In their first couple weeks of parenthood, Nancy and Jonathan gradually slipped into a somewhat-steady schedule of feeding and changing and soothing, which often included one or both of them falling asleep at odd times whenever Libby went down for a nap. However, nighttime was undoubtedly the least routine period of their day. The only aspect of the evenings that had some semblance of order was the timing of Libby's nightly feedings, and that was just because her tiny stomach could only consume small amounts at a time, and so it had to be frequently refilled. However, between her feedings every three or four hours, it was always a mystery as to whether or not she would remain asleep until the next one. Occasionally, she would wake up due to her need to be changed, and other times, she would simply startle herself awake and need to be rocked back to sleep.

Suffice it to say, they were both tired.

'Get your beauty sleep when you can, Nancy,' the other women at the Times had told her while she was pregnant. 'Because it's going to become a thing of the past.' And while she knew that they had learned from experience themselves, having raised their own newborns, she still wished they'd kindly shut up.

Nancy already knew about exhaustion, having spent countless nights in a row awake in the aftermath of the Demogorgon, as well as a few more after Will's exorcism (although Jonathan, for obvious reasons, suffered worse that time around). She knew what it was like to wake up every couple hours, her mind racing with the remnants of whatever terror had awoken her in the first place. So in all honesty, in comparison to the horrific nightmares she'd experienced, waking up to take care of Libby was like a walk in the park.

However, even considering her semi-optimistic view on things, some nights were still worse than others. These, of course, were the ones when Libby refused to be calmed by either one of her parents, regardless of how they doted on her. On those nights, no amount of rocking or bouncing could calm the infant, and Jonathan often had to resort to putting her in her car seat and driving around the block to put her back to sleep. This could only serve as a temporary solution, however, seeing as he would have to return to work soon. They needed the money, and he couldn't afford to lose much more sleep if he wanted to stay awake on the job.

But somehow, by the grace of God, Nancy soon found Libby's Kryptonite.

The night had progressed differently than most others since it was one of the few when she did wake up as the result of a nightmare, the first she'd had since giving birth to her daughter. In many ways, it was the same as the ones she would typically have: Barb was screaming her name, Jonathan's hand slipped out of hers and failed to pull her out of the tree, the Mind Flayer somehow re-opened the gate, etc., etc. But now, there was the addition of her daughter's frantic crying echoing around the dark forest, as if she herself were trapped in the Upside Down. The very thought sent a chill down Nancy's spine as if her blood had suddenly turned to liquid nitrogen.

She sat bolt upright in bed, panting as if she had just run a great distance, and the sound of her rude awakening caused the baby to start stirring restlessly. However, when Nancy realized that Jonathan was still sound asleep beside her, she quickly swallowed back her tears and scooped her daughter into her arms, shutting the door and speed-walking to the nursery before Libby could start crying and wake him up.

Frankly, after what she had just seen, she was actually thankful that Jonathan had remained undisturbed. She felt like she needed this time alone with her daughter to gather her thoughts and calm the restless pounding of her heart within her chest. Jonathan, although just trying to offer his support, always tried to get her to talk about it, and she didn't want to revisit the thought of her infant daughter in danger.

With a shaky sigh, she collapsed into the old rocking chair that her mother had given them as Libby began to whimper, and her arms immediately started to move of their own volition. She bounced her daughter gently in an attempt to calm her down, but it appeared to be taking little to no effect as Libby continued to cry. It took her a few moments to come to her senses enough to realize she was still shaking as a result of her dream, which couldn't be at all helpful in putting Libby back to sleep. And before she knew what she was doing, she suddenly found herself regressing back to a coping strategy she'd used in the year after the Demogorgon took Will.

She began quietly humming to herself to block out the memory of her nightmare, completely devoting her concentration to the familiar melody of Over the Rainbow. She'd seen 'The Wizard of Oz' countless times growing up (and was also chosen to play Dorothy in her elementary school's production), so she knew every word to the Judy Garland tune, and more often than not, it was just enough of a distraction to calm herself down in the aftermath of an anxious episode.

However, she'd become so invested in calming herself down that it took her a while to notice that Libby had gone quiet in her arms.

Nancy smiled, her nervousness fading away into the back of her mind as her daughter occupied her attention. "You like that song too, huh?" she whispered, stroking her finger along the baby's ruddy cheek. Her teary blue eyes were tired as they stared glassily up at her, but Nancy swore she could also see the beginnings of curiosity taking root in her gaze. So, when Libby started making a disgruntled sound in response to the silence, Nancy was unable to resist indulging her daughter's desire to hear her voice. With a soft breath in, she started to sing the all-too-familiar lyrics:

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high; There's a land that I've heard of, once in a lullaby…" She'd never really considered herself a particularly talented singer, but Libby seemed to hang on her every word, staring up at her intensely as if she had hung every star in the sky. "Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue... and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

By the time she reached the part where happy little bluebirds fly, Libby was fast asleep with her head pillowed against her mother's chest. Nancy let out a content sigh, her heart no longer racing with the memories of the horrors she'd once faced. Now there was only her and her daughter, cuddled together in an old rocking chair while Jonathan slept soundly in the next room. For that moment, she felt safe again, like nothing could ever touch her or her family.

