Author's Note: This chapter takes place after the last chapter of Wait For Me (but before its epilogue). For those who read my previous installment "The Hockey Stick", this takes place just a few months before that. The story below is once again inspired by an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond I saw last night where Ally refused to sleep in her own bed and Ray had to resort to some tough love. I could imagine Scott doing that.

Summary: Rachel insists there are monsters in her bedroom and refuses to sleep there. A sleep deprived Scott and Jean argue over how to handle it.

Monsters Under The Bed

September 6th, 1999

2:30am

The Boathouse

The smell of the salty sea tingled Scott's nose as he breathed in a breath of fresh air. Jean was lying on his chest and he could feel the strands of her hair tickle his chin. The heat of the sun washed over them like a comfortable blanket. Scott decided he was in an amorous mood and placed feather-light kisses on his wife hoping to wake her up. Jean began to stir, and he rolled her underneath him. He began divesting her of her clothes when she kicked him between the legs!

"AAAAHHHHH!" Scott screamed an octave higher than he knew he was capable of. He fell out of bed with a hard thump.

Jean shot out of bed. "Scott?! My God, what happened to you?"

Scott couldn't answer at first. He was writhing on the floor trying not to throw up. When he finally managed to breathe again, he answered angrily, "You kicked me!"

"No, I didn't!" Jean said. "My back was turned to you."

Scott managed to get on his hands and knees. "Well, if it was just a dream, I wouldn't be in this much pain right now!"

"Is there anything I can do, Scott?" Jean asked, obviously feeling her husband's agony through their link.

"Can you find it in yourself to love half a man?" Scott answered sarcastically.

Jean just rolled her eyes. "It must have been Rachel. She must have jerked in her sleep and accidentally kicked you," Jean said, realization dawning on her.

"Rachel?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," Jean said, pulling the blanket back, revealing a deeply-asleep Rachel curled up beside her.

"She wasn't here when we fell asleep," Scott said between breaths.

"You were already fast asleep when she knocked on our door just after midnight. She said she had a bad dream and wanted to sleep with us," Jean answered.

"This is the third night this week," Scott said, finally managing to haul himself back into bed.

"I know, honey… It's just a stage, I'm sure. Come on, let's go back to sleep," Jean said, reaching for the lamp to turn it back off.

"I suppose it's a good thing we decided to stop having more kids after Nate," Scott mumbled. Jean just giggled through their psychic link.

The following evening

"Remind me again why we had kids," Jean said jokingly as she cleaned up the last of the scattered toys in the living room.

"Because I'm such a sexy beast," Scott said in a deadpan voice.

Jean burst out laughing. "Right…"

"Way to crush a man's ego, sweetheart," Scott said wryly.

Jean was about to respond when they heard the pitter patter of little feet come down the stairs. They looked up to see Rachel come down clutching her teddy bear.

"Darling, why aren't you asleep? Did you need to go potty?" Jean asked her daughter.

Rachel shook her head. "I can't sleep."

"Why not, sweetie?" Scott asked, putting down the box of toys he had in his hands and walked towards his daughter.

"I'm scared," Rachel whispered.

"Why?" Jean asked.

"There's monsters under my bed," Rachel said pitifully.

"No, there's not," Scott said. "I looked under there myself."

"Can I sleep with you and mommy tonight?" Rachel asked, giving her father her biggest doe-eyed look.

"Honey, you have your own beautiful bed… which daddy spent two days putting together…" Scott answered, trying to hide his frustration.

"But there's a monster," Rachel said, her bottom lip quivering.

Before Scott could answer, Jean jumped in. "Okay, honey, you can sleep with me and daddy tonight."

"Yay!" Rachel squealed and ran back up the stairs. She obviously didn't want to give her father a chance to object.

Scott frowned at his wife. "What'd you do that for?"

"Rachel wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight, and she needs her rest," Jean answered.

"Her rest? What about my rest?" Scott asked.

"She's afraid of monsters, Scott," Jean replied.

"Yeah, well… I'm afraid of her! My voice still hasn't gone back to normal since she kicked me in the nuts last night," Scott said, cringing at the memory.

Jean rolled her eyes. "Well, what do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know!" Scott said, exasperated. "What does the manual say?"

