The next morning, I was woken up by Hunter kicking me in his sleep. He must have snuck into my bed in the middle of the night. I turned my head to look at the clock. 8am and he was still asleep. I liked that. I stretched a little and rolled over. I felt groggy and over-tired. After laying around for close to half an hour without more sleep or Hunter getting up, I quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed into the bathroom for a super quick shower. By the time I had washed, dressed and dried my hair, Hunter was out of bed, sitting on the living room floor in front of the couch where Amelia was still passed out. He was watching cartoons on mute. I smiled at him and gestured towards the kitchen. He flicked off the TV and followed me. I silently began gathering the things to make pancakes, flicking on the coffee maker in the process, while Hunter sat at the table, watching. Shortly, we had our pancakes and I also had my coffee. Hunter hummed softly in between bites. After we finished, he helped me rinse off the dirty dishes and stack them in the dishwasher. As we were putting the last of the cutlery in, Amelia stumbled into the kitchen, eyes still closed, mumbling something about coffee. I playfully rolled my eyes at Hunter who giggled and I grabbed a mug from the cupboard, filling it up for Amelia. I stuck it down and pushed the sugar bowl over to her. She popped one eye opened and managed a half smile before Hunter and I headed to get him dressed.
After finally getting Hunter dressed, we headed outside to run around in the yard until Amelia was showered and dressed. We'd been outside for about an hour when she came to the front door and called us in. When we got inside, we found Claude and Dermot up and dressed for moving.
"Just grabbing a quick cup of coffee before we get started," Claude informed me. "We're going to need lots of muscle today Hunter. Do you think you're up for the job?" Hunter became serious and nodded. I smiled and grabbed myself a second cup of coffee. When we'd finished our drinks, Claude and Dermot ran upstairs to make sure everything was packed and started bringing boxes down. Amelia, Hunter and I headed up to help too. Thankfully, there was plenty of small boxes and items that Hunter could carry easily. We brought everything out into the backyard by the cars. When we were finished, I took a good look at the pile we'd made.
"You know, we could probably fit all of this into all three cars," I mentioned, hoping Amelia wouldn't mind I'd volunteered her car. She nodded, happy to be of service. We managed to easily fit everything in the cars, with lots of room for Hunter in mine and Dermot in Claude's. Amelia and I followed Claude to Monroe and then began unloading the cars, bringing everything straight into the living room. It seemed to take less time to unload the cars than it had to unload the house. We finished quickly, and soon it was time to leave. Amelia went ahead back to the house while I said my goodbyes. I gave them each a hug.
"Now, don't be strangers. Drop by for a visit whenever you'd like," I told them. Claude's face got serious.
"And if you ever need anything, any help, please call me. I'll do everything in my power to help," he said. I nodded, hugging him again in thanks. Hunter gave Claude a hug and waved goodbye to Dermot before climbing into the backseat. I made sure he was strapped in before getting into the car myself and buckling up. I headed back to Bon Temps and stopped at a playground in town, letting Hunter run around for about an hour before heading back to the house for lunch. We'd had a busy morning, so after lunch I wasn't surprised that Hunter was looking a little sleepy. I put him down for a little nap in the guest room before heading upstairs to give Amelia a hand at cleaning it up and setting it up for her stay. While Hunter and I had been at the park, she'd gone to Wal-Mart and bought herself a couple sets of new sheets that were in the dryer already and a comforter that was in the washer, along with a lamp or two and some pictures. To make it feel more homey, she told me. By the time we were done, Hunter was up from his nap. After he'd woken up, I sat him down at the table with some colouring books and a couple puzzles. Amelia and I had decided to go out for dinner that evening so we only had to kill a little over an hour for Hunter and I didn't want to plop him down in front of the TV for that. While he coloured, I jumped in the shower just to wash the dirt and sweat off from the day. I tied my hair up high on my head in a messy bun to avoid getting it wet. Then I slipped on a nice pair of jeans and pretty blouse and grabbed my nicest pair of sandals to wear.
