Third Time's The Charm

Chapter 9

I had finally gotten my anxious brain to settle and decided to give sleep another try. I rolled over, placing my head onto Maya's chest and my eyes began to get heavier as I listened to the steady beating of her heart. I have always found my wife's heartbeat to be quite relaxing, a safe space. Sleep was finally taking over when I felt a tiny hand begin to rock my shoulder.

"Ezra? Everything okay, bambino?" I said sleepily.

"Rina, I think there's something in my closet," he whispered, a wide eyed look on his face, clutching tightly to his Spiderman doll. 

"What's going on?" groaned Maya.

"There's something in the bambino's closet apparently, would you like to join us in defeating this monster?" I responded. Maya quickly caught on and continued the little game in hopes of calming the little boy's nerves.

"Only if we get to wear armor and use a sword," she said as she got out of bed.

"Can I have some armor too?" spoke Ezra.

"Of course kiddo, come on," she said, taking his hand and guiding him out of the room.

"You comin' Rina?" he said, turning back to look at me. I got out of bed and followed the two out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Alright kid let's see, ah yes here!" Maya said, placing a small metal salad bowl over Ezra's head.

"What's this for?" Ezra laughed.

"What do you mean? That's a very special and magical knight's helmet! And here, your monster killer. No monster will ever come near you again with this thing," she said, handing the little boy a whisk.

Maya reached back into the cupboard and grabbed a slightly bigger salad bowl and put it over her head, taking a wooden spoon as her weapon of choice.

"Ready bud?" asked Maya.

"Ready," responded Ezra, holding up his little whisk. They made their way back into his bedroom as Maya led the way. Mimicking stealth in their every move, looking around corners the way cops do in those cheesy movies. I quickly made my way back to Maya and I's bedroom to grab my phone, this was a moment we would both want to remember forever. I opened my camera app and pressed record, following closely behind the two in hopes of catching every single moment of this. Maya made her way into the little boy's bedroom first, followed by Ezra who was now holding on to the back of her shirt.

"Ready?" she whispered, placing her hand over the closet door knob. I watched them both from the doorway, Ezra giving her a nod to indicate he was ready, a wide eyed look on his face once again.

"Okay, one, two, three!" Maya shouted as she flung the closet door open.

"RAAAWR!" shouted Ezra, jumping forward getting ready to fight whatever came at him. He stood there and watched for a second, waiting to see if something would come out or not.

"It worked!" he raised his little arms in victory, Spiderman in one hand whisk in the other.

"You did it munchkin," Maya congratulated, "now how about we go back to bed huh?"

I shut my camera off as I looked over at Maya, a huge smile plastered on both of our faces. Ezra made his way back into bed, pulling the sheets over his tiny body. "Can I keep this?" he said, holding out his whisk as I removed the bowl from his head.

"Of course you can, bambino, will you be okay in here tonight?" I said.

"Yes, Maya helped me scare away the monster," Ezra responded with a sleepy smile.

"Okay, buonanotte piccolino (goodnight little one), sleep well," I said as I finished tucking him in.

"Good night buddy," Maya added, running her fingers through his dark brown hair.