TW for panic attacks, unintentional self-harm, mentions of blood. (The Delightful Children's hivemind is in bold)

The next few days settled into a simple routine. Numbah 1 would mostly stay in bed, only getting up for food or to use the bathroom. This was partly because Father wanted him to rest and not open his wound, and partly because Numbah 1 was drained of energy from his wounds and his sickness, even though his sickness disappeared after a day or so.

Father also told Numbah 1 that his parents, Monty and Mary Uno, were okay. Monty was in the hospital and Mary was visiting him every day. Although Father couldn't tell Numbah 1 why Monty was in the hospital because he didn't know.

The Delightful Children would vist him every other day, sometimes it was all five of them and sometimes it was only one or two of them. They would play board games with him, talk with him or watch TV downstairs with him, sitting next to him on the lavish couch. Numbah 1 was a little nervous at first but quickly warmed up to them, it was nice to have some company that wasn't his own tourmented mind.

The blonde boy Delightful, who Numbah 1 discovered was named Bruce, seemed to especially take interest in his adoptive cousin. He would ask Numbah 1 about his life outside the K.N.D which Numbah 1 was fine with telling him about since The Delightful Children were probably going to find out all that stuff from his parents anyway. Bruce would also tell stories about his and his siblings lives, his likes and dislikes, and about Numbah 1's K.N.D adventures from the perspective of Bruce and his siblings.

Bruce and Numbah 1 were watching TV downstairs by themselves, it had just turned onto the ad break. "I was wondering, how do you know my name? My full name. You said it during Operation: ZERO." Numbah 1 asked aloud.

"Oh, Father told us your full name a long time ago." Bruce answered in a matter of factly way."That makes sense--uh, ummm..." Numbah 1 voice trailed off, it was just now dawning on him that he didn't know any of their names.

"You dont know my name?" Bruce asked. Numbah 1 was somehow suprised at himself for not knowing before, even though he'd never really bothered to call them anything other then The Delightful Children in the past. The only one who he knew the name of was Lenny, the Delightful boy who wore a red football helmet and was most memorable in Numbah 1's mind for breaking off from the other four in Operation: U.N.D.E.R.C.O.V.E.R

"Uh, i dont know any of your names, actually." Numbah 1 said sheepishly. "Well, since we're right here, I'll tell you." Bruce said proudly, straighting his tie. "My name is Bruce. David is the tallest one of us with brunette bangs covering his face. Allesandra is the blonde girl. Constance is the other girl with glasses, and i take it you already know Lenny?" Bruce explained with a question on the end. "Yeah, Lenny's the one with the red football helmet." Numbah 1 answered just as the ad break ended.

From more of these conversations, Numbah 1 learned many suprising things about The Delightful Children. He learned that he and Bruce shared a favorite comic book series, that David was the oldest at 11 while the other four were 10 years of age. He learned that Constance was the slient, unsung leader of the Delightful Children, communicating and dishing out orders through the five children's shared and ever present hivemind.

"You're going to vist him?" Father asked to his Delightful Children, they were standing in the hallway with the Delightful Children holding a board game while Father stood in front of them. "Not exactly Father, we're going to invite him downstairs for a game of Monopoly." The five children responded in sync, gesturing to the board game they were holding. "Oh? Well, I hope he accepts your invitation. Just remember to clean up the pieces when-"

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!"

A terrified shriek coming from the upstairs bedroom where Numbah 1 was staying made everyone jolt in suprise. It caused the Delightful Children to drop the board game they were holding and Father nearly jumped out of his skin as he was cut off mid-sentence. Father didn't hesitate to start scrambling up the stairs, going two steps at a time with the Delightful's following close behind their father. In their haste, they almost tripped over each other's feet several times and bumped into each other.

"What's going on?!" -David asked worriedly into the five children's hivemind.

"Nigel is being attacked, thats what! We need to get up there and defend him!" -Bruce responded hastily.

"He could be having an intense nightmare. He's had a few before." Constance calmly pointed out, referencing the screams in the night they'd heard a few times before due to nightmares stemming from the bald boy's trauma.

After hearing those late-night shrieks, The Delightful Children had always clambered out of bed to see their father already making a mad dash for the guest bedroom. Whenever they followed behind and peeked into the room, they always saw their father sitting at the side of the bed, talking in a gentle hushed voice to a whimpering, trembling, teary eyed Numbah 1. Father had attempted to hold the boy's hand once in an attempt to console him, but Numbah 1 jerked his hand away so Father hadn't tried that again. From what the Delightful's could tell, Father's consolatons seemed to comfort their cousin. Numbah 1 did shuffle towards Father a little bit during the aftermath of one of his nightmares.

"I hope he's just having a nightmare..." Lenny quietly chimed in, optimistic but fearful.

Both father and children burst into the room to see Numbah 1 kneeled over on the bed, tears streaming from wide eyes and his hand wrung tightly around his throat.

"No. Don't do that." Father said, trying to be calm, but obvious terror lacing his voice. He grabbed Numbah 1's wrists and managed to pry the boys' hands away from his neck. "Nigel? Nigel, look at me." Father ordered. Numbah 1's head snapped up to lock eyes with Father, but his gaze went right through the adult. "Take slow, deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Slow, deep breaths." Father said, taking a few deep breaths to demonstrate. Numbah 1 just nodded yes, gulping in and exhaling air in shaky gasps that were slowly calming.

The Delightful Children, who were left standing in the doorway aimlessly, felt a knot twist tightly in their stomachs as they squirmed on the spot in a mix of pity and helplessness. The Delightful Children knew what was happening, through unfortunate bad luck they had seen this before in their own father.

They knew Numbah 1 was having a panic attack.

