Submitted by anonymous: You can't banish me! This is my bed, too!
Also, for morethanwords229: Did you just hiss at me?
Did I cheat, combining two prompts, or do I get extra credit?
Elizabeth jolted awake, barely suppressing a moan.
Not already.
She struggled to focus through the fog in her brain; something had woken her, but she wasn't sure what that something was. She shifted slightly, motherly instincts tuned for the baby, despite her exhaustion. She felt her breasts- a good way to indicate if she needed to nurse again- but they were still soft, or relatively so. Jason was feeding every two hours, but was still asleep in the bassinet next to her bed. Relieved he wasn't awake, Elizabeth tried to doze off again.
What the hell is that noise?
"Henry."
No response. The harsh, grating sound cut through the quiet darkness of their bedroom.
Elizabeth flailed her arm across the bedsheets, her hand finally finding the lump that was her husband. "Henry!" He still didn't move.
She smacked him harder. Henry mumbled in his sleep, and rolled over, but didn't wake. The noise, however, stopped. And then resumed again, louder than before.
Are you kidding me?
Elizabeth gently scooted across the mattress to press her body against Henry's back. She drew back slightly with the pressure on her sensitive breasts.
Shit. Ouch. I hate these things.
Grasping his shoulder, Elizabeth shook her husband as she whispered his name, as loudly as she dared.
Henry shot upright in bed. Elizabeth skittered backwards just in time to avoid an elbow jabbing into her chest. "Whaaaa? What's wrong?"
"Henry, you're so loud, you're going to wake the baby. And I can't sleep."
"What?" Henry mumbled, confused in his sleepy haze.
"You're snoring."
"No, I'm not. I don't snore."
"Yes, you do. You've gotta go sleep somewhere else. Go out on the couch," Elizabeth demanded of her baffled husband. She shoved a pillow at him, and gestured vaguely in the direction of their bedroom door.
"You can't banish me! This is my bed, too!"
"Until you can make milk, yes, I can. I'm exhausted. I need to sleep. And if Jason starts crying, I might actually smother you."
"Let me take some of the night feedings. I told you I would."
"When I can go longer than two hours without my boobs exploding, I'll gladly take you up on that offer. But we're not there yet, and Jason still takes so long to eat, I don't have time to pump at night. So babe, I say this with love, but either shut up, or get out."
"I don't believe you. I never snore."
"Yes, you do. When you're really tired, or drunk, you snore." Elizabeth tempered her tone. "I know you've been working most of the night on your research to help with the kids when you can. I
appreciate it, I do." Empathy aside, she didn't relent. "But growing a baby trumps writing a book. Out."
"Fine. I'll go sleep in the trundle bed in the girls' room."
"No." Elizabeth grabbed his arm as Henry started to get up.
"Did you just hiss at me?"
Elizabeth ignored his accusation. "You'll wake them. Daycare is closed tomorrow, and Alison will be a nightmare if she doesn't get enough sleep."
"There's no way I'm that loud." He rolled off the mattress and snatched his pillow.
"Henry, I'm serious. Couch. Or else you can take two grumpy girls and a baby to your lecture in the morning."
"Fine." Even in the dark, Elizabeth could tell when Henry rolled his eyes at her. She just couldn't be bothered to care.
"You just said that. Goodnight, Henry."
Suddenly, Elizabeth saw a shadow appear on the floor behind Henry.
"Daddy? I'm scared." Alison peered around her father, illuminated by the light from the hallway. "Mommy, there's a bear under my bed."
Elizabeth barely suppressed a snicker as she glared pointedly at Henry. "Told you. She's all yours."
To Allison, she promised, "Daddy will find the bear, baby. Go back to bed."
As Alison and Henry headed down the hallway to tackle the bear, Jason began to whimper from his bassinet beside the bed.
"I was hoping you'd sleep through that. Wishful thinking," Elizabeth murmured as she gently gathered her son in her arms.
Elizabeth felt the tell-tale tingling in her breasts as her milk let down. "It's that time again, huh, kiddo? Those are the fastest two hours known to man, I swear."
"Let's get you fed, then see if we can get some sleep now that we've banished the bear."