking close to the man's hip.
"Yes, Kade?" John asked.
"Can we help you with the armor tonight?"
John smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "We'll see," he temporized.
"You never let us play with your armor."
"That's because it's very expensive."
"You tumble with Sangheili in it," Jonathan pointed out. "What could we do to it?"
"It's not what you could do to it, Jonathan, it's what it could do to you. Remember how we have to be careful about where we walk?"
Kade nodded. "Because, in the armor, you weigh over a ton."
"Ouch, no," Linda protested. "We're not that fat, kiddo."
Kade smiled slightly in apology before turning back to John. "So you're afraid it'll hurt us?"
John nodded slightly. "Remember what we told you about how we move faster than anyone else?" he asked. Kade nodded. "We need to be stronger and faster than the average human to keep up with the armor – otherwise, it would really hurt us. I don't want you to pick something up and drop it on your foot."
"Can we help clean it, then? When it's on the rack?"
"Once your school work is done, if it's not your bedtime," John promised.
"Linda?" Lucy asked, squirming to be let down and walk herself. "No one believes me in school when I tell them I know you," Lucy murmured. "And that you're awesome and cool and fun."
Linda and John exchanged glances. Those were words they'd never had applied to them before making friends with Terry's children, and it still amused all four Spartans. "Well, Lucy, not many people know us outside our armor."
"But you're just people."
"You know that, and I know that, so what does it matter what other people think?"
"Because they call me a liar. I'm not a liar."
"Well, chica, I can't really suggest how to handle that. I'd just beat them up, but you can't do that, alright?" Lucy giggled and nodded. "Your dad would hang me by my toes if I suggested you beat up your classmates."
"So stop talking about it," John chuckled. They came around the backside of the arena where the Pelican was waiting. Jonathan launched himself from John's shoulders; the Spartan caught him and put him gently on the ground, then took Kade's backpack. Lucy and Jonathan raced to the waiting pair of Spartans, shrieking happily to see Kelly and Fred. Kade paced after them solemnly.
Linda and John followed at a more sedate pace. "You know, I don't want to be a mom, but having kids whenever I want them and not when I don't? I like that." Linda grinned, glancing at John.
"Yeah," John agreed, shaking his head slightly. "I don't think any of us would be sane if we had to be with them day and night for more than a week."
"We could handle them a week."
"Without trussing them up and sticking them in a soundproof chamber for a while?"
"Oh, well, when you put it that way…" Linda chuckled as they reached Kelly and Fred. Fred had Jonathan by the ankle, holding him upside down. The boy was shrieking in laughter, clawing at the Spartan's glove. Kelly, meanwhile, was exchanging greetings with Kade as Lucy danced around everyone.
"Do I get to drive?" Lucy demanded, dashing into the Pelican.
"No, Lucy," Linda sighed, going after her.
"John, help!" Jonathan called, seeing his hero, still giggling. Fred carried the squirming toddler into the Pelican and strapped him into a seat before he could try to get into the cockpit. Kade followed, leaving Kelly and John to take up the rear. Linda closed the Pelican hatch and Kelly helped the thirteen-year-old strap into a Pelican harness while Fred and John locked into their own restraints. Lucy came out of the cockpit pouting – clearly Linda wasn't going to let her fly, or even sit on her lap while the Spartan flew – and Kelly strapped the girl in, too. Then she joined her brothers in the center of the Pelican's cargo bay and locked her own harness.
"Everyone ready?" Linda asked over the comm unit.
"Ready," John replied. The three children were calmer now; they knew better than to try to squirm around in their harnesses, not that Kade would ever do so.
It was a quick hop – only fifteen minutes' flight – to the base where the Spartans lived. Linda put them down expertly and opened the hatch once the Pelican was completely still; the three Spartans got out of their harnesses and released the children.
The soldiers on the base were well-used to the three children and didn't stare as the group left the airfield and walked towards the Spartan's home. Jonathan and Lucy raced up to a few of the pilots they knew, exchanging enthusiastic greetings before returning to the Spartans.
They walked into the house and John set the children's bags in the living room. All of the floors of this house were specially reinforced so the team could walk around in their armor, but in the last few years, they'd gotten used to being out of it.
