Quiet Like a Ghost

Chapter Twenty-One: Sleep

We got Ryan and Allie to watch Trixie for a bit so we could have some us time.

Now we are cuddled in a motel bed, not making any move to leave. "I wish we could just stay here forever. Quiet, intimate, it's great." Opal whispers, tracing invisible shapes on my chest. "Yeah, me too but I'd miss my little girl." I shrug, pointing out one of my girls wouldn't be there. "True. I'd miss Trixie but, here we get more 'us' time."

"Then let's not waste what we have." I whisper, kissing her as she gets on top.

By time we get home, it's almost lunchtime. "Oh look who's back." Ryan smirks. "Mommy! Daddy!" Bellatrix squeals, jumping into my arms. "Hey, baby girl." I kiss her cheek. She continues to tell us what they did in our absence, Allie helped her with her penmanship and counting which led to basic addition. My kid is a genius. Don't know how, I mean Opal's intelligent but not Albert Einstein and I'm an idiot.

"Hey daddy, what's 1+2?" She asks. "I don't know, tell me." I smile. "Three! I'm three!" She squeals, happy with herself. "That's right. Good job sweetheart." I kiss her head.

After a bit, my head starts to act up so I go to lay down. "Daddy, you ok?" Trixie asks, looking worried. "Baby, I have a headache but I'm ok. Going to lay down so I feel better ok? Hang out with mommy for a bit." I tell her and she hugs my leg. "I don't want you to go." She starts to cry. "Honey..." I pick her up, ignoring my head as much as I could. "I'm not going anywhere." I tell her quietly. Who gave her the idea I was going to leave?

She ended up coming with me to nap, not wanting to leave my side. "Do you want me to put her to sleep?" Opal asks. "I don't care." I sigh, my head pounding. "I'm going to put her to bed." She tells me, picking her up.

Soon Opal comes back, getting into bed next to me, pulling my face to her chest. We don't speak, cuddling the way we do whenever I have a headache and Trixie's asleep. Opal absent-mindedly pets my long hair, helping me fall to blissful sleep.

"Daddy... Daddy... Daddy..." Bellatrix's voice coos, shaking me lightly. "Baby girl, I need to sleep some more ok? Where's Momma?" I ask, not opening my eyes. "Cooking." She smiles, bouncing on the bed. "Trixie, I told you not to do that." I open my eyes, pulling her leg so she fell on the bed. She giggles, "It's fun." I close my eyes again, exausted even though I've been asleep for hours. "What's wrong? Should I get mommy? She said if you were in pain to get her..." She says shakily, worried again. "Baby, I'm fine, I just need to rest. If you want to stay with me please be quiet." I whisper, laying on my back. She's silent as she lays next to me, her small head on my chest.

I fall asleep, rubbing her back but when I woke up she was gone, most likely eating. I didn't feel right still so I went back to sleep.

I kept waking up and going back to sleep for what must've been a couple days, worrying everyone. "Baby, wake up." Opal wakes me up. "You haven't gotten out of bed in two days, are you ok?" She asks, putting her hand on my forehead, checking my temperature. "Yeah, just very tired and just feel weird." I shrug. "Weird as?" She asks. "I don't know. Not normal, I just don't want to do anything." I tell her. "I think you're depressed. I'm going to call your doctor." She sighs, kissing me and getting up.

Depressed? I'm not sad. I have a pretty good life, my girls, my friends, I mean cancer sucks but I live with it. "Ok, got an appointment scheduled for next week." She tells me, taking off most of her clothes to sleep, and gets in next to me, snuggling next to me. I hold her in my arms and quickly fall back asleep.