"Where's Nod?" Ronin glanced around the living room as he untied his boots.

Nod hadn't rushed to him at the door, and he didn't hear him screaming or crying.

"He's under the blanket," Orla pointed to the wiggling green blanket on the couch.

"Is he upset?" Ronin cocked his head to the side.

"He's not as upset as he was a week ago," Orla told him, "he made it through a few more rounds of the game, then decided he wanted to be under his blanket."

"Maybe that's an improvement," Ronin said a bit doubtfully.

"Hiding under a blanket seems much less stressful than screaming or throwing things," Orla agreed.

"That's true," Ronin said, "I'm probably going to try to get back to work in few days. Will you be available to stay with him?"

"It should be fine," Orla said, "just let me know when you're ready."

After seeing Orla out, Ronin went over to the couch. The blanket wiggled a bit more.

"Hey buddy," Ronin tried to pull up the edge of the blanket near Nod's head, "how was your afternoon?"

Nod grabbed the edge of the blanket and refused to let Ronin see under it. Ronin frowned a little, but patted his head through the material and straitened.

"I'm going to go make dinner," he told the boy, "you come out when you're ready."

Nod was still under the blanket when Ronin finished making dinner. He was whistling and chirping and making a tent of it using his feet. He sounded more on the agitated side then cheerful. If Ronin had to guess, he would say Cheep-Cheep was under the blanket with him, and he was carrying on a conversation with him.

Ronin could have tried to grab the boy out from under his cover for dinner, but that didn't seem worth the stress it would cause both of them. Instead, he set the plate of grilled mushrooms and flatbread on the coffee table, along with a bowl of roasted diced peas and sat down in the rocking chair with his own dinner, stretching his feet out in front of him.

For a few minutes, Nod continued to chirp and whistle to himself, then he peeked out of his blanket and eyed the food. Ronin could tell he was trying to figure out how hard it would be to eat dinner under his cover. Finally he slid off the couch and sat on the floor between the couch and the table, dragging his blanket over his head like a hood and sitting Cheep-Cheep next to him.

"Hi there," Ronin grinned at him.

Nod wrinkled his nose at him, then started stacking mushrooms and peas on his flat bread. As usual, he piled too much on and could barely roll the flat bread, but that didn't stop him from trying to get his entire mouth around the roll.

It worked about as well as it usually did, and almost half of the stuffing ended up back on the plate. Nod stuffed it in a second piece of bread, lost half of that, and signed 'hungry' to Ronin.

"You want another piece of bread buddy?" Ronin asked in amusement.

Ronin was used to Nod always being hungry, but it still amazed him how much the boy could eat in a sitting. He offered the boy a piece of bread from his plate, and Nod took it happily, pilling more mushrooms and peas on it.

Nod was much happier by the end of dinner, particular after a nut and dried fruit cookie. Bath time was as wet as usual, and there were no problems with bedtime, and Ronin started to think things might be alright if he went back on duty full time.

It was late afternoon, and Ronin was tired, but not as tired as Nod. The boy had woken up crying three times last night, and every time it had taken Ronin longer to get him settled back to sleep. They had slept late, or at least late for Ronin, but as soon as he had gotten up, Nod had gotten up and refused to let Ronin out of his sight.

The boy had spent the morning following Ronin around everywhere he went, leaning sleepily against his leg and wanting to help with everything Ronin was doing. The pancakes got a little burnt, and it took twice as long as usual to do the dishes, but they were in no hurry, so it didn't matter.

Now Nod was nodding off over his memory game. He was playing one handed, thumb in his mouth and leaning against Ronin's leg.

"How about a nap buddy?" Ronin asked, stroking back the boy's hair.

'Sleep,' Nod signed back to him with a yawn.

"Yep," Ronin stood and picked the boy up, "I think sleep would be a good thing."

Ronin had no hope of Nod settling down to sleep without him there, so he laid down in bed beside him. The boy cuddled against his side, his eyes drooping shut, but they snapped open again when Ronin shifted.

"I'm not going anywhere," Ronin smoothed back his hair, "don't worry."

Nod stared up at him sleepily for a moment longer, then put his thumb in his mouth and drifted off.

Ronin could have used a nap too. Being woken every few hours by a crying child was, in fact, much more stressful than being woken every few hours by potential threats while on patrol. He had a strong suspicion that Nod's bad night had been caused by him being gone all afternoon.

If that was the case, it meant Nod really did need to be eased gradually back into Ronin being gone all day. He would talk to Finn about rearranging their schedules tomorrow. He wouldn't be able to only go in for half days every day, but he should be able to work it out with Finn so the majority of his afternoons could be spent working from home.

Nod grumbled and stretched in his sleep, then snuggled back against Ronin, his thumb coming out of his mouth so he could grab onto Ronin's shirt. Ronin snorted softly and kissed his hair, then settled more comfortably, dropping off to sleep himself.