They'd witnessed Father have a panic attack once before in the past, Father had shown similar symptoms to what was happening to Numbah 1 now. In the past, a girlfriend of one of Father's investors had slapped Father upside the head twice and screamed at him. All because the woman had bumped into Father first and spilled her drink all over herself, before blaming Father for it.

They noticed that Father was not himself, shaking and wide eyed, making feeble attempts to speak but being inturupted by the woman again and again. Mr. Boss ended up intervening and the girlfriend was dragged off by a profusely apologizing investor who was being chewed out by Mr. Boss, while Father just stood there, standing still and gasping softly. Father had then promptly excused himself and retreated to his office, with the Delightful Children quietly trailing close behind.

They still remembered hearing the frantic rasping and whimpering from their father. They still remembered peeking into the office through the ajar door, seeing Father leaning over his desk, wide golden eyes brimming with tears and filled with the fearful recalling of past trauma's. Father was hyperventilating and trying to grab at his throat with Jenkins holding onto Father's wrists to stop him from harming himself, whispering gentle comforts in a quiet tone.

They still remembered how, when they stepped forwards to try and comfort Father, the carpet had squeaked underneath their feet and gave away their position. Father's head snapped around to glare at them, his expression was a mix of the terror of being caught and betrayal, before he used his telekinetic abilities to slam the door in their faces.

Neither father or children had spoken of the event since.

Numbah 1 was finally calming down, his hyperventilating had calmed to still shaky, but mostly normal breathing. "There you go, just take slow, deep breaths. Ride it out. You're doing great." Father said, his grip on Numbah 1's wrists loosening before he he let go completely, the kid's hands fell to his sides. "Im...sorry..." Numbah 1 whimpered, his voice a timid wheeze. "It's okay, you have nothing to apologize for. Just keep breathing." Father said.

Father wanted to pull his nephew close and hug him, comfort him, so badly! But not knowing what happened to cause the panic attack, as well as their past rivalry, Father couldn't risk triggering another panic attack in him.

Numbah 1 let out a deep sigh, shuffling into a criss-crossed sitting position on the bed with his hands planted behind him to hold himself up. "How do you feel? Do you feel lightheaded or dizzy?" Father asked, substituting a hug for putting a gentle hand on Numbah 1's shoulder. "I felt a little lightheaded when i was gasping, but i don't feel like that anymore. My temples are throbbing like crazy, though." Nigel said, his voice was soft and tired.

"Are you sure you're okay now? Do you need our help with anything?" The Delightful Children asked in worried sync, taking a few steps towards Numbah 1 with five pairs of worried hands clasped together.

Numbah 1 turned his head to look at them. "Yeah, I'm okay now. No need to worry." Numbah 1 lied through his teeth, sporting a big fake smile. "Nigel, do you know what could've happened to cause your panic attack?" Father asked, his voice both stern and worried. The boy's fake smile immediately dropped into a real frown, his eyes darted away from Father and towards the blanket.

"Maybe? I...I had a nightmare. A really vivid one." Numbah 1 sheepishly explained, his clenched hands gripping at the blankets. "Do you want to talk about it? You dont have to if you dont want to." Father gingerly inquired. Numbah 1 swallowed hard, contemplating for a moment before speaking up.

"I guess...it wasn't even that bad, really. In my dream, Dad was on the ground, backing away from me with a really scared look on his face. I wanted to stop walking towards him, but the red strings forced me to keep going forward." Father wanted to ask about these 'red strings' but he quickly put that on the backburner when he realized his nephew was getting more and more distressed.

"I...I pounced on him and--and started to c-claw up his arm. I couldn't...i couldn't stop. I wanted to stop, but...he was in so much pain and--and--" Numbah 1 squeezed his eyes shut as fresh tears started to flood them again, burying his crying face in the nook of his arm. The Delightful Children finally made their move, they crawled up on the bed and hugged Numbah 1, guiding him into the middle of their huddle.

Instead of resisting, Numbah 1 let himself be hugged as the five children formed a protective circle around him, all of them embracing him in the hopes of taking away just a sliver of his pain. Father joined in as well, hesitating for a second before putting a gentle hand on Numbah 1's back.

"It's okay, dear cousin. It was just a dream, it might have felt real but it wasn't. You could never harm Uncle Monty, you love him too much." The Delightful's coaxed in unison. Numbah 1 nodded, blinking tears away from his eyes as he stayed in the huddle. "Yeah, thanks guys." Numbah 1 said, pausing to clear his throat as he sat up. "I'll leave you six alone for awhile, call me if you need anything." Father announced before he exited the room. "I'd only make things worse if i stayed. Nigel's still scared of me, anyway." Father thought, disappointed that Numbah 1 hadn't warmed to Father like he had the Delightful's.

But he could only be disappointed at himself, knowing it was his own fault.

Later on, after Father had cleaned up all the pieces from the dropped Monopoly game and gotten himself a fresh cup of coffee, he decided to check on the Delightful's and Numbah 1 as the upstairs bedroom had been quiet for a while. When Father peeked into the room, he saw the Delightful Children and Numbah 1 asleep in the bed. Numbah 1 was in the middle of the bed with the Delightful's curled up around him, still holding him.

"Ben?" A half-asleep Numbah 1 mumbled, his eyes drifting open. "Yes?" Father answered, a bit surprised that Numbah 1 was using his actual name. "When i start going on missions again, can i still see the Delightful's on my free time?" Numbah 1 asked. "Of course. They adore you, after all." Father said causally. Numbah 1 started to drift back into sleep, his eyes drooping shut.

"Good...you better keep your word. Or...or else." Numbah 1 mumbled, sleepiness making his words drift apart before he fell back asleep. Father then quietly shut the door and left the kids to their tender moment.