"Alright, kids, you know the drill," John told the three children. Jonathan and Lucy shrieked in delight and dashed down into the basement. Even Kade seemed excited, though he controlled it carefully, and followed at a trot. The four Spartans gave them time to get down the stairs and then descended themselves. Navigating the steeper stairs was difficult to do in full armor.
All three children knew better than to touch any of the weapons on the walls, and they stood a few meters from the four racks, now empty, and away from the base of the stairs just in case one of the big soldiers tripped and fell down them. It hadn't happened yet, but John didn't want to risk squashing one of Terry's kids.
The kids watched – Jonathan and Lucy giggling to themselves and each other, Kade silently with an intensity in his eyes – as the four Spartans quickly stripped off their armor. They wore the black bodysuits underneath, over which they would put on fatigues after carefully racking the MJOLNIR and showering.
Then they locked the racks and Linda stayed with the kids while the other three took turns showering. They regrouped back upstairs. Linda disappeared into the kitchen to prepare dinner while Kelly and Fred sat Lucy and Kade down to help them with their homework – and keep them on task. That left John to figure out something to do with little Jonathan, hopefully to run off some of the boy's energy.
"Jonathan," he said, crouching down, "what would you like to do tonight before dinner?"
Jonathan thought, scrunching up his nose. "Can we play fetch outside?" he asked finally.
"Alright," John agreed. He motioned for the child to put his shoes back on and did the same; they trooped out the back door into the small forest – a glade, really – that abutted against the Spartan's house.
John whistled high and the pack of dogs – owned by various soldiers around the base – came running. They knew this game well, and alerted by the whistle and dog barking, several soldiers also came to watch.
John sat down in the grass and Jonathan stood next to them. "Go get sticks!" Jonathan ordered the dogs; several of the smarter ones bolted into the forest. They came back quickly with sticks of various sizes. John took several that were too heavy for the three-year-old to throw.
"Ready when you are," Jonathan said, grinning.
"Three o'clock," John replied; the boy pulled back his arm and threw, just a shade off of the target. Most of the pack chased after the stick, though it only went a few meters, and snarled and barked playfully at each other as they fought over the honor of bringing back to the humans.
"Eleven." The boy threw again, and this time his aim was better. One or two dogs chased down the stick and trotted back towards them as John gave the next direction. He kept it between ten and three, into the forest and away from the house and its windows. The boy and the dogs enjoyed themselves immensely.
After fifteen or so throws, Jonathan huffed and sat down. "I'm tired," he told John; the Spartan stood and Jonathan now called out the directions. The sticks the Spartan threw were heavier than those the boy did, but they still sailed much farther – the dogs generally managed to return only one in three.
After a dozen such throws, the dogs started lying down and gnawing on the sticks rather than bringing them back, which was their way of saying, "we're tired." John sat down again, crossing his legs, and a friendly lab came over and plopped himself in the Spartan's lap. John chuckled and scratched the dog – her name was Sparky – behind the ears.
Another dog, smaller, licked Jonathan's face and panted at the boy; Jonathan giggled and hugged the dog tight around the neck.
"Gently, Jonathan," John reminded the boy. "You're getting big enough to hurt the dogs now."
"Sorry, Muskrat," Jonathan said to the dog, patting her on the head. The dog's real name was "Bitchy," but no one told the boy that, and he'd named her Muskrat while John had been trying to come up with a good alternative upon first introducing the dogs to the then-two-year-old.
Several of the soldiers, seeing the game over, came into the dog-littered lawn and sat with the Spartan and boy.
"How'd the game go?" Private McDufferson asked as his dog climbed into his lap. He wasn't as big as the Spartan, so the lab – the most common breed on the base – only managed to fit about half of his long form onto the soldier's lap.
"It went well," John replied, smiling slightly. "We won."
"Well, duh," another soldier, Private "Dusky" Wrangler, chuckled. "But how'd you beat them? We were drilling and didn't get to see the action."
