Notes: For Flufftober - Blankets
The third and final part of the "Little Nora Westhallen" series; follows after "One More Story" and "Lies and Slander"
The Fort
Barry didn't mean to fall asleep, but he'd just come off a long shift with overtime as the Flash thanks to the Tricksters getting... tricky. No time for sleep before Eddie and Iris had to rush off for their own jobs and, being a Saturday, it meant no day care today. He'd gotten Nora to cuddle with him while the little girl's current favorite show was on the tv in living room and, after lunch, he let his eyes drift shut. Just for a few minutes, surely.
When he woke up, Nora was, of course, no longer on the couch for all that the tv was still playing some of her favorite shows. However, the little girl was not the only thing conspicuously missing from the living room. Every single blanket was gone too. The blanket usually draped over the back of the couch was the first one he noticed wasn't there. And the couch pillows were missing too. A quick look over at the basket full of blankets kept in the corner let Barry know those were gone too.
Standing up and stretching, Barry called, "Nora? Nora where are you?"
There was a soft giggle from another room. So Barry followed the sound through the kitchen to the dining room. And he grinned at what he found there.
"Oh no," Barry said, "where has the dining table gone? And the chairs? Did the blankets eat them?"
The blanket fort that was, clearly, using the table and chairs (and a bunch of hair bands) as a base nearly swamped everything. It wasn't just the living room blankets Nora had pilfered for this little project. Clearly she'd taken some from the bedrooms too. The quilt from the guest bed was there and the soft fuzzy blanket Iris kept at the foot of their bed and Nora's favorite Ninja Turtle quilt that Cecile had gotten from a seller on Etsy.
Nora giggled from somewhere inside the fort.
"And now the blankets are laughing. Oh no!" Barry grinned. "What if the blankets try to eat me, next?"
"Da~ad," Nora called out in a sing-song tone, "blankets don't eat anything. Silly." She poked her head out a little flap made by her favorite blanket. "See! It's just me."
"Oh my goodness." Barry crouched down next to her and poked the nearest blanket. "You're sure it didn't eat you?"
Nora nodded effusively. "I made a tent."
"A very nice tent. May I join you?"
Nora nodded again and Barry crawled under the table with her. Just barely avoiding banging his head on the underside of said table while he did so. There were little flashlight lanterns all around so it was actually fairly well lit.
"Read with me?" Nora asked, handing Barry a book. He nodded, curled up next to his daughter - snatching a few of her pilfered pillows - and took the book Nora offered him.
Which was where Iris and Eddie found them when they got home and - by then - Barry had fallen asleep again.
"How about Daddy takes Dad to bed to sleep somewhere more comfortable," Iris offered Nora, "while we put the blankets away and make dinner?"
"You're going to cook something?" Nora asked, a touch doubtfully.
"Cisco is right. You're turning into such a sassy little thing," Iris teased, tickling Nora and grinning at the giggles that earned her. "I'll make dinner by calling for pizza."
"Is that like making a banana?" Barry asked sleepily from where Eddie was helping him out from under the table.
"What's that?" Iris asked. "You want a Hawai'ian pizza?"
"Hey," Eddie complained, "don't punish me too. I didn't do anything wrong."
"Marry Poppins," Nora agreed.
"Practically perfect in every way," Eddie agreed with a wink to their daughter. "Just don't tell Cisco."
