My opponent's lips curl into a smirk as he evaluates our situation. I raise my eyebrows at him, daring him to make his next move. He lunges for me without an ounce of stealth or grace. It's easy to step out of his line of fire and he tumbles to his hands and knees. He charges me again. This time I wait until the last second to jump out of his way. He relies on brute force instead of any tactical skills or critical thinking. It makes this battle simple and easy. He grumbles to himself, then charges again. I step out of his way, but he anticipates my move and leaps onto my back. We fall to the ground and continue to wrestle. It doesn't require nearly my full strength to keep him from getting the upper hand, but somehow he spots a weakness in my defense and has me pinned to the ground. He smiles widely.
"I did it. I did it! I pinned Dad!"
Emmett leaps off of me and jumps up and down in excitement. Laughing, I get to my feet as he takes off inside, telling everyone about how he finally tackled me. I dust off my pants before going into the house. He's always been a rough and tough kind of boy, and us wrestling is perfect one-on-one time together. It usually lasts longer, however, and he's usually much more tired afterwards.
"And that's when I pinned him! He never saw it coming!" Emmett brags to his brothers and Rosalie.
"I thought you were going to wear him out," Esme smiles as she comes over to me. She wraps her arms around me, leaning her head against my chest as she watches our children.
"I thought I was too. He's still wound up."
"I can't believe you let him win."
"He's becoming more observant. He recognized a pattern and took his shot," I explain.
"I'm glad he's happy." Esme gives me a devilish smile and looks at me with bedroom eyes. She trails her fingertip up and down my chest. "But we need these kids to go to sleep so we can have some alone time."
Smiling, I lean down and kiss her. We haven't been able to have any alone time. It should be easy enough with our kids still needing regular sleep, but somehow someone always seems to get in our way. Last night it was Alice's nightmares, and the night before that we went through their clothes and toys, sorting through what we would keep, what we could donate, and what we could throw away. We've had nights with Edward having long talks with him about whatever misbehavior he had during the day or catching up with our one-on-one time in an attempt to get ahead of any bad behavior we'll have the next day. Last week Rosalie tried to sneak out of the house to look at the stars and the full moon. When she explained his cosmic fascination, we went outside with her and explained all that we could about the constellations and moon phases. She slept in late that morning, but the others were up at their usual time. When she did wake up, she told Jasper about the stargazing and he wanted to do it too, so that night we did the same thing with all the kids. It threw off their sleep schedule, but they were all so interested. As well as it went, though, Esme and I are desperate for some time to ourselves.
"We ought to just send them to Carmen's and Eleazar's house for the night." I suggest. "You know they'd keep them for us."
"Yeah, and Eleazar wouldn't make them go to bed on time. It would make our job even harder tomorrow when none of them can fall asleep because Eleazar lets them stay up too late and sleep in too long."
I can't deny her point. Eleazar spoils the kids.
"Besides, Alice is already asleep and the others will be asleep soon enough." Esme says.
She pulls away from me, wearing a flirty smile until she turns to the kids and starts rounding them up for bed. Edward and Jasper whine and protest, but Esme is quick to shush them. Rosalie comes over for a hug before hurrying upstairs. Jasper follows to avoid a scolding from Esme. Edward comes over to me.
"I don't have to go to bed yet, right?" He asks.
"Yes, you do. It's bedtime."
"But Dad," He whines and scrunches his eyebrows at me. "Can't we go to your office?"
"Not tonight."
"But Dad!"
"Edward," I say firmly. He crosses his arms over his chest. "Go to bed.
"No!" He huffs and stomps his foot.
"Knock it off, Edward. Go to bed."
The look in his eyes hardens and his lips twist into a scowl. I can't help but sigh. I'm so tired of his attitude. I grasp his shoulder and turn him towards the stairs. We walk together, but he doesn't stop his complaining.
"That's not fair! You and Emmett got to spend time with each other!"
"And you and I will spend time together tomorrow. It's time for bed."
"I don't want to! Let me stay up!"
"No. You're going to bed."
He stops dead in his tracks when we reach the second floor hall. He digs his heels in.
"I'm not going to bed." He protests.
"You don't have to sleep." I compromise. "You just have to be in bed."
"No! I want to stay up with you."
Ugh. This is unreal. Nothing can go easy with him. He has to fight me ever step of the way. I can hear Esme talking to Emmett downstairs. He doesn't want to go to bed either, but she's able to convince him with little pushback. Soon, Emmett is bounding up the stairs and past Edward and me.
"You need to go to bed." I order again. Now Edward is the only thing standing between a long needed night alone with my wife.
"I'm not going!"
