Getting this up today for xdreamer45x's birthday today, who is the original creator of the Ink Family AU. They're on Tumblr, you can see their wonderful artwork on www dot xdreamer45x dot tumblr dot com! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this next bit!

Henry:

Henry wasn't sure what had woken him up. Maybe there'd been some noise, though the exact nature of it escaped him in those foggy moments of sleep. Immediately his mind supplied an explanation, that one of the demons was downstairs, he should go check on them to make sure everything was alright. Getting out of bed without disturbing Linda was a talent that came with many years of being married, but being in a studio for a few weeks where being quiet was absolutely essential helped too, the artist skirting across the floor to the hall. Nothing out of the ordinary, but then again, the initial noise hadn't been here.

As he went down the stairs, there was a brief flicker of something in Henry's mind. Perhaps some alarm, something having moved, or some shadow having been disturbed. Though that wasn't exactly enough to sway him that something was outright wrong given that the demons did move with some care. They might not have heard him yet, the artist quietly padding his way down to the landing as he prepared himself for dealing with some nighttime problem.

The next few minutes stood stark in his mind, as, even days later, Henry couldn't have said what exactly made him look where he did. He just, happened to look to his right and see a human-shaped, definitely not Inky or Mama-sized figure standing barely a foot away from him in the dark. And, judging from the direction the body was facing, they had absolutely seen him.

The other person, the burglar, Henry's mind supplied, ended up reacting first, swinging with what looked like a bat in the artist's direction. He managed to throw himself back enough that he wasn't struck, the bat ringing off the wall with a loud crack, though given that Henry was now lying on the floor he was at a much bigger disadvantage. It was a realization that came like a cold splash of water to the face, Henry scrambling to regroup before the burglar could strike again.

But before either could react, something much bigger and taller thundered down the stairs, the burglar giving a shriek as his upraised arms were grabbed, the bat roughly torn from them as he looked up into a snarling face that was only just visible in the dark. Immediately, Henry found his goal changing, the first task of survival being replaced with a new one: make sure Mama didn't kill the intruder and bring the police and who knew what else down on their heads. Whether or not the burglar would have deserved it.

"Mama, Mama NO! Put him down, let him go!"

And, though he did take a moment to think about it, Mama did let the burglar go. Albeit he did so by throwing the whimpering man across the room, where he scrambled out the front door, but at least there wouldn't be any messes to clear up in Henry's future and for that he was thankful. Pulling himself to his feet, the artist gingerly made his way to the front door, peering out into the night to be sure that the intruder had indeed left. Mama wasn't far behind, the much larger demon giving an angry snarl as they looked out at the vacant front of the house, the burglar long gone.

"It's alright, he isn't coming back," Henry immediately spoke up, though Mama seemed to need a bit more reassurance that the ordeal was indeed over, given that his next matter of business was to check the artist over like there might be some grievous injury that Henry was hiding. It certainly didn't help that Henry had landed heavily on his side on a hard wood floor, the artist unable to hide a wince and a hiss as Mama's hand happened to brush over the spot. The slight sounds of pain made the stocky demon give a soft, irritable growl of a noise, though Henry could, with months of practice, tell that this wasn't really being directed at him. Perhaps more the situation, though it didn't stop him from being surprised when Mama proceeded to pick up the artist as carefully as possible.

"I can walk." Henry mildly protested as they went up the stairs, though Mama's only reply to that was a slight scoff, his way of saying 'do you really think I'm letting you out of my sight right now?!'.

Linda was waiting for them on the top landing, her sleep likely having been disturbed by both the sound of the bat and the racket of the over six feet bundle of protective ink thundering past her door. Though Henry was briefly worried that Mama might keep heading on past, the demon easily stopped to let Linda see the damage. He was still passing looks down at the stairwell though, like there might be some other intruder waiting down there.

"Here, come into the light, let me see," Linda's murmur came at the exact same time as a familiar noise came down the hall, Inky having poked his head out to see what all the noise was about. Mama's reply was not overtly angry, but definitely stern, Inky seeming to hesitate before a faint creak heralded him moving back into the demons' room to be with the little ones.

Linda, meanwhile, had started to check over the forming bruise on Henry's side, doing her best to make sure that the problem was only a bruise and nothing more serious. This, admittedly, was not where Mama's expertise lay, though the demon hung around regardless. If anything just to make sure their artist didn't drop dead on them.

Though, as the minutes wore on Linda was happy to report that a bruise really was the worst of it, Mama pulling away from his vigil at their door to briefly check on how things were going down the hall. The beans were thankfully not awake, but Inky still was, the other demon giving a concerned, questioning hum as he recognized Mama peeking in.

Mama did try to fill Inky in on the particulars, though he didn't want to stay too long. From what he remembered the front door was still wide open, and he wanted to be present just in case something else decided to try getting in. Heading past the Steins' bedroom showed that things had mostly calmed down, Henry glancing up at the motion in the hall and waving at Mama in recognition. More out of habit, Mama waved back, snorting at the artist's request to stay in the house. Of course he would, he wasn't about to go charging out after the home invader…

Though there was still the matter of the door, Mama's thoughts turning more calm and calculating as he considered the problem. Henry had showed him how the door locks worked, but it seemed like the burglar had broken that when he'd entered the house. That could likely be fixed, but it couldn't be fixed now, meaning Mama had to think up something else to restore the door to its intended purpose of keeping things out.

Closing it was a good start, but he needed some way to keep someone on the other side from opening it. Mulling over the problem drew Mama's eyeline to the furniture in the nearby living room; he was more than strong enough to move it, but he didn't want to pick something too big. It had to be easy to get out from too, at least on their side…

Mama eventually decided on the armchair rather than the sofa, easily hefting it off the floor of the living room and setting it down with an almighty clunk in front of the somewhat defunct door. The noise caused a light to flick on in the hallway upstairs, but Mama didn't notice he'd gotten someone's attention until Henry and Linda came down, meeting him just as he was about to go up.

"Well," Henry said in the silence, looking at Mama's improvised barricade. "Guess that takes care of the broken door."

With the next morning came more serious topics, mostly of what to do about the broken door, and make sure nothing had been taken, but also whether or not the police should be called. Mama leaned up against the archway leading into the kitchen, keeping himself part of the conversation while also making sure that his kids and Inky weren't getting into too much mischief. He didn't really have much to add when it came to home repair, or really human police, though he did want to be kept in the loop. Especially if there were going to be a bunch of strangers coming to their home, though from what Henry and Linda were saying about these police, Mama would not be allowed to drive them off if they did come.

"One thing's for sure," Henry started, getting Mama's attention with a glance. "We've got the best security system in the neighborhood. Don't think that burglar's going to be back any time soon."

There was a faint note of pride in the artist's voice, one that Mama couldn't help homing in on as he processed what had been said. Once it dawned on him that he'd been complemented, the stocky demon felt an equally prideful grin cut across his own face as he stood a little straighter.

Let anything try to mess with his home and family. He'd be more than ready for them.