"What manual?" Jean asked, looking at her husband as if he'd grown two heads.

"The one on how to grow a kid," Scott answered sarcastically.

"Look, Scott, she'll grow out of it and when she does-"

"I can't keep on doing this. I can't go to work so early and teach when I'm this tired," Scott said, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Well, what about me? I'm losing sleep too," Jean answered.

"So? You don't have to wo-uhhh…"

"What was that, Scott? I don't have to whaaaaa?" Jean threw back, mimicking her husband. "You don't think I do any work because I'm still on my mat leave?"

Scott had a dear-in-the-headlights look. "… You see?! I can't think clearly with no sleep!" And Scott ran up the stairs before he dug himself a deeper hole.

The following day

The Mansion

"Even with your glasses hiding your eyes, you look exhausted, my friend," Kurt said, taking a bite out of his lunch.

Scott could only nod. He, Kurt and Peter were eating lunch in the mess hall. Scott was so tired, he'd only realized that he hadn't even taken a bite out of the sandwich Jean had made for him.

"Yeah, has Jean been keeping you up doing unimaginably wicked things to you?" Peter asked.

Kurt gasped. "For god's sake, Peter! Have you no filter?!"

Peter just shrugged. "Well, Scott? What's turned you into such a zombie?"

"Rachel's scared of monsters and she won't sleep in her own room. She tosses and turns constantly, and it's kept me awake most of the night," Scott answered dejectedly.

"Oh man, that stage, huh?" Peter said sympathetically.

"Poor, Rachel," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"Poor Rachel? Ha! More like poor Scott," Peter said. He turned to Scott. "Man, you have to find a way to get Rachel to sleep in her own room again, otherwise you'll never see an end to it."

Scott sighed. "I'm trying to think of a way, but she's scared. And Jean seems to think the best way to handle it is to let her outgrow the phase."

"She'll never outgrow anything if you keep coddling her," Peter answered.

"I hate to agree with Peter, but I think he's right. Rachel will become too accustomed to sleeping in your room and it'll become too hard to get her to go back to her own," Kurt said.

"I can't physically force her to sleep in her room," Scott answered. "She'll just keep coming back."

"For god's sake, Scott. Don't raise a sissy now!" Peter said.

Scott raised his eyebrow at his friend. "Peter, she's four."

"You gotta put your foot down, man. If you don't fix this thing with Rachel, before you know it, Nate will be sleeping with you and Jean as well. Mark my words, my friend," Peter said.

"I don't know if I can put my foot down like that. It might be too traumatizing for her if I force her to sleep alone. I can't put my little girl through that," Scott said, his shoulders slumping.

"It's called tough love, Scott. Do you want to send Rachel out into the real world just to have her move right back in with you and Jean?" Peter said.

"I think Peter may have a point, my friend," Kurt added.

"And trust me, Scott. If you don't do something about this now, your sex life will die a miserable death. Don't say I didn't warn you," Peter said.

Later that night

"Mommy? Daddy? Can you read me another story?" Rachel yelled from her bedroom across the hall.

Scott and Jean were in bed in their own room trying to get some sleep. Scott had put Rachel to bed himself and told her that she had to stay in her own room because mommy and daddy had their own room and little kids had theirs. And that's how the world worked, according to Scott anyway.

"I'm thirsty! Can I have a drink?" Rachel continued to yell from her room.

"For god's sake, Scott! We're never going to get any sleep like this! This was your idea, deal with her!" Jean said, exasperated.

"Jean, I explained this already. The idea is not to deal with her," Scott answered.

"Oh really? Are you naïve enough to believe she'll stop?"

As if on cue, Rachel yelled, "Can I have another night light?"

Scott sighed. "If you coddle her, she'll never move out!"

"Really? Is that your most pressing concern with our four-year-old right now, Scott?" Jean asked sarcastically.

Rachel continued yelling. "I'm hungry!"

"It's called tough love, Jean. It's for her own good," Scott answered.

"You know, there's a striking similarity to the tough love plan, and the daddy does nothing plan," Jean said sardonically.

"You gotta trust me, Jean. The plan makes sense," Scott insisted.