Jonathan took it upon himself to tell the tale, running around wildly as he played the parts of each Spartan and Sangheili in turn. The soldiers laughed with him, encouraging him on; at the end of the tale, a few got up and chased the boy for a while, roaring in a credible Sangheili imitation.
Private Daniels finally caught the boy and tickled him into submission until Jonathan was screaming in laughter and nearly crying with the force of it. John "saved" him from the "evil Private Daniels" after a few minutes.
"So, tyke, are ya here for the night?" Private "Killjoy" Masters asked.
"Yeah," Jonathan answered, still catching his breath as he sat in John's lap where Daniels could get him again. "Mom and Dad want some alone time."
The soldiers grinned saucily and wiggled eyebrows at each other but made no lewd comments, for which John was glad. He certainly wasn't going to explain the facts of life to Jonathan – not that the boy'd be ready for years to hear them, and according to Wendy, he'd always be her baby.
"Cool," McDufferson replied. "Well, we'd better get to the mess if we want some grub." He stood and yawned. "Then I think it's bed time for me. Mark me, little dude, sleep all you can now, 'cause someday things're gonna keep ya up and ye'll miss the sleep." He waggled a finger at Jonathan, who giggled as John stood and threw the boy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, gently.
"Have a good night," the soldiers called, taking their dogs. Jonathan yelled back and John waved with one hand, the other keeping the boy firmly trapped. They went back into the house; dusk was starting to fall outside, and though the chilly autumn weather didn't bother John, Jonathan was started to shiver despite so much activity keeping him warm.
"Hey John?" Jonathan asked as the Spartan carefully navigated the narrow doorframe.
"Yes?" John replied.
"Can I stay up late tonight? I'm not tired, at all, and tomorrow's Saturday and… And… And I wanna," he finished.
"I promised your dad you'd get your sleep tonight."
"We can sleep in!"
"Not on a base you can't," John chuckled. "We're up with the dawn, Jonathan – we'll let you sleep past that, but not much longer than it."
"Why?"
"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," John replied, quoting an age-old proverb.
"More like makes a man boring," Jonathan grumped, sighing. John chuckled and dropped the child gently onto the couch. Kade and Lucy were still working on their homework, but they were almost finished. John left the three-year-old with an "assignment" of his own – to read through a full page of a child-friendly newspaper the Spartans kept around to entertain the children when they visited – and strode into the kitchen.
"Need any help?" he asked Linda, already moving towards the cupboard that held their dishes.
"If you could set the table," Linda replied, not looking up from where she was chopping up a pile of fresh vegetables, "that would be great. How'd fetch go?"
"Do you ever get the feeling we all act like old married couples – like some sort of married foursome?" John replied, chuckling.
Linda snorted and put on her very best housewife voice. "Hi, honey, how was work?" she joked.
John snickered and quickly set out bowls and plates for everyone, extending the table to fit all seven of them around it. He poured water for everyone, put out napkins and silverware, and then wandered over to Linda's side of the kitchen.
"So, what's for dinner?" he asked, leaning over the smaller woman.
"John!" she protested, laughing. "We're having lasagna, green beans, and fruit compote for dessert. Hey!" John grabbed a green bean and popped it in his mouth, jumping back as Linda swung an elbow at him.
"Go on, out of the kitchen," she ordered, pointing towards the living room. "You're banished until dinner's ready." She grinned and shook her head as John meekly – but with a grin as well – left the kitchen.
"And that, children, is why you don't mess with Linda in the kitchen," Kelly was saying as John came in. She and Fred smirked at the Spartan and all three kids giggled.
"Point," John conceded, pulling his hand from behind his back and munching on a couple of crisp green beans.
"John! Did you take green beans?!" Linda yelled then from the kitchen, clearly having noticed a few missing.
"No," John replied, grinning and holding a finger to his lips to keep the children from ratting him out. All three giggled, even Kade. He quickly ate the evidence and then had Jonathan read aloud to him to improve the boy's reading ability. Fred and Kelly continued helping the older children with their homework and then they played several math games.
It was truly dark outside when Linda called everyone into the dining room for dinner. They arranged themselves around the table – Linda closest to the kitchen, with Lucy between her and Freda and Kelly on her left side. Kade sat between Kelly and John, while Jonathan sat between John and Fred.
