Benedict creaked one golden eye open, sunshine spilled through his bedroom window and his mind felt groggy and clouded. He felt something heavy weighting down on his chest and something curled up on both his sides. Benedict used his telekinesis to lift his glasses up off his nightable and put them on his face, only then could he get a clear picture of what was going on. Benedict saw Bruce curled up on his chest sleeping soundly, the ebony haired man turned his head to see David and Lenny snuggled up to him on his left side with David spooning Lenny while Constance and Ashely were snuggled up on Father's left side with Ashley spooning Constance. The five children were doing something they'd done many times before, the Delightful Children would wait until their father had fallen back to sleep after a nightmare before sneaking into his room and inviting themselves into his bed to cuddle with him in an attempt to comfort him. Most of the time Benedict wouldn't realize until the morning and even if he did wake up before morning he always let them stay as he appreciated their company.
While Benedict felt comforted by the presence of his children, he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt flicker in his chest. He was their father, their protector, their guardian. He should be the one comforting them, not the other way around! Father sat up in bed, cradling Bruce in his arms with the top of the boy's head tucked under his pointed chin, blinking the sleepiness out of his eyes. He glanced over at his bedside alarm clock, "8:12 am" the digital dial read. Had everyone had slept in due to last night's events or was it just him? Benedict carefully scooted his way over to the foot-end of the bed, being slow with his movements as to not accidentally wake up his Delightful Children. Once Benedict had hopped off the end of the bed, he walked back around to the side and laid Bruce down in the middle of the bed where Benedict had been laying moments before. The five kid's were still fast asleep when Benedict left the room. Benedict trudged downstairs to the kitchen where he was suprised to see Monty pouring himself a glass of water. "Monty? How long have you been up for?" Benedict asked, still a bit sleepy. Monty turned around, the look on his face told Benedict that Monty wasn't expecting his younger brother to be awake just yet. "Oh, about 5 minutes. How's the kids?" Monty asked, walking over to the kitchen table and sitting down with Benedict doing the same.
"The Delightful Children are still asleep, I woke up with them huddled around me. They probably came into my room once I fell asleep to try and console me, again." Benedict said, "Again?" Monty responded curiously, raising and eyebrow. "Oh yeah, whenever I have nightmares they wait until I fall asleep and then crawl into my bed and cuddle me. I don't mind, I think it's quite sweet that they want to help me although I can't help but feel a bit guilty." Benedict explained. "Oh, that is nice of them. Wait, why would you feel guilty?" Monty asked. "Well..." Benedict's words tangled in his throat, he was unsure if he should explain himself. "I can't help but feel bad because I'm their father, I should be the one to comfort them not the other way around. Do you get what I'm saying?" Benedict said, Monty nodded in agreement. Benedict stood up from the table and walked over to the counter. "How's Nigel? Is he still asleep?" Benedict asked as he started to make himself a cup of coffee, asking about his nephew out of curiosity and a little bit of worry. "Yeah, he's still sleeping as far as I know." Monty said. "No I'm not..." A sleepy sounding voice rang from the top of the staircase, both adult brothers turned to see Nigel coming down the stairs still in his pyjamas, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Nigel old bean, you're awake already. How did you sleep?" Monty asked cheerfully, Benedict had finished making his cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table opposite to where Monty was sitting. "I slept pretty good last night." Nigel said, the boy pulled up a chair and sat in-between Monty and Benedict. His eyes almost immediately drifting over to Benedict, his eyes glimmering with concealed worry. "Sooo...how are you doing Ben? After the...whole thing that happened last night." Nigel sheepishly brought up, Benedict took a sip from his coffee before putting it down on the table. "I already said I'm fine. Monty helped me out and I got enough sleep, no need for you to worry." Benedict said before taking another sip of his coffee. Nigel's skeptical eyes stayed on Benedict for a few seconds more before he turned his gaze to his dad. Nigel and Monty started to talk, what they were talking about Benedict could care less as he sat back and soaked in the peaceful morning.
Benedict's stomach rumbled, it was then he realized he was quite hungry as his mind hadn't drifted to food since he woke up. "lm going to make some pancakes, I'm starving." Benedict quietly announced as he stood up from the table. "I'll help you Ben, two heads are better then one." Monty responded, also standing up. "Nigel, can you go wake up your cousins? They should still be in Ben's room." Monty asked to Nigel, "Sure thing dad." Nigel said before taking off up the stairs. Monty and Benedict worked together with the pancakes, Benedict mixing the ingredients together and Monty flipping the pancakes. A few minutes later Nigel returned with the very sleepy Delightful Children, it just so happened that when everyone was in the kitchen the pancakes were ready. That breakfast in the Delightful Manor was a cheerful one, with Monty and Benedict chatting about just about everything with the Delightful's and Nigel occasionally exchanging stories about their past adventures. "Maybe dad's has a point, maybe me and Benedict do have something in common after all." Nigel thought.