Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Packing

Danny's POV

"You might want to pack and or shower tonight so you can sleep in later tomorrow," I tell her. "Definitely pack; not too much, mind, you should only need a carry-on since we're not going to be staying for too long, just a week."

"Alright, I'm going to shower now then so my hair's dry when I go to sleep," she tells me. "I don't have any luggage..."

"I have more than enough, don't worry."

"Okay." She turns and goes to get in the shower. I dig through my closet until I find my luggage (which you'd think I keep handy since I travel a lot but in reality I shove in the back of my closet so it's out of the way) and put a suitcase in her room. Then I pull out my own and start throwing a few shirts and jeans in it haphazardly. After ten minutes or so, I hear Callie get out of the shower. Five minutes later, she walks out of the bathroom with a few personal items she's bringing with her. She heads into her room and packs her bag. After fifteen more minutes, she yells, "Mine's all packed! Where do ya want it!"

"Just by the door so we don't forget it tomorrow!" I call back. I hear her running down the hall and turn to look just as she jumps onto her carry-on and goes sailing past. I'm debating whether giving her a carry-on with wheels was the best idea. I decide it's definitely not when she crashes somewhere with a startled yelp. "Everything alright, there, crazy?" I yell.

"Fine!" she yells back, laughing. "I crashed into the couch!" Oh great, she could have broken her skull, but hey, at least she landed on something she could bleed out on in comfort. A few moments later she skips back into my room and flops onto my bed.

"What's putting you in such a good mood?" I ask suspiciously.

"Nothin'!" she giggles.

"Why do I have the feeling that you're lying to me about something?" I ask, crossing my arms across my chest.

"I don't know! Why?"

"Why? You wanna know why, huh?"

"Yeah!"

"I think...I think it's because you're up to something!" I grab her around the waist and start tickling her. She squeals and laughs and I tell her, "I'll stop when you talk!" After a few minutes, she still hasn't talked, so I lay her down on the bed and blow a raspberry into her belly. Tears start forming in her eyes from laughing, and she cries, "There's a surprise for you in the bathroom!"

Immediately, I let her up and carefully open the door to the bathroom. On the mirror, written with soap, is a note. It reads hope you weren't gonna shave, cuz you don't have any more shaving cream... "Callie, what did you do with my shaving cream?" I demand.

"Not telling!" she laughs, running into her own room and locking me out. I decide to shower now, and grab a clean set of pj's from my dresser. I set them down and get in the shower. I force the shower head up, since Callie had to lower it, and I'm startled when shaving cream rains down from above and covers my head and shoulders. I would have actually shaved, if the water hadn't immediately washed it away. I shake my head. "Amateur play," I say quietly to myself.

I find out it wasn't amateur play when I squeeze some more...a lot more...a ton more shaving cream into my hand from my shampoo bottle. Evil. Very evil. I find out she's done that with all the bottles in my shower. After a while, I get out, dry off, and change into my pj's. I walk into her room and say, "That was good. That was a good prank. But you've started a prank war with the master."

"It's a shame I wasted all your shaving cream," she tells me, dead-panned. "You need a shave, Scruffy!"

"What makes you say that?" I ask, leaning against the door frame.

"Your beard itches!"

"And by that, you mean it tickles when I blow a raspberry into your belly."

"No!" I stare at her for a few seconds, head tilted to the side. "Okay, maybe it did. Just a little bit." I raise an eyebrow at her. "Or a lot..."

I laugh and say, "Damn straight it did! Listen, you won't have to get pranked if you just apologize..."

After a few minutes, she says, "Sorry."

I'm startled by this. I didn't think she'd do it, seeing as I made her pick between pride and pranks, and she clearly loves a good prank. "It's fine," I murmur. I look at the time. It's already 10:30. "C'mon, love, let's get you to bed, now."

"Aww, but I'm not tired!" she protests. I notice she barely stifles a yawn at the end of that statement.

"But you want to be well-rested when you meet my family so you can play with my nieces and nephews," I tell her quietly. She yawns, not being able to stifle it this time, and nods. She crawls into bed and I tuck her in. I kiss her cheek and murmur, "Good night, Callie. Sleep tight."

"Good night, Scruffy," she says quietly. I smile and leave her to sleep, shutting the light off as I do so. I finish packing my carry-on and put it out next to Callie's. I return to my room, climb into bed, and shut the light. Within minutes, I fall asleep.

　

A few hours later, I feel someone shaking my shoulder. "Five...five more minutes," I mumble without thinking. The shaking doesn't stop though. I roll over onto my side and squint into the blackness of my room. I hear a quiet sniffle and ask quickly, "Callie, what happened? Did you have a bad dream?" I sit up as she nods (I can finally see) and pull her into a hug. I run my hand through her hair until she stops crying. I pick her up gently and carry her into the kitchen. I turn on a single light and set her down on a chair before turning away and starting to make hot chocolate. It's something my parents always did for me and my siblings if we woke up in the middle of the night.

After a few minutes, Callie whimpers, "They were all dead, Danny. They killed them because I ran away."

I pour the hot chocolate into two mugs and set one in front of her. "It was just a dream, Callie, just a bad, bad dream."

She picks up her mug and takes a sip. "It was so real," she whispers.

"Dreams sometimes feel that way," I murmur. We both sit in silence until we finish our hot chocolate. We place the empty mugs in the sink and I pick Callie up again. I turn out the light as I leave. I carry her into her room and we sit on the bed. "Try to go back to sleep, love, I'll be right here if you get scared."

"Don't leave?" she asks quietly.

"I won't, I promise."

We lay down and pull the blankets over us. Callie snuggles up to me, resting her head on my chest. I smile and wrap an arm around her. Within a few minutes, her breathing deepens and becomes more regular, and I know she's sleeping. A few minutes more, and I too fall asleep.