John helped Jonathan serve himself, holding the hot dish steady as the boy insisted on scooping out his own serving of lasagna and managing, with a little help from Fred, to get it on the plate. They passed the food quickly; everyone was hungry and it was a tradition in the household that no one ate until everyone was served.
Once the plates had been passed, the three children bowed their heads in silent prayer – Terry and Wendy were raising them to be faithful but didn't specify which god or gods they had to pray to – and the four Spartans copied them respectfully, though the four didn't pray.
"Okay, we can eat now," Lucy said bossily, raising her head and picking up her fork and knife. Everyone dug in, complimenting Linda as the food was, as always, delicious. The three children accounted for half of a pan of lasagna; the four Spartans cleared the rest of that pan and the other one. Everyone had green beans as well.
They made polite dinner conversation – everyone asked about Kade and Lucy's schooling and listened to Jonathan talk about his latest interest, ancient rodents. When prodded, the four Spartans related the War Games from their point of view, explaining patiently why they'd done what they did. Jonathan enjoyed the tales because they involved action; Lucy was starting to grasp the concepts of maneuver and movement and fires while Kade asked most of the questions about why they'd done this instead of that.
Once everyone was finished with dinner, Kelly and John cleared the table and John washed the dishes while the others went out to the living room to play a couple of quiet games. Lucy played with Kelly's shoulder-length blue hair, the Spartan female lying on her stomach with the child sitting on her shoulders. Lucy enjoyed brushing the hair out – especially since it wasn't a "natural" color – and Kelly let her do it as long as she recited things she had to memorize for school, like her ABCs or, more recently, multiplication tables.
"Four times six is twen-ty-four," Lucy chanted, brushing the Spartan's hair to a rhythm. "Five times six is thir-ty. Six times six is… thir-ty-six! Seven times six is… Is…" She frowned, her hands still working while she tried to count in her head. "Linda, what's seven times six?"
"Nuh uh, imp, count it out," Linda scolded, grinning slightly.
"Add six to thirty-six," Kelly suggested.
"Um… Forty-two!"
"Very good," Kelly chuckled.
Kade, meanwhile, was explaining to Fred the importance of the World Wars, going through them chronologically. He had an assignment to give a presentation on them that had to be ten minutes long, so Linda held Jonathan on her lap and sat on the couch with Fred, pretending to be Kade's audience.
"And the Second World War was the bloodiest war fought by mankind at its time," Kade said, standing absolutely still. He froze up when speaking in front of crowds, even when only three people made up his audience. "It was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but it didn't turn out that way. Between 1939 and 1945, the Axis – including Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy – fought against the Allies – including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, China, France, Poland, and eventually the United States of North America as well as other small players – to try to take over the world. Nazi Germany led the Axis, and where it conquered, millions of Jewish people and thousands of homosexual people, handicapped people, and criminals died in concentration camps, usually through being gassed, which is when people are put into a big chamber and suffocated. Fifty-eight percent of the casualties were Allied civilians, twenty-five percent were Allied military, thirteen percent were Axis military, and four percent were Axis Civilians. The total death toll was seventy-five million, and most of the civilians died of disease, hunger, and bombing. After the war, Nazi Germany and its allies were put under strict economic and military restrictions, which kept them from advancing as quickly as everyone else in the world."
Kade paused and Fred spoke up before he could continue. "Good, Kade," he said, smiling slightly. "But, remember, the United States of America – it hadn't specified "North America" yet – and you might not want to explain gassing. You could upset people in your audience."
"Okay, if you think so." Kade nodded then frowned. "Should I talk about the tanks and guns and trenches? We learned a little about it, but they're so… crappy."
"Kade, language," Linda scolded. "But you don't need to go into the particulars. You have ten minutes to cover all of the World Wars – you're going to need to cut a little bit out already."
"Okay. Sorry."
"Go ahead," Fred said encouragingly, leaning back.
Kade discussed the other World Wars in more detail and finished after twelve minutes. Fred and Linda helped him choose parts of his speech that weren't very important and cut them out; he wrote out a new set of notes and thanked both for their attention.