I race through possible solutions. I could give in and postpone my time with Esme for twenty minutes so Edward can spend time with me in my office to stop his complaining, but it will only encourage this behavior if I give him what he wants. I could wait him out in the hall. He'll have to tire soon, but it would cut into far too much of my evening. He's still small enough that I could just pick him up and carry him to his room. I can't do that, though. I can't be so physical with him. Maybe there's a compromise to be made…
"Three minutes, Edward." I state. "We'll go to the office for three minutes. You can pick out a book to read tonight. Once the three minutes are up, you are to go right to your room. If you don't, then you'll be grounded for a week."
Edward hesitates before responding.
"Three minutes isn't enough time to pick out a book. Make it ten minutes." He negotiates.
"No. Three minutes."
"Five."
"Three."
"Four."
"Three."
Edward pierces his lips tightly together before giving in with a huff. He drops his arms to the side and stomps back down the steps.
"Fine! Three stupid minutes, then I'll go to bed."
I'm still not confident that this will go smoothly, but at least we've reached an agreement. We go downstairs and to the office. He tries to slam the door before I can follow him in, but I catch it in time. I grit my teeth and check my watch.
"You're time is starting. Pick a book." I tell him.
He grumbles and mumbles under his breath as he scans the bookshelf. Most of what I have on my shelves are far too advance for his reading level, but he'll never admit it if he picks a book that he struggles to understand. He runs his fingers over the spines.
"Two minutes." I say.
"Shut up." He whispers under his breath.
"What was that?" I ask, giving him the chance to correct himself.
"Nothing!" He sasses back.
This boy is going to be the death of me. He pulls out a book, skims the back cover, then puts it back on the shelf. He stretches onto his tiptoes to reach the shelf that's just above his head and pulls out a brown leather bound journal. While thumbing through the yellowed pages, his angry face is replaced with a smile.
"Is this yours?" He asks.
"Yes."
"Can I pick this to read?"
"Let me see it," I request. He narrows his eyes at me.
"You looking at it won't go against my time, will it?"
"No. Bring it here." I sigh. He practically bounces over to me, hands me the journal, and smiles as I look it over. It's a journal I kept during the later part of 1899 while I was in Italy. It's a pretty simple, almost boring journal tracking how I spent my time day to day and has nothing that would be inappropriate for him to read. When I look back to Edward and see his smiling face and excited eyes, I can't tell him no. "You can read it. Go to your room and get in bed."
"Thanks, Dad!" He cheers, steps around me, and runs out of my office.
As soon as Edward's feet hit the stairs, Esme comes into the room and locks the door behind her. My eyes are locked on her beautiful face as pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it to the side. She's in a lacy black bra that I haven't seen before. I wrap my arms around her and she plants a big kiss on my lips.
It's been so long.
"Mom! Dad!" Emmett's voice interrupts us. We both sigh heavily as he runs towards the office. He wiggles the locked door knob in an attempt to get in. "Unlock the door! I gotta ask you something!"
"What do you need, Emmett?" Esme asks.
"Can I get a dirt bike?"
"No!" We both answer in unison.
"Why not?"
"They're dangerous." Esme responds. With my arms around her waist, I lift her up and carry her to my desk. She giggles as I set her on the edge and kiss down her neck.
"What if I promise to be very careful?"
"Go back to bed, son," I tell him.
"Fine! I'll just ask Uncle Eleazar for one. He'll buy it for me." Emmett mutters to himself. We can hear his heavy footsteps as he goes back upstairs.
Esme and I are focused on each other again in the blink of an eye. More clothing is removed as our hands travel over each other's bodies.
"Dad, what does four-flusher mean?"
We groan again when Edward's voice calls through the door. Why can't these kids stay asleep?
"Go to bed, Edward!" I demand.
"But you answered Emmett's question!" He huffs. "You called some guy a four-flusher in your journal. What does that mean?"
"He won't go until you tell him," Esme whispers.
"It's another word for someone who lies. Go back to bed!"
"Sounds like you need to rest. You're cranky!"
"Go, Edward!"
"Fine! I'm going!"
One day we will get to focus on each other without these little interruptions. Edward stays upstairs, but we can hear Emmett roaming his bedroom. He doesn't have much for entertainment in there ever since his tantrum, but he's still restless and pacing around. The office door is locked, though, so even if he decides to come back downstairs, we're at no risk of him walking in.
"How is he still awake?" I sigh as we hear Emmett walking along his bedroom. He trips over something and falls. Esme cuddles up closer to me. We've moved from the office to our bedroom. I glance over at the clock on the wall. It's almost one in the morning.
"I don't know. He woke up at his normal time. He should be tired." Esme says. "He's probably excited about asking Eleazar for a dirt bike."
"We need to make it clear to Eleazar that he cannot buy him a dirt bike. Can you imagine the chaos that would cause?" I say as I think of Emmett flying through the woods and crashing into a tree trunk. Emmett is too much of a daredevil to drive it safely. Rosalie or Jasper could probably handle the responsibility and make decent choices with it. Alice probably wouldn't be interested in it, and I don't even want to imagine Edward's reaction if Emmett got something as expensive as a dirt bike. The whole household would pay hell.
