Ashton: You both woke up when you heard a scream from your youngest child’s bedroom. She was only 6 and your other son, the eldest, was 14. You and Ashton ran to her room and saw that your son had already beat you there. He was sitting on the bed, holding his little sister close to his body and he tried to get her to stop crying.
“Hey, sweetie,” you said, sitting next to them. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a nightmare,” she whispered, wiping tears from under her brown eyes.
“About what?” Ashton asked, kneeling down in front of her and your son.
“I don’t remember, but it was scary.”
You smiled sympathetically and leaned over, kissing her forehead and then your son’s.
“Do you want to come sleep in Mummy and Daddy’s room?”
She shook her head and clung onto your son’s shirt.
“I want to stay with him,” she mumbled.
Your son nodded and stood up with her in his arms. Your son at only 14 was already taller than you and just an inch or two shy of Ashton.
“Take care of your sister,” Ashton told him, proud of how protective he was over her.
“I always do.”
Luke: Your’s and Luke’s kids were all in their teen years, your youngest son at 13, eldest son at 17. Your only daughter was the middle child, at 15, and she had recently witnessed a shooting at a store. She was traumatized, to say the least, but she hated to admit it and always claimed she was fine.
When you and Luke woke up in the middle of the night to her screaming, you knew something was wrong. Luke untangled his arms from around your waist and got out of bed. You did the same.
You both stepped into her room where she sat on the floor with her legs tucked to her chest as she cried.
Your two other sons stepped into the room behind you and Luke.
“Sweetie,” you said sympathetically, crouching down and sitting next to her.
“I’m scared,” she whispered, laying her head on your shoulder. Luke sat in front of her and grabbed her hands in his.
“Hey, listen to me, no one is going to hurt you. You have no reason to be scared. Your brothers and I always make sure to protect you and your mom. You’re safe here, okay?”
She nodded and hugged her dad. Your two sons came and sat on the floor by her as well.
“Can you get some sleep?” Luke asked her, helping her up and getting her back into her bed.
She shook her head. “I’m too paranoid and scared.”
“I can stay in here with her,” your eldest son said.
Luke nodded. “That’d be great.”
Michael: You had unfortunately been plagued with horrible night terrors ever since you were little. Because of this, you refrained from ever sleeping over at Michael’s or allowing him to stay over at yours.
However, when you went to Michael’s and a huge storm hit, you had no choice but to stay the night.
“Michael, I need to tell you something,” you whispered as he handed you some clothes to wear for the night.
“What is it, babe?” he asked, slipping his shirt off of his head and pulling off his jeans. He walked over to his vanity and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and slipped them on.
“I, uh, I get really bad nightmares. A lot. Nearly every night. Ever since I was little.”
He smiled softly, “I’ll be here to protect you.”
You both went to bed with his arms wrapped around your waist.
When you woke up in the middle of the night screaming, Michael was right there to comfort you.
“Shh, babe, I got you. You’re okay.”
Michael listened while you talked and told him about your nightmares. You weren’t at all offended when he suggested the idea of therapy, actually agreeing to it.
Calum: You had sent Calum up to bed by himself after a long day at the studio. You still had some energy left in you and some school work for college that needed to be attended to.
It was about 2 hours after Calum went up that you decided to call it a night.
When you stepped up to your room, you turned on the small table lamp instead of the main light as to not disturb Calum.
You looked over at him and watched as he mumbled things under his breath and moved around restlessly.
“No… Stop… Please,” he said, louder than he was talking before. There was sweat all over him, he looked like he was over-heating, even though he was shirtless and only in a pair of basketball shorts. He just looked uncomfortable. You walked over to him and shook his shoulder gently. He didn’t wake up.
“Calum, wake up,” you said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and shaking his shoulder again.
Slowly, his eyes opened up and he looked around before sitting up in bed.
“You were having a nightmare,” you said quietly.
“Someone was hurting you,” he responded sadly.
You smiled weakly and leaned up, kissing him softly.
“Get some sleep, baby. You’ve had a long day.”
“Only if you lay with me and promise that you’ll be here when I wake up.” You stood up and quickly changed into your pajamas which consisted of only one of Calum’s large shirts that came down mid-thigh.
“I promise.”
