"Options... I've ran out of Options..." (Book 3)

Chapter 18 - "Up All Night II..."

Chapter 18 - "Up All Night II..."

Clara's PoV

'Ugh. Just give him the Dummy back. I need sleep' Avia whined as she came downstairs at 9 o clock - 2 hours after Henry's bedtime.

He still wasn't asleep.

It had been hell so far but I was determined not to give up. He would just cry himself to sleep eventually and realise that he didn't even need it.

'No. He'll fall asleep eventually. We just have to give it time' I scoffed as John was having a really hard time himself.

He wasn't enjoying hearing Henry in such a state. I can't blame him. Who wants to hear their son in that much distress?

'Don't even think about it' I said as he stood up off the sofa.

'I need a wee'

'Then you wee in the downstairs toilet. Do not ruin this. If we don't get it off him now he'll end up like Avia'

'Hey' she scoffed.

'Oh come on your teeth are straight now but they weren't - and do you know whose fault that was? Your Dads. He tried taking the dummy away from you for one night and gave up that is why you have 24 months of braces stuck in your mouth' I scoffed.

The problem never really occurred with Poppy - mainly because she never really liked them - thus by the time she got to about 6 months she never really clung onto it for comfort. She practically discarded it for herself.

'But he's so upset' he whined.

'And so will I when I get another set of dental bills come in'

'You mean when I get another set of dental bills come in? You don't pay for anything' he said rolling his eyes.

'Excuse me? I resent that. I pay for plenty thank you very much' I hugged. Although he was right about the dental bills.

'You clearly take pleasure from watching others suffer' he scoffed, slumping back down on the sofa and folding his arms like a puppy. 'He's only two'

The evening had started out well enough. We had explained to Henry why we were taking it away, and how he was a big boy now which he is always telling us anyway - then we had him put them all in a big bag and he was happy as pie.

He wasn't even bothered by the time we had read all of the story - it was just up until 45 minutes ago really that he had started getting really upset.

He kept coming down the stairs in hope that we'd give in and give it to him so we had slammed the lounge door on now.

All that had done was make him grizzle and cry in the hallway.

If this was the pain of just taking a simple dummy away then I dread to think what it will be like then he has to have an actual bed and wee on the toilet.

'I'll put him back to bed' John hummed as he tried standing up again and I flicked him.

'I'll do it. You'll just try to slip him a dummy whilst my backs turned' I mumbled but in the end we agreed we'd both go - mainly because he's a Daddy's boy and he might actually listen to John.

Unfortunately it didn't. We did not get a whole lot of sleep that night.

- - -

'Ugh. When will he go to sleep. He's going to make himself ill if he keeps crying. A two year old should not be this distressed over a piece of plastic' John mumbled slumping on the bed.

I needed sleep so it was bed time - but that was no easy feat.

Just walking past his door had set him off again.

We'd put some fairy light things on so he wasn't in the dark, we'd even taken the bars off the side of the cot so he had just a little more freedom - but it was still distressing him.

'It's your fault. Your the one that gave the stupid thing to him. I never would have bothered giving them a dummy at all' I scoffed.

'Yeah? Well your opinion was ignored about 10 years ago when you decided you wanted alcohol more than your kids' he growled storming out of the room.

'Fuck you' I growled as Avia poked her head round the corner.

'I don't think your supposed to use that kind if language Mummy'

'It's half past 10. It's past the watershed what difference does it make?' I said rolling my eyes. 'What do you want?'

'You need to get him to sleep. I have a test tomorrow' she whined. I did feel sorry for her. It's all about testing in schools these days and she's in year 6 and she's stuck with all these little ones around her.

'I'll sort him' I said as the house suddenly went quiet.

It went so quiet that it was too quiet and I knew exactly what had happened.

I wandered towards Henry's room and got ready to growl but what I head was pretty beautiful and it made me realise what a great man he was and what a great Dad he was.

'Dummy' he wept as he was in John's arms, head rested on his shoulder, chubby little hands wrapped around his neck. 'Pease?' He whined with his little two year old lisp. You don't need a dummy any more'

'Sorry buddy. Your a big boy now. You need to get used to not having your Dummy' John explained as he ruffled his hair.

'Seepy' he said rubbing his eyes in an adorably cute way.

'Do you want another story? Then you might be able to get some sleep' John suggested, dropping him into the cot and picked a book off the shelf, then proceeded to read it.

- - -

'He's asleep' John said as he collapsed into the bed next to me and I turned to face him.

'I'm sorry for being so harsh. Maybe I didn't need to be so cruel about it?' I mumbled.

'What's done is done' he said as he yawned. 'He needed to learn son boundaries anyway'