"One...Two...Three" Spencer's warm voice carried through the halls, echoing behind Sapphire as she padded through them; her footfalls provided a rhythm to his pauses. Henry was already hiding under the table, tiny and sneaky as he was.
"Ready or not, I'm coming to find you." Reid taunted. It prompted an excited squeal from her, who hadn't found a place to hide yet. She glanced over her shoulder to look for him and turned the corner, heading in the bedroom. "Where are you?" his voice sang through the halls, approaching.
She dashed inside Spencer's closet, carefully closing the door and making sure nothing was unsettled. She could hear the sounds coming from the living room, Henry's wonderful childish laughter as Spencer probably found him. She smiled to herself. Oh, how she liked watching the two together; playing and giggling. It was more than simply heartwarming.
She snapped out of her thoughts when the bedroom door opened and she spotted Reid's green and blue socks. Sapphire held her breath.
"I know you're here, little lamb." he whispered, but she did not move or breathe to give away her position. She watched as he strolled around the room, looking under the bed. Sapphire almost laughed - thankfully, she was so small in build she could fit in such small spaces.
He walked to the other door which connected an adjacent room, but promptly closed it. She watched as Spencer turned around, the toes pointing at the closet as if they were a compass.
"I guess you're not in here after all." he sighed and headed towards the door. Suddenly he stopped, turned and opened the door to find her curled in on herself in the tiny space.
"Found you!" he smiled.
"No!" she screamed with glee as Spencer reached to grab her. She scrambled to move outside but it was too late. He playfully grabbed onto her waist and pulled.
They laughed and giggled as each tried to fight the other off but they ended in a tumbled mess, with Henry running in the room and joining them cheerfully.
"Tickle war!" Henry screamed with that joyful, childish voice of his.
"Tickle war? Alright, if that's what you want," Spencer smirked and pounced on him excitedly.
Henry squealed and fell backward on the bed, attempting to fight him off as he tickled him mercilessly. The giggles were filling the halls of the apartment.
Spencer grinned wide and said, "Sorry, little guy. The tickle monster's taking over Spencer. No one can save you now!" he pinned Henry's arms above his head and drew small circles on his tummy, the circles slowly getting larger
Henry giggled wildly and squirmed under his grasp, eyes squeezed shut and bucking, "Dehehehe! Nohoho, no tihihickle monsteheher!"
"Tickle tickle, Henry! Awww, does this tickle you? I bet it does!" he teased with a wide grin.
Henry's laughter increased at the teasing, as did the blush on his dimpled cheeks, "PLEHEhehehease!nohoHOHO! NOHOHOT THEHEHEHERE!"
Spencer looked at where he was tickling and saw he had hit a very sensitive spot right in the middle of Henry's tummy. He grinned wide and bent down, then looked back at Sapphire was laying next to them, watching with a big smile.
"You know what we should do, Henry? We should let Saphie in on the fun!" Spencer let go of the little boy and suggested with a huge, evil smile. Henry didn't need much convincing. They both ran towards her, pinning her down and before they even laid a hand on her, she was already laughing.
Spencer ran his fingers on her belly, at which Sapphire immediately began giggling and snorting adorably, scrunching her neck to the side.
"Oh my God," said Spencer, now putting it together. "Are you seriously that ticklish?"
"No!" she almost shouted, but it was no use. Soon she was a mess of giggles, as her belly was at the mercy of Reid's wiggling fingers.
"Aww, your laugh is so cute!" he cooed.
"Gods, stop!" Sapphire squealed.
"Nah, this is too much fun," said Reid smugly, moving one hand up her neck.
"I can't breathe!" she wheezed.
"Hey, maybe we should call you Giggles from now on," he teased, now tickling both her tummy and her armpits.
After flailing around for a bit, Sapphire finally managed to escape his bonds temporarily, thanks to Henry's assistance as he took it on himself to revenge Spencer, taking off one of his socks and running his little baby fingers up and down his foot.
"Traitor!" Spencer yelled between his giggles. In one move, he took hold of the little blonde angel and lifted him off the ground, messing with his hair. It was so precious having these slight moments fall perfectly into place.
Henry yawned as they all settled back into the bed, making Spencer glance outside. It was pretty dark.
"Does that mean it is bed time?" Sapphire cheered excitedly and took Henry in her arms, hugging him tightly. He returned the favor of course; these two shared a special bond. He couldn't help but wonder looking at them how she would look as a real mommy. She would be wonderful, that's for sure.
Henry shook his head in response, but pouted a little. "I'm hungry."
"I'll go warm up some milk." Spencer got up in a hurry and headed to the kitchen, making the bed lift lightly by the loss of weight.
Henry for once more sought Sapphire's embrace, nesting nicely inside her arms. "I love you."
"Aw, I love you too, my little angel. I love you so much!" she rocked him gently.
"Do you love Spencer too?" he asked adorably and her heart melted. How do you answer such a question? Checking that Spencer was nowhere nearby, she replied.
"Of course I do. How couldn't I?" she gave in.
"Who do you love most?" she looked up at her with a devilish grin and puppy eyes. The boy was barely five years old but you could already tell he would be a heart breaker. There was no refusing such an emotional blackmail.
"That's not fair. How am I supposed to choose between my men?" she giggled. "I'll go see if your milk is ready. You'll be a gentleman and behave, won't you?" she asked and he beamed, shaking his head. "That's my man."
"Spence?" her melodic voice echoed in the silent kitchen, startling Spencer who almost dropped the boiling milk on himself. He let out a small, girlish scream and she had to smother her giggle. "Oh my God, buttercup! You got burnt!" she hurried towards him.
"It's really nothing. Judging by the angle I almost dropped it, it could have been much worse," instead of listening to him, she ignored his babbling and grabbed his hand. There was a small mark on his wrist, turning redder by the minute. She touched it and he flinched, making her eyebrows furrow in a look of concern and sympathy. Why did she have to be so nice?
"I'm sorry, sunshine." she pulled him towards the sink, letting cold water run over the burn for quite a while. "That should make it better." her eyes were fixated on the injury but he was more focused on her. He was in love with her. There was no other way to put it. He had always had a hard time understanding that expression. It seemed a little melodramatic. But now he got it. Why wouldn't he fall in love with her? She was sweet, she was undoubtedly gorgeous and possessed one of the sharpest minds he had ever come across. But most importantly, she possessed a heart of gold, and nothing could beat that.
Her gaze turned back up to him. "You should keep it there for at least ten minutes. I'll go check if there's anything we can use in the medicine cabinet." her fingers left and he found himself missing the feeling of her touch on his flesh. Oh how he wished he had the courage to grab her waist before she turned around to leave. To pull her close and crush her lips on hers, taste what he'd longed to, for so long.
He wished he had the courage to admit the full depth of his feelings - right there, right then. And perhaps, perhaps she felt the same. Perhaps she'd say she was wildly in love with him too. And perhaps this would be a start for something new; something special. But of course he could only wish such thing.