Eventually, we were all ready to go and after making sure the house was locked up, we jumped into my car and headed for Merlotte's. Where else would we have gone? It was pretty busy for a Saturday night, and Hunter was a hit with everyone. I could feel Eric's tension through the bond and it made eating difficult, but I managed to eat most of my fries and chicken tenders regardless. After a while, we'd finished eating and I realized it was almost Hunter's bedtime. We paid our bills, making sure to tip our waitress (one I'd never seen before, so she must have been one of Sam's random fill-ins) well and I waved goodnight to Sam before heading home.
I got Hunter into the bath, where he played in the water until his fingers were pruney (at his request) and then dressed him in his PJ's before setting him in front of a movie to wind down for a moment. By the time I'd cleaned up the bathroom after his bath, he was fast asleep on the couch, less than half way through his movie. I turned off the TV and picked him up carefully to put him in bed, making sure to leave the door open a crack. I snuck upstairs to see if Amelia wanted to join me in watching a movie and found her spread out on her bed, fast asleep herself. I laughed to myself and headed back downstairs deciding instead to read in bed. I dressed for bed and pulled out a new book. I was asleep myself before I'd even finished the first chapter.
The next morning, I woke up fairly late. After making a quick stop in the bathroom, I left my room to find Hunter asleep on the couch, the TV turned way down and tuned to some cartoons. I went into the kitchen and made myself some coffee, opting to have a bowl of cereal over pancakes again. Before I'd even finished my first bowl, Hunter and Amelia were both shuffling sleepily into the kitchen.
"Toast or cereal?" I asked them. Amelia pointed in the general direction of the coffee pot and Hunter asked for cereal. I let Amelia get her own coffee while I grabbed Hunter's dishes. He served himself and very carefully poured his own milk. He slurped his cereal happily while I served myself a second bowl as well as a second cup of coffee. After we'd finished and cleaned the kitchen, we all got dressed and then Amelia and I surprised Hunter with a trip to Shreveport where to took him to an indoor jungle gym filled with slides and mazes and all sorts of fun things for kids. He had a blast. When lunch time came, I broke down and took him to McDonald's. I warned him to be careful with his gift and not scare anyone again. He told me he would be very careful. Soon it was time to head home so we'd be there when Remy came to pick Hunter up. We'd only been home a few minutes, running around in the yard again, when Remy's truck pulled up.
"Daddy!" Hunter shouted, running and jumping into his arms as soon as he was out of the truck. Remy held his boy tightly. I ushered them inside where we gathered Hunter's things together, making sure he didn't forget anything. I gave Hunter a really big hug goodbye.
"Now, you call me again if you want, ok? And we'll talk about you coming back for another visit soon," I told him. He nodded and gave me another hug. Remy thanked me for taking Hunter for the weekend and I thanked him for allowing me to do it. I waved goodbye as they climbed into the truck and watched them drive away. Amelia appeared behind me just as the truck was out of sight.
"It's going to be so quiet here now," she said. I nodded in agreement. I sat down on the couch and read my book until dinner time. As I was getting up to make it, Amelia flew down the stairs.
"Nope, same routine as before. It's my turn to cook!" she informed me. I shrugged, letting her do the cooking. I followed her into the kitchen anyways, to see if I could be of any help. She refused all of my help so I watched as she prepared oven roasted chicken in a teriyaki glaze with fresh salad, chatting with her the whole time.
Just as we were sitting down to eat, I had an enormous stomach pain, like a white hot knife slicing through my stomach. I excused myself and ran for the washroom in my bedroom just in time as I had to throw up. When I'd finished, I leaned my head against the cool tile and watched the sun finishing sinking below the horizon, wondering what on earth had caused the cramp and wave of nausea. Just when I thought I was ok to go and try to eat some dinner, another wave hit me. It seemed every time I tried to move, I had to throw up. It continued for over an hour. Amelia came to check on me at one point and I told her I was fine, that I would be in soon to at least clean the kitchen. She told me she'd already done so and I thanked her as yet another wave hit. What the hell was wrong with me?