I Love You, Always

Chapter 5

Derrick's POV

Singing or humming Damian to sleep never failed to do the trick when he was much younger. Good to know it still works. Just to make sure, I call out his name to see if I get any sort of reaction. There's none, so he's definitely asleep. About damn time. I've never known a kid to have so much trouble with falling and staying asleep. And now he's sick on top of it. But I had a feeling that was gonna happen with me and Dev both getting sick.

Except if he'd just been taking his sleeping medication then he wouldn't be having these sleeping issues. I'm definitely gonna have to talk to him about that tomorrow, or at least when he's feeling better. I don't understand why he's so against taking 'em, but I do get why he didn't tell me. It's exactly like when he started taking his anxiety medication. He took it for a few days, decided he didn't like it, and stopped taking it until I found out. That's when I started regulating it. The previous sleeping medication he was taking worked fine, so I didn't think much about it when we had to have it switched. I figured the new stuff would work the same as the old stuff. But since Damian refuses to take it there's gotta be something wrong with it.

For a few minutes I stay in this spot, still running my fingers through his platinum locks. I remember when my hair was the same exact color before I started dying it black. Never did care much for having blond hair. Didn't think it ever looked right on me. Maybe it's 'cause of the piercings and tattoos. I think the black gives me an edgier look, too.

His hair's getting longer I realize as I continue raking my fingers through it. His bangs especially. I sweep them out of his face, tucking them nicely behind his ear. Damian hasn't spent the night in my bed in years. Not since he was at least eleven. That's around the time the nightmares finally went away. Or at least that's what he told me. It's hard to tell with him sometimes. He's good at keeping things from people when he doesn't wanna bother them. That's why he didn't tell me about the medicine.

In a way, though, I find that I've sort of missed this. The older both Dev and Damian have gotten the more I miss when they were little. Partly because they're so much more defiant now, but with Damian especially I preferred when he'd come to me at night after a bad dream or whenever he was upset. Then I could see that he was safe because he was next to me. Those protective instincts don't go away, they only get worse the older they get. Damian may only have a stomach bug, but having him in here next to me drastically alleviates my worries.

After a few more minutes I slowly withdraw my hand and gently maneuver myself out from under the covers. Damian doesn't move an inch.

I wander out into the hallway and make my way across to the twin's room. Devyn is, of course, sleeping soundly, and loudly. That one can sleep anywhere anytime luckily. But he's a struggle to get up in the mornings.

The light from the hallway allows me to see enough to cross over to Damian's side of the room. I open the top drawer of his night stand, searching for the sleeping meds. They're either gonna be in here or his desk, but usually he keeps this stuff in here.

My fingers enclose around the small plastic bottle and I quietly pull it out to keep the pills from rattling around inside making a bunch of noise. Just before I turn to leave the room, I spot that old stuffed cat of Damian's hanging off the side of his bed near the top. The one Lexy gave him shortly after the car accident all those years ago. Snatching it up, I tuck it under my arm and head out, closing the door behind me.

I don't go back to my bedroom just yet. I head towards the kitchen bar and switch the kitchen light on. The pill bottle says that Damian was prescribed thirty of these and I'm about to see just how many of these he actually took. Really he's supposed to take them as needed, but "as needed" for him is basically every night. It's been about two weeks since these were prescribed, so there should be around fifteen or so left. I uncap the bottle and dump them all out on the bar counter to count them all out.