12:23am.
'Babe, why aren't you in bed? Is he not settling?' Lauren asks softly as she makes her way into the living room where Demi is curled up at one end of the sofa with Maverick in her arms.
'Something is happening in New York.' Demi says glancing up at Lauren as she adjusts the blanket around Maverick.
'What do you mean? What's happening?' Lauren asks making her way round and sitting down on the sofa.
'I don't really know... A couple of people deliberately drove into a crowd of people and started shooting. It's horrendous.' Demi says shaking her head as she moves to lean against Lauren.
'Are people hurt?' Lauren asks.
'Mmm... There's apparently like five people dead but that's not been confirmed by the police. I've been trying to get hold of Nick.' Demi replies glancing down at her phone.
'He still in New York?' Lauren asks draping her arms around Demi's shoulders and kissing the top of her head as Maverick sleeps peacefully in Demi's arms.
'Mmhmm... I've phone him like five times; he's not answering. Both him and Joe are in New York.' Demi replies causing Lauren to sigh.
'Come up to bed and we can keep trying to get them on the phone?' Lauren says and Demi shakes her head.
'I won't be able to sleep. You can go up though.' Demi replies.
'Nope, I'll stay right here with you.' Lauren says softly. She softly kisses the top of Demi's head and they settle down, both of them staring at the news which is playing on TV.
'W-What if they're hurt?' Demi asks quietly after a few minutes of silence.
'I'm sure they won't be. They're probably just somewhere that doesn't have much signal or else they just can't hear their phones.' Lauren replies.
'Hopefully.' Demi almost whispers.
1:02am
'Momma?' A little voice says causing Demi to glance up at the stairs to find Pippa standing clutching her little cream bunny.
'Hi, sweetheart. What's wrong?' Demi asks moving Maverick off her chest and onto the sofa next to Lauren who is half asleep. She makes her way over to the stairs and instantly lifts Pippa into her arms.
'What's wrong, sweet girl? Why aren't you sleeping?' Demi asks keeping the little girl in her arms.
'Bad dream.' Pippa mumbles burying her head in the crook of Demi's neck.
'Oh, sweetheart... Why don't we sit in the chair and have a snuggle for a bit?' Demi suggests and Pippa nods her head. Grabbing a spare blanket she makes her way over to the rocking chair and sits down with Pippa curled into her chest, the little girl facing away from the TV which is showing the devastating situation in New York. Draping a blanket around Pippa's body, Demi kisses the top of her head and rocks back and forth.
'You can go to sleep, sweetie. Momma is right here and I'm not going anywhere.' Demi says softly as she runs her fingers through Pippa's hair. She begins humming softly as she keeps Pippa cuddled against her chest, her eyes occasionally flickering towards the TV to see what's happening.
1:39am.
'Demi... Someone wants to speak to you.' Lauren says softly as she makes her way over to the chair and passes the phone to Demi who sleepily rubs her eyes before holding the phone to her ear.
'Hello?' She says.
'Demi?' A familiar voice says instantly causing tears to fill her eyes.
'Nick! Oh my god. I've been so fucking worried. Are you okay? What about Joe? Sophie?' She asks.
'We're fine. We're all okay, I promise. We weren't hurt; Sophie's a bit shaken for obvious reasons but we've been checked over and we're back at the hotel now.'
'Thank god! What even happened? Where were you guys?'
'I don't even know, Dems. It all happened so quickly. We were in a bar just on the corner and the window is literally riddled with bullet holes. The manager of the bar got us all into the back and we were safe.'
'That must've been so scary. I'm just so glad you're okay.'
'We're fine. We need to speak to the police tomorrow and tell them what we saw but I think after that we'll be flying back to LA. I just- None of us really want to be here anymore, you know? We want to help but we just don't know how. I just want to see my family.'
'I'm sure people will understand, Nick.'
'You should get some sleep, Dems. I promise we're all fine and I'll let you know what's happening tomorrow, okay?'
'Okay. I love you.'
'I love you too... Give the kids a kiss from me in the morning.'
'Will do.' She says softly. She hangs up and places her phone on the arm of the chair before glancing up at Lauren.
'Shall we go to bed?' Demi asks and Lauren nods her head.
'I'll get Maverick.' Lauren replies smiling.
9:23am
Running her hand over her face, Demi yawns as she slowly makes her way downstairs and into the dining room where she finds Pippa and Evie sitting at the table while Lauren keeps Maverick balanced on his hip.
'Hey, sleepyhead... I thought I'd let you have bit of a longer lie since you had a bit of an eventful night.' Lauren says causing Demi to smile.
'Mmm... Thank you! I think I would've been like a zombie if I had got up at six.' Demi admits smiling as she kisses both Pippa and Evie's heads.
'Has there been anymore news about New York?' Demi asks and Lauren shakes her head.
'Not much more than there was last night.' Lauren replies sliding a mug of coffee towards Demi.
'It's just awful, isn't it?' Demi says sighing.
'It definitely is. I was thinking we could maybe just have a day in the house? The girls can play in the garden if they want and we can just have a lazy day?' Lauren suggests.
'That sounds perfect. I feel so drained for some reason.' Demi admits.
'You had a stressful night. I think you just need to spend the day chilling out. Nick and Joe are fine so now you just need to let yourself relax... Maybe you can go for a bath later?' Lauren suggests settling Maverick into his highchair before making his way over to Demi and placing her hands on her shoulders.
'Mmm... I think I might.' Demi replies smiling slightly.