She knew the nightmares would come again… they always did. But with Libby curled delicately into her arms, she would be able to face them. She felt as if she could take on the world, like she could do anything for the sake of her child. She made her feel capable and strong, just like Jonathan did. 'Like father, like daughter,' she supposed, leaning down to press a kiss to the soft peach fuzz on her head.

For a fleeting minute or so, the perfection of that beautiful moment felt endless, as if she could sit here forever and be content watching her baby snoring in her arms. However, her head snapped up when she heard a sudden, loud gasping from the other room, accompanied by the squeak of rusty mattress springs as Jonathan shot up in bed. She sighed sadly; it would appear she wasn't the only one haunted by the past that night.

She stood to her feet and quickly made her way back to their bedroom where her fiancé was indeed sitting up in bed, his breathing heavy and frantic-sounding. His eyes were wide with terror, as if they were still looking out for a monster that had appeared in his living room years ago, and she couldn't distinguish between what moisture on his face was cold sweat and what was the salty residue left by tears.

She carefully sat herself down beside him, ready to provide whatever comfort he needed, but that question was quickly answered for her as he pulled her and Libby into his arms, holding them tightly against his chest (though not tight enough to hurt the baby) as if he were afraid they might fade into nothingness.

"It was here. The gate opened again, but it was here," he said in a gravelly voice, his wet face buried in Nancy's neck. "And when I woke up and you two were gone… for a split second, I thought—I thought that—"

"Shhh…" she cut him off. "It's okay, we're here. We're here, and we're safe," she assured him, running her fingers soothingly through the bedraggled mess of his hair. "It was a nightmare, Jon… just a nightmare. I had one tonight, too."

That seemed to get his attention. "You did?" he asked, lifting his head so he could meet her gaze. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he questioned her, lifting his hand to wipe at his face.

"Trust me, I would have if I'd known you were having one too," she told him, reaching up to touch his cheek. "But Libby woke up when I did, so we went and rocked for a little bit."

He let out a small hum of acknowledgement. "I'm glad you're okay," he replied, turning his head to kiss the scar in the palm of her left hand before turning his attention to the infant in her other arm. "And it sounds like you had some pretty good company."

"The best," Nancy chuckled, a soft smirk snaking across her lips as she held the baby out to him. "Want a turn?"

Desperate for the peace of mind only holding his daughter could provide, he nodded and gently took Libby into his arms. The transfer between them seemed to rouse her from her slumber, but rather than crying like she tended to do when she woke up in her crib, she seemed quite content with being held. She simply made tired grunting noises up at her father and curled her tiny fingers into the fabric of his t-shirt as she yawned.

Jonathan smiled lovingly down at her, letting out a quiet laugh in response to her sleepy sounds, and lifted her up so he could kiss her soft cheek. "I'm sorry we keep waking you up tonight, sweetheart," he apologized. "I know it must be very frustrating for you."

Nancy laughed. "She gets to sleep whenever she wants! She'll tough it out," she rationalized. "Besides… I figured out how to get her to fall back asleep."

Jonathan smirked, raising a curious eyebrow at her while he bounced Libby gently up and down. "Okay, I'm intrigued," he admitted. "Care to demonstrate?"

She grinned, taking Libby from his arms and pressing her hand on his chest. "Lay down then," she told him. "It might just work on you, too."

He'd never looked more confused, but with a shrug of his shoulders, he complied and let her push him back down onto the mattress. Once he was stretched out on his back, she delicately laid Libby on his chest, and while he brought a hand up to steady her on top of him, Nancy laid on her side so she could face them both before she began to sing.

Just as she'd hoped, her lullaby technique worked just as well as it had the first time, Libby's eyelids immediately beginning to droop. As she started to doze off, she cozily nuzzled her way even closer to Jonathan's warmth, her small hand still seizing tiny fistfuls of his shirt until she relaxed completely, her jaw going slack with sleep.

Although Jonathan had let out a yawn here and there through the course of the song, he remained awake nonetheless and was now looking towards Nancy with a ridiculous amount of love in his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, opening his mouth without knowing what to say, before settling on the simplest and most prominent thought in his head. "You're so good with her," he whispered with a soft smile. "I mean, um, I always knew you would be, but… you're just a really great mom, Nance."

That meant more to her than she could sum up in words, so she leaned over to kiss him instead. She figured that her gesture could probably speak for itself, but she murmured a quiet, "I love you," against his lips anyway, which he promptly returned before they separated.

They laid together in quiet bliss for a minute or so, Nancy's head propped against his shoulder beside their sleeping daughter, before Jonathan's quiet voice disrupted the silence. "So, if you get to be Dorothy again… does that make me the scarecrow, the tin man, or the lion?"

Nancy had to clap a hand over her mouth to restrain herself from bursting into raucous giggles and waking Libby up a third time. "If I remember correctly," she said once she had regained her composure. "You were one of the stupid trees that got to throw fake apples at me."

Jonathan grinned fondly at the distant memory. "Oh yeah…" he recalled. "You know, now that I think about it… that was actually sort of fun."

He considered himself lucky right then that their daughter was sleeping on him since Nancy probably would've hit him otherwise. "Hmph… you're a jerk."

He laughed, pressing a playful kiss to her forehead when she glared at him. "I love you too, Nance."

"Shut up before I drop a house on you."

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Feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter or suggest future scenes you'd like to see. Or both! Both is good :)