By the time they were done, Lucy had gone through all of her math tables and answered several easy arithmetic questions Kelly posed. John joined them in the living room.
"Can we clean the armor now?" Jonathan asked, wiggling out of Linda's lap and running towards John.
"Is your schoolwork all done?" John asked the older two. They nodded. "Alright, then. You can help us clean the armor."
"Will you teach us about it?" Kade asked as they walked down to the basement.
"You should ask Kelly," Fred told him. "She knows a lot more about it than we do."
Kade knew that, but with this permission, began pelting the Spartan woman with questions. Kelly answered them honestly but simply; when he asked how much damage they could take, she showed him the rent in John's armor where the Didact had dented it, the plasma scorching that covered all four suits, and other signs of abuse. All four had "real" combat armor that was undamaged, but few people knew about the upgraded MJOLNIR sitting in an ONI base against need, and the Spartans wore their old, banged-up armor in public.
John showed Jonathan how to carefully wipe a damp cloth over the smooth outer piece of the armor to wipe off the dust and crime from the battlefield. They had put the bodysuits in their laundry machine after showering, and the inner gel layer was cleaned by another machine.
"Make sure to get the dirt out of the joints," Fred told Lucy, handing her a small pick. She did so carefully, blowing away dust and dirt from the joints of Fred's armor and then moving on to Linda's to do the same.
By the time all fours suits were clean, Jonathan was asleep, curled up on John's lap as the Spartan cleaned his visor and sprayed the helmet's interior with a smell-eating mist. He carefully racked his armor and picked up the boy; Lucy was yawning now, too, and rubbing her eyes tiredly. Kade was fighting the same signs of tiredness.
"Come on," Linda said softly, taking Lucy's hand. "Let's get you to bed."
"Uh huh," Lucy agreed, nodding and yawning again. "Will you tell us a bedtime story?"
"Alright," the woman agreed, picking up the seven-year-old when the girl stumbled with sleepiness. Kade walked back up the stairs. Fred and Kelly unfolded the couch and quickly covered it in sheets and blankets – each child had a favorite. John gently tucked Jonathan into bed after changing him into his pajamas. Meanwhile, Linda took Lucy to the bathroom to supervise her teeth-brushing; then she tucked the girl in and Kade brushed his own teeth. He let Fred tuck him in.
Lucy was already asleep by then, despite the promise of a bed-time story, and Kade clearly wouldn't make it through the introduction. Fred smiled as the boy rolled over onto his stomach and tucked a pillow between Kade's head and the side of the couch to keep him from rolling out of the bed.
All four Spartans watched the children for a moment. "Were we that cute once?" Kelly asked softly, a tender smile on her lips.
"I was," John replied. "You weren't." Kelly punched him gently; John grinned.
"Beast," Kelly hissed, heading towards the stairs. They had an hour's worth of work still with the suits. Silently, each checked over his or her armor and then rolled the racks into the cleaning machines one at a time. Then, satisfied, they silently checked on the children again – Jonathan was sucking his thumb, and John gently removed his fist from his mouth – and they went upstairs to their own beds.
They fell asleep quickly and woke simultaneously when Jonathan knocked at the door frame and let himself in. "I had a nightmare," he sniffled when John sat up and asked softly what was wrong.
Nodding sympathetically, John picked the boy up and went across the hall so his siblings could sleep. Sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in the reading room, he got Jonathan to describe his nightmare – it included falling down, a common theme in the boy's dreams – and then rocked the boy gently until he was asleep again. John carried him back downstairs and put him back into bed, pulling the covers up over Lucy, who thrashed in her sleep and thus was surrounded by pillows to keep Kade and Jonathan from turning black and blue in the morning, and checking on Kade. All three slept soundly; John returned to his own bed.
"All good?" Kelly asked as John slipped back into his cot.
"All good," John replied.
"Hmmm." Kelly rolled over and went immediately back to sleep. Linda and Fred did the same on their side of the room. Each could reach out and touch their neighbor, which would have made the room seem quite cramped to a civilian. In reality, though, the Spartans were used to tight quarters, and being too far from each other made for restless sleep.