The sound of small bare feet hitting the hardwood floor echoed through the quiet house. Both Brian and Justin braced themselves for the onslaught of Olivia’s early morning wake up call. She’d recently taken to waking them up by throwing herself on their bed and squeezing in between her daddies for a morning snuggle.

Thank goodness Justin had begun insisting, back when Livvy was a baby, that they put pajama pants on after any fun nighttime activities. It was something that came naturally to them now.  

Justin lifted his head off of Brian’s shoulder and reached behind him for his phone so that he could check the time.

“How bad is it?” Brian groaned sleepily.

“It’s been worse...”

Brian pulled at Justin’s arm, bringing him back down so that his head was once again resting against his shoulder. “Just tell me,” he breathed.

“4:30.”

“Ugh! Why does your child like waking up at fucknut crazy o’clock?”

“Why is she all of a sudden just mine?” Justin laughed groggily.  “If anything, she’s all you. You know I can’t function on less than seven hours of sleep a night, whereas that child survives on little to no sleep at all.  Which reminds me of someone else I love dearly.”

“Hmm,” Brian hummed as he started drifting back to sleep. “You’re just trying to butter me up so that I get out of bed and entertain her.”

Justin curled his leg across Brian’s. “But you’re so good at it,” he purred.

Brian started to snore softly.

“Do you think she’s gone back to sleep” Justin whispered. “She usually comes straight into our room.”

Brian smacked his lips together, his mouth dry from sleep. “Maybe she got up to use the bathroom?”

Justin quickly sat up. “Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“Shh, listen.”

Brian opened his eyes and concentrated on whatever it was that Justin said he could hear, and sure enough, if you listened closely you could hear the television on downstairs.

“I’ll get her,” Brian said softly.

Justin yawned. “You sure?”

Brian placed his hand on Justin’s shoulder and pushed him back down. “Yeah. Go to sleep.”

They kissed quickly before Brian got out of bed.

“Fuck, it’s cold,” he muttered as he pulled yesterday’s t-shirt over his head and wrapped his thick cotton robe around himself tightly. Gone were the days where he’d wander around the house in a silk robe no matter the weather - if he’d learned anything from being a full-time father, it was that silk stained. Easily.

Before he went downstairs Brian grabbed Olivia’s slippers and fleece robe from her bedroom. If he was cold, she must be freezing.

Brian walked down the stairs as quietly as possible. The house was old and creaked at the best of times and he didn’t want to frighten her by making too much noise. He stopped and stood at the door to the living room and watched as his little girl wrapped herself up in his suit jacket that he’d taken off last night after work. Her little teeth chattered as she rocked herself back and forth on the sofa in front of him.

“Livvy, what are you doing? It’s the middle of the night. “

Olivia practically jumped out of her skin and he felt like a complete shit for scaring her.

“It’s freezing down here, sweetheart,” Brian said gently as walked over and knelt down in front of his little girl.

“I wanted… I wanted to watch cartoons,” Olivia answered quietly. Her teeth chattered loudly and her little body shook as it shivered.

Brian sat down and pulled his jacket from around her.

“Sorry, Daddy,” Livvy said quickly, her bottom lip wobbled slightly as she began to worry that he’d tell her off for making his suit all wrinkly.

Brian held out his arms. “Come here,” he told her softly. “You’re freezing.” She climbed into his lap and he helped her into her robe and slipped her warm fuzzy slippers onto her feet.

Olivia trembled and turned in Brian’s arms. “I’m still cold, Daddy. Can I come in?” She asked sweetly. He could never say no when she looked at him like that.

Brian opened his robe and Olivia snuggled in against his chest. He then wrapped the warm material around them both. “Better?”

Livvy nodded and looked up. Her cold nose pressed against his neck. “Yeah.”

They sat like that for a while, both now a lot warmer than they were.

“Why didn’t you come and wake one of us?” Brian asked softly. “You shouldn’t be down here all by yourself.”

If possible, Olivia snuggled even closer to her daddy. “Yous were sleeping,” she simply said.

He laughed. “That’s never stopped you before.”

“I got a little bits hungry.”

That’s when Brian noticed she’d been snacking on plain crackers – probably the only thing she could reach.

Brian ran his hand through her blonde hair. He loved how it was so much like Justin’s. “You still should have come and woken us,” he told her.

“Sorry, Daddy,” she mumbled sleepily.

Brian could feel her little body getting heavier as she drifted off to sleep. He turned the TV off and reached for the remote control to switch on the fireplace. Even with his robe on the living room was still cold. He then rearranged Olivia in his lap and pulled the lever at the side of the couch so that he was in a comfortable reclining position. It didn’t take long before he too had fallen back asleep.

And that’s where Justin found them both at 8:30 that morning.