The lack of noise was almost concerning.
No more than a half hour ago, she had heard the blaring of the speakers, playing through the latest home edition of some Max Jackson film or another. The boys were really into that franchise and frequently dragged their father off to go watch it, much to the older Pseudobane's chagrin.
Outlander had concentrated her efforts instead to paperwork. More specifically, editing it so that it was synonymous with certain reports and lists. Thaddius hadn't been sleeping well due to a consistent stream of nothing but corporate work and in the spirit of keeping things in order, War had taken to make sure that every bit of information was put together so that everything came out correctly. It wouldn't do to have the industrialist finally get some sleep and look over almost three weeks of budget reports only to find out none of it matched up and had to be redone again.
When she had left, the boys had dragged their father haplessly along with them to 'relax'. If she knew Thaddius in any way, he had sat with them, put the movie on, and continued working. But now, there was silence. No whispered calling to her to help put the children to bed, no loud obnoxious movie noises of which she was almost certain she had heard the credits go by anyway. Nothing.
Silence.
There was no indication that anyone was actually in any threat to their well-being, so she took her time to finish the last of what was in her hand before standing up to go and check on the three of them in the dark lounge nearby. Swirl of silk, click of the braces against the floor where the carpet didn't cover the stone tile, easy enough to alert anyone to her presence. She did not even receive a grunt of acknowledgement out of Thaddius, though turning the corner to face him showed why.
She shouldn't have been worried to begin with, she realized, staring at the picture before her with a hint of adoring amusement. Xerxes and Marius had huddled along one side of their father, resting against one another beneath the elder's broad arm. Thaddius? Had also drifted off for once and seemed at relative peace, the tablet that had not been far from his grip lately resting off-kilter over his face, head tilted back on the rise of the couch.
She had to do this carefully, moving toward the picturesque nap and reaching for the tablet threatening to fall off the larger industrialist's face. Fingers balanced its frame enough to pull it up and set it aside so no harm would come to it. The throw piled in one corner of the couch was unfolded, the television screen flicked off.
It had been a long few weeks, such that she had started missing him. The opportunity was given, she would take it. With a gentle flop, she was next to him on his unoccupied side, pulling the throw around him, the kids, and herself. Thaddius stirred a bit, cracked one eye open drowsily, and moved his arm on her side to accommodate her sudden presence better. She took the cue, Outlander slipping against him once the blanket was situated properly. His arm draped across her, a tired noise escaping him as though welcoming her to the pile of her boys.
She settled in, relaxed, and soon enough drifted to sleep with him, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing in one ear.
A/N: More from princeofmints/WATERMELON-S33DS
Wanted Thad passed out with the kids while movie watching.