Project Motherhood: Squigly

Chapter 4

The next morning came, and Harry shot awake in fear, having been trapped in a nightmare for the past hour, before finally pulling himself out of it. When he opened his eyes, he remembered his mama, and felt relieved. He also felt thirsty, so quietly squirmed out from under the blankets and made his way to the bathroom, only to run into an issue. He couldn't reach the sink. Harry sighed, feeling defeated, until he felt himself being lifted. He was frightened at first, but then saw the smiling face of Ms. Fortune in the mirror. "Sorry kitten, didn't mean to scare ya."

Harry smiled, both glad to see her and relieved it wasn't anyone scary like his aunt or uncle. "Hi, Miss Nadia..."

"Mornin', kit. Go on and fill up your glass and I'll get ya back to your mom." Obediently, Harry held the cup under the running tap water. When he was satisfied that it was full, he turned off the water. Nadia carried him back to the bed as he sipped his water and set his glass on the bedside table, setting him back in his mother's arms just as she was waking up.

"Oh, Harry... did I wake you?" she asked sleepily.

"No mama. I'm okay." Harry said in his quiet tone, snuggling into her embrace. Squigly sighed contently and patted his head.

"Little guy couldn't reach the sink." Nadia commented with a smirk.

Squigly blinked at that, then yawned softly. "Oh... I see... You were thirsty... Hmm... I'll be sure to get you a glass of water before bed every night..." Harry smiled and snuggled closer to his mother, closing his eyes contently. Squigly sat up in bed and yawned with a one-armed stretch."Mmm... Well, that was a lovely evening of fun, wasn't it? Thank you for staying, Nadia... And the other girls as well..." She looked at the still slumbering forms of the other women.

"Heh, it's not like we had much else to do." Ms. Fortune smirked. "Besides, I like spending time with the little kit." She smiled down at Harry who was still snuggled close to his new mom. "How'd you sleep?"

"Oh... fine." Squigly blinked, not giving it much thought. "I'll admit it feels weird waking up after such a short sleep..."

"Hey, you don't need to say anything if you don't want too." Minette said softly, and Squigly nodded.

"Ah, Minette... Always the little early bird, arent'cha?" Nadia gave her friend a playful noogie and she giggled.

"A customer service worker must always be ready for their customers!" The Dagonian chirped with a wink.

"And if I'm not mistaken, Feng should be up right about now." Nadia remarked as Feng sat up in her sleeping bag and yawned, looking refreshed from a good night's sleep.

"Hey, I miss anything?" She asked.

"No, not really." Squigly shook her head. "So, what exactly do we do now?"

"Well, that all depends." Feng shrugged, yawning somewhat. "We could get some food, or go out to the balcony, or just wait here for everyone to wake up."

Harry's stomach growled, and the women giggled softly. "Guess that answers that." Nadia chuckled. And so the group left the room, leaving the other girls to their slumber. They made their way down to the kitchen.

"It's Friday! That means it's pancake day!" Feng chirped happily, setting a stack of three on her plate.

Harry looked at the food, he knew what they were, but never got the chance to try them. He looked up to his mommy, and for a moment felt like he needed to say that he was too freaky to have normal food, but then he remembered everything she had told him, that he wasn't a freak, that he was her little boy. So instead, he looked up with a hopeful look in his eyes, and Squigly smiled in response.