"Well, it doesn't to me," Jean said, as she threw the blanket away, got up and headed towards their bedroom door.

"Jean, come back here. You're going to turn her into a sissy!" Scott said, grabbing his wife's nightgown and pulling her back.

"Let go!" Jean said, swatting at her husband's hold on her.

"Don't bring her in here. You're going to undo all my work!" Scott said.

Jean glared at her husband. "I'm not bringing her in here to sleep with us. I'm going to sleep with her. Heaven forbid we should disturb you, Scott."

"C'mon, Jean! I can't sleep all by myself!" But before Scott could finish, his wife slammed the door behind her.

The following morning

Scott groggily dragged his feet down the stairs. He saw Nate in his playpen and Rachel watching TV in the living room. His daughter saw him approach and happily greeted him. "Good morning, daddy!"

Scott bent down to kiss his daughter on her forehead. "Hi sweetie, did you have a good sleep?"

"Yup ah did!" Rachel answered enthusiastically.

"Well, that's good for you," Scott mumbled as he made his way to the kitchen where his wife was washing the dishes.

Jean seemed to sense her husband approach and turned around from the sink. "Oh, don't even act like you're tired! You had a whole queen size bed all to yourself… I, on the other hand, slept on the very edge of a single bed, and nearly fell off twice last night."

"I didn't get any sleep last night, Jean. I was just as sleepless as you," Scott said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"And why is that?" Jean asked.

"Because… I told you, I can't sleep all by myself. I've grown accustomed to your snoring," Scott answered.

"I do not snore!" Jean said indignantly.

"Yeah, you do. It's like this whistling sound that comes out of your nose," Scott said, trying to mimic the sound.

Jean scoffed. "I don't even have the energy to argue with you right now, Scott."

"Jean, what are we gonna do? We can't go on like this," Scott said.

Jean sighed. "I don't know… But it's something we'll have to figure out another time. You'll be late for your first class if you don't leave soon, and I have to drive Rachel to preschool in half an hour."

Scott looked at the clock and realized his wife was right. He quickly finished his coffee, grabbed his notes and headed out.

Later that night

Jean lay stiff on the edge of Rachel's bed. Her daughter finally fell asleep. A part of Jean was tempted to tiptoe out of there and join her husband in their bedroom. But if Rachel woke up in the middle of the night to find she was alone, she'd just end up waking both her and Scott. Jean sighed wondering if she should have supported her husband more with his tough love approach. But she was so exhausted she ended up choosing the path of least resistance.

She also missed sleeping in her husband's arms. If she were to move back into their bedroom, she'd have to swallow her pride as well. Jean's thoughts were interrupted when Rachel's bedroom door opened. It was her husband. He was carrying one of their spare mattresses with him.

"Scott, what are you doing?" Jean whispered.

"Well, you're not sleeping well here, and I'm not sleeping well without you… I figured another approach was needed," Scott answered.

"Which is?" Jean asked.

"We'll both sleep here. See, I spent all day thinking about this. We work best when we work in tandem. These last couple of days, we've been at odds… That's why we haven't been successful. But together, I think we can get Rachel to start sleeping on her own."

"You're right, Scott. Sorry, I haven't been very receptive with trying to solve this together. I've just been so tired I ended up caving to whatever was easiest," Jean admitted.

"I think you had the right idea, actually. We can get her accustomed to sleeping in her own bed again, but with the comfort of knowing that we're here. Eventually, she'll become more and more comfortable and we'll be able to slowly move back into our room," Scott said.

"Hence the mattress," Jean said, pointing to the mattress her husband settled on the floor parallel to Rachel's bed.

"Exactly. We might as well get comfortable. It could be a few weeks before we end up moving back into our bedroom. But I'm determined to solve our little problem no matter what," Scott said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah… I got scared when Peter told me my sex life would die a miserable death if I didn't find a way to get Rachel to permanently go back to sleeping in her own bed."

Jean had to stifle a laugh. "That'll never happen, darling."

"Really?"

Jean nodded. "You're a sexy beast remember? I just can't keep my hands off you."

Scott burst out laughing.

To be continued

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this latest glimpse into the everyday trials of Scott and Jean and their family. Thanks so much for reading.