The Sanderson's

Chapter 7.

Bryanna was awoken to a loud barking coming from her window. She sat up slowly and lifted her bump, taking a deep breath. "Babe," She spoke softly and looked over at Neil, who was quietly snoring and sleeping away. "Babe!" She yelped.

"Is the baby coming?!" Immediately, Neil shot up and looked over at his fiancé. "I'll go pack the car and call your parents-"

"No, no! Listen." She said and heard the barking again, the dog sounded to be injured and scared. She heard the whimpering and she pouted her lip out, tears filling in her eyes. "We need to help it!"

"Bryanna. You woke me up at ONE IN THE MORNING. Over a dog?" He asked in disbelief, throwing the blanket off of him. "Goddamit, I love you."

Bryanna slipped out of bed with difficulty and wrapped her arms around her ginormous bump, following Neil out of their bedroom and to the back door. "It sounded hurt." She teared up and quickly opened the glass sliders, calling for the dog.

Neil stepped out onto the deck and leaned down, looking at the limping dog. He stuck his hand out for it to sniff, then slowly reached over and pet it on the head. Once the dog was no longer scared of him, he quickly scooped it up into his arms and walked back inside, watching Bryanna close and lock the door behind him. "Can you go grab some blankets from the laundry room, babe?" He asked, "We'll figure out to do with her in the morning." He yawned.

Bryanna nodded and watched him disappear into their room with the dog. She walked down the hallway and quickly grabbed a few blankets - a comforter, a fluffy blanket and a throw blanket, with a decorative pillow. She walked into their bedroom and set the comforter down, letting Neil lay the dog on the blanket. She quickly covered the poor injured dog up and stroked her head. "We'll take care of you," she said softly, "don't be scared."

"I'm going to go get it something to eat." Neil spoke and walked back out of their room.

"Do you have a collar, pretty girl?" She asked and lifted her head slightly, feeling around for a collar. When she didn't find one, she huffed and sat down next to the dog. "I think Lucie suits you." She spoke to the dog, only able to see her hazel eyes in the dark. "Do you like the name Lucie? Yeah?" She asked as she heard her tail thumping on the floor.

"I didn't know what to get her so I grabbed some crackers and made her a ham sandwich." Neil spoke and walked over to his fiancé and the injured dog, sitting down next to the two.

"That works." Bryanna smiled over at Neil, taking a cracker. She held it in front of the dog, watching as she gently took the cracker. "Good girl." She spoke softly. She huffed when she heard one of the kids crying and she slowly stood up off of the floor, then walked over to the twins' room where it was coming from. She opened the door and peeked in, seeing Dakota starting to climb out of bed.

"Hey, hey, Kota," She said softly and pushed opens the door, fully. "What's wrong, baby girl?" She asked and opened her arms.

"Bad dream," she cried and rushed to her mother's open arms.

"Okay, let's calm down, okay? We don't want to wake up your sister." Bryanna lifted Dakota up and rested her on her bump, "Why don't we go lay down with daddy?" Bryanna ran a hand through Dakota's hair and kissed her head. "Let's calm down. Take a deep breath." She said as she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. Bryanna walked back to her bedroom, smiling down at the snoozing dog. She looked over at Neil, who had climbed back into bed and was looking over at the two of them.

"Dakota Rose, what's wrong?" Neil asked and opened his arms to her as Bryanna put her down.

"I had a bad dream, dada." She yelped and rushed into his arms.

Neil sat up straight and wrapped his arms around his daughter. "What was your dream about?" He asked, then watched as Bryanna got into bed and laid on her side, towards the two.

"Scary clowns!" Dakota cried and buried her head in his chest, whining and whimpering.

"Well, no scary clown is going to hurt you." Neil spoke and rubbed her back softly. "Daddy will take care of all the scary clowns for you."

"Will you?" Dakota asked, slowly starting to calm down.

"No scary clown will touch you, Kota. Between Daddy and I, we'll take care of them all." Bryanna cleared her throat and rested a hand on her six month bump. Bryanna leaned over and kissed her daughter on the cheek, then watched as she nodded and slowly rested her head down on Neil's chest. "Try and get some sleep, okay? It's too early for you to be awake."

"Goodnight, mama, dada." Dakota whispered and reached her arm out, resting her hand on Bryanna's.

"Goodnight, Kota." Neil spoke softly and continued to rub her back, looking down at her with a smile as she started to drift off.

"Night night, baby girl," Bryanna smiled and pulled the blanket up over the three, rubbing her daughter's hand with her thumb.

Once Dakota was in a deep sleep, Neil slowly lifted her and put her in between the two and quickly leaned over, giving his fiance a kiss on the cheek before drifting off into sleep himself.