The house was dark, the night thick and foggy as it rained slowly outside. The whole house was quiet save for the tip of the rain against the old windows; even Jake and Avery’s whispering had quieted after a time, and now the two of them were asleep, heads together and legs tangled.
In the distance, thunder rumbled, and one lightening strike threw a dim cast to the walls of their bedroom. As it got louder Jake stirred, always having been a light sleeper, and as he did Avery did, though the next second they were both asleep again, Jake now on his back and Avery’s head on his chest.
Lightning flashed again, brighter and faster, unseen to them, thunder rumbling ominously again in the distance.
Down the hall, Elle laid wide-awake and completely still in her bed, clutching the sheets. Her wide eyes darted from shadow to shadow as lightning flashed again, and this time the thunder came sooner and a little louder. With a small whinge she went to pull the blankets over her head – but an immediate flash of lightning and a crack of thunder sent her out of her bed and flying down the hall, to her fathers’ slightly open door.
She slipped inside without a sound, jumping as thunder rumbled again outside.
“Daddy,” she whimpered at the next flash of lightning, forgetting any extra names in her fear, she just wanted one. Either. Both. She was standing completely still, as she had been in her bed, in the middle of their bedroom. Her little hands were fisted in her nightshirt, and she looked quickly around her as the thunder got louder once more.
Jake lifted his head, just barely hearing her over the thunder. “Elle?”
As soon as he said her name she was up on their bed, scrambling over their legs in a frantic attempt to bury herself between them. Avery murmured, instinctively wrapping his arms around her as she buried her face in his chest, shaking when another louder sharp crack of thunder told them what was wrong. Jake pressed closer, stroking her long hair away and kissing the top of her head before looking up at Avery who was whispering to her that it was all right, the thunder wasn’t going to do anything to her. Jake tugged the sheets up around the three of them, he and Avery having kicked them down in their sleep, and then slid an arm over Elle too, hand resting on Avery’s waist. Elle turned when Jake pressed closer, half on her back and still clutching Avery’s shirt but now looking at Jake. He leaned over, almost shielding her from the next flash of lightning, fingers light on her cheek and kissing her forehead, murmuring to her to go back to sleep.
Which, after another minute of some squirming and more cringing at another crack of thunder, she does. Avery’s hand pressed gently into Jake’s chest and he smiles into the pillow, and the three of them sleep until morning, when the storm is long gone.