Imogen was fast asleep next to me as I watched her. For some reason, I couldn't sleep, despite many attempts. Instead, I was sat up in bed, watching my wife sleep. After a while, I decided to go and sit in the living room so as to not wake her accidentally so I carefully slid out of the sheets and made my way out to the living room where I curled up on the sofa.
I had no idea why I couldn't sleep. I'd thought that I would struggle while Imogen was away but that had gone fine in the end. Now she was home and I found myself awake at two in the morning.
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"Nick." Imogen's soft voice slowly registered in my mind and I stirred a little, not opening my eyes yet but rolling over to face her. "Baby, wake up."
"Mm," I mumbled, blinking carefully to avoid the bright lights in the room. As I woke more, I remembered that I wasn't in our room and that realisation made me open my eyes fully to look at her. "What?"
"Why are you out here?" She was concerned, knelt on the floor near me as she gently stroked my hair.
"Couldn't sleep. I didn't want to wake you." My eyes fluttered a little as sleep threatened to take over again but I fought against it. "What time is it?"
"Two. I wanted to cuddle you but you weren't in bed."
"Sorry. I'll come back now." She smiled a little and helped me to stand up.
"Why couldn't you sleep?" She asked as we walked back to our room. I shrugged and shook my head.
"Don't know. Just couldn't. Will you cuddle me?"
"Of course." I crawled into bed, waiting for her to join me before relaxing into her arms. She kissed my shoulder softly a couple times and laced her fingers through mine. "I missed this; you know."
"Me too. Your pillow's great but it doesn't give nearly as nice hugs." She chuckled quietly and I turned my head to look at her. "You give the best hugs."
"And kisses?" She asked.
"I guess." I teased, smiling when she pouted but I pressed my lips to hers firmly, to show her that she really did give the best kisses. When we broke apart, I wriggled a little, pulling her further into me and tightened my arms around her. "I'm so glad you're back."
"Mm." Her face was buried in my chest and she was softly tracing patterns on my hand with her thumb. For a while we just lay there, being close. "Have you noticed anything different about Charlie recently?"
"What?" She'd spoken so quietly; it took me a moment to register what she'd said.
"I don't know, he just seemed different around you today."
"Imogen, if this is the jealousy thing again, I..."
"No. I promise. I'm not asking because of that." I pulled back a little to face her and I saw in her eyes that she was being honest. I pressed one hand to her cheek softly.
"I haven't noticed anything different. But then I haven't exactly been myself the last three weeks, have I?" I smiled and she laughed dryly, pecking my nose.
"I guess. You know, I hate that you were so down while I was away."
"It's not your fault. It's just me."
"I know there's nothing I could do but part of me wishes I hadn't gone. We don't spend time apart, it's not who we are."
"And now we don't have to anymore, right?"
"Right." She pulled me close to bury her face in my chest again and I rested my chin on her head. "It's nearly two-thirty, babe. You need sleep before you go to work tomorrow."
"'M'kay." She kissed my collarbone and I let myself relax into her hold, sleep coming on fast.
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When I woke in the morning, Imogen was still fast asleep and I decided to let her be. She didn't have to go back to work until Thursday anyway so she deserved to be able to rest. I carefully slipped out of her embrace and headed to the bathroom to shower and wake myself up a little more. I could feel the effects of being up in the middle of the night and knew it would be a tough day.
Choosing my clothes for the day, I was lucky that Imogen hadn't given me too many marks to cover on my neck. Once I was dressed, I softly kissed Imogen's forehead. She stirred slightly but stayed asleep as I left the room and headed to the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine.
"Abby, time to get ready for school." I pushed open Abby's door, finding her sitting up in bed, flipping through a book.
"Will mummy take me to school today?" She asked.
"We'll see. She's sleeping now. If she wakes up before it's time to go, we'll ask her, okay?" She seemed satisfied with that answer and pushed off her blankets. "You want pancakes for breakfast?"
"Yes, please. Can I help?"
"You've got to pack your bag first. Make sure you put your lunch in."
"Okay, papa." As she spoke, she scampered over to me, hugging me tightly as she did every morning. "I love you, papa."
"I love you, too, Abby. Now come on. Let's get ready to go." I smiled at her and led her out to the kitchen where she climbed up onto one of the stools to pack her bag. I'd set everything out for her last night so all she had to do was put everything in the bag. While she did that, I set everything out to make pancakes for the two of us.
She chattered away while we worked and it wasn't long before we were sat at the table, eating our breakfast together.
"Mummy!" Abby was facing the entrance to the kitchen and saw Imogen before I did. I turned around to see her yawning as she came into the room.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" I asked. She came over to stand behind me, leaning down to kiss me properly.
"I did, once I actually got to sleep properly."
"Mummy, Papa said you could take me to school today." Abby wanted attention and Imogen looked over at her.
"Really?"
"Only if you're up for it. I'm happy to take her on my way to work."
"I'd be happy to take her."
"Yay!" Abby cheered, making both Imogen and I laugh. She slid into the chair next to me and reached over to steal a piece of pancake off my plate.
"Hey! Get your own." She just grinned and kissed my cheek affectionately.
"This is more fun."
"Mummy, do you want more pancakes? You can have this one." Abby offered, holding up her last one, which was dripping syrup onto the table. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Imogen shook her head.
"No, thank you, sweetie. I'm not very hungry right now. I'll have some later after you go to school."
"Oh, speaking of school. I've got to get going." I said, suddenly realising the time and jumping up.
"Abby, finish your breakfast and then we'll go too, okay?" Imogen told our daughter who nodded. I quickly dumped my plate into the sink, kissed the top of Abby's head and grabbed my bag for work, heading to the front door, Imogen following behind. "Have a good day, babe."
"I will. Make sure you relax a little today." I replied, kissing her goodbye. She held on a little longer than usual but I didn't complain, waving to her as I hurried over to my car. She stood on the front porch, watching me as I drove away and I sighed in happiness that my family was once again back together.
