The first night in the house was the hardest.
Jason and Piper put the kids to bed in the same room, the toddler bed and crib sitting right next to each other. They had brought both and Piper insisted that the girls sleep in them, the two kids used to them as much as Piper was used to Jason. Warm milk and a bedtime story later, the kids were both asleep under the soft glow of the nightlight plugged into the wall.
Once sure that the kids were sound asleep, Piper and Jason went to their own room down the hall. It was the master bedroom and was full of furniture, so the only thing they added was the boxes of their clothes. The bed was a large four poster, with silk red curtains and a matching bedspread. A rug of the same color covered the wooden floor and gave them relief from the constant hardness on their feet.
When they laid down to sleep, Jason couldn't get comfortable even though his body sunk into the bed. He felt like someone was watching him, watching his moves and his thoughts and his actions. It was hard to sleep thinking that every move you made was somehow wrong in the eyes of someone else.
Piper slept well beside him, her soft breathing tickling the skin on his neck. She didn't seem fazed in the least by the weird energy, or she was exhausted from watching the girls all day. Either way, Jason was alone in his fear all night.
At one point, in his half-asleep daze of reality, he thought he saw someone in the doorway staring at him. The figure didn't move, didn't speak, and didn't last long. In seconds it was gone. He eventually fell asleep, but he couldn't get that figure out of his mind. It haunted his dreams until Piper woke him up in the morning.
"Jason," Piper's hair falling into his face woke him from the vivid dreams. "I need to go to the store. The girls are hungry."
Jason groaned softly, his eyes cracking open to the pale sunlight that filtered into the room. "Pipes, what time is it?"
"I would know if you had put an alarm clock in here." His wife was already dressed and ready to go out, Maddie on her hip and Katie sitting on the bed by her. "You need to get up and start unpacking while I'm gone."
"Pipeeerrrr." Jason groaned, rolling onto his stomach. "I was up all night. Can't that wait?"
"You want to show your kids that things can wait because you're lazy?" Piper asked, gesturing to Katie beside her. "I mean if that's the message you want to put out there..."
"Fine, I'm up." Jason pulled himself up so he was sitting by Katie, his feet hanging off the bed. "You all have fun at the store. The directions are in the car."
"I know, I saw them." Piper's face turned sour. "I never dreamed of having to drive so long to get there."
"Make sure you don't forget anything." Jason teased, moving a hand to rub the top of Katie's head. "Good morning, sweetheart."
Katie swatted at his hand, her blue eyes drained and tired. "Bad dreams last night, daddy."
"Come on, Katie." Piper moved a hand to her daughter and turned her to the door, no doubt trying to keep her mind off of the nightmares. "Let's go pick out some food. Then we can cook together in the new kitchen. Sound fun?"
"Imma sleep," Katie mumbled, her head against Piper's leg as they exited the room. Piper blew one last kiss to Jason before disappearing down the hallway, leaving him alone in the room with nothing but his fears. In ten minutes, he heard the car doors close and the sound of the tires crunching against the gravel.
Jason sighed as he stood off the bed and stretched, his tan arms absorbing the dull light from the floor lamp in the corner. Everything was quiet, but not peaceful. He missed feeling safe in his own home.
With nothing to eat in the new fridge or the cupboards, Jason pulled a box of cereal out of one of the moving boxes and ate it dry as he paced in the main living room. There was a lot to do, including a full walkthrough of the house. He had touched the main parts with the realtor, yes, but he felt like he hadn't seen most of it. If he was ever going to get comfortable there then he needed to know exactly what was there.
After he finished the box of cereal he tossed it aside and headed upstairs. The second floor of the house seemed reasonable, with a hallway that eventually formed a circle. Off of it were different rooms. Near the end, another staircase led to the next floor.
"Okay, let's see." Jason traced his steps back to his bedroom and then to the one his daughters currently shared, sweeping them over to make sure that they were safe. His and Piper's was reasonable, but there were a couple drawers that were locked in the wardrobe and a door that wouldn't open. As much as he tried to open it, the wooden slab stayed rooted to the wall as if it was super glued there.
Nico watched the man as he struggled to open the door, a small smirk plastered on his pale face. It may be Jason's house now, but Nico wasn't going to let the man snoop through his parents' things. He had tucked everything important away where nobody would find it, but apparently, Jason decided to push his luck.
A short laugh escaped Nico's lips when Jason got a splinter, his large hand having slide across the wooden door painfully. It wasn't that smooth wood you could now get, but a large wooden slab that looked like it had just came off the tree. Nico had had to improvise, and it worked in the end.
Having accidentally given himself too much substance, Nico's laugh was faintly heard by the blond it was directed at. Jason's whole body froze, even his whimpers of annoyance ceasing to come out. After a minute he turned around to see if he could find the culprit, but Nico kept himself invisible. For now, at least. He had to see what this family could offer.
