A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's been crazy with school and everything.
For those of y'all that were confused with my other story ' A Son's Plea' here's some explanation: Yes, Nick is dead (tear) but I don't say how because I left it out for you to come up with a reason why. The last sentence, when it says "It wasn't the first time Sara cried herself to sleep and it wouldn't be the last…" is meant for you to also come up with what happens next, like an open ending.
By the time that they got home, Sara and Nick were ready for a nap themselves. They didn't get very much sleep between their job and both kids. And very rarely did both Alex and Maddie take naps at the same time, so when they did Nick and Sara jumped all over the chance.
"I think that since both of them are asleep, we should take this to our advantage." Nick stated what they both thinking.
"You're right. Grab Maddie, I'll get Alex and I'll meet you in the bedroom."
"Deal." Nick went to the passenger side of the car where Maddie was and opened the door. He successfully got her out of her seat, into the house and in her bed without waking her up. But as he was walking out of her room she started to awake.
"Daddy?" she asked still in a sleep fog.
"Yes, sweetheart." Nick turned around and walked back to her bed.
" I sweep in your bed? Pwease." She pouted. Nick could tell she was only half asleep and knew that she would probably start crying at any moment.
"Alright. But only for a little while."
By the time Nick picked her up and walked down the hall she was already back asleep.
"Did she not want to sleep in her room?" Sara asked walking into their room.
"No. I think she's just really tired." Nick said as he placed her in the middle of the bed.
"Yeah, me too." Sara walked to her side of the bed and lay down. She leaned over Maddie to kiss Nick who had just crawled in himself. Within five minutes they were both fast asleep.
For the third time that day, Nick awoke to the crying of a baby. He rolled over and cautiously opened one eye. 'One hour. That's it.' He thought. He made the move to get out of bed but was stopped by Sara.
"You got up with him this morning. I'll do it."
Nick didn't argue; he just put his head back on his pillow and fell back asleep.
Meanwhile, Sara had walked across the hall in much the same manner Nick had that morning. She picked up Alex but he didn't stop crying. "Are you hungry?" She asked him, but all she got back was more crying. "Okay, okay. Let's get you fed."
Fifteen minutes later, Sara had Alex fed and sitting in his swing in the living room while she picked up around the house. She opened all the blinds and windows to let some light and fresh air in. After she had swept the kitchen, did the dishes, picked up around the living room and dining room, Sara picked up Alex from his swing and placed him on the rug in the middle of his room. She then went to picking up the nursery. By the time Nick walked in ten minutes later, she had already restocked everything, took Alex's clothes to the laundry room, and folded some of his clean clothes.
"Hey little guy." Nick said picking up Alex.
"Have a nice nap, honey?" Sara asked.
"Yes. It was refreshing."
"Do you think you could take 'em to the park later so I can finish cleaning?" Sara finished folding Alex's clothes and put them in the proper drawers in his dresser.
"Well, what need's to be done?" Nick asked walking to the rocking chair and sitting down.
Sara ticked off the things that needed to be done on her fingers as she said them, "A couple of loads of laundry, our room, Maddie's room and the bathrooms and the office might need a little straightening."
"Why don't you take them to the park and I'll clean house?" Nick asked.
"Nick, do you know where the normal towels go, compared to the guest towels?" Sara asked.
"Yeah, in the linen closet in the hallway."
Sara noticed that Nick seemed proud of himself because he thought he answered the question right, " Wrong." Was her answer and his ego deflated.
"Then where do they go?"
"The guest towels in the cabinet in the spare bathroom and the regular towels in the linen closet." Sara replied making her point. She knew that if she left Nick to clean house, she wouldn't be able to find anything later.
"Okay, so now I know. Guest towels: bathroom closet. Regular ones: linen closet. I'll remember that. What else?"
"As much as I would like to take the kids to the park, if I let you clean up I wouldn't be able to find stuff later." Sara said, stating her earlier thought, " But I really appreciate the offer though."
"It wasn't an offer." Nick said, but when Sara gave one of her 'this isn't up for discussion' glares he gave in, " Okay, I get it. I'll take the kids; you clean house."
"Thanks baby." Sara gave Nick a kiss on the cheek and headed into their room.
Nick stood up and put Alex in his crib, "Stay here, little man, I'll be right back." Alex cooed at him and started sucking on his pacifier. Nick then followed Sara out of the room and across the hall.
"You think I should wait 'till Maddie wakes up to take 'em?" Nick asked lowering his voice as he sat next to her on the bed, as she matched socks.
"No. You should probably wake her up now so she'll sleep tonight." Sara said throwing a matched pair into the basket at her feet.
"Okay. I'll get them ready and then we'll go." Nick stood up and threw a pair he had matched into the basket. "How long do you think you'll need?"
"An hour." Sara threw in another pair.
"Alright." He walked around to the other side of the bed and tried to wake up Maddie up. "Maddie. Maddie." He said shaking her shoulder a little.
"Daddy?" she said in a sleepy haze.
Nick hated waking her up but Sara was right, "Come on honey, get up. I'm going to take you and your brother to the park."
"Weally?" she sat up and Nick noticed that she didn't sound as sleepy as before.
"Really. Your brother is already awake. Come on. Go put your shoes on and meet my in his room."
"Okay." Maddie hopped off the bed and went to her room and Nick headed back into the nursery to get Alex ready.
A minute later, Maddie walked into Alex's room, "Daddy, tie my stwings."
"Sure." Nick bent down and helped tie her laces. Then he turned back to get the diaper ready but he saw that it was already fully stocked, so he headed into the closet to get the stroller. "Maddie, grab Daddy a blanket from Alex's dresser. They're in the bottom drawer." Nick said as he picked up Alex and buckled him into the stroller.
"Okay Daddy."
There were a few moments of silence and Nick wondered what she was doing. "Did you get one honey?" he asked as he turned around. "Oh my." was his reply when he saw what she had done. Maddie had pulled everything out of the bottom drawer looking for a blanket. "Maddie, what did you do?" Nick asked laughingly as he left Alex and walked over to her.
"I look for bwanket Daddy." Maddie said while she continued to rifle through all the things on the floor.
"The one on top would have been fine, sweetheart." Nick handed Maddie the first blanket he came to, "Take this one to your brother."
"Okay." Maddie walked over to Alex and placed the blanket in the stroller, "Here brodder."
"Thanks. Now let's get this stuff put back before you mom blows a gasket." Nick said starting to fold the other blankets and clothes.
"What's gasket?" Maddie asked picking up some stuff and shoving it into the drawer.
"It's a figure of speech."
"What that?"
"Uh…" Nick didn't know how to explain to a three year old what a figure of speech was, but before he could think of something to answer her question Sara walked in.
"What happened in here?" she asked walking over to Nick and Maddie.
"I help Daddy." Was Maddie's reply.
"Oh, so this is a result of Hurricane Maddison."
"Yep." Maddie said sticking her chest out, something Sara knew she got from Nick.
"Well, why don't you leave this to me and y'all can go to the park?"
"You sure, honey." Nick said looking up from folding.
"I'm sure."
"Okay, let's go. See you later." Nick stood up and kissed her.
"See wadur, Mommy." Maddie repeated.
"Bye." Sara said back to the both of them.
Nick went back to the stroller, picked up the diaper bag from where he set it, and started pushing it with one hand as he took one of Maddie's hands in his other.
"Daddy, we pway on swing?" Maddie asked as they walked out the door.
"Sure, Baby. We'll play on everything."