Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars, I just like to play with their characters.

Boogie Monsters

Emily wakes with a start. Groggy and disoriented, she reaches over to Paige's side of the bed, suddenly very awake when she finds it empty. She sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, then squints at the clock. It reads 4:30 am.

She stays sitting in her bed, waiting for her mind to clear and her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She puts a hand through her hair and glances at the master bathroom, the door is wide open and the light is off. Where is her wife?

Emily knows she has to get up early tomorrow for work and her bed is really, really warm, but she slowly, begrudgingly untangles herself from the covers and gets out of bed. She puts on her robe and makes her way to the door, quietly opening it and makes her way down the hall.

When she rounds the corner, she finds Paige sitting on the ground outside of Emilia's room, her head leaning against the wall and her ear turned into the crack of the open door.

"Paige," Emily whispers, making her way towards her wife. "What are y-"

Paige puts a finger to her mouth and shushes Emily, who frowns, but let's Paige pull her down next to her.

Emily pulls her knees up, wrapping an arm around one of Paige's legs and looks at her, face crinkled and curious. "What are you doing?" Emily asks, keeping her voice soft.

"Listening," Paige answers just as quietly, peeking into the crack.

Listening herself, Emily can hear the hushed voices of her two children. A million questions run through her mind. Why were her children up? Why is Parker in Emilia's room? Why did she have to whisper in her own house? She figures now isn't the time for twenty questions, so she simply asks. "Why?"

"Emilia's scared."

Emily pulls away, instantly alert and fully in mom mode. "What? Then what are you d-"

"Shhh," Paige says, covering Emily's mouth with her hands. "Parker's in there with her."

Obviously. Emily rolls her eyes and mumbles her annoyance into Paige's hands.

Paige frowns. "What?"

Emily pulls Paige's hands away. "I said," she pauses, scowling. "And what?"

"And I'm trying to listen."

Emily stops herself from rolling her eyes again, because really? "To what?"

Paige shakes her head and spreads her legs, bringing Emily in between them, then cracks the door open a little more. 'Listen,' she mouths, pointing to the room.

Emily leans more into Paige. From here, not only can she hear better, but she can see clearly into the room without alerting the children inside.

Emily grins at the sight before her. Emilia is sitting on her bed, legs crossed. Her brother is on his knees, hands gripping her shoulders tightly. The nightlight next to her bed does nothing to hide the terrified look on her face.

Emily listens in, catching the tail end of their rather intense conversation.

"...not real, Emmy. Promise."

"But the mo-"

Parker shakes his head emphatically, abruptly stopping her mid-sentence. "It's just a movie. 'member what momma said? Just smoke and mirrors."

Emilia shrugs. "I don't know what that means."

Parker leans his hands on his thighs. "I don't know either. I know monsters aren't real though."

"Bu-"

Parker points a finger at his sister. "No. And you're the one that cried 'til Stace let you watch it."

Emilia crosses her arms. "Hmmph."

"They're. Not. Real." Parker pokes her nose at each word. "I don't lie."

"Yes. You. Do." Emilia says, her voice significantly lower, obviously copying her brother. She pinches his nose.

Parker yelps, pulling her hand away. "I'm not lying now. Kay?"

Emily covers her mouth, trying to hide her giggle when little Emilia draws a big, way too old for her age, sigh. Her breathe stops though when Parker moves to get out of Emilia's bed. She turns to Paige, eyes wide. "We're going to get caught," she whispers. She has no idea why, but she feels like she's intruding and she'd rather neither of her kids see them.

Paige shakes her head and grins, pointing into the room.

Parker is standing facing Emilia with his hands on his hips. He huffs. "What now Emilia?"

"Can you look again? Please?"

He throws his hands up."Fine," he says, before kneeling down next to Emilia's bed and sticking his head underneath. "Hey!"

Emilia jumps up, taking the comforter with her and throwing it over her body. "Is it a monster?" She peeks her eyes out from under the comforter. "Is it green? I don't like green. Aunt Hanna doesn't like green either."

"Too much time with your friends, wife," Paige whispers into Emily's ear.

Emily puts a finger against Paige's lip and pushes her away, eyes watching Parker as he pulls his baseball glove out from under the bed.

