Unification∴Reincarnation

A Voice

"Sam, buddy, it's time to wake up," Stefan said. He sat down at the edge of the bed and placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder before giving it a nudge. Sam let out a groan and peak out with sleepy eyes.

"Daddy? What time is it?" Sam asked.

Stefan looked over at the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table. The clock was brown and shaped like a bear, a character from one of Sam's favorite cartoons. Jogi something or other. Stefan had bought it as a christmas gift last year, and Sam had loved it, particularly how the bear would roar when a button was pushed on its head. Sam had played with it nonstop the first few days, which had driven Jeanne up the wall. Stefan himself had begun to regret the purchase, but couldn't quite bring himself to return the toy after seeing the excited smiles on Sam's face. Ultimately, both he and Jeanne agreed to weathered the storm until Sam had lost interest, while promising to be more selective of presents in the future.

Stefan let out a small smile as the memory floated through his mind. Then looking back to Sam, he said, "It's 6:30, buddy."

"Okay," Sam replied sleepily. He rubbed his eyes a bit and then got out of bed.

Stefan watched as Sam staggered to the closet to look for a change of clothes. He wondered if the boy would fall back asleep midstep, and he shook his head silently, thinking how insane it was that the district would start school for elementary students so early in the morning. "Boys needs their sleep," Stefan mumbled to himself. He wondered if he could bring it up at the next PTA meeting or something.

Still thinking to himself, Stefan stood up, walked out of his son's bedroom and began making his way towards the stairs. As he put his hand on the railing though, he suddenly paused and called back, "Brush your teeth and then come down, Sam. I think mommy made pancakes this time." He grinned as he heard Sam let out a yelp of excitement, followed by the sounds of barefoot running into bathroom.

Once downstairs, Stefan headed into the kitchen where he found his wife standing by the stove, in the middle of flipping a blueberry pancake. She heard him approach and turned, her wavy brown hair falling slightly over her face as she did so. Stefan reached out a hand and brushed it behind her ear and then gave her a kiss. "Morning, smells lovely," Stefan said.

"Me or the pancakes?" Jeanne asked.

"Both," Stefan said with a grin. Jeanne gave him a playful shove and then returned her attention back to the pancakes. Stefan walked up behind her and wrapped her in an embrace, placing his hands over her stomach. "And how are you doing, today?" he whispered softly. Just as he was placing his chin on Jeanne's shoulder, Stefan heard a tumble of footsteps coming down the stairs. Sam burst into the kitchen shortly thereafter.

"Pancakes!" he exclaimed. He flailed his arms in excitement and Stefan took the opportunity to scoop Sam off the ground into the air, raising the boy high above his head.

"Wide awake now, Sam?" Stefan asked as he spun Sam around. Sam giggled in high-pitched laughter and wriggled as his feet floated up from the centripetal motion.

"Wide awake, daddy," Sam replied.

Stefan lowered Sam back to the ground and then placed a hand on his son's head. "We need to buy you a comb, buddy," Stefan said. He moved his hand back and forth over Sam's hair, trying to smooth out the tangle of brown locks. But as soon as his hand moved away, Sam's hair flipped right back up, with patches jutting out at odd angles.

"Daddy, stop," Sam whined as he tried to push Stefan's hands away with his much smaller ones.

"Okay, okay," Stefan replied. Then turning to Jeanne, he continued, "But for the record, I tried."