100 Baby Daycare One-Shots

Bri's Factions Nightmare

"This reminds me of my faction days."

They were all as tired as could be when bedtime rolled around, and Austin fully expected to sleep through the night without being woken up by even the kids. So when a scream cut through his dream and jolted him awake, sue him if he assumed the house was on fire.

He lurched up, ready to jump out of bed, but stopped dead cold when he saw his wife tossing and turning beside him in the dark. Her eyes were still closed, asleep, but her face was scrunched up in panic. Or fear. Her hands were flexing and twitching against her stomach and his werewolf ears could definitely hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"Bri? Bri!" He shook her shoulder gently, then harder when she didn't wake up. Her eyes

flew open, darting around the room as if looking for danger before resting on Austin's fear-stricken face.

"What-" She stopped, clearly dazed.

"You were having a nightmare, you were screaming and jerking around." He said softly,

scared to speak louder than a whisper to break the fragile silence surrounding them.

Bri blinked then tried to sit up, putting her weight back on her elbows for support. He immediately took her arm as gently as he could to help and she leaned against the headboard. Sweat dotted her face and her hair was twisted in strings. Austin tucked strands of it behind her ears and waited.

They sat in silence for a few moments before asking, "Do you wanna talk about?"

She got quiet, but didn't turn away. She fixed her gaze down at her lap, fiddling her

fingers. There was a far off, almost haunted look in her eyes and Austin reached over to close his hand over hers. "Just...remembering. I guess not all my memories of factions are good."

He scooted closer to her, moving his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. "You

haven't really told me anything about those days."

"And you didn't tell me you had two super smart godsons whose dads you owe favors

to," she countered, lips tipped up into a small smirk.

The sight calmed Austin down more than even a full moon would. "Alright fair enough,

but at least I only owed them one favor each. And this is the last time I'll make that mistake." He lightly bumped his head against hers, since he couldn't reach her shoulders. "No more helping anyone ever is what we've learned from this."

"Austin noooo." Bri laughed and he could've swore another Tinkerbell was born somewhere.

The bedroom door creaked open, and a pink haired head poked in. "Is someone

breaking into the house? We heard screaming and got our knives."

"'We'?"

Brady pushed the door open more, and his closest siblings stood in the doorway, save for Kai, who had already left for military school for the semester, and Daxton. Even Kandy, being held in Jaxton's short arms, was staring wide-eyed at them. "Mowmy okie?" she asked through the thumb in her mouth.

"Momma's alright, don't you worry," Austin assured her. He glanced at Bri, who was smiling at them in reassurance too, but he could see the wrinkles around her eyes and could hear her, still, rapidly beating heart. "But how about you guys sleep in here tonight anyway?"

Brady gasped exaggeratedly. "Family sleepover on a school night?"

"Yeah yeah, school night family sleepover. Just don't get used to it, you all need your sleep."

All five of them rushed to the bed and climbed up. Bri held out her arms, slightly shaking, and Jaxton handed her his sister. Bri cradled her to her chest while he cuddled into her side. Evan took up on Austin's other side, patting down the covers over his legs, while Brady and Bells settled in between their parents.

Out of habit, Bells bit her dad before curling up against his arm. Austin yelped and opened his mouth to berate her but closed it when he noticed the calm look on Bri's face, bright despite having being woken up in the middle of the night. It was the same face whenever the kids at the daycare ran up to her for a hug after being dropped off for the day. And the same face she hides when he whines for love and attention.

He sighed and smiled, then ruffled Bells' hair and laid back down amongst (almost) all his favorite kids and favorite girl in the world to fall back to sleep.