For anon, who requested: "Densi, son"
"Mama?"
Kensi stops in the doorway, hand hovering over the light switch. "What, buddy?"
"Tomorrow can we go to the ice cream shop?"
She looks over her shoulder. "Maybe. Let's see how the day goes."
"Okay," he says with a heavy sigh and a roll of his eyes.
She wonders if all three year olds are going on sixteen or if it's just hers. "Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Mama?" he asks again.
"What, buddy?"
"Can I have more water?"
"Nope. Not unless you want to put on a diaper. Do you want to put on a diaper?"
He sighs again. "No."
"Okay, then. Get some sleep." She flips off the light.
"Mama?"
She turns around this time. "What?"
"Where's Little Bear?"
"On your pillow." She points at it. "Where your head should be."
"Fine, fine," he says, but he stays upright. "Mama?"
"Buddy, it's late. You need to get some sleep. You get one more question and then I'm going to go."
He scrunches up his face in what starts as a frown but morphs into some very serious thinking. "Two questions."
She shakes her head. "Nope. One."
"Three."
"That's not how bartering works, and no. Just one."
"Okay, okay," concedes reluctantly.
She folds her arms across her chest and tries to look stern. "What's your question, kiddo?"
"Is," he thinks about it a moment, "is Daddy coming home tomorrow?"
She crosses to his bed and kneels beside it. He looks up at her, eyes big and round as she sweeps the hair from his forehead and presses a kiss against his skin.
"I hope so, little man," she says softly, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close. "I hope so."
"Good," he says firmly, words slightly muffled by her shoulder, "'cause Daddy will take me to the ice cream shop."
"You're right." She laughs a watery laugh. "I bet he will."