"You took my glove."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." A giggle. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Parker says, standing. He throws the glove to the side and moves to pull the comforter down. "And there are no monsters. Now lie down."

Emilia falls back onto the bed and stretches her arms out to the side.

Parker throws the comforter back on her, moving it around until he is satisfied. " Can I go back to sleep now?"

"No."

"What? Why?"

"Can you stay with me?" Emilia opens her little arms wide. "Pretty please?"

Parker sighs, before folding the comforter back. "Move. If you kick me, I'm leaving."

"I won't."

Emily smiles and watches as Parker gets comfortable in the bed, throwing an arm around his little sister.

"Park?" Emilia sits up.

Parker doesn't move. "Go to sleep."

"You're the best big brother I ever had."

Emily bites her nail, trying not to cry as Paige rubs her arms.

Parker aimlessly throws an arm out, his hand falling on Emilia's shoulder. "You're the best little sister I ever had."

At this point, the tears are falling from Emily's eyes on their own accord, effectively blurring her vision. She quickly wipes them away, not wanting to miss what's going on in the room.

"Good," Emilia says, lying back down.

"Mm-hmm."

Emilia sits up again. "P?"

"Emilia..." Parker throws his hands up and then back down.

"Can we try the dog plan tomorrow?"

Parker rubs his face. "Yeah, we'll try mom first."

"Okay," Emilia says excitedly, lying back down. "Night."

"Night."

"I can't believe she let them watch a spooky movie," Emily says, as she makes her way back to their bedroom, Paige in tow.

"It's not a big deal, Em. We don't even know what movie it was." Paige opens the bedroom door and leans against the wall, waiting for Emily to go in first. "For all we know, they could have watched Casper."

Emily walks through the doorway, pulling Paige with her. "She said monsters. Not ghosts."

"She's a kid. She probably thinks they're the same thing."

"She sounded really scared," Emily says, pulling the covers back and sliding into bed.

"She'll really get over it."

"I still think Stacy should have used better judgment."

"You heard Parker, Emilia begged," Paige says, as she slides in after Emily, snuggling into her.

Emily pulls the covers over them both, wrapping her arms around Paige and tucking her head under Paige's chin. "Like you said, Emilia is just a kid."

Paige laughs. "Yeah, she's your kid."

"What does that mean?" Emily questions, too tired to move and properly pout at her wife, opting to pinch her side instead.

"Ow!" Pays rubs at her side. "I just mean, she's got the Fields'..."

"Watch how you finish that sentence," Emily warns, poking her side.

"...charm," Paige finishes, kissing Emily's head.

Emily frowns and pulls her face away to look at Paige. "Maybe we should look for another babysitter."

"The kids would never speak to us again. Not to mention, we'd have to find someone else who passed the Spencer Hastings inspection. You remember how close Stacy was to failing?"

Emily nods. "You're right."

"I am." Paige says, voice soft and tired.

"Maybe I should check on them."

Paige's arms tighten around Emily. "Maybe you should stay in bed with your wife and go back to sleep. You've got work tomorrow."

"But-"

"Shut-up. They're fine."

Emily huffs. "If there really is a monster under her bed, you're going to be sorry."

Paige chuckles. "I'll take my chances," she kisses Emily's ear. "Besides, didn't you hear? Emilia's got the best big brother ever."

Emily beams. "Paige?"

"Hmm?"

"We've got two amazing kids."

"Your wel-"

Emily pinches her side again.

"Ow! What is with the pinching?"

Emily ignores her, pulling Paige tighter to her. "Goodnight," she says, closing her eyes.

"God, I'm pretty sure that's going to leave a bruise."

"Your welcome."

.

Alright, now that you've read it, I can tell you how much I dislike it. It just feels clunky, particularly the whole Emilia/Parker stuff, but like the last Paily week, I'm using this to hopefully spark the writing bug and I can finish some half written stuff I've got lying around. Despite the clunky-ness, I do hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't read the other fics people put out, you should, they're really good. Thanks, beforehand, for the reviews/favorites and just reading it. It means a lot that people take the time to read anything I put out. And I'm putting this as another chapter to Shit My Kid Says and just use this as a place for me to post anything involving Paily/Parker/Emilia because while I don't have a set time or the kids exact ages, it is based in the same universe. So if you have any ideas involving these four, please send them my way.