It was the start of a fresh week at the end of summer break making it Kristin's turn to hold down the fort. Her husband had had no choice but to go in to work at the office for a change. Though, it was really growing a bit too common for comfort.

With her older boys back off at school she had fully planned to fill her day with playing with Tommy and relaxing from the stresses of her own job. She was really hoping to try and set up some painting activities for her and her youngest if she was honest. His coordination was good enough now and she'd been dying to get his first work up on the fridge. Though, that would really depend on if he could refrain from trying to eat said paint once she had it set up.

That, though, was something for later in the day. She had to see where his mood would be by then.

The morning had been usual chaos with the boys all prepping and leaving for school, Tommy shouting his 'goodbyes' at them as their father walked the two to the bus stop that was just down the street. Tommy had sat in front of the thin window beside the door, staring out of it for almost twenty minutes after the trio had left. He usually did so until Phil came back in and picked him up on his way inside once more. This, of course, usually gave Kristin all the time she needed to clean up the kitchen. Enough to be able to ignore it for the majority of the day.

When it reached about the twenty minute mark Tommy moved closer to the window, pressing his face against it as he started letting out impatient humming noises. He didn't generally like days where his father failed to return, and already he was starting to hit at the glass as if the noise would draw him back.

"Dadadada." Tommy mumbled out as he continued to try to spot the man from the gap.

Scooping up Tommy before he started to work himself into a mood, Kristin proceeded to tickle at his tummy. It had the desired effect and Tommy let out a trilled laugh as he wiggled in her arms. He was beaming up at her, his steadily growing in teeth peeking up at her from his open smile.

"Its okay, Tommy. Dad will be home soon. I promise." She assured her son with a bright grin of her own, "For now, though, we get to play whatever we want~"

She said it with such enthusiasm that Tommy couldn't seem to help but kick out his legs and wiggle his little feet some more. The pair then proceeded to play a few small games with cartoons running in the background. They were kept low to be more for background noise instead of a distraction, but she didn't fight when he got sucked into something. It was just a breather for her between their playing after all.

It was just a few hours later when Tommy started to get fussy. Toys that had been amusing to play with earlier were met with a pout and an angry whine before being thrown to the side. Games were refused and even the cartoons were shut off a few times when Tommy stated they were 'too much' or even just met with a shake of his head.

Assuming Tommy had grown tired and was ready for his nap early Kristin picked him up and walked him towards his room. Tommy, of course, protested this with a whine that didn't exactly work in his favor.

"Its okay Tommy. A short little nap and you'll feel better. I promise." His mother assured as she rocked him in a lazy side swaying motion that he usually seemed to find soothing.

"No!" Tommy protested with a huff as he weakly pushed at her arms, "No nap-time!"

"Yes, nap-time. Just a little one, and then we can play some more. We can try painting, remember?" His mother tried to coax him into settling without too much fight.

"No. No paint. No play." Tommy huffed out once more with a shake of his head.

"Well, if you don't want that then what are we going to do with our day, Tommy?"

At the question, instead of being met with a demand of some kind Kristin was surprised to instead be answered with a whine. A distressed whine at that. Pulling Tommy off of her shoulder enough to look at him she rather concerningly took note of his expression. His brows were furrowed and his lower lip quivered as his eyes watered. He didn't look angry or frustrated though, he just looked…sad.

"Aw, baby, what's wrong? What's going on today?" She asked, her voice softer than before as she adjusted her hold from 'sleepy rocking' to a more firm and comforting one.

"S-sad." Tommy replied as he brought a hand up to rub at his eyes.

"Why are you sad, sweetie?" She cooed at him gently.

Tommy continued to scrub at his face a moment before looking at his mother, hiccups already starting to build. She brushed a tear from his face as it started to fall which only seemed to make his trembling lip worse.

"W-want-" He broke off as his breath caught sharply, "Want, W-wilby. W-want, Techy."

He shivered as he stuttered over his 'w' a few times, tears now falling down his face as he spoke.

"W-want daddy."

"Shhhh, sh, sh, sh-Its okay, sweetie. Its okay." His mother soothed, rocking him with a soft hand at his back, "Its okay. I miss them too."

Tommy didn't try to get any more words out, letting out his tears with a little sob as he hugged into his mother's shirt. She pressed him to her chest and ran her fingers through his hair as she tried to hum a song or tune for him.

She felt guilty really, for not expecting something like this. This was the first day the older boys were back to school after so long of being home and around constantly. This was the first year Tommy was aware enough to notice their absence. Of course he was going to feel lonely without them. Even Phil was gone, making the home seem all the more empty.

"They'll be home soon, Tommy. I promise. I'm sure they are missing you too." She tried to sooth, keeping him tucked against her.

Tommy continued to cry, once in a while managing to blubber out the words 'want', one of the missing family members names, or the word 'home'.

"They'll be home, Tommy. I promise. They'll be home." She continued gently.

It took almost an hour, but Tommy did end up crying himself to sleep in her arms.

Xx-xx-xx

Tommy ended up sleeping a long time that day. Which was fine really. He had been stressed after all, and he'd been doing better about his bed times lately. She checked on him often but left him to wake of his own accord today. It also gave her more time to prepare her other son's after school snacks.

Today she had opted to try her hand at colored grilled cheeses. A cute idea she'd been given by one of her clients. They didn't have much in the way of food coloring in the house and so it was a 'whatever is on hand' sort of thing. Neither of her sons seemed to mind. Wilbur even suggesting they cut their sandwiches in two so they each get a slice of each color.

The two were mid trade when a groggy voice called from the living room. Both boys turned to look, Kristin included, to see a still sleep logged little Tommy trying to pull himself onto his feet and scrubbing the sleep from one of his eyes. He seemed to be trying to rapidly wake himself, but only really made him unsteady against the wall of his crib.

"Good morning, Tommy!" Wilbur called out to him, slipping from his seat to go out to him.

Techno wasn't far behind his elder brother, a smile on his own face as he waved.

"We were waiting for you, Tommy. Mom made grill cheeses." Techno informed their brother while the child reached out them both with grabby hands.

"Uppy Wilby! Uppy!" Tommy demanded as he pulled on Wil's arms the moment he was in range, "Want huggy!"

"I can't pick you up from in there Toms. But I can still hug." Wilbur laughed, leaning forwards to give the best hug he could with the barrier between them.

"To your seats boys. I'll bring Tommy out and after snacks you can all play." Kristin chuckled as she watched from the doorway, allowing them all time to get their hugs.

"Okay, mum."

"Okay, mom."

The boys had called out, but had not begun returning to their seats until, as predicted, Tommy got a hug from both of them. Even still being sleepy the blond was beaming at the contact, arms raised up and waiting for his mother to grab him. She gave a boop to his nose before picking him up and bringing him towards his high chair.

"Lets get you all fed. Then you can play until your father comes home." Kristin started to speak before Wilbur cut in with a grin.

"I'm going to tell him he missed out on the cheeses." He stated bluntly which made Techno laugh a bit beside him as he chewed.

"Oooh, he's going to be sad about that. I don't have enough left to make him one either." She added with a chuckle of her own.

"His fault for not being home on time." Wilbur concluded as he took an extra large bite of his perfectly wonderful and colorful grilled cheese.