"Carmen told me that after the whole cell phone fiasco she was able to convince Eleazar to get approval for his gifts before buying them." Esme explains. We hear more movement upstairs, and Esme pats my hand. "You should go check on him. Maybe he has something on his mind that he needs to talk about."
Although I don't want to leave our bed, I get to my feet. I hurry upstairs. The sooner I get Emmett to bed, the sooner I can return to my wife. The rest of the bedrooms are silent and still. When I open Emmett's door, his head snaps up towards me and he gives me the charming smile he always has when he's caught doing wrong. He's laying on his stomach in the middle of the room. In front of him is a notebook and a box of crayons that he's using to draw the dirt bike he wants so badly.
"It's one in the morning, son. You need to get to bed." I say. He sighs and sets his crayon down.
"I can't sleep."
"Probably because you've been wondering your room all night." I walk over and kneel on the ground to pick up his crayons and put them back in the box. He frowns as he watches me take them and his notebook to his desk. When I hold my hand out, he grabs it and lets me help him to his feet.
"But I'm not sleepy."
"You'll never fall asleep if you aren't in bed. You need to lay down." I instruct. I put my hand on his shoulder to guide him back to bed. He begrudgingly crawls up and covers himself with his blanket.
"But I can't sleep." He continues to complain.
"You need to try."
"Hmph." He mutters. "Can you at least tell me a story or something to help me get tired?"
So much for my night with my wife.
I try to hide my disappointment as I sit on the edge of his bed. When I ask what kind of story he wants to hear, he just shrugs and tells me he doesn't know. I think back to the journal Edward found and decide to share some stories from the time I've spent in Italy. Emmett closes his eyes but fiddles with the corner of his blanket.
My three minute story turned to five minutes, then ten, then twenty minutes long. He's still awake, so I pull another story from my hat and tell myself that it won't be much longer until he's able to fall asleep for the night.
I'm wrong.
He's still awake at two thirty.
"Honey, are you still awake?" Esme says softly as she comes into Emmett's room. Sighing, Emmett sits up and rubs his eyes.
"I can't sleep."
Esme sits on the bed and Emmett scoots over to lean into her side. She wraps her arms around him and kisses the top of his head.
"Do you have anything on your mind?" She asks.
"No. I just want to sleep." He says with a whine that is unusual for him. Esme squeezes him a little tighter.
"What if I draw a warm bath for you? Do you think that would help?"
"I don't want to take a bath," he protests and pouts.
"Okay. I can bring a CD player and some calming music up here for you. Would you like that?"
He doesn't respond with words. Instead, he whines and shakes his head no.
"What can we do to help you?" I ask.
"I dunno." He mutters.
Esme looks at me with concerned eyes as she comforts our sleepy child. We sit silently and I watch Emmett closely. His eyes are dull and tired, his face is sad. He's still wide awake, though.
"What if we went downstairs and watched some TV?" Esme suggests. Instead of perking up and becoming excited like he usually would, he thinks it over for a moment before finally shrugging.
"Alright."
"Carlisle, can you carry his pillow and blanket downstairs?"
"Of course," I agree.
Esme stands from the bed, and Emmett slowly follows her. He grabs her hand and drags his feet as they leave the room.
"Lay down, sweetheart." Esme instructs once they get to the couch. She sits, and Emmett lays down with his head on her lap. I tuck his blanket around him and sit near his feet. I turn the television in and find a show I think he'll be interested in. We keep the lights turned off and the volume low. He watches the screen, but sleep still eludes him.
The time ticks by, and he's still awake. Esme is able to convince him to try a warm bath after an hour and a half of television. He shifts on the couch to lay his head on my lap when she gets up to draw the bath.
"Why can't I sleep? I'm so tired." He complains.
"I don't know, son."
Esme calls for him, and I walk with him to my and Esme's bedroom. She has the tub in our attached bathroom filled with warm water and bubble bath and a lavender candle lit with the light dimmed as low as they can be. We wait in our bedroom.
"I really thought he was going to fall asleep watching television." Esme sighs. We sit against the headboard of our bed. We can hear the disruption of the water as he lowers himself into the tub.
"I'm shocked he's been up for so long." I say. The clock says it's four in the morning.
"What do you think is going on with him?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think it is because of the age regression?"
"Everything is because of the age regression." I groan. "It's thrown everything off. We can't even have a night together anymore because of all the chaos the age regression has caused."
"Don't be selfish, Carlisle." Esme scolds me as if I were one of the kids. "Emmett's having a hard time and your head is stuck in the gutter. We'll get Emmett through tonight and we'll have plenty of nights to share together after this."
I hold back a sigh. She's right. Just like always.
Hi readers! I'm working hard at wrapping up the loose ends of my unfinished stories, and now I'm focusing on this one. So please enjoy this chapter and the new ones to come.