Hey! I'm back, sorry for the delay. Okay so this is Sleepy's chapter [Don't worry I'm not skipping Doc, there is a reason for this order]
This chapter takes place ten days after the previous chapters. I'm not going to spend too much more time on the 'grieving' arc. We've got Doc and then Watchful then that's it.
See chapter 1 for the disclaimer.
When Sleepy woke up it was to find he had a cup of tea in his hand and was sitting on the sofa. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light he looked at the cup in suspicion. The first time this had happened he'd just drunk the tea straightaway and nearly burned his mouth as a result. He'd woken up after only just making it.
Well since the he'd learned and therefore always took a little sip from the edge as he did now. He sighed, it was lukewarm and therefore drinkable. With that he swished it down his throat.
Feeling a bit better he looked round the rooms to see if any of his brothers were there. No. Dammit. Now he didn't know how long he'd actually been asleep. Not that it really mattered but he did like to know.
He got up and stretched, feeling his shoulders crack satisfactorily. Rubbing one eye he looked at the clock. It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Damn. Last time he'd looked at that clock it was 11. It was a Sunday and he actually had homework to do and a lot of it, seeing as he was in his final year at Secondary School.
Stifling a yawn he forced himself to move and set off in search off his backpack. The minute he turned into the hallway he heard giggling and looking up saw Sneezy and Bashful sitting at the top of the stairs.
"What are you two laughing at?" He asked them, digging some sleep out the corner of his left eye.
"Watch this!" Sneezy suddenly came hurtling down the stairs towards him and the next thing the eldest knew he was at his feet, beaming up at him.
"What…?"
"Bag!" Sneezy got up and waved the aforementioned object in his brothers face. "We found them outside! They're fun to play with. Your turn, bashhy!"
With that the two-year old copied and also ended up at the bottom of the stairs, giggling.
Sleepy nodded. "I see. Well, be careful, have fun and for god's sake don't put them over your heads." And with that he set off up the stairs and went to his room.
Happy was the only one in there, which was as it should be considering it was his, Happy's and Sneezy's room. "Hey Sleepy!" Happy waved enthusiastically from his bed. "Have a good sleep?"
"Yeah, it was great." Sleepy muttered as he picked clothes off the floor and gathered them into his arms, hoping the back-pack would materialise under them.
"Cool! Yeah I saw you earlier when I got lunch. I had a cheese sandwich! It was really nice. Dreamys says we'll be able to have proper cheese from Giselle soon, won't that be neat?"
Sleepy murmured something that might had been a 'yes' and proceeded to pull his duvet of his bed.
"Oh, by the way we've got to be quiet cos Dopey's having a nap. Doc and Dreamy are downstairs in Doc's little lab planning a pen for Giselle. Giselle's really neat, isn't she? I really like her, I think she can understand what I say, you know. She bleats whenever I ask her a question."
"Awesome." Sleepy said, not really listening as at this current moment he was rummaging through his wardrobe.
"What are you looking for?" The direct question caught the eldest attention and he replied.
"My school rucksack. I've got homework to do and I need it…"
"Oh, I know where that is."
Sleepy paused, before crawling out the wardrobe. "You do? Oh, great, well tell me."
"Sure. You took it into mum and dad's room – or rather dads room. Dad and Dopey's room?"
"Why would I do that?"
Happy shrugged. "I dunno. You do lots of weird stuff when your asleep. You sleep bounce on your bed like a trampoline. And you sleep-eat. And sleep-talk…"
"Woah, woah, woah." Sleepy held up a hand. "I sleep –bounce?"
"Yeah. On your bed. Why's you think Doc's always complaining he has to fix the springs?"
The eldest ran a hand over his forehead. He was getting a headache. "You know what, whatever. I'll go get the bag. You staying in here?"
Happy lay back in his bed and grabbed a book from the floor. "Yeah. I'm reading Michael Morpugo. It's English homework."
With that Sleepy left his room and quietly tip-toed to his dad's door. With a hand on the handle he took a deep breath. His dad hadn't been brilliant ever since their mum died. At least he'd been getting out of bed a bit more recently. Well. Only twice in the past month, and one of those was for Doc's birthday, but it was a start.
Suddenly finding the courage from somewhere Sleepy pushed the door open. His eyes went immediately to the cot. Yes Dopey was still asleep.
Then his eyes went to the bed, yes his dad was still asleep. At ten past two in the afternoon. His eyes adjusting to the darkness the room was in, Sleepy was just about able to make out the shape of his back-pack hanging on one of the bed-posts.
Carefully the eldest edged forward and gently lifted the bag from the bedpost. Unfortunately he didn't realise how heavy it was and it crashed to the floor with a bang waking up Dopey who, as you might expect, started crying.
"No, no, no, no…shh, shh." Sleepy tiptoed over to the crib and picked Dopey up, jiggling him and bit and shushing him as he'd seen Doc do. This just resulted in Dopey screaming louder.
A groan from the bed alerted Sleepy the fact that his dad was waking up. Now, what he should have done was leg it out the room, but his brain and his legs refused to co-operate so he just stayed there frozen.
"Ugh. Dopey…what? Sleepy?" Watchful squinted at the dark shape by the baby's cot.
"Hey dad." Sleepy said, still juggling Dopey.
Watchful rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"
"About quarter past two."
"What in the morning?"
"Afternoon, actually." By now Dopey was quieting down a little bit.
"Where are the boys?" Watchful said, sitting up in bed.
"Happy's in our room, Sneezy and Bashful are racing each other down the stairs on plastic bags and Doc and Dreamy are downstairs working on Giselle's pen."
"Giselle?"
"The goat Dreamy rescued from the Johnson's, remember? I did tell you about it."
"Ah, yes, that goat. What's the date today?"
"25th May, remember, it was Doc's birthday three days ago. We went to the Goldmine for lunch. Doc had chocolate cake…" It was about the first time in three months Doc hadn't been majorly stressed. Sleepy added to himself.
"His fourteenth." Watchful muttered.
"Yes, that's right. Eh…do you wanna come downstairs? Get dressed? You could see the pen Doc and Dreamy are working on. It looks really sturdy." He put Dopey backing his crib.
Watchful paused, considering it. He should really get out of bed again. It had been nice going out with his boys a couple of days ago. He'd spent too long in darkness. "No, I don't think so." He heard himself saying instead. "I'll have a look when it's finished though. I promise."
Sleepy, doing his best to hide his disappointment, said. "Oh, no, sure. That's…fine. Sneezy and Bashful miss you." He wasn't sure why he said that. They were perfectly happy racing plastic bags down the stairs.
Watchful felt a twinge of pain at his heart. "I know. But…I just…can't. Sleepy!" He said, louder than he'd intended to as the boy started to leave.
Sleepy stopped. "Yes dad.2 He said, hopefully.
"Could you…could you open the curtains for me? Please?"
"Sure thing." He did so, and the hovered near the window. "Anything else?"
"Maybe a cup of tea would be nice." Watchful said.
"Sure thing dad."
"...Thanks son."
Sleepy nodded and, taking the back-pack with him, shut the door.
Watchful buried his face in is hands. He needed to get himself sorted. Mr Cranky-Dwarf wouldn't let him stay of work forever. He needed to be able to get out of bed. Well, at least he had the curtains open. That was a start.
