IT WAS MY BROTHER'S

PROMPT: Night Light (Spongebob Squarepants)

"Mommy!"

Both Emily and Aaron shot upright in their bed at the scream, Emily taking less time to detangle herself from the sheets than her husband. She held back from sprinting down the hall, but only just. She pushed open the door slowly, flipping on the light and bathing her son's room in the bright glow. She could hear Aaron's heavy breathing right behind her.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" she asked, immediately moving to her little boy's bedside. She glanced up as Aaron moved to the window, double-checking that it was, indeed, locked.

"They were coming after me!" Seth cried, crocodile tears streaming down his chubby cheeks.

She kissed his hair, still very much blonder than the rest of their biological relatives. "Who, honey?"

Seth snuggled right against her side, curling into a ball as tightly as he could. "The monsters, Mommy."

Emily found herself relaxing slightly. Monsters. She could deal with monsters and from the way Aaron's body was relaxing they both realized that it had been a bad dream. "It's okay baby, the monsters are gone. All gone."

"But they come back," Seth argued. Okay, so maybe it hadn't been a bad dream. Shadows could be monsters too.

"Nah," Aaron responded with a wide smile. "Monsters are afraid of the light."

"But I can't sleep with the light on," Seth pouted.

Aaron exchanged a look with Emily and then left. Emily cuddled Seth tightly to her side, trying not to grin as they waited for Aaron's return. When he did come back, there was a small object in his hand that Emily recognized oh too well.

"Daddy! I don't wanna night light," Seth argued.

"This isn't just any night light," Aaron replied sagely, well-aware of their son's 'big boy' phase. That meant no blankie, no little kid toys and obviously, no night light. "It's a special night light."

"Special?" Seth asked, as he messily wiped at the tears drying on his cheeks.

Aaron nodded seriously. "It was your brother's night light."

Seth screwed up his face. "Jack didn't have a night light!"

Emily exchanged a grin with her husband. Seth all but worshipped the ground Jack walked on and the light had indeed been in Jack's room until the boy was seven. He idolized his older brother and loved him dearly.

"Jack used this night light all the time when he was your age, and look at him now," Aaron said, turning the night light over in his hand. He held it out for his youngest. "You're allowed to use a night light. It doesn't make you any less of a big boy than Jack is."

Tentatively, and biting his lip, Seth took the night light from his father's outstretched hand. He wriggled himself off the bed, scampering to the plug behind his bedside table and very carefully sliding it into the socket. The light illuminated enough of the room that it was possible to see all of the furniture and determine which shadows were which.

"Is that better?" Aaron asked, exchanging a knowing look with his wife.

Seth nodded eagerly. "Can I go thank Jack?"

It was a Jack weekend and the fourteen-year-old was sound asleep in his basement room. Emily smiled indulgently. "Why don't you thank him at breakfast, okay?"

Seth scrambled back up on the bed, slipping between his parents to burrow under his blankets. "Okay. I think I can go to sleep now."

Emily and Aaron obediently pushed themselves off of Seth's bed, bending to kiss a cheek and Seth's head respectively.

"Good night, sweetheart," Emily said as she flicked off the overhead light.

"Night Mommy! Night Daddy!" Seth's little voice responded.

The next morning, the usually slow and lethargic Seth Hotchner was anything but. He was bouncing in his seat as Emily brought AJ and Kate down for breakfast. When Jack all but stumbled up the stairs, Seth was off like a rocket, bounding happily into his big brother's arms. Despite being groggy, Jack managed to catch him, letting out a strangled 'oomph'.

"Good morning to you too," Jack grumbled good-naturedly, lifting the boy into his arms. Seth was almost five and not light for his age, but Jack didn't seem to mind.

"Not morning," Seth argued, wrapping his arms around his big brother's neck.

"Not a good morning hug?" Jack asked to clarify, setting Seth down on the kitchen floor. "Then why?"

"Thank you," Seth replied with a wide, beaming